The fire crackled softly in the middle of the clearing, illuminating the small form of the young miko who still lay prone upon the ground. The dim orange light of the flames were the only source of light, as the sun had set fully nearly an hour ago. Kagome was breathing shallowly, her dry tongue occasionally sneaking out to caress her parched lips as her eyes roved restlessly beneath her eyelids. She needed food and water, and fast.
Which was why InuYasha was nowhere to be found in the camp, having left some time earlier for some quick foraging while Kikyou opted to stay behind with the exhausted girl. Understandably, InuYasha had balked at first, but when Kikyou said she would never sink so low as to kill a helpless human, he finally trusted her enough to leave, though he glanced back every so often as he exited the makeshift camp.
Kikyou gave a ladylike snort as she thought about the hanyou's actions; he was like a wolf who was unwilling to leave his cub behind with a female he didn't trust (she also thought that InuYasha would NOT appreciate the analogy). His overprotective attitude toward Kagome, however...it was enough to make Kikyou feel a small flame of jealousy flare up in the fragment of Kagome's soul that she possessed. After all, after her second 'death' at Mt. Hakurei, once InuYasha had discovered she was alive and 'well,' he didn't come after her. Then again, she reasoned grimly, Kagome had grown much closer to InuYasha than she had managed to, not to mention the fact that she spent a hell of a lot more time with him-at least, she had, before the whole Mujōna incident.
'The strength of their bond is both a blessing and a curse,' Kikyou thought, staring at Kagome, her eyes unreadable in the light of the flames. 'A blessing because they take strength from each other...and a curse because not only can they not hurt each other, they can't function if the other is removed from their life. It is those weaknesses that Naraku relies upon now...InuYasha is weaker when Kagome works against him.'
Kikyou's eyes narrowed as she studied Kagome's prone form. 'But would Naraku take total advantage of that weakness, knowing that there was a chance something could go wrong? I wonder...'
Kikyou's thoughts trailed off, leading to her staring up at the stars, lost in contemplation. She didn't notice when InuYasha got back to the clearing, a few fish slung over his shoulder and a bamboo tube ('borrowed' from Sango) dangling from his left hand.
"Is Kagome still all right?" InuYasha asked urgently.
"I think so. Her aura hasn't faded yet," Kikyou told him. "But she's very weak."
InuYasha growled, but moved over to Kagome, his eyes alight with anxiety. Moving quickly, he made spits for the fish so that they were roasting while he tended to the dehydrated miko. InuYasha looked down at Kagome, his face frustrated as he tried to figure out what to do first.
"Just start giving her the water. Trust me, you need to replace the lost fluids now, while there's still time to save her," Kikyou stated, an air of professionalism creeping into her tone. InuYasha shot a grateful glance toward her before putting a hand behind Kagome's head and tilting it forward, placing the opening of the bamboo tube at her lips. Carefully, he started pouring the water into the miko's mouth.
Kagome coughed and retched, the water bubbling back out of her mouth. Her eyes flickered, then opened slowly, revealing tired brown irises. She blinked slowly, brow furrowing as InuYasha's face came into focus.
"Inu...Yasha?" she asked, confused. "What...what are you doing here? Am I dreaming?" Her voice was a hoarse croak, dry from the lack of water.
"That ain't important right now baka, just drink," he said, sounding both annoyed and relieved. Kagome eagerly complied, nearly emptying the tube as she did so. Some of the fuzzy feeling in her head faded when the water started entering her system, as well as the weakness that had overcome her fatigued limbs.
"You okay now?" InuYasha asked when she pulled away for a breath.
"I'm a little better," Kagome said, trying to swallow what little liquid remained in her mouth with little success. She smiled timidly up at InuYasha, who smirked back at her, his eyes glowing like the fire behind them.
Then, Kagome's eyes narrowed as she saw a dark shape sitting behind the fire, something that looked rather like...
"K-Kikyou? What are you doing here?" Kagome asked, sounding slightly hurt. InuYasha's ears abruptly flattened as he glanced from one woman to the other, panic quickly becoming the dominant emotion on his face.
Kikyou looked at Kagome for a long while, making Kagome squirm uneasily. Then, she spoke. "InuYasha asked me to replace you while you were possessed by Mujōna."
Kagome blinked as first shock, then hurt, then resignation crossing her face in quick succession. InuYasha's ears stood up indignantly as the panic on his face was replaced by anger. "Wh-wh-what the fuck?" he yelled. "You asked me, not the other way around!"
Kikyou didn't so much as blink; she knew the damage was already done. Kagome had turned her face away from InuYasha's, her eyes glimmering with tears as her hallucination came back to her in haunting detail: "Who's to say that he hasn't chosen me already, isn't right now dreaming of me?"
"Well...that's fine, then," Kagome said, trying to inject some cheerfulness into her voice. "That's fine. I don't really care either way."
InuYasha swallowed slightly; he knew that when Kagome's voice went into 'false cheerful' mode, there was a world of hurt in for him if he so much as put one toe into the roped-off area that marked the sore-spots of Kagome's heart. However, he rationalized, hackles rising slightly, he had just been falsely accused of replacing Kagome, something he could never do. But how to broach the subject without getting himself an 'osuwari?'
"I think the fish is ready," Kikyou interrupted just as InuYasha was taking a breath to speak. As she spoke, Kagome pushed away from him and went to sit by herself. Moment lost, InuYasha's teeth ground together so hard that it hurt his jaw as he violently snatched the fish out of the fire, flinging one in Kagome's general direction as his own fangs tore into the still-hot flesh of the roasted fish.
Kagome barely nibbled at her fish; she was hungry, but she knew better than to eat too much too soon. It would most likely overtax her stomach and make her not only lose the fish, but the water, too. Not only that, but the painful throbs of jealousy were pounding in her stomach.
'He replaced me...he really replaced me,' she thought dully. 'Just because he thought I died, or was it even earlier?...oh, who am I kidding, I never had a hold on his heart in the first place.'
Kagome glanced over at InuYasha, her eyes sad. The hanyou seemed more on edge than usual, demolishing his first fish in record time and working hard on the second as she watched him. His eyes were full of rage (no surprise there) but she caught a glimpse of what looked like heartbreak. Heartbreak? If InuYasha loved Kikyou more than he loved her, then what would he have to be heartbroken over?
InuYasha noticed her staring at him. He broke off gnawing on a tough fish-bone to meet her gaze, the anger fading rapidly from his eyes. Kagome blinked, unnerved by the unusual intensity of the hanyou's striking golden eyes. A blush crossed her cheeks as she fumbled in the grass for the fish she thought she had placed down beside her, only to realize that it was in her lap. Blushing even more furiously, Kagome broke the stare and turned to the fire, her heart pounding. '...still love him,' she thought, brushing her hair back with her fingers without doing something stupid like get it all tangled or set it on fire.
"Kagome-" InuYasha started, then, surprisingly, Kikyou spoke up again.
"InuYasha, one tube-full of water is not going to be enough to keep Kagome hydrated," she told him. "Do you think you could fetch some more?"
Moment stolen again, InuYasha glared daggers at Kikyou as he snatched up the bamboo tube and stalked out of the camp, his shoulders stiff.
"What was that all about?" Kagome asked, confused now.
Kikyou sighed. She got up and moved so that she was sitting next to Kagome. Apart from a small shiver, Kagome didn't react much (she hoped). "I'm sorry for being so rude, but it was necessary to make InuYasha leave again as soon as you were conscious. It wasn't exactly a lie, anyway; you do need plenty of water."
Kagome's brow furrowed as she glanced suspiciously at Kikyou. "What...what do you want?"
Kikyou laughed once without humor. "I want to talk to you, of course."
InuYasha might not have been the brightest star in the sky, but he wasn't completely stupid, either. While he knew that Kagome did need water and he did only have the one tube, he also recognized a clear dismissal when he heard it, having gotten them one time too many from Kagome.
So, InuYasha ran a good distance away from the clearing, then slowly sneaked back, carefully making sure to keep a good distance away from the clearing. If he got too close, Kikyou could sense his aura and he would be doomed. Luckily, his youkai heritage had blessed him with supranormal hearing, thanks to the two white dog-ears that perched atop his head. When he could hear the women talking, InuYasha stopped moving toward the camp and crouched down by a tree, heart pounding in his throat.
"You just want to talk to me?" Kagome asked, her voice suspicious. InuYasha's ears strained toward the sound, eager not to miss a single word.
"Don't worry, I am not here to kill you," Kikyou said in a reassuring sort of tone.
"Then...what do you want to hear?" Kagome asked. InuYasha thought she sounded reluctant.
"I want to talk to you about the youkai known as Mujōna. Do you remember anything about her?"
There was a pause, the wind whispering through the trees during the silence. InuYasha growled at it, silently hoping that the elements wouldn't conspire against him and drown out the conversation taking place a good few yards away.
"Oh, yes, I remember Mujōna," Kagome said, and InuYasha recoiled at the sound of both horror, anger and revulsion in Kagome's voice. "I remember what Naraku did to me..." The hanyou growled, his claws sinking into the bracken-covered ground as he fought to control a wave of anger that washed over him.
"What?" Kikyou pressed. There was another pause.
"Naraku...told me that after thinking about it for a long time, he could use me as a sort of...shield against InuYasha. He created Mujōna for that purpose. Mujōna's true form is a sort of...sort of...eel youkai, except she doesn't have scales, eyes, nose or a mouth. But she's slimy and her body feels so cold..." InuYasha heard Kagome draw a deep breath, and fervently wished that he was sitting beside her, offering her his protection from her memories. "It...she...she slithered up my arm...and entered my body. It was the worst; not just an invasion of the body, but an invasion of the mind, as well. I wish I didn't remember it."
InuYasha growled again, feeling his hate for Naraku redouble and grow stronger. Oooh, the things he would do to the dark hanyou when he finally caught up with him...
"So, Mujōna is truly in your head? She's not just a voice?" Kikyou asked.
"No. She is really and truly in my head," Kagome replied.
"Is she...awake right now?"
"No. I think the fight against Sesshoumaru and the way we got washed down the river tired her out." Kagome sighed, but this was a good (or at least, better) sigh. "It's nice to have control of my own actions and no voice save for my own in my head."
"I think I can imagine," Kikyou said with a soft laugh. Then, the mood became more serious again. "However, there is one thing I do not understand; how can you be a shield for Naraku when you can easily be bypassed? Would it not be far too easy for InuYasha or one of his group to simply overpower you while they finish out Naraku?"
InuYasha privately agreed, not that he would ever feel comfortable overpowering Kagome. But Kikyou's argument did make sense.
The silence this time was more ominous this time, laden with more hidden meanings than InuYasha could decipher. Then, Kagome spoke, her voice quiet and eerily calm. "You've guessed, haven't you." A statement, not a question.
"Yes, I have," Kikyou admitted.
'Guessed what, for fuck's sake?' InuYasha thought, irritated.
Kagome gave a short, humorless bark of laughter. "Yes, Naraku really outdid himself this time. Mujōna's true purpose extends far beyond just sealing my powers and turning me against InuYasha, not that that wouldn't hurt me and him enough. But that damn spider just had to go for the ultimate diss..."
"Which was?" Kikyou prompted again.
"You know, don't you, Kikyou?" Kagome asked, her voice sad. "You know that Mujōna is Naraku's heart."