The Kindness of Strangers
Disclaimer: (to the tune of "I know a song that gets on every body's nerves")
I don't own InuYasha and I know I never will.
I don't own InuYasha and I know I never will.
I don't own InuYasha and I know I never will,
So leave me alone lawyers!
Chapter 3-Rain
Rain. It was raining fiercely as the small group entered the village, the fourth they had visited in the three days since they had lost their dear friend, hoping to find her, or the jewel shards she had carried with her to her death. Miroku lead the way, knocking on the door of the largest hut, ready for his ominous cloud routine when the door opened to reveal the village miko. There was no way he could use it, so he went the honest route, asking for shelter from the rain. The miko had taken one look at them and agreed, lending them the use of her spare room for the night.
The hut was large, larger than any normal miko could hope to have, larger than most headmen could afford, but then, all of the houses were large in this village. They asked the miko about this during dinner and she claimed the village was rather well off, the people fine craftsmen able to sell their wares for good prices throughout the region. Dinner was short but good, the miko leaving to go see someone who was sick a few huts away. The solemn group sat in the small room, unsure what to do besides get some sleep, and so they lay down on the futons on the floor.
Shippo was just about to curl up for bed with Sango when the scent hit him, the scent of jasmine and vanilla, Kagome's scent. He followed it to a chest by the wall farthest from the futons. Wondering how her scent could have gotten there, but dreading it just the same, he opened it, both Sango and Miroku not looking at him. He dug through the layers of clothing until he found what he was looking for, a shirt of white with green trimming and a large green collar and a skirt of the same green, Kagome's school uniform.
"S-sango! Miroku!"
"Shippo," came Sango's sweet voice as she came up to him, "What are you doing, going through Lady Rakusu's things? Don't you-" She froze when she saw what he held.
"That's-" Miroku stopped, unable to continue.
"She was here," Shippo whispered, "Kagome. I've smelt her faintly since we got here, I thought I just missed her, but this is hers and this robe here smells like her too, fresher. She's alive and she was here until maybe yesterday."
"But," began Sango, "that means she lied. When we asked her, she said she hadn't seen anyone looking like her these last few days. Why would she lie?" She turned to Miroku for guidance.
He opened his mouth to reply but was cut off by the door opening, the miko had returned. The sound of her sandals against the wood floor came closer to the shoji screen painfully slowly until it finally opened. She was smiling at first, but the sight of the blood stained garment in Shippo's hands dashed it. She saw it and she knew. Miroku moved fast, all but slamming the woman into the wall, his hand on her throat.
"You lied to us," he said simply, his voice sharp as death and much colder. "Where is she, and if you lie again, I swear, you are going to beg for death."
The miko watched them with large eyes, trying to see if they spoke true. The freezing glares they all gave her were enough.
"I, I sold her, to some slavers," she gasped between short breaths. "She had no idea who she was, so I sold her to the highest bidder. I-it keeps the village alive."
"Where did they take her?" Miroku's voice was colder, blank of all emotion but a smoldering hatred.
"South," she mumbled, "They took the south road yesterday morning."
Miroku pondered the testimony for a moment before punching the woman, knocking her unconscious. His friends watched silently unused to such displays form the usually calm monk. He was the next to speak.
"We have to get word to InuYasha. With that rain, there's no way Shippo or Kirara could track Kagome's scent." Sango nodded in agreement. "Kirara and Sango, you find InuYasha, Shippo and I will follow the south road and try to catch up to the slavers. It is possible they have not yet…sold her." He danced around what he meant, knowing Sango would understand and not wanting Shippo to ask.
Sango nodded and looked out of a small window. "It's stopped raining. I'll head out now. Hopefully he's not too far." She turned back to the unconscious miko. "I think it would be best if you left as well."
Miroku nodded. "Be careful Sango. InuYasha may be in a…foul mood." He danced again, this time more to leave the fear unspoken and not allow it to seem more real.
She nodded as she left the hut, Kirara waiting outside transformed into her large form before flying off leaving Miroku and Shippo alone in the hut for a moment before they began to make their way towards the south road.
"Miroku?"
The monk turned to the little fox on his shoulder. "Yes Shippo?"
"Do you think Kagome's okay?"
"Yes," he lied knowing anything else would scare the kit. "I'm certain she's fine."
Rain. He had never liked the rain. For one, it made it harder to track things, for another it cut their traveling time short, but that wasn't a concern anymore, not with him being all by himself once more, his mate dead, his pack deserted. He was surprised he was still alive. He had thought that some demon would have finished him off by now, but years of searching for the shikon no tama had made these demons seem so weak. They were barely a challenge even though he all but starved himself. Something kept him going, kept him fighting, kept him breathing, some piece of unfinished business. Kikyo? No, he barely even wanted to see her again, Naraku then? Perhaps, but it seemed unlikely. Something inside him was urging him to keep going, inside, but not a part of him, something separate but interconnected with his life so subtly and intricately he couldn't isolate it. He had felt it before, he was certain he had, there was little doubt of that. It was similar to when Kagome went down the well, but stronger and-
He stopped himself in mid-thought. Kagome, that was it, she was alive. He could still sense her, still feel that her heart was still beating, her lungs still breathing, but she was in pain, horrible pain, he could feel it from her and the guilt was what was making him feel so helpless. He was supposed to protect her, but she was somewhere, not too far off, in pain, but at least alive. He had to find her, before the pain became too much for her to bear and she did something desperate. He began to walk, trying to feel where she was in relation to him, trying to let that feeling guide his steps, but it was failing. He could feel her, but it was impossible to say where she was.
A sudden sound behind him made him turn around fast, drawing Tessaiga. If it was a demon, he'd fight and he'd win, knowing his mate was alive and needed him caused new strength to flow through him, a new desire to live. The rain still came down, but it was softer now, almost stopped, just another few minutes and it would be over. Maybe he'd be able to catch her scent then, maybe it would stand out over the scents of the cold damp earth, maybe he'd find her in a matter of hours.
A demon suddenly burst into the clearing, but neither he nor it made any move to attack. It was a friend and he grinned almost contentedly as he lowered his sword. The demon slowly lowered its defenses as the person on its back still looked ready to strike. Sheathing his sword, he walked over to the cream-coloured fire cat and scratched its ear, barely glancing at the still tense demon slayer. Sango had always been a little untrusting of him when it came down to him attacking her, especially without Kagome around, he didn't know why. He wouldn't hurt her or Miroku, not unless they attacked him first.
"She's alive," he said quietly, not looking at the human.
"I know." Her reply was simple, almost cold. "We found the village that found her. Apparently, she can't remember a thing about who she is."
He turned to her fast, new hope building in him. "You found her? Where is she?"
Sango hesitated and he didn't like it. Sango never hesitated. "They sold her to some slavers going south two days ago. Miroku's trying to find their trail right now."
He looked southward, fear overpowering his hope. Slavers, that meant so many horrible things could have happened to her, maybe she had been already sold, maybe she had been-
"I'll find her," he stated almost gently. "Thank you."
With that, he left the girl and demon, letting his feet lead him south fast. Slavers. He had seen what slavers did to the women they held. He had been a child then, he hadn't understood it, but he was grown now and he didn't want that to happen to Kagome, he'd kill any who dared touch her, but that pain, was it possible he was too late? Would he ever forgive himself if he were?
Rain. When it rained it poured. She wasn't sure where he saying came from, but she liked it. It described what had been happening to her. She had lost her memories, been sold and then been sold again. At least, that was all that made sense. She was in this room, small, but it had a nice soft bed that was warm and she had gotten feed for the first time since she had arrived under the care of her 'brothers'. She hadn't seen them since she had been tossed in this room. She still hurt, she was covered in bruises and her head still held that bump, a reminder that she didn't even know her name, her real name. Here, she was called Ame, rain, after the weather they had had when she had arrived. Not interesting, not clever, but it was something. Of course, the men that had come into the room since she had arrived hadn't asked her name. They hadn't cared. They weren't there to chat. Despite them, it wasn't so bad. Food and shelter from the rain and cold and a soft bed, what more could a girl want?
Her own name?
She looked out the miniscule window in the room. Dawn. She had been up most of the night, hadn't fallen asleep. She had been too occupied to, every time she was about to, someone had come in and she had resigned herself to her fate. She hated herself for it, for feeling so dirty, but it was either that or be beaten to near death. She thought maybe it would be better if she died. Save her from the things these men wanted, but she couldn't die without knowing her own name. What would she do in the afterlife? Say she hated every name she had been given in the week, no, less than a week, of life that she could remember? True, they were nice names, soft in meaning, but they had been given only to be taken away from her and said by men that cared nothing about what happened to her. She'd never think of the same things again when anyone said even one of those name ever again, if she got out of here at all.
The shoji screen opened and a girl walked in, the first girl she had seen in what felt like years. She couldn't be much older than eight. Was she doing the same things as her? She didn't want to even consider it.
"Hello Ame. I'm Umi. How do you feel?"
She shuddered. "My name is not Ame."
Umi blinked. "It's not? They said it was. Am I in the wrong room? You are the one that got here last night, aren't you?"
She nodded. "Ame's not my name, is all. I don't know what it is, but it's not Ame." Umi watched expectantly, curious, not understanding. "I guess I feel fine, considering the hell I've been through."
"That's good," Umi replied, childlike innocence filling her voice. "Do you need anything? I'm here to help you with anything you need. Some water? Something to eat? You can have anything you want."
"I want to go home, but I don't even know where that is," she said, tears refusing to fall. They had stopped the day before. She had nothing more to cry for. "Unless, have you ever heard of an InuYasha?"
The child stopped for a moment, thinking very carefully before shaking her head. "Sorry. I don't hear about much demon stuff. Why?"
She shook her head. It was better not to worry the child. "I was just wondering. I heard something about him the other day and I was wondering what it was all about."
"Oh," the child replied, starting when the screen door opened once more, this time revealing a man. "I suppose I'll leave you Ame. I've things to do."
She nodded and the girl left, the man came in sitting in front of her, closing the door behind him. She watched the door for a moment longer before beginning to undo the ties of her kimono. She just wanted this over with.
"I'm not here for that," the man said suddenly, his voice oddly distant.
"Oh?" she asked, not understanding. What man came to a place like this without that in mind?
"I heard you mention InuYasha." She nodded, not sure what to say. "I know him."
She turned to him with new interest. "You do?"
He nodded. "We met once, almost a year ago. He and a friend of his helped me rescue a princess from her husband who had been possessed by a toad demon."
"A friend?" she asked as flashes of the man came to her holding a sack of something crunchy and salty, walking through a castle's hall in the middle of the night with vassals and guards asleep, a white monkey on the man's head. A name came suddenly. "N-nobunaga?"
He grinned. "So, you do remember me. I am glad. How, if I may, did you end up in a place like this? InuYasha did not seem the type to allow you to fall so."
She felt a familiar pain grip her chest. "I, I think he's dead. He was in a river, trying to get to me, but he went under and I didn't see him come back up, and, and," she was gripping her kimono with white fists, the pain flooding her fast and hard. Tears began to leak from her eyes. It was the first time she was talking to someone about him. "Oh Nobunaga, I wish I could remember!"
She collapsed on him, tears falling on his shoulder. Unsure what else to do, he wrapped his arms around her and held her against him comfortingly. He didn't understand what she meant, but at least he could help her in some way. He was still in her and InuYasha's debt.
"It's alright Kagome-sama. InuYasha is a hanyou, I'm certain it would take more than a river to kill him."
"Hanyou?" she asked, pulling back slightly. "Half human, half demon?"
A sudden flash of a memory. She was standing with a strange pink contraption next to her, looking at InuYasha as he stood a few feet ahead, looking distant.
"I'm not one or the other, not a human, not a demon, I'm neither, I didn't belong so I had to make my own place by force, then I realized, I had a place, but I was the only one in it."
She smiled gently. "InuYasha, I'm happy."
He looked at her disbelievingly. "Happy how?"
She grinned even more, walking up to him. "Well, it's just, you've never really opened up to me before is all."
"And that makes you happy?"
She nodded. "Yep. I don't just want to know your strong side."
He snorted. "You make it sound like I'm some kind of wimp who needs comforting."
She smiled even more as she walked ahead of him. "What's wrong with that? You aren't alone anymore."
He just looked at her as she walked ahead, a thoughtful look on his face.
(That was from the end of the episode with Jinenji. I know it's not perfectly worded, but I had to do it from memory and I haven't seen it in a long time. I'm in Montreal and all my InuYasha stuff including tapes and manga are in Toronto! I don't even have cable! Still, I think it's pretty close.)
"Kagome-sama?"
"Kagome?" she whispered almost dreamily, "Is that my name?"
"Kagome-sama, I'm going to get you out of here. You don't belong here. It's beneath a person with a heart as pure and unselfish as you."
She began to laugh, a cold, mirthless laugh. "Me? Pure? Have you ever got that wrong. I'm tainted, black as can be. I'm dirty, worthless and bitter. I belong here. You should get going. I'm tired."
She turned around and fell on her bed as Nobunaga watched helplessly before finally getting up. She heard him close the door behind him and his quiet steps as they went down the hall, finally fading completely. Kagome, she wasn't that person anymore, she wasn't that pure and unselfish person anymore, she was Ame, the bitter and tainted, and she hated what she was.