BTW. Wword and I aren't speaking right now, so if the punctuation is off,
im sry.
Chapter 5: Lilian awoke from her uneasy rest and sat up on the soft bed. She rubbed her eyes lightly, trying to clear away the soft layer of haze that coated them, slightly blurring her vision. Her entire body ached just enough to limit her movements, and her arms were so sore that as soon as she finished clearing her eyes, she dropped them heavily down to her sides. Far worse than all this however, was the searing pain of her leg; when left completely alone, it was little more than a slight tingle, hardly grabbing her attention, but when she moved it, it was a pain that nearly caused her to cry out.
After taking a moment to remember everything that had happened over the course of the day, she assessed her surroundings in the dim light. As far as she could tell, there was no one with her, but she could faintly here the breathing of someone just outside of the "room". She figured she was deep in the youkai den based upon the fact that she saw no natural light, and the scent of over a hundred cave dwelling youkai that bbbbaaaaaddddlllllyyyyy needed baths.
Realizing that she was going nowhere anytime soon, she decided to laid back down to rest, she wouldn't be escaping in her current condition, so she figured herself a prisoner to the strange youkai that was known as Kouga. She gently laid back down and took the time to honestly ponder her situation.
Based upon everything she had read and heard about the wolf youkai tribe, and everything she had seen in youkai in general; she couldn't figure out why she was still alive or why she was being treated so nicely. The pack had been known for strong bonds, and crimes against any one member, were the same as crimes against all of them. What boggled her mind more than even this, was the faint memory of the leader of this pack making the odd declaration of them becoming mates. The more she thought about it, the clearer the memory became, and the clearer the memory became, the more confused she got about it. The fact that she had always thought that human/youkai coupling was just wrong, and knowing that most youkai mate out of instinct or for power and never love; made the situation even worse. Deciding to let the near future run it's course, she slunk deeper into the bed she had been laid on, and fell victim to peaceful sleep, pushing her current dilemma to the back of her mind.
Kouga leapt through the air, clearing the last bit of mountain rocks and made his way to the small gathering of trees a little way off the base of the mountain. Landing just short of the small forest making a loud "thump" and a large cloud of dust, Kouga arose rather slowly and looked onward into the domain of Trent. He had always hated talking to the tree youkai, so he reserved meeting him for an absolute last resort; this was one of those times. Trent wasn't the easiest youkai to understand, and Kouga prepared himself for all the extra jargon that the sage would speak ahead of time.
He passed by the first small bushes marking the perimeter of, gulping deeply, partially afraid of what the answers Trent would give. Coming into this area was never easy, because even though Trent was an incredible strategist who had helped Kouga lead the pack out of many tight situations, the tree sage lived alone and never learned the value of another's life. There had been quite a few times, when Kouga had to disobey many of the tree's commands in order to save every life possible, but every time, he managed to lead the pack through the tough trials, never having to uselessly sacrifice a single life.
As he walked deeper and deeper into the mini-forest, he grew bolder and bolder; until he stood face to face with the tall tree in the very center of the area. Trent was a unmistakably different from all the other vegetation in the area, he was much bigger and much wider. His roots could be seen easily a foot wide and perfectly circular as far as five feet away before they tucked into the ground. His leaves were a more vibrant green than those of the other plants in the garden, and bore a fresh scent of jade and mint. Among his branches was the golden yellow fruit that had been named youkai's mana, because it was known to help revitalize any youkai almost instantly.
Slightly above Kouga's head was a large circular dent in the trunk of the tree, outlined by a swollen ring.
"Trent" Kouga said commanding the tree's attention "I, Kouga, leader of the pack of youkai wolves on this mountain, come asking for you're wisdom and guidance."
For a few seconds, the air stood still, and Kouga's beckon floated around aimlessly in the still air. Shortly afterwards, there was a loud creaking and the dent in the trunk of the tree molded itself in the shape of an old and wrinkled face.
"Kouga" Trent began "nice to see you again." his old and deep voice flowed off of his wooden tongue.
"Likewise" Kouga responded "It's been a while."
"I agree" Trent responded. "But I highly doubt that this visit has any purpose of investigating such miniscule trivialities as saying 'hello'. I presume, by the nature of your arrival that some catastrophic dilemma has surfaced and threatened you and your pack, or so it has been in the past. Obviously, this problem must have reached a critical level of significance and gone quite beyond your measures of control; ergo, in order to rectify the inevitable mistakes you have, or are soon to make, fate has lead you, irrevocably.here."
Kouga simply stood there staring for a moment, and after coming to, resisted the urge to slap himself and ask Trent to repeat what he just said. He assumed that it was just Trent saying "hello, is everything alright?" Kouga wondered for a second on why he thought, this was a good idea, but he already knew that if anyone could help him in this situation, it would be Trent (no matter how painfully dull getting the answers would be).
Trent looking upon the dazed look on Kouga's face slowly cracked a smile. "Your drooling" he joked. Kouga immediately wiped around his mouth, then understanding the joke, put on an un-amused face. He didn't want to be here any longer than necessary (obviously Trent wasn't the most pleasant person to talk to), so he cut straight to the chase. ' "No" Kouga started "My pack is fine, I'm not" "Oh I see" Trent said in a very "know-it-all" kind of tone "the nature of this visit isn't one of such immediate danger as any upcoming war; however, I do agree that any affliction that has besought you that could cause an untimely death would be very unfortunate. If you truly are under any danger of health, which you certainly don't seem, you know very well that I would be thoroughly delighted to share some youkai's mana with you. All you have to do is jump up and grab some."
Kouga (getting slightly agitated) responded "No, I'm fine too"
"But you just clearly stated" Trent interrupted.
"Never mind what I said" Kouga lashed out, getting more agitated by the minute.
"Well whatever is affecting you, there is no need to take it out on others" Trent replied.
Kouga growled to himself "Will you just listen!" Trent shut his wooden mouth and looked at Kouga focusing his complete attention on the now aggravated wolf youkai. Kouga let out a deep breath and prepared to speak. "Earlier today, when I came back to the Den from my morning run, I found that one of my pack mates had been captured and was taken to the highest peak in the range. Even though I knew it was a trap I went mindlessly to go rescue my comrade. When I made it to the top of the mountain, I was attacked by an assassin that I couldn't smell, and after a short and rather easy fight, I defeated the assassin and found out it was a human woman. Once she lost consciousness, her scent was no longer masked, and with that coupled with her sheer beauty, I was filled with emotions I had never felt before. It felt good to be around her, and I feared that I had hurt her in our duel. Feeling an over powering urge to protect her, I brought her back to the den. While she was unconscious I disarmed her completely of all of her weapons and was entranced by the totality of her beauty. She awoke and we tussled again, resulting with me getting sent flying out of the Den, stunned, and with a hole in my armor. She limped out of the Den and tried to escape, by I awoke and went over to her. Feeling that I absolutely had to make this woman my mate, I did what most youkai do, and declared her to be my mate; however this didn't blow over too well with her. She slapped me and made me remember what happened the last time I tried to take a human for a mate. She then passed out and I carried her into the Den, to rest in my quarters."
Kouga took a deep breath and looked up at Trent to make sure he understood before continuing, the tree sage blinked (because he couldn't nod his head) urging Kouga to continue. "I know that I could easily force the mark of mates upon her, and be technically her mate, and I know that I could force myself upon her; but just thinking about removing the choice from her turns my stomach upside-down. All I know of this, is the way that wolf youkai normally do things, we normally mate with whomever seems fit, and I know that I'm more fit than any human, and most youkai; but she's not like that. I know that continuing in the way that we do things, will drive her away in the end, but I do not know what else to do. That is why I came here, because I think you can help me."
Trent took a moment before answering this question, because even he wasn't quite sure how to answer this question. He was a master strategist, and one of the wisest beings in the area, he even managed to keep up with current events via the youkai birds that gossiped while stopping in his mini- forest; but out of all these things, he was not a lover.
"Well I certainly agree" Trent began in his usual tone of voice "that this is definitely a different kind of problem, though no less important or complicated. The case of this human woman that has so clandestinely entangled your affection, definitely is a circumstance on a substantially different and quite honestly more difficult. This problem, you see is consistent on many different levels, some of which, I can readily and easily help you, on others I can only give advice that is at most incompetent."
Growing impatient with the sage's round-a-bout style of speech, Kouga began to tap his foot and growl unintentionally. "Alright, can you just tell me what you know?"
"Okay, if you must insist that I be more considerate in the potency of my speech" Trent continued "I would be most willing to oblige"
Kouga rolled his eyes once more.
"As you can tell thus far," The sage continued "humans and youkai are very different in the way that mates are chosen. While a youkai wolf, and many other breeds and clans of youkai, will choose a mate that provides the most convenience as far as land, power, or any other trivial, and physical matter; human beings choose on a completely different level. Human anatomy shows that, while the human brain is one of the most advanced among species, it is easily overwhelmed by chemical imbalances within any given body triggered by events and experiences. These anomalistic occurrences have however, remained inconclusive and inherently different for each human being, causing manipulation of the event nearly impossible. Common side effects of these occurrences include: increased heart-rate, increased blood flow throughout the body causing uncontrollable blushing and sweating, light convulsions of the stomach, and a sensation commonly thought of as "this feeling", that I personally believe to be another form of inexplicable joy. Because the human intuition is so easily overcome by these feelings, that they call "love", it has long been a human custom to choose a mate by these feelings and events because they are quite pleasurable. The err of this is innately that these feelings don't always last forever, ergo a set of human mates don't always remain faithful after those feelings fade away."
"I don't understand" Kouga butted in "I mean, I kind of do. I think that I may be getting these feelings because whenever I look at her. I just."
"Hm, most interesting" Trent resumed "Well, unfortunately, there is bad news with this; as a youkai, it is not in your nature, or even in the customs of your tribe, to react this way. You have no experience or even guidance to lead you in the correct course of actions you must follow. Ergo you can only follow I in the manner which instinct will lead you, which obviously is the beginning of the cataclysmic and catastrophic chain of events that lead to your inevitable and seemingly excruciatingly painful separation. Coupling that with the fact that she already burns with a passion against you, only spells out the obvious: It is impossible for you, and possibly, any other youkai to acquire the love of any human being. I apologize."
Kouga stepped back as his worst fear confronted him again. His eyes went wide as the understandable part of Trent's words made him realize that the fate he had hoped to change was impossible. 'In the end, I can only lose her.' He began to think to himself 'I'll lose Lilian, just like I lost Kagome to Inu.WAIT!!' "INUYASHA!" hope flared into his eyes again, and a confused Trent looked down upon the youkai with a look that spelled out "explain". "I told you that there was another human woman that I thought I had fallen in love with, well Inuyasha is the youkai.well hanyou that she fell in love with," he explained, bursting with joy. If anyone can tell me how to make a woman fall in love, it should be him. I'll go find him and ask him. Thanks Trent."
Just before he turned around to leave, he was interrupted by the tree's voice.
"Wait, from what I've heard, most instances of love surface either at an instance, or over the course of time, since you know that she hasn't instantly fallen in love with you, it will take time; take her with you so you can stay under the watch of this Inuyasha."
"That's actually a very good idea." Kouga said a smile of a child wrote itself across his face and he turned to leave. "If this works, I'll make sure to come visit for a chat a lot more often."
With that, the small whirlwind that Kouga had been known for, grew out of no where, and with the swirling winds, the overjoyed youkai took off for the Den, more swiftly than he had ever run before.
Author: Okay, I think that's good for now. I'll write more when I get the chance (if anyone actually cares to read it). BTW anyone who wants to read this fic, may want to put me on author alert when/if you send in a review for this chapter; that way whenever I finish this next chapter (hopefully soon) you will know.
Chapter 5: Lilian awoke from her uneasy rest and sat up on the soft bed. She rubbed her eyes lightly, trying to clear away the soft layer of haze that coated them, slightly blurring her vision. Her entire body ached just enough to limit her movements, and her arms were so sore that as soon as she finished clearing her eyes, she dropped them heavily down to her sides. Far worse than all this however, was the searing pain of her leg; when left completely alone, it was little more than a slight tingle, hardly grabbing her attention, but when she moved it, it was a pain that nearly caused her to cry out.
After taking a moment to remember everything that had happened over the course of the day, she assessed her surroundings in the dim light. As far as she could tell, there was no one with her, but she could faintly here the breathing of someone just outside of the "room". She figured she was deep in the youkai den based upon the fact that she saw no natural light, and the scent of over a hundred cave dwelling youkai that bbbbaaaaaddddlllllyyyyy needed baths.
Realizing that she was going nowhere anytime soon, she decided to laid back down to rest, she wouldn't be escaping in her current condition, so she figured herself a prisoner to the strange youkai that was known as Kouga. She gently laid back down and took the time to honestly ponder her situation.
Based upon everything she had read and heard about the wolf youkai tribe, and everything she had seen in youkai in general; she couldn't figure out why she was still alive or why she was being treated so nicely. The pack had been known for strong bonds, and crimes against any one member, were the same as crimes against all of them. What boggled her mind more than even this, was the faint memory of the leader of this pack making the odd declaration of them becoming mates. The more she thought about it, the clearer the memory became, and the clearer the memory became, the more confused she got about it. The fact that she had always thought that human/youkai coupling was just wrong, and knowing that most youkai mate out of instinct or for power and never love; made the situation even worse. Deciding to let the near future run it's course, she slunk deeper into the bed she had been laid on, and fell victim to peaceful sleep, pushing her current dilemma to the back of her mind.
Kouga leapt through the air, clearing the last bit of mountain rocks and made his way to the small gathering of trees a little way off the base of the mountain. Landing just short of the small forest making a loud "thump" and a large cloud of dust, Kouga arose rather slowly and looked onward into the domain of Trent. He had always hated talking to the tree youkai, so he reserved meeting him for an absolute last resort; this was one of those times. Trent wasn't the easiest youkai to understand, and Kouga prepared himself for all the extra jargon that the sage would speak ahead of time.
He passed by the first small bushes marking the perimeter of, gulping deeply, partially afraid of what the answers Trent would give. Coming into this area was never easy, because even though Trent was an incredible strategist who had helped Kouga lead the pack out of many tight situations, the tree sage lived alone and never learned the value of another's life. There had been quite a few times, when Kouga had to disobey many of the tree's commands in order to save every life possible, but every time, he managed to lead the pack through the tough trials, never having to uselessly sacrifice a single life.
As he walked deeper and deeper into the mini-forest, he grew bolder and bolder; until he stood face to face with the tall tree in the very center of the area. Trent was a unmistakably different from all the other vegetation in the area, he was much bigger and much wider. His roots could be seen easily a foot wide and perfectly circular as far as five feet away before they tucked into the ground. His leaves were a more vibrant green than those of the other plants in the garden, and bore a fresh scent of jade and mint. Among his branches was the golden yellow fruit that had been named youkai's mana, because it was known to help revitalize any youkai almost instantly.
Slightly above Kouga's head was a large circular dent in the trunk of the tree, outlined by a swollen ring.
"Trent" Kouga said commanding the tree's attention "I, Kouga, leader of the pack of youkai wolves on this mountain, come asking for you're wisdom and guidance."
For a few seconds, the air stood still, and Kouga's beckon floated around aimlessly in the still air. Shortly afterwards, there was a loud creaking and the dent in the trunk of the tree molded itself in the shape of an old and wrinkled face.
"Kouga" Trent began "nice to see you again." his old and deep voice flowed off of his wooden tongue.
"Likewise" Kouga responded "It's been a while."
"I agree" Trent responded. "But I highly doubt that this visit has any purpose of investigating such miniscule trivialities as saying 'hello'. I presume, by the nature of your arrival that some catastrophic dilemma has surfaced and threatened you and your pack, or so it has been in the past. Obviously, this problem must have reached a critical level of significance and gone quite beyond your measures of control; ergo, in order to rectify the inevitable mistakes you have, or are soon to make, fate has lead you, irrevocably.here."
Kouga simply stood there staring for a moment, and after coming to, resisted the urge to slap himself and ask Trent to repeat what he just said. He assumed that it was just Trent saying "hello, is everything alright?" Kouga wondered for a second on why he thought, this was a good idea, but he already knew that if anyone could help him in this situation, it would be Trent (no matter how painfully dull getting the answers would be).
Trent looking upon the dazed look on Kouga's face slowly cracked a smile. "Your drooling" he joked. Kouga immediately wiped around his mouth, then understanding the joke, put on an un-amused face. He didn't want to be here any longer than necessary (obviously Trent wasn't the most pleasant person to talk to), so he cut straight to the chase. ' "No" Kouga started "My pack is fine, I'm not" "Oh I see" Trent said in a very "know-it-all" kind of tone "the nature of this visit isn't one of such immediate danger as any upcoming war; however, I do agree that any affliction that has besought you that could cause an untimely death would be very unfortunate. If you truly are under any danger of health, which you certainly don't seem, you know very well that I would be thoroughly delighted to share some youkai's mana with you. All you have to do is jump up and grab some."
Kouga (getting slightly agitated) responded "No, I'm fine too"
"But you just clearly stated" Trent interrupted.
"Never mind what I said" Kouga lashed out, getting more agitated by the minute.
"Well whatever is affecting you, there is no need to take it out on others" Trent replied.
Kouga growled to himself "Will you just listen!" Trent shut his wooden mouth and looked at Kouga focusing his complete attention on the now aggravated wolf youkai. Kouga let out a deep breath and prepared to speak. "Earlier today, when I came back to the Den from my morning run, I found that one of my pack mates had been captured and was taken to the highest peak in the range. Even though I knew it was a trap I went mindlessly to go rescue my comrade. When I made it to the top of the mountain, I was attacked by an assassin that I couldn't smell, and after a short and rather easy fight, I defeated the assassin and found out it was a human woman. Once she lost consciousness, her scent was no longer masked, and with that coupled with her sheer beauty, I was filled with emotions I had never felt before. It felt good to be around her, and I feared that I had hurt her in our duel. Feeling an over powering urge to protect her, I brought her back to the den. While she was unconscious I disarmed her completely of all of her weapons and was entranced by the totality of her beauty. She awoke and we tussled again, resulting with me getting sent flying out of the Den, stunned, and with a hole in my armor. She limped out of the Den and tried to escape, by I awoke and went over to her. Feeling that I absolutely had to make this woman my mate, I did what most youkai do, and declared her to be my mate; however this didn't blow over too well with her. She slapped me and made me remember what happened the last time I tried to take a human for a mate. She then passed out and I carried her into the Den, to rest in my quarters."
Kouga took a deep breath and looked up at Trent to make sure he understood before continuing, the tree sage blinked (because he couldn't nod his head) urging Kouga to continue. "I know that I could easily force the mark of mates upon her, and be technically her mate, and I know that I could force myself upon her; but just thinking about removing the choice from her turns my stomach upside-down. All I know of this, is the way that wolf youkai normally do things, we normally mate with whomever seems fit, and I know that I'm more fit than any human, and most youkai; but she's not like that. I know that continuing in the way that we do things, will drive her away in the end, but I do not know what else to do. That is why I came here, because I think you can help me."
Trent took a moment before answering this question, because even he wasn't quite sure how to answer this question. He was a master strategist, and one of the wisest beings in the area, he even managed to keep up with current events via the youkai birds that gossiped while stopping in his mini- forest; but out of all these things, he was not a lover.
"Well I certainly agree" Trent began in his usual tone of voice "that this is definitely a different kind of problem, though no less important or complicated. The case of this human woman that has so clandestinely entangled your affection, definitely is a circumstance on a substantially different and quite honestly more difficult. This problem, you see is consistent on many different levels, some of which, I can readily and easily help you, on others I can only give advice that is at most incompetent."
Growing impatient with the sage's round-a-bout style of speech, Kouga began to tap his foot and growl unintentionally. "Alright, can you just tell me what you know?"
"Okay, if you must insist that I be more considerate in the potency of my speech" Trent continued "I would be most willing to oblige"
Kouga rolled his eyes once more.
"As you can tell thus far," The sage continued "humans and youkai are very different in the way that mates are chosen. While a youkai wolf, and many other breeds and clans of youkai, will choose a mate that provides the most convenience as far as land, power, or any other trivial, and physical matter; human beings choose on a completely different level. Human anatomy shows that, while the human brain is one of the most advanced among species, it is easily overwhelmed by chemical imbalances within any given body triggered by events and experiences. These anomalistic occurrences have however, remained inconclusive and inherently different for each human being, causing manipulation of the event nearly impossible. Common side effects of these occurrences include: increased heart-rate, increased blood flow throughout the body causing uncontrollable blushing and sweating, light convulsions of the stomach, and a sensation commonly thought of as "this feeling", that I personally believe to be another form of inexplicable joy. Because the human intuition is so easily overcome by these feelings, that they call "love", it has long been a human custom to choose a mate by these feelings and events because they are quite pleasurable. The err of this is innately that these feelings don't always last forever, ergo a set of human mates don't always remain faithful after those feelings fade away."
"I don't understand" Kouga butted in "I mean, I kind of do. I think that I may be getting these feelings because whenever I look at her. I just."
"Hm, most interesting" Trent resumed "Well, unfortunately, there is bad news with this; as a youkai, it is not in your nature, or even in the customs of your tribe, to react this way. You have no experience or even guidance to lead you in the correct course of actions you must follow. Ergo you can only follow I in the manner which instinct will lead you, which obviously is the beginning of the cataclysmic and catastrophic chain of events that lead to your inevitable and seemingly excruciatingly painful separation. Coupling that with the fact that she already burns with a passion against you, only spells out the obvious: It is impossible for you, and possibly, any other youkai to acquire the love of any human being. I apologize."
Kouga stepped back as his worst fear confronted him again. His eyes went wide as the understandable part of Trent's words made him realize that the fate he had hoped to change was impossible. 'In the end, I can only lose her.' He began to think to himself 'I'll lose Lilian, just like I lost Kagome to Inu.WAIT!!' "INUYASHA!" hope flared into his eyes again, and a confused Trent looked down upon the youkai with a look that spelled out "explain". "I told you that there was another human woman that I thought I had fallen in love with, well Inuyasha is the youkai.well hanyou that she fell in love with," he explained, bursting with joy. If anyone can tell me how to make a woman fall in love, it should be him. I'll go find him and ask him. Thanks Trent."
Just before he turned around to leave, he was interrupted by the tree's voice.
"Wait, from what I've heard, most instances of love surface either at an instance, or over the course of time, since you know that she hasn't instantly fallen in love with you, it will take time; take her with you so you can stay under the watch of this Inuyasha."
"That's actually a very good idea." Kouga said a smile of a child wrote itself across his face and he turned to leave. "If this works, I'll make sure to come visit for a chat a lot more often."
With that, the small whirlwind that Kouga had been known for, grew out of no where, and with the swirling winds, the overjoyed youkai took off for the Den, more swiftly than he had ever run before.
Author: Okay, I think that's good for now. I'll write more when I get the chance (if anyone actually cares to read it). BTW anyone who wants to read this fic, may want to put me on author alert when/if you send in a review for this chapter; that way whenever I finish this next chapter (hopefully soon) you will know.