InuYasha Fan Fiction / Witch Hunter Robin Fan Fiction ❯ Enter the Witch and the Miko ❯ Chapter 11

Kurama'sFoxyMiko: I completely forgot about that! Thanks for catching that. I had to revise something in the next chapter so it explains why Kagome didn't see the shards. I didn't disbelieve you; I can't believe I didn't remember that. I am indebted to you forever.

 

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Robin fell asleep soon after telling everyone about her power, or Craft, she called it. But, unlike Robin, Kagome couldn't sleep. She kept hearing whimpering, and it wouldn't stop. Finally, she got up. There was no one awake at the moment except for her and the thing making the whimpering sound. She followed it into the trees surrounding their camp, then beyond the light of the fire. She could barely see where she was going. Tracing it to a nearby bush, she parted it and saw a little boy. He was curled into a ball, and looked up fearfully when she separated the top of his bush. She reached out a hand, but he tensed away from it. “Ssssssh, it's okay,” she said, trying to soothe him. “I'm not going to hurt you.”

 

“Where's Karo?” he asked, still frightened of her.

 

“Who's Karo? Is he your dad?” she asked.

 

“No, he's the leader.”

 

Leader? Thinking hard, she couldn't figure out what he meant. Then, struck with inspiration, she asked, “Was he the leader of the demon bandits?”

 

He slowly nodded his head. “He's supposed to come and get me when they're done taking from those people over there.” He indicated the direction of their camp with a nod of his head.

 

“I don't think he's going to come anytime soon,” she informed him.

 

The poor child looked crestfallen. “He said he would, though,” he cried. “Now what am I going to do? He's always taken care of me!”

 

I can't leave him here. He's just a child. “You could come with me,” she offered. “We'll take care of you.”

 

He looked at her distrustfully. “Karo said not to trust anyone outside the group.”

 

“Karo isn't very trustworthy, though, is he?”

 

He thought for a moment. “Okay,” he finally said. Moving carefully out of the bush, she saw scratches and bruises all over his small body. What happened to this child? She asked him how he got those injuries. He shrugged it off. “When I did something I wasn't supposed to, Karo beat me. If he wasn't around, the others beat me.”

 

This shocked Kagome. “How could you stay with them?” she asked.

 

“They are my family. They raised me, so I stay with them.”

 

“They WERE your family. No one should beat a child when they don't know better.”

 

He began to warm up to her as they walked back to camp. She found out that his name is Hiei, and the thieves had found him when he was a baby. When they walked into the makeshift camp, Kagome took him over to the fire to better see his cuts and bruises. They were a lot worse than she had thought. Might as well try my healing Craft, she thought. “Hold still,” she said to Hiei. He did as he was told, and she closed her eyes.

 

Feel where the wounds are, Robin had said. You will know what's supposed to be there and what isn't. Imagine the wounds getting better, and your Craft will make it so. She focused on his injuries, and imagined them vanishing. She heard his sharp intake of breath, and assumed that something was happening. Opening her eyes, she saw that his injuries were gone. All of them. He was looking at her adoringly.

 

“It doesn't hurt anymore,” he whispered. “I got used to being in pain the whole time, and now it's gone.”

 

She smiled, pleased that her first attempt had gone perfectly. To her surprise, he hugged her and clung to her like she was his lifeline. Since he wouldn't let go, she picked him up and got into her sleeping bag with him still clinging to her neck.

 

She was up before the others, as usual. She let Hiei stay in her bag, since she figured he would be tired after last night. She got out the instant Ramen noodles (healthy breakfast, no?) and waited for them to be ready to eat. Robin got up five minutes after she started making the noodles, and sat with her.

 

“I'm sorry I didn't tell you about my Craft,” she apologized again.

 

“It's fine. I didn't tell you about having the Shikon no Tama.”

 

“Still, I never asked, and you didn't lie.”

 

“True.” Silence for a while. Then, “By the way, Robin, I found another traveling companion.”

 

“You did?”

 

“Yep. He was abandoned by the bandits from last night.”

 

“Where is he?”

 

“He's asleep in my sleeping bag.”

 

Robin went over to look, and saw the adorable little child sleeping peacefully. She walked back and said, “He's so cute! Why would he be with bandits?”

 

Kagome told the other girl what Hiei had told her last night.

 

“They beat him?! Who would do something like that to a child?” Robin asked, outraged.

 

“Apparently, Karo and the others in the group. They're demons, remember? They don't do the same things that we humans do, or don't do.”

 

They heard a whimper; a small one, but it was there. Kagome quickly walked over to Hiei, who was making the whimpering sound. He opened his eyes, and, seeing her leaning over him, reached up and clung to her, softly crying into her shirt. I feel like I did this last night, she thought ruefully as she carried him over to Robin, who was watching the noodles, making sure that they weren't burned. She tried to ask him what was wrong, but he only shook his head, tightened his hold on her, and continued his soft crying.

 

“He seems to be a bit unstable,” noted Robin.

 

“Something probably scared him when he was dreaming,” said Kagome, rubbing his back.

 

When he had calmed down a bit, they gathered from the fragments of what he told them that he had thought that she had just been a dream, and he would wake up still with Karo and the others.

 

“He seems very attached to you, even though you just met last night,” Robin said.

 

“He was abused in an unforgivable way!” declared Kagome. “I'd have nightmares too if I had to stay with them.”

 

At this time, the noodles announced that they were ready by way of steam. Robin got them ready to be eaten since Hiei still wouldn't let go of Kagome. “I'll get the rest of the bunch up,” volunteered Robin. While she went to do that, Kagome fed Hiei. Now, he was old enough to feed himself, but he refused to let go of her, so she had to feed him and herself. This is fun, she thought.

 

Then the others came. Hiei buried himself in her arms again as soon as they sat down. Miroku looked at her for a moment before asking, “Um, Kagome? What is on your lap?”

 

Sango looked over and said, “It looks like a boy. Where did you find him?”

 

She once again told what had happened that night. Then Inuyasha yelled her at for not telling anyone that she was leaving. Kagome shouted back at him that she didn't have to answer to him, and if she felt like wandering off in the middle of the night, then that was her business. All the loud voices scared poor Hiei, and he started crying again, still clinging to Kagome. Sango noticed this, and suggested in a loud voice that they don't yell because they were frightening the child. Kagome immediately stopped and rubbed his back again. Inuyasha quieted down too, but was still glaring at Kagome.

 

They talked about where they were going next as they ate. Kagome refused to leave Hiei, and Hiei refused to let go of her. He wouldn't even talk. She managed to get him to look at the rest of the gang, but her arms were always around him.

 

“The jewel shard is close, but I still can't pinpoint where exactly,” Kagome said. “I can only tell that it's close. Very close.”

 

“Well, let's look for it,” Inuyasha said, jumping up.

 

“Yes, the sooner we find it the sooner we can return,” said Miroku, giving Sango a look. That's right. When the jewel is complete, Miroku and Sango are getting married. She started to lift Hiei off her lap so she could stand up, but he twisted around and hooked his tiny arms around her neck so she wouldn't drop him. Seeing that she now had him hanging onto her, the others did her share of the work. They also moved slower because of him. They continued searching for the rest of the day. Hiei, still being a small child, slept while they were still moving. They still hadn't found any trace of a demon in the area that was powerful enough to have to Shikon Jewel shard. It was beginning to take its toll on their patience, especially Inuyasha. Ever since Hiei had joined them, Kagome had shared her sleeping bag with him and didn't stay in his arms. He didn't want to admit it, but he missed her at night.

 

Hiei still never let Kagome go. She had to be touching him or else he would start to whimper and cry again, and wouldn't stop until she came back. At least he started talking to the others. If he could do something for them while being with Kagome, he would do it. He was a sweet child that wanted to please them, but refused to be away from Kagome.

 

He did get better the longer he stayed with them. It even got to the point where he didn't have to be touching Kagome, and would help with setting up camp. She still had to be there, where he could see her, but he didn't have to feel her to know that she was there.

 

The shard continued to elude them. If they moved, it would move, but they never saw it. Miroku said one day while they were shard hunting, “I think it's following us. It has been almost a month since we first started looking for it, and we haven't even seen a trace of it. I say we stay in one spot until Kagome feels it move.”

 

The others liked this idea, and they started to set up one last camp. Kagome noticed that Robin was moving slower than normal, and her eyes seemed a bit… not completely there. She walked over to her, and asked, “Are you okay? You seem a little out of it today.”

 

Robin looked up and smiled weakly. “I wasn't aware of how much time has passed. Kendal was supposed to have left about two weeks ago, though I doubt that he left without your mother, who won't leave without you.”

 

“True, it's hard to keep track of time in this era. Oh, do you think those friends of yours are back yet?”

 

“They should be. When we return to the village, I'm going back to try and call them.”

 

At this time, Hiei came back with the firewood. Dumping his load, he ran to Kagome and reached up, asking to be picked up. Laughing, she complied. He was still so light! She couldn't get over that fact. He was always asking to be held, and she couldn't say no. He was also getting better at being away from her for longer periods of time. He could have someone else hold him instead of her. He still had to sleep with her, which annoyed Inuyasha to no end, but other than that, he improved by leaps and bounds. He kind of grew on everyone.

 

Robin went to light the fire, but Hiei called for her to wait. He went to where she stood via Kagome taking him over, and asked in his sweet voice if he could light the fire this time. Surprised, she agreed. He extended one arm toward the bundle of wood and concentrated. Fire wrapped around his arm and shot towards the sticks. He looked at them proudly, as this was the first time he had done anything like that.

 

It shocked everyone that he could do this, except Inuyasha. He came over to them and said to Hiei, “Not bad, kid. You'll make a fine fire demon yet.” Since Inuyasha rarely gave praise of any kind to anyone, this made Hiei practically glow. After all, he looked up to Inuyasha; well, he looked up to all of them, but Inuyasha was the hardest to please.

 

When they had finished eating, he surprised them again. Since they weren't going anywhere, he had gone out to find some water. Coming back with a bucketful from the stream, he set it on the ground. He poured some water into his hands and frowned at it. Seeing Sango was nearest to him, he walked over and tugged at her shirt. She turned and he presented his creation to him. He could tell she liked it by the expression on her face.

 

“Where did you get this?” she asked.

 

He pointed to the water bucket.

 

“You found this in the water?”

 

He shook his head. “I made it,” he said proudly.

 

She took the rose of ice from him. “It's beautiful.”

 

Robin came over to see what Sango and Hiei were doing. Sango showed her the rose, and Robin found it just as beautiful as a real one, if not more so. “I didn't know you were a fire and ice demon,” she said. Again, only Inuyasha wasn't surprised.

 

“Well, I can smell it in him,” he said. “He's part Koorime and part Fire demon.”

 

“How were the rest of us supposed to know that?” demanded Kagome.

 

“Well, no one said anything, so neither did I,” was his excuse.

 

~*~