Chapter Nine-- "Duet"
"So...you think it'll be better this way, then?"
He didn't know what she was thinking. He had wondered how it would come to this, now. He had always thought about it; it was hard not to. He just wondered if she thought of it as much as he.
She only nodded. "It'd be for the best."
Before he could reply, her eyes widened suddenly as she realized how her words sounded.
"For them, you know?" she corrected, explaining herself. "I mean...so that they might lay off a bit."
Inside, she cursed. It was like she couldn't talk anymore...not around him. She felt like he was never listening. Even if he was... Her voice would always stumble, and then become caught. And when she looked at him, he would usually be looking at something else. She knew it was possible for people to be listening, but just looking somewhere else---she did it, too---but for some reason, when he did it, it drove her crazy.
He had paused, catching onto what else her words could've meant before she caught herself. He hadn't noticed. Probably would never have if she hadn't... He was probably just tired. Yeah... Especially after everything that's happened, everyone was rightfully overwhelmed. Even resting against her, he still felt uneasy.
Still, he wondered whether agreeing to this would prove to be more harmful than helpful to them...
For now, he only agreed.
"...Yeah. For them."
The two lovers sat back against a common tree trunk, shoulders pushing against one another as they reclined.
Their fingers were loosely laced, but there was no emotion to the contact.
--
O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O
--
Yuzu had been awake for a while. But she was just now opening her eyes.
Drained. Spent. Tired.
She'd never regain the strength she had given to Robai. That strength and time belonged to him now. She wondered if she'd ever regret doing what she had done. It's not as if she could tell. She had to just go with the fact that things were sometimes woven together to work out and fall perfectly to suit one's preferences...or end disastrously in tragedy. Maybe both at once. Or neither.
Groggily, she vaguely remembered herself wanting to be by herself so badly. To just get away.
But...waking up with no one else in Kaede's hut to nothing except silence... Not even Shippo and Kohaku's breathing accompanying her...
It seemed colder. And each time she blinked, in the mere flash of blindness she expected green tentacles to lash at her, to curl around her limbs, and drag her towards a giant eye of blaring red.
She saw the endless stream of corpses, the rotten skin and caked blood; their twitching limbs that shouldn't have been moving. Yet they were grabbing at her, now, crying even, groaning out to her. Screaming angrily. Sobbing. Why, why, why. She was to blame. Make it better. Terrified, she would seek out the others. She wasn't ready for this step---too much. Too frightening.
...She was alone.
Yuzu gritted her teeth as tears began to blur her vision. Angrily, she pressed her knuckles against her temples, trying to shake the emotions off her.
You're done with your grieving, now. Keep moving forward. Keep moving. Don't forget...but don't linger.
She wasn't even sure if that had been her own voice, but it gave her the will to sit up and push the covers aside. No more curling into a ball and angsting. What did she say the day before? About being strong? Steps forward. Steps forward.
Besides, sometimes she was grateful she was alone when she woke up. That way, she could fix her bed-hair and wipe the drool and sleep off her face before seeing Inuyasha. She giggled lightly, remembering how everyone had been hard on her for leaving Kaede's Village for so long.
The break in their voices that had hinted insanity... Inuyasha being the first who yelled at her.
O--O
"AND WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU
O--O
That was...what? The third time he'd been worried about her? Or...no, wait. Did how he comforted her in Kururugi Village count as worrying? Or just comforting? ...Why was she so keen on keeping count?
"Cuz I'm a loser," she mused, slouching dreamily as she thought of the half-demon.
"Who says?"
With a squeak, Yuzu sprang away from where the voice seemed to have come from. She whirled around to the entrance of the shack, startled gray locking with amused gold. In that moment, her heart stopped.
H-He's seeing... I'm...
"Inu...yasha," Yuzu mumbled. She stared at him, petrified. He was staring. He was staring. At her. She'd just woken up. He was looking at her.
Sleep face bed hair dried drool eye nasties oily skin...
"I didn't think you'd be awake," the half-demon snickered, prompted into a playful mood by her spastic reaction. And unbeknownst to Yuzu, he didn't pay as much attention her after-sleep flaws as she thought. "Since you sleep in all the time."
Yuzu's face became blank as her moods shifted places. The expected yell came:
"Not all the time!"
What he didn't expect was a pillow to slam into the side of his head. Caught off-guard, he fell onto his side; his view now looking up at Yuzu who gripped the pillow haughtily.
With a snort, Inuyasha's grin broadened. "All the time!"
"No!"
The pillow swung down in assault again, but he easily caught her wrist in one hand and held it fast in a firm grip. For a second, her determined gaze met his less-riled one, before her eyes turned away from him to concentrate on fighting against his hold.
He noticed her shivering slightly, her cold hand shaking in his grip. He paused, wondering if her arm would break if she continued to struggle. He compared her bones to dry sticks he could easily snap if he'd just tightened his grasp...even slightly.
And still, she persisted in pushing the pillow downwards, her other hand now assisting in the push. For that moment, there seemed to be no give in her. And that...stirred something in Inuyasha.
He wanted to see more.
"And when you're not sleeping, you're causing trouble for the rest of us!" he goaded with a smirk.
The struggle against him ceased. The pillow dropped onto his shoulder with a light fall. That determined gray gaze darkened as the stun of his taunt stung her, then became submissive in retreat.
"Heh...yeah."
A small smile had crept onto her features.
Inuyasha felt her tugging out of his grasp. Weakly. Silently begging him to let go. A contrast to how she had just been when trying to hit him with the pillow. His palm seemed to flinch at the new gap where air had replaced her wrist. His hand flexed into a tight fist to fill it.
He cursed himself, sitting up as an attempt to close the distance between them as she pulled away. She still had that stupidly fake smile on her face as an awkward silence began to pass over them.
Inuyasha scowled, making a note to beat himself later. He should've known she'd still be edgy... He himself was having a difficult time fighting off a cloud of depression, thinking about yesterday.
Saying "I didn't mean it" never worked. That much he's learned. He looked at the girl who was desperately avoiding eye contact at the same time fighting off unwanted memories from the immediate past.
"Hey, stop with all that sulking," he commanded, daring to wield a hard tone. "Are you gonna spend the rest of the day with me in that mood?"
His breath was subconsciously held as he waited for her reaction. He knew it was risky testing a fragile mood, and it would result in her either sinking into a deeper misery or...just what she was doing now.
A blink. Two. Her head snapped up, eyes wide in surprise.
"The...day...?" she mumbled, confused.
He released the held breath, glad the worst hadn't occurred. "Yeah. Today's some weird holiday back in your era--" his eyes searched her expression for a break of sadness, but luckily it didn't happen "--and Kagome wanted to go back and spend it with her family. And she wanted me to come along. So..."
The Shikigami-user had turned herself all the way around, staring and listening with attentive ears. Her mind was completely derailed from dark thoughts, replaced by curiosity and hope.
The corners of Inuyasha's mouth twitched upward, though he tried to fight them. He looked away from her, feeling as if his eyes would give away his triumph and mirth at how easily distracted she was. "So, since we're leaving for a while and we're gonna spend a lot of time together while we're there...we agreed on some time away from each other today. And since you two've been trying..."
He met her gaze again.
"Get it...?"
Her eyelids fluttered rapidly as if awakened by his addressing her. "Ah--! Um..." Slowly, but surely, she nodded.
"Good." He sat back, exhaling as if a tense moment had passed. Then, he grinned at her. "I guess you'd better tell that mangy wolf."
Yuzu was still gaping as he concluded his message, his words taking time to sink in as they replayed over in her head. "Y-Yeah... Yeah." And then they finally hit her. "I will!" She scrambled from Kaede's shack, first running backwards to call back to Inuyasha. "I-I'll be right back! So stay here!"
And she spun back around to break into a full forward sprint, energized by this news.
The air was thick, she noticed. And when she looked up, the sky was a rounded pattern of gray. The rumbling of the sky only sent more excitement zapping through her system.
This--This was their chance! This was the door and it was being left wide open!
Oh, the day was too short! And she'd slept in, as well, and that in itself probably wasted away a good amount of hours! Judging the sky, there was a chance it'd rain and end their outings just as night fell, if not earlier. She had to hurry and tell Koga; go go go--! He was probably lounging around somewhere close by, waiting for her scent to part with Inuyasha's.
Figuring she was deep enough into the woods, she began to beckon her ally.
"Koga! Koga!"
She huffed, spinning to try and get her voice to sound off in every direction. The world whirled around her.
"KOGAAAA--!"
"What?"
Suddenly, the wolf demon appeared in a place that'd been empty just her last spin-around.
He was picking his ear with his pinky finger and Yuzu grinned, dizzily making her way towards him. She attempted to tell him what was happening. Five times. But she'd forgotten to breathe during the rush to find him.
Finally, Koga told her to shut up until she could talk straight.
She only laughed breathlessly. Same old Koga... Cool and arrogant. Even so, Yuzu could tell there was still that lingering tension in him from yesterday. And that only spurred her further to rush her delivery of what she had to say.
"Inuyasha told me he'd spend time with me today for me and my feelings! And Kagome's doing the same for you!" she finally got out. She inhaled deeply to catch more of her breath. "That's what I wanted to tell you."
She gave a whoop of triumph and looked back to the wolf demon, who hadn't uttered a word.
And that wasn't surprising. She hadn't been able to talk, either, when she was told. She thought Koga'd do that. That or maybe cheer like she was doing, maybe he'd do that after... But not like this.
She thought he'd maybe stare at her in disbelief, but not like this. She thought he'd maybe be confused about it at first while a million thoughts rushed through his head, but not like this... Not this way.
Like he had just heard something horrible.
Slowly, his hand rose and his middle finger gently pressed against a point on his temple, as if he was halting an oncoming headache. He wasn't looking at her anymore, instead at the ground and in an almost inaudible voice, he murmured Kagome's name as if asking why.
Then he looked up in a sharp motion, locking eyes with Yuzu again. "You know what this means?"
"What? How come you look so sad?"
"...They're sacrificing time with each other to share time with us, for us. They must have both agreed on it."
"So? So? This is our chance, Koga!"
"No. This means we never had a chance to begin with." He was clenching his teeth. "This means they're so confident about their love for one another...that they're willing to hang around us because they know we'd never be able to break 'em up. They're only humoring us. They're...degrading us."
Yuzu opened her mouth; she had to say otherwise. That wasn't why! It wasn't... Yet she couldn't find the words to support this.
"But...I think we knew all along that we never had a chance," Koga continued softly, yet bitterly. "All those times I pretended you were Kagome, and you pretended I was the mutt... That's proof we'd already given up."
Yuzu found her voice... "What're you talking about--?"
"Settling for make-believe versions because...we'd have already realized we could never have the real thing."
...and lost it again. She chewed on her bottom lip, trying to form a strong opposing statement to prove him wrong.
"No...that's not it," Yuzu protested lamely. "You even said before you kissed me the second time...that we did it so we didn't go crazy with want."
He didn't seem to hear her, turned around and contenting himself by kicking down a tree and cursing. Then, he was silent again. He didn't respond to Yuzu as she said his name. Twice. And he kept his back to her.
That for some reason was getting on her nerves more than she thought it should have. But she had been in an actual good mood just a few moments ago. And...it was hard to stay in such a good mood after...what happened...
She didn't want to wallow in self-pity anymore, and yet Koga was doing a wonderful job bringing her down. Koga. Koga.
She reacted angrily. "I can't believe I'm hearing this from you! All those times you insult me and complain about how weak I am, how many times you shoved me forward and forced me to keep going! Just because you wanted Kagome that bad! And now you're just quitting!"
Koga snapped around, meeting her glare with his fiercer and more practiced own. "And YOU think YOU of all people got the right to criticize ME?"
"QUITTING!" Yuzu raved on. "NOW! Now of all times to quit! Now that we've tried so hard!"
"And I guess you're fucking PERFECT to tell me about quitting! Listen, puny mortal; without ME, you'd have already done it!"
"YOU quit when the old man was DYING and without ME, just WHAT would you have--?"
Yuzu caught her voice by the tail of the sentence, covering her mouth to seal the words again as they came bounding back drenched in regret; she stared at Koga with wide eyes. And the look on the wolf demon's face foreshadowed murder.
"K-Koga--"
"YOU NEED TO LEARN HOW TO GET THE FUCK OVER IDIOT DREAMS!"
"IT WASN'T A DREAM, IT---!" her voice choked her, lodged in her airway. BloodCorpsesNarakuTouchStenchCryColdDon'tLingerWeakStopBeStrong. In the mess of thoughts, she feigned harshness. "It was a nightmare!"
"That's the best you can do?"
"Yes!"
The wolf demon's mouth contorted as he fought the grin breaking through his scowl. He turned away from her quickly, shoulders shaking with caged guffaws. "I can't even get into a heated argument with you, you're so pathetic!"
Yuzu's mouth formed a frown, not letting the embarrassment get to her.
Koga's eyes widened in surprise as her hand wrapped around two of his fingers. And she tugged, towing him towards a tree with a rather fat trunk. With that, she knelt down and began to look for something on the ground.
"...What are you doing?" Koga asked the human.
"I'm showing you," Yuzu replied simply. "You've showed me lots of things, now it's my turn. Hold on... Lemme find a sharp rock... Ah, here we go!"
In idle interest, Koga watched her take the jagged stone to the tree and carve awkward lines.
"In me 'n' Kagome's time, lovers carve their names in a tree and draw a heart around it," Yuzu explained to him in a wistful voice.
And he could tell, even though her back was towards him, that she was thinking of her mutt and blushing. His gaze drifted back to her diagram and his eyebrow raised.
"Uh...you're heart's a little lopsided."
"That's cuz it's a circle!" Yuzu said indignantly after her shoulders had twinged from the comment. She finished writing the names inside the shape. "I always knew that if I carved anything into a tree, I'd put it in a circle. Cuz, hearts break...but circles go on forever."
Above her last, she started on another pair of names.
"Hey, why're you doing a second one?" Koga demanded.
"It's not a second one! It's for us!"
He jabbed his fingers and thumb on her head. "Too bad we're not lovers. That would require sex. Constantly. All we've done is the old mouth-to-mouth. And don't think that whole mate-for-a-day thing counts--!"
"I'm not stupid!" Yuzu snapped finally to cut him off. Her face had turned beet red at the mention of the sensual activity. "Circles can be used for friends, too... In this case, temporary allies." She finished off the mark with a circle around the names before standing, beaming proudly at her work. "So, temporary allies forever!"
Koga folded his arms and raised an eyebrow. "You know, that doesn't make any sense.
Yuzu stuck out her tongue a little and knocked on her head a few times as light punishment. "You're right...it is contradictory, isn't it?"
He shook his head indifferently. "It doesn't matter. But why a tree?"
A pause. The Shikigami-user stood back, pondering on this for a long while before giving her answer. "Actually, I dunno. Maybe it's something like how your relationship with grow and be healthy just like a tree."
"Sure. If it doesn't die after you hack into it." He watched her for a reaction with a smirk. He knew trees lived stubbornly, but just wanted to give her a hard time.
"Ah! Right!" Yuzu gasped. "Sorry, tree! I didn't even ask..."
And normally, this would've been the reaction he was looking for. If it hadn't been so bizarre. If her eyes weren't watering, and if she hadn't pressed her hands against the bark, fully leaning and staring at the tree intently as if expecting a response...then it would been the reaction he was fishing for.
Otherwise, Koga would have to say something. And he did.
"You're apologizing to a tree."
"So what if I am? It's a living thing, too! It's my equal!"
"Then why are you referring to the tree as an 'it' and not by gender?"
"...Cuz...I can't tell if it's a girl or boy!"
"What if people called you 'it'? Thanks to your size, it can get difficult to tell." He eyed her breasts.
Yuzu was silent as she gave the wolf demon a tired glare. Then, "Oh, shut up, Koga... You'd carve yours 'n' Kagome's names into a human's back if I wasn't here."
"True that."
Suddenly, the Shikigami-user jolted, as if getting shocked. She turned to Koga. "We're wasting time! Inuyasha's waiting for me! And Kagome's waiting for you!"
The mention of Kagome seemed to get Koga in motion. "Then let's hurry this up." He smirked. "Even if they are doing this just because of the strength of their relationship, that doesn't mean we can't use it to suit our advantage."
Yuzu beamed. "Any ideas?"
He pounded a fist into his other hand, pumped as adrenaline rushed through him. "I'm itching for something all-out." He began to head in a direction opposite of the village. "Come on, so we don't get overheard."
The Shikigami-user was about to follow, but realized she was still hanging onto the jagged rock from earlier. Slowly, she looked back to the tree she had violated. Grumbling from above reminded her of the weather and the time she was wasting and she hurried back over to the tree.
She quickly muttered another apology to nature as she started on another marking.
"Hey!" came the snap from her ally.
He was already too far ahead of her to see what she was doing.
"Just a sec!" Yuzu yelled back.
She hastily finished the glyph and stepped back to admire her work with a proud smile, just as she had done with the other two. The difference of this was that this circle held two names, but neither was her own.
It took another impatient shout from the wolf demon to get her to drop the rock and hurry to meet him.
--
O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O
--
Kagome had greeted him with a kind smile and said his name.
Koga said nothing.
And continued in his silence as they found privacy hiking through the forest. He had nothing to say. The boastful, obnoxious Koga was wordless. His clan would have never believed it. Yet there he was, walking side-by-side with a human. That wasn't so hard to believe since it was Kagome...
His clan knew and had gotten over his feelings for her.
What they wouldn't have guessed was that Kagome was spending time with him willingly. Without Inuyasha or anyone around... It was almost as shocking as a silent Koga. But that didn't matter.
Kagome didn't seem to mind doing all the talking. But it wasn't a rampant jumble of words like how Yuzu would sometimes speak.
It was fluid and clear. And he liked it.
She told him more about the era she came from, spoke how "cute" it would be if Sango and Miroku ever got together, ranted about how annoying Inuyasha could be at times... And in-between words, she would sometimes look to him and seem shocked his eyes were on her. Then, she would throw Koga one of her smiles.
And the wolf demon decided that, maybe even for the first time, he really was in love.
It was perfect.
--
O----------O
--
She came back to him shy at first.
Red in the face and words cut short by awkwardness. Before Inuyasha finally egged her out of it with light and harmless jabs of teases. And soon their conversation consisted only of playful, pointless bickering as they ventured farther from familiar territory. Until they came across a cut in their path. A cliff. And from there, they could see the oncoming storm.
The clouds before them were dark, brilliant blue snaps of light stomping down on the mountains, booms echoing out and hitting them. They watched, the explosions and flashes making their hearts speed up in excitement. Yuzu felt herself grin, deeming this equivalent to watching a movie together.
From the corner of her eye, Yuzu could see the half-demon stretching and yawning. He seemed a bit worn out. And Yuzu felt a bit guilty, having him here spending time with her instead of napping like he liked to do. But then, she froze, feeling Inuyasha's laced hands on her shoulder.
His forehead came down to rest, pressing his hands into her shoulder slightly. "Stay still."
She blinked and looked in his direction, still frozen and stunned and wondering if this was really happening or just another one of her stupid daydreams. "Huh?"
"Stay still for a moment." He waited a moment before closing his eyes. "...Thank you."
There was no blush on her face. Nor was her heart beating in a hyper rush. And after everything, after storm after storm of emotions and events... Yuzu finally felt a calm sweep over her. She felt...happy.
It was perfect.
--
O----------O
--
"Oh, it's raining."
He took his gaze off her, looking at the gray sky. His eyes closed slightly as a rushing feeling built up in his head. Suddenly, he felt disoriented. Light-headed... As if he had just been yanked out of some sort of parallel time.
Like awakening from a dream... How much time had passed? Their surroundings had darkened considerably.
He looked back to the Kagome and realized she seemed too far away. The archer was taking a few steps forward, looking upwards like he had just been doing, holding her hands out and catching stray raindrops.
He could see some of droplets lingering on strands on her hair, not a big enough amount to make it damp. But soon, they began to come down in growing succession.
"I guess we should go," Kagome chuckled, smiling warmly at him. "Before it starts raining even harder. It's late, anyway."
--
O----------O
--
That said, he turned to go, but stopped, feeling a slight tug on his sleeve when he stepped forward. He looked back and found what he'd expected. Yuzu standing close to him, her thumb and forefinger holding a small bit of his robe.
The meek gesture now Yuzu's signature action.
He took in her red face, how she nibbled anxiously on her free hand's thumbnail. Her eyes slowly climbed to meet his. There was a set determination in them, like the spark he had seen earlier that day. And he could tell she was scared...but of what?
He stared back at her in question.
--
O----------O
--
He had taken her off guard, grabbing her arm so that she whirled around and faced him. His hands found their place on her shoulders, holding her in place. His grip didn't hurt her, but she yelled out, startled, as she met an intense gaze.
"Koga!"
--
O----------O
--
"...Yuzu?"
O--O
All risks and chances were being taken, all walls were coming down, all of it was going to come down to three words.
The two allies parted to meet their corresponding interests, the same thought running through their heads.
This is it!
O--O
"I love you, Kagome!"
"I love you, Inuyasha."
Koga brought his mouth to Kagome's. Their noses brushed.
Inuyasha lowered his face close to hers. Yuzu closed her eyes.
Koga's grip tightened briefly as Kagome's hand rose between their mouths, her fingers meeting his kiss instead.
Yuzu blinked as she felt Inuyasha's lips on her forehead.
"I need to see Inuyasha."
"I gotta find Kagome."
And then, she was gone.
And then, he left.
O--O
"Koga, what'll we do if they--?"
"They won't
O--O
...Well, they did.
The thunder chuckled darkly and Koga scowled as the gesture sent humiliation swooning over him.
His hair swung wetly, whipping his back each stride; it was a punishment, he figured, for...for failing, maybe. Still, his pace only quickened, his legs pounding hard against the ground---feet sometimes sinking completely beneath the mud---to send him up and forth into sharp strides.
He tore through the forest, winding between trees, listening hard for any sign of the girl he searched for. But all he heard was a world of falling water, the sky bellowing at him as lightning followed him in his strides hurling itself from cloud to cloud, and a rhythmic beat drumming from where his heart was banging heavily in empty space.
He was deaf, he was numb.
He was depending solely on sight.
Sight that was impaired by the rain and lack of light. Sight that was timed by the quickness of lightning as it cracked like a whip across the sky, lending only a moment of cerulean-tinted vision. Sight that still worked relentlessly, piercing through the darkness, determined to catch the smallest glimpse of---
In the hesitation of blue flash, he spotted her...
...moving blindly and snail-slowly through the rain. Her feet shaky and sinking into the ground every step, the muck further delaying her speed. She finally gave in and collapsed with a light splash, the mud now sprayed down her lower body.
As he moved closer, his own feet were now almost as uncooperative as hers had been.
And though the thunder disguised most sounds, he heard her...
...crying. Of course she was crying. Always crying. Weak and crying. That was Yuzu. Now, bawling to the ground as her fingers dug into the slushed soil. Her voice was withered and pathetic, yet screaming heartbreak... Probably so sore by now.
She hadn't even noticed him in front of her, eyes too squinted and blurred by tears and rain.
He was reminded of just how small she was when he touched her...
...as he grabbed her shoulders, surprising her and halting a sob as she looked up.
Water. Dirt. Skin. Yuzu. Through all the barriers, he could still just barely make out her scent...
...just before tasting her...
...and his tongue moved with hers.
The sky exploded into brilliant light---fireworks, but where was the celebration?
They pulled back for breath, inhaling raindrops. Gazes caught, expressions identical, Koga wondered if they had ever understood each other better. Or maybe...had it always been like this?
In another flash of light, Kagome had appeared and Koga was sure that he, himself, had transformed as well. Another eye-lock. And they pushed for each other's mouths, desperately like starved dogs.
Her hands began to grasp at his armor and his fingers pulled up her blouse, fully baring chilled skin to even colder rain. A startled gasp. And he felt each twinge against his palms as they slid past her hips. With a jolt, she was suddenly pressed up against him and muffled only by his mouth.
The kisses were gluttonous. The moment rushed, fluid, and feverish all at once. Breaths stretched as teeth worked at watered skin, lips refusing air for flesh. Anguish-induced hunger.
They both needed this. Needed to feel this.
Wet. Warm. Cold as fuck. Shaking, gasping, humiliated. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection.
Clothes were soon forsaken in the mud and pushed away by wild kicks.
Thunder burst through the air, blocking out a sharp cry. Pain. Koga thought he heard Yuzu say his name. The thought erased by something stronger as small fingers grasped and slipped against his shoulders, as the hotness consumed and clamped around him--
And they were moving again, welding wave upon wave into each other; the blows rolling down, each quicker than the last; the cries becoming louder; the movement more desperate than the raindrops racing down.
It was too late to break from the illusion because the game had gone too far.
Was it in the supposed 'afterglow' that they realized...?
Or maybe...they knew. Perfectly aware that it was no illusion, they'd still done it. If to just spite or even affect the ones they desired... When the horribly lukewarm truth was, they hadn't affected them at all.
In silence, they laid caked in mud, waiting out the last fall of the remaining raindrops as the storm clouds began to pass. Come morning, all dampness would become frost. The early air would be colder than usual, chilling their bodies. But they would be too numb to notice.
And Yuzu would be the first to speak.
"We did something...really bad...didn't we, Koga?"
hey-ya! long time no see! like...really, really long time no see...eheh.
ANYWAY, i've started to notice how many filler-chapters i've written. then again, they can't really be counted as filler chapters since they do have their little contributions to the plot. just not too much. then again, this fic has a really broad plot...Koga and Kururugi try to get Kagome and Inuyasha. so, i think it'll fine so long as i keep to that basic idea.
Dante Taisho-- HAHAHA, yes, vrry vrry funny. makes me giggle. cough. i dunno...was i joking? it's not like i can tell the truth here, Tai. that's just giving away the story.
Ear-Tweak-Sama-- let's see...currently my world revolves around this fic (and i guess partially around Wild Arms 3, one of the trickiest rpgs i've ever played). i dunno if this'd be a good sequel to the game...this fic is really Kururugi-centric, whereas the game made Kururugi seem rather unimportant for a main character. plus, Koga didn't show too much interest in Kururugi in the game (until his event on Mount Houoh). but, that's fine cuz i'm satisfied enough with this being a fic. your questions will be answered! once the fic is complete, that is. heheh...sorry, for making you wait all the time XD! waiting really seems to be your bane...so sorry.
AnimeDutchess-- good when it's long? oh...whoops XD. this chapter was a bit on the short side. and looking ahead, i'm not sure if chapters ahead'll be all that lengthy as well...but i can say that because of the midget chapters, i'll try twice as hard to lessen time spans between updates! keyword: try.
-Kiyri--- yup. and i'll get to reading the actual fic once i revert back to a reading-mood instead of the current writing-mood (otherwise, i wouldn't be able to pay attention XD). if it's hard to get on the computer, there's always the old-fashioned pen 'n' paper. it may be a pain re-typing it all, but i like to think of it as a chance to revise. i'm glad the KogaYuzu vibe was there. he wasn't in chapter7, so i had to make sure to make up for his absence. and i'm glad you love it so far XD. i shall look forward to your next review!
Twistedmemories-- ah-ha! well, i'm glad someone actually fell for it. i was hoping at least one person would believe me XD...thanks for the compliment! hehe XD. i look forward towards your next review.
Moonclaw-- thanks for calling my story great and interesting (and for calling my joke good)! it put me in a damn good mood. and i'm glad you like it so far! i've ceased your waiting only briefly by updating today XD! but sorry you don't find out what Naraku is up to yet. and as for InuyashaYuzu moments...well, there was a pretty big KogaYuzu moment in this chap XD! sorry for the lack of InuYuzu.
DraconWolf88-- another e-mailer! you really encouraged me to keep writing, so thanks. let's make that request fic happen XD!
Oprah-- humping.
Toku Tenshi-- wow, so many reviews in a single sitting from a single reviewer! i'm amazed XD! i'm happy to hear more fics based on SecretoftheCursedMask are coming out. and that long-hand writing is still in use. yeah, i guess i've made her ditzier without meaning to. i know i made her wimpier...her personality didn't come out strongly to me in the videogame, so that's probably why i did what i did in the fic. the kissing-sessions really were random, heheh. but they are the foundation to that big KogaYuzu event that happened in this chapter (which will probably turn out just as pointless)! as for personal reasons to hate Naraku, Kagome doesn't have anything personal either. unless she really takes her shard-collecting job to heart. maybe it's personal enough for Shippo and Kagome that Naraku hurt their friends...? i dunno. haha! another fell for my joke! i really thought people wouldn't believe it since it was so dramatic XD. no worries, it really was a joke, however i can't always promise quick updates. thanks for reading 'n' reviewing!
SORRY TO EVERYONE ABOUT THE DELAY! Thanks for reading and reviewing! XD
