InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Songs About Rain ❯ A Lucky Rescue and a Chance Meeting ( Chapter 1 )

Jamila jumped to the solid ground from the boat she had stowed away on and slipped up to the forest line before any of the sailors spotted her. Her kohl lined emerald eyes gazed out across the land. Having grown up in a desert, the sight of a land so green and cool was enough to take her breath away. She began walking through the grass enthralled with the sensation of the soft cool plant beneath her bare feet.

When Jamila finally stopped it was at a cliff that overlooked a beautiful valley. So this is Japan…She thought to herself. The wind plucked at the baggy pants to her belly dancer clothes. The material was very fine and close to sheer but the layers kept it from being see-through. Any proper Japanese woman would faint at the thought of wearing such clothing but where she came from it was normal. Her outfit was light lavender and very flattering to her dark tan skin and around the bottom of the top and the waist of the pants there were strings of beads an inch long that swayed when she moved. From the middle of her top where the material dipped to the bottom there was a longer silver chain that hung almost all the way to her belly button. At the end of the chain swung a darker purple crescent moon. Her divine adopted mother had given her the charm and the power to speak every language in the world shortly before she had disappeared.

Jamila stood looking out across the valley and her hair blew across her face. Her hair was so deep a red that unless it was hit with direct sunlight it was often mistaken as black. On top of her head rested two lighter red cat ears that swiveled around taking in the new sounds of a forest and behind her swayed a tail the same color of her ears. A new sound hit her ears and she looked to her left as a plume of smoke began to rise from a small village. Well…I don't think that that is what I am looking for but…I think I'll go help with whatever the trouble is. Jamila thought and took off running down the hill. When she reached the village she stopped beside one of the houses to gather what was going on. The surviving villagers were all tied up in the middle of the village and a group of bandits were searching the houses and manhandling the women. Jamila's eyes flashed angrily. Bandits… She heard a sound behind her but let herself be grabbed and dragged out into the open by two men.

“Hey boss! Look what we found!” The one holding her on the right called out.

The leader of the bandits wandered over and ran his eyes up and down Jamila's body. His eyes lit up with lust and he began to smile. “A delicious woman.” He grunted. Jamila fought the urge to gag. The man was fat, ugly, and bald. “This woman is mine.” The leader said and began to reach a grubby hand to her chest.

In two heartbeats the two men holding her were dead and she held the leader a foot off the ground by his throat. The other bandits stared at her in horror and shock. “Leave this place and never return.” She said quietly into the silence.

“No way, you bitch!” One of the bandits shouted and ran towards her with his sword.

Jamila threw the now dead body of the leader into him sending them both crashing to the ground. She settled into a fighters crouch and flexed her claws. “I am a cat demon, not a dog.” Jamila leapt into the air when they converged on her and landed on one of the bandits shoulders. One of the other bandits idiotically swung at her and ended up killing his own friend when she leapt from his shoulders. They grew even angrier at that and began to swing even wilder, cutting each other to ribbons. The last few standing Jamila killed with her claws and fists; she never even had to draw her daggers.

When all the bandits were dead Jamila wiped her claws off on one of the bandits clothing then turned to the villagers. They were staring at her in shock. You'd think they never seen a demon before. Jamila thought then bent to untie the ropes around the villagers. They started thanking her in a rush and one of the little girls, with ash covering the side of her face, approached her. “You dress funny.” She said looking up at Jamila in wonder.

The villagers held their breath as Jamila laughed and bent to look the girl in the face. “Where I come from little one, you dress funny.” The little girl smiled at her and fished something from inside her kimono. She held out the small, shining rock and placed it gently in Jamila's palm. “Thank you for saving us.”

Jamila smiled at her and slipped the rock into the pouch at her side. Something about the stone radiated with power and she wanted to exam it better later. She stayed helping the villagers repair their homes and left early the next morning.

 

For the next few days Jamila traveled in land helping out where she could and gathering rumors about the demons in the area. One village she stopped at had a great tidbit of rumor for her.

“There is a group of people who are hunting down a very nasty half-demon to retrieve the shards of the Shikon-no-tama he stole. They stopped here not to long ago themselves. One of the members is a priestess who is purifying the jewel and restoring it.”

“Which was were they traveling?”

“Northeast.”

After leaving that village Jamila turned her feet northeast but turned on the third day out when she could smell steam. That night Jamila curled up on one of the warm stones beside the hot spring with the moon high in the sky above her. Her tail was rising and falling gently before her face when her ears suddenly perked forward and her eyes snapped open. A few seconds later two women reached the hot springs across from her, talking to each other. One was dressed in a normal pink striped kimono and green apron and the other, dressed in very odd clothing, was brimming with spiritual power. The one in the odd clothing stopped suddenly half-way to the spring and her eyes shot to Jamila.

“Kagome?” The other woman looked back at her companion then her eyes followed where her gaze went. When she saw Jamila lying on the rocks she started to bend down to pick up a stone. “Who are you?” Then she dropped her voice to murmur to herself but Jamila's ears could pick up the faint voice. “Great time to leave my Hiraikotsu.”

Jamila's tail stopped moving as it began its downward swing. “There is no need for that.” Her voice was quiet but the women stopped moving, they knew if they made sudden moves so would she.

The younger girl, who'd been called Kagome said and took a hesitant step forward. “You have a jewel shard. I wondered where I was sensing it from.”

Jamila blinked. “You must be the priestess who is collecting the shards.” She said and began to stand. She had her hands and feet on the ground when a stiff wind came up suddenly behind her. She sat on her hunches and reached one hand to the pouch where the small stone was. Suddenly a person in red leapt from the forest and landed in front of Kagome. Jamila froze and stared at the dog demon ahead of her.

“Who are you?” He said and wrapped one hand around the hilt of his sword. He had on a red haori and red hakama and had long silver hair. Atop his head was two dog ears similar to her own cat ears, but smaller.

“Inuyasha stop! She isn't going to hurt us.” Kagome said from behind him as she put a gentle hand on his shoulder.

Jamila nodded slowly as the demon, Inuyasha, looked her over carefully. “She speaks the truth.”

Inuyasha looked back at Kagome then nodded and dropped his fighting stance. “If you attack I'll kill you.”

Jamila nodded and stood the rest of the way up and strolled around the hot spring to their side. “Priestess my name is Jamila.”

“Jamila?” The other woman asked. “That isn't Japanese.”

Jamila shook her head. “I'm not Japanese.”

Kagome held out her hand and Jamila placed the stone she had gently into her palm. “Where are you from?”

“Egypt.” Jamila said.

Kagome smiled, “That is far. If you would like, you can stay with us for the night. I'm interested in your story.”

Jamila nodded. The other woman sighed, “No bath tonight then.”

Jamila smiled, “I wouldn't mind a bath either so I don't mind if you allow me to stay as well.”

Kagome and the other woman smiled then they practically pushed the dog from the clearing. The three women stripped quickly and slid into the water. Kagome approached Jamila and started reaching hesitantly for her ear. “May I?”

Jamila chuckled and nodded. “It's been a long time since anyone has scratched my ears.” Kagome grinned and began to rub Jamila's ears gently.

“My name is Sango. Are you a half-demon?” Sango asked as she rinsed her hair.

“No, where I come from all cat demons have ears like this. Your demon though is a half-demon right?” Jamila asked.

“Yes.” Kagome said simply then settled back and finished washing quickly. When they had changed they wandered back to the camp fire. A monk in black and purple robes saw them and stood quickly at the sight of the new woman. He took a step forward then looked at Sango and sat back down.

“That's a first.” Inuyasha said beneath his breath.

Jamila sat beside the fire folding one leg beneath her and raised the other to prop her elbow on. Kagome looked at her and smiled. “Do you mind telling us your story now?” A small fox demon had crawled into Kagome's lap when they had returned and a two tailed fire cat had hopped onto Sango's shoulder.

“Once you introduce yourselves if you don't mind.” Jamila said. She shifted slightly and the beads on her shirt jingled as she got comfortable. The crescent moon rested against her stomach and Kagome was hit with a flash of déjà vu.

“I'm Kagome, I'm a priestess but in a weird turn of events I come from the future. This is Inuyasha. This is Sango; she is the last of the Demon Exterminators. This is Miroku, he's a Buddhist monk. This is Shippo, and Kirara.” Kagome said pointing at each of the people in turn.

Jamila smiled at them all and then began her story.

“My name is Jamila. I am a cat demon from Egypt. Just after my birth a man named Alexander the Great invaded my home land and my family was killed. My twin and I were placed in a temple of Bastet, the Goddess of Cats, and she came to us and saved us. Bastest was our adopted mother and gave us presents. She gave to me these magic clothes, they cannot be damaged or stained; this crescent moon charm; and the power to speak and understand every language in the world. She gave similar things to my sister as well. A thousand years ago or so now my mother disappeared and since then my sister and I traveled the world.”

Kagome interrupted at that point. “A thousand years? How old are you exactly?”

“Somewhere about 2000 years I would assume.” Jamila said.

Everyone stared at her in shock. Finally Inuyasha spoke up. “Most demons don't even live that long, not with all the warring going on now.”

Jamila touched the charm on her chain and nodded. “I know. Another gift of having a goddess as an adoptive mother. She said that I would stay just as I was until I met my mate.”

“You haven't met him yet?” Miroku asked. Sango glanced at him but saw that he wasn't talking lecherously.

“No I haven't. But my sister knows where hers is.” Jamila snarled and clenched her hand. Her claws cut into her skin and Jamila growled softly then began to lick the wounds. “She had a vision of a man with red eyes and black hair who wore a baboon pelt over his clothes. The cut of his clothes was Japanese so she came here.”

“A baboon?” Inuyasha snarled. “Naraku!”

Jamila nodded, “Yes that was his name. I am in Japan to kill them both.”

Again everyone stared at her in shock. “You're going to kill your own sister?” Shippo said shocked.

Jamila nodded and fought the urge to clench her hands again. “The rest of her vision was apparently me with a bunch of others fighting her mate and killing him. So she tried to kill me.” Kagome rested a hand on Jamila's shoulder in comfort. Jamila just smiled sadly at her. “It's alright Kagome. The time that I come from killing your siblings to gain more power is common. Set killed Osiris to gain the throne and Horus killed Set in revenge.”

Kagome nodded. “I know that story.”

Jamila opened her palms and smiled at everyone. “And that is my story. I am here to kill my sister and fulfill my destiny in helping destroy her mate.”

Sango also put a hand on Jamila's shoulder. “Than you can travel with us because we are hunting that man down ourselves. It's late we should rest.” She added when Kagome yawned.

Around the fire the people nodded and set about going to sleep. Inuyasha jumped into a tree branch above Kagome and Shippo and Sango and Miroku slept on other sides of the fire. Jamila stayed in her stop a few minutes more thinking. Well Kanika…you tried to kill me and it didn't work. Mother knew what she was doing when she granted me immortality and not you. I'm sure she could see your black heart as clear as day. Why else did she name you `black'?

I will kill you Kanika. I loved you once but after a thousand years of traveling I can finally see how corrupt your soul really is. You never expected me to figure out how the children around us kept disappearing but I'm not blind sister. You will pay for the deaths your responsible for. Jamila curled up in the spot she was in and her tail began to wave again as she fell into a dreamless sleep.