Chapter 36 Settling down for the night

The shadows lengthened as the sun crept towards the western horizon. Even though the sky was a glorious glowing mass of reds, yellows and maroons, the girl on Inuyasha's back did not enjoy the show. He had noticed the whip thin body had progressively tensed over the past hour to the point he was sure she would snap like a brittle twig.

They had known that sleeping out in the open would be traumatic for the foundling. She had shown a healthy terror for the shadows of the night, even in the safety of the village. Inuyasha could easily remember his own fear that kept him awake as a child and alert all night when he was alone and unprotected. Many predators hunted in the darkness.

Night was well on its way to enveloping the world of the living when a large white shadow emerged from the tree line before them. Inuyasha had smelled the presence of Sesshomaru for the last half of the day, and he was actually relieved that he had shown himself. A known danger was much easier to accept than an unknown danger.

For only a moment, the stiff girl relaxed and wagged her non-existent tail. A yip of recognition escaped her as she sighted the leader of their pack. If Inuyasha had released her squirming legs, he had no doubt that Otome would have dashed over to his brother and licked the demon's hand.

A flash of jealousy surged through the half-demon at the girl's acknowledgment of the older demon. But just as quickly as it came, it departed. The feeling was more of a knee-jerk reaction left over from years of being afraid that everyone he liked would be taken away from him. He couldn't keep reacting like a selfish brat protecting a toy. The girl was not a possession, and his brother was not truly a threat.

As quickly as the girl had loosened up, she stiffened and resumed her paranoid scan of the surrounding landscape. Inuyasha was actually rather surprised that she didn't trust them to protect her. He thought for sure that Sesshomaru's appearance would calm her nerves. Of, course, when he thought about it, until a few weeks ago, she would have sprinted away from a demon with half of Sesshomaru's power. He would probably be intent on eating her.

The little group stopped for the night beside a stream in an area surrounded by huge boulders. Gnarled trees had grown in the crevices between the rocks but still left an area perfect for a fire. Strategically speaking, this was the safest place Inuyasha could find, short of hiding in a cave. The light from the fire would not seep into the night and give away their position.

Even with the dominant males from her group present, the girl remained stiff and terrified against a boulder. She had found a small indention at the base of a mass of granite and wedged herself in there, as if she were trying to become part of the rock. Her fear was painful to watch. Even in the feeble light of the new fire, the whites of her eyes were visible as she searched the darkness for threats.

Miroku approached the girl with a few strips of dried meat that passed as their dinner. She didn't even acknowledge his presence until he placed the food directly under her nose. For only a second, she glanced down, noticed the meat, and then gobbled it up. Miroku yelped as he drew back his hand that had suffered a few nicks in the feeding frenzy. Inuyasha smirked while he thought, 'at least she didn't take off a finger.'

With an undignified huff, the monk arranged his robes and staff and sat a few feet away from the girl to eat his own dinner. Inuyasha threw enough large logs on the fire to insure it burned throughout the entire night, and then turned towards the boulder. He knew he wouldn't be able to call Otome out from her protected area, so he decided to go to her. He sat near her head and propped his sword against his shoulder. Probably none of them would be able to sleep tonight due to the distress of the girl beside him. It wouldn't help this fragile trust the girl had in the males of her pack if they allowed some wandering demon to harm her. This almost felt like a test they could not afford to fail.

Sesshomaru took his customary position on the other side of the girl. He placed himself far enough away that, if by some strange chance, Otome felt comfortable enough to lay down, she could still touch each of them. He glanced over to his brother and realized that the thought of sharing the attention of his foundling didn't ruffle his fur as badly as it used to.

It took a few hours for exhaustion to pull the terrified girl away from the boulder. She whimpered as she sought Inuyasha's attention. He opened his eyes to see her swaying beside him. It only took a minute for him to realize that his sword prevented her from placing her head in his lap. The instant he moved the weapon to the other shoulder, she collapsed into his lap like a falling tree.

A movement at the corner of his eye drew his attention to the stoic demon beside him. As usual, the girl had stretched her leg out to make contact with Sesshomaru. What wasn't so usual was that the demon had reached out his own hand to make contact with her questing foot. The demon simply stared at Inuyasha, daring him to make a comment.

Self-preservation was a strong instinct in Inuyasha, no matter what his friends might say about leaping head-long into danger. And at that moment, the boy's instincts fairly screamed at him to keep his mouth shut and turn his head. Luckily, before he could act on impulse or instinct, a snuffling sound drew his attention. The little black mass of hair in his lap needed reassurance.

Even though exhaustion had drawn the girl away from her perceived safety, she still seemed anxious to be so exposed. She had turned her back to the darkness, and stared up at the second dominant male with pleading eyes. His deep frown eased and he smirked down at the little female. He felt her body relax a bit at his smile so he reached to scratch her cute, little, black, fuzzy ear. With that simple contact, the girl's golden eyes eased shut.

Inuyasha had spent the remaining hours of the night gently running his claws over Otome's scalp and ear. As dawn neared, a shift in the lump using his leg as a pillow drew him from his deep thoughts. Worry snaked inside him thinking she would again be terrified of the remaining night. He opened his eyes to witness the rousing of the girl. The sound of silk shifting beside him alerted Inuyasha to the attention his half-brother had turned towards the same girl.

Her eyes were barely open, yet she rose from her resting place. The men expected her to shift up to her hands and knees as was her normal action. To their shock, she moved to a sitting position, and then attempted to rise to her feet.

Inuyasha leapt to his own feet to grab her as she wobbled like a new-born fawn. He questioned, "Otome? What the hell are you doing?" Even with his support, the girl staggered like a drunk. She turned her face towards him and responded, "Hmm?" It was then that he noticed that her golden eyes had darkened considerably and resembled the eye color of her human night.

Sesshomaru sniffed discreetly to find if the girl was somehow human again. The timing was wrong. It had not been a full moon cycle. He rose to aid Inuyasha with this unexpected development. With her strange behavior, it was not outside the realm of possibility that she was somehow being controlled.

Inuyasha growled from frustration, "Yo, Runt! Ain't ya gonna answer me? What do you think you are doing?" Again, all he received as a response was a deep, "Hmm?" It was strange to hear her make a noise other than the range of dog-related sounds they had heard so far.

The last person to become aware of the strange event was Miroku. He woke from the volume of Inuyasha's inquiries. Viewing the scene, he swore he was still asleep. Their 'puppy' stood on her hind legs, and stared blankly at his traveling companions. There didn't seem to be any danger to account for the tension in the group, so the monk questioned, "Inuyasha? Did I miss something?"

Inuyasha only grunted towards the monk and growled as he shook the girl. This situation was beginning to remind him of something from the past. Her head snapped back and forth from the shake like a doll with no support. The monk protested, "Stop Inuyasha! You're going to hurt her!"

The confused, dark golden eyes turned towards the loud exclamation. One foot shuffled out in front of the other for only a moment, but it was enough to unbalance Otome. Her unconscious attempt to step towards Miroku resulted in her toppling over. She would have landed on her face except for the hold Inuyasha had on one of her arms. Unfortunately, since he was only supporting half of her, her downward momentum spun her around the dog-eared boy and right into Miroku.

Miroku was shocked to find himself with a half dressed girl sprawled in his lap. Despite his worldly and perverted history, he couldn't prevent the blush that stained his cheeks at the uncomfortable position. He raised his hands up and away from the girl's body to show that he wasn't following his usual inclinations. He knew if he were to ever take advantage of this girl, his life would end by two different sets of claws. His only response was, "Um? What just happened?"

Sesshomaru spoke for the first time all night, "She seems to be asleep with her eyes open." A memory tickled the back of his consciousness as he seemed to recall a similar incident. But he had lived for so long, that he could not filter through everything to pinpoint the event. Eventually, it would come to him. It always did. He had all the time in the world. Until then, he would simply try to expect the unexpected with this girl.

Inuyasha gently released the arm he had grasped. As it was, the girl was essentially laying on Miroku, with only her arm up in the air still. Once released, the girl curled up into a ball and buried her face in the length of purple cloth that covered the monk's leg. In a huff, he lowered himself back to his prior seat and snorted, "I guess we can get a bit more sleep since dawn is still a ways away. You just better watch where those cursed hands of yours go while you're playing pillow. I'd hate for you to have survived the wind tunnel only to lose your life to a different hand-related disaster."

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AN: I must apologize to my devoted readers. Reality interfered with my fictitious world. In the last 3 weeks, I've attended a wedding, painted a landscape for said groom of wedding (gift), taken my son to attend his first ever NASCAR race as Talledega, and had weekend appointments at work.

Also, this chapter marked the end of my original writing spree which spawned the bulk of the other 35 chapters in one weekend before I started this project. Up until now, all I had to do was rearrange the sections into a coherent timeline and edit for grammar and flow.

But fear not. I still have many more scenes already written, and an outline of where this story is going. Unfortunately, all the scenes occur AFTER the trip to the village and Totosai's mountain. So, I will need to do some more creative writing to fill in the gap.

Many readers have questioned if Otome would ever speak or act more human in this story. All I can say without ruining the plot is that all will be revealed eventually, including the girl's strange origins. I hope this little bit of "standing upright" will satisfy those who wanted a bit more human interaction.