A Father's Embrace

Chapter Thirty

Separation

"Well, would you look at that," Sango whispered to her husband, leaning towards him as they walked side-by-side on a ledge overlooking a dried-up river bed ten feet below.

Miroku followed his wife's gaze, down into the empty river bed to see Kazuki and Maiki walking together and having what appeared to be a civilized conversation. A smirk spread across the monk's face. "Well, what do you know... He has finally warmed up to her. I knew he would come around eventually."

"It's good to see him finally open up to somebody. He's closed himself off to almost everyone ever since..." Sango trailed off, not wishing to put the rest of her sentence into words. However, she didn't need to, for Miroku knew she was referring to Masuyo's death. Not wishing to emerge herself in such a painful topic, she veered the conversation in another direction. "I just hope for his sake that he doesn't start to take after his lecherous father..."

"Oh, come now, Sango! He's a young man now! Surely you don't think it would be wrong of him to start appreciating the beauty of the fairer sex!"

The yokai exterminator grabbed her husband's right wrist and bent the appendage backwards eliciting a choked cry of pain. "Guess again!"

"AUGH! Okay! Okay! I give up!"

Kagome, who had been walking twenty paces ahead of the married couple stopped and looked back over her shoulder when she heard Miroku's pathetic whine. "Is everything okay back there?" she asked with a hidden grin as she watched Sango release the monk's twisted wrist.

"Oh, yes. Everything is fine, Kagome-chan! I'm just persuading my lovely husband to see things from my point of view."

Miroku sighed dejectedly. "Your means of persuasion are brutal... How could you be so cruel to someone you love?"

"Yes, well, sometimes there's a fine line between love and pain, as you have just found out."

"Right you are, dear Sango. Right you are," he replied with a lecherous glint in his eyes.

When the monk and exterminator caught up to Kagome, she continued moving again, walking at Sango's right flank, opposite of Miroku. A concerned look suddenly crossed the younger woman's face. "How is your head wound feeling, Sango-chan? Does it still hurt? Do you want me to check it?"

"No, it's fine, Kagome-chan. You really needn't worry about me."

"I'm sorry. I can't help it. I just feel so bad that I slept through that entire yokai attack last night..."

"You don't need to apologize, Kagome-sama," the monk admonished. "It's not your fault. I'm sure you were just exhausted from the long day's travel."

"Yeah, but... everyone else was awake and you all traveled the same as I!"

"That may be true," replied Miroku, "but you are also unaccustomed to this era. Based on what you've told us about your world, most people don't rely on walking like we do in this time. I'm sure you're also no longer used to being alert for the warning signs of a yokai attack either. So quit feeling guilty about it."

"Well, okay..." Kagome relented, though she still felt very guilty inside, especially since Sango had been hurt during the attack. She tried to make it up to her close friend by tending to the wound on the back of her head, cleaning it out with rubbing alcohol and holding a gauze pad on it until it stopped bleeding. Luckily, it was only a small cut and didn't require stitches. But even though she had treated Sango's wound, Kagome still felt that the deed was too inadequate to have fully made up for her oblivious behavior.

Kagome's gaze fell upon the two teenagers hiking along the shell of the river bed. "Don't you think it's odd that there isn't even a trickle of water down there? Especially considering the time of year it is? There should be at least a little bit of water running through there... melt-water coming down from the surrounding mountains or someting..."

"Yes, it does seem a bit strange," commented Sango. "But I'm sure there's probably a good reason for it..."

"Do you think it's safe enough for them to be walking down there?"

Miroku rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I'm sure there is nothing wrong with it. It appears that this river has been dried up for several months now. It is as though the river has found a new path down these mountains and to the valleys below. I wouldn't worry about it."

In the ditch below, the teenagers were oblivious to the banter of their parents.

"This is so stupid," grumbled Maiki.

"Just try it again," Kazuki goaded.

Maiki sighed, but humored him. "Fine. Seven."

"No. Three... Were you even trying that time?"

The shibunyo rolled her eyes. "Look, I haven't once been able to guess correctly. What makes you think I'll suddenly start getting right now?"

"That's the problem. You're not supposed to be guessing! You're supposed to be doing it! Start using that telepathy of yours to say the number I'm thinking of."

"Yeah, well... obviously I don't have telepathy, or else I would've been able to do it by now."

"It can't be that hard! We're only using numbers between one and ten..."

"Heh! It isn't that easy! I bet you couldn't do any better!"

"How could I not? I know I could get it right at least once!"

"Alright fine! I'm thinking of a number between two and four," she stated sarcastically. "Can you guess it?"

Kazuki rolled his eyes, and answered with just as much ridicule, "Hmm... Let me think about this one... Is it nine?"

"I told you that you couldn't do it," sang Maiki with a triumphant smile.

The boy narrowed his eyes at her. "Don't be a baka! You know I wasn't being serious."

Maiki feigned casual ignorance as she pretended to examine her claws. "I don't know... You seemed pretty sincere to me."

"Shut up."

The girl rolled her eyes. It seemed her companion's mood was turning sour. Apparently, Kazuki couldn't stay in a good mood for very long. She didn't say anything, not because he had demanded so, but simply because she didn't feel like getting into a confrontation with him. They had only settled their differences less than twenty-four hours ago. She didn't feel like ending the peace so soon. So, they walked in silence, hearing only the sounds of their feet on the dry, rocky ground and the murmuring of their parents' voices.

"So, how much longer do you think it will take to reach the mountain with the mamori-ishi, Miroku-sama?" inquired Kagome.

The monk rubbed his chin in though, staring off into the distance where the outline of the tallest mountains could be seen. "I would say about two more days if we keep at our current rate. Had we not run into trouble, we most likely would have been there by now."

Kagome nodded quietly at the information. She had a troubled look in her eyes, though no one noticed it. 'I really hope we get there sooner than that. I feel like we've been traveling for too long already. I don't know why, but I have this strange feeling in my gut... like I should be afraid of something... But I can't remember what that is. The longer we travel, the further we are from the well, the worse this feeling gets... And Inuyasha... Why do I have this bad feeling whenever I think about him? Why does my head feel clouded when I try to remember?"

"Kagome-chan, are you alright?"

"Huh?"

"You have been spaced out for several minutes now," Sango stated with worry. "Are you sure you are feeling well?"

The younger woman feigned a reassuring smile. "No, I'm fine. Please don't worry about me. I'm sorry for zoning out on you. I promise I won't do it again."

Sango and Miroku each quirked an eyebrow, knowing their companion was embellishing the truth. "Kagome-sama, if you think you need to stop for a rest, it's not a problem."

"No. I'm fine. We should keep going. It hasn't been too long since we had lunch... I'm fine..."

Maiki had been paying close attention to the conversation up above for quite some time. Long enough to hear her mother apologize profusely for absolutely nothing. She sighed. 'I suppose it will take a lot longer than I thought to break mama of that habit.'

"Mama!" the shibunyo whined. "Quit doing that, would you?"

Her mother looked down at her. "Sorry."

The teenager girl rolled her eyes. "Don't be sorry! Just don't say--" She trailed off in the midst of her complaint, her attention having been diverted. The furry appendages atop her head swiveled backwards as an inquisitive expression danced across her face. She slowly turned her head, looking over her shoulder and up into the clear, blue skies.

"Don't say what? What's wrong, Maiki?" her mother called.

"I don't know. I thought I heard something... like thunder... But there's hardly a cloud in the sky."

"I don't hear anything," muttered Kazuki. "You're probably imagining things."

Just as the boy finished his thought, a distant rumbling became audible. Based on the reactions of the adults, they had heard it too. They all turned to look behind them, staring into the sky. A scarce wisp of white here and there were the only blemishes to an otherwise perfect sky. However, they could all hear the faint sound approaching from the south.

"That's odd," commented Sango quietly. "That sound doesn't seem like it's stopping at all."

"Indeed. It seems as though it's growing louder," her husband replied.

Kagome's gray-blue eyes widened in fear as they fell upon a terrifying sight. "It's getting closer! Maiki! Kazuki-kun! Get out of there! Quickly!"

Maiki's eyes snapped to her mother. "Why? What's going on?"

She couldn't see what it was her mother could since she was several feet below the older woman. Before her mother had time to answer, the shibunyo felt her arm being pulled harshly as Kazuki grabbed hold of her and tugged her towards the near-vertical incline out of the river bed.

"Hurry up, Maiki! Unless you want to drown!" the boy hollered at her.

As they reached the base of the small cliff leading out of the ravine, Maiki turned her head to the right. She gasped in shock. From around the bend a few hundred feet back, came a gushing wall of water. And it was fast approaching. Wasting no more time, she dug her claws into the cliff-face, and desperately tried to pull herself up. 'Damn it! I really shouldn't have given up those rock climbing lessons!' Chancing a quick peak to her left, she saw that Kazuki wasn't faring any better than she.

Kagome ran to the ledge, falling down to her hands and knees, looking desperately down at her daughter as the rushing waters drew ever closer. "Maiki! Jump!"

The girl looked up to her mother. "Jump? I can't jump! It's too high!"

"You're shibunyo! Of course you can jump!"

"No, I can't!" she insisted. She tried to grab another rock above her head, only for the dry soil to crumble loose from beneath her hand.

Miroku rushed to kneel on the ground to Kagome's left and lowered his Shakujo down towards Maiki. "Grab hold, Maiki-san, and I shall pull you up!" On Kagome's right, Sango was doing the same with her Hiraikotsu for Kazuki.

Maiki reached up with her right hand, her fingertips brushing against the bottom of the Shakujo. Desperate to reach, she stretched herself as tall as she could get. And barely gained a millimeter. Since the Hiraikotsu was a bit longer, Kazuki managed to cling onto the handle at the bottom end, and Sango was slowly pulling him up.

"Oh my...!" Kagome gasped when she glanced at the looming wall of water.

Maiki followed her gaze. Her eyes bulged in shock. The water had gotten so close, so fast! The teenage girl had just enough time to wince before the rushing water crashed into her. She was immediately swept off her feet. She felt herself collide into something solid before her world seemed to be turned upside down. She desperately tried to swim to the surface, but the unrelenting water continued to force her down. Maiki's lungs burned, desperate for air. She was scared, frightened, terrified. She didn't know what to do, couldn't do anything. Everything was so blurry, so fuzzy, so dark.

From the river bank, Kagome, Miroku, and Sango watched in horrified shock as the current swept both Maiki and Kazuki downstream and out of sight. Kagome rose to her feet, followed shortly by her companions. No one spoke. As if psychically linked, they all had the same thought in their mind: follow the river and save the children. Snapping out of their initial shock, the three began to run as quickly as they could along the river.

A/N: Yes, I know... short chapter. Sorry. I'd like to thank everyone for supporting me and this story. It's truly appreciated, especially these last few days. You guys really know how to cheer me up. :) As a 'thank you', I'm posting this chapter and the next one at the same time.