InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Beautiful Stranger ❯ Killer Squirrels and Hydrogen Peroxide ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimer: Inuyasha and all related characters are property of Rumiko Takahashi. I am not profiting from this in any way.

Note: Started as a bunny bite (r0o, you've got to stop hiding those suckers in chat when you're not there), but turned into a piece for Priestess Skye’s Weekly Challenge for the theme ‘Toxic’. Will be a weekly/bi-weekly serial.

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Kagome shivered. It was another winter for the books. It seemed each winter had been colder and colder since she decided to stay in the Feudal Era. Maybe it was the lack of central heating units, hot cocoa, and heavenly hot baths. As each year passed, each winter seemed much more brutal than the last. The only perk Kagome could think of was the amazing spring that always followed, and the fields of wild flowers. Miroku and Sango’s girls were finally old enough to steadily run, so she anticipated the coming spring and the two running through the fields like she remembered Rin doing the many times she visited the village. Spring thoughts were nice, though they didn’t change the fact she was trudging through the snow in search of a mystery herb that Kaede required for one of her concoctions. 

She had been out in the clearings around the village for hours, searching for a plant she had never seen in the wild, only dried in Kaede’s herb stores. From what the older miko had described, it had green foliage and thorns on the stems, with blood red berries that would make the plant stand out in even the heaviest of snows. She had no clue what the plant was, but Kaede explained that it made an exceptional balm for muscle aches. Winter was the only time it would grow, unfortunately, so she sent Kagome out with a pat on the shoulder and a thermos of hot stew. If Kaede had been any younger, Kagome would have had a selfish moment and told the woman to do it her damn self. She had been doing for others and ignoring herself for as long as she could remember. 

If it wasn’t bad enough she was out searching for a hard to find plant she had never seen before out in the dead of winter, she was alone. Sango was in the middle of yet another pregnancy, leaving Miroku to keep an eye on their two daughters. The monk may have whined about it, but Kagome knew in her heart that Miroku secretly loved playing dolls with them. Inuyasha wouldn’t even come with her, citing that he wanted to spend as much time with his new wife as he could while they were still in that ‘honeymoon’ phase. She wanted to kick herself for even introducing him to that phrase when they talked about marriage. 

She may not have been one to poormouth herself, but after spending so long in the cold looking for a plant that refused to be found, Kagome was ready to complain to anyone who would listen. She would rather be in her drafty yet warm hut reading a book or spending time with Shippou. 

Slowly she trudged on, cursing the snow that was knee deep in some places. She couldn’t ever remember the snow getting that bad in her time. How would people manage in the city? Travel in Tokyo was horrible enough without adding snow to the mix. She sighed and wondered how Mama, Souta, and Grandpa were doing. Just because she didn’t belong in their time anymore didn’t mean that she missed them any less. 

Life had changed so much since she decided to stay in the past. As there was no more jewel, there wasn’t any reason for her and her companions to go traipsing about Japan and battle almost every other day. The most excitement she had experienced in her recent memory was when there was a rogue water demon scaring the tar out of travelers who passed his section of the river. She and Inuyasha had dispatched the demon with absolutely no problems and life went back to normal. Sango and Miroku started their family and Inuyasha settled down with one of the village girls. At first Kagome was hurt; she was hurt that he had moved on so quickly after they decided to keep their relationship a friendship. The hurt moved to jealousy rather quickly. It wasn’t ‘Inuyasha and Kagome’ that the villagers sought out if they needed assistance with a demon or even some light manual labor; it was ‘Inuyasha and Sumire’ who were called for assistance in even the smallest tasks. Sometimes Kagome felt that she wasn’t needed in the village at all, even though she was in training with two other women under Kaede. 

Unlike the other single women in the village, Kagome had her own hut that she shared with Shippou. Inuyasha built it for her, something that surprised her. It wasn’t anything like the other huts in the village. He had taken clues from the construction in her time and built a nice multi-room building for her that had everything; bedrooms, a large kitchen area, a small living area, even an ‘indoor outhouse’. In reality it was something too large just for her and her adopted kit. He built a similar structure for himself and his new wife, but on a much smaller scale. Sumire had commented that even that was too much. She was such a humble and sweet woman that Kagome had a hard time hating her. She just hated the feeling of being replaced. 

A splotch of red among the fresh snow caught her attention and drew her out of her thoughts. Doing a mental happy dance, she made her way to it, hoping that she had finally found the elusive plant so she could get the hell out of the forest and back into the warmth of her hut. Kagome gasped. Instead of a prickly little plant she found blood. She knelt down and sniffed it. Judging from the smell and color, it was fresh. She stood again and looked around for the source. Nothing caught her eye, save for the splotchy trail of red wove a crooked path into the forest. 

Her senses went on high alert, feeling out any demons that might be in the area. Whatever was bleeding was bleeding badly, and she needed to get to it, human, youkai, or animal. No poor creature deserved to be left out in the dead of winter bleeding to death in the snow. 

Kagome followed the trail of blood through the snow, deeper into the forest. She knew it wasn’t the best of ideas, leaving the village unarmed in the dead of winter in search of whatever creature made the trail. The prints looked human enough, or humanoid youkai. Regardless of who or what they were, they were in dire need of help. Luckily for them, they had a time traveling miko on the case, armed with modern first aid knowledge and a hideous yellow backpack full of supplies. 

As she got closer to the source, the smell of blood tickled her nose. It was an unmistakable smell, one she wouldn’t soon forget after spending her most recent years on the battlefield. The smell grew stronger and stronger; she knew she was close. Unfortunately the source of the smell was hidden, something that bothered her. It was only natural to hide when injured, but from the smell and the amount of blood lost they couldn’t have gotten very far. 

The closer to the smell she got, the trail of blood seemed to dissipate, until the trail stopped completely. She looked around, hoping that she hadn’t been lured away from the village on purpose. Even years after the final battle with Naraku, years after the jewel had been purified, she was still a target by the youkai that didn’t seem to get the memo that she was nothing more than a village miko in training. 

The low brush in the distance rustled. Kagome reached into her backpack and pulled out her heavy flashlight, the only thing that she could use to defend herself if the need arose. “Hello?” she called, hoping to get a response from the creature in the brush. “Hello?” she called again, after receiving no response. 

As she closed in on the rustling a squirrel darted out of the low foliage and ran straight for her. She screamed and dashed to the side, falling into the snow after she lost her footing on the slippery ground. The squirrel jumped onto a nearby tree, stopping half way up the trunk to look at her and shake its tail, like it was laughing at her. Kagome glared at it. “That wasn’t funny, ya know!” The squirrel shook its tail again, as if it was telling her ‘no, it was hilarious’, and went higher into the tree’s branches.

Kagome stood and started brushing the snow from her clothing. The brush shook again, not as rapidly as it did before. She moved closer. “If you are a squirrel planning on scaring me to death, so help me I will purify you into tomorrow when I get my hands on you…”

Cautiously, she approached the brush. The smell of blood intensified. Whatever was injured was hiding there. Going against everything she had been taught in the Feudal Era, Kagome leaned down and parted the foliage, revealing a huddled figure. “You’re not a squirrel.” She didn’t know what it was; it was humanoid, with long and matted black hair. She reached out and touched the figure with a gloved hand. As expected, the injured being thrashed out at her, moaning in a way that chilled Kagome to the bone even more so than the snow around her. 

“Oh my god,” she gasped, covering her mouth with her hand. The being had come out of it’s huddle and was staring at her. It was definitely a male, covered in cuts and bruises, wearing a filthy and tattered garment that she could only assume had once been a pair of silk pants. His long hair was matted so badly Kagome imagined that there was no saving it, only cutting it. “It’s going to be alright, I’m going to help you.” She threw her flashlight to the ground and tore off her backpack, then dumped it. 

He stared up at her, a tired expression in his eyes. “Who are you?” the man asked, his voice strained from clear lack of use. 

“My name is Kagome,” she replied as she began preparing her supplies. “What is your name?”

The man didn’t reply at first, just stared at the sky. “I’m….I’m not sure.”

She smiled reassuringly. “Once I get you patched up you’re coming back to the village with me. You’re in no condition to be out in the middle of the forest in the snow!”

“Village?” he asked. His violet eyes went from calm to concerned. “I don’t want to go to the village!” He quickly sat and backed away from her. 

“No, don’t move!” she cried, grabbing for his hand. “You will only hurt yourself more!”

“I won’t let you take me there!” He tried to stand, but his weak legs wouldn’t allow it and he fell to the ground. "They will kill me!"

"They won't kill you, I promise!" Kagome went to him and took off her jacket. “Let me help.” She put the jacket around his shoulders and went back to her dumped bag to gather what she needed. "They are used to...unusual happenings," she said, laughing lightly. "I came under unusual circumstances and was welcomed with open arms." 'Eventually,' she added, mentally.

It seemed that the man had given up the fight after he found he couldn’t flee. One by one, Kagome patched up his wounds, taking particular care with the deeper lacerations that covered his chest, the wounds she assumed created the trail through the forest. He winced a bit as she stitched the nastier wounds closed, though she found it funny that he took it much better than Inuyasha did.

Methodically she worked her way down both of his arms, and finally down to his hands. “Ooh, this one might sting a bit,” she said, looking at a particularly nasty wound on his right hand. She uncapped her last bottle of peroxide and poured a capful onto the wound, holding firmly as he tried to jerk away. The peroxide bubbled away, cleaning the deep wound, much to the mysterious man’s displeasure.

“What sort of toxin is that!” he bellowed. “You’re trying to kill me!”

She laughed lightly. “It’s supposed to do that!” Once confident that the wound was clean she wiped away the peroxide, slathered on a healing balm, and bandaged it. Gramps would be proud of her, finally appreciating the mixture of old and new!

“What sort of horrible magic is that?” he asked her, his brows deeply furrowed. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“It’s called hydrogen peroxide. It’s something from my time.”

“Hydrogen peroxide. Your time.” He repeated both words slowly, all while staring at her like she had grown another head. “Are you a witch?”

She shook her head. “Nope. Just your average miko.” She wanted to laugh at the confusion written on his face. “I’ll tell you the full story once we get back to the village.”

“I’m not sure if I want to hear it right now,” he replied. “I just want to sleep.”

“I’ll make a pallet for you as soon as we get back and you eat something.”

He nodded. “Thank you, Kagome.”

“There,” she said, “all done.” 

Now that the man was somewhat out of the danger zone, the world around her seemed to crash down. The shivers she had been fighting for the benefit of her ‘patient’ came on in full force. 

“You’re cold.”

“I’m fine.” She returned to her bag and packed away the items she had dumped. “But if we don’t get back to the village soon, I won’t be fine for much longer. Neither will you.”

He looked like he wanted to flee again. “I don’t want to go.”

“Maybe someone knows you there. If not, you will at least be warm and dry and have a hot meal.”

He still looked nervous, even when Kagome returned to him to help him up. “The last village I was in wanted me dead.”

“For what?” she asked. “You don’t exactly look like the most hardened criminal.”

It was a challenge, but Kagome managed to help the man from the ground. Slowly, but steadily, they worked their way back to the clearing near the village. 

He shook his head. “I don’t know. They called me a demon!”

Kagome smiled, remembering her first encounter with the people of her current home. “I know how you feel,” she said. “The people of my village are used to things like that.”