Chapter 6: On different Paths
- In the tunnels -
In the dark tunnel a bend and huffing figure walked with a pained face. Aring cradled the bloody but peacefully sleeping bundle to his chest. He couldn't prevent the last event but he would make certain that this child didn't suffer further. At least he could keep his promise to guard the child's mind from this nightmare. The sleeping spell he put on his lady's child should also ease some of his pain and help him heal faster.
And yet, even with his interferences - his failure left a bitter taste in his mouth as he stepped through the corny and dark tunnels. With his power he had erased their scent and hid them from being seen by any possible enemies. Hopefully it was enough if not he would fight to the bone for the little one. Aring refused to accept failure. Failing once was bad enough. Being the one that stood alone – left behind while the one that saved him is long gone – no, never again! Never again will people look at him in pity. He will never again be the 'bad example' that the scholars point to, while referring to failure and its outcome. Even if the gods themselves decided to fight his choice, they would regret it. This time they would regret it!
He was given a new chance. The child was the offspring of his late mistress. His beautiful and charming lady – that had at least once a week been his bane of existence. Gone. Aring's dark thought strayed from the hanyou's mother of the past to how he should proceed. He wanted to take him with him, but he had no means to nurse a wounded and he needed to check the little ones background, as well as what the lady requested. So there was no way that he could take the hanyou along, maybe a friend of the boy? From what he could feel Aring knew the Inuyasha didn't come on his own to this godforsaken place. There were two auras which overlapped with the hanyous, so they should be his companions. The first seems to be a mortal with spiritual powers, the second aura was smaller and hinted to a demonic beast. Both were close by and seemed gentle natured. Aring nodded to himself. He would take a look at this mortal and when he seems trustworthy, he would entrust him with the puppy.
Now that he thought of it, the name of the child was kind of strange. 'Dog Forest Spirit' Aring murmured to himself … the name was so fitting that it was a little creepy especially considering that the person naming the child did know naught about his real identity. Or did he knew something? Did InuTaisho guess the identity of his love? The thought was very disturbing. Particularly considering that they horded secrets like treasures and none of those were given away to outsiders or those with no connection to the families – especially not for free! Against his will Aring felt himself respecting the deceased demon.
A small groan made Aring look down at the child. He had opened his golden eyes and looked around sleepily. With his curious, drowsy and bewildered eyes he looked the first time his age and Aring smiled softly at the boy. The big eyes reminded him of his late mistress and the fog-man couldn't help himself – he wanted to care for the mixed-blood."Wait a moment little one. It won't be too long before you are back home. You came with a friend, right? Do you want to meet him now?" Aring asked with his silken voice. "Yeah" the hanyou said with a small voice due to his sleepiness. "We will soon be there, sleep a little longer" and as if he was listening, the hanyou closed his eyes and fell back to oblivion. Aring stopped his steps and waited a moment longer to make sure his charge was deep asleep before he settled him down. He cleaned him up and tended to his wounds as much as his own exhausted body allowed it. Afterwards he lifted him up and kept going to the aura which seemed to belong to Inuyasha's friend.
- In front of the mountain -
Remote from one of the cave's tunnels Miroku paced nervously. Kirara searched for a tunnel without a barrier so that they could go in, but up till now her search was without success. He did hold the demons down like he promised he would. All of them. Even now they were as helpless as newborns, but still he couldn't follow his companion. It was frustrating. As he tried to enter a tunnel barriers were flashing out of nowhere. He tried to shatter it but failed numerous times. He tried to break through with his blessed staff, with sutras and even with prayers to the local deity, but it was for naught.
No matter how much he thought of it, he couldn't understand where these obstacles came from or who made them. As he stood before the tunnel he could hear very distant fighting noises. The idea of Inuyasha facing the witch AND his brother on his own meant that he was in danger. After a long while Miroku could hear nothing, no matter how hard he strained his ears. The silence was even more unnerving than any battle sounds. The monk groaned and forced himself to settle down to think about his next options. The problem with that idea was that there were no other options left for him. He couldn't leave and abandon his friend even for a moment, was unable to follow thanks to the blasted barriers and he had already patrolled each tunnel that he could reach on foot. The human felt helpless as he waited for something. Anything.
A strange presence seemed to come closer to him and Miroku lifted himself up and raised his clinking staff. The presence felt strange, it was neither human nor demonic, so maybe a ghost? Miroku stiffened at that possibility. He was a cleric yes, but fighting spirits was always a very, very dangerous affair. In fact the only ones that faced them willingly were lunatics who didn't mind getting dragged to hell. Maybe he was lucky and it was only something the witch had created. As the human monk waited a silhouette could be seen in the dark cave. It was mostly covered by something that looked like smoke. And it seemed to carry something. As it came closer Miroku saw that it was no real spirit as it seemed to have a solid body, so maybe a demon-eremite? It carried a red-clad person and as Miroku looked at them he realized horrified that it was the missing inu.
Miroku stumbled forward but kept his eyes on the man carrying his companion. What the heck was that? It looked like trouble but judging by the way it held his friend it seemed gentle natured. Miroku stepped forward towards the being. "Thank you for bringing my friend. I was worried about him" the monk bowed politely. The monk fidgeted a moment before he seemed to collect himself. "I do not want to pry into your business but what are you doing here? Who and what are you?" the monk asked nervously. The figure walked past him – ignoring his presence – as he advanced to a big tree and placed Inuyasha under it on a soft spot of grass. As he lifted himself up he locked eyes with the monk "Know this human: I will only answer your questions because you belong to this child. I am Aring a 'Familiar', a serving spirit linked to nature you could say. For what I am doing here you ask, well actually I am not certain myself. I was forced here by a witch. Before she could bind me this hanyou saved me and thus got himself dragged into a battle." Aring looked sadly down to the silver-haired youth and continued "Now he is badly hurt. I healed some of his wounds and cleaned him up but he still needs rest and care." His eyes came back up and hardened. "Do you have the means to transport an injured person and to care for him?"
Miroku looked taken aback. Normally the human prided himself for his self-control, but the moment he had a good view on Aring's body and especially his face (or better dentists) he was shocked by the contradiction he could make out. He needed a few moments before he could concentrate on the Familiar's words and not just where those came from. It or better he really seemed good-natured contrary to his appearance. The monk took a deep breath and answered the question with a small smile "Yes, at the village we have a priestess that is very skilled and for the way there he can ride on Kilala. I don't think we will have any problems." The monk paused. "Please tell me, what happened to the witch. Is she responsible for what happened to him?"
"Sheema" Aring began "fled a while ago. Normally I would try to persuade you to hunt her down, but I do not think that will be necessary. Or a wise choice as a matter of fact" "Why is that?" the monk asked bewildered. "In the cave the witch and a powerful demon went against each other. The witch betrayed the demon and I had the impression that said demon won't let this go. I am certain that the witch will regret her actions very soon." over Aring's face went at these words a shadow of malicious satisfaction. He paused for a moment and seemed to calm himself. "I would like to stay with the child but I need to check a few things. Farewell young human. We will meet again soon" with these words Aring turned around and went into the surrounding forest.
As he was gone the monk turned to his seemingly sleeping friend. He looked him over for open wounds. From what he could see there was hardly a spot on his friends body that had not been bleeding. His entire frame was covered in dried blood, luckily there were no lethal or serious wounds left. In fact if not the bloody robes, Miroku would have sworn his friend was just napping. Aring seemed to be a quite skilled healer. He heard as Kilala approached and greeted her. The saber-cat bend her head to Inuyasha and nuzzled purring his cheek. For a moment her attention came to an halt and she sniffed intently at the unconscious male. Then she lifted her head and directed her questioning gaze to Miroku, who explained to her what needed to be done and asked her to carry their friend. Kilala nodded to that and with her assistance he put the hanyou over her back. Afterwards he climbed on her as well and they took off. Back to the village.
- Back in the cave -
Lord Sesshomaru awoke with the worst headache he could ever remember. Actually it was not only the worst headache, but in general he felt like minced meat as his body shook in pain. It felt like his mother's castle was dropped onto him. Or like he was run over by all of Naraku's pests. He gathered his senses and took a look around. A cave. A magical circle … and with that some memories came back. He had been betrayed by a witch he had hired. … Sheema was the name! They came here to get information about the reason of the decay of his lands but she went against him and they fought and then … then some vial was broken and there was a strange scent ... what happened then?
Sesshomaru closed his eyes and placed his elegant fingers on his temple. The DaiYokai tried to remember what happened afterwards but he couldn't put his memory back in place. He also had a strange taste in his mouth. Hopefully nothing the witch gave him or worse, maybe some other vermin that crawled in when he was sprawled on the floor. He shuddered lightly in disgust. As he held his temple he realized his arm was uncovered. His eyes snapped open and his stomach lurched with a bad feeling. As he stood up from the hard ground, he checked his battered body and realized horrified that he was unclosed. His eyes widened slightly and his lips parted in surprise. His eyes tinged red, his hands fisted to his sides and his markings lost their straight form and jaggered. The demon shook with rage. It seemed that the witch really had a death wish! First deceiving and betraying him, out of all people HIM. But that was apparently not enough for that human, she then had to disgrace him like this. Even his own mother never would have dared to touch his skin like this. He couldn't stop the malicious growl that escaped his throat. She would pay. Dearly!
He gathered his scattered and partly torn clothes, his sword Bakusaiga, as well as his last nerves and went on his way back to his people. Even as he got everything back in place it still felt as if something important was missing or gone. Something precious. Did she steal something from him as well?! The young lord checked his possessions and mulled what might be gone, but in vain. Everything seemed to be in place. He shook his head and went on with his way. He would try to figure it out later, now he just wanted to be done with this event. As he exited the tunnel into the bright daylight he was shocked once more that 'lovely day'. His trusted subordinates were sealed and looked like they were on display, like cattle on a marked day. He approached the seals and had to acknowledge whoever placed them. From the inside it was almost impossible for most demons to escape but it was quite easy to destroy from the outside. He drew Bakusaiga and send shockwaves into the seals which went down into flames.
The bear demons and shortly after the horse demoness were free once again. They looked angry. Very angry. The demon lord commanded them to search the forest which they did with fierce determination and a promise written clearly over their faces. After they checked the surrounding very, very thoroughly they came back to report to him. From what they told Sesshomaru the seals flared up shortly after Sheema entered the cave with him and trapped them for hours. First the brawlers were forced to stay put, then with a trick his lieutenant. Later the seals got weaker (Sesshomaru guessed that that was the moment the witch fled and her magic weakened) but they were already too weakened to open the seal themselves. Apparently the seal fed itself on the youki of its captive. Sesshomaru was impressed by the witch and her tricks. There was hardly anybody who would openly go against him, but to betray him, to humiliate him, to rob him and to ridicule his troupes all in one go meant that the witch was either very courageous or insane. Possible both but probably the later Sesshomaru decided.
But it didn't matter how mental that wench was. She knew too much and she had betrayed him without loosing a second thought. She would pay dearly. He sent a message back to his castle to get some troupes ready. It seemed it was time for a witch-hunt. And so the DaiYokai left with his troupes to correct what had gone wrong.
- tbc -
Maybe some of you are confused for the term 'Familiar'. I do not know if this term is used in this language as well, but in my tongue it refers to a magical being born to serve its master alone. Imagine the ultimate servant and guard in one being. It normally has the form of a beast-like being.
As translation of Yasha's name I found various names. The first was 'Forest Spirit', then I had 'Dark Night' and in an old legend Yashas were some sort of warrior spirits or souls. Sadly I do know naught about those, so I doubt I shall use any of those spirit races (does any of you know about those?). Since the 'Forest Spirit' fits my story altogether I will use this name. Maybe I will use the 'Dark Night' another time. Oh yeah while we are at names, I once read that Yasha means 'demon' but that's bull. 'Demon' means 'Akuma' or 'Yokai' so please do not mistake these terms.