Inuyasha
The dream had me riled up, uncertain of if it was real or not. It had felt more real than anything else I've experienced in the last few years but… how could that be? I sniffed around, looking for signs of Kikyo. Kagome seemed sure that something was nearby, so it had to be true.
I kept my eyes straight ahead, forcing myself not to look back at the girl trudging down the hill towards Shippo. She looks so worn out and exhausted recently, like there's no such thing as enough sleep. Maybe I should call all of this off and just force her to go back to the village.
'Quit flip flopping,' my brain scolded. 'Pick one girl, or get neither.' I sighed. If I kept on this trail to finding Kikyo I should simply leave any thoughts of Kagome aside. Besides, the monk seems to be taking to her well enough. He may be a lecher but Kagome's strong willed. She can easily put him in his place. Maybe I should just leave those two alone so they can figure out if that's what they want.
I growled at myself as a woman passed me. She paused, her dark eyes glaring at me until a smile spread across her face.
"Might you be Inuyasha?" her voice was low and dangerous, but I nodded anyway.
"Whose asking?"
"You will pay for what you've done!" She yelled out, jumping away from me and pulling a giant boomerang off her back, brandishing it like a weapon.
"What the hell did I do?" I yelled at her as her steely gaze never left my face.
"You killed my father and brother and destroyed everyone in my village!" She yelled out in anger, holding the impossibly heavy weapon above her head. She was obviously stronger than she looked, leading me to the conclusion that she must have more powers or even greater strength hidden inside of her. She might even be a demon herself.
"I don't know what you're talking about! I've been too busy to bother with destroying villages."
"You lie!" She roared, throwing the boomerang. "Hiraikotsu!" Her voice seemed to echo as her weapon flew towards me. I turned tail and ran, the boomerang connecting with my shoulder blade, dislocating it. I fell, sprawling to the floor. I could smell blood, but it wasn't mine. With a grunt I pushed my shoulder back into place, hissing through my teeth at the pain.
I turned slowly to face the girl, taking in her wheezing breaths and her arm clutching at her side. The smell of death was clinging to her. She wasn't going to live for much longer, not in her condition.
"I will avenge my family!" She ground out the words as she stared at me. She was determined, that was obvious, but she won't be breathing much longer with that would on her side. I had two choices, let her die and continue on my way, or have Kagome heal the girl so that I can figure out whose been using my name to cause such a girl to seek me out in the first place. I groaned, tired of always playing the good guy.
Miroku
He had never seen such a beautiful girl in his entire life. Miroku was determined to learn the girls name as Inuyasha set her down next to Kagome. The priestess went to work immediately, though it was obvious she was exhausted from getting no sleep the night before. Kagome worked tirelessly on the sleeping girl, never once asking any questions. There was a determined set to her jaw as her brow began breaking out into a sweat that Shippo quickly wiped away.
Her ability over her powers, even while being sleep deprived was amazing, and Miroku couldn't have admired her more if he had tried. There was a deep gash in the unknown girl's shoulder that Kagome quickly began healing, the skin knitting together under her steady hands. It was slow as Kagome was tired and emotionally warn from the episode the night before, but she was steady in her progress.
With that wound healed and the threat to the girl's life lessened Kagome moved on to the darkening bruise on her side.
"Shouldn't she be fine now?" Inuyasha asked from his seat next to the fire. He wouldn't admit it, but Miroku knew Inuyasha enjoyed watching Kagome work.
"No, a bruise this big means there are multiple bleeds under her skin. Even if the blood doesn't get out it's not going where it's suppose to. She can still die from internal injuries."
"Wow Kagome, where did you learn all that stuff?" Shippo was watching the girl intently as a blush rose to the apples of her cheeks. She was truly beautiful and smart. Inuyasha would be a fool not to see it.
"Oh, I uh… I use to watch a lot of doctor shows on t.v. and I took a general health class in high school." She looked embarrassed as she poked at the girl's stomach. Then her face turned to a look of concern as she concentrated her fingers in the girls skin, her brown eyes glowing brightly like solidified amber as she continued to work. Miroku pondered what the girl might be seeing. Maybe a network of veins and arteries that need to be repaired? How would the girl know which to connect to what? She seems so sure of her movements, and Miroku was jealous for a moment of the power she commanded. So similar to that of his late father's.
Kagome worked in silence until the sun set, healing cuts and bruises, causing the broken, almost dead girl in front of her to glow bright and fresh. By the time night fell Kagome was panting and drained, her skin looking pale and her bright eyes dark and hooded. Shippo stayed in her lap, protective and concerned while Inuyasha cooked a stew over the fire and kept a protective eye on the young priestess and a watchful one on the young girl.
Miroku on the other hand, couldn't keep his eyes off of the sleeping woman, unable to think of a single woman whose beauty could surpass hers. Her skin was lightly tanned, with dark pink powder covering her eye lids. Her lips had the slightest hint of light pink, like the petals of a flower and Miroku was sure that if he was to reach out and touch the small bump of flesh it would feel just as velvety.
As the monk was reaching out towards the girl her eyelids shot open and she took a deep gasp of air as if she couldn't get enough of it.
"You're awake," Kagome's voice fluttered over to them quietly. She was doing her best to keep herself awake and Miroku was amazed that she could even still talk. Shippo was busy patting the girl's arm, making sure the young priestess was okay.
"Where am I?" the mystery girl spoke and her voice was literal music to Miroku's ears.
Inuyasha
It was obvious Miroku was enamored with the girl whom attacked me. She wasn't unattractive by any regard, but she was dangerous and I had the feeling that once Miroku realized that he wouldn't be after her any longer. But for the moment it took the monk's attention away from Kagome and that was good enough for me.
"After you tried to kill me I decided to bring you back to my camp to have Kagome look after your wounds." I stared at the girl as her wide eyes quickly narrowed on me. I stirred the stew once more, careful not to let anything stick to the bottom of the pot. "I have some questions for you."
"I will answer nothing from a lying demon who preys on children and the elderly!"
"When did this happen?" Miroku asked, his eyes never wavering from the girl
"Two days ago," the girl's voice was filled with anger and malice as she answered, her eyes bolting to Miroku's face for just a moment before returning to my own.
"Inuyasha couldn't have done it," Kagome's voice was sleepy as she sat up a little straighter, forcing her eyes open
"And how would you know that?" The girl ground out. Kagome sighed and set Shippo down to rummage through her bag.
"What is she doing?" the girl asked to no one in particular. Once Kagome was done she pulled out her notebook and turned through the pages.
"Since I've woken up I've gone back and written on every day since. I don't know the date or even the day of the week so I've been numbering them. Today is day 66." Kagome flipped two days back and handed the journal to the girl. She stared at the neat handwriting on the page in confusion.
"I don't know how to read," she said with a few blinks. Kagome gave a faint nod before turning the book back around and clearing her throat of the sleep.
"Inuyasha and Miroku argued over the last piece of fish until noon when we entered a village. Even after buying more food the two wouldn't stop arguing so when we made our way to the camp I created a barrier between the two idiots so they would finally be quiet. Unfortunately Miroku broke my barrier and continued the argument until sun down when I had finally had enough and stormed off into the woods. Inuyasha ran after me immediately with Shippo not far behind him." Kagome sat back against the tree, her tired eyes waiting. "He never left my sight for longer than a few moments, and that wouldn't have been enough time for him to travel very far."
"How can I trust this? I don't even know if what you're saying is what's written!"
"I would teach you if I had time." Kagome yawned and I began getting irritated.
"Listen, you either believe her or you don't, but I didn't kill any old people or children."
"Yeah! Inuyasha's too much of a push over for that!" Shippo piped up and I hit him in the head to silence him.
"Who would tell you such tale?" Miroku asked, his eyes clouded by thought.
"Naraku, the master of the castle I have most recently visited. He hired the demon exterminators. We were called to kill a rather large spider demon when it was found that the Lord of the castle was in fact being controlled by the real demon, a shadow spider."
"Those are fairly tricky demons, they usually call other demons in order to draw attention away from themselves." Miroku was giving another one of his lessons to Kagome but she wasn't listening. Her light snores could be heard over the crackling fire. I sighed and stood, the girl busy in thought as I got out Kagome's furs and nestled her into a small nest of blankets. The air was beginning to get colder at night and in a few months this area would be blanketed in snow. We weren't sure how long we were going to be gone this time so Kagome packed what she thought she would need.
"I lost my father and brother in the battle at the castle." The girl's voice trembled. Miroku could deal with her, he is a sucker for teary eyes and sad stories. Or was that the girls he chases after? I grumbled as I couldn't remember which. Kagome made a contented sigh as I finally pulled the blanket up to her shoulders and she smiled.
"Kagome can get comfortable anywhere huh?" Shippo asked as Miroku and the girl spoke softly to each other.
"She wasn't always like this. After a month or so of sleeping on the forest floor she finally got use to it."
"Inuyasha," Miroku called to me and I turned around. "Sango her has agreed to help us find Naraku in order to get to the bottom of this."
"He bought Kagome at an auction after she woke up in this world."
"Is that why she reacted that way when your brother mentioned his name?"
"Probably. That Centipede bitch had been the one to sell her and was probably humiliated when Kagome escaped. She sent her people after Kagome until…"
"I remember the rest." Miroku sighed. "We can't just leave her behind. She'll find us one way or another."
"We can't exactly ask her to go either," I grumbled and crossed my arms, watching the girl sleep.
"What are you gonna do?" Shippo asked, His green eyes nervous.
"I have no clue," I answered honestly, sighing.
"We can return to my village tomorrow and make plans there," Sango offered and we all nodded, deciding now was a good time to rest.
