InuYasha

Trust and Family

Chapter Nine

Note: Okay peeps, for those who have already read this chapter, I've taken down and revised it, making it longer and better. Hope you find it better than the last one.

The next morning, Ayumi opened her eyes as she let out a healthy yawn she stretched, working out the stiffness and tiredness from them. She couldn't believe how tired she had been; her little "brother" must be a little heavier than he looks. Noticing that the sun had been above the horizon for a couple of hours, the young hanyou girl realized she had slept nearly half a day. Remembering her best friend, she sat up quickly and looked over to where he was. She moved over to his side and noticed he was now sweating.

"Ye need not worry child. InuYasha faring better than he was last night." Kaede's voice came from Ayumi's right side.

"That may be so, but he's handled poisons better than this in the past. What else can be done?!" Ayumi practically demanded, although politely.

"Kagome has gone to her time to see if she can get something that will help. You need not worry." Kaede replied, trying to reassure the young neko hanyou.

"I do worry about him priestess. He's my best friend and, unlike the others, I would give my life for him." Ayumi replied, giving InuYasha another gentle dose of her healing power. That seemed to cool him down and relieve some of the pain. "How long ago did Kagome leave?"

"She left soon after the sun rose. She promised to come back by the end of the day." Kaede answered.

"That's not soon enough. I'll just go get her. She said she comes through the well." Ayumi replied determinedly.

" Aye child, but we don't know if you will be able to." Kaede replied, seemingly knowing what the hanyou girl was thinking.

"I can certainly try! If InuYasha got through and was close to her, then I will be able to. That girl has been too long in returning." Ayumi stated roughly and took off out of the hut before Kaede could say anything.

Racing out of the village and in to the forest, it didn't take Ayumi long in approaching the well. With a well calculated jump, she dropped down in to it as planned. She smiled as the lights of time traveling surrounded her and she touched ground and looked up. The smell of damp, aging wood assailed her sensitive nose.

'At least they had the decency to hide the well; so no one would fall in to it.' Ayumi thought to herself as she leapt out of it and jumped to the door of the small building. Opening the door, she stepped outside and started sniffing the air, checking for Kagome's scent. She promptly sneezed and wrinkled her nose. 'For kami sake, humans can't even take care of the environment. It reeks here.'

"Excuse me, you shouldn't be near the well. What are you looking for?" a female asked from near the house. Ayumi simply ignored her as she caught Kagome's scent coming from the second story window near the tree. She opened the window and took in a deep breathe and realized from it that the girl hadn't been there for a while. She jumped down, only to have mama right in front of her.

"I would like an answer to my questions. Who exactly are you?" mama replied, a little irritated at being ignored by a young person...hanyou.

"If you are Kagome's mother, I am looking for her. She should have been back in the feudal era a couple of hours ago. Wells are certainly not dangerous. Now where is Kagome, I'm here to take her back. InuYasha needs that medicine." Ayumi replied curtly, amazed at how much this woman could talk within a matter of one minute. Just like her daughter.

"I am not telling you..." mama started but gasped as Ayumi stepped forward, showing her claws.

"You will tell me where and in which direction Kagome went, or I will use my claws on you! I will not harm her unless she does something stupid." Ayumi snarled, starting to lose her patience.

"S-she went to school. You go down the stairs and to your left a little. She should be having her lunch by the time you get there." mama gulped. She could see that this hanyou girl meant what she said. Something told her that Kagome would be fine. And why had her daughter asked about a medication for poison this morning?

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Even though Kagome's scent had been quite weak, Ayumi's keen sense of smell caught it and she headed in the direction of the school. Sure enough, the school bell rang the noon hour bell and students started to spill out in to the school yards with their lunch boxes. Getting frustrated at not finding her right away, Ayumi jumped in to the nearest tree and then the next one . She repeated this process until the school girl's scent was at its strongest. Seeing her through the cafeteria's window, the hanyou girl dropped on to a nearby window sill. Putting her ears back so no one would see them, she banged on the glass to get the girl's attention. Kagome's eyes opened wide in surprise, then she chose to ignore Ayumi. Big mistake. Ayumi growled and jumped down to the door that was just below her. It was locked but it was no problem for the hanyou girl. She simply yanked on it, causing it to bang against the wall.

"Kagome, you are coming back now! You've taken long enough." Ayumi growled, stomping over to the school girl, grabbing her by the arm. She hustled the both of them outside and a few yards away from the building.

"Look Ayumi, I need to come here and learn the things they need to teach me. Inuyasha can wait a few more hours." Kagome replied, frustrated.

"You call yourself InuYasha's friend. A true friend would make sacrifices!" Ayumi growled. She paused for a moment, looking at the slightly younger girl. "You had better hope Sango's poison remedy takes effect! I'll be waiting by in a tree near the front doors for you. Don't keep me waiting!" With that, Ayumi disappeared to the tree that she had mentioned.

During the period after lunch, she couldn't help but think of what Ayumi had said. Sango had a poison remedy and had tried it on InuYasha. The neko hanyou had let Sango near InuYasha?! Ayumi really did care for InuYasha. The girl didn't seem all that bad. She had even reluctently wait for her. Just as she made up her mind to feign sickness, she heard a voice call her out of her daydream.

"Miss Higurashi, will you please pay attention. There will be a test on this in a few days." the teacher barked out.

"I'm sorry sir. I'm suddenly not feeling very good. I would like to go home." Kagome replied weakly, swaying a bit.

"Will you need someone to take you home?" the teacher asked, after watching her for a moment.

"I'm sure I'll be fine. There should be plenty of people outside at this time...in case I have a turn for the worse.

"Alright. Just be sure to go straight home and let the school know about how long you will be away." the teacher asked with a heavy sigh. This girl did seem to get sick quite a bit.

"Hai sensei." Kagome replied as she stood up and put her books in her backpack. Once she was outside, she quickly found the tree the neko hanyou had indicated and quickly went over to it.

"Ayumi. We can go now. I was able to get out early." Kagome called up. She didn't want to yell out too loudly in fear someone in the school would hear her; and she knew that with Ayumi would hear her quite easily.

"Good. Is there anything you need to do before we head back to your home and the feudal era?" Ayumi asked as patiently as she could.

"I need to pick up the poison medicine. I'm not sure which to get though." Kagome replied, thinking for a moment.

"Well get on my back and point the way. And before you say it, no one will see us if I'm moving fast enough. Just point the way." Ayumi replied, turning around.

"Go right and down five blocks. The store should be in the middle of the fifth one on the right." Kagome answered, getting on to the neko's back. No sooner had she settled on the hanyou's back and hung on, did Ayumi shoot off in the direction Kagome had pointed out. She couldn't help but smirk when the school girl let out a shriek of surprise. It seemed like just a matter of seconds when Ayumi stopped right in front of the store Kagome needed.

"I'll be as quick as I can. You wait here so people won't freak out when they see your ears." Kagome replied and went in to the shop. She asked the clerk at the front counter where the allergy remedies were. She noticed the funny look on the clerk's face as he told her where it was. She looked back and saw Ayumi a few feet behind her...with her ears down and tail wrapped around her waist. She turned back to the clerk and giggled nervously. "My friend is an die hard cosplayer. Can't get enough of the anime players."

"Never mind Kagome. I've been around you crazy humans enough to hide my ears and tail. This looks like the aisle you wanted." Ayumi replied and started sniffing the boxes to see if it smelled like the right cure. "I think this is the right one. It smells like it should be the one to get the poison out." Ayumi handed the box to Kagome; who looked at it and was surprised to see that it was. She sighed and went up to the counter to pay for it

Once outside and a short distance from the shop, Ayumi bent down in front Kagome and the school girl climbed on. When the neko hanyou felt the school girl hang on to her tighter and lean in closer, she took off at top speed towards the shrine. Within five minutes, Ayumi sped up the shrine's steps and to the back door where she stopped suddenly. Their sudden appearance startled mama, who was sitting on the porch peeling some vegetables.

"Where did you two come from up?" mama asked with a hand to her chest.

"Ayumi, don't stop so quickly! We could have fallen over." Kagome growled.

"We came up the stairs and we wouldn't have. I do calculate stopping distance." Ayumi quipped. She almost chuckled at how easily humans were so easy to scare.

"What are you two doing home so early?" mama asked.

"Like I said, I went and got Kagome, and I gave her no other choice. She feigned sickness as she saw it was necessary to get back to the feudal era." Ayumi stated, answering for Kagome.

"Kagome Higurashi, I want an explanation for this. And why do you need the poison medication." mama demanded.

"I skipped school because I forgot that I needed to get the medication for InuYasha, because he's been poisoned. I forgot I needed to get back right away with it. So I skipped; even though I basically skip school half the time anyways. InuYasha was poisoned because a demon snuck up on him and Ayumi." Kagome quickly reported.

"Why didn't you and the others stop this demon before they attacked him. You could have stopped it." mama demanded more than ask. She didn't like where this was going.

"Because he wasn't having anything to do with us. Because we hurt him emotionally, and used the subjugation necklace when I shouldn't have. We didn't realize this until it was too late. We lost his friendship." Kagome replied sullenly. She just wished she could take back everything.

"I think you need to be punished Kagome. This doesn't sound like you at all." mama stated, getting up and walked towards her daughter who squeaked in nervousness.

"You are asking too many questions human. Kagome, will you just go get what you need. And for the love of kami, put on something more decent! You're showing too much flesh." Ayumi growled. In a way Kagome new that the girl was right. In the feudal era, if a woman wore such revealing clothes, she was considered a whore. Kagome quickly disappeared in to the house, kind of grateful that Ayumi had stopped her mother from punishing her. Kaede had given them a good talking to and that had been enough to get the message across.

"And I would appreciate it if you would not interfere when I need to deal with my daughter's behavior!" mama demanded.

"The priestess of the village where Kagome and her friends stay at, has already dealt with them. They know now that they are wrong in what they did. You lay a hand on Kagome, I will rip it off." Ayumi stated sternly staring the woman right in the eyes to let her know she meant what she said.

"So you and my daughter are friends. That's good to..." mama started to reply.

"Your daughter and I are not friends...yet. And I will not harm her as long as she doesn't hurt InuYasha again. Kagome and her friends are going to have to prove themselves before I'll trust them fully. I am a hanyou of my word." Ayumi stated.

"Okay, I'm ready to go back Ayumi, and I took your advice and changed." Kagome replied, coming out the door.

"That looks better...and nice." Ayumi replied. She bent down in front of Kagome and the school girl got on her back again."Alright, let's go. The others are waiting."

"That's a lot of weight you're carrying Ayumi. You're going to hurt yourself." mama replied, as the two girls started to head for the well house.

"Mama, hanyous and youkai's are quite strong. She could even carry Sota, if needed. We do have to go now. I'll see you soon mama." Kagome called out as Ayumi growled quietly and dashed for the said building and quickly opened the door. She jumped for the well and went straight down in to it, perfectly.

In a few moments they were in the feudal era, and Ayumi jumped out and sped for the village.

AN: Okay my fans, I'm going to end this here as I think it's starting to get boring for the length. I have the ideas for the very beginning, but I could use your help with suggestions. If you want, I'll give you credit for them. If I've missed any typing mistakes, let me know and I'll go over it another time when I'm caught up with things.