"Aww, this one is cracked," Kagome said, sighting along an arrow, "Guess it's time to toss it."
"You should probably purchase some more, Nushi," DarkWind said, peering into the quiver, "You are getting low."
"You're probably right," she agreed. "There might be a fletcher here in the village."
If not, there was one nearby, she knew. She remembered meeting Emi of the bow. She must have someone near here that sold arrows.
Kagome suddenly remembered the challenge she had been issued, to an archery contest...after InuYasha had annoyed Emi by bragging to her. About Kagome's archery skills.
Emi's voice flashed through her mind, "He told me someone named Kagome was a much better archer than I was! Said she had more skill, and was more talented at it! Said she was cuter than me, too!"
Kagome faltered as she gazed down at her bow.
I wonder...I wonder where they are, right now.
"Uh...Nushi?"
Kagome looked up at DarkWind, and saw him looking back the way they had come. He had an odd look on his face. Kagome turned, following his gaze, and was surprised to see InuYasha walking towards her.
For a second, she was confused, wondering why he had come out there, but she suddenly saw the look on his face, and her heart sank.
"Oh no," she murmured, "Oh no, oh no."
"Kagome! I want to talk to you!"
He wasn't angry, he was utterly livid.
Kagome dropped the arrows she had been holding, utterly shocked, and not knowing what on earth to do. What had happened? Had Chichiko told him something? What was she going to do?
She bent, picking up the fallen arrows in her hands, stuffing them wildly into her quiver as he marched up to her, and stood before her.
Steeling herself, Kagome stood up, and looked into his face.
His golden eyes were fixed on her, and Kagome shivered. She had never seen him looking so angry, not at her.
"Well you did it this time, congradulations!" he practically snarled, "I hope you're happy."
"What...InuYasha, what are you talking about?" she asked, weakly.
"I'm talking about what you did! What the hell did you think you were doing?! You utterly mortified Chichiko, she's in her hut and probably won't come out for days!"
"I don't-"
"I think if a hole had opened up then and there she would have crawled into it and died! Who the hell told you to play match-maker!?"
Kagome's heart started to pound. Oh he was angry. He was so angry.
"You had no right doing this! I don't need someone trying to set me up with someone I don't even know! I don't need someone setting me up with anyone!"
"Inu-"
"You sent her out there thinking her and I might get together!? Really?! So, what, you just decided to throw me to the nearest person, is that it!?"
"NO!" Kagome cried, shaking her head. She could feel tears threatening, she was upset and a little scared. He hadn ever yelled at her like that, "It's not like that at all!"
He crossed his arms, "So what were you going to get out of this deal, huh?"
"Stop it!" Kagome yelled, "You're talking like I was selling you off or something! It wasn't like that!"
"Then what was it like, Kagome, huh? Tell me!"
DarkWind stepped forward, frowning, "InuYasha-Warrior, low-'
InuYasha rounded on DarkWind, hands out, claws flashing. DarkWind blinked, startled, only managing to phase out before the hanyou's claws landed.
"You stay the hell out of this!" InuYasha roared, "This is between me and her, it's none of your business!"
~DarkWind, go.~ Kagome mentally spoke.
~Nushi, are you sure? I don't-~
~Please.~ she said, miserably.
Unhappily, DarkWind faded from sight.
InuYasha, seeing the Kageri vanish, turned, and glared at her again. His golden gaze felt it was burning holes in her.
"So? Go ahead, you were going to explain all this!"
"I...I just..." Kagome swallowed, and tried to marshall her words, "This is such a wonderful village, InuYasha. I mean...there are so many here, and no one looks down on anyone else, or...I thought, this would be a perfect place for you! If you could just find someone here...I mean, you're hanyou, and she-"
InuYasha took a step back.
She knew it was a mistake the minute it left her mouth, only she couldn't pull it back in again. The look of utter shock, then a flash of hurt, on InuYasha's face, hit her like a punch in the stomach. But the anger welled back to the surface.
"Oh, I see it now! Sure! Makes sense, right? I'm hanyou, so I should just be paired with the nearest hanyou. Keeping those alike together! Just throw us in a pen or something, right!?"
"No!" Kagome tried to wipe the tears from her eyes, cursing them, "That's not what I meant and you kn-!"
"Well it sure as hell sounded like it's what you meant," he growled, "And stop crying. Just stop it right now."
Kagome sniffled, trying her best to force them back, swallowing hard. Everything had gone to hell so quickly. She had known she was risking him being upset, but she didn't expect him to be angry. Not like this. Not at her. InuYasha was never angry at her.
"Listen, Inu-"
"I've heard enough," he said, his voice low and hard, "This takes the cake. I don't know what to say, I don't even know what to think. It's bad enough you humiliated Chichiko. That's bad enough."
"I'm so-"
"But you told her I didn't love anyone!" he roared at her, fangs flashing, "If you don't care about me anymore, I can't do anything about that, but don't you dare deny my love for you!"
Kagome sobbed, "I'm sorry, InuYasha, I'm so sorry. I wasn't thinking, I-"
"Yeah, you "weren't thinking"," he said, turning away. He couldn't meet her eyes anymore, "You thought too damn much."
He turned, and started walking away from her, away from the village.
Kagome wiped the tears from her eyes, voice full of tears, "InuYasha? Where are you going?"
"Out there somewhere," he called back over his shoulder, "I don't feel like company tonight."
"But..." she fell silent, watching as he walked to the edge of the forest, and leapt into the trees, vanishing from sight within minutes.
Kagome turned, looking back to where she had spilled her arrows. Silently, she walked to them, and started picking them up.
She put one back into the quiver, and picked up another. Kagome gazed at it in silence for a second, then burst into tears, sittting on the ground.
DarkWind appeared beside her, kneeling, "Ah Nushi."
"Why was I so stupid?!" she sobbed, "I should have known how he'd feel. I treated him like a book or s-s-something, to just be t-t-traded away."
DarkWind touched her shoulder, and she turned, her hands over her face, leaning against his chest, sobbing.
"I've always told him it didn't matter b-b-being a h-hanyou, and then I g-go and ss-say that! I'm so STUPID!"
DarkWind sighed, lightly patting her back, "No, Nushi, you are not stupid. But you made a terrible mistake."
"I could see the hurt in his face when it came out. Oh God, I never meant it like that at all! I hurt him, DarkWind, I hurt him so much."
DarkWind lightly brushed her hair, and held her while she cried.
The moon was starting to grow in the sky. The new moon was over, and it was growing towards full. Soon there would be a full moon, nice and bright.
InuYasha sat up in the tree, back to the trunk, eyes closed, arms crossed, one foot dangling over the edge.
His fingers tapped a frenzied rhythm on his upper arms, trying to calm himself down. Emotions surged inside him, each fighting for control. The hanyou had no idea what to do with any of them. He had run until he was almost exhausted. But his mind wasn't.
How could she do that? Just...try to set me and Chichiko up? Am I that much of a bother to have around? Is my love for her that annoying, that upsetting? GodsDamnit, Kagome, why did you do that? How could you just...try to give me away to someone?
Her voice came to him, "I mean, you're hanyou, and she-"
His mental voice was vicious, angry, Yeah. I'm hanyou. I'm different. I should be with my own kind.
He opened his eyes, looking down to the ground below. Maybe he should run again. Just run and run until he was so tired he could sleep.
You're always telling me it didn't matter I'm hanyou. You told me you didn't care. You told me it meant nothing. Were they all lies? Were you just lying to me all this time?
InuYasha glared out over the forest.
She wants me gone so GodsDamn bad, maybe I should go find Kikyo and stay away for a while.
He clenched his fists.
He didn't want to find Kikyo. He wanted Kagome. And he wanted her to tell him this whole thing had been a stupid dream he had had, one that made no sense, one that he could just forget. That was what he wanted.
He sighed, putting a hand to his face.
I just want to sleep. I want to wake up in the hut and learn this was a stupid dream.
A blur of colors formed beside him, and he reached for his Tetsusaiga, tensing.
He relaxed his hold on the blade when he saw it was DarkWind phasing into being near him, but he didn't relax.
"You get the hell away from me," InuYasha snarled, "I don't want to see your face."
DarkWind appeared to be standing on nothing as he stood near InuYasha. The Kageri spoke, "I came to speak to you of Nushi, InuYasha-Warrior."
He glared, and started to rise, "I don't want to hear anything she's sent you to tell me, DarkWind, go the hell home."
"Nushi did not send me, InuYasha-Warrior, I came on my own. Nushi does not know I am here."
InuYasha paused, narrowing his eyes, "I didn't think you could do that."
"Nor did I," the Kageri said, startling InuYasha. But DarkWind pushed on.
"Nushi would be very angry with me if she knew I was here, InuYasha-Warrior, so please, hear me out. I do this because I want to help her."
InuYasha turned, presenting his back to DarkWind, standing on a branch, "I told you, I'm not interested in hearing anything you, or she, has to say. Get lost."
"InuYasha-Warrior, Nushi did what she did because she is frightened."
"Frightened? Oh please, frightened of what?"
"Of you."
InuYasha did not move, "Give me a break."
"Of her feelings for you, InuYasha-Warrior."
An ear moved. There was a pause, and slowly, InuYasha turned, looking over his shoulder at DarkWind. His eyes were narrowed, distrustful, "What are you saying?"
DarkWind sighed, "InuYasha-Warrior...Nushi has told you, many times, she does not care for you in the manner of a lover anymore, that you are as a friend to her."
"Yeah, so?"
"She is lying."
InuYasha blinked, turning completely around, "What...what are you saying?"
DarkWind rubbed his face. He was completely going against his Nushi, and it felt so horribly wrong. Yet how was he to help her, if he did not talk to InuYasha-Warrior and make him understand?
He blinked when he felt InuYasha grab his arm, "Talk to me, what are you saying?"
"I must have your word on this, InuYasha-Warrior. You must never tell Nushi I am telling you what I am telling you."
Anger crossed his face, "Just tell me what you-"
"No!" DarkWind pulled his arm out of InuYasha's grasp, "I am going against my Nushi's orders. I should not even be able to do this, InuYasha-Warrior. I want to help her and you, but I will not if you cannot promise me you will do your very best keeping from her that I am breaking my bond to her."
InuYasha muttered a curse, but nodded, "Fine. I promise. I'll do everything I possibly can to keep her from knowing you're telling me...whatever it is you're telling me!"
DarkWind nodded, then settled on the branch next to InuYasha. InuYasha seated himself, watching the Kageri closely.
"Nushi loves you, InuYasha-Warrior. It is there, deep within her heart. A lover's love, not a friend's. I know this for a certainty, because I have seen it in her heart."
InuYasha looked to the forest floor, eyes wide, his heart pounding. She loved him? She loved him again?
He gathered himself, getting ready to leap to the forest floor. DarkWind grabbed his sleeve, yanking him back down, "Where do you think you are going!?"
Golden eyes glared at black ones, "I...you just..."
DarkWind muttered something that InuYasha guessed was a curse in some strange language, and then spoke again, "I just told you you cannot go running back to her and tell her I let you know!"
"You think I'm just gonna sit here, and-"
"Yes, because you have no choice!"
InuYasha blinked.
"You must let me finish. Nushi loves you, but it is hidden so tightly within herself, InuYasha-Warrior, that she has only just now become aware of it. And the brutal, simple truth is that she does not want to love you in that manner."
"What!? Why!?"
"Because you hurt her," DarkWind said, and his voice hardened, "You hurt her, InuYasha-Warrior. More than once. Each time you tell her you love only her, and then you run off again. Do you not see how she would desire to be free of that?"
InuYasha fell silent, mentally cursing. After a second, he looked away, "Yeah."
The kageri's voice softened, "But it is there, InuYasha-Warrior. It is. And because Nushi sensed this, she panicked. She did not want to just toss you away. She truly thought that this Chichiko would be a good match for you."
"Because she's hanyou?"
"Yes. Because, as hanyou, you would understand each other, you would never feel uneasy around her, and you would be more likely to settle in this village, surrounded by others."
InuYasha settled a little, seething. What DarkWind said made sense. It did sound like something Kagome would do...would consider.
But it still hurt. And he still seethed.
"So what the hell do you suggest I do? Just pretend I don't know that there might be some sort of chance?"
"Yes."
"Don't be an idiot, I can't do that!"
DarkWind looked closely at InuYasha, and spoke, "InuYasha-Warrior, how much do you love Nushi?"
InuYasha blinked, leaning back a little, "Wh-what?"
"How much do you love her?"
"I..that..."
DarkWind frowned, "If you cannot answer such a simple question, it does not bode well."
"Shut up! I love her, alright? I'd do anything for her! I've done some pretty Godsdamn stupid stuff, and I'll probably keep doing it, if she asks!"
DarkWind smiled, "Excellent. Willingness to make a fool of oneself is a wonderful measurement of affection!"
"What? Are you cr-'
"Now then. If you truly wish to win her back, InuYasha-Warrior, you are going to have to be strong. Perhaps stronger than you have ever been."
"What are you talking about?"
"If you approach Nushi with this, InuYasha-Warrior, if you start talking to her about how you feel, especially hinting that you are aware that perhaps she feels the same, I tell you Nushi will bolt. She will push you away, and shove the love in her heart so deep it may never see the light of day again."
InuYasha fell silent.
"You have started fire before, yes? With two pieces of wood?"
"Er...yeah," InuYasha blinked, confused. Wood?
"Then you know you cannot rush the fire. You must create the friction, the warmth. Add the shavings, the food on which the fire is to grow, and breathe ever so gently on it. Only when the warmth finally makes the first flame, can you feed that fire. When you see the first flicker of flame, you do not start piling wood upon it. You keep your eye on it and feed it small pieces of wood to make it grow."
InuYasha said nothing.
"So it will be with Nushi's love, InuYasha-Warrior. You must not push her, in any way. Add warmth, make sure there are shavings, and patiently wait for the flames."
"That's what I've been doing all this time!" InuYasha growled, "And it's getting me nowhere!"
"Ah," DarkWind smiled, "But now you have already seen the first flame, yes? You now know it has lit."
InuYasha fell silent. He looked at the Kageri. Memories of holding Kagome in the cave came back to him, the warmth, the softness of her voice.
She let me hold her.
DarkWind stood up, "I will return now. Nushi is...she is very upset over what has happened, InuYasha-Warrior. I will try to make her see things are not as bad as they truly seem. You, I assume, will stay out here tonight?"
"Yeah, I..." InuYasha sat on the branch again, looking out over the forest, not really seeing any of it, "I'm still angry. It's stupid, but..."
"It is not stupid. Things are as they are. Rest here, and return in the morning. She will most likely wish to talk and talk of this, and apologise until she is blue in the face. And cry. You will let her. And you will accept her apology."
InuYasha glared at him, "You just said she didn't mean-"
"Nor did she. But unless you accept her apology, she will think you hate her. So even though you both know no offense was meant, you will tell her you accept, and that will make her happier, and thus you will both be able to relax a little more around each other. It is good."
DarkWind stood up again, on nothing, and prepared to leave.
"Hey, wait."
The Kageri looked over his shoulder at InuYasha. The hanyou was looking hard at him.
"Why are you helping me?"
DarkWind blinked, "InuYasha-Warrior?"
"Why are you helping me? You told me you loved Kagome, so why bother helping me?"
DarkWind turned, and spoke gently, "I told you once, InuYasha-Warrior, that Kageri do not feel jealousy. I do love Nushi. I would not be offended nor upset if she came to you for love. As long as she is happy, I am happy. Besides...I like you, InuYasha-Warrior. You and Nushi are good for each other."
InuYasha blinked.
"Although, please be aware," DarkWind spoke, "That if you ever hurt my Nushi, I would be forced to harm you. And I would truly hate to do so."
InuYasha blinked again, "Hey, don't you tell-"
DarkWind phased out.
He re-appeared next to her, as she lay, sleeping. She had returned to the hut late, not wanting to talk to Miroku or Sango. She had cried herself into exhaustion, and when she slipped into her sleeping bag, she had gone out like a light.
DarkWind studied her sleeping face, and smiled. He gently leaned forward, and placed a kiss on her cheek.
Do not worry, my Nushi. I will make all things right for you, you will see. And you will smile again.
He settled down beside her, closed his eyes, and slept.
END
