She turned to him, "I can see all of you."
I blinked a few times and I swear the crickets could have deafened us so silent was the clearing. "You can see me?"
Nozomi turned back to me and nodded. "You have light hair and eyes as changing as the sea is supposed to be. Your skin is the color of honey." She turned to gazed at Kagome. "You are a priestess, I can see a pink glow inside you, your hair is as black as a ravens wing and eyes are brown." She continued on describing Kirara, Miroku, Sango, and Shippo. When she looked at Inuyasha though, she stared at him. "Your hair is silver as your blade and eyes the gold of its hilt. Your ears are what set you apart but aren't a bad thing."
Inuyasha looked down at his sword and then at Nozomi. He crouched down to meet her eyes dead on. "Your hair is the color of blossoms." Nozomi smiled and Inuyasha stepped away. "We must go. If we go now we can get the humans to the village before nightfall."
And that's what we did: we hurried on and got the women and children to the village. Miroku gave the headman the money that we had found in the old village and he happily agreed to use it to build a home for all the people.
Except Nozomi. Nozomi refused to stay in the village, she wanted to go with me. We headed to the clearing where we had talked before to wait for Myoga and Nozomi stuck close to my side. "Lady Dawn?" She asked. "I know that you are not much older than I am but…could I be your daughter?"
I looked at her and then moved so my face was next to her ear. "You can see the future like your mother can't you?"
She jumped. "How did you…?"
"You knew what Inuyasha's sword looked like before he ever drew it. You knew I was beginning to think of you like a daughter. It's the only explaination." I said quietly.
Nozomi hesitated than nodded. "Yes but…I can only see a few things and they have to do with the people that I can see."
I wrapped my arm around Nozomi and leaned my head onto the top of hers. "Yes, you can become my daughter." Nozomi smiled happily and when we reached the clearing asked me to do what I was doing earlier to her hair. Kagome rebuilt the fire and rolled out her sleeping bag. Inuyasha sat on the ground beside her and they began making plans. Miroku groped Sango's butt as she played with Kirara and she knocked him out. And I…I brushed my new daughters hair. It was as long as she was tall so I started brushing it in sections.
Shippo came over to help and Sango joined Kagome and Inuyasha in planning. Once Miroku had woken he began to make some of Kagome's ramen for our dinner since the fish and lizards we had made earlier we gave completely to the villagers. Shippo was running the brush through the section of hair I had given him when he turned to me. "Can you sing Dawn? Kagome sometimes hums but she doesn't often sing."
"I can. But I am not very good." I said smiling at him. "Do you want me to sing anyway?" Shippo nodded and I thought about what song to sing. Finally I settled on Persephone as sung by a group of women in the Renaissance Festival at home.
"Picking Flowers in the field,
In the spring time of the year.
I heard the sound of chariot wheels,
And was afraid with nothing to fear.
And there he stood with his face like coal,
His eyes as dark as a night in hell.
And there he stood with his face like fire.
And said 'fair lady I wish you well.'
They say he forced me but that's not true.
Of my free will I followed him down.
To his dark place beneath the hill,
To his dark palace below the ground.
And there he loved me and I loved him,
Though all the world there was icy dark.
We never noticed the light was dim,
With the bright flame inside our hearts.
They say above us the world grew cold,
The leaves and flowers began to die.
The fruit trees withered and grew old,
And darkening clouds covered all the skies.
My mother searched hard and tried to find,
The path way leading down from the sun.
Alone she traveled with troubled mind,
Till she walked where we once had run.
I still remember the dreadful hour,
She stood before us and bade me leave.
Her dress of sunlight her face of flower,
His face behind me so full of grief.
We made a bargain and made it sure,
We made a contract and made it sound.
That I would stay with her for half the year,
The other half come below the ground.
It was so good at first to see the sky,
To walk in sunlight and hear the lark.
But not so good to have to say goodbye,
To my true love down there in the dark.
Oh yes it's true then that life is good,
And I've learned the lesson it can teach.
You can never have all you want,
And you never want what's within reach.
The fairest flower that ever grows,
Grows far deep inside a bush of thorns.
And happiness than is like the rose,
For without pain nothing good is born.
To know the daylight you must know dark,
To know the flowers you must know weeds.
You cannot meet again unless you part,
Or eat a pomegranate without seeds.
Oh yes it's true then that life is good,
And I've learned the lesson it can teach.
You can never have all you want,
And you never want what's within reach…"
I let the last note trail off. It was a long song but the story was old even in Feudal Japan though they probably didn't know about Persephone and Hades from the Greek Myths. I had continued to brush Nozomi's hair and by the time I was finished with the song I was done with her hair. Kagome was cheering behind me and I was blushing crazily while I braided Nozomi's hair to keep it from tangling. "There you go."
"Thank you mother." Nozomi said smiling over her shoulder. I blinked and looked at her eyes.
"Hey Kagome, shut up and come here a minute." I called.
"You sing very well Dawn." Sango said as she followed Kagome over to us.
"Kagome…look at Nozomi's eyes?" I said quietly.
Kagome crouched before Nozomi and gazed at her eyes, Sango looked over her shoulder. Nozomi's eyes widened and her voice quivered. "What's wrong with my eyes mother?"
"Call me mom, its shorter. And as for your eyes…they are no longer the white of blindness." I said putting my hand on her shoulder.
Kagome nodded, "It seems that since you can see all of us, your eyes are becoming like a normal persons eyes." Kagome's voice was excited. She jumped to her feet and grabbed the bowls of ramen Miroku held out and gave one to Nozomi and one to me before going back and sitting on her blanket. Nozomi held my free hand in hers and we moved closer to the fire. After we ate everyone stretched out. Miroku and Sango slept on opposite sides of the fire and Kirara was curled up besides Sango's head. Inuyasha sat with his back against the closest tree and Kagome slept at his feet with Shippo on her chest. I sat against next tree by the fire and Nozomi curled up at my side with her head in my lap. I threw my extra blanket over her and stroked my fingers across her shoulder before she finally fell asleep.
I drifted off soon after and had a weird dream.
"Hello, you must be Dawn." A woman with long hair said pouring tea into cups and handing one to me. "Now I do not have long but I needed to speak with you."
"Who are you?" I asked, the woman was astonishingly beautiful, her eyes were emerald with golden flecks and her hair was the crimson of a rose.
"I am Mai, Nozomi's mother. The demon who killed her father and the man who swore to kill you, are headed towards the one-eyed priestess's village. Yukio has heard of your friends and the shards they hold and Sayo just wants to continue killing. You must beat them there. If you do not…Yukio will find the well and he will go to yours and Kagome's home. Take care of my hope. Tell her I miss her."
I straightened suddenly and it woke Nozomi. "Mom?"
"Get up quickly." I grabbed my bag and pulled some less baggy sweatpants and the tank top I excersised in out from the bag, changing fast. "Everyone get up now!" I shouted once I was decent. I pulled my hair up and stuck my knives into the waist of my pants. "We have problems. We need to get back to Kaede's village quick as we can."
"What for?" Inuyasha said grouchily.
"Nozomi's mother came to me as I slept and said that Yukio and Sayo are headed to the village. And that if we don't get there and stop them Yukio will get through the well into our time." I said gesturing to me and Kagome.
Kagome was up in a flash and packed her stuff swiftly. "I trust your dream. Come on. Let's get out of here." She grabbed Inuyasha and swung onto his back. Sango and Miroku hopped on Kirara and I passed Nozomi up to them along with my bag, staff and bow. "I'll meet up with you at the village. Protect my daughter." They flew into the air. "Oh Nozomi, Mai said she misses you." Kirara flew off, my last view of them was Nozomi looking back at me worriedly. I turned to face Kagome and Inuyasha. "I'm going to go sidetrack Sayo. If I should fail to meet up with you in a few days…watch my daughter for me."
Kagome started to get off Inuyasha but I shoved them. "GO! They have a day's run on us and they have horses! Get to the village."
Inuyasha stared at me then nodded and headed off calling over his shoulder. "You better survive. I don't want to owe Sesshoumaru if I have to ask him to bring you back!"
I sighed then turned and ran for the river. If they are headed towards Kaede, they will be following the river upstream. If I am behind them I can wait until nightfall then loose the horses. Once I get past that step I'll figure out the next one. I thought. I hit the river and turned upstream running swiftly. My barefeet were silent as I moved along the damp soil. When I could run no more that night, I took a page from Inuyasha's book and climbed a tree to fall asleep. When I woke the next morning I began to run again pausing only to drink from the clean water of the river. I ran like this for a full day and a half before I saw the tracks of the bandits. That night I rolled in the river mud, caking my skin and clothes with it then French braided my hair to lie tight against my head before coating my face and neck with the squishy mud. Then I caught a bunch of fish. I ate one and left the others raw: I was working on a plan.
I could see a part of the camp. The men were sleeping and the demon wasn't in the camp. I could only hope he was off hunting because what I was about to do would definitely attract his attention. I ran a ways to the side then up and past the camp. Once I judged I was where they would next camp, I took the dead rotten fish and spread them around the clearing. Then I headed back in a straight line for a few feet put the last two fish at the base of the tree than climbed as high as I could. I had run the whole night till an hour or so after the sun had reached its highest point so it seemed like this was the next rest stop on their journey. So I slept while the sun was high in the sky and woke as the sun went down. Not long after I awoke the bandits thundered into the clearing and stopped.
Sayo, got down from his horse first and handed the reins to one of his bandits. As I sat on my branch and looked down at the men, I saw with a trace of worry that he seemed to have gained close to the same amount of men that we had killed the last time I faced him. I leaned back against the bark of the tree, my mud colored skin almost blending in completely with the bark. Over a hundred bandits…and a demon. I wasn't excepting him to have gotten that many men in so short a time. It had only been what? 8 or 9 days before he met up with Yukio? Speaking of Yukio. Where is he? I lowered myself a few branches so that I could see the entire camp stretched out before me. I still didn't see anything out of the ordinary…until I looked straight down. A man with white, white skin and black, black, hair was eating the rotten fish I had 'casually thrown' beneath the tree. I watched in horror as his sharp teeth tore into the fish and his beaky nose sniffed it in relish. I didn't dare move yet, if I got too close, he'd smell me even over the dead fish. After he had eaten these two fish he did what I had hoped; he hunted around the clearing looking for the other fish he could smell. I slowly and carefully climbed down the back of the tree and touched onto the ground softly. I made my way towards the horses and slit the ropes that tethered them to the trees and the straps that held the saddles to the horses. I went around the whole clearing making sure that every single horse was loose and every saddle faulty, though none of the horses ran once the ropes were cut thankfully.
I grew a deep breath and back away from the clearing towards the deep part of the river that I remembered from our stop on the way down. I made sure that none of the men were close to me before I screamed as loud and shrilly as I could. The men jerked from their sleep and began to run around in confusion and the horses bolted from the clearing. Those that didn't bolt, when the men tried to get into their saddles to fetch back the other horses ran when the men slid off their backs. I didn't watch this show, I knew what would happen, I ran to the river and silently slid into it, leaving only the faintest ripple in the water.
Come on people, REVIEW, it don't hurt that much!
Dedicated To Kagomefan765