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

Chapter 12: First Encounters

Makoto paced himself behind the wolf-hanyou so that he was close enough to keep up with the girl, but far enough behind as to not be noticed by prying eyes. Occasionally he would see her glance back to make sure he was still there, or he would catch a whiff of her growing fear and anxiety in the passing wind. He wanted nothing more than to run up to her and hold her, but he had to stick to the plan. Kita was supposed to be meeting with her 'master'. Makoto was to follow her, then make his move as soon as the youkai was in his sight. Simple. Quick. Makoto cracked his knuckles with a very InuYasha-like smirk across his face. It had been months since he had a decent fight, and though he wasn't as violent as his oyaji, he was quite overdue for a good butt kicking.

The further into the forest she got, the more nervous Kita was beginning to get. This time it wasn't just her, Makoto was putting himself into danger as well. She had tried to talk him out of following her, or at least waiting for Shippou, but he was too stubborn. In a way, she was glad he had decided to come with her. His presence comforted her. But then her mind would wonder back to what was ahead. Kita warned Makoto and the others about her master. Truthfully, she knew Makoto was stronger, but strength had nothing to do with it. Her master was clever; he had no ties as weaknesses. There was no doubt in her mind Makoto cared for her, and no doubt that it would be used against him in his fight.

Kita winced as her leg started to throb. It still wasn't completely healed, though weeks had passed. She would have that weakness for the rest of her life, a mark of the sins she had unwillingly committed. But that would be no more. She had decided, if Makoto were to fail, if she were doomed to be taken back by the youkai, she wouldn't allow it. She would die, no matter what it took she would not go back to that life. She sniffed, suddenly stopping and smelling the scents flowing in the breeze.

"Kita. You're late." A booming voice came from in front of her.

"M-master…" she took a step back, quickly searching the surrounding area for any sign of Makoto. There was a flash of blue on her right. She grinned to herself, her face unseen to the youkai due to her flowing hair. "I…was delayed."

"Delayed? By what were you delayed?"

"I…my leg…I…" she stammered.

"Weak fool. How many times have I told you not to let something as simple as pain interfere with my work!" His anger was multiplied though the spell on her neck. She gagged, but held her ground. "Now, tell me what you were really up to."

"She doesn't have to tell you anything!" Makoto was nothing but a ball of silver and blue coming down from the trees in a flash. Kita stumbled back, but the youkai stood his ground.

"Hmp. So you're the half-breed's son? Yes, no mistaking it. A perfect cross of the miko and that filth."

Makoto growled. "What do you want with them!"

"Revenge, you little mutt, revenge. Your Otou, InuYasha," he slurred the name, "and that miko of his tainted the bloodline of what was once a noble race of inu-youkai. All of you and your love for humans is completely pathetic. Even the great Sesshomaru has a soft spot for humans, and still he calls himself the Lord of the Western lands."

"Why do you care if we love humans! What does any of that have to do with you?"

The youkai pulled back his silver bangs to reveal the crescent moon scar on his forehead. His eyes were flashing with anger. "I was the first among many of the inu-youkai Sesshomaru threw out of the castle years ago because we refused to accept half-breeds and humans. He betrayed his own heritage, and punished us for his incompetence."

"Oji threw you out because you were going against his orders. Like it or not, he is the Lord of the Western lands and the leader of the inu-youkai."

The inu smirked. "That will soon be fixed. Permanently."

Makoto made sure he was standing between the youkai and Kita the entire time. His growls grew considerably louder at the inu's proclamation. He could hear Kita struggling behind him, but kept his eyes on the inu-youkai. "Let her go." He finally spoke. "Let her go and I won't kill you."

The inu laughed. "What makes you think you could kill me?"

Makoto had enough. He was quick, landing directly behind the youkai in a few short leaps with one clawed hand poised in a striking stance right above the youkai's head. The inu chuckled as his elbow made full contact with Makoto's stomach, making him double over and stumble backward. The youkai wasted no time, countering his first attack with a blow to Makoto's back, sending him hard to the ground. As soon as he recovered, he was back on his feet and attacking again. Their claws were locked together, both growling and pushing the other back.

Makoto's feet started to slide backward on the dusty ground. The youkai twisted around and jammed his knee into the hanyou's already sore back. Makoto fell to the ground growling at the new pain. They were both breathing heavily by that point, but Makoto's was raspier and labored from trying to breath through his newly cracked ribs. He used his sleeve to wipe the blood that had gathered at the corner of his mouth and stood in a low crouch. He could still hear Kita whimpering and gagging behind him.

"Let Kita go! She has nothing to do with this!"

"She's a half-breed. Nothing but a tool to be used by true youkai. She, and you, and your father, and the unborn whelps your mother bears; none of you should even exist. None of you should be allowed to walk the same earth as the true youkai such as myself. And if your uncle thinks otherwise, then he, his mate, and his own pitiful pup can join you in your death." The inu-youkai smirked with the effect his little speech seemed to have on the hanyou. He was beginning to get really angry, and attacking without thinking. It would be a perfect chance to place the spell on him without him even noticing until it was too late.

With an evil laugh, the youkai was standing beside Kita, roughly cupping her chin with his blood-covered claws. "You like her, don't you? Wolves are so much wilder than inu. But you like that. You like the wild ones. Just like InuYasha and his miko. It seems mutts like to be controlled by their mates, like nice little domesticated dogs."

"Get your hands off of her. Now." Makoto's heavy voice did not falter as he spoke.

"Ha. Even if you were strong enough to beat me before, your foolishness over protecting this girl has cause you to become too injured to do anything. I could kill her right now," he used one claw to nip her neck, "and you'll not be able to help."

"I SAID DON'T TOUCH HER!" ignoring his wounds, Makoto charged full strength at the youkai, who seemed a bit surprise at first before gracefully leaping out of the way, taking the struggling Kita with him.

"Temper, temper. I might not let her keep you if you bite like a rabid mutt."

"I'll slash that smirk off your face if you don't leave her alone!" he flexed his claws. He ran toward the youkai head-on, waiting till the last second to cartwheel to the side, hand-planting the ground and kicking the youkai square in the chest. He stumbled backwards just as Makoto fisted his hand and punched him in his right temple. The youkai dropped Kita to the ground with a hard thud. Makoto picked her up and placed her to the side before staring back. "Heh. Nothing to hide behind now, is there?"

The youkai smirked and wiped the trace amount of blood from his forehead before turning back to the hanyou. "You think I need to hide from the likes of you? Heh. Pup. You're slow and clumsy, even by hanyou standards." In a flash the youkai was standing beside the fallen girl once again.

"Wha…?" Makoto growled.

The youkai laughed as he grazed a claw against Kita's paling cheek. She wasn't struggling anymore. "I told you," his claw grazed her flesh and nicked her neck again, drawing even more blood. "she shouldn't even have existed in the first place."

"K-kita…" his anger grew beyond measure. "Kita!"

"She won't wake this time, half-breed. She has no reason to." Suddenly there was a hand grasping the youkai's wrist. He looked up into the now red-hued eyes of the hanyou. His grip was fiercingly stronger than the youkai thought that he was capable of. He tried to jerk back only to have his wrist snapped in two. "You…" He wasn't able to finish his sentence as Makoto's elbow connected with the youkai's jaw, earning a loud crack for his reward. He stumbled backward and gazed at the new threat. The hanyou had transformed. His eyes glowing, claws and fangs considerably longer, even his aura had changed. His human blood was nearly depleted in his transformation.

"I see I shouldn't play around with you anymore puppy." He growled through his aching jaw. "Better to get rid of you now." The inu-youkai trudged forward with his rage. Blow after blow, neither seemed to keep the upper hand. They were both bleeding from multiple wounds covering their bodies. The youkai gained control of the fight once more, and in one last desperate move his uninjured hand penetrated through the hanyou's stomach. Transformed Makoto grunted, everything suddenly growing very quiet. He fell to his knees, not even his youkai side should have had the strength to stand from the sudden massive blood loss; but he managed to stand again out of pure determination. "You fool. You'll kill yourself."

"What do you care?" He replied in a raspy voice. But he knew the youkai had the upper hand now. His blood still boiled with the faint smell of Kita's blood still lingering through the thick smell of his own blood and that of the youkai. Attack after attack weakened the hanyou even more, refusing to give in to the fatigue. The youkai was fairing slightly better, having a few deep gouges across his chest and face. One final swipe with his claws left Makoto leaning on the ground on one forearm as the other hand gripped his shredded stomach. He was panting heavily, the youkai hovering just about him, gazing down at him through narrowed eyes.

However, Makoto's youkai blood was edging to the surface, and he was back in the fight. Suddenly, his wounds didn't hurt as much anymore. In fact, he didn't even feel them. His whole world was tinted with red as his desperation grew and his human blood was pushed further back. The inu-youkai in front of him merely smirked.

"If I fight you now, you will use your dying breath to kill me." He stated. "But what about her?"

Silence. Confusion. Fear. All these ran though Makoto's mind as the youkai's words started sinking in… A heavy blow came to the back of his head, sending him crashing down. Kita now stood behind him, her eyes completely white, claws extended, fangs bared. She looked possessed, and that she was. The youkai looked very satisfied with the impossible to describe look on Makoto's face.

"Kill her, or she'll kill you."

The possessed Kita lunged forward with her claws, Makoto pulling his up to block causing their fingers to intertwine. They pushed back against each other, Kita nipping at his arms with her fangs. Any red tinge that was left in his eyes disappeared as panic started to set in. This was the work of the spell. She had no idea what she was doing, or any power to stop it. And Makoto found himself unable to do anything to stop her.

"LET HER GO!" he yelled in desperation. His only response was to be thrown to the ground by Kita with a strong hand around his throat. The youkai approached him slowly. "K-kita…fight it…don't…"

"Heh. You think this beast can hear you, much less understand you? No. She'll do only what she is told to do by me."

Makoto's vision was blurred from blood loss and the rushing of pain now that his youkai blood was subsided. He couldn't let Kita get the better of him, but he couldn't fight her. Even his instincts wouldn't let him fight against Kita. Makoto pried Kita's hand loose from around his throat and rolled across the ground into a squatting position a few feet away. Barely any time to get a grip on the situation, he ducked from another one of the she-wolf's blows, his right ear getting caught by one of her claws. Makoto held in a whimper as droplets of blood fell into his ear from the wound. Now that one really hurt!

Makoto was quicker to recover this time, his right ear flat on his head and his left flicking from Kita to the youkai behind her. He pulled himself to his feet with a grunt. "I'm not going to fight her." He directed to the youkai.

The inu-youkai seemed disappointed. "Kill him." He ordered the enslaved Kita.

Kita's hand gripped Makoto's throat once more. Makoto didn't try to stop her this time. He only lifted his head high enough to look into Kita's eyes, and he smiled. The girl's grip on the hanyou declined. Makoto started seeing green color flash back into her eyes as she battled against the spell. "Fight it, Kita! It's up to you, you're the one who has to free yourself!"

"Shutup! She can't free herself! She's too much of a weakling!"

"NO! Don't listen to him, Kita. Listen to me, only me. You can do this, you can beat him. Fight it. You're stronger than you think, Kita. Trust me." He gagged out.

Kita fell to her knees, holding her head in her hands and thrashing about. The red glow around her neck grew brighter. :SMACK: The youkai had came up beside Kita and smashed the back of her head with one of his fists. She groaned and slumped to the ground unmoving…

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

"Oi! Are you saying this is my fault!"

"You're the one with the super-hanyou senses!"

"Keh! Like I knew they were going to go off and try something stupid without me!"

"You'd be the first to go too, if I ever wanted to do something stupid!"

"What are you getting at, wench!"

"I told you to stop calling me wench, you baka!"

"I told you to stop calling me baka, wench!"

"Grrrrr… SIT!" 'THUMP!' Kagome sighed and shook her head, sitting beside the hanyou and waiting for the spell to wear off. "I'm sorry, InuYasha. I just wish you would have gone with them. They could at least have waited for Shippou."

"The kit's always late. I would have left without him, too." InuYasha sat up and rubbed his sore jaw. "You think you can at least put a pillow or something down before you say 'it'?"

"Big, strong hanyou need a pillow?" she batted her eyelashes in a playful manor.

"Keh."

"So, when are you leaving?"

"Leaving?"

"Yea, you know, to get our son?"

InuYasha shook his head. "I already said I'm not leaving you here alone. The pup can fend for himself." The worried expression on his face told Kagome he was just as worried as she was, but he refused to admit it. Stupid, incompetent, irrational pup! What was he thinking, going off like that! When he gets back I'm gonna thump him so hard…

"What are you two arguing about now?" Shippou was leaning against the wooden door frame with his arms crossed against his chest, giving each of them an amused look.

"About freakin time you got here! Makoto and that stupid wolf ran off already!" InuYasha growled out, ignoring the kitsune's question. "And so help me Shippou, if you don't get moving right now I'm gonna thump you like you've never been thumped before!"

Shippou's face went slightly pale as he nodded and took off toward the woods before InuYasha had time to demonstrate his threat. Oyaji. After years of hunting down shards, battling youkai, nearly getting killed, maimed, squashed, flattened, pierced, burned, eaten, thumped, and nearly getting my tail cut off, Oyaji's thumpings still manage to scare me the most…

It didn't take much for Shippou to get on Makoto's trail. It was a clear shot through the forest, nothing but a walk in the park to the kitsune. The wind shifted slightly as Shippou figured he was getting a bit closer, and brought with it a very disturbing scent. Blood. And lots of it… He broke into an all out sprint. The scent got stronger with each passing second, and not just because he was closing in on the scent, but because there was much more blood to give it off. What did you get yourself into now, Makoto?

He came across the scene in the nick of time. Within seconds Shippou barreled his shoulder into the youkai who had his claws raised against the fallen Makoto. The inu-youkai slammed against a nearby tree and grunted with the sudden jar. The youkai stood there in shock for a few seconds before turning to retreat. That taken care of, Shippou turned his attention to his brother.

"Why didn't you wait, you stubborn, ignorant pup!"

"Just shutup and…get…Kita." Makoto managed to growl out.

Shippou looked around to find the wolf-hanyou thrown to the ground, flesh a sickly pale hue. "Makoto… I don't think she…"

"Don't say that…" Makoto stood wobbly on his feet and shakily approached and plopped down next to the girl. She looked so frail, so fragile, as if she would break if he even touched her. But there was a slight rising and falling of her chest… she was still breathing, she was alive. The spell still glowing red around her neck on the thin silver hair. Makoto growled. That was what was causing all her pain. He reached out and grabbed it, putting his other hand on Kita's cheek. Fight it. He willed her mentally. She took a deep intake of breath, everything suddenly growing very quiet and still. Fight it.

'Snap.'

The sound was hollow, nearly silent. Makoto looked down as the hair in his fist slowly lost it's color and dissolved. He took a big sigh of relief as Kita started coughing and struggling to set herself up. Makoto grabbed her arm to help, stopped by his own injuries. Shippou, seeing this, offered the girl his help instead. She was shaking all over, taking in deep breaths with one hand rubbing her sore neck. Her eyes were still clouded as she fell into Shippou's arms, passing out once more.

"Get her to Okaa."

"But you…"

"I'll be right behind you. Just get her out of here."

Shippou carefully placed the girl on his back and offered an arm to help guide Makoto. "Like I'm really going to leave you here." He said with a smirk and grunt to the added weight.

"Didn't know you cared so much." Makoto retorted with his own smirk.

"Keh. Right, like I'm doing this to save your sorry hide. If I go back without you, Okaa and Oyaji would have a new fox-fur pelt to give to the pups for a blanket."

Makoto managed to choke out a 'keh' and a small chuckle before limping away under Shippou's shoulder.

A/N:

First off to answer a few questions: No, no lemons in my stories. They are rated Teen for one thing, and for another doesn't 'allow' lemons, and I just don't write them.

And to answer the other question, you guys just have to read and see what's gonna happen. :smirk:

Next, I think I'm getting lazy with updates. .

But I will update at least once a week…though I do like updating every day, or every other day, but that's just not possible this time around. Remember, good reviews encourage me. XDD

As always, go to www dot freewebs dot com / kachiki(underscore)Tsucasa

For points and more.