Chapter one: Sister
by Ddoskocil
They were an odd group as they walked down the dirt path. A dog half-demon walked in front carrying a rusty sword at his hip. Behind him walked a young girl with long black hair pushing a bike. Next to her was a second young girl, also with long black hair, but the second girl wore a bone boomerang strapped to her back. A small cat-like creature with two tails walked at the heels of the second girl with a young fox demon. Behind them all was a monk dressed in purple and black with a rosary around his wrist.
The two girls chatted with the monk and little fox demon, but the half-demon Inu-Yasha was silent, caught in his own thoughts. The young human pushing the bike glanced at him occasionally, but Kagome said nothing to her half-demon companion. The demon slayer Sango also noticed Inu-Yasha's silence, but, like Kagome, she said nothing of his sober mood. Instead, she turned to the monk, Miroku.
"It looks like there's a village over there," she commented. Miroku, Kagome, and Shippo, the fox demon, looked to where she pointed. They could see several smoke columns over the hilltops.
"Think we could stop there tonight?" Kagome asked. "I know it's only mid-afternoon, but we aren't going to find anymore jewel shards today. What do you think, Inu-Yasha?" But Inu-Yasha did not answer. He just looked at the smoke columns than back at the road in front of him.
"Inu-Yasha?" Kagome asked again.
"What?" he demanded.
"Well, you don't have to yell at me. I just wanted to know if you wanted to stay at that village tonight. Jeez, you didn't have to snap at me."
"Feh. You do what you want." With that, Inu-Yasha took off. He ran as fast as he could, leaving his companions in a state of confusion.
"What's his problem?" Shippo asked as he jumped up in to Kagome's bike basket. Kagome picked him up and handed him to Sango.
"I'm going after him. Something's wrong with him and I'm going to find out what it is. I'll meet you guys at the village." She smiled at her friends before she jumped on her bike and peddled after Inu-Yasha.
"Should we follow them?" Sango asked.
"Of course," Miroku replied with a grin.
"Kirara," Sango said to the small cat-like demon at her heels. Kirara nodded and transformed into a large cat demon with long fangs. Sango, Miroku and Shippo jumped onto the back of the transformed Kirara and headed after Kagome and Inu-Yasha.
Inu-Yasha slowed to a walk. He looked around, gathering his
bearings. It was rare for him to run so blindly at such a fast
pace, but he had his reasons.
Kagome, he thought. What would she think of that village
if she knew the terrible things they did to me after Mother died?
He wandered through the hills with no destination in mind. When he stopped and looked down, he was standing in front of a headstone.
"How did I get here?" he asked himself. Thinking
of Mother must have led me to her grave.
Inu-Yasha sat in front of the headstone that held his mother's
name. He stared at it for a long time, lost in the happy memories
of his mother and the sad ones that followed her death.
"Well, who is this stray little puppy?" a sweet voice said from behind him. Inu-Yasha leaped to his feet, Tetsusaiga drawn. Standing on a headstone directly behind his mother's grave was a lithe female with silver hair and emerald eyes. She had a single blue line under each eye that ran diagonally up her face toward her pointed ears. On her forehead was a bright blue crescent moon with a sapphire gem embedded in the middle.
"Who are you calling 'puppy'?" he yelled at the female. She frowned as she gracefully jumped down from the headstone. She stood a full head shorter than Inu-Yasha, but Inu-Yasha suddenly felt like a puppy again standing in front her.
"Welcome home, Inu-Yasha," she said sweetly when she was standing less than an arm's distance from him.
"Feh. What do you want, Kan-Tama? You here for the Tetsusaiga, too?" Inu-Yasha replied defensively, still holding the transformed fang of Tetsusaiga with the tip toward the woman.
"No, Inu-Yasha, I do not want your sword. Now is that any way to talk to your elder sister," she chided. Inu-Yasha flattened his ears, but he sheathed Tetsusaiga. He stood with his arms crossed over his chest.
"Well," he finally asked.
"Inu-Yasha!" Kagome yelled before Kan-Tama could
answer.
Kan-Tama glance at the young girl, more than slightly annoyed
that this human-girl was interrupting their conversation. When
she looked back at Inu-Yasha, however, a slight smile crept to
her lips, revealing her sharp fangs.
"Inu-Yasha," Kagome repeated as she stopped her bike and hopped off. "Why did you run off-" she trailed off when she noticed Kan-Tama standing in front of them.
"She has a jewel shard," she whispered. Inu-Yasha stared at Kagome, then at his sister.
"Amazing," Kan-Tama said, although she did not sound impressed. "This must be Kikyo." She noticed Kagome's frown and Inu-Yasha's body tighten.
"My mistake. Kikyo died fifty years ago," she apologized absentmindedly. "Then you must be her reincarnation. Only the priestess Kikyo could have seen my hidden shard. What is your name?" she asked, her eyes boring into Kagome's soul.
Kagome shifted uncomfortably under the silver-haired woman's intense gaze. "UmKagome. My name is Kagome," she managed to stammer out.
"Kagome I am Kan-Tama, maiden and keeper to the shrine of my father. And I am elder sister to Sesshö-Maru and Inu-Yasha," Kan-Tama finished with a slight nod that might have been a bow.
"Inu-Yasha's sister?" Kagome asked. She turned to Inu-Yasha. "You never told me you had a sister."
"You never asked," Inu-Yasha answered, indifferent to Kagome's outburst. "Not like it's important anyway." Inu-Yasha started to turn away. As he did, Kagome noticed Kan-Tama's eyes narrow dangerously.
"Inu-Yasha. SIT!" Inu-Yasha barely had time to cringe at the hated word before he slammed face first into the grassy hillside. Kan-Tama took a second glance that this young woman whom could bring her brother tumbling to the ground with a simple word.
Kagome certainly resembled Kikyo in looks. But Kagome had a quality about her that Kikyo could never possess: Kagome's eyes flared with passion, with courage, with love, with life, while Kikyo's eyes had been filled with nothing but sorrow. Kagome smiled were Kikyo never was able to. And Kikyo had done the unthinkable: she had asked Inu-Yasha to give up a part of himself. Watching Kagome with Inu-Yasha, Kan-Tama knew with all her soul that this young girl would never ask that of her brother.
"Thank you," Kan-Tama remarked to Kagome just loud enough for Inu-Yasha to hear.
"It was nothing," Kagome replied with a smiled.
"Why'd ya go and do that for, Kagome? What'd ya mean 'it was nothing?' And what are you thanking her for, Kan-Tama? I didn't do anything to deserve being sat." Inu-Yasha complained loudly as he pulled himself out of an Inu-Yasha shaped hole.
"Yes, you did," Kagome retorted. "You disrespected your older sister."
"What are you talking about? Kan-Tama didn't deserver respect."
"Inu-Yasha-"
"Go get your friends that are hiding in the brush over there," Kan-Tama interrupted, much to Kagome's surprise. Inu-Yasha, however, brushed off her interruption as some way of validating his statement.
He turned his back to them and strolled over to the brush at the bottom of the hillside that his sister pointed to. He heard Shippo "epp" as he neared and saw the little fox demon jump up to run away. But Shippo was not fast enough. Inu-Yasha scoped him up by the scruff of his neck with one move.
"You were listenin' in, weren't cha?" he demanded. He turned his gaze from Shippo to the bush, but Miroku and Sango were already gone. Inu-Yasha whipped around, giving poor Shippo whiplash as he did. His eyes almost bugged out of his head at the sight that waited him.
There stood Miroku with Kan-Tama's hand in his own. He was gazing into her eyes as he boldly declared, "You are the most beautiful maiden I have ever seem. Will you do the honor of bearing me a son to carry on in my stead when I pass from this world?"
Inu-Yasha dropped Shippo with a thud. His fists balled up and his body tightened. In two steps he was next to Miroku and Kan-Tama with Kagome and Sango looking on in disgust. They both nodded with approval as Inu-Yasha whacked the lecherous monk on the head and proceeded to pound the monk into the ground.
"Don't." Whack. "Hit." Thunk. "On." Thud. "My." Slam. "SISTER!" Inu-Yasha yelled as he continued to beat on Miroku.
"Is he always like that?"
"Which one?" Sango asked dryly.
"They're both always like this," Shippo added as he joined the group. The three females and little fox demon watched as Miroku got away and Inu-Yasha chased after him, waving his arms widely. While the other three were focused on Inu-Yasha and Miroku, Kan-Tama's attention turned to focused on the strange group as a whole. And she was surprised by the way they treated the half-demon. No human had ever treated her little brother with suchrespect. She smiled to herself. He had finally been accepted as an equal.
"Inu-Yasha," she finally said when Inu-Yasha drew his sword. "While I am flattered that you care so deeply for my well being, why do you not take your companions to the shrine house? You do remember how to get there, do you not?" she asked with a smirk. Inu-Yasha sheathed Tetsusaiga and stopped.
"Yeah, I 'member," he replied with a frown. "Come on," he grumbled to the group. Shippo jumped up on to Miroku's back when the monk approached and Sango picked up Kirara before following Inu-Yasha down the hill. Kagome was about to grab her bike, but Kan-Tama laid a hand on her shoulder to stop her.
"Might I speak to you a moment?" the demon asked. Kagome nodded.
"Kagome, ya coming?" Inu-Yasha yelled over his shoulder.
"I will bring her later, Inu-Yasha," Kan-Tama replied before Kagome had a chance to respond. Inu-Yasha paused as if he wanted to say something, but he let it go with a nod and continued down the hill to the waiting Sango and Miroku.
Kagome watched him go, feeling a little sad and wondering why Kan-Tama would want to speak with her alone. She suddenly became very nervous and shy. The silence continued to hang in the air, and as it did, it began to thicken around the young girl.
"I am happy for my little brother," Kan-Tama suddenly said. Kagome jumped and made a little a little "epp" sound. But Kan-Tama did not seem to notice.
"He was alone for so long." She was silent again, thinking about times past. The silence also let Kagome think about the half-demon she called friend. Inu-Yasha also said he was alone for a long time. But he doesn't have to be alone anymore. I wonder if that is what his sister was talking about, about Inu-Yasha finally being happy. Is Inu-Yasha really happy with us? With me? She frowned. Or would he be happier with Kikyo?
"Walk with me, Kagome. There is some place I want you to see." Kagome nodded, lost in her own thoughts.
"How did you meet Inu-Yasha, Kagome?" Kan-Tama asked.
"I...he was pinned to a tree," Kagome answered slowly, still thinking about Inu-Yasha's happiness. "The first time I saw him, he was sleeping. But the villagers came and took me from him. When I was being chased by a centipede demon, I ran to his tree. He was awake and I pulled out the arrow that pinned him there. He killed the centipede then tried to kill me, for the Shikon Jewel, but Lady Kaede stopped him."
"Yes, I remember that tree."
"You do?"
"I used to visit Inu-Yasha when he was pinned there. I
even tried to break the spell, but It was so long ago."
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I do not own Inu-Yasha or any of the characters from Inu-Yasha. Full disclaimer on last chapter.