Crossover Fan Fiction ❯ Petals Falling ❯ Kindred Spirits ( Chapter 2 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any of its characters. Note that I have used some quotations from the original English version manga, but I in no way, shape, or form claim to own the aforementioned material.

 

AN/ Well, sorry. I'm not dead. -everyone boos- I know, I know, you were so hoping… But, you can't please everyone all the time.

 

Anyway, I suddenly got an inspiration for this chapter and finished it up before the next chapter of CLaET, which I hadn't planned on doing. So, here you go.

 

Fall of the Pale Petals

Chap. 2: Kindred Spirits

 

-

 

*“Curse the man,” he muttered to himself, fingering the rosary around his left wrist thoughtfully. *“An antique dealer taking advantage of a man of the cloth…after all the trouble I went through to bring the goods.”

 

The man shook his head in disappointment and patted the lumpy pocket under his violet robes. *“Alas, my only profit is this Shikon Jewel shard. Just my luck.” Glowering, he continued down the worn dirt path towards the next village. “Perhaps there will be more opportunities in Edo,” wondered the man to himself, using the large golden staff he carried much like a walking stick.

 

An ox-drawn wagon passed to his left and two young women riding atop the hay on the back smiled and waved at him. He stopped and turned towards them to wave.

 

“Why, hello, ladies! Good morning to you,” he said, grinning.

 

The man stumbled and fell on his bottom with an “Umph!” when something bumped into his shoulder and the women's giggles faded into the distance. Surprised, he turned and looked up into the face of an unhappy hanyou, pointy dog ears pinned back and fangs brandished.

 

“Watch where you're going, human!” he growled, cracking his knuckles in a show.

 

There was a tiny voice from the demon's shoulder. “Lord Inuyasha, I'm sure he did not mean to-“

 

“Excuse me, good sir,” the man in robes said, lifting himself to his feet with the aid of his staff and dusting off his clothes, “but I was stationary and I believe it was you who ran into me.”

 

Inuyasha had nothing to say to that. “Feh!” He lifted his nose into the air in a huff and tucked his arms into the sleeves of his haori.

 

“Please forgive Lord Inuyasha,” again came the tiny voice from the hanyou's shoulder. “He is upset, because he has lost his companion.”

 

“I didn't lose her, you little prick! I told you the oni threw her!” The half-demon pinched the little creature that appeared to the man to be some sort of talking flea between his claws and glowered menacingly.

 

“Yes, yes, of course, My Lord! I did not mean to imply that you would lose her on purpose!” the little flea pleaded, clawing at the hanyou's fingers as he squeezed him.

 

There was a squeak as the demon squashed the little flea flat and it floated softly to the ground. It groaned in pain.

 

“Excuse me, `her'?” The man in garb asked tentatively, interest apparently peaked by the mention of a female.

 

“Oh, yes. Lady Kagome, My Lord's traveling companion.” The little flea popped back into shape, dusted himself off, and hopped up onto the stranger's shoulder. “She is a woman from far away of the most unsullied loveliness! Young, tender flesh, breath-taking eyes, and blood like sweet nectar!” the little flea licked his lips and rubbed his two pairs of hands together.

 

The man looked down at the flea creature with intrigued, indigo eyes. “My, my! She sounds like a beauty!” The man rubbed his chin thoughtfully and leaned against his dowel. “As a man of Buddha, I could never refuse a damsel in distress. Especially one so young and pretty. I would be happy to join you, uh…?”

 

“Myouga the flea,” the little demon introduced himself, hopping from the stranger's shoulder to the hanyou's. “And this is my ward Lord Inuyasha.” The young demon snorted wryly.

 

“A pleasure to meet you both. My name is Miroku. I am a traveling monk. You do not mind if I help you in the search for Lady Kagome, do you, Inuyasha-san?” Miroku asked amiably.

 

Inuyasha, who had already resumed walking down the dirt road towards the southeast, did not turn his head to answer. “Do what you please, monk. Just don't get in my way.”

 

Miroku smiled affably and began following the hanyou down the road, the rings on his golden rod jangling with every step. He turned his head to the flea when it landed on his shoulder. “Myouga-san, how did Inuyasha-san lose the Lady Kagome?”

 

“I didn't lose her!” came an angry shout from ahead of them.

 

Myouga ignored the hanyou and answered, “Lady Kagome and Lord Inuyasha were fighting-“

 

“I was fighting.”

 

“Ahem, Inuyasha was fighting an oni when it picked up Lady Kagome and Shippo, a young orphaned fox kit that travels with them, and threw them far away,” the flea explained, jumping up and down and waving his arms in excitement. “It is such a tragedy. Poor Lady Kagome is such a nice girl.”

 

A dubious snort was heard from ahead.

 

Miroku pondered this for a moment. “So how do we know how to find her?”

 

“Well,” Myouga said to him, “we plan to just ask around the towns. See if they've seen anything. And Inuyasha's got quite a nose on him, too. If anyone can find her, it'll be him.”

 

“I see.” Miroku lifted a garbed hand to his chin and stroked an imaginary beard thoughtfully. “Tell me Myouga-san, this Lady Kagome… How are her breasts?”

 

Inuyasha turned around with a cherry blush across his cheeks, snarling at the both of them. “What kind of holy man are you, monk?!”

 

Myouga laughed nervously. “Hehe, I wouldn't know anything about that sort of thing, bou-san.”

 

 

 

“I spy with my little eye something… blue!” Shippo piped, skipping happily alongside Kagome as they trekked across the seemingly endless beach.

 

Kagome scanned their surroundings: ocean, sand, palm trees. She smiled and with exaggerated movements pretended to think deeply on the subject. “Hm… whatever, whatever, could it be that Shippo-chan sees? How aboooout… the ocean!”

 

“Kagome! You always get it!” Shippo laughed and scampered up onto her shoulder. “Gosh, Kagome. It's so hot here. Where do you think we are?” he asked, pulling at his clothes in annoyance.

 

“Well… I don't actually know, Shippo-chan. I can't remember which way we were thrown.” Kagome didn't like to say it, especially to Shippo, but she couldn't lie to him. “But if you're hot, Shippo-chan, why don't you take your vest off? It seems like it would be awfully warm.”

 

The little kit nodded and took off his outer fur vest and his haori, handing them to Kagome from her shoulder. She stopped and set her giant bag in the sand and knelt down to fold the clothes and place them carefully into one of the numerous pockets.

 

“It's a very nice vest, Shippo-chan,” she told him, sitting down beside the faded yellow bag and leaning on it tiredly.

 

“M-hm,” the little boy nodded, “Mama made it for me from a deer skin that Papa brought home for her one winter.” He climbed up and sat beside her on the bag, fiddling with a strap, lost in thought.

 

Kagome fidgeted, regretting bringing up the tender subject of the fox's parents. She cast about for something to ease the tension until she felt her belly rumble at being neglected for so long. “I think it's time for lunch, don't you, Shippo-chan?”

 

She was relieved when he looked up at her beaming and nodding enthusiastically. “M-hm!”

 

 

Youko leaned back against the trunk of the tree and petted his tails fondly in his lap, watching the girl and the kit as they shared a bag of… well, he wasn't sure what they were. They were crunchy and smelled salty and came from a shiny silver bag, the likes of which he'd never seen. Such an odd girl…

 

His ears twitched when she mentioned something about her home. He leaned in and listened carefully for any clues of her obviously foreign origin. But she didn't give anything away; just mentioned how she and her brother liked to build something called a “sandukasuru” when they went to the beach. Her speech seemed guarded.

 

He leaned back to relax again when the conversation turned towards more mundane topics. There was a noise from deeper in the forest, a great rustling. Youko lifted his nose to the air and sniffed delicately, but soon regretted it when he caught a whiff of something rank.

 

`A boar. Hm… I wonder how she will handle it?' The fox could hear it getting closer, probably attracted by the smell of the pair's food.

 

He listened as the animal got closer and closer. Still, there was no sign from the girl that she had sensed it.

 

`Her chi is so large. She must be able to feel it.' He watched with growing anticipation as the wild boar grew ever closer. Neither the girl nor the little fox showed any sign of detecting a trace of the approaching danger.

 

The boar was so close now that Youko could hardly bare the putrid stench that clung to the thing. And still the girl had not noticed. But the young red fox who sat munching on the snack beside her had lifted his nose to the air. Youko watched as the boy's brow crinkled pensively.

 

 

“Kagome?” Shippo muttered, wrinkling his nose childishly at the smell permeating from the nearby tree line. When his companion didn't answer, he looked over to her to see an odd look on her face. He vaguely thought it seemed sort of empty… like it wasn't really Kagome looking through those starry blue eyes.

 

Suddenly, Kagome blinked and expression returned to her eyes. Instead of the empty look, now there was worry. She had felt something just then. She couldn't quite place it… like a chilly premonition. Like she knew something bad was about to happen, she just didn't know what. It was frustrating, to say the least.

 

“Something's not right here, Shippo-chan.” She looked down to Shippo, who was now cuddled in her lap, nose covered and a greenish tint to his cheeks.

 

“What's wrong Shippo-chan? Are you sick, sweetheart?” She asked him worriedly.

 

He nodded. “Can't you smell that?” came a muffled cry from her lap.

 

“Smell whaaaaaa- Oh my god!” Kagome yelped when the smell hit her like a brick wall. She ducked down and buried her nose in the fabric of her backpack. The dirty, sea-drenched bag smelled like roses compared to the gross stench now approaching from the forest.

 

A pig-like squeal sounded from the trees just before a huge boar burst from the foliage and onto the sand, beginning a mad dash towards the pair and the smell of food.

 

Kagome screamed and tossed Shippo from her lap just before the swine leaped onto her. The demon pig was twice her size and ugly as sin, a mess of dirty matted hair and gnarly gray tusks. It attacked and dug its huge wet nose into her stomach, sniffing furiously even as she flailed and screamed wildly.

 

She tried to get away as its tusks dug into her skin, but it wouldn't let her escape. She screamed again and tears ran down her cheeks as the pig's tusks ripped through her skin like a serrated knife.

 

It didn't quite register to Kagome when her vision began to go purple. She was too focused on defending herself from the demon's hungry mouth. But suddenly, a peaceful wave overcame her. This had happened once before. She grasped at her flying thoughts to remember, but couldn't quite place this familiar feeling as everything around her was floating away. Her mind began to fog and curiously, the pain slowly dissipated. She felt like she was levitating. In the far reaches of her mind, almost as if in the background, an inhuman scream registered in her mind.

 

That was the last thing she remembered before it all went blank.

 

 

He wasn't sure if he should get any closer. It had been nearly twenty minutes since she had completely destroyed the demon boar. He had been yards away and even he could feel the power behind that blow.

 

Youko approached cautiously, one step at a time, slowly inching his way towards the girl even as he postured himself so that to any passerby, he wouldn't be a nervous fox but a tall, proud demon with nothing to fear. But, if only to himself, he'd admit that he was a little disturbed by the giant outburst.

 

Her eyes had glowed with a purple light just before it happened, he could recall. He tucked this bit of information away for future reference. Then there was a large burst of pure white luminescence. When it dissipated, the boar was in three pieces and the girl's fox companion had been flung twenty feet away.

 

It all happened so fast, it hardly registered to him when he came to his senses that he had dismounted his tree and was already half-way towards her when the girl had let loose the enormous burst of energy. He would mull over this bit later, when he wasn't so… occupied.

 

His fur stood on end as he continued to creep forward. He took one step, stopped, and listened. He felt the air around him crackle with electricity. Still tiny crooked lines of white lightning jumped from the unconscious girl's fingertips.

 

As he observed the still form of the girl lying in the sand, her hair fanned out around her head like a black halo, he felt a twinge of pity for her. Her childlike features were drawn into a pained grimace as she slept in a forced slumber, unaware of the world. There was a large gash across each of her forearms where she had tried to defend herself from the boar's enormous tusks.

 

There was a movement to his left and he was gone before the girl's kit had a chance to see him.

 

 

Shippo groaned and sat up from the sand, holding his head in pain. Looking around him, he saw Kagome and the corpse of the boar laying in three pieces around her and suddenly remembered how it had attacked them.

 

“Kagome!” He shook off the sand and rushed over to her, ignoring the purple sparks still jumping from her hands. He patted her cheeks and whispered her name worriedly.

 

With a moan of pain Kagome was pulled from her sleep. The tiny sparks of electric energy dissipated immediately as she opened her eyes and warily sat up. She looked around in confusion and crawled back in a panic when she spotted the corpse of the boar demon in front of her. “Oh, gross!” she exclaimed, covering her nose.

 

“Kagome! You're Okay!” The little fox gleefully jumped up on her shoulder, nuzzling his face into her neck. She smiled fondly and reached up to pat his head, but hissed in pain as her wound was stretched. She looked down at the lacerations on her arms and then looked over to the pig.

 

She stared with horror in her eyes at the three pieces savagely torn apart, the corpse still steaming in the afternoon sun.

 

“My god… Did I do that?”

 

“Um… I think so.” Shippo scratched his head in confusion, having recalled the bright energy that had sprung from his companion's hands just before he was thrown away from her.

 

“I…” Kagome didn't know what to say. “I didn't know I could do that,” she whispered. She'd never killed anything with her bare hands. It was a little disturbing to think that she could rip something like that apart so easily.

 

“Well it was a good thing you did or we would have been that thing's meal!” Shippo scurried over to her pack and looked at the bag of potato chips lying in the sand. Kagome picked up the bag and looked inside. Sand was mixed in with the chips. They were inedible now. She sighed with exasperation and rolled the bag up, placing it back in her backpack. She always made it a point to take her trash with her. It certainly wouldn't do for any archeologists from the future digging up modern-day items dating from the Sengoku Jidai.

 

“It'd start an archeological riot,” she giggled to herself. Shippo gave her a confused look and she quickly covered it up by suggesting they find some fresh water and somewhere to settle down for the night.

 

 

 

The girl was certainly a puzzle, Youko mused to himself, reclining in a tree near a clearing in the forest where his latest obsession had set up camp. They'd come across a small stream and settled down in the nearest clearing they could find. It was still a few minute's walk to the water.

 

He watched with amusement as the kit came stumbling into the clearing with an armload of small sticks he'd gathered off the ground. He tripped in the waning light of the sunset, his load scattering in front of him, and the girl immediately rushed over to him to make sure he had not injured himself. He almost smiled at the way her eyes sparkled with concern, the way his own mother's had when he had fallen when he was young.

 

Youko shifted in his tree, bringing his long tails around to cradle in his lap. He began to stroke them fondly, continuing to observe the strange girl as she helped the little fox gather the sticks and then proceed to show him how to build a fire. When she finished, she rolled out what she called her “sleeping bag” and then tucked the kit into it with a tender kiss on his forehead, saying that she was going to go bathe and she'd be back in a few minutes.

 

This, of course, peeked the fox's interest and he grinned deviously. He watched with anticipation as the girl gathered her bow and arrows and a few more items from her bag and then followed her eagerly into the forest towards the stream.

 

This, he was sure, would prove to be worth his while.

 

 

 

Kagome pulled her towel close around her as she stepped into the cold water of the creek. She waded out into the middle, throwing her towel to the bank when it was deep enough to cover her. She stood, shivering, in the moving water that came up to her waist, her arms covering her chest. Finally working up the courage, she closed her eyes and held her nose, quickly dunking the rest of her body under the freezing water. She nearly screamed it was so cold.

 

Whimpering in the chilly water, she moved over to the bank and grabbed her bottle of shampoo. Looking around to make sure there really was no one watching, she quickly lathered her hair and ducked back under once more to rinse it.

 

When she came back up, she laid the bottle back onto the bank and reached for her towel.

 

But it wasn't there.

 

Kagome's eyes widened as she looked frantically around her for the missing item, searching all the bank and even the branches of the trees. It wasn't to be found. She tried to think of what could have happened to it. She was only under the water for a few seconds.

 

`Maybe…Maybe the wind blew it away.' No, the wind wasn't strong enough tonight to blow such a heavy towel away. She blushed from head to toe as she realized what this meant.

 

Someone had to have taken it. And if someone took it, then someone was watching her.

 

She shivered, the sudden chill having little to do with the freezing water rushing around her.

 

Kagome's breath quickened as she looked around her, searching her surroundings for any sign of the culprit. Everything was still. She cleared her throat nervously and looked back to the bank, seeing her clothes still folded neatly on her bag. Well at least the thieving pervert had left her those.

 

Swallowing hard, she rushed out of the water and dressed as quickly as she could, pulling on her shorts in just under four seconds. Cautiously, she rung out her hair and packed her shampoo, never taking her eyes off the silent forest around her. Looking around one more time in hopes of finding the missing towel and putting her fears to rest, but with no such success, she dashed back to the camp.

 

 

 

Youko snickered sneakily as he folded the towel carefully and laid it on the sleeping bag beside the resting kit before jumping back into the trees. He wanted to return the stolen towel to make sure that the girl understood that he meant her no harm. He simply wanted to play a little joke.

 

`And what a good joke it is,' he thought with a chuckle. Well, at least he'd gotten a good show. The girl had blushed from head to toe, as he'd seen.

 

`Yes, I certainly saw from head to toe,' he thought, grinning as he recalled the sight of the flustered girl pulling on her clothes as fast as she could. Not fast enough for him not to have caught a flash of her young, tender flesh, though.

 

He was pulled from his rather devious thoughts by the sound of the girl coming back into the clearing, her chest heaving from her run through the forest. He watched as she searched the clearing, still blushing furiously, and grinned when she spotted the towel.

 

She gasped and picked it up, touching it, unable to believe it was really her towel. She looked around her again, he guessed hoping to find some clue as to how it had gotten back here. When she found nothing, she sighed and placed the towel back into her bag.

 

Youko watched her lay her bow and arrows down beside her and wrap some cloth around her arms to keep the sand out of the wounds before crawling into the sleeping bag with the slumbering kit. With one last visual search, her eyes drifted closed and she joined her companion in sleep.

 

-

 

AN/ *snickers* You know, I hadn't actually planned on having Youko steal her towel in the first place, but when I started writing the scene, I just thought that that would be such a perfect “Youko thing” for him to do. Anyway, I think the chapter turned out a little shorter than usual, but it couldn't be helped.

 

I've thought about somehow bringing Kuronue into the story, but I'm not sure about that yet. I don't really think I know enough about his personality to do him justice. We'll see.