AN: Ok, the second part to my favorite chappie, thanks to all you who reviewed, I really appreciate it! Send me questions and I shall give you answers, send me flames, and I shall use them constructively to humiliate you. So there! Oh and by the way, something I realize I forgot to mention, Li's wolf demon friend Kyto, yeah, he died in chappie five that never got written! So yeah, sadness. Kouga does seem a little meaner in this chappie, but hey, he's kinda my antagonist. So whatever!
Disclaimer: Alright, I admit it! I do not own Inuyasha; however, I do own something just as sweet! LI!!! He is so adorable!
Chapter 10
Saying Hello…
Li just stared at the man across the way from him, long white hair, dog ears, and a haori, a deep blue rather than the red one that he himself wore at that moment.
"Dad?" he said, the word came out clearly, which surprised him, even more so was that it also came strongly, not even a slight quiver haunting it.
The man, Inuyasha he knew his name to be, just stood there for a second before saying,
"Li?" very softly, as though it was an impossibility that Li was standing in front of him. "Li, w, what?" Inuyasha couldn't go on, he seemed at a loss for words, Li however suffered no such impairment. Suddenly he was angry.
"Yeah, that is my name; I'm surprised you even know it! In fact, I bet you heard it off someone, how else could you know it? You were never even around!" he snapped, his voice cold, but not ever rising above a normal volume. He wasn't going to treat this fight like it was with Kouga; he was going to handle it differently.
Inuyasha just stared, and then he shook his head slowly, and said quietly,
"I, I'm sorry, I, it, it's complicated why I-" Li cut him off sharply,
"Why you what? Ran off? Deserted me? Mom? How can it be complicated why you abandoned your family? I can't think of a 'complication' that would be worth it!" Li said coolly, his eyes narrowed with an anger he hadn't felt until he'd seen Inuyasha face to face.
Inuyasha shook his head,
"You don't understand, I, there was a reason I left, and I didn't want it to be that way Li, you have to believe me I never-" Inuyasha was cut off once more when Miroku came running up behind Li calling to him,
"Inuyasha!" Miroku yelled, Li's arm shot out stopping the monk in mid stride,
"He's busy." Li snapped icily. Miroku nodded,
"Alrighty then! I'll come back later!" and the monk spun on his heel and walked away. Inuyasha watched Li for a long time before hanging his head in defeat and saying,
"Li, if it's answers you want, then by all means, I'll give them to you, if you don't want answers, then feel free to beat me around, I probably deserve it. Or if you just wanna turn around and leave, whatever, but it's your decision." And then the hanyou was silent. Li stared at him, and then sighed,
"If I beat you up, Sara would kill me, if I just ran, I wouldn't get done what I came here to do in the first place, and Sara would kill me, so that leaves me with only hearing you out, so let's hear it." Inuyasha nodded and pointed to a hut,
"Let's go in there; we'll have the time we need." He said, Li nodded and began to follow before he turned to the pack.
"Make yourselves useful, secure the perimeter, and tell me if you see anything unusual, no matter how trivial. Alright?" he ordered, the pack was gone in an instant. And Li followed his father into the hut.
As soon as they sat down Inuyasha began his story, from the very beginning, the very beginning, before Kagome, before anything, the day he'd first met Kikyou. And so he went from there, telling it like it happened, until he got to the day of the festival.
"And then your uncle Sesshomaru came and told me; there had arisen a conflict between him self and at least five other demon lords. They all road out for my blood, as well as his. He was well known of, so there was nothing he could do to protect anyone from knowing of his wife and soon to be born child. But he did send his adopted daughter Rin to come live here for a time. I however, was less known, I had a chance to protect you and your mother from the demons that I knew would come after me, and in so doing, kill you two as well. I knew there was no way I could protect you both in the years to come, at least not totally. One way or anther, you would be harmed, and I didn't want you to grow up knowing war, as I did. So I made the decision, I would feign running out on your mother so she'd hate me, and then she'd be safe. I watched you, did you know? Until you were about 8 or 9, then you got too good for me." Inuyasha sighed as he finished his tale. Li was quiet before he said,
"Well, your entire plan almost worked, except for one thing." Inuyasha looked to his son,
"And what was that?" he asked, Li smiled,
"Mom still loves you I think." He replied, Inuyasha looked stunned, but then shook himself then sighed, but his eyes were considering, and then he asked,
"So, how'd life like a wolf go?" he asked, a wry smile on his lips. Li groaned, and told him everything. Start to present day. And when he was done, Inuyasha growled softly,
"That fool, treating you as though you were me!" he shook his head in a resigned way, "It truly is my fault anyway. Bu-" just then one of Li's wolves entered, the man was panting,
"Li, There is a demon coming this way!" he yelled, Li and Inuyasha jumped up simultaneously, and ran outside.
"Li, watch your back!" Inuyasha called, Li spun in mid air, raking his claws down the demons left arm, which then became immobile. He nodded his thanks to his dad and jumped back as Inuyasha dealt the final blow with his sword. Li grinned at him as he landed,
"Man," Li said, "I need one of those swords!" he laughed good naturedly. Inuyasha laughing with him, Sango and Miroku watched a smile on both of their faces; it seemed that father and son were getting along fine now.
"But how good are your reflexes I wonder?" Inuyasha teased, throwing a fake punch at the laughing youth, who ducked and swung out his leg to trip Inuyasha up, he failed as his father jumped and attempted to hit Li over the head, he too missed. The two went on like this for some time.
They would have for much longer, however, suddenly Li heard a scream and stopped, his father hearing it as well, also stopped and looked in the direction from whence it came.
There in the distance a bird demon was carrying someone towards them, Li's eyebrows raised,
"I'll take this one?" he asked, Inuyasha nodded and when the demon was just above them he jumped up and sliced the bird demon quickly. Inuyasha caught what seemed to be a very small girl in his arms. She couldn't be more than five. And by her sent a wolf demon.
When Li landed the little girl squirmed her way out of Inuyasha's arm and ran to him,
"LI! There you are! Where have you been?" she called, Li stared at the little girl stuck to his leg for a moment before he seemed to figure out who it was,
"Anè!" he cried, picking the little girl up and hugging her tightly, "what are you doing here little one?" he asked, unconsciously calling her the same name Kyto used to call him by. Anè looked up at him a tear in her eye,
"That demon took me here, I don't know why." Li growled,
"Where was your father?" he asked coldly, Inuyasha saw Anè's little eyes widen at Li's tone, and she said softly,
"He was near by, but he never saw it coming." Li growled again but said nothing. Anè looked over to Inuyasha,
"Are you Li's daddy?" she asked, Inuyasha nodded, she grinned, and then Li handed her to Inuyasha who took her.
"Inuyasha take care of her, I need to go get my mom and her father alright? Can you do that?" he asked, noticing the uncomfortable look on Inuyasha's face, Inuyasha nodded,
"Yeah, I'm fine with it, just, who is her mom?" he asked softly, but Li had the feeling he already knew. Li looked away from him and didn't answer. At that exact moment, it happened.
Sara ran into the village, Kanna at her heels. They looked over to Li and Inuyasha and gasped, and then Li heard another gasp and turned to see his mother, Kouga, and Kouga's entire hunting party behind them. Kouga stood there looking furious, his eyes blazed at the sight of Inuyasha holding his daughter, and at Li standing beside him. Inuyasha seemed to confirm the girl's origins in that moment, and a flash of hurt entered his eyes, he put the girl in Li's arms and looked to Kagome. She couldn't even look at him; she was staring at Li, her eyes spilling over with tears.
Suddenly Kouga's rage got the better of him, and in an instant he crossed the distance between himself and Li, and punched him hard.
Sara screamed, Kanna winced at her cousins pain, Inuyasha roared, but none of them were fast enough to beat Li's pack to Kouga, and they beat him to the ground before his own pack could stop them. Li jumped up and called his pack off, leaving a bloodied Kouga in the middle of the road. None the less the wolf prince stood, his eyes boring holes into Li, who was too busy looked at his own pack with a totally surprised look to even notice the others stare.
Inuyasha snarled,
"Kouga you fool this fight is not his, so don't even take it out on him that he saved you daughter Anè's life!" he yelled, Kouga stepped back, and then roared at Inuyasha,
"And what experience do you have on the subject? You weren't even there to protect either of them mutt face! When exactly did you become the family expert?" Inuyasha frowned, but suddenly Li cut in.
"No dad. This is my fight, no matter whose it started out as, it's mine now."
He wiped the blood from his lip and walked to the front of his pack, picked up his little sister and in the blink of an eye put her in Kagome's arms. Then he stood in front of Kouga again, Kouga's eye couldn't follow Li's actions, that wasn't how it had been before. Not at all. Li suddenly hear Sara let out a soft groan, and he smelt her blood, she was wounded, Li was going to go to her but Kouga growled, baring his fangs, and stepped in front of Li, Li snarled,
"If you are stupid enough to not know when it is time to be an alpha and when it's time to be a leader, I should have taken the pack ages ago Kouga, go and check on Anè, if you were so worried, I'm sorry but I do not have time to take care of you right now, I have other things to worry about, like my people, and my friends, they have been putting themselves in danger to come and warn my family which they did voluntarily, they didn't have to. They risked themselves for you but if you're not even going to be a good enough leader to be worth it then by all means keep on and I'll kill you later, despite what my mom and sister might say, keep out of my way though, I'm warning you." Li's voice was cold and never once did he yell, he kept calm the whole time. But somehow, he'd never been more intimidating. Kouga stepped away, and Li went over to Sara.
Her wounds were minor, he healed them with a brighter than necessary light, his pack watched in awe, Kouga was stunned, as was Inuyasha, Kagome was wide eyed as well, none of them having known that Li was capable of things like that. Anè had known all along though. She didn't even blink.
When he was done Li looked Kanna over, but she was clean, and then he turned to his pack, and said,
"Listen, you guys go and cover the perimeter, I'm not taking any chances, they are all here now, Nireku won't be far behind at all. We have got a big problem on the horizon." He ordered, all but three left, these were his 'body guards' so to speak, and he allowed them to do this for the simple reason that they wanted to, and he didn't really care.
Finally Li turned to Inuyasha and said,
"I need to kinda take control if you don't mind? It's not your village right?" Inuyasha nodded, smiling at his son,
"You do it better than me, son." He said, Li grinned, and then put on an emotionless face and went to talk to Kouga, and then Sara was suddenly at his side, clinging to his arm, he looked down at her,
"What?" he said, she grinned,
"You think you can do it alone?" she asked, and then sighed, "I missed you alright? Just deal with it, I love you and when I'm not with you for a time then I'm gonna want to be with you when I get back, so let's go do this!" she said, Li nodded, and then Kanna was beside him and only said,
"We're family. I have a duty." Li nodded and then went over to Kouga.
"Kouga?" he said, hoping that the man was in calmer spirits, he wasn't. He growled and ignored Li, who sighed and said, "Mom, since he's being a pup, I am going to have to do this with you." Kouga snarled and spun on Li, who never blinked,
"What do you want whelp?" he snapped, Li raised a brow,
"Only to ask you to please stay in the village, there are some people out there who want mom dead, and they wouldn't stop at killing Anè and you and anyone else who happened to end up in their path." He said, Kouga growled,
"I think I can handle it." Li snarled, losing his temper at last,
"You fool! The people, who want her dead, are Naraku's son and a replica of the priestess Kikyou! Not to mention two other strong demons who to say the least despise me and would kill my family on a whim. They were after mom and my dad, you think they'd care if they killed you too?" He snarled, upon hearing his words, Kouga's face got white, as did Kagome's, but Inuyasha's got more white than his hair. Then Kouga thought about something,
"How would they know how to find her whelp? Or any of us?" he snapped, Li winced internally, however he was outwardly calm as ever,
"I told them. I was possessed by a spell and told them." He said his voice void of any emotion. Kouga growled,
"Then it is your fault anyway! You betrayed both of your families and you expect me to stay he-" Kouga never finished, Li punched him instantly knocking him unconscious. Li's face was hidden by his bangs, Sara still clung to his arm, her glare at Kouga putrid.
"Never," said Li coldly, "ever say I betrayed my family, they matter to me more than anything, so if you ever say that again, I will kill you." And then Li turned and began to walk away, calling over his shoulder, "You better get him into a hut to rest, he'll be out for a while. Heh, at least it'll be quiet for a time!" and with that he headed off talking to his pack and getting them prepared.
They were sitting ducks on Nireku's radar, who knew when they'd be attacked?
Not long as it soon became apparent.
Days Later…
Inuyasha sat cross legged in the branches of the Goshinboku. To think, sixty-six years ago he was pinned to this very tree. And for fifty more years he would be destined to lay there in a spell like sleep. Until Kagome. Thought of the miko he'd once been mated to made him hurt to his soul.
Funny.
Kikyou had once made him feel the same way. Now that was a scary thought. He just didn't have luck with women. That was the end of it. He was totally hopeless, just like Kagome had always said. He sighed to himself, and then heard a voice call to him,
"Why are you sad Inuyasha?"
Inuyasha looked down to were the voice came from. Little Anè stood there at the bottom of the tree. His eyes widened as the girl climbed the tree with ease and sat beside him. Her head cocked to the side she asked again,
"Why are you so sad?" Inuyasha just blinked at her, then shrugged,
"Nothing important really, I'm just a naturally sad person I think." He said sarcastically. She giggled.
"That's silly, you have no reason to be a naturally sad person!" she said merrily, he raised an eye brow,
"Oh don't I? And how would you know?" he asked, she grinned,
"Cause you've got Li, and he is the best big bro in the world to me, so he's gotta be a good son too right?" she asked, Inuyasha nodded wordlessly, and then Anè continued, "Plus he loves you, see when we were growing up Li always hated it when someone called my daddy his daddy, and they did it anyway. I kinda felt sorry for him, but he didn't really care what they thought. He just didn't like what they said. Anyway, he always used to defend you, cause everyone talked of you badly, or they did until he stopped them. Knocked a wolf unconscious cause he called you a bad word. Or at least Li said it wasn't a good one. 'Dirty half breed' I think it was. Is that bad? Li said it was and in my opinion Li knows everything so I just took it for a bad word, it is isn't it?" she asked, her innocence touching Inuyasha deeply. The child was so unaware of what she spoke of. But she was smart; her brains were that of her mother.
"Yeah it is, what about you though, isn't Kagome gonna be looking for you, and, and Kouga?" he asked, Anè shrugged,
"They're fine, Li is talking to dad, and mom is pretending to listen, but I think she was looking for you." She said off handedly, inwardly Inuyasha's heart skipped a beat. Outwardly he just nodded, then silence followed, until Anè unexpectedly broke it.
"You love my mommy don't you?" she suddenly asked.
Inuyasha was taken aback. A child so young understanding every thing around her to such a detail like that. But maybe it was obvious. But Anè continued not allowing confusion.
"I don't mean a while ago, like when you guys had Li, I mean now." She added quickly, "Then isn't important." She finished, and waited for a reply. At first Inuyasha didn't give one,
"Yes." He finally said, Anè nodded as if confirming something,
"I think she might love you too. I mean, she loves my daddy, but they fight more since Li turned older. I was only about three when they started, Li was about fourteen, he told me that he'd been a bit uneasy with Kouga before that but it was only a problem for my mommy and daddy later. Anyway, they fought even more when Li left, and now they fight ten times more, now that he's back that is. I know they love each other though, other wise I wouldn't be here, and Li wouldn't say they did. He says they have a 'I need you, you need me' relationship. What do you think?" she asked.
Inuyasha barely had time to process this before he heard a demon and smelt it as well. In one deft moment he picked up Anè and headed toward the village.
Nireku and his demon minions were already at it with Li, Sara, and Kanna. They were all fighting someone different.
Kanna fought Suki, they two had their weapons drawn and looked like two blurs flying around with occasional spurts of blood.
Sara was facing off with Kikyou, the two locked in a battle, Kikyou no longer held her bow, it was lying near by. Sara was fighting her with her staff while Kikyou held a stick she must have found on the ground.
However this left Li fighting both Nireku and Kite, he wasn't doing too awful though. Kite looked worse for wear, and Nireku looked annoyed. But it soon became apparent that he was annoyed with Kite. Giving the demon glares every now and again. Li too noticed this; apparently they weren't both supposed to be fighting him. Kite must be breaking the rules and ignoring Nireku for a moment.
Inuyasha just stood there a moment, Anè in his arms, the girl was looking at Li, suddenly she said,
"There is a barrier that's why they're fighting all alone. See it?" she asked, he nodded dumbly, but it did explain a lot. Like why Kagome stood near by looking on in horror.
Just then she turned over to Inuyasha holding Anè and watching his son battle the two demons. Anè watching with him perched on his shoulder now to see well. Kagome rushed over.
"Anè were have you been? Your father was worried sick!" she said, picking the girl off Inuyasha and hugging her tightly, Inuyasha barely noticed, his eyes were following his son. Kagome glanced at him, saying softly,
"Will he be ok do you think?" Inuyasha nodded,
"He's our son Kagome, he was made for this kind of thing, or do you not remember our years traveling after the Shikon no Tama?" he asked, she blushed,
"Forget? Don't be a fool, I could never forget, but still he's so young, much younger than you were…" she stopped, her eyes welling up with tears. Inuyasha touched her shoulder gently,
"Stupid, don't cry, he'll do fine, I've seen him fight before, he'll do just fine." Inuyasha whispered, and then Kagome mumbled,
"But he's fighting two demons, not just one! What am I suppose to do but worry?" Inuyasha chuckled,
"Again, I think he can handle himself- don't you believe in him?" he asked, she nodded,
"Of course, he's my son!" she said indignantly, Inuyasha nodded,
"He's mine too." He said, "That's how I know he'll be fine." Just then another voice cut in,
"How can you say that mutt face? You really never were around were you?" said Kouga, Kagome looked to Inuyasha, who shrugged,
"But ya see Kouga, he likes me. That kinda matters, he could give a damn about you. And besides, I named him." Inuyasha said, Kagome looked to Kouga who was glowering at the ground,
"Li doesn't like you Inuyasha, he loves you." Cut in Anè, Inuyasha nodded,
"Sorry, my mistake." He said, with a small nod of his head, Anè nodded, then turned to her dad and said,
"Dad, he doesn't hate you, Li I mean, he told me he just could live without ever seeing you again and not care in the least. So at least he doesn't hate you." Kouga shrugged,
"I couldn't care less what he thinks Anè, he's still a dirty mutt." He growled, Inuyasha growled,
"Hey, he never says anything bad about you Kouga, do the same courtesy in front of the kid will ya? She at least likes Li, don't be making her choose sides." And then they heard Li yelled as he was thrown at the barrier, which he hit and slid down. The two demons he was fighting walking over to him to finish it.
At that moment Sara ran over and attacked Nireku, knocking him into Kite. Nireku sprang at her, and hit her throwing her away across the battle field. Li suddenly stood up.
"Damn you both!" he snarled, "You leave her out of this!" and then there was a purple light around him. The barrier, his barrier they now realized disappeared and the energy of it flew to him.
Then he let it out as a blast at Nireku. Kite was not aimed at. And he stared at Li as he hit the ground at a kneel.
"What were you thinking fool?" Kite snarled, "I can kill you now!" just then Sara stood,
"No." she said coldly, "You can't. Not without going through me." Her voice was steady and clear. Li's eyes widened, and he stood with sudden strength.
"Stay back Sara, I'll deal with him, I'm not done with yet." He said to her, she nodded, and was about to turn but then she saw an arrow flying to Li. It was Kikyou's arrow.
"NO!" she screamed as the arrow streaked by her and hit Li straight in the back.
His eyes snapped as wide as they'd go. Kagome screamed, Anè hid in her mother's shoulder, Inuyasha closed his eyes, Kouga glanced away. Until suddenly they heard Li chuckle and every looked up to him.
He stood there, the arrow protruding from his higher back. He reached back and pulled it out with ease, then turned to Kikyou who was staring at him, he grinned twirling the arrow,
"See Kikyou, I didn't just inherit my dad's abilities, but my mother's too. So your arrows are just like normal ones. They do nothing." He said, and then threw it straight at her again.
It hit her shoulder, and suddenly Nireku appeared, torn up but alive. And he whirled her away. Li looked to Suki and Kite, Suki having finished her fight to escape with her partner,
"Li, I will get you some day. But today, this was a good fight. Hopefully we meet again. Don't let anyone else kill you." Kite said, and with that the two disappeared.
That night Sara sat with Li in a hut, he was leaning back against the wall of it, his eyes closed, but he didn't sleep. Sara was cooking something, though her heart wasn't in it, it was with the man beside her. Her mind began to wander…
So little time, and so much has changed in that little time. Gods above, what will become of us now? He's going to die if he can't become stronger. I only wish…wait.
Suddenly a thought hit Sara like lightning. It was a risky plan, only about a thousand things could go wrong, but it was a chance. Where they stood now neither Li nor herself would live to see another fight with Nireku. But there were so many risks! Gods, but if it worked…
Li woke and stretched, Sara was beside him, her head in his chest. He smiled to himself and got up carefully so as not to disturb her. He needed to talk to his dad about something.
Li didn't even knock on the door of his father's hut; he just went in without a word. Inuyasha was sitting up in the floor looking out the window. He turned and smiled at Li,
"How ya feelin?" he asked, Li shrugged,
"I've been worse. Anyway, I need to talk to you about something. You see, Sara and me were talking, and we know I need to get stronger, other wise I'm not gonna be able to fight Nireku at all and hope to win. Especially with Kikyou around. However, there is this spell we could do. It would bond us to each other and increase our capabilities by at least five times. Or even more if it worked at its best. However, before I do this I want to get a few things done to make me stronger, so I was wondering, were did you get that sword?" he said,
Inuyasha smiled and told Li of Tetsaiga's origins. Li listened and nodded, when Inuyasha was finished,
"So all I need to do is find this Totosai person and he'll make me one of the blades right?" Li said, Inuyasha shrugged,
"Maybe, he may, he may not. It depends on the old man's mood. But he probably will. Knowing who you are and what you need the blade for should be enough…" Inuyasha nodded, "Yeah, you'll get one." Li nodded in agreement,
"Let's hope so, cause I leave today. Just don't tell anyone where I've gone, and if you don't mind taking control for a time…" he shrugged, "I can be back quick. I just need to know how to find the old man."
Inuyasha gave his son directions. And then the two headed outside and Li was about to leave, when all of a sudden. A demon landed in the middle of the village. Inuyasha didn't look the least bit disturbed, he knew the demon. However Kanna who was carrying something to Li and her uncle stopped dead, dropped what she was holding and was about to run for it. When her father, Sesshomaru grabbed her arm and stopped her.
"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN THE LAST MONTH!!!!" he yelled so loud it woke everyone up. Li raised his eye brows.
"Oi." He said softly, Kanna was trying to reply,
"Dad, I, I was having fun, I meant to tell you but I forgot cause these demons were after us an-" she was cut off by Sesshomaru yelling,
"US! WHO THE HELL IS 'US'" his voice boomed, Li jumped in to rescue his half cousin.
"Uh, that would be me and her and Sara sir." He said, Inuyasha was wincing waiting for the impending outburst. It came.
"WHO THE HELL IS HE!!" the taiyoukai yelled, Li never blinked, Kanna was cowering. Sara walked up to Li kissing his cheek,
"You going already?" she muttered sleepily, "Come back soon love." And then giving a wink to Kanna walked away, Li smiled after her nodding and then looked back to Sesshomaru,
"I'm Kanna's half cousin Li, Inuyasha's son. And it's my fault she was gone, me and Sara got lost and we needed a guide to get out of the forest so we convinced Kanna to help. Sorry." He said bowing. "Please blame me for it, however, you might have to wait because I'm going off right now, I will come back soon though so if you could wait I'll take any punishment later. Thank you very much." He said and then was walking off. Sesshomaru just staring after him. Kanna slipped out of her father's grasp and disappeared.
Kanna rejoined Li outside the village.
"So, were are we heading?" she asked, he grinned,
"To the sword smith Totosai." He answered, she grinned,
"I've been there before, I'll take you!" she said, he nodded,
"I'd hoped you would." He said, and then they headed away together.
AN: YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
