So here is chapter 2 of my new story, like father, like son. Do you like? I had to change how the rescue went originally to fit my story, but it's still similar. I can't remember whether I put a disclaimer in last time – but yeah, it will never be mine. Same things apply for this story as the last one, I can't be bothered to keep on saying it – we all know it's Rumiko Takahashi's and have gotten over the fact.
So read, review and enjoy the story. Next post will be at the weekend :D
Chapter 2 – Changing the Inevitable
Yes. He was dead. That much the Lord of the West knew as he looked at the hundreds of people facing him. He saw his mate and his baby son so far ahead of him in his mind's eye, running off into the distance, safe, they would live. He had to make that happen he would ensure it, and he, he would die in their place now.
He had used the wind scar many times to save them and now, his sword lay many paces away from him, and he was used up, exhausted. Dead. But he had to try to use the sword one more time, and his energy would be all used up, and they would be able to kill him in his weakened state. Then his mate and his pup would be safe. That was all that mattered to him now, saving the ones he loved. It was an honourable death and would not want to depart the world n any other way, as long as he was victorious.
He knew there was little point killing these humans now, they would only come in more numbers and he would die eventually. He considered just letting them kill him after he cleared a path for them to go down and they were out of the way. He loved her, he had to save her. And his newborn pup too, they had to be safe.
He did not want to die of course; he was just resigned to the inevitability of it. There were certain things he would miss of course – his son growing up, and his mate too, growing old together with his mate. He would not be there to teach his son all about the laws of the youkai and that was one regreat already there. He wanted to be a good father, to both of his sons and to be there for his youngest, but some things were out of his control.
He did not have to worry about that though. His other older son, Sesshoumaru was a young man composed entirely of honour, he was nothing without it. His other pup would take the boy in and teach him all he needed to know, he just wished he would have been the one to do it. He thought about his first born.
Would Sesshoumaru make a good Lord of the West? He was capable, strong, and smart, yes, he could do it, and he was proud of his eldest pup. He had never told him any of this – why had he never told him any of this? Because Sesshoumaru hated everything to do with sentimentality that's why – but he still loved him, did he know that? He could only hope. He did not have to worry about the lands or Izayoi, or his newborn, it was taken care of, but still – his last wish was to be forgiven, by all he was letting down by dying.
Cure you Ryuukotsusie, curse you.
Just as he resigned himself to death, first by exhaustion and then at the hands of these humans, the weirdest of events took place, and he wasn't even sure if it was good luck or not, it was just so strange. A weight landed on his back, it was not heavy at all, certainly not enough to knock him over had he been in good form, but it was sudden and it forced him to his knees. Not a second later a barrage of arrows and poisoned tipped javelins embedded themselves into the trees surrounding where his head and neck had been. The green poison started to eat through the bark and the Inu lord whispered a quiet thanks to Kami for saving his life, what was the force that had hit him? It was gone now.
"Izayoi, my little pup, I have to get to them," he grunted. "YOU WILL NOT HARM THEM!" He roared to the humans that had started to surround him. They started to move forward and attack him; they would distract him while another group moved towards his family. He could kill them and surrender his mate and pup. He could ignore them, save his family, then face all of the people himself afterwards and die.
Then he happened to look down and saw the strangest girl lying next to him. This had been the force to save him life. She was dressed in weird attire... and it was soaked through, had she just come from the river? Maybe she... no! Must focus on the matter at hand, then he would deal with this new conundrum.
Kagome immediately knew when she was, as soon as she saw the great dog demon. That was Inutaisho without a doubt. Man, fate just loved messing with her didn't it, oh, she must have really pissed off a Kami of great power. She was in the time when he sacrificed himself to save Izayoi and baby Inuyasha.
BABY INUYASHA!
Perhaps she could help; perhaps she could save the Lord of the West. Maybe if she did that then Inuyasha would not have such an unhappy childhood. Maybe she could warm up Sesshoumaru's icy shell as well. Perhaps she was meant to be here.
Kagome forced herself to roll off away from where she was lying practically on top the great dog. She said a prayer of thanks to him that he had been standing there to break her fall, without that stroke of uncommon good luck that fall would have been the end of her. She was just glad that she did not land on his spiked armour.
Her head was pounding and the pain all over her body was forcing its way back into the foremost of her mind, but she made herself sit upright anyway. Not giving her time to accept the pain and cold in she forced herself to stand up too. Adrenaline spiked through her once more, chasing away everything, the pain, the cold, the imminent danger.
She heard the Inu Lord next to her scream to his mate. She noticed that they were surrounded by well over two hundred villagers. They were obviously not soldiers based on the fact they were not holding very posh weapons, and their attire, there was no armour, just normal clothing. There were a couple of trained ninjas who were trained in the art of killing, and many men who were stronger than most people too.
Even with those points aside, she and the dog Lord of the West were awfully outnumbered. There were an awful lot of people out for the demon and half demon's blood, and they were full of adrenaline too. They were awfully outnumbered, but with the demon Lord being as legendary as he was, were they also clearly outmatched? He died last time so the answer was yes back then, but that was last time and this was this time, it was different. She was here this time to lend a helping hand, and she must be here for a reason.
Kagome shook her head in disbelief and fear the reality of the situation dawning on her once more – incredible. This had happened before, this was the past, even further in the past that is – well she was not exactly home. This was when he set out into battle against everyone, and he died, just it hadn't quite happened yet, he was going to die.
No, she could not let that happen. She could not let that happen to him, to Inuyasha, to Sesshoumaru, to Izayoi, to the West. He wasn't dead yet. "Oh no you don't mister," she grunted as she scrambled away from him and head off towards the crowd facing them, faintly aware of his wondering eyes on her.
The vague thought that she should not mess with time, flicked through her mind briefly, after all, the effects, good or indeed devastating are certain to ripple through time. Not mess with time... just what the hell was she thinking? She had been doing that for almost eighteen months now. Whether she was a couple hundred more years in the past hardly made a difference. If fate was going to mess with her, she would return the favour.
She gathered her miko powers about her and shot out a powerful beam of light. It dazzled many of the men charging towards them, making them stumble back, hands shielding their eyes from the light white blue brilliant light.
The pure force literally threw bodies out of the way and cleared a narrow path. Not wasting another moment, she ran down it as fast as she could, heading for the flaming hut with Izayoi and Inuyasha in. For reasons similar to the Inutaisho's, desperation flashed through hr at the same intensity. This had to work; she had to be able to save them.
She had only taken a few steps down her makeshift path when she tripped over something long, and sharp, and... transformed, which almost floored her. It would have made her land on her butt, but she had recently taken up classes in both worlds to make a little more than a simple jewel shard detector and a hindrance to Inuyasha. She had taken up self defence classes and gymnastics to improve her fitness, fighting and mainly grace. She was tired of flooring herself over every root and low hanging branch, and Inuyasha screaming at her for it. Thanks to this, it only made her stumble in her run, but made her stop to look too.
She recognized the object as Tetsusaiga, Inuyasha's sword. Kagome smiled, the powerful sword with the wind scar, carved out of Inutaisho's own fang. It was capable of killing one hundred demons with one swipe when used at full power. She had seen it done and it was one hell of an impressive sight, it must have come from a powerful demon.
Of course Inuyasha didn't have it yet, he was only a little baby, Inutaisho was not dead, and so he had both swords, Tetsusaiga and Tensaiga. Ignoring everything about her she picked it up, and almost dropped it again immediately. Kami, how anyone could wield it so easily it its transformed state was beyond her, it was heavy. With a boost of unknown strength she raised it up in one hand and she threw it with all of her might with a scream of "My Lord!"
The great dog demon caught it in one hand gracefully with not a word, but a nod and no more than a brief but intense glance in her direction. But that simple glance spoke volumes to her; it said 'you are going to explain the meaning of this... and much more.' Fear flicked though her at that steely glance, but she had bigger more immediate things to worry about, like the army in front of her, who, thinking she was a servant of Inutaisho, whom she guessed she was sort of now, a confederate at least, were trying to kill her as well.
Speeding down the path she had made, Kagome trusted the dog demon to watch her back. They didn't know each other, but she had unintentionally saved his life and had made it quite clear that she was here to help him. She sped off to the hut that was on fire, she hoped that she got their in time to save them.
He was not one to usually compliment, but it had to said that her miko powers were somewhat amazing. They stunned him... quite literally, not just with their strength, but her control over them too. She was no more than a pup herself, he could smell it, she was but an adolescent, half grown, a pup, a mature, well developed one, but a pup all the same. He reminded her of his eldest son, Sesshoumaru, skilled and mature, though she could only be a couple of years older than him at the most in her human eyes.
Human lives were so short and their abilities and senses limited. He had lived by that 'rule'. Humans had always been pathetic and stupid and weak... and then he met Izayoi, and everything about them changed. It wasn't just his views of them changing; it was like they were not the same creatures anymore.
Yet, watching this new girl he found himself revising his view on the race once more. She was a priestess true, that much he could sense with just a glance at her, but she was something different. Her powers, though she was a ningen were so much so that they rivalled that of some of the lesser demons in his army. He watched in awe as the shot fired out from her, creating a huge blast of pure energy, creating a path of blue light which she them decided to rush down, heading towards his human mate and pup.
He had no idea who she was, but she was in no way a hindrance. A complete stranger, a human miko had quite literally dropped out of nowhere and was deciding to help him. Mikos do not help demons, or did she not know that? She seemed awfully trained and powerful to him, she should know that much. This truly was an enigma, something he could do without right now. He heaved a sigh; he may as well return the favour. They were after all, for reasons unknown, fighting for the same cause, that's all that mattered for now.
She knew who he was, which was even stranger, because he had never met her before, he would recognize her if he had. He knew everyone in his lands, that was required to be a good lord, but he had never laid his eyes on her, or smelt her sweet scent of heard her soft voice before. Why did so much confusion have to befall him now?
"MY LORD!" His head snapped up and he caught the sword which she threw at him with one quick fluid movement. His glance, made sure that she understood he was not going to let this go, not let her go. He had to make sure he survived this now; he had to found out about her, such a strange priestess.
She started off at an impressive speed for a human down the path she made for herself. While she was running a knife appeared in her hand out of nowhere and she stabbed a man in the arm, making him drop his bow with a cry of pain and shock. She grabbed it and his arrows and started to shoot at the people coming near her.
She was not an amazing shot, truth be told, she was only human, often missing, and with the hordes of people coming after her, she would not make it. She was not a bad fighter, but there was only so much that a human, even a powerful human Miko could manage. If he was going to interrogate her, that meant she had to survive as well.
Gripping Tetsusaiga in a stronger grasp he set off after her at inhuman speed to protect her. He stopped the fast running when positioned only one pace behind her and slashed at the men coming dangerously close to her. He slashed arrows in half before they reached her until they finally got to the hut.
"I'll save them!" She rasped to him in an almost nonexistent voice. "You've got to stop these people, and don't die."
Inutaisho forced himself to not reprimand her for giving him orders and speaking to him in such a brusque, almost patronizing manner.
She disappeared into the flaming house and left him to the army that was a lot smaller now. "Prepare for death!" He screamed, feeling fully capable of using wind scar once again. "Izayoi," he whispered, "little pup."
To his surprise, the villagers now looked uneasy. A couple actually took a step back. They knew he was going to use the wind scar attack again, and it would kill them, hundreds of them, most of them. They were scared – good. He drew it and swished it through the air menacingly; maybe he did not need to kill many more.
The movement in its own right broke many spirits of the men and women after him and he smiled as many of them dropped their weapons, turned around and ran off. All he had to do was use wind scar one more time for those who stayed at then they would be safe and he could bring his family back to his castle.
"IZAYOI!" Kagome called as she made her way over to where the women lay crouched, protecting her child. She managed to make it to her side. "Come on," she ordered in a gentle tone given the circumstances. "We have to get out of here."
"Who are you child?"
"I'm a priestess, I'm here to help."
"A miko? Don't hurt my child please!"
Kagome was disgusted, "Hurt your pup! He is only a baby, why would I attack him? How low do you think I would stoop?"
"But he's a demon, and you said you are a priestess."
"I would never hurt a child, demon, hanyou or human."
"You will help us?"
"That is what I am trying to do! Give me your hand; I will get us out of here. Everything will be okay I promise."
Izayoi smiled and nodded, slid her hand into Kagome's and allowed herself to be hauled to her feet, still clinging to her baby.
Then misfortune befell them as a ninja armed with shurikens slid into the hut from one of the practically destroyed walls. Kagome managed to block him as he threw them at her, but another one joined him, and another.
Izayoi threw her a frightened glare and without any warning thrust the child at her. Kagome had not been expecting a child to be thrown into her arms. She had had to drop her weapons so he would not fall to the burning ground. "I'm hurt, tired, and weak," Izayoi said softly, casting her eyes around at the ninjas fearfully. "Take my child and get him to safety. Take him to the west, someone there will take him in, find the Lord of the West, someone. Save him."
"NO WAY! Your mate is right outside fighting for your lives. I'm not leaving you, come on!" Kagome grabbed the woman's arm, but a shuriken embedded itself into the hand holding onto her and Kagome shrieked in pain. A barrage of six more came her way and Kagome knew she could not dodge them all.
A shriek of terror and pain met her ears, but it did not come from her. Kagome looked to see that Izayoi had thrown herself in front of her to save her and Inuyasha. Her eyes opened in pain and Kagome knew she was almost dead. "Go!" She mouthed before her eyes glazed over and saw no more, she died.
Kagome wanted to scream in pain and defeat and failure. She wanted to break down and cry, but she couldn't, not now, she had a job to do, a little pup to save. Not wasting any of the time that Izayoi had sacrificed her life for, Kagome jumped straight through a burning wall and ran off into the forest at top speed.
Without breaking her stride she threw herself to the ground, with the pup safely buried in her chest, so it would not get hurt. She rolled on the ground a couple of turns to put out the flames on her clothing, before jumping back to her feet and set off running again, even faster. Desperation and love for her hanyou spurred her on. She headed to the river, with several people on her heels; she could lose them in the water.
She managed to make it to the river in rather good shape given the situation – with no more than a bad cut in her hand from the shuriken, which was still embedded in her wrist, too deep to remove and an arrow which had assaulted her shoulder. It was not deep, but she was not going to pull it out whilst running, she had to get to safety first.
Kagome was comfortable when in the river, she had always been confident when in the water. With a deep breath, she curled her body around the pup and jumped into the raging waters. She knew she was past the waterfall and the quiet pool that came after it, she was in the rapids again, but somehow she knew she would survive it.
She managed to shake off the people following her by jumping into the water. They wanted to kill her and the newborn pup but were not going to follow her into the rapids. Kagome guessed that they thought she and the pup would die, but Kagome begged to differ. She was not a weak little girl of fifteen anymore, and she was not going to fail this; she was not going to fail Izayoi, Inuyasha, Sesshoumaru or Inutaisho.
She was carried along by the strong current for no more than a few seconds, before her top got snagged on a low hanging branch. Praising Kami for sending such good fortune her way she threw Inuyasha into the tree where he landed and clung on, survival instincts kicking in so soon after birth, he was thankfully alive, but silent. Then reaching out with her hands to grab onto the branch herself, she followed him up there.
It was an oak tree, huge and surrounded with many branches and leaves to keep them hidden and safe. Good. They would not be spotted here by stragglers of the army, or from demons looking for an easy meal.
Gathering Inuyasha into her arms once more, seeking comfort from the feel of the warm baby body in her arms, she climbed up into the highest branches so they would be safest and concealed. She had just managed to get herself into a safe position in the highest branches, somewhere they would not easily fall from, and if they did, there were many braches below to catch them. With Inuyasha tucked into her chest, the adrenaline rush abruptly finished.