Disclaimer: InuYasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi. This is a not for profit fan work.
A/N Thank you, everyone, for your kind reviews. I'm glad you are enjoying this so far. On we go to the next chapter.
Chapter 2
"So good!" she smiled as she bit into the freshly cooked rabbit. It was still hot, and the meat was juicy and delicious. After nearly two weeks of eating little but the dried rations and a few foraged roots and berries, having actual meat was a delight. Actually killing the rabbit had been challenging, but it was almost worth it.
She sat in her little hut, feeling a little more hopeful than she had since she had descended into this place. If she could catch one rabbit, she could catch more. If she could catch more, she could feed herself and make it through. This rabbit mean that she was going to be able to see her family again. She grinned, biting into the meat again.
The book told her how to make soup from the bones, so, as she ate, she placed the bones in the pot. The book told her how to tan hide and make us of fur, but she had destroyed the pelt as she had butchered the animal. She'd do better next time, when her eyes weren't full of tears. The book told her how to make the most of the corpse of this little rabbit. This book, she was sure, was going to keep her alive.
Except, it didn't say anything about how to handle demons. Either it was some generic survival handbook, or the government had chosen not to include any information about them. No one had ever come back from their time beyond the Wall, so any new information wouldn't have been that useful. The only information anyone seemed to have was little more than the legends she had grown up with.
She hadn't seen a single demon yet. Almost 2 weeks over here and she hadn't seen a single demon. She had heard things, skittering through the brush. From time to time, she caught flashes of red in the woods, but if they were demons, they had never approached her.
She was starting to feel comfortable here. She knew the lay of the land around the hut from her daily walks to check her traps and to gather helpful plants. She was going to wander a little farther soon, maybe make little overnight trips away from home so she could increase her hunting grounds. She had heard that hunters, in the old days, had left their homes for days at a time to find the best kinds of prey.
She chuckled imagining herself catching a deer and then, somehow, lugging it back to the hut. She doubted she'd ever be able to do that. She needed something more than a knife to hunt deer. The book had instructions on how to make a bow and arrows, as well as a sling. She would start gathering some pebbles she could use for ammo. A sling wasn't that hard to make, and with it, she'd be able to hunt and defend herself. Her next project decided, she returned to her meal.
It was dark by the time she finished her meal. She had remained inside at night, feeling safe within the building. But, she decided it was past time she get accustomed to moving around at other times of the day. The stream was in sight of the hut and she needed water for the soup. Gathering a water bottle and the wind up flashlight, she made her way out to gather that water.
It was quiet, with only a few night bugs out. She looked up at the starry sky and smiled. When she got home, she was going to take Souta camping, somewhere far from the lights of the city. Before coming here, she had never seen anything like the night sky here. The colours, the number of stars, this was what had inspired mankind for centuries. So few of her generation ever saw the stars like this, really saw them.
She knelt by the stream, filling the bottle to the very brim. She missed indoor plumbing, and hot water, but this wasn't so bad. Annoying, yes. She had to make two or three trips a day to the water's edge to refill the bottles. She wished she had a few larger ones so she didn't have to make as many trips. She'd figure out how to make something larger to hold water. It was probably in the book.
When she got up and turned to her hut once more, she saw it. It was standing there, between her and her home. It looked like a woman, long black hair, a human looking face, but where the hips should have been was the body of a centipede, and above, it had six human arms. It smiled, the lips red as if with lipstick.
Kagome dropped the water bottle and the flashlight, staring stupidly at the half woman thing before her. It took her mind a long moment to register that this was a demon.
And she was absolutely defenseless.
"Ah, so you finally noticed me," the creature grinned, slithering closer. Kagome took an instinctive step back into the water. "My, my, I can't remember the last time I tasted the flesh of a human woman. You look so delicious." She licked her lips wih a tongue that was much too long.
"Stay back!" Kagome shouted, knowing full well it was useless. She was going to die. She was going to be killed by this centipede.
The creature laughed, amused. "Oh, don't make this more difficult for yourself. If you behave, I promise, I'll end it quickly!"
It charged towards her. Kagome attempted to dodge, but found herself caught in several of the creatures many arms. She screamed. She struggled against the many hands, ignoring the scratches. She looked the demon in the face and saw that feminine mouth had grown wider with fangs that reached well past its chin. She reached a hand between them, intending to push the face away.
Instead, the shoulder disintgrated in a flash of bright pink light.
She screamed again as the creature dropped her. Kagome looked from the now five armed creature to her hand. "What was that?"
Kagome didn't have time to think over the question before the demon screamed. "You bitch!"
Kagome didn't wait for anything more, scrambling to her feet. She ran into the woods, not looking over her shoulder. Maybe she could lose it in the trees. Maybe she could find a little hiding spot. Maybe she could do whatever that was again. She ran, one foot in front of the other though her lungs burned. There was crashing behind her, the demon chasing after her through the trees. It was screaming.
Kagome ran, and ran, panting hard and heavy, tears running down her face. She could barely see in the dark. She couldn't see the ground, but she knew it was uneven, that there were roots. She wasn't surprised when her foot caught on one of those roots and she found herself face down on the ground.
"Ow," she grunted, already trying to get back to her feet. If she stayed here, she was going to die. Her ankle protested as she tried. Sprained, no doubt. She looked back and saw the creature's pale skin in the moonlight, rushing towards her. It was already too late. She was going to die. She was never going to see her family again.
"Iron Reaver, Soul Stealer!"
A flash of white and streaks of yellow flashed between her and the demon. There was a scream from the creature, and then Kagome heard chunks of meat falling to the ground all around her. She closed her eyes as she felt a spray of the creature's blood rain down on her.
Then, nothing.
She opened her eyes and saw the pieces of body strewn about the forest floor, but no sign of what had done it. She struggled to her feet, favouring her right foot. It was definitely twisted. Leaning against a nearby tree, she looked around intently for any sign of her saviour. Nothing. The forest was calm and still again. The night chorus was even starting to pick up again.
She stood there for a long while, trying to decide if it was safe now. Who, or what, had saved her? And why? She looked around, half expecting something to step out of the shadows, but, nothing.
After a few long moments, she decided nothing was going to show up and take responsibility.
"Thank you!" she called out, hoping whatever it was was still close enough to hear. "I really appreciate your help!"
No response.
She frowned. Well, if whoever that had been wasn't going to come out and say anything, she was going to go back home to her hut. It was getting late, and with her bad foot, it was going to take her some time to make it all the way back. Kagome didn't think was going to be going out at night any more.
It took two days before her ankle stopped hurting with every step. As she recovered, Kagome took the time to think about what had happened. A demon had attacked her. She had defended herself with a strange pink light. Another demon had protected her. Two of those three facts didn't make sense.
She had grown up on a shrine. It had been in her family for generations. The Higurashi family line had once been full of powerful priests and priestesses, but, there hadn't been any of note in the last 200 years. In fact, across the country, there were only a handful of people with any kind of notable spiritual power. They all worked for the government maintaining the barriers that kept the Wall safe and tracking down any demons that managed to cross over. The danger of the moment must have allowed what little spiritual power within her to wake up so she could defend herself.
She had tried to get another reaction from her powers, remembering her grandfather's instructions for meditation. The old man had no real power, but it had been his belief that the family blood still held the ability. It seemed he wasn't entirely wrong. She hadn't been able to produce any more pink light, but, she wasn't going to get discouraged. She didn't have much else to do, and these abilities may save her life again some time in the future, so it was worth trying.
Then, there was the strange other demon. It had to be a demon. What else could have ripped the centipede to bits with streaks of light? She had expected it to show up outside her hut and make some kind of demand of her by now. Payment for his services. It had been a man's voice.
But, there had been no sign of him. Not a hint. She recalled those brief flashes of red she had seen in the woods since she had first arrived and wondered if it was the same demon. It made a kind of sense, but why protect her?
She had grown up with the image of demons as bloodthirsty monsters. Sometimes, they looked nice or good, but, they always sought the death of humans. Many of them ate humans. They weren't capable of intelligence or thought. They were monsters.
But, the cat hadn't been a monster at all. She had come home from her part time job and was walking through the shrine grounds when she had heard the sound of a cat meowing. She had followed the sound to one of the outbuildings, the one that held the old well. She had looked in and saw a small cat, cream and black, licking at a wounded leg. The moment Kagome had entered, the cat had hissed and tried to stand her ground, but it was clear the leg was broken. She had left the cat and returned a little later with some leftover chicken and a little bowl of water. A little something to give the cat some strength.
She should have known something was off when she had returned the next day and the cat had seemed much better. The cat didn't seem to trust her, but Kagome kept bringing her food and water every day. Eventually, the cat let her touch her. The fur was soft and warm, and the sounds she made were different from the purring of her fat house cat, Buyo, but Kagome was smitten. She had hoped the cat would come into the house and be her pet. In the mean time, she was content with cuddle and play sessions in the well house.
And then, on her birthday, as she brought the food and water, the police had burst in. Before she knew what was happening, she was on the ground. The cat, that had been nothing but sweet and tiny and cute, had transformed in a flash of flames into something that was nearly as tall as she was. The police had been prepared and had brought a monk with them. He had bound the demon with sutras and she had been taken to jail for harbouring a demon.
The cat hadn't been an evil demon. And, whatever demon had protected her couldn't be all evil either. Right?
There wasn't anything she could do about it. She had made a choice to stay here in this hut, and that was what she was going to do. At least for the time being. Someone, or something, was looking out for her, and she decided she was going to trust him. In the meantime, she had more important things to worry about.
Like her next meal.
As she gathered what she would need to go out and check her traps, she heard a scratching at the door of the hut. Curious and cautious, she approached, knife in hand, just in case. She blinked when she opened the door and saw a chipmunk standing there, with a bug standing on its forehead.
"Good morning, my lady!" it called, its voice strangely clear for such a little thing, "My lord would like to meet with you."