Hi everyone!
There were so many reviews and views for the last chapter that I'm doing a happy jig up in the clouds, Thank you so much friends! As I said before, I've been having trouble finding time to write because of all the college-work that I have to get done because we only have 2 and a half weeks left! I grin like a fool every time I see a new review and do something silly and anime esque, like falling back on my bed and squealing when I see how many people have viewed the story since I last looked at it. Thanks for making my day just by reading and telling me your thoughts on it.
Constructive Criticism and Questions are always appreciated!
Enjoy the new chapter!
Inuyasha is not mine to take credit for.
Point of view
-X- a later point in time
Kagome
Kagome quickly hid the little red bag inside her white Haori, then picked at the little red string threaded through the end of her sleeve nervously. She could feel his eyes on her and she opened her mouth to ask about what had been weighing heavily on her mind since she woke, but chickened out at the last second and closed it again. This happened several more times until she heard him give a loud, exasperated sigh.
"If you have something to say then spit it out, Wench. You look like a trout with your mouth opening and closing like that."
She blushed in embarrassment and irritation and closed her eyes.
"I do have a name you know, so why don't you try using it? It's not like it's hard to remember, Ka-go-me."
"So? What's that got to do with anything? Because I know that that can't be the reason you were flapping your jaws before."
Kagome's blue eyes were open in an instant, blazing her growing feelings of irritation at him.
"What do you mean, 'what's that got to do with anything?' I have a name and I want you to use it!"
"You want me to, what?! Why the hell does it matter what I call you as long as it's not Hanyou, Half-breed, Filth, or another thing else like that?"
She looked down at the ground suddenly, and said in a much quieter voice.
"Because I would think that you of all people would be able to understand how important a name is."
A heavy silence fell upon the cave and she could tell that he wasn't looking at her anymore. After what felt like an eternity she dared to look up at him through her bangs, only to find him looking at her out of the corner of his eye. Both looked away instantly, but the silence and unasked question was too much for Kagome to take anymore.
"Umm, Inuyasha...about that human who was here, did she-"
"No, she doesn't know you're a Hanyou."
Kagome blinked up at him, with surprise in her eyes.
"I brought her here while you were still human and took her away again when I sensed you were starting to change back, so that way she can't tell anyone."
"Oh...thank you."
Kagome was so surprised that she didn't know what to say. Is that what he thinks is bothering me? She tried to finish what she had been going to say again, but chickened out, again.
"You..you said that she patched up my injuries, r-right?"
"Yeah..."
He answered with the beginnings of a question starting to form in his voice.
"So-so where did these clothes come from?"
"The ones you're wearing?"
He asked with a slight cock of his head, she nodded.
"They're from the Priestess, healer's place. I took them because your flimsy clothes were really messed up and I found some there that looked like they would fit ya."
How would he know if they'd fit me? She blushed but forged ahead.
"If..if they come from the Priestess's hut then...then...why do they smell like you?"
She had her eyes squeezed shut so she didn't see his face go from confusion, to realization, to as red as his Fire Rat Robe. She did look up at him as he started spluttering incoherently, which instantly gave him back his ability to speak.
"S-stupid! They smell like me because I was the one carrying it from the human village to here, not because of..of..whatever you were thinking!"
Kagome released a breath that she didn't know that she had been holding as he ranted on. Well that answers that, I don't know what I would have done if- She realised that he was still talking and smiled up at him. He stopped talking and just blinked at her.
"Thank you, Inuyasha."
"For what?"
"Everything that you've done for me up till now."
She yawned in reply, covering her mouth as she did so.
"Keh! Just get some sleep already."
He said leaning back against the wall and folding his hands into the sleeves of his Hitatare, his eyes drifting closed. He heard her intake breath after she lay back down and decided to cut her off.
"I'm sleeping right here, but I'm a light sleeper so don't worry about anything getting us."
She closed her mouth with a nod and quickly fell asleep. And despite what he said about being a light sleeper, when he woke up he couldn't remember the last time he felt so well rested.
Inuyasha
Inuyasha bounded through the forest, heading towards what had been the territory of the Mistress Centipede. Tree branches whizzed by overhead and his ears flicked to an fore at the fleeting sounds of forest animals, he needed to try to get his mind off of Kagome.
Kagome said that she heard another centipede demon call the Mistress Centipede 'Centipede mother', but Mistress Centipede never lived with other demons. So while Kagome may have thought that was the real name of her, I think that this means that Mistress Centipede must have had some demon spawn that was crying out to their parent as Kagome attacked them. And that means that I have to find 'em all if I'm to be rid of that fucking Mistress Centipede once and for all!
Kagome
He's gone?! Was Kagome's first thought upon waking up and finding herself all alone in the sloping cave. She could smell that he had been there only a few minutes ago, so she got up and carefully tested her body to see how it was recovering. Her ribs and back still hurt, but the other injuries were most of the way healed by now. Well it has been a couple nights and a days, so I should be feeling better by now.
Kagome walked up to the cave's entrance and blinked in the mid morning sunlight, shielding her eyes from it so that she could look around.
The cave was set in a large, high grass field that was surrounded by a thick old forest. Kagome could hear a river running nearby, and the abundance of forest animals lent their sounds to the wind as it worked its way through the trees. She took a deep breath, inhaling the rich smells of the forest, field, and Inuyasha. He had gone off into the forest to the east, which was also the direction at the human village was in she could smell.
I wonder what he's doing? Kagome tilted her head to the side. I desperately want to take a bath, but I can't until all my wounds have healed because we don't have any more bandages, and perhaps I would have to ask permission first as I bet that this is Inuyasha's territory.
She frowned and blushed slightly as that last thought. Maybe I'll just do it without his permission when he's not around, after all I bet that it's easier to ask his forgiveness than his permission. She closed her eyes and stretched her body and other senses as she let the sunlight warm her.
She stiffened at a sudden thought.
I didn't grab the jewel shard that Mistress Centipede had and I know Inuyasha didn't either. So that means that unless some demon trespassed into Inuyasha's territory to get it, then it's still laying where I purified that demon! I have to go get it!
She took off as an easy run through the grass, but had to stop when she reached the woods so that she could find her way back to the clearing where the fight had taken place. It only took a minute to figure out where it was and then she was off running again, heading towards that fated clearing where she met Inuyasha.
-X-
Kagome arrived at the clearing only slightly winded, but really starting to feel her different aches and pains from the fight that happened here. I guess I was hurt a little more than I thought, but I have to find the jewel shard before another demon does.
She could sense that the jewel shard was near, so she started by the stream and worked her way out around the clearing. Checking every grass tuft and under loose rocks, until she had searched the whole clearing without having found the jewel. She plopped down and rested her back against the huge tree that she had been thrown against a few days ago.
Now what? A gentle breeze teased the tree leaves as it drifted by, and a few green leaves started spiraling down.
I know that I can feel it around here, but where could it- One of the leaves that she was just kind of staring at while thinking, suddenly split in two and then peacefully continued its journey to earth. Kagome gasped in fear and upon hearing a familiar soft pluck sound, she was on her feet in a flash. Something incredibly small flashed by her head, only missing it because of Kagome moving it to face another direction before she saw the flash.
She could feel the aura now and all her instincts told her to run as fast and as far away as she could, but then she felt the shard again.
I can't leave the shard here when she's- The aura intensified and Kagome looked up to see that the air was now full of dark thin strands of hair, and looking higher still she saw the demon responsible for them. The almost human looking female demon who looked down at her had short black hair, a very curvy body, and was dressed in an incredibly skimpy and sleeveless black Kimono, was standing easily on a few measly strands of hair about 20 feet in the air above Kagome.
"Oh my. I forgot that you can see my web of hair, but being able to see it won't be enough for you to get away again, Hanyou."
Kagome growled.
"That's not very nice. Aren't you glad to see, Yura of the Hair again? I thought that we had a good time together when last we met. Of course, you still have that jewel shard but I'll be taking it with me this time."
Yura flicked her hand and several dozen strands of hair whipped out at Kagome, who slashed them with her claws. The severed pieces of hair drifted down to the ground or draped themselves over Kagome as she fought to slice the strands that kept coming and cutting her from all sides.
Soon her arms and legs were covered with them and just as Kagome realized her mistake she felt all these strands tighten simultaneously, pinning her arms and legs to her body and trapping her in one place.
"I'll be helping myself to your jewel now."
Yura said as Kagome felt a tug on her little red bag and then saw it flying into one of Yura's hands. She opened it and pulled out the shard within.
"Oh? You still only have one, how disappointing, but maybe it's expecting too much of a Half-Breed to think that you could have more."
Her hand moved to a small pouch at her waist and she took something out.
"But look at that, now I have a pair of shards."
She said as she held both shards up between her fingers. That's why I couldn't find it, Yura had it!
"I still don't understand why you haven't used it yet, you would have had a better chance of beating me if you had."
"Give that back!"
Kagome yelled as she struggled to free herself from the strands.
"Have you come across any other shards in the time you've spent running from me, Hanyou?"
Kagome kept silent while glaring up at Yura, who stared back with an evaluating eye.
"I see. You're not going to tell me, are you?"
She drew her Wakizashi.
"In that case, you may as well die. Don't move around so that I can get a clean cut, we wouldn't want any blood to taint your hair's pretty blue-black color, now would we?"
Yura lept down towards her, and Kagome's heart jumped into her throat. I'm going to die. She screamed in fear, but as she did, she felt a surge of power as a new thought suddenly took control of her mind. No I will not, I refuse to die here. The only thing keeping her in place were the strands of hair wrapped around her, so she did the only thing she could think of. With a blinding flash of pink light, she purified the demonic aura that Yura was using to control the strands.
Yura, who had been jumping down towards Kagome cried out in pain at the first feeling of the purification, throwing off the looped ends of hair she had over her fingers and leaped away to avoid being wholly purified. She landed on the ground but then fell to her knees, body spazzing as the pain of purification ripped through her. Her demonic Wakizashi was admitting a terrible high-pitched vibrating sound, and between her and her sword's pain Yura payed no attention to Kagome.
Kagome had passed out for a second after purifying herself along with Yura and her hair strands, but was awake again in seconds. She struggled for a second to get herself in a good position, then with a grunt of effort she broke free from the now just normal hair strands to fall to her knees.
Her mind barely registered the pain that her body was in as it forced her to her feet, and set her off at a fast run through the forest back the way she had come. Yura will recover soon and I have nothing to defend myself with. Where are you Inuyasha?!
-X-
Back in the clearing, Yura slowly lifted her head and listened to the Hanyou run off into the forest. She knew that she was in no condition to be running after that Filth, but I will be soon. She smiled slightly at where the Hanyou had vanished then yelled as loudly as she could after it.
"I'll have your head for this offence, Hanyou!"
She added quietly to herself.
"Running away won't help you, I can find you anywhere you go. I have the shards now and I know just how to get to you, soft Wolfy-slime."
I love hearing/reading about what you think of this story, so a big Thank You to all those who reviewed the last chapter! We've reached a new record folks! 5 reviews for a single chapter, so a big round of applause for these wonderful people that made this come true!
Layla Thanks! I can't wait for when I'm done writing more of this story too!
jj Welcome back! You were missed, and thanks! I made a couple of different changes to the last chapter so I don't quite know which change you're referring to though.
Marie Allen *blushes* Thank you, and wouldn't you know it, the next chapter will be a InuXKag one too! ;)
crossMIRAGE19 *blushing furiously* Th-thank you! You know that falling on the bed squealing thing I mentioned before, it happens every time I read your review because you are so sweet and nice! I did plan some of it, but not as much as you might think. :3
DemonicEmo *blushing furiously* I'm so happy that you are loving it so far and am honored to be your Inuyasha fix as that is a tall demand considering how great Inuyasha is!
A moment of silence to mourn/ponder the loss of lindaminina37 and the others who have reviewed the other chapters but have been strangely silent for this one, I hope you guys are doing alright and will be back to enjoying the story soon!
Leave a review and I'll thank you too!
Best wishes till next time!
