Everyone covered their ears as Yahna let out a piercing cry. "Okaa-sama! Okaa-sama! Okaa-samaaaaaaa!" With each word, her voice got louder and louder. Ears were drawn back, nose to sky, and a bucket of tears made this child look the very image of anguish.
"Shut it up!" Inuyasha amazingly roared over the child. Pain shot through his ears and straight to his brain. They were flattened against the side of his head and covered in an attempt to keep out the screeching.
"How!?!" Sango demanded.
"Yahna-chan, please stop crying," Shippo begged. She ignored him and continued to wail at the top of her lungs.
"Try picking her up!" Miroku yelled, hoping that might be helpful.
Sango quickly took his advice and lifted the child into her arms. "Hush. Hush, little one. It's alright," she cooed gently in the child's ear. Yahna flailed her arms and legs wildly, continuing her ear splitting cry. Sango winced as she held the child closer. "Please, Yahna-chan, calm down. It's alright. Nothing bad happened to her. Kagome-chan will be back soon. I promise. Just please stop crying."
This looks like a job for her onii-san, Shippo thought confidently. He placed a leaf on his head and concentrated on Kagome. A puff of smoke surrounded him. Seconds later, in the kit's place stood a perfect copy of the japanese school girl. She winked at Sango as the woman's face lit up.
The fake Kagome held out her arms and smiled sweetly. "Please stop crying, Yahna-chan." The tree pup abruptly stopped wailing and moving. Her gaze turned to the fake Kagome. She looked the copy over carefully with tear filled eyes. "See? Everything is alright."
Yahna leaned out and gave Kagome a sniff. She suddenly burst back out into tears.
"Baka!" Inuyasha snapped. "It can smell it's you!"
"Well it was worth a try!" Miroku retorted.
A puff of smoke appeared around the copy woman, then disappeared and was replaced by Shippo holding a leaf. "At least I tried something! You're not doing anything!"
"Give it here! I'll snap its neck! That'll shut it up!" the hanyou barked while brandishing a fist.
"NO!!!" everyone else cried as Sango backed away from him.
"It'll be quick and painless! Hand it over!"
"You will not kill my imooto!" Shippo hissed.
"I agree," Kaede added. "You will not kill Yahna!"
"Either shut it up or I will!" Inuyasha growled.
Shippo squeaked and quickly tried to think of ways to make her quiet. He raked his brain, searching for anything that might make her feel better. Otoo-san used to make funny faces when I'd cry.
"Yahna-chan, look at me!" She gazed down at him. The kit stuck a finger in to the corners of his mouth, stuck out his tongue, and crossed his eyes. "Blah!"
Yahna cried louder.
Miroku held out his arms. "Here. Let me try." More than happy to be rid of the screaming, squirming toddler, Sango turned her over. The monk cradled the child against his chest like one would hold a baby and began to hum. Her cries started to lessen slowly. The little triangle ears twitched and turned more towards his body. Miroku hummed a little softer and she worked down into weak sniffles. Everyone stared in amazement.
"Houshi-sama, I'm impressed," Sango commented as she moved closer to peer at Yahna's face. The child was still crying, but she was much calmer now. "Where did you learn to do that?"
"I've taken care of children before. I know how to care for them... even one who's throwing a fit."
"Yeah, but... wow..." Shippo trailed off as he approached the sniffling girl.
"I intend on having a child. Did you think I wouldn't at least learn how to care for a child before I sired any?"
"Scary enough, that actually makes sense," Sango commented dryly. Miroku gave her a wounded look. "Yes, well, she has stopped screaming. It is a start."
Inuyasha was still crouched against the wall glaring at them. Golden eyes focused on the child, attempting to will the pup to disappear. A painful ringing rattled his ear drums, giving him a pounding head ache. Damn tree pup! How dare it interrupt my peace! Yahna met his gaze and held her arms out to him. Inuyasha glared harder. If it thinks I'm holding it, it has another thing coming.
"Otoo-sama," the pup whimpered. Inuyasha growled in response. New tears brewed up in her eyes. He humphed and turned away from her. "Oooootooooo-saaammmmaaaa..."
"I am not your otoo-sama, you god damned, worthless, disgusting tree pup," he snorted. New found tears flowed freely from Yahna's eyes as she took a deep breath.
On the other side of the village, the people were jerked out their sleep by a blood curdling wail. Young children started crying. Their mothers grabbed them, holding them close in the hopes of easing their fears. Men went for anything sharp in their homes, fearing a horrible youkai was coming for them.
Five hundred years in the further, on the other side of the well, Kagome had paused in studying and peered out the window. No one was there. Odd, she could have sworn she heard someone faintly crying...
*****
Sango messaged her temples. A constant thumping against the sides of her brain kept pace with the beating of her heart, reminding her with each thump of the awful night. She sat outside of Kaede's hut, hoping to clear her head and get rid of the faint ringing in her ears. So far, it wasn't working.
"Tea?" Miroku's strained voice offered as he held out a cup. "It has some herbs to help with headaches."
She nodded, grateful. "Arigato, Houshi-sama." The woman took a long sip, savoring the slightly bitter taste and it's calming smell. "If I ever have children, please kill me."
An amused smile appeared on the monk's face. "I make no promises."
Both eyes traveled over to the cause of all their problems. Yahna sat with Shippo at the base of a tree where Inuyasha was perched. She was still sniffling, but it was quiet so no one was complaining.
Several exhausted villagers were also watching her as they passed. No one in the entire village had gotten any sleep because of the child. They had shown up at Kaede's door carrying a verity of sharp farming tools a few minutes after Yahna had started crying. When it had become obvious she wasn't going to calm down and go back to sleep, many of the villagers tried to help soothe the child. But all the girl had wanted was her 'okaa-sama' and no one else would do. In the end, everyone had been left exhausted and full of pity for the child.
"How could she keep that up all night?"
"I know what you mean. My ears are still ringing. I think I'm going to start praying for all my daughters to be born mute," the young monk joked.
A small chuckle from the taijiya made Miroku smile. "I think we'd be better off praying for her to go mute. How can she still be crying and not rupture a lung?"
"Children have the unique ability to cry like there's no tomorrow and still be perfectly fine afterwards."
"You have experience with this?"
He sighed and took a sip of his tea. "Yes. A little boy who was attacked by a youkai saw me use my kazaana and thought I was another youkai. He screamed the entire time I was in the village and no one could make him stop until I was gone... at least I think he stopped after I left. I was well out of the village before his voice no longer reached me."
She snipped her tea. "I can only recall one time in my life when I cried that much." Miroku raised a curious eye brow, urging her to continue. "When my mother died, I cried for days. My cries weren't like that, though. It was off and on and I was quiet about it." Her dark chocolate eyes traveled up the tree to the pouting Inuyasha. I wonder if he cried like that after his mother died?
"I hate to say it, but I fear Kagome-sama may be the only one who can stop her crying."
"Which means Inuyasha has to go get her back. ... She's not going to like this."
Miroku nodded in agreement. Both sipped their tea. It was going to be a long day.
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Japanese words I've used in this chapter
Arigato = thank you
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Yeah, new chapter done and up! Sorry for the wait. I'm currently staying with family and my computer's not with me. I have to share it with several other people, most of whom need it to do actual work on.
All the corrections you mention, Amakara, have to wait until I get back to my computer since all the html files are saved there. It's much easier to wait then to recreat several html files on a new computer (it's not hard, just takes a while). Thanks, though. I'm already correcting the stuff I sent to myself. I wasn't really sure how imooto was pronounced since I can't recall ever hearing it. Thanks for also helping with the string thing too. I'm going to look up a little more about it now that I know what it's called.
DiaBLo2, thanks a lot. That really helps. All the sites I've found that list names (usually for babies) don't let you search by meaning and and only a small few actually let you search by language. Since you speak chinese, could I possible contact you later and ask for a few more words to be translated?
LadyCatBailey, of course you're sane. We're all sane... *chuckles* Just kidding. Your review gave me a good laugh, though.
You wonder what I have planned for Inuyasha, Breshcandra? Well, let's put it this way. Any time I say "I'm feeling creative", Inuyasha trembles. In fact, all my characters tremble.
Well, that's all for now. I have my Slayers fic to edit so I can update it on Friday. I'm finally getting past the part I'm bored with. Yay! Interesting note for anyone who's curious. When I wrote my first fanfic, I was thrilled when I got up to 20 reviews by the last chapter. I thought that was really cool. I currently have over 100 on this one and is currently 3 chapters shorter than my first fic. Wow.
Well, Yahna-chan's been crying a lot, so she's gonna take a nap for a little while. That way she can cry louder later. Mmmm... nap... that sounds good...