The Sight Of The Future: A Legacy (a Koga x Reader fanfiction)

Chapter Fifteen

The next time that you're able to produce a coherent thought, you can feel sunshine on your face and a breeze cools the sweat beading at your temples. The hush-hush of tree leaves greets your ears from high above you.

"Whoa, what-?" Koga. You don't bother opening your eyes. God, you're so fucking tired.

"What's happening to her skin?" Chihiro. You suddenly realize that you haven't breathed since you awoke.

You hope that you don't look too mangled. The last thing that you can remember is being in that cave, carrying those dogs, and then...

It had collapsed. A stray trunk had pierced you straight through. Are you dead?

You laboriously suck in a breath, your eyes blinking open listlessly. You don't seem to be dead.

You feel like something just shy of absolute shit. You say, "Good mornin'," even though something tells you that it's a little after noon. Chihiro and Koga hover worriedly over you, their faces pinched.

"You-" Koga grabs you by the shoulders, pulling you up and towards him to get a better look at you. "You're alive?" He cradles your face with careful hands, taking in every detail of it until you get flustered and shove him away.
You snap, "Yes I'm alive, why wouldn't I be?"

Koga releases you, gesturing at your chest. "That's why."

You look down to find a chunk of fucking wood sticking out from under your collarbone. You gasp once, twice, and Chihiro lays a hand on your arm, soothing. "I take it you feel no pain."

You blink at her incredulously. "You fucking think? How do I... could I just-?" You take hold of it with both hands and push it back through, your left eye twitching at the foreign sensation of moving gore.

"Arinaga-" Chihiro's voice is sharp with alarm. You keep pushing until you hear a low thud - the branch, fallen on the ground.

"Arinaga..." Koga says slowly. You look over.
"What's up?" Man, you feel so much better. You rub at the spot where the wood had been and smile when you find it healed.

Koga shoves you over and you protest, "Hey, what-?"

"You idiot! You aren't fireproof - you wouldn't have survived that if I hadn't've heard you yelling for me! How could you rush into something like that not knowing if you'd live?"

You frown. "I spend every waking moment not knowing if I'll live to the next one, Koga. Why not spend those unsure moments doing something that I know will make a difference to at least one person?"

Koga sits on that for a second. He counters: "Why not actually think things through before rushing in like a moron?"

You roll your eyes. "Why not just let those wolves die? Aren't you a canine-variant? Why don't you care more about the lives of your kind?"

"Because-! Because-" He throws his hands in the air. "Ah, forget it." He gets to his feet and moves to your backpack, pulling something out of it before returning to your side. When he shows you his hands you see that he holds your package of peanut butter crackers. "This should keep you steady until we make it to the mountains. I'll be able to cook up somethin' heartier."

You ask, "The mountains? What's there?"

He grins deliciously and you fight off a startled blush. "What's there?" He laughs, all sharp teeth and flashing blue eyes. "My wolf tribe. Duh."

You recover from straight up fucking dying and find the wolf who had originally asked for your help.

"You have my thanks," he says, and you wave him off.

"It was no biggie. Really," you add, and Koga smacks your arm. You shoot him a glare and he sneers at you.

You resist the urge to pet the dog. He continues, "My apologies for earlier. We are of the Northern Tribe, and I did not recognize you."

Koga tells him that it's fine and, after Chihiro heals the rest of their pack, the three of you head off towards the mountains.

Now you and Koga walk side by side and Chihiro drifts behind you, taking in the scenery.

"So," he starts, and you look over. "the reason you were able to heal so quickly earlier is 'cause as Amaterasu's host you take energy from the sun. Just so you know."

You look down at your hands, which have minimal burn scarring on the tops of them - but even that's fading the longer you're exposed. You suppose that makes sense. Wait- "So I'm like a plant?"
"Wh-" Koga squints at you and you squint back, challenging him. "How the hell did you get that?"

"You know," you say, gesturing at the forest around you, and he looks at you like he does not know. "Photosynthesis."

"Phony-what?"

Chihiro says simply, "As a druid, I depend on plants, which in turn depend on the sun for nutrients."

Koga's eyebrows raise. "Seriously?"

You nod. Chihiro nods. You'd forgotten just how genius you look next to the lack of modern science in this realm.

"Huh," Koga says, "I guess you learn somethin' new every day."

When the three of you reach the base of the mountain, Koga is smiling. You wonder what he's so sunshine-y about.

"Man, I can't wait to get home," Koga sighs, and you immediately figure it out. He leads you up the mountain with enthusiasm, showing you and Chihiro little details along the path that you don't think you would've gotten otherwise.

Example A: "Hey, check out this herb that you can chew - it tastes good, try it." He picks a few leaves off of a nearby stalk and puts one in his mouth. He holds one out to you and you take it, holding it up to your nose to smell. It smells a bit like vinegar, and when you put it in your mouth it has an intriguing pickle-like taste. Huh. Not your favorite, but definitely interesting.

Example B: "See that clearing?" Cue gesturing at a flat plateau of a hill. You nod. "That's where we train pups." You blink.

"Neat," you say, because it is.

Example C: "Those," he says, when you've nearly reached the peak, "are the bathing pools. It's mostly the humanoid wolf-demons that use those. Purebreds and half-humans and such."

Chihiro's eyebrows raise. "You allow half-demons in your tribe?"

Koga looks reluctant when he nods. "Our numbers aren't the same as they were fifty years ago, and we need all the help we can get."

You narrow your eyes, pensive. "Are half-demons bad?"
"They're generally despised," Chihiro answers.

"Yeah," says Koga, "Inuyasha? Half-demon. You can smell it - human blood makes'em weaker than full demons." He looks disgusted. Your lip curls in disbelief.

You look to Chihiro. "You think the same of half-demons?"

Chihiro shrugs. "They don't do the world any favors."
You blink at her, taken aback. They don't do the world any favors? "Neither do you, talking like that! You guys are fucking racist. Inuyasha didn't have a choice in how he came to exist, he can't change it. He didn't choose his parents - neither did you. You're judging him based on his circumstances and that's fucked up," you snap, then realize your tone. You shake your head once, quickly, to disperse your irritation. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to lecture. Let's keep going."

Koga, sounding jaded, says, "No need. We're already here."