kuso kitsune damn fox
Honor-Bound
by Dead Of Night
chapter two
Foxfire
The summer wind busied itself among the trees that night. The rustling leaves hid the little noise that Inuyasha's movements made as he leaped restlessly from one branch to the next.
He'd stayed indoors after dinner only long enough to make sure Kagome wasn't molested by any stray-handed monks during her beloved bath—and to discover, when a conversation with the coy kitsune youkai got too heated, that the castle was swimming in invisible protective magic that effectively dissuaded him from drawing his sword. Well, he preferred sleeping under the stars anyway.
Soon he settled down comfortably on a broad, sturdy branch, shrouded conveniently in shadow, of a tree on the edge of an outer garden. The waning moon overhead was a pale yellow sliver of light amid fleecy gray clouds.
He hadn't been sitting long when the musky smell of human male sang faintly in his senses. Far from sleep, he crouched tensely on his branch, ears twitching instinctively toward faint, distant voices.
Two figures emerged onto a high castle balcony. Inuyasha noted the low, thick ponytail of dully gleaming hair of the shorter figure and the long, unfettered hair of the taller one: the young daimyo with whom Kagome had seemed so quickly smitten and the kitsune onna who had threatened to permanently seal Miroku's wandering eyes shut.
Inuyasha didn't waste time on second thoughts or decorum. Within moments he was crouching near enough to hear their low conversation. The kitsune was speaking, her soft voice lilting, low and pleasant like water over stones.
"...polluting the river. They were smart enough to use an odorless, colorless poison. I would hardly have noticed it myself if the suijin hadn't reacted so badly."
The daimyo—Kenshin, was it?—looked grim. "They may not have succeeded in poisoning any humans, but they did get to destroy one of the oldest and strongest protectors we had on our borders."
"True. I went there hoping I could still fix whatever damage had been caused, but..." Megumi shook her head. "It's a good thing you sent us when you did, though, Ken-san. It could have been much worse."
Kenshin sighed. "It could have been much better, Megumi-dono."
"Silly man. You did all you could; in many ways it's far more than any human man could have possibly done. That you knew exactly where we'd be needed at exactly what time is by itself a wonderful thing." The kitsune turned away, breeze-borne hair obscuring her features. "You certainly can't be expected to know everything that's going on in your territory all at once."
His ears straining, Inuyasha wondered if he had merely imagined the slight emphasis she placed on that word; but judging from the way his head snapped toward her, the daimyo Kenshin had heard it too.
"Everything all right, boys and girls?" drawled a new, much louder voice, and Sanosuke joined his brother and the kitsune outside. "I just saw to those exterminators. They're turnin' in and I didn't talk to 'em, but I can't find the hanyou," he finished, more seriously.
Kenshin frowned. "Call Aoshi—"
"No need, Ken-san." At Megumi's touch on his sleeve, Kenshin fell silent, glancing at her searchingly. "The hanyou means us no harm. He's said that he doesn't care for sleeping indoors."
Her voice was as mild as ever, but suddenly Inuyasha knew she had known he was there all along.
Kenshin, for his part, immediately tensed, his ki spiking suddenly as he clicked his sword out of its sheath. Sanosuke wordlessly moved to his side, fists and feet readying in a defensive stance and dark eyes scanning the night as though daring a murderous Inuyasha to leap out at them.
"I assure you"—pearl-white in the tainted moonlight was the kitsune's slender hand, laid gently on Kenshin's swordarm—"tonight, at least, we need not fear the son of the great Inu no Taishou."
The silvery gauntlets on Sano's fists flashed as he relaxed, though his brown eyes still searched the shadows. Inuyasha, well hidden in the shifting leaves, scoffed. Paltry human eyes.
Quietly, Kenshin asked, "Shall we be so quick to trust these strangers, Megumi-dono?"
"Their story stinks," muttered Sano.
"Anyone who believed their story would have to be even stupider than you, toriatama, and that's simply not possible," said Megumi smoothly.
Sano flushed. "WHAT!"
"Maa maa!" Kenshin groaned, throwing up his hands in exasperation as Megumi began to laugh. "Megumi-dono, you really must stop baiting him—"
"Oh, but he rises to it everytime, doesn't he?" tittered seven or eight Megumis that had suddenly appeared around the balcony, fox ears twitching mischievously. A chorus of teasing laughter rippled through the air; Sanosuke grew increasingly red in the face, snarling unintelligibly, lunging at the giggling illusions one by one as each disappeared with a puff of brown smoke at his approach. Inuyasha watched and sweatdropped. If Shippou ever did that to him, the little runt wouldn't live to reach puberty...
"Megumi-dono," said Kenshin mildly.
Caught off balance, Sano stumbled headfirst through another illusory kitsune just as it poofed out of sight, leaving only faint echoes of taunting mirth. With another oath, Sano rounded on the last Megumi who was left, muffling her laughter in her sleeve and quite red in the face. "YOU!"
"Sano," cut in Kenshin, his tone both gentle and firm, "walk with me awhile."
Sanosuke, shoving his hands deep in his pockets with a scowl, abruptly turned and walked out of sight into the castle, passing the kitsune onna without a word. Megumi, for her part, turned up her chin defiantly and looked away. The image was familiar to Inuyasha; Kagome behaved in much the same way whenever she was being stubborn.
Kenshin politely took his leave of the kitsune onna, who permitted him with a slight, embarrassed dash of color across her cheeks. Megumi stood motionless at the edge of the balcony, seemingly lost in thought, for several long moments after doors had slid shut and footsteps had moved away into the castle.
"You have heard me, Inuyasha-sama, son of the Inu no Taishou. On your father's name, you shall bring no danger to this han."
"Keh." Inuyasha's feet made no sound as he landed on the balcony behind the kitsune youkai. "I make my own promises, bitch, and I ain't makin' any to you."
But she had given of her own powers to heal Sango, Miroku, and Kirara, and for now, at least, they were staying at the castle under her protection. By the unperturbed silence Megumi kept in response to his statement, Inuyasha knew that she, too, recognized and acknowledged his debt of honor to her. Not without grave reason would he betray her trust now.
"You knew my father?"
"He had dealings with my kin in these lands. Of him I heard nothing but nobility and fairness and generosity." Megumi paused. "With humans as well as youkai."
Inuyasha grunted and shrugged, idly tracing Tessaiga's sheath at his hip. "Yeah, whatever. He's dead now."
"So he is. And what brings one of his children to this place, in such unusual company?"
Inuyasha snorted. "Like you said, bitch, someone'd have to be really stupid to believe our story."
A corner of her mouth quirked in a smile. "That strange girl bears the Shikon no Tama."
"Kagome," muttered Inuyasha, absent-mindedly. Kami knew the girl had taken great pains to drill her name into his head. "It's broken though."
"And here you seek its pieces."
Kagome should've known better than to talk about the shards at the riverbank, when a youkai, with a youkai's sharp hearing, was so close by. "Yeah, we heard this was youkai paradise all of a sudden, so we figured something was up."
Megumi frowned. "The youkai began appearing several months ago. Before then, we hadn't had so much trouble with them in centuries. I've had to relearn skills that my mother's mother last used."
Inuyasha said nothing, wordlessly noted the undercurrent of worry in the youkai woman's voice. Megumi was not much older than him, he realized now, perhaps even younger than that blasted half-brother of his, who at his age was just coming into the fullness of his power. As she stood not far from him, Megumi's youki was strong and pure; she seemed proudly confident in her power and in the authority with which she wielded it in her rightful territory.
Every youkai had his own ki, and each particular blend of energies manifested itself in unique ways to those who could sense it. To Inuyasha, Megumi's youki as it radiated from her was warm, rich, and heady, like rose petals. The magic that preserved and protected the han and its castle was ancient, had been continually strengthened over the ages; but what struck Inuyasha now was that the energy surging in the fiercely defensive barriers sang most clearly of roses and summer, burned with thickly scented richness—belonged almost exclusively to this kitsune onna.
With new curiosity, he watched Megumi out the corner of his eye.
"You're the only one left, aren't you." It was not a question, and Inuyasha was deliberately blunt.
He got his answer. Color sprang into the kitsune onna's cheeks, she drew herself to her full, formidable height, considerably taller than him; her eyes, flaring with sudden wariness, flicked toward him imperiously.
"I am of the house of Takani. We have been the guardians of these lands for centuries without count. We will remain for centuries yet, Inuyasha-sama."
Kitsune youkai were legendary for their supernatural beauty. Inuyasha had known a few of them in his life and could not possibly deny that the legends were indeed true—but Megumi, standing tall and proud and cold in the honeyed moonlight, her skin softly glowing and her face exquisite in its delicately outlined features, put all his memories to shame.
Inuyasha stared back without flinching, despite the energy he could feel gathering around them. Bright amber met burning cinnamon.
She hid it well, this painfully beautiful creature, but she was afraid, so very afraid.
Beneath the haughty exterior and careful strength, for all her power and knowledge, this young kitsune youkai was full of uncertainty.
Inuyasha's harsh words finally broke the stillness.
"Feh. Quit showin' off." You don't fool me, he almost added, but snatched back the words before they burned into her pride. Megumi continued to watch him in stony silence.
After a moment's hesitation, he nodded once, still meeting her gaze head on but deliberately flattening back his ears in a show of deference. "I may be a hanyou, but I know when it's somebody else's turf."
For just a moment longer her distant gaze lingered on him; but then she relaxed, softened the proud lines of her body, permitted herself a small, open smile. She looked away. "Hanyou or not, you are welcome in our domain, Inuyasha-sama. Please"—she bowed slightly—"rest easy tonight. You and your friends have a long day tomorrow."
"Keh! Our kind is much stronger than any of those pathetic humans and you know it." Inuyasha glanced at her irritably. "And stop calling me that, bitch."
Megumi's ears twitched. "Inuyasha-sam—"
"That's enough," growled Inuyasha.
She hid her amused smile behind her sleeve. "Oh, but that would hardly be appropriate. You are, after all, the second son of one of the greatest tai-youkai in recent memory, Inuyasha-sa—"
But he had already left, snapping at her something incoherent and annoyed over his shoulder as he leaped off the balcony rail into the cover of the trees. Barely disrupting the night wind that rushed among the boughs, Inuyasha bounded from one to the other deeper into the foliage, sensing behind him, fading with the growing distance, the kitsune youkai's quiet amusement.
On the ledge of the open window to the room Sango, Shippou, and Kagome shared, Kirara dozed quietly in her kitten form. As Inuyasha soundlessly leaped through the window, the nekomata examined him with one large, fiery eye before calmly closing it and going back to sleep.
With the haze of protection blanketing the castle, even the taijiya, it seemed, had let down her guard enough to fall deeply asleep. Kagome, almost smiling, lay sprawled across her futon as though she were reveling in the feel of it beneath her body. She rarely got to sleep on a real futon when they were on their shard hunts.
She was so pretty like that, her black hair spread all over her pillow, cheeks still faintly pink from the scrubbing she must have had in the bath, that Inuyasha couldn't help but stoop over her, drawing a deep breath of her scent, careful not to wake her or Shippou tucked under her arm.
Her constant whining about baths tended to grate on his nerves, but he had to admit there was nothing quite like the smell of freshly washed Kagome.
Yes, Miroku was going to have their room all to himself tonight.
Inuyasha-sama. "Keh," said Inuyasha under his breath as he settled into the corner near the open window, sitting up against the wall in his customary position and letting his thoughts wander, feeling sleep start to encroach on his senses.
From what he had seen, the castle was a huge and solidly built structure, many storeys high, the great halls lofty and dark and smelling faintly of oiled wood. It was perhaps not so old in youkai years, but by human count, it was an excellently preserved relic. No doubt the dozens of well-trained servants were instrumental in this.
As he drifted off to sleep, Inuyasha remembered the sumptuous food that had been served, the glow in Kagome's eyes as she had marveled at the taste, the presentation, the impeccable courtesy and elegance with which everything was served. She had been thoroughly delighted at the idea of having a bath as well, and for once, not out in the open either, where lecherous young ex-monks could too easily find a vantage point. Inuyasha had openly ridiculed her for her enthuastically exclaiming over the stupidest little things, like stupid little porcelain animal figures serving as chopstick rests, and stupid little flowers in the stupid bathwater...
...but now he couldn't help but breathe deeply of the fresh, flowery smell that Kagome's still-warm skin gave off in waves, couldn't help but remember the happy curve of her lips as she snuggled deeper into her thick blankets.
He thought of so many nights spent on the rough, cold ground, Kagome edging her bedroll as close to the fire as possible without setting it alight, mentioning the chill when he asked her why. Kagome frowning in concentration as she gutted and cleaned the fish he had caught for dinner. Kagome surreptitiously holding herself apart from him when he carried her on his back, and shyly confessing that she didn't want him to smell her after having gone so long without a decent bath.
"Inuyasha-sama, son of the Inu no Taishou... one of the greatest tai-youkai in recent memory..."
Kuso kitsune, growled Inuyasha to himself. Firmly shutting off his wandering thoughts, he closed his eyes and gave in to a fitful sleep.
tsuzuku
A/N. Very sorry for the slow update rate. Am still trying to figure out where my muse is taking me with this. Reviews and tactful, constructive would be much appreciated and would help speed up the updates! (Assuming you want updates, that is. Eep!)