Servant By: OtakuSailorV

Chapter 12:: Onigumo

Is an angel watching closely over me?
Can there be a guiding light I've yet to see?
I know my heart should guide me but
There's a hole within my soul
What will fill this emptiness inside of me? 'Winds Nocturne,' Lunar Silver Star Story

Night had fallen and the small band of travelers had settled down, forcing Yuhi to stay with them. Yuhi herself had been quite afraid of going on alone in the dark in that forest that was so eerie and cold, but she did not want to intrude on the travelers who seemed to accept her no-questions-asked. Though the one, Inuyasha. . .he watched her closely at all times, she could feel his sharp gaze on her and wondered what she had done that he seemed so angry about.

Still, she did not ask, in case she might come off as rude or say something stupid. Maybe he really wasn't meaning to stare so hard, maybe he too was baffled at the chances of meeting another hanyou in such a stranded place. . .

That name though. . .she wracked her brain constantly, trying to remember something about the name of 'Inuyasha.' She knew there was something about that name that filled her with an unexplainable inner anxiety. Like she was supposed to be wary of him. She shook her head to herself once, trying to clear her thoughts. For with the miasma, her memories of her old life and Naraku's fortress seemed to start to muddle and blur together so she wasn't sure what was dream and what was actual knowledge. Shaking the feeling off, she took in a deep breath of air and calmed herself so that she might enjoy her new companions' company instead of worrying over one of their names.

Yuhi remained silent, sipping tea that Kagome had so kindly made for her, and watching the other's antics with interest. Her ears twisted and turned at each word, and every so often, her tail would twitch and move around her to warm her feet.

She suppressed a sudden giggle of amusement and delight as Shippo commented about Inuyasha's jealousy of Kagome and received a harsh whack from Inuyasha afterwards.

Miroku, hearing her laughter turned to her and beamed brightly, in what Yuhi thought was agreement on how humorous the pair were. But when her own laughter had subsided, she was shocked to find that his hands had clasped hers around her teacup. "Miss Yuhi, I must ask you something," He began, face suddenly contorted in seriousness.

Yuhi paused for a moment, blinking at him, her ears pointing toward him in childish curiosity. "Ask me something. . . ?" She asked slowly and in a hushed tone, as if she wasn't sure what he was talking about.

He nodded definitively, still looking quite serious. "Miss Yuhi, would you consider bearing my children?"

Yuhi sat in stunned silence; feeling like a bucket of cold water had just been dumped over her head as Miroku popped his famous question.

Immediately after, the taijiya's boomerang bone fell on his head though, saving her from really answering at all. The monk fell to the ground unconscious for a moment, seemingly wearing a comically depressed face.

Yuhi normally might have giggled at this, had it not been for the wandering hand that had also trailed down to her bottom as he had asked this of her. Instead, she was blushing furiously, inwardly flustered at the events.

Moving away from the monk's twitching form, she sipped on her tea again, thoughtfully this time, and a bit apprehensive. Looking around at the others from under her brows like a chastised child, she saw that their expressions showed that this was not the first time something of this nature had happened. Relieved by this fact, she brought her tea cup down, trying to jumble together a coherent, intelligent sounding sentence that was not disrupted by her emotions at the moment. "He does this often?" She asked tentatively.

Kagome sighed wearily; heaving her shoulders into the motion and nodded slightly. "Yeah, all the time." Inuyasha answered for her smartly, giving the downed houshi a disgusted glare from his seat next to Kagome.

Sango was blushing in her own frustration and embarrassment and refused to make eye contact with Yuhi, her eyes drifting to the star-filled sky in easy to distinguish jealousy. Huffing, she took her seat next to Kagome, her arms crossed in contemplative anger.

Yuhi had been frightened that she had said or done something wrong, uncomfortable with the circumstances and wishing that the monk had not been so open about such a thing. Though she was sure it was "just his way" and she had to accept him for what he was, just as she wanted to be accepted for what she was.

The incident had been forgotten almost as soon as it had happened though when Kagome brightened them all up with some strange objects from inside her yellow pack. Yuhi had watched like a curious pup as the girl had dug around and pulled out one sweet smelling thing after the other.

The rest of her pack seemed to know what the contents were already and met their arrival into their hands with delight. Yuhi's youkai senses twitched slightly, sending a weird sensation up the bridge of her human-like nose. Her nose wasn't supposed to twitch thus the strange, yet ticklish feeling.

She had found herself embarrassed again when Kagome had noticed her childish curiosity and offered a square, brown-packaged rectangle to her. Yuhi had taken it, sniffing at it through the wrapping, the delicious smell of something sweet she had never tasted nor smelled before lingering through and tantalizing her.

Yuhi had been quite surprised that not only was the food edible, but it was also quite delicious as well. Trying not to appear greedy, she ate is swiftly, but did not look for more. The substance was rich and foreign, and so caused her stomach to revolt against its sudden and rather fast intrusion. She did not feel sick in the manor of one about to throw up, but that she suddenly felt quite full and knew she should not take in any more of the sweet confection at the moment, though she was dying for another bite after the sample.

She had thanked the young miko-child for it and had promptly fallen silent when the others had started conversing again. Looking up, she calculated how long the night had been. It was late, usually at the castle, she was asleep a few hours before. . .no wonder she was feeling so heavy-lidded at the moment. The internal clock in her mind knew that it was time for her to sleep, long past time for her sleep in fact.

Letting herself settle, she had slowly let her eyes and mind drift closed with sleep, and the groggy thoughts before one sleeps consumed her entire being. Slipping away, she fell into a comfortable sleep, the first in a long time, though there was a constant uneasiness tugging on the back of her mind, as if in earnest of something that had long ago been told to her.

In the morning, Yuhi awoke to find the others had already finished packing their things and were just about ready to head off. Getting to her feet a little drowsily, she found that she was already prepared to leave as well. Thanking them, she bowed politely and continued with her humbling until finally, content that she had said everything that needed to be said, turned and took a step forward, only to be stopped by Kagome's rather distressed tone.

"Aren't you coming with us?"

Yuhi's ears twitched with her evident confusion, her eyes blinked in unison as she peered over her shoulder questioningly. "C-come with you?" She asked, a little sheepishly, her tail stiffening slightly in anxiety.

"Yes, there is a village close by from which we came before, we could at least take you there before going on our way if you liked that better?" Miroku offered, smiling at her in a pleading sort of way.

Yuhi frowned inwardly at his smile, but maybe going tot he village wouldn't be so bad. Gulping slightly at the thought of being with an actual group of humans frightened her though, but she nodded anyway. "That would be nice, thank you eternally from the depths of my heart, everyone." She replied at length, bowing again.

Inuyasha made a face, she didn't have to do that. . .but the others seemed to just either ignore it or try to correct her in some way, so he made no statement.

Yuhi was in awe of the feeling of the wind rushing through her hair, catching in her ears and whistling loudly and in protest to her opposite movement to it's flow. The feeling of just having the fur of the cat demon under her frightened her a little, the bravery of the tiny kitsune that sat upon her head, grasping tightly to her ears made her calm herself.

Still, it was hard holding back the whoop of joy and fright that gripped at her heart, intermingling into an unknown emotion that she knew the only way to expel was to let out a loud noise of some form to express herself. And suppressing it only made it swell and swirl inside of her, making her heart tingle and her fingers grow clammy with excitement. The feeling like being a curious little child came over her again and this time she didn't care if anyone saw.

The kit, sensing her enjoyment of the situation, giggled and gripped her ears in his glee, though he was careful not to harm her. In response, he felt the shudder of a laugh ripple from her but it was concealed before anyone else but he and Kirara had felt it.

They had arrived at the outskirts of the village at about mid-day. Yuhi had insisted that they leave her here, since they had a very important place to get to, or so it seemed to her. Kagome and Sango had wished her well, and the group soon left. Yuhi watched them go until they were not but a speck in the distance and let out a withdrawn sigh. That kitsune cub had reminded her so much of. . .

Sadness suddenly gripped hold, and she ended her thoughts before they had surfaced completely. Sighing again, she looked at the village in the distance. Well, she could hardly conceal her odd hair color or eyes, but she could at least try to hide her ears and tail. Maybe the humans would overlook her presence if there were no real demon aspects to be seen. But still - she questioned as she took off the apron-like cloth she had been wearing over her thin yukata – what was she going to do from here?

Taking a deep breath, she realized that she couldn't very well just wander around the rest of her life. She would have to find a place to go soon, someplace warm preferably. It didn't matter if there were people or not, but that would be nice, if there were someone there with her. . .she turned the melancholy thoughts aside. She would come to terms with that later, not now. Now she had to venture into the foreign civilization and hope for the best.

Yuhi felt her feet scuffling on the stones as she wandered into the town, feeling very nervous and out-of-place in this strange world. She had so long ago left it for the reclusive forests, and the hidden mountains, as was familiar to her kind. Though she had come close to human villages several times, she had never come out of the edge of the forest for fear of them. Well, except for that one time, and that time she had sworn off any more human encounters. But here she was, not but possibly a year later, walking right into the heart of a human village, disguised as one of their own. She knew it had to be done, though she did not like it one bit, she had to act as them to survive in this world now, she had no other choice. To go on living as she once had was pointless and wasteful, she would have to forge her own path in this human village.

She felt a dizzying fear run through her suddenly, but she ignored it, focusing on the path ahead of her.

Her heart beat faster as she started to attract more and more eyes, and she purposefully made her tail stick tight to the curve of her bottom so it would not be seen twitching in her anxiety. Her palms became sweaty at either side of her, though she had not even clamped her hands shut, and her ears threatened to move under the cloth she had wrapped over them. It was not uncommon for human females to wear this sort of headdress, so she was thankful for that. No, she knew what they were looking at. She had left her hair to fall down a little on either side of her face so as to hide the fact that she lacked ears on either side of her head.

A child looked at her wide-eyed and pulled on his mother's cloak when he spotted her light-brown hair that was scruffy, unlike the smooth black that most women had in this time. She ignored him as best she could, watching him and his mother out of the corner of her eyes without actually looking in their direction. When he informed his mother in a rather loud voice that "that lady right there has funny hair and eyes, mommy", Yuhi felt a pang of fear hit her as she saw the eyes of those that had heard the human-child turn on her suddenly and questioningly. The mother brushed at the hand on her skirt though and turned his gaze from Yuhi. "Shh, it is not polite to stare and speak so disrespectfully about your elders." She hushed him, and Yuhi felt the eyes of the crowd move away as if their mothers too had chastised them.

Yuhi was quite grateful, and felt a heavy load suddenly lift from her heart as she did. Maybe she could actually pull this off after all. . .

He would make his move the next night, he knew that. He had waited far too long already, dabbling in the affair of ridding himself of the burden that had been Yuhi. Now, casting his eyes over the field that he had decided would be the battlefield, he smirked, his already narrow eyes moving together even more. It would be perfect; there would be no way that anything could go wrong. And his prey was coming toward him as he looked on at his trap. There was nothing better than having them come without being called.

He chuckled darkly to himself, reveling in what he was sure was a victory for himself already. Yes, if he were lucky, he wouldn't even have to wait until the next night, maybe they would walk right in this night. His red eyes shimmered in the light of the mid-day sun malevolently.

Kagome knew she had felt it several times, the tug of jewel shards, a great cluster of them too, though it was faint. It had been the first indication to the human that there was someone suffering, lying in the bushes, against a tree nearby.

The feeling had come and gone, always distant, and faint, as if they were far away, though she was sure they weren't for some reason. And sometimes she had felt the evil presence of miasma mingling in with it, dark and surging, though also faint and disappearing as soon as it had touched on her sharp miko senses.

Inuyasha had seemed uneasy as well, often watching the fellow hanyou, Yuhi, with a suspicious look in his golden eyes. Kagome had been curious, but said nothing. Yuhi had seemed quite polite, possibly even overly polite; there was nothing about her that made Kagome guess at some evil purpose. But still, the feelings had come when Yuhi had appeared, and gone when they had left her behind. She had to say it was a strange coincidence, but she still could not piece together a puzzle that should have been quite easy.

Kagome shook her head, her midnight hair rippling outward in the billowing wind. She continued to puzzle over it, but was starting to lose herself in the continued hard thought. Eventually her thoughts turned aside to other things that had started to nag on her, but still the reminder of the echoing cry of the Jewel Shards was in the back of her mind, never totally silent. And, if she might have listened very carefully, Kagome might have heard the whispered warning that the sensations had brought with them. . .

Another new chapter up!!