Comments: okay..i had some difficulties with the previous chapters but by the time this comes out it should be sorted out so if you were a reader before..read over..but only if you wand to…
Also thanks to demon girl 2002, Sierra, coldpumkin, Miko Sakuya, Mary, LSR-7, ra-chan, Kai, ginrei, and anzu-chan whos too lazy to sign in, Phantom, Becky, grumpycarrie, jagNtrunkshh, and avihenda. Thanx for the support!
Disclaimer: if I owned Inuyasha and co. I wouldn't be so desperate as to write fanfiction..and Fluffy would be with Kagome ::sigh:: such a sweet couple..
Chapter Nine: True Natures
Kagome watched as the naked claws bore down on her but she refused to scream. No, she had three years worth of damn experience under a skilled killer and she was not going to let some measly cat youkai end her happiness with Inuyasha. Instincts honed fine kicked in and she smiled at the pathetic youkai in derision. This was going to be easy.
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"Come back here! Kagome!!" Inuyasha leapt up to follow but a white blur wrapped around him and bound him so he couldn't move. "Hey! Sesshoumaru!! What are you doing?!"
"…that's not me.."
"Huh? What the ¾ AAAAAH!!" The thing wrapped around Inuyasha's torso squeezed until stars appeared in Inuyasha's vision. "Owwww.." he moaned.
"Don't struggle so much." Keino said absently. "Its hard enough to hold you as it is, so if you struggle it'll just get tighter."
"B-but…"
"Yaaaaaaaaaaa!!" A distant cry was heard. Inuyasha's ears twitched in agitation. "KAGOME!! I'm coming! Kago¾ !" His head hung limply as darkness enveloped him in its icy embrace.
"Oops..oh, well, he struggled too much." Keino shrugged and dismissed it as a small insignificant detail.
"…" (Sesshoumaru)
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"Yaaaaaaaaaaaa!!"
Jade crumpled to the floor in pain, writhing.
"Don't you just hate being a guy sometimes?" Kagome laughed.
"D-damn you!"
"What? You can still talk? Well, can't have that. BIND!" (::giggle:: corny spell but I was too lazy to look up one.)
". . ." Jade felt helpless as the grass reached up to hold him down. "¾ !"
"Heh…if anybody tries to hurt Inuyasha or our happiness again..be prepared to die!" She stayed there glaring at the struggling figure to emphasize her point, but the youkai was too preoccupied to notice anything else except the overwhelmingly embarrassing defeat by a human. She sighed with exasperation and just walked away. She was going to unbind him, honest, but he really annoyed her. Maybe later, if she remembered.
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As she neared the clearing she got kidnapped in she heard Keino and Sesshoumaru talking. Knowing Keino, they were probably talking about something important. She stood still just before the clearing and didn't attempt to duck for cover lest Keino notice the noise.
"What should we do with your worthless brother?" (Keino)
"He's no dead so. . .just leave him." (Sesshoumaru)
"You hold a grudge for a long time, Sesshou-san." (Keino)
"Hmph…" (Sesshoumaru)
"KAGOME!!!" (Inuyasha)
"Let me guess…Inuyasha's awake." (Keino)
"…yes…" (Sesshoumaru)
Kagome heard Keino sigh and the rustle of the vegetation as Keino knelt at Inuyasha's side.
Keino lowered her voice to an almost whisper and knelt down next to Inuyasha's ear. "Kagome is a special girl. She can take care of herself but…"
Kagome strained to hear the rest of the conversation but Keino spoke too quietly.
The vegetation rustled again as she stood up. "You understand, don't you?" Keino asked.
"Yes," came Inuyasha's gruff reply. It sounded a bit strained to Kagome. "Thank you."
"Hn." A wind abruptly swept the clearing as Sesshoumaru-sama suddenly summoned his youkai cloud.
"Wait!" Kagome burst from her hiding place to prevent their departure and in her haste forgot she was supposed to be hiding. But by the time she got there they were already gone. "Keino…"
Inuyasha walked up behind her. "Are you okay?" She didn't answer for a moment as she watched the ever diminishing speck in the sky. She slowly looked away after it disappeared into the distance and turned back to her beloved. "Of course I am, baka." She said softly and smiled. He wrapped her in a hug, relieved to have her back. "Then lets go home."
And they walked home hand in hand.
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Back at Sesshoumaru's castle:…
"Rin is so bOoOoOoOored!!!" Rin ran in circles around Jaken.
"Stop that and sit down!!" Jaken scowled, that's what Keino came into when she crossed through the gate.
"That's enough from you two. For once just give me peace and quiet. Sesshoumaru-sama has left due to some¾
"
"KEINO-CHAN'S BACK!!"
"¾ unknown youkai invasion, but if you want to go outside ¾"
"YAY!!"
"¾ to chores.." Keino's voice trailed off as silence stretched thin throughout the room. Oh, beloved silence. "Or to play ¾ "
"YAY!!"
Keino restrained herself from bopping Jaken in the head. Not that it was his fault in the first place but he seemed a very liable victim to vent one's anger on but she didn't. She didn't hate interruption that much. "Go ahead, but you have to bring either Jaken or me with you."
"Kay! But Rin want both of her friends to come."
"…" (Keino) looked off to the side without answering.
Jaken just stared at Rin refusing to accept such a proposal. He didn't want to go. But Rin just looked like she was going to cry and Jaken knew if she did his lord would bop him good. "Alright, alright. But you better hurry up! Move!" Jaken gave in.
"^_^" (Rin) ( I dunno…can they say that?)
Keino and Jaken watched as Rin ran outside. 'Softie' she said under her breath. 'I never gave you permission to speak for me.' And walked off without listening to his indignant squawk.
Rin spent a whole two hours picking various types of flowers as Jaken and Keino stood there on watch for youaki. Not that they were worried. Most of the youkai around here were too afraid of Sesshouamru-sama to attempt an attack on one of his humans. (A/N: they aren't at the castle anymore..)
Keino looked down as Rin tugged on her sleeve. "Can I go home now?" She raised the bouquet up to Keino's face. "I'm done now." Keino absently nodded once.
As they walked home Jaken found it odd that Keino never looked away from the path for hidden attackers. Yet it seemed his lord though highly of her. A rustle suddenly sounded to his right, and he squawked in alarm.
But Keino ignored him as a squirrel peeped out. And this mode of squawking and ignoring continued for the rest of the trip. Jaken squawked at every rustle and Keino ignored him. So by the time they got back at the castle, Jaken was panting in exertion and Keino still walked unwinded. Upon entering the main hallway Keino turned to face Jaken. "You waste too much time and energy on crying out. Instead if you wish to keep your skin intact, run." Before Jaken could utter an objection she turned and walked away.
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Keino stalked away from her new home. Not only was it annoying to hear that toad squawk every two minutes but it made it exceedingly difficult to pick up noises that could be a murderer hiding. Now she had a blinding headache and her ears were worn out by all the straining around Jaken's loud noises. She shook her head and gently hopped up to gently land on a branch that used to be above her. She sighed. She was supposed to be a loner, but now it was as if she had a whole new family. One she did not need. She thought of the members of her new family as she leapt from branch to branch. Jaken was an annoying pest of course. Rin was an adorable child but so naïve and Sesshoumaru was…well, cold and aloof. She sighed again. **Why am I here?** she thought to herself. **They don't need me.** But she couldn't bring herself to leave.
She was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't watch where she was going and landed on a weak branch. It cracked under her weight and she plummeted to the ground beneath. As Keino sat up from her position on the floor she cursed her clumsiness. She grabbed the branch in a fit of rare anger and was prepared to slam it against a rock when she noticed that the point where the branch broke was half-smooth.
The branch had been cut prior to her landing on it.
No sooner had she come to this conclusion did she notice small movements in the shadows to her right. She wasted no time in getting to her feet and running.
Toward the sound.
Apparently this surprised the youkai that was lurking in the shadows and it paid its price with a slit throat.
Keino stood there, alert to her surroundings, with her chest heaving in adrenaline, and a dagger clenched in her hand. Blood methodically dripped from the point.
More shadows flickered to her left and she tensed to leap but a crack of a small twig sounded behind her and to her right a whisper reached her ears. Three youkai would be no problem. But then as the three known youkai's stepped out to reveal themselves another row of youkai stepped out behind them. And another row, and another until soon there was at least two thousand crowded around her.
"…" The number of youkai was disturbing and if they decided to attack her the sheer number of them would be able to overcome her but she refused to let it show.
"Heh." The first youkai chuckled. "You been hunted for such a long time, and you have always managed to evade us, but not this time. This time we have you exactly where we want you. With enough youkai even you can't win."
She didn't think they could read minds but maybe she had stayed too long with Sesshoumaru-sama. "So you decided to take the cowards way out and banded together to capture one little girl."
"Not little, m'dear. Not little at all," he said while eyeing her body, "but in answer to your statement, yes."
"Hn. I'm not going to go down easy."
"We know." The first one spoke again as he watched with, no apparent apprehension, as she drew three throwing daggers from somewhere in the depths of her kimono. This didn't surprise her. She really could do a lot of damage with three small daggers if the number was a bit smaller but seeing as to the number wasn't, the youaki really didn't have much to fear.
She silently tensed and readied herself for battle. "So bring it on, cowards."
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Woo-hoo!! Finished @ last!! I know that my writing style lacks any luster, but to those who bothered to review THANX!!!!