Adult-FanFiction.org : Inuyasha / Yashahime

Pasts Uncovered	By : FlameWolf666 Category: InuYasha > Het - Male/Female Views: 4653 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I don't own or profit from Inuyasha. This story is just for fun!

Chapter List
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Author’s Note: Inuyasha bumps up poor Jade’s training so she’s ready to do battle when they leave.

Chapter Three: A Week in Hell (Part 1)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Day 1~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Sleep, one of those times of day that I cherished the most; especially after a hard day of work. It was where I could dream, live out my harmless fantasies in safe comfort. It felt good to sleep too, like floating on the softest cloud. So, to have such a sacred activity interrupted would be the height of sacrilege. Unfortunately, it seemed no one had bothered to inform Inuyasha of this fact. Without so much as a warning, I was startled awake by a loud bellow in my ear. Shooting into a sitting position, I reacted rather instinctually.
    Without even opening my eyes to see who it was, I was shooting a couple fireballs; the smell of burning fabric combined with a male shout telling me I had been successful. Finally opening my jade colored eyes, I was just in time to see Kaede pouring water that had no doubt been meant for tea over Inuyasha. This put out the flames that had been slowly overtaking his fire rat robe. “Geez, you gotta watch it with that power of yours,” growled out of the soaked half-demon, irritated, amber colored eyes glowering at me.
    “Hey, it’s not my fault you decided to scare the shit out of me in order to wake me up. Shooting fire at you like that was a purely instinctual reaction,” I reasoned, giving him the most unimpressed look I could muster.
    “She does have a point ‘Yasha. You’ve done this to me how many times now? You’d think you’d have learned its not a good idea by now,” Kagome reasoned, placing a staying hand on his upper arm when he looked ready to protest.
    “Yeah, well... She really needs to learn to control that. What if I had been Shippo or Kaede?’ he pointed out, making a fairly good argument.
    Sighing, I nodded while I got to my feet and stretched. Bowing my back forward to crack it, I was treated to a series of pops that made me wince. “Can’t really argue that point. Shall we make our way to the usual spot so you can teach me said control?” I responded, quirking my eyebrow in a sassy manner at the fuming male. Growling while his ears flattened, the irritated half youkai stormed out of the hut; the bamboo door rattling loudly in his wake. Sticking my tongue out, I sighed before following him.
    Given what he had put me through yesterday, I could only imagine what he had in store for me today. Still, I couldn’t really blame him for not really knowing how easy it was to tire a human out. He was likely more used to training by himself. I was probably the first person that had come to him for training. If I knew Inuyasha as well as I thought I did, he was flattered but he didn’t want to show it. Pushing open the sheet of dried bamboo, I gave my waiting teacher a slight smile.
    Huffing, he rolled his honey colored eyes before walking off toward the forest. Unimpressed by his grouchiness but not all that shocked, I rolled my own eyes before falling in step. Determined not to allow the journey to pass in silence this time, I decided to try to make conversation with my surly companion. “Thanks for all of this. Might as well put our down time to good use,” I murmured.
    “Feh,” came out of him, effectively cutting off our talk before it had a chance to even begin. Still, I wasn’t going to give up that easily.
    “How long did it take you to learn how to use your sword?” I tried.
    Turning his head slightly to give me a suspicious glance out of the corner of his eye before seeming to come to the conclusion I wasn’t a threat. “I’d say a few weeks to master the Wind Scar alone. The other techniques came over time as I grew more powerful,” murmured his confession while we kept moving toward the clearing we had used the other day.
    “Think I’ll be the same?” I continued, finding the conversation fascinating. Mostly due to the fact I was talking to one of my teenage heroes. On the inside, I was squealing with utter joy.
    “I don’t see why not. You show a lot of promise already. Not a lot of people can hit something on their first day. Even Kagome is still learning to control her reiki,” came a unexpectedly comforting response.
    Blinking, I could only stare at his broad back before smiling just slightly. “Thanks Inuyasha,” I replied, really meaning it as we reached the clearing. Blushing more, my gruff companion withdrew his beaten up katana.
    “Whatever. Just pay attention,” growled out of him while a wild aura began to swirl around his transforming weapon.
    “Firstly, we need to teach you some control. You can’t allow your powers and emotions to become intertwined like this morning. I’ve had to learn first hand how painful lacking that control can be,” murmured his raspy mid-tone, referencing all the times he’d turned into a raging monster after losing his grip on Tetsusaiga. Still, I wasn’t exactly supposed to know that.
    Giving him the best confused look I could muster, I nodded to show I at least understood what his was telling me. “The best tool I have is daily meditation. Take some time to commune with your powers and really learn them. Feel their energy and concentrate from unwinding them from your feelings,” the seasoned fighter advised, placing his large blade on the grass in front of him. Sitting down with his legs crossed under him, he motioned for me to do the same. While not expecting this turn of events, I wasn’t going to complain about the lack of physical exertion. Not after how hard he had ridden me yesterday.
    Taking the same position, I closed my eyes before allowing my tense muscles to relax. Despite what my half youkai friend seemed to think, I knew what meditation was. I had practiced it since I was a young child. It was something that had helped me get through a lot of hardship in my life. So, I had no doubt communing with my powers wouldn’t be all that hard for me. Taking in a slow, deep breath, I allowed the world around me to slip into the background. Gradually, my consciousness sank into my body; a state that would allow for the deepest of self discoveries.
    For endless moments, it felt like I was just floating; cradled by my own subconscious. Suddenly, I could feel something warm in the very back of the void; slowly heading toward me. As it got closer, the energy became familiar almost friendly. Smiling, I turned toward it and opened my arms, welcoming the energy. In an instant, it wrapped around me; a sensation of flames licking my skin. Instead of any pain, however, it felt more like a soft, warm blanket surrounding me. “Hello. I know we haven’t known eachother for very long but I’m glad to have met you. Think we can work together?” I whispered while orange and red began to bleed into the energy.
    Soon, it was enveloping me; tainting my vision the strange mix of colors. “If this is going to work, I can’t hurt the people I care about. That means no using you on instinct. Are you okay with that?” I asked. I was answered by the fire-like energy entering my body and simply disappearing. Taking that as a positive, I allowed myself to begin to rise back to consciousness. Stretching while my eyes fluttered open, I felt more rested and at peace with myself than I had in months. Truly, it had been far too long.
    “You seem like you’ve done that before,” grumbled a half irritated mid-tone to my right.
    “Once or twice,” I admitted with a shameful smile. Huffing slightly, my red clad companion offered me a clawed hand; waiting until I had placed my own in his palm before pulling me to my feet.
    “You coulda told me that before. Woulda saved me a lot of worry. How’d it go anyway?” grumbled out of the hanyou, the slight smile on his face telling me he didn’t mean any harm.
    “You never asked. Seems me and my new powers came to an agreement. We’ll have to wait until tomorrow morning to see if it had any effect,” I responded, preparing myself for what was likely to come next.
    “Next, we’re going to work on your aim as well as the quantity of your attacks. Today, I want you to hit five trees before we call it a day. We will spend the night here if we have to,” came a declaration that made my bones begin to ache pre-emptively. It would be a very long day.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Day 2~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    It had been three in the morning when I had finally accomplished my appointed task. We had been gone so long that Kagome had come looking for us, twice. Even Sango had come to see if we were alright, scolding Inuyasha because she thought he was working me too hard. While I agreed with her, I defended his teaching methods. It was nothing I couldn’t handle, as exhausting as it was. Besides, I knew how important it was that I master my fire powers as quickly as possible. Last thing I wanted was to start some inferno in this pristine world.
    Still, I passed out as soon as the fifth shot hit the bark of the final tree. I didn’t wake up until some time the next day. Even Inuyasha’s vigorous efforts did nothing, just showing how worn out I was. When I did finally open my eyes, it was around noon and my half-breed companion was on the verge of going back to the village to fetch Kaede. “Geez, you okay? I did everything to get ya up short of dousing you with water from the stream,” growled out of him, his ears pressing against his head while his brow furrowed.
    “Yeah... Yesterday just took it out of me. Everything is fucking sore,” came a complaint before I could stop it, faint dread welling up inside me. The last thing I wanted was to make myself seem like I was some entitled brat.
    “Jade, you should have told me. We could have stopped before you had driven yourself to utter exhaustion. You’ll only set yourself back if you keep doing that,” came an admonishment I honestly wasn’t expecting.
    “Sounds like you had to find that out the hard way. I’ll take your advice to heart. I just... I didn’t want you to get frustrated with me if I asked to stop for the night,” sighed a confession before I could stop myself. A sigh came from my companion while he rubbed the back of his head almost shamefully.
    “Didn’t mean t’make ya feel that way... You don’t need to be afraid of me...,” he murmured, his triangular ears twitching slightly.
    Just hearing that both made me feel a bit guilty as well as slightly surprised. I had expected him to be a bit harder on me. Then again, I had no idea how long he had been travelling with the others. It could be that he had learned to be considerate over time. That humans, unlike youkai or hanyou, actually needed some time to rest. “Still, that doesn’t mean you get to slack today. We’re going to work on the size of your attacks as well as making them do a bit more damage. You’re barely singeing the bark of the bark of the trees. An enemy won’t be deterred by that,” he pointed out, going back to business as usual.
    Chuckling, I shook my head before getting into the best stance to fire my attacks. Focusing on the warmth flowing through my veins, I forced it into my hands; finding it much easier than I had before the meditation. Concentrating on swelling the forming fireball on my clenched fist, I shot it at a tree as soon as I felt it was ready. Unfortunately, it still dissipated as soon as it hit. The best it would do was startle an assailant. “Don’t even say it,” growled out of me before Inuyasha could even start.
    Raising a brow, he gestured for me to continue; lips twitching in an effort to contain his humor. Sticking my tongue out at him and crinkling my nose, I balled up my fists to try again. Picturing a thermometer on a heater, I forced the needle to go all the way to the end of the red. Steam was even beginning to come from the metal seam around the device. Taking a deep breath, I shot out a rather sizable ball. While it broke up once it hit the tree, it did leave a few scorch marks. I would have to do better than that, however. My end goal was to actually make the tree catch on fire. Only then would I be satisfied.
    Unfortunately, hours passed without much progress. There were several marked trees now but I just couldn’t get the fire to go past a slight burn. It was more than a little bit frustrating. The worst part was, I was fresh out of ideas for what to do about it. I had tried every visualization I could, implying there was likely something subconscious that was stopping me. Feeling a clawed hand on my right shoulder, I looked up at the leader of our small group with shame burning in my gut. “You at least left a scorch mark. Let’s go back to the village and get something to eat,” he murmured before leading me through the dense forest.
    I could only follow, wondering what it was that was keeping me from my full potential. Was it possible that some part of me was scared of what I could be capable of? If that was the case, it would call for some more meditation as well as soul searching. It was only a waft of a delicious scent that knocked me out of my musings. Lifting my nose slightly, I breathed deeply; drooling while my stomach began to gurgle. Chuckling, Inuyasha sniffed the air himself; letting out a content noise. “Rabbit stew tonight. Sango must have gone hunting either last night or this morning,” came information that made my appetite almost entirely disappear.
    While I didn’t have a problem eating meat, I did have a problem with devouring something as cute as a bunny. Still, I hadn’t eaten since yesterday and the food smelled delicious. It wasn’t too long before I was tossing such trivial qualms away. Besides, I couldn’t really afford to be too picky. It wasn’t like there were Wal-marts here or anything. If I didn’t eat what was given to me, I would likely go hungry. I couldn’t realistically do that and hope to stay healthy. So, I practically led the way back; following my nose the entirety of the short journey. A fact my companion was vaguely impressed by. “You have a pretty good sense of smell for a human,” he remarked, making me blush slightly just as we crossed into the small hamlet.
    As we reached the bamboo door, Kagome was swinging it open before we could. Brown eye met amber before moving to jade, confusion written clearly in their dark depths. Then relief was rapidly replacing that, the teen rushing forward to tug us both into a tight hug. “I’m glad you’re both back. I was so worried when you didn’t return last night,” whispered her slightly distraught voice before she was pulling away to practically yank us into the hut.
    “I hope ‘Yasha wasn’t too hard on you. He can get a bit overzealous at times. Knowing him, he didn’t even think to make sure you were fed,” grumbled out of her while she ushered me towards a steaming cauldron over the cooking fire.
    Taking a seat, I took the bowl of stew that was handed to me by Kaede. Looking into the wooden container, I felt my stomach cramp with hunger. The broth was thick and white, native vegetables floating in it like tiny islands. Mixed amongst them were several, dark red hunks of meat that was probably the rabbit. Thankfully, my extreme hunger had caused my hesitations to simply melt away. Taking the carved spoon I was handed, I dug in with a ferocity that startled the others. Normally, it was only Inuyasha that devoured his food in such a manner. Still, I was beyond caring at this point. I would care after my hunger had been appeased a little.
    It was only after I had three bowls that I was satisfied, a fact that surprised even me. While I had a healthy appetite, it normally wasn’t this large. All the training yesterday and today must have worked up quite a hunger. It probably didn’t help that I hadn’t really eaten all that much. I was so concentrated that I hadn’t felt the normal drive to eat. Setting aside my empty bowl, I smiled up at the stunned group that was staring at me. “Didn’t you eat at all?” Kagome whispered, shooting her crush a stink eye that made him hunch like a scolded puppy.
    “No but that was my own fault,” I explained before she could utter the dreaded three letter word.
    “I was so obsessed with getting better that I stopped paying attention to my own welfare,” I continued, feeling a bit ridiculous for taking things that far.
    “Still, Inuyasha should have at least forced you to stop for meals,” Sango chimed in, causing the hanyou to twitch while guilt colored his tanned features.
    “I think it was both our faults, not just his. I think I’m the first person who has ever come to him for any kind of training. He’s bound to make mistakes,” I pointed out, feeling a need to stand up for the half-demon. After all, I shared just as much blame as he did.
    Thankfully, that argument seemed to be enough to take the heat off my poor instructor. “I guess that’s true... You both have to be more careful from now on though. If you get sick or hurt, help is a very long way away,” Kagome pointed out, looking more worried than angry.
    “I know... I learned a lot about the feudal era... My only hope would be the well and my ability to go through it, which isn’t a guarantee,” I sighed, looking to one side while anxiety spiked inside of me.
    That’s when it hit me like a speeding train. The reason why I couldn’t get my attacks to be more damaging was I was afraid I would hurt myself. Thanking the confused miko profusely, I ran back outside; heading toward the well. Of course, Inuyasha was close on my heels; Kagome not too far behind him. Ignoring them both, I sat in a comfortable position in the clearing; closing my eyes carefully. Relaxing as much as I could, I entered into a meditative state. As soon as I felt the familiar, floating feeling, I was reaching out with the feelers of my mind for my subconscious.
    As soon as I connected, I was flooded with images of villages on fire, raging wildfires, people screaming in agony while their skin melted off. Pushing up a mental roadblock to halt the flow of disturbing imagery, I sent out a wave of soothing energy to calm the panic. Communication would be impossible unless this was resolved. Thankfully, my subconscious was easy to calm. “While that can happen, there is no guarantee that it will. That’s why I’m training, so I can control that. Yet, I need to learn my full potential before I can control it,” I whispered. Relief rippled through me, a sense of peace filling me as I rose back up to consciousness.
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