InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ In Deep Woods ❯ Chapter 6

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

In Deep Woods, 6:


“Do you remember my granddaughter Megumi?”

Fenn lifted his head.  Kagome had not come back for three days, three long days where Fenn had had nothing to eat, nothing to do but stare at the walls of his cave.  Not much different, really, from when he retired to his swamp.  Except for the sustenance part.  In the swamp, there were always some living organisms, no matter how infinitesimally small, to keep him going.  And there were always his own offshoots who went out hunting  life and brought it back for him to reabsorb when he swallowed them back inside himself.

Here, there was nothing.  He didn’t deign to give Kagome an answer.

She squatted before him, a solid presence, and took his face in her small hands.  “Do you remember?”

Fenn scowled, but nodded, the barest movement of his head, and Kagome let him go.  “Good.”  She threw him a dead rabbit.

So that’s how it was to be.  Cooperation meant reward.  With enough rewards like this one, Fenn would be back to his old self in no time.

Trace might have held back on draining the creature in front of Kagome, but Fenn had no such compunction.  He caught the rabbit one-handed and watched Kagome’s eyes as he quickly drained the last remaining essence out of it.  He wanted to gobble it down, bones and all, but he refused to give in to such base urges.  It was the body he wore who wanted those things, not him.

When the rabbit crumbled to dust, he wiped his hand on his thigh and glanced up at Kagome, who was staring at him in shock.  “Next time, don’t kill it first,” he said.

A flicker of distaste crossed Kagome’s features.  “We’ll see,” was her reply.  “Now, back to my question.  I’m asking you if you remember what you did to her, before your capture.”

Fenn remembered what had been in Megumi’s mind at the time, yes.  It hadn’t seemed all that terrible.  “What did I do?” he asked, to see what Kagome would say.  Supposedly Trace had been the Big Bad Youkai, making Megumi the poor little wolf.  But that’s not what Megumi thought, before he took away her memories.

Kagome tskd at him.  “You tell me.  Did you or did you not seduce my granddaughter in order to get back at Mayumi?  Did you not plan to use her against her own family?  Tell me the truth.  It’s the only way we can move forward.”

“I did not,” Fenn replied honestly.  Trace might have; he had not.

“Then what do you call it?” Kagome asked with some heat.

“Love?”  Fenn, wearing Trace’s face, quirked an eyebrow at her, half-expecting her to throw something at him.  She was tempted, he could tell.

“If you won’t be honest, then I’m going to leave.”  Kagome reined in her temper and stood up,  preparing to follow through with her threat before she did lose her temper.

“Don’t.”  Fenn rested his hand on Kagome’s arm.  “I’m sorry.”  Fenn tried to put himself in Trace’s shoes.  His offshoot had been so obsessed with mortal creatures, fixated for some reason on Inuyasha’s brood, that over time he had come to take on mortal characteristics himself.  That’s why Trace was currently locked into the form Fenn now wore.  That, and the fact that he had been literally starved for the living energy that would have allowed him to shift his own essence at will.  Fenn sighed.  Trace probably had fallen in love with the girl he had at first intended to use as a weapon to hurt Inuyasha’s family where it hurt the most—by driving a wedge between them.

Fenn began again, licking his lips.  “Megumi didn’t deserve to be pulled into my feud with Inuyasha.  It may have started out that way, but I really did care for Megumi at the end.”  From what he had observed of Trace, that really was the truth.

Kagome wasn’t buying it.  “Is that why you ignored her, years later, when I took her to minister to you?  Why didn’t you ever say anything?  Surely, you recognized her.”

“Would you have let me?”  Fenn gave her a crooked grin.  “Why did you bring Megumi to see me, knowing what I had done?”

“She was safe with me.  I thought it was important that you see you didn’t ruin her life after all.”

Fenn slowly shook his head.   “You made sure she was protected against me each time she entered this cave, didn’t you?”

“You could tell?”  Kagome was surprised.  She had thought her barriers were subtle enough to go undetected by the undeniably weak youkai.

“Not at first,” Fenn guessed.  He had almost admitted too much to Kagome.  If she thought Trace had more power than she gave him credit for, things could easily become difficult for him.  He would have to play this down.  “At first, when I saw Megumi, I wanted to speak to her, to tell her I was sorry, but I was too weak.  Then, when I realized she didn’t remember me . . . .”  His voice trailed off, in what he hoped was despair.

Kagome’s expression softened, and she reached over to pat his arm.  “You didn’t want to hurt her anymore,” she finished for him.

Fenn nodded.  “I thought it would be better for all of us,” he said.  That was just what Trace had indicated the day Fenn had tried to free him.  What was the word?  Altruistm?  Inwardly, Fenn chuckled.  No one could ever accuse him of being too altruistic.  He wasn’t doing anything today except voicing Trace’s feelings, which the stubborn youkai refused to do for himself, and hoarding nourishment against the day he decided to leave this place.  Trace had hoarded nourishment also, in secret.  What had Trace been planning to do?  From what Fenn had seen of him, his offshoot had every intention of wallowing in his own form of self-pity for eternity.  Or maybe Fenn misjudged him.

He let his head droop forward and his hand shook slightly as he put it over hers where it rested on his arm.  It wouldn’t do to have Kagome think he was too recovered.

A muffled voice sounded from somewhere beyond the cave, followed by rocks pounding against the outside entrance, which, to all eyes except Kagome’s, there was only a solid stone wall.

“That’s my ride,” Kagome said with a smile, gathering up her things.  “I’ll come back in a few days.”  She turned towards the hidden entrance.  “I’m coming, Inuyasha!  Hold your horses!”

Even Fenn could hear the muttered curses from outside.  He hid a smile.  He missed Inuyasha.  When this was over, hopefully they could all get together, maybe in the hot tub back on Inuyasha’s mountain, and have a good laugh over it.  Right now, though, he didn’t think Inuyasha or Kagome would find what he had done funny.

“Trace?”  Kagome paused right before she would pass through the illusion of rock to the outside world.  “If I were to free you, what would you do?”

Fenn told the truth.  “Feed,” he said.

“Do you still want revenge?”

“Maybe.”  Kagome needed to hear the truth, too.  Fenn wanted her to free Trace willingly, but she needed to know what he was capable of, what they both were.  Kagome thought she knew Fenn because they were friends.  It wasn’t that Fenn couldn’t hurt her; it was more that he chose not to.  Same with Trace.  She had to understand the difference, and still be willing to free his offshoot.  That was the game.

“But why?  What did we ever do to you that made you hate us so?”

Fenn turned his head away, and spoke another truth.  “I don’t hate you,” he said.  He closed his eyes, tired for real.  The paltry dead rabbit she had brought hadn’t been nearly enough.  If he wasn’t careful, he would end up as weak as Trace.

There was a whoosh, and then Kagome was gone.  Fenn concentrated, looking for the path in between that would take him away from this place now that he had some nourishment.  He could see it, so clearly, but he wasn’t strong enough to will himself through it.  For the first time, he felt a jolt of alarm.  Had he miscalculated?


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