Damned If You Do

Chapter 4 The Invasion

The sun streaming down through the trees dappled the sunlight that filtered on the forest path where InuYasha and Miroku strolled on their way back to the village. As their walk and the morning progressed, InuYasha's mood worsened dramatically. The battle with the centipede had not gone as previous battles with that particular species of youkai had.

“I hate centipedes!”
“It did seem to be more powerful than usual,” Miroku said thoughtfully.
InuYasha had had a hard time killing this particular centipede. It seemed to be faster and much more maneuverable than other centipedes he'd killed. If he hadn't known that it was an impossibility, he would have thought that the centipede had enhanced itself with a shard of the Shikon no Tama.
“Something wasn't right with that centipede" InuYasha theorized.
Miroku was set to agree with him when he was startled to a halt by the sight of a dead dragon lying next to the road.
The unusual discovery demanded to be investigated. Miroku and InuYasha cautiously approached the dead youkai. In their line of work they had learned to take nothing for granted.

Before examining the dragon, Miroku blessed it. As he checked out the scene, Miroku thought something was out of place about it. “Smell anything?” Miroku asked.
“No. Strange, I should smell something. And this is fresh.”
“Yes. I don’t sense anything either.” They walked around it, but found nothing.
“I don’t like this,” InuYasha said. “We’d better get back.”
They hurried home to make sure everything was okay there.
Kagome and Sango were drying herbs, keeping a watchful eye on the kids.
Earlier, the kids had found a lizard, and had been playing with it. However, it turned out to be a baby youkai, and when it got tired of playing, spines popped out all over its body. The five children hadn’t been afraid, but were startled. The oldest two, the twins, had shooed everyone back from the little lizard so no one got hurt. When Kagome and Sango came, the little lizard scurried off. The excitement over, the children went back to playing. Kagome and Sango had decided to add to their herb collection. Kagome had done some studying on medicine and wanted to be prepared should someone get hurt. So she and Sango had collected herbs and were drying them when the two men came back.
“Hey Kagome!” She looked up at the sound of InuYasha’s voice.
“Has anything odd happened here, or did you see anything strange?”
“No, why?”
InuYasha told her about the dead oriental dragon.
Sango frowned. “That’s strange.”
“Yeah. This isn’t the first one either.”
“Yes, there have been other killings in the north,” Miroku agreed.
“I wonder what’s going on?”
“I don’t know. Remember Hana? She was hunting dragons.” Sango looked thoughtful.
“I wonder if Sesshoumaru knows anything?” Miroku asked.
InuYasha snorted at the mention of his brother.


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Rin was in the front of the castle, practicing with her staff. She had gotten bored sitting in the castle, waiting for Sesshoumaru to come back from his patrol. She needed something to do. The staff had been a gift from Miroku. His thinking had been that she might be able to use it to protect herself, and not always rely on Sesshoumaru. Sesshoumaru hadn’t said anything one way or the other about it, but he didn’t stop her either. Sometimes Jaken helped, but today he was out patrolling around the area with Sesshoumaru, checking for signs of dragons.
As she practiced, Rin thought about Sesshoumaru and Hi’Iki. She liked Hi’Iki; he was funny and made her laugh. Sesshoumaru was quiet and never laughed that Rin could remember. They were both kind, intelligent and strong. She had always been content to follow after Sesshoumaru. Until Hi’Iki showed up. Rin wondered if her desire to be with Sesshoumaru was not meant to be. Hi’Iki had shown her that there was more to life than following around a silent youkai. She found there was more she wanted from Sesshoumaru than he was capable of giving. She wondered if she should look elsewhere for companionship. Rin needed to decide what was more important to her, Sesshoumaru or being happy.
Sesshoumaru watched Rin practice as he patrolled the valley. She was very graceful in her movements. He was surprised to find that he was glad Hi’Iki wasn’t here to see Rin. Sesshoumaru frowned. Hi’Iki had always been like a cousin to Sesshoumaru. They were good friends and Sesshoumaru trusted Hi’Iki. Yet when it came to Rin, it felt as though Hi’Iki were a threat. He didn’t understand why he felt this way. He didn’t like this feeling so he ignored it. Ever since Rin came into his life, he had slowly changed. She had taught him to care. This he understood and accepted. But lately, his feelings for Rin had changed in a way he didn’t understand and it bothered him. While he thrived on physical challenges, emotions he preferred to be simple. He had learned to care, and caring caused more worries. He was still learning to deal with emotions brought on by caring for Rin and now had more emotions to deal with. Emotions he’d never had before. At some point he knew he would have to learn to deal with these new emotions.
When his search came up empty, Sesshoumaru made his way back to the castle.
“Rin.”
“Hai, Sesshoumaru-sama.”
“Inside.”
Sighing, Rin put her staff away and followed Sesshoumaru into the castle.
The castle was quiet. Most of the servants were gone. Sesshoumaru had told them go. Only Daira stayed, and she was not her talkative self. Even Jaken was somewhat subdued.
“No one is to go out alone,” Sesshoumaru said.
“But why?” Rin wanted to know.
“The dragons could attack at any time. I can’t smell them, so there’ll be no warning.”
“Why would they attack us?”
“Association.”
“Association with what?” Rin was confused about this whole thing with the dragons. She knew Hi’Iki and Sesshoumaru were worried about it, but she didn’t understand why.
“Hi’Iki is a dragon youkai.”
That made sense. “But why attack the dragons to begin with?”
“That is what Hi’Iki is going to find out.”


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High up in the mountains, Hi’Iki and Hana were following along side a little gully. The scenery was peaceful, as the early afternoon sun sparkled on the little stream trickling along the gully. The peacefulness was interrupted when Kodo and Podo panicked. In a flurry, they screeched and flew into the gully, flew back out and tried to herd Hi’Iki and Hana in that direction.
“What is their problem?” Hana asked.
Hi’Iki didn’t say anything but grabbed Hana’s hand and ran for the stream. They had just dived under a fallen tree when they heard the sound of beating wings.
As the sound of flapping wings got louder, dirt and leaves blew around the ground. Hi’Iki and Hana peeked out from their hiding place.
In the small clearing they had just passed, a very large dragon was just settling down on the ground. The head and back were lined with sharp horns, the biggest horns growing to three feet long. The body shape was completely different from oriental dragons. This dragon had a shorter, stockier body, a long whip like tail and four long powerful legs. It was a dark smokey grey color, which would help it blend in with its native surroundings, the northern mountains of Europe. This was a Northern Mountain Horned Dragon.
Hana stared in awe and fear. It was huge. A flashback of the attack on her village came to her.
As she ran to the storage shed, she saw a huge dark dragon swoop down on her house. She went through the open shed door and slammed it shut. She hid under a pile of skins, shaking. She heard people scream as the dragon tore through the village.
Hana shook herself to clear the memory.
“Are you okay?” Hi’Iki asked quietly.
Hana nodded.
The dragon growled as it looked around, searching for something. It folded its wings and walked to a jumbled pile of rocks and started digging at them.
Hi’Iki knew the weak spot of the dragon and could kill it by himself, as long as it was just one dragon. If there were others nearby, he wouldn’t stand a chance. He whispered something to Kodo and Podo.
“What are you doing?” Hana whispered.
“Checking for others.”
Two little birds flew up from the streambed, flew over the dragon and disappeared. The dragon looked up at the birds, but ignored them. The little birds circled around, their flight covering several miles. They flew back to the streambed.
Hi’Iki checked on the dragon. It was still digging at the pile of rocks.
“I know their weak spot. We can kill it, but we must be careful.”
Hana nodded. “What do you want me to do?”
“Stay with me. Kodo and Podo will distract it.”
Again, Hana nodded. She found she trusted Hi’Iki completely, which went against all she had been taught.
Kodo and Podo flew over the dragon, hissing and growling at it. The dragon whipped its head around and roared at them. They buzzed it, swooping in to nip at it and then dodging its retaliation strikes.
Hi’Iki and Hana crept out from their hiding place, staying in the gully, and circled around behind the frustrated dragon.
The dragon kept trying to catch the little dragons, but they were too fast and dodged out of the way. The frustrated dragon’s attention was focused on the little dragons, it wasn’t aware it was being stalked.
Hi’Iki motioned for Hana to one side. He drew his sword.
The dragon suddenly swung around in an attempt to catch the pesky little dragons. It paused a second when it saw Hi’Iki, then, with a roar, attacked.
Hi’Iki was expecting this move and ducked under the dragon ramming his sword into the soft spot on the dragon’s belly. The sword’s double blades sliced the arteries of the dragon’s heart, killing it instantly. Hi’Iki scrambled to get out of the way as the dragon fell.
Hana’s eyes were wide. She had never seen such a daring move, and had never seen such a sword. She was impressed.
Hi’Iki stood back, panting a bit. It took strength and courage to slay such a large dangerous creature. Knowing how to slay the dragons and actually being able to do it were two different things.
“Are you okay?” Hana asked.
Hi’Iki nodded. He walked over to the dragon and removed his sword. He wiped the blood off in the dirt.
“I’ve never seen such a move before. Where did you learn it?”
“By accident.” Hi’Iki was looking at Kodo and Podo sitting on the pile of rocks the dragon had been digging at. The little dragons started pushing the rocks off the pile. Hi’Iki went to help. Something was in that pile that the dragon had wanted.
Hana walked over to help. She wanted to know about that move and the sword, but she’d have to wait. Hi’Iki’s attention was elsewhere.
“What’s that?” Hana pointed to something sticking out from under a rock. Hi’Iki reached down and pulled the object out. It was a piece of skin with something drawn on it. Hi’Iki spread it out on the ground so they could study it.
On the skin was a map of the main island of Japan. There were areas marked on the map, showing where the native dragon clans lived. Several were scratched out.
Hi’Iki swore under his breath.
“What?”
“It’s an invasion. They marked all the dragon clans and are systematically destroying each clan.”
“But why?”
He looked at Hana. “To take over their lands.” The implications were devastating.
“We need to get this information back to Sesshoumaru and the native dragon clans.”
“Who’s Sesshoumaru?” Hana felt it was important to tell Sango. “We should tell Sango and the others in the village.”
“It’s more important to get this to the dragon clans.” The name Sango made Hi'Iki think about something Rin had told him. “Is there someone named InuYasha in this village?”
Hana nodded.
“That would be Sesshoumaru’s brother.”
“Is this Sesshoumaru a hanyou also?”
Hi’Iki smiled. “No. Full youkai.”
Hana thought for a moment. “You go tell Sesshoumaru and I’ll tell Sango.”
Hi’Iki didn’t want her traveling alone. It wouldn’t be safe for her anymore. “No. It won’t be safe for you. Once the other dragons discover this, they’ll come after both of us.”
‘Great, now I’m a target’ Hana thought to herself. ‘What am I getting myself into?’
Hi’Iki called to Kodo and Podo. “Can you ride a horse?”
“Yes of course. Why?”
Hi’Iki nodded to the little dragons, and they quickly became horses. “Get on.” He got on the black horse.
Hana stared in amazement for a moment. These little dragons were full of surprises. She got on the white horse.
The two horses ran like the wind back to the castle.
Jaken and Rin were having tea and arguing about what Hi’Iki might find. Sesshoumaru sat quietly, listening.
“Of course he’ll find evidence of the dragons!” Jaken insisted.
“But, if they can hide their scent, what evidence will he find?”
“Silly girl, there’s all kinds of things!”
“Like what?”
“Well, there’s…” Jaken’s sentence was cut short as Sesshoumaru suddenly got up and went outside.
It was the sound of thundering hooves that had brought Sesshoumaru outside. Two horses raced into the valley. Each had a rider. Sesshoumaru frowned. Who was the other rider?
The horses came to an abrupt halt at the porch. Hi’Iki jumped off. “It’s bad,” he said as bounded onto the porch.
As Hana slid off the white horse, she noticed the youkai staring at her. ‘This must be Sesshoumaru,’ she thought. She could the feel the power radiating from him. She hadn’t really known what to expect, but it wasn’t this dangerously powerful youkai. Yet for such a powerful youkai, she couldn’t detect any malice from him.
“Sorry. Sesshoumaru, this is Hana.” Hi’Iki realized they hadn’t expected Hana. “She’s a youkai slayer, on a mission to hunt dragons.” He couldn’t help himself, the irony of that statement made him grin.
Turning his attention to Hi’Iki, Sesshoumaru asked, “How bad?”
Hi’Iki pulled out the map. “Let’s take a look.” He sat down, spreading the map out. Everyone else also sat down and studied the map.
Rin came out to join them. Hana was surprised to see a young human woman staying with such a powerful youkai, or that said youkai would allow her to stay. ‘Must be something in the air here,’ Hana thought. ‘And it’s starting to affect me as well.’
“See, here” Hi’Iki pointed to the top of the map. “It starts in the north, and goes south. Each dragon clan is marked. The ones scratched off I think have already been wiped out.”
Sesshoumaru nodded. “This one was wiped out a few months ago,” he pointed to one scratched off about a third of the way down the map. The next clan marked on the map was around the area of InuYasha’s village. It wasn’t scratched off. This was the clan of the Oriental Dragon King that had met with Sesshoumaru.
“We have to stop them, Sesshoumaru,” Hi’Iki said. “And we’re going to need help.”
“Sango might help,” Hana said, thinking of the youkai slayer.
Sesshoumaru gave a slight nod to Hana. “The dragon king needs to be informed. You two go to the village and let them know what’s going on. I’ll meet you there.”
“What does all this mean?” Rin asked. While Hana, Hi’Iki and Sesshoumaru understood the implications, Rin did not.
“The dragons are trying to wipe out the native dragon clans.” Hi’Iki explained. “They’re looking for new lands to take over and rule.”
“We need to go.” Sesshoumaru understood the danger of anyone staying at the castle. He ordered Daira to leave. “Jaken, you and Rin go with Hi’Iki.”
“Hai, Sesshoumaru-sama.” Jaken knew better than to say anything.
“Why do I need to go with Hi’Iki-sama?” Rin, however, wasn’t afraid to speak her mind.
“Silly girl,” Jaken scolded, “don’t question our lord!”
“But…”
“Take Ah-un.” Sesshoumaru didn’t say anything, just looked at Rin.
Reluctantly, she agreed.
“Be careful, Sesshoumaru.” Hi’Iki turned to the others. “Let’s go.”
Jaken got Ah-un from the field and everyone got on. Ah-un took off. Kodo and Podo followed.
“Where is he going?” Rin asked, worried about Sesshoumaru.
“To tell the Dragon King what we’ve learned.”
“But…” Rin started to say. Her eyes opened wide when she realized what that might mean.
Hana saw the doubt and fear in Rin’s eyes. “It’s okay. He’ll be all right.”
Rin nodded, not really believing.
Sesshoumaru stopped to watch them leave. He didn’t really want to leave Rin, and wasn’t happy about leaving her with Hi’Iki. But where he was going was too dangerous, and he didn’t want Rin in harm’s way. Rin would be safer with Hi’Iki in the village. He took one last look, and then flew off to see the Dragon King.
Rin kept looking back, worried for Sesshoumaru.
Hana, to distract Rin, asked, “How did you end up staying with Sesshoumaru?”
Grateful for the conversation, Rin told Hana the story of how she found the injured youkai and tried to help him, even though he refused her help.
“So you just followed him after that?”
“No. I was attacked by wolves and killed, Sesshoumaru-sama revived me. That’s when I followed.”
“Revived you how?” Hana had never heard such a thing.
“With Tenseiga. It’s a healing sword.” Rin went on to explain about the search for Naraku, his defeat, her stay at the village and going back with Sesshoumaru. “So I’ve been with him ever since.”
“From what you told me, I’d say Sesshoumaru is a skilled and powerful fighter. So have confidence in him. He knows what he’s doing.”
Rin smiled and nodded.
To get a feel for everyone in the village, Hana asked “Who all lives in the village?”
“Well, there’s Sesshoumaru-sama’s brother, InuYasha. They don’t get along well, but at least they don’t fight any more. Kagome is InuYasha’s mate. She is a miko. Miroku is a monk and married to Sango.”
“Yes, I met them. Sango is a youkai slayer like me. How did a miko end up with a hanyou?” Hana couldn’t help think that these people had some strange ideas.
“Oh, Kagome is from the ‘future’ I think they call it.”
This surprised Hi’Iki as well as Hana. “Future? How can that be?” Hana asked.
“I don’t know how it works, but when Kagome wants to go to her home, she goes through a well. She doesn’t do it often, and I think it’s only when she really needs something.” Rin really didn’t understand the working of it, but accepted it. “Anyway, Kagome and InuYasha had to work together to defeat Naraku. That’s how they first met.”
‘Maybe the future is more tolerant of youkai?’ Hana thought to herself. Out loud she said, “This Naraku must have been trouble for a lot of people.”
Rin nodded.
Ah-un flew faster than he had ever flown before. Since they had left late in the afternoon, the ride lasted into the night. Rin fell asleep between Hi’Iki and Hana. Jaken had kept quiet during most of the trip, except for making unintelligible remarks about InuYasha.
It was early morning when Ah-un landed just outside the village. Hi’Iki and Hana slid off the two-headed dragon and stretched their cramped muscles. Kodo and Podo took up their perch on Hi’Iki’s shoulders. Rin was still asleep. Jaken had also fallen asleep. He mumbled something and turned in his sleep, falling off Ah-un.
“Wha…?!” Jaken shook himself and looked around. “Are we here already?”
Hana walked over to Rin and gently shook her awake. “Rin, we’re here.”
“Okay,” Rin slowly woke up, slid off Ah-un and like the others, stretched. She looked around, noticing that it was just getting light. She doubted anyone would be up. “We can either wait for someone to get up, or go wake them up.”
“Wake them up,” Hi’Iki said.
“Wake who up?” demanded a voice from behind them. InuYasha had smelled Ah-un and passengers and had come out to see what was up. “And who are you?”
“This is Hi’Iki-sama, and Hana,” Rin said introducing them.
“What are you doing here? And where’s Sesshoumaru?” To InuYasha, Rin and her companions arriving so early and without Sesshoumaru meant that something happened.
“Sesshoumaru went to talk to the Dragon King,” Hi’Iki started to explain.
“The Dragon King? What for?” InuYasha frowned at them. But then he remembered the dead dragon from the day before. “Does this have to do with the dead dragon?”
“You found a dead dragon? What kind?”
“What do you mean what kind? We only have one kind here.” InuYasha wasn’t sure what this Hi’Iki was getting at.
“So it was a native dragon.” Hi’Iki studied InuYasha. He was powerful for a hanyou.
“Yeah, so what? What’s this all about anyway?”
“The native dragon clans are being wiped out by an invading dragon clan.”
“So? What does that have to do with us?”
“These dragons are looking for new lands to rule. They’ll take over after killing or driving out all the native dragons.”
“Why should that bother us?”
“Because, not only will they wipe out the dragons, but anyone else who opposes them. If you’re not killed outright, you’d better abide by their rules or you will be killed.”
InuYasha didn’t like the sound of this.
“InuYasha-sama, I think we should tell the whole village what is going on,” Rin said before InuYasha could say anything. “Even Sesshoumaru-sama is worried.”
That made InuYasha pause. While he might not admit it, he knew what Sesshoumaru was capable of, and if Sesshoumaru was worried, that worried InuYasha.
“Let’s go.”
Kagome woke up to find InuYasha gone. Wondering where he had gone, she went out to search for him. She stopped when she saw the group heading her way. “What’s going on?” she asked, noticing the serious looking faces.
Instead of answering, InuYasha said “Get Miroku and Sango up. We have something to discuss.”
With a slight frown, Kagome went to do as InuYasha told her. She sensed something was very wrong.
A few minutes later a sleepy Miroku and Sango met with InuYasha in the center of the village.
“What’s this all about?” Miroku demanded sleepily.
“It seems we have an invasion on our hands.”
Miroku was suddenly wide awake.
“A different kind of dragon clan has invaded,” Hi’Iki explained. “These dragons come from Europe, and will stop at nothing to get what they want.” He held up his hand to stop the torrent of questions that three of them had. “I’m Hi’Iki. Just listen.” He went on to explain, “Hana and I discovered a map that shows the clans of the dragons. Some of the clans are scratched off. Those have been wiped out. These European dragons are after the lands here. These dragons are dangerous. Not only do they have the power of a dragon youkai, they are also skilled in the use of magic. It’ll be hard, but they must be stopped.”
“That would explain the centipede,” Miroku said thoughtfully. He looked at InuYasha. “So this isn’t going to won by brute strength.”
“I can handle anything with Tetsusaiga,” InuYasha said confidently.
“I don’t think so,” Miroku said. “Remember the centipede.”
“What about the centipede?” Hi’Iki asked, although he suspected what it was.
“Yesterday we dealt with a centipede that seemed faster and more maneuverable than it should have been.”
Hi’Iki nodded. “Dragon magic. Place a spell on something and it acts differently.” Hi’Iki explained. “We’re going to need to counter any magic they use.” Hi’Iki was a natural leader, and had no problem taking charge. He looked at everyone, to make sure he had their attention. “We need to assess our strengths and come up with a battle plan.”
Kagome looked over at InuYasha. He was frowning slightly, but actually paying attention. Kagome knew that InuYasha didn’t take orders well, and preferred to take charge.
Hi’Iki had seen Kagome’s look, and noticed InuYasha’s frown. ‘If InuYasha is anything like his brother, he’ll be the stubborn, take charge type,’ Hi’Iki thought. ‘I’ll need to take charge just to keep them from fighting.’
“I take it you’ve had dealings with these dragons before?” Miroku had come to similar conclusion.
“Yes. I’ve learned a few things about them in my encounters.”
“Then I think it best if we defer to you on this.” He looked at InuYasha to forestall any argument. “We’ll wait for Sesshoumaru.”


Note:
I had some trouble with “dealing with emotion” scenes.
Keeping Sesshoumaru in character when it comes to emotions isn’t easy. Some emotions he has never had to deal with until now so when I have him deal with these new emotions, it will be based on what I know of his character, and how I think he’d react.