WolfGear Presents: Inuyasha: Red Soul
Chapter 44: The god of the Desert
Pairing: Kagome X Sesshomaru OCXOC
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha and Holo from Spice and Wolf, or Okami
Oc's Shilo Kane, Shinjuku Kane, Shinto Kane, Ishimaru Kota, Black Soul (Shikuro), Shihime
Ok I was reading the Sesshomaru wiki and discovered that demonic energy is called Yoki, so I'll be using the term yoki for energy use for now on. And Youkai will simply be referring to demons. So sorry if anyone was confused when I used Youkai to describe both energy and species.
Kagome groaned, rolling on her side tiny grains of sand rubbed against her skin, but the more importantly IT WAS FUCKING HOT! Jumping to her feet Kagome quickly shook the sand from her cloths. She panted as sweat slowly dripped down her body. Looking around she saw sand, some more sand, and more sand.
"Where in the hell am I?" She panicked looking around for the rest of the group. "Sesshomaru, Hans, Ishimaru, Sanko, Lilith, Kirara! Is anyone out there?" She called desperately. There was no response.
Taking a calming breath Kagome centered her mind stretching her senses to help locate her friends. She felt a strong aura to the north, but was unable to tell who it was. It was better than nothing she guessed following the aura.
Sesshomaru and Ishimaru woke up the same way as Kagome, confused, sweaty, and covered in sand. The difference was that the Inu brothers woke up one sand dune away from each other, so they were better off, except for the fact they had to carry their hug furry tails around in the scorching desert heat.
"Is there anything we can do about these dammed things?" Sesshomaru asked wiping the sweat from his brow. He slung his tail over his head creating a little shade, but the fur made it ever hotter, plus he could feel every grain of sand trapped in the fur.
"If you want to cut off your tail go ahead I won't stop you." Ishimaru retorted actually considering doing just that.
The younger Inu grunted. "Where are we going anyways?" Sesshomaru asked after several minutes of silence. Ishimaru simply pointed ahead.
"I sense a strong aura in that direction, could be one of our or local inhabitant. Either way it's better than doing nothing." He said pointing ahead.
"Hmm good point, here's another one, why don't we fly there instead of walking?" Sesshomaru asked.
Ishimaru said nothing and formed a yoki cloud under his feet. Sesshomaru followed suit.
"So did forget we can fly?" He asked.
"Did you?" Ishimaru retorted. Both brothers stayed silent for the rest of the flight.
Lilith lead the way as she and the rest of the group headed towards a large amount of Yoki assuming it to the remaining members of the group. Like the others they had been scattered, but thanks to Lilith's summons and experience of living in the desert they were able to regroup rather quickly.
First she ran into Hans, who provide them with proper desert attire, now properly clothed the two set out to find their comrades. Sanko was the next one to be found. The poor hanyou was sweating up a storm in her black battle suit and in desperation she had removed part of it in a vain attempt to cool down. This resulted in her receiving a very bad sun burn, while nearly having a heat stroke. To make matters worse for the hanyou her yoki was diminishing rapidly; a sigh that the new of the moon was upon them.
They quickly swapped out the battle suit for desert clothing and gave the Hanyou small sips of water to help her rehydrate. To further ensure that the Hanyou wouldn't die from sun exposure and heat exhaustion Lilith summoned her sand sphinx to carry the hanyou. She protested at first, but after a good lecture from Lilith about the dangers of the desert she complied.
Not long after they found Kirara naked and sunbathing on top of a sand dune. Being a fire cat really had it perks when it came to extreme heat. In fact the heat seemed to make her even stronger if the flames at the tip of her tails was anything to go by. At least they could be warm when night came around.
"I sense were close to the Yoki up ahead it might be the others." Hans said pointing ahead. Lilith however looked nervous as she looked around at the surrounding desert.
"Something doesn't seem right here." She said aloud. Grabbing a fist of sand she let it fall between her fingers. "The sand here is heavier than normal." The rest of the group stared at her with a raised brow.
"Can you tell where we are by the weight of the sand or something like that?" Hans asked. He was the leader and as leader he knew to use what resources he had. Lilith was born and raised in the desert thus making her option very valuable, even if it seemed crazy.
Lilith frowned letting the rest of the sand fall. She remembered her mother telling her a story when she was little, but she couldn't remember what it was about except that it involved a place with strange sand.
"Never mind let's keep going." She said finally leading the way. However a feeling of dread gnawed in her stomach.
Meanwhile back in the western lands, Shilo, lord of the western lands stared out across the horizon mauling over his conversation with Zolo. They had talked well into the night and now the sun's rays shined over the land with the promise of a new day.
Placing the information Zolo had told him in the back of his mind Shilo left his study to prepare for the day's events. The first of which was an early morning breakfast with his family and Zolo's along with the visiting Daiyoukai. He just hoped they didn't destroy the dining hall over a strip of bacon or something like that.
Another thing Kala and the pups had returned much to his relief. Aishoko could finally relax now that she had her daughter back. The reunion moment was quite adorable according to what Aisha had told him when she had interrupted his and Zolo's meeting so he could give her and Sheila a good night kiss. Something that he would never emit he enjoyed, since he did have a reputation to uphold swore Zolo to never speak of what he saw. Thankfully Zolo understood and even emitted doing the same with his kids and grandkids. Later they both swear to kill the other if they ever told anyone else.
Arriving at the dining hall Shilo took his seat at the head of the table with Aisha to his right and Aishoko to his left, since she was his sister in law. Aisha held Sheila in her lap, while Aishoko had Jade in a headlock/hug happily conversing with her daughter who was slowly turning blue.
Down the line sat Inutaisho and Yasha with their new son Inuyasha, followed by Zolo and his kin. Rin and Tofi sat with Kala and were acting strangely quiet.
"So I was thinking about heading home to visit mom. Do you want to come with me Aisha?" Aishoko asked in between bites. Shilo felt his mate's eyes settle on him.
"I don't know. I guess it would depend on whether or not Shilo would let me." She said in tone that Shilo couldn't quiet read. "But it would be really nice for Sheila to meet her grandparents and uncle. Right?"
All eyes turned on him. "I don't see a problem with that." Shilo said after a long pause. "However I'll be assigning you a guard to be safe. Aishoko if you would be please look through Hans's staff for a capable guard as well as someone to act in your stead as Captain of the guard. That should cover everything and leave you two free to enjoy your… trip."
"I'll get right on that after breakfast." Aishoko said stunned at how easily Shilo let them go considering his feeling about their father.
"Why don't cha let Kala be Captain of the guard? She's capable enough for the job." Zolo declared proudly. Kala blushed a bit as all eyes turned towards her. Shilo looked at her with a critical eye and then nodded.
"I suppose that would work," He said.
Zolo beamed with pride and winked at his granddaughter. "HAHAHA good job sweaty. I know you'll make us proud!" He boasted rising his glass, "A toast to Kala!" Zolo cheered gapping down his drink (Which was Sake by the way) well everyone else did the same.
"Congratulation Zolo you've raise another fine warrior." Inutaisho praised. Zolo laughed heartily refilling his glass and toasting with the Inu. "By the way you have yet to tell us how regained you're youthful appearance. Not to over shadow you Kala, but my curiously has reached its peak."
"It's ok lord Inutaisho. I too am eager to know as well. Even though I was there I still don't quite understand what happened." Kala emitted.
All eyes turned to Zolo who simply shrugged. "It's nothing special just something me and Shala figured out using our mating bond. I simply stored my power inside of her and when she gave me the power back I returned to the point in time I gave it away."
"Why would you do that?" Inutaisho asked.
Zolo fell silent his eyes glossing over for a second before returning to normal. "So that when the time came I would be able to fight in my prime. There is an enemy out there from my past that I need to take care off." The dark tone in the green wolf's voice said to drop the subject. They did and the room was once again filled with idle chatter.
Feeling the dark tone of the room Shilo thought to lighten the mood. "So Zolo, do you plan to participate in the upcoming tournament?"
Zolo grinned revealing his fangs. "You bet I do! No youngster is taking my job without a fight! You better prepare yourself boy because I'm not going easy on you!" Zolo declared to Leo. Kiri huffed and pouted making Zolo turn his attention to her. "Don't think I forgot about you either missy. I expect you to do your best too. On another note what's this I've heard about you cussing?"
"Uh nothing grandpa," Kiri said looking way from Zolo's stern glare.
"It better be or I'll spank ya on your parent's behalf!" Zolo promised, "By the way… who your parents again?" Everyone sweat dropped.
"Tala and Kimuhi dear," Shala supplied.
"Oh right, which one was Tala again? He's our third son right?"
"Fifth, dear." Shala said rubbing her brow in frustration. The grandkids she could understand but how could he not remember his own sons half the time? Everyone shared a laugh at the green wolf's expense as he struggled to name his many offspring.
It was about midday Dove, Ryoko and Mu traveling the main road on root to the capital city. Things have been progressing smoothly as far the demons were concerned. For their human companion it was a rough ride, both physically and mentally.
Mu was having a difficult time. The more time he spends with the two wolf youkai the fonder he grew of them. He being a monk, one who purified demons, made his growing friendship with the two very confusing. Even with the slaying of his fellow monks he felt a stronger bond with the two demons walking beside him then the bond of brotherhood he shared with the other monks. Mu wondered what the Buddha thought of him.
Dove was also feeling uneasily, but not for the same reason as Mu, no something else was bothering him, but he couldn't pinpoint what it was. He looked to the tree line along the road, some of the trees branches were blackened as if the tree had been poisoned the bare branches were fluttering with small purple butterflies. Along the side of the road patches of grass were in similar condition the same butterflies fluttering around the dead grass. There were also flowers, shrubs, and other plant life in similar condition all with the same strange butterfly nearby.
Were they some form of demon? He wondered taking note of the growing number of butterflies. Dove sniffed the air, scenting for anything demonic, and coming up with nothing.
"Ryoko."
"Yes?" Dove directed his mate's attention to the butterflies, silently signaling that he wanted her to freeze them with her powers.
Ryoko nodded, not sure what her mate had in mind, none the less she quickly formed a sphere of ice yoki in her hand and sent towards one of the groups of butterflies, aiming at a group beyond the tree line so the humans wouldn't notice. The attack hit the butterflies and the tree they gathered around freezing them instantly. However after several moments the ice around the butterflies melted and the butterflies flew away to another tree.
"That's… odd?" Ryoko said looking her wondering if she was losing her touch. She couldn't thing of a time when anything escaped her ice so easily, especially if the target was a simple little butterfly normal or not. She froze a firebird solid for kami's sake!
"Don't worry you're self over it love." Dove said placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder. She placed her hand on top of his and said "There's going to be another battle soon isn't there; someone powerful." He wanted to reassure her that it would ok, but wasn't sure how. The next battle could be his last if he used his power too long. "It'll be ok." He said and meaning it.
Ryoko smiled softly pressing her body as close as she could against him as if he would disappear at any moment. Dove didn't say anything. He just held her close as they continued down the road. Behind them dark clouds rolled in from the west. An eerie skull shaped cloud was at the forefront of the storm. A warning that evil was coming.
Rin glance warily around the room Shihime had locked them in. Ever since they'd been left alone and the waiting has been pulling at her nerves. Even Jade who was always so bold and brash was subdued by the woman's presence, however after a while Jade eventually regained herself and began training to help calm her nerves. The hybrid was jumping from wall to wall performing flips and stunts fighting against and invisible enemy.
Then there was the other occupant in the room, Asta, a gold wolf who once held the form of her best friend Tofi. The woman sat on the couch reading a book. Out of all of them she was the calmest. She said that Shihime probably didn't mean them any harm… as of yet at least. Course with her screwed up memory the gold wolf wasn't probably the best source of information.
Still the information she did tell them was strange to say the least. From what she remembered she was a good friend with Zolo Tquip, a general for the western army, and a very old wolf Youkai. Tofi had told her about him. The funny thing about her story was that Asta claimed to have known Zolo since a very young age. Even before Shinto Kane defeated Black soul, this would make the gold wolf well over 6000 years old if Rin remembered her history lessons correctly. Asta had told them several stories of her adventures with Zolo, but neither pup knew the Wolf general or had even met him, so they had no way to tell fact from fiction.
Besides that there was one other thing about the gold wolf that had Rin weary of her. In Asta's exact words "I don't remember her very well, but I'm sure Shihime and I were friends once." After that that Asta's head began to ache as she tried to remember more, but ended up fainting, while mumbling incoherent words that neither Rin nor Jade could understand.
A few hours later Asta woke up, happy and chipper, she got up and grabbed a book, sat down, and then began reading as if Rin and Jade weren't even there. The strangest part was the blank look in her blue eyes as if she was running on auto. This brings us to now.
Rin tired of feeling scarred jumped to intercept Jade mid-flight, hitting the hybrid in the jaw, Jade recovered landing on the adjacent wall and leapt kicking Rin to the ground with a smirk on her lips. Rising to her feet Rin flexed her claws and attacked! The two became blurs of movement as they sparred, breaking furniture and scuffing up the walls with their claws.
Time drew on and Rin and Jade finally collapsed on the floor feeling exhausted from their spar, both held happy grins on their faces as they laughed loudly. Despite the situation in they were they managed to have a little fun and that gave them hope.
"Very well done you two, you're both very strong for your age." Asta praised shutting her book. She wrinkled her noise. "But you both need a bath!" She grabbed both by the scuff of their necks dragged them to the hot spring connected to the room. Before either of them could realize what happened they were stripped and thrown into the hot water.
They both spat water of their mouths lightly coughing as they worked to clear their lungs. Asta disrobing sank into the water with a sigh. They sat there in silence enjoying the spring. Though Jade and Rin were still wary of the gold wolf they could sense she meant them no harm.
Once they were done with their soak Asta took turns washing each of the pups, much to the embarrassment, but they didn't struggle as the gold wolf rambled as she worked.
"You two remind me of my little sisters." Asta said happily scrubbing Rin's back. Her eyes dimmed with sadness as she tried to recall more memories of said sisters, but nothing came of it. "Anyways as I said earlier you two are really good fighters. I think you would benefit from training under me. Who knows if you're lucky you could have a growth spurt and we could get out of here soon enough."
Well Asta wanted to trust her shattered memories, her instincts told her "Once friends" didn't mean they were still friends. Also the violent memories she regained after she fainted had her warily. The shadowed image chasing her down, the burning sensation of her wounds, the blood pooling around her had left her shaken, but she didn't want to worry the two pups, so she read a book as too look calm on the outside, while inside she was shaking.
Whoever she was before didn't matter, whoever her friends and family before didn't matter. All that did matter was the two pups with her. They were her only friends. She would protect them and she would make sure they made it home, even at the cost of her life.
For now she would play it safe. Try to find out what Shihime's plans were and put a stop to them if possible. More importantly the pups needed be stronger, so that if worse came to worse and she wasn't around to protect them could rescue themselves at least.
Finished cleaning the two up Asta dried them and carried them to their beds. They were both so exhausted from their spar that they fell asleep the moment their heads hit the pillow.
Smiling Asta gently ran her fingers through their hair. "Good night you two, I promise I'll get you home just be patient." She kissed each of them on the head. Crawling into her own bed Asta kept her senses alert just in case.
It was late in the day the sun barely shined over the darkening the starry sky painting the world a vibrant array of colors. The scorching heat quickly turned freezing cold which turned into a blessing for the group of foreigners traveling the sandy desert. They could handle a hot summer day, but the extreme heat of the desert was too much for them.
That would explain why Ishimaru and Sesshomaru were currently bundled in their fuzzy tails grateful to have them despite cursing the furry appendages earlier.
However the change in temperature was the least of their concerns as they approached their destination. The large amount of Yoki they had sense earlier hadn't moved, not once, during the entire day. They had assumed at first it was one of their companions and flared their own Yoki at different times to announce their presence. There was no reply though, the aura of power continued to hum never going up or down. This caught the two Inu brother's attention.
Thinking about it now they realized no one in their party had the power to emit so much Yoki for so long and they'd been following all day.
"A local you think?" Ishimaru asked as they stepped off their Yoki clouds and resumed walking. The source of the Yoki was just over this hill; best to approach with caution.
Sesshomaru grunted in response and fiddled with the handle of his sword. He was uneasy and he didn't know why. The closer they got the more his instincts screamed for him to turn away. He looked to his brother, who remained impassive, but rested his hand on the hilt of his sword.
They reached the top of the hill that over looked a small valley and saw…
Hans and his group had made could good time. Each of them was very glad for the change of temperature, while it was cold; they'd all faced worse winters back home. However one member wasn't doing so well.
Sanko was still suffering from her fever and now they were have a hard time keeping her warm! To add to the problems the new moon darkened the sky leaving the hanyou fully human and very sick. Her face was flush red with fever and sun burns. To help keep her warm Kirara returned to her cat form and laid over her sister like a giant blanket as the two rode a top of Lilith's sphinx.
"Come on where almost there!" Hans shouted encouraged as they neared the top of the hill. However a sickening feeling crept into his gut as he looked into the valley below. His eyes widened at what he saw and could only describe it in a certain way…
"Oh shit…"
Kagome shivered in the cold night air. Why did she put on her school uniform again? Really it was impractical for traveling anywhere except the urban city and even it was only to stratify her schools dress code. Asking herself why she continues to wear a skirt that barely went halfway down her thighs in the wilderness!
"At least I'm wearing stocking this time." She lamented thinking of the years of traveling the feudal era in a skirt. She wondered if she had somehow changed history by doing that. So after some checking she finally found a few legends written by none other than Miroku as well as some others. The titles of her exploits were less than flattering to say the least with titles like…
"The Miko in the short Kimono" By Miroku
"The Goddess in the spring" By Hojo's ancestor (Forgot his name)
"The scandalous Miko" By Kikyo
"The woman out of the well who said SIT too many times!" By Inuyasha
Too bad she did this only after Shilo took her back to her time otherwise she could have gone back and slap, purify, and yelled SIT if she could have. They got off lucky to say the least. There were other stories about the mysterious Miko in the short kimono and much to her embarrassment one of the final history lectures she had before graduating.
Back to the matter at hand she was cold! She really wished she had a fur tail like Sesshomaru… wait a minute! "I can transform!" She declared happy. Focusing her Yoki Kagome envisioned her true form a giant wolf with a wonderfully warm fur coat! Her Yoki spiraled around her creating fierce gusts of winds surrounding her in a column of power! Only to discover nothing happened.
"Why can't I transform?" Confused Kagome tried again, getting the same results. What was wrong with her? Sure she only transformed twice into her true form, but that didn't mean she forgot how to do it!
Taking a calming breath Kagome closed her eyes peering into her soul to see if anything was wrong with her. An image of a white orb appeared in her mind, her soul to put it simply, surrounded by two distinct energies. One her miko powers a beautiful mix of blues, pinks, and a touch of gold in shades of color that were indescribable. Mingling around it was her demonic power given to her by Shilo, a mix of black and red energy, violent and powerful, but looking subdued somehow.
Realization formed in her eyes as she opened them. The mikos trapped inside the Leviathan! When they infused their energy with her it must have thrown her miko and demonic energy out of balance! Meaning she couldn't transform because there wasn't enough demonic power in her soul.
"Well this sucks." She muttered to the night air as she continued towards the source of Yoki. A little under an hour and she arrived at the base of a tall hill, the source of the Yoki on the other side.
"Here goes nothing." Kagome walked over the hill coming to a large valley. A tingling sensation crawls up the back of her spine. A barrier! The air around her shimmered disappearing in flakes of grainy sand revealing a twister of energy in the center of the valley, the Yoki was so dense it brought her to her knees!
Struggling to stand Kagome looks out across the valley and spots Sesshomaru and Ishimaru in the opposite hill, adjacent to them was Hans and the others. However they didn't notice her, they were too busy staring at the figure in the center of the Yoki.
Down in the spiraling chaos stood a man tall man with blood red eyes, dark tanned skin, and very, very well-muscled. The guy looked like he was chiseled from marble and Leonardo Di Vinci was the sculptor! The man had spiky white hair and a number of scars on his face and chest. One ran from the top of his head down between his eyes ending at just above his upper lip, the other was a large X shaped scar in the middle of his chest. It was hard to tell from her position but they looked like claw marks.
The man turned towards her with a hungry expression in his eyes that unnerved her. His nostrils widened scenting her. He grinned viciously as the storm around him died down and materialized into all too familiar faces; Anarchus and Solf the two who attacked them on Yamatai.
"How nice of you to join us daughter of Shilo Kane. I've been looking forward to your arrival. I'm sure you have heard of me, I am the god of the Desert Skar. I eagerly wait to see how you fair in battle against me." Skar said walking towards her. Red lightning dancing between his fingers tips.
Kagome trembled, her eyes wide with realization, this was the guy who almost killed Shilo!
Well here's this chapter hope you enjoyed. Wish I had a stronger ending, but I'll make it up with some exciting battles that are coming! At least I hope I can been awhile since I've written a big battle.
Also a little side note my computers going in to get fixed so I don't know when I'll get it back hopefully it only be a few days but you never now.
