To Live Again
By Rurouni Star
Here it is. The part everyone's been waiting for (I have too).
Aiwendil: Poor Inu Yasha… been trying to keep myself from making Kagome go running back to him, and it's HARD.
Shichan: I'm happy that I've been able to keep up with the updates like this. It's mostly because it's summer and I have more time to write.
Ladyofthedragons: Wonderful! Can I be malevolent and cruel as well?
Profiler120: I liked that one myself. And poor Kagome's got no shards left! *sniff* As for updates, I'm the fastest typist I know, but that has little to do with it. It's mostly because I get to stay up later now. I get on a roll, and no one can tear me away from my computer.
Grets: ITAI!!!!!!!!
Tidus: Of course I'll give you more. I'm just that nice.
Chapter 14 – An Unplanned Rendezvous
Days later, Sesshoumaru was sitting at the top of a tree, which conspicuously was missing a certain girl at the bottom. The sun peeked over the horizon, and he half expected her to call up to him to ask whether she could bathe herself quickly. But she didn't. She wasn't there.
Why did this bother him?
Rin had asked where she was as soon as she'd woken that day the woman left. Sesshoumaru didn't have an answer for her, so he didn't say anything. Jaken had fidgeted uncomfortably, but also said nothing.
Even An and Un seemed to miss her. Their eyes were dull, and their necks drooped in a way that might have looked amusing, had it not been so representative of them all.
What was it about that girl that had left such a hole in their group? It hadn't been missing anything before she'd arrived, but now that she was gone, everything seemed empty.
The decision to try to find her was surprisingly easy to make, even without telling the others in their band. Sesshoumaru did not travel through the air that day. Instead, he followed her scent, and the rest followed him in turn.
He was determined to learn it. Why she still haunted him after she'd left. Why he couldn't forget now.
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"You're saying that Kagome-sama really was here?" Miroku asked Inu Yasha in an amazed tone. He could remember her presence vaguely, and a soothing hand that touched his cheek, as if disbelieving that he was there.
"I didn't mean to run away and leave you to die, Miroku. I swear, I'll save you still somehow." Had he imagined that? No. She'd been worried for him. The monk's right hand clenched involuntarily at the reminder. He was probably beyond saving, but… it was nice to know she hadn't forgotten him. He'd been afraid of losing one of the few people he'd let himself grow close to.
"She was here," said the hanyou in an empty voice. It was the same voice he'd had ever since he'd made her leave. Shippo was still sniffling.
"Why'd she have to go again?" he wailed. "It's not fair!" Sango picked up the kitsune and held him close to her, obviously having the same thoughts. Her eyes glistened with unshed tears.
"Because it's not safe here!" Inu Yasha yelled. "Naraku killed Kikyo before without a thought. He'll do it to Kagome too. Is that what you all want?" Shippo stopped crying, obviously speechless. Tears stood out on the half demon's face.
"Inu Yasha..." Sango breathed. "You- you miss her a lot, don't you?" He turned away with a choked 'feh'.
Miroku's face tightened, and he hit him over the head with his staff.
"What part of her being here without you is safe?" he said to the hanyou. "If she's alone, it's even worse!" Shippo began to cry harder, and Sango looked on the verge of letting her own tears loose herself. Miroku found himself sharing such an emotion as Kirara yowled pitifully.
"We all agreed that she should go back to her world," Inu Yasha said quietly. "It's – it's not my fault she didn't listen. If I ignore her she'll go back, I know she will." Miroku looked down at the ground.
"It's no use keeping her away if she won't listen," the priest said. "We need to bring her back, Inu Yasha. No matter the cost to your stubborn pride."
"What pride?" the dog demon said miserably. "If I could have her with me again... just for a little bit...I'd give up all of my stupid pride. But I'm not going to put her in danger. She's gone home – she took a shard with her."
Miroku sighed, and put a hand on Sango's shoulder comfortingly. Things weren't the same without Kagome.
"I swear, I'll save you still somehow." And he was certain she hadn't gone back home.
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The object of so much confusion and so many tears was currently wondering why so many demons were inexplicably attracted to her. That day, she'd already had to kill at least three.
She didn't have any Shikon shards. She couldn't imagine what it was that made the demons seek her out. Perhaps it was just that she looked so helpless.
"Well, well, well. If it isn't Kikyo's reincarnation. What are you doing without your puppy to protect you, girl?" The voice startled her terribly, making Kagome freeze in her tracks. How had she not felt the woman's presence? Had she really been brooding so much that the wind user could sneak up on her without effort?
Kagome fingered her bow. She wondered about her chances of taking out Kagura before the demon could kill her. There was only one way to find out, after all.
Kagome pulled her bow from her shoulder and nocked an arrow, but as soon as she'd drawn a bead on the wind user, the bow was knocked from her hands.
"You were rather stupid to come out here alone," Kagura said, and Kagome thought she detected a hint of regret in her voice. "I suppose that means you won't be killing Naraku too soon." Kagura drew back her fan and threw her blades of wind at the miko. Kagome hurriedly dodged, wincing as she found she wasn't fast enough. One of the blades hit her shoulder and another sliced across her leg. She stumbled and fell while a few feet from her bow.
"I even gave you a chance there," Kagura lamented. "You were so close." Kagome pulled herself up and turned around to stare at her.
"Stop taunting me," she told her. "If you're going to kill me, then do it." She reached for her bow with her uninjured arm, already knowing that she wouldn't be able to draw it.
Kagura sighed. "Fine, girl. Be that way." Her fan came back again to deal the final blow. Kagome squeezed her eyes shut tightly, knowing that there was no way for her to get to her bow in time.
The blow never came.
The girl opened her eyes slowly, and gaped. Kagura's fan lay at her feet, cut into two neat pieces.
"You are attacking one of my group, Kagura," a cold voice informed the female demon. "This has happened before." Kagome turned her eyes to the speaker disbelievingly.
"Sesshoumaru," Kagura muttered, sounding almost as confused. She spotted his new arm. "What are you doing with a Shikon shard? I thought you didn't value them! If you'd accepted my offer, this wouldn't be happening!" The demon lord paused.
"I don't care about your reasons, Kagura. I have warned you before." The wind user fell back uneasily. She fingered one of the feathers in her hair as Sesshoumaru raised Toukijin again.
Kagome tried to stand, shaking. Her life had just officially gone to hell. Literally, considering whose offspring was attacking her.
Sesshoumaru flicked his eyes to where she stood. The idiotic girl must have known that something like this would happen. Naraku took every chance that was given him. She had been an idiot.
Kagura bit her lip and transformed her feather while the demon lord was distracted, floating into the air. Naraku was not going to like this. But at least the girl had gotten away, and she'd found her excuse. She knew somehow that the miko was the key to her freedom. There was no way she would exterminate her now.
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They stood there, facing off against each other for what seemed like hours. Kagome leaned on her bow tiredly, ignoring how the demon's gaze had traveled to her hair. She'd had it cropped to the nape of her neck, curling under slightly at the loss of weight. She didn't know how it looked, nor did she particularly care. It wasn't like she was going to try to impress the demons that tried to kill her.
"Why are you here?" she asked him grimly. Sesshoumaru replaced Toukijin in its sheathe.
"Our business is not yet concluded." Kagome breathed deeply, trying to regain her strength.
"Is that all? I'm sure you can kill Naraku on your own." Sesshoumaru's gaze hardened.
"Wrong business." He was suddenly in front of her, grasping her arm with his new one. "You never answered my question. Why did you give me the shard?" Kagome winced. Her wounds pained her without her bow to lean on.
"Because I thought I was your friend, damn it!" The demon lord's eyes narrowed.
"I am no one's friend, human." He was prepared for her slap this time, and intercepted the wrist that flew toward him. The girl struggled vainly to escape his grasp, her angry eyes staring into his.
"I told you to stop calling me that! I answered your stupid question so now you can go." It was beginning to really hurt, standing on that leg.
Sesshoumaru did not release his grip or even turn his head away. He stared at her quietly, looking perplexed. He lowered his head, looking more closely at her face, the one that had haunted him... those angry eyes became confused and the fire in them quelled. His gaze traveled to her slightly parted lips, and then…
…and then, almost as suddenly as the nearly magnetic pull had started, he pulled back. The demon held her at arm's length almost disbelievingly before letting her go. He turned, then, and left quite suddenly. She stared after him.
Did I just imagine that?
Her leg gave out then, and she bit back a curse. Just like that jerk, leaving her to crawl to her backpack and try to bandage her own wounds with one faulty arm.
She remembered his eyes, though, so confused. What did it mean?
She didn't know whether things were looking up yet. But they'd just gotten a whole lot more interesting.