InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Twins Travel Together ❯ Chapter 2 ( Chapter 2 )

Chapter 2

It was a small consolation that Inuyasha wasn’t around either, which meant that he was, most likely, still with Kagome.

Though it also didn’t surprise Kinuki, when she felt Kagome’s pull on her soul, sending her flying through the village, and the forest, though the pull stops by the riverbank rather suddenly, a little further down the river, where the waters are calmer.

‘Great, she tries to get me to come to her, and stops before I even know WHERE she is. Not helpful Kagome, not helpful at all.’ Kinuki thinks, glad that no-one had seen her flying around.

Carefully brushing herself off, she got up, and found herself being stared down by a number of surprised village women.

Oh. Looks like Kinuki somehow stopped right at the washing area of the villagers.

Smiling as she thinks of something, Kinuki asks

“Can I help?”

Quiet murmurs of surprise and confusion break out amongst the women, until the nearest one gives a small nod, and hands her a spare wash board and laundry.

Nodding her own response, Kinuki kneels near the river bank, and starts scrubbing a rather obvious mud stain out of a shirt.

She works quickly and thoroughly, and soon enough the village women are back to chatting quietly amongst themselves.

For her part, Kinuki was just glad her grandfather had insisted she learn to do most everything around the house the traditional way, so that she knew to appreciate the advancements that people had made through history.

Taking note of a rustling further along the river, Kinuki noticed a couple of kids playing in the shallows of the water. Not deep enough to risk getting swept up by the weaker current, but enough to get their feet wet and splash each other.

She smiled at the sight, remembering that it had also been autumn the first time the family had taken Sōta to the pool.

But, as Kinuki was also aware, a fun game could take a dangerous turn at the drop of a hat.

“Ahh!”

Kinuki’s head was amongst the first to snap up at the fearful shout. A splash of water signalling the confirmation of her current thoughts, and fears.

A child, a little girl from the looks of the long hair streaming in the water behind her, had somehow managed to fall into the river.

And that, was all that Kinuki had to know.

She heard one of the women call out in anguish, most likely recognising her daughter but her focus was quickly redirected.  

She and Kagome had both insisted on taking extra swim lessons the year before. Kagome, because she’d wanted to get stronger as a swimmer, and Kinuki, because she just loved swimming and wanted to improve even more.

Stripping off the outer layers of her clothes and her shoes and socks, Kinuki took a quick running start, and dove into the water, aiming to get to the stronger current so that she could catch up to the little figure, slowly fastening her pace toward the next rapids.

‘Man am I glad I know how to swim.’ Kinuki thought, pushing herself to speed up even more, since the child was starting to disappear underwater more frequently, her flailing attempts at staying above the water only exhausting her pointlessly.

“Got you!” Kinuki exclaimed, finally catching up to the little girl, and hooking her under her arms. She was small enough that Kinuki only needed one hand to hold her above the water, spluttering and heaving for air, but well and truly alive.

Changing her position, Kinuki then switched to a backstroke, giving the girl a sense of security by supporting her on her chest and stomach.

When she finally reached the shoreline again, they’d been swept a ways downriver, but they were both able to walk, although Kinuki quickly decided that the jelly that the little girl’s legs had turned into would have to be carried.

“Come on. Let’s get you back to your brother.” Kinuki coaxed, gently lifting the little girl up, and balancing her on her one hip as she began walking back toward the others.

“Thank you.” Came the small whisper.

The little one really was exhausted.

Kinuki found herself smiling at the young girl’s sweetness. To her, it was normal to help if you were able to, no matter if it be your best friend, or a complete stranger who could use your help. But being thanked always made her feel good, so there really was only one appropriate response.

“You’re welcome.” Kinuki said, stopping in front of the little girl’s older brother.

“You know, you really need to take better care of your little sister.”

He just stared at her, turned frighteningly pale, and fainted dead.

Quirking her eyebrows at such an unusual response, Kinuki continued her walk back to the women with whom she’d been washing not too long ago.

Walking up to the one who had cried out, she put the child down in front of her and spoke.

“I think this is your daughter. Sorry, I had to walk back so it took a little longer to get back.”

Upon seeing the older women, the little girl brightened.

“Mommy!”

and ran right into her arms.

Feeling her daughter, wet and cold, but alive in her arms, the mother’s eyes filled with tears.

“They didn’t die?”

“I thought she was making a sacrifice of herself so that Mai’s soul could rest in peace at being torn from life too soon.”

“How did they survive the water anyway?”

As Kinuki heard the murmurs of the women, understanding slowly dawned.

‘They’d all thought I was killing myself to give the child a peaceful end. No-one from this time period knows how to swim yet, at least, not the humans…’ Kinuki thinks, her thoughts turning curious.

“Well. We’re still very much alive. And, as for the water, that is a special power that only us twin mikos possess.” Kinuki explained, since she was pretty sure there were few enough successful births of twins in this time period, and it was rare enough for a person to be born with Miko powers, so her reasoning should seem solid enough.

Still… She had other things to do, so, she left before anyone asked her any more questions.

Sending a pulse of her energy outwards, she was surprised to find Inuyasha and Kagome a little way’s further down the river than she and the little girl had been swept.

Wringing her hair out, and pulling on her clothes again, Kinuki quickly left the huddle of thankful women and made her way toward Inuyasha and Kagome’s location.

Once she got there, she saw Kagome in a similar situation she’d found herself in not too long ago.

Kagome in the water, supporting a little kid as she swam for shore. But the currents here were much stronger than where Kinuki had been.

“You got a good hold on him?” She called, startling most everyone present. The villagers gathered at the riverside, Kagome and Inuyasha, who nearly fell into the water on the other side of the river, losing his balance at her sudden, loud call.

“Yeah, wh…?” Kinuki doesn’t wait for Kagome to finish her sentence. Instead, she focuses on that strange connection she has with her sister, and pulls Kagome ashore at a speed that had some of the villagers questioning if Kagome wasn’t really a demon in disguise.

“What’d I miss?” Kinuki asks, once Kagome’s gotten up and the little boy is back with his father.

“Well…” Kagome has her guilty face on. So, something bad obviously happened, if only going off of the fact that she was completely ignoring the shouting Inuyasha on the other shore side.

“Oi, wench! Get the bloody jewel!”

The fact that his voice was so frantic rang numerous alarm bells in Kinuki’s head. And it didn’t take long for her to piece together the wordless puzzle lain out before her.

Her eyes wide in shock and fear, Kinuki asks

“Please tell me you didn’t…”

“…let a demon get its hands on the jewel?” Kagome finishes meekly.

Kinuki’s jaw drops.

She’d left her alone for a couple of hours. HOURS. And this had happened?

“Are you freak’in KIDDING me!?” Kinuki yells, her words punctuated by a loud splash as an enormous crow flies out of the water.

Kagome manages a half-hearted sigh of a laugh.

“Ah… No?” She squeaks out.

She may be the older sister, but seeing Kinuki mad was rare, and usually meant you’d want to be in another country to escape her anger.

Indeed, Kinuki felt her eyebrow twitching its irritation but she had to be reasonable… for now.

“You have to get that jewel back.”

Kagome nodded, agreeing with her sister’s words, but dumbfounded at her lacking reaction.

She suddenly shakes her head though, when Kinuki’s words register 100%.

“Wait. What do you mean I have to get the jewel back?!” Kagome asks, slowly starting to panic.

“Kaede said so, remember? You protect the jewel and I protect you.” Kinuki says, punctuating her words, as she reaches behind Kagome, and removes a struggling, severed foot from the little boy’s clothes, whom Kagome had just rescued, before handing it to her older sister with an expectant look.

Understanding floods Kagome’s expression, along with a whole lot of gratitude.

Even when she was mad, Kinuki was incredibly perceptive.

She’d seen the bow in Kagome’s hand, and the strap of a quiver of arrows that was on her back. Not to mention, she’d gotten Kagome out of the water before she and the boy got into any real danger.

“I’m going to go do a bit of crowd control.” Kinuki said, shaking her head in exaggerated exasperation, but sparing her sister a teasing wink to let her know they were good.

And with that, Kinuki left her sister, and headed for the group of villagers who were, more or less, frozen in fear.

“Alright. Come on. Get back to the village everyone!” Kinuki called, clapping her hands to get everyone’s attention.

It worked, though no-one moved right away.

“Come on. The Miko-tachi can’t work together if one of them is busy getting people to safety while only one faces the demon.” Kinuki said, tapping her foot in impatience.

Her words seemed to make more sense than her earlier call, since everyone moved to do what she said.

Nodding her satisfaction once everyone was out of sight, Kinuki ran back to the riverside.

Only to have a shudder pass through her body as Kagome and the demon came back into sight.

Kagome had used the crow’s foot to make sure her arrow hit it’s intended target. She’d been practising too, considering the green glow of the arrow just before it hit the demon.

It was in this moment, that both girls realised that something was wrong.

A bright pink light was coming from the crow’s form in the sky, before the demon’s flesh disintegrated and the distinctive sound of something shattering was heard.

“Get down!” Kinuki called loudly, shoving Kagome behind a boulder, as her power flared in response to the distressed bursts of power the jewel was emitting.

Not even thinking, Kinuki created a net of power, surrounding the jewel and arrow in the air. And, in an instant, the jewel, which had been impaled by Kagome’s arrow, shattered and scattered in a million pieces in every possible direction.

Some cut through the netting of Kinuki’s power, while others stayed their trajectory when they came in contact with Kinuki’s net, staying where they were as through the net were some sort of sticky honey. And, as is the problem with nets, some just flew through the holes.

Kinuki felt every cut, clenching her teeth against the pain, knowing that what was happening was bad, but it would be much worse if she allowed herself to succumb to the pain.

Had she not been so focused on her task, Kinuki would have noticed the light show the jewel shards were creating in the sky.

Kagome stayed behind the boulder, but, she could clearly see the sky above. A blood orange sky was tainted by the sunset of the coming of the autumn night, but bright with various lines of colour, all traveling in an outward direction from where the jewel had been.

A cold feeling settled over her as Kagome realised that this was definitely NOT GOOD.

Inuyasha, for his part, couldn’t tear his eyes from the center of the whole thing. The presence and the position of the jewel was almost obscured by that bright, white light. As for the light show? Humans may think it looked pretty, but there was a dangerous, unstable aura surrounding every single line of light he saw.

It had his hackles raising in suspicion. The fact that that wench had even managed to hit the crow was still surprising, and may have even raised his opinion of her, just a little bit, but she still rubbed him the wrong way.

When the lightshow subsided, Kinuki quickly compacted her net, filling in the holes to create the sphere she’d practiced earlier that day, and brought it down to her, allowing the power to dissipate, and confirming her fears.

They were jewel shards.

A handful of them, around eight, if her estimate was right, but so many more were now scattered somewhere in Japan.

She fisted the hand that held the jewel shards, angry at herself, but knowing that she had to stay calm to keep the shards pure.

She focused a small amount of her powers into her hand, a steady flow to purify the shards completely.

While Kinuki did that, she noticed Inuyasha jump over the river, and Kagome get on his back, pointing in the direction one of the larger shards had flown, before they both took off.

How she knew it had been a larger one, she chalked up to the fact that the subconscious mind was still able to register one’s surroundings, even if she was focusing on something completely different at the time.

That, and the stinging pain she suddenly became aware of in her forearm.

Opening the hand that held the jewel shards, Kinuki proofed that they were all calm, pink and purified, before slowly turning her arm to see the damage.

A deep gash ran diagonally along the extensor carpi ulnaris muscle of her forearm. She hadn’t noticed that she was bleeding. Hadn’t even registered that she’d been hurt by something. She’d been so focused on keeping up her power, that everything else had just, sort of, ceased to exist in her mind. The concept was frightening.

Now that she was aware of her injury though, it was seriously starting to hurt.

And just as the thought entered her mind, Inuyasha and Kagome jumped out of the forest, and landed right next to her.

Kinuki could tell they’d just discovered the same thing she had.

“Kinuki… The jewel…” Kagome began, her hand shaking as she slowly opened it to reveal a rather large jewel shard, stained with a splattering of blood… and not quite purified either.

Kinuki turned a questioning gaze to Inuyasha, glad that her injured arm was out of sight, and hadn’t yet been noticed by either of them.

“Keh. The fucking jewel broke. And she’s too wound up to use her bloody powers.” Inuyasha explained, causing Kinuki to wince at his word choice, as he gestured to the bloody jewel with a jerk of his head.

Kinuki nodded her understanding though, opening her other hand and waiting for Kagome to give it to her.

She did. And once again Kinuki called on her powers, focused them in her hand, and purified the jewel shard, wiping the blood off on her skirt, before handing the shining, pink shard back to Kagome, who seemed a little calmer now.  

Kinuki’s lips quirked into a quiet smile. Good. Kagome needed to be calm, because Kaede was bound to have questions, and she needed her powers to be balanced in order to keep the jewel pure.

When Inuyasha took a whiff of the air though, Kinuki sent him a silent warning of a glare not to say anything. His eyes widened a fraction, but he stayed quiet.

“It’s strange though… Why was there blood on it in the first pla…” Kagome mutters, her sentence cut off when Kaede calls the both of them.

“Kagome! Kinuki!”

They see her crest a nearby hill on her horse.

“Come to the village. NOW.” Her tone is urgent and clear. She’s scared.

“Coming!” Kagome calls back, her gaze becoming the slightest bit puzzled when Inuyasha moves in front of Kinuki.

“You go ahead, I’ll take this one back.” Inuyasha said, jerking his head in Kinuki’s direction as he spoke.

The twins exchanged a momentary look.

‘Are you okay with this?’

‘I’m fine, we’ll see you there.’

Before Kagome nodded once, and ran off in the direction of the village.

Only when she’d disappeared in the forest fringing with Kaede, did Inuyasha’s expression change. He didn’t make a move to give her a ride, instead waiting on her explanation, with a fairly impatient attitude too.  

Sighing, Kinuki turns so that Inuyasha can better see the gash, before explaining herself.

“She had to calm down.”

She was trying for the short answer, short conversation, but Inuyasha wasn’t budging.

His eyes had widened when he’d seen the severity of her wound, slowly being healed by her own power, or, that which was left of it. Her power was so faint that he had to actively seek to sense she was a miko at all. His scowl was set, and his mien clearly read impatience and annoyance. He raised an eyebrow, waiting for her to continue.

Kinuki groaned, rolling her eyes as she spoke.

“Ok, I saw the light show, my powers pulsed, I reacted, and, as you can see, it took quite a toll on me. Some of the shards breached my barrier, and one of them scratched me as it flew past, but I didn’t notice it, ‘cause I was too busy keeping my power up, and then you and Kagome came back, and she was already so wound up that I couldn’t really say anything, so…” Kinuki spoke, finally taking a breath before continuing.

“She had to calm down. Her power is directly linked to the jewel, had she been able to cast that barrier, none of the shards would’ve gotten out, and this whole mess could be solved in a few minutes. But no, my stupid power had to be weak enough to let most of them escape!”

Inuyasha’s mind was racing.

The jewel was shattered, that was a fact. Fine, accepted. Kinuki was freaking out even more than her sister had, and he wasn’t quite sure how to deal with that. She was injured. The wound was deep and fresh, but, at least it wasn’t infected from the tainted jewel shard that had inflicted the wound. She’d also said something about a barrier. Where? He hadn’t felt any remnants of power in the area when he’d landed on the other riverside.

“Oi!” He finally snapped, not able to take much more of her hectic speaking.

She did, blinking up at him as though she’d just been slapped. Before taking a deep breath, clenching her uninjured hand, which, he now realised, had a barrier of power surrounding it, which was significantly slowing the process of her self-healing ability.

Something that had surprised him the first time she’d used it. Since, normally, such powers could only be accessed and used by healers, and, even then, they couldn’t use them on themselves.

Which begged the question… What was she holding in her hand?

“Give me your arm.” He said instead.

He’d recognise that mixed pulse of power anywhere. But, damn him, this girl intrigued him, and, he needed her, and her sister, if he was ever going to get that jewel. Now, more so than ever.

She does as he asks, no questions asked, a tired smile on her lips as he swipes her handkerchief from her pocket and uses it to clean and bandage the wound.

“Get on.” He growls, and Kinuki suspects that he hides his worry, even if he himself is unaware of it, by being crude and curt and mean.

She does as he bides, favouring her uninjured arm, as she grips his shoulders tightly, and he bounds off toward the village.

The feeling of riding on his back is amazing. Despite the painful throb of her arm, and the absolute tiredness she feels, Kinuki enjoys every second of the journey to the village. The wind in her hair. The rustle of the leaves they pass. That weightless feeling of almost flying through the forest. It ends all too quickly.

“Thank you.” Kinuki says, carefully sliding off of Inuyasha’s back, and making her way into the hut they’d landed in front of.

“Keh.” He acknowledges, turning his head to avert her gaze.

Her smile softens and saddens simultaneously.

Trust is such an easy thing to give. But, once it’s been broken, and that innocence of character is lost, it takes time to fix.

Kinuki shakes those sad thoughts from her mind as the hanging mat closes behind her, and she finds herself in Kaede’s hut, Kagome seated opposite the old miko who’s giving Kinuki an expectant look.

“Sorry for taking so long. But, if possible, I’d like to speak over today’s events tomorrow.”

Surprise and confusion register in Kagome’s expression, but Kaede had been about to make the same suggestion.

“Indeed, it seems ye have exerted yerself far beyond any normal capacity.” The old miko observed, waiting for Kinuki to speak.

“So it seems.” Kinuki agrees with a tired scoff.

“It’s too complicated a story to divulge tonight. However, I can say, that my power reacted to the distress call of the jewel and I managed to catch some of them, before they were all lost in the outside world.” Kinuki explained, opening her hand, and giving the shards she had caught to Kagome, her injured arm still going unnoticed by both miko.

Both Kagome and Kaede are shocked, and beyond pleased, by this news.

“And now, I would like to excuse myself to get some rest tonight.”

Kaede nods her consent, and Kinuki exits the hut, Kagome being quick to rise and follow her, a blanket clutched in one hand, and the jewel shards in her other.

“…Kinuki?” Kagome asks, her sister’s fast pace rather alarming.

She doesn’t pause, her steps never faltering.

She stops at the base of the tree she slept in the night before.

“This’ll have to do.” She murmurs, Kagome just close enough to catch the faint strain of her words, before Kinuki collapses to the ground.

- - - - - 

Author's Note 

Well? How was that? 

I certainly enjoyed writing it. 

Let me know what you think and if you have any comments or suggestions.

Tora