Do I look like Rumiko Takahashi to you?
When Tomorrow Starts Without You
By: ShenYue
Preventer_02@hotmail.com
Chapter 7: A Spring Wind's Cold
The night was chilled with a cold wind that seemed to blow right through the walls and seeped into the bones to worry away the strength there despite the season. Inuyasha sat by the window sniffing the air with his useless human nose and feeling ill at ease. Something wasn't right here. The woman had seemed kind enough, offering them room and board at a fair, extremely cheap rate. And the rooms were excellent, furnished with tatami easily three fingers thick. But there was something about her that irked him.
"Kagome?" The young girl didn't remove her eyes from Sango. The taiji-ya had sat in one corner for a good part of the day, nothing could persuade her to move from the window, not even the wind.
"Yeah?"
"What did Sango see?"
"Miroku-sama." Shippo quit poking the tatami but didn't look up and three tears dripped from his face and colored the mats. He began prodding them again, sniffling a little.
"I saw him too." He whispered, and Sango looked up. "He was with that little girl in the blue kimono..." Sniffing loudly he dropped his head to the mat. "I wasn't sure if he was real..." he began crying. "I'm sorry I didn't go see!" Hugging the floor he quieted and smiled. "But if he was a ghost wouldn't he be haunting a whore house or something? Not hanging around in some old village?" Even Sango had to smile.
"Probably..." she muttered remembering his dirty little habits. "But he would be awfully disappointed now wouldn't he?" a sad smile spread her lips.
"Why?" Shippo sniffed.
"He would be able to see, but not to touch." She peered back outside the window and gazed at the stars, some so close it seemed that she could touch them, bring them closer to warm her heart. They were so small though, hardly bigger then a grain of rice, and it seemed to her that they were almost as cold as the wind. The hard seeds of light scattered across the sky...like the Shikon Shards they were so desperately trying to find...to save Miroku...to defeat evil...to save Kohaku...to heal the kazaana...
The familiar knot was back and it pressed the back of her throat making her want to fade away. She was tired of crying, it was unlike her to show so much emotion at one time like that, crying so hard...all the time...
Tracing the grain of the wood on the sill she remembered their last night, how short and sweet it was...how beautiful. The breeze lifted her hair and reminded her of Miroku.
The wind blew, rattling the shoji and bringing with it an evil omen that scared him deeply. And he didn't know why. Something had been gnawing at his heart all day, something like a demon presence, but he didn't know where it was coming from. He knew there was a group of travelers staying the night but none of them seemed particularly hostile.
"Puzzling..." he muttered, remembering earlier that day when someone had called out to him, frantically. He had looked but didn't know where it had come from so had let Yume pull him along. Speaking of which...he hadn't seen her for hours and usually the young one was clinging to his sleeve. Unfolding his legs from their crossed position the young man decided to go look for her and maybe some food. "Odd..." no one was around and the village was silent. Not even a single light shone in the darkness. Stopping, he tapped on the wall next to the Obaa-san's room. There was no answer. The wind gusted and sped through the cracks in the old inn, making the candles lining every hall sputter and go out.
"Houshi-sama..." the voice was cold and vaguely familiar. It froze him to the core and made him want to crawl away in fear, but he stayed still as he felt a familiar yet distant power flow through his veins.
"Yes?"
"I have something...for you..." it rasped, echoing through the suddenly freezing air.
"What? What do you want?" His fingers trembled as he held his hand forward and tried to pinpoint where the thing, the demon, was. "Where are you? I can't see anything in this darkness." It was odd, his voice was strangely calm even though he was scared out of his mind. This confused him and another memory came through...
...pain...weariness...fear...
"You should...get yourself away from here..." A creature, tanuki? He was riding on it's back...
"I, I can't do that!" Youkai, the fear again, stronger, but hidden...
"Look closely...Demons have started gathering...
"What?"
"If you stay with me...you'll be killed..."
"Uhh...I guess you're right."
"Get out of here!" Falling, hitting the grass and rolling...fear...pain...sadness...calm. Acceptance...rescue.
He gripped his head in one hand against the pain and grit his teeth as the creature took a step forward in the black. Its breath was foul and made the space reek of youkai, while the aura made him want to be sick. A white, bright flash of light cut through the darkness and was bled away to a dull orange, illuminating the hall with flickering shadows. The youkai was horrible but what it held in one grotesquely clawed hand was worse.
"Do you like your gift...houshi?"
Whoa! Cliffhanger! Hang in there! I'm sorry it was so short but I need to go visit colleges now...