The Sacred Trees

Again thanks for reviews and rating.. will thank individually later but want to post this first. Ok here are some of the secrets of what is happening…. Enjoy and please review and rate.

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6 months after Inuyasha was left in the forest.

The two watched the silver haired youth in moving silently, much more gracefully now between the trunks of the ancient trees in the forest. He was constantly touched by or touching roots, tree trunks, branches and vines in the area. In truth he had not been allow to leave the physical touch of the Ancient ones since he had been deemed worthy nor had any other been allowed miles near the hanyou?

“He is still a half dog demon, do those trees realize he is a pack animal? That he needs to have people around him? They have trapped him in this place for almost half a year, why has he not sought to leave? Have they killed his fire? Did we do the right thing surrendering him to them?” The man demanded of the elderly woman.
“Dionne, you know we did not have the ability to save him, that toxin, only the Ancient ones had that ability. They do not think like us, and at this time they book no interference from any not of their kind.” The woman responded, both were totally clocked from the senses of the hanyou, stood some 200 meters away watching.
“HE is not their kind, he is our kind. We the progenitors of the Thlingchadinne Indian tribe, have more claim on him than any other in these parts. We, you and me brought him here, and now we are forbidden from even talking to him. Matinana you have to intercede for the sake of that puppy! They are turning him into a lifeless puppet” Dionne ground out in frustration.

“Is it for the pup's sake or yours?” The woman responded coolly, “I think it best that you not accompany me to watch this part of the training, I am beginning to understand why the trees demanded that no other witness this. Things are not what they seem, the ancient ones are physically restricted but beings are not. The pup may be physically restricted but my belief is that his conscious and spirit have been journeying a million miles, they are training his mind, deepening his connections. When this is over I doubt he would have been fully aware of his physical restrictions and the passage of time nor will he be able to comprehend fully the level of intense training his mind and spirit has undergone. That is good for the pup, when he returns to his country, his abilities will mature gently with him. The trees will not hurt him Dionne, they have guarded him since he was a pup. See the way they hold him now? Make no mistake, they have claimed him as one of their own and he is precious to them in a way I have never heard of nor witnessed before.”

“His country, that cold overdeveloped, overpopulated country! The forests suit this one well. He would be a great addition to our tribe, out numbers are so few. So why not we keep him?” Dionne said petulantly.

Matiana raised an amused brow, “Because he has a mission, do not ask, I do not know what it is. But it is a mission that the Ancient are preparing him for. And the heart of the mission is in his homeland.”
“Huh! How long more are they going to keep him to themselves?” Dionne asked.
“well I suspect that they will take a little longer then they really need, the Ancients ones are enjoying themselves more then I have ever seen, let us leave. We will play our part soon.”
The two figures disappeared into the forest returning to their village.

--
The world was a strange place for Inuyasha since he had awakened. Once the pain had subsided and his eyes opened, he had been shocked by his location, and sought to ask about his friends. But none had been inclined to answer fully, the Ancient Demon tree sprite was the only being that could move in the area, and he did not speak at all, he had merged back into his tree as soon as the hanyou had opened his eyes. The trees instead sent him pulses of reassurance, they were fine, and he was fine. He needed to wait, it was the nature of trees to wait and allow things to come in the fullness of time. And this was to be the impulsive hanyou’s first lesson, to develop a core of patience for the big things in life. They would teach him that while it was alright to be impatient at times, for his own safety he needed to be able to peacefully accept that some things he could not do immediately.

The Ancient ones had then sent him visions, the visions were sent to his soul, he himself, his mind did not understand in totality the message of the trees, all he knew was that the trees were giving him a choice. His choice was to serve them and save something, or heal and leave. The trees would accept either choice, there were no predictions of doom, that was not the nature of trees, instead it was an open choice with the acceptance of consequences of the hanyou’s choice with an equilibrium that no beings other then trees possessed.
It was not Inuyasha’s nature to accept negative consequences with equilibrium, he tried to pester the trees for details, the gently refused him, saying for that he needed to wait. The ancient ones pulsed with amusement when Inuyasha got mad and threw a tantrum; because the trees would not get mad at him when he threatened to not serve them.. such acceptance of discarding responsibilities would always be beyond the hanyou, and that was an additional reason why the trees had chosen him. Sulking at their amusement the hanyou choose to serve, regardless of where that road would take him.

Since then he had walked in a dream world that was beyond the ability of his mind to comprehend. A part of him functioned normally, sleeping in the branches, drinking from the stream, eating fruit, even practicing fighting stances and movement. He went through those motions, but the greater part of his consciousness, was on an internal journey.

At one point he was deep in the earth, feeling the pulse of life from the depths of the planet itself, at other times we was high in the sky, sustained by the sun, caressed by the breeze and hearing the echoes of the stars. He was a seed blown by the wind, he was the oak withstanding the storm, he was the reed that bent without breaking, he was the weed that refused to leave the ground. He was home to the creatures that took shelter in his shade, he gave safety and expected nothing, being pecked by the beaks, gnawed at, eaten, cut down, destroyed, it mattered not, what the others did, he still gave withholding nothing, expecting even less.
He gave fruit to the man who turned around and burned him to the ground; he gave shelter to the couple, who carved words with a sharp knife into his skin, he gave everything peacefully.. And watched with no malice, no hate, no need for revenge or lamentations as man destroyed his brethren clear-cutting over night what had taken centuries to grow.

He understood at the soul level (not head) he was part of the greater whole. He was part of the Tree of Time, its sap deep in his blood and being. The fragility of life, the steel of life, everything changed and yet nothing changed.

The web of life pulsed, each had its place, his unconscious knew what only a tiny part of his conscious mind understood, the web was off balance, parts were wrong.. Inuyasha would not be able to explain it but he knew some was wrong with the web of life that connected him to the Sacred Trees and through them to all other beings, and even the planet itself.

--
One morning the hanyou woke up and the world was sharp, bright and in focus, that part of the training was over. It had taken as long as it took for a human child to be brought into the world. He felt deep connection to the Ancient Trees, but other then that he felt like himself, raring to go, and impatient for the next part of the training to begin. Still he sat on the branch and ate the fruit, enjoyed the breeze, a squirrel kept him company as he listened to the wordless whispers of the trees. It was almost midday when a scent caught his nose, and he was off like a shot, moving silently through the woods.

The humans in dressed in strange clothing, with feathers in their hair turned in shock as he dropped soundlessly behind them.
“Inuyasha! You are free!” the strange woman said. While the man put away strange the blade he had drawn.
“I was never not free. But who are you and how do you know my name?” Inuyasha asked his head tilting in enquiry.
“I am Matiana and this is Dionne we are from the only native village in a hundred mile radius from this place. We are the one who brought you here, at the request of the Ancient ones.” Matiana.
“Oh! Well thanks, so where is here and what exactly happened, and how on earth did you get Kagome to remove those god forsaken beads.” Inuyasha asked.
The two explained the events as they knew it, leaving out some key information of the sacrifices unsure if the trees wished him to know. They completed their story as they reached the Ancient trees, adding only that the trees had communicated their wishes to them in dreams.
“Keh! Why didn’t the trees just tell you they can chatter long enough when they want.” Inuyasha said touching the trunk of an ancient one fondly.

“Inuyasha for the trees to communicate with us, requires a great amount of energy and effort on their part, the trees do not, cannot talk directly in our minds or the minds of most people with ease, you are the only one able to do that. You connection to these ancient ones is unique.”
Inuyasha reddened at the praise, “I know that you don’t have to tell me the obvious.” He grouched. “Now what else do you need to tell me, you left out important information, I can feel it.” Inuyasha said, he frowned slightly, he did feel it, he knew they weren’t lying he usually could smell lies, but this was different, he felt a gap in the story as if the connections had not been made.
“We are not sure if that is ours to tell.” Matiana said looking enquiringly at the Ancient ones, Matiana and Dionne felt that consent was given.
“They are saying that you should tell me, and that I should hold my stupid-ass anger in check.” Matina raised an eyebrow at the hanyou, who grinned unrepentant, “Well its not like the speak in words, I understand what they mean, but I have to use my own words don’t I.” He leaned against the largest tree, and the two watched in fascination as a vine immediately dropped down to drape across the hanyou’s shoulders.

“Very well there was a price attached to the healing, 2 prices. The first is that you can never return to the feudal era, you are dead to that time, and the connection that allowed you to travel to and from that area has been severed.”

Inuyasha was nodding even before hey finished, a sadness in his golden eyes, “Yes I thought it was something like that,” He dropped his head forward, white waves hid his eyes. “I.. I..” he took a deep shuddering breath, “I knew there was something missing.. inside me.. I..have.. lost something important.. but I .. don’t.. know.. but.. but.. it doesn’t matter.. it can’t matter not anymore.. I agreed..” The two watched and felt the deep pain surround the hanyou, then suddenly, as if cut by razor claws the feeling was gone. The boy snapped up, took a breathe looked at them and smiled. The pain was gone, the boy had absorbed in into himself, and now smiled as if he had not a worry in the world.

Dionne relaxed figuring the boy was over it. Matiana knew better. She looked at the youth with new respect, the skill it took to hide deep pain, she wondered at the life of the young one, and the burdens the slim shoulders bore so easily. She had a feeling that no matter his pain, he would smile, play the fool and don his mask of brashness.

“So what was the other price? It had something to do with Kagome right?” Inuyasha said with a knowing grin.
“How did you know that.. well.. yes the second price involved changing your relationship with her..I am not sure how to put this but..” Matiana said awkwardly.

“Don’t waste your time, I sort of remember her kissing me.. but it felt like well.. nothing. I know I will still try to protect her, if she is in danger.. but she is just a friend.” The hanyou tilted his head searching his emotions.. “Actually I think you changed what she felt for me, but I think my feelings are the same. She is my friend, but she broke my love for her the day she made the bloody beads a ‘treat’ for saving her. I never hated her, I our feelings were complex, but I think her interest impacted mine, not the other way around. Am I making sense.. I donno.. fuck.. that was the problem.. while I enjoyed her company.. I never wanted to even kiss her,…unless she initiated.” The hanyou said going beet red, his mouth moving faster then his good sense.

Dionne chuckled “Well you are a young guy, who wouldn’t be interested if a scantly dressed chick was hot for you.” They watched in interest as Inuyasha went even redder, Dionne wondered at the young one’s innocence, he was such a complex mix of things.

“I believe we have exhausted that subject, and I am glad that the second was not a true sacrifice on your part. However shall we get on with the next phase of your training.” Matiana said tapping Dionne smartly with the end of her stick.

“Alright, great lets get this on.” Inuyasha said excitedly, golden eyes shining with enthusiasm.
“Huh! I thought you would have a lot of questions.” Dionne said with a raised brow.
Silver hair cascaded as Inuyasha ran a claw though it, his eyes taking on a deep maturity as he leaned against the Ancient One, again. “I do, have many questions, but I know the answers will be clearer, if they come to me on their own. For now I know what I need to know, AND I need to focus on training.” He straightened up, the maturity receded as excitement burned. “Keh! Stop stalling already, lets get this training on!”

****

And so Inuyasha’s second phase of training began, this phase would last a whole year. Though the year Inuyasha’s range of movement was limited to about a 10 mile radius of the Ancient trees, and the only beings he saw other then the forest creatures and the trees were Mariana and Dionne. His days and nights were full of training. At dawn he had weapons training with Dionne, followed by Japanese and English writing, history and general knowledge lessons with Matiana – to bring the hanyou into the 20th century in mind and not just body. Evenings were more weapons training and nights he meditated with the trees, usually falling asleep before the full period of meditation was over.

His night meditations focused on increasing his understanding and connections that had been established during his first 9 months of training, this time in a wholly conscious manner. Truth be told his progress here was slow, but the pace seemed to please the trees, so the hanyou accepted that things would unfold in time. His other training was for now the most interesting.

The weapons training surprised Inuyasha, as it was not just training with a sword. Instead it was also training in modern weapons that did not require him using his demonic or magical energy. The trees insisted that he needed to learn ranged weapons, weapons that would allow him to escape and minimize damage to himself when he was attacked. Inuyasha scoffed at this, he had always been the one to wade in, for close combat. Relying on his own strength and endurance and sheer determination to win. The trees insisted so though he scoffed he did learn and train diligently in these new methods. Though his mood was less then pleasant - then again neither was Dionne’s.
Dionne turned out to be a all round weapon’s expert, his scope and knowledge for a human was beyond anything Inuyasha had expected. What he lacked in strength he made up for in sheer skill, and in took a couple of months before Inuyasha could consistently defeat him in a sword battle where only skill and speed where applied. Then the sparring focused on improving his techniques, speed, style and grace in battle.

Inuyasha learned about guns but hated them with a passion. Though he finally managed to hit a target with one, he griped, groaned and flatly refused to carry them; saying that the noise they made even with silencers grated on his nerves. The stubborn Hanyou refused to even look at the bow.

Finally they devised a ranged weapon that Inuyasha actually grew rather fond of. It was like a crossbow mounted on this left forearm. It could fire rapid fire wide spread projectiles and bombs, as well as precision bolts. Inuyasha learned to make the ammunition himself from natural products and scrap metals. He really enjoyed learning how to make bombs. The noise of explosions to Dionne’s disgust somehow did not grate on Inuyasha’s delicate ears. Dionne’s grumbling at the Hanyou’s idiosyncrasies had the other two in stitches.

Much to everyone’s delight, especially his own, Inuyasha found he enjoyed reading. The lessons he had had with his mother came back in a nostalgic rush, and Inuyasha picked it up faster then most would have credited him for. Then again Matiana was an excellent teacher. He learned a whole lot of things, about the modern world. After about 8 months into the training he was finally proficient enough to read the history of the Yokai, in the time that he skipped over.

According to the text on Youkai History that Matiana provided the hanyou, about a 100 years or so after he had left the feudal area, the magical energies in the world began to falter and fade. It did not disappear, just over time became much weaker. With the dimming of the magical energies around the world, the Youkais especially the weaker ones lost their strength and the ability to reproduce. Only the more powerful Yokai who carried their powers inside themselves were exempted from this loss of strength, but even amongst them reproduction became an issue.

Then about 350 years ago a terrible secret war broke out as the more powerful Youkai from different countries sought to wipe out each other, in a mistaken belief that the great numbers of Youkai surviving had caused the drop in magic or that another country had been behind the reduction of magical energies, and were somehow damming the magic. The war was not one fought in the open, it was not a war fought one on one as had been the way of honorable Youkai, instead it was a war fought in shadows. And in the initial secret attacks many of the most powerful Youkai were targeted and fell to betrayal and the assassins fangs. Till this day no one country was sure who had begun the war.

In the 93 years the war went on uncountable assassinations of entire Youkai families, betrayals and use of unfair means caused the total destruction of clans occurred. Very few alliances survived, and Youkai fell by the millions.

It took the reduction of Youkai numbers to less then a quarter of the numbers that walked the earth in Inuyasha’s time before the realization dawned that the reduction in Youkai had not stopped the dimming of magic energies.
To their greater horror they realized that while the tiger and the dragon had fought, the fox had snuck in and stolen the prize.

While the Youkai had focused on mutual extermination, the humans had consolidated and risen in dominance, their numbers growing by the millions. The sheer disparity in numbers now made them and not the Youkai the dominant force on the planet. So the remnants of the once powerful race had banded together and gone into hiding. Treaties were signed and slowly order had been reestablished.

The magical energies were still very low, but now there was concerted efforts to actually research and correct the situation, not much success had been gained in this area. The texts also alluded to the fact that Yokai numbers had increased slightly and stabilized as birth rates were still low, and that the Yokai were now led by strong families. No mention of names or locations were provided anywhere in the book. This was a safe guard against the book falling into unfriendly human hands.

The hanyou on reading the whole story had gone into a state of shock, he felt such fear, an almost overwhelming sense of loss, he found he could not ask. He didn’t want to know – not yet, maybe in a hundred years he would have the strength to ask.. but for now the words would not come. And as much as he cursed himself for coward – he could not ask of Shippo, Kilala, Kouga and Sesshoumaru’s fate. He cursed his cowardice, for as long as he did not ask then he could take small comfort and hope that they had survived. He cursed his inability to go back and change things, his weakness, had they died because he had abandoned them? Even the trees could not ease this new pain, the spear of loneliness and loss cut so deep, that for more then a month the Hanyou stopped talking. He spoke neither to the trees nor to the two humans, thought he learnt all they thought, he listened without responding. Inuyasha was in mourning.

At the end of the month, his mourning period he began speaking normally and naturally again, his training continued, seemingly uninterrupted.

The end of a year, brought a new phase of existence to the hanyou, as he was finally shown a the first tasks of his new destiny.

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a/n/
Went out on a limb to give an actual summary of the history, nerve wracking. Does it make sense, plausible, do you need more details? Please review and comment on what you think of the history and of the training, any suggestion comments and even flames (polite ones) are accepted. … and how am I doing with the hanyou.. going too far or sort of in character??? Thanks again for reviewing.. love reviewers a whole lot. SunHawk