A/N: Hey. My name is Noz. This is my first InuYasha fanfic. I've not seen many of the episodes, but I have read 11 of the manga, so I hope I'm not too OOC. This idea just came to me last Saturday while I was in the shower after watching InuYasha. I wrote it while watching Boys Over Flowers, and the Flame of Recca. It takes place right after the last episode (-insert episode name here-) and is stuff that will probably be covered in the series (in fact I'm certain it will be) but it's my little spin of it. I hope you like it. Please be gentle.
Shippo: She doesn't own Kagome, Miroku, Sango, Kaede, Kirara, or me! She can have Inuyasha, though. I don't know why anyone would want him…
Inuyasha: Hey, runt! Why don't you come over here and say that my face, huh?
Shippo: -meep- Kagome! Help me! Inuyasha's being mean to me for no reason, again!
Inuyasha: Why yo—
Kagome: -sweet voice- Inuyasha… SIT BOY!
THUD-
Noz: Don't worry, Inuyasha, I still love you.
Alas, what Shippo says is true. I do not own InuYasha or any of the characters there in. They belong to the talented woman, Rumiko Takahashi. However, I do get to curl up every night with Inuyasha in my arms, his kawaii little dog-ears tickling my cheek as he sleeps. He likes it when I massage one of his ears until he falls asleep, don't you my koishi?
Inuyasha: Uh… um… -blush-
Kagome: Inuyasha! SIT BOY! SIT! SIT! SIT! SIT!
THUD-
THUD-
THUD-
THUD-
THUD-
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Read and review! Creative criticism expected. No flames. Flames will be used to make Kikyo into a pretty flowerpot.
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. chapter one: sunset .
The silence in the forest was deafening. All the frantic hanyou could hear was the pounding of his heart and the occasional twig snapping under his feet.
"Kagome!"
Inuyasha bounded over a fallen tree with ease, cursing it for taking even a precious second away from his desperate journey. The sun was setting, and if that fool he had just fought had any truth to his words—which Inuyasha grudgingly expected he did—Kagome's life and the lives of his other friends could be coming to a hasty end. An image of Kagome laying in some cave, pale, still, and lifeless, the scent of death clinging to her, flashed through Inuyasha's mind and was just as quickly pushed away. He couldn't think such foolishness, Kagome and the others would be alright. They had to be.
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"And before I knew it, I was alone…" Inuyasha muttered on their walk back from the Earth Boy's field.
"I'm so happy!" Kagome beamed.
"So what, my misery makes you happy, eh?"
"N-n-no! It's not that. It's just… well, this is the first time you've talked to me like this before. I wanted to know what was painful, and what was sad. I wanted to know what you think about. I don't want to just know about how powerful you are."
"That makes you happy?"
"Mhmm…" Kagome beamed. "Oh, Inuyasha, you aren't alone anymore." She sighed contentedly, walking faster to catch up with her companion. 'You'll never have to be alone, again,' she added to herself.
'Keh, that's right isn't it? But… what if she leaves? Somehow… somehow I've grown to take it for granted that she'll always be here with me. This is where I belong now…'
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"By sunset, the poison will have taken them…""No! How could I have been so stupid?"
Inuyasha bounded towards his friend's scent. It mingled with the foul odor of sickness, danced with it, until it became one and Inuyasha was following the pitiful scent of the dying and not the scent of his companions.
Inuyasha had left the care of his friend's in the hands of Shippo. He could now only hope and pray that the kitsune had found them safety. The youkai of the area would have a splendid feast on the entrails of his companions, as they lay there helpless, were it not for Shippo and Kirara. He grudgingly admitted that counted on the demons just as much as he did the humans. He only hoped all were okay.
He stopped dead in his tracks as he came to what appeared to be an opening in a type of walled in area. Kagome's scent hung heavy here, this had to be where Shippo had taken them. He sniffed the air, picking up the scent of his companions, their illness—death… He couldn't scent whose death, but Inuyasha smelled the sour odor of the dead in the air. He also picked up, ever so slightly, the scent of other humans.
"I don't know, I have a bad feeling about this," he muttered, "Shippo, I hope you know what you're doing here."
He began a steady pace to where he could smell his friends the most. The area was shrouded in a foul smelling odor that grew stronger with every step he took. All he could think about was finding his friends, and getting them out of here and somewhere where they could heal and rest. And he could protect them.
Inuyasha froze. He heard footsteps behind him, a soft, almost feminine voice mumbling something, and a familiar scent. He ducked behind a bush, not having time for the confrontation he knew would be coming if he were to be spotted.
'No, something definitely isn't right, here. I have to get them out of here, and fast!'
Inuyasha glared as the mumbling Jakotsu sauntered past him, one thin leg exposed from under his kimono. The hanyou's hand rested on the hilt of his father's fang, prepared for a battle if indeed there was one. He hoped in his heart of hearts to go unnoticed. More so, he hoped that Jakotsu's presence here was by accident, and that his friend's had not been captured. If they had, if any of the band of seven knew his friends were here, then they'd most certainly be expecting. And if they were expecting him, he'd have to fight. And by the time that was over, it may be too late.
The hanyou waited until the other man was far enough away his human ears wouldn't hear him stir. Fortunately, Jakotsu had headed in a direction away from where his friend's scent lingered.
'What in the seven hells is going on here?'
He crept, keeping very alert and attuned to his surroundings, to the opening of a building. He could see inside it, a smog filling the room barely leaving his friends visible. Each one was still, too still. Shippo, Miroku, Sango, Kirara all laid on mats, completely still. Kagome, his eyes skimmed over her, praying she was alright. But, she too, lay as still as the dead.
Inuyasha smelled the scent of death and illness. But it was possible that the scent of death came from the band of seven and not his friends. It lingered in this room with everyone, but if it were some sort of trap, they probably would've been in there at one point or another. He wished the smog didn't smell so strongly so that he could make out if the death was coming from his friends. He moved closer and sniff the air, scrunching his face up in distaste.
'Sango… she's alive, I can smell it. Kirara too. And Miroku… barely, but he's still there. Shippo's alive. Kagome…"
The hanyou took a few steps towards the human, thankful that his other friend's were alive and with a new hope that if they had made it through, Kagome had too. Oblivious to everything around him in his worry, he walked on towards Kagome and crouched, sniffing the air surrounding her.
"I'm sorry for leaving you," he said aloud. "If I had stayed, maybe… maybe this wouldn't have happened…"
He sighed, his eyes sad. A small tear formed at the corner of his eye and he brushed it away. With that hand, slightly moist from his tear drop, he touched Kagome's cheek, caressing it slightly. He succumbed to a bout of shudders as he fought to keep his emotions under control. He wasn't a crier, never had been. And furthermore—his Kagome wouldn't want him crying over her…
Inuyasha ran his clawed thumb over Kagome's soft and fragile lips, sighing out her name. He had regain his composure but could not yet stand and move his companions.
Deep in his thoughts, he did not hear the approaching footsteps.
"INUYASHA!"
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A/N: It's kind of short, I know. There will be more action in the next chapter, I promise.
So, who snuck in on Inuaysha? You'll never guess who! He he.
Review my pretties, so I might have the inspiration to continue on!
(2:12 am)