Wow. How long's it been? Weeks? Centuries? Anyways, I think that I might've had a block halfway through this chapter. I dunno. Can't remember…
Well, the only thing I have to say at the moment is here's the second chappie! And thank you to: Elo, Lintered, sangoscourage & Kat for reviewing:)
Disclaimer: Everyone knows that InuYasha does not belong to me so I have no to claim to it. I can only wish… I do own Yousu though.
To Imbue A Soul
Chapter 2: The new girl...
.oOo.
"Come on Kagome!"
The black-haired girl heard her name being called and ran past the school gates towards the bus. After giving a quick, innocent smile to her frowning history teacher, she raced up the center aisle and slumped down in the seat her friends had saved for her – she was completely exhausted.
"Hi Ayumi! Hi Yuka! Hi Eri!" she said brightly albeit a bit out of breath. "I can't believe I slept through my alarm clock and had to run the whole way to school!"
"Kagome, you nearly missed this field trip to the museum!" Yuka scolded.
"I'm here aren't I?" Kagome asked. "And you could show a little sympathy."
"Oh stop complaining," Eri said, shaking her head. "Just be thankful we don't have to do work today."
.oOo.
When the bus halted outside the museum doors, all the students raced out and crowded around the entrance.
"Remember to take notes!" the flustered teacher called as her class greeted the doorman quickly before racing inside.
"And someone said we didn't have to work today," Yuka muttered, making Eri scowl.
"What's our topic?" Kagome asked Ayumi as the rush of students died down. Her friend shrugged.
"Uh…mummification," Eri answered for her, making a face. Yuka and Ayumi groaned in unison.
"Why do we always get the gross things?" Kagome asked no one in particular, looking around for directions. "This way!"
Her friends raced after her. They all skidded to a halt in front of the Ancient Egypt section.
"Do we have to do this?" Ayumi asked quietly.
"Yep," Eri said then turned to her friend. "You're not scared are you?"
"No way!" Ayumi stated indignantly. "Just a bit grossed out."
Her friend's conversation faded and Kagome entered the display and walked over to one of the open glass cases. She stared at what was inside.
"Kagome?" Yuka asked, making her jump. "What'd you find…?"
Eri and Ayumi came to stand behind Kagome and stared into the case as well. The plaque read:
Not from Egypt, this discovery is just as fascinating. This young female was discovered near the Higurashi shrine, completely embalmed in a substance similar to frozen water. Unlike other mummifications, she seems to have fully retained her natural physical state. She is a bemusing subject for study and has baffled every person to have examined her to every extent possible. The arrow protruding from her chest indicates that she may have been struck down in battle, but from whence the ice came from, not one person has been able to determine. Attempts have been made to melt the ice about her, but to no avail. She remains a mystery to everyone but herself…
"How eerie," Ayumi said, shuddering.
"She is cool though," Eri added, "but if she's not from Egypt, we can't study her. Come on."
Kagome glanced at the girl, and saw her to be faintly smiling in her nest of tangled black hair. That's weird, she thought. Someone who was killed with an arrow shouldn't be smiling.
Throughout the rest of the morning as she gathered information for her assignment, Kagome kept glancing back to the glass case, continually feeling like she was being watched.
Lunch came, and they left the display room to eat with the rest of their class.
.oOo.
"What is up with you Kagome?" Yuka asked, just as they were about to finish their notes and leave for the bus.
"Oh nothing…" Kagome glanced towards the frozen girl. Her friends followed her gaze and Eri smiled slyly.
"I bet you're scared of that mystery girl, aren't you?" she asked in a teasing tone. Her friends turned to Kagome for confirmation.
"No!" Kagome said waving her hand dismissively. "No way! You've got to be kidding me!"
"Come on, Kagome! Confess!" Yuka said. "You've been giving her weird looks all day!"
"I have not!"
"Oh whatever," Ayumi said as they walked towards the museum's entrance. "Hurry guys or we'll miss our ride back!"
"You go, I'll catch up – I…left something back in that room," Kagome told them. Her friends looked unsure, but did as she asked them. Checking to see if they were far enough away, she took a deep breath and walked back to the Egypt display and over to the glass case, peering inside. The girl looked like she was only asleep, her strange silver-blue streak of hair trailing down her face.
"Do not touch the exhibits," Kagome read from the side of the case. "Well, it couldn't hurt to…"
She reached her hand out and lightly touched the ice covering the fletching of the arrowwith her fingertips, then quickly drew her hand back. Looking at the point she had touched, Kagome was shocked to see the ice slowly trickling away.
What am I doing? she thought frantically. It's like I can't help myself…
She put out her hand again and gripped the arrow's shaft, which was quickly loosing its ice.
And suddenly the arrow disappeared in a burst of pink light.
There was a moment of silence before Kagome stepped back fearfully, wondering what she had done, and looking at her hands in shock. Then she turned and ran from the display room, struggling to determine what she'd seen.
Within the glass case, the girl's violently purple eyes snapped open and as the last of the ice melted away she sat up and looked at her surroundings. She stayed in that position until the janitor came in to clean, saw the girl sitting there, uttered a small scream and ran from the room.
.oOo.
"Hi Mum!" Kagome said brightly as she walked into the kitchen where here mum was cooking.
"Afternoon, Kagome,"her mumanswered. "How was your day?"
"It was all right," Kagome answered vaguely. Apart from that weird girl at the museum, she thought. I wonder if it was all just a dream? "I'm just going to dump my stuff in my room, okay?"
"That's fine, but remember to do all your homework before you do anything else," her mum said, turning back to her cooking.
"Ugh," Kagome grumbled as she started up the stairs. "Homework. And that test to study for too. Such is the life of a schoolgirl."
Now in her room, Kagome dropped her bag on the floor and flung herself onto her bed.
"What was with that girl?" she asked her ceiling. "I hope I didn't wreck anything. Well, at least they'll be able to study her now, I guess…"
She stood up, only to slump back down in the chair in front of her desk and sigh in resignation.
"I'll worry about her later," she said as she dragged her textbooks from her bag. "Right now, I've got loads of work to do."
.oOo.
"Kagome?" her mother asked. Kagome looked up from her dinner, muttering a vague 'hmm?' as she did so.
"Really, Kagome, you should pay attention to your grandpa when he's speaking to you!"
If I listen to him, I'll fall asleep! Kagome thought wryly. But anyway… "What were you saying, Grandpa?"
"I was talking about this wonderful dish that your mother has served us tonight," her grandpa proclaimed, holding up a piece of the food. "Why, these pickles are full of history!"
I knew it, Kagome thought. "Not half as full as you are," she said with a bored expression.
"Kagome!"
"Sorry, mum."
.oOo.
"Bye mum!" Kagome called the next morning as she walked out her front door. "Hurry Sota, or we'll be late!"
Kagome ran all the way to school, her brother following behind. After waving goodbye to Sota at the school gates, she began to walk towards her friends. As she was raising her arm to say hello, a figure darted out towards her, ramming into her side. The schoolgirl landed on the ground with a thump.
"Ow!"
"Kagome!" Ayumi called, running over. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine…are you all right?" Kagome asked the figure, who had also landed in the dust. It was a girl of around their age, who's uniform was covered in dust.
"Aye, I'm well," she said shyly. Bowing slightly she added, "sorry 'bout that."
"She speaks funny," Eri whispered to Ayumi. The girl looked up.
"I don't," she said indignantly, gazing at the two friends with intent violet eyes. Kagome looked at her curiously.
"Are you new?" she asked.
"Aye," the girl answered. "Me name's Yousu."
"Pleased to meet you," Kagome said. Her friends introduced themselves to the new girl. That's so weird, she thought. I have a feeling that I've seen her before…
Wiping an unusual silver strand of hair from her face, Yousu smiled.
The school bell rang through the grounds. Yousu looked up in alarm.
"What's that?" she asked warily, clenching her fists.
"Uh… the school bell?" Yuka said like she was speaking to a two-year-old. Evidently, Yousu caught her tone, because she blushed and looked away.
"I'm sorry," she said, bowing again. "I'm not very used to this place…I'll explain later…" she looked at Kagome uncertainly, "that is, if I'm allowed to talk to ye after…?"
"Of course!" Kagome answered quickly. "Join us at morning break, Yousu."
The girl immediately brightened. "Thank ye, Kagome. Goodbye!" She ran from the group towards the school building.
"Great Kagome," Eri muttered. "You've made friends with a really freaky girl."
"Yeah," Yuka agreed. "What's with her hair? And her eyes? Do you reckon she wears contacts?"
"Oh, be quiet," Kagome scolded. "I'm sure she's just adjusting to her new school. Besides, I think I've seen her somewhere before…"
"Yes, she does seem familiar, doesn't she?" Ayumi said quietly.
.oOo.
At break the four friends found Yousu sitting alone in a corner of the grounds. The girl moved aside to make room for them, but kept her eyes downcast.
"How's this school so far, Yousu?" Ayumi asked gently.
"Bad," the girl replied simply. "I ain't know nothin' 'bout nothin'. An' I can't remember seein' any of it before," she made a face. "'specially those… comu – things."
"Computers?" Yuka suggested. Yousu nodded sharply.
"How can you not have heard of a computer before?" Eri asked. The girl shrugged and looked at Kagome. Kagome blinked back at her purple stare.
"They told me to make friends, an' I tried," Yousu said.
"Who's 'they'?" Kagome asked.
"Just the people that found me."
"Found you?" Eri asked.
"Yeah," Yousu said, now turning her gaze towards her. "They found me an' they're tryin' to help me. Call themselves doctors, they do."
"Do you suppose she's crazy?" Yuka muttered to Eri, once again causing the new girl to blush.
"I ain't crazy, they says," she said quietly. "It's just that –" she hesitated.
"Just what, Yousu?" Kagome asked.
"Well," the girl said vaguely, "After I woke up they say, 'hello, how're ye feelin'?' an' I says 'fine, 'cept I remember naught but me own name'. An' then they do these tests an' say that I've gotten 'amnesia', whatever that is. I says 'what's that mean?' an' they says: extreme case of memory loss."
"Oh," Ayumi said with sympathy. "You poor thing."
"And," Yousu continued, smiling at Ayumi. "They's wonderin' what these marks are – "
At this, the girl rolled up the long sleeves of her uniform and bared her arms. A tattoo of a silver spiral was revealed on her left shoulder, a teardrop of blue on her right. Pulling her dark hair and silver streak back from her face she showed them her temples. A flame glowed on her right mirrored by a bright green leaf on her left. Yousu let her hair fall back into place as the four stared at her, their mouths wide open in astonishment.
"Why are you telling us this?" Kagome asked finally. The girl shrugged.
"Dunno. But…" her violet eyes stared at Kagome once again. "I kinda remember yer face a bit, dunno where from though," Yousu smiled hopefully, "An' they says I'm not to tell no one, but I reckon if yer familiar then ye gotta know somethin' 'bout me."
Kagome shook her head. "I remember seeing you before somewhere, but I can't remember where. I'm sorry."
Yousu bowed her head. There was silence for a few moments.
"I – There's another thing," the girl said quietly. "I – I'd like to ask for yer help. Them doctors, they scares me. An' they said, if I could finds me a place to stay that I'd be welcome to go, as long as they's allowed to visit me sometimes. Ye see, I haven't any folks. I woke up from my…what'd they call it… my… 'coma'… and they says it was in a strange place that they found me. I got nowhere to go."
"Well," Kagome said brightly. "I'm sure we'll fid a place you can stay! Won't we, Ayumi, Eri, Yuka?"
Ayumi and Eri nodded swiftly. They all were feeling very sorry for the new girl.
After a slight hesitation, Yuka nodded as well.
"I still think she's a bit nutty," she muttered to Ayumi, who scowled at her friend. Yousu overheard – her face turned crimson and she squirmed with embarrassment.
"She didn't mean it," Kagome assured the downcast girl as the bell rang to go back to class. "Really, she was joking."
Yousu muttered something under her breath that sounded awfully like, 'I think yer all nutty too, ye crazy people with…comu…contu… ah stuff it… computers! That's the one!"
I suppose it's never too late to make a new friend, Kagome thought, smiling at the violet-eyed girl.
Meh. It's a bit rushed, but oh well. And it's raining really, really hard outside and I feel all depressed. :( So I need some reviews, people:) Pretty please! Feedback is always good, and I'll answer any questions that anyone has as well. Review, review, review!
Bye for now!
Víra