Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha. I only own the things in my room. =(

Chapter 8: Housekeeping and Valentine's

Hi all! Thank you for reading Protected Pain! I hope I didn't take too long to get this chapter up- usually I finish two chapters before uploading the next one (i.e. finish both chapters 7 and 8 before posting 7), but this time I've only finished a single paragraph in chapter 9. But here's chapter 8. I'll hurry up and do chapter 9... but I'm having a mental block on it, as well as headache.
Sorry for the wait and a very big thank you for the reviews! ^^


"So you are saying that this well leads to Kagome's house?" Koga asked, bewildered. Kagome had promised to be back in a week, then jumped into the dry well. He couldn't catch her in time- she certainly would have injured herself jumping from this height- but when he looked down, Kagome had disappeared.

"To be precise, to Kagome's time," the exterminator replied, as Shippo nodded.

"We've all tried to get through the well, but it only admits Inuyasha and Kagome-sama."

Koga's ears twitched in annoyance as he heard the mutt's name. Without another word, he jumped into the well.

"Aw, damn it," came Koga's voice echoing up the well. The gang looked at each other and shrugged.


"I'm home," Kagome said. For a moment, she was stunned. It appeared as though she had stumbled into a room of utter chaos- her mother and grandfather's tones of anxiety and worry, her brother's groans of pain. She took one moment to collect herself, and ran to the source of the noise.

Souta was in a heap under the staircase, face drained of colour, a lump forming on his forehead and ankle twisted in an unnatural manner. He groaned in pain.

"Call an ambulance! An ambulance!" yelled her grandpa, almost hysterical.

As her mother ran to do so, Kagome said, "Wait!"

"Wait? Souta's condition is serious!"

Kagome knelt by Souta, who looked like he was going to faint. "I'll heal him."

"Kagome?"

She put her hand gently on her brother's shoulder, accessing his condition. It was quite bad, but she had the confidence to heal them. With three other energy sources, it was no problem.

The golden glow first numbed Souta's pain. "Don't move yet," Kagome warned. She proceeded to mend the blood vessels on Souta's forehead, then worked on his back. It was a serious injury- the drain in her energy was significant.

"Souta, hold out your hand," Kagome whispered. She tapped on his energy- giving a gasp, Souta pulled his hand back. "Relax," Kagome insisted, and drew a quarter of Souta's strength. Still, it wasn't enough to heal his back completely.

Using both her mother and grandfather's energy- not all, of course- she managed to heal Souta's back and ankle. The golden glow wavered, and Kagome removed her palm from Souta.

"All is healed but the non-life-threatening bruises on your arms and legs," Kagome said. "How do you feel now?"

Souta stood up and stretched himself. "It's just a dull ache everywhere."

Kagome nodded. "That's only to be expected. Though perhaps you should go for a check-up in case I missed out anything." She yawned. "I'm going to replenish my strength."

"Nee-chan's amazing," Souta said. The two adults, at a loss of words, nodded mutely.


Koga sighed as he heard the protestations that Ginta and Hakkaku made. He knew they would react negatively about this; the two had followed him since they were young wolves, even before he was made chief. They were the only surviving members after Kagura's slaughter. They shared an aim- to defeat Naraku. They were his closest mates. But still… no.

"Stop whining, you two!" Koga snapped. Ginta and Hakkaku looked hurt. Koga sighed. He really didn't want to do this, but it was necessary. "Guys, I know you are very loyal to me. You're my best buddies. But as of now, I need the two of you to leave me. Listen," Koga said, as they started to protest. "With the two of you around, I cannot properly take care of Kagome. All three of you are liabilities- if Kagome gets hurt, you know how much it'll hurt me in turn. If you two are in danger, I'll need to ensure your safety as well. You see how much that will restrict me? All Naraku needs to do is to keep targeting the two of you and Kagome and I'll never have time to attack him. Surely you want me to avenge our brothers' deaths!"

Koga glared at them, daring them to say the contrary. At the moment, he had Ginta and Hakkaku at a loss of words; that was good.

"Then where do we go?" Ginta whined.

Koga had thought it through, so it wasn't hard for him to answer.

"Go to the northern clan- Ayame's grandfather. While you are there, help to protect their can, and make sure you brush up your skills. When you are confident to fight alongside me, join me again."

"But won't Ayame kill you if she knew you were with sis?" Hakkaku asked.

"Well, just say that you two are too much a burden to me while seeking Naraku."

Stab! thought Ginta and Hakkaku.

"But if she plans to join me, dissuade her at all costs!" Koga said, shuddering.

By evening, the duo were ready to go.

"I suppose this is goodbye, Boss."

"Just for a while, while the two of you improve yourselves."

"Boss, take care! And to sis too…"

"Yes. Don't the two of you dare die! Return as my worthy companions."

"Farewell, boss!" "We'll miss you!"

Koga waved. Before long, the two wolves were just brown dots in the distance.

"Was there really a need to send them away, Koga?" Miroku said, coming around. Koga said nothing.

"You just want to make sure they don't die because of you, right?" Shippo asked.

"In a way," he replied. "I want to kill Naraku as soon as possible."

For so many reasons, he thought as the image of Kagome loomed into his mind.


"Kagome!" called Yuka, as the three of them caught up with Kagome.

"Are you okay now, Kagome?" Ayumi asked. "Your grandpa said that you had slipped in the bath!"

Slipped in the bath? Makes Souta's almost a coincidence. "I'm fine now."

As they walked to class, Kagome thought about Souta. He had slipped down the stairs after coming out of the shower. But after Kagome worked her "magic" on him, he was completely healed. Kagome didn't want to think about how it'd be if she wasn't around, or worse, if it had been jii-chan who fell. After she healed Souta, jii-chan had searched the shrine from top to bottom for records of such power. He didn't find any, much to Kagome's disappointment.

"This gift must be really rare!" he exclaimed. Of course, that was the bright side. Privately, Kagome wished there to be records. If there were, she would have an inkling of how far her power could be pushed. Her own strength had not been sufficient to heal Souta. And yet… when they fight Naraku, there would probably be more casualties. Her strength… was not enough. But how to hone it? She didn't know. Kaede-sama, who seemed to know everything, couldn't say either.

"What about you, Kagome?" Yuka asked.

"Huh?"

"We're going to Ayumi's later- to make chocolate for Valentine's tomorrow!" Eri said.

"Oh!" Valentine's day… Originally, I was looking forward to making chocolate for Inuyasha. But now… "Yeah, sure." Her heart felt really heavy. Inuyasha… She sighed. And I really anticipated this.

"Eri, you are giving yours to Kyle, right?" Yuka asked.

"Wh-what? You are going out with Kyle, Eri-chan?" Kagome spluttered. Kyle? That annoying friend of Hojou's? "Since when?"

"Some time ago," she replied vaguely. "What about you three?"

Yuka refused to say. Ayumi wanted to give it to the entire class. Kagome... "To my family, I guess." And the gang.

Inuyasha…!

The three of them looked at each other worriedly. Love should be a touchy subject right now for Kagome. Since her two-timing boyfriend dumped her, Kagome's face was that of an icy mask. As the day drew to a close and they found themselves in Ayumi's kitchen, the ice surrounding the mask grew thicker and thicker.


"Return home safely!"

Kagome and Souta waved to their mother and headed for school. When Kagome returned from Ayumi's yesterday, Souta was impressed with the chocolate that Kagome had made. Kagome laughed dryly and said, "Let's see how much chocolate you get tomorrow," making him blush. She had made one each for her family members, and everyone in the gang. Koga, Ginta and Hakkaku were included.

School was exploding with giggles, gossiping and wolf-whistling. Kagome had to fight her way through girls who blushingly presented their chocolate to guys they liked and guys who teased their buddies upon seeing chocolates under their desks. She passed by B class and saw Hojou looking slightly let down, rummaging through the chocolate under his desk. Kagome felt a small sense of guilt, and hoped that Hojou was not looking for chocolates from her.

Classes passed in relative chaos, for everyone was fidgety and restless. Well, almost everyone. While the people in class were gossiping together or sneaking a bite of chocolate, Kagome diligently took down notes of the lesson and listened to class. Without Inuyasha, Valentine's day held no attraction to her.

When the bell finally rang, Kagome was proceeding to do her math assignment. Yuka pulled her pen out of her hand and pushed Kagome to join the other two.

Eri was talking merrily about Kyle's reaction to her chocolate. Suddenly, she asked, "Do you hate him, Kagome?"

"Hate him? No," she replied. But I don't like him. She remembered how Kyle had fired an arrow at her the previous archery lesson. Was he testing her? Anyhow, Kagome didn't like him.

"I should introduce the three of you to him one day," Eri murmured. "He's really quite nice. Just don't think of stealing him."

No way that'd happen, Kagome thought as a silver haired hanyo appeared in her mind.


Kagome ran towards the range. She was late- Matsumoto-sensei had called her back on some housekeeping matters. Kagome had gestured for the other three to go ahead without her. She bowed to the instructor and ran to join Ayumi and the others. Everyone was even more hyped up than before, something Kagome had thought impossible, and many were gathered in two main groups some distance away.

"What are we supposed to do?"

"Just practice shooting. 25 metre mark first."

Kagome nodded and picked up a bow. Apart from trying her energy absorption ability, she had tried also in firing specific targets on the demons. That spot on the belly. This part of the neck. There, between its eyes. But it was a moving target- although the demons were vanquished anyway, it was not exactly an effective training.

Kagome drew her bow, and fired.

Hit, right in the centre.

She fired again.

Bullseye.

And again.

Yes!

After another seven successive hits, the instructor pointed her to the 50 metre targets. The class stared in awe, and Hojou desperately tried to be "promoted" too. Kagome narrowed her eyes and released the arrow. It hit the targetboard, but missed the centre.

She worked hard at it for another half an hour. In that span of time, a few others had joined her in the 50 metre range. Hojou waved at her and fired intently. Somehow, the two classes of students were less noisy and more focused than before. Kagome looked around to see Kyle practicing beside Eri and the others. She shrugged, and continued aiming.

At long last, five successive hits right on target.

The girls erupted in squeals and the guys looked on with interest while Yuka and the others pulled her over to another targetboard. Only, this targetboard was full of blue hearts. Now that she noticed, there was another targetboard of pink hearts. She estimated the distance to be 20 metres.

"Wh-what's the big idea?"

"Aim at one of the hearts, Kagome!" Ayumi squealed.

Kagome looked at the hearts. They were all identical in shape, but were of different shades. Also, there was some writing on the side of each heart. From this distance, she couldn't read them.

"Which should I aim for?"

"How 'bout the navy blue on e at the top?" Eri suggested. Kagome looked at it and nodded absently. She didn't get what was going on, but she'd demand a thorough explanation later.

She fired… and hit. Right in the centre.

Instantly, a big group surrounded the targetboard.

"It's Hojou!"

Hojou? What? Kagome turned around.

Upon hearing his name, Hojou was stunned for an instant. Then, he broke into smiles and walked over to Kagome.

"Hiragushi, thank you!" he said, reddening slightly. "I'll make sure I'm a great friend to you! I'll share your burdens when you are troubled,, and I'll be there when ever you need me! Just call, okay?"

"Uh, right," Kagome replied, as Hojou happily walked off.

What… happened?


The instructor had told them it was a treat for Valentine's day. If you did well in the 25 metre range, you would be allowed to do the ones in the 50 metre range. And, if you hit the bullseye five times there, you could have a go on the special targetboards.

There were two targetboards, one for the girls, one for the guys. On each heart would be the name of a girl or guy respectively.

"So you people can shoot the 'heart' of the person you like most amongst these two classes," the instructor said. "Guys to aim on the targetboard with the girls' names on it, please. Vice versa."

Everyone had been excited to try the targetboard. Wonder which is Kagome's, Hojou thought. He found Kagome's name in a rose pink heart, right at the center of the board. Using that as his motivation, Hojou practiced hard.

Hiragushi's amazing, he thought, as Kagome moved onto the 50 metre range. His face tingled.

I… want to join her there.

When he finally achieved it, there were other people beside Kagome, making conversation hard. Hojou smiled at her, then continued firing.

There were squeals, and Hojou turned to see Kagome marched off to the targetboard.

Kagome released the arrow and it hit a heart squarely. One of the girls who went to check shouted, "It's Hojou!"

His heart leapt.

Hiragushi's favourite guy… is me? He felt a burst of happiness and a smile came onto his face.

Walking over to Kagome, he noticed how delightful Kagome looked. He gained a sense of satisfaction just seeing her. But… She was a little thinner. Perhaps it was just the hospital's food.

"Hiragushi, thank you!" he said, as his heart pounded. "I'll make sure I'm a good friend to you! I'll share your burdens when you are troubled, and I'll be there whenever you need me! Just call, okay?"

"Uh, right," Kagome had replied. Perhaps she was just shy.

He turned and walked away, feeling really happy.

This is better than getting any chocolate! he thought.


The last two POVs I think could have been done better. But well.
I've changed the summary slightly, and hope that it gives the readers a better idea of what to expect. And as Protected Pain unfolds itself, I hope you all won't be too disappointed with how the story goes. Of course, feedback and critique welcome. ^^

Um, replying Inufan's review, I actually meant that our favourite hanyo would be returning into the spotlight of the story soon. Not really that Kagome and Inuyasha will be together like they were before. That would be in the final chapter of Protected Pain, I think.

Meanwhile, please bear with me, and do hit the review button. Many thanks. ^^