Lovely Stories =] April. 23rd, 2012 – 11:22PM.
To May. 7th, 2012 – 11:00PM.
[ I am very sorry for the lateness.
I am really busy these days and suuper-stressed out but I really want to finish this story… and it's not even close to being done; from what I want it to be right now. :/
Thanks for the Comments/Reviews! :) You guys are awesome.
Lovely Stories =]
P.S. Kagome's smiles are NOT real until I say they are. I'll put one reminder each until Kagome REALLY smiles, so when that happens, I will probably say, "She smiled a real smile" or something like that; real believable and easy to understand.
Same with the laughs. One reminder each.
P.P.S. Since Kagome disappeared for like three months, I just kinda made the rest of the characters freeze in-time until Kagome came back, so now the rest of these Chapters will be based on Episode 9 and on from the Final Act ** SPOILER ** (Kikyo died in Episode 8). **DONE SPOILER** and yesh, that DOES mean that I'll be moving Kohaku to Sesshomaru in my own way… eh… bah, I'll think of something.
Of course, I'll tweak a few things here and there. Don't say you weren't warned! ;)
** DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN INUYASHA. ALL OF THE CHARACTERS EXCEPT FOR SHINJI AND KENJI BELONG TO RUMIKO TAKAHASI :) ** ]
Chapter Seven: I'm Okay by Myself
Early the next morning, Inuyasha awoke to the smell and sound of something wonderful crackling and sizzling in a unique little item that was round with a long silver handle coming out of it.
He opened his eyes wide and stared intently at it.
Kagome, on the other hand, was the one cooking the food in the pan, and she noticed Inuyasha staring at it like it was a foreign object. And of course, it was.
"It's a pan," she muttered to Inuyasha.
Inuyasha's ears flexed; wondering if he heard that right. Was Kagome talking to him?
He looked intently at her, now, and Kagome found it kind of disconcerting. She shuffled a bit to the side. "I'm cooking bacon. It'll be done in a good six minutes."
Inuyasha cocked his head and almost smiled, but quickly hid it. He couldn't believe that Kagome was talking to him! "… 'Bacon'?" he asked. "What in the world is that?"
"It's ham." she replied bluntly. She didn't even know why she was talking to him.
"Oh." said Inuyasha. He sat there in his dog-like pose; two hands on the floor matted by his big and flowing Fire-Rat sleeves, and his feet planted on the floor just like a dog's hind-legs. He didn't know where to look. "Where did you get this 'Bacon'?" he asked, trying to strike a conversation. I mean, it's not like she actually went and killed a pig… right? he thought to himself.
Kagome narrowed her eyes at him. "I didn't kill any defenseless animals, if that's what you mean." She tossed the bacon with skill (Inuyasha stared at it in admiration, then at her) and pushed it more to the middle.
Inuyasha sniffed the air. Smelled good.
"I got it back in my Era. Back when everyone fell asleep at like 3AM. I was still awake, so I ran back to my place to grab some stuff and left a note for my family to let them know where I was if they didn't already know. But I hadn't been back here in a while, so they might've called up the police or something…" her voice trailed off and she bit her lip, looking at the floor for a milli-second, then back to the bacon. "… you never know. Better to be safe than sorry." She paused. "So I grabbed this bacon, since you guys are probably hungry, and I brought back this pan and my own pot and kettle and returned the other one at like 4:00AM, which was when I got back. Oh, and I also grabbed some extra-condiments and a jacket and a T-shirt. And a pair of sunglasses and a cap." She almost smiled when she remembered Inuyasha wearing caps in her Era whenever he had to cover up his ears around the public eye. "And last but not least, I grabbed some extra treats for everybody." She turned to her backpack behind her. "Which explains why my back-pack is extra-large compared to last night."
"Wait, hold-up, hold-up…" Inuyasha held a hand in-front of his face and dropped it. "You left? At like 3AM in the morning to go back to your Era? How in the world did you manage to find your way out of this forest and back to your Era and back here in-time to cook breakfast? And same for the hut wherever the heck you found the pot? Weren't you scared?" he asked, the questions pouring out of his mouth like rapid-fire. "Why didn't you wake one of us to help you carry the stuff?"
Kagome glared at him. "I'm not a baby, you know. I can take care of myself, thank-you very much. I don't need to be around you guys 24/7. Geez, get a grip." she said somewhat rudely. Once she said that, she immediately wanted to take it back when she saw Inuyasha's hurt face. I should I never said that, she thought to herself. I don't know what came over me.
Wanting to avoid conversation, she flipped the bacon once more, turning back to it. The fire crackled and Kagome brought out her kettle, pouring hot water on it to douse the fire. The flames slowly died out as Kagome stomped on it to get the remaining sparks out.
Once that was done, she placed the pan on a smooth rock placed conveniently to the side of her; where she had placed the plants late last night while cooking the soup. "Can you please let everyone know that breakfast is ready? I'd appreciate the help." She mumbled to Inuyasha, refusing to say his name. "Thank-you."
Inuyasha looked at Kagome, feeling a tiny portion of his heart start to break. The tiniest-break. "Sure thing, Kagome." Her name rolled right off his tongue; it was like second-nature to him. He'd never tire of saying it. He was about to say something more; something to confront her, perhaps, but Shippo had yawned, cutting him off.
Oh come on Shippo, really? Just when I was going to talk to Kagome for real? Inuyasha thought inwardly to himself, shaking his head, glaring daggers at the innocent Fox-Demon, unaware of him glaring at him.
Shippo yawned, stretched, and smacked his lips as Inuyasha went to wake the others.
Shippo opened his eyes sleepily and sniffed the air. "Something smells good, Kagome." he said, his voice drowsy. "Whazzit?" He rubbed his eyes, sitting up from the comfortable position of lying against Kirara since Kagome had put him there when she had left earlier that morning to grab some stuff.
Kagome gave him a (not-real) smile. "Thanks, Shippo. It's bacon. Basically ham. And it tastes really good." She took one out of the pan with the chopsticks she used to cook with. "Here yah go." she gave one to his outstretched hands.
"Thanks, Kagome!" he said, sniffing it, now wide awake. "It looks and-"- he took a bite- "- tastes soo good! You should get more of this stuff!" In no-time at all, he had finished the bacon, licking the juices off of his small petit fingers.
Kagome smiled proudly. "I only added a bit of pepper, but thank-you. It means a lot. And maybe… I only grabbed this much."
When Shippo cocked his head, she told the same story she told Inuyasha about her returning to her Era to grab some stuff, including the bacon.
By this time, the others had woken up and had said "Good-morning" to everybody.
Kagome responded back with a fake bright-sun-shiny smile and she gave each of them a piece of bacon. "Hope you guys like it!"
"I sure did!" said Shippo raising his hand. "If you guys don't want it, I'll take it. Don't waste food!" he said cockily, crossing his arms and closing his eyes.
"Oh, Shippo." laughed Kagome feebly. It didn't even feel like a real laugh, for goodness sakes. She sighed, shaking her head, until she noticed two more pieces left.
One for her (if she wanted it, she could have it) and one for Inuyasha.
Swallowing, she approached him leaning on the tree that he had slept against. "Here you go." she mumbled, holding out the piece of still-warm bacon with the chopsticks.
"Thanks." he muttered, taking the bacon graciously. "Looks great, Kagome."
Kagome nodded. "Thank-you." Then she walked away.
Inuyasha stared after her as she began to converse with the others, earning a few curious looks from Miroku and Sango.
He looked away, spitting at the ground, pretending he wasn't interested before biting into the bacon.
He nearly melted down to the floor it was so good.
He gobbled it all down greedily and understood why Shippo had wanted the other's bacon.
Once everyone was done their breakfast, they got ready to go and look for Naraku once more.
They decided to walk since Kagome had run all the way there and may have still been tired; she insisted that she wasn't but they didn't believe her.
Kagome walked in the front with Shippo on her shoulder, a little bit away from the others.
Meanwhile, the rest of the gang started to have a conversation in hushed tones.
"Inuyasha?" asked Sango, hesitantly. She was walking with Miroku, with Kohaku behind them, holding Kirara. Inuyasha was walking in-front of them.
"What is it?" asked Inuyasha, not turning around. Sango had a vague feeling that his eyes were glued on Kagome.
"Umm…" Sango nudged Miroku, who cleared his throat. "Right. Inuyasha, we noticed this morning that you were awake before us. And we were just wondering… well-"
"We were just wondering if you had talked to Kagome." Sango butted in.
Inuyasha stopped in his tracks for a brief moment, then he began to walk just a little bit faster; losing a small portion of the gap between him and Kagome.
"What do you mean by 'talked'?" stalled Inuyasha.
"We mean, like… umm… you know… talked talked." said Sango. She heard Kohaku giggle beside her and she nudged him to stop. He stopped but continued to smile.
"… what?"
"Oh come now my dear Sango, do you think he'll respond to you in that way?" whispered Miroku. Sango frowned and crossed her arms. "Let me try. Perhaps I can get him to talk." Sango rolled her eyes but nodded.
Miroku gave her a trusting smile and strode up to Inuyasha with ease. All those months of running had really given him a good pace and a good stride. "What Sango meant was if you had talked to Kagome yet… said 'Sorry' to her and, well, made up with her during the time we were asleep."
Inuyasha shifted his gaze from the ground up to the ground, his eyes softening.
He then looked away, turning his head to the left so he wouldn't see Kagome or Miroku. But that was silly, because Inuyasha would never not see Kagome. She was all-too-familiar with him.
"No." he mumbled. "We just talked about her bacon. And why would I have to make up with her? I shouldn't have to apologize for anything." He crossed his arms and immediately regretted saying that. He knew that he had to say "Sorry" to Kagome. He just wouldn't do it now. He'd know when.
"You jerk!" stormed up Sango, running right to the side of Inuyasha's face and slapping it. Her face was red and she breathed heavily. "Are you seriously not going to apologize for the damage you caused Kagome?" she pointed a finger at him. "You are just a vile, rude, disgusting person and I am certainly most glad that I am not in-love with you and that I'm in love with someone el-" her face reddened even more and she slapped a hand across her mouth.
Blushing profusely, she walked backwards down to the back of the line and walked behind them all, her expression filled with absolute embarrassment.
Miroku smiled smugly. "And I almost thought she'd confess, too." He looked back at Sango and then back and Inuyasha, whose face was still stinging from the slap.
Man, that girl can slap a person's face hard, he thought to himself, rubbing his cheek. At first he was shocked, but he didn't want to show it, so he covered it up a smirk. The words that Sango yelled at him still echoed in his head, but he ignored that. "Yeah, well, that's women for yah."
Miroku shook his head, smiling. "I'll go talk to Sango. Take this as your moment to talk to Kagome…" he looked ahead and his voice trailed off. "… where'd she go?"
Inuyasha's eyes widened and he looked ahead as well. Kagome and Shippo had both disappeared!
Panicking, Inuyasha told Miroku to stay right there with the others until he found the two. His heart beat fast as he ran off, hoping and praying that Kagome wasn't in any sort of danger.
And Shippo, of course, too.
Kagome, he thought. Don't you dare be in any kind of trouble once I find you.
[ Parachutes- Paper Birds
^ Makes me wanna write + has a sense of lightness, happiness, a music-box, and imagination.
Chapter Finished + Edited by me on: May. 7th, 2012.
Sorry for the major long wait once again.
When is Chapter 8 coming out? I'm not making any promises. So I'm not setting a date. Whenever I have free time. Right now I'm pooped. And majorly stressed.
And I'm sorry for such a ridiculously short Chapter. Only 1996 words. Kind of silly to be that short. Hopefully the next one will be much longer.
Thanks,
Lovely Stories =]
P.S. I'm thinking of doing a Ranma ½ Story. I'm itching to do it. Same genre with the hurt and sadness with a little bit of love mixed in it… yeah. Maybe I shouldn't start it yet because I am nowhere near done this, but yeah… jut an idea. Lemme know what you think.
P.P.S. Sorry for not responding to messages! I'll do that… when I find the time. ]
