Chapter Four: Heading North

Story: Knots of Fate

By: Sky


Sesshomaru momentarily stopped near a stream in his journey to quench his thirst. Though, he could barely stomach the water. The scent of the demon Naraku was here. It was everywhere he traveled, for he could not forgive the creature the insult that it had caused his family, nor the damages he had done to Kagome. He growled to himself, just thinking about it. Kagome had a scar on her wrist because of his attempts at altering the Velkir. It would forever be a reminder that he, Sesshomaru, could not even protect his sister while she was in the Western Land. But the demon Naraku would find out for himself what the cost was for causing insult to the Taisho Clan.

A breeze came from the North then, and he could taste the water and wind on it. There was a storm coming, and it was going to be a bad one. He, Sesshomaru, might even have to find a place to shelter from it, if his senses were correct. He growled again, at the thought of another delay in his continuing search for Naraku. Though, no matter what weather came, or what other disaster happened, he vowed to never stop until the demon was dead.

oOoOoOoOoOoOo

Sango spoke not a word that morning as they packed. Nor as they left Satori village behind them; their feet finding the road that would lead them North. And as if in respect for her silence, the rest of them traveled the same way. Even young Shippo did nothing more then mewl when he was hungry, and slept the rest of the time. About mid-day, Miroku had tried some of his old pranks to try and get her into a better mood. He flirted with any female that passed by them, young or old, and his hand found it's way to grope her. She said not a word as he flirted; the others were the ones that dragged him away, and she smacked him half-heartedly as he groped here, but she didn't even threaten him, or clobber him with Hiraikotsu. And that worried him even more.

He had been silent last night as he'd heard Yasha talk about Momiji. He'd had a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach about the village, especially since the day he'd met Sango on the road. They had separated for a short bit of time. She had gone to the village, and he had gone off to exterminate a scorpion-demon that had been terrorizing a village to the East. It had been a rather rough battle, and he had been marked, though thankfully not poisoned, but he had triumphed in the end. After resting a few days, he headed back towards Momiji, looking forward to seeing his friends, and lounging around for about a week as he finished recovering from his wounds. Three days from the village, he met Sango.

She was downcast, and covered head to toe in dirt. Her hair was in a loose braid, though strands had worked their way loose from it, and she looked as though she hadn't slept in days. Hiraikotsu's tip left a tiny furrow in the ground behind her, for she didn't even lift it far enough for it to clear the earth. He quickened his pace towards her, concern written all over his features, and stopped before her, asking her what was wrong. She didn't stop moving, and instead was close enough that when she did stop, she leaned forward and rested her head on his shoulder. And that caused him even more alarm then her appearance. Something was terribly wrong.

He looked around, and spied Kirara along the road side. She had been following Sango like a shadow. As soon as she spotted him though, she ran over, taking an enormous leap, and landed lightly on his shoulder; nuzzling him and curling onto his shoulder, and digging tiny claws into the fabric of his robes like she never wanted to leave. He asked her what was wrong, and Sango looked up at him then, and gave him a sad smile.

"Hashba wants us to go meet up with Yasha to see how he's doing."

"We should go to the village first, and get rested for the journey…." His voice trailed off though as Sango shook her head.

"No, he wants us to go now. We'll rest up in the next village." And ever since then, whenever Momiji was mentioned, she became quiet and recalcitrant. All he could guess was something had happened. So he respected her choice of being silent, and didn't speak of it anymore. They had caught up to Yasha again as he was battling the even more altered Velkir, his steps faltering, and blood evident everywhere upon him. Sango had not hesitated a moment to loose her boomerang into the action. And Miroku was happy to see Sango acting so lively again. It had been a great relief. And she had been even more so, after discovering that Yasha was infact one of her kin. Though, to Miroku, that explained a lot about Yasha. He was build and was just made like an Exterminator. So to find out that he had the bloodlines of one just made sense. Now, however, that they were on their way North, Sango was as quite and downcast as she had been before.

Yasha, however, seemed to be getting a little more excited each day; with each step in fact, that brought them closer to the northern village. He wouldn't admit it though. He was after all, Yasha. Kagome and the others just watched as he fidgeted a little more each day, impatient to reach Momiji, an to see his friends. He often wondered how they were doing; what lessons Hashba or one of the other Exterminators was teaching now, what type of meal they had today…. Just many little things, but things that he missed.

Their journey was delayed though when a week into their journey, a thunderous storm raged; trapping them all in a dense thicket. High winds tore at the trees, and ripped many of the branches bare of leaves. Lightning arched across the sky in such vast webs, they temporarily made the storm-gray night as bright as day. And the next day, it continued the same way. The entire group had separated themselves to bunker down under several large tress; each group having a rain cloak to try and protect them from the worst of the stinging rain that made it's way through the tree-branches.

The demons were spread amongst the humans, save for Aveatre, Haruki and Shippo, who had their own tree to themselves; Aveatre holding Shippo protectively in her arms, while Haruki held her protectively in his, and keeping the cub between them. Kirara was with Sango and Miroku, but in her larger form. Both Exterminators huddled to her side for warmth, and for protection from the wind. Kirara constantly looked from the humans to the angry sky, and growled at it fiercely as if telling it how angry she was for causing her humans to suffer. Guthrow was with Kagome and Yasha, once more proving warmth for the two young ones. They lay on either side of him at the moment, having just quarreled.

Kagome had had the great idea to shift into her true form, and that had been a rather bad choice. As she had been shifting, she had not adjusted her size, and had knocked the tree with her large form as she had tried to lay down. Not only had she hung out from under the branches and had gotten even more wet, any drop of water that was on the branches and what was held by the remaining leaves had come crashing down on them; soaking the rain cape through and making it just about utterly useless, and them getting chilled from the wind. Yasha had told her how stupid she was as she became a human again, and she'd flattened her ears and started yelling back at him. Guthrow had quickly instigated himself into the battle to end it quickly, and now the pair was separate and laying on either side; shivering from not having a combined body heat.

Though they were miserable and wet, Guthrow couldn't help but try and keep from grinning. For, what course language and complaints he heard softly coming from side Yasha was on, were also coming from the side Kagome was on. That boy was rather having an effect on Kagome it seemed. She was picking up several of his habits, though she didn't seem to realize it. He had to wonder what her father would think now of his daughter, and the language she had acquired.

As they suffered in relative silence, Haruki came out of the curtain of rain and stopped under the boughs of their tree, shaking himself slightly as he looked up at the three miserable occupants.

"We thought we heard something. What happened?" He looked them up and down, as amused look came to Guthrows eyes as he met his gaze. When he turned to the gazes of the others, he saw anger.

"Kagome decided to be intelligent and try and transform under this tree. She dumped all the water on us," shot out Yasha his silver eyes turned to meet the sterling silver ones of Kagome.

"Well, Sorry-e for trying to find a way to protect you better from the wind. I'll just let you freeze to death next time," came her reply.

"It would be better that way. At least I wouldn't be soggy wet." Guthrow sighed and shook his head, then shrugged as he met Haruki's gaze. Kagome bristled.

"Well, you ungrateful…. How dare you! At least I was trying. It's not like I planned to get us all drenched!"

"Well you should have known it would happen!"

"How could I have!"

"You just should have!"

"You're being unreasonable!"

"No I'm not!"

"Yes you are!"

"It was a good try, though it didn't work out well," Guthrow commented dryly, ignoring the pair behind him. "We're fine here, if not a little chilled. Go back to your mate and son. We'll see you when the storm breaks." Haruki nodded to Guthrow, understanding that the other was trying to keep him from being in the rain too long, and to keep him from being pulled into the battle. He nodded in agreement, and headed back into the rain.

"See you when the storm breaks." Guthrow heaved a heavy sigh at the fact he got stuck with the two pups. He instantly tuned back into the argument when Kagome leapt to her feet, eyes flashing with anger. Before turning around and dashing the opposite way Haruki had taken, and into the rain, she screamed "Jerk!" He turned to Yasha, who had also risen, and watched as the boy walked to the trunk of the tree, punched it, and then sat down next to it; his arms folded across his chest and his nose held high. Guthrow couldn't help but shake his head. Those pups seemed to love to fight. They were constantly at it. He wasn't too afraid for Kagome. She had a good head about her. She was out in the rain, but she wouldn't go far enough to get lost. And if she didn't return on her own in about half an hour, he would go out to find where she had holed up for the storm.

oOoOoOoOoOoOo

Kagome had finally stopped running when she had found a large tree to sit under. Stupid Yasha she though even as she continued crying. He made her so mad sometimes! Her ears could not flatten anymore against her skull, and all she could do was sit back against the tree and continue crying. At least here he could not find her. Here, she didn't have to worry about him finding her in tears. Nor Guthrow for a little while. He at least knew that she wasn't stupid, and his words had helped sooth the hurt that she felt a little bit. She hadn't really meant to drench them. She had just wanted to try and protect Yasha a little more from the rain, since she could feel him shiver from how close they were sitting. No matter what she did, it just never seemed to be good enough, and that made her feel even worse.

As she finally finished crying, she caught herself yawning, and he left her head to rest on her folded arms. She would take just a little nap before she headed back. They wouldn't miss her for a little bit anyway, and she was tired. She would have thought differently about the nap though, if she had known that she was being watched.

oOoOoOoOoOoOo

Red eyes watched as the girl ran away from the group, and he couldn't help but laugh to himself. She had neatly separated herself from them, and with the storm, as long as he stayed downwind, he could not be scented, and was even harder to see. The fury of the falling rain had even masked his movements, so that they didn't know that he was so close to them. He watched his prize head away, and moved to follow her.

His attempts to gain her through Jath're'ka had not succeeded, but at least it had brought her near enough that he could see her; the prize of the Western Lands. Guthrick had handled the boy cub well; raising him to believe that he deserved Kagome as a mate. And until he had gotten cocky, the plan was working out well. Naraku shrugged. Just one pawn that he didn't have to dispose of himself anymore. Guthrick was out hunting up a new prospect, and finding a place to hide them, for he knew that the brother was out searching as well.

He had only made himself known because he knew of the 'honor' the dogs had in defending their families and themselves. He knew one of the Taisho clan would leave the palace to come find him, and he was going to catch the pursuer and bring it over to his side. Sesshomaru would prove to be a challenging target, but his eyes were only for Kagome now. Raven locks clung to her shoulders as she ran, and her ears were laid back so flat that it could not be seen that she had them. Tears streaked down her cheeks, though they mingled with the rain, and he could hear her sniffles in the wind. This was her in her height of perfection. Her misery was intoxicating, and he wanted more of it. He wanted to see his beautiful Kagome cry.

When she finally stopped, it was under another enormous tree, and she sat down under it, with her knees drawn up to her chest, and her head resting on her folded arms. He longed to go down there, to taste her tears, and know the sweetness of their salty flavor. To see her draw back from him in fear, for fear made her silver eyes cloud and become even more beautiful. He kept his temptations at bay though, as he took his pleasure in watching her shoulders shake as she sobbed. Finally, as the girl started nodding off, tiring herself out from crying, he had an idea. Kagome would beg to come find him, and that was when he would make her his own. With that thought in mind, he waited; red eyes glowing with intense pleasure as her head nodded against her arms.

When she was finally asleep, he made his way slowly down to her, making sure that he did not wake her from her exhausted slumber. Oh yes, she would come to him, and beg for his help, and he would torture his sweet Kagome into submission, and claim her as his for all eternity. But first, he had to have her need him so badly.

When he stood not a foot before her, a clawed hand extended from beneath the baboon pelt, and rested scant inches above her head. He longed to toy with those perfect ears of hers, to slowly pierce them with his claws and watch her red blood stain her ears and his claws. But it wasn't yet time. He turned to look behind him, and slowly from the forest came one of his finest creations.

It had been such a scared little creature when he had caught it many moons ago. A small black velkir that had the most perfect black wings. It would have been thrown in with one of his other experiments, if in it's urge to get away from him, it hadn't shown him its true power. He had found himself losing his demonic power, and the small creature in his arms had seemed to be gaining them. It had not been able to take enough of his strength though to be able to break away before he had struck the creature behind the ears and rendered it unconscious. It was then that he had discovered that he himself had been unconscious. The creature had somehow managed to be rendered unconscious without his knowing, and his dreams were made to resemble the real world. The small creature had been stealing his power in his dreams, and thus she had unlimited access to it. When he had rendered it unconscious, its power had been broken. He did not know such fragile creatures had retained such powers.

He had carefully experimented with it; breeding it with another that had similar power, and altering the offspring, but never managing to breed in what the mother contained. So, he instead altered her, putting what he had learned from her other kin into her. What resulted from it was no longer a shy creature that he had captured, but his very own hunter and assassin. She could find you in your dreams, and kill you in the most creative way she could manage; torturing you for hours, or even years if she felt like it. Though, for the waking world, it was only several minutes. And as a treat, she would now bring him with her on these torturous killing sprees. Naraku lovingly called her Yajyuu Musouka; Dreamers Beast. None of his other velkir creations had names, so it marked her high up for her status.

She gave a dark purr as she neared him, rubbing her head along his side, before looking down at the dark-haired girl that sat sleeping before her. Such a fragile thing.

"Do not harm her Musouka. I want her well alive and intact. Though, there is something you may do for me with her, and I know you will find it pleasurable." He cackled darkly, and Musouka's mismatched eyes gleamed with savage glee as he explained to her what it is that he wanted. She nodded assent to him, and then she took a step forward; her paw landing delicately on the earth. Her eyes kept focused on the girl as she sniffed at her, taking in her scent, and closing her eyes. Oh, what fun she would have if she could only play with this girl. But her master would be mad if she caused her too much harm.

Extending her raven-black wings, she held them to out to help exert her power of the girl. In her shadow, this girl, this Kagome, was under her control. And with her shadow laying over her, Kagome sighed in her sleep, and rolled her head forward; exposing her neck. Perfect. Making sure that the girl stayed in her shadow, Musouka moved her head close to the back of Kagome's neck, grabbed it in her teeth, and bit hard, causing Kagome, even in her sleep, to scream.


Hello. It's me again. I know. Some of you probably thought that I abandoned this story. Nope, I was just catching up on my reading a bit, though I might still get some inconsistencies. Just let me know and I'll fix them. I think I've finally caught my muse again, or at least maybe a wing or leg. I'm reeling in the rest of it though. Sorry to those who have had to read my first three chapters. I'm trying to fix them so that they don't sound so... museless?

Oh, and yes, this is a Kagome/InuYasha pairing. I'm just not going about it in the way of hate eachother/like eachother/fall in love/make babies, all in about four chapters. Hopefully, you all have seen a change in them from the first story, how they've grown closer (though they still argue. Will they Never learn?). So yes, they are the main pair of this story. Just thought I'd clarify that. And of course there are other pairings as well. Well, anyway, off to the next chapter!

P.S. REVIEW please! I really do read them!

P.S.S. For those were were reading chapter four and it suddenly dissapeared, I'm Sorry! I was working on it and my cat walked over the keyboard and deleted it. I had to upload it again.

Next Chapter:

Chapter Five: The Loss of Kagome