InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Mayumi's Story ❯ Chapter 14 ( Chapter 14 )

Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi

 

Mayumi's Story, Chapter 14:

 

There was a reason my parents had so much trouble tracking the elusive youkai from the future—they were following me! At first, I didn't realize it, but after a while, the vague whispers at the edge of my thoughts solidified into a single word: my name. If I concentrated, I could sense them, the thousands of little incorporeal youkai which reminded me eerily of Fenn's youkai back home, although I knew with certainty that these weren't his. The `signature' was not quite the same.

 

I wasn't afraid of them, but I wanted to find out why they knew me, and why they remained in this place when I was the one being who could actually follow them in between to kill them. If they did mean harm, I wanted them far away from my children. I hadn't sensed a higher-order youkai, so if they had a leader as Papa believed, he wasn't nearby.

 

Despite my mother-in-law's insistence that someone always accompany me, I managed to slip away on my own for a private bath in the early hours of one late summer morning. I always was too stubborn for my own good. Daichi was going to be mad when he found out, but this was for a good cause. I dropped my things beside the pool and centered my thoughts, seeking the youkai who were just out of sight, but not out of mind. I heard their whispers clear as day.

 

“You want me?” I muttered beneath my breath. “Here I am.”

 

And they came. At once they took on substance, materializing about me in grotesque parodies of living creatures. But no living creatures ever looked quite like these snake-like things with too many mouths. Fenn's creatures had started out that way, sure, but that was because they hadn't known any better and were little more than reflections of their insatiable hunger. As they grew, they changed to more aesthetically pleasing shapes. And as they changed, they retained more and more solidity. One day, they would be like the greater youkai, more body than spirit, I was sure. These things, I wasn't so sure. . . .

 

“What do you want?” I asked, still confident that they couldn't hurt me, really. They might look scary, but I was youkai too, and I didn't scare easily.

 

“Mayumi, Mayumi, Mayumi,” whispered a thousand voices, as the youkai edged nearer. I held up my claws as a warning. Their voices changed. “You,” I heard. “You, you, you, you, you, you.”

 

The cloud surged over me, half-solid, half-spirit, and suddenly I couldn't see. I felt stings, like bug bites, all over my arms and legs, and I slashed out, gratified to see my arc of power light a path of destruction through the youkai cloud. The biting sensation didn't stop, however. This time, the youkai didn't disappear like before; they stayed right with me, no matter how many of them I killed with my claws. I began to worry for my baby.

 

“Aaah!” I screamed in frustration. “Stop it!” I don't know where I found the energy, but I felt myself grow hot and then I lost all sense. When I came to, on the grassy banks of the waterfall pool, I was alone, tingling from the tiny cuts and bites all over my body. There was no sign of the strange youkai. Slowly, I sat up and felt my belly for the familiar weight of my unborn child, relieved when I felt a kick, then another. I breathed a quick sigh, then scrambled to my feet. What was going on? For the first time, I felt scared. I had lost a block of time and I didn't know what had happened to me.

 

Slowly, I made my way back home and crept into bed beside Daichi. I let the tears seep out of the corners of my eyes as I wrapped my arms around his strong back and breathed in his calming smell. I didn't sleep, so I was aware when Daichi finally stirred, his nose registering something was wrong before the rest of him did. He turned in my arms until he faced me, our unborn baby in between us. “Mayumi?” he asked, concern in his voice.

 

“I'm ok,” I said, to reassure him. “Daichi, I'm sorry—I went to the waterfall, and there were some youkai, and—we're ok,” I repeated, meaning me and the baby. “I just got scratched up.”

 

He immediately checked me all over, verifying for himself that we were all right, before letting into me about my foolishness. I know it. I was foolish. Stupidly, I began to cry again. I hadn't even told him the worst part.

 

“Something happened to me,” I said softly, eyes downcast. “I was fighting, then it got really hot, and I don't remember anything else. I must have killed them all.” I raised my eyes. “Daichi, I'm scared that I lost control. It never happened to me before, but I've heard it can sometimes happen to hanyou in times of great danger.” In my mind, I remembered the stories Mama had told me about Papa, and how Tetsusaiga sealed his youkai blood when he was younger.

 

Daichi paled. Neither of us had considered that possibility.

 

“I've got to go,” I said, suddenly making a decision. I was a danger to my family until I got this under control—if, indeed, I had transformed. “I need to see Kazuki.” Kazuki would be able to help me. If nothing else, he could get in touch with Papa. They both needed to know about the strange youkai, too.

 

“I'll get him,” Daichi said. “I don't want you leaving the settlement, not until we know if it's safe.”

 

I couldn't tell Daichi I needed to see more than just Kazuki. He didn't know about Papa—he still thought we were orphans. “No, I need to go alone,” I told him. “You don't really want me around the kids like this. What if I lose control again?”

 

It was our second big fight. He wanted to go with me, and I couldn't let him. I was trying to protect him, but he wouldn't see it. Our raised voices woke up the children, and, oblivious to the tension in the air, the twins clambered all over us, joyous in the new day. Choko wandered in, rubbing her eyes, and snuggled between her Papa and me, resting her little head on the bump of my stomach. Only Gintaro held back, too old in his own mind to go running to Mama and Papa for hugs and kisses in the morning. I gave him a wan smile and beckoned him over for a quick ruffle of his hair, before I shooed him and the other kids outside so we could start our day. I was still tired, but my cuts had already begun to heal. “We'll talk about this later,” I said, as I followed the kids outside.

 

I had no intention of talking about it later. I thought I'd just get everyone settled, then quietly leave. If I timed it right, I could be to Kazuki's and back in a few hours by using my special mode of travel. Daichi would be furious when he found out I was gone, but at least he'd be safe.

 

Daichi stuck to me like glue, however, so once I had made sure all my kids would be spending the day with their grandparents, I started off into the woods anyway. Ayame knew something was going on, but thankfully she didn't say anything, trusting that Daichi had it under control. I smiled grimly. We'd see.

 

Once we were past the boundaries of the wolf tribe, I put on a burst of speed, ignoring Daichi's attempts to `talk' to me. I needed to put some distance between us.

 

“Wait!” he called, increasing his speed to match mine. Did I mention that wolves are fast?

 

I skidded to a halt and faced him. “Leave me alone,” I said, my voice stony cold. My heart cringed at the bewildered expression on Daichi's face, and I vowed to make it up to him when I came back. “I need to do this. You need to keep the kids safe. Go home, please?” I didn't think he would listen, and I was right.

 

“I need to keep you safe,” he argued, and tried to put his arms around me.

 

I wriggled away. No, I needed to keep Daichi safe—even from me, for his own good. I hated what I was going to say, but I said it anyway. “I don't need you.” It wasn't true. It wasn't true! I needed Daichi with every fiber of my being. But I had to get away.

 

He stood frozen, shocked by my heartless words. I used his shock to turn away. “Don't follow me,” I flung over my shoulder as I ran to get as far away as I could before he recovered and came after me.

 

I just needed to get out of sight for a second or two. Then I turned in between, moving through space as easily as I moved through time. The concept was the same and I followed the path I needed in my mind.

 

“Kazuki!” I called, sweeping in to his little house, hoping against hope that he was home and not out on patrol today. With relief, I caught his scent. He was alone. Sachi and the children had already gone to do their daily chores. As glad as I was to see him there by himself, I wondered why he was alone at this time of day. “Is something wrong?” I asked.

“Mayumi,” he acknowledged me, “how did you know?”

“Know what?” I asked, confused.

Kazuki blinked. “Why are you here, then?”

“Something happened,” I said, and I sat down next to him. “Kazuki, I think I transformed.

His eyes widened. “Are you sure?”

“No, I'm not sure! I was hoping you would know. Is Papa in this era? Can you go get him?”

“Mama and Papa are in Japan—in their time,” he clarified. “They can't come here for a while.”

“Why not?” I couldn't imagine any circumstance that would keep my parents away if it was a real emergency—and this was! Kazuki could go back and get them. Technically, I could, too, but I had made a promise to myself that I would not go back, ever, until whatever was going to happen in the future forced me to go back. I think I was afraid that if I arbitrarily went back, that would be `it,' the thing that Dai remembered, and I wouldn't be able to come back here anymore. I couldn't chance it, even for this. But Kazuki could.

“Mayumi, Grandma Higurashi died,” he said. “They're at her funeral.”

I hadn't expected it. My heart pounded. “Grandma?” I remembered her, beautiful, gentle, ageless in my eyes. How could she be dead? It was my first experience, however indirectly, of human death. I knew all about youkai death; I'd dealt it out myself to the lower forms of youkai. I knew about mortal death, too. How could I not? We were carnivores, and took our sustenance from the living creatures of the forest all around us. But I had never experienced the death of someone I knew. Mama must be devastated. “How? What happened?”

“She was old,” Kazuki replied. “She was human. It happens.” He radiated sadness, and I realized why he had been sitting here, all alone. Sachi was human, too. It would happen to her someday.

“Why didn't you come to tell me?” I asked.

He gazed at me quizzically. “Would you have gone back?”

“No.”

He smiled. “Well, then. I figured it could wait.”

“Why didn't you go to the funeral?”

“I thought about it,” he said. “But I decided not to go. The baby's teething, and you know what that means.”

I smiled back at him. I certainly did know what it means when inu—or wolf—youkai babies started to teethe. But he was making exuses, I understood that, too. Knowing the connections he must be making in his mind, I didn't blame him for not wanting to go to Grandma's funeral.

“So tell me everything that happened to you,” he said, straightening up, exchanging his sad face for his in-charge face.

I told him everything, starting with the youkai, and ending with me waking up beside the waterfall with no memory of what had happened.

“Give me a few minutes to tell Sachi that I'm going away for a few days,” he said, standing up. “You'd better meet me by Midoriko's cave, so no one knows you were here. You are alone?” Kazuki asked, just now realizing that Daichi wasn't with me. I nodded, and he nodded back. It made things easier this way.

I popped out, moving laterally in the between space, and reappeared by Midoriko's cave, though I did not go inside. A little while later, Kazuki appeared. “Ready to go?”

“Where?” I asked. “Will this really take a few days?” I didn't want to be away from my family for so long. Already, I missed them. And what must Daichi be thinking? Would he believe that I left him? “Kazuki! Daichi knew I was coming to the slayer village! He'll probably show up there looking for me.”

“Damn!” Kazuki bit his bottom lip as he thought about what to do. “Never mind, let's get you to where we're going, then I'll head Daichi off. I'll explain what happened. He'll understand then.”

I hoped Kazuki was right. I hated having to hide things from Daichi. Fine, in the interests of time, Kazuki and I would travel by our secret method, which Daichi couldn't do anyway. But then, we'd tell him why I had to go away and hope he understood.

“Kazuki, where are we going?” I asked. I couldn't travel the path if I didn't know the destination.

Kazuki placed one hand on my arm to guide me. I would follow him. “To see Totosai,” he answered. We popped out.