InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Demon's Diary ❯ The Missing Chame ( Chapter 9 )

Chapter 9: Ninth Entry - The Missing Chame

 

It had been a couple of days before the group was back at the village. Demon hunting had taken much of their time and they had not had a chance to ask Inuyasha to allow Kagome to read from Sesshoumaru's book again. Now they were all sitting around the fire pit, belly's full from a good supper.

 

“Can we hear from the book some more, Inuyasha?” asked Shippo. This was about the fifth time he had asked and he didn't expect any better answer than he had received previously, which had been an angry no.

 

Before Inuyasha could again tell him no, Kagome looked at him and gave him her biggest, sweetest, saddest puppy eyes, “Please Inuyasha, what's the harm now? We've already read this far, we may as well read the whole story.”

 

“It might help us deal with him if we knew more about him when we encounter him,” Miroku said logically.

 

“Humph, you guys were the ones that told me this stuff is supposed to be private. You didn't even want me to read it.” Inuyasha tried to look determined about this but Kagome staring at him like that was making things difficult. With a sigh, he reached into his haori and passed Kagome the book.

 

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Chame went missing today, which caused a great deal of upset for the children. It worried me as well as he never goes off by himself, always he was with the others, mostly Bougumaru.

 

He seems to still be fearful of me although I have done nothing to him that would cause him fear. Jaken thinks he has a fear of all adults because of what has happened to him.

 

Bougumaru talks to Jaken and has told my retainer that Chame was at the tea house before he had been sold there himself. He says that the little fox demon has probably been there since the age of four. I do not think that the small fox even knows how he came to be there. According to the human boy, Chame does not ever remember being anywhere else. I wish that I had totally destroyed that despicable place. I cannot believe what could even be done with a four year old child; perhaps that is just as well.

 

My first fear in finding him missing is that Naraku had managed somehow to capture him as he had captured Rin in the past.

 

That is the problem with having ones you love, they become a way for your enemies to take advantage of you. It is a great weakness. Rin tells me it can also be a great strength. When did she start becoming so wise, I wonder?

Rin had been captured by Kagura, right under Jaken's nose. I was so angry with him that he couldn't protect one small human child that I almost told him to leave and not return to me.

 

Naraku appears and instructs me to kill my brother or Rin will come to harm. I attack him but of course it is only a puppet. He is too much of a coward to face me on his own. He is the only one that it would not bother me in the least to kill.

 

He leaves a trail for me to follow and soon I find him behind a barrier, which he opens for me to enter. After some banal banter he attacks me, as if he could kill me. I soon realize that my death is not in his plans; he wishes to absorb my body into his, to capture my demonic power.

 

I have to see how strong this Naraku is so I allow him to engulf me in his flesh, it is painful but I learn a great deal about him while he tries to absorb me. He is frightened of my brother who I now know is breaking in through the barrier. Though our connection I can also sense his jealousy of Inuyasha. I see images of the miko Kikyo and Naraku's desire for her. This is why he wants me to kill him? How pathetic. I can also feel his obsession with wanting the shikon jewel; that need for power is humming though him, another reason he chases my brother's group.

 

I can feel when he grabs Inuyasha in his flesh, he wants to absorb him as well, I must break free to aid my brother but he surprises me and breaks free on his own just before I do as well. Even though we bicker we actually fight together this time and wound Naraku enough to make him retreat. I try to transform to go after him to deliver the death blow but he reminds me of my charge, Rin. I must find her and leave this foolish baboon clothed hanyou for another day.

 

Inuyasha of course wants to know about this girl, what can I tell him? He will think I have gone crazy allowing a human girl to trail me, allowing myself to feel for her. I must keep him at arms length, he cannot know too much of me. It would not be good to allow him too close for I would not be able to let him go. Then what, a war tearing apart my father's lands? That I cannot allow. I do not answer him but just leave to find my Rin. And find her I do, on the ground under a young boy with a sickle raised over her.

 

The boy tries to attack me, my brother is there telling me that Rin is okay, she has only fainted. I am most surprised when Inuyasha steps in front of the boys attack. Does he feel a need to protect this Sesshoumaru?

 

I am able to grab the boy by his neck, he doesn't struggle and there is no life in his eyes. Naraku must want me to destroy this boy as I can feel his disgusting aura all over the child. Inuyasha's group are pleading with me not to end his life. As if I could, but they must not know the conflict within me.

 

I release him and am thankful to hear my child's voice calling me. The boy runs off and the miko girl is afraid I will give chase to destroy him. My Rin is fine, there is no need and in reality I could never kill a child. The look upon my brother's face is priceless as we walk off. Perhaps he will see I am not so bad if a small child will follow me.

 

Thankfully abduction is not the case with Chame. I find him huddled under a small bush, frightened but unhurt.

 

“What is wrong?” I ask him as I sit on the ground. I know better than to try and touch him, he does not like it.

 

“I saw a man, when I was picking flowers with Rin,” he replies.

 

“Do you know this man?”

 

He begins to cry and will not answer but he must from the reaction I just received.

 

“Chame, I will not allow anyone to harm you, ever. I will always protect you,” I tell him, hoping to sooth him. “Do you wish me to destroy this man?”

 

“You would kill him?” he asks me, trying to control his tears.

 

“If you wish it, I will kill him,” I answer and I mean it.

 

He surprises me by crawling out and leaping into my lap, holding me most forcefully. He is crying again. “Do you want me to hold you?” I need to ask him, I would not touch him without permission.

 

“Yes, Sesshoumaru-sama,” he pleads.

 

So we sit and I embrace this quaking demon. I wish I knew how to help him better. The sun is starting to set when he finally releases his grip on me. “You don't have to kill him,” he tells me, wiping his eyes with his sleeve. He gives me a small timid smile and I return it. “You don't really like to kill.” He is more astute than I would have given him credit for.

 

“No, it is something I do not enjoy but if it will ease your pain I will do it without hesitation.”

 

“As long as you're around I'll be okay,” he tells me. “You will protect me, Sesshoumaru-same, right?” he asks

 

“Yes, always,” I reassure him. “And so will the others, you have nothing to fear any longer.”

 

This seems to cheer him up and as we rise he puts his hand in mine on the walk back to our camp.

 

Perhaps I have made a break through with this child as well. I wish I could arrange for him to meet my brother's fox child. He would benefit from knowing one of his own kind. I believe that the other, Shippo I think I have heard him called, would be good for my Chame. I am afraid my temperament is too stern to impart a sense of joy in the boy and Shippo seems most lively, it would be nice to see Chame that way as well.

 

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“Can I meet him?” Shippo asks as everyone sat silently in the hut.

 

“Maybe, we'll see,” Kagome tells him quietly. She was surprised how informed Sesshoumaru was about who was in their group. She would have thought that something like that would not have been important to the demon lord.

 

“Those children seem to have been through a lot,” Miroku stated. He was angered by what he'd learned; that people could use children in such a manner is unthinkable to the monk.

 

“Guess I didn't have it so bad,” Inuyasha says, taking the book from Kagome and putting it back into its normal spot inside his haori.

 

“Your brother really cares for them,” Sango stated. “He is so different than he portrays himself; it's odd how he can hide everything so well.” Sango was glad to learn that Sesshoumaru would not kill her brother, even though it surprised her. He's such a contrast, it's almost like he's two different people, one we see, one hidden inside.

 

“He seems to want you to have a good opinion of him,” Miroku proclaimed to his hanyou friend.

 

“I guess maybe I have a better opinion of him now. It's just so confusing. He's not what I've believed him to be.”

 

Inuyasha and the rest began to get ready for bed and as everyone settled down for the night all he could think about was how to tell his brother that he had been wrong about him. He wanted to make things better between them; he didn't want to fight anymore.