Inuyasha awoke the next morning with the sun shining into a fairly large
cave. The light was filtered through leaves of trees that helped to
protect the entrance to the cave itself. As for the hanyou, he was laying
on his stomach with his arms stretched out by his sides. It felt as if
every part of his body burned, but dampened somehow. A slight breeze
entered the cave and he shivered as he realized that there was a cold cream
rubbed into his skin.
To his left was a small fire with a pot simmering over the flames. Beyond the fire there was an empty bedroll that had been recently vacated. Near the entrance he could see Juanyu's basket standing unharmed. He could only assume that he was someplace safe at the moment. But it bothered him that Hikaru, Juanyu, and Myouga weren't here as well.
At this moment, his ears picked up voices and footsteps coming this way. Groaning, he brought his arms up to his head and managed to lean himself up on his elbows. He could sense youki as well, a fairly strong one at that. The hanyou hoped that he wouldn't have to fight; his body was in no condition for it.
The youkai entered the small clearing in front of the cave carrying Hikaru in his arms. She was still unconscious and Inuyasha could smell traces of singed flesh coming from her hands where small strands of steam rose.
The youkai himself looked to be about Sesshomaru's age and as attractive as well. His green hair was tied back at the nape of the neck and his orange eyes seemed to glow with an inner fire. His clothing was simple, but finely cut. Overall, Inuyasha sensed that this youkai must be someone of great power and that he and his friends were guests in his cave.
He said nothing as he watched his host tuck Hikaru into the other bedroll. A moan escaped her lips as the youkai rubbed a transparent green gel onto her hands.
"Inuyasha-sama! You're awake! Thank goodness for this!" Myouga exclaimed and landed on his master's nose. After a few sucks, Inuyasha managed to slap the flea youkai off.
"So, you're still around. Figures," he grumbled.
"Inuyasha-sama, I'm glad that you've recovered enough to have woken up," Juanyu said. He appeared at the hanyou's side and lifted the blanket that covered his body. Inuyasha winced as the young man gently prodded the muscles of his back and legs.
"They'll be sore for a few more hours, Inuyasha-sama. By then you should be well enough to move around a little."
"Arigato, Juanyu. But, what the hell happened after I passed out? The last thing that I remember is destroying those twin youkai," he asked.
++ 'arigato' is one way of saying thank you.
The youkai smiled and stirred the pot on the fire as he spoke, "It's not surprising, after what your servants have told me about you and your imooto. I witnessed the battle from within the woods; the twins were so intent on the battle and the shrine that they didn't notice that I was there. When it was all over, I rushed to your side to see what had injure you. It was indeed a curious sight to see. You were writhing in pain, what I could not tell and the grass underneath your sister's hands was withering and blackening as if they were on fire."
"We quickly explained to him what had happened to you both and the discovery of the curse," Myouga interjected. "He insisted that we accompany him to his cave. Here Juanyu applied a cream that Hikaru-sama uses for sore muscles, which explained what was happening to you. Inuyasha- sama, you are not trained in the same fighting style as Hikaru-sama and your body is protesting being used in a manner it does not of. As Hikaru- sama, her youki has never been used before, and she is paying the price for it."
"Where were you just now then?" Inuyasha asked.
"We were cooling off Hikaru-sama's hands in a river," Juanyu answered. "They were still burning and the youkai thought that the water would help to remove some of the heat. And I think that he's right. Hikaru-sama's hands aren't as bad now as they were before."
Inuyasha looked over at the hanyou girl and realized that Juanyu was right. Her hands were sunburn red but that was fading, along with the singed flesh smell. He sighed and laid his head on his hands. Just resting and letting others do the work went against his independent nature, but his body hurt too much to move around much. He had no choice but to let them tend to him and his imooto until they were able to move again.
In the meantime, there were plans to be made.
******
Hikaru woke up slowly in either the dusk or dawn of a day. She didn't know how long she had slept, so she couldn't be sure what the time was. Her head ached as well as her hands. The ache in the hands reminded her of handling something that was too hot to touch but nevertheless she handled anyway.
Slowly, she propped herself on her elbows and took a look around. To her left was a small fire that lit up the cave that she was in fairly well. Beyond the fire was Inuyasha sitting up on a bedroll where he must have been sleeping in, judging by the rumpled blankets. He was apparently stretching his arms and back; moving slowly as if he was in some kind of pain. At first she couldn't understand why as he was moving in such a manner. Then the events from some time ago emerged and reminded her.
"Inuyasha! You're all right. I'm glad of that," she managed to say. Her throat felt sore and she had to cough after speaking.
Her ani-chan looked at her in surprise then happiness and carefully stood. She could hear his grunts and moans as he stood and walked to her side. He grabbed her by the shoulders and stared at her face.
"Are you all right though? That's what I want to know," he said in a tone that she rarely heard him speak. It had none of his supposed arrogance or attitude that he sometimes tried to convey to other people. He was allowing his emotions to come through to the surface. And he was genuinely worried about her.
She nodded and he looked visibly relieved at her answer. Then he explained where they were and what had happened after they had lost consciousness.
"So what do we do know?" she asked when he was finished.
"We get better then we head back to the village again. And on the way, we'll do some training," he replied.
"Training?"
"Yeah. I know that the curse can't be lifted yet. I asked that youkai if he could and he replied that it seemed beyond his power to do so. Our only other option is to train each other in our different fighting styles. That way, something like this won't happen again. If our enemies knew about this, they could easily take advantage of it. That is something that I don't like. So on our way to the village, I'll train you how to use your youki and you will train me how to fight as you do."
He stood and made as if he was going to return to his bed and he stopped and turned to face her again. "By the way, there's something that has been bothering me for a little while. How is that you know how it use a sword? I've only seen fight using your fists before you got the Tennega. And you weren't carrying one when I met you. So how do you know?"
She smiled and sat up straighter. "My teachers insisted that I learn various ways of fighting, what works on one opponent may not work on another. It's just that I preferred fighting using my body instead of relying on a weapon that I might always have on hand when battle comes. That's all."
Her reply made Inuyasha grin. There was wisdom in what she said. He wished that one day that he could meet these teachers and learn more about them. They had certainly created an interesting miko in his imooto-san.
He returned to his bed and sighed as he sat down. His body felt battered and bruised by the side effects of the curse. It was all that he could do to keep from falling on his face and going to sleep immediately. Instead he was able to stay awake long enough to eat some stew when Juanyu and their host returned.
Then he fell asleep.
******
The next day proved the hanyou recovered and strong enough to continue their journey, much to the chagrin of their host who insisted that they stay a bit longer. But Myouga managed to convince him that it was better that they go onward.
"Bah, I'm glad that we're gone from that place," Inuyasha said later. It was early afternoon now and they had been traveling since that morning. He was setting the pace and refused to go any slower than he normally would. He knew that his body would complain about it mightily, but he refused to listen to it right now.
"So, ani-chan, I'm ready."
"Huh? Ready for what, Hikaru?"
"For you to start teaching me how to use my youki, of course," she replied. Hikaru skipped forward a few paces and began walking backwards so that she might be able to talk to her ani-chan better.
"What do I need to do first?"
Inuyasha stared at her for a few moments, trying to articulate what he should say. Fortunately, Myouga spoke to his master's rescue.
"Well, first, Hikaru-sama..."
And so Myouga began his instruction of the youki and how it might be used. Inuyasha piped in now and then with his own comments while Hikaru listened raptly. That evening when they made camp, Hikaru began to teach her ani- chan on her fighting techniques and moves. She also included some sword exercises, which he grudgingly partook in.
++ I'm not sure how the youki works, so I'm not even going to try to explain it. Besides, this saves a lot of time for me and will allow me to continue with what matters.
As time passed, Inuyasha and Hikaru's lessons quickly grew more difficult. Inuyasha was steadily getting better at the tasks his imooto set before him and was learning quickly. Hikaru was also learning as well, but not at the same rate as him. Harnessing the youki was proving to be more difficult for her than anyone had originally imagined. But she did practice and understood what she needed to do.
"Bah! Myouga, how much further do we have to go? You said that you knew the way back to the village from the temple. So what the hell is the hold up?" Inuyasha complained one evening by the fire. He was massaging aching muscles that weren't protesting as loudly as they used to. He smiled to himself; he was indeed improving. And the stretches that Hikaru taught him were helping to lessen the pain.
On Juanyu's shoulder, Myouga was spooked out of his private thoughts by his master's words. A sweat drop appeared by his head as he waved his hands side to side to calm the hanyou down. "Now, Inuyasha-sama, calm down. And don't worry. I do know how to reach the village, it shouldn't be too far now."
"But you've been saying that for some time now, Myouga. Are you certain that old age isn't robbing you of your memory?" Juanyu said.
Myouga was silent as he tried to keep his temper from flaring. A small vein popped for a moment on his forehead but after a few deep breaths and silent reason why it would be a bad thing to yell at his mistress he spoke. "I may be old, Hikaru-sama," he replied, "but my mind has not yet succumbed to the ailments that old age brings. In truth, we are a few weeks away from the village right now. A little more time and we should be able to see it."
That answer seemed to satisfy the hanyou and they were silent as they ate a small meal of roasted lizard and snake meat. Hunting wasn't favorable in the area. The next morning they were off again. About midday, the hanyou heard sounds of fighting not too far off from where they were and the scent of blood was strong on the wind. And the presence of youki.
"Nyah! A battle! We better go check it out," Inuyasha said.
"Wait a minute, ani-chan. Weren't you just saying that you were anxious to get back to this village?" Hikaru asked curiosity aroused.
"Yeah, but I have to do this. Besides, don't you want to help out as well?" he replied.
She smiled and nodded. Together they headed off towards the battle. Behind them, Myouga grumbled under his breath as Juanyu gathered his bow and arrows then proceeded to follow.
The flea couldn't believe it! Just a moment ago, Inuyasha-sama was complaining about delays and now they were walking into another one! And Hikaru-sama was just as bad as her younger ani. If his mouth could have permitted it, Myouga would have smiled. Their chichi-ue would have been proud.
++ 'chichi-ue' means father.
******
The soldier leaned against his spear and panted to catch his breath. The fight was hopeless. He and his comrades, about thirty in number, had been sent out here by the dono to keep this youkai from reaching the manor. But it turned out that the thing was actually an oni, which was making things that much worse. The human warriors were no match for it. And yet they couldn't just give up, the dono was depending on them to keep the monster at bay.
++ 'dono' means a lord of some rank, mostly used here to mean a local king.
The soldier thought gloomily that only a miracle could stop this oni now. The oni was a giant with skin like rock and claws like a katana. And his teeth were the same as his claws. The bastard was taking great delight in mowing the warriors down with just the back of his hand.
The soldier rubbed his eyes and told himself that he must be so tired that he was imagining things. For a moment, he could have sworn that he saw something on the other side of the field coming in their direction. Then his imaginings proved real as two strokes of light attacked the oni and caused him to fall to his knees.
"Oh my god! Help's arrived!" one of the other soldiers cried out. And apparently helped had arrived in the form of two young looking youkai.
"I can't believe that we're doing this!" Inuyasha protested again as he lowered his sword.
They had arrived in time to see the oni bat around the soldiers as he would flies. It was obvious that this was no ordinary youkai but an oni. The initial attack had done its purpose; it took the attention of the oni away from the humans and towards him and Hikaru. But now what?
He tried to think quickly as the thing shambled over to them. Without any good ideas coming to mind, he raised his sword and let loose another cutting wind. Beside him, Hikaru let loose another elemental attack, this time one of fire. So what hit the oni looked like a large fireball. The combined attacks managed to finally destroy the oni in a billowing, flaming pillar; all that hit the ground was little bits of burning flesh that were quickly disintegrating.
Not too far away from them, the human soldiers let loose a cry of victory and rushed towards their saviors. Inuyasha was all for leaving immediately, but Hikaru held onto his arm to make him stay.
One of the soldiers stepped forward grasped both of Inuyasha's hands in his own in gratitude. "Arigato, kind strangers. If it weren't for you, we most certainly would have perished at the hands of that terrible oni."
Inuyasha was stunned a moment but quickly recovered his usual attitude of apathy, but there was no mistaking the small touch of pride in his voice. "Bah! It was nothing. What was that oni doing anyway?" he said.
"The oni was coming to attack our dono's manor and destroy us all. But he was the one destroyed, thanks to you and your aid. Please, come with us back to the manor. Our dono will certainly want to thank you himself for all that you have done and give you a place to stay for the night at least."
The offer of a bed and a solid roof over their heads was too good to pass up. After a few introductions were made, they followed the much wounded company back to the manor as the sun began to make its way to its bed for the evening.
To his left was a small fire with a pot simmering over the flames. Beyond the fire there was an empty bedroll that had been recently vacated. Near the entrance he could see Juanyu's basket standing unharmed. He could only assume that he was someplace safe at the moment. But it bothered him that Hikaru, Juanyu, and Myouga weren't here as well.
At this moment, his ears picked up voices and footsteps coming this way. Groaning, he brought his arms up to his head and managed to lean himself up on his elbows. He could sense youki as well, a fairly strong one at that. The hanyou hoped that he wouldn't have to fight; his body was in no condition for it.
The youkai entered the small clearing in front of the cave carrying Hikaru in his arms. She was still unconscious and Inuyasha could smell traces of singed flesh coming from her hands where small strands of steam rose.
The youkai himself looked to be about Sesshomaru's age and as attractive as well. His green hair was tied back at the nape of the neck and his orange eyes seemed to glow with an inner fire. His clothing was simple, but finely cut. Overall, Inuyasha sensed that this youkai must be someone of great power and that he and his friends were guests in his cave.
He said nothing as he watched his host tuck Hikaru into the other bedroll. A moan escaped her lips as the youkai rubbed a transparent green gel onto her hands.
"Inuyasha-sama! You're awake! Thank goodness for this!" Myouga exclaimed and landed on his master's nose. After a few sucks, Inuyasha managed to slap the flea youkai off.
"So, you're still around. Figures," he grumbled.
"Inuyasha-sama, I'm glad that you've recovered enough to have woken up," Juanyu said. He appeared at the hanyou's side and lifted the blanket that covered his body. Inuyasha winced as the young man gently prodded the muscles of his back and legs.
"They'll be sore for a few more hours, Inuyasha-sama. By then you should be well enough to move around a little."
"Arigato, Juanyu. But, what the hell happened after I passed out? The last thing that I remember is destroying those twin youkai," he asked.
++ 'arigato' is one way of saying thank you.
The youkai smiled and stirred the pot on the fire as he spoke, "It's not surprising, after what your servants have told me about you and your imooto. I witnessed the battle from within the woods; the twins were so intent on the battle and the shrine that they didn't notice that I was there. When it was all over, I rushed to your side to see what had injure you. It was indeed a curious sight to see. You were writhing in pain, what I could not tell and the grass underneath your sister's hands was withering and blackening as if they were on fire."
"We quickly explained to him what had happened to you both and the discovery of the curse," Myouga interjected. "He insisted that we accompany him to his cave. Here Juanyu applied a cream that Hikaru-sama uses for sore muscles, which explained what was happening to you. Inuyasha- sama, you are not trained in the same fighting style as Hikaru-sama and your body is protesting being used in a manner it does not of. As Hikaru- sama, her youki has never been used before, and she is paying the price for it."
"Where were you just now then?" Inuyasha asked.
"We were cooling off Hikaru-sama's hands in a river," Juanyu answered. "They were still burning and the youkai thought that the water would help to remove some of the heat. And I think that he's right. Hikaru-sama's hands aren't as bad now as they were before."
Inuyasha looked over at the hanyou girl and realized that Juanyu was right. Her hands were sunburn red but that was fading, along with the singed flesh smell. He sighed and laid his head on his hands. Just resting and letting others do the work went against his independent nature, but his body hurt too much to move around much. He had no choice but to let them tend to him and his imooto until they were able to move again.
In the meantime, there were plans to be made.
******
Hikaru woke up slowly in either the dusk or dawn of a day. She didn't know how long she had slept, so she couldn't be sure what the time was. Her head ached as well as her hands. The ache in the hands reminded her of handling something that was too hot to touch but nevertheless she handled anyway.
Slowly, she propped herself on her elbows and took a look around. To her left was a small fire that lit up the cave that she was in fairly well. Beyond the fire was Inuyasha sitting up on a bedroll where he must have been sleeping in, judging by the rumpled blankets. He was apparently stretching his arms and back; moving slowly as if he was in some kind of pain. At first she couldn't understand why as he was moving in such a manner. Then the events from some time ago emerged and reminded her.
"Inuyasha! You're all right. I'm glad of that," she managed to say. Her throat felt sore and she had to cough after speaking.
Her ani-chan looked at her in surprise then happiness and carefully stood. She could hear his grunts and moans as he stood and walked to her side. He grabbed her by the shoulders and stared at her face.
"Are you all right though? That's what I want to know," he said in a tone that she rarely heard him speak. It had none of his supposed arrogance or attitude that he sometimes tried to convey to other people. He was allowing his emotions to come through to the surface. And he was genuinely worried about her.
She nodded and he looked visibly relieved at her answer. Then he explained where they were and what had happened after they had lost consciousness.
"So what do we do know?" she asked when he was finished.
"We get better then we head back to the village again. And on the way, we'll do some training," he replied.
"Training?"
"Yeah. I know that the curse can't be lifted yet. I asked that youkai if he could and he replied that it seemed beyond his power to do so. Our only other option is to train each other in our different fighting styles. That way, something like this won't happen again. If our enemies knew about this, they could easily take advantage of it. That is something that I don't like. So on our way to the village, I'll train you how to use your youki and you will train me how to fight as you do."
He stood and made as if he was going to return to his bed and he stopped and turned to face her again. "By the way, there's something that has been bothering me for a little while. How is that you know how it use a sword? I've only seen fight using your fists before you got the Tennega. And you weren't carrying one when I met you. So how do you know?"
She smiled and sat up straighter. "My teachers insisted that I learn various ways of fighting, what works on one opponent may not work on another. It's just that I preferred fighting using my body instead of relying on a weapon that I might always have on hand when battle comes. That's all."
Her reply made Inuyasha grin. There was wisdom in what she said. He wished that one day that he could meet these teachers and learn more about them. They had certainly created an interesting miko in his imooto-san.
He returned to his bed and sighed as he sat down. His body felt battered and bruised by the side effects of the curse. It was all that he could do to keep from falling on his face and going to sleep immediately. Instead he was able to stay awake long enough to eat some stew when Juanyu and their host returned.
Then he fell asleep.
******
The next day proved the hanyou recovered and strong enough to continue their journey, much to the chagrin of their host who insisted that they stay a bit longer. But Myouga managed to convince him that it was better that they go onward.
"Bah, I'm glad that we're gone from that place," Inuyasha said later. It was early afternoon now and they had been traveling since that morning. He was setting the pace and refused to go any slower than he normally would. He knew that his body would complain about it mightily, but he refused to listen to it right now.
"So, ani-chan, I'm ready."
"Huh? Ready for what, Hikaru?"
"For you to start teaching me how to use my youki, of course," she replied. Hikaru skipped forward a few paces and began walking backwards so that she might be able to talk to her ani-chan better.
"What do I need to do first?"
Inuyasha stared at her for a few moments, trying to articulate what he should say. Fortunately, Myouga spoke to his master's rescue.
"Well, first, Hikaru-sama..."
And so Myouga began his instruction of the youki and how it might be used. Inuyasha piped in now and then with his own comments while Hikaru listened raptly. That evening when they made camp, Hikaru began to teach her ani- chan on her fighting techniques and moves. She also included some sword exercises, which he grudgingly partook in.
++ I'm not sure how the youki works, so I'm not even going to try to explain it. Besides, this saves a lot of time for me and will allow me to continue with what matters.
As time passed, Inuyasha and Hikaru's lessons quickly grew more difficult. Inuyasha was steadily getting better at the tasks his imooto set before him and was learning quickly. Hikaru was also learning as well, but not at the same rate as him. Harnessing the youki was proving to be more difficult for her than anyone had originally imagined. But she did practice and understood what she needed to do.
"Bah! Myouga, how much further do we have to go? You said that you knew the way back to the village from the temple. So what the hell is the hold up?" Inuyasha complained one evening by the fire. He was massaging aching muscles that weren't protesting as loudly as they used to. He smiled to himself; he was indeed improving. And the stretches that Hikaru taught him were helping to lessen the pain.
On Juanyu's shoulder, Myouga was spooked out of his private thoughts by his master's words. A sweat drop appeared by his head as he waved his hands side to side to calm the hanyou down. "Now, Inuyasha-sama, calm down. And don't worry. I do know how to reach the village, it shouldn't be too far now."
"But you've been saying that for some time now, Myouga. Are you certain that old age isn't robbing you of your memory?" Juanyu said.
Myouga was silent as he tried to keep his temper from flaring. A small vein popped for a moment on his forehead but after a few deep breaths and silent reason why it would be a bad thing to yell at his mistress he spoke. "I may be old, Hikaru-sama," he replied, "but my mind has not yet succumbed to the ailments that old age brings. In truth, we are a few weeks away from the village right now. A little more time and we should be able to see it."
That answer seemed to satisfy the hanyou and they were silent as they ate a small meal of roasted lizard and snake meat. Hunting wasn't favorable in the area. The next morning they were off again. About midday, the hanyou heard sounds of fighting not too far off from where they were and the scent of blood was strong on the wind. And the presence of youki.
"Nyah! A battle! We better go check it out," Inuyasha said.
"Wait a minute, ani-chan. Weren't you just saying that you were anxious to get back to this village?" Hikaru asked curiosity aroused.
"Yeah, but I have to do this. Besides, don't you want to help out as well?" he replied.
She smiled and nodded. Together they headed off towards the battle. Behind them, Myouga grumbled under his breath as Juanyu gathered his bow and arrows then proceeded to follow.
The flea couldn't believe it! Just a moment ago, Inuyasha-sama was complaining about delays and now they were walking into another one! And Hikaru-sama was just as bad as her younger ani. If his mouth could have permitted it, Myouga would have smiled. Their chichi-ue would have been proud.
++ 'chichi-ue' means father.
******
The soldier leaned against his spear and panted to catch his breath. The fight was hopeless. He and his comrades, about thirty in number, had been sent out here by the dono to keep this youkai from reaching the manor. But it turned out that the thing was actually an oni, which was making things that much worse. The human warriors were no match for it. And yet they couldn't just give up, the dono was depending on them to keep the monster at bay.
++ 'dono' means a lord of some rank, mostly used here to mean a local king.
The soldier thought gloomily that only a miracle could stop this oni now. The oni was a giant with skin like rock and claws like a katana. And his teeth were the same as his claws. The bastard was taking great delight in mowing the warriors down with just the back of his hand.
The soldier rubbed his eyes and told himself that he must be so tired that he was imagining things. For a moment, he could have sworn that he saw something on the other side of the field coming in their direction. Then his imaginings proved real as two strokes of light attacked the oni and caused him to fall to his knees.
"Oh my god! Help's arrived!" one of the other soldiers cried out. And apparently helped had arrived in the form of two young looking youkai.
"I can't believe that we're doing this!" Inuyasha protested again as he lowered his sword.
They had arrived in time to see the oni bat around the soldiers as he would flies. It was obvious that this was no ordinary youkai but an oni. The initial attack had done its purpose; it took the attention of the oni away from the humans and towards him and Hikaru. But now what?
He tried to think quickly as the thing shambled over to them. Without any good ideas coming to mind, he raised his sword and let loose another cutting wind. Beside him, Hikaru let loose another elemental attack, this time one of fire. So what hit the oni looked like a large fireball. The combined attacks managed to finally destroy the oni in a billowing, flaming pillar; all that hit the ground was little bits of burning flesh that were quickly disintegrating.
Not too far away from them, the human soldiers let loose a cry of victory and rushed towards their saviors. Inuyasha was all for leaving immediately, but Hikaru held onto his arm to make him stay.
One of the soldiers stepped forward grasped both of Inuyasha's hands in his own in gratitude. "Arigato, kind strangers. If it weren't for you, we most certainly would have perished at the hands of that terrible oni."
Inuyasha was stunned a moment but quickly recovered his usual attitude of apathy, but there was no mistaking the small touch of pride in his voice. "Bah! It was nothing. What was that oni doing anyway?" he said.
"The oni was coming to attack our dono's manor and destroy us all. But he was the one destroyed, thanks to you and your aid. Please, come with us back to the manor. Our dono will certainly want to thank you himself for all that you have done and give you a place to stay for the night at least."
The offer of a bed and a solid roof over their heads was too good to pass up. After a few introductions were made, they followed the much wounded company back to the manor as the sun began to make its way to its bed for the evening.