InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Of Snowstorms and annoying old women. ❯ Chapter One ( Chapter 1 )

Brief Note: Rin will switch her speech from first to third and back again depending on whether she is scare, upset, or otherwise upset.

 

 

 

Also, this is actually an answer to my own challenge over at A Single Spark. It will be rather short… five to ten chapters max, and I don't expect the chapters to go much past six pages each. I'm really only playing around with ideas right now.

 

 

Disclaimer: Inuyasha is the property of Rumiko Takahashi.

 

 

==

 

 

 

Chapter One:

 

 

 

As Kagome began to regain consciousness she slowly became aware of her surroundings. The first thing she noticed was that she was dry which, given the state of the weather recently was not normal. The second thing that came to the girl's attention was that she was not alone. The faint sound of breathing could be heard, and she could have sworn that it was right next to her.

 

 

 

“Kagome?” came a small voice, “Kagome, are you awake now?”

 

 

 

`I know that voice,' Kagome began to try to remember why the voice that just spoke was so familiar, but she was having a hard enough time remembering where she was or how she got there that she was not making much progress. Finally after several frustrating moments of getting nowhere the girl from the future struggled to open her eyes to the scene that awaited her.

 

 

 

There on the floor next to her sat a very frightened looking Rin, and the two of them were in what looked to be an old hut. The long since rotted wood that had once been part of a fire, and the dust covered pots and cooking utensils led Kagome to believe that the two of them were the first to have been there in a very long time. The light shining through the window indicated that it was now sometime during the mid afternoon.

 

“Rin?” Kagome managed through chapped lips, she didn't know how long she had been there but she knew that her lips had not been so raw and cracked when she was making ramen the previous night. Or had it been longer than that? “Rin, where are we?”

 

 

 

The little girl at her side hugged her knees tightly, and her eyes became like glass as she tried not to cry. “Rin doesn't know where we are. I was playing a game with Jaken when I was hit on the head. I only remember waking up here with a mean looking woman by the door, but I haven't seen her come back since she brought you here yesterday.”

 

 

 

“Yesterday?” Kagome repeated, `Why hasn't Inuyasha and the others found me by now?' Slowly, Kagome brought herself up to stand on shaky legs and made her way to the door. The sight that greeted her was not what she had expected.

 

 

 

They had been carried into the mountains, and placed in an old abandoned hut on a cliff. The snow here was twice as deep as she had remembered the snow being at camp, and she could not identify any way down the mountain through the vast white scene before her.

 

 

 

“Stuck are we?” came a smooth feminine voice, and a moment later Kagome found herself face to face with the wind witch.

 

 

 

“Kagura,” Kagome hissed, “What the hell do you want?”

 

 

 

“Why Miko, I'm hurt” Kagura mocked, “I only want to play with the boys, and the only way to get them both here is to lure them with their play things.”

 

 

 

“Why you…” Kagome began, but was cut off when a blurr of white shot past her and hurled into the witch; nearly knocking Kagome over in the process.

 

 

 

Kagura, had been thrown against the mountain rock and was currently picking herself up to face off with a very angry demon lord. “My my Sesshoumaru, it took you longer that I thought to get here,” she purred.

 

 

 

“Where is Rin,” was all the demon lord said.

 

 

 

As if on cue the little girl's head popped from the hut door, “Sesshoumaru-sama!” she squealed.

 

 

 

“Rin, go to Jaken now.” Sesshoumaru ordered and pointed in the direction he had left Jaken only moments before.

 

 

 

“Yes Sesshoumaru-sama!” the girl answered and scurried off in the direction her lord had directed her.

 

 

 

With his ward safe Sesshoumaru directed his attention back to the wind witch, who had moved to a position on the other side of the small hut and away from the rock wall. “You will die for taking what is this Sesshoumaru's,” he snarled and lunged towards the female demon.

 

 

 

Kagome watched from her place at the hut's door. She knew she should have probably followed Rin, but she couldn't find the strength to move from where she stood. Instead she found herself watching the two youkai clash in a blur in the small clearing on the cliff's edge.

 

 

 

After one final clash the two youkai found themselves facing off once again. Kagura had her back to Kagome and was preparing another attack while Sesshoumaru stood at the cliff's edge ready to counter whatever it was the witch was about to throw at him.

 

 

 

It was then that Kagome saw it. A glimmer of steel from the corner of the field, and it only took a second for her to realize who it was. “Kohaku,” Kagome whispered as she saw him raise his weapon and throw it at the demon lord.

 

 

She didn't think. One minute she was standing in the doorway of a broken down hut, and the next she had hurled herself into the chest of a very angry demon lord just as both Kagura's wind attack and Kohaku's weapon hit. The lord and the girl found themselves falling off the edge of the cliff and into the valley below.

 

 

 

For the second time in two days Kagome found herself in utter darkness as she slipped into unconsciousness.

 

 

 

==

 

 

 

When Kagome awoke she found herself lying on a very hard pillow; a very hard breathing pillow. Slowly she forced her eyes to open, and immediately wished she hadn't.

 

 

 

There in the snow under her was a very unconscious Sesshoumaru. His face and hair was matted with fresh blood, and from the shattered rocks around his head she could tell that he had suffered a very nasty blow to the head upon landing. While it was a comfort that he was still breathing there was simply too much blood for him to live much longer if he did not get medical attention quickly.

 

 

 

“Oh god what I have done,” Kagome choked as the realization hit her that it had been her fault they had fallen off the cliff in the first place, and now if he didn't survive Rin would be left alone. “and its all my fault,” she began to sob.

 

 

 

“Oh my!” came a startled cry from somewhere near by, and Kagome could hear the shuffling of clothing as whatever it was moved closer to the pair. “Oh my, oh my, what has happened here,” the voice said again, and Kagome could now see a pair of sandals appear in the corner of her eye.

 

Slowly moving her eyes up towards the source of the voice, the young woman from the future locked eyes with a very worried looking old woman. Fresh tears made their way down the girl's cheeks in both relief and renewed sadness, “You must help me treat him,” she all but demanded of the woman, “Please…” she added in a small whisper.

 

 

 

The woman's eyes softened, “Of course child. Here, come help me carry him to my home and we will care for his injuries,” she said as she gently helped the young girl to her feet and then moved to lift the demon under his good arm.

 

 

 

Kagome nodded and moved to the side of Sesshoumaru's body where the arm was missing and picked him up by the shoulder, cradling his head as carefully as she could on her own shoulder; not caring that fresh blood flowed freely from his wounds and into her own clothing.

 

 

 

The woman's house was not small by any means. It consisted of three rooms; the main room, which was meant for general gathering and eating, and two bedrooms. The woman led them into the spare bedroom and began helping Kagome clean and dress the demon lord's wounds.

 

 

 

“What is your name child?” The woman asked when Sesshoumaru was finally bandaged up and sleeping soundly.

 

 

 

“Kagome,” the girl replied simply; never taking her eyes off the sleeping demon in front of her. Unshed tears threatened to spill anew as the thought of her role in his condition began to creep its way back into her mind.

 

 

 

The old woman only smiled, “I am Talia, and he is?” she asked, motioning towards the demon.

 

 

 

“Sesshoumaru,” Kagome said. This time she was not able to hold back the tears. Pulling her knees to her chest and locking her arms around them she rocked slightly, “this is all my fault,” she whispered. Inuyasha was right; she did only get in the way and cause trouble.

 

 

 

“Now child, everything will be just fine,” the woman tried to assure the girl who was obviously distressed, “Here, let me clean you up and get you into some decent clothes.”

 

 

 

“No thank you,” Kagome said, “I'm going to stay right here until he wakes up.”

 

 

 

Talia only nodded and stood, “Well then I am going to go prepare dinner. I'm sure he will wake up soon,” she said and made her way out of the small room.

 

 

Kagome didn't know how long she sat there staring at him. He looked so peaceful, and for a moment one could almost believe that he wasn't a cold blooded killer that would have rather killed her than have to look at her.

 

 

Talia returned with two bowels of stew in hand, and offered one to Kagome. “Your mate will be fine child, but for now you should eat,” she said and took her place on the other side of the pallet Sesshoumaru was on.

 

 

Startled, Kagome stared into the bowel. “He is not my mate,” she said simply.

 

 

 

“Of course not child, now eat,” Talia encouraged.

 

 

 

==

 

 

“Inuyasha it's been nearly three days, how far could she have gone?” Shippo cried from Miroku's shoulder.

 

 

 

The hanyou didn't even bother to look back, “How the hell should I know in all this snow? Her scent's all but gone!” he yelled. He felt guilty enough for falling asleep and leaving everyone vulnerable to attack; it didn't help that the fox kit felt it was necessary to remind him every ten minutes that Kagome had been taken that night. They had nothing to go on other than the scent of Naraku that ended at the base of the mountains they were now trying to find a way up. But the snow had not stopped, and nearly every pass into the mountains were now blocked.

 

 

 

But he wasn't about to give up yet, `I'll save you Kagome, I promise,' his mind whispered.

 

==

 

 

Sesshoumaru didn't know what it was that woke him. Perhaps it was the smell of food nearby, or the soft murmur of voices that rushed into his head like thunder; threatening to tear his skull in two. Slowly he opened his eyes and was met by two sets of concerned ones staring at him. One, a young woman whose clothing was covered in blood and her eyes red with fresh tears falling from them, but he could see relief wash over her features as he looked at her.

 

 

The other, an old woman who quickly moved to his side and began to speak, “You are awake child, how do you feel?” she asked.

 

 

 

He could only continue to stare at the two. The older woman he knew he did not know, but the younger one he felt that somewhere he should know who she was but could not bring forth her name in his mind. In fact, he could not remember his own name. “Where am I?” was all he could manage.

 

 

 

“You are in my home,” Talia replied, “I found you in the forest with Kagome,” she finished, extending her hand towards the girl across from him for emphasis.

 

 

 

“Is that your name?” he asked the girl. He watched her eyes flash with an emotion he could not read as she nodded hesitantly. “If the woman found you with me, then you must know my name?” he asked.

 

 

 

Kagome's heart stopped, “You… you don't remember your name?” Her voice came out in only a small whisper, but she knew he heard it. His head moved slowly from side to side confirming her fears. Sesshoumaru had no memory of who he was.

 

==

 

Here's as good of a place as any to stop. Please let me know what you think.