InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Heart of a Thief ❯ With You Always ( Chapter 6 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Kuromu's dreams take on a dark twist as the threat he faces eludes to have power over him during times other than just when he's asleep.

Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Adventure / Angst / Romance / Psychological / Hentai | Type: Divergence | Uploaded On: 03.21.2006 | Updated On: 03.21.2006 | Pages: 2 | Words: 3.2K | Visits: 125 | Status: Work In Progress

Disclaimer: I own nothing InuYasha-related and make no profit from this fic.

This chapter is dedicated to my wonderful beta who has always been there to help me when I need it and kick my butt when I take too long with updates.

Chapter 6: With You Always

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“Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you,” came the voice of Danuko as the man made his way out from the cover of the bushes and trees. “I was just trying to get a chance to watch you practice in secret, Onigumo, so you wouldn't be nervous about having an audience.”

Shikaeru looked as if she were ready to just about strangle Danuko for scaring her, and Kuromu only gave the man an exasperated glare before dropping the arrow back into the quiver. “If it helps any, I think I might have figured out what the problem is,” Danuko offered.

Kuromu and Shikaeru exchanged looks of wary curiosity. “What is it?” Kuromu asked, his inquisitiveness overpowering his anger.

“Well, I think you have the same problem that I had when I was first learning how to become an archer. Could you hold this a moment?” he asked Shikaeru, gesturing to the bow.

She nodded and Kuromu handed it to her as Danuko abruptly started looking around on the ground for something. It was not the first time Kuromu started questioning Danuko's sanity. Finally, the man seemed to find what he was looking for and picked the object off the ground, brushing it off a bit. “I want you to catch this,” he said, opening up his hand to reveal a small stone.

He tossed it forward and Kuromu caught it easily, wondering just what relevance it had to his problem. “Just what I thought,” Danuko said half to himself.

“What was it you were testing for?” Shikaeru asked, mirroring Kuromu's puzzled look.

“I was testing to see how he would catch the stone,” Danuko answered as if it were the most obvious answer in the word.

“But there was nothing special about the way I caught it,” Kuromu said incredulously as he handed the stone back to Danuko.

“Ah, but that's were you're wrong. Take the bow from Shikaeru and I'll show you how you're different.” After the transaction of the bow, Danuko tossed the stone to Shikaeru in the same way he had thrown it to Kuromu. Shikaeru caught it and gave it a quick glance before giving it back to him. “Now can you tell the difference?” Danuko asked, looking back and forth between the two.

“No,” Kuromu answered, starting to wonder how it was that Danuko ever managed to become the leader of the clan.

The man sighed in frustration. “You two need to be more observant. The difference was that when Shikaeru caught the stone, she used her right hand, but you, Onigumo, used your left hand. Your dominant hand is your left hand but you've been using the bow as if your right hand was dominant. I'm surprised you've been able to keep such good form considering you've been shooting on the wrong side this whole time. Try switching sides and shoot a few times just to get used to the feeling of it.”

Kuromu did as he was told and did find the change more comfortable, though a little strange at first. He was anxious to see if his accuracy had improved so on the next shot, instead of simply firing off arrows for the sake of adjusting to the new position, he paused before releasing the arrow and did his best to aim for the target. The sun had risen just far enough in the sky that he had no problem seeing exactly where the center of the target was. In the moment before releasing the arrow, he ran his thumb once against the fletching closest to the string and gave a silent plea for it not to miss.

The arrow sliced through the silence of the early morning and hit the target with a heavy `thunk' even before he really realized he had let it go. He just stared down the range for a few moments, disbelief clearing written on his face as he took in the sight of the arrow lodged within the center of the target. “I, how… I couldn't have…” he said quietly to himself, as meanwhile Shikaeru was busy congratulating him and thanking Danuko.

“You're right, you haven't,” came a dark voice behind him.

He turned as Shikaeru and Danuko's images and voices disappeared and where replaced by a thick fog. Cold laughter rang through the air as the dark soldier stepped into view. Kuromu's heart began pounding at the sight of the soldier, at the sound of the soldier's footsteps, at the way the air around the soldier felt like it was burning with flames that could not be seen. “Don't think you can escape me. I am always watching you and I am with you always. There is nowhere you can hide from me,” the soldier spoke as he continued to advance on Kuromu.

Kuromu began to back away from the soldier, wishing the mists would just swallow the dark warrior up and take him forever away. Kuromu's foot bumped into something and he turned to see his brother on the ground, blood pooled all around him and blank eyes staring towards the sky. He wished he could close his eyes and shut out the horrible sight, or run or even scream, but he felt as if his body was frozen and he couldn't even manage to take in another breath. Suddenly he felt a sharp pain on his left cheek.

His eyes shot open and he gasped in a breath of air. Shikaeru was kneeling beside him and looked on the verge of tears. “When I woke up, you weren't breathing,” she said, her voice shaky and threatening break. “I didn't know what to do, you just wouldn't wake up…” she trailed off and shut her eyes against the tears that were forming in them.

He glanced around and realized that all the others in the room were watching them. He wished he could just sink through the floor and hide from all the eyes turned to look upon him. The light flooding in from the room adjacent to the sleeping quarters flickered as a figure appeared in the doorway. The pair of eyes that fell upon him then did not simply gaze at him but pierced all the way to his soul. A silent command emanated from them and words were not needed for him to understand their message. Kuromu rose from his futon and helped the softly sniffling Shikaeru up from the floor. Taking her hand, he led her along with him as he walked towards the man who stood in the doorway. “Come with me,” Danuko instructed as the pair approached him.

They walked along in silence until the eyes that watched their solemn procession through the halls became fewer and fewer, eventually disappearing entirely. At last, they entered a small room with an ornately patterned carpet that covered most of the floor. One of the few fireplaces that resided within the caves crackled quietly in the corner as the bright flames licked at the logs dusted with ash. “Please sit,” Danuko said, motioning to the long, plush couch that sat across from a luxurious looking chair.

Kuromu and Shikaeru moved promptly to sit down on the foreign piece of furniture, their heads filled with thoughts of when they were younger and when times like they were in then usually preluded a punishment. Their eyes fell upon the uncharacteristically serious clan leader as he sat down in the chair across from then and, resting his elbows in the arms of the chair, put his hands together so that each fingertip on one hand was touching its counterpart on his other hand. There was a pregnant moment of silence in which the air between the two parties seemed to be charged with electricity. Neither Kuromu nor Shikaeru, even in all her years knowing Danuko, had ever seen him the way he was then. Behind his usually kind, almost childishly bright eyes, there burned a dark flame that glinted with power, transforming the lighthearted man into a commanding leader. “Tell me what happened,” he finally spoke in a voice hardly above a whisper but as firm as if he had shouted, shattering the silence so abruptly that Kuromu nearly flinched.

Traces of fear began to gather in Shikaeru's eyes as she let the memories of the morning's earlier events resurface in her mind. “I had been sleeping when I had woken up suddenly, and I had this overwhelming feeling that something was wrong,” she started, eyes beginning the shine with tears that she hurriedly fought off. “I was trying to figure out what it could have been when I realized he wasn't breathing. His skin was still warm, so I knew he wasn't dead, but I just couldn't get him to wake up. I was getting desperate and slapped him, and finally he opened his eyes and started breathing again.”

Danuko gave a slight nod as he began to work the information through his mind. Shikaeru let her gaze fall to the floor when she finished, her mind a swirl of upsetting emotions. There was fear for Kuromu, there was anger that she felt so helpless, there was confusion from not knowing what had happened to him, and even a little guilt for having had to hit her friend. “What can you add to this story, Onigumo?” the clan leader asked after a moment when only the sounds of the fire could be heard.

Kuromu looked up and met Danuko's gaze. Those eyes told him not to lie, not to leave anything out, and not to pull away in fear. But the intensity behind those eyes kept Kuromu from looking into them for more than a fleeting moment. His throat felt tight and he swallowed nervously before opening his mouth to speak. “I was having a dream, and in the dream, I began to feel as if I couldn't breath. I hadn't realized that I'd actually stopped breathing until I woke up.”

There's more, Danuko's eyes said. “What was this dream about?” Danuko asked when the boy seemed reluctant to speak further.

Kuromu glanced towards Shikaeru. He felt guilt rising within him and he knew that what he would say next would hurt her. She had noted on more than one occasion that he was periodically having bad dreams and had asked him about it. He had always made something up, afraid to tell her that the soldier kept coming back to him. He didn't want her to worry, he didn't want to share the pain that the soldier caused him. “I have been having dreams about a soldier, like one of the ones that attacked my village. But he is different from the others. He is always dressed in dark clothing and he is always alone except for the times when he has his horse with him. It's a monstrous creature, bigger than any horse I have seen before and as black as the night. Fire sometimes rises in its wake when the soldier rides away on it. The dreams have come almost every night, and most times, I wake up before dawn and am able to clear my mind of the soldier before falling back asleep. But sometimes they follow me until morning and I wake in the middle of one of those dreams. There are almost always the same. The soldier comes, telling me in different ways that I am weak, and then my brother appears…” his voice trailed off as his eyes began to become hazy as if he were falling into a trance.

He blinked a few times to try to erase the images of the dreams from his mind and came back from his thoughts to reality. He didn't have to look next to him to know that Shikaeru had a look of anger and sadness on her face. He already knew those violet eyes were sparkling with the tears she almost never would admit to having let fall. “I'm sorry,” he whispered, barely loud enough for her to hear.

“Why?” she asked, a growing poignancy in her voice.

“I didn't want the soldier to be able to hurt us both,” he said softly, turning slightly to gaze at her from the corner of his eye.

The fire cast an orange glow to her golden hair and made it clear to see just how glassy her eyes were. He bit the inside of his cheek as he looked away, the guilt making it so he could no longer stand to look her in the eyes.

“You may leave now if you wish, Shikaeru,” Danuko said, breaking through some of the tension between the pair. “I'd like to have a word alone with Onigumo.”

She rose from the couch soundlessly and was gone before Kuromu could even think of something to say to her in parting. He felt crushed, and knew Shikaeru was feeling the same way. “Rule number one,” Danuko said, making Kuromu look up. “Females are very emotional creatures, and you must do everything in your power to make sure you don't upset them. Incurring the wrath of an angry woman is no laughing matter.”

Kuromu gave the man a confused look, noting that some of the lightheartedness had returned to Danuko's eyes.