Disclaimer: Not a chance, I don't own any of them...well, Shimo-chan and his pink eyed mother I created but...yea...
A/N: Well, I've had trouble with the Miroku that I know and his now ex girlfriend, a close friend of mine. He ate lunch with me when he should've been with her, talked and walked with me when he should've been with me...I felt so ashamed, but I do enjoy his company and I didn't want to burn him, even though I knew that in his eyes I am little more than a peice of meat on the BBQ. Well, I told him off, scolded his heartless butt for treating her so badly and am trying to set things straight with the girls...but anyway, that's my life at the moment...cleaned out the fishtank lastnight, I smell like dirty fishwater (grumbles and scowls)...But anyway...
ON THE CHAPTER: This is in my opinion a filler, the goodbye between Kagome and Inuyasha (becuase he couldn't spend the night there obviously) and a discussion between Shimo-chan and the "Pink-bitch." Also you learn a little of what's going on with Garou during this time...I drop the fbomb in Garou's character's thoughts...just warning you there...next chapter is already underway, guys, I may even have enough for a preview...I have an interesting twist planned here involving the fourth character in this story that has been named but none of you have met as of yet: Tsukiyume...also look for the "rest" of Taikokajin's story, why she is the way she is. Just as Sesshomaru has reasons for the chip on his shoulder, Taikokajin has her own problems too, her own secret thoughts. (I thought that it would be interesting to note that I've made it a point that she never insults Inuyasha's half-demon heritage the way Sesshomaru would.) Also I reveal what I've thought Garou's animal-form to be, what he represented once as a demon...
Anyway, my thanks and answers and such at the end...five more reviews and we'll be to 300! (gapes widely, blinks stupidly) THANK YOU GUYS!
Soul Stone
Kagome woke with a shuddering jolt. Her breathing was ragged and heavy, her head pounded as if a meteor had struck it. Groaning, she sat up, slowly, shifting Koinu's weight on her chest as she moved. The pup cooed pleasantly and snuggled close to her in his innocent sleep. When she blinked the sleep from her eyes and looked down at him she noted that the pup's silvered hair and fuzzy white dog-ears had returned…
Inuyasha…Instantly she looked around, seeking her mate's presence. Some inner clock told her that it was barely dawn—would he still be with her…her mind was muddled, where was she? The dark shoji screened walls were unfamiliar to her…a pair of deep, dark gray-blue eyes haunted her memory, a build like Sesshomaru's, a voice calm and low like his too, powerful, but this one had been distinctly different and younger. Shishi-sama, the heir to…where was she?
A floorboard squeaked and she turned rapidly in that direction, only to totter precariously as a wave of dizziness coupled with nausea swept through her. Even as her heart raced with fear at the possibilities of whoever it might be that was stalking up on her in the dimness of the vast, unfamiliar room, a warm, familiar voice broke through to her, squashing her terror. "Kagome…"
She saw the strong frame that her husband sported easily enough, caught the faint light that was shining off his silver locks. "Inuyasha!" she gulped, trying to move off the strange futon, out of the thick, overheated white furs to reach to him, but he got to her first.
His arms closed around her protectively, enveloping her in his comforting warmth. She sighed into his chest, savoring his scent. Sometimes she mused that Inuyasha's keen senses were rubbing off onto her. Just as her scent had come to mean so much to Inuyasha, his in turn had become a security blanket for her. All was right when his warmth, his arms, and his scent, were surrounding her.
The pup squirmed between them, and cooed. When Kagome peeked open one eye at him she saw that the child had begun to reach for his father's red robes with one little clawed fist. Inuyasha's purr-like liquid laughter rumbled from him then, bringing a smirk to Kagome's face in the dark.
"I missed you too, pup." Inuyasha's hands, vicious claws turned into gentle teasers and ticklers, scooped Koinu up and away from Kagome's lap and into his own. His nails trailed over the little child's flesh soothingly and Koinu squealed with baby laughter, squirming in Inuyasha's hold. After a moment he let up with the tickling and let Koinu fondle his fingers, hands, and claws. The pup dragged his father's index finger into his mouth and began to make a quiet, contented purring sound as he suckled on it.
Through Koinu's contented rumbles, Kagome realized that Inuyasha was staring at her in the dim light, his ears back turned in some sort of distress…in a moment she blinked, looking around as if for the first time, realizing that they weren't home, and apparently, weren't exactly safe…she threw her husband a worried look, knowing he could see it much better than she could've in the dark. "Inuyasha—what's going on…?"
One hand snaked out and touched faintly to her cheek. "Don't worry about it Kagome…you just keep yourself and the pup safe for me…" his tone was one of guilt and regret, and Kagome felt a tightening in her heart that she tried to destroy before it made her tear up. If he scented those tears… "I have to do something for an albino bitch before you and Koinu will be safe again."
Kagome pressed his hand closer to her cheek and frowned against him, letting him feel and see her reaction to his words. "Inuyasha…" she sighed, momentarily caught up by the sweet, loving, content sounds of their son, "I trust you…but please—"
"No, you can't come with me Kagome, I'm sorry, but you can't. Not only is it too dangerous but…" she cut him off with a swift but gentle finger applying pressure against his moving lips.
"Shh…" she whispered, moving closer to him, "It's okay…I trust you. Whatever you say you need to do, and whatever you say is best for me to do while you're away doing it, I believe you, I'll do whatever you tell me to." Hesitantly she brushed her lips over his cheek and then, tenderly, over his lips as well.
She felt the hand that wasn't being used as a pacifier by Koinu bury itself in her hair, combing through it, and when their lips silently parted for a moment he took a deep, shaky breath, "Kagome," he whispered, and she could see the shine of his eyes through the dim light, "I'm sorry…" with a shock she felt warm moisture under her thumb as it grazed across his cheek.
"What for!" she was caught between laughing and crying in her confusion and worry over him.
"Sorry that I wasn't there to rescue you at the well when that damn hanyou-eating monster came for you…"
Blinking in stunned silence, Kagome stiffened suddenly, memories of a trauma that didn't seem to be happening to her, but rather someone else, as if it were a dream or an out of body experience, flashed before her. She shuddered in the wake of their tidal wave of power.
"Kagome?" Inuyasha shook her a little and Koinu whimpered in his lap, sensing the change in his parent's conversation. "Kagome!"
She shook her head and forced herself out of the strange reverie—only to gasp as a terrible pain entered her skull, ricocheting about it like echoes through a cavern. As she scrabbled at her temples and skull, trying to force the pain away as if it were a physical beast, swarming around her in the real world, a fatigue descended on her and made her shake. Her senses faded out for several seconds and then surged forward again; she shivered weakly in Inuyasha's strong arms.
"Kagome! What's wrong!" he rasped at her, she could hear Koinu whimpering fearfully.
"I-it's n-nothing." She stuttered, forcing the last of the terrible pain away. "Nothing at all…I'm just tired." For some reason this angered Inuyasha—though he didn't mention it at all, she could tell by the way his grip on her tightened and she could feel the bite of his claws even through the thickness of the jacket she was still wearing. But as fast as the emotion had come it vanished and he seemed to sag, enveloping her into his arms again and holding her close to him, near his pulsing heart.
In the dark he started to explain to her Taikokajin's appearance, and her nemesis, the hanyou-eating creature called Garou. When he spoke of such things Kagome's slender arms tightened around him with emotion, and Inuyasha was just able to scent her distress. He knew, without having to ask, that she was feeling his compassion for the hanyous involved…and for the fear that their son qualified…
"I understand, Inuyasha," she whispered when his story paused, her arms were still wrapped around him tightly, clinging to him like a lifeline. Koinu squealed and cooed between them, pleased by the closeness, the comfort, that his parents combined presence had on him. The pup's baby sounds directed both of their attentions to the child, and they observed him silently, lovingly…and sadly. The world was a dangerous place for something so beautiful, so innocent, and so helpless as a pup. As much as they loved and adored the child it was also a difficult thing to come to terms with: the knowledge that perhaps this son of theirs might never live to have pups of his own, and might die before they did. Could they handle such a loss?
Koinu gurgled and pointed his bright blue eyes up at his mother and father, looking between them keenly.
With her eyes still on the pup Kagome sighed, "I think that if this Garou monster had Koinu…" she shook her head, "I'd act just as Taikokajin has…to save my child."
Inuyasha lifted his gaze to stare in something close to outrage at his mate, but then, before he could shoot his mouth off at her, he noticed her expression. It was one she wore on her face when dealing with him long ago, in the days when he and she had been merely friends, seeking Jewel Shards, and he had been smitten still with Kikyo. It was a look, an inward glimmer of patience and understanding, that she'd offered him continuously. She'd loved him all that long time ago herself, wanted him so badly, and been so hurt when he ceaselessly chose Kikyo over her, but it wasn't in her nature to back away from pain selfishly. She stayed with him, endured it all, and succeeded.
Why would she wear that expression now?Whatever it was, he sensed, after many years living with her, that it wouldn't be wise to disagree. The expression was one of sweetness and compassion—empathy he supposed…but it was also a look of doggedness. Kagome was determined somehow…he scowled in the dark but said nothing about his observations, or about how he disagreed.
"Kagome…whatever happens, please, look after yourself and our pup, please. Don't trust anyone in this castle…"
She looked to him with concern and worry flickering in her eyes, "Do you think that she would hurt us, even when her daughter and her heir are at stake?" she asked, partly incredulous, but also genuinely worried. She trusted Inuyasha's abilities in summing up their enemies and allies alike.
He looked away, scowling again. "I don't know. She's young enough to have more pups if she wanted. If she doesn't like her own heir she could just use me to kill him…" the frown deepened, "But I doubt it," he met her gaze in utter seriousness, the golden eyes shining through the dim light of dawn, "That's the only reason I'm going to work with that pink bitch…" although Inuyasha suspected it was within his ability to easily slaughter the whole lot of people in the castle, both human and demon alike if he so wished, he had realized, upon first coming to Lady Taikokajin's lands, that it was exceptionally unwise. If he killed them to free Koinu and Kagome and take them home wouldn't the inuyoukai clan in all its fame, strength, and superiority of numbers, follow him to the ends of the earth to exact revenge? He was a worthless hanyou to them, after all, right? Taikokajin—bitch though she was, and not, in Inuyasha's mind, in the innocent doggish meaning—was a leader, a lady, an empress…he wasn't even a member of the clan the last he'd known…
Kagome took his chin, turning his face back so that he could look at her again, and offered him a tenderly genuine smile. "Whatever happens…" her eyes gleamed slightly with substantial pride, "We've survived far worse."
Inuyasha leaned in close to her, taking in her scent, his lips whispering against the skin of her cheek. A deep rumbling started in his chest, comforting Kagome, drawing her closer. She melted against him, burying her face into the crook where his shoulders and neck met. Still clinging to his father, sitting in Inuyasha's lap, Koinu gurgled and made experimental sounds with his tongue and lips happily. He knew nothing of the silent, meaningful exchange that went on between his parents, their tender goodbyes, silent promises of forever, whether it was in this world or the next.
For a brief, exultant moment the couple was already touching forever, enshrouded by it, encompassed in its strong arms, lost only in the comforting presence of the other—but time refused to turn her head for too long. Soon enough Inuyasha's senses returned to him with urgency, and the hanyou stiffened, his white ears swiveled on his head. Footsteps echoed through the hallways of the palace.
"What is it?" Kagome whispered, without opening her eyes at all, she didn't need those to be able to sense her husband's moods, the change in him.
"Someone's coming."
Koinu whimpered, immediately noticing his parents' new demeanor. Kagome started to scoop him up into her arms protectively, but Inuyasha's hand fell on hers, stopping the motion. Their eyes met and Kagome felt her stomach lurch as she recognized, even in the dim light, that Inuyasha was going to bid his pup goodbye as well, thought Koinu would never remember it. She fought the instinct to reach out, in a sort of denial, to pull their son away from him, as if insisting 'Kiss him later, Inuyasha—when you get back.' But she stilled her needy hands, her eyes fighting the sudden sting of tears as she watched her husband tweak their child's ears, making the baby squeal joyously, little blue eyes crinkling in glee.
His mother was wearing her sword, Shimofuri noted as he joined her procession that morning. Her pink eyes glittered—but not kindly or gently—when he saw her in the hall, waiting on him. Her robes were dark this morning, somber and informal. Her obi still didn't contain the characters that announced her name or her position proudly, though once again, as he joined her, Shimofuri had chosen to wear his simple white kimono and blue-gray obi bearing his name formally. It struck the young lord that he and his mother were separate even in the simple manner in which they chose to dress…he felt a pang of remorse at it.
Immediately as he bowed to her—deeper than usual—he sensed her bristling anger just beneath the surface, tinged with something else he couldn't name just yet. "Mother," he greeted, coldly, "Would you walk out in the gardens with me this lovely morning?" nearly every morning he had done thus, since being old enough to walk any distance beside her. Taikokajin made time for such things even in the midst of war. Yet now Shimofuri doubted that she would keep with warm tradition. More likely she would want him to immediately take their hanyou cousin out of the castle so she could proceed to steal the couple's pup away…
She surprised him, "Yes, chakunan," she nodded once, "I would very much like to walk with you." She extended her hand lightly toward him and he accepted it, grasping the delicate, but thickly clawed hands into his own. They walked through the halls, the floorboards whispering beneath them. A servant followed at a distance; a young human girl in a skimpy kimono, waiting on Taikokajin, ready to jump at her slightest command.
They came into the center courtyard. Green assaulted the senses, pollen tickled Shimofuri's nose. A cherry blossom petal fluttered through the air, as pink as Taikokajin's eyes. Mother and son took to a dirt path, crossing through the groves of maples and birches and cherry trees. Lilac and mulberry bushes squatted alongside the trail.
Like Sesshomaru, ruling in the west, Taikokajin kept her gardens carefully controlled—enchanted one might've said. Her demonic energy kept the snow away, forced the trees into suspended animation—to them it was always middle spring. Outside the snow was just beginning to melt, inside the castle it had melted already and the blossoms were all newborns.
A sweet smell lingered in the air, flowed on the breeze—but neither inuyoukai sensed it, their thoughts and minds were attuned clearly to the other, searching each other. A silent game went on as mother and son strolled through the gardens. Other walks—and there were so many to think of!—might've been walked in silence, but none of them compared to this one. Those were a companionable silence, or a contemplative one, this, however, was a monster, lurking over the heir and the ruling lady's heads.
The servant waited, as the shy sun began to peek over the tapered roof of the castle, for mother and son to come out of their garden retreat. She was tense, wringing her hands…nothing was right or as it should've been that morning.
It was Shimofuri that lost the battle. "Mother," he began, nearly whispering, "You are angered at my motion to lend myself to the hanyou." It wasn't a question.
"Of course I am—you idiot." She scowled; her fine, possibly beautiful face marred and mixed up, "You are my heir." Her pink eyes pinned him, outraged abruptly. "Without you my lands go to one of your muddle-headed cousins."
Alarmed, Shimofuri threw his mother a sideways glance, "You are a young woman, Mother." He offered, softly. He wasn't actually sure how old she was—less than 600 years he was certain, and by demon standards that wasn't all that much. She wasn't subject to the human woman's middle-aged infertility, the curse of menopause. Thousand year old demon women were known to birth healthy offspring if they felt so inclined, though generally they didn't. Thus, his mother's words sent chills of worry and shock through him. Does she sense her own doom is imminent?
Taikokajin's clear face was cold and pale—frigid. He had only rarely seen her so cold. "The clan will no longer send me a mate, chakunan. And even if they did…" her face wrinkled, "It would do no good."
Confused, Shimofuri uttered one small, quiet growl. "Mother…"
"Silence." She hissed, facing him sternly suddenly, and Shimofuri obeyed as if he'd had a spell placed on him. His mother's pink gaze drilled into him, a wordless order, a decree he couldn't, wouldn't dare disobey or defy. His blue-gray eyes locked with hers, waited.
"It is time we went to fetch the hanyou and send you on your way with him." Her words dripped with acid, her scent struck him strongly—a mixture of fear and anger, "Keep yourself alive until the furui beast has been eliminated and Tsukiyume safe," she paused a moment, apparently fighting the thought of the opposite happening as well, "Then kill Inuyasha—do you understand?" her voice was reasonable, but his mind reeled at what she suggested—did she honestly believe it was a sane thing for her to request?
His tight expression revealed more than he likely wished it to as he stared back at her, hating the thought that he might have to obey her. "Why? Why is it necessary? So that you can have his pup…?"
She narrowed her eyes at him, the pink eyes gleamed hard, full of annoyance. "You are too shortsighted my son. Too much so, I sometimes fancy that you are too foolish to make a decent lord." When her prodding failed to get Shimofuri to argue, she tried a softer tone with him, words that made more sense. "I suspect, whether you and the hanyou slay Garou soon or not, by the time you do it will be too late for our cousin's human mate."
Her son blinked once, caught momentarily by surprise. It was true, at times he forgot little details that his mother ruthlessly remembered and tackled. He supposed that the hanyou's human mate's condition—with her soul under the slow, torturing withdrawal determined by Garou—had been unnoticed by everyone but his mother because the woman simply showed no sign of illness. It was unusual, Shimofuri wondered idly if the mortal mate of the hanyou had some power they didn't know of yet—but unless she demonstrated it or confessed it they'd never really know. Few demons could sense human powers, if they had any.
For clarification he asked, gently, "You say that she will die no matter the outcome of this?"
Her eyes narrowed on him once more, and in that second Shimofuri knew that that wasn't the only reason his mother had—it was simply the most reasonable one. "Yes," she murmured, her lips sounding thick, "And because she'll die no matter what, when Inuyasha returns with you and Tsukiyume and finds her that way…"
"He shall kill me and Tsuki both." He finished, pursing his lips pensively.
Taikokajin stared at her son's face carefully for several long seconds and then nodded once, slowly, deliberately. "Yes, he will—that is why you must kill him first…"
"Mother," he bowed to her once, briefly, "I believe what you ask of me is impossible. Our cousin is legendary." He spoke formally, coldly, letting her sense how stubborn he was on this topic. "He defeated Naraku."
She blinked once, as if her son had told her that he could sprout a third arm. "You doubt your strength? You doubt the strength of the clan, of your heritage as an inuyoukai?"
His answer was immediate, "No…"
"Then you shall do as I say." She snapped, tired of his words, of his voice. Taikokajin strolled ahead of him, her kimono over-robes trailing along the smooth, pebbled path. She was heading back toward the castle.
After a lingering moment, during which Shimofuri closed his gray eyes, scenting the sweet breeze once, and then he followed after his mother, expressionless.
The door to the guest room slid open wide, revealing two richly dressed inuyoukai and several guards. Greeting them was the warmth between the tiny family that the guest room housed. Kagome stared on affectionately while Inuyasha snuggled Koinu, the pup squealed.
Shimofuri felt suddenly sick inside seeing it. The love, the caring in the room was of a sort he remembered from his own years as a pup. He could recall his father wrestling with him, rumbling low in his chest to offer the paternal comfort an inuyoukai son needs. Also his memories were filled with images and recalled sensations left by his mother's influence on him, her touch, her laughter, her tickles, and her jokes. She had sung to him as a child, lulled him with legends of their kind transposed into music. But always his two parents had loved him apart from the other. Seeing his cousin holding the pup, his mate clearly enjoying the scene nearby, made Shimofuri tense with an eerie, inexplicable longing…his gaze slid once to his mother and then, unsatisfied, bitterly away.
Taikokajin, in turn, seeing the small family's interactions, reacted quite differently. Inuyasha's low rumbling reminded her of her own father too, sent her head swimming fondly…but the sight of the hanyou with the pup made her bristle. The child, adorable and helpless in its father's arms, with the human woman looking on, disturbed her to the core. The power Inuyasha held bothered her…the pup, who so looked like his father, the deep paternal rumble that was simply irreplaceable among inuyoukai…a pang of something close to envy or jealousy leapt into her soul, squeezed like a fist.
She stepped forward, barked her cousin's name, "Inuyasha."
The human woman withdrew slightly, moving to place Inuyasha between herself and the door to the room. Inuyasha drew his attention away from his child, a scowl etched on his face as if carved in stone. "Bitch?" he queried simply.
Taikokajin ignored his insult. "It is time that you leave. Shimofuri shall, of course, accompany you."
The pup passed from father to mother, clinging to her for a moment before his plaintive whimper rose—needy and clearly demanding. Kagome's face reddened and she rocked her son, trying to get him to forget his newfound hunger for the moment. Inuyasha rose to his feet, his stance and gait stiff as he strode toward his two distant cousins.
"Well Shimo-kun," he growled, eyes darting between the pink gaze of Taikokajin and the gray eyes of his new traveling companion, "We might as well get this damn thing started."
The beast stirred, growling in his deep, thick, unnatural voice. His mind was sharp as a tack and recovered, miraculously. He rose to his feet, shook his head, clearing the final mists away. The dark magic swirled and pulsed, and then faded, dying off…
Garou looked around the clearing, cautiously. His ears detected nothing and he relaxed, turning his attention to the slumped, lifeless bodies of his latest casualties. One, still struggling to draw breath, was a half cat demon girl, about 11 years old by human standards. The other was older, about 25 he guessed in human years, a wolf hanyou.
The cat hanyou, he recalled, having stumbled over her while she was dozing in the sunlight. He cast a sleeping spell over her, dampening her senses, leaving her in a thick, irresistible sleep, akin to a coma. The wolf hanyou, meanwhile, had been one of three, all of them sisters. The one he'd captured had been out seeking herbs to help some sick human…and he'd subdued her just as he did all the others. Every one of them fell to him while they were minding their own various businesses, never suspecting that they would meet the terror that awaited them…
After capturing them, Garou always carted the hanyous off to the nearest lake. He liked using spots that were close to water. Using his dark magic the ancient demon would suspend his victims, sheltering them from time and consciousness, then he stole their souls, each and every one of them—storing them in a bright blue gem that he wore tightly about his neck secured by a leather strap. Even in his true form, the gem never parted with him. It was his Soul Stone, related to the Shikon Jewel in some ways, though it housed only one type of soul—hanyous—but could hold hundreds, not just four, at a time.
Without their precious souls, the half-demon's bodies were easy to disperse. Garou literally could chant a spell that turned the bodies into water if he so wished—or even eat them himself. Some bodies—because they were good looking, like pretty decorations, life-sized, real-feeling dolls—he kept longer than others. One of these was the pink-eyed bitch's hanyou whelp, the one called Tsukiyume. He'd left her body slung over the branch of one of this clearing's trees. The girl's legs and arms hung limply down, disguised by the tree's tendril-like extensions—the thing was a weeping willow—none would be able to spot her well.
It was only the souls of the hanyous that he needed—particularly inuhanyous and wolf hanyous—not their actual bodies. He consumed their souls like candy from the bluish Soul Stone he wore about his neck. To close his injuries from Shimofuri's attack on him of several days ago, for example, had cost about a hundred souls. To simply remain living when he should've died millennia ago, cost about one a day. But those were non-inu and non-wolf hanyous, those were the cheap fixes. Like an addict looking for the next big thing to try, Garou knew a way to make one soul go a lot farther—consuming the soul as well as sucking the blood, of a dog or wolf hanyou.
That was why, as the young wolf demon's form settled onto the earth, growing colder and colder as her body died without the aid of her soul, Garou stalked over to her, growling. Using two huge, rough, unevenly clawed hands flung the limp woman onto her back so that her face stared up unseeingly at the sky…he lowered his fangs to her neck and flesh ripped, crimson spilled, dribbled and leaked. After a time he snarled and spat, tossing the crumpled, limp, lifeless body away. It tumbled sickeningly, rolling down the embankment until it reached the lake water.
There was a splash and Garou sneered, slashing his claws through the dirt, clearing away the stench of wolf's blood, of hanyou's stink. To think what he'd been reduced to…and I was so close to freedom, so close…
His earth brown eyes flicked toward the willow tree where Tsukiyame, the pink bitch's whelp, was still sleeping under the spell he'd placed over her. He'd never had a chance to steal the girl's soul and imprison it inside his Soul Stone before the pink bitch had sent her gray-furred pup after him. At any rate he also was a little uncertain of the whelp's soul to begin with—it was different from most of the others, larger somehow. He'd kept her that way for bargaining leverage, and now he was glad he'd done it…the pup, the freedom I've longed for, is out there…waiting.
He'd seen the child, heard it screaming, the impossible made possible…
Long millennia ago his people, ancient mammalian predators of the earth, had ruled with brute and brawn. Brain wasn't necessary, but he considered himself not so short on those as well. They had survived and dominated to millions of long years, uncountable changes in the seasons…and then the earth had changed. It became colder. The animals that his demon kind represented disappeared. The spirits of the earth determined that his kind was no longer right for the earth. They were cursed: each one became sterile.
Without new pups born each season the demons dwindled and dwindled until only Garou and a few scant others remained. Garou, the expert on dark magic, suspended all of them in a deep sleep and left their bodies in a safe place while he went onward, seeking the curse's only deemed cure: a thing said to be impossible—the child of a male, highborn inuhanyou. Now Garou had finally found that thing. A highborn inuhanyou had reproduced and born a son. It was that pup that Garou needed to suck the life from.
And I came so fucking close!
He knew that he'd bargained with the pink bitch's full demon whelp—and that on the mentioned day—it hadn't gone through as he'd requested. The male hanyou called Inuyasha and the pup hadn't been returned to him. He still wasn't free…that meant he could kill Tsukiyume and the mortal mate of the hanyou. He was uncertain of going through with it nevertheless. The pink bitch's hanyou whelp had a different soul, it tended to refract his magic. And the mortal woman's soul was very much the same sort of thing. It was massive and powerful. Garou thought it'd take a day or more to extract it enough that the woman would really grow ill, let alone die the soul was that huge…
So he found himself hesitating, though he hated himself for it…there were always more hanyous to be found, subdued, vanquished, and finally consumed.
The thought of the pink bitch's whelp in particularly reached him. If he could get part of the girl's soul, perhaps, he might be able to possess her a little and control her, make her be the tool, his way to make the pink bitch hand over the hanyou pup of Inuyasha's. When the thought refused to leave him, Garou rose up from the place where he'd been lying in the sunlight of the clearing next to the lake, the tow most recent dead hanyou bodies around him, and walked toward the willow tree. Ducking under its tendrils he focused his mind on his dark powers. The blackness around him ebbed and flowed like the tides, reaching and then retreating and back again.
At first the magic was completely repelled by the girl, but after a time Garou found he could tweak it just enough to gain a little bit of access…and a little was all he needed. After all, the hanyou Inuyasha's pup was a tiny thing, but that child's life would be the last thing to redeeming his people, to restoring them in their proper place on the earth: the dominant predators. Cats and dogs and wolves were all jokes to Garou, they were nothing like the saber-toothed hyena beasts of the millennia passed.
Nothing like the creodonts…
Endnote: Almost 300 reviews! WOW! How many chapters is this? 300 for only 17 is it? (blinks) WOW! THANK YOU EVERYONE!
ThankYouto all readers and reviewers:slummyreddragon, Tiamath thank you, I'm glad that I could please you, I've gotten lazy though in these last weeks and I need to pull my butt into gear, but thanks for understanding (hugs). BeccaPatty, SerenaClearwater hehe, I actually never meant for her to be so evil, she just wrote herself that way! (blinks) KumiTsukiChihiroItaiRindesayu whoo! Long name! Yami Chikara, FanstasyFreak he might do that but he has torn feelings... The Moonless Night Drawing? Pictures! YAYS! I'd LOVE to see it, if you do have the time, and thank you (grins) it makes me really happy to know I've done a good job describing something...(nods) and your ideas on Taikokajin, as well as your questions, are excellent ones! (grins) We'll just have to see... kirarakitty In the first story, "Hanyou"(first few chapters I think), I mention Kilala/Kirara and what became of her. Becuase Sango was off and on again pregnant and busy with babies (and in the anime it was mentioned that she passes through the generations of demon slayers) Kilala is helping a different slayer elsewhere until Sango's children are older or until Sango's slaying career picks up again. In a further companion/sequel to "Hanyou" and this story I could tackle Miroku and Sango's story, and perhaps that of the second generation all together...in that one I would definately bring back Kilala. And I could pair Shimofuri with someone later perhaps ((blinks) more sequels?) but as an heir he must produce a full blooded youkai heir of his own...otherwise Taikokajin, who isn't like Sesshy at least in this way, wouldn't care who he chooses...interesting idea tho... Lady Mac sorry about your dyslexia (grins evily) adamile thank you! and yes, Shimo-chan has a soft family side to him that his mother doesn't have. It probably comes from his father. InuPhoenix (sniggles) I want a Shimofuri plushie too! FYI IY is mine, freelke wow! You're keeping up with me...I shall try to do as you request... orangepencils, TheDarkAngel101 shorter? I'm sorry...I'll try...I do tend to be long winded (smirks) sarah, NefCanuck,Sesshomaru13, fanfiction1(on Taikokajin)her character is evolved in my head deeply...I hope to get her clearly painted to everyone but in case I don't I may have to do as Sueric did, writing a series of one-shots and shorts that let the readers understand the characters better...I have her past written in my head, her "puppy"hood. Would you be interested? Anyone? DreamLily, ooo, really? Wow! I have recruiters now! (blushes) Inuadmirer (shakes her head) that darn thing just wasn't going to work! It's okay though, (bows) I thank you very much for trying, and for thinking of me...speaking of more babies, think Inu and Kag could handle another one? (winks) Mom the Manga Fan I knowbiting was one of the things that my own mother complained about, and she nursed all three of us until we were...gosh, who knows how old my littlest sister was...maybe three or four even! And bottle feeding not so quickly, I was just playing on her uncertainties as a young mother caught between our time and Inuyasha's time...I know babies can be very difficult when it comes to learning to take bottle vs. the real thing. But sometimes the bottle is an improvement--I was the firstborn in my family and my mother wanted to nurse me so much but she had no milk. I also refused a bottle, thusI suffered terrible cholic (spelling there? grr...) as a result and was a very unhappy baby for my first year or so until she could get me to eat semi-solids and drink out of a dish (I learned that I'm told as young as like 3 months)...hey, keep those comments coming, I'm a very naiive 19 year old, no kids of my own, only my mom's gushing stories (smirks) thank you! And the kimonos (blushes) that's my own obsession...sorry...I do it to force myself to visualize it as if it were memory... Shikou Good to have you! And great name... Roku hehe...my best prologue ever! (snickers) Lady Kjerston of the Western (nods) I love him too! (squees!) inuyasha'sbabe07 (picks up a red rose and sniffs it happily) Thank you! Ah...Myoga...I doubt he could've died in the battle b/c he wouldn't have really gotte near it seeing as he's such a coward...but as for his involvment in this story or the last one...all I can say (blushes) is "Oops..." (grins guiltily)
Kay, last notes: Creodonts were an ancient groupmammalian hunters, primitive with boxy heads and long tails like cats today. Thus their heads were like a dog's but their tails like a cat's and their bodies...I think most of them had five toes (no due claw...is that "dew" or "due" or something else completely different?) and big crushing teeth and "canines." They were examined on Discovery Channel's "Walking with Prehistoric Beasts" special a year or two or three ago...it has been argued that they are the ancestors of today's modern carnivores (dogs, cats, wolves, bears etc...) but lately it is believed that that's not true--they just went extinct. They lived I think about 30 million years ago...I think this is a good link for something of an idea about them if you're interested... http/ www. acnatsci. org/museum/ leidy/paleo/ hyaenodon.html ...I hope that that like works...just take out the extra spaces. Also the ucmp. site is very good and extensive...me being the nerd I am I get lost in it very happily.
Until next time! 13 days until I graduate...