Chapter 2 – Happenstance
Kagome's POV
It had been a very long day already. Despite the threatening storm they had set out, lured by the promise of a jewel shard and led by bona fide jewel shard detector – Kagome herself. Up the mountain they had gone, and as the dense clouds gathered above they climbed higher and higher. The difficulty hadn't been in climbing the mountain, nor in obtaining the jewel shard from the scrawny looking bear demon that had claimed it. The difficulty had come when the snow began to fall.
Seeing what little time they had left before this turned into a serious problem, the group split in two. Kirara flew ahead with Sango and Miroku, while Kagome and Inuyasha roughed it out through the snowdrifts below. Admittedly, they were making pretty good time, and Inuyasha had given her his shirt to wear when he saw that she was cold. She smiled and allowed herself to savor the moment. Deep snowdrifts had required her to climb on his back as they hurried down the mountain, and even though she had to put her head on his shoulder to avoid the sting of the snowflakes as they rushed through the air, well... that wasn't really so bad, was it?
And then suddenly they had stopped. Inuyasha set her down gently in the snow. He was sniffing the air, looking none too happy about it.
"Inu-" She began, but was cut off by the quick hand clamped over her mouth.
"Quiet, there's someone up ahead." he spoke in a whisper, and his golden eyes met hers, "Someone... different. There's a lot of blood, and... it just doesn't smell normal."
Kagome quickly became worried. She nodded her understanding. Inuyasha turned his attention forward again and held her by the hand as they ventured warily ahead. She made her way clumsily through the deep snow, wondering just what could be so unusual in the feudal era to unsettle Inuyasha this way. After all, they had certainly faced strange and stranger things, right? Just what kind of monster are we looking for?
First she saw the blood trail, dark and menacing, winding its way through the broken snow. And then they walked into the clearing and found their monster.
She was alone, dainty feet standing lightly atop the crimson snow as though she weighed no more than a ray of light. The remains of her clothing hung in ragged shreds abouth her. She looks younger than me... And when she turned her frightened, tear-streaked gaze to them, Kagome spurred immediately into action. Every tender instinct in her rose up at once and she ran, half-stumbling, to the unknown girls side. She barely registered the look of shock and alarm on Inuyasha's face as she spurred ahead of him.
And then the girl was in her arms and they knelt in the snow together, the girl from the future and the saddest creature she had ever seen. Somewhere she registered that Inuyasha had followed her, and had one hand protectively on her shoulder. "Are you alright?", she spoke softly, as though too loud a volume might shatter the fragile girl. She brushed a strand of brilliantly copper hair from the girls face, and was surprised to see a pair of wide and emotive storm colored eyes that locked with hers. She was given further shock when the girl finally replied.
"My name is Addin," she whispered, and then promptly laid her head on Kagome's shoulder and went to sleep.
"Kagome..." Inuyasha began pensively, not quite sure what to make of this moment. Finally he shook his head, knelt and plucked both girls from the snow, and continued for home.