Merry Christmas, my wonderful fans!!!! I got Lamb perfume by Gwen Stefani, a new VCR (retro, eh?), a gift card (snort), and a new bathrobe, which is verra nice. Hope you all enjoy your Christmas edition of Last of the Dogmen, it's a long one!
Mystical Hanyou - Ah, good morning, my friend! Long time no talk! How have you been? Myself... I've been better. Sometimes I think friends are overrated, but that may just be my problem. No, he hasn't eaten her, and I think you'll get a big surprise, lol... about your guess, drumroll... Sorry! Beauty and the Beast was not my inspiration. You were close! But I still love you anyway!!
Nimeway - BINGO! King Kong it is, very good! (Though I thought it was pretty obvious, no offense, MH!) So guess what? You get a one-shot! Any particular setting, characters, or crap like that you got a hankerin' to read about?? I am at your disposal!
Jennie - I have missed you so much!! How's married life treating you? And Amaya... I bet she's big now! I lost the pic you sent when my comp fried this past spring, I feel awful about it! It was priceless! You want it, do you? Well, your guess was right on, but Nimeway snuck herself in just before you did, but tell you what, I'll write another one just for you! At this rate, I'll write nothing but one-shots... sounds cool to me!
DemonDog113 - Your guess is correct! Unfortunately, as I said already, Nimeway slid in first, but I still appreciate your review, and your wonderful compliment. I had no idea you were such a huge fan! Thank you, and Merry Christmas, everybody!!
P.S. Okay, it isn't obvious if you've never seen the movie, I'm sorry. Forgive me, buddy? (You know who you are!)
Last of the Dogmen
Part Two - The Island from Hell
She was going to throw up.
Wherever this beast was taking her, she thought he must be trying to shake her to death before he ate her. When he'd snatched her up, his teeth slicing through her bonds like a hot knife through butter, she thought for sure she was a goner. But, amazingly, she was still hanging on.
He'd picked her up in his teeth, surprisingly gentle, but the ride had been nothing but up, down, side to side to side, twig scratches and hot breath pounding past her body, not to mention the tongue curled about her that seemed to be hotter than the lava she'd seen in that river back there. Screaming was no longer possible; her throat was raw, and no sound would come out.
She wondered vaguely where they were going as her head banged against a massive canine tooth for the twentieth time, and the tongue curled about her tightened slightly. It was then that she saw the gorge ahead.
Her throat still had something left as they sailed over it, she screaming the entire way.
Landing with a crash on the other side, the giant dog took off once again, knocking down whatever was in his way. He began to climb upward, and she saw brief flashes of sky through the ring of teeth around her.
Suddenly, the dog stopped, and above them, looking down from on top of a cliff, was a giant tiger demon.
Gods, no, Kagome thought, terrified. This dog wasn't the only monster on this island?? No way!
Looking down past his teeth, toward the ground, she could see little, but what she did see was enough to confirm her fears.
In a plain below, lush jungle grew, and there, grazing, were demons too many to count. There were so many, she thought that maybe dying by dog breath wasn't such a bad way to go, compared to that cat baring its teeth at them this very second.
Suddenly, without any warning, the dog barked, and Kagome's hands flew to her ears, the sound enough to rattle her brain around inside her skull. He kept barking, and the cat leapt down at them, and the dog closed his mouth, trapping Kagome in the wet darkness inside.
She knew they were rolling back down the mountain, and that there were plenty of obstacles outside, if the bumping and jostling was any indication. What the hell is going on out there?
The jaws opened suddenly and she was ejected, landing several yards away and covered in slime. She rolled to a stop against a tree, and watched in horror as the giant white dog took on the tiger without any hesitation, his fur already covered in mud and debris from the trip downhill.
The tiger roared, shaking the ground, and charged the dog, whose tail flew up as he charged at the same moment, taking the hit in the shoulder and throwing the big cat off balance, but its tail had quickly come up to correct that, slamming the dog across the eyes with a slap. The dog yiped, and Kagome watched as his eyes, blinking rapidly, began to bleed red, and red tears overflowed to stain his white cheeks.
The cat, pumping its shoulders, preparing to pounce, growled loud enough to make the earth tremble. It stood very close by, and, panicking, Kagome got up and took off into the jungle, crazed with fear.
She could still hear the battle going on behind her as a giant praying mantis loomed up before her through the ferns, hissing and clicking as it snapped its pincers at her, and she stopped dead, screamed, and ran back in the direction she'd come.
Maybe the dog isn't such a terrible demon, he's had multiple opportunities to eat me, and hasn't yet!
She burst out of the tree line to witness the tiger's demise, the dog having somehow snagged it behind the head, and, as it hissed and growled and roared, attempting to rake its claws down the dog's belly and spill his guts, the dog, biting down hard, twisted the cat's neck sharply, with a disgustingly loud crack, and shook it, to make sure it was broken. The cat still kicked, but its movements were spasmodic, and uncoordinated.
She stopped again, and stared up at the massive white demon as it howled in triumph, then stared down at her for a moment. She looked into his eyes, and saw that only the red stains remained of his bloody eyes. Now, they were the same golden shade they had been when she'd first seen him.
A crash behind her spurred her to run again as a tree trunk crashed into the soil where she'd been standing just seconds earlier, and, backing out toward the dog, they both watched the praying mantis make its destructive entrance, snapping its pincers at a much larger opponent than the puny human.
The dog bared its teeth, and the mantis vibrated its wings with a buzz that had Kagome's teeth pulsating together, and she tried to open her mouth to make it stop, but the pain only got worse as the vibrating wings picked up speed, making the very air seem to blur before her eyes.
The dog barked, his own ears flattened against his head, and leapt at the insect, biting off its head.
The pincers came up and snapped shut around the dog's neck, and Kagome tried to scramble back in the dirt as the head landed near her with a crash and a shower of slobber. She had no time to think as the bug's body followed soon after, the dog ripping off one of its pincers and tossing it away. He stood there, his lips drawn back, panting hard.
Kagome uncovered her eyes, having done so a moment ago when a shower of dirt from the body had landed on her, and just looked at her captor.
Chest heaving, the dog stared at her through narrowed eyes, as if daring her to run. She didn't move. Is this demon saving me for later, or protecting me?
It's tongue, hanging from its mouth, looked as if someone had run it through a punch-press in a factory. It was ragged and perforated like paper. She noticed, too, that his body was slowly turning red, from the many claw marks he'd sustained from his fight with the tiger, and several bite wounds around his neck from the mantis dripped in rivulets onto the dirt beneath him.
Getting up slowly, using the tree behind her for support, she began to approach the dog, her eyes never leaving his. He sat down on his rump, still heaving, but watched her like a hawk. Soon she stood in front of him, craning her neck up to see his face, and she noticed the markings there, not from fights (although there were several scars), but from something else. They reminded her of the marks on Sesshoumaru's face, back home in the Feudal Era.
She frowned. I'm still in the Feudal Era, right?
A thought dropped in the pit of her stomach like a stone into a pond. Was she ever going to see her home again? She didn't know where she was, except that she was on an island in the ocean somewhere off Japan. Her eyes grew moist as she worried she'd never see her mother, brother, or grandfather ever again, or any of her friends, or... or Inuyasha.
She sniffled. He'll come after me, won't he?
Not if he doesn't know you're gone, her mind answered, and she sunk to her knees, her hand over her mouth, and tears spilling down her cheeks, as the shadow of the giant dog loomed over her.
Above her, the scent of tears assaulted his battered face, and the dog brought his head down to nudge her gently, but she ignored him, or was too distraught suddenly to care.
Kagome felt the dog's cold nose nudge her, but a mixture of fear and despair stopped her from responding. Right now, it almost didn't matter if he did decide to eat her. Without anyone to be by her side, alone and trapped on this island full of enormous, man-eating demons, life just didn't seem worth living.
Wiping her eyes, she berated herself for wallowing her self-pity. Crying about it wouldn't get her off this island.
Sighing, she stood, and the dog, once again wrapping her up in his tongue, loped away, up the dark mountain, higher into the night sky, where the air became thinner but the view more spectacular than she could have ever imagined.
They finally arrived at what looked like a crumbling wall, low to the ground, cresting the top of the mountain like a miniature of the Great Wall, in China. He carried her around a corner and into a cave, which opened up onto a ledge fifty feet above the original opening.
Dropping her again in another puddle of slimy drool, he padded away to sit and watch the horizon brighten, the first sign of sunrise. Kagome shivered, noticing for the first time how cool it was, and how much more difficult it was to breath at this altitude. Her body felt heavy, and she realised she'd been awake all night.
The dog's tail curled around him, and, as she watched his back, the sun slowly rose, wreathing him in a golden halo, his dirty fur disguised under the gilding of light.
She yawned, and wondered again why the dog hadn't eaten her. She was clearly meant to be a sacrifice, or at least those people had set her up as one. Did this dog eat people?
Glancing around, she saw bones, but they were enormous; the femur of a deer, the skull of an elephant - elephant?? - and several vertebrae too big to be human lying about.
She yawned again, and noted the sad state of her clothing. She pulled out her shirt from her chest and thought, Well, I guess Mom will have to buy me another uniform - if I make it back, that is. Her skirt was in tatters, and she was completely covered in dirt, blood, and slobber, not to mention the leaves and twigs in her hair.
Looking around, she spotted a spring in the wall of granite that formed this mountain cave, and watched a slow rivulet shimmer down the wall where it pooled in a small puddle on what would constitute the floor of the cave. Leaning over, she looked at her reflection, and almost fainted. Her hair was matted, and her face caked with mud. Her arms were all scratched up, and her legs were too, her shoes and socks long ago lost on the journey here. She hissed in pain as she palpated a purple bruise on the side of her thigh, and the long scratch over her collar bone stung like acid on her skin.
While his back was turned, even though she knew the giant demon was only a dog, she quickly pulled off what remained of her shirt and used it as a washcloth. Tearing it up, she figured her bra was good enough covering as she wrapped the wrung-out strips of cloth around her shins and feet, to protect them, and decided to leave her skirt as it was, even though it barely covered what it should. Oh well, not like anyone's gonna see me, she sighed, and wondered why she'd even feel self conscious in front of the dog but in her experience, not all demons were just like the animals they resembled. They often had personalities and desires of their own, and even spoke like humans did, but strangely, this one hadn't said a word. She wondered if it was really just a simple dog demon.
Said dog, who knew exactly what she was doing back there, forced himself to stare straight ahead. He didn't understand why those stupid human natives thought they had to sacrifice human women to him, but nevertheless, he did what he could to keep them alive, even going as far to help them escape, but sometimes, they were unfortunate, and were killed here. He always felt like it was his fault for not getting to them in time to prevent their deaths, which were usually at the jaws of the demons he shared his island prison with, although one had fallen to her death, but he didn't like to recall that. He preferred to remember those whom he'd grown attached to and helped to escape to once more live a normal life where they weren't running all the time to preserve it.
Yawning, he leaned to his right, letting his thigh bear the brunt of his weight. He sensed that this woman was special, but for what reason, he couldn't fathom. She had a purpose in her life, that much was obvious, but what that purpose was, stumped him.
Kagome suddenly remembered the Sacred Jewel, and reached for her neck where it usually hung, but felt nothing there except the tooth and claw necklace the natives had given her. She panicked, then remembered what she'd done with it, before panicking again.
Oh, damn it! She thought, frowning. I left it in my jacket, wherever it is! Damn, I knew I'd ruin that jacket!
She thought of the garment torn up and adorning some dancing natives' headdress, and almost cried. The one thing she would have had to remember her mother by, had to be the one thing she'd left behind, not to mention left the Jewel in! Arrgg!! And would keep me warm!
She stood up, angry at herself for being so careless, although she figured she'd be used to that by now. She was always careless, Inuyasha was always telling her so. How she could have possibly forgotten that was beyond her, and once more tears came streaming down her face.
A low growl came from the dog, and she looked up, right into its face looking back at hers in a curious manner. Averting her gaze, she looked at her hands and noticed a trickle of blood making its way down her wrist. She turned her arm, and there, on her elbow, was a bloody gash crusted around the edges with dried blood and dirt.
She gasped. Great. Not only am I stuck here, but I lost the Jewel, and I'll probably get hypothermia and die of a blood infection. Damn it all to hell!
She crumpled to the ground, her head in her hands, but looked up again as the dog whimpered. His eyes, which only a short while ago had bled red with rage, were now as gentle as a puppies'. They reminded her of Inuyasha's eyes, and she wondered if perhaps they were the same species. She doubted this thing could be his father, since he'd died a long time ago, but she still wondered. And besides, it was apparent nothing could leave this island. He couldn't be...
She smiled a little, and, getting up, approached the dog with caution. She circled him until she was on the ledge before him, the drop-off only feet away. It was windy up here, and her hair whipped around her head like a flag. The dog's fur rustled, too, and, looking even closer than she'd had a chance to before, she noted the bloody wounds and dirty fur, and felt something in her gut tighten. Was he in pain?
Kagome looked at the ground again in thought. She was a miko. She could heal wounds. But she could also purify demons. Could she heal one without killing it? She didn't know. She'd had too little training, having had barely any time for it between school, battles, and searching for shards, but Kaede had told her she had it in her, as Kikyou once had.
Kikyou immediately soured her thoughts. She wondered if Inuyasha was with her right now... Get a hold of yourself, girl, she berated herself. Concentrate!
Reaching out, she looked up into the dog's eyes and slowly came closer, and his eyes narrowed suspiciously, and the growl became louder.
Kagome hesitated. Was she brave enough to do this? She wouldn't know until she tried, so she began to move once more.
The dog watched her closely, and as soon as she touched his claw-wound, her hands began to glow, and he knew what it was about her that he'd been unable to put his finger on, so to speak. She was a priestess, and her touch was burning him!
He jumped up, shaking the rock ledge, and Kagome was knocked backwards, almost skidding off the edge. The dog barked, deafeningly, and backed up, baring his fangs at her, then dipping his head to lick the wound. It was half-knitted closed, and she smiled a little, happy that it had worked, but was astonished to see that after a few licks from that god-awful looking tongue, the wound had disappeared!
He can heal himself, she realised, and looked up at him with wonder. In return, he seemed to glare back at her, but laid back down again just the same.
She remained where she'd fallen, and just stared at him. He eventually looked away, and she tried to stand, but only got to her knees before he'd whipped his head back in her direction and started to growl again.
I must have burned him when I tried to heal him, she thought, and wondered what she'd have to do to earn his trust, for she'd had no desire to hurt him. In fact, she felt no apprehension toward him at all, until he'd growled at her like that, but even now, she sensed he had only been acting in self-preservation.
Standing all the way up, despite his angry stare, she approached him again. And this time, he made as if to snap at her, but she tried something different.
Stopping right in front of him, his breath fluttering the tatters that were her skirt, she dropped down and bowed before him.
The dog snorted. Was she submitting herself? If she was, she wasn't doing it right, but she was close enough.
His growling subsided to a low thrum, like a purr, and when she looked up, his face was turned away. She reached out to touch him, careful to keep her holy powers quiet, and he turned to look at her, before he dragged that ragged tongue up her body in a slobbery lick, cleaning the dirt and grime off her.
Kagome closed her eyes and thought, Ewwww!!, but when she opened them again, her skin was much cleaner than when she'd tried to wash it in the spring moments before.
She was powerless to stop him as he seemed to have decided to finish what he'd started, for with one massive clawed-paw, he pulled her closer and licked her until her whole body felt raw. Looking at her skin where he'd licked it, it appeared flawless; all her cuts and scrapes were gone!
Kagome said out loud without realising it, "Holy shit."
The dog gave her one last lick that brought her to her backside on the ground, right between his paws. He looked out over the expanse of land below, his purring constant. She reached out and touched the fine white hairs at his neck, and pressed her hand down to feel his pulse beating under his skin. He whined a little, and brought his head down, resting it on her head.
She frowned momentarily. What am I, a headrest?!
She began to laugh, and he looked down at her with his tongue hanging out and what she swore was a smile, though with dogs you never really knew.
Turning to face him, she giggled when he pushed her over with his snout, so she lay flat on her back, and he brought his nose down close to her face, and blew out through it, covering her with a mist of slime, again.
"Yuck!" She wiped her face, and he happily licked her clean once more, nosing her up again so he could reach her hard-to get-to places, and she thought, He did that on purpose!
Kagome was beginning to think this dog was hiding something, like intelligence. Human intelligence. She backed away and he watched her curiously as she decided to try something.
Picking up a rock, she tossed it up in the air a few times and gauged his face for a reaction; any ordinary dog would freak out, thinking you wanted to play fetch with it. This dog, however, simply looked at her, and one of his eyes narrowed.
Not going to take the bait, hm? We'll see about that.
It was risky, her next idea, but it would prove he was really concerned about her well-being, and didn't just regard her as his new play-thing.
Stepping back carefully, she got closer and closer to the edge of the cliff, the warm morning sun glistening off her slobber-damp skin, and she noted that he closed his mouth and gave her a stare as if to ask, What are you doing, Missy?
Reaching her goal, she let herself fall off, hoping to the gods he'd catch her, and, sure enough, before her foot had even left the rocks, his tongue had darted out to snatch her, and had moved her back further than necessary, as if he thought she might do that again.
I knew it! Kagome thought triumphantly. There is someone in there behind those golden eyes!
She wondered who he was, what his name was, his age, everything came flooding through her mind as she came up with a way to communicate with him, hoping she wasn't wrong about his intelligence.
Patting his face, which made him wag his tail, she said out loud, "I've got some questions for you, doggie. Bark once for yes, twice for no. Okay?"
He tilted his head at her. Was she on to him? He'd show her how smart she was.
"Do you have a name?"
He blinked. Of course he had a name. He was sure she would know it, too, soon enough. They always figured it out.
She frowned. He just looked at her like a dumb... dog. She made a moue with her mouth, then scowled. Alright, so you're not someone like Sesshoumaru in there, with a human form and an intelligent mind. Sue me for dreaming.
"Stupid dog," she muttered, and he glared and got up, leaving her in the cool wind by herself, to lie down again several metres away, with a snort.
She folded her arms and watched him go. Apparently he understood that remark.
She got up to wander around, since he no longer seemed interested in her. She thought maybe he had only a rudimentary intelligence, and she was giving him too much credit, but his over-bearing concern for her led her to believe otherwise. He had gone out of his way to protect her from those demons who'd tried to eat her, and he was gentle with her - despite her blown eardrums, which still rung from all the barking. He was more than what he appeared, of that much she was certain.
He kept an ear on her as the woman wandered around his lair, picking at this and that. He couldn't get her taste off his tongue, which was salty, yet... fruity. She tasted wonderful, actually, more so than any other woman he'd brought here, but, then again, not many of them let him clean them like that. Her trust in him seemed unerring. He'd smelled on her last night the faint scent of dog, and it had been familiar - too familiar. He wondered how that could be. He'd been confined here for most of his life, and had never left. He'd had a son, once, but... that was before he'd been banished, and he feared that he and his demon brethren here had been forgotten in time. His son had not been a powerful demon at the time of his banishment but he felt sure if that had changed, he'd have found his son here at some point.
The island was huge, even to his standards, but not so big as to be considered its own continent. He could walk across it in three days. And that was at a moseying pace, stopping to sniff anything that smelled interesting and fight off anything dumb enough to provoke him.
He longed for a day when he might return to his humanoid form at will, to be able to converse once again with others. This silent dog act was for the birds!
He closed his eyes, and began to drift off. She should be safe enough up here; he was sure she'd learned that running off on her own was dangerous back in the valley. Her fear had been almost over-powering then. He drifted.
Kagome noted the gentle rise and fall of his chest, and thought he must be asleep. She, herself, had been yawning pretty constantly, and thought sleep sounded like a great idea, but found her efforts in vain because of the cold up here; her chattering teeth and shivers barred her from any kind of sleep she hoped to get.
He opened an eye and glanced her way, seeing her balled up and freezing in a corner, and his heart turned over, instantly regretting his rough treatment of her earlier, and, getting up, he trotted toward her, licked her head, and brought her to a standing position with his tongue once again.
Kagome wondered what he wanted. She was so tired, and all she wanted to do was sleep, but it was so damn cold here! She thought for sure if she had any baguettes they'd be frozen by now! She stood, and his warm tongue enveloped her, staving off the worst of her shivers, and he turned in a circle, like all dogs do, before settling once again, his back to the wind, blocking it from even touching her, then released his hold on her and dropped her right next to his furry gut, curling up around her and covering her bare body with his tail, his warm breath a constant on her bumped flesh.
He's sharing his body heat with me, she realised, and smiled a little. She was convinced that she was right, but if he wanted to hide it, that was his prerogative. For now, she was content to bask in his heat, and let sleep overtake her.
Soon, both were sleeping soundly, curled into each other.
Sango slapped her neck for the umpteenth time in two hours. There were bugs everywhere!
They followed Inuyasha, or rather, the trail of destruction, single file. The wolves behind her could be heard chattering, sniffing, or snarling at each other as they passed through the jungle, Kouga doing nothing at all to straighten them out. For a leader, his disciplinary skills suck, she thought.
Kouga, himself, was trying to out-pace the hanyou, but he only got snapped at every time. He lifted a lip in disdain. If Inuyasha had any brains at all, he'd just accept his help and find her faster, but, he thought, then again, maybe Inuyasha was wise to him, for given the chance, he'd make off with Kagome and no one would be any the wiser - until they failed to find him, that is.
Miroku was sweating, and had gotten his robes caught on just about everything they passed. Before they'd gone three miles, his robes were shredded from the knee down. He sighed. No one else had this problem, but Shippo's reassuring glances kept his spirits up, and the island itself occupied his thoughts. Now that he was across the bridge and in the crater of this island, he could sense a time barrier, but not in the same sense as Horai Island. That barrier only allowed the island to appear every fifty years, letting no one in or out until the fifty-year time limit was up. But that was not the case here. This barrier, though barely detectable, was meant to keep things in. As he had seen for himself, it had been relatively easy to gain entry, even across the river of lava, which had made him plenty nervous, but he couldn't help but wonder if they'd have such an easy time getting out of here.
Maybe, when they found Kagome (he refused to say if), she would be able to shed some light on the situation, but, until he could confer with her, he was guessing, and even she may know no more than he did. He just didn't know, and the uncertainty of this place unnerved him.
Inuyasha, on the other hand, followed his nose, and what it told him was disturbing, to say the least, though Kagome's scent was coming through nice and constant, her fear dipping every now and then. But it was the dog-scent that bothered him, and he had to admit it was odd when even Kouga remarked, "This demon stinks like you, Mutt. Why is that?"
Inuyasha had been unable, and in no mood, to answer amiably, and so had only snarled at the stupid wolf, but he was curious, too. Could he be somehow related to the demon who'd stolen his best friend and, if he was lucky, future girlfriend?
It's coincidence, he told himself. It has to be. The old man's long gone, and he was the last of us, besides Sesshoumaru. Wasn't he?
Ahead, a gorge loomed, wide enough that even Kouga wouldn't consider jumping it. Sango suggested that Kirara could ferry them all over, but everyone knew that was impractical at best. Besides, Kirara was tired, and her fur matted with sweat. She seemed to welcome the rest this obstacle afforded her.
Miroku looked into the depths of the gorge and couldn't even see the bottom in the darkness. The sun was high above, and today marked Kagome's second day missing. Personally he held little hope they would find her alive, but, according to Inuyasha, her scent was still lively. They may get lucky yet.
Finally, Inuyasha declared they would camp here until they could find a way across, and he and Kouga went in opposite directions down the escarpment, looking for a log bridge or the end of the gaping hole separating them from the other side.
Sango settled in. This could be a long day.
By nightfall, Inuyasha and Kouga hadn't returned, and Sango was getting nervous.
Normally, she was the last to lose her cool in a tense situation, but all the noises they'd been hearing, coupled with the size of the bugs here, well... she was antsy, to say the least, and felt an overwhelming yet controllable urge to get off this island. She knew she would do what she had to, but that didn't mean she had to like it.
Shippo spent the majority of his time near the fire, even though the jungle was sweltering, despite the fall weather they should be having. Perhaps the heat of the volcano made it warmer here.
"Sango?"
She turned her attention to the kitsune, who stroked a sleeping Kirara with a gentle paw. "Yes, Shippo?"
He sniffled. "Will we ever find her?"
Sango smiled at him in the way her mother used to smile at her when she was small and worried about her father and the others when they would go on dangerous missions. "Yes, Shippo. We'll find her. Inuyasha will find her."
He looked away, to hide his tears. "I miss her, Sango."
Feeling her own emotions welling up, she scooped up the little boy and deposited him in her lap, where he turned his face into her chest and began to cry while she slowly stroked his back. "I miss her too, sweetheart. But I have faith in Inuyasha, and us. I have faith we'll find her alive."
Miroku found the two like this, having returned from a short trip into the jungle to relieve himself and gather up a few more dry sticks for the fire. "What's the matter, Shippo?"
"He's just worried about Kagome," Sango answered for him, resting her chin on Shippo's little red head. "We all are."
Miroku threw his sticks on the fire and sat down next to her. "Would you like me to pray for her safe return?"
Sango looked at him with tear-wet eyes. "Would you? I think we'd all feel better."
He nodded, and began in earnest, his friends listening contentedly, trying to quash the fear in their hearts.
When Kagome awoke, she was alone.
Rolling over and stretching, she felt the rock behind her still warm; he wasn't long gone. She opened her eyes, and there, looking down on her, was the dog. He licked her face to wake her up, and she thought fuzzily, Is he nocturnal or something? Night is for sleeping, stupid!
"I'm up, I'm up," she mumbled, and he turned away, looking at her as if she should follow.
She did, and he brought her down the mountain, quietly, as if he didn't want to give his presence away.
He must be hunting, she thought, surprised he would bring her along. She didn't think she could control her fear if things got too dangerous again.
Finally reaching level ground, he nudged her from behind and bent down, tilting his head toward her. At first, she was puzzled, but when he got closer to her and tried to knock her down, she finally understood that he wanted her to climb up his ear and sit on his back.
When she was comfortably in place, he took off, and she enjoyed the much improved weather as the warm breeze blew back her hair.
He ran for a while, and then took her into dense jungle, before depositing her fairly high up in a tree. She watched in trepidation as he moved away, a white blob in the blackness, for the canopy above blotted out whatever moonlight might shine through.
Anxiously, she waited. She could hear him snuffling, or splashing, but what he was doing, she could only guess. After a moment, there was a yipe! and then a crunch. She cringed.
Loping back to her, he dropped what appeared to be a giant catfish at the base of the tree, and sat back on his haunches, his tail wagging like a metronome.
She smiled. "Did you catch that for me?"
He barked, and that tongue flopped out, accompanied by what she would swear was a doggy smile.
She climbed down carefully, and inspected his little, or rather large, gift. It was like no fish she'd ever seen, and it was huge, like everything else here, but it had feelers like a catfish. The sail on its back and its wicked-looking set of teeth were fearsome, but she thought it might taste decent enough. Her gut rumbled, reminding her that it had been quite a while since she'd fed it last.
Ripping a vine off the tree trunk, she began to pile the driest wood she could find; it was almost too humid to find any that wasn't damp. While she searched, she kept an eye out for a sharp rock to cut the fish with, and before long, she had a small fire going, after rubbing two sticks together and much swearing, of course.
She grinned to herself. Inuyasha's potty mouth is rubbing off on me.
The dog watched silently, keeping a weather ear out for enemies. There were plenty wandering this jungle, but he wasn't afraid. He'd taken on every predatorial demon here at least once, and come out the victor every time. They didn't always fight to the death, like the tiger and mantis had earlier, but he liked to finish them. That way, they couldn't come back to bite him in the ass later.
As she sliced off a section to spit and roast over the fire, Kagome cut off another piece and caught his eye. Tossing it in the air, she clapped and laughed when he snapped it out of the air and ate it. They continued to play this game until her fish was cooked, and while she ate it, he dug into the carcass alone.
Kagome watched with a detached fascination as he pushed his head into the inner cavity of the deceased demon, and rooted around, looking, presumably, for the heart, a juicy morsel for any carnivore.
So, you are carnivorous, she thought. Your teeth and claws certainly are a dead give-away, but you almost had me thinking you were a vegetarian, boy.
He drew his head out, a thin layer of slick blood and slime wetting his fur and slicking it flat against his skull, and, in his teeth, he pulled out the heart and lungs together. Then, ignoring the carcass, he began to delicately separate them and nibble the heart.
What would ordinarily have made her throw up the fish she'd eaten had no affect on her; this was his way of life, and her being grossed out by it was irrelevant. He couldn't help what he ate any more than she could force herself to eat a beetle. Of course, that didn't stop her from thinking the whole scene was disgusting, but her thoughts never showed on her face.
As both girl and demon ate their dinner, another demon crawled above them, and eyed the girl with several, in fact, eight, eager eyes. Crawling out onto the branch directly over this delicious-looking morsel, it attached a string of web securely to the branch and slowly, slowly, lowered itself down, its long, hairy legs twitching in anticipation of its upcoming meal.
Kagome finished her last bite, wiping her greasy hands on the grass. She got up to pull down her spit, when she happened to glance up at the dog, who stared at her more intently than back at the cave when she'd been about to fall off the edge.
He twitched nervously, she thought, and wondered what she'd done to make him look at her like that.
"What? What's the-"
She felt something touch her head and screamed, dropping to the ground and rolling away as fast as her adrenaline-charged body would carry her. Coming to a stop on her back, she looked up into the many eyes of what had to be the most repulsive sight a girl could behold.
A spider, three feet in diameter, its legs two feet, easy, dangled above her, its fangs flicking as it eyed her, its shadow on the tree behind it flickering in the firelight. Scrambling backward, right into the dog's open paws, his bloody chin dripping goo in her hair, Kagome turned into his chest and buried her face in his white fur, trying desperately to blot out the horrible image of that spider emblazoned in her mind.
Growling, the dog watched the spider swing there, hesitant to come down all the way, and he barked at it, sending it scrabbling back up its line to hide it the dark shadows of the tree.
Feeling her shake against him, he began to make his purring noise to comfort her, and, reaching down as far as he could, licked her almost-bare back in earnest.
Shivering from the cold of sheer panic, she whispered, "Is it gone?"
He whimpered, and she turned her head, and saw that the spider was indeed gone. She sighed, and hugged him anyway, her fear still as fresh as it had been a minute ago. She hated spiders! Absolutely hated them! And what was worse, she hated being surprised by them even more. It was one thing to spot a spider and go after it, her advantage being her size and awareness, but it was quite another to be crept up on like that and scared out of her skin!
He pulled her closer with a massive paw, but soon enough forced her out, as if to make her face her fear, and when she did finally come out, she felt thankful for the warm, comforting reassurance of his tongue on her back, keeping her upright when what she really wanted to do was faint.
Sighing in relief that the disgusting arachnid was gone, she put her hand to her head and looked at the goop that came away, and she groaned, "Ohhh, gross!"
He looked at her, inwardly amused. She was such a girl!
Standing, he shook himself, covering her with yet another layer of goop, and, trotting away, barked at her, beckoning her to follow. She did, her shoulders hunched and her face grim, the expression very unhappy. Kicking out the fire, she followed him slowly, hoping he was leading her to water, because she felt absolutely nauseated by the grime that covered her from head to toe. I really need to learn to be behind something when he does that, she thought, making a mental note.
Half an hour and many large dead mosquitoes later, he stopped, and wagged his tail at her. Walking beneath him, his fur barely touching the top of her head, she looked at what he'd found.
Steam rose lazily, covering the area with an opaque whiteness that came with a certain, sharp smell. He found me a sulphur spring!
Grinning, she hugged his leg and then dove into the water, coming up and spitting out a long, yucky-tasting stream at him. He sat on the shore and hung his tongue out, as any dog is wont to do, and unabashedly watched her frolic in the steamy water, wishing almost painfully that he was humanoid again so he could join her, but at this size, that was impossible. All he could do was watch, for surely there was something that regarded this spring as its home, and all he needed to do was wait patiently for it to show itself.
As she dove under again, sure enough, a snake demon slithered across the surface, large enough to easily consume its relative, the anaconda of the Nile. He batted it out, and it wrapped its body around his foreleg, its fangs embedded into the pad of his paw, trying to constrict its way to his neck. He wrestled with it, rolling and kicking, while Kagome revelled in the heat that bathed her skin. She might stink like sulphur later, but the heat was worth it! And to be clean again... ohh, now that was a thing of beauty!
Pinning the snake under his bulk, the dog gnawed on the thickly muscled body, tearing it away from his own body and attempting to stomp it to death, but he ended up tearing its head off and eating it. That fish had been good, but he had plenty of room for snake, too.
Returning to the spring, he greeted Kagome as she emerged, wringing out her hair and wiping the excess water from her skin.
She looked at him curiously, noting the crushed foliage and the rock behind him that looked like an elephant had sat on it, pushing it deeper into the ground than it had been before they'd come there.
"Having fun, were you?" She remarked sarcastically, a grin gracing her lips.
He barked, and stuck his rear up in the air, his tail making it swing cutely from side to side. She laughed.
Picking up the nearest stick, she waved it left, then right, then left again, before chucking it right, watching him bound away to retrieve it. What a sweetie, she thought, laughing even harder when he brought it back and dropped it on her head.
"Hey! Keep that up and I'm not playing anymore!"
He backed off and wagged his tail, waiting for her to throw it. She had to admit, it made an amusing picture: a giant demon-dog, wagging his magnificent tail in the air, waiting for a simple human girl to throw his stick. It brought new meaning in her mind to the phrase, 'gentle giant'.
She threw it again, and in doing so, he gradually moved them out into an open field, where moonlight glistened on his white fur, turning it silver. He bounded around her, playfully knocking her down and rolling her in the grass until she grew too tired to play anymore, and they both lay on their backs to watch the stars.
Kagome looked over at him hulking next to her, so big she had to look up just to see his face, and felt something in her shift. He was more than just a dog. He was her friend, and she found herself more grateful for him than she'd ever imagined she could be.
The grass behind them rustled, and he rolled quickly, his teeth bared, and jumped in front of her, almost before Kagome could roll over herself to see what was up.
There, in the grass behind them, rose a gargantuan dragon, with four heads, its scales grey-blue in the moonlight. Its hisses were ferocious as it advanced on them, probably drawn, Kagome thought, by the now-dry fish blood all over her dog.
She had no time to ponder why her thoughts put him in her possession when he turned quickly and nudged her away, as if telling her to run, which she did, gladly. She ran and hid behind a dry log, its roots splaying high into the air, and watched from there as the battle was joined.
The dragon lashed out at her dog, spouting a river of fire from its mouth, singeing his beautiful white fur. Kagome balled her fists, her nails cutting into her palms but the pain went unnoticed.
The dog barked, and in an instant, disappeared, like she'd seen Naraku's puppets sometimes do. Kagome blinked. Where'd he go?
Behind her, she felt hot breath, and turned to see him there, his tongue snaking out to pick her up, and he dashed away from the fight, the dragon hot on his tail.
He panted furiously; the dragon was proving difficult to elude as he weaved into the jungle, darting around trees and down ravines, over hillocks covered in brush and around boulders big enough to make him look small.
Kagome held on anxiously. She'd never thought him one to run away from a fight like that...
The dragon crashed through behind them, no more than a few hundred feet behind, if she guessed correctly. Her fear grew. Would he make it through this battle? That dragon seemed bound and bent for a fight. Dragons were notorious back home for fighting for blood. Fear for her doggy rose in her throat like bile as he weaved around every obstacle, trying to get far enough ahead to deposit her in a safe place out of the dragon's reach.
He wracked his mind for a place, any place... and then it came to him. He would hide her where the dragon would never get to her, even if it sniffed her out after he was dead.
Pulling his disappearing act again, he ran harder and faster than he'd run in a long time, since his youth. Reappearing again on his mountain, he walked into a cleft in the side about half-way down, where a waterfall cascaded from a natural spring somewhere near the top.
Blinking from the mist in his eyes, he placed her carefully on a shelf that went behind the falls, where there was a deep cave, short and tight and going back seventy feet into the mountain, a place where only she could fit, and where even a dragon couldn't get to her. It was moist, so she would have water to drink at least, if he was unable to make it back.
Kagome stood on shaky feet as he dropped her on the ledge, slick with moss and algae, and looked at her so sadly she wanted to cry. Reaching up with her arms, he leaned in close enough so that she could stroke his furry cheek and she shouted over the roar of the falls, her own tears brimming, "You come right back to me, you hear?"
His heart melted. She had so much faith in him she refused to believe he wouldn't come right back. It lifted his spirits to know she believed in him. She understood it was useless to stop him.
He licked her, and whimpered loudly, leaving her behind. He turned to look back at her once, and she lifted her hand.
Please come back to me, boy. I don't know what I'll do without you.
Inuyasha swore.
This fissure seemed to go on forever. There had been a few downed trees, but none of them spanned the gap far enough to safely cross. Even though he resented his presence, he hoped Kouga was having better luck.
That prick better not have found a way and not told anyone, he seethed. I'm wise to you, wolf. Don't you dare try anything, I'll rip your stupid balls off!
Stopping, he decided he'd come far enough, and to return to camp. If worse came to worse, he'd jump it. It was all he could do.
The earth shook as he raced back, and he jumped out of the way as a tree fell in front of him, momentarily cutting him off from the path ahead. The ground shuddered, and he thought, That was no quake. That was something else.
Kouga, too, had decided it best to return, having had no better luck than the mutt.
Poor Kagome was out there all alone with some monster, and there was nothing he could do to get to her! Unless... He turned to guess how wide the gorge was, but it seemed it had only widened the further along he'd run. Shit!
Looking down, trying to see the bottom, but finding it near impossible even with his excellent night-vision, a trembling of the earth nearly made him lose his balance and fall off the edge.
"What the hell?" he muttered, as, not fifteen feet away, a dragon with four heads crashed past, sending twigs, leaves, and - nasty - a giant centipede flying at his head, among other things.
Grunting, he swiped his claws at the insect and obliterated it, but in doing so, caught the dragon's attention, and when it spewed a stream of red-hot fire at him, he yelled and took off, hoping the shards in his legs would help him leave it in the dust, but no such luck was on his side. It followed him closer and closer until he began to panic, and headed straight for camp, hoping to the gods above the others would be able to save him.
Miroku opened his eyes at the first vibration, and Sango rolled over, dumping off Shippo who'd been using her rear as his pillow. "Was that what I think it was?"
He narrowed his eyes, trying to gauge whether what he felt were quakes or something big coming their way. The crash of trees in the distance and a flock of wheeling night birds screeching toward the sky made up his mind for him. "Get up, Sango! Something's coming!"
Inuyasha skidded into camp and stopped, confused, as Kouga, that wimp, ran right past him and kept going!
"Hey!" he cried, his face a mask of fury, "get back here, you asshole!"
"Sorry, Mutt!" He heaved, skidding to a halt to face Inuyasha. "Wolves! Fan out!"
No one except Kouga was prepared for what burst into their campsite seconds after his return, but all felt the heat as the four-headed dragon sprayed them with a mist of fire.
It roared, crushing tents and the crude lean-to's a few wolves had set up, snuffing out fires with its bulk and starting new ones wherever it pointed its faces.
From out of the night, an eerie howl pierced the air, and more thunderous shaking was felt underfoot. Everyone looked at each other, all knowing what that meant: another demon was coming!
Inuyasha, closest to the gorge, looked behind him as, pounding down the mountainside, a big white blur sped toward them through the darkness, its red eyes glowing with rage. He watched in a kind of slow motion as it came to the opposite side of the gorge, gathered its muscles together, and then hurled its weight across the stretch of open air as easily as if stepping over a crack in the sidewalks he'd often seen in Kagome's era.
It sailed over his head, and he turned to watch, its white fur quivering in the fast wind it created with its passing, and upon landing, which left deep, massive paw-prints in the soft ground, he took on the four-headed dragon right in the middle of their camp, braving the streams of fire and sharp fangs of the huge, irate beast. Inuyasha's jaw dropped. What the hell?? That thing looks just like Sesshoumaru does in his animal form, only a hell of a lot bigger!
He blinked his eyes, unable to believe what he was seeing, until the two beasts, engaging in a fierce battle, which had already left the dragon with a chunk missing from its shoulder and the dog with a bloody rip across his left eye, backed toward the edge, right where he was standing.
Miroku yelled, "Inuyasha! Get out of there!"
As Inuyasha tried to run, the dragon's tail came swinging around behind it, the heads following, screeching at him in a hiss, "The Jewel!" as the dog attempted to drive it over the edge, and smacked Inuyasha away like a bug, sending him flying across the gorge to land on the opposite edge, his legs dangling precariously over the side.
He yelled when he landed, and was sure he'd broken a few ribs. The wind had been knocked right out of him, but that didn't stop him from wondering what the hell the dragon was talking about; he didn't have the Jewel! That dragon was either crazy or was sensing Kouga's shards, 'cause he knew for a fact he didn't have any. Stupid dragon.
By now, the campsite was a wreck. Several wolves had been trampled, and all the trees where aflame, lighting up the ground below like a pinball machine, sparks flying everywhere as the wind picked up and fanned the flames into consuming whole trees in a matter of minutes.
Sango searched frantically for Shippo and Kirara, but was relieved to spot them soaring high above, and Miroku's hand on her shoulder reassured her that they were all fine. They watched in awe, Kouga by their side, as the dog, bitten all over and burned and bleeding, used his waning strength to bully the persistent dragon over the edge, its claws digging into the cliff and refusing to go down, spitting flames several times into the dog's face, turning his white fur a sooty black.
The dog howled, and gave a mighty roar that shook the very air, causing everyone to cover their ears in pain.
The dragon, refusing to go down alone, wrapped its spiked tail around the dog's neck and both monsters, their weight too much for the dragon to bear alone at such a vertical angle, toppled over the edge, only to fall a few hundred feet before getting caught in the numerous vines and roots strung between the two sides of the gap.
On the battered side, everyone raced to the edge, careful to avoid the deep ruts in the dirt from the dragon's claws, and watched the action below, lit only by the dragon's constant streams of fire.
The two swung back and forth, and the dragon roared its frustration every time it swung away from its opponent, while the dog, using up the last of his reserves, pushed off from the wall, taking the flames on once again to reach out with his neck, the pain as the dragon's head's made purchase on his body and crushed his tail, legs, and shoulder in its teeth excruciating, to snag the dragon's chest with his fangs, get a good grip, and, biting down as hard as he could, ripped out the heart of the beast, which finally, with a last ear-splitting scream, dangled, dead, it's life over.
Everyone cheered, except Inuyasha, who could see the dog had taken quite a beating, even as it pathetically pulled itself up his side of the gorge, to climb over the edge and stare at him, slumping over as it eventually hauled its hind legs up and over, its chest just heaving from the effort.
In a way, he felt sorry for it. It had killed the enemy, saving them, and almost paid with its life. He frowned. He didn't have time for this. Kagome's time was growing short.
The dog, spying Inuyasha, whimpered as he got up and walked away, causing the hanyou to stop, but he didn't turn back. Instead, he disappeared into the night, slowly, for his ribs were quite sore.
The dog groaned, but despite his ravaged body and swollen, destroyed eye, got up too, and bounded off, leaving the hanyou behind. If they had come to take his little Kagome away, he'd hide her again, where they'd never find her. He couldn't stand the thought of losing her; she was the best thing to ever happen to him in this hellish place, and he refused to give her up now.
Kagome shivered, and tried to shut out the constant pounding of rushing water all around her.
Looking behind the falls, since there had really been nowhere else to go, yielded a tiny crawl space, stretching quite a ways into the mountain. She wondered if he'd known this space was here, and, as she squeezed inside, face-down, began to regret it when her head bumped the ceiling, causing something to fall down and bounce onto the ground under her face.
It appeared to be a journal, a very old journal, but there was no light here. Picking it up, she moved back out onto the ledge and, shielding the brittle pages as best she could from the mist, began to read.
Demon Island, Day Fifty-Six.
I have given up hope of ever being found. Memories of my former life are beginning to fade; I can barely remember what my mother looks like anymore. Her memory has died away like ash on the wind.
The natives think he has eaten me, but that is not so. He does not eat people, but somehow, they keep managing to find humans to feed to him. They did not know it when they took me, but I have heard of him. He is a legend where I am from.
However, that does not mean he is not a fearsome demon. How someone such as he came to be banished here is a mystery; even my village elders could not have answered such a question. The greatest, most benign ruler we had ever heard tell of; how the great Taichi Taisho, the very first Inu Taisho to rule the Western domain, came to exist here, is beyond my comprehension - named so, because legend says that in her efforts to bring forth her enormous child into this world, he nearly killed his own mother.
So that's your name, Kagome thought, her brow furrowing. The first Dog General? Does that mean...?
The rest of the entries were wet, the ink running like rivers over the pages, but she quickly read on, to finish this one clear passage before it, too, was obliterated by the constant mist.
I recognised him almost instantly, his markings are so distinctive. Red crescent moon on the forehead, one red stripe on each cheek. There was no mistaking one such as he.
My time grows short here. He attempts to feed me, and comes often to see me, but I fear I have contracted a fatal disease from this cursed place, and it is slowly eating me from the inside out. My fingers are like sticks, and my ribs protrude from my skin like ridges in the landscape. I am no longer hungry, and thirst is a constant. My end is near.
The passage ended, and Kagome flipped the pages quickly, but nothing more was legible.
Pressing the book closed, she replaced it in the rock cave, hoping that whoever had written the journal would appreciate her returning it to where she'd found it. If only her dog demon would return - Taichi, he was called - she would confront him, and hopefully, he'd give her the answers she so very much desired.
She shivered. That passage had confirmed everything. He was Inuyasha's ancestor, there was no doubt about it. She wondered just how out of joint Sesshoumaru's nose would be, should Taichi ever return to rule once more, and her lip curled. He'd be mad, alright.
She looked up, to check the position of the rising moon. She thought he'd have returned long before now.
Where are you, Taichi?
End of Part Deux! I'm hoping this shed a little more light on what's been going on, since everyone seemed quite confident about who Kag's mystery puppy really was - but all that will be explained in Part Three, which is not written, but will be soon, when I start writing it! Feedback is craved, and greatly appreciated. Let me know what you decide, Mallory, and it shall be yours!