Note: I should let you all know that this is based off of an RP I did with a friend, I own NOTHING but the OC's that will be in this story. Now, here is the full Summary
Inuyasha and Kagome have left on a journey while Sango and Miroku left on their own to help those in need. While on this journey, Inuyasha runs into an old childhood friend that he hadn't thought about in years, in fact he had even thought that she had died so long ago. Now, they have to work together to kill a Youkai that is not only after the shards, but after his friend. During this journey, they learn much about the Youkai who is after his friend, learning about a lost clan of Inu that have thought to have all been but wiped out and his friend, learns something herself that she never knew about such as her true origins.
"Are you sure that there is a shard in that direction Kagome?" asked a young man, who had long flowing silvery white hair. A pair of white Inu ears atop of his head as they twitched in irritation. He turned and stared at his female companion with his golden eyes. His crimson coloured hakama and haori blew in the gentle breeze as they walked. As he stared at the girl though, he couldn't help but stare in irritation, it had been a day and a half since they had started to walk and there was still no sign of this village!
"Yes Inuyasha, it's this way. You need to learn how to relax already." Said the girl, known as Kagome. Anyone in this era would assume that she was just simply dressed strangely. In a way, she was for that time period. Kagome, dressed in a long sleeved white shirt with a red bow and a green collar, along with a short green skirt. To complete her outfit, she wore a pair of long white socks and brown shoes. Her long raven coloured hair blew in the wind and she couldn't help but stare at the open field with her chocolate brown eyes.
An annoyed sigh escaped the male as he grumbled about their journey taking forever. More so since Kagome no longer had her odd contraception that she called a 'bicycle' or whatever. Not to mention, their friends Sango and Miroku were off on their own journey who knows where about other jewel shards or possible leads about some odd legend that could be used to strengthen their cause.
"Inuyasha, you need to stop being a jerk already! Kagome has never been wrong about a jewel's location!" Shouted a small boy. The boy looked to be about eight or so, much younger than his companions, he had long reddish orange hair pulled back in a small ponytail. He wore a simple green shirt that is decorated in white leaves. A vest made of what appeared to be a golden coloured fur, otherwise he only wore a pair of dark blue pants. What made him different though? Was the fox feet he had, and a bushy fox tail behind him. His pointed ears though, were slightly hidden by a few stray locks of his hair that had fallen out of the ribbon that held his hair back.
Inuyasha narrowed his golden eyes on the small boy as he said "Shut it runt!"
"Inuyasha sit!" Shouted Kagome.
A loud boom echoed in the empty field, along with an agonised cry of pain from the Inu-eared man. If anyone was honest with themselves, this was actually pretty normal for the group. Inuyasha, would say something that would either make Shippou, the small boy, cry, or irritate Kagome, and then he would be sat thanks to the power of the beads of subjugation that resided around his neck.
"Damn it!" Shouted the silvery white haired man as he laid in a hole created by his own body.
How could this day get any weirder really? Well, no one could really say for sure though they would find out at some point if anything would go their way or just go into complete and utter chaos. Well, that was the norm for this group no matter how crazy it got for them.
"Come on Shippou, we'll let Inuyasha catch up to us when he can pick himself up." With that said, the young woman started to walk on ahead. As for Inuyasha, he groaned and tried to push himself out from the hole. He could remember only one other person that had ever beaten him like this. Though, he hasn't seen her in a very long time. To the point that he had believed that she had died all those years ago. After all, children youkai's die if they aren't trained enough in survival to survive on their own if they are orphaned. Shippou, is a lucky kid to have found someone like Kagome in his young life.
Frowning a little at that, he felt bad that he hadn't thought about his only childhood friend in a very long time. What kind of friend was he, to forget someone, a youkai girl that didn't shun him just because he was only a hanyou? The girl, from what he could remember was rather timid and scared about things that surrounded them, but there was something that had scared her more than anything else. What that had been, he had no idea… and he never saw her again when she had said that she had to return home before her parents punished her…
What was she afraid of?
Was she even still alive in the first place?
Shaking his head, the young man got up and started to dust himself off. Letting out a soft sigh, the young man knew that he couldn't keep dwelling on the past. It would only cause him more problems like his past with Kikyo did with Kagome. That was the last thing that he wanted… Kagome meant a lot yet, he couldn't just come out and say it damn it!
Letting out a soft groan, he started to follow his friend while shoving his hands into his sleeves. Deep in thought as he closed his eyes. The only thing that flashed in his mind's eye was a pair of frightened deep golden eyes that was tinted with crimson that reminded him of a burning flame. "Why didn't I try to help her back then? Maybe I could have done something." He said to himself, not really expecting any kind of answer, though knew that if she was alive that she was happy. Or… if she had died back then, that she had found some kind of peace after all these years. That was all he could ever ask for anyone really.
Taking a deep breath, Inuyasha opened his eyes as he called out to Kagome. "Yo, Kagome, think we could have some ramen soon? I'm starving!"
Once they finally entered the village, they noticed a lot of people were staring at Inuyasha with a rather odd look on their face. It seemed as if a mixture of fear and awe at the same time. Why that was, they had no idea. There was something going on, though they knew that this was the village where the tale of a snake youkai would rampage through and devoured poor innocent humans in their wake now and again.
A shard was near, yet what confused Kagome the most was that she could also sense a few others, but couldn't seem to locate them in the least.
Kagome looked around, the stares were still going on and still directed at Inuyasha. Maybe they thought that he was going to attack them? No, there was something more that was going on here. This was after all the furthest that they had ever traveled before, so maybe there were stories out here that even they weren't aware of.
Whispering could be heard, the only thing that Kagome could make out was 'Inu Youkai' and 'Protection' or even 'True self'. What did they mean by that in the first place?
Looking around, Kagome tried to see if she could find the leader of this place. Maybe if they could talk to the leader that he would be able to tell them what is going on and maybe if he could tell them where that Snake Youkai is so they could go after it. "Inuyasha, do you know who could the leader be?" asked Kagome.
"No. I haven't been out here… at least not recently." Kagome turned her head at that. Inuyasha looked down before calmly saying "Last time I was out here I was a kid. That was so long ago now so long before anyone here was even born." Kagome forgot that youkai's aged differently to humans, even a hanyou aged differently. "We'll just have to ask around." Inuyasha said with a sigh.
"That could take forever." Shippou whined.
"Not if we do it this way." Kagome suggested before looking around and found a woman just pouring out some dirty water, most likely had just finished washing her laundry. "Excuse me, miss?" The woman turned her head and smiled at Kagome, only to stare in shock when her gaze fell onto Inuyasha. "We're looking for the leader of the village. DO you happen to know where we could find him?"
"He is inside to be honest. He's my husband." The woman answered honestly. Kagome frowned a little as her gaze was on the Inu eared man that was next to her. "You can come inside if you wish." Her gaze almost seemed to snap outta place for a moment before she pushed herself back up and started to walk inside. The others started to follow her back inside.
"Why is everyone staring at Inuyasha so oddly?" Asked Shippou.
"I'm not sure." Whispered Kagome.
"It is starting to piss me off." Grumbled Inuyasha before they all made their way inside.
It seemed like a simple hut, though it made the small group a little nervous. Mostly because the whole time they walked inside, the woman would turn back and look at Inuyasha over her shoulder before resuming her stare ahead of her. "She just keeps staring at Inuyasha." Shippou pointed out. Inuyasha and Kagome couldn't help but nod at that. There was something off about this village, though what that was no one could point it out as of yet.
"Sit here, my husband should be with you in a moment." With that, the woman took off.
"Why do they keep staring at me? I've never been here." Inuyasha grumbled.
"Maybe they've never seen a youkai like you before?" Pointed out Shippou.
"No, they had fear and awe on their faces. They seem to have mixed feelings about Inuyasha, though can't be sure as to why that is." Kagome concluded.
"It is because he is an Inu Youkai." Said a man, causing everyone to turn and look as a tall man started to walk into the room.
"Because I'm an Inu Youkai?" Inuyasha said with confusion.
"Yes. You see, Inu Youkais have mixed feelings from humans around here. Due to an old legend, a tale really, and what is happening recently." The leader said with a frown on his face.
"What do you mean?" asked Kagome.
The man looked at all three of them before asking "None of you are from around here are you?" Only Kagome and Shippou nodded their heads. Turning to Inuyasha, he asked "Are you though?"
"I am, but that was long ago. I haven't been here in a very long time at least, to these lands." Inuyasha answered, causing Kagome to stare at him with wide eyes. "What of it?"
"Well, I guess you don't know this then. Long ago, there was an Inu Youkai, known as 'The Savage Flame' who attacked and killed many. No matter they be youkais or humans, The Savage Flame killed for the thrill of killing for their master." The leader said with a soft sigh before rubbing his forehead. "Yet, one day The Savage Flame just… disappeared. No one knows what happened to them but assumed that the youkai had merely disappeared or died out."
"Okay, but what does that have to do with what's happening recently?" asked Inuyasha with a growl.
"Ah yes, recently the Snake Youkai that has been attacking, we are saved by an Inu Youkai, though we can't tell what it look like. They are wearing a mask, only their eyes and ears are revealed, along with their tail." Inuyasha rolled his eyes at that. "Because of your ears itself, we assume it to be you but, you lack the tail and the right eye shade from what we have seen of their eyes." Figures. He is mistaken for a youkai just because they had the same ears. "Plus, their ears are a little bigger than yours."
"How much bigger are you talking about? Aren't they normally that small on Inu Youkais?" Asked Kagome.
"Not really, some Inu Youkai have different shaped ears, or like in my brother's case have pointed ears." Inuyasha calmly pointed out. Okay, that made a bit of sense the only Inu Youkai's that Kagome has ever really encountered were Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha. How was she to know any of this? It wasn't like there was any kind of book about youkai's that she could read about.
"If this mystery youkai is protecting you all from this youkai, then why hasn't it killed the youkai off?" asked Inuyasha.
"Not sure. The youkai always attacks in the village, the Masked Youkai always appears but only fights the youkai off without any harm to the village or villagers. At least, so long as it could be prevented." The Leader said with a frown.
"There isn't enough space." Inuyasha whispered, Kagome nodded in agreement.
"How about we try to find it in the field or the forest?" asked Shippou.
That could work, though there was no guarantee that it would. Taking a deep breath, the young woman calmly said "We'll get rid of it. If I think it has something that we are searching for, then we'll get rid of it for you."
"Thank you. The Mystery Youkai never comes into the village otherwise. If you can take care of it then we'll reward you." The Leader said with a smile on his face. Kagome just nodded with a smile on her face. It would be nice to be able to sleep with the roof over her head for the night. That was for sure. Though, Kagome couldn't help but wonder how it would be lured out, unless it would be attracted to her Shikon Shards like other youkai's have been in the past. It could work, though this was assuming that the youkai was close in the first place.
"Let's just get this over and done with. I want to hurry up and get this over and done with before Naraku tries to get the shards." Grumbled Inuyasha.
Kagome could only roll her eyes at Inuyasha but knew that he was right. They had to hurry up and get the shard before it was too late.
Inuyasha, Kagome and Shippou made their way out to the forest. It would allow Shippou to take cover when the youkai would come. After all, the young kitsune couldn't fight yet, he was still far too young for that to happen. Kagome looked around as she wondered who it was that the Masked Youkai could be. Why hadn't the mystery youkai just taken it out into the forest in the first place? There had to be something that she was missing, though she won't know unless she could ask that youkai in person.
Letting out a soft sigh, the young woman turned to her Inu eared companion as she asked "What do you think of this mystery youkai?"
"I'm not really sure, the only thing I can think of is that the youkai didn't try to lure the snake out is because it didn't have anything to lure it out." Inuyasha guessed, not really sure himself. The snake could have been attracted to anything, but they weren't sure as to what it could be. Looking around, he saw that the snake would try to get around, though thanks to the trees it would make it rather difficult for it to slither around. As for Inuyasha himself, he could easily leap through the trees without much of an issue.
"I kinda hope we see this mystery youkai though." Said Shippou with a smile on his face.
Inuyasha could only roll his eyes at that. "Don't get too excited runt. There is no sure way of even knowing if that youkai will even show up. Though with the shards of the Shikon Jewel, there is a good chance that it'll come and get it to add on more."
"That is smart of you to think about Inuyasha." Shippou said with surprise.
"Runt!" Inuyasha was about to punch him in the head, until his ear twitched. Turning around quickly, he sniffed the air and knew that there was a chance in the wind, laced with a new scent that was approaching and fast. Along with the sound of something that almost seemed to be slithering toward them.
"I sense a shard." Kagome whispered softly.
"I'll need you to hide for now Kagome. Tell me when you see the shard on the youkai and I'll try to keep it distracted and you shoot. If that doesn't work, shoot to keep it distracted." Inuyasha calmly said.
"Great plan, but I only have a few arrows idiot." Kagome said with a sigh.
"Fine. Just try to conserve them if you have too!" growled out the Inu Hanyou.
Kagome just rolled her eyes yet went to find a good vantage point to shoot from. She knew that she shouldn't hide, but with there being so many trees it would be difficult to get a clear shot. Yet, this was in a sense, Inuyasha's territory, he knew how to fight in a forest, knew how to use the trees to his advantage. To be honest, she wished that she could do something like that, but knew that it would take her a long time to learn something that took Inuyasha his whole life to learn.
"How far is it Kagome?" Asked Inuyasha.
"Not far." Answered Kagome.
"Alright, let's get this fight over with." Inuyasha said as he pulled out his sword from the sheath. A golden light all but seemed to explode from the sheath as it had engulfed the blade changing it into a huge steel fang, the guard transforming into what looked like a fur ring. A true fang to be sure, for it was the fang of his father the great Inu no Tashino.
A loud hiss echoed through the trees, a sure sound that the snake was coming toward them. Yet, the air almost seemed different right now. He knew that the snake was there, but there was something else. He could swear that he sensed something but he just couldn't be sure what it was though. Taking a deep breath Inuyasha looked up and saw that the snake burst through the trees, almost breaking some of them down in the process.
The snake was a white serpent, much like the one that had bitten Kagome so very long ago. The thing had fins at the sides of its head, almost looking like sharp teeth at the end. The fins though were folded before hissing at the Inu Youkai, fins stretching out before the tongue just stuck out in a hiss. "Inuyasha, the shard is in its head!" Shouted Kagome, Inuyasha nodded his head. He'd have to find a way to slash the snake at the head and knock the shard out. There had to be something that would allow him to get closer.
The snake hissed before charging at the Inu Hanyou. Inuyasha jumped out of the way, managing to slash his sword toward the snake, yet the damn thing dodged. The snake was smart, though not smart enough. It hissing was getting irritating though the snake tried to whack the Inu Hanyou with its tail, though Inuyasha managed to jump over it before went to jab his sword into the snake's head.
Yet, the snake twisted his head before smacking Inuyasha into a tree. The silvery white haired man flipped through the air before his feet were planted on the trunk of the tree before pushing himself toward the snake once more. Damn it, he had to think of something that he could do! Snarling, he swung his sword, managing to cut the snake's hide, yet it only healed within moments. Though the snake let out a snickering hiss before slamming its body into Inuyasha once more.
"Inuyasha!" Shouted Kagome, causing him to lose focus as he stared at Kagome. Sadly, that lack of focus cost him as he felt his body slam into a tree causing the wind to be knocked out of him. Falling onto the ground, he let out a wheezing cough before carefully pushing himself back onto his feet and glared at the snake. "Damn you." Growled the Inu Hanyou before he charged once again.
Though the snake dodged quickly and rushed forward, rushing away from Inuyasha and toward Kagome and Shippou.
"Kagome! Shoot him!" shouted Inuyasha in panic.
Kagome went to grab her bow and arrow, went to take aim so she could finish off the demon. Yet, it seemed that she wasn't doing it quickly enough! Of all the times for him to want to use his Kaze no Kizu, it had to be when he can't! Inuyasha tried to rush toward him, tried to make a mad dash to them so he could save them but he wasn't fast enough!
Kagome went to shield herself before she felt something standing in front of her. Opening her eyes, Kagome saw someone standing in front of her. She almost thought it was Inuyasha until she noticed a few things different about this person. One, there was a long silvery white tail that swayed side to side. The long silvery white hair with two simple fiery red highlights that started at the bottom of the person's hair before fading near the two dog ears atop of the person's head. And, the ears were bigger than Inuyasha's.
This person must be the Masked Youkai that the village mentioned! Before anyone could say anything, this mystery youkai jumped forward and pulled something off of what she could make out to be a chain and watched as it transformed into a sword. Yet, it was still covered by a mixture of a crimson and golden light as it charged at the rushing demon. Slashing through the demon's hide like a hot knife through butter.
Kagome couldn't even react or say anything as it all happened in a flash. The demon seemed to explode, causing everyone to shield their eyes. Once the light started to die down, Kagome looked around and frowned a bit as she saw no remains of the snake. She looked for the shard, hoping to sense its light before staring in shock. Standing at a distance, was the Mystery Youkai, it was holding the shard!
"Hey drop that!" Shouted Inuyasha as he went to attack, yet the Youkai turned and stared at the tiny group and that was when Inuyasha's threat died. Standing there before him was indeed an Inu Youkai, he couldn't make out the face as it was hidden by a cloth-like mask.
The person standing before him wore a simple kimono made with crimson and golden silk for sure. Yet gave this Youkai enough free movement for a battle to take place. He watched as this person hid the shard in their kimono and that was when Kagome said "I can't sense it anymore!" though he didn't pay attention to that. He also noticed that this Youkai had a long white bandage cloth wrapped around their right hand yet he could make out that on one of the sides of the bandage seemed to have a reflective surface.
But what really stopped him, was the colour of the eyes.
The Youkai's eyes were a fiery crimson with gold within the depths. Just like what he remembered from his childhood. Inuyasha whispered "I know you."
The Mystery Youkai just stood there as confusion reflected in their eyes.