InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ You Said You'd Never Leave Me ❯ The Miko: Kiga-san ( Chapter 1 )

Chapter One-The Miko: Kiga-san

 

InuYasha stood on the high branch of a tree and stared into the distance. The sun had half fallen over the horizon and its reflection shimmered of the water that he could just barely begin to see. He sighed and closed his eyes a moment as the last warm light shone across his face and body, coloring him in its golden orange brilliance. Almost a year, a year since she… His thoughts had drifted and he sniffed the air a moment when he remembered what it was that he was supposed to be doing. Nothing.

 

“InuYasha?” A young voice called up to him and he glanced down to see Shippo and Kirara staring up at him through the branches and leaves.

 

“As always, nothing.” His words held a twinge of sadness as he carefully swung down the branches to the forest floor where the two waited. Kirara twitched her tail and mewed, hopping up on his shoulder and nuzzling him. “I know. I miss her too. C'mon, we got to get back before Sango and the monk start worrying.”

 

The walk back to camp was quiet, as it always was, and InuYasha's thoughts began to drift once again. Where could she have gone? He remembered quite clearly waking up in the early morning after that battle with Naraku and finding out that he had died in the night and then mysteriously came back to life. It was mysterious, because none of them had actually seen him come back, and the one person who might have known had disappeared that night and never returned. Kagome, for what reason did you go? He remembered his frantic search, and even how he'd gone to her time to find that Kagome hadn't returned there either. And all of his searches for her had led nowhere. He'd caught her trail leaving the village, but then it was as if she had suddenly ceased to be. There wasn't even so much as a cold trail to follow anymore. Almost as if some ethereal thing flew down and took her away. Now every night he'd climb as high as he could go and smell the wind in the meager hopes of even catching her scent in passing.

 

“Are you hungry InuYasha?” Sango asked him, holding out a bowl of soup with rice and a skewered fish that was still steaming from being cooked. He shook his head to decline and sat down by the fire. He hadn't had much of an appetite for a long while. He had also become much more reserved. Of course, realizing that one had died was definitely a sobering experience. He listened as the others held quiet conversations amongst themselves, having learned very quickly that without Kagome around, he didn't have much to say. He watched as Shippo and Kirara ran around before finding some quiet corner to go to sleep in, and watched as both Miroku and Sango settled in. He watched as the embers of the fire slowly withered and began to turn black, like his hopes of ever seeing her face again. And before too long the fire had gone out completely and he laid back to stare up at the stars twinkling in the twilight. Kagome. Come back, please. Can't you see that we need you? Can't you see that I need you? And eventually, he too fell asleep, feeling that deep-seeded loneliness and feeling that somehow he'd been responsible for her leaving.

 

------------------------------Early the Next Morning------------------------------

 

“Kiga-san! Kiga-san, I've lost my way! Please come find me!” A small voice cried out from the forest, and had startled the group who'd just finished a quick breakfast and were about to set out on their way again.

 

“We should go help.” Miroku had already kneeled down and picked up his staff from the ground. Sango gave a firm nod when he glanced her way and then looked at InuYasha for approval.

 

“Let's go. It sounds like it's just a poor lost kid.” InuYasha told her. They spread out, listening for the child's cries again. It didn't take them long to find the little girl sitting on a barely used deer trail, clutching a basket of flowers and weeping terribly. She jumped with fright when she heard them coming and shirked away from the group.

 

“Shh. It's okay. We're here to help you.” Sango crouched down a short length away and held her hand out to the child, smiling softly in assurance that they wouldn't harm her. “Please, take my hand.”

 

The little girl shuddered and cautiously reached out and took a hold of Sango's hand, wiping away her tears with the other. “Can you take me to my Kiga-san?”

 

“Of course.” Sango replied as they began to walk out of the woods. InuYasha studied the little girl a moment. There was something familiar about the child, but he couldn't place from where. She glanced back at him and scowled before sticking out her tongue at him when she noticed him staring at her. What the…? That little brat! InuYasha growled and looked away when he sensed something coming at them fast. He stopped in his tracks and got into a fighting stance, a hand gripping the hilt of the Tetsusaiga.

 

“What is it InuYasha?” Shippo cowered slightly and moved behind Miroku, gripping the bottom of his robe. The others turned to see their friend glaring ahead of them as something rode up the trail, kicking up dirt along the way and if they hadn't have known better, they'd have thought it was a stampede coming their way. Finally in view, they could see a young woman dressed as a miko riding fast towards them on a two-headed dragon youkai. She had dark hair tied back into a braid that had a red ribbon running through it and had an arrow knocked and bow drawn, aiming straight at him. He caught the menacing glare on her face and stepped back a bit, ready to draw his sword and slay the woman if she tried anything.

 

“Unhand the child or I'll be forced to slay you.” the woman's words were serious and cold, and somehow, the woman seemed familiar. InuYasha sniffed the air, but he couldn't recognize her. While he was sure there were plenty of miko's in the world, they hardly saw much of them since their business didn't require them to visit very many Shinto shrines.

 

“Kiga-san!” The child burst from Sango's grasp and ran towards the woman. The woman withdrew her bow and put the arrow back into the quiver on her back before leaping down to embrace the child. She looked at the group and her jaw dropped slightly as if in surprise. InuYasha was positive that they knew each other. However, the woman hid it well and turned her attention back to the child.

 

“Ri…Rii-chan, you know better than to go off into these woods without me or one of the other vassals. Our Lord would be very upset with you right now. What were you thinking?” Kiga-san asked, picking up Rii-chan and placing her on the beast she'd ridden up on.

 

“Ah-Un! Silly boys.” Rii-chan said, hugging each head. Kiga-san cleared her throat and looked very sternly at the girl, waiting for her answer. Rii-chan frowned and blushed from embarrassment. InuYasha watched the little girl and the animal she was talking to. That name of that animal sounds familiar. Slowly everything started to fall into place.

 

“I just wanted to pick some flowers for our Lord before he returned!” She patted the creature's heads as she spoke. “I took Ah-Un with me, but they wandered off after some sweet grasses and I got lost.”

 

“I knew I recognized that name.” InuYasha blurted out, pointing at the beast. “That's Sesshoumaru's pack animal, and that must be the little human Rin that he's been taking care of. So if these two are here, that means my brother and his toad are somewhere nearby. This only leaves one thing out of place, you, miko.”

 

“What I'm doing with the child and the beast is none of your business, daemon.” Kiga-san, reaching back and clutched an arrow, drawing it out and knocked it, but didn't draw the bow. InuYasha drew his sword and held it out in front of him.

 

“Yes, it is strange.” Miroku stepped forward and put himself between the two before a fight could start. “We don't mean any harm, and we'd just like to know why a miko such as yourself would ally with a terrible daemon like Sesshoumaru.”

 

Kiga-san glanced down a moment and then with a renewed resolve looked straight at Miroku “I owe him my life.”

 

“Kiga-san takes care of me and helps my Lord Sesshoumaru collect…” before Rin could finish, the miko clasped her hand over her mouth to silence her.

 

“Rin!” Kiga-san shook a finger at the girl when she finally pulled her hand away. “We don't discuss our Lord's business with strangers.

 

“Gomen ne Kiga-san.” Rin's voice was sad as she voiced her apology and she looked away from the woman.

 

“Come Rin, it's time to leave.” The woman grabbed Ah-Un's reins and turned the animal around and began to walk away.

 

“Wait, please, Kiga-san.” Miroku called. Sango shot him a disgusted look in expectance of what she thought he'd ask, but he shook his head to tell her that he wasn't making advances. InuYasha looked at him and saw by the way the monk watched the woman that he had the same suspicions as the hanyou did.

 

“Obviously `Kiga-san' is a nickname, would you be kind enough to tell us your real name?” The woman halted Ah-Un and turned her head back towards them.

 

“It is a nickname, one I only allow Rin to call me, just as I alone can call her Rii-chan. And I don't care to give my name to strangers, but if you must call me something, you may call me Lady Miko as my Lords vassals do.” The miko replied and turned again, disappearing down the trail with Rin and Ah-Un.

 

“That was suspicious.” Sango said as they made their way back to their camp to get their things.

 

“I agree. I felt that somehow we knew that miko, but I couldn't quite place from where. I think that we should stay here a while until we can figure out what's really going on.” InuYasha scowled. He didn't like it when he didn't know every aspect of things. It left him unsure of what move to take next.

 

“I don't think we go to see her real face anyhow.” Miroku commented.

 

“What do you mean? I don't think that she was a daemon, someone would have sensed it. Besides, why would she want to hide her face in the first place?” Sango didn't believe that a miko was capable of such things. She'd only heard of daemons who had the ability to deceive people in such a way.

 

“I've heard that some miko's can use daemonic energy in different ways. Some such ways are to mask their faces or change their scents. Many use it as a ploy against other daemons, but I feel her reason was much different.” Miroku looked to his friends. “I side with InuYasha on this matter. Something is wrong here, and we should stay until we find what that is and then correct it if possible.”

 

“Agreed.” Sango said firmly as Shippo nodded and Kirara mewed her approval.

 

------------------------------Elsewhere------------------- -----------

 

“Greetings Lady Miko, Rin.” an elderly daemon man working some wood greeted the two as they entered through the gates of a modest castle. The two smiled and bowed to the man. Lady Miko led Ah-Un into his stable and helped Rin down off of him. The little girl smiled and hugged the woman before running off to play.

 

“Don't leave the grounds this time Rii-chan!” Lady Miko called after her, and Rin turned to wave her agreement. She can be such a handful sometimes, but I can't help but love her. The woman smiled to herself as she watched Rin run around and then turned away to return to her work in the castle. Of course she was Rin's guardian when Lord Sesshoumaru wasn't around, but her duties also required making sure the castle ran as it should.

 

Normally, Lord Sesshoumaru would have rather wandered with her, Rin, Jaken, and Ah-Un without having an actual home. It wasn't the way of daemons like himself. However, it had become apparent, much to her own influence, that it would be better and safer for Rin if there was one place she knew to call home. Begrudgingly, her Lord had obliged and they had taken over this castle after a battle had claimed all the residents. The place was cleaned and they moved in, bringing in lesser daemons to serve them. Of course, this also meant the assurance that none of those lesser daemons would meet their fate at the claws of the Lord of the West, so they had quickly agreed. There had even been some humans who had agreed to do the job, and had been given jobs solely because she had willed it. The Lord wasn't home as much as he used to be. He had his land to guard, so she really had more control of the home than he did. It's almost as if I'm the lady of the house, except that I'm not his wife, thank goodness.

 

She sighed and removed her sandals at the door and stepped into the castle, making her way quickly through the corridors that had once confused her when they had first arrived, but were now little more than a thought as she found her room and slipped inside. She walked over to a low table cluttered with papers and bottles of ink. There is still so much to do. We have to send a hunt out for fresh meat for the human residents, and have the daemon scavengers out to fresh battlefields for food for the other daemons. And our crop isn't doing as good as it should. But we have plenty of fresh water for cooking and drinking. We need to have someone sent out to get more cloth for clothes for Rin and the others and I need more herbs for my medicines and daemon wards.

 

It took her some time to get everything in order, and it was dark by the time she was done. She stood, and went back towards the door to see what the others were doing. Many of the workers were still busy and Rin was running around chasing fireflies and trying to catch them in her hands. “Everyone, you can retire for the night. Rii-chan it's time for you to go to bed.”

 

“Awe, Kiga-san! Do I have to?” The little girl paused and made a sad face.

 

“Yes, come on now, I'll even tuck you in.” The miko motioned for her to come and Rin giggled and ran over to her. A little while later, Rin had been washed up and dressed in her night kimono and laid down to sleep. The miko covered her up and kissed her forehead. The girl had burned a lot of energy today and was fast asleep in moments.

 

“Goodnight Rii-chan.” whispered the woman as she disappeared from the room. She walked towards the servant's quarters and peeked her head into the main room there. A lone daemon woman named Shika sat eating her dinner and stood to bow when she saw the woman standing there. Shika looked no older that the miko, though she was sure that the woman must have been more than twice her age. She was the miko's personal assistant.

 

“Lady Miko, how may I help you?” Shika bowed deeply to her, looking over her long deer-like nose with her brown-gold eyes. You could see clearly that she was once a woods daemon, and her other form was probably a doe.

 

“I was hoping that when you were done eating you could have someone draw my bath for tonight.” Lady Miko asked as she bowed back to the woman, smiling gently when she rose.

 

“Of course, Lady Miko.” Shika bowed again and ran off, not finishing her supper, even though the miko had told her she could. Many of the servants were wary like that, mostly because of Lord Sesshoumaru's impatience. No amount of her kindness could change their fear of what would happen if they didn't act quickly enough.

 

Lady Miko lazily made her way to the bathhouse, glad that the day was at an end. She'd had to much stress as it was. First Rin disappears, and then they showed up. And I was up to my neck in paper work. If that doesn't remind me of my younger years, I don't know what would. By the time she made it to the bath house, the large tub had already been filled and was steaming with hot, scented water. Some towels had been laid out and a clean kimono, red in color with swans and purple flowers, sat resting near the towels for when she was done bathing. Along the edge of the tub were brightly colored bottles and jars filled with various pleasant scented items for her to use.

 

She undressed and undid her hair, letting out a long sigh as she slipped into the water. She sunk under for a minute and came back up, staring at her reflection in the water. It looked odd and then she remembered why. Letting out a small release of her powers, she felt her mask drop away and she felt refreshed, but naked in a way. She looked down again at the reflection and smiled. “It's good to be Kagome again.”