Wolf
Part Six: "Ginta"
by Vega
Kouga was gone only a few days this time around, which gave Hakkaku and I hope. Perhaps he really was getting over that Miko.
I sighed as he entered the cave and flopped down onto his pallet. I wanted to crash out too - it had been a long week of cleaning out the piles of old bones, scrubbing away the ash and soot that had lined the walls, and chipping a channel in the riverbed above that had re-directed the stream.
The pack had always meant to create a small indoor waterfall and collecting pool near the back of the cave, with a small stream running along one wall to the entrance where the water would re-join the river, but with the Gokurakuchou attacks, and then Naraku, there was never time for it.
Now, as the only predators on the mountain range, we had all the time we wanted to spruce up, hunt, and even start to grow those wild cucumbers that Hakkaku had grown so fond of. He really liked the sour pickles that he had stolen from Kagome's pack one night, and had begged her for the recipe later.
He swore up and down that he would make a new batch as soon as the cucumbers were ready.
I wanted to flop down and go to sleep like Kouga had by sunset, but it was my turn to hunt.
Excusing myself I walked out of the cave, dodging around the waterfall and jumping onto the grass knoll below. I took a deep breath and smiled. I was exhausted, true, but there was nothing more exhilarating than freedom.
Free from worry, free from obligation, just plain FREE.
With Naraku dead we didn't need to look over our shoulders every time we heard a twig snap, and with the Gokurakuchou gone, we had full run of the mountain range. And with only three of us left in our pack, it made Hakkaku and I equals, almost on par with Kouga, which made things easier.
Of course we missed our pack mates. We missed them desperately, every day. The fallen had been men that I had known from pups, comrades I had wrestled with on the ground, nipping at their ears.
But we had to look to the future now - we had to honour their memories and rebuild our clan.
Kouga had given up on the Miko, so that left all three of us bachelors. Hakkaku spoke off and on about a Southern Tribe woman he had met on a scouting mission down there years ago, and was, in my opinion, just screwing up the courage to ask Kouga to go see if she was still mateless.
I leapt up the side of the cliff, my legs burning with pleasurable exertion, and paused at the top, scenting the air. Yes, a mammal had passed this way not to long ago - something with four feet and hooves, the tracks said. I grinned and headed off in that direction.
And what of me, I mused as I ran, the wind in my face.
Where would I find a mate suitable to carry on our bloodline? I found my mind drifting back to our Sister, the one who had called me her great-great-great-grandfather. She had been very pretty, and very nice, and that's why I had liked her so much. She seemed to take everything in stride, accepting what was as it was. She seemed content, even, with our life rustic life, which I could tell by the reactions she had to some of the more extreme aspects, was very different from her own.
I wanted her, and badly, but she had chosen to care for Kouga instead. I had tried to win her to me, but it was no use. She was smitten. Truthfully, I couldn't blame her - Kouga was the Alpha Male. He was strong and resourceful, he was energetic and dynamic, arrogant yet understanding, and a charming and charismatic leader.
It was slightly heart-wrenching to see her choose him over my, but he was my Prince, so what could I do about it? She told me later that it would never have been possible for us to be together as I was her great-great-great-grandfather, and it made me wonder if she had not been related to me, would we have been mates?
Or had there just been no hope at all?
I shrugged off these thoughts as I scented my quarry, shutting off the analytical portion of my brain and giving myself over to the instinct.
My last conscious thought was that even if I couldn't have our Sister, there was still someone out there destined for me... and she was living proof of it.
All I'd have to do is wait.
It was a comforting thought that kept me warm for many lonely nights.
~~~
When I first laid eyes on the girl, I raised an eyebrow at Kouga, and he laughed.
Her name was Kaede, and she was barely a year old. She had the bright green eyes of her Kitsune Taiyoukai father Shippou, but the fluffy silver hair of her Inu Youkai ancestors.
"Gah!" she cried upon seeing me over her mother's shoulder and waved her chubby hands in the air towards me, little fingers curling and uncurling. The noise made Kakera turn around and notice my Prince and I.
"Konichiwa, Kouga-sama, Ginta-sama," she said, bowing, holding Kaede closely. It seemed slightly foolish to prescribe to all those silly courtly rituals in the middle of a rice paddy on the outside of town, but this is where we had happened to come upon the Miko.
"Hello, Kakera-san," Kouga answered back. I was too busy starting at the squirming ball of flesh and wondering how on earth it was that I was supposed to marry this thing. Perhaps our Sister had been joking when she had whispered that I was destined to be with Kouga's Rival's great-great-granddaughter?
"What brings you to the shrine today?" the Miko woman asked kindly, hefting her daughter up on her hip.
"Let me carry her, Kakera-san," I immediately offered and held out my hands. "You look tired, and your herb basket is full." With a quick glance at the child, Kakera handed her over, and I could see by the expression on her face that she was relieved. She began walking again, leading us through the town and up the steep steps that lead up to the Shrine House, and across the temple courtyard to the Bone-Eaters Well and the prayer-hut that was currently under construction around it.
"Ginta and I have come to pay our respects," Kouga said softly as we began to follow. "We are very sorry for the loss of your grandfather. Inu Yasha was a brave and strong man..." Kouga paused and flicked his tail, briefly, "even if he was an arrogant, fat-heated, dog-breath."
Kakera laughed softly, her eyes shining with unshed tears. "Let me take you to the Goshinboku, then."
We followed her to the tree, now fenced off and covered with little folded paper cranes and notes of farewell, tokens of affection, and prayer scrolls and beads. Four tall, white, slim marker stones told the world in elegant kanji that here lay 'Sango, Miroku, Kagome, and Inu Yasha' A taller stone stood slightly apart from those, carved into a needle shape of black marble that proclaimed that those who lay here were the 'Naraku o ou Mono.'
I wondered briefly as the child in my arms began to tug at my pointed ear if when I died I would be buried next to these brave people. I hoped so.
"Kaede!" Kakera scolded her daughter when she finally noticed the abuse I was suffering. She took the baby back with an apologetic smile. "Really, that's not very nice at all."
"She's just a baby," I offered, shrugging. "I'm not hurt."
Kakera shook her head briefly - "as mischievously as your father, you know that, Kit?"
As Kouga walked around the base of the tree, his eyes on the ground, making sure not to step on the freshly turned earth that marked Inu Yasha's final resting place, I pulled Kakera aside and asked, "Why'd you call her Kit? There's no history of this name in the family, is there?"
"No, you're right, there isn't. It's a nickname. From 'kitsune'," she explained. "See the tail?"
And indeed, there it was - my future wife's curly orange tail.
"Forgive me," Kakera suddenly, "I just realized that this is the first time you've met her." I blushed and nodded. It'd been nearly five years since we'd last been anywhere near Inu Yasha forest. Hakkaku was busy with his own pups, and as his pack, they kept us on our toes too. It just got hard for us to find the time. When we got word of Inu Yasha's passing, we made a point of making it. When Kouga and I were finished, we'd go back to the Den, and Hakkau and his mate would come, and we would watch the pups for them. "Kaede here," Kakera continued, and I snapped out of my thoughts to pay attention, "is nearly a year old. Her birthday will be at the next full moon."
"One year, eh?" I commented, unsure what to say. I wasn't used to remaining polite for such long periods of time. At, polite by Ningen standards. "Well, I'll make sure to drop by for her birthdays, I guess," I promised lamely.
I was saved from commenting by Kouga's return and our departure.
When we were far enough away from the Shrine he said, "So, you gonna propose tomorrow?"
"Shut up," I snapped.
He just laughed.
Oh sure, easy for him - he already had a mate waiting for him.
Secretly, though, I wondered ... when he finally caught up with our Sister... would she still want to be with him? Or had it just been comfort sex?
In the depths of his eyes, I could see and knew that Kouga had the same underlying, gnawing fear.
~~~
There was nothing to be done for it.
I shoved Kitsu into her mother's arms and told them to go stand beside the waterfall a the back of the den, as far away from the mouth of it as possible. There was going to be a fight, and the Ningen were going to use pistols.
I wasn't sure if I was going to survive. I wasn't even sure they were - but I prayed to Kami, anyway.
Kouga looked fit to leap out and rip out their throats on his own, but we three knew that there was no way that he could move fast enough to avoid getting at lease a sot-wound serious enough to slow him down.
"Kouga," I said softly, and grasped a handful of his Daimyo's wide kimono sleeve The wolf prince stopped growling long enough to listen to me. "We ran out of time, Kouga. Hakkaku got his family out but I... If something happens to Kaede and I, Kouga, will you promise me... promise to be Kitsu's father?"
Kouga nodded and clenched his teeth, his fangs poking out over his bottom lip.
~~~
I had been shot thought he chest.
I could hear Kitsu's sobbing, muffled no doubt in the haori of her mother. I heard Hakkaku's bellow of outrage.
But I felt Kouga's hands under my head.
"Take my sword," I said to him, and he told me to hush and save my strength. I shook my head - no, that would be pointless. "Use it well."
Kouga unlaced the sheathe from my belt and attached it to his own.
"Kouga?" I reached up my hand and he took it.
"Yes, Ginta, my friend?"
I smiled slightly.
"Take care of my great-great-great-greanddaughter," I coughed, "Or I'll haunt you. I swear it."
"I will, my friend," he said, and I felt hot tears splashing onto my upturned face. "I will."
The last thing I heard was his battle cry as he leapt at the firearms of the Japanese Military, my sword in one hand, his in the other.
~~~
Author's note:
I can't beleive how HARD it was to write as Ginta!
This chapter was mostly to humanize Kouga more, but also as a treat for Vale, who's a HUGE Ginta fan and is currently considering doing some work for the first fic. ^_^
Also, I really had troubles keeping names straight. GAH.
Reviews:
Jaye: Don't worry, there's still lots to come. Seventeen planned chapters at least, and three or four of them mostly written already. Resolution with Mom is forthcomming, but still a ways off. I'm also happy you like the great-grandmother - she's turned into a bigger character than I expected her to.
Ariane: I hope I finish before tuesday too! Hmm... Az Volpe, a bunni? Er... maybe? Heh. I enjoy writing from everyone's different perspective - gives me a chance to play with dialogue choices and vocabulary, and tone. If you'll notice, the way that Sesshoumaru refers to Az is very different from the way her great-grandmother does, and youll see in later chapters that Naraku doesn't even bother with her name and calls her "my hanyou".
Part Six: "Ginta"
by Vega
Kouga was gone only a few days this time around, which gave Hakkaku and I hope. Perhaps he really was getting over that Miko.
I sighed as he entered the cave and flopped down onto his pallet. I wanted to crash out too - it had been a long week of cleaning out the piles of old bones, scrubbing away the ash and soot that had lined the walls, and chipping a channel in the riverbed above that had re-directed the stream.
The pack had always meant to create a small indoor waterfall and collecting pool near the back of the cave, with a small stream running along one wall to the entrance where the water would re-join the river, but with the Gokurakuchou attacks, and then Naraku, there was never time for it.
Now, as the only predators on the mountain range, we had all the time we wanted to spruce up, hunt, and even start to grow those wild cucumbers that Hakkaku had grown so fond of. He really liked the sour pickles that he had stolen from Kagome's pack one night, and had begged her for the recipe later.
He swore up and down that he would make a new batch as soon as the cucumbers were ready.
I wanted to flop down and go to sleep like Kouga had by sunset, but it was my turn to hunt.
Excusing myself I walked out of the cave, dodging around the waterfall and jumping onto the grass knoll below. I took a deep breath and smiled. I was exhausted, true, but there was nothing more exhilarating than freedom.
Free from worry, free from obligation, just plain FREE.
With Naraku dead we didn't need to look over our shoulders every time we heard a twig snap, and with the Gokurakuchou gone, we had full run of the mountain range. And with only three of us left in our pack, it made Hakkaku and I equals, almost on par with Kouga, which made things easier.
Of course we missed our pack mates. We missed them desperately, every day. The fallen had been men that I had known from pups, comrades I had wrestled with on the ground, nipping at their ears.
But we had to look to the future now - we had to honour their memories and rebuild our clan.
Kouga had given up on the Miko, so that left all three of us bachelors. Hakkaku spoke off and on about a Southern Tribe woman he had met on a scouting mission down there years ago, and was, in my opinion, just screwing up the courage to ask Kouga to go see if she was still mateless.
I leapt up the side of the cliff, my legs burning with pleasurable exertion, and paused at the top, scenting the air. Yes, a mammal had passed this way not to long ago - something with four feet and hooves, the tracks said. I grinned and headed off in that direction.
And what of me, I mused as I ran, the wind in my face.
Where would I find a mate suitable to carry on our bloodline? I found my mind drifting back to our Sister, the one who had called me her great-great-great-grandfather. She had been very pretty, and very nice, and that's why I had liked her so much. She seemed to take everything in stride, accepting what was as it was. She seemed content, even, with our life rustic life, which I could tell by the reactions she had to some of the more extreme aspects, was very different from her own.
I wanted her, and badly, but she had chosen to care for Kouga instead. I had tried to win her to me, but it was no use. She was smitten. Truthfully, I couldn't blame her - Kouga was the Alpha Male. He was strong and resourceful, he was energetic and dynamic, arrogant yet understanding, and a charming and charismatic leader.
It was slightly heart-wrenching to see her choose him over my, but he was my Prince, so what could I do about it? She told me later that it would never have been possible for us to be together as I was her great-great-great-grandfather, and it made me wonder if she had not been related to me, would we have been mates?
Or had there just been no hope at all?
I shrugged off these thoughts as I scented my quarry, shutting off the analytical portion of my brain and giving myself over to the instinct.
My last conscious thought was that even if I couldn't have our Sister, there was still someone out there destined for me... and she was living proof of it.
All I'd have to do is wait.
It was a comforting thought that kept me warm for many lonely nights.
~~~
When I first laid eyes on the girl, I raised an eyebrow at Kouga, and he laughed.
Her name was Kaede, and she was barely a year old. She had the bright green eyes of her Kitsune Taiyoukai father Shippou, but the fluffy silver hair of her Inu Youkai ancestors.
"Gah!" she cried upon seeing me over her mother's shoulder and waved her chubby hands in the air towards me, little fingers curling and uncurling. The noise made Kakera turn around and notice my Prince and I.
"Konichiwa, Kouga-sama, Ginta-sama," she said, bowing, holding Kaede closely. It seemed slightly foolish to prescribe to all those silly courtly rituals in the middle of a rice paddy on the outside of town, but this is where we had happened to come upon the Miko.
"Hello, Kakera-san," Kouga answered back. I was too busy starting at the squirming ball of flesh and wondering how on earth it was that I was supposed to marry this thing. Perhaps our Sister had been joking when she had whispered that I was destined to be with Kouga's Rival's great-great-granddaughter?
"What brings you to the shrine today?" the Miko woman asked kindly, hefting her daughter up on her hip.
"Let me carry her, Kakera-san," I immediately offered and held out my hands. "You look tired, and your herb basket is full." With a quick glance at the child, Kakera handed her over, and I could see by the expression on her face that she was relieved. She began walking again, leading us through the town and up the steep steps that lead up to the Shrine House, and across the temple courtyard to the Bone-Eaters Well and the prayer-hut that was currently under construction around it.
"Ginta and I have come to pay our respects," Kouga said softly as we began to follow. "We are very sorry for the loss of your grandfather. Inu Yasha was a brave and strong man..." Kouga paused and flicked his tail, briefly, "even if he was an arrogant, fat-heated, dog-breath."
Kakera laughed softly, her eyes shining with unshed tears. "Let me take you to the Goshinboku, then."
We followed her to the tree, now fenced off and covered with little folded paper cranes and notes of farewell, tokens of affection, and prayer scrolls and beads. Four tall, white, slim marker stones told the world in elegant kanji that here lay 'Sango, Miroku, Kagome, and Inu Yasha' A taller stone stood slightly apart from those, carved into a needle shape of black marble that proclaimed that those who lay here were the 'Naraku o ou Mono.'
I wondered briefly as the child in my arms began to tug at my pointed ear if when I died I would be buried next to these brave people. I hoped so.
"Kaede!" Kakera scolded her daughter when she finally noticed the abuse I was suffering. She took the baby back with an apologetic smile. "Really, that's not very nice at all."
"She's just a baby," I offered, shrugging. "I'm not hurt."
Kakera shook her head briefly - "as mischievously as your father, you know that, Kit?"
As Kouga walked around the base of the tree, his eyes on the ground, making sure not to step on the freshly turned earth that marked Inu Yasha's final resting place, I pulled Kakera aside and asked, "Why'd you call her Kit? There's no history of this name in the family, is there?"
"No, you're right, there isn't. It's a nickname. From 'kitsune'," she explained. "See the tail?"
And indeed, there it was - my future wife's curly orange tail.
"Forgive me," Kakera suddenly, "I just realized that this is the first time you've met her." I blushed and nodded. It'd been nearly five years since we'd last been anywhere near Inu Yasha forest. Hakkaku was busy with his own pups, and as his pack, they kept us on our toes too. It just got hard for us to find the time. When we got word of Inu Yasha's passing, we made a point of making it. When Kouga and I were finished, we'd go back to the Den, and Hakkau and his mate would come, and we would watch the pups for them. "Kaede here," Kakera continued, and I snapped out of my thoughts to pay attention, "is nearly a year old. Her birthday will be at the next full moon."
"One year, eh?" I commented, unsure what to say. I wasn't used to remaining polite for such long periods of time. At, polite by Ningen standards. "Well, I'll make sure to drop by for her birthdays, I guess," I promised lamely.
I was saved from commenting by Kouga's return and our departure.
When we were far enough away from the Shrine he said, "So, you gonna propose tomorrow?"
"Shut up," I snapped.
He just laughed.
Oh sure, easy for him - he already had a mate waiting for him.
Secretly, though, I wondered ... when he finally caught up with our Sister... would she still want to be with him? Or had it just been comfort sex?
In the depths of his eyes, I could see and knew that Kouga had the same underlying, gnawing fear.
~~~
There was nothing to be done for it.
I shoved Kitsu into her mother's arms and told them to go stand beside the waterfall a the back of the den, as far away from the mouth of it as possible. There was going to be a fight, and the Ningen were going to use pistols.
I wasn't sure if I was going to survive. I wasn't even sure they were - but I prayed to Kami, anyway.
Kouga looked fit to leap out and rip out their throats on his own, but we three knew that there was no way that he could move fast enough to avoid getting at lease a sot-wound serious enough to slow him down.
"Kouga," I said softly, and grasped a handful of his Daimyo's wide kimono sleeve The wolf prince stopped growling long enough to listen to me. "We ran out of time, Kouga. Hakkaku got his family out but I... If something happens to Kaede and I, Kouga, will you promise me... promise to be Kitsu's father?"
Kouga nodded and clenched his teeth, his fangs poking out over his bottom lip.
~~~
I had been shot thought he chest.
I could hear Kitsu's sobbing, muffled no doubt in the haori of her mother. I heard Hakkaku's bellow of outrage.
But I felt Kouga's hands under my head.
"Take my sword," I said to him, and he told me to hush and save my strength. I shook my head - no, that would be pointless. "Use it well."
Kouga unlaced the sheathe from my belt and attached it to his own.
"Kouga?" I reached up my hand and he took it.
"Yes, Ginta, my friend?"
I smiled slightly.
"Take care of my great-great-great-greanddaughter," I coughed, "Or I'll haunt you. I swear it."
"I will, my friend," he said, and I felt hot tears splashing onto my upturned face. "I will."
The last thing I heard was his battle cry as he leapt at the firearms of the Japanese Military, my sword in one hand, his in the other.
~~~
Author's note:
I can't beleive how HARD it was to write as Ginta!
This chapter was mostly to humanize Kouga more, but also as a treat for Vale, who's a HUGE Ginta fan and is currently considering doing some work for the first fic. ^_^
Also, I really had troubles keeping names straight. GAH.
Reviews:
Jaye: Don't worry, there's still lots to come. Seventeen planned chapters at least, and three or four of them mostly written already. Resolution with Mom is forthcomming, but still a ways off. I'm also happy you like the great-grandmother - she's turned into a bigger character than I expected her to.
Ariane: I hope I finish before tuesday too! Hmm... Az Volpe, a bunni? Er... maybe? Heh. I enjoy writing from everyone's different perspective - gives me a chance to play with dialogue choices and vocabulary, and tone. If you'll notice, the way that Sesshoumaru refers to Az is very different from the way her great-grandmother does, and youll see in later chapters that Naraku doesn't even bother with her name and calls her "my hanyou".