chapter two
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"Are you leaving, Mother?" Standing by the singular, drawn window if the shrine's living quarters, Kikyo watched as with intrinsic grace, Midoriko pulled on the worn fur cloak over her shoulders. It was snowing again.
"Yes."
"How long will you be gone today?"
"I am not sure," she answered honestly, pulling on her felt boots. "I have so many patients to check with…"
In addition to her role as shrine keeper and maker of charms to ward away the spirits from the village, Midoriko, when needed, also tripled as the town physician and healer- a task that kept her quite occupied in the winter attending to colds, flu cases, and other ailments so common to the season. This year, however, she had looked forward to an easier winter since the village had acquired its own doctor- a man by the name of Suikotsu who that previous spring had accidentally stumbled upon the town, thought it nice, and decided to stay and set up practice. But earlier that month, just before the first snowfall, he had been called away by an ailing relative, and no one quite knew when he would return, leaving Midoriko to once again tend to the sick on her own.
In previous years, it had never bothered her- this reliance of the village on her- but today she was more reluctant to go, uneasy about leaving Kikyo on her own at the shrine. Something did not feel right about the forest, and she could not put her finger on it…
"I will return as soon as I am able. Meanwhile," she instructed, "remember to stay within the grounds of the shrine. Should trouble come, hurry inside and wait for me."
Despite her mother's concern, however, Kikyo was not fazed in the least. Accompanying her to the door and relinquishing the basket of medicinal herbs they'd prepared earlier, Kikyo waved goodbye, watched, and waited until Midoriko disappeared past a curtain of falling snow and thin gray trees. For a while, she continued to stand on the steps of the shrine, enjoying the cold of the wind that stung her cheeks and the feathery kisses of the snowflakes that gathered in her hair, her lashes. It was only when a nearby branch cracked- whether from its burden of snow or by some other cause- and crashed, that she retreated back into the safety of the shrine. Then, gathering her sleeping furs in the corner furthest from the fire pit, she curled into a ball and promptly fell asleep.
A strange scratching noise awoke her two hours later. Rubbing sleep from her eyes, Kikyo listened attentively to the odd sounds just beyond the walls of the shrine- low, little hisses that were something between a shout and a growl. At first, she stayed very still, waiting for whatever it was to go away, but then… curiosity overcame her.
Quietly she tiptoed to the window, raised one corner of the curtain, and peeked outside. A flash of red bounded beneath her and rounded the front of the house. Kikyo moved to the door. Without fear, she stepped outside and found the strangest looking creature she'd ever seen.
It was a boy about her age, with long unruly hair the color of moonlight, short claws on his hands and bare feet, and ears on top of his head like that of a dog's.
Now, although aside from her mother, Kikyo did not know any other humans formally, she did know of their existence, of their appearance having more than once crept to the edges of the forest to peek upon the village to where Midoriko often disappeared into. She had seen other adults, other little boys and little girls, but nothing quite like this… And for a moment, she was too surprised by her discovery to do much else but gape at the red-clad creature crouched low by the shrine, busily sniffing away at its foundations, ears twitching like mad before all of a sudden, he realized he wasn't alone. They boy turned and eyed her suspiciously, and they stared at one another for- what seemed to Kikyo- a very long time.
But then, righting himself on his hind legs (and standing not much taller than herself), the boy folded his arms into the wide sleeves of his robes and demanded imperiously, "Who are you?"
Kikyo blinked. "Who are you?" she ordered in return.
"I asked you first," the boy responded.
"This is my shrine," she pointed out. She pressed her lips together into a tight line as he puffed out his cheeks, and the two fell back into sizing one another up. Before either could make a decision about the other, however, a furry white ball suddenly bolted from beneath the shrine and bounded away above the snow drifts.
"Ah ha!" Dropping his commanding expression for one of excitement, the boy leapt after the rabbit… landed in a deep drift, and sank from view.
Kikyo hurried over to the boy-sized hole. "Are you alright?" she asked, kneeling by the flat body at the bottom. The boy popped back up, fresh as a daisy, ears twitching.
"Where'd it go, where'd it go?!"
Kikyo pointed at the line of trees into which the rabbit had plunged.
"Well don't just stand there!" the boy urged. "Come help me catch it!" He pounced after it, and without realizing what she was doing, Kikyo ran after him. Doggedly, she followed him through the dead undergrowth, stopping occasionally as he stopped hunched low to the ground, sniffed at the air, the trees, and studied for tracks. Then he would dart off again, excited as ever.
Pretty soon, Kikyo was out of breath and the boy had to slow to wait for her.
"Come on, come on," he prodded impatiently. "It's gonna get away!"
"Why…" she asked, trying to catch a second wind, "are you trying to catch it in the first place?"
"Well, duh. To eat it, of course."
Kikyo's face scrunched in amazement and disgust. "You're going to eat it?!"
"Yeah, o' course," the boy replied nonchalantly. "Gotta eat somethin'."
"Why don't you eat snow?" she suggested, and the boy returned her look.
"You can't eat snow!"
"Why not?" She did it all the time.
"Because you just can- Hey, there it is!!" Spotting the rabbit dive for his hole, the boy lunged for it, thrusting his arm into the warren's entrance and screwing his face with exertion. But it was no use. His prey had eluded him.
"Ah, shoot." Giving up, he kicked at the snow, marched to a protruding rock, and fell into a glum heap, hunched over, chin on hands, and cheeks puffed out. Once again, he studied her up and down, and asked, "What's your name, anyway?"
"Kikyo. What's yours?"
"Inuyasha."
Kikyo barely caught the answer, mesmerized by his ears. Entranced, she moved forward, held out her hands, and seized them.
"Hey! What're you-" Inuyasha stopped as her tiny fingers moved in slow, methodical circles, massaging the sensitive nerves. Regaining his composure, however, Inuyasha pushed her away and ducked out of reach, hands wrapped protectively about his ears. "Hey, you can't do that!"
"But, I just want…" Still mesmerized, she commenced chasing him around the little clearing, trying to get at his ears as he desperately tried to protect them.
"Hey, stop! Stop!"
Summoning an extra burst of speed, Kikyo caught up to him and grabbed for his shirt, causing them both to trip and fall onto the snow. They were laughing and giggling, pouncing on one another, when a third voice suddenly joined them, a low, bubbling chuckle that echoed throughout the forest.
Both whipped around to find a woman standing at the edge of the clearing, very pale and with long dark hair elaborately tied with silk ribbons the same as her white kimono that blended into the snow and her bared white shoulders. She regarded them through coal black eyes and smiled.
A shiver of dread filled the children, and they quickly rose to their feet, unable to move away.
"My, my," the woman spoke in a tone that was like the dead winter wind. "What have we here? A little half-breed and…" Her gaze trained on Kikyo, grew wide with a surprise that transferred to pleasantness on her lips. "Something quite special…" With amazing speed, she flew to where they stood and snatched the girl's arm, squeezing it tightly within her manicured hands. Her smile grew malicious as she examined her closer. "…Aren't we?"
"Hey, you!" Inuyasha spurred into action. "Leave 'er alone!" Using a clawed hand, he slashed at the woman's arm and she quickly reeled it back, black blood staining the white silk of her kimono.
"Why, you little…" Her eyes narrowed dangerously and turned to the boy. "Little half-breed, know your place!" And slapping the air, she sent a gust of wind knocking him over.
"Inuyasha!" Kikyo ran to his side and helped him to his feet. She remembered her mother's words. "To the shrine," she told him. "We have to get back to the shrine." Gripping his hand, she pulled him forward to the way she thought they'd come, and they stumbled along crooked tree roots and protruding rock, desperate to find the way back. But no matter how far they ran, the scenery never changed. All the trees had become uniform, all the rocks the same sized and spaced the same distance, the frozen undergrowth exactly the same here as it was there. The children stopped, very much scared and confused.
"My… are we lost, little ones?" The woman's mocking laughter came at them from all sides, and she materialized, her arm and kimono- just a minute ago bleeding and tattered- now unscratched. "I will savor you when I dine." Paralysis gripped at the children's bones and they couldn't move as she approached, hovering above the snow and making no tracks, eyes darting from one to the other as if deliberated which she should eat first. "You." Deciding on Inuyasha, she flung back her arm and whipped it around, sprouting a long, octopus like tentacle that wrapped tightly about the boy's body. Her kimono opened up to reveal a long, hungry mouth full of sharp teeth, running from the top of her chest all the way to the bottom of her abdomen. It opened wide to consume Inuyasha but snapped instead, empty air.
The tentacle squeezing him dissipated, and he landed on the soft ground. With a loud thockthe arrow buried itself onto a tree. The woman screamed in furious pain, her lacerated arm fanning the air with black blood.
"You!" she screeched, whirling to face Midoriko's bow. "Stay out of this!"
Calmly, Midoriko nocked another arrow. "Witch, I will warn you only once. Return to your mountain!"
"Humans," the woman spat. "How dare you. Learn your place!" She launched herself at Midoriko.
The priestess's foresight, however, was faster, and aiming at empty air, she lodged a spellbound arrow into the witch's shoulder. Shrieking, the witch staggered back, a hand to her wound. Another arrow penetrated the left of her abdomen.
"You… you… you!" Hatred twisted her face, and she could only manage to utter the singular word.
Midoriko notched another arrow.
"I will destroy you for this," the woman declared. A strange vibration ruffled the long robes of her garments as the ravens imprinted all about the hem came to life. They swirled about their mistress like a black whirlwind. The arrow flew, but she was gone, lifted past the lacy canopy into the sky.
Midoriko flung her bow to the ground. "Kikyo, Kikyo!" she cried, scanning the surrounding area for her daughter. She found her crawling out from beneath an evergreen shrub, and immediately dropped to her knees.
"Mother!" The girl rushed forward.
"Didn't I warn you to stay at the shrine?" She reprimanded, smothering the girl in an embrace, then sighing, "Oh thank merciful heaven. I thought I'd lost you…"
As mother and daughter were reconciling, Inuyasha timidly came forward. When she spotted him, Midoriko's embrace tightened around Kikyo.
"You…" Her brown eyes were wide, filled with more fear as she stared at the boy than they had when staring down the witch. Harshly, she demanded, "What were you doing with my daughter?"
"I- I wasn't doin' nothin'," he stammered.
Kikyo tugged at her sleeve. "Don't be angry, Mother. Inuyasha saved me." But the cold disdain did not leave Midoriko's face.
Rising to her feet, she tugged Kikyo away. "Come along, Kikyo. We must return to the shrine. You, boy," she added to Inuyasha. "Go home. Never come near my daughter again, do you understand?"
"Inuyasha…" Kikyo glanced back, struggling to keep pace with her mother and yet not wanting to abandon her new friend.
Midoriko hurried her along.
Behind them, Inuyasha stood back and did not try to argue.
When they were within sight of the shrine, Midoriko suddenly stopped and knelt to eye-level with the girl. "Never speak to that boy again, do you understand?"
"But, Mother…"
"Listen to me, Kikyo," she spoke. "Do not go near that boy again. He is tainted by the blood of demons. He is not to be trusted. Stay away from him, do you understand?"
"But, Mother…" Kikyo could feel the tears stinging at her eyes.
"No, don't cry, don't cry," Midoriko hurriedly commanded, stopping her tears. "You mustn't ever cry, do you understand? Promise me, Kikyo."
Numbly, Kikyo swallowed back her tears and nodded. "I promise," she agreed, unsure which promise exactly Midoriko was extracting.