Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha. But I will one day.

Chapter 3: The Hanyou

Kita (north) stumbled away, pushing aside branches and shrubs in her way, glancing back to make sure her pursuers where not catching up with her. Deep gouges from claws crossed her face, her back had been ripped to shreds, one leg was broken and getting worse as she ran, and she was sure her shoulder had popped out of place, but she kept running. She couldn't allow herself to get caught by them, not this early in the game. There was just too much at stake.

Kita kept going until she was well out of the territory of her new enemies. Finally she slumped down onto the ground, taking long deep breaths. Her whole body ached from the beating she had received only a few hours before. Kita had to rest, just for a moment. Her blood loss had drained her of energy, as had her short-lived battle. If she could just sit there, just for awhile, and rest. But as soon as she closed her eyes, a familiar burning sensation hit her. A glowing red line appeared around her neck, slightly cutting off her air supply.

Kita stood wearily to her feet and set off again. The burning sensation soon passed as she staggered along. She kept moving until she reached a small clearing in the middle of the woods, a man in a dark colored robe standing at the edge with his back turned. Kita fell to her hands and knees, gasping for her every breath. "I…he…" she swallowed hard. "I-I couldn't do it. I couldn't carry out your will. The castle is too closely guarded, Master."

"I should have expected as much from a hanyou, especially one as weak as you. No matter. There are other ways of getting what I want. But as for you, you will learn to do better for your master." The red line around her neck glowed once more, this time with more force. Kita raised her hands, pulling at the invisible force threatening her. "Next time I tell you something, you do it with no questions asked. Don't worry about your own pathetic life, because if you fail me once more, I will not be lenient, and there are things much worse then death."

Kita gasped, pulling in as much air as the spell-collar would allow. Her head was spinning, her eyes going blurry, every muscle in her body burning under the effects of the spell. The force holding her finally let go. Kita fell face first to the ground, darkness surrounding her, covering her senses and numbing the feelings of her wounds. It was a welcomed darkness, a darkness sent to give the girl a small flicker of peace.

She wasn't from around here at all. She had come from the northern wolf tribe on the mainland. Born as a hanyou from a human mother, her tribe allowed her to stay, until her father and mother were murdered. Her father was once the leader of the tribe, and he had always had a fascination with humans. When the tribe decided it was time for him to chose a mate, they were furious that it was a human, but none would stand against their strong leader. Until one day, a few weeks after Kita turned three, a younger inexperienced wolf challenged her father for leadership.

The wolf-youkai lost, but others within the tribe attacked Kita's already worn father, and killed him. They all became blood thirsty, dragging Kita and her mother from their den, throwing them to the ground. Then, they killed her. Right in front of Kita. There was so much blood; it was everywhere, splashed across her face, soaked into the ground, on the very claws of her kin.

After that, everything went downhill. They didn't kill her, no, they had plans for her, plans for the hanyou to warn all others of what would happen to such a creature born into their tribe. Kita became nothing more than a servant of the tribe to be ordered and kicked around by everyone else in her tribe. She was the first in fights and last one allowed to eat. Even the young pups were allowed food before her. During the warring era, she nearly starved on several occasions. When she finally did get food, she had to hurry and eat what she could before someone else stole it from her.

On some days, she wanted nothing more than to be killed to end her suffering once and for all, but her parents had taught her to never give up that way, to always have hope for something good. Finally, one day she just couldn't take it anymore. She left. Not only did she leave the territory, she left the area completely. Kita found herself here, with a chance at a new start. Her hopes didn't last very long. She found no matter how far you run, no matter how much you hope differently, hanyous were just not welcomed anywhere.

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"I still don't see why you have to go. Sesshomaru can find someone else to take care of Rin. It's not like there aren't any other human females that can take care of her." InuYasha carried Kagome through the forest toward the Western lands.

"It's not everyday your niece gets married, InuYasha. She wants you and Makoto there just as much as she wants me there."

"Keh."

Makoto followed along behind the two reluctantly. Sango, Miroku, and the girls were following close behind him, Shippou and the others were going to meet them at Sesshomaru's castle. Jaken had arrived in the village a few days before announcing that Rin was getting married and wanted everyone there to celebrate with her. Kagome and Sango had squealed in excitement at being asked to help in the planning and arrangements. The men had just looked at each other and frowned. They knew exactly what that meant for them. A lot of yelling and running around. Makoto had tried everything to get out of having to go. Weddings were just not something he cared for too much.

He was a hanyou, half youkai, and youkai don't have weddings. It was completely pointless as far as he was concerned, but Kagome had told him that it was a ceremony to show everyone how much two people loved each other, and tell each other that they would stay by the others side no matter what happened. Needless to say, he ended up having to go anyway. They were not even halfway to the castle and he was already getting aggravated with his traveling companions.

"Makoto I'm tired. Can you carry me?" Yumi tugged on his haori. He sighed but bent down so the girl could climb on his back. He, InuYasha, and Shippou stopped, all sniffing the air. InuYasha growled low and took a few steps back holding Kagome tight against his chest. Makoto and Shippou both looked at each other, then toward the scent.

"What is it, Shippou?" Tani asked, slightly worried.

"A youkai, and blood." He replied.

"That other scent is familiar. The blood is from that she-wolf that ran into me a few weeks ago." Makoto eased Yumi back down and told her to stay with the others. Shippou nuzzled Tani's cheek and followed him. "I don't like this, Shippou. Something's defiantly wrong here."

"It is strange. That youkai presence is what's getting on the wrong side of my nerves." Shippou wrinkled his nose. "Something's all too wrong about it." Makoto nodded in agreement and kept walking toward the stench. The youkai had gone, a few hours ago at least. The hanyou, on the other hand, was still somewhere near and with major blood loss. The smell was nearly choking his senses. "Hey, is that her?" Shippou asked, pointing over to a lump of red and green.

Makoto took off to the wolf-hanyou's side. "She looks pretty bad off. All the minor wounds have almost completely sealed, but her leg looks almost snapped in two. She has a nasty gash across her face, too, and on her arm."

"You've seen this wolf before?" Kagome asked as InuYasha set her on her feet.

"Keh. Yea. Like I said, she ran into me."

"And left him sprawled out on the ground with a nasty bump to the head, too." Shippou added with a sly grin. Makoto gave out a low growl.

Kagome sighed and rubbed her temple with her thumb. "Well, I hate to miss Rin's wedding, but the village is closer and we can't just leave the poor girl out here like this. We'll just have to go back."

Makoto thought. He knew how to care for such injuries, Kagome had taught him. She wanted to go to Rin's wedding, and he didn't. "I'll take care of her." He spoke up. "I'll take her back to the village. That way all of you can still go, and she'll still be looked after."

"I don't think that's such a good idea, Makoto. This girl is seriously injured and…"

"Trust me?" Makoto stared deeply into his okaa's eyes, something that always seemed to work when he was asking for something as a child. For some reason, Kagome could never say no to his eyes.

Kagome looked at InuYasha. Trust had become a big thing to them. InuYasha slowly nodded, Kagome sighed. "Alright. If you think you can handle this on your own, then it's fine. We'll be gone for two weeks, so you'll have to take care of her for awhile. Mend her wounds, and keep her in the hut until we get back. I don't want her to leave until I've looked her over." She gave his arm a light squeeze before turning back to InuYasha. He gave Makoto a stern look that seemed to tell him no goofing off, and nodded.

Makoto carefully picked the she-wolf up in his arms, trying not to bother her injuries too much. The girl grunted at the movement, but other than that didn't stir. He was off in a flash toward the village which was hours away. At least I don't have to go to Rin's wedding, and I have an excuse too. He grinned. He liked Rin and his little nephew, but he really didn't feel like going off anywhere, much less listening to his oyajii and uncle fighting the entire time. The two never let up on each other. Shippou, Miroku, Sango and his okaa had told him that the way they fought now was nothing like it use to be. At one point they wanted nothing more than to kill each other. How Makoto saw it, they still wanted to kill each other but Kagome and Usagi wouldn't allow it.

After another few hours of traveling with the girl wrapped securely in his arms, Makoto finally got back to the village and laid her on a futon in the corner of the hut. He went into his parent's room and gathered some of Kagome's make-shift first aid supplies. The young wolf wasn't looking too well. She had become even paler since the trip back to the village. The first thing he took care of was the dislocated shoulder. Makoto grabbed a piece of cloth, tying one end to the girl's wrist and holding the other in his own hand. He situated himself with one foot against her upper side just below the arm and in one fluid motion jerked the cloth with his hand and pushed against her with his foot. There was a sickening 'pop' followed by a pain-stricken moan as the bone relocated into its socket. Makoto grimaced. He knew that kind of pain all too well, having dislocated various bones several times, himself.

Next he had to take care of all the open wounds. He didn't know where to start. The gouge across her cheek looked bad, but it wasn't really too deep. Since she was hanyou, he didn't bother with any of the smaller cuts; they would be healed in a few days anyway. Makoto used his heightened sense of smell to sniff for the larger wounds, finding a few across the back of her legs and one on the same shoulder that had been dislocated. He easily stitched up the wound on her shoulder and patched it up rather quickly. What he was really worried about was the condition of her legs. Those wounds were deep, and one had been broken completely in half. It would take more than just a few days for those to heal. One wound had nearly sliced her foot off at the ankle. Makoto sighed and got to work: cleaning, cutting, stitching, wrapping, using herbs and various concoctions Kagome had created with the help of her experiences with Keade and her time in modern Tokyo.

Her back was in pretty bad shape, too, nearly ripped to shreds by claws marks. It took Makoto awhile to clean all those wounds. Whatever she had gotten herself into was defiantly bad. He finished up her back, deciding on a full wrapping instead of individual bandages. Her kimono was useless now anyway. He could redress her in one of Kagome's old kimonos. It looked as if they were the same size anyway, and he couldn't just let her lay there in only those bandages, though they covered most her body.

He moved on down. The broken leg was the biggest problem. If Makoto didn't set it just right, it would grow into place crooked and be useless, and he didn't have anything that could numb the pain for the poor girl. He took the cloth he had used with her shoulder and placed it in her mouth. With a deep breath, he wrapped his hands around her ankle and jerked hard. He heard the bone grinding itself into place and a loud whimper from the girl as she bit down hard onto the cloth, his ears flattened on his head.

He made a splint to keep the leg straight while it healed and used another wet cloth to wipe the muck off her face and ears. There wasn't much he could do about the ankle but wrap it tight and keep the bandages clean. He dressed her in another green kimono of Kagome's, cut to the short length as she liked to wear from her time. What had happened to the she-wolf to put her in this kind of condition? Makoto watched on as she finally seemed to relax a bit just as the sun started going down, dark clouds covering the sky.

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InuYasha covered Kagome in his haori as the rain pounded down on them even harder. It was just one of those freak storms that seem to pop up out of nowhere. His mate shivered from the cold in his arms. Miroku was doing his best with his girls. Sango kept Yumi held tight against her chest while Kirara sheltered them with her tails, Miroku had Hanna and Cho walking under his long robe, and Shippou gave his haori to Tani and Mai who were walking with an arm wrapped around each other to stay warm.

They had to find some sort of shelter, and fast. The youkai and hanyou could easily take the weather, maybe even Miroku and Sango since they had been through this sort of thing before, but with the younger humans and Kagome heavy with a pup, they wouldn't be able to stay in this weather too much longer. He needed to find some place dry where they could build a fire and get the humans warmed up. InuYasha shook his hair out of his face where he could see better. Through the rain, he still couldn't see all too well, but he did know where they were now, and he knew of a cave nearby that he and Kagome had used several times in their travels.

"Miroku!" InuYasha yelled over the sounds of the storm. Miroku turned his head to listen. "Follow me!" Miroku nodded and nudged his wife and girls toward the hanyou. Soon they were all in the cave with a small fire going. InuYasha made sure everyone was alright before he and Shippou went back out into the storm to hunt, coming back with a few good sized game and cooking them over the fire. They all ate in silence as the thunder rumbled above them. Kagome put down the squirrel she had barely touched and rubbed her head against InuYasha's shoulder. "Kioshi, you feeling alright?" he asked, wrapping his arm around her and using his free hand to feel her forehead for fever.

Kagome shook her head. She wasn't feeling good at all. She was pregnant, wet, and cold, her feet hurt, her back ached, her rebel of a son was home alone with a strange hanyou girl, and her unborn pup was not happy in the least. Kagome's whole stomach ached from the pup's kicking and punching. This pregnancy was getting worse than her last one. It was becoming more and more difficult and she was only in the second month. She let out a heavy sigh as InuYasha gently lifted her into his lap and settled down against the stone wall of the cave. Yumi was sleeping between Miroku and Sango while Hanna, Cho, and Mai were sleeping on either side of their parents with Kirara curled up at their feet in a light snore. Shippou had Tani wrapped tightly in his haori laid in his lap and leaning against the wall much like InuYasha and Kagome.

"You better not get sick, wench." InuYasha half-whispered as he nuzzled into Kagome's hair. He was worried. He couldn't help but worry when it came to the safety of his family. Being alone for as long as he had, he learned rather quickly how much he now had to lose. His days of being a reckless, hot-headed hanyou were over. Now he was only a semi-reckless, not as hot-headed hanyou, and when it came to his family or his friends, he was dead serious.

"I'll be fine, InuYasha." She wiggled deeper into his arms. "I hope Makoto got back to the village okay."

"Keh. He made it back hours before this storm hit. You know that, you're worrying about nothing."

Kagome elbowed her mate's stomach. "You're worried too, baka, quit pretending you're not. You said that you could smell a youkai around that girl. Is that what happened to her?"

"I don't think so. The she-wolf was attacked long before she reached that clearing. I couldn't get a whiff of her attackers; the scent was just too old and covered by her blood. That youkai, the one in the clearing? I know that scent from somewhere. There was too much blood contaminating it that I still can't figure it out." InuYasha sighed and slumped lower against the wall.

Kagome reached up and kissed his cheek. "You'll figure it out. You always do."

"Keh."

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Hm. No one got the answer to the last Trivia Question: It would be called a Thunder-Kit:laughs hysterically: Get it? Thunder-Kit? Thunder Cats? :Ahem: anyway…

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