"Battle of Nori Nanba"
Chapter 6


Nori Nanba woke up to a morning of birds singing, and the sun shining bright, and her heart and mind feeling a little more at ease. The talk she and Haru had last night really made her feel so much better. She now knows that what Sanako told her about her mother and father is true, and knows why her mother never came back to them.

“I wonder if mother came around to look in on us, and we did not know it, just to see if we were all right.” Nori Nanba thinks as she smiles, feeling happy for the first time in many days, she is humming her favorite song.

She goes to the well to draw water for Haru and herself, when she hears Sanako behind her.

"Well child you are in a very good mood this morning, did your father come home last night."

"No," she says, "Something even better."

"Better then your father coming home! Well then what could that be I wonder. Oh, I know that young man must have awakened for you to speak with him about your mother."

Nori Nanba, with a big smile on her face, looked at Sanako and said, "Yes and what he told me was sad, but I now know that my mother loved my father and me, and she did not return for our safety." Nori tells her.

"You had doubts that your mother loved you child?" Sanako says.

"Yes, I did, I did not understand why all this happened, and Haru opened my eyes to it when he told me what my mother told him about father and I. I know he was not lying to me because he knew fathers name, and I did not tell him what it was."

Sanako smiles at Nori Nanba, "I am happy for you child, so happy that this young man could tell you what you needed to hear about your mother."

Nori Nanba, still smiling, says to Sanako, "Come on, you can meet him, he is very sweet, a little hard headed and he talks a little strange, but he is still very sweet."

As they enter in to the medical room, Haru is sitting up in the bed, him saying, "I know! I know, but that bed is getting hard and I needed to get up and move, my body is stiff." He says smiling at them.

"Nori," he says, "Yes Haru," Nori replies.

"I see that sparkle in your eyes is still there from last night, I am glad to know what I told you made you happy." Haru says.

"Yes, Haru it helped me very much to understand many things about my mother and father. My father never talked much about my mother. I guess it was just too painful for him, and he did not want to burden me with the hurt he feels. Oh…" Nori Nanba says, "My manners, I am so sorry, Sanako Hosokoawa, this is Haru Yamamoto."

“Hello,” They say to each other.

"You had this young girl quite worried about you sir." Sanako tells him.

He laughs, "I can tell, and I think she still is, she looks over me like a mother does her child, I think she came in here about 4 or 5 times to check up on me last night."

Nori Nanba looked back at them from the counter, "Well I am so sorry. That is my job, to make sure you are all right."

She walks over to him saying, "Here take this?" She handed Haru is medicine.

"YUCK!" He yells, "What did you give me?"

"The medicine to keep the infection out of those wounds, I am fighting the infection from the inside as well as the outside. This reminds me, I need to get some more medicine mixed up for when I change your bandages later. Excuse me please," Nori Nanba leaves the room. She goes back to the well to draw more water to place on the fire.


While she is outside at the well, she hears a noise. Turning around to see what it may be. She is grabbed by her throat. She looks seeing a very good-looking young man has a hold of her, he has eyes of crimson red and long hair that is black as night, but a man he was not, as Nori Nanba looks deeper into his eyes... she can see at one time, he was a man.

"What do you want of me?" she asks him.

He laughs a deep evil laugh, "To have my way with you, and then if you do not obey me, kill you, what do you think I want of you."

Scared, but trying not to scream so Haru will not come out there to save her. She looks at the demon once more.

"Why, I have done nothing to you for you to want to harm me."

He laughs again, "You sweet beautiful child you were here, that is all I need." As his grip gets tighter on her throat and he pulls her closer to him, he picks her up into his arms releasing her neck.

"No, please put me down..." Nori begs him.

"And why would I do that," he says to her.

"Because if you take me you will be putting your life in danger..." Nori tells him.

He laughs, "I fear nothing," He says.

Nori Nanba looks at him and tells him, "You will fear what comes after you, if you take me from here."

"There is no man I fear, and no man can defeat me." He says.

"It will not be a man that will come after you, and if you take me, he will hunt you down and kill you..." Nori says.

"Let him try." Laughing as he is saying this.

Still scared and trying to think of something, she remembers, 'my powers'... she looks into his eyes and says, "Do you think I am beautiful?"

"Yes," he replies, “A most beautiful creature indeed.”

"You said you wanted to have your way with me, are you going to keep me by your side as your lover?"

He looks at her with a puzzled look on his face. She is thinking the whole time, and repeating in her mind, as she never loses eye contact with him. “Leave here, never to return, go, and do no harm to anyone.”

He looks at her very confused he asks her, "Do you want to be by the side of a demon all your life."

"If it means my life or death, yes, I will be." Nori tells him.

"What of the man, you say will hunt me down if I take you?" He asks.

"He will still come for you either way." She looks at him, still repeating her thoughts, and says to him, "If he comes for you, it will only be because he is looking for me, and he will not only kill you, but he will kill me as well."

He laughs, “Your life is in danger, a man is hunting you."

"No," she says, "I am being hunted by a demon."

He finally puts her down asking. "Tell me my sweet beauty who is this demon that wants you as bad as I?"

"Sesshomaru, Lord Sesshomaru." She tells him. His eyes seemed to light up when she said his name.

"Lord Sesshomaru." He smiles at her placing his hand on her throat once more and turning her head she could feel his fingernails digging into her neck, “Such beauty and Sesshomaru and I both want it this could be just the opportunity I need.” She could her him saying to himself.

He then turns his back on her and walks away saying, "I will return for you one day, my sweet beauty." As he is walking away, she falls to her knees feeling drained, as if someone took the life right out of her. She goes down on all fours trying to catch her bearings so she can stand again.

"What happened" she says, "Is it my powers that did this to me, or was he casting some kind of spell upon me as well." She tries to get up, but with no luck. She starts to feel faint and lies down on the ground, as she is doing this, she blacks out.


She is awakening by her fathers' voice. "Nori Nanba... Nori Nanba sweetie, are you all right?"

"Nori! ... Child, can you hear us?" She opens her eyes to see her father over the top of her and Haru and Sanako standing at her side.

"W... What happened?" she asked.

"That is what we want to know, I found you outside passed out by the well, you have these marks on your neck, what happened to you did you fall?" Her father asks.

"I do not remember, the only thing I can remember is there was this demon." Nori tells him.

"Demon!" They all say.

"Yes, I was out getting water as I turned he was there, he had me by my throat, and then... I do not know… I cannot remember." Nori says.

Sanako looks at her and asked, "Was it... him?"

"NO... NO it was not Sesshomaru!" Nori assured her.

"Are you sure child, you said you did not remember?" Sanako replies.

"Yes, I know it was not him." Nori says.

"Sesshomaru, who is this Sesshomaru?" Her father asks. Sanako looks at her father and then at Nori Nanba...

"No one father," Nori Nanba answers quickly. "He is no one."

"Well then, for him to be no one you seem awful upset about him, but that is all right," he smiles at her. "We need to get some medicine on those cuts on your neck, they do not look very bad, but we do not want an infection setting in on them."

As her father tends to her, Haru asked her, “Why did you not yell for someone?”

"Because I did not need you out there fighting him with the wounds you have, you would have been right back in here being doctored again." Nori tells him.

"That is ok," he says, "I know I would have been in good hands," as he gives a laugh.

"Yes," her father says, "You did an excellent job on Haru, you should be very proud of yourself dear."

"Thank you father." She cringes to the medicine stinging her neck.

"Does that sting dear?" Her father asks.

"Yes, it does!" she said.

"Well that is odd." He looks at the medicine, puzzled, "This should not sting at all."

"Well it does, and it feels like a fire was set there as well." Nori says reaching for her neck.

"Strange!" He says, “Give it a few minutes, and let us see if it stops, all right."

After a few minutes Nori is in tears, "I cannot take it any longer" she says, "Get it off me. It feels like it is on fire?"

Her father gets a wet cloth wiping it clean, when he got the medicine wiped away; it looked as she had been burned around the cuts.

"What is this?" he says, "I have never seen anything like this before!" As everyone looks at Nori Nanba's neck.

"She has been marked, from that demon that grabbed her." Haru says.

"Marked?" Nori exclaims.

"Yes, some demons mark their prey, to have a connection with them." Haru tells her.

"What kind of connection?" Nori Nanba asks.

"A kind of connection that lets them know how to find you again." Haru says.

"Therefore, you are saying this demon will return for Nori Nanba?" Her father asks.

"Yes, he will." Haru said.

"I do not understand why he would mark me." Nori says.

"You must have struck his fancy." Haru says.

"I did what?" Nori Nanba asks.

Haru laughs, "You caught his eye... he likes you."

"Why me?” Nori exclaims.

“Well you are your mothers' daughter..." Haru says smiling.

Her father looks at Haru strangely "And very beautiful to boot."

Nori Nanba shakes her head at Haru, "You really need to learn how to talk." She says to him.

Her father starts to laugh, "Here let us bandage that, and see if we can get that to heal, if we cannot put medicine on that at least we can keep it clean from infection."

"You know," Haru, says, "That could be why she cannot remember anything, because he did mark her."

"Have you ever been marked Haru?" Nori Nanba asks him.

"Yes, right here." He shows Nori the mark on his shoulder.

"Has this demon come looking for you again?" Nori asks him.

"Yep, he sure did.” Haru replies.

"What happen Haru?" She asks him.

"I killed the dirty dog." Haru says laughing.

"Dog! I thought you said he was a demon?" Nori exclaims.

Haru laughs again, "Yes," he said, "And I killed him."

He smiles at Nori Nanba, "You are something else." He tells her.

She smiles back at him saying, "Thank you... I think." Everyone starts to laugh.


As everyone is sitting having breakfast, Nori Nanba looks at her father and says, "By the way Welcome back father, I am so glad you are back home I missed you so much. So much has happened since you left, and I cannot wait to tell you. I also need to talk to you about something’s. I really need answers to these questions, and only you can answer them for me."

Her father looks at her all ready knowing what she wants to know. He tells her, "Soon after morning chores, we will sit down and talk. I knew that one day you would come to me, asking me this."

"Thank you father," she said, "This is very important to me."

As she cleans up the plates and things after breakfast, her father takes Haru into the medical room to re-bandage and apply fresh medicine to his wounds. Looking at the stitches his daughter did to Haru, he was very impressed.

Haru tells her father, "You have taught her well Haruki Gojo."

He looks up at him, knowing he has not told him his name, and is sure his daughter has not as well, for this is the first time, he has called him by his name.

"I guess my daughter has told you all about me, smiling at him." Haruki says.

"Not really, we talked more about her mother then anything." Haru says.

He looks at Haru confused "You know Yoshi..."

"Yoshi that is cute” Haru says, "And yes, I knew her."

"Knew her, is she not..." He pauses; a look of sadness comes over his face.

Haru puts his hand on his shoulder, "Hey cheer up she is fine as far as I know. At least a year ago when she left me, she was fine."

"OH, that is good," Haruki, says. "So what did you tell my daughter about her mother?"

"I told her what Yoshiko Yamada told me about you and her, and when she came to you so you two could run away together." Haru tells him.

"Yoshi told you about that?" Haruki asks him.

"Yes she did I never thought I would ever met you two... well that's not true, I thought that maybe one day I would, but I never thought it would be like this." Haru chuckles.

"What did Nori Nanba say to you about what you told her?" Asks her father.

"Well, Nori really did not have much to say, it made her sad to know what her Grandfather thinks of her, and sad to think that he did this to your family, but I think it really helped her understand why her mother is not here, and why she has not returned." A silence fell between them.

"Haruki..." Haru says all of a sudden.

"Yes," Haruki says.

"Did you know that your daughter has the same powers Yoshiko Yamada has?" Haru asks him.

"Yes, I started to notice the change in her when she as about twenty-one or so, and as each year passed I could see it getting stronger in her." Haruki replied.

"Has she ever asked you about them," Haru asked.

"Once... well twice." Haruki said.

"And what did you say to her?" Haru asks.

"I told her it was because she was going through the change of life and growing up." Haruki tells him.

Haru laughs, "That is one hell of a change for a young girl to go through."

Haruki looks at him and laughs saying, "Yes, I guess it would be. I did not know what else to tell her, I could not tell her what she needed to hear, I did not know about Yoshi's powers, only what she told me, and that was not much. Yoshi told me before she left for the last time, that she would be back for Nori Nanba, when it was time."

"Time, the poor girl has been fighting with these feeling of confusion since she was how old," Haru says.

Haruki tells Haru, "Yoshi told me that her powers would not be to full capacities until her twenty-sixth birthday, and she just turned twenty-six not long ago, she told me she would know when Nori Nanba would need her and she would return for her then."

As Haru and her father walked out of the medical room, Nori Nanba came walking through.

"Father," she says, "Is there anything we need from the village. I need to go shopping and get food, we are getting low, and with Haru here as well we will need more anyway."

"Let me check dear and I will let you know." Her father tells her.

"Thank you father, I will be outside getting water while you get your list together." She walks away.

"Hey, wait up," Haru says, "I will go with you."

Nori Nanba and Haru go out to get water. While they are out there, he tells her, "Your mother is coming for you Nori..."

"I know," Nori says, "You told me she would..."

"Yes, I know I did." Haru tells her, “And your father told me as well that she is coming for you."

"He did!" Nori exclaims.

"Yes, when we were just in there talking. He said your mother told him she would return for you after your twenty-sixth birthday.” Haru tells her.

"Why my twenty-sixth birthday?" She asks.

"Well, she told him your powers would be at their full capacities at that time." Haru replies.

Nori Nanba looking at Haru, "No wonder I have been feeling overwhelmed a lot lately."

"Well," Haru says to her, "With all the questions you have, and everything that has happened with you, and your powers setting in I would have to say yes. That is exactly why you feel this way."

"Everything that has happened to me, what do you know of that." Nori asks him.

He looks at Nori Nanba. "Well... Sanako told me of your new love."

"She did?!" Nori Nanba exclaims, "Then you must think I am crazy as well, seeing you slay demons."

"No, I do not think you are crazy. Not all demons are bad or evil, I have met a few that are cowards and some that are very nice," Haru says. "I know if this demon was all bad, your heart would know and you would have nothing to do with him."

"My heart, how would my heart know?" Nori says confused.

He looks at her, "Well if your powers are anything like your mothers, which I take they are. You can see into a man's heart... or soul you could say."

"Did my mother tell you this?" Nori asks him.

"Yes, she did, she said she could see if a man's soul was good or bad or just right out evil." Haru tells her.

As they start back inside with the water her father walks out, "All right" he says, "Here is my list for what I need in the medical room."

"Great," She says, "I will be going into the village right after I finish this."

"Here give it to me," Haru says, "I will get it go on into the village so you can hurry and get back."

"Thank you Haru and I will be back soon. Bye father and love you, Bye Haru." Nori tells them.

"Nori Nanba…" Her father calls after her.

"Yes father?" She calls back.

"When you return we will sit down and have our talk." He tells her.

She smiles at him, "Thank you father," running off into the village.



The Battle Of Nori Nanba Chapter 7