CHP 4. Rain Dancer
"PUT ME DOWN!" Kagome demanded angrily as she beat Berek in the back.
"I'm sorry Miss Kagome, but you must not walk on an injured foot." Berek replied calmly, as he carried Kagome on his shoulder, when he could have just put her onto Koneko, who was falling silently behind.
"MY FOOT DOESN'T HURT! I'M A KLUTZ, I ALWAYS TRIP AND FALL!"
"It doesn't matter Miss Kagome, you must not aggravate an injury, even if it doesn't hurt.
"HUMPH!" Kagome pouted as she slumped against him in defeat.
"That's it Miss Kagome, we're almost there."
"Almost where?"
"Umm..." Berek stammered nervously.
"Um? What do you mean by um? We're going to your campsite aren't we?" she yelled becoming angry.
"I don't actually have one?" he said sheepishly as they stepped into a large clearing.
"So you mean we've been walking around aimlessly," she asked emotionlessly.
"Yes?"
"That's it...you're going down little man." Kagome said in a threatening voice as she readied herself for attacking.
"I'm sorry, but what are yo..." Berek began, only to stop mid sentence as Kagome's hand met his ribcage, causing him to drop her fall to the ground in a fit of laughter.
Smiling triumphantly Kagome stood up straight and turned to face Berek. "Now, now Bery." she teased as she saw him sitting on the ground with his head held down. "Just because I won't let you spoil me is no reason to mope."
But Berek didn't answer her, nor did he move.
"Hey, I didn't hurt you did I?" she asked worriedly as she began to slowly inch towards him.
"Are you alright?" she asked getting closer. She was a few paces away from him, when she suddenly caught his eye looking at her through his hair. It was glinting, but it was too late to move as he pounced, and tickled her back.
"Now, you should know better Miss Kagome. You should never pick tickle fights with strangers. For they could be tickle champions," he laughed as he mercilessly tickled her everywhere.
"I'm...I'm sor...sorry!" she laughed as tears rolled down her face.
"Say, I'm sorry Berek."
"I'm...I'm sorry Ber...Berek."
"Say, I didn't mean...," but whatever he was going to say was blocked from their hearing as a big clap of thunder drowned him out.
Stopping Kagome's torture, they both looked into the sky to see big, dark, rain clouds roll across the sky. Lightening occasionally flashing out.
"We better get some firewood, before the rain starts to fall." Berek suggested a pleased smile on his face.
"What are you smiling about?" she asked suspiciously, as he helped her onto her feet, mindful of her alleged twisted ankle.
"It's going to rain."
"Is that a good thing?"
"Yes. I was feeling a bit wilted."
The sky became darker, and the wind began to pick up. Kagome and Berek had taken to the forest to scrounge for firewood to prepare for the on coming rain.
"Hey Berek, what happened to Koneko?" Kagome asked as they began to head back towards the cave.
"She went home," he said simply as they dumped the wood into a pile in the corner of the cave.
"Home? But I thought she was yours."
"Oh no, we're just friends. And as a friend, she accompanies me when traveling and offers rides. But I don't own her."
"Oh, I can see what you mean." Kagome said, thinking about Kirara and Sango.
"Hey look, here it comes!" Berek exclaimed jumping to the mouth of the cave just seconds before the rain began to pour. "Isn't that beautiful?" Berek asked, letting the rain pelt his front.
"Berek?" Kagome asked standing a good deal away from the rain. "What type of youkai are you?"
"Can't you tell?" he asked confusedly staring at her through wet eyelashes.
"No not really, why should I?"
"Most youkai would be able to tell what type of youkai I am by my smell. You may be hanyou, but still you should be able to tell."
"Oh you see I'm not a..." but she halted in her words. She had forgotten, she was now a hanyou. "Well...could you tell me anyway? I couldn't really pick it up." she lied.
"Oh of course, how could I forget? It is sort of hard to tell when I'm in the forest. I'm a plant youkai."
"Oh!" Now she understood his enthusiasm with the rain, he needed it.
"So you need the rain, huh?" she asked, it being more of a statement than a question.
"No, I don't need the rain, it just...it just makes me feel so alive." he managed to say before flinging himself out into the rain, where he began to spin in delight.
Kagome sat down and began to make a fire, her eyes ever so often flickering towards the plant demon dancing in the rain. He seemed to radiate a greenish blue aura as he spun and splashed. His hair, which was already a light blue, had come undone and fanned out around him, making him look less childish as he finally stopped and looked at her, his hair plastered to his head, making him look halfway handsome and halfway beautiful.
And as she watched him collapse from dizziness into a puddle, she mistook him for a much older looking Berek.
"Hey, plant boy! The rain may make you feel alive, but if you don't get out of it you're going to drown!" she called out into the storm at him.
Berek sat up instantly at hearing her vice and smiled mischievously at her, and now she was certain that he looked older.
"Hey Wolf girl! You may like it high and dry but why don't you come and try a little rain dancing with me?" he yelled back, in a much deeper and masculine voice.
"What? Me? Come out there, and dance? With you? Oh, no." she said shaking her head and walking backwards only to bump into something big and solid.
Turning around she screamed in fright as she came face to mouth with a big green dragon. Screaming again, she ran out of the cave and smack dead into a laughing Berek.
"What are you laughing about?" she yelled angrily turning to face him. "Didn't you see that dragon, about to...to..." turning back towards the cave, she saw that the dragon was seemingly melting into grass. Her mouth dropped open in shock. "You." she said in an accusing voice as she turned to face him.
"Yes, me. How else was I going to get you out of there? And since we're both now wet, why don't..." but before he could finish, Kagome had tackled him, and started the most violent, wet, slopping, wrestling match of all times.
Their little fight soon changed into a playful game of rainy hide-and-seek in the woods, and Kagome was it. By now, she was soaked to the bone. Her hair was plastered to her head; her new kimono clung to her body, and she was getting moody.
"I'm playing hide-and-seek, with a plant demon, in the woods, in the middle of a storm. Oh, this is going to be easy." she remarked sarcastically.
"Do you normally talk to yourself?" a tree asked through a manifestation of a childlike Berek's
face on it.
"Show off." she grumbled as she plopped herself down by the tree.
"What is wrong, Ms. Kagome?" Berek's head asked concernedly.
"I'm cold, wet, and playing hide-and-seek with a schizo plant demon."
"Schizo?"
"Yes, schizo. First, you were a cute little innocent kid, and then you turned into that big cute, yet sort of jerky, the good kind though, guy, and now you're a little boy. What's going on?"
Berek's head seemed to be blushing, which was a remarkable thing for a tree to do.
"I'm sorry if I caused you any distress Ms. Kagome, but I change ages over a period of time, and the rain sort of speeds it up. You first met me in my adolescent stage, then you met me at my adult stage, and now I'm in my childhood stage."
"Why?"
"Why what Ms. Kagome?" he asked confusedly.
"Why do you change?" she asked slowly.
"My mommy placed a curse on me a few years ago, but it backfired."
"Why was she even trying to put you under a curse?"
"She didn't want me to grow up.," he said in a carefree voice. "She really overbearing." he put in as an afterthought.
"Quite." Kagome said agreeing with him, but just then, a chill ran down her spine, and she knew it wasn't from the rain. Someone was watching her.
She mentally cursed in her head as a presence of evil started to claw at the edges of her mind, and the pulsating of Shikon shards was calling to her.
"Berek, do..." she began, looking up towards the tree, but stopped mid sentence seeing that his face was gone.
"Berek?" she called standing up.
In the distance, she heard screaming then Naraku's evil laughter.
"Naraku." She whispered fearfully, before bounding off towards the sounds of the screams.
Kagome burst upon a clearing and her eyes were immediately drawn towards the childlike Berek standing off to the side. He was being held up between two trees with Naraku's tentacles surrounding his body. She didn't see Naraku anywhere, but he could've hid anywhere in the clearing, for it was covered in his miasma.
Bounding, in an Inuyasha like fashion, over to Berek she pleased to hear him still breathing, but amidst checking his hearing, she also heard the sound of cutting air, and barely had enough time to dodge out of the way as a tentacle came spearing towards her back.
"Naraku." She breathed, hoping for all the world that Inuyasha would come bounding to her rescue.
"You called." Naraku said as suddenly appeared in front of her.
Jumping back in fright, she let out an involuntary growl. "What do you want Naraku? Shouldn't you be off playing with your dolls." she remarked, sounding braver than she felt.
"Why? I think I'll rather play with your little friend here." he said sadistically just before Berek began to scream in pain.
"NO! LEAVE HIM ALONE!" she growled angrily jumping at Naraku with bared fangs and claws, but before she could lay a hand on him, he disappeared.
"Ah, so there is some spark left." Naraku remarked as he took the torture off Berek and reappeared on the other side of the clearing.
"What do you want?" she asked angrily through newly, larger, sharpened teeth.
"Why, isn't that obvious by now?"
"What do you mean?"
"Poor, poor stupid girl. Do you think it was just a coincidence that the demon to attack you was a wolf demon? That the poison in your body didn't kill you. That you're turning into a demon. Get a clue girl. I did this. All of it."
"Even the dreams too?" she asked angrily as her rage began to cloud her mind.
'Dreams?' Naraku thought with surprise, before Kagome attacked.
"Why are you doing this to me?" she yelled in a horrifyingly demonic voice as she swiped at Naraku, only to have him disappear before she could touch him and reappear someone else in the clearing. This only fueled her anger.
"Because you were meant to be this way! We were meant to be like this. Together. Don't you remember?" Naraku yelled as he dodged her attacks.
"You're delusional!" she managed to scream through her rage, as she charged at him fangs, and claws aimed for the kill.
"I've been watching you, Kagome. I've seen all your bizarre behavior. Haven't you wondered why you've been having those mood swings? It's the demon blood in you; it's reawakening those emotions in you. Haven't you noticed how familiar they've felt? How natural? Especially when you fought the western lord? I was there. And I saw how much you enjoyed it; the bloodlust was evident in your eyes."
"SHUT UP!" she yelled upping her attempts.
"That's right, keep fighting. The angrier you get, the more you fight, the faster the poison seeps through your veins and the faster you become full demon."
"I DON'T CARE!" she yelled as she became faster, and Naraku had to start fighting back, by sending root like tentacles at her, which she dodged with ease while still charging him. All the while, with Naraku smiling in triumph.
"Kagome! Stop!" a voice pleaded loudly, breaking into Kagome's rage. Stopping where she stood, she turned towards the source of the voice, and her face softened as her eyes landed on Berek. Now free of his bondage and struggling to stand on his own two feet.
"Are you okay?" she asked, concern written all over her face, Naraku momentarily forgotten.
"NO! FIGHT! YOU HEAR? FIGHT!" Naraku yelled in an outrage as Kagome left him to check on Berek, but his outburst fell upon deaf ears.
"I'm alright, but what about...MS. KAGOME WATCH OUT!" Berek yelled pushing Kagome out of the way, as Naraku's tentacles tried to attack from behind.
"No, Berek." Kagome yelled, as she fell to the ground and realization popped into her head. "Don't fight him! You can..." but she stopped there, because he could, and he did.
After pushing Kagome out of the way, Berek stood in front of her as if to take the bunt of the blow, but he soon aged from childlike, to teenager, to young adult, but he didn't stop there. His handsome face soon turned demonically ugly, a muzzle started protrude from it, his arms grew large and grotesque, his horns grew sharper, his clothes burst as newly monstrous muscles stretched them to their limit. He grew taller and larger, his light blue hair grew longer and straggly, his fangs became larger and protruded from his mouth, and his eyes glowed icy blue, as he swatted Naraku's attack away like a bothersome fly. Roaring and baring rows of razor-sharp teeth, Berek advanced upon Naraku.
Giving Berek a look of disgust, Naraku vanished, but not without a message to Kagome.
"This isn't over. There are more ways than one to turn you full. I'll be back, sooner than you can believe."
"Uh, huh. Yeah, sure." Kagome mumbled half-heartedly, barely hearing Naraku's words as she stared up at the monstrous Berek. And for some strange, creepy, bizarre reason, Kagome honestly found that if she didn't have Inuyasha, that this side of Berek would have made her fall in love.
But as she stared at Berek, and Berek's large, very large, eyes stared at her; she couldn't help but adore him.
"Inuyasha, slow down, we need to rest." Sango yelled down at the hanyou, from the back of Kirara.
"No, we got to keep going! She's out there alone!" Inuyasha retorted.
"But we've been searching non stop for hours. Kirara's getting tired." Shippo whined from the shoulders of Miroku.
"That's it, we're stopping." Sango announced as they landed.
It wasn't until he was a few yards ahead that Inuyasha realized they weren't following him. 'What do they think they're doing?' he thought angrily grinding his teeth, while bounding over to them.
"Uh, oh, here he comes." Shippo said under his breathe.
"What the hell are you guys doing? Why'd you stop?" he yelled angrily.
"We're tired and we need a rest." Sango said simply with a no-buts-about-it look.
"No you're not! You're going to get back on Kirara and continue searching for Kagome!"
"And we will. Tomorrow, it's getting late." Miroku answered this time.
"So, we're just going to wait? You act as if she'll come waltzing up to us out of the woods, yelling, with that annoying high pitched voice of hers, Hi guys!" he yelled, giving a poor imitation of Kagome's voice.
"Hi guys!" they heard a familiar voice yell.
Turning towards the forest, they saw no sign of Kagome, but instead, a huge monstrous demon, with straggly blue, hair and protruding fangs.
"Oh, what now?" Inuyasha yelled, as the demon came closer. Reaching for his sword he was stopped in mid movement as that same familiar voice cut through the air.
"Inuyasha, don't you dare!"
"Kagome! Where are you?" he asked as they all looked around.
"Up here!" Kagome yelled from her perch upon Berek's shoulder, as they stopped in front of the group. Grinning like mad, Kagome leapt from Berek's shoulders and landed into Inuyasha's arms.
"You are so lucky." She smiled as she kissed him on the nose, putting him into a minor shock coma.
"Hi guys!" Kagome cheered happily, jumping off Inuyasha to greet her other friends.
"Kagome!" Shippo yelled happily, launching himself into her arms.
"Hi, Shippo, I've missed you too."
"Lady Kagome, who's your friend?" Miroku asked, as he and Sango stared up the large demon.
"Oh." she said as she suddenly remembered Berek. Setting Shippo down, she jumped over to Berek and hugged his huge leg. "Guys, this is Berek. Berek these are my friends, Sango, Shippo, Kirara, Miroku, and Inuyasha."
The Inu-gang all waved a greeting as they were mentioned, all except Inuyasha who was still in a daze and Miroku who seemed to be frozen in place as he stared at Kagome hug Berek, and Berek waved a monstrous paw as he made a sound similar to that of a yeti.
"Lift me up Berek!" Kagome yelled up to her friend.
Lowering a paw, he allowed Kagome time to step onto it, before he lifted her up and held her to his face.
"Thanks for everything." She told him as she closed her eyes, leant over, and gave him a small kiss, but as she opened her eyes, she found herself kissing Berek, the way he looked when she first met him, with his arms around her.
"Oh, I'm so sorry Ms. Kagome. I sort slipped," he said nervously jumping away from her with a beet red face.
"It's alright, now I guess you'll be on your way now."
"Umm...yes...I...I must be going now. It was nice meeting all of you." Turing to face the woods, Berek let out a long, loud whistle, and within seconds, Koneko came running out of the forest to meet him. Jumping onto the giant spiders back, Berek gave off one final good-bye and he and Koneko took off into the forest.
Smiling at his retreating back, Kagome's face turned serious as she faced her friends.
"I have something important to tell you." She said seriously.
"What about?" Sango asked with a serious, yet curious tone.
"About what's happening to me and why?" she told them as she looked down at her elongated claws, and felt the sharper, larger fangs within her mouth, either not having shrunk much since her fight with Naraku.
"Hey, where'd that big demon go?" Inuyasha asked as he came out of his daze, not trying to look at Kagome, but as he saw their faces, he stopped his futile search.
"What happened?" Miroku asked as he too came out of his daze.
Sango looked at them curiously before she got it. "Kagome," she called.
Looking up, Kagome barely noticed how Inuyasha and Miroku both went into their dazes again.
"The eyes."
"Huh...oh," after looking at the males of their group she too caught on. Taking the obi off her robes, she said the spell Kaede taught and tied it around her eyes again.
"Hey, how come I didn't get froze too?" Shippo asked.
"Because you're too young." Sango answered automatically.
"So what about that boy, Berek."
"Because he was too shy too look me in the eye." Kagome answered this time with a smile. But remembered when he had gotten older that he had looked her in the eye and hadn't froze, but then she thought, they had been playing in the rain when he was older, so her hair covered her eyes then.
"Well that's not fair!" Shippo yelled as he stomped his foot.
"Maybe if I stare at you long enough you'll freeze." Kagome told him with a knowing smile as she began to lift the obi.
"No that's okay, shouldn't we make camp and wait for Inuyasha and Miroku to wake up." Shippo said quickly changing the subject.
"Yeah, that's what I thought too." Sango laughed catching Kagome's eye.
"Now, what are we going to do with these too?" she asked looking at the two frozen boys.
"We can always drag them and laugh when they're heads hit roots and rocks, for all the time they've groped, insulted, and worked us too much." Kagome suggested.
Sango just stared at her. "Okay. Work's for me."
"Yeah me too."
'They're evil.' Shippo and Kirara both thought at the same time as Sango and Kagome got similar evil looks upon their faces.
That night after the guys had woken, and Kagome filled everyone in on what Naraku had said, Inuyasha suddenly perked up his ears and sniffed the air. His eyes widened a bit before a serene look passed over his face. Looking around at his group, he gave a quick excuse and then bounded off into the forest. That had been a few hours ago, everyone had eaten and either sleep or staring into the fire. Kagome doing the latter.
She knew where he had went and what he was doing, but she didn't care, or at least that's what she told herself. Sighing she poked the fire with a stick and stared intently into as thoughts and questions rolled around in her mind.
Shippo and Kirara were fast asleep, Miroku in deep meditation, and Sango sat up pretending to sleep but in actuality was staring at Kagome, wishing she could ease her friend's heartache. Finally giving up the charade, she got up and sat next to Kagome.
"Kagome you should go to sleep, there's no use staying up worrying about Inuyasha. He's dumb and thickheaded, you deserve better."
"That's nice and all Sango, but I actually wasn't thinking about Inuyasha."
"Oh, really, then who were you thinking about then?" Sango asked, not buying it.
"I was really thinking about Miroku." She said with a smile.
"...what?" Sango asked as deep frown made its way onto her face.
"Miroku. Look at him. I was wondering how he looks with his hair down, since it's always in that ponytail."
"Oh...right...his hair...not...yeah okay." Sango mumbled with a red face, clearly embarrassed, but they were sitting so close to the fire that their faces were red anyway, so Kagome didn't notice.
"You know, there's only one way to find out." Kagome said as she stood up.
"Kagome, what are you doing?"
But Kagome had already pounced by the time she asked.
"Oh, what the..." Miroku yelled as he went down.
Sango could only stare with wide eyes as the two wrestled or rather how Kagome wrestled and Miroku yelled and tried to get away. Finally, she had him pinned on his stomach as she undid his hair, deaf to his constant protest.
"There!" she yelled in victory as she wrapped an arm around Miroku's front and lifted him up just high enough for Sango to see.
Looking at Miroku, Sango had to cock her head to the side as she observed him. His hair framed his face well and barely brushed the top of his shoulders, and the way he was frowning, she couldn't help but shrug her eyebrows. "He looks okay."
"Okay? Sango look at this face it's adorable. He's so KAWII!" she squealed as she practically glomped the side of Miroku's face. And the two toppled to the ground, although Miroku was now started to enjoy the physical contact.
Sango laughed at her friends' antic, but inside she knew that Kagome had only brought this up to forget about Inuyasha, and she had to wonder, was Naraku watching them...watching Kagome.
Jaguargirl: Hello everybody! This is Jaguargirl. Have you missed me! I know I have. Anyway, here's chapter 4 of Lost But Never Forgotten. It's been a while since I've updated this but I was stuck at a dead end with this.
Jaguargirl: By the way, did you know that I'm a co-author to the Fic 'The Gift of the Curse', written with 'Trapped in Icy Flame'. It's a Inu/LoTr crossover.
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Jaguargirl: Hi again, well it's the end and I would just like to say R&R, because I'm a review addict and I need a fix. By the way, this is a recording, and if you had any attmept at hurting the author for not updating...TOUGH LOVE! PEACE OUT AND REVIEW! Thank You.