Chapter 2
The sky was filled with clouds. It was mid-day when Inuyasha arrived, as I was setting the table for lunch at home.
"I'm back! Hey, this looks nice." He came in the room carrying a basket on his shoulder with some fairly large fish inside.
"Yeah, I dunno. I felt like eating with you today. Just the two of us." I shrugged as Inuyasha smiled a bit at my statement. I was not the kind of girl to go all romantic, but I really did want to spend some time with him.
"I got some fish for lunch. Think that'll do?"
"I got wood for the fire, it's out in the yard." I told him as I pointed towards the back door.
"On it." He said as he walked towards the backyard.
"Here, take the sticks to roast them with." I handed him some long metal sticks and followed him outside. He quickly got the fire going, flames rising in reds and pinks, and we sat staring at it while we waited for the fish to cook.
I threw my head back against Inuyasha's shoulder and my body to his. It was pleasant, to finally have some time for ourselves…
"Inuyasha!" Miroku came out of seemingly nowhere, running and almost out of breath. I wondered where he could be coming from, his house wasn't far away enough for him to look so tired. "Inu.. yasha.." He repeated when he was next to us, hunched and panting for air.
"God, Miroku, what's wrong with you, what happened?" Inuyasha asked, alert. Miroku took a moment more to answer.
"No; nothing, an exorcism…" He stopped once more to catch his breath. "A village nearby, they're offering five barrels of rice for whomever can exorcise some house! It's one of the wealthiest men of the village. He seemed quite desperate."
"Should be easy enough, it's nearby you said, right?" Inuyasha asked, his ears twitching slightly with adrenaline.
"Yeah, forty-five minutes. Maybe less if we really make a run for it."
"Ha. As if you could keep up with me at full speed." Inuyasha teased.
"Is that a challenge?" Miroku asked smirking. They were both at ease, even though they were about to go slay another demon. This had become a lifestyle for them, Miroku would use his Sacred Sutras to exorcise the demons and get them to appear, and Inuyasha would use Tetsusaiga- well, not even, sometimes just his claws to kill whatever flew out. But…
"Didn't you two just go exorcise a house yesterday?" I questioned.
"Yes, and?" Miroku asked, curious.
"Nothing… It's just…nothing. Forget about it." It was weird that they had jobs two days in a row. Don't get me wrong, Miroku's business was doing fine, but it wasn't too often that this would happen. And for some reason, it made my stomach churn.
They looked at each other and shrugged, clueless.
"Kagome, mind putting lunch off for a while? I shouldn't be gone too long." Well…
"Yeah sure it's okay. Don't worry about it."
"Great. See ya." Inuyasha jumped up and was off.
"Bye Kagome!" Miroku yelled as he waved, already from a noticeable distance.
I sighed. I really wanted Inuyasha for myself today.
A few hours went by. They were taking much longer than I'd expected. I ended up having lunch with Sango, who was glowing from her day with Kohaku. She wouldn't stop talking about it. It'd only been a day, but she was always extatic after seeing her brother.
In the afternoon, Jinenji came by to offer me some medicinal herbs. Thanks to him, I had been learning much about nature and it's uses. He, with his sweet, quiet voice, somehow made herbology an interesting topic to talk about.
"Hello, Kagome," The enormous Jinenji said in that soft voice of his, as he walked towards me, stomping and making the ground shiver with every step he took.
"Jinenji!" I yelled, I was geniunly very happy to see him. He blushed innocently as he always did when I hugged him.
"I found some new herbs that don't grow in your village, they are good for fevers." He said, handing me a small basket with a few green leaves.
"Jinenji, that's so sweet of you! Thank you!" I said as I accepted the basket. "Don't you wanna stay for a while? Catch up a bit, maybe?"
"I cannot, Kagome, my mother is waiting for me…It was nice to see you, although." He looked at the ground as he spoke, too embarassed to look into my eyes while refusing my offer. It was actually very cute.
"It's okay!" I smiled at him. "I'll see you around then, Jinenji." And just like that he stomped off again, waving goodbye.
It was around dawn, after the sun had finished setting that Miroku and Inuyasha came back. They walked slowly, and from a distance they seemed fine, but as they got closer I noticed that they were beaten up a bit. Miroku's left sleeve was torn at the elbow, and Inuyasha's Robe of the Fire Rat was covered in dirt. I ran towards them.
"Inuyasha! Miroku! What happened?" I asked in a raised voice. Inuyasha, who was holding the big, still-transformed Tetsusaiga over his shoulder swung it around and put it back in it's sheath before grabbing a hold of me. Instead of a hug, it seemed more like he was leaning on me for support.
"You guys said it would be quick! You were gone the entire day! What happened?"
"We're fine. It was just a bit tougher than expected." Inuyasha answered, serious. I could tell he was underselling it. I looked at Miroku.
"It was a plant demon. For some reason it was stronger than you'd think, no matter how many times Inuyasha cut him up the pieces would multiply. We got him with the Sutras though. I think."
"It would've been faster if you'd just let me use the Wind Scar!" Inuyasha complained like a disobidient toddler.
"Inuyasha how many times do I have to say it? You would've destroyed the entire village with a technique like that!" Inuyasha just groaned and looked away. He seemed frustrated. I ignored his attitude and asked Miroku,
"What about the rice barrels?"
"They're bringing them over tomorrow." I nodded. I tightened my grip on Inuyasha's arm.
"I'm going to head home, Inuyasha, I'll see you tomorrow?"
"Yeah." He tone was uninterested, he was sure in a bad mood. I'd never seen them come back from an exorcism so angry. We were quiet.
"Inuyasha?" He looked at me. I didn't know exactly what to say so I just stared at him, worried. It took him a moment, but he smiled and looked down. I just hugged him, and we continued walking towards our house with my arms wrapped around his waist. The atmosphere seemed to have changed. Inuyasha was a bit more relaxed. Once we were in the house Inuyasha finally spoke.
"Kagome… I think I'm just gonna go to bed."
"Aren't you hungry? Don't you want dinner at least?"
"No, I'm not in the mood, just tired." He said, his back towards me as he walked toward the bedroom.
"Well… I'll go with you then."
"You'll stay with me until I fall asleep?"
"Sure."
We made our way to the bedroom. Inuyasha didn't even change his clothes, he just threw himself on the bed above the sheets. I layed down beside him, and caressed his soft, long hair. As soon as I began doing that he moved towards me, his face near my chest. He dozed off instantly, and I followed not long after.
Suddenly I awoke.
Again I had this feeling of entanglement, suffocating, like I couldn't breathe…
But this time it was different. It was harsher and more constricting than before.
When I finally opened my eyes I was covered in thick, green plant roots. They were tight and strong, wrapping around me like a cacoon. I squirmed, but the more I moved the tighter the rope-like roots became. I grunted. I couldn't make much of a sound. My lungs felt as if they were about to collapse. My chest was squeezed much too tight for me to yell.
"Inu.. yasha" I nearly whispered. "Inuyasha, wake up," I breathed, as loud as I could manage. "Inuyasha" I said with the last of my strengths.
He moaned, and then he scrunched his nose, inhaling the scent of the demon. He finally opened his eyes and blinked a few times before fully waking up.
"What the…? Kagome!"
I could barely make a sound, my throat just croaked as I tried to respond. But before I could make the words roll out of my tounge, Inuyasha shouted my thoughts out loud.
"The plant demon!"
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