Authoress' Note: Hello and welcome one and all to my new story. I have submitted fictions to this website before on an alternate account, but all together this will be my first Inu Yasha fiction. It will not be for the light of heart, although it will be a romance. It will revolve around Sango and is partly AU. Please, if you read, review. It makes my heart jump with glee when I read your kind words. Thank you for taking the time to read my story, I cannot tell you how much I appreciate it. I wish to evolve as an authoress, and your reviews and constructive remarks will help me achieve that goal.
If you are curious as to why I have submitted this story under an alternate alias, it is because my other account is not so... serious. And although a few hints of comedy will seep their way into my story, it will not be as light hearted as others I have previously written. Although I doubt you will, nonetheless I must say this: Do not as me to reveal my alternate Pen identity to you. Such requests will go unnoticed and ultimately ignored as I do not wish for you to know who I am. I am Lady Raven Slaye, and that is all need be known. That is how you have come and will come to know me and that is how I wish to be known. By that and only that. I can only hope you will understand.
And also let it be known that authoress is an actual word.
Please read on, I hope you enjoy my story.
Reminder: If two or three words are combined 'assuch', 'orassuch' the fault lies not with me but with the website and its QuickEdit 2.03 system.
WARNING: This fiction is rated PG-13 for mention of rape and other mature themes. Nothing graphic will be depicted, however. There will be no lemons, or at least no particularly described lemons. If you are still interested in reading and are in a sound state of mind to deal with the content of this story, please read on.
Disclaimer: The characters and places represented in this story are the property of Rumiko Takahashi, the ingenious mind behind the original graphic novel, Inu Yasha.
Speechless
Chapter One:
Grey Days
The day bore no promise of joy. No promise of hope nor promise of happiness. The atmosphere was heavy with the weight and burden of their long and tiresome journey. The sky was of a dull and dreary grey coloration, the mist looming over the tops of the trees of the thick forest and floating delicately yet gloomily over the deep green lake. Three companions of human appearance wandered the worn path. A man of hair black and eyes violet spoke up suddenly.
"Are you certain there is no village nearby, Inu Yasha?" The young man dressed as a monk spoke to his silver haired comrade. "We have been wandering for days. Surely you can smell the sweet aroma of village cook fires?" He inquired hopefully.
"I've told you once, I've told you a hundred times, Miroku! I can't smell anything but moisture! When I smell a damn village, I'll tell you!" The young hanyou replied snarkily, he was obviously as exhausted and fatigued as his companion.
"Then do you hear the rustling of villager's footsteps? Be reasonable, this path must lead somewhere!" The monk protested. The half demon named Inu Yasha was about to reply when a young girl in strange clothing sauntered up to his side and patted him on the back.
"I think you better leave him alone, Miroku. We're all tired and who knows what he'll do." The dark brown haired girl smiled half-heartedly. The hanyou immediately turned around to face the oddly garbed girl.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" He yelled.
"I was just kidding. Jeeze." The girl with chestnut eyes sighed and trudged ahead. The monk, however, slowed his pace until he was beside his white haired companion.
"Stay calm, Inu Yasha. We are all tired, and taking it out on poor Kagome is not helping our situation at all. Let us just hope we reach a village soon." He reasoned and then quickened his pace once more. The hanyou merely muttered a "feh" as the trio continued their seemingly endless trek along the path.
-X-
The group had finally reached a village, situated between a small forest and a lovely blue lake, within the next day. The monk offered to pay for the inn's fee with false "palm fortunes", which the gullible village women willingly fell for.
They had resided in the village for two nights, regaining their supplies in preparation for their journey to a miko named Kaede's village. It was on the eve of the second night that the young miko archer, Kagome, overheard a trio of village women talking.
"They say the bandits have struck again." One woman said.
"The attacks are coming closer to our village." A second added, fear clearly audible in her tone.
"How do they do it? I have never seen a band of raiders so treacherous." A third inquired.
"I have heard that they control demons with the shards of the Shikon No Tama. That is how they have attacked so many villages in such a short time. Didn't you know?" The first replied. Kagome's ears perked up as she continued to eavesdrop on their conversation. She could not see, but gathered that the third had shaken her head.
"Which village fell victim to them this time?" The second inquired again.
"Not a village. It is said that they lured a group of demon hunters into the forest. They left no survivors." The first replied grimly. Apparently the first woman was the leader of this particular group of gossiping ladies.
"Our little forest?"
"Yes, the west end."
"Don't you think someone should give them a proper burial?" The third asked.
"I do, but everyone in our village is much to fearful to enter the forest now that the bandits have struck. For all we know, the bandits could be camping there. I, myself, am thinking of relocating to another village." At this point Kagome began running towards the inn. She burst into the room they had rented and looked over to Inu Yasha.
"Inu Yasha! We have to go to the forest!" She said in a meaningful tone. The hanyou looked up as his ears perked.
"Why? Do you sense a shard of the Shikon jewel?" He asked hopefully.
"No and yes. But the village women! They said that there are demon hunters that were killed there!" She said, as if the point she was getting at was obvious.
"What do you mean, "no and yes"? Do you sense a jewel or not?"
"Yes, there is a jewel in the forest. But the village women-"
"All you have to go on is the word of a few gossipy old wives?" Inu Yasha interrupted her. Kagome sighed, exasperated.
"Would you just listen! There is a group of bandits there that-"
"You didn't answer my question."
"Inu Yasha! I-"
"I knew it! All you know is what you heard from your little gossip club! Honestly, you are such an idiot." Inu Yasha scoffed. Kagome immediately became engulfed in rage.
"How dare you! SIT, boy!" On command, the necklace around the hanyou's neck glowed and sparkled before he was sent plummeting into the mahogany inn floor boards.
"What the hell did you do that for?" He inquired angrily as he regained his composure somewhat and stood. The monk, who had been silent throughout the conversation, finally stood and struck Inu Yasha on the head with his staff. The half demon merely glared and snarled at the monk, who reacted calmly.
"Inu Yasha, the forest is in our direction anyway. If there truly is a jewel shard there, Kagome will sense it as we set out tomorrow. So no more feuding, get some rest because we leave early in the morning." Miroku said in an almost monotone voice before he set down on his thin straw bed and turned his back to the young girl and the demon.
-X-
The mist had lifted but the sky was still colored grey and dismal the morning the trio set out. The clouds gathered slowly over the minutes and had sooned formed a dark veil over the land, shadowing the village and surrounding forest and lake. The hanyou, the monk and the miko archer has been walking for quite some time without Kagome sensing any shards of the Jewel of Four Souls.
"Hmph. I knew it wasn't here." Inu Yasha scoffed arrogantly, causing Kagome to become angered again.
"Just because I can't sense it now doesn't mean it wasn't here! It is possible that the bandits moved on, you know!" The young miko argued. Miroku rolled his eyes at their assinine feuding, but chuckled a little beneath his breath nonetheless.
"Whatever you say. I bet there never even was a bandit attack, or demon hunters for that matter. Idio-" The hanyou stopped midsentence. His steps also halted as he stood motionless in the middle of the weather worn trail. Miroku and Kagome both stared at him wide-eyed, unaware of the reason for his sudden silence.
The half demon sniffed the air, his ears perking up as if listening for a certain, minute sound. His eyes focused on the forest, his gaze determining the location from which the scent had been emanating.
"Inu Yasha? What do you smell?" Miroku inquired, curious.
"Blood," replied the hanyou, "and lots of it. And..." he sniffed the air again, "something else. Come on." He lept between the trees followed by his two now sprinting companions.
End Chapter One