Chapter Five
Well, yet another chapter in my story…and thanks a lot to everybody who reviewed; for my first reviews, they were pretty dang sweet ^_^. Well, writer's block is starting to rear it's ugly head again; hopefully I'll be able to get past it. Oh well, enjoy!
I don't own Inuyasha, but I bet you do. Gimme!
The land around the village had sparkled for miles; checker-boarded with equal patches rice paddies and forest as the sun blazed down from overhead, igniting the whole area with an ethereal sense of calm and peace; solitude and thought; quiet and peaceful…
…or at least it did until and earth-shattering scream from a not-so-calm-and-peaceful hanyou shattered the false façade of peace and tranquility as he attempted to pry Shippou away from Kagome.
"NO! I'M NOT GONNA LET KAGOME GO WITHOUT ME, AND THAT'S FINAL, BAKA!" Shippou had screeched as he clung to Kagome's backpack with a death grip even Inuyasha was finding hard to pry loose.
"Shipp…ou…," Inuyasha grunted through clenched teeth. "The hag said that you were going…to stay…with…HER!" He roared, finally deciding to just bash the young cub over the head.
That worked, except that Shippou had decided he wasn't going to back down this time…
Inuyasha rubbed the bruise on his chin, amazed that the kit had been able to hit that hard…'Why in the seven hells doesn't he fight like that when he's in danger? I've had to save his sorry ass so many times…'
Inuyasha "Keh"'d mentally, then turned his attention back to the vast expanse of flat meadow that he and Kagome had reached after half a day of traveling from the village; no homes, let alone villages, could be seen for miles around.
It was still a new sensation; traveling alone with Kagome again: he hadn't done this since she had first unsealed him from the tree, since he had saved her life so many times, since he had began to…
'No.' He told himself. 'Focus on other things. They're more important right now.'
He turned his eyes to the lands around him, and was greeted with a beautiful sight: bright moonlight streamed down from the heavens above, bathing the green fields around them in cold, bright life; the tall grass drank deeply of the rare treat as it swayed gratefully in the low night breeze that danced through the meadow; skipped from blade to blade as fast as lightning, then, just as quickly, lifted up and blew away: forever out of sight, yet forever a part of the world.
He smiled inside as he turned his eyes skyward and was met with a scene that would be forever painted upon his memories: the moon; a beautiful, glowing orb riding high in the sky; the horizon, omnipresent, yet so vague in the moonlight and so unattainable that even one as he would forever fail to reach it; and finally, the midnight blue of the sky: stormy blue, yet so clear one could almost reach through it and touch the heavens…'Just like Kagome's eyes…' Inuyasha thought to himself, briefly allowing his mind and eyes to wander over to Kagome.
He drank in her form, painted by the firelight, with his eyes, allowing himself to marvel at how much she had changed since she'd came here…where once a girl, far younger than the years that had carried her, stood, a competent, capable, strong woman had replaced her; but even with the quick growing up, all the life-or-death decisions she had to make, she had still kept her innocence and compassion.
Inuyasha merely wished he could say the same as he felt his heart melting at the sight of her staring at the dying embers of the fire, pain written all over his face; he wished he could comfort her…reassure her…preserve her innocence that she may never lose it.
'How…' He asked himself. 'How does she stay so innocent when she's been through so much? How can she hide the pain; or better yet, how can she keep it from eating away at her soul?'
"Inuyasha?" Kagome questioned softly as she noticed the object of her inquiry had not lifted his gaze from her for several moments.
Caught off his guard, Inuyasha nearly fell forward from Kagome's simple question as his face began to blaze bright red.
And, of course, we all know what Inuyasha does in these situations…
"What is it!?" He roared, trying to force the angry heat in his face to go away before Kagome saw it and began asking him questions about what he was doing staring at her…but yet he couldn't look away; despite his feigned attempt at anger and violence, he found himself at a loss for words at her sudden inquiry.
"Inuyasha!" She said, more harshly but still puzzled. "Why have you been staring at me for the past three minutes?"
He faltered, blushed brighter, and barely managed to spit out, "What, wench, can't I even look where I want to now!?"
"Well, yeah…," she said, looking more and more disheartened as the seconds went on and Inuyasha didn't offer another response to the question that still hung, almost palpably, in the air.
The fire began to die down; the red-hot coals glowing their last as the chill of the night air began to destroy their impassioned red glow, much like Inuyasha felt like his head was doing to his heart as he stared into the most beautiful eyes in the world…
'Tell her…Tell Her…TELL HER!' His heart chanted, trying to force him to speak.
'And then what?' A nasty little voice spoke up in his head as he struggled to say something…anything! 'You're a hanyou, remember? How could she ever love someone like you; you've been ridiculed for being half demon your whole life, how is she even different?'
'She actually cares for me!' Inuyasha's heart growled back.
'So did Kikyo, did she not? Yet you were pinned to a tree for fifty years the last time you were like this…even Kikyo wanted to change you into a human, in what other way could you be good to anybody? You'd live on, breeding more and more half-breeds, only to have them cast out on their faces upon the cold stone floor of the world, never knowing happiness; just like you. Never knowing compassion or kindness, just as you have. They'll never know love; and nobody will love you: you don't belong to either world, you're trapped in between, haven't you realized that by now!?'
Inuyasha sighed, and just as Kagome was getting ready to go over and smack the hanyou to make sure he hadn't fallen asleep (or died or something), he stood and turned towards the forest.
On any other night, Inuyasha would have taken this in stride. His hard heart would have cancelled out his cold mind, and he would remain in balance as he had always been since Kikyo had left. But tonight was different: he was by himself, his only company being the girl—no, woman—he cared for so deeply, and the realization that he could never have her was like a knife to his heart. This is why he turned to the forest.
Inside there was safety; there was darkness; in there was a place where his heart could battle with his head all it desired; a place where there was no love, only blissful impassiveness and the festering emotions of his heart. Still, as he turned to bound towards the forest, he spoke out against all the emotion attempting to clog his voice.
"I'm going to bed," he said in a low, defeated voice; little more than a whisper. "Good night."
He leapt off towards the forest, trying to escape from his tortured soul as he ran faster and faster into the sanctity of the dark forest.
"Inuyasha, wait!!! What's wrong!?" She shouted, scrambling to get up as she attempted to catch up to him before he left her sight.
Failing at this, Kagome merely fell to her knees as she stared into the unforgiving depths of the dark forest that Inuyasha had fled to.
'What…what did I do?' She asked herself. 'He stared at me, then just…left in a flash…his voice was so sad, so defeated; I've never heard Inuyasha like that before, even when he talks in his sleep…'
She knelt, tears beginning to fall from her eyes as this new burden was placed upon her weary shoulders.
'What did I do to him???' She asked herself as a glistening teardrop fell from her cheek, only to shatter upon the cold floor of the world.
Well, here it is, and I'm on a streak of updating at least once-per-day: I would have updated twice today, but the only problem is I had to go to some awards ceremony thing. And I still have to do my math homework. T_T. I wasn't going to finish this today, and I even thought that I'd have to work on it for a few days, but inspiration hit somehow so I finished it…
Oh well, you don't want to hear about my life; you want to hear about Inuyasha's! ^_^ I'm really happy with the feedback I've gotten, and this has contributed greatly to me continuing this story (when nobody responded within the two weeks after my first chapter was posted, I was almost ready to give up…heh). Oh well, as always please Read and Review, and if you have anything—constructive criticism, story ideas, hell even a good idea for a fight scene (wait till I figger out how to work a fight scene into this, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised)—just post it into your review! Thanks!