Well into the night, the six of them had finally set up camp for the night. Kao had been more than happy to chow down on fish with everyone, except for Rei, who had slipped away hours ago, unnoticed by everyone except Inuyasha. Now Shippou and Kao sat playing Rock, Paper, Scissors...a game Kagome had taught Shippou long ago...next to the blazing, hot fire that spat and crackled. Kaemon had been much obliged to curl up in his big sister's cloak next to Miroku. Sango was occupied with sharpening her swords, while Inuyasha...well, no one really knew where Inuyasha had disappeared to, either.
"How come hanyous are so bitter all the time?" the question Kaemon had so suddenly asked came as a surprise, since the little boy rarely spoke unless spoken to...much unlike his sister, who appeared to be forthright, stubborn, headstrong, and who almost never spoke at all, even when spoken to but rather, only when she was angry or forced to. Though even then, it was still a huge challenge to get her to speak.
"Not all of them are bitter Kaemon," Miroku replied, "Just like us they have different personalities. However, I believe that the reason some are bitter is because they've been rejected by human and demon races since they have blood of both. Thus sometimes ignorant individuals refer to as 'filthy blooded'. The majority have been mistreated which concludes the reason some are cold hearted."
"Oh," The boy smiled, happy to have had his question answered.
There she remained crosslegged upon the cliff above. Her eyes were closed. Her posture was perfect. Her back straight and her delicate looking hands on either knee. Indeed this was the customary position for those in the hand of the monastaries. A pair of yellow eyes watched her intently from a distance. Inuyasha could barely tear them away from her. She looked so much like...someone he had once loved. She'd often been seated the same way. He'd very much liked to see her in meditation. It was the one time she was actually calm and at peace with herself and the world. It was the first step to enlightenment, something that Inuyasha never really understood. Enlightenment. What exactly did it mean? It sort of baffled him but he knew it was something that priests and monks strived to achieve on a regular basis. To hell with it. She had once strived for it...and look where it'd gotten her...
How long was Rei going to meditate? He rolled his eyes. "BORING!" he thought and moved towards her.
"Hey!" he huffed, "Are you going to be here all night? We've got a long walk tomorrow and I don't feel like saving your ass if some demon tries to attack cause you're too tired to defend yourself."
"Silence!" she cried, "How dare you rudely disrupt my-"
"Your what? Way of enlightenment? Huh? Stairway to heaven! Don't be stupid!"
Rei's eyes remained closed, "...You have no clue what the word means...and even if you did...such a simpleton like you can never understand."
"Heh...try me..." Inuyasha smirked.
"...It is the beatitude that transcends the cycle of reincarnation; characterized by the extinction of desire and suffering and individual consciousness..."
"Say what?!"
She chuckled quietly, "...I told you..."
"Whatever!" he growled, "Fine! Do whatever the hell you want!"
Inuyasha stood for a moment, waiting for her to say something in response. But when she said nothing at all, he merely rolled his eyes and moved away from her. She, however, remained perfectly still...not a muscle even so much as twitched. The more he thought about it, though, the more he realized that she always did her best to hide her eyes, or to avoid anyone looking her in the eye. Now he wondered why, as he turned to look at her again when he reached the tree line.
Kao paused for a bit from the game with Shippou. Thus far, she had won most of the games they had played, and she intended to win more...shortly. Getting closer, she pushed her face next to Kaemon's, and blinked.
"Your sister is weird," she commented snarkily, "...creepy, too."
Kaemon pushed Kao away from him a bit and sat up straighter beside Miroku. Sango, too, looked up from her knives for a moment. In the short time Rei and Kaemon had been with them, she had noticed that Kaemon seemed to have grown quite attached to Miroku...almost like he saw him as an older brother.
"Rei...was just handed to the monastery a long time ago," Kaemon said quietly, "papa figured that if he couldn't get rid of the demon in her for himself, then maybe the monks and priests and priestesses could. I never knew she as actually half demon...I always thought he meant she was just a very evil girl. But...I don't get it though...Rei practically lived among priests...but she was always by herself. Why does she just seem to hate herself so much? It's not her fault she is the way she is, is it?" The little boy stopped and looked up to Miroku, "...can you talk to her? You're a monk...maybe she'll actually listen to you..."
Sango chuckled to herself quietly, "...Poor little guy...he's so desparate to help his big sister...he'd do anything at all for her..."
"No, it is not Rei's fault that she is the way she is. Indeed I will exchange words with her," Miroku affirmed, "however…permit me to say this Kaemon," the boy remained silent and waited hopefully, "I believe it was wrong of your father to send her into the monastery because of the fact that she is not completely human. He should have accepted her and shouldn't have treated her any differently than a father should treat any of his children," Miroku explained, "your sister is by no means evil. She is at conflict with herself. The blood of a demon is stronger than that of a humans. I believe she wishes to be rid of this blood so that she may finally feel she belongs in the human world for that is the one she has been raised in."
"She feels the opposite of Inuyasha," Shippou commented, "he wants the shikon no tama to become a full fledged demon while Rei wants to be human."
"Do you have a staring problem?" Inuyasha hastily diverted his gaze elsewhere.
"No…" he grunted and thought of snarling back a comeback but instead he left to be reunited with the others without another word.
"Inuyasha, did you find Rei?" Miroku inquired when the irritated dog demon returned and slouched beneath a tree.
"She's up on that old cliff we passed earlier meditating or some shit like that."
"Oh, I see. Then perhaps our discussion shall wait until later."
"Already tried speaking to her. It's like talking to a wall."
"Maybe she's feeling a little anxious. We'll be arriving at the village tomorrow," Sango suggested.
"Yeah! And the sooner we stock up on supplies the sooner we'll rescue Kagome!" exclaimed Shippou.
"Rescue?!"
Inuyasha glared, "You heard him Kouga…not like you care…"
"Speak for yourself mutt!" Kouga growled, stepping out of the bushes behind him, "Who kidnapped her?! I bet it was your fault it happened since you're so pathetic and I'm the only one who can protect her!"
Inuyasha leapt to his feet, "You came all this way to tell me that? Where were you when Naraku and his minion attacked us? Not that your help was required. If you'd been there you'd have only gotten in my way."
Kouga hadn't even heard Inuyasha's last sentences. After the dog demon had mentioned that cursed demons name he'd froze completely. "N-Naraku?!"
"What are you? Deaf?!" Inuyasha barked, "Yes Naraku!"
"…Naraku…has kidnapped…Kagome?!"
"Man…" Inuyasha snickered, "you really are dense! If it'd been any other demon I'd have rescued her by now!"
"Yeah right! You can't even save your own ass!"
"What was that you scrawny wolf!? I'm gonna tear you to pieces!" Inuyasha yelled and out the Tetsusaiga flashed.
"Bring it!" Kouga shot back.
"Both of you cease this futile argument!" Sango cried throwing herself between them, "Can't you ever get along?"
Inuyasha kept his sword pointed at Kouga ready to strike as soon as Sango was out of the way. However, much to his disappointment she stood her ground. "Why the hell are you even here?!" Inuyasha demanded, "Stalking us or what?!"
"Oh believe me, mutt, you're easy to track but it's not you I want a piece of today."
"Oh really? Humor me then!"
Kouga beamed his usual infamous smirk, "It just so happens that it's not only your filthy stench that I followed here." Inuyasha's eyes narrowed further and reached for the little feline who'd been hiding behind his legs.
"You mean this one?"
Kouga nodded, "That's her."
"Friend of yours?"
"Put me down ass wipe!" Kao screamed once again struggling to be free of his grasp.
"Not really. She took something of mine without permission and I want it back. So…if you'll kindly hand her over-"
"Yeah you can have her but only after she shows us the way to Naraku's castle," Inuyasha told him.
"Hmm…all right you can keep her till then but afterwards I'm making her into my new rug, he said and brought himself face to face with Kao, "You got that?" Kao's body twitched and shivered with fear yet she managed a small nod. "Gonna tell me where you hid it or do I have to beat it out of you?"
"…I…sold it…" Koua's eyes began enflamed upon hearing this.
"You WHAT?! A-all of it?!?!"
Once again the cat demon nodded. THWACK! Koga pounded his fist into Kao's head. She now sat on the forest floor on her sore rump tenderly rubbing the big goose egg atop her skull whimpering "Owie…" now and then.
"She stole your money?" Shippou asked.
"Heh I don't have any to begin with…" Koua sighed.
"Then…what did she steal?"
"This herb that a couple of my men found by this abandoned shrne on an unnamed mountain. It has some sort of magical effect which heals wounds instantly the moment even a sliver of it is consumed. We went to see if there were any more left but that was the only one so now…we're screwed…thanks to you. You better be telling the truth cat or I'll give such a beating that you'll wish you'd never been born," Koua threatened, then turned to leave, "Well, I'd like to stay and chat some more but I've got better things to do. Hey, mutt! You'd better find Kagome soon and hang onto that runt for me."
"Oh don't worry, I will!"
"Good! See ya!" Kouga waved and sped off into the distance.
"Who was that?" Everyone turned to see Rei exiting from the darkness.
"His name is Kouga," Kaemon replied and ran to hug his sister.
"He's a wolf demon that has an annoying crush on Kagome," Shippou explained further.
"...Hm, that's always good..." Rei acknowledged Shippou's statement before disentangling herself from Kaemon's grasp and taking a seat beneath a tree. When her hands came up to make sure her hood was still covering her eyes, Kaemon took it as a hint, and went back to sit beside Miroku. Only when she closed her eyes did she pull her hood back and leaned back against the tree behind her did she finally allow herself to relax.
"So just what kind of demon are you, anyway?" came the voice of the cat demon she found very annoying.
"...I'm half demon...I need not say more for your benefit, or for anyone else's for that matter..." she remarked tersely.
"If that cat demon does not stop staring in the next two seconds..." she told herself silently, feeling Kao's eyes rather than actually sensing them on her. When Kao failed to stop, Rei rose, and once again, disappeared into the darkness...just far enough away from the others to be alone, but not far enough away to be in any real danger.
"Damn it, why do people stare?" she suddenly burst to herself out loud, knowing no one could hear her, "Why do they ask those stupid things if it's obvious that I am so uncomfortable with being this...creature?"
Sitting down under a tree, she drew her knees close to her body, a posture she'd learned to take when she hated herself. It basically told people, "Leave me alone"...Her eyes roamed upward just slightly when the bushes rustled, and her hand settled restlessly on the handle of her sword and was getting ready to attack whatever it was...when Miroku stepped into the clearing.
"Kaemon's worried about you," he told her, his statement and body language telling her he meant her no harm, "he says you spend more time hiding yourself away from the world than you do spending time with anyone."
"He's a big boy now, he can take care of himself," came the quiet, subdued response.
"He still needs you...he's helpless without you. I saw that much tonight in the way he ran to you and hugs you," Miroku replied, "but you just pushed him away. Why?"
"...You wouldn't understand..."
"Then help me to understand." He heard her sigh, watched her rise from her position.
"This is not the face of someone fit to be an older sister to a full human boy, Miroku," she told him, her voice pained as she pulled her hood from her head and met his eyes for the first time, revealing her face for the first time, "Kaemon deserves better." Tucking her long, raven black hair away from her face, the moonlight allowed him a full view of her elfish-ears, and the chiseled features of her face. Her eyes, however...were not the ones of a human. Her eyes were almond-shaped eyes, but the irises of her eyes were as black as midnight, and she had no pupils. Her eyes and ears gave her the appearance of a demon...and then she retreated...turning away from him, "When he's older...he will learn from society not to accept me because of my blood. I push him away, Miroku...because I do not want to suffer through the pain of loving my little brother and raising him, only to have him one day reject me because of my hanyou blood. You don't know how awful it was being rejected by my own father...I don't want to get close to anyone ever again, thanks to him...not even Kaemon." With her back still turned to him, Rei reached up and wiped at the tears that had begun to glisten in her eyes. Even speaking about it, she felt so much pain...it was like a dagger being shoved through her heart thousands of times repeatedly.