Lessons Learned

Author Shortey 83

Chapter 7 – Yolheimin

Disclaimer: : I do NOT own InuYasha or Skyrim! I only borrow ideas because trying to drill them out of my head with power tools doesn't work! ^.^

Story Start:

The next day, Takara was awake at her usual time and out and about with her daily chores despite only getting a few hours of sleep. Honestly, she was exhausted. "It's your own fault that you stayed up so late." InuYasha reminded her as she expected him to while he lazed on a branch of a tree watching other people work. "Why don't you come down and help me then?" She asked as she threw an acorn at him. "Nah" he yawned, making her follow suit. "It's too much work getting down." Takara narrowed her blue eyes at the half demon, scheming. She thought for a moment before she looked over to Kagome who was pulling weeds and then to Kaos who was lounging a few feet away from Sesshomaru, who sat in the shade of the tree.

She grinned. "Kaos" she called her lazy companion "come here" Above her, InuYasha huffed. "You think that dog is going to get me down?" Takara didn't mind him as she petted her dog's head and turned it towards Kagome. "Give her the kisses." She told him. The dog did as she instructed and trotted over to Kagome and proceeded to lick her in the face, making her laugh. "Knock it off, Kaos." She told him, but he didn't stop. "Good boy, Kaos. Give her the kisses." Takara praised him and he continued to lick Kagome's face. "Down Kaos" she scolded him. "Sit boy." As soon as the words left her mouth, InuYasha came crashing to the ground. "Fancy meeting you here, InuYasha!" she giggled "Do you come here often?" Lifting his head out of the dirt, he growled at her "Takara…" That only made her laugh until Kaos made his way over to her and put her on the receiving end of "The kisses".

"No thank you," she told him turning her head away. "I no like the doggy kisses" He stopped but whined, putting a paw on her lap as he leaned in again. "No Kaos, I no like doggy kisses" She had come prepared though, bringing with her the newest weapon in "the kisses" defense arsenal. "Rin!" she called to the little girl who was happily playing with some flowers. "Kaos wants his…" she didn't even finish as Rin squealed in excitement and ran to pick up Kaos' ball and throwing stick. That worked like a charm every time. In no time, Kaos was sprinting off to play with the girl.

"That was mean, Takara" Kagome said as she continued to pull weeds. "True," Takara agreed with a laugh "But it was both clever and effective, so that makes it alright." She then threw an empty basket to the irritated half demon. "I assume you know which ones are weeds and which ones aren't right?" He glared at her for a few more minutes before he began pulling weeds angrily. He was mad, but not for long…

Giving a wink to a curious Kagome, Takara eyed the half demon with her most promiscuous glance and held it until he went to glare at her again. He looked at her surprised for a moment before he glanced behind him to see if she was really looking at him. Once he figured out that she was, he began to squirm under her gaze. "I like the way you pull those weeds, InuYasha." She flirted with him, while Kagome tried her hardest to contain her laughter. InuYasha on the other hand had begun to look rather uncomfortable and moved farther down the field from Takara. "Don't be that way InuYasha! It's ok. We can be in love. Kagome said she would share." With that, InuYasha turned bright red and quickly fled the field as Kagome's laughter boiled over.

Falling over into a fit of giggles, she was turning red from lack of air. "So," Takara looked to her "What are you going to do when you're both home tonight and he asks if you would really share him?" Kagome wiped the tears out of her eyes as her laughter finally calmed. "I'm going to tell him that I would only ever share him with you and that'll you'll be over in a few minutes." Takara starred at her this time before they both fell over in a fit of laughter.

As she finally pulled herself together, Takara felt Sesshomaru's eyes on her, and he was giving her a light glare. She blinked at him a few times before she gave him a wink. "Don't worry, Sesshomaru. I still love your fluffy more than I love InuYasha." This only made him glare at her more. "If you would just let me, I would snuggle with it all the time. We could be very happy together. The fluffy and I." She giggled. "You shouldn't get in the way of our adoration." Kagome snickered again, trying to contain her laughter. "Takara, please stop. You're gonna make me wet myself from laughing too hard."

Takara gave her the best mortified look she could manage. "You think his keeping us apart is funny? I'm distraught!" She turned back to Sesshomaru, and placed a hand over her heart. "Don't you dare deny that there is something magical between us!" Kagome was rolling again as Sesshomaru stood up to leave like his younger brother, except he just seemed annoyed. "Don't take my love away from me! Sesshomaru come back, please! Fluffy! Don't worry my love! I shall find a way to reunite us!" It wasn't too much longer before Kagome stood and left too in a hurry, only she was about to fall over in laughter. Takara glanced behind her where Kaede was giving her a questioning look. "This is what happens when I don't get enough sleep." Takara shrugged and went back to pulling weeds for a bit before her eyelids were becoming too heavy.

She made her way out to the field where Rin was playing with Kaos and placed her bag under the shade of a tree and used it as a pillow before she began to nod off to the sounds of Rin and Kaos playing. Right before she fell asleep, she heard them approach and as Rin used Takara as a pillow, Takara moved her bag and used Kaos as a pillow as they all settled down for a nap under the tree.

It couldn't have been too much later when the sounds of horses woke her up. It must have woken Rin up as well since the weight of the little girl's head lifted from her side. "Who is it, Rin?" Takara asked yawning and stretching from her nap like a cat. "I don't know but they look important." That got her attention and Takara finally sat up and looked down into the village. It seemed as if a lord or a person of some importance had made a grand entrance into the village. "I guess we should go and see what that's all about."

Standing, Takara brushed off the bits of grass off of her kimono and righted it from where it had loosened in her sleep. Taking Rin's hand the two of them walked down the hill into the village past several of the soldiers until they reached InuYasha and Kagome where her suspicions were confirmed. It seemed as if one of the local lords needed assistance. He had to be in his thirties or forties- not a young lord but he wasn't terribly old either. His dark hair had a few strands of grey here and there as did his mustache.

"The reason I am here," he continued, answering InuYasha "Was because word has reached me of one in your village who has the ability to slay a dragon. Currently there is one that is on a rampage near my village." He adjusted himself on his horse. "I have sent several warriors to slay the beast and they have all been slain themselves. If the person in the village is able to stop the dragon's rampage, I shall ensure that they are rewarded handsomely." His voice grated on Takara's nerves. Something about the guy rubbed her the wrong way.

InuYasha, to her surprise, turned to her. "What do you say, Takara?" he asked "You up for this?" She really didn't want to tack on more years to her already extended life, but she couldn't let this dragon continue to torment innocent people. She turned to the lord who was looking at her in disbelief mixed with something that she couldn't quite put her finger on. "I just have to stop it from attacking the village right?" she asked him "I don't have to kill it unless I need to?" The lord seemed to flounder for an answer before he finally turned back to InuYasha, his face red and two of his soldiers stepped closer to Takara.

"You take me for a fool, demon!?" he exclaimed at InuYasha. "You expect me to ask a woman for help?! She is beautiful, so she may be of some use in my chambers, but I need a warrior, not some woman!" As he finished speaking, one of the soldiers reached for her and Takara reacted. "FUS RO DAH" as she Shouted, the two men went flying back and the lord's horse reared, dropping the man on his ass. Takara just looked to InuYasha, "I guess he doesn't want my help." She began to drag Rin away when the irritating voice stopped her. "Wait girl! Perhaps you can be of some use to me after all!" That did it. She spun on her heel and looked at the lord who was making his way to his feet before she spoke unfamiliar words that made the Earth tremble as she spoke them. "Hio loan vahzah suleyk, Mey? Zu'u Vulombrii. Zu'u mul ahrk hiu dahmaan tol!"

She glared at the terrified man who starred at her before he fell to his knees and bowed to her. "Forgive me! Please help my village." He begged and Takara rolled her eyes. "You don't have to beg. All you have to do is ask and don't insult me." She motioned InuYasha over, away from the crowd and he followed. "I really don't want to help this jerk out, but it's his people who are suffering, not him." InuYasha nodded. "So you'll help then?" Takara sighed but nodded. "Let me get my bow and arrows"

Only a few minutes late, Takara was on Kaede's horse and on her way to the lords village with InuYasha and Kagome walking beside her. "So what did you say back there?" Kagome asked. Takara grinned down at her. "I was being dramatic. I said "You question true power, Fool. I am Vulombrii. I am strong and you remember that"" InuYasha laughed. "I was even pretty impressed with that. The look on his face was priceless." Takara shrugged.

The walk to the village took well over half a day, but as they drew closer and closer, Takara could see the damage done to the surrounding forest where trees had been snapped in half and bushes trampled. As the lord, Isamu as they learned his name was, spoke with one of them men in the village they learned that the beast had yet to attack it since the previous day. "Then let's let it come to us." Takara said before she took out her bow and arrows and sat down on a fallen tree to wait for the thing. InuYasha sat beside her while Kagome spoke with the locals to see if there were any patterns to the thing's attacks. It seemed that it attacked almost every day, trampling everything in its path but it didn't seem to go after anyone, just anything that happened to be unlucky enough to get in its path. It was nearly sun set when they finally heard a roar not too far away from their present location.

The people of the village began to panic and Kagome hurried them away from the forest's edge. InuYasha and Takara waited and listened along with several of the Isamu's soldiers who just so happened to end up behind the walls to his small castle. "Coward…" Takara grumbled as the thundering of the dragon grew closer along with the snapping of tree trunks. "I'm back" Kagome announced, drawing her own bow and arrow. "All the villagers know to avoid the dragon by now, so they are ready to run if they need to." Takara nodded and loaded an arrow on her bowstring. The sounds of snapping quieted for a moment and all that was heard were the dragons low growls.

Aiming in the direction that the growls were coming from, Takara went to pull the bowstring back, only to realize it wouldn't budge. Before she could tell everyone that the dragon meant no harm, one of the soldiers fired an arrow into the trees. "Don't attack!" Takara instructed. Knowing that she knew what she was talking about, both Kagome and InuYasha sheathed their weapons, but the soldiers continued to fire. An ear shattering roar echoed through the village before a deep red shape burst through the trees, fire erupting from its mouth as it headed right towards the group. InuYasha grabbed Kagome to move her out of the creature's path, but Takara was left standing before it as it charged towards her. She heard Kagome call her name, but was too focused on the dragon to move. Something about the creature was off. It was slamming its shoulder into every tree and building it passed along with the claw on the same limb. It seemed to be hurt.

Then an arm was around her waist as she was pulled back into something solid and lifted out of the creature's path and into the air. She looked down to see an arm covered in a white kimono wrapped around her waist. She looked over her shoulder to see Sesshomaru's face and he didn't seem happy. "Are you trying to get yourself killed, woman?" She was about to fire back with a smart remark when she caught a glimpse of something above the trees. "Not exactly" she answered, not paying him too much attention. "Do you think you could get a little higher?" The look he gave her told her that he wasn't thrilled to be listening to her, but she did as she asked and flew higher with her, giving her an uninterrupted view of the tree tops. To her surprise, there was a long path worn into the forest where the dragon had been trampling through. According to Sahloknir, dragons were able to move through trees with magic that didn't disturb the forest in the slightest if they focused. Something was keeping this dragon from focusing.

Takara glanced back down at the dragon and from this angle she could see what the problem was. "Put me down, Sesshomaru!" she told him. "I figured out why its mad." Looking over her shoulder, Sesshomaru's face had returned to its typical emotionless state, but he quickly descended.

Once she was on solid ground she turned to the angry beast and spoke. "Zu fen govey fin tuz." The red serpent stopped in its tracks and whipped its head to her. "Zu hind hio kos aan fahdon" it spoke to her and she nodded and slowly approached. Up close, she could see the cause of its pain. A sword was lodged in its shoulder, underneath several of its ruby scales. "I can't reach you." She told it gently and it slowly lowered down to where she could grasp the hilt of the sword. "Get ready" she told it gently and it tightly grasped a fallen tree in its claw, and Takara felt the sword twitch as the muscles contracted. "Relax or I can't pull it out. You're too tense." She rubbed her hand over the smooth scales around the wound and a deep rumbling exhale came from the creature. As he went to let out another breath, Takara yanked as hard as she could on the sword, pulling it free from the dragon's scaly hide. Tearing the sleeve of her kimono, Takara put it against the bleeding wound and applied pressure to stop the breathing. The tenseness in the beautiful creature seemed to melt away as a growl of pain faded into a soft purr.

It swung its head around to her and inhaled deeply. "You are kind small one. That sword has pained me for many weeks." Takara smiled at the big creature as it nuzzled her like a very big and scaly kitten as it purred. Takara placed a hand on its muzzle, feeling that the scales on its head were even smoother than the ones on its body, feeling much like a polished stone. Like Sahloknir, he was warm to the touch. He twisted his serpentine frame around and held out his claw to here where another item was wedged between two of his claws only this time they had broken through the smaller, more delicate scales. Gripping what was left of the blade, Takara held tightly as the dragon pulled free from the sword, like removing a bee's stinger from its skin.

"Thank you, Dovahkiin" he purred, rubbing his injured knuckle with his other claw. "I'm afraid the pain of those small blades blinded me with rage. Forgive me. I am called Yolheimin." Takara thought for a minute, trying to break up his name into the dragon speech to figure out its meaning as InuYasha and Kagome approached slowly and Yolheimin eyed them warily. "They mean you no harm." Takara assured the fire dragon as they drew even closer. Sesshomaru too had ended up at her side at some point but she hadn't realized when that was.

"Krosis" he apologized "A thousand pardons, Dovahkiin. I meant no insult to him Grah- Zeymahzin, your allies. After these past few weeks, I have found myself even more distrustful of joorre, mortals." Yolheimin turned his head and hissed as Isamu came closer, but halted. "You said you would kill it!" he exclaimed, hiding behind his soldiers. "I said no such thing" Takara yelled as Yolheimin whipped his head to her. "You said all I needed to do was to stop him from trampling the village and I have." Yolheimin then turned his head slowly back to Isamu, a deadly growl rumbling in his chest. "Had you not attacked my cave and cause me harm and much pain, I would have left your dwelling alone, Mey."

It was InuYasha who spoke up next. "So why did you attack him?" Isamu's face turned red in both anger and embarrassment at being exposed as the cause of his village's destruction. "Because he refused to forge a sword worthy of me!" The great beast finally rose to his feet as he starred down the pathetic lord, his growling increasing in volume, but Takara placed a hand on his forelimb. "Drem" she told him before looking back to Isamu. "What kind of sword do you think is worthy of you?" she asked. "A sword of dragon bones. Legends say that it is stronger than the toughest metal and can be sharpened better than any blade!"

Takara nodded, and picked up her bow and arrows before approaching the lord. She held out a single arrow to him. "This arrow is made of dragon bone. See if you are able to hold it." Isamu held out his hands, giving Takara a confident and offended look. She opened her hand and dropped the arrow. As soon as it touched Isamu's hands it seemed to pull him to the ground. Looking confused, the pitiful lord tried to lift the arrow, but couldn't making Yolheimin laugh. "You see, joor. This is why I would not heim hio aan tuz… forge you a blade." He chuckled a moment more before he continued. "You see, one must possess a Dovah sil, dragon soul in order to wield a weapon made from Dovah Qeth, dragon bone."

Yolheimin then turned to Takara. "I will leave now with the hopes that this mey never sends any more of his minions to my home." The turned to growl at Isamu who watched in amazement as Takara picked up the arrow he was attempting to hold and placed it back in her quiver. "I thank you for your help…?" he waited and Takara laughed. "Krosis, I have yet to ask your name, Dovahkiin." "My name is Takara, but one of your kind gave me the name Vulombrii."

As she approached Yolheimin, he purred again. "It is a good name for you." With a final pat to his snout, Yolheimin turned to leave, heading back into the forest. "Should you ever need me or my skill, you need only Shout, Vulombrii. I will come if I can." With that, Takara watched in amazement as his ruby scales seemed to fade away as he literally disappeared into the forest without disturbing it.

"Excuse me, my lady" one of the villagers called to her. "We are truly grateful that you have resolved the dragon issue for us. Is there any way we could repay you? Judging from the look of Isamu, she highly doubted he would pay her as he had promised, but she still intended to hold him to his word. "While your lord owes me a debt, the only payment I ask of you villagers is to make a small offering to Yolheimin once a month as an apology for disturbing his home." The old man eagerly agreed to that and decided that a monthly offering of deer, goat, or boar would be offered up to the dragon.

Takara then turned to Isamu, "For now, let's just say you owe me. I may collect on that at a later time. Without another glance to him, Takara found Kaede's horse and mounted it. "I'm ready for another nap" Takara yawned to InuYasha and Kagome who laughed and followed her out of the village and back home. She laughed at that. Calling the village home just made the hopelessness of her situation sink in. She looked around for Sesshomaru who had disappeared as suddenly as he had appeared. She was loathe to do it, but the next time she saw him, she needed to thank him for saving her.