AnimeLady Noriko: Thank you so much! You're so sweet! I appreciate the help and thanks for both the reviews! Bwahaha you're the only thing that's making me type this story!
Yeppers: Thank you! Glad you like it!
I noticed that some people are going quite insane about what Kumi said about Inuyasha having bad judgments about her. That's good! Thank you for the reviews!
Sorry bout the late update! My computer got fixed and all my chapters got sent to another file, which I couldn't find! It was very mean…
Disclaimer: Read my words; I do not own Inuyasha! Hurts me to say but I must convince myself somehow…
After being asleep for almost a day, Kumi had too much energy to sleep. She tried but always seemed to wake up a couple minutes later and the sky was still dark. She sighed giving up hope that she would ever be able to sleep tonight.
It had only been yesterday when she had met the group and so far they were treating her very nicely. Inuyasha hadn't said anything and kept his distance, which she knew would happen and didn't get mad at that. After all she was the one who tried to kill him when they first met.
She gazed into the fire. It was the only thing keeping them from going into total blackness and keeping Kumi visible. Face getting hot she looked up into the nights sky, star light twinkling in her eyes. The moon was almost gone a sign that the new moon was coming. She liked when the moon was gone only to leave the stars by themselves and let them shine their fullest for one night. The sky was prettier with out the moons enormous light shining down on everything.
Her ear moved back when she heard breathing that was not steady. Someone was awake and she had a pretty good idea of who it was. Just to be sure she sniffed the air and stuck out her tongue when the unpleasant smell drifted into her nose.
When she heard footsteps come towards her she ignored it but kept her ears alert, in case Inuyasha decided to play any tricks on her. He sat down beside her and said nothing. Kumi did the same but turned her head in the opposite direction.
Only the crickets chirping were heard for a few minutes until finally Inuyasha's spoke, "You were pretty strong in that battle two days ago. I was really worried"
Kumi wasn't afraid to look at Inuyasha. Was he complimenting her? She looked at him harder and noticed bags under his eyes. That's why, he's half asleep. Probably doesn't even realize what he's saying.
"Why did you call me brother?" it was his turn to look Kumi in the eye. Her eyes softened and she looked back at the fire giving her face an orange glow. "Because you are my brother, Inuyasha"
"But, how? I thought dad died when I was born"
She chuckled, "Yah, that's what I thought you'd say, but how would he put his grave into you're eye?"
He blinked. How would she know about his father's grave? He thought only he knew were it was, with the acceptation of Sesshomaru. Kumi smiled at the expression on the hanyou's face then her face darkened as the memory of her past crept up on her, "But I only knew mother till I was five, because…" she paused.
Inuyasha arched his brow, "Because of what?"
"Because of the fire"
Before Inuyasha could ask anymore about the subject Kumi stood up, "I'm getting tired. Do you mind putting out the fire? Thanks" She slowly walked to the tree nearest to there camp. She jumped on the closest tree branch to the ground were she would sleep for the night.
Inuyasha waited till Kumi's breathing became steady before putting out the fire and sitting beside Kagome, ready to get some shut eye.
Her wounds were healing much faster and Kumi could now walk without any help from Kirara, though she did keep close to her in case she fell. The pervious night of no sleep was catching up on her and occasionally her vision would become blurry, but she would rub them quickly when no one was watching.
It was an eerie quiet surrounding the forest and only Kirara's footsteps could be heard when each one hit the ground. Wanting to start a conversation and get rid of the eerie quiet Kumi looked around to see what to talk about.
Trees? Nah, too boring.
Animals? Nope that won't do.
Her ears perked up when she thought of a wonderful idea. Those jewel shard thingies that Inuyasha mentioned earlier, that would be perfect, but who to talk to? Again she looked at the different people to talk to. She stopped at the girl with the strange clothing. She always acted nice to her so that would be good, but…what's her name?
Her brain went through all the possible names that she thought was the girls, but none of them fit. Then she remembered one part that linked to the girl. Her name started with Kag.
Kagame, Kagume, Kagome. Yes there it was, Kagome!
"Umm Kagome?" she asked.
Kagome turned around and smiled, "Yes Kumi?"
"You and Inuyasha talked about these jewel shards. What are they? Are they important?"
Kagome giggled at how little Kumi knew about the jewel shards, but mostly when she asked if they were important. Everyone was looking at her now which made Kumi a bit nervous.
"You don't know what jewel shards are?" Inuyasha said rather rudely as he walked up to Kumi giving her a glare. She glared back, "So what if I don't?"
Both were growling at each other, face to face. Kagome came in the middle of the two, placed her hands on both of their chests and pushed them away from each other. "Break it up you two"
Kumi and Inuyasha gave each other one final glare before turning around and crossing their arms. "Keh, it's not my fault that she doesn't know what jewel shards are" said Inuyasha.
Kumi glared daggers at his back, and flexed her claws. Though wanting to keep a good impression she took a deep breath and calmed herself down. She smirked, "Well it's not my fault that your brain is the size of a pin head and is as dense as stone"
She wasn't sure if that was true but the expression on Inuyasha's face made it all worth while. "So what are the jewel shards Kagome?"
Kagome sat down and gestured Kumi to do the same. This was going to take a long time.
At the end of the explanation, and almost everyone falling asleep Kumi was summing up everything Kagome had told her. "But if the jewel was whole when it came out of Midoriko's heart, then why do you call them shards?"
Kagome giggled sheepishly, "Well that's my fault."
Kumi blinked, "You…broke the jewel?" Kagome nodded eyes dropping to the ground. Though it was a long time ago, she still felt bad for it. "How?" Kumi asked, still in disbelief that a human could break a jewel so powerful.
"She broke it with her arrow!" said Inuyasha butting into the girl's conversation. He was sitting not to far from them on a stump, arms crossed and eyes closed. Obviously it looked at if he wasn't listening but both Kagome and Kumi knew he was when his ears started to move when they started talking again.
"So an arrow broke the jewel?"
"Yes. Ever since we have been searching for the shards until the jewel is complete but there's a demon that has also been collecting shards like us. His name is Naraku, an evil demon who will stop at nothing to get the jewel shards"
Kumi blinked as the name made a click in her mind, "I've heard of him. He…"
Don't tell them
She could hear a small voice coming from inside her head. Her head started to hurt as she tried to speak again, "He…"
Don't tell them!
The pain grew, and Kumi could not take it anymore. It felt as though jackhammers where hitting her head over and over again. Her ears went flat against her skull and she closed her eyes down hard. She wanted the pain to go away.
"Kumi?" asked Kagome now worried. Everyone else, except for Inuyasha, came running up to see what's wrong. Sitting on his stump Inuyasha watched from afar. Shippo was standing on Kumi's head and noticed that her ears were pinned down so hard that he couldn't lift them up. Her tail, that usually was moving freely, was now tucked deep in-between her legs.
"It hurts…" she said as tears started to form at the tips of her eyes.
"What does?" Kagome asked hoping that Kumi would calm down if she kept talking.
"My head…" the pain grew when she talked, so she tried to make her answers short. She stopped moaning when the pain started to go away and as it did she could hear a voice saying, don't tell them…
When the pain was gone she sat up and rubbed her sore head. "Kumi you okay?" asked Shippo, happy to see Kumi's ears perk up. She nodded, "Yeah just fine. It was only a headache"
On his stump Inuyasha raised an eye brow. He knew that was a lie because he had seen people with headaches and it did not hurt that much. He thought Kagome would know too but it didn't look like it when she helped Kumi get up.
"You should ride on Kirara, in case the headache comes back" said Kagome. Kumi still felt weak from the headache and gave a slight nod.
"Strange how this happened right when we were talking about Naraku" said Miroku crossing his arms and closing his eyes, deep in thought.
Kumi's eyes became dark as the got on Kirara. She could tell them now, right now this very minute, but she couldn't. Every time that she was about to say his name the pain came. If one letter hurt, just think about the pain that would come if she said his whole name. She shuddered. She didn't want to think of such things.
They started walking again, Kumi's waist moving when Kirara lifted and dropped a paw on the ground. Wind blew through the forest, playing with Kumi's hair as it passed. She closed her eyes and started humming a tune.
Inuyasha's ears swiveled backwards. He had heard it before, a long time ago. The tune made the forest seem much brighter and cheerier and make anyone feel nice and warm.
"What's that you're humming, Kumi?" asked the curious fox kit, sitting in front of her. She blinked, "It's a song that my mother used to sing to u…" she paused, passing a quick glance at Inuyasha, before talking again, "me"
"It sounds nice" Kagome complimented, "Is that all you know?"
Kumi nodded, "Unfortunately. I used to know the lyrics, but over the years I forgot," she grinned, "I'm just glad that I still know the tune."
"I like it!" chirped Shippo. She ruffled the fox kit's hair. This kid was adorable.
They started walking again, in silence. Yippee. Kumi got became bored and played a cloud game with Shippo. They were supposed to see who could find the neatest cloud figure in the sky. Both lay on there backs, looking up at the sky.
"Look!" Shippo pointed, "It's a snail!"
Kumi looked to where his finger pointed and smiled. "I see a sword" she pointed at the long cloud.
"Horse!"
"A face!"
Kagome giggled when Shippo started to protest that the cloud did not look like a face at all and that Kumi was cheating. "She sure is keeping him busy" said Sango also giggling.
"A squirrel!"
"Good!" Inuyasha snapped, "He won't bother us about being bored anymore"
Shippo yelled happily when he had won the game. Everyone looked behind them, blinking and Kumi shrugged, "He found a cloud that looked like Inuyasha. There's nothing much weirder then that"
Inuyasha growled.
Kagome looked up, "Where? I can't see it"
Shippo jumped on to her shoulder, "Over there!" He pointed to the cloud that looked like a human body, but it had two triangular ears on the top.
"Well what do you know," said Miroku, "That does look like him. Good job, Shippo!"
He placed his hands on his hips and beamed triumphantly. Inuyasha still couldn't find it so Shippo had to show him. Kagome walked up to Kumi, who was laughing at Shippo's funny behavior. "Thanks for keeping him busy"
"My pleasure. Besides," she bent over to whisper into Kagome's ear, "I'm getting attached to the little guy"
Kagome nodded, "He does that to a lot of people." Inuyasha and Shippo were in another fight again, about how the cloud looked nothing like Inuyasha. Kagome sighed, "Thanks again"
"Um Kagome? Why are you guys doing this?"
"Doing what?"
"Helping me get better. You could have left me" Kumi's ears drooped a little. Kagome smiled a sympathetic smile. Kumi, obviously, never had many people care about her, or take care of her. "You were hurt. We had to do something"
"But I tried to kill Inuyasha, your mate"
Everything suddenly became quite. Kagome and Inuyasha looked like dear in headlights and blushing like mad while Shippo laughed hysterically and Miroku and Sango tried to suppress their laughter.
"My what!" Inuyasha yelled.
"Inuyasha and I aren't together" Kagome was waving her arms franticly in defense.
"Really?" she blinked twice, "Before we battled you were protecting her so I just thought…"
"You thought nothing!" Inuyasha walked up to her, glaring, "Stop sticking your nose where it doesn't belong!"
Kumi crossed her arms, "If you haven't noticed I've only been here for a few days. I don't know much!"
Not being able to think of a comeback he stormed off. Kagome called to him, and when he never answered she followed him. "Are you sure they're not together?" she asked Miroku.
"That's what they say"
Kumi giggled.
