CHAPTER 4:

CHAPTER 4: ALL I WANT…

Inu-Yasha paced around the place where He, Miroku, and Shippou had stayed. He'd been pacing impatiently for some time, now.

"Will you STOP?" said Shippou, irritated. "You act like the world's gonna end, or something. She'll probably be here soon."

"She's LATE, dammit!" Inu-Yasha snapped. "Where the hell is she?"

"She's fine." Said Miroku, always the calm one. He was lying down in the grass, hands behind his head, and staring at the sky, as if he hadn't a care in the world. "Why don't you have a seat, or something? You're making everybody nervous."

"Well, I can't stop!" Inu-Yasha yelled, breaking his pace. "She needs to get her ass here, now, or else!"

"It's true she's running late…" said Shippou. "And if I have to eat one more fish, I'll be sick."

"It's not like we can go without her, anyway." Sighed Miroku. "What else can we do?"

"What else?" said Inu-Yasha. "I'll SHOW you, 'what else!' I'm going after her! I don't care if she's in the middle of a test, or whatever you call those things she's taking! I'll pick her up by her hair and drag her here, if I have to!"

Miroku, stood up, brushed the grass of his knees, and stretched. "Heh. You must be really worried about her…" he said. "You get impatient every time she goes."

"I WHAT?!" said Inu-Yasha, with rage in his eyes. "Take that back!"

Miroku clasped his hands in front of his face, and batted his eyelashes. "Oh Kagome…" said Miroku in a high pitched, falsetto voice. "I miss you sooooooooo much!"

"Shut up!" screamed Inu-Yasha, running after Miroku. Miroku ran around a tree, and Inu-Yasha gave chase.

"Please come back, Kagome!" Miroku continued. "I love you… please don't leave me!"

"AHHHHHHHH!" Inu-Yasha was furious, by this point, they were both circling the tree, neither had a lead on each other. Shippou sat at the base of the tree, rolling over and clutching his stomach in laughter. "I will cut your throat, so help me god!"

Inu-Yasha, ran in the opposite direction, and met up with Miroku. He pounded him in the head, sending him face down in the dirt.

Miroku, got up, spat dirt out of his mouth, and dusted himself off. Shippou was in tears from laughing so hard. "You know…" he began. "It wouldn't kill you to develop a sense of humor…"

"It probably wouldn't." said Inu-Yasha. "But It WOULD kill YOU if you tried something like that again. Got it?"

Miroku scoffed. "You wouldn't kill me."

"Oh?" said Inu-Yasha with an eyebrow raised. He cracked his knuckles and drew his claws for good measure. "Wouldn't I, now?"

Miroku smiled. "No. You wouldn't. I could always suck you into my air rip, first of all…" he said, placing a hand on his wrist. "And second of all, you would have done it by now if you really wanted to. And…" he said with a smirk. "…I still haven't heard you deny that you miss Kagome…"

The next thing he knew, Miroku was face down on the dirt again. "You need to settle down…" he said.

"I DO NOT MISS HER!" Inu-Yasha yelled. "I…I just grow tired of having to wait for her, that's all. I just want to get back to collecting jewel shards."

"In fact…" he said. "I'm going to get her right now." And with that, he walked off toward the bone-eaters well.

"I'm coming too." Said Shippou, who finally stopped laughing.

"Like hell you are!" snapped Inu-Yasha. "You stay here with Miroku in case she comes back. If either you follow me… then so help me god…" he flashed a claw to emphasize his point.

****

Kagome was still running like there was no tomorrow. What was going on in this kid's mind at the time? What was he thinking, doing this to her?

"Kagome, please stop!" Naota begged.

Kagome certainly was not going to stop now. In a few more minutes, she would be home, at the well. And she would call Inu-Yasha for help.

Naota's eyes flashed, and Kagome stopped moving. Something was keeping her from running, it was something Naota did with his mind to her. She was frozen.

Naota touched down from the ground, and strode up to the frozen Kagome.

"Kagome… why?" he began, tears in his eyes. "Why don't you love me?"

"I-" began Kagome. The only thing she could move was her mouth. "I like you…" she said, trying to be reassuring and to let him down as gently as possible. "But I don't love you…"

"WHY?" Naota said in between sobs. "I'll change!" he said. "I'd do anything for you, Kagome. Anything! What do you want me to do?"

"I… don't know, Naota!" she yelled, scared for her life. "I don't expect anything from you like that. But…" she said. "This isn't like you. It would help if you were to be yourself…"

"I HATE MYSELF!" Naota screamed inbetween sobs. "Why can't you see that? But I love YOU Kagome. You're beautiful… kind… caring…funny…" he sobbed. "You… you make me better than I really am."

"Naota…" she said.

"Please, Kagome! You are everything to me! I've never cared about anything until now! Please-"

But Naota was sent flying into a nearby wall of a building. When he was hit, Kagome could move again.

She spun around, and saw Inu-Yasha standing there, cracking his knuckles.

"This is why I hate it when you leave, Kagome." He said with a cocky attitude. "Whenever you leave, I always end up having to get you out of a jam."

****

"Who are you?" asked Naota.

Inu-Yasha scoffed. "Feh. You won't be alive much longer to find out my name." He said with a smirk. His eye caught a shard hanging from his neck. "You have a shard!" Inu-Yasha said with joy. "You're TWICE as dead, now! Say goodbye, boy!" He readied his claws and charged Naota.

"Sankon-"

"SIT!" screamed Kagome. Inu-Yasha hit the floor hard.

"Hey!" screamed Inu-Yasha as he got back to his feet. "What'd you do THAT for? He has a shard, Kagome!"

"I don't want you to kill him…" said Kagome. "He… he has strong psychic powers, but he's human. Please don't kill him… just take the shard, and he'll be back to normal." She clenched her fist. "I…I should have taken it earlier…"

"WHAT?" screamed Inu-Yasha. "You mean, you could have taken the shard, but you DIDN'T?! What is WRONG with you?!"

"It was a gift from his dead mother!" said Kagome.

"So what?!" retorted Inu-Yasha. "It's still a shikon shard, right?"

"You are such a JERK!" she yelled. "I can't-"

But Naota had returned to his feet, and was laughing faintly.

"I get it now." He said. "You we're just getting close to me to get this, weren't you?" He said, clutching the jewel that hung from his neck.

Kagome was taken aback. "No!" she screamed. "That's not it at all! I was-"

"You're LYING!" he yelled. "You think I'm a freak! I was wrong about you! You're just like everybody else!"

"That's not true, Naota!" She retorted. "I care about you! I-"

"Besides…" Naota cut her off. "You already have someone." He pointed to Inu-Yasha.

"Her?" said Inu-Yasha. "Yeah, right! We're not…"

"You're lying." He said. "I can tell. You love her."

Inu-Yasha flinched.

And despite the current circumstances, Kagome blushed.

"No mercy." Naota said through clenched teeth. "No mercy for any of you!" His eyes began glowing red. Inu-Yasha was sent flying into a tree. He immediately hopped back up to his feet and charged Naota, claws in the air, poised to strike. Naota shot him back with another psychic blast, and Inu-Yasha slammed into a wall. He spat out some blood.

"Shit…" he thought to himself. "How can I counter attack this guy when there's no way to dodge his attacks…?"

"A good question…" said Myoga, who popped up from Inu-Yasha's shoulder.

"Where have YOU been?!" demanded Inu-Yasha.


"I was watching so I could… get a tactical standpoint!" said Myoga.

"Uh-huh." Said Inu-Yasha. "Look, if you're just going to be a coward, than do me a favor and get the hell out of here. Unless you have some advice on how to beat this guy without killing him?" he scoffed. "Curse you, Kagome… and your damn sympathy."

"Kagome!" said Myoga. "That's it!" he hopped off Inu-Yasha and ran up to Kagome. "Kagome!" Myoga said. "Can you see it? The psychic energy?"

"Of course not!" said Kagome. "You can't see thought!"

"Try closing your eyes!" said Myoga. "Close your eyes and tell me if you can see it!"

"I'll try…" said Kagome, closing her eyes.

"She's proven her mystic sight before…" said Myoga to himself. "Let's see if she can do it this time."

"You're all dead anyway!" screamed Naota. And his eyes glew red again.

Kagome saw it in her mind; a flash of purple energy emanating from Naota's body and zooming off towards Inu-Yasha.

"Inu-Yasha!" Screamed Kagome. "In front of you!"

Inu-Yasha jumped to his left, the blast hit the wall of an abandoned building, destroying the wall entirely. Brick and other debris spread out in an explosion.


Inu-Yasha dodged blast after blast according to Kagome's commands.

"Left!" she screamed. "Right! From the front!"

Inu-Yasha made his way to Naota, and swiped his claws at him. It made cuts on his chest, but most importantly, it severed the shikon shard from his neck. It clattered to the ground.

"No!" screamed Naota, and dove for the shard in an attempt to get it before Inu-Yasha. Inu-Yasha ran furiously in an effort to get there before him, but he was too late.

"Shit!" screamed Inu-Yasha, and made another swipe at Naota. Naota sent Inu-Yasha flying with a psychic blast at point-blank range. He hit another wall, and fell to the ground, blood dripped from his head, streaking down his cheek.

"Dammit…" he cursed, and got back to his feet.

"Ha!" laughed Naota, with an evil stare in his eyes. "See? See how futile this all is? Look at you. You are no match for…"

Naota slumped to hiss knees and coughed up blood.

"He lapsing…" said Myoga.

"What?" demanded Kagome. "What's happening?"

"The psychic energy he uses is more than his mind can handle." Explained Myoga. "If he keeps it up, he'll die."

"Heh." Said Inu-Yasha, struggling to stand on his feet. "We'll just let him kill himself, then!"

"No!" screamed Kagome. "Naota, stop this! You'll kill yourself!"

"Heh." Said Naota. "I thought this was too good to be true. But if I'm gonna go… I'm taking your lover with me!"

Naota fired blast after blast at Inu-Yasha, his face was covered in blood.

"Naota! Please stop!"

"It's too late, Kagome!" he screamed. But he could not fire more blasts. He slumped to the ground, and clutched his head.

"Naota!" Kagome ran to his side.

"Stay away from me!" he screamed. He was in a trance-like state; a stream of drool came from his mouth, and his eyes rolled back into his head.

"My head… my head…" Naota repeated over and over. It felt like it was going to explode.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

A purple energy wave began emitting from Naota. It spread around him, dome-shaped, until it was about 15 feet in diameter, and shut everything out.

Cuts started appearing all over Naota's body, his shirt was eaten away by the energy, blood formed a poll at his feet.

"His own thoughts are eating him alive…" said Myoga.

"K-Kagome…" he said through tears.

"Help me Kagome!" he screamed, crying.

"Help me! I don't wanna die! Kagome, please help me!"

Kagome tried to enter the barrier, but was blasted away. The force field would allow nothing in.

"SOMEBODY PLEASE HELP ME!" he screamed in pure terror. "I'M SCARED! PLEASE! PLEASE SOMEBODY HELP ME!"

"Inu-Yasha! Can't you do anything?!" begged Kagome.

Inu-Yasha scoffed. "I already tried." He said. "It's nothing to me if he dies. We'll get the shard either way. This is his own fault."

Kagome slowly walked up to him, and slapped him in the face.

"What the hell was THAT?!" screamed Inu-Yasha.

"YOU JERK!" screamed Kagome. "You… YOU ONLY CARE ABOUT YOURSELF!"

"How can you say that?!" yelled Inu-Yasha. "I came out here because you needed my help! And THIS is the thanks I get?"

"You only care about yourself!" she repeated. "You only helped me because you didn't want anything to happen to your precious "Shard Detector!" She yanked Inu-Yasha's sword from him.

"What are you…"

"SHUT UP!" screamed Kagome. She carried the sword, and slowly walked over to Naota. A green aura surrounded her as she entered the barrier.

"The Tetsusaiga's protective aura is allowing her into the barrier!" said Myoga. "She will attempt to calm his mind…"

Kagome walked over to the hysterical, screaming Naota, and grabbed his head with her hands. She stared into his face. Naota was silent.

She bent her head down, and kissed Naota on the forehead. "I'm sorry…" she said. Naota's eyes relaxed, his mouth formed a serene smile, and the barrier dissipated.

Naota slumped to the floor.

He was dead.

And for reasons Kagome never will understand, he was smiling all the while.

Inu-Yasha took the shard from the dead boy and gave it to Kagome. He took his sword back as well. He was clearly unhappy about the whole kissing thing.

"Let's go, Kagome."

Kagome did not move from the dead Naota's body.

"Are you going to go? Everybody's waiting on you, Kagome." He stated.

Kagome threw the shards at Inu-Yasha. Tears were streaming down her face, her teeth were gritted.


"There!" she screamed. "There are your damn shards! You… you JERK! You are the most selfish, inconsiderate, rude person I have ever had the displeasure of meeting!"

Inu-Yasha stepped back. He had never seen Kagome so angry. "I…I…"

"Do you even care at all?" she said. "How can you be so heartless? Do you care about anything other than those shards? Do you?"

"I…" said Inu-Yasha. He was near tears for the first time in years. "I didn't mean to…"

"Thank you, Inu-Yasha." Kagome said. "Now I don't have to wonder about the truth anymore. Thanks for clearing up my misconceptions."

"Kagome…"


"I'm going home." She said. "Don't follow me."

Inu-Yasha watched her walk home until she was out of sight.


There, in the moonlight, a glistening tear dripped down his face.

****

The next day, the police found Naota's body. The funeral for him would be in a couple weeks. Kagome had locked herself in her room. Inu-Yasha stayed at her house, waiting for her. She had told him not to come, but he needed to make amends somehow. He didn't want Kagome to hate him.

Authors Notes: I am SO sorry for not writing lately, I've been really busy. I recently attended a con (anime weekend Atlanta) dressed as Inu-Yasha! There were a lot of other IY costumes, too! It was lotsa fun!

Anyway, I know many people will be disappointed by the whole IY/Kagome thingy. Y'know, how she's mad at him and stuff. They WILL make up, believe me. IY/Kagome is a favorite pairing of mine, so expect some lovey-dovey stuff in the next few chapters. I wanna see em' end up together just as badly as you do, maybe even more. Trust me, It'll be good.

At any rate, this will be finished soon. Expect one or two more chapters and an epilogue. Thanks for Reading, and please drop a review.