Chapter Three
That night, Inu-Yasha helped Kagome change the dressing on the girl's ankle. He examined the wound. It looked better, but it was going to remain a nasty scar. As he tied the bandage around the girl's ankle, he felt someone's eyes watching him. He looked up very slowly to see Kagome watching him with satisfaction. "What are you staring at?" "Just watching you. You remind me so much of how my mom takes care of me and Sota." He sat up gently, looking down kind of embarassed. He hadn't realized he was performing the duties of a parent. Kagome smiled faintly, dreaming. "It's okay, I didn't mean anything by it." "I know you didn't. I just..don't know if I'd be a good parent. That is..if someone would want to..um...," he broke off. He was thinking of what it would be like to have children of his own. Inu-Yasha wondered who would be by his side. "Well, regardless of what you think, you're doing a very good job. No one said there was a right, or wrong way of parenting. It's all in the heart," she said covering up the girl. Inu-Yasha thought about what her words meant. He nodded absently, guessing she was right. He would have to find out in the future. His heart ached slightly, wanting to tell Kagome how much he cherished her. However, the past kept rearing its ugly head. Inu-Yasha slammed the entrance to his heart closed. Kagome yawned. She stretched out on the pallet that Kaede had made for her. She started to close her eyes slowly. Kagome found herself absentmindly watching his reaction to the little girl. When he fell asleep, Inu-Yasha was sitting upright with his head buried in his knees. At first, he slept soundly the dreams coming and going, not staying for long. When his dreams changed, he stirred in his sleep, mrrphing a bit. The visions that he saw were dark, frightening images of shadows of beings that he couldn't make out. He whirled around in his dream. The landscape was hard, desolate, and barren. Inu-Yasha's ears perked up, listening for the cold silence that was swallowing him. The sky was dark, lightening flickered above him. He expected to hear thunder, but none came. Inu-Yasha turned around slowly, feeling something watching him. There was nothing behind him. He relaxed a little, realizing he was having an unusual nightmare. In this nightmare, there were no villians, or scarey noises to frighten him. It was quite unusual. He crossed his arms, scowling a bit at the dream. He was half demon, and knew nothing could scare him. Inu-Yasha closed his eyes, breathing deeply. He wasn't aware that his heart was opening to the world around him. A faint whimpering sought itself to his ears. He opened his eyes, wondering where it was coming from. At first, the noise did not bother him, but he soon began to realize that it was a child whimpering. He began to follow the sound, walking carefully on the illusional ground. Inu-Yasha passed boulders of rocks with dead flowers in the cracks. The whimpeering was getting stronger in a sense, but softer in another sense. The farther he walked, the more he could make out the vision of a child sitting down with its knees brought up to its face, as if trying to block out the world around it. Inu-Yasha approached cautiously, having no idea if it was a trap. He did not sense anything wrong with the child, except he had a strange feeling that it was trapped in that spot. He came within a few feet of the child. She looked up, tears running down her face at the half demon in front of her. At first, she was scared, but managed to control her fear. Inu-Yasha gasped a little, the girl in his dream reminding him of the child he had found in the forest. The child wiped her eyes, sniffling. She tilted her head at him, looking up then down. She closed her eyes, her ears alert. The sound she heard reminded her of a sound she had been following for a long time. A sound she had lost, or had been taken away from. She opened her eyes again, carefully holding out her hand wanting to touch him. He walked towards her, feeling the need to protect her. The ground underneath his feet began to crackle and split. He shot back instantly, shocked as he watched the ground quake. Inu-Yasha quickly looked back up at the girl who was crying again, her hand outstretched, desperation evident on her face. He started to run towards her, the ground beginning to break violently under his feet. "I'm coming," he yelled at her. Just as the words were uttered, the ground underneath the child cracked and she started to fall through the ground, towards the darkness. Inu-Yasha jumped, sliding onto his stomach with his hand outstretched. He managed to grab her wrist before she fell into the void. For some odd reason, he could not pull her up. The void around her was drawing her in. He grunted with effort as he tried with an unseen force to pull her up. "Hold..on..," he said through clenched teeth. The girl's face held many emotions. She was shocked that she was falling, yet realived that he had caught her. He noted the sad expression on her face as she started to slip. "No..." He clenched his teeth shut, his eyes closed, trying once again to pull her to safety. The darkness around him slammed into his body, wanting him to drop her. Inu-Yasha opened his eyes, he was fixed on the beautiful eyes the child had. Her sparkling purple eyes danced in front of his face, drawing him closer as he was only three feet away. The girl began to slip more. He struggled to gain a hold of her. His chest started to hurt, his heart beating fast with frustration and determination. The girl screamed a horrified cry as her hand parted from his. Inu-Yasha's eyes widened. He was not aware that he was crying, or that blood was pouring from his chest. Everything seemed to be happening in slow motion. The shock and horror on her face stung his very soul. As she began to disappear into the darkness, he screamed her name. She felt someone holding her. It was the same heartbeat that she used to hear when she was little. She remembered how the sound of it comforted her where she was. In the darkness she could sense it, she welcomed it. However, she never sought it out for fear that they would catch her. Once she had tried to find the sound when it had grown quiet, but had met with consequences for her action. They approached her asking her what she was looking for. They could sense her stretching out beyond the darkness she lived in, trying to find her way back to the light. Because of this, they had bound her. They refused to let her live among them any longer. Rushiko, a heidious demon with a large muzzle, ugly face, overbearing fangs, claws, height, and stench had taken her from the demon world. He had bound her upside-down on a large plant she had never seen, in a world she knew nothing of. She had watched in fear as he clasped something sharp and shiny around her ankle. It had hurt and she had wanted to cry, but if he had, he would have tortured her. He had left her there, laughing as she stared in horror at the distant ground. For hours, she had tried to make any sort of noise possible. Unfortuantly, the demons had not taught her how to speak, or scream. All she could do was cry, for crying was silent. She didn't have any idea of time. All she knew was that the darkness passed over her many times before the bright light came. the light hurt her eyes. Hope seemed to fade the longer she stayed in the air, hanging about. The air around her had gotten colder. She shivered off and on, the rags she wore giving her no comfort. She remembered closing her eyes, feeling very fatigued. *I'm not where I was before..* Looking around, she had noticed the gray clouds in the sky. In her world, there were dark clouds with flashes of lightening embedded in them. This world seemed much more peaceful. She bit her lower lip, blinking her eyes. *If I'm not where I was..maybe I can call what I sensed when I was sad.* She outstretched her senses, searching all around her for any kind of a sign of the sound she had heard before. Everything seemed empty. She started crying again, rubbing her eyes. *I'm not going to be able to find it again.* The girl cried even harder, her heart sinking in her chest. Innocence and betrayl plagued her. The more she thought about how alone she was, the more afraid she became. For a short while, she thought she felt something reaching out to her. She looked around tiredly not able to grasp what was trying to communicate with her. It had been seven times since the darkness had came to greet her. She had had no food, or any water in that amount of time. With the last bit of hope that etched at the back of her mind, she reached out as far as she could to the thing that was communicating with her. All of her emotions were sent far off in the direction of the presence she had felt. The girl had nothing left to give. Her energy had left her the moment she had sent the wave of her spiritual energy.
Now someone was holding her. Someone she recognized, but didn't know the face of. She sensed another sound, much like the one she had felt in the woods. Could the two sounds she heard be completely different? One she was very sure was the one that comforted her in the demon world. The other, was the one from the forest. The girl wanted to open her eyes, but was afraid. She knew nothing of this world, and had literally, been thrown into it. She whimpered slightly wondering if she chose to open her eyes, would the sounds she heard, hurt her? Inu-Yasha heard her whimper. He tilted his head at her, his ears alert. He sensed the girl was afraid to open her eyes. "Why are you scared? I'm not going to hurt you." He nudged her cheek with his nose, watching her. She whimpered again. This time she heard the sound speak to her. *It talked to me.* She was trying to decide if it was wise to open her eyes. In the demon world, the sound was always with her. Then the demons took it away from her. Now she had found it again. Or..it had found her. The girl was curious to whom held the face of the sound that she had been hearing. She moved her right hand up towards the being, feeling around. She felt clothing. Was it like her? She felt around some more, her small hand brushing past long, soft hair. Inu-Yasha watched the girl move her hand up towards his face. He was slightly worried, but relaxed once he realized she was trying to find out what he was. He closed his eyes, the touch of the girl's hand warm against his skin. She touched a chin, then a nose. Her hand moved farther up, feeling the contours of the face. The being had the same features as her. There was no muzzle, no horns, nothing she had seen in the demon world. Inu-Yasha bent down towards the girl's face, nudging her nose with his. He watched as the little girl opened her eyes very slowly to look at him. His golden slit eyes befell upon her sparkling, purple eyes. A warm feeling spread across his chest as if he knew who she was. He stayed still, not wanting to frighten her. *She's...the girl from my dream.* He breathed softly, slightly afraid that she would fall back into the void she had came from. The child looked back at him, not speaking. She tilted her head at him, recognizing him from somewhere. *I know him. He tried to rescue me.* She smiled at him faintly, moving her hand along his cheek. Inu-Yasha blinked his eyes at her, completely stunned. Something had brought this girl here. The warmth in his chest started to spread throughout his body. He had never felt anything like this before. Playfully, the girl touched his nose pressing in a bit. He tilted his head again at her. "You're certainly playful," he said watching her. Again, she cocked her head at him. She noticed his golden eyes at that moment. She wasn't scared. She thought his eyes were very pretty. Examining him more, she saw the tips of his ears. *He's part demon.* She blinked her eyes. He caught her looking at his ears and shrank back some. Inu-Yasha lowered his head, not able to look at the girl. He felt her move a little. The girl bit his right ear, pulling him back towards her. She tugged at his kimono, wanting him to look at her. When he glanced up, she licked his cheek gently. This made him look good and hard at her, a confused expression on his face. "You're...not scared of me, are you?" He tugged one of the long tresses by her ears. She shook her head at him, pulling on one of his in return. She nudged his cheek with her nose, wrapping her arms around his neck. Inu-Yasha was slightly taken aback by the affection in the little girl. Was she aware that it was him who rescued her from the trap she had been set in? He wasn't really sure. "Do you have a name?" He wrapped his claws around her back as he felt her nod. "What's your name little one?" She looked at him with a blank expression. Before he could question her mood, she laid her head over his heart, closing her eyes. She was falling asleep on him, her little fingers scratching at his chest. Inu-Yasha rested his cheek on the top of her head as he stared off. He knew her name. It was the same name he remembered screaming as she had fallen in front of his eyes in the dream. He held her tighter. He was having an unusual recognition about the girl. Inu-Yasha knew her, and then again, he didn't. Who she was, or what she was, was completely foggy in his mind. As he drifted off to sleep, he rubbed his cheek against her head, closing his eyes. "Good night, Nauki," he whispered, drifting off to protect her even in her dreams.
That night, Inu-Yasha helped Kagome change the dressing on the girl's ankle. He examined the wound. It looked better, but it was going to remain a nasty scar. As he tied the bandage around the girl's ankle, he felt someone's eyes watching him. He looked up very slowly to see Kagome watching him with satisfaction. "What are you staring at?" "Just watching you. You remind me so much of how my mom takes care of me and Sota." He sat up gently, looking down kind of embarassed. He hadn't realized he was performing the duties of a parent. Kagome smiled faintly, dreaming. "It's okay, I didn't mean anything by it." "I know you didn't. I just..don't know if I'd be a good parent. That is..if someone would want to..um...," he broke off. He was thinking of what it would be like to have children of his own. Inu-Yasha wondered who would be by his side. "Well, regardless of what you think, you're doing a very good job. No one said there was a right, or wrong way of parenting. It's all in the heart," she said covering up the girl. Inu-Yasha thought about what her words meant. He nodded absently, guessing she was right. He would have to find out in the future. His heart ached slightly, wanting to tell Kagome how much he cherished her. However, the past kept rearing its ugly head. Inu-Yasha slammed the entrance to his heart closed. Kagome yawned. She stretched out on the pallet that Kaede had made for her. She started to close her eyes slowly. Kagome found herself absentmindly watching his reaction to the little girl. When he fell asleep, Inu-Yasha was sitting upright with his head buried in his knees. At first, he slept soundly the dreams coming and going, not staying for long. When his dreams changed, he stirred in his sleep, mrrphing a bit. The visions that he saw were dark, frightening images of shadows of beings that he couldn't make out. He whirled around in his dream. The landscape was hard, desolate, and barren. Inu-Yasha's ears perked up, listening for the cold silence that was swallowing him. The sky was dark, lightening flickered above him. He expected to hear thunder, but none came. Inu-Yasha turned around slowly, feeling something watching him. There was nothing behind him. He relaxed a little, realizing he was having an unusual nightmare. In this nightmare, there were no villians, or scarey noises to frighten him. It was quite unusual. He crossed his arms, scowling a bit at the dream. He was half demon, and knew nothing could scare him. Inu-Yasha closed his eyes, breathing deeply. He wasn't aware that his heart was opening to the world around him. A faint whimpering sought itself to his ears. He opened his eyes, wondering where it was coming from. At first, the noise did not bother him, but he soon began to realize that it was a child whimpering. He began to follow the sound, walking carefully on the illusional ground. Inu-Yasha passed boulders of rocks with dead flowers in the cracks. The whimpeering was getting stronger in a sense, but softer in another sense. The farther he walked, the more he could make out the vision of a child sitting down with its knees brought up to its face, as if trying to block out the world around it. Inu-Yasha approached cautiously, having no idea if it was a trap. He did not sense anything wrong with the child, except he had a strange feeling that it was trapped in that spot. He came within a few feet of the child. She looked up, tears running down her face at the half demon in front of her. At first, she was scared, but managed to control her fear. Inu-Yasha gasped a little, the girl in his dream reminding him of the child he had found in the forest. The child wiped her eyes, sniffling. She tilted her head at him, looking up then down. She closed her eyes, her ears alert. The sound she heard reminded her of a sound she had been following for a long time. A sound she had lost, or had been taken away from. She opened her eyes again, carefully holding out her hand wanting to touch him. He walked towards her, feeling the need to protect her. The ground underneath his feet began to crackle and split. He shot back instantly, shocked as he watched the ground quake. Inu-Yasha quickly looked back up at the girl who was crying again, her hand outstretched, desperation evident on her face. He started to run towards her, the ground beginning to break violently under his feet. "I'm coming," he yelled at her. Just as the words were uttered, the ground underneath the child cracked and she started to fall through the ground, towards the darkness. Inu-Yasha jumped, sliding onto his stomach with his hand outstretched. He managed to grab her wrist before she fell into the void. For some odd reason, he could not pull her up. The void around her was drawing her in. He grunted with effort as he tried with an unseen force to pull her up. "Hold..on..," he said through clenched teeth. The girl's face held many emotions. She was shocked that she was falling, yet realived that he had caught her. He noted the sad expression on her face as she started to slip. "No..." He clenched his teeth shut, his eyes closed, trying once again to pull her to safety. The darkness around him slammed into his body, wanting him to drop her. Inu-Yasha opened his eyes, he was fixed on the beautiful eyes the child had. Her sparkling purple eyes danced in front of his face, drawing him closer as he was only three feet away. The girl began to slip more. He struggled to gain a hold of her. His chest started to hurt, his heart beating fast with frustration and determination. The girl screamed a horrified cry as her hand parted from his. Inu-Yasha's eyes widened. He was not aware that he was crying, or that blood was pouring from his chest. Everything seemed to be happening in slow motion. The shock and horror on her face stung his very soul. As she began to disappear into the darkness, he screamed her name. She felt someone holding her. It was the same heartbeat that she used to hear when she was little. She remembered how the sound of it comforted her where she was. In the darkness she could sense it, she welcomed it. However, she never sought it out for fear that they would catch her. Once she had tried to find the sound when it had grown quiet, but had met with consequences for her action. They approached her asking her what she was looking for. They could sense her stretching out beyond the darkness she lived in, trying to find her way back to the light. Because of this, they had bound her. They refused to let her live among them any longer. Rushiko, a heidious demon with a large muzzle, ugly face, overbearing fangs, claws, height, and stench had taken her from the demon world. He had bound her upside-down on a large plant she had never seen, in a world she knew nothing of. She had watched in fear as he clasped something sharp and shiny around her ankle. It had hurt and she had wanted to cry, but if he had, he would have tortured her. He had left her there, laughing as she stared in horror at the distant ground. For hours, she had tried to make any sort of noise possible. Unfortuantly, the demons had not taught her how to speak, or scream. All she could do was cry, for crying was silent. She didn't have any idea of time. All she knew was that the darkness passed over her many times before the bright light came. the light hurt her eyes. Hope seemed to fade the longer she stayed in the air, hanging about. The air around her had gotten colder. She shivered off and on, the rags she wore giving her no comfort. She remembered closing her eyes, feeling very fatigued. *I'm not where I was before..* Looking around, she had noticed the gray clouds in the sky. In her world, there were dark clouds with flashes of lightening embedded in them. This world seemed much more peaceful. She bit her lower lip, blinking her eyes. *If I'm not where I was..maybe I can call what I sensed when I was sad.* She outstretched her senses, searching all around her for any kind of a sign of the sound she had heard before. Everything seemed empty. She started crying again, rubbing her eyes. *I'm not going to be able to find it again.* The girl cried even harder, her heart sinking in her chest. Innocence and betrayl plagued her. The more she thought about how alone she was, the more afraid she became. For a short while, she thought she felt something reaching out to her. She looked around tiredly not able to grasp what was trying to communicate with her. It had been seven times since the darkness had came to greet her. She had had no food, or any water in that amount of time. With the last bit of hope that etched at the back of her mind, she reached out as far as she could to the thing that was communicating with her. All of her emotions were sent far off in the direction of the presence she had felt. The girl had nothing left to give. Her energy had left her the moment she had sent the wave of her spiritual energy.
Now someone was holding her. Someone she recognized, but didn't know the face of. She sensed another sound, much like the one she had felt in the woods. Could the two sounds she heard be completely different? One she was very sure was the one that comforted her in the demon world. The other, was the one from the forest. The girl wanted to open her eyes, but was afraid. She knew nothing of this world, and had literally, been thrown into it. She whimpered slightly wondering if she chose to open her eyes, would the sounds she heard, hurt her? Inu-Yasha heard her whimper. He tilted his head at her, his ears alert. He sensed the girl was afraid to open her eyes. "Why are you scared? I'm not going to hurt you." He nudged her cheek with his nose, watching her. She whimpered again. This time she heard the sound speak to her. *It talked to me.* She was trying to decide if it was wise to open her eyes. In the demon world, the sound was always with her. Then the demons took it away from her. Now she had found it again. Or..it had found her. The girl was curious to whom held the face of the sound that she had been hearing. She moved her right hand up towards the being, feeling around. She felt clothing. Was it like her? She felt around some more, her small hand brushing past long, soft hair. Inu-Yasha watched the girl move her hand up towards his face. He was slightly worried, but relaxed once he realized she was trying to find out what he was. He closed his eyes, the touch of the girl's hand warm against his skin. She touched a chin, then a nose. Her hand moved farther up, feeling the contours of the face. The being had the same features as her. There was no muzzle, no horns, nothing she had seen in the demon world. Inu-Yasha bent down towards the girl's face, nudging her nose with his. He watched as the little girl opened her eyes very slowly to look at him. His golden slit eyes befell upon her sparkling, purple eyes. A warm feeling spread across his chest as if he knew who she was. He stayed still, not wanting to frighten her. *She's...the girl from my dream.* He breathed softly, slightly afraid that she would fall back into the void she had came from. The child looked back at him, not speaking. She tilted her head at him, recognizing him from somewhere. *I know him. He tried to rescue me.* She smiled at him faintly, moving her hand along his cheek. Inu-Yasha blinked his eyes at her, completely stunned. Something had brought this girl here. The warmth in his chest started to spread throughout his body. He had never felt anything like this before. Playfully, the girl touched his nose pressing in a bit. He tilted his head again at her. "You're certainly playful," he said watching her. Again, she cocked her head at him. She noticed his golden eyes at that moment. She wasn't scared. She thought his eyes were very pretty. Examining him more, she saw the tips of his ears. *He's part demon.* She blinked her eyes. He caught her looking at his ears and shrank back some. Inu-Yasha lowered his head, not able to look at the girl. He felt her move a little. The girl bit his right ear, pulling him back towards her. She tugged at his kimono, wanting him to look at her. When he glanced up, she licked his cheek gently. This made him look good and hard at her, a confused expression on his face. "You're...not scared of me, are you?" He tugged one of the long tresses by her ears. She shook her head at him, pulling on one of his in return. She nudged his cheek with her nose, wrapping her arms around his neck. Inu-Yasha was slightly taken aback by the affection in the little girl. Was she aware that it was him who rescued her from the trap she had been set in? He wasn't really sure. "Do you have a name?" He wrapped his claws around her back as he felt her nod. "What's your name little one?" She looked at him with a blank expression. Before he could question her mood, she laid her head over his heart, closing her eyes. She was falling asleep on him, her little fingers scratching at his chest. Inu-Yasha rested his cheek on the top of her head as he stared off. He knew her name. It was the same name he remembered screaming as she had fallen in front of his eyes in the dream. He held her tighter. He was having an unusual recognition about the girl. Inu-Yasha knew her, and then again, he didn't. Who she was, or what she was, was completely foggy in his mind. As he drifted off to sleep, he rubbed his cheek against her head, closing his eyes. "Good night, Nauki," he whispered, drifting off to protect her even in her dreams.