What? What's this? I'm actually writing on this story? Simply astounding. I don't have much to say right now. I'm sick… I have been for four days now. It's a really bad virus going around, and, lucky me, I caught it. Now my director's really happy at me. (Yeah, right.) Just today, I had to go home during 2nd period because I had a fever, and couldn't make the rehearsal at five. When I told him I couldn't make it, he told me grudgingly, "Well, I'll have to cancel rehearsal now." What am I supposed to do, go and then make everyone else sick? Or pass out? What!

Grrr….

Disclaimer: Same as the last chapter.

Into the Fray

Chapter 5

The New Family Member

After fearing for my life for what seemed like eternity, the SUV came to an abrupt stop and I hurled myself out of the vehicle and almost began to kiss the concrete once I came in contact with it. The Higurashi girl calmly got out of the car and placed her hand on my back, to which I flinched.

"Sorry if my mom scared you," she said lightly. "She is a bit of a maniac on the road."

I looked up at her in disbelief. "No shit, Sherlock! How did she even get her license to drive!"

The girl smiled, but didn't say anything else. She went to the back of the vehicle and began to unpack my stuff. I looked to my "new home" and almost laughed at the irony.

Just my luck. It was an old, beat up Shinto shrine with about fifty steps leading up to it. Oh yes, going up this bad boy every day after practice would be a bunch of fun…

I pushed myself up and began to walk to the back of the car when I ran into something. It turned out to be the Higurashi girl's little brother, who I had thought to be asleep. I supposed all of my screaming on the ride back woke him up.

He stared up at me in fascination. "Wow… You're so tall…"

I blinked. I didn't really think my height was all that interesting, but I guessed I was wrong… "Yes… Yes I am…" I replied. I tried to get past him, but he clamped onto my leg and closed my escape route. Damn.

"Do you play the drums?" he asked, to which my eye twitched. I hated it when people asked me if I played "the drums". I usually cock my eyebrow and reply sarcastically, "Yes, I play the drums along with the doodads and thing-a-ma-jigs." But for some reason, I couldn't say it to him. He was too young, and he probably wouldn't think that my reply was supposed to be intended as an insult. So, I just nodded and tried to pry him off of my leg, which he was cutting circulation to said limb.

The Higurashi girl giggled behind me. "Sota, leave him alone. He's had a hard day."

Sota, who was grating on my nerves each time he refused to release my leg from his hold, looked up to me, smiled, and said, "Okay! Hey, big brother Inu-Yasha, you wanna play on my Game Cube? I got Super Smash Bros. Melee!"

My eye twitched at the "big brother" part. I had just met him and all of the sudden I'm a member of the family? The heck? These people really needed to get a grip on a wonderful thing called "reality". I narrowed my eyes into a steely glare and said, "No. Now get off of me."

He gave a quick and happy "Kay!" and ran off, to which my now purple leg rejoiced. I growled and then got my backpack from the SUV and then looked back up at my new home. I got a bad feeling about this…

…………………

"Oh my, now that I look at you in the light, I can see that you're completely too skinny! And pale!" Mrs. Higurashi squealed in horror as she took up my arm for inspection. I merely blinked as she kept on shoving food onto my plate. "We need to put meat on those bones! Eat this -it has lots of calories! Oh, and this will make you fit in no time!"

I was now seated at the family dinner table, sitting nearest the living room and next to the Higurashi girl on one side and her brother on the other, (to my disdain) with their grandfather sitting across from me. He was giving me glares when my head was turned and he didn't think anyone saw him. Unfortunately, he wasn't too discreet. I could already tell that he would be a problem in the near and distant future. Mrs. Higurashi (her empty seat was next to Grandpa Higurashi and Sota) was hovering around my shoulder and the stove, putting meal after meal on my plate.

I picked up my chopsticks and stared at the conglomerated mass of food-like things piled onto my plate. They had all been accumulated on top of each other, so there wasn't any real distinction between the vegetables, the fruit, or the main course (which I was sure there were about five in there somewhere). So, in hesitation, I put my chopsticks into what looked like steak covered in peaches and took a bite.

"Oh, yes!" Mrs. Higurashi yipped. "Eat, eat! Now that you'll be staying with us for a while, you'll be able to eat correctly! Tell me dear, what kinds of food did you have over at your apartment?"

I looked up at her and swallowed the piece of steak I'd just eaten. It wasn't all that bad. "Well…" I started, "I…uh… I had a few pieces of bread… but they had mold on them… I had a bag of cheetos… some meat from three years ago… month old Chinese… Halloween candy from last year… and butter."

Mrs. Higurashi stopped her twirling at the stove and stared at me in dread. "Oh my goodness…" she whispered. "How could you eat on such a diet! Especially with marching band and a snare strapped to your chest in that blazing sun?"

I held up my hand to try and make her stop before she went into hysterics. "Please, it's not as bad as it sounds. I'm fine, really."

She grabbed hold of my shoulders and began to shake me back and forth. "No! It's not all right! You poor, poor child! How are you not in a hospital by now! Eat! EAT! EAT SOME FOOD BEFORE YOU COLLAPSE OUT OF EXHAUSTION!"

Scared out of my mind, I began to gorge on the assorted foods she had set before me and tried not to let her shrieking get to me.

……………………

It had been decided that I was to sleep on a futon in Sota's room (which I didn't particularly like). It was big enough for the two of us, and I guessed it would do for the moment. My things were either put into the room with me, or, like my chair and furniture, would be put in the attic or the living room.

I feared that Sota would bombard me with questions once we were in bed, but, surprisingly enough, he was silent. I learned later that he was a fast sleeper, and once he hit the pillow, was out like a light.

Unfortunately, that is not the case with me. Especially that night, since once I went to sleep, I dreamed.

………………….

It was dark, and I couldn't see anything. But I knew where I was. I had had this dream many times before.

I felt myself being bumped around a bit by the movement of the car. I was blindfolded, and the feel of the cloth against my face was nice and soft. Quite a contrast of what I was waiting for when the car stopped. My bare feet, legs, hands and arms were cold. I knew it was snowing outside. I wanted to look, but the blindfold prevented that, so I couldn't find my way home very easily. And my hands were bound behind me so I couldn't sneak a peek.

"I wonder how far we should drop you off this time," I hear Stepmother's voice wonder loftily. She was in the seat in front of me, in the front passenger seat. One of her goons was driving the car. "I would hate for you to get back before the Masons arrive. That would be terrible. Wouldn't it, Sessho-Maru?"

Sessho-Maru, who was sitting beside me, didn't say anything. He never said anything. But, Stepmother took his silence for a yes and kept talking. "That's right, dear. It would be terrible. It would be frightful. Simply frightful. To have them, high members of society, see the bastard son of my dead sister… I don't think I could take the humiliation."

I let my head droop and I try to curl into a ball to conserve some heat before the car stopped. I knew they were taking me out farther than they had ever taken me -and it was about to blizzard. "Gonza dear," I hear Stepmother say, "What about over there? Isn't that a lovely place?"

Gonza, the goon who was driving, agreed with a grunt. "Yeah, over there looks good."

My heart started beating faster. A wave of tension and fear spread throughout my tiny little body and I began to shake. I try to stop the shaking -Stepmother loved to see me quake- but I can't. In the back of my mind, I knew that this time, I wouldn't be making it back.

The car stopped. I heard the front car doors open, and I felt rough, callused hands grab my arms and pull me out of the warmth of the car. It's bitterly cold. My blindfold was taken off and I saw nothing but snow and snow-covered trees in the near distance. My bonds on my hands and feet were undone and Gonza, the one who had pulled me out, shoved me into the bitterly cold snow. I got up quickly, and the doors of the black limousine closed. The window belonging to Stepmother rolled down and a lighter was thrown out into the snow with me. Then, the car drove off, leaving me with only a lighter.

I picked the lighter up and tried to make it start. It doesn't. It's out of fuel. My vision went blurry. I stared hopelessly at the one thing that could have prolonged my life long enough to where I could find some shelter, but it was empty. Empty. Little tear droplets fell onto the lighter, and I looked about me, to see if anyone was there. Anyone who could help me. "Help!" I cried, my voice strained. "Help! Anyone! Help!"

But I knew no one was there. I was alone, a little eight year-old clad in only shorts and a T-shirt in the snow, waiting for the blizzard to come. My voice, small and insignificant, doesn't penetrate the cold wind.

"Help!"

…………………………

My eyes blinked open and I was greeted by the soft sunlight coming through the gaps in the blinds above me. I sighed and rolled over on my soft futon and grabbed a black T-shirt that I put on the floor beside me the night before. I slipped it on and then got up, trying not to think about the memory that reared it ugly head in my dream.

I saw that Sota was out of bed already, so I found my way downstairs to the kitchen, where I saw Mrs. Higurashi cooking breakfast. Her two kids and father already had their plates, and I saw mine, completely engulfed with sausages, pancakes, and eggs. Mrs. Higurashi turned her head, and when she saw me standing at the foot of the stairs, smiled. "Come, come dear!" she exclaimed happily, "Your plate's ready!"

Somewhat grudgingly, I walked over to my plate and sat down. "Hurry and eat, dear!" Mrs. Higurashi yipped happily, "You don't want it to get cold, do you?"

"Heaven forbid," I replied sarcastically, but the elder Higurashi woman didn't take it as an insult. I began to pick at my food when Sota started a conversation.

"You talk in your sleep, you know that?" he asked, to which my face reddened. The Higurashi girl found this hilarious.

"You do!" she exclaimed. "Oh, that's hilarious! Sota, what was he saying?"

Sota frowned a little. "He kept on muttering 'help' a lot." He turned to me, a mischevious smile on his young face. "Were you having a nightmare?"

I snarled. "No, now shut up and mind your own business." However, the Higurashi children didn't take heed to my statement, and then erupted into mocking laughter.

"What was it about?" the Higurashi girl asked through teary eyes. I glare at her.

"You, now leave me alone." I try to get back to my meal, but the two siblings wouldn't shut up.

"Did Big Bad Inu-Yasha have a nightmare?" the Higurashi girl asked in a baby-voice. "Does Big Bad Inu-Yasha need a hug?"

I was tempted to fling one of my clumps of scrambled eggs into her face, but didn't on account of Mrs. Higurashi. I mustered my best glare (which is usually reserved for Koga) and then said in a low, growling voice, "Shut up. Just leave me alone -is that too much to ask? Is it too difficult for your tiny brain to understand the concept of leaving me be? Is it, clarinet girl?"

The Higurashi glared right back at me, a small smile forming on her face. "Why should I leave you alone when I have so much ammo against you?"

"Children," Mrs. Higurashi said with a sigh behind me, "please don't fight. You need to eat and then get ready for school. Now go on, I don't want another word out of you."

We both lowered our heads and began to eat in accordance with Mrs. Higurashi. However, we both watched the other with a kind of glare during the duration of the now-quiet meal.

Oh yes. This was war.

………………………….

Ahh… That took a while to write. I'm happy that those of you reading this have not given up on me quite yet! Thank you!

Ja