Through Blood and Fire

Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha bel belongs the brilliant Rumiko Takahashi!


Chapter 19: Similar Pasts Make A Stronger Bond

The next morning, Nico awoke abruptly, sitting straight up. Her head began spinning and her vision was blurry. What happened last night? She slowly began to remember yesterday’s events. The shrine, the well, Bankotsu and Naraku, InuYasha ansshosshoumaru and Taki, the others, their battle with the wolf demon. Finally, her brain slowed down and she remembered the ceremony. All the stories and the blood bowl, the pain she had felt. At this, she lifted her arm and turned it over. There, on her wrist was a mark. It was a five pointed star with a circle around it. Like a pentacle star. She ran her fingers over it gingerly. Her skin had raised up slightly, causing a light whelp in her wrist in the shape of the mark. Nico, then smelled cherry blossoms and noticed a string of them around her neck. She looked around, trying to find someone. Anyone. She heard noises outside and decided to go out and find her friends. Nico stopped and thought. Actually, they are family now. She smiled at this and began to stand.
Her efforts proved futile. She became dizzy and fell back down. She rested for a moment and then tried to stand again. This time she made it to her feet, stumbling a little, but she managed to stay up. Slowly, she put one foot in front of the other, using the wall to steady herself. She made her way to the way way and lifted the straw curtain and looked outside.
The sun was bright and she had to squint. She saw Kagome, Sango, and Taki over by a tree, sitting. Kouga and Miroku were playing some kind of game with Shippou and InuYasha and Sesshoumaru were sitting, cross-legged underneath another tree, their eyes closed. Kaede was there in front of her, sitting on the porch.
Nico walked out carefully, and plopped down next to her, keeping her feet underneath her. Kaede jumped a little, sured ted to see her.

“Child, ye scared me. What are ye doing up?”
“Well, Eni~si, one usually tends to wake up after a nights sleep.”
“Yes that is true,” laughed Kaede, “but ye have been asleep for three days now.”
“WHAT!”

Kaede chuckled a little.

“Ye have recovered the quickest. Even Sesshoumaru was bed bound for a week.”
“Well I’ve never been one to sleep a lot.”

Nico and Kaede laughed. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Nico was attacked by a fast, flying ball of fur. It was Shippou.

“Nico, your awake!”
“It would appear that way, yes,” laughed Nico.

Kagome had felt her cousin stirring earlier and now noticed she was awake. She and Sango and Taki got up and quickly made their way over to Nico. Kagome took a seat next to her and Sango leaned against one of the support beams holding the roof of the hut. Taki planted herself on the step below Nico’s, laying her head in Nico’s lap. Kouga and Miroku had made their way over to the group.

“It is good to see you up and moving,” said Miroku. “You gave us all quite a surprise.”
“Huh?” questioned Nico.
“You are the only one of us so far who has managed to stay conscious throughout the entire ceremony,” said Kouga.
“Indeed,” came Sesshoumaru’s cool voice from behind, making everyone jump, “you have an extreme tolerance for pain and your strength greatly impresses me.”
“I’ll say,” came Taki. “Your amazing. You justp onp on surprising us.”
“Yeah, Kagome is the only other one of us who managed to stay conscious past the drink stage,” said Kaede.
“Guess it runs in the family,” smiled Shippou.

Nico just giggled and rested a hand on Taki’s head, gently, Shippou still monopolizing her other arm. Nico looked up at everyone and gave a sigh.

“Is everything alright, Nini?” asked Kagome.

Nico smiled at Kagome’s use of her old childhood nickname she had given Nico.

“Yes, Meme, everything is fine. I’m just very happy, now that I have such a large family. I feel almost whole again,” replied Nico.
“We are glad,” said Sango, who had knelt next to Kagome. “Now I have another little sister and that makes me very happy.”
“Your happy?” came Taki. “Noone can be more happier than I. I have three little sisters now. I feel like a proud mother or something.”

Everyone laughed. Then Nico began to look around and noticed InuYasha was gone. He had not come over with everyone else, but instead stayed seated. Now, Nico noticed he was no longer sitting by the tree.

“Where is InuYasha?” she asked.
“Who knows,” said Taki. “He’s been in a rather sulky mood lately.”
“My brother has probably gone down to the river,” offered Sesshoumaru.
“Nico,” came little Shippou, “will you come play with me?”
“No, Shippou,” answered Kagome. “She needs her rest. Kouga and Miroku will play with you some more.”
“Yeah, come on,” said Kouga. He held out his hand and he, Shippou and Miroku went off to continue whatever game they were ing.ing.
“Well, if we are going to be here for a while, I must excuse myself. I have lands to tend to and territory to check on,” said Sesshoumaru.
“I’ll go with you, brother,” said Taki.
Taki stood and went inside to fetch Toukijin and Tenketsaiga. When she came back out, she handed Sesshoumaru his sword and bent down and gave a b a big hug.

“We will return soon, sister.”
“Be safe, sister,” said Nico, smiling.

Sango and Kagome stood and hugged Taki. Sesshoumaru kneeled before Nico, took her hand and kissed it, softly. He then reached up and gently kissed her cheek.

“Welcome to our family, my lady.”

Sesshoumaru looked into Nico’s eyes, still holding her hand. Nico smiled, wh, what she did next, surprised and shocked Sesshoumaru. She reached out her hand and gently caressed his cheek.

“Thank you, Sesshoumaru. Please be careful and come back, safely, to me.”

Sesshoumaru was at a loss. At that moment, all he wanted to do was take Nico in his arms and kiss her as he would his mate. He tensed, about to do just that, when Taki’s hand on his shoulder brought him back. He stood and together they walked off. Sesshoumaru looked back at Nico. She waved at them, still smiling, her words running through his head. Come back, safely, to me. For the first time in his entire life, Sesshoumaru felt something in his heart and at her words it skipped a beat.
As they disappeared beyond the trees, Nico stood up and walked down into the grass.

“Where are ye going, child?” asked Kaede.
“Just for a walk Eni~si. I feel the need to stretch my legs a little,” replied Nico.
“Do not go to far. Ye are still weak from the ceremony.”
“I will stay close.”

With that, Nico began a slow and steady walk towards where she saw InuYasha sitting. When she got closer she heard the flow of water nearby and decided to go and see if that was where InuYasha had gone off too. She wanted to make sure he was alright. He had been acting funny lately and she began to wonder if it had anything to do with yesterday in the woods.
She began a downward walk towards the river. She could finally see it off in the distance a little. As she finally reached the river, Nico saw a couple of rocks right on the bank, one was rather big and sloped forward, towards the river and the other was slightly smaller. They were wide and short and perfect for one to sit on and think. On the slightly taller rock, towards the down slope, InuYasha sat. Nico approached him quietly and saw his ear twitch.

“What do you want?” he asked.
“To see you,” Nico replied, climbing on the smaller rock.
“Why?”
“Because, you seem as though something bothers you. Is it my fault? If it is, I’m really sorry.”
“Don’t be. It’s not your fault.”
“May I ask what it is then?”
“It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.”
“I can’t. Something troubles you and I wish to know if this sis something I can do to make it better.”

InuYasha just sat there. He didn’t even look at her, but he could feel her eyes on him. She climbed on top of the larger rock and sat behind him.

“We don’t have to talk about it,” Nico said. “But sometimes it does help to know that a friend is nearby.”

Nico reached up and began to play with his hair, twisting and braiding it and twirling it around her fingers. She slowly worked her hand up towards his head, where she began to gently message his scalp.
InuYasha began to make a rumbling sound, almost as if he were purring. Gods, this feels good, he thought. He began to lean into her hands, rolling his head slightly to show her where he wished for her to rub. Then she gently began to rub his ears. This surprised InuYasha, because not only did it feel really good, but it was soft and caressing, not harsh and painful, like it was when others rubbed his ears. He caught himself starting to lean back against her, laying his head on her shoulder. Instead of stopping him, as he thought she might, Nico adjusted her arms to accommodate him, steadily rubbing his ears the whole time.
InuYasha wondered how this girl could have such and affect on him, and touch his ears. Why does she make me feel this way? I wish I knew more about her. Maybe that would shed some light on things for me. Besides, InuYasha had been dying to get to know her more. He had noticed her sadness when no one else had, at the mention of family and he saw her stare off, lost deep in thoughts. Thoughts that made her sad. It always showed on her face. Especially when she thought no one was looking.
“Nico?”
“Yes, InuYasha?”
“The other night, we all you you our stories but you never told us yours. Kagome has told us a little about you, but not much. Will you please tell me so that I may know yottertter.”
“Oh, InuYasha, you don’t want to know about that. Besides, we are trying to make you feel better.”
“That would make me feel better.”

Nico hesitated in her ministrations.

“We don’t have to....”
“No it’s okay. What do you want to know.”
“Everything. From when you were a child to now.”
“Well okay. But yost pst promise me you will not pity me as others do when they learn of my past.”
“I promise,” said InuYasha, looking into Nico’s eyes.

Nico took a deeeatheath and began her story.

“I don’t really remember much of my childhood. Most of my memories, at least the happy ones, come from pictures and what my father told me. My father was a Japanese man named Keichi Higurashi. He used to live in Tokyo but moved to the states one day for “a change of pace”, or at least that’s what he said. After about a year or so, he met and fell in love with a native American woman named Chenoa Miakoda of the south Louisiana Houma tribe. My father once said when they first met, he knew he loved her and would marry her. But there was a problem. My father was Japanese and not a native. My mother was already an outcast, so to speak. She was looked down upon greatly because of her blood. My father once told me, after I went a round with some of the native boys, about the hardships my mother had endured as a child. It saddened him to see that I had to go threw the same thing. You see, my grandmother was a Houma and a high ranking one at that. She was greatly respected in her tribe and looked to for advice and counsel. My grandfather was the son of the leader of the largest Choctaw tribe in the region. You could say he was like a prince. Both of them were promised to marry different people. The Houma and Choctaw hated each other and had been bitter enemies since the beginning of time. When my Eni-si met my Eni~sa, my grandfather, they did not know of each other’s heritage. They soon fell in love and began to meet secretly. When the families found out, they forbade my Eni~sa and Eni~si to ever see each other again. That did not stop them though. They ran away together and married and nine months later my mother was born. This did not sit well. My Eni~sa was banished from his tribe, never to see his family again. My Eni~si was eventually taken back into her tribe, but only after about 15 years had passed. My mother, even when she was little, was always picked on, beaten and called really horrible things because of her blood. The Houmas took her in but did not accept her. They were all very cruel to her. My Eni~sa died before my mother and father married, but he knew of their relationship. He did not object. After my Na~ha and Do~da married, my Eni~si became very ill. Shortly after I was born, she died. After that, my mother was cast outthe the reservation because of her union with a Japanese man. I was never even given a second thought.”
“As a child, I was subject to the same punishments as my mother. I was beaten black, blue and bloody on a daily basis. I was treated with such disrespect and even my elders and teachers treated my cruelly. Not mention all the names I was called. The one I hated most was “half-breed”. I never had a name to these people. I was just called “half-breed”.”

InuYasha now knew why she had flinched at the sound of that word, that day when Naraku called him that.

“When I was about five, my mother was killed by a bunch of drunk native men. The same that used to chase her and beat her when they were children. They continued to harass her into adulthood and even stalked her. One night, she had to work late and so did my father. She had to walk to the bus station because he could not come and get her. She never even made it. The men grabbed her, and dragged her into an alley, where they raped her and beat her to death. She was five months pregnant with my baby brother.”

A tear slid down Nico’s cheek and she stopped rubbing InuYasha’s ears. He sat up and looked at her, but Nico kept her head bent down, hiding her eyes. She continued.

“After that, my father became forever sad. He couldn’t stop blaming himself for what happened. He became very protective of me, and even tried to take me out of school and home-school me. But a few years later, when I was eight, his brother, my Uncle Tenchi, who was Kagome’s father, died. We came to Japan for the funeral, and Kagome and Souta came back with us to the U.S. After Uncle Tenchi’s death, though, my father was a changed man. He slowly fell a slave to drinking and even began to forget I was still alive. After a man broke into our house one night while my father was at a bar, Aunt Higurashi refused to let Kagome and Souta ever come back. I wanted so bad to go with them, but I had to stay with my Do~da. After that, my father lost the house and we had to move into some rat-infested apartment building just off the reservation my grandmother was born on. We could barely afford it, or food for that matter. My father had a wealth of money in the bank, but he would not use it. None of it. I could never figure out why and he would never tell me. He got a job as a gas station ndanndant and I got a job as a mechanic in the garage down the road.”
“I still got beaten on a regular basis, though. But by this time, I began fighting back. Kagome had taught me some moves when we were children. She used to be an excellent fighter. One time she took on five guys at once and came out with not even a scratch.”

InuYasha gaped at this statement. Kagome, a fighter. What happened? InuYasha couldn’t help but laugh inwardly at the thought of Kagome being a skilled martial artist.
“At my job, there was a Choctaw boy named Keitah, who was a mechanic also. He befriended me much to his families disapproval, but he was the black sheep. He new the fighting style of the Choctaw warriors from many years ago. He showed them to me and everyday, on our breaks, we would practice. Eventually, I became very good. I was glad for Keitah. I got into many fights, but because of him, I could now win some of them.”
“One day, though, I was ambushed by a group of boys from my school. I got a couple of them but the were carrying chains and knives. Needless to say, I came out of that one in pretty bad shape. They would have killed me had it not been for Keitah. He had come out to walk me home, knowing I had been getting into trouble a lot lately. When I finally made it home, with Keitah’s help, my father was there. When he saw me, he took me into his arms and began to weep. He told me he had a dream, sent to him by mom, that I was in trouble and that if he did not help me, I would die. We had a long talk that night and my father tended to my wounds. The next couple of weeks, my father began to change. He came alive again and he no longer ignored me. Everything began to improve. He took me out of the school from hell and began to home-school me. He started saving money, for a new place to live. He even began showing me fighting techniques he learned as a child. My father, I found out, was an excellent fighter. He told me of championships he and my Uncle Tenchi used to enter and they won all of them. They were unbeatable. And soon I became unbeatable, too. I mixed what he taught me with the moves Keitah taught me and came up with my own fighting style. One day before my father left for work, he looked me in the eye and said he was very proud of me. Then he left. He would not be coming home that night.”
InuYasha heard the sadness in Nico’s voice. He had started crying sometime ago and the tears had left stains on his cheeks. Her past and his were so similar, it was almost as if they had led each others lives. The abandonment from her family, the loss of her mother and father. The torture and ridicule and violence she faced because she was a half-breed. Like him. She had suffered as he had. She could feel and understand his pain. For the first time in his life, InuYasha felt truly connected with someone, as if someone finally knew and understood him. He no longer felt alone in his pain.
“My father had bought me a car. A project car to fix up. It was all he could have afforded, but he knew I enjoyed working on cars. It was my favorite car in the whole world. A 1967 Ford Mustang Shelby GT 500. He was almost home, driving on a dark road, when a drunk 18-wheeler veered into his lane. The guy didn’t even have his lights on. My father never even saw the guy until it was too late. The truck hit him, going over the car, flipping and crushing my father inside. The instant it happened, I knew it had. I felt something. Pain, fear, sadness. Then, I felt nothing, except death. Three hours later, the cops knocked on my door and told me what had happened.”
“After that, I came to live with Kagome and her family. Three weeks later, I was kidnaped by some weirdo, dragged down a well, fighting with demons, and gaining a whole new family in the process.”

At this Nico looked up at InuYasha and smiled. But it did not hide the pain. He reached up and caressed her cheeks with his hands, wiping away the tears. His heart ached and broke for her. He knew what she was feeling. What he nex next, was out of instinct but he did not regret it. He pulled her face to his and claimed her lips in the sweetest, most gentle kiss Nico had ever known. She placed her hands on his and returned his kiss. InuYasha was lost. He had finally kissed her and he was so happy. Her lips are so soft and she’s returning my kiss. I don’t care what Sesshoumaru says. I’ll fight him for her. When the kiss ended, InuYasha put his arms around Nico and held her in a comforting embrace. Nico wrapped her arms around InuYasha’s neck and held on for dear life.