Strange Interlude
Chapter 3
Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha.
Several weeks passed in Kenji's village. Jennifer had decided to stay and live with Kenji in his big house although she really wanted to go home. Meanwhile she helped care for his pigs and tend the vegetable garden.
She was quite a celebrity in the small village. They called her the foreign girl for indeed she was foreign. There was plenty of talk but Jennifer didn't mind the gossip.
"They say Kenji found her in the Forest of InuYasha. Is she a demon?"
"No, I don't think so. She says she comes from the ocean to the east."
"The ocean to the east? But that's impossible!"
For the most part the villagers didn't think of her as a demon. She was too kind to them. However, the villagers thought her quite strange when she tried to ask the villagers about a monk with a hole in his hand or a demon in a white baboon skin. They had no idea what she was talking about. They simply smiled and nodded. They didn't mind the few faults she had, even if one of them was that she wore those strange clothes.
Kenji often tried to fix the "problem" by buying her different robes and kimonos to wear.
"Here," he offered, handing her two folded bundles. "Try these robes on."
Jennifer sighed, "Kenji, you know I like wearing my own clothes." She handed them back to him. "At least when they're clean..." she muttered.
That was another thing about Jennifer that slightly annoyed Kenji: her incessant need of clean things. Not just clothes but herself, her sheets, and she even pressed that Kenji needed to bathe as well. He endured her strange quirk for being with her made him happy.
Nunnh...the other villagers are watching. Today I need to press that she wears these.
"What about my image?" He asked rather suddenly. "How does it look on me when you wear those foreign clothes? The villagers stare at you and I lose face because they think that I allow you to."
"They stare at me?!"
She looked down at what she considered normal: a small gray, form- fitting t-shirt and her favorite pair of blue "hootchie shorts" (short shorts).
Oh...maybe that's why...
She was broken from her thought. Something had occurred to her.
"Wait a second! You lose face?! Kenji, I've told at least a dozen times. We are not married! You don't have to act like my protector!"
Kenji had turned his head away. He had been hurt. Her words shouldn't have hurt. They weren't married, but they did.
Jennifer saw this and her fit of rage instantly melted. She grabbed Kenji by the hand and looked him in the eyes.
"These past couple of weeks you have been extremely kind to me. You are like an older brother to me. I'm sorry, nothing more..."
"Oh."
Oh no. Did I hurt his feelings?
His sad expression turned to that of feigned could-care-less-ness.
"Don't worry about it," he flashed a cheesy smile, "little sister."
Just then a villager approached with a young lady in tow.
"Hey Kenji!" He looked at their still clasped hands. "Oh. Am I disturbing anything?"
Kenji and Jennifer both looked down and yanked their hands away.
"No," Kenji responded. "We aren't together,"
Jennifer was shocked at his straightforwardness. Apparently so was his friend.
"Oh...Ok. Well, I wanted to introduce you to my cousin, Nekkuresu."
The girl called Nekkuresu greeted them. She was thin and very beautiful. She had long black hair that she had pulled back into a bun, leaving the excess to hang off her neck.
The other villager continued, "She's visiting from a neighboring village and will be staying with me for the next couple of days. I have some errands to run and I don't want to bore so, Kenji, if you don't mind, could you show her around the village? You guys would become great friends."
Nekkuresu blushed slightly. Kenji took the opportunity to grab her hand and in a nervous voice, "Of course. Such a young and beautiful maiden, I would be honored to show her around and keep her company."
Jennifer picked up a nearby slop bucket and slapped Kenji's head with it. She angrily stomped away still tightly grasping the bucket.
"I thought you two weren't together," the villager spoke.
Kenji rubbed his head in pain, "Yeah, so did I."
***
Later that day Kenji arrived home to find dinner already made and Jennifer wearing a yellow and red floral kimono.
"Oh...you're wearing the clothes I got you..."
Jennifer looked away, her nose in the air, "My other clothes were dirty."
"Oh."
Jennifer poured him some soup. He began to eat.
"So, did you give 'what's-her-face' a tour of the village?"
"'What's-her-face'? Oh, you mean Nekkuresu? No, I told her I had other things to do."
"Oh."
They ate in silence.
Just then, an elder villager climbed up Kenji's porch and threw open the door.
"Something's wrong in the village in the valley! Can't you hear the alarms? A demon must be attacking!"
Kenji jumped up, "Does anyone know what it is?"
Another villager came running up, "Word just came! Mistress Centipede is attacking and the messenger says that InuYasha has been revived!"
"Jennifer and Kenji both spoke at once, "InuYasha!?"
Everyone was surprised that the Foreign Girl knew what they were talking about.
"But how?" Kenji asked.
"The guy I talked to wasn't so sure himself. He said something about a girl in strange clothes, but hell if I know what that means..."
They continued to talk.
No wonder no one knew what I was talking about. It hasn't happened yet!
There was a big explosion outside. Kenji, Jennifer, and the other villagers all ran outside and stared into the valley below them. It was pretty far off in the distance, but the gentle downward slope of the land showed them what was going on in the forest. Dirt and smoke were already dispersing. Jennifer strained her eyes looking for the demon in the red coat she knew had to be there.
But of course she saw nothing. For a minute or two there was silence. By now the entire village was out of their houses.
"Is it over?" "What happened?" "Didn't they say a strange girl was responsible?"
The silent murmurings of the villagers were silenced when suddenly they heard someone's voice echoing through the valley.
"SIT BOY!"
Jennifer couldn't help but laugh. She knew what had happened. "Now it has started."
A spear came to her throat. Jennifer stopped in mid-laugh. An angry villager stood behind her holding his spear very close to her throat.
"What's started? Do you know? The messenger from that village said that strange girl who did it arrived less than a day before Mistress Centipede's attack. Are you in league with those demons? You want to lead that hanyou, InuYasha, to us!"
Gasps arose from the crowd.
"Well!" The villager demeaned squeezing the spear against her neck.
"I don't know. I-"
"Admit it! You are in league with the demons!"
"No!" she pleaded.
Kenji stepped in, "Wait a minute! What proof do you have that she helped release InuYasha?"
"Look at her!" a villager from the crowd spoke up, "She's different from us. She wears those strange clothes. She appeared out of nowhere, and then this happens! She has to be a demon!"
Kenji tried again, "Demons attack all the time! You can't blame it on her!"
Quite suddenly her shoulder, where it had been injured, began to glow. The jewel shard inside her was reacting to the recent emergence of the full Shikon no Tama.
"Look!" a villager frantically pointed. "She has the demon glow!"
"She's a demon! Let's burn her!"
The mob had come to a consensus. She was to be burned.
"Kenji! Help me! Tell them!"
"Yeah demon lover, help her. We can burn you too!"
Kenji stared helplessly as the crowd surrounded her and threw her into an abandoned hut, which they quickly lit on fire.
Smoke quickly filled the room. Jennifer was hunkered down on the floor. The fire was spreading all around her.
Jennifer looked around frantically. She saw an axe and crawled to the back door. She began to hack away at the wall, embers falling on her, singeing her robes and hair.
She took in a deep breath, inhaled smoke, and coughed forcefully. She could hardly breathe and her attempt to free herself barely made a scratch in the strong wooden door.
Jennifer, defeated, huddled near the door in fetal position, axe still in hand.
She coughed and gasped thinking that her life was about to end...again.
~!@#$^&*())_+~!@#$%^&*()_+~!@#$%^&*()_+~!@#$%^&*()_+~!@#$%^&*()_
A/N: There! How's that for a new way to end my chapters? It looks kind of weird...I know...
Oh well!
Thanks as always to my reviewers, though few they are: Kessie, FranceGamble, Gaeamaker13, Divine-Heart
The thoughts are all screwy... Can you even see them? Can you tell which are thoughts? Do you care?
The thoughts used to be in italics but they didn't appear when I uploaded the chapter...Then I tried to mark thoughts, but those not surrounded by other dialogue became invisible as well...What do you all think is best to mark thoughts? Bold them? {Bracket them?} [Matricise them?] |Absolute value them?| *Asterisk them?* No punctuation at all?
Tell me what you think in the review.
Until next time!
Chapter 3
Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha.
Several weeks passed in Kenji's village. Jennifer had decided to stay and live with Kenji in his big house although she really wanted to go home. Meanwhile she helped care for his pigs and tend the vegetable garden.
She was quite a celebrity in the small village. They called her the foreign girl for indeed she was foreign. There was plenty of talk but Jennifer didn't mind the gossip.
"They say Kenji found her in the Forest of InuYasha. Is she a demon?"
"No, I don't think so. She says she comes from the ocean to the east."
"The ocean to the east? But that's impossible!"
For the most part the villagers didn't think of her as a demon. She was too kind to them. However, the villagers thought her quite strange when she tried to ask the villagers about a monk with a hole in his hand or a demon in a white baboon skin. They had no idea what she was talking about. They simply smiled and nodded. They didn't mind the few faults she had, even if one of them was that she wore those strange clothes.
Kenji often tried to fix the "problem" by buying her different robes and kimonos to wear.
"Here," he offered, handing her two folded bundles. "Try these robes on."
Jennifer sighed, "Kenji, you know I like wearing my own clothes." She handed them back to him. "At least when they're clean..." she muttered.
That was another thing about Jennifer that slightly annoyed Kenji: her incessant need of clean things. Not just clothes but herself, her sheets, and she even pressed that Kenji needed to bathe as well. He endured her strange quirk for being with her made him happy.
Nunnh...the other villagers are watching. Today I need to press that she wears these.
"What about my image?" He asked rather suddenly. "How does it look on me when you wear those foreign clothes? The villagers stare at you and I lose face because they think that I allow you to."
"They stare at me?!"
She looked down at what she considered normal: a small gray, form- fitting t-shirt and her favorite pair of blue "hootchie shorts" (short shorts).
Oh...maybe that's why...
She was broken from her thought. Something had occurred to her.
"Wait a second! You lose face?! Kenji, I've told at least a dozen times. We are not married! You don't have to act like my protector!"
Kenji had turned his head away. He had been hurt. Her words shouldn't have hurt. They weren't married, but they did.
Jennifer saw this and her fit of rage instantly melted. She grabbed Kenji by the hand and looked him in the eyes.
"These past couple of weeks you have been extremely kind to me. You are like an older brother to me. I'm sorry, nothing more..."
"Oh."
Oh no. Did I hurt his feelings?
His sad expression turned to that of feigned could-care-less-ness.
"Don't worry about it," he flashed a cheesy smile, "little sister."
Just then a villager approached with a young lady in tow.
"Hey Kenji!" He looked at their still clasped hands. "Oh. Am I disturbing anything?"
Kenji and Jennifer both looked down and yanked their hands away.
"No," Kenji responded. "We aren't together,"
Jennifer was shocked at his straightforwardness. Apparently so was his friend.
"Oh...Ok. Well, I wanted to introduce you to my cousin, Nekkuresu."
The girl called Nekkuresu greeted them. She was thin and very beautiful. She had long black hair that she had pulled back into a bun, leaving the excess to hang off her neck.
The other villager continued, "She's visiting from a neighboring village and will be staying with me for the next couple of days. I have some errands to run and I don't want to bore so, Kenji, if you don't mind, could you show her around the village? You guys would become great friends."
Nekkuresu blushed slightly. Kenji took the opportunity to grab her hand and in a nervous voice, "Of course. Such a young and beautiful maiden, I would be honored to show her around and keep her company."
Jennifer picked up a nearby slop bucket and slapped Kenji's head with it. She angrily stomped away still tightly grasping the bucket.
"I thought you two weren't together," the villager spoke.
Kenji rubbed his head in pain, "Yeah, so did I."
***
Later that day Kenji arrived home to find dinner already made and Jennifer wearing a yellow and red floral kimono.
"Oh...you're wearing the clothes I got you..."
Jennifer looked away, her nose in the air, "My other clothes were dirty."
"Oh."
Jennifer poured him some soup. He began to eat.
"So, did you give 'what's-her-face' a tour of the village?"
"'What's-her-face'? Oh, you mean Nekkuresu? No, I told her I had other things to do."
"Oh."
They ate in silence.
Just then, an elder villager climbed up Kenji's porch and threw open the door.
"Something's wrong in the village in the valley! Can't you hear the alarms? A demon must be attacking!"
Kenji jumped up, "Does anyone know what it is?"
Another villager came running up, "Word just came! Mistress Centipede is attacking and the messenger says that InuYasha has been revived!"
"Jennifer and Kenji both spoke at once, "InuYasha!?"
Everyone was surprised that the Foreign Girl knew what they were talking about.
"But how?" Kenji asked.
"The guy I talked to wasn't so sure himself. He said something about a girl in strange clothes, but hell if I know what that means..."
They continued to talk.
No wonder no one knew what I was talking about. It hasn't happened yet!
There was a big explosion outside. Kenji, Jennifer, and the other villagers all ran outside and stared into the valley below them. It was pretty far off in the distance, but the gentle downward slope of the land showed them what was going on in the forest. Dirt and smoke were already dispersing. Jennifer strained her eyes looking for the demon in the red coat she knew had to be there.
But of course she saw nothing. For a minute or two there was silence. By now the entire village was out of their houses.
"Is it over?" "What happened?" "Didn't they say a strange girl was responsible?"
The silent murmurings of the villagers were silenced when suddenly they heard someone's voice echoing through the valley.
"SIT BOY!"
Jennifer couldn't help but laugh. She knew what had happened. "Now it has started."
A spear came to her throat. Jennifer stopped in mid-laugh. An angry villager stood behind her holding his spear very close to her throat.
"What's started? Do you know? The messenger from that village said that strange girl who did it arrived less than a day before Mistress Centipede's attack. Are you in league with those demons? You want to lead that hanyou, InuYasha, to us!"
Gasps arose from the crowd.
"Well!" The villager demeaned squeezing the spear against her neck.
"I don't know. I-"
"Admit it! You are in league with the demons!"
"No!" she pleaded.
Kenji stepped in, "Wait a minute! What proof do you have that she helped release InuYasha?"
"Look at her!" a villager from the crowd spoke up, "She's different from us. She wears those strange clothes. She appeared out of nowhere, and then this happens! She has to be a demon!"
Kenji tried again, "Demons attack all the time! You can't blame it on her!"
Quite suddenly her shoulder, where it had been injured, began to glow. The jewel shard inside her was reacting to the recent emergence of the full Shikon no Tama.
"Look!" a villager frantically pointed. "She has the demon glow!"
"She's a demon! Let's burn her!"
The mob had come to a consensus. She was to be burned.
"Kenji! Help me! Tell them!"
"Yeah demon lover, help her. We can burn you too!"
Kenji stared helplessly as the crowd surrounded her and threw her into an abandoned hut, which they quickly lit on fire.
Smoke quickly filled the room. Jennifer was hunkered down on the floor. The fire was spreading all around her.
Jennifer looked around frantically. She saw an axe and crawled to the back door. She began to hack away at the wall, embers falling on her, singeing her robes and hair.
She took in a deep breath, inhaled smoke, and coughed forcefully. She could hardly breathe and her attempt to free herself barely made a scratch in the strong wooden door.
Jennifer, defeated, huddled near the door in fetal position, axe still in hand.
She coughed and gasped thinking that her life was about to end...again.
~!@#$^&*())_+~!@#$%^&*()_+~!@#$%^&*()_+~!@#$%^&*()_+~!@#$%^&*()_
A/N: There! How's that for a new way to end my chapters? It looks kind of weird...I know...
Oh well!
Thanks as always to my reviewers, though few they are: Kessie, FranceGamble, Gaeamaker13, Divine-Heart
The thoughts are all screwy... Can you even see them? Can you tell which are thoughts? Do you care?
The thoughts used to be in italics but they didn't appear when I uploaded the chapter...Then I tried to mark thoughts, but those not surrounded by other dialogue became invisible as well...What do you all think is best to mark thoughts? Bold them? {Bracket them?} [Matricise them?] |Absolute value them?| *Asterisk them?* No punctuation at all?
Tell me what you think in the review.
Until next time!