Disclaimer: What can I say? Two words: I'M BROKE!! (and Inuyasha has got to be darned expensive~!)
Welcome back my...two...lovely...reviewers...-_- I can see that this fic ISN'T a hit but no matter. I enjoy writing it anyways. ^.^
To be a Hanyou
Kikyo, in spite of herself, yawned as she made it to the outskirts of the village. She tracked the Jewel down to Kaede's hut and caught a faint gleam of it. Even though it was a powerful jewel, because she was resurrected, her Miko powers had a limit and one of them was that she had a hard time seeing magic things. No matter: as long as she could see it faintly, that was good enough.
The bush beside her rustled as the hanyou, Inuyasha, landed from a leap.
"See? I made it here just a little bit after you! IF you had of waited for me, you wouldn't have had to run after her!" he scoffed.
She could see he was still pissed at her for leaving him behind AND he did have a point.
"Are you saying that I'm too weak to fight tonight and that we should wait until morning? For all we know she could slit our throats if she found us asleep. That's what I would do to knock off two of my enemies, and seeing as she's me..."
"She's not you, Kikyo. I realize that you two definitely look alike and you may even share the same Miko powers, but that may be where the similarities end."
"Are you saying that you DON'T think she'll kill us if she finds us?"
"No, I'm not saying that. What I am going to say is that I want the Jewel. I understand that you aren't in good condition to fight but let me handle the hand to hand combat."
"Inuyasha I want to kick her butt for once!!"
"What's 'for once' supposed to mean?" he smirked.
She scowled at him.
"Besides, I want the Shikon no Tama as soon as possible!" he added again.
"Fine."
* * *
In the hut...
"Kaede."
"Hm?" Kaede responded sleepily.
"They're coming."
"Well, if you get into a fight, be sure to take it outside." Kaede yawned.
"You're really not worried, are you..."
"Why should I be? You can take care of yourself, Kikyo can take care of herself and Inuyasha can take care of himself."
"Well, we aren't kids anymore..." Kagome muttered.
"Remember this, Kagome: Neither of those two are afraid to kill you. I know it isn't right and I know that you wouldn't kill them, if you had the choice. But also think about this: I may be her sister but if you kill my sister, don't think of it 'killing'...think of it as returning her to rest."
Kagome did think about this and it made it seem so much easier to kill her...or return her to rest, because that's exactly what it was. Kikyo had already died and it wasn't right for the dead to come back. It was unnatural and in Kagome's opinion, it should be fixed.
Kagome nodded in the dark, even though Kaede couldn't see her. She dressed herself properly and pinned her sash to her shoulder and hip. She was just picking up her bow and counting her arrows, when she felt the hanyou's presence come closer. Kikyo's followed right after. Kagome looked out the window and glanced at the sky. The moon was at a waxing stage and was maybe a night away from a full moon. The rustling of the doormat yanked her from her thoughts and caused her to take caution. She lit the lamp so she could see and Kaede blinked as the light reached her eyes. Kikyo entered the hut with an arrow strung into her bow and Inuyasha followed closely.
"Kikyo, where is the Jewel?" Inuyasha asked.
"In her shirt" she said and then spoke to the girl. "Kagome, you've bound your chest flat! Have you no feminine pride??"
"Well, I must be a little more *busty* then you, because it's easier to fight when I'm bound down." Kagome retorted.
Kikyo stuck her nose in the air in response and 'hmph'ed.
"Where in her shirt?" Inuyasha interrupted.
"Between her *bound down* breast." Kikyo emphasized the fact that she thought Kagome was more 'masculine'.
Kagome could see the glow, too, in the space that the rosary had taken up.
"Come and get it, hanyou," she muttered, "I dare you."
Kikyo, of course, didn't hear what the girl said, but Inuyasha's acute hearing picked up every syllable.
"Heh, don't mind if my claws go right through you, though!"
The real Miko pulled out two of her knives and took a fighting stance while muttering 'pervert'. Inuyasha cracked his claws and then took the same stance, ignoring the comment.
"Oy! Take the Fight OUTSIDE!!" Kaede hollered at them.
"Keh!" Inuyasha ignored her and lunged at Kagome. She swung out of the way and thrusted her knife. It caught him in the mid-back.
"Why do *you* want the jewel?" Kikyo asked her harshly as she fired an arrow. Kagome dropped her knives and then caught the arrow before it could pierce her skin and notched it to her bow.
"I want to know more about it. How it came to be...though I don't suppose that *you* could tell me?" Kagome responded as the shot the arrow at her opponent's leg. It missed and thudded into the wall.
"Tsk. That arrow wasn't straight! I was going to nail you to the wall through your leg. SIT boy." She added as Inuyasha leapt up while her attention was divided.
WHAM!
Kaede raised her eyebrows in amusement. "A few more of those would do him good..."
"How dare you accuse me of keeping faulty arrows!" Kikyo glared at Kagome coldly. "Did it occur to you that my leg might have moved? Or that your aim isn't *perfect*?"
"I did, but it's not likely."
"You think too highly of yourself." Kikyo scorned her.
"What *would* I be if I didn't think myself higher than the undead?" Kagome retorted.
"Why you-you-you...BITCH!!" Kikyo screeched and launched herself at her reincarnation.
"Bit harsh coming from you, *Kikyo*. Me? The Bitch? Not likely." Kagome responded lightly as she dodged the attack. Kikyo went flying onto the ground.
"You're not one for one-on-one combat, are you?" Kagome asked as Kikyo shot her a look of pure venom as she shakily got up off the ground. "To be honest, I'm not usually one for that kind of stuff either, but I will beat you if that's how you want to fight."
"You will fight OUTSIDE!!!" Kaede reminded them.
"Fine then." Kagome ran outside and heard her two assassins follow her.
"I cannot believe you." Kikyo picked fun at her. "You are a girl, yet you bind your chest."
"We went over this already: my bosom must be larger than yours because it's easier to fight when I'm bound down."
Before Kikyo could answer, Inuyasha charged at Kagome and grabbed at the part of her shirt where the Jewel was. Kagome was too surprised to subdued him. Instead she yelled 'PERVERT!!' and smacked him over the head.
The Jewel went flying. Kikyo caught it. Kagome swung a punch at Kikyo so Kikyo chucked the Jewel in the air and yelled, "INUYASHA! GET IT!!"
Kagome growled in frustration and grabbed Inuyasha's back as he took off.
"SIT!" she yelled as they neared the Jewel. She jumped as the prayer beads reacted and he rocketed to the ground. She was about to grab the jewel when her sixth sense told her to dodge NOW. As she twisted her body in the air, Kikyo's magic arrow shot passed her and to everyone's horror it struck the jewel. Kagome watched, as she fell, in slow motion the jewel cracked and shattered into millions of pieces. There was a white flash of light that lit up the land and then she saw tiny pieces of glowing pink fall. She reached out and managed to catch one of the tiny shards, as is fell. Then she started to panic.
"AIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEE!!!" She yelled. "I'M FALLLLLLLINGGGGGGGGGGGGG~!!!!"
This was it. She was going to die holding a shard of the Shikon no Tama.
Inuyasha sighed impatiently.
The next thing Kagome knew was a pair of clawed hands had caught her.
"eh?" she scrambled out of his arms.
"Wh-wh-wh-why did you SAVE ME??"
"Why DID you save HER, Inuyasha??" Kikyo asked with malice.
"Well it would be no fun if you died because you fell. I want to kill you."
"Gee thanks." Kagome responded dryly. "But I have no intention of dieing."
"Too bad." Kikyo said with another arrow in her bow. "You die now. Inuyasha...this time you WON'T interfere unless I tell you to, is that clear?"
"Keh."
"Heh. You sound like a coward, Kikyo. Accepting help from someone to gang up me. You asked for it." Kagome lunged at Kikyo and chucked her bow away before she could shoot it. Kagome pinned Kikyo down to the ground in 10 seconds flat.
"This is like play fighting with my little brother!" Kagome smirked evilly. "Only more fun because I hate *you*"
Kikyo did a backwards summersault and tossed Kagome off.
They continued to throw punches at each other until Kikyo started getting desperate.
Inuyasha watched the fight from a few feet away. It was rather confusing for him because Kagome's scent filled the air as well as Kikyo's and they were both wearing the same thing with black hair pulled back.
"INUYASHA!! HELP ME-mph!" Kagome silenced Kikyo by knocking her in the mouth with her fist.
"Get out of there, Kikyo! I'm coming in with my claws!!"
Kagome was faster than Kikyo. She dodged out of there as there was a swoosh of claws fell behind her.
The fact that Kagome's scent was now all over Kikyo and that Kikyo was dressed like Kagome killed her. Inuyasha, thinking that he had just slashed Kagome to pieces, stood up until he saw the blood disappear and the skin and bones of the girl turn to pottery.
He had just killed Kikyo.
* * *
There was total silence outside the hut for a few seconds. Inuyasha's furry was building inside of him as horror washed over Kagome.
After attempting to say something comforting, all that she found her self whispering was "I'm...sorry......for you..." in a chocked voice. They were her enemies but...he had just slashed his partner because he thought she was herself. And that had to hurt.
"How....would you know...how I feel...you...you...HUMAN!!" he roared at her.
The horror washed away to boiling anger. She unstuck her throat and lost all sympathy for him. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN, HOW WOULD I KNOW?? WHAT DO *YOU* KNOW, HUH? YOU DON'T KNOW A THING ABOUT ME, SO DON'T YOU DARE JUMP TO CONCLUSIONS!! YOU HEAR??"
Inuyasha leapt up into the air and swung his claws at her.
"I...don't CARE IF YOU KNOW HOW I FEEL!! I'LL KILL YOU!!!"
"Just you try HANYOU!"
Inuyasha stopped and then his blood boiled hotter. "Don't you DARE diss hanyou's, human. I may want to be a youkai more than anything but I still spent ALL of my life as a hanyou."
"Oh really? So when's your time of the month?"
"HUH? I AM A *GUY*!! I DON'T GET A 'TIME OF THE MONTH'!!!"
"No, if you're a hanyou, you have at least one day a month when you turn human, correct?"
"KEH. IT'S NOT LIKE I'M GONNA TELL *YOU*, HUMAN!"
"DON'T diss me because I'm a human. Unlike you I HATE being a human. We are weak and have too many limits. THAT'S why I had my father train me the way he did, so that I *could* travel where I wanted to and still be able to defend myself. Do you know *how* much easier it all would be if I was a demon?"
"I...DON'T...CARE!!"
He was about to leap when a lamp light up the area. They two of the shielded their eyes, the light ruining their night vision momentarily, and then saw Kaede holding the lamp.
"So...who won?" she asked.
Then her eyes fell upon the pottery and then Inuyasha's expression.
"...oh..." she nodded while piecing the whole thing together. "...and what was that bright flash?"
"...Kikyo accidentally shattered the Jewel with her magic arrow." Kagome explained as she calmed down. She extracted the shard that she had caught from the space she had put it (she keeps *everything* in that space between her breasts). "This is all I have."
Inuyasha made a snatch for it but Kagome knocked his hand away.
"Don't make me say *it*, Inuyasha. I'm feeling sorry for you because I *do* know how you feel but I will *not* give up this shard."
Inuyasha stopped his attack. "What's 'it'?"
Kagome sighed impatiently, "what rhymes with 'It', Inuyasha?"
"Bit, dit...no that's Ditz..., fit, git, hit, it, kit, lit, mitt, nit...am I getting warmer?"
Kagome sighed again, "keep going..."
"...pit, quit, sit...am I closer?"
Kagome concluded that his grief was making him stupid.
"Shall I tell you the answer, seeing as you're too slow to realize that you said it already?"
"Wha-? I did? Oh...NO WAIT DON'T SAY IT-!"
"Sit."
"WAAAAAA-"
BAM~!
Kaede spoke up, "Yes, it's the only way. I have a perfect way to piece together the shards."
"Eh?" they asked in union.
"You're going to have to work as a team!"
"ME...work with HER...?????"
"Yo! Lady! Do you want this Jewel to *ever* be pieced together?? He's_Trying_To_Kill_Me!!" Kagome questioned her sanity.
"I don't need *him/her*" they said in unison.
"Yes, you do. Kagome, you need Inuyasha's strength and his will to kill things ("hey!") and Inuyasha, you need Kagome's miko powers."
Inuyasha turned sour again while muttering that if Kikyo were still here, he'd have all the miko power he needed.
Kagome directed a stony glare in his direction. "DON'T look at me like *I* killed her."
"It was your fault." His hissed lethally back.
"HOW?? BECAUSE YOU WANTED THIS GOD FORSAKEN JEWEL THAT IT WAS MY FAULT THAT KIKYO WAS KILLED OVER IT??"
"Again." Kaede sighed.
Inuyasha probably would have ripped Kaede's head off if Kagome hadn't of intervened.
"When do we start?" she snapped.
"I think tomorrow would be best." Kaede suggested.
"I'm NOT going with you." Inuyasha snarled.
"You're right. You're not. Sit."
WHAM
"####### it BITCH!!"
"You really SHOULD watch your language Inuyasha...at LEAST say the 'F' word if you're going to swear..." Kagome tutted.
"Shut UP. AND MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS."
"SOMEbody's PMSing..." Kagome muttered.
He glared hard.
"Yes, I can see that you two will work together MARVELOUSLY~!*sarcasm, sarcasm* Come on inside and rest and then you can set out tomorrow morning." Kaede grinned.
"Um...can we maybe leave the day after tomorrow? I need to travel home quickly. I should be back by around noon, the day after tomorrow." Kagome stammered.
"Of course. It will give Inuyasha time to cool down, too, over his...loss."
Kagome went inside to get some sleep.
"KEH. It's not like I MISS Kikyo or anything. But I'm NOT traveling with another human." He spoke stubbornly.
Kaede sighed. Time for reverse psychology.
"I thought so, Inuyasha. I didn't think you could travel with a *human*. You're too GOOD for them, aren't you? And too stubborn AND you're afraid that she might be better than you in a way...I should have known." Kaede sighed dramatically.
Inuyasha drew himself up proudly. "*I* can do ANYTHING better than her! She's a *human*!"
"Oh really?" Kaede raised her eyebrows.
"Just you watch!! I'LL go with her on the search for the jewel shards AND I won't kill her."
"*Promise* you won't kill her?" Kaede gave him a testy smirk.
"I swear it on my father's grave." He replied haughtily.
"Thank you, Inuyasha."
That was when Inuyasha realized what he'd gotten himself into, but being the stubborn, proud, hanyou that he was he didn't go back on his word. He scowled darkly and said his favourite syllable.
"keh."
* * *
As dawn spread over the trees, Inuyasha opened his eyes. Something shot up from the ground at his back but his hand reached out and grabbed it.
It was a flying persimmon.
How odd.
"Have a good breakfast." Came a feminine voice from bellow.
"Kikyo?" he muttered and whirled around.
Oh. Just that Kagome twit.
"What did you do to it?" he asked suspiciously as he sniffed it over.
Kagome rolled her eyes. "Nothing, but if you don't want it, then I'll have it."
He took a bite out of it and tasted it.
"You didn't add any poisons?"
"If I wanted to kill you, I'd do it honorably."
Inuyasha 'hmph'ed and then took another bite normally.
"I'll see you tomorrow, then." She called as she left.
"Huh? Where are you going??"
"Home, baka. I said that yesterday. I'll be back by noon, tomorrow."
"Why do you want to go home?? Why can't we leave to look for the jewel NOW???" he hopped down from the tree in front of her. She walked around him.
"I want to tell my family news of the jewel."
"That's it?? That can wait!!"
"No, that's not it...but the other reason is none of your business."
"What do you mean, it's none of my business?? It HAS to be my business, if we're going to have to travel together!!" he tried to reason with her.
"You don't know anything about me, and I don't know anything about you. I'll get to know you better, if you'll let me, when I get back. Good bye."
"No! I'm not letting you go home!! YOU'RE leaving with me to look for the broken Jewel!!!"
"No, I'm not."
"Oh yea?" he challenged.
"Yea. Sit."
"AAAAAUGH!!"
WHAM!!
"#*$@# #*@*#* *#*$*#*##*$$!!!!!!!"
"And watch your language."
"*$#***#$*#!!!"
* * *
Inuyasha sulked in his tree on the edge of the forest for the remainder of the day (and for the entire night).
"Inuyasha," Kaede called up to him a few hours after sun-down, "you're face might stick like that. Plus you're wearing out those 42 face muscles that it takes to frown."
"Keh."
"If you're bored, you could go and hunt for something to eat."
"Yea I'll go hunt for Kagome and eat her. It's taking her so friggen long."
"Gosh, Inuyasha, can it be that you *miss* her?" Kaede teased.
"What do you want for dinner..." He snarled. "And I do *not* miss either of them."
"I actually don't expect her to be back until late tomorrow night. True, I don't know where her home is, but she can't possibly travel that fast..."
"You want Kagome for dinner?"
"*sigh*, No, I do not want anything human for dinner. Fish would be good. I'll roll it up with some of the rice I have and wrap that in seaweed. I'm surprised at you, Inuyasha. You're being so nice to fish for a poor old lady at this hour in the night..."
"I'm not doing you a favour, I'm doing it to increase my boredom. Fishing is the most boring thing to do."
"Except for waiting for someone."
"Whatever."
He gracefully took off from the tree and soared to the river while muttering 'poor old lady my ass...'. He sat on the bank and waited for a trout to swim by. He hated to admit it but of the sushi that he had ever tried, (not often) Kaede's was the best.
He stared in the quickly flowing water. Nothing. Not one fricken fish.
Truly boring.
He stared into the flowing river. Kikyo...in his daydream, he pictured the silky haired priestess. For some reason he couldn't get the image to smile at him. When he managed to have the Kikyo image smile at him, it quickly faded into Kagome. Somehow he could imagine her smiling so much more easily. He scowled. Damn that girl. Already, she was invading his thoughts. He was so lost in his mutterings that he nearly missed the trout that swam by. He stabbed his claws at the fish but it was too quick. Inuyasha lost his balance and splooshed in to the running river.
"DAMN!" he choked.
Something giggled at him from the other side of the river. He blushed. He was so sure that he had been alone but to know that someone else had seen him...
He growled.
"You should be more careful, Inuyasha!" the voice giggled again.
He leapt out of the river onto the side of the bank that he had originally been on.
"Who's there?" he snarled.
The voice only giggled.
He scanned the trees for the source of the voice and his golden eyes revealed his hidden surprise when they locked onto a pair of stark blue ones.
"Who...?"
The eyes smiled at him. The rest of her face was hidden by her raven black hair but in the pitch-black darkness, his eyes still picked up the pointed ears on her head. Another Hanyou. He had just encountered another Hanyou!
"Who ARE you???"
She was beginning to frustrate him.
"Do I know you??" he asked as he leapt to cross the river.
"No." the female replied. He neared her to pick up a scent. Anything...
No, wait...He liked Kikyo... WHAT DID THIS FEMALE HANYOU THINK SHE WAS TRYING TO DO???
He snarled at her, "If you're NOT going to introduce yourself, then LEAVE!!"
"I'm sorry. I'll introduce myself another time. It was nice meeting another hanyou, though."
He blinked.
She shrugged. "I'll see you around, Inuyasha."
One of the blue eyes winked at him and then she was gone.
He ran to the spot that she had been and sniffed around. A fish. He found a fresh fish where she had been.
His fish now.
He took it back to Kaede's hut and said almost nothing for the rest of the night.
* * *
"Inuyasha, it's almost mid-day." Kaede called.
Inuyasha leapt out of his tree that he had sulked in for the rest of the night and started to search for Kagome. She SHOULD be around if it was almost mid-day. As the sun reached the top of the sky, he started getting frustrated.
"Kagome! Where are you, wench???"
WHAP!
A stone that he failed to catch whacked him in the back of the head.
"WHO'S THERE??" He yelled. He searched for the deep blue eyes that he had encountered last night. He heard someone snickering at him and found Kagome's chocolate brown ones. He 'keh'ed and turned his nose up in the air.
"What took you so long??"
"Nothing. It's mid-day, Inuyasha!" she 'papped' him on the head.
He quirked his eyes at the smile on her face.
"Well aren't you just so happy today..." he mumbled bad temperedly.
"Ah, yes...and aren't you just normal today?"
She grinned wickedly as he ran after her with his hand ready to whack her.
Kaede stared from her window as she watched Kagome run towards the tiny town with Inuyasha close behind her. His face was furious but hers was a picture of delight.
"They're practically in *love* now..." she muttered and shook her head.
Inuyasha swung his hand and it got caught in her hair.
"OUCH!" she exclaimed as both her hands reached back to untangle his claws. "Watch it!"
Her sleeves fell down to her elbows as she continued to massage her head.
Inuyasha frowned. "Didn't you have wounds on your arm, last night?" he asked her quizzically. "From that badger a while ago?"
Her eyes faltered and then she said, "Yes. But in my village, we have a very good doctor. He put a salve on the cuts and they healed by morning." She explained.
"I see..."
She headed to the hut.
"Where are you going?? We have to look for the Jewel shards!!!" he frantically reminded her.
"Oh that's right!" she smiled with a goofy grin. "I almost forgot!"
"NO, you didn't..."
"I know. Let's pack some food first."
"No, I'll hunt. We'll travel lighter that way."
"I have to have my food *cooked*, Inuyasha. I'm getting some spices. Hold on."
He waited impatiently for her. "COOKED..." he muttered. "Stupid humans..."
* * * * *
So...? Did you like it? ^________^ I hope so, cause I'm gonna keep writing this fic. I have a lot of ideas for it! ^.~
R+R~~!!
-Kirara
=^.^=
Welcome back my...two...lovely...reviewers...-_- I can see that this fic ISN'T a hit but no matter. I enjoy writing it anyways. ^.^
To be a Hanyou
Kikyo, in spite of herself, yawned as she made it to the outskirts of the village. She tracked the Jewel down to Kaede's hut and caught a faint gleam of it. Even though it was a powerful jewel, because she was resurrected, her Miko powers had a limit and one of them was that she had a hard time seeing magic things. No matter: as long as she could see it faintly, that was good enough.
The bush beside her rustled as the hanyou, Inuyasha, landed from a leap.
"See? I made it here just a little bit after you! IF you had of waited for me, you wouldn't have had to run after her!" he scoffed.
She could see he was still pissed at her for leaving him behind AND he did have a point.
"Are you saying that I'm too weak to fight tonight and that we should wait until morning? For all we know she could slit our throats if she found us asleep. That's what I would do to knock off two of my enemies, and seeing as she's me..."
"She's not you, Kikyo. I realize that you two definitely look alike and you may even share the same Miko powers, but that may be where the similarities end."
"Are you saying that you DON'T think she'll kill us if she finds us?"
"No, I'm not saying that. What I am going to say is that I want the Jewel. I understand that you aren't in good condition to fight but let me handle the hand to hand combat."
"Inuyasha I want to kick her butt for once!!"
"What's 'for once' supposed to mean?" he smirked.
She scowled at him.
"Besides, I want the Shikon no Tama as soon as possible!" he added again.
"Fine."
* * *
In the hut...
"Kaede."
"Hm?" Kaede responded sleepily.
"They're coming."
"Well, if you get into a fight, be sure to take it outside." Kaede yawned.
"You're really not worried, are you..."
"Why should I be? You can take care of yourself, Kikyo can take care of herself and Inuyasha can take care of himself."
"Well, we aren't kids anymore..." Kagome muttered.
"Remember this, Kagome: Neither of those two are afraid to kill you. I know it isn't right and I know that you wouldn't kill them, if you had the choice. But also think about this: I may be her sister but if you kill my sister, don't think of it 'killing'...think of it as returning her to rest."
Kagome did think about this and it made it seem so much easier to kill her...or return her to rest, because that's exactly what it was. Kikyo had already died and it wasn't right for the dead to come back. It was unnatural and in Kagome's opinion, it should be fixed.
Kagome nodded in the dark, even though Kaede couldn't see her. She dressed herself properly and pinned her sash to her shoulder and hip. She was just picking up her bow and counting her arrows, when she felt the hanyou's presence come closer. Kikyo's followed right after. Kagome looked out the window and glanced at the sky. The moon was at a waxing stage and was maybe a night away from a full moon. The rustling of the doormat yanked her from her thoughts and caused her to take caution. She lit the lamp so she could see and Kaede blinked as the light reached her eyes. Kikyo entered the hut with an arrow strung into her bow and Inuyasha followed closely.
"Kikyo, where is the Jewel?" Inuyasha asked.
"In her shirt" she said and then spoke to the girl. "Kagome, you've bound your chest flat! Have you no feminine pride??"
"Well, I must be a little more *busty* then you, because it's easier to fight when I'm bound down." Kagome retorted.
Kikyo stuck her nose in the air in response and 'hmph'ed.
"Where in her shirt?" Inuyasha interrupted.
"Between her *bound down* breast." Kikyo emphasized the fact that she thought Kagome was more 'masculine'.
Kagome could see the glow, too, in the space that the rosary had taken up.
"Come and get it, hanyou," she muttered, "I dare you."
Kikyo, of course, didn't hear what the girl said, but Inuyasha's acute hearing picked up every syllable.
"Heh, don't mind if my claws go right through you, though!"
The real Miko pulled out two of her knives and took a fighting stance while muttering 'pervert'. Inuyasha cracked his claws and then took the same stance, ignoring the comment.
"Oy! Take the Fight OUTSIDE!!" Kaede hollered at them.
"Keh!" Inuyasha ignored her and lunged at Kagome. She swung out of the way and thrusted her knife. It caught him in the mid-back.
"Why do *you* want the jewel?" Kikyo asked her harshly as she fired an arrow. Kagome dropped her knives and then caught the arrow before it could pierce her skin and notched it to her bow.
"I want to know more about it. How it came to be...though I don't suppose that *you* could tell me?" Kagome responded as the shot the arrow at her opponent's leg. It missed and thudded into the wall.
"Tsk. That arrow wasn't straight! I was going to nail you to the wall through your leg. SIT boy." She added as Inuyasha leapt up while her attention was divided.
WHAM!
Kaede raised her eyebrows in amusement. "A few more of those would do him good..."
"How dare you accuse me of keeping faulty arrows!" Kikyo glared at Kagome coldly. "Did it occur to you that my leg might have moved? Or that your aim isn't *perfect*?"
"I did, but it's not likely."
"You think too highly of yourself." Kikyo scorned her.
"What *would* I be if I didn't think myself higher than the undead?" Kagome retorted.
"Why you-you-you...BITCH!!" Kikyo screeched and launched herself at her reincarnation.
"Bit harsh coming from you, *Kikyo*. Me? The Bitch? Not likely." Kagome responded lightly as she dodged the attack. Kikyo went flying onto the ground.
"You're not one for one-on-one combat, are you?" Kagome asked as Kikyo shot her a look of pure venom as she shakily got up off the ground. "To be honest, I'm not usually one for that kind of stuff either, but I will beat you if that's how you want to fight."
"You will fight OUTSIDE!!!" Kaede reminded them.
"Fine then." Kagome ran outside and heard her two assassins follow her.
"I cannot believe you." Kikyo picked fun at her. "You are a girl, yet you bind your chest."
"We went over this already: my bosom must be larger than yours because it's easier to fight when I'm bound down."
Before Kikyo could answer, Inuyasha charged at Kagome and grabbed at the part of her shirt where the Jewel was. Kagome was too surprised to subdued him. Instead she yelled 'PERVERT!!' and smacked him over the head.
The Jewel went flying. Kikyo caught it. Kagome swung a punch at Kikyo so Kikyo chucked the Jewel in the air and yelled, "INUYASHA! GET IT!!"
Kagome growled in frustration and grabbed Inuyasha's back as he took off.
"SIT!" she yelled as they neared the Jewel. She jumped as the prayer beads reacted and he rocketed to the ground. She was about to grab the jewel when her sixth sense told her to dodge NOW. As she twisted her body in the air, Kikyo's magic arrow shot passed her and to everyone's horror it struck the jewel. Kagome watched, as she fell, in slow motion the jewel cracked and shattered into millions of pieces. There was a white flash of light that lit up the land and then she saw tiny pieces of glowing pink fall. She reached out and managed to catch one of the tiny shards, as is fell. Then she started to panic.
"AIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEE!!!" She yelled. "I'M FALLLLLLLINGGGGGGGGGGGGG~!!!!"
This was it. She was going to die holding a shard of the Shikon no Tama.
Inuyasha sighed impatiently.
The next thing Kagome knew was a pair of clawed hands had caught her.
"eh?" she scrambled out of his arms.
"Wh-wh-wh-why did you SAVE ME??"
"Why DID you save HER, Inuyasha??" Kikyo asked with malice.
"Well it would be no fun if you died because you fell. I want to kill you."
"Gee thanks." Kagome responded dryly. "But I have no intention of dieing."
"Too bad." Kikyo said with another arrow in her bow. "You die now. Inuyasha...this time you WON'T interfere unless I tell you to, is that clear?"
"Keh."
"Heh. You sound like a coward, Kikyo. Accepting help from someone to gang up me. You asked for it." Kagome lunged at Kikyo and chucked her bow away before she could shoot it. Kagome pinned Kikyo down to the ground in 10 seconds flat.
"This is like play fighting with my little brother!" Kagome smirked evilly. "Only more fun because I hate *you*"
Kikyo did a backwards summersault and tossed Kagome off.
They continued to throw punches at each other until Kikyo started getting desperate.
Inuyasha watched the fight from a few feet away. It was rather confusing for him because Kagome's scent filled the air as well as Kikyo's and they were both wearing the same thing with black hair pulled back.
"INUYASHA!! HELP ME-mph!" Kagome silenced Kikyo by knocking her in the mouth with her fist.
"Get out of there, Kikyo! I'm coming in with my claws!!"
Kagome was faster than Kikyo. She dodged out of there as there was a swoosh of claws fell behind her.
The fact that Kagome's scent was now all over Kikyo and that Kikyo was dressed like Kagome killed her. Inuyasha, thinking that he had just slashed Kagome to pieces, stood up until he saw the blood disappear and the skin and bones of the girl turn to pottery.
He had just killed Kikyo.
* * *
There was total silence outside the hut for a few seconds. Inuyasha's furry was building inside of him as horror washed over Kagome.
After attempting to say something comforting, all that she found her self whispering was "I'm...sorry......for you..." in a chocked voice. They were her enemies but...he had just slashed his partner because he thought she was herself. And that had to hurt.
"How....would you know...how I feel...you...you...HUMAN!!" he roared at her.
The horror washed away to boiling anger. She unstuck her throat and lost all sympathy for him. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN, HOW WOULD I KNOW?? WHAT DO *YOU* KNOW, HUH? YOU DON'T KNOW A THING ABOUT ME, SO DON'T YOU DARE JUMP TO CONCLUSIONS!! YOU HEAR??"
Inuyasha leapt up into the air and swung his claws at her.
"I...don't CARE IF YOU KNOW HOW I FEEL!! I'LL KILL YOU!!!"
"Just you try HANYOU!"
Inuyasha stopped and then his blood boiled hotter. "Don't you DARE diss hanyou's, human. I may want to be a youkai more than anything but I still spent ALL of my life as a hanyou."
"Oh really? So when's your time of the month?"
"HUH? I AM A *GUY*!! I DON'T GET A 'TIME OF THE MONTH'!!!"
"No, if you're a hanyou, you have at least one day a month when you turn human, correct?"
"KEH. IT'S NOT LIKE I'M GONNA TELL *YOU*, HUMAN!"
"DON'T diss me because I'm a human. Unlike you I HATE being a human. We are weak and have too many limits. THAT'S why I had my father train me the way he did, so that I *could* travel where I wanted to and still be able to defend myself. Do you know *how* much easier it all would be if I was a demon?"
"I...DON'T...CARE!!"
He was about to leap when a lamp light up the area. They two of the shielded their eyes, the light ruining their night vision momentarily, and then saw Kaede holding the lamp.
"So...who won?" she asked.
Then her eyes fell upon the pottery and then Inuyasha's expression.
"...oh..." she nodded while piecing the whole thing together. "...and what was that bright flash?"
"...Kikyo accidentally shattered the Jewel with her magic arrow." Kagome explained as she calmed down. She extracted the shard that she had caught from the space she had put it (she keeps *everything* in that space between her breasts). "This is all I have."
Inuyasha made a snatch for it but Kagome knocked his hand away.
"Don't make me say *it*, Inuyasha. I'm feeling sorry for you because I *do* know how you feel but I will *not* give up this shard."
Inuyasha stopped his attack. "What's 'it'?"
Kagome sighed impatiently, "what rhymes with 'It', Inuyasha?"
"Bit, dit...no that's Ditz..., fit, git, hit, it, kit, lit, mitt, nit...am I getting warmer?"
Kagome sighed again, "keep going..."
"...pit, quit, sit...am I closer?"
Kagome concluded that his grief was making him stupid.
"Shall I tell you the answer, seeing as you're too slow to realize that you said it already?"
"Wha-? I did? Oh...NO WAIT DON'T SAY IT-!"
"Sit."
"WAAAAAA-"
BAM~!
Kaede spoke up, "Yes, it's the only way. I have a perfect way to piece together the shards."
"Eh?" they asked in union.
"You're going to have to work as a team!"
"ME...work with HER...?????"
"Yo! Lady! Do you want this Jewel to *ever* be pieced together?? He's_Trying_To_Kill_Me!!" Kagome questioned her sanity.
"I don't need *him/her*" they said in unison.
"Yes, you do. Kagome, you need Inuyasha's strength and his will to kill things ("hey!") and Inuyasha, you need Kagome's miko powers."
Inuyasha turned sour again while muttering that if Kikyo were still here, he'd have all the miko power he needed.
Kagome directed a stony glare in his direction. "DON'T look at me like *I* killed her."
"It was your fault." His hissed lethally back.
"HOW?? BECAUSE YOU WANTED THIS GOD FORSAKEN JEWEL THAT IT WAS MY FAULT THAT KIKYO WAS KILLED OVER IT??"
"Again." Kaede sighed.
Inuyasha probably would have ripped Kaede's head off if Kagome hadn't of intervened.
"When do we start?" she snapped.
"I think tomorrow would be best." Kaede suggested.
"I'm NOT going with you." Inuyasha snarled.
"You're right. You're not. Sit."
WHAM
"####### it BITCH!!"
"You really SHOULD watch your language Inuyasha...at LEAST say the 'F' word if you're going to swear..." Kagome tutted.
"Shut UP. AND MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS."
"SOMEbody's PMSing..." Kagome muttered.
He glared hard.
"Yes, I can see that you two will work together MARVELOUSLY~!*sarcasm, sarcasm* Come on inside and rest and then you can set out tomorrow morning." Kaede grinned.
"Um...can we maybe leave the day after tomorrow? I need to travel home quickly. I should be back by around noon, the day after tomorrow." Kagome stammered.
"Of course. It will give Inuyasha time to cool down, too, over his...loss."
Kagome went inside to get some sleep.
"KEH. It's not like I MISS Kikyo or anything. But I'm NOT traveling with another human." He spoke stubbornly.
Kaede sighed. Time for reverse psychology.
"I thought so, Inuyasha. I didn't think you could travel with a *human*. You're too GOOD for them, aren't you? And too stubborn AND you're afraid that she might be better than you in a way...I should have known." Kaede sighed dramatically.
Inuyasha drew himself up proudly. "*I* can do ANYTHING better than her! She's a *human*!"
"Oh really?" Kaede raised her eyebrows.
"Just you watch!! I'LL go with her on the search for the jewel shards AND I won't kill her."
"*Promise* you won't kill her?" Kaede gave him a testy smirk.
"I swear it on my father's grave." He replied haughtily.
"Thank you, Inuyasha."
That was when Inuyasha realized what he'd gotten himself into, but being the stubborn, proud, hanyou that he was he didn't go back on his word. He scowled darkly and said his favourite syllable.
"keh."
* * *
As dawn spread over the trees, Inuyasha opened his eyes. Something shot up from the ground at his back but his hand reached out and grabbed it.
It was a flying persimmon.
How odd.
"Have a good breakfast." Came a feminine voice from bellow.
"Kikyo?" he muttered and whirled around.
Oh. Just that Kagome twit.
"What did you do to it?" he asked suspiciously as he sniffed it over.
Kagome rolled her eyes. "Nothing, but if you don't want it, then I'll have it."
He took a bite out of it and tasted it.
"You didn't add any poisons?"
"If I wanted to kill you, I'd do it honorably."
Inuyasha 'hmph'ed and then took another bite normally.
"I'll see you tomorrow, then." She called as she left.
"Huh? Where are you going??"
"Home, baka. I said that yesterday. I'll be back by noon, tomorrow."
"Why do you want to go home?? Why can't we leave to look for the jewel NOW???" he hopped down from the tree in front of her. She walked around him.
"I want to tell my family news of the jewel."
"That's it?? That can wait!!"
"No, that's not it...but the other reason is none of your business."
"What do you mean, it's none of my business?? It HAS to be my business, if we're going to have to travel together!!" he tried to reason with her.
"You don't know anything about me, and I don't know anything about you. I'll get to know you better, if you'll let me, when I get back. Good bye."
"No! I'm not letting you go home!! YOU'RE leaving with me to look for the broken Jewel!!!"
"No, I'm not."
"Oh yea?" he challenged.
"Yea. Sit."
"AAAAAUGH!!"
WHAM!!
"#*$@# #*@*#* *#*$*#*##*$$!!!!!!!"
"And watch your language."
"*$#***#$*#!!!"
* * *
Inuyasha sulked in his tree on the edge of the forest for the remainder of the day (and for the entire night).
"Inuyasha," Kaede called up to him a few hours after sun-down, "you're face might stick like that. Plus you're wearing out those 42 face muscles that it takes to frown."
"Keh."
"If you're bored, you could go and hunt for something to eat."
"Yea I'll go hunt for Kagome and eat her. It's taking her so friggen long."
"Gosh, Inuyasha, can it be that you *miss* her?" Kaede teased.
"What do you want for dinner..." He snarled. "And I do *not* miss either of them."
"I actually don't expect her to be back until late tomorrow night. True, I don't know where her home is, but she can't possibly travel that fast..."
"You want Kagome for dinner?"
"*sigh*, No, I do not want anything human for dinner. Fish would be good. I'll roll it up with some of the rice I have and wrap that in seaweed. I'm surprised at you, Inuyasha. You're being so nice to fish for a poor old lady at this hour in the night..."
"I'm not doing you a favour, I'm doing it to increase my boredom. Fishing is the most boring thing to do."
"Except for waiting for someone."
"Whatever."
He gracefully took off from the tree and soared to the river while muttering 'poor old lady my ass...'. He sat on the bank and waited for a trout to swim by. He hated to admit it but of the sushi that he had ever tried, (not often) Kaede's was the best.
He stared in the quickly flowing water. Nothing. Not one fricken fish.
Truly boring.
He stared into the flowing river. Kikyo...in his daydream, he pictured the silky haired priestess. For some reason he couldn't get the image to smile at him. When he managed to have the Kikyo image smile at him, it quickly faded into Kagome. Somehow he could imagine her smiling so much more easily. He scowled. Damn that girl. Already, she was invading his thoughts. He was so lost in his mutterings that he nearly missed the trout that swam by. He stabbed his claws at the fish but it was too quick. Inuyasha lost his balance and splooshed in to the running river.
"DAMN!" he choked.
Something giggled at him from the other side of the river. He blushed. He was so sure that he had been alone but to know that someone else had seen him...
He growled.
"You should be more careful, Inuyasha!" the voice giggled again.
He leapt out of the river onto the side of the bank that he had originally been on.
"Who's there?" he snarled.
The voice only giggled.
He scanned the trees for the source of the voice and his golden eyes revealed his hidden surprise when they locked onto a pair of stark blue ones.
"Who...?"
The eyes smiled at him. The rest of her face was hidden by her raven black hair but in the pitch-black darkness, his eyes still picked up the pointed ears on her head. Another Hanyou. He had just encountered another Hanyou!
"Who ARE you???"
She was beginning to frustrate him.
"Do I know you??" he asked as he leapt to cross the river.
"No." the female replied. He neared her to pick up a scent. Anything...
No, wait...He liked Kikyo... WHAT DID THIS FEMALE HANYOU THINK SHE WAS TRYING TO DO???
He snarled at her, "If you're NOT going to introduce yourself, then LEAVE!!"
"I'm sorry. I'll introduce myself another time. It was nice meeting another hanyou, though."
He blinked.
She shrugged. "I'll see you around, Inuyasha."
One of the blue eyes winked at him and then she was gone.
He ran to the spot that she had been and sniffed around. A fish. He found a fresh fish where she had been.
His fish now.
He took it back to Kaede's hut and said almost nothing for the rest of the night.
* * *
"Inuyasha, it's almost mid-day." Kaede called.
Inuyasha leapt out of his tree that he had sulked in for the rest of the night and started to search for Kagome. She SHOULD be around if it was almost mid-day. As the sun reached the top of the sky, he started getting frustrated.
"Kagome! Where are you, wench???"
WHAP!
A stone that he failed to catch whacked him in the back of the head.
"WHO'S THERE??" He yelled. He searched for the deep blue eyes that he had encountered last night. He heard someone snickering at him and found Kagome's chocolate brown ones. He 'keh'ed and turned his nose up in the air.
"What took you so long??"
"Nothing. It's mid-day, Inuyasha!" she 'papped' him on the head.
He quirked his eyes at the smile on her face.
"Well aren't you just so happy today..." he mumbled bad temperedly.
"Ah, yes...and aren't you just normal today?"
She grinned wickedly as he ran after her with his hand ready to whack her.
Kaede stared from her window as she watched Kagome run towards the tiny town with Inuyasha close behind her. His face was furious but hers was a picture of delight.
"They're practically in *love* now..." she muttered and shook her head.
Inuyasha swung his hand and it got caught in her hair.
"OUCH!" she exclaimed as both her hands reached back to untangle his claws. "Watch it!"
Her sleeves fell down to her elbows as she continued to massage her head.
Inuyasha frowned. "Didn't you have wounds on your arm, last night?" he asked her quizzically. "From that badger a while ago?"
Her eyes faltered and then she said, "Yes. But in my village, we have a very good doctor. He put a salve on the cuts and they healed by morning." She explained.
"I see..."
She headed to the hut.
"Where are you going?? We have to look for the Jewel shards!!!" he frantically reminded her.
"Oh that's right!" she smiled with a goofy grin. "I almost forgot!"
"NO, you didn't..."
"I know. Let's pack some food first."
"No, I'll hunt. We'll travel lighter that way."
"I have to have my food *cooked*, Inuyasha. I'm getting some spices. Hold on."
He waited impatiently for her. "COOKED..." he muttered. "Stupid humans..."
* * * * *
So...? Did you like it? ^________^ I hope so, cause I'm gonna keep writing this fic. I have a lot of ideas for it! ^.~
R+R~~!!
-Kirara
=^.^=