InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Lost Soul of a Lost Child ❯ Midoriko ( Chapter 4 )

Disclaimer: I don't own any Inuyasha characters, therefore, Midoriko and Kirara are not mine. Nasake, Minori, and Midoriko's family are mine.

***

"Shhhh." The sound was soothing, especially when made by Nasake's already soothing voice, and yet, it still didn't help the girl. It reminded her of the rain, the damned eternal rain. Maybe she had just been imagining the rain that made up most of her existence as she knew it.

She had awoken the day before, screaming what she now knew to be her own name, and she was now in a state of shock. Her mind was fine, perhaps too fine even with all the thoughts that bombarded her. The rest of her body was practically paralyzed. Her eyes were sealed closed, her mouth was dry and could just barely move. All other muscles were relaxed. So there she was, paralyzed in a stranger's house with no way to see or communicate, forced to suffer through that loathed sound.

Meanwhile her mind raced, and it contemplated a previously asked question: was she alive? It was hard to believe she was as she had dreamt her own death. It was all so confusing. Kirara had disappeared shortly after she had awoken and there was still no sign of her.

"Poor girl," Minori whispered from his typical place in the doorway. "Any idea who she is?" He turned his gaze from the flame-streaked sky to the pensive face of his sister.

"No, but I do know she's special, important. We need to take care of her." She turned her unseeing gaze back to the young girl, her hands busy preparing a potion to help heal the girl. It was then that Kirara returned, sliding next to Midoriko without the notice of the siblings. In her mouth she carried a leaf, red and stiff with black veins.

"Myew." Eat. Midoriko, with her strange understanding of the kitten, attempted to open her eyes again, in rain. When she tried to talk it came out as a low groan, but it caught the attention of the other two.

"Is she awake?" Minori asked, walking the few feet of the hut to kneel beside his sister, ready for her instructions.

"Pull back her eyelid and tell me if you see her iris or if is all white." Doing as she said he was met with the immobilized stare of the girl.

"Her iris."

"Then she is awake. Here give her some of this," she said, handing him the potion she had been working on, "hopefully it will help."

She could feel the bowl being held to her lips and the soothing texture of the potion, the taste, though, nearly caused her to vomit. A few minutes of silence and her muscles began to twitch, but she still couldn't move.

"Myew." Eat. She still couldn't talk, but Kirara was both persistent and determined. She climbed into Nasake's lap, forcing the leaf between her fingers and nudging her hand towards the paralyzed girl. "Myew." Feed.

"Minori," she called, holding up the leaf, "describe this to me."

***

"Midoriko!" She yelled, lunging after her daughter, only to be held back by her husband. "Noo!" she cried, sinking to her knees. "No, my baby."

"Come on, Ayumi, we need to hurry the children to some safe place." She slowly nodded as the statement processed in her frozen mind. Her legs trembled as she stood, grabbing the arms of her two remaining daughters and turning to run back to their home. It wasn't the far, but the youkai made it there first.

'It's over,' was her final thought as the youkai's claws scraped across her stomach. She remained alive long enough to watch the death of her daughters, and the bright pink-purple light that cut the youkai in half, revealing the crumpled body of Midoriko. 'Or not.'

***

"She's awake," Minori called as Midoriko began to stir. She could remember swallowing small pieces of some plant, and then she was there again looking on in a memory that was not quite hers.

She knew what happened now. Though she saw from something of a third person point of view, she felt what the memory of herself was feeling. She felt that weak power within her grow in her time of need. And now, long after the danger had passed, it was still there, hiding within her, its power within her no weaker than it was when it burst from her and destroyed the youkai. It was still threatening to overflow. She needed a way to control it.

"Hello again," Nasake said cheerfully, setting a tray of food beside Midoriko. "Glad to see you back among the living." The girl just nodded, petting Kirara, who had crawled into her lap, when she sat up.

"What's your name?"

"Midoriko." Her voice was still hoarse.

"What's your friend's name?"

"Kirara."

"Where's your family?"

Silence.

Silence. No one spoke for fear of destroying the sudden understanding that they were struck with. Nothing really needed to be said. After a long while, with Minori doing nothing, Kirara sleeping, and Midoriko eating, Nasake opened her mouth to address the girl, but was interrupted by a scream.

"Demon!"

**************************************************** ********************

yay! I got to three pages! I'm so happy. And I'm also happy because my other story, Persistence, now has nine reviews (a total from both media miner and ff.net)… yes, happy, happy day. Happy belated Halloween all!

Sesshiria