Chapter 12: Come Back to Me
"SO, HOW EXACTLY did we get in here?" Taro muttered as he observed the quiet cavern. Amaya was also surveying the cave carefully as she combed her hair with her fingers and tied her ponytail again.
"I saved your asses, once again," Susumu answered with little emotion. "Wake her up, it's time to go if we're going to get going at all." He pointed to Kagome, who was the only one still sleeping.
"Kagome," Amaya barked at the sleeping girl. Kagome wearily rolled against the cave wall, blinking awake stickily as she slowly took account of everyone around her. She placed on a sleepy, cheerful smile and stood weakly up from the ground. Inuyasha stood carefully beside her and steadied her once as she wobbled, but after she regained her ground she was able to walk steadily.
They all followed Susumu through the cavern's twisting rooms and halls, all cautiously taking note of each pool of luminescent water, each dripping stalactite. They said nothing to one another as they made sense of their surroundings and mentally mapped their progress--instead they kept themselves, worn and worried. Even Miharu looked downtrodden. She smiled up at Kagome briefly like a brave warrior and then let her tired frown overcome her face again as she watched the ground. Kagome yawned wearily and glanced towards Inuyasha, whose ears were twitching atop his head. He was still a little suspicious of the entire group, especially because everyone's mood was poor. Susumu appeared to be caught in a daydream, mindlessly leading them through the cavern tunnels as if he knew them very well.
Maybe he has internal GPS, Kagome joked to herself, snorting. She shook her head when Inuyasha gave her a look. I must be delirious.
Eventually, the cave's tunnels widened like a yawning mouth and emptied into a shallow pool of water drenched in cold sunlight. Kagome's mood improved then. When they were high enough in the soft gray loam, Kagome looked over her shoulder and saw only the sea behind them, empty of pursuit, and even the castle was nowhere to be seen on the horizon. Ahead of them, the trail was clean and lifeless beach that eventually faded into forest. Beyond the trees she could see mountains and she smiled.
Amaya sighed lightly and Miharu jumped into Taro's arms, happy to be in the sun again. Inuyasha's ear roved momentarily, looking for any unnatural sound, while Susumu regarded Kagome and Inuyasha lightly.
"Let's go, already," Susumu demanded after several moments of surveying the new area. Inuyasha growled at him dangerously and Kagome groaned.
This is just what it would be like to travel with Kouga, she consoled herself. I can handle these egos, I do it all the time. Kagome struck out the way and everyone followed her intently, warily keeping watch and being more alert than she had ever seen them as they waited for trouble to come to them. They passed through the forest in little time at all, and came out of the left-hand path at the fork of three branches that Kagome and Miharu had encountered before. They passed the stretch of forest in the trees where the two girls had hidden from the drasil-devil. Before long, the mountains were looming closely overhead, tall and sharp, and Kagome grinned.
"Once we get past the mountains, we'll be home-free," she said brightly. "Miharu and I didn't see any monsters this way, and we know the way through... it should be only a few hours before we're out of here."
Everyone nodded and they stepped off again.
After some time of scrambling over crumbling rocks, Miharu squealed delightedly. "Lookie! Bubbles!" she ordered joyously, pointing to a cluster of tiny, iridescent orbs floating gently down from the sky.
"Miharu, no!" Taro scolded, but she prodded one of the bubbles with her finger anyhow. It burst in a splash of rainbow colors.
"Ouch!" she cried out, her brown eyes gathering tears. "That really hurt!" she pouted, staring at her burned finger with a furrowed brow and her bottom lip protruding. Kagome opened her mouth to console her, accustomed to taking care of Shippou during such accidents, but Taro immediately scooped her up and examined the blistered appendage. Vaguely, Kagome recalled a memory from many years ago--when she had burned her finger on a lightbulb from her bedside lamp, and her father had taken care of it without one of her favorite neon pink Band-Aids--he had merely kissed the blister and told a humorous story to distract her from the pain.
Kagome smiled gently, almost wistfully, as Taro did the same for Miharu. Amaya can say what she likes, but that man adores Miharu.
"I'm happy we're almost home," Kagome told Inuyasha. Inuyasha gave a small grunt to acknowledge her joy and Kagome continued to chatter for awhile, about how much she missed the others and how glad she was that everyone would get a second chance.
When they finished crossing the mountains, Amaya wearily halted their journey. "Let us stop here for a rest," she suggested. "We shall resume in the morning."
"No," Inuyasha argued. "Kagome's not going to last much longer here, we have to get out of here tonight."
"We're not going to last much longer ourselves, asshole," Taro growled in a disgusted tone. Inuyasha flexed his fingers and growled threateningly. "And if we're attacked, wouldn't you rather we can do something?"
"Keh. It won't matter if Kagome--"
"Hush. We will not take a very long break, then," Amaya amended. "Just enough so that our strength might return. And, if you do not mind me pointing out, Kagome is already asleep."
"And I'm trying to as well, if you guys don't fucking mind," Susumu barked as he leaned against a tree, sliding down to the ground. Inuyasha gave a disgruntled snort but did not further disagree. He to a seat next to Kagome and watched as the others dropped off to sleep.
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"I HATE GEOMETRY..." Kagome murmured as she rolled over in her sleep, mentally taking flight from a group of troublesome numbers and shapes that pursued her with a failing grade.
"And I'm sure he hates you, too, Kagome," Taro stated, misunderstanding Kagome's declaration. "But let's get out of here."
Kagome mumbled wordlessly and pushed herself out of sleep when she heard her name while Inuyasha growled at Taro. Amaya rolled her eyes, fixed her ponytail, and Susumu stretched sleepily.
"When we get home," Kagome said in a bleary voice, standing slowly and following her already moving companions, "I'm going to sleep for an entire week in my own bed, and then I'm going to take the longest hot bath in the history of the world. And then I'll eat bowls and bowls of oden 'til I can't eat anymore... and it will be Heaven!"
"Keh."
"What's wrong, Inuyasha?" Kagome asked him curiously as she watched his ears flick nervously. Amaya, Taro, and Susumu also alertly awaited his response. Miharu only yawned from her cradle of Taro's arms.
"...I don't know," Inuyasha responded after awhile, sniffing the air and narrowing his eyes. "But something seems wrong..."
"We are in Hell," Susumu reminded him. "Of course it'll feel wrong to you people."
"Susumu," Kagome started, "you say that as if it doesn't seem wrong to you."
"I told you a hundred times," Susumu said with a heavy, annoyed sigh, "I'm supposed to be here. I am not an 'accidental'."
"But..." Kagome started, trying to fathom how someone sentient, someone who had helped her out so much across her journey through a dangerous and unfamiliar land, could belong in Hell. "Well, OK, I guess it's not my place to ask you why you belong here. But are you coming with us to start over?"
Susumu, who had been walking just ahead of Kagome, stopped and spun on his heel abruptly and snarled. Kagome took a step backwards and nearly collided with Inuyasha, who had been walking just behind her.
"Listen, bitch," he growled in a low voice. Inuyasha responded by growling louder than the human man and stepped up beside Kagome, flashing his claws in warning. "Not everyone wants to be fucking saved, especially by some high and mighty do-gooder priestess who lacks the mental capacity to keep herself out of trouble."
"Don't you fucking talk to Kagome that way, you half-wit!" Inuyasha threatened. His voice rumbled with an underlying threat and Kagome took a hesitant step away from both men.
She frowned. "Wait a minute," she said. "I was just offering. I'm sorry for being friendly."
"Nevermind," Susumu said haughtily before she could pursue the topic further, resuming a brisk walk that everyone imitated without question. Inuyasha fumed beside her, but she took his hand so that he would not chase after Susumu. Kagome stared at the ground as they walked onward.
Kikyou, Kagome said tentatively. How can someone wish to stay in Hell?
You are not thinking of staying, are you? Kikyou replied, almost humored.
Of course not! Kagome did not even ask why Kikyou had tried to drag Inuyasha into such a place with her. Just one of my comrades... she trailed off with a degree of hesitancy. Inuyasha dropped her hand and she looked up at him curiously.
"I'm draining your energy," he told her. She nodded.
Oh? Kikyou prompted.
Reassured that Kikyou was willing to give her advice, Kagome sighed and continued. I asked him if he was coming with us, and he got defensive and mean about it and just insulted me.
Hmm. There is nothing I can say to that, Kikyou replied carefully. Be wary of him and what he does. Anyone who wishes to remain in Hell cannot be as good a companion as he says he is... and especially if he's guarding a motive.
Silence lapsed between everyone once more, leaving Kagome in a cold silence that made her feel alone even among her companions.
As they neared the spot where Kikyou's portal had opened, Kagome halted, and the others followed in kind. She could not remember the exact location of the portal, but she knew they stood was nearby.
"We'll wait here, this is near where the portal opens," she said. Mentally, she said, OK, Kikyou. We're ready for you to open the portal now.
Alright... Kikyou replied with a mental sigh of disbelief.
"Thanks for your help, Susumu," Kagome said as she smiled briefly and impersonally at him. "This is where we leave."
"I don't think so," Susumu said suspiciously. "I see no portal..."
"Tha--" Kagome was broken off.
"And anyhow," he said, giving a dangerous half-grin. "I have strict orders, priestess."
"Orders?" Inuyasha growled with narrowed eyes. "From who?"
"I'm a little confused," Susumu began as he examined the slowly opening portal in the distance. "When we first met, I thought you must have simply followed me into the portal from Earth. But this portal here--" he said with a wave of his hands, looking in awe at the dark gap in the sky, "--is ten times more powerful. And maybe I can use that to my advantage."
"What?" Kagome asked, confused herself.
He chuckled. "I was sent on a mission to retrieve a certain something from your friend her--some jewelry shards or another," he told Kagome as he pointed to Inuyasha, who growled. "Meeting you helped me get to him quicker--ever wonder why I was so interesting in your half-demon pal? However, while I would have simply taken what I was sent to much earlier on, I was curious to see how you planned to leave Hell on your own, since it was my employer who opened the portal. Now," he said with a crooked smile, "we'll just have to see..."
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Author's Notes: Sorry for the long delay and short chapter. I had a death in the family and another family member in and out of the hospital, so I was rather busy traveling and being worried. This is the first thing I've written since January, so please forgive me if it's a bit patchy. (: Thanks for your continued support in my absence! Aliryn, I am a bit predictable. Sometimes I like using the most stereotypical situations since everyone else tries so many twists, so it's fun to go in the direction everyone would automatically suspect. Thank you!
XOXO,
Kyubi Kyebu