Chapter 4
Jaken
Mrs. Higurashi sighed heavily as she approached him, resting her hands on his shoulders. "Inuyasha, it's no use exhausting yourself. Get some rest. It's going to be a while before she wakes up."
Inuyasha, his amber eyes glued to Kagome's still unconscious form, refused to move or to blink in case she woke up. He wanted to be there when she finally did wake up so that he could apologize to her for being so clumsy, for getting her hurt.
"Inuyasha," Mrs. Higurashi pressed, tweaking his flattened ears. "You can get a few hours of sleep in. You won't miss it,"
He shook his head, uncaring about what she was doing to his ears, making her realize that he wasn't going anywhere. Sighing, she grabbed her coat. "I have to go home and make sure that Sota gets to bed. I'll be back in the morning." When she was gone, Inuyasha's head lowered onto Kagome's hand and without realizing that it was happening, fresh tears began to glide down his cheeks. Kagome looked so pale, so fragile, and he was to blame.
"I'm sorry, Kagome. I'm so sorry,"
It was intimidating how vast the Labyrinth looked the closer she got to it. Could she really solve it in just thirteen hours time? Could anyone do that? The mere size of it…
Kagome drew in a deep, unsteadying breath and slowly, carefully took a step forward. In a few seconds she came to stand before a large, well worn and weathered wall that seemed to stretch for miles on either side of her. "It's impossible…"
"Only if you give up,"
Kagome whirled to face the voice and took a step back in surprise. "Did you…did you just speak?"
The figure before her looked over both of his shoulders before his large bulging eyes fell on her form again and he straightened himself, glaring. "Of course I just spoke! Do you see anyone else here?"
"I…no…"
"Who are you?"
"Kagome,"
"Ah, that's what I thought," He came forward and Kagome instinctively jumped back from him, perplexed by his strange appearance. He was short and green and wore the strangest style of clothing she'd ever lain eyes upon. The two headed staff he held intrigued her, but she dare not ask about it. All in all, he looked like the overly dressed version of Yoda, a character from Star Wars.
"You know who I am?" Kagome turned as he moved passed her to examine the brush growing haphazardly along the wall. Lights glimmered within and he reached one three fingered hand forward and grasped the source of one of those lights, turning a little to the side to examine the object more closely.
"Fairies," He muttered nastily. "Horrible creatures, they are," And with one quick movement, and to Kagome's utter horror, he crushed the Fairy in his palm until all that remained was the dust from her wings.
"Wicked!" She accused, pointing, her face set in a mask of loathing. "What a wicked thing to do!"
"I'm not Wicked!" The dwarf protested, glaring at her over his shoulder as he turned to swipe at another fairy flying near his face. "I'm Jaken,"
Kagome reached forward and grasped the fairy gently in her own hands, glaring down at him as he watched her, obviously waiting for something to occur.
"How could you-OWE!"
He snickered as Kagome released the fairy and rubbed her hand in surprise. "She bit me…"
"Of course she did. What did you expect fairies to do? Surely you didn't think they would feel gratitude for you saving her from me? Or is it something as silly as granting wishes? Humans, you're all the same."
Kagome glared at his form as he moved along the brush, growing impatient with his antics. "I have to solve this Labyrinth,"
"You don't have to do anything,"
Groaning, Kagome looked away, her hand raised to pinch the bridge of her nose in annoyance. "Do you know how to solve it?"
Jaken ignored her, turning to walk passed her in the opposite direction. "Are you listening to me?"
"Yes,"
"Then how do I solve this Labyrinth?"
Again, ignored.
"Well what kind of help are you?"
"No help at all if you don't ask the right questions,"
Perplexed, Kagome studied his retreating form. "How do I get into the Labyrinth?" Jaken stopped, shifted his staff to his left hand and raised his right arm in the direction of the wall. "Through there,"