Hey everyone! It's an update! OMG! Sorry for taking slow long to update, I just couldn't think of anything to write... damn I hate writer's block. But have no fear, I'm back and I think I have a pretty good idea of where to take the story. So without further ado, chapter 24!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
Winter's Night: Chapter 24
Inuyasha's POV
The walk back to our hut was silent as my mate and I walked, her clinging to my arm, our son still resting in my arms. My ears twitched, listening for any more threats, but only picking up the sound of our feet and the little kitsune that walks ahead of us, Kirara at his side. He really has grown quite a bit since I left, and hopefully he's matured a little bit.
We come to the edge of the forest and I pause looking over the peaceful village. It's so much different from the places I've been to during my travel, and it's strange to say it, but I'm glad to be back. Even though this village brings back so many bad memories, the good ones out number them ten to one. Ever since Kagome entered my life, it's always been that way.
I'm pulled out of my trance by a slight tug on my arm and I look over at Kagome, her eyes showing her worry. I smile and kiss her forehead before I start walking again. Dusk is beginning to settle over everything, the sky a swirling mass of pinks, purples, and darker shades of colors. It really is a magnificent sight, and sort of a good way to symbolize the end of my journey as the return home.
Our hut sits apart from the others, the nearest hut being Kaede's. I push aside the mat covering the doorway, letting Kagome go in first. I look behind me to Shippo with a questioning look when he doesn't follow her and he smiles.
"I'm going to inform the others that you're back." He said before running off with Kirara. I watch him disappear into the village and turn, entering the hut, letting the mat to fall back in place over the door. Kagome comes up to me and takes Kiyoshi from my arms, laying him on a small futon in the corner of the room, covering him gently with a small blanket.
She stood and smiled at me, before walking over to the fire pit that had been left going, food laid out, ready to be cooked. She must've been getting dinner ready when the demon showed up. I walked over and sat down across from her and watched as she took some noodles out of the pot, putting them into a bowl.
"You should eat something." She said, holding the bowl out to me. "Knowing you, you're hungry."
I blinked a couples times and took to bowl from her. I stared at the food causing my stomach to growl which in turn threw my mate into a fit of giggles. I snorted and tasted the food before completely devouring it within a matter of minutes. I set the bowl down and looked up at Kagome, who was staring at me with wide eyes.
"Guess you were hungry..." she spoke, a smile coming to her lips.
"Feh." I said, smirking at her. At that a comfortable, yet somewhat awkward silence fell over us as she stirred the noodles, my eyes on the blazing fire.
"Inuyasha?" She whispers, breaking the silence. I look up to her, my eyes meeting her blue-gray ones that are glazed over with unshed tears. I frown slightly and get up, going over to her side of the fire, and crouching down, wrapping my arms around her slender form, holding her close. Her hands clench my tattered haori and I can feel her body shake as she slowly loses control, the scent of water and salt hitting my nose full force.
"Shh... please don't cry koi..." I whisper, rubbing her back gently trying to calm her. Slowly her shaking stops and she pulls back a little, her eyes meeting mine. I reach up with one of my hands, gently cupping her cheek, brushing her tears away with my thumb.
"Inuyasha... what happened?" she asks quietly and I can see her eyes break away from mine, glancing at the scar that runs over my eye. I look away to the side, not really wanting to me her gaze. If I tell her what happened, she'll only cry and be upset. But if I don't tell her, she'll be even more upset because she'll feel that I don't trust her...
I'm suddenly pulled from my thoughts at a pain that runs through my side causing me to gasp involuntarily. I fall back on to my backside on the floor from my crouching position, my hand going to where the pain is. I know I'm wounded, but my mind really wasn't thinking about them. Guess I should've...
I feel hands on me and look up at Kagome as she unties my haori, having a little trouble with the knot. I place my hand over hers and remove them from the knot, untying it myself with ease, after all, I've been wearing this thing my entire life. I shrug my shoulders, my haori slipping off just as Kagome begins to remove my inner kimono that is blotched with old and newer blood stains. Finally pulling it off, I hear her gasp and feel her soft warm hands, gently run over my chest that has various scars and still slightly bleeding wounds, the one on my side bleeding the most.
I can smell her tears return and I sigh, placing my hand over hers once again. She looks up at me, a sad look to her eyes before she gets up and rushes over to the back room of the hut, going inside and moments later coming back out with bandages and a box of herbs. I shake my head slightly. My wounds will heal eventually, but if she wants to heal me, there's no stopping her.
I watch as she sets everything down and tries to remove the pot with the noodles from the fire to put on a smaller one. I get up and place my hands on the handle of the pot, causing her gaze to fly up to me.
"You're going to hurt yourself more..." she scolds lightly. I shrug and lift the heavy pot, setting it off to the side.
"I can handle it." I tell her, setting the other pot over the fire. I look around and walk over by the door, picking up a wooden bucket of water, pouring it into the pot over the fire. She glares at me and I can't help but smile.
"Alright, alright, I'm resting." I mock as I sit down by the healing supplies, my back against the wall. She gives me a warning glance before going back to healer mode. I watch as she puts various herbs into the now hot water, the scent of it all causing my nose to scrunch up in disgust and me to become somewhat dizzy. I put a hand to my forehead, rubbing my eyes.
"Are you ok?" I hear my mate ask and I nod slightly in response.
"I'm great, the headache that I'm starting to get is the perfect way of taking my mind off my other injuries." I say sarcastically. She blushes slightly, though I'm not sure why, and she gets up, pushing the wooden boards over the windows, placing the small block of wood in the way to hold them open, letting fresh air into the hut. I take a deep breath and already feel my headache slowly begin to dissipate. My eyes follow Kagome as she makes a pasty substance out of the herbs and water, putting it in a small bowl before coming over to me and kneeling down in front of me.
She takes a cloth from a pail of water, and wipes the blood off my chest and abdomen, being careful around my side wound. She the sets the cloth back in the water causing the water to turn a strange brownish red color.
"This may sting a little." She says as she scoops some of her herbal paste onto her fingers and begins to gently rubs it into my skin, over my wounds. I hiss as she places some over the wound in my side causing her to pull her hand away, looking up at me with guilty saddened eyes.
"It's ok, just keep going." I tell her and she hesitantly puts more paste on my wound. I bite my lip to keep myself from making any more noise as she finishes up with the paste and begins to wrap my chest and side with bandages.
"How are you feeling?" she asks, tying the last knot in the bandages so that they are securely around me.
"Better." I smile and she wraps her arms around me in a gentle embrace, being cautious of my now bandaged wounds. I wrap my arms around her in return, tangling one of my clawed hands in her ebony locks, resting my cheek against the top of her head, breathing in her intoxicating scent that I have missed for so long.
"I missed you Kagome." I whisper, allowing my eyes to close as I gently nuzzle her.
"I missed you too, Inuyasha." She whispers back, this time the scent of tears not coming to my nose. I smile and another silence engulfs us. We just sit there, enjoying each other's presence, not wanting to let go any time soon.
Time passes and I glance towards the window, seeing the now dark sky, stars twinkling, the silver moon rising higher. It's a beautiful night, but a cool breeze comes in, causing both my mate and I to shiver. I release her reluctantly and get up from my position on the floor, walking over to the windows and closing them, the coolness now fading as the warmth of the fire spreads unchallenged throughout the hut. I walk back over to Kagome and sit down, resuming my position. She wraps her arms around my waist and leans against my uninjured side, closing her eyes as I hear her sigh.
"Inuyasha?" she asks quietly.
"Yeah?"
"Please... tell me where you went, how you got hurt like you did, what happened."
I sigh knowing that I can't avoid the subject any longer. She's my mate, my love, she has a right to know where I've been for so long and what happened to cause me to come back in the condition that I'm currently in. I wrap one arm around her waist and lean my head back against the wall, so that my gaze is slightly lifted to the ceiling.
"Where do you want me to begin?" I ask quietly, memories of where I had been, what I had done, flashing through my head.
"The beginning, when you left." I nod and take a deep breath, recalling my journey.
"Well, after I left here, I walked towards the west, the lands that my brother controls. I figured that if anyone knew anything about what had happened to me, it would be Sesshomaru, no matter how much I hated to even think it."
Inuyasha's Tale
((A/N: Sorry to interrupt, but instead of telling the story from Inuyasha's mouth, I'm gonna write it how it happened, like a flashback type of thing. Enjoy.))
I was walking through a dark forest, memories coming to my mind from when I was young, and how I had been forced to live in this forest so long ago after my mother had passed on. I came to a clearing soon, the castle former castle of my father, now currently under the ownership of Sesshomaru, visible in the distance. I sighed heavily and trudged onward when laughing drifted my ears. I looked up to see a young human girl run across the field. She stopped suddenly and looked over at me before smiling and running up to me. I was slightly confused. I had seen this girl before, but I couldn't quite remember where.
"Hello sir." She smiled, startling me from my thoughts. I looked down at her before crouching down.
"Who are you?" I asked. She was opened her mouth to answer when a cold voice spoke up, cutting her off.
"Rin, come here."
"Yes, my lord!" She said, turning and running over to the figure. My eyes narrowed as I rose to my feet, my eyes meeting the steady gaze of my brother.
"Sesshomaru." I said, my voice calm but still rough. Even though we had made a truce when we fought Naraku, as brothers we still didn't get along.
"Inuyasha." He said in his usual emotionless tone. "What brings you to my domain?"
"I've..." I started. "I've come, to ask for your help."
I watched as he raised an eyebrow in question. "And what makes you believe that I would help you?"
I growled quietly and glared at him. "Look, something happened and now I can't revert back to my normal hanyou form, so I need to know if you know of any way to revert back to it."
He slowly began to walk towards me, as I remained still, straight, my gaze as steady as his. He stopped a meter away and stared at me, his gaze scrutinizing me. I narrowed my eyes and growled again, but he only looked at me with his stupid calm look. Damn he got on my nerves.
"Of course I know of the way for you to revert back to your original form." He said calmly. "However you will have to travel quite far and defeat something that has been alive for over two thousand years."
I stared at him, slightly stunned that he was willing to help. "So, where do I have to go and what is the thing I gotta kill?"
"Come." He said, turning and walking towards the castle in the distance. "I will explain at the castle."
I stared after him as continued walking, the little girl falling in beside him, skipping along happily. Needless to say I was a little more than shocked that he was willing to help me, but even more stunned by the little girl, Rin, who he was accompanied by and the fact that he was inviting me to the castle that I used to call home.
I shook my head, clearing the thoughts from my mind, before following after them.
After we had arrived at the castle, I was lead by Sesshomaru to the Great Hall. Sesshomaru took a book from a bookcase and we stood around a circular table that had a large map of Japan and nearby nations painted on it.
"You will have to travel south, to Kagoshima. It used to be a small village, but it was an excellent place for trade and has been growing ever since. It is a very busy place, crawling with humans, so somehow you'll have to get on a ship going to Shanghai, another growing town, though it's in the country of China. From there you will have to travel to Mt. Joma. That is where you will find the ancient Dragon demon." He finished, opening the book.
"Great... another dragon..." I muttered, thinking of Ryokotsusei.
"Excuse me?" I looked at Sesshomaru.
"I had to kill that dragon Ryokotsusei, the one that the old man didn't finish off, in order to seal my demon blood before and learn Bakuryuha. "I explained. "It's kind of ironic that I have to fight another dragon to do basically the same thing."
"Ironic indeed." He said. "However, I believe that this dragon may prove more of a challenge than Ryokotsusei."
"Sounds like fun..." I said sarcastically as I watched him pull a fold piece of paper from the book. "What's that?"
"A map, so that you're stupidity won't get you lost. You do know how to read a map, correct?"
I narrowed my eyes and growled, grabbing the map from his hands. "Of course I know how to read a map. I'm not a dimwit."
"Could've fooled me."
"What was that?!"
"Jaken!" He called, ignoring me.
"Yes, my lord?" The stupid little toad came out of no where. Really, I don't get how my brother puts up with that thing.
"Show my brother to a room. He will be staying the night."
"The hell I will!" I yelled. "I came for help, and now that I got it, I'm leaving now."
"You are a fool." He said. "Leave if you wish."
"Feh." I snorted and turned to leave only to feel something bump into me. I looked down to see that little girl from earlier, on her bottom on the floor, staring up at me with sad eyes.
"Please stay the night Inuyasha-sama. Rin would like you to stay and play..." she said, tears coming to her eyes. I sighed and crouched down in front of the girl, placing my hand on her head.
"Fine, I'll stay, but only one night." I said. I was startled when she smiled and jumped me, hugging me tightly.
"Thank you Inuyasha-sama!" She smiled, taking my hand and pulling me out of the room. "Let's go-"she started but stopped, turning her gaze to the small toad thing. "Oh Jaken-sama..." she grinned. The toad's eyes widened and he started to back away. I rolled my eyes and grabbed him by the back of his robes, lifting him up.
"Release me at once you filthy half-breed!"
I growled and punched him in the head, effectively knocking him out. "Alright Rin, let's go play." I said, walking with her out of the room. She giggled and followed happily beside me.
After about an hour or two of playing 'torture the toad', Sesshomaru found us to take Rin to bed.
"Good night Inuyasha-sama." She smiled and hugged me, before running off ahead of Sesshomaru down the hall. My brother turned to me.
"Your room is this way." He said, walking after Rin. I nodded and stood up, giving Jaken one last good kick, before following him.
"Hey Sesshomaru, why are you doing this?"
"Doing what?"
"Taking care of a human child, actually treating me like your brother. It's starting to make me believe that you're an imposter or you just got hit on the head really, really hard." I said.
"That is none of your business." He said, his tone saying that he was annoyed. But was I ever one to stop when someone was annoyed? Hell no!
"I believe it is. I mean seeing the almighty Sesshomaru with a little girl frolicking around him, and actually treating his hanyou brother with even some respect, is quite strange."
Suddenly he stopped walking and I stared at him, half expecting him to turn around and hit me, but he didn't.
"I will not confide in you the reasons why I take care of Rin. However, I am treating you as my brother, because after you and your mate defeated Naraku, you brought some honor to your blood. It is only right that I at least show you some respect and acknowledge you as my brother and as the son of our late father." He said before he started walking again. Needless to say, I was shocked at my brother, but I just shook my head and followed after him, gaining respect for the cold blooded demon that had until now, been as cruel to me as one can be to someone else.
There you have it folks, chapter 24. For the next few chapters, I'll be explaining what happened to Inuyasha in flashback format. If anyone has any ideas for the name of the Chinese Dragon Demon, let me know.
Please Review!!!
Until next time, ja ne!