InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Dark Heaven ❯ Rin ( Chapter 14 )

Dark Heaven

 

Chapter 14

 

Rin

 

“Hold still,” Sango said, pressing the compress to Kagome's hip. Kagome nodded and winced. She hadn't felt anything move that shouldn't be, so she figured she hadn't broken anything, but her ribs still hurt like hell. The friends were currently in Sango's bedroom at her apartment.

 

“Thanks,” Kagome whispered, looking up at one of the few friends she had in the world. Sango's side had been bandaged. Like a lot of the wounds Kagome had seen, it looked horrible at first wasn't really. It had bled a lot and would need some stitches later, but for now the bandages would hold until Sango could get to a hospital. Kagome wanted her to go right away, but Sango insisted they come here first.

 

“Now you spill,” Sango ordered. “What's going on Kagome?” Kagome shrugged.

 

“I'm Angel, but that's kind of a given,” She said.

 

“Duh, I mean why?” Sango shrieked. “I've known you for a year, Angel has only been showing up for a month now. Why now, what are you, what's with the wings…just, why?” Sango sat down beside her.

 

“Well for the last two questions, I don't know,” Kagome whispered, hanging her head. “I know I'm not human, but I don't think I'm a hanyou or a youkai. I just know that I've had them my entire life, or least, what I can remember of it.” Sango nodded.

 

“Why didn't you tell me?” Sango asked. “We've been friends for years Kagome, if I had a secret like this I'd tell you, and I'd like to think I've earned enough trust to warrant the same.” Kagome hung her head.

 

“You have Sango. I'd trust my life to you. I just…didn't want…”

 

“Want what?” Sango asked, standing up. Kagome unfurled her wings with a snap and looked up. Sango had jumped back, her face in shock.

 

“Want you to look at me like that,” Kagome spat. “I hate that look. It just reminds me of what I am, what I can't be.”

 

“Kagome, I didn't meet to react like you. You startled me,” Sango explained.

 

“I startle everyone, god damn it!” Kagome snapped. “I even showed Shippo, and he had the same reaction. Oh my god, Kagome's a winged freak.” Kagome withdrew her wings and scowled. “I hid what I am because you shouldn't have to deal with it, no one should. I know I don't belong among humans, but I can sure as hell pretend and fool myself, and I'm not going to force anyone else to do the same.”

 

“Well I'll be damned,” Sango whispered, shaking her head sadly. “You're a martyr.” Kagome looked up. “I don't know what kinds of horrors you've had to deal with, and I don't doubt there are a few jackasses out there who have given you trouble, but I'm not one them. You're still my friend and co-worker Kagome, I don't care if you have wings or a third eye or hell, a penis even. You're still Kagome.”

 

“I think you might treat me a bit differently if I had a penis,” Kagome chuckled. She turned serious again and sighed. “I know that on some level Sango, really. But believe me, it's not easy to just come out and tell people about what I am. Experience has taught me everything I know, one of which was discretion.”

 

“So then why do the crime fighting? If you want to hide what you are so badly, why risk it at night?” Kagome closed her eyes.

 

“I was seven years old,” She whispered.

 

- - - - - - - - - -

 

Kagome whimpered and pressed herself closer into alley she was taking shelter in. She grabbed a lid off a nearby trashcan and held it over her head. The rain again fell hard enough that Kagome was sure a few parts of the area would flood. And the lighting was striking far too frequently for Kagome's liking. Her teeth were chattering and her lips were blue from the cold. It had been a week since she had eaten anything remotely resembling food, nothing more than scraps from dumpsters. She pulled the tattered shirt she had found in the trash closer around her arms, hoping she would be lucky enough to find a new one in the days to come. Assuming she lived that long, which wasn't looking at the moment.

 

“Hello?” Kagome gasped as a small figure entered the alleyway. She snuck back slightly, folding in her wings. The figure walked deeper into the alley. It was a little girl, she looked about Kagome's age, maybe a little younger. She had on a dark orange, almost brown raincoat and black boots. “Who are you?” The girl asked, cocking her head.

 

“G-go away,” Kagome chattering, glaring.

 

“It's cold out, Mommy says you can't be out in the cold, it makes your nose red and you sneeze,” The girl said. “I came out to look for Giggles, but he's hiding under a car. I'm going to go back inside now. Shouldn't you be inside?” Kagome was confused. Was it just too dark for her to see her wings?

 

“I don't have an inside to go to,” Kagome muttered. “And I don't have a Mommy to tell me. Or a Daddy.”

 

“I don't have a Daddy either.” The girl said sadly. “But my Mommy is nice, she bakes a lot. Cookies. I like her oatmeal a lot, but she makes good chocolate chip too.” Kagome continued to stare. “Do you want to come inside? My Mommy is making cookies now,” The girl asked.

 

“No. I'm fine,” Kagome replied. One look at her and the girl's mother would be terrified, the girl too. The girl stood silently for a moment before turning and walking out of the alley. Kagome watched her go before turning back to keeping herself warm and trying to sleep in the midst of the merciless storm.

 

“I had no idea who she was then, but she would become like a sister to me…”

 

Kagome woke up. The air was moist with the rain last night. She yawned loudly and stretched from her uncomfortable position.

 

“You're still here,” Kagome's head whirled around. The girl from last night, sans raincoat and now in a white T-shirt and orange overalls, stood at the edge of the alley. “My Mommy made cookies last night, but you said you don't have a Mommy.” The girl walked forward and set a plate down in front of Kagome. The plate held several large oatmeal cookies.

 

“I'm not hungry,” Kagome lied, not trusting the cookies. For all she knew the kid had told her mom about the winged freak in the alley by their apartment, and Mommy had been nice enough to lace the goodies with poison.

 

“But if you don't have a Mommy or a Daddy, who makes cookies for you?” The girl asked. “They're good,” The girl took one of the cookies and bit into it, chewing and swallowing. Kagome watched her and carefully took her own cookies, biting it and trying the taste. Her eyes widened as she shoved the rest of it into her mouth, relishing the first real food she had eaten in days.

 

“You look like the girl on my pillow,” The girl said. Kagome looked up. “The girl on my pillow has wings like yours, but they're bigger, and her hair is yellow, not black,” The girl explained. Kagome gasped.

 

“Y…you can see them?” She whispered. The girl giggled and pointed at the wings in question.

 

“They're pretty,.” She said. “Mommy said the girl on my pillow is an angel. Are you one too?” Kagome looked over her shoulder. She wasn't even entirely sure what an angel was.

 

“Maybe. I don't know,” She replied. She sighed. “What's your name?” She asked. The girl grinned brightly, showing a missing tooth.

 

“Rin,” She replied. Kagome smiled weakly.

 

“I'm Kagome,” She replied.

 

- - - - - - - - - -

 

“I kept moving like always, but I always found myself coming back every couple of weeks. Rin was the only person I had ever met that wasn't terrified of me. She eventually grew up, obviously, and figured out I wasn't normal. But she didn't care. She always talked to me, brought me food, although I never took more than I needed. She was my friend, not my keeper and I liked it that way. Every now and than she would lend me one of the textbooks she got from school, that's how I learned so much without ever going myself,” Kagome finished, silently contemplating the tale, and looked up. Sango had down in a chair on the other side of the room, watching her.

 

“So she convinced you to take up crime-fighting then?” She asked. Kagome shook her head.

 

“No…when she got into high school I stopped coming around. She got other friends, got a bigger life, and I just didn't want to make her feel like she had to make me a part of it. Then a couple months ago, there was a fire in her apartment complex. Her mother escaped, but Rin got trapped on the third floor.” Kagome closed her eyes and hung her head.

 

“I watched as they tried to save her. The flames had started on the ground floor, so they had to fight up three stories to get to her. They were too late. She's in the hospital now, comatose. And as I watched that ambulance drive away, I realized she wasn't alone. Sango, Haven is anything but. Every day, people are mugged, robbed, attacked, killed. And I have the power to stop it. Doesn't that make me obligated? How am I supposed to live with myself, knowing I can make the world a better place…but now?” Sango shrugged.

 

“I don't know. I don't anyone half-decent could,” She replied. “And just the fact you are makes you a hero, Kagome, believe it or not. You're not a freak, trust me. You're amazing. You've helped a lot of people in this city. Tonight you saved my life, and how many others have you saved?”

 

“Thanks…that means a lot,” Kagome said. “But it's not enough. There's something bigger out there…I don't know what, but I can feel it.”

 

“I know. The Council is up to something,” Sango agreed. “I know the guy that attacked me tonight. His name is Jakotsu, Jakotsu Shinchinintai. Another one of the brothers, and not too long after I interviewed his brother. Interesting coincidence, eh?”

 

“You think maybe the Shinchinintai are up to something?” Kagome asked.

 

“I don't know, honestly. But Bankotsu isn't as innocent as he claims, anyone with a brain can tell that. Still, if he's in on it then it's gotta be big that they need his power. The Shinchinintai have been smuggling and trafficking drugs and the like for years, why would they need Bankotsu's help now?”

 

“Maybe it's not drugs,” Kagome suggested. Sango smirked.

 

“Yeah, maybe they're plotting world domination,” She chuckled. Kagome didn't join in. With everything she had seen in her life, she wouldn't count it out.