Don't own 'em...
When Tomorrow Starts Without You
By: ShenYue
E-mail: Preventer_02@hotmail.com
Chapter five: Of Wind and Rice
One step. Then two, then four, then across the room and leaning against the wall, chest heaving and sweating from the intermittent spasms of pain. Wiping his forehead with the back of his hand he noted dejectedly that it was still warmer then it should be.
"What happened to me...?" he sighed, rubbing his temples to ward off the throbbing headache.
A flash, wind whipping, tearing into his flesh...burning, fever, pain...blackness, death. Then a single picture silhouetted in silver light, a girl, no, a woman, beautiful, truly beautiful...more pain, stabbing into his heart and soul. Stumbling and gasping he sagged to his knees, clutching his head against the frustrating ache.
"Houshi-sama!" A flash of the woman's face again, this time without the pain, but it wasn't her that came crashing through the sliding doors. "You're up!" Vaguely he remembered the tiny girl with the dark eyes and pale face leaning over him every time he woke.
"Yes...I seem to be..."
"But you must take it easy! Okaa-san says you must rest still! Let me help you!" Gingerly, with carefulness most definitely not expected by the loud bundle of energy, she took his hand and led him back to the thick futon. "You lay down while I get Okaa-san."
"Okay." He resisted the urge to not laugh at the frail figure who was wagging her finger at him with a slightly scornful face, one of a mother minding her children.
"Yume tells me you have been up, houshi-sama?" The elderly, yet strong woman slid the door closed behind Yume and sat on her knees next to the reclining priest.
"I tried...but I am afraid I didn't get very far until the wall became my much needed companion."
"True, but you have improved faster then I thought. When you were brought to us I feared you would die." Smiling she pushed some loose, grey strands of her hair behind her ear. "You very nearly did."
"I apologize for being a burden to you, Obaa-san, I wish I had some way to repay you." Suppressing a yawn he sat up straighter, grimacing as the slight action pulled at the still healing wounds.
"No need, we were happy to do it for one such as handsome as you." Taken aback he blushed and looked away. The fact that he didn't even know himself made him very uncomfortable, especially in the presence of this older woman. "I have made you some new cloths, houshi-sama, your others were tattered." From behind her back she pulled a black kimono and purple kesa, handing them to the speechless cleric.
"Get dressed and eat some breakfast, then if you are up to it go look around the village. Come back here when you are tired."
"Thank you, Obaa-san." He was silent for a while and then as she stood up to leave he stopped her. "Your daughter, she bears no semblance to you."
"That is true, she was found in the woods and brought to me. I have adopted her as my own but...she is has an ill spirit and I fear she is fading quickly." With her eyes averted she continued slowly, "I have tried everything I can think of but nothing seems to hold." She looked up as the houshi's hand covered her own.
"I'm sorry I inquired, it was not my place to ask."
"It is all right, you did not know. I'm afraid there is only some cold onigiri left but please help yourself."
"That is just fine, thank you." As soon as the door was shut he threw aside the thick covers and very carefully stripped himself of the thin white robe replacing it with the black and tying the kesa firmly in place. He stretched, working the kinks out of his aching muscles until it was easier to move. Then, after running his fingers absentmindedly through his tousled hair, he pulled it back into a pony tail.
The only thing he was missing now was his identity.
"Naraku, I don't get it. Why wouldn't you kill him when you had the chance." Kagura sighed heavily and crossed her arms in annoyance. "Why did you stop me? I could have killed him fine on my own."
"You will see." His fingers curled around the nearly complete Shikon no Tama as he smiled in cold malice, chuckling to himself as he ran his finger over the flawless surface of the jewel, dark with evil energy. "Why kill just one when you can destroy them all at once? We need wait for the right time..." Motioning to Kanna the nihility detachment held forth her mirror. In it was a reflection of the old woman, Yume's "mother". She was washing cloths. "The right time."
"Are we there yet?" Shippo whined from his perch on Kagome's shoulder, "I'm tired and hungry."
"Feh, freeloader! You haven't walked a mile yet today!" The tiny fox child stuck out his tongue at Inuyasha.
"I am not a freeloader!" He crossed his little arms, "I'm just a child after all!"
"You're only a child when you have to be!"
"Am not!"
"Are too!"
"Am not!"
"Are too!" Sango began to giggle and pretty soon was laughing out loud followed closely by Kagome leaving the pair stunned.
"What's so funny?" Inuyasha asked indignantly as Shippo hopped to the ground, demon pride getting the better of him.
"You two!" Sango said between bursts of laughter. "It's a wonder we get anything done at all!" An uncharacteristic blush spread across the hanyou's nose and he turned away from everyone else.
"Well, it was true." Mumbling distractedly he held his head higher and sniffed the air. "We're almost there." If they walked fast enough they would make it there by the next nightfall, perfect considering what time it fell upon. A faint scent drifted closer but was seemingly snatched away from him before he could figure it out, but whatever it was, it made him uncomfortable.
Trembling fingers hung over the cold, rounded triangles of rice sitting innocently on the small table, mocking him with their propinquity. For some reason he couldn't pick one up, he felt frozen and alone, frightened, like he could crawl back into the futon, pull the covers over his head and sleep for a decade, and he didn't have a clue as to why. Was there a memory associated with the onigiri? Was it good? Or was it bad? Why didn't he want to remember it?
"It's just rice..." he giggled, feeling childish, "why should I fear rice?" He sat next to it and pondered, thinking to himself as a cool breeze wafted through a window and stirred his hair, raising it from his forehead. Suddenly a chill ran up his spine and made him shiver, he remembered the wind...how it had hurt him and something else...but he couldn't remember what...kazaana...? The word drifted between reality, coming closer, then flitting away like a timid bird and it took him a few minutes to finally catch a hold of it. "Kazaana?" He repeated, "Air rip...?" Immediately his fingers flew to the rosary encircling his right wrist. "What is this?" But with his fingers shaking so uncontrollably he couldn't summon the strength to remove the prayer beads. Sweat trickled into his eyes and he blinked, breaking his momentary trance and making him chuckle nervously. "Feh...wind and rice..." A flash, a new face, a scornful face, and the beautiful one again...but she wasn't the one speaking. It was an angry young man with two white ears perched atop his head. The new face looked irritated with him but he didn't remember why...
"Then sleep with the covers over your head..." a joke? A threat? White pain lanced through his head again and he clutched it with both hands, digging his fingers into his hair, ragged breathing harsh in his ears. After a few seconds it was gone...as quickly as it had come, but he stayed hunched over, listening to himself breathe. It felt as though something was blocking his memories, a barrier that only allowed fragments of his person to slip through. When he finally did look up the rice was still there, seeming to leer at him, daring him to pick one up. I sound mad...he thought, looking out the window into the bustling streets.
"But I think I'll go without breakfast today..."
The young priest stepped out into the bright mid-afternoon sun, shading his eyes from the glare and peering around himself with an air of apprehension.
"Is this who I am?" Wondering quietly he wandered along the dusty lanes looking for another piece of himself, something to stitch together the snatches of memory. "A houshi?" A horse whinnied, surprising him, and he suddenly found himself whipping around with his left hand ready to tear the rosary beads away from his right. "What am I doing...?" Falling back from his stance he covered his face with one black sleeve in an attempt to hide his aching eyes from the sun. The splitting pain was back, threatening to split his skull, and now people, unfamiliar people, were staring at him, throwing odd looks and generally backing away.
But he didn't notice.
Shaking as a leaf caught in a fall zephyr he had sunk to his knees and shielded his head, hiding within the folds of his kimono, and jumped when a little hand touched his shoulder gently.
"Houshi-sama? Are you okay?" Yume sat in front of him and pulled his hands away from his face, smiling sadly. "Houshi-sama?" Another flash...
"Houshi-sama!" The same woman with fear in her eyes as his body was flung away by a strange demon...Goshinki...?
Wincing he suppressed the memory deciding that his body couldn't take any more pain, already he was tired and aching from his previous wounds.
"Houshi-sama?" Gingerly she pulled him to his feet and led him away from the crowd that was gathering, tugging him into the shade of a small tree. "Okaa-san told me that you wouldn't remember anything, she said I had to help you." Smiling broadly she hugged his middle and buried her face into his warm clothes. "I like you! Houshi-sama!"
"...oh...?" Taken aback and a little winded from the spasm of pain brought on by the embrace he slowly returned it, feeling happy for the first time that day. This girl, now that he looked at her and puzzled over the angelic face he noticed her aura, how weak it actually was, and bit his lower lip. It seemed that she had not long to live at all...and yet... she hid it well. "I like you too, Yume..."
Tell me if I exaggerate Sango's feelings over this whole thing and keep going back to it too often. I apologize, because you never stop thinking about the person for a while and everything reminds you of them, but I can cut it back if you want me too. ^^