Fandom: Inuyasha
Title: Sagashita.
Rating: PG
Description: A girl is searching for a half-breed named Inuyasha and finally finds him after all these years.

Disclaimer: Inuyasha's rights are held by Viz Communications and any other publication associated with it.

"There were two babies born in different villages, in the opposite sides of Japan. One became a priestess and the other became a mother of a beautiful child.
But because the youkai had gotten jealous of this mother because even the gods of the heavens and the youkai wanted her, a curse was given. And since her child was her most prized possession, her child had to bear the curse. In order to protect this child, the mother made a bracelet.
The mother cried and cried for her child at the mistake of making a promise with a corrupt youkai. She knew it would be no use in the end, for the curse was that whomever the child fell in love with, one of them would have to die. Until this happened, the child would not age after coming of age. Not until she killed her lover or herself would she be free."

The children and adults shuddered at the fact, but I shook my head. "You never know. It could be just a story for all we know."

The parents and other adults still shook their heads. "You never really know though."
"Teacher, tell us another story."
"Sorry, but I must go now."
The children hugged me and sobbed while saying, "Bye Teacher!"
"Visit us again sometime," a parent said.
Smiling, I nodded my head.

I can only hope...

Sagashita. (Found.)
by Yui Miyamoto

"Miss? Miss?" someone called from one side.

Opening my eyes, I slowly blinked to look up at the face in front of me. "Aren't you Lady Kaede?"
"Why, yes," the old woman replied as she took my hand to pick me up. "How did you know my name?"

I just knew...I felt it. But I was so disillusioned that I didn't even answer her, but immediately sputtered out, "Someone told me he was here."

With a perturbed and confused look on her face, she asked, "Who is 'he'?"
I got up and looked around the room and then out the window. "They told me whoever I described was known to the high priestess Kaede."
"Who?" she repeated.
"I do not know." I looked down into my hands, embarrassed. "He is the man who I saw out in the river."

At that moment, a boy with long white hair and dog ears appeared at the entrance of the little house. "Old woman, when did you say Kagome was coming back?"
My tired eyes opened widely in shock. "It's him."
Like a crazy woman, I ran to him and patted his shoulders in a frenzy. "It's you!"
"Who the hell are you?!" He pushed me away. "Stop touching me!"
"Though you answer harshly, I know you are kind," I continued to say while bowing, "There is no mistaking it. I know this voice."
"What the hell are you talking about?!"
I looked straight into his eyes. "You look like the man whom I helped out while he was unconscious."
"Bah. I-I do not know what you are talking about." He turned around.
I began to cry. "I know you do not know who I am, but I came because people said maybe the half-youkai with white hair would know and his name was Inuyasha."
Catching his shoulder, I whispered, "Can I talk with you alone?"
With a humph, he gave me a reluctant nod. "Okay."

+/+/+/+/+/

Behind the village, we travelled deep into the forest and stopped by a river. I dipped my hands into the cold water to wash my face.
"Okay, speak up," he said impatiently.
"I did not want to embarrass you."
"Embarrass? Me? Ha."
With averted eyes, I replied, "You turned human that evening, didn't you?"
He glared at me. "What are you talking about?"
I ran and threw my arms around him. "And from that time, I wanted to be with you."

When I stared into his eyes, he started to blush and become flustered. "B-but I-I d-don't know w-w-who you're talking about."
Letting him go, I really began sobbing and turned away. "Y-you..."

Breathing deeply, there was a moment of silence. I turned around and bowed. "I'm sorry to have made a fool out of myself. I just thought you knew the long-haired man who dressed you. He saved me years ago without knowing it."
"Until then…" I stood up, ready to walk away. "I will wander until I find him. I want to thank him."
"That guy could have died for all you know." Puzzled, he asked, "But why?"
My head pointed into his direction. "Because I love him."
Raindrops slowly fell from my face and I bowed once more before dismissing myself to continue on my journey. "Thank you and I'm sorry to have troubled you."
"Wait! Wait!" he called after me.
I stopped, but didn't face him. "Yes, sir?"
"Where did you meet him?"
"South. Maybe because he was also wandering."

I could not control the pounding in my heart.
Just talking about him made me feel this way. Maybe it was because after holding it in for so long, it began to gush out like a waterfall kept by such a weak dam.

Half turning, I tried one last time. "Are you sure you are not him? He is a half demon you see, and then I saw a human in his place."
Inuyasha still showed no sign of remembering anything, if it was he. "What happened to him?"
"There were other demons approaching me, but he was walking through at the time. Before I could get away, he fought them, never seeing that he'd saved me. All he heard were the Shikon Jewels and-"
"You know about them?"
"Yes."
"But how?"
"That is my secret. If I tell you that now, I will die." I looked off and knelt by the river, running my hand in the water. "But then he said something and they were shredded by blood. Before he got a hold of himself, he fainted. I gave him water and washed his clothing. Before I left that morning, I gave him a gold bracelet of mine that would protect him from harm."
The one called Inuyasha held his arm out to me and rolled up his sleeve. "Is it this?"
In shock, my eyes glanced in panic from his face to the bracelet. "It is you!"
I embraced him tightly. "Oh, how far I've travelled to meet you, my Lord! It's been years! Many, many years!"

He didn't try to push me away this time.

"So you were the one who-but you can't be!"
"..." I folded my hands and clenched them tightly.
"But I've had this for more than 25 years!" He shook his head, pushing me away from him. "You couldn't look this young and have given it to me! Are you a demon?!"
"Of course not. If I was, wouldn't you have already sensed it?"
"You're right." His defensive look faded a bit. "But you have a strange presence around you, woman."
"I am not a demon, but if I say why, I will perish. Please forgive me."
"So that's how you've lasted this long."

"But she won't for long," a voice answered behind us. "I'll make it easier on you, Inuyasha."

We looked up towards the branches above us. "Just give her to me, half-breed."
"What do you want with her?!" he screamed.
"If I told you foolish mutt, then you'd want her too."
I immediately darted away.
"Don't go!" Inu-Yasha cried in back of me. "Stupid woman!"
"Demon of fire-breathing and camouflaging. Handsome boy with the yellow eyes! Show your true form!"
Pushing through the woods I slipped off the cliff. I closed my eyes.

Maybe it was all for the best. After all, I-
Inuyasha roughly grabbed my waist and jumped onwards.

"You can't die now, woman! Not until you've only told me half a story!" He briefly glanced at me. "Well now, how the fuck do you defeat him?! He's been bruised, hit and pulverized. I pulled his liver out, tried the claws of blood..."
With evil slits for eyes, I replied in a monotonous tone, "This time, you leave him to me."
"What?" Skeptical, he took another glimpse of me. "This should be interesting."

We reached the ground and he smirked at me. "Remember? I still owe you one. Grab my hands and put yours over mine."
Crossing our arms over my chest, I started to chant.
"I will use my aura and yours, so you may feel weak."
"Okay."
"Stationary?" The youkai dashed to scratch his way into me.
"Akuryutaisen!"

Caught in a mental bubble, crystal ice shot through its body and it disappeared, its remnants floating to oblivion.

Using too much of my aura, I fainted to the ground.
"Hey, you!"

+/+/+/+/+/

When I awoke, it was nearing sunset. Inuyasha sat there beside me. I smiled wistfully at him.
He blushed, averting his eyes away from mine.
Just then, Lady Kaede also sat next to me. She started to wipe my forehead, but Inuyasha took the rag and did it instead. "You stupid woman. You overexerted yourself."
Lady Kaede patted my shoulder. "I see you've woken up. First off, what is your name?"
"Yukari."
"You have something glowing inside of you."

In nervousness, I looked at her with a pleading expression. "Please do not say it aloud. I will be greatly punished."
"I had this figured out when you first woke up yesterday." Looking sympathetically at me and running her fingers through my hair, she consoled, "Do not fear, child...but you are one special human."

But I knew that was more than sympathy. From the expression in her eyes, I knew what was going to happen.

I sleepily replied, "Because I wanted to find him...Just because I had to see him again."

"What is with her? I feel the presence of the Shikon Jewel within her, but she'll not say." Inuyasha said to the old woman outside, thinking I was asleep. "Why is she so stubborn?"
"This coming from one who does the same thing?" Lady Kaede retorted half in a joke.
"Humph."
"It's so creepy when I come here at night. But no! Inuyasha told me I had to." A girl appeared and walked towards them.
I stirred when I heard her voice.
"Kagome, you idiot. I told you..." Inuyasha said.

So that's Kagome?

Sitting up with much difficulty, Inuyasha rushed to aid me. "You shouldn't get up so fast, woman."

After telling him my name and he is still like this...

Kagome walked in and gasped with her hands to her face. In a blunder, she commented in confusion, "I thought humans couldn't use the Jewel of Four Souls."
Inuyasha peered into my face. "You had it in you and not in the slightest, a demon?"
"Don't get next to me." I gasped for air and grabbed my heart. "Can't breathe..."

A bubble of ice shattered around me. Blood trickled down my face. "I'm sorry to be rude, young woman."
I gave her a sorrowful gaze. "But because of your remark, I am subject to a punishment worse than death."
"What's happened to you?!" Inuyasha watched me in amazement.
I cried in panic. "Flee, Inuyasha! You must go before you..."
Defiantly, he countered, "I'm not going anywhere."

"Please." Shatter. Cough. Fire surrounded me and faded after burning in my hands. "Leave!"
"I will not leave! I am not a coward!"
"Then you leave me no choice." Holding a ward, I chanted. At the end, I smiled, saying, "Goodbye."
"Where did you go?!" Inuyasha screamed.

Inuyasha, still knowing he was in danger, ran in haste to find me.
Lady Kaede pulled Kagome's arm as she ran behind him, shaking her head.
Kagome was at a loss, not knowing what to do.

Plipplop plipplopplip…
It began to rain as I laid in the cold cave both in fear and apprehension. "It is only a matter of time."
Cringing in even more pain, the haunting voice from my childhood began to repeat in my head, "There is a story of..."

Inuyasha suddenly entered the cave. "Yukari..."
"Stay back." I crawled back against the rocky wall. "Don't get near me! Not now, Inuyasha!"
"You are not going to die. No matter who comes. You're a fool to think so." He held out his hand to me. "You're talking nonsense."
The rain poured harder and harder outside the cave.

I hesitantly take a hold of his outstretched hand. "Inuyasha..."

My eyes watched him, questioning why he'd gone to all the trouble of coming to me.

In that instant, the moon shone and Inuyasha's hair turned into pure black. He became the human I had once helped. The one who had saved me without even knowing it...

When the rain began to fade, we walked out of the cave.
A few steps later, I stopped in front of him.
"It is time."
"For what?" he asked while still holding my hand.

With the tears in my eyes rolling down, I let go of his warm hand. "I'm so sorry."
"What?"

Falling to the ground, in the next second, I sprang back up.
"I'm not going to fight you!" He took a step back as his face stared at my changed figure.
I ran forward as he dashed backwards. "What are you afraid of, half-breed?"
"Yukari, you've got to fight it!"
"I'm trying!" Tripping, I dropped to my knees, scraping my hands and knees on the pebbles on the ground.
Grabbing my head, I shrieked, "Get out of my head!"

But the youkai within me forced me to rise and again, I started to attack him with every hit being more painful than the last.
"Don't you know why I've lasted this long?" I said in a menacing tone.
"You have a shikon jewel." He swerved left and right, dodging as I continued to swing at him.
"I am a counter. It is a part of me. I am the shikon jewel's anti-"
"I'm not going to hit you!"

Trying to jab his rib, he swiftly turned, but then my left hand aimed to punch his jaw. He jumped and turned his cheek with a scratch from my nails. Just as I kicked his chest, he backflipped and jumped three steps behind…

Able to regain conscious of my hands, I grabbed his shoulders and shook him. "You've got to kill me while I'm like this! This jewel absorbs auras!"
"I can't!" Shaking his head, he shouted again. "I won't do it! There must be some other way!"
"You must! It's hurting me enough to hurt you-" My hands took a hold of his neck. Strangling him, my thumbs pushed against his Adam's apple. "You're too soft on me, you stupid half-youkai. It'll be too easy letting his pathetic human heart hurt your own."

The sadistic smile reappeared and I pointed my head towards the ground. I could see my right hand glowing with a crystal inside of it.
"AAHHH~!" I thrust into it, ripping my nails into my skin as my mind screamed into its furthest corners, "NOOO!"

I could control my left hand, dimly sensing it through the pain. Struggling to overpower the evil, I built up all my strength and thrust the crystal...

...into my heart.

"YUKARI!"
With blood running down his hands and my heart, I smiled back at him. I could no longer feel anything.

"It's over." I whispered peacefully. "Even if our time together was short, I will treasure it."
He held me in his arms.
"With that bracelet I gave you...I gave you half of my power...half of my life."
He shook his head and clutched onto me even harder.. "No..."
"Inuyasha, I'll always protect you." I cupped half of his face with my hand. My fingers slipped with the blood streaking down his face as I closed my eyes.

"Always."

The counter jewel pieces in my heart fell into his hands and disintegrated into the bracelet.

Without glancing up, I listlessly tried to wipe his tears, but could only catch the ones dropping from his chin. "Don't cry."
He who did not cry, cried for me. "Just let me ask this, how did you last so long?"
"That's too simple of a question, Inuyasha. I had to survive so that I could find you. After all, the shikon jewel works on demons. I fell in love with one who's half."

+/+/+/+/+/

When I look up to the entrance of the Higashi shrine, there's this person with the weirdest clothing on. I can't see his face because of the sun shining into my eyes.

The girl named Kagome, who goes to my school, waves to that boy and says, "Oh, so you're here to pick me up, Inuyasha."

For a moment, I stop to squint, trying to catch a glimpse of the boy's face. But I still couldn't see him.
"Yuki?" My friend looks at my profile. "Why are you stopping?"
I shake my head. "Nothing."

But just then, I steal a glance of the boy...who has dog ears?

"Why are you smiling, Yuki?"
Wistfully, the boy looks down at me.
"I don't know."

Impulsively, I find myself waving at him and walk on.

Why'd I do that? I'm so weird...

I don't know.
I've never seen him in my whole life.

Owari.
-
Author's note: Originally, I had ended this much sadder, but I didn't want to do that.
I really like this fic and I can't believe I forgot about it for the longest time. With a few touches, I think it was better than what I had written originally.

Hope you enjoyed it!

9:10 PM 6/18/2001