InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Returning Home ❯ The Mystery Race Returns ( Chapter 4 )

Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha or any characters there in. Nor do I own "Keep your hands to yourself" by Georgia Satellites

Chapter 4: The Mystery Race Returns

"This miko saw Kohaku?" Sango stood and gave InuYasha a hopeful look.

"She didn't know his name." InuYasha repeated, "But it seems right."

They were huddled in one corner of a large shelter, surrounded by the wounded. Kagome was helping the villagers to aid the wounded, and looked very much like she was ignoring the conversation.

"How, how was he?" Sango asked hesitantly.

"Hungry." InuYasha frowned, "She said he ate and left."

"Sango," Miroku stopped her before she could ask another question that InuYasha didn't have an answer for, "tomorrow we will go through that village. You can ask her yourself."

Kagome joined the group and collapsed against a large solid box. She had been told to rest, others would take over with the wounded and she needed to sleep. But there wasn't any room for her to lay down in here.

InuYasha watched her closely as she slumped against the wall. He knew he shouldn't talk to her. She knew that he had left to find Kikyo and no argument as to why would make her any less angry. Besides, he had no idea what to say. She looked so tired and … lost. Her face was smudged with ash and blood, the green in her eyes reflected the dim light like a … an animal youkai's. InuYasha sighed; he had really failed her with Sorrell. And he was doing it again. The worst thing was, he was beginning to suspect that Kagome wouldn't just return to normal on her own, as Keade had hoped.

Kagome was mostly tired. Physically and mentally, and of course emotionally. InuYasha had left her for Kikyo, again, in a town that was expecting an attack from a youkai horde. Ok, so the town was full of warriors bent on destroying said horde, and the general had seemed to know InuYasha, but still….

*

The next morning, the group packed up and left the remaining villagers and warriors to finish with the clean up and tend the wounded on their own. After all, the living outnumbered the dead, and Sorrell's trail was getting older.

They traveled on the river road, favoring the ease of the well worn earth to the quick, thin path that lead over a sharp ridge halfway between the villages. InuYasha had taken that path last night, and returned by it. But everyone else was worn out by the battle, and in no shape for climbing.

They were a few short minutes from the next village when they heard harsh mumbling coming from just up the road. The solemn group waited as the mumbling got closer and finally rounded the bend in the road.

A smallish girl in a plain kimono was stomping towards them. She seemed a normal enough girl in an adolescent snit, but something didn't seem quite right about her. Something about the shape of her large blue eyes, the tint of her finer than peasant skin, the way she held her head… the foreign words that poured from her mouth, that almost shouted `I DON"T BELONG HERE!'

The girl spotted a group of large rocks a few feet in front of our heroes, and headed for them. She sat down on one, dropped the pack that had been on her back by her side, and looked at the group that was staring at her.

"I look human don't I?" she asked in what would have been a strong confident voice, if she hadn't had that pleading look in her unusual eyes, "I mean, I have the right hair," she held up a strand of healthy black hair to prove her point, "the right color," she touched her face, "the clothes!" she motioned at her peasant clothes. "I even worked with my hands! I did every thing right! I didn't even flirt, not even by accident! So why did they call me a kitsune?"

Miroku had already inspected the girl for youki, and found none, the very fact that she was lamenting to them the villagers belief that she was a youkai must mean that she wasn't. She was just an unusually attractive girl that had been misplaced from her home.

He moved quickly to kneel in front of her in a comforting way as the others either rolled their eyes or tried to figure out what the girl meant by having the "right hair and color".

"Now, now, you can't let ignorant people get you down." He reached out and took one of her hands in his, "When a woman is blessed with unusual beauty there is bound to be jealousy. Perhaps if you had the aid and assurance of a monk to show your neighbors that you are not a kitsune in disguise you would find them more understanding."

He was about to continue, to suggest that his weary group stay in her village, in her home, until she was accepted, when she gave him a sweet, sad smile and said, "Thank you. But your compliments would be better received if you weren't so obviously trying to seduce me."

Miroku sputtered for a moment and she removed her had from his.

"My virtue has survived my country and my line of work, I'm not about to loose it to a… to you." She lifted her hands to her head and pulled a few pins out of her hair, "It's about time that continue on my original purpose here anyway, I've wasted enough time trying to learn what humanity is."

She pulled the generous amount of black hair off of her head revealing a pinned up pile of straight white hair and a clear line of white skin that ended abruptly at the wig line. She pulled her hair loose and it fell heavily down past her shoulders and halfway down her back.

Miroku fell back quickly and Sango gasped, "Who- what are you?"

The young woman looked up at Sango, "I don't know. See, I'm having a little bit of an identity crisis. We used to be human, some think we still are, after a fashion. I was trying to figure out what it meant to be a human to find out once and for all. But it's my first time out of the city among real humans, and they all thought I was a youkai." She ended sadly.

"But that isn't why you're here." Miroku recovered and stood.

"No, I'm here looking for a girl, like me, all white like me, but her eyes are pink, she's about twelve, kinda spooky?" she looked at the blank faces around her. "Didn't think so. This would be so much easer if I could have contacted her first."

"Have you seen a boy? With a sickle on a chain?" Sango asked anxiously.

The girl, who was looking through her pack, shook her head. "Sorry."

"The miko saw him, Sango, we'll ask her about him." Kagome said reassuringly.

"She's gone." The stranger said. She had pulled a cloth out of the bag and started to wipe her face with it. All traces of her peasant tan disappeared as the cloth passed over leaving not only pale skin, but skin as white as her hair. Even her lips, gums and tongue were white. "She left early this morning over the ridge, said there was a battle last night and that she had to see to the wounded."

Kagome spoke up when Sango looked over her shoulder, "We can't go back Sango, we have to go forward, following Sorrell."

Sango nodded. They had to keep going forward.

"Come on!" InuYasha walked ahead of them towards the village. "Let's get going."

"I wouldn't go through that village if I were you." The white haired girl called after him.

InuYasha stopped and turned towards her, "What did you say bitch?"

"That village just lost their miko, and threw me out for being a kitsune." She explained, "How do you think you'll be received? … You guys look like you could use a break, there's this path that leads north of the village, and a cave. I stayed there when I first arrived on this island. Before I found the clothes and learned the language."

"How long have you been here?" Miroku asked.

"About a month, give or take a week." She said, "I may not know much about humans but communication is an important part of my job."

"And what, exactly is your job?" Sango asked suspiciously.

She paused for a moment and looked them over, "I'm an entertainer. By trade. I sing, well, we all sing, almost constantly. I dance well, talk lively, look pretty and get paid."

"Why are you idiots standing around listening to this whore?" InuYasha rejoined the group, "Let's get going!"

"I'm not a whore! Actually I'm a flower weaver, but that doesn't get you anywhere where I come from." She scowled at InuYasha, "And I think your friends could use a day of rest." She looked at Kagome directly and evenly for the first time, "There's a river up there too, it runs warm. I'm guessing that you were in that battle last night, seems to have taken a lot out of you. I can show you the path around the village and you can get a good bath."

Kagome nodded but said, "Why would you do this for us?"

"You guys can hunt right?" she gave them a bright smile that quickly dissolved into a slight grimace, "I may have forgotten to bring food when I left the village."

Kagome nodded and the girl jumped up, "Great. Wait here for one second, I have to get into my own clothes." And she hopped off into the woods with her bag.

"What the hell do you think you're doing bitch?" InuYasha yelled at Kagome, "You want us to waste a day sitting around with some foreign thing when we should be tracking down the enemy!"

Kagome looked at him levelly and said flatly, "I like her."

"What the hell!" InuYasha exclaimed, "We can't afford to spend the day with every fucking person you decide you like!"

"I'm tired InuYasha." Kagome said in that same flat voice, but when she continued she sounded more like her normal, if annoyed, self, "We all are! I was up most of the night tending to the wounded and Sango was one of them! The only reason I agreed to leave was so that we could talk to the miko that saw Kohaku and Sorrell! But since that's not going to happen I would like the chance to rest and get a proper bath!"

Before InuYasha could continue the argument the white girl rejoined them. She spun back to the rock that she had been sitting on, her hair feathering around her head and settling perfectly around her smiling face and shoulders.

She had changed out of the peasant kimono and into a tailored tunic type dress with a skirt almost as short as Kagome's, in a pinkish purple color. The sleeves were slightly tapered so they were wider at the wrists than the shoulder. The under "tunic" was exactly the same, but more pink then purple, and two inches longer at the edges. Were she had been wearing sandals earlier she now wore boots to match her dress. They came up to just below her knees and stood her on four inch platforms. This managed to bring her up to eye level with Kagome.

The outfit was toped off with a matching light purple headband sitting just behind her perfect bangs. Somehow all this pink and purple managed to bring out the absolute absence of these colors in her rich blue eyes.

"Betcha didn't know you could learn that, huh?" she wrinkled her nose attractively.

"Do you have a mirror back there?" Kagome looked into the woods behind the girl.

"Always." She patted her bag, which was hidden behind the rock for her entrance, "Let's go. I'd like to get there in time for a bath before dinner."

The girl shouldered her pack and started back into the forest. Kagome started to follow her.

"Hey, wench!" InuYasha called after her, "we're not going that way!"

Kagome just kept walking. Soon Sango and Miroku followed after her.

"Sorry InuYasha," Shippo said before jumping to Miroku's shoulder, "but she needs us more then you do."

*

Soon the forest gave way to a clear track the white girl walked ahead swaying slightly, as if to a tune in her head.

Sango and Miroku were traveling just behind her. Kagome was behind them, having drifted there while lost in thought. InuYasha was quite away behind her, sulking.

This was important because it gave the strange girl direct access to the couple behind her. Her mind picked up the vibrations coming off of them and her ears picked up the tinkling of Miroku's staff as they walked along.

She giggled and hummed as the tune flowed into her mind and the words drifted slowly into consciousness. Without warning, and not really realizing what she was doing she started to sing those words.

"I got a little change in my pocket goin' jing-a-ling-a-ling
want to call you on the transceiver baby, a-give you a ring
but each time we talk, I get the same old thing
always no hugg-ee no kiss-ee until I get a wed-in' ring
my honey my baby, don't put my love upon no shelf
she said don't hand me no lines and keep your hands to yourself.

InuYasha came up next to Kagome, who caught up to Miroku and Sango to better listen to the song.

"What the hell is she doing?" InuYasha asked quietly.

"She appears to be… singing." Miroku said in a low voice.

"Baby baby baby why you wan' treat me this way
you know I'm still your lover boy I still feel the same way
that's when she told me a story, 'bout free milk and a cow
and said no hugg-ee no kiss-ee until I get a wed-in' vow
my honey my baby, don't put my love upon no shelf
she said don't hand me no lines and keep your hands to yourself."

"I think she's singing about you Miroku." Shippo said, "It sounds like Sango too."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Miroku said while accidentally knocking Shippo off his shoulder.

"See I wanted her real bad, and I was about to give in,
that's when she started talking about true love
started talking about sin,
I said, honey I'll live with you for the rest of my life,

She said no hugg-ee no kiss-ee until you make me your wife-a
my honey my baby, don't put my love upon no shelf
she said don't hand me no lines and keep your hands to yourself"

The girl stopped singing and returned to her normal absent swaying.

"That was weird Kagome," Shippo whined from his new perch on her shoulder, "Are you sure we should be following her?"

"She's fine Shippo." Kagome answered absently. The song was more then weird, it was just under 500 years early. "She's just… something else."

*

A/N: Well, she's still with them, so there's more singing to come. That is one song I've never seen applied to them, and I always thought it was appropriate.

If you want to know how I picture the girl, she's a cross between Chi (of chobits) and Daphney (of ScoobyDo). Please forgive my misspellings.

The word telephone was perposfully replaced with transceiver. And Kagome's stedfastness in following the new girl is a part of the transformation. You have to understand that otherwise it's just weird or out of character. How many of you can guess one of the reasons?

Also how many of you can guess the origins of the girl, or who she is looking for?

cursed_jax, I couldn't access your last review… but don't let that stop you from reviewing again! The more reviews I have the more likely I can trick the site into letting me see them.