lostmoonchild: Okay, finally updated. Thanks for the reviews. I don't own YYH or Inuyasha or any of the songs unless I say otherwise. Everybody else is mine.
Chapter Thirteen
After a couple days they all sighed with relief when they saw Kaede's village. Hana was sleeping a lot less during the day and always seemed to find every little thing interesting. Kagome simply told them that it was because Hana was trapped inside Naraku's castles for so long and being able to feel the sunshine or the wind brought Hana some pleasure.
They were walking through Inuyasha's forest when Hana started protesting loudly and covered her eyes. "Kikyo." Kagome said automatically.
They looked at the young miko, each one having a questioning look on their faces. "Last time she acted like that, she smelt death." Kagome explained.
Inuyasha looked into the forest and was surprised when Kagome gently took Hana. "If you want to look for her, Inuyasha, go ahead." Kagome said softly. "We can get back to Kaede's without any problems."
"Feh, you think I'm about to leave you with two pups?"
Hana looked between Kagome and Inuyasha as if watching the two talk. "Whatever, Inuyasha." Kagome said starting to walk.
They walked silently towards Kaede's village, each one eager to rest for a few days. "Are you going to take Hana back to your era?" Miroku questioned.
"Yeah. There's some people in the Reikai who know exactly how to deal with Hana. They'll run a few tests to make sure Naraku didn't influence her in any negative way." Kagome explained. "They'll test her spirit energy mostly since it's a wonder she's still alive."
Hana made a face and started protesting loudly until Kagome sighed and said something about stubbornness being part of the reason Hana was still alive. Smiling, Hana smelled the air and immediately recognized the forest scent. Excitedly, she started pushing against Kagome in an attempt to be put down but stopped when she smelt something strange. Almost knowing exactly what was happening, Hana wrapped her arms tightly around Kagome's neck and buried her face in Kagome's hair almost as if she was hiding
Sango hid a smile behind her hand as they walked into Kaede's village. Some of the villagers stopped long enough to wave, a few of them staring quietly at the child in Kagome's arms. "Kaede!" Kagome shouted as they walked into Kaede's hut.
"Welcome back." Kaede greeted before seeing Hana. "Who is this?"
"This is my little cousin, Hana. Hana-chan, this is old lady Kaede." Kagome said putting Hana on the floor.
Hana raise her hand and hit the floor repeatedly, looking around the hut almost as if she could see. Her eyes fell on Kaede and she offered a huge smile before looking around again. "Why was she hitting the floor, mama?" Shippo questioned.
"it's a trick she learned. When she hits the floor, a bunch of vibrations go through the area and hit whatever's in the room and go back to her. She uses her spirit energy to see those vibrations so if she's in a room, it gives her a good idea what's in front of her and where everybody is. Its kind of like how bats see."
"That's pretty smart for a child." Miroku said looking surprised. "I've heard of people who could do that but I never thought I'd meet one."
"Yeah. My opinion she could simply use her spirit energy to be her eyes but whatever." Kagome answered with a shrug.
Hana looked in Sango's direction and slowly got onto her hands and knees. "Mama, she's gonna crawl!" Shippo said pointing at Hana.
"Hey, sweetheart, why don't you just relax a bit?"
"Nya!" Hana shouted crawling towards Sango, occasionally hitting the floor seeing how close she was.
A couple times Hana fell down but she pushed away everybody who tried to help her. "Yep, that's the infamous stubbornness." Kagome commented before seeing the exhaustion in her foster daughter/cousin's eyes. "Hana, you should probably wait until you get a bit more strength."
Hana frowned and kept "crawling" towards Sango even though her legs were beginning to refuse to move. When she reached Sango, Hana fell over and smiled wearily up at Sango as if silently telling her that she was strong. "Good job, Hana." Sango said with a small smile.
Slowly, Hana began to doze off but struggled to stay awake. After nearly fifteen minutes or so, she was sound asleep.
-----Hana's POV-----
When I woke up I was immediately greeted by darkness but that was normal for me. It had been my life since I was little so I barely remembered what the world looked like. Everybody around me often described the world to me and acted as my eyes when I didn't want to use my spirit energy.
"Mama, she's awake!" A voice I immediately recognized as Shippo said sounding excited.
"Have a nice nap?" Kagome questioned.
I looked in her direction and saw that her spirit energy was gently showing off her face. She was smiling at me and looked relieved that I was awake. I looked at her and saw that her face had changed slightly since I last "saw" her.
Slowly, I nodded before realizing that my head was resting on something warm. I moved my head and saw a woman's face looking annoyed. I looked in the direction her eyes were in and noticed that there was a man lying on the floor unconscious. Why was Kagome letting her spirit energy show me the room? Did she want me to know what everybody looked like to save everybody the trouble of describing themselves to me so I could imagine?
A yawn escaped my lips as I slowly got up, my legs sore from my attempt at crawling. I had reached Sango so I wasn't about to complain since reaching Sango without help was a goal of mine that I had developed every since Kagome tried helping me get strength back. Almost as if sensing that my legs were sore, Kagome rubbed the lower part of my legs causing me to move a bit. Too bad Koenma thought that she was a better nanny than massage therapist, Yusuke and his friends all claimed that she had the best hands anywhere. She always put the right amount of pressure on sore and knotted muscles along with making sure that they were fully relaxed.
Oh well, Koenma doesn't know what he passed up. Kagome wouldn't trade kids for rubbing Spirit Detectives and whoever else down all day. His loss was our gain.
I pulled away from Kagome and practically dragging my legs towards the door showing them I wanted to go outside. Obviously somebody understood the message because I found myself being picked up by somebody who had claws. "Inuyasha!" Kagome says, her voice scolding.
"The pup wants to go outside."
I smiled and nodded eagerly before signing "God' and "tree" for Kagome to understand. I could hear her sigh and she gave her permission. Next thing I knew, I felt like I was flying. Giggles escaped my lips as I raised my arms a little as if pretending to fly.
When we stopped, Inuyasha set me down on the ground and I felt around for anything to give me support. "Inuyasha!" Kagome shouted.
I looked in the direction Kagome's voice was and smiled happily. "She was giggling." Inuyasha pointed out.
I nodded my head in agreement and took a deep breath, loving the fresh air more and more. "Why do I have the feeling I'm not going to win?" Kagome questioned, her voice joking.
I heard laughter and smiled innocently up at everybody. The sun was warm on my face but only when I felt a cool hand over my eyes did I realize that I was staring directly into the sun. I moved my head, not really understanding why they automatically covered my eyes. A minute later, I could hear Sango shouting "HENTAI" along with skin coming in contact with skin and somebody hitting the ground. "Miroku no baka. You should know by now not to rub Sango-chan's butt." Kagome said picking me up. "C'mon, Hana-chan. We'll go to the God Tree."
I smiled happily and started pretending to dance to an unheard tune, listening to Kagome tell me to stop moving around so much. Was it honestly my fault I wanted to have fun? I didn't think so.
----END POV----
Everybody laughed as Kagome struggled to keep Hana under control. The ten year old squirmed around with excitement and started humming some tune. "Alright, the music is being turned off." Kagome said unable to keep from laughing.
Hana smiled proudly and looked confused a few minutes later when Kagome gently grabbed her hand. "Nuh?" Hana questioned, her blank eyes showing confusion.
"God Tree." Kagome murmured gently running Hana's hand along the bark.
Hana smiled again and reached her hands up, reaching for the mark that showed where Inuyasha had been pinned. She frowned and pushed away anybody who tried to help her before looking determined as she grabbed the bark and began to pull herself up so she was standing. Her legs shook from not being used for so long but Hana kept a tight grip on the bark. Shakily, she stood on her tiptoes and reached up as high as she could before falling over.
Everybody stared in amazement at how the child wasn't crying since they could see that she was bleeding. Kagome sighed and knelt next to her younger cousin and gently wiped away the blood. "Doesn't that hurt?" Kagome questioned softly.
Hana shook her head a little and pulled away just to try to touch the scar again. After almost ten minutes, Hana sat down and looked up at them with a look that plainly said she wanted to eat something.
Smiling, Kagome picked the young girl up and refrained from laughing when Hana began rubbing her head against Kagome's shoulder. "I think she's tired." Miroku commented.
"Nah, she's just trying to make sure I'm not going to dump her somewhere." Kagome answered.
"Why would she think that?"
"Her real mother."
They walked back to Kaede's hut and for the rest of the night, rested. Each one knew that once Hana got full movement back, she would be nearly impossible to handle. How impossible? They didn't know and honestly didn't want to find out.
lostmoonchild: Okay, there's chapter thirteen. Kind of poor since I've been getting up at 4:30 almost everyday just to babysit and have been unable to take naps afterwards when I get home. Read and review, flames accepted.