Chapter Two
She picked up speed even though the pain in her chest was almost unbearable. The girl was rubbing her back and bum without realizing the danger she was in yet. The yokai raced towards her, but she was almost there, yet the demon would only need an instance to kill that child! Quickly she drew the sheathed sword from the leather straps attached to her back and jumped forward. Just in time! She drove the katana right into the head of the demon only a few feet removed from the girl. The young girl shrieked and shielded herself with her arms. The woman pulled out the sheathed katana from the spasming corps and saw how four or five more larvae crawled out of the fissures and sped towards them. The young girl yelped and called for someone, but she could barely make out a name, focused as she was on the danger in front of them. She pushed the child back closer to the wall and sat on the ground in front of her pulling out a rosary from her kimono sash. Holding the rosary with one hand she lifted her other with her middle and index finger raised while her other three fingers formed an 'o'. A barrier appeared around them, transparent but shimmery like a water bell. The yokai crashed with a crackling of lightning into the barrier and were repelled. She could feel her spiritual energy drop by the magnitude of the combined attack and coughed blood as though she had been physically assaulted.
"Girl, what's your name?" she croaked.
"Uhm... I'm Rin," the girl replied a little confused at the speed of all things happening.
"I'm Haruna. Listen, stay inside the barrier".
"You're... You're bleeding..." Rin spoke softly while repositioning herself.
"Don't worry about me Rin, it's okay," she replied.
'If I can save this child, perhaps my soul will be cleansed before I fade'.
The yokai were gathering for a new attack and Haruna braced herself. Four of the larvae crashed into the barrier simultaneously causing a ripple effect indicating the barrier had almost been interrupted.
'I can't loose to the likes of these yokai...' she told herself. But she felt woolly inside of her head and each time she blinked it was harder to raise her eyelids again. The demons clacked their pincer-like teeth in excitement and some ran a small circle. Fresh meat didn't often get this close to the nest and they had a chance to experiment their killing skills on weak prey while their mother was out hunting. Haruna began to mumble a prayer trying to strengthen her barrier, which seemed to work to an extent enough to hold these small fry demon off. She could feel more demonic aura nearing and hoped fervently those weren't the parents. Another larvae dared to move closer to the barrier by climbing the canyon wall and attacking from behind. It ended up falling on top of the barrier where the small flashes of lightning caused a smell of burn to rise from the demon before it was repelled. It shrieked and ran across the ground into a fissure to hide itself. For the moment the other larvae were put off. They seemed content in waiting until the human erecting the barrier would faint. They could smell her death approaching.
"My babies, I've come back!" a malevolent voice thundered. It was one of the aura's Haruna had felt. A large centipede with eight arms attached to a humanoid chest and head was running towards them carrying two dead oxes.
"Hmm? What's this?" she exclaimed noticing the two girls near the canyon wall whilst dropping the oxes. Her offspring immediately went after the dead animals their mother had brought back.
"I see, human vermin came into our home". She smiled broadly exposing rows of sharp teeth.
"Isn't that a nice dessert!"
She raised her body high above them, casting a shadow over their figures and then dove down. Her arm could reach some inches into the barrier but was brought to an halt. While sweat was rolling down her pale face Haruna was eying the centipede furiously. She gritted her teeth and put all her energy into the barrier in order to keep the demon out. Blood seeped out of her wound. The lightning which indicated the barrier was repelling the demon was crackling rapidly. In her heart Haruna knew this was the extent of her powers, she had been drained of all her resources to keep this barrier up. In fact, her eyes were glazing over and it felt as though her body was sinking. The sight of that menacing face filled with glistening teeth was becoming blurry. Rin shouted.
'Was that happy...? Was it my imagination...?'
She didn't see the green flash of a whip soaring through the sky.
'I feel so sleepy...'
A hand shot through the barrier, sparks flew around.
'The centipede?'
Her blurred vision made out slender clawed fingers and two purple stripes across the back of a hand, they grabbed the rosary.
'The barrier... it will not hold'
The rosary beads scattered all over the ground. The barrier began to fade. In a moment of clear thinking she saw the face of the centipede had been replaced by a calm, stern one with amber colored eyes. She stared into them but only after a second her eyes glazed over once more.
"Sesshomaru-sama!" Rin chirped happily before she rattled on about things that Haruna no longer registered. She felt suddenly aware of her body: her joints felt like rusted machinery, her chest rose when she inhaled... And somewhere in her mind she knew she fell over when she exhaled.
"Thank goodness, she is gaining consciousness."
Haruna murmured something inaudible and arduously lifted her eyelids.
"Get the doctor!" a voice exclaimed.
She turned her head towards the sound. It took a moment for her eyes to get used to the light but when they did she saw a young man sitting next to her, he seemed glad about something. He had a face she wasn't familiar with. All of a sudden she felt she had to sit upright and pushed herself up on an elbow, a jolt of pain shot through her side. Only then did Haruna notice she was lying on a futon.
"Please! Please lay down until the doctor comes! You're still injured," the young man made hand signs ushering her to lie back in bed and his face was now somewhat worried.
"Katana..." Haruna mumbled after complying.
"What? Oh... Katana? Yes, your katana is right here, standing against the wall with your other belongings," he pointed to her other side and she turned her head. Yes, he was right, there the katana was standing upright, the blade inside its rosewood sheath. The red ribbon that used to decorate it was missing, but other than that and a few scratches it looked fine.
'Who moved my katana?' she thought worried. She didn't have much more time to ponder over that question because someone hurriedly entered the room.
"Ikeda-sama!" the young man said and stood up to make room for the doctor. Ikeda placed a medical box on the tatami-mat close to Haruna and lowered himself onto the floor. He grabbed hold of her wrist and placed two fingers along her veins.
"Hmhmm... pulse is stronger..." he mumbled under his breath.
She got a good look at him: he was a man coming on age with heavy eyelids, a thin gray beard and a bald head. He wore a simple brown kimono top with a blue vest and pants in about the same color as the kimono.
He pushed open the eyelids of her right eye and stared into her pupil, then he leaned forward and smelled her breath. Finally, he pulled the covers from her body and carefully opened her kimono to reveal she was bandaged from her wast until an inch under her breasts, which were hidden by the kimono fabric.
"Hmm... getting better, getting better..." he continued mumbling under his breath while closing her kimono and covering Haruna up with the sheets.
"Well, well!" he sighed while he sat up-straight, "seems you have been blessed by Buddha! After we've found you on the edge of the village six days ago you've finally shown a remarkable recovery since two nights ago! You've stood at the gates of death and managed to return to the living. What's your name?"
Haruna kept silent for a moment.
"Yuna..." she replied with a whisper.
"Yuna-san, hmm? We've been feeding you broth, but you must be hungry. I'll let Setsuko fetch you some rice gruel. Eat slowly. Afterwards you must sleep more."
She nodded to signify she had understood.
"Hmhmm... Well, shobo-sama, will you please follow me? It would be better for Yuna-san's health if she would be left for now. Setsuko will be around to aid her."
"Ahh- hai!" the young man answered and then turned to Haruna with a small bow, "well, I'll be seeing you Yuna-san".
He followed the doctor out of the room and shortly after a middle aged woman entered carrying a steaming bowl of rice gruel.
"Hello dear, I'll help you eat," she told her with a soft smile.
'How did I end up with these nice people?' Haruna wondered. But there was Setsuko looking intently at her face, curious now that her patient had finally awoken. Haruna didn't dare to talk, she had al ready told them a lie and was afraid she would say too much. And because of that she remained silent and obediently ate the warm gruel that was given to her by Setsuko.
A/N: perhaps by now someone might've noticed I'm not a native English speaker. If I made some mistakes please PM :)
It's been ages since I uploaded anything on the internet, although writing stories has in the past been a big hobby of mine. I hope so far you like to read it! I am busy writing other chapters and you can expect me to update at least once a week.