InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Cursed ❯ Day One Hundred Eighty Five ( Chapter 9 )

Chapter Nine - Day One Hundred Eighty Five

 

After a couple of weeks of strangely freeing but exhausting emotional turmoil, things had started to settle back into something of a state of normalcy for the two occupants of the small hut. The long winter was finally starting to lose its hold on the mountain and though it was still quite cold, the wind didn't have the same bite to it, which it had for so long. Shin was extending his walks to far greater distances and often took the crutch along with him only for emergencies as his leg felt nearly as good as his uninjured one.

 

Takana was so confident in the improving weather that she had already begun to seed some of the garden plants she grew that took a longer time to mature. She had also gone back to collecting more teak for her carvings, which she soon planned to take to the nearest villages in order to barter for goods and sell for spare currency. Shin was more than simply impressed by the collecting she had amassed over the winter and though he had no idea what value they held in relation to other goods, he was positive that she would be happy with what she was able to get out of them.

 

Nothing more had been said about Takana's past and she found herself rarely thinking on it these days and when she did, it was more often about how grateful she was for the words Shin had given her that day and the added confidence that had come along with them. She found herself looking at him more than was truly necessary lately. She hadn't needed to gaze at him in order to discern that he was nearly fully healed but she did it anyway. She tried not to let him know that she did such things but knew that she had been caught one time or another during which times; she would turn her gaze away and feel the slight blush that would result. She did note, with delight, that he did not seem irritated by her shy looks but actually seemed mildly amused or pleased by them.

 

In fact, Shin found her little glances to be a bit more enjoyable than he would ever let her know. He had learned to control his embarrassing fantasies or more to the point, he had learned to control his reaction to them. He had also begun to indulge his imagination slightly more than before and found that he rarely chastised himself for allowing them to happen. He knew that he should not, but it felt good to do so and perhaps even right. Increasingly, he found her more and more attractive. It was small things that he began to notice, like the way her hair had a slight wave to it after she washed it and before she put it up into the simple bun that was her common way of wearing it. He began to notice the way she moved, with an amount of grace that one born to a small mountain village would not normally have. Though he was nearly sure that it was a fairly new development. He actually liked to hear her speak, her voice was fairly low and quiet and lulled him when he felt out of sorts, especially after he experienced one of those falling sensations that had become more and more common of late. She seemed to have picked up on that and the fact that he had the bouts of uneasiness. She would make a point of starting small conversations then; and effectively distracted him from his discomfort with both her words and her calming voice.

 

Shin knocked next to the entrance of the hut, as had been his practice since his blunder, though he often wished that she would just not hear it so he could enter and meet a similar sight or even one more revealing than he had stumbled onto before. He was just barely conscious of the fact that he actually seemed to knock just a little softer with each subsequent return.

 

“You can come in.”, her voice announced from within the hut, though it sounded a little distracted.

 

 Shin walked in to find Takana closely inspecting each completed carving she owned. There were several piles she'd arranged and from his perspective, he couldn't immediately see by what criteria she was separating them by. Each pile held objects of different sizes; some were containers, some were utensils and some were merely objects that were nearly decorative in nature, though those were rare amongst the piles. After trying to discern her current chore for several minutes, he finally gave up and asked.

 

“What are you doing?”

 

She glanced up at him for the briefest of moments before returning the bulk of her concentration to her current project. “Sorting,” she stated quickly. If she'd been looking at him, she would have seen the vexed look on his face but as she was too caught up in what she was doing, she missed it.

 

“I can see that woman but what are the means by which you sort and to what purpose?” He asked, slightly perturbed by the lack of attention she was showing him.

 

“Oh…um,” she started, still too distracted by her incomprehensible sorting process to devote the proper amount of effort to his question. She finally mumbled out the answer in a barely comprehensible sentence, if it could even be considered that. “Sorted…eh, by value…for market,” she finally finished.

 

Shin scrunched his eyebrows together but didn't dare try to continue the one sided conversation, now well aware that he was nothing but a nuisance at the moment.

 

“I see,” he stated lamely, and made his way over to the stew pot. It was cold. He had left very early in the morning, before the sun rose over the horizon, to take his daily walk. She had still been snugly bundled in the covers of her futon and still slept soundly when he left. After his long absence, he knew she would be awake when he returned but, obviously something had possessed her in the meantime and made her act so strangely that she had forgotten to heat the morning meal and not jump at the chance to chatter away. He sat down in a huff on his futon and just looked at the pot that should have contained his hot morning meal. Somehow, she must have noticed his little tantrum through her earnest work and let off a little half laugh.

 

“You know,” she calmly chided, “you could place it over the fire yourself.” When he made no move to do so, she begrudgingly stood up and walked over to the covered metal container.

 

Shin smirked to himself. He would get what he wanted after all. He watched as the woman reached her destination and grabbed the lid of the container. All normal actions, but that's were the normalcy ended. Instead of grabbing the side holds of the pot like she normally did, she uncharacteristically grabbed a clean wooden bowl and scooped some of the cold mixture into it. Then with exaggerated movements, she glided over to his position, kneeled demurely and extended the bowl to him with her head submissively bowed.

 

He was not amused.

 

She was though, and couldn't hold back the snickers in her voice. “Here's your breakfast…my lord.” The reaction she received was not the one she had expected. She thought he would stand and huff out of the hut, annoyed by her mockery, but what happened next stunned her. One moment he had been seated less than a foot from her and the next, he was up and stepping back and away with an urgency that was almost fearful. The sudden movement caused her eyes to seek out his retreating form and was almost scared by the look she saw in his face. It wasn't anger or amusement. It wasn't reproach or scorn, but that of complete and utter shock. It was the shocked expression that made her feel uneasy suddenly. She set down the forgotten food and started to make a move in his direction, when she looked back up, she found him studying his hands and pulling up the sleeves to expose the pale flesh beneath. From her perspective, it seemed as though he were very unhappy with what he found.

 

By the time she made it to her feet and was nearing his shallowly breathing form, he had grabbed his hair and began looking at it as well.

 

“Shin?” she timidly asked, “Are you alright?” He jumped back at the sound of her voice and just stared at her with a slightly panicked expression before turning and striding to the entrance of the hut. “Shin?” She asked again but he didn't heed her call though she knew he had heard her. She called out his name again but with greater urgency when he passed through the opening and to the outside. “Shin!?!” She ran to the door and tore open the heavy covering only to find him gone. She heard the telltale signs of feet running off into the distance but didn't follow. Whatever had happened, he didn't want her around and the thought saddened her more than it should have.

 

Takana leaned heavily against the outer wall and brought one hand up to her mouth. She had meant to chastise him for his childish behavior, not do whatever her teasing had done to him. She felt terrible for her behavior, no matter whether it was deserved or not because it was all connected to something deeper.

 

Takana was faced with a cold hard truth. Soon there would be nothing that would bind him here any longer. He was healed enough even now that he could easily move around on his own even without the crutch and warm spring temperatures were fast approaching. Soon the season would easily support weather suitable for travelling. There was no reason for him to stay and soon she would be left alone again.

 

It terrified her. Even though she had lived alone for so long, she had become accustomed to his presence and the small comforts that he unknowingly provided. She felt safe with him around and even felt a modicum of happiness that she hadn't had the benefit of feeling in a very long time. She didn't know if she could handle the rejection a second time. It was not that she would ask anything of him that he could not refuse, but if he left to find the old life he once had, it would be the same thing as rejecting her.

 

Tears started to run down her cheeks, and her breathing felt constricted as she tried so hard not to cry, but it was all in vain. Unbidden, the light sobs began and once they started, they escalated to such heights that she dashed into the hut and dove into the familiar comfort of her bedding. She stayed there until she cried herself to sleep, though it wasn't even midday yet.

 

 He ran until his lungs burned and until his once broken leg protested the excruciating overexertion by simply refusing to support his weight any longer. He crashed to the forest floor and managed to turn himself over on his back. He lay there, under the still leafless trees, and stared at the cloudless sky. It took over an hour for his racing mind and it's multitude of flooding images and memories to quiet enough for him to think even one clear thought.

 

He squeezed his eyes shut as he thought about the way he had scrambled out of the hut and away from her like some terrified rabbit. What would she think of the way she had just acted?

 

“Aahhg!” He suddenly yelled as he forced himself to get back to his feet. He shouldn't care one way or the other what she thought.

 

She was just a human and he was the Lord of the Western Lands.

 

The moment that thought streamed through his mind, he knew how hollow it sounded. A human Sesshoumaru slumped against the trunk of a nearby tree and pinched the bridge of his nose in a vain attempt to ward off the next wave of headaches. It was all just too much. He'd tried so hard to remember who he was and now that he did…he closed his eyes and rested his head against the tree. Now that he did remember, he almost wished that he hadn't. He'd finally started to feel a modicum of comfort with the way things had played out but now… he didn't know what to do. He needed to think and sort everything out, to make a plan and decide just what the hell he was going to do.

 

 

angelsfalltearfully - My least favorite part of that chapter was the big block of dialogue that Sess delivered but I wanted to get his point across too. So what can you do? That's why I tried to make it all better with the `uncharacteristic' line near the end of it. Thanks for reviewing and I hope you enjoyed this one too.

Lamb - Yup, that's all it was and it will continue for a bit longer but soon a more aggressive plot will start up. I agree with you, my favorite kind of angst is problem based not misunderstanding based but I've used both before. His emotions are tough to judge just how much I can let out at a time without it seeming forced and I'll probably tweak it a bit in a revision sometime down the road. The who question will be answered, trust me, I've got that one all planned out. Say anything you like, that's why I like reviews and chapter length continues to be my nemesis. It's a combination of lack of patience, laziness and worrying that I'll drag out chapters and make them skim chapters instead of the kind you want to read all of it. I'll keep trying though.

White Luna - I can only hope that you stay that way!

AngelsRebellion - Getting a little anxious are we? All in good time my lovely reviewer.

Dragone - I couldn't stop laughing when I realized what I wrote, the visual was truly grotesque. I'll definitely fix that in the revision, and soon! Thanks for taking the time.

Nikkie23534 - I'm still laughing at it, just rereading the review for the response here made me laugh. The tension is going to be building for quite some time with little breathers once in a while but it's really just now that the angst in the story is getting started. Takana's a tough one all right and you'll have to stick around to see what life throws her next!