Lost
By Usako Hashiba
Note
I have a lot of inspiration for this story so I am running with it. Thank you to reviewers: Toki1, The Unnamed Demon, and gatogirl1. Gomen about the slight delay, wrote about half the chapter on Friday before having a brief but victorious bout with writer's block (holds out hand in victory sign with a pleased smirk).
Please let me know about errors in my story, especially when it comes to character information.
Disclaimer
Inu-yasha and its characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi. I only own the characters that I created in this story.
Chapter Three - Return to the Quest
Dawn two days later found the group, plus a new member, continuing on their quest. Shori was completely recovered and Inu-yasha had stopped grumbling about the Sit incident. He idly entertained the notion of asking Kaede-baba to make a prayer necklace for his sister so she could have dirt- and-twig sandwiches too. Ah, sweet dreams.
He was interrupted from his thoughts by a tweak to his ears. The hanyou turned his attention toward the offender who turned out to Shori. "What?" he demanded annoyed.
"I just wanted to talk. I don't quite remember how long but I know it's been a long time since we've seen each other. Time to catch up," Shori answered.
"What if I don't want to?" Inu-yasha returned challengingly.
She returned his challenge easily, "Tough shit. If nothing else, it might help me regain my memory. I want to know what happened to me."
He growled and sulked for about half an hour because he couldn't figure out a good comeback before deciding to talk.
"Anything in particular?"
"Why did we split up? You mentioned that we had a huge fight. What was it about?"
"Kikyou," Inu-yasha answered. "You two didn't get along. She didn't like the time I spent with you when I could have spent it with her. You told me that something in her personality that you didn't care for but were willing to tolerate her if I was happy."
"But I told you that she tried to make me leave and never come near either of you again. You didn't believe me and we argued," continued Shori, her eyes distant as the memories of the fight awaken. It had been ugly and eventually turned violent.
"I left very angry, hoping that I'd never have to lay eyes on you ever again," Shori finished before shaking off the memory.
"Geez, Inu-yasha, you have a talent for making people angry," Shippou remarked, earning himself a lump on the head. "Oww!"
Shippou glared at the hanyou who ignored him. Shippou continued to glare at him for several minutes, somehow hoping that looks could kill.
* * * * * * * * * * *
The relative peace of the morning was suddenly interrupted when both hanyou stopped, sniffing the air and flickering their ears.
"Inu-yasha, Shori, was is it?" Miroku asked, recognizing from their behavior that they smelled or heard something wrong.
"Gaki," Shori answered and sniffed the air again, making a face at the stench. "With a few oni."
Miroku glanced at Inu-yasha, who nodded his agreement with his twin's statement.
"Didn't the rumors say that the gaki might be carrying a shard?" Sango asked.
"Yes. Kagome-sama, what do you feel?" Miroku replied before turning toward the Miko.
Her eyes were closed in concentration, "I definitely feel a shard."
"And we definitely smell youkai," Inu-yasha remarked.
"Where?" was the monk's next question.
"That way," the two hanyous and Miko answered, pointing to the east. Upon seeing that Miko's senses agreed with theirs, the twins took off at full speed.
Miroku sweatdropped, "I am starting to see the family resemblance."
"Yes," Sango agreed with the flat look. Shori was the calmer, politer one of twins but it had rapidly become apparent that she and Inu-yasha shared a high level of stubbornness and habit of being somewhat impulsive.
Shippou and Kagome were mirroring her expression.
"Well, we better catch up with them," Miroku announced and the rest of the group gave chase.
* * * * * * * * * * *
The quartet of oni looked up from their campfire to see two inu youkai rapidly approaching them. The sight brought collective smirks from all but the oni leader. If their noses and eyes were correct, the approaching duo were hardly more than pups. Easily dealt with and good source of entertainment.
"Look at the little pups coming to challenge us," one of the oni sneered, eyeing the two disdainfully.
The leader raised a hand for silence, "Inu youkai live in packs remember? No pack leader is going to let pups like them do something like this alone."
"Unless it's a stupid pack leader or those two aren't part of a pack," the gaki with them remarked from his position a short distance away. "I can sense only two other youkai nearby, and it's kitsune and neko respectively."
Further conversation was halted as the inu youkai pups had reached them. Both had their sensitive inu noses wrinkled in disgust. Oni odor was strong and these four were no exception.
"Hey, one of these pups is female," an oni spoke up, looking at the pups more closely. He grinned lecherously, "Pretty little thing. Could get some good use out of that body."
Shori narrowed her eyes dangerously at the remark about her body and growled threateningly. Her ears flattened against her head in anger and she curled her hands to make easy use of her claws.
"Inu," she snarled. "That one is mine."
He nodded, knowing it would be unwise to attempt to argue. That oni had sparked off her bad temper and signed it's own death warrant. Inu-yasha ~almost~ felt sorry for it.
The oni had heard her snarled order and laughed outright, soon joined by at least two of his comrades. The oni leader and gaki arched their eyebrows, reserving judgment through they were fairly certain that the oni could take the pup easily.
The perverted oni charged the female inu who dodge easily and slashed with her claws, efficiently removing the oni's arm and landing a sharp kick to the oni's ribs at the same moment. The sound of his ribs cracking if not breaking was clearly audible.
The oni was stumbled back, barely keeping to his feet as the female landed lightly with a pleased smirk. Shori resisted the urge to laugh - the looks on their faces were priceless. Apparently they had not been expecting something like that from a 'pup'.
Once the shock wore off, the now one-armed oni was angry. No, he was beyond angry. He was downright pissed.
"Girl, you are going to be begging for a merciful death when I'm finished with you," he scowled.
"Feh," she commented indifferently, sounding remarkably like Inu- yasha. The aforementioned dog boy was chuckling.
Two of the oni glared at him for daring to laugh at their comrade's pain. At an unspoken agreement, they attacked him.
Inu-yasha snorted at their speed, turtles compared to his speed. He easily maneuvered around them and yelled out, "Sankon Tetsusou!"
'One down,' the hanyou thought as he prepared for his next attack, while dodging swipes of sharp claws from the enraged oni. One motivation for killing these things quickly was that when angered, oni sweated more and more sweat meant more stench. It was all ready almost overpowering.
"Arg!" he heard his sister groan just a foul odor filled the air. He could see out of the corner of his eyes that she had riped open her oni's stomach. "And I thought they smelled bad . . . on the outside," she managed to gasp, putting some space between her and corpse.
It was then that Sango and the others arrived, all of which made faces. Shippou in particular, looked green.
Miroku stepped forward, banishing his staff as Sango did with her boomerang. Kagome stayed back but held her bow, ready to use it if necessary. She tightened her grip on the bow as something occurred to her.
'It's lucky we found that gaki. Tomorrow night is the new moon,' Kagome thought to herself before returning her attention to the fight.
Oni leader narrowed his eyes dangerously as the last of his men was hit and killed by that boomrang after the male pup faked a charge. He glanced at the gaki and they nodded in agreement. They needed to take out one of these two pups; they fought fine as individuals, no need to let them fight together. Especially not with the monk and demon exterminator present plus the strangely dressed archer.
With almost invisible signal, they selected the male, deeming him more dangerous. The oni leader distracted the others with the Shikon no Tama shard-powered gaki took on the boy.
The gaki drew a sword and swiftly challenged the inu. The boy managed to dodge the first swing but was hit glancing by the back swing but didn't seem to notice the small wound.
Inu-yasha drew the Tetsusaiga, transforming the blade just in time to parry a blow by the gaki. They were trying to take him out. While that wasn't happening.
The battle was tough. The Tetsusaiga was still a little heavy for the hanyou and as much as he hated to admit it, the gaki was a good swordsman.
Fate was being a bitch that day and the gaki used a sudden increase of power from his shard to suddenly increase his attack, landing himself at painful and disabling wound. By that point, the last oni had been killed but that was no matter. He had accomplished his goal.
He raised his blade to kill the pup but another sword blocked him. He turned startled black eyes to end of the sword. It was wielded by the male pup's sister. The blade had expanded from the standard twenty-six inches to almost twice her height. He could feel power rippling of the blade, as it had been with the boy's sword.
The gaki smirked, no matter. He could kill the male after finishing his sister. He readied himself for the fight, staring coldly into her enraged eyes.
Coming next
Chapter Four - The Kisaiga
By Usako Hashiba
Note
I have a lot of inspiration for this story so I am running with it. Thank you to reviewers: Toki1, The Unnamed Demon, and gatogirl1. Gomen about the slight delay, wrote about half the chapter on Friday before having a brief but victorious bout with writer's block (holds out hand in victory sign with a pleased smirk).
Please let me know about errors in my story, especially when it comes to character information.
Disclaimer
Inu-yasha and its characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi. I only own the characters that I created in this story.
Chapter Three - Return to the Quest
Dawn two days later found the group, plus a new member, continuing on their quest. Shori was completely recovered and Inu-yasha had stopped grumbling about the Sit incident. He idly entertained the notion of asking Kaede-baba to make a prayer necklace for his sister so she could have dirt- and-twig sandwiches too. Ah, sweet dreams.
He was interrupted from his thoughts by a tweak to his ears. The hanyou turned his attention toward the offender who turned out to Shori. "What?" he demanded annoyed.
"I just wanted to talk. I don't quite remember how long but I know it's been a long time since we've seen each other. Time to catch up," Shori answered.
"What if I don't want to?" Inu-yasha returned challengingly.
She returned his challenge easily, "Tough shit. If nothing else, it might help me regain my memory. I want to know what happened to me."
He growled and sulked for about half an hour because he couldn't figure out a good comeback before deciding to talk.
"Anything in particular?"
"Why did we split up? You mentioned that we had a huge fight. What was it about?"
"Kikyou," Inu-yasha answered. "You two didn't get along. She didn't like the time I spent with you when I could have spent it with her. You told me that something in her personality that you didn't care for but were willing to tolerate her if I was happy."
"But I told you that she tried to make me leave and never come near either of you again. You didn't believe me and we argued," continued Shori, her eyes distant as the memories of the fight awaken. It had been ugly and eventually turned violent.
"I left very angry, hoping that I'd never have to lay eyes on you ever again," Shori finished before shaking off the memory.
"Geez, Inu-yasha, you have a talent for making people angry," Shippou remarked, earning himself a lump on the head. "Oww!"
Shippou glared at the hanyou who ignored him. Shippou continued to glare at him for several minutes, somehow hoping that looks could kill.
* * * * * * * * * * *
The relative peace of the morning was suddenly interrupted when both hanyou stopped, sniffing the air and flickering their ears.
"Inu-yasha, Shori, was is it?" Miroku asked, recognizing from their behavior that they smelled or heard something wrong.
"Gaki," Shori answered and sniffed the air again, making a face at the stench. "With a few oni."
Miroku glanced at Inu-yasha, who nodded his agreement with his twin's statement.
"Didn't the rumors say that the gaki might be carrying a shard?" Sango asked.
"Yes. Kagome-sama, what do you feel?" Miroku replied before turning toward the Miko.
Her eyes were closed in concentration, "I definitely feel a shard."
"And we definitely smell youkai," Inu-yasha remarked.
"Where?" was the monk's next question.
"That way," the two hanyous and Miko answered, pointing to the east. Upon seeing that Miko's senses agreed with theirs, the twins took off at full speed.
Miroku sweatdropped, "I am starting to see the family resemblance."
"Yes," Sango agreed with the flat look. Shori was the calmer, politer one of twins but it had rapidly become apparent that she and Inu-yasha shared a high level of stubbornness and habit of being somewhat impulsive.
Shippou and Kagome were mirroring her expression.
"Well, we better catch up with them," Miroku announced and the rest of the group gave chase.
* * * * * * * * * * *
The quartet of oni looked up from their campfire to see two inu youkai rapidly approaching them. The sight brought collective smirks from all but the oni leader. If their noses and eyes were correct, the approaching duo were hardly more than pups. Easily dealt with and good source of entertainment.
"Look at the little pups coming to challenge us," one of the oni sneered, eyeing the two disdainfully.
The leader raised a hand for silence, "Inu youkai live in packs remember? No pack leader is going to let pups like them do something like this alone."
"Unless it's a stupid pack leader or those two aren't part of a pack," the gaki with them remarked from his position a short distance away. "I can sense only two other youkai nearby, and it's kitsune and neko respectively."
Further conversation was halted as the inu youkai pups had reached them. Both had their sensitive inu noses wrinkled in disgust. Oni odor was strong and these four were no exception.
"Hey, one of these pups is female," an oni spoke up, looking at the pups more closely. He grinned lecherously, "Pretty little thing. Could get some good use out of that body."
Shori narrowed her eyes dangerously at the remark about her body and growled threateningly. Her ears flattened against her head in anger and she curled her hands to make easy use of her claws.
"Inu," she snarled. "That one is mine."
He nodded, knowing it would be unwise to attempt to argue. That oni had sparked off her bad temper and signed it's own death warrant. Inu-yasha ~almost~ felt sorry for it.
The oni had heard her snarled order and laughed outright, soon joined by at least two of his comrades. The oni leader and gaki arched their eyebrows, reserving judgment through they were fairly certain that the oni could take the pup easily.
The perverted oni charged the female inu who dodge easily and slashed with her claws, efficiently removing the oni's arm and landing a sharp kick to the oni's ribs at the same moment. The sound of his ribs cracking if not breaking was clearly audible.
The oni was stumbled back, barely keeping to his feet as the female landed lightly with a pleased smirk. Shori resisted the urge to laugh - the looks on their faces were priceless. Apparently they had not been expecting something like that from a 'pup'.
Once the shock wore off, the now one-armed oni was angry. No, he was beyond angry. He was downright pissed.
"Girl, you are going to be begging for a merciful death when I'm finished with you," he scowled.
"Feh," she commented indifferently, sounding remarkably like Inu- yasha. The aforementioned dog boy was chuckling.
Two of the oni glared at him for daring to laugh at their comrade's pain. At an unspoken agreement, they attacked him.
Inu-yasha snorted at their speed, turtles compared to his speed. He easily maneuvered around them and yelled out, "Sankon Tetsusou!"
'One down,' the hanyou thought as he prepared for his next attack, while dodging swipes of sharp claws from the enraged oni. One motivation for killing these things quickly was that when angered, oni sweated more and more sweat meant more stench. It was all ready almost overpowering.
"Arg!" he heard his sister groan just a foul odor filled the air. He could see out of the corner of his eyes that she had riped open her oni's stomach. "And I thought they smelled bad . . . on the outside," she managed to gasp, putting some space between her and corpse.
It was then that Sango and the others arrived, all of which made faces. Shippou in particular, looked green.
Miroku stepped forward, banishing his staff as Sango did with her boomerang. Kagome stayed back but held her bow, ready to use it if necessary. She tightened her grip on the bow as something occurred to her.
'It's lucky we found that gaki. Tomorrow night is the new moon,' Kagome thought to herself before returning her attention to the fight.
Oni leader narrowed his eyes dangerously as the last of his men was hit and killed by that boomrang after the male pup faked a charge. He glanced at the gaki and they nodded in agreement. They needed to take out one of these two pups; they fought fine as individuals, no need to let them fight together. Especially not with the monk and demon exterminator present plus the strangely dressed archer.
With almost invisible signal, they selected the male, deeming him more dangerous. The oni leader distracted the others with the Shikon no Tama shard-powered gaki took on the boy.
The gaki drew a sword and swiftly challenged the inu. The boy managed to dodge the first swing but was hit glancing by the back swing but didn't seem to notice the small wound.
Inu-yasha drew the Tetsusaiga, transforming the blade just in time to parry a blow by the gaki. They were trying to take him out. While that wasn't happening.
The battle was tough. The Tetsusaiga was still a little heavy for the hanyou and as much as he hated to admit it, the gaki was a good swordsman.
Fate was being a bitch that day and the gaki used a sudden increase of power from his shard to suddenly increase his attack, landing himself at painful and disabling wound. By that point, the last oni had been killed but that was no matter. He had accomplished his goal.
He raised his blade to kill the pup but another sword blocked him. He turned startled black eyes to end of the sword. It was wielded by the male pup's sister. The blade had expanded from the standard twenty-six inches to almost twice her height. He could feel power rippling of the blade, as it had been with the boy's sword.
The gaki smirked, no matter. He could kill the male after finishing his sister. He readied himself for the fight, staring coldly into her enraged eyes.
Coming next
Chapter Four - The Kisaiga