The Sacred Trees

Thanks all who reviewed.. Chap 2 & 3 ... waaa few reviews for Chappie 3, you no like??? Too long? Please tell.

Kmoaton : Sesshy will not ignore his responsibilities again.. N by adoption Shippo is his nephew.

Ladykaa28 : I hope the last 3 chapters answered most of your questions, on Shippo and Sesshy well that unfolds in later chappies. I will admit I tried to answer as many of your questions as possible in the last 2 chapters, hope I did an ok job.

Nikkie23534 : Bukosono is NOT an Ancient Tree his is a demon tree, slightly different species, so he does not have all the information the ancient ones do. And Shessy doesn't know cause well you kindda have to ask to know.

Princess Sin : Inuyasha and Sesshy's bond broke because all the ties Inuyasha had to the feudal era was cut in that last jump. He is dead to the Feudal era and Sesshy basically felt him die.

Ladytokyo : Hope you approve of the training.

Thanks also to Vyperbites, and kyuubifreak and Punpkikpi (special double thanks to you) for their comments and support.

PLEASE READ and REVIEWWWW!!!
***

Chapter 4 : The Mission and Secrets

They watched with immense pride as the young hanyou went though his paces. He was agile, and graceful, with a power and passion in his movements, that made his fight seem seem like an ancient pagan dance. The trees had visited their dreams and informed them that the first testing of Inuyasha's mission would begin that evening, and they were not to witness the first execution of that ability. Both were not happy, but were pacified when they were informed that they would have to take him to location the second usage in a few days.

The hanyou had been nervous, pacing and agitated the whole day, not sitting at all in his excitement to know what he was supposed to do. When he had been absolutely unable to focus on reading, they had just continued the physical training, whit Matiana commenting that he was supposed to have learnt patience.

The hanyou's ears dropped for a second then perked up again “Keh, I learnt patience for the big things, but I ain't no boring old fart that will have patience for this that are just coming up. Sides irritating the ancient ones if fun.” Inuyasha grinned mischievously.
So on this day they left the hanyou before the sun set for the first time in a year.

**
Once he was alone the trees guided him to the edge of their grove, it was a place that Inuyasha had padded a good number of times. There trees here were old but did not posses the spirit of the ancient ones.

The roots of the ancient ones wrapped around Inuyasha's foot. “Open your mind child, removed the blocks and feel the connections.”

This would be the first time Inuyasha opened his mind while not sitting in the branches of the ancient ones.

He closed his eyes, focused and expanded his consciousness out of himself. At first nothing happened, then slowly like a blurred picture coming into focus, nature opened up around him. He saw how the sheer power of the ancient ones spirits had been blinding him to the more subtle energies around him, when surrounded by the sound of crashing waves, it is impossible to hear a lone trickle. Normal trees had just a serene green energy unlike the multi hued gracefully swirling energy of the Ancient ones. The normal trees welcomed his presence but were not conscious in the sense of the Ancient ones, Inuyasha was fascinated by the differences he had not noticed before, and he wondered absently what a demon tree's energy would be like. The ancient ones gave no further instructions, all had been given to Inuyasha in the 9 months, now all that was required was to see if the training had really taken or not.

Inuyasha was beginning to feel rather stupid he had no idea what was expected of him, feeling like he had failed he turned back to the ancient tress, when something caught his eye.

Right at the boarder of the Ancient grove and the normal woods, was a huge tree. Its energy was normal – green and serene. But something felt off, the hanyou felt wrong a strange inner pain as he gazed at the tree. Pulled by invisible strings he walked forward, and placed a palm on the bark, opening himself further to the tree. He felt strange. The he saw it, deep in the tree, sleeping almost was a pulsing energy that was close to death. He felt hot and flushed, he pressed his body to the tree, and called to the energy, opening himself mentally and spiritually, sending a complex network of connections to the energy. Then he felt it respond, felt it reach for him. It needed to awaken but it needed something from the half demon it order to do so, without hesitation Inuyasha offered all of himself, and was gently rejected. The energy only took a sliver, a tiny portion that the hanyou would regenerate. The pain of the portion leaving him was tremendous. The tree pulsed, taking the sliver of Inuyasha's soul offered freely, the Ancient one's spirit trapped and asleep in the tree, was finally able to regenerate and after centuries of sleep awoke, with a swirl of rainbow energy that washed across the hanyou in gratitude. The newly awakened ancient one pulsed, tendrils and branches dipped and curled around Inuyasha. “Your call awakened me, drew me out of my sleep, your sacrifice has rejuvenated me. You have my thanks and my blessings little one.” The Ancient once whispered into Inuyasha mind.

Very slowly the ancient one released the half demon. Inuyasha stepped back, he tried to smile, but it faltered, his legs seemed to give way and he collapsed. His body convulsed violently and he vomited blood over and over again. Every cell in his body screamed in agony, but he did not have enough strength to scream in pain. Tears of blood seeped out, and he lay shivering on the floor. The ancient ones muttered in great distress at their loved one's state, but they could not touch him, could not comfort him with touch though they wanted to. Their touch at this time would have only added to the agony. The could only give words of comfort as the hanyou writhed in pain, finally slipping into unconsciousness alone on the forest floor.

He awoke after a while, and made a slow painful trek back to the Ancient One's grove. He was not quite sure what had occurred but he did not possess the energy to ask. He stumbled into the heart of the grove, curled into a fetal position at the base of the most ancient tree and let sleep take him away from the nagging pain.

**

Matiana and Dionne, found him in that position the next morning. His lack of strength shocked them, and from the mummers of the Ancient ones, the levels of the hanyou's suffering had shocked them too. The two humans, cared for the sick half demon over the next two days, the Ancient ones seemed afraid to touch the hanyou. Finally to everyone's relief the fever that gripped Inuyasha broke, and he opened clear and bright eyes.

“Inuyasha, how are you feeling child?” Matiana asked

“Keh! Like Sesshoumaru as a giant demon dog just sat on me after Kagome 'sat' me about a hundred times.” He groaned, he was no longer in any pain he just felt achy and stiff.

“What the hell happened, boy! The trees refuse to say anything, but they have been fairly dripping regret.” Dionne snapped.

“Huh!” Inuyasha blinked, then immediately he focused on the ancient ones. He saw the distance they were keeping from him, and felt their pain. it was not in the nature of the ancient ones to hurt others, and hurting one so dear to them, hurt them. “No! Don't” Inuyasha whispered, he stood, waving the humans aside. He staggered to the oldest ancient one, and embraced it. “Its ok, I healed, the pain was nothing!” He nuzzled the tree. 'Okay it was NOT really nothing, but I will recover from it. This is my task is it not? I will not fail you and I will not stop because of a little pain. I can take pain, I am built to take damage, Ancient ones, please do not regret.” The Inu-hanyou muttered comforting the Ancient ones and reestablishing contact. By the time he had finished speaking the hanyou was covered with vines and roots as each Ancient one felt the heed to touch their chosen one.

The area pulsed with warmth and energy, Martiana and Dionne felt the trees request privacy, and reluctantly they left, promising to return the next day.

**

The next day, when they returned the two finally got the explanation that they needed.

Inuyasha explained. “It seems that the loss of magic did not just impact the demons, it also impacted the Ancient trees. You know that these trees are not demons right, the only demon is that Ancient Demon Sprite, that sleeps in that ancient one over there. The Ancient ones are spirits of the planet, of life of time and so forth, they are kindda like a race unique to themselves.” The two knew all this but did not interrupt the hanyou as he continued. “The reduction of magic, and the war, caused the ancient ones great suffering, and I think some of them tried too hard to help, when they failed, they went to sleep, or maybe they were put to sleep. I am not sure - the trees are not sure, they feel some went to sleep naturally, but others they felt the connections severed too abruptly and they are uncertain. That is all they can tell me, I don't really understand their explanations.” Inuyasha admitted.

“Anyway, they cannot reach a sleeping ancient one, and now if the ancient ones do not awaken they die. That is why I was brought to this century. My job is basically to be the – what was it- 'Alarm clock ' of the ancient ones and pull them from their sleep. That is all.” Inuyasha said with a rather mad-cap grin, as the two humans mouths sagged open.

“The only way an alarm clock ends up in the state you were in, is when the being it awakens does not want to wake up and hurls the irritating clock against a wall.” Dionne snapped, his fingers wiggling as he contemplated what would at times be an extremely pleasant way to deal with the hanyou at his worst (or was it best). “What the hell happened to you?”

“You are minimizing your role child, please, can you not feel it the trees want us to know what happened.” Matiana said softly.

Inuyasha went quiet for a moment, a curtain of white hiding his eyes, when he raised his head, his eyes were of an old soul. “The Ancient ones, that are sleeping and more so if they are near death require a source of energy to awaken. I kindda understand finally why I was born, I have three distinct parts of my blood, I was born human and demon, and then when I was pinned to the Tree God in the 50 years, the sap became intertwined with my blood as well. My blood, my soul is of 3 distinct races, and there is no other being like me, well in history.” Inuyasha said without pride or ego, the price he paid for being this unique, had cut deep gorges in his body, mind and soul.

“Who- what I am and the training I have received, allows me to form connections with the sleeping ancient ones, and then give them the energy and will to rejuvenate. That energy comes from a little bit of my soul, that is absorbed by the Ancient one.” Inuyasha finished his voice a whisper in the wind.

“And the pain and weakness you feel after is your soul rejuvenating itself.” Matiana finished her voice shaky.

“That is messed up, you can't go around cutting pieces of your soul just to awaken sleeping trees.” Dionne snapped. “You will end up destroying yourself.”

“No I won't.” Inuyasha assured them, “First it will get easier the more I do it, and secondly my soul does recover fully, the Ancient ones will never permanently damage me, I know that Dionne, they WILL allow themselves to die rather then hurt me permanently, neither will they force my healing them. Some of them already want me to stop, but I won't. This is my choice, its not a big thing that I am destined to do, it seems.. I'm just the healer of the Ancient ones, so that is what I will do heal them.” Inuyasha said with stubborn determination, aimed not just at he humans but to the trees around them.

“So you either help continue my training – or I do this on my own.” Inuyasha finished. Needless to say the training continued.

“Very well Inuyasha, I will support you in this, souls do heal, and your soul is amongst the strongest. However young one, you must strengthen it further, and remove the threat to it, that lingers.” Matiana said.

“Huh! I have gained some control of my inner Youkai.” Inuyasha said. Then he admitted painfully “Though it was only that one time.”

“Before you do anymore healing we have to change that, your Youkai must be a natural part of you so that you are strengthened further. This will be a lot easier then you think, Inuyasha, your Youkai is not yoked by the Kotodama collar, and the trees will assist you.”

“Matiana, what do the beads have to do with anything?” Inuyasha asked his eyes wide and blinking curiously.

“Inuyasha, child. The beads suppressed your Youkai, it drained your demonic energy to 'sit' you, that is why the force actually got stronger over the years, as you grew in strength so did the amount of stolen energy. When you turned full demon, all your resentment and pain turned into uncontrollable rage, much of that has gone now. Also the beads suppressed you mating instincts and heat, that is why you haven't been into heat since you awakened from the tree. In the first nine months you may have gone into heat, but with no candidates around you to flame the spark, other then a couple or erotic dreams it would have been no big deal” Matiana said.

Inuyasha went red, but his natural honesty compelled him to correct a misunderstanding, “Matiana I have never been in heat. My first heat should have been in the time I was stuck to Ginshinboku, but it didn't happen. Even with the Miko's I have never had erotic dreams. Being hanyou I think I don't have heat, I'm more human in that way I think. So while love is very important, sex never has been. I guess Im lucky that way.” Inuyasha was beat red, nor did he had any clue to the fact that human males were always in heat.

“What!” Matiana and Dionne both looked at the boy in shock, that explained his innocence, still. “Inuyasha, I have to check you on...” Matiana began, only to be tripped by root. She looked in surprise at the Ancient one, and felt herself being warned off, confusing the hanyou. “Nevermind.. let us focus on your Youkai.”

**

It took only two weeks, utilizing the focusing and connecting techniques Inuyasha learned with the trees, he went deep into himself. He found the separate parts of his psyche, built bridges between them and allowed them to merge. It was a little erratic at first but in two weeks, Inuyasha was able to bring out and send back his inner Youkai on command, without the assistance of the Tessaiga. He was a little disgusted that even with merging and controlling his Youkai, he did not have a demon dog form, and pouted about that for a bit.

On the upside, when he had his human night at the end of the two weeks, he found that he was not as helpless as before. He could consciously tap bits and pieces of his demonic powers even during the moonless night and so for short bursts he could tap his demonic senses, and summon strength. It was enough for him to gain warning of imminent danger and escape.

**

A few days after that the trees asked if he was ready to awake another. This tree was not in the grove, instead it was near the Dionne's and Matiana's village. Inuyasha was to stay in the villlage for 3 days, on the first 2 days he could visit and meet the villages, on the third day the village would be cleared for the healing ceremony. The hanyou wondered at the need for that but being too excited about finally seeing people other then Dionne and Matiana did not protest.
Inuyasha was one excited hanyou when Dionne and Matiana came to collect him the next day, he was a pup on speed. Running ahead, grumbling at their slowness, running in circles, and whining long and loud enough until both agreed to be carried by him. They both got on his back, and he moved with easy speed to the village.

Village was probably not the right term, it was a town that was one with the trees and world around it. In a natural clearing the main houses resided, others were built on and around the trees, it was a harmonious combination. To Inuyasha's surprise there were motives of dogs everywhere, before he could ask, humans descended on him. They loved his ears of course, and they were warm and welcoming. With no apparent prejudice or fear. The whole village was in a party mood, a party specially dedicated to Inuyasha, with the variety of food, drink and dance around him, the hanyou quickly lost his shyness, and joined in the fun. The food helped.

During breakfast the next day it was explained to Inuyasha that the Thlingchadinne Indian tribe, where in their folk law decedents of a half man half dog race**. So they felt that they were in a strange way related to the hanyou. He spent an easy day with the members of the tribe, playing with the children, eating and being teased by the women and sparring with the men. The village was be cleared on mid-day on the third day. The villagers boarding on boats and sailing off down the Seal River which was the only means to the village other then by air. They provided the young hanyou with a whole new and modern wardrobe before they left.

The trees had visited Dionne and Matiana the night before with specific instructions, and a strange warning. They would be allowed to witness the healing and judge if the trees had been right to keep the hanyou under such well secret training, with many truths hidden from him.

With the village empty of all except his two teachers, Inuyasha finally allowed himself to look at the tree on a small hillock at the edge of the village. He had been aware of it as soon as he entered the village, but since he had to wait, he tapped the patience he had learnt and bided his time. Now that the conditions were right he opened his sense to the tree, and was again drawn to it. This was another sleeping Ancient one, with one difference, it was not near death yet. So this healing would be much less stressful then the earlier one.

Inuyasha in a trance like state. rested against the tree and reached out, forming connections he reached in and slowly drew the sleeping energy to consciousness, offering of himself without reservation, only a sliver of a sliver was taken. The tree pulsed and the ancient one awakened, thanking the hanyou, infusing him with its multi hued energy, before releasing him. Inuyasha again staggered back away from the tree. He collapsed, gasping for breath. Waves of agony engulfed him. He was weak and in pain, feeling like he had just battled a myriad of demons, but this time he did not throw up blood, or lose consciousness. He sat then sprawled on the ground waiting for some of his strength to return.

Dionne and Matiana had watched the whole ritual from a hundred meters away. At the end they were breathing hard and in total shock. The potions that they had consumed earlier had indeed been required to keep them in check. Dionne, his face splotchy tore his gaze from the hanyou and forced himself to turn his back.

“Gods of my father!! They were right, none can witness this, especially not other demons, he is.. this.. is.. Gods!! Matiana is there nothing of this young one that is NOT over the top.” Dionne chocked out.

Matiana too turned her back to the hanyou, as he placed a calming hand on Dionne. “The Ancient ones were right in their actions, we will support what ever decision they make on how to support and protect him in Japan. We will limit the damage he can do to himself.”

Dionne turned sharply to Matiana “What do you mean? He has a long way to go, and I am sure there are many sleeping Ancient ones in Canada. He will be here for years.”

“No, he is going to be sent back to Japan in a month. His training is officially over, now we will prepare him for his new life there. You cannot witness another healing like that one, or would you deny that you would become the greatest threat to him if you did.” Matiana met Dionne's eyes harshly. He flinched and looked away. Growling the weapons' master cast a look at the sprawled hanyou, turned abruptly and walked off. Matiana, drew a deep and shaky breath and then went to the hanyou to help him heal.

**

The nest month Inuyasha spent in the grove, saying good bye and receiving strict instructions.
1)He would never search for a sleeping Ancient one, instead he should wait and in the course of his normal life, when he found one naturally – only then could he heal it.
2)All healing were to be done in the strictest privacy, none not human nor demon should see or witness him heal.
3)(This rule was admittedly wistful thinking on the parts of those that loved the hanyou) Stay out of trouble.
4)IF Unable to comply with rule 3, the rule 4 must be enforced, DO NOT draw attention to yourself, hide, use ranged weapons as much as possible - avoid all out battles and blend in.

To help him blend in Matiana presented the hanyou with bad to tie around his head, the band had small magic that cloaked the adorable ears and gave an illusion of human ones. The hanyou accepted it, and was kind of pleased with the look it gave him. He tried various styles of clothes supplied by the villages and found that leather chaffed, synthetics left him feeling itchy and in general modern clothes showed off too much. Finally he settled for a loose fitting cotton shirts, akin to pirate shirts, and soft jeans or slacks. His fire rat robes he kept specially away and would only don when he went on a secret healing mission, as he would need their protection when he was in a weakened state. Cities unlike the great forest had numerous lesser demons and humans lurking in dark corners.

On his last night in the grove the Ancient ones had a final warning for the hanyou, he was entering a new period of his life. In a way it was still training. The conditions were not right for him to travel the world healing, but that time would come. The tie of training he was undergoing now would end, when he came across an Ancient One that demanded his attention regardless of the audience. When he came across this one, Inuyasha would have to act, would need to act. The trees themselves could not tell the location of this Ancient one, only that it was extremely important. When that happened the was numerous paths the hanyou's destiny could take. Until that time came the hanyou would abide by the restrictions placed on him by the grove.

A few days later, a lone disguised hanyou, got on a helicopter waving a sad farewell with promises to keep in touch. He left with mixed feelings, he'd miss the strange humans, and more he'd miss the Ancient ones, though he was still connected with them but he could not wait to be home, he was finally going home.

When the helicopter disappeared, the villagers chanted softly, and dissipated the spell that had been around the village for two years. They knew sooner or later they would meet the hanyou again and life returned to normal in the Demon dog village. The two dog demons that had trainer that hanyou would miss him the most.

*****

a/n What do you want to see????
Inuyasha is returning to modern Japan in the next chapter if there are any requests please feel free to make them. Suggestions and ideas – especially as to what JOB the hanyou would be doing to allow his to find trees without looking would be welcome.
Did I clear thongs or make it more confusing?
Care to guess where this is going? Are you enjoying the adventure... ? Should I hurry up or keep to this pace?
SO PLEASE review and comment..

** No offense is meant in any way to the Thlingchadinne Indian tribe. This is a true tribe in Canada and the legend of being descendant from a half man-half dog race is true. Please google it for more information. Any other mention I make of the tribe will be wholly imaginary.