Disclaimer: Most of the characters in this story are the actual work of Rumiko Takahashi. I do not own them in any way.
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Chapter 8: Older sister
The sun shone beautifully in a cloudless autumn sky as the two villagers climbed the steep path that lead to the forest. Both being armed with axes and some ropes, their intention was pretty obvious to figure out. The first was a tall individual, dressed in a gray working outfit that had seen better days, but was still more than decent enough. The second was a bit shorter and his clothes were of pretty much the same style, though they were brown. Both chatted amiably on their way and couldn't help but shiver slightly when a cold breeze swept through the trees.
"So, I take it you're arm's better now Sojiro?" asked the tall villager.
"Yep, all fixed up," announced the short one, flexing his limb in demonstration. "Kagome-sama sure did wonder with it, I barely have a scar to show."
"What? But you cut your entire forearm when you fell on that scythe!"
"Well it's true. Look," and Sojiro pulled up his sleeve, revealing a forearm striped with a thin still-pink scar from his recently-healed injury.
"I'll be damned!" but then the tall villager frowned in confusion. "What are those tiny dots lining the scar?"
"Oh that. Well, I don't know where she learned how to do this, but she actually sewed my wound right back together. I was surprised myself, but hey, who am I to complain?" answered the brown-clad villager with a shrug.
"She stuck a needle inside of you!?" exclaimed the other with a visible shiver of disgust.
"Oh, I was a bit out with pain at the time and she gave me something to make me sleep so I didn't notice really. And even then, I didn't notice the 'stitching' – that's how she called what she did by the way – until she changed my bandage."
"Well I'll be damned! I didn't know you could sew a person."
"Me neither, but it sure did work though. My arm's as good as new," replied Sojiro while putting his sleeve back into place.
This little piece of conversation thus concluded, the pair returned their focus to the path ahead and froze. Standing not ten paces in front of them was a young girl of about ten years old, all dressed in white and holding a mirror. Before any of them could utter a single word, she rotated the reflective object sideway... and that was the last thing they knew.
Only when the two globes of light safely disappeared into her mirror did Kanna take the risk to advance forward and look at the two empty villagers.
"Are you two alone?" she asked in her quiet and emotionless voice.
"Yes," answered the tall one numbly.
That was a good thing and she felt Shiro's consciousness settle down inside her head, a sign she had come to interpret as relief on her part. Turning to her preys, she promptly started asking that which she had set herself to ask.
"Do you know where the shikon jewel is?"
"It's gone," answered the short one.
Now this caused Kanna to mark a pause. This was pretty unexpected. Naraku had said that getting rid of the jewel was close to impossible. He had reasoned that if making a selfish wish did not get rid of it, there was just no way a selfless one could. Had he been wrong?
"What happened to it?"
"Kagome-sama absorbed its powers... which turned her into a hanyou. At least that's what we heard."
Another uncertain pause. Naraku would not be pleased to hear this particular news. He had counted on the jewel still being in existence when he found a new body, but it seemed that he had miscalculated yet again. She was in the process of wondering what to ask next when Shiro decided to intervene.
"Why don't you ask about Kagura? It would be nice to know what's going on with her don't you think?"
"It is irrelevant to our inquiry."
"Your inquiry's pretty much over you know. The jewel's gone and there's little anyone can do about it. Naraku's never going to know if you ask a few more... personal questions."
Kanna pondered on this for a few seconds. Her orders had been clear. Spy on the group and try to find the jewel's whereabouts. When she actually managed to find it, come back to him immediately to report. However, there was no specific instructions concerning Kagura, meaning that her presence here was not something Naraku had expected. Now, with no orders, she normally wouldn't have even considered asking. However, she couldn't deny that she found her sister's new situation... intriguing and was somewhat compelled to learn a bit more about it.
"What do you know of Kagura?"
"She's nice enough even though she's a youkai. She came here a while ago with Yuna-chan. She sews surprisingly well and she's making plans to have her house built," answered the short villager.
Kanna couldn't help but mark a pause at this. As if her sister's presence here was not surprising enough, now she had to picture her with pins and needles, not something she would have expected from someone who desired nothing more than to be free like the wind.
"She probably found something more important than her own freedom," said Shiro, answering her silent interrogation. "He did say she came here with a young girl."
There wasn't many other possible explanations. For her sister to sympathize with her former enemies and with a human, the circumstances must have been rather extraordinary.
"The young girl, who is she?"
"From what we heard, she used to be a slave Kagura rescued. It also seems she has some sort of power that she's learning to control. She's also one hell of a good cook, she made me lunch once..."
"Enough," cut in Kanna, finding such rambling to be of little interest. Then, judging she had kept these two under her control long enough, she decided to give her last order, meant to ensure her little interruption would not be discovered. "You two shall forget all about seeing me on the path. You shall continue on as if nothing had happened at all."
She did not wait for them to agree, she merely walked off the path and hid herself behind a tree and freed their souls from her mirror. The balls of light promptly returned to their owner's body and she watched as they shook themselves, awareness coming back to them. They looked slightly confused for a few seconds, but then quickly shrugged off the feeling and walked off.
"Well, that sure was... interesting," commented Shiro once they were alone once again.
Kanna, not surprisingly, did not answer her inner voice's comment. Instead, she turned on her heels and started walking away, an action which of course, caused Shiro to let out an exclamation of surprise.
"Where on earth are you going?"
"Back to Naraku."
This time, Kanna's inner presence's astonishment was so great that the girl actually felt the shock of it reverberate through her skull.
"YOU'RE WHAT!?"
"There is nothing left for me to do here," came the simple answer.
"But what about Kagura? Why did you ask questions about her if you're going to just turn around and leave?"
Before the white-clad girl could answer however, Shiro had already reached a conclusion and again her shock reverberated through Kanna's skull. "No... god tell me I'm wrong... Kanna, you can't possibly be intending on reporting her to Naraku?"
"I was merely instructed to search for the jewel's location."
Shiro marked a startled pause before continuing. "You mean you won't report her?"
"No."
"But... why did you ask then?"
"I had to make sure she was okay."
"Had to..." trailed off Shiro, completely lost now. "Dammit Kanna, would you stop it with the cryptic answers? When on earth did you develop this unexpected sense of kinship?"
"You are the one who explained the meaning of the word family to me," came the blunt answer.
And again Shiro found herself frozen in shock. Though she couldn't decide if she was more shocked at Kanna's behavior or at the fact that her explanation had actually yielded concrete results.
"You mean that you're actually starting to care about your sister?"
"No."
"Then why?" snapped Shiro irritably, fed up with Kanna's emotionless behavior.
"You said that, as older sister, I should try and protect her from harm. I was merely making sure she was not in any harmful position."
Typical Kanna answer. Cold hard truth without any form of apparatus to make it easier to swallow... yet at the same time so incredibly confusing and incomplete that one simply couldn't help but stare in shock. As it was, staring wasn't exactly something physically possible for Shiro, but she did remain silent for long minutes as she processed that last statement and attempted to extract all of its implications.
"Okay, so let me get this straight. You don't feel anything for Kagura... yet you actually act as if she's important to you... because I told you to?"
"Yes."
"Dammit stop it with the monosyllabic answers already! Explain yourself!"
"You explained the concept of family to me... so now I know how I should act as an older sister."
Again Shiro simply couldn't help but mark a startled pause. The answer was so blatantly simple and yet the image it created was so incredibly strange that for a while, she couldn't say anything. It was like looking at a coin that had only one side. Kanna knew how she should act and so she acted that way... not because of the emotions involved, but because it was how she was supposed to act. Incongruous as that might seem at first, Shiro gradually began to realize that it was the best that could be expected from her host because she was incomplete to begin with.
"I... think I understand," she finally stammered after a long pause. "But still, are you just going to leave like that?"
"Her situation is secure. She is safe and well. There is nothing left for me to do."
"But..." hesitated Shiro, trying to find something to say that might sway her host to stay a little longer. "You said the wind was weeping!"
Kanna stopped. "You said her heart was troubled. Don't you think you should ascertain the reason for this before going away?"
Hesitantly, the girl looked back at the village while pondering on this new development. She did not understand emotions and as such, she highly doubted she could do anything to ease Kagura's troubles. Yet at the same time, she was the older sister and it was her duty to do whatever she could to ensure her sibling's wellbeing.
"I would be required to go into the village and observe her directly. The risk is great," she said.
Just then, a soft breeze ruffled her bangs gently and she couldn't help but turn so that it blew against her face. She listened for a while, trying to discern something in it, but this was just an ordinary gust of wind, silent and impersonal.
"She's your sister Kanna. Isn't that reason enough to warrant taking a small risk?" Shiro countered softly, as if sensing her host's contemplative behavior.
And try as she might, the white-clad girl couldn't find anything to answer to that.
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Kagura hummed quietly as she worked the needle into the thick wool of the winter kimono she was currently making. It wasn't easy to make clothing from scratch, yet despite the difficulty, she found the task to be extremely invigorating. In fact, sewing in itself was fun... but in this particular case, there was an added incentive.
A round of laughter caused her to turn her head and smile. At the other side of Kaede's common room, Yuna was playing Uno with Shippo and Yukina, another one of her friend. The girl had lost her mother to disease not too long ago, thus making the connection all the more easy to make. Coincidentally, she was also of similar height and built as Yuna, which helped her current scheme tremendously, for the kimono she was currently sewing was a gift she was preparing for her child.
Of course, the said girl was blissfully unaware of this fact, thinking the current piece of clothing had been commissioned by Yukina's father. The plan was as simple as it was perfect, it even allowed her to work without fear of being found out.
Shifting her attention to the window, she realized that the sun was sitting pretty low on the horizon and that it was now time for everyone to go home. Carefully, she took her piece of work and reverently put it away in a wooden chest that had been graciously offered to her by a villager as payment for her work.
"All right Yukina, Shippo... I think it's time for you two to go home," she announced, snapping the lid of the chest down for emphasis.
"Aw... must we really? Come on Kagura-san, just another game please," begged Yukina.
The sorceress snorted at this suggestion. "Yes of course. That way you'll have an opportunity to break the record you set last time right?"
At this, all three youth turned immediately bright crimson and looked down abashedly. Everyone remembered what had happened two days ago when Kagura had made the mistake of giving in to their request: They had kept the game going for hours and would have continued had Yukina's father not come and dragged his daughter away, giving a piece of his mind to Kagura in the process.
"I thought so," replied the sorceress sternly. "Come now you two, off you go. Yuna's still sick and she needs her rest."
Grudgingly, the children stood up and started gathering their things, making every efforts to take their times about it. Kagura rolled her eyes at this, but refrained from commenting for fear of making things even slower than they already were. Finally, after long minutes, the interminable process of collecting the cards and stacking them together was over and the two guests could finally be showed to the door.
"It was fun Yuna. I'll see you tomorrow okay?" called Yukina cheerfully.
"Yes, see you tomorrow Yuki-chan," replied the sick girl with a wave. "And you too Shippo-kun."
"See you tomorrow Yuna," answered the kitsune with a smile.
And with that said, both kitsune and human walked out the door, leaving Kagura and Yuna alone together. Stretching, the wind sorceress gazed at her child, noting that she was a bit pale. Discreetly she took in her scent, but did not detect anything alarming. Thus reassured, she turned her attention to the mundane task of preparing dinner.
"Well, that was a nice and cozy afternoon. How about we finish it with a healthy meal?" she questioned cheerfully, knowing how much the child loved to cook.
Surprisingly, this time Yuna didn't show her usual enthusiasm, she merely gulped and nodded. This unusual reaction instantly set Kagura's motherly instincts on full alert and her cheerfulness was promptly washed away by concern.
"Are you feeling okay?"
"No I... " began the girl but trailed off as she realized just what she had been about to say. "Well... I'm feeling a little queasy."
Kneeling beside the girl, Kagura placed her hand on her forehead and noted it was slightly warm, though not alarmingly so. What's more, her scent did not betray anything other than her cold. This meant her loss of appetite was quite probably due to her sickness, something Kaede had warned her would happen.
"You were feeling sick all afternoon and you still kept playing with Shippo and Yukina?" she questioned with a disapproving frown.
"No, I was feeling okay until just now when you... mentioned food Kagura-sama," explained Yuna with a small grimace.
"I see..." replied the youkai thoughtfully. "Come then, I'll get you to bed."
Before the child could so much as protest, Kagura had scooped her up in her arms and was heading for their room. After a few minutes spent spreading out the child's bedding, the sorceress was able to tuck in Yuna and gently caress her forehead.
"I'll bring you something light to eat. I know you're not really hungry, but you have to eat something or else you'll get even sicker. If you need me, just call okay?"
Yuna nodded obediently before settling down in the covers. Seeing that all immediate threat to her charge was now taken care of, Kagura stood up and went back to the common room where she promptly set to the task of preparing a meal. She wasn't exactly what one could call a good cook, but she had learned in the past few months and she could manage simple recipes well enough.
Not wasting any time, she quickly got the fire going and poured water into a pot for boiling. After that, she chopped down a few vegetables, measured a serving of rice and poured everything into the warm water. When that was done, she added a few small pieces of ginger for fragrance and let the everything simmer happily away, stirring occasionally to keep the mix from sticking to the bottom of the pot.
And that was how Kaede found her a few minutes later when she came back from her rounds. She inhaled appreciatively the sweet scent of ginger emanating from the stew currently cooking over the fire and smiled at the sorceress.
"Something smells good," she commented lightly.
"Does it now?" replied Kagura. "Yuna's feeling a little nauseous so I'm preparing this for her."
"Is that so? Did her fever go up then?"
"Well, she was slightly warm, though nothing too serious so far as I could tell. I've put her to bed and I think that with a good night's sleep she should be fine."
"Shall I go and check up on her?"
"Well... I'm sure you must be tired from your rounds Kaede. I do not mean to..." but the sorceress was cut short by a snort from the old miko.
"Oh spare me the false guilt Kagura. It is plain obvious that you really want me to check up on your child, if only to make sure she's okay. You worry about dinner and I shall worry about her... is that fair enough a trade for you?"
The sorceress wasn't one for mood swings, but at Kaede's words, she felt her heart wrench painfully in her chest and she had to avert her gaze to keep the old miko from seeing the pain flashing in her eyes. Of course, this gesture proved to be somewhat futile as it gave away her current state of mind.
"Is something amiss girl?" asked the woman in concern.
"It's nothing Kaede," tried to brush off the sorceress, but of course, the said miko knew better.
"What have I said to make you so sad Kagura?"
"As I said, it's nothing really... just some stupid thing, some selfish thing that won't go away," continued the sorceress, feeling tears burn at the corner of her eyes, forcing her to clench them shut to keep the moisture from spilling over.
"This hardly seems to be the trivial thing you claim it is if it causes you to break down like that. What is it Kagura? What is it that plagues you?"
For long minutes, the sorceress stayed silent, clenching and unclenching her hands in a vain attempt to regain control of her emotions, but it was all to no avail. Finally, letting out a long sigh, she hunched her shoulders and opened her eyes.
"It's nothing Kaede... really nothing. It's just... what child calls her mother... 'Kagura-sama'?" she admitted, her voice barely above a whisper.
Only silence greeted those words and Kagura did not dare look up, instead she wiped her teary eyes with her sleeve and busied herself with stirring Yuna's meal. After a while, she allowed herself to smile sadly and shake her head, in a futile attempt to shake off her pain.
"I'm sorry... it's selfish... I'll never be her real mother I know that... so I can't ask her to betray..."
She was interrupted in her rambling by a comforting hand on her shoulder. Shifting her gaze, she was confronted by the sympathetic face of Kaede.
"There is nothing selfish in your desire Kagura. It is simply an expression of your strong feelings for Yuna."
"I... It is?"
"Aye. You consider yourself to be Yuna's mother yet the child continues to call you by your name. So you feel as if she does not fully recognizes you, which in turn makes you suffer. Such a thing is perfectly normal I assure you."
"But then... what do I have to do? What will it take for her to fully recognize me?"
"There is nothing more you can do girl. Only time will make Yuna see the truth. Keep in mind though that it has only been four months since you freed her. She must still be trying to cope with all the changes that happened in her life."
"I know Kaede... it's just, she called me 'mommy' once in her sleep and it made me so happy..."
"Do not despair Kagura, one day she shall call you mother."
And as the sorceress nodded in sad understanding, she felt a small prickle at the back of her mind and instinctively turned her head toward the window. Frowning, she stood up and looked outside, but she could see nothing out of the ordinary.
"Kagura is anything the matter?"
"No it's okay... I think I might be more tired than I thought. My imagination's starting to play tricks on me," she replied with a shake of her head.
"If you say so," answered the old miko dubiously.
Of course, had Kagura not dismissed her feeling and had wandered out at this very moment, she would have seen the white-clad shape of Kanna emerge from behind the pile of firewood and walk calmly away, only to be swallowed minutes later by the growing darkness of the surrounding forest.
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Author's note: Well, it's been quite a while since my last update... free time is dwindling I guess. Another Kanna chapter that was a bitch to write. I swear this emotionless girl is going to drive me crazy. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed. Read and review everyone
