InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Poison ❯ Lost Home ( Chapter 2 )

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talked as they walked. InuYasha didn’t seem surprised when Kimeko told him how she’d gotten into his lands, just a bit alert. Once, though, he slowed to a stop, losdt in thought.
“Inu? Are you okay?” Kimeko queried. InuYasha stared at her.
“Why aren’t you running away? Aren’t you scared of me?” Kimeko stared at him. She opened her mouth, closed it. Tried again. “Why should I be? I trust you, and my stomach doesn’t hurt, so I know I can trust you. Plus, you helped me. Besides, you’re too cute to be bad!” Inuyasha blushed, but smiled.
They’d been walking in companionable silence for a while when Inuyasha froze, his ears twitching. Kimeko stopped and turned to him.
“What is it, Inu?”
The hanyou raised a finger to his lips, staring intently at a spot directly ahead of him. Suddenly, he pounced at Kimeko, tackling her to the ground as an arrow whizzed just over their heads. Immediately after, an armed stumbled from the trees across the clearing, bow at the ready. He turned to the children lying on the ground and aimed an arrow at Kimeko. Before he could shoot it, Inuyasha hoisted Kimeko onto his back again and ran into the green cover of trees, leaping into the branches. Kimeko was amazed at the beauty around her as Inuyasha jumped from branch to branch, although she was still shaken up from the archer. After what seemed hours in which the distance from the ground increased, Inuyasha dropped down to the ground, smiling back at the sound of Kimeko’s giggles.
Even with the weight of them both combined, the hanyou landed silently. They were at the foot of a large boulder-hill, covered with vines and moss. Inuyasha helped Kimeko slide off his back and walked over to the cave. He knelt down before an entrance the size of a dog-door and looked back at Kimeko, motioning with a jerk of his head to follow him. Then he crawled into the cave, immediately enveloped by darkness. After a moment of hesitation, Kimeko followed close behind and crashed into his rear. Barely noticing her or her sudden fiery blush, Inuyasha called out into the cave, “Mama… I’m home…”
After a while, a woman, Kawano, came into view holding a candle, long ebony locks flowing freely down her back. She set down her candle and removed a large demon warding from the wall, just before Inuyasha pounced into his mother’s eager arms.
“Inuyasha, my boy.” she said, “You’re back.”She glanced at Kimeko. “And you brought a friend!” She gave Natasha a warning look.
The hanyou quickly responded, “No mama, I didn’t! She came on her own. See, her wrist is hurt!”
Immediately, Kawano kneeled before Kimeko who was having some trouble crawling with one hand, and lifted her up, setting her on a table before she left, and returned bearing a basket of weird, scraggly flowers.
“This will hurt a bit. Your wrist seems to be broken, and I’m going to set it, okay?”
Reluctantly, Kimeko nodded, disturbed by Inuyasha’s wince.
A sudden burning pain in her entire arm nearly made her scream. She bit it back, though she couldn’t control the tears flowing freely now. Inuyasha stared, fascinated. He himself hadn’t yelled when his mother set his shoulder back in place (Not realizing that his demon blood would heal it quickly and painlessly enough) but he was a hanyou. Every human he’d ever seen have a bone reset had screamed, or at least sworn up a storm. Here was a five year old human girl, her wrist-bone just placed back into its socket, and the only sound from her was a whimper or two and her raspy breathing! To put it simply, he was impressed.
I’m running in a forest. There’s a clearing ahead of me. My keen nose detects a scent. Deer. I look to my side, and there’s an entire herd of them, fifty or more bucks, thousands of tips on hundreds of hors. I smile, my fangs gleaming faintly in the scant moonlight.
Suddenly an arrow protrudes through my chest. My yell dies in my lungs as I am blinded by my own blood. The deer are long gone. Ahead of me bushes rustle and I turn, escaping the ambush, for now. A gasp escapes my lips as another arrow rips through my throat. Blood, thick and crimson, gushes from a severed artery, and I fall from my hell of searing pain into the soft oblivion of death.
I welcome it.
Kimeko woke in a sweat, screaming.
‘But I thought the dreams stopped a long time ago! Why are they back now?’ she asked herself.
She’d been suffering through that painfully realistic dream since she could remember. They had supposedly stopped some time after her fifth birthday. Why had they returned so suddenly?
Breathing hoarsely, Kimeko focused on her surroundings. She was in bed, more a pile of quilts and cushions, in a large room. There was a chair by the fireplace in one corner and, in another, a closed cabinet, more than likely locked. Before Kimeko could lay back down, Inuyasha popped his head around the doorway, wondering if she was hurt.
“No,” Kimeko replied, “Just an old nightmare.”
Inuyasha came over and sat beside her, placing a comforting arm around her shoulder in a brotherly embrace. Kimeko relaxed, leaning back to lie down. In a minute she was asleep, this time dreamlessly. Suddenly tired, Inuyasha realized he hadn’t slept in two days., After covering Kimeko in silk cloths, he lay down beside his new friend and closed his eyes, his kimono giving him all the warmth he needed.
Kawano peeked around the doorway, drawn y the unnerving quiet. She smiled softly, seeing the children curled up together in sleep, a placid look on each face.
Kimeko awoke from a comfortable sleep to find herself curled up with Inuyasha. She missed her family.
‘I’m home,’ she thought sadly, ‘but I cant stay without them..’
Slowly, she stood, made sure Inuyasha was still sleeping, and left the cave.
Inuyasha woke with a start, realizing that something wasn’t right. Not two seconds later, he noticed Kimeko was gone. Sadly, Inuyasha looked around, wondering if she’d lied to him, pretended to be his friend. But no, he could smell her. Sniffing the air, he walked from the cave. When he stopped, he was at the lake. Kimeko was sitting at the shore, arms wrapped around her knees, staring silently at the water lapping at her feet. She didn’t notice Inuyasha, and he didn’t try to draw attention from behind the bush. He watched a single tear course down her cheek. They sat that way for nearly an hour.
Suddenly, Kimeko stood and headed for the well Inuyasha hadn’t noticed, though it seemed to be exactly what Kimeko had been looking for. Inuyasha immediately put two and two together and ran from his hiding place, and Kimeko turned to stare at him, tears glimmering on her lashes. They stood there, the two of them, unmoving.
With a fresh burst of tears, Kimeko flung herself at Inuyasha, burying her face in his coat. Uncertain, he put his arms around her and waited as she cried herself out. When she finally lifted her head and apologetically backed toward the well, Inuyasha nearly begged her to stay, the only friend he’d ever known. But as it was, his throat was clogged, denying him even that miniscule attempt.
Kimeko smiled with hope and understanding.
“I’ll try to visit as much as I can…” she trailed off joyously as Inuyasha nodded slowly.
“I’m sorry,” she said, serious again, “but I miss my family. I’ve got to go see them.I promise I’ll come back though-” she turned her tears away from him, and heard him whisper, “I’ll miss you…”
And, feeling as if her heart would burst if she stayed a moment longer, she jumped into the well.