Misaki placed her palm over her mouth and yawned.
"I'm so sleepy," she mumbled as she sat up, "but I don't think I can sleep."
Misaki slid the door open and stepped outside, shivering. She walked down the walkway quietly because she knew that the rooms were occupied with the guests. The "idiots seeking the Shikon Jewel" Ekaterina had called them. But why? So they were looking for some jewel. Pointless as it sounded to Misaki, it didn't seem right to call them idiots.
Misaki yawned again and blinked away the tears produced by the yawn. She stopped walking and sat down on the walkway.
"I never knew Sesshomaru had a little brother," she said to herself, hugging her legs to her chest. "He must've been born after . . . after Sesshomaru disappeared. And since Inuyasha seems to know him, he must still be around."
Sighing, Misaki rested her head on her knees and stared at the end of the dark walkway. Her eyelids started to grow heavy. She was about to fall asleep, but heard footsteps in the distance coming towards her. She instantly stood up and turned.
"Who's there?" she asked.
"Oh, it's just me," a voice responded.
Misaki blinked and saw Kagome walking towards her. She wore an outfit that Misaki had never seen before. Of course, the green and white outfit she had been wearing before had also been a mystery to Misaki. Where had the girl gotten such strange---and revealing---clothing?
"Kagome? What are you doing out here at night?"
During dinner, everyone had been given the opportunity to introduce themselves properly. Kagome had asked that Misaki just call her and everyone else by their names. This suited Misaki well. She didn't really like honorifics.
"Just walking around and trying to get some sleep," Kagome said with a smile.
Misaki smiled. "I see we both had the same idea." She sighed and leaned against one of the support beams. "Kagome, is it true that you know Sesshomaru?"
"Yeah, I do. We've had some . . . uh, run-ins with him."
"So he's alive?" Misaki asked softly.
Kagome nodded. Misaki bowed her head and her straight hair fell forward, covering her face.
"I thought I'd lost him," she whispered. "That day . . ."
Kagome walked over to Misaki. "I hope you don't mind me asking, but how did you meet him?"
Misaki looked up with a smile. "When we were really little, we just happened to bump into each other. We had so much fun together, until my parents or his caught us." Her smile faded as she glared at her thoughts and clenched her hand. "Those bastards. I hated them so much. My family controlled the eastern domain and Sesshomaru's family controlled the western, so they thought we were a threat to each other and forbid us from playing together." She heaved a weary sigh and let her head fall back on the support beam. "I wonder how he's doing."
"You haven't seen him since you were young?" Kagome asked.
Misaki shook her head miserably and closed her eyes. Suddenly, they popped open and she jumped over the walkway and onto the snow.
"Come out!" she shouted.
A misty shape suddenly appeared and started walking towards Misaki. As it came closer, Misaki gasped. A child with long, white hair and yellow eyes was coming towards her. She knew who this child was.
"Sesshi . . . kichi?"
Inuyasha's ears tweaked. A loud rumbling sound woke him up. He stood up, grabbed the Tetsusaiga, slid open the door, and ran down the walkway until he saw Kagome.
"Kagome! What's going on?" he asked.
"That!" Kagome said and pointed at something murky in the distance.
Inuyasha turned and saw a strange, dark mist whirling around Misaki.
"What's she doing?" Inuyasha asked.
"I don't know, she just suddenly jumped over, but---"
Sango and Miroku ran over as well and joined them.
"What is that?" Sango asked.
"It's some sort of foul spirit," Miroku said. "Misaki, get away from it!"
Misaki don't move away from it. If anything, she moved closer towards it. She didn't see the mist around her. All she saw was the Sesshomaru from her childhood, smiling at her and imploring her to come with him.
"Let's play, Misakichi!"
Misaki nodded and smiled. "Yes, let's!"
"Misaki!" Kagome shouted and jumped over the rail of the walkway.
Inuyasha jumped as well and followed Kagome as she ran towards Misaki.
Kagome grabbed Misaki by the shoulder.
"Misaki!" she said again.
Misaki turned to her with blank eyes. She stared at her for a moment than faced the front again. "Sesshikichi, who's that?"
Sesshomaru frowned at Kagome and took Misaki's hand. "Don't bother with her. She's a meanie and won't let us play together. Come on, Misakichi, let's get away from her."
"We'll get away from all the meanies, won't we, Sesshikichi?" Misaki asked with a smile.
Sesshomaru nodded. "Yes, now let's go."
Misaki was about to follow Sesshomaru, but Kagome grabbed her arm.
The cat demon gasped and turned around.
"Leggo!" she shouted. "I want to play with Sesshikichi!"
Kagome's eyes widened for a moment and she turned to Inuyasha. "I think she's talking about Sesshomaru!"
Inuyasha's brow creased with confusion. He didn't smell Sesshomaru at all. "But how---?"
"Inuyasha, Kagome, you have to get away from there, now!" Miroku called. "The mist is making you disappear!"
Startled, Kagome realized that she could see through Misaki and through Inuyasha. She looked down at her hand and gasped when she saw the snow on the ground through it.
A wave of blue light washed over them suddenly. Inuyasha and Kagome turned to see Ekaterina standing on the balcony with Shippo on her shoulder. Ekaterina held a talisman with strange markings on it. The talisman was the one emitting the blue light.
"Ekaterina-sama!" Sango exclaimed, noticing her presence for the first time.
"Calm down, Sango-san," Ekaterina said evenly. "They'll be fine. It's not like this hasn't happened before."
The mist started fading away. Misaki let out a heartbroken cry and stretched her arm forward.
"Sesshikichi! Sesshikichi!" she cried as tears began to run down her face. "Stay here! Please!"
The mist faded entirely. Kagome let go of Misaki and examined her hand.
"I'm solid again!" she exclaimed.
Inuyasha turned to Misaki. "What the hell was that all about?"
Misaki stared at the snow. "He disappeared. Like last time . . ."
Kagome looked up. "What do you mean?"
Misaki didn't answer. Instead, her eyes closed and she fell on the white snow.
"Misaki!"
"Don't worry about her," Ekaterina said and leaned against a support beam. "She's fine. This happens about every week, so it's normal." She turned to Shippo and patted his head. "Thanks for being the only one with enough sense to alert me, Shippo-chan."
Inuyasha put one of Misaki's arms on his shoulder and grabbed her around the waist. Kagome did the same and they started walking back towards the walkway.
"I don't think it's 'normal' for some weird mist to come out of nowhere," he said with a scowl.
"Well, that part's not normal," Ekaterina admitted, "but I've gotten used to it.
Miroku turned to Ekaterina. "What was that? I've never seen or heard anything like this mist."
"I don't know what it's called here, but from where I come form it's a Quitirong. It comes from the words that mean 'to cry out' and 'to long for'. It creates an illusion to a person. If said person believes the illusion, they will disappear completely. Just another of the strange things here in Awayuki Forest."
"You're not from around here, Ekaterina-sama?" Sango asked.
Ekaterina raised her eyebrows as if to say, "My, aren't you dumb?". "Of course not. With a name like this, do you think I was from around here? Let's all go back to bed now."
Wow, it seems like every fanfic I write gets suckier and suckier (that's probably not even a word ;). Thanks for reviewing again, TheDisruptiveOne-san! Reviews are one of the few things that keep my going.