A Father's Embrace
Chapter Nine
Encounter
The hut was dimly lit by the glowing embers of the fire in the middle of the main room. Other than the soft crackling from the coals, the only other noise in the room was the slow, even breathing of the room's other occupants. Sachiko and Takara shared a futon on the opposite side of Maiki, while Kazuki had his own futon on the third side of the fireplace. Maiki laid on a large fur rug with a thin blanket over her as she stared at the ceiling overhead. Shortly after their children had fallen asleep, Miroku and Sango had retired to their private room hours ago, thus leaving Maiki alone with her thoughts.
'Sengoku Jidai. The Warring States Era. Feudal Japan. It seems impossible, yet here I am. Like a strangely vivid dream that I have yet to wake from, but I find I am unable to sleep. Perhaps that is why I can't sleep… Is it possible to sleep within a dream? But I know this is no dream…
'The Shikon no Tama. The Jewel of Four Souls. The Sacred Jewel. It seems improbable, but the legends are true. The reincarnation of a powerful priestess, a young woman, pure of heart, who resurrected the hanyo who was slain by her incarnate… She is my own mother. How is it possible if the legends took place over five-hundred years ago? But I've already proven that it is indeed possible…'
She found her thoughts wandering back to part of the conversation during dinner earlier that evening.
"So anyway, how are your parents doing, Maiki-chan?" Sango had voiced the question.
"Heh. They're getting a divorce," was her curt reply.
"Divorce?" the monk repeated. Maiki lifted her eyes from her stew to meet with those of the elder man's face, etched with confusion.
"Yeah…" Maiki replied flatly, like there was nothing unusual about it. There was a long silence before Sachiko voiced her inquiry.
"What is a di-vorce?"
The question was directed at Maiki, but she remained silent, expecting one of the girl's parents to answer instead. But when that did not happen, Maiki found little choice but to explain.
"When a husband or a wife, or both, decide that they can't get along anymore for one reason or another and they split up."
Sango gasped at the explanation. "Oh how horrible! What could have possibly happened to make them want to do that?"
"Heh! Lots of reasons!" Maiki snapped. Her temper flared at the thoughts of her parents' failed marriage. "But I can't believe that bastard is the one who asked for the divorce! Mama should have been the one to file for the divorce! Not Nanashi!"
"Nanashi?" Miroku and Sango asked in unison. Maiki looked up to see bewildered looks on their faces.
"Yeah. Nanashi. Didn't you know him too? You asked how he and mama were doing, as if you knew them both..."
"Well, uh… That's to say…" Sango stuttered, her cheeks turning red with embarrassment.
"What my beautiful wife means to say, is that we must have made an incorrect assumption. We believed that someone else was your father. Obviously, we are mistaken." Miroku bowed his head as he offered his humbled apology. Maiki silently accepted it despite the new swarm of questions that had invaded her mind. Who was it that they were thinking of?
Breaking out of her thoughts, Maiki sat up and glanced over the sleeping forms around her. 'This can't wait any longer. I have to talk to mama about everything that's happened…' Careful not to make any noise, Maiki stood from her spot. She smoothed down her skirt as she rose. Tiptoeing to Sachiko's side, she carefully extracted Kunkun from under her arm. The ferret woke from his slumber at the disturbance, releasing a wide-mouthed yawn. Maiki clipped his leash to his harness and carried him to the door. She set him down momentarily to put on her shoes and scooped him back up when she was done. With a final look back to make sure she hadn't woke anyone, she slipped out the door.
Easy as pie.
The village was dark, silent. A clear night, but no moon in the sky. Stars sparkled and speckled the vast twilight. Silver wisps of smoke lifted up from the village huts like tendrils fading into the night. Not a soul stirred within the village. The night atmosphere made everything seem different, unrecognizable, foreboding. But Maiki steeled her resolve. She was determined to go back home, to confront her mother, to demand answers. She had always been overconfident and stubborn, and nothing was going to change that now.
The girl from the future marched out of the quaint village. As she passed through the rice fields, she noted the reflection of the stars on the surface of the calm waters. But she only gave the image a moment's glance, too busy with the task of returning to the well. Beyond the rice fields, she stood at the bottom of the steep hill that led into the forest of Inuyasha. She hesitated. Uncertainty suddenly clouded her ambition. Where exactly had she emerged from the woods earlier? Would she be able to see the path once she got up there?
A slight breeze picked up, ruffling her skirt, playing with her hair, and rustling the waist-deep grass around her. The breeze died down, but the rustling of the grass continued. Suddenly realizing the unnatural sound, Maiki turned behind her. She saw nothing but the sight of the cozy village at the opposite side of the valley. Still, she felt an invisible presence, as if someone was watching her. The teenager closed her eyes and shook her head. 'Get a grip, Maiki! There's no one here! This isn't the time to start believing in the Boogeyman!'
She turned back towards the steep incline that separated her from the forest. Prepared to begin the hike, she suddenly felt something cold and slimy brush against the back of her legs. The sensation caused her skin to crawl. She wasn't alone after all! Slowly, hesitantly, she turned once again, and once again she faced the village. Only this time, she was met with the sight of her stalker. Maiki's eyes widened to the size of large saucers, her jaw dropped in silent fear.
It was huge. Absolutely monstrous. It was the largest viper she had ever seen. At least twenty feet was visible above the blades of grass. Who knew how much of its body lay hidden from view? With its coal-colored scales, no wonder Maiki hadn't seen it until now. Its yellow eyes bore down on the girl, jaw gaping, fangs dripping with venom.
"Ssssilly girl… Don't you know better than to sssstray from your village?"
"Y-y-you can talk?"
"Issssn't it obvioussss? Now, hand it over."
"Hand what over?"
"Do not play sssstupid with me, girl! I ssssee that you are the miko who onsssce protected the jewel."
"That wasn't me!"
"Liessss! I know you have the shardssss. Now, give them to me!"
"I don't have them!"
"Do not toy with me!"
Maiki opened her mouth to protest once again, but suddenly found the air cut off to her lungs. The snake had lashed out with its tail, wrapping it around the girl's throat. Maiki's hands instantly went to her neck in a futile attempt to free herself from the serpent's grip. In doing so, she dropped Kunkun, the ferret disappearing into the blades of grass and quickly scurrying off.
Barely able to breathe, and with little oxygen getting to her body, Maiki began to feel numb, almost as if her body were floating. She could barely register the odd sensation of her feet leaving the ground. But when she flicked her eyes downward, she found that she truly was off the ground. Her feet dangled several inches above the waist-deep grasses.
"Now, give me the shardssss!"
The snake hissed, leaning its head in closer to Maiki. Fear rolled off the girl in waves, staring in horror as the serpent moved closer, flicking its tongue, tasting the air, as if reveling in the scent of the girl's terror. Maiki clawed frantically at the scaly flesh. Hot tears leaked from the corners of her eyes. The serpent widened its jaws once more, exposing its fangs. And it struck.
A fresh wave of tears fell from Maiki as the pain wracked through her body. She tried to scream, but it came out as little more than choking sobs. She felt as if her abdomen was on fire. The snake had bit into her right side, fangs imbedding deep into her stomach. The reptile held its fangs in the girl's flesh for several moments, allowing the venom to pump into her body. The poison began to take effect. The pain seemed to ebb, her arms began to feel weak, like gelatin, and fell limply to her sides. She was barely conscious.
Satisfied with the results of the venom, the viper removed its fangs from the girl. A grin seemed to tug at its mouth as it flicked its tongue from its lips, tasting the air around Maiki's limp body, starting from her head and working down. Suddenly, the snake stopped, just below the girl's ribcage.
"Ah ha… There it issss. I knew thissss girl had a shard!"
The serpent darted its forked tongue out like a spear, impaling Maiki. The girl made no sign or sound that she had even felt the blow. The snake's tongue forced its way through Maiki's body so brutally, that it emerged clean through the girl's back. At the same moment the tongue broke through muscle and flesh, so too did a Shikon shard. The jewel fragment flew through the air, landing in the grass several feet away. The snake withdrew its tongue as quickly as it had shot the appendage through the teenager's body. The serpent discarded Maiki's almost lifeless form with a toss of its tail. The girl landed in a heap on the cold ground.
"At lasssst, it'sssss mine!"
"Hiraikotsu!"
The giant boomerang whipped through the air, slicing through the viper just as it prepared to claim the shard. The bone weapon decapitated the serpent yokai. Its head and body disintegrated into dust, the particles dispersing in the slight breeze. Sango caught her weapon when it returned to her. Miroku and Sachiko stood behind her. They didn't move immediately after the viper was slain. Instead, they waited silently for any signs that another yokai may be lurking in the area.
A rustling in the grass alerted everyone's attention. The noise was headed towards Sachiko. The girl's parents panicked momentarily, until they saw a smile spread over their daughter's face. The ten-year-old bent down into the grass. When she stood, she revealed Kunkun in her arms. Miroku and Sango breathed a sigh of relief. Deciding all was clear, they headed through the grass towards Maiki.
Fortunately for the teenage girl, Sachiko had woke her parents when she discovered that Maiki had left the safety of the hut. They weren't sure exactly how long it had been since the teenage girl had disappeared. But they knew exactly where she was headed, the only place the time-displaced young woman would go. The dry well. Miroku figured that he should have known better than to assume that Maiki wouldn't attempt returning to the well at night, despite his warning about the dangers. She was Kagome's daughter, after all. And it seemed that he had forgotten how headstrong and independent Kagome was. Too late, he realized, how much Maiki really was like her mother.
When the trio had caught up to Maiki just outside the rice fields, they had arrived just in time to see the snake yokai as it released its fangs from the limp girl's body. Unfortunately, at that moment, Sango could not use Hiraikotsu. Maiki had been positioned between the exterminator and the serpent. They had watched helplessly as the teenager was impaled, and then in shock as they saw the shard that had been expelled from her torso. Only when the viper released Maiki did Sango dare to strike. Now, they needed to get to the girl quickly and bring her back into the village so they could begin to treat her critical wounds.
With Sachiko following behind her, Sango pushed through the grass, heading towards Maiki's prone body. Miroku walked off towards the jewel shard. With his spiritual power, he was able to sense the area the fragment was at, though he couldn't see it or determine its exact location. After a moments, he found the shard, glowing a bright pink. The moment he picked up the fragment between his thumb and forefinger, he felt a strong pulse from it. Puzzled, he rose to his full height. And then he felt something powerful, frightening.
With wide, worried eyes, he turned towards his wife. "Sango…" he called loudly to her, voice laced with trepidation. The exterminator had stopped in her tracks barely a second before her husband called to her. She had felt it too. Sachiko, inexperienced, was unaware of the sudden change in the atmosphere. She nearly bumped into the back of her mother's legs when Sango stopped abruptly. The exterminator instinctively put her hand in front of her daughter, silently ordering her to stay back. The elder woman's eyes never left the teenager's body that lay facedown on the ground no more than twenty feet away.
"Get back," Sango ordered, voice barely above a whisper.
"Mother?"
"I said 'get back'!" she repeated, louder and more forceful.
Sachiko didn't dispute the instruction and quickly ran back to her father's side, clutching Kunkun to her chest. Hiding behind her father, she turned back to watch her mother. She didn't understand what was going on, and it frightened her. She watched her mother slowly back away from Maiki's prone body.
"Sachiko?" Miroku called behind him to his daughter a little too calmly. He remained facing forward as he spoke.
"Yes, father?" the girl's voice quivered.
"I want you to return home. It is unsafe here."
"Father?"
"Now! Quickly!"
The girl nodded and ran off as fast as she could. Miroku and Sango released a momentary breath of relief as the girl retreated from the vicinity. Sachiko was still too young, and had not developed many of the skills needed for exterminating yokai. If she had achieved one particular skill before that moment, then she would have been able to sense the waves of yoki rolling off of Maiki's body.
The few moments that had passed since the viper yokai's demise felt like long, anxiety-filled hours. Monk and exterminator watched with uncertainty, not knowing exactly what was happening nor what was about to happen.
With their line of sight obscured by the tall grass, they missed the sudden movement from the girl. Maiki's left arm twitched once, then twice. She was still again for a few seconds before both arms slowly rose from the ground. Placing her palms down onto the blood-soaked earth beneath her, Maiki pushed herself up onto her knees with all her strength. She sucked in deep, ragged breaths. Her body trembled. The teenager didn't move otherwise. Instead, she remained kneeling in the pool of her own blood.
Sango and Miroku could hear the girl stirring, and saw the outline of her body as she rose up into a kneeling position, her back facing them. They stared at her, relieved that Maiki was alive, but still hesitant to go to her side. The yoki coming from her was growing stronger. Miroku dared to take a step forward, to get closer to his wife's side. A foreboding feeling had filled his being, and instinct told him to protect the woman he loved, even though he knew she was more than capable of defending herself. But when he stepped forward, his foot came down on a hidden twig beneath the grass, snapping it under his weight.
The sudden sound caught the attention of the young woman. Her head snapped towards them, and both Sango and Miroku gasped as the sight. What they had feared was indeed true. A pair of glowing red eyes glared at them from deep within the blades of grass. Somehow, Maiki had transformed.