Chapter 10 – No!
Sesshoumaru was a bit shocked at what Chikara had said: "What do you mean 'Inuyasha is in danger'?"
She looked around, to see that they were surrounded by all the castle's healers. She didn't felt like having them hearing what she had to say; plus, it was none of their business. "Dear, could you send them away? I don't want them here" she whispered to the Lord.
Sesshoumaru understood. "Sure, anything for my mate." He cleared his voice and said out loud: "Now that she is fine, you have no more business here, healers. You may return to your families."
As they cleared the area, Chikara turned to face her husband: "I felt through my necklace's power that Inuyasha was in trouble."
Sesshoumaru frowned: "But you don't have your necklace" he said, pointing at her neck.
"I know. But with my powers, this pendant is connected to me. Normally on me, it doesn't have that kind of effect, but since I lend it to Takato to protect him when he was in Inuyasha's body, it's still protecting its bearer who is now Inuyasha."
She lifted her hand in the air: "Staff, come forth." Her moon and sun sceptre appeared in a cloud of white smoke; she tucked it at her red tissue belt. With her dark red eyes, she looked at Sesshoumaru.
He immediately understood her move: "And how do you intend to find him? The night has just started, and it's dark, you won't be able to find him with these conditions" he tried to reason her. "You don't have a great sense of smell, unlike I."
She sighed and looked down at Takato in Sesshoumaru's arm. She took the baby in her own and kissed him on the forehead. "Oh baby, I've missed you so much." She cuddled him and gave him back to the demon lord.
"Why are you giving him back?" Sesshoumaru asked, puzzled.
Chikara took off her outer layer of her kimono: "Because I'm going to get Inuyasha. I just have to follow the signal of my necklace and I'll find him." She turned away and spread her bat wings from her back.
"Stop! You can't go; you just came out of a terrible condition and you want to save the world? Give you some time to rest!" he said, but she didn't move. He waited and then added: "Chikara, you will stay here… it's an order from your lord." He didn't like to use his power as a Lord toward his mate, but this time, she had gone too far and she could get herself hurt again with her stubborn mind. He knew she only wanted to do good, but he didn't want to lose her.
She didn't even turned back to look at him, as she didn't want him to see her tears. With her Night form, she was more strong-headed than she was in the day, so she simply answered: "No!" she crouched to get air under her wings and flew away, "… I can't."
He had the urge to hit her and lock her away, but he knew that even that wouldn't stop her from going; she was too stubborn, so he yelled the loudest he could: "At least be careful… and that's an order too!"
She smiled, even though he couldn't see her from afar: "You got a deal" she shouted back.
Sesshoumaru sighed again, something he had done too much in the last days. He headed back to the castle, to inform Rin of the current situation, since she wanted to know about her adoptive mother's condition.
°°°
Chikara was flying over the lands for about an hour or two, always trying to feel from where Inuyasha was probably hiding, since he was in his human form. But, if her pendant had been activated, it meant that Inuyasha was badly wounded and his health was in danger.
In the night's silence, only the flapping if her skinned wings beating the wind could be heard from the height she was at. She sighed, thinking: 'Why did Inuyasha and his stubborn mind have to go tonight? I wasn't in danger; I would have survived another day… unlike him.' She tossed that idea from her mind to continue her search.
She knew that Sesshoumaru could had found him by scent, but it would have taken longer for him, since he didn't felt the call of the divine pendant that Inuyasha had in his possession. She also bet that the magic of her necklace had created an invisibility barrier, so the hanyou couldn't be seen and her husband wouldn't have been able to decipher it, thus unable to take it down and bring Inuyasha back to the castle.
After flying for a while, she felt the source of the power stronger in a vast field surrounded by a thick and old forest. She descended, from where she was, to touch the ground. Since she couldn't fly because of the tree branches, she retracted her wings and put back her outer kimono. She took her staff from her belt and used it as a detector to find the necklace; the nearer it would be, the stronger it would glow from the metal part shaped like the moon and the sun.
She started to walk, her senses and her sceptre guiding her.
Half an hour had passed and she was getting closer to Inuyasha, she could feel his aura in the region. She looked in the sky and even though the moon couldn't be seen by demons and humans; being the moon goddess, she could see it and tell that it was around midnight.
Suddenly, her staff went mad and glowed so much, that she was a bit blinded at first because of the contrast of darkness and light. She closed her eyes to catch a glimpse of the power emanating from the pendant; it was on her left.
She opened her eyes to look around. She saw nothing that looked unusual, because even to her, the shield created by the necklace was very hard to find once invisible. She noticed though, the rests of a demon; it must have been what hurt Inuyasha.
She looked around again. Alas, if she continued like that, she wouldn't find it until a long time; she tapped her staff two times on the forest floor. "Sun, Moon, show me the way to my precious pendant" she said out loud.
She looked at her left, where she had felt the power coming from; a large sphere of energy could now be seen at the foot of an old tree. She rapidly approached it, but she was unhappy to see that Inuyasha wasn't there. 'Where is he?' she thought, anxious. She damned her poor sense of vision in the dark and her useless nose. But she had an idea; she tapped again her staff on the ground: "Light" she asked.
Now with the surrounding enlightened, she could see clearly that the tree's old roots were sticking out of the ground, creating deep holes and she discovered that it could make a great hiding place.
She kneeled down and bended over the holes; she approached her staff over one of them, alas, Inuyasha wasn't in this one. She looked at other ones; at the fourth one, she saw a silver head with dog ears on top.
"Inuyasha?" she said to gain his attention.
He didn't budge. Bad news.
"Inuyasha!" she repeated and still no movement again.
She thought for a minute: "Okay… If you don't come out of your hiding place… I'll go get Sesshoumaru and I don't think he'll be happy to see that you're playing that kind of game with me." She waited, knowing that Inuyasha would never let his brother come, because he knows how the lord can be very impatient; plus, Inuyasha wasn't that childish, playing hide and seek was beyond his age now.
With the lack of response, Chikara decided that she would have to get him herself; she deposited her staff on the ground beside her, with the glowing metal part of it hovering over the entrance, she still had some light.
She bended half of her body inside and tried to reach Inuyasha, who seemed unconscious, but the hole was deep and her small stature couldn't reach him; so she decided to jump inside it.
She looked at Inuyasha and put a hand over her mouth; he looked so white and ill, it was horrible. Her determination becoming stronger, she pulled him over her shoulders with her body, and pushed him out of the hole. After he was outside, she jumped easily and got out herself.
After that, Chikara kneeled down and she pulled him again, but this time, she held him close to her. Taking a quick glance at what might have caused a state like that, she saw the biting marks of a snake on his right arm; they were small bites, and thankfully they had stopped bleeding, but the snake's poison must have rendered him unconscious.
She tried to wake him up from his sleep by shaking him, yet he didn't move. Due to her Night form's impatience, she slapped his cheek to see again if there would be a reaction. 'That surely will do it. If he doesn't wake after that, he's dead… '
He didn't react as much as she had expected, but he did wake up.
"Inuyasha, it's me little one" Chikara smiled.
Inuyasha's eyes seemed to look around but he didn't seem to be able to see anything as even though he looked at her, he didn't stopped staring. "Mo-mother?" he asked, with a childish voice Chikara had never him talk with.
She was surprised to hear him ask for his mother. She decided not to tell him who she was, in case it would trouble him. "Inuyasha, I'm here. You are in safe hands now. We're going back home and I'll take care of you."
"Mommy," he insisted to call her that, "I don't feel very well and I can't see you."
Chikara bit her lower lip; Inuyasha didn't seem to be conscious, it was like he was in a dream and he simply interacted with her. "Listen, Inuyasha. Don't worry, you'll be fine… Can you get up?"
A short moment passed before he answered: "No. I can't move even my hands."
Chikara sighed; she would have to bring him herself. "Great" she whispered.
She looked around, to see if anything in the area could be a danger; in the meanwhile, Inuyasha was slowly going back to his comatose state.
Chikara, noticing Inuyasha, immediately shook him again.
"Mommy, where's daddy?" he asked groggily. She was shocked at the question and didn't know what to answer him. "Huh… he's at the castle… why?"
"Oh nothing… really…" Inuyasha slumbered back into unconsciousness.
Seeing that he didn't wanted to continue, she shrugged at that.
The goddess put down Inuyasha who was still in her arms; she took off her outer kimono and tucked, the same way she had done before, her moon and sun sceptre. Unravelling her wings, she crouched near Inuyasha; she touched his forehead and it was rather warm for the temperature outside. She had to be back to castle fast, a fever was now endangering his life.
Chikara took Inuyasha's shoulders in one arm and his legs in her other arm. She got up and flexed her wings to warm the muscles.
Although she would never be as strong as Inuyasha and raise big boulders, she was still stronger than a male human. It would have been less exhaustive to bear Inuyasha on her back, but if she wanted to get to the castle the fastest way, she had to fly and she couldn't use her wings while having him on her back; so she was holding him bridal style.
She crouched, to gather up the biggest amount of air she could, before pushing with her legs and jumping in the air.
She flapped her wings to reach a rather high height, but no too much though, since Inuyasha had asked her to: "Mommy, I'm cold. Where are we now?"
"We are in the air; we're flying toward the castle and we'll be home in no time. Now go back to sleep, little one."
Inuyasha simply answered: "Okay, g'night."
Afterward, she tried to fly the fastest she could; with Inuyasha in her arms, she didn't risk flying full speed in case he'd fall down or she would drop him.
The lands at the bottom were moving very fast, as she fled to the castle, where her husband was patiently waiting for her.
"Come on, Inuyasha. Hang in there, we're getting closer."
°°°
She arrived, in the middle of the night, a bit out of breath, but fully determined to save Inuyasha.
Okay, another chapter Yay! If you want to see some pics that I made of this fic, go check on my profile page and there's a link. I have two other pics on the way so Yay again! Please review and thanks to petpeeves12 who always review I love ya!
