Disclaimer: Not a chance...I don't own IY or Bonnie McKee's wonderful lyrics...
A/N: I still don't have AOL working on my computer. (sighs)...still I can't thank you all properly...I'll just do like I did last time...this chapter is Kagome's further involvement in the village, she lives with the healer and is starting to feel better. But she knows that she doesn't BELONG there...she just can't remember WHERE she DOES belong. Everyone's felt like that alittle, I mean like, "I know I'm doing this all wrong, but I don't know what's right in the first place!" Right? Yea...er...I know I've felt that before...later in this chapter IY makes his first move as a feral beast if you will. He's hungry...and they were just there...he took a long time to do it, thinking it over I suppose, but hunger got the better of him in the end, and they were just arrogan samurais, you know? I just had to paint IY's wild side for you...I hope you enjoy...next chapter IY strays close to naked village babes in the hot springs! "Oh I wasn't LOOKING at them...I just thought I smelled Kagome is all!" yea...(snickers) anyway...going now...enjoy, read and Review!
Stars Lost in the Dark
"I wonder when I'll see the stars again
I thought that they had faded long ago
With every step I'm closer to the end
I'm climbing 'cause I don't know where to go…"
"Sakana!"
The rail-thin girl stood shakily by the hut's entryway, staring out with tired, weak eyes. It was dark out and she could feel a rising chill in the wind. It would be cold this night…behind her she heard the healer, Mijai, bustling about, muttering like a nervous mother hen. In a way that's what he had become since she'd recovered—a strange, plump, short, round, male version of the mother she could only vaguely remember in the back of her mind. She ignored his calling, much as any troubled young teen will do. Her eyes turned heavenward and she squinted at the stars…they were so clear, but why shouldn't they be that way? What was she expecting them to be like, and why?
"Sakana!" Mijai's voice squeaked with irritation and she felt his hand land tentatively on her shoulder, trying to pull her gently from the door. Despite the way her back tightened and her leg muscles corded taut, she felt herself being pulled easily from the door…I'm still so weak…why is it I fight him? I'm too tired to go out anyway, I want to run from this place, I don't belong here, but why? Why if I can't remember and I don't know where I'd be going? And if I don't even have the strength to get there…
She stepped back from the doorway, her eyes lowered to the ground. Mijai was clucking his tongue in a mixture of irritation and worry. Slowly he pushed her a bowl of noodle-filled soup. Bits of chicken riddled it like here and there. She knew the broth would be spicy, just as Mijai liked it, just the way he'd cooked it for her everyday since she'd awoken on his futon in the back room. Hungry despite herself, she took it and nodded to him in thanks.
Mijai shook his head at her while she sipped from it carefully, "You are a quiet one." He sighed after a moment when she looked away, refusing to meet his eyes while she slurped the soup. The healer crossed the small room and sat at his small table, in front of his very own bowl of soup. Unlike the girl he picked up two ragged chopsticks and began to sift through the soup, scooping out a few noodles and one grisly piece of chicken.
When her soup was mostly gone, the girl moved, shakily, to the table and sat on the opposite side of him. They were silent for a long time until finally Mijai looked up at her and smiled warmly. "Well, Sakana," he gestured toward the door, "What makes the door so interesting? What's to see?"
She frowned, uncertain, her eyes unfocused and she searched her mind, trying to find him an answer. The truth was that she could remember nothing. She hardly even remembered Shisuki and Toka finding her on the banks of the river. Yet she was certain that that river was part of whatever it was that was calling to her from the outside world…there was something about the river…a tingle arose inside her mind, a tickle she couldn't scratch…
Sakana, as she was called now, shook her head and massaged her temples, sighing with defeat. She told Mijai the firs thing that came to her mind, "I need to see the river. I'm hoping that if I see it I'll remember something…"
Mijai nodded, "Yes, I'm eager to hear your story. I've never had anyone recover from such a nasty bump on the head. You've got one strong will to live, either that or there is a spirit watching over your soul…"
She looked up at him sharply, his words catching something inside her that she couldn't understand…spirit…a name floated to her: Kikyo. But what did that name have to do with anything? She knew that it was connected with negative feelings, but she couldn't place why or when they'd come upon her…frustrated she shook the thought off. If it mattered she'd remember in due time…but that thought didn't offer her any kind of comfort…
"In the morning, if you feel up to it, I think Shisuki would love to take you to the hot springs." Mijai laughed, "Heaven knows you need a bath! I'll bet there's a pretty young woman that half the boys of this village would drool to see under all that dirt and river scum…"
She nodded, it'd only been a few days since she'd awoken from her terrible black sleep—the coma, and recovered from the fever of the concussion. But she knew full well she wasn't clean or pleasant to smell…she also wasn't healthy yet either. Her body was undernourished, her skin pale from exposure to the cold waters of the river, she had a cough from the water she'd swallowed…if she survived without a bout of pneumonia she'd really be a miracle…
"I'm having Shisuki's mother make you some clothes, a simple robe ought to do, no?" Mijai chuckled and then reached for her bowl, spooning more of the soup from the still steaming pot on the table into it. He set it back before her and smiled, much as she thought a father might…though strangely she didn't have memories of that… "Eat up!" Mijai ordered and then began sifting once more through his own soup, picking out the noodles and chicken bits.
As she started to sip more at the soup, the girl, Sakana, thought that perhaps it wasn't so bad here…but the tingling, tickling sensation in the back of her mind continued, unabated. Why is it that I feel like I can't stay here? Why is it I have to go back to the river? What's there that I need to find?
The small band of samurais fidgeted and squirmed amongst themselves nervously. Their destination, a castle on the other side of these mountains, was simply too far away for their comfort at the moment. Over the last week they'd been driving their horses hard over the flat plain, eager to rejoin their comrades in the castle. Word had reached them that their castle was under siege by the pig demons that normally only plagued the mountains. They needed every man for defense now; conquest had suddenly become second to their own protection.
That was something that didn't sit well with them…but it couldn't be disputed, these plains and the mountains had become dangerous places for travelers. Demon slayers would be needed to clean it out for sure…but the best slayers lived nowhere nearby. And generally the samurai were too proud to call upon the slayers for help. They hated not taking care of the problem on their own…but they were warriors among mortals, with no experience in demons and their ways…
This was an encampment of about 50 men. They sat about ten to a fire at five fires, and each fought sleep desperately, their voices low and uncertain, their weapons clanking and stirring uneasily…
They were not alone…In the trees some thirty feet or so away all of them could see a set of gleaming eyes regarding them. Futilely they'd shot arrows at it, but the beast, whatever it was, disappeared from sight when they did, merely closing its eyes and leaping to a different tree. It was far, far too dark for them to even consider tracking the beast, and they suspected that it was likely harmless—a wild dog or a panther or a fox probably. Perhaps it smelled the meat they had burning on their fires. But it could only slobber and dream from a distance…fifty men to one pesky carnivore, swift as it was to avoid their arrows and stay well out of sight, it was no contest…
Yet some of them whispered of the pig demons, multiplying, strengthening, and plotting against them. The beast in the bushes was too smart, they reasoned, to be a mere mortal creature. It was some sort of demon for sure, and should they provoke it or appear weak it'd tear them asunder…
Finally around midnight the golden feral eyes reappeared in the distant shadows of the trees. A few of the men had fallen asleep. The archers regarded the creature by now as nothing more than a curious wild animal. No arrows were shot to ward it off. Nervously a few of the remaining samurai watched with the hilts of their swords clenched tightly in their fists. They expected a pig demon to leap from those trees at any second and tear them apart.
But nothing happened…at first…
The creature in the tops of the trees waited. An hour passed and still nothing happened. The creature didn't seem to move from its spot in the tree. The amber glare of its eyes through the darkness, glinting from the samurais' fires, stared at them unabatedly, unabashedly, and unceasingly. It was eerie, but none moved to scare it off—the creature seemed harmless…
And then a few clouds skidded over the crescent moon, and the world darkened still more. It was as if black ink had been spilled over the whole of the earth. The stars seemed to have banished before the samurais' eyes.
And that was when the beast struck.
A horse whinnied wildly in fright, spooked by the darkness. One of the younger samurais could be heard trying to shush the animal, but it refused to calm. In a moment the sound of its hooves beating the earth was heard as the frightened horse charged off into the darkness.
"You stupid fool!" an older man screamed at the younger samurai, "You let that miserable half-wit horse escape! What do you think we should do about it?! Hmm…I say we let one of the men ride you all the way home…" a burst of raucous laughter came then through the men surrounding the fires, the tension of the night was momentarily eased…but the men hadn't taken into thought the reason why the horse had suddenly spooked…
The wind had changed, but the samurais, being nothing more than mortal, failed to smell the beast approaching coming straight for them.
One man had the time to look toward the trees through the gloom and grunt, "Would you look at that, the kitsune finally left us!" indeed, the other men looked and there wasn't any feral eyes glinting at them from the dark or the forest…
Suddenly a man screamed. The samurais leapt to their feet, their swords immediately drawn. "Shiso?! What is going on over there?" someone called, but the man made no answer, and as the rest of the camp watched in terror, a strange humanoid form burst from the blackness, silhouetted by the flames of one of the fires.
The creature slashed one man before he could even make a sound, then whirled on another who was drawing his sword, cutting his arm clean away before he even lifted the blade. The samurais farthest away from this mess looked on in horror, frozen as their comrades were ripped apart…and not a one of them failed to notice the glint of its amber eyes as it whirled and twisted and writhed and slashed. It was the same beast from before, from within the shadow of the trees.
A few archers aimed their arrows at the beast, their bows singing and straining with the effort. The arrows shot through the air, true to their marks, but the beast ducked them all deftly and even caught one in its clawed hands, snapping it in two. The samurais could hear rough and angry laughter arise from the beast's throat.
"I'm not that easy to kill, you lazy bastards!" it yelled, stunning them all into gaping stupidly, frozen in expressions of shock.
This gap in their attacks allowed the creature to snatch what it'd come for…it leapt into the air, landing easily at the edge of one of the fires, and grabbed the skewer of burning meat. It was in this moment that the samurais got their best view of the beast attacking them: it wore a red haori, and when it reached into the fire the material failed to burn, much to their shock. The hair was light and shining in the flickering light of the fires: it seemed to be white, or silver. And, aside from the feral glow of the amber eyes, the strangest thing about the creature was its ears: they were two neat little dog-ears sticking out above its rather unruly head of hair.
Before any of the samurais could move to attack it again, the beast with the dog-ears leapt away, the smoking meat still in its clawed hands. Some noted, as it leapt away, that the creature had a sword strapped to its waist…
The monster had killed five men; three others were badly wounded. The samurais posted archers to watch for the glint of the feral eyes, should they reappear, but they never did.
In the morning their general sent a small number of them beyond the winding river that flowed through this plain to seek out the nearest village, to tend the wounded, and ask about the strange creature that had attacked them. It had been too long since the last demon extermination—slayers would be needed. The demons of the mountains would pay…
Early in the afternoon the following day, Shisuki arrived at Mijai's hut, her arms wrapped about a simple green and white kimono. "Mijai? Sakana? I have come with my mother's kimono robe…it's time we went to the hot springs!"
Shisuki and Sakana set out shortly after that, both eager to be out of the village. Sakana had grown steadily stronger with each night of rest that passed. She was beginning to feel alive once more as she walked beside Shisuki. At first conversation was light, both girls being uncertain of the other, but finally after a while they began to a steady conversation.
"Why did your mother make it green?" Sakana asked, reaching out to touch the cotton of the robe in Shisuki's arms.
The other, younger girl smiled and shrugged amiably. "I told her that we found you in that tiny kimono! So she made you one that's short and green—just like the one we first saw you in." she held out the garment, and it let Sakana hold it up to measure it on herself.
Indeed, it was short; it ended mid-thigh, and tied with a simple but elegant white and red obi. There was no inner robe. It was a peasant's garb, but certainly a nice one. Shisuki's mother had worked hard on it…Sakana felt herself blushing. "It's gorgeous, I can't wait to wear it!" certainly it was far better than the white robe Mijai had lent her—his robe smelled strange and was far, far too big on her. She felt like she was wearing a tent walking beside Shisuki, who was wearing an elegant blue kimono that ended mid-calf. Tiny yellow flowers were embroidered all over it. Silently Sakana admired the other girl's clothing, already adoring the girl's mother for her handiwork before she'd even met the woman.
She handed the kimono back to Shisuki, who blushed and bowed slightly, "My mother has had many years of practice. She was once the tailor, before she married our father and relocated to this village, anyway."
"I can see why!"
The girls reached the river. To get to the hot springs they'd have to wade across it and walk to the forest on the other side some distance away. The river was wide and shallow at the point where Shisuki and Sakana crossed, shivering at the chill of the water on their toes.
But as Sakana walked across she fell behind Shisuki, her senses alive, tingling. The flesh on her feet forgot the cold, swift current of the eager little but energetic river. There was something out there…she looked left and right, her brown eyes wide and searching, desperately. The spot at the back of her mind was tingling again, like an itch she couldn't scratch. She had the urge to run along the river in both directions, searching for something, but what? What was in the river?
From the opposite bank Shisuki was shivering, "Come on, Sakana!" she called.
Reluctantly the girl pressed forward, shaking her head futilely to try and rid herself of the terrible internal itch, the instinct to search the river…she reached Shisuki on the other side and they continued on their way, but now Sakana was noticeably quiet, disturbed. Shisuki tried to draw her out again but it was in vain, until they reached the hot springs. Then Sakana finally forgot the strangeness of the river and a new desire awoke within her—a need to be clean…
Endnote: My hints for today: I just finished writing chapter 9 last night, it's called "She's Alive." Hehe, as if that weren't a pretty large hint all on its own here's another, a paragraph from the chapter hinting at my all-time fav funny moment (that I've written anyway)where IY makes a fool out of himself...though this time he didn't get punished on purpose...unknowingly...here goes, see if you can guess what happened to him:
One gigantic splash later and Inuyasha rose from it(the river), sputtering and furious. He looked around frantically, his ears twittering in every which way, even his nose worked, twitching as he stood, his flesh prickled with goose bumps in the middle of the river. His clawed hands reached up (to his neck)and clasped the beads…
Just so you know I added the stuff in parantheses to give you an even bigger hint...(grins). Well until next time! Drop me a line! YAYS! My other story broke 300 reviews!!! (SCREAMS!!!)