Home
8:88:888:88:8
Taji bit her lip as she stared at Sora. He gazed deep into her eyes, wondering just how in the world Kami could make a being like her. His stomach erupted in odd tremors, made him want to run away and hide from her piercing gaze. A smile tugged on the corner of her lips, and as she tugged at the hem of her skirt, trying to hide her legs from his view, he reached over and swatted her hands away, running his nails up and down her skin.
She gasped and twitched, trying to squirm away from his assault. Her mind hazy and clouded from logical reason, it was all she could do; but her lip and close her eyes. When she felt his soft fingers trying to feel every define of her face, she whimpered as his breathing turned ragged. "L-L-look at me---"
She whimpered again, tossing her head to the sky as her body gave off another eruption of violent trembling. He nearly groaned, bit his lip as his hand carefully rose higher and higher against the damned piece of clothe blocking his access. "Open your eyes." He growled.
She did, whimpering a bit as she bit her lip bloody. In a rush of movement, his lips crashed down on hers, goading her, exciting her, frightening her. Tugging at his shirt, yet trying to push him away at the same time, she complied with the shyness of a small shy, the strokes of her tongue against his slow and unsure. He groaned as he pressed her down with the weight of his body, the heat from her chest scorching his . . .
Sora awoke with a gasp and smothered groan as he looked around frantically. Scrambled across his chest was Taji, and she stirred lightly, smashing her ears against her head as she dug her claws into his shoulder, whimpering. Sora flinched and bit his lip to keep from calling out.
Her grip tightened for a moment, and he winced again, and she gave a puppy-like whine, and cuddled closer to him. He pulled the covers over her legs a little more, smiling when she sighed.
'He doesn't care---'
Sora blinked and looked around. A wash of worry flowed over him, drowning away his common sense as he possessively wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her closer to him as he strained to see over her shoulder.
A shadowy figure glowered at them both. It's red eyes seemed to narrow, stare straight through him---it's form drifting away only to be snatched back. Darkness indeed, and the jewel seemed to be reacting to it's presence. Taji whimpered again, this time digging her nails into his shoulder, this time not letting go. "She's under my control now."
Sora blinked. The voice was deep, scratchy---crazed. The being seemed everywhere at once, it's gaseous body seeming everywhere at once. Taji began coughing, her face growing pale as her body erupted in a dark purple light, her miko aura fighting with it. She opened her mouth and called out---opened her eyes and looked dead at him.
No more was the amber orbs that used to sparkle when she looked at him. No more was there the amber eyes that brightened when she smiled. No more was the orbs that he looked to for strength, the reminder of her supernatural beauty. Violet orbs looked at him . . . she looked pale, sick, and as the miasma began to receed from them, she still looked weak and terrible.
Bitter rage grew within Sora. The need to protect his family---his best, and only friend gave him the inspiration to bite back his fear. He reached around the floor, thanking Kami Taji wouldn't be anywhere without her weapons. "What did you do to her?"
The being laughed, seemed to mock him as his gaseous body fought to disappear from around him. It was trapped---imprisoned, and it's sadness caused the air in the room to be thick, heavy, disgusting; Sora hated the being standing at the foot of the bed with everything he had in him. Taking the weapon by it's handle, he held a firm grasp on it as his shoulders began to throb.
The being laughed as it approached him, stretching out a vile, evil hand. Reaching for Sora's chest, his hand went through Taji, and she cried out. Tears began to build around her eyes . . . words were lost as her grip loosened and she laid there, her body shivering and soft gasps of breath erupting from her. "I'm only completing something her mother started a long time ago."
"Her mother---Ms.Kagome?"
The jewel began pulsing, this time stronger than before. Something inside him jumped alive . . . blood began running through his veins with an agonizing speed, leaving his arms, legs and chest feeling as if he just fell into a volcano. He could feel his hair raising off of his head, could see the covers blow away from him as Taji rolled off of him onto her back next to him.
With a sharp grunt, and with a hiss of pain at the same time, Sora sliced at the being. It screamed. An agonizing scream that made him blood thirst for more. He watched as it began to turn into dust . . .first it's arms . . . then it's legs, to it's chest until it finally disappeared. Sunlight broke through the hazy fog that intruded the room, and Taji jump started with a huge gasp of breath.
Taji gasped and reached to touch him, suddenly jerking her hand to her face with a broken sob. Sniffing her hands . . . she gasped and held them out to him. "Did I . . . tell me I didn't---this isn't your blood, right?"
Sora began to feel weak, dizzy as everything grew fuzzy. He tried his best to stay away. "This is just an illusion---right? Tell me I didn't . . . I wouldn't . . . I couldn't . . ."
Sora reached to take her hands and move them, but he flinched and quickly brought his arm back. His blood still felt as if it was on fire . . . he thought for a split second his skin might melt away . . . everything was painful, and just before he passed out, he saw Taji hovering over his chest, her fingers making a weird arrangement as she chanted something. A bright light blinded him for a moment . . . but not before the darkness did.
8:88:888:88:8
The sky was streaked with orange; the bird soared high above. The gentle strokes of the grass awoke him, and he sneezed as he sat up. Looking around, he didn't recognize where he was. Nothing was familiar. He couldn't sense Taji's reassuring youki, couldn't sense Nyoko's, Nakabashi's, not even the family of the three. He began to panic as he felt on his chest.
'G-Gone? Where am I? Who . . . am I?'
He began to feel around, when he touched something soft. A soft giggle, the gentle brush of fur against his hand caused him to draw back, and as he stumbled back, a cute little bunny rabbit landed on his chest. 'So? You're the protector. Odd . . . I thought it was going to be her daughter.'
Sora looked around. 'Where's that voice coming from?'
The rabbit hopped on his chest once, making him grunt as he sat up. The rabbit simply hopped on his head. 'Right here, baka! Where did you think it was coming from?'
Sora screamed when he tried to stand up, and fell; causing them both to go toppling over. Shaking his head as he picked up the rabbit by her stomach, he held it close to his face, memorizing the peaceful youki that she offered out to him.
She was a weird looking rabbit. . . her ears entirely too long . . .and she was larger than any normal rat he'd ever seen. Her red eyes looked happy, playful, and she seemed to smile at him as she twitched her whiskers. 'So? You can . . . talk?'
'Pretty much. I would transform, but I wouldn't have any clothes . . . so--'
'I . . . I havea girlfriend . . . alright?'
The rabbit laughed. Now, this wasn't squeaky, or twittering or a paranoid laugh like he expected. It was soft, gentle, strong and her voice carried out the soft scent of wildflowers. Sora was completely perplexed by this. Setting the rabbit down in front of him, he crossed his legs and leaned forward. 'So---I thought I smelled her on you. You've been in contact with her lately, haven't you? It's been so long.'
'Who? I don't know what you are talking about.'
The rabbit hopped up and sniffed him. Wrinkling it's nose, it hopped back and did a flip in the air, making Sora laugh and smile. 'Before we get to anything, we should get you something to eat and a nice bath, okay? You look exhausted.'
'The jewel! Where's the jewel!'
The rabbit started to run off, but it turned and looked back at him. It seemed to wink, before it began hopping away. Sora called after it, and with a sigh ran after it. 'Hey!'
'Don't worry, kid! The jewel is perfectly safe.'
'Safe . . . how?'
'It's safe . . . inside of you.'
'Where am I?'
The rabbit stopped hopping and looked at him. 'Home.'
An hour later . . .
Sora sighed as he rubbed his finger along the throbbing symbal in the middle of his chest. Wincing as he pressed a little bit harder, the symbal seemed familiar . .. seemed to make his heart lurch when he looked at it.
The fire crackled ashe took off his shirt so that the little girl he had met back at the hut could inspect his wound. She gasped and looked at his chest. "Oh, dear . . ."
The boy,however wasn't so calm. His eyes began darting around as his eyes repeatedly fell to the weird markings on his chest. "What the hell is that?"
The rabbit, hopped over and sniffed. "'Gome didn't do it . . . but it was her . . .daughter?"
The little girl looked worried. "She did this . . . on her own? This may be worse than we anticipated, little one."
Afterhe had asked them what they were talking about, they stuffed him with food and sent him to take a bath out back in the hot spring. The markings didn't hurt as much as it did when the girl had first touched it. That was something he found odd, too. It didn't hurt . . . he didn't even know it was there until she touched him.
Buthe didn't feel anything evil about this girl. Kagome had told him that one of his natural powers, was something called 'sight.' She explained to him that his was different somehow. His power didn't have an on or off switch. It was as natural as normal sight with him. She also explained it the person hada concealment that kept their youki from being seen,he could feel it anyhow.
Sure,he didn't understand it, but after looking at these two, he began to understand it. He remembered a couple of things Kagome had told him if he ever was alone. "Remember : When someone has stronger spiritual powers; there heart has to be pure. Or it was at one point in time. Tell me, do you remember how you felt when your father entered the house, or when he came to do . . . something bad to you?"
Sora was extremely uncomfortable, but now that he thought about it, her logic began to make sense. "I always felt . . . a dark feeling. A heavy weight on my chest . . . and in my head I just knew it. Sometimes he didn't look the same . . . sometimes I saw like a . . . a dark shadow around him."
Kagome nodded and leaned forward, hugging him. "Now, when you saw the dark shadow . . . that's unpure youki, or an aura."
Sora looked baffled. "What's the difference?"
Kagome had smiled and put her hair up in a messy ponytail. Then she scooted behind him, and began playing in his hair. "A human has an aura. Though we are humans, we do not have the power to control our aura. Which means that when you look at a person, you can tell what their aura is going to show you. For instance . . .Sango. When you first looked at her, I'm sure you saw a strong, happy woman."
Sora smiled and nodded. "Just like Taura."
Kagome nodded and began brushing his hair. Sora had never remembered anyone being so tender towards him. He sighed and closed his eyes. "Right. Now, when you look at . . . Aka for example . . . can you tell the difference?"
Sora nearly laughed. "When I first saw him, he was deliberately taunting me . . . I just didn't realize it then. But now, his youki welcomes me."
Kagome giggled and continued brushing his hair. "Right, now do you understand? An aura . . . or a youki is simply a physical form of emotions. When InuYasha uses the wind scar---which can only be used when two youki connect---both him and the person he's fighting has to have a strong will in order to make their youki visible to those who don't have the power to see it. To people like us . . . it comes normal."
"So . . . how do I use this in battle?"
Kagome giggled and kissed the top of his head. "Sometimes . . . if you can read a person's youki and try to talk to them, help them through their situation or bitter rage---a physical fight can be avoided."
"So . . . it's a defense mechanism?"
"You . . . can say that. It's a peacemaker's first option---let's put it like that. Another way it can be used . . . is that you can tell when it's time to stop fighting, or whether you should fight at all."
"Really?"
"Yes. If a person is blinded by rage, but their youki seems sad . . . it clings to yours and won't let it go . . . something is forcing that person to fight you. Now, you talk about it."
"So . . . I can read other people's feelings?"
"And you can tell if strangers are there to hurt you, or if they are there to help you."
Sora fingered the weird markings on his chest. 'Who are these people? Where am I?'
'Like she said---home.'
8:88:888:88:8
Sora walked into the small hut with his bloody clothes over his shoulder. The young girl took them off of his shoulder, placing them in a large basin of water before leading him over to the fire. "So . . . are you the only one this time?"
Sora turned to his right and looked at her as the rabbit slept soundly at his feet. "What do you mean? Where am I?"
The young girl looked a little relieved. She had extremely long hair with big brown eyes. She looked exactly like someone he knew very well . . . for some reason he couldn't remember her name. Why couldn't he remember nothing but her face . . . and Kagome?
"So . . . you weren't told when the jewel disappeared?"
The being laughed as it approached him, stretching out a vile, evil hand. Reaching for Sora's chest, his hand went through Taji, and she cried out. Tears began to build around her eyes . . . words were lost as her grip loosened and she laid there, her body shivering and soft gasps of breath erupting from her. "I'm only completing something her mother started a long time ago."
"The jewel!The last time I saw the jewel is when it reacted to that thing in our room."
The girl looked like Sora just slapped her. ";Our'? What do you mean . . . 'our'?"
"Me and . . . and . . . "
Sora held his head as it began throbbing. Why couldn't he remember her name?Why didn't heknow who he himself was?He remembered everything . . . except the memories with her. Who was she? He could only remember things with the woman named Kagome---and something told him that
The girl smiled and held out her hand to him. "Don't worry. You'll remember . . ."
Shaking his head, Sora regarded the young girl for a minute. Her long hair tossed into a light braid hanging over her shoulder . . . her bright brown eyes looking to him for something . . . expecting something . . . she looked away quickly as he rubbed the rabbit with his knuckle. It stirred and nudged toward him.
A woman walked into the hut . . . holding a basket of food and stopped when she saw him. Her eyes widened, then filled with tears as Sora stood. He may not remember who he was, or where he was . . . but he felt a sense of happiness seeing this strange woman. She was dressed in modern clothes . . . but the other girl . . . a kimono?
"S-S-Sora?"
Sora blinked. Was that his name? "Who is . . . Sora?"
She gave a broken cry and ran to him. Cradling his head between her breasts, she cried for minutes on end, swaying him back and forth. She was a fairly short woman . . . beautiful more than he ever imagined . . . yet he felt a sense of happiness to this woman. "Who . . . are you?"
The woman pulled back and looked at him with a longing expression. The girl cleared her throat, and the woman put on a tight, sad smile for him. Kissing his forehead, she whispered two words for him. "Welcome home."
8:88:888:88:8
A/N
Sorry for the short update, and I'm so sorry that it took so long. Please review!