Kohaku was scared. It was obvious just from looking at him. Even though he had trusted Sango and the others enough to come with them all this way, until they found the meager shelter of this little abandoned building, he still knew nothing about them. In a way, that reticence warmed her heart. The Kohaku she knew had always been a little nervous, a little scared, especially when it came to new situations. So even if he didn't remember anything, she could still see her brother in him. It gave her hope that one day he might remember after all. And hope was something she desperately needed right now.
Everyone else was gone. She could not stand to lose Kohaku, too.
So she approached him even though he was visibly frightened.
"Your arm's injured, isn't it?" she asked, though the injury was obvious from the blood on his sleeve. She kept her voice as soft and gentle as possible when she spoke, as if her voice alone might be enough to send him fleeing. "Let me see it."
He obliged without a word. It was a superficial wound, nothing serious and easily treated. There probably wouldn't even be a scar. Kirara crawled into his lap with a happy mew as Sango wrapped his arm with the bandages Kagome had provided.
By the time Sango was putting the leftover bandages back into the first aid kit, Kohaku had managed to muster up the courage to speak. "Um, excuse me," he began, tentative and nervous. "Have we… met before?"
"Kohaku-kun," Kagome murmured. "Do you really not remember what happened with the castle?"
He had denied it every time they asked so far, and Sango was determined to believe him. The alternative, that he was acting this way at Naraku's behest for some nefarious purpose, was unacceptable. She simply could not believe such a thing of her own brother.
He cast his gaze down at the floor now, as if he was ashamed to let them down. "No, I'm sorry. I don't remember anything before today."
"What about Naraku?" she asked him.
His face screwed up like he was trying very hard to remember, but in the end he shook his head. "It's all just… blank."
Knowing the others would not believe this, Sango merely nodded. If he said he didn't remember Naraku, she chose to believe him. "Kagome, why don't you go join the others outside?"
Kagome didn't look too happy about it, but she went outside and took Shippou with her.
When they were finally alone together, Sango seated herself beside Kohaku with the wall at their backs. Finding him again so soon after laying the other slayers to rest… it was more than she could have ever hoped for. She wanted to hold tight to him and never let go again.
She found herself telling him all about their village and the friends and family who had lived there with them. She skipped over the story of what had become of it in their absence, but she hoped that this topic might spark some memory of his former life or the person he used to be. She deliberately avoided mention of Naraku.
"So you mean, our family exterminated youkai?" he asked.
"Yes," she told him, "we all did."
He looked surprised, and a little frightened and confused. "Even me?"
She smiled. "You were only an apprentice." In fact, the ill-fated fight at the castle had been Kohaku's first battle as a slayer. It had also been the first time Naraku mind controlled him, when he had been forced to kill their father and the other slayers. When he had attempted to kill her, too. But none of that had been his fault. It had all been Naraku, trying to inflict as much pain and suffering as he could.
"Would you please tell me everything you know?" he asked her. "It's just… I feel kind of helpless, not remembering anything about before."
She put an arm around him and pulled him close; she had once thought she would never embrace her brother again, and now here he was, just like the Kohaku she had grown up with. Quiet and a little scared, but determined to carry on.
"It's okay if you only remember a little at a time," she assured him. "We'll always be together from now on."
"Um, the way you're embracing me… it's kinda embarrassing," he admitted.
"What's the problem? We're siblings."
He did not remember being her brother, so of course it seemed strange to be in such intimate proximity to a stranger, but she had every confidence that with time he would recover his memories. Even if he didn't, there would be new memories now that he was free of Naraku and she could protect him.
And she would protect him at all costs.
Though deep down she knew she ought to be more suspicious, knew that all of this was just a bit too convenient, she wanted nothing more than to believe that Kohaku had truly escaped from Naraku. He was her little brother. How could she think otherwise?