Authoress' Note: Greetings and salutations, readers! I am so pleased to know that you have read my story and do hope you enjoy it! If this chapter is not submitted immediately after the first, then it will be submitted the following night. My 2.5" Inu Yasha figure standing by my laptop is urging me to continue. I got him free of charge. Oh, what a wondrous world we inhabit! Read on!

Reminder: If two or three words are combined 'assuch', 'orassuch' the fault lies not with me but with the website and its QuickEdit 2.03 system.

WARNING: This fiction is rated PG-13 for mention of rape and other mature themes. Nothing graphic will be depicted, however. There will be no lemons, or at least no particularly described lemons. If you are still interested in reading and are in a sound state of mind to deal with the content of this story, please read on.

Disclaimer: The characters and places represented in this story are the property of Rumiko Takahashi, the ingenious mind behind the original graphic novel, Inu Yasha.


Speechless

Chapter Two:

A Gruesome Discovery

The half demon, Inu Yasha, bounded effortlessly through the forest, the twisted aroma of human blood strong in his nostrils. The monk, Miroku, and the miko archer, Kagome, kept the pace as best they could, sprinting behind their swift comrade and quickly losing their breath.

The hanyou stopped suddenly, the archer miko fell to her knees panting and the monk stood in wonderment, his chest rising and falling heavily. Before them laid dozens upon dozens of bodies, strewn all across the newly made clearing. Small fires still simmered in a few select patches of grass, blood blanketed the trunks of the trees, both the fallen and the standing.

Kagome gagged. It was the most gruesome sight she had ever seen. Some of the bodies were so badly wounded that you would not be able to recognize them had the victim been your own father. Miroku solemnly bowed his head in respect for the dead and Inu Yasha grimaced.

"Bandits could not have possibly done this much damage." The half demon stated matter-of-factly.

"I tried to tell you last night... they had the help of demons." Kagome explained, not willing herself to look up at theutterlydisgustingscene that was portrayed in front of her. Miroku lifted his head slowly and yet suddenly.

"Check for survivors." He stated calmly, his voice possessing a ghost like quality. Both Inu Yasha and Kagome nodded as the three set out in opposite directions.

-X-

Kagome had been searching for an hour at the least, but the grim realization grew larger with every passing minute. Her heart became heavier with every corpse she passed, and she was dangerously close to vomiting. Then suddenly, she reached a clearing. Only this clearing was natural.

No bloodied bodies littered the ground. It had a span of about a one hundred foot radius and seemed perfectly circular from Kagome's point of view. Then she saw it.

Another body.

She began to run towards it, not knowing why she felt compelled to it. It appeared strangely... clean. Unlike the others, it was not caked in blood nor blackened by fire.

As she drew nearer to it, she saw that it was the body of a young woman, perhaps two years older than she. As she had assumed, this body was not stained with blood. When the miko came close to the girl's body, she noticed the bruising around her shoulders, her neck, her arms, her stomach. Her entire body was tainted with these violent marks. Kagome could only see this because the girl was completely naked.

Dear God. She must have been raped. Kagome's heart dropped even further into the pit of her stomach as this thought hit her. She knelt down next to the girl dark haired girl and placed two fingers beneath her chin. Kagome gasped as she felt a slow but undeniable thumping beneath her fingers. She's alive!

Kagome immediately stood and looked around frantically.

"INU YASHA! MIROKU!" She yelled into the forest. "INU YASHA!" Like a flash, the silver haired half demon was running towards her. "Hurry! We have to get her back to the village or she won't make it!" Inu Yasha approached the girl and picked her up, apparently not caring that she was nude.

"I'll take her to the village, go find Miroku and meet me there!" Kagome nodded as Inu Yasha leapt off, carrying the girl as a groom carries his bride. Kagome ran back into the forest to retrieve Miroku.

-X-

After an hour of intense sprinting, Miroku and Kagome had finally reached the village at which they had resided the previous evening. Much to their discontent, however, they were told that Inu Yasha had not returned.

"That baka! If he's not here, where could he be?" Kagome cried angrily into the night.

"Hmm... it is possible that he might have returned to Kaede's village." Miroku said, stroking his chin in thought.

"Why on earth would he have done that?" Kagome asked, some of her previous anger now displaced with confusion.

"Well, this village has no priestess. For better healing, it would be wise to see Kaede, not some mediocre doctor that resides here." He answered, sitting down.

"But getting to Kaede's village takes even longer than getting here."

"Not technically. Inu Yasha travels much faster than we do, and could probably make the journey in half the time. We should set out tomorrow morning to Kaede's village. ... Again." Miroku rose again and began walking towards the inn. Kagome sighed and began to follow him.

"Okay." She replied. There's no arguing with logic.

-X-

The young girl stirred in her straw bed, sweat dripping down her face and seeping through the thin fabric of her clothes. She wimpered as she tossed and turned restlessly, tears beginning to form at the edge of her eyes. She clutched her blanket close to her, as if trying to protect herself from a monster attacking her in her dreams. Or rather, her nightmares.

At that moment, the hanyou walked through the door and looked first to the girl, then to the old woman seated next to her.

"Shouldn't you wake her up or something?" He said, a small tinge of concern in his tone, though it was covered by his usual arrogant none-chalance.

"I have tried, Inu Yasha, but no matter what I do she does not wake. She must wake in her own time, there is nothing ye nor I can do for her." She replied. Inu Yasha sighed and leaned against the wall, slinking down until he was sitting. It had been two days and two nights since he had brought the young woman from the forest to Kaede's village. Her wounds had been treated and bandaged, given a miko's garments to wear, but still she would not wake.

The sun peeked through the bamboo door flap, the early morning breeze sending a refreshing aroma into the hut. Suddenly, without warning, Kagome and Miroku burst through the small and narrow frame of the door. The young girl in the cot continued to jerk violently, her nails gripping so deeply into the fabric of the blanket that it appeared as if she might tear it. Tears flowed freely down her cheeks and her wimpers escalated in tone, though they sounded almost forced.

Kagome knelt down beside the girl, then looked to Kaede. "Wake her up!" She pleaded. Miroku watched the girl with pity and remorse.

Kaede sighed, "I cannot. She will not wake." She stated simply.

"Look at her! There must be a way to wake her up! She's crying, for God's sake!" At that precise moment, the girl gave a deep gasp that sounded almost like a scream and sat upright in her straw cot. Her eyes, moist from crying, burst open wide. She breathed in and out rapidly.

Kagome, Inu Yasha, Miroku and Kaede all stared at her with wide eyes, quite surprised by her sudden awakening.

Once her breathing had slowed somewhat, the girl looked around at her surroundings. The first person she saw was Kagome. The sight of another human frightened her so that she backed up, becoming tangled in her blankets, until she was huddled in the corner of the hut. She clutched her blanket close and covered up as much of her body as she could, although she was entirely clothed.

She continued to cry as Kagome approached her slowly, extending a gentle hand to her.

"It's okay. We're not bandits. We rescued you from the forest. What's your name?" The girl merely answered Kagome with wide and fearful eyes. Her almost maroon eyes darted first to Kagome's hand, then to her face and then back again. Then she looked over Inu Yasha, Miroku and Kaede in a panic, her gaze returning to Kagome in the end.

Cautiously, she pulled her blanket down just a smidge and extended her shaking hand to Kagome's. Her fingers brushed with the young miko's for less than a second before she quickly pulled her hand back and covered herself with the blanket once more.

No longer blinded by horror, Kagome and Inu Yasha finally could get a good look at her. Miroku, on the other hand, was viewing her for the first time.

He noted her long, dark chestnut hair, extending to her lower back. Her face was angelic, though... dangerous in a way that he could not entirely determine. Her eyes were a beautiful dark brown color, her nosesmall and perfectly shaped. But what really caught him was her lips. A delicate shade of pink, so seductive and yet so innocent at the same time. She was easily one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen. Perhaps even the most beautiful.

The girl could feel Miroku's lingering gaze on her and looked at him. She wimpered fearfully and clutched her blanket even closer in an effort to protect herself from his glances. He blushed slightly and looked at the wall, suddenly becoming very interested in it. Kaede sighed.

"Perhaps it is best if ye leave. I shall explain to her what happened, and ye may all return later, when she has more time to make sense of these events." The three nodded, and all began to rise, save for Kagome. Slowly, the young archer miko turned to the old woman with sympathetic eyes. She gulped, wondering how to ask the question that had been tickling her mind since she had seen the girl.

"Kaede... was she?" She asked timidly. Miroku and Inu Yasha, puzzled, looked to Kaede for the answer to the anonymous question.

"Was she what?" Miroku asked. Kagome turned to him with venomous eyes and he immediately turned silent. The silence spread and filled the room, coating the air with discomfort and confusion. Kaede sighed again and stood, walked towards the door and held the flap of bamboo open for them.

"We will discuss this when ye return this evening. For now, go, enjoy yourselves, and I will console the girl." The three hesitantly and reluctantly exited the hut as Kaede turned back to the girl. The minute they exited the hut, they eagerly awaited their return, in hopes of discovering what the question meant, but more importantly, what the answer was.


End Chapter Two