InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Present Perfect ❯ Chapter 14 ( Chapter 14 )

Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi

 

 

Chapter 14

 

 

Inuyasha was disappointed that it was not a wolf youkai they went to see after all. They had traveled far, far north, even farther than when he and Sesshomaru had first scouted out the edges of this territory.

 

Inuyasha wasn't hungry. It seemed that his body didn't crave food as much in this form. But Kagome was. He could feel her stomach rumbling all through his being. He zoomed down and deposited her gently on the ground, resuming physical form with a thought. Instantly, his own hunger rekindled, and his stomach growled.

 

They had left human settlements behind long ago, which Inuyasha realized was quite unusual in this day and age where humans seemed to be everywhere.

 

Now that he had substance again, Inuyasha sifted through the various scents to get his bearings. He needed to hunt for his woman. He smelled wolf—this was indeed wolf country, as Fenn had said, but no youkai. He glanced around suspiciously, in case there was a youkai whose scent was triggered only when Inuyasha saw it, like the other strange youkai around here, but he couldn't see anything either.

 

“Kagome, I'm—“ The smell of peanut butter hit him.

 

Kagome sat on a fallen log calmly unwrapping a granola bar. Fenn held one, too. “Do you want one, Inuyasha?” she asked, holding out the bar she had opened.

 

“Keep it,” said Inuyahsa, slightly miffed. “I'll get my own food.” He tramped off through the underbrush, not nearly as irritated as he pretended. He was glad for the opportunity to do a little exploring.

 

Kagome shrugged, ate the granola bar, then pulled out a couple of apples which she shared with Fenn. “Is it much farther?” she asked.

 

“Not really. Be warned, though. This youkai is nothing like Wormwood. I don't know if he will show himself in front of a human. If he does, expect the worst.”

 

Kagome was heartened that Fenn was warming up to her enough to caution her about other youkai. “Why? What's wrong with him?”

 

“He's big, bigger than you can imagine,” replied Fenn.

 

“Oh, probably not,” Kagome said, smiling. “You'd be surprised at what I've seen. Inuyasha's father was pretty big, you know.”

 

“You've met Inuyasha's father?” Fenn was very surprised. Hadn't the father died centuries ago?

 

“Well, no, but I visited his tomb—his skeleton is huge!” Kagome began to regret getting into this particular conversation. She wasn't sure how much she should reveal of Inuyasha's past. But Fenn just accepted her words at face value, and didn't question how she managed to get inside a powerful youkai's tomb in the first place.

 

Just then Inuyasha trotted back, wiping his hands on the side of his pants and looking guiltily at Kagome. Could she tell what he'd eaten? He licked his teeth, to make sure there were no telltale signs, and joined them on the log. Kagome silently handed him the final apple, which he crunched in two bites.

 

They resumed their journey, arriving at the top of a rippled valley mid-afternoon. All around the valley, low hills undulated as if outlining the depression in the earth. “It's pretty,” commented Kagome as she surveyed the view. Past the hills, the land opened up and ran straight for miles until the next set of rolling hills off in the distance broke up the monotony. “Why hasn't anyone built up this area? Is it government land or something?”

 

“I don't want to offend you, Kagome, but youkai had something to do with it.”

 

“You mean, you used your power to scare humans away?”

 

“Not scare, not exactly. More like, make them not notice this area.”

 

“But why? Oh, is this where your big youkai lives?”

 

“Big youkai? What big youkai?” This was the first Inuyasha had heard about it.

 

“You're standing on him,” said Fenn, enjoying the moment immensely.

 

“What!” Inuyasha grabbed Kagome and jumped away from the spot where they had been talking. Again, he hadn't sensed anything. He began to growl warningly, scanning for the youkai he knew must be around here somewhere. The ground beneath his feet began to vibrate. Cursing, he sprang into the air again, determined to get even farther away so he could get a good look at what he was up against.

 

On the next hill, he finally saw the shape. There was its back, its head, one arm. “Youkai!” he yelled. “Show yourself!”

 

The rumbling continued as the big youkai lumbered to his feet, effectively blotting out the sun.

 

“Stay here,” Inuyasha told Kagome. He drew Tetsusaiga, which transformed in a flash of light.

 

“Wait a minute, what are you doing?” she asked.

 

“What does it look like? I'm gonna take out that youkai.” Inuyasha positioned the sword in front of him and held it in a two-handed grip.

 

“Why?”

 

Was she kidding? Couldn't she feel the waves of hostile energy rising up from that thing? It was big, and it wasn't friendly. He didn't bother replying; instead, he sprang into the air and prepared to unleash a kaze no kizu at the oversized monster.

 

“Inuyasha, stop!” Fenn zipped in front of Inuyasha and materialized, a look of dismay on his usually sunny face. Inuyasha pulled up short.

 

“Don't kill him,” continued Fenn. “That's not why I brought you here.”

 

Inuyasha eyed the angry giant doubtfully. “Tell that to him.” The youkai's aura continued to darken, and he continued to shuffle forward in the general direction of Inuyasha, Fenn and Kagome. One more step towards Kagome, and all bets were off.

 

“He's not very verbal,” said Fenn. “You need to show him you are stronger than he is, and then he'll respect you.”

 

“That's what I've been trying to do!” Inuyasha snarled.

 

“Inuyasha!” Kagome sounded worried. Inuyasha glanced behind him to the hill where he had left Kagome, and saw that Big Youkai had veered off to the side and was heading straight for Kagome. That did it. Inuyasha had been patient enough. Time for action.

 

“You'd better get going,” Fenn advised. “He doesn't like humans.”

 

Inuyasha gave Fenn a withering look, and took off. No kidding. This youkai didn't like much of anything, from what he could see.

 

“Remember, don't kill him!” called out Fenn.

 

Cursing, Inuyasha slammed Tetsusaiga back in its sheath. “Come on, you stupid youkai! I'm your opponent!” He rushed the youkai, swiping its arm with his claws in an effort to drag it off course. Damn youkai was stubborn. It maintained its track towards Kagome.

 

“Fenn, get Kagome out of there!”

 

Inuyasha leaped towards the thing again, and it just swatted him out of the way. Enough was enough. If the youkai wanted big, he'd show him big. He began to transform into the Great Dog shape.

 

“That's it, Inuyasha!” Fenn shouted encouragingly. “Show him who's boss!”

 

Inuyasha growled, not having speech in this form, and positioned himself between the giant and Kagome. The big youkai blinked, as if surprised at the huge dog creature which suddenly appeared in front of him. He attempted to swat it, too, out of the way, but Inuyasha in this form was much too massive. Lunging forward, Inuyasha went for the giant's throat. It got its arms up to defend, but Inuyasha was too quick, bounding away at the last second to attack again from another angle.

 

The giant began swinging wildly, and Kagome ducked, as pieces of the land around her shook loose and showered her with dirt and small stones. Fenn grabbed her and spirited her away to another hilltop where she could safely watch the show. And what a show it was! The two opponents went round and round, two giants in a miniature world. Inuyasha harried the bigger youkai, and dodged each of its powerful but clumsy attacks, until at last the youkai fell unceremoniously on his bottom, or what appeared to be his bottom, in the crater of the valley. That explained the rippling on the valley floor they noticed earlier, thought Kagome.

 

Inuyasha, in his Great Dog form, straddled the giant youkai, who slowly sank back to a prone position, belly up, throat exposed, as he waited for death. Inuyasha gently set his teeth into the thing's throat, and shook it just a little before he let go. He made sure to change back to his hanyou form in plain sight of the giant youkai.

 

The message was not lost on the bigger youkai, who slowly regained his feet, never letting the now much smaller hanyou out of his sight. Inuyasha leaped over to Kagome and grabbed her around the waist. Before she could protest, he had brought her right over to the giant youkai. “Look at her,” he told it, very seriously. “Smell her. Don't forget who she is. You are never to harm her or any who smell like me or her, got it?” That ought to cover everyone Inuyasha might have to worry about, although he wasn't really sure what sort of a sense of smell that big thing had, anyway. The youkai was nodding, however. That was good enough for Inuyasha.

 

The giant youkai lumbered back to his original spot and lay back down on his side, looking for all the world like another green and brown hill. One curious brown eye tracked the group as they sped back the way they had come. He couldn't communicate as well as some of the others, but he would never forget he had met and tested the new youkai leader—and found him satisfactory. Slowly his heaven-facing eye closed and the giant youkai went back to sleep. His forest would remain safe for youkai.

 

 

Kagome wasn't youkai, and she didn't have their endurance. She needed to eat, and to sleep. Inuyasha found them a place to sleep for the night, and even brought down a small deer for their dinner.

 

A family of gray wolves had been chasing the thing, so Inuyasha joined their group, relishing the wind in his hair and the thrill of the hunt. The wolves looked at him sideways, not sure what to make of him, but they grudgingly allowed him to run along beside them. Slowly, Inuyasha pulled ahead, and he was the one to make the kill. He quickly sliced off a few choice cuts for the fire, and then backed off, silently inviting the wolves to partake, which they did, once they were satisfied that he wasn't going to attack them. Inuyasha got out of there in a hurry; he didn't want the wolves following him back to their campsite. Kagome was funny that way. She wasn't scared of youkai, but put her in a situation with a dangerous natural creature, any creature, even a bug, and she fell apart. He needn't have worried, however. The wolves were content to stay and enjoy their interrupted meal now that the strange god-creature had disappeared.

 

Inuyasha slapped down three steaks onto the rock that Kagome had already heated in the fire. They sizzled and stuck a little bit, but eventually the outside crusted over and came off the rock relatively easily. He threw a piece to Fenn, who caught it and wondered what to do with it. Kagome poked hers with a stick and nibbled daintily at the edges. Inuyasha wolfed his down, then frowned at Fenn, who was still gingerly holding his piece of venison steak. “Are you going to eat that?” he asked.

 

“Uh, no. You can have it, if you want. I don't really eat human food,” said Fenn.

 

“But you ate the granola bar, and the apple,” remarked Kagome. “And pizza. I've seen you eat human food lots of times.”

 

“I didn't say I couldn't eat it. If I like it, I'll eat it, sure. It's fun.” Fenn made a face at the red meat. “I don't like this.”

 

“Fine with me,” said Inuyasha, taking Fenn's portion and devouring it. He wasn't too crazy about fire-cooking it, either, but it was still better than granola bars—and apples. No accounting for taste.

 

They settled down for the night, Inuyasha more or less resigned to the fact that he had to be circumspect with regard to Kagome in front of Fenn. He wrapped his arms around her and prepared to sleep. There was nothing else to do.

 

Kagome nudged him in the ribs. “Do you want me to put up a concealing barrier?” she whispered.

 

That would work. “Does it conceal sound too?” he asked. Fenn's nose was about as sensitive as a human's, so he didn't concern himself with that.

 

“It could.” Kagome giggled.

 

“Then do it. Good-night, Fenn!” Inuyasha called, just as a small opaque bubble formed around them.

 

Fenn laughed out loud. He got up and went into the darkened forest. Might as well try to find a little of his own kind of sustenance. There was nothing else to do.

 

“Inuyasha, I was so proud of how you handled that giant youkai today,” said Kagome, as she worked on loosening the string on Inuyasha's sweats. “Even in your dog form, he was so much larger than you. At first, I was afraid that you wouldn't be able to handle him.”

 

“Keh, yeah? Well, size isn't everything, you know.”

 

Kagome fell over laughing. “I can't believe you just said that!” she wheezed, between breaths.

 

“What? What did I say?”

 

 

On their way home the next morning, Kagome sensed something over a small northern town. She tugged on the two fistfuls of Inuyasha's hair that served as her anchor when she rode his energy form. He knew the signal. He zoomed down and transformed at the edge of the little town, with Fenn transforming right beside him.

 

“What is it?” he asked Kagome. She wouldn't have stopped him unless it was something important. It better not just be to go to the bathroom.

 

“I felt something unusual—over there.” She pointed to a white church similar to all the other white churches with steeples that they'd passed on their journey through New England. What was so different about this one? The doors were open and Inuyasha could hear voices coming from inside. Maybe it was what was inside of this one. It was worth checking out.

 

Kagome led the way, making sure Inuyasha had a baseball cap firmly planted over his ears. Fenn just looked exotic, but human enough other than that. His pointed ears were hidden behind the fall of his pale hair. She stopped at the bottom of the church steps.

 

“Can you feel it now?” she asked the two youkai. Both of them nodded uneasily. There was definitely something going on inside. Kagome continued up the stairs, but neither Inuyasha nor Fenn followed her. “Come on,” she said. “I want to go in.”

 

Reluctantly, they started up the steps, but again they paused at the entrance while Kagome walked right in. She glanced back at the two of them, puzzled, then went back outside to join them. “What's wrong?” she asked.

 

“I don't know, it's like there's a barrier or something,” said Inuyasha. “It feels uncomfortable.”

 

“Don't be silly,” said Kagome, linking an arm through each of theirs and effectively passing them through the barrier, such as it was. She, for one, didn't feel anything.

 

Church was in full swing, and there were humans of all shapes and sizes in the pews that lined the sides. Kagome slipped into an empty pew near the back of the church, pushing Inuyasha in ahead of her, and dragging Fenn to sit on her other side. She knew about churches, she even knew that there was power in prayer. But she hadn't felt anything like this here before. She wondered if all churches were like this, or if it was only this one. The energy was similar to her own; no wonder the two youkai were uncomfortable! They were being purified! She glanced with some concern at Inuyasha, but except for his troubled expression, he didn't seem to be in any real discomfort. The purification was very mild, probably because it wasn't directed at Inuyasha or Fenn but instead was without focus, being the congregation's group prayer to their God.

 

As Kagome sat, she could almost see the energy swirling above the congregation's head. All it lacked was a focus. It was so obvious. All those prayers to God, all that pure energy, and it wasn't really going anywhere. Shouldn't that priest up in front be taking that energy and channeling it? Maybe he didn't know how.

 

The more Kagome thought about it, the more she felt faint. Her upper lip started tingling and her heart pounded in her throat. Inuyasha put his arm around her shoulder. “Are you all right?” he asked in concern.

 

“Shhh!” said Kagome. “I'm Ok—just a little light-headed.” She wanted to stay and see what happened with all the pure energy being generated here. The congregation suddenly stood up, and Kagome attempted to emulate them, but a wave of dizziness swept over her and she sat down abruptly. Uh-oh. She realized what was happening. She was a natural miko, a natural channel for all the pure energy. Somehow it was filtering through her body and funneling out in one bright, steady stream. Inuyasha felt what was happening, too, and prudently removed his arm from around her shoulders. Fenn wasn't so lucky. His knee touched hers and he hissed in pain. Smoke rose up from his pant leg where it had come into contact with Kagome. He scooted to the end of the pew, eyes widening.

 

“That's it, I'm getting you out of here,” said Inuyasha. He motioned for Fenn to go ahead, as he was blocking the pew. Fenn was more than happy to oblige. He left the row, and hurried out of the church just as the congregation began migrating towards the front of the church. Once outside, he wiped his brow, which was soaked with sweat. His knee hurt.

 

Inuyasha gathered Kagome to his chest, ignoring the sparks and the burning smell that rose from his body where it contacted hers. He had felt worse before.

 

“No, wait, Inuyasha,” protested Kagome. She struggled to get out of his arms, and he reluctantly let her slide down, hoping she had a good reason. Maybe he could prod her out with one of these hard books on the seats. He picked one up and weighed his options.

 

“I just want to try something,” she explained.

 

Great. She wanted to try something. Again. Every time she got the urge to try something, Inuyasha got burned. Literally. Well, maybe not every time. There was that time up at the house. . . .He stepped carefully aside and gestured for her to go ahead.

 

Kagome took the energy she had unconsciously gathered from the people inside the church and directed the combined stream towards the priest in the middle. The man faltered, for just a second, then his entire body glowed to Kagome's eyes. He resumed giving out little pieces of something to the people surrounding him, while Kagome continued to feed him the energy stream. It rose in a pure white column from the priest and out through the roof of the church. There. Now the prayers were going in the right direction. Kagome began to feel marginally better, too.

 

“Ok, Inuyasha, let's go,” she whispered. He could tell by her scent that she was no longer dangerous to him, so he took her hand as they walked out of the church. Fenn was waiting on the bottom step.

 

“Is she safe?” he asked, only half-kidding.

 

“Yeah. She did her good deed for the day. We can go now. Wait, Kagome, do you need to find a bathroom first?”