Chapter 9
By Nimrodel
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"Here," said Jii-chan, shoving a broom into Inuyasha's hand. "Go sweep over there or something..."
Inuyasha had agreed to stay at the shrine, although when Jii-chan found out he was certainly less than pleased. Inuyasha had insisted that he help out somehow, though, since Kagome's mom was giving him so much...a home, food, clothing. Not to mention that old jiji won't be able to complain that I don't help out this way...
Inuyasha headed over in the direction Jii-chan had indicated; the wellhouse. As he swept outside, his mind drifted. Kagome had been gone for a very long time now, and he was beginning to really worry. There was no reason for her to have taken this long, unless something had happened to her...his heart clenched at the thought. Something bad happening to Kagome, with him not there to protect her. He would have assumed he was just being impatient, except for the deep sense of forboding in his heart...
Miroku slowly woke, some sixth sense telling him that something was wrong. He glanced around the campsite...Shippou was asleep next to Kirara, Sango was on the other side of the fire, and Kagome...Kagome was gone!
"Sango, wake up!" he said, shaking her.
"W-what is it, Houshi-sama?" she asked, rubbing her eyes sleepily.
"It's Kagome-sama...she's not here!" he said, his concern showing in his eyes.
Sango sat straight up instantly. "She's gone? Shit..." She hurriedly grabbed Hiraikotsu, waking Kirara up. "We have to go find her...Inuyasha would never forgive us if anything happened to her.."
Miroku climbed on Kirara on back of Sango, and within seconds they were off, searching for any sign of their friend.
Inuyasha yawned. This sweeping stuff was incredibly boring. He had been done in front of the wellhouse for awhile, but not wanting to converse with Kagome's grandfather if he could at all avoid it, he continued to look busy.
He watched out of the corner of his eye as some visitors to the shrine made their way over toward him and the wellhouse.
"...I heard there's some legend about a girl travelling through time in it." said one boy.
"Probably just some stupid old tale." replied the other. Inuyasha looked at them.
"Don't say something stupid if you don't know the first thing about it." he said to them, the slightest hint of anger in his voice. "You don't know...you have no idea how important this well was..."
Normally the boys would have hurried away as soon as they could, instead of risking being told some boring old legend that was only half-true. This time, however, the look of anguish that crossed this strange person's face held them rooted to the spot. "W...what do you mean? Why was it so important?" asked the first boy slowly.
Inuyasha sat down on a bench, and the boys on the ground in front of him. "You see...a long long time ago, about 400 years, this well was very special to the people who lived around here. There was a beautiful, wonderful girl," at this his expression softened. "..who legend says travelled through this well. She was from the future, and the only way for her to get to the past was by using the well."
"For her, it all began one day when she was pulled into the well by a youkai, and magically transported to the Sengoku Jidai. The reason she could do this was because she had the Shikon no Tama in her body, although she didn't know it at the time. When she landed on the other side, she desperately searched for for her home, her family, anything she knew. What she did find, however, was a lowly hanyou pinned to a tree."
"She was attacked by the same youkai that had pulled her into the well. She would have surely died, especially when the youkai ripped the Shikon no Tama our of her body, but luckily she was saved. Ignoring the pleas of the whole village, she pulled the arrow that sealed the hanyou to the tree out, releasing him. He killed the centipede youkai. The problem was, that stupid hanyou was ready to kill her too, to get the Shikon no Tama. At the time he wanted to use it to become a full youkai. Little did the baka know that soon he would fall head over heels in love with the girl."
"The girl subdued him," at this he clutched the rosary around his neck. "and prevented him from killing her. Soon, other youkai came to attack her and steal the Shikon no Tama. One succeeded, a crow youkai. However, the youkai didn't escape with his life. The girl hit him with a magical arrow, killing it. Unfortunately, or was it? he thought... the Shikon no Tama shattered into thousands of little pieces. The girl and the hanyou vowed to find all the peices and restore the Shikon no Tama."
"Then what happened?" asked the second boy excitedly. This guy actually made those old legends interesting...it was like he lived them or something.
Inuyasha sighed...he wasn't sure he could keep going, telling these kids some of the most important things that had ever happened to him like this right now..."Why don't you come back another time, and I'll tell you more stories then. Maybe about how the girl and the hanyou met their other companions, the baby kitsune, the delinquent preist, and the youkai exterminator."
The boys stood up excitedly. "Let's go ask mom if we can come back tomorrow!" yelled the one excitedly as they ran off.
After they were gone, Jii-chan stepped stepped out of the shadows. Oh great, now I'm going to be get yelled at for being lazy... thought Inuyasha. He stood up. "I was just-"
"How did you do that?" Jii-chan interrupted him.
"Wha-?" Inuyasha was confused.
"They listened to you...they wanted to hear the story..." said Jii-chan quietly. "I've never been able to do that."
Inuyasha scratched the back of his head self-consciously. "I...I dunno. I just told them what happened, that's all."
Jii-chan shook his head in amazement, then reached into his pocket and pulled out an envelope. Inuyasha looked at him curiously as he handed it to him. "What's this?"
"That's today's pay. After all, you're working at the shrine, you should get paid like anyone else." Jii-chan smiled at him.
Inuyasha watched as Jii-chan walked away. Somehow his life had suddenly gotten much better...
Kagome glared silently at her captor...knowing that yelling at him would do no good. In fact, it might just amuse him. Nor was she in any position to yell now; she was trapped, held against a wall by roots that wrapped tightly around her, making it to breath, much less move. Not far from her, Kikyo was in a similar position, with a deadly calm expression on her face.
Kagome closed her eyes, trying not to lose control of her temper. At this point, it would only make things worse. "Naraku...what do you want?" she hissed through clenched teeth.
Naraku chuckled evilly. "Oh, not much. Just the Shikon no Tama...and Inuyasha dead."
Kagome felt a new wave of fury wash over her. "Over my dead body..."
"Oh, that can be arranged, I assure you. But we have other things to talk about first...tell me, where is are the Shikon shards? You don't have them with you..." Naraku said.
That's right...they're in my bag, in my time... "They're somewhere you're never going to get to them, Naraku."
Naraku stepped forward angrily, grabbing Kagome's throat. "Don't play games, just answer. Where are they?"
Kagome strained to breath. "I...don't...have...them." she managed to force out.
Naraku released her roughly. "Then you are of no use to me." he smirked. "Although, it will be fun seeing Inuyasha's expression as I tell him in excrutiating detail about how I tortured you until you died."
"You...you unbelievable bastard!" screamed Kagome. Raging fury washed through her, and she felt something snap. Blinding white light filled the room...
Inuyasha swept the ground contentedly. He hadn't realized how much he had been hungering for acceptance, acceptance that he now had. Now all he needed for his life to be perfect would be to have his Kagome back...
He watched as a boy walked up the stairs of the shrine. Another visitor...not that Inuyasha minded to much, but he wasn't used to seeing so many people in a day...
"Excuse me...is Kagome Higurashi here?" asked the boy.
Inuyasha supressed a glare. What did this boy want with Kagome? "No, she isn't. Why?" he asked roughly.
The boy seemed not to notice Inuyasha's hostile aura. Boy, was he dense. "Well, we had arranged to go on a date today, but since she isn't here...she must not be feeling well again, I guess."
Inuyasha nodded. "A date?!" Inuyasha said, alarmed.
Houjou smiled. "Yes...we've been going out for awhile, you see. Of course, all her illnesses keep interfering...but that means nothing to me." Houjou said, oblivious to the distressed expression on Inuyasha's face. "By the way, I haven't seen you around here before. Who are you? My name is Houjou."
"Inuyasha" he mumbled. Kagome likes this guy enough to go out with him...multiple times?
"Nice to meet you, Inuyasha. Do you work here?" asked Houjou.
"Yeah...I'm staying here actually. Higurashi-san took me in." Inuyasha said quietly, his mind on other things, such as this guy's relationship with Kagome.
"Ah, I see. Well, nice meeting you, Inuyasha-san. If you could give these herbal teas to Kagome, I'd appreciate it. They're supposed to make her feel better." Houjou walked down the shrine steps.
Inuyasha's gaze followed him until he was our of view, and then Inuyasha sunk to the ground despairingly.
Kagome...likes this guy. He threw the teas angrily. Damn it, and I thought my life had just taken a turn for the better... Inuyasha felt hot tears running down his cheeks. She doesn't love me...she loves this guy. God, I'm such an idiot... Inuyasha curled up into a ball, his almost happy life shattered into tiny peices...not to mention his heart.