6. A Mother Missed (1/2)

since the train ride,

i couldn't get cain's words out of my head: "i normally would

have killed you on the roof…you should be grateful."

i hadn't told anyone

what had happened on the train, especially not harry. he would've

been infuriated, seeking revenge for cain kissing me.

however, i couldn't

deny the fact that he'd put prayer beads around my neck. inu-yasha

was the first to notice.

"now i know how you

feel when kagome and shahara tell you to sit," i said. the thing

about prayer beads is that only people who put them on you and people

close to you can activate the spell, so inu-yasha didn't go down.

"what word does he

use on you?" he asked.

"do—d-o-w-n," i

spelled.

immediately, inu-yasha

tried it. nothing happened.

"i thought at least

you would know it wouldn't work. that's just pitiful."

inu-yasha growled but

did nothing.

my kids noticed it,

too, but they, unlike inu-yasha, wouldn't badger me about it.

now all i had to worry

about was treating the new scars cain had given. the camp nurse came

to treat the wounds with a stinging liquid.

however, the

oken

wrist was beyond repair. i could conjure the adamantium claws and

move, she did it up so well, but i couldn't walk on it when i

transformed.

nakago was pretty beat

up. across his muzzle, he had three scars. also, he was pretty much

skin and bones from lack of food. he didn't want anything

specially prepared, though. he wanted to "carefully maintain his

demonic attributes" and eat whatever we caught raw. for a while, i

thought he was being selfish and stubborn. but then, i realized he

hated and feared this place as much as i, rin, shippo, or anyone else

did. so i went easy on him. finally, he was healed and free to roam

about on his own. no matter how silly he looked when leaping for

joy, he reminded me of how i once was, before my family fell apart.

and it was comforting to have a slight memoir of my previous life.

so i continued to observe him, wishing that none of this had ever

happened.

five days after the

train ride, sofy and neko-gal arrived, and there was much rejoicing.

miroku rejoiced by taking each of their hands in turn and asking his

famous, perverted question; in seconds, he was in the nurse's

office with a black eye and

oken fingers.

harry conjured some

doe meat and prepared a feast. in minutes, it was completely

devoured with a few demons (mainly me, inu-yasha, and shahara)

claimed the bones.

we partied all night,

until we were blue in the face and fainted from exhaustion. that was