Chapter Eleven:

Chapter Eleven:

Inuyasha carried me as we fallowed Sango back to her house, which had been a different one then the one we had inhabited, and we gathered around a fire for dinner.

 “Hey Sango?”

“Hnm?” Sango looked up from her food to look at me.

“What all did you know about my parents?”

Sango stared at me blankly for a while, debating about what exactly to say. She set her bowl down and stared into the fire as she spoke.

“Well, being that the Shikon No Tama came from this village, Midoriko’s story was passed down, sort of like a legend. She was born and trained here by the most powerful priests. She became a demon slayer soon after her sixteenth birthday, after her first encounter with your father.

“ She was near the woods when a strange human man with weird markings approached her. He said he was a demon, here to destroy the village because it poised as a threat to him. She fought him and they both walked away calmly with high respects for each other. He returned then every two nights to speak with Midoriko, asking for advice or just getting to know each other better. Soon they fell in love and ran away together. Then you were born.

“The scriptures said you were a powerful hanyou, born from a nature demon as a father and a powerful priest as a mother. Due to a fire, however, most of the information about you was lost.”

Sango looked back to me.

I chewed on my lip.

“But what I don’t get is how my mother was a demon slayer during that whole time, all fourteen years of my life, and yet I never once saw her gone or leave to go do these things. And I don’t understand how her bones got back here? I mean, they were in that crash with me. The only difference was that their bodies just disappeared.”

“Wait…What crash?”

I looked to Sango, the thought hitting me like a bulldozer.

“Oh yeah, you didn’t know.”

She shook her head. I sighed.

“It was raining that night and cold. We were in the north, so that meant the road was covered in ice. My dad lost control of the car. We slammed head first into one of the columns that hold that connect the cables, holding the bridge up. It crashed through it and the car ended up dangling over the lake. I was thrown out the side window in the back, my skull cracked, a few bones broken, and they found me unconscious. I woke up about a week later and was asked the worst question someone could ever ask you.”

I swallowed my tears, balling up my fists.

“They said, “Kimi? Were you alone in that car?”

“I asked them what they meant by that. They said, “Well, we found no other bodies and no one else’s blood, so we have reason to believe you were the one driving.”

I squeezed my eyes shut, leaning back against the wall to the house weakly.

“My parent’s just disappeared. Right off the face of the earth.”

Inuyasha shifted around uneasily as he listened to Kimi’s story. He couldn’t figure out which was worse; knowing your parents were dead or not knowing.

A soft snore caught everyone’s attention. Inuyasha kicked Miroku awake.

“Hnm? What’d I miss?” The half asleep monk sat up, rubbing his eyes and yawning.

“Oh nothing really, just Kimi’s life story.” Inuyasha snapped, clonking the lecherous monk on the head. Kimi laughed lightly and stood.

“It’s getting late. Sango where are the beds?” Kimi’s eyes darted around the room, searching. Inuyasha stood and started for the door.

“You were sitting on them.” Sango replied, piling all the dishes in a pail to be washed. Kimi’s eyes widened and she looked back at the hard wooden floor.

“Umm…”

“Or you could just do what Inuyasha does! He sleeps in the trees.” Shippo chirped, jumping into Kimi’s arms. “It’s nice out tonight so I’ll sleep with you, Kimi!”

Kimi smiled down at the tiny fox demon and hugged him to her chest. “You’re so sweet, Shippo.”

Inuyasha stopped at the doorway and turned back to his friends, folding his arms neatly over his chest.

“Well? Are you coming or not?”

Kimi rolled her eyes and started for the door, Shippo already asleep in her arms. They walked out to a giant oak, fairly close to the little hut incase a demon came near, and Inuyasha jumped up to the lowest branch. From there he climbed several branches up, finding a suitable branch that he knew would support his weight, and looked back down to Kimi, who was staring up at the tree.

He gave her a look. “Well? What are you waiting for this time?”

She gave him a look back; one that clearly stated: ‘Shut up.’

“I’ve never climbed a tree before.”

“Seriously?” He stared down at her in disbelief. How could a nature demon NOT be able to climb a tree?

“Yes seriously.”

“Wasn’t your dad one of the most powerful nature demons that ever existed?”

“Just because he was doesn’t mean I am. I’ve never really tried to climb a tree and he never really taught me.” She snapped, shifting Shippo’s sleeping form to her left arm. Inuyasha sighed and leaped to the ground, landing softly next to Kimi.

“Fine. I’ll give you your first lesson.”

A few unsuccessful jumps and climbs later, Inuyasha climbed back into his branch, exhausted. Kimi’s peacefully breathing told him that she had already fallen asleep, snuggled up against the tree’s trunk with Shippo in her arms on the branch below his. She had insisted on the lowest branch possible to sleep on.

Inuyasha smiled to himself and happily fell asleep.

 I woke up with a light headache, sunlight blaring down on me from its high position in the sky. Shippo had somehow detached himself from my fatal grasp and was no where to be found. I sighed and rubbed my temples.

“Headache?”

One eye popped open and found Inuyasha, standing on the branch below the one I was sitting on. “Maybe.” Both eyes shut, the pain in my head continuing to become worse.

I heard leaves shake from below me and I looked down. Inuyasha was gone.

I was just about to climb down to ask Kagome for medicine when Inuyasha reappeared on the branch.

“Here.” He held out his palm with two pills resting in the middle.

I smiled at him and took them, pointing at a small space in front of me and twirling it around. Soon dark clouds formed in the spot, raining and thundering heavily. I cupped my hands under it and swallowed the water and pills. When I was finished I waved my hand through the cloud, scattering small fragments of dark cloud which eventually turned into clear air.

Inuyasha blinked as the cloud disappeared, watching in amazement.

“Nifty.”

“Ne, so what’s on the agenda for today?”

“Traveling.”

Inuyasha jumped down, pulling me down with him. We walked back to the camp in silence, silently enjoying each other’s company. We caught up with the others as they made it to the gate of Sango’s village.

“Well look at who decided to get up!” Miroku chirped happily, shifting Shippo to his shoulders as we approached.

“Har har.” I rolled my eyes, falling into stride next to Sango. Sango laughed lightly and we started chatting idly. Miroku trailed a little ways behind; every now and again he’d jump into Sango and mine’s conversation. Kagome walked next to him talking to Shippo. Inuyasha stayed to the rear, walking in silence.  

Then I heard the noise.

I froze, along with everybody else, and looked back behind us. A couple hundred yards back, a bunch of people carrying a weird looking carriage. As it came near, I stepped forward.

“Um, what’s going on?” I stepped in the middle of the path, placing two hands on my hips.

“Get out of the way, demon.”

“Not until I know what’s going on.”

“You are in our way. We need to deliver this to the Water God.” A little boy peeked out from behind the red curtain, giving me a helpless look.

“Um, what’s the little boy doing in there?” I demanded.

The men in front hesitated, giving each other worried looks. “Um…”

“He’s the sacrifice to the all mighty Water God. Now move out of our way!”

Inuyasha pulled me out of the way before they could trample me.

“No! That’s horrible!!” Inuyasha locked his arms around my waist to keep me from killing anyone.  “What are you doing?! That’s murder! We’ve got to save that poor little boy!” I cried, fighting against his hold.

“Kimi! Calm down! We’ll go check it out.” Inuyasha stared after the carriage, refusing to let me go until I calmed down. I growled, folded my arms against my chest, and waited for him to let me go.

We followed the sacrifice to a large lake. When you stood on one side, you couldn’t see the other thanks to the dreary fog that filtered through the air. I shivered.

“I’m getting weird vibes from this place.” I murmured. Inuyasha chuckled lightly, shaking his head. “It’s called intuition.” He murmured back as we crept up to the lake’s edge.

We watched as the weird men set the little boy’s carriage on the river, watching as it floated towards the middle and disappeared in the fog. They retreated slowly, several of the men looking back at the water sadly.

“Intuition?” I asked Inuyasha as we climbed into a handy little boat I had carved out of a giant tree.

“Mhn, it’s your gut feeling. You don’t like this place because you know something’s wrong.” He replied, staring out into the fog in search of the little boy.

We were hoping to find him, before he reached his fatal destination, and rescue him. All hopes were shattered when our boat struck land.

“The fog! It’s gone!” Kagome cried as we approached a large island. I turned around. “It was just a barrier.”

“There’s a cave. Maybe that’s where the little boy went.” Sango suggested, holding on to Kirara. Shippo jumped into my arms, shaking.

“It’ll be okay, Shippo.” I smiled down at him. He looked up at me and nodded.

“I-I’m not scared!”

“Sure you aren’t. That’s why you’re shaking so badly.” Inuyasha snorted.

“Ow, you bitch! Why’d you kick me?!” He cried as his head made contact with the sand.

“Because you were being mean to Shippo.” I glared at him as I stepped over his fallen form.

Ignoring Inuyasha’s growls, I approached the mouth of the cave, peering in.

“Boo!” I jumped and fell into the water.

Surprisingly I could see under the water. I looked around and noticed a small rock shaped door at the bottom. I felt someone grab my arm and I looked up to see Inuyasha dragging me back to the surface.

“Seriously Kimi…just…because you’re a demon…doesn’t mean you cant drown!” he gasped in air, glaring at me as we floated in the water. I shrugged. “Inuyasha I saw something down there! I think we should go check it out.” I pointed back to the lakes floor, preparing myself to go back underwater.

“Of course you saw something, stupid! It’s a lake! There’s fish everywhere.” Inuyasha snapped, climbing out of the water and shaking the water from his hair.

“No! I mean like-”

“Kimi! Get out of the water!” Miroku shouted. Inuyasha didn’t give me time to react; he simply dove back in and pulled me out of the way. I gasped as a giant water dragon rose to the surface, snarling at Inuyasha and me.

Inuyasha moved in front of me and unsheathed Tetsusagia, growling back at the dragon.

“No wait! It’s just protecting the little door down there.” I cried, jumping on Inuyasha’s back and trying to take his sword.

“What are you talking about Kimi?! What door?!”

“The one I was trying to tell you about earlier, smart one!” I snapped.

The dragon let out a roar and swiped at us. I lifted my palm and put up a water barrier between us.

“Inuyasha, let’s go back to the others and get out of the water so the dragon will calm down.”

“What?! That dragon is trying to kill us! It’s not just going to calm down!” Inuyasha snapped, glaring at the dragon.

“Don’t make me pull you by the ear again.”

Inuyasha was back on the sand in a heartbeat. I nodded in satisfaction and followed.

As soon as I was out of the range of the water, I lowered the water barrier. The dragon swam towards me but backed off as soon as Inuyasha moved in front of me, his hands grasping the swords hilt. I growled at him and he backed off. I moved closer to the water and held out a palm.

“Hiya!” I grinned at the giant dragon. He stared at me, his head cocked to the side, and then moved towards me. He stopped again when Inuyasha started to get nervous.

“Inuyasha, I’ve got this. Calm down.” I snarled through my teeth, not turning to look at him.

The dragon neared my hand and then froze, looking up at me uncertainly. I smiled, blinked, and then reached out.

It’s scales were really slimy but the dragon closed it’s eyes as I pet him. “Aww, who’s a good boy!” I cooed, scratching the giant dragon under the chin. Inuyasha sighed and moved forward.

The dragon growled, moving it’s head in front of me, and then glared at Inuyasha. Sango laughed.

“Kimi, I think he likes you!”

I laughed and pet the dragon before walking around his head to Inuyasha. I took away his sword and laid it on the ground. I looped my arm through his as we walked to the dragon together.

“He’s good! See he’s not going to hurt you.” I smiled encouragingly at the dragon.

The dragon stared at Inuyasha for a moment and then snorted, spraying Inuyasha. I bit my lips to keep from laughing but Miroku couldn’t hold it in. Inuyasha didn’t move. He squeezed his eyes shut and growled lowly, clenching and unclenching his fists. I grasped his arm and smiled at him when he looked my way.

“You can wash off in the water now. I think he’ll let you pass.”

“Think?” He growled.

“Yes, think. I need to talk to the dragon first.” Inuyasha sent me a bewildered look, which I ignored, and started to protest when I stepped forward.

I sighed. “Inuyasha, he might be able to help us. Just let me talk to him.”

Inuyasha remained quiet as Kimi walked up to the dragon’s head. She stroked his forehead several times before leaning down until her forehead met the scaly dragon’s. Inuyasha shifted uneasily until the eyes of the large beast fell closed. Within a few moments Kimi straightened up and smiled at the dragon before turning back to Inuyasha.

“Come on you guys! He says he’ll give us a ride.” She grinned, already climbing onto the dragon’s head.

When Inuyasha tried to protest, Kimi silenced him with a deadly glare and everyone proceeded forwards onto the dragon’s head. Kimi somehow created clear looking bubbles, one for everyone head, that would continuously give us air so we wouldn’t have to hold our breaths. Kagome, Miroku, Sango, and Shippo all were to walk along the cave and see if they would find the boy. Inuyasha and Kimi watched them leave. Then they entered the water and the dragon swam as fast as an arrow down to a small trapdoor. 

The dragon stopped in front of the trap door and Kimi swam down in front of it. She grasped the old mildewed rope and started to pull. She looked back to Inuyasha when the door didn’t budge.

He nodded and swam to her, taking the rope from her hands and pulling. He used all of his strength but again to no avail. Kimi and Inuyasha both took a hold of the rope, the dragon bite down on the back of Inuyasha’s robes, and they all three pulled.

A small cracking sound was heard. The door moved about a fraction of an inch. Inuyasha could almost hear Kimi sigh in frustration. They all took a hold of the rope again and started to pull. The door was heavier then one hundred boulders combined and it moved slower then a snail. When they finally got it open, everyone, including the dragon, seemed to be panting heavily in the water.

Kimi was the first to swim inside, her curiosity over powering the urge to rest. Inuyasha swam after her, blindly feeling for Kimi in the black water.