Hey everyone! I've been inspired to write a three-parter, and with a flourish I give you the first installment. I know I promised you a different story, but... writer's block! I'm hoping this little side-work will straighten out the kinks I'm experiencing with my current fic, but I hope you can forgive me and enjoy this one, too!
Last of the Dogmen
Part One - Cast Away
Grasses shimmered in the wind as the sun began to set in the Sengoku Jidai. The Bone-Eater's Well, worn and weathered from many years of rain, snow, and wind, gave up once again its passenger, one Kagome Higurashi.
Climbing out of the well, Kagome shook her hair out of her face and straightened the long jacket she'd brought to stave off the cool evenings. Her mother had given it to her as a gift, and though she loathed getting it dirty, which would most certainly happen here, she decided to risk it. It looked great on her, all her friends in the future had told her so; maybe it would catch a certain hanyou boy's attention, too?
Slinging her backpack over her shoulder, Kagome wandered down the well-worn path to Kaede's hut, the one place in this village where she and her friends were always welcomed. Old Kaede usually had something good cooking, or some useful tidbit of knowledge to impart, but Kagome didn't much care about that. The old woman had opened her home to them, and for that, she valued her and respected her like she would a member of her own family.
Reaching the bottom step, she noted that the hut was dark. Frowning a little, she called out, "Kaede? It's Kagome, you home?"
No answer came from within, and Kagome sighed. Her friends were missing, too. Inuyasha is never around when his sense of smell would come in handy, she thought, shaking her head.
Dropping her pack inside the door, she went into the village in search of her companions, but a rustling behind her made her spin, glowering at the shrubbery that threatened to consume Kaede's hut completely if she didn't prune it soon.
The twilight was silent. Still, she stared in the direction of what she knew she'd heard for a long time, but nothing came of it. Finally, she turned her back, and resumed her path into the village.
Her search turned up Miroku at the local teahouse, the village being so tiny that it was really no more than a hut with a gabled roof to set it apart from the others around it. Sango was sitting on the outer porch, swinging her foot in agitation, arms crossed tightly over her chest.
Making a face, Kagome curled her fingers in distaste and decided that this was a situation she wasn't going to touch with a fifty-foot pole, and continued on.
The women she passed smiled at her, having long ago accepted her relationship with the hanyou boy whose name was the same as that of the very forest surrounding them. He was an asset to them most of the time, and so here his identity went more or less unnoticed, or uncommented on, anyway. Inuyasha hated nothing more than someone who was prejudiced of his mixed blood, and the village had long since decided that that didn't matter and treated him as they did each other.
Kagome heard the screams of a woman enduring labour pains, and knew immediately where Kaede had gotten to. Shippo and Kirara waited outside, trying to get a peek of the activity inside but the screen was continually flapped in their faces, blocking their view. She smiled indulgently, leaving them alone too, but now she knew her search for Inuyasha would lead her most likely to the God Tree in Inuyasha's Forest.
Should have stopped there in the first place, she thought grimly, but walked bravely into the dark, knowing that he would save her if anything happened.
She almost doubted her own trust in him when she heard that noise again, only to remain alone on the path.
Thinking she was going crazy, Kagome picked up the pace, and when she heard Inuyasha's voice replying to another, softer and lower in timbre, her heart sank. Not again, Inuyasha...
The tree line ended, but she stayed hidden, as she always did. He was hugging her, but Kagome had long since learned to regard this as something she was powerless to stop.
Inuyasha loved Kagome, her friends were always telling her so, and she, herself, knew he at least cared for her well-being, however much she disagreed that he loved her, but it didn't make it any easier on her heart to see them together like this. She knew if she just left him alone she'd save herself a hell of a lot of heartache, but her curiosity always managed to get the better of her. Every time she walked through this forest, a part of her mind expected to catch he and Kikyou together. Their relationship was a fact that she couldn't seem to force her heart to accept, even though her mind had no trouble at all, her eyes telling her the whole story. He may care about her, but he openly cared for Kikyou - therefore, in her mind, he cared for Kikyou more.
Kagome listened to them exchange promises, he to protect her, she to die with him, and then Kikyou left, and Inuyasha stood alone for several minutes before finally sensing her presence. Of course, she'd walked away long before he'd come around.
Thinking that she'd just go back to the hut for her bag and slip away unnoticed, Inuyasha caught up with her and eyed her warily, as if he was unsure whether he should tip-toe around her or just out-right accuse her of spying.
Finally, she'd had enough of his indecisiveness and remarked, "Make up your mind already. We both know you were with Kikyou just now, and we both know how that makes me feel. What only I know is that you aren't going to change for me, are you, Inuyasha?" Kagome lowered her gaze to the ground, feeling her hot tears threaten spill over even though she tried not to let him see.
"You were spying! I knew it!" He grinned at her the way he did when he'd just had a revelation. She sighed.
"It doesn't seem to matter, does it? I almost always seem to catch you with your pants down, don't I?" She hefted the bag and walked away, while he followed her closely, hissing, "My pants were not down! If you'd mind your own business we wouldn't have this problem, would we, Kagome? You are just a nosy girl after all, aren't you?"
She stopped, and he ran into her. She turned on him and hissed, "That was a figure of speech, you idiot. And if I minded my own business, your life would be easy, wouldn't it? Stringing the two of us along like a cat and two mice. Sorry Inuyasha, but I've been strung along, long enough."
He opened his mouth and closed it again as she walked away again, and he suddenly blurted out, "Don't leave me, Kagome. Please."
She stopped, but she didn't turn. "Give me one good reason why."
He was quiet, thinking, but she took his silence as his answer. "Goodbye, Inuyasha."
He balled his fists, frustrated more at himself, but taking it out on her. "Fine then, walk away, Kagome. Running from me won"t make it all go away! It just makes you a coward!"
Reaching the top of the stairs before her tears really did fall, she covered her mouth and ran into the darkness, leaving him alone and angry at the bottom.
Crossing his arms, unable to find any joy in his shallow victory, Inuyasha wandered away, looking for the monk. Maybe he had some sake he'd be willing to share.
Kagome hurried toward the well, but night had fallen faster than she'd anticipated, and with only a quarter moon in a sky mostly covered by cloud, she was practically blind, but finally found her way.
Leaning on the rim of the well, she thought angrily, You really are an asshole, Inuyasha. I wish I could make myself stop loving you.
A branch cracked. Kagome stilled, listening. That was the third time in only an hour that her blood had frozen in her veins, and her hairs had stood on end. Fear coursed through her like adrenaline, and the sensation of being watched was stronger now than it had been the two previous times. Something is wrong here...
Turning quickly, she opened her mouth to scream when what she assumed was a man, completely painted black, only the whites of his eyes and the pink of his mouth giving away his location, landed directly before her and bared his teeth, puffing her with fetid, rotten breath.
Before something clubbed the back of her head, she saw that his teeth had been chiselled to points, and the scream died in her throat as the world bled black around her.
The world rocked unerringly, and the sound of water lapping against wood brought Kagome out of her stupor. It was darker than black velvet, and only the occasional glint of moonlight off the waves provided her with an image of her surroundings.
She was on the sea; the rocking of the crudely-made little boat told her that much. She shivered, afraid to let her captors know she was awake. They had tied her up, and one of her captors held tightly in his hands the lead rope to a noose looped loosely around her neck, which would be pulled tight should she attempt to escape. Her hands, tied together, were numb, and she hesitated to move them to restore circulation, when a sudden fog enveloped the boat, making seeing those around her impossible.
Almost panicking, she stilled when the noose tightened slightly and her captor whispered to her in a foreign tongue. He babbled on, close to her face, while the others in the boat remained obscured by the mist. She caught the words "taisho", and "inu", but recognised none of the rest.
When the fog dissipated, out of the sea rose a huge wall of stone, jagged and sharply pointed, rising hundreds of feet high, the light of many fires silhouetting their shape in the back night.
Kagome made a face, her heart skipping a beat. What's happening to me? She thought. What are they going to do with me?
She opened her mouth to scream, but the men simply laughed at her. She took that as a bad sign; they seemed not to care if she made noise, and any hope of being heard by someone else died in her heart. I am so dead, she thought despairingly as they beached the boat and dragged her, grunting and shivering, into a cavern entrance to the mysterious island, fighting her captors every step of the way.
Torches led the way, the craggy shoreline forming a rock path along one side of the cavern. There were crevices and cracks filled with bones, tusks, horns and skulls from what seemed to her every kind of animal, from the smallest omnivore to the largest predator, some so large she wondered what they had once been a part of. Surely only a demon could have a skull so large as the ones she was passing now?
Up many crudely carved stairs they pulled her, her head throbbing from where they'd cracked her skull. Her clothes, damp from the sea and mist, were cold with her sweat now, her fear growing as they climbed higher, finally emerging from the canyon at the top of the wall, looking onto what appeared to be a crater, separated from the wall by a canyon a mile wide and twice as deep.
Kagome took it all in, her panic rising. Why have they brought me here? What are they going to do to me??
Images of sacrificial offerings (the biggest offering being her on a platter garnished with lettuce) and dying at the hands of gods knew what, since if they were sacrificing her, she had no idea who she would be sacrificed to... her thoughts began to swim, and she dropped, having fainted from fear.
Without stopping, the men hoisted her up and carried her the rest of the way, joking to each other in their strange language of how much their fallen god would enjoy such an unusual young offering.
She awoke with the sensation of hanging.
Afraid to open her eyes, Kagome let herself imagine she'd had a nightmare and that this whole ordeal was nothing more than a figment of her over-active imagination. She began to move, and, eyes flying open, she saw beneath her the edge of a wooden platform and then... nothing. Open space gawked up at her, and, looking up, she saw her wrists tied securely to two poles, which were moving out toward that yawning nothingness, and she let out a blood-curdling scream, trying desperately to hook her toes onto something, anything, to keep her from swinging out and hanging helplessly by her hands like some morsel on the end of a stick over the roaring river of lava flowing below.
Drums began to beat loudly, in a monotonous rhythm, and huge fires were lit along the wall behind her, lighting up the black sky accompanied by the screams and shouts of queerly-dressed natives, their bodies painted all black.
Kagome began to hyperventilate as the edge drew nearer, dropping her lower and lower toward the gaping canyon below, an awful heat rising up to drench her scratched skin in sweat.
"Help me!" she screamed, struggling in vain against her bonds, her legs stretching as she tried to cling to the platform. "Inuyasha, someone, help me!"
The edge slipped away, and she swung, terrified, out into the air, her arms burning from the strain of her own weight swinging like a pendulum between the poles.
Shit, they're really sacrificing me, she thought, just as the lip of the canyon wall opposite her drew nearer. They have to be sacrificing me if they have to swing me over here!
There was a crashing in the jungle ahead of her, and the drums stopped, leaving the air deathly silent. Kagome shivered in fear, dirt clinging to her sweat-slick skin and stinging as it was ground into her wrists underneath her rope bonds.
Oh gods, she thought, hearing another crashing sound as something white flashed through the trees, several of them falling over and landing with a crash, themselves. The ground shook; she could feel it coming.
Whatever it is, she thought, her terror consuming her, it's big.
The figure was obscured from her sight momentarily when a cloud of fog drifted over her, the cool night air meeting the stifling air generated from the lava flowing in the canyon below, forming a mist.
She trembled as its growls became audible, and, stepping out of the mist, an enormous white dog, covered in long fur with strange markings on its face, towered over her, inspecting its meal with a critical golden eye.
Kagome screamed. She screamed until her throat was dry, and struggled to no avail to free herself. The monster was huge, and she knew, as it lowered its head to sniff at her, that it would open its jaws and eat her right there.
At the sight of the giant canine, the natives began once more to beat their drums, this time to a much faster beat, as if in anticipation. The monster growled, and, to Kagome's horror, snaked out its tongue, dragging it up her chest, neck and face, as if tasting her, jangling a necklace of animal teeth she hadn't realised was around her neck, clicking them together noisily. She screamed again, though it was barely loud enough to match the timbre of the beast's growls.
"Inuyasha... help me..."
She knew he wouldn't come. He didn't even know she was gone, did he? In that moment, her heart skipped a beat, for she suddenly realised that for the first time in her life, no one was going to save her. She was all alone, and she would die alone, screaming as she was torn limb from limb, alive, by this giant dog.
The dog looked up at the wall, narrowed his eyes (she could tell it was a he right away), and barked viciously several times, but the shouts and cheers only got louder.
They're egging him on, she thought, never taking her eyes from the dog, his huge chest heaving and his barking deafening at so close a range. They're trying to make him eat me.
Suddenly, the dog reached down with its face, and, faster than she cloud blink, bit through her bonds, then snagged her around her midsection in his jaws, before turning and loping away into the jungle, back from whence he'd come.
The natives cheered in victory, and un-dammed the flow of lava from the wall, creating a bright, spraying cascade of lava that poured right back into the river below, pumped up through the rock by its own immense pressure. The sacrifice was a success, and they celebrated by butchering a cow and offering its blood to the gods above, each taking a turn drinking the red liquid from a cup passed around to each member, young and old.
Kagome's screams died away as the natives got up to dance.
Inuyasha wandered back and forth beneath the God Tree, lost in thought.
Damn you, Kagome!
She always made him feel so small. It was his fault Kikyou died; couldn't she see that? He didn't strive to meet her or anything, but he couldn't help the remorse and regret that overcame him whenever he was in her presence. He felt obligated to her. Why did it make Kagome so angry when he did nothing more than occasionally kiss Kikyou? He didn't spend his time with her. He didn't drag her back to be with him. He didn't think about her all the time...
So what was Kagome's problem?
He frowned at the ground as if it was its fault he couldn't unravel the mystery that is woman. He sighed, or, more accurately, blew air out his nose, making a faint steam cloud in the cooling air.
Kagome looked hot tonight, he thought unbidden, stopping to stare up at the stars, disappointed when there weren't any, and the moon was barely visible. He felt his gut flip over as he pictured her in his mind's eye, blowing him a kiss; smiling at him from under her lashes; in that "shower" of hers...
He blinked. He loved her. It was as simple as that.
He frowned again. Why hadn't he thought of that before? He knew his own mind, didn't he? He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. Maybe he didn't know himself as well as he thought. Sure, he'd regarded Kagome as a friend almost as long as he'd known her; she'd come into his world with a bang, bringing back painful memories of hurt and betrayal, and resembling Kikyou like she did... well, he'd been attracted, certainly. She drew people to her like nectar drew bees. Her personality was so gentle, caring, and affectionate. He was embarrassed to admit it to himself, but now that he thought about her, her feelings for him had been obvious all along. Was that why she pitched a fit over Kikyou?
He hoped he hadn't been as obvious. His friends had probably been laughing at him behind his back all this time, and if Naraku knew...
Inuyasha shuddered to think what Naraku would do with that information. Use them against each other, as he had Inuyasha and Kikyou? Inuyasha growled low, his claws piercing his palms deeply, the pain going unnoticed by his occupied mind.
He had to make things right. He had to find Kagome and cajole her into coming around again. Without her, he was no one. Without her... he had no one to love.
He thought Kagome must think he still loved Kikyou. He felt affection for her, sure. But she was dead; no longer the woman she had once been. Kagome was that woman now, and he had to prove to her that all his love was reserved for her.
Leaping away, he reached the well in record time. Immediately, he knew something was wrong. There was a strange scent here, a scent he didn't recognise, and Kagome's bag and jacket were on the ground, damp from dew.
He bent down to pick up the jacket, which had a large tear in the silk, right in the seam where the sleeve was attached to the main garment at the shoulder.
Clutching the jacket to his chest, he felt fear squeeze his heart like an icy fist, wringing his life's blood from it. His face paled.
"Kagome... No..."
Leaping to his feet, he grabbed up the bag and sped back into the village as fast as his feet would carry him.
Sango was fed up.
That Miroku... he was cruising. He was practically begging her to belt him one. He knew she hated it when he flirted with other women!
And now she found herself outside, stewing. That stupid monk.
She could hear the village's only two geisha inside, giggling at some clever thing Miroku had said. She crossed her arms and huffed in frustration. He's not even that good-looking.
Inuyasha landed next to her with a thump, startling her out of her anger. His eyes were wide, and intense. Something was wrong with him.
"Sango, where are the others?"
She looked at him curiously. "Miroku's inside, and the others are with Kaede at the-"
"Find them," he interrupted, staring her in the eye in a way that unnerved her. "Kagome's gone missing."
"What!? When?"
"I don't know, but we have to find her."
She nodded, noting the fear in his voice, and scrambled to her feet while Inuyasha took off down the road. Pulling open the paper screen, she interrupted Miroku and his two geisha, neither of whom, she noted, were even remotely pretty.
She stomped over and he smiled at her glowering face, saying, "Why, Sango, I'm so glad you finally decided to- ow!"
"Get up, we're leaving," she growled, dragging him to his feet by his ear and hauling him out.
The mistress yelled out the door, "Get back here and pay the fees, monk!"
Sango looked over her shoulder at the woman, the two geisha leaning past her to watch Sango drag Miroku away, and called back, "He'll pay, ma'am, don't you worry about that! Put it on his tab!"
Huffing, the mistress abruptly herded the two girls inside and shut the screen with a snap. Miroku, grunting and hissing in pain, was relieved when Sango finally relinquished her death-grip on his earlobe, which throbbed terribly.
"Sango, what on Earth?! What is the matter with you?"
She spun on him and shoved his staff at him, having picked it up back at the teahouse when he was in too much pain to remember to grab it. "Kagome's missing. We're going after her."
Miroku frowned. "Does Inuyasha know who took her?" He assumed Inuyasha was already aware that their friend was gone.
"No, I don't think so. Come on."
They hurried to the headman's house, where Inuyasha was telling Kaede what he'd seen at the well. The two hurried over and joined the conversation, Kaede wiping blood off her hands as Inuyasha spoke.
"And I found nothing but her jacket and pack. Kaede, have you heard anything recently? Anything out of the ordinary?"
Kaede made a face and shrugged, "There has been nothing, Inuyasha. All has been peaceful since your return at the beginning of the month."
Inuyasha stomped his foot and swore. Shippo piped up, "Where could she be, Inuyasha?" His eyes were worried, his voice high with anxiety.
"We'll find out," he replied grimly. "Sango, get dressed. We leave now."
Kirara transformed, and Inuyasha left Kagome's pack with Kaede, stuffing her jacket inside his kimono. She might be cold, wherever she was, since the warm fall days were giving way to cool nights.
Sango returned from behind the hut minutes later, ready to go. Hopping on Kirara, Miroku at her back, Shippo on his shoulder, they took off, Inuyasha leading the way.
Kaede waved, but inside she was fearful. Demons were attracted to Kagome, true enough, what with the Jewel in her possession. Had a demon crept up behind her and kidnapped her? Kaede hoped she would find out soon. Kagome's safe return was paramount if they were to reassemble the Shikon Jewel, and keep it safe. Only she had the power to contain it. If she were to be killed...
Kaede's chin trembled. Gods have mercy on us all.
Inuyasha pounded the sand again in frustration.
He'd scoured this beach, Kagome's scent trail leading him to this very spot, but it disappeared!
Kirara landed, neither of her passengers getting off. "What's the matter Inuyasha?" Miroku asked.
"I can't smell her anymore," he muttered, tearing a clawed hand through his silver hair. "Her trail stops here." He refrained from mentioning to them that her scent, which had been laced with pure fear back at the well, was now void of any emotion. He felt his heart grow cold at the possibility that she could be dead.
"They must have taken to the water," Sango mused, interrupting his thoughts, "those marks in the sand there are from a boat. And look, there are footprints all around."
Inuyasha looked closely at the sand. Whoever had taken her was barefoot, and had been few in number. He could make out four different sets of prints altogether.
"If this is where her trail ends," Miroku wondered, "where did they go? I have no knowledge of anything off this coast."
Inuyasha remembered the little hanyou children from Horai Island, and Sango beat him to the punch in saying, "What about a barrier, Miroku? Remember Horai Island?"
He stroked his chin in thought. "Quite clearly. But I do not sense a demonic presence here, or anywhere nearby, that could account for a landmass hidden in this bay."
Inuyasha listened to Miroku's conjecture, and stared off into the horizon, the waves blocking it every few seconds. A haze caught his eye. "I think we should get a second opinion."
Shippo raised a brow. "From who?"
Inuyasha put his nose to the wind, and pointed east down the coast, the direction the wind was coming from. "If you'd bothered to look for it, the scent of humans is coming from that direction."
Shippo looked that way, seeing tiny wisps of smoke drifting out to sea, and turned back to Inuyasha to stick out his tongue at him, but the hanyou ignored him. Getting up, he passed Sango and Miroku as Kirara turned to follow him, and said, "Those people down there might know something we don't about this bay. Come on."
Sango urged Kirara to speed up, and the fire-cat loped after him through the sand. Sango hoped deep down in her gut that Kagome was all right.
The village was deserted.
Great, Inuyasha thought, his gut twisting a little more. Just the thought of her being out of his reach churned his guts, and he froze up, useless to her. He forced himself to concentrate on the bastards who'd taken her, and what he'd do to them when he got his claws on them.
Sango climbed down off Kirara and shouted, "Hello? Is anyone here?" She was answered by her echo, bouncing off the curved cliff that rose up two hundred feet behind the village. There were fires burning unattended, fish drying on racks staked out in the sun, but no people.
Miroku smiled. "Ah."
They all turned to look at him. "What?"
He folded his hands as if everything suddenly made perfect sense. "They are fishing. There are no boats tied to the shore."
Sango and Inuyasha turned to look, and sure enough, the small dock was deserted.
They both turned back to him, their expressions sceptical. "They all went fishing?"
Miroku turned red. "Well, they could have... I suppose... though that does seem unlikely."
"Uh huh. Search that hut, Miroku, I'll take this one."
Miroku leaned into the nearest hut, and glanced around. There was a fire burning in the pit, and a fresh soup bone simmered in the broth in the pot hanging over the heat. His stomach growled, but, seeing no one, he ignored it to search another hut.
Inuyasha sniffed the air, but all he could smell was smoke and salt. Their efforts would be for naught.
Suddenly, a loud crash sounded from the beach, a massive wave splattering salty spray all over the dry sand; even Sango, who stood furthest from shore, felt the sprinkle on the wind.
The wind had picked up, and the waves were growing stronger. If anyone had been on the ocean, they'd have come ashore long before now.
There was a thump behind her, and Sango turned, scanning the cliff-side carefully, searching for the source of the noise. There was a dent, and a shelf; it could be a cave. She shouted over her shoulder, "This way!"
Inuyasha, holding his hand above his eyes to shield them from the sun reflecting off the white cliff-face, called, "Do you see something, Sango?"
"Yeah!"
Miroku, his attention diverted from the sound of the sea, his clothes almost soaked, followed his friends into the trees, where a sandy path curved upward at a gradually steeper angle, until they were almost climbing, the foliage around them so dense it blotted out the wind and sun.
"Sango, do you know where you're going?" Miroku asked, flicking a spider off his shoulder.
"No," she replied, "but I will soon enough."
They followed her for what seemed like hours. At one point, after the foliage ended, they were forced to inch out onto the cliff-face one by one, a narrow shelf all that kept them from plummeting to their deaths.
Shippo clung to Miroku's leg with all his might, while Kirara, hovering close by, made sure no one made a misstep and fell, she acting as their spotter on the treacherous journey.
Sango, clinging to the wall in fear, wished she'd just ridden Kirara to the entrance, but it was too late now. She'd been hasty, and she hoped she'd not die regretting it.
Finally, the five companions saw the cave come into sight, a dark opening in the cliff no wider than Sango herself. It was effectively camouflaged; its entrance faced to the side rather than outward, giving the illusion of a mere dent in the rock. If Sango had not been looking, she'd have missed it completely.
Gathering on the small ledge before the opening, Inuyasha volunteered, "I'll go in first."
Nodding, Miroku held Sango secure as Inuyasha inched past her, squeezing himself inside. Sango followed, Miroku and Shippo bringing up the rear. Kirara hovered outside, waiting.
Once inside, the cavern opened up into a series of rooms, all open to the main cavern. The rooms were more like large dents carved out of the rock, and there, in the center, was a small fire, just enough to produce light but not large enough to give off much smoke.
"Who goes there?"
All four stopped. Inuyasha held up his hand and flicked his fingers forward, motioning for them to fan out. "Are you the villagers?"
A single man stepped out from behind a wall, and they realised that the cavern did indeed extend beyond this room with the deep indentations. Holding up a torch, the man asked, "Do you come peacefully?"
"We do," Miroku supplied, stepping out front, bowing courteously to the man. "We are searching for a very good friend, good man. Can you help us?"
The man hesitated, and shushed someone behind the wall. Finally, he replied, "Come and sit. We will discuss your request."
Inuyasha fingered the jacket laden with Kagome's fresh scent inside his kimono, attempting to keep his cool. The villagers, who'd come out of hiding once they'd been seated around the small fire, had stared constantly at him for over an hour now. If this meeting weren't so important, he'd be long gone.
Miroku had told the headman the story about their search for the shards of the Shikon Jewel, and how important Kagome's retrieval was to their cause, not only as their priestess, but as their dear friend. The headman, who had been wary of them at first, introduced himself as Suikichi.
"And we have no idea who has taken her, sir. We are desperate to have her back, and so beg you for any information you might have."
The whispers from the women were about driving Inuyasha nuts, and he turned to them, baring his fangs, yet they only giggled and made rubbing motions with their fingers. Oh no, he thought, flattening his ears, no one touches these but Kagome!
Suikichi rubbed his brow in thought. These strangers' story was all too familiar to him, a man of the sea. He'd seen things in his time that would scare even the dog-eared mongrel scowling at him from over the fire, but those were his burdens to bear. He wondered which of the two men was interested in the girl, if either. They were certainly eager to have her back.
"Well," he began, using the same fist to prop up his chin on his knee, "despite the lack of demonic aura, there is a myth of an island in this bay."
Miroku frowned. "How can that be? I sense no aura at all."
Suikichi let his eyes half-close. This was the piece he didn't look forward to imparting.
"The myth about the island remains largely unproven, though a few claim to have seen it. Occasionally, we are visited in the night by strange beings. They are human, or are very good at pretending to be. They are black as night, and even fewer have actually seen them. We wake to find one of our village girls missing, usually young, un-married girls, who have been untouched."
Inuyasha raised a brow. "Untouched?"
"Yes. Virgins."
Inuyasha felt the blood stain his cheeks and turned his back on the giggles from the female section. Peanut gallery, he thought nastily.
Suikichi went on. "There is a legend, that tells of an island. They say it has walls hundreds of feet high, and that many strange beasts make their home there, banished to live out eternity confined to the island. Apparently, ancient heathen gods used it as a prison of sorts, to detain the strongest and most powerful demons in their animal forms.
"Of course, all of this is conjecture, and I, personally, wouldn't believe a word of it, if I hadn't seen it for myself. I still doubt what I saw."
Sango leaned forward. "But you said only few have claimed to have seen it..."
"Yes. I am one of them. Old Michiko over there is another." An old woman, ancient-looking, her fingers and toes knarled with the advance of severe arthritis, paid them no attention. Inuyasha assumed she was deaf.
"So, do you know where the island is?"
Suikichi sat back, his features blank. "No."
Inuyasha shot forward, Tetsusaiga clacking in the dirt, and hissed, "But you just said you'd seen it!"
"I did. But it was so foggy, and I was quite lost. Only by luck did I find my way back, and I tell you, that island is a cursed place. You do not want to go there." He shuddered at the memory of the demonic howling he'd heard that day, lost in the mist. The screams coming from behind the walls had haunted him ever since.
"We assume the black beings come from there. But that is all we know." He stood and dismissed them. "If you have no more questions, we ask you to leave us."
Sango looked around her, at all the people cowering in fear, even the girls who had at first been enamoured of Inuyasha's furry ears, and asked, "What are you hiding from, Headman? Why do you congregate in this tiny space?"
Suikichi looked at her through the eyes of a man who'd seen more than he'd ever wanted. He replied cryptically, "As I said, your friend isn't the only girl to go missing around these parts." Turning away, Suikichi went back around the corner, out of sight, the rest of the villagers following.
The group stood up to leave, when Inuyasha felt a pull on his sleeve. It was the old hag, Michiko.
She crooked her curled finger to him, and he leaned down, so she could whisper in his ear. Miroku and Sango watched anxiously as Inuyasha's expression changed from annoyance to puzzlement. The old woman left him, and hobbled away with the others. Inuyasha stared after her for a moment before brushing past his friends and exiting the cave.
Outside, safely riding Kirara to the beach, Miroku asked Inuyasha, "What did she say?"
Inuyasha stared straight ahead, his heart flip-flopping as he soared next to them. "She said, 'Taisho the great, never too late. Taisho the leader, he'll never leave her'."
Sango tilted her head in confusion. "What does that mean?"
Inuyasha shook his head. "I don't know. But I intend to find out." Once more he clutched her jacket to his chest.
I'm coming for you, Kagome. Don't give up on me.
The tide was in when they landed, soaking their feet in a matter of seconds.
Inuyasha turned west, and curled his lip in a snarl.
Sango and Miroku turned see what he was looking at, and a whirlwind of sand approached, dousing them when it stopped to reveal Kouga standing there, his wolf pack following in the distance along the shore.
Inuyasha, his face in a frown, spit out sand, and when Miroku shook his head, a ton of sand came out of his hair in a cloud, prickling Sango's eyes, her out outfit sporting sand in every crease and fold. Shippo dug sand out of his ears, and Kirara shook it off like water.
"Mutt! Where's Kagome?"
Inuyasha growled, his hand fingering Tetsusaiga eagerly and, as the pack finally caught up, Kouga put two and two together.
"You lost her again? Idiot! You are nowhere near competent enough to be protecting someone as important as her! She should have been with me, and no one would ever even have gotten near her! So who did you lose her to this time?"
Inuyasha's bangs covered his eyes, his growls giving away his obvious displeasure. Dumb-ass wolf, he thought, I don't need your help!
"We aren't sure exactly who has taken Kagome," Miroku explained, "but we were about to search the bay for an island rumoured to be out there somewhere."
Kouga turned to look, but the waves were too high to see anything. "You people are nuts. Just give up; I'll find her."
"No."
Kouga stopped and looked back over his shoulder, having turned to run back the way he'd come, and asked almost incredulously, "No? You don't tell me what to do, dog-boy."
"I'll be the one to find her, Kouga. You'll keep your wolf ass out of this, if you know what's good for you." The slow hiss of steel ensued as Inuyasha drew his blade, the metal growing into a broad fang that came to a deadly point.
Kouga lifted a brow, a smirk gracing his lips. "Are you threatening me, dog?"
Inuyasha snarled, but Sango quickly stepped between the two men with her hands up in a gesture of peace.
"Hey, now that's enough, you two. Inuyasha," she said, turning to appeal to her hanyou friend, "maybe having Kouga's help wouldn't be such a bad idea. You heard what the headman said lived on that island." She lowered her voice a bit. "You know, the wolf-pack could be immensely helpful. Safety in numbers. Yes?"
Inuyasha thought about her request. Was Sango suggesting that they use the wolf-pack as a shield, or... bait? As expendable assistance? He was liking this idea more and more. And maybe... Kouga will bite the bullet, too.
He lowered his sword, and put it away, pretending to be very reluctant to see the truth in her words. "Fine," he muttered, crossing his arms and doing a very believable job of acting sulky. "But I lead the way."
Sango turned back to Kouga. "Well? Will you help us?"
Kouga scoffed. "For Kagome, I'd do anything."
Sango smiled. "Great. Now, how do we find this island?"
Miroku, who'd wandered a ways down the beach, reached into a bush and lugged out an over-turned boat. "How about we take these?" He suggested, gesturing to several others hidden next to the one he was pulling.
"Let's do this," Inuyasha ordered, and carried another boat over his head. They set them on shore and piled in, grabbing stray oars lying about to propel them.
They pushed off, followed by two boats of wolves, into the high tide, searching for the fog the headman had told them about, Sango riding Kirara overhead, searching the sea for clues pertaining to the location of the mysterious island.
They floated for hours, with no sign of the fog Inuyasha thought he'd caught sight of earlier, when they'd first arrived at the coast.
Shippo, of course, was sea-sick, and had been hanging off the back of the boat the whole time, begging them to hurry up and find land; he claimed he'd lost everything he'd ever eaten, and there was no sign of land yet.
The wind was strong, whipping spray onto everyone every time a wave swelled and crashed into the hulls. Needless to say, the entire party save Sango and Kirara were soaked.
Above, Sango shielded her eyes from the glare off the water, her eyes tired from doing so for hours on end. Her skin was dry, her throat dry, and her eyes were dry. She thought it ironic how this could possibly be when she was literally surrounded by moisture.
When night began to fall, Inuyasha began to worry. The coast had long since disappeared behind them, and there was nothing ahead but open ocean. He was beginning to wonder if Kagome was lost to him forever, and battling the panic that threatened to overtake him.
Suddenly, through the howling wind, Miroku's chattering teeth, and Shippo's pathetic retching, the horizon became indistinct.
Sango shouted, "Inuyasha!"
He replied, "I see it!" and waved to the boats behind him, catching Kouga's attention and motioning for them to pick up the pace. Inuyasha himself had been rowing the majority of the time, Miroku occasionally relieving him. He found the work helped calm his nerves, and occupy his manic thoughts.
By the time dark had fully fallen, the moon, which was almost a quarter full, provided no light, the mist blotting it out completely.
"Is this it?" Miroku asked, trying to see through the dense mist. Sango, coming down with Kirara, hovered close to the boat.
"I think so," Sango replied, just as a faint light, orange in colour, blurred into view, it's shape indistinguishable.
Inuyasha smelled smoke over the salt, and very faintly, the same scent of those who'd kidnapped Kagome. "We're here," he told them grimly.
Keeping close, the three boats rowed into the shore ahead where a dark cavern loomed, rocks jutting out everywhere under the water, making their landing precarious. In the rocks were shapes, and faces, of demons, and each one they passed was more menacing than the last. Shippo moaned more in fear than sickness.
Finally pulling ashore, Kouga approached Inuyasha and said in a soft voice, "What is this place?"
Inuyasha shook his head. "It's where Kagome is. Let's go."
"Wait a minute. How do you know she's even still alive, Mutt?"
Inuyasha turned back to look at him, Sango and Miroku watching them both silently, their faces blank.
"Because that's the only way I can see her, in my head." He started to climb the cavern steps into the inner bowls of the island wall, and Kouga, after a moment's hesitation, followed, everyone else right on his heels.
An hour later, they discovered the source of orange light. Several fires burned along what appeared to be an ancient settlement along the top of the wall, on what would ordinarily be called a rampart, if so many buildings hadn't been erected there. Torches burned here and there, but the whole place was silent as death, and they crept through carefully, making as little noise as possible.
Ginta and Hakkaku, Kouga's two lackeys, whispered to each other, "I got a bad feeling about this place."
"Me too. I got this awful urge to run."
Kouga looked back at them over his shoulder, sending them a glare that clearly said, be quiet.
They lowered their gazes, but refrained from speaking anymore.
Sango, her boomerang held at the ready over her shoulder, crept along behind Inuyasha, her eyes darting here and there. She, too, felt the apprehension of being watched.
Inuyasha held Tetsusaiga out, having drawn it at the first sign of civilisation. He had a bone to pick with these people, but first, he'd extract from them the information he wanted to know, then kill them.
No one kidnaps my Kagome and lives to try it again.
They came to a high gate, barricaded with giant logs, carved to sharp points, and, looking around, the party noticed the same style of sticks and branches everywhere, leaning together in groups and even alone and upright in the few places along the rock they stood on that could support dirt. The top of the wall sported a similar style, spires of granite stretching like pointed fingers toward the night sky.
Whatever's in there, Miroku thought, isn't meant to come out.
Miroku looked at Inuyasha, then flicked his eyes to another flight of steps, leading up to the top of the gate.
Nodding for him to follow, Inuyasha led the way up, Sango and Kouga slowly trailing behind.
Reaching the top, they looked down on the inner valley of the island, and the river of lava that separated them from it.
"My gods," Miroku breathed. "It's a volcano, and the crater is the wall."
As he voiced this thought, the ground trembled beneath them, then was still. Inuyasha looked at him like he was right - creepy-right - but failed to comment. Instead, he asked, "What's with the bridge?"
Across the divide, what looked like a crude bridge, ending in two pieces that shot up in opposite directions, rested on the lip of the jungle side of the river of lava, and in the breeze generated by the orange molten flow, two segments of frayed rope dangled from each, as if the cut had not been clean.
Sango's eyes widened. "They sacrificed her," she whispered, and Inuyasha's face hardened, his brows pulling together and his lips turning south. No. They wouldn't dare...
He turned to Kouga. "Do you smell the humans?"
Kouga sniffed, trying to sort through the smells of carbon and molten rock, salt, and fire. "Barely."
Inuyasha nodded. "Find them."
They came down the stairs, Kouga calling out to his men, "Fan out! Search out the scent of humans, and bring them to me!" Wolves darted off, and Inuyasha sat down, running his thumb along the edge of Tetsusaiga, his blood eventually coating the sharp apex.
Kouga stood next to him, his arms akimbo. "What are you going to do, Mutt? Shouldn't you be running blindly after her?"
Inuyasha let out a low growl. "These people know something. I intend to find out what it is they know. And, make them pay for what they've done."
Sango glanced nervously at Miroku when she heard Inuyasha's tone. He was mad. Really mad. She wondered if they could head off the impending bloodbath.
Twenty minutes later, Kouga's pack had rounded up what appeared to be a small colony of people, all painted black. They chattered nervously to each other in a foreign language and glared at the new-comers. Several of the men eyed Sango in manner she found un-amusing.
Inuyasha approached an old woman and leaned down, right in her face. "Where is Kagome?"
The woman babbled in her language, her words like a hiss. He caught the word "taisho", but nothing more made sense. Soon the whole crowd started shouting, "Taisho! Taisho!" until Inuyasha grabbed the nearest woman and held his blade to her throat. "Where is she?!"
Reluctantly, the old woman pointed past the gate. He looked back at them, his eyes flashing red, then gold. He tossed Tetsusaiga to Sango, who deftly caught it.
Miroku's hand on his shoulder stayed Inuyasha's rage. He whispered, "No, my friend. Killing them will not alleviate your grief. You will regret this later if you don't get control of yourself now."
Slowly, the red faded away, and Inuyasha held out his hand for his sword. Sango gave it to him, and he secured it to his waist.
"Let's go." His words were gruff, and the people cowered slightly as he snarled at them in passing. They would not be here when he brought her back, if they knew what was good for them.
Busting through the gate with a simple Wind Scar, he led them across the crude bridge, stopping briefly to sniff the frayed ropes dangling in the hot breeze. The scent of Kagome's sweat still lingered on them.
Silently, everyone followed him into the jungle, trees and rocks here and there crushed as if something massive had gone this way. The others looked around fearfully; what manner of beast had caused such destruction merely with its passing?
Kouga began to wonder if Kagome was worth the risk he was feeling to his life right now. Whatever came through here was enormous; he didn't think he had the nerve to battle it and come out alive. Self-preservation was beginning to rear its head, but he'd come this far - there was little point in turning back now.
Inuyasha plodded ahead like a workhorse. I'll find you, Kagome, he thought grimly, or die trying.
Well, that's the end of Part One. Love it? Hate it? I certainly hope not, lol! Two more parts are on their way, and I'll make reading fun for you guys - whoever can tell me which movie inspired me to write this fic, I will personally write a one-shot dedicated just to you! The first correct guess wins, so, even if you didn't much like it (it'll get better, I promise!), you'll at least get a one-shot all to your onesy, savvy? See you at Part Two, amigos!!