Ch. 107- Not Alone
Inuyasha © Rumiko Takahashi
The following morning, Inuyasha and Kagome had decided it was time for them to head back to Kaede's village. Now that the demon and its offspring had been slain and they had gotten the herbs they needed for Kirara, there was no point in staying.
"Are you sure you don't want us to stay and help you?" asked Kagome as she looked to the hut that had been burned to a pile of cinders.
"We'll be fine," Jinenji's Mother reassured. "Now you best skedaddle and get that medicine to your friend."
"Thank you," Kagome said before she looked up to Jinenji, who had gotten his arm bandaged. "Especially you, Jinenji...for everything."
"...You, too...Kagome," Jinenji said, his face turning a light pink.
"Hey, Kagome!"
Kagome turned to see Inuyasha standing on the hill, waiting for her.
"Come on!" he called. "We better hurry up if we wanna make it back in time to help Kirara!"
"Right!" Kagome replied before she turned to Jinenji and his mother. "Goodbye, Jinenji...and you, too, ma'am."
"Be seein' you," Jinenji's Mother answered as Kagome and Inuyasha soon disappeared behind the horizon.
"...I'll never forget that girl," Jinenji said.
"Hmm..." Jinenji's Mother smiled. "Seems you've taken a fancy to her, eh, Jinenji?"
"Err...well..." Jinenji muttered while scratching his head.
"Haha!" his mother laughed while patting his arm in a reassuring. "Just joshin' ya, boy!" Just then, she gasped as she noticed the villagers, all of them wearing bandages and holding garden hoes, pitchforks, and lumber...but they didn't seem to have any malicious intentions.
"And what do you all want?" asked Jinenji's Mother.
"Err...well...we know it might not mean much," said one of the village men, "but...we're very sorry for how we acted...and we were thinking that in order to make up for what we did, we should help you rebuild your house."
"If you'll let us, that is," added another. "We know it might take time for you to forgive us and we don't blame ya at all...but we just thought that maybe this was a good start."
Jinenji and his mother blinked in surprise before they glanced at each other...then the former nodded his head, causing the latter to nod back before she looked to the villagers.
"Well...the work's not gonna do itself," she said. "Let's get started."
Soon, the villagers began to make the repairs necessary to the farm and were even taught which herbs were best for certain ailments. As they worked, Jinenji noticed several small children nearby, one of them being a little girl, who smiled warmly as she walked up to him and held up a tiny little flower. Jinenji blinked at her before he smiled and gently accepted the gift...his heart swelling with relief and joy.
XXX
Not far from the village, Inuyasha and Kagome walked along the path, the latter holding the handles on her bike as she followed after the former...who seemed unusually quiet. It seemed a bit awkward, not saying anything for a while...so Kagome decided that she would be the one to speak.
"Umm...Inuyasha?" she asked.
"What?" Inuyasha asked back.
"I was wondering...did that ever happen to you?"
"Did what ever happen to me?"
"You know...bullying...were you picked on?"
Inuyasha snorted as he folded his arms in his sleeves. "Yeah, right. As if I roll over, belly up for anyone!"
"No! Of course, you don't!" Kagome replied.
'I'm guessing that he was bullied, then...'
"...I'm not one...or the other..."
"Huh?" Kagome muttered as she looked to Inuyasha, who had this...somewhat melancholy look on his face as he stared up at the sky.
"I'm not a demon...but I'm also not human..." he spoke. "I don't belong to either...that's all. There was no place for me, so I had to make one for myself."
"...Inuyasha..." Kagome whispered.
"I thought that the only way to get by was to make people respect me," Inuyasha said, "but then I realized...I did have a place...it's just that I was the only one in it. Before I knew it...I didn't know any other way to live." He then cast his eyes to the ground and sighed quietly. "I was...alone."
Kagome's eyes went wide. It was rare when Inuyasha ever talked about his past like this. Sure, he'd allude to it at times, but he never actually said what his life might have been like long before he met her.
He had really come to trust her so much after all this time...and he probably wasn't even aware of what he had just told her.
"...Inuyasha?" asked Kagome, causing him to look at her. "I'm...happy to hear it."
"Happy?" Inuyasha repeated with a somewhat skeptical look. "Happy, how?"
"Well...you rarely open up and talk to me about your past and all," said Kagome. "I'm glad you have. I always wondered what your life was like, you know? I'm just glad you're able to let down your guard and talk to me about things like this, that's all."
"And that makes you happy?" Inuyasha repeated.
"Yeah!" Kagome answered. "So don't worry about showing me your soft side every now and then, okay?"
"Keh!" Inuyasha scoffed. "You make it sound like I'm some lonely pet that needs company!"
"Well, what's wrong with that?" asked Kagome. "It's nice knowing that you're not alone anymore, right?"
Inuyasha's eyes widened while Kagome soon walked on ahead of him, smiling cheerily.
'...She's right,' he thought. 'I'm not alone anymore...somehow, and without my ever noticing it...it just felt so natural...having Kagome near.'
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