InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ To Return to Love ❯ Scroll Two: The Return ( Chapter 2 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: PrincessMelissa83 
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. Inuyasha and all characters are (c) of Rumiko Takahashi.
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Drama / Romance | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 08.30.2006 | Pages: 3 | Words: 3.3K | Visits: 316 | Status: Work In Progress
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. Inuyasha and all characters are (c) of Rumiko Takahashi.
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Drama / Romance | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 08.30.2006 | Pages: 3 | Words: 3.3K | Visits: 316 | Status: Work In Progress
Scroll Two: The Return
Ayame never argued with her mate as to why he took the routes that he did. Naraku was dead, but still he insisted on moving their tiny tribe around like a bunch of nomads instead of picking a den and staying there.
I guess after so many years of running it gets in the blood… she thought with a mental shrug. Oh well. As long as he allowed her to follow him, she didn’t care where they went.
“Otou-san? I’m tired,” whined their oldest pup. “Can we stop now?” He was seven and far surpassed his sister and brother in vitality and energy, but even he ran out of steam eventually. The ookami youkai stopped and waited for Ginta and Hakkaku to catch up to them.
“It is late, love,” Ayame said softly. “They’re just pups. They don’t have the same endurance you do.”
That seemed to placate him a bit. “We’re near the mutt’s village. It should be safe enough to stop here,” he relented finally. “We’ll wait until sunup and then start heading towards the mountains again.”
At that Ayame brightened. “The mountains? We’re going to visit the pack? Are we going to stay this time?” She smiled hopefully, hands clasped together under her chin.
“Yeah, we’re staying for a while. The boys need to learn pack order,” he explained. “As princes of both our tribes, they’ll be expected to take over when they’re grown.” He opened his mouth to say more, but was cut off by a loud and terror filled wail.
“MAMA!!!!!! MAMA! MAMA!!!!!!!!!”
The four adult ookami looked at one another. “Hakkaku. Ginta, stay here and watch over Ayame and the pups. I’m going to see what’s going on.” Before they could argue he sped off into the night towards the sound. It had come from the direction of the dog turd’s village.
“Please! Someone! Please! Help me!” The cry was getting closer and more desperate, laced with tears. It sounded to him like the cry of a child, almost like his daughter would give when she tired of her brothers’ constant teasing. “Souta?! Obaa-chan? Jii-chan? MAMA!”
He could hear her sobs now as he approached the clearing with Kagome’s well. In fact it seemed to be coming from within her well. He slowed to a stop and sniffed the air, assessing the situation. The scent that assaulted his nose was of jasmine and lavender, familiar and yet strangely different. It held the same tones as Kagome’s scent, but with undertones similar to the mutt and yet, at the same time, was distinctively individual.
But that was the only scent that reached him. There were no other youkai around and nothing that seemed to pose an immediate danger. So why was the child crying? He slowly approached the well and felt like slapping himself on the forehead. Of course the kid was wailing. She, the scent was definitely feminine, was in the bottom of the well.
“Onegai! I want outta here! I wanna go home!” Her words were broken and thick with tears.
He peered down into the well to find the little girl curled up, wearing a strange looking pink kimono, her knees drawn up to her chest and her head lying on her knees as she cried. She didn’t see him.
“Hey, kid!” He called softly and her head shot up. Golden eyes seemed to catch a little moonlight and appeared to glow as she looked at him, silhouetted by the moon that was behind him. Fear tainted her scent and he mentally winced. “No, don’t get scared. It’s okay, kid. I’m just gonna get you outta there.”
She made no answer and didn’t move to get up as he leapt over the edge of the well and landed in a crouch beside her. “Get on my back and hold onto my shoulders. I’m not gonna hurt you. I got a little girl of my own, you know? She’s a real pretty thing, younger than you are.”
Hana looked at him for a long moment and then, seeming to decide he was no threat, stood and did as instructed, climbing onto his back and wrapping her arms securely around his neck. In one great leap he had her out of the well and was crouching on the grass so that she could get down. When she was on the ground, he let her back up away from him and made no move to touch her. “Where are your parents, kid?”
This started a new set of tears to roll silently down her chubby cheeks. “I don’t know,” she told him in a whisper. “Mama…Souta-chan…Obaa-chan…Jii-chan…I don’t know…”
Kami he hated it when kids cried! It wouldn’t have bothered him before but now he had kids of his own and he hated it. “No, don’t cry…we’ll find ‘em. What about your house? Where’s your home?”
She swiped at her eyes with her fists and looked around before falling once more into quiet sobs. “It’s s’posed to be right there…where’d it go?” She pointed in the direction the Higarashi shrine house had stood but there were only trees.
“What’s your name, kid?”
“T-Taishou…H-hana,” she sobbed.
Taishou? That was an odd name. He sniffed the air once more, realizing something he’d missed before. This kid wasn’t human. She wasn’t youkai and she wasn’t hanyou, but she wasn’t completely human either. “Well, now, Hana…My name’s Kouga. Maybe I can help you find your parents. What are their names? Do you know that?”
The girl sniffled and looked at him, hope shining in her golden eyes. “Mama’s name is Kagome. She lives at the shrine with Jii-chan and Obaa-chan and Souta-chan, but he goes to university,” she said that last word slowly, making sure to pronounce it correctly, “and Papa don’t live there, but Mama says that he’s kinda there still. My papa is a great hanyou named Inuyasha.”
Kouga’s eyes widened and he bit his bottom lip to keep from saying something that would make her start crying again now that she seemed to have calmed. This was the mutt‘s long lost kid.
Barely containing his laughter he knelt in front of her. “A great hanyou, huh? Well, then, things aren’t so bad are they, Hana-chan?” He asked with a slight chuckle in his voice. “I happen to be a friend of your ofukuro and your chichi-ue. Well, not so much so with your chichi-ue, but I do know him.”
Her eyes lit up once more and she leaned towards him. “Really? You know Papa? Is he here?”
“Yeah, I know him. He’s here, too.” He smiled at her. “I’ll take you to him. Get on my back again and I’ll carry you. It’s not far.”
Hana squealed with joy and jumped on the ookami’s back, grasping him around the shoulders while he brought his hands back to support her legs and keep her from falling while he ran towards Inuyasha’s village. She giggled when he jumped and seemingly flew through the air, skirting around the houses to keep people from panicking even though it was so late that most were asleep and would never have known he was there.
He came to a stop when he was in front of a larger looking home with a sliding door instead of a reed flap like most of the houses. It seemed everyone inside was asleep and he hesitated for only a second before approaching and knocking on the wood that framed the door.
“Oi! Someone come get this cub offa me!”
Kouga’s grunt at her door awakened Sango and she rubbed her eyes clear of the sleep filled haze. With a frown of disapproval, she leaned over the basinet and looked in on her child to make sure the boy still slept.
“Oi! Is anyone home!?”
The second exclamation was louder than the first and she feared he’d wake up the entire village…and they would not be happy seeing an ookami youkai in their village while their resident hanyou was off in the woods somewhere.
“I’m here,” she stated angrily, sliding the door back so that she could look out at the midnight darkness to the shadowed figure she knew to be Kouga. Behind her appeared a still short, but slightly order looking kitsune, half dressed and disheveled.
“Kouga,” the kid rasped, barely suppressing a yawn, “what’re you doing here at this hour? Inuyasha isn‘t here, you know.”
The wolf prince grunted. “Yeah, I know. I went by that old priestess’ hut and his before coming here. He ain’t been there in ages.” He shifted something on his back and growled softly when that something pulled at his hair.
“He sleeps here or out in the woods now, Kouga.” She frowned and glared at him, placing both hands on her hips. “What do you want? Do you know what time it is? And yelling at my doorstep this late? My child is asleep in there and if you wake him, kami help me, I’ll make you regret the day you were born.”
He chuckled. He’d always liked the taijiya despite her occupation. She had a sarcastic, independent streak in her that he had to admire. “Ayame and my cubs were just passing through. I haven’t seen the mutt around lately so I thought I’d check in on him - for Kagome. That’s when I heard yelling coming from that old well.” He shifted the cargo on his back again and knelt down to the ground. “Okay kid, you gotta get off now.”
There was movement and another figure disentangled itself from the ookami, coming to stand beside him. Sango could just make out the silhouette of a young girl. “When I went to check it out I found this sitting at the bottom crying.” He put a hand on the girl’s back and nudged her forward. “It’s the mutt’s kid.”
Sango gasped. How? The well had closed off and no one was able to come through. It’d been sealed for years now…
“Kami-sama…And Inuyasha’s not here…” She shook her head and knelt so she would be eyelevel with the girl. “Come here, Hana-chan, and let me get a good look at you.”
She smiled at the girl though the fire at her back cast a shadow over her face, hiding it from view. “I know you probably don’t remember me, but I’m your aunt Sango. Did your Mama ever tell you about me? Come on in and I’ll get you warmed up while we try and figure out how to find your Papa.”
Cautiously Hana moved across the grass, her slippers dragging in the dirt, before she was engulfed in Sango’s embrace. It felt so much like her mother’s that for a moment she had tears welling in her eyes again.
“Kouga-kun, Inuyasha and Miroku left a few days ago to take care of some youkai that was attacking a village. It was only a few day’s walk from here, but they haven’t made it back yet. They’re probably camped out in the woods not far from here,” Sango said over the girl’s head. “I think it’s important that Inuyasha get here as soon as possible. Would you…?”
The ookami made a face. “You want me to go get him? I don’t think he’ll be very cooperative with me.”
“Please, Kouga? I’d go, but I have to take care of the baby and Shippou and now Hana. I’d send Kirara, but she went with them.” She lifted pleading eyes to him and started to gently rub circles on Hana’s back as the girl got more comfortable and seemed to be ready to fall asleep.
Hana looked up at Kouga and then to Sango. “Where’s my papa? Kouga-san said that my papa was here.” Her face was the picture of innocence as she turned her golden gaze back at Kouga. “I want my papa. Where’s my papa?”
Kouga frowned, his barriers breaking down. She was a little older than his own daughter, but held that same childish innocence and hope. Despite the fact that her eyes were those of the hanyou, everything about her appearance screamed that she was Kagome’s daughter and he’d had a hard time telling Kagome no to anything. “He ain’t back yet, but you stay here with Sango and I’ll go get him.”
Sango smiled. “Thanks, Kouga-kun,” she said softly before taking Hana’s hand in hers and leading her into the house. “Do you remember your brother, Shippou? I’m sure your mama told you about him.”
The little girl nodded her head. Kagome had told her stories about her family in Sengoku Jidai. “Is he really my brother? Mama told me ‘bout him.” She pouted and looked at the half dressed boy with loose red hair that the woman had indicated as Shippou before looking back at her. “Mama told me stories ‘bout Uncle Miroku and Aunt Sango and Shippou-nii-chan all the time.”
“Did she? Well, I’m glad she hasn’t forgotten us.”
“You can sleep in my bed,” the kitsune offered, bounding to the girl’s side and leading her to the mat he usually slept on. “You’re my little sister and it’s my duty to take care of you ‘till Inuyasha gets back.”
Hana nodded and kissed his cheek before she laid down on the pallet. Sango bit her cheek to keep from giggling at the fox child’s behavior and pulled the blanket up to the girl’s chin. Shippou settled beside her, sitting cross legged on the floor. The inu hanyou had rubbed off on him a great deal.
“Hana-chan?” She opened the door and looked in. “Morning, baby. It’s time to get up. We’re going shopping, remember?” As she went in the room to shake the child awake, she saw the bed empty as well as the room. A quick assessment of the surroundings told her that the wooden box containing Inuyasha’s fang dagger was open and the fang was missing.
She practically ran down the stairs, searching the bathroom, living room, kitchen, everywhere that she could think of where the child might have gone had she woken up early. She even went outside, leaving the sliding door to the house open which allowed Buyo to get out. Goshinboku was deserted. The well house shrine was open, but empty as well accept for one kitten that was curled up on the top step.
That was when she started to panic.
“Mama!” She called running back into the house. “Mama! Jii-chan!” There was a scrambling of feet and she heard doors open as the old man and elder woman came out of their rooms. “Mama! Hana’s gone! She’s not in her room and she’s not in the house or on the shrine grounds. I can’t find her. She’s not answering my calls or anything.”
The elder woman nodded and came out, putting a hand on her shoulders. “Shh, come on dear. We’ll search the shrine grounds again and then we’ll call the police if we can’t find her,” she said gently. “Dad, will you please call Souta? He can help us look.”
The two women slipped on some shoes and walked around the shrine grounds, calling to the missing six year old.
“Put that damn thing away, mutt. I’m not here to fight,” he muttered, glancing at the Houshi who was just starting to rise. “The taijiya sent me.”
Inuyasha growled, but reluctantly sheathed his sword. “Why would Sango send you to us?”
Kouga snarled at the hanyou. “Because I was the only messenger she had, baka. Anyway, the taijiya needs you both back at the village now.”
“What for? Is something wrong?” The human grasped his staff, an anxious look over his features.
The ookami smirked. “Nah, there isn’t anything wrong. There’s something right, I’d say.”
Inuyasha growled, his hand going to for Tetsuseiga again. “Stop playing games you mangy wolf or I’ll gut you where you stand.”
“Really dog breath, I’d think you’d be a little more polite to me considering I did save your pup’s life last night.”
All color left the hanyou’s face and his hands fell to his sides. “Hana? How? Where?”
The smirk grew larger. “You’re lucky it was me that found her in that well and not some other mangy youkai out looking for dinner. I took her to the monk’s home. She’s with the taijiya and the kitsune.”
Inuyasha didn’t bother to reply. He was already moving as fast as he could towards the village.
Ayame never argued with her mate as to why he took the routes that he did. Naraku was dead, but still he insisted on moving their tiny tribe around like a bunch of nomads instead of picking a den and staying there.
I guess after so many years of running it gets in the blood… she thought with a mental shrug. Oh well. As long as he allowed her to follow him, she didn’t care where they went.
“Otou-san? I’m tired,” whined their oldest pup. “Can we stop now?” He was seven and far surpassed his sister and brother in vitality and energy, but even he ran out of steam eventually. The ookami youkai stopped and waited for Ginta and Hakkaku to catch up to them.
“It is late, love,” Ayame said softly. “They’re just pups. They don’t have the same endurance you do.”
That seemed to placate him a bit. “We’re near the mutt’s village. It should be safe enough to stop here,” he relented finally. “We’ll wait until sunup and then start heading towards the mountains again.”
At that Ayame brightened. “The mountains? We’re going to visit the pack? Are we going to stay this time?” She smiled hopefully, hands clasped together under her chin.
“Yeah, we’re staying for a while. The boys need to learn pack order,” he explained. “As princes of both our tribes, they’ll be expected to take over when they’re grown.” He opened his mouth to say more, but was cut off by a loud and terror filled wail.
“MAMA!!!!!! MAMA! MAMA!!!!!!!!!”
The four adult ookami looked at one another. “Hakkaku. Ginta, stay here and watch over Ayame and the pups. I’m going to see what’s going on.” Before they could argue he sped off into the night towards the sound. It had come from the direction of the dog turd’s village.
“Please! Someone! Please! Help me!” The cry was getting closer and more desperate, laced with tears. It sounded to him like the cry of a child, almost like his daughter would give when she tired of her brothers’ constant teasing. “Souta?! Obaa-chan? Jii-chan? MAMA!”
He could hear her sobs now as he approached the clearing with Kagome’s well. In fact it seemed to be coming from within her well. He slowed to a stop and sniffed the air, assessing the situation. The scent that assaulted his nose was of jasmine and lavender, familiar and yet strangely different. It held the same tones as Kagome’s scent, but with undertones similar to the mutt and yet, at the same time, was distinctively individual.
But that was the only scent that reached him. There were no other youkai around and nothing that seemed to pose an immediate danger. So why was the child crying? He slowly approached the well and felt like slapping himself on the forehead. Of course the kid was wailing. She, the scent was definitely feminine, was in the bottom of the well.
“Onegai! I want outta here! I wanna go home!” Her words were broken and thick with tears.
He peered down into the well to find the little girl curled up, wearing a strange looking pink kimono, her knees drawn up to her chest and her head lying on her knees as she cried. She didn’t see him.
“Hey, kid!” He called softly and her head shot up. Golden eyes seemed to catch a little moonlight and appeared to glow as she looked at him, silhouetted by the moon that was behind him. Fear tainted her scent and he mentally winced. “No, don’t get scared. It’s okay, kid. I’m just gonna get you outta there.”
She made no answer and didn’t move to get up as he leapt over the edge of the well and landed in a crouch beside her. “Get on my back and hold onto my shoulders. I’m not gonna hurt you. I got a little girl of my own, you know? She’s a real pretty thing, younger than you are.”
Hana looked at him for a long moment and then, seeming to decide he was no threat, stood and did as instructed, climbing onto his back and wrapping her arms securely around his neck. In one great leap he had her out of the well and was crouching on the grass so that she could get down. When she was on the ground, he let her back up away from him and made no move to touch her. “Where are your parents, kid?”
This started a new set of tears to roll silently down her chubby cheeks. “I don’t know,” she told him in a whisper. “Mama…Souta-chan…Obaa-chan…Jii-chan…I don’t know…”
Kami he hated it when kids cried! It wouldn’t have bothered him before but now he had kids of his own and he hated it. “No, don’t cry…we’ll find ‘em. What about your house? Where’s your home?”
She swiped at her eyes with her fists and looked around before falling once more into quiet sobs. “It’s s’posed to be right there…where’d it go?” She pointed in the direction the Higarashi shrine house had stood but there were only trees.
“What’s your name, kid?”
“T-Taishou…H-hana,” she sobbed.
Taishou? That was an odd name. He sniffed the air once more, realizing something he’d missed before. This kid wasn’t human. She wasn’t youkai and she wasn’t hanyou, but she wasn’t completely human either. “Well, now, Hana…My name’s Kouga. Maybe I can help you find your parents. What are their names? Do you know that?”
The girl sniffled and looked at him, hope shining in her golden eyes. “Mama’s name is Kagome. She lives at the shrine with Jii-chan and Obaa-chan and Souta-chan, but he goes to university,” she said that last word slowly, making sure to pronounce it correctly, “and Papa don’t live there, but Mama says that he’s kinda there still. My papa is a great hanyou named Inuyasha.”
Kouga’s eyes widened and he bit his bottom lip to keep from saying something that would make her start crying again now that she seemed to have calmed. This was the mutt‘s long lost kid.
Barely containing his laughter he knelt in front of her. “A great hanyou, huh? Well, then, things aren’t so bad are they, Hana-chan?” He asked with a slight chuckle in his voice. “I happen to be a friend of your ofukuro and your chichi-ue. Well, not so much so with your chichi-ue, but I do know him.”
Her eyes lit up once more and she leaned towards him. “Really? You know Papa? Is he here?”
“Yeah, I know him. He’s here, too.” He smiled at her. “I’ll take you to him. Get on my back again and I’ll carry you. It’s not far.”
Hana squealed with joy and jumped on the ookami’s back, grasping him around the shoulders while he brought his hands back to support her legs and keep her from falling while he ran towards Inuyasha’s village. She giggled when he jumped and seemingly flew through the air, skirting around the houses to keep people from panicking even though it was so late that most were asleep and would never have known he was there.
He came to a stop when he was in front of a larger looking home with a sliding door instead of a reed flap like most of the houses. It seemed everyone inside was asleep and he hesitated for only a second before approaching and knocking on the wood that framed the door.
“Oi! Someone come get this cub offa me!”
Kouga’s grunt at her door awakened Sango and she rubbed her eyes clear of the sleep filled haze. With a frown of disapproval, she leaned over the basinet and looked in on her child to make sure the boy still slept.
“Oi! Is anyone home!?”
The second exclamation was louder than the first and she feared he’d wake up the entire village…and they would not be happy seeing an ookami youkai in their village while their resident hanyou was off in the woods somewhere.
“I’m here,” she stated angrily, sliding the door back so that she could look out at the midnight darkness to the shadowed figure she knew to be Kouga. Behind her appeared a still short, but slightly order looking kitsune, half dressed and disheveled.
“Kouga,” the kid rasped, barely suppressing a yawn, “what’re you doing here at this hour? Inuyasha isn‘t here, you know.”
The wolf prince grunted. “Yeah, I know. I went by that old priestess’ hut and his before coming here. He ain’t been there in ages.” He shifted something on his back and growled softly when that something pulled at his hair.
“He sleeps here or out in the woods now, Kouga.” She frowned and glared at him, placing both hands on her hips. “What do you want? Do you know what time it is? And yelling at my doorstep this late? My child is asleep in there and if you wake him, kami help me, I’ll make you regret the day you were born.”
He chuckled. He’d always liked the taijiya despite her occupation. She had a sarcastic, independent streak in her that he had to admire. “Ayame and my cubs were just passing through. I haven’t seen the mutt around lately so I thought I’d check in on him - for Kagome. That’s when I heard yelling coming from that old well.” He shifted the cargo on his back again and knelt down to the ground. “Okay kid, you gotta get off now.”
There was movement and another figure disentangled itself from the ookami, coming to stand beside him. Sango could just make out the silhouette of a young girl. “When I went to check it out I found this sitting at the bottom crying.” He put a hand on the girl’s back and nudged her forward. “It’s the mutt’s kid.”
Sango gasped. How? The well had closed off and no one was able to come through. It’d been sealed for years now…
“Kami-sama…And Inuyasha’s not here…” She shook her head and knelt so she would be eyelevel with the girl. “Come here, Hana-chan, and let me get a good look at you.”
She smiled at the girl though the fire at her back cast a shadow over her face, hiding it from view. “I know you probably don’t remember me, but I’m your aunt Sango. Did your Mama ever tell you about me? Come on in and I’ll get you warmed up while we try and figure out how to find your Papa.”
Cautiously Hana moved across the grass, her slippers dragging in the dirt, before she was engulfed in Sango’s embrace. It felt so much like her mother’s that for a moment she had tears welling in her eyes again.
“Kouga-kun, Inuyasha and Miroku left a few days ago to take care of some youkai that was attacking a village. It was only a few day’s walk from here, but they haven’t made it back yet. They’re probably camped out in the woods not far from here,” Sango said over the girl’s head. “I think it’s important that Inuyasha get here as soon as possible. Would you…?”
The ookami made a face. “You want me to go get him? I don’t think he’ll be very cooperative with me.”
“Please, Kouga? I’d go, but I have to take care of the baby and Shippou and now Hana. I’d send Kirara, but she went with them.” She lifted pleading eyes to him and started to gently rub circles on Hana’s back as the girl got more comfortable and seemed to be ready to fall asleep.
Hana looked up at Kouga and then to Sango. “Where’s my papa? Kouga-san said that my papa was here.” Her face was the picture of innocence as she turned her golden gaze back at Kouga. “I want my papa. Where’s my papa?”
Kouga frowned, his barriers breaking down. She was a little older than his own daughter, but held that same childish innocence and hope. Despite the fact that her eyes were those of the hanyou, everything about her appearance screamed that she was Kagome’s daughter and he’d had a hard time telling Kagome no to anything. “He ain’t back yet, but you stay here with Sango and I’ll go get him.”
Sango smiled. “Thanks, Kouga-kun,” she said softly before taking Hana’s hand in hers and leading her into the house. “Do you remember your brother, Shippou? I’m sure your mama told you about him.”
The little girl nodded her head. Kagome had told her stories about her family in Sengoku Jidai. “Is he really my brother? Mama told me ‘bout him.” She pouted and looked at the half dressed boy with loose red hair that the woman had indicated as Shippou before looking back at her. “Mama told me stories ‘bout Uncle Miroku and Aunt Sango and Shippou-nii-chan all the time.”
“Did she? Well, I’m glad she hasn’t forgotten us.”
“You can sleep in my bed,” the kitsune offered, bounding to the girl’s side and leading her to the mat he usually slept on. “You’re my little sister and it’s my duty to take care of you ‘till Inuyasha gets back.”
Hana nodded and kissed his cheek before she laid down on the pallet. Sango bit her cheek to keep from giggling at the fox child’s behavior and pulled the blanket up to the girl’s chin. Shippou settled beside her, sitting cross legged on the floor. The inu hanyou had rubbed off on him a great deal.
* * * *
Kagome woke up early and stretched. She’d promised to take Hana shopping for a dress to wear to the Father Daughter Picnic since the child had finally agreed to take Souta. She threw the covers off of her and grabbed the blue robe that matched her blue satin night gown and threw it over her shoulders before going across the hall to her old room which now belonged to her daughter since Souta actually slept at the university dorm - even if he did still spend the majority of his time at the shrine.“Hana-chan?” She opened the door and looked in. “Morning, baby. It’s time to get up. We’re going shopping, remember?” As she went in the room to shake the child awake, she saw the bed empty as well as the room. A quick assessment of the surroundings told her that the wooden box containing Inuyasha’s fang dagger was open and the fang was missing.
She practically ran down the stairs, searching the bathroom, living room, kitchen, everywhere that she could think of where the child might have gone had she woken up early. She even went outside, leaving the sliding door to the house open which allowed Buyo to get out. Goshinboku was deserted. The well house shrine was open, but empty as well accept for one kitten that was curled up on the top step.
That was when she started to panic.
“Mama!” She called running back into the house. “Mama! Jii-chan!” There was a scrambling of feet and she heard doors open as the old man and elder woman came out of their rooms. “Mama! Hana’s gone! She’s not in her room and she’s not in the house or on the shrine grounds. I can’t find her. She’s not answering my calls or anything.”
The elder woman nodded and came out, putting a hand on her shoulders. “Shh, come on dear. We’ll search the shrine grounds again and then we’ll call the police if we can’t find her,” she said gently. “Dad, will you please call Souta? He can help us look.”
The two women slipped on some shoes and walked around the shrine grounds, calling to the missing six year old.
* * * *
Kouga came to a stop just as dawn was breaking over the makeshift campground Inuyasha and the monk had set up. He was vaguely surprised that they hadn’t noticed his oncoming arrival till he saw Inuyasha standing at a tree to his right with the Tetsuseiga drawn. So the mutt had sensed him and had prepared for his arrival.“Put that damn thing away, mutt. I’m not here to fight,” he muttered, glancing at the Houshi who was just starting to rise. “The taijiya sent me.”
Inuyasha growled, but reluctantly sheathed his sword. “Why would Sango send you to us?”
Kouga snarled at the hanyou. “Because I was the only messenger she had, baka. Anyway, the taijiya needs you both back at the village now.”
“What for? Is something wrong?” The human grasped his staff, an anxious look over his features.
The ookami smirked. “Nah, there isn’t anything wrong. There’s something right, I’d say.”
Inuyasha growled, his hand going to for Tetsuseiga again. “Stop playing games you mangy wolf or I’ll gut you where you stand.”
“Really dog breath, I’d think you’d be a little more polite to me considering I did save your pup’s life last night.”
All color left the hanyou’s face and his hands fell to his sides. “Hana? How? Where?”
The smirk grew larger. “You’re lucky it was me that found her in that well and not some other mangy youkai out looking for dinner. I took her to the monk’s home. She’s with the taijiya and the kitsune.”
Inuyasha didn’t bother to reply. He was already moving as fast as he could towards the village.