Authors Note: I'm so sorry! But I've been really busy, which is very unusual for summer, and haven't had a chance to type up the chapter. For a while, I couldn't find my notebook, then fanfiction.net wasn't up and I had all sorts of problems…But now it's finally here! Thanks sooooo much to everybody who reviewed the first two chapters so far; Oneesan no Miroku Houshi, Moon Fairy, DarkFuce, Tiggr, RazzyLover44, NightShade, Divine-Heart, and Inutori! Hope this chapter explains everything…Well at least a little more.
Disclaimer: Oh my…I forgot my disclaimer in the past two chapters…Isn't that convenient? Actually I really did forget it so here it is…I don't own Inuyasha, Rumiko Takahashi does…Now that that's done!
Live To Serve…Serve To Live
Chapter Three: Explanations
By: Black Heart
~*~
Kagome and Inuyasha had been walking for what had seemed like forever. Inuyasha stopped so suddenly, that Kagome ran into his back.
"Alright," he stated
"Alright? Alright what?" She asked.
"We're stopping for the night."
"What? I thought you said it wasn't far to Kaede's!" Kagome exclaimed.
"Well, it's not, but when you're walking this slow, I takes longer!" Inuyasha argued back.
"Fine, I'll just keep going by myself, then," she stubbornly said.
"No, you won't."
"Why not?" Kagome persisted.
"One, this place is full of demons, and everyone of them would either rip you to pieces or make you their slave. Two you don't even know how to get to Kaede's." Kagome didn't say anything. Inuyasha took her silence as his victory, and began building a fire.
"I'm going to find some food," he announced. Kagome had only sat down for a few minutes when Inuyasha returned with a small deer. He began to tear it apart, separating the meet from everything else. Kagome turned to face the other way; the sight was just too gruesome. Eventually, the deer was cooked, and the two ate in silence. When she finished, Kagome relaxed and looked up at the sky. It was so late, that little diamonds of stars began appearing in the black velvety sky. After a while, she heard a rustling noise, and reluctantly tore her eyes away from the beautiful sight. Kagome saw that Inuyasha was the source of the noise.
"What are you doing?" She asked.
"You do want a place to sleep, don't you?" And Kagome noticed that he was setting up a bed-like structure, consisting of leaves and pines.
"But, where are you going to sleep?" Inuyasha looked up at a tree that was right next to where Kagome was supposed to sleep. He finished her bed, then went to set up the fire for the night. Kagome crawled onto her makeshift bed, which surprisingly, was very comfortable. There was a breeze of wind, and her raven hair was blown around her face, framing it. Inuyasha's breath caught in his throat as he glanced at her.
'Was she that pretty the first time I saw her?' He thought to himself. 'Wait, her, pretty? Feh…' When he had finished with the fire, Inuyasha leapt into his tree. He picked a branch where he could keep an eye on Kagome. He didn't want anything to happen to her…She was going to be worth a good sum of money when he sold her. Inuyasha looked up at the near full moon. 'It's almost time,' he thought with a grumpy expression on his face. The wind blew again, this time stronger, and it ruffled Inuyasha's silver hair.
Down below, Kagome felt the wind, and began shivering. Someone above must have heard, because a few moments later, a red haori dropped down, only a few feet away. Scurrying over to it, Kagome grabbed it and wrapped herself into it, then laid back down.
"Thanks, Inuyasha," she called up. The only response she got before she fell asleep was a quiet "Feh…" But moments later, after she had fallen asleep, there was a muttered "Your welcome, Kagome…Sweet dreams…"
Just before dawn, Inuyasha awoke, sensing something was wrong. Looking out from his tree, he saw a centipede mononoke coming towards him. Dropping down to the ground, he shook Kagome awake.
"Come on, Kagome," he quietly growled. Her eyes were beginning to slowly flutter open. "There's a centipede demon coming to attack us." Kagome's eyes snapped open, and she bolted up.
"With lots of arms?" She asked.
"Yea, that's why it's the centipede mononoke…Why?" As Inuyasha questioned Kagome's knowledge of the monster, it appeared right behind him.
"There!" Kagome squeaked and pointed at the hideous demon. She went to grab Inuyasha by the waist with one of her many ugly pale arms.
"Where is the Shikon no Tama?" She demanded from Inuyasha.
"What? Why would I have it?" He snapped back. He struggled, trying to reach his Tetsusaiga.
"Oh, you right…You would have used it to become a full youkai by now if you had it… Then the girl must have it! I sensed it from her earlier," she reasoned and dropped Inuyasha. The centipede made her way over to Kagome, but Inuyasha was quicker. Jumping in between the two, he yelled "Tetsusaiga!" as he sprung above the demon, cutting one side of her arms off as he went. But an arm from her other side swung at him and knocked the Tetsusaiga out of his hands.
"You think that's all it takes to get rid of me? Yea right…" Inuyasha scoffed. The centipede lunged at him, but he slashed her to pieces before she could even touch him. She was dead. Inuyasha turned around to see Kagome starting blankly at him, with her jaw open in shock.
"Come on, let's get going to Kaede's," he said, picking up his red haori from the ground where Kagome had left it. He began walking away and she could only gape at him. Following him, the two began to walk in silence.
"So, that's why the centipede was after you earlier; You have the Shikon no Tama," Inuyasha eventually said.
"What? Yea…I mean no," Kagome answered.
"Do you have it or not?"
"Yes, but not with me. It's in my time, at my house. Why does everyone want it?
"Because it will grant them an extreme amount of power. It could turn someone like me into a full demon," Inuyasha explained.
"Then couldn't it also make you a full human?" Kagome asked.
"Yes," Inuyasha replied, very quietly. Kagome could see the pain in his eyes and didn't pursue the subject. She knew better now. About twenty minutes later, they came upon a small hut, somehow secluded from the rest of the forest. In the front garden, there was an old woman, bent over the herbs. She looked up with one eye as Inuyasha and Kagome approached. Her other eye was covered by a black patch.
"Inuyasha!" The woman gasped. "I thought you were still bound to that tree!"
"Yea, nice to see you too, you old hag. I'd still be hanging from that tree if she hadn't pulled the arrow out," he explained, jerking his head in Kagome's direction.
"How could she have-" then Kaede looked at Kagome. "No, it's not Kikyou…" Kaede trailed off.
"Her name's Kagome. She comes from another time," Inuyasha informed.
"She pulled the arrow out?" Inuyasha nodded. "Then she must be Kikyou's reincarnation." As if she had just realized Kagome was there, Kaede began talking to her. "Do you have the Shikon no Tama?"
"Not with me," Kagome cautiously answered.
"Come, child. We have a lot to talk about," Kaede said, leading the way into her small home. Inuyasha and Kagome followed. The hut was small, but still somehow cozy. There was a small table with a few chairs, a bed, and shelves lined with all different sorts of medicines. The three sat at the table, and Kaede studied Kagome.
"So, um, could you explain things?" Kagome asked.
"Explain what?" Kaede said quizzically.
"Just about everything," Kagome said.
"Well, even I don't know everything, you two will have to help…Where to start…"
"At the beginning?" Kagome offered.
"Alright…Well, you know how humans are slaves. It's always been like that. But before, the humans demons respected, mikos, could protect certain humans. My sister, Kikyou, protected our family. About fifty years ago, Kikyou met a hanyou. She couldn't protect him, because he was part demon. But, never the less, they fell in-"
"I'm going outside!" Inuyasha barked, interrupting the story. Kagome looked at Kaede, wondering what was wrong with him.
"He doesn't know the whole story…He's just a bit touchy about it…"
'A bit?' Kagome thought.
"Anyways," Kaede said, moving on. "Kikyou and Inuyasha fell in love, but it was impossible for them to be together. Kikyou wanted Inuyasha to become human. Using the Shikon no Tama, so she could officially protect him from other demons. He agreed to it. But some demons found out about their plan. They wanted the jewel for themselves. They sought help from a powerful demon named Naraku. He wanted Inuyasha's suffering more than the jewel's power. The day Kikyou was bringing Inuyasha the Shikon no Tama, so he could become human, Naraku posed as Inuyasha. He attacked Kikyou and took the jewel for himself. Thinking Inuyasha had betrayed her, Kikyou refused to die until she has revenge. She found him waiting for her under the God tree. Wither her last few breaths, Kikyou shot at Inuyasha with one of her enchanted arrows, pinning him to the tree. But something went wrong with her spell. Inuyasha woke up every ten years, looking for revenge on Kikyou and Naraku," Kaede finished.
"But why does Inuyasha want revenge on Kikyou? It wasn't her fault she thought he betrayed her.
"Well, Naraku wanted Inuyasha to really suffer. He somehow created an illusion of Kikyou saying she loved someone else before shooting at Inuyasha. He doesn't know that part."
"How do you know this isn't another time that Inuyasha woke up and I just pulled the arrow out?"
Because, it hasn't been another ten years. And only Kikyou has the power to remove her arrows. That means you have to be her reincarnation."
"Okay, one more question. What happened to the jewel?" Kagome asked, wondering how she had gained possession of it.
"Naraku was careless, fortunate for us. After his little victory, he went rampaging around to celebrate. He went to attack a demon-exterminating village. They tried to kill him, but only partially succeeded. He disappeared, but is still somewhere out there. The jewel, however, stayed behind. The exterminators brought it back to this village, and it has been passed down, miko to miko." The two sat in silence for a few moments; each lost in their own thoughts.
"You should go get Inuyasha, and we can figure out what you're going to do," Kaede said. Kagome got up to find him, now understanding some of the pain in the hanyou's mysterious golden eyes.
AN: There you go, the chapter is FINALLY posted. Hope it answered all or at least most of your questions. If not, ask in your review…Sorry again. I'll go start the next chapter right now, so it can be finished sometime this weekend, and posted with in the week…And I really will get it out, because otherwise I'd feel awful, first since I don't consistently update, second because I have a horse show next weekend as well as the next weekend…Then a week later school starts! Where did summer go?!? Oh well…Expect the next chapter soon!! And this is the first time I've bribed for reviews, but when you review I really do start writing…I didn't get some for a while, then I found a review alert in my mailbox and BOOM! The next chapters out. Oh I forgot! My best friend went to this GenCon deal (some gaming convention) in Indianapolis and bought me the first Inuyasha dvd, which has the first 3 episodes SUBTITLED!! I'm so excited!! I just dono when I can actually get it to watch it…Yea I'm going to go start writing now…Really…
