To Outwit a Fox By: Jineka
Disclaimers: I don't own Inuyasha, its characters or storylines.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Chapter 3 Sesshoumaru and his Subjects
Kikyou stepped back, trying to keep her face from revealing any feeling. She was scared, scared that the fox would kill her, scared to die. She saw the fox, and he was staring at her. "Fox."
"Woman," Youko mocked her and stepped past her in one sweeping motion into his den. Kikyou's heart skipped a beat, maybe the fox wouldn't kill her after all?
Youko looked around the den, clearly looking for something. He upturned the tables and chairs, and checked the bed and blankets. Kikyou watched him for a minute, "Looking for this?" It was true that she was scared, but denying the truth was nothing that she would do. She held the piece of paper in her hand, and stuck out her arm.
Youko looked at her, disclosing nothing of his emotion and took the paper, breifly feeling the woman's soft skin. He unfolded the paper and saw that it was indeed the message from Sesshoumaru. "I'm leaving again. Do not follow and do not leave, or else I will kill you." His tone was hard and serious. Youko tucked the paper into his top and strode out once more.
Kikyou watched his back as he moved out. She walked to the edge of the cave and whistled. Her horse came, carrying with him her bow and arrows. She was going to follow the fox, period. And if that fox tried to kill her, she would kill him, because she knew she could if she really needed to. She was strong enough.
Youko could smell the woman following him and was a bit surprised that she was so willful, but he kept going. He probably needed to discuss matters with the woman anyway. Sesshoumaru's palace was quite a bit away, and the day quickly evaporated into night.
Kikyou followed the fox with only one worry. Her horse was strong and fast, but it did need more rest than any demon. She kept her horse going at a steady pace.
Youko saw the palace in the distance. As he neared, he sensed the priestess slowing down, keeping herself hidden among the trees. Youko glanced back and saw her, turned to face the palace, and smiled to himself.
"Jakken!" Youko called out. He looked around expecting to see the ugly toad any second now.
"Yes, have you come to meet with Lord Sesshoumaru?" The toad carried his staff, hobbling toward Youko.
"Yes, bring me to him," Youko said following the toad into the doors. Jakken was saying something, but Youko found the toad's voice annoying and unpleasant and diverted his ear's attention listening to the birds outside chirp and sing.
"…and then Lord Sesshoumaru came back, and the North and South are warring heavily on our borders can you believe it?…"
"Jakken?" Youko stopped.
"Yes, Silver Kitsune."
"Do everything with ears a favor and shut your trap," Youko spat at the poor toad and walked into Sesshoumaru's library. He spotted the Taiyoukai writing a letter on his desk.
"Youko," Sesshoumaru put down the quill and stood up, greeting the fox, "What brings you here?"
"As if you don't know," Youko said pleasantly, "How can you just ask me to kill them?"
Sesshoumaru looked at Youko, "Kill who?"
"Sesshoumaru, the humans, the humans, how can you just ask me to kill the humans?" Youko was annoyed at the Taiyoukai.
"Silver Kitsune, you are one of my advisors, yes, but you are also my subject, and that means if I make a decision, you will do as told."
"Don't be so sure Sesshoumaru, I live by what I think, and I will not be pushed around," Youko said calmly.
"Fox, do not argue with me. I have issued another document if that makes you happy," Sesshoumaru kept his voice down, and didn't show any sign of irratation. Youko raised an eyebrow at the Taiyoukai. "On it, has the names of priestesses and monks on our side, and those are to be protected."
Youko nodded, "That suits me fine."
"This is not the only reason you sought me out?" Sesshoumaru questioned.
"No not exactly. You see, on your message you have said that a priestess named Kikyou has killed my clan."
"So. Get to the point."
"She hasn't. I'm sure of it. Kitsune blood has a smell that I could've picked out in an instant. She doesn't have the scent."
Sesshoumaru looked at Youko with a kind of surprised look, "I didn't know you got yourself involved with all the priestesses."
"But she is beautiful," Youko laughed, "and it would amuse me to get her into bed with me."
"You and your fox ways, they always have a way of surprising me. No feelings at all." Sesshoumaru shook his head.
Youko laughed loudly, "This coming from you, oh cold one." And with that said, they both laughed. Youko was the only one who has ever made Sesshoumaru laugh, he's probably the only one ever to hear him laugh, too.
^_^
Kikyou looked up at the palace walls. Oh how high they were, she didn't think demons were so rich or strong or powerful. It was new to her, she hadn't knew that demons controlled all parts of the lands.
It was dark and all around her, she heard demons. Small ones for sure since all seemed scared of a mere human girl. Maybe they knew that Kikyou was a powerful priestess that could purify them?
Kikyou stepped down from the horse's back, taking her bow and arrows, just in case some demons were stupid enough to mess with her. She could kill them easily if she stayed awake, but she was tired, and her injuries still hadn't healed completey. One second she was alert and vigilant, and the next sound asleep, slumped on the floor, both hands holding the bow tightly.
The bushes around her moved, and sticks broke creating a lot of noise, but Kikyou continued to sleep. "Yusuke!" It was a shout whisper thing. Like a really loud whisper. "If you're walking in a demon infested area, whom all would like to eat you, do it quietly."
"God, stop it would you?" It was a male voice, presumably Yusuke. "You sound like an over-protective bird mother."
"What?"
"Nevermind." A man and a woman stepped out from behind the trees and saw Kikyou lying on the ground. "Another dead woman?"
The woman stepped in front of Yusuke and bent down to examine the woman. "She has a pulse, you dimwit."
"Don't call me dimwit Keiko, please, I get enough of it from Genkai."
"Whatever. Take her to Sesshoumaru." Keiko had long brown hair tied with a long elegant ribbon.
"To Lord Doggy? Why?" Yusuke pouted, almost whining.
"You know that we are two of Sesshoumaru's most trusted advisors." Keiko was always telling this to the thick-headed boy.
"Though why he made you one stumps me," Yusuke muttered.
"Yusuke?!" Keiko looked mad, a scary-looking kind of mad, "WE are going to bring the woman to Sesshoumaru. WE should trust his judgement, and WE are going with whatever he says!"
Yusuke looked at Keiko with a mock horror and in an extremely squeaky voice said, "Ahh, let's all listen to Keiko because she is so bossy and scary-looking."
"Yusuke!"
"Keiko!" Yusuke always teased her, but Keiko didn't always seem to mind as much as now.
"Queit," Keiko shout-whispered, "that woman is only asleep, she could still wake up."
"Bossy!" Yusuke shout-whispered back.
^_^
Kikyou woke up in strange surroundings. For one thing, it was inside and she was sure she had fallen asleep outside, and for another she had never been in a room quite as splendid. It was richly decorated, probably a lord and his lady lived here, Kikyou thought. But why was she here?
She sat up and got up. The carpet was soft and thick, giving her a small tingle in her bare feet. Her bow and arrows were gone, but she still had her purification powers, so she turned the doorknob, stepped out, and closed the door with a soft thud.
The door opened to a hallway, stone walls lining the sides and ceiling, with the same soft carpet on the floor. Kikyou looked up and down the hall and saw that one way led to a dead end, and promptly headed the other way.
As she reached the door at the end of the hall, she noticed that the doors lining the sides were growing a bit smaller every time, a strange design, that of humans living with demons. Which meant that this was probably the palace of the Taiyoukai, though how she got in still eluded her.
She pushed open the large door at the end of the hall and sunlight poored in. Kikyou held her hand over her eyes, blinking rapidly adjusting to the light of the day. Kikyou found herself not outside, but in a large room with huge windows lining the top of the side walls near the ceiling. It was a throne room.
Kikyou gasped as she saw a man sitting in the throne, accepting a piece of paper of some kind from other demon. He wore a white haori and hakama with red patterns on the sleeves and on his left shoulder. His sash, yellow with a blue pattern on it, was tied loosely. He had a blue cresant moon on his forehead, a symbol of royaltly among the demons. Two purple stripes rested on his cheek, a bored, indifferent look on his face as he spoke with another demon.
Kikyou gasped as she noticed that that demon was Youko, that fox! He looked slightly different though. He was wearing clothes of high class demons. She didn't know that Youko was one of Sesshoumaru's subjects, a highly respectable one too!
She continued to stare at them for a while and noticed Youko nose, that twiched suddenly. She held her breath, but Youko turned to face her. Sesshoumaru also turned to face her.
Kikyou was a bit afraid, but not too much. She held her head up high, proudly and dignified as she made her way to the demons. Youko smiled a bit lustfully, "Lord, meet Kikyou, the priestess I spoke to you about."
Kikyou was a bit surprised at the introduction, but nodded to both demons anyway. "And she…" Youko began still smiling in the same fashion.
"Hey dog-breath." Kikyou gasped, to talk to such a powerful demon that way was death for sure. The voice belonged to a young man with black hair that was short and pouffed out. He wore a bright smile. The thought of death must've been really appealing, Kikyou thought. He wore a yellow top, with the sleeves ripped off. Strange clothes that Kikyou had never seen before. He also wore simple black pants. "What did you want us to do again?"
Sesshoumaru looked at the young man quizzically. The man sighed, he had regular ears and no demon aura around him. He was human. "Me and Keiko. What did you want us to do again? Keiko forgot."
Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow, "Weren't you listening when I explained your mission? Or are you so dependent of that human wench?"
"No, because you bore me, and it's KEIKO, not wench, stupid mutt."
Kikyou gasped, she had known a dog-demon before, and it killed a villager because she had called him a mutt. Then Kikyou killed the dog-demon, but that was beside the point.
Sesshoumaru sighed, "Go check on the Lady of the North. She is supposed to be in the Eastern Palace. We need to know if the North are with the East or not. Now go. Report back quickly."
The man slauted, "As quickly as we can. The Eastern Palace is far east in the Eastern Lands, and it'll take a week just to get to the Eastern Lands, if you don't give us a ride." The man smile slyly, sighing dramatically, "And then another week to get to the Palace, a week to gather enough information of the Palace to slip by the guards, and…"
Sesshoumaru cut him off, "Do you always have to do this, boy?"
"Yusuke," the man corrected quickly.
"To make me give you my best flying horses?"
"Yes." Was Yusuke reply.
Sesshoumaru sighed, "Fine take them. Just hurry up." Yusuke always annoyed Sesshoumaru to the brink of homicide, but he was Sesshoumaru's most prided and powerful weapon so alive was his status.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Chapter 3 Inuyasha's Gone
A boy roughly ten or eleven stared forward. Suddenly he felt himself take control of his body and saw that he was standing in a hall. A long, dark one, like in those horror movies that reveal evil things or torture machines at the door at the end of the hall.
He was scared, as you would be if you couldn't figure out where you are, why it's so dark, or how you got there. He brought his hands up and turned them slowly, carefully examining them. He had a small pony-tail tied high with a simple white tie, and had freckles sprinkled on his face.
//Oh no. It's happening again.// The boy thought as he once again lost control of his body. It was strange and unheard of, but for the last couple of days, he kept losing control of his body, unable to move, talk, or even think. But it was always the same; it started as a feeling of light-headedness and suddenly all was black for the boy, as if time itself had frozen.
"Kohaku. Come." It was a voice that seemed to come from nowhere and was everywhere. It echoed in the hall as the lights came on. The boy's eyes lost their focus as control over his body was once again lost.
"Kohaku!" The voice itself was a smooth and held a slimey feeling toward it. "Come now!"
The boy still had distanct eyes as he made his way closer to the door at the far end of the hall. He held out his hand, and the door opened, though he never even touched it. The boy walked through the door and it closed, slammed closed.
The boy's eyes focused. He looked around again in a state of confusion and fright. "It seems my spell is a bit faulty." The voice belonged to a man wearing the skin of a baboon. His eyes were in shadow and he had a mysteriously evil aura about him. "I should be able to control you totally." The voice was calm and was indifferent.
The boy shuddered slightly and his eyes lost their focus. "Master." His voice rang out as he got on his knees and bowed.
"Much better. You are exactly what I need to kill Inuyasha."
^_^
Kagome sighed as she walked out of the classroom. The teacher had assigned tons of homework and it was still only the first week of school. She sighed again as Kouga approached her. Didn't that wolf have someone better to bother, namely someone less irratated?
"Hey Kag-baby," Kouga waved as he drew near. "Wanna come over to the den?" The den, a name for Kouga's house, that Inuyasha had named.
Kagome sighed. Did she have to?
"Sango, Miroku, and Inuyasha are coming. Am I counting you in or not?" Kouga asked. The halls were still crowded with kids, though the bell dismissing school for the day had already rung half an hour ago.
Kagome pondered a while. It would mean less time to do homework for sure, but it would also be an excuse to see Inuyasha. Kagome knew that Inuyasha wasn't interested in her, but she still liked him, more than Kouga and Miroku anyway. "Ok, I'll go, but what about the History homework?" Kagome was always uptight when it came to homework.
"We'll do it at my house," Kouga replied. "Sango asked that too. What is with girls and good grades?"
"Whatever," Kagome saw Sango at her locker furiously pounding it. "Uh…Sango?"
"Die you stupid locker, stupid, stupid, locker," Sango continued to bang away, until it opened by some miracle. "YES!!! Oh, hi Kag, hi Kouga. Let's go to the den now."
~*~
(Whenever you see the ~*~ it means we're going back into time in a different place. Like the above was with Kagome and now is the part with Suuichi. Confusing? Live with it.)
The final bell for school rang and Suuichi stayed in the classroom, walking out slowly after everyone had already left. He didn't feel like fighting off a mob of girls right now. He was slightly bored and tired, and just wanted to go home, do his homework (which there was a lot of. Damn the teacher), take a bath, and go to sleep.
A bath, not a shower. They're different and guys with time take baths, too. Too bad things didn't go well for Suuichi. He was confronted by his whole club in the halls. Should've stayed in the classroom a bit longer.
"Suuichi!" It was the president of his fan club, "Suuichi! Wait up! We heard you moved. Can we have your new phone number?"
God, these people stalked him! "Um…I don't know it?" It was more of a question than a statement, but the fan girls believed him right away, and told him to give it to them tomorrow…and if he didn't?
Suuichi headed for the front door, but heard a banging noise down the hall. He paused to find out what it was. He had a problem with curiousity, and he hated things that puzzled him, not a great characteristic, but none of "his" fan girls even noticed.
It was that girl. The one who yelled at him because one of "his" fan girls had shoved her rudely. Sango… or something like that anyway. She way banging her head against her locker, "Die you stupid locker, stupid, stupid, locker," and then it opened, wonder how that happened. And because of Suuichi's need to know what's going on, you'd probably find him banging his head on a locker to see if that would open it.
"YES!!! Oh hi, Kag," Suuichi followed Sango's gaze to see Kagome, the girl in his advanced martial art training and advancement class, "Hi Kouga, let's go to the den now," and the guy with his arm around Kagome, and what was the "den"?
Suuichi felt strangely jealous of the guy, Kouga, who was putting his arm around Kagome. Suuichi shrugged the feeling off and left the school and headed home, or it would be home if he hadn't moved recently.
"Damn," Suuichi saw his old house in front of him. He sighed, now he had to walk back to the school. He didn't now how to get to the area around the shrine from here.
^_^
Kouga's house, the den, was by far the coolest house on the block. So much grew on his property, it was as if it was a mini forest in the middle of a busy street. Vines crept the walls, painted so they looked like stone walls, but the paint was chipped in many places so it looked more fake than real. Trees of all sorts grew and Kouga's driveway was not usable since the many tree roots had created giant cracks in the cement.
Kagome never ceased to feel amazed as she climbed one of the biggest trees to Kouga's room. His room was more of a treehouse, but he slept there and did stuff there so it was considered his room. His room had walls and doors, and was all courtesy of his father, who was a brilliant carpenter. He built the treehouse because there weren't enough rooms in the house for all of his kids.
And since he was demon, this was the only place he could live. If he wanted more room, he would have to buy a second house, which he didn't have enough money for. Good thing Kouga loved this room better than his old one.
Miroku and Inuyasha were already there. Miroku was sitting at the desk in the corner. Inuyasha sat on the bed, one knee brought to his chest, the other hanging off the side of the bed. Kagome's heart fluttered when she saw Inuyasha and she immediately scolded herself mentally for thinking about how sexy Inuyasha looked.
His white hair resting on his shoulders and his cute ears resting on his head. She shook her head, but she had it bad. Inuyasha was always in her mind even though she knew Inuyasha would never love her. He was wearing jeans and a tight fitting red shirt that read, "I see stupid people everywhere, Wish they'd stop bugging me." His shirt also revealed a toned chest and abs. Kagome shook her head and forced herself to look at Miroku.
Kagome didn't want to be mean or offensive, but Miroku was just plain boring to look at, not for Sango though. Kagome smiled slyly and looked at her friend. Indeed, Sango was staring at Miroku, the same way she had stared at Inuyasha. Kagome laughed out loud, and Miroku and Inuyasha looked up to see the girls.
Kagome sat on the bed, "Hey guys, Kouga went to get some drinks." Inuyasha nodded, and went straight back to the history book laying on the bed in front of him. "Good idea." Kagome opened her book and started to try and figure out some problems.
Sango and Miroku were talking and laughing, which meant that they were happy together, for the time being. Kagome gaze traveled to Inuyasha again, so she shook her head again. Just then Kouga burst through the door.
"Kouga!" Kagome yelled standing up to greet the wolf glad for the distraction, oblivious to the silly grin on Kouga's face and the surprised looks on Sango, Miroku, and Inuyasha. "Thank god, you're here."
Inuyasha got up and left, slamming the door in the process. "Was it something I said?" Kagome asked.
"Oh- oh no that's not it at all." Sango and Miroku said hastily. Kouga's silly smile still lingered on his face.
Kagome went out and stepped down the ladder. She found Inuyasha fighting a small boy with a sickle on a chain as a weapon. "Inuyasha!" she yelled. Inuyasha looked at her and, distracted, got hit by the back of the sickle and slipped in unconsciousness. A woman flew down from the sky and grabbed Inuyasha's body before taking off yelling, "Good job Kohaku."
Kagome watched as the woman disappeared into the sky with Inuyasha. Hey, was that Kagura? Suddenly Kohaku launched another attack, this time directed on Kagome. Kagome screamed and Sango came out, saw her, went back in, came back out with a bow and arrows, and threw them to Kagome.
Kagome was busy dodging another assault and the bow landed onto the grass. Kagome picked it up, but Kohaku was already running away. "Stop! You won't get away demon!" She had no idea why she had called him a demon. It was pretty obvious he was human, Kagome pushed the thought away and shot an arrow at the boy's retreating body.
The arrow pierced through his body, but he continued to run, and eventually disappeared into the horizon.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Yay!! Finally finished the thrid chappie. Sorry 'bout the wait Minu, Emi, and Jenny. And to all the other people who take the time out of their busy schedules to read this ^_^ R&R Please!
Next chappie
Yusuke and Keiko adventure to the East [:: Insert dramatic music here ::]
More stuff. And Hiei!! Whoot for Hiei!