Chapter 2 - The Soul

The Soul The gang stayed in the village until Yoshiko was well enough to travel with them. Shippo had taken a liking to her along with Miroku and Sango. Something that confused Miroku was that whenever he looked at Yoshiko he thought of Sango. The same thing happened to Sango, but it wasn’t as strong of a feeling. Little did they know that Yoshiko was making them think of each other because she liked match-making. She also hated perverts. At heart she was a hopeless romantic, but she hadn’t felt any love or friendship in many years. She couldn’t affect InuYasha or Kagome without being noticed though. She didn’t really tell them a lot about herself. Normally they would have wanted to know more about her before they let her join their group, but she was different. They felt safe with her around and InuYasha knew she was hiding something from him. He would catch her staring at him searching for something in his eyes and sometimes she would find it and get scared. It had been a quiet few days since they had left the village. They all were around the fire eating supper. InuYasha caught Yoshiko doing it again. He stood up and yelled at her “Why do you keep staring at me!” She gazed up into his golden orbs. InuYasha could see hurt in her that they had always seen, but now it was intensified. She had courage in those blue eyes, too. “Why do you get scared when you stare at me half the time!?” She took a deep breathe and started to speak “I told you I’m a Seer. I see things when I look at people. I see some bad things, but the things that are scaring me are the Past things I see. I’m seeing you and your father.” After saying that, she looked down at the ground with the look of a five year who had not gotten their way. She fiddled with the bracelet and bead trying to not look at them. “Why does seeing InuYasha and his father make you scared?” Sango asked. Yoshiko took a deep breathe again. This was turning out to be harder than she thought it would be. She was silent for so long. “InuYasha’s father and I were close until I started to see his death. It always frightened me. In one version I would see myself crying by his dead body. Holding his hand and saying something, but I don’t know what. He had burns all over his body. He had gotten out of the place where InuYasha was born before it exploded. I guess I had just been too later.” She started to cry soundlessly. She paused for at least five minutes. Then Miroku asked “What did you see in the other version? You said ‘In one version…’ What did you see in the other?” “I saw myself taking his… his… his soul.” She looked up and everyone could see the pain, hurt, and regret in her tearful eyes. “At that time I didn’t have a soul. I left about a year after I started to see the second version. I started to search for a soul so I wouldn’t even be able to take his soul. I never found one and I could sense that his time was ending. So I came back. I made the mistake of uncovering my eyes in front of him before I could heal him. He saw what I had been seeing in his eyes for years. I can’t heal a powerful person if they do not wish to be healed. So when the time came he asked me to take his soul. I begged him not to ask me to do that but he wouldn’t listen. The soul on my bracelet is your father’s, InuYasha.” Yoshiko finished with an upset look at InuYasha. “I guess you’ll want me to leave.” Yoshiko assumed. No one spoke. After a little while Kagome spoke up. “Let’s go to bed. We can talk about this tomorrow.” She suggested kindly. InuYasha immediately leaped into the closest tree obviously upset. Yoshiko sighed and walked as far from his tree as possible without leaving camp. Kagome looked to InuYasha. ‘I hope he is alright. I would hate it if Yoshiko had to leave. She is very powerful and it seems like she is here for a reason.’ Kagome thought before finding a comfortable spot under InuYasha’s tree.******************************** Yoshiko was the first up. ‘I guess I can make breakfast and then go for water at the stream.’ Yoshiko thought as she looked around at everyone. Then her gaze came to InuYasha. She remembered when she had returned from her search for a soul as she walked to the stream.**Flashback** “Yoshiko, it is good to see you.” the great dog demon had said hugging her friendly. “Izayoi is pregnant. I smell a boy.” he said joyfully. “What about Sesshomaru? What does he think of this?” Yoshiko asked sad about her reoccurring vision but, hiding it well. “He hasn’t been around for awhile. Yoshiko, I have a favor to ask of you.” he said seriously. “You know I would do anything for you.” she had said smiling and blushed when she realized she had revealed a little too much. He looked confused and suspicion, but just shook it off. “I want you to promise me you will look after Sesshomaru, Izayoi, and the baby. I have felt like the end is soon coming and I suspect that is why you left for so long.” he said with a bittersweet smile. “I would rather not talk about it.” she said looking away. He had heartily chuckled at that. “That is your favorite saying isn’t it? ‘I would rather not talk about it.” he said in a very bad impression of Yoshiko now completely joyful again. She had smiled. ‘It is good to be back, but…’**End of Flashback** “Why didn’t you stay around for breakfast?” Kagome asked sweetly interrupting her memory. She had been searching for Yoshiko for some time before coming to the stream. “I thought I would let you all talk about what your going to do. Have you?” She replied depressed. “We have discussed it. InuYasha was silent the whole time. Sango feels sorry for you as do I. Shippo is a little scared, but still wants you around. I don’t think he realized that you really could do almost anything. Miroku thinks that we should leave you. Sango slapped him for that. He doesn’t trust you anymore.” Kagome told her with sympathy. “I think I know why.” she replied, the corner of her lips turning up slightly in the beginning of a smile, which was rare if Shippo hadn’t been hit by InuYasha and Miroku hadn’t been slapped by Sango. “I don’t really blame him. InuYasha didn’t say anything?” she inquired. “I asked him if he would be alright. He said that he didn’t want to talk to or about you for a little while. I think he’s confused and doesn’t know what to do. He never talked about his father before so I don’t know how he feels toward him. When he saw his father for the first time it seemed he cared and wanted to know more, but that’s all I know.” Kagome answered. “Three out of five want you to stay, so if you want to you can stay. InuYasha will probably have questions for you after all this sinks in.” she said after a silent pause. “I’ll stay. There are things I will need to explain to all of you at some point in time.” Yoshiko said sadly after a few minutes. She looked into the sun and knew what she had to do. It was going to be hard and she would probably fail at a few things, but that didn’t matter. She wanted to help InuYasha and his friends. She had promised to look after InuYasha and Sesshomaru and now she had to fulfill part of it. She also wanted to match a few more people together.

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