Kage Houseki no Himitsu

Chapter 44

Aoi, Kaede's hut

"You're – you're really okay, now?"

I raised my cup to my lips and took a sip of tea before I answered. "Yeah. I think so."

Kagome, Shippou, Miroku, Sango, Inuyasha and even Kirara and little old Kaede stared at me with identical looks of skepticism. Their brows were all slanted in exactly the same way.

"Aoi-chan," Sango began gently, "You – I mean, you do remember what you were like when you woke up last week, don't you?"

"Yes." I fiddled with the teacup in my hands uncomfortably. "I think I just needed some rest. Some time to figure things out."

The group continued staring at me suspiciously. I attempted to break the tense silence by raising my teacup again, purposefully taking a noisy slurp.

"What-" Kagome's voice broke; she cleared her throat, and continued determinedly. "What do you remember, now?"

I hesitated, and put down my teacup with a soft sound that echoed through the other's tense silence. "Uh – everything, I guess."

"And?" Kagome pressed.

I shuffled nervously. "Nothing new, really. I remember everything about Kokuei and Ryuusai and – and Oboe. And I remember the reason why I came to the Feudal Era."

"Why was that?" Miroku asked softly.

I gave him an odd look. "Kokuei, of course."

Eyebrows started to raise, but I quickly waved my hand to dismiss their new suspicions. "I mean, I chose to came to the Feudal Era on my own, to look for Kagome; but I chose to stay so that I could find out more about Kokuei and its connection to the Sacred Jewel, and because you thought I'd be in danger from Naraku if I went back to my time on my own. Isn't that what you guys remember?"

Everyone nodded their consensus, albeit grudgingly. I was satisfied with that response.

"That's about it. Everything else is pretty much just as I remember it – Hokkaido, Mother and Father and Sakura-onee-sama and Kushi. Visiting Kagome every three years. School."

"But what of the Kokuei no Tama?" Kaede suddenly asked. "Did ye remember how it and your sword were discovered in your right arm?"

"Yeah," I admitted. "I was attacked by someone back home, once."

Kagome's mouth fell open, but the others just stared.

I shifted uncomfortably again. "Not my finest hour, I know. But, I just yanked Ryuutsurugi out of my arm unconsciously, like – like a natural reaction. I guess Ryuusai must've helped me, or something."

"Wait, wait, wait!" Kagome yelped. "You were attacked? In Hokkaido? By what?"

I blinked. "It – it was just a person, Kagome…"

She frowned. "What? But-"

Then she understood. Her eyebrows raised, then knitted back together in a frown almost instantly. "Aoi! Why – why didn't you ever tell me?"

"Because Kokuei made me forget, for one thing," I reminded her.

I took Kagome's moment of confused processing to glance at the others.

It looked like they believed my story. They wore varying expressions of pained understanding at my plight.

Except Inuyasha.

Of course he'd be the only one that saw through my story. He was sitting near the doorway in the position he usually took when he was angry or suspicious, like an angry dog. His ears were pressed back against his head and he stared at me aggressively; our eyes met for a moment before I looked away.

"It's okay now," I said, patting Kagome's arm comfortingly. "I'm okay."

Later, Inuyasha

Blue-girl was lying.

She was a pretty good liar, too. If it weren't for my hearing and scent, even I wouldn't have been able to tell. The problem was that I had no idea if it was Blue-girl who was lying, or the jewel.

Blue-girl had woken up a little over a week ago; Kagome had been with her. Apparently, the first thing she'd done was ramble, and she'd done just about nothing else for three days.

She seemed relatively normal, now. She still wasn't the happy-go-lucky air-head she'd been before all this weird crap had started happening, but she at least smelled like Blue-girl, for once. She cracked jokes and smiled.

But she'd lied.

I knew that she knew. She'd glanced at me wearily over the fire in the old hag's hut, as if thinking, Of course he knows. The rest of them had continued asking Blue-girl questions about her past and her powers, and she kept on lying right to their faces.

Sango and Miroku had left the hut after the sun set; Kirara and Shippou had run along with them. Kagome and Kaede said something about gathering herbs, and just like that, Blue-girl and I were left alone in the hut.

She hastily busied herself with pouring herself more tea, though she quickly found out that the black teapot was empty. She settled her hands in her lap, and pointedly looked away from me.

We didn't say anything for a long moment.

"So."

"Yeah."

More silence.

"So you remember what happened to Oboe, then?"

She flinched. "Kind of. It's a bit hazy."

That seemed to be the truth, at least.

"Gonna tell me what's going on?"

"Gonna tear me to shreds with your big-ass sword if I do?"

I almost snorted a laugh at her language. "What?"

She looked at me properly. She looked highly uncomfortable, her hands twisting together in her lap. "I – I haven't done anything bad, not really. Not – not me."

I frowned, but didn't answer.

"You can't tell Kagome," Blue-girl pressed. I held my tongue.

She hesitated, apparently realizing she was going to have to spill everything, regardless of her terms and conditions.

"I – well, Kokuei – uh, the jewel-"

"Just spit it out," I snapped, already annoyed with her stammering. She jumped.

"Uh, yeah. Okay."

She looked away from me again. "Okay. Well. Yeah."

I glared.

"Okay, okay. Y'see, I – I might have lied about a few things – but, you knew that already, right. Er – my age? I'm – I'm a lot older than fifteen."

I frowned. "'Kay."

"And – I didn't live with my – my family for that long."

"'Kay."

"And… Kagome's…"

I leaned forward unconsciously.

She glanced at me, guilty. "I'm… I'm not her relative."

I stared at her for a long moment.

"What do you mean?"

"I only met her for the first time when I came to the temple in Tokyo this year," she said quickly. She let everything out in a high-pitched, panicked voice, as if realizing she'd now come too far to turn back or make amends.

"Before that, I'd only lived with Roku and Ichigo and Sakura for about six months, and before that I was – I was locked up in a research facility, for fifty years."

I wasn't sure what research facility meant, but my eyes widened at the implications. Not only was Blue-girl a lot older than everyone thought she was, she'd been a prisoner for most of her life.

"Kokuei was changing my memories for all those years, making life bearable for us – uh, for me. Then Ichigo wanted to do some experiment using Kokuei, so she brought me out of the facility, and – and Kokuei… Kokuei-"

Blue-girl suddenly stopped wringing her hands and gripped her own arms. She rocked back and forth on the spot, abruptly looking quite mad.

"Kokuei – Kokuei changed their memories."

I stared at her. "I don't understand."

"It was me, but it wasn't me – Kokuei took control and – and touched their foreheads, then their memories changed to suit mine, and – and none of them even knew me, then Kokuei – Kokuei just-"

"What does that have to do with Kagome?" I barked.

Blue-girl stopped rocking, though she didn't let go of her arms. She looked at me, tears shining in her eyes.

"I – Kokuei – to make her cooperate, it… I…"

I felt a flare of anger, but forced myself to bite it down. It wasn't Blue-girl's fault. Not really. It was the damned jewel's fault, like it always was.

"So," I said in a strangled-sounding voice, "That's why Kagome thinks you're her cousin."

Blue-girl nodded miserably.

"Please – please, don't tell her, Inuyasha-san."

I glared at her. "I have to. You can't keep something like this from her."

"She's all I have."

That surprised me. Even after all the rocking, the insane rambling, the horrifying revelations – this was what surprised me.

We stared at each other again, tears spilling down Blue-girl's cheeks.

After a while, we heard Kagome and Kaede returning, chatting happily as they made their way to the hut; Blue-girl looked away and wiped her eyes.

I got to my feet; she looked up at me pleadingly. It was a pitiful sight.

"Fine," I said gruffly. "I won't tell her, for now. But you have to work up the courage to tell her yourself, eventually. You owe her that."

Blue-girl nodded, and let her hands settle back in her lap.

xXxX

That wasn't so bad of a time-gap this time, was it? XD

If you don't get what was implied, Aoi's story was that some creep tried to... -ehem- attack her. Geez, I still don't wanna say it - *glances around and whispers* raped. That's the story she chose, she's never actually had that happen. And that's why everyone was suddenly so understanding and stuff. Sorry if it wasn't clear.

Well! The year's nearly over! If I don't see you again before the holidays, the Merry Christmas and all that! I love all your faces!