Categories > Anime/Manga > Inuyasha > Unexpected Endeavors
Unexpected Maneuvers
0 reviewsIYFG Nominee // An unexpected request rocks the shard hunting group when Kagome, mistakenly, agrees to the deal. Now the group must not only deal with the end of their quest but a moody Kagome, an ...
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A/Ns:
This chapter is dedicated to bungee_lovin_bunny (aff) for pushing me to delve further into the story and characters. Also, thanks for the ideas! There are a lot of things I need to take into consideration for this story, and you've helped me look at them in different ways and providing me with more options on how this story is going to progress. You've been a big help, thanks!
Reviews are Love!
Chapter Four;
*
While there was little doubt Kagome wouldn't take too long in her own time, given her promise to Inuyasha, the group (minus a certain half-demon) were all surprised when she came bursting into Kaede's hut ten minutes after she had left.
The hanyou hadn't returned to the hut, choosing to release his frustration on some poor, unsuspecting tree. The rest of the group was there to greet her with wide eyes and open mouths.
"Kagome-chan?" Sango asked, her mouth half-full with stew.
The miko just smiled and rocked back and forth on her heels. She skipped the short distance to the where the others were sitting and plopped down across from Kaede.
"I take it everything went well in your time? Did you bring more supplies?" Miroku asked.
Kagome smiled faded. She winced as she realized she forgot one of her purposes of going home. "Well, no I forgot," she said. "But I can always go back later and get it."
"Your mind seems to have been cleared while you were with your family," Kaede commented.
"Yup! I have the smartest mom /ever/!"
The group looked at the bouncing girl as she helped herself to the stew. She was humming slightly as she took careful measures not spill the hot liquid.
"Kagome-san, I assume your mother has inspired this mood, may I ask of her wisdom?"
"She pointed out that I don't have to go through with it."
"But Kagome-chan," Sango gasped. "You promised."
"Not really though," she argued.
"We already know that by Sesshomaru's terms, you've agreed. You can't get out of the deal with your honor unscathed," the houshi pointed out.
"Ah," Kagome said, her smile returning. "But what about /his/?"
The group looked at the teen with a confused expression. They urged her silently to continue.
"He tricked me," Kagome explained.
"Well, yeah," Miroku said. "We were there."
"Well how much honor is there in having to trick a girl into bearing your heir?"
Sango snorted, looking over at Miroku who was doing his best to look innocent.
"So child," Kaede said. "Ye will argue Sesshomaru's claim because of trickery."
"Yup! He can't very well dispel my honor for not going along with a deal that he tricked me into doing. It questions his honor, especially for someone so high and mighty as the Taiyoukai of the Western Lands."
Kagome was obviously proud of herself. Her smile never faded as she devoured her stew in a matter of seconds. Shippo had returned to her lap, basking in the warmth and smells of the teenaged woman.
Sango smiled at the girl. Miroku was chewing on his spoon in thought. "While I think you're argument is valid, and a good one," he began. "I somehow doubt that Sesshomaru will accept it."
Kagome's face fell at the comment. "W-why not?"
"Because it's Sesshomaru, Inuyasha's elder brother--"
"Half brother," the others in the group corrected in unison.
"And he seems to be rather ruthless in getting things he wants and he obviously wants you as his child's mother. Even if you can convince him that his own honor is at stake for the deceit, what will stop him from finding other means?"
"His honor," Sango supplied.
The group twisted to stare at the taijiya. "What Sango-chan?" Kagome asked.
"His honor. We're playing on his honor, right? Well, if she can get out of the deal by questioning his honor for his trickery, then she doesn't have anything to worry about. He won't take her against her will, that would be worse than the deceit, and as long as any other advances are turned down, then she has nothing to worry about."
"That seems like a reasonable assumption," Miroku said, mulling over it some more.
Kagome smile returned. She began to pet Shippo's tail, running her fingers through the pelt. A purring like sound was coming from the kitsune. "So that's the plan? Should we go find him, or send a message, or just wait until the new moon to spring this on him?"
"A message might be best, though I don't know where to send it. Same goes with finding him, I have no clue where he lives when he isn't wandering his lands, which seems to be what he does most of the time," Sango said.
"So, we're just going to have to wait?" Kagome asked.
"Looks like--"
Inuyasha burst into the hut, throwing the straw door hanging out of the way with such force that it tore the mat from the wall. He looked down at it apologetically before turning his attention to the group. His eyes grew brighter at seeing a happy Kagome in the room too.
"And what can we do for ye Inuyasha," Kaede asked.
"They can get off their lazy asses," he said, pointing at the members of his traveling group. "'Cause we got some shards to hunt."
"Shards? But I thought--" Sango began.
"No buts let's go. We need to get going and quickly."
Kagome stood up, Shippo in her arms, and walked over to her pack. She hadn't gotten supplies and it didn't look like she would be at this point in time. Sango was standing too, brushing off her bottom before gathering her own things.
"And where is the rumor saying the shards lie?" Miroku asked.
Inuyasha looked at the monk and smiled. "Mountains in the East."
"How East?"
The grin on the hanyou's face grew wider and threatened to split his face in two. "As damn far East as we can on this island, and as far from the Western Lands we can get."
The monk chuckled, standing up and picking up his staff. "Ah, taking the fleeing and waiting out the problem method, are we?"
Inuyasha rolled his eyes. He looked over to Kagome who was standing there, her backpack on, and looking at the hanyou curiously. She smiled at him when their eyes met. He blushed and turned to walk out of the hut.
"Let's go, you four. We don't got time to waste!"
*
Rin followed quietly behind Jaken, leading Ah-Un as they made their way down a dirt road. Sesshomaru had left them again, much to the little girl's disappointment, leaving her under the care of the groveling toad.
Said toad was leaning heavily on his staff as he waddled his way down the rocky hill. He didn't chance a look back to make sure the little girl was making her way safely.
As it was she was having trouble staying upright, tripping over the rocks and leaning heavily on Ah-Un for support. The beast of burden grunted as she pulled his reins heavily.
"Jaken," Rin said.
The toad grunted that he had heard, but didn't turn around.
"May we stop soon?" she asked. "I'm getting tired."
Jaken scoffed. "Stupid human, Lord Sesshomaru will be most displeased if I do not finish his task in time and he will be most angry to know that it was you impending me of doing so."
Rin's eyes widened, tears coming briefly to her eyes. Ah-Un nuzzled her hair in response to the salty fragrance blanketing the air around her. She shook her head, wiping the tears on the back of her head. The last thing she wanted to do was disappoint the man...youkai, who had taken her in. With that in mind, she pushed the pain of her bleeding feet aside and stepped forward to continue the trek.
Jaken, seeing that Rin was not going to further argue, made to continue as well. He didn't get but a few steps when a screech from Rin had him turning around. He was just in time to see her tumbling down the hill. The toad's small legs would not allow him to avoid the quickly descending girl and soon he was added to the jumble of limbs as they rolled down the rocky hill.
When they reached the bottom both lay on their backs, still slightly entangled, trying to make the world stop spinning. A woman's scream brought the toad back to reality. He saw a bunch of humans scurrying their way, and he looked around for his staff. On the other side of the path, half stuck in a thorny bush, the wooden weapon lay.
"That youkai just attacked that little girl," the woman was screaming.
The men were running at them quickly, weapons drawn. Jaken jumped up and tried to grab Rin's hand to drag her away, but her weight was too much for him.
"Get away from her you demon!" One of the men cried.
Jaken barely avoided the large ax aimed at his head by diving into the thorn bush that held his staff. He watched horrified as the men began cutting away at the bush, while the women rushed to Rin and checked to see if she was okay. The fall had left small cuts and bruises on her body.
One of the men left the group trying to reach Jaken in the lower branches of the bush. "Is she okay?"
"Yes, she seems to be fine. We'll take her back to the village to mend. Then we'll find out who her parents are."
Jaken gasped. He couldn't allow such things to happen. "Rin belongs to Lord Sesshomaru, Taiyoukai of the Western Lands," he screamed. "You will not touch her without his approval and you will certainly not take her away where I cannot watch over her."
The woman, who had been talking earlier, snorted. She motioned for the man to pick up the girl. "I doubt that that beast of a Lord would have anything to do with a little girl, a little human girl at that. Stop telling us lies. Leave this place now and we'll let you live."
"I will not leave this place," Jaken exclaimed. "These are the lands of Lord Sesshomaru and as his loyal retainer I have more right to be here than you, stupid human."
The woman laughed. It was cold and lacking all humor. "We'll see how long your Lord Sesshomaru allows you to stay on his supposed land when he finds out you lost his meal," the woman said. "And until I see that brute of a monster working this land like the rest of us, then I'll never concede that this land belongs to him."
"You will pay for this dearly, horrible wench."
The men in the group laughed, the women already having left with the man carrying Rin. "My name is Takahashi Aiko," she said. "And I will rue the day I bow down to any youkai, lord or not. And you can tell him I said so"
The group left, talking amongst themselves. Jaken looked stunned. Ah-Un was standing at the top of the hill, unnoticed by the humans.
"Ah-Un," Jaken cried out.
He managed to extract himself of what was left of the bush. His clothing and face were torn from the thorns, but were already set about healing. He grabbed his staff and, with a heaving pull, managed to abstract it from its prison.
"Let us go," he said to the double headed dragon. "We must tell Lord Sesshomaru that his ward has been kidnapped."
Ah-Un grunted and bent down so the smaller youkai could scramble on top. Once secured, the beast took off into the air to track down his master. Jaken sat on his back fretting away, worried of what punishment his Lord would bestow upon him this time.
*
Just continuing with my editing process. I hope this got most of the problems fixed, feel free to tell me if you see any others. 05-08-07
This chapter is dedicated to bungee_lovin_bunny (aff) for pushing me to delve further into the story and characters. Also, thanks for the ideas! There are a lot of things I need to take into consideration for this story, and you've helped me look at them in different ways and providing me with more options on how this story is going to progress. You've been a big help, thanks!
Reviews are Love!
Chapter Four;
*
While there was little doubt Kagome wouldn't take too long in her own time, given her promise to Inuyasha, the group (minus a certain half-demon) were all surprised when she came bursting into Kaede's hut ten minutes after she had left.
The hanyou hadn't returned to the hut, choosing to release his frustration on some poor, unsuspecting tree. The rest of the group was there to greet her with wide eyes and open mouths.
"Kagome-chan?" Sango asked, her mouth half-full with stew.
The miko just smiled and rocked back and forth on her heels. She skipped the short distance to the where the others were sitting and plopped down across from Kaede.
"I take it everything went well in your time? Did you bring more supplies?" Miroku asked.
Kagome smiled faded. She winced as she realized she forgot one of her purposes of going home. "Well, no I forgot," she said. "But I can always go back later and get it."
"Your mind seems to have been cleared while you were with your family," Kaede commented.
"Yup! I have the smartest mom /ever/!"
The group looked at the bouncing girl as she helped herself to the stew. She was humming slightly as she took careful measures not spill the hot liquid.
"Kagome-san, I assume your mother has inspired this mood, may I ask of her wisdom?"
"She pointed out that I don't have to go through with it."
"But Kagome-chan," Sango gasped. "You promised."
"Not really though," she argued.
"We already know that by Sesshomaru's terms, you've agreed. You can't get out of the deal with your honor unscathed," the houshi pointed out.
"Ah," Kagome said, her smile returning. "But what about /his/?"
The group looked at the teen with a confused expression. They urged her silently to continue.
"He tricked me," Kagome explained.
"Well, yeah," Miroku said. "We were there."
"Well how much honor is there in having to trick a girl into bearing your heir?"
Sango snorted, looking over at Miroku who was doing his best to look innocent.
"So child," Kaede said. "Ye will argue Sesshomaru's claim because of trickery."
"Yup! He can't very well dispel my honor for not going along with a deal that he tricked me into doing. It questions his honor, especially for someone so high and mighty as the Taiyoukai of the Western Lands."
Kagome was obviously proud of herself. Her smile never faded as she devoured her stew in a matter of seconds. Shippo had returned to her lap, basking in the warmth and smells of the teenaged woman.
Sango smiled at the girl. Miroku was chewing on his spoon in thought. "While I think you're argument is valid, and a good one," he began. "I somehow doubt that Sesshomaru will accept it."
Kagome's face fell at the comment. "W-why not?"
"Because it's Sesshomaru, Inuyasha's elder brother--"
"Half brother," the others in the group corrected in unison.
"And he seems to be rather ruthless in getting things he wants and he obviously wants you as his child's mother. Even if you can convince him that his own honor is at stake for the deceit, what will stop him from finding other means?"
"His honor," Sango supplied.
The group twisted to stare at the taijiya. "What Sango-chan?" Kagome asked.
"His honor. We're playing on his honor, right? Well, if she can get out of the deal by questioning his honor for his trickery, then she doesn't have anything to worry about. He won't take her against her will, that would be worse than the deceit, and as long as any other advances are turned down, then she has nothing to worry about."
"That seems like a reasonable assumption," Miroku said, mulling over it some more.
Kagome smile returned. She began to pet Shippo's tail, running her fingers through the pelt. A purring like sound was coming from the kitsune. "So that's the plan? Should we go find him, or send a message, or just wait until the new moon to spring this on him?"
"A message might be best, though I don't know where to send it. Same goes with finding him, I have no clue where he lives when he isn't wandering his lands, which seems to be what he does most of the time," Sango said.
"So, we're just going to have to wait?" Kagome asked.
"Looks like--"
Inuyasha burst into the hut, throwing the straw door hanging out of the way with such force that it tore the mat from the wall. He looked down at it apologetically before turning his attention to the group. His eyes grew brighter at seeing a happy Kagome in the room too.
"And what can we do for ye Inuyasha," Kaede asked.
"They can get off their lazy asses," he said, pointing at the members of his traveling group. "'Cause we got some shards to hunt."
"Shards? But I thought--" Sango began.
"No buts let's go. We need to get going and quickly."
Kagome stood up, Shippo in her arms, and walked over to her pack. She hadn't gotten supplies and it didn't look like she would be at this point in time. Sango was standing too, brushing off her bottom before gathering her own things.
"And where is the rumor saying the shards lie?" Miroku asked.
Inuyasha looked at the monk and smiled. "Mountains in the East."
"How East?"
The grin on the hanyou's face grew wider and threatened to split his face in two. "As damn far East as we can on this island, and as far from the Western Lands we can get."
The monk chuckled, standing up and picking up his staff. "Ah, taking the fleeing and waiting out the problem method, are we?"
Inuyasha rolled his eyes. He looked over to Kagome who was standing there, her backpack on, and looking at the hanyou curiously. She smiled at him when their eyes met. He blushed and turned to walk out of the hut.
"Let's go, you four. We don't got time to waste!"
*
Rin followed quietly behind Jaken, leading Ah-Un as they made their way down a dirt road. Sesshomaru had left them again, much to the little girl's disappointment, leaving her under the care of the groveling toad.
Said toad was leaning heavily on his staff as he waddled his way down the rocky hill. He didn't chance a look back to make sure the little girl was making her way safely.
As it was she was having trouble staying upright, tripping over the rocks and leaning heavily on Ah-Un for support. The beast of burden grunted as she pulled his reins heavily.
"Jaken," Rin said.
The toad grunted that he had heard, but didn't turn around.
"May we stop soon?" she asked. "I'm getting tired."
Jaken scoffed. "Stupid human, Lord Sesshomaru will be most displeased if I do not finish his task in time and he will be most angry to know that it was you impending me of doing so."
Rin's eyes widened, tears coming briefly to her eyes. Ah-Un nuzzled her hair in response to the salty fragrance blanketing the air around her. She shook her head, wiping the tears on the back of her head. The last thing she wanted to do was disappoint the man...youkai, who had taken her in. With that in mind, she pushed the pain of her bleeding feet aside and stepped forward to continue the trek.
Jaken, seeing that Rin was not going to further argue, made to continue as well. He didn't get but a few steps when a screech from Rin had him turning around. He was just in time to see her tumbling down the hill. The toad's small legs would not allow him to avoid the quickly descending girl and soon he was added to the jumble of limbs as they rolled down the rocky hill.
When they reached the bottom both lay on their backs, still slightly entangled, trying to make the world stop spinning. A woman's scream brought the toad back to reality. He saw a bunch of humans scurrying their way, and he looked around for his staff. On the other side of the path, half stuck in a thorny bush, the wooden weapon lay.
"That youkai just attacked that little girl," the woman was screaming.
The men were running at them quickly, weapons drawn. Jaken jumped up and tried to grab Rin's hand to drag her away, but her weight was too much for him.
"Get away from her you demon!" One of the men cried.
Jaken barely avoided the large ax aimed at his head by diving into the thorn bush that held his staff. He watched horrified as the men began cutting away at the bush, while the women rushed to Rin and checked to see if she was okay. The fall had left small cuts and bruises on her body.
One of the men left the group trying to reach Jaken in the lower branches of the bush. "Is she okay?"
"Yes, she seems to be fine. We'll take her back to the village to mend. Then we'll find out who her parents are."
Jaken gasped. He couldn't allow such things to happen. "Rin belongs to Lord Sesshomaru, Taiyoukai of the Western Lands," he screamed. "You will not touch her without his approval and you will certainly not take her away where I cannot watch over her."
The woman, who had been talking earlier, snorted. She motioned for the man to pick up the girl. "I doubt that that beast of a Lord would have anything to do with a little girl, a little human girl at that. Stop telling us lies. Leave this place now and we'll let you live."
"I will not leave this place," Jaken exclaimed. "These are the lands of Lord Sesshomaru and as his loyal retainer I have more right to be here than you, stupid human."
The woman laughed. It was cold and lacking all humor. "We'll see how long your Lord Sesshomaru allows you to stay on his supposed land when he finds out you lost his meal," the woman said. "And until I see that brute of a monster working this land like the rest of us, then I'll never concede that this land belongs to him."
"You will pay for this dearly, horrible wench."
The men in the group laughed, the women already having left with the man carrying Rin. "My name is Takahashi Aiko," she said. "And I will rue the day I bow down to any youkai, lord or not. And you can tell him I said so"
The group left, talking amongst themselves. Jaken looked stunned. Ah-Un was standing at the top of the hill, unnoticed by the humans.
"Ah-Un," Jaken cried out.
He managed to extract himself of what was left of the bush. His clothing and face were torn from the thorns, but were already set about healing. He grabbed his staff and, with a heaving pull, managed to abstract it from its prison.
"Let us go," he said to the double headed dragon. "We must tell Lord Sesshomaru that his ward has been kidnapped."
Ah-Un grunted and bent down so the smaller youkai could scramble on top. Once secured, the beast took off into the air to track down his master. Jaken sat on his back fretting away, worried of what punishment his Lord would bestow upon him this time.
*
Just continuing with my editing process. I hope this got most of the problems fixed, feel free to tell me if you see any others. 05-08-07
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