InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Silver-Haired Beauty ❯ News and Rude Awakenings ( Chapter 8 )

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Week One

Day Six

The morning passed in a herb soaked daze.

Healers flocked in and out of her room, audibly marveling at the speed of her recovery. Kuroi idly wondered if they had even treated anything more serious than a scraped knee.

'Try a gut shot with hot lead shrapnel from a cannon misfire. Babies.' Yamatsu even came by once and held her hand, talking to her in gentle and hushed tones before having to leave to oversee some reconstruction. His genuine kindness and interest were a better balm for her than the unguents the healers had plastered to her jaw.

Midori practically bubbled while attending to her small wants and wishes. It was from her that Kuroi learned of the 'heroic battle to defend your Lady's honor' between the two brothers. The deep and misery filled groan Kuroi gave over that bit of news brought another visit from a healer to see if a wound had been missed in the previous thorough searches.

Aka and Ki came and unpacked new gifts of clothes and fabrics that were delivered to her room. The gifts came with a small note done in flawless script saying, 'I might have erred.'

Kuroi almost bit a hole in her lip trying not to laugh. 'He can't even write I'm sorry?! Oh heaven help me, I need a great sense of humor to survive this man.' Watching the endless parade of silk, satin and fine linen creations floating into her closets, she realized that she needed to get a note to her brother. Fast.

'But first, I need to talk to Sessy-pooh.'

After Ki and Aka left, Kuroi turned to Midori and asked for a brush and piece of paper. When the writing tray was laid across her lap, Kuroi grabbed the brush and wrote. She didn't pause to consider her words. After all, jotting down 'Come here please' wasn't a monumental task. The green girl accepted it and took the note away swiftly and quietly.

"Now all I have to do is wait." Kuroi sighed.

Shifting around, she got to her feet, delighted not to experience any pains or even lingering aches. Her opinion of the healers rose a few notches. 'They're good. I wish I'd had these guys on call when that parasitic tree youkai tried to rip my leg apart.' It had taken weeks for the injury to stop bothering her and heal properly. 'These guys might have cut it down to a few days.'

She glanced down at her calves where the wound had been. Only Inuyasha knew how badly she'd ever been injured in fights before because she always healed back to smooth unblemished skin. Kuroi caught sight of her palms as she reached for a robe. 'Almost perfect, but not quite.' Focused on her thoughts, she pulled on the first thing she grabbed. A plain yellow kimono. 'Ugh, I have got to get some blue fabric.' Yanking at the front of it, she started to remove the offensive robe when a voice froze her hands.

"So it is not just my baby brother you enjoy disrobing before? I feel honored."

Shit. She yanked the clothing back on and turned to glare over her shoulder as she tied it closed. Cool and collected, Sesshomaru was lounging against the doorframe and watching her with an unreadable expression.

"No. Inu did it while I was asleep." When one slowly lifting brow pointed out the way her statement sounded, Kuroi flushed. "Get your mind out the gutter Sessy! I was passed out, he thought I might have been hurt."

"So he removed all your clothes? Well, that makes so much more sense. We should all hope for good Samaritans of that inclination, don't you think?" Closing the door behind him as he entered, he went to take a seat by the outer door. A small square appeared between his fingers like magic and a flick of his wrist sent the neatly folded piece of paper to land by her foot. "I received your rather, abrupt request." Yellow eyes focused on her with hawk-like intensity. "What do you want, little flower?"

At the nickname Inuyasha regularly used for her, Kuroi visibly started. 'Oh shit. Has he been listening in on Koinu and I?' Swallowing to bring much needed moisture to her dry throat, She took a deep breath. 'If he did, we weren't doing anything and he can bite me. That's not what I called him here for anyway.'

"I wanted to say I'm sorry."

He blinked once.

"I mean actually and truly sorry. I shouldn't have run off in a screaming fit last night." Ducking her head, she played with the end of her sash. "Even if I was justified, I still should have at least acted my age and talked to you about it." She took a look at his gleaming silver locks Which Were glowing from the noon day sun, surrounding him with an almost ethereal light.

'He looks like an angel.' she thought. 'Too bad he isn't one.'

"Like I said, I shouldn't have poured wine on your head and tossed food around." Dropping the ends of the fabric she'd been fingering, she stuck her hand out. "Truce? I won't try to decorate you with glazed duck and you lay off the whole 'better you' thing. I figured, since part of your name means 'negotiation', you might be open to trying to have one with me. Okay?"

Sesshomaru blinked again and rose, walking past her offered hand towards the door. He paused at the threshold and said mildly, "I will honor your request, but only because it seems you have matured somewhat from your ordeal last night. You might prove to be suitable without my aid after all." His voice carried back to her as he left in a rustle of robes and swishing fur, "However, you should also note that part of my name can mean 'killing'. Remember that."

Savagely beating down the urge to chase after him and pour a bucket of slop over his head, Kuroi thought heatedly, 'Just get through the day girl. Just get through the freaking day!' Grinding her teeth again, she sat down to write two more letters. These were considerably longer.

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Afternoon

Everyone was worried.

Kagome had sent Shippo off to get Miroku and Sango right after Kuroi's mysterious departure that morning. The two had come as quickly as possible. When Kagome caught them up with the problem, they said they would be more than happy to help. Now they all sat in silence around the table.

Watching Inuyasha.

Not that they didn't put forth an effort to locate the missing girl. Miroku had tried a locating charm using a piece of bloodied bandage from the night before.

It had burst into flames in his hands.

Sango had waved the shredded kimono Kuroi had arrived in under Kirara's nose to give the cat the scent. The fire cat had transformed, dashed outside and returned with a broken tree branch laden with peach blossoms. After that, they gave up tracking and tried to help their friend instead.

The young monk had tried talking to the hanyou, only to be met with stony indifference. Sango didn't even get a chance. One look from those tortured golden eyes was enough to send her back inside shaking her head in sadness. Inuyasha remained outside in the branches of a tree, curled up and pressed against the trunk staring at nothing.

Shippo was almost as bad. Unlike Inuyasha though, the kitsune was sighing and eating mechanically with them. That was exactly how the hours had passed since Kuroi had disappeared. Someone would occasionally toss out an idea. It would get analyzed and tossed back out, leaving them at square one again. They had sat all morning observing as Inuyasha clutched a scrap of torn kimono and moaned miserably in the tree high outside the window.

"Kagome. You know how I always said I wished Inuyasha was more honest with his feelings? Well I take back every word." Chewing on one of the snacks Kagome had brought back with her, Sango continued watching in fascinated trepidation. "I mean, I like knowing he has a tender side, but this is just plain scary. Can't you help him or something? Some miko-powered pick me up?"

Even Miroku was too disturbed to give his usual friendly barbs. "It wouldn't help, although it was a nice suggestion. However, Sango is right Kagome. This is well beyond abnormal. For Inuyasha or hanyou in general."

Throwing up her hands, the target huffed irritably but it subsided quickly. "I know he looks bad now, but at least he's stopped howling like a wounded dog." Waving a cookie at the window, Kagome brought it back to her month and bit it. "Now he's up the tree like a dying cat."

"He's taking this hard momma because Kuroi can't be tracked and she's hurt. Since he sees her as a part of a pack that he leads, he feels this is his fault." Stuffing a handful of chocolate crisps in his mouth, Shippo twitched his tail limply from his place on the windowsill. He then turned to regard them with one dejected eye before saying clearly, "The really sad thing is that it is all Inu-baka's fault because he should have never left the room!"

A nut bopped him on the head with practiced accuracy. "Hey! No fair hitting me if you're sad stupid!!" Rubbing his wound, he bounced inside to sit my his mother. "Baka."

Kagome was about to scold him for harassing Inuyasha when a knock at the door caught their attention. Brushing herself off, Kagome motioned for the others to stay seated and went to answer it. When she opened the door, she was greeted by a smiling girl.

A completely green smiling girl. 'Are those snakes in her hair?'

"Can I help you?" A bit unsettled by having hair watch her, Kagome gave an unsteady smile.

"Hello! My name is Midori and if you're Kagome then this is for you!" Bowing quickly, she thrust a scroll into Kagome's hands when she nodded. the girl then gave a jaunty wave before floating away on a misty green cloud.

'She really was green.' for some reason, that thought stayed at the forefront of Kagome's astounded mind.

Closing the door and trying to convince herself she'd actually seen what she'd just seen, Kagome walked woodenly back to her friends. Plunking down heavily, she broke the wax seal and unrolled the paper across the table so everyone could see.

The letter was short, but direct. When they finished, the group rolled it up without comment and called as one.

"INUYASHA!!"

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"Yes mama. No mama. Yes mama. No mama. Yes mama. No mama." Sighing for what seemed the hundredth time, Kiso answered his mother's seemingly endless questions. "Yes I will remember to tell her mom." Ever since that pretty green girl had delivered his sister's brief letter, his mother hadn't stopped asking them. He listened with only half an ear to another query.

'I wonder what her name was?'

Pushing a couple of small bundles into his robes, Kiso walked out the door and into the river by the house. A quick thought sent his body flowing into it and he let the current take him to his big sister.