Relationships Ch. 2
Unexpected Happenings
"Jump down and see for yourself." Meiko said. "It's just a dry well for the rest of us, but Kagome can pass through it to another time."
Yumeko sat on the edge, then pushed off, fully expecting to hit bottom almost immediately. She didn't, however. Instead, she suddenly felt she was in water. Just when she was sure her air was about to run out, she broke the surface...only to find that she was perfectly dry and in the bottom of the well. She looked around and shrugged.
"Well, that was definitely different." she muttered, a little surprised. She looked for a way to climb back up, but all she could see were vines, and she wasn't sure she wanted to trust them. "Could you throw down the ladder now please?" she called up the well.
The head which peered down at her, however, was not the one she was expecting.
"Yumeko?!" Kagome exclaimed in surprise.
"Kagome? How did you get back?"
"Back? Better to ask how YOU got HERE!" Inuyasha barked as he too leaned over the edge of the well.
"How about we deal with all this once I'm above ground?" Yumeko asked plaintively.
"Climb up on the vines." Kagome told her, "They're quite strong, I use them all the time."
"Well, if they'll hold you and that pack of yours, they should definitely hold me." Yumeko grinned and started climbing out.
When she hauled herself to the top, she was met with a new little face peeking into her own.
"Hello," she giggled, "you must be Shippou; Kagome told me all about you! I'm Kagome's cousin Yumeko."
Shippou hopped onto her shoulder and was looking at her hair. "It really is as light as Inuyasha said it was! Kagome says it's cause your poppa's from so far away, but I've NEVER seen a ningen vixen with hair as light as yours before!"
"We should go to the village and see if Kaede-baba can figure out how you managed to get here." Kagome suggested. She had already loaded her pack onto the back of her bike and was walking it down the path, with Inuyasha just ahead of her.
Shippou jumped off Yumeko's shoulder and scampered after them, then jumped up on Kagome's bike. With a few long strides Yumeko caught up with them, and as they all walked, she looked around.
'I wonder how many archaeologists and historians would kill to be able to be doing what I'm doing right now?' she pondered to herself.
On the back of the bike, Shippou was regarding her curiously, tilting his head first one way, then another. Finally he hopped back onto her shoulder.
"Okay," he said suspiciously, "you can fool them, but you can't fool me. I've found you out, so just change back."
Yumeko was very confused. "Change back? What are you talking about?"
"Change back to your true form!" He glared at her and Yumeko felt a sharp pain go through her.
Kagome turned to look at them when she heard Yumeko groan. "Shippou, what's going on?" she asked, alarmed.
Shippou glared at Yumeko again, and again she winced. "She's not ningen, she's a kitsune, but she won't own up and change back." he said, letting out one of his squeaky kit growls at her and making the pain even worse.
"Yumeko, is what Shippou's saying true?" Kagome asked her cousin.
"I don't know what he's talking about!" she whimpered, "I'm sure I'm a human!"
"Shippou, you're nuts...if she's a kitsune, why doesn't she smell like one?" Inuyasha pointed out.
"Cause she was born in a human body, that's why." Shippou said in a superior, lecturing tone of voice. "Unlike a hanyou like you, any offspring of a kitsune are always full kitsune, no matter who the other parent is, and if the mother is a kitsune using a human avatar, the kit can be born looking and even smelling and feeling like a human to any non-kitsune."
Kagome went wide-eyed as she realized something. "Shippou, wait!" she ordered. "Yumeko, how old were you when your mother died?"
"I was six. Why?"
"So you don't remember much about her, right?"
"I have some memories, but they're hazy..."
Shippou blinked as he realized where Kagome was going with this, and he looked very contrite. "She never told you, did she?" he asked.
"She always told me I was special, but I just assumed that was something all mothers tell their children," Yumeko mused. "Are you trying to tell me I'm a kitsune?"
Shippou grinned. "Yup! You're a kitsune, just like me!" He sighed. "But you can't play with me 'til I teach you how to change...and your momma probly put a block on you. Maybe Miroku can help! He prob'ly knows how to break the enchantment and force you into your true form!"
"Force me? This is sounding painful..." Yumeko sounded a little worried.
"Don't worry, you're pretty, so he'll be nice to you." Shippou assured her with a wink.
Yumeko rolled her eyes. "Yes, Kagome told me all about Miroku-houshi and his...roaming hands." She shrugged. "But if I truly am a kitsune as you say, and if he can help me to free that part of myself, then it will be worth it." She looked sad for a moment, then she laughed. "Well, I must say, this does help explain some of the weird things that have happened to me over the years."
When they reached the village, they headed straight for Kaede's home. It being the usual home base for the Inu-gumi, Miroku was likely to be nearby. When they got there, they found both Sango and Miroku sitting outside in the sun. Sango grinned when she saw Kagome and ran to meet her.
"How were your days away?" she asked, "You look tired."
"Busy, and I am a little tired, but I'm glad to be back."
"Who is this enchanting young woman you've brought with you?" Miroku asked, grinning lecherously at Yumeko.
"This is my cousin Yumeko from across the sea to the east."
"She's a kitsune!" Shippou piped up.
"Really?" Miroku raised an eyebrow, "She doesn't feel like a youkai."
"We think her mother may have used a spell to keep her from her true form." Kagome explained.
"She died unexpectedly when I was six." Yumeko said, "If she had done something like that I wouldn't know, but Shippou insists I'm a kitsune."
"Well," Miroku said, standing up, shakujou in hand, "let us see if he is right." He closed his eyes and began to mutter a sutra.
Yumeko moaned. It felt as though the top layer of skin was being peeled off...rather like the time she'd had a bad sunburn on her back, except that it was everywhere. Miroku's chanting rose in volume, and the ache increased until finally he touched the shakujou lightly to her forehead. She saw a burst of bright white light, then passed out, slumping into a sitting position.
For the rest, observing, it looked as though Yumeko was obscured by a heat shimmer or mirage, then, when Miroku touched his shakujou to her forehead, it all blew apart, and she collapsed to the ground. Her hair was now slightly redder than it had been, and she had perky fox ears on top of her head. Her fingers now ended in delicate but wicked-looking claws, and she had a long bouffant tail the same colour as her hair. Shippou crept over to her and her nose wrinkled, then she opened her eyes slowly.
"Oh...I feel funky..." she groaned, reaching up to rub her temples. She gave a little scream when she couldn't find her ears, but then she felt the base of them and reached up to the top of her head to find them. Her eyes widened as she realized the faint strange background sound she could hear was the faint "lub-dub" of her companions' heartbeats, and that she could smell them as well.
"Well, it looks like Shippou was right." Miroku affirmed, "You definitely are a kitsune. Such a shame...if you were human, I could ask you to bear my child...perhaps..."
He was cut off by Sango's Hiraikotsu making firm contact with his head.
"I apologize for his behavior." Sango said.
Yumeko smiled. "No worries, I was warned about Miroku-houshi's lecherous ways.
"Ne, Yumeko-san," Shippou tugged on her sleeve, "now that your seal is broken we can go play! Besides, there's a bunch of stuff I gotta show you. You don't know anything about being a kitsune I'll bet."
"No, you're right, I don't. You'll have to teach me, Shippou." She looked over at Kagome. "You don't mind if I run around for a bit, do you?"
Kagome smiled. "I don't mind at all," she said, "Shippou can bring you back to Kaede-baba's hut before dark." She turned to Shippou. "Remember, Yumeko isn't from this time, so she's not used to looking out for youkai, so you'll have to help her with that too." she reminded him.
Shippou nodded importantly, then turned to Yumeko. "Okay, the first lesson is this, since it's the funnest way to play. Are you paying attention?" he asked her.
Yumeko nodded, and Shippou did something the others had never seen him do before...he changed into his true form: a little ball of fluff kitsune kit about the same size as Kirara's small form. He yipped at Yumeko and sat expectantly on his haunches.
She had been concentrating carefully on what he had done, and she closed her eyes and imitated it. This time she was fully conscious of everything that was happening as she changed. When she was finished, standing in her place was a ruddy coloured kitsune as tall at the shoulder as a golden retriever. It was obvious, though, that she was not quite full-grown. She still had that gangly look of an adolescent, although she'd almost outgrown it. But no kitsune ever outgrows play, and when little Shippou pounced at her then sped off across the fields, she couldn't resist and went barreling after him.
The rest of the group was left standing there somewhat at a loss for words.
Kagome sighed. "So, it seems Jii-chan was right about one legend, at least." she laughed. "I wonder, though, what to do about Yumeko. I hope she can still change back to looking fully human now that Miroku's broken the spell, otherwise she'll have some trouble when she gets back to our time."
"We have more important things to worry about." Inuyasha corrected her, "While you were away at your 'school' thingy, I found a really good lead for where Naraku might be." He looked up at the sun sinking in the sky. "We'll spend tonight here, but in the morning we'll have to send Yumeko home and head off. I don't want to give Naraku a chance to go running off again. We are going to get the part of the jewel he has away from him this time...and preferably rip the bastard to shreds in the process." he growled.
Kagome sighed, but nodded. She knew well enough that there was never time for a break on their quest, even if she might wish for one. Naraku didn't take breaks, and they were already playing catch-up with him as it was.
"Well, in that case, since I've already had dinner, I think I'll catch up on my studies." she said. "Who knows when I'll get a good uninterrupted chance to study again."
Sango sat back down again and began polishing Hiraikotsu, and Miroku wandered off, presumably to chat up one or more of the local girls again. Kagome sat near Sango and pulled out her science textbook, settling in to read the chapter on the circulatory system. Inuyasha hung around for a bit, but soon became bored and decided he should probably check on the two kitsune. What with Shippou being so young, and Yumeko totally unfamiliar with this time, they were more than likely to attract the attention of some youkai and end up in trouble.
Said kitsune, meanwhile, were barreling through the forest in a game of hide and pounce. They looked almost like a pair of natural foxes, except for their bright blue eyes, and the fact that Yumeko was larger than any natural fox. They weren't exactly worrying about keeping quiet, and the forest rang with their yips and sharp foxy barks. Yumeko was surprised to realize that she could actually understand the sounds Shippou was making; it was a language of its own, completely different from human speech, and she somehow instinctively knew it. She shrugged mentally. At least this explained why she had always been good at "reading" animals
Suddenly, Yumeko noticed a strange scent on the air. Something about it made her hackles stand on end. With a warning growl to Shippou, she lunged at him and picked him up by the scruff of his neck, setting him down between her forefeet as she turned to face the threatening scent. It was all totally instinctive, and she had no idea what she was doing until it was done.
"What is it?" Shippou yipped inquisitively up at her.
"Bad smell. Threat. Stay." she growled. She went into a protective posture over him, head lowered and forward, ears back, tail curled down over her haunches and her muscles tightly coiled.
Shippou's eyes widened as he sniffed the air. There was the scent of a weasel, but he had dismissed it. Only now did he realize there was something off about the scent...and it was coming closer. He shivered, then briefly shook himself. He was supposed to be the one protecting Yumeko and teaching her about youkai, Inuyasha had said so.
"Itachi." he barked softly at her, "Use kitsunebi." He demonstrated it for her, the white-blue youki-fueled flames flickering over his fur like static electricity.
Immediately she copied him, although her fur, instead of merely flickering, seemed to burn. With only a brief rustling of the bushes as warning, a massive man-tall three-eyed weasel burst out of the forest in front of them. It paused briefly on seeing their kitsunebi, then, with a high-pitched scream, it attacked.
With a low growl, Yumeko lunged and met it in mid-air, closing her sharp white teeth around its throat. It slammed her into the ground when it landed, but she held on tight. Shippou leapt at its head and clamped down onto one of its stubby ears. He shook himself, throwing his kitsunebi, and wherever it landed on the weasel, it burned.
The weasel reared back, trying to dislodge Shippou, and that gave Yumeko enough room to maneuver. She kicked it in the chest with her back legs, and twisted, rolling them over so she was on top. She then imitated Shippou again, shaking the kitsunebi from her fur. The weasel shrieked with pain and rage as its tender belly was scorched. It sunk the claws of both its stubby forelimbs into Yumeko's shoulders. She screamed shrilly, but only dug her teeth deeper into the weasel's neck. She could taste its blood in her mouth, and could smell its burnt hair and flesh, but it didn't seem to be weakening. It dug its claws deeper still and tried to dislodge her from her chokehold.
Shippou stayed right where he was, worrying at its ear, but he was half-crushed beneath it and couldn't do much else. He whimpered in frustration. He was supposed to be protecting Yumeko, but what could he do? He couldn't use his leaves and toys in this form, but he couldn't change back when he was trapped like he was, and this was probably the only form Yumeko could fight in, since she didn't know any tricks yet. If only Inuyasha were here...
Inuyasha was, in fact, in the forest. He was trying to figure out where the pair of kitsune had gone, but their scent trail was muddled and in places almost missing. It was at one of these "blank spots" when he was sniffing the wind that he caught their scent up ahead, filled with fear mixed with blood and the scent of a youkai weasel.
"Shit." he swore as he rushed toward them, "Damn kit was supposed to be keeping a lookout."
When he reached them, the weasel had reared its upper body against a tree and had slammed Yumeko into the tree trunk with one paw, while it was swatting at Shippou with the other paw. Inuyasha could see that neither the weasel nor the kitsune had the upper hand. Yumeko's grip on its throat would choke it, but not fast enough, and since it couldn't get its teeth into her, the weasel couldn't do much more to her than it was, and that wouldn't make her let go.
"Damned tenacious vixen." he admitted reluctantly under his breath.
Taking advantage of the fact that the weasel was too distracted to notice him, Inuyasha rushed it from behind. He was very careful to take off its head above Yumeko's grip but below Shippou. It was over so fast that the kitsune didn't even realize they had help until the weasel was already dead. It slumped to the ground, pulling Yumeko with it. Inuyasha helped pull its claws out of her shoulder as Shippou shifted back to his human-like form and ran over to them. Yumeko shook her head dazedly as the weasel was pulled off her, then pulled herself to all four feet. She looked at Shippou and gave an interrogative little bark. He shook his head.
"Better for you to heal some 'fore you change back." he warned her, "Otherwise it'll hurt real bad!"
"Keh." Inuyasha sighed, "C'mon you two, let's get the hell outta here."
He turned to leave, and Shippou jumped up to his shoulder. As he began to walk away, Yumeko moved to follow. Her shoulders and back twinged with pain, but it wasn't nearly as bad as she thought it should be.
'But I'm sure I'll be feeling this once the adrenaline wears off.' she thought to herself.
The sun was setting just as they reached the village, and once again, it was an amazing sight to Yumeko. Even hurt as she still was (although the bleeding had already stopped, even from the deepest punctures) she could appreciate the sight of a few of the brighter stars shining in the reddish glow cast by the setting sun. Even in Canada, whose skies were much clearer than those of modern Japan, that was a sight you would never see.
"Oi! Megitsune! Hurry it up!" Inuyasha called from the door of Kaede's hut.
Yumeko shook herself out of her reverie and trotted over. When she got inside, she delicately shook each paw off before stepping up onto the floor.
Kagome looked up from her history text and gasped in shock as she caught sight of her cousin's bloody shoulders.
"She'll be okay, she just can't change back until she's better healed." Shippou explained as he jumped onto Kagome's shoulder.
"How long will I have to stay like this?" Yumeko barked.
"You should be healed enough to shift back in a couple of hours." Shippou assured her.
"Only a couple of hours?"
"Kitsune heal fast." he explained.
She settled herself by the fire, squirming at the unsettling feeling of dried blood matting her fur.
"Do you want me to comb that out for you?" Kagome asked.
Yumeko nodded vigorously, so Kagome sat by her and began to gently break up and comb away the dried blood while Kaede busily started sorting herbs for a poultice.
"So what happened anyway?" Sango asked.
"Indeed," Kaede interjected, "I should like to know as well."
"Well, we were playing hide and pounce, and this itachi-youkai came out of nowhere and attacked us. Yumeko tried to defend us, but she was just fighting on instinct, and I couldn't concentrate long enough to change back and I never learned how to use magick in my true form, so I couldn't do much to help. Then Inuyasha came and killed the weasel." Shippou told her.
"I thought you were supposed to be watching out for youkai." Inuyasha pointed out.
"I was, but I only smelled weasel, I didn't catch its youkai scent until it was almost right there.
"I smelt it before you did." Yumeko yapped proudly.
Inuyasha raised an eyebrow at that. "Really? You didn't mention that part, Shippou."
"She's older, so of course she has a better nose." he said defensively.
"You understand me?" Yumeko barked interrogatively at Inuyasha.
"Yeah, mostly. All the canine languages are pretty much the same, and they're instinctive." Inuyasha shrugged.
"I'm surprised there was a youkai this close to the village." Miroku said, "Doesn't your presence usually deter them, Inuyasha?"
"It's not that unusual." he admitted. "Most of them, though, I deal with and they aren't worth mentioning. I'd say there's usually one or two per month."
As Kagome carefully brushed her fur, Yumeko found herself drifting off to sleep. The warmth of the fire was comforting, and she laid her head down on her front paws and closed her eyes. Entirely too many things had happened today for her to take it all in. Far better to deal with it all in the morning.
Kagome looked at Yumeko, and down at Shippou, who had fallen asleep in her lap and yawned herself.
"I don't know about the rest of you, but I think these two have the right idea. I'm going to get some sleep too." she announced. She set Shippou down by Yumeko and went to roll out her sleeping bag. She laid it not far from Yumeko and turned to face away from the fire, which was still quite bright.
"Before you go to sleep, will you help me put these poultices on her shoulders?" Kaede asked. "Kitsune heal fairly quickly, but with deep punctures like that, I don't want to take any chances."
"Of course, Kaede-baba." Kagome agreed. She moved Shippou onto her sleeping bag, then went to help Kaede
Sango said she would help as well, and between the three of them, they got the poultices placed over Yumeko's wounds and bandages wrapped around her to hold them in place, all without waking her up. When they were done, Kagome once again laid in her sleeping bag, and Shippou snuggled close in his sleep, as always. Sango and Kaede also elected to go to sleep, so it was only the "men" left awake.
"What do you think it means that Yumeko was able to come through the well when previously only you and Kagome could?" Miroku quietly asked Inuyasha.
"Keh. Beats the hell outa me." Inuyasha shrugged. "Maybe it's cause she's Kagome's cousin."
"I still don't understand how it is that she was able to look so human, and even thought she was. If her mother was a kitsune, surely she would let her disguise slip from time to time."
"Shippou said something about her mother 'using a human avatar' and that making her look and smell human." Inuyasha explained.
"Hmm..." Miroku mused, "Interesting. And even with a presumably human father, she's a full kitsune, not a hanyou. Kitsune are strange creatures."
"Yeah, Shippou seemed really proud that kitsune don't make hanyou. He said offspring of a kitsune are always full kitsune, no matter the non-kitsune parent." Inuyasha muttered.
"Well, it seems I have much to think on." Miroku said as he leaned back against the wall of the hut with his shakujou next to him and slipped into a light meditative trance.
"Keh." Inuyasha spat as he slipped out the door to stand guard on the roof while the rest slept.
So, a couple of things to note. First of all, the fact about kitsune breeding true is from someone's research about kitsune I read, although I may not be totally accurate on it. If not, it's my adaptation to the universe, so there.
Secondly,
Translations:
Itachi = weasel, although you could probably figure that out by context
Megitsune = female fox (a contraction of mesu meaning female and kitsune which of course means fox. Shippou is a kogitsune using ko meaning young or child.)
Finally: Yes, I am working on this fic again, although I'm not sure how fast it'll go, it depends whether I can figure out just where I'm going with the plot, although I have more of an idea now, and there's going to be romance in here, tons of it, so be fairly warned. I may even try to put in some lemon-like scenes, depending on if they fit into the story or not. Not real lemons, of course, since we're not allowed to do them anymore…