Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.
A/N: All right here's chapter ten! Thanks for the marvelous reviews!
A Path Preordained
Chapter Ten: Fear
Stepping into a human village for this first time in days was an odd feeling for Kagome. She and Inuyasha had spent most of the trip heading west, navigating through youkai territory, and the fact that she had spent so much time away from her own kind had only just then hit her.
Kagome brought her hand to the locket that lay against her chest and gripped it lightly. They had gotten a few more shards from chance encounters with youkai on the way to the village Myouga had spoken of. Inuyasha defeated both easily and Kagome was beginning to think the hanyou was unbeatable. She was positive his youth had been full of hardships, and his demeanor and fighting skills must have been derived from it. Yet she was only speculating, his past was one of the topics the hanyou was reluctant to share.
There was also the question of why Myouga seemed so concerned about the village being near the Western Youkai Territory that still was unanswered. Just another thing about Inuyasha she was left to wonder about.
Throughout the past few days, conversations were limited, aside from arguing with him over every insignificant thing imaginable, of course. Inuyasha had not opened up to her as much as she would have liked, but Kagome was still beginning to understand the hanyou's past and just why he was so protective towards the outside world.
She could only hope they found the rest of the jewel shards soon. If she was limited to only his company for an extended period of time the girl had the feeling she would be driven to the borderline of insanity.
It was almost as if he was trying to pick fights with her.
And with each passing day, he found new ways to push her buttons and make her explode at him. She had never before met someone so insufferable, so difficult.
Kagome, on the other hand, was dealing with some inner turmoil herself. She still had not shaken off her conflicting feelings on youkai and humans, their differences, similarities, and even the state of the world itself. The dark haired girl attempted to push out all of the existential questions floating around incessantly in her mind, to focus on the mission her and Inuyasha were undertaking, but she still ended up dwelling on whether or not things could be different.
But the girl wasn't sure if it was all of her conflicting emotions that were creating the strange feeling in the pit of her stomach or the fact that from the moment she and Inuyasha entered the village all movement within had stopped, as if time froze.
The entrance to the village was a modest gateway made of wood. It was connected to a tall fence high above her head that seemed to encircle the village to beyond what the eye could see. The pair passed through the archway, scanning what lay on the other side.
Kagome hooded her eyes with her hand to block the intense sunlight and looked over her shoulder to see two large guards on the village side of the gate. They gazed forward menacingly, with iron helmets to extending down the sides of their faces, holding matching spears that reached high above both of them. They stood motionlessly, unwavering. Kagome could tell they shifted their eyes for a moment towards Inuyasha, but refused to move or acknowledge the two visitors. She couldn't help but wonder why the guards were stationed on the interior of the gate rather than the side facing outwards. Or, why they did not question her or the youkai that was attempting to enter their village? How were they sure they weren't entering for malicious purposes? And why hadn't the presence of a hanyou elicited any response at all?
Unable to figure out a logical answer the young girl turned from the guards and took in the rest of the village. In between the modest houses and on the road that led straight from that gate to the large structure in the distance, people were scattered about, their everyday tasks suspended as they stared at the pair stupefied. A few men along the road carried stacks of hay on their shoulders, women gathered with baskets of food and clothing, and all of the activities one would expect from a normal town had paused abruptly.
Kagome could not break herself from the staring contest that ensued. In front of her was the picture of a normal village, as if taken from the page of a story book. But even from the entrance, she could tell that picture of normalcy was merely a façade.
There was an oddly oppressive sensation clinging to the place, something Kagome had never felt before nor could shake off. Even though it was a beautiful day out, the dreariness of the village seeped into her. She felt like she was drowning in hopelessness.
The strange emotion drew her eyes to the large castle-like structure at the opposite end of the village, as if it were a vortex draining all the happiness away from her. Kagome couldn't decide what it was exactly. She felt a presence coming from the castle, a presence similar to what she felt when there was a shard nearby.
Kagome was not sure, however, for the very same presence seemed to be attached with the feeling of dread and despair that pervaded her entire being. None of the jewel shards, not even the first that compelled her to enter youkai territory, had made her feel this way.
At her side, Inuyasha wasn't moving either. He was never one for thinking things out ahead of time, but as he entered human territory in this state for the first time and looked at the reaction of the villagers, he realized that getting any information out of them would be more difficult than expected.
But still, the reaction of the villagers struck him as odd. He imagined humans would run around and scream pathetically at the sight of his kind; but the residents of the village just waited. They seemed… defeated.
"Inuyasha," Kagome whispered from his side. He turned to her still feeling the stares of the townspeople, "I think there's a shard in the castle. It feels….strange though. There's something different about this one from the others."
Inuyasha nodded and looked toward the imposing structure. There was something definitely odd about the village. And if there was a shard in the castle, as Kagome thought, it must have been connected with the village Lord in some way. Perhaps the rumors of youkai in the village worked had something to do with it as well.
The hanyou was torn from his thoughts when he felt a tugging at his hakama pants. He turned his head down to meet the wide-eyed gaze of a little girl, staring up at him curiously from under her long bangs.
"You're a funny youkai," she told him with a high-pitched voice, smiling.
Inuyasha scowled and clenched his fist. THAT was not the way humans were supposed to react to him, "Funny?" Who did this little human think she was? He could easily send her flying with the flick of a finger.
The girl giggled cutely behind her small hand. "Funny ears," she explained, pointing to the appendages that sat atop his head.
She was met with another growl by Inuyasha. He preferred the stupefied silence of the rest of the humans in the villager over the miniature human's antics.
Kagome could not help but chuckle at the scene that was unfolding at her side.
Her laughter quickly subsided; however, as an older woman frantically ran to the side of Inuyasha and bent down to wrap the little girl in her arms towards her and away from the hanyou. Her breathing was ragged and uneven, her hands shaking slightly as she clutched the child tightly.
She looked up to him and tucked the little girl's head under her neck protectively. Inuyasha noticed the dark circles under her orbs. The woman looked like she had been through hell.
"'I'm so sorry! Please, I didn't expect for you to come during the day," she pleaded, "Don't take her away; my husband's already been selected!"
Kagome slowly walked up to Inuyasha with a confused look on her face.
The hanyou equally had no idea what was going on, scratching the side of his head. "Why would I want your little brat, woman?" Youkai were simple. Humans, on the other hand, he could not understand.
It was now the woman who wore a confused expression.
Knowingly, Kagome grabbed Inuyasha's shoulder and stepped in front of him. She could foresee hanyou's 'people skills' only causing the situation to degenerate more. Inuyasha, thankful to avoid interacting with the strange human woman, stepped back slightly and let Kagome take care of it. Just this once.
"I'm sorry to have frightened you," Kagome apologized. She paused for a moment, thinking about how to explain why they had entered the village, "We don't want to cause you any trouble," she began, choosing her words carefully, "We only came because we heard you were having… problems with youkai."
The women furrowed the eyebrows of her wrinkled face and stood up cautiously, still not letting go of her daughter who was chewing at her finger nail, uninterested in the conversation and more interested in Inuyasha.
Inuyasha snarled at her, attempting to scare her, but he was only met with another smile.
"You mean he's not one of the Lord's youkai?" she whispered, shifting her gaze over to the hanyou.
"The Lord's youkai?" Kagome asked, recalling what Myouga said earlier. She shook her head, "No; we're both here because of that. We want to…figure out why he's using youkai."
The woman still eyed Inuyasha with distrust after Kagome's explanation.
Realizing the woman was yet to be convinced Kagome patted Inuyasha on the head "Don't worry he's harmless. And if he starts to act up," she began, and could already feel the glare forming on Inuyasha's features, "I can just sit him." Kagome said, and as expected the hanyou plummeted to the ground.
In that instant, Inuyasha uttered an expletive at Kagome, the older woman gasped in surprise, and the little girl erupted into a fit of giggles.
"He just gets carried away sometimes," Kagome offered, unable to suppress a chuckle or two herself, looking at Inuyasha. "But we are only here to help."
Inuyasha snorted into the dirt. They were here to find jewel shards. And here Kagome was portraying them like some sort of charity for this sorry place.
The woman looked up to Kagome once more, "Are you really- going to save us?" There was a fragile light hope that Kagome could see in the woman's eyes and before she could think twice about it, she nodded her head.
Of course Kagome knew they were only there for the shards, that Inuyasha would not be happy about saving the villagers. But, maybe, she let herself think, they could easily do both things. Or maybe one couldn't be done without the other.
It was with that train of thought that she then found herself being led to the woman's house to explain the situation; motioning urgently for the hanyou to follow when he finally stood up.
With a roll of his eyes, he began walking beside her. "We're here to get the shards and not save the pathetic humans," Inuyasha seethed, crossing his arms in front of his chest.
"I know that Inuyasha, but look at these people! They need our help. And maybe it's the jewel shard that's the problem," With the strange feeling it emitted, it was more than just a guess on her part, "And maybe she'll give us a clue as to what's going on here all right?"
Inuyasha obliged begrudgingly, following Kagome and the woman to a small house in the corner of the village without another word. If she wanted to talk with these humans, he'd let her do it. He just wanted to get the shard and then promptly get out.
Kagome and Inuyasha entered the dim room after the woman. The little girl immediately let go of her mother's hand and ran to a man sitting in the corner of the room with a blanket wrapped around his shoulders. "Daddy we found a funny youkai!" she said, jumping slightly.
Aside from a barely noticeable nod of the head, the man didn't to respond to his daughter.
The woman turned around and offered for Inuyasha and Kagome to sit around a low, wooden table. "I'm sorry I should have introduced myself," she began, "I'm Kiyome, that is my husband," she said pointing to the man in the corner who again did not react.
Kagome gave a bow to be courteous but could not put a finger on what was wrong with the man. He seemed to be healthy but his eyes were lifeless, there was no happiness or really any emotion playing behind them.
"This, is my daughter Michiko." Kiyome motioned to the young girl who waved at Inuyasha with a slight blush before intertwining her fingers behind her back.
"I think she likes you," Kagome off handedly commented to the hanyou, who only offered a "Feh!" and a bit of a blush himself to the comment. Kagome introduced herself as well as Inuyasha to the family before getting to what they were searching the village for, "So what is going on in this village?" she asked Kiyome as she sat down at the table, across from Inuyasha and Kagome.
She looked to Mitiko with a light smile, "Honey, why don't you go to your room and play with your toys?"
The young girl frowned, stopping the her slow approach to Inuyasha that began as soon as the hanyou sat down, "But-"
Kiyome lifted a finger, silencing her daughter, "No buts. You can come and play later."
Testing her mother by taking another step towards Inuyasha, she as met with an even more serious demeanor from her; she knew her mother meant it. She looked down in defeat and stomped out of the room angrily.
Kagome chuckled and Inuyasha couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief.
The Kiyome took a deep breath before beginning, "It started six months ago. It seems as though Lord Naga, who lives in the castle at the far side of the village and owns the lands around here, has hired a few youkai as guards around his castle."
Kagome couldn't help but turn to Inuyasha with a triumphant expression. They were getting the information they needed.
"No one knows what brought about the change in him, but around the time the youkai had appeared the Lord has been acting strangely, it is rather terrifying. He used to be fair to the people, our workload and taxes were never harsh. But now, he has come to have no sympathy towards us at all.
"Worst of all, every few nights, his youkai go into town and take a resident back to the castle. They always return in the morning but are never the same nor speak of what happened to them while inside. You see- my husband was taken about three weeks ago, and has not spoken since."
Inuyasha stole a glance at the man. He was staring at the wall across from him, was as if he wasn't even there. He wondered what kind of youkai the Lord had working for him and what exactly their goal was out of all this.
"That is why the village reacted the way they did when you came through," She explained, turning to Inuyasha.
Kagome spoke up, "But if all of this is going on, why doesn't everyone leave the lands under the Lord's control?"
"Ever since his change in demeanor, the Lord has ordered that no one is to leave the village. He built the fence and there are guards always stationed at the entrance, not to keep intruders out, but to keep us in."
Kagome's eyebrows furrowed, "Why are the guards siding with the Lord and his youkai?"
"They're just as afraid of him as we are. The consequences of disobeying him could be very much worse than death," Kiyome cringed, stealing another glance at her husband.
Inuyasha crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the wall, "And you say these youkai come at night?"
Kiyome nodded and placed a graying hair behind her ear, "After sundown the Lord's youkai usually patrol the village streets. We're not allowed to leave our own houses- and once in a few nights they choose a house and pick someone to take into the castle."
Kagome recalled something the woman had said earlier, "So your husband-" she trailed off, not wanting to ask Kiyome about something she was uncomfortable speaking about.
"It was a night about three weeks ago. There hadn't been news of an abduction for a few days so all of us knew it was only a matter of time. Each time the sun set everyone in the village would hold their breaths, hoping they would not be the next victims."
Kiyome looked down for a moment before continuing; "It was that night that there was a banging at our door. When we didn't answer, the youkai came in forcefully. They grabbed me…" she bit her lip at the memory, "saying I was to be the next 'visitor' to the castle. My husband bravely offered to go for my and Michiko's sakes. But-ever since then he hasn't…" she trailed off, unable to continue with her story.
Kagome slide on her knees over to Kiyome and gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder, "I promise Kiyome, we'll find out what happened to Lord Naga and set things straight in the village. Right, Inuyasha?"
The hanyou snorted, "Listen. I don't care about any of you humans and what is going on with you, but any youkai that works under a human is as good as dead to me. You can count on that at least."
Kagome narrowed her eyes at Inuyasha, unbelieving his insensitivity. The villagers were suffering, and Kagome would find out a way to help. She was not sure how, or if she'd be able to, but whether Inuyasha was going to help or not she would try.