The Town Beyond The Horizon

Hurray! Another Inuyasha fic! I survived the initiation with Soul Stealer so let's hope that this one does just as well!
All the Inuyasha characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi. Lady Warren, Haika, Orchid, Theresa, Eric, Damilo and General Gornyu belong to me.

And one thing. The 'haori' is Inuyasha's red jacket-type thing… at least I think that's what it is. But sometimes I put jacket instead of haori because I got bored of putting haori over and over again. Don't shoot me!

Chapter One
Separate Ways

You've succeeded in doing it again, Higurashi, Kagome's mind whispered. You're hopelessly lost and have nothing to show for it. The wind whistled above her, making whooshing noises in the trees up above – a cliché and Kagome knew it, so she ignored it with all her will power and focused on what she'd come for.

There, imbedded in a nearby tree, was a Shikon shard. Taking a deep breath, holding a smile on her face, she made her way over and retrieved it. The trunk didn't lurch or moan. Instead the wind grew silent and the once fertile leaves blowing in its branches turned a golden brown before raining down from the sky.

"Well, I guess it was worth that…" Kagome muttered through her teeth, clutching the shard between two numb fingers. She looked down at herself in dismay. Covered in mud, twigs and God-knows what else, she didn't feel particularly proud. She looked a mess.

"Now, to get back to the others and…" Kagome turned, pivoting on her foot… but the path she had come in by seemed to have vanished. Kagome looked about wildly. She was in a clearing, with no sense of direction and no hope of finding the others. She, herself, was carrying the Shikon shards so looking that way would be hopeless… unless…

Kagome took a deep breath. Unless I try this, she added mentally. "SIT!"
She waited. Waited a little more. And then dropped to the floor, hope washing out of her. She'd heard no thud, no cursing… and that meant… That means the others aren't near enough for me to hear them. Which means that I have to get up and search.

Kagome stood up, picking a direction. She had been walking for around ten minutes when the storm started up. Rain danced in the air above like liquid bullets, shooting out at impossible angles. The drops seemed to catch her in the face even when she covered it up with her arms.

Running, blindly, Kagome wanted to kick herself. Idiot, idiot, idiot! I shouldn't have run off like that–
"Finally!"
Kagome's head snapped up. There, falling out of the sky, was a sight she was glad to see. Almost as if heaven had sent down an angel…

Yeah right. He didn't make a very good angel. He landed a few feet away; his eyebrows arched angrily, his hair mussed on his forehead, his lips curved into a snarl.
Kagome smiled sheepishly. "Glad to see someone cared to look for me,"

Inuyasha's eyes narrowed into slits. "Are you kidding? We split up about half-an-hour ago, stupid. If you're gonna take off like that then…"
Lightning forked through the sky, cutting him off. The forest was illuminated for a mere second – everything was twisted and too bright to be real.

And then the feeling was gone – the light had died down and everything was as it had been before. A tremor went though Inuyasha, but he covered it up quickly. He hoped Kagome hadn't seen, and Kagome hoped that her face showed that she hadn't.

When he was a kid he was outside in weather like this a lot. It… must have scared him…

Inuyasha frowned. "You 'sat' me, girl."
Kagome shrugged. "I had to know whether you were close."
Inuyasha snorted. "I was scouting in the air, wench. You made me fall about fifty feet!"
A blush crept up Kagome's cheek as she withheld a laugh. She dug her nails into her palm to stop herself giggling.
"S-Sorry," she managed.

Inuyasha frowned again. "Whatever,"
Lightning thrummed through the sky again. Kagome had the sudden impression of being in a black-and-white movie – the world was thrown into bleak greys, shadows and the dream-like whiteness again.

"The storm's close," Inuyasha noted. "We'd better get back to the village." He turned, not bothering to see if she'd follow him – he knew she would. Kagome stood silent for a few seconds, then followed his lead – trudging along behind.
"I found a shard," she said, placing it in the shard-bottle. She put the container back in a sewn-in pocket within her skirt.

Inuyasha nodded. A smile was on his face but Kagome couldn't tell from behind. "Good," he replied.
Kagome looked down at herself. Her hair was getting soaked with the rain – it slapped about at her shoulders, lifeless – and her clothes were almost see-through.

She looked back up. "H-Hey, I-Inu–?"
"What?"
"Can I wear your haori?" Kagome asked feebly, wrapping her arms around her.
Inuyasha shot a curious glance backwards, and saw how cold she was. She was shivering as the wind blew heavily through the trees, her lips were trembling and her face was pale.

He sighed. Without saying anything, he doubled back and took off his fire-rat haori, then wrapped it around her. His mouth a tight line, he fell in line beside her. "So… why did you run off like that? Did you want to get the credit for a change?" he asked.

Kagome made a sound that was almost a snort. "No. I dunno… I thought it was something I could do. Y'know, after Kaede being ill,"
Inuyasha looked around as they walked, staring at anything at her. "I don't think I understand,"
Kagome bit the inside of her cheek.

"Well, seeing as I couldn't do anything for her, I thought I could do something… indirect, that's all. To make up for the medicines not helping. I sensed a shard, I went and got it. End of story,"
Inuyasha choked back a laugh. "End of you, you mean. Kagome, what would you have done if… if someone was out here. I know that Naraku's dead and all but there are still some bad people around and you don't seem to realise that…"

"Why?" Kagome suddenly felt contrary. She balled up her hands, cupped her hips and held her chin up high. "Why should you care? Are you worried about me or something?"
Inuyasha blinked furiously, then looked away – eyes darkening, his face reddening.
"Without you…"

"I'm a 'shard detector', right?" Kagome turned away, furious – amazed that she could have an argument and still walk at the same time. Almost bitterly, she bowed her head and snarled: "I can defend myself,"

Inuyasha seemed to arch up like an angry cat. He glared at her. "You're just a human," he snapped nastily.
"And you're just a selfish half-demon who thinks he's better than everyone else!" Kagome cried.

Inuyasha froze. He stopped walking. Kagome didn't, however. Her words had hit home. Good.
"Is that what you think?" Inuyasha muttered, eyes almost shut.
Kagome didn't falter. "At times," she agreed. Then she turned to look at him. He'd begun to walk again, but very slowly – sulking.

"Look, come on, you said it yourself – 'we should get back to the village'. Unless you want to stand out in the rain all day,"
Inuyasha raised his head. "I could take that off of you, you know." Inuyasha frowned, fingers outstretched to take back his haori. "Let's see how big your mouth would get then,"

Kagome bent forward a bit and wrapped the haori tighter around her. "But you won't," she smiled wryly – and a little dreamily too.
Inuyasha opened his mouth to argue, then didn't. He tossed his white hair over his shoulder and sniffed. "Keh!"

"Agh!" THUD! Kagome's head pounded against the damp, mossy ground with a squelch. Raindrops pillowed her cheeks and softened her fall, and her body lay limp for a few seconds. She frowned into the grass blades. Earth: 3, Higurashi: 0.

"Are you okay?" Inuyasha frowned down at her.
Kagome groaned, "Yeah, as soon as it stops raining and I stop tripping up." She sat up, brushing herself down. It had been a root this time, a rock last time, and just plain running before that.

She and Inuyasha had been out in the rain for around an hour now – completely lost and with no idea which route to take. The rain was making everything smell the same – Inuyasha had no way of sniffing their way out.

Kagome looked up at her companion. He was shaking his head, exasperated. "Come on," he bent down, picked her up and scowled. Thunder clapped above, followed by a thin streak of lightning.
The rain thickened, the wind shrieked and the bolts of lightning seemed even more threatening than earlier.

Kagome's face screwed up. "Please… don't tell me. We're out here for the night, right?"
Inuyasha looked away from her, he let go of her – letting her totter about on her own two feet. It didn't last long. After a few seconds, Kagome's face had contorted in pain as she twisted her left foot to and fro. Agony!

She let out a squeal. Laughing in a meek and pathetic way, she smiled limply. "I've sprained my ankle,"
Inuyasha scoffed and turned back to her. "Typical!"
Kagome smiled weakly. "Carry me?" she asked.
Inuyasha snorted. For a while there was silence. Kagome was staring at him expectantly when, without a word, he flung her over one of his shoulders. Kagome let out a surprised squeak but didn't stop him.

When Kagome was comfortable and Inuyasha was grasping her legs firmly, he took off – his eyes firmly locked with the blinking stars in the sky. The night has a thousand eyes… He shook his head, getting rid of the poetic voice in his head. It was just something Mother had told him once…

As he walked under the night sky, he felt the weight of millions of gazes. As if someone, somewhere out there, was watching him. His eyes focused on the night above him. The sky itself was bruised and blackened, but it was the occasional lightning bolt that brought on the feeling of gothic horror.

We're stranded out here… We have to find shelter from the storm… Such a cliché, Inuyasha knew, but the feeling of uneasiness – of foreboding – was winning him over, making him feel sick. Why, why, why did he just run off like that! To prove that he was the one who found Kagome, it was his duty? And why had Kagome taken off so suddenly! To prove she was useful?

Stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid! Inuyasha could sense danger in the air as he walked east – so he doubled back and tried a different direction. Every where he went, he could sense the storm. It was everywhere – destroying everything, making nowhere safe.

When Inuyasha couldn't decide which route to take, he gave up and just kept going forward. "The lightning's getting close. We've gotta find shelter," Inuyasha noted, tossing his hair over his shoulder. Kagome didn't acknowledge him. She didn't reply at all.

The ground was wet and slippery beneath Inuyasha's bare feet. Eventually, he decided it wasn't safe (or comfortable) to carry Kagome slung over his shoulder like a kidnap victim. She agreed. That was the only time they stopped.
Kagome had clambered off of him doggedly, apparently falling asleep as she climbed back on piggy-back style.

When she was snug, Inuyasha started running again – as fast as he could. He wrapped his arms around the bottom of Kagome's legs, his mouth set in a tight line. He liked her arms hugging his shoulders, but of course he wouldn't let his face show that. It made him feel like he belonged somewhere, and he liked that feeling – he hoped it would never go.

Occasionally her grip would tighten in pain – her ankle still hurt – but other times her hold on him would slacken as she drifted into the arms of sleep. Kagome didn't complain once, but that came with a price. She didn't speak at all. And neither did Inuyasha. They carried on in silence.

After ten minutes or so, Inuyasha was the one to break it. After around half-an-hour of meandering through masses of shrubs and trees, ducking and diving through the forest, they'd come out into a clearing. His eyes widened as the forest disappeared and a cliff face towered above him.

And there, carved into the rocky wall, was a kind of cove. It was almost as if a battering ram had crashed into it and had failed in tearing it down. It wasn't big enough to fit their bodies in, either horizontally or vertically, but it was shelter – it would have to do.

Inuyasha smiled. "Kagome, look…." He jabbed her. She didn't move. "K-Kagome?" Inuyasha looked over his shoulder at her. She was fast asleep, smiling as she held onto his fire-rat jacket like a baby blanket.

Inuyasha grinned and looked back at their bed for the night.
He made his way over, shifting Kagome so she didn't topple off of him. He blew his dripping wet hair out of his eyes, annoyed at the rain.
And Inuyasha wondered again why he had been such an idiot to leave Sango and Miroku alone. But the thing was, whichever way he looked at it, he didn't actually regret it.

Initial feelings, raw emotions and pure protective instincts had taken over. Look for Kagome. Find her. Don't let her be dead. Because if she died…. Nothing would ever make up for it. Ever.
Inuyasha grinned. Stupid girl. Getting yourself lost in the first place…

Inuyasha placed Kagome on the ground beside the cliff face, and then tucked her into the 'cave' slightly. He took off his haori from around her shoulders, then thought better of it. He wrapped it around her, enclosing her on all sides so she wasn't cold. Inuyasha smiled, satisfied.

"'Night," he grimaced, before lying down next to her. He draped an arm over her and sat – just watching her. His amber eyes travelled over her softly shut eyes and her pinking cheeks. He sighed and briefly shut his eyes. Before he knew it, he was fast asleep at her side - their bodies close together. His arm slipped down to fit around her waist and a smile plastered across his face. Sweet dreams...