A/N Gomen…
Uhm. About the last chapter. I had a fever of 101 when I wrote it, so just a few things…
ONE—where it said Miaka… ah, yeah.
TWO— Youkoi. Call it either A) beloved demons, B) Fish demons, or C) Poetic liscence with the romanjii.
THREE— There are apparently two chapter 5s…
Chapter 7
Every Little Thing She Does
"Kagome!" Shippo shrieked, banging on the door.
"It's locked." Sango reported miserably.
Miroku stared at her in disbelief. "Don't you have a key?"
"I left it inside."
All eyes turned to Siri, who shrugged helplessly. "We don't normally lock it…"
"Oh, for…" Meg let out an exhasperated sigh. "Out of the way, amateurs." She reached into one of her shirt pockets and drew out what looked to be a thrift store, 1920's cigarette case. She flipped it open, revealing a set of seven pieces of wood, hand carved. Each was nestled into a black velvet hallow and held in with a tiny strap. Moving foreword, she slipped the first pick out and knelt down on one foot, beginning to unlock the door. "Contrary to what they show in the movies, this will take some time." Meg called over her shoulder. "And it helps if it's quiet." The others nodded and settled down to wait, shifting around a bit nervously. While waiting, Sango bit her lip and took off, running at full speed.
§
"L-let go of me." Kagome whispered, struggling against the hands that pinned hers down.
He chuckled. "You're naïve, Kagome." He winced, slightly, clearly pulling on his tongue. 'Brave, I'll admit, but naïve." So saying, he leaned in to kiss her again, repeating their earlier position, him crouching half over her. He learned fast—this time, he kept his injured tongue out of her mouth. She was still stuck on one of the two beds, trapped between them. Her legs, she noticed happily, were free. She waited until Hojo was sufficiently distracted before summoning the very last of her strength, and, as quickly as she could, ramming her knee up. She had every intention of hitting his stomach—she hit a bit lower. It still had the desired effect. Howling, he fell backwards. Dimly, she heard the sound of glass breaking somewhere in the background. She fell into a half-faint, only keeping herself awake by sheer force of will. Gotta keep 'wake… case 'e tries summin' else… On the opposite side of the room, she heard the door open.
§
As far as Inu-Yasha was concerned, whoever had invented glass windows should be killed. Slowly. Oh, sure, so now you could let the light in and see through easier, but they were a pain in the arse to get through! He'd take good ol' fashioned rice paper any day.
Looking through the window reminded him painfully of the scene that had haunted him 60 years earlier. The final split with his brother, the action that had earned him the Tetsusaiga. 15, he'd defended his mother when Sesshomaru had attacked her. Although their eventual goals were different—Sesshomaru had just wanted to hurt her, Inu-Yasha highly doubted he'd actually been intending to rape her—looking through now, he saw their posture was almost exactly the same. Memory gave him the power to increase his pounding on the glass—finally, it shattered, but remained in place. Disgusted, he punched it in, sending a shower of twinkling stars into the room. He cursed, using the last of his power to pull himself into the room. With this human body, all his former powers and abilities were limited.
Breathing heavily, he knelt on one knee, hand braced in front of him for balance. "Get away from her." He growled.
Alerted to his presence by the not-so-subtle shower of glass, Hojo had already stepped back from her, leaning casually against one of the quadruple chests of drawers. "It's Inu-Yasha, right?" He asked. "My name's Hojo… I think you might have misunderstood, Inu-Yasha-kun. I know what this looks like, but—"
"Shut. Up." Inu-Yasha growled, his voice lowering. He stood slowly, holding up his right hand and cracking his knuckles. "I know what this is. She told you to get away from her."
§
Flash.
"She told you to get away from her, Sesshomaru."
"So?" Sesshomaru rolled his eyes, standing cautiously. "Why do you care, Inu-Yasha?"
"Damn you, she's my mother. Now get away from her."
§
Blinking, Hojo shook the snippit of hallucination out of his head. Just like his medicine to start wearing off now. "You've got good hearing." He admitted grudgingly, then flashed a winning smile. "Kagome-chan and I are in a play together, you see… Rehersing. How was it?"
"Stop lying." Inu-Yasha took a step foreword. "Kagome isn't in any play."
§
Flash
"I-Inu-Yasha…" The woman croaked, raising herself to her knees weakly. "D-Don't do this… you're not as strong as your brother. I'll be fine… g-go get your father."
"Iie, Okaa-sama. If I leave, this coward will kill you and run before I can get Otou-san."
§
Gathering his strength, he made a fist and leapt at Hojo. The other boy was quick—he jumped away neatly. Inu-Yasha landed and spun, ready to face him.
"It's no good." Hojo pointed out practically. "I took kendo when I was younger, I always had a knack for it. You're so impatient and rushed, I can read your moves from a mile away. I—"
Cutting him off, the door swung open, and the rest of the group minus Sango surged in. Unsure, Alex and Meg held back. Siri did the same. Used to battle scenes like this, Miroku rushed to Kagome's side while Shippo leapt to help Inu-Yasha.
"Get out of here, you stupid kitsune!" Inu-Yasha shouted, diving at Hojo again.
"Look who's talking!" The red-head shouted back "Even I can see you're about out of energy. Fox fire!" He cried, melting back into his native shape. A wall of fire roared towards Hojo, who instead of running, merely leapt through it, taking a quick, controlled tumble to smother any flames on his clothing.
"Stupid!" He snarled, lunging at the two, trying to divide them. "I know all your tricks!"
"Divide and conquer!" Suddenly, there were nearly 10 Shippo's spaced sporadically around the room. Hojo lunged at one, and it landed a kick on his shoulder before vanishing when his hand went through it's stomach.
"Why didn't you tell me we were battling Sesshomaru, here?!" the real Shippo hissed, hidden behind Inu-Yasha's shoulder.
"You never asked." Inu-Yasha muttered. "Hey, baka!" He called when Hojo's back was turned to battle another Shippo. Flying through the air, he landed a kick right between his opponent's shoulder-blades sending him, and Shippo, sprawling.
"WARN ME NEXT TIME YOU DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT!" The tiny kitsune shouted, tumbling over Hojo's shoulder, the fake Shippos vanishing.
§
"Kagome?" Miroku asked, reaching a hand out for her shoulder. She shrank back. Cursing—he'd seen the after-effects of rape before—he held his hands up so she could see them and scooted back a few paces. "Siri!" He called. The blond girl sent one frightened glance at the battling three, before shaking her head and neatly dodging around the friendly side to skid to a halt in front of Kagome.
"Kagome-chan!" She cried. "Miroku, get a blanket. Kagome… can I see your shoulder?" She asked gently. The frightened girl shook her head.
"Stuck…" She whispered horsely.
Siri nodded. "I'm gonna try and unstick you, ok?" Kagome nodded. Quickly, Siri surveyed the situation. Besides her shoulders being wedged between beds—they could deal with that later—one of her hands was caught where the two bedposts met, and part of her blouse was still hung up on the piece of iron that had cut her shoulder. "I'm sorry, sweetheart, this is going to hurt. A lot. Can you try not to scream? We don't want to attract any more attention then we have to… Alex!" She called at Kagome's second nod, waving him over. "I need you to pull the bed that way…" Nodding, he did so, wrenching Kagome's hand free at the same time. The girl gasped, but to her credit, let out more then a whimper. Siri caught the already damaged hand before it could hit the ground, causing another startled whimper from Kagome. Silently begging her friend for forgiveness, she gently probed the hand. "Broken. I feel justified in saying 'crushed' without overexaggerating." She through her shoes off and slipped off her nylons, quickly slinging them Kagome's shoulder and half-knotting, half weaving them around her arm. "Shoulder now…" She assured her friend, checking the cut. "Did you cut it on the bed post?"
"H-hai." Kagome whispered.
"Iron.. Rusty iron. lucky you, you get a tetanus shot later!" She forced herself to smile and was rewarded with a tiny smile on Kagome's part.
"You're the one with the chronic fear of needles, here…"
"Only the kind that go inside my body." Siri retorted.
"Kagome?" Miroku asked gently from behind her. "I've got a blanket here… Do you mind if I put it over your shoulders?"
"N-No…" Kagome reassured, practically snatching it from him the moment it touched her body and wrapping it around her.
The three turned looked towards the door as it banged open and slammed shut, revealing Sango, Hiraikotsu slung over her shoulder, tetsusaiga clutched tight in her hands.
"She brought the Tetsusaiga, Kagome! It's going to be ok!" Miroku smiled.
Kagome nodded, eyes wide. "I didn't even know he brought the Tetsusaiga…" She whispered. "Well, ok, I guess he had to, 'cuz you can't just leave it lying around, but…"
Miroku sighed, watching as Sango tossed the magic sword to Inu-Yasha and lept into the fray herself. "I can't do anything.." he whispered, gazing at his hand, then back at the battle.
Understanding, Kagome gathered her courage and laid a hand on his shoulder for a few seconds. "It's ok… At least it's not going to kill you anymore, right?"
He nodded, continuing to watch the battle.
§
"We're getting slaughtered here, Inu-Yasha!" Shippo cried angrily, circling behind Inu-Yasha. Both of them leapt at Hojo at the same time, but the tiny voice coaching inside told him exactly when to dodge sideways. The two narrowly avoided crashing into one another.
"You're telling me!" Inu-Yasha hissed, tumbling to the floor. "Well, if certain undergrown, runtsized youkai had kept their noses out of this…"
"Maybe they would have, if certain stuck up, over self-assured humans had a rat's chance in hell of winning…" the banter was a bit rusty, but still well rehearsed—after all, if it hadn't been, the two would have ended up killing each other instead of the enemy.
Inu-Yasha felt a mixture of horror and relief when Sango showed up, relief when she joined the battle, helping them to battle Hojo, horror when he saw what was clutched in her hands. I-I can't…he realized, watching as she threw it to him, not even watching to see if he caught it.
His body betrayed his mind, and he did, though he had the foresight to catch it by the scabbard, at least.
"I can't use my Hiraikotsu without bringing the building down around us!" he heard Sango call to Shippo, as she joined him in hand to hand fighting. He gazed at the sword in his hands, indecision tearing at him. Their lives were forfeit if he backed out now. He took a deep breath and flung the scabbard away, gripping the hilt. As soon as the sword was unsheathed and in his hand, it began to glow, surrounding him with a warm, white light. The battle around them stopped, all eyes watching on him.
He could feel the light fade, and heard Sango, Miroku, and Shippo gasp as one. He could feel Kagome's eyes burning angrily through his back. Hell yeah, I'm dead…
§
Flash.
"Sesshomaru." His father, still human-faced, stepped foreword. His sword wasn't out yet… there was still time to get away…
The young boy remained rooted to the spot. "Father, I—" he began quickly. His father cut him off with a wave of his hand.
"You attacked your mother and your brother. Don't bother with excuses."
"But father—"
Warningly, the man reached to his side and drew out an old, rusty blade. In his hands, it transformed into a cleaving fang. As the blade transformed, so did he, melting away his human appearance and replacing it with that of a demon.
§
His hair was white. His nails had grown into claws, and a quick probe with his tongue affirmed that his teeth had grown into fangs.
Deal with repercussions of your betrayal later. Something in him advised. Concentrate on your work, for now. He leapt foreword, the fang clutched tight in his hands. Raising it high above his head, he brought it down, hard, on Hojo's head.
§
TransformtransformtransformtransformTRANSFORM! The voice in his head screamed, memories pounding at him. Youkai, human, dog… he saw himself in all three states, transforming between the two. He concentrated on becoming a dog as the steel blade raised itself above his head. Nothing happened.
§
"Kagome!" Inu-Yasha whispered, flinging himself down at her side. Hojo lay behind him, crumpled on the ground, knocked out by the flat of the Tetsusaiga's blade. She blinked up at him, eyes finally brimming. Everything that's happened tonight and she picks now to cry…
Shaking her head, she turned away from him, wrenching her arm out of his grasp when he tried to examine the cuts. "Kagome!"
Sango flopped down at her friend's side, clutching her arms. "Kagome, are you ok? Here, let me see your arm… Miroku, first aid kit, this needs to be bound better…"
Siri watched in disbelief. "What are you guys doing? A med kit won't help here, she needs a hospital!"
"Hos-pi-tol?" Sango repeated, blinking. Siri blinked back.
"Y-You really don't know…" she whispered, grabbing a handful of Inu-Yasha's white hair and tugging on it roughly. "It's real… you were telling the truth?" Sango nodded. Quickly, Siri explained to concept of a hospital, Kagome nodding weekly.
"Stop arguing and do something!" Shippo wailed, his arms knotted around Kagome's middle, crying into her stomach. Siri nodded.
"Sota, call an ambulance…"
"There's one already coming." The boy answered calmly from his post by the window. "In fact, it's here. You two might want to get control of your appearance and hide the sword." He added as an afterthought to Shippo and Inu-Yasha.
The two nodded their agreement and transformed, the tetsusaiga safely stowed away under a bed. The paramedics rushed in and took Kagome and Hojo out on stretchers, quickly discussing the situation with Meg, the oldest in the room.
"I'm sorry, only her brothers can come with her in the ambulance…" He explained, gesturing towards Sota and Shippo, who'd transformed to look like his twin. Meg nodded her understanding.
"What hospital? We'll go on our own." The paramedic handed her the information on a folded slip of paper. "Sota, Shippo, go with Kagome. Everyone else, c'mon, we'll take mom's mini-van." The others nodded and whirled, running for the parking lot.
A/N: Wow. Can you believe it, only one more chapter… my baby's growing up! But that's ok, cuz I get to then work on the sister story… which actually has a BETA! (Thank you Kaze-chan, you ROCK! *glomps*)
WOOO-FREAKING-WHOO! Anime Central was SO MUCH FUN! I got TWO Nuri wallscrolls and a Shippo plushi! *glomp* And, I'm making a… dun dun dun dun! Nuriko embroidery badge… heeehee… put it on my new purse… I'm hyper… ignore me. *grabs Lizz and rabid fan girl dances*
Thank yous that are long overdo:
Ardicana: Email sent… mission accomplished. THANKS!
ArouraLeona: I officially love you! *glomps* arigatoarigatoarigatoarigatoarigato!
Baka-Deshi: Ladedadedadedadeda… under LilFoxGirl's ty, there's a description of the hojo hunt… I suggest you check it out.
DemonWolf: Sign the signup sheet for the Hojo-hunt! Mwahaha!
Emmi-chan: Hai, hai, I know… Join the Hojo-hunt.
InuYasha-Kun: Hojo-Hunt. There are now 5 names in a row with a thank you to that effect.
JetFlash: I have two words for you: Hojo-hunt
Jezunya: Can you believe, I almost didn't post the mini-spoiler? Thank god I did, my head is still attatched to my neck…
KurroNeko-Yasha: I suppose you might hold the order on my life if I throw myself on your mercy and beg forgiveness?
LilFoxGirk: What I said to DemonWolf applies to you, too—Hojo-hunt! Get 'im with your weapon of choice! Sign up today!
LinaNverse: gomen nesai! I was gonna post this the DAY AFTER the other, but it just wouldn't WRITE… gomen…
Na'atz: Arigato! Were you having trouble understanding something? Cuz, like, Email me or something… Shadowdancer29@hotmail.com. Must correct my mistakes…
Nano: Thanks for restraining yourself on the flame…
Naoko Cat Girl: I felt the same way… So many AU ones, why couldn't we just find one where they remembered everything…? Besides, it gave me the excuse to use the line, "You !@#$%^& *()_+, I braved the moving, boxy thingee for you!" "Elevator."
ShortySC22: It's like Watase-sama says in the first FY novel when Nuriko says to Miaka, 'You lucky devil!'—"She's the heroine. Of COURSE she's lucky!"
UsagiPegasus: I officially love you, too. *GLOMPS* I just want you to know, your review actually made me so happy, I got up and started dancing…
Waku-Chan: That's what I was thinking, and why she got in a couple shots… I was so proud of her… *huggiles* thanks for staying with this since, like, forever…
Yumeru: Ahhh, but how do you expect me to write without caffine?
@_@. That's a fricken PAGE worth of thankyous… @_@