The Sacred Trees

Hi all. Long time no see in this site. Strength made writing this hard, and the Big Bad took a lot of brain power to craft. I hope I did a good job, please tell me what you think of big bad.

My suggestion for all those reading strength and getting mad at Sesshy read a few back chappies here before reading on or it does get a bit hard not to want to go “Arrrggghhh how can you be soooo blind in Strength!!!!” lol – or was that just Kazuyo and me?

Anyway thanks so much for all the great reviews for the last chappie. Oh except for Yuusha in this fic if you haven't noticed I don't shorten anyone else's names. Why? Because the Canines are a hierarchical group, and its all rather formal, so by maintaining the long names, that sense is preserved.

Okay enough from me. Please tell if Big Bad works...

Read, review and enjoy.


Chapter 28 : The Big Bad

“My Lords, we have made a breakthrough.. ackkkk!!!” Hakumeihime slammed on her breaks at the sight of the Shogun and his mate sharing a rather torrid kiss. It was not so much the kiss but the roaming hands that caused the Lieutenant to blush. She very quickly backpedaled out of the room as Sesshoumaru glared at her, while Inuyasha smirked. Dionne chuckled as he caught the Demoness in a hug outside the room. “You are cute when you are embarrassed.” He said as he nuzzled her neck. She turned a brighter shade of red.

“The Shogun is going to come out any minute. Be careful.” She hissed at the beige Inu. Dionne grinned and hands up backed away with a wink. “Huh! Though its amazing the Shogun has not seemed to notice that we have been, well courting.”

Dionne chuckled, watching Sesshoumaru try to pretend they weren't courting was the reason why he had backed off, “Willful ignorance on your father's part, I am more then happy to pull one over the white dog.” He chuckled. “I think he is in denial love. As soon as you are ready I will be happy to tell him.”

“That is what I am worried about, you are too happy.” She grinned back at him, he was the first Youkai she had ever met who was not part of the Canines whom she was extraordinarily impressed with. The fact that he stood toe to toe with her father as an alpha really caught her attention. Also knowing her father would cause her fuss, while Inuyasha would defend the relationship made it all the more sweeter. She was going to take a step closer to Dionne to give him a kiss, when she felt the Shogun's aura at the door and quickly took a few steps back.

“Report Lieutenant” Sesshoumaru said curtly as he stepped out of the room.

“My Lord, you are requested to come to the briefing room, we have made a break through in our investigations.” HakumeiHime said formally, she was relieved to see Yuusha running up the hall, she had summoned him to baby sit while the Alpha couple were needed at the meeting. Inuyasha had made it clear that even with the guards, when both Alphas were needed else where, Yuusha, the Generals or the Lieutenants had to be in the room to baby sit.

Both Lords strapped on their swords and stepped out, Inuyasha purposely caught Yuusha by the scruff of his neck and nuzzled his cheek, the way he did with his pups. As expected the paternal gesture made the Ookami blush, stutter and be all flustered. Inuyasha looked appraising at the blush, and of course added fuel to the fire, leaning close he whispered, “You are taking your time with the seduction aren't you. I expect a full report soon.”

Yuusha's eyes bulged and he went an interesting color, that Inuyasha thought suited him much more then the sickly pale color that he had sprouted earlier. The Hanyou chuckled evilly and gently pushed his adoptive son into the babies room. Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow, but refused to ask. He knew his mate had many plots in the air, and for his own sanity, he had decided that SOME ignorance on the part of the Shogun was not only advised, it was required for his continued mental health.

The two side by side walked into the council room. The main team involved in the investigations were already there. They all took their seats and The Crane Demoness began uploading pictures of their investigations on the huge screen in the room. “My Lords, we had a number of viable suspects, from the initial investigations, and finally thanks to the work of the teams lead by Lord Dionne, the good Lieutenant and my self, we have sufficient evidence to identify our enemy. We have triangulated the IT trail, the financial trail as well as the historical records, and the results of it point towards Baron Damon Geistleisten, based in CuxHaven, Germany as our enemy.” there was a flurry of confusion, the town was small insignificant almost, and Gernamy, Western Europe in general was more known for producing Human magicians rather the powerful Youkai.

Lord Mirei, waited for the reaction to die down before continuing. “Our enemy has links to all parts on the world, his three largest bases were in Washington, Florida and in Vancouver Canada. I say were, because the Canadian Inus have destroyed the Base in Vancouver, providing us with the final pieces of the puzzle. Lord Dionne, care to continue.”

Dionne nodded, and casting a rather smug look at Sesshoumaru said “While the Shogun and the Japanese Youkai have been distracted..” he smirked as the Shogun's eye's narrowed on him. “I have been busy coordinating the strike on the Vancouver base. The demons running the base were Wolverine Youkai, a very lethal and ferocious group. In terms of information, as with the Monkey Demon Base here officially there was not much information on the leader. But among the Wolverine was an ancient Shamanic Demon who seemed rather obsessed with not throwing things away. His wing was cluttered with all kinds of interesting things. My people went though everything with a fine tooth-comb.” Dionne became very serious.

“Among the items, we found a shaft of really old hand written notes on parchment. The parchment talked of the destruction of a great Youkai nation. At its height about 2500 years ago the nation was said to be extremely advanced in all forms of Science and Technology. The Youkai were building their greatest monuments, as they were about to declare dominance on the rest of the world. When a cataclysm struck the nation. The scrolls were not able to provide the nature of the cataclysm, but it killed all the Youkai in the nation, and ultimately their whole Island was claimed by the Atlantic Ocean. The nation was called Atlantis and the Youkai that lived on the Island were HUMAN YOUKAI.” Dionne said, there was a shocked silence, none knew human Youkai even existed, still somehow it made a sick kindda sense. Everyone waited for Dionne to continue.

“The scrolls recorded that all on the Island died, and the Youkai of Atlantis on other lands, were then hunted and killed by other Youkai, as they had tried to conquer other lands. One family instead of fighting like the rest of their people, went into hiding. The family were a scientific family, not warriors, so it was not against their honor to hide. Because Germany was not a natural Youkai strong hold it became the best place for the family to run to. We have reason to believe that Baron Damon Geistleisten, is the grandson of the family that left Atlantis. The war started 400 years ago, because that was when his father and grandfather both died in a strange accident, making him the sole leader of his family. Our enemy is the last surviving Human Youkai from Atlantis and it seems that his goal is to reinstate the glory of his dead race, by ruling the Youkai world.” Dionne concluded.

“So why go after the Sacred Trees? How could he even have found out about them?” Kouga asked trying to get as much information as they could.

Dionne shrugged “That the scrolls did not say.”

A low groan was heard in the hall. Everyone immediately turned to Inuyasha who was pressing his fingers against his forehead. Sesshoumaru placed a concerned hand on the Hanyou's shoulder, suddenly Inuyasha sat up straight, his eyes had a glazed look to them.

“I saw it, what Dionne was talking about, I 'saw' a great Youkai nation sink.” Inuyasha said slowly.

“Inuyasha that is impossible, you were not even born at that time.” Lady Shiba said gently.

“No Lady, the Ancient Ones showed it to me, when I was first being trained, but the memory is deep inside, Dionne's tale triggered it.” Inuyasha stood slowly, his eyes still glazed looked into the far distance seeing images only he could see.

“The nation of Atlantis was indeed great, they had towering structures and great monuments of their people. Much like humans, the Human Youkai saw nature as nothing more then a tool that if it did not stand in the way of their advancement they used. And if it was in their way, they destroyed it without a second thought. There was one great Ancient One on the Island, it was right in the middle, larger then the Ancient one in the Council Chamber, it has florished there from the time the first Human Youkai emerged on the Island. As time went by, the Atlantians covered all their grass with cold stone, they cut down all their forests and built a stone city. The Ancient One grieved the loss of its brethren, but it still did its duty, providing shade and magic to the nation. Then the Youkai of Atlantis with superior weapons and technology waged war on the world, they were winning. To commemorate their win they wanted to build a huge monument right in the middle of their nation. At the spot where the last Ancient One stood, in spite of the danger, the Ancient One tried to warn the Atlantians in their dreams that they were going to destroy themselves. But the Atlantians were too full of hubris to listen to messages in dreams, to see any value in an old tree.” Inuyasha did not even realize that as he spoke a tear rolled down his eyes, mourning the loss of a tree that had been gone before he was even conceived.

“They cut the Ancient one down, and as it dies it mourned not its death, but it mourned for the Island, for without magic they were doomed. When the last of the light left the Ancient One, Magic left the Island, and every Youkai on the Island went mad. It was short, bloody and unstoppable, the Youkai killed themselves and the release of all their powers destabilized the Island. The split the lands, tore the Islands asunder until finally the ocean to rose and the Island sank into the sea.” Inuyasha said sorrowfully, the Ancient Ones till today mourned the unnecessary loss.

Inuyasha slowly came back to the present, he looked sadly at Kouga, “Looks like the surviving Human Youkai has not learned the lesson of his ancestors. He seems to blame the Trees rather then their own actions for the loss of his people. He knows of the Trees, because the Ancient Ones tried to warn his people, for that he has violated them. And for that I will never forgive him.” Inuyasha's eyes hardened . “Where is he Lord Mirei?”

The Crane Demoness slowly rose to her feet, almost unconsciously her hand dropped to her thin saber, “He comes here, he is leading a war party to our shores. They are coming from the Far North through the Bering sea, there by avoiding the human patrols in the Pacific. His submarines will are expected to make land in three days.”

Inuyasha's hand dropped to Tessaiga, face hard he turned to his brother. “Shogun what are your orders?”

Sesshoumaru rose gracefully, “Tonight all of you take time for your families. Tomorrow we will go North, I do not want that Bastard to step on Japanese soil we will meet his Armada on the Ice Islands on the North. Lord Kuroyukitake, Lord Bunza device a means to get the submarines out of the water, we will fight where we have the advantage on the ice shelves. Lord Tatsukiinoue, Lord Sunshi, Lord Kotetsu and Lord Dionne your main forces will come with the Canines North, for battle. Lord Kusajishi and Lady Shiba, you will take charge of the forces not going North, your mission defend the homes of those at war.” Power radiated off the Shogun, he lifted Bakun'Saiga and drove it into the air. “We did not start this... but for the Ancient Ones, for our loved ones and for all those we have lost because of this bastard, we are sure as HELL going to finish this!!”

The Youkai roared.

--tbc---

lol... next chappie will bring out the lemons I promise. Well what do you think? Please review.