Chapter 31
AN: It has come to my attention that some of you have noticed that I refer to Keitaro as a hanyou, and have corrected me by saying he's only a quarter demon, while the term hanyou refers to a half-demon. Well, here is my explanation. True, that hereditarily he is a quarter, but genetically he is ½. LOL, mix Japanese anime with modern scientific thought, you get someone with WAY too much time on her hands. Anyway, his grandfather was full demon, his grandmother a human, so we get Inuyasha, hanyou. The X comes from mommy (human) and the Y from daddy. Well, Inuyasha, carrying the demon trait on the Y, passed that over to Keitaro who also got the humanX from his mother and the demonY from his father, making him a hanyou as well. The kicker is (and I haven't completely worked all this out), that Maeko received the X's from both parents and is human, but Kohana got one X from Kagome and the other from IY and is a hanyou. Hmmm…genetic mutation, or creative license? You be the judge. Okay, that explained, on to Chapter 31
~~*~~ Francesca
My stomach finally settled down, but the smell of food sent it spinning again.
"Bara-sama," my hosts insisted, "you must eat something, you can not heal properly unless you have nourishment."
Did I say hosts? Perhaps I should call them my captors. The remaining women of the village had hijacked me, took me to a cabin and proceeded to play mother to me. I was bathed, bandaged, clothed, tucked in, and now they were trying to get me to eat. I wanted nothing more than to just curl up and sleep as long as I could, which I knew wouldn't be long. Already I could feel a pulling inside, something that wanted me to follow it. A makeshift spoon touched my lip and I pulled my head back, as the smell of fish and rice shot up my nose, causing my stomach to flip. I cringed, wishing I could just get away from all the fawning and attention. My head ached and I had a good feeling that it was because of the people around me.
"I really can't," I said, and felt my temper beginning to rise. A strange heat rose in my neck and I covered the mark, as if I was afraid that they could see some sort of change there.
Mistero, bless him, hopped into my lap and growled at everyone. They backed away nervously, and the added space gave me a chance to breath, and calm the anxiety that was spinning inside.
"I thank you for your
concern," I said after a moment, but I think you should spend this time with
your families. After all, they are your
first priority, not a stranger. I just
need rest, and I'll be alright."
They looked away a moment before one woman spoke up. "You are truly wise, Bara-sama," she whispered and motioned for the others to leave me alone. They looked regretful, as if they actually enjoyed waiting on me hand and foot, and headed out of the shack. I sighed as soon as they were all gone. The air felt lighter, and my throbbing headache began to fade. Mistero purred under my fingertips as I scratched at the thick fir around his neck. I saw that his eyes never left the window, as if he seemed to be watching for something.
"You feel it too, don't you?" I whispered. "We can't stay here, we have to start on our way." He mewed his affirmation and I nodded, slowly rising to my feet, ignoring the aches in my arms and legs. Mistero, still in my arms, mewed in concern, and I managed to give him a weak smile.
"I'm alright, just took a good beating, nothing that a good rest won't cure.," I reassured him. He mewed softly and his ears perked up. His head turned towards the door and he began to growl softly.
"Who's there?" I called out and heard a shuffle of feet before the matted covering of the door opened slowly and a frightened face carefully peered around the edge of the mat. It was one of the women who had been fawning over me. A young girl to be sure, she couldn't be any older than twenty, with satin black hair that was loose and flowing down her back. Her clothing told me that she wasn't one of the more prosperous people in the village, and her soft face was streaked with tears and dirt, starting from her large brown eyes and trailing down the side of her cheek.
"Forgive me Bara-sama, I know you wished to be alone, but I need your help."
I sighed softly, the pure begging look in her eyes nagged at my conscious and the pang of desperation touched my heart like a sharp needle. Motioning for her to come in, I settled back down on the futon. She knelt by my side and clasped one of my hands in her own, which were also caked in dirt, as well as blood.
"Please, take me with you. Forgive me, but I heard you speaking to your cat about leaving, and I'm begging you, please take me with you!"
It took my brain a minute to process her request, "You-What?! No. No!" I exclaimed, "I can't take you with me. You have no idea what you're getting into, besides your family will-"
"My family is dead," she whispered sadly. "I have no where to go, and once the village is once again calm, they will realize this and I will either be cast out, or forced to live as a servant." Her eyes looked so lost, that I felt a moment's pity for her.
"Trust me, those are much better options that coming with me. I'm following those monsters, so you would have to face them many times again, as well as whatever else we may encounter. You could die tonight!"
"I could die just as easily here," she shot back, passion and fire erupting in her face. She was no wilting flower, I knew that much. She was begging me, but I was sure that she would find a way to come, whether I liked it or not. "Besides, you fight these monsters, why can't I?"
"Because you can't fight them, you cant even see them. I can! In some way, I can see them, and I might be the only one, so I fight. I don't have a choice, you do! I might lose my life, but there is a chance I won't. You wouldn't last a minute!"
She flinched a moment before speaking quickly, "Then let me travel with you. I'll stay out of harm's way, if anything should happen, and you need company. Traveling alone can drive anyone mad, with no one to speak to. I also know these lands inside and out, I can get you to your destination better than anyone!"
I stared at her a moment, and looked down to Mistero, who stood beside me, watching the goings on.
"You seem to know more about me than I do right now my friend, what do you think?"
He looked up at me, his ears twitching a moment before he trod over to the girl, and curled up in her arms, purring contently. I watched with a frozen look on my face before I sighed and lifted my hands skyward.
"I guess that settles it, he wants you to come as well. Get your things, we're leaving very soon. Don't pack heavy, because you're going to carry your own belongings." She jumped to her feet, bowing quickly before running out of the shack. I sighed and stared at Mistero, who had hopped out of her arms before she left.
"I hope you know what you're doing, she could be killed!"
He gave me a wise look, and twitched his tails slowly back and forth. I sighed and stood again, trying to stretch the ache from my arms and legs. It was going to be a long walk till nightfall and I wanted to get as much ground covered as I could. The covering of the shed flew open, and there was the young woman, quite out of breath, carrying a small bundle wrapped in a piece of material. She tied this around her neck and nodded.
"I'm ready," she said quickly and I nodded, motioning to Mistero as I walked towards the door.
"We've got a long way to walk, so I hope you're prepared, um-" I paused a second, my hand on the rough covering as I turned to look at her, "What is your name?"
She smiled softly and bowed, "Aki, my name is Aki," she said softly as she rose to an upright position again. I returned her smile and nodded my head, "Call me Francesca."
She looked confused for a moment, "Your name isn't Bara?"
I smiled secretly, remembering the voice in my head, "It is one of my names, but I was once known as Francesca." She smiled, trying the name on her tongue for a moment. "Francesca, shall we?"
I nodded and lifted the covering to the door, peering out. The center of the village was empty, and as I tilted my ear to the side and tried to listen, but heard no sound. Carefully I dashed out of the shack and headed for the nearby woods. I was sure that if anyone spotted us, they would have tried to stop us, especially those blasted women, trying to keep me bedridden for who knows how long. As soon as we reached the tree line Mistero transformed into his larger self and we climbed on. I was exhausted, that small sprint took more out of me than I realized, and I clung to his fur fiercely as he took to the sky.
Aki had a death grip around my waist and I felt a little bad for her, she wouldn't stop shaking. "Mistero, we'd better walk from here on out, I don't want you to get too tired." He yowled and took a nosedive towards the ground, sending Aki into a squeal of panic. It felt as if she were trying to squeeze my stomach into my throat, and I gasped for air. Mistero leveled off and came to a neat landing, and I pried open Aki's hands to remove myself from her grip. She slid off of Mistero's back, the look of amazement and a small touch of fear still frozen on her face. I laughed softly and started my walk. I could feel the air stir behind me as Mistero returned to his smaller form and then jumped onto my shoulder, mewing softly.
"Ba- I mean Francesca-sama, where exactly are we going?" Aki asked me, jogging up to my side. I glanced ahead, "North, towards the mountains." Aki nodded her head, I could see that from the corner of my eye. "Are you sure that you can make it that far? I'm sure it's a long trip."
Stubbornness rippled through the air, startling me. I still wasn't used to these feelings so easily at my attention.
"I wouldn't have come if I couldn't handle it," she said firmly, and started walking again. I smiled, yes she was strong. Perhaps having her around wasn't such a bad idea. Mistero purred again, and settled on my shoulder comfortably.
~~*~~ Keitaro
As soon as we gathered our belongings, we headed out. I had to restrain myself from taking off without the others, and believe me, that was very hard! The horse even sensed my tension, and kept snorting nervously.
"Stupid beast, I'm not gonna eat you," I snarled at him at one point, but that didn't seem to help any. He was shaky and sweaty beneath me and with a huff I jumped off his back.
"Okay, I can't take this anymore," I shouted as my feet hit the ground. My mount backpedaled away from me, breathing heavily and Maeko caught his reins before he could bolt.
"Kei-" she began and I silenced her with a look. "Don't give me the "patient, understanding miko" routine Mae, I'm really not in the mood. We are taking too damned long to find her. It's already been two days too long, who knows how far ahead she's gotten at the pace we're going!"
"Well, getting upset and angry isn't going to get us there any faster," Naoko spoke, siding up next to Maeko. I growled annoyed, "We need to running, not trotting through the forest like this was some sort of damned vacation."
"Oh, that's a great idea Keitaro, and we'll kill our horses in the process, slowing us down even more," Kaemon piped up, and I hissed at him. Stupid family, none of them even understood what I was going through.
"Fine, you three take your sweet time, I'm going ahead to find her," I said and got ready to run when I felt something grab my hair and tug back hard. Maeko glared down at me.
"Don't be so stupid brother, we shouldn't split up any more than we already have. Besides, she can't be too far away, that vision you had last night was very vivid and clear, and for such a new mating link, she had to be near enough by for you to have seen her. Now that river comes out of the canyon not too far south of here. If she's anywhere, she's still in the area, it's only been 2 days."
"All the more reason to move faster, the sooner we find her, the sooner we can head straight for the mountains," I snarled again, getting more and more irritated that they weren't seeing things my way. I was right, of course I was right.
I could smell the river, cold and dark running nearby, "Fine, you guys wait here, I'm going to see if I can't pick up a scent by the water!" Before I had to hear any of their protests, I took off in a fast dash into to the foliage. I was so intent in my search, that I didn't even realize how close I was to the water till I hit it, the ice cold of it sending slivers of pain up my legs. I stopped in mid stream, ignoring the numb sensation that crawled through my skin and looked around. The air was thick with mist and stale, but just faintly, like the lingering mark of life in this dead place, was Francesca. I ran up the shallow part of the river, and caught sight of my prey, a shimmering piece of color in the grey. It was a piece of her costume, the one she wore for my dinner. It was soaked and covered in mud and muck, but that couldn't cover up the blood warming smell of my mate.
"Who are you?" I heard behind me, and I spun around, feeling ashamed for allowing myself to be surprised like that. There was a tall man, largely built and very ugly standing there, a thick stick in his hand, the wood black with moisture.
"Who I am is none of your business," I snorted, "I'm looking for someone, and it doesn't concern you." I cracked my knuckles for good measure, as I had seen my father do countless times, "Now go away if you know what's good for you."
He stared at me dumbly, and glanced down at the cloth in my hand, his eyes lighting up. "Ah, you found some of the tennyo's robe! I have some too!" He pulled more pieces of fabric from his shirt, and showed them to me.
"Tennyo?" I asked, my nose twitching. His stench covered the material now, no trace of Francesca on his pieces but the color was the same. Maybe he knew something.
"The beautiful tennyo lady that I found in the river, she lost her robe so I'm looking for it so I can marry her, like in the legends. She was here, but Mother sent her away. She called her dirty, and said she had done bad things with a monster, but she didn't look dirty. She was beautiful and clean and sweet." He sighed wistfully, and I growled, my hands clenching around the piece of cloth till it was no longer visible in my claws.
The old woman called me Bara, her words rang in my head. Could this creature's mother be the old woman that she spoke of? Was that why she seemed so frightened when I called her my mate? What had this woman said to her?
"Take me to your mother, I have to speak to her," I commanded and saw his head bob up and down. "Alright," he said simply and led me back to a miserable hovel that was too wretched to be called a home. Sitting on a rock out front, was indeed an old woman, hunched over and leaning on a cane. She reeked of disease and death and I had a feeling that she had lived in this air too long.
As we approached, she lifted her head and saw me. Her eyes narrowed, and she gave me a scornful look. "You've come for your mate, have you?"
I growled again, feeling my ears press down against my head. She grinned, toothless and drooling, and cackled.
"Your precious mate is probably sitting in someone's stomach by now. I doubt she survived long enough to recover from the injuries from the river. Probably that stupid cat youkai ate her, and she trusted it enough to leave. Unfortunate though, I didn't get a chance to throw her back in the river to die as she should have."
I clenched my fists so tightly that I felt the hot trickle of blood run over my wrists. Instinct was loosing to logic and right now my instincts wanted to maim this woman into pieces so small that even the birds would go hungry feasting on her.
"What did you tell her?" I hissed under my breath.
"The truth! It seems the poor thing lost her memories in her travels, and so I simply told her the truth. She was the mate of a monster, that she was dirty and tainted and wasn't fit to live anymore. A disgrace to humanity, a woman who throws away her purity to a despicable creature, even worse a woman who threw it away for a half-breed, a creature as unholy as she is."
I slowly lifted my head to stare into her eyes, and smiled. I smiled because I realized that all her hatred and bitter would serve her no good in the end, and that brought a small bit of joy to my heart.
"You are dying old woman, I can smell death all around you. Your bitter black heart will be the end of you, and not even the creatures of the earth will feast on your body, as corrupted as you are. You have condemned yourself to this fate, and your son as well. You speak of monsters, but in the end you are the greatest monster of them all, and you birthed a hideous creature that will never know the love that I share for my mate, and she for me. Die in your damp tomb, and may no wood be fit to burn your body in death."
I turned on my heel, and walked away, hearing her sputter angrily behind me, but I had won, there was nothing more for me to say. I heard the horses approaching, and I smiled slyly at my sister as they approached.
"She was here, she came to land here, but they didn't say where she went to. If Mistero is following my orders, they should be headed north, we'll find-
A draft of wind caught my nose and I covered my face with the sleeve of my haori, feeling the youkai awaken in my blood. I knew that smell, death.
"Kei," Maeko asked concerned.
"Death, in the north!" I said and took off in a sprint. I heard the pounding hoof beats fading behind me as I sped off down the path, moving as fast as my feet would carry me. The trees and bushes flew past me in a green blur, the smell growing stronger and stronger as I ran. I burst through the foliage of the trees into what looked to be a small farming village. A few faces stared at me as I landed in the dirt, sending a cloud of dust up around me. Everything around me smelled of death, and decay. There was one spot, the sight of it sent my stomach reeling, the smell was indescribable. It looked like black water, but smelled like poison and blood.
A few men, warn and dirty ran forward with crude weapons, and I growled at them, stopping them in their tracks.
"Just, please just leave sir, we have nothing here for you," came a soft voice behind me, and a young woman stood there, her hands laying palm out before her. I growled again and she took a step back, but didn't run. I gave her credit, she was courageous.
"Stupid humans, I'm not interested in robbing you, I'm looking for someone," I hissed, and saw a few confused looks on their faces.
"You're looking for Bara-sama," she whispered and I spun around to stare at her.
"Bara?" I asked. Bara meant Rose, could it be-
"No! Saki, don't betray her!" a cry rang out and a few women ran forward to grab her arms and pull her back. She struggled a moment, and pulled free.
"You're her mate, aren't you?" she asked again. This woman's forwardness was surprising, especially for what seemed to be a simple peasant. I nodded and mumbled gruffly, "Yes, I am."
"Mate? Bara-sama doesn't have a mate, especially not a creature like-" the women were silenced by an angry look from me and an even angrier look from this Saki woman.
"Stupid twittering idiots," she yelled at them, "You must have seen the mark on her neck, you kept falling over yourselves around her, acting like she were Buddha himself."
"She can't be mated," they wailed, "She looked so pure and innocent, a spirit come to avenge our families from the demons with no form."
That caught my attention, and I grabbed Saki's wrist before I realized what I was doing, "Demons you couldn't see! She fought them?!"
Saki blanched but nodded, "Yes, I don't know how. We found her the other day, with a large youkai cat, beaten and dirty. We took her in and this morning she left suddenly, saying there was danger here. By the time I arrived, it was over. Hanyou-sama," she whispered this title, and I could tell that she was scared of my reaction, "she became very ill afterwards, and couldn't eat. Then without telling anyone, she left again."
I glanced up at the sky, the sun was already on its way back down to the horizon. She couldn't have gotten that far, in her weakened state. I frowned, I didn't like the feeling that rose up inside me, she shouldn't have been traveling so soon again, she needed more rest.
"Thank you," I said softly, releasing her wrist. She smiled, "Bara, she was a very brave woman. This village will always be in her debt."
I nodded, "Then do us this
favor. A small group of travelers should
be coming through here shortly. Tell
them that I've continued north to find her, see that their horses get some
water and food, and tell that under no circumstances, are they to follow
me. I will return here with her."
She nodded, "I understand." I nodded once again and took off running back into the woods.
AN: I wanted to write more, but it's late, and you guys have been patient all weekend. Besides, if I kept writing, I'd end up with a 20 pg document and not enough sleep to face my LONG day tomorrow!! So enjoy this chapter everyone! Also, I apologize for any grammatical errors that might occur in this document, or if anything seems unclear. I'm jumping ahead of my beta's, because I really want to get this out to everyone.
AgentScully: I got 124, be prepared for a LOT of emotion! Or if you're a member of the anti-Kikyou club like me, a lot of. (spoiler). *laugh* Thanks so much for your comments, and I'm glad you can relate my chapters to episodes in the series. If I wouldn't get sued up the ying yang for doing it, and if I had enough talent to draw a stick figure straight, I would do my own manga on this story. As it is, I do have some fan art of the characters, not too good, though my drawing of Kei is my favorite, and I'm trying to get better! As soon as I have them up for viewing, I promise I'll let everyone know!
BeyondWords: I'm sorry to hear about your dog! My dog died the year I went off to college, it seems someone poisoned her. She was only 10. *hugs* No matter how fitting it might seem, loosing a pet is always very hard, because they are your best friends! But I believe they're never really gone, that some part of them stays with you, keeping watch over you.
Kay(): *laugh* Here's your next chapter…happy?!! Sorry it took me so long, but I have a lot on my plate in the real world!
Smiley-chan : LOL I hope you like my comments up at the top of this chapter, just for you ^_^
Funky Nassau: Yeah, angst and fluff, two of my favorite tools! Someone asked me if I would write a lemon scene for this story, but I can't. It's not in my nature and not in the nature of the characters, but I can be sweet and fluffy! You're taking Calc. *shudders and backs away*. Evil math! I'm so loving being a History major, the only numbers I need to remember are dates! *laugh* And being in HS doesn't make you lowly, it makes you lucky. Believe me, I couldn't wait to get out of HS, because I thought that something better was out there, and now I really miss the freedom I had in HS. College is the real world PLUS school, so enjoy it while it lasts!! Glad you liked Shakira. I'm thinking of doing another song chapter…I haven't decided what yet, but it's defiantly going to be a very sweet/romantic song, cause I need to *laugh*. I'm a girl, I live for romance!
pasta-head(): Who is the mysterious voice? *laugh* Well if I tell you now, that ruins all the fun of surprise, doesn't it?!
Phoenix06: *laugh* I love single word reviews "Wow" is my all time favorite! Cause that one word conveys everything! Of course you went on to say more, but the Wow really covered it! I'll check out your story gladly!
Bunny-Butler : I'm glad you like my characters! I'm trying to be original but stick with the style of the original ^_^
MythrilDagger: I know, I envy Francesca, and she's my own character!! LOL, some girls get all the luck! Kei is, Kei isn't given enough justice in my stories I think. If I could cook a camera up to my brain so you guys could see what I see in my head when I think/write of him, you'd agree. But he is wicked awesome, struggling with his own sense of independence, as well as trying to find his own path in life. As I told Funky, enjoy school as much as you can. I know it seems a pain now, but once you get to college, if that's where you're heading, it's a whole new game!! My own advise, I try and dedicated only 1 hour to my fun stuff a night, and the rest to my school work, that way if I get done with my school work early, I have bonus time to play on the computer. That way you balance school and fun and not go nuts!! Speaking of school, I'd better quit babbling and get back to my own work!
Inu Girl(): Congrats on the puppies!! Poor Gigets, make sure she gets extra pampering for the next few days!!
