InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Some people need a push ❯ Battle Sketches ( Chapter 11 )

Chapter 11: Battle Sketches

 

In a Forest, Japan

Feudal Era, Wednesday, Day 13

 

Koga was shocked. He knew that Inuyasha was in love with Kagome, but he didn't think that he'd get up the courage to ask her to be his mate.

 

“Looks like I underestimated dog breath,” he said quietly.

 

“Koga!” A female voice came at him from above.

 

Looking up, he recognized the woman. “Yes, Ayame?”

 

“I did it. I did what you said I needed to do to be your wife.” She jumped down from her perch in the oak tree, and looked at him.

 

Koga looked at her blankly. What had he said she needed to do?

 

“I can see the Jewel Shards! Now you have to marry me. You promised!” she yelled.

 

“Fine, then. But there's something I have to do first.”

 

“What?”

 

“I have to meet the others hunting Naraku. We are going to band together and fight him.”

 

“The others? As in Kagome?”

 

“She's Inuyasha's now. I'm not interested in her anymore.”

 

Ayame looked at him. “You... you only consented because... you lost her, didn't you?” It wasn't really a question, more of a statement, but Koga answered anyway.

 

“I didn't lose her. I never had her. I consented because I promised you. It was a long time ago, but I remember promising, and I never go back on my promises.”

 

“So it's only because you promised, then?” The wolf demon looked on the verge of tears, and sounded it as well.

 

“Of course not! You were sent by the Elder to get me. You need my help to forge an alliance between the wolf clans.” He paused for a minute, then added softly, “You didn't give up on me, even after I tried to chase you away.”

 

“You tried to chase me away?”

 

“Naraku has a thing about using people his enemies are close to for bait. I didn't want that happening to you.” Koga looked into her eyes. “I still don't want that to happen to you.”

 

“Oh, that's so sweet, Koga!” Ayame launched herself at him, catching him in a tight hug.

 

He was startled. He didn't expect the granddaughter of the Elder to act like a love-struck human. After taking a minute to recover, he hugged her back cautiously.

 

“But why didn't you try to chase Kagome away as well?” she asked suddenly.

 

“She's the person who is supposed to be in charge of keeping the Jewel Shards safe. Naraku has a large amount of the Jewel Shards, almost half. And she is with Inuyasha, who Naraku has a personal grudge against. The Shards are probably a lot of the reason I was after her, too.”

 

“Oh. So you didn't really love her?”

 

“I think I just had what those humans call a crush. I was attracted to her. That's all.”

 

“I'll come with you.” She stepped away from him slightly, and smiled timidly.

 

“No! It's too dangerous!” Koga assumed the leader persona he used when he was ordering his pack to do something. “I don't want you there to get hurt and distract us.”

 

“I can fight, and I have my pack, too! They'll protect me, and I've learned a lot about fighting other demons. I can protect myself, Koga. I'm coming with you. Please?”

 

“It's not truly my decision. When we catch up to the others, we'll ask them. I don't know if they'll let you.” Koga was planning on having words with them before letting Ayame ask if she and her pack could join them. He was going to petition the dog demons' protective natures, and what little good sense they had.

 

“I hope they do!” she said, and hugged him again. “I don't want to be away from you any longer.”

 

`What have I gotten myself into?' he thought with a mental groan.

 

 

On the Road Again, Japan

Feudal Era, Wednesday, Day 13

 

“Why can't you use your traveling spell again?” Maria asked Jan.

 

“Stop whining, cuz, and just walk; Shippo's complaining less than you are, and he's a kid!”

 

The group had been traveling for half of the day, mostly on foot. Kagome showed a surprising aptitude for all sorts of magics, and Sesshomaru had a pretty good grip on Energy and Life magics. Jan was teaching them all she could out of her book, and said that they would get their own as soon as her request was processed. They looked at her blankly, and she said, “You'll see what I mean.”

 

Inuyasha was showing an interest in magic, too, but didn't prove out to have an aptitude in any of the magics Jan tested him on, except for a small bit in Earth. She had tested him in Life, Energy, Earth, and Perception magics. Shippo asked her to test him for magic, too, and she said that she would test him when they stopped for camp.

 

“We should probably stop for a rest, Kechara. Ah-Un needs to graze, an we need water.”

 

“Alright, we can stop. But only for a quick rest. I want to make good time to tonight's camp.”

 

“Why?”

 

“Because we're not gonna leave there `til noon tomorrow. Sesshy and I are going to the panther demons for help, and I want to have an established camp to return to.”

 

“Why couldn't you just do that now? I mean, this is as good a camp as any, and we saw Koga in the woods earlier, so we don't need to get to the meeting place. Unless there was someone else coming?” Inuyasha offered.

 

“No. It's just easier to use the teleport spell when I'm familiar with either the destination or the origin point.”

 

“Oh. Well, why don't we make this the camp? That way, Koga can catch up to us, and you can go to the panther demon tribe earlier, so we know to fit them into our plans.” Kagome's reasoning was sound, and Jan couldn't find any reason not to agree.

 

“Fine. There's a stream up ahead, and we'll stop there.”

 

Everyone in the group trudged on in silence, glad to be stopping. A few minutes later, they were stopped, and Jan was teaching the basic conjuring spell to her new pupils, showing them how to conjure up corporeal tents out of thin air.

 

“If you're gonna be gone tonight, when will you test me for magic?” Shippo came up to her and tugged her jeans.

 

“I can test you right now, Runt.”

 

“Okay. Why are you calling me Runt?”

 

“I heard Inuyasha call you that earlier, and decided that it would be a good name for you. I mean, you don't fix something that isn't broken, right?” She was smiling, and Shippo grudgingly agreed.

 

“How do you test me for magic?” he asked after a moment.

 

“Simple. I see if you can make any of the beginner spells work. I give you one spell for each magic type. Let's start with the Life magic, hmmm?”

 

They proceeded to try the spells out. Jan was surprised when Shippo proved strong in Earth, and even more surprised when he laughed at the spell she wanted him to use for the Perception.

 

“Why are you laughing?”

 

“I'm a fox-demon. Your `perception' magics are basically illusions!” Shippo laughed.

 

“Okay, try this spell, then!” Jan shoved a spell at him, and he complied. He got halfway through the spell - the results were visible - then the spell stopped. “Not so smug now, huh?”

 

“What happened?” he asked, perplexed.

 

“Perception magics are, in the early forms, illusions. At level 3, they become slight shifts in reality - like making something bigger, or more edible. At level 5, which is what that spell was, it's conjuring, like what I had them doing, except they were using a level 4 Earth-Perception mix spell.”

 

“Guys, I just thought of a problem we might have with our theories,” Kagome began timidly.

 

“What?”

 

“Half of our group, as it is, doesn't have a weapon. And all I have is a distance weapon.”

 

“Okay, that might be a slight problem. We'll go get the panther demons, and you try to figure that out.”

 

“Sure. Come back before dinner!” Sango said, and Maria threw a clump of dirt at her.

 

“My cooking's fine!”

 

Sesshomaru chuckled as Jan led him away from the others, and set the spell to the coordinates he supplied. “I'm going to enjoy some time away from them,” he said as the spell took action.

 

 

Stopped for Camp, Japan

Feudal Era, Wednesday, Night of Day 13

 

“Welcome to our humble camp, yada, yada.” Jan welcomed the Panther Demon tribe's leaders. “I'm gonna go detoxify the food, then you can eat, if you want to.”

 

“Detoxify the food?”

 

“Uh, yeah. My cousin cooked. She's a really bad cook. I have no idea how she can eat it, or how she's still alive. Every time she cooks, she eats what she cooks, and... well, she has a high level immunity for poisons, apparently.”

 

“Why do you let her cook?”

 

“Because I can fix it, and if I tell her not to, she'll go all pouty and make everyone miserable. She's not one of those people who'll mope alone. She has to have company in her depression.”

 

“Pleasant group you've got.”

 

“Yeah, I know. The food's fine now; let's sit and chat. Lecher, stop ogling Sango and get over here!”

 

Miroku blushed, and Sango hit his head. Everyone else just sat down with their food, a large space between Maria and anyone else, for fear her presence in and of itself would contaminate their food.

 

“Okay, our plan is pretty much a sketch right now. We were planning on bolstering our ranks with stone and metal golems - ask Maria for the basic definition later - and use a hammer-and-anvil attack. For the smaller group - the hammer, as it were - would be Inuyasha's group, plus myself. The larger - the anvil - would be the wolf-demon Koga and his wolf tribe. Then Silver had the idea to ask you guys for help, because you're pretty good fighters, when it comes to wars - that's what they say, anyway; I don't really have anything except for them to use as resources. We would probably split you guys one-third and two-third groups, to add to Koga's the two-thirds, and to Inuyasha's the one-third. Just estimating that, though.

 

“We wanted to also bolster the groups with magic help-outs; basic concealments, a night-attack spell, maybe some healing if I can figure out how to use Sesshomaru's Tensaiga without killing or incapacitating him. I also thought that I might be able to get a few energy attacks attached to some of your guys' weapons.

 

“I'm told that you have a bit of experience in magic, as well, so I was thinking of petitioning to see what magics you are familiar with, and which you might be able to use,” Jan finished at last.

 

“That sounds like a pretty fair plan, sketched or not. Things like that take precision and timing, though. And time to practice. Are you sure that you can do it, and quickly?”

 

“Yeah. The precision and timing stuff is already worked out; there's two telepaths, Sesshy and myself. Koga's got his wolves in a pretty good formation when they're traveling, so all we need to do is incorporate that into our plans. We don't need this to be flashy, really, only efficient.”

 

“The only problem with the plan is that Jan doesn't have any weapon except magic, Shippo only has his fox-tricks, and Maria and Amelia don't have anything. And I only have a bow,” Kagome said.

 

“We figured that we could go to Totosai for some weapons, but they wouldn't know how to use them.”

 

“I figured that we could try to convince Naraku to eat Maria's cooking, or slip some of it in their food, and avoid fighting altogether.” Miroku grinned, and then ducked as Maria pitched a rock at him.

 

“My cooking's fine!”

 

“Not helping, Miroku. We need serious solutions.” Sango looked at Miroku with one of those `you're an idiot' looks, and he had the grace to look embarrassed.

 

“Part of my training was to learn how to fight with a weapon of my choosing. I have a pair of magicked sai at home, but I don't think that's much use right now.”

 

“I can use a gun, but they haven't been invented yet...” Amelia started.

 

“I can use a Tazer?” Maria looked hopeful, but was quickly crushed as Jan gave her the same look Miroku had been graced with.

 

“The gun is probable, because I can conjure one, but a Tazer would be impractical, Maria.”

 

“What are they?”

 

“A gun is a weapon that replaced the bow in our time. A Tazer is a device that shocks and/or immobilizes the person being shocked. It is impractical, because it will only inconvenience Naraku's demons, not stop them or render them incapacitated.”

 

“Great help, then?”

 

“Oh! I just came up with a way we might be able to implement a part of Miroku's idea about Maria!”

 

“Really?”

 

“My cooking's fine!”

 

“We could have her boil up stuff, use a minor transport spell, and dump it over Naraku's forces.”

 

“She uses magic, too?”

 

“No, but she can do transport spells. They're pretty much like teleport spells, and she's the reason we're stuck here.”

 

“Oh, well, that sounds pretty simple, when you put it that way.”

 

“Yeah, I have a knack for over-simplifying explanations, and over-working problems.” She paused, then said, “We need to have a contingency plan, too, just in case some of this doesn't work. I'm gonna have the girls practice with spelled bronze knuckles, maybe an explosion spell or something. I'd put the spells on when I give them to `em, to show them how hard to hit to set the spell off. Then, I'd put them dormant until the battle. What do you guys think?”

 

“That sounds like a pretty good plan to me. Where would we get these `bronze knuckles' though?”

 

“Do you guys know what they even are?”

 

“Yea... No.”

 

“They're a piece of metal that you slip over your fingers to protect your knuckles when you punch something, and to deliver more damage. The cheap ones don't have padding inside, but good ones do. They're not even bronze, usually. They basically are used as metal knuckles.”

 

“That's a very good idea. Do they know how to punch?”

 

“Vaguely.”

 

“Hey!”

 

“You guys goofed off during our karate classes; you don't even know how to double kick!” The cousins huffed, then quieted down.

 

“We should make a trip to Totosai's tomorrow, then.”

 

“Yeah, we should. We'll come by at around noon to your compound tomorrow; if you need any specialty weapons that need him to be made, we'd like a list. If you'll help?”

 

“Yeah, we'll help. Naraku threatens us as much as you, and this is a good opportunity to pay back the life-debt we owe to Lords Sesshomaru and Inuyasha.”

 

“Good. You think you can hold your dinner if I teleport you back right now?”

 

“We should be able to.”

 

“Let's go. Everyone, we're gonna be off early in the morning, so pack it down for the night.”