Me: Hi! Yes, another one! Lol!
MikoHuntress, the other works… you mean "Years Apart"? I'm still working on it. Don't worry, it'll get finished eventually. I don't think I'll ever lose complete interest in the two. No way.
Tada-kun, what do you want to make into a mini-doujin? One of these stories? The last one? All of them? (Joking…) Whatever it is, yeah, go ahead and do it! I want to see it when it's done though! (grins)
Disclaimer: "InuYasha" is property of Rumiko Takahashi, Sunrise, Viz, and all those other people who bring this series to us!
Story 12: Furu – Wha?
The smoke billowed up all around them. One minute they were fighting the youkai, the next the group was enveloped in a suffocating haze. The last thing any one of them saw was Kagome in the youkai's grasp.
Inuyasha coughed, his nose being extra sensitive to the new scent in the air. "Darn it!"
"I can't see!" Shippo's voice came out somewhere.
"Everyone, get ready!" Miroku shouted. "I'm going to use Kazaana!"
Sango clung to Kirara. "All right, go ahead Houshi-sama!"
Miroku gripped the beads over his right arm, yanking them off. The powerful wind tunnel blew open, sucking up the deviation in the air at once. As soon as it was gone, Miroku bond the curse back up.
Immediately, Inuyasha noticed something different about their surroundings. "No! It got away! And with Kagome no less…!" A subtle scent passed by his nose. "Hm?"
"What is it, Inuyasha?" Miroku walked up to the hanyou, Sango joining the two with Kirara and Shippo.
"Shouldn't we go after the youkai?" Sango proposed.
"Wait…" Inuyasha took another sniff. He whipped his head around. "Kagome's still here!"
This surprised the others. They joined in the search for the girl, but couldn't see her anywhere.
Miroku looked at Inuyasha. "Inuyasha, are you sure?"
"Yes," he nodded. "Over… here!" He leapt off in the apparent direction of Kagome, the others following his lead. They rushed ahead for a few meters, until they spotted a heap of cloth on the ground. Gathering around it, the group realized that it was Kagome's clothing.
"Her clothes?" Shippo jumped down from Kirara and picked up one of Kagome's socks.
Sango frowned. "But where's Kagome-chan?"
"Hm…" Miroku bent down and took Kagome's blouse in his hand. He stared at it for a moment, seemingly in deep thought. At least, until he started brushing it up against his face. "OW!" His head darted forwards.
"Don't do that!" Sango had kicked him in the back of the head from atop Kirara.
"Eh heh…" Miroku rubbed the bump on his noggin.
Shippo brought everyone's attention back to the pile. "Hey, something's moving!" Indeed, something was. There was movement underneath Kagome's skirt. The group watched it with anticipation, as the source emerged. A small black cat crawled out from underneath the folds of cloth, shaking its head.
"A cat?" Miroku leant forwards to better observe the creature. The feline "meowed" at him.
This ruffled Kirara, and Sango noticed it. "What is it, Kirara?"
Inuyasha furrowed his brows. "It's Kagome."
The others looked at him, clearly confused.
"What?" Miroku blinked.
It slowly began to dawn on Sango. "You mean the cat…?"
Inuyasha nodded solemnly.
"Kagome's been turned into a cat?" Shippo exclaimed, his eyes fixating on the dark feline.
"That youkai must have done something to her," Miroku stated as Kagome cleaned her whiskers.
Grunting, Inuyasha gripped Tessaiga and turned around. "I'm going after it!"
"I'll go with you," Miroku said as he stood up. "Sango, stay here with Shippo and Kagome-sama."
"Alright," she agreed.
So the two boys took off, hoping to find a solution to Kagome's current situation.
"Darn it!" Inuyasha pounded his fist against Kaede's wooden wall. "After all that, we still didn't find an answer!"
Miroku gazed at Kagome's new form, who was curiously playing with Kirara. "Well, at least we know now killing the youkai off wasn't the answer."
"Don't even start with me, Miroku!" Inuyasha snapped.
"Listen, Inuyasha," the monk started wearily, "what the youkai did tell us was that this would be temporary."
"But it didn't say how long," Inuyasha continued. "We need Kagome to find the shards; she can't help us the way she is now."
Sango dangled one of the cat toys Kagome had brought from her time for Kirara in front of the ebony kitten. Kagome happily batted at it in response. "She does seem to rather have lost her sense of self," the taiji-ya noted.
"See?" Inuyasha pointed at the transformed Kagome. "That's what I mean!"
Miroku folded his arms. "Our options right now a re limited. I think for now we should still wait it out."
"Tsk." Finding nothing else to say, Inuyasha slouched down onto the floor with a grumpy expression.
"It's not so bad," Shippo commented. He, Kirara and Kagome were occupied, rolling a ball to one another. "Why don't you come play with Kagome, Inuyasha?"
The hanyou glanced at Shippo before quipping, "Keh! Don't be ridiculous. No thanks."
"Right, since Kagome is a cat now, she might not like a dog demon like Inuyasha," Miroku joked.
"Excuse me?" Inuyasha frowned. "Cats don't have a problem with me."
"Oh?" Miroku raised his eyebrows. "How do you know that?"
"Because when I went to Kagome's time I played with her cat," he replied pointedly.
"You played with Kagome's cat?" Shippo was surprised to hear something like this. "What did you play?"
Disgruntled, Inuyasha sat back in his seat. "Nothing," he mumbled.
"Oh, come on!" Shippo insisted. "Pleeeaase?"
One of the hanyou's eyebrows twitched. "Fine!" He stomped over to Kagome and sat in front of her, startling the furry animal. He picked her up, setting Kagome before himself. Awkwardly, he lifted her front legs up over her head, as if he were trying to make her stand on her hind legs. The others in the room stared at him apprehensively.
"That's playing?" Shippo voiced the group's opinion.
"Kagome's cat likes it," Inuyasha said, lifting Kagome up in the air at eyelevel. He gazed upwards briefly as he recalled something. "Except maybe that one time… YEOUCH!" Kagome had raised her hind legs up, scratching them fiercely against Inuyasha's nose. He instantly let go of her, Kagome retreating into the comfort of Sango's lap. "Ahh…!" Inuyasha had his hands over his injured nose. "She scratched me!"
"That surprises you?" Shippo muttered with disbelief.
"Maybe cats really don't like Inuyasha after all," Miroku added as an afterthought.
Sango stroked Kagome's fur, the kitten purring contently. "Inuyasha, you can't treat animals so roughly."
Inuyasha made a face and reverted back to his reserved position, facing away from the rest.
Miroku attempted to lighten his spirits. "Inuyasha, don't get upset just because Kagome-sama scratched you. She can't control herself, remember?"
In response, Inuyasha merely grunted and nothing else.
Sango glanced down at Kagome, nestled comfortably in her lap. The dark feline was napping, having fallen asleep against Sango's secure warmth. Kirara "mewed" up at the taiji-ya, who smiled at her. "Sorry, Kirara; it looks like there's no room."
Miroku set aside his staff. "How about you sit in my lap, Sango?" He patted his legs.
Sango narrowed her eyes. "Not likely."
With half-lidded eyes, Shippo interjected, "Why don't you just stop it already?"
"Eh heh heh…" Miroku flexed his fingers.
It was the middle of the night, and everyone was asleep. That was until a small being rose up in the dark, a black blotch against whatever amount of moonlight managed to get through the dwelling. Something brushed up against Sango's nose, disturbing her slumber. Her eyes slowly flickered open, drowsily wondering just what woke her. She saw the instigator, creeping out the door. Sango glanced around her.
"Kagome-chan?" she muttered almost inaudibly. The girl turned cat was missing. Sango checked on there others – they weren't woken up. Or maybe they just knew Sango was awake already, so she might as well be the one to go find Kagome. Either way, it looked like she would have to do the job. She got up as quietly as possible, tip-toeing past the rest of their group to the outdoors.
Sango hoped that Kagome hadn't gotten too far off. "Kagome-chan?" she whispered. "Where are you?"
A faint, "Meoooowww!" came from the distance.
"Kagome-chan?" Sango picked up the pace, sprinting over to where she thought she heard the cry. She ran past all the shelters in the village, towards the fields. Kagome's meows were getting louder.
Up ahead she saw something couched upon a lone tree branch. "Kagome-chan!" Sango stopped and looked up. Indeed it was her, frozen to the branch. "Kagome-chan, what are you doing up there?"
The kitten peered over at the girl, eyes shining in the moonlight. "Mew?"
Holding her arms out, Sango said, "Come on. Jump down, I'll catch you."
Kagome stared at her for a moment before reclining back on the branch. "Mew…"
Sango dropped her arms. "Do you want me to climb up for you?"
The black feline looked back at her. "Mew?"
"All right, I'm coming." Sango walked up to the tree, grabbing one of the lower branches. She hauled herself up with little difficulty, making her way up to Kagome. Reaching the place where Kagome was laying, Sango stretched her arm out. "Come on," she coaxed. Steadily, Kagome got up, padding towards Sango. "That's it…" Gingerly, Sango scooped Kagome up by her underside, pulling her close to herself. "Are you all right?" Sango gazed down at her with a smile.
Kagome blinked up at the taiji-ya. "Mew!" Suddenly, Kagome got up in Sango's arm, placing her paws on her face. It took Sango by surprise, so she ended up slipping on the tree branch she was perched upon, crashing down to the ground. Shaken leaves floated through the air, fluttering about Sango and kitten-Kagome.
"Nn…" Sango groaned as she sat up. "Ow… Kagome-chan…" Kagome tilted her head at her. "What was that about?"
"Mew!" Kagome jumped back up onto Sango, her front paws and little tongue all over the girl.
"Hey, Kagome-chan! That tickles!" Sango was left giggling as Kagome toyed with her face affectionately. She lifted Kagome up. "All right, come on. We should get back to Kaede's."
Instead of obliging, Kagome squirmed out of Sango's hands, leaping onto the front of Sango's kimono. The cat was latched onto her, refusing to let go.
"Kagome-chan?" Sango said as she watched her. Standing up, she said, "Okay, let's go."
This time, Kagome leapt down, running frantic circles around Sango when she started to walk off.
"Kagome-chan! Wah-!" As a result of trying to avoid stepping on Kagome, Sango had lost her balance and tripped to once again land on the ground. She opened her eyes, gazing up into the velvet, starry sky. That's when Kagome popped her feline head up in Sango's field of view. She started licking her face again. Sango propped herself up, placing a hand on Kagome's furry head.
"Kagome-chan, what's wrong? Don't you want to go back?" Kagome meanwhile was busy nuzzling her face into Sango's comforting hand. When she began tasting her fingers, Sango sighed. "All right. It's not like we haven't slept under the stars before."
She positioned herself up against the tree, Kagome coming up to rest in Sango's arms. Sango fiddled with Kagome's ears absentmindedly as they began to ease into sleep, Kagome purring happily.
Daylight broke, sunlight trickling through the tree leaves and branches. The luminosity danced across Sango's face in small patches, gently awaking her from sleep. The atmosphere was very serene, and she had to take a moment to recall events previous. After about a second of sorting it out, Sango's attention was immediately brought to something heavy weighing on her body.
She shifted a bit to get a better look at the reason for this. To her surprise, Kagome had reverted back to her regular self, resting peacefully against Sango. Usually this wouldn't have bothered Sango, but a certain present factor made her form go rigid. When Kagome had transformed into a cat, her clothes were abandoned in the process. The result? You guessed it – this left Kagome completely nude when she became human again.
Sango's cheeks were stained red as soon as she saw Kagome's bare figure. Her mind was spinning as she tried to think of a solution to this little predicament. Fortunately (or maybe not), her answer was narrowed down when Kagome began to stir.
The young maiden opened her eyes. For some reason, she was feeling a bit chilly, yet warm and comfortable at the same time. It didn't take her long to figure out why. She wasn't wearing anything, and experience told her that she was lying on top of another body. Swiftly, Kagome lifted her head up to see who it was. Staring back at her, just as surprised, was Sango. She expected for Kagome to pull away as soon as she saw her. Instead, Sango was completely startled when Kagome clamped down onto her body, screaming.
"K-Kagome-chan, shhhh!" Sango attempted to quiet the girl down. The last thing she wanted was for someone to happen upon the two of them.
"Sango-chan, I'm so glad it's you!"
"You… are?" Sango blinked at her with bewilderment.
Kagome nodded. "If it was someone else like Inuyasha or Miroku-sama, I would just die!"
"Well, I can see why you might think that." Sango smiled at her weakly.
Kagome's features became passive. Quietly, she put her arms around Sango into a tight hug.
"Kagome-chan?" Sango gazed down at her questionably.
"That's not the only reason," Kagome mused.
"Hn? What do you mean?"
Kagome closed her eyes and smiled. "Nothing…"
This didn't make things any clearer for Sango, but she decided that if Kagome didn't want to tell her, then she wouldn't push her to. Gently, she detached Kagome from herself, undoing the green fabric around her waist and wrapping it around Kagome.
"Let's head back," she told her. "The others might not be awake yet, so we can get your clothes before they're up."
A faint smile on her face, Kagome replied, "All right." She stood up along with Sango. 'Even though I'd like to stay.' Kagome lingered a bit behind Sango as they walked down to the village. She was watching the taiji-ya, absorbed in her presence. Kagome wanted to hold on to her, but figured that was too out of the ordinary to do. Maybe one day she would tell her…
"Nee, Sango-chan."
Sango looked over her shoulder at Kagome. "Yes?"
Kagome came up beside her. "Thank you… for coming out to get me."
The other girl's eyes widened. "What?"
Kagome skipped up ahead of Sango with a smile on her face. She turned and winked at her, rubbing the back of her hand against her face and sticking her tongue out at Sango playfully. When she was done having her fun, Kagome spun back around and continued her path to Kaede's.
That left Sango behind to wonder what that was all about. She stared after Kagome, having reached a new level of confusion. "What was… huh?"
Me: I guess that was an okay story. I was thinking about "Fruits Basket" (a.k.a. "Furuba," hence the title) one day and the idea just came to me. Heh.
