InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Mating Season ❯ Illusion ( Chapter 24 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: SplendentGoddess 
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Hentai / Drama / Adventure | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 03.15.2006 | Updated On: 07.17.2008 | Pages: 2 | Words: 2.0K | Visits: 13.7K | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Hentai / Drama / Adventure | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 03.15.2006 | Updated On: 07.17.2008 | Pages: 2 | Words: 2.0K | Visits: 13.7K | Status: Completed
Blanket Disclaimer:
Inuyasha, and the characters therein, are the property of Rumiko Takahashi. I am in no way affiliated with Takahashi, or VIZ Productions.
========================
Chap ter 24 – Illusion
Stumbling and bleeding, the man marched on, taking to the stream in the futile hope that the water would somehow mask his scent. The beasts still continued to pursue him, the water only succeeding in causing his wounded legs to bleed more profusely. Clinging to his ruined weapon in a death grip, his right hand wrapped firmly around the hilt of his broken katana, the damaged blade not that much more than a dagger. Still, he realized, it was better than nothing, as he stabbed yet another abomination in the head once it got close enough to grip his calf. They were slow moving, but so was he, and unlike the monsters who chased him, he would eventually get tired.
The frost of the winter stream finally too much for his human legs to bear, he staggered out of the water, onto the shore. Perhaps he could run faster through the snow.
`````````````````````````````
If there was one thing that Kagome loved about the bitter cold of the winter months, it was snuggling up with her mate under their many blankets. On mornings such as these, they often found themselves joined by their adoptive son, though the kit had his own room next door. But Inuyasha didn’t mind sharing, they’d cuddled like this together while out traveling with their friends, so why should right now be any different? Being a youkai, the kit understood a great deal about the exact nature of the relationship between the two adults he’d come to think of as his parents, and as such, it prevented a lot of the mild embarrassments the young couple may have faced were they housing a human child. He knew about and understood their relationship fully, so not only were there never any questions, there were also no accidental walk-ins. He also knew when to keep his mouth shut, and his nose to himself.
Having kept his word to her mother when it came to making her life here as comfortable as he possibly could, one luxury that he happened to know for a fact that she had wanted was curtains. Unfortunately, as much as he’d love to let her sleep in past dawn, today was going to be a busy day. Still, he thought, he could surely rouse her in a more calming fashion than how he certainly used to.
Starting the low grumbling in his chest that Kagome just loved to call a “purr” even though he was inu, it wasn’t long at all before he heard her breathing and heart rate increase slightly, indicating that she was waking up. It also wasn’t surprising that, once her scent indicated she was fully awake, she continued to simply lay there, as if to pretend to be asleep. But she knew she couldn’t fool him. In a bizarre sort of game of ‘chicken’ they lied there in silence, each daring the other to acknowledge their state of wakefulness first. Shippo, who was also awake, gladly joined in with such games, as he didn’t really want to leave the warmth of their bedding, either. Sighing, it was eventually Inuyasha who broke the silence…
“We can’t lay here forever.” he murmured quietly.
“Not forever…just five more minutes?” Kagome responded immediately.
“You’ve already been awake for twenty.” he purred in her ear.
“I haven’t been.” answered a tiny voice from the other side of his mate.
“No….” he confirmed, “You’ve been awake for thirty. Now,” he said, releasing his grip of his mate, and sitting himself somewhat upright, “We’ve got a long day ahead of us.”
“I know.” Kagome stated coldly as she sat up herself, only both males present knew her sudden coldness wasn’t directed towards them.
They had all sensed activity from Naraku a couple of weeks back. Though their traveling was delayed slightly with the schedule of Kagome’s tests and appointment for her birth control shot, continuing with their hunt had been in the foreground of their minds for the last fifteen days. Now that Kagome wasn’t due back in her world for nearly an entire month, it was time to stop playing house, and get back to the mission at hand.
Preparing themselves a quick breakfast, they headed out right afterwards to meet up with their other friends at Kaede’s. Miroku and Sango were also finished with their breakfast, and ready to head out when their friends arrived.
Because of her home schooling Kagome had gotten out of the habit of wearing her sailor uniform every day. She always knew such an outfit was not the most practical to be hunting youkai in, but one truth she’d hidden deep within herself was that, back in the early days, she’d feared that if she wore anything from their time, she may lose herself completely to the majesty of the era. Constantly wearing her uniform provided herself with a daily reminder of who she was and where she came from. Once she finally confessed this to her mate, he confessed in return that though he would love to see her wearing the more traditional garments of his time, he also did not mind her modern clothing, either, and only wanted her to be comfortable. During the summer, when she’d spent her days aiding with the construction of their hut, she had taken to wearing some simple kimono she’d acquired at the village. However, she decided that for the winter months, a modern wool sweater would likely keep her warmer than anything from the period, unless she were to drape herself in layers upon layers of bulky robes. Talk about impossible garments to slay youkai in. Heading out, the long underwear she wore under her blue jeans kept her legs warm enough, while the soft fuzzy sweater proved to one, allow for agility and flexibility, easy access for her arrows and the like, and two, be absolutely perfect for snuggling and cuddling. Little Shippo hadn’t felt anything as soft as that except for Kirara.
Not really having a specific game plan in mind, they simply headed out in the direction which the youkai members of their group had sensed the origin of that “wrong” feeling from two weeks prior. Even if whatever it was has moved on, they were sure to find some trace evidence of where it was now. Naraku was up to something, and they wanted to find out what.
Preparing to set up camp for the third night out, Inuyasha, Shippo, and Kagome all suddenly held their hands over their noses, claiming that they could detect the stink of the dark hanyou, or at least, sort of. It smelled like part of him, but not the whole being, if that made sense. Miroku also stated that he could detect several weak youki signatures, rather than one larger one. Grabbing their weapons, they wasted no time, heading off in the direction in which they all detected this activity.
```````````````````````````
Tripping over a hidden root, the man somehow managed to catch his fall, staggering forward with a few awkward steps until he steadied his pace, and continued running. They seemed to be more evenly matched for speed on land, since the man could take wider strides, however, the crawling slug and centipede youkai that chased him were not anywhere near even appearing to consider giving up. Their low-level, practically brainless bodies were all following a single drive within them…eat.
Another root buried deeply within the snow caught him more off guard, as he fell hard to the frozen ground below. Preparing to get up, he discovered with horror that he’d somehow managed to twist his ankle. Glancing behind him, he stared in some form of shock, as the closet youkai, a centipede, reared itself up on the back half of its body, hundreds of tiny crawling arms wiggling in the air, as the pincher jaws opened and closed in anticipation. But as it prepared to launch itself down and strike, an amazing thing happened, a flying….something…went zooming by over the man’s head, cleanly slicing the youkai in half, before turning in midair to return to its source. Looking in that direction, he saw a female Taijiya catch the weapon, right before throwing it again. The Buddhist monk beside her threw several sacred sutras, while another young girl, apparently a miko from the look of things, fired off arrow after arrow, each one glowing fiercely with her powers of purification. A fourth member of the group, a young man, or rather a youkai, if his eyes didn’t fail him, slashed at the rest of his attackers with what appeared to be a magical, demonic sword. The man was just attempting to struggle to his feet, wanting to offer his most humbling thanks to his rescuers, when a wave of dizziness overtook him, and he fell back to the ground, unconscious.
```````````````````````````
Moving quietly around the campground, so as not to disturb their sleeping charge, Kagome whispered in an octave only her mate and son would hear.
“Do you think those were what we sensed?” she asked, uncertainty in her voice.
“I don’t know.” her mate replied. “Those creatures definitely came from Naraku, his stench was all over them.” Thinking about the implications for a moment, Inuyasha spoke again. “It looks as if he was expelling his weaker parts, trying to make himself stronger again.”
“That’s what I thought too.” she confirmed. “Those low level insects would have done nothing but slow him down…so he released them.”
Gesturing at the still unconscious man in their presence, the hanyou concluded with “And this poor fool got in their way.”
“So if he’s making himself stronger again, then we’ve got a bigger problem then some runaway insects.” Shippo commented, joining in the conversation.
“When he wakes up…” Inuyasha spoke again, fixing a momentary glance at the human man they rescued, “…we’ll have him tell us where he came from, and where those bugs came from. If we know where to look, we might find some more clues.”
“Agreed.” whispered Kagome, who then settled herself, and her adoptive son, into her sleeping bag for the night.
It was perfectly understandable that Inuyasha had decided that for the night, he would be keeping close vigil over his pack from a nearby tree branch, rather than sharing the warmth of his mate’s bedroll. Whenever Naraku was involved, one couldn’t afford to let their guard down, not even for a second.
```````````````````````
Somewhere in a dark and deadened castle, hidden by a powerful barrier, a void youkai, appearing to be nothing more than a little girl, held up a small round mirror. If one were to peer inside that mirror, they would find themselves gazing upon the scene we’d just left, with our ragtag group of travelers, camping out for the night, keeping guard over the fallen warrior they’d just rescued. Somewhere in the shadows of the castle chamber, an evil laugh could be heard.
Inuyasha, and the characters therein, are the property of Rumiko Takahashi. I am in no way affiliated with Takahashi, or VIZ Productions.
========================
Chap ter 24 – Illusion
Stumbling and bleeding, the man marched on, taking to the stream in the futile hope that the water would somehow mask his scent. The beasts still continued to pursue him, the water only succeeding in causing his wounded legs to bleed more profusely. Clinging to his ruined weapon in a death grip, his right hand wrapped firmly around the hilt of his broken katana, the damaged blade not that much more than a dagger. Still, he realized, it was better than nothing, as he stabbed yet another abomination in the head once it got close enough to grip his calf. They were slow moving, but so was he, and unlike the monsters who chased him, he would eventually get tired.
The frost of the winter stream finally too much for his human legs to bear, he staggered out of the water, onto the shore. Perhaps he could run faster through the snow.
`````````````````````````````
If there was one thing that Kagome loved about the bitter cold of the winter months, it was snuggling up with her mate under their many blankets. On mornings such as these, they often found themselves joined by their adoptive son, though the kit had his own room next door. But Inuyasha didn’t mind sharing, they’d cuddled like this together while out traveling with their friends, so why should right now be any different? Being a youkai, the kit understood a great deal about the exact nature of the relationship between the two adults he’d come to think of as his parents, and as such, it prevented a lot of the mild embarrassments the young couple may have faced were they housing a human child. He knew about and understood their relationship fully, so not only were there never any questions, there were also no accidental walk-ins. He also knew when to keep his mouth shut, and his nose to himself.
Having kept his word to her mother when it came to making her life here as comfortable as he possibly could, one luxury that he happened to know for a fact that she had wanted was curtains. Unfortunately, as much as he’d love to let her sleep in past dawn, today was going to be a busy day. Still, he thought, he could surely rouse her in a more calming fashion than how he certainly used to.
Starting the low grumbling in his chest that Kagome just loved to call a “purr” even though he was inu, it wasn’t long at all before he heard her breathing and heart rate increase slightly, indicating that she was waking up. It also wasn’t surprising that, once her scent indicated she was fully awake, she continued to simply lay there, as if to pretend to be asleep. But she knew she couldn’t fool him. In a bizarre sort of game of ‘chicken’ they lied there in silence, each daring the other to acknowledge their state of wakefulness first. Shippo, who was also awake, gladly joined in with such games, as he didn’t really want to leave the warmth of their bedding, either. Sighing, it was eventually Inuyasha who broke the silence…
“We can’t lay here forever.” he murmured quietly.
“Not forever…just five more minutes?” Kagome responded immediately.
“You’ve already been awake for twenty.” he purred in her ear.
“I haven’t been.” answered a tiny voice from the other side of his mate.
“No….” he confirmed, “You’ve been awake for thirty. Now,” he said, releasing his grip of his mate, and sitting himself somewhat upright, “We’ve got a long day ahead of us.”
“I know.” Kagome stated coldly as she sat up herself, only both males present knew her sudden coldness wasn’t directed towards them.
They had all sensed activity from Naraku a couple of weeks back. Though their traveling was delayed slightly with the schedule of Kagome’s tests and appointment for her birth control shot, continuing with their hunt had been in the foreground of their minds for the last fifteen days. Now that Kagome wasn’t due back in her world for nearly an entire month, it was time to stop playing house, and get back to the mission at hand.
Preparing themselves a quick breakfast, they headed out right afterwards to meet up with their other friends at Kaede’s. Miroku and Sango were also finished with their breakfast, and ready to head out when their friends arrived.
Because of her home schooling Kagome had gotten out of the habit of wearing her sailor uniform every day. She always knew such an outfit was not the most practical to be hunting youkai in, but one truth she’d hidden deep within herself was that, back in the early days, she’d feared that if she wore anything from their time, she may lose herself completely to the majesty of the era. Constantly wearing her uniform provided herself with a daily reminder of who she was and where she came from. Once she finally confessed this to her mate, he confessed in return that though he would love to see her wearing the more traditional garments of his time, he also did not mind her modern clothing, either, and only wanted her to be comfortable. During the summer, when she’d spent her days aiding with the construction of their hut, she had taken to wearing some simple kimono she’d acquired at the village. However, she decided that for the winter months, a modern wool sweater would likely keep her warmer than anything from the period, unless she were to drape herself in layers upon layers of bulky robes. Talk about impossible garments to slay youkai in. Heading out, the long underwear she wore under her blue jeans kept her legs warm enough, while the soft fuzzy sweater proved to one, allow for agility and flexibility, easy access for her arrows and the like, and two, be absolutely perfect for snuggling and cuddling. Little Shippo hadn’t felt anything as soft as that except for Kirara.
Not really having a specific game plan in mind, they simply headed out in the direction which the youkai members of their group had sensed the origin of that “wrong” feeling from two weeks prior. Even if whatever it was has moved on, they were sure to find some trace evidence of where it was now. Naraku was up to something, and they wanted to find out what.
Preparing to set up camp for the third night out, Inuyasha, Shippo, and Kagome all suddenly held their hands over their noses, claiming that they could detect the stink of the dark hanyou, or at least, sort of. It smelled like part of him, but not the whole being, if that made sense. Miroku also stated that he could detect several weak youki signatures, rather than one larger one. Grabbing their weapons, they wasted no time, heading off in the direction in which they all detected this activity.
```````````````````````````
Tripping over a hidden root, the man somehow managed to catch his fall, staggering forward with a few awkward steps until he steadied his pace, and continued running. They seemed to be more evenly matched for speed on land, since the man could take wider strides, however, the crawling slug and centipede youkai that chased him were not anywhere near even appearing to consider giving up. Their low-level, practically brainless bodies were all following a single drive within them…eat.
Another root buried deeply within the snow caught him more off guard, as he fell hard to the frozen ground below. Preparing to get up, he discovered with horror that he’d somehow managed to twist his ankle. Glancing behind him, he stared in some form of shock, as the closet youkai, a centipede, reared itself up on the back half of its body, hundreds of tiny crawling arms wiggling in the air, as the pincher jaws opened and closed in anticipation. But as it prepared to launch itself down and strike, an amazing thing happened, a flying….something…went zooming by over the man’s head, cleanly slicing the youkai in half, before turning in midair to return to its source. Looking in that direction, he saw a female Taijiya catch the weapon, right before throwing it again. The Buddhist monk beside her threw several sacred sutras, while another young girl, apparently a miko from the look of things, fired off arrow after arrow, each one glowing fiercely with her powers of purification. A fourth member of the group, a young man, or rather a youkai, if his eyes didn’t fail him, slashed at the rest of his attackers with what appeared to be a magical, demonic sword. The man was just attempting to struggle to his feet, wanting to offer his most humbling thanks to his rescuers, when a wave of dizziness overtook him, and he fell back to the ground, unconscious.
```````````````````````````
Moving quietly around the campground, so as not to disturb their sleeping charge, Kagome whispered in an octave only her mate and son would hear.
“Do you think those were what we sensed?” she asked, uncertainty in her voice.
“I don’t know.” her mate replied. “Those creatures definitely came from Naraku, his stench was all over them.” Thinking about the implications for a moment, Inuyasha spoke again. “It looks as if he was expelling his weaker parts, trying to make himself stronger again.”
“That’s what I thought too.” she confirmed. “Those low level insects would have done nothing but slow him down…so he released them.”
Gesturing at the still unconscious man in their presence, the hanyou concluded with “And this poor fool got in their way.”
“So if he’s making himself stronger again, then we’ve got a bigger problem then some runaway insects.” Shippo commented, joining in the conversation.
“When he wakes up…” Inuyasha spoke again, fixing a momentary glance at the human man they rescued, “…we’ll have him tell us where he came from, and where those bugs came from. If we know where to look, we might find some more clues.”
“Agreed.” whispered Kagome, who then settled herself, and her adoptive son, into her sleeping bag for the night.
It was perfectly understandable that Inuyasha had decided that for the night, he would be keeping close vigil over his pack from a nearby tree branch, rather than sharing the warmth of his mate’s bedroll. Whenever Naraku was involved, one couldn’t afford to let their guard down, not even for a second.
```````````````````````
Somewhere in a dark and deadened castle, hidden by a powerful barrier, a void youkai, appearing to be nothing more than a little girl, held up a small round mirror. If one were to peer inside that mirror, they would find themselves gazing upon the scene we’d just left, with our ragtag group of travelers, camping out for the night, keeping guard over the fallen warrior they’d just rescued. Somewhere in the shadows of the castle chamber, an evil laugh could be heard.