Chapter 7: And Now I'm Hearing Voices

It's called an Ally...

Tears Left Uncried

 

KB: Raye, you're getting screen time now.

Raye: Finally!

KB & Lee: …

Raye: What?

KB: I think I miss her being mad at me.

Lee: Why?

KB: At least when she's mad, she doesn't talk.

Lee: True. Now we'll have to listen to her gloat.

Raye: I'm standing right here.

 

-KB

 

 

Tears Left Uncried

Chapter 7:

And Now I'm Hearing Voices…

 

"Miss Lee?" Rin asks shyly as Lee ducks down into the warm hot spring. It's a wonder they even found one. She's always wanted to visit one, to have a relaxing day of doing nothing but being pampered, but money has always been an issue with Lee. Then again, she probably wouldn't have had the guts to go to a public hot spring anyway. She already

hated how she looked herself so she never wanted anyone else to.

 

Right now though, out here in the wilds of the feudal era of Japan, Lee doesn't really have a choice. It's either wash or smell; smelling bad is out of the question. "Rin, I told you just to call me Lee."

 

"I know. I'm sorry. I was just…" Rin ducks into the water until it's over her nose.

 

"What?" Lee smiles.

 

"I was just…wondering…about your scar…"

 

Lee stops scrubbing her hair and bites her bottom lip.

 

"I'm sorry! I'm nosy! You don't have to tell. I'm sorry." Rin quickly ducks her head in apology and looks like she's ready to burst into tears. Lee sighs and smiles.

 

"Rin, it's okay. Asking isn't wrong, you just caught me off guard is all. I…hmm…" Lee glances down at her chest, trailing her fingers down the long scar the curves from the right side of her chest, down the center of her chest, and then back down to the right side of her torso. "I was in an accident when I was younger. The doctors had to operate to save my life, but they couldn't get rid of the scar. I'm self-conscious about it, so that's why I don't really like talking about it or wearing showy clothes."

 

"Why not? Do people make fun of you for it?" Rin asks, genuinely curious about it.

 

Lee smiles again, dropping her hand and lowering herself into the water so that the scar is out of sight. "No, no one has ever seen it, but I'm sure they would. People in my time are…really judgmental and they'll take any chance they can to pick on someone. "

 

"That's mean. Then again, people here are like that too. People are scared of demons, but not all of them are bad. Lord Sesshomaru is the kindest of them all." Rin tells her.

 

Yeah, right. Lee rolls her eyes. "It's okay, though. I've gotten used to it."

 

Rin stares at her for a long moment before saying, "Well, I think your scar looks pretty. It's like a moon."

 

Lee stares back at the child, so much like her little sister back home, and then returns her smile. "Thank you, Rin. That makes me feel a lot better."

 

After scrubbing clean, they both climb out and change into their dry clothes, but Rin takes her hand as they start heading back to their small camp. "Lee, do you have any siblings?"

 

"Yeah, a little sister. She's a bit older than you are, but you remind me a lot of her." Lee tells her.

 

"Can…I be your little sister too?"

 

Lee stops in surprise, gazing down at the child's hopeful expression. "Don't you have siblings?"

 

"No, my parents were killed along with my brothers. Lord Sesshomaru saved me and took me with him." Rin's eyes fill with tears and Lee bends down so that she's eye level with her.

 

"Then, sure. I'd love to have another sister."

 

Rin leaps into her arms, almost knocking Lee and her clumsy self to the ground, and hugs her tightly. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

 

Lee offers to carry Rin back to camp, letting the little girl climb onto her back, and they head towards the glowing embers of their campfire together. Lee can't help, but feel a bit lighter. Having a little sister here made this place seem a little less barbaric and surreal. Feeling Rin's tight hug around her neck, Lee feels more grounded now. This place is real, she really can die, and all she has to defend herself against the two male demons she travels with, and the rest of the monsters here, is a small smoke bomb.

 

Yeah, that plan can't fail at all. Lee wants to whine. I'm gonna die!

 

Back at the campsite, Jaken is already asleep, leaning into Aun's side and snoring lightly, but Lee is somehow able to successfully pull the borrowed sleeping bag from the dragon's saddle without stirring the little demon. She rolls it out and sits down on its familiar softness, stretching her fingers across the cottony surface with a heavy sigh. How she misses home already.

 

Reaching up, Lee starts running her fingers through her hair, not an easy task without a comb to aid her, and fights with every tangle that crosses her path. "Ugh, this is going to take forever!"

 

The bag drops next to her with a startling thump and Lee jumps back with a yelp. It's her bag. The one she lost in the river. Her precious bag…

 

Lee quickly snatches it up before it can vanish into smoke, and hugs it to her chest like a renewed life line that has been returned to her. She looks up at Sesshomaru passes, her jaw dropping in shock. Had he found it? Had he fished it out of the river?

 

Had he gone swimming for it? Lee can't stop the image of Sesshomaru, his long silver hair soaked with water and drops streaming down his face and strong jaw, from flashing across her mind. A hot blush heats up her face and Lee quickly buries into her bag, taking a deep inhale of its simple smell of home.

 

"T-thank…you…" She mumbles out through a mouthful of bag, too embarrassed to look up and meet his gaze.

 

"Your scent was easy enough to follow. The river had not carried it much farther from where you were found."

 

This time, Lee does look up. In shock. He just spoke two sentences to her-a feat that required the use of more than two words. The underworld must be freezing over somewhere.

 

"Uh…"

 

Rin laughs, ignoring Lee's unintelligent response and dropping next to her on the sleeping bag. "Looks like you get to read your book now and you have your brush back."

 

Sesshomaru turns to stare at them across the campsite, the fire's warm light dancing across his face. Lee can't find the power to look away, her blush getting hotter than she's comfortable with. Rin begins to tug on the sleeve of Lee's blue kimono and she somehow pulls away from his intense gaze.

 

Lee tucks Rin in next to her before rolling over and staring off into the woods. She has to admit, it's nice not having to sleep on the bug infested ground, but she doesn't seem to really care now. Her mind is still reeling from Sesshomaru's gaze. Those golden eyes that have too much power within them, like he could read her every thought without even really trying; it scares her and Lee isn't used to the heat that is burning deep in her chest.

 

Taking deep breaths, Lee closes her eyes and tries to focus on sleep. Strangely enough, it comes, but it comes rather forcefully as if its taking over her with a mind of it's own.

 

She finds herself alone in a world of complete darkness. Nothing is here. This place is full of nothing. There's no ground, no walls, no life…nothing. But she doesn't fall at all.

 

'Where am I?' Lee thinks. When her thoughts prove to get no answer, she calls out as if this dark world would give her some kind of answer if it can hear her voice. "Where am I?"

 

"You're here." A strange, but familiar voice answers. She's heard this voice from somewhere…

 

"Where's here?"

 

"Does that matter? What matters is that I brought you here. Slowly I'm finding ways to connect to you. It's much easier to do when you're asleep." The voice laughs, rather too mischievously for Lee's taste.

 

"Who are you?"

 

"Again, not important."

 

"It's important to me!" Lee yells, fear filling her stomach.

 

"Stop that! Fear is a waste of time. You're not in any danger…Yet…"

 

"What do you mean by that?" Lee starts backing away from the voice, but it's hard to tell where it's coming from in this world of black. It seems to be coming from everywhere around her all at once.

 

"You shouldn't fear me. Only when I'm free should you really be starting to say your prayers." The voice starts laughing, the sound getting louder and louder until Lee can hardly even hear herself think.

 

She grabs her head, trying feebly to block out the noise, but it's like it's coming from inside her as well. "Stop it! Let me out!"

 

"…ee? Lee?"

 

Lee tears open her eyes, her breath coming fast and her heart hammering in her chest, to find Rin staring down at her curiously.

 

"You were mumbling in you sleep. It's morning."

 

"Oh," Lee groans as she sits up, "Right, I'm sorry. You should've woken me up when you did."

 

"I did. I just woke up too." Rin climbs up and brushes her kimono smooth while Lee stretches the sleep out of her limbs. She feels like she's been asleep forever and her muscles ache as if they haven't been moved in ages. What was that weird dream all about?

 

Lee's eyes pop open. What had that dream been all about? She can't remember. Weird, she thinks.

 

She starts packing everything up while Rin goes to find something to eat on the other side of Aun's saddle, out of sight. Another moment later, Sesshomaru and Jaken return and Lee forcefully glues her eyes to the strings of the saddle. Here stands her vision from last night of a wet haired Sesshomaru right in front of her as real as the sunlight. She swallows hard.

 

This is going to be one loooooong day. Lee sighs heavily, closing her eyes for a moment to steady herself.

 

But it's a moment too long.

 

"AHH!" Rin lets out an ear piercing scream and Lee stretches on her toes to look over the saddle and find out what's wrong. She's just tall enough to see something long and slimy, like a snake's tail, comes shooting out of the black forest and wrap around Rin's small form before snatching her away.

 

"Rin!" Lee takes off, stumbling around Aun, racing into the woods, but Sesshomaru quickly outruns her in a blur. When she catches up, following the sounds of steel being drawn and strange high pitched shrilling, Lee finds Rin curled up in a tight ball in the middle of the clearing with her hands over her head as Sesshomaru and a large monster worm circling her like she's pray. The worm is covered in tough looking body armor and a thick mane stretching down from its head made up entirely of an eye ball.

 

"Oh, ew!" Lee gags.

 

In a flash, Sesshomaru speeds forward and grabs Rin off the ground just as the worm slams its tail into the ground where she was once curled up. In the next second, Sesshomaru is skidding to a stop in front of Lee and handing the small Rin to her. Lee wraps the child close to her chest in her arms and stares down at her worriedly. A few cuts and scratches bruise her small face, but other than that Rin seems fine. Lee sighs in relief.

 

"Move you stupid human!" Jaken's cries snatch Lee's peaceful moment away and her eyes go wide in horror as the worm tears out of the ground at her feet. Lee and Rin are thrown through the air, their screams lighting up the already colorful morning, as the earth breaks from under them.

 

Oh, God, no! Lee squeezes her eyes shut, waiting for the cold of death to come over her. She knows from this height and speed, if their bodies hit something as hard as say a tree, they wouldn't survive. No, I won't let Rin die too.

 

Something in her burns, giving her the focus to locate each limb of her body and where the ground is and the strength to twist her body so that Rin is cradled against her in a way that she'd be safe from the ground when it hits them.

 

It comes like a solid brick wall, the forces driving her chin into her chest and sending a loud ringing into her ears. Her head throbs as her heart rattles in her chest from the blow. She can taste the coppery taste of blood in her mouth and she briefly wonders how many teeth she's lost.

 

I can't keep doing this. I'm not made for all this. Her thoughts begin to haze over, blurring into the darkness that begins to creep over her consciousness.

 

I am.

 

That voice…That impish laughter. Lee can feel that unknown fire burn through her again and feel something pulling her into that darkness once more. And then all she knows is the warm cradle she lands in.

 

Relax. I've got this.

 

"Lee! Lee!" Rin nudges the older girl's body but there's no response. The bandages around her throat have been pulled loose and the wound beneath has begun to bleed once more. "Lord Sesshomaru!"

 

The white-haired demon lands beside them and Jaken comes waddling up behind. "My lord, leave the weakling. We can take care of this puny demon and be on our way. There's no need to take the girl to the village now since she's dead."

 

"No!" Rin's tiny voice becomes as loud as a roar. "No, she's not dead! Lee can't die. Lord Sesshomaru, please!"

 

There's another sound of the earth shattering again and they all turn to the armored snake that slithers from the dirt. Its giant eyeball studies them for a second and then shrieks.

 

Rin is about to scream, but something moves out of the corner of her eye. She turns just in time to see Lee's body convulse and then break to her feet in a flash. "Lee?!"

 

Sesshomaru's eyes streak to his right just as Lee lifts her gaze at the monster. They glow a brilliant green; like a blazing emeralds. She takes off, faster than any human he has ever seen move, and leaps into the air as she swings her arms out wide to her sides.

 

The voice that growls from her mouth is not hers, but it sends a wave of heat through Sesshomaru's body. "BURN!"

 

Bringing her hands slamming back together, a blazing red ripple slashes through the air and rips the armored snake apart like paper. The monster lets out a final painful cry as it blows away with the wind. Lee lands on her feet and stares off at the ashes of the defeated opponent in silence. Stillness settles into the clearing; no one dares to move a muscle as they all try to figure out what just happened. Rin is the first to move.

 

"Lee?" Her voice, small once more, floats over to the older girl who stands with her back to them. Lee's knees buckle and her body falls limply to the ground with a ghostly sigh. "LEE!"

Author's Note

Author’s Note:
I started this story a long time ago on the Fanfiction site, but wasn’t getting any feedback on it what so ever. I didn’t know what was good or what was bad on the story at all. I didn’t even know if readers were liking the story either. Very few people were answering my pleas for help, so I decided to just delete the story.
Then a reader on Fanfiction decided to help me and I figured it was time to go back and redo the story chapter by chapter. The helpful reader asked if they could so a version of my story and sadly I agreed to it. Now, the reader isn’t crediting me for the work except when I say something about it and they refuse to answer my messages at all.
So here I am, forced to come to another fanfiction site and look for fresh new readers.
PLEASE let me know if there are any screw ups in the story. I really love the Inuyasha anime (PROPS TO THE ARTIST/WRITER WHO CREATED IT BECAUSE I DO NOT OWN INUYASHA) and I have always wanted to do a fanfiction on it.
There are nearly 40 chapters in this story and they can all be read on Fanfiction.net if you wish to skip forward a bit, but I’ll be uploading the newly rewritten chapters here.
I’m also on DeviantArt under Kizyoi if you’d like to check out my art.

-KB