Kaya's Story (An InuYasha Fanfic)

Chapter 101: Trouble in Paradise

The darkness had brought a certain silence to the Village, which was unusual. The only people out were several of the village men guarding the inner edge of the barrier. "There are several empty huts you can stay in for the night if you wish," Aoki told me. "Thank you, but I would rather stay and assist if I could," I told him. "We would love to have a priestess with us," Hiroshi stated from behind us. "Good evening, sir," Aoki greeted. "What can I do to help?" I asked. "Several of our scouts, hunting party members, and travelers have been injured and need proper care." The way he said proper care made it almost sound like it was directed at someone. "Of course, just tell me where to find them and I will get started right away," I told him. "They are in the very last hut in the first row. It is normally where we keep supplies, but with so many people being attacked we had to convert it to house them," Aoki stated. "Thank you, I'll be on my way. Good night," I stated before taking off.

The hut wasn't hard to find. I just had to follow the scent of blood and sorrow. When I got there, I realized just how bad things were. The entire hut was filled with injured villagers. They weren't just men, either; women and children were there too. In the few short days, I had been away from here, something bad had happened. "Priestess, have you come to help?" A woman asked from the corner. I walked over to her and knelt down in front of her, "yes, I have." In the dim light of the candles lining the walls, I could see the woman smile weakly. I began checking her over and began working to help her and everyone else.

By sunset the next day, I had finished taking care of minor and major injuries. Some of the villagers left, but others had to stay so I could look after them until they were healed. The only other person that wasn't injured in the hut was fetching supplies for me all day and had fallen asleep in a corner next to the door. I had learned her name was Kura, and she was the soon-to-be-wife of Aoki. It was nice to see love bloom in all of the chaos that has taken over. After the sun had set completely, Kura woke up and we began making our rounds again. We took turns fetching supplies, if needed, and helped everyone we could. Koneko had been quite a bit of help, as well. Kura and I were teaching her different things about healing and how to keep people from losing hope. She also helped us gather supplies until she left with Yasuo in the early evening. For the most part, everything was quiet throughout the night. The demons and half-demons had mostly healed, plus the humans were making great progress, so I figured our time here would be short. The next morning, however, we got some unexpected visitors to our small hospital. Hiroshi, Akito, and several of the other men were brought in by the morning guard. Seeing the fresh wounds, I knew it had been a small hoard of weak demons that had attacked. After tending to the men, I left Kura to take over and joined the morning guard.

"--care of them, I promise," Yasuo told one of the village women. "General, this mysterious priestess has not been seen except by the injured. How do we know she isn't the one causing this?" The woman questioned. "Because I am doing everything I can to ensure everyone lives through this. I wish no ill will upon you or anyone else here," I told the woman. She turned around and her face became as red as a tomato with either anger or embarrassment. "Lady Kaya, this is Cho, one of the newest members of our village," Yasuo introduced. I gave the woman a reassuring smile, "it is a pleasure to meet you, Cho. Who is it that you are worried about?" "Her son, Daiki, was brought to you a couple of days ago. He had been with some of the other children," Yasuo explained. I took the woman's hands in mine, "your son is alright. I was going to escort him home today, but I wasn't sure where to go. You are welcome to come with me and take him with you if you wish." The woman smiled brightly, "of course, thank you." I let go of the woman's hands and led her to the hut where everyone was. Daiki was up and ran to his mother as soon as we entered. They soon left and Kura and I began doing our rounds again before I left to see what was happening. By the time I had returned, the guard had changed. Instead of Yasuo, Ryu was there to greet me. "You look exhausted," Ryu stated when he saw me. "Thanks. Your father is doing well, by the way," I stated. He smiled, "I'm glad. I was quite worried and wanted to see him, but Kura has been telling people to stay away until you give the say so." I nodded, "it's for the protection of the injured, so nothing gets worse. Besides, that hut is too small to have all of the villagers in it at once." "I'm supposed to patrol outside the barrier, would you like to join me?" Ryu asked. I nodded and we headed out.

For the most part, the patrol was uneventful and silent. That is until a small hoard of demons emerged from the surrounding forest. I drew Tenkari and released spiritual winds, killing the demons immediately. Several more waves came, and I did the same thing until I could feel my demonic power start to weaken. Then I drew my bow and finished off the last few demons. "Kaya, is that all of them?" Ryu questioned. "I think so because I don't sense any more demonic auras except for yours," I informed him. I heard him sheath his sword and I turned toward him. Ryu smiled, "I think you just saved us again. Those demons have been giving us more and more problems, and lately, they have been attacking us." "Well, I did say if you needed me to come get me, no matter what," I said as I took his hand. "I know, but I'm worried about doing that now. You're wounds from last time still haven't fully healed." "I'm fine. We have to get back inside the barrier so I can check on our injured," I stated as I began walking towards the barrier. Ryu pulled me back to him, "promise me you'll come back to me in one piece after you destroy Naraku." I frowned, "Ryu, I can't promise you that. I've told you before, Naraku is unpredictable and deadly. I'm not going to make a promise I can't keep, especially if that promise is to you." "Please, Kaya, promise me. I can't stand not knowing if you're okay or not," he pleaded. I put my free hand on his cheek, "I will do everything I can to come back to you. I can promise that." He placed his hand on top of the hand on his cheek, "I'll live with that for now." With that, we headed back through the barrier and parted ways.

"Lady Kaya, what's wrong? You seem troubled," Kura asked as I entered. "It's nothing. How is everyone doing?" I asked. "Most of them have fully recovered and left. Master Hiroshi and General Akito are still here and by the severity of their wounds, I assumed they took most of the attack," she informed me. "I thought that, as well. Kura, since there are only a few left, you can return home if you wish." "Are you sure you will be alright on your own?" I gave her a reassuring smile, "I'm sure, now go on and get some proper rest. If you want you can check back with me in the morning." She nodded, "good night, priestess." "Good night, Kura. Stay safe." With that, she left. "How do you keep up the cheerful act all the time?" Akito's question startled me. "I don't know. I've worked with humans so much that I learned it keeps them calm if you are calm and cheerful," I told him. He tried to sit up, but I carefully pushed him back down. "You've been hurt pretty bad and shouldn't move yet. You need to give yourself time to heal." "You should take your own advice. Ryu wouldn't worry so much about you." I blushed at his statement. "Akito has a point, Kaya." Hiroshi's voice was weak. "Speak for yourself, both of you. He's worried about you two right now. Get some rest, both of you. We can talk in the morning," I commanded. Both men quit talking and soon fell asleep.

The next morning, Akito and Hiroshi were completely healed so we left the hut together. Hiroshi still needed to regain his strength, so he promised he wouldn't overdo it. I decided to leave after I knew everything was alright, but not before Ryu stopped me. "This will be your last visit for a while, I assume." I nodded. "Take care of yourself." "I will, I promise." "Good, because if you don't I'm holding InuYasha personally responsible." I laughed, slightly, "good luck with that. And Ryu, stay out of trouble, okay?" He nodded, "I will." With that, I left and headed in the direction of Lady Kaede's village.