Well, it's still midnight on Friday, so I decided to start to get to work on this, I doubt it'll be finished tonight, so no big deal…
Oh, btw: I'd like to thank Nozomi for recommending me in her fic, What Could Be; I've never been recommended by an author b4 (if someone's recommended me before, Shitsurei Shimashita! ::bows low::) I'd suggest you guys go read it…if you like mine, you'll like hers ^_^. If you don't like mine, you should still go read hers…but why you'd be reading chapter 29 if you don't like my story is beyond me ^_^. Also: yes, Nozomi, thank you for not making me wait a week for one chapter…instead you made me wait a whole 2 days for two chapters ^_^.
ATTENTION: I am currently debating as to whether or not I want to add a lemon chapter to this story (it would be posted elsewhere as a different story, this idea was given to me by DracOnyx (thanks for the idea! Sorry if you're mad I'm using it…0^_^)), and please post in your review whether or not you want that…if I get enough support, I'll do it; if not, I'll just leave it as-is. Fair enough? ^_^
Time for some more review responses…bwa ha ha, 336…wow…thank you all so much for encouraging me to go on and keep writing…I would've probably ended it by now if you hadn't ^_^.
To everyone who hated me "killing" Sesshoumaru: don't worry, he's not gonna die…I really like Sesshoumaru, and it would be kind of inflicting pain on myself if I didn't make him come back, ne?
BurningBritelyOne: Slight problem with the Tenseiga attacking Naraku is the fact it can't kill; if you think of the Toukijin, Naraku's evil jaki would probably overwhelm Sesshoumaru's on the sword, given the fact that Naraku's is now fused with Sesshoumaru's.
Hypergrl: You never know what you're capable of…I never thought I could shoot down a German plane, but last year I proved myself wrong! (WARNING: BLATANT SIMPSONS RIP-OFF!!!) Seriously, though, just try writing…you can surprise yourself, I didn't expect this to be half as good/long, but here I am ^_^.
Lady Yami: ::unsheathes katana and blocks attacks with blunt edge of sword while typing sporadically with one hand:: Hey, I like Sesshoumaru, it was either this or have the plot grow stagnant and old—this IS what I meant by Naraku's evil plan, ya know!
Hikaru: Yes, you did tell me you changed your name to Hikaru…lol, it's pretty funny, because one of the guys in my Japanese class is named Hikaru, so I'll never forget your name…lol.
Unfortunately, I'm not going to have it work that way with Naraku…he won't get any feelings of leniency/love towards Rin/protection of humans even though he constantly denies it that Sesshoumaru has; all he gets is Sesshoumaru's appearance/strength.
Tiger of the Wind: Wow, I'm surprised so many people have read this in one sitting before…well, I'm not sure if Miroku and Sango will come back into action in this story (and no, I'm sorry, but they're not going to be playing any major role in this story, I decided from the onset this would be a purely Inuyasha and Kagome fic, written in the style I like: romance and fighting mixed in equal measure ^_^).
Okaasan: Mother.
Aenaku de sabishikatta yo, Inuyasha: I missed you, Inuyasha!
Vive el hanashi! (Hey, three languages coupled into one sentence!) Before you ask: no, I don't own Inuyasha. I have never owned him, and my current plans of owning him aren't going that well, so I'm pretty much screwed in the area of owning him…
Damn.
Chapter 29
Darkness surrounded him. It was no slight darkness, like one would find in any advanced country, but a dark, inky blackness: a pitch darkness; the void of light one could find in a cave; the solid, unrelenting shadow of being buried alive.
He was not in a grave, however: not yet, at any rate. He was, as far as he could tell, in an eternal void; nothingness spiraling away into forever; hearing, sight, and smell registering nothing as he floated, blind and deaf, waiting…waiting for he knew not what.
There was no noise…not a sound—even its breathing—could be heard as she simply popped into view…and he could scarcely believe his eyes, taking in a woman sixty-five years dead…nose refusing to believe the fresh, beautiful smell of the first person who had ever cared for him, one of the few people who had ever attempted to protect him from the harsh world that surrounded him; she who had held him close, had nurtured him, had nursed wounds he had received from the prejudiced, pitiless children of the village…
"O…okaasan?" Inuyasha whispered, not daring to believe it as eyes, nose, and heart both cried out for him to believe; a scent he had thought gone forever wafting to him, dancing upon the tip of his nose, a smell he had missed since he was a child of no more than five. "Okaasan?"
"Inuyasha…," she whispered in return, arms wide open as she began running towards him—her son, the one she had missed most, longed to see with all her heart, in her long departure from this world; tear filled eyes spilled over, shining with joy as she rushed to comfort him, to tell him everything would be okay…to tell him she would never leave him again…
Inuyasha leapt forward as well, wrapping his mother tightly in his grasp; no tears fell from his eyes, heart crying instead, and he vowed to never let her go again, to never lose her warmth…her care…her love ever again.
"Aenaku de sabishikatta yo, Inuyasha!" His mother cried into his shoulder, losing all inhibition as she sobbed into the shoulder of the son she had watched go through the harsh trials of life, made all the worse because of his heritage; the few victories he had made, sharing in his happiness, wallowing in his despair, wishing with all her might that she had been able to help him…
"Okaasan…," Inuyasha breathed, eyes snapping open as he stared at the ceiling of the hut, emotions frothing and boiling inside of him; burning his heart, scarring his insides, leaving him empty and charred from within as he realized that it had been nothing more than a dream.
'It is natural to dream of those we miss, ne?' A little voice piped up inside of Inuyasha. 'Especially when we are so close to the place where we last saw them…'
Inuyasha heaved a heavy sigh, wounds biting with especial venom over his body as bandage ground against raw, tender flesh as he attempted to roll over.
"Hmph. Guess I have Kagome to thank for these…," he whispered mockingly to himself, indicating the bloodstained white bandages that encircled his upper right arm, lower left arm, lower legs, and chest. He began to unwind the bandages, then looked over at Kagome and saw her sleeping on the floor of the strange hut, medical tools still in hand…'She fell asleep tending me?' Inuyasha thought incredulously, then shook that thought from his mind: this was Kagome. Nothing to be surprised at about that.
All the same, however, Inuyasha deigned to let Kagome's bandages stay on as he clambered stiffly out of bed, first slivers of sunlight stabbing into his eyes as he fought to get out of bed.
'No use letting Kagome's efforts go to waste,' Inuyasha thought to himself, not half so grumpy as he'd hoped to sound as he walked out of the hut and towards the village, every building frilled with the flames of the early morning as he began to seek out the village elder.
That elder had answers to questions Inuyasha had wanted to ask since he was first forced to flee from here: first by a raiding band of humans, then by the villagers themselves.
Kagome awoke to a chorus of human voices, jostling her out of a peaceful sleep as a medley of screams, yells, and angry shouts all arose from the main village, about two hundred yards from their temporary home, bordering on the outskirts of the village—not exactly the screams and cries of terror of people being devoured or attacked, by youkai…but something she (and, although she wanted him to stay in bed, Inuyasha would fight, gripe, and bitch until he got his way) and Inuyasha should go investigate.
"Inuyasha, wake up. We need to…," she began, trailing off as she realized the hanyou was no longer in his bed.
'Terrific. Well, at least I know what the cause of the disturbance is now…,' Kagome groaned out loud, hurriedly pulling off her pajamas and slipping into her school uniform ('I really need to convince mom to get me some other clothing…') as she grabbed her bow and arrow (just a precaution), rushing outside into the yellow sunshine and running towards the main village.
The sight that met her eyes astonished her: a completely different Inuyasha was in the middle of the town, holding the village elder by the throat, his feet dangling about two feet off the ground, a dangerous-sounding growl rumbling from his throat while he was surrounded by a number of villagers, all armed with spears, swords, rocks, and hoes.
"TALK!" Inuyasha snarled, seemingly unperturbed by his shredded upper arm; face contorting in fury as he tightened his grip on the man's throat. Eyes rolling in his head, tongue lolling from his mouth as spittle dribbled out, the elder gurgled,
"We will not…tell…"
A cry of rage that was more roar than anything ripped its way lose of Inuyasha's throat as he hurled the man to the ground, drawing the Tetsuaiga in his rage as he let the point rest upon the elder's throat, growling out,
"Tell me, or die. It's your choice, baka."
Stolidly, unwaveringly, the elder refused once more to speak, clamping his eyes shut calmly and waiting for the stroke that would end his life. Drawing the Tetsuaiga back in what appeared to be a blind fury, Inuyasha prepared to stab downwards, but two things happened simultaneously: two voices rang out, matched in their female hosts, their pitch, and their desperateness.
"Stop, I'll tell you!" A young woman—probably the elder's daughter—cried, tears falling from her eyes as she rushed to her father's side, kneeling beside him and cupping his head to her stomach while Kagome yelled, "INUYASHA! STOP!"
The crowd ignored Kagome's scream, and Inuyasha felt a small burn of shame at having been seen like this…act or no, it wasn't him anymore.
"I'll tell you what you want to know," the young woman cried, tears falling gently from her eyes, splashing softly on her father's brow as she tried to defend him from what she thought would be Inuyasha's killing stroke. "I'll come to the House of the Forsaken before nightfall, I swear…just please, leave my father alone…"
Inuyasha straightened up, sheathing the Tetsuaiga; not uttering a word, he turned and walked towards Kagome, grabbing her none too gently as he led her back towards his mother's hut: the so-called 'House of the Forsaken'.
"Just what in the world did you think you were doing back there, Inuyasha!?" Kagome screamed at him as soon as his clawed hand met her pale arm, blood flushing to her face as she snapped into full-blown anger mode at the way he had treated that innocent old man. "Don't you realize you just terrified the entire village, and that they'll probably attack us now!? Not to mention the fact that you just transformed into a cold-blooded murderer that was about to kill the leader of the village because he wouldn't tell you something you wanted to know, and it doesn't have anything to do with shards because there's none within a mile of here!"
Inuyasha kept silent, enduring her protests until they were safely out of hearing range of the villagers, then spun her around and stared straight into her eyes as he said, in a slightly warmer tone that, had not Kagome known better, could have contained a hint of disgust?
Disgust with what? The villagers? The elder? Himself?
She didn't get time to ponder that question for very long, however, as Inuyasha began to speak.
"You think I wanted to do that, Kagome? That was the only way to get these bastards to listen to me: to act like their most feared youkai, to threaten them, to intimidate them. You saw how stubborn they were: if I'd come in, acting like I do around you and Miroku and Sango and Shippou, there was no way they'd tell me anything: they'd think I wasn't a threat, that I was the same weak hanyou they picked on when I was younger, and there's no way they'd tell me what I want to know."
Kagome, still angry at the way he had acted and not giving his ears a break, shouted,
"What could you want to know so bad that you'd almost—WILLINGLY!—kill an innocent human to find out?"
His response shocked Kagome to the very depths of her being; jaw agape, Kagome could only imagine what was running through Inuyasha's mind as he said,
"I want to find out who the bastard was that killed my mother. Fifteen years before I was sealed, I lived here. Fifteen years ago a band of human raiders came through and burned, pillaged, and looted this whole town. I was told to run by my mother, but she was caught by the bandits and told me to run, told me to save myself as she was dragged away by a bandit," Inuyasha choked out, a growl working its way out as he clenched his hands so tightly blood ran in rivulets from his palms. "They caught all of the pillagers, and killed all except two; the leader, and the murderer. They knew who those two were, but when I tried to come back—when I tried to find out what happened to my mother—I was driven away by the villagers themselves, jeered and stoned as they told me my filthy youkai-marrying mother had been killed, so there was no place for me in that village anymore."
Kagome's eyes widened in shock as she heard Inuyasha open his past up to her, more open and emotional than she'd ever seen him before: pain flashed in his eyes, hate and rage bubbled in the spittle that flew from his mouth as he spat.
"There was never a place for me in that village. They knew who my mother's murderer was, but refused to tell me out of spite…that's why the leader refused to tell me: he was one of the children that stoned me, jeered at me, teased me for being a hanyou when I was younger; his parent's ignorance still lives on in him. But I'm going to find out, and before I deal with Naraku—before I deal with any more of my other enemies—I'm going to kill that bastard," he ended in nearly a whisper, punching the wall in his rage and leaving a huge dent in a supporting beam.
"Hello?" A female voice, tentative, broke the short silence as the flap covering the door to the hut was shoved aside by the elder's daughter. "I…," she started, trying to compose herself in the face of the violent hanyou that now sat impassively in front of her. "I'm here to tell you what I know, but please: after I tell you, please…leave our village, we don't want any trouble with you."
"Just tell me," Inuyasha snapped, emotion gone as he once more invoked his fearsome, violent side. "Then I'll decide whether or not we'll leave."
Visibly shaken, the young girl tried to compose herself, and began shakily.
"This is…this is all that I know," she started, and began telling a tale that Inuyasha had waited sixty-five years to hear.
Yes, yes, I know; it's horribly rotten of me to leave you hanging like that, but hey: cliffhangers generate more REVIEWs, and I want to know if you guys want me to do the lemon or not ^_^. Oh well, that's all for tonight…please read and REVIEW, and post whether or not you want me to do a lemon ^_^.