Chapter 3
It was a beautiful crisp fall morning for our favorite tachi traveling quickly through the forest in pursuit of three jewel shards towards the north. Sango, Miroku, and Shippo road atop Kirara above the trees and Kagome was with Inuyasha running below the canopy.
Kagome sensed the jewels were moving away from them but not fast enough because they were catching up to them. "Hurry Inuyasha! We're gaining on them!" Kagome yelled over the sound of the wind whipping past them. Inuyasha's only answer was running faster and gripping her thighs harder, sliding a little unnecessarily higher. The half demon seemed to do that a lot lately when he carried her and it was making her uncomfortable. She was thankful she no longer wore her skirts. Chalking this instance up to the thrill of the chase, Kagome ignored it and focused on the upcoming fight.
Landing just out of the tree line, they came into a clearing where a large bear oni stood staring at them. "Why do you pursue I, Kumasugoi greatest demon of the land!" bellowed the ugly bear demon. "Shuddup ya bastard! We've come for the shards you've got, hand 'em' over and I'll make your death quick!" Screamed Inuyasha, pulling his sword from its sheath and pointing it at the oni. The bear burst into a thundering laugh, "A puny half breed like you could never kill me!" he laughed, noticing Kagome standing next to Inuyasha the demon yelled, "You, girl, give me your shards and I may consider not eating you!" Kagome stepped back and knocked an arrow in her bow, "Fat chance ugly! Inuyasha the shards are in his throat! She yelled, pointing her arrow at the beast. "Your life is mine you fucker, die!" Inuyasha screamed, then charged recklessly at the demon without a plan. "Inuyasha wait!" warned Sango, lifting her hiraikotsu from her back and getting in a battle stance, this demon was too strong to fight alone. "Kirara, protect Shippo!" Sango commanded, then ran to help her friend. Miroku ran after his love, readying his sutras. "Puny humans! You are no match for me!" the oni yelled, swiping at them with a large clawed paw. Kagome watched her human friends jump back to avoid the deadly swip, then turned to see Inuyasha swing his sword, calling upon his wind scar. "Kaze no kizu!" Shouted the half demon, sending a blast of his yoki at the bear demon. The bear oni barely dodged the deadly attack, now sporting a deep gash on his shoulder, the oni roared in anger! With eyes turned red the bear started moving blindingly fast knocking Sango and Miroku to the other side of the clearing and Inuyasha into a nearby tree. All of them lay there unconscious.
"SANGO, MIROKU, INUYASHA! Kagome screamed in horror, hoping her friends were still alive. "GHA HA HA!" barked the ugly oni. "Now little girl, I will eat you and your shards!" Kagome watched terrified as the bear charged at her. Screaming, she shot her arrow at the monster, easily dodging her only weapon; he jumped in the air above her, ready to devore his meal. Kagome fell to her knees and covered her head hoping in vain this would help her death be less painful. Out of nowhere a white streak flashed in front of her, slashing out the throat and severing the head of the bear oni, then was gone just as quickly.
Shocked, Kagome staired for a moment looking at the bloody mess before her. He was dead, the three shards lay on the ground tainted and stained red. Kagome crawled to them quickly, grabbing and purifying them, in case the oni decided to come back and take them. Standing on shaky legs she ran to the hanyou. "Inuyasha!" shouted Kagome crashing to her knees next to the barely awakening dog demon. Dazed for a moment, Inuyasha looked at her and then to the dead bear and growled out, "What the hell! Who killed it? It obviously wasn't you! You're too weak!" Shocked and hurt, Kagome sputtered "I-I don't know I shot my-my arrow at him but he dodged it and the next thing I knew it was dead. "Psh good for nothing, did you at least get the shards?!" Inuyasha mocked. "Y-yes," Kagome said, looking down then slowly standing. She was so worried about him and the first thing he said was how weak she is. "Quit pouting your so pathetic" Inuyasha said casually like it wasn't a knife in her gut, then went to inspect their fallen foe. Kagome sighed then went to check on her friends.
Washing the blood from her hands in the river she found, after bandaging her friends, Kagome thought to herself. "Stupid Inuyasha! I was so worried and he called me the weak and pathetic one when I was the only one fighting that didn't get hurt!" Sighing, the miko stood shaking the water from her hands and brushed them dry on her green bottoms.
"Mew." Kagome's ears picked up the slightest, weak sound coming from further down the river. Not being able to walk away from someone in need, the young woman picked up her weapon and bag and walked along the bank looking around to try and find where the noise was coming from. After walking for a few minutes, what Kagome saw made her blood boil. "You should not have fought me! Now I will make your death slow and painful!" Sneered a slimy and disgusting looking water demon at a small black drenched demon. It seemed to be injured and Kagome wasn't about to let him be eaten! Drawing an arrow from her quiver she nocked it and let it fly at the creature wadding toward the small demon. A bright pink light enveloped her arrow and lit up the water before piercing the demon in the heart. Watching the slimy monster turn into ash and float down the river, Kagome ran to the injured demon.
The brightest green eyes met hers when she approached the cat, she slowed her pace and spoke in a soft, soothing voice "Hello there little one, I won't hurt you." Kagome stopped a few feet away and slowly kneeled on the grass. Reaching behind her the little creature limped and stumbled backwards, a small whimper leaving its mouth. "Shh, it's ok I'm just getting a towel for you to lay on to help you dry and get warm." the miko said soothingly. Reaching into her handy yellow bag she pulled out a towel and laid it on the ground in front of him. The little demon that looked to be a neko like Kirara very cautiously sniffed the towel and crawled onto it. Slowly so as not to startle the little cat demon she raised her hand to its nose to smell, hoping it could sense she meant no harm. "See, I won't hurt you, I just want to help. May I dry you off a little? Kagome asked, reaching for an edge of the towel. The little creature laid on its side and shook its head yes. "Thank you," said the miko, dabbing the wet fur softly. While she was drying the cat she noticed a particular part of its body that told her he was a boy. "So, it looks like you have a pretty good cut there" pointing to his front right leg, "Would you mind if I cleaned and bandaged it for you? I'd hate for you to get an infection," the young miko asked. He shook his head slowly, yes, again. Kagome talked about this and that while she cared for his leg, trying to sooth him and let him know she was not a threat.
Finishing tying off the bandage the miko sat back. "It doesn't look too bad, I put some ointment on it that is for demons and will help you heal faster." Kagome said scratching him behind his ears like Kirara liked it. He gave a soft purr and nuzzled into her hand. Smiling, Kagome looked at the cute little neko and finally took note of what he looked like. His fur was the deepest black she'd ever seen and very soft to the touch. He was all black except for the tip of his three tails, his paws, and the hairs at the top of his ears that stuck up a little higher than the end of his ear. Those parts were white. His eyes, she noticed before, were the most brilliant green. He was beautiful. "Um, do you have a family or companion?" Kagome asked, looking around her. The little guy shook his head and laid it on the towel sadly. He looked so lonely and she instantly connected with him and just knew at that moment she wanted him. "Hey little one I have an idea why don't you come with me? I'll take good care of you and I have friends who travel with me, one of them has a two tailed neko, her name is Kirara, also they adopted a small kitsune named Shippo, so they can play with you and you'll never get bored!" Realizing she said all of that in one breath she smiled and added more slowly "It would be nice to have a companion of my own, it gets lonely in my group sometimes, they just don't understand me." Looking into the eyes of the neko she watched him tilt his head to the side. "Brr" the little neko purred and crawled into her lap. He rubbed his head into her stomach then looked up at her. Laughing, Kagome petted him on his back. "I'll take that as a yes, so now you need a name, hmm. How about Ashi?" the miko asked excitedly. Standing on his back legs in her lap he placed his good paw on her chest and nuzzled into her neck. Giggling happily she said, "Ashi it is then."
Kagome smiled widely and picked him up carefully and got to her feet. Bending down she put the damp towel in her bag and slung it over her shoulder. "Our camp and my friends are this way!" she exclaimed, happily heading back the way she came.
Once back at camp, Kagome was almost knocked over by Inuyasha trying to sniff and pry at the precious cargo in her arms. "Oi, wench! What the hell is that thing!" the rude hanyou yelled. Ashi hissed at this new male, he did not like him at all. "Inuyasha sit boy!" the miko yelled angrily. "This is Ashi, he is not a thing! I adopted him, and you need to be nice to him". She yelled while petting his fur to try to calm him. "Oh no bitch you are not keeping that thing!" Inuyasha ordered, jumping from his hole and advancing on the girl. Ashi hissed and jumped to the ground in front of his mistress, phasing into his larger form,he snarled at the half demon. Startled, Inuyasha sputtered "Puh I ain't afraid of you!" Ashi in his larger size was bigger than Kirara but not much. Instead of the standard fire color Kirara had, Ashi had a blazing blue flame. "It's alright Ashi," Kagome comforted. "He's just being a jerk, come on I'll introduce you to the others." The protective new companion backed up, never taking his eyes from the dog demon, then fazed back and jumped into the miko's outstretched arms. Petting her new charge with pride Kagome turned to the rest of her group to see shocked looks on their faces. "Kagome, where did you find him?" Sango asked, being the first to recover and slowly walking over to the new neko. "I saved him from a water demon while I was cleaning up after our battle. He was hurt so I tended to him then we decided he would come with me because he had no one else." Kagome explained. "Ashi, this is Sango," she said pointing to the female in front of them, "and over there is Miroku, the kit is Shippo, and the neko is Kirara," the miko introduced. "Mew" was his answering hello. "Kagome, do you realize what he is?" Sango asked with bewilderment written across her face. "He's a neko like Kirara right? Except with three tails?" was Kagome's confused response. Looking at him, Sango explained "Ashi is no normal neko, he is of the rarest breed of neko demons, the three tail nekos, said to be extinct long ago. I've never seen one, only heard stories from my father." "Wow" the futuristic girl said in surprise, "I've never heard of them." Kirara took that moment to jump on Sango's shoulder then into her arms and study the rare cat. "Mew" came from both neko's who sniffed each other then put out a paw each to touch the other. Both girls giggled at the cuteness. Miroku strolled over, holding Shippo, "I think they like each other," the hoshi observed. "Mama, can I play with them?" Shippo asked, making his eyes big so he was extra cute. "If it's alright with Kagome then it's alright with me," the young mother said lovingly. Kagome nodded her head up and down, giving her permission. Both cats and Shippo jumped out of the arms holding them and set about in a game of chase, Shippo being the prey. The adults laughed and sat around the fire to watch.
Later that night while climbing into her sleeping bag, Kagome got comfortable and absent mindedly scratched Ashi's head listening to his relaxing purrs. After such an eventful day you would think she would be tired but instead her mind was busy with thoughts of the golden eyes she saw in the forest those few months ago. Yes, it's been months and she couldn't stop dreaming of the sun like orbs, they filled her dreams each night since the day she first saw them. At first she wanted to scream not expecting to see them, but then she got lost in them. Now she found that every free thought she had was occupied by those mysterious eyes.
With the moon high in the sky, its light breaking through the trees above the quiet camp, the only sound was the crackling of the fire. Looking at each slumbering member to be sure they were asleep, the "alpha" of the tachi leapt from his tree. Sneaking off into the darkness after white glowing snake-like creatures floating in the sky, the hanyou didn't notice Ashi was awake and saw him leave. Growling low so as not to wake his mistress he closed his eyes but didn't go to sleep. He would make sure to keep the miko safe.
Lurking in the shadows was another overlooked protector, there to watch over the sleeping miko, with the same golden eyes plaguing her dreams.
~ End of chapter 3~
*Thinks to self* there's a lot of lurkers in this story.
{ (•) }{ (•) }
Hehe
Tachi-Group,pack
Oni-Ogre demon,hideous demon
Kumasugoi-Great Bear [Coo-ma-sue-go-E]
Hiraikotsu-Flying return bone, Sango's boomerang weapon
Kaze no kizu-Wind scar
Yoki-Demonic energy
Neko-Cat
Ashi-A lake in modern Japan [Ah-She]
Hoshi-Monk
Ja ne, Peach