Chapter Seven- The Son of Kouga
!Warning! Some scenes are found not suitable for children. This story includes violence, mild language, and adult content. Reader discretion is advised.
They decided to float along the river in one of the boats that the village men let them have for rescuing them. Naori stuck her hand in the water and made ripples. Miroku and Inuyasha were steering the boat. Shippo was laying on the floor trying not to think of the waves because he easily got seasick. Mazuki and Kenta were pointing at the critters they passed. Kagome was just lounging out, baking in the sun.
They passed through some mountains until the noise of falling water reached Inuyasha's ears. He stood up and noticed the current was moving faster and the sound was coming closer. Kagome could hear it too,"What's that sound?"
Everyone else got up to see what it was. Thier boat was being pulled down the river and Kagome knew what it was,"It's a waterfall! Quick out of the boat!"
Inuyasha tossed Kenta to the shore then Mazuki. The waterfall drew closer and he threw Naori to the bank. Kagome and Sango got out next, followed by Miroku. Inuyasha was just about to jump when the boat met the edge of the waterfall and he fell with it.
"Inuyasha!" Kagome yelled as she watched her hanyou fall into the water. They ran along the bank to the end of the waterfall, where Kagome jumped in to find her companion. She came up out of the water struggling with Inuyasha who was unconcious. They helped her pull him to the shore. She crossed her hands over his sternum and began giving him CPR. After the third one, he spit out the water and coughed. He shook his head like a dog.
"What happened back there?"He asked her.
"You fell in the waterfall, but you're alright now."Kagome wrung the edge of her skirt to get the water out.
"Well, it looks like Kagome saved Inuyasha's life this time."Sango said,"C'mon, let's see what's up ahead."
Inuyasha blinked at her until Kagome helped him up. They walked through the rocks of the mountains. Naori looked around. This seemed so familiar to her, but she couldn't put her finger on it. It was when a peticular scent of a wolf demon that she remembered. Inuyasha smelt the scent too and growled.
Kagome blinked,"What is it Inuyasha?"
"It smells like Kouga, but it's different."He hissed as he looked around.
"I thought I smelt wet dog,"A boy jumped down from one of the high cliffs. He had short black hair with green eyes and wore wolf skin.
"Who the hell are you?"Inuyasha demanded.
The boy stared at Inuyasha,"You must be the mutt face that my father talks about."
Kagome stepped up,"Are you the son of Kouga of the wolf demon tribe?"
"Hm? Why yes I am. I'm Kage prince of the wolf demons. My father is at the western lands right now though." He looked at them and his eyes fell upon Naori,"And who is this lovely lady?"
Naori looked beside her to see who he was talking to and when she saw no one, she pointed to herself,"Me?"
He stepped up to her,"I have never seen a lady as beautiful as you before." Inuyasha growled."Tell me, what is your name?"
"Naori." He grabbed her hand and she blushed because she wasn't use to this kind of affection.
"Such a beautiful name for a beautiful lady." He gently kissed her hand and Inuyasha butted in.
"Hands off pal, she's only eight."Inuyasha pushed him back.
Kage laughed. He then spotted Kagome,"Is your name Kagome?" She nodded."So I guess that Naori got her pretty face from you."
Inuyasha was getting frustrated and threw a punch at Kage, but he ducked and Kagome called out."Sit boy!" and Inuyasha fell to the ground.
"Tell me, why you are in these mountains?"Kage asked them.
"We're searching for crystals, we haven't detected them in a long time."said Naori.
"I don't think we have any crystals in those mountains, just a few metals. If you would like you can stay with me for the night back at our den." He smiled at Naori and Inuyasha's eye twitched.
"That's okay, we'll just camp out here."said Naori.
"Suit yourself, I'll be back to check up on you later." He jumped from cliff to cliff until he was out of sight.
"He sure does act like Kouga,"Inuyasha growled. They started a fire and Inuyasha hung his clothes to dry with Kagome's. They ate whatever they could catch and they had just cleaned a rabbit and it was now cooking over the fire. Naori and Mazuki were talking in the woods.
"Well it looks like somebody likes you,"said Mazuki teasingly poking her with her elbow.
"Cut it out, he's not my type anyway. You're much prettier than me."
"No I'm not, you are just as pretty."
"Then why do all the boys like you so much and you have so much admirers?"
"Well, it looks like you also have an admirer."
Naori blushed. She had never been called lovely by a boy before or ever actually been complimented before from a guy and it made her feel good."C'mon, I can smell the rabbit. Let's go eat."
They turned back to the camp and ate with them. Then they heard the howl of wolves echo through the mountains.
"What was that about?" Naori asked. Kage slid in and they stared at him.
"It's those Paradise Birds, they've circled the mountains and have been taking some of our tribe members, I'll go and fight them." He glanced back at the mountains.
"We'll come too," said Mazuki and she grabbed her boomerang and Naori got up.
"I don't think you should go,"said Miroku.
"Don't worry, we fought the Birds of Paradise before,"Naori and Mazuki ran after Kage,"We'll be back in a sec."
They ran out of the forest and saw several wolf demons pointing arrows at the sky. Naori looked up and saw the giant shadows of the birds. Several of them swooped down and Naori clawed them in half. Kage took out his sword and chopped the wings off of one of the birds.
"Naori, duck!" Naori bent over backwards as Mazuki's hiraikotsu sped past her and hit a swooping bird right behind her.
"Wow, that's flexible," Naori heard Kage mutter to himself. After a good two hours, the Birds of Paradise retreated and they walked back to the camp site.
"How did it go?"Sango asked.
"Easy, I think those birds are losing thier touch."said Mazuki sitting down. Kage went back to the mountains for the night patrol to see if the birds would return. Naori slept next to Kenta who was between her and Mazuki. Sango and Miroku fell asleep by accident beside eachother and Inuyasha had his corner and Kagome had her sleeping bag. They slept through the night.
Naori yawned as she got up in the morning sun. The others were also awake and were cooking some noodles of Kagome's. They ate and had another visit from Kage.
"Leaving so soon?"He asked them.
"Yeah, we need to hurry. Thank you for letting us stay in your territory,"Naori kindly bowed to him.
"It's no problem, if you ever need anything then let me know and I'll be there."He took off after he winked at Naori. Mazuki giggled and Naori glared at her.
They left the mountain range and walked through a vast plain. Mazuki wiped the sweat from her eyes. Since there weren't any trees there was very little shade from the blazing sun.
Naori stopped when she noticed a large shadow rush over her. She looked up to see what it was and only saw clawed bird feet grip her shoulders and take her off into the air. She screamed and the others saw what happened.
"Naori!" Mazuki readied her boomerang, but Sango stopped her.
"You might hit Naori,"Mazuki reluctantly put down her boomerang.
Naori looked up at the predator bird. All she could see was its round jaw with rows of sharp teeth."I am not gonna be the dansel in distress!" She kicked the bird and one of the clawed feet let go of her shoulder. Then she clawed off one of the wings and the bird dropped her. She didn't realize how far up she was until she was falling. She screamed as she dropped more than forty feet. But then, Kage appeared and caught her with an,"Oof!"
"You okay,babe?"He asked her.
"Yeah, don't call me babe." She jumped down and dusted off her kimono. "Thanks for catching me."
He took her hands and held them to his chest,"Naori, I come to ask you something." Naori blushed and looked at him with surprised eyes.
"Uh,okay."
"When you reach of age, will you become my mate?"
"Ickit!" Naori's eyes got huge. That was not the question she thought he would ask. "Uh...I don't know."Inuyasha cut in.
"Look pal, she doesn't like you and she's too young to be thinking about mating. So beat off!" Inuyasha growled.
Kage shot him a look that he got from Kouga."Fine, but once you miss me I'll be there,"He ran through the tall grass and out of sight.
"Cocky little bastard,"Inuyasha muttered before they continued down the plains.
The coolness of the creek felt extremely good as they poured some over thier sweaty backs. The girls, and Shippo and Kenta, were in the creek just pouring buckets of cold water on eachother. It was that hot. They splashed eachother with the cooling liquid, but then just decided to relax in it. The sun was blocked off by the trees, but that didn't stop the heat. They didn't even bother with a fire because they didn't need anymore heat. Inuyasha, Miroku, Shippo, and Kenta were both shirtless and Kagome passed shorts and Tanktops to the girls.
Naori leaned back against the shade of the tree and took a deep breath. She felt relaxed and closed her eyes about to drift off. That was until it started raining. It wasn't like any other rain, it poured down like a waterfall and flooded the place very quickly.
Kagome swam over to Naori who was splashing and choking on the muddy water. Something pulled them both up and they choked out the rest of the water,"Thanks I-"But she screamed when she saw who it was.
Kuro was sitting on some kind of dark cloud and he took Kagome and Naori high into the air. "Didn't think you would get rid of me that easily, did ya?"He did his little evil laugh.
Naori bit his arm and he punched her in the head. Kagome slapped him and he covered thier mouths with a cloth that was soaked in a strong liquid. When they inhaled it, thier senses shot off and they passed out.
"Kagome! Naori!" Inuyasha chased after them, but lost them as the cloud took off higher."Damn! I can't pick up thier scent!" The others caught up with him.
"No, Naori." Mazuki growled with anger, "Damn him!"
"Don't worry, we'll find 'em,"said Inuyasha looking up,"He's human so he's not that smart about covering his scent."
"But the water could've washed off thier scents,"said Miroku.
"He has the scent of spring water all over him, the crystal's scent,"he growled,"He'll pay dearly!"
A/N: Looks like there's a new character. He won't show up anymore, but I'm thinking about writing another fic with the kids as older teens with him in it. Review please!