Servant By: OtakuSailorV
Chapter 3:: Hard at WorkYuhi awoke tired and sore. Groaning, she forced herself to her feet and got dressed. Her head spun and she leaned on one knee for a few moments, holding her head in her hands. 'Ugh, I feel sick. . .'
With a sigh, she noticed that she had probably just barely escaped getting a cold thanks to her demon attributes. 'But a full demon wouldn't have fallen prey to disease or strain.' She told herself mentally, getting to her feet again. 'A real demon wouldn't let anything get in her way.' And Yuhi wanted nothing more than to be strong, like her full demon mother had been.
Flexing her arms and wincing only slightly, Yuhi sucked in a deep breath before woozily opening the door.
m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m
Yuhi had been hard at work for some time before she went to see if her Lord had awoken.
Slowly, she opened the shouji door and peered in. He appeared to be asleep still, unmoved.
Blinking once, Yuhi stepped in, pulling the bucket of warm water behind her and silently closing the shouji door behind her again.
As the door clicked closed, Naraku stirred. Yuhi held her breath, her form rigid as she watched him, waiting for his eyes to open.
But he only shifted in his sleep, and Yuhi let her breath out slowly, shoulders sagging.
Smiling to herself, she hefted up the bucket and walked carefully over, making sure not to make any noise as she walked toward him.
Stopping a few feet away from the edge of the blanket that lay over Naraku, Yuhi placed the bucket down gently, kneeling next to it and picked up the wet rag on his forehead gently.
Forcing herself to breathe shallowly, she dipped the rag in the water-filled bucket at her side before rinsing it out and placing it back on his head again.
m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-
While Yuhi changed the cloth, Naraku's mind slowly came back into wakefulness. Groggily, he noticed immediately that someone was close by him, though he was racked with pain.
He was immediately on the offensive, though he had not yet picked up a scent to identify the person.
Naraku let out a small growl like sound before forcing forth the only power he had left to sustain: an invisible attack that called upon the wind to push his enemies away from him. Though, in his feeble condition, he had very little power over its movement and force.
With satisfaction, he felt it grapple onto the creature next to him, and slam the intruder against the wall behind his head deftly.
Smirking to himself, though he was feeling quite sick, Naraku squeezed the throat of the pinned intruder, pleased as a gasp protruded.
"What do you think you're doing?" He asked with a sneer.
Yuhi - pinned by her neck to the wall by some invisible hand - gasped for air, clawing at the hand around her throat frantically, though it didn't help. "Please. . .Naraku-dono. . ." She rasped.
At the sound of her voice, Naraku eased a little, the smirk starting to disappear as he caught her scent. "Ah, Yuhi." He acknowledged her, releasing her and letting her slide to the ground, gasping for air.
He didn't apologize, and barely listened as she tried to regain her breath and calm the fright that had filled her.
"What are you doing here?" He demanded, closing his eyes.
Yuhi, one hand rubbing the spot on her throat that had grown red from the invisible hand, quickly sat up straight, ready to answer. "I was changing the cloth on your head, Naraku-dono." She replied, taking her hand away from her sore neck.
Naraku made no answer, but sat up, though he was entirely too tired to sit up. Looking around, he noted the fact that all his wounds had been bandaged and that he was in a fresh kimono.
"Who did this?" He demanded in a tight voice.
Yuhi, fearing she had done something wrong, trembled slightly. "Uhm, that was my doing, Naraku-dono."
Again he did not answer her, he simply continued to stare at his wounds and the kimono intensely.
After a few moments of silence, Naraku spoke up again, though his eyes were still locked on the bandages. "You may go now, Yuhi."
Yuhi got up immediately, taking up the pail of warm water and, bowing, walked out silently, shutting the door behind her.
In the silence, Naraku stared at the shouji door for a few moments. 'Why did she. . .?'
m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-
Yuhi sighed as she dumped out the rest of the unused water, placing the bucket at her side before starting off again.
Briefly, she glimpsed Kagura in another room, glaring at her; but Yuhi did not stop walking, she did not even ask if her mistress, Kagura, wanted anything of her.
Tensely, Yuhi started down a long, dark hallway she had been in before. About halfway down, she blinked, noticing the change in surroundings, and quickly tried to correct herself, when she caught sight of a set of stone stairs leading down.
Blinking again in curiosity, Yuhi turned back around and sniffed the air, latent with miasma, to see what was down the steps.
But her nose couldn't pick up even a small hint of what lay down the stairs.
Making a face, Yuhi turned back around, about to leave when she heard something.
Faintly, her ears twitched in the direction of the sound of someone scratching at metal. Curious again, Yuhi sniffed the top step thoughtfully, looking over her shoulder to see if anyone was coming.
Convinced that no one was watching her, Yuhi peered into the vast darkness of the cave-like entrance before grabbing up a branch of fire and starting down.
It was wet and damp the further she went down, and Yuhi could feel moss under her feet; the faint dripping of water resounding somewhere.
"Who's there?" A voice suddenly demanded from the darkness, the sound of metal scraping against rock heard close by.
Yuhi jumped, thrusting the fire to her side and peering at a large cell that was hewn from the rock, large horizontal bars of metal in front, with a single door that was padlocked and looked enchanted.
Inside, two figures sat on a bed of straw, staring at her, one curiously, the other anger-filled and growling. Around their necks were two golden collars with large spikes sticking forth. The first one, who was growling, had fiery red hair, and green eyes that shone in the light like fire. The second had pale blue eyes, and silver hair that stretched all the way down her back. Other than that, the two girls looked completely human. Yuhi was stunned to find them trapped in an enchanted cell.
"Who's there?" The fiery haired one repeated, narrowing her eyes at Yuhi. "Who're you?"
Yuhi blinked, coming out of her shock. "I-I'm Yuhi. Who are you?"
The fiery haired girl didn't answer, but looked away angrily. The second girl smiled softly at her before turning to Yuhi. "I am Gin, and this is my twin sister, Kai. It is very nice to meet you, Yuhi. Has Naraku trapped you here as well?"
Yuhi blinked, coming toward the cell curiously and sitting down cross-legged. "No. I work here of my own accord."
Gin nodded, though Kai looked at her as if she were crazy. "You work here on your own?! Because you WANT to?! What kind of madness do you spout, woman?!"
Gin placed a hand on her sister's shoulder to calm her. "There must be a reason, Kai-chan." She said soothingly. "Pray tell, why DO you work here, young one?"
Yuhi blinked at their speech. The one called Kai spoke like a barbarian, while her 'twin', Gin, spoke with such wisdom and authority that Yuhi was stunned that they were related in any way.
Coming out of her trance, Yuhi smiled softly to herself, though the two girls before her couldn't see it. "Well, I have a debt to pay. . ." Was all she said, though the memory filled her mind and she wanted to tell them everything. But, something told her that she should not tell them her tale, and she withheld the story.
"I see. . ." Gin said calmly, though Kai snorted and looked about to rage again.
"B-but why are you here? Aside from your hair and eyes, you looked almost human!" Yuhi blurted out before Kai could yell at her.
Gin smiled, and Kai smirked, both of which scared Yuhi slightly.
"We're not human, stupid." Kai said with a half-laugh.
"B-but. . ." Yuhi started, hopelessly confused.
"It is true, what you said." Gin broke in, still smiling. "We do appear human except for our hair and eyes; but trust us, we are not human."
With these words, the darkness seemed to close in around them, their eyes glowing brightly.
"Then what ARE you. . . ?" Yuhi asked nervously, wishing she had not been so stupidly curious.
"We're kitsune's." Gin informed her with a smile and a soft giggle at Yuhi's stunned look.
Sniffing the air softly, Yuhi could pick up no scent of a kitsune, or even another demon in the cave. "But. . ." She stammered again.
"Why do you think we have these stupid collars on for, moron?" Kai tugged on the golden circle around her neck with a smirk. "That bastard, Naraku, concealed our powers and locked us up down here to make sure that we didn't get in his way."
"But why-?" Yuhi started when a sound came from the top of the stairs.
"Yuhi?! Yuhi!!"
Yuhi froze, her eyes going from the kitsune's back to the top of the stairs. "I-I'll be back!" She promised in a whisper before hurrying away.
Kai and Gin watched silently as the hanyou slipped away quietly, up the stairs, and through the opening; trotting down the hallway swiftly and calling to the voice that had summoned her. "I'm coming!"
m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-
Thanks for the reviews. I'm trying to update as much as I can, but school is very demanding right now. again, thanks and see ya soon! Ja'ne!
Review please!