Kaze no Houyou – The Embrace of the Wind:

Chapter Two

                Later that night, Kagome found herself the last one awake, staring at the fire. Today has been a fine day. Two new friends…it feels so wonderful. She yawned. But I guess it's time to end it.

                "Kagome-sama?"

                "Huh?" Kagome glanced over, and she found that Miroku, leaning against a tree trunk, was not asleep after all. "Oh, I didn't know you were still up, Miroku-sama."

                He nodded slightly, not saying anything else.

                "Ano…Miroku-sama, is something bothering your mind?"

                "Hai, actually. Recently, I have learned something. And…I want to share…with someone…what I have learned. But I am not sure how to explain it." Miroku seemed to only puzzle himself further with every word he spoke.

                Kagome gasped. "Miroku-sama. Could it be perhaps that you are in love?" She smiled hopefully, giddy, as most teenage girls would.

                He smiled a bit, then laughed softly to himself. "I suppose you can sort my emotions out better than I can, Kagome-sama. Perhaps it is because you are a female."

                "That's so cute," she whispered loudly, wanting to shout, but not wanting to wake the others. "Well? Is it that girl from before? You've seemed distant today. Were you thinking of her perhaps?"

                "Kagome-sama…which girl…from before?" Miroku was becoming confused. Even more that he already was.

                "The one who told you that she wanted to have your child when she was older. The one that wanted to marry you, remember?" Kagome prodded.

                "Oh…hai. I mean, no. Yes, I remember, but…no, it isn't her." Miroku found himself struggling through his sentences.

                "Hmm…ah! Sango-chan?" She smiled, knowing she had nailed it.

                Miroku was silent for a moment. "Hai…Kagome-sama."

                "That's so cool!" She was excited, though in whispers. "Well, you know what you have to do now, don't you, Miroku-sama?" she smiled.

                "I…no?"

                "You've gotta tell her, of course!"

                "Tell her? But…what if…"

                Kagome sighed. "What if she doesn't feel the same way about you? Don't worry, Miroku-sama. Everyone has that feeling when they're in love. 'What if they don't love me in return? What then?' Well, you'll just have to move on then. I know it's probably something you might not want to hear. But…it's better to hear it and know her feelings, than to live forever, only wondering whether she truly loves you or not. Don't you agree, Miroku-sama? Wouldn't you rather know if Sango-chan loves you? And what if she does!"

                Miroku smiled at her. "You're right, Kagome-sama. I do want to know. I'm just…afraid to tell her. Even if I do want to know…and even if I might someday move on from her, if she rejects me…the pain of seeing her smile day by day and just knowing I am not able to be close to her as I would like to… I think that would slowly destroy me inside."

                Kagome nodded. "Love can be scary. But…sometimes, you have to just do it. And don't think about it too much before you do. Because you don't want it to sound like something you've memorized and planned. It needs to be whatever your heart wants to say, right at that moment. Okay?" she smiled again.

                Miroku nodded. "Hai, Kagome-sama."

                "Hmm…I suppose tomorrow might be big for you then." She giggled. "We should go to sleep now." She got comfortable inside of her sleeping bag and closed her eyes. "Good night, Miroku-sama."

                Miroku sighed as he shut his own eyes, already as comfortable as he could be leaning against the tree trunk. "I will use the advice you gave me, Kagome-sama. Only if you promise something first. You must promise to do the same thing…for Inuyasha, hm? Well then, good night, Kagome-sama." And with that, Miroku said not another word.

                Kagome gasped, and stared blankly forward for a moment. Do the same thing…for…Inuyasha? I…I know I want to…I know I love him. But, how can I tell him? It's not the same as it is for Miroku to tell Sango. She doesn't love anyone else. Inuyasha already loves Kikyou. I couldn't tell him such a thing. It would only complicate his already-frustrating life. She sighed. But still…if I want Miroku to do this…he told me to promise him. She smiled, and whispered into the dark. "Alright. I promise."

                Little Shippo stretched out, yawning in the morning sunlight. He snuggled up a bit against the warm and furry Kirara behind him. Kirara purred a little bit and nudged him with her nose. When Shippo didn't move, Kirara nudged him a bit harder.

                "Ah…okay, okay. I'm awake, Kirara." Shippo yawned again as he sat up. "Hm?" He pricked his ears up as he picked up two voices at a slight distance. He glanced around the camp and saw that everyone was still asleep.

                Except for those two new girls! I wonder what they're talking about? He jumped up and went to go investigate. Once he got close enough to hear and see the two hanyou, he sat down behind a bush and peeked through it.

                "I still don't get what you're saying, Serin. Look…Uncle Miroku is supposed to be killed a few years from now. But if we're here to stop it, then it won't happen. Where is the danger in that?" Yuki was pleading with her cousin.

                "We need to return home, Yuki. We have changed too much already. Do you not feel it?" Serin glared at Yuki.

                Yuki sighed. "No. No, I don't get what you're talking about. Serin, we have to stay here. We can't let Uncle Miroku be killed!"

                "Lower your voice, Yuki. The others are still sleeping. If they hear us, the future will be changed for sure."

                "But isn't that what we're trying to do? I say we tell Uncle Miroku," Yuki countered.

                "If we do, we will have to explain our origin. Then we may never be born. It may not be such a threat for me, but it will be for you, Yuki." Serin glared at her.

                "But Mother and Kikyou-chan and Kaede-sama worked up so much power and used so much energy to get us back here, and to promise us a safe trip back." Her hand went to the pendant around her neck. The pendant allowed her to call to her mother when she wanted to return. Serin had one that also sent a message to Kagome. "It took them three years to make that spell up, Serin. We can't let them waste it. Especially not after Kaede-sama…" Poor Kaede-sama. She was too old to put so much energy into a spell. "Kaede-sama gave her life so that we could go save Uncle Miroku's!"

Serin face didn't falter. "We cannot stay here. If you want to, then fine. But I am returning home."

                "Serin! No, you can't! You're the only one who knows how to fix Uncle Miroku's Kazaana. If it gets damaged, like it's supposed to, we won't have any way to save him."

                "Then maybe he shouldn't be saved." Serin narrowed her eyes and turned her back on her cousin. Fate is no toy. We should not be tampering with it so childishly.

                Yuki darted forward and grabbed her Serin's arm, spinning her around to face her. "Listen to me!" Her eyes glittered and rippled with unshed tears. "Uncle Miroku meant so much to me, but I had to lose him. I don't want that to happen in this time. It should never have happened. We have to fix it. Please, Serin. Please." Her voice had begun to quiver with the effort of speaking without crying.

                Serin's eyes wavered, her stone-hard face softening just slightly. All her life, she had been as a big sister to Yuki – ever since they were only pups. Hearing Yuki so desperate made Serin's heart feel like it was being clenched tightly in someone's fist.

                She sighed after a jagged moment of silence. "Fine. I shall stay."

                The tears were flung from Yuki's joyous eyes as she jumped at her cousin with a hug. "Thank you, Serin. Thank you so much!"

                "Hush." Serin pried Yuki away from her. "You know that I cannot stand to hear anyone cry. It is annoying."

                Yuki smiled and nodded. "Hai." She wiped the remaining tears from her eyes. "Come on. Let's go wake the other's up and start breakfast." She smiled.      

                Serin only nodded, and then followed her cousin back to the camp.

                Shippo gasped, his breath caught in his throat. Mi…Miroku…will die?! Why didn't they tell us before? Why won't they still tell us?! He jumped up. "I've got to go warn Miroku!"

                "Warn him?" Serin glared at Shippo, standing right behind him.

                Shippo jumped a good ten feet in the air, spinning around to face his attacker. "Waaaah!"

                Serin's ear twitched at the extremely loud and high-pitched squealing of the fox. "Keep it down," she glared angrily.

                "You! Why didn't you two tell us Miroku's gonna die?! If my friend is going to be killed, and you know it,  you need to tell me!" Shippo shouted furiously.

                "Keep it down! Brat… Listen to me. If you tell anyone, Miroku will die for certain." Serin's glare pierced through Shippo's skin.

                "What? How do you know that?"

                She gazed off. "We are toying with fate, Yuki and I. It is dangerous. I'm not sure how much you heard, but you were not supposed to know anything in the conversation my cousin and I just had. Just you knowing perhaps will not cause as much trouble. But if you tell any of the others, it just might bring about the deaths of more than just Miroku."

                "Is that a threat?!" Shippo challenged, standing as tall as his two-foot body would allow him to.

                "No," Serin uttered in a low, menacing voice. "It is a promise."

                Shippo gasped, unable to move as Serin walked away from him, to the camp, where the others were waking up.

                "Remember. Tell not a soul, little Shippo."

                He shook his head hard, as if shaking off water. I can move again… That was weird! Her eyes got all weird, and all of a sudden, I couldn't move! I wonder if she meant it though…about promising to kill everyone else. She better not! But still…if they're going to fix things by themselves… He nodded, making his decision. That's what I'll do. I'll stand guard. I'll let them try and fix things on their own. But if they start to mess up, then I'll take charge! "Ha!" Shippo smiled, standing proud. He ran over to the rest of the group, and he jumped up onto Miroku's head.

                "Oh…where's Kagome-chan?" Shippo blinked as he glanced around, not seeing her.

                "Feh! She went home…" Inuyasha grumbled.

                "Again? Inuyashaaaa!" Shippo whined.

                "She went home to go make a dinner, Shippo," Miroku reassured him.

                "She did?"

                "Yes," Sango began, "she wanted to make a special dinner, since we have two new people in our group." She smiled.

                "Oh. Okay!" Shippo giggled, excited that he would get to eat some of Kagome's cooking again.

                Kagome sighed as she looked down into the well. Her backpack was heavy and warm with her freshly-cooked dinner held inside. It was hard to get everything into those containers without spilling much around. How am I going to get to the bottom and climb out again without messing it up now? She shrugged her shoulders. "Well…here goes." She hopped down into the well like normal.

                When she emerged into the feudal era, she opened up her backpack to check everything. When she saw that nothing had been too badly shaken up, she put everything away, put her backpack back on, and headed for the camp.

                "There's Kagome-chan!" Shippo hopped off of Miroku's head as he saw Kagome approaching in the distance.

                "Feh! Finally…" Inuyasha muttered.

                "Hello, everyone." Kagome smiled. She set her backpack down and opened it up, pulling out her large blanket. She spread it out and began setting the food out with the help of Yuki.

                "Wow, it looks delicious, Kagome-chan." Sango smiled.

                Miroku nodded in agreement as Shippo squealed over all the food he recognized.

                Kagome set up the last of the food, and then turned back around to her backpack to find Inuyasha's lower half sticking out of it as he rummaged through.

                "Where…where is…" he mumbled.

                "Inuyasha!" Kagome shouted, standing up.

                He hopped out of her backpack, with one of her shirts hanging off of his ear. He quickly pulled it off and put it back in her backpack. "What?"

                "What are you doing?!"

                "I'm looking for it."

                "What's it?"

                "That stuff!"

                Kagome rolled her eyes. De-ja-vou… She sighed and reached into the side pocket and pulled out a Ramen bowl. She handed it to him. "There."

                Inuyasha sat back as he started to cook it, content as a puppy with his bone. Kagome shook her head and turned back to the others to get them started on their dinner.

                "Arigatou, Kagome-chan!" Shippo beamed a joyous smile as he bit into his second piece of sushi.

                Everyone seemed to agree, save for Serin. She stood off, away from the others, by the same tree she had been standing next to all day.

                "Ano…Serin-chan?" Kagome called to her. "Are you hungry? I made plenty for all of us," she announced as she put a bowl of food in front of Kirara, who gave a purr of appreciation back.

                Serin didn't even look their way. She kept staring off with her evil eyes. "I am fine."

                Kagome blinked. What's with her? "Um…okay. But if you change your mind, there will be plenty here for you!" She sighed after a few seconds, curious about that hanyou. "Hey, Yuki. What's the matter with Serin-chan? Is she always like this?"

                "Oh, yeah. She's just not much of a people-person. She's really nice though, once you get to know her. It's just…hard to get to know her. I don't think I would know her if I wasn't her cousin. She's just too much like her dad." Yuki winced, realizing she had mentioned a sentence more than she had needed to.

                Kagome didn't seem to notice though. "Oh, I see. Yeah, Inuyasha was like that at first, too."

                Yuki smiled. "Yeah."

                Sango patted Shippo on the head. He had fallen asleep against Kirara again. "Ano…perhaps we should lie down for the evening. It's a bit late."

                Yuki yawned in response. "Mm…sounds good to me."

                Miroku nodded. "That seems like a good idea, and I believe Inuyasha agrees with us." He nodded to the hanyou that had fallen asleep on the log beside them. Then Miroku shivered slightly, and sighed.

                "Mm? Doushita na, Houshi-sama?" Sango asked curiously.

                "Oh…I was just embraced by the wind."

                "Nani?"

                "You see…whenever you are troubled or distressed, the wind embraces you to comfort you. At least is always has for me. Perhaps it is because of Kazaana that I am tied to tightly to the wind?"

                Sango smiled. "Hai. Well…let's all get some sleep now."

                "Hai. You guys are right," Kagome agreed. "Let's get some sleep. Good night."

                "Good night, Mother," Yuki whispered silently to the darkness.