I've been terribly prolific in my freetime, so here's another chapter to munch on. I'll be going on a vacation camping and traveling to another state soon, so the early updates should make up for time I'll be gone ;)
I hereby disclaim any rights to the Inuyasha universe, world setting, and characters borrowed from the canon storyline. I do, however, keep claim and reserved rights upon my original characters and literary explorations of the story itself.
Chapter Four
My Friend, The Witch Doctor...
Mira awoke some hours later, late in the evening. At first she was frightened, not remembering where she was and fearful she had slept through the night. Her nerves tensed as her pain increased, and Hira soon came to her side to help her sit up.
"Drink this, it will help with the pain and keep you from falling ill." The old woman pressed a ceramic cup to Mira's lips, and she downed the nasty-tasting medicine with a wrinkled nose. It was like eating dirt and grass and something kind of minty added as a joke of flavor. Before she could say as much, Hira pressed an empty bowl into her hands. Mira sat quietly as the healer ladled thick soup smelling of onion, carrot, and something sweet. Her mouth watered as she spotted the chunks of precious meat mingling with the vegetables in the thin broth.
"Thank you very much, Hira-sama," she murmured. Mira waited for the old woman to have her own bowl dished up, before she dug in. She found herself ravenous, cleaning out her bowl faster than she'd meant to. At Hira's insistence on a second helping, the girl blushed and accepted. Out of politeness she forced herself to eat slow, struggling to take time to savor each bite.
"Hmph, it's good you have an appetite. Eat well and you'll heal faster," the elder advised with a sagely nod of her head. Mira returned it with a smile.
"I shall, Hira-sama. Oh… Have the men returned?" she asked, looking once at the door before looking down at herself; the white bandages clung to her chest like a second skin, binding her breasts nearly flat. Every flex of her muscles made her back protest in a bout of stabbing needles and stretching skin. She could feel every time a partially formed scab was split open by her movements, and loathed the skin-crawling sensation of the stitches strictly holding everything shut.
"Mmm, they returned some while ago. Another search party has gone out, but they lost the trail. The youkai either grew wings and flew, or suddenly became very light on his feet." Mira frowned at the woman's words.
"They didn't find him? He was badly injured, there's no way he could have vanished without a trace." Hira shrugged in reply, finishing off her bowl of soup with relish.
"I couldn't say, young Miko. They lost his trail near the river. Perhaps he jumped in?"
"Maybe, he was good at pouncing." She shuddered, remembering the long teeth and outstretched claws.
"You should get dressed, Yomato left a change of clothes for you."
Mira followed Hira's gaze to the folded yukata nearby. She nodded to the old woman and pivoted in place where she sat, scooting over to pick it up. Carefully she stood and unfolded it, and clenched her jaw as she shrugged into the dark green fabric. A deep maroon obi was tied with the help of Hira, who was mindful of Mira's injuries.
"Thank you," she said again after Hira had finished tying it off. "If there is ever anything I can do to repay you Hira-sama, please ask. I'll do my best to return the favor."
Hira smiled. Mira's heart sank with realization even before the woman opened her mouth.
"Apply yourself to your studies in earnest, young Miko, and I will be satisfied."
She couldn't bring herself to answer, afraid of what her voice might sound like if it cracked or wavered. Instead Mira only nodded, her look of poorly concealed terror entirely misunderstood.
"And I'm telling you, that girl ain't no ordinary girl!" the demon snapped, then howled as the old hag treating his wounds pressed her thumb into a particularly raw patch of exposed flesh. The healing salve smelled sweet and oily, mingled with some kind of dark spice. It burned his nostrils and made his eyes water, but the witch seemed unaffected.
Hama harrumphed, relenting on the pressure with satisfaction at his submissive whimpering. Clucking her tongue as a gnarled hand plucked up the shallow wood bowl she had mixed the medicine in, she answered.
"Of course not, Miko's with the gift of power, however slight, are unusual."
The lizard wriggled on the stone floor of the cave he was sprawled upon, and hissed. He cocked his mangled head to the side to stare at her with his good eye, yellow eyes molten. They glowed dimly in the shadowed enclosure.
"Witch, you are - ooowwWWWWW! - missing my point!" he seethed, tail twitching in agitation. Claws dug deep into the hard stone. "I ain't never seen no Miko that uses red barriers and smells like youkai!"
Hama paused for the first time, beady green eyes narrowing at the lizard. Her hand stilled, resting against the burnt hide with uneven scales that pricked against her palm.
"She smells of other youkai?" she asked, voice unnaturally even. The lizard youkai under her care hissed and wriggled to shake his head.
"Not other youkai, dense one - she smells of youkai! She got youkai all over her base scent, an' I sure of it."
"A hanyou?" Hama mused, frowning. She resumed her ministrations, finishing smearing the sickly colored green goop, and began applying thin strips of skinned flesh of another youkai unfortunate enough to cross her. They sizzled and puckered on contact, then began melding together and forming themselves to the lizard's body. He tried to crane his head back to see what she was doing, but only ended up hissing in pain and collapsing in defeat to it.
"She doesn't smell like no hanyou, she just… weird, Hama. She's… weird. Smell like a human, but also smell like a youkai." He paused, something clicking in his mind with enough surprise to cause his body to stop shuddering and twitching for a few moments. Impatient, the witch tapped a painted claw against a shiny red scale. He started from his thoughts.
"I was just thinkin' that… Maybe she mated with a youkai? I wasn't really payin' attention to it much before she went and fried me, but that could be it."
"You are saying that another youkai guards this pathetic village, over her?" Hama asked, incredulous.
"Old woman, you dense? Can't you tell a youkai's aura from a Miko?" The witch rewarded his insolence by digging her thumbnail underneath a partially torn up scale, and wrenched it the rest of the way off.
"Some beings are not so gifted with such… sensitivities," she explained in a flat tone. "Mind your tongue, beast, else I make it the next ingredient in a spell."
"Just finish fixin' me," he snapped, though with decidedly less aggression. Hama decided she was satisfied by the healthy level of dejection in his tone; he had submitted to her.
"I'll do more than fix you," Hama crooned, making the small youkai crane his neck again to look at her in wary confusion. The old woman's green eyes were glowing with an inane light. Between thumb and forefinger she held up a glittering pink crystal, no bigger than a rose thorn. It had a dull sheen to it, marking the once pure shard as tainted. "You will capture the youkai's mate, and bring her here. Do well, and I might let you keep this for your efforts."
The lizard youkai did not have time to protest before the sharp splinter of power was shoved into his side amidst newly lain skin.