Complete the Circle
Chapter Twenty-Eight: The Camping Experience
Kagome was ready to leave at 7:30, and sure enough, someone rang the doorbell to her house at that time. Her mother got the door before she could.
"Hello. Are you here to pick up Kagome?" asked Mrs. Higurashi.
"Yes," answered Sesshoumaru in a cool voice. Souta and Shippou came downstairs to see who was at the door.
"Sesshoumaru!" Shippou gasped.
"Your hair is silver just like Inuyasha no nii-chan," Souta remarked, noticing Sesshoumaru's long silver hair. Sesshoumaru didn't reply.
"Okay then. Mama, I'm going, so I'll be back by Sunday," Kagome said as she walked out the door. She felt someone grabbing on to her leg and looked down to see Shippou.
"Kagome! Don't you know who that is?" asked Shippou, wondering why Kagome was so willing to fall into the hands of the enemy.
"Shippou-chan, don't worry," Kagome said reassuringly. "This is Musashino's um…godfather. He won't do anything bad to me." She gave Shippou a quick hug before exiting her home, Shippou still looking suspiciously at Sesshoumaru.
"Have a good time," her mother said. Kagome waved goodbye and her mother closed the door. She had expected to walk in silence until she got to the car, but Sesshoumaru surprised her.
"You're that girl from five hundred years ago," Sesshoumaru said. Was that surprise she detected in his voice? "The one that my brother loved."
"He didn't love me," Kagome said, blushing. They remained in silence until they reached the steps, where Sesshoumaru began speaking again.
"You and your friends remember what happened in the past," he said. It was more of a question than a statement.
"Yes," Kagome answered, wondering why on earth was Sesshoumaru talking to a human like her.
"That explains a lot," he said mostly to himself. They descended down the steps, Kagome wishing that someone else had come to pick her up.
"I'm worried about Musashino," Sesshoumaru said suddenly. "And I believe you are, too." Kagome looked at Sesshoumaru in surprise. Sesshoumaru was worried about Inuyasha?
"I went to the grave of Inuyasha and your friends five hundred years ago," he said. This bit of information surprised Kagome, and Sesshoumaru noticed her surprise.
"Grave? Shippou-chan didn't mention anything about a grave," Kagome said, wondering who had made the grave for them.
"It was more of a pile of ashes than anything else," Sesshoumaru said. "The scent of your friends, including Inuyasha, ended there, as well as the scent of the one you call Kikyo."
"Kikyo?" asked a surprised Kagome.
"Naraku's scent ended there as well," Sesshoumaru continued, ignoring her question.
"Are you saying Naraku died there?" asked Kagome. If Naraku was dead, then who was the one who gave Miroku his air rip?
"Naraku is a lord now, as Miroku may have already told you," Sesshoumaru said, not really answering her question.
"Then what are you talking about?" asked Kagome. Silence fell on them for a few seconds before Sesshoumaru spoke again.
"When I got to the resting place of your friends, the only thing I saw was a field of unnaturally green grass," he said. "Two of your friends' weapons were still there, whereas Tetsusaiga was missing. I believe that the one you call Kikyo defeated Naraku by purifying him to his death, and his purified remains was the cause of the grass becoming so green. I know that the one you call Kaede took Tetsusaiga for safekeeping from other demons, for I was the one who helped her hide it in the tree that Inuyasha was pinned to."
Kagome was speechless from the information that Sesshoumaru had just told her, and the fact that he was actually talking to her for such a long time. So he was the one who had hidden Tetsusaiga in the God tree. That would explain how Inuyasha had found it. But how was he able to hide Tetsusaiga if he couldn't touch it? Kagome wondered if he had worn gloves or something in order to place the sword up in the tree. But why would he help Kaede? Then again, why would he be worried about Musashino? It was obvious that Sesshoumaru knew that Musashino was Inuyasha's reincarnation, and he had always been after Inuyasha's blood, so why was he worried about him now? Did Sesshoumaru actually care for Inuyasha? But then why had he tried to kill him?
And what about Naraku? If Kikyo had really defeated him, then how was he a lord right now? Kagome felt like her head was going to explode with the questions that were running through it right now. They finally reached the car and Sesshoumaru opened the door for her.
"Does Jaken still hang around you?" asked Kagome before she realized how rude that sounded.
"He is busy preparing the old castle for Hayashi-sama's birthday," Sesshoumaru said indifferently.
"Oh," Kagome replied, not knowing what else to say. She saw Inuyasha exit his house a few houses down from the shrine and start to walk towards them.
"Onii-chan," grinned Inuyasha as a greeting.
"Hurry up and get in the car," Sesshoumaru said, getting into the driver's seat. "We're late as it is."
"And who's fault is that?" joked Inuyasha, sitting in the front passenger seat. Sesshoumaru did not respond.
They picked up Miroku and Sango a few minutes later and headed up to the mountains. All the while Kagome pondered over what Sesshoumaru had told her. Why had he told her this, anyway? Was he really that worried about Inuyasha?
A few hours after they arrived at the campsite, the boys had finally managed to get both tents up, and Miroku was busy trying to build a fire. Sesshoumaru had left as soon as he had dropped them off, saying that he had to help Mr. Hayashi with something and had left them alone. Kagome and Sango were busy collecting wood for fire whereas Inuyasha was off to try to catch some fish.
"Yes, so that means that Naraku died five hundred years ago," Kagome concluded after telling Miroku and Sango what Sesshoumaru had just told her.
"And yet Naraku is alive and well in this time," Miroku said, trying to understand how that could be.
"Shouldn't we include Inuyasha in this conversation?" asked Sango, looking at the direction that Inuyasha had gone off to.
"He already knows," Kagome answered. "I told him before you guys entered the car. Sesshoumaru wasn't pleased. If I didn't know any better, I would say that Sesshoumaru was being a bit overprotective of Inuyasha."
"He is," Miroku said, surprising the two girls. "You've never seen him when he's with Inuyasha and Rin. You can tell he loves them both very much."
"I can't imagine him to be that way," Sango said honestly, trying to picture the cold youkai hugging Inuyasha or Rin.
"Well, he is," Miroku said, finally getting the fire to start. "I wonder if Inuyasha has caught any fish yet. Why don't you go check, Kagome?" he asked, dropping the honorific he usually attached to her name. He was too used to knowing her as just "Kagome" in this life to start calling her "Kagome-sama" again.
"Go, Kagome," Sango said, nudging her friend in the correct direction. "Take your time."
"What are you talking about?" asked Kagome, feeling that the two were trying to set her up for something.
"Don't be so obvious, Sango," Miroku said. "You have to be more subtle when it comes to these type of things."
"I suppose you know all about subtle, don't you?" asked Sango, slightly annoyed with Miroku's "know it all" attitude.
"Of course I do," Miroku replied, and the two began to bicker over trivial things. Kagome decided that she might as well leave. As soon as she left, though, Miroku and Sango stopped bickering.
"Do you think it worked?" asked Sango.
"Of course. I knew Kagome would leave when it became clear that we weren't going to be talking to her for some time," Miroku answered. "It was only a matter of time before she became tired of our bickering and went off to look for Inuyasha."
"So what do we do now?" asked Sango, beginning to feel bored already.
"Let's go spy on them!" Miroku said. Sango agreed with him. It would be just like the old times.
Inuyasha sat there, bored as he cast his fishing line for the hundredth time that morning. The fish just weren't biting. Curse that stupid Miroku and his dumb plans for everyone to relax after the test. What kind of lame excuse was that? He knew that Miroku had only wanted him to reserve a space because he had wanted him to go away. He wasn't stupid, but he had complied with his friend's stupid request because he didn't really want to get into a fight with him, especially so soon after his friend got his air void. He wasn't insensitive to his friend's feelings, despite what others might have thought.
Inuyasha closed his eyes, waiting for the fish to bite when someone suddenly tapped him on the shoulder. He looked up to see who was intruding on his boredom.
"Hi, Inuyasha," Kagome said. "Would you mind if I sat here?" He shook his head and Kagome sat down next to him. The silence stretched out between them.
"The lake is pretty, isn't it?" asked Kagome, sighing.
"Not as pretty as you," Inuyasha joked. He cursed himself. Why was he always acting like this whenever she was around? He found himself constantly joking around her. Well, yeah, he joked around whenever he was among his friends, but with her, it was different. Because with her, even though he said things in a joking way, he really did mean the things he said. The girl always made him feel strange whenever he was close to her.
"That's not funny," Kagome said, blushing.
"Sorry," he said. Lame, lame, lame! What's wrong with me? Why can't I just act normal for crying out loud?!
"So, are you having fun fishing?" asked Kagome, looking into the bucket that he had brought with him. There weren't any fish inside.
"Sure, I'm having loads of fun," Inuyasha said sarcastically, reeling the line in to see if the bait was still there. The worm looked pretty soggy, but was otherwise unharmed. He cast the line again. "Stupid fish," he grumbled. Kagome giggled at his annoyance.
"We don't really have to catch any fish tonight, do we?" asked Kagome. "I mean, I brought a lot of other stuff with me."
"Like what? Instant ramen?" Inuyasha asked skeptically.
"Err, yes…" Kagome replied.
"Yes!" Inuyasha shouted, reeling the line in and throwing the fishing rod down. "I don't have to fish! Yes! Yes!"
"Do you really hate fishing that much?" asked Kagome at Inuyasha's weird antics.
"No, but it was really boring the pants off me," Inuyasha replied, getting the fishing rod and bucket, heading back to camp. Suddenly, they both heard a slapping sound and quickly went in the direction of the sound to investigate.
"Sango? Miroku?" asked Kagome after she and Inuyasha had found the two obscured behind a couple of bushes. "What are you doing here?"
"Nothing," Sango replied quickly, her cheeks flaming red. She quickly went off towards the direction of the camp.
"Miroku?" questioned Inuyasha, looking at him shrewdly.
"We weren't doing anything. I don't know what she's so angry about," Miroku said innocently. All he got were two very suspicious pair of eyes.
"You groped her, didn't you?" asked Kagome, shaking her head.
"I bet he did," Inuyasha said, walking off to the camp with Kagome following him.
"No I didn't!" Miroku said. "Why doesn't anyone ever believe me?" But Inuyasha and Kagome were already out of earshot.
Sango sat near the fire, embarrassed at what had happened. She and Miroku had been spying on Inuyasha and Kagome for quite a while and nothing interesting had happened. She was crouched behind a bush so that Inuyasha and Kagome couldn't see her when suddenly she felt someone's warm breath tickling her neck. She knew that it was Miroku, and she knew that he didn't know that his breath was tickling her because he had just remarked on how boring it was. She had turned around to tell him to back off when suddenly her lips smacked on to his because of their close proximity. Out of habit and embarrassment, she had slapped him.
"I'm so stupid," groaned Sango to herself. "Now he'll probably hate me forever." She had been relatively surprised that Miroku hadn't groped her at all the past few days. In fact, he had stopped groping her the day that he had given her the music box with those words carved on the bottom. Sango wondered if he had even noticed those words down there. Wouldn't she feel stupid if he hadn't?
She looked at the flames flickering, lost in her thoughts. She was glad that she had remembered her love for Miroku when she had regained her other memories. People like Miroku were hard to understand unless one knew them for a long time, and she was glad that she had been given that advantage. This Miroku and the old Miroku were so alike that they were practically the same person. The only differences were that he and Inuyasha were best buddies and he wasn't running around asking people to bear his children. She laughed inwardly, wondering how that would go with modern society.
He was like her. She hadn't changed that much with her memory of the past, either. Her past made her appreciate the present. She could feel that Miroku was glad that he had remembered the past too. It was just something in his eyes. He wasn't happy that he got his air rip again, but she could tell that he was glad to have remembered.
Sango knew that the first day after he remembered wasn't that great for him, for she could see his eyes clouded with worry and sadness. But after that, his eyes had amazingly cleared up. On their way home on Friday, he had hinted that he would rather have gotten his air void again and remember, than never remember. She could tell that he was sincere when he had said it. It had been one of those few times when he let all his masks down, revealing the person inside.
She heard the sound of someone coming closer and looked up. She saw Inuyasha and Kagome appear, with Miroku following them. He still had a red handprint on his cheek. Sango felt guilty for giving it to him, but she was too embarrassed to say so.
"So you've caught some fish?" asked Sango, hoping they wouldn't question her strange behavior.
"Nope. We've got something even better," Inuyasha said happily. "Instant ramen!"
"Ah, still the same old Inuyasha," Miroku said, sitting next to Sango while still maintaining a good distance from her hands.
"Whatever," Inuyasha said, digging through Kagome's backpack without her permission.
"Inuyasha! Stop it," Kagome said, hitting him playfully since she couldn't exactly "sit" him anymore.
"Found it!" Inuyasha shouted happily.
"You're such an idiot," Miroku said as Inuyasha went to his backpack to get a pot out.
"Where do we get the water?" asked Inuyasha as Kagome reclaimed the ramen from his hands.
"I think you can get water from that faucet over there," Sango said, pointing Inuyasha in the correct direction.
"Why is there a faucet for water if we're camping?" asked Inuyasha as he turned the faucet on and let the water flow into the pot.
"Don't be stupid," Miroku said. "You're the one who reserved the space. You should've checked beforehand if this camping site has these type of things."
"How should I know?" asked Inuyasha in slight irritation. "It's not like the person described this campground."
"Then how did you know to get this camp site?" asked Kagome, taking the pot from Inuyasha and putting it over the fire.
"I just asked for a campground with a fishing area nearby," Inuyasha said. "And isn't that going to take a long time to boil?" asked Inuyasha, pointing at the pot over the fire.
"Yes, but there's nothing else we can do," Sango said.
"Actually, I have one of those electric plate things," Miroku said, going to his backpack and taking out the said item.
"Okay, why the hell are we camping if everyone is bringing stuff like this from home?" asked Inuyasha. "Ramen, fine. We might not have caught anything and that's no reason to go hungry. But a portable electric stove? Miroku, what the fuck's wrong with you?"
"I don't see any reason why I have to suffer just because you refuse to use modern technology," Miroku replied calmly.
"You're the idiot who suggested we go camping!" Inuyasha shouted.
"Ah, excuses, excuses," Miroku yawned lazily.
"Why you…" Inuyasha started, but Kagome cut him off.
"Are we going to boil the water using the fire or what?" asked Kagome.
"Feh! Do whatever you want. I don't care," Inuyasha said, sitting down near his backpack and crossing his arms. Kagome just rolled her eyes at his actions. She was used to actions like these in the past, so it didn't faze her that much anymore.
They had been hopelessly lost for hours now.
Miroku had suggested a little hiking trip to make things more interesting and the first thing that went wrong was Sango slipping and twisting her ankle. Miroku had offered to carry her, and surprisingly, Sango had not refused, getting Inuyasha and Kagome to raise their eyebrows at each other. But after a few minutes, Miroku could no longer carry her, so Inuyasha had ended up carrying her for a couple of hours now.
"My muscles are going to be so sore tomorrow," Inuyasha grumbled.
"Sorry," Sango apologized.
"It's Miroku who should be sorry," Inuyasha snorted. Both Miroku and Kagome were too tired to comment. Kagome was a bit impressed that Inuyasha was able to carry Sango for this long, but she realized that he was a youkai, even if he didn't have any youki.
"I think we've been here before," Miroku said.
"We found the trail back to camp?" asked Kagome excitedly.
"No, we've just been walking around in circles," Miroku answered.
"What?!" all three of them yelled at him.
"Miroku, you LOSER!" Inuyasha shouted at him, almost dropping Sango.
"I got exited over nothing," Kagome sighed, disappointed.
"Maa maa," Miroku said, trying to calm the group down. "Don't get mad, get glad." The three glared daggers at him.
"And what, exactly, do we have to 'get glad' about?" Inuyasha said, straining to control his temper and not hit Miroku.
"Look at the sun," Miroku said, pointing to the sky. "The sun always sets in the west, and since I remember that the sun was somewhat in back of us when we first started out our little escapade, that means that we were walking west of our camp. So, all we have to do now is walk to opposite direction of the sun in order to get back to our camp."
"What makes you think that we were even walking in a straight line?" asked Inuyasha, still irritated with Miroku. The group fell silent with this realization.
"We'll never find our camp again!" Sango said in despair.
"Don't worry, we'll just camp out like we did in the Sengoku Jidai," Kagome said, looking dubiously at her surroundings, which weren't exactly made for sleeping on.
"Or, someone could just climb a tree and tell us where we are," Inuyasha suggested. Everyone looked at him. "What? You're not suggesting me to climb the tree are you?"
A while later, Inuyasha was at the top of the tree, grumbling while his three companions looked up at him from below.
"Do you see anything?" asked Miroku.
"Shut up, shithead," Inuyasha grumbled, shielding his eyes from the rays of the setting sun. He saw the familiar triangular shapes of the tents surrounding a campfire that had gone out. "It's over there," he said, pointing.
"So we would have gone the wrong way if we had followed Miroku," Kagome said, giving Miroku a critical eye. Miroku just smiled nervously. Inuyasha got down from the tree.
"What are we waiting for?" asked Inuyasha, "Let's go."
"Wait," Sango said before Inuyasha picked her up. "Did you hear something?"
"N—" Inuyasha was about to reply when a youkai suddenly appeared from the woods behind them.
"Let's make this easy," the youkai said, looking at Inuyasha. "Give me your blood, and we can avoid any unnecessary injury."
"What?! No way!" Inuyasha shouted at the scorpion youkai before him.
"You're the same youkai as from the other day!" Kagome said, gasping.
"Ah, the miko," the woman smirked. "Don't worry, I'll kill you later." Suddenly the youkai attacked Inuyasha, using her single left arm to try and grab him. Inuyasha moved away quickly.
"Stupid boy. Don't move around so much," the youkai said, bringing her tail around and knocked Inuyasha against a tree.
"Inuyasha, come towards this side!" Miroku shouted, his hand on his prayer beads. Kagome and Sango were already behind him.
"Oh no you don't," the youkai said, using her tail to separate the group. "Do you really think I'm that stupid?" She turned to Inuyasha, who was looking for some type of weapon to fend her off with. "Don't move, boy, and I'll make sure this is as painful as it can be."
She brought the sharp end of her tail towards Inuyasha, but he ducked and plunged a long branch into the place where the tail was jointed. The youkai screamed, cursing Inuyasha as she tried to get the branch out. Inuyasha ran towards Miroku, but he wasn't fast enough for the youkai turned around and dug her hand into his chest.
"Inuyasha!" Kagome screamed. She saw a hole the exact same place as the wound the centipede lady gave her when she first discovered the Shikon no Tama. Inuyasha collapsed on the ground, bleeding, but still conscious.
"I'll need more than this," the scorpion youkai said, getting ready to draw more blood from Inuyasha. Her tail was wrapped around a flask, ready to collect the blood. Suddenly the blood on her hand started to glow with an iridescent light.
A large piece of the Shikon no Tama formed in her hand.
Author's Note: What if I told you that I was never updating again? Just kidding! I would never do that to you! (Maybe. Heh heh.)
I haven't even started writing the next chapter yet, and with school and TONS of homework, I don't think I can get it out by tomorrow. The next chapter will probably come out on Friday afternoon or at night. Maybe. (By the way, I'm talking about California time.)
To respond to:
Kitsune-greenleaf: Toutousai might make an appearance. I might need him to explain something…
Artemis: Guess what? I've never even seen a bow in my life, much less shoot an arrow!
Shades of grey: Lucky! You've taken archery?
foureyedbookworm: My school started 09/04/02. And Musashino will sort of fall for Kagome, but then, something will happen…
Naatz: I agree with you about school.
Well then, till next time!