Welcome to my first western! I do not own Inuyasha!
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The night was dark, weak moonlight barely penetrating the trees as the sound of heavy breathing and crashing foilage filled the air. The young girl scrambled down the familiar trail as fast as her legs would follow her, sobbing as she stumbled only to get back up and continue on, desperate to reach home. Her mother and Grandfather would know what to do.
Finally, the trees gave way to a familiar homestead with lights shining through the windows. She opened the door with a crash startling her mother at the sink. Aiko Higurashi was a slim built woman with dark hair and warm brown eyes that flooded with concern and surprise as the sight of her eldest child in the doorway. Her bright blue eyes were filled with tears and her raven black hair was a mess of tangles, leaves and twigs sticking out from her mad dash through the woods, face flushed from the heat of the summer night.
"Kagome? What happened child? Where is your Father?"
"Mama it's bad! We gotta help Dad! They took him away!" Aiko's heart flooded with fear.
"Who took him Kagome?"
"Naraku's men. They called him a murder and said he was gonna swing for his crime at the Hanging Tree. He didn't murder nobody Mama I saw it all. Those men attacked Daddy! We gotta get Grandpa and save him!"
Anger was mixed with the fear in her mother's eyes as she stepped away into the hall closet and returned with one of her Daddy's pistols. "Your Grandfather isn't here. Somebody came to call on him earlier about a fight at the saloon and they needed the Sheriff to come sort it out. You stay here with Souta and I'll go get your Father back. You did good Kagome."
Her mother gave her a kiss before pulling on her coat and strapping on the gun. She watched through the window as her mother disappeared through the barn door and rode out on her horse shortly after. As she watched a bad feeling swept through her body. Her mother was gonna need help against all those men. She peeked through the door to Souta's room and seeing him asleep, she ran out to the barn and climbed onto her horse Twilight, not bothering to saddle him in her hurry to follow her mother.
She rode as quiet as she could through the dark night hoping her mother and father would be alright. Soon the sounds of shouts could be heard up ahead and she knew she had arrived. The Hanging Tree.
The town of Aurora had been founded during the passage of the great migration west in a small corner of Colorado in a picturesque heavily wooded valley between two mountains and had been subject to a great deal of lawlessness. The town's solution was the Hanging Tree, a great old oak tree on the highest bluff outside of town and couple miles from the Higurashi Ranch. Since her Grandfather had become Sheriff many years ago there hadn't been many hangings and most the townfolk got along well enough other than a brawl at the saloon here and there.
Never had the tree seemed so scary to Kagome as she came upon the 5 men who surrounded her Father, the torches they held casting an eerie light on the branches above. The flickering light revealed where a rope was slung over the thickest branch and came to an end around her father's neck where he straddled his horse with his hands tied behind his back.
Kagome jumped off her horse and crept through the bushes getting as close as she dared and finally she could hear and see her Mother in the clearing, gun drawn on the leader.
"Hakudoshi! You let him down or I'll shoot you first!"
"Damn it Aiko get out of here! They'll just kill you too think about our children!" Charles Higurashi's voice was strained and desperate with the noose around his neck.
"Yes, about your dear children Mrs. Higurashi." A sinister voice sounded behind her and Aiko spun to see the mastermind behind their current predicament had arrived. "I do believe I will have to pay a visit to your children to inform them of the...unfortunate new of their parents passing."
The dark haired man watched through sinister red eyes as his men knocked the gun from Aiko's hand and tied her hands behind her back.
"Naraku!" Her voice was like a hiss. "How dare you! Release us both at once. The Sheriff will not stand for this!"
Naraku's eyes shined with amusement, mouth twisted into a cruel smirk. "Ah yes, the Sheriff. I do believe he will no longer be a problem to my activities." He motioned his hand and a henchman led forward a horse and pushed off the bundle on the back, revealing the body of the Sheriff. Aiko stared in horror at the glassy eyes and blood leaking from the bullet hole through his forehead.
"You bastards! What have you done?" Charles' voice rang out as Aiko began to sob.
"Ah what have I done? Nothing of course. I am innocent. You, however, are a murderer. Killing those three men in cold blood, I'm shocked Charles."
"That's a lie Naraku! Your men attacked me on the trail back from town. I defended myself, I didn't murder anyone."
Naraku laughed. "I'm afraid that it's my word against yours and you have no witnesses. You will hang as a murderer, and for pulling a gun on myself, your wife will hang with you."
His men hauled Aiko up behind Charles on the horse and put a second noose around her neck. "No! Aiko! Why are you doing this Naraku?!"
Rage filled Naraku's frame. "You never should have defied me, Charles. I ALWAYS get what I want. With you dead, will take over the mine. No one else need know about the gold. I will become a very rich man and find myself a beautiful wife. Maybe comforting your lovely daughter will woo her affections. She is almost of marrying age after all."
Naraku's evil laugh ran out as Charles screamed in anger before Naraku slapped the horse's rump causing it to jolt away and both Higurashi's to drop.
Kagome covered her mouth to hold in her gasps of horror as tears poured from her eyes. Her parent's feet kicked as they struggled for breath before they're movements stilled, eyes wide and bloodshot. "Good riddance to those nuisances. You four go to the Higurashi ranch and get me the deeds to their property. Kill the children however you like. Burn the house to the ground." Kagome's thoughts fled her parent's death and focused on her brother alone waiting for her to return. She fled her hiding spot and raced back to the homestead as fast as her horse would carry her. She would beat them for sure, they didn't know these trails as she did.
Soon enough the house came into view and hearing her galloping approach Souta threw open the door. She didn't give him a chance to voice the questions she could see in his eyes. "Souta, we're on our own. You gotta be brave and do exactly what I say alright?" The small boy of eight paled and nodded grimly. "Gather up all the food you can. We need blankets, some change of clothes, Dad's flint, cooking pots. I'll get the guns and the money and deeds from the safe. We gotta protect them. Hurry we don't have much time before those men will be here."
They split and began packing what they would need to survive on their own in the months ahead. Kagome already knew where they would go to, her Dad's favorite hunting grounds. They were several days ride and it was a heavily forested area that not many traveled. Her father had taken her there many times teaching her skills 'not fit for a lady' in her mother's opinion. But her unorthodox upbringing would be their salvation now. They would survive she would make sure of it.
Souta had begun piling the supplies on the porch so she led Twilight to the barn to saddle him before saddling the four other horses and leading them to the porch. Souta returned with the last of the bundles and they begun loading after she checked them over. A crack of thunder overhead announced the imminent storm they had failed to notice approch in their haste to pack. Well, at least that would help cover their tracks. Kagome directed Souta into the woods to wait, reminding him to stay quiet and not to use a lantern. She then turned to her task. She had to burn everything. It would slow them down and help conceal their escape. She took the kindling from the fireplace and linens from the beds and made trails into all the rooms before lighting them. She ran from the house to the barn with a lit torch and threw it into the hay, grabbing some on the way out. She carefully swept the horseshoe prints left in the yard away to cover their tracks before retreating to the tree line to look over her efforts.
Flames were licking at the windows of the house and the barn was catching quick. She prayed to God that it would be enough to cover their escape. As if answering her prayers, lightning struck the tree between the barn and house, catching it on fire before it spread down the branches and onto the roofs of both buildings. It looked like the lightning had set the blaze instead of her. She turned away from the home she had always known and started down the trail with her hay once again covering their tracks as the rain began to fall.
...Back in town...
Hakudoshi slowly entered Naraku's office. His face was set grimly and drew his boss's eye immediately. "I do hope you have good new for me Hakudoshi."
"Well you see sir, there's been an accident. When we got to the Higurashi ranch it was already on fire and blazing like hell. The barn too. It looks like a tree was lighning struck and set 'em both off. The rain couldn't even put her out it was like hellfire. There ain't nothing left."
Naraku's face turned a violent shade of purple his red eyes flashing and half the town could hear his roar of anger.
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So I got this idea after listening to The Hanging Tree and it just screamed western plot to me. Please review and let me know what you think. Thanks!
