AUTHORS NOTES:
Okay, thanks again, BlackTearsOfDarkness, for replying. Now, you other people, REPLY!!! Please? I'll give you chocolate! Come on, do a good deed! Now, this is a rather long chapter but that's supposed to be a good thing, right? So I split it into two parts. Hope you don't mind… too much.
DISCLAIMER
We still don't own InuYasha. But, however, I own Hamasaki Keitaro (though I took the name Keitaro from Love Hina…I needed a guy name, okay?) and Tamika. But we don't own anything else, sorry, besides that and Sueko, Yoshiko, and the plot.
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Chapter Five: Yoshiko Disappears and Sueko Goes Back Home, Part One
A sort of routine was figured out over the next few days. Early in the morning Yoshiko and Sueko would get up and disappear. Sometimes they would come back when the others were just waking up, sometimes at noon. Then they would continue their journey looking for some of the shrine stones. Finally, around ten at night they would stop and rest.
Then one day Yoshiko didn't get up early. Since Sueko kind of liked sleeping in she didn't care that they missed one day of training. In the morning the gang started off early though all of them were wondering what had suddenly changed Yoshiko's schedule. When the sun started to go down Yoshiko stopped.
"I'm going to go into the woods for a couple of hours. I shall be back early in the morning," stated Yoshiko.
"I'll go with you!" cried Sueko.
Yoshiko hesitated. The girl seemed so eager and also seemed to know that Yoshiko was training. But for once Yoshiko wanted to be alone. She still wasn't use to traveling with other people, especially not mortal humans.
"No, not this time, Sueko," said Yoshiko, turning around and disappearing into the woods.
InuYasha turned toward the sun, which had just set behind the mountains. Sango and Miroku sighed, starting to get a fire going. Sueko seemed disappointed but was doing a pretty good job in hiding it. Her wounds were completely healed but every so often she got extremely tired. Sometimes it annoyed InuYasha, other times he just didn't really care.
In the woods Yoshiko had found a nice area to stop and train. She pulled out her dagger and placed it in a tree as she normally did. Then she pulled out her sword and practiced a few basic moves. As she practiced she closed her eyes and tried to imagine the demon that had killed her father and most likely also killed her brother. But as always no image came to mind which only frustrated her more.
Her strikes at the air became more furious and she wished that she had allowed Sueko to come along. Even InuYasha's company would be better than that of no company at all. The quiet left too much time for thought. Where a week ago she would have preferred quiet over company she now found a companion better.
Yoshiko's frustration over having no leads on her brother's death rose to the surface. She cried out and swung her sword out, lodging it in a tree. She opened her eyes and looked up. It was night now and the half moon was out. The women sighed and sat down against a tree.
Despite what the gang believed, she was not a demon. Least ways, not a full one. Her mother had been demon but her father…
"That's what I thought," came a familiar voice. "You're a half-demon, aren't you?"
Out of the trees came striding InuYasha, his arms crossed as usual. He wasn't looking straight at Yoshiko but at the moon instead.
'All half demon's have a period of weakness. But why does mine have to be so infuriating!?' thought Yoshiko.
"So, why don't you want any of us to know?" asked InuYasha, sitting down opposite of Yoshiko.
"The same reason any half-demon would hide it," whispered Yoshiko.
When she became human on the half moon her hair became black, a normal color. Her eyes also became brown. But it wasn't that she became mortal that frustrated her, it was the fact that she became mortal on the half moon.
"Feh."
"You've obviously lived a life in a mortal village, InuYasha," muttered Yoshiko.
"What's that supposed to mean?" snapped InuYasha.
"It means that you have been teased and pushed around when you were young so much that you left. But after that you wouldn't dare let anybody get near you. Am I right, InuYasha?" asked Yoshiko.
InuYasha said nothing but frowned and looked away. His eyes fell on her dagger in the tree and he raised an eyebrow.
"What's that for?"
"While I'm training I focus too much on my sword and not on what's going on around me. That warns me if a demon is coming," answered Yoshiko.
"Why do you train?" asked InuYasha. "I mean, you're a half-demon so you're definitely strong enough to use a sword."
"Just because you can wield a sword does not mean you know how to. And a person that doesn't have the skills to use a sword can not be respected by their sword," replied Yoshiko. "At least… that's what my father use to say."
"And your father was…" started InuYasha.
"Human."
InuYasha just shook his head and closed his eyes. Suddenly Yoshiko got an idea. She stood up and grabbed two sticks about the same size.
"What are you doing?" asked InuYasha, glancing at her over his shoulder.
"You're going to train with me," replied Yoshiko, throwing a stick at him, which he caught.
"No," responded InuYasha, throwing the stick back. "It wouldn't be a fair fight. You're mortal."
Yoshiko's eyes narrowed and she threw the stick back at him.
"Just because I am mortal does not mean I am weak. I train harder and more often on the day of the half moon so do not insult me," hissed Yoshiko. "Now stand up and fight!"
"Don't bite my head off. I know what it's like to be human as well and it sucks! I just don't want you to get hurt and regret it," he said, shrugging.
This time Yoshiko had no patience. She lashed out with her stick, catching InuYasha off guard. Her attack caught him in the neck, but she pause an inch away from the skin.
"Do not think that I am weak," muttered Yoshiko.
InuYasha couldn't get this girl. He hit away the stick and she jumped back, leaving room between the two. Though she was angry you could still tell that she was using her head and judging every attack she could make and InuYasha could make.
"You must work on your defense," said Yoshiko. "You hold your stick as if you're about to run me through. Hold it up so it protects you."
"I don't need your advice!" spat InuYasha.
"If you expect to protect Sueko you must first be able to protect yourself," replied Yoshiko.
This, again, caught InuYasha off guard. He dropped the end of his stick, leaving him wide open for another attack. Yoshiko ran forward, aiming a sideways blow at his chest. He lifted his stick to hit her arm, but she spun out of the way and stopped with her stick just an inch away from her target.
"Again, InuYasha, your defense is poor," explained Yoshiko. "And do not let anything your enemy says get to you!"
With that she dropped to the ground and tripped InuYasha, making him fall on his back. He cried out and started to get up but Yoshiko held him down with her foot.
"How do you expect to keep Sueko alive if you can't even fight a simple mortal with a stick!?" shouted Yoshiko. "You are worthless! There is no way you could have defeated Naraku!"
This caused InuYasha to become angry and struck out with his stick. Yoshiko blocked it and stepped back in one fluid motion. InuYasha jumped to his feet and tried another attack, one that Yoshiko dodged easily.
"You swing your stick more poorly than Sueko does. If you're not careful, she'll be protecting you," said Yoshiko.
InuYasha acted like he didn't hear her and tried yet again to hit Yoshiko. She had quite enough and, being mortal, was starting to tire. So, to end this pointless battle, she hit InuYasha in the stomach with her stick, and then kicked him in the back of his knee.
"You're going have to work on your sword methods," said Yoshiko, dropping the stick. She went over to her sword and pulled it, then sheathed it. She did the same for her dagger. "And that temper could be worked on as well. Losing your head over the loss of one mortal girl can get you killed."
"What's that supposed to mean?" snapped InuYasha.
"Don't let it happen again," said Yoshiko.
"That's not an answer!" cried InuYasha.
"You obviously got over Kikyo, InuYasha, so you can get over Kagome as well. But if you do not try and get over it you will get yourself killed," stated Yoshiko. "Now if you excuse me there are things I would like to do. I shall join you again in three days."
"Excuse me?" said InuYasha.
"Good bye," said Yoshiko, turning to the woods and walking into the trees.
InuYasha cried out in frustration and broke the stick against a tree. For another hour he sat there in the forest contemplating what Yoshiko had said. Finally he decided to just forget and go back to the others. When he arrived they had just finished cooking some fish.
"Ah, InuYasha, you're back," said Miroku.
"Where's Yoshiko?" asked Sueko, not looking at him.
"Feh."
"That's not an answer," pointed out Sango.
"Well, that half-demon wouldn't give me an answer either!" snapped InuYasha.
"H-half-demon?" stammered Shippo.
"Yeah, Shippo. I said half-demon," said InuYasha.
"I didn't know that!" said Sueko.
"It doesn't matter. She left anyways," muttered InuYasha.
"What!?" cried Sueko. "What did you do to her?"
"Uh…" said InuYasha, blinking. "I didn't do anything to her… Why do you always blame me!?"
"Because you do have a way of saying the wrong things to women, InuYasha," explained Miroku.
"Look who's talking," muttered Sango, glaring at the monk.
"Look, I didn't do anything. I went to see what she was doing and then she got mad at me and started blaming me for Kagome's…" He stopped. "It's nothing."
He turned over onto his side, his back to his friends.
"Why would she blame you for her death?" muttered Sueko.
"Because apparently I don't know how to use a sword!" said InuYasha, in a high pitched voice. "I can't expect to protect anybody because I can't even protect myself!"
"She's got a point," muttered Sango.
"Oh! So now you're agreeing with her!" cried InuYasha, sitting back up.
"I'm not saying she had a right blaming you for anybody's death but you could work a bit on your sword skills. Maybe then you wouldn't be getting injured so often," explained Sango.
"What about Yoshiko!?" cried Sueko.
"Feh."
Sueko's response to this was to hit him over the head. For a minute everybody had thought InuYasha was going to do nothing about it. Then he looked up and glared at her.
"Don't. Do. That. Again," he growled.
"Humph!" said Sueko, hitting him again.
"Uh oh!" said Shippo, hiding behind Sango.
"I think that's quite enough you two!" said Miroku. "Yoshiko is a grown woman and she can take care of herself. But InuYasha, you could be a bit kinder toward her and Sueko."
"Yeah, right," muttered InuYasha. "I think Yoshiko should be kinder to me!"
"It's always about you, isn't it," muttered Sueko, taking a bite off of her fish since it had finally cooled down.
"How about we just all be kinder to each other?" suggested Sango.
As if in answer both Sueko and InuYasha said "Humph!", crossed their arms and turned away from each other. Miroku shook his head sadly.
"I'm kind of a bit worried about Yoshiko though. The night only started and it is the night where she becomes mortal," said Shippo.
"She can take care of herself. She trains twice as hard on the half moon anyways," said Sueko. "Though, until now, I didn't get why this day was so special."
"Well now you know," muttered InuYasha.
"You know, you're a half-demon too!" said Sueko.
"Tell me something I don't know."
"What day do you become human?" asked Sueko.
"None of your business," muttered InuYasha.
"He becomes human on the new moon!" said Shippo.
This earned him a hit on the head from InuYasha.
"Can we just all stop fighting for this night only!?" cried Sango.
"No!" cried Shippo, InuYasha and Sueko.
"I give up…" sighed Sango.
"You know, I've been thinking…" said Miroku quite suddenly.
"Huh," said Sango.
"Well, all of these demons are going to be attacking us on account of the fact that Sueko is the protector of the Spirit Shrine," said Miroku slowly. "Maybe if she'd just lay low for a little while they'll think she's left and not bother us."
"Yeah right," muttered InuYasha.
"That idea could work," agreed Sango. "But where could Sueko go?"
"I was thinking she could go back to her own time for a while," suggested Miroku.
"So now you're sending me off back home? You don't like me?" teased Sueko, mocking hurt and sadness.
"Just for a little while," shrugged Miroku.
"Humph! You never liked me!" cried Sueko, crossing her arms.
"I like you!" cried Miroku.
"I don't see you grabbing my—whatever!" teased Sueko.
"And you are complaining why?" muttered Sango.
Miroku laughed. "Well one, you seem a bit too young for me—"
"That's never stopped you before," muttered Sango.
"…And besides, you and InuYasha seem perfect for each other," continued Miroku as if there was no interruption at all. "I can't compete with that!"
"W-what?" cried Sueko. This was not what she was expecting.
"Me… and her…" stuttered InuYasha, looking extremely confused.
"I think I'll just go back home…" mumbled Sueko, turning extremely red as she went over to her book bag.
"I didn't mean now…" said Miroku.
"Whatever," said Sueko, sitting back down. She'd probably get lost on the way to the well anyways. "I'm just going to go to bed. 'Night."
"You don't have to go back home if you don't want to," said Sango. "It was just a suggestion."
"No, no, I'm fine with it," muttered Sueko, laying down on her mat and closing her eyes.
So it was decided. The next day Sueko said farewell to everyone, grabbed her book bag, and headed towards the Bone Eaters well (with InuYasha since she didn't know the way so would probably walk around in circles for days before running across it, and the fact that she hadn't yet gotten the hang of her sword). The group still seemed a bit uneasy about her going thinking that she didn't really want to go at all, but Sueko reassured them that she was fine with it. She had one thought in mind:
'Anything to get away from InuYasha.'
Sueko was hoping that a week-or-so break from Feudal Japan would help get rid of her crush on InuYasha. Because there was no point in daydreaming about a guy she'd never get. Maybe she could fall in love with a boy from her new school who was normal and not getting over the death of his girlfriend.
On second thought, she'd never be back home so she'd never see this guy she'd be in love with.
'How about I just not fall in love at all! I like that idea.'
"Sueko?"
"Hmm," said Sueko distractedly, looking at InuYasha with a "What now?!" expression on her face.
"Um… we're here," said InuYasha.
"Oh," said Sueko quietly, looking at the well before her.
"If you don't want to…" started InuYasha, but Sueko interrupted him.
"For the last time… YES, I'M SURE!"
"Just checking," said InuYasha, sheepishly holding up his hands to show he was innocent.
"Come get me if you need me," said Sueko. The plan was for her to stay in modern day for a week, and then she'd go back. After that they'd figure out whether or not she should stay longer or not.
"Yeah, I know," said InuYasha crankily.
"Well…" said Sueko, looking down the long, dark, dank, wide, deep well. Sueko couldn't see the bottom of the thing, and that wasn't reassuring her at all. "It's awfully deep…" she said nervously.
InuYasha sighed. "Don't tell me you're scared!"
"And what would you do if I said yes?"
"Shove you down the well myself," said InuYasha, crossing his arms impatiently. "I don't have all day, you know."
Sueko glared at him and, grabbing the sides of the well, lowered herself down and let go. Falling through the—time portal thingy?—Sueko thought, 'How could I possibly have a crush on a guy like this?!'
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Her second day of school. It was already October, and this was her second day of school. How odd…
Sueko's mother had made the excuse of Sueko getting sick for the month she was running around with InuYasha and the gain in Feudal Japan, but Sueko figured her mother would have to come up with better excuses then that for later on. But until they thought of a better excuse, pretending to be over ammonia was good enough for now for Sueko.
She had walked no more then five steps upon entering her school building when someone walked right up to her and went, "Where the hell have you been?!"
"Tamika? Is that you?" cried Sueko, backing up. With the silky-long black hair and chocolate brown eyes, it turned out to be Tamika, the girl she had sat with at lunch on her first day of school.
"Yes. Now where have you been?!" cried Tamika. "People were saying you were deadly sick in the hospital…"
'Why does she care so much?!' thought Sueko, but to Tamika she laughed shakily and went, "No, I just had pneumonia, that's all. Nothing to worry about!"
"Pneumonia?! You're telling me not to worry about the fact you had pneumonia?!"
"Tamika, don't you think you're being a bit over dramatic?" asked Sueko sweetly. "I'm fine! I'm standing here and breathing, aren't I?"
Tamika paused for a moment, one eyebrow raised as she analyzed Sueko's health. But a minute later she grinned a toothy smile (man, were her teeth perfect) and said, "Okay, great! Come with me!" And with that, Tamika grabbed Sueko by the wrist and dragged her through the crowed hallways of the school.
"Where are we going?" asked Sueko, jogging to keep up with Tamika's large steps.
"I got to show you something, silly!" said Tamika cheerfully, yelling, "MOVE!!!" at everyone in her way (and, with no questions or complaints, they moved).
Sueko sighed and rolled her eyes, waiting for Tamika to stop dragging her around and to show her what she wanted to show already. But just as she thought this, Tamika abruptly stopped, making Sueko nearly trip to stop too.
It turned out Tamika wanted to show Sueko a person, not a thing or place like she assumed. This someone appeared to be muttering insults at his locker as he tried again and again to put in the right combination to the lock. He was rather handsome looking, with messy black hair and chocolate brown eyes—for some reason he looked familiar to Sueko, but she had never seen this guy before.
Tamika coughed loudly, and the boy suddenly jumped up and spun around. He growled, "Oh, it's you."
"Ah, yes, spread the love," scowled Tamika, rolling her eyes.
"Who's she?" the boy asked, nodding his head at Sueko. At this, Sueko turned a bit pink.
Tamika brightened up. "Sueko, meet Hamasaki Keitaro! Keitaro, meet Kimochi Sueko!"
"Hamasaki…" muttered Sueko. Where had she heard that name before?
"He's my twin brother!" announced Tamika proudly, grinning a wide smile (again, showing off her perfect teeth) and putting an arm around Keitaro. He growled at this and rolled his eyes. Brushing the arm off his shoulders, he smiled shyly and held out a hand. "It's nice to meet you, Kimochi Sueko."
"Huh?" said Sueko. Then she noticed the hand. "Oh!" she cried, grabbing it and shaking it hastily, grinning at her own foolishness. "It's nice to meet you too, Keitaro. I didn't know Tamika had a brother."
"Twin brother," Tamika corrected merrily.
"Yeah… okay," said Sueko.
By now the three were walking around the hallways and shifting through all the groups of people in the hallways (Keitaro gave up on his locker, apparently). Keitaro suddenly started shuffling through his book bag and, while pulling out a thick looking book out of it, Tamika slapped his hand.
"What was that for?" cried Keitaro angrily.
"You are not going to shove your nose into a book," scolded Tamika. "You are going to have a nice chat with me and Sueko—even if it kills you," she added, glaring at him.
"Humph," said Keitaro, crossing his arms.
There was a moment's silence in which Sueko tried to think of something to say. Eventually she settled for a lame, "So… what's new?"
"Well, you were gone for quite a long time, so it might take a while to say all of what you missed," said Tamika.
"I was only gone for three weeks!" cried Sueko.
"Three very long weeks," said Tamika. "And I was worried about you! You owe me, girl!"
"Huh?" said Sueko.
"Stop it, Tamika," laughed Keitaro. "You're confusing the poor girl!"
"I'm not confused!" snapped Sueko angrily, stopping in her tracks and standing face-to-face with the startled boy. "I just want to know why she cares so much!"
"Huh?" said Tamika, both at Sueko's sudden change of attitude and at what she had said.
"You said you were worried…" said Sueko, turning back to her original self.
"Erm… well, I was," said Tamika, shrugging.
Sueko still stood her ground, befuddlement showing all over her face.
"Look, I was just worried about you," said Tamika. "You're my friend, isn't that what I'm suppose to do? Care about you?"
"Friend…" muttered Sueko as though she had never heard of the word before.
"Yes. Friend. Did you hit your head too?" asked Tamika. She laughed. "Anyways, where were we?" she said as though continuing a conversation, starting to walk again. Keitaro followed, scratching his head in puzzlement.
Sueko paused before hurrying back to Tamika and Keitaro. 'I actually have a friend. A true friend, not some fake one…'
Wait… couldn't she call InuYasha and the others her friends too? They certainly seemed to care about her—they showed that on her last day in Feudal Japan as they fretted over "doing what you want to do, not what we suggested you should do." And Yoshiko had to be her friend too, the number of times they had chatted and practiced sword fighting with sticks.
Thinking all this was starting to make her head spin.
"Hey, there!" cried Tamika, poking Sueko's nose repeatedly.
"Hi," said Sueko, shooing the finger away.
"You looked as though you were staring into space or something," said Tamika cheerfully. "You totally missed Keitaro's super-duper-ultra-important speech on last nights Biology homework!"
"Okay, Tamika," said Keitaro tiredly.
"Well, really Keitaro, who cares?"
"Some people actually value an education, you know!"
"Others value a life. Ever heard of that?!"
Sueko laughed. Today seemed like it'd be a very good day.