InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Yume no Naka: Of Gods And Youkai ❯ There Are Always Two Sides To A Story ( Chapter 1 )
Notes: Whoa, new story! *smiles* Please be kind and review, this story is dedicated to my L.A. teacher, Mrs. Youngblood, who first introduced me to the wonders of Mythology.
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or Ranma ½. However, I do own this little blue cloud…*petpet*
R&R: Read and review, and add some opinions so I know what you guys want!
On~
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Yume no Naka: Of Gods And Youkai
By elementalspirit125/ Elementsofmine
Chapter One: There Are Always Two Sides To A Story
Drool…drool…
To think that a story begins with those two simple words. Or one, depending on whether or not you count them as the same word. To me, they're different.
One's capitalized.
"Baka, how am I supposed to tutor you if you keep falling asleep?"
Slapping a book lightly across one's head is always an excellent way to wake one up. It's working now.
"Owwweeee, Sango!" I feign great injury. "Now look what you've done; I've probably lost five brain cells with that, which I can not grow back."
Ha, see? I do know some things.
Another thing I know is that Sango hates it when I ignore her lectures on 'piffle- logy' or whatever she was saying…
"Kagome," she meets my eyes squarely, hands on her hips. "You're failing English; even a half- blind fool can see that. Regardless of how many brain cells you lose, you're still going have to bring your grade up to at least a C if you want to pass, B if you want to keep going onto higher levels. Please, start paying attention to what I'm saying, I can assure you that Mythology is very important and quite fascinating at times!"
I yawn. She still stares at me, bewildered to her nerves' ends about how one can possibly associate the word 'boredom' with 'mythology.'
Besides; wouldn't you rather learn about 'piffle- logy?'
\\~*~//
Inuyasha yawned. "But dad," he whined. "It's not my fault your stupid wife hates me. It's her fault for cursing my god damned life. Make her do the quest, not me!"
His father only sighed. As Zeus, king of the gods at Mount Olympus, his tasks were usually the hardest and most difficult compared to those of all the other gods.
Which meant he was stuck fast with his arrogant and stubborn half- son, Inuyasha.
"There's nothing I can do about it," he sighed, wishing that Inuyasha wouldn't scowl so. "Hera's a full -fledged goddess, she'd skin me alive if I made her take the quest."
Inuyasha screamed in frustration and punched at his father wildly.
His father only sighed, and prepared to make a shield when all of a sudden, in between them, another white- haired man appeared in a puff of purple smoke.
The blow landed on the man's back.
The man's armored back.
The man's spike-tipped, armored back.
"EARGH!!!" With a scream, Inuyasha began to dance about wildly, cradling his limp fist. Sesshomaru regarded him coldly, and gave a flick of his wrist to show that he was annoyed. Inuyasha immediately shut up, and started to vainly use his one un-injured hand to pry open his mouth that seemed to have been firmly shut.
Zeus, however, brightened visibly. "Sesshomaru!" he roared, giving his eldest son a huge slap that sent him stumbling over his feet.
"how've you been? Enjoying your new role as God of the Underworld, eh?"
The corners of Sesshomaru's mouth twitched slightly, his infamous rendition of a smile. Coolly flipping his jagged black cloak over on shoulder, he made sure the material hit his fuming, still-silent brother straight in the face before replying.
"It's fine father, great," Sesshomaru replied, impatiently waving aside the matter. "But I'm here to talk to you about something else…"
His father's smile lost a bit of it's luster.
"Oh…really?" he asked weakly.
Actually, really. Zeus had a good idea what Sesshomaru was about to say…
Sesshomaru's tone of voice was serious. "I've tried to put it off for weeks now father, but I swear, it's only gotten worse and now even Rin is complaining."
Zeus paled. Sesshomaru's wife, Rin, was a pretty creature, doubling as both Queen of the Underworld and a minor Goddess of Spring. Quiet and willing to obey, she made a nice pairing for Sesshomaru. If she had complained, then it must really be important.
Sesshomaru jabbed a finger at Inuyasha, who promptly tried to bite it, forgetting his mouth was still spelled shut.
"He has got to go."
Meanwhile, Inuyasha was flapping his arms wildly. Losing his center of balance, he toppled over, hitting the marble floor of the palace face-first.
Or nose-first.
Sesshomaru continued his speech, ignoring his father's wince at the clearly audible crack.
"You see?" he asked calmly. "Inuyasha has always been trouble. But now, he's just gone too far; even you have to admit it. You've got to do something…" He smirked at his brother's twitching form. "I suggest getting rid of him."
Zeus also stared at Inuyasha's convulsing body. "Funny thing about that," he said, laughing weakly. "You're not the only one who has had something to say about him. A few other people have recommended the same thing…"
Inside, Zeus felt his insides give a guilty squirm. Had he really said 'a few'? He could have scoffed at himself. More than a hundred, no, two hundred (his insides squirmed uncomfortably again) people, gods and villagers alike, had either talked with him or prayed to him for the end of their miseries.
All their 'miseries' seemed to, strangely enough, all lead back to Inuyasha. From that one time where all the rivers of Greece had flooded with pink bubbles (and later, Zeus noticed, all the laundry soap had mysteriously disappeared from Mt. Olympus) to the sudden flash storm that had literally, rained cats and dogs, inside households. Inuyasha was always found guilty. Even thought his mother had been a mortal, he had still received the strange, god-like powers from his father that he, unfortunately, used mainly for trickery and causing other's pain.
Zeus realized Sesshomaru was still talking.
"-And Rin then spent days trying to get the itching powder that seemed to have gotten into our underclothes out. I refuse to leave Mt. Olympus until Inuyasha is put under some sort of restraint!"
Although Zeus felt that he himself was the one that needed a restraint to keep from laughing as images of an extremely itchy Sesshomaru popped into his head, he managed a sage nod.
"Aye son. Come with me now, and we'll talk things over."
Gesturing for his son to follow him to the conference room, he found himself looking at an exceptionally angry Inuyasha, nose slightly red and flattened quite considerably.
"Mm…mphf..mpf…phff!"
Sighing, Zeus snapped his fingers, causing Inuyasha to disappear in a strange red tornado.
Turning back, he and his elder son walked down the hallway again, only to be interrupted by a small blue cloud.
"Good morning Hermes!" Zeus called out jovially, "Or is it young Ryoga, son of Hermes?"
The messenger god's voice snorted, and Hermes' voice broke out of the small mass of wavering blue wind.
"Young Ryoga? Phaw, he can't even remember where he is sometimes. Takes him four weeks to find his way back home and two more to actually get in his own room." Coughing small wisps of smoke, the cloud rambled on. "Anywhos, I've got a message for you from young Inuyasha, so I'll make it quick."
Sesshomaru gave a barely- audible cough, and began tapping his foot impatiently.
Hermes hardly ever made it 'quick'.
Zeus could feel the ground vibrate slightly from Sesshomaru's impatient foot-tapping. The cloud, even though it was hovering a good few feet off the ground could obviously sense them too.
"Be patient young man, I'm coming to it!" Turning itself about back to Zeus, the cloud huffily continued.
"You appoint them as a god and Boom! their ego inflates twice the size it was before. Soon, they start walking with their noses in the air and think they're the God of Gods." Propelling itself in front of Zeus' face, it seemed to bow slightly. "No offense intended, mi'lord."
Zeus coughed slightly, hiding a smile at the little cloud's antics. He still wondered from time to time why Hermes had chosen a little cloud out of all things to use to convey his messages. Hermes was old, and his body was no longer able to take the long distances required by holding the role of the Gods' Messenger, and so, a little fleet cloud was used to carry his voice around.
Pushing out his non-existent chest out, the little cloud cleared it's throat importantly. "And so the message is…well, let me make a few things clear first. One; I don't do expletives or cursing. Two; I don't pass along hand gestures, rude or not (here, Hermes gave a cough that suspiciously sounded like 'rude'). And Three; when the sender threatens to harm, maim, kill, or in this case, 'cut off your bloody head an' hang it from a tree' the messenger, consequences will be taken."
Zeus only twitched slightly as he thought of the 'consequences'.
"And so here is the message…although I believe it makes no sense; 'This isn't *expletive* funny you *expletive* old crackpot! Wait till I-Oof!"
Sesshomaru raised an eyebrow. "Wait till I-Oof?"
The cloud nodded wisely. "Ah, yes. Wait till I-Oof! Those were the exact words he said."
Zeus cocked his head curiously. "What was the 'Oof'?"
The cloud turned to leave.
"My punishment for threatening to decapitate me."
\\~*~//
Inuyasha gritted his teeth and tried not to scream. At least the searing pain off dropping twenty feet face first into boiling water seemed to open his mouth.
"You old senile fool, I'm going to get you…"
It wouldn't be so bad if Zeus had sent him there with his clothes. But no, he just had to send his son there butt-naked.
At least this was a holy spring, where only gods could enter.
Unfortunately for him, Hermes was a god.
And after that harmless little comment (what was it again, something to do with knives?), Hermes had decided to get nasty.
Inuyasha still remembered one of the first things he had ever learned from Immortal School; Rule Number 1; Immortals can not teleport when he or she is in water or some other sort of liquid.
Inuyasha strained against the tight ropes that were bound furiously around both wrists and both ankles. At the other ends of the thick rope was a large stone.
He was stuck, naked, in the middle of an almost never-used hot spring, where there was a point-two chance of being rescued.
"AAARRRGGGHHHH!!!!"