CHAPTER- 3-GOODBYE INUYASHA
" I must protect this Jewel...? That is ridiculous..." she mumbled stomping her way not really caring where she was going earning looks from some villagers .
"Inuyasha, it is too early to breathe a sigh of relief. Kagome is the reincarnation of my sister, Kikyo."
"What?"
"What????"
" I still cannot get over the fact that I am the reincarnation of the so revered priestess...pfft... what a joke! I am sure the old lady is turning senile." She rolled her eyes folding her hands.
"Kikyo . Kikyo .Who the hell is she anyway? People just keep comparing me to her. Especially Inuyasha what did I even do to him? Kikyo this. Kikyo that . You're right you're not Kikyo, you are too dumb to be her." She mock imitated him till she heard voices from around her.
" She's what?! High Priestess Kikyo's...??"
She tensed woah! Word sure does travel fast . Just ignore them.
"When you think about it, she does seem quite saintly..."
Hah !look in what angle do I look saintly?
"The kid's the reincarnation of High Priestess Kikyo."
C'mon gimme a break.
"Watch your language. Show some respect for the young lady!"
"The 'young lady' is a reincarnation!"
"Look there she is Kikyo-sama's reincarnation."
"Hey did you hear..."
"Such radiance...such grace ... No wonder she is ...
That's it they are so going down.
Gritting her teeth she turned around to find all the villagers on the mound clasping their hands and praying in reverence .
Argh! What is up with these people. They're worshipping the wrong person!
Shaking her head in disappointment she turned around to find others.
Ooo
Perched on a tree branch high up in a tree, Inuyasha stared into the distance pensively.
" So...she's dead," he said ,as if he could not come to terms with the fact that it was the truth. He still remembered her, memories fresh in his mind . He unintentionally allowed himself to smile as he remembered flashes of her gentle face, her long beautiful hair, her voice , her warm hands till he remembered that she tried to kill him, narrowing his eyes.
I still hate her ...
he told himself.
do I ??
His hair whipped gently in the warm breeze as he debated inside trying to find all the reasons why he should hate her convincing himself that the tightness in his heart was not because he was missing her.
His sensitive ears picked up foot steps from a distance nearing towards him. He ignored it and continued with his thoughts till Kagome's voice interrupted him.
"Hey Inuyasha!" He turned his head towards her to see her looking at him. For a second he thought he was looking at Kikyo. Kikyo's dead idiot. He mentally slapped himself.
"What?! " he snapped.
With out talking she sat at the base of the tree and patted the space beside her for him to sit. He raised an eyebrow looking at her doubtfully, but finally decided to cave in. He landed on his feet softly , and took his place beside her. He waited for her to speak as he watched her intently.
She had been thinking for some time about clearing up with him. She knew she couldn't watch her back all the time so she voiced out,
"You hate me, don't you?"
"You've no idea how much!" He scoffed earning a glare from her.
"Look... The one you hate is not me, but this lady named Kikyo.I'm Kagome, not Kikyo. So won't you be a little nicer to me?"
No but you remind me every second of the time I spent with that traitor.
" Are you stupid or what?! I don't care who you are! In order to get the Sacred Jewel, I have to be merciless!" He said getting up and began walking away from her. He couldn't stand the sight of her...liar
"I see," she sighed deciding he can't be helped.
" In case you should decide to get violent, then all I have to do is say 'sit' and-" she was cut off by Inuyasha crashing face first violently onto the ground.
"Oops, sorry! I didn't mean that." She said trying to hold her laughter not feeling sorry at all.
" Damn you Kikyo!"
Her laughter immediately died , something akin to disappointment and hurt settling on her face. She immediately turned away scowling and left in anger.
"Hey! Where are you going?"
"Go to hell!" She shouted behind her.
"Bipolar bitch."
Ooo
The clouds swept through the dark skies occasionally hiding the waxing crescent moon , the atmosphere chilly, the trees swaying gently . The forest animals returned to their nesting places to rest for a new day burying themselves in peaceful slumber.
Not every one is lucky to have peace, with past demons haunting them, even when the wounds created by them slowly heal . They leave behind scars too big to ignore, too hard to forget.
Naruto leapt through the branches lost in thoughts of the boy who mirrored her past self, hiding in cold exterior and boastful demeanour. No matter how hard he tried she could see his mask slipping, his agony hidden deep inside with only his eyes failing to conceal them . She bit her lip in frustration . Just what has he been through..
She stopped when she reached a river, Kurama at the back of her mind leaving her to her system . She looked around and tried to sense if anyone was near. After she was sure no one was near she sniffed herself only to crinkle her nose declaring she was in a bad need of a bath to herself.
Stripping off her kimono and underwear, she piled them in a heap. She sat on edge and gently lowered her feet into the cold water. She stared at her reflection under the moon light ,the gentle breeze ruffling her fur soothingly, as her wild locks swayed .
She still couldn't remove his face from her mind that furious expression he just looked like me... when I wanted the world to believe... that I was strong even when I felt so weak...so...lonely...
She bit her lip as he reminded her a bit of Sasuke, too prideful in letting others in. A bit of Gaara in believing he can depend only on himself till she knocked some sense into him.
She lowered herself into the water till she was waist deep and began washing herself. She dunked in wetting her hair and her tail fur wet. She looked at her long golden tresses triggering a memory of her mission with Sasuke. She still remembered the day as clear as the colour of her eyes. Her ears turned red and her cheeks flamed . The day before he left her for power . His gentle kiss, his pale hands undoing her pigtails, his cold touch warming her tear stained cheek...
She was lost in thoughts of him when her instincts screamed danger. A shiver ran down her spine as she got out of the water and hurriedly dressed .She immediately stilled sensing something behind her.
"Kit! "
Ooo
Kagome tossed and turned on the futon Kaede gave her . It was not soft like her bed but it was better than the hard floor. Her thoughts skimmed through various things she experienced after coming here, it still seemed surreal to her , she still felt like she was in a dream.
She focused on trying to figure out how she came by here . She remembered being dragged into the well by the centipede monster and then she found herself in a different time line.
"It's been two days since I arrived here. Gramps. Sota... Mom... They must be so worried. I've gotta find a way to get back home . I... I miss home so much ,"she mumbled sleepily to herself , pulling her blanket higher .
Inuyasha's rude words still rang in her ears .What an ass! she thought. All He sees me is as Kikyo. But this feeling I get whenever he looks at me... She sighed turning to her side.
Though she found his behavior irritating she did not understand why she badly wanted him to like her, but the way he treats me... He really needs to learn his lesson. I am not going sit down and let him treat me like that. I do have self respect .He still does not call me by my name. That Bastard ! She growled to herself whole she mused on different other things ,slowly drifting into sleep.
Ooo
Inuyasha's ears twitched as he listened in on the conversation between Kaede and the villagers that Kagome went missing.
"That damn woman! Always looking for trouble where did she go with the jewel?" he cursed under his breath and began sniffing the air leaping from branch to branch. His ears perked up hearing her voice and caught her scent along with few others, they reeked of sweat . He sped off in that direction .
As he neared their hideout ,he heard them scream and crashed in through one of the walls to a scene of the boss attacking his men.
" Inuyasha! You came to rescue me?!" Kagome shouted. Her heart swelling at the thought and a smile crept up her face.
He doesn't hate me after all.
"Is it safe? The Sacred Jewel!" He asked back not caring to answer her as he charged at the large man whom the other thugs called boss before they escaped from the opening .
"Eh?" She gaped at him as her brows furrowed and smile faltered. He did not come for me...
"I'm asking you if the Sacred Jewel is safe!" He asked again impatiently while she couldn't get words out of her mouth. Anger bubbled inside her. She opened her mouth to shout at him before she was cut off by Inuyasha.
"That putrid smell!" He exclaimed covering his nose.
One of the buckle on the boss's clothes came off, revealing a hole in his chest. Three eyes peered out of the hole to reveal the head of a crow.
"What?!"
" His heart must've been torn apart a couple of nights ago. Then it nested there." He said grimly.
"He was being manipulated? I thought something was strange about him."
" Corpse Crows aren't too strong. They use dead bodies to fight. Disgusting!"
He shouted as he plunged his hand into the chest of the large man ,where the crow is.The crow escaped from the hole in the boss's back and flew out of the window.
"It got away! Aren't you going after it?"
"I can't go after every stupid demon. There's only one of me, after all."
"But...!"
"Shut it! I'm the one doing the fighting!" He growled." So I decide! Now what about the Sacred Jewel? " He raised a fine brow when her shoulders tensed at his question and she started sweating bullets. It was then he noticed the crow from the window with the jewel in its beak.
" Why, you...! Argh! You're not even worth it."
"I-I never said anything about having it on me," she defended herself.
"Tch..."
He crashed out of the hut, grabbing onto her hand. He stopped when he noticed a quiver of arrows and a bow on the horses parked outside and pushed them into her arms.
" No way it's getting away!" He quickly got her to piggy back him and leapt into the air chasing the crow.
" What're you doing?! Hurry and shoot that thing down!"
"Are you crazy?! I've never used a bow and arrow in my life!"
"The Corpse Crow survives by eating human flesh! With the Sacred Jewel, it might transform!" He said just before the crow swallowed the Sacred Jewel.
" It just swallowed the Jewel!" She gasped. "Okay, I'll try it!"
"All right! Make it one shot . Kikyo was a Master Archer." He fake cheered.
Heh! Once that crow is shot down, I won't need a girl like her.
Determined she shot an arrow missing the crow by a long way off. Inuyasha fell onto the ground in shock.
"Eh... You're not lying about Kikyo being a master archer, are you?"
He nodded back exasperatedly ," You're such a klutz! Look, now it's getting bigger!"
He gets up again and runs after the crow, piggybacking her.
"Aim!"
She fires another arrow pathetically missing the crow pathetically. He stopped suddenly and plopped her onto the ground.
"Oww!" She rubbed her back scowling at him making him glare in return.
"NO WAY you're Kikyo incarnated! Now I know to expect nothing." He said rudely and took after it.
"Inuyasha!" She shouted after him and snapped her head towards the Crow which swept a toddler from his mother's arms and fled with him in its claws.
" My son!"
"Looking for food already? Well, you'd better think about running away from me first! You can't hunt if you're being hunted!" Inuyasha shouted as he tried to attack it ignoring the child in it's clutches.
"No! Save the child first!" She shouted as she reached the bridge.
" Iron Reaver, Soul Stealer!" He clawed at the crow's body into pieces, which fell into the river together with the toddler.
The toddler struggled desperately in the rapid river. Inuyasha who was only concerned with the Jewel landed on a rock and began looking for it not caring about the child getting washed away by the current .
" Where is it? Where's the Sacred Jewel!
" My son! Someone save him please."
Kagome immediately dived into the river and swam towards the toddler.
" Help!" The boy struggled out.
" Hang on! Relax..." She said as she reached the boy and pulled him towards the river bank. He coughed water trying to breathe. His mother came running towards him as he took few unsteady steps towards her. He hugged her crying into her arms.
"Ma! I was so scared!" He said to his crying mother who hugged him tighter. Kagome looked at them relief crossing her till she heard Inuyasha calling out to her.
"Hey girl! Where's the Sacred Jewel?!"
She glared at him giving him a hard slap and turned away with tears in her eyes.
"Wh-What?!"
Insensitive freak! Her glare intensified as she tried hard to look anywhere but him.
She felt disgusted at his behaviour and thanked God that the child was okay. She felt a tug at her skirt and looked down at the boy looking at her with his cute big brown eyes.
" Thanks sister!" He smiled at her.
"Thank you so much. Thank you!" His mother said drying her tears looking at her child fondly.
"It's okay, really," she shrugged awkwardly not knowing what else to say to the emotional woman.
The pieces of the Crow began to join back , all the pieces from underwater assembling in the air.
" Damn! It's getting away!" Inuyasha shouted over to her.
Kagome glared at him as she was still angry and gave a loud sigh. I guess this is no time to be fighting.
The Crow's claw which was still on the toddler's back unknown to them began to tug at him making him gasp in terror.
Kagome looked at it thoughtfully , "That's right! " She said punching her fist into her palm.
"May I use your bow and arrow?" She asked the villager beside her.
" Huh? But it's so far away..." He said looking at the crow which was far off in the distance.
"No way she can get it." He said rolling his eyes.
"This time, for sure... I'll get it!" She smirked tying the claw of the Crow to the arrow and fired it.
"She attached the foot of the Corpse Crow...!" His jaw dropped.
The arrow hits the Crow killing it and shattering the Sacred Jewel in the Crow's body into tiny pieces, emitting a bright light.
"I did it!" Kagome yelled in triumph.
"She got it...?" He said looking towards the place the demon crow used to be disbelief dripping his every word.
"But...what's that light?" She said narrowing her eyes.
The light from the Sacred Jewel suddenly dispersed in many directions.
In the village
" Priestess Kaede... Up in the sky!"
"I've got a bad feeling about this..."
In the forest
"Are you sure it's around here?"
"Yeah... I feel it... But I wonder what it was... that light?"
The head of the Corpse Crow suddenly appears cawing at them before Inuyasha claws at the head instinctively.
" Die!"
A glowing fragment fell out of the crow and landing on the ground.
"Could this be...?"
"Could this be...what?"
"A fragment of the Sacred Jewel...?" She said picking it up and looked at him wide eyed.
"Wh... What did you say?!!!"
Ooo
"You've gotta be kidding! Even if it is Feudal Japan… There's no hot baths?!" She said standing naked in a river, shivering.
"Cold..Cold... Cold!"
" Kagome, don't force it. Come on out." Kaede called out to her sitting by the fire.
"No! I'm all bloody and dirty. And I can't stand my filthy hair!" As she plunged into the water.
Inuyasha looked at Kaede and Kagome spitefully sitting on the edge of a cliff, a little distance away thinking back about the jewel.
"What's going on?!" He said looking at the grim face of the priestess.
"Stop barking, Inuyasha.
"What happened to the Jewel?!" He asked again impatiently.
"The arrow to which Kagome attached the crow's feet hit the Corpse Crow and destroyed it, but it also shattered the Sacred Jewel. In other words, fragments of the Sacred Jewel have been scattered throughout the world. Who knows whether there were one hundred fragments or a thousand. Should even one fragment fall into evil hands, however, the destruction will be incalculable."
"It wasn't my fault… was it? I feel sort of responsible…" she said looking guilty.
"Yes it is," he sneered making her flinch.
"Kagome, Inuyasha…There is only one thing we can do. You must use your combined strength to gather the fragments and restore the Sacred Jewel."
" Heh?" Kagome looked at her as if she has grown another head.
"Listen up, old hag! I'm one of the 'evil-doers' looking for the Jewel!"
"It cannot be helped…" Kaede sighed.
" But… I have to go home!" Kagome whined. Besides, I don't have such powers…! And Inuyasha is so selfish! I am afraid that I would be so stupid to start having feeling for him. He doesn't even like me.
Standing up in the water Kagome walked towards Kaede.
" Wonder where Naruto's been," she said aloud thinking about the blonde girl. She looked up, noticing Inuyasha's presence to find him sitting on the ledge of the cliff, staring at her innocently, blinking his eyes. Horrified, she screamed scurrying back into the water.
"Sit!!" She said the subjugation words angrily making him fall face first onto the ground.
"So you are here, Inuyasha." Kaede chuckled.
She hurriedly put on her clothes behind a bush.
"Shame on you! Spying like that!"
"Huh?! As if you got the body for that ! Idiot! All I was doing was--"
"…trying to steal the Sacred Jewel. Yes, I know." Kaede cut him off.
" If you knew, why'd you ask?"
"The future looks very bleak… Inuyasha, unless you join forces with Kagome, who has the ability to 'see' the Jewel, there is no way all of the fragments will be found."
"And I'm tellin' you that if it's for the sake of the Sacred Jewel, I'll put up with the dumb girl, so stop worrying!"
"Do you really dislike me that -"
"Don't start again," he groaned turning his head only to freeze looking at her walking to him in priestess clothes, with her hair tied up, looking exactly like Kikyo. Kikyo…..
"What's that expression on your face, Inuyasha?" She asked snapping him out of his thoughts. He growled and left shoving her aside making her glare at his back.
Ooo
In a dark cave filled with skulls
"Well, well… The Sacred Jewel I thought lost over fifty years ago has appeared once more. It's going to be very interesting…"
"Aah...," she moaned in pain nursing her burnt hands, " tch... Such strong stupid girl, but her hair was worth it," she said trying to caress her hair but the orange aura covering her form burned her hands again ," beautiful... If only I could get to cut it," She whispered twiddling the single strand of golden blonde hair in her possession , giggling hysterically.
Back at the riverbank
Kaede was summoned into the village leaving a long silence between Kagome and Inuyasha.
" Hey," Inuyasha beaconed grabbing Kagome's attention.
"What?"
"Get undressed."
"..." Kagome fisted her palms and gave a large blow to his head.
"Oww! Why you… Why did you--?!" He s
"You deserve it!Pervert!"
" I didn't mean undress undress! I meant put your own weird stuff back on!" He said looking away with a frown on his face.
" Hmm...Because this makes me look like Kikyo?" She asked raising a brow.
Inuyasha's frown deepened into a scowl and he looked away indignantly.Looking at him she knew she hit a point home.
"Whatever stupid."
"Look! I can't work with someone who's always picking a fight!"
" That's fine with me! Go to hell for all I care."
"I see! You don't need me along then..." By then she was fuming . She glared at him before walking away. His words hurt her more than he could understand.
"Hey. Where you going?"
" I've made up my mind. I'm going home. Goodbye."
"Hey! Wait!" Inuyasha looked at her walking away without looking back.
"Wait, I said! Hey!" Inuyasha shouted louder. This time she turned around putting a finger in the air.
"Why you!..."he growled pinning her to the ground the next instant. He caught her hands with his large ones ,one of his knees between her thighs , their chests almost touching.
Her heart began to race as she gazed into his golden eyes his hot breath on her neck. Her eyes drifting to his lips with canines poking through his lips. She suddenly had a vision of getting bit by him, she wanted to know how good it will feel. He face flamed at where her thoughts were going. It's just the hormones, she told herself.
" You got that Jewel piece, right? Leave it." His voice caught her attention. She looked at him with sadness in her eyes. Anyways your feelings will do do nothing but hurt you if he hates you to begin with.
"You mean this…?" She asked holding a small pouch. Inuyasha stretched his hand to reach for it.
"Sit!" She chanted the subjugation words making his face plant to the ground beside her head. She pushed him off her.
"You can't have it." She said getting up and left. I can't stay here any longer.
"I'm going home. Goodbye, Inuyasha." She left without looking back leaving him on the ground.
A/N:
Sorry I really tried for a long chapter but got caught up in life and didn't want to keep you guys waiting, so... Please review and any suggestions that I find cool are welcome. Forgive me for any spelling mistakes or grammatical errors that slipped my notice.