Crusade Against the Moon
Chapter Nine : The Honorable Young
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha nor the characters from the show.
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Taking this opportunity, Kagome aimed. Inuyasha stopped smoothly for her, so engrossed in their hunt that they didn't hear the steps marching around them.
The arrow whistled pass his ears, darting straight through the hare, his body falling dead on the beaten floor.
"Yes!" Kagome hollered in glee. Throwing her arms up in the air as Inuyasha tightened his hold on her.
There was a shout in the distance. Ears on alert, his golden eyes scanned the horizon. Just slightly beyond the trees, there were gray banners rising into the sky with a red swirling symbol painted at the top, trailing to the bottom with a couple more designs he recognized instantly.
Kagome felt him stiffen beneath her, so she leaned forward, pressing her body close in alarm. "What is it?"
"Soldiers," he hissed.
They froze, watching a samurai walk to the hare, shouting and motioning for others to look. "Someone's out there," one said.
"Come out," hollered the other.
Inuyasha turned his face towards her, eyes still glued to the men. The rest of the soldiers stopped marching and stayed in formation. "Let's get out of here," he told her. She nodded immediately, the hairs on her neck standing on end.
He was mid turn when the third samurai jutted his gloved finger at them. "There!"
"Shit," he cursed, jumping from the branch, a streak in the trees, and the chase was on.
A bullet from a matchlock gun whistled by Inuyasha's ear. The smell of gun powder was strong in the air.
Kagome gasped behind him, moving up his back and frantically checking him over. "Are you okay?"
"Keh!" He leapt once, twice, and by the third leap they were gone. Completely out of site from the gun wielding samurai.
Confident in the brush of the trees, Inuyasha bounded back until he was behind them. They lumbered around, pushing branches and leaves, the ground crunching beneath them. "Tch," Inuyasha scowled, "could they be any louder?"
Kagome peeked over his shoulder. "Where do you think they're from?"
"Ya' see those banners over there?" Inuyasha nodded his head in the direction they were before. "I saw that same symbol pinned to Shinobu's robes."
"Shinobu? You mean the headman of the village we were at?"
"Yeah."
They watched on in silence as the men tried to find them. After a few minutes they disbanded the search. The general going back to the lead and prompting the soldiers to march anew.
"Let's follow them," Kagome whispered.
"Are you kidding me?" Inuyasha hissed, "do you know how long they could be marching for? It's not likely they'll head for their base."
"Still," Kagome wondered aloud, "the first we heard of the enenra was at their village. We might find a lead to Kohaku."
Inuyasha grunted his disapproval, but did as she wished. The soldiers were painfully slow, although they marched with purpose. They made a stop at a town several miles away from Kaede's. The couple watched on from the trees as the general entered the headman's hut.
"Can you hear anything?"
"Naw," Inuyasha said.
"Let's get closer," Kagome whispered.
Inuyasha sighed, he didn't like being around the army, but he leapt closer, landing on a roof top covered in trees at the edge of town. They were a few houses away, so he bristled his ears, turning them towards the larger home.
Staying silent, Kagome willed him to hear something... anything. Several minutes went by, Inuyasha's eyes squeezing into suspicious slits. Kagome pressed his shoulders. "Do you hear anything?"
A moment passed before he spoke, "he's leaving some samurai in this village."
"What for?" Kagome's mind went back to the future, feeling like a gossiping teenager, eavesdropping on her classmates. A mild touch of homesickness washed over her, but the closeness of Inuyasha's body quelled the small ache, reminding her that this was truly her home. This was what she had missed for three years. She had fallen in love with this time... with Inuyasha. She felt her face turn red, body prickling with nerves when Inuyasha cleared his throat.
"Surveillance."
"Surveying what?"
"Hell if I know."
"Maybe for the enenra?"
Inuyasha shrugged. It was difficult to hear the conversation in the home through all the working villagers. He could barely make a few words spoken there. Kagome was lucky he could hear anything at all.
A moment passed before Kagome spoke again, a new thought crossing her mind, "maybe they're watching out for the undead."
Inuyasha would have scoffed at her if he hadn't been there to experience it with her first hand. "They'd have no chance against those crazy shits."
The couple were forced silent when the headman's door slid open, the general walking out as the leader of the village remained hidden within the shadows of his home, expression unreadable. With a downward swing of his arm, two soldiers moved to stand guard beside the front steps of the home. Inuyasha and Kagome stilled, rapt in attention.
Walking to his men, he spoke to his second in command. The man nodded and gave his men directions, and they spread out, knocking on doors and heading towards the strongest workers in the fields.
Kagome's heart shuddered in concern, "what are they doing?"
"We should go," Inuyasha said, frowning. "There's nothing we can do here."
Most of the men confronted by the samurai dropped what they were doing at once and bowed low, then left their chores to follow the soldiers without question. Somewhere to their right, a commotion began. A woman's voice rose between three samurai surrounding her.
"Please, no!" She cried as she pressed herself between the men and a smaller figure behind her, "he's my only son!" Tears sprung from her eyes as she pushed the men with her thin arms. "He's all that I have left!" Her voice shook with emotion.
"Inuyasha," Kagome pleaded. They needed to help her. But he didn't move, forcing her to watch from the rooftop hidden behind trees. They were dangerously close. If they moved any closer, they'd be found out. Inuyasha had no doubt he'd put up a good fight, the samurai were nothing compared to him. But they had guns, and he refused to put Kagome in their cross fire.
"This is part of war, Kagome," he said quietly, dejected.
"But he's so young," she said desperately.
"No younger then us fighting Naraku."
The realization hung heavy over Kagome's head. She threw shaky hands over a gasp that escaped her when the woman was pushed roughly aside, revealing the young boy behind her. The mother landed hard on the ground with a loud thud, scraping her hands and arms from the impact. Kagome cringed at the sound, somewhat relieved when Inuyasha flinched as well. She didn't like that he was holding her back, but the fact that it bothered him showed that he cared, whether he liked to admit it or not.
As Inuyasha had said, the boy was the same age as when they had fought Naraku. He seemed to be fifteen or sixteen. But he was so small... and scrawny. Kagome didn't like it, not one bit. "That doesn't make it right."
Yet the boy – teenager – stood there, chin strong and face determined. His mother sat up, reaching weakly for him, "please, don't - ".
"I am prepared to serve my village," he said, voice made up but cracking with puberty.
Kagome's heart sank. There was really nothing they could do. Things were different here. He might have been young, but in this time, he was truly considered an adult. The mother crumbled within herself, crying with a desperation Kagome had never heard before. Several voices cried out around the village, fighting to keep their boys as well.
"Please," Kagome begged, "I can't-"
Inuyasha didn't need her to finish. With that, he turned, leaping away from the wailing villagers.
They were silent as he ran, both deep in thought. He stopped at a nearby river. Kagome dismounting him and crouching by the shore. Scooping up water, she stared at her reflection, still in shock at what she had seen. She had done nothing, absolutely nothing. Guilt squeezed her as she replayed the events.
"Kagome.."
She started, jumping at the sound of Inuyasha crouching next to her. Saying nothing, she splashed water to her face; once, twice, three times. She kept her hands over her face the on the last one, not able to look at anything else, clearly distraught.
Inuyasha sighed, "things are messed up right now." He pulled up his sleeves, cooling his face off as well. He stared down at the fishes swimming without a care in the world. The river soothing their nerves.
A short moment of pensive silence passed before Kagome spoke again. "I think they need those kids for more than just surveillance, Inuyasha."
He paused, "...yeah."
"What are we going to do?"
Inuyasha turned to her incredulously. She wasn't still trying to help those villagers, was she? "Kagome," he tried to reason with her, "we can't do anything. You and I," he paused, thinking of the many outcomes, the ways she could get hurt, "that's a whole damn army."
"So what then?" Kagome turned facing him, "we're just going to give up on them?!"
Inuyasha's composure visibly slackened. His eyes trying to convey what he couldn't. "They chose to go, Kagome."
She bristled, frazzled by his words. But... he was right, no one was taken against their will. Who ever left, did so with out a fight. It was done with pride... and honor.
Turning back to the water, she cleared her throat, watching as the sleeves of the kimono he gave her swam back down her arms. A warmth enveloped her over her conflicting emotions. "Let's stay," she said softly, leaning into his body, needing his warmth and support. It was so nice, warm, and calming. She closed her eyes, cherishing his intimacy as he leaned in to her as well.
Inuyasha welcomed her with all the loneliness he had felt for the past three years. He pressed his nose into her hair, cherishing her scent as he wrapped an arm around her. "Your wounds need redressing," he said lethargically.
"Mmm," she replied, ignoring the sting of her back, "in a little."
She didn't noticed how much time had gone by, but Inuyasha woke her with a rustle. She complained with a little groan, hugging closer to his warmth.
"Do ya hear that?"
"Nooo," she said, turning towards him and draping an arm over his chest.
Inuyasha sat up, pulling her limbs off his body, but holding her fingers between his own. "Something's happening, Kagome."
Kagome's mind cleared, the cold night air waking her with alarm. "What is it?"
He helped her up, encouraging her to climb his back. "Smoke," he said darkly as the darkness filled their ears with nocturnal sounds.
Throwing back her head to drink from her jug, she quenched her thirst and tied it back on her hip. "Okay," she said, "let's go."
In a swift move, he shot from the clearing into the trees. It had darkened considerably. How long had they slept? Kagome frowned, leaning flush against him and wrapping her arms around his chest. "There's always something," she grumbled. A week had gone by, and they've been so busy already. "I just want to relax," she whispered, closing her eyes and rubbing her face against his neck.
Chuckling, Inuyasha squeezed her thighs, "we will," he promised. "After this, we'll take a break at the village."
She smiled softly, peppering kisses on the curve of his jaw.
"K-keh! Stop that!"
A chuckle escaped her, knowing his face was probably burning with a blush. "You are soo cute!" She admitted with a little squeal on the last word.
"Shaddup!" He roared, his whole face burning, "I swear I'll drop you right here!"
Kagome threw her head back and laughed, cherishing the feel of his heart thundering under her small hands.
(A/N)
I'm trying to make these chapters shorter. Reading the story from the beginning, I realized they were pretty long. Does this length work for you all? I apologize for the year long hiatus. I've been in college and never realized how much time being in an actual program would take from my personal life. I'm on break now. So there will be two more chapters before college takes over my life again. Thank you for sticking with me! We're focusing on the setting of feudal Japan here. Sometimes, no matter how much we want to stop it, war terrorizes through our lives. It's something empathetic Kagome will have to try and deal with. This story has quickly turned itself into an adventure/mystery fic :-) Till the next one!