Relationships Ch. 3
The next morning, everyone rose bright and early. Yumeko waited only long enough for them to get the bandages and poultices off her before shifting back to her fox-eared form.
"I just thought of something," she said to Shippou, "Where do the clothes go?"
Shippou shrugged. "I dunno, they're just always there when you change back.
"Speaking of 'back', my mom's probably having a fit trying to figure out what happened to you." Kagome said to Yumeko.
"Oh my god! I didn't even think!" Yumeko exclaimed, "I was supposed to call my dad last night! He's gonna think I got jumped by muggers or some such!"
At that point, Inuyasha peered in the door. "C'mon then. We'll drop Yumeko at the well, then we've got to go after that new lead I was telling you about." he said abruptly.
"At least let us eat some breakfast." insisted Kagome, even as she was packing away her sleeping bag.
"Alright." he conceded as his own stomach growled, "We'll eat breakfast first."
Kaede spooned them each out a bowl of rice gruel flavoured with savoury herbs. Everyone ate well, but quickly, and about a quarter of an hour later, they were standing outside bidding their farewells to Kaede.
"Sorry to leave you with the dishes." Yumeko apologized.
Kaede chuckled as she waved. "No need to be concerned child, I can surely deal with a few dirty bowls."
When they got to the well, Yumeko grinned.
"Well, I guess I'll see you guys later." she said, with her tail curled in her lap and her feet dangling into the well.
"Aren't you going to change back to your human appearance?" Kagome asked.
"Nah, not yet. Figure I'll freak Jii-chan out first." Yumeko laughed. Both Kagome and Inuyasha laughed too, having had experience with Jii-chan's "exorcisms" before.
"Alright then, ally-oop!" she called as she hopped down into the well.
Half a second later they heard a soft thump, followed shortly by Yumeko's voice. {Damnit} she swore in English. With a soft "hup" she jumped back out of the well again.
"Seems I can't get back like this. Maybe if I was back in my human form..."
"Yes, that might fix the trouble." Miroku agreed.
"So, this should be easy enough. I was a 'normal human' for the first seventeen years of my life, and I've only been a kitsune for one day."
She closed her eyes, and her form shimmered and looked totally human for a moment, then her legs gave way beneath her and she caught herself on the edge of the well, back in her fox-eared form.
"I...can't!" she gasped, "I can't hold onto it! Why can't I hold onto it?" she asked plaintively.
"You're prob'ly too young." Shippou guessed.
"Too young?"
"Yeah. Most kitsune can't take a fully human appearance until they're at least full-grown in their fox form. Prob'ly the only reason you looked human is 'cause you were stuck that way thanks to your mama's spell, and now that Miroku removed it..."
"I'm not powerful enough to fix it again." Yumeko completed for him. "You mean I'm stuck here like this until I'm full-grown? How long will that take?! Years? Decades?"
"Maybe we could find an older kitsune to help you shift." Shippou suggested.
"Sure, that might work, but for now, how am I supposed to let everyone know I'm all right?"
Kagome looked significantly over at Inuyasha with pleading eyes.
"Keh. Fine, you can go back to explain about Yumeko, but I'm coming with you, and we're only staying long enough to pass on the message then we're coming right back and starting off like we should have already."
"If you have a pen and paper I'll write down my dad's number and the address of the hotel I've been staying at. The key's in my purse, which I left in the living room. If your mom could call my dad, and get some clothes and necessities from my room it would be a real help."
Kagome handed her a notebook and pencil, and she quickly jotted down all the information, then handed it back to Kagome.
Leaving her pack behind, Inuyasha and Kagome jumped together into the well.
"Awfully cute together, aren't they?" Yumeko smiled at Sango.
"Indeed. Of course it's obvious to everyone but them." Sango agreed.
"Meiko-basan, that's Kagome's mom, told me she's trying to get them to admit their feelings, since the tension is driving her crazy. She said I should help..."
Sango laughed. "Good luck." she said.
"Yeah." Shippou agreed, "We've been trying for months. They're both too stubborn."
"Guess I'll just have to wait for my oppor...ACK!" Yumeko squawked as she felt fingers run through the fur of her tail. She spun around and slapped Miroku at the same moment that Sango brought Hiraikotsu slamming down on his head. She gave him her favourite icy glare of doom and growled. "Don't do that." she grated, "It feels very...disconcerting." Suddenly she sniffled.
"What's wrong?" Shippou asked.
"I'm not used to having a tail, or hearing so well, or...or any of this, and I'm stuck in a new country in a different time with no money and not even a change of underwear!" she wailed as she burst into tears.
A little shocked by this sudden change in tone, Sango patted her shoulder in an effort to comfort her.
Shippou jumped onto her other shoulder and reached up one tiny hand to rub at the base of one of her ears. "Don't worry," he assured her, "we'll help you. We all know how it feels to be struggling alone."
The other two nodded.
"Besides," Miroku added, "you're Kagome-sama's cousin."
"And Kagome-chan would be horribly disappointed in us if we didn't at least try to help." Sango joked.
Yumeko took a deep breath and sighed. "Thanks. Sorry about that. Usually I don't freak out about things, but all this has sortof caught me off guard." She laughed a little, "I mean, suddenly I'm not even human, not only that, I'm a creature I've always considered mythical! It's just a little past my usual level of weird, you know?"
They all laughed at that.
On the other side of the well, Kagome was busily giving her mother the condensed version of Yumeko's adventures in the past.
Meiko shook her head in disbelief and wry acceptance. "So, you're telling me Yumeko is actually a kitsune, as was her mother, and now she's stuck on the other side of the well since she isn't old enough to hold human form without help?"
"Yep, pretty much." Kagome nodded. She handed her mother the sheet of information Yumeko had written. "She asks if you could call her father for her and let him know she's okay; also, this is the address for her hotel. The key is in her purse in the living room, and she asked if you could bring her a few changes of clothes." she explained.
Meiko smiled. "Of course I can. I'll make sure her father understands what has happened. Poor thing. She was already so far from home just to come here. I hope her problems will be solved soon so she can at least come back to her own time."
Kagome nodded. "I hope so too."
Inuyasha cleared his throat and tapped his foot impatiently.
"Anyway Mama, I'd better get going. We have lots to do on the other side, and everyone's waiting for us."
Meiko gave her daughter a hug, and smiled over at Inuyasha. "Good luck then," she said as she once again watched her daughter walk away "and tell Yumeko I'll have some changes of clothes here for you to take back the next time you're here."
"I will." Kagome called back and waved as she and Inuyasha headed for the well house.
When they got back to the Sengoku Jidai, everyone was lounging by the well. Yumeko's ears perked up and her nose twitched as she became aware of their return. She turned from where she had been sitting leaned back against the well just in time to see Inuyasha leap out of the well carrying Kagome. As soon as his feet touched the ground again, though, he put her down.
"Alright, we're back, now let's get a move on, we've wasted half the morning already." Inuyasha announced.
Kagome went and got her bike and pack from where they were leaning against a nearby tree, and the others all gathered up their things as well. A couple of minutes and they were all on the road again.
"Where do these rumours you're following lead, Inuyasha?" Miroku asked.
"South." he answered, "Toward Miyako."
*************
By late afternoon on their second day out, they finally reached a small town. They had seen a few villages on their way, but they had all been off the road, and hadn't offered any real accommodation. Not that it made any difference to Inuyasha, he preferred to sleep outdoors anyway, but he knew that the others liked a roof over their heads sometimes. He knew just how it would go, too; Miroku would scout out the most luxurious house in the area, then he would announce to the owner that there was "a dark cloud" or "an evil omen" looming over the house, and he could remove it for them if they would only put him and "his assistants" up for the night. That was how it always went, regular as clockwork...
Except when it didn't, of course.
As the sun was setting, a young woman noticed their group entering the town, and exclaimed excitedly.
"Oh, thank the kami for sending you to us, Houshi-sama, we are in dire need of your assistance." she simpered as she bowed low in front of Miroku.
Miroku took her hands and held them gently. "Of course I will help you, my good woman, what can I do for you?" He grinned in a manner most unbefitting a priest.
Sango rolled her eyes and elbowed him in the ribs, and he released the woman's hands.
"Well, you see, the problem is with our local priest. Over the last year, children have been going missing, only to be found wandering in the woods a few days later, confused and disoriented, but unharmed. Two more went missing this week, and our priest went out to find them. Even though he is still young, he is an extremely powerful priest. He was confident that he could find and stop whomever it was who had been stealing the children. Well, both the children were found, but our priest wasn't found until this morning. He has been badly beaten, and he keeps babbling incoherently. We were hoping another priest would be able to bring him at least somewhat back to himself so we might be able to know what happened to him, and what we can do to keep our children safe."
"Of course I will help, all I ask is that you provide for my assistants and myself for the night. We have traveled far, and have been longing for a roof overhead for even one night." Miroku reassured her.
The injured priest was being kept at a local lord's house, and even from outside they could hear him raving, although the humans couldn't make out the words. Their more sharp-eared companions could, however.
"Miroku-houshi, why is he screaming about crows eating him?" Yumeko asked under her breath.
"Crows?" Miroku responded.
"Yeah, crows." Inuyasha agreed.
Miroku sighed. "I have a strong suspicion of what happened to this priest, but I must wait until I see him to know for sure." he explained as they entered the house.
The priest was being kept in the innermost chamber of the house. He was lying on a futon, his body covered by his tattered kesa and his head and visible limbs wrapped in bandages. He was muttering what sounded like sutras under his breath, and his eyes were wide open, but they were clouded with fear, and their gaze was directed inward, obviously oblivious to his true surroundings. Miroku knelt by his bed, and the rest of the group, feeling a little out of place, stayed back against the shouji.
As Miroku leaned forward to better hear the young priest's mutterings, the bandaged man began to scream.
"Karasu! Karasu! Giant crows! They're pecking me! Go! Leave me! Why are you hurting me? Why?!" He started sobbing and tearing at the bandages around his head.
"What's wrong with him?" Shippou whispered to Kagome.
"He's gone map, Shippou. Something made him loose himself, and now he doesn't know where he is anymore." she whispered back.
Miroku shook his head and sighed deeply as he stood up. "I must speak with the townspeople now." he announced. He composed himself with a deep breath before pulling the shouji aside and leaving the room in search of more answers.
The others all looked at each other, thoroughly confused.
Alright, I know it's evil, and the chapter is a little shorter than the rest of them, but this seemed the most logical place to leave off, so the next chapter will be a little longer. I dunno if you guys are even reading this anyway, but if you are, here are the translations for the unfamiliar words.
1 Miyako: This is the old name for the capital of Japan and the place that held the Emperor's palace, the city we now know as Kyoto. Kyoto is a fairly modern name for it, however, so I assume Inuyasha would refer to the place as Miyako. Anyone who picked up on that name and knew where they were going my congratulations to you!
2 Shouji: These are the sliding screens which define rooms in traditional Japanese houses. They only have walls on the outsides of the house. You'll notice I said they stayed against the shouji, not that they leaned against them, that would be a bad idea, shouji were very flimsy, thus traditional Japanese houses didn't' have a whole lot of privacy.
3 Karasu: As with itachi in the last chapter, this should have been obvious from context…karasu means crow…and something else as well, and if you have a guess, I'll give you until next week when I put out chapter four to post that guess, if you're right I'll give you the glory of having figured it out, and my admiration for knowing a lot about Japanese myth and legend!