Kita and Saramaru
Author's Note: Not much to say... I'm redoing the forum for this story at the website... thanks to Dragon Man 180 for reviewing!
It was almost midday when Kita woke up. She felt weak, and her neck was sore, but besides that she felt fine. She groaned and opened her eyes to see Saramaru sitting next to the futon she was sleeping on.
Saramaru sensed Kita's breathing go from steady breathing to that of an awake human. She opened one eye, and looked down to see Kita's eyes staring up at her. She smiled and opened both of her eyes. "How do you feel child?"
Kita remembered what had happened to her in the past hours and suddenly began to cry again. She pulled herself close to Saramaru and put her yukata in such a death grip it seemed again as though she'd never let go again. Saramaru eyes widened slightly. She then pulled Kita into a hug, ignoring the pain in her shoulder.
"I see the child's awake." Kaede said walking into the room.
"Yes she is. And in distress, though I can't blame her." The flame returned to Saramaru's eyes as she recalled what Sesshoumaru did to Kita."
"Calm down." Kaede warned, seeing this, "Children are especially sensitive to emotions. If Kita feels that you are upset she will just get even more upset herself. I am guessing ye want to calm her down?"
"Yes, I do." Saramaru sighed and tried to relax. "Niiro-ichi! Kita is awake."
Niiro-ichi was in the room in a flash. "Hello Kita." He said and nuzzled her shoulder, being careful not to get to close to where Sesshoumaru had gripped her shoulder.
Kita continued to cry, though she acknowledged the griffin through her tears.
"I'd suggest singing to her or rocking her to calm her down." Kaede said, "She is still a very young child."
Saramaru got up and started walking around slowly. "Demons do not rock. But my mother used to take me for walks and to talk to other people. So we could go acquaint her with Inuyasha. She should find him interesting." Saramaru walked outside, and stood under Inuyasha's tree. "Hey, Inuyasha! Get down here."
Inuyasha looked down from his branch and stiffened when he saw the crying Kita. "What do you want?" he asked
"I want you to come down here and meet Kita." Saramaru gave him a look that said, 'Get down here and talk to her! Introduce yourself, anything! Just don't yell.'
"I don't like crying." he told her, "It freaks me out."
"It sure does." Kagome said walking up to them, "Every time I start crying he starts begging me to stop it. I see Kita's awake. Why's she crying?"
"I'll tell you later. But first I want my cousin to get down here and say hello to Kita. He's interesting to children." Saramaru replied.
"Inuyasha get down here!" Kagome commanded.
"No!" he yelled back, "I don't wanna."
"Sit." Kagome said simply. The hanyou was pulled to the ground, "There you go. He's down."
"Thank you. Kita? This is Inuyasha." The demoness told Kita, "Ignore the dirt on his face, as you can see he has had quite a fall today." Saramaru looked at Kita, hoping for her to look up.
Her sobs were getting smaller, but she was still clinging to Saramaru's yukata. Kita looked up as the demon had hoped. Her eyes caught on Inuyasha's ears.
"Inuyasha is my cousin. He's very interesting, and rude, and Kagome is one of his friends, that helps keep him in line." Saramaru then noticed Kita staring at Inuyasha's ears. She let a little laugh out. 'This should be funny.'
"Oh Inuyasha." Kagome said laughing, also seeing where the girl's gaze was headed, "I think someone likes your ears."
"Well she ain't touching them." He said stubbornly, "I won't let her."
Saramaru stepped closer to Inuyasha, close enough for Kita to be able to reach his ears. Inuyasha took a step back. Kagome gave him a 'get back where you were or I'll sit you again' look. He gulped and went back to where he was.
Kita pulled as close to Saramaru as she could, burying her face in her shirt.
"Now Kita, are you afraid? He won't hurt you, I promise." Saramaru said to Kita.
Kita had stopped crying by now, but she still hung tight to Saramaru, too shy to look at anyone.
Saramaru sighed a bit. "Do you want to go for a walk to see the waterfall then Kita?" Kita nodded into her shirt.
"Alright. Sorry Inuyasha, you got sat for nothing." Saramaru grinned a little as she turned around and headed for the waterfall.
"Feh." Inuyasha said from the dirt, "It happens all the time. It's nothing new."
"That's not true!" Kagome insisted, "I only sit- Sorry!"
Saramaru giggled a bit, listening to what was going on behind her. She absent mindedly patted Kita's back, and started humming.
The girl let go of Saramaru's yukata with one hand to wipe away a few stray tears. She looked around. Waterfalls had always interested her.
As they came to the waterfall, they saw water cascading down rocks and into a small pool. There were some small fish in the pond, and flowers surrounded its edges. On the other side of the pool, a baby deer was watching them, along with its mother.
Kita smiled and looked around, taking in the scenery before her. She had never seen something so beautiful before her. The pains of the day before were momentarily forgotten in the tiny bit of Eden.
"It's so beautiful..." Saramaru whispered as she walked slowly towards the other side. The deer were watching her, not quite sure if she was dangerous or not. Saramaru eventually got close enough to reach out and touch them, but she sat down in front of them instead. "Maybe if we wait, they'll come see what we are." She whispered.
Kita nodded, hoping that they would. She had never gotten that close to an animal, except for the village animals, which were only pigs, chickens, cows, and such. None of those were even close to being as interesting as the deer.
The mother deer was looking at them, still not sure what to think. But the baby knew what it wanted to do. It walked very slowly, up to Kita and Saramaru. When it got close enough, it stretch out it's neck and started sniffing Kita's hair. The mother doe followed, also wanting to see what they were. Saramaru's eyes shone with happiness as she watched the graceful animals.
Kita smiled, and let go of Saramaru to touch the animals. They were soft and seemed not to mind the girl's hands. Saramaru sighed. Though the rabbit was cute, it wasn't as curious as the deer, so there was no possibility of either of them getting close enough to touch it.
"Did you like that, Kita? I know I did. It was a nice change." Saramaru asked, smiling down at Kita.
Kita nodded to the question although it was already answered. She leaned back on Saramaru, watching the water flow down the waterfall. In all it was very calming.
Saramaru closed her eyes. Suddenly a smell hit her nose. It was faint, and far away, but it was him. She got up slowly, trying not to worry Kita. "We must go now. I wish we could stay, but in the circumstances we can't." With that she started walking to Kaede's hut, making plans to make a quick departure.
"Why are we going?" Kita asked softly. She didn't really want to go. She heard the urgency in Saramaru's voice even though it was well masked.
Saramaru looked down, a bit surprised that Kita had spoken. "I can smell him. He is very far away, maybe twenty five miles. But I don't like being able to smell him, because that means he can smell me. I cannot risk repeating history." She explained, sad for having to leave. "I was hoping you would have a chance to know my cousin, but I have a feeling we will see him again."
Kita was not sure who Saramaru was talking about, but she did not question more and let the demoness carry her back towards the village. It was a shame to be leaving the waterfall so soon. Kita hoped they would come back sometime.
As Saramaru walked back to the village, she relaxed a bit. He was changing direction. 'But I still have to get back to Kaede's. He wouldn't be able to handle everyone there.' She walked for a while more, and then saw Kaede's hut.
"That was fast." Kagome commented, "But I see Kita's okay now." She grinned at them.
Inuyasha walked up to them. "You smell him too, don't you?" he inquired.
"Yes. But he has changed direction." Saramaru smiled thankfully as she thought about the fact that Kita should now be safe around so many strong people.
"Feh." Inuyasha commented, "For looking so much like my idiot brother, you act a lot different than him. It's obvious you're happy he's ignoring us because that means your kid's safe."
Saramaru smiled a little. "If I was like Sesshoumaru, the human race would no longer exist, but I'm not."
"Sesshoumaru." Kita repeated quietly.
"She spoke!" Kagome exclaimed.
Kaede walked out of her hut. "Niiro-ichi said something about the child not talking." she commented, "It is good to see that she is speaking."
Saramaru grinned. "Well, she had talked a little. But if I were her age, I wouldn't talk either." Saramaru smiled a little bit. "Hey Kita, are you ticklish?"
Seeing the fuss that the people around her made when she spoke, Kita shook her head no. She really was, but she wouldn't let them know. It would not be good if they learned she was because she was extremely ticklish.
"Really? I don't believe you." Saramaru walked away from the small group, where she sat down against the hut. Kita knew she was found out and started squirming against Saramaru's grip.
Saramaru grinned and poked Kita in the stomach. "You ticklish here?" Kita shook her head. It was the truth. She continued to squirm, determined to get away before the demoness found where she really was ticklish.
"What about here?" Saramaru reached down and tickled her feet. She was only a little ticklish there. Kita giggled and continued to struggle.
"Maybe here?" Saramaru brought her hand up and tickled Kita's neck. Kita's futile wriggling stopped and she laughed and laughed as Saramaru tickled her gently under her chin.
"Ah. So this is where you're ticklish." She stopped after a little while, knowing that even she had hated it when people had tickled her so much to drive her to cry.
Kita sighed when she stopped, content just to sit on Saramaru's lap and look up at the sky. She liked it with the demoness. Though she had seen children around the village while Saramaru had talked to Inuyasha and his friends, they weren't calling her a demon or hurting her. In fact no one had. It had only been a day but her opinion on demons had changed drastically. Now she knew that not all of them were bad. It was a comforting thought.
Saramaru chuckled a little bit. "You know I used to be ticklish in my neck, but I learned how to control it. Inuyasha was usually the only one tickling me... but... Sesshoumaru used to. Before our mothers got into a fight. Then, we just... hated each other. And it's been that way ever since."
Kita looked up at Saramaru, her big blue eyes inquiring a story sure to please.
"Do you want to hear more about my life?" Saramaru asked. Kita nodded.
"Alright. We'll start with my mother. She was a beautiful demoness, who looked upon all living things, even humans, equally. She loved every flower, beautiful or ugly. Same with every creature. Stray animals and beasts always had a home in ours. She told me to never underestimate anyone, no matter what they seem, and to do only good things. Then, one day, while Sesshoumaru and I were playing tag in the garden, we heard yelling. It was our mothers. They were fighting over humans, what they were worth, and a war that the humans wanted to wage against them. That's when the downfall started. Sesshoumaru and I would become angry around each other, then it turned to hitting and fighting. Then we started blaming each other for the fighting. And that the way its been for about seventy to eighty years." Saramaru finished that little part with a sigh, remembering how Sesshoumaru and her used to be so close.
Kita sensed Saramaru's sadness and hugged her. She couldn't imagine the man who had hurt her (she was guessing this was Sesshoumaru) being friends with Saramaru.