Kokoro No Kaitou : Once Lost, Now Found
Chapter 4
~*~
Amaya made a face as she stepped through the marsh. Her shoes were not made for this kind of outdoor travel, and she regretted not wearing different ones.
She wore a pair of baggy pants, tied at her ankles, and a tank top that covered her stomach. Both were all black. But despite the fact that her shoes were cloth slippers with hard soles, she was thankful for them.
But that was only because they were better than Jin's and Shishiwakamaru's.
Jin didn't even have shoes.
Her foot got stuck in the slush, and she started to fall forward. She let out a small scream as she prepared to have the gunk smooched into her face.
But it never came.
She looked up, and Shishiwakamaru smiled at her.
"You should be more careful, Amaya-san."
She smiled back. "Domo arigato, Shishi-kun."
He let her go so that she could stand on her own, and Jin looked back at them.
"Ya all righ' back there, lass?" He called.
She nodded. "I just tripped."
"Wan' me ta carry ya?"
"That's alright, Jin-kun." She called back. "I'll be fine."
He nodded, and they all resumed their walk - all though Shishiwakamaru kept a close eye on the tennyo, ready to catch her should she fall again.
Amaya sighed inwardly as they walked. Not that she didn't mind the company of the samurai and wind master, but she would much rather have had it so that she, Kurama and Naomi were in a group.
She loved her daughter dearly, and she wanted to make sure that she wouldn't get hurt…
Then again, she mused, she has both Kurama and Chuu there to protect her, should anything happen. I trust them to take good care of her.
"Ow!" Jin exclaimed suddenly.
"Daijobu ka, Jin-kun?" Amaya asked, hurrying over to his side.
He nodded, and rubbed his arm. "Fine, lass. Just a little bug bite. I've had it for an hour or so, doncha know."
"Alright. If you say so." She said slowly.
He grinned. "Really, lass. Just a little bug bite."
She smiled again. However, Shishiwakamaru frowned. He didn't appreciate the wind master moving in on his woman.
He started to feel himself reverting to his original, demon form, and quickly calmed himself down.
Relax, Shishi. She's not going to fall for him. Besides, we all know that he doesn't like her that way. No, if anything, he likes Naomi. He thought.
But what about the fox? The little voice in the back of his head called.
What about him?
He is the woman's mate. He'll not go down without a fight.
He frowned. That was right…they were mates. But she didn't seem to be showing interest in him anymore…
"Shishi-kun!"
Her voice snapped him out of his daze, and he looked to where they were, a little further up on the path.
"Shishi-kun, I think there's something wrong with him!" She exclaimed.
She had knelt down beside Jin, who was clutching his stomach and had his eyes squeezed shut. There was blood on the ground, and on Amaya - apparently, Jin had coughed it up.
He quickly ran forward and kneeled down beside them as well. Amaya was crying, and that only distressed him more.
"Shishi, what's wrong with him…?" She asked.
The blue-haired warrior looked Jin over.
"I'm not sure. But I think we should get him back to the village."
~*~
Touya looked around the rubble, trying to see if anyone was left alive.
They had stumbled upon a village, and the entire population seemed to have been slaughtered. But the strangest thing was that some of them seemed to have had the bug before they died, because they found some piles of dust.
He sighed, and stood.
"No survivors here."
"Nor here." Suzuka called as well.
The ice master looked over at Hiei, who was standing out in the street area. He had his jagan uncovered, and it glowed and pulsed with an eerie green light.
"Hiei, did you find anything?" He asked.
"Nothing." He started pulling his headband back on. "There isn't a single living, breathing creature for a three mile radius of this place."
"So…now what?" Suzuka asked. "Do we go back home?"
Hiei stopped.
Touya looked over at him. "What's wrong?"
Hiei suddenly whirled around, katana drawn. He sliced through a youkai, which had appeared behind him. The black clothes fluttered to the ground, and a small paper flared up inside before dieing out.
"What was that?" Suzuka asked.
"That would be some kind of summoning. Someone was controlling it." Touya said. He got into a defensive position. "And where there's one, there will always be more."
Suzuka moved closer to Touya, looking around cautiously as he did.
"I'm not a fighter, so-"
"I understand, Suzuka." Touya said.
"There!" Hiei exclaimed suddenly.
Touya whirled to punch one of the other summonings, destroying it effectively. He then moved on to destroy the other two that appeared right after its predecessor was 'killed'.
"Do you see any more, Hiei?" The ice master called.
"None that I can sense…" He replied.
"We should…er, get back to the village, don't you think?" Suzuka said.
"I'll tell the others." Hiei said. He was quiet for a minute, before opening his eyes.
"What is it? Is something wrong?" Touya asked.
"Amaya's too upset to really explain anything." He looked back to them. "We should get back to the village immediately."
~*~
Naomi suddenly tensed up, and shivered, rubbing her arms to get some warmth back into them.
"Something's wrong…" She said quietly.
The three of them had stopped to take a break, and had built a fire near the side of the road. Chuu looked over at her, a concerned look on his face.
"What's wrong?" He asked.
"I'm…not sure." She replied. "I think it has something to do with my mom."
Kurama tensed up. "Amaya? Is she okay?"
"Should we head back to the village?" Chuu asked.
"No…" Naomi whispered. "Someone's in pain…"
"Who?" Kurama asked. "Who's in pain?"
She clutched her head, as it was ringing out in pain.
"Can't you hear him screaming?" She asked. "I can…"
"Who?!" Kurama demanded.
"He wants someone…a girl…" She said, wincing as the pain intensified. "He's not saying her name out loud, but he's thinking about her. He thinks that he's going to die."
The pain in her head stopped, and moved down to her stomach.
"What girl?" Chuu asked.
"Something about blue…I think…her name is Yuki, or something like that." She doubled over suddenly, and cried out. "Kami-sama, my stomach!"
She screamed, and the world seemed to spin.
~*~
Kuwabara screamed, clutching his stomach as he fell to the ground.
"Yusuke, what's wrong with him?!" Midori exclaimed.
"Kuwabara!" He ran over to his friend's side, pulling him into a sitting position. "Damn it, what's wrong with you?!"
But the reiken-wielding teen couldn't talk. There was too much pain…
Yuki…na… I want to see you…before I die…because I think this may be it…
He shoved Yusuke away from him, and threw up.
"Oh, Kami-sama!" Midori exclaimed.
Kuwabara looked at his fingers, and saw that they were covered in blood. He had puked up blood.
He slipped into darkness.
~*~
Amaya paced back and forth across the room, stopping occasionally to glance at the wind master laying on the futon. He was ghostly pale, and kept slipping in and out of consciousness.
And when he was conscious, he would beg for water.
He kept complaining about being thirsty…
That worried her, because it sounded a lot like the bug that Kurama had been talking about.
She really hoped that that wasn't what he had. She hoped that it was just minor dehydration or something…
But that wasn't likely.
She jumped when the sliding door suddenly opened. She turned around, and saw Shishiwakamaru standing there.
"Is he looking any better?" He asked, walking in.
She removed her hand from its place over her heart, and shook her head. "No, he's not. If anything, he's getting worse."
"Why don't you come out and have some tea? He's not going to wake up for at least a little while, and you'll need your rest as well." He said.
She sighed, and reluctantly followed him out the door.
"Shishi-kun…do you think that Jin-kun has that bug that Kurama was talking about?" She asked, sitting down at the kitchen table.
He sighed, and placed the cup of tea in front of her. "Maybe, maybe not. It's hard to say."
She took the cup, but felt no incentive to drink its contents. "I really, really hope that he doesn't."
He reached out and took her hand in his. "I hope so too."
The front door suddenly opened, and Amaya jumped, retracting her hand from his grasp. Both looked over at Touya, who had just entered.
"Where is Jin?" He asked.
Amaya blinked, then stood. She didn't know how he knew that there was something wrong with Jin, but she pointed to the room anyways.
"He's in there."
The ice master nodded in thanks, and walked into the indicated room. A second later, Hiei and Suzuka entered.
"Is he alright?" The blonde inventor asked. "Old three eyes said he was in trouble."
"Does he have the bug?" Hiei rephrased.
"We're not sure." Shishiwakamaru said, standing as well. "We'd need the packet that Kurama has with him in order to tell for sure."
Amaya sighed, and walked outside. She needed some fresh air, and some time to think. Neither one of the boys stopped her, nor followed her.
She looked out over the land that surrounded the Shinobi village.
Please, come soon you three. For Jin' sake…
~*~
Author's Notes : Cliffie!!! Hahahaha!! Sorry, I'm a little hyper. I'm sorry that I lied to you all, but I'm keeping Naomi's birth a secret for a little while longer. Aren't I just a sweet little angel?
Oh, and I just posted the website! It's still under construction, but I'm working on it. It's got some temporary pictures of Amaya and Midori. Yeah…uh… here's the link (delete the spaces)
http: // www. Geocities. Com / darkchobit_home
Leave a signature thingie in the guestbook.
Replies to chapter 2
miyako14, Kaze Tsukai : Thanks for reviewing!
FieryKitsune : For the longest time, I needed subtitles too. Then I went to Ireland…@__@ If you think Jin's accent is hard to understand, try going to a place where you listen to it 24/7, and there IS NO subtitles!! X___X
Sun Priestess : Yeah, I know. You'd think that if your girlfriend is clairvoyant, you'd listen to her if she said something was a bad idea.
Story Weaver1 : He might be a little OOC, but he needs to be to fit the part.
DarkVixenNisha : Maybe, maybe not…MWAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA!!
Katie E. : A woman never tells her age!! But I'll let you know that I'm still in high school. Are you?
Kagome0102 : She doesn't hate him, she's just angry that he didn't even try to contact her for SEVENTEEN years. Wouldn't you be pissed at first?
Aya Komodo : Again, maybe, maybe not…
Suzaku no miko : More and more will be explained as the story goes on.
blue pixie dust : Sine I love to torture my reviewers…maybe they will, maybe they won't…all depends on my mood…*cackles insanely* *starts coughing*
Shessha's Crazy : dun dun dun…
Replies for chapter 3
miyako14 : Here you go!
crimson7319 : Thanks for the review!! I know, I did lie, but I want to keep it s secret and make things suspenseful for a while, because I'm evil that way.
Shessha's Crazy : Love triangle will intensify later…but I'm not gonna tell you how. MWAHAHAHA * starts coughing again * Uh…the evil laugh is giving me a sore throat. LOL.
Psychocatgal : *grins* Thanks!
Story Weaver1 : Hopefully…maybe…maybe not. You can't really tell by looks, because she's practically her mother's double.
FieryKitsune : Everyone is telling me to reincarnate him. He probably didn't have time to think though, did he? He died pretty quickly…
Katie E. : Again, everything will be explained later…dun dun dun…
Suzaku no miko : Now you know what happened to him! It was pretty nasty in my opinion!! ^___^ I'm so sadistic.
DarkVixenNisha : Thanks, Nisha-chan!
*waves fingers* Owie! Okay, after all that typing, it's time for you to do your part and REVIEW!! Oh, and PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE check out my website!!
Chapter 4
~*~
Amaya made a face as she stepped through the marsh. Her shoes were not made for this kind of outdoor travel, and she regretted not wearing different ones.
She wore a pair of baggy pants, tied at her ankles, and a tank top that covered her stomach. Both were all black. But despite the fact that her shoes were cloth slippers with hard soles, she was thankful for them.
But that was only because they were better than Jin's and Shishiwakamaru's.
Jin didn't even have shoes.
Her foot got stuck in the slush, and she started to fall forward. She let out a small scream as she prepared to have the gunk smooched into her face.
But it never came.
She looked up, and Shishiwakamaru smiled at her.
"You should be more careful, Amaya-san."
She smiled back. "Domo arigato, Shishi-kun."
He let her go so that she could stand on her own, and Jin looked back at them.
"Ya all righ' back there, lass?" He called.
She nodded. "I just tripped."
"Wan' me ta carry ya?"
"That's alright, Jin-kun." She called back. "I'll be fine."
He nodded, and they all resumed their walk - all though Shishiwakamaru kept a close eye on the tennyo, ready to catch her should she fall again.
Amaya sighed inwardly as they walked. Not that she didn't mind the company of the samurai and wind master, but she would much rather have had it so that she, Kurama and Naomi were in a group.
She loved her daughter dearly, and she wanted to make sure that she wouldn't get hurt…
Then again, she mused, she has both Kurama and Chuu there to protect her, should anything happen. I trust them to take good care of her.
"Ow!" Jin exclaimed suddenly.
"Daijobu ka, Jin-kun?" Amaya asked, hurrying over to his side.
He nodded, and rubbed his arm. "Fine, lass. Just a little bug bite. I've had it for an hour or so, doncha know."
"Alright. If you say so." She said slowly.
He grinned. "Really, lass. Just a little bug bite."
She smiled again. However, Shishiwakamaru frowned. He didn't appreciate the wind master moving in on his woman.
He started to feel himself reverting to his original, demon form, and quickly calmed himself down.
Relax, Shishi. She's not going to fall for him. Besides, we all know that he doesn't like her that way. No, if anything, he likes Naomi. He thought.
But what about the fox? The little voice in the back of his head called.
What about him?
He is the woman's mate. He'll not go down without a fight.
He frowned. That was right…they were mates. But she didn't seem to be showing interest in him anymore…
"Shishi-kun!"
Her voice snapped him out of his daze, and he looked to where they were, a little further up on the path.
"Shishi-kun, I think there's something wrong with him!" She exclaimed.
She had knelt down beside Jin, who was clutching his stomach and had his eyes squeezed shut. There was blood on the ground, and on Amaya - apparently, Jin had coughed it up.
He quickly ran forward and kneeled down beside them as well. Amaya was crying, and that only distressed him more.
"Shishi, what's wrong with him…?" She asked.
The blue-haired warrior looked Jin over.
"I'm not sure. But I think we should get him back to the village."
~*~
Touya looked around the rubble, trying to see if anyone was left alive.
They had stumbled upon a village, and the entire population seemed to have been slaughtered. But the strangest thing was that some of them seemed to have had the bug before they died, because they found some piles of dust.
He sighed, and stood.
"No survivors here."
"Nor here." Suzuka called as well.
The ice master looked over at Hiei, who was standing out in the street area. He had his jagan uncovered, and it glowed and pulsed with an eerie green light.
"Hiei, did you find anything?" He asked.
"Nothing." He started pulling his headband back on. "There isn't a single living, breathing creature for a three mile radius of this place."
"So…now what?" Suzuka asked. "Do we go back home?"
Hiei stopped.
Touya looked over at him. "What's wrong?"
Hiei suddenly whirled around, katana drawn. He sliced through a youkai, which had appeared behind him. The black clothes fluttered to the ground, and a small paper flared up inside before dieing out.
"What was that?" Suzuka asked.
"That would be some kind of summoning. Someone was controlling it." Touya said. He got into a defensive position. "And where there's one, there will always be more."
Suzuka moved closer to Touya, looking around cautiously as he did.
"I'm not a fighter, so-"
"I understand, Suzuka." Touya said.
"There!" Hiei exclaimed suddenly.
Touya whirled to punch one of the other summonings, destroying it effectively. He then moved on to destroy the other two that appeared right after its predecessor was 'killed'.
"Do you see any more, Hiei?" The ice master called.
"None that I can sense…" He replied.
"We should…er, get back to the village, don't you think?" Suzuka said.
"I'll tell the others." Hiei said. He was quiet for a minute, before opening his eyes.
"What is it? Is something wrong?" Touya asked.
"Amaya's too upset to really explain anything." He looked back to them. "We should get back to the village immediately."
~*~
Naomi suddenly tensed up, and shivered, rubbing her arms to get some warmth back into them.
"Something's wrong…" She said quietly.
The three of them had stopped to take a break, and had built a fire near the side of the road. Chuu looked over at her, a concerned look on his face.
"What's wrong?" He asked.
"I'm…not sure." She replied. "I think it has something to do with my mom."
Kurama tensed up. "Amaya? Is she okay?"
"Should we head back to the village?" Chuu asked.
"No…" Naomi whispered. "Someone's in pain…"
"Who?" Kurama asked. "Who's in pain?"
She clutched her head, as it was ringing out in pain.
"Can't you hear him screaming?" She asked. "I can…"
"Who?!" Kurama demanded.
"He wants someone…a girl…" She said, wincing as the pain intensified. "He's not saying her name out loud, but he's thinking about her. He thinks that he's going to die."
The pain in her head stopped, and moved down to her stomach.
"What girl?" Chuu asked.
"Something about blue…I think…her name is Yuki, or something like that." She doubled over suddenly, and cried out. "Kami-sama, my stomach!"
She screamed, and the world seemed to spin.
~*~
Kuwabara screamed, clutching his stomach as he fell to the ground.
"Yusuke, what's wrong with him?!" Midori exclaimed.
"Kuwabara!" He ran over to his friend's side, pulling him into a sitting position. "Damn it, what's wrong with you?!"
But the reiken-wielding teen couldn't talk. There was too much pain…
Yuki…na… I want to see you…before I die…because I think this may be it…
He shoved Yusuke away from him, and threw up.
"Oh, Kami-sama!" Midori exclaimed.
Kuwabara looked at his fingers, and saw that they were covered in blood. He had puked up blood.
He slipped into darkness.
~*~
Amaya paced back and forth across the room, stopping occasionally to glance at the wind master laying on the futon. He was ghostly pale, and kept slipping in and out of consciousness.
And when he was conscious, he would beg for water.
He kept complaining about being thirsty…
That worried her, because it sounded a lot like the bug that Kurama had been talking about.
She really hoped that that wasn't what he had. She hoped that it was just minor dehydration or something…
But that wasn't likely.
She jumped when the sliding door suddenly opened. She turned around, and saw Shishiwakamaru standing there.
"Is he looking any better?" He asked, walking in.
She removed her hand from its place over her heart, and shook her head. "No, he's not. If anything, he's getting worse."
"Why don't you come out and have some tea? He's not going to wake up for at least a little while, and you'll need your rest as well." He said.
She sighed, and reluctantly followed him out the door.
"Shishi-kun…do you think that Jin-kun has that bug that Kurama was talking about?" She asked, sitting down at the kitchen table.
He sighed, and placed the cup of tea in front of her. "Maybe, maybe not. It's hard to say."
She took the cup, but felt no incentive to drink its contents. "I really, really hope that he doesn't."
He reached out and took her hand in his. "I hope so too."
The front door suddenly opened, and Amaya jumped, retracting her hand from his grasp. Both looked over at Touya, who had just entered.
"Where is Jin?" He asked.
Amaya blinked, then stood. She didn't know how he knew that there was something wrong with Jin, but she pointed to the room anyways.
"He's in there."
The ice master nodded in thanks, and walked into the indicated room. A second later, Hiei and Suzuka entered.
"Is he alright?" The blonde inventor asked. "Old three eyes said he was in trouble."
"Does he have the bug?" Hiei rephrased.
"We're not sure." Shishiwakamaru said, standing as well. "We'd need the packet that Kurama has with him in order to tell for sure."
Amaya sighed, and walked outside. She needed some fresh air, and some time to think. Neither one of the boys stopped her, nor followed her.
She looked out over the land that surrounded the Shinobi village.
Please, come soon you three. For Jin' sake…
~*~
Author's Notes : Cliffie!!! Hahahaha!! Sorry, I'm a little hyper. I'm sorry that I lied to you all, but I'm keeping Naomi's birth a secret for a little while longer. Aren't I just a sweet little angel?
Oh, and I just posted the website! It's still under construction, but I'm working on it. It's got some temporary pictures of Amaya and Midori. Yeah…uh… here's the link (delete the spaces)
http: // www. Geocities. Com / darkchobit_home
Leave a signature thingie in the guestbook.
Replies to chapter 2
miyako14, Kaze Tsukai : Thanks for reviewing!
FieryKitsune : For the longest time, I needed subtitles too. Then I went to Ireland…@__@ If you think Jin's accent is hard to understand, try going to a place where you listen to it 24/7, and there IS NO subtitles!! X___X
Sun Priestess : Yeah, I know. You'd think that if your girlfriend is clairvoyant, you'd listen to her if she said something was a bad idea.
Story Weaver1 : He might be a little OOC, but he needs to be to fit the part.
DarkVixenNisha : Maybe, maybe not…MWAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA!!
Katie E. : A woman never tells her age!! But I'll let you know that I'm still in high school. Are you?
Kagome0102 : She doesn't hate him, she's just angry that he didn't even try to contact her for SEVENTEEN years. Wouldn't you be pissed at first?
Aya Komodo : Again, maybe, maybe not…
Suzaku no miko : More and more will be explained as the story goes on.
blue pixie dust : Sine I love to torture my reviewers…maybe they will, maybe they won't…all depends on my mood…*cackles insanely* *starts coughing*
Shessha's Crazy : dun dun dun…
Replies for chapter 3
miyako14 : Here you go!
crimson7319 : Thanks for the review!! I know, I did lie, but I want to keep it s secret and make things suspenseful for a while, because I'm evil that way.
Shessha's Crazy : Love triangle will intensify later…but I'm not gonna tell you how. MWAHAHAHA * starts coughing again * Uh…the evil laugh is giving me a sore throat. LOL.
Psychocatgal : *grins* Thanks!
Story Weaver1 : Hopefully…maybe…maybe not. You can't really tell by looks, because she's practically her mother's double.
FieryKitsune : Everyone is telling me to reincarnate him. He probably didn't have time to think though, did he? He died pretty quickly…
Katie E. : Again, everything will be explained later…dun dun dun…
Suzaku no miko : Now you know what happened to him! It was pretty nasty in my opinion!! ^___^ I'm so sadistic.
DarkVixenNisha : Thanks, Nisha-chan!
*waves fingers* Owie! Okay, after all that typing, it's time for you to do your part and REVIEW!! Oh, and PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE check out my website!!