Servant By: OtakuSailorV

Chapter 17: The Arrival of Unwanted Emotions

Yuhi gasped as she waited by the base of the God Tree, eyes glowing in the dark. She had dropped her parcels in the hole and now sat huddled by the roots of the tree, examining her bleeding feet and resting while still watching for any sign of humans following.

Eventually, she had licked the blood clean and made sure there was no infection in her wounds, she slunk back into the hollow with a final glance around for any sign that she was being watched.

She was glad to find that her Lord had fallen asleep, despite the fact that it did not look to be a comfortable one. Shifting through the items she had gathered, she picked up the bowl which she had already filled with clean water and placed it by his side, a piece of cloth next to it to act as a rag.

Pulling out the other bandages, she put them at the ready by her side. The needle for mending she put in plain sight near the entrance where she wouldn't accidentally sit or stand on it.

Looking over the job laid before her, Yuhi made a face as she rolled up her yukata's sleeves and peeled back the bloody clothes and set to work.

After about an hour's work, she was pretty sure that she had every wound cleaned and bandaged. The hardest thing had been trying to get the miko's arrowhead out of his shoulder. It was deep in there, as was the last bit of the shaft.

It had been wrapped in pure energies and sent a painful shock wave followed by equally painful jolts whenever she had touched it. She knew it must be causing far worse damage to her sleeping Lord and willed herself to pull it free despite the pain it caused her.

She couldn't understand it; it was as if each bolt of pain were resonating with something within her body. The little power points thrummed and radiated pain, making her hiss. Her fangs had retreated, as had her claws. Even her ears had started to back down into a more human form upon contact with the purifying powers.

Her youkai half had interfered at this point though, it being the most affected by Yuhi's actions. It had hissed and spat angrily in the back of her mind, going crazy, she could feel it writhing in excruciating pain as it was prodded with tendrils of the pure miko energy. When it was able to speak, it demanded in a harsh tongue that she release the arrowhead. When she had refused several times over, it seemed to become desperate and even pleaded with her to release the arrow. Yuhi still refused; she would not let go until it was out.

Now she sat on her knees, wrapping the blood-covered arrowhead and bit of shaft in a piece of cloth and was preparing to bury it somewhere. Probably near the God-Tree was best. . .

Wearily, she clambered out of the hollow and went up by its roots. It took a moment to work the dirt loose, but soon she had a small hole dug and placed the cloth bundle down inside before covering it again and stamping the earth back down on top of it.

Yuhi sighed with a small bit of a smile and wiped her arm across her face, smearing mud on it but taking no notice.

Walking back into the dugout, Yuhi picked up the cloth and dipped it into the cool water. Squeezing the excess out, she placed it on Naraku's forehead before settling herself. She didn't have the energy to use the bone-needle to mend anything now. Slowly, she fell asleep, content with what she had done for now. . .

Yuhi woke to the sound of rain pattering lightly outside. At first she didn't remember where she was or what had happened, but one look around and she got her bearings again. Stumbling up onto her feet, she moved about stiffly until the sleep had gone from her mind and body.

Yawning, she picked up the cloth from Naraku's head and dipped it back into the water again and straining out the excess. Placing it back on his head she let out a sigh and turned toward the food that she had collected from the human's fields.

She didn't know what Naraku preferred to eat, but she had trained herself to tolerate human food. When she had been younger she had turned up her nose at the human produce, her mother hadn't even been able to touch it, but she had somehow been able tot rain herself to eat it without getting sick. Her youkai self wasn't too happy or proud of this fact, but she refused to kill. She would eat fish, but she hadn't seen any in the streams nearby, which was just her luck.

Munching on a turnip, she placed some of the things by Naraku's side in case he should wake.

The rain would wash away their scents, so she would no longer have to worry about Inuyasha and his group finding her wounded Lord. This would also provide a good advantage to get some more food from the villages. She hated to think that way, but with the rain, if she were seen they would not be able to track her.

When she had finished her 'breakfast' she started out, checking back in on Naraku to make sure he was still sleeping.

They hounded her mercilessly. She had just discovered how very much humans disliked being preyed upon by a female hanyou so often. She was even shocked to find that some part of her was enjoying the chase that they put up, purposely trying to slow to entice them to hunt her further and further until they were completely lost in the deep forest. But she dared not let herself give into that, it would be foolish and she might end up dead or showing them right where her wounded Lord lay resting. So instead she sped onward, leaving them far behind as her feet pounded into the mud.

Back in the hollow Yuhi dropped her load, panting and out of breath. She looked to her muddy feet, hoping that the wounds hadn't re-opened, but was relieved to see that they had fully healed overnight and now all that was there was the nasty mud.

It looked as if Naraku had not awoken in the entire time that she had been gone, his body was still in the same place as she had left it, and nothing in the hollow had been touched as of yet. Yuhi was relieved and settled everything easily, studying the area around her as she went.

As it continued to rain, she peered out; sniffing at the moss that covered their hiding place and trying to see if the rain was still masking their scent's successfully.

The sun was starting to sink when she heard and sensed someone approaching. For a long time she had been sitting alone in the darkened out cove, not even sensing the youkai in the back of her mind. It was a rather unnerving feeling, not having the youkai roaming the dark corners of her mind and growling out comments every now and then.

To hear footsteps and voices had her awake from her silent reverie right away. She had been resting from her many days of over-stressing herself when suddenly her ears had perked up. Her eyes widened from the half-lidded slits that they had been and she felt panic run through her. She bit her bottom lip in thought. The voices sounded familiar. . .

"Inuyasha, we shouldn't be out in the rain. Let's go find a village and rest until the rain stops."

"Yeah, you can't track Naraku when it's raining out anyway."

Yuhi felt her pulse quicken and her breath hitch in her throat. Now she knew who it was! That was Kagome and Shippo!

"Shut up, dammit! Naraku was just about dead when that damned Kagura and Hakudoushi jumped in, so he can't have gotten too far!" Roared the familiar voice of Inuyasha.

Yuhi came up from the mud escarpment and peeked up through the hanging moss as the group walked almost directly on top of them, literally. Couldn't the houshi and miko sense their demonic presence? She prayed that they couldn't, she had totally forgotten that Inuyasha was not the only one capable of tracking them.

The houshi looked in her direction as she thought that and Yuhi froze. She stayed in that position even as his eyes went right over her and up into the boughs of the God Tree. Yuhi's eyes moved quizzically to the God Tree as well. Was its powerful holy aura masking theirs?

She felt a sigh of relief run through her, but still she was tense, waiting for them to notice her in the hollow. What would they say, finding her aiding their enemy? Inuyasha would kill them both, she knew. She bit her lip harder and squeezed her eyes shut, willing herself to become invisible.

Inuyasha turned to Kagome as he failed again and again to pick up any trace of Naraku. The blasted rain and that damned tree were messing up all of his senses. "What about you, Kagome? Can you sense anything?"

Kagome sighed in exasperation, but tried to pick something up anyway. After a moment of silence, she opened her eyes again and gave him a weary look. "Inuyasha, come on, let's turn back. It's no use trying to go on any farther. Let's just go to the village Sango was telling us about and rest until the rain stops."

Inuyasha grunted his disapproval of such an idea, but it was true. There was simply too much interference now. It probably would be a better idea to do as the other's were suggesting. Still, he hated to give up, it was so frustrating how the bastard seemed to get away every time. . .Growling to himself, he complied with their wishes nonetheless. "Keh, fine. Let's go then."

Kagome gave him a warm smile of thanks and Shippo let out a sigh of relief. "I hope they have something good to eat at the inn." He commented brightly, trying to lighten the mood. Kirara mewed her agreement.

Miroku cast one last, rather curious glance over his shoulder at the mighty tree before catching up with his comrades, staff jingling.

Yuhi was relieved when they had gone and eased back, leaning against the mud-wall entrance.

Looking to her sleeping lord, she had a content smile on her face. Well, he was safe for now at least, and that was all she could do at the moment.

This alerted her to the possible return of the group in the morning though, so she remained on her guard as she fell asleep listening to the light patter of rain.

Yo! Hope everyone is enjoying/has enjoyed their spring break. I'll be leaving on Thursday, so I thought it best to update now instead of waiting until next Friday.

Sorry if the chapter seems a bit boring, but I thought it best not to include any of the rough action and such that will be detailing the following chapters included in this one. So take this as a sort of…breather?

Anyway, next chapter Naraku-dono will be up and about, but what ill will that bring on the pair? Have to wait, I guess. . .

Heh heh, well, thanks for your reviews everyone. I truly appreciate everyone's enthusiasm and patience. I hope to update soon, so watch out.

Thanks again! Ja'ne!

Review Please.