Chapter 8: The Brothers
I don't know this girl – she stares back at me with the same level of surprise that I have for her – even with the water so murky and brown she is as clear as day to me. Her skin is dented with healing welts, dried scabs, old and new, bruises tatter her skin in yellow, purple, blue and green patches. But no damage can hide the radiating tan skin that thrives underneath, with its youthful life glow I've never seen before today. Just yesterday her long black hair was lifeless and dull but now it's full of girth and spring, and cascades down to her tail bone like it was never burdened with split ends or frizz. However, the oddest and most unfamiliar of all her features has to be her eyes: the once empty, hollow and soul-less appearance of her eyes, stare back at me with liquid chocolate pools that sparkle with curiosity.
Born and raised in present day Japan, she looks naturally at home within the shrine maiden's garb of the average Shinto priestess of Japan's feudal past. Her toes just barely poke free from underneath the red hakoma (pants) when she walks and the sleeves of her white haori (kimono jacket) stretch an inch or two pass her fingertips.
Of all the years I've known her it strikes me completely odd, that the girl who's staring back at me is: me.
So how did I make a drastic change?
I literally fell into feudal Japan through a torii gate, but I wasn't alone. A girl a year younger than I came through as well the same day. Though we both came from the same time period, and took the same class and both assigned to the same project, there aren't many connections between the two of us. I recently moved to the part of Tokyo she lives in; she was popular and I was invisible. Yet, out of the two of us, Kagome has been the only one to find her way back to the present.
For her to return a piece of the shard of jewel is required – the same jewel that she shattered, and the very essence of my soul. The shattering of the Jewel released a sliver of my soul, placing a piece to a puzzle in the empty slot that is my body. I am no longer hollow inside.
There has yet to been a way to return to the present for myself. Even as I aimlessly walked back and forth through the village's only tori gate a dozen times, with the jewel and without, but nothing happened. Just the estranged stares of the village people as they watched me, whispering about me under their breath. It's obvious which of us the villagers prefer more.
With Kagome's abilities and Jewel history, she has been confirmed as Kikyo's reincarnation, and now is cherished as the new priestess and practical leader.
But it is just that – our spiritual abilities are all that make us similar.
After my fail attempt to go back to the present time we've all came to the assumption that the myth about the torii gate must be true and that the real reason why I can't return is because I have yet to finish my spiritual journey. The safest bet on what that could be has to do with the jewel. And so it has come down to this conclusion; Kagome and I must protect the jewel with everything we got until we find all the pieces.
And as of right now our only shard is with the girl who broke it to begin with – in the present.
A single green leaf dances within my view from my right; it glides gracefully left to right until it lands on the surface of the water, distorting the reflection I had got caught up in. I tear away from the depth of my mind and return to being alert, reminding me of what I was originally doing.
I look to my right; there standing in a circle of dry sandy dirt stands a tall dead tree, its sharp almost leafless limbs reach up to the sky with skeleton like fingers. The color is a brown that screams it needs water but at the same time, it is far from death. Surrounding it, with at least a fifteen feet radius are lively green trees that filter the forest with an emerald aura.
Eliminating the distance, I walk up to it and place my left hand against the trunk, it's cool beneath my touch and its surface is smooth even with its ridges. I gaze upward, following its stretching arms to find Inuyasha, he is the only source of color the tree has as he sits on a thin branch. Both his arms and a single leg dangle lazily from the branch, and yet he seems unconcerned by the potential of falling or the branch breaking. Even with his head up against the trunk and his eyes squinting from the sun, he looks almost at peace…
A cool breeze sweeps the area, filling my lungs with the mixed scent of rice paddies, sap from the trees and the wild flowers that bloom in-between them all. My hair flutters across my face in a dance that tickles my nose, and up above, Inuyasha's limbs sway just the slightest. His ears twitch, just now, picking up the sound and smell of me. He must have been dazed off in the dream world. He glances down at me, for the first time without any anger, irritation, or guardedness. With his content gaze and the cool breeze, I shiver.
This time – this world, it's far more beautiful than anything I have witnessed, even with my foster families taking me far and wide across Japan's landscapes. Every forest, plains, fields, yes were beautiful, but this place is untainted and untouched.
Free. Open. Undying. Almost immortal.
In the end, this world won't be as perfect as it is now and it makes me question my own existence. This feeling that fills my lungs and my veins with so much life can be ripped from me and out of nowhere.
As I peer up at Inuyasha and him, down at me, I begin to slip into the darkness of my mind that was locked away all my life until yesterday.
Two girls and one half demon – with Kagome constantly being kidnapped and losing our only shard multiple times already…. Inuyasha really doesn't have the time to be protecting the both of us. With our same set of skills, I really have to think about the better for us. She has more qualities about her that can benefit this journey better than I.
We can both see and sense the shards, we both harbor some sort of spiritual energy that can be taken out when we feel threatened, protective or enraged. But the differences are far more evident:
Kagome has been withholding the jewel her entire life, she has a physical attachment while I have a spiritual. She can take shards back and forth between past and present, giving her the ability to bring back supplies when needed. Not only that, but she is the reincarnation of an apparently powerful priestess who was a protector of the jewel prior to Kagome receiving it.
I really have nothing on that.
I was born in the present with absolutely no connection to Kagome, Inuyasha or any spiritual priestess guardian. The most I can do above Kagome is hear the voices from the jewel itself.
I can't imagine that me hearing voices is enough for me to get in the way of Inuyasha watching over Kagome to make sure she's not kidnapped or loses the shard…Again. However, I don't have a choice either; I have nowhere to go except this village.
I ring my brain from the darkness and it leaks like black liquid, how can I be consumed so quickly? Holding back from letting out an exasperated sigh, I mutter, "Kagome should be back soon."
His lips curl in an unpleasant twist, a grumble follows with the action. Luckily for Kagome and I, Inuyasha is quite easy to read, every single emotion is played out of his face in a very loud pronounced way. He's not the only one unhappy with this choice though.
The entire village heard them arguing this morning before she ultimately made her leap into the well – but who could really blame him for being angry. I am just as irritated, anxious and paranoid as he is.
Kagome was right though; we desperately need the supplies.
The night before, with the hair demon, we were all beaten up and hurt – some worse than others. I should have died last night; my heart pumps with extra oxygen the more adrenaline builds in me just thinking about it, it's heavy and feels like it'd explode.
Inuyasha took that blade for me. He didn't have too, he could have let me die and have one less girl to watch over but he done it. It wasn't any average paper cut either; it was a full on, straight through the chest and out the back, gnarly wound. It leaves me shivering just imagining it happening to me, I can almost feel the tip of a sword pierce through me now, so much so I almost forget to breathe.
Why did he protect me when I didn't have the jewel? This question swirled in my mind all night even as I slept and relived my every night dream; it was there, a shadow behind all the fighting. The days prior he kept threatening to kill Kagome and I for getting in his way of the Jewel. There is no real friendship between any of us, no relationship or family. He could have let me die and used Kagome for all her abilities since they are like mine.
Out of hundreds of shards, only one was found, and only one was needed to unleash all these emotions and memories that were chained away from me.
No one…. No one in my entire life has ever protected me; not from bad choices, bad people, or anything remotely dangerous.
My fists curl against my red hakoma, gathering the silk material in-between my fingers as it bunches up. I drop my gaze from Inuyasha and stare aimlessly beyond the skeleton tree as every abandonment, betrayal, accusation, resentment, verbal and physical abuse flows through the depths of my mind like the river Styx. I have no control over this, no control over receiving knowledge I was forced to forget.
I know now why my mind chained them away, why it was so important for me to be empty back then; when all the "should have been" scary, heart breaking and traumatizing moments start hitting me now. So many….so many lost and forgotten that I can't honestly remember a time when I should have been happy.
Slowly, the dark memories play like episodes, coming to a halt at one particular that I had blocked from seven years ago. A memory that now raises the hairs on my neck and forces a lump as thick as coal to stick in my throat. Goose bumps run down my skin with the waves of shivers that lead the way.
I was ten and had already lost count on how many families had taken me in. This family consisted of a mother, father and their own blood son. I was to be the little dream girl that the mother had always wanted but unfortunately couldn't have after she gave birth to her son.
The excitement of fostering a little girl quickly ended after a day or so, my modest bedroom was replaced with a craft room and I was squeezed into a small closet sized room on the first floor with paper-thin screen walls and old tatami flooring that prickled up. No real furniture could fit in this petite room so I was given a skinny mat to sleep on instead – still, it was just large enough for the corners of the mat to curve up along the walls on all sides. This made it incredibly difficult to push and pull the sliding door to get in and out.
This memory was of a cold November night; it was hours after I was put to bed but I was restless and still wide awake. I stared blankly up at a molding stain on the white ceiling while I lied on my back with a scratchy blanket under my chin. I remember smelling cigarette smoke that wafted into my room invisibly – a silent warning of what was too come.
This was odd – everyone in the house should be asleep – but I pushed it aside thinking I was just smelling imaginary things. That's until I heard a heavy shuffling and felt the sliding movement of my door at my feet. Instinctively I scooted my legs up close to my chest and rolled to my side and pretended to be asleep.
When the door came to a stop, I opened my eyes to a slit to see what was entering but all I could see was complete darkness. But I was only met with pitch black, no silhouette, no shadow, not even the kitchen night light. Was I just imagining it, I had thought, but something wasn't right. The blanket on top of me began to move, lifting up towards the ceiling at the very end in a ghostly like manner and that's when I felt it: cold, wrinkly hands gripping at my frozen ankles and tugging my legs straight before twisting me onto my back.
I didn't feel the defensiveness I should have. I didn't feel the fear or the adrenaline. But I knew what was right and what was wrong from years of watching the world move while I was stuck, and this was not normal. So I began to kick. My feet frantically pushed and shoved, fighting against the cold hands that grew stronger and stronger while mine grew weak and tired. The hands quickly had them trapped beneath his approaching legs, squeezing them underneath his heavy weight as he scooted closer underneath my blanket.
I started to scream but there was no urgency and half the volume, "No, no. Help. Mommy, Daddy, help." My voice sounded like a really bad actor trying to act, even to me. Oh how I wish I had half the energy and will I have now.
` "Shush," the man demanded. His voice was familiar; for the first few nights since I had moved with this family I heard him say it every night before we went to bed. "Shush, my child."
It was my new father.
Just when I thought it was okay to stop my yelling I felt his hands once again, but instead of my ankles – which were sat on – they began to grip at the sides of my thighs; claw-like fingers ripped and tore at my pajama bottoms. I struggle even more, but it was like I was a pathetic worm under his legs and no amount of my yelling could save me. No one could hear me; I had no pitch in my voice.
The blanket flew off me distracting me just long enough for the sudden slap that sent my head hard down onto the mat, my body creaked on an angle as I was twisted away, but I felt no pain. Just as quick as his hand reached my face I was quick enough to turn it back with no emotions, no fear and no agony to express any sort of pain.
He was close enough for me to see him now. His expression was that of a paused surprise; his eyes were wide so much I could see the whites against the darkness surrounding us. His lips parted but only staggering noises of confusion came out.
And then the most bizarre thing happened. He was ripped off of me from a single arm that wrapped around his neck from beyond the sliding door. He was pulled back into the darkness with only the sounds of shuffling and groaning to be heard.
And then …complete darkness took me.
The little I can remember after was waking up to my mother screaming for help and my father was sprawled out face down on the kitchen floor. My brother had woken up just as I did – it's left me wondering, if she's panicking and my brother and I are left wondering – Who was the one that pulled him off me the night before?
She sent me away after that, shouting and pointing a finger at me, "The cursed child. She's a cursed one. Cursed I tell you."
There was an investigation but I heard no reports on it. My mother was so angry and believed I was the cause so much that she would come to the center I was taken too and point at me through the windows, screaming at the other families as they came in and out on how I was cursed and a murderer.
I told no one about that night.
It took almost two years before someone else adopted me.
"Keara…." The memory fades slow but surely this time, "Keara…did ya hear me?"
The colors of nature return to my vision, the sounds around me become alive again and I am finally released from the darkness of my unfortunate reality. I look up at Inuyasha, his eyes are wide and curious now, he's even adjusted onto his side enough to peer down at me fully.
"No…Sorry, got caught up in something." I turn my back to the tree and let myself fall back first against it. Unlike my past, I can feel the pain of the thump on my back but it's unbelievably reassuring. I am safe. I am not in that memory anymore. My legs give out underneath my weight and I'm plop onto the dry dirt below.
"You're a weird one," he replies, "and I said, it must suck."
My eyes drift over the rice fields, my heart calms in my chest and I feel the phantom pull of apathy wash over me, guaranteeing me no more sadness but numbness instead. "What sucks?"
"That she gets to go back to her family but you're stuck here. Ya sure you're okay?"
I roll my head along the trees trunk just enough to gaze up at him. "I am fine – and I have nothing and no one to go home too anyways."
His thick brows that always show an array of emotion come to narrow above his nose, "What'd you mean?" His voice is soft and somber; there is almost an understanding behind the way he asks.
I can't help but frown even though I never longed for a family, friends or anything up until now. "I never knew my real parents and I was fostered since I can remember. No family kept me longer than a month or two."
He maneuvers himself out his lounging position and one where both feet dangle right above me, his clawed hands rest flat against the branch he's perched on keeping him sturdy. "Nothing and no one…"He repeats. We sit in silence – the memory I just relived and the words we just shared, stretched far between us – this is an oddly comfortable silence. But then he sighs, softer than I thought he could ever get, "I have no one either."
His eyes lower, closing just the tiniest and his forehead smoothes out, a deep, sad expression replaces his curiosity. A pit lodges itself were my heart is, it physically hurts me seeing him like this and I don't know why. I swallow hard; it chokes me from breathing for a moment, I clear my throat. I can't watch him suffer in pain like this. "Well, you're not alone right now."
His eyes light up, his lips part as if to speak but no words come out. The breeze returns, dancing his silver locks across his face and sweeping away all that sadness that was once there, it tickles my skin against but this time I can only shiver.
"How are you feeling by the way?"
He snaps right of the stunned look and crossing his arms, returning back to normal with such a simple question. "Nothing to worry about. I don't heal like you humans." He boasts with a sly grin.
"Good, that means you should be all better now?"
From where I am sitting he doesn't look hurt, matter in fact, he looks perfectly okay. After the fight he was only stumbling around for a couple hours but this morning he was running and leaping like the hair demon never came. But that doesn't mean he's not hiding the pain.
"Good as new."
A smile itches the corner of my lips, it's quite heavy since I am not used to this action yet, but all at once the weight of worry falls off my shoulders and I feel light once more. If it wasn't for that demon blood running through his veins, he and I wouldn't be alive right.
"What're ya smiling about?" he asks suspiciously.
My head rolls back and forth against the tree, my eyes watching the shiftiness of his, "I don't know – I guess I am just happy. Happy that you're okay."
His eyes, the liquid amber that they are, watch mine, the solid chocolate brown that have somehow lightened during these last few days. He's still as a statue. Does he not believe me? Has he even heard those words before? He's said he was alone. Maybe he had no one to care about him.
"Come down here." We hear the subtle clicking of metal on metal, not the brash sound of swords clattering but a whisper compared to it. It's Kagome, we can tell by her higher pitch voice and when we look she's pushing a pink bike along the rice paddy trail. Upon the bike's basket that is attached on the back is an oversized yellow backpack that looks like it must have had ten people trying to close it from how packed it is.
I'm surprised the bag didn't explode open on her way here with how some of the trails in the village and forest has pretty sized rocks she must have hit.
Inuyasha grumbles at the sight of her, he leans back to his relaxed position from before, back against the trunk of the tree and limbs dangling freely. "Not doing it." He sneers.
"Ka-." I start.
"I said come here!" She cuts me off with a shout. An angry shudder rolls over me but I don't get a chance to stop her before she throws out another command. "Sit boy!"
An ugly, nasty groans come from the tree behind me, I throw my hands over my head thinking it's coming down on me along with Inuyasha but instead, the sound of a heavy mass crashing to the dirt ground beside me erupts. The dusty dirt flies about in a mushroom cloud, catching in my throat and nose. I start to cough instantly.
I can still see it, after removing my arms, through the dark grey of the dusty dirt, I can see his purple necklace glowing faintly. His entire front is flat in an enclave shaped around his body. The force of that ability is devastating – the sheer weight of his body gains the amount of a meteor that can practically destroy lands.
Surprisingly though, the thin branch he was sitting on still stands strong and firm above us.
He unburies his face, a few pebbles and dirt scuffs his cheeks, but nothing can deter that fierce glare he gives Kagome. "What was that for?!"
With her nose in the air and her head raised high, she kicks the kickstand down for her bike and balances it still. Turning on her heels towards the end of the bike, she rummages through the big yellow bag and pulls out a little white box from the top. On top of the white box is a red plus sign, the symbol of a medical aid.
Another angry shudder jolts through me; I can feel fire burning in my chest and red outlining all my surroundings. Is this why she commanded him to the ground? So she can heal his wounds? Did she not think that using that command would cause them to re-open, if not worsen?
Just seconds of dwelling on it quickly turns my anger into type of enraged hunger; I can't take it anymore. I bite my bottom lip, fighting and fighting, but it only grows and as it grows, my bite turns bloody.
She starts to approach him, the little white box held in her hands, the same expression plastered on her face, I finally crack.
"Stop!" I shout through gritted teeth.
All movement and sound comes to an abrupt halt. I can't even see the smallest movement of either of their chests as they inhale and exhale, or the sound of the wind that is clearly still making its way. Their eyes are wide and slowly turn to me.
Good. I want her to see how angry I am.
"If…" I exhale, an odd pressure pushes on my chest when I start to talk. I hadn't even noticed, but my hands curled into fists on the grass below, I can just barely spot the faint purplish glow that fumes off them like flames. I try to focus back on her and with all I can; I do my best to talk as calmly as possible. "If you would have stopped and listened, you would have learned he's fine. He heals faster than the two of us. But…" I inhale and then exhale, the rock of irritation in my belly shifts uncomfortably. I still want to scream and lose control. Fight. "If he was hurt, you screaming that demand would have caused his wounds to get worse."
There's a pause between us three. Not a breeze. Not even breathing can interrupt this stiff silence. The glow of red that outlined everything starts to fade as do the purple fumes around my fists. There is a tension on my face that I didn't feel when the angry grew that is releasing now. Within my veins I can sense the rush of power that mixed with the frustration, a built up anger and power that must have been growing in me since I was little and could do nothing about.
I can't imagine how worse I will become when we find more shards and more of my soul is returned…
"But…" Kagome's fingers tighten around the little box. The blinding self-righteous side of her is gone and I don't see anything left on her face but uncertainty.
"Keara's right." Inuyasha reveals. He pushes himself up with wobbly arms; he comes to a sitting position with his legs crossed and his right hand coming to the left shoulder of his red and white haori. He drags it off just enough to expose a triangle of smooth, non-damaged skin. There is not even a scar or a bruise to show what happened last night – just completely tan and toned flesh. "Ya think ya'd know by now."
"For so great of a wound to have healed so quickly and leave no scar." Kaeda's voice can be heard from the tree line to my right, I glance over in simple wonder of where the hell she'd come from. She staggers over using a little wooden stick as a staff, it creaks under her weight with every movement but manages to hold strong, her damaged left arm swings in a makeshift carrier.
If anyone needs medical help, it's Kaeda.
"Just cause it woulda killed a human don't make it a big deal for someone like me."
Using the dead tree for support, I climb my way back to my feet, underneath me my legs wobble for a moment before they regain their strength. An ache shoots through them with every muscle that works, a painful reminder of days and nights of running and fighting demons. Such is the life I will be living for now. Once I recuperate I offer my left hand for Inuyasha to take.
He hesitates, staring at my bruised hand as if it's an alien species, for a split second I catch his eyes looking up at me with a distrusting glare. In the reflection of his amber eyes I can see a frown fall on my face – just seeing the expression has me frowning deeper. The ends of my fingers begin to tingle like they've been asleep.
I get lost within my reflection, never having seen such expressions on my visage before, that I didn't notice the hot embrace wrapping around my hand until the tugging starts. The tingling immediately comes to a halt and I rip my eyes away and feel the strength behind the hold and the warm sensation of a different type of tingling that runs up my arm like butterflies. He pulls himself up and gives me a small nod of thanks. Below the strength and warmth of his hand, his skin is rough and I start to register, that the heat that comes off his flesh isn't normal human heat, but of much hotter temperature. The butterflies I feel come from his touch alone, and is the same that I felt the day I first arrived here – that strong urge that grew when I got closer to him and painful when I was taken away.
His hand rips from mine, stealing away the sensation that ran through me, leaving it outstretched and cold. My heart drops within that second. He slaps his hand hard against his chest, growling beneath his breath. He rips open his haori where he had tugged its own before to reveal a tiny flea flat against the bareness of his chest.
The fleas' body is bigger than the average pest but not by much, it is the abnormal shape that throws me off. This is not a little bug – it's a little bug man.
His structure is mostly human-like but with the given multiple limbs like that of his bug relation: Four arms instead of two with an orange needle for a nose and mouth. He has big bug eyes that only have a single pupil like a human, and a balding head with a crescent of grey hair that matches his grey mustache.
In the shape of a pancake, the little bug man pops off Inuyasha's chest and floats down like a feather into the palm of his attacker. We all lean in closer to get a better look. His chest is still moving, telling us that he is indeed still alive.
His eyes stare up at the four of us, nose twitching as he sniffs the air, and then he sucks in a long breath and just like that, he pops himself back into his normal shape. "Greetings and salutations," his voice is painfully nasally.
"It talks…" Kagome whispers.
"If it ain't Myoga the flea." Inuyasha's lips twitch in a snarly kind of way.
The fire blazes brilliantly against the rising darkness that sweeps from the single window of the hut, we all watch it as its flames dance in an erotic sequence among the ashes of branches. We've all come to sit in our normal spots – Kagome on Kaeda's left and Inuyasha's right, and I at his left – between Inuyasha and I sits Myoga. His tiny legs are crossed and his hands dig into his long sleeves while he stares thoughtfully at the fire.
We came to the decision to return to Kaeda's hut after Myoga, the flea demon, admitted to coming a long distance to speak to 'Lord Inuyasha'. We knew that whatever it was, might be long and figured it'd be best for Kaeda to have a spot to sit while we listened.
"So, what'd ya want to tell me?"
"Someone's been searching for your lord father's tomb." Myoga's large eyes narrow as he speaks, as if the flames before him is the real criminal.
"Whaddya mean somebody's tryin' to find my dad's tomb?"
Honestly, I am still stuck on the title of 'Lord' that Myoga not only called Inuyasha's father but Inuyasha himself. I re-evaluate Inuyasha's current attire for a split second – not very regal or royal-like- but what throws me off the most is his lack of manners and his weak grammar. Personally, without this little back knowledge I wouldn't see a drop of royalty or lordship within him. Hell, I still can't.
"As guardian of his final resting place I could stand it no longer. However your father's urn is the most important item and it is no longer there."
"So where'd it move off to?"
"Regrettably, sire, no one knows."
"Some guardian you are," he sighs, going as far as showing his sarcasm by dropping his head down onto his lifted left hand. He rests there watching the little flea with a placid look.
Although, Myoga's back is to Inuyasha, the little big shivers under the half demon's gaze. It shakes his entire little form; he must have displeased Inuyasha before to know what actions come after such a glare.
"Inuyasha, they say your father was a phantom beast. That the western land were his domain…" Kaeda presents to us more than ask.
He shrugs, "Can't say I remember it much."
"Your father was a demon among demons, great and powerful!" Myoga says with pride, flinging all four of his tiny little arms in the air when he speaks, "his blood was especially delicious – and you, lord Inuyasha, have inherited that from him."
"Yay for me…"
"Wow! And what about his mom?" Kagome's smile is larger than ever, her hands press against her bent knees and she even leans forward to hear Myoga better. I watch her carefully, a brow rising in uncertain curiosity. One minute she's fighting teeth and nail with him and the next she's interested in his life story. Are all girls like this? Will I become this flip, flop? I hope not.
It takes seconds for her question to really click in my head – I had a similar conversation with Inuyasha earlier today but it was more on the line of how alone we were…and I put it together like a puzzle that's pieces are still missing.
My eyes dart cautiously to Inuyasha, his face is twisted with a bout of emotions I can't register; his upper lip twitches exposing his sharp canines.
"She was a beauty beyond compare. A true…"
I don't even see it happen, but Inuyasha manages to get on his feet faster than I can blink and before Myoga can continue his description, Inuyasha digs his right heel into the flea demon until he's one with the ground. He doesn't stop there; he twists his foot back and forth until satisfied and then stomps around the fire towards the door.
"Hey! That wasn't very nice!" Kagome screeches.
"Just drop it, okay?! She died a long time ago." He snaps back, throwing a sharp look over his shoulder briefly before he throws the reed door to the side and exits the hut.
The reed flap falls back into place, clicking against the edge of the door space and when it does all sight of Inuyasha is blocked leaving my heart to drop into my stomach. We may be both alone – but he knew his mother and father, and he lost both of them. I've never experienced that…
"Did I say something to make him upset?" Kagome looks at each of us for an answer, but we all remain silent, the most she gets from us is subtle looks and me biting back from snapping.
I mean really? Did she say something wrong? He got upset that his mother was brought up and then you yell at him for being upset? He just announced his mother had passed, girl, get your shit straight.
I didn't notice until my legs begin to ache, that my fingers are digging so deep into my red hakoma that my nails have cut into my skin underneath. I pull my hands away but not without dragging my pants along with them.
Kagome is clueless, her eyes wide and full of child curiosity – it doesn't look like she'd know how it would feel to lose someone in the least bit. And for some reason…that drives me insane.
I can't take it anymore. My fingers wrench themselves from my hakoma and I stumble pathetically to my feet, legs wobbling like noodles below me. Strength doesn't return to them quick enough to not receive odd stares and glances from everyone.
"Where are you going?" Kagome asks.
More and more, I have to hold back, irrational emotions swell inside me that I have to turn on my heels when I get the chance. Keep control. Keep control. But the little voice in my head is screaming, 'what are you, my mother?' and other obscenities I block. "You still have a family." The words just barely make it over a whisper; I don't even know if they can hear me over the crackling of the fire.
"Don't you?" Her words feel like they are jabbing at me, I use all my mental strength just to keep from snarling at her. For Christ sakes, the second night we were here I'd confessed to her while we lay on the floor trying to sleep that I had no one. I remember it like it was yesterday, dark and full of exhaustion, she whispered to me she missed her family and I whispered I had none. Regardless after I made my quick confession she managed to fall asleep…or was it during. Either way she clearly must have not heard me.
I close my eyes and shake my head, "no." I whisper again.
There is no point in wasting time with explaining to them my life story, after all, I truly never had a life, but right now all I want to do is escape the tension in this tiny hut. I follow Inuyasha's previous lead and exit the hut.
The reed curtain falls behind me with a hardly audible click, I was far less aggressive on my leave than Inuyasha was but at least I can escape without further questions. Beyond the village the sun has fully gone down and the moon is up over the horizon, just barely reaching the tops of the trees as it's radiating light bestows the sleeping village with a silvery glow. A breeze sweeps across the dirt paths that travel through and around the little town and it raises tiny bumps along my arms.
I rub my hands over my arms but it brings me no comfort – it's almost too quiet – the birds are sleeping, the animals are at home, and not even the bugs are cricketing.
Regardless, it's beautiful and the most peaceful sight I've ever seen. Yet I have nowhere to go.
Inuyasha is not in sight and that weird tingling that I feel when he's not around is so faint it's hardly noticeable, at least I know he's somewhere nearby. With no clear image on where to go I let my feet decide for me and before I know it, they lead me along a familiar path through the village to the rice paddies.
The dirt trail here is smooth and free of any rubble; everyday use has made it comfortable for those who wear no shoes to just skip along the path if they choose but I will do no skipping here – there are sights so beautiful I don't want to pass up.
With the moon full and large just ahead of me, brightens all scenery. To my sides the silver glow gleams on top of the calm waters of the rice paddies and even with its browned color, the moon's reflection is crisp and like a mirror image. The wind rocks the plants back and forth like a baby in a cradle. Beyond the dirt path, stands Inuyasha's skeleton tree, it's a skinny black silhouette against the brightness of the moon, a scary image for children for its limbs look like bony hands reaching for the moon's light as if thirsty.
As I come closer to the tree I can spot Inuyasha sitting on the highest branch, his back to me and his long silver hair waving in the wind. Soon I am completely enveloped by the shine; my body and soul leak droplets of liquid anger from all my pores and leaves me empty. I fill myself with a deep breath of the crisp clean air, its dewy substance runs down the center of my being and fills my lungs with the scent of night life. Chills run through me all the way down to me feet, leaving the bottoms left with the cool tingling sensation that even the dirt floor provides.
The closer I step to the tree the more secure I feel within myself and within this world. I circle about the tree until I come just far enough off to the side where I don't have to completely crane my neck when I look up at Inuyasha. From here I can see his eyes are free of any irritation and have a sort of peacefulness about them.
He turns them down to me, but doesn't express any anger for walking in his calm, instead – we have an understanding.
We both look back at the moon and let it steal all our darkness away.
Against the chill of the wind a hot wave flashes through me and following it, painful needle-like tingles creep up my finger tips and to my chest. I take in a deep breath of air, thinking it must be from all the fighting but when I exhale a powerful gust of wind blows right into me; my hair becomes a black veil across my face so thick I can't see through it.
I scramble to pull it from my vision when right next to me I hear a soft 'pat' sound. "Get down!" Inuyasha commands, suddenly at my side. He snatches my right wrist and drags us both down to the dirt ground with his weight. My left hand just barely catches me before I fall flat on my face but it can't stop the rest of my body from plummeting on top of rocks and pebbles. I groan from the pinching pains that touch all over my chest and legs. "Something's coming, can you feel it?"
The tingling sensation grows from beyond my chest to my stomach where it knots into a confusing ball; it juggles about there in a non-aggressive way and more of an annoying one. Could this be what he means by 'feeling it'? I thought I could only sense shards. I drop my body fully onto the ground and focus on clearing my face of my hair and once I do, I see something.
At the center of the moon now hovers an old style, two wheeled horse strung carriage without the horses. Its backside is mostly to us with flapping purple curtains that were used as doors. Ugly little green creatures scurry all over it and around it, using both their hands and feet to claw themselves to the old wood as they crawl towards the back. Just then, the purple curtain flap wide enough to expose a woman dressed in layers upon layers of kimono, the one on the outside a royal pink covered in thick gray chains I've only seen used to secure trailers to trucks.
She is a beautiful woman with fantastically long hair cut in the fashion that reminds me of a kabuki actress. Her chocolate brown eyes are full of sadness as they peer down at us with parted painted pink lips.
"It is you….Inuyasha." She mutters so unbelievably soft and quiet that it's a surprise I can hear her. The ball that juggles within me speeds its bouncing pace. Something's definitely not right here. She struggles within the chains, squirming back and forth. The ugly little demons crawl into the carriage, two each taking the ends of the chains and tightening the grip they have on her. She lets out a scream of pain that brings Inuyasha to his feet.
"Mother!" He shouts.
What….?
I immediately look up at him for answers but all I find is his mouth gaping wide just like the surprise in his eyes.
The ground shakes below us and to the left of the carriage; dark menacing clouds start to form. They twist and shape into an enormous three fingered demon hand, so large it could only belong to a giant, the hand reaches out for the carriage and with a single grip around the wooden surface it shatters it to splinters. The woman and her demon masters are all that's left as the wooden bits fall to the ground yards from us. The woman lays unconscious but still chained within the grip of the giant's dark purple skinned hand.
I hurry to my feet just before Inuyasha attempts to rush for her and grab him by the arm. He looks back at me with the same surprised and confused wide eyed look and all I can do is shake my head. I can't explain to him how wrong or weird this feels but I can at least stop him for just a second in hopes he'll acknowledge it.
Another rumble shakes the ground, revealing a pair of red circular eyes through the black clouds and just like that, by some abnormal control the clouds start to disperse revealing the gigantic beast behind them.
The demon is far uglier than the little green ones that now grip onto the sleeping woman, with no nose his face is mostly a wide gaping mouth with triangular shaped teeth. Two small horns protrude from his forehead and a dirty mop of grey hair stretches down his back like a mullet. Its expression makes it look dumb and submissive to a greater force. But this creature is beyond just a giant, it's taller than mountains.
On the giant's left shoulder stands a far more attractive demon with similar qualities as Inuyasha; amber eyes glare down at us while long silver hair waves with the wind. This demon, unlike Inuyasha, has an air of royalty unlike anything I've seen or felt; also unlike Inuyasha, this man seems tamed – his hair is well kept without any hair locks by his small elven-like ears, his skin looks fairer in color and smoothness but oddest of all is the two purple streaks that stretch on both sides of his cheeks, a purple crescent moon on his forehead and the overly flutter boa-like scarf thing that hugs his right arm and that dances behind him with the wind. It could reach his feet if the wind wasn't pulling it.
His clothes are very regal, mostly white with a few red clan symbols on his left shoulder. A metal shoulder pauldron protects from his waist up to his left arm where it spikes up in a decorative gesture. A black and yellow garter made of fine silk ties his sword to his left hip.
Standing before this royal demon on the giant's left forearm is a small green kappa demon, big yellow eyes with slit pupils' gaze down at us while he wears a hideous brown monk's uniform and hat. In his left arm he waves about a staff twice his side that at the top has two heads, one of an old man and the other an old woman, carved into the wood.
"It's you…" Inuyasha hisses, "Sesshomaru!"
"I've quite missed you as well, little brother." Even the demon's voice sounds regally cold.
There is no denying the similarities between the two but ignoring the oddities is nearly impossible but Inuyasha's angry glare tells all. This man is his brother and whoever he is, they aren't on friendly terms.
My eyes wander to the woman; if the demon is his brother and Inuyasha is half demon, I can't imagine that she is both their mother's. Sesshomaru is clearly a full demon, I can't sense a lick of human inside of him and he certainly plays the part.
"Inuyasha, the woman…" I step to his side fully.
"A mortal, how interesting." Sesshomaru's attention turns to me and when those amber eyes, cold and narrowed, find me ice runs through me.
My eyes dart between Sesshomaru and the woman now, that ball in my stomach at stop speed. This is wrong. All of this wrong. How long has Inuyasha's mother been dead? How is it possible she is here now? Why does he have her?
"These 'human' creatures, I should think you'd had enough of them, or is it a taste from father?" Sesshomaru continues when I don't respond.
Inuyasha bellows out an irritated growl, beside me his hands clench into fists that shake and turn white at the knuckles. "That's not all, is it? You couldn't have come all this way just to say that."
"Be not a fool. I have no such time to waste. The tomb of our father, where must I seek it?" Just when I thought I couldn't feel any more unpleasant under his gaze, he narrows his eyes even further.
"Our father's tomb? Why ask me?"
"Myoga said it was lost…. So if you didn't take it, who did?" I glance between the two, earning a pause from Sesshomaru who is peering right through us now.
We're all silent for a few seconds; I am personally trying to unravel this mystery while the other two glare daggers at one another.
"Seeing, yet never seen. Protected, yet never known to its protector – no other clues are known." He riddles.
"I got no idea what you're talking about. Even if I did, there's no way I'd tell you." Inuyasha hisses once again.
Seeing…. yet never seen, unknown protector….I never paid much mind to riddles or mysteries – I didn't pay attention to anything really but it kind of sounds like an eye or something. It sees but can't be seen – that or a ghost.
"I see….Then you leave me no choice but to let your mother's suffering convince you." Sesshomaru uncrosses his once crossed arms and with just lifting his right hand a golden string whips about from his pointer and middle fingers and strikes the ugly giant on his left cheek.
The beast roars so loudly in pain that the earth shakes; I throw out my right arm to grip onto Inuyasha for support as my legs try to get their stability. The giant's claws clench around the woman, awakening her just enough for her to let out an audible groan.
Inuyasha's face twists with anger and a mocking grin, a battle of uncertainty. I can tell he doesn't want to believe his brother, but at the same time, his anger shows he does. His eyes dances between Sesshomaru and this woman he thinks is his mother. A grunt rises from his throat, a passive, whatever kind of sound but yet his fists are still shaking.
"Nice try! She's been dead for years now and we both know it. Like I'd really fall for some stupid trick like that."
Instead of Sesshomaru responding, it's the little kappa demon that let's out a chaotic fit of laughter. "You're whose 'stupid.' Recalling spirits from the netherworlds is a simple task if you are lord Sesshomaru." His voice is annoyingly high-pitched and nasally like Myoga's. It's hard to take something so irritatingly annoying and ugly as a kappa, seriously. "He was even so kind as to give her flesh, and yet her own son would deny it. How sad to be a mother to one such as you."
No. This isn't right. Every time I look at her or they bring her up that ball jumps wildly inside me.
The woman, on queue to his speech, awakens fully. Again, this throws me off and I can't help but feel suspicious. It gets worse when she reaches out to him like a dramatic actress, "Inuyasha…" she pleads.
Inuyasha's eyes can't get any wider and now they are filled with bewilderment and terror, he's actually starting to believe them so much that he is speechless.
"I have come back, Inuyasha, back from the world of the dead." A weak smile stretches across her pained face; the giant squeezes her body once again rendering her unconscious with a final scream of pain.
He can't really believe this….I watch him in surprise that his mouth is still gaping open. He's desperate to believe this…He's desperate to save her. He lets out a loud snarl and bounds in a long leap towards the beast's arm that holds her captive, his right arm thrusting back and cracking before he strikes the giant's arm. With Iron Reaver in command bloody crescent shaped blades tear and cut off the giant's arm.
Along with the forearm she plummets to the ground, now free from the three claws that withheld her. The giant bellows out an earth shaking scream, his entire body stumbles back in staggering pain. As her body oddly elegantly hops on the ground towards me, the tiny green demons scurry away when the notice I am standing nearby.
"Keara, you and her get outta here!" Inuyasha demands mid air, he comes to land between us and Sesshomaru.
I refuse to budge; instead I walk next to the woman and gaze over her suspiciously. The chains lay limp, shaggily lying about her body that looks frail but unhurt. There is not a single bruise or mark on the entirety of her body that I can see. No human would suffer such power and come out of it fine. I feel irritation for this woman building within me. It's all a play. Inuyasha's brother is tricking him and Inuyasha is too blind to see it…. She is his weakness.
"Inu…." I look up to inform him of this trickery but when I do I see it coming, the demon's right hand speeding towards the woman and I. My heart flutters in my chest and my eyes widen, I don't have time to respond but the woman beside me does. She awakens just in time – again – her entire body somehow having enough energy and speed to leap up.
Inuyasha leaps into action and forces himself between us and the incoming attack, it's too late for him to stop the blow, his back meets the demons palm and he's coming at us along with the claws. The woman raises both hands, hovering in the middle of her palms is a beautiful flower that starts to glow a brilliant white light. It first starts as a small sphere around the flower itself before it grows quick as light that swallows her, me and Inuyasha in a light that grows so bright I have to avert my eyes from being blinded. When the light touches my skin I can feel that uncomfortable tingling once again and a coolness that burns….
And then…. I see and feel nothing.