A/N: just like I promised: the new chapter. Enjoy! I will answer to all of your questions tomorrow or the day after tomorrow (when my internet is somewhat decent), but in the meantime, enjoy the chapter.
Like always, thank you for all your comments! I appreciate them so much!
InuYasha does not belong to me, but to Rumiko Takahashi.
o.O.o
Chapter Thirty-four, White child
After all of the time she had spent in the past, it was surprisingly easy to navigate through Sengoku jidai. That was, once she finally learned how to track and understand to navigate herself through the dense foliages of which the old Japan mostly consisted. Chiharu curled her fingers tightly around the straps of her bow, quiver and rucksack on her sun stood high in the sky and a gentle breeze played with her long dark hair.
They made their way through the forest, treading down the winding, familiar path. Chiharu sighed, taking Kagome large, monstrous yellow pack when her sister's breathing turned laboured. They travelled long, Inuyasha wanting to make up for the time they'd lost and Chiharu's senses were jittered, to say the least. She kept expecting Sesshōmaru to appear out of nowhere, but so far she didn't sense him. She did not even sense his stalking presence at the edge of her senses.
She sighed.
The trees had grown thinner and the land rockier when a lead on Naruku had turned up and then passed several villages. The land became harsher and they had to rest in the shadow of the rocks. What had started as a chilly early autumn morning had quickly made way for a late summer day. With the sun pouring down at their backs, they moved a lot slower and when the sunlight touched the mountain-rims, the path broke open to a valley. Chiharu watched as the humans of their group scrambled down the slope, several times losing their footing and she was glad when they found themselves into one of the lush forests Old-Japan had to offer again thirty minutes later. They passed thick, already wilting, flower-clustered Gloriosa Daisy thick with the soft hum of bees. The grass was brownish, yet still knee-high and trailed past her bare ankles.
Inuyasha moved swiftly through the forest, prancing wildly through the trees and his silver hair flailed around his face. He was leading the group along the bank of a river going West. Ever since Kikyō died — because although no one said it, everyone knew she had in fact not survived — the Inu-Hanyō had been in an understandable horrible mood. Chiharu curled her fingers tightly around the straps of Kagome's yellow pack and frowned. The resurrected Miko was struck down by his poisonous tentacles and Inuyasha couldn't have done anything else but watch her fall down the angry slope of the mountain to her doom.
There was little to no chance Kikyō had survived Naraku's Miasma and Inuyasha—
Inuyasha was once again intent to find the ominous Spider Hanyō.
He had once again escaped, separating with his heart, bestowing it on some infant-like yōkai Chiharu had never seen before. The group of Shard-hunters didn't even have to pursue it, as he and Kagura came to collect Kagome. Inuyasha, being too busy with searching for Kikyō wasn't there and as a result, they had to fight the humans and the yōkai that came for them, all alone. Even thinking about it, Chiharu felt fresh guilt flood through her. Although it all had ended well, with Kagome being rescued and the fight being won, the mood between Inuyasha and Kagome remained strained.
The Infant, with Kagura's help, got away and the group of Shard hunters followed it across the Southern border. Yet, Naraku remained one step ahead of them and they only found the infant when it was split in half during a battle with a Hōshi, the Head Monk of the Temple of Mangan. With his dying breath, the Hōshi had managed to split the child-like yōkai with his spiritual powers but got killed in the process. When they found the child again, he had grown and now went by the name Hakudōshi (Inuyasha called him a pain).
Sweat was beginning to slide down the nape of her neck and settled between her collarbones. The afternoon air was hazy with humidity and the sun burned against her skin. Puffing her cheeks up and exhaling noisily she raked her hands through her frizzy hair. Humidity and long thick hair did not go well together. Except clinging to her neck, she thought it looked more like a dead animal on her head than anything else. With practised ease, she pushed it up in a messy top knot and quickened her pace.
A soft wind rustled through the greenish foliage above and she inhaled softly.
The sun was quickly losing his height and descending behind the mountains. The heat of the day still palpable but at least more bearable. Inhaling the clean scents of Sengoku-jidai, she ventured absentmindedly under the canopy, slightly away from her friends.
Smiling wistfully, she traced her fingers past the rough bark of a tree and listened to soft sounds of water trickling, animals busying themselves around and the soft rustling of the wind. In the distance creatures, doe's and cows were grazing and she wondered briefly why they didn't move away when she neared but pushed that thought away again. They were under the shade of the trees after all, and she rolled her shoulders when she felt cool air caress her skin. A lake, completely in the shadows of the mountain winked invitingly at her.
How nice it would be to take a dip.
It would be—
She stilled. The birds had stilled so had the other wildlife. Suddenly a silence both unnatural and horrifyingly heavy fell upon her and she felt her fingers curl around the feathered end of one of her arrows. She knew something was coming and she stared around. A strong disturbing metallic scent suddenly wafted into the clearing and she quickly turned around, leaving the lake for what it was and followed the thick scent of blood.
It was a village. Corpses littered the floor and the huts of the village were on fire. Like usual the view was horrifying.
Her friends were already there. Inuyasha standing in front of the others; Tetsusaige transformed. Mirōku peered around worriedly, his left hand grasping at the beads around his cursed hand. Shippō was quivering, jumping away from Mirōku's shoulder and regained his usual perch atop Kagome's shoulder, she too held her weapon beneath a white-knuckled grasp. Sango, on the other hand, frowned, her head cocked to the side as if she was assessing the situation, yet, her hand had tightened around the strap of Hiraikotsu.
"Chiharu-chan!"
Chiharu nodded at her older sister. The sky had darkened with large hybrid bat-bird-like creatures, while two yōkai were circling above the roofs of the huts. A female with long dark hair, red eyes and a sadistic smirk was wielding a trident, send fire to the huts while her abominations shot down and used their pointy beaks to sever arteries and veins to drink their blood.
It was gruesome. Chiharu felt her face blanch and she pressed a trembling hand to her stomach before shaking herself out of her reverie and dodged one of the birds, twirled on her heels and used her bow to create a purifying shield, effectively catching the yōkai mid-flight. The human child it had followed fell to all fours, letting out a soft cry as his hands scraped across the pebbles, but at least he was safe.
Kagome released one of her arrows, cutting through the air before it lodged into the yōkai's stomach and started to purify it. The creature screeched loudly. The woman, her eyes cold and predatory sent a fiery breath towards Kagome and Inuyasha intercepted it before swinging the Tetsusaiga at her. Her capability to fly brought them in somewhat of a disadvantage and as she dodged and the Hanyō crashed into one of the relatively stable huts, disappearing in a cloud of dust and smoke.
Chiharu felt a muscle in her cheek strain and she notched an arrow firmly onto her bow and sent it to the female yōkai. She noticed it coming her way before it had reached her well enough and managed to dodge the flying projectile.
"You little—" she started angrily and Chiharu glared.
"Chiharu-sama!"
Mirōku's voice was the only warning she got before something hard and heavy slammed against her right shoulder. She fell hard, but the youki in her system did numb most forms of pain through battle and she quickly rolled over, staring up at a child. He was pale, with silver-white hair framing chubby cheeks and large lavender eyes. If it wasn't for the feral expression and Naraku's scent coming off him, she would have thought him a normal yōkai child.
"Hello there," he smiled almost serenely, holding a long naginata poised in front of him, "little girl."
"Inuyasha!" Kagome's voice hollered and Chiharu quickly got to her feet, her hand hovered anxiously above the hilt of her katana. She ignored her older sister's pleas to move away and stared the child down.
"Who are you?"
He smiled again. "The discarded white child of Naraku, I'm Hakudōshi."
She felt her eyes widen in understanding. This was the yōkai-child Inuyasha called a pain. The boy who had travelled through the land, cutting off yōkai heads and killing human Hōshi's.
"Get away from her, you little bastard!" Inuyasha snarled, "Kaze no Kizu!"
Chiharu yelped, only just dodging the blast of energy and shot a murderous expression at the red-clad Hanyō before landing on the roof of a hut. Inuyasha's favoured attack had little effect on the child and he smirked at them with malice-filled eyes, a luminescent kekkai formed around him.
"Nice try, Inuyasha,"
The woman, now only a few feet away from her, looked her up and down appreciatively and cocked her head. "Her?"
"That's her," the child chuckled and Chiharu frowned, not all that comfortable as both yōkai were now circling her. Seeing their closeness she carefully drew her sword and cursed under her breath. She wasn't exactly stellar in hand-to-hand combat.
"A child," the woman decided and Chiharu felt her cheeks flush. Turning to face her she glared.
"I'm not a child."
She noticed too late the mass of writhing flesh shooting towards her. Tentacles, probably part of Naraku's body flailed at her and she slipped from the roof, crashing against a large boulder, hissing when she heard her pelvis one groan and landed harshly on her right hip. The fire-woman laughed launching an attack and she only just blocked the trident with the blade of her katana.
"No," the woman decided, "you're a foolish child."
The feel of youki pooled in her stomach, as if someone trailed cold fingers along her spine and she shuddered before using the inhuman strength to propel herself into the air, away from the two yōkai who looked a bit too interested in her. The yōkai load had doubled and now not only the bird-bats, but also Naraku's yōkai had joined the fight. From the other side of the clearing, surrounded by high pine trees, Kagome was helping the humans left alive evacuate, while Sango and Mirōku flanked her keeping the yōkai at bay.
Chiharu tried to steer and manipulate her youki to land beside Inuyasha, swinging Tetsusaiga around frantically, but a dark presence hurling toward her made her change course. She landed painfully on her feet barely dodging the woman's trident, but couldn't dodge the child-yōkai's naginata. It sliced down her arm and her hip, almost getting lodged in her pelvis bone.
She shrieked, blindly swinging her own katana at Hakudōshi only to have it bounce off against his kekkai. Reiki coursed down her arm and up through the fang. It sizzled with a combination of holy and acidic power and the shimmer of his shield was flickering ominously.
'Just a little bit more…'
The child lavender eyes widened and she pushed as much of her energy she could muster into her weapon. Hakudōshi moved away from her as if burned — he probably literally was — and she leaned against the wooden wall of one of the huts.
"You little—" he hissed, spinning his weapon above his head, but whatever attack he wanted to launch never came.
"Hiraikotsu!"
Sango's cry filled the air as her weapon hurled through the horde of yōkai surrounding her and slammed into Hakudōshi's Kekkai; pushing him off the trail. Chiharu breathed out thankfully, using her enemies' preoccupation to fall back, staggering away as warm blood ran down her side. Even with the Tetsusaiga at their side, they were largely outnumbered with their enemies. As large wasps emerged, buzzing angrily, Inuyasha punched the Hōshi back. Mirōku's left hand was tightly curled around his right wrist, but with the sheer amount of insects in the sky, he seemed to see sense.
Chiharu dodged a loose tentacle, barely missing her shoulder and she jumped for the cover of the trees. Sango had once explained that fighting in a clearing wasn't wise. She also told her fighting from trees wasn't wise either but it was the preferable option right now. At the sound of her enemies pursuing she quickened her pace. Blood was pulsing strongly from the large gash at her side. Her sandals and hakama were already soaked and she pressed a trembling hand against the ripped flesh. She weaved a frantic path, slipping on her slippers, past the clustered burning huts. She heard the Naginata whistled through the air and she stumbled against a tree and slid down a slope of hard, cold stone, slamming hard against a sharp-edged boulder.
It sent her nerves aflame with pain as the stone dug into the gash at her side and added to the injury. Drawing herself up — as there was no time to dally — she jerked her bow from her back and wedged the katana into the ground, Chiharu sat back on her haunches and aimed an arrow. The fiery woman — Princes Abi — as she just called herself when she'd realised Kagome was helping the humans escape, appeared through the foliage and narrowed her eyes at the drawn arrow.
"That won't work, doll-face," she told her coldly, smiling condescendingly. The shimmering purple of the kekkai was visible around her, but Chiharu was determined. She would protect the Shikon shards
"You would be surprised,"
The arrow shot away from her bowstring in a flash of bright blue light and broke through the shimmering kekkai with an angry snap. The dark orange sky coloured briefly into a pale blue luminescence and the woman howled in fury, parts of her arm and side scalding under the pure reiki onslaught.
"A Miko," she hissed, her eyes locking on hers.
"Ain't that right!" Chiharu hissed.
She couldn't help the pleased smile that briefly overtook her face. Princess Abi descended quickly in the air, out of her reach and Chiharu used her retreat to move towards her friends. She was too exposed alone. Hakudōshi's sudden appearance before her wasn't surprising, but it was unwelcome all the same. This time she dodged the boy's naginata, but she did not dodge the Ofuda he threw.
She screamed when the magic in the seal scorching her skin and surged against her youki, sapping at her energy. The gash at her side burning and tingled angrily before the slightly stemmed blood flow started afresh and she felt a surge of dizziness flash through her.
"What the—"
She had to sit back and close her eyes for a moment when the world started to sin. The pain quickly faded in an angry throb, which she normally wouldn't describe as all that great, but the gash had stopped in the middle of the healing process and blood was running thickly. Trying to keep her breathing stable, she curled her fingers into her knees.
Hakudōshi was circling around her, smiling deviously, before descending down to the earth. Whatever he wanted from her, but she scrambled to her feet and staggered away. Her heartbeat was a strong and persistent deep hammer-thud, resonating through her ears. The saimyōshō buzzed angrily around them and Chiharu started to feel more and more lightheaded.
She glared up at the boy. He had a self-satisfied smile on his face and his weapon was trained upon her, but he had yet to strike again. At first, she didn't understand what was stopping him, but then a strong, heavy aura wrapped around her. Her breath was momentarily taken from her lungs and her face lost what little colour it still had.
With a tremendous effort, she heaved herself up on her arms and knees and sought his familiar figure out. He stood next to the dark outline of a tree, eyes gleaming in the dying light of the sun.
Amber eyes met hers across the distance and the muscles of her shoulder-blades locked together. His eyes swept over her fallen form, lingered on the large gash at her side that was not yet healing properly and glared at Hakudōshi.
"Sesshōmaru?"
"You're a bit too early, Sesshōmaru-sama," Hakudōshi's announced gleefully.
Chiharu didn't agree. From her point of view, he was exactly on time. She'd managed to create a small kekkai around her, her reiki sizzling with exhaustion and watched him take in the scene and his nostrils flared. He was not amused. The woman, Princess Abi, had disappeared. The bird-yōkai and their master had practically vanished the moment Sesshōmaru arrived.
Chiharu could see why. She stared at the lethal Daiyōkai with tired eyes but even she immediately noticed the aura around him. It flared like as if someone struck a match and she took a big gulp of air, pressing herself against the rough bark of a tree. She wasn't feeling all that well. Blood was running thick and sticky down her side, colouring the sandy ground a deep scarlet. With trembling hands she pulled a long string of gauze free and wrapped it tightly around her side, hoping to at least slow the bleeding. The kekkai around her flickered from her exhaustion, but Hakudōshi was too busy now. With the arrival of Sesshōmaru, the child-yōkai had summoned another horde of yōkai. She recognised his retreat-strategy and watched through bleary eyes as Sesshōmaru gracefully fought. The acidic gas, coming from his fingertips ate away at Naraku's yōkai while he launched a series of complicated attacks on Hakudōshi's kekkai.
She'd always admired his fighting style. How could one not?
Despite the gore splattering and flailing around him, his white haori was still pristine. He was graceful, even in the never-ending combat and although the number of yōkai did not diminish in the slightest, he didn't show any signs of tiring. Not even an Ofuda, stuck to his side, did little more than annoy him. Chiharu fought to mounting exhaustion the best she could, but the blood-loss combined with the fatigue from the magical seal on her side robbed her of almost all of her energy. Her vision disappeared before she'd hit the forest floor in a sea of blackness.
To be continued..
Leave a review! I love them^^
A bit more violent than I usually write (expect more violent and mature themes in the future though), but you might by now know me. I need to have a bit of tension between the Daiyōkai and Chiharu-chan. It's good for their growth :p
Next update: Friday/Saturday evening.