The dogs are on the loose
I don't own Inuyasha or Ranma ½
I'm back with another chapter and finally I'm done with my exams and I won't have such problems till May when the real nightmare starts. I use my possibility to advertise a fic red called "Ranma's Morning Confession" (A Ranma story), sometimes its a bit too steamy but I guarantee, murderous laughs. Thank you for your reviews.
Dragon man 180: Thanks for the idea.
Aznmiko16: No problem you don't know how a bad reviewer I am, it's not compulsory, I think its more like a favor to tell the writer that his or her story is good or help someone who needs to improve.
Lynnie1-23: The idea itself seems to be good. Thanks for the tip.
Chapter: 15 A surprise for Shippo
After finding out the dragons had other hostagesKagome immediately sent Izayoi to the Tendo's to get the others while she and Inuyasha scavenged the city looking or any kind of trail to follow, but there was none, except the one that led away from Furinkan.
"Just wait till I get my hands on you!" swore Shippo for the umpteenth time. While running alongside Karom, the cat was starting to bget afraid from the fox sure usually he could take him without a problem but this timeShippo simply give him the creeps sincethe foxhad some dog blood in his veins this meant that he might be even able to seriously hurt him in this desperate state if he'd flip out.
Suddenly Shippo came to a dead stop before starting to sniff into the air. "K...Kioku?" his answer waswas a soft whimper from within the bushes, just a few feet from him. "Is that you?" he asked again, this time the whimper was even stronger. Shippo couldn't help it he raced toward the source of the noise and found Kioku there he didn't even care to release her he only wanted to hold her close.
The female fox was surprised when she felt Shippo's teardrops on her face, for a couple seconds she was simply stunned. /Were you so worried because of me/ Kioku tried to say something but since her mouth was gagged she could only give out a few muffled sounds.
Shippo gave her an embarrassed smile and started to unbound her. "We have to save Akane and Izayoi they took them!" she yelled in the immediate second when Shippo unplugged her mouth.
"We already know, they took Izayoi so they can catch mom."
"Is she all right?" the female fox asked desperately.
"You know that the only one who can really catch her is dad!" answered Shippo "But we still didn't find Akane."
"I don't think you will. The dragons told me to tellRanmathathe hasto meet them in the mountains near Aomori they probably wanted to kidnap auntie Kagome to keep Inuyasha in line. We have to go after them."
"It's no use to run you have to rest!" answered Shippo calmly. /Ranma is going to blow it when he hears./ he continued in his head.
"I'll signal the others that we found someone!" interrupted Karom puling out his Katana.
Half an hour later at the Tendo dojo"WHAT! Someone kidnapped my little girl!" yelled Soun with the waterworks working at full capacity.
"Calm down Mr. Tendo we'll rescue her!" soothed Kagome with not much success.
"Yeah! We go to those damn mountains and kick some serious demon butt!" interrupted Ranma with a determined voice. But Kagome could feel it on his scent that in reality he was desperate, desperate to save Akane and desperate to kick someone to heaven.
"We should get going!" she announced.
"Lets go." agreed Sesshoumaru. "Where are the cats?" he added.
"Karom is trying to convince Kirara to go with the kids." answered Inuyasha.
"And she's going with them!" interrupted a third voice.
"Um... could everyone please leave, except for Shippo!" Kagome said while starting to walk upstairs.
"Why?" asked Ranma.
"We'll tell you after!" came Inuyasha's answer. Everyone left the room, except for the fox and Inuyasha.
"What is it dad?" questioned the boy, but Inuyasha didn't answer, he stood in front of him apparently waiting for something.
Upstairs Kagome opened the built in press in the guest room and took out a sword that was hidden underneath the clothes. She carefully lifted it and marveled at it for a few seconds while fighting with her tears. /Good thing that we could hide you before Shippo noticed, but I didn't wonder he couldn't figure it out right away Karom is a literal armory./ she thought while turning around. /My Shippo is all grown up now./ she continued, not managing to hold back her tears.
/Kagome/ interrupted Inuyasha's mental message.
/Coming/ Kagome made her way downstairs and walked to Inuyasha. "Here it is my mate!" shelifted the weapon into the airwith both hands while lowering her head,so Inuyasha will be able to take it.
Inuyasha turned to Kagome and took the sword from her, she returned her hands to her sides but didn't look up, Inuyasha slowly turned back to the confused boy who didn't knew what's going on, he never before saw her mother and father behaving so formal. "Your mother and me only wanted to give this to you on your birthday, but after learning the way of thinking that our enemy has we thought that this is for the best." Shippo's eyes became moist and he was fighting with his tears. "You and Kioku will be responsible for the pups for the next few weeks, take good care of them or I won't let you come close our home for the next few years."
"Yes father!" answered Shippo. Inuyasha smiled at his pup proudly, while easing the sword into his waiting hands. The fox could smell Kagome's tears as she let them fall freely, he wanted to hug her, but he knew that this is the worst thing he could do right now, and didn't do anything.
Inuyasha stepped back after laying the sword into Shippo's hands, and laid one of his arms around Kagome's waist pulling her close.
The fox looked at his present and then at his parents he didn't know what to say, after registering the smiles of the dogs he quickly whipped the tears from his eyes using the hem of his clothes, and bowed to them. "Thank you my dear parents!" the smiles widened on both dog's faces, they nodded to signal that they accept his thank you. They stood like that for a few more seconds, Shippo couldn't take it anymore and raced forward hugging them with all his power. Even for Inuyasha it was starting to get hard to hold back his tears.
(Side note: In feudal Japan receiving a sword was considered as one of the biggest honors that you can get, and in the case of warrior families it also symbolized the reach of adulthood.)
"If you have any problem with Kioku's parents than you can always turn to me!" whispered Inuyasha into the fox's ear.
Not much time later everyone was on the road. Shippo, Kioku, Kirara, Rin and the pups were heading south towards Okinawa to get as far away as possible from the enemy, while the others headed north to Aomori in hope to get Akane out of trouble.
"So did your father allow you to take a mate?" asked Kioku while walking next to Shippo.
The male fox looked at her with the goofy smile on his face that refused to disappear since he received his sword what was already an hour ago. His smile became even bigger "Now we only need to ask your parents!" Kioku blushed furiously but didn't answer. "And if they don't approve be prepared to get kidnapped by me!" he finished. At this the female fox's blush became even deeper. "Hey don't tell me that it is so easy to embarrass you?"
"Why you!" warned Kioku lifting one of her hands. Shippo tried tomove away but wasn't able to avoid her fists, and received several small blows on his back.
"What is it Kioku I thought you want to be my mate." he answered trying to keep from laughing. The foxes were about to start a playful fight they were growling at the other, but they stopped when they heard Kirara's scream when they turned around they saw a certain perverted martial artist groping her breasts.
"No! That pervert has followed us!" mumbled Kioku.
"On him!" yelled Shippo all demons jumped on the old pervert and tried to grab him but he was already out of there, and moved in on Rin. He quickly realized that Sesshoumaru is one who likes to know that his mate is safe at any time, in other words he made no impression on the barrier that appeared around her. However the dizzy master made it to get lost before the others could get him.
"Great just what we need looks like Happosai decided to follow us!" mumbled Shippo while pulling himself from the bottom of the pile.
The others at the same time
The other group also had some followers in the form of two fiancée's and one who thought to be one, but the women decided not to attack for now.
Inuyasha and co were walking through a forest they didn't care to follow the road knowing that it won't make a difference if they do, not to mention what could happen it Karom and Sesshoumaru start to fight again when there are other humans nearby. And to make sure that the two won't even try to start a fight Kagome suggested that they'll be as far as possible from the other, so Karom was put in front with Myoga and Jaken while the two male dogs were put in the back with Kagome and her student in the middle of the group.
"Why the heck do I have to use this weird looking bow?" asked Ranma for the hundredth time not really getting what he's been doing wrong.
"Because it's easier to focus your powers into something. I don't even like to give it out of my hands do you know how much I hang on that?" answered Kagome calmly.
"Why it's just a crummy bow?"
"That crummy bow was the first present I got from Inuyasha after we confessed our love, and it saved my life several times!" snapped Kagome.
"Err... sorry I didn't knew."
"It's forgiven." answered Kagome back in cheerful mode.
/She's scary! Like a mix of Kasumi and Akane./ thought Ranma looking at the youkai's smiling face.
"Now try again and this time try to look deeper into yourself you need to find your soul!" Kagome instructed.
"How many times do I need to do this? I already did it hundreds of times!" snapped the boy.
"With your chi! I'm talking about spiritual powers! You're not even trying to find them!" answered the demon.
"Feh!"
"You catch on some things quickly! I'll show you another time, it's not so hard once you get it! Focus on my aura and you'll see the difference." responded Kagome.
"How many times do I need to tell you? I know how to do it!" he grumbled.
Kagome shook her head "If I didn't knew better I'd say your skull is thicker than my husband's. Give me my bow and I'll show you what the difference is between chi and miko attacks when you face a demon." Ranma let out another row of curses and handed the bow back to Kagome. She aimed at a tree next to Jaken and Myoga who were walking/hopping a good distance in front of them next to Karom, and fired. The arrow flew at it's target while glowing in a yellow light, it directly hit the tree and created a large hole in it but the demons didn't even look back to see what happened.
"Man what kind of crappy shot was that? Mine were waay more powerful!" remarked Ranma.
"I just wanted to show you what you did, now this'll be the real thing!" answered Kagome. She fired another arrow this time filled with miko energy. The demons in front of them jumped away even before the projectile reached its destination. The top of the tree that Kagome used as a target took off into the air and landed a couple of yards from the bottom, which opened up like a brown flower not to mention that the blast could not be overheard within a mile.
"Are you nuts bitch!" yelled Karom with the two servants trying to catch their breaths.
"Now this is the difference between your spiritual powers and your life force." explained the demon.
"Are we your training aids or what?" sounded the cat's voice again.
"Wow you used the same amount of force as before but you blew the tree to pieces!" remarked the boy.
"Not to mention that all demons get the chills if they sense a flying miko arrow near them. Do you finally understand what I'm trying to teach you?" asked the demon with hope in her eyes.
"Yeah why shouldn't I learn such a great technique!" answered the boy.
"This is not just a technique Ranma. Make sure that you only use it if you have no other choice! You can easily kill someone when you use your holy powers to attack till you haven't completely learned how to control it." answered the demon.
"In that case I'll only use it on Happosai!"
"No you won't use it on ANY innocent people! Not even on that old freak!"
"Huh... Okay I won't use those powers unless I have to! Satisfied? Now give me that bow!" and so Ranma spent the next few hours practicing and finally not much before nightfall. "YESSSS! I've finally done it!" yelled Ranma while looking at the glowing pink arrow as it flew through the air.
"Not bad!" added Kagome. However the power of the shot started to vanish and it landed somewhere within the woods without doing any damage. "You only need to make this quicker, in battle you won't have five minutes to gather your powers."
"Thank you Kagome-sama!" answered Ranma bowing deeply.
"Anything for a friend." answered the youkai.
"But really is there any way I can repay you?"
"Well there is something you could do for me!"
"As long it doesn't have anything to do with fiancée's I'm in!"
"Yes and no."
"What do you mean?"
"I want you to admit your feelings to Akane!" instructed the demon.
"WHAT?" yelled the boy in shock.
"Just do it! You may be more surprised than you think!"
"B...but!"
"No buts Ranma! That's the only way you can repay me!"
"But!"
Kagome smiled at the panicking boy. "Akane only needs some affection, she lost her mother when she was young and probably this was the way for her to escape her fears. I'm sure once you tell her how you feel about her she'll open up to you. She needs you especially now!"
Ranma couldn't help it he had to nod after hearing Kagome's words, but in the immediate second she turned away he began to panic /How the hell will I get myself out of this mess/