Disclaimer: I still don't own Inuyasha, nor do I own the characters in this fic!!

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Italic: thoughts
-- --: locations
' ': spoken words
~*~*~*~*~: time gap



THE LIFE OF A SONG-MAIDEN

-by Kittymui-

An obsessive admirer

Previously: You've saved my life... He slightly smiled and lowered his head. Inuyasha placed a soft kiss on her forehead. Arigatou... Inuyasha walked out of his room and closed the door behind him. Then he noticed Sesshoumaru approaching and quickly turned to him. 'We need to talk.' was the only thing he said before he turned around and walked away. Inuyasha followed him.

~*~*~*~ The next morning ~*~*~*~

Kagome opened her eyes. 'W-where am I?' she mumbled as she slowly sat up. My body feels so heavy...

Kagome suddenly realized something and touched her throat. M-my voice...I can talk again!!

Kagome looked around and realized that she was in Inuyasha's room. 'Ehh!? Y-yesterday... ah I remember again, Inuyasha was severely wounded and I... I used my powers to save him.' she said to herself.

She quickly got out of her bed and walked to the door. I wonder how Inuyasha's doing. She thought as she opened the door. She was shocked to see Inuyasha at the doorway.

'I-Inuyasha!' she stuttered.

'Oi! Sleepwalking???' he said coldly.

Kagome noticed that he was holding something and looked down. He was holding a tray with a bowl of warm liquid on it.

'Oh, gomen!' She quickly stepped aside and watched him enter the room. He put the tray on a table near the bed and turned to look at Kagome, who was still standing near the door.

'What are you standing there for!?' he snarled and turned to the table with his back to Kagome. 'The medicine will get cold you know...'

Kagome understood and walked to the table. She gently picked up the bowl.

'Y-you made this for me?' she asked as she was looking at Inuyasha. Their eyes made contact but it was broken immediately when Inuyasha looked away in order to hide his red cheeks.

'Ahh...I thought you might need it to recover from your exhaustion.'

Kagome nodded and smiled gently as she sat down on the bed and drank the medicine.

'Kagome...' he suddenly started.

Kagome looked up. 'What is it?'

'How is it that you possess such power?' he asked. 'How come you can use your voice to heal my wounds?'

Kagome became silent for a while. 'I...' she started. 'I don't really know. All I know is that I was born with the ability to use my voice to control this.' She held the Shikon no Tama in her hand, which was attached to a necklace around her neck.

'How come you didn't use it before?' Inuyasha asked.

'Well...you see... I had lost my voice before I came to this world.' She quickly put her hand on her mouth, but Inuyasha already heard the last part of her sentence.

'This...world?' Inuyasha gave her a puzzled look. 'You're...not from this world?'

'You might not believe it...but I...I came here through a well.' she explained. 'Someone dear to me told me that my destiny lied in this world.' Her eyes filled with sadness.

Unbelievable...this girl came from another world...? Inuyasha thought amazed. She lost her voice before she came here...but it doesn't make sense... how was she able to heal my wounds with her voice if she had lost it?

'When you were lying on your bed with those severe wounds,' she continued, as if she knew what Inuyasha was thinking. 'I...I prayed that my voice would come back, so that I can save you.' She looked up at him. 'I-I don't want anybody to die in front of my eyes anymore...' Her eyes filled with tears.

Oh my god...she's going to cry...I made her cry? 'Y-you should drink up your medicine...it's really getting cold now...' Inuyasha suddenly spoke. Kagome nodded and began to drink her medicine again.

Inuyasha didn't quite understand what she meant by her last sentence, but he hated to see girls cry so he decided not to question her anymore for now.

Inuyasha watched Kagome drink her medicine. His expression became a bit serious as he remembered what Sesshoumaru told him yesterday.

[Flashback]
'I'm going away for a while, to gather information about her and her mysterious powers. In the meantime, do not do anything rash and protect her with everything you got in you.' Sesshoumaru turned to Inuyasha.

'I can't tell you anything at the moment, because I haven't determined the truth yet. Take care, Inuyasha.' Inuyasha nodded and watched Sesshoumaru jump from the balcony into the forest.
[End flashback]

[AN: OH, I forgot to tell you guys, in this story, Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru are still half-brothers but they don't see themselves that way AND they don't hate each other^-^. But I guess you've already found out huh?]

Kagome finished her medicine and noticed the serious expression on his face.

'Inuyasha?'

Inuyasha snapped out of his thoughts and saw the worried look on Kagome's face. 'Oh...euhm...nothing, I was just...' he stuttered.

'Gomen nasai...' Kagome suddenly whispered as she looked down and her bangs covering her eyes a little.

Inuyasha was surprised by her sudden apology.

'Hontou ni...gomen nasai,' she continued, 'if I had listen to you, you wouldn't end up protecting me.' she sobbed.

'If I had only stayed in the weapon room, you wouldn't end up severely wounded, you... you wouldn't...' Tears fell on her hands that were holding the bowl and resting on her lap.

Without second thought, Inuyasha suddenly grabbed her wrist and pulled her into his embrace.
One hand resting on the back of her head and the other still holding her wrist. Her head was resting on his chest and his chin rested on her head.

The bowl fell on the floor and shattered.

Kagome's eyes widened as she found herself in Inuyasha's arms.

'Inuy...' she was cut off by Inuyasha's loud voice.

'What the hell are you apologizing for!!' he held her closer.

'I...I should be the one thanking you for saving my life...twice...' His voice became gradually gentler.

'You have risked your life to save me with your arrows.' He gently stroked her hair. 'And you haven't even hesitated before exhausting yourself in order to save my life.'

He pulled away to look into her eyes. 'Dakara... mou nakanaide.' he released her wrist and used his hand to dry her tears.

A smile appeared on her face. 'Arigatou...' and she leaned onto his chest.



~*~*~*~ Later ~*~*~*~

Kagome was sitting on the balustrade of the balcony, facing the courtyard; the one where she had shot her arrows.

'What are you looking at?' Inuyasha asked as he sat down next to her.

'Was it always like this?' she asked.

'You mean the courtyard?'

Kagome nodded. 'Partly, but yes.'

Inuyasha sighed. 'This used to be a beautiful courtyard, filled with colorful flowers and trees.' He pointed at the fountain at the center of the courtyard, which was covered with dead moss.

'Pure water used to fill that fountain, but now it's dried up.' he explained. 'This world used to be very beautiful, until one day, dark clouds began to cover this whole world and blocked the sun.' he continued. After that, plants and trees and living creatures began to die...' Inuyasha became silent.

Kagome looked at him and saw the sadness in his eyes. I don't want to see him sad... She thought and suddenly decided something and stood up.

Inuyasha looked up at her, a puzzled look on his face.

'Inuyasha, I want you to close your eyes.' she smiled. 'And do NOT open them until I say so, okay?'
He slightly nodded and did as he was told.

Kagome faced the courtyard and put her hands together. This should work. After drinking the medicine, I have recovered almost completely.

She thought as she closed her eyes.

And Kagome began to hum a melody. Inuyasha's ears twitched a little as he heard the melody.

She's singing again...what a soothing melody.
He thought, keeping his eyes shut.

~*~*~*~

The melody reached its end and all was silent except for some water sounds.

'Okay! You can open your eyes now!' Kagome said happily. Inuyasha slowly opened his eyes and just couldn't believe what he saw. He was astonished.

The courtyard was back to its original shape again. It was filled with colorful flowers and green trees and plants, butterflies where flying from flower to flower. The fountain was filled with clear blue water.

'This...this can't be happening, I must be dreaming!!' Inuyasha exclaimed as he turned to Kagome, she only smiled.

'Can you get us both down to the courtyard? I want to show you something.'

He nodded and stood up, put an arm around her waist and jumped off the balcony into the courtyard.

He landed softly on the grass and gently put Kagome on her feet.

Kagome looked around and stopped as she saw a dead butterfly lying on the green grass. She walked towards it, carefully picked it up and walked back to Inuyasha.

She held her hand with the butterfly in front of him. 'Look.' she said.

'It's dead.' Inuyasha stated plainly.

Kagome put her other hand over it, covering the butterfly and closed her eyes. After a couple of seconds, she opened them again and looked at Inuyasha.

'Now look again, carefully.' she smiled.

Inuyasha watched her move her hand away and quickly took a step backwards as the butterfly flew towards Inuyasha and then up to the air. 'Wha..!!' He quickly turned to Kagome.

She smiled. 'Consider this my way of thanking you for your gift and for protecting me yesterday.'

Inuyasha gave her an astonished look. This girl...who is she exactly? She's truly mysterious... he thought and an expression of doubt appeared on his face as he watched her running after the revived butterfly.

'Ne... Kagome?' Inuyasha suddenly started after a moment of silence. Kagome stopped chasing the butterfly and turned to Inuyasha.

'Nani?' she asked, slightly panting as she smiled at Inuyasha.

'I have been wanting to ask you this for a while...' he turned to her. 'Why weren't you able to talk or sing before?'

'Euhm...well...I told you, I lost my voice...' Kagome's smile disappeared and sadness filled her eyes before she looked away.

'Yeah, I know that...but why? Did something happen causing you to lose it?' Inuyasha asked.

Then a moment of silence filled the courtyard.

'I...' she stuttered. Can I overcome the past and tell him about it? she thought.

Kagome closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Yes...I can... I can share my past with Inuyasha...

Kagome opened her eyes and turned to Inuyasha. She had already opened her mouth to tell him the reason. 'It's b...' Before she could even start her story, her voice was already cut off by Inuyasha's irritated voice.

'You know what! Never mind!! I don't even want to know!!' he yelled. He turned around and left the courtyard.

Kagome watched Inuyasha leave the courtyard. Oh well... impatient as always...I guess I'll tell him when he asks again. She slightly smiled.



~*~*~*~ A couple of days later ~*~*~*~

'Hey Inuyasha!' Kagome called as she ran to Inuyasha's side, who was sitting on the edge of the fountain.

Inuyasha looked up as he heard his name. 'Oh...hey Kagome, what's up?'

She sat next to him. She was holding the bow Inuyasha gave her as a gift. She pointed at the string. 'Don't you think the string is a bit weak for this bow?'

He looked annoyed. 'Are you saying that my hair is weak?'

Kagome quickly shook her head. 'No, no! It's not that, what I'm trying to say is that this string is a bit old so it might be better if I renewed the string...'

Without any warning, Kagome just pulled out a string of hair of Inuyasha's head. 'OUCH!!' What the hell...!?!' Inuyasha cried.

'Gomen nasai!! Did it hurt much? I thought it wouldn't hurt that much if it's suddenly pulled out without warning.' Kagome apologized.

'Well, now you know it's NOT TRUE!!' He yelled and turned away from Kagome.

He suddenly felt something warm touching his head, and then he realized it was Kagome's hand. She was rubbing the spot where she pulled out the hair. 'I'm really sorry.' She apologized again.

'It's okay...' Inuyasha said. He was almost getting too comfortable from the rubbing but quickly shook off the idea, and turned to Kagome again.

'Ne Inuyasha?' She asked again, looking at the long silver string of hair in her hand.

'What is it?'

'One string is a bit lonely don't you think?' She slightly blushed.

'What do you mean?' Inuyasha was puzzled.

'I meant that the bow would be stronger if more strings were used for connecting the two ends.' She explained.

Inuyasha quickly jumped up, his hands were protectively holding his hair. 'You're not going to pull more hair out of my head are you?!?!'

'No, of course not!' She looked up at Inuyasha, who was standing about 5 feet away. She blushed again. 'I meant...'

'Then what? Just say it already!!' He said, his voice sounded very irritated and impatient.

Kagome looked away, slightly disappointed about his attitude. 'Never mind...'

'Feh, whatever!' Inuyasha turned away and left the courtyard, leaving Kagome behind, who was still sitting on the edge of the fountain.



~*~*~*~*~*~

Two weeks had passed and Sesshoumaru still hadn't returned. And Inuyasha was still pondering about Kagome's powers. He was sitting on his chair in his room, with his eyes closed; silently listening to the song that Kagome was singing on her balcony.

'I'm going to make this world a better place for you.' Inuyasha remembered her words before she had decided to sing everyday to heal this world.

Although Inuyasha liked Kagome's voice and her songs, he was in fact a bit scared of her mysterious powers. He only hoped that his brother would return soon and take away his doubts.

His ears twitched and he opened his eyes when Kagome suddenly stopped singing in the middle of the song.

'Who... who are you? Stay away from me!! I-Inuyasha!!'

Inuyasha quickly jumped up and dashed from his room to Kagome's. 'Kagome!' Inuyasha shouted as he kicked the door open.

The scene he saw made his blood boil in anger. A familiar wolf youkai had pinned Kagome to a wall and he was holding both her wrists above her. He didn't seem to notice Inuyasha at the doorway.

'So pretty girl, what do you think? We make a good couple, don't we?' He started to lean closer to her.
'Leave me alone! Let me go!!' she yelled as she continued to struggle under his grip.

'Kouga!! Get the fuck away from her!!' Inuyasha shouted as he pulled out Tetsusaiga.

'Interrupting me as always, dogturd.' Kouga growled as he released his grip on Kagome's wrists.
'Inuyasha!' Kagome cried as she ran to him. She buried her head in his clothes and he put his free arm around her protectively.

Inuyasha felt Kagome's body was trembling in his arms and growled at Kouga. The bastard, frightening Kagome like that, he's gonna pay for this!!

'I see... you win today Inuyasha.' Kouga smirked and whistled. A black dragon appeared and landed on the balcony. 'Next time, I will definitely make her mind!' he shouted as he jumped onto the dragon, and flew away.

'Kagome, are you okay?' He pulled away from Kagome to look at her. 'H-hai...just a bit shocked, that's all.' Kagome loosened her grip on his clothes and looked at the balcony. 'Who was that?'

'That was Kouga, prince of the wolf tribe. The bastard always claims everything as his property when he like it.' he growled. He turned to Kagome. 'I rather not have you singing anymore, it might just attract more youkais to this castle.' he said coldly.

'But I thought you liked it, and how am I going to heal this land for you if I had to stop singing?' Kagome looked up at Inuyasha.

He avoided her gaze. What am I saying? She's only singing for my happiness and I have to be so ungrateful? He shook his head. It's for her own good. He reassured himself.

'I understand...' she said after a short silence and turned around. 'It's getting late now, and I'm tired, could you close the door behind you after you leave?' she said with a cold tone.

Inuyasha was shocked to hear her cold voice for the first time. 'Kagome...I...'

Kagome turned around and looked at him. 'Please?' Her eyes were filled with disappointment. After seeing those emotions, Inuyasha left the room obediently.

After the door was closed. Kagome let herself fall on her bed. I thought we became closer...I guess I'm a baka for thinking that way...

She turned her body so that she was lying on her back and looked at the ceiling. What is this uneasy feeling? Why does my heart ache so much when he didn't answer my question? She thought before falling into a deep sleep.



~*~*~*~ Later that evening ~*~*~*~

--At Inuyasha's room--

Inuyasha was standing on his balcony, watching the sky. The sky is really clear tonight; it has been a long time since I have actually seen stars.

He looked at Kagome's room. It's all thanks to her. With her voice, she is healing this world little by little. Why did I have to say those ungrateful words to her today...?'

Why am I feeling so guilty?
He wondered.

'I guess I should apologize to her.' he said to himself and jumped from his balcony to that of her room. He softly landed on the balcony.

'Kagome?' he whispered, not wanting to scare her. He walked to her bed.

'What the...?!' Inuyasha realized the bed was empty. He sniffed around and gritted his teeth. 'Kouga...'

He quickly ran to the balcony and called for his dragon. A red dragon appeared and landed in front of him. He jumped on its back.

'Go! To the forest!' he commanded and the dragon departed for the East.

-- Somewhere in the forest--

Kagome slowly opened her eyes. Why am I feeling so dizzy? Her eyes shot open as she realized that she wasn't in her room anymore. Kagome was tied to a pillar, with her hands behind her; her feet were also tied together. She looked around. This looks like a cave.

'Ah, you're finally awake, my dearest.' Kouga appeared in the cave and walked towards her.

'What the hell do you think you're doing!? Kidnapping me like this!!' she yelled.

'I'm only claiming something that's meant for me to have.' he laughed as he leaned closer to Kagome's face. 'Nothing personal, but since you're so pretty and untouched,' he grabbed her chin. 'I'd have to make a sample of you.'

'Lay one finger on me and I will bite through my tongue!' Kagome snarled and gritted her teeth. 'I rather die than have your filthy hands touching me!'

'Well, well, well, feisty aren't we?' Kouga took a step backwards and pulled out his sword that was hanging around his waist.

-- Outside the cave, at some distance up in the sky --

Kagome, where could you be? Inuyasha thought, looking over the forest from above. She is definitely somewhere around here, since her scent here is the strongest.

Then he suddenly heard a cry coming from the forest. The smell of blood!! Inuyasha jumped off his dragon and ran to the origin of the cry. Kagome's blood!!

-- Back in the cave --

Blood was dripping on the floor from Kagome's arm. A long red gash could be seen on her upper arm, from her shoulder to her elbow.

'If I can't have you,' Kouga growled frustrated as he raised his sword above his head, ready to strike. 'then nobody can!!!' He swung his sword at Kagome.

Inuyasha ran through the forest. Kagome, please be save!!

Kagome closed her eyes. This is the end for me... goodbye Inuyasha, goodbye Sesshoumaru...

A clash could be heard throughout the cave.


What a cliffhanger huh? Will Inuyasha make it in time? Please look forward to the next chapter: The Prophecy

Vocabulary:
Ahh...: Yeah...
Gomen (nasai): I'm sorry
Hontou ni: Really
Dakara: That's why
Mou nakanaide: I got this from a lyric ^-^, it means 'Don't cry anymore'
Arigatou: Thank you
Ne...Kagome?: Hey/Euhm...Kagome? I don't really know how to translate it... if this word is said at the beginning of a sentence, it kind of means : hey of euhm...something to draw someone's attention.
Hai...: Yeah...
Baka: Idiot
Nani?: What is it?

Like it so far? Want it to continue? Then please review!! Without review... I will definitely lose inspiration and motivation to continue this story, so please ^-^!! The more reviews, the sooner I will post the next chapter!!
Lots of greets,
~Kittymui~

Posted: 26 June 2003
Last edited: 26 June 2003