Chapter 5- Hikaru and Inuyasha Meet
A few moments later everyone sat around the fire eating the food. The sun had completely set and the warm glow of the fire was the only light on the cloudy night. Hikaru smiled, "Thank you Sango, the food is wonderful."
"Your welcome," Sango smiled.
"Hikaru," Miroku spoke next, "I know this is a hard time for you, but might I ask what happened here?"
Sango shot him a disapproving look Hikaru only nodded. "It's okay," she sighed, "You all have a right to know. After all you all helped me recuperate." All eyes were on her as she began to speak.
"I was not born in this village, but my father was. As you all I know I am half-demon. My mother was a beautiful and powerful cat demon, she fell in love with my father a human and that was unacceptable in her pack. They allowed her to carry me to term, but when I was born I was sent into exile along with my mother. When I was 7 they contacted her and told her she might return to the pack, without me. It was the hardest decision she ever had to make. You see she was a member of the 'royal family' of the pack, her elder sister passed away with no heir, so that left my mother to led her other family." Hikaru finally tore her eyes from the fire and noticed everyone's eyes on her, Maybe I'm getting into too much detail, she thought.
Despite that fact she continued on, "When she left my father and I returned here to his home village. Here we lived until I was 15, but that is a different story..."
Hikaru smiled and looked over to Inuyasha who only watcher her tell the story. As Hikaru told the story images of the past filled Inuyasha's mind.
flash back
A young Inuyasha curled up in his mother's arms they'd been traveling days without much rest. The village she had raised him in for his entire life, which was only 8 years at this point, had turned on them. There had been some problems with a demon attacking some livestock. The villagers had turned on the young half-demon accusing him of attacking and killing the beasts so they had fled.
On a particularly sunny day they'd been walking on a dirt road when the young half-demon stirred in her arms. "What is it?" his mother asked.
He looked up into her his ears twitching at sounds she could not possibly hear. His mother had learned to trust his instincts so she frantically looked around the dirt road which was covered on either side with trees and shrubs. Although she squeezed her son even tighter in her arms he managed to squeeze out of grasp and he landed on the road.
The young silver haired half demon took a few steps away from her and sniffed the air. He ran up to some shrubs, crouched and then leapt behind them.
"INUYASHA!" she screamed as he disappeared behind the shrubs, as she ran up to where he had disappeared he jumped from the brush entangled and tumbling over an equally young figure trapped in black. The two rolled over each other kicking up the dirt of the road.
"Inuyasha stop it right now!" his mother yelled. He lost his concentration for a moment, but it was enough, he had the girl pinned but she took his loss of concentration and rolled him pinning her beneath her body. She raised her right hand, her fingertips molding into small claws.
"Hikaru!" A deep male vice called from the road. This time it was she who froze and Inuyasha pushed her off of him before running back to his mother and hiding behind her legs.
The girl he had been fighting with stood and hissed like a cat at him then she crouched down and he noticed her tail swaying. She took a few steps backward when finally the man came up and scoped her into his arms. "I'm so sorry," he apologized to Inuyasha's mother. "I have no idea what got into her." He turned her in his arms to face him, "Hikaru, why are you acting like this?"
Inuyasha watched her tail fall between her legs, "He started it!" she whined
"I did not!" he called, which got him a stern look from his mother. "I smelled her, she was spying on us!"
"I was curious!" The cat-like girl defended herself.
Inuyasha's mother raised a hand to silence her son then she turned back to the man before her, "I'm sorry as well, please forgive me and my son." She stepped aside to force Inuyasha to step forward.
The man put his daughter down, "Now go apologize for watching them." He instructed her. Dragging their feet the two half-demons walked between their parents, heads down.
"Sorry" they each mumbled.
"Now that's better." The man said, "Now invite your new friend over for dinner, they look weary with travel."
Hikaru looked behind her to her father and scowled. When he only nodded she turned back and only saw a proud Inuyasha lifting his chin, ready for her to humble herself. She too lifted her chin and walked past him nudging him with her shoulder as she went to his mother. She looked up to the most beautiful woman she'd ever seen, besides her own mother, "would you like to come to dinner?" she asked.
Before his mother answered the girl turned and stuck her tongue out to Inuyasha. He clenched his fists and glared at her.
"Hikaru!" her father corrected, but Inuyasha's mother just laughed.
End of Flashback
Hikaru's voice drug him out of his memories. "When I caught the scent of blood I came running towards the village. I had been gone several years but I remembered exactly how to get home. When I arrived I came across the same sight as you did..." Her voice trailed off as her eyes got lost in the fire. The scene had been horrific and even in the last few hours she had tried to forget it, but she couldn't, she wouldn't, not ever.
But she continued on with her story, "I followed the scent of my father into that hut." She nodded towards the one where she had emerged from, "but before I got there a woman stepped out of it."
"A woman?" Inuyasha interrupted, "but this play reeks of Naraku!"
She shot him a look, one that seemed failure and threatening, "I assure you it was NOT Naraku, but a woman in a white kimono with a feather in her hair. She called herself-"
"Kagura" Inuyasha interrupted again.
Hikaru and everyone else looked at him. When he finally met her eyes she only nodded solemnly.
A few moments later everyone sat around the fire eating the food. The sun had completely set and the warm glow of the fire was the only light on the cloudy night. Hikaru smiled, "Thank you Sango, the food is wonderful."
"Your welcome," Sango smiled.
"Hikaru," Miroku spoke next, "I know this is a hard time for you, but might I ask what happened here?"
Sango shot him a disapproving look Hikaru only nodded. "It's okay," she sighed, "You all have a right to know. After all you all helped me recuperate." All eyes were on her as she began to speak.
"I was not born in this village, but my father was. As you all I know I am half-demon. My mother was a beautiful and powerful cat demon, she fell in love with my father a human and that was unacceptable in her pack. They allowed her to carry me to term, but when I was born I was sent into exile along with my mother. When I was 7 they contacted her and told her she might return to the pack, without me. It was the hardest decision she ever had to make. You see she was a member of the 'royal family' of the pack, her elder sister passed away with no heir, so that left my mother to led her other family." Hikaru finally tore her eyes from the fire and noticed everyone's eyes on her, Maybe I'm getting into too much detail, she thought.
Despite that fact she continued on, "When she left my father and I returned here to his home village. Here we lived until I was 15, but that is a different story..."
Hikaru smiled and looked over to Inuyasha who only watcher her tell the story. As Hikaru told the story images of the past filled Inuyasha's mind.
flash back
A young Inuyasha curled up in his mother's arms they'd been traveling days without much rest. The village she had raised him in for his entire life, which was only 8 years at this point, had turned on them. There had been some problems with a demon attacking some livestock. The villagers had turned on the young half-demon accusing him of attacking and killing the beasts so they had fled.
On a particularly sunny day they'd been walking on a dirt road when the young half-demon stirred in her arms. "What is it?" his mother asked.
He looked up into her his ears twitching at sounds she could not possibly hear. His mother had learned to trust his instincts so she frantically looked around the dirt road which was covered on either side with trees and shrubs. Although she squeezed her son even tighter in her arms he managed to squeeze out of grasp and he landed on the road.
The young silver haired half demon took a few steps away from her and sniffed the air. He ran up to some shrubs, crouched and then leapt behind them.
"INUYASHA!" she screamed as he disappeared behind the shrubs, as she ran up to where he had disappeared he jumped from the brush entangled and tumbling over an equally young figure trapped in black. The two rolled over each other kicking up the dirt of the road.
"Inuyasha stop it right now!" his mother yelled. He lost his concentration for a moment, but it was enough, he had the girl pinned but she took his loss of concentration and rolled him pinning her beneath her body. She raised her right hand, her fingertips molding into small claws.
"Hikaru!" A deep male vice called from the road. This time it was she who froze and Inuyasha pushed her off of him before running back to his mother and hiding behind her legs.
The girl he had been fighting with stood and hissed like a cat at him then she crouched down and he noticed her tail swaying. She took a few steps backward when finally the man came up and scoped her into his arms. "I'm so sorry," he apologized to Inuyasha's mother. "I have no idea what got into her." He turned her in his arms to face him, "Hikaru, why are you acting like this?"
Inuyasha watched her tail fall between her legs, "He started it!" she whined
"I did not!" he called, which got him a stern look from his mother. "I smelled her, she was spying on us!"
"I was curious!" The cat-like girl defended herself.
Inuyasha's mother raised a hand to silence her son then she turned back to the man before her, "I'm sorry as well, please forgive me and my son." She stepped aside to force Inuyasha to step forward.
The man put his daughter down, "Now go apologize for watching them." He instructed her. Dragging their feet the two half-demons walked between their parents, heads down.
"Sorry" they each mumbled.
"Now that's better." The man said, "Now invite your new friend over for dinner, they look weary with travel."
Hikaru looked behind her to her father and scowled. When he only nodded she turned back and only saw a proud Inuyasha lifting his chin, ready for her to humble herself. She too lifted her chin and walked past him nudging him with her shoulder as she went to his mother. She looked up to the most beautiful woman she'd ever seen, besides her own mother, "would you like to come to dinner?" she asked.
Before his mother answered the girl turned and stuck her tongue out to Inuyasha. He clenched his fists and glared at her.
"Hikaru!" her father corrected, but Inuyasha's mother just laughed.
End of Flashback
Hikaru's voice drug him out of his memories. "When I caught the scent of blood I came running towards the village. I had been gone several years but I remembered exactly how to get home. When I arrived I came across the same sight as you did..." Her voice trailed off as her eyes got lost in the fire. The scene had been horrific and even in the last few hours she had tried to forget it, but she couldn't, she wouldn't, not ever.
But she continued on with her story, "I followed the scent of my father into that hut." She nodded towards the one where she had emerged from, "but before I got there a woman stepped out of it."
"A woman?" Inuyasha interrupted, "but this play reeks of Naraku!"
She shot him a look, one that seemed failure and threatening, "I assure you it was NOT Naraku, but a woman in a white kimono with a feather in her hair. She called herself-"
"Kagura" Inuyasha interrupted again.
Hikaru and everyone else looked at him. When he finally met her eyes she only nodded solemnly.