I got no reviews, period. (that one in there is me apologizing for a typo).
Oh well. Please read and review. Here is the second chapter.
I had so much writer's block yesterday and today. Still, I managed to get this out. Writer's block sucks, indeed it does. La.
Oh yeah, and I stink at cliffhanger endings. Sorry.
Disclaimer: Inu-yasha and the affiliated characters are © Rumiko Takahashi and her business associates. The idea for this doujinshi is © me, but I might consider lending it to someone if they sell me their soul. Or bake me cookies. Whichever is easiest.
--
The shadows of dusk filtered silently through the withered pillars of the ancient trees, striking the swirling facets of the wall like dark forces of the netherworld. A foul odor surrounded the small shrine and its barrier, reeking of old flesh and refuse. Inu-yasha made no pretense about holding his nose, staring at the red haze in irritation and displeasure.
"What do you think it is?" Miroku asked, and Inu-yasha was surprised to hear a touch of awe in his voice.
"It's a trap. What else? If I can break through Naraku's barrier, then this is nothing. Ha!" Grabbing Tetsusaiga from its sheath and brandishing it with the familiarity of a blooded samurai, Inu-yasha charged forward, swinging the blade down artlessly upon the barrier. The miasma flickered and swirled in reaction to the blow, but instead of bouncing off as Inu- yasha had expected, the sword slowed to a halt, becoming encased within the thick, blood-colored wall of clouds. "What the hell?"
"Inu-yasha! Don't!" Miroku cried, too late. Running forward, he lifted his hands in a gesture of defense, staring at the wall and Tetsusaiga within its grasp with obvious respect and suspicion.
"What. The. Hell." Though only an inch or two sunk in, the Tetsusaiga was immobile. It was as if the sword was once again lodged in the pedestal of his father's bones, and any attempt to remove it was utterly pointless. Inu- yasha began to panic, and he tried as he usually did to cover up his anxiety with anger. Slamming his fist against the wall produced nothing, not even a ripple; all it did was sting his hand and singe the edge of his hair as it swept past the miasma. Inu-yasha growled loudly as a show of his frustration, and Miroku looked no more happy about the predicament than he.
"Wait." Raising his left hand, Miroku walked forward slowly, his eyes fixated on the barrier before him. The red in the walls seemed to deepen near where his hand was, until it resembled molten lava. After a moment more, it began to bubble.
"This is a concealing spell." Inu-yasha turned towards Miroku in surprise, looking from him to the barrier in uneasy interest.
"What do you mean? Who cast it?"
"I don't know, but I know how to get rid of it." Miroku kept his left hand raised, and with his right hand, he withdrew from his robes a small paper with encrypted writing upon it. Tossing the paper towards the wall, Miroku jumped away, just as the o-fuda hit the wall and it erupted in a blinding red light that dissipated as soon as it had appeared. Inu-yasha grunted and covered his eyes, but the threat was already past. The red had bleached away, leaving in its place a reflective fence of liquid more lucid than pure water.
As his vision cleared and he could once again identify individual shapes, Inu-yasha stared towards the liquid and was amazed at what he saw. Before him stood a monstrous dog with shimmering white hair, larger than a mountain with eyes that shone like new gold. It was his father.
"What-?!" Inu-yasha stumbled forward, and was astonished to watch the dog demon do the same. Experimentally, he lifted his right hand-and the demon lifted its left paw. Inu-yasha cocked his head to the left, and the dog leaned its head to the right. Inu-yasha growled.
"Miroku, you idiot. What did you do? The barrier's still there," Inu-yasha angrily demanded, jabbing a finger into the clear film of the façade and wincing as it burned his skin.
"Yes, I realize that, Inu-yasha," Miroku replied, involved in holding his injured left hand as smoke wafted mildly from his fingertips. "However that spell wasn't intended to remove the barrier. I have no idea how to do that, until I can identify what kind of barrier it is."
Inu-yasha smirked mirthlessly and folded his arms, coming to stand over Miroku imposingly. "No? Then why the hell'd ya cast it?"
"That was a clarity spell, you numbskull. The red haze was keeping the true nature of the barrier obscured. My spell eliminated that effect." Miroku surprised him with an angry glare. It seemed he was not pleased to receive backlash from Inu-yasha when their situation was already on a downslide.
"Yeah, well." Backing away, Inu-yasha sent another tentative glance toward the reflective wall. The image of his chichi-ue peered back at him quietly. Inu-yasha shuddered. "It's getting dark. We should go back to the girls."
"I'm aware of that, Inu-yasha. However, don't you think you should be more concerned with getting Tetsusaiga back? What if another demon comes and finds it?"
Inu-yasha was obviously flustered, and his brows lowered as he shouted at Miroku. "Of course I'm concerned! It's stuck, though, and for all we know, Kagome and Sango are fighting demons right now. Come on, Miroku. We'll come back in a bit." Why was he so worried about getting back? It wasn't as if the thought of another demon finding the sword didn't wrench his stomach and make him feel like emptying its contents. It was just that, ever since he'd thought Kagome had died within the mountain, he was forever reliving the episode in his memories. The fact that she very literally could at that very moment be battling for her life did not reassure him in the slightest.
Miroku stood, and looked to Inu-yasha, his eyes strangely thoughtful. "You are right. We should return." Without another word, he turned heel and began marching back in the girls' direction, leaving Inu-yasha in his wake to stare at Miroku's backside in wonder at his sudden reversal. Was he worried about Sango? Or did he sense something he wasn't tell Inu-yasha? Whatever it was, Inu-yasha took advantage of his decision and followed. Sending one last frantic glance towards Tetsusaiga in its perch within the wall, he, too, turned around and set off at a quick pace behind Miroku.
"Why does this look familiar?" The trees creaked and towered as Shippou looked about him, staring at the variations in the dilapidated foliage of the dead forest and wondering where he must have taken a wrong turn. "Does this smell familiar, Kirara?"
Kirara paused and lifted her little nose, twitching it as she took in the various odors of the woods. After a moment, she turned to look at Shippou with large eyes that shone with worry. "You, too?" Shippou commented. "Huh."
"Well, we'll just have to be more careful," Shippou said as he climbed onto Kirara's back and stroked the fur of her mane affectionately. Kirara waited until he was secure before shifting forms, the ground suddenly shrinking below her as her body thickened and elongated into that of a demonic tiger's. They took off at a run, darting beneath low-hanging branches and winding past rotten stumps and fallen tree limbs. No matter how far they traveled, the basic scenery seemed to repeat itself, until Kirara was out of breath and she was forced to slow to a steady trot. Shippou shuddered slightly and clung more tightly, goosebumps rising on his young flesh.
"Kirara," he whispered, close to her ear. "What is that feeling? There's a demon here."
The feline stopped and turned around, scanning the area with her sharp cat eyes for anything incongruous with the rest of the setting. Slowly, undulating like vines on a tree, a pair of tentacles stretched towards the two smaller demons, groping at them with clawed patches of flesh at both ends. Shippou squeaked in surprise and buried his face into Kirara's fur, while the cat demon jumped away and glared at the tentacles anxiously. They seemed to belong to no solid body, merely appearing from somewhere and attacking them from behind. It didn't take long for the two to realize they were up against more than they could handle, and they dived away into the bushes, with the tentacles in quick pursuit.
Again, they ran into the same problem of repeated scenery, and Kirara began to growl in alarm. "A trap!" Shippou announced suddenly, ducking as Kirara squeezed between two branches. "Kirara, it's a trap! Quick! Turn around and go past the monster!"
Kirara hesitated, obviously wary of the kitsune's logic, but eventually admitted him superiority and whirled around, baring her fangs and spitting in a display that actually gave the monster pause. All too soon, though, the tentacles recovered and once more swung towards them, but this time Kirara dodged forward, pitching beneath the tentacles and heading directly towards wherever the creature's body would be. She encountered nothing, but kept running, and eventually broke through the forest and into the field of dead grass: it seemed they had been just along the edge the whole time.
"Find Inu-yasha!" Shippou cried, reminding her of their plan. She tilted her head as she ran, orienting on his scent and lunging forward, leaving Shippou to hold onto her fur and bounce along helplessly behind. He looked back, and was horrified to find the tentacles following them, simply extending on and on out of the darkness of the forest. Kirara ran with the speed of demons, and within moments, they saw the light of a fire as the others' camp came into view. "Inu-yasha!" Shippou cheered, but found he was not there. "What...?"
Kagome looked up sleepily from her seat by the fire, and screamed as she saw the tentacles following only a few yards behind the feline and Shippou. Sango looked up as well, and grabbed for her boomerang in readiness, but there was no need.
"Soul Shattering Iron Claw!!" The tentacles exploded as if filled with munitions, and bits of it fell everywhere. The fact that it was endless didn't seem to matter-as soon as the end segments were destroyed, the rest followed. Kagome gasped and spit in disgust as a clump of scaly flesh landed on her tongue, and she had a tough time resuming her normal breathing afterward, due to all the meat and slime still descending through the air.
"Gods! We leave you alone for an hour and you get attacked by demons? You have weapons too! Use them!!"
"Inu-yasha!" Ignoring his reprimand, Kagome jumped to her feet and ran forward, plowing into his chest and clutching his robes as if she had never expected to see him again. She held him a moment, then abruptly pushed him away and glared at him in irate fury, shaking her fist with the vehemence of her statement. "Where were you?! You were gone for hours and hours!"
"I apologize. We were unexpectedly detained." The bangles of Miroku's staff clinked as he approached, and his eyes were cast low, almost as if he was feeling humble for their tardiness.
"I take it you found something interesting, then," Sango said, setting the brush back within Kagome's satchel and twisting her hair up into its usual high tail. "Either that, or you really couldn't find anything to eat."
"Eat...!" Inu-yasha's eyes looked away in surprise as he remembered. "I'm sorry, Kagome. We forgot all about that." Kagome merely grunted her displeasure, once again holding onto his robes tenaciously.
"I'm afraid we'll have to find our food elsewhere. The terrain here is completely barren of suitable prey." Sango sent Miroku a glare that clearly stated she disbelieved him, but he must have deigned not to make an issue of it, for he said nothing.
"Inu-yasha!" Shippou called, coming forward as the kitten Kirara paced him. "What did you find?"
"Uh...find? We didn't find anything!" Inu-yasha blurted, growing red in the face as his hand automatically went for his empty sheath.
Kagome looked down towards his hand, and frowned. "Inu-yasha? Where is Tetsusaiga?"
"I-I-it's nowhere!" Oh, right. Quick thinking there, Inu-yasha. Still, it was too late to withdraw his statement; he would just have to roll with the punches, or the accusations, as was the case.
As expected, Kagome's eyes narrowed and she growled in anticipation of a fight. "What kind of an excuse is that?! If you're going to lie to me, you might as well make an honest effort to sound believable! Man, Inu-yasha! Here I was all worried sick about you, when you were probably out terrorizing townsfolk because they smell funny, or out with Miroku, scouting the ladies, or, or, or looking for Naraku or Kikyo again..."
Inu-yasha caught her wrist, startling her into silence. "You were worried about me?" He questioned, seeming smug despite her venting. She looked at him with wide eyes, caught off-guard by his demeanor.
"What?"
Miroku cleared his throat impatiently, bringing everyone's attention back to him. "Since it seems Inu-yasha was unable to keep his story in secrecy, I shall tell you all now: We lost Tetsusaiga."
The ground seemed to shudder with the force of Kagome's outrage. "WHAT?!?" She demanded, a few octaves louder than Inu-yasha could ever recall hearing her use before.
"Ahem. Well, not permanently, we hope. We came up against a bizarre force field, where Inu-yasha-in his usual fit of recklessness-swung Tetsusaiga towards the wall, lodging it in there almost instantly. Obviously we must need some sort of counter spell to get rid of the barrier and loosen Tetsusaiga, otherwise he could have pulled it out with brute strength alone. I suggest we tour the local villages for someone who knows something of this wall. Until then, though, let us bed down in hopes of catching at least *some* sleep before morning." He spent no time waiting for their approval; indeed, he said nothing more but walked to a space near Sango and unrolled a cloth pallet, lying on the hard ground with an obvious noise of discomfort. Sango eyed him warily but decided they were both too tired for a confrontation and laid down for sleep as well. She was rewarded a few moments later by Miroku's hand stroking her hip comfortingly.
"Are you really okay with this, Inu-yasha?" Kagome asked, patently ignoring Miroku's grunts as Sango beat him with her boomerang. "I mean, you haven't really been apart from Tetsusaiga this long since you got it, have you? Not out of sight of it, I mean."
Inu-yasha frowned and looked at the ground, folding his legs in as he settled into a less vigilant pose, though still tinged with wariness. "It doesn't look as if I have much of a choice, does it?"
"Oh, Inu-yasha." Kagome sighed and knelt beside him, hesitating before folding her hands in her lap and watching him from the corner of her eye. "Everything will be alright."
"You don't have to coddle me," Inu-yasha replied slowly, closing his eyes in a silent gesture that she should drop the subject. Kagome sighed and inched closer, then leaned over and rested her head on his shoulder. Inu- yasha didn't push her away, but he made mo move to hold her, either. Kagome shrugged mentally, figuring that was all she could ask for, and tried to drift off into a long-awaited but fitful sleep.
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There we go, chapter two. Um...not much to say, other than sorry about when I ramble...I try not to... Um... Please read and review... Thanks.
I had so much writer's block yesterday and today. Still, I managed to get this out. Writer's block sucks, indeed it does. La.
Oh yeah, and I stink at cliffhanger endings. Sorry.
Disclaimer: Inu-yasha and the affiliated characters are © Rumiko Takahashi and her business associates. The idea for this doujinshi is © me, but I might consider lending it to someone if they sell me their soul. Or bake me cookies. Whichever is easiest.
--
The shadows of dusk filtered silently through the withered pillars of the ancient trees, striking the swirling facets of the wall like dark forces of the netherworld. A foul odor surrounded the small shrine and its barrier, reeking of old flesh and refuse. Inu-yasha made no pretense about holding his nose, staring at the red haze in irritation and displeasure.
"What do you think it is?" Miroku asked, and Inu-yasha was surprised to hear a touch of awe in his voice.
"It's a trap. What else? If I can break through Naraku's barrier, then this is nothing. Ha!" Grabbing Tetsusaiga from its sheath and brandishing it with the familiarity of a blooded samurai, Inu-yasha charged forward, swinging the blade down artlessly upon the barrier. The miasma flickered and swirled in reaction to the blow, but instead of bouncing off as Inu- yasha had expected, the sword slowed to a halt, becoming encased within the thick, blood-colored wall of clouds. "What the hell?"
"Inu-yasha! Don't!" Miroku cried, too late. Running forward, he lifted his hands in a gesture of defense, staring at the wall and Tetsusaiga within its grasp with obvious respect and suspicion.
"What. The. Hell." Though only an inch or two sunk in, the Tetsusaiga was immobile. It was as if the sword was once again lodged in the pedestal of his father's bones, and any attempt to remove it was utterly pointless. Inu- yasha began to panic, and he tried as he usually did to cover up his anxiety with anger. Slamming his fist against the wall produced nothing, not even a ripple; all it did was sting his hand and singe the edge of his hair as it swept past the miasma. Inu-yasha growled loudly as a show of his frustration, and Miroku looked no more happy about the predicament than he.
"Wait." Raising his left hand, Miroku walked forward slowly, his eyes fixated on the barrier before him. The red in the walls seemed to deepen near where his hand was, until it resembled molten lava. After a moment more, it began to bubble.
"This is a concealing spell." Inu-yasha turned towards Miroku in surprise, looking from him to the barrier in uneasy interest.
"What do you mean? Who cast it?"
"I don't know, but I know how to get rid of it." Miroku kept his left hand raised, and with his right hand, he withdrew from his robes a small paper with encrypted writing upon it. Tossing the paper towards the wall, Miroku jumped away, just as the o-fuda hit the wall and it erupted in a blinding red light that dissipated as soon as it had appeared. Inu-yasha grunted and covered his eyes, but the threat was already past. The red had bleached away, leaving in its place a reflective fence of liquid more lucid than pure water.
As his vision cleared and he could once again identify individual shapes, Inu-yasha stared towards the liquid and was amazed at what he saw. Before him stood a monstrous dog with shimmering white hair, larger than a mountain with eyes that shone like new gold. It was his father.
"What-?!" Inu-yasha stumbled forward, and was astonished to watch the dog demon do the same. Experimentally, he lifted his right hand-and the demon lifted its left paw. Inu-yasha cocked his head to the left, and the dog leaned its head to the right. Inu-yasha growled.
"Miroku, you idiot. What did you do? The barrier's still there," Inu-yasha angrily demanded, jabbing a finger into the clear film of the façade and wincing as it burned his skin.
"Yes, I realize that, Inu-yasha," Miroku replied, involved in holding his injured left hand as smoke wafted mildly from his fingertips. "However that spell wasn't intended to remove the barrier. I have no idea how to do that, until I can identify what kind of barrier it is."
Inu-yasha smirked mirthlessly and folded his arms, coming to stand over Miroku imposingly. "No? Then why the hell'd ya cast it?"
"That was a clarity spell, you numbskull. The red haze was keeping the true nature of the barrier obscured. My spell eliminated that effect." Miroku surprised him with an angry glare. It seemed he was not pleased to receive backlash from Inu-yasha when their situation was already on a downslide.
"Yeah, well." Backing away, Inu-yasha sent another tentative glance toward the reflective wall. The image of his chichi-ue peered back at him quietly. Inu-yasha shuddered. "It's getting dark. We should go back to the girls."
"I'm aware of that, Inu-yasha. However, don't you think you should be more concerned with getting Tetsusaiga back? What if another demon comes and finds it?"
Inu-yasha was obviously flustered, and his brows lowered as he shouted at Miroku. "Of course I'm concerned! It's stuck, though, and for all we know, Kagome and Sango are fighting demons right now. Come on, Miroku. We'll come back in a bit." Why was he so worried about getting back? It wasn't as if the thought of another demon finding the sword didn't wrench his stomach and make him feel like emptying its contents. It was just that, ever since he'd thought Kagome had died within the mountain, he was forever reliving the episode in his memories. The fact that she very literally could at that very moment be battling for her life did not reassure him in the slightest.
Miroku stood, and looked to Inu-yasha, his eyes strangely thoughtful. "You are right. We should return." Without another word, he turned heel and began marching back in the girls' direction, leaving Inu-yasha in his wake to stare at Miroku's backside in wonder at his sudden reversal. Was he worried about Sango? Or did he sense something he wasn't tell Inu-yasha? Whatever it was, Inu-yasha took advantage of his decision and followed. Sending one last frantic glance towards Tetsusaiga in its perch within the wall, he, too, turned around and set off at a quick pace behind Miroku.
"Why does this look familiar?" The trees creaked and towered as Shippou looked about him, staring at the variations in the dilapidated foliage of the dead forest and wondering where he must have taken a wrong turn. "Does this smell familiar, Kirara?"
Kirara paused and lifted her little nose, twitching it as she took in the various odors of the woods. After a moment, she turned to look at Shippou with large eyes that shone with worry. "You, too?" Shippou commented. "Huh."
"Well, we'll just have to be more careful," Shippou said as he climbed onto Kirara's back and stroked the fur of her mane affectionately. Kirara waited until he was secure before shifting forms, the ground suddenly shrinking below her as her body thickened and elongated into that of a demonic tiger's. They took off at a run, darting beneath low-hanging branches and winding past rotten stumps and fallen tree limbs. No matter how far they traveled, the basic scenery seemed to repeat itself, until Kirara was out of breath and she was forced to slow to a steady trot. Shippou shuddered slightly and clung more tightly, goosebumps rising on his young flesh.
"Kirara," he whispered, close to her ear. "What is that feeling? There's a demon here."
The feline stopped and turned around, scanning the area with her sharp cat eyes for anything incongruous with the rest of the setting. Slowly, undulating like vines on a tree, a pair of tentacles stretched towards the two smaller demons, groping at them with clawed patches of flesh at both ends. Shippou squeaked in surprise and buried his face into Kirara's fur, while the cat demon jumped away and glared at the tentacles anxiously. They seemed to belong to no solid body, merely appearing from somewhere and attacking them from behind. It didn't take long for the two to realize they were up against more than they could handle, and they dived away into the bushes, with the tentacles in quick pursuit.
Again, they ran into the same problem of repeated scenery, and Kirara began to growl in alarm. "A trap!" Shippou announced suddenly, ducking as Kirara squeezed between two branches. "Kirara, it's a trap! Quick! Turn around and go past the monster!"
Kirara hesitated, obviously wary of the kitsune's logic, but eventually admitted him superiority and whirled around, baring her fangs and spitting in a display that actually gave the monster pause. All too soon, though, the tentacles recovered and once more swung towards them, but this time Kirara dodged forward, pitching beneath the tentacles and heading directly towards wherever the creature's body would be. She encountered nothing, but kept running, and eventually broke through the forest and into the field of dead grass: it seemed they had been just along the edge the whole time.
"Find Inu-yasha!" Shippou cried, reminding her of their plan. She tilted her head as she ran, orienting on his scent and lunging forward, leaving Shippou to hold onto her fur and bounce along helplessly behind. He looked back, and was horrified to find the tentacles following them, simply extending on and on out of the darkness of the forest. Kirara ran with the speed of demons, and within moments, they saw the light of a fire as the others' camp came into view. "Inu-yasha!" Shippou cheered, but found he was not there. "What...?"
Kagome looked up sleepily from her seat by the fire, and screamed as she saw the tentacles following only a few yards behind the feline and Shippou. Sango looked up as well, and grabbed for her boomerang in readiness, but there was no need.
"Soul Shattering Iron Claw!!" The tentacles exploded as if filled with munitions, and bits of it fell everywhere. The fact that it was endless didn't seem to matter-as soon as the end segments were destroyed, the rest followed. Kagome gasped and spit in disgust as a clump of scaly flesh landed on her tongue, and she had a tough time resuming her normal breathing afterward, due to all the meat and slime still descending through the air.
"Gods! We leave you alone for an hour and you get attacked by demons? You have weapons too! Use them!!"
"Inu-yasha!" Ignoring his reprimand, Kagome jumped to her feet and ran forward, plowing into his chest and clutching his robes as if she had never expected to see him again. She held him a moment, then abruptly pushed him away and glared at him in irate fury, shaking her fist with the vehemence of her statement. "Where were you?! You were gone for hours and hours!"
"I apologize. We were unexpectedly detained." The bangles of Miroku's staff clinked as he approached, and his eyes were cast low, almost as if he was feeling humble for their tardiness.
"I take it you found something interesting, then," Sango said, setting the brush back within Kagome's satchel and twisting her hair up into its usual high tail. "Either that, or you really couldn't find anything to eat."
"Eat...!" Inu-yasha's eyes looked away in surprise as he remembered. "I'm sorry, Kagome. We forgot all about that." Kagome merely grunted her displeasure, once again holding onto his robes tenaciously.
"I'm afraid we'll have to find our food elsewhere. The terrain here is completely barren of suitable prey." Sango sent Miroku a glare that clearly stated she disbelieved him, but he must have deigned not to make an issue of it, for he said nothing.
"Inu-yasha!" Shippou called, coming forward as the kitten Kirara paced him. "What did you find?"
"Uh...find? We didn't find anything!" Inu-yasha blurted, growing red in the face as his hand automatically went for his empty sheath.
Kagome looked down towards his hand, and frowned. "Inu-yasha? Where is Tetsusaiga?"
"I-I-it's nowhere!" Oh, right. Quick thinking there, Inu-yasha. Still, it was too late to withdraw his statement; he would just have to roll with the punches, or the accusations, as was the case.
As expected, Kagome's eyes narrowed and she growled in anticipation of a fight. "What kind of an excuse is that?! If you're going to lie to me, you might as well make an honest effort to sound believable! Man, Inu-yasha! Here I was all worried sick about you, when you were probably out terrorizing townsfolk because they smell funny, or out with Miroku, scouting the ladies, or, or, or looking for Naraku or Kikyo again..."
Inu-yasha caught her wrist, startling her into silence. "You were worried about me?" He questioned, seeming smug despite her venting. She looked at him with wide eyes, caught off-guard by his demeanor.
"What?"
Miroku cleared his throat impatiently, bringing everyone's attention back to him. "Since it seems Inu-yasha was unable to keep his story in secrecy, I shall tell you all now: We lost Tetsusaiga."
The ground seemed to shudder with the force of Kagome's outrage. "WHAT?!?" She demanded, a few octaves louder than Inu-yasha could ever recall hearing her use before.
"Ahem. Well, not permanently, we hope. We came up against a bizarre force field, where Inu-yasha-in his usual fit of recklessness-swung Tetsusaiga towards the wall, lodging it in there almost instantly. Obviously we must need some sort of counter spell to get rid of the barrier and loosen Tetsusaiga, otherwise he could have pulled it out with brute strength alone. I suggest we tour the local villages for someone who knows something of this wall. Until then, though, let us bed down in hopes of catching at least *some* sleep before morning." He spent no time waiting for their approval; indeed, he said nothing more but walked to a space near Sango and unrolled a cloth pallet, lying on the hard ground with an obvious noise of discomfort. Sango eyed him warily but decided they were both too tired for a confrontation and laid down for sleep as well. She was rewarded a few moments later by Miroku's hand stroking her hip comfortingly.
"Are you really okay with this, Inu-yasha?" Kagome asked, patently ignoring Miroku's grunts as Sango beat him with her boomerang. "I mean, you haven't really been apart from Tetsusaiga this long since you got it, have you? Not out of sight of it, I mean."
Inu-yasha frowned and looked at the ground, folding his legs in as he settled into a less vigilant pose, though still tinged with wariness. "It doesn't look as if I have much of a choice, does it?"
"Oh, Inu-yasha." Kagome sighed and knelt beside him, hesitating before folding her hands in her lap and watching him from the corner of her eye. "Everything will be alright."
"You don't have to coddle me," Inu-yasha replied slowly, closing his eyes in a silent gesture that she should drop the subject. Kagome sighed and inched closer, then leaned over and rested her head on his shoulder. Inu- yasha didn't push her away, but he made mo move to hold her, either. Kagome shrugged mentally, figuring that was all she could ask for, and tried to drift off into a long-awaited but fitful sleep.
--
There we go, chapter two. Um...not much to say, other than sorry about when I ramble...I try not to... Um... Please read and review... Thanks.