Ch14

Ch14

Disclaimer: I own nothing other than the plot and the characters that don't seem familiar.

AN: For those who wish to see what InuYasha looked like in the drawing, go to this link: watersprite11224./art/Chibi-InuYasha-from-Aneue-89106577

Ungai and his followers of monks were walking through the forest paths. "I don't understand," he thought to himself, "Why would they want to stay with youkai even knowing the dangers and horrors surrounding them?" He thought back to that little girl who followed after that fearsome demon lord with such blind loyalty and that group mixed with ningen and youkai. He shook his head, he understood that the girl could've been enchanted but that group of ningen was made of experts and those of spiritual powers.

"Ungai-sama, look," one of the young monks shouted, pointing ahead where evidence of black smoke was rising to the skies.

"Let's go," he commanded.

The group of monks hurried down the path and ended at the top of a small hill, looking down on a group of bandits terrorizing a village, which was not much of an unusual sight. But what was strange was that a large ookami youkai seems to be protecting the villagers from harm. They watched in amazement and in horror as the youkai fired darts of ice from its mouth into the bodies of the bandits. After all of the bodies fell to the ground motionless, the blue wolf turned to the burning houses and fields and quickly put the fire out. It wasn't until the wolf turned its attention on the villagers did the monks take action. With a single jump, they surrounded the wolf, with the intention to protect the villagers.

"Wait, what are you doing, Houshi-sama?" the villagers cried out.

"Vanquishing the youkai before it does anymore harm," Ungai said.

"Stop it! He's protecting us!" a child screamed. He ran over and was joined by a group of other children. They all began to pull at the monks' robes, but was immediately pulled away by their parents, scared of the monks' reactions.

"Most likely to finish the job these bandits had started," Ungai said, "Stay away and let us do our job."

"Hahaue always say that it's wrong to judge all youkai as if their presence is just to hurt ningen, just as it's wrong to judge a child based on their parent's actions," a voice echoed throughout the village. Everybody looked around trying to kind the source. It was then in the middle of the circle, near the wolf, vines broke from the ground and formed a cocoon-like structure. The vines then vanished back into the ground, leaving Kohana stand there, staring, or rather glaring, at Ungai.

"Hana-chan!" the children all cried, waving their hands in the air.

Ungai took notice of the pointed ears. Unlike most youkai, this child doesn't release any sign of youki, but it was clear what she really is. "Youkai, it is foolish of you to reveal yourself," he said, "Prepare to be vanquished!"

"You leave Hana-chan alone," the same child that attacked them shouted. "She didn't do anything to you so you have no right!"

Ungai looked at the villagers and could see disapproving faces, not like the grateful and relived faces he's use to. He ignored the displeased group and turned to his task in hand. "Once we vanquish the youkai, perhaps your minds will become clear again," he said, lifting his staff up. Just as he was bout to lower his it down on the growling wolf, who was trying to protect the glaring child, the ground shook with a deafening cry echoing in the air. "Nani?" he shouted, looking around.

"More blood! More death!" the cry echoed. The trees in the forest shook as the shrill voice continued calling for bloodshed. The noise in the trees got louder as the stomps got closer. "Give me your blood!" a large bulky creature with pale pink skin shouted as he stomped towards the village. Flabs of fat and skin were everywhere with only a brown furred fabric tied around his waist. His only large yellow eye was situated in the middle of his forehead as it rolled from side to side. His large mouth openly grinned, showing off his sharp red teeth, no doubt red from the blood of his preys. He looked from the frightened villagers to the dead bandits. "I was hoping for the bandits to do the job for me, but as they always say, the best tasting meals are those you yourself make."

Ungai stared at the youkai and was about to signal his followers to attack when he heard the screams of the villagers. "Tenshi-sama!" "Miko-sama!" "Save us!" "Onee-sama!" The cries were all different, but their tone was the same, fear filled with hope. His brown eyes narrowed as he wondered who they could be referring to.

A breeze flew by all around them as it gradually began to pick up speed. Ungai looked around and spotted an arrow made up of fire heading towards the ogre, once it made contact, it created a hole through its stomach. The ogre bent down a bit as he eye stared at the hole before glaring the monks, blaming them for his injury. "Houshi-teme," he growled.

Ungai and his monks got into a ready stance when the wind around them blew even harder. The villagers started to shout with joy as they stared at something behind the monks. They turned their heads to see a beautiful young maiden with long blond hair running in full speed. If they had actually looked hard enough, with the sun's rays, it would look as if she has wings on her back. In her right hand was a curved silver sword with a golden handle. "Stay back, this youkai is dangerous," Ungai warned her.

Usagi paid no mind to his words. All she could think about was eliminating the threat that was going to hurt the village she's come to care about. Running past them, she waved towards Suicine, who quickly rushed to his, strangely enough, mother-like figure's aid. The monks watched in shock as Usagi lifted herself on top of the wolf and was brought into the air, similar to the way how Sango rides Kirara into battle. The villagers cheered happily as they watched Usagi hold up her sword and swung it down diagonally. At first everyone was confused and wondered why she did that when she was still at a far distance from the youkai and then a painful cry erupted into the air. Everyone turned to see that the top half of the ogre became separated from his bottom half with a diagonal slash before it disappeared into ashes.

Usagi sighed in relief. "Good thing I came back in time," she muttered to herself. Suicine landed back on the ground as the villagers cheered once again. Usagi turned to the villagers with a relieved smile. "I hope nobody was hurt while I was gone," she said.

One of the children shook her head. "Suicine protected us from the bandits, onee-sama," she said.

"Hahaue!" Kohana shouted, running through the crowds. Her red eyes glistened with pride and happiness. She leapt up for Usagi to catch her into her arms. "I knew you'll come to protect us," she said.

"Why would you associate yourself with youkai?" Ungai asked, pushing himself through the villagers. He stared at Usagi, knowing full well that she's a human and that child in her arms is not hers. "They will turn on you the minute they realize you have less power than they do." He shook his head in a confused manner. "I don't understand why. It's like that group from before. A taijiya, a houshi and a miko associating with youkai, it's just unheard of."

Usagi's eyes widened. "A taijiya, a houshi, and a miko?" she repeated. The old and revered monk nodded his head with a frown on his face and a sigh exiting his lips. "Were the youkai with them by any chance be a hanyou, a kitsune youkai, and a nekomata(1)?" Everybody watched as a smile grew on her face after Ungai nodded his head. "You don't have to worry about them. Those youkai are just part of the half population of youkai."

"And the other half?" one of the monk followers asked.

"Youkai who don't care who they hurt as long as they get what they want," Usagi replied. She turned to wave at the villagers who were heading back to their homes.

"Aren't all youkai like that?" another follower asked.

Kohana looked offended as she pouted. "Why do all ningen seem to think that?" she scolded. She turned her head and slowly began to walk to a group of children who wanted to play with her. "It's because of you ningen who think that, my parents were killed for a crime they didn't commit. But did those people care…nooooo…" She crossed her arms over her chest.

Ungai watched suspiciously as Usagi just laughed and planted a kiss on her daughter's forehead before sending her away. "Ojo-san(2), who are you to befriend youkai with no hesitation?" he asked.

"I'm just known as Usagi," was the simple reply given to them.

"Haven't your family ever tell you to be wary of youkai?" a monk asked, stepping forward. He quickly took a step back when Suicine growled at him for his question.

Usagi laughed and shook her head. "Oh no, actually they pretty much encouraged it," she said. She went on kneeling to the ground as she wrapped her arms around the wolf's neck. "My family going back to my ancestors had dreamt of a world where ningen and youkai can meet without fighting. Some of my ancestors had even bore children of youkai as a sign of love for them." She sighed sadly as she leaned her head on the whining canine. "But that was long ago, now I'm the only one left.

The monks just stared at Usagi in complete shock. A family that actually believe and encouraged the idea that youkai and ningen can live together in harmony? It was completely unheard of. Ungai just stared at Usagi and thought that her unusual color could be the cause that she was a youkai, but what troubled him was the fact that she bore no other features that shows the other side of her possible heritage.

Suicine rubbed his head against Usagi's cheek before stalking over to the fields. Usagi turned to see where he was going when she remembered. "Oh, that's right, you were about to inspect the fields when I felt that negative energy and the bandits attacked," she said. She turned to see her daughter playing something similar to cops and robber, or more appropriate for the feudal period, samurai and bandit. "Kohana, the fields," she called.

Kohana glanced up and paused in her running, causing the boy pretending to be a samurai to catch her. Pouting, Kohana glared at the boy who cheated, in her opinion. When she heard Usagi call out her name again, Kohana stalked over to the waiting wolf. "No fait, he cheated," she muttered, "Tagging me when hahaue called me."

"What are they doing?" Ungai asked. He couldn't help but be curious to what the two youkai were doing to the small fields of crops. He watched as Kohana carefully inspected the green plants before tenderly caressing the ground as her hands glowed a light green color. Suicine then waited until the pink-haired child was done and watered the crops, making sure that the soil was moist. "They're caring for the fields?" he asked, looking all bewildered.

"Just a small way to say thank you for allowing us to stay the night," Usagi said. She stretched her arms up into the air before standing up. "Kohana is a hana youkai so she's able to make the crops healthy and Suicine is a mizu ookami and is able to purify the waters along with creating water."

"You're such a strange person," Ungai sighed, "Strange but unique."

Usagi just laughed as she brought a hand to her lips. "Believe me, you're not the first to say that," she softly. Her blue eyes sparkling with kindness and confidence. "You're not the first and you won't be the last."

/-/

InuYasha and his friends had managed to defeat another one of Naraku's creations with no shard as their reward. "Damn it, Naraku," the hanyou muttered, "He's just toying with us, that bastard." He bit down on his left thumb hard, but not hard enough for it to bleed. His nose twitched when he caught a scent, familiar but despised. "It's that mangy wolf," he growled.

Kagome stood up from the large boulder she was resting on to see a small tornado coming towards the. Despite the close friendship she feels towards the wolf prince, she doesn't have any romantic feeling for him like he does for her. She took a deep breath and sighed, bracing herself to Kouga's constant flirting. Instead, she was quite surprised when the tornado went right by her and stopped in front of InuYasha.

Not realizing he had just bypassed Kagome, to Shippo and the other's shock, Kouga stopped and stared at the hanyou in front of him. "Why, hello, Yasha-kun," he teased with a smirk on his face.

InuYasha growled as he flexed his claws. "Don't…call…me…THAT!" he shouted, pouncing on the wolf, who quickly evaded his attack with the help of his shards.

Kouga just grinned as he thought to himself, "I was right, this is fun to get to get on his nerves." He landed back on the ground. "Sorry, do you prefer if I call you 'Yash-chan' instead?" he said, laughing, "You look really cute as a little girl. Perhaps you really are a girl in disguise under all those clothes."

"Shut up!" InuYasha shouted, "You had no right meeting her!" He got even angrier when he smelled a faint scent of flowers, the same flowery scent his sister has. It was bad enough that his friends found out about her, but now his rival did too. Usagi, aneue…she was supposed to be all his, just like it once was after his mother's death.

Possessive feelings grew within Kouga when he heard what the hanyou said. No right? Just who does that haughty half breed think he is, telling him, the prince of the eastern wolves, what he can or cannot do? "And why do you say that, mutt? You've already got Kagome in your sights along with that dead miko," Kouga said, glaring at him, "Don't tell me that you're feasting your infidel eyes on Usagi as well!"

"Kouga-kun, you met Usagi-san?" Kagome asked, hoping to break up any impending fights between the two, "How is she doing?"

Kouga's face turned light pink as he remembered the strange human. "Yeah, I met her," he whispered, "She's a strange one, looking like a human, but her scent is something else." He had a slight goofy smile on his face that reminded Kagome of her brother when he talked about a girl he liked. "Her scent tells me that she's not quite human as she claims to be, but she's not a youkai, that's for sure."

"She's not dangerous, is she?" Miroku asked. Now with that puzzle piece, it does make sense how she can be in InuYasha's childhood and still be alive and look young. However, it just draws more questions to what is she and why she's here.

"She's not dangerous," InuYasha said. He leaned against a large tree with his hand wrapped tightly around the shard. "The only time I saw her act as a danger to others is if her love ones are threatened." He smirked with his fangs showing. "And once that happens, I pity those idiots. Usagi is…was the village's best defense," he said as he tone became more depressed, "Until…"

"Until?" everybody asked at the exact same time; all leaning forward to hear what he'll say.

InuYasha's head snapped up like he had just woken up from a dream. "Nothing," he muttered, right before leaping up into a tree.

Shippo watched as his bully and tormentor decided to seek shelter in the barren tree. "Hey, InuYasha, what are you doing?" he asked, being his usual curious self. He heard only mumbles, but caught the word 'wolf' coming from the hanyou. "Are you hiding in the tree cause you're scared of Kouga?" He laughed, falling to the floor, slamming his fists down. "Haha, InuYasha's a scaredy-cat!"

InuYasha tried to ignore the taunting, knowing full well that he's gonna get sat if he does beat the spoiled brat. As the laughing continued on, InuYasha reached behind and broke off one of the many long branches and threw it down. "You never learn, do you gaki?" he yelled, reaching for another branch.

"AH!" Shippo shouted. He quickly jumped out of the way and buried himself into Kagome's arms. "Kagome, InuYasha's being mean to me!" he bawled.

Kagome glared at the hanyou, who was lifting the branch up in the air, as if daring him to throw it. "InuYasha, stop bulling Shippo," she scolded. InuYasha just scoffed as he tossed the branch aside.

"But InuYasha does have a point," Sango said, stopping her younger friend from punishing the hanyou. "Usagi-san was correct when she said that Shippo was just inviting InuYasha to hit him a lot of times." She knelt down at Shippo's level as she continued, "By constantly teasing him and bothering him, you're just giving InuYasha a reason to hit you, Shippo."

Miroku looked in awe at Sango as he clapped his hands. "Beautifully said, Sango," he said. He walked over to one of the many girls he proposed. "You will make an excellent mother in the future," he said, wrapping his arms around her.

Sango's face flushed with embarrassment at his praise. "Houshi-sama," she whispered. Everyone sighed in defeat the minute they saw her eyes harden and her lifting a trembling fist. They turned around as they heard her scream, "Keep those hands to your self, ero-houshi!"

Kagome just shook her head and ignored the usual act between taijiya and the houshi. She glanced over at the ookami youkai and noticed that not once had he flirted with her since he arrived. She observed the faraway look on his face. "Hmmm…I wonder," she thought to herself. She was about to call out to him when they heard somebody else do it instead.

"Kouga!" the two companions of the prince shouted as they finally managed to catch up.

"You two are late as usual," Kouga said. He placed his hands on his hips as he watched his companions fall to the ground taking deep breaths. "So, did she make it to a village safely?" he asked.d

Ginta nodded his head. "All three made it there and are planning to stay the night," he said.

"Good," Kouga whispered. He held a gentle smile on his face as he thought about the woman who captured his attention, not even Kagome had done.

A knowing smile grew on Kagome's face. After seeing many people make that kind of face while talking about the one they like, it's plainly obvious about how Kouga feels about her and how he feels about Usagi. She only hoped that Usagi might feel the same way of the poor wolf would be broken hearted.

(1) Nekomata is a two-tailed demon cat in Asian culture. As a cat matures, its tail splits into two, making it a demon, mainly the reason why majority of Asian cats don't have tails since their owners would cut them off a long time ago.

(2) Ojo-san means young lady.