InuYasha Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Breathless ❯ Sickness ( Chapter 30 )

Disclaimer: I do not own anything, neither Inuyasha, nor Sailor Moon.

 

 

Chapter Twenty Nine.

 

 

`Sickness'

 

 

It was late in the afternoon the following day, and the young woman had currently taken to walk around the fields, thankful that her tutor priestess had decided a bit earlier to end their session of training for that day, so her apprentice could have a tidbit of free time for herself.

 

 

As she walked, the young girl considered the most recent developments.

 

 

Almost a week had passed since her arrival at the village, and Usagi could no longer understand what she'd been so afraid about, that time days before, when the detachments Kanna and Byakuya had seen her off at the outskirts of the very human settlement in which she currently resided.

 

 

In other words, yes; she'd been very afraid, at the beginning, that these people might harbor great hatred for youkai, and that terrible comments on them would be the single thing she'd be hearing day and day out during her entire stay; or even afraid of the reprisal they might take if, when they found out she consorted with the enemy… but that had hardly been the case once she was definitely installed amongst them.

 

 

Which meant, yes; the inhabitants of the village were frightened of youkai, but only of some of them, the type that seemed to take pleasure in attacking their homes and putting their farmlands and very lives in danger. They did acknowledge the simple truth that not all demons were like this, though, which brought a great sense of relief upon Usagi…; it gave her hope that, if she could ever manage to convince some of them that her own youkai friends weren't violent, perhaps they might be allowed to visit her with no need for hiding from time to time.

 

 

Speaking of visits, she was a little worried because she yet had to hear anything from Tsumi or Aku… Up till now, the only ones that had deigned to come around and check up on her were the same two incarnations that had escorted her to the place days prior: Byakuya and Kanna… not the people Usagi would exactly have preferred that drop by.

 

 

For starters, the only `skin or hair' she'd seen of Byakuya had been that… that… ugh! …That disgusting extractable eyeball of his with the creepy bat wings... She'd seen it come over floating several times to hover above her and Kaede-Baba's heads while they were busy talking… or should she say, while Kaede-Baba was talking and she was busy listening… Either way, it'd been a miracle how the aged priestess had yet to spot the flying organ, which seemed to purposely choose the riskiest of places to show up, just to incommode her; at the same time making the blonde terribly nervous that someone might catch sight of this and inform the priestess that they were being spied on.

 

 

`That moron Byaka…' the blonde grumbled to herself, refusing to call him by his real name out of spite this time around.

 

 

In spite of everything, one thing the youth had to admit was that she'd gotten what she wanted: to meet new people and make new friends. Out off all the new people she'd met, however, one had to reckon Kaede-sama had been the one who'd acted the nicest; taking her in, agreeing to give her miko training, modifying that training later on to accommodate to the blonde's wishes, sharing her food and clothes with her apprentice, and being quite patient and tolerant as she'd been, all despite that fact which Usagi already knew well about herself: the one that she could often be so…, well, …annoying.

 

 

Okay… so one of the reasons she'd been privately afraid to take a step into the village was that Niraya-sama and the others might be the only ones in the entire universe who had the capacity for putting up with her constant whining… She was quite happy that she'd been apparently wrong.

 

 

`Note to self: never underestimate the humans' stamina and resistance for variable forms of audible torture' she thought with a dummy playful grin.

 

 

Now, the blonde speculated with a finger to her chin, if she could only get to talk to Niraya-sama and tell him that the humans of this particular village weren't as bad as he thought… she was sure thing would improve greatly. The longer she stayed with these people, the more she became convinced that it'd been all probably nothing more than a misunderstanding…

 

 

“Togebuki-san..? …Togebuki-san! Come play with us!!” suddenly Usagi heard an infant's joyful voice calling after that familiar name from behind her, snapping her out of her mental reverie.

 

 

…This was the name of a pretty yellow colored flower in Japan… the children of the village had come to call her that because of her bright golden hair, which reminded them of the full bloom Togebuki.

 

 

“…Togebuki-san?” she heard again as she was turning around. Usagi's eyes lightened up when they settled on the young little raven haired boy that had called her… another one of her newly made friends.

 

 

“Ryuji-chan!” she greeted as she smiled indulgently “what are you guys doing?” she asked as she bent to his level, gesturing to the rest of the kids with him in the meadow.

 

 

The children all giggled and laughed as they beckoned her forward. To them, she was already like another playmate, or perhaps a chummy big sister … they felt as if they'd known her all their lives… and so did Usagi feel about them; she simply adored the group of cute little children.

 

 

“We're playing `Make-the-bird-come-out-of-the-basket'! It's a game shown to us by Kagome-sama!” they said with excitement “She says every kid plays it in her homeland… Usagi-sama, do you want to play?”

 

 

“Is that so?” Usagi said quite intrigued, having heard frequently of this Kagome person “What's it about?”

 

 

“Here, come with me… I'll show you!” a brown haired little girl by the name of Yumi took her by the hand; pulling her towards the other children who surrounded the two of them eagerly “One of us is chosen to be the oni and sits blindfolded while the others join hands, walking around him in circles and chanting the song… When the song stops, the oni, the ogre, speaks aloud the name of the person behind him, and if he is right, that person will exchange places with the oni… and then we start the game all over again”

 

 

“You can be the oni first, Togebuki-san! Would you like to be the oni?” another of the children, a girl named Saki asked her.

 

 

Not wishing to spoil the child's enthusiasm, the blonde accepted. “Um… okay! Where do I have to sit?”

 

 

“Right there, in the middle!”

 

 

Usagi did as she was asked, sitting down and allowing one of the kids to cover her eyes with a piece of cloth… now only their voices were distinguishable.

 

 

Soon enough, she heard them commence with the singing.

 

 

“Kagome… Kagome… Kago no naka ni Tori wa… Itsu Itsu deyaru? Yoake no ban ni… Tsuru to Kame ga subetta… Ushiro no shoumen dare?...”

 

 

`Mhm… It's kind of a pretty song' the blonde thought in silence.

 

 

“Who's behind you now, Togebuki-san?” she heard one of the girls ask. Usagi laughed secretly through her grinning lips.

 

 

This was so easy

 

 

“Oh, I don't know… Seeing that the voice that just spoke came from right behind me… I think… I think… It was…. YUMI!!” the blonde shouted as she turned around in a flash to grab the scurrying little girl in her arms and begin tickling her tummy madly “You shouldn't have talked!”

 

 

“Ahh ahahaha!!! Stop! Stop please, that tickles, Usagi-sama!” the child, Yumi, could't stop giggling as she thrashed to both sides and struggled trying to get out of her older capturer's embrace.

 

 

“It's supposed to tickle!” the blonde said evilly, also with a playful smirk. She was just having too much fun; till she recalled something else.

 

 

…The laughter of another child. Usagi made a pause.

 

 

`I wonder… I wonder how Lord Sesshoumaru and little Rin are…' she pondered a bit sadly.

 

 

“Usagi-sama, are you alright?”

 

 

“Huh?” she shifted to look up at the girl who had questioned her “Oh, yes I'm fine, Saki” she smiled. “Just remembering something…”

 

 

`I'm turning into Kaede-Baba' she noted with some dismay `Does this mean I am really getting old?' she shook her head adamantly in the next instant `…What a silly idea…'

 

 

She turned to look at the one in her arms “So… does this mean you're the new oni, Yumi-chan? …Oh! What a pretty oni! What an adorable little oni!” she chirped as she tickled her some more. It was simply addicting. Usagi wondered if it'd be the same when she had her own children…

 

 

Unexpectedly, an incredibly painful pang clutched at her chest. Totally out of the blue, Usagi felt as if they'd just punched the breath out of her. `Why am I so suddenly feeling this way?!'

 

 

“Usagi-sama?”

 

 

But the teen couldn't come out of her state yet. Her head had begun to hurt.

 

 

A vision of big reddish brown eyes and pinkish soft hair flashed before her mind's eye.

 

 

A childlike voice shouting something echoed in the distance…

 

 

…“Usagi no Baka!!!”…

 

 

Gasp! …Who?!—

 

 

These feelting images… again?!

 

 

“Itai!” the blonde clutched her head, jumping as a particularly nasty strike of pain rendered her temporarily frozen, doubling over and curling slightly into a protective ball afterwards.

 

 

“Usagi-sama?!” the kids repeated this time growing frantic, and Usagi raised her arm in a pacifying fashion.

 

 

“Are you sick?!”

 

 

“I'm okay, it's alright… just one of my usual headaches” she fought a wave of nausea as she rubbed circles on her sweat-covered forehead.

 

 

“Uh? Do you have these headaches all the time?” one of the kids asked curiously with his head tilted to the side.

 

 

“Very often; yes…” the blonde nodded with a tired smile, getting straight back up slowly “but it's nothing to worry about”

 

 

The kids didn't buy it, though. She was suddenly looking very pale.

 

 

“But, Usagi-sama… if you have those headaches very often, it could be a dark spirit that's intruded inside your head's doing! We should tell Kaede-sama, she would surely know a way to expel it!”

 

 

“I'm gonna go call Kaede-sama!” Ryuji exclaimed as he prepared to go.

 

 

“No!” the older youth raised a hand to stop him “I'm fine, really… Just give me a couple of minutes and it'll pass… it always does. Can we… can we return to the game?” she solicited weakly.

 

 

The village children didn't look very convinced for a second, their faces darkened with worry, but one look into her pleading eyes quickly made each one of them give in, and they nodded.

 

 

A hesitant Yumi took her rightful place in the middle of their small crowd, and the children began circling and chanting the song again.

 

 

“Kagome… Kagome… the bird in the cage, when will you come out? In the evening of the dawn, the crane and turtle slipped. Who stands right behind you now?”

 

 

To Be Continued.