Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Home is Where the Heart is Hidden ❯ The Priestess ( Chapter 2 )

Niara: I have a question, nothing to do with this story, really, but why do people come in and just read a story? If you've already taken the time to read it, why not comment? Just asking.

 

Disclaimer: Don't own them, because, if I did, 1) the story would never end and 2) I can't, and don't, draw.

 

Home is Where the Heart is Hidden

 

Chapter 1: The Priestess

 

 

Birds twittered happily in her ear as she made her way back from the river, carrying the news from other cities and villages than her own. A serene smile graced the young woman's lips as she walked, her sandals making almost no noise as she glided through the grassy hills that surrounded her home. Flowers that had seemed to be wilting under the beating sun rose up as she went past, their faces shining with a new glow.

 

The young priestess seemed oblivious to the effect her very aura had on the world around her, her eyes always taking in the beauty that only she seemed to perceive in everything. A light wind kicked up and began to toy with her hair and clothes, tugging insistently at her red hakamas and white haori. She giggled, the sound airy and carefree, as if she had nothing to fear in the war-ravaged world she knew she lived in.

 

The small town she lived in came into view, the rows of huts almost uniform. The farmers where as small as ants, tiny black spots that were working out in the rice fields, tending the crops so that they could eat that winter. It made her smile to see the people so happy, to know that she was a part of this little community of workers.

 

Little children, too small to work in the rice fields, ran out to great her as she passed through the village to the hut she and her father lived in, filling her free arm with flowers and herbs they had collected for her, smiling and chattering. The men and women, either too old to work in the fields or craftspeople, that were still in the village waved at her as she went by, none of them missing the chance to see their beautiful, powerful young priestess. She made it to the hut she lived in, a large hut that was tucked away at the far edge of the village, near the only trees that grew in the area, and stepped inside, setting the flora the children had given her on the mat that was always set aside for such an event and the bucket of water by the doorway.

 

She followed the muffled sound of her father's snores and found him in his room, one arm thrown over his eyes to block out any light and other clutching the bottle of sake that lay beside him. With a shake of her head and a click of her tongue, she knelt down beside him and brushed a few strands of his gray-speckled sable hair off of his forehead. The light touch somehow woke the man and he gave a soft grunt before coming to full consciousness. “Kagome?”

 

With a small nod and a smile, she helped him to sit up, meeting his pale, grey eyes, her blue-violet ones dancing with just a hint of mischief. “Did you enjoy your nap, Father?”

 

The man groaned and began to rub his temples, knowing that she was teasing him. She chuckled softly and took over the task for him, a simple gesture that she knew conveyed far more than most would read into it. He sighed and glanced at the doorway to his room where him could make out some of the plants she had set down and fought the urge to shake his head. “The villagers seem to be rather found of you.”

 

“Most of them,” she said softly, a tiny note of wistfulness in her musical voice. Her father's eyes grew more alert and he studied her young face closely, taking in every invisible line and every stray thought that crossed her eyes.

 

“That boy hasn't been by to see you lately, has he?” His tone was accusatory betraying his distrust of the red head that his daughter was so fond of. Kagome sent him one of her little looks that told him to stay out of her business and stood up, her red hakamas swishing slightly as she did.

 

“Suichi is a wonderful young man, Father,” she said hauntily, her nose in the air. “And it's none of your business if I have seen him lately. All you need to be concerned about is your health. Drinking so much is just going to do you more harm than good.”

 

The man laughed softly and rose to his feet, towering over his tiny daughter easily. “You're wrong, Kagome. You may trust people instinctively, but I do not. That Suichi is more than he seems, and I will not sit by and watch you get hurt because he took advantage of your trusting nature.”

 

Kagome only laughed and shook her head in exasperation. There was no arguing with her father, Sake, when he got like this, none at all.

 

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Golden eyes never once strayed from their target, watching every move that the tall demon lord made as he paced the length of the room. Strands of long, silver hair fell across the watchers gaze, only to be carelessly shoved out of the way, rather forcefully, by an elegant yet rough looking hand. Finally, he let out a sigh, and rose from where he had been sitting between two of his siblings, one older, the other his twin sister. The man in the center of the room stopped pacing and turned to glare at him, his silver eyes flashing red for an instant.

 

“Sit down, Youko,” the demon growled, his fox ears twitching at the audacity of his seventh son. Youko merely glared and began to walk out of the room, keeping his amusement carefully hidden from his father's ever watching gaze. “I said sit down, kit!”

 

“I refuse to sit around and watch you wear a hole in the floor while you wonder about what the little kuromiko will do,” the much younger fox demon said absently as he paused in the doorway. “And, I have things to do, so sitting around doing nothing is just going to slow me down.”

 

With that, Youko walked out, openly smirking as he felt his father's annoyance with him reach a new level. He sauntered through the halls of the giant palace, sticking mostly to the shadows more out of habit than by conscious choice, and made his way to his mother's rooms, wanting to check on her before he left. The raven-haired fox demon was sitting on a bench in the garden, one hand resting on her swollen belly while the other traced the petals of the sakura trees Youko's eldest sister had been named for.

 

She didn't even turn as he approached, but he knew that she was aware of his presence; she always was. “Hello, Youko. Going out again so soon?”

 

Youko set one hand on her shoulder and nodded, his youki flowing into her for just an instant as he inspected the child Shiori was carrying. “Yes, I am. I couldn't stand another minute of watching Father wear a trench in the floor. How you put up with it, I will never understand.”

 

Shiori laughed and reached up to pat her favorite son's hand, knowing that he was only teasing. “I can put up with it because he and I have been living with each other for almost 2500 years, Youko. I'm surprised you lasted as long as you did. I was expecting you to come out here over two hours ago.”

 

“I have been working on my patience, Mother, you know that,” he replied, squeezing her shoulder gently. “I'll be back either tomorrow or the day after that, depending on how things go, but I will be back before the kit is born. He's going to be a fighter.”

 

His mother only smiled and nodded. “Be careful, Youko. And tell the young lady you keep visiting who you are one of these days. You might be surprised by how she reacts.”

 

Youko only laughed and kissed his mother's cheek, a gentle brush before he slipped out of the gardens and into the growing twilight, shifting into his bestial form as he went. `Time to pay her a little visit.'

 

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Kagome looked up from tending to the injured leg of one of the farmers as the flap to the hut was drawn aside, the pale light of the waxing moon outlining the figure of the tall red head who stood in the doorway, a gentle smile on his lips. She smiled back at him before she went back to healing the nasty break in the man's leg, her power pouring over the limb to encourage the bone to mend back together seamlessly. When she was done, she place a cool cloth over the man's sweat covered forehead before she joined her unexpected guest outside of the hut.

 

“What brings you by to visit so late, Suichi?” she inquired, her eyes locked on to his oddly beautiful face. Emerald eyes danced with mischief as he slipped an arm around her waist, drawing her closer to him.

 

“Maybe I just wanted to see you,” he replied, his voice carrying a uniquely soothing quality that she had come to associate with him and him alone. “And I've told you a hundred times to call me Kurama. One of my brothers is named Suichi and I hate it when people call us by the same name.”

 

Kagome laughed, the sound low and joyful as she slipped away from him, her eyes dancing with mischief. “Seeing as I have never met this notorious brother of yours, I will continue to call you Suichi until I have.”

 

Suichi chuckled and gave up the age-old argument, knowing that, after years of trying, he would never convince of anything save what she wanted. “Of course, little miko. Why are you up so late, anyway? I would have thought that your father at least would have insisted you get to bed with the festival coming up soon.”

 

The priestess laughed and shook her head. “I never go. Lady Mia was handling things long before I became the village priestess.”

 

“But you handle things so well.” The teasing note in his voice wasn't lost on her before all playfulness vanished from his face, his head shooting up as he glanced around for a threat she had failed to notice. His gaze finally settled on one spot and she heard him sigh audibly. “Good night, Kagome. Until we meet again.”

 

Kagome blinked and that fast, he had disappeared into the growing night, as if he were nothing more than a ghost. She glanced in the same direction he had and swallowed as her gaze met the cold, pale gray eyes of her father. She shuddered slightly at the malevolence he seemed to radiate as he looked in the direction Suichi had walked off in and she had to wonder for a second if had really seen the tiny red flames that had flickered in the man's eyes.

 

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Niara: Finally finished. Yea me! I finished two chapters on a story that I actually have an idea for a plot on. I'm oh so happy. Yeah, this is me happy. Anyway…

 

Thanks to the people who reviewed! I'm sorry that I can't thank you by name, but I have a very stupid computer that would probably kill me if I tried to type and use the internet at the same time. Anyway, thank you so much!

 

And to the rest of you, please review!