Hi! This is my attempt at an actual InuYasha chapter ficcy! It's slightly reminiscent of the good, old tale of Romeo and Juliet. Tell me if you like it or not!
Disclaimer: I own all non-original InuYasha characters in this story, unless I say otherwise.
For the Love of You
Demon blood. Always powerful; it will override anything mixed with it. That's why hanyous can become so powerful. When you have demon blood in you, power will practically crackle at your very fingertips. What kind of power that is, however, depends upon lineage. You have the potential to do anything you want to with this kind of power. It's liberating. This power can cause an amazing bloodlust, over ambition for power, so many bad things. That's why you have to know how to control it, thus learning how to control yourself…your urges. That's what Keitaru had always been taught, since the day he was born. It was supposed to give him a self esteem boost, but it didn't. He was less than a hanyou, yet more than human. It was so frustrating to him. It had been a little over twenty years after the defeat of Naraku and the destruction of the Shikkon no Tama. Keitaru, nearing his 18th birthday, was the youngest of Kagome and InuYasha's children. They had two together, and Shippo, which made three. The other was his sister, Chikara, was exactly 14 months and 8 days older than him, something she'd never let him forget. Chikara took her father's most prominent attribute, his beautiful white hair. She liked to pull it back, into a short ponytail. She also had fangs like their father. Keitaru was the one who inherited the ears, though. He had his mother's dark brown hair, with his father's piercing yellow eyes. His ears wear brown, like his hair, except for the tuft of white hair at the top. He looked out the window of his room, watching the sunrise through the trees, and, with a deep sigh, he stepped outside.
Chapter 1 – Demon Blood.
"Keitaru-ni!" a young girl squealed, chasing after the hanyou. "Keitaru-ni, wait!" Keitaru looked towards the voice. He knew who it was before he looked; it was Sango and Miroku's daughter. "What do you want, Safaia?" he said, barely holding back his amusement as the tiny girl stumbled towards him, carrying a basket filled with various garments to be washed. "I'm headed to the river." she said. "To wash some things. Can you come with me?" Keitaru rolled his eyes. It was impossible for him to refuse her. She always seemed to get to him somehow. She was almost the mirror image of her father, and, at eleven, was just starting to bud into womanhood. Her warm, violet eyes always bored right into him, like he was getting poked with a stick in the conscious. And not just any old stick, either; a stick that was just yanked out of the campfire. Safaia pulled at his jacket sleeve, looking up at the young man expectantly. "Yeah." he muttered, defeated once more. "Sure."
A loud 'click'ing sound had been coming from a cave in the mountains, disrupting the melodic chirps of the birds and pounding of the nearby waterfall. This was the wolf youkai's0 territory, led by Kouga. The loud voices of the hunting party began to enter the lone occupant of the caves' ears. Over the years since the incident with Naraku, the wolf demon leader had five kids, all boys, until the youngest, Okami. Since that was his only girl, Kouga was, as most fathers are, very protective of her. She had short, brown hair and piercing, ice blue eyes like her father's. She was the one in the cave, leaning against the wall, trying in vain to sharpen the edge of her short sword. "Why are you so obsessed with that damned thing?" laughed Tanoshii, the middle child. Tanoshii was definitely the one of her brothers Okami felt the closest to. He joked too much though, and she was not in the best of moods. "Imoto!" he said, sitting next to her. "Stop ignoring me." Her tail flicked slightly in annoyance, and she chanced a glance over to him. He was smiling his eternal grin, practically inhaling some large chunk of meat stolen from the carcass of the kill.
"You use that stupid sword because you're weak. Real youkai don't use those stupid we-" He didn't even get to finish his sentence before Okami's knees were deep inside his chest; her fist just inches from his face.
"I wouldn't say that again, Tanoshii. Unless you want the imprint of my fist in your face, I mean." They exchanged glares for a long time before Okami finally decided to get off of him.
"Heh. You're so weak it's pathetic! Nothing but a stupid little fluffball!" Tanoshii knew that that would get his sister pissed off. He grinned with internal pride at his knowing how to push everyone's buttons just far enough for them to almost snap. Okami started twitching angrily, and then Tanoshii knew he had gone too far. He could almost see the flames rising around her. He backed away slowly, but it was too late. Okami was already on top of him, accidentally pushing him out the cave.
"OKAMI YOU BIII…"
She couldn't exactly hear the rest, but she laughed slightly while he tumbled helplessly down the mountainside, landing with a soft THUMP, and what she assumed to be a long string of swears.
Shippo watched, fairly amused, as the young hanyou washed the clothes Safaia brought with her. The young girl, meanwhile, was nowhere to be seen, and this fact concerned the kitsune slightly. He came down from his spot in a nearby tree and wandered over Keitaru.
"I knew you were here, already." Keitaru said smugly. "I can pick out your scent anywhere."
"Good for you." Shippo retorted, pulling a twig out of his fluffy, orange tail. "I'm assuming you know where Safaia went off to."
Keitaru shrugged. He threw the final piece of laundry into the basket and flopped leisurely into the grass. "She's around. I told her to bug off for a bit. She was getting to be annoying." With that, he took a good sniff of the air. "Wait…that's not right…" he muttered.
Shippo sighed deeply. "The scent is stale?" Keitaru nodded. "Yeah, she hasn't been around this area in a good hour or two." Keitaru hopped onto his feet. "Damn brat! This is why I hate babysitting!"
"Well, what's this I see, San?"
"Fresh meat, obviously, stupid."
"Should I grab it?"
"What the hell do you think, Aoi? Are you hungry?
"Yes."
"Well, stop making so much of a ruckus and grab it before it runs away."
"I wonder if Keitaru-ni would like these…" Safaia wondered out loud, holding a few, slightly crumpled wildflowers. She turned her head slightly, though, when she heard a slight rustling in the bushes. She blew it off almost automatically, though, figuring it was just a raccoon or something. "…I guess he would." Safaia muttered, back to her original thoughts. Suddenly, there was a rush of blue in the treetops. Safaia jumped, completely tense and ready to bolt at a moment's notice. She remembered what her parents always used to tell her.
"Don't go wandering in the forest alone!" her father would say.
"Make sure you always have a way to protect yourself when you're out there. There are a lot of youkai out there that would do a young child harm." would be most likely what her mother would say.
'Maybe it's a youkai' she whimpered to herself. "Show yourself!" she screamed out, grabbing hold of a large stick. "Come out!" It seemed that the cackling of whatever it was out there echoed throughout the whole woods.
"Now, what the hell do you think that that little twig is gonna do to me?" the voice said coldly.
The owner of the voice now stood directly in front of her. He had a slight smirk on his face; his short, spiked brown hair seemed to defy gravity. His, dark, chocolate brown eyes were laughing at her, it seemed. "Scared?" the man asked. A long tail flapping in the breeze showed that he most likely a wolf youkai. Safaia's fear now took a complete hold on her. She couldn't move or make a sound. In fact, the entire forest was silent, save for the breeze rattling the leaves on the tree branches.
"Should I kill 'er now, San?" another voice blurted out, completely ruining the tension.
The one named San threw a large rock in the direction of the voice. "Idiot!" he roared, royally pissed. He threw a few more rocks and started screaming even louder than before. "Do you understand the first thing about hunting!?! It's SILENT! SILENT!"
The other youkai fell head first out of the tree he was sitting in. "Sorry San." he whimpered, rubbing the bump forming on his head. There was yet another rustle in the trees however; an unexpected one, that sent both youkai standing at full guard and had Safaia more scared than ever.
"San! Aoi! God! I was looking all over you two dipshits!" yelled a feminine-sounding voice. "Stop playing with your food and kill it, or bring it with you, something!"
"Go play with your dolls, Okami!" the second demon, Aoi, spat. The one named Okami then proceeded to drop on top of his head.
"I'm not a child, stupid." she stomped hard onto his skull before walking towards Safaia. "Were you two serious!" she said, looking at the terrified Safaia. "You know we're not supposed to hunt humans!" The two male demons looked at their companion scornfully. Okami then turned to the spiky-haired San. "Obviously you were the brains behind this hunt, considering the company…" she paused to make her point, motioning towards Aoi, who was now chasing down frogs. "What the hell were you thinking?"
San sighed. "Thinking with my stomach and not my head."
Okami turned to Safaia. "You're safe now, little girl." she smiled. "Lucky I showed up, huh?" Safaia nodded. She then looked around, demon to demon. Aoi didn't seem so bright, but the other two were, especially the one named San. He seemed to radiate a kind of wise and powerful aura. Her eyes then shifted to her savior, Okami. Unlike the other two, her bright blue eyes shone with peacefulness and cheer. There was a slight flash of orange in the bushes.
"She's nearby, I can smell her." yelled out Shippo. His head popped out of the bushes, followed by the head of Keitaru. "Safaia!" the both said simultaneously. Seeing the situation, both young men jumped out, hands on weapons.
"What's going on here?" growled Keitaru, forcefully pushing Okami out of the way. "What were you about to do, you damned wolf bitch!"
Okami regained her balance, crouched on all fours, with one hand on the hilt of her short sword. "I just saved the little brat's life, you mud-blooded freak!" she growled back, readying for a fight. Keitaru looked taken aback by the insult and pulled out his sword. "Little bitch." he hissed. "I should kill you." Okami smirked, completely ready for the fight. "Bring it, puppy." she laughed and pulled out her own sword. Meanwhile San and Aoi surrounded Shippo.
"Mmm…kitsune." snickered Aoi. "No rules against this, right San." San seemed to share in his companion's hungered excitement. "None at all, Aoi. None at all." Shippo glared at his two opponents and unsheathed his sword. "Do you want to try me!" he snarled viciously.
"I wonder what's taking them so long." muttered Tanoshii, who was wrapping up his various cuts and scratches. Sitting next to him was a younger boy with large green eyes and shaggy, black hair. His upper body armor looked too big for him; it hung loosely off his shoulders and hit with a dull clang every time he took a shallow breath. This was the youngest boy, Shizuka. His body was doused in sweat and he was panting very heavily, as if he had just completed an intense workout. "See, Shizuka, this is what happens when you try to take on Okami." he said cheerfully to his brother. "You end up falling off a cliff." He knew that the younger youkai would say nothing as a response. He was a very silent boy; barely made a sound, ever. He always looked so sad and sullen, and now was not an exception.
"Tanoshii-ni" he whispered.
Tanoshii paid no mind. He was busy trying to pick the fleas out of his tail.
"Tanoshii-ni!" he cried again. This time he heard. He turned towards the rarely spoken voice.
"What is it, Shizuka?"
The young youkai keeled over.
"I…I don't feel…so good…"
And with those last words, the diminutive body of Shizuka collapsed weakly onto his stout brother.
Okami looked at her rival. "It'd be wise," she said calmly, after much thought. "If you take your young and run with your tail between your legs. You're outnumbered and likely to get an innocent bystander hurt." Keitaru looked coldly at the female standing directly in front of him and nodded in agreement. Okami shifted slightly, keeping her eyes on her enemies as well as her volatile companions. "San. Aoi. Let's go. They're not worth it."
"I'm not gonna take orders from a little girl." Aoi said grumpily.
"Yes you are." San said, equally upset. He yanked his subordinate's tail roughly. "Come on, idiot."
With that, all three wolves disappeared into the woods.
A few hours later the three wolf youkai returned back to their den. Tanoshii greeted them at the entrance. Seeing the troubled look on the young demon's face, all three were immediately worried. "Tanoshii-kun, what's up?" asked Okami, unable to mask the concern that laced her voice. San sneered. "He probably lost his steak to someone." Aoi laughed, but the joke didn't lighten up Okami one bit. Tanoshii's face just got sterner. "No, this is really something serious." he growled slightly in response to San. "It's Shizuka. He just collapsed. We think he has a fever. He's not doing well at all; he's just been getting worse and worse!"
"What's going on!" screamed Okami. She, as well as Aoi and San were struggling through the crowd of people formed around the sick boy, the pack medic, and the pack leader. "Rena!" growled San, grabbing the old woman by the shoulders. "What's the matter with Shizuka?" "Watch how you handle her, boy" snapped the voice of their father, Kouga. The young demon nodded and let go of the old medic. "Well…" the old wolf began after much deliberation. "Sadly, there's not much I can do for him." Kouga started.
"So, you're saying he's going to die?"
She shook her head. "There's not much I can do now." she stated simply. Tanoshii stood up angrily, teeth bared. "You're just going to let him die!?!" he yelled. "You're gonna sit back and watch my brother suffer!?!" The old woman looked at them solemnly, stating her helplessness with a single, saddened look. Okami knelt next to her older sibling. "His head is burning hot…" she sighed sadly. Just then an idea sparked into her head. "Well, what about that village nearby? Maybe they could do something."
Chikara sneered evilly at her younger sibling as he pushed his messy, brown hair out of his face. "Can't even watch one little child for an hour, can you Keitaru?" she laughed. "Almost got eaten by demons. And you call yourself a responsible adult." Keitaru just kept walking, ignoring his sister's taunts. It had just rained the night before, so the ground was still soft. It felt good to be able to squish the mud between his toes. He looked casually towards the setting sun and sighed as he saw a small flock of birds soar by. 'If only I were as free as you guys…' he thought glumly. "…ooh, and what are Sango-san and Miroku-houshi going to do to you when they see you…" Yep, she was still going on. It was like she never shut up, always babbling on about something, like a broken record. She was trained by their mother, Kagome, to be the next miko when she decided on stepping down, and like their mother, she was very difficult to get quiet. 'Quiet…wait, she's quiet now!'
"What is it, Chika-chan?" Keitaru asked tentatively.
"I sense something…" she muttered slightly. "Two powerful youkai are headed this way."
(A/N: -ni – brother; Imoto – little sister)
I really, REALLY hope you like this first of many chapters. Bye now!