InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ YinYang ❯ Questions ( Chapter 5 )

A/N: Not much change, but enough to get an update. Enjoy!

 

Remember: Inuyasha has too busy of a schedule to belong to me alone. Therefore I must share him.

 

Reminder: Questions and comments are always welcome by review or e-mail.

 

 

Chapter Five: Questions

 

Iza stared in dumbfounded amazement at the unconscious monk lying next to the fire. Not two seconds ago had Miroku kneeled beside her to ask if she would bear his children. No sooner had the question left his lips had Sango's boomerang connected soundly to his head, resulting in the monk's now prone position.

 

“Sorry, Iza-chan. Houshi-sama always feels compelled to ask that to any pretty young women he may find.” Sango was flushed a light pink from her exercise in hentai restraint. “However one good hit usually takes care of the problem for the rest of the day.”

 

Iza couldn't help but smile. She had already noticed the subtle relationship between the slayer and monk. And Iza never was one to turn down a good opportunity to tease someone. “So I guess it doesn't have anything to do with you being jealous, does it, Sango-chan?” This time, Sango turned light pink from embarrassment. “O-of course n-not!” she managed to stammer in reply.

 

Kagome giggled from her side of the fire. With Shippou perched in her lap, the young miko was enjoying the interaction between Iza and Sango. `Iza-chan's fitting in rather well. I hope Inuyasha finishes his meditating soon, so we can find out more about her.'

 

As if her mere thoughts had conjured up the hanyou, Inuyasha pushed open the reed door and stepped into the hut. Iza froze when she met his guarded gaze. After a moment, Inuyasha snorted and broke eye contact. He redirected his attention to Kagome and Sango, with barely a glimpse at the still unconscious Miroku.

 

“So, have you all been playing nice while I've been gone?” Inuyasha's question was aimed at Kagome rather than everyone else like it seemed.

 

Kagome smiled sweetly at the hanyou and he immediately relaxed. “I just introduced Iza-chan to everyone and we've been getting along perfectly.” Then with a meaningful look at Inuyasha, she added, “Kirara especially. She just walked right up to Iza-chan and began purring as loud as she could.”

 

Inuyasha blinked in a bemused fashion as Kagome's words sank in. `At least one obstacle was out of the way.' If Kirara sensed that Iza could be trusted, then who was he to gainsay her? But it still didn't answer his questions. “That's nice. But if you don't mind, I would like to speak to our guest for a moment outside.”

 

Iza gulped nervously. Since he had turned away from her, Iza had been getting more and more worried. She didn't even notice that Miroku had regained consciousness, or that he and Sango were now glancing back and forth between Iza and Inuyasha trying to figure out what now seemed so familiar about the new girl's face and why Inuyasha felt the need to speak privately with her.

 

Meanwhile Inuyasha had crossed to the door and was now holding aside the flap so Iza could go before him. Standing slowly and not without a little trepidation, Iza moved towards the doorway and the beautiful day outside. Not that she really noticed, being so wrapped up in her anxiety as she was. Iza stepped out and waited for Inuyasha, who threw a quick “We'll be back,” over his shoulder and let the reed flap drop back into place behind him.

 

Inuyasha motioned that he wanted Iza to follow him. The poor girl hesitated momentarily before steeling her nerves and trotting after the hanyou boy.

 

He led her to the edge of the village, picked a nice shady tree, and leapt up into its foliage. He settled on a large branch and folded his arms into his haori, as though waiting for her to join him. Iza stared up at him from the ground; slightly disappointed that Inuyasha had picked one of the better branches. `Okay. This is a little awkward, but I guess I shouldn't complain.'

 

“Are you coming up here or not? Maybe you`re scared of heights?” Inuyasha jeered.

 

Giving him her best glare, Iza launched into the tree to alight on a higher branch. She proceeded to stick her tongue out at the offending hanyou, who merely smirked up at her.

 

Iza took some time to arrange herself comfortably on her chosen perch before returning her attention to the boy below her feet. Inuyasha was simply studying her, examining her as if her actions were any kind of way to ascertain the truth of their shared blood. Iza waited for him to speak first. However he seemed content enough to just…look, and she was starting to get impatient. And it showed. First, her ears began to twitch, followed closely by her eyebrow. She finally closed her eyes in order to regain her composure, but could still sense his eyes boring into her skin. Then her patience snapped and she exploded.

 

“Do you mind not staring at me like I'm some kind of bug?! It`s getting annoying!”

 

Inuyasha only shrugged his shoulders, as if unconcerned about her outburst, but he did turn away. “Sorry. I just don't know if I can believe what you've claimed without some kind of evidence. I mean, you do kinda look like me except for the hair and eyes, but it`s not enough to convince me that I have a sister.”

 

Iza sighed, defeated. “I understand. I never really expected you to accept me right away anyway.” She fidgeted a bit. “I do have many things to tell you, but first things first. Ask me any questions you have and I will answer them as best I can.”

 

Inuyasha shifted restlessly on his branch for a moment. It gave the impression that he was trying to decide what to ask. He finally seemed to settle on a question.

 

“If you're my sister, then where have you been? And why did Ofukuro never tell me about you?”

 

Iza glanced down at the hanyou boy. He looked anxious and maybe a little… hopeful? Or maybe that was wishful thinking on her part. Sighing again, Iza went about answering his questions. “Well, on the night we were born, Chichi-ue and Haha-ue both agreed that it would be better if we weren't raised together. So Chichi-ue left with me soon afterwards and took me to a small house he had built in the Western Lands. It wasn't too far from the castle that Sesshoumaru lived in, but was still far enough away that he doesn't know about it. As for Haha-ue, both of them agreed that we should never be told about the other due to some rather unfortunate circumstances. However, shortly before our father's death, he explained to me the reasons behind our separation. And to tell you the truth, I agreed with th….”

 

“Wait, wait, wait.” Inuyasha interrupted. Actually, Iza was surprised he hadn't sooner, but perhaps the look of shock on his face had something to do with the length of her speech. “We were born on the same night?” At her nod, Inuyasha sputtered out, “B-but what does that mean? Are we…” At this point he stopped his question and glanced up at Iza as if in confirmation. She gave him a soft smile at the unspoken remainder of his question.

 

“Twins?” His nod verified Iza's guess. “Yes, we are. That's the reason we resemble each other so much. I look like you do on the new moon. Only with the ears.”

 

At the mention of his human night, Inuyasha winced and became instantly defensive. “What do you know about the new moon?” he queried tensely.

 

Iza sighed in exasperation. She had a feeling that she`d be doing a lot of that today. “Because, baka, it's my night too.”

 

“Oh,” was all Inuyasha said. Iza couldn't contain herself. She burst out laughing at the `duh, that was obvious' expression on Inuyasha's face. He proceeded to growl menacingly at her, but Iza only waved away his anger with a few flicks of her wrist.

 

“Sorry, sorry. That was too funny, though. I wish you could've seen your face. It was classic.” She wiped a few tears of laughter away with the back of her hand.

 

“Well, excuse me,” the hanyou huffed at her continued giggling. “Anyway. Back to the matter at hand.”

 

Iza finally managed to catch her breath, “Okay. What else do you want to know?”

 

It was Inuyasha's turn to sigh. “Right. So we're twins and Oyaji carted you off into the wilderness…” He ignored Iza's indignant “Hey!” and finished his question, “So what is this really good reason for forcing me to grow up by myself, without any family `cept that bastard, Sesshoumaru, and endure all sorts of torture from youkai and humans for being a hanyou? Hmm? I want to know what this supposedly wonderful excuse is composed of.”

 

No longer laughing, Iza cringed inwardly at the pain and bitterness in Inuyasha's voice. She had known that his life had been difficult after their mother died, but she hadn't known how deeply it had affected him. Now she knew. Iza jumped down to join Inuyasha on his branch and sat a bit of a ways in front of him, her legs dangling over one side. Staring at the ground beneath her feet, she said the only thing she could think of to say.

 

“I'm sorry.”

 

“Keh.”

 

“No. Really. I know I said that I agreed with their reasons for our separation, but that didn't mean that I liked the idea.” Iza glanced up and smiled ruefully at her brother. 'I can call him that now, can't I?' she thought to the side, with a mental twist of her lips, before gazing back down at the ground. “I remember throwing a huge fit after Chichi-ue told me about you. I wanted to meet my twin brother so badly. But he said I couldn't because of the curse.”

 

“Curse? What curse?” Inuyasha twitched his ears and trained them on his sister. `Wait. Sister?` Inuyasha smiled to himself at his admission. Well, at least he could admit it to himself. He had a twin sister. Someone who actually wanted to be related to him. How could he see it any differently with all the evidence right in front of his nose? He just hoped he wasn't being the biggest fool in the world right now by trusting Iza so quickly. `I guess that's what I get for hanging around with Kagome so much.' With that thought, Inuyasha returned his attention to the female hanyou next to him.

 

Iza twitched her own ears, and then flattened them against her head. She managed to peek at Inuyasha from underneath her bangs before rolling her eyes at her own stupidity. “I didn't want to tell you that yet. I would've eventually told you, but I wanted us to get to know each other a little better before springing that on you. But I guess I should explain now and get it out of the way.” She was about to take a breath to speak when a hand on her shoulder stopped her from continuing her explanation.

 

Inuyasha scooted closer to Iza while keeping his hand where it was. Due to the way his sister was sitting, with the right side of her body facing him, he had to duck around to look into Iza`s eyes. “Hey,” he said to grab her attention. When their gazes met, the confusion in her brown eyes made Inuyasha want to try to set everything right in the world or at least set things down the right path. “Don't worry about it. I'm sure there's plenty of time to hear about this curse.” Inuyasha could both see and feel Iza's tension melt away at his reassurance. “Plus, I kinda like the idea of getting used to each other first. So this curse thing can wait, right?”

 

“Hm. I guess it can.” Iza did some quick calculations. `Yeah, there's still a few more weeks before we really have to start worrying. I could use the break to do a little bit more research.' She glanced at Inuyasha. `And I'll get to spend more time with my brother, as an added bonus.' Iza smiled brightly at the prospect of being around Inuyasha.

 

Inuyasha was pleased with himself for having cheered up his sister. `Kami, it's great to be able to think that.' He noticed that the grin that Iza now bestowed on him was almost as brilliant as Kagome's smile whenever he did something nice for her. It was a look that he hoped never disappeared from either girl's face.

 

Inuyasha must have spaced out for a second, because the next thing he knew, Iza was rapping the top of his head with her fist. “Hey! Are you in there, nii-chan?”

 

“Huh? Nii-chan?”

 

“Yeah, you know, it means brother. There's no way in hell I'm going to call you aniki, though you are technically the elder brother.” Iza appeared very reluctant to release this information, and with good reason, too.

 

As soon as the words “you are” and “the elder brother” passed his ears, Inuyasha started to puff up, not with good-natured pride as one might suspect, but rather with his ego.

 

“Keh. I knew it would be that way. Of course I'm the older brother. It only makes sense.”

 

Iza rolled her eyes. “Mou, Inuyasha, you're only older by, I don't know, two minutes or something.” Unfortunately, he didn't seem to have heard her and since she sensed that their branch was about ready to snap due to all the inflated hanyou male ego resting on it, Iza decided to pop Inuyasha's bubble just a little.

 

“Alright, Inuyasha. I'll admit it. You are the older of us. But you wanna know what else that means?”

 

Inuyasha broke out of his preening attitude and glanced back at Iza. “Huh? What else it means?”

 

“Yeah. You being the elder of us two means…” Here she beckoned him closer to whisper in his ear. “It means that you are no longer the baby. You are now the middle child.”

 

Judging by Inuyasha's shocked and slightly horrified expression, Iza surmised that she didn't need to explain all that went with being a middle child. So with that, Iza slipped to ground and started making her way back to Kaede's hut, leaving a very bemused Inuyasha behind in a tree.

 

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