Adult-FanFiction.org : Inuyasha / Yashahime

Where I Belong	By : Royal_Kitsune Category: InuYasha > Het - Male/Female Views: 3097 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or ideas from Inuyasha, manga nor anime. I also do not make a profit from this work of fiction.

Chapter List
- 19
- 20
- 21
~Complications~
This was…
I…
No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t think of anything to say or even think on the previous night’s events.
My demon was ecstatic and I was…
I could figure out my feelings later, for now I needed to get out before Sesshomaru woke up. I knew I couldn’t face him just yet, not before I was able to sort out my head.
‘Definitely easier said than done.’ I thought making an attempt to get up, only to be stopped by two very strong arms tightening around my waist.
After a few minutes and of a lot of prying I was able to get out of his grip and was free to leave, or so I thought until a hand grasped my tail and pulled slightly. I bit down a yelp and turned around to see two orbs of red-rimmed, gold staring at me.
Unable to think of anything to say I gently tugged my tail to see if he would let go.
He didn’t.
The question was clear on his face. He looked hazy, his eyes having a cloudy look to them. His eyes drifted from mine and down my neck, to what I assumed to be the new mark on my neck.
What could I say to him? Oh hey! Look I hope you didn’t get any ideas about last night, it was simply physical.
There were two reasons why I couldn’t go with that dialogue.
The first reason was that I in no way wanted to offend or upset him. The second reason being that I wasn’t sure that it was purely physical.
Plus there were the new markings, and I was pretty sure that they were not just oddly-shaped hickeys.
“I’m going to bathe.” I finally said, bringing his eyes back up to meet mine. He nodded slightly and released my tail and I quickly left the room. I was thankful that my room was across from his so I didn’t have to worry about running into anyone else.
I loosely put on the white sleeping kimono for some coverage, grabbed a new set of clothing and headed for the bath house. I deliberately picked clothing that covered the mark on my neck. I didn’t need the questions.
As I walked to the bath house I got a look at the sun’s position and realized that it was almost midday.
When I arrived, there was no one in the room and I quickly stripped and slipped into the water. Unlike yesterday, the warm waters did not provide relief; instead it gave me cloudy pictures of last night.
With no one to talk to and a desire to get out of the heated water, I was able to bathe and dress much faster than yesterday.
Once I was fully dressed I picked up Shippo, Ryo, and Kazuko’s scent trail, thankful that it appeared they went to the same training area from yesterday.
I still had no idea of what to say about last night, and preferred to put it off for as long as possible.
“Hey sleepy head, about time you showed.” Katina said looking up from her scrolls as I entered the clearing. The grin on her face couldn’t have been any wider.
“I’m here now.” I grumbled. “So what have you three been up to?”
“You smell different.” Ryo said coming towards me. He stopped as I growled a warning towards him. “Calm down I didn’t mean it like you stink or anything. Anyway, Katina is going over those scrolls she found and I figured I would see if Shippo’s blood was strong enough for him to have a true form.”
“Well?” I asked.
“Take a look for yourself.” Ryo said and pointed behind me.
I turned and looked down with a light gasp. A tan fox, with an orange stripe from head to tail stood before me. He was just a about a foot shorter than I was in my smaller true form. His usual green eyes were now a glowing red.
“Wow, he’s huge for his age.” I said.
“Not really, he’s about the right size. Don’t think of him in comparison to your smaller true form. Compare him to your larger true form. I remember my father saying only Ryus had the ability to go between the two sizes. Every other demon strong enough to transform only has one size.” Ryo said coming to stand beside me.
“Got it.” I said smiling at the fox. “Great job Shippo.” I placed a hand on top of his head.
‘Thanks.’ He yipped.
“You want to get some training in?” Ryo asked and I shook my head.
“I figured we would search for the guardian shrine.” I said. “I got information that this is a guardian’s pendant. Maybe there are some more things for us hidden there.”
“How are we going to find it?” Katina asked from where she had suddenly appeared beside us. I looked around for a moment, trying to figure out how she’d gotten over without being noticed. Eventually I shrugged it off.
“I think I had a dream last night about it. From what I remember, I put on the pendant and it should guide me.” I said.
“It appears the dream isn’t the only thing you had.” Katina said giving me a slight nudge and smirking.
“What?” Ryo asked his expression clueless.
“Nothing.” I growled, glaring at Katina. “Let’s just go so we can find this before night fall.” I said putting on the pendant and transforming to my smaller form, Katina and Ryo following suit.
‘Feel anything?’ Ryo barked in question.
‘No…wait…I think I got it.’ I growled as I began to feel an internal pull south. ‘Let’s go!’ I barked and began running towards the feeling. I could hear Ryo, Katina and Shippo hard on my paws.
~Sesshomaru~
I could feel her presence getting further away.
As much as I wanted to chase after her, there were other things I had do first.
First and most importantly was telling the Ryu-Okami general that Kazuko would not be going north.
I found him overseeing the training of my soldiers and chatting with my general. The west and north had always been on good terms since my father had ruled, so his presence on the training grounds was not threatening.
“General Koru.” I stated getting both generals’ attention.
“Ah, Lord Sesshomaru, you have a fine army in training.” Koru said with a bow.
“There are things to be discussed.” I said getting to the point.
“Hmm, well then how may I be of service?” He said following as I began to walk back into the castle and to my study.
I kept silent until we were in the privacy of the study.
“You intend to take the Ryo-Inus north.” I stated and watched as he gave a slight nod. “You may take the two, but Kazuko will be remaining here.”
“Kazuko has said she doesn’t wish to go?” The Ryu-Okami asked with a surprised and confused look.
“I am forbidding it.” I said with narrowed eyes.
“You can’t do that.” The general responded almost lazily.
“As lord of the western lands, I can.” I growled.
“With all due respect lord Sesshomaru, you cannot do that. You know as well as everyone else, than when the Ryu-Inu Clan was destroyed they ceased to be subjects of your lands. They became extinct, which removes them from servitude to anyone, and now that survivors have surfaced they are considered a rouge clan. Thus the choice is not up to you, but to them, should they choose to become subjects of the west again.” The wolf said and I felt my eyes beginning to bleed red.
“Are you questioning my authority?” I snapped.
“No, simply reminding you where your authority ends.” The Ryu-Okami said with a stern expression that softened into a smirk. “Besides, I have a hunch that even if you were in authority to forbid it; I doubt Kazuko would obey so easily.” He said with a chuckle before dismissing himself.
I glared at the door that he left through, my claws digging deep into the oak that made up my desk. He was right about both things. I didn’t have any rights by law to forbid the training, nor did I think Kazuko would easily fold to my demand.
You can’t let mate go. My inner demon growled.
‘I know.’ I thought in frustration, trying to come up with a solution. I had assumed a mating would make things simpler, but it would appear they just became more complicated.
~Kazuko~
‘Are you sure you know where we’re going? It seems like we’re running in circles.’ Ryo whined for the tenth time. We had been running for about two hours and had yet to find the shrine or any clues to its location.
‘Yes, and I swear if you ask again I’m going to beat you.’ I growled back. Shippo and Katina could be heard giving short barks of laughter.
‘Wow Kazuko, I heard after the kind of night you had, you’re supposed to be in a better mood not a worse one.’ Katina barked at me, and jumped to the side as I bucked and aimed my hind paws for her. She continued laughing as we ran and I shook my head to get the sound out of my head.
‘Wait, slow down.’ I barked slowing to a trot. The pendant’s pull was becoming stronger, and I could feel that we were close. I looked around as the pull seemed to be coming from everywhere now, instead of a specific direction. ‘It’s somewhere close. Spread out and look for anything that might be a clue.’ I barked.
We spread out and began searching around the area. We were in a thick forest, at the base of a mountain range. I could scent a river about a mile east.
‘I think I found something.’ I turned as I heard Shippo’s yip and headed towards his voice. I found him standing at the mountain base sniffing along the stone. ‘See this paw print.’ He said and I squinted to see.
On the rock was a large paw print that had a barely visible Ryu-Inu clan symbol in it. It looked worn and eroded by time, but it was still clear enough to see on the rock.
‘So it’s around here somewhere, but where exactly.’ I thought scratching around the rocks at the bottom of the mountain.
“You find it?” Katina asked as her and Ryo came over in their human forms.
“Not exactly, but we found a clue.” I said changing back, followed by Shippo. “I’m going to meditate on it.” I added.
“What?” Ryo asked.
“When I meditate, my spirit trainers come to me. It’s a way of training without having to let my guard down sleeping.” I explained as I sat down, I saw the others nod.
I closed my eyes and calmed myself so that I could go into a meditative state.
“You’re early.” One of my spirit trainers said.
I opened my eyes and could see that I was in the training grounds I had become used to. It was the old training ground in the Ryu-Inu village, from before it was destroyed.
“I didn’t come to train, but I had a question.” I said standing.
“We figured as much.” Another of my spirit trainers said.
“This pendant…” I started holding up the red pendant. “It’s a guardian pendant right?” I asked then continued when they nodded. “Well where is the shrine? We’re at the base of a mountain in the southern sector of the western lands. I can feel that it’s close, but we’ve been unable to locate it.”
“Ah, the guardian shrine, I had wondered where it moved to. Hmmm I suppose it would be time for an earth opening.” The first spirit trainer said.
“What?” I tilted my head in confusion.
“There is a mark on the mountain right?” One of the trainers asked, and continued when I nodded. “Focus on it and use Crater Claw.” He said with a smile as if I should have known.
“Um ok, thanks.” I said siting back down and breaking my meditation.
I opened my eyes to see the mountain range again and Katina, Ryo and Shippo all sitting around. As I stood their eyes focused on me.
“How long was I?” I asked looking around.
“About an hour or so.” Katina said with a shrug.
“Damn, it didn’t feel that long.” I mumbled then walked back to the paw mark. “I think I’ve got it now.” I said grabbing my staff.
I gripped it in both of my hands and focused on the mark. I let my aura flare slightly before I slammed the staff into the ground.
“Crater Claw!” I growled.
The paw mark split in half and two brown dragon claws began prying the rock apart until a cave entrance could be seen.
“Cool.” Shippo whispered as we walked into the tunnel.
The tunnel was so dark that we had to get Shippo to use his fox fire to light the way.
We walked until a small glow could be seen and sped up. At the end of the tunnel was a large cave with dozens of statues.
All of the statues looked the same. They resembled winged canines that had scales along their back and covered their wings. Though they varied in size, they averaged the same as my smaller true form. The only truly noticeable difference was that the statues differed in color. The statues were one of five colors: brown, blue, white, red and yellow.
In the center of the statues was a small shrine with four candles around it, one at each edge.
“Wow.” I whispered as we made our way to the shrine.
“This is amazing.” Katina said going over to touch one of the statues.
“So these are the guardians. I can vaguely remember them. They were great fighters and very loyal.” Ryo said his voice showing his awe.
“Yea too bad we couldn’t have them now. They would be great help in fighting the east.” I said looking over the shrine.
The shrine was a simple stone table with the candles on it. In the center there was a black circle with a faded character I couldn’t read.
“Should we pay our respects then go?” Katina said coming over to me and looking at the shrine.
“I suppose so; it doesn’t look like there is anything here that we can use.” I said looking around the room.
“Wait.” Katina said looking closer at the shrine. “I think this character says ‘awaken’, its worn and hard to read, but I think that’s what it says. I have a scroll that says something about awakenings, and I think it was talking about guardians of some sort.” She said, pulling out and sorting through the scrolls she now carried with her. “Found it!” She proclaimed as she pulled out a black scroll with red writing on it.
She unrolled the scroll and placed it over the shrine. It had the same black circle and character as the shrine, only it was clear and indeed said “awaken”.
She pulled out another scroll and began reading through it before smiling towards me. “I think there might be something in here for us after all.” She said. “Watch.” She placed her hand in the middle of the black scroll’s circle and began chanting from the second scroll.
At first nothing happened. Just as I was about to tell her to give it up, her eyes began glowing and the ground began to shake.
“What’s going on?” Ryo said coming over.
“I don’t know.” I said to him before turning to Katina. “Hey I think this place might be caving in! We have to get out of here!” I went to reach for her but a barrier stopped me.
“She’s in a trance, we can’t break her out of it until she finishes.” Ryo growled and moved as a huge chunk of rock fell where he had been standing.
“Shit! Well we have to do something; this whole place could come down on top of us.” I said looking around, while avoiding the falling stone.
“Look! The statues are breaking!” Shippo said jumping onto my shoulder.
“It looks like the earthquake is destroying them. I’m not surprised, who knows how old these things are.” I said still looking for a way out.
“No look closer!” Shippo shouted.
As I looked at the statues closer, I could see that each was not only breaking, but also glowing. Actually, now that I looked at the statues, they weren’t breaking. The stone was changing. The stone was almost being absorbed and being replaced by actual fur and scales.
We watched as the statues slowly became living creatures of what they had resembled. When the last statue had completely turned into a leaving beast, the shaking stopped. The beast began to shake themselves off and stretch before focusing on us.
“Did it work?” Katina asked as she swayed. Ryo caught here and was able to help her steady herself.
‘Lady Misaki, you have come.’ The largest of the beast growled giving a slight bow before the rest followed. He had white fur with black scales and blue eyes.
“That would be a yes.” I said to Katina before turning back to the creature. “Please call me Kazuko. It’s a long story.”
‘Very well Lady Kazuko.’ The head creature barked. ‘We assumed you would find us eventually.’
“What are you?” I asked looking around at all of the beasts looking at us. They varied in fur and scale colors but it was clear that they were all of the same species.
‘We are the guardians of the Ryu-Inu clan. I suppose you would not have had anyone to teach you of us, but we are the ones who lived beside your ancestors. I am Masaru, leader of the guardians.’ He barked.
“They entire clan was wiped out. No offense, but shouldn’t you be dead too?” Ryo asked.
‘We have been, in a sense.’ Masaru barked. ‘I will explain, but can we leave this cave first? We’ve been here for nearly two decades, if I am correct. I, and I’m sure we all, would like to feel the sun on our fur and scales again.’
“Yea sure, let’s go.” I said and lead the way through the tunnel back outside. As we emerged the sun was almost down and I felt a bit bad for the guardians; but they didn’t seem to notice as they gave growls and murmurs of approval for the warmth of the sun rays.
As the rest basked in the sun, Masaru came back over to where we were. ‘As for your earlier statement, in a sense we have been dead.’ He barked sitting before us. ‘We like any other creature can die, but we do not pass on. Instead our spirit returns to the shrine and we are reattached to a new body that is carved from the stone.’ He growled. ‘Once the statue is complete, our spirits fully attached to the new body. It ensures that the Ryu-Inu clan never goes without guardians.’
“Wow, so you will be forever stuck on this earth?” Katina asked.
‘Not exactly, when they last drop of Ryu-Inu blood has been erased from this earth; we too will be wiped out.’
“So even though our demon blood was suppressed, it was still there to keep all of you alive.” I said looking at the beasts lounging in the dying sunlight.
‘Indeed.’ Masaru snorted. ‘Plus there are others with Ryu-Inu blood in them. While you three are the only surviving, pure-blooded Ryu-Inus, there are others with shared ancestry, even if their Ryu-Inu blood is weak.’
“So do you have to wait for someone to come and awaken you each time? How long does the new body take to from?” Shippo asked from my shoulder.
‘It takes a year for the new bodies to form fully and we must wait until a Ryu-Inu mage comes and awakens us.’ Masaru responded.
“One of my spirit trainers said something about the shrine moving and different elements needed to open the passage in. What does that mean?” I asked remember what had been said during my meditation.
‘While our bodies are reforming we are in a very weak state. If someone were to destroy the statue before we were awakened, we would have to wait a whole other year for it to reform. You could imagine how this could be used against us if an enemy found the shrine. So to prevent it from happening, the shrine moves every decade. Each time it moves, the element needed to open the cave changes.’ The lead guardian explained.
“Cool, the guardians can help us fight the east and rebuild our home.” Katina said with a smile.
I noticed how a large number of the beasts growled at the mention of the east.
‘Is that murderer Naru still the lord of the east?’ One of the beasts, with red fur, yellow scales and white eyes, snarled in question.
“No, his ass of a son Toro is.” Ryo responded sourly.
‘I assume the western army will be fighting alongside us in the battle with the east. I doubt that lord Sesshomaru would let his mate…’ Masaru was cut off my arms wrapping around his jaw and clamping it shut.
“Don’t say that again!” I whispered sharply directly in his ear, so that no one else could hear. “I’ll explain later, but you have to keep it secret!”
Masaru rolled his eyes, but thankfully he nodded. As I released him I could see guardians, Katina, Ryo and Shippo looking at me like I had grown a second head.
“What?!” I snapped and they all looked away.
‘Either way, I would think we should head back to the western castle to at least get some rest.’ Masaru suggested as he and the guardians stood.
“Damn, I hadn’t thought about that.” I groaned.
“What’s wrong?” Shippo asked.
“The council is coming next week. How am I supposed to just walk up to Sesshomaru and ask him to house thirty something…” I started.
‘Actually there are forty-eight of us.’ Masaru interjected.
“Forty-eight?! How am I supposed to ask him to house forty-eight guardians?! The council is already going to take up most of the rooms.” I sighed. I could see a smart remark about to come from Katina and cut her off. “Don’t you dare.”
‘We have no objects to sleeping outside.’ Masaru barked and the other guardians gave their agreements.
“Well we can’t just leave you here, so I suppose we’ll just have to go with that. Let’s go.” I said leading the way back to western castle with Katina, Ryo, Shippo and forty-eight guardians following.
‘Could things get any more complicated?’ I thought with a loud sigh.
~Koru~
Sesshomaru had been in a foul mood since our conversation earlier in the day, and now that the sun was setting with no signs of his new mate, his temper was only getting fouler.
It was to be expected. It was customary that mates not part so soon after initially mating, especially one that was bonded. It gave them time to form a stronger bond with each other, but it was doubtful that Kazuko knew this. The longer the mates were apart the “grumpier” that each became.
As I looked out to see the newest arrivals to the western castle I knew the western lord’s temper and patience was about to be tested.
It was unusually for members of the council to show up this early.
I had shown up early, but that was due to an ulterior motive other than the council; and as I watched the newcomers enter the castle, I knew that they also had other motives for their early arrival.
“Lord Toro, General Tai. It is a surprise to see you have arrived so early.” I said giving the slightest of bows to the newcomers.
“We heard of some guest residing here that would be attending the council meeting. We just wanted to make sure we didn’t miss anything. It would appear that this decade’s meeting is going to be quite eventful and very interesting.” The bull king said with a deceitful smirk.
“Toro.” I looked up to see Sesshomaru snarl from the top of the stairs.
The eastern lord was right; this was going to be an interesting meeting. This assumption was strengthened as I scented the arrival of the Ryu-Inus and their guardians entering the castle gates.
- 19
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Where I Belong