They had come across a shrine that morning. The Shinto priest that managed the shrine seemed nervous about their demon companions, but was apologetic as he explained the true reason for his nervousness: they had been terrorized lately by a huge boar demon nearby.
It seemed like the perfect job for them, although Inuyasha had wanted to pass up the mission since Kagome didn't sense any jewel shards on it. She had insisted that they help the priest anyway, and Miroku couldn't pass up the priest's offer of money, free meals and shelter for that night if they tried. Sango... well they didn't even have to ask her. She was always all business when she wore the suit of the demon slayer, but they knew that, deep down, exterminating evil demons was really her idea of fun.
They traveled until they found it hiding in a cave a few miles away from the shrine. Setting up camp not far from the cave, they scouted the area and devised a simple plan for exterminating it. Sango and Kilala had chased the giant boar demon out of hiding; Miroku was placed to the north, while Inuyasha stood to the west. Kagome had been to the east near the camp, blocking off all of its escape routes. By chance, and to Inuyasha's concern, it had charged full speed down the east path.
He swore as he had taken off running after it, but even with his speed, he had known he wouldn't make it in time if she needed him. He remembered passing Shippou, who had been hiding in a tree, keeping watch. The fox spirit shouted a warning to Kagome that it was headed in her direction. To his mild relief, he then spotted Kagome ahead on the path, one of her arrows already notched on her bow. If she could have just hit it - and her archery had improved since they had met - then the boar would have likely been purified in a flash. He wouldn't soon forget the sensation of his heart stopping dead when the bowstring snapped on her. She must have been just as startled because she froze in disbelief for just a moment. That was all that was needed for the boar to reach her.
"Kyaa!!" she cried out as she tried to jump out of the way, but Inuyasha knew it was too close. She had disappeared from his view as the beast plowed straight through several trees, continued through some thicket and demolished a boulder. His sensitive ears scarcely picked up the sound of a young woman's screams drowned out by the crashes. That was when he called her name with his usual fear and desperation whenever he saw the girl in mortal danger. Nothing terrified him more than to see her life threatened before his eyes.
Now, Inuyasha doubled his pace, though a moment ago he would have thought that impossible. He could see the boar throwing its head from side to side, ramming its two meter long tusks through the ground, viciously thrashing apart whatever was underneath them...
'No...' He leaped into the air over its stinking body, and then came down on its head. The Tetsusaiga slipped through its bone and muscle with ease, cleanly severing its head from its neck. Then, before his feet hit the ground, he twisted in mid-air and kicked the tusked head to the side, sending it sailing through the air and snapping a few more trees in half where they stood. He left the sword planted in the ground, not even noticing the flesh of the demon dissolving around it, and then began rummaging through the wreckage, fearing what he would find. He could pick up bits of her scent all over the area.
Miroku and Sango, with Shippou on the monks shoulder, appeared up the path. As soon as they heard Inuyasha screaming her name, they knew something had gone horribly wrong with the plan. They ran, calling for Kagome, but stopped at what was before them.
Inuyasha tore through the debris, his repeated calls for her becoming more and more desperate. Then he froze as a flash of something red caught his eye. He clutched it in his fist to assure himself that it was real.
It was the tattered remains of the red neckerchief from her school uniform.
Sango gasped and trembled in horror before nearly collapsing in shock. The young monk put a gentle arm around the exterminator who had already lost too many of her friends and family. Shippou stared aghast. It couldn't be. It just couldn't.
Inuyasha fell back on his rear, staring at the scarf with a blank gaze. He wasn't really thinking anything. He didn't want to. Everything he'd come to believe in was slipping away from him. She had become his hope and his faith in the world. He had promised himself to protect her, for his own sake if not for hers. Inuyasha's fist tightened on the article of clothing, his head hung and his teeth bared in a snarl. How could he let this happen? She needed him, and he wasn't there.
"Ouch..." a groan came from behind some tattered shrubs not three meters away. Everyone perked up at the sound.
Inuyasha blinked once. "Ka- Kagome..?" his voice rasped. He was on his feet in an instant. "Kagome!" he shouted as he launched himself toward the familiar voice.
"Sit, boy!"
Naturally, Inuyasha was thrown to the ground. At first, he just lay there. The only thought rolling in his head being: 'She's alive.' The response to her command was all the proof he needed. He had never been so happy to be magically subdued in his life. That soon changed, however. 'Wait a minute...' He lifted his dirt-dusted face. He cared enough to be worried sick about her and this is what he gets? "Wha... What the hell was that for?!"
"I'm sorry! Just... don't come any closer!" she pleaded.
"Why not?! What's wrong? Are you okay?" Could she be angry with him for not getting to her in time, he wondered. He wouldn't blame her, he was angry at that too, but no matter how angry she was it didn't change the fact that he needed to see for himself that she was in one piece. Then everyone could blame him all they wanted.
"Inuyasha..?"
"What?" He sat up.
"Could you lend me your coat?"
He fell over. "My... coat?" he asked to verify as he sat up again.
"Please?"
Inuyasha still wasn't sure why, but he did as she asked. He took off his fire rat overcoat and passed it to the bushes. Her scratched, but otherwise intact arm reached out and took it from him. After a few moments of rustling activity on the other side, she emerged. Her hair was abundantly decorated with leaves and twigs. Her dirty face, arms and legs all held a multitude of minor scratches and scrapes, and she was dressed only in his overcoat.
Inuyasha took her by the arms. "Kagome, for the last time, are you hurt?" His patience with her was wearing thin.
The girl looked a bit embarrassed. "Only my pride..."
"And what happened to your clothes?"
Kagome simply stuck her arm into the brush and felt about blindly, until she tore out a bit of lacy silk from her bra. "Look around." she finally answered.
He blushed a bit and turned away. "Uh, sure... Okay then..." That was more information than he needed.
Kagome was suddenly glomped by a frantic and tearful Shippou. "Kagome, we thought you were dead for sure!" he cried, still in fear for her.
She had to smile at her friends' concerns. "I'm fine, really!"
Sango smiled, looking like she was going to cry with relief at what seemed to be a miracle, while Miroku was happy to see her for other reasons. It was a mystery, but seeing a girl dressed only in a man's shirt held some kind of universal sex appeal no matter the culture or the era. Sango didn't even glance his way or ease her happy smile as she back-fisted him in the nose.
Ignoring the monk's "Ow..." she stepped forward and put an arm around her friend's shoulder. "Come on, Kagome, let's get back to the camp and you can borrow my clothes for the time being."
"Um, Sango..?" Kagome noted, "This is our camp."
"Eh?" Sango sweat dropped. At once, everyone's eyes fell upon the torn up ground, unrecognizable to them in its demolished state.
"Where's all our stuff!?" Shippou began panicking.
Inuyasha sniffed around a bit before lifting up a fallen tree as though it weighed nothing and peering underneath it. "I think I found Kagome's backpack..." he called out with a look one would give day old road-kill. Deeming it a lost cause, he dropped the heavy trunk of the tree back onto it.
Next to Kagome and Shippou, Sango poked her boot at something half-buried. "I think this used to be your first-aid kit."
About four meters away, Miroku picked up a book binding, minus the book. "...and here are a couple of her school scrolls."
Kagome whimpered. "Not again…"
Inuyasha crouched and picked up a busted sandal. He sniffed it twice before he called "Hey, Sango, isn't this yours?"
She looked towards him and gave a squeak of fear. Rushing over, she picked through the debris until she found shreds of a pink and white kimono. "Looks like Kagome isn't the only one who's lost her clothes…" She was now stuck in her demon exterminator suit.
Miroku gave a lecherous smirk. "I think I like how this adventure is going!" He didn't even acknowledge the growl that came from his lovely Sango. Instead, he coolly sidestepped the crushing blow from her boomerang and took off running, all the while never losing that smirk.
As the young couple once again attempted and avoided certain homicide, Inuyasha carelessly tossed the useless sandal to the useless ground. "All for the better, I say. You women carry too much luggage."
Kagome was thoroughly annoyed now. "Inuyasha, all of your ramen was in my backpack."
His eyes bulged. He turned and tore the tree off the yellow lump. Picking through its remains for his beloved food, he was brought nearly to tears for the second time that day. This time however, his lip quivered as he gave a squealing whine like any puppy would. Everything within had been crushed beyond any hope of recovery. …Twice.
"Ugh!" Shippou grunted in distain. "If it's one thing I can't stand, it's to see a grown half-breed cry."
Not one to let that rude "half-breed" comment go unpunished, Kagome reminded him. "Shippou, your crayons, chocolate and Gameboy were in there too."
"Waugh!" the fox demon suddenly cried, and immediately bounded to the wasted pile to mourn his loss as well; just as Inuyasha gave it up and stood with a rough sigh.
"Damn it..!" Inuyasha jerked the nearly forgotten Tetsusaiga from the ground near the massive bones of the decapitated Boar demon and sheathed it. "All this and no Jewel shard..." But, as always, just as a sensible person would be about ready to whap him over the head as well for not counting his blessings, he crouched down before Kagome and offered her his back. There was no way he was going to make her walk all the way back to the shrine after a close call like that. (The others, with their antics, would have to catch up on their own.) Besides, he simply wanted an excuse to have her close after the scare he'd received.
She gladly climbed on and relaxed against him, and his heart lurched when he felt that, despite her brave face, she too was trembling ever so slightly.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Upon reaching the shrine, they were warmly and thankfully greeted by the priest. He immediately ordered them to bring the injured girl inside the shrine maidens' hut for treatment. He then listened to Miroku's and Sango's reassurances that the demon beast would not be coming around again.
Inuyasha found the hut at the bottom of the long stairway that led to the shrine. With careful skill in avoiding knocking Kagome into the door or walls, he walked into the darkness where the scent of incenses nearly overwhelmed his nose. He then gently placed her onto a mat at the far end of the one-room hut.
Now he could get a good look at those lacerations and newly forming bruises. She looked like she'd been dragged through hell and back, to be honest, and it looked like she was favoring her left hip. That was when he noticed the dark patch on her side where blood had soaked through the red cloth.
"Kagome, I thought you said you weren't badly wounded!"
She looked down at her side where he was now focused on. "I hadn't noticed it. It's only a bit sore..."
"Stupid girl..." he muttered, but somehow wound up sounding more hurt than hurtful.
He undid the front of the coat before she could protest, and she blushed as he pulled away the bottom left half of the coat, keeping the right side covering as much of her lap as possible. It was usually her taking care of his wounds, rather than the other way around. She was so rarely hurt much at all under his care. She knew him well enough and trusted him; still, she had never revealed so much of herself to a boy before. Her hip and ribs exposed, one slip of his hand and...
He gingerly touched her side and she gasped. He jerked his fingers away from the wound and looked up at her and she did her best to hide the fact that it wasn't pain she had reacted to. He touched her again, and she tried to ignore the tickle of his caresses. Her friends back at her home would criticize her for being so taken with a guy with such a violent reputation, but they had no idea how gentle he could be. Neither did she, until now. It occurred to her that, though his claws were sharp enough to slice through whole demons in one swipe, he had never once so much as scratched her by accident.
The wound looked worse than it was, he figured. She probably got jabbed with a sharp stick or something as she was thrown. It wasn't deep, but it would have to be thoroughly cleaned before dressed, and he didn't really want to be the one to do it. It would most likely hurt her, and he could never bear that. Why did her skin have to be so fragile? So soft...
Before he could derail that train of thought on his own, the two young priestesses-in-training entered the hut and stopped when they saw the blushing, half-demon boy crouched next to the blushing, half-naked girl. The couple looked up at them and blushed even more with embarrassment as they quickly realized what the picture must've looked like. Inuyasha didn't get the chance to deny anything before the girl with the long brown hair began yelling and shooing him out the door while the other with the wavy black hair hurried in covering Kagome.
Inuyasha stood outside the flap covering the doorway, yelling "I wasn't doing anything!", but soon realized that he was now being completely ignored. He pouted at that before he plopped himself down next to the door, arms and legs crossed, and decided he'd wait as they got to fuss over Kagome.
Sango had arrived at the hut soon after to help in any way she could. Getting water from the river and ripping strips of cloth for bandages. They soon had Kagome patched up nicely and as clean as she was going to get without a bathtub and indoor plumbing. Sango left to talk to the boys and that was when Kagome asked if they had any spare clothes. The answer wasn't what she had in mind.
"I'm sorry, but this is all we have for young women." the brown haired girl said as she pulled out of a trunk what looked like the traditional red pants and white over shirt of a priestess.
Kagome's eyebrow twitched as a vein on her temple popped. "I'd rather go naked."
Sango had emerged from the hut to where the others now waited. Although Inuyasha wasn't waiting too patiently, judging at first by the nervous twitching of his knee.
"Hey, Sango, what's taking them so long?" was the other clue.
"Relax, Inuyasha." she told him. "It's nothing serious and they're just about done. Let them take their time."
He responded with a dejected "Feh..."
"So, any idea where we're heading to in the morning?" she then asked the group.
Shippou sighed. "Miroku already asked the priest if he'd heard of any rumors of jewel shards, and came up empty. We haven't gotten any clues at all lately. All we can do is wander around, hoping we run into some luck. Frankly, it's getting annoying."
"We saw that Naraku already has almost the entire jewel completed, thanks to someone's help..." Miroku directed that last part toward an already aggravated Inuyasha. "We also know that Lady Kagome has three shards while Kouga possesses two and Kohaku has one. That has to make up for most of the jewel as it is, so we can assume that there aren't too many shards left out there to hear rumors about."
That certainly put a damper on the mood among the adventurers.
"Well, as long as we know for sure that there are still some shards Naraku doesn't have yet, I'm not giving up. We'll continue searching." Inuyasha stated with confidence.
And that's why he was generally considered the leader among the adventurers.
"Excuse me..."
The group turned to find the elder priest approaching them. "I just wanted to thank you again for helping us. Young monk, I have brought the payment you asked for." He held out two or three coins. "It's not much, but I'm afraid that this is a humble shrine. We can barely keep ourselves fed."
Sango, Shippou and Inuyasha all gave their friend annoyed glances.
Miroku looked somewhat disappointed, but he stepped forward, hand outstretched. "Thank you. I can assure you, this will be put to good use..." and was abruptly cut off as Inuyasha punched him in the head.
"...as a donation to the shrine." Sango finished for him.
"You are willing to go to all this trouble and risk your lives for no payment. May the gods smile upon you all." the priest praised them as a barely conscious Miroku whimpered. "Is there anything else I can possibly do for you, aside from some food and shelter for the night? At least take that much..."
"Thank you." Sango bowed to him. "Are you certain that you haven't heard any rumors of mysterious jewels nearby?"
"No, I'm sorry. I'm afraid not."
She looked a little crestfallen, but smiled anyway and bowed again. "I see. Thank you anyway."
The priest bowed in return, and then began up the stairway toward the shrine.
Miroku sat up, nursing a growing bump on his head. "Did you have to hit me so hard?"
"Keh!"
At about the fifth step, the priest paused for a moment, and then turned toward the group. "Though there is a legend your talk of jewel shards brings to mind." he began. "I have heard since I was a child of a peculiar spirit. It has great strength and strange powers rumored to be granted to him by a talisman with gems inside, stolen from a young but powerful priestess."
The mention of a young and powerful priestess in the past caught Inuyasha's attention for a moment, but it wasn't what he was looking for. "Sorry, old man, but if the legend is that old, then it can't be the Shikon Jewel." he stated.
The priest sighed with disappointment. "I see. My apologies then..." He then continued up the stairway.
After a moment of thought, Inuyasha once again spoke up. "Hey,.. Just out of curiosity, though, where is this spirit supposed to live?"
"In a forest to the north, about a three days' walk away." the priest said before he left and the group was left to themselves.
Miroku then glanced down at his troubled friend. "What are you thinking, Inuyasha?" he asked, "Should we check it out anyway?"
There was something about that story... There were too many things tugging at his mind, but he couldn't piece them together. "I dunno, but it beats wandering around aimlessly."
"Hmm..." Miroku had to agree.
The monk then did a double-take, jerking his head up at something most unexpected. He shook his head, thinking that perhaps Inuyasha had hit him a little too hard, but the image still remained.
Of all people, Kikyou stepped out of the nearby hut.
It wasn't just Miroku, the others saw it too. Inuyasha stood and looked at her with a rather hard to read expression before he spoke. "Are you all right, Kagome?"
"Yeah." she nodded, but she couldn't look at him. "I'm sorry. This is all they had to give me."
Shippou stepped back with a wide-eyed, almost frightened, expression. "Kagome..? Is that really you?"
In her surprise, Sango forgot her manners. "Wow, Kagome, you really do look just like Ki..." Fortunately, Miroku's quick, wandering hands were put to good use for once, muffling Sango's outburst. The exterminator didn't mind at all as she immediately caught her slip and looked thoroughly regretful, but it was too late.
Kagome lowered her head, her bangs covering her eyes to hide the bitterness that washed over her. "I know." she said in a depressed tone of voice that completed the illusion and sent shivers up everyone's backs. She emotionlessly walked passed a silent Inuyasha, who stared after her worriedly.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Throughout dinner within their own hut, the mood of the group was tense. Ironically, Inuyasha was the only one who treated Kagome normally. The others couldn't help it. With her clothes and dour mood, it felt so wrong. Like the girl from the future had been left behind and the undead priestess really had taken her place among the group. She was even acting more like Kikyou and it was starting to scare them.
She was getting tired of the glances the others were sending her way. They tried to hide it, but she could see them. She wearily stood up and excused herself, moving toward the door.
"Where do you think you're going?" Inuyasha asked. "Your food'll get cold and you've barely touched it!"
"I'm sorry." She seemed to be saying that a lot lately; too often for Inuyasha's liking. "I'm not that hungry."
"Come on back here and eat. You need to keep up your strength since you're still recovering."
"I'm fine, Inuyasha." Kagome retorted in a terse, cold voice. There it was again. A collective chill ran through the hut.
It was really starting to piss him off. "Dammit, wench..."
"SIT!!" she barked so suddenly and viciously it made everyone want to hit the dirt. She didn't even look back as she stalked out of the hut and into the night.
A few silent moments passed where no one dared breathe. Inuyasha didn't make a sound or even try to get up from the hole in the floor, though a clawed hand clenched some of the dirt into a fist out of frustration. He just had no idea what was going on in that girl's head.
After a few more moments, Shippou started to sniffle, and then cry. "I want Kagome baaack!" he wailed. Kilala snuggled up to him for comfort, or for protection from the irate priestess; it was hard to tell with the demon cat sometimes.
Inuyasha growled and lifted himself up. After dusting himself off, he went to Kagome's plate and wrapped a rice ball in a cloth.
Sango watched him cautiously. "What are you doing?"
"What's it look like?" he answered, "I'm going to make her eat before she passes out somewhere." With his little peace offering, he stood and headed for the door.
Everyone edged back in horror. Inuyasha was infamous for making a bad situation worse when it came to a woman's feelings. He was going to get himself sealed to another tree at this rate. Miroku blocked the exit and grabbed his red shirt, crying out "No, Inuyasha, don't do it! You're still young; you have so much to live for!"
The half demon gave his well-intentioned friend an annoyed snarl. He couldn't blame the monk this time, his fears seemed pretty much justified. Still, he picked him up clear off the floor by the back of his collar, and then placed him firmly on his feet behind him, out of his way.
"Well, at least he didn't hit you this time." Sango piped up.
Inuyasha stepped out of the hut, sniffing to see where she went. He wasn't sure what he was going to do or say when he found her, but he had to snap her out of this mood of hers. He couldn't bear to see Kagome like this, so much like her.
His senses told him she went toward the river and, as usual, they were right. She was kneeling by the edge, her face slumped forward. She was looking at herself in the water's reflection, crying.
'What? Why?' he wondered in surprise. Now he felt even worse than before. He didn't know what was causing this state of mind, but he was pretty sure it had to be his fault somehow. In any case, he knew he couldn't leave her this way, so he stepped forward and sat down next to her.
"Stop crying, Kagome." he told her. "Here, eat this." His voice was firm, but softer than usual as he handed her the rice ball.
She sniffled and tried to hide the fact that she had been in tears, though it was futile. She still wouldn't look at him. "I told you, I'm not hungry." she said in that same depressed tone.
Inuyasha wanted to chuck the rice ball into the river, but plunked it down next to her instead. Why wouldn't she let him help her all of a sudden? They were just some stupid clothes. Didn't he tell her long ago that she was Kagome in his eyes no matter what? That would never change. He was tempted to rip the clothes off of her himself for no other reason than to get her to act normal again.
"Thanks, though..." she continued then, interrupting his internal temper tantrum. She did sound sincere this time, and he felt more relieved already. "I'm sorry..." she repeated again.
"Will you stop saying that?"
"I mean it, for yelling earlier. I just don't know what's gotten into me lately."
He smirked a bit. "With those clothes, you're channeling Kikyou. To be honest, it's scaring me."
She gave a wry smile, still staring into the water. "I would've thought you'd be happy."
"Hn?" he blinked in confusion. "Happy? Why would I be happy?"
She finally looked up at him then, and he wished she hadn't. The spirit in her eyes that had brought his heart back to life was dying. He knew that look.
He took her by the arms as he did that afternoon. His gold eyes smoldered before her and his voice was quiet and intense... and wavered with actual fear. "Listen to me, Kagome, you're not her. I don't want you to be like her. I don't ever want you to be anything like Kikyou, you got that?"
This startled her. 'But I thought...' She nodded, unsure of what to say. It was just so unlike him. She knew that he cared for her, but he would always love Kikyou. Why would he not want the girl he's stuck with to be more like her?
He turned away from her, somewhat embarrassed by his display of emotion, but it did get the message across and seemed to snap her out of it for the moment. It was worth it.
Kagome looked down at the ground between them and her eyes fell upon the forsaken rice ball. It really was thoughtful of him, and she couldn't believe she had been so rude to him about it. The more she thought about it, the more childish she felt for letting it get to her. ...and she was hungry.
Inuyasha was still musing about that look. He had seen it before. But he wasn't so lost in thought that he missed it when Kagome leaned her head against his shoulder. He glanced down at her, watching as she nibbled at the rice ball. Relieved that she seemed to be back to herself, he smiled a bit.
Kikyou had once been full of life and joy, he knew. But she also became trapped in the shadow of the "perfect" girl she was expected to become, and her spirit was lost. He could still remember that day in the field when she had first looked at him with those eyes.
He supposed he had taken for granted that Kagome's heart was stronger than that. He had always just assumed that with her spirit, she could face anything and easily move on, whereas Kikyou never could. But to see Kagome falling into the same despair... He could never allow that, any more than he could stand by and do nothing when she was in danger.
He came to that conclusion about the same time Kagome finished her snack. "Feeling better?" he asked her.
She looked up at him and nodded; her eyes once again confident and smiling. "Thank you."
"Don't mention it." He blushed slightly and tried to pretend it was no big deal. Having her back was a relief, but now things were starting to get a little too warm and fuzzy for comfort. "Can we head back to the hut now?"
She smiled with her whole face now. "Yeah…" She got up about the same time he did and walked by his side toward their friends.
"Good. Now you can tell the brat that you're not going to drag him to hell or nuthin'."
Kagome stopped and looked stricken, like a kicked puppy. "Oh, no… I wasn't that scary, was I?"
"You're scary enough when you're normally angry."
"What's that supposed to mean?!"
Soon, their normal bickering was music to the ears of everyone in the hut …from at least fifty paces away. It certainly sounded like Kagome had the fire back in her. Even so, it took some gentle words and a few sorry's before she could coax poor Shippou out of hiding. And after she had asked their forgiveness for her behavior, which they themselves felt guilty for, she was all smiles again.
They were amazed. Her visual resemblance to the dead priestess was nothing more than peripheral now that she had a change of attitude. None of them could quite put their finger on what made the difference.
Inuyasha understood, however. It was all in the eyes.
Author's Note:
I was planning to add a lot more chapters to this, but I might decide to keep it a one-shot for now. There was an earlier version up for quite a while, but I've since revised it thanks to a sharp-eyed reviewer, and I think it came out a bit funnier than originally planned. I was never good at comedy. ;)