by: Del_kaidin and Tiranth.
Chapter 3 - The Night of the Full Moon
Taka had resumed her place on the rock, trying to think. Leena was right about Kenji and the others being on guard. When Leena turned to her and asked her if she had any ideas, Taka still hadn't come up with much. The next words out of her new companions mouth however caused her to feel as if her insides were turning to ice. From her tone Taka knew what Leena was saying. This was her night of weakness. The night when her demon blood abandoned her. She never really admitted it to anyone but she still had nightmares about the night her mother had died. She balled her fists in the loose material of her hakama to hide the tremble in them. "We aren't going anywhere tonight," she rose, "Stay here. I'll get something to eat and see what I can do about water."
Feeling the girls fear, Leena walked over to her. "Hey, I'm just ningen tonight, but I'm still Amatsuotome. I'm the third one true, but the first two were ningen. Besides, being human means that I don't have to worry with illusion spells." She knew her words weren't getting through, something had seriously traumatized the girl. "Watch." She placed Desu in front of the rock and walked the length of the clearing. Holding out her hand she called "Desu." As always the sword flew to her. She walked back to the red head. "Taka? What has you so scared? I can handle myself, as ningen or hanyou."
She sat on the ground, wrapping her arms around her knees. Why was this returning now? She had buried these fears deeply and now they were resurfacing. Why now? Why did she have to relive that night now? Without even meaning to she began to talk. "She didnt tell us...if we'd only known...grandsir would have made her stay behind....she didnt tell us she was ningen that night....and we didnt sense it," she felt the tears returning and cursed her weakness. "We wanted our revenge."
'What the hell? Oh shit, her mother.' Leena understood, somehow the pup blamed herself for her mother's death. Part of her wanted to scream at the girl. Part of her wanted to walk away. Yet she did neither, instead a long buried, long denied instinct took over. Gathering the girl into her arms she began stroking Taka's hair. "If your mother was anything like me, even if she had been ordered to stay behind she would have followed. Shhh, it's not your fault."
She let herself be held, comforted by the hand smoothing her wild red-silver hair but forced her tears back within herself. Leena was right. Her mother would not have listened. Her new companion did remind her of her mother but with a diamond edge. This was no time to dwell on the past. The present was what mattered and she needed to be strong, now more than ever. They needed to get back to their homes. Taka gently pulled away from the embrace, "I seem to be apologizing alot. Forgive...I wont be weak again," rising once again she straightened her gi, "Shall we get some food now?"
"There is no weakness in grief. As for apologizing, maybe if Uncle Inu had been more willing to do it, he wouldn't be waiting for his mate now." She frowned, 'and maybe I could be with Souta.' She shook her head to clear the depressing thought. Stepping back from the girl she smiled. "Well, tonight I'd say you are best equipped for a speedy hunt, so you do that and I'll start a fire." She grimaced slightly at a familiar tightness in her back, a reminder of the one and only time she had run across her sire on her night of weakness. She leaned back and twisted, the muscles stretched and she felt the satisfying release.
Taka allowed herself a chuckle. "I wish I had known Uncle Inu Yasha. From what I have heard of him from Grandsire, he was the much the same in both our times. Maybe you can tell me a little about him?" With that she was gone, it was a beautiful night and the hunt beckoned. As she followed the scent of her prey, two fat rabbits, Taka's mind wandered over the possibilities of who might have brought her and Leena to this other reality. The only enemy she knew of that had been any real threat to her family had been Byouka and she was dead, along with her conspiritors. They would have to see what clues they could find at the dojo, since both of them had been there when the magic seized them. She froze, seeing her prey come into view. The rabbits did not stand a chance and soon she returned to Leena, who had a cozy fire blazing with her kill. "Rabbit tonight," she said, sitting beside her, then casting a sidelong glance at Leena, remembering her grimace earlier. "I know a massage that will help your back. Mother had many problems after her time with my father. Uncle Kouga taught it to me."
Leena watched as her companion left. Quickly she prepared the campsite. Soon a cozy fire burned merrily, chasing away the shadows. She sat watching and letting her thoughts wander. Who could have dragged them to this reality? Why would such a powerful being chose the two of them? Was it an enemy? Was it someone needing assistance? Her head began to ache, matching the one in her back. Would it never heal?
She heard her companion's return. Pulling the dagger from her boot she began to clean them. It was always harder this way. When Taka mentioned Uncle Kouga, Leena bit back a laugh. If nothing else that proved they were from different realities. She wondered briefly about her doppelganger who was the girl's mother. "That's all right. It is an old wound." She said declining the message, "One of the reasons I do not wish to go near your Grandsire."
Taka nodded, acknowledging the decline. Sesshomaru had hurt Leena? She had to tell herself that it wasnt the same one as her grandsire but was still suprised that he had hurt his own daughter. Distant he may seem but he was always gentle with her and her brother. The smell of roasting flesh and fat soon permeated the air, making her realize just how hungry she really was but she couldnt put aside her curiousity. She wanted to know more but did not want to cause Leena to relive the pain. "Leena...may I ask what happened?"
She wasn't going to answer and then she heard her own voice. "It was the last time I saw him. Uncle Inu had been in the fortress home for a week. It was the night of the new moon. It was, oh I guess about the time you would have been born in your reality. No one I knew, knew her, how were any of us to know? I was ningen, I didn't know I looked like her. He saw me and attacked. He knew I wasn't her by my scent. I will never forget the feel of his whip on my back, the poison searing through me. I couldn't fight him, not as my ningen self, all I could do was run. But this form denies me speed, he caught up easily and punched me in the back. I heard the break and waited for the death I knew would follow. Shippo and Kouga appeared and fought him, giving me time to pull myself into the forest. Luckily it was near dawn. I still feel the pain of it on my human night." She stood angrily, "I swore I would never be that weak again. That is when I went in search of Desu." Not bothering to look at her companion or explain she walked into the woods.
Taka didn't follow. She just brought her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around her legs and resting her chin on her knees. There was nothing she could have said to ease Leena's pain. No wonder she hated Sesshomaru so. Not only had he rejected her but he had tried to kill her as well. They both had their nightmares then. She'd wait for Leena to return, let her banish the memory once again to a place where it would lay hidden in the depths of her soul as her own did. Idly she reached out to turn the rabbits so they wouldnt burn. She would not push again to see her grandsire. If he could be so cruel in Leena's reality, she didnt want to see what he was like in this one. As she waited she tried to recall what she had learned of the legend of Amatsuotome.
Leena walked towards the lake she knew would be there. This was, after all, in her reality The Forest of Inu Yasha, she knew every turn, tree and twig. 'Why did I tell her? It will cause her only pain, her beloved Grandsire, in my reality is a bastard.' Her scream echoed through the forest. Thanking what ever entity that had allowed her to find Desu and become Amatsuotome. She felt the swords challenge. The power of Amatsuotome filling her, she began the kata, even more demanding than the demon kata. Desu whirled around her of its own, one wrong mood and there would no longer be Amatsuotome, just a dead hanyou. No one knew of this aspect, the constant war between sword and maiden for dominance. And as always Desu picked her weakest night to challenge.
Her head snapped up as the scream reached her ears. Drawing her sword she leapt to the tree tops, bounding gracefully from branch to branch until she saw Leena. She was by a lake and a sword was whirling around her but Taka could see noone holding the sword. She could feel a great amount of power coming from both Leena and the sword. Then she realized that the sword moving in the air on its own was Leena's, Desu. Unsure what was going on but sensing that she should not interfere, Taka sheathed her sword and settled on the branch to watch the strange event.
Her fears for Leena's saftey had been put to rest. She landed lightly on the ground and after undressing joined Leena in the cool water of the lake. "I asked and you told. I must remember that your Sesshomaru and mine are different," she paused as she laid her head back, wetting her hair so that for once it lay flat. Where she got the damn curls she'd didnt know. "I can think of no one who would want to do this. Have you any ideas?"
"I'm glad, that I haven't tarnished your feelings for him. I will also try to remember that they are different. As to who would do this, perhaps we are looking in the wrong direction. Perhaps it is not an enemy, but a friend. You say Naraku was destroyed in your reality, I know he was in mine, but was he in this one? Did Kagome come back through the well? I still think that Naraku is involved with this. It's to much power, but I feel no evil intent. If it was an enemy they would have attacked by now." She looked at the red head a mischievous grin lighting her eyes.
Taka listened as Leena talked out ideas, ready to answer the questions when she had reached the end of her thoughts. She was beginning to like the hanyou. She reminded Taka of her mother and she had the same feeling of saftey she felt when she was with her grandsire. She realized that Leena had stopped talking and noticed the look in her emerald eyes. "What? What are you thinking?"