A/N: This is my first Fan fan-fic. I hope you guys enjoy it. Please R&R. The more reviews I get, the more likely I'll be to update.
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or any of the characters, but as soon as Naraku and Sesshomaru are on sale on Ebay, they will be mine!
Chikara is a character out of my mind, I would appreciate it if she stayed mine.
The swishing of cloth and the rustling of leaves were the only sounds in the forest at the time. The stench in the air was of miasma and death. It was the stench of Naraku. This is what attracted the Western Lord, and scared away everything else. Sesshomaru was racing through the trees, limb to limb, in the direction of Naraku's scent.
He knew there must have been a reason why Naraku was revealing himself now, but he didn't really care. Other scents began to appear. Those of Inuyasha and his horde. A low growl escaped the taiyoukai's throat.
Naraku is mine. That filthy half-breed brother of mine will not beat me to him.
Sesshomaru continued on, until he came to a clearing. There, Naraku and his incarnations, Kagura and Kanna, waited. Naraku wore a smirk on his face. With his two incarnations were Kohaku, and a woman that Sesshomaru could not recognize.
"Welcome, Sesshomaru-sama. How nice of you to join us." Naraku said, following it with a deep chuckle.
Sesshomaru drew his Toukijin, and kept his emotionless expression up. "This ends now, Naraku, with your blood upon my Toukijin."
Laughter erupted from Naraku's throat again. "Well, before you kill me, Sesshomaru-sama, let me introduce my newest companion."
The woman that Sesshomaru could not identify stepped forward. Her raven tresses fell down her shoulders, and her slate eyes held no life. The kimono she wore looked as if made for royalty. It was purple with a silver obi, and silver floral designs along the bottom and sleeves. A navy stripe adorned each cheek. Her ears were pointed, and a black fox-like tail drooped low behind her. She wore no sandals, so her bare feet were hidden in the green grass that she stood on.
Tucked into her obi was a katana. Around the ebony sheath were designs matching her kimono, in pure white ivy. The hilt of her katana matched the sheath.
"Lord Sesshomaru, meet Lady Chikara." Naraku said, and Chikara inclined her head to Sesshomaru.
Lady Chikara? Oh course. This makes sense. She was the daughter of the Lord of the Northern Lands. The Lord and Lady were murdered almost half a year ago on a trip to the Southern lands. Chikara's body was never found.
"So, you were behind the deaths of the leaders of the Northern Lands, half-breed?" Sesshomaru asked, sensing the arrival of Inuyasha.
Inuyasha immediately drew the Tessaiga. "Time to die, Naraku!" He yelled.
Naraku laughed, once again. "Take care of them, Chikara."
Chikara turned to Inuyasha, and a cruel smirk crept onto her face. She raised one hand, and once the rest of the Inuyasha gang came into the clearing, blue fire shot from her hand, and engulfed the forest around the clearing in flames.
Shippo turned around and gawked at the fire. "Fox Fire.." He whispered, and then turned back to look at Chikara.
Chikara vanished, and reappeared behind Inuyasha. Before he could turn around, she had ripped through the flesh on his shoulder with her claws. Inuyasha growled, and fell to his knees.
Sesshomaru looked back at Naraku, and pointed the Toukijin at him. Energy flew out of the Toukijin, and went straight for Naraku.
Chikara appeared in front of Naraku, and erected a barrier made up out of fire. The energy made contact, and caused Chikara to fly back.
She twisted in mid-air, and landed on her feet behind Naraku.
"Fine, lets get this over with." Naraku said, and smirked once again.
Kagura and Kohaku began to attack Inuyasha and his gang. Chikara drew her sword from it's sheath, and ran towards Sesshomaru. She jumped up as she neared him, and raised her sword above her head.
Sesshomaru raised Toukijin to meet her blade, but at the last minute, five other Chikaras appeared out of no where. One of them, the real Chikara, struck his shoulder, while the others passed through him.
Quickly, the woman and her five illusions retreated to form a circle around him, making him loose which one was the true Chikara.
"Your mediocre tricks cannot fool me, kitsune." Sesshomaru said, remaining stoic even with his wounded shoulder.
He returned the Toukijin to it's sheath, and held out his hand. The light whip formed, and he twirled it around, slashing through the illusions.
The whip caught with the real Chikara's blade, and Sesshomaru almost smirked. He brought his arm back, and ripped Chikara's sword from her hands. Her sword landed far from them, and with a flick of his wrist, the light whip disappeared.
He glanced over at the other battle. Kagura was fighting with Inuyasha, while Kohaku was fighting Sango and Miroku.
The boy and this kitsune move alike. Like they are puppets. Naraku must be controlling her as well.
Sesshomaru thought, and his eyes flickered back to Chikara.
She ran at him, and raised a hand, slashing at his face. He side-stepped her, and grabbed her forearm. Effortlessly, Sesshomaru flung the Northern kitsune away from him.
Chikara twisted herself around, and when she hit the trees, she grabbed a handful of branch to slow herself down. Her fox fire danced around her, but she seemed immune to the pain it should have caused.
Sesshomaru jumped up into the air, and stared at Chikara, as if waiting for her next move.
She glared at him, and jumped out of the trees to meet him. In mid air, they began throwing kicks and punches at each other.
Back on the ground, Kagome looked up at the two youkai. Their movements were blurs to her human eyes, except a bright pink glow from Chikara's left shoulder.
A jewel shard! Naraku must be controlling her with that!Kagome looked to Inuyasha to help her, and retrieve the jewel shard, but he was busy with Kagura. She then looked around at the fight. It seemed the only people not fighting were herself, Shippo, Naraku, and Kanna.
I guess its up to me then.
Kagome thought, and grabbed her bow, which had been discarded to the side when they arrived. She placed an arrow on it, and aimed at the two youkai. Chikara's back was to her. Miko energy flowed into the arrow, and Kagome steadied her arm.
Ok, here goes nothing!
She shot the arrow at the kitsune, and crossed her fingers.
Chikara sensed the arrow coming, but was too busy fending off Sesshomaru to block it. The arrow hit Chikara's shoulder, right on the jewel shard. The jewel shard purified, and Chikara screamed in agony.
She dropped from the sky, and landed flat on her front. Sesshomaru landed gracefully near her, and looked over at the human miko.
Kagome smiled in victory, and ran over to the fallen youkai. She cast a wary glance at Sesshomaru, and then plucked the jewel shard and the arrow from Chikara's shoulder.
Blood pooled out around the kitsune, and her body stilled. Sesshomaru sensed that her life left her, and turned towards Naraku.
Naraku chuckled. "Now you see. When I killed her, I put that jewel shard into her, and brought her back. That's how I can control people like her, like Kohaku." He said, and looked over at Sango.
Sango glared at Naraku, but was thrown back when Kohaku rammed his elbow into her stomach.
"And now, you've gone and killed one of my puppets, girl." Naraku said, glaring at Kagome.
Kagome's eyes widened, and she ran back to her bow and arrow. Sesshomaru was about to draw the Toukijin, when the Tensaiga pulsed.
You expect me to save that worthless kitsune girl, Tensaiga?
Sesshomaru question his sword wordlessly. The Tensaiga pulsed again as if confirming Sesshomaru's suspicions. His eyes narrowed at the corpse of the Northern Lady, and he pulled the Tensaiga from it's sheath. When he looked at Chikara, he saw the imps of Hell. Sesshomaru swung his sword, and slashed down the imps.
He heard Chikara groan in pain, and her tail twitched, signifying that she was alive. He exchanged the Tensaiga for Toukijin, and again turned to Naraku.
Naraku was getting ready to attack Kagome, when Sesshomaru sent Tokijin's Kenastu at him. The blue wave connected with Naraku, him body disappeared, and left a small, splintered, wooden puppet in it's wake.
Kagura, seeing that the puppet was destroyed, called Kohaku and Kanna back, and the three minions of Naraku withdrew from the clearing.
"She was a puppet?" Kagome asked, her face twisted with regret.
Sesshomaru ignored the miko, kneeling down next to the kitsune. Kagome slowly approached the two, flanked by Inuyasha and Miroku. She knelt down next to Chikara, opposite Sesshomaru, and gently prodded the shoulder wound.
"The jewel purified while in her body, she needs medical attention." Kagome stated, worry lacing her voice.
She quickly stood back as Sesshomaru rolled Chikara over, and his boa slowly began to wind around her body. Inuyasha, who had been uncharacteristically quiet during these proceedings, began to protest to Sesshomaru moving her.
Sesshomaru ignored his younger half-brother, and slowly lifted the wounded youkai, using both his boa and his one arm for support. Inuyasha jumped in front of him, barring the Tessaiga.
"Sesshomaru, please, she needs help!" Kagome cried out from behind him.
"Let her go, you bastard." Inuyasha growled out.
Sesshomaru glared down at Inuyasha, moving past him. "She is youkai, she can heal on her own."
Inuyasha scoffed, and tried to stop it again, but was stopped by a hand on his arm. He looked down and recognized the hand as belonging to Miroku.
Miroku shook his head to Inuyasha slowly. "Sesshomaru-sama is correct. Lady Chikara is a demoness. Our ways of healing will not help her."
Kagome looked down, worrying her bottom lip between two teeth, a habit that she had recently picked up from her mother.
Meanwhile, Sesshomaru was already walking through the forest, towards the river where he had left Rin, Jaken, and Ah-Un. It was a good hour long walk, though he had made it to the clearing in less than ten minutes after he had first smelled Naraku's stench. Animals had slowly began to creep back into the area, though still shying away from the inu youkai, and the injured kitsune.
Chikara had retreated into a coma-like state. Not the safest way to heal, in the Western Lord's opinion, but the fastest. Though the wound was small, and shallow, the fact that miko energy had come in contact with the youkai's flesh would make this a long healing process.
Sesshomaru was surprised that the Lady was doing as well as she was, seeing as she had also died, and came back to life. Both of those were taxing on the body, so he would have to monitor her closely for the next 12 hours or so.
Sesshomaru was right in assuming that it would take him around a hour to reach the small makeshift camp. As he strolled up to the area, Rin smiled brightly, and Jaken squawked a greeting. When they spotted the bleeding youkai wrapped up in his boa, Jaken sputtered, and Rin's smile faded into an 'o' shape.
The three beings were sitting by a small fire in the middle of a dug-out pit. Sesshomaru walked over to where Ah-Un's large form was wrapped around the fire, and squatted down. The boa lowered the kitsune onto the ground, into a sitting position so that she was propped up against the dragon, and unwrapped from around her. Ah-Un swung it's heads around, and sniffed the youkai. After examining her, it turned back around and laid it's heads down, accepting the fact that that is where the youkai was staying.
Rin and Jaken both stared at the woman, in awe that their Lord would bring someone back on one of his mysterious disappearances. This made Rin curious as to where Sesshomaru-sama would go when he up and left.
"Sesshomaru-sama - "Jaken stuttered, " where did you find this female? Why is she injured? What happened?" he rambled on, only to be silenced by a stern look from Sesshomaru.
Silence settled onto the small group, until Sesshomaru chose to break it. "Rin."
She looked up. "Yes, Sesshomaru-sama?"
"Fetch water, and clean the kitsune's wound. It is on her upper left shoulder. Bandage it afterwards."
Rin nodded, and rushed over to the packs on Ah-Un's back. She pulled a small wooden bowl and a clean cloth from it, and turned to the river that was off to the side of their camp. As she filled the bowl, Sesshomaru gazed up at the rapidly setting sun.
"Jaken," the imp jumped up at his name being said. "go catch something for Rin's dinner." Sesshomaru said coolly, sitting back against a tree opposite the dragon, so that he could watch the kitsune youkai.
Rin went back over to the dragon and the kitsune, and placed the water and cloth next to Chikara. She rotated Chikara so that she was still supported by Ah-Un, but so her shoulder was free to be cleaned. Pulling the ruined kimono's collar down, she slowly peeled the cloth from the wound. Dried blood had caked onto the kimono, making it stick to the wound.
Chikara inhaled sharply, and hissed, but continued to sleep. Rin furrowed her eye brows, and pulled the collar down past the wound. Sesshomaru gazed on, inspecting the wound. It was small, but it was red and swollen. Blood was still slowly dripping from the wound, but nothing that would cause any lasting damage.
After dipping the cloth in the cool water, Rin slowly cleaned around the wound in circular movements, and then began to clean the wound itself, gaining another hiss from the kitsune. Every time the kitsune hissed, Rin jumped slightly, but continued her work. When the wound was cleaned, Rin grabbed bandages from the packs, and wrapped the wound. Rin cleaned up the area, and repositioned the kitsune, before returning to her spot by the fire.
Jaken soon returned, carrying two dead rabbits. Rin took them, and prepared them for eating. She gutted, cleaned, and skewed the animals, and then added herbs and spices to the mix. Sesshomaru had Rin buy them for herself at a village a while back, so that her food would be more to her liking.
Jaken had protested at first, since he also ate what Rin cooked, but slowly learned to love the spices and herbs, and just all of Rin's cooking in general. Rin had learned how to cook while she was on her own, but while the group rested at Sesshomaru's palace, she took lessons from the head chef, after thoroughly begging Sesshomaru to let her.
By the time the two of them had finished their dinners, the sun had already set. Jaken went to the pack, and pulled out two small kits for bedding, consisting of thick bottom blankets, flat little pillows, and blankets for the cool spring nights. He also pulled out a blanket for the injured kitsune. Rin and Jaken set up their beds, and Rin draped the blanket over the kitsune.
The two settled into their beds, and quickly fell into deep sleeps. Sesshomaru looked around the camp, eyeing the sleeping Jaken and Rin, and then glancing at Ah-Un, who was beginning to nod off. His eyes settled onto the kitsune. Her head had rolled back to rest of Ah-Un's side, and her face looked slightly pained. He closed his eyes, and leaned his head back on the tree. A light rest, one that he would wake up immediately from if there were any change. That included intruders, weather changes, or if any of his underlings had a change in their breathing patterns.
A small hiss from Chikara not even a minute later awoke him, and he looked to see a pained expression on her face. Just the healing process. He thought. This is going to be a long night.
The sun started to creep up over the trees, stirring the sleeping imp and human. Sesshomaru had been fully awake for a few hours.
Jaken immediately started tending to the now small fire, poking and prodding with a stick that they used to cook their dinner on last night. Rin rubbed the sleep from her eyes, and then got up to disappear into the forest.
When Rin returned, she was carrying the hem of her kimono like a pocket for various berries that she forged for. She gently lowered her kimono, and dumped the berried out, and onto the ground, next to her bed. After grabbing the water bowl, she went to fill it in the river.
"Rin," Sesshomaru called after her. "tend to the kitsune."
Rin nodded in understanding, and went back over to said kitsune, and placed the water next to her. She dipped a finger into the water, and let it drip onto Chikara's lips. Chikara slightly opened her lips in response, so Rin raised the bowl to her lips, and let her slowly drink. The muscles around Chikara's eyes twitched slightly, but besides that she staid in her deep sleep.
Rin then proceeded to change the bandages on the kitsune's shoulder. In the meantime, Jaken had rejuvenated the fire, and started to pack up camp. He put away the bed kits, and the blanket. Ah-Un was patient through all this, waiting until Sesshomaru decided that it was time to start moving again.
Sesshomaru stood, and went over to Ah-Un, and dismissed Rin from tending to Chikara. Sesshomaru knelt down next to Chikara, and lifted her with his boa again. Ah-Un took the hint, and rose from it's laying position. Sesshomaru laid the kitsune on Ah-Un's back, and secured her the best he could.
The fire was doused after Rin finished her berries, and the small group was moving again, heading northwest. The palace was a days walk from where they were. They would reach the palace tomorrow morning.
Rin skipped ahead, picking various flowers and pretty plants. They traveled through the trees, the path was not for another two miles. Jaken squawked and scolded Rin when she went too far ahead for his liking. By the time that they reached the path, Jaken had himself a pretty little flower chain resting on top of his head, much to his dismay.
When they stopped for a brief lunch, Rin discovered that Chikara had begun to get feverish. Her skin was tinted pink, and covered in a lair of sweat. The kitsune was covered in a blanket, and given more water, before they continued towards the palace. The group had become even more quiet than usual, and Rin kept shooting worried looks towards the kitsune Lady.
The day flew by, and by the time the sun set, the western palace was in view. Sesshomaru mentally debated continuing to the palace, but one look at Rin's tired face, and he called for them to stop and make camp. It took longer than usual for the two to set up camp, as Rin was exhausted, but they managed. They had a small dinner of dried meat and boiled roots, and settled for the night.
Sesshomaru watched the kitsune all night, in case her condition were to worsen. If it did, he would transport her to his palace immediately. He watched all night, with no change. This only proved to irritate the usually stoic taiyoukai. First, Tensaiga gets him to heal this wench, and then she falls sick. What kind of weak youkai falls sick? And then, he wasted his time by making sure she didn't get worse.
This ignorant kitsune wench isn't worth all this trouble. Sesshomaru thought. As soon as shes healed, shes back to where she came from.
By the time that Rin, Ah-Un, and Jaken had woken up and cleared the camp site, it was already late morning. After securing the injured kitsune with extra blankets, they were moving towards the palace again. It was early afternoon when they reached the palace gates.
The gates were around 25 feet tall, made out of stone and wood. Connected to the gates was a wall that stretched all the way around the palace grounds. The wall was made out of the hardest stone in Japan at the time of construction. Every 75 feet were sentinel towers. At the top of the wall was a walk-way, guarded by thick spikes that jutted out over the edge of the wall, made to keep large land animals, or youkai, out. A sentinel tower was placed on either side of the gates.
Guards from the towers spotted the group, and opened the gates for their Lord and his charges. The group walked in, the gates closing behind them with a loud bang. The palace loomed ahead of them. It was a traditional Japanese styled palace. It was three stories tall, and included 5 buildings, all connected by covered walk-ways. There was the main building, which was the banquet hall, the dining hall, the ball room, the kitchens, the offices, the healers wing, the armory, and the treasury. The building to the right of the main building was the living quarters for the current taiyoukai, his family, and any guests. That is where Sesshomaru, Rin, and Jaken usually staid. In that building were also onsens for those staying there. Behind the main building was the servants quarters, which included rooms for cleaning supplies, the laundry rooms, and onsens for the servants. The two buildings between the main building and the servants quarters were the dojo and the barracks. Those were used by Sesshomaru and his armies.
In the center of these buildings was a courtyard. Mainly there for decoration, it was all stone, with a blooming sakura tree in the center. Around the tree were stone benches, each with an elaborate design etched into it.
The grounds consisted of a stable, a small farm, which included livestock and crops that fed the entire palace, a garden, a place for the children to play, and an outdoor training area for the troops. The path from the gates to the main building was a long, straight path. As they approached the main building, servants and healers rushed out.
The healers brought out a stretcher, and took Chikara from Ah-Un's back. One of the servants took Ah-Un's reins, and led it off towards the stable. One of the healers saw the dried blood on Sesshomaru's shoulder, but said nothing when Sesshomaru shot her a glare.
One of the servants approached Sesshomaru, and waited for orders.
"Take Rin to her room, get her cleaned up and fed lunch." He ordered. "And send a messenger to Lord Mizu. Tell him that I found his sister, and that he should come fetch her."
All that heard Sesshomaru gasped, realizing now who to injured kitsune was. Sesshomaru dismissed the rest of the servants and healers, and made his way to his study in the main building. He better come fetch this nuisance soon.
A/N: Alright, that's chapter one. Don't expect any regular updates. I don't write regularly, only when I feel like it, which isn't that often.