Nocturne - An Inuyasha Fanfic

Chapter Eleven: Ravenous

Nocturne - Chapter Eleven: Ravenous

Rated - M (for suggestive adult themes, references to some violence, and coarse language)

o - o - o - o - o : Indicates scene or POV change

Italics: Past Scene

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.

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Kagome snatched her hand away. "Are you Yamauba or not? I have some questions for her."

The old woman considered the question for a moment, tilting her head back in fourth. "Hmm, yes?" she answered, not sounding very confident in her own identity.

"O-okay," Kagome replied shakily. The old woman was becoming more strange by the moment, which was saying something given the woman's current living situation.

Pushing the nagging feeling aside, she pressed on with her questions. "There was a spell cast upon me and another. Can you tell me anything about it?"

Yamauba reached up and grabbed Kagome's chin, turning it from left to right. Kagome exclaimed, "Hey!" pulling away from those prodding fingers.

"Ain't no spell upon ye, dearie," Yamauba responded dismissively.

"Yes, I know that, but someone did cast a spell on me several months ago. Can you help me? Is there anything you can tell me about it?" Kagome asked.

"Come, sit and let old Yamauba see ye," she said, gesturing to a tattered mat near the pot.

Kagome obliged and sat down. Yamauba stepped up to the pot, producing a long bone ladle from who knows where and began to stir its acrid contents, giggling as she did.

"A spell ye say?" Yamauba asked, still stirring. She peered into the pot as if watching something.

Kagome narrowed her eyes in annoyance. She had been saying that from the beginning! Yamauba did not seem to be all there. "Um, yes, a reliable source said it was just a summoning spell. I just need to know if there was more to it."

"Are ye hungry?" Yamauba asked, pulling the ladle up and looking directly at Kagome with hungry eyes.

Kagome looked at the pot, and her nose wrinkled in distaste. "N-no! No, thank you! I mean, I ate earlier."

Yamauba continued to stare at Kagome with a salivatory expression. Without breaking her stare, she dipped a finger into the boiling concoction and brought it out to her mouth, slurping the congealed liquid off her finger. Kagome's stomach turned at the sight, and a part of her wondered why the old woman looked at her as though she were edible.

"Well, I am starving!" Yamauba said. "It's been ages since I've had meat. Don't get many travelers that venture this far."

Kagome laughed nervously, "Well, I brought food - dried meat - with me. You are welcome to it."

Yamauba waved her offer away. "Thank ye child, but I was lucky to be treated with a visitor and a meal all in one day! How fortunate am I?" she cackled.

Kagome wondered what the meal could be but decided against it, instead opting to ask more questions with a gulp. "I need to know why the effects of the summoning spell still linger."

"No spell lingers upon ye. Mayhap unresolved feelings," she responded with a cackle. "Ye look for an excuse, but t'was no love spell cast upon ye. No such thing as a love spell, dearie! Trust Yamauba; she would know!"

Kagome considered this. Her first inclination was to disregard what the old woman said. She could not possibly have feelings for Sesshomaru, right? But, just maybe, that would explain the bizarre behavior...