Toga and his unwitting human companion, Kagome, were walking through the ancient woodland. Or rather, Toga was keeping track of the strange human woman, who seemed to be wandering aimlessly at that point. She appeared to be in some state of shock, Toga ruminated.
"It has to be here," she muttered to herself every so often.
There might as well have been a gaping crater on the ground; the demon doubted she would have even noticed it. It was pointless for her to search for a well in her current condition. He shook his head lightly. This charade had gone on long enough. He was growing hungry and bored, and the girl would not satisfy either of those needs. Toga gave a last glance at that peculiar creature and headed back to his pack. What nonsense.
Kagome continued to trudge along without direction. She hardly even realized that Toga had left her, nor did she notice when her feet came to a halt. Her backpack slid off her shoulder, and she slumped down next to it. For the life of her, she couldn't figure out what had happened that day. There had been absolutely nothing out of the ordinary when she woke up in the morning. No, everything had been perfectly fine. She had even managed to get a good night's sleep. Nothing unusual had occurred during her morning routines. Everything had gone just as planned until she had climbed out of the well. That's when she sensed it. She had arrived at the wrong place. Or perhaps at the wrong time. She didn't know.
Kagome sat still for some time until she decided that she would get nowhere if she didn't keep moving. There had to be something, someone, who knew what was happening. This wasn't the first time the well had acted up. There had to be something causing all of this. She would find out the reason and fix the problem. That was what the members of the Inutachi had grown to excel at: problem-solving. With renewed resolve, she dusted off her skirt and picked up her bag.
'I should head... that way,' she decided.
When she turned, once again, Toga was standing right in front of her, having appeared almost from thin air.
"What the...!" She yelled, trying not to fall over. She balanced herself against a tree trunk. "Would you mind not doing that every time!" Kagome said, slightly startled. Toga didn't pay her any attention. "Phew," she sighed and looked at him suspiciously, "Where did you disappear to?"
"Duck," Toga grumbled.
"Huh?" Kagome frowned at him. But before she could turn to face the direction Toga was looking at, he knocked her down.
"Uff!"
Kagome's face was greeted by a damp hummock, and she furiously spat moss out of her mouth. She was prepared to give that man damnation when she got up. Before she could move, a bright flash arched over her body.
"Kurotsume!"
A powerful blast of black light shot out of a katana that had appeared in Toga's hand.
Kagome could barely make out what was happening, being blinded by the forceful discharge of light. Toga ran in the direction of the light, and she heard the screech of metal clashing with metal, grunts and moans, until another wave of light made everything go quiet.
Kagome crawled up and rubbed her eyes. Further away, on a bed of hummock, lay limbs and lumps of flesh. From what she could make out of the remains, there had been a small pack of demons lurking in the forest. Toga had arrived just in time to save her. Kagome cursed herself for being so caught up in her own worries that she had forgotten to secure the area.
Toga was hunched over the bodies, tearing a piece of cloth from one of the corpses. He straightened up and cleaned the dark streaks of blood that tainted his blade. Kagome met his gaze and watched as the adrenaline dissipated from his eyes.
"Thank-" she began, until her eyes veered to the katana in Toga's hand. She gaped at it in stupefying disbelief. There was no way she could ever forget those characteristics. That ominous jewel in the handle. The narrow blade in its slumbering form. The sight of Inuyasha being absorbed by that very weapon and turning into its slave.
'So'unga.' Her mind whispered the name carefully, like it was a curse word.
She had thought it impossible that anyone could wield that blade. No one else, but...
Kagome's eyes very slowly, almost too afraid to, turned back to Toga's. The red glow had completely disappeared, and two familiar amber orbs looked back at her. Amber orbs similar to those that, for years, had offered her comfort, love, and an endless source of infuriation.
The young priestess was hit by such a shock of realization that it almost threatened to shake her out of her state of consciousness.
"Y-you are… Inu no Taisho…" She stuttered, backing away.
The man sheathed his katana, tucking it neatly into his clothing, and simply stated, "I am not. I am the son of Inu no Taisho."
Numbness crept up from the soles of her feet to her entire legs. Kagome began to fall when Toga hurried to her, grabbing hold of her and forcefully keeping her from dropping to her knees.
"This place is not safe."
The girl watched his brow furrow with something that might have been annoyance at the close proximity to a human or some other perpetual irritation. Had Kagome been in a more coherent state, she would not have done what her foggy brain deemed a good idea at that moment.
She glided her palm over his cheek, unable to distinguish where Inuyasha began and where Toga ended. She felt the warmth of his skin creep through her touch.
Once again, her audacity left Toga flabbergasted. His immediate impulse was to throw her off his arms. He was disgusted by the fact that he had even decided to help her, let alone save her life, and let her clammy hands run over his face as if he were a pet dog.
He tried to distance her from his face while holding her up by her shoulders, but her persisting hand didn't leave his cheek. Her half-lidded eyes slid from his eyes to his tightened lips.
The glimmer of awe lit her eyes so wonderfully that it tempted Toga to stop pushing her away. When she looked at him, her eyes held something he had never seen in anyone's gaze before. It confused and unsettled him.
Unwillingly, his mouth relaxed and partly opened as he began to reverse his motions and pull Kagome closer.
Just as he was reaching back to her in his own unintelligent trance, the girl slipped out of consciousness. Toga snapped out of his daze when her body suddenly turned limp, and he had to struggle to keep her from tumbling from his embrace.
In a fleetingly short moment, her glow was suddenly gone. Toga was left standing in the woods with a woman who had dark rings under her eyes and lips cracking from dryness.
The dog demon sensed that others of his kind were scouting not far away. They were closing in on him and the girl. He sighed deeply through his nose. How was he supposed to explain this?
Kagome stirred, opening her eyes in a place without sunlight. Her hands explored the surroundings, and she found herself lying on a bed of fur. As her eyes adjusted to the dimness, she made out that she was in some kind of shed. There was nothing else inside except her makeshift bed. Soft voices murmured irritably outside. It sounded like a woman arguing with a man. After the woman ceased talking, she heard shuffling, and someone entered.
"You have awoken," Toga's voice stated above her.
She was about to ask where they were until her stomach gave a mighty growl.
"Uh, I'm sorry."
Toga didn't audibly respond but simply tossed her something that was tied in a bundle of clothing.
"You lost consciousness earlier due to exhaustion. Eat and dress, I'll be waiting outside."
Kagome tried to stand up, but she felt awfully wobbly. Besides, as she soon realized, she wasn't wearing any clothes. When the fur slipped off her chest and revealed her state of undress, she blushed fiercely and grabbed the hairy piece of animal skin to cover herself from Toga's eyes.
The man simply gave her an accentuated stare, indicating that she should eat what she was given, and without saying anything, left her.
Well, it's not like Kagome had really expected him to ask about her health or even pretend to be interested in such trivial things. She reached for the bag and opened it. Inside was a small array of berries and some dried fish, along with a flask made out of skin. Kagome pulled out a wooden cork and drank greedily. She hadn't had anything to drink for almost a day. The cold water hurt her empty stomach.
After she had finished with her "meal", she checked what was left of the bag. It contained only one unceremonious rag made out of animal skin. It was worn, and there were patches of fur here and there. Kagome tried to search the shed for her own clothes but to no avail.
She decided against going out in her birthday suit, so she resignedly inched into her new outfit. It looked more like a potato sack jumpsuit that was crossbred with a hairless cat. The girl wrinkled her nose at how the material chafed her skin.
She had to bend on her way out of the shed, and when she stood up, she saw dozens of dog demons gathered around small bonfires. As soon as she had stepped out, twenty pairs of eyes were on her. Most of the gazes she received were either gleeful or disgusted.
The males were all tall and well-built, some of them repairing their weapons in the light of the fire. The females were all gorgeous, with slender physiques, fountains of silver hair, and flawless skin.
Most of the females were in a small group, all gathered around a particularly beautiful demoness dressed in a seifuku.
'What?' Kagome's mind immediately shrieked. It didn't bother her too much that she was amidst powerful demons, any of whom could kill her in a flash if she looked at them funny. Nobody messed with her school outfit. They cost a fortune.
Kagome marched straight to the group of females, who all stopped talking as she approached. The one in the seifuku gave her a particularly dismayed stare.
"Um, excuse me, miss. I believe you are wearing my uniform," Kagome called her out.
The demoness moved aside some of her friends and walked up to Kagome. The human girl almost felt intimidated when the six-foot-something supermodel-like demon goddess approached her.
"This is far too luxurious an item for a peasant slave like you, human. Besides, it looks much better on me, even if your belly flaps have loosened the waist some."
Kagome felt like schooling the demoness on her attitude until her head fast-replayed what had just been said. A particular word jumped out at her like a physical attack.
"A slave? What are you going on about?" Kagome demanded, her eyes widening in disbelief. She stumbled over her words, her hands gesturing frantically as confusion and frustration set in, "I'm here to... Uh... I'm... Umm..." She paused, collecting herself, then continued with more poise, "Anyway. I am not a slave, and I want my dress back." Her voice hardened, and she pointed at the seifuku, her gaze fixed on the demoness. "So, could you kindly return it to me?"
The demoness gave her companions an amused look, and they all burst out laughing.
"What a bundle of joy you humans can be," she smiled joylessly. She bent her head down and almost whispered to Kagome, "If you don't like being a slave, in that case, you can be my dinner."
An elegant hand was just about to lash across the fragile neck of Kagome when a stronger hand caught the demoness' hand mid-air.
"That's enough."
Toga threw the offending hand away and stepped between the human and the demoness.
"She's not for your amusement, Ishu," Toga rumbled.
The woman called Ishu sneered at Toga. "Spoilsport." But as Toga was the son of the clan leader, Inu no Taisho, Ishu did not challenge his authority. She backed away and left with her entourage.
"Hey, my uniform!" Kagome yelled after the retrieving group, but Toga stopped her from lunging after them.
When she wasn't able to claim back what was rightfully hers, Kagome aimed her blazing anger at Toga.
"Oh boy, you've got some explaining to do!"
Toga didn't really feel obliged to explain anything to her, but to avoid any further commotion, he decided it best to talk to her. In private. He guided her outside the dog demon camp. One of the male demons yelled an extremely offensive remark after them, implying that Toga was off to "do a dive in the dark" with his new human toy.
Kagome was so enraged that Toga had to carry her, kicking and clawing, away from the offender she had tried to attack. As Toga was doing his best to keep Kagome from committing manslaughter, the human girl gave that foul mouth a good bloody stare as she was being carried away from the camp.
When they were a good distance away and Toga was sure that no one would interfere with their discussion, he began, true to his style, very laconically explaining that he had brought Kagome back to their camp after she had passed out and the other demons had found them. Because her outfit raised too many questions, he thought it best to get rid of it. (At which point Kagome wasn't sure if she was supposed to be angrier about her dress or the fact that Toga had manhandled her while she slept.)
"Okay, I understand. What about the slave bit?" Kagome raised her eyebrow at him. "I'm not about to play some personal laundry lady for you, do you understand?" To emphasize her words, she raised her hand, and a small fuchsia energy ball exploded in her palm.
"I do not think you have other alternatives at this point. It is too lengthy a walk for you to get to human settlement without any knowledge of the land or skills of hunt."
Kagome crossed her arms and weighed her options. He did have a valid point there.
"Fine!"
Kagome walked up to his face and stared keenly at him.
"But I will do no laundry," she stressed.
Toga was captivated by the fire he saw in her. She was so close that her priestess energy clashed with his youki. It was an opposing force rivalling his. Every cell in his body could sense her power and determination. It fascinated him against his will.
A/N: Kurotsume is a sword move invented by me. It basically means "black claw". I figured that Toga, being the original owner of So'unga, must know a move or two that his descendants are not aware of.