Mated Circle

11/03/'04

Chapter Four: Youkai Lessons

That night, Kagome found it hard to sleep in Kaede's hut. The sounds and smells of the village were distracting her to the point where she could not get to sleep. Finally, she got up and carried her sleeping bag- and Shippo, sleeping soundly- in her arms as she walked out of the hut into the night.

Following her instincts, she made her way to the Go-shinboku- the God Tree- where she knew Inuyasha was likely to be sleeping. She stood at the base of the tree trunk and gazed up into its branches, spotting the scarlet-clad hanyou lounging on a branch in the upper reaches. He didn't seem to notice her, so she figured he was likely already asleep for the night.

Smiling slightly, she jumped gracefully up into the tree. Finding a likely branch about twenty feet below her hanyou friend and slightly to the side, she tucked her sleeping bag, which she had opened out like a comforter, into a tight, warm cocoon around herself and Shippo, and settled down to try to fall asleep. Lulled by the quiet night sounds of the forest and the rhythmic beat of her kit's heart and his breathing, she quickly found her way to the land of Nod.

Higher in the tree, Inuyasha waited until his friend's heartbeat slowed and settled into the rhythms of sleep before opening his golden eyes to look down at her and the smallest member of his haphazard pack. His lips curled slightly into a small smile as he gazed at the picture they made, bundled up together in the dark blue fabric of Kagome's sleeping bag. He could barely make out the lump that represented Shippo, cradled safely in Kagome's arms against her stomach. Inuyasha felt a strange sense of rightness as he looked at the young miko-demoness and her kit, dreaming securely below him.

He had woken earlier to the scent of Kagome coming towards him; sweet sakura and heady spring rain overlaid with kitsune spiciness, inu muskiness, and ookami sharpness; replete with drowsiness and unrest. As she approached the God Tree he had also noticed Shippo's scent, fresh and a little spicy in the manner of kitsune, with that distinctive tang of slightly lemony, grassy aroma that always marked the tiny fox-demon. He had contented himself to be still and silent, and make no sign of his awareness, listening to her movements as she leapt up into the tree and found herself a perch not far from his own. She had fallen asleep quickly enough, and then he had taken the opportunity to look his fill at her slumbering form. He had always liked to watch her as she slept, finding her sleeping visage to be extremely calming and relaxing.

As his eyes fell on her newly multi-hued hair and canine ears, he let out a slow sigh, reminded of her new status as a youkai part-breed once again. He frowned slightly. He knew she would need to be taught how to use her new abilities; instincts could only take her so far. He could teach her to hunt and to track using her new senses, and some basic fighting moves; he grinned slightly as he contemplated the thought of instructing her like a newborn pup.

Then he frowned again, his eyes falling on the Shippo-lump. The fox kit didn't know much about how to use his own inborn abilities, and he also didn't know much about how to fight. He was good enough with his foxfire and his illusions- though both could still use some major improvement. But he had no idea how to utilize his natural weaponry. Inuyasha scowled as he realized that he was the only one in the group who could rectify the kit's lack of knowledge, and so it was his own responsibility to do so. But he had been too stubborn and allowed the kit's mischievous nature to distract him from his lack of knowledge. Shippo loved to annoy him, and Inuyasha allowed himself to react immaturely to the little fox's taunts and teases.

But Inuyasha was a grown youkai, even if he was only a half-demon, and Shippo was just a pup. Inuyasha was the leader of Shippo's pack, and it was his responsibility to provide for the kit, protect him, and see to it that he would eventually be able to provide for and protect himself. Even if Shippo didn't want to accept his leadership- which was obvious in the way he was constantly challenging him.

Unfortunately, Kagome had only made things worse by spoiling Shippo and coddling him, and protecting him from Inuyasha's punishments. Inuyasha himself hadn't helped matters either, though; he had treated Shippo more like a rival than a disobedient subordinate. He hadn't reinforced his dominance, which he should have- and could have if he had reacted in the instinctive ways his youkai side had always preferred.

But Inuyasha hadn't paid attention to his instincts when he should have. And now there was going to be trouble- he could see it coming. And he would probably have to explain all of this to Kagome, too- because she, new-come to her own youkai instincts, wouldn't understand them right away either. And she had to start paying attention to her own status in their pack, as well- she was obviously the lead female, and so she was responsible for taking care of the others, too. Her duties were different and less than Inuyasha's own, but still important. And soon, he figured, her instincts would start clamoring for her to honor those responsibilities, and it would only confuse and distress her if she didn't know why. Inuyasha would have to teach her.

The young inu-hanyou sighed deeply, scowling unhappily at his train of thought. 'This is going to be a great big mess,' he thought morosely. But he couldn't hold back his smile as he watched his pack members snoozing contently away below him. His last thought before he drifted off to join them in their comatose state was that it was going to be fun to teach the two how to use their youkai abilities.

Kagome awoke the next morning to the sound of Shippo's startled yelp. "Whassamatter?" she mumbled sleepily.

"Kagome-mama! We're in a tree!" squealed the young fox-demon.

"Oh, yeah," she said, recalling how she had moved the two of them to the Go-shinboku late the night before. "I know."

"Oh," Shippo said, her lack of excitement calming him considerably. He yawned a few times, licking his chops like a cat, and then turned his big green eyes to Kagome. "What's for breakfast, Kagome-mama?" he asked, patting his empty little belly with a hungry look on his face.

She smiled at him, amused, as she unwrapped the heavy cover of her sleeping bag from around them and then prepared to jump out of the tree. "I don't know yet, sweetie," she told the small kitsune. "We'll just have to wait and see, won't we?" she said with a smile.

"Why don't you hunt for your breakfast?" came the unexpected voice of Inuyasha. It startled Kagome so much that the mixed-breed demoness lost her balance and fell out of the tree, taking the demon child with her. They both yelped in surprise and fear as they plummeted through the air towards the ground. Inuyasha sighed, rolled his eyes, and jumped down to catch them in his arms before they hit the earth.

"Oof!" Kagome, wide-eyed, looked up at her hanyou rescuer as they landed safely on the forest floor, ensconced in his strong embrace. "Inuyasha!"

"Good morning," replied the half-demon, hiding his amusement. His golden eyes sparkled with secret mirth, and his lips twitched slightly. "Sleep well?"

"Yes, um, fine," Kagome said, captivated by the hanyou's intense gaze. She only looked away, a slight blush dusting her cheeks, when Shippo's squirming distracted her and broke the spell. "What did you say about hunting?"

"You're a youkai, Kagome," Inuyasha replied somewhat smugly. "You can- and should- hunt for your food. Now's as good a time to start as any. In fact, Shippo really ought to be learning this, too." His eyes moved down to fix on the wide-eyed little boy. "He ought to come along and observe, at least."

"You- you're going to teach me to hunt?" squeaked the fox-child excitedly. "Really?"

"Both of you should learn," said the hanyou. His eyes narrowed sternly. "Since it's my duty as pack leader to make sure everyone in the pack is fed, and to make sure the pups learn to hunt, it's my responsibility to see to it. Kagome, you're new to all this, but I really ought to have been taking you out to hunt with me before this, runt." He smirked at the two and then looked Kagome in the eye. "You think you're up to it?"

"Of course!" Kagome replied indignantly, but she was distracted by what he had said about being the 'pack leader.' "You're the pack leader? What does that mean?" she asked curiously.

"When you and I joined forces," he explained with unusual patience, "we became the start of a new pack. With each new member that joined, our pack has grown stronger. But you and I- we've been neglecting our duties as leaders. It's excusable in your case because, as a human, you couldn't be expected to know about youkai social customs. But I should have known better. My only excuse is that I grew up alone, not as part of a pack- like I should have." He dropped his eyes to the ground, ashamed. "I haven't been a very good pack leader. But I aim to change that."

Kagome, shocked by Inuyasha's demeanor and behavior, only nodded silently. It hadn't really occurred to her that their group was a pack. It also hadn't occurred to her that they were the leaders of that pack. She looked down at Shippo, who was looking at the inu-hanyou with an unreadable expression on his face.

"Anyway, the two of you need to learn to hunt, and I'm the only one available to teach you," Inuyasha sighed. "So let's get to it."

An hour later, Kagome had managed to catch herself two rabbits. Inuyasha had brought down a young buck, which Shippo had been excited to help him flush by using his foxfire. The threesome took their catch over to the nearby river to clean and prepare the carcasses. There, Inuyasha demonstrated on one of Kagome's rabbits and then had her repeat the process on the other. Once the two small animals had been skinned, washed, and gutted, the hanyou instructed the two younger demons to pay attention as he processed the deer. Having prepared their catch, they hauled the slaughtered animals back to the village, where Sango and Miroku helped them dress and then cook the meat. The rabbits were finished first, and Kagome shared one with Shippo while Sango and Kilala ate the second. Inuyasha and Miroku waited for the deer meat to finish roasting, which the hanyou had sliced into smaller portions with his claws.

After finishing their breakfast, and saving some of the left-over deer meat for Kaede to use later that night in her stew, Inuyasha told Kagome they were going back out to work on her scent-tracking, which had shown to be fairly advanced during their hunt that morning. Shippo came along as well. The hanyou led the miko and kit to a large clearing in the forest, not far from the clearing that housed the well. Then, he began working with the two less-experienced youkai again, teaching them how to follow trails using their noses and how to track targets similarly.

He made it into a game, having them wait while he left a trail of his own scent around the meadow and then hiding a piece of cloth he had used to clean blood off his hands after butchering his catch that morning. Then he told them to follow the trail and find the soiled cloth. Kagome was good at the game; she unerringly managed to follow his trails, even when he played tricks that would have stumped him when he was first learning to track. Shippo was much slower than Kagome, but he had a keener nose; he never deviated from the tracks, and always went straight to the hiding place at the end of the trail even when Kagome had had to spend time looking around. Finally he was satisfied that the two had done enough tracking for one day, and went on to show them some ways to hide their own scents and tracks.

It was late afternoon by the time the three youkai finished their day's training. Kagome, feeling sweaty and dirty, took Shippo to have a bath in the river. Inuyasha followed, making sure to stay downwind and hidden, to guard them while they were vulnerable and distracted by their water games. He perched in a tree, facing away from the river so he didn't see anything he wasn't supposed to see. He was nervous about leaving her alone in the forest, especially now that she had become youkai, when she still didn't really know how to protect herself. Even with Shippo there to protect her, he preferred to keep watch over the young miko demoness himself.

As he sat in the tree, he pondered weapons. He feared Kagome was going to need a guardian weapon sooner than later, and she also needed a weapon suitable for close-range combat. Her bow and arrows was all very well and good, so long as her opponents stayed far enough away; but they were no good for melee fighting. Shippo needed a weapon to carry as well. The little fox was handy with his tricks and toys, but he had nothing to fight with physically. But getting Kagome a sealing weapon was top-priority. Her youkai blood was strong, and her instincts were somewhat more likely to overwhelm her rational mind than Inuyasha's were. That needed to be prevented right away. They would have to plan a trip to see Toutousai, and it needed to be sooner than later. Shard-hunting would have to wait for the nonce.

Kagome and Shippo finally finished their bath, and Inuyasha sprinted back to Kaede's in the hopes of beating them there so they would not know he had followed them to the river. He knew he would feel the pain of the Sit command if Kagome got it into her head that he had spied on her bathing, and he preferred to avoid that at all costs. He hated being subdued by the rosary more than anything else Kagome did to him- every time it happened, it made him feel like a pet of some kind. And it hurt like anything to be slammed into the ground face-first like that, anyway. It was the most undignified thing that ever happened to him; being subdued in front of his subordinates- and occasionally his enemies- was so embarrassing the very thought of it made him cringe. But the rosary tied him to Kagome- it marked him as hers, and allowed his passage through the Dry Well to her time. He wouldn't give it up for anything.

He arrived at Kaede's hut only a few minutes before Kagome and Shippo. Sango and Miroku appeared around the same time, Sango having been working on maintaining her exterminating gear out behind the hut while Miroku wandered around the village gossiping with the inhabitants. Kaede served up the evening's meal, a hearty stew of deer-meat and root vegetables, and they ate. Inuyasha scarfed his stew quickly and quietly, wanting to get back outside where his nose was not overwhelmed by the smell of Kaede's herbs. Kagome and Shippo chatted with Sango and the houshi, talking about everything they had done that day. Shippo excitedly gave a detailed description of their tracking games and everything to a rapt Miroku, while Kagome and Sango shared tips about following trails, which Sango had learned from her people, though she was obviously handicapped by her human senses. Kaede stayed quiet, listening and observing everything that was being said. Finally Inuyasha finished his meal and quickly left to perch atop the hut, keeping watch over his small pack, as he often did.

Back inside, Kagome watched as the crimson-clad half-demon left the hut, wondering what he was up to. With a sigh, she turned back to listen to Miroku, who was now relaying the day's gossip from the villagers to the rest of the group. Her attention remained with the absent hanyou, though she tried diligently to pay attention to her friends. He had acted so unlike his usual self that day. How long would this 'kinder, gentler' Inuyasha last? Was it a permanent change, or would he soon be back to his rude, crude self?

She hoped not; she vastly preferred the way he had acted that day to the way things had been before she had made her wish. He had been more open and more talkative that day than he had ever been with her before. Not even on his human nights had he smiled or laughed so freely in her presence. She hoped to see that beautiful, toothy grin, and hear that loud, free laugh again, and often. He was beautiful when he laughed, and it made her love him more than ever.

As she retired that night, back up in the tree with her sleeping bag tucked around her tightly and Shippo curled up against her stomach, she contemplated the day's happenings. She sighed softly and closed her eyes, praying silently that things would remain good for at least a little while before they had to deal with rampaging demons and Shikon shards again. Just as she was falling asleep, she smelled Inuyasha nearby, and her last thought before drifting off was that he was there, as always, to keep them safe through the night. She fell asleep with a smile.