InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ An Encounter With Fate ❯ Realizations ( Chapter 12 )

A/N: here it goes again…

Disclaimer: No results. I think I might have to give up…*tear*

An Encounter with Fate

By BoredomStrikes

Chapter 12 - Realizations

Kiyoshi stirred. For a moment, he forgot everything. He thought he was still Kagome Higurashi, senior and would-be Valedictorian of the best High School in the country. He felt strange all over, as if something wasn't right. He slowly opened his eyes to check that everything was all right. He expected to find the smooth, white ceiling of Kagome's bedroom back in Tokyo, only to find it replaced with some strange, crude wooden ceiling, patched over many times.

For a moment, he was bewildered and scared. Where was he? What was he doing here? Who was he? But it was only for a moment, and then everything came flooding back. He now knew that he was Kiyoshi Takara, wanderer along with Inuyasha, Sango, Miroku and Shippo. He fought with Inuyasha, Miroku was a lech, Sango was his friend, and he was fraternal to Shippo.

But along with these memories came an unbearable pain.

His abdomen and midsection were on fire. It felt as if there were hundreds of thousands of demons were under his skin. Looting, pillaging, attacking and burning his insides. This pain was so sudden and so great that it made him arch up and gasp in pain. He tried to roll over onto his side, but this just resulted in him lurching back to his original position on his back. He lay there, gasping for air. The pain was so unbearable; he could feel tears forming in his now tightly shut-eyes.

All he did for a while was lay there, feeling the blood pulse throughout his body, quickly, and then gradually slowing down. When the pain finally ebbed away down to a dull ache and his breathing became normal, he opened his eyes.

`What happened to me?' he looked down at his body. From what he could see, he was bandaged almost head to toe. His legs weren't in good shape, his arm was in a sling, there was some kind of covering over his left eye, and he could only assume that his abdomen area was heavily bandaged as well, considering all the pain it was causing him. He must've looked like a real mess. `What the hell did I do to end up like this?!' He tried, but, but could not recalled anything. He remembered all the traveling, the meetings, the arguments, but the last thing he could recall was walking into a clearing and something diving down at him. The rest was blank.

He knew something big and important had happened. He was obviously heavily injured, and it didn't seem like he had any weapons on him. So evidently, there must have been a battle or something to get rid of his weapons. He even lacked the familiar presence of the daggers in his boots, so it must have been a long and hard struggle for him to have resorted to using his daggers.

Laying there, thinking, he heard the flap of the rice mat door flap open and shut. His left side was facing towards the door so he had to turn to see who had entered. A vague shadow was moving around, it was clearly female, but he didn't know who it was. He turned his head away again, but he turned it too much, and it knocked against the floor. He let out a hiss of pain and the figure gasped and turned sharply towards him.

Sango had entered the room, fully expecting her "patient" to still be unconscious. And for a while she believed he was, so she went on with her business. That was until she heard a sharp hiss coming from the direction of her "patient". Kiyoshi moaned and groaned in pain. She gasped and whipped around, staring at the slightly writhing form of him on the ground.

"Kiyoshi?!" she whispered sharply while moving towards him. He moaned in response, obviously in pain. "Are you awake? That is you, right Kiyoshi?"

"No, its Santa Claus," he replied sarcastically.

Sango looked at him with confusion. "Who's Sand ah claws?"

Kiyoshi silently cursed himself. "Nothing, never mind."

Still a bit confused at his answer, she came closer and knelt next to him. "How do you feel?" she asked.

"Been better," he mumbled. He closed his eyes again and began to cough. It hurt to cough, but he couldn't stop.

Seeing him in obvious pain, Sango sprang into action. She immediately began nursing him, giving him water, checking his temperature and making sure that his arm was still set. When he stopped coughing, she gave him something to drink. She said to him, "Here, drink some of this. It'll help you get better faster."

Kiyoshi drank it, not knowing how much he would regret it. When he tasted it, he almost immediately threw it back up. But Sango seemed to have known he would react this way and immediately covered his mouth so he swallowed. She then gave him water again. He drank plenty, hoping to get rid of the terrible taste. It reminded him of salty, spoiled milk. "What the hell was that crap?" he said, doing his best not to gag, as the feeling remained in his throat.

Sango couldn't help but giggle a bit at the face that he made. She didn't know that it tasted that bad. "Its something to make you better. Now go back to sleep, you need your rest."

Kiyoshi laid back on the futon he was on and closed his eyes. He was tired, very tired. But before falling back asleep, he mumbled out, "Yes mother…" before falling into another deep sleep.

Sango watched as Kiyoshi fell back asleep. Silently, she moved around and began checking his bandaging. Anxiety knotted in her stomach as she checked the bandages around his midsection. Once again, her eyes fell upon the two lumps on his chest, shrunken from the bandages constricting them, that no man his size would ever have. Anxiety welled up in her again as she thought, `Kiyoshi… how am I supposed to tell them, tell you, what I know. That I know, you are a girl?'

=*=

Inuyasha sat back with a sigh. How long are we gonna stay here? He thought as he looked up at the sky through the canopy of leaves. He was sitting in a tree, the tallest one in the area. It was the closest thing to his beloved Goshinboku tree back home. As much as he hated to admit it, the Inu-hanyou was becoming homesick. He counted every month, every week, every day that he had been away from home. It had been one year, three months, two weeks and three days he had been away from home. And still the time would have to drag on.

They had to remain in that village until Kiyoshi was well enough to travel. They had been in the village for one month, two weeks and three days. And it didn't look as if they were leaving anytime soon. According to Sango, Kiyoshi had in fact woken up, but he had gone back to sleep and had not really woken up since then.

So here he was, sitting in a tree that wasn't his, and in a village that wasn't his. Kami only knows how far he was from home. And bored. Extremely, incredibly bored out of his skull. `Bored, bored, bored, bored, bored, bored, bored, bored, bored, bored, BORED!' he thought with another sigh. `What to do, what to do, what to do…'

This was one of those moments when one was bored, would do something incredibly stupid. And since Inuyasha was well, Inuyasha, he thought, `Hmm… I wonder what wood tastes like…'

With that thought in mind, he began looking around him. He found a nice, medium sized twig not too far away. It didn't look too dead, and it didn't have a lot of leaves either. He promptly reached over and snapped it off and brought it close to his face. Looking at it intently, he started having second thoughts about his newfound interest in broadening his comestible palette. In other words, he really didn't feel like eating a twig. He just shrugged it off and mentally meh'ed as he took the un-leafy end of the twig and unhesitatingly bit off the end and began chewing.

`Hmm…don't taste half bad…' For lack of better description on Inuyasha's part, he thought it tasted like, well, wood. Very dry and tasteless, but it was good if you just wanted something to chew on. He was about to take another bite when he heard, "Inuyasha!"

The aforementioned half-demon jumped at the sudden sound of his name and slowly turned his head towards the source of the sound. Looking down towards the forest floor, he saw the upturned face of Miroku looking up at him.

"Inuyasha!" he called again. "Come down from there!"

"Keh! I'm comin', I'm comin'…" he grumbled as he silently leapt down from his perch, discreetly dropping the bitten twig along the way. He landed with such un-humanly grace and poise that you could tell that he was not human, and that he had to have had years and years of practice to land that way.

The young monk below was always still a bit awed by how his friend could do that with such ease, even after seeing it done hundreds of thousands of times for years and years.

Standing next to his violet-clad friend, Inuyasha asked grumpily, "What?!"

Miroku looked at him strangely. Was he-? "Is-is that - are you eating wood? Did you eat a twig?!"

Inuyasha paled before he felt heat rush to his face. He did something that he was good at from years of practice again. Denial. "NO! Wha - What the hell are you thinking monk?! Did Sango hit you again this morning?!"

Miroku replied thoughtfully, "Hmm… no, I don't think so. She only hits me if I touch her, and I would remember touching her - "

Inuyasha stopped him before he could continue. "Save it monk. I'm not exactly in a mood to hear your lecherous thoughts right now." He rolled his eyes. "Now what do you want that's so important that it needs me to be there?"

Miroku snapped out of his dirty daydream about Sango to answer Inuyasha, if you could call it an answer. "Huh? What?"

Inuyasha let out an aggravated sigh as he barely stopped himself from wringing Miroku's neck. "I said, what the hell do you want?!" he repeated. Again.

"Oh yeah!" he said as if he remembered some long-lost memory. "The Lady Sango requests our presence, milord." He laced the last word with sarcasm before turning away to return to the village, and to return to his daydream.

"Keh!" he replied. When Miroku had gotten far away enough, he spit the chewed up wood out onto the ground. `No way in hell am I swallowing that bull…' he thought as he tucked his hands into his sleeves and walked back to the village after Miroku.

=*=

Kiyoshi woke again to the crude and unfamiliar ceiling. After waking to it several times, he still wasn't used to it. "Sango…?" he moaned. He needed water. Badly. Raising his head a little bit, he looked around and repeated himself a bit louder, "Sango?" No reply. He lay back down before letting out an exhausted sigh before he attempted to get back up.

This was the first time he would be getting up since, well, he didn't remember much before this so, whenever he came here. He started pushing and lifting himself up while precariously balancing himself on his left hand.

After getting up as far as he could, he leant back on his left forearm, resting before continuing his trek to stand. Before he started again, he called out once more, "Sango?" Once again, no response. Part of him had hoped that she would come to his rescue and stop him from getting up, but that was only part of him. The other part wished for the exact opposite to happen, her not coming. He wanted to finally be able to get up on his own, and walk around for the first time in a long time.

Cautiously, Kiyoshi pushed himself up even further, so that he was in a sitting position. He had feared that he wouldn't be able to sit up because of the condition his midsection was in, but he had made it. With no more pain than he had usually felt, he might add. Pausing again to catch his breath, he began pushing himself up even more.

Awkwardly, he pushed himself up and turned onto his side. Pushing himself up from there, he now was in a crouching position on one knee. He paused again to catch his breath. It was now time for the moment of truth. Now he would know if he would be able to walk, or if he would forever remain on this same bed.

Taking a deep breath, Kiyoshi pushed himself up one more time, this time extending his legs so he would be in a standing position. Once he arrived at this position, he closed his eyes and braced himself for the buckling of his legs, and the pain that would shoot through his body. But none came.

Cautiously, he opened his eyes, one at a time, to survey his surroundings. He was able to do this now because a day or two ago, Sango had removed the bandage covering his eye, and again he was able to see through it.

It's amazing how different things look when you see them from above instead of from below. At the moment, Kiyoshi felt surprisingly tall despite his short stature of 5 feet. It had been the first time in a long time that he had stood, and it felt amazing, except for the fact that his legs were sore as hell.

Ever the more cautious, he took a step forward, again bracing himself for the shock of pain. Nothing again, save the sound of the floorboards creaking beneath his weight. Taking this as a good sign, he took another step. And another and another and another. What a wonderful feeling to walk again. Though his steps were small, slow, shuffling and cautious, not to mention he was almost doubled over to avoid pain in his mid-section, they were still steps.

Slowly but surely, he moved away from the futon and approached the rice mat door. Pausing, he leant against the doorframe to catch his breath. When he had successfully captured his breath, he continued through the door.

Sango had been standing over the fire pit in the middle of the room, cooking food for her and her friends when she heard a familiar, yet unexpected sound. It was the sound of the rice mat door being pushed open. It didn't come from the front, she would have seen if someone was entering, plus the door was pushed away to allow air into the stuffy room. It had come from behind her, and the only one in the back room was-

"Kiyoshi?!" she exclaimed while turning around. Sure enough, there stood the battered and bandaged Kiyoshi, standing in the doorway, pushing the door out of the way while simultaneously using the doorframe for balance.

Kiyoshi smiled a small and pained smile, before saying, "None other."

Sango rushed over to him and began helping him walk. Then she attacked him with a barrage of frenzied, but concerned, questions. "What are you doing out of bed? You can walk? How do you feel? Your legs? They don't hurt? You're doubling over, does your stomach hurt? How about your arm? You didn't put pressure on it did you? What about - "

Kiyoshi had had enough. Even with the help of Sango, there was still some difficulty walking, and Sango slowly sped up the pace. Not to mention that Sango's question barrage was giving him a headache. He had tried to stop her several times, but she wasn't listening. Finally, he practically shouted out, "SANGO!"

She looked at him bewildered and confused before asking, "What?! What's wrong?!" she was about to continue her questioning, but he knew better.

"Before you start interrogating me again," Sango blushed a bit. "I'm fine. A little sore, but I'll live." He said.

She let out a relieved sigh. "Good. Now, are you hungry? Thirsty?"

Kiyoshi couldn't help but smile and say, "Now those are some questions. Yes, very."

Sango laughed. It was good to see the Kiyoshi back to his jovial self. They had now reached their small table and sitting area. Gently, she helped Kiyoshi to sit before going off and saying, "Sit tight. I'll get you something to eat."

"And water. Lots of water." He told her as she began dishing out stew into bowls. He was pleased when she brought the jug of water and a cup for him to drink out of. He drank greedily as Sango came back with the food. When Sango had set it down, Kiyoshi immediately detached himself from the cup, and latched himself onto the bowl and chopsticks and attacked it with a vengeance.

Sango paused in bringing a piece of vegetable to her mouth and watched Kiyoshi. Oh if he and Inuyasha got in an eating contest now. But it was a sight to see such an injured man eat with such fervor. Sango brushed it off and began eating herself. Just as she finished her piece of vegetable, an empty bowl appeared in front of her face.

Kiyoshi said with a wide grin on his face, "More please."

Sango sweatdropped and her mouth dropped. Kiyoshi eating fast, okay. But Kiyoshi finishing a whole bowl of stew in less than two minutes now, was scary. "Um… okay…" she said slowly before taking his bowl and turning to get more stew.

When she returned, Kiyoshi was chugging another glass of water. He smiled as she gave him his bowl of stew and thanked her happily. This time, she didn't bother to watch Kiyoshi eat. She knew that he would soon ask her again. Which he did, multiple times until he had most likely eaten over twenty bowls, while his caretaker had only eaten around 2.

Taking advantage of the nearness of the wall, Kiyoshi leant back onto it and let out a contented sigh. That was the best meal he had had in ages. No more of that salty spoiled milk crap. He idly stared out the doorway as he felt his eyes slowly closing. He saw a rotted tree trunk with a strange design that faintly reminded Kiyoshi of a target. `Hmm… that looks like the tree trunk that I shot when we were fighting-'

That thought immediately shook the sleep out of Kiyoshi as realization hit him harder than a sack of bricks. He remembered now, the battle, Hakkaku, the trunk, all those weird creature thingies. But there was still a big blank. What had happened after the battle?

After he had killed the behino thing, he remembered successfully killing Hakkaku, and saving his friends and especially Shippo. A dim memory came like a light through the fog of him falling. Falling off of a cliff. A cliff. He realized this relatively quickly, but shock was a bit lagging. It came a moment or so later. `If I fell off of a cliff…why am I still alive?'

He rubbed the back of his neck in frustration. But his frustration did not come without worry, he realized that Hakkaku had been after the Shikon no Tama. But where was it now? Discreetly, he leant forward to feel if it was in its customary place under her chest wrap, in the space between her breasts. Again, he was shocked, but that was before he remembered that while running towards the cliff to destroy true-Hakkaku, he found their discarded bags, and quickly removed it and tucked it safely within.

Just as he relaxed, another realization hit him. He wasn't wearing a chest wrap. His eyes went wide as the thought crossed his mind, `Someone knows,' he turned his face up to look at Sango, hustling and bustling about, doing Kami knows what. `Sango… could you possibly, know? That-that I am,' he gulped `a-a girl?'

^*^

A/N: ok… first off, gomen-nasai, gomen, gomen, gomen! I'm really, really, really SORRY! so they still didn't find out that Kiyoshi is a girl/Kagome. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know! Don't you think I tried to put it in? you know how long this chapter is? 8 pages. Ok, it took me awhile to write this so the least you could do is review. I am already in the process of writing the big Revelation, so keep your shirt on. Please. You know the formula, reviews + more reviews = faster update. So you know what to do…

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