Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha OK? We clear? Good. I do however own Shawn/Shanko and Harashi. Everybody got that? OK, on to the story.
Chapter 6: Lost and Found
After their encounter with Koga and the large bird. The group of travelers continued their search for the jewel shard Kagome had sensed earlier. They wanted a little more speed to make up for what they had lost talking with Koga and fighting with the bird. Sango, Kagome, and Shippou rode on Kilala. Miroku and Inuyasha ran along side, while Shawn clung to Inyasha's back. This had been Kagome's and Sango's idea. Shawn had tried to decline, but then went along with it when Miroku had offered to carry her. He had decided that Shawn might be worth a couple bruises.
'There are way to many guys in this place,' she thought as she climbed onto Inuyasha's back. She doubted that the two boys could run as fast as Kilala, much less carry her while doing so.
"We ready?" said Inuyasha.
"Yeah. Let's go," said Sango spurring Kilala forwards.
Inuyasha turned to look at Shawn, "Don't scream," he said and he took off.
'Wow,' thought Shawn after they had been running for a few minutes and were actually ahead of Kilala, 'He's strong,' she tightened her grip on his shoulders, not wanting to fall off at this break neck speed.
"Just break my shoulders why don't ya?" said Inuyasha sarcastically.
Shawn let out a small gasp, "Sorry. I-"
"Don't worry about it. I won't let ya fall off," he glanced quickly back with a small smile.
After they had been running for a few hours Kagome shouted over to Inuyasha and Miroku.
"Stop! It's really close. We'll miss it if we keep going too fast," she called. Inuyasha and Miroku stopped. Shawn jumped off of Inuyasha's back as fast as she could.
"Which way?" asked Inuyasha.
"Over there," said Kagome, pointing into a thick grove of trees.
"Of course," said Shawn.
"What do you mean, 'Of course?'" asked Kagome.
"In movies the thing you're looking for is always in someplace dark and freaky," explained Shawn.
"What's the matter? You scared?" Inuyasha mocked.
"Of course not. It takes more than a few trees to scare me," Shawn replied defiantly.
"Which is why a jack rabbit in the bushes scares you right?"
"You weren't exactly Mr. Cool either, if I recall correctly," Sango and Kagome gave Inuyasha and Shawn confused, but highly amused looks. Shawn saw this, groaned, and said, "Let's just find this thing," and the group started walking into the trees.
"Where is it?" asked Inuyasha impatiently.
"Give me a minute. I can't concentrate with you pestering me," Kagome was silent for a minute. Her eyes searched the area around, "Over there," she pointed to a large tree and jogged toward it. The rest of the group followed at her heels.
Suddenly Inuyasha stopped, "Wait," he stopped and sniffed the air, "There's something in that tree."
"Another jack rabbit I'm sure," said Shawn sarcastically. She saw something shiny on the ground just below the branches of the tree, "Hey, I think I see it."
She dashed toward it just as Inuyasha said, "Shawn, wait!"
Then, there was a huge shriek as another bird swooped down. Shawn looked up just in time to see it coming at her, "Ahhhh!" she screamed, diving out of the way, as the bird pulled up from it's dive and tried to grab her. It missed. Shawn rolled on the ground as more shrieks sounded and more birds appeared above.
"Shawn!" yelled Kagome, running over to her fallen cousin.
"I'm fine!" a called over the noise as she sat up, "Cool it. It's not like I died."
"Well we're all gonna die if we don't get rid of these birds soon," said Kagome, looking over her shoulder. Inuyasha had Tetsuiga out and he stood ready. Sango threw her large boomerang and Kilala jumped at a low flying bird. Shippou had taken refuge on top of Kilala and Miroku was beating off a bird with his staff thing.
Shawn and Kagome stood up and moved away to give each other room. Shawn pulled out the staff strapped to her back as her cousin notched and arrow. Kagome fired at an on-coming bird. Shawn dodged one and hit its head with as much force as she could muster. The bird went spiraling off course and crashed into a tree. Another came at her. She placed her staff firmly in the dirt, jumped and kicked in its head. It flew backwards and landed in front of Inuyasha, who cleanly took its head off.
"Shawn, look out!" cried Kagome. Shawn turned around just in time to jump out of the way of the bird that had already crashed into the tree. When the bird missed it wheeled back around and dove again. It didn't go very low, but it flew just above Shawn's head. She stuck her staff into its belly and used its own momentum to slam it onto its back. Shawn flipped her staff and dropped it on the birds neck. She jumped onto the ends and the head came off. She picked up the staff and wiped it clean on the body before it dissolved into dust.
She looked around at her friends. Inuyasha seemed to be doing OK. HE was chopping off heads as if it was child's play. Sango had a scrape across her cheek, but also seemed fine. Kagome was shooting off arrows as if there was no tomorrow. It turned out that enchanted arrows could also turn these giant predators in a dusty pile. Miroku on the other hand was having trouble. He was trying to take the beads off of his arm, but Shawn could see he was having trouble. Every time he found a free moment to try and start his wind tunnel, another bird attacked him and he had to defend himself. Shawn ran over to help him.
'He may be a perv, but that's no reason to let him be killed,' she thought. Then she joked with herself, 'Besides, I want to do that part myself.'
Suddenly Shawn was slammed into a tree. She hadn't been paying attention and a bird had come up on her left and had pinned her to the tree. Her head whacked against the bark and her staff fell from her hand. She could feel the blood start to ooze from a small cut on her the back of her head. It slowly slipped down the back of her neck. Then the bird took off. Flying high into the sky before anyone could do anything. His comrades continued to battle Inuyasha and the others.
"NO!" cried Inuyasha.
"Shawn!" screamed Kagome.
But Shawn could not hear them. The bird had carried her high above the treetops and she could hear nor see anything happening below.
"Damn it!" she screamed. Great. Just great. If only she had paid attention. Now she was being carried off to Naraku, who was gonna do... do... who knew what he was gonna do with her, 'I've got to make the bird drop me,' she thought. Its giant claw was secure around her waist. She looked down to try and judge how far she would fall. All she could see below were trees, trees, and more trees, 'Well, maybe the trees will slow my fall. And besides, it's this or Naraku,' she shivered at the thought.
For an hour Shawn squirmed this way and that, trying to loosen the bird's grip, but it didn't budge. She tried biting its foot, pulling out feathers, but all the bird did was screech and shake her until she was dizzy. Then she remembered she had a pocketknife in the pocket of her jeans.
0o0o0o0o
"Shawn!" screamed Kagome.
"Kagome, look out!" yelled Sango, She threw her boomerang at a bird that was about to grab Kagome. The flying weapon cut through the bird's head and it fell as a pile of dust. They battled on. Finally all the birds were dead.
"We have to go after her!" said Inuyasha.
"Where will we go?" asked Sango. Inuyasha ignored her and jumped up into the canopy of trees. When he reached the top all he could see was a speck in the sky. It was very far off, but he knew it was the bird. He screamed with rage and slammed his fist into the nearest tree branch. Then he jumped down.
"The bird is headed that way," he pointed in the general direction, "Lets go."
"Inuyasha wait," said Miroku.
"I don't have time to wait! That friggin' bird just made off with Shawn. I'm gonna save her. If any of you decide to join me I'll be going that way," and with that he ran off into the woods following the direction he saw the bird flying in.
"Should we follow him?" asked Sango.
"We have to!" said Kagome. The girls jumped onto Kilala and sped after Inuyasha. Miroku followed close behind.
0o0o0o0o
'If I could just-' thought Shawn, reaching for her pocket. They were over a mountainous area now, but there were still trees bellow, 'Got it!' She slowly drew the small pocketknife out. She flipped open the blade. Shawn looked up at the bird to see if it had noticed anything. It hadn't.
She stabbed the small knife into the bird's leg, "Let me go!" and then she stabbed the birds foot. It shrieked and dropped her. As she fell she screamed. Her screaming stopped as she hit the first tree branch with her back and the wind was knocked out of her. She flipped over backward and hit her nose on another branch. It started to bleed. She continued crashing down until she hit the solid earth. The knife finally slipped from her hand.
Shawn had landed on her back. She rolled over onto her stomach. She was sure that one of her arms was broken. The rest of her body was beaten and bruised. It was bleeding in some spots where she had been cut by tree branches. Her shirt was torn across her stomach and the bandage on her back had slipped off. Her wound lay open and exposed. She tried to push herself up, but she collapsed in pain and weariness. Then, she passed out.
0o0o0o0o
Koga stopped and sniffed the air. That smell was familiar.
"What is it Koga?" asked another wolf-demon.
"Something wrong?" asked another. The three demons and a pack of wolves had been on a hunt. They were on their way back with a large amount of food. The pack would be eating well that night.
"You smell that?" Koga asked his companions. They sniffed the air.
"Yeah. It smells like a human," said the first demon.
"Don't we have enough?" asked the second.
"You guys get back to the den," said Koga, "I'm gonna check this out," and he took off in a whirlwind of dirt and rocks.
He didn't have to run far to find what he had been looking for. In a few minutes he had found the beaten body of a girl, lying face down in the dirt. Koga stopped a few feet away and slowly walked over to her. He bent down and turned the girl over. It was Shawn! (I know, duh. But Koga didn't know this K?) That friend of Kagome's. The feisty one. Koga put his hand over her mouth he could feel her warm breath on his skin. She was alive.
A few feet away Koga found the fallen pocketknife. He grabbed it and stuck it in his belt. Then he turned back to Shawn. If she was a friend of Kagome's he wasn't just gonna leave her here.
Koga picked the unconscious girl up bridal style. She moaned and her brows pressed together, "Inuya-" and she moaned again.
'Better get moving,' thought Koga and he ran back to the den, holding onto the girl.
When he arrived he was greeted warmly by the rest of his tribe. He also got questioned by his fellow wolf-demons.
"Hey Koga, who's the girl?"
"What happened to her? She looks half dead."
"Where'd you find her?"
Koga carried the girl to the back to the cave and placed her gently on his sleeping mat of fur, "Nobody touch her unless I say so. She's a friend of Kagome's," the other wolves back off immediately. They all knew how he felt about Kagome. They knew that he was serious about the girl lying on the mat.
"Get some water. Quick!" Koga ordered. One of the other wolves brought him a bowl of water and a piece of cloth. Koga kneeled beside the Shawn and lifted her head. He dipped the cloth in the bowl of water and gently cleaned her bloody face. She groaned and her eyes flickered open.
"Who? Where am I?" she mumbled. She was still half-asleep and the figures around her were dark and blurry. Someone was leaning over her and cleaning her cuts.
"You're gonna be fine. No one here will harm you," said a voice, coming from the figure leaning over her. That voice, it was so familiar. But whose was it? Shawn didn't have anymore time to think about it, because she slipped back into her unconscious state.
0o0o0o0o
"You're sure you saw the bird drop her?" Miroku asked Inuyasha.
"Yes, I'm sure. I went up into the trees to see if I could find them and I saw the bird drop something," explained Inuyasha for what felt like the 10th time.
"But you're not sure it was her you saw?" asked Miroku.
"Well it didn't have anything else that big to drop did it?"
"I'm just trying to get all the facts," said Miroku.
"I don't give a rat's ass about the facts! I know I saw that bird drop her."
It was dark now and the group of travelers were resting around a fire.
"Inuyasha calm down," said Sango, "We're all very worried about Shawn, but let's not lose our heads."
"But we're just sitting here!" growled Inuyasha.
Kagome sat with her arms wrapped around her knees, "Shut up!" she shouted. All went silent. After a while Kagome burst into tears, "It's all my fault! I should never have let her come with us. How could I? How could I be so stupid? I knew it was dangerous. Why did I let her come? Why?" she continued to cry.
"There, there Kagome," said Sango soothingly. She put her arm around Kagome
"You didn't know this would happen," said Shippou. (I know it's been forever since he's said something)
"But I should have expected something to happen," Kagome sobbed into Sango's shoulder. After a while Kagome calmed down, "You're right," she sniffed, "We can't loose our heads. Let's just (sniff) get some sleep and look for Shawn in the morning."
"Fine. We'll wait," Inuyasha agreed reluctantly, "And nobody better be expecting to sleep in."
0o0o0o0o
The next morning Shawn awoke to a babble of voices. She was lying on something fuzzy and had a blanket of fur over her. She remembered the night before. Or had it been day? Shawn tried to push her-self up and found her right arm was in a sling. Who had done this? There was a new bandage wrapped around her back as well. With some difficulty Shawn managed to move her-self into a sitting position.
"Hey, somebody get Koga! The girl's awake!" Shawn heard a voice say. Startled, she looked up. She was surrounded by wolves and men and skeletons! Frantically she tried to get to her feet, but she tripped on the blanket and fell back down on her butt. Shawn tried to push her-self away from all the people looking at her and felt her back bump against a stone wall. She felt her pocket for the knife. It wasn't there.
'Damn!' she thought. Then the man from the day before came walking through all the other people. It was that one guy Inuyasha really hadn't liked. What was his name again? Koga, right?
"And so the sleeping beauty awakes," said Koga, placing is hands on his hips.
"Where am I?" Shawn managed to sound braver than she felt. She slowly stood up.
"You are in my wolf den," said Koga.
"Wolf den?" asked Shawn, 'Oh yeah. Kagome told me about this. I guess I'm not lunch if I haven't been eaten yet,' she thought.
"Yeah. I found you lying in the dust last night. You were in pretty bad shape. You're arm was broken, but I think I fixed it. It should heal quickly enough," replied Koga.
"I see," said Shawn, uncertainly.
"And I believe this is yours," said Koga bringing out a small blade.
"My knife!" Shawn held out her hand for it. Koga gave it to her, "Thanks."
"You're welcome," Koga and Shawn watched each other for a minute. Shawn eyed him uncertainly and Koga studied her with interest. Finally Koga asked, "Would you like something to eat?"
Now that Shawn thought about it, she was really hungry. The last time she had eaten had been at breakfast the day before, but it felt like ages ago, "Yes please."
Koga told her to sit down and he went off somewhere else in the cave to find food. Shawn sat with her back leaning against the stone wall. She cradled her broken arm and watched as the other wolf-demons went back and forth on their daily routine.
'Man, my arm is sore. I wish I had some Advil or something,' she thought.
Eventually Koga came back with a piece of roasted meat, "This is all we have. I knew you wouldn't eat it raw and it took me a while to cook it."
"Thank you," Shawn didn't ask what kind of meat it was. She knew she might lose her appetite if she knew the answer. Koga sat in front of her and watched her eat. She wasn't dainty, but her table manners were decent and she far surpassed those of most of the other wolves.
When Shawn had finished Koga said, "You might want to wash off in the river. You were pretty dirty and I didn't think you would be very happy if I had taken off your clothes to wash you myself," Shawn blushed a deep red. She could see the faintest smile on his lips.
'Oh God!' she thought, "Yeah a bath sounds good," was all she said for fear of embarrassing herself even more.
Koga gave her a large piece of cloth to use as a towel and he led her down to the bottom of the falls and away from sight of the cave a little.
"Turn around and I swear if you look you are so dead," said Shawn as she tried to remove the sling, 'Then again, I know he has some decency or he might have washed me himself. He's better than Miroku.'
"Fair enough," said Koga. He reached over and helped Shawn take off the sling since she had only managed to tangle it around her arm. He was gentle. When it was off Koga walked a little ways away from the river and turned his back to Shawn as she stepped behind a bush.
Carefully she removed what was left of her ragged clothes. She looked at her jersey style shirt and knew it would never be the same again. The whole time she watched Koga and made sure he had his back turned. Then she slowly stepped into the water.
"Brrrr. That's a little cold," said Shawn, more to herself than to Koga.
"Sorry. But it's all we got," said Koga.
"It's all right. I'll live."
"You'd better after the time I took to save you," Koga joked.
Shawn smiled slightly. She carefully cleaned all the dirt off, wincing now and again from touching bumps and scrapes. After a while Shawn said, "Thanks."
"Hm?" said Koga, who hadn't really been paying attention.
"For saving me. Thank you."
"Oh, that," said Koga, 'You're a friend of Kagome's what else was I supposed to do?' is what he felt like saying, but that was rude. Instead he said, "Don't mention it. It's what any decent person would have done."
"But you're not exactly a person, are you?" said Shawn. It was a statement. Not a question.
"Yeah, well. Hanging with Kagome taught me a little compassion."
'He saved me because he knew I was a friend of Kagome's,' thought Shawn, 'Wow he really loves her. I wonder why he loathes Koga so much. He seems pretty nice to me.'
0o0o0o0o
After the bird had dropped Shawn, it flew back to its master. It screeched at him and somehow Naraku was able to understand this horrible speech.
"You dropped her?" Naraku said, with deadly venom in his voice, "She is but a girl! There maybe power inside of her, but she has not tapped it yet. I would have felt it. She is connected to me through blood."
Naraku turned away from the bird. It shrank back in fear at what its master might do.
"You fool. If you cannot bring me the girl I have no more use for you," Naraku spun around and chopped off the birds head with his bare hand, "Never send a slave to do a master's work. I shall have her by this time tomorrow and no one will stop me," and he laughed a terrible, evil laugh and all who heard it shrank back in fear and cowered, long after its echo had vanished.
Authors note: Boy that was a long chapter. I was thinking of adding more, but it can wait until chapter 7. It is not urgent. Thanks to all you reviewers. I really appreciate your comments, especially Kae-sama. For those of you who are wondering why Kagome isn't jealous, well, your questions may or may not be answered in the next chapter. I have not decided quite what to do yet, but I have a general idea. I am not sure whether or not to put a certain character in. If I don't, you'll just have to live with the fact that Kagome just isn't in love with Inuyasha in this fic.