InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Cursed ❯ Day Seventy Six ( Chapter 5 )

Chapter Five - Day Seventy Six

 

Shin watched as Tanaka grabbed a large leather sack that she used to carry loads of wood on her back. The storm that had blanketed them with several feet of impassable snow had melted off just enough for light, nearby traveling. He'd noticed the way she started to pace about in anticipation of getting out of the confining little hut, that while comfortable for one, was just a too little cramped for two for long periods of time.

 

“Where are you going?”

 

Her head turned to him for a moment before refocusing on her work. “I need to gather more wood before the next storm hits or we'll both be in trouble.”

 

“I'll go with you.” She turned her head to him again and nodded.

 

It was the way he did things. She knew that he simply wanted to help her but it's never the way he made it sound. He was such a puzzle, this man. He still had no idea who he was now or before. He was well spoken and moved, even with the crutch, like a very self possessed man. She doubted that he had ever been a farmer or any occupation to the like. She wouldn't have been surprised in the least if one day he remembered that he was the emperor himself. She donned her cloak and watched as he made his way to the one she had fashioned for him. It was the same as hers but was fit to match his larger build.

 

Ever since that beautiful, though uncomfortable, fall day, he had been kinder to her in his own way. He didn't ask if he could help with chores but anticipated them and as such did them before she had a chance to. If she tried to thank him, he would wave her off in his strange stoic way and simply say that he was tired of not seeing it done or that it needed to be done better. She supposed that he had been uncomfortable with her answer to his question that afternoon. To this day, she wasn't sure why she told him. She had never told anyone in four years, why then a complete stranger? She still didn't have an answer for that one.

 

When she saw that he was ready to go, she headed out the door. She had stopped trying to help him do things after he demonstrated once that he no longer required her assistance. He didn't want her help, he was too proud. She respected his wishes and life proceeded on as it had. He no longer required a brace or splint on his leg but it was evident that it still pained him to put all his weight on it; hence he still used the crutch.

 

One day she saw him refuse to use it any longer and he hobbled around for several hours without. She could see the sweat on his brow and the way his teeth unconsciously clenched together with each step.

 

***

 

“You should still be using the crutch.” She had stated simply.

 

“It is none of your concern.” He stated just as simply.

 

She rolled her eyes, walked back into the hut and back out carrying with her the crutch he had refused to use any longer.

 

“I told you woman, I do not need it.” He saw her raise an eyebrow at him, in mock of how he responded to conversation of hers he found ridiculous.

 

“Ok, perhaps you don't need to use it now but when the bone heals poorly and you are forced to go with a limp for the rest of your life, don't come complaining to me about not being a good enough healer.” She said pushing the crutch into his arms. “Oh, and when your other leg starts to pain you because of all the undue stress you're putting on it trying to heal faster than your body will allow, don't come crying to me.” She turned around in a huff that begged no argument.

 

At first, he'd been furious with the woman for treating him as she did but after taking a moment to collect his thoughts, he decided that for the moment, he would let her win. If only because he wanted to keep the peace with the long winter looming ahead of them. He had no desire to put up with her ire in a tiny hut where he had no chance of reprieve.

 

He let her win. Or so it was that he told his ego as he positioned the crutch under his arm and began to use it again.

 

***

 

“And how far do you plan on taking us today?” He asked in one of his rare shows of desire to start a conversation.

 

She smirked as she slowed her pace so he could catch up and the two of them could travel abreast. He had become quite proficient with the crutch and caught up easily.

 

“To the same place we went last time, just over the ridge.” Well, it wasn't much of a conversation but more than three words in a row out of his mouth qualified as one for her.

 

“What about your teak? You are getting low.”

 

He never ceased to amaze her. He acted so bored about everything she did but paid close enough attention to her that he knew when her stock of carving wood was running low. She didn't comment on it however as he would simply deny it and come up with some excuse as how he would know such a thing that would ultimately attempt to make her seem inferior to him in some way. It was comical actually and she didn't dare let on about the way she thought on the matter because she was positive he would never speak to her again.

 

“If the weather looks like its going to hold, I could grab some of that as well.” She answered evenly enough even though she wanted to laugh at her internal musings.

 

“I will collect the firewood; you go on for the other.” His statements of offered help were always done so in an order like fashion.

 

She nodded her head and smiled.

 

He noticed.

 

“Why do you smile? I did not say anything amusing.” He was only slightly perturbed. He secretly enjoyed it when she smiled. It made her common features light up and made her rather nice to look at.

 

“I'm sorry, I don't mean to be rude, I just...”

 

“Just what?” He was mildly intrigued.

 

“Do you think that maybe you were a military officer of some sort?”

 

He quirked an eyebrow at her. “Why would you wonder that?”

 

“You're just such a natural at giving orders; I assumed you might have been a general or something.” Thought her answer was given plainly enough, the mirth in her voice and the sparkle in her eyes as she said it betrayed her comical view of the situation.

 

“You think I am issuing orders?” He decided to play along with the harmless banter. Getting out in the fresh air was having as positive an effect on him as it was on her.

 

“You don't?” She answered his question with a question.

 

“No.” He answered plainly and purposely, offering no further explanation and bating her to continue.

 

“Then what would you call it?” She said as she stepped in front of him and began walking backwards so this conversation could continue face to face.

 

“I call it offering some sense to a sometimes senseless woman.”

 

Takana walked backward with her mouth agape. It wasn't exactly what he'd said that left her in the shocked state she now found herself in but the fact that he had just teased her. She was speechless.

 

Shin openly smirked at her inability to deliver a witty comeback. She had not expected his response. Since he was on a role, he decided to go further.

 

“Finally, the woman that never stops speaking, is silent.”

 

This time she stopped in her tracks and he nearly collided with her.

 

“Why you...I should...” But again, she had nothing.

 

“The silence continues.” He said in a very restrained playful mocking. “It seems all one needs to do to quiet your tongue is find one's own instead.” With that he stepped around the still stunned and now flushed woman and continued up the path.

 

Takana just stood there for a moment in an attempt to collect herself. Suddenly she snapped back to herself.

 

“It's true.” She said as she caught up to her gimpy companion. She left it at that, hoping he would fall into the same trap she had moments ago.

 

Shin bit, he was actually enjoying himself. “What is?”

 

“That you've found you tongue. It's unfortunate though.”

 

He smirked, she was fishing now but he allowed himself to be reeled in anyway. “And why do you find that unfortunate?”

 

She pounced on the opportunity as he knew she would. “Because now I'll never get anything done with that voice of yours always putting me to sleep.”

 

“There is nothing wrong with my voice.” He defended.

 

“I didn't say that there was.” She agreed.

 

He looked over at her to find her smiling and looking ahead as though she had won the game. Then it struck him. She had played the game perfectly after all. His shots had been true to his form, placing her somehow beneath him while hers had continued on in the placating form she had adopted while around him. She was simply but cleverly pointing out that she placated him as a mother placates a pompous child. Sometimes conceding a point you disagree with, gets your opponent to shut up and thus getting what you set out to do in the first place. She effectively made fun of him without saying a single cruel word. She was exceedingly cleaver.

 

He smiled. It was well played.

 

They traveled in companionable silence after that until they reached the wooded area she had been collecting the firewood for the hut's pit that served as both a hearth for cooking as well as the main source of heat for the winter. He took her larger pack from her. She nodded and moved off to gather her wood for carving. He spent several moments picking up fallen pieces that had been cut up by her earlier in the year. He was glad that he was finally healing. The first time he'd done this had been exceedingly difficult and a bit painful. Now he completed the chore with relative confidence that pain would not follow each of his movements. After several moments, he heard something that made his blood run cold.

 

Her scream.

 

He dropped that satchel and hobbled as quickly as he could up the path. She screamed again. He didn't think as he willed his still healing body to move faster. He only reacted, despite having no blade to defend her or himself with if a youkai or some other beast were attacking her. When he crested the hill, his blood boiled. There was Takana with two other men. One held her arms immobile as he stood behind her back, leaving her front completely at the mercy of the other man standing in front of her. The one in front was groping her through her clothing and running his filthy mouth over her neck.

 

Shin heard the man say to her, “So, you'll bed down with youkai but not hard working mortal men? Maybe you should find out how a real man feels.”

 

“Release her!” Shin bellowed as he neared them.

 

His presence obviously startled to two youths that could not have been more than seventeen or eighteen years old. The one in front of her, spun around while his comrade continued to hold onto Takana. The moment the first saw Shin limping towards them, his stance returned to that of the confidence he had held before the intruder arrived.

 

“We found her first; you'll have to wait your turn gimp.” He started to turn back to the struggling woman when Shin spoke again.

 

This time he didn't shout but spoke in the deadliest voice a human had ever delivered. “You will let her go now or you will soon find yourself acquainted with the pain of death but not death itself. It will be the crows feasting on your innards that finally kills you, not me.”

 

The youth turned back to him, visible shaken by the words and the voice that had delivered them despite the limping form that had issued them.

 

Shin heard the darker haired youth's friend, the one that was restraining Takana, telling him that he could easily best him. This brought a little of the youth's confidence back once more and he pulled a dagger out of his belt.

 

“Unwise.” Shin cautioned.

 

“We'll see about that.” The youth patronized.

 

The young man lunged at Shin but was stunned by the crutch that had been supporting the gimp's weight only moments before, when it suddenly cracked down on the hand that held the dagger and then felt a rapid succession of hard hits of near bone crushing intensity reign down on his body as he fell past him. The youth crashed hard to the ground and when he tried to rise, found a solid boot on the back of his neck.

 

“Tell your friend to release her or I will snap your neck with a twist of my foot.”

 

“NITO, LET HER GO! This guy's serious!”

 

Shin saw the other one let Takana go and she fell to the ground. “We were just joking with her man; really, we weren't going to do anything to her.”

 

Shin found himself suddenly aggravated that he couldn't smell their fear. He got what he wanted a moment later when he ground his boot into the neck of the immobilized one beneath his foot. The pathetic thing shit himself and the stench made Shin move away.

 

“If I ever see you anywhere near here again, I will finish what was started today.”

 

The man on the ground scrambled to his feet, uncaring that he had soiled himself and ran off into the distance with his buddy.

 

When Shin was sure that they were long gone, he immediately moved to the still fallen woman. When he neared her, he knew she was crying but trying to hide it from him. He respected this woman more and more everyday. She was trying to shield her weakness from him but at the moment, that was the furthest thing from his mind. He had an undeniable need to know that she was alright.

 

He knelt down beside her and showing more compassion he had the entire time he'd been under her care, he asked her, “Takana, are you alright?” What she did next took him completely by surprise. The moment he touched her shoulder, she flung her arms around him and clung to him as though her life depended on it.

 

At first, he was too stunned to do anything and after the shock wore off, he simply didn't know how to react. He surprised himself to find that he didn't want to push her away. Finally, he decided to just let her cling to him so he put his arms around her and just held her there.

 

“They are gone. It will be alright.” He said when she started to calm down somewhat.

 

“I'm sorry.” She responded.

 

He frowned. “Do not apologize. You have noting to be sorry for.” She just renewed her sobs and continued to cling to him. If he'd been able, he would have picked her up and carried her back to the hut. Unfortunately, the little scuffle had actually moved something in his leg that did not want to be moved yet and he feared that it would be her helping him home. Now that the adrenaline of the situation drained out of his blood, he felt the pain acutely and gritted his teeth against it.

 

It was fortunate that the young man had been so clumsy in battle or this might not have ended as it had.

 

After a long while, Takana finally regained her composure. She pulled out his embrace and shyly looked around herself.

 

“We will come back for it tomorrow.” Shin said to her. She nodded and stood, more than happy just to go home.

 

When she saw the sweat on his brow and the grimace of pain as he stood, she immediately moved to his side. For a moment, it seemed he was going to refuse her help.

 

“You helped me, please let me do the same for you.”

 

Shin relented and accepted her shoulder. Together, they headed home.

 

angelsfalltearfully - I'm so happy you like the OC! I know it's hard to get into them and I'm trying so hard to make her bounce off Sess in a way that's enjoyable to read. Thank you for the review!

Puddle - I figure I can have a human Sess calling himself an ass since he's not sure why he's so pompous in the first place. Youkai Sess would never think that but that's why I love Shin. He's more pliable and willing to change because he doesn't have a lifetime of reasons and experiences telling him not to. And as far as the youkai that attacked Takana...tsk tsk tsk, I'll never tell... Oh... yeah I will, just at the appropriate chapter is all.

White Luna - Too, too gracious. Though unnecessary, that would be very nice of you. I hope to continually hit that mark. I've never read a fic with this story line but there are so many out there that my originality in this one might not be assured. Happy reading.

Nikkie23534 - Don't worry, I intend to keep playing. Yey! Someone else that likes Takana...that's the obstacle to overcome.