They had been traveling for a few days and were still a good distance away from their destination, but were making steady progress. Springtime was beautiful, and Kagome found herself marveling at the green everywhere, and the vast amount of wildflowers in the fields. The high mountains still had a lot of snow on their peaks. It reminded her of Colorado, and she found herself wondering if she would ever move back to the States someday.
Having stopped for a midday break, Kagome picked some fruits for them to eat while Inuyasha hunted more rabbits for them to eat. It was getting a little tiring, eating the same few foods for every single meal, but they didn't have much option out here in the wild. Perhaps if they had a village to stay in for a while, they could expand their menu.
"Hey, Inuyasha, can you shoot my bow for a bit? I'm starting to wonder if it's the bow itself that is causing problems, or if really is just me that sucks at shooting." Kagome asked. Her friend was busy sharpening the bone knife he had been working on, after he broke the first one he attempted to make in the process. She had donned her modern day clothing once again, while her kimono was hung to dry from being washed, and was lounging on a rock enjoying the afternoon sunshine.
"I'm sure it's just you that sucks, but let me see," he smirked at her. Wrapping the knife up and sticking it in her little burlap sack, he took her bow and arrows and aimed at a tree. She got up and followed him to observe.
Kagome laughed when his shot missed. "And you say that I suck."
"Do you?" Inuyasha raised a brow at her, his voice low and teasing.
"Shut up!" Kagome blushed and smacked his arm with the back of her hand. She wasn't quite sure how he meant that, for she felt like they teased each other more and more. Sometimes there were suggestive undertones in their jokes, but she just couldn't tell if it was her wishful thinking and imagining it, or if they were actually flirting.
Inuyasha notched another arrow and aimed more carefully this time, paying more attention to the bow as well. He frowned when his arrow fell short. "I think it does need some adjusting. Probably need to tighten the bowstring. Let me see if I can fix it some." He fiddled with it, trying to increase the tension, which was a little hard since his claws got in the way and he was trying not to slice the damn string.
After tweaking it a bit, he fired another arrow and was pleased to see it shoot off more effectively. When he hit the tree four times in a row, he gathered the arrows and brought them to Kagome. "The bow is fine. Now let's see how badly you suck after all, Kagome." She gave him a look as he emphasized each of the three syllables of her name.
Grabbing the bow and arrows, she sauntered over to where he had been standing to shoot, and took a deep breath as she readied her first arrow. The bow felt a bit tighter now, and she was sure she was going to hit her target at long last.
Or not.
"Oh come on!" Kagome groaned, when she missed the tree widely. "That was just a fluke. I'll get it next time. Watch me!"
A slow grin formed on Inuyasha's face as he folded his arms and watched her attempt to shoot with much frustration. She was cute when she got all annoyed, he had to admit. There was something about the little faces she would make, and the funny little growls. Was she sure she wasn't part inuyoukai? "Verdict's out. There's a solid ten out of ten that say…you suck."
Kagome glared at him haughtily. "Fine. I suck. Are you happy now? You're a much better shot than I am."
"Oh, I knew that even without seeing you attempt to shoot a bow!" Inuyasha laughed at her. Unfolding his arms, he stepped closer to her. "You're shooting them hard enough to hit the tree, but your stance is terrible. Want some pointers? I'll give them to you for free."
"Well, aren't you the generous one," Kagome smirked sarcastically at him. Her gaze followed him as he walked around to stand behind her. When he put his hands on her hips to correct her stance, her breath hitched and she had to remember to breathe. He was saying something to her, but she forgot to listen to what it was until he had stopped talking. Next he raised her elbow a bit and angled her upper body just a bit.
"Now hit the damn tree, woman!" Inuyasha whispered loudly in her ear. Suddenly aware of how close they were, his ears drooped nervously, and he took a step back, worried that she might not like him invading her personal space. When she managed to hit the tree, well off center, but at least the arrow struck the tree, he clapped. "You're still shooting to the side," he told her. Stepping closer, he leaned down a bit to try and line his head up with hers to see how she was looking at the tree. He adjusted her stance just a bit, since she needed to aim more to the right, and then stepped back to watch.
"I feel kind of funny when I shoot," Kagome said, after sending off another three arrows, two of them hitting the tree. She dropped the bow and turned around to frown at him. "Like…something deep inside of me feels funny. I don't know how to explain it, but I only get that feeling when I'm aiming the bow."
"Nervous about sucking?" Inuyasha teased, as he raised a brow at her. She shook her head. "Well, it's probably because you aren't used to projectile weapons like that. You're not shooting a toy. That thing could kill a person. It's like when somebody is learning to shoot a gun, often times you get this weird feeling. You know how deadly your weapon can be, and it can completely unnerve you."
"Maybe that's it," Kagome sighed. "I don't feel it anymore, so you're probably right. The more I get used to it, I'm sure it will end up going away at some point." Turning back around, she got into stance once again and was about to shoot, when she felt Inuyasha grab her elbow and adjust her arm again. "Oh yeah, too low. I'm trying to remember it all," she told him.
"It just takes practice, is all. Just keep doing it how I showed you and soon you'll be more of a pro with that thing than me," Inuyasha declared. He watched her practice for a few before getting tired of it, and they decided to move on after filling up their water flask at a nearby stream. Kagome had also joined the life of crime by nabbing it at the last village they had passed through.
As Inuyasha knelt down, Kagome gave a small sigh as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and got into position. She had to admit that it was actually kind of fun, getting to ride on his back like this. It also made her feel tall, being up this high, for he was roughly six foot, or about eight inches taller than she was. His muscles tensed under her touch, and a moment later she felt like she was flying.
"Oh, no!" Kagome groaned, when they finally reached what appeared to be the coast. It was a very foggy morning, and visibility was quite limited. She dropped her head down, banging her chin on Inuyasha's shoulder.
"What's wrong?" he asked, side-eyeing her as he grabbed the backs of her knees and shifted her a bit.
Kagome sighed and lifted her head to look at him. "I'm an idiot for not thinking about this earlier, just because the map is so tiny. Sapporo is on Hokkaido. And Hokkaido is an island, not attached to mainland Japan. So this is as far as we go, unless you're capable of swimming across that long stretch of sea. By yourself, that is, because there is no chance in hell I'd be getting into that water."
"Ah, fuck," Inuyasha groaned. His ears flattened in annoyance. "Then how do we get to Sapporo? The water looks kind of rough, and building boats isn't exactly the sort of thing I'm skilled at. Also there's no chance in hell I would be going into the water like that either."
"Not like there is anybody around to ask," Kagome noted. They hadn't seen a village in over a day. "Maybe we should travel along the coast until we find somebody that can help us somehow?" Inuyasha nodded and crouched down in preparation to spring, when Kagome squeezed his shoulder to get his attention. "Hey, before you start running again, can you give me a minute to put the kimono back on? It's so chilly and wet here."
"Sure," Inuyasha dropped further down to his knee and let her slip off. He watched over his shoulder as she pulled the kimono out of the bag and slipped her arms into the big sleeves. She loosely tied the obi just so the kimono didn't hang all the way open and then climbed onto his back again.
Kagome felt the damp fabric of his t-shirt as she wrapped an arm around his upper body. Between the fog and mist, and the humidity, everything was damp. "Aren't you cold, Inuyasha? You can always put on the other kimono that I found. It might be a bit small, but better than just your shirt?"
Inuyasha shook his head. "Nah, it's alright. I'm pretty tolerant of the cold. All the running keeps me warm enough. Thanks though." He squeezed her leg and gave her a small grin. "You ready?"
"Ready, boy," she teased, reaching up to ruffle the top of his head with one hand. A large crow up in the branches above them cawed loudly, making her jump and reflexively tighten her knees around his sides. She glanced up with a laugh. "Oh man, that thing scared me half to death."
Inuyasha smirked back at her and took off with a giant leap. He raced along close to the shoreline, hoping they would eventually come along some kind of fishing settlement. It was going to be an ugly day, with the sun almost completely obscured by thick gray clouds, and heavy fog blanketing the land, as far as he could see.
Eventually they stopped to take a break, and to check out the miniature map, to see how far away they had gone, for earlier they seemed to have been at the closest point to Hokkaido. As Kagome slung the knapsack from her shoulder, Inuyasha's ears perked up, for he thought he heard something in the air above them.
"Maybe we-" Kagome began.
"Shhh," Inuyasha hissed, as he elbowed her in the side gently. His eyes were darting all around, trying to see if he could spot whatever it was out there. All he could see was gray mist rolling all over the place.
Kagome noticed his tense stance and quieted down immediately. She was starting to get scared, for she could tell even he was nervous. "What is it?" she dared to ask, her voice too low for her to hear.
"Don't know," Inuyasha whispered back, when he turned his head towards hers, his eyes searching the sky above her head. Suddenly there was a terrible, loud squawk from somewhere behind Kagome's back. In the blink of an eye, Inuyasha pulled Kagome behind him, and took a defensive stance between her and the spot the sound had come from.
A huge shape began to emerge from the fog. Whatever it was, it was taller than Inuyasha, and far wider. "Stay behind me," he growled lowly. His ears were still swiveling, for he was trying to detect if there were any others around, in case it came in a pack. What struck him as weird was that it was moving slowly, shuffling loudly towards them. If it was a predator, it was a pretty lousy one.
It squawked at them again, as it shuffled closer. Inuyasha could make out the bird beak first, and then blinked, when he realized it was a walking skeleton. "What the fuck?" he exclaimed. The creature tilted its head as it got closer, signaling it knew they were there, but it didn't seem to act in a hostile manner.
Kagome grabbed the back of Inuyasha's shirt as she huddled behind him and dared to peek around his side. He sounded surprised and had stopped growling. "What is that thing?" she exclaimed, her eyes going wide as she noticed the walking dead bird. Or was it something else? The creature was using its wings like appendages to aid with walking on the ground, which was the source of the shuffling noise.
"I have no idea. Some kind of bird or dinosaur?" Inuyasha reckoned. It walked like a dragon but the head was completely avian. "I'm betting it's an undead dinosaur. Because why wouldn't it be? Totally normal here, right?" he asked her sarcastically. His senses didn't pick up any others aside from the one in front of him. Whatever it was, it seemed a little curious about them. His stance relaxed, but he still kept a wary eye on it as it got closer. He found it fascinating, for he had never imagined he would ever see anything like this.
The dinosaur bird opened and closed its beak, making a clacking noise, and started to turn when it was only about four feet away from the couple. Once its side was fully facing the two, it dropped down and folded its legs underneath its body. Inuyasha just eyed it, feeling confused. The bird turned to look at them and squawked quietly, before twisting its neck to poke itself in the side.
"Why is it laying there like that?" Kagome whispered. She had been clinging to Inuyasha but as the animal showed no signs of aggression, and he relaxed, she also started to relax.
"I don't know. Maybe it just wants to rest, so let's just let it be and keep going on our way so we can figure out how to get to the island," Inuyasha decided. He stood straight and was about to step back to give it a wide berth, when the creature hopped back onto its feet and let out an irritated sounding squawk.
Inuyasha quickly took his defensive stance once again, but to his surprise, the bird only moved closer, keeping its side facing them. When it turned its head to them and then jabbed its side a couple of times, before nudging Inuyasha's hand with its long pointy beak, his mouth dropped open in disbelief. "Call me crazy…but..I think it's trying to say something," he whispered to Kagome.
"Well, I don't speak dino bird. What do you think it wants?" she wondered. It was quite an amazing creature to see up close. Made entire of skeleton, even the wings, but moving around as if it were whole. Clearly it had to be kind of youkai.
"I don't want to be wrong, but I think it wants us to get on its back," Inuyasha said. "That's why it keeps pushing its side towards us, and jabbing its own side with its beak." He paused and glanced at the skull, with its two huge empty eye sockets. The animal was creepy but beautiful all at the same time. "Am I right?"
To his surprise, it made a happy sounding chatter and nipped at his jeans. At least the thing was friendly. Kagome just stood there a bit dumbfounded, as she watched the whole encounter. "We are actually going to ride the bird? What!?"
Inuyasha turned towards her and shrugged. "I mean, what else are we going to do right now? Life is one big adventure out here, don't you think? Maybe we can convince it to take us to that big island that should be there on the other side of the water. After all, the bird seems to understand what we are saying."
"Alright. Let's just do it. Not like we have a ship to sail or anything," Kagome agreed. The idea made her laugh quietly. By the time they got back home, she was going to be able to write a novel just on the bizarre experiences she had in medieval times.
Inuyasha debated how they should ride, ultimately deciding for Kagome to sit in front. It would be easier to hang on to her and protect her if they should fall or get thrown off somehow. "Here, step up and I'll give you a leg up," he told her, holding his hand out for her to get a foothold.
Kagome raised her eyebrows and stepped closer to the huge bird. Its back was almost as high as her head. "I don't want to fall through the ribcage," she worried. She grabbed a rib and wrapped her fingers around it, using it for balance while she put her right foot on Inuyasha's outstretched hand. He easily pushed her up, slowly enough so that she could use her hands to grasp the bones and kind of climb as she went, until she was high enough to swing a leg over its back. "Whoa!" She could feel its body moving beneath her, rising and falling slightly, as if it were actually breathing.
Inuyasha leapt up in a single bound and gracefully landed on its back. He dropped down to straddle it and scooted close behind Kagome. "I'm not going to let you fall," he said quietly, his breath tickling her ear a bit. Once they were seated, the bird stood up, jolting them around on its back. He quickly wrapped an arm around Kagome's waist and reached forward with his free hand to grab its rib-bone that was just in front of her leg. His legs were clenching the ribcage behind hers, and he was satisfied that she wouldn't budge unless he did, which was very unlikely.
Seconds later, they were airborne. Between the close proximity to Inuyasha, and the fact that she was riding a fucking skeletal bird, Kagome's heart was pounding like crazy. Having always been a fan of roller coasters, and having ridden on Inuyasha's back for hours on end the past week or so, she wasn't the least bit fazed by the flight part. It was more of an enjoyable rush of adrenaline as the bird swooped and rose, gaining altitude as it soared high over the land.
"This is amazing!" Kagome laughed loudly, when they banked to the right. With all the fog on the ground, all they could see was the green mountains with snowy peaks that rose up above the low clouds back in the direction they came from. Beneath them, the fog slowly became more sparse, and they could see dark blue shining through. Soon they could see that there were more mountains up ahead, the lush green contrasting nicely against the blue sea.
All too soon, the ride was over, and Inuyasha hopped down first so he could give Kagome a hand so she didn't fall. "Well, you showed up out of nowhere just when we needed you," Inuyasha spoke, glancing at the eyeless skull that was angled back at them. "Hopefully we will be just as lucky when we need to get back to the other side. Uh, thanks for the ride."
The bird gave them a happy chatter before rising to its feet and shuffling away, only to take flight once again, disappearing rapidly into the misty sky. Kagome was still a bit giddy from the ride. She checked the map again to see where exactly they had been dropped off, and determined they had to go vaguely north northeast.
It took another couple of days for them to get close to the red x on the map. The land here wasn't as quite as steeply mountainous as Honshu, but it was definitely colder, mainly at night. At least they had campfires to stay warm by.
"We have to be getting close," Kagome muttered. She gripped Inuyasha's shoulders, as she twisted around to glance at the scenery that flashed past them. It was less populated up here, and they hadn't seen a town since the first day.
The early morning sun rays cast a golden light on the green fields, which was so beautiful, Kagome thought. She was comfortable in the lower temperatures, since she had both kimono layered on. Inuyasha had refused to throw one on, so she decided to put both to use for herself.
After a while, Inuyasha slowed his pace. His ears were trained forward, as he picked up sounds. Lots of sounds, and they were familiar. "I hear birds," he commented.
"Like crows?" Kagome asked. She tried hard to listen, but it was to no avail. Her humans ears were quite lacking at this distance.
"No. More like undead dinosaur birds," Inuyasha grinned at her. "Probably a dozen of them, at least. And they seem to be in the direction we're supposed to be heading."
Eventually they came across a huge field, where several of the dinosaur birds were scattered about. The noise was them arguing whenever one got too close. "They seem territorial," Inuyasha commented. At their arrival, half of the birds turned and faced them, quieting down. A sudden loud squawk had a couple of the smaller ones scattering, as a large skeleton bird rushed forward, straight for the two of them.
Although the first one they had encountered was not aggressive, Inuyasha still found himself taking a defensive stance in front of Kagome, one arm around her waist in case he needed to get them the hell out of there. Despite rushing at them, the bird suddenly skidded to a stop and just lowered its head, extending its neck out towards them.
"I guess we're going for another ride," Inuyasha grinned at Kagome, when the large bird turned and showed them its side. This ones spine was almost level with Inuyasha's head, but she had no trouble getting onto its back with his help. He held onto her like before, which proved to be a good idea, for this bird was more daring in its aerial movements. They looped and circled through the air, rising higher and higher as they made their way towards a very large mountain range. Kagome found herself a bit afraid on this bird and subconsciously grabbed at Inuyasha's forearm, gripping it tightly. Sensing her fear, he tightened his arm around her waist to help her feel more secure.
Up ahead, there was another thick blanket of fog, and they were heading straight for it. As the bird swooped down into the cloud, both Inuyasha and Kagome choked a bit, as they inhaled the thick fog. It stung their throats, and had a bit of a strange odor to it. Seemingly oblivious to the suffering of the passengers on its back, the bird sped forward through the fog. How it was able to navigate, they had no idea, since there was zero visibility, and they were both rather afraid it would somehow fly straight into the side of a mountain of something.
"This fog!" Kagome sputtered, as she attempted to gasp for breath. It felt so heavy, and every breath of hers was ragged.
Behind her, Inuyasha let out another cough. It wasn't that bad for him, more annoying than anything. "You ok? There's something weird about this fog." He let out a short cough. "Hey, bird! Can you hurry up and get us out of here?" He wasn't entirely surprised when the thing just let out a loud squawk at him. If only he could actually see the ground, he would have been tempted to grab Kagome and leap off with her. He could feel her body shuddering as he kept her pulled close for safety.
Thankfully, the air cleared all of a sudden, as they emerged from the edge of the massive cloud. A vertical cliff wall was to their left, uncomfortably close, with a large stretch of forest beneath them. "Kagome!" Inuyasha called, as he gratefully took in a deep breath of clean air. "You ok now?"
"Yeah!" she gasped, her eyes still watering a bit. That last bit had not been a fun experience, and she was feeling slightly dizzy now from the whole ordeal. She was grateful for Inuyasha's arm wrapped tightly around her waist, for otherwise she would likely have fallen off from being so dazed. It took her a few minutes to actually recover
Once they were almost to where the treeline ended, the bird started to fly more horizontally, its head tilting down as if it was searching for something. Kagome shrieked a bit when they took a sudden nosedive, making Inuyasha tighten his grip around her waist. It was such a thrill, he thought, as they rushed towards the ground. There was a clearing amidst the trees, where there was a massive armored skeleton, as big as a multistory building.
As they neared the ground, Kagome shrieked even louder, and even Inuyasha felt his heart thud, but bird suddenly veered to fly low over the ground, its massive wings straight out as it glided to a stop.
"Oh, I can't walk," Kagome laughed lightly, once she was on the ground, for her legs felt like jelly. "Give me a minute." She had to catch her breath after that flight. Once she was fully recovered, Inuyasha started to lead the way.
"This has got to be the place," Inuyasha told her, his voice hushed in awe. "That gigantic inuyoukai skeleton there is The Great Fang, first of my bloodline, from what I've been told. I don't know how he died but I know it was thousands of years ago. This would have been his true form. Amazing, isn't it?"
Kagome smiled a bit as she watched the wonder display itself on his face. It was truly impressive to see the massive skeleton, and she wondered what he would have looked like in all his glory. As it had been thousands of years, his remains had become rather weathered, with numerous vines entangling themselves across the body, as if he was slowly being reclaimed by the earth.
While they were busy gawking over the skeletal remains of The Great Fang, they didn't notice a tall, white haired figure emerge from the forest behind them. "Who goes there?" a low voice spoke, making Inuyasha whirl around, his mouth dropping open in shock.