The Crane Wife

Chapter One-Storm

Inuyasha frowned as the thunder crashed around him once more. Lightning flashed, illuminating the small hut for a split second before it plunged back into darkness. The winds howled around the small structure and Inuyasha knew that he would be lucky if his home held up for the night. His eyes narrowed as he thought of the money he would have to spend, the labor he would have to endure to construct his small dwelling once more.

Suddenly, a drop of rain hit him on the nose, serving only to further his bad mood. Slowly, painstakingly, he wiped the drop away and lay back down. Closing his eyes, he tries to get some sleep and hoped the roof wouldn't leak too much on his futon overnight. Lightning flashed again and squawking was heard from outside. The sound of steady footsteps and the yells overtook the night. Inuyasha growled, throwing his arm over his eyes as he cursed the damn people. The sound of a bird crying out was present again. The men got closer.

"There it is! Get it!" The stampede of footsteps nearly matched the volume of the thunder. A sudden tremor shook the house. Propping himself up, Inuyasha crawled out of bed and got to his feet, stumbling slightly at the shift in balance. Another rain drop fell from the roof and hit him in the head.

"Damn rain" He muttered. He slowly walked to his doorway and stared out seeing the torches of the men farther down on the island. At his feet lay a white crane, its wing punctured with an arrow. The torches of the men flickered as the wind blew faster and the rain came down harder. Slowly, Inuyasha reached down to pick up the weak bird. If he removed the source, then the men would leave and he would finally be able to get to sleep.

Unceremoniously, he dropped the bird on the floor and had a seat on a cushion, leaning his elbows on the table. He counted the seconds, agonizingly slow, until the men came knocking on his door, their voices raging. Rising to his feet once more, he opened the door and stared at the men tiredly. "What d'ya want?" He asked, his voice bored as he stared indifferently at the crowd of men dressed in fine silk before him.

"We are the royal guard," The one in front showed him the seal of the local daimyo, "We have been hunting a crane. The animal was last seen in this direction. Surely, you would have noticed its pained cries as it flew by."

"Haven't been able to hear anything in this storm" inside Inuyasha smirked.

"Are you sure you haven't heard anything?"

"Besides all of you bastards waking me up? No. You do know that most people are asleep now? If that's all, then good night; don't come back. I don't take kindly to being woken in the middle of the night." He slammed the door in their faces and walked back to his futon. The men outside grumbled. Finally, he heard one of them say,

"The damn bird is probably dead. If it isn't it certainly will be by morning. Can we please go home now?"

"You're right," The leader said, sighing, "Let's get out of this god forsaken place." They took off, their mumblings and loud footsteps slowly fading away as they left the stormy island in peace. Thunder crashed and lightning flashed and Inuyasha glanced once more at the still bird on the floor, before rolling over on his futon and closing his eyes, falling back to sleep.

Kagome groaned in pain as she rolled over on her injured arm. Slowly, she opened her eyes, squinting in the bright sunlight. She was met with the sight of an unfamiliar ceiling. Blinking in surprise, she tried to remember the events of the night before.

She reached down to her left arm and felt the arrow that was still lodged in her limb. Wincing, she wrapped her arm around it. Looking the other way, she counted to three before jerking the foreign object out. She let out a scream as the pain coursed through her arm, angry and red. She held her arm close to her body and looked around the one room hut for some water. Turning around fully, her eyes landed upon a man with silver hair and deep gold eyes, dressed in red, staring at her from a futon on the floor.

She gasped, not expecting anyone to actually be there. He snorted at her. "What are you gasping at? Didn't expect someone to actually live in the hut snuck into?" She shook her head.

"No, just surprised; I wasn't expecting someone to be there. Not that you wouldn't be in here, especially because it is your hut after all, but I just wasn't expecting someone to be right there at that moment—"

"Oh shut up. I get it. How the hell did you get in here anyway? And what happened to the bird?" Kagome's eyes widened and she blushed.

"I'm sorry. It was raining, storming, and I was attacked. I guess I just stumbled in here for shelter. I must have passed out because I don't remember anything else."

"And the bird?" She shrugged stiffly, her eyes gazing downward. Inuyasha sighed and got up, hobbling over to her, sleep still evident in his steps. "C'mere. Let me see your wound. If you hadn't screamed I wouldn't have woken up." Kagome blushed harder as she parted her kimono discreetly and pulled her arm out, presenting her arm to him.

"Stay here, I'll be back" He murmured. He got up, picked up a cup off of the table and walked out of the hut. He returned shortly, and sat down next to her, pouring the water over the wound. She hissed at the stinging that the cool liquid brought her. Inuyasha frowned and reached over to the fabric hanging off her shoulder. Without hesitation, he ripped a portion of the sleeve off.

"Hey!" Kagome shouted in protest, but he glared at her before wrapping the fabric around her arm as a makeshift bandage.

"Feh, I don't care how fancy your kimono looks. You need a bandage or else it will get infected and I sure as hell am not ripping up any of my clothes. Besides, it's ruined anyway. Your blood is all over it." Kagome scowled and Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "Stupid wench" he mumbled under his breath before standing up. Kagome shifted her arm back into her kimono and rose to her feet.

"Thanks for your help…"She trailed off, not knowing his name.

"Inuyasha" he grunted.

"Inuyasha," she tested the name on her tongue. Smiling widely, she bowed to him. "I'm Kagome. You wouldn't happen to mind if I stayed here until my arm healed do you?"

"Yes, I do." He snapped as he lay back on his futon. "Now be quiet. I'm going back to bed. It's far too early to be awake." Kagome stared at him with wide eyes.

"But-but—"

"You should be gone by the time I wake up." He grumbled, turning his back to her. Kagome huffed, but her only reply was a deep, loud snore.

A/N: So this is my new InuKag story. I don't know why I started working on it now. Just felt like it.

The story is loosely based off of the Japanese myth 'The Crane Wife'. I'm going to change quite a bit of the story, but it should resemble the myth a little bit. If you're unfamiliar with 'The Crane Wife' look it up on Wikipedia if you feel like it.

Dunno when I'll update. It probably won't be all that soon. Review if you want to.

Emily

Notes-and-Photographs