Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ People are Never Who They Appear to Be A Hanyou Story ❯ Change in Minako ( Chapter 6 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

“Talking” `Thought”

Chapter 6

The Change in Minako

About one year later, Neko-youkai had become very skilled with his katana and many ninjutsus that he was soon put on mission with Chikako. One day he, Chikako, and Minako were coming back from a mission. Minako didn't like to left in the house without him or Chikako so she came them. They were wearing the tradition working clothes except Neko-youkai who was wearing a hakama, as they walked through a village close to the Takashi home. A girl walked by them as Neko-youkai was trying to balance a pot on his head and he accidentally bumped into her.

He caught the pot as it fell off his head, he turned to the woman, and bowed as he apologized, “I'm sorry.”

She looked at him and shrugged before walking away. He turned as ran to catch up with Chikako and Minako who went ahead. As they left the village he started to balance the pot on his head again as he swayed to keep it there. Just as they left the outskirts of the village someone cut the pot in half making the fruit inside fall to the ground. They stopped and saw a youkai land a little ways away with his back to them.

He stood up and turned to face them, pointing his katana at Neko-youkai, as he challenged, “Saigo Made Neko-youkai, I challenge you to the death winner claims your katana.”

Neko-youkai just looked at him and finally said as he caught the pot in his hands, “You know you didn't need to cut our pot in half to get my attention and why would I want to bet my katana?”

“You dare mock me!”

“No, I was just saying-”

“Enough!” the youkai charged at him.

Neko-youkai throw the pot at him and then grabbed Minako as he and Chikako jumped away as she took out her Neko-te.

“What's going on, besides the fact that we're being attacked?” asked Minako.

“I don't know what his problem is but it's best if you stay here,” he told her as he set her down and took out his katana before he ran towards the youkai.

She stood there sadly at the fact she couldn't help them, she sighed and sat down on the ground as she held her knees close to her chest. Being blind wasn't a bad thing for her because her other senses had overdeveloped, but it was the fact that she was so dependent on her sister and Neko-youkai. She didn't mind hanging out with them but she wanted to be able to move around the house or other places when they were gone on missions without any help.

Neko-youkai had shown her how to become one with the earth but she didn't know how to use it to see without meditating. She learned how to move the earth itself but she feared she would hurt someone. Now here she was, once again, listening to a battle on the sidelines. She knew they were winning and thought, `No one can defeat those two they're the perfect team. Oh, how I wish I could fight like them . . .”

Suddenly there was something wrong, there was a clash of katanas and then nothing. She stood up and listened. She heard the distinct sounds of Neko-youkai foot falls coming towards her and he wrapped her in a full body embrace as he tackled her. They were thrown backwards by a force from behind as she heard Neko-youkai gag and he landed on top of her but not putting all of his weight on top of her. She heard someone else come running towards them and swung their weapon over them.

She heard her sister and the other person run after the youkai. She already knew something was very wrong with Neko-youkai by the way he was heavily breathing and she struggled to get out of his arms. She kneeled next to him and hoped to find what was wrong with him. She touched his back and carefully ran her hand up and down until she felt something wet cover the center of his back. She fearfully pushed her hand against it and heard him grunt.

She screamed out, “Help! Someone help! Sister!”

She heard her sister and someone else come running just as Neko-youkai began to howl in pain. She felt her sister kneel on the other side of him as the other person fell softly to her knees beside her.

“What's wrong with him?” Minako cried out for the answer.

“He's poisoned, stay here with my sister and try to keep the poison from spreading,” Chikako told them, “I'm going to get someone who can help.”

“How do I do that?” the woman beside Minako asked.

“Minako-san knows how to do that! Just do as she says!” before she left them.

Minako sat there for a moment to recollect herself and finally said, “Tear open his hakama.”

“What?”

“Tear open the back of his hakama! We can't treat him without knowing the extent of the wound,” she reasoned. She heard the tear of the hakama as Neko-youkai tried to restraint his screams. “How bad is the wound?”

“It's right in front of you, can't you see it?” the woman asked angrily.

“No, that's why I'm asking you!”

“Y-your blind . . .”

“Yes, now how bad is it?” ignoring her astonishment.

“ . . . it looks pretty bad.”

“How deep is it?”

“Pretty deep . . .”

She sat there for a moment thinking and finally said, “Help me put dirt on it,” as she placed her hand beside her and made the dirt loosen.

“What?”

“The dirt will absorb the poison and, unfortunately, blood as well but it's better than him dieing of the poison.”

“What and let him die of blood loss?” she asked angrily.

“D-do . . . it . . .” they heard Neko-youkai struggle to speak as he looked over his shoulder, “I-I'll recover . . . quickly . . .”

“Alright,” she reluctantly answered and placed the dirt Minako handed her on the wound.

He struggled to restraint himself from screaming and tried to breathe at the same time. He clutched the dirt in an effort to ignore the pain but it was futile. It was only an hour later when Chikako came back with Mine.

Mine quickly examined the wound and said, “Chikako-san, drop his body heat around his wound.”

“Right,” as she nodded and placed her hand a few inches away from his wound.

“What? Wait a minute!” said the woman beside Minako.

“Silence!” Minako commanded.

“But-”

“Silence! Mine-san knows what she's doing . . .”

“Son . . . hold this on your tongue,” Mine told Neko-youkai as she leaned over holding a leaf in front of his mouth.

He obediently opened his mouth and let her place the leaf on his tongue along with a stick between his teeth. He felt his back become cold and he bit into the stick as he tried not to black out.

“There it is. It's trying to get to his heart,” she told them. “Son this will hurt.”

Minako heard the blade come out and cringed at the thought of what they were going to do. She shut her eyes as she heard the blade slice through his skin as he cried out in pain through the stick in his mouth. Suddenly she felt a weird tingly sensation run through the ground and into her skin of her legs. She placed her hand on the ground and felt a liquid, blood. She slowly opened her eyes and was surprised to see colors through her darkness.

She looked around and saw colors swirling around everything. She looked at the ground in front of her and saw blue surrounding Neko-youkai. She looked at the woman beside her and saw hers' was a lighter blue than Neko-youkai. She looked towards the other two women and saw the wolf's was a dark green and her sister's was a light red. She looked at the ground around her and saw it was a constant greenish brown except for one spot that was turning returning to darkness of her sight.

Then the strangest of all things happened, she felt everything around her vibrate. She felt where everything was located around her and their movements. She felt exhausted and she had to close her eyes and when she opened them she saw no colors but she felt the vibration.

“There it's all out,” Mine told them as she helped Chikako raise Neko-youkai's body heat. “We just have to wait until it heals before we try to get him to move.”

“Right,” Chikako answered and then looked at the other woman, “Can you help me set up our tent?”

“Of course,” she answered.

Late that night, Chikako was standing guard as she watched over Neko-youkai she suddenly she heard the woman who helped her with the youkai, “You like him, don't you?”

Chikako turned her head to look behind her and saw the woman, “I don't know what you're talking about . . . you like the fashion from the continent, don't you?”

“Yes you do! . . . How can you tell?”

“You're not wearing a kimono anyone can see that. I'm not really fond of them either, that why I wear a shinobi shozoku under this.”

“Wait a minute! You're distracting me! You're hiding the fact that you like this man!” as she pointed to the sleeping hanyou.

“Hush!” as she quickly covered the woman's mouth and looked at Neko-youkai.

Neko-youkai just yawned and stretched out before folding his arms under his head.

Chikako uncovered the woman's mouth and answered in a whisper, “I do like him but I'm becoming a priestess. So I can never marry unless he decides to propose to me.”

“You honestly think that a man like him can admit what he feels for someone?” she asked.

“No, but maybe someday he will be able to,” as she looked at the stars.

“If he's like any other man I've seen he won't be able to.”

“Not Neko-youkai-kun, he's very different than any other man I've ever met. There's no one else like him in the world.”

“How would you know that?”

“He . . . he has had a troubled past but he's never looked back. Occasionally, though, he does wonder about his past but it's more of his family he wonders about.”

“Why is he only wearing a part of his hair in ponytail and not all of it?”

“He's a samurai but also a ninja. So he wears it like that to show he's only part samurai.”

“That makes sense . . . what about her?” nodding over to Minako.

“She's my littlest sister, my very proud littlest sister.”

“Was she . . .” the woman didn't know how to ask the question.

“She was born blind, but she has been doing quite well for herself.”

“How many siblings do you have?”

“Fifteen; a family of seventeen if you include me and our father. We're still getting bigger with my siblings getting married and all.”

“Fifteen!”

“Quiet!”

“Why? You two were so loud that you could wake the dead,” they heard Minako. They looked towards the tent and saw her coming out. “Sister, have you honestly forgotten about my over-developed sense of hearing?”

“Well . . .”

“Sometimes I believe big brother remembers a lot more than you.”

“Ouch . . .” said the woman.

“What's your name anyways?” she directed at her.

“It's Opal and what big brother? I thought she was the oldest,” as she pointed to Chikako.

“Him,” as she pointed to Neko-youkai, “Neko-chan may not be related to us but he's part of our family.”

“How long has he been with you?”

“I don't-” Chikako started.

“It's okay she's now threat to us. He's been with us for about four years,” Minako told her sister.

“Doesn't it brother you that he's a hanyou?” asked the woman

“No, we've learned to accept everyone for who they are. You two get to bed I'll keep watch.”

“But you're-”

Chikako cut her off, “She has other ways of seeing instead of using her eyes.”

“Well, alright . . .” before Opal followed her into the tent.

Minako looked towards the sky and tried to focus her reiki in trying to see the stars auras. She sighed in frustration when it didn't come and decided to try to feel the earth as she moved. She simply focused on the vibration that came to her through the ground. She focused on one and followed it to a tree. She smiled as she touched the bark of the tree and decided to open her mind to all the vibrations.

Neko-youkai woke up the next morning fully recovered and found himself staring at the greatest surprise of his life. Minako was easily moving pieces of the ground and wasn't worrying about hitting anyone. He stuttered as he said, “Mi-Minako-san . . .”

She answered without turning to him, “Good morning.”

“You can move the ground without any problems . . .”

“Yep! I can see everything better with my feet now. Like how that woman is sneaking up on you.”

Neko-youkai looked behind him and saw that Minako was right. He jumped to the side to avoid whatever she was going to do to him

“Darn it! Why did you have to tell him . . . wait a minute, how did you know I was there?” Opal asked.

“I can see with my feet even better now,” she turned to them and made the ground under Neko-youkai lift up into the air. “While you were sleeping I was practicing on becoming one with the earth, just like brother showed me.”

“You taught her that!” as she turned to look at him.

“Well, not exactly . . .” as he wobbled before he just supported himself with his hands and feet, “I just showed her how to mediate as one felt around the area for enemies.”

“I taught myself how to see the way the earth sees its' surroundings. It's so easy!”

“Minako-san can you please-”

“Minako-san!” they heard Chikako cry, “Since when could you do that?”

“Since last night after you two went to sleep,” as she dropped the hunk of earth to the ground causing Neko-youkai to shake. “I can fight with you two now, right?”

“Well . . . I don't know . . . I'll have to talk to father.” She then turned to Opal and said, “We need to head home now, thank you for your help.”

“You're welcome, goodbye,” Opal answered as she turned back to the village.

“There are never goodbyes,” Neko-youkai mumbled as they headed to their home.

The next few weeks had became weirder as they passed for now Neko-youkai was being challenged by many youkais. Most of them couldn't even get past Minako with her new abilities and proved that she could be a fighter. Week later the weirdest thing happened, Neko-youkai and Minako were wandering around the house and found everyone weren't anywhere to be seen.

Minako pointed towards the main hall and said, “They're in there.”

“Dang! You've gotten good with your sight,” he commented.

“I know I've been practicing a lot.”

They headed towards the main hall, Neko-youkai opened the door, and they were met with the whole family yelling, “Congratulations!”

Both he and Minako screamed as they jumped into each others arms scared out of their wits. Neko-youkai looked around nervously and noticed everyone was wearing their formal wear. He asked, “What's going on?”

“Takashi Minako and Saigo Made Neko-youkai please step forward,” they heard Chikako call from the end of the main hall.

They let go of each other and slowly walked towards Chikako. Minako mumbled under her breath so only Neko-youkai could hear her, “I don't like everyone staring at me.”

“Us . . .” he corrected her.

“Whatever . . .”

They stood in front of Chikako and their father, who retired to take up busy with shoguns, as her brother, Ichiro, stood beside her holding a wooden case in his arms'. Their father nodded to Chikako to continue as Neko-youkai and Minako kneeled in front of her. Chikako cleared her throat and said, “We are all gathered here to welcome two new members of the Takashi JÅnins. Takashi Minako, she was born blind and everyone, even me, thought that she could never become a ninja. She has proven that against all odds that even she could fight and see in a totally different way than anyone would've guessed. Now you are a SenshiNinja.”

Ichiro opened the case as she touched Minako's forehead to place the symbol on her before she turned to her brother and took out a headband. She turned to Minako and tied it to her head. “Saigo Made Neko-youkai, who came into the family four years ago, he has brought so much to this family.Eishi-sensei has also informed me that Neko-youkai has become a Bushido. You have also become a Senshi Ninja.” She turned to Neko-youkai, did the same thing to him as she did to Minako, he felt a slight pain but he could stand it, and, bending down slightly, tied the headband on his forehead. She straightened up and continued, “Being labeled a Senshi Ninja a rare event for now you two are JÅninsof the Takashi Clan and we welcome you.”

Neko-youkai looked ather shocked as everyone applauded again, `I can't believe it . . . I'm a ninja and a Bushido.'

Senshi means fighter. For the Takashi, Senshi Ninjas prefer to do upfront fighting or is reserved for people outside the family that have just been accepted.

Yes, my ninjas have headbands but they only wear them at ceremonies or when they deliver a message. The Takashi's have the family symbol tattooed to their body and an invisible one of their forehead so other members can identify them.