Hi to all:) I'm back! Eheh… I just realized that I'm putting 'Episode' instead of chapter for this fic… I think I'll have to go back and fix chapters 2 – 5 later…
To all the people that reviewed last chapter I give HUGE hugs! These lovelies were: sangoscourage, Sorceress of the Cat, DanCrazed, Ainigma and Moedhaer! Thanks so much:)
Disclaimer: You all know the story. We FanFiction Authors own hardly anything. As for me, I can only lay claim to YOUSU! … Thank you for your time. :)
To Imbue A Soul
Episode 6: The ones left behind…
.oOo.
"Yousu?" Sota asked. His adopted sister slowly turned to face him – the boy was staring at her in awe.
"What?" she asked him, blushing furiously.
"H-How did you jump that far?" Sota stuttered in amazement.
"Jump what far?" Yousu asked in surprise. Then she looked at the distance between the floor and where she had been standing beside Sota and stared.
"Oh," she managed to mumble in her shock. After checking herself over for injuries she snapped back into the situation.
"This's no time fer us ta be wonderin' what I'm doin' weird stuffs fer – we gotta tell Kagome's mum what's happenin'!" With those words, Yousu leapt up the steps, grabbed the stunned boy by the wrist and dragged him from the room with the well. Dashing directly to the house she reached it within a few short breaths.
"Lady Higurashi! Grandpa!" the girl called desperately and she burst through the front door, shoving her shoes from her feet and dumping a dazed Sota on the floor. "Help us!"
Kagome's mother ran to them from the hall, a look of anxious concern on her face. "What is it? What's happened?"
"It's Kagome!" Yousu began as Kagome's grandfather bustled into the room. "The cat was hidin' an' Sota went ta find 'im an' the well exploded an' arms came out an' they grabbed 'er an' –"
"She disappeared!" Sota cried, scrambling up from the floor and running to his mother. "Kagome was kidnapped, mum! What are we going to do?" his voice had reached a wail by the time he had finished and he burst into tears, his fright finally catching up to him. Yousu took a moment in her panic to direct a glance of sympathy at her adopted brother before turning towards his mother.
"We've gotta help 'er!" she pleaded.
"Calm down, Yousu," the woman said soothingly. "I'm sure you've misunderstood something. If we just –"
"But it's true mum!" Sota sobbed. "I saw it! Yousu tried to help Kagome but she vanished! I'll show you!"
The boy towed his astonished mother out the front door. Yousu moved to follow then sighted the old man frowning at her.
"I, for one, do not believe your story, demon!" he said sternly. "I believe this is all a trick of your vile kind to –"
"Sir," Yousu said firmly. "I know ye think I'm a demon jus' coz I'm strange, but I am tellin' the truth – ye have te believe me!" Bowing low and respectfully she spoke softly. "Come an' I'll show ye that she's gone."
Straightening and hesitantly taking Grandpa by the sleeve she slid into her shoes and walked calmly out the door, even though every instinct told her to run. Being younger, the trip across the yard was agonizingly slow for Yousu as she kept the old man's pace until reaching the well.
"There!" Sota was showing his mother. "Kagome was right in front of the well, and then this…this…thing came out and grabbed her!"
"What 'thing' exactly, Sota?" his mother asked as Yousu and the old man approached them.
"Well… It had lots o' arms..." Yousu interrupted quietly. "An' it looked like it was kinda made o' water…or maybe light…"
"Make up your mind, girl!" Grandpa shouted, trying to cuff Yousu over the head, but failing when the girl ducked. With lightning reflexes she grabbed his wrist and squeezed it tightly, causing the man to cry out in pain.
"I'm sorry!" Yousu gasped in apology, dropping his arm and backing away out of arm's reach. "I don' know what happened! Sorry!"
"Yousu!" her adopted mother scolded. "I though you knew better then to hurt others!"
A long, awkward pause ensured. After a death-glare directed at the girl, the grandfather sniffed haughtily and turned his attention to the more pressing matter of his supposedly missing granddaughter.
Dramatically, he cleared his throat.
"This well was once used as a graveyard for the bones of evil demons…" Grandpa began the long and unnecessary story while Sota and his mum politely listened.
Embarrassed and guilt-ridden about what she had done, Yousu listened as well as she could but she was distracted by her worry for Kagome. Absent-mindedly she rubbed her upper arms – they had begun to tingle with pricks of cold.
Somethin' about this's strange, she thought as she listened to the old man ramble. Lots strange. Stuff like this ain't normal…
"What about Kagome?" she interjected suddenly. Grandpa looked peeved at being interrupted, but Kagome's mother snapped back to attention.
"That's right… I thought she might be hiding or trying to play a trick on Sota, but she hasn't come out yet…Kagome?" she called, peering down the well. "Kagome! Sota, run and get a torch would you? She might have fallen and hit her head…"
"I hope not…" the boy said uneasily, the worry clearly showing on his face. He raced up the stairs and out of the building. Yousu fidgeted with anxiety as she listened to his footsteps thudding along the ground and up to the house.
"Yousu, dear…are you sure it wasn't a trick of the light?" her adoptive mother questioned as she searched the shadowed corners of the building while Grandpa made a show of banishing evil spirits who might be after Kagome.
"I'm sure," Yousu mumbled, staring intently at the well. She knew Kagome wasn't there any more. She didn't know how, but she could tell. She just knew.
Just like she knew that she'd seen that well before…
A passing glimpse…a box well in a forest clearing as she raced by, intent on nothing but…
…Nothin' but what? Yousu thought, frowning in frustration and trying to remember. The memory flickered in her subconsciousness, just beyond her grasp – and with it, the face which looked so much like Kagome's…
…And then came the feeling of dark hatred…
"Yousu? Dear, are you feeling well?"
The girl looked up at the figure standing in front of her – Ms Higurashi. Yousu realized that her body was shaking uncontrollably, her face damp with sweat. Taking a deep breath as Sota rushed back through the door with a torch she smiled in reassurance.
"Jus' worried 'bout Kagome, ma'am," Yousu told her before attempting to busy herself in the task of looking for her friend.
Even though she knew that all their efforts would be in vain.
.oOo.
After half an hour of increasingly frenzied searching, the family gave up. Sota was now worried to tears, and Yousu had become so paranoid that she had taken to jumping nervously at every little sound that was made.
Kagome's mother was calling the police as Grandpa paced the hall and Yousu tried unsuccessfully to calm her distraught step-brother.
"Sota, it'll be okay," the girl said soothingly, her violet eyes lit with concern for the boy. "Everythin'll be fine. Ye'll see."
He just continued to cry into her school shirt, making it wet with his tears. They had both been excused from school for the day – Yousu allowed herself a small moment of joy before burying herself in the seriousness of the situation once again.
"She turned fifteen today, Officer," her adopted mother was telling the handset of the telephone. "She just disappeared without a trace – not even a note…yes, I'm aware of the possibility that she could have run away, but I assure you…"
Yousu tuned out the sound of her conversation, annoyed that anyone would suggest that Kagome would run away. That created the possibility that her family wasn't nice to her, and Yousu didn't think she had known anyone kinder than Ms Higurashi. Instead, the girl focused on comforting Sota as well as how to find Kagome.
The worst thing ta do would be ta follow her down the well, she concluded. 'Cause whatever the thing was tha' took her might get me too…an' mayhap Sota as well…
Yousu tightened her arms around the boy unconsciously – it offered more protection that way, as well as comfort.
"Demon!" Grandpa shouted suddenly, snapping Yousu out of her thoughts. "Demoness Yousu!"
The girl sighed. "What is it, sir?"
"You have played a nasty trick by spiriting away my granddaughter from me!" the old man declared loudly. "You brought us ill luck by your presence in our home! Your exorcism must be carried out swiftly and –"
"Do it then."
Grandpa hesitated. "I beg your pardon?"
Yousu lifted Sota off her lap and carefully placed him against the wall before turning to face his grandfather.
"Me exorcism. If ye exorcise me then Kagome'll come back, right?" she asked quietly, standing before him. "An' I wan' her ta come back. So do it."
"Very well, demon – you have sealed your fate!" the old man proclaimed, rummaging through his pockets. Sota's wails had choked back into muffled sobs as he watched his determined step-sister standing there as his grandfather quickly lit purifying incense.
"Do you have to do that in the house, Grandpa?" Kagome's mum called from the other room where she had taken the phone for some quiet time while being questioned.
"The demon will be exorcised!"
"If you say so…" the woman agreed faintly. Yousu breathed in the fresh scent which was meant to ward off demons.
It did nothing but clear her head, calming her thoughts and relaxing her mind.
Finally, after much muttering and grumbling, Grandpa stood in front of the girl and raised the hastily scrawled sutras.
"Brace yourself, demoness!" he cried, placing the paper on her forehead. He closed his eyes. "Evil…begone!"
There was a pause after which the old man hesitantly cracked one eye open.
Yousu still stood before him, beginning to smile gently. Her purple eyes never wavered from his gaze.
"Evil…begone!"
Yousu tried to muffle a giggle. It came out as a snort of laughter.
"Begone! Leave this place! I command you! Begone!"
Yousu couldn't stand it any longer – her carefully held-in laughter burst out of her uncontrollably.
"You…didn't feel anything?" Grandpa asked hesitantly.
"Nothin'!" Yousu giggled. "A bit tingly on me head but that's about it."
"Nothing at all? Not even the slightest bit less evil?"
"I don' think I was evil ta begin with."
Sota, too, began to smile. "She's not a demon, Grandpa."
"It seems you are correct," the old man finally sighed. "The girl must be who she says she is – Yousu. Yousu Higurashi."
"I ain't a Higurashi, sir," Yousu assured him hastily.
"Of course you are, my dear! Why else would you be living under this roof?" he asked incredulously.
"We adopted her Grandpa. I thought you'd realized that by now," Sota told him, puzzled.
"Ah! Adopted! That brings in a whole new range of demons! I shall get to protecting this family right away!"
The old man hobbled off muttering about spectres, sacred spells and sake. Yousu sighed, sitting down beside Sota.
"Ye know what?" she asked. Her step-brother shook his head. "Even though it might've 'elped Kagome come back, I'm glad tha's over."
"But now he's off doing…doing Grandpa stuff again!" Sota protested.
"If it's anythin' I learned from me short time here, it's tha' Grandpa will always be Grandpa," Yousu said to him. "I'm sure he'll get used ta me later on."
In the other room, her adopted mother smiled knowingly.
"Now, if ye'll excuse me," Yousu told Sota as she headed towards the front door of the house. "There's somethin' about tha' well…"
"You remember something?" the boy asked excitedly. "Something that'll help find Kagome?"
"Not exactly…" his step-sister replied vaguely. "It might, though, so I ain't gonna miss this chance."
.oOo.
"Do you think the girl is well?"
"She seems fine, Grandpa. I'm sure she'll be okay."
Yousu listened vaguely to the conversation between her adopted mother and grandfather as they chatted while walking towards the building which housed the well. The violet-eyed girl was currently inside said building, sitting by the wooden box in the pit with her arms resting on the edge as she gazed into its shadowy depths.
It's been two days already! Yousu thought as the lady and the old man entered. Those police people've been here askin' questions o' all o' us tons o' times over...'specially me. I reckon me eyes freak a lot o' people out – purple mustn't be common here…
"Here?" she muttered under her breath. "I'm talkin' like I came here from another world or somthin'…"
"All she does is mope around in here all day long!" Grandpa suddenly exclaimed from up on the platform on which he stood.
"Grandpa…" the mother said with a warning tone. "Don't be too harsh – for all we know this could've happened to her previously in her life. Just be patient."
"I'm fine, ma'am," Yousu sighed, standing up. "The old man's right – the well can wait… I jus' wish I knew somethin' that'd 'elp Kagome."
"Why don't you come back to the house and I'll fix you something to eat?" the woman said kindly. The girl hesitated before nodding slowly.
I ain't slept the whole time she's been missin'. I've jus' sat there, Yousu thought tiredly. I'm too scared ta go after her – what if I disappear too? 'Sides, they told us we weren't supposed ta go in there at all.
But she was too concerned about Kagome to care about anything else anymore – even when Ayumi, Yuka and Eri had called she hadn't wanted to talk with them.
Something about the well seemed both familiar and sinister – that's why Yousu had stared at it for two full days, trying to remember anything she could. Sota and his mother worried about her actions, but Yousu assured them she wasn't worth being concerned about. Ms Higurashi was surprised at her words but still made sure to check on her every hour, even though the effort had become tiring at night. The mother had confirmed with the hospital that the staring might be an after-effect of the amnesia, and possibly the hopefully temporary loss of her adopted sister.
But thankfully the girl had finally given in and was now walking to the house beside her adopted mother and grandfather. Unfortunately, it was without any sign of a remedy for her memory loss.
"Yousu! You're okay!"
The girl looked up to see Sota racing towards her, looking relieved.
"'Course I'm okay!" the girl smiled. Like herself, the boy had been allowed to remain home from school for a few days. "Jus' a little…tired…"
She suddenly tensed, her purple eyes narrowing. She spun back around to face the well and growled like a crazed animal.
"Yousu?" Sota asked fearfully.
A wind picked up, twisting through the girl's black hair – the Sun's light began to cast an eerie glow upon her features and she became a terrifying, inhuman image. As the sound she made rose from a growl into a spitting hiss her companions backed away with their eyes filled with fear. It might have been a trick of the light but her bared teeth seemed to become sharp, pointed fangs – her eyes also seemed to shine from within.
The moment passed as abruptly as it had begun, leaving three shocked Higurashis and an equally dumbfounded Yousu in its wake.
Sota's nervous intake of breath finally broke the strained silence.
"Mum, I think Yousu woke up on the wrong side of the bed," her told his mother quietly. He sneaked around so she stood between him and Yousu.
"She hasn't slept in days, dear – I think she's in great need of a rest," the woman answered him just as quietly.
As Yousu slowly came out of her daze and noted the fear in the boy's face, the uncertainty in his mother's and the shocked expression of the old man her eyes prickled with tears.
"I've scared ye – I'm sorry…" she said helplessly, trying to keep herself from crying. "It's jus' tha'… Kagome… an'…an' I ain't able ta…remember… I'm so useless!" she cried out suddenly, turning away from the other three. She crouched down on the ground and wrapped her hands around her knees, silently sobbing into her skirt.
I reckon they think it's a huge mistake, lettin' me outa the hospital so soon… Yousu thought sadly. I bet they're gonna call 'em right now an' take me back there fer more 'orrible tests! I wish Kagome was here…
Grandpa stood behind her looking perplexed. Without a word of explanation, Ms Higurashi headed off towards the house; Yousu listened to the rhythm of her footsteps walking away. Silently, she waited for something to happen to her. For some reason the memory of a stinging slap flashed through her mind – so when a shadow fell across her face she cringed, bracing herself for the force of the blow.
None came.
A small hand patted her shoulder awkwardly. The girl looked up to see Sota standing before her looking concerned.
"You need to sleep."
Yousu wiped her eyes on her sleeve. "I know."
"When Kagome gets stressed about school, mum always makes her a hot bath – I bet that's what she's doing now!" the boy told her, trying his best to be cheerful.
"She… She ain't gonna take me back ta the hospital?" Yousu asked in a small voice.
"Why would she do that?" Sota asked, confused. His adopted sister shrugged, sniffing back her tears.
"But… I thought ye'd all wanna send me away after…whatever I jus' did…" Yousu turned towards the house as she heard a call.
"I'm done, Sota! Bring Yousu in for a nice relaxing bath! And while she's in there you can help me prepare a meal!"
Grandpa cleared his throat. "I believe Asami just answered your question, Yousu."
Sota grabbed the girl's arm and began to lead her towards the house like a lost puppy. Hearing a wet sob, he stopped and looked around at her, readying words of comfort.
He needn't have worried, because his new sister wasn't crying tears of sadness.
In fact, Yousu was smiling.
Okay, before anyone gets confused, Asami is what I have decided to name Kagome's mother since I can't find her name ANYWHERE! (Thanks to sangoscourage for it, by the way :) ) It means 'Morning Beauty'.
And I'm afraid that this chappie might be a bit confusing…so I'm sorry if it is. It's only supposed to be a filler while Kagome's away anyway, with stuff that had to happen while she was gone (like the 'exorcism'). Basically it's showing Yousu's uncertainties and a weird moment when she went wild which will be explained later :) And I'm tired, so I apologise for any mistakes in this weird chapter, okay?
And the review incentive… A MINI-INUYASHA! Like… when he was a kid – all cute and stuff! YAY:) I'll look forward to hearing from you all! Thanks for reading!
Víra :)