Inuyasha- Kikyo or Kagome? (CHAP.4)
Kagome trudged back to the hut with Inuyasha. The sun was setting. Had we really spent so much time with Kikyo? I think I came here at noon… She felt shaky and exhausted from all the trauma with Kikyo and Sesshoumaru and everything. She sighed. Inuyasha was awfully silent, and she didn't blame him. He must be thinking about what Kikyo said at the very end. She can really charm a boy, sometimes. Kagome thought as she stepped into the hut.
"Hi, everyone." Kagome greeted her friends as warmly as she could.
"Kagome-chan! You're back!" Shippo jumped into her arms, even more excited than usual. He probably thinks he'll never see me again… Kagome smiled wanly at him.
Miroku jumped up to his feet and zoomed over to Kagome. He kneeled on the ground and took her hands. Kagome felt Sango's sharp stare. She felt like sweating.
"Now that Inuyasha is away for Kikyo, will you bear my child?" Miroku asked very seriously.
Kagome reddened. "Miroku-sama… uh…"
Inuyasha jumped into the hut, his white ears flattened on his head, and pushed Miroku away roughly.
"I'm not away for Kikyo! I chose Kagome!" He snapped.
The entire hut hushed, and Miroku crawled back to Sango's side. Kaede was the only person brave enough to speak up to Inuyasha's angry face.
"You denied my sister?" Kaede sounded very surprised.
"Yeah! So what." Inuyasha answered not so nicely.
Kaede hobbled over to him. She scrunched up her one eye at him. Her wrinkles deepened.
"You've got guts, there, I'll give you that. I didn't think you had it in you to choose Kagome over her. This wouldn't sound right cause I'm her sister but you know, you made a good decision- for everyone." Kaede said with a hint of pride.
"Oh yeah, old granny, and that works well for everyone but me." Inuyasha muttered.
Kagome elbowed him in the ribs. "That's really rude!"
"Kagome…" Kaede paused. Kagome prepared for her cue. It didn't come. "Let's leave him today."
"Hah! At least you're not stupid." Inuyasha sat himself in a corner of the hut, cross-legged.
"I'll take that as a compliment, then." Kaede sniffed.
Kaede started shuffling about, looking for her pot. Kagome pointed at the big black one sitting outside.
"Oh, thank you, dear." Kaede hurried outside and brought it back in.
"Well, believe it or not, it's time for dinner, now. Soup, anyone?" Kaede suggested.
"I'll go pick some mushrooms!" Shippo volunteered immediately. He didn't want to risk staying in with a dissatisfied Inuyasha. Besides, he liked mushrooms.
"I'll go get some meat." Sango offered, picking up her boomerang.
"I'll help." Miroku hurried Sango out of the hut and followed after. Shippo was already gone.
Kagome stared after them. Kaede sighed and peeked into her pot. Inuyasha said nothing. He just sat.
"It's funny how you need two people just to get meat for some soup." Kaede commented wryly. Her eye darted towards Inuyasha. "And I know it's not me that's worth running away from."
Kagome laughed appreciatively. She knew what Kaede was trying to do. She was trying to get Inuyasha to return to his normal, active self. It was not working, though.
Kaede stretched. "Ah, lord. My legs aren't what they used to be. Kagome, could you do me a favor and fetch me some water. It's just outside."
"Of course, Kaede-sama." Kagome accepted the opportunity to get out amiably.
On her way out, Kagome patted Inuyasha's head. "Good boy." That always infuriated him.
"Kagome! Don't treat me like a dog!" Inuyasha raised his voice, and his cheeks gained some previously lost color.
"But you are one." Kagome pointed out matter-of-factly. Kaede nodded in agreement.
"A half dog demon! There's a big difference!" Inuyasha leaped up, and motioned with his hands how big the difference was.
Kagome smiled at him and walked out of the hut. She took the bucket that was lying outside the entrance. She went over to the stream nearby and waited as the water filled up in the bucket.
I wonder if Inuyasha will recover from this blow. I wonder if we will ever see Kikyo again. Kagome lifted the now full of water bucket. Maybe we won't. Maybe that's best. Kagome headed back towards the hut.
When she went in, Shippo was already dropping each little white mushroom into the pot.
"White mushrooms are the only ones that aren't poisonous and that are good for cooking." Shippo explained to Kaede. She smiled.
Sango and Miroku were not there yet. She wondered what was taking them so long. Maybe they didn't want to come back yet, and was taking their time. Kagome poured the bucket of water into the soup carefully. Before she went out to get more, she looked around. Inuyasha had disappeared.
"Kaede-sama, where's Inuyasha?" Kagome asked.
"He's out chopping wood for me." Kaede answered simply.
Kagome hurried out and waited as the bucket filled up again. Inuyasha went to chop wood for Kaede-sama without a complaint? I don't believe it! Kagome lifted her bucket and went back into the hut again.
She poured the second bucket of water back in to the pot. Sango and Miroku were back and relieved that Inuyasha wasn't there. They laughed and applauded as Shippo presented them with his fox demon trick props.
Kaede stirred her soup. It looked cold. Inuyasha burst in suddenly with roughly cut logs and dumped them beside the pot. Kaede put the pot over the logs and Kirara lit it with fire. They all sat and waited for the soup to be ready.
Twenty minutes later…
Kagome bunched up in her sleeping bag and closed her eyes, ready for sleep. Honestly, she had not expected that Inuyasha would choose her and let her stay but Kaede must have, since she had taken initiative and secretly kept Kagome's sleeping bag just in case she was spending the night.
She sighed and snuggled in deeper. Her sleeping bag was puffy, much better than the ragged cloths the others used. She smiled, comforted by the fact that she was here to stay, and that Kikyo wouldn't be bothering anymore…
Kagome screamed as she stumbled along in the mist. The mist around her was so thick that she couldn't see a thing. Even the ground beneath her felt stuffy and unstable. She ran and ran forwards, towards that opening of light…
Her surroundings cleared, and she realized that she was standing in a room. There was a huge machine in the middle with two large injection tubes hanging from it. She stared at it, and then looked around. It certainly didn't look like a hospital to her.
"Oi, what's going on here? Where am I?" Inuyasha demanded, appearing suddenly out of the blue.
Suddenly, the two injection tubes came to life and zoomed towards Inuyasha and Kagome's arms. The tubes wrapped themselves around each wrist and the needle dove straight into the skin. There was no pain, though Inuyasha wriggled a lot and yelled, cause he had never seen an injection before, nor had he had one.
"What is going on?" Inuyasha shrieked and thrashed about.
Kagome remained silent and unmoving, and watched with wide eyes as the two injection tubes unwound themselves and injected Kagome and Inuyasha's DNA into the machine.
The machine whirred and shook until finally, the monitor blinked and flashed and showed the cutest pictures in the world.
One was of Kagome when she was just a few months old. She was small and chubby with dark hair and bright eyes. The other one was of Inuyasha when he was just a few months old, and he was in mid-jump, his silver hair was somewhat lighter than the silver hair of Inuyasha standing there, and his gold eyes were shiny and innocent.
Kagome gaped at baby Inuyasha, and started laughing.
"What's there to laugh about? You look pretty ridiculous too!" Inuyasha crossed his arms angrily.
"No, no." Kagome stopped laughing and smiled at Inuyasha. "You just look so different and so CUTE!" She started squealing at the picture again.
Inuyasha mimicked her voice in a more girly tone. "You just look so different and so CUTE!" Then he changed back to his own voice. His eyes narrowed a little and he looked sad when he said: "Keh! I don't need to be watching my younger self. It just brings back bad memories."
Kagome stopped all noise that was coming from her mouth and stared at Inuyasha sympathetically. She was about to say something when their surroundings misted again and she felt like there was an earthquake. She began to walk towards Inuyasha when the earth shook again and she tripped over her own feet and fell.
"Kagome!" Inuyasha ran over to Kagome, picked her up and started running around, looking for an exit.
Kagome felt dizzy. "Uhh… Inuyasha, slow down."
"Kagome? You okay?" Inuyasha asked, concerned.
"Slow down…" Kagome managed to speak.
"Of course I can't! We have to find a way outta here!" Inuyasha argued.
"Then… Osuwari/sit." Kagome muttered.
She fainted in his arms. He crashed down not so painfully onto the mushy ground, due to the beads of subjugation. There was no exit, and endless running would not do any good, so Kagome chose the only way to stop Inuyasha. She started sleeping soundly after she landed. It was indeed a very comfy place the sleep. Inuyasha's face was flat on the ground, and he started sleeping soundly too.
Suddenly, there was a noisy whirlwind. Inuyasha got up just in time to see Koga carry Kagome away.
"Koga! Wait for us!" Ginta and Hakkaku panted after him.
"Grr, Koga! Come back with Kagome!" Inuyasha yelled and chased after him.
A figure stopped him in his tracks. He reached for Tetseiga but it wasn't there.
"It's only me, Inuyasha." A familiar voice soothed.
The mist cleared a little, and Inuyasha could make out whom the figure was.
"Kikyo!" Inuyasha gasped in surprise.
"That's right." Kikyo smiled.
Inuyasha wanted to approach her but felt that he had no right after denying her.
"Inuyasha, it's all right. Just stay alive and well for me. You'll see me again." Those were Kikyo's last words before she disappeared into the mist again.
The earth shook again, and Inuyasha fell onto the floor. He closed his eyes, suddenly drowsy…
Kagome's eyes opened slowly. Someone was bouncing on her sleeping bag.
"Nngh…" Kagome mumbled as she got up. It was Shippo, doing a morning tap dance to wake her up.
"Good morning, Kagome-chan!" Shippo tweeted happily.
Kagome smiled back and changed out of her pajamas and into her school uniform. So it was just a dream… She mused. Inuyasha poked his head in just then, and she remembered how Inuyasha looked as a baby with a jolt.
"Aahh, Inuyasha! You were so cute!" Kagome screamed and threw her arms around Inuyasha.
Inuyasha turned beetroot red.
"You're damn right, I guess I am…" Inuyasha said uncertainly, embarrassed and not understanding.
"Oh, sorry. I mean, you were so cute when you were a kid." Kagome explained, letting him go.
Inuyasha frowned. "And how would you know that?"
Kagome stared at him for a while. Hadn't he had the dream too? Or was it all just my imagination? Kagome sighed at his confused face. It probably was.
"Kagome-chan! Do you want to go home now? Cause, you totally can. You ought to take a break." Sango suggested, also getting up.
"She's not going home!" Inuyasha yelled.
"Yes I am! Osuwari/sit!" Kagome said.
Inuyasha crashed down onto the wooden floorboards. "Argh."
Kagome packed up her bag and waved as she went out of the hut. They all said their goodbyes except Inuyasha, who was huffily righting himself again.
When Kagome arrived at the well, she took one deep breath and jumped.
The hazy blue that surrounded her didn't bother her anymore. And as she popped out of the well again, she was back in her own time.
"Onee-san! Onee-san! You'll be late for school!" Sota, her younger brother told her as she got out.
"Okay, okay, I got it." Kagome grabbed her school bag and bento lunch and hurried to school with Sota.
"Kagome-chan!" Her friends called her.
She went over to them. Yuka, Eri, and Ayumi smiled at her.
"So, so. How's your rough, delinquent boyfriend?" Yuka asked excitedly.
Kagome rolled her eyes. What a day.
"I told you, he's not!" Kagome said defensively.
"It must be hard for you!" Eri added, ignoring Kagome's comment.
"Uh-huh." Ayumi nodded.
Kagome covered her eyes. They arrived at school. The bell rang.
"Oh, and did you revise for the test today?" Eri asked Kagome.
"I did!" Ayumi gushed.
Kagome paused in midstep. Oh no!! I completely forgot! She sank to the floor, horrified.
"Kagome?" Yuka poked the top of her head.
She fainted on the spot. She couldn't hear her modern-time friends' shocked cries, only her desperate wailing to get herself out of her nightmare.
That dream I had in the other time really isn't so bad after this nightmare I'm having now…
THE END