Like Father
Chapter Four:
Relativity
Why do I keep falling unconscious? Why doesn't the poison just kill me already?
"—I'm surprised the poison hasn't completely subdued her yet, or killed her by now, if what she says is true about her being a quarter-demon."
"Miroku has a point. If this Kiara really is only a quarter-demon, shouldn't the poison have finished her by now? Most of us know the effects of miasma, and have barely survived it ourselves. And Kagome, didn't you say most of her injuries were infected?"
"Yeah."
"Her injuries must be recent, then, or she's just too stubborn to die until she's at least tried to save her uncle."
"Inuyasha?"
"… Maybe if she saw her uncle again she wouldn't need to go back to the future; if that really is when she came from."
"What do you mean? Do you actually want her to stay, Inuyasha?"
"Well…"
"Inuyasha, you pig!"
"Kagome, not like that. I meant that if she goes back to the future… if her uncle is who I think he is… Whether or not she learns to use that sword, she'll be killed. I can tell just by looking at her, she doesn't have much fighting experience."
"You know who her uncle is?"
"No, I only think I do."
"If you think you know who her uncle is, what about her parents? I mean she knew Kirara… Does that mean she's…?"
"She might be mine… Or she could be Naraku's."
"But… How do you figure that?"
"For one, that sword she carries, that's an improved Tetsusaiga. Secondly, every time she sees Kagome she gets tense."
"Does that mean…?"
"I dunno, I'm just guessing here. She could be Naraku and Kikyo's brat for all I know, or she could be one of Naraku's offspring, like that wretch Kagura."
"But I tended her wounds and she doesn't have a spider shaped scar on her back."
"Well…"
Kiara sat up partially and glared over at the four humans, two demons, and one half-breed gathered around the small fire set in a pit at the center of the hut. "Naraku isn't my father. That bastard created the damned cloud of poison that's been killing off my family." She growled at them. "Where's my sword?"
"Huh!" The group of seven turned to look around at the now conscious Kiara.
"Ye are awake, child."
"Yeah, thanks for noticing grandma." She grumbled, sitting up while holding her ribs.
"Hey, you shouldn't talk to Lady Kaede like that. Without her help, you wouldn't be alive right now."
Kiara looked to Kagome with her eyes widening slightly, then scowled and looked away at the door. "Fine. I'm sorry." She growled, and then grabbed her sword from against the wall to her left, opposite of where she was looking, and stood precariously and walked blandly toward the door.
"Where d'you think you're going?"
"To find my uncle."
"Why? He won't listen to you, or like the fact a quarter-demon is calling herself his niece."
"When the darkness possessing him finally tracks me down, whether it follows me here to the past, or finds me when I travel back to the future, I'll be forced to kill him, or my uncle will be forced to kill me. Either way, I want to tell him I'm sorry, and thank him for taking care of myself and protecting my mother after your death. That way, when these events come to pass in the future, he'll at least know I loved him and appreciated him."
"If you really have to do this, at least leave your Tetsusaiga here. Sesshoumaru will take it from you otherwise. He might be different in the future, but he still wants my sword now."
"He might not act like it right now, but my uncle does love you, or else he wouldn't have protected mother and I all those years. Besides, he'll have to rip my arm off if he wants this sword. You gave him your arm before you died, it was the only way he could hold Tetsusaiga and make it transform. Every other arm rejects his body. He won't know that, not until the distant future, therefore he won't take my sword."
"How can you be sure of that?"
"Because of Fate. The future can't be changed." A small smirk comes to her lips. "Besides, I haven't disappeared yet. If I were wrong about any of this, I wouldn't come to exist. Oh, and dad, be nicer to Shippou. When his father is revived, you don't want to be the half-breed Shippou tells him about."