Chapter 11
Silence greeted Kagome's question then Nyoko touched the pendent at her throat. "Umm…I think I can answer the question." She looked up all the eyes watching her and blushed lightly. "But stop staring at me!"
Yasu moved closer and wrapped an arm around her shoulder as she pulled out her braid from the rest of her hair and began to run it through her fingers. "We don't mean to stare Nyoko. It is just that was a bit…unusual."
Nyoko rolled her eyes. "Tell me about it." She could feel her body trembling from the shock of the fire touching her but she could still hear the words whispering in her head from when she'd touched the pendent. "Well…this is going to sound crazy-and I really don't like saying this-but the fire is kind of talking to me. It says that it recognizes me as a fire-tamer and that it is mine to control." She looked up at Sesshomaru. "It says that you know what that means."
Immediately all the eyes turned to gaze at Sesshomaru who raised an eyebrow. "I do." He said nothing else, instead walked away to talk to the demon guards that were still present.
Kagura nodded at the others. "I think that is his way of saying we shouldn't be talking out in the open. Everyone head inside to the grand salon."
She wandered away her two daughters close on her heels. "They have a grand salon?" Kagome squeaked in pleasure. "God this house rocks." She started for the house with Inuyasha holding her steady in her heels. "I'm going to change first. You all probably should too." She called over her shoulder.
Inuyasha shook his head as he led Kagome up to her room. She had spent so long in the feudal era running into a number of completely terrifying and incredible things and was completely amazed by a room. He left her at her door and made his way into his own room. He had just pulled off the jacket when the door between the two rooms opened. Kagome wandered into his room blushing lightly. "Kagome?"
"Um…can you unzip me?" She asked her blush deepening as she turned her back to him.
Inuyasha also began to blush but quickly did as she asked and moved away a bit before he gave into the urge to touch the skin of her back now presented to him. "There you go."
"Thanks." She headed back to the door and paused to look back at him. "You looked very handsome Inuyasha." She repeated her words from earlier. She closed her door behind her and left Inuyasha alone with his own thoughts.
His face was bright red from his blush as he hurriedly stripped off the suit to replace it with black pants that Sesshomaru called cargo pants and a red shirt. Kagome looked so beautiful…He thought as he changed remembering her in the beautiful dress. He stepped out into the hall and saw Miroku in similar clothing but he had a fancier button down shirt. "What do you think of these clothes Miroku?"
Miroku shrugged leaning against the wall beside Sango's door. "They are amazingly soft. And have a very wide range of colors." He remarked touching the blue and white striped shirt of his own.
Sango's door opened and she came out in pants similar to Inuyasha's and a green tank top. "I love this era!" She said her eyes wide as she ran her hands over the shirt she was wearing.
Kagome laughed as she exited her own room. A dark pink sundress clung to her curves and hung from her hips to her knees. "I knew you would. We should hurry though."
They headed down to the study meeting up with Kioko on their way and finally they found the grand salon. It was a huge room filled with various couches, arm chairs and tables. The walls were a cheery sky blue and there were a number of large open windows. Kagura looked up as they entered and waved them over. "Sit, sit. You're the last ones here."
Kagome smiled as Kouga waved at them. "Hey! Sesshomaru called me and said that he had news for you all. So I came by. Ayame arrived a few hours ago and she'll be here in a moment." He said smiling back at Kagome.
"It'll be great to see her again." Kagome replied sitting down beside Inuyasha on one of the closer couches and reached out to rest a comforting hand on Nyoko who was close by.
Nyoko looked up as Kagome touched her gently and returned her sweet smile. It was comforting to know that Kagome wasn't going to stop trying to be her friend because of that fire thing. "So…Sesshomaru…can you explain this whole thing to me?"
"Of course." Sesshomaru said and glanced at Miroku.
For a moment Miroku looked blankly back then turned pink. "Sorry." He concentrated and Nyoko gasped as a blue barrier began to encircle them. "It's safe to talk now." He said after the barrier had been completed.
"Many years ago, I came across a human who called herself a fire-tamer. She told me that according to the legend of her people said they were hunted down and slaughtered but she was unsure who had done it or why. She insisted that one day I would meet another fire-tamer who would help me in some task that my family would need to complete." Sesshomaru said. There was a long pause before Inuyasha began to growl.
"That's it?" He asked unhappily. That really told them nothing.
Nyoko touched the pendent softly, "So…out of that not-explanation, does that mean I can control fire?" Her eyes met Sesshomaru's and widened as he nodded. Her eyes were drawn to the candles decorating the fireplace and the small bits of fire that danced there. I can control fire? What a joke… She had never heard of someone actually being able to control fire…Suddenly her mind filled with a loud roar and she screamed before fainting.
"Mom! Are you sure you want to go out tonight?" She asked her finger wrapped tightly in her little sisters fist.
"Yes darling. Your father and I promised to go visit his boss. We are hoping that it will get him the promotion that we have been expecting." Her mother said smiling kindly down at her daughter. "You are so accomplished and your sister so young that we hope he'll bend to your combined cuteness!"
She rolled her eyes and picked her sister up gently and handed her to her mother. "Alright, alright."
"My three lovely ladies ready to go?" Her fathers voice asked as he entered the room.
"Yes dear." Her mother responded leaning up to kiss his cheek. "We are all ready to go."
They filed out into the car and she wrapped an arm around the baby seat where her little sister slept quietly. She hated going out to visit her parents co-workers, it was always so boring. But…she ran a finger along her little sisters arm, she hoped that she could alleviate her boredom by being able to take care of Mika while the 'adults' talked.
It was then that the world stopped. There was the sound of screeching breaks, her mother screaming, her father cursing. The world was spinning outside the glass of the car windows and then it all slammed to a stop. She threw herself over Nyoko as the windows exploded and she could feel them puncturing into her arms, her back and sides but she didn't budge and didn't scream so close to her baby sisters head. Please be safe Mika! She prayed over and over. She could no longer hear her parents screaming, no more yelling from inside the car. But she could smell the coppery scent of blood, the gas leaking from the car and suddenly there was a silent explosion.
She looked up briefly and stared in wonder as the fire from the explosion ate at everything around her. The smell of burning flesh and hair, plastic and nylon, filled the air around her but the fire didn't approach her, she could hear it saying…things, not quite words but definite feelings but she wasn't sure what it was saying. She gently unbuckled her seat belt and Mika's continuing to stare in awe at the destructively happy fire above her then gulped as her eyes began to blur from blood loss. I must get Mika out of the car, she though and reached out to touch the handle of the car door and pushed it open slowly. The fire leapt out of the inside and towards the top of the car reaching into the air screaming in joy as she threw herself and the baby nestled in her arms from the burning wreckage.
There were lights surrounding her, flashing blue and red but all she could see was the fire reflected in the babies eyes and the blood that dripped from her back to run down the babies cheek. "Mika…"
"Nyoko!" Yasu caught her as she fell and held her as the others in the room leapt to their feet. "What happened to her?" He asked looking up at his father.
"I think she just fainted." Kagome said leaning forward and resting a hand on Nyoko's forehead. She brushed her finger tips along the necklace and pulled back sharply at the burning of her fingers. "Ouch! That hurt." Kagome said sticking her fingers into her mouth.
Inuyasha pulled her hand down to look at it then glanced at the pendent. "It burned you but it isn't burning her. Maybe we should see if it burns anyone else…" He murmured and touched the necklace. He was greeted with a burning as well. Everyone tried to touch it but only Yasu was able to touch it without a serious burn resulting. He got a bit singed but it was the least damaging of the touches.
Yasu held Nyoko tightly, wondering what had happened to her and why it was that she had screamed before fainting. He rested his hand again against the necklace and pressed some of his demon aura into it trying to send a message into the fire that had moved into it, that he wanted her back. He felt an uncoiling beneath his hand and then…her eyes opened revealing two circles in her iris's. One of pink and one of orange. "Nyoko?"
"I'm…alright." She said and slowly sat up. She looked up at the concerned faces around her and gave a weak smile. "Really I'm fine." Her hand touched the cool metal around of the pendent and her eyes slid closed as she began to drift to sleep. I remember…
Alright...at the end of this I am not so happy with it but it had a lot of what I wanted to say. Let me explain non-story fashion down here. Sesshomaru met another fire-tamer a few hundred years back who forsaw that he would meet Nyoko and she would be a good part of the team to help the destruction of the newly born Naraku. Blah blah blah, in the constant unsure touching of the pendent Nyoko was sucked into a memory of the car accident that killed her parents. She had forgotten, in the haze of drugs of the hospital, that while she was in the car, the fire didn't hurt her and she could feel how it felt.
Things will be moving much faster now that this has been revealed. And remember! The title is Hunted. There will be a reason for this later. Be excited my duckies.