InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ 30 Shards of Jaken ❯ Sisters ( Chapter 26 )

Theme: Fear

 

Genres: Vignette/Angst

 

Rating: K

 

Word count; 628

 

Sisters

 

He is cold to her at first, the old miko with the lined face and the withered, gray hair, and the ugly patch across her eye. He cares not that she has offered him and Rin her shelter, or that she has looked after the girl as well as he. She has slain many of his kind, and the natural youkai mistrust of miko has long been ingrained inside him. And she is much too dismissive of his stature, as though he were just a child like the girl. It irks him.

 

Outside, it is dark, and the firelight flickers on the walls of the hut. On one side of the floor lies the houshi, unconscious. Nestled beside him is the young kitsune, who vowed to stay up all night to watch over his friend. Slumber took him after three hours. The old miko covered him with a blanket.

 

Now she is sitting next to their sleeping figures, her back to Jaken.

 

He sits on the other side, keeping silent vigil next to Rin. She lies as though asleep, but has no calm of rest in her face. She was poisoned by Magatsuhi, the evil spirit of the Shikon jewel. And unlike the kitsune, Jaken will find no peace tonight while her life hangs in the balance.

 

He is alone with only his fears for company. And they make unwelcome guests.

 

He worries about what his lord will do to him when he finds out what happened to the girl. He worries about Kohaku, the boy, and what is happening to him right now. But mostly he worries about Rin, because she is the only one there, right in front of him. And without her, he will be truly alone.

 

An unwanted noise beside him. The old miko shifted, turned her body around. Now she is facing him. He can feel her eyes on the back of his head, and he tenses slightly. To be caught in the gaze of an experienced miko… he wonders if any youkai would ever get used to the feeling of that.

 

“Little youkai,” she says, and there is sympathy in her voice, but he doesn't hear it. He only scowls at the condescending moniker. “Get some rest. She will recover. There is nothing any of us can do for her now but wait.”

 

“No,” he says curtly, and squeezes the Nintoujou closer to his small body.

 

There is a soft noise like a sigh coming from the miko, and her voice is gentle. “I understand.”

 

“Understand?” Jaken says, keeping his eyes pinned to the girl. “Foolish old crone. What do you think you understand about me?”

 

Silence except for the crackling of the fire.

 

Then she talks, and her voice is thick with memory, and perhaps also, Jaken wonders, with held back tears. “I know what it is like, little youkai,” the miko says, “to lose a sister through the machinations of that beast Naraku.”

 

Jaken almost chokes at her words.

 

“Sister?” he splutters. “I am a powerful youkai. This girl is just a lowly human. I only care for myself and the thrashing I will get from my lord when he returns.”

 

The old miko does not respond, and Jaken is grateful for that, and even more so when he hears her leave his side. But then she returns, and he hears something soft fall to his feet.

 

It is a blanket.

 

For Rin.

 

Jaken takes the cloth in his hands, and looks up at the miko, but she is already gone, back to the houshi's side. But he covers Rin with the blanket, and for a moment, his hand lingers on her brow. And somehow, the small gesture from the old woman eases his heart, and silently, he thanks her.