I don't own Inuyasha or the characters there in.
Streams of the Heart Section 2
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"No!" roared the little woman. "No youkai!"
"But mother," replied Jinenji's voice quietly, "She means us no harm; she is even willing to catch us some meat for supper."
"I don't care if she catches enough meat for us for an entire year, No, no, no!" screeched the woman. "Do you have any idea what a full youkai would do to you?"
"Mother, I have fought youkai before," replied Jinenji. His deep blue eyes were closed. "I can take care of us. Plus if she came to kill me, she could have done it at the stream."
The old woman's eyes narrowed. Jinenji could feel the intensity in her. She was surprisingly scary for her age. Jinenji often times thought facing an army of youkai would be less frightening than facing his mother whilst she was angry.
"Facing one youkai does not qualify you to know what is safe," said the old woman with a sudden calm. "I forbid you to bring that youkai or her mutt in this house!"
"But Ma, she really is just looking..."Jinenji was cut off by the flick of his mother's wrist.
"I have said 'no'," said elderly woman. "There is nothing more to debate about."
"Of course," sighed Jinenji.
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Ayame sat at the stream's edge. She tossed little pebbles into the water.
"Maybe we should continue on," said the wolf that traveled with her. "We should be moving on...you keep stopping, and with each stop we risk losing his scent..."
Ayame sighed and tossed another stone into the stream. She looked into the water, "I don't know...Kouga...is such an arrogant ass..."
"Ayame-sama!" yelped the wolf. "You shouldn't talk of your future husband like that..."
"He doesn't want me as his 'woman', as he puts it," growled Ayame. She stood up. "He wants that human child...Kagome. Well he can have her, that two timing, foul mouthed, arrogant, stubborn, jackass of a wolf, doesn't deserve me!"
"So you think a lowly hanyou, and a very ugly one at that, is deserving of you?" asked her companion.
"Well, at least he didn't break any promises..." said Ayame.
"Yet," her companion replied.
"Ayame..." called the voice of the hanyou. Ayame gave a short scowl at the wolf. "Ayame, my mother is being very obstinate tonight. I can't get her to budge. I'm very sorry..."
The large horse hanyou lurched from the forest. His lumbering form came closer. A hopeful smile played across his long face, half bald head. He wore tattered work clothes. She could make out the places where fresh stitching and patching had taken place. A sense of pity fell over the young wolf youkai.
"It is ok, I understand," said Ayame, "Jinenji...is that correct."
"Yes, it is..." Jinenji smiled, realizing that she remembered his name only after hearing it being yelled by that overbearing mother of his.
"Jinenji, I will make a camp near the edge of the forest, if that is fine with you?" said Ayame quietly. She laid a hand on his arm.
Jinenji blushed brightly. He nodded quickly. Ayame smiled. He was so overwhelmingly cute. He was just like a wolf pup, so innocent, so trusting.
She took his hand softly in hers. She looked up in those deep blue eyes. Jinenji turned his head to look away but Ayame gently took his chin and turned them back.
"Ayame-san, I should go gather some blankets for you," said the horse hanyou. Ayame smiled and nodded.
"I will be near your house, I trust your mother will not be angry," said the wolf youkai.
"What she does not know can not make her angry," replied Jinenji and he turned and lumbered into the forest. Ayame followed him. Her wolf companion was straggling behind.
"A hanyou and the princess of the wolf youkai tribe...this is most irregular," growled the wolf in his mind. "It isn't even one of the pretty hanyou like that Inuyasha..."
They came to the edge of the forest relatively quickly. Jinenji turned and looked down at Ayame.
"I will go and gather proper bedding for you," said the horse hanyou quietly. He turned and walked towards a moderately sized hut that was surrounded by several limp fields of herbs.
"He's so..." Ayame looked after Jinenji. She couldn't exactly place what it was about the horse hanyou that made him so interesting to her. "...different."
"He's something..." growled her companion.
"You know sometimes you are utterly unsupportive!" returned Ayame and she turned to the wolf. "You just don't like him because he's a hanyou!"
"And ugly," growled the wolf.
"Don't say that ever again!" growled Ayame.
"Just because I don't say it doesn't make it untrue," replied the wolf.
"That's it!" Ayame turned to the wolf and stomped closer, "Go, get out of here, I don't want you around me anymore, you mangy dog!"
"But Ayame-sama..." the wolf looked up guiltily.
"No, go," growled Ayame. "Go, if you like full fledged demons so much you can go find Kouga alone!"
"I will..." the wolf growled, "and then he will know of your infidelity with this thing..."
"He has a name, and his name is Jinenji!" shouted Ayame. She clenched her fists and her eyes glowed angrily in the dusk time light. "Leave before you don't have anything to leave with!"
The wolf turned and ran off. Ayame growled angrily. "The audacity of that mangy wolf, how dare he speak that way!"
She was so lost in thought that she hadn't noticed that Jinenji had appeared at her side. A blanket soon was draped over her shoulders. Ayame nearly leapt out of her skin as the fabric hit her skin.
"I am sorry..." said the giant hanyou, "I didn't mean to scare you, Ayame-san."
"Just Ayame is fine," said the young woman quietly. She looked up at the hanyou. A pain came over her heart. She furrowed her brow. "Damn, I feel this tug of war playing in my heart..."
Jinenji seemed to have noticed her change in mood and looked down. "Where is your companion?"
"He decided to go on ahead..." said the young woman. She looked away.
"Ayame-sa...err...Ayame," stuttered Jinenji. He reached out tenuously to her shoulder, "Are you ok? You seem sad; did I say something or do something?"
"No, it's just..." Ayame looked up in those deep blue eyes in the failing light. "I need to start a fire..." Ayame stood up and walked off to gather wood. Jinenji followed her.
"Is this about the wolf?" asked Jinenji, "or is this about something else?"
"Kouga..." Ayame looked back a bundle of branches and kindling in her arms "is a man I know. He promised to marry me and then he fell in love with another woman..."
The moon rose will they were in the forest. Jinenji's eyes glowed like smoky orbs in the moonlight. They were looking straight at Ayame. Her eyes glowed like a wolf's in the moonlight, like two sharp hazel pin pricks in the dark shadows in the forest.
"I understand; I have had these feelings," said Jinenji. He walked closer. "No one likes being with me on account of my being a hanyou."
"Oh," Ayame walked up to the horse hanyou and laid a hand on his arm. "Maybe we should get back to camp."
Jinenji nodded and let the female wolf youkai lead him back to the camp. She started a fire quickly and sat down. Jinenji sat on the opposite side of the fire from the young woman.
"If you do not think it too out of place of me I would like to say something..." said Jinenji quietly. His eyes were downcast.
Ayame smiled quietly and nodded, "No, I don't think you could say something too out of place."
"I-I..." Jinenji stuttered and blushed and looked down, "think you are a very attractive woman...in the moonlight."
Ayame blushed slightly and smiled. She suppressed a giggle; but the sheer cuteness of Jinenji's bashfulness was almost too much, "Thank you very much, Jinenji...and you are a very noble man."
The horse demon looked up. His blue eyes twinkled and a smile curled around his face. Ayame stood up and walked over to the horse hanyou. She had to stand up on her toes and kissed the hanyou on the cheek very gently. The hanyou sighed contently and his face glowed red. Ayame giggled softly.
"What's so funny?" asked the hanyou innocently.
"Oh, I never knew I had such an effect on men," giggled the young woman. She laid a hand on the hanyou's arm. "And despite what people say, you are rather cute yourself..."
The hanyou's face grew redder than a beet, even redder than the setting sun. She was afraid, at one point that the horse hanyou would faint from all the blood that rushed to inhabit his cheeks in the form of blush.
"You shouldn't compliment me in such ways, Ayame," Jinenji finally said in a steady voice. "I don't deserve such compliments from a full blooded youkai."
"What does that mean?" asked Ayame. She looked intensely at the hanyou. "You say you know Inuyasha. Then you would know that he is more powerful than many demons..."
"That is true, but I am not Inuyasha, I am Jinenji the timid and fearful..." sighed the large mountain of a man.
"Don't listen to such fiddle faddle..." Ayame swept her hand. "People only say that to keep you from your full potential; they fear you; that's why they put you down..."
Jinenji nodded slowly. He remembered the villagers. They were afraid of him when he showed his strength against that youkai. They had been respectful for awhile then the teasing resumed and they started to brow beat him once again.
"You are right, Ayame," said the horse hanyou. He looked at the full youkai. She was so beautiful and she kept complimenting him and never seemed to be afraid of him. She reminded him of Kagome, but she was not like Kagome; she was unattached. Other than this Kouga guy, who seemed to be some one she didn't seem to like. "I am strong, but I would be stronger if I was not alone..."
Ayame gave a coy smile. "Isn't your mother worried that you're with the big bad wolf..."
A small chuckle escaped Jinenji's mouth. He looked to the hut; he could see the shadow of a figure in the fire light and sighed loudly. "You are correct. Will I see you in the morning?"
"Aye, Jinenji," smiled the wolf youkai. "I have no reason to travel for a very long time, since my companion has gone ahead of me..." Ayame lied; not truly knowing if the wolf would return of its own accord or, in fact, find Kouga. "I will stay here and help with your fields, if that is ok, though I must admit, as a member of a wolf tribe, I'm not the best farmer..."
"It is ok, you can help me, with watering," smiled the horse hanyou. He stood and bowed slightly to Ayame and then walked to the house.
"Why have I become a farmer?" smirked the wolf youkai. She sat against one of the trees and drew one of Jinenji's blankets around herself. A warm smile played across her lips.