Hello, everyone! I'm so glad you're reading this story, as it is currently my favorite (and longest). Please send me a review!
I'd like to thank Kat Morning for the setting of my story, which is based on the alternate universe of her inu fanfic "Blood Ties."
Disclaimer: I do not own Miroku, Sesshomeru, Rin, or any other Inuyasha characters. They are owned by their author/creator, Rumiko Takahashi.
Chapter 6: Rude Awakening
Kura came awake slowly, the feelings of peace and safety she had felt in her dream lingering in her mind. The first thing she noticed clearly was the light. Her basement apartment had no windows, so she hadn't woken to daylight since she had run away from home four years ago. Next, she noticed the sheets: silk. So was the kimono wrapped around her, an expensive one that was purple with a white floral pattern.
This felt wrong; it put her on edge. She started to roll over on her side to get a better look around, but stopped when a searing pain in her side left her breathless. "I must have been hurt last night," was her fuzzy thought. "But where am I?
There was certainly no hospital emergency room as luxurious as this bedroom. An enormous picture window took up half of one wall; on the opposite were screen doors leading to a wraparound balcony. From the bed, all she could see outside was sky. "Hunh. I've been taken in by some filthy-rich good samaritan?" she wondered. "A good samaritan with a penthouse." Blinking, she was startled to find someone watching her.
"Finally awake, are we?" The woman's voice and smile were cheerful and friendly, with the gentleness one associates with kindergarten schoolteachers. "How do you feel?
"Fine." At least, that was what Kura tried to say. It came out as a croak.
The young woman in the doorway laughed gaily and poured her patient a glass of water from a pitcher sitting on the mahogany dresser. "Drink this slowly. Your throat is going to be raw for a long time, I'm afraid. But don't worry, I've heard men find scratchy voices very sexy." She winked broadly.
Kura didn't know exactly how to react. She wasn't completely comfortable with someone she didn't know acting so chummy. It would help if she had some idea where she was. Kura had a sip, choked, and began coughing. It hurt like hell, as if someone was scraping sandpaper along her windpipe. The young woman helped her sit up, and the coughing eased. "Who?" Kura croaked.
"Hmm? Oh, me? My name is Rin. What's yours?
Kura was somewhat surprised they were on a first-name basis already. "Kura. Where?" Kura gestured to the room.
"This is my apartment. Well, it belongs to my foster father, actually.
"How . . .did I get here?
"Well, my foster father found you, and you were hurt, and he brought you up here." Rin was being evasive; Kura cursed herself for not being able to remember what happened last night. Who was this man who happened to find her on a deserted street after midnight? Kura rubbed absent-mindedly at the bruised muscles in her throat . . .
She remembered dead hands strangling her, pinning her against a wall. Then pain in her side, a desperate flight, then nothing. Nothing except a pair of golden eyes.
Kura sat straight up, and swore when the stitches in her side tugged. Rin was sitting on the bed beside her in a moment. "What's wrong? Does something hurt?
Kura searched for a question that didn't sound suspicious. "I, ah, I just remembered that something was attacking me. A mugger, I mean. You father--he wasn't hurt, was he?
Rin laughed again. "He can take care of himself. You needn't worry. Oh, are you hungry? All I know how to make are plain soba noodles, but add a bit of salt and they're really not bad." Rin continued to chatter as she headed towards the kitchen. Kura sagged against the headboard in relief. Safe. She didn't know how or why, but she was safe. She thought, "It was the moment the Nosferatu broke my staff. That was when I was certain I was going to die." She looked out at the blue sky, and marveled at the fact that she was still alive to see it. The details didn't really matter.
When Rin came back with a tray and a steaming bowl of soba noodles, she found Kura dozing while sitting upright. "Here it is, the only dish I can make. Oh, and miso soup. Cold cereal too, but that doesn't really count, does it?" Kura let the words swirl around her, paying more attention to the food than its preparer. "If you'd prefer miso, I can make that too. Well, actually just heat it up. I got the kind that comes in a carton, and you just pour and heat. It's really not bad, once you get used to it. Well, unless you're picky; Sesshy said he'd rather eat the carton than anything that came in it, but he--
Kura grabbed the girl's wrist as she was handing over a spoon. "What?
" . . .I said there's miso, if you aren't picky like . . ." Rin stopped, horrified, when she realized her slip. "Gomen nasai, I wanted to tell you, but he said--
"Never mind. Just tell me: Who. Is. Your. Father.
Rin looked as if she was about to cry. "Sesshomeru-dono," she whispered.
It was what Kura had been waiting for her to say, but it still made Kura shiver. Her stomach had clenched up in a knot. It made sense: she couldn't have escaped death so easily. It was perfectly reasonable that the person to find her wasn't a person at all, but a Demon lord . . .
"Wait. That doesn't make any sense." Kura felt as if she was looking at an optical illusion, where everything seems to be normal but is in fact very, very wrong. Rin was human; Kura would bet her life on it. Had already bet her life on it, actually; grabbing a demon's wrist when too weak to defend oneself is one sure way to get killed. That meant . . . Sesshomaru had a human foster child? "Why?
Rin was still looking guilty, but was also trying to free her wrist from Kura. "Why did he rescue you, you mean?
"Yes, why me, and why you? Why any of this?" She made a vague gesture encompassing the apartment, the demon lord's territory and all of Tokyo. All of the pieces that described Sesshomaru didn't fit together. Who was he?
Kura tried to swing her legs over the side of the bed, but was stopped by a frantic Rin. "Don't, you can't get up yet, you'll hurt yourself." Rin pushed her legs back under the covers. Kura stared at her, incredulous. Trapped in a demon lord's house, and Rin wanted her to worry about pulling a few stitches? "Wait-- Listen to me, Kura-chan!" Kura winced at the endearment. "Kura, if you try to run, he'll kill you.
Kura snorted. "That's much more in character for him, don't you think? Kidnapping is beneath someone so powerful." Kura pushed Rin away from the bed and got to her feet.
The room was rocking back and forth; she felt as if there was cotton inside her head, preventing her from thinking clearly. She staggered into the bathroom before retching, but there was nothing to throw up. Rin was beside her, pulling back Kura's hair from her face and wiping her forehead with a cold washcloth. A moment ago Rin had been panicked, but now she was self-possessed and completely in control of the situation. She helped Kura back to her feet and guided her to the bed. Kura was sweating and shivering, in too much pain to stop Rin from putting her to bed like a child that had a nightmare. Rin propped her up long enough to drink a foul-smelling herbal tea, then placed Kura's head on the pillow. She waited for three minutes while the breathing evened out and Rin was certain her patient was asleep.
I'd like to thank Kat Morning for the setting of my story, which is based on the alternate universe of her inu fanfic "Blood Ties."
Disclaimer: I do not own Miroku, Sesshomeru, Rin, or any other Inuyasha characters. They are owned by their author/creator, Rumiko Takahashi.
Chapter 6: Rude Awakening
Kura came awake slowly, the feelings of peace and safety she had felt in her dream lingering in her mind. The first thing she noticed clearly was the light. Her basement apartment had no windows, so she hadn't woken to daylight since she had run away from home four years ago. Next, she noticed the sheets: silk. So was the kimono wrapped around her, an expensive one that was purple with a white floral pattern.
This felt wrong; it put her on edge. She started to roll over on her side to get a better look around, but stopped when a searing pain in her side left her breathless. "I must have been hurt last night," was her fuzzy thought. "But where am I?
There was certainly no hospital emergency room as luxurious as this bedroom. An enormous picture window took up half of one wall; on the opposite were screen doors leading to a wraparound balcony. From the bed, all she could see outside was sky. "Hunh. I've been taken in by some filthy-rich good samaritan?" she wondered. "A good samaritan with a penthouse." Blinking, she was startled to find someone watching her.
"Finally awake, are we?" The woman's voice and smile were cheerful and friendly, with the gentleness one associates with kindergarten schoolteachers. "How do you feel?
"Fine." At least, that was what Kura tried to say. It came out as a croak.
The young woman in the doorway laughed gaily and poured her patient a glass of water from a pitcher sitting on the mahogany dresser. "Drink this slowly. Your throat is going to be raw for a long time, I'm afraid. But don't worry, I've heard men find scratchy voices very sexy." She winked broadly.
Kura didn't know exactly how to react. She wasn't completely comfortable with someone she didn't know acting so chummy. It would help if she had some idea where she was. Kura had a sip, choked, and began coughing. It hurt like hell, as if someone was scraping sandpaper along her windpipe. The young woman helped her sit up, and the coughing eased. "Who?" Kura croaked.
"Hmm? Oh, me? My name is Rin. What's yours?
Kura was somewhat surprised they were on a first-name basis already. "Kura. Where?" Kura gestured to the room.
"This is my apartment. Well, it belongs to my foster father, actually.
"How . . .did I get here?
"Well, my foster father found you, and you were hurt, and he brought you up here." Rin was being evasive; Kura cursed herself for not being able to remember what happened last night. Who was this man who happened to find her on a deserted street after midnight? Kura rubbed absent-mindedly at the bruised muscles in her throat . . .
She remembered dead hands strangling her, pinning her against a wall. Then pain in her side, a desperate flight, then nothing. Nothing except a pair of golden eyes.
Kura sat straight up, and swore when the stitches in her side tugged. Rin was sitting on the bed beside her in a moment. "What's wrong? Does something hurt?
Kura searched for a question that didn't sound suspicious. "I, ah, I just remembered that something was attacking me. A mugger, I mean. You father--he wasn't hurt, was he?
Rin laughed again. "He can take care of himself. You needn't worry. Oh, are you hungry? All I know how to make are plain soba noodles, but add a bit of salt and they're really not bad." Rin continued to chatter as she headed towards the kitchen. Kura sagged against the headboard in relief. Safe. She didn't know how or why, but she was safe. She thought, "It was the moment the Nosferatu broke my staff. That was when I was certain I was going to die." She looked out at the blue sky, and marveled at the fact that she was still alive to see it. The details didn't really matter.
When Rin came back with a tray and a steaming bowl of soba noodles, she found Kura dozing while sitting upright. "Here it is, the only dish I can make. Oh, and miso soup. Cold cereal too, but that doesn't really count, does it?" Kura let the words swirl around her, paying more attention to the food than its preparer. "If you'd prefer miso, I can make that too. Well, actually just heat it up. I got the kind that comes in a carton, and you just pour and heat. It's really not bad, once you get used to it. Well, unless you're picky; Sesshy said he'd rather eat the carton than anything that came in it, but he--
Kura grabbed the girl's wrist as she was handing over a spoon. "What?
" . . .I said there's miso, if you aren't picky like . . ." Rin stopped, horrified, when she realized her slip. "Gomen nasai, I wanted to tell you, but he said--
"Never mind. Just tell me: Who. Is. Your. Father.
Rin looked as if she was about to cry. "Sesshomeru-dono," she whispered.
It was what Kura had been waiting for her to say, but it still made Kura shiver. Her stomach had clenched up in a knot. It made sense: she couldn't have escaped death so easily. It was perfectly reasonable that the person to find her wasn't a person at all, but a Demon lord . . .
"Wait. That doesn't make any sense." Kura felt as if she was looking at an optical illusion, where everything seems to be normal but is in fact very, very wrong. Rin was human; Kura would bet her life on it. Had already bet her life on it, actually; grabbing a demon's wrist when too weak to defend oneself is one sure way to get killed. That meant . . . Sesshomaru had a human foster child? "Why?
Rin was still looking guilty, but was also trying to free her wrist from Kura. "Why did he rescue you, you mean?
"Yes, why me, and why you? Why any of this?" She made a vague gesture encompassing the apartment, the demon lord's territory and all of Tokyo. All of the pieces that described Sesshomaru didn't fit together. Who was he?
Kura tried to swing her legs over the side of the bed, but was stopped by a frantic Rin. "Don't, you can't get up yet, you'll hurt yourself." Rin pushed her legs back under the covers. Kura stared at her, incredulous. Trapped in a demon lord's house, and Rin wanted her to worry about pulling a few stitches? "Wait-- Listen to me, Kura-chan!" Kura winced at the endearment. "Kura, if you try to run, he'll kill you.
Kura snorted. "That's much more in character for him, don't you think? Kidnapping is beneath someone so powerful." Kura pushed Rin away from the bed and got to her feet.
The room was rocking back and forth; she felt as if there was cotton inside her head, preventing her from thinking clearly. She staggered into the bathroom before retching, but there was nothing to throw up. Rin was beside her, pulling back Kura's hair from her face and wiping her forehead with a cold washcloth. A moment ago Rin had been panicked, but now she was self-possessed and completely in control of the situation. She helped Kura back to her feet and guided her to the bed. Kura was sweating and shivering, in too much pain to stop Rin from putting her to bed like a child that had a nightmare. Rin propped her up long enough to drink a foul-smelling herbal tea, then placed Kura's head on the pillow. She waited for three minutes while the breathing evened out and Rin was certain her patient was asleep.