The Sacred Trees

Dear reviewers, thank you so much. You are all very very encouraging. kmoatan and DaichiChiru13 thank you for your kind words.

Actually have a question, do you prefer shorter chapters (I consider this short-ish) and faster posts, or do you prefer longer chapters, with more lag time between posts. I intend to finish the bulk of this story before slowing down a bit. As you know by now, the plot here is rather thick, and some have been asking questions that I want to answer in the story rather then in a PM to them. (Oh I love the questions cause them I know what you are interested in an can actually address it) Setailed chappies take longer to write, so what is your preferance.

As always please enjoy, read and review.
SunHawk

***
Chapter 6 : The Hunt


One thing about body-guarding you never knew where you ended up. Inuyasha dressed in he more casual get up of white billowy shirt and black loose pants, stood in the shadows, as they were to go into a huge classy nightclub. Inuyasha had never been here before, it was an upmarket joint, way too rich for him. Still it was a club, and the music assaulted his sensitive ears, that twitched under the illusion. He had not wanted this job, usually avoiding shit that involved socialization, but they had been short handed and the boss had persuaded him to accept. Inuyasha steeled himself to go in, watching happy couples always raked deep in his chest. Two years and the loneliness had only grown. Still they would never accuse him of being the wet blanket, so he locked his emotions deep in him, and pulled out his brash smile, as he quietly followed his human client in.

The smile lasted until he walked in to the club, and the scent hit him hard. Youkai! All around him, Youkai, and strong ones at that, well not at strong as him of course. He was hopeful for a split second before he realized that he recognized none of the scents. Then fear rose, fear for the human he was guarding and fear of being found out. He shoved the fear aside, and strode forward for a bit. To his relief they paid him no attention, the illusion firmly in place hiding his hanyou status. Where the hell did all these Youkai come from, it was like seeing a feast after being stuck in a desert for 2 years. 5 minutes ago Inuyasha would have sworn that there were only a handful of strong Youkai in all of Tokyo, now he knew better, there were around 20 in this room alone. Fucking hell he had no business being in there.

On high alert he faded into the shadows of the club and stayed protectively close to his client, the team he was with, seeing his rare agitation, immediately became more vigilant.

His human client confidently walked deeper into the club, into a back room, Inuyasha relaxed a little there were only a couple of Yokai and more humans in this room. No surprise, he winched the room was well - tacky.
The room had a jungle motif, complete with dancers with snakes, parrots, lurking yokai and shit! Two sleeping ancient ones right in the middle of the mess. The were right at the back of a jungle scene, near a wall, two trees were sleeping. They were in a cordoned off area, heavy draping vines (fake ones) and other trees almost obscuring the ancient ones from sight. Inuyasha cursed a blue streak under his breath. He wanted to ignore them, but he couldn’t, the risk itself was getting his interest up. They were young he could heal, them and delay the reaction long enough to escape. But two of them, if he delayed the reaction (He had learned to do that for up to 6 hours after a healing) he would need at least a day and a half to recover. Also he realized he would have to move fast before the entry chop on his hand disappeared and he lost an excuse for being on the premise.

His client being the spoiled ningen he was, quickly lost interest in the club and left at around 1am. Inuyasha was relieved, he called in for a replacement and left the group. He went back to the small motel he was staying in for the duration of this job, stripped off, and put on his full firerat suit. Strapping Tessaiga on his slim waist felt a lot better. (Not that he really used the sword in the middle of Tokyo.) The forearm crossbow completed his arsenal. The final touches were an ankle length black cloak that covered him completely, hiding the sword and red kimono from sight and a red sleek hat. The hat was to ensure his ears were covered, he could not maintain the illusion spell and delay the onslaught of pain.

It was 2.30am when he got back to the club, and something had shifted in the air. He let his nose lead him, and while he could not smell them outside, in the club the smell of Yokai was very, vey strong. There were more Youkai in the club now than earlier, Inuyasha almost left, when he realized that their scent were from the rooms to the left and the top. Not the Jungle Room he was heading towards. He sniffed carefully, still no scents he could recognize. He casually made his way into the back room, and he was relieved to see that there were NO Youkai in the room, only humans. Reassured that he could pull this off without incident, Inuyasha went to the edge of the display. Utilizing all his skill he faded into the faux forest without being noticed. Though his plan was to just walk out after healing, he looked around and charted possible escape route, the emergency fire door was his easiest option, however far above a glass window was half open, and that would probably be his best bet if things went south.

Taking a deep breath Inuyasha moved behind the two ancient ones. He considered them, and then made his first big mistake. Thinking to minimize the chance of detection, he placed a palm on each tree and decided to heal them together. This was his first attempt at something like this. Immediately the familiar connections and offer were made, the trees accepted the part of him that they needed to awaken. The moment they awakened, their spirits got agitated and frantic (for an ancient one) “Beloved one, it would be for the best if you left this room now. Healing two of us together is going to have an effect that will be noticed by the higher demons in this area, we can only delay our full awakening for a few seconds. You have our thanks as always Beloved one, please go, and care for yourself. Precious.” In spite of the warning the vines of both trees were reluctant to drop from the hanyou.

Inuyasha’s eyes widened, quickly he moved away from the trees, pushing the growing pain to a corner of his consciousness. His dark hair began to whiten as the illusion spell started to fail. Inuyasha made his way to the back, and started climbing the corner wall to get to the rafters. The hanging vines and jungle motif providing him cover. He felt the subtle awakening of the ancient ones, and felt nothing different from normal. As he reached the level of the window however, the doors of the room slammed open and a dozen or more youkai barged in, they were searching and battle ready.

However they seemed confused as to what they were looking for, and were checking every human on the floor. They did not seem to sense the ancient ones now, and were blindly searching the room. Inuyasha grinned evilly at the confused yokai below him, he slowly got to the window, he was about 6 feet away. When a shout went up “Hanyou, there is a hanyou in here.”

Shit they had caught his scent. Still Inuyasha moved with stealth and grace, as he leapt for the window.
The search became suddenly more focused, a dark haired tall young Youkai with sharp green eyes trusting his instincts looked up, just in time to see a flowing white fall of hair, black cloak and the fire red ancient looking kimono beneath it. “Up there! After him!”

Inuyasha landed gracefully on the roof, and heard the shout. Cursing silently, he looked at the roof tops around him. He discarded the roofs closest to him, and saw one that would require a leap that most Youkai would not be able to make. Inuyasha was not most Youkai, deliberately he allowed the wind to catch his cloak, as he threw it in the wrong direction. Then he turned and made a running leap, he hit the roof and rolled flat, just as the youkai poured out of the club, some on the ground and some on the roof. Inuyasha remained froze as he watched them search in the wrong direction. He knew that sooner or later they would expand their search, so he slowly made his way off the roof, and keeping to the shadows, snuck past the young Youkai looking for him. Inuyasha found their skills laughable.

Inuyasha’s self congratulatory mood lasted until he reached his motel close to dawn, and scented a sweet perfume in the air. He always rigged his rooms to release a scent if the door or window was opened by another. They had found him.

His mind racing Inuyasha was at least assured that there were no identifying material in his room, to give his permanent location away. He made his way away from the motel, when he saw two humans swearing and cursing, in an alley. Inuyasha would have ignored it, except there was something about their movements, they smelled human, but there connections were wrong. Then the hanyou realized they were Youkai with a much better illusion spell then his own. Inuyasha decided to take the risk. He leapt up on the rafters, and blending into the shadows on the wall, he listened to the conversation below.


“This is a fucking waste of time, there was nothing stolen, broken or even fucking damaged at the club, why are we hunting for nothing.” The Yokai (Inuyasha couldn’t tell what kind due to the illusion they had on them) swore.

“Jezz it was an ‘anomaly’, the whole council is hyper concerned about anything that is considered an anomaly in Toyko these days. The orders are clear, the anomaly is to be presented alive at the council by tomorrow morning or else...” The Youkai shuddered at the if else. The Youkai’s mobile started beeping. He answered and the conversation was short with the Youkai getting paler and paler throughout. As soon as he got off he looked at his friend worriedly.

“We gotta get off the streets, fucking tell your mates and friends to stay off the streets as of noon today, until this anomaly business is settled.” The Youkai said sweating.

“Why?” his friend asked, (Yes Why? Inuyasha asked silently and what has got you so scared.)
“The ‘anomaly’ has been given until noon to turn itself in, or the Canines will be released in a HUNT, with the order to bring it in DEAD or Alive!”

“What! That is crazy, a HUNT for what? It was just an unknown energy spike that did well basically nothing except raise the fur on my back. Hell I was there. This is crazy!! You don’t hunt for anomalies you hunt for murders, mad Youkai, stuff like that. Have the Canines gone nuts!!”

‘Shut up!! Jezz.. if the General, their lieutenant or even their fucking pups hear you, you are meat! Especially just before a hunt. Of course it is not because of the energy spike. Its because the anomaly has been declared an ‘impersonator’ by the Shogun himself. He has over ridden the Council’s order to bring the anomaly in alive only, the order as of noon will be dead or alive.”

“An ‘impersonator’ fucking hell!!! I never imagined anyone would be so stupid, its been 80 years, but the punishment for the last impersonator is legendary. He took what 2 weeks to die. I hear he was begging for death and kissed the Shogun’s foot in thankfulness when he was finally allowed to end his own life.” The youkai said in a hushed whisper, awe and fear in his voice.

“Yeah! There has been no mercy for impersonators since the second General was hurt by one of them. The Youkai who is doing this must have some kind of sick death wish. Nothing escapes the hunt. Canines have the best nose in the business, and getting in the way of a Hunt is a sure fire way of ending up in the hospital for months, at the least. I am getting out if here, I think I’ll stay indoor for the next few days.” The first Youkai left quickly, his footsteps echoing in the alley.

“The ‘anomaly’ is fucked! I almost pity the poor thing?” The second Youkai muttered as he too disappeared into the city.

Anomaly, ok Inuyahsa understood that meant the energy fluctuation the ancient ones were talking about. But what the hell was an ‘impersonator”, well it didn’t matter. The Youkai were definitely out for his blood, and he hadn’t fucking done anything.. Did they hate Hanyou that much? They weren’t going to catch him. If canines were after him Inuyasha knew their greatest weapon would be their noses, and being a Canine himself (well part) he had a plan to over come it. Pain began to echo through his body. He had about an hour and a half before the delayed pain would hit full force. He had no time to waste.

Inuyasha jumped off, staying in the shadows and rooftops, he tried to spread his scent in the widest area possible. Then he moved to a spot sort of in the middle of the area where he has seen workmen all around, without touching the outer road, or man-hole cover he jumped straight into the sewer. Immediately he felt the flood gates of pain open, as the stench assaulted him. No self respecting canine would enter a sewer, to Inuyasha survival trumped self respect in most situations, when the universe decided to fuck with his life.

The hanyou made his way deep into the sewer, avoiding getting too splashed by the disgusting water. He was clutching himself as he forced one foot in front of another. Finally he can me to control room, moving to a corner he fortified it a little, moving loose concrete blocks to give himself some cover. He then sank into the corner and waited. Weakness invaded his limbs and the pain increased and doubled. His throat clenched and he coughed violently, splattering of blood shooting out of his mouth, as the veins in his throat bled. 'Shit' Inuyasha thought “That tears it.”

Pain or not, he forced himself to his feet. The blood drew them, hidden in the sewers the lowest of demons, mindless eating machines, began to congregate. Inuyasha filled explosives into his crossbow, and loosened Tessaiga. He could take them, this was going to be a agonizing fight, but the hanyou would not die in the hands of lesser demons. A manic smile crossed his face, adrenaline pumped, hell this was a lot better then curling in a corner and hoping the pain would go. When your body was already so messed up what was some more damage. Gore splattered the walls, as the demons to first make the lunge for the hanyou were sent to death.


*****
He watched expressionless as they trembled on their knees before him, giving news that the Hunt was still unsuccessful, and they suspected that the target had escaped Tokyo. It seemed creature they hunted had a strange subtle scent that made it hard to pinpoint, the scent seemed to have blanketed a wide area and in the last 10 hours the Hunt had scoured the area to no avail.

“My Shogun, the Lieutenants have expanded the hunt to the city's exit points. They themselves have taken to the ground. Also the Generals are both returning and will be here in a few hours, the creature will surely caught then.” The division Captain giving the message choked out hoping to appease his Lord.
“Who gave the order to summon the Generals.” The shogan's voice was chilling for the coolness in which the words were delivered.

“It is a Hunt my Shogun, the Lieutenants obviously informed them. We have the cloak that the creature was wearing in the club, that has the freshest scent and the Generals can track from that.”
“You unmitigated idiot, the whole point of the Hunt was to settle this without the 2nd General's involvement. Give me the cloak.” The Shogun said, looking out at the city before him. What was the plot here, the last impersonator had cost them dearly, that disaster would not be repeated. Above all his clan would be protected.

The Captain brought the offending cloak, the shogun sneered slightly at the cheap cloth and poor quality. He was a little surprised that he could not smell anything except the smell of trees from the cloak, in the Captains hands. He reached out a clawed hand and the cloak was respectfully placed in it.
The Shogun brought in to his nose, and scented it.

Wind buffeted the room, throwing the Captain and the guards to the floor. They watched in horror, as the Shogun's eyes began to bleed red, and his fangs elongate. The cloak turned to dust in his hands as a drop of deadly poison seeped out.

“THEY DARE!!” The Shogun said, his voice raised, so rare was this, that all the Youkai dropped to their knees in supplication. “They dare seek to fool us with this scent! It is close, a work of a genius but it is not quite right!! As a reward for their diligence I will whip the impersonator apart and feed him his own pathetic heart!!” The huge picture window, with bullet proof glass, shattered at a look from the Shogun. “Captain! Tell all of the Youkai to stand down and stay out of my way. This impersonator will have the honor of dying by my claws, and so will any other who gets in my way. Tell the Lieutenants that they are to meet the Generals and keep them out of the Hunt, this prey is MINE!”

The cowering Captain, could hardly choke out the commands into his mobile. “Get out of the way, the Shogun hunts this night!!”

-- end--