Love of Friends
Chapter 4: Kagome goes KABOOME!
BC: Well, redone since 9/30/2006, and now that the monkey's gone…(Trips inexplicably) What the heck?
QJP: (Walks over) BC, are you al… (Trips inexplicably) Huh? What just happened?
BC: I-I don't know! This happened to Baka-chan last chap. too… Oh no!
QJP: What?
BC: Inexplicable tripping must be contagious!
QJP: Maybe… wait. (Raises one eyebrow) You mean it's like a disease or something?
BC: You got a better idea? Sneezing is, hiccups can be, even songs stuck in people's heads on occasion! Why not inexplicable tripping?
QJP: Well really, how often after one person trips over nothing do you see another person trip over nothing?
BC: Well…
QJP: BC, you don't count. You're just clumsy!
BC: Point taken… I don't own Inu & Co, but this story is mine. So please read on, enjoy, and review…
QJP: While we try not to fall on our xxxxx anymore…
PLP: (Enters room) Hey… what are you guys doing on the floor?
BC: Run PLP! We're…
PLP: (Trips inexplicably) What did I trip on?
BC: …contagious.
PLP: Contagious with what?
BC: We'll explain in a bit…
Kagome was back at camp, furiously pacing back and forth. She was so distracted that she never even heard Shippo's complaints. She had noticed that he seemed to have a lot of branches and leaves in his hair. But she wasn't worried, he had probably been climbing trees or something. He had walked off after having his say, whatever it was, to go play with Kilala.
Sango had been silently watching her friend's nervous actions since she had first begun, but she couldn't stand it any longer, "Kagome! You're going to make a trench if you continue to walk in the same spot over and over again."
"I know Sango, I know, but..." She sighs. Why did today have to start out so stressful?
Quickly Sango walks over, and grabs a hold of Kagome's shoulders to put an abrupt stop to her pacing, "Just remember the plan. You went to find Inuyasha and...?"
"A spider scared me?"
"Come on Kagome, once more. You went to find Inuyasha and...?"
"A… spider scared me."
"You would be more believable if you weren't fidgeting so much."
"I can't help it." Kagome slowly sinks to the ground, "I was standing there like a complete idiot, just watching him, fishing… more importantly, why was he not wearing a shirt?"
Sango squats down, hoping to console her, "I don't... wait, he was fishing? You didn't mention that…"
"And then he just drops it, and starts talking about his demon blood taking him over, and about the Tetsusaiga! And then he pauses, and suddenly says, 'What if I hurt Kagome?' Why did he say something like that?"
Sango had decided to let the interruption go, Kagome was probably too stressed out right now to realize. "The problems he has with his demon blood taking over are probably never too far from his mind. And in that state he can hurt anyone..."
"Why was he worrying about me though? I-I was sure that he didn't like me that much, maybe as much as Shippo. And in the beginning he hated me and really did think that I was only something to find the shards. But… maybe he does care some about me…"
"I'm pretty sure he likes you more then Shippo. Those two fight like brothers, while you and him fight more like you're..." Married was the word she was looking for. But Sango wasn't quite sure how Kagome would react to it, considering her state of mind just now. It didn't really matter anyway, Kagome had decided to burst in right then with her own self-doubts.
"What am I saying here? He only cares about Kikyo! Who am I really trying to kid? He loves her."
"Kagome, you're..."
"I'm an idiot… a love-struck idi..."
Sango stands up suddenly, very upset. "Kagome, just stop it!"
Kagome blinks a few times, stunned. "Sango, what..."
"Hold on just a minute, it's my turn to interrupt! Why are you sitting here, worrying so much? You have too much to think about!" Sango starts to walk around, arms flailing, "Your head is just about ready to explode, and then what will you do about school? Then what are you to do about Inuyasha? Then what about all this time spent on stories about… about spiders? Spiders, of all things to worry about! There's too much!"
Kagome starts to laugh at the intent absurdity of her friend's actions, "You're right. I just about had a total meltdown. What was I thinking?"
Sango grabs her head as if she had a bad headache, "Not this again…!"
Kagome makes her way over to her friend, laughing all the way. "Thanks for snapping me out of this whole thing."
"Well, I would hope you would do the same for me…" Sango smiles, "… if I was acting as silly as you were."
"I am so glad right now to not be completely surrounded by guys at a time like this. I could just imagine Miroku saying something almost philosophical and then bluntly suggesting all my problems would go away if I bear his child. And then he'd probably grope me. And I don't want to even imagine getting advice from Shippo…"
"Well you know… you could always talk to Inuyasha about your feelings."
"Sango, don't even joke about a thing like that."
"Why not? You seem to not mind your jokes, but mine..."
"I guess we have been taking it a bit far… I mean, could you imagine it if Shippo or the guys heard us?"
Sango turns stiff as a board, her face going a little pale at the thought of what that would be like. It was an encounter as shaking as finding a monk, inches away from your face, after being half-drowned. "I… I think the food is getting… cold..." She then hurries over to the fire, set on here 'task' to get it hotter.
Kagome just watched, head shaking as she tried to hide her mirth.
Food finally assured to be hot, and finished, Kagome starts to call for the small kitsune boy and the demon cat, both of them still missing. They were probably off playing hide-and-go seek. It might not have been such a good idea to teach Shippo that game. Oh well...
"Kagome!"
"What the...?" Before Kagome could even find the source, she was easily knocked over by the ball of orange that had just called her name. "Shippo! Calm down."
"Did Inuyasha come? Did you sit him?" He looks around quickly, "I didn't miss it, did I?"
"Shippo!" The young demon's questioning quickly stops, though it had already been heard by whom he had wondered about. Inuyasha then picks Shippo up and sets him down nearby. " Can't you find something better to do then trying to kill Kagome?"
"Ahh!" Shippo quickly covers his head, and was ready to slow the blow to his noggin… the one that never came. Peaking under his hands, he spots Inuyasha calmly sitting by the fire… he seemed a little distracted. That was fine with him, just as long as he wasn't getting hit.
Kagome walks over to Inuyasha, her arms folded. She seemed displeased on the outside… but inside, she was still pacing the ground. "Inuyasha, you know… you really deserve to be sat."
Inuyasha lifts his head to her. Maybe Kagome was fine… but he just couldn't shake the feeling she had heard him. If she had, would she want to sit him? Maybe… or could he of imagined it? She might have a reason to sit him, which had nothing to do with that fish and her. But he just didn't know… he looks back toward the fire. "Really? I didn't do anything." He keeps watch on her from the corner of his eye, so she wouldn't notice him looking for any lies. But would she even?
"Yes you did! You would have gotten sat earlier for what you did to poor Shippo if I had any choice." She reaches down to feel the young demon's clothes, "You're soaked to the bone still, aren't you cold?"
An over exaggerated sniff and shiver later, and Shippo was in Kagome's arms. "A little." Finally, he was getting some attention. Kagome had ignored him earlier, now Inuyasha would get his punishment. He tried his best not to smirk. It was hard to manage, but he did it.
"Feh! I did nothing wrong, he deserved it...Oh, yeah, and just what stopped you from Sitting me before, huh?" Inuyasha knew he was walking on thin ice, his tone was usually enough for that. But, if he made her angry enough, she might let something slip. Too bad he didn't realize just how thin the ice he was stepping onto was.
"What stopped me?" She drops Shippo off to sit wrapped up warm in a blanket by the fire, "The power that stopped me, you idiot, was something called nature! I went to go find you since he…" She points a menacing finger to Miroku. And though the monk tries to sidle out of the way, it still continues to follow. "… was taking his own sweet time. And what do I do? I run smack into a spider web is what! I hate spiders! But, I wasn't planing to let you drown Shippo! Even if he is a full demon, you still could have killed him!"
During this explosion of anger, a few notable things had happened. Miroku had taken up a hiding spot behind Sango, clutching her shoulders and muttering that he would rather have his hand be the cause of his death and not Kagome. If that in itself wasn't enough, he didn't even have the smallest inkling of groping her. He was just trying to put someone else between him and Kagome. Someone that wasn't to be a vent for her rage.
Sango, too, was a bit frightened. Kagome was now pointing at her. Though she knew the ranting girl had just followed the monk, she couldn't help but feel she would be yelled at as well.
Shippo had his mouth covered in shock. He had never seen Kagome this mad. Even Inuyasha didn't deserve this. He should have been more careful for what he wished for. Now Shippo just hoped that he didn't get thrown into the conversation as well.
None of them were more shocked then Inuyasha though. He stood there, slack-jawed, he never even fully realized that he had stood up. "I wouldn't have let Shippo drown!"
Kagome looked to Inuyasha and gazed a hard glare at him and began to speak. She was no longer yelling at him though, instead she had seceded into a quieter form of fury. "Not that long ago, you were more worried about the Shikon jewel and a Carrion Crow then you were about whether a young villager, that had done nothing wrong but be in the way of a hungry demon, would live or die. Is there any difference between that situation, and this?" After having her say, Kagome spins on her heel and heads off for the well, intent on going back to her own time to cool down. Her blood had boiled when Inuyasha tried to tell her he had done nothing wrong, even when it was so obvious he had. And… she couldn't help it.
After a few minutes of stupor, Sango unhooks Miroku's hands from her shoulders and takes a quick survey of the destruction. Kagome had just single handedly caused their plan to burst into flames. If she was going to figure out what had happened and get any questions answered, she had to catch Kagome before she went home. And if she had any chance of that left, she had to run.
'It can't be too far…' Sango paused, looking around for anything that would help her locate the well. She knew if she found Inuyasha's tree that it would be close by. Now she just had to find the forest it was in. Rushing into Kaede's hut gave her some idea of which way to go… though not enough of one.
"The forest still holds the demonic power of Inuyasha. If ye follow that, ye will get there soon enough. Ye just need to follow yer instincts." Not quite the answer she wanted, but the old miko wouldn't give another and there was no time. She ran out of there as fast as possible, what was Kaede thinking? Searching for demonic power was not one of her strong points, it wasn't like she was a Miko! She was a demon exterminator! Sure, she could sense it enough to know when she was under attack… but that was just because of training! But she couldn't… even believe it.
Jaw dropping in surprise, she could see the top of the stupid tree. She gives her head a shake, "I just hope she hasn't left yet..." and runs toward it. Though time was wasted, she might make it there. But Kagome could already be in her own time. Things weren't turning out so great…
Kagome stood starring at the bottom of the Bone eaters well and gripping onto the edge. She was still trying to think if leaving really was for the best. She knew in her heart, that yelling at Inuyasha like she had was wrong. What she had done wasn't really fair, it wasn't his fault...
"Kagome! There you are! I'm so glad I caught you."
She stands still as Sango approaches, only half realizing the presence, "Sango..."
"Kagome, why did you go off like that on Inuyasha? From what you told me, he just needed a Sit, not to be beaten down by your words..." She stops, hearing a small sound from Kagome. Sango didn't need demon senses to know she was crying. "What's wrong?" She slowly walks up closer, and feeling useless. She couldn't do any thing… because she didn't know any thing. It was almost like she was suddenly Shippo, not sure what was going on with all of these strange problems of older companions. It was a little distressing… she had to remember to give the fox boy a treat later. But that still didn't help her present situation. She still couldn't help.
"Sango it's just... what Inuyasha said was..." Kagome turns around and leans against the well, sinking to the ground with her hands over her eyes. She didn't want to see, didn't want to hear, she wanted all the terrible memories… everything… to just stop...
BC: Don't you guys think that was a really cool place to end? It just gets ya (Puts hand over heart) right there.
PLP: Yeah yeah, wonderful place to stop… you're a writing genius. Now you mind telling me what you're contagious with?
BC: Inexplicable tripping.
PLP: Oh… WHAT?
QJP: You know… unexplained falling?
PLP: I know what it means!
QJP: Sorry.
PLP: You should be!
BC: Guys… don't fight with each other!
Baka-chan: (Enters) What's going on?
BC: Fight with him! He started all this!
QJP/PLP: BAKA-CHAN!
Baka-chan: Uh oh! That's my que…exit, stage right! (Runs)
QJP/PLP: (Both get up. Both inexplicably trip.)
BC: Uh… yeah… don't forget to review!
BC, over and out!
