InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Tsubaki's Revenge ❯ Conversations ( Chapter 2 )

Disclaimer: This story is based on "Inuyasha," copyrighted by Rumiko Takahashi. No infringement of copyright intended or implied.

 

Tsubaki's Revenge, Part II: Conversations

 

Kikyo rarely lost her temper, but Inuyasha, she was discovering, could try the patience of the Buddha himself. The first two days after the fight with Naraku, Inuyasha had slept most of the time, rousing only when she tended him, watching her silently with pained, puzzled eyes. But in the last day and a half, since he had woken up more or less clear headed, she had found herself ready to shout at him no less than six times by her own count. He was, by turns, impatient, sullen, argumentative, and altogether infuriating. He was currently on his elbows, insisting that he be allowed to get up, even though sweat was streaking his face, his shoulders were trembling with the effort, and he didn't have enough strength to push against her hand pressed lightly against his upper chest.

 

He lost the battle against gravity, dropping back with a grunt and a string of curses hissed between quick, shallow pants. Sighing, Kikyo again chose not to scold him about his swearing. Instead, she chose to reach for ever-present bucket of water and a clean cloth.

 

Inuyasha growled as she attempted to wipe down his face, turning his head away. “You don't have to coddle me.”

 

“I'm only trying to keep you comfortable,” she snapped. Immediately regretting the edge in her voice, she sighed. Dropping the cloth, she laid the back of her fingers against his cheek. “I know this is hard for you. But your youkai blood still hasn't recovered, and I think you're still bleeding a little inside. I don't want to risk you injuring yourself.” Very quietly, almost to herself, she added, “And I want to - coddle you.”

 

He didn't say anything. But, after a moment, he sighed, and reached up to grasp her hand. He moved it away from his face, then twined their fingers together. His thumb slowly rubbed the side of her hand for a moment. He started to let go, but she resisted, tightening her fingers and bringing their joined hands to her face. She pressed a kiss against the back of his hand before releasing it, then gave him a gentle smile as he rolled his head back to look at her. He stared at her a long moment, then snorted. “Keh. Like a miko doesn't have better things to do, than to pamper a beat up hanyo?” The words were flippant, but the voice was not, and he didn't—quite—smile.

 

They continued to gaze at each other, and might have continued for a while, except that Kaede chose that moment to speak up. “I don't see why we couldn't help him get up and sit outside for awhile - it's a nice day, and I bet he'd feel better for some sunshine.”

 

Kikyo glowered at her sister, who pretended not to notice. “Besides,” she continued brightly, “I've finished.” She held up an off-white kimono, block-printed with a green leaf pattern.”

 

“What's that supposed to be?” wondered Inuyasha.

 

“It's for you,” she replied, dropping the cloth into her lap and beaming at him.

 

He gave her a scowl. “I don't need it. My fire rat robes—“

 

“Are in almost as bad a shape as you are, Inuyasha,” said Kikyo, interrupting. “So unless you prefer to go outside in nothing but bandages…”

 

His response was a mutter, too indistinct to make out words. Then he turned his head to give her a hopeful, wordlessly pleading look. She matched him with an annoyed glare, then sighed and looked away, giving Kaede's suggestion serious consideration. “All right,” she decided finally, looking back down. “This afternoon - if you promise to do exactly what I tell you, and don't complain when I tell you you're going back inside.” He gave her a hurt look, then sighed, nodded, and closed his eyes, pretending to fall asleep. Knowing that his fake sleep would turn real soon enough, Kikyo looked over at her sister.

 

“I do need to do a few things before this afternoon,” she said. “You'll watch him?”

 

“Oh, sure. If he tries to get up, I'll threaten him with that arrow.” She nodded towards the arrow leaning against the wall that was still glowing. A faint growl emanated from the futon. “And if that doesn't work, I'll sit on him.”

 

 

Inuyasha had no room his mind for any thoughts except the effort to stand upright and walk. His legs were traitorous, with only Kikyo's support on his left, and one of the village men on the other side keeping him upright. His torso was screaming that movement was a very bad idea, but he ignored that as best he could. Breathing in shallow pants, eyes narrowed to slits and jaws tightly clenched, he forced one leg to move, then the other. He had not previously imagined just how much effort it could take to move a foot merely its own length. He was used to running; this wasn't even a crawl.

 

He couldn't quite keep a groan smothered as they eased him down on one of the steps leading up to the shrine. Still panting, he concentrating on not moving, paying no attention to the murmurs between Kikyo and the man. The man left, and Kikyo set down beside him. “I'm still not sure I like this,” she said, gently moving his left forearm so that his hand rested on his thigh. “You think I can't tell how much pain you're still in?”

 

He held his breath a moment, before carefully letting it out in a slow sigh. “Yeah.” Just as carefully, he breathed in, testing the limits of his painful back and belly. Turning his head a little, he met her gaze. “Kikyo, could you - let me be alone a little?” As her startled expression started to change, he added quickly, “It's not you. It's just -“ he hesitated, searching for words, “I…”

 

You're used to being alone and outside, and you want to be that for a while,” she said.

 

“Something like that,” he agreed. He looked away, then back. “Please?”

 

She hesitated, then smiled. “For a little while.” Standing up, she added, “Just don't try to move.”

 

Inuyasha mentally rolled his eyes at that as she left, annoyingly aware of the fact that any attempt on his part to get up unaided was going to end up in disaster. He wasn't planning on moving.

 

Closing his eyes, he tried to relax, slowing his breathing, and concentrating on what his other senses were telling him. Especially his nose. For a day and a half, he felt as if he had been unable to smell anything except burned wood, smoke, his own sweat and blood, and Kikyo's nose-prickling medicines. Now, the breeze, coming from the woods, was bringing him a more familiar and much more complex palette. There was a fox family not too far away, playing in a sunny patch. He winced a little as the lacerated muscles of his left ear tried to swivel the shredded remnants to focus on the faint yips. Moving his attention through the invisible sea of scent messages, he savored the tang of growing green, the sweet scents of flowers and sun-kissed cherries, the acrid scent of a boar, with the accompanying odors that suggested it was rooting at the base of a tree, disturbing roots and soil; and dozens more. Birds and insects left teasing, vagrant ghosts of smells, squirrels and rabbits were numerous and boring, and there was a scent of deer. His mouth watered at the thought of deer: it had been months since he had last brought one down, and that one he had made the mistake of giving to Kikyo, who turned around and gave it to the village, resulting in his not getting even a piece, since at that point he hadn't been about to mingle with an entire village of dirt-smeared humans, certainly not for a piece of over-cooked venison.

 

Swallowing, he sniffed again, deeply, and then clapped his good hand over his mouth as pain and nausea speared up through his chest, flooding the back of his throat with the taste of bile and blood. Again and again he swallowed, trying not to retch, mentally begging his youkai blood to come back at least enough to stop the wretched cycle of nausea and pain. It paid no attention to his thoughts, of course. The nausea finally ebbed enough to let his body relax, but it left him exhausted, and mentally cursing. How much longer was he going to be like this? It was worse than any of his human nights, which had always at least had the knowledge that it was only one night, with his strength and health returning with the sun. But this had already lasted for days, and the gods only knew how long it would continue.

 

And worse, his human night was close. Too close—

 

Someone gasped. Inuyasha looked up, to see a small girl standing not two lengths from him, her hands clapped over her mouth.

 

“Korana?”

 

“I-Inu - ya - sha?”

 

He tried to force a grin. “Yeah - most of me, anyways. No ears to pet today, though.”

 

Tears glimmered in her dark eyes. “Did the—did the bad demon hurt you, too?”

 

“Yeah, but Kikyo and I hurt him worse,” said Inuyasha. “He'll never hurt anyone again.”

 

“Th-that's what papa s-said,” she whispered. “But I - I - he-he looked j-just like you, and you were - were laughing, your-your h-hands were all red, and, and I was so scared!”

 

Tears flowed down her cheek. Inuyasha swallowed, frantically searching his mind for what to say or do. He didn't want her to cry, but how could he blame her for crying, what could he do, he couldn't pick her up and hug her, which might scare her anyway, he couldn't move, he couldn't think of anything to say! He finally petted the step next to him, from a vague recollection of something he'd seen Kikyo do once. “Hey,” he said. “Why don't you, uh, come here, and, ah, tell me about it?”

 

She stared at him, trembling. “It-it really wasn't you?” she asked.

 

That hurt. That really hurt. Inuyasha felt both sides of his head twinge as his ears tried to lower themselves. “It wasn't me, Korana.” He met her gaze. “I would never hurt a little girl. Ever.”

 

She edged a little closer. “Never?”

 

“Never. Promise.”

 

The little girl hesitated a moment longer. Then she flung herself against him. Inuyasha had to grind down the yelp of pain between his teeth as she huddled against his side, quivering. Managing somehow to stay upright, Inuyasha petted her head, feeling extremely awkward. What did he know about comforting little girls? Absolutely nothing. All he could think to do was to remain silent, and wait, though after a few moments, he found his hand slipping downward, starting to slowly stroke her back, his fingers curled to prevent his claws from touching her.

 

It seemed to be the right thing to do. Between sniffles, clinging to his kimono with both hands, she told him her story. She'd been playing with friends when the screams had started. She had stood up and looked around, in time to see `Inuyasha' bursting out of a collapsing house, laughing. He had spotted her, and before she could move, he had leapt over and grabbed her by the neck. He had laughed at her, then he had slashed through her stomach with his other hand, and dropped her, and she had screamed and screamed until something had hit her and everything went black. Then she had woken up, and mama was crying, and papa was crying, and so were her three brothers, and then they were hugging her and crying some more and she really didn't understand anything, except she kept waking up at night screaming because he was hurting her and why had he wanted to hurt her!

 

Inuyasha fought back rage as he listened, his right hand carefully clasping the girl's shoulder. It took every bit of concentration he was capable of, to keep his breathing shallow and his body from tensing. He would have given almost anything to have Naraku standing before him, helpless, his own strength back long enough to slice the unspeakable conglomeration of entities into very tiny ribbons. But Naraku was dead, and all he could do was try to keep his anger strangled enough that it didn't twist his body into excruciating knots.

 

She ran out of words, finally, and shifted position, causing him to wince again. This time, she noticed. Sitting back, she stared up anxiously. “Are you okay? I didn't hurt you?”

 

“You didn't hurt me—I'm just really sore right now,” he assured her. “Just be careful, okay?”

 

“I promise.” Her eyes wandered over his head. Inuyasha wasn't surprised by her next question. “Are your ears going to grow back?”

 

“I hope so.” He wrinkled his nose at her. “After all, if they don't grow back, then you can't pet them, can you?”

 

She giggled, a sparkle coming back into her eyes. “Can I be the first person to pet them when they grow back?”

 

“Yeah, sure.”

 

She smiled. For a moment, he thought she was going to fling herself against him in a hug, but she stopped herself, and only wrapped her small arms around his. “Is this okay?” she asked.

 

“Fine,” he assured her. And it was, though there were not a few lines of Kikyo's stitches up and down his arm, and the burns on his shoulder and upper arm hurt fiercely, despite the salve Kikyo had used. But he could at least use his arm, which was rather more than he could do with the rest of his body.

 

“Korana!” The distant shout broke the silence they had settled into. The little girl snapped her head around.

 

“Uh-oh, that's mama. I gotta go.” She scrambled to her feet and jumped down to the ground. She started to run, then stopped and turned around. “Can I come see you again?”

 

“Yeah, sure,” he mumbled, at bit surprised.

 

“Okay. Bye. See you!”

 

Inuyasha watched her race away, then dropped his gaze to his bare knees. It felt so—odd. How could a little girl be so willing to come close to him, after a look-alike had killed her? Was it because she was, well, Korana? What it because she was just a little girl? He tried to remember if any other little girls had ever looked at him without fear. He couldn't remember any. But then, he had met very few, and no one, without an adult around to sound an alarm and rush the children away. The only children he could remember from his years living with his mother were boys. And they, of course, had all been properly instructed about him.

 

He felt very lonely.

 

An arm went gently around his shoulders. Inuyasha tensed a little, surprised, and then a little angry and afraid at having been surprised. But the scent wafting around him was Kikyo's, and he felt his reaction dissipating. Exhaustion swept over him, and he couldn't resist leaning against her.

 

“I've sent Kaede to fetch someone,” she murmured. “I saw Korana visit you.”

 

He sensed that she wanted to say something about that, but he was so tired that all he wanted to do was sleep. He sagged against her, then was abruptly and painfully alert as her scent shifted. Straightening, he saw that she was looking at something in the sky. Squinting, he tried to see whatever she had detected, but he saw nothing.

 

“I knew it wouldn't be finished yet,” she muttered.

 

“Hunh?”

 

“There's a youkai up there, watching. Not much aura - probably a spy for someone else,” she explained. “That's why I made that charm for you. So they can't find you.”

 

“Charm?” Inuyasha found himself sagging again, as it was far too much trouble to remain alert.

 

“Yes, charm, the one that's around your neck,” said Kikyo impatiently. “I told you about it earlier, remember? It hides your youkai blood to demonic senses; you'll just look like another human. You told me, remember, how youkai have attacked you for no other reason than that you're hanyo? As long as you're under my care, I'm making sure they can't find you.”

 

“Uh-huh.” He was vaguely aware that he really ought to be arguing with her about that, but he couldn't remember why. “Thanks.” He sighed, winced a little, then fell into welcome oblivion.

 

 

Kikyo sighed as Inuyasha lost consciousness. She hadn't intended to let him stay out as long as he had, but she hadn't had the heart to interrupt his time with Korana. She had been so pleased to see the girl approach him; the gods knew, if Inuyasha were to have any chance to live among humans, he would have to show that he could be trusted around children, and that they would accept him. That had been one of her worries, the last few days: Korana had been the first real contact between Inuyasha and any of the villagers, and she had been one of Naraku's victims. If she had run away from him…

 

She glanced up at the sky again. The youkai was moving away. You do that, she thought fiercely. There are only humans here. Your kind has hurt Inuyasha enough. I'm not letting you get to him as long as I'm around. He's mine, and I'm not letting him get hurt again.

 

He was heavy against her arm. Adjusting her position slightly, to better support him, she touched his cheek with her fingers. His skin was warm, but it could be the sun, rather than fever. She settled in to wait for Kaede's return, staying alert to her miko senses. Inuyasha didn't move, and she wondered if that was a sign that he trusted her, at some deep level. She hoped so. She was the one who had failed to trust, four days ago. Inuyasha had not failed.

 

She did not want to fail him again.