Hi everyone! I'm glad I have received so many reviews for a first chapter! It encourages me to write even more now! I can't wait! Thank you EVERYONE who reviewed the last chapter. I hope you like this one even better.
Disclaimer: I don't own Inu-Yasha or the characters so there! Phooey! But I DO own this idea! ^_______________________^ And Rikun and Aya. ^-^; Kind of…
A Demon Without Fangs
Ch.2
It had been a week since Kagome had entered this strange era from when she fell through the well. She didn't really like to talk about it though. She knew they couldn't truly believe her. Why should they? It brought back too many painful memories as well. She actually liked it here. It was a calm and peaceful place. It felt like this was where she was meant to be. As if she was needed, or maybe she needed them.
They were like the family she never had. A whole family, with small everyday bickers-- mainly her and Inuyasha arguing--and with love as they sat and ate by the fire every night. She could grow used to this. She already was used to this!
"Hey wench! Get over here and help me with the chores already!"
Kagome sighed. Some things would never change. "I'm coming! Hold your horses!"
She made her way over to where Inuyasha was standing, carrying empty buckets to fill with water. She took two and followed him down the path to the river, humming a little tune.
"Will you stop it already? That gets annoying," he grumbled irritably. "You always hum, and it's always the same stupid song!"
"So-rry!" She stated, not sorry in the least. "And you're wrong, it isn't the same song, I know three!"
"Keh," was his only comment.
"I do! They're the only three songs we learned. Twinkle Twinkle, my ABC's, and Ba Ba Black Sheep." She smiled, proud of the accomplishment.
"Well they all sound like trash to me," he grumbled. "Besides, who would sing about sheep? The only thing they're good for is for meat."
"They are not! How could you think that? Inuyasha, that's mean!"
He smirked. "Do I care?"
She sniffed and looked away. "No. You don't care about anything. At least, that's what you say."
"What's that supposed to mean?" He growled.
She smiled and skipped ahead, looking back at him with a mysterious sparkle in her eyes. "Oh, nothing," she called back, laughing all the while.
"Come back her, girl! Tell me what you meant!" By now, Inuyasha was getting really angry. He stomped over to her, trying to catch up.
"No way! You'll hurt me!" She ran faster, trying to avoid his wrath. He faltered, then blinked. Why did she think he'd hurt her? He'd never done so before. Did she really think he'd do such a thing.
"Come back here!" He shouted, then sped up and started running, not trying to capture her, just trying to cut her off and make her explain.
She giggled from somewhere ahead, quietly, but enough for his sensitive ears to know where she was. Then he heard rocks shift and a scream. He leaped in her direction, heart beating rapidly. "Kagome!" he shouted, coming to a clearing in the trees, and the edge of the bank to the river. Did she fall in? He didn't hear a splash… "Kagome!!!"
"Inu-Inuyasha!" she shouted, her voice trembling.
"Kagome!" He ran to the bank's edge to see her hanging onto a root that stuck out of the earth. He carefully assessed the situation, his eyes darting to all of the dangers and possibilities on how he could get her out of that mess.
"Inuyasha…please…help me!" Her voice was weak and shaky. She held on for dear life, her waist already in the water and being swept away by the strong current. She shifted her grip and nearly let go. She gasped, her hands slowly slipping.
"Hang on!" He yelled, sliding down the bank's rocky edge. "Don't you dare let go!"
"I don't plan to," she said, laughing wryly at her attempt to lighten the situation. If she let go now, it was all downhill from there…literally.
She closed her eyes and bit her lip. It was hard for her to breathe. Perspiration covered her face as her muscles began to slightly tremble. She consentrated on the few rocks she heard tumble into the water, knowing that Inuyasha was nearing her. He could save her, he would save her, she had to hold out a little longer.
"I'm almost there, just a little further…" She couldn't tell if he was reassuring her, or himself.
"I can't hold on my longer! Inuyasha… I'm slipping!"
"Oh, no you don't!" He growled threateningly. "I'm too close! If you let go now, I will never forgive you!"
Her eyes snapped open and she realized that he was standing only a few feet away. He was holding onto another branch, reaching out to her with his fingers. "Come on girl, reach! I can't save you all by myself you know!"
She blinked, stunned, and slowly reached for his hand, trying not to lose balance or let go with her other hand. Their finger tips were two inches apart. Too far to close the gap between them.
"Reach!" He shouted, grinding his teeth together.
"I am!" She yelled back, her temper slowly rising. That was when her hand, and only thing for support, slipped. She reached, eyes wide, for her lifeline, but only grasped air. Her mouth formed a large 'O' as she fell backwards as if in slow motion. "I-nu-ya-sha!"
His eyes widened when he noted she no longer held onto the branch. Without thinking, he jumped down to her aid, grabbed her wrist as tightly as he dared, and with his other hand he reached for the branch. He barely snared it in time, and ended up having to dig his claws into the thing. Kagome was submerged in the water to her neck now, and she was struggling not to go under. Inuyasha ground his teeth together, he had to get her to safety.
"Inuyasha…" Kagome said his name for the hundredth time, though this time it came out as a strangled whisper.
"Shut up and save your strength," was his gruff reply. He didn't dare tell her his greatest fear. She'd tell him to let go of her, and that was the one thing he couldn't do. He closed his eyes and gathered his strength—and courage—and pulled her closer. When his arm was wrapped snugly around her waist his eyes shot open and he concentrated on the land that was five to seven feet away. Not far at all—for a demon. It would be like jumping over a candle that wasn't even lit. He braced his legs against solid ground, and sprung into action. He and Kagome were in the air in no time at all. They landed softly and gently, Kagome huddled in his arms.
He thought he heard sniffing and looked down at the top of her head. Oh, no! She isn't crying is she?!? He thought to himself. "Kagome…it's alright, we're safe now."
"I was so scared," came her muffled reply from somewhere against his kimono. "And you saved me. All you had to do was jump…" She looked up at him and he saw a huge smile across her face. He blinked and took an awkward step backward. "You just had to jump…and we were fine!" Her smile widened and he looked at her suspiciously while still trying to get away from the strange girl. "I wasn't in any real trouble at all! You are a demon after all, which you keep reminding me. Well, half demon anyway. But you saved me! And you could have let me drown and it wouldn't have been your fault at all! Either you really are nice, and I was right all along, or you forgot that it wouldn't be your fault and so you couldn't get in trouble with your mommy and daddy." She smiled, shyly this time. "I think it's because you're really nice."
He blinked, not knowing what to say to her. She sat there, smiling like a lunatic, all because he saved her?!? If he would have known that, maybe he should have left her to drown. "What are you gawking at? Come on, nothing good came out of this. Nothing! We still have chores to do too, so let's get a move on," He 'humphed' and crossed his arms, turning in the direction they needed to go and waited for her to follow.
"Alight, we can go." She wrung the water out of her clothing and couldn't help but to smile again. "But you're wrong." She reveled in the fact. "Something good did come out of this." Inuyasha turned to stare at her as if she was the craziest person in the world. Kagome motioned to their buckets, all four were filled with perfectly good water. "See?"
He muttered something under his breath and stooped to pick up two of the buckets. "Whatever. Can we go now?"
She picked up the remaining two and followed him, all the while thinking, Also, now I know. I know that it's all just an act; an act to seem strong and mean, but he really is kind and gentle. I knew it! Ever since the first night I came here, I knew he really cared. He is human, even if he is only half.
They arrived at their secluded hut in a matter of minutes and came upon Aya and Rikun engaged in deep conversation. Kagome blinked, wondering what got them so heated up. Inuyasha narrowed his eyes. What ever it was, it couldn't be good!
"Mum? Dad? What's wrong?" He asked, worry evident in his eyes.
Startled, she looked over to see Kagome and her son walking toward them, buckets of water in tow. Rikun turned also, not surprised in the least. He must have smelled them when they arrived.
"Is everything okay?" Kagome asked. She set her two buckets down, followed by Inuyasha, and then they went over to see what all the fuss was about.
"Hm?" Aya asked, then gave a faltering, reassuring smile. "Oh, nothing dear. You needn't worry."
Kagome's brow furrowed, while Inuyasha crossed his arms over his chest. "It's not nice to keep secrets," Kagome muttered under her breath, though Inuyasha and his dad, being the dog type demons that they were, heard every word. Inuyasha smirked while his dad let out a raspy chuckle that almost sounded evil.
"You are right, little one." He stated. "The Shikon no Tama has been split, shattering into tons of little shards. Now there are demons everywhere that want that power, and those possessed with the shards are strong enough to destroy a whole village. It seems Priestess Kikyou has failed her job."
"Don't say that," Aya pleaded. "She has done a marvelous job over the years. Much better than I could have done."
"Yes, perhaps, but you would have had me to protect you. Nothing would have stood in our way."
"Getting a bit cocky, now are we?" Aya asked teasingly. The mood had definitely lightened over the past week. Even Inuyasha noticed it. Was it all because of this puny human girl? What power did she hold…if any at all? What was it about her…that…
Rikun cleared his throat. "Alright youngsters, you two need to finish your chores I believe. Besides, your mother and I need to talk about this, and I would rather you two didn't get involved."
Little did he know… that fate was already playing a big part in all of their lives.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *
Inuyasha and Kagome were doing their least favorite chore. Picking weeds. Not only did they have to clear the whole garden of them, but they had to go out into the forest and gather certain herbs for their mother also. Inuyasha positively despised the job.
"Well think of it this way," Kagome said cheerfully, unfazed in the least. "Your mom can make more medicine stuff she's always talking about. And remember when your daddy got hurt? She helped him heal!"
"Feh. She did nothing of the sort. We demons heal faster than any mere humans. He just didn't want her to feel bad, so he let her help him thinking it was all her doing."
Kagome glared. "Did not!"
He smirked. "Did too."
Now that they were finally done with picking the weeds they made their way to the forest to scrounge around for anything Aya had shown them that she needed more of. Lately, she had been teaching Kagome a little about the plants and what each herb did, good and bad. It was enough to make anyone's head spin! She still couldn't tell an antidote from a poison if her life depended on it. As always, Inuyasha and Kagome were both ready for another heated argument.
"He did not!" She insisted. "He would never do such a thing."
"Just goes to show what you know. Or in this case…what you don't know."
She glared at him. "SHE helped him, whether you want to admit it or not! He may heal faster than I would, but she helped him not get an inflection!" She smiled and held her head high, proud of herself for remembering such a strange yet long word that Inuyasha's mother had taught her.
Inuyasha snorted. "You mean an infection," he corrected. "Mum talks about those all the time. We've never had to worry about those things." What ever they are, he thought to himself.
Kagome's smile just grew wider. She knew she won this argument. "Yeah, that's because of her herbs."
They dropped the subject, shrugging it off, and continued on their way, picking various plant and roots that Aya had told them about plenty of times.
"This is boring," Kagome mumbled, heaving a long, drawn out sigh. "And I can hardly see where I'm going."
Inuyasha snickered. "Is that why you tripped and fell nearly five times now?"
"Grr…It's not my fault I can't see! Inuyasha--"
"Stop."
"Huh? Wha…"
"Shhh…be quiet."
"Do you hear something?" She asked, knowing his hearing was much better than her own.
"No. I smell it. Barely, but it's there."
Kagome, trembling with fear, tiptoed closer to the hanyou. "What is it?"
His golden eyes scanned the area, as if looking for the intruder. "Blood."
She let out a small eep and clamped onto his arm for protection. "Is it after us?" She asked fearfully. "Is it another demon?"
His eyes widened when he realized that the demon wasn't close to them at all. As a matter of fact, they were quite far away, but still close enough to be smelled. Where were they coming from? And why was blood being spilt? His eyes widened in horror when he realized where it came from.
"Mum! Dad!" He yelled.
"Wha-what?!? Are they in trouble?"
Without another word, Inuyasha grabbed Kagome around the waist, and practically flew toward the smell, and the horrible results he dreaded he would find when he got there. When they came out of the forest and into the clearing, both he and Kagome were greatly relieved to find Aya and Rikun still alive. Rikun had blood dripping down the edge of his mouth, and also the side of his right arm as he held onto the Tetsusaiga. Aya was between him and the wall of their hut. She looked frightened, and also worried. Demons surrounded them, looking to be hungry shadows, that were in the form of wolves. There was another demon there, watching the scene unfold from a distance. He was standing up like a human, but resembled a white and brown wolf, with large wide eyes and armor looking material covering his body. Every time he opened his mouth, more of those horrible wolf-like creatures erupted from there. It was enough to make anyone either deathly frightened, or feel like they were about to puke.
"Mom!" Inuyasha shouted, capturing not only his mother and father's attention, but also most of the demon's.
"Inuyasha! Kagome! Get out of here! Now!" She shouted, worry etched in her every feature.
Inuyasha smirked and bound over to where his parents were. "What? Don't have any faith in dad? They don't call him the strongest demon for nothing."
Rikun's teeth were clenched together, as he fought to keep the demons at bay. Many lay scattered on the ground, either dead, or dying. No matter how many he brought down, more just kept coming. There was something wrong with this picture. Something sinister was in the air. He could feel it, smell it, almost hear it. This was not right.
"What's wrong?" Noticing the worry, Kagome had to ask.
"This isn't right. I don't understand it. He should be dead. They should all be gone by now?"
That captured Inuyasha's attention. "Whaddya mean?"
She shook her head in confusion. Your father used the Tetsusaiga and cut every demon here into pieces! The identical wolves vanished, but he…" She pointed a shaking finger at the forest demon, "he came back to life! I've never seen anything like it!"
Again, with Rikun's quickly fading strength, he swung the blade in a marvelous arch, tearing the flesh of every demon present. Aya was right, they all did disappear, or disintegrate more like it. But the forest demon's finger, after his hand had been completely severed from the rest of the body, began twitching. Slowly, piece by piece, he was put back together, not fazed in the least.
"What the…" was all Inuyasha could say.
"OHHH!!! MY HEEEAAAAD! MY SSSSPLIIIIIITING HEEEEAAAAAD!"
Kagome gulped upon hearing that freaky, blood curdling voice. It reminded her too much of Mistress Centipede. She stared wide-eyed at the creature before her. Then something caught her attention. Something incredibly bright. Why hadn't she noticed that before? That thing, that shiny thing, was the cause of his headache. It must have been!
Slowly, as if she were drawn to it, she timidly walked over to the demon, one foot slowly moving in front of the other. Then something bright red leaped in front of her way. She blinked, as if coming out of a trance. "Inuyasha!" She complained.
He scowled at her. "What do you think you're doing?!? Are you trying to get yourself killed? Because if you are, then go right ahead! I'm sure he wouldn't mind having a little human for a snack!"
She gasped. "But…I need to help him!"
His eyes literally bugged out of his head. "Help him? HELP him?!? What on earth… what's going on inside that crazy head of yours? We're the ones that need help!"
She blinked. "Don't you see it?"
"See what?"
"That! That glowing thing in the middle of his forehead."
Inuyasha raised an eyebrow. He turned to look at the demon, but didn't see any glowing thingy. "Nope," He stated, "Nothing is there."
"But it is!" She persisted. "I see it!"
"Yeah…right."
She glared at him. "I do!" With that said, she barged past him, pushing him out of her way, and walked right up to the demon. Inuyasha's jaw literally dropped to the ground.
"Are you crazy?!"
"So what if I am?" She stomped over to the thing, and he looked down at her curiously. "Do you want me to get that out of your head for you?"
He sighed. "IT'S NO USE. I'VE TRIED AND TRIED, BUT IT WON'T COME OUT. ONLY NARAKU CAN REMOVE IT."
Kagome reached up and plucked a shard of some sort out of his head, the vines around him beginning to disappear. "There!" She said triumphantly.
He blinked, then his red eyes slowly turned to blue, and he completely transformed from the terrorizing creature he was just a moment before.
"I'M FREE!!! I'M FREE! I NO LONGER HAVE THAT SPLITTING HEEEAAAADACHE! THANK YOU LITTLE HUUUUUMAN! I AM FREE!"
With that, he bound over to the forest, smiling like never before. Inuyasha, Rikun, and Aya stared at her like she was turning into a tree demon with a crazed smile and pixy dust swirling all around her.
"Told you," she said to Inuyasha, who just shook his head unbelievingly.
Aya stared, finally seeing the powerful miko energy all around the little girl's form. Why hadn't she noticed before?
Rikun's gaze landed on the object—or piece of an object—that was in her hand. "Kagome, you can see those? Have you any idea what that is?!?"
That day, not only did they see what an incredible girl Kagome was, but they also saw that she had powers they wouldn't even begin to comprehend.
