InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Upon Broken Wings ❯ The Complication ( Chapter 4 )

DISCLAIMER: I do not, have not, and will not own `Inuyasha' nor any of its characters. These belong solely to the beloved Takahashi-san - who is loved and adored [Greatly.]

 

[…What a mood killer…]

 

Glossary:

Houshi - Buddhist monk/priest

Kitsune - fox youkai

Miko - Shinto priestess / shrine maiden

Taiji-ya - Youkai slayer [Sango-chan!]

Youkai - demon

 

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The sun rose early the next day.

 

Kagome opened her eyes to extended shadows dispersed across the room.

 

The girl slept most of the night, but because of her habit of shifting during sleep, she was periodically awakened by pain in her shin. As the school girl dropped her gaze in front of her, she found that at one point in the night, Souta had found his way over. He lay facing the girl, sharing a blanket.

 

Kagome watched him for a time. He seemed so small; so young.

 

At that time, the girl remembered the warnings Kaede offered her when she first came through the well. Warnings of youkai and humans with evil in their hearts; how dangerous this era is. Kagome longed for her leg to heal so she may take Souta home.

 

Looking off in the distance now, the girl's mind replayed the day before; when Kaede re-bandaged her injury. A lesion had been made in her shin which overlapped the gunshot wound. They had removed the bullet while she was unconscious. Without the small wedge of metal to interfere, her muscles were allowed to spread and mend themselves back to their original placing. Blood was indeed minimal; considering the size of the mark.

 

Kagome was told to rest for as long as she needed. However, the girl was in a haste to get Souta back through the well. She did not want the boy to get comfortable. What little knowledge he had about this time came from his sister`s stories. Unfortunately, the girl had failed to tell him some of the more frightening details.

 

On top of her fear for Souta`s safety, Mama and Ji-chan didn't know about the storage house. The girl had four days to heal, get back through the well, clean the storage house, and call up an excuse for Souta's school.

 

Today .. the girl thought as her eyes grew heavy.

 

Should try to get back .. Today.

 

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Breakfast was eaten in a haste and now well into the morning, everyone was beginning their day. Kaede wandered about the village, as did Miroku. Sango fought against sheer annoyance to stay in the hut and talk with Kagome rather than chase after a perverted Houshi. Souta was just outside admiring Shippou's trinkets and tricks as Inuyasha sat in a nearby tree once again.

 

The village and everything about it seemed tranquil. Yokai had not been seen within the village's borders for some time now; and any who where foolish to target the secluded village were met with the claws of a certain hanyou in the area. The daily lives for the villagers had morphed from fear and paranoia to slight ease and satisfaction in a matter of months. With fewer youkai terrorizing what little crop they had, food supply had grown to a point where villagers could eat to their occasional fill.

 

And however slowly, a majority of the village, which hadn't already, was steadily learning to acknowledge their protector; the hanyou.

 

“Here.” Sango motioned Kagome to look up from her daze to the pile of clothes in Sango's arms. Before her lay neatly folded miko robes.

 

“What?” Kagome stated more than asked her friend as to why she was presenting the garb.

 

“Kaede told me to give these to you to change into.” Sango motioned Kagome to take the robes from her. As the girl complied, the taiji-ya went back to scraping the scraps from breakfast plates.

 

Taking her gaze off her friend, the girl looked uneasily at the robes placed in her lap. She wouldn't admit it aloud, but she hated wearing the miko robes. When she did, it seemed people associated her to Kikyou more often. Looking down at her uniform, however, the girl realized what brought Kaede to suggest the change in attire. Her clothes where battered and worn from the previous night that seemed only so long ago.

 

With a questioning look splashed onto the girl's face, she looked to her friend. Sango turned to place yet another semi-clean plate onto an otherwise neat pile beside her and noticed the inquiring stare. “Don`t worry.” The girl smiled and playfully winked. “I`ll watch the door.”

 

The other girl nodded and began to undress; taking great care to avoid contact with her injury. Failing miserably, she bit her lower lip in a vain attempt to muffle her frequent outbursts of pain. Once dressed, the girl let out a soft sigh.

 

“.. And I think these went here.” Sango timidly stated as she placed a small pile of plates in a basket near the door. Placing the cover back on with care, she walked over to where Kagome was stationed.

 

“Here.” Sango took the shabby clothes from the girl and placed them behind a basket in the corner. “I suppose you`ll take those back to your time again, but for now we`ll store them there.” The girl then took her seat next to Kagome and gave her a stare that said more than any amount of words could.

 

Bringing her hands up in defense, the miko announced: “I`m fine Sango-chan,” the girl's already wide smile broadened, “really!”

 

Sensing her friend's doubt, Kagome quickly added, “Kaede-obaasan did wonders!” Motioning to her injury, the girl let free a white lie that was sure to be used continuously for an unknown period of time.

 

“It doesn`t hurt one bit!”

 

Partly confiding in Kagome's words, Sango's expression softened. “Kagome-chan, you don`t have to fake anything. I saw the blood trail .. And that sliver of metal ..” Sango sighed and closed her eyes as she continued. “I don`t know about this `gun' you told us about, but it did a number to your leg. It will take longer than three days for that to heal.”

 

Kagome averted her gaze from Sango. Of course a bullet was not by any means a minor wound. On top of which, the girl had strained her muscles by attempting to walk on it.

 

Sporting her predictable smile, the miko addressed Sango's words. “Of course. But no need to get anyone worried, right?”

 

Taken aback by her friend's immunity to her anxious words, Sango nodded.

 

“Yes.”

 

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“Really?”

 

Souta sat up, amazed with what the kitsune had explained to him.

 

“Yep.” Shippou replied, proud that someone was finally impressed with his strength. “Just watch!”

 

Running off a few meters, the little youkai turned, held up the top, then threw it to the ground as he exclaimed, “kitsune-yoobi!”

 

The spinning top gave off a large cloud of smoke. As it emerged, to Souta's surprise, it had grown ten-fold. Now well as tall as he would be standing, the boy gawked at the speed it picked up; spinning so quickly, it was only a red and green blur to him.

 

Souta had noticed that as the bottom tip dug through the dirt below, it swept up a small dust cloud; sinking the top ever so slightly. Coming to the foreseen, sluggish speed enough to wobble, another cloud of smoke came as it popped back to it's original form.

 

Crawling up to it, Souta noticed the indent it had made, taking note on how it was large enough to cup the top as it lied there now.

 

“Sugoi!”

 

The youkai stood proudly as the boy admired his trick.

 

Souta looked up from the ground and up to the kitsune. “Shippou-chan! You fight youkai with this?”

 

The kitsune hesitated, but readily replied, “uh … yep! I`ve killed so many youkai, they tremble at my name!” Assuming a fighting position, Shippou couldn't help but to giggle at the big smile and wide eyes the boy in front of him displayed. However, as the youkai broadened his chest, he noticed a voice emerging from above.

 

“Liar.”

 

Snapping his head up to an abundant tree not far away, the kitsune replied to the all too recognizable voice, “am not!”

 

“Eh? Then tell me why you always seem to be huddled against Kagome whenever a fight breaks out?”

 

Shippou hesitated, and Souta noticed him clench his fists as tears welled up in his eyes.

 

Unseen, the hanyou laughed in a rowdy manner. “See? You`re nothing but a helpless kid.”

 

Enraged, the kitsune shot daggers towards the tree as he screamed at the top of his lungs, “Am -not!- At least -I- could do a better job at protecting her than -you- have baka!” Recalling past occurrences when Inuyasha left Kagome unprotected in the midst of danger, the young kitsune immediately shuddered; sure he had just pushed on of the hanyou's most sensitive buttons.

 

Emerging from the tree, Inuyasha bolted at the child exclaiming, “Why you!”

 

Shippou shrieked and ran for the hut screaming “Kagome!”

 

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“Today.” Kaede blankly stated as she strolled along her routine path around the village. Grass had waned where she walked . After so long, the earth had given way to the miko's constant footsteps; laying out the said beaten path. The Houshi stared intently at the woman he walked along side as he replied,

 

“so soon?”

 

Kaede nodded, then spoke, “Even you have said how important it is to continue your quest without delay.”

 

A laughing child emerged from behind a hut waving a piece of cloth. A group pursued the girl, enjoying their makeshift game of capture the flag.

 

“Ohiyo, Kaede-sama!” The girl shouted as she ran past. The woman nodded in response.

 

“Yes,” the man beside her replied, “but we can`t rush Kagome-sama into this. If anything it will slow her recovery even further.”

 

The group of children made their way past the two.

 

“Maybe so,” the miko stated, “but it`s worth the risk to see what her present limits are.”

 

Touching a tree not twenty meters away, the girl jumped up and down for joy as she hugged her comrades.

 

The Houshi was determined to challenge Kaede's haste. “Three days of rest, Kaede-sama, seems hardly enough time to recoup to full strength.” Letting out a timid sigh, he added, “I`m sure that her tissue is well on its way to recovery .. But ..”

 

“I suspect you`re worried about the bone?” The miko inquired. “Indeed that piece of metal found its way with tremendous force to the bone, but I am sure you will find its recovery hastened when Kagome decides to take her first steps.”

 

Miroku was about to bow his head in thought until something caught his eye. “I see, Kaede-sama,” bowing his head in respect, he finished, “but I will have to be leaving you now. I have some business to attend to.”

 

Breaking away from Kaede's path, the Houshi made his way over to two young women having a conversation near the stream.

 

Business, is it? Kaede thought as she shifted her view to the path ahead.

 

I'm sure.

 

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To the East, past rivers and mountains, an estate lay nestled deep within an abundant forest; concealed by some invisible force. In its darkened state, the atmosphere was as silent as it was barren.

 

However, deep within the confides of wooden walls and passages, a hanyou sat before a pale, almost luminescent child. Keeping her hands steady against its delicate frame, the heavy-eyed girl watched as the man before her lay transfixed upon the object she held.

 

The man did this often, eagerly craving a fatal weakness among his enemies.

 

Satisfied with the scene which had played out before him, the mirror grew as dark as his surroundings; a perfect match to his thoughts at the moment.

 

As the girl lowed her hands, a faint laughter could be heard; dancing though empty rooms.

 

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::Yume_Hikaru