Disclaimer: Shaman King belongs to Hiroyuki Takei and Shonen Jump, not me.
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Kino trudged through the snow. The spirits had told her to come here, but it was the last place she wanted to be. She could feel the roiling and tumbling of the spirits of the river. Despite the freezing cold, the water was still moving fluidly, thanks to the high concentration of ghosts and spirits. She could feel them pressing against her on all sides. Some were friendly. Some were not. And only a strong shaman could withstand the pressures of so many external emotions.
Which was why the scrap of gold in the snow startled her.
For a moment she assumed it was a broken pinwheel, but no, the pinwheels were usually red. She made her way through the drifts of snow, and discovered that the shining gold was the golden hair of a small child. Kino brushed the thin layer of snow away, revealing the prone body of a baby.
The river has claimed another, she thought briefly, but the shallow rise and fall of the tiny chest startled her. The toddler was alive.
Kino struggled to lift the child against the weight of the wind. The baby's limpness made it seem heavy, although in reality the toddler weighed very little. Kino could feel fragile bone sharply through soft, paper-thin skin.
The walk back to the complex took longer than she expected. She was old, after all, and balancing a comatose baby while walking with a cane took effort. But she made it back, and summoned one of her older students.
Hinata, a pretty girl of about sixteen, came at her call. "Yes, sensei?" she said.
"Take this," Kino said, handing her the baby.
"Oh!" Hinata exclaimed. "Where did you…"
"By the river," Kino explained. Hinata cradled the child carefully. "Give it a bath and something to eat if it wakes, then report back to me."
Hinata nodded as Kino limped away. The toddler drooped in her arms, unresponsive and silent. Hinata made her way to the bathroom to fill up the tub with piping hot water.
The child was wearing nothing but a thin, ragged nightdress and a dirty yellow blanket. Hinata undressed the toddler carefully, noticing that it was a girl baby. She also noticed the sight of extensive bruising along the shoulders, chest, lower stomach, and the backs of the knees. The baby still showed no signs of rousing until Hinata began to cautiously lower the toddler into the bathwater. The tiny girl whimpered, her little rosebud mouth opening in a small, soft wail. "Yes, yes, I know," Hinata cooed. She poured handfuls of water over the little girl, getting her used to the feel of the hot water. "You'll feel better soon, little angel."
Hinata continued to bathe the little girl, washing her matted blonde hair and her dirty, scrawny body with milk and honey scented soap. The child woke slowly, her dazed dark eyes staring at her surroundings in a dull haze. She regained full consciousness, her alert brown eyes studying Hinata's face as she finished her bath.
"Isn't that nice?" Hinata smiled as she opened the drain. "Here we are." She lifted the little girl out of the bathtub and wrapped her in a thick towel. The toddler's wet head drooped on Hinata's shoulder. "Oh, poor sleepy darling. Let's get you some clean clothes, shall we?"
Kino kept a bin of cast-off clothing in a large closet. Hinata ruffled through it, the toddler still nestled on her hip, and managed to find a child-sized flannel nightgown. It would be too big, but it would keep her warm. The toddler was complacent as Hinata dressed her, but as the sixteen-year-old reached for the child's old clothes to throw them away, she burst into tears.
"Mine!" the baby wailed. "Lello! Mine!" Her voice sounded raspy and phlegmy, and she broke into a coughing fit. Hinata handed her the still-snowy yellow blanket, and the child's tears stopped.
"Well, then," Hinata said. "Now that you're all clean and shiny and warm, let's put something in your empty little tummy."
The kitchen had been closed for several hours, but Hinata set the little girl down on the counter and set to work heating up a saucepan full of broth. When it was warm but not too hot she poured some of the contents into a baby bottle. "Are you hungry?" she asked, holding out the warm bottle.
The toddler grabbed it, shoving the latex nipple into her mouth and sucking it eagerly. Hinata heard soft little gulping noises as the toddler drained the bottle dry rapidly.
"I see she's awake," Kino said.
Hinata nodded, tucking a strand of damp blonde hair behind the child's ear. "She woke while I was giving her her bath."
Kino reached over and took the child's bottle out of her mouth. The little girl's jaw dropped in astonishment. "What's your name, child?" she asked.
"Mine!" the little girl wailed.
"What's your name?" Kino repeated. The toddler continued to whimper. "Tell me your name, you naughty child!" The old woman's kimono sleeve slipped over the head of her cane. She raised her hand to shake it away, but it elicited a completely unwarranted reaction from the toddler.
The little girl backed away, eyes wide. "No, no, no!" she sobbed. She cowered, covering her golden head with her arms and drawing her tiny knees up to her chest. "No hurt! No touch! No hurt Anna! Anna good! Anna good!"
Hinata cast a frightened glance towards her sensei. Kino's expression didn't change as she handed Anna the bottle. Anna continued to cry, curling up into a tight little ball.
Suddenly the mysterious bruising made a great deal more sense.
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Author's
Notes:
This chapter went through a lot revisions and almost
appeared in half a dozen stories I wrote before showing up here.
