Soul of the Wolf

By: Silver Volken Raven

Genre: Family/Adventure/Romance

Summary: "In the darkest of hours, a wolf of pure blood shall rise from the ashes of a priestess and smite the darkness of the Four Souls!"

Chapter One: Prophetic Dream

“So, he has returned?” A tall, dark-shrouded figure asked in a cross manner, as he jumped out of a small boat. He stood on the shores of Japan, shaking his long deep brown cloak free of salt and water. Another being, female, leapt out of the boat with more enthusiasm than her partner.

“That’s right! Sister says he’s back from the dead.” She shook her head and her body in a manner a dog would, flinging water onto her miserable companion. He grunted at her, showing fangs in his displeasure at being soaked again.

Instead of acknowledging him, she turned to the sea, spotting other floating mechanisms with many ores slowly lifting out of the water and diving back in. The stout female began to frantically wave at them, whirling her shorter cloak in the air above her. The male rolled his golden eyes and went to the task of unloading their boat and carrying large packs to their destination.

When the other boats hit soft sand, more beings of the same nature climbed out of the wooden crafts and unto land. Some were eager for land, others drowsy, and the rest alert for what was to come. They all began to grab their provisions and pack their gear, each heading into the thicket before them.

~…~

Halfway through the forest, they all trudged behind the other in a swirving, awkward line. In the midst of walking one, another female, began to sway. The rest turned to her, all eyes widened in alarm when convulsions set into her body.

“Masaeli!” A male shouted to her and caught her when he bared knees buckled. They all formed a large crowd around the spectacle until an auburn-haired female shoved passed them, to the center.

Gripping Masaeli’s furry hand, she hissed urgently, “What it is, Masaeli? What do you see?” The fallen one, Masaeli, began to give shuddering gasps, her chest heaving as if a great weight sat upon it.

Finally, she gave a loud rasping sigh and spoke, he voice distorted and dissonant, “In the darkest hour, a wolf of pure blood shall rise from the ashes of a priestess and smite the darkness of the Four Souls.”

With a gasp, Kagome jolted awake. That was the fifth time I’ve had that dream! Getting out of her sleeping bag, she stretched and looked up at the sky. The brillant stars of the Feudal Era shone high above her. Yet, her mind wasn’t on the beauty of the pre-dawn sky. The oddity of the recent dream kept plaguing her mind with questions and not an answer to be seen nor heard. Ever since I came back, that dream came to me almost every night! Every time, I ask myself the same questions that I can’t answer! Who are those people? What do that woman’s words mean? I need to speak to Kaede about this. Maybe she knows what to make of this dream.

Giving another stretch, Kagome jumped when she heard a rough half breed’s voice behind her. “Hey, what are you doin’ awake?”

Whipping around to face him she beamed, “Hello, Inuyasha! Good Morning!” Her sudden cheeriness caught him off guard, considering her frustrated expression moments before he spoke to her. Now that he thought about it, she seemed to be frustrated for a while. But with what? Aside from not being able to find any jewel shards, lately.

Shrugging it off, he snapped, “Well, since you’re up so early, why don’tcha start breakfast? I’m starvin’ ‘ere!” His stomach growled to add emphasis to his complaint. Kagome frowned, muttering how he could ask nicely, yet she pulled out a small pot and a lighter anyway, abiding his will. The hungry half demon leaned back against the tree he was watching his pack from, closing his eyes.

As she made the ramen noodles for breakfast, her thoughts wandered back to the jewel around her neck. The troublesome gem was nearly a hemisphere with a few more shards out and about in Feudal Japan. Three years and we only came to complete nearly half of the Jewel of Four Souls. What a mess my life has been since falling down the well for the first time. How much time will pass before we have the complete jewel, another three years? She let out a troubled sigh, followed by a squeal when she realized that the noodles were burning.

At the smell of burning noodles, a small fox demon awoke, his sensitive, little nose twitched at the smell. “Good morning, Kagome!” he exclaimed with a yawn. “That smells good!” He shook himself, large fluffy tail twitched, ready for noodles.

The raven-haired priestess turned back to him. “Good morning, Shippo!” She poured a bowl of ramen noodles and handed it to the child.

Minute, canine ears swiveled at the voices of the two and Inuyasha jumped down from the tree with a tongue lathered with complaints,”Hey! Why does the brat get to eat before me? I asked first!” The mentioned brat cowered a bit in fear of his food getting taken away by the brash half demon.

Kagome rolled her eyes at his out burst. “You didn’t ask at all, Inuyasha! Relax! Here!” She roughly shoved another bowl filled with the sought-after dish to him, spilling some on his crimson Fire-Rat kimono. Shippo stuck his tongue out at his sulking companion, enticing an annoyed growl from him. Dropping his bowl, Inuyasha ran at Shippo, chasing him around, cursing at him.

With a sigh, Kagome said, “Sit, boy.” Walking over to the half-demon-shaped ditch, she clucked her tongue. “Look what you did, Inuyasha. I gave you a bowl, and you dropped it. Now, you have to catch your own breakfast.” She ignored his muffled curses, and began fixing two more bowls for Sango and Miroku, since they were roused from sleep by the commotion. The young priestess passed a ramen-filled bowl to the bleary-eyed monk and demon slayer. They both picked up their chopsticks and ate, mumbling their thanks to her.

“Good morning, Sango and Miroku,” She greeted each of them and they both bade her good morning, in turn. Turning back to Inuyasha, who had picked himself and his pride out of the hole and began to sloppily eat before him, Kagome brought up her question.

“Inuyasha, can we go back to Kaede’s village?” He didn’t answer her; instead he was content to gobble down the chicken-flavored noodles. She got impatient after a few slow moments of silence and added, “It’s very important. I need to ask her about something.”

Finally, he looked up, licking the remains of noodle off of his face and countered, “Why? We were there a few days ago. Why didn’t you ask ‘er then?” She frowned at his lack of an answer and seethed at his questions. I wasn’t having strange dreams a few days ago, smart guy!

“Come on, Inuyasha! Its really, really important! It’s not like I’m going home or anything!” She reasoned, hoping to gain a better response, however, she was sorely disappointed.

“No.” He turned back to cleaning out the broth that remained of his breakfast. “You can asker her when we return to the village, but for now, we have shards to find.” Kagome’s face was red and puffing with anger, yet she consneted and poured herself a small bowl, stuffing noodles into her mouth vehemently.

~…~

By mid-afternoon, the group was far down the road, heading towards the village were it was said that a demon has been running amuck. They traveled down the road in relative silence, aside from the periodic arguments between Inuyasha and Kagome, with Shippo’s remarks and Miroku getting smacked in the face by Sango. Each member was lost in his or her own thoughts, assuming that they had any particularly intense thoughts to get lost it. Kagome’s mind consantly reverted back to the images and words projected from the mysterious dream she had. Who I s Masaeli? What did her words mean?I don’t understand it at all! I have to get to the bottom of this. If only that stubborn jerk would let me see Kaede! What does he think; I’m gona run back to my time or something?

Her thoughts would have continued had she not run into the red-clad back of Inuyasha. Looking over his shoulder, she saw why he stopped. The village before them was a partially razed by fire and smoke plumed above and around the small structures. The group immediately set to action; Kagome hopped on Inuyasha’s back, while Miroku, Sango, and Shippo climbed upon a transformed Kirara.

As they rushed over the hill and through the forest, the scent of wolf, wolf-demon, and another smell that couldn’t be named, filled the nose of the demons in their group. Why would there be the scent of wolf around? Inuyasha thought, Unless…He began to think until the answer popped into his head. Koga!

Turning to his fellow companions, he shouted, “Hey! I smell wolf here! And lots of it! It could be that mangy wolf and his followers!” They all glanced at him and seemed to think about his information, yet the question popped in everyone’s mind. Why would Koga attack a human village?

SVR- Sorry this chapter is so short. A lot of these chapters will be. Anywho, anyone who remembers my old Inuyasha fanfic, "Black Sakura in the Snow", I'll have you know this is the new, revised version. There are many changes that I like in this story. This story may happen a little fast, as well, but I'll try to draw it out without taking away from the fic. This story is still a bit "work-in-progress" but I thought I could post it here for you all to read again (for those of you who remember) and whatnot. Reviews, please! Especially from the people who read the previous version of this fanfic!