Inuvember 2019 - Day Six

by A Mad Youkai Tea Party

A month-long celebration of the Inuyasha series, hosted on Tumblr. I decided to post them up here as well. Day Six Prompt: Children.

Original source: s/13427237/1/Inuvember-2019-Day-Six

Words: 1074

Rated: Fiction K+ - Language: English - Genre: Friendship - Reviews: 2 - Favs: 2 - Published: Nov 7, 2019 - Complete

Exported with the assistance of FicHub

Inuvember 2019 - Day Six

Day 6: Children

It had been a long day of traveling when a small family stopped by a peculiar village. The family had been traveling for a while now, but they noticed that it would be getting dark in a few hours. With the danger that came with nightfall, especially from youkai, the family thought it would be best to stay at the village for the night. It was small and quiet, so they had no worries as they showed up. The villagers seemed cautious as they approached, but the family payed them no mind.

"Excuse me, do you have anywhere in this village for me and my family to stay the night?"

The villagers looked between each other before one answered, "You should check with Kaede-sama, she's the head miko of the village."

"Kagome-sama, should also be able to assist you if Kaede-sama is unavailable" another added, "She's the younger miko."

That pleased the parents, knowing that there were two miko in the village meant that the village was safe from youkai, "Thank you. Do you know where either of them might be?"

"Kaede-sama's home is by the shrine. If neither of them are there, someone who knows where they are should be there" came the reply.

"Mother, can I go find someone to play with?" their child asked.

The mother smiled, "Of course. I'm sure there are plenty of children here who would love to play with you."

Akemi walked in the direction that the villagers mentioned children were playing, and only rushed over when she heard laughter. When she made her way to the clearing, she noticed a decently large group of children playing. There were two twin girls, who could only be told apart by the color of their clothes. There was a young boy not much younger than them. There were two other boys, both around the same age, but one of them made Akemi hesitate. He was different, with silver hair, glowing gold eyes and two pointed ears tipped black on top of his head. Was he a youkai?

Nearby, obliviously watching over the children, was a man that seemed weird as well. Though in a different way. He wore armor and fur, and his hair was pulled back to reveal two pointed ears. He was talking to a young woman, who was teaching two smaller girls how to make flower crowns. The smaller of the girls also had silver hair, though only one of her eyes was golden, but her ears were exactly the same the boy. The taller of the two girls wore fur armor as well, with pointed ears and a grin that showed off her fangs, and long black hair with a white streak pulled into a ponytail.

The boy with silver hair must have noticed her, because he suddenly stopped and looked over at her. The other kids followed his gaze, and then the boy just ducked behind one of the girls, as if she scared him. The man must have noticed her as well, because he whispered something to the young woman while tilting his head in her direction. She looked over at Akemi, then stood up and made her way over to her.

"Hello, I'm Rin" the woman smiled, "I haven't seen you before."

Akemi shook her head, "My family is traveling and we're staying in this village tonight. I'm Akemi."

"Well Akemi-chan, it's a pleasure to meet you. Do you want me to introduce you to the other children? I'm sure they'd love to play with you" Rin said.

"Okay!" she agreed.

Rin laughed as gestured for the children to come closer, "Haru-chan, stop hiding behind Rumi-chan and Shinju-chan. Akemi-chan won't hurt you, I'm sure she's really nice."

The group of children all giggled and lined up besides each other. Akemi noticed that the two youngest girls stayed with the older man, the young girl with black hair had placed a flower crown on the girl with the ears, and was now braiding flowers into her hair.. The two older girls - the twins - stood on either side of the group, with all the boys in the middle. Rin gestured as she listed all the children's names.

"The young girl in green in Rumi-chan, and her sister is Shinju-chan. Their two brothers are Miyatsu-chan and Mushin-chan, and then there's their friend Haruki-chan" Rin stated, "There's also little Mizuki-chan and Yuri-chan over there, by Yuri-chan's father Kouga."

"Do you want to play tag" Rumi asked, "It's really fun!"

Shinju smiled, "We could play hide-and-seek if you like! Haruki-kun is really good at that game, but he tries not to be cheat."

"Sounds like fun!" Akemi replied.

It was after a few hours of playing and having fun, that things started to turn bad. Akemi had enjoyed her time with the village children, and she thought that some of the games they played were very interesting. They were games she never heard of before, but they were all still very fun. That was when her father had come looking for her. She had rushed over to greet him, eager to tell him and her mother all about the fun they had, when she noticed her father stopped in his tracks, looking as if he had seen something frightening.

"Akemi, get over here" he stated.

Akemi was confused at his tone, "Why? What's wrong?"

"Akemi, get over here and away from that thing!"

"You should watch what you say, you know" Kouga interrupted, standing up now, "Children tend to pick up bad behaviors from adults."

Her father turned to retaliate, but when he noticed who had spoken to him, he turned quiet. Rin seemed to be trying to get Kouga's attention, as she repeatedly told Kouga to stop doing something in a harsh whisper, though Akemi failed to see what Kouga was doing. Without a word, her father grabbed her arm and tugged her away. When she looked back, she noticed everyone appeared upset that she being taken away. She gave them a sad smile and waved at them. They waved back, though Haruki especially looked very upset by the whole thing.

People aren't born full of hate. They're taught it.