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"Dadda, we want raith" Hana said, tugging on her father's clothes.
"You mean rice?"
"Yeth. Das what I sed. Raith." Miroku giggled at her and picked her up to put her in his lap.
"Her S's are really starting to worry me, Akira doesn't do that." Sango said, always over protective and hovering over her daughters' every move.
"It's the teeth, Sango, don't worry about it, she'll get it." I said as I lay on one huge Kilala. Her fur was smooth and warm, it felt nice against my healing skin. It's been about two weeks since the plant demon incident and I was getting stronger every day.
"Hana, say 'rice'." Sango ordered.
"Raith"
"Rice"
"Raith!" I couldn't help but start to laugh at Sango's pointless frustration.
It was dusk and we were enjoying the warm air under a tree by the lake. Kazuko was awake, and moving awkwardly around the grass with Akira. Someone was missing though.
"Hey Kagome, shouldn't Inuyasha have come back by now?"
"A while ago actually, he's been gone for a few hours." Sango and Miroku looked at each other and back at me, their eyes full of concern. This wasn't like him at all. I tried to sound calm.
"He's been doing this for a couple days now. These 'walks'. He seems really uptight for some reason, I don't know, I just think the best thing right now is to give him some space, you know?" Miroku and Sango were still a little speechless.
"Err, right, but um, don't you even know where he is?" No.
"Yeah, off in the woods."
"Oh. Well. Okay then." Miroku said, not wanting to offend me.
"But-" Sango began to say, before she was interrupted by a sound in the bushes.
"What was that?" I asked. We were all alert and looking directly towards the bush where the sound came from. Kilala was up as fast as a spark, and already on fire, growling intimidatingly at the space before her.
"Ooohhhh." Someone was making or attempting to make an ominous sound. Sango jumped over and in front of Kazuko and Akira, and Miroku held Hana closer to his chest. Suddenly a giant, pink, ball-shaped balloon began emerging from the bushes.
"Ooooh." It said again. Once it was hovering above the bush, it transformed into Shippo, who was falling from mid-air and fell into the bush, bouncing and clutching his stomach as he shook, laughing.
"Shippo!" "Foxy!" Yelled Akira and Hana, who were making their way towards Shippo as they would whenever they saw him.
"SHIPPO! How could you?" Sango scolded.
"I can't believe you bought that! God, if that would've happened during a test I would've been promoted for sure!" He said, and continued laughing as Hana and Akira tackled him. Everyone else just glared at him.
"That wasn't very nice Shippo." I said, trying to make him feel bad and at the same time hide the fact that I was actually really happy to see him.
"Okay, okay fine, I'm sorry. How are you guys doing?"
"Fine, we're just enjoying the afternoon out here." Miroku answered. Hana grabbed him by the ears and pounced on him,
"I slayed you again, Shippo!"
"Girls come on, let the fox be." Miroku said.
"Hey, I was meaning to ask, why was Inuyasha over at Mount Kokoro?" Shippo asked. Mount Kokoro? Wasn't that miles away? Why would he go so far? Miroku and Sango stared at me blankly.
"I… " have not the slightest idea. "I mean, he probably just felt like running." I responded nervously. I didn't want them to make a big deal out of it but at the same time, I was probably the most worried. There was something wrong with him, but what could it be that he couldn't share with me? I just, it made me feel terrible.
"Kagome, you don't know a thing about Mount Kokoro, do you?" Miroku said, his face cocked to one side.
"Well, yeah, it's…" Oh, who am I kidding. "I have no idea."
Miroku looked down. I would've normally expected him to react differently; to laugh maybe.
"Mount Kokoro is the mountain of immortality. Legend, and if you'll allow me to emphasize, it's only a legend, has it that at the very core of the mountain lies a stone, it's a precious stone, thousands of years old. They say that whomever was to have it in their possession would possess the gift of eternal life." We stood in silence. It was as if I had all the pieces were in front of me but I, for some reason couldn't put the obvious together. There was something I wasn't getting, something everyone else already knew.
"Why would Inuyasha want something like that? He's a half-demon, he's going to live long enough as it is…" Shippo looked dubious. We were still quiet. After a moment Miroku answered.
"Kagome had an accident a few weeks ago… He might've…" He stopped himself. Unsure how to continue, watching me, observing my reaction.
"Well, it's okay right? It's fine? It's just a stone after all." Miroku just looked at me, Sango behind him, watching me as well. What wasn't I getting?
"Mount Kokoro is an extremely dangerous place, Kagome. It's beautiful, it has an amazing bright aura of pink and purple but it's one of the most dangerous places known to us. It doesn't have a barrier because it doesn't need one, it has thousands of guardian demons that are dedicated to guarding the stone. Only he who can slay the one thousand guardian demons will be able to prove that he is worthy of the stone." I could see that he had even more to say but he stopped once again after noticing my reaction. I'd fallen, depressed, too saddened to continue listening to him. What has Inuyasha gotten himself into? Oh God, if anything happens to him…
"I… I don't… Why would…" I felt a lump in my throat so heavy I couldn't even formulate a question. Tears filled my eyes.
"Oh, Kagome!" Sango rushed towards me and hugged me. It was a tender embrace but not even that could make me feel less bitter. Kilala, who was now small and about the size of my hands was meowing and rubbing herself across my legs in an attempt to comfort me.
Just as I was trying to put myself together for the sake of everyone around me, he appeared.
"What's going on? Kagome, you okay?" Inuyasha came out of nowhere, and in that same instant I felt my entire body fill with rage.
"Why would you do this Inuyasha?! You idiot!" Inuyasha turned to look at me. First he was confused, but soon his face turned a bright ruby red.
"Err, uh, what are you talking about?" Liar. He knew exactly what I meant.
"Mount Kokoro?! The mountain of immortality, maybe you've heard of it!" Inuyasha glared at everyone else around, looking for a culprit, someone to blame.
I couldn't take it anymore. It was too much tension, I turned my back and stomped off, heading in no particular direction.
"Wait, Kagome!" Inuyasha screamed, emphasizing each syllable of my name, the way he always did when he was trying to get my attention.
"Inuyasha, SIT!" I heard him as he hit the ground while I walked away. I couldn't even bring myself to answer, I just picked up the pace.
Soon enough I arrived at the meadow, the place where the forest and the tall trees stopped and yellow flowers reigned. A beautiful, open field of green, spotted with gold. But as harmonic as it was, it did nothing to ease my anger. I continued walking until I was further into the meadow and I dropped to my knees, then backwards onto my back, embracing the pain began flowing through me as my wounded back hit the ground. I could feel the bruises on my shoulder blades complaining. Moments passed. Maybe even hours. I couldn't tell. My mind was jumbled up.
I tried to stop thinking about it. So stupid! Life was fine the way it was, what would I do if something happened to Inuyasha?
"Kagome?" Right on cue I heard my name being called softly. I didn't need to look to know who it was.
"How long have you been there?"
"A while." Silence. I couldn't say anything.
"Kagome, I'm sorry I didn't tell you about Mount Kokoro." I was still waiting for some kind of explanation. He came and sat next to me, close, yet not touching me. I took a moment to breathe deeply.
"I didn't think you would understand. Kagome, you know I'm not immortal, but I do have demon blood flowing through my veins, and I live so much longer than humans. I'll live ten times longer than you will. And I don't know how I'll live with myself without you. Those three years you were away… it was painful for me. I never thought I'd see you again. And after the accident with the plant demon, I don't know, it just got me thinking. We've been through so much together… the stone… it think it's worth it Kagome." I didn't know how to respond. I hadn't thought about it from that point of view. And even if I had, wasn't it still too dangerous to be worth it?
"But Inuyasha, the guardian demons, there's a thousand of them! Maybe more! You think you'll just be able to get the stone easily?" Then I was angry again. I sat up and looked at him. "You're just being selfish. What if something were to happen you, huh? What then?"
"You're right… I'm sorry." He stopped to look at me. "But we can do this Kagome, I know we can."
"But what if you…" I stopped. I couldn't even say it.
I just reached for his hand, lacing our fingers together, and lay back down. He followed my action, and we both laid there, staring at the vast expanse of the sky above us. We just lay silent.
Thinking.
What if?
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