DISCLAIMER: I don't own Inuyasha or the book called 'Hasse Simonsdochter' written by Thea Beckman, nor do I own the characters of these two stories!! But I do own the idea of mixing these two ingredients into a new story.
Italic: thoughts
-- --: locations
"...": spoken words
~*~*~*~*~: time gap
*...* : noises
-by Kittymui-
No Time To Lose
Previously:
The elf stretched her arms and yawned.
"It's getting late, you should get some sleep. Don't worry, I'll keep watch."
Inuyasha reassured her.
Phly nodded and leaned her head on the back of Kyra.
"Oyasumi, onii-chan." she whispered, closing her eyes.
"Oyasumi." Inuyasha replied as he stared into the calm fire again.
Kagome...aniki...I will return to your side as soon as I have found Hiten and
Bankotsu, I promise... he thought determined.
~*~*~ The next morning ~*~*~
Inuyasha opened his eyes when several rays of light fell on his face, waking
up him. I fell asleep huh? he thought as he got to his feet. I guess
I was really tired then.
He looked around inside the shed. Kyra was still resting on the floor and a small pile of charcoal and ashes could be seen on the spot where the fire was burning before.
Huh!? Where's Phly!? Inuyasha realized alarmed.
Her scent still lingered in the air but she was nowhere to be found inside the shed.
Inuyasha walked over to where the elf was sleeping last night; only to find a small piece of paper lying on the floor next to Kyra.
He bent his knees to pick it up and realized that it was a note.
~*~
Dear Inuyasha onii-chan,
You looked kind of tired so I put some leaves of the sleeping willow into the
fire last night to let you sleep while I kept watch. Don't worry about me, I
wasn't kidnapped if that's what you were thinking. I just left when you both
were sleeping because I had something to do.
I know that onii-chan is looking for his two best friends. I had some friends
from the forest help me out and they told me that your friends are staying at
the Capital. Don't worry, I told them to keep them there at all cost until you
got there.
The Capital lies in the far West from here but it's not a tough journey; you
should be able to reach it without any hardships.
Don't have to thank me. This is the least I could do to repay you for trusting
me and listening to my story. I'm sure we will meet again someday.
-Phly-
~*~
So she left huh? Inuyasha thought as he stood up again and put the note in his sleeve.
He turned to Kyra when he heard her stand up behind him and patted her head.
"Good morning to you too!" he smiled. "Let's go find a river
to wash ourselves. we have a long way to travel from here."
The horse nodded in reply and followed him out of the shed into the forest again.
~*~*~*~*~ Several months later ~*~*~*~*~
-- The Capital --
The Capital was the most important and biggest city of the Western Lands. It was located within the protective walls of the Castle where the king of the Western Lands resided. There were two big gates where people could enter or leave the place; either through the Eastern or the Western Gate. Both gates were strongly secured by soldiers of the big guarding towers that stood on both sides of the gates. The Castle stood in the back of the city and entering it was only allowed to those who had permission to.
The city itself was several times bigger and more prosperous than Mayr and the number of inhabitants was more than any other city in the Western Lands. Because most of the houses were row houses, the Capital looked more like a labyrinth from above (with the entrance/exits on the Eastern and Western side) with its treasure at the center of the artwork: the trade market. It was the biggest of them all, where merchants could trade anything they wanted to trade and travelers could buy anything they wanted to buy. The variety of the goods traded there was larger than anyone could have imagined.
Decorated iron lanterns with fire burning inside that hung on high stone pillars, stood all over the place on each side of the streets, which allowed the city to be full of life after sunset as well. There were also small parks within the Castle walls where people could relax and take a walk.
Hiten and Bankotsu, who had followed the Imperial Army back to the Capital,
were walking down the streets near the Eastern Gate.
"Hey Bankotsu, why are we staying here instead of searching for Inuyasha and the rest?" Hiten asked, walking next to Bankotsu as they walked passed a marble fountain.
"Because we'll never be able to find each other if they're also searching for us at the same time. It's wiser to stay at one place." Bankotsu replied.
"But we've been staying here for 2 months already!!!" Hiten cried frustratingly.
Bankotsu gave him an annoyed look. "It took us more than a month to reach this place, how long do you think it will take them to get here??"
"Besides, there's a lot to see in this city since it's so big." he added.
"Yeah right, how many times do you think we have seen that fountain already?" Hiten muttered as he pointed at the fountain they just passed.
Bankotsu sighed. "Okay okay, I agree with you that it's taking them too
long to find us, but I still think it's wiser to stay here and wait."
Then he noticed the scared look on Hiten's face. "What?"
Hiten didn't have to say what he was thinking about for it was already written all over his face.
"Of course not!! Man, we've been through this already!" Bankotsu growled.
"But what if Kagome really was in danger back then? What if__"
"How many times do I have to tell you!? THEY ARE FINE!! Now don't worry too much about it okay?" he cut him off.
"Look, we have tried to leave here before...remember?" he said after
calming down.
Hiten thought for a moment. "Yeah, I remember. And every time we tried to leave, something always blocked our way and made us return to the Capital."
Bankotsu nodded. "At first I thought it was just a coincidence but after so many iterations, I doubt that someone or something isn't trying to keep us here."
"It could be Naraku's doing you know?" Hiten suggested.
"I don't think so...what would do him any good to keep us here? We aren't wanted or something like that. I mean...if Inuyasha or Sesshoumaru was here, it would have made sense." Bankotsu reasoned. "Not that our friend is a criminal but he could do a lot of damage with his Kaze no Kizu and people could see that as a threat." he quickly added. "And besides, Naraku isn't even in the Capital anymore."
"Hmm...I guess you're right." Hiten agreed.
Suddenly Bankotsu stopped walking, causing Hiten to stop too. "Hey what's wrong?" he asked, as he traced his friend's gaze to a person in the distance.
His eyes widened when he realized who it was.
Before he could ask Bankotsu, he realized that his friend had already jumped into the air towards the person, so he did the same and followed.
-- At the Eastern Gate --
"I told you! I'm only looking for my friends!" Inuyasha explained
to the guard in front of him, slightly irritated.
"You can't fool me! Why are you carrying a weapon? You're probably an assassin, aren't you?!" the guard spat.
Inuyasha growled and wanted to smack the idiot but halted himself when he heard someone call his name.
"Inuyasha!!!!" two familiar voices cried in unison.
He jerked is head to where the voices came from and was surprised to see his two friends land next to him and Kyra. "Hiten!! Bankotsu!! It's so good to see you guys again!" he laughed. "How have you been doing?"
After Hiten and Bankotsu made clear to the soldier that Inuyasha wasn't a suspicious person, they turned to Inuyasha again.
Bankotsu gave him a puzzled look first and sighed in reply as he rubbed his forehead. "We were worried sick about you and the rest and you only act as if you only went away on holiday."
"Bankotsu's right!" Hiten agreed. "We were afraid that something might have happened to you and we've tried to leave this place before...but every time we did that we ended up going back to this city again."
Must have been Phly's friends. Inuyasha thought amused as a smile appeared on his face.
"It's not funny!" Hiten spat angrily. "We thought it was Naraku who was keeping us here but Bankotsu reasoned that it wasn't possible because he already left the Capital a long time ago."
Inuyasha snapped out of his thoughts after hearing the bastard's name. "W-what did you just say about Naraku?" he asked alarmed.
"That he left this place a long time ago...why? What's wrong?" Bankotsu asked, noticing the serious expression on Inuyasha's face.
"Was there something unusual about him leaving? Rumors or anything explaining why he left?" he inquired.
Hiten thought for a moment.
"Now that you mention it, I remember seeing him at the gates on the day he left when Bankotsu and me were doing some errands; it was about one month ago. And the strangest thing was that he took a large group of soldiers with him."
"Yeah, it was quite a scene that day. I thought he was planning an ambush on the Eastern Lands or something but I rejected that possibility when I realized that his army consisted only of human soldiers." Bankotsu explained.
Inuyasha became even more alarmed after hearing this. Please don't let it be what I think it is... he hoped inwardly.
His attention turned to Hiten again when he heard him chuckle. "And then we heard about the reason why he left with such a big army; it was really stupid. I recall it was something about taking revenge for his brother and that he had permission from the king to take that army with him."
Inuyasha widened his eyes of shock. Oh my God...this is bad...this is really
bad...
He snapped out of his thoughts when he felt something pulling his haori. When
he looked aside, he realized it was Kyra that drew his attention.
He patted her head to reassure her and turned to his friends again. "Hiten, Bankotsu, go fetch your weapons. We're leaving this place immediately, now hurry!! There is no time to lose!"
Hiten and Bankotsu were both shocked by their friend's seriousness but they knew he wasn't joking so they gave him a quick nod before they dashed into the direction of the inn where they were staying.
-- At the gate --
When they arrived at the gate with their weapons, Inuyasha only gave them a small nod before he turned around and dashed into the forest with Kyra running after him.
Hiten and Bankotsu nodded at each other and dashed after Inuyasha into the forest.
-- In the forest --
As soon as Hiten and Bankotsu caught up with Inuyasha, they immediately fired their questions while dashing.
"What's wrong Inuyasha? Why did we have to leave so abruptly? Is it Naraku?" Bankotsu started.
"Why are we chasing him? He's only attacking the ones who killed his brother." Hiten added.
"I..." Inuyasha began. "Together with Kagome...killed Naraku's brother."
They both widened their eyes. "WHAT!?!" they cried at the same time.
"B-but how? Why??" Bankotsu asked.
"Naraku's brother is Musou, and he was responsible for sending my brother away from Kagome. When he realized that we were still by her side, he had Naraku send us away as well." Inuyasha explained.
"So it was all a trap!" Hiten concluded angrily. "Then you were right when you said you wanted to go back to Kagome's side because you thought she might be in danger."
Inuyasha nodded. "Musou attacked her one month after we left. Fortunately I arrived at the same time and saved her from being tortured. And we killed Musou in the process."
As they continued to dash, Inuyasha explained to his friends what had happened while they were apart.
~*~
"Wow, your brother is really clever to be able to escape a trap like that." Hiten chuckled after listening to his story.
"Yeah, but unfortunately it's not the time to relax and laugh about the past because Kagome and the rest will soon be in grave danger, so we have to hurry." Inuyasha said with a serious tone.
"You're right about that but..." Bankotsu responded. "...how do you know where they are at the moment? How do you know we're running in the right direction?"
Inuyasha didn't reply immediately as he thought about what happened earlier when he was waiting for them to return with their weapons.
[FLASHBACK]
Phly...if you can hear my thoughts, please come look for me. I really need
your help at the moment. Inuyasha thought desperately as he stood near the
Eastern Gate outside the Capital.
"What's wrong onii-chan? You don't look so well." a small voice sounded
from behind Inuyasha.
Inuyasha quickly turned around and widened his eyes. "Phly!!" he cried relieved. "You came!!"
"I just arrived here and I saw you standing here in front of the Gate...have you found your friends?" she asked.
Inuyasha nodded. "But we have to leave again, that's why I wanted to ask you if you could help me."
"What is it? What's wrong?"
"Kagome and the rest are in grave danger; Naraku is heading to where they are. He's going to avenge his dead brother. Can you please tell me where I can find them? Could you try and warn them before Naraku reaches them? I beg of you, please help me..." he asked with a desperate voice.
Without saying anything else, Phly closed her eyes and concentrated. Then she suddenly floated into the air in front of Inuyasha.
He widened his eyes.
Little transparent green wings were growing from the little elves' back and flapping to keep her midair. They weren't ordinary wings like those of birds, but more wings of a dragonfly. The upper pair was slightly wider and bigger than the lower pair of wings.
"Don't worry onii-chan. I'll try to get to Kagome-sama as soon as possible." Phly finally spoke, opening her eyes. "She's living with the rest in a castle not very far away from the town called Ciel. I'll have some friends of mine mark the shortest road for you to reach her; you'll just have to follow the trail of fireflies that'll only be visible to you."
"Thank you Phly." Inuyasha smiled, slightly reassured.
The elf returned a small smile and a nod before she flew away.
At the same time, Hiten and Bankotsu arrived at Inuyasha's side.
[END FLASHBACK]
"Just trust me okay? I have a guardian angel who will lead the way."
Inuyasha finally replied after a moment of silence. Please let her reach
Kagome on time... he prayed in his heart.
"A guardian angel huh?" Bankotsu thought aloud.
"I know it doesn't sounds persuasive, but we have more important things to worry about at the moment." he said, a bit desperate. "I don't know how Naraku found out about Kagome and Sesshoumaru's whereabouts but we have to try and reach them before Naraku does."
"We are already at a disadvantage since he and his army left a month ago, so we're having a race against time." he continued. "I just want to protect the ones I love and I'm ready to give my life for it. That's why I'm asking you guys. Will you help me and fight by my side?"
Hiten and Bankotsu glanced at each other before they answered at the same time. "Always."
Inuyasha felt relieved and looked at his friends. "Thank you guys."
"We took an oath together, remember?" Bankotsu smiled.
"Yeah, we live together...we die together." Hiten agreed. "Nothing is going to change that."
"Okay! Enough of this chatter, let us kick Naraku's ass before your brother does!" Bankotsu growled aloud as he increased his speed.
Inuyasha and Hiten agreed with a nod and increased their speed too.
Sesshoumaru! Kagome! Hold on...we're coming!!! Inuyasha thought as he clenched his claws.
Vocabulary:
onii-chan: big brother
Posted: 28 November 2003
Last Edited: 12 February 2004 (re-edited because of tag problems)
Spelling check: YES