Tonzura koite!
By: HopePoe26
Blanket disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha.
Chapter IIWhen I Ran I Didn't Feel Like A Runaway
She didn't look back. She wanted to. But hearing those hateful words coming out of that imp's mouth… it was too much for her fragile sensibilities. She was only ten years old. She was only a small hanyou. Her brother had been away from the castle and her brother's imp was suddenly yelling at her… she shuddered.
Besides… she was pretty confident in her skills. The way she handled her claws… her Sankon-tetsusou could mutilate a forest, the way she could run fast enough, the way she could jump high enough to almost look like she was flying… like her brother.. she grimaced as she remembered that once she left the boundaries of the Western Lands, she would no longer be under her big brother's protection… she growled. She hefted her haori over her small frame and ran.
But as soon as the shiro was well out of sight, her whole brave demeanor slackened visibly. Pride prevented her from returning though and instead she moved ahead. And as the days turned warmer and she suddenly found herself in a deep forest, with tall trees and a beautiful pond, she found herself leaning to the feel of the wind... she felt so much more comfortable, enough that… she would make this her home.
Sesshoumaru was upset. His regal face didn't show it, but he was more than upset. He was furious. The girl was in his care… she was his responsibility and the fact that she had 'ran away' stung his pride.
For this, his servant suffered greatly. But yet… despite how much he tried to find her, he couldn't. There was a war coming up and he – despite being the powerful tai-youkai – couldn't leave his fortress to be taken that easily. He would fight and when he were free from the business of warfare, he would go and search in every niche and cold cave for her. It was his duty, after all.
She felt someone watching her curiously from time to time. Once before there had been this ugly old man who had openly leered at her while she was taking her weekly bath and though he couldn't have done anything to her, she despised the wretched fool. But he wouldn't let her be. Even as she showed him very clearly that she could snap his body in to two without so much of a hassle, he came every other day and leered openly at her.
But when she was alone at night… she didn't see what was the big deal. Her chest was plain, her body was square and she had nothing worth to show.
Now… the presence she felt was not leering at her at the moment. In fact all it was doing was staring curiously at her while she cooked some meat. At four years that she stayed in this forest, the curious presence felt like a human. A kid to be exact. So she decided to leave him be before the kid thought she had anything to offer him.
'Feh', as if she would lower herself to deal with a human. Never mind that she was half-human, she would never associate with humans ever again. It sounded bad… but she'd rather forget that she was ever human or that she could be human on the nights of the new moon. It was because despite the happiness she felt in her younger years with her mother and even with her brother – she snorted at the thought of ever feeling safe with her brother – she felt safe. Not that she didn't feel unsafe now… it just didn't feel like the warm happy safe-feeling she felt from the day before.
She continued to pretend she was sleeping and that the kid didn't exist, although his presence was almost up on to her, when she smelled something that was out of the ordinary… youkai. There were two. She realized quickly that while the kid was somewhat aware of her – she was leaning back to back towards the tree trump high above the ground – he was not aware of the other two youkai. Or the fact that they were about to hunt the kid down.
She wasn't about to defend him, but they were trespassing! She would defend her territory from any usurping youkai or humans that dared to think she was so weak she couldn't defend it.
"Sankon-tetsusou!!"
"Thank you Miss!!" – he had said. And then he had ran back to the village.
She hadn't bothered to respond to him, she just buried the remains far away from her forest – far enough so the smells wouldn't bother her – when two other youkai came running by.
They were ookami. She could smell them. One was as old as – she could guess this to be true – as her brother Sesshoumaru and the other one was more or less her age. Perhaps a bit older than her, yet she couldn't define how much more older was he.
"Who goes there?" – the old ookami youkai rumbled and her stomach trembled… just a little bit.
She stepped out of the tree's shadows and bowed… not low enough to consider it a respect bow, but more of an acknowledgement bow. The older ookami youkai nodded once. He understood. She was burying her trespassors to defend her territory from any more coming over. Smart brat.
"Your name?" – she asked in an impassive voice as if she knew that he would probably wouldn't answer.
"Strong Hunter. This is my son Prince Kouga." – she nodded once at him, but didn't bow again.
"Where is your master brat?" – she stiffened at Prince Kouga's snarl. Strong Hunter thumped his son's head. She relaxed a little bit when the Prince's disgusted stare turn to an insubordinate stare that was directed at his father who in turn glared at him.
"That is none of our concern Kouga. Your name brat?" – he asked her.
"Inuyasha."
That name seemed particularly familiar to him as she saw some sort of recognition come to the deep blue eyes of Kouga's father. It ticked her off a bit. She couldn't tell why, but it seemed to be an instinctual response.
"Well… were those remains you were burying two centipede youkai?" – she nodded and he nodded once and turned to go.
"Come Kouga. Our business is finished over here." – Kouga looked like he wanted to argue, but didn't and turned tail and ran back to his father's side. She watched them go for a while until her eyes could no longer follow and then she left.
It was awhile before she saw Prince Kouga again. She had just hunted down and gutted a rabbit before settling on the ground near her favorite tree when she felt him. She knew it was Kouga, his not so subtle movements told her it was him.
But she deliberately ignored him, and proceeded to eat her rabbit. She didn't offered him any, in fact; she felt his youki expand in frustration and anger. It affected him so because this was the first time any female of any species deliberately ignored him and it frustrated him so. He was used to being the center of attention.
She huffed a little. Having two males lurking around in her territory wasn't something she liked at all. A human and a demon. A hentai human by the name of Onigumo and a stubborn prick – youkai by the name of Prince Kouga. She sniggered at his title and proceeded to douse the flames of her make-shift cooking fire place with her foot.
Then she cursed herself as her eyes widened in alarm. The two centipede youkai that she slaughtered – she thought she slaughtered them – were back on the main part of her forest and while they seemed to be a few miles away from her forest, she could still smell the acrid scent of death. And… there was also a scent she didn't need to have smelled at the moment… it was that kid from the first time she'd kill those two monstrous youkai.
Darn!!
She picked up her trace and forgot all about Prince Kouga. Forgot that he was a wolf-youkai. Forgot that he had a nose and that he could detect them as well.
"My… my! It seems that we have found a defenseless little girl in our path!" – one of the centipede said. She growled at them.
"I am not helpless and I am not a little girl!" – she then proceeded to jump and try to hit them, but someone pushed her from her target.
"Do not interfere!!!" – and she was surprised to see it was not who she expected it to be when she raised her head to glare at the person who stopped her.
The one who had interfered was a young man with dark hair wearing a white haori and a black hakama with an arch in his left hand and some arrows hanging on his back. She stared at him briefly wondering what the hell was wrong with her!!
She stood up with some difficulty, her knees shook at the force of his chi. He was powerful… even if he were just human. She found him looking at her and she nodded in agreement. Kouga growled low in his throat and forced her to answer to his demand. She responded in kind and the two jumped from their positions to hit the centipede right between their eyes while the human took two of his arrows and sent them directly to their hearts. In the end, a hanyou, a wolf-youkai and a human brought down the two beasts in a matter of minutes.
Kouga stood up and dusted himself off. He nodded towards the human once. And then he turned deep blue eyes towards Inuyasha's.
"What?" – she asked. She felt a bit unnerved at his intrusive gaze. She was not prepared however, when he crushed her to his body in what she could only perceive was a hug. It was only a moment, before he turned away from her and left. She was silent for awhile, her cheeks blooming with pink. It was the first hug she had received from another male. Seeing as her father had passed away long before she entered the world of the living, she did not remember being held like that by another male. Ever. Her brother was not a 'hugging' man and even worst her grandfather from her mother's side had never ever acknowledge her. And those few times he did, she twitched her ears and shook her head trying to dissolve those dark thoughts from her head.
"I am grateful for your protection of the forest and the village that lies after this forest." – the human said and then he called his brother back. She didn't turn to look back at him, just nodded once.
"Feh." – she said while they left the premises. There were no leftovers this time around, so she felt the need to wash up. Even if it would be disrupting her routine, she would do it. She stank of death and she didn't like it.
It took awhile for her to get used to being visited by Kouga. He came two times a week. Sometimes he'd bring lunch and sometimes he brought nothing but himself, but other than that, his company was enough for her. She didn't particularly cared that much for him, but she did miss him in the days that came in between those days that he could visit her forest. It was lonely at night, and the knowledge that one night out of every month, when the new moon loomed over her head, she would turn human was infuriating and at the deepest recesses of her heart, she knew that it made her slightly fearful for this was when she was at her weakest. It was on one of those nights, when the new moon hung overhead, that Kouga came into her forest. He looked at her and thought for a second that he had seen the wrong girl.
"Inuyasha?" – he called and when she didn't say anything, he was about to go away when he got the scent he clearly did not like.
Onigumo."What are you doing here human?" – he growled.
Although Kouga was still a pup in demon terms, he was still strong enough to defend himself from strong demons. So this old bag of bones that stood hidden in the shadows from him, it was of no consequence to his strength. The man stepped into the brief light given by the moon and bowed.
"My apologies Ookami no Ouji, I was just getting ready to join that beautiful young lady to your right for the night. This humble servant only seeks to prevent her untimely death."
Kouga snorted but when he turned to see the young lady on the ground, her raven seemingly silky hair hiding her expression from him, though he did noticed a tear falling down her cheek. Noticed what he had failed to see before. Her cheek was marred with dirt, her red haori – his eyes widened at the rumpled image that her clothes portrayed – was a bit ripped on the left side and though it was reconstructing itself, he suddenly knew it was her. Inuyasha.
He sniffed the air around him and found traces of blood.. not youkai and not human… which meant it was some sort of wild animal that thought it could eat her. Not a fucking chance… but the tearing in her clothes were not made by an animal, if anything they seemed to be deliberate. As if someone had been trying to get into her by force, as if she had tried to defend herself from the assault, resulting in the dirt on her hair, her left cheek, her hands.
"Leave human. I don't know your name, but I don't care either. If you come back to this forest again, I will kill you."
The human chuckled and Kouga bristled at that.
"You wish to have her young prince? She is not worthy of your concern, she is a tramp. She is a…" – he didn't have time to finish his thought because Kouga punched him.
Was on the verge of killing him, but instead he drew him away from the forest. Still fighting him… still hitting him. He did not hesitate to push him out of the forest. He did not hesitate to leave him stranded in the middle of the road with his life hanging on the line.
"You will pay for this youkai!!" – the mass of flesh and bones hissed at him from the floor as Kouga turned his back on him fully intending of leaving him where he lay. "I, Onigumo, will make sure you pay!"
Kouga shook his head and ran. Once he was back into the forest… he found it empty. She was no longer there. He searched for her all through the night but did not find her. And he wondered what could've happened to her while he returned to his territory.
Inuyasha woke up in a small hut. Her hair was white once again indicating that she was once again in her demon form. She sat up and winced as her muscles protested. She did not remember much about the night before and the tension in her limbs told her she really didn't want to wake the memories forth into her mind.
"Ah… you are awake." – an old lady came forth and knelt beside her as she brought some broth – as it appeared to be – in a small wooden bowl. She handed it over to Inuyasha as she set the rest of her supplies next to her.
"How did I get here?" – she asked and noticed that she was only wearing her inner obi and her other clothes were hanging by a string of cloth to dry. It appeared that her clothes were washed, that she was being attended to what seemed to be a human healer as she tended to her scratches. She winced in memory of what had happened the night before and couldn't escaped the sage gray eyes that searched hers.
"My nephew brought you in. I heard fighting… I told him to check it out and he said he found nothing but you lying against a tree trunk. Therefore I checked your injuries, there weren't many that deep and took you into my hut."
She felt embarrassed. Extremely so. But she met the gaze of the healer undaunted, even as she feared her rejection.
"I'm back aunt, I found no demons…" – he stopped what he was about to say when he found the hanyou girl from before standing in the middle of the hut wearing only her inner obi that covered her a bit but did not hide her beauty from him.
He – uncharacteristically as it was of him – blushed. Felt that if the girl in front of him could've been any of the other females in the village he knew he would pay no heed to her, but she wasn't like those other girls and suddenly he knew that he wished her to be like him. Maybe if she were human, he would live with her for all the time they could be alive together. He stared at her shapely legs, her blossoming breasts and her wide thighs. He didn't see it coming when his aunt thumped him on the head with a heavy stick that she used for births.
She thumped him again, yelling at him to stop leering at the girl, that she had been thru a lot. She pushed him out of her hut and closed the door with a finality that everyone in the village already knew what it was and they smiled sympathetically at him. He groaned at the pain in his head. He held a hand over the top of his hair and found in amazement a bit of blood. He knew his aunt had meant to just get him out of the hut, but it did not stop him from feeling like she wanted his guts. He stood up and left the village for a cool dip in the spring not too far from where the village stood. The spring was at the other side of the village, at the other side of the pond that Inuyasha used when she felt like bathing. And once he knew he was not being watched, he sunk into the water and proceeded to wash away the impurity that he felt as he had stared at the young hanyou. He shook his head and wondered if maybe he had been cursed 'cause he never had that kind of problem before.
Life was so much easier after Inuyasha had put on the rest of her clothes. The healer let her go saying that should the need arouse again, she could come and stay with her without feeling any qualms about it. When she left the hut, she found the young man from before and she couldn't help it. She blushed as she steered her eyes away from his and left the village without looking back.
Kikyo was left staring after her, knowing that he enjoyed the look on her face more than the enticing view he had of her before.
After that, she began to experience some changes in her routine and in her body. Her inner kimono did not fit her anymore. She had curves. And she did not like them that much. Her balance was suddenly compromised with the new changes in her body and she had to keep training to keep herself fit.
There were new visitors… well not so much as new, but more like it was something she didn't expected to get. Kouga visited more often… in fact he came about nearly every day. He brought food most of the time and this was why she suddenly felt like exercising a lot. And one day… this surprised her the most… she found him bringing her clothes; the furry kind.
"What's this bouzo?" – she grouched at him, her voice had begun to change too.. and this bothered her a little bit more.
"I've noticed that your inner kimono doesn't fit." – her cheeks flamed suddenly.
"How do you know?" – was surprised to see that he could be embarrassed too.
"I saw you on the pond the other day, how you tried to put it on and…" – he stopped abruptly and turned his head away from her eyes.
"You saw me?!!" – she didn't like to be at a disadvantage. Didn't like the fact that he had seen her in her most inadequate self.
"NO!!" – he swiveled to turn to her and grabbed her shoulders to keep her from escaping or from letting her hit him, she wasn't sure but the feel of his arms around her made her uncomfortable.
"I didn't. I just came by and you were there on the lake and… and I didn't see a thing!" – as a result to her non response to him, he let her go and put some distance between them. "Besides, the winter is cold and those would suit you better." – he said softly before he turned tail and left.
She was left with the bundle of furry clothes in her arms, the cold breeze of autumn playing with her hair. She turned back and decided to try them out, just for kicks.
The other visitor was the human from the hut. The difference in his visits was that he would come to talk to her. And though she didn't know much of courting and anything, it seemed to her that he was doing just that. And then one day, the unimaginable happened. He kissed her.
And it made her very uncomfortable, but at the same time there was a heat in between her legs that made her lean into him more. And then when the heat became unbearable he stopped. He caressed her cheek making her look at him, her eyes a soft honey hue that left him breathless. She noticed that he looked as if he was torn into two. When she asked him, he said he could not – would not – take advantage of her. So he stood up and thought how easy it were to… he shook his head. He would not!!!
"You're leaving?" – she whispered confused.
"I'll be back tomorrow morning." – and then the forest was quiet once again.
Kikyo was not known for leaving town in 'shopping sprees'. But once he had kissed her, he wished that he could buy her a new kimono. That he could show her how much she meant to him, so he decided he would go and get one. He knew that the only way to get one, was to go to a larger village and buy one. So he went. Didn't say goodbye to her, knowing that if he did, she would look at him and he would not leave the forest without a more thorough taste of her lips.
So once he was coming back from the village, found some villager asking for help. He claimed that there was an old man in a cave that needed medical attendance. He was of course no doctor, but he could heal and so he offered his own help and went to see to this man.
Didn't know who he was, but the old man was about to die. No matter what he did, he would die. His wounds were too deep and too critical to be healed. So he instead offered his company. He offered absolution, but the old man accepted none. Said he'd be alright and when Kikyou left him, Onigumo let out a whisper into the cold air…
"Come to me youkai… come and feast on this old bag of bones. Come and make me a better being."