Jewel of Circumstance Chapter 15

Kaede was kneeling in muddy water; trying to save what vegetables she could from the downpour, when she heard the first screams. The rain had flooded most of her garden, which had been badly damaged by parasites already. Terrible gusts of wind had blown her rain hat away already, but there was no time to chase after it. The rain was getting heavier and the wind more forceful.

While wading in the mud, she had been thinking about her returning guests and if they had survived putting up with each other. Particularly Inuyasha and the new boy, Yusuke. She felt as though she hadn’t had enough time to size up the newcomers before they’d split up and left once again. She hoped they had been able to work together as a team.

She had been so deep in thought that she almost didn’t hear the screams from the village. At first she wasn’t sure what she’d heard. Perhaps it was her imagination…but then it was mass hysteria. In the rain, she saw several people fleeing for the woods, which made her think that the river was starting to flood, or there had been a mudslide, or some other natural catastrophe. She quickly gathered the vegetables she’d saved and ran towards the screams. As she ran into the street, she nearly tripped over a body.

Horrified, she looked down and quickly looked away. It was Haruka…a young mother with two small children. Kaede forced back her anger and tears. There would be time for grieving later; she had to focus now to help these people. Through the rain, Kaede could barely make out shapes of moving figures and more bodies lying motionless. A demonic attack? She couldn’t tell, but it didn’t matter. She ran as fast as she could to her hut and gathered her bow and arrow. At that moment, a tall figure burst inside.

The demon didn’t have a chance before she shot an arrow through its heart. It fell back, still alive, and she aimed and shot another arrow into its head. Silently, she went over to it and stared. A male. Human in appearance, but its ears were pointed and its eyes were yellowish-green, intelligent-looking. Silver hair. Either dog or fox demon. Without another thought, Kaede pushed the dead demon out of her hut and hurried into the village.

“Lady Kaede!”

She turned to see several of the village men with weapons of their own running toward her. Blinking through the rain, she could see claw marks on their arms or faces.

A young man named Luca joined them a second later, sitting astride a horse. “I shall go for help,” he called. Kaede nodded and waved him away, watching briefly as he spurred the horse out of the village. She prayed for his safety.

She turned to the rest of them. “Be ready,” she said. “They may outnumber you but they do not overpower you.”

They nodded, but she could see they were frightened. She was too old to be frightened; she was only concerned for her people. She prayed daily that, in the event of her death, they would be provided with another caregiver who loved them as much as she did.

They moved through the village, Kaede leading them. The street had suddenly become silent, as though they were the only ones left. Kaede shook that dreadful thought out of her head and kept moving. She held her bow at ready.

Out of nowhere, an arrow zipped past her and struck one of the men behind her. He screamed and went down. Kaede barked for the rest of them to get down, and they moved behind a hut.

Silently cursing, Kaede pulled the arrow out of the fallen man; luckily it had struck his shoulder and nothing vital. However, he was bleeding profusely, and she needed to staunch the flow as fast as she could, while keeping the rest of them alive. If only the rain would cease…

“Kaede, he is failing.”

“I know. But you must not move him.”

Kaede peered around the hut and saw a single figure standing in the street. It was a female, as far as Kaede could tell. She was armed with a bow and arrow.

“Priestess, that was your only warning! Give me the shards of the Shikon jewel, and I will let the rest of your villagers live.”

Kaede called back to her, angrily. “The jewel shards are not here!”

“I don’t believe you!” the demoness yelled in a mocking, singsong voice. “Hand them over, last warning.”

“You can search our entire village and you will never find the shards,” Kaede yelled. “Leave at once!”

“You ask for your own death, old woman!” the demoness yelled.

Kaede did not answer. She took her chance, knowing she would never make the shot in a million years, and stepped into the street. She aimed.

Three seconds seemed to stretch into an eternity as she tried to focus on her target through the rain. Her eyes met that of the demon female and Kaede could see an insane sort of glee as the demon female let go of her arrow.

The arrow found Kaede’s shoulder as Kaede released her own arrow. She watched with some degree of satisfaction as her arrow found its target. There was a smile on her face as she hit the ground, where everything went black.

***

Kuwabara sighed as he stared out of a broken window at the rain that kept them from reaching the village. He was looking forward to some real food. That old priestess had made awesome soup, with fresh vegetables. His stomach growled, as if in agreement.

He had a terrible grinding feeling in his stomach. It wasn’t just the hunger; it was something else. It was a feeling that something terrible was going to happen. Normally when he had these feelings, he was right. He wanted to think that things wouldn’t get much worse than they already had, but then they hadn’t even found that Naraku guy yet. They still had to fight him. He supposed that thinking about that probably wouldn’t help his nerves.

It also didn’t help that he had been walking for a solid two weeks, fighting monsters that seemed to come in droves.

And it didn’t help that the previously torrential rain had picked up and was now practically a typhoon. Listening to the howling wind outside only amplified the feeling of dread in his stomach. It didn’t help that the sound of the rain above them sounded like the marching footfalls of a thousand demons on their way.

It didn’t help that amidst the deafening sound of the rain, the silence was thick enough to slice with a sword.

It didn’t help that he missed Yukina so much that his heart ached. He had been thinking about her almost constantly during the last few days. Almost like she was calling to him…thinking about him.

But she couldn’t call him, could she? Not when he was stuck in the past.

Shippou leaned against Kuwabara’s leg, which also didn’t help, because he felt wet and slimy enough. The little fox demon was exhausted and miserable, just like the rest of them, so it was tolerable, but Kuwabara felt like he was going to be sick.

Perhaps it was just because he was tired, wet and hungry. Kuwabara was ready to be in his own bed in his own house in his own time. However, they still had a job to do, and he was certain that the worst was yet to come.

Kuwabara sighed and tried not to think about Yukina. Sweet, beautiful Yukina, who was waiting for him back in his own time. He wished he could see her right then. He wondered how she was and if she was thinking about him.

Thinking about Yukina didn’t make his stomach feel any better; it was still doing flip-flops. He felt that before long he was going to toss his lunch. Not that it had been an appetizing lunch in the first place.

Maybe that was another reason he felt sick. He was sick of eating fish. He wanted some real food. A steak. Some stir-fry. Good, hot tea. He had to admit the water in this era was deliciously pure, though.

He wondered how Urameshi and the rest of the other group were getting along. He had had a bad feeling about something for the last few days, adding to all the other stuff on his mind, and was currently not helping his stomach. He didn’t like to call himself a psychic, but he had this terrible feeling that something was wrong. Maybe at the village, maybe with the other group. He had made the mental note that if they got to the village and the other group wasn’t there, to go looking for them.

“Kuwabara, are you okay?” Shippou asked, looking up at him.

He gave the small fox demon a slight grin. “As okay as I can be, I guess. How about you?”

“I don’t feel so good.”

“Same here, little buddy. This rain will be over soon.”

“I hope so.”

Shippou was quiet for a moment before he sighed and said, “I wonder how Kagome is.”

“I’m sure she’s fine.”

“I miss her.”

“You don’t miss Inuyasha?”

“No!” Shippou said indignantly. “He’s mean and he always hits me.”

“Oh.” Kuwabara didn’t know what else to say. “I guess that’s not very nice.”

Shippou nodded his agreement. He sat in silence for a few more minutes, listening to the rain. He had always liked the rain. For some reason, it had always made him feel more relaxed. The howling wind didn’t help him feel relaxed, but he tried to relax as he closed his eyes and leaned against Kuwabara’s leg once again, listening to the rain drumming on the roof. Instead of imagining an army, Shippou imagined that it sounded like hoof beats.

Then he realized it wasn’t just his imagination. He really could hear hoof beats.

He jumped up. “There’s someone coming!” he cried.

Kurama nodded, rising to his feet. “I can hear it, too. There is a man on a horse coming this way. I can smell human blood.”

Kuwabara felt his stomach lurch. There was that feeling of dread again. Someone had been hurt. A lot of people had been hurt. He clutched his stomach and followed the rest of them out into the rain.

They rushed outside in time to see the horse approaching. They could see the man slumped against the horse’s neck, a arrow protruding from his shoulder. His clothing was soaked with blood and ripped as though something had tried to claw him to pieces. Miroku ran into the path of the horse, waving his hands to try to get it stopped. The horse reared, obviously frightened. It was wheezing heavily, having run fast and hard. Miroku caught hold of its reins and tried to calm it down while the others pulled the injured man off of the horse’s back.

“He’s still alive!” Sango cried. She and Kurama carried him inside and laid him on the floor.

Kuwabara could not contain it any longer and ran behind a tree. He vomited until there was nothing left and then continued to dry heave. He wanted nothing more than to be home at that point.

Inside, Kurama managed to pull the arrow out of the man’s shoulder and Sango held a piece of cloth against the wound. The man was crying out in pain and muttering rapidly.

“Praise Buddha, I found you,” the injured man wheezed. “The village…”

“Shh, don’t talk,” Sango said softly. “You’re safe now. Just lie still…”

The man sat up quickly and grabbed a fistful of her shirt, pulling her closer. His eyes were wide and unfocused. She cried out and tried to pull back but he was screaming at her now.

“There’ s no time!” he yelled, his eyes dancing, as though he was looking for someone. They were terrified eyes. “No time! The village! Attacked…Lady Kaede…you must go! Don’t…no time…”

“The village has been attacked?” Miroku asked, kneeling beside him. “Lady Kaede? By who…or what?”

“Demons!”

The man began to convulse and moaned, obviously in terrible pain. Miroku tried to talk to him again but his eyes had begun to glaze over. Sango finally released herself from his hold and backed away as he began to thrash violently. “What’s wrong with him?”

“He’s dying,” Kurama said flatly. “This arrow is poison.”

Miroku stood to his feet, his expression grim. “We need to go. There may be survivors.”

“But what about –“ Kurama began.

Miroku shook his head as he headed for the door. “There’s nothing we can do for him. He was sent to find help and we’re it.”

***

The damage really wasn’t as bad as what each of them had imagined, but the general feeling between the five of them was still far from relief. A couple of huts remained, but others had been destroyed. Not by fire, thankfully because of the rain. At least the rain had served some purpose, Kuwabara thought.

His stomach still rolling, he was not looking forward to going into that village. But he followed the rest of them as they continued walking, their faces grim. Miroku and Sango looked deeply concerned. He knew they would immediately try to find out what happened to the old woman. He was also concerned about her, but he knew that she had been their friend. He wouldn’t be as saddened by her death as they would.

The rain had slowed to a slight drizzle by the time they arrived. Several people were already at work beginning to repair their village, and to bury their dead. Miroku hoped that Kaede was not among those being buried.

When a villager spotted the group approaching, he immediately ran toward them, waving his arms. He knelt in respect before Miroku, and also out of desperation.

“Lord Miroku, you’ve come at last. We did not know when you would be here…we were attacked yesterday. They came out of nowhere. Lady Kaede-“

“Is she alive?” Sango asked.

The man nodded grimly. “She lives, but she is near death. She was struck by an arrow. She has survived arrows before, but this…” He dropped his eyes to the ground to hide his tears.

Kurama nodded. “Poison,” he said. “Where is she being kept?”

“This way. Follow me.”

The villagers had used Kaede’s hut as a small hospital, where the women who knew the most about medicine were working to treat the injured. Kaede lay motionless on a small cot, a blanket draped over her. Her shoulder had been wrapped with cloths. Her skin was pallid and her lips nearly white.

“Kaede-sama…” Sango breathed. “No…”

A young woman laid a wet cloth on Kaede’s forehead and looked at them. “Lord Miroku, Lady Sango…praises to Buddha, that you have returned. We have done all we can for her.”

Miroku rubbed his temple wearily. This could not be happening. He tried to think of what to do. He knew that Kagome had left some supplies in the hut, so perhaps there would be something to heal her. But he wouldn’t know how to use it. He had the knowledge of healing herbs, but nowhere near the knowledge that Kaede had. And she wasn’t much use to herself at the moment. It had to be something fast.

Kurama laid a hand on his shoulder. “Miroku…I have an idea. But I need your help.”

“I don’t think anything can be done for her now,” he said quietly. “We were too late.”

“Not necessarily,” Kurama replied. “Come with me.”

“Where are we going?”

“The shrine.”

***

Kuwabara, Shippou and Sango watched from the shrine entrance as Kurama and Miroku knelt before the shrine. It was where Kikyou’s remains had once been buried. It was where the Shikon jewel had once rested. It was a holy place.

Miroku had been unsure of Kurama’s intentions at first, but the fox demon had tried his best to explain what he was about to do.

“One thing you should know,” Kurama said. “I have never attempted this spell, simply because I have never had to. It shouldn’t be too complicated, but I cannot do this without a priest, and I can only perform this spell in a temple or shrine. A holy place.”

“What kind of spell?” Miroku asked.

“A healing plant of the demonic world. It can be very effective for humans. It may be Kaede’s only hope.”

“And you can only summon this herb with a priest, and in a temple?”

“If I do not summon the plant in a holy place, it will have the opposite effect.”

Miroku nodded, and Kurama began the spell.

Shippou watched with morbid curiosity, as a dim light seemed to surround the two inside the shrine. “What are they doing?”

“They’re trying to heal Kaede,” Sango answered.

“Will it work?”

“I hope so.”

***

A pair of bright golden eyes narrowed as they watched from the bushes, their owner gasping for breath as she clutched a clawed hand to the bleeding wound on her shoulder. The old witch was still alive, then. Not for long. And neither would that red-haired brat who kept interfering with her.

She didn’t know who he was or what he had wanted with her, but there was something strange about him that she couldn’t quite place. And then when she realized what kind of spell he was casting, her curiosity grew.

A spell to summon plants of the demonic world. And inside a temple! She had never heard of this, but it was intriguing to her. This nuisance knew what he was doing. She remembered how his eyes reminded her of Amoyo’s…gentle yet forceful. Commanding yet humble.

An arrow in her shoulder was nothing like the pain she felt when she had looked into that boy’s eyes; eyes that had seemed ages old.

It didn’t matter. Nothing mattered except finding the bitch that had killed her beloved Amoyo. The red-haired demon boy would not stop her. Neither would the old witch. She would have her revenge. It was only a matter of time.