Chapter 36: That Sly Hanyou

The very nature of her body was defied by the way she ran. Somewhere in her mind she couldn't understand why her lungs breathed in so deeply the air that would not aid her in any way. Her thin sandals did little to protect her feet from the pointed ground, and it stung even if she did not bleed. Yet for the first time in over 50 years, she felt an odd and ironic sense of thrill. It was the thrill of battle, of energy, and the pursuit of evil. The air that flowed through her body and the pounding of her insides as she ran almost made Kikyo feel like she was alive again. She recalled the satisfaction of a chase, the pride of destroying a youkai threat to her village, the calm of her healing abilities even as her heart continued to ache. This burdened and tiresome life she once knew, she realized she still knew. But for the first time in a long time, she understood why she had chosen this path so full of strife.

She could feel him now. Even as he hid in the shadows, her mind could sense his cunning and his anger. She knew he pursued her, and in fact, he had been for quite a time now. She really had been chasing him too, though she hadn't a clue where to begin. But after what must have been a half an hour of running in this direction, they had to be far enough away from any village. There was no doubt in her mind that any passerby would seek to help her.

Kikyo would not let herself be helped. This was to be her battle alone.

She halted in the middle of a long stretching field of weeds, working grounds that had long been abandoned due to the unworkable soils that could not be saved. The browned leaves crumbled beneath her steps as easily as sand. Glancing around her, the night sky cast a shadow over everything in sight. It was sickening, knowing that within the shadows that stretched over all of Japan, Kokuei loomed ever closer, practically feeling where she was.

She bowed her head and closed her eyes, taking a moment to find peace in the soft breeze and the chirping of the crickets, before she raised her head once more and gazed into the nothingness, into the never-ending darkness that she knew withheld her grave. "I know you're out there, Kokuei, you coward. It's time I did what I should have done a long time ago."

"You're nothing but a fool, wench," she could hear his voice coming from nowhere, maybe even within her own mind, "You've thrown away any chance at life."

She smiled sadly and resolutely to herself, "Perhaps… But as long as I'm here, I cannot let you walk this earth."

And just as soon as she said it, he appeared. Not twenty yards away, wrapped in a red haori, she could have sworn it was Inuyasha come to rescue her. The pang of disappointment and pain in her heart was ever strong. The desire too great to look into Inuyasha's eyes just one more time. How hard had it been, back there when she had heard Inuyasha's voice, not to run back to him and fall into his embrace just so that she could feel one more time the tranquility of his presence. She didn't for only one simple reason. He was no longer hers to touch, and that realization tore deeper than any weapon ever could.

The wind suddenly picked up, blowing violently through his hair. He stared at her calmly, yet sternly. Her mind picked up a thought, a memory, from so long ago…

"Hanyou, what is your name? You have a name, don't you? Unless it's just 'Hanyou'."

"Stop calling me 'hanyou' over and over!"

"Then tell me your name! I would have no reason to call you 'hanyou' anymore."

"… It's Inuyasha."

"Inuyasha, huh? I'll remember that."

'Inuyasha,' she thought. That one thought, that one name, it was all she had left to care for, even if it was no longer hers to cherish. And now she faced his mirror image - faced Inuyasha - once again as an enemy.

"Kikyo… I'll become human. I don't have any reservations. I'll become human."

"Inuyasha…"

"And since you've been alone all this time… I could-."

"Inuyasha… You don't need to say anything else."

"Kikyo… I want you to know-."

She didn't know what it had been that had compelled her to kiss him then. The look in his eyes, the sound in his voice told her everything and yet nothing. All she knew right then was that she loved him, and somewhere behind his gruff exterior, perhaps he felt the same. Perhaps that was what he was trying to say all along.

Even if he didn't anymore, she could cherish this cursed memory of hers forever.

"I was mere moments away from destroying Kagome. If you hadn't interfered, she would be long gone, just as I know you would have wanted."

She gave off a sort of half-laugh, sounding almost evil herself. "You'd have me believe you'd then let Inuyasha live his life in peace? Not as though he could anyway."

"Nani?"

"Killing the girl would be no more than killing Inuyasha himself. Without her, he would fall to pieces, and you know that, don't you?" Kokuei grimaced harder. Kikyo knocked her bow with a purification arrow, "You'd take him down by destroying her. That is why I couldn't let you kill Kagome."

Kokuei smirked at that, though it looked far more angry than happy. "So you're out to protect Inuyasha's heart… How sickeningly noble of you."

"If saving Kagome means the prophecy will be fulfilled, if it means your end, then I can die in peace."

The blowing wind wrapped around her, squeezed her in a cold vice, scraped against her aura roughly, and she knew…

This was to be her final battle.

"You will die in pieces!" And he rushed forward.

No regrets.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

"Are you sure you'll need all that, Kagome-chan?" Sango asked.

"Absolutely," Kagome beamed, staring down at the pile of bathing supplies in her arms.

The overflowing mass of bottles was too much. One by one, they tumbled out of the miko's arms as she clumsily tried to catch them without dropping the rest, which in turn would fall as well. Under normal circumstances, the boys might have found this out-right laughable. Today, however, they were all sitting in the corner of Sango and Miroku's hut, silently avoiding the suddenly girlish atmosphere of the room as though it were contagious. "Keh!" Inuyasha scoffed, "Sure you have enough?"

She actually appeared to be considering it when Shippou jumped on her shoulder and peered down along with her, "What is all this stuff?"

"Let's see… Shampoo, conditioner, bath gel, bath oils, hair oils, exfoliator, loofas, lotion, razors…"

Miroku sighed, "Women. Apparently their nature hasn't changed even in 500 years."

"Razors?" Sango's eyes doubled in size, "Kagome-chan, we're women! What are we going to shave? Our heads?"

"Our legs," she continued at Sango's confused look, "It'll make them all smooth. You should try it. Come on, let's go!"

Somehow Kagome managed to fit all her supplies in one small bag and heaved it onto her shoulder. Sango got to her feet looking rather dubious, but intrigued, and turned to the kitsune. "Shippou-chan. You want to come with us?"

Shippou made a face. If this little excursion meant he would be smelling of flowers and shaving his legs, it was definitely not something he wanted to be a part of. "Um… that's okay. I'll stay here."

"Okay then. We'll see you guys in a while. And Inuyasha?" Sango asked pointedly, "Do keep Miroku away, will you?"

Inuyasha glared to the monk but nodded as Miroku sighed dejectedly.

"We'll be back in about an hour. Take care everyone," Kagome said as she stepped outside with Sango.

"Kagome, wait up a second!" Inuyasha called as he got to his feet.

Kagome turned around outside as he came out behind her. "What is it?"

"Look, um… I've been thinking. Since what happened yesterday, I was thinking that we should be a little safer."

Kagome suddenly glared at him, "You are not stopping me from having a bath, Inuyasha. Especially not now."

Inuyasha scowled. It was true that he did have the habit of forbidding her to bathe regularly ever since they began searching for Naraku, and it only escalated after their first encounter with Kokuei. Somehow the girls' bathing trips never worked out well for him. Miroku would cause trouble, some youkai would try to attack… either way he'd come rushing in to fix it only to be osuwaried into the water and yelled at. To the day he detested the rosary around his neck, but… "Not that," Inuyasha growled, "I just thought it would best that you 'sit' me if you ever happen to see me alone."

"Nani?" Everybody gasped as they stared with their mouths wide open.

Inuyasha flinched and made a face. Sure, he had expected them to be surprised – hell, he was surprised at himself – but it sure would make it easier to do this if they didn't make a huge deal about him succumbing to the necklace. Kagome eventually asked, "Inuyasha… are you sure you want that?"

He sighed in defeat, "It's worked before, hasn't it?"

She remembered Inuyasha's first actual encounter with Kokuei, when she had to sit Inuyasha so that she could tell who was the enemy. "Yeah, I guess it has."

"Well I can't believe I'm even suggesting it, but… until we find this guy, you're gonna have to keep sitting me so everyone can tell me apart."

She stared at him silently for a moment longer, then gestured to Sango to look away for a moment. Without giving Inuyasha a chance to shy away, she leaned up to kiss him, yet pulled away before he could respond to it. "Thank you, Inuyasha. I'll see you later."

When she pulled away from him, he held onto her hand until she walked out of his reach. As she and Sango disappeared over the hill, Kagome looked back one more time to smile at him.

Inuyasha returned inside to a shocked Miroku and Shippou. The hanyou sank down against the wall, his eyes lingering on the doorway. Miroku spoke up, "I wouldn't worry too much, Inuyasha. She's with Sango, and you're with us."

Inuyasha grimaced, "Yeah yeah. Don't remind me. Anyways, it won't matter much longer anymore if they're together. Kokuei's sure to come back, and we can't have the girls too far away when he does."

Miroku only made a small grunting sound in affirmation. A long and very uncomfortable silence followed. Inuyasha's cheeks flushed. He knew Miroku was still pondering what he said to Kagome, and before he could evade it, the monk opened his mouth, "Exactly why are you letting her sit you?"

Inuyasha twitched a bit. It wasn't anything to be ashamed of, but being mentally analyzed by his friends for any reason didn't feel right. "Damnit! You heard me before. I already said why. As far as we know that's the only way to separate me from him."

"Still… it does strike me as odd how you've had such a change of heart on the subject… almost as though you like it…"

"Keh! There's no change of heart and I sure as hell don't like it! You guys are following us everywhere like a bunch of pups," he turned to glare at the monk, "but Kokuei knows exactly what you're doing, and all he needs is for you to look away one second for him to attack."

Miroku dropped his smirk and his analytical posture in lue of a more serious and profound gaze, "With all due respect, we are doing the best we can, and it doesn't help that you are constantly trying to get away from us."

Inuyasha grimaced and crossed his arms over his chest, "Yeah, and all you can do is fuck around with me the whole time."

Miroku sighed with a small smile, "I know it's frustrating for you, but as you said, we can't afford to let our guard down even for a second. This Kokuei is a powerful enemy, but not only that, he is also very evasive. I myself have yet to even lay eyes on him. Apparently, when faced with more than one opponent, he makes a strategic retreat. I don't know why he refuses to face us as a group, but I will not doubt he is every bit capable of doing so… I have heard of this type of maneuvering before, in certain bandit tribes, where they target single victims in order to avoid causing a group uproar, thereby keeping the advantage. If this is anything like what Kokuei is doing, then we can only survive if we keep track of where everyone is. This isn't just you, Inuyasha. Everyone needs to be looked after."

Inuyasha sighed, "It isn't that simple. What else can we do besides wait to be attacked? He knows exactly where we are and what we are doing, and we have no way of detecting him when he comes."

"In a way, that's no different from Naraku. He did seem to be one step ahead at all times. And yet we defeated him."

"It took us years to defeat Naraku. Am I supposed to be followed around for years until we defeat Kokuei so I can finally be left alone?" The hanyou cracked his knuckles, "Damnit. I can't stand it, just waiting here for Kokuei to make his move…"

"You yourself said yesterday you didn't want to travel too far from the well."

Inuyasha sighed, "I know, but… if things keep going like this, we'll have no choice but to go somewhere… anywhere he might have passed. If his plan is just to lay low until he finds a hole in our defense, then we'll have to confront him head-on before he gets a chance."

Miroku made himself more comfortable against the wall and silently thought to himself how remarkable it was that someone as brusque and irrational as Inuyasha could also have the strategic mind of a general. Or perhaps years of searching for Naraku had simply conditioned him to problem solving such as this. "So we'll begin our search tomorrow, then?"

Inuyasha nodded, "Yes… Wait! No. Not just yet. Kagome's birthday is in a few days and she'll be going back to see her family."

Miroku gave him a strong gaze, "Wait a minute, Inuyasha. We're not supposed to let either of you out of our sights. And we can't follow you through the well."

Inuyasha returned the look, "What do you expect me to do? Force her to stay away from her family on her birthday? Keh! No thanks. She'd sit me and go anyway."

The monk ran a hand over his face, "So what are we going to do, then?"

Inuyasha shrugged inertly as he lay down with his hands behind his head, "You do what you want, but Kagome's going home. Keh! If she's gonna sit me anyway every time she sees me, I ain't giving her anymore reason t…" He abruptly stopped speaking, and quickly pulled himself up to a sitting position again. "That's it."

"What's wrong, Inuyasha? Do you smell something?" Shippou asked worriedly.

"No. That's it! That's all we need to do!" Inuyasha exclaimed.

"What is?"

"Look… If Kagome's just gonna sit me whenever she finds me alone, then it won't even matter if you're there or not. She'll know it's me. And if you guys lose track of me, all Kagome has to do is sit me once you find me and everyone will know."

A good ten second pause followed, before Miroku muttered, "Unbelievable, Inuyasha. When did you begin to use that brain of yours?"

Inuyasha got to his feet. Miroku immediately backed himself into a corner, fearing that he would surely get hit for such a comment. Instead, the hanyou smirked triumphantly and exclaimed, "Keh! I'm right, aren't I? You morons won't be following me around anymore!"

Making a sound very suspiciously close to a laugh, Inuyasha made an easy stride towards the door. He was gone instantly. Shippou made a move to follow, then stopped and frowned to himself. Inuyasha's victorious 'laugh' was kinda scary. Miroku just sat there and scratched his head, wondering why they hadn't thought of Inuyasha's idea sooner, and why Inuyasha was so willing these days to get sat.

"Come on, Miroku," Shippou exclaimed, "He's getting away."

"No, Shippou," Miroku motioned for the kitsune to sit down again with his hand, "Believe it or not, I think Inuyasha has a point there."

Shippou sat cross-legged beside him, "So that means we don't have to look after Inuyasha anymore?"

Miroku nodded, though visibly he was still preoccupied with his thoughts, "It would seem so."

"Yay!" Shippou shouted as he leaned back against the wall, "It was too much work keeping track of him anyway."

Miroku agreed wholeheartedly but kept an uneasy gaze on the doorway. The bamboo curtain still flapped back and forth in the wake of the hanyou's quick exit. But in the end, the monk did grin at this strange turn of events. 'That sly hanyou… Never thought I'd see the day Inuyasha would be happy to get sat.'

Somewhere outside, Inuyasha flopped rather ungracefully into the grass, back down, arms and legs spread, grinning at the sky in complete and utter satisfaction. "Alone at last."

To be continued…

Okay, so I hope that makes sense. Basically, if Inuyasha ever wanders off by himself for awhile, whenever Kagome or the others meet up with him again, Kagome will have to osuwari him so that they can tell he's really Inuyasha. This also would entail though it wasn't stated that if Inuyasha is ever found by the others without Kagome around, the group will have no way of trusting that he is truly Inuyasha until Kagome returns as well to confirm it.

So… yes, a whole lot of talking, which I hate very much. Too much dialogue makes me very unhappy, but I had to do it. I will say this chapter was not a joy to write. Not only because of the chapter itself, but because I'm sick, and that's the only reason I was able to find the time to write at all. It saddens me that writing has to take the back seat to my life right now, but I suppose I'm making due. Haha! I even found Inuyasha manga online in Spanish!

Anyways, take care everyone! (hugs)