Insane-san says: Oh, for crying out loud. Do you guys know how happy I am with all the freakin' reviews I got? I was so touched and stuff! I mean, DUDE. That was so COOL how everyone reviewed! That was like, the most reviews I ever got for one chapter, seriously. If you guys could do that again, I'd seriously break-dance. And it wasn't just for this fanfiction, but for my other ones as well. I'm so effin' happy right now, I swear...Jeez...
Thanks. Thank you. Awesome. Thanks. You're so cool. I give you this chapter in appreciation. Now read it before I like...Kiss you or something... -snortlaughgigglesnort- Okay, shutting up.
HAVE A GOOD DAY...err, night? Whatever! n.n
Shousetsu no Kowai
Page nine.
Kagome threw her legs over the guardrail of the highway.
Her legs were cold, and raw from the friction her jean skirt was making.
Her jacket flapped as she ran. Tears streamed out of her eyes and flew off of her face to disappear behind her. She could hear the rustling of Inuyasha's robes as he followed her. Shousetsu no Kowai got heavier and heavier the farther she ran. She knew she'd have to rest soon, but she didn't want to stop. After the jump over the guardrail she realized that she would probably never go back home unless Inuyasha was freed from his seal. It was scary to think of him without her control. It was either release him, or spend the rest of her life cloistered with him.
The latter made her insides churn sickly.
'I'll be fine. I'm always okay in the end, right? I'll work this out. I'll be okay. I knew I would run away eventually, but I'm fine. I have money. I have money...'
Branches reached out from their trees and scratched and pulled at her tauntingly. Kagome felt her fever pounding in her head. She tried to take deep breaths and just focus on running. It had been almost two hours since she had left the house. She'd been running non-stop since in silence, with Inuyasha un-questioning behind her. He hadn't said a word since they left. The thought came up every few seconds in her mind, 'What is he thinking?'
She tried to tell herself she didn't care what he thought. If he thought she was stupid, bony, ugly, and useless. Just another pathetic example of a human being. But over time it felt strange to think about him seeing her that way.
Her eyelids burned with cold and her runny nose stung. Her legs itched from chafing and cold rainwater soaked in through her shoes. Her legwarmers weren't keeping true to their name, either. Soon, her mind was numb and she wasn't really thinking anymore. She was just running. Running and running without thinking of where she was running to. It was like a blanket draped over her head and sheltered her from all of her fearful, worried thoughts.
The area that surrounded her was thick with trees. Dead leaves littered the ground and the air was black from the night. Kagome somehow was able to find her way through the thick forest by guessing her way through. Suddenly it seemed like the roots from the trees were coming up to grab her legs and pull her down. She glared at the ground as she ran, mentally scolding it for not supporting her in her time of need. The forest was cruel and dark. It was completely silent save the sounds of her running and the flapping of Inuyasha's robes. She couldn't hear his footsteps, but she knew he was there. Running through the trees, running along the ground behind her…The thought was strangely comforting.
Her head gave a lurch and she stumbled over a large root. She recovered her balance quickly and continued running. Her hands became unfeeling from the icy-cold air. The air from her nose came out in two white, streaming clouds. Her tears had dried and crusted on her face. 'Why did I run?' She asked herself in desperation. She let out a gasp and closed her eyes, legs faltering. 'Why did I run?'
Her legs gave out from under her and she came crashing forward onto her stomach. The dark ground swirled around her and she let her eyes close. She felt her once even breathing become shaky and gasping. She began coughing violently, shaking harshly with each cough. Her throat felt like it was splitting in two and bleeding. Tears sprung from her closed eyelids and she felt someone grab her around the waist and turn her over. They closed her mouth and grabbed her arms tightly to keep her from pushing them away. Kagome's eyes snapped open wide and she felt herself suffocating. She needed to cough and gasp. Her body vibrated with fear and coughs.
She started taking in air through her nose. She moved herself around to try and escape from her unseen attacker. The more she breathed from her nose, the calmer her breathing became. She was able to swallow and she stopped coughing. She stopped gasping and relaxed. The person let her jaw go and released her arms. Kagome sighed through her nose. She heard the strange grumblings of someone close to her. The person picked her up and began to run at a steady pace. Kagome's mind held a strange confidence that she was safe with the person who carried her. She smiled and pressed her face into the person's warm shoulder.
Then she fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.
'Was it in this direction?' A young man asked himself. 'No, surely it was to the left...But then...'
He raised his staff and pushed branches out of his way. The forest was thick and it was very early in the morning, so all was dark. The bottom of his dark robes brushed along the ground and cold water splashed over his sandaled feet. Neither seemed to faze him. A frown creased his handsome calm-looking face as he tramped on through the woods. 'I gave that old man a free palm reading just to get lost in these woods?' He asked himself in disbelief. Despite his frustration, he kept on through the woods.
'I'd better start seeing some tennyo soon,' He warned the old man mentally. 'Or I'll...!'
He moved a particularly heavy branch out of his path and stepped into a clearing. To his surprise, there was a large, smoldering fire, and a young girl sprawled out in front of a gigantic oak tree. To make sure he wasn't hallucinating, he did a quick double-take. He could feel the strong heat of the fire from where he stood even though it was a fair distance away. The girl's face was calm in her sleep, but something was troubling about it. He wondered for a moment if she was sick. Her long inky hair came down around her shoulders and face. She was thin and pale and almost seemed to glow. Her clothes were modern and her blue leg warmers were obviously too big for her slender legs.
'Maybe that old man wasn't lying after all...' He smiled wryly and walked into the clearing, careful with the sounds of his footsteps. He held the rings on his staff steady so that they wouldn't jingle and wake the girl. Slowly he made his way towards her. 'She gets more beautiful with each step.' He realized to himself. When he reached her, he sat on his heels before her and smoothed a hand over her forehead. 'Just as I suspected, she's burning up.' He glanced around the clearing for a moment and then back at her. 'What is she doing in a place like this all alone and ill?' He wondered.
His eyes wandered down to her bare legs. Why any sane girl would run out on a winter night in a jean skirt was beyond him. He blinked and shook his head. He closed his eyes with a sigh. 'For a sick girl, why did she have to be so pretty? How will I take care of her with these thoughts in my head?' He pressed a hand over his face.
"Perhaps I should wake her up..." He mumbled to himself quietly. Something in the girl's arms was blazing red from the light of the fire. He raised an eyebrow in curiosity and bent forward slightly. Though she slept, she held onto it tightly. He moved her arm slowly and took the thing from her arms. He pulled away from her slowly and sat back. He brushed his fingers against the scaly red cover. It was a very large book, but it wasn't full of pages. Its spine was black and curling like thick and thinning snakes or streams of smoke, and it was metallic and cold to the touch. His gaze hardened in interest and he opened the cover. A single page remained. It was a blank page. Nothing on either side. But the closer he looked at it, the more he got a bad feeling, as though he were looking at something evil that couldn't be seen by eyes.
He narrowed his eyes in thought. There was a sleeping girl in the middle of the woods of wherever in front of a roaring fire. She had a fever. In her arms was a big red book with a single white page that gave off a bad feeling. She had a fat black wallet in her fist which he didn't touch.
'Who is this girl?'
The fire behind him suddenly made a crunching sound. It blazed enormously and sparks flew up into the air. The boy jumped to his feet and spun around, staff readied in his hands. To his horror, a buck lay in the fire on its side, dead. The flames wrapped around its body and began to cook it. Horrible red slashes marred its sleek, muscular body. Its neck was more than obviously broken. The bone was twisted and splintered and almost piercing the neck flesh. He gaped in horror, unable to come up with an explanation for the strange thing he was seeing.
He glanced down at the book in his right arm and the staff in his left. 'A strange combination of weapons.' His purplish eyes scanned the line of trees in front of him. He was prepared for anything that was to come out. It must have been a huge, ferocious beast with claws and gnashing teeth and saliva dripping from its great jaws. He swallowed and narrowed his eyes. Tense minutes passed and still there was no sign of any such beast.
In a brave move, he stepped forwards towards the trees and away from the fire. He entered the forest and looked around, listening carefully. He heard movement in the fire behind him and spun around. The buck was a distance away from the fire, seemingly cooked.
'What the heck is going on here?' He wondered in a mix of fascination and fear. The buck was dead. It couldn't have jumped out of the fire on its own right when it was cooked enough to be eaten. He stepped closer to the fire and placed his eyes on the girl. She slept on.
"This is too weird." He said to himself in a serious tone. "Pretty young girls sleeping in forests, bucks--..." A strange change in the atmosphere caused his heart to flutter in his chest. It was a strange, swirling, sick feeling. It was thick and dark. He breathed it in and swallowed. 'A dark aura indeed,' He closed his eyes in concentration. 'But where is it coming from? Or who, rather? Certainly not the girl...' Years of training had his mind calm in such situations. His body turned to the feeling and stopped. He opened his eyes.
The aura was definitely coming from the buck. 'No...It's next to the buck.' He focused. There should have been someone next to the buck, he reasoned. But there was no one. The buck was dead, it had no aura. Even if it had, it wouldn't have been such a strange kind.
He sidestepped to the girl and knelt down by hear head, staring at the feeling of the dark aura. He placed the book down against her arms and stood. He backed away slowly. The aura calmed and the thickness lessened. The young man tilted his head to the sky. It was turning a deep blue. It was probably seven in the morning or so. He turned his head to the girl. 'I can't stay for much longer. But if I come back, will she be gone?' He frowned at the thought of that loss and sighed. He had become very interested with her over the time he had been near her. There was much he wished to ask her.
A loud groan interrupted the silence, followed by a female voice. "Be quiet, be quiet!" She groaned. His head snapped down to the girl. "What the heck are you waking me up to?" She sat up slowly and shook her head around. Her black hair fluttered around her and settled on her shoulders. She pressed her palm to her head and sighed loudly. "Oh, what...?" Her voice had calmed and she was staring spaced-out in the direction of the fire. "Don't play dumb tricks on a girl when she just wakes up." She said in a quiet, offended way. "No, I won't. Don't be such a kid. What're you gonna say after, 'Made ya look' or something?"
The young man gazed in wonder. His breath was stuck in his chest as he listened to her conversation.
"As you can probably tell if you have the slightest compassion in your...evil body," She said, standing up. She stretched her limbs and grunted. She sighed and relaxed herself. "I'm sick and I just ran away from home. Can't you take that into consideration for even a split second?" She slapped her arms to her sides. "So quiet about the whole dumb," She put her hands up and made a stupid-looking face. "'LOOK BEHIND YOU, IDIOT!'"
She buttoned up her jean jacket and snuggled into it. "Do you swear?" Her voice was venomous and she narrowed her eyes. He took it she wasn't much of a morning person. Suddenly her face relaxed a little and her tone was kinder. "Okay then, I'll trust you." The young man swallowed harshly and raised an eyebrow. He saw the girl's head turning towards him. Their eyes met.
Slowly, her face changed. It went from annoyed, to passive, to confused, to shocked, to scared, to curious, to cautious.
"Who...?" She stared, backing up a few steps. She bent down to pick up the empty book. She hugged it and sniffed harshly. She pulled a handkerchief from the pocket of her skirt and blew her nose loudly. Her eyes were a little bloodshot and there were circles under her eyes. "You'd better tell me who you are or you're gonna experience some really weird stuff." She said carefully.
Miroku's heart jumped and he stared. "I'm...Miroku." He put an arm across his chest and bowed. He straightened up smoothly with a charming smile. The girl nodded with a raised eyebrow. He waited anxiously for her to give her name, but she didn't.
"So...why are you here?" She asked. Miroku shrugged off his disappointment and cleared his throat. "I was informed of..." His voice trailed off quietly. "Strange entities here." He looked into her blue-grey eyes and examined their delightful color. "Entities, huh?" She yawned.
Miroku glanced around at his surroundings and tried not to seem too excited about his strange finding of the girl. "I'm a simple monk, young miss." He tried his best to sound polite. Something about the girl made him want to try extra hard to be a presentable person. "I often do special errands for the people who live around here. For a reasonable price, of course. I live in a temple. It isn't that far from here, I think..." His voice trailed off as he looked into the woods to his right. He looked back at her. "You're more than welcome to come stay untill you're well." The girl's eyes narrowed slightly in a suspicious look. She glanced at the fire and mumbled something. Miroku looked at the fire. His eyes fell upon the buck.
His mouth opened when he saw that it was more than half eaten already. "Wh...Wha..." He raised his black eyebrows in awe. "What kind of beast...?" The girl laughed as she sat by the buck. He smiled at the sound. 'At least I've brought some amount of good into this...situation.' He thought. "Do you even have to ask why I laughed?" She asked under her breath with a grin. Her mouth formed a smile and she stared to her left. "Fine, fine, you're a killing machine…"
The girl knelt close to the dead animal. She seemed a little confused as to how to remove the meat from the dead animal. She put her hands on one spot only to change her mind and bring them somewhere else. Miroku shook his head and glanced up at the sky. He didn't know whether it was a good idea to get involved with the odd girl. It was easy to make a decision after looking at her again. She was just too beautiful to pass up. He would help her to the best of his abilities and try his best to get to know her better.
'It isn't every day that I stumble into the woods searching for tennyo and actually get to meet one.' He thought with a smile.
Nodding in determination, he looked back at her and opened his mouth to inform her of the best way to get the meat off the buck. To his utter astonishment, a pile of the meat sat neatly at her side already. Miroku's mouth opened in shock. "Miss," He called in a far-away voice. The girl looked up as she chewed slowly. "Is there..." He tried to put his thoughts to words without sounding too dumb.
"Someone with you...?"
The girl flashed a smile and put a piece of meat in her mouth. They stared into each other's eyes for a long while before Miroku realized he wasn't going to get an answer other than her stare. He broke the gaze and sighed with his eyes closed. 'Why am I so attracted to people who act insane?' The girl reached into the pocket of her jean skirt and pulled out a bottle of pills. She took one and swallowed it down. "Don't give me that face. It's fever medicine." She murmured to whoever was at her left. "It's gonna make me sleepy, but I need it right now, so just be aware of that." She said with a nod. "Oh, because of the side affects...No, they're rare...Sometimes, not all the time...I'm just saying to be aware. No, it'll probably be fine…Just mild things…I don't know…No, it's never happened…Trust me, I'll probably just get really sleepy. Really!"
Miroku scratched the back of his neck nervously and glanced around the clearing.
The sound of shoes sliding over wet grass caught his ears. He looked back at the girl and saw her standing up. She frowned apologetically to her left and shook her head. Her face changed into a near-angry one and she crossed her arms. "Well thanks for being so concerned about my well-being! Yeah, that means more for you, you pig." She scoffed and turned her back to whoever she was talking to. "Yeah, that's why you're so fat and heavy." She said in a teasing voice. She laughed over her shoulder. Her eyes caught Miroku and she shushed herself. 'I wonder...Who it is she's speaking to?' Miroku pondered the possibilities. 'Maybe the ghost of a dead loved-one?'
"This temple," The girl began; her voice quiet and questioning. Miroku listened completely, happy for some recognition. "Is it close by?" She asked. Something about the question was a bit dodging. He answered her anyway. "Well, I know the direction it's in...But..." He scratched the back of his head with a nervous smile. "To be quite honest, I'm not that sure how far away it is at this point. No more than twenty minutes, I'm sure..."
"It's a big temple?" She looked at him. He nodded slowly, pondering. "Yes, it's big. There are three separate buildings in kind of a triangular setting around each other, each about as big as a large three-story house." He put on a proud smile and waited in hopes that she would decide to spend time at the temple. The girl seemed to be in serious thought about something for a few moments. Her bangs hid her eyes and she was mumbling inaudibly to herself. Then he realized that she wasn't speaking to herself, she was speaking to someone. The girl raised her head and wet her lips. "Are there...Many people?" She asked hesitantly. "Oh, uhh...Well, at the temples, there are only a bunch of old monks. I'm the youngest." He laughed in a quirky embarrassment and quickly silenced himself.
"I'll go." She said. "But just for a while."
Miroku's head pounded in a boyish excitement and he tried to act cool and mature. "Ah, great," He put on a dashing smile and nodded his head to the forest. "Would you follow me, then?" The girl narrowed her eyes and put a hand up to cup an ear. Miroku's eyes showed his confusion. She hadn't heard him?
"I said, would you--" She put her hand up to silence him. He snapped his mouth shut.
The girl turned in annoyance to her left and stared. "Please be quiet." She said in a stern voice. Miroku raised an eyebrow. She turned back to face him and looked at him attentively. He tried to shrug off what just happened and said, "Since you'd like to go, would you please follow me?" The girl nodded and hugged her things to her chest. Her eyes widened a little and she said, "Ah, the fire..." She turned around and looked around, possibly for something to put out the fire.
"Miss," Miroku walked towards her. The girl looked back at him. "I think I have something..." He reached a lazy hand into his robes and pulled out a bottle of black powder. "This is normally to ward off evil spirits, but I've discovered another use for it."
He stepped forward to the fire and pulled the cork off the glass bottle. He threw the bottle into the fire. The glass shattered loudly and the powder flew all around. The fire was dowsed immensely and then vanished. Miroku looked over his shoulder at the girl's stunned face and winked. She grinned and let out a laugh. 'I'll have to do more things like this in the future.' He told himself in amusement. He twitched mentally. 'She's so pretty...No, I must resist any advancements untill she's well...I have at least that much dignity as a man!' He nodded in confidence.
"Hah, you
could not have done that." The girl said with a grin over
her shoulder. Miroku glanced to where she was looking and saw
nothing. He turned back around and led the girl into the forest.
"Hey," The girl said. Miroku lifted his staff to move a
branch out of her way. He smiled to show he was listening.
The
girl's face was serious. "Aren't you freaked out that it looks
like I'm talking to an imaginary friend?" She asked. Miroku was
taken aback by the unexpected question. He paused and thought of a
good reply. "To tell you the truth...It's...Sort of interesting
to me. I feel like I want to know you more." He said.
The girl shrugged with a nod and turned her head away to show that she was finished speaking. Miroku continued leading her through the woods, praying with all his might that he would remember the way and not get them lost.
Kagome yawned.
Her face was exploding the look of boredom.
'He said twenty minutes. It's been forty. Maybe I should have listened to Inuyasha...'
She shook her head. 'Since when do I listen to him? Jeez, I need to snap out of it.' Every now and then Miroku would mumble to himself. "These are my footsteps! Oh...No, clearly those..." And his voice would trail off to some far-away land where people lived in denial of the fact that they were lost. Completely lost.
"I told you so, but did you listen?" Inuyasha whined in annoyance. He was probably as bored as she was. For a few seconds, Kagome felt a strange bond between them. They were both in the same boat, utterly alone without any family or friends. They only had each other. Even though they didn't like each other that much, they were together. When Kagome ran, he ran, too. He stopped her almost fatal coughing fit, carried her to a nice camp site, built a huge fire to keep her warm, and even killed a giant buck so she could eat something. Even though it didn't taste very good and it grossed her out a little, she ate it just because he killed it for her. Well, maybe he killed it for himself. But the fact that he was willing to share was what really mattered.
'There has to be some kind of mistake.' She thought to herself. She turned her head to the sky. A few birds flew overhead, crying out to one another. 'Is it because I have control over him that he's not so scary? The thought of him really being such an evil guy...Killing innocents left and right and having everyone under his thumb...' Her face twisted in disgust at the thought of being under Inuyasha's control.
Kagome glanced back at Inuyasha. He glared all around himself as he walked, almost pouting. He wasn't happy about something. It was obviously bugging him. She figured the problem was Miroku. Telling him that she had decided to go to the temple had blown a few too many gaskets in Inuyasha's mind. He flipped into a tantrum and was so loud that Kagome couldn't even hear Miroku speak. She sighed and looked in front of her. Miroku seemed happy. It sounded like he had finally found the way back to his temple. They were walking at a quick pace along a gravel path. 'Why do I always get stuck with weird guys?' She asked herself with a hopeless sigh.
She didn't trust Miroku. His motives were unclear to her, so she questioned him often in her mind. 'Well, I didn't decide to follow him because I trusted him...Just stay there for a little while in some proper shelter untill this dumb cold passes.' She sniffed loudly to ease her runny nose. Miroku lifted his strange golden staff and moved branches out of his path. He was out of breath and grinning. Kagome followed him under the branches. Sun beams came through and blocked her vision. She squinted and stumbled forward. She put a hand up to shield her eyes and saw three large old Japanese-style buildings.
"Ahh, they're pretty!" Kagome gasped with a smile. She glanced over her shoulder to see Inuyasha's reaction. His face was irritated and he was constantly shooting dirty looks in Miroku's general direction. His white shirt and hair billowed in the winter breeze, but the cold didn't seem to bother him. The shirt was slightly see-through so she could see his muscles underneath. He crossed his arms and scowled up at the temples they were walking towards. Kagome's heart made a surging feeling in her chest. She blinked and whipped her head away.
'Whoa...What the heck...?' Her heart hammered and her face was hot. She cleared her throat. Shrugging it off, she hugged her arms tighter around the book which had brought her life crashing down. "MIROKU!" A booming voice called. Kagome jumped and looked up, her heart pounding in shock at the sudden loud voice. Inuyasha grumbled a few low, annoyed curses and stood in front of Kagome. Miroku stumbled backwards away from the entrance of the main temple. He cringed and put his hands up in defense. "M-Mushin!" He laughed joyously, trying to hide his nervousness. A large, squatty kind of man came almost waddling towards them. He was dressed in the same type of robes as Miroku, only his were an orangey-brown on black.
Mushin huffed and straightened himself up in front of Miroku. "I was told by our fellow monks that you ran off into the woods again!" His voice boomed scoldingly. Miroku winced and put a hand behind his head. "Well, that...You see...I was doing--"
"No excuses!" Mushin yelled. "It's not why you ran off," He huffed. "It's the fact that you did! You know the rules!" Miroku lowered his head with a closed-eye sigh and waved a hand to signal his defeat. "Sorry, Mushin..." Mushin sniffed loudly and rubbed under his eyes. Upon closer inspection, Kagome realized that he may have been drunk. She raised an eyebrow. 'What kind of place is this?' She wondered. Mushin turned his body to look at her head-on. He blinked slowly a few times, twitching his red nose. "Who are you?" He asked in a daze. Kagome glanced over her shoulders and then faced Mushin again. "Oh, I'm...just some girl..." She stared hard into his eyes, waiting for a reply. Nervousness flooded her and her throat formed a lump.
Mushin's face lit up and he laughed. "Oh, splendid. Feel free to stay as long as you like." He turned around and walked into a temple.
Kagome sighed quietly at her luck and moved hair from her face. Her eyes wandered to the clouds. She wondered if the police were trying to track her. Or maybe they thought Yura did it, or even her mother. She couldn't have put them in so much trouble, could she? And what did Yura tell the police? Kagome's face paled at the thoughts that went through her head. She frowned and stared sadly at the ground. 'The real reason I ran…'
"Hey, air-head!" Kagome broke away from her thoughts and looked up. Inuyasha was already well on his way into the largest temple. Miroku didn't realize he was leading him right inside. "Ah! I'm coming!" Kagome ran after him. Her head felt light for a moment when she saw that he actually waited a little while for her to catch up. He turned and continued walking. Kagome slowed to a stop behind him and followed him in. Miroku lead, Inuyasha followed, and Kagome followed him. 'That was so odd. I didn't even tell him to wait.' She concentrated on his back and raised an eyebrow. 'There really wasn't any reason for him to...He does hate me...' She looked up at his twitching ears, her mind foggy.
'...Doesn't he?'
Inuyasha's body went rigged and he spun around to give her a dirty look. Kagome jumped in shock. "Quit starin' at me, wench!" He snapped. Kagome's pulse quickened and she smiled in embarrassment. She wrung her hands - a nervous habit. "Sorry, I was spaced out." She said apologetically. He raised an eyebrow. A fang was visible from his closed mouth. "Whatever," He said in an arrogant voice. "Just cut it out." His eyes bore into her and it felt like they were ripping out her soul. Kagome swallowed and glanced away slowly. Her mind felt like it was passing in and out of reality. As if she were sleeping and awake at the same time. She let her eyelids droop and allowed herself to sink further into the strange feeling of comfort and sleep.
"You know," Kagome said slowly. "I've been thinking about this saying lately...How does it go...?" She stared at the ceiling. "The weak may fall...but the mighty fall...harder." Inuyasha's eye twitched and he looked insulted. "Excuse me?" He asked. Kagome flicked her eyes away from the ceiling to look at his. "Oh...I dunno..." She said in a dazed voice.
Inuyasha sniffed the air and examined her closely. She was acting unusual. Of course, it wasn't like he knew her well enough to know what was or wasn't usual...He was simply taking note of some strange behavior. He tried to shrug the feeling off. "Well, if what you said is true," Inuyasha began. "Then you just said the weak fall first! So you're gonna die before me!" He crossed his arms with a grin.
Kagome blinked and seemed to be taking to thought what he said. "Well, if what you said is true, and you're mightier," She began. "Then you're gonna have a bad death..." She sighed and shook her head slowly. Inuyasha twitched and glared. "That's fine if it means you'll die before me." He said lowly. Then it looked as though a strange wave of depression hit Kagome and she made a very sad face. "Ughhh...I don't wanna die...!" She whined quietly. Inuyasha raised an eyebrow. His head pulsed at her discomfort and he threw a dirty look at her. "Heh...Well that's too bad. You're gonna die sooner than you think." He smirked darkly, trying to scare her.
Kagome stumbled very close to him and grabbed his arm. She stared up at him with eyes filled with tears. "You'll protect me from death though, right?" She blurted out in question. Inuyasha's eyes widened in confusion and he desperately tried to shake her off his arm. "Ge...Get offa me, you--!" Kagome shoved him away before he could finish speaking and gave him a very intimidating glare. Her eyes were unfocused and foggy and she was slouched over with her head lolled to her shoulder. "Don't grab at me." She said in a strange, cruel voice. Inuyasha narrowed his eyes and thought stared. "I don't like you like that, okay?" She waved a hand as if to send him away. "Keh!" Inuyasha gave her a disgusted glare.
"How man--..." She yawned. "How many times to I have to tell you, Hojo?" Inuyasha's eyelids closed half-way and he twitched an eyebrow. Kagome stepped closer to him and wagged a finger in a scolding fashion. Inuyasha stepped backwards in response until his back hit the wall behind him. "If you keep on bugging me, I'll have to get Inuyasha to come..." She murmured sleepily. Inuyasha snorted. "Tch...You--!" Kagome suddenly grabbed the hair that hung down by his face and pulled his face close to hers. She gave him a confused look of searching and raised an eyebrow. "Hojo, be quiet." She mumbled. Inuyasha's face was a deep shade of red and he struggled to maintain what was left of his composure. "I don't like talking to you...Inuyasha's much, much cooler." Kagome said with a haughty glare.
Inuyasha's blood pulsed and his mouth opened in shock. He blinked quickly and tried to slowly move himself away from her. Kagome pulled him closer in response to his struggling. "Is that you, Inuyasha...?" She asked in a daze, looking closer at his face.
"Yes it's me, you fool! Now...Go away!" He blurted out, trying to move away. She laughed loudly and let go of his hair. She smacked his shoulder and laughed. Inuyasha clenched his jaw shut and stared at her in a horrified shock. 'She's gone mad...!' Kagome threw her hands over her face and sneezed loudly. She moved her hands from her face and stared at them. Her face twisted. "Eww, gross..." She stretched her words to emphasize the disgust. She pulled her handkerchief from her skirt pocket and wiped her hands, sniffing loudly. She put it back into her pocket. Slowly, her eyes closed and her knees buckled.
Inuyasha twitched and felt himself move in front of her and catch her before she fell. Kagome rolled over with her eyes closed and wrapped her arms around his neck. She snuggled into him and sighed sleepily. Inuyasha's head pulsed and his face burned red. His insides ached and his heart beat strangely in his chest. 'What is this...Illness...?!' He yelled in his head.
"Yes, she's right over here. So, with your permission...What the--!" Miroku stared in shock at the sleeping Kagome curled up on the ground. An old monk walked hunched-over next to him. Some part of Inuyasha was desperate for the human boy to run over and take the horrible girl away from him, but a different part of him wanted to stay with her clinging to him and sleeping. The thoughts in his head stunned him and he tried to reason with himself that to have them take her away was obviously the better choice. It was so simple, yet the closer Miroku got, the angrier Inuyasha felt himself become.
"What's wrong?" Miroku called out, rushing over. When he came to be in front of her, Inuyasha kicked his leg out and rammed it into Miroku's knee. Miroku cried out in pain and stumbled backwards. He fell onto his back and groaned, crunching his leg up to his chest. The feeble-looking monk that accompanied him hobbled to his side with a start. "Miroku!" He wheezed. He helped Miroku to his feet. Inuyasha sneered at them and then sneered at himself. He dared to glance down at Kagome. She was smiling stupidly in her sleep and still clung to him. Inuyasha swallowed and narrowed an eye. No one had ever grabbed at him or smacked him before as she had done earlier. He was still getting over the shock of her strange treatment of him. How could anyone be so foolish as to do those things? And there she was, hugging him loosely in her sleep with an idiotic smile.
"Hakushin, I think I finally know what's going on." Miroku said in a quiet tone of stiff realization. The old man stared down at him. "Of course there's someone with her...Something inhuman...I know now. I realize what it means. The book, the girl, the dead buck, the strange conversations...Why didn't I realize it sooner?" He stared in amazement at Kagome. A vein swelled on Inuyasha's temple and he felt a growl rip from his throat. He blinked in surprise at his actions and tried to swallow it down.
"Hakushin, we'll watch her for now...At a distance. When she wakes up, you'll see. I'll tell you everything I'm thinking, and we can talk to her." Miroku grinned at Hakushin. "My old friend, this is perhaps the most amazing discovery in the history of discoveries."
Insane-san says: Augh, gad! I hated this chapter. I really did. I'm so overly-critical of myself, I know...I'm overjoyed if you loved it. I feel like since I've been flaming myself through the whole thing, that you guys are gonna flame me. -nervous grin- I had to re-write this chapter several times. The start stayed the same though. That's like, the only part I'm satisfied with. Well, that's the life of a writer I suppose...Ah, anyways, if you loved it, awesome. Next chapter's gonna be a lot better, trust me. It should be longer, too.
At least we got to see some Inuyasha gushing. LOL And Kagome's medication side-effects were pretty good too, I guess. I didn't want to get too graphic...Heheheheheeheh...-cough-
I feel like Miroku just suddenly walked into an AA meeting with Inuyasha and Kagome and they're both staring at him blankly, and he introduces himself and they both say in unison, "Hiiiii, Mirokuuuu." He isn't going to play a major part, but he should stick around for at least two more chapters. Poor kid. Hah...Dang, I'm making myself laugh. That can't be good...
I proof-read this chapter at least four times, ran it through two spell-checkers...I seriously pray it's fine.
Thanks for reading, as always. Please review! Thank you. Good-bye my fluffies... ;3
