Chapter Twelve
Can I Stay Here?
It was surprising at how quickly the villagers grew accustomed to Inuyasha being there. Sure, he got stared at, and women wouldn't allow their children near him, but once the majority of the village realized he wasn't going to kill them, they were overall accepting. Kimiko told him it was because of his blood.
"You're half human," she had explained. "They fear the youkai in you, but your human side makes them more comfortable with you. Besides, I've never known any hanyou to be a heartless killer of humans."
It was taking longer than expected for Inuyasha's back to heal from his fall, but within a day he could at least walk again, though somewhat painfully. He would walk out to the edge of the village and sit against a tree, still unable to jump onto the branches, and would stay there all day thinking about the newest turn of events in his life.
There's no mistaking her smell, he thought, looking back towards the village he could still see in the distance. It's just like when I first met Kagome, and thought she smelled like Kikyou. It's similar, but still a little different.
As he sat pondering this, the subject in his thoughts approached him. Kimiko had lost her nervousness of being near him for the most part; she still carried her bow and arrows. Just like Kikyou did, he found himself thinking as the miko walked up to him and sat a small distance away. Kikyou never trusted me completely. Whenever we met she had her bow.
"You are still here, Inuyasha," Kimiko said, looking down at the grass. She rarely looked at his face, always looking away or down almost in submission. He had gotten so used to Kagome's straightforwardness that he'd almost forgotten how timid the women of his own time were.
"Is there a problem with me being here?" he asked gruffly, staring intently at her to see if she would look at his face. Her gaze remained situated on the ground.
"I would have expected such a wild spirit as yourself to be long gone by now. It can't just be your back keeping you here; if you wanted to leave you would have done so a long time ago despite your injury. It makes me wonder…"
Her words drifted away, and he found himself straining to hear if she would finish her sentence. "Wonder what?" he finally asked. Then, at last, she looked up at him, and he was once again overwhelmed by her eyes. So much like Kagome… he thought.
"Inuyasha," Kimiko said, her gaze steady on his eyes. "Do you also seek the Shikon no Tama?"
He nearly had a heart attack.
"Sh…Shikon no…Tama…?" he barely managed to stutter. The jewel…it's here?! But my wish purified it…it should be gone!
"For as long as I can remember, youkai have been coming to our village demanding the Shikon no Tama," Kimiko told him. "I defeat them all, but more are always coming. Is that the reason you are here as well?"
"You…you have the jewel…?!" Inuyasha asked somewhat frantically. The miko once again resumed her downward gaze.
"The Shikon no Tama is not here," she responded. "It never was here, not to my knowledge. But the youkai who attack insist that I have it, and I fear that one day I will be unable to defeat one of them. I must protect the village from their attacks."
They fell into silence. Inuyasha's heart had finally stopped trying to jump out of his chest, and he tried to digest this new bit of information.
"So you didn't know of this?" Kimiko asked after a moment. He shook his head.
"No." Suddenly, an idea popped in his head that was so good he nearly laughed out loud. Instead, he looked away from the miko and said, "I'd like to stay with your village, if that's alright."
He felt her gaze return to him, but he didn't look at her. "Why?" she asked, confused.
"It seems like you've got a lot of trouble going on here. You need someone strong to help protect this place from the idiots hunting you. I'm strong, and I've got nowhere else to be." He stole a glance at her. "What do you say, Kimiko?"
The girl was rather taken aback by his offer. "Well, we'll have to talk to the village head about it. But if you really want to stay, I don't suppose I can stop you."
"Well, it's not like I'll stay in the actual village. I'd live out here, in the forest. People like me…we don't feel right being indoors too much. I'd be a sort of unseen protector."
Kimiko stood, and Inuyasha found himself looking up at her. He felt his heart beat faster; everything about her made him want to pull her into his arms and never let her go. My Kagome… he thought, seeing his deceased wife in Kimiko's eyes. It was painful; in fact, it felt just as it had when he'd first met Kagome and was reminded of Kikyou constantly.
"Come, Inuyasha," Kimiko said. "We will go talk to the village head."
Almost enchanted, he nodded, before standing and following the miko back to the village.
* * *
It was night, and Inuyasha was restless. He'd been given permission to remain there as long as he didn't cause trouble, and was now sitting on top of a house, his back finally completely healed. Underneath him inside the structure was the sleeping miko, Kimiko.
He had told her he would remain in the forest, but up until now he hadn't followed up on that. At night the hanyou always seemed to find himself in this same exact place, knowing he had to protect the village, but feeling more as though he was there to protect the girl who had been so kind to him. The girl who looked like both of his past loves.
His sensitive ears could hear her breathing below him, and her faint smell made his heart ache. More than ever, he wanted to embrace her, to hold her close and feel her in his arms. His mind was confused; his body wanted the girl, but the promise he had made to Kagome's grave held him back. I will not let anyone else take her place, he thought. But somehow…it doesn't feel like Kimiko is someone different. Everything about her is Kagome.
Noiselessly, he leapt from the roof and hesitantly pulled back the reed curtain over the doorway. There she was, asleep, this girl who had the power to make his heart flutter. This girl who looked like Kagome.
Before he knew what he was doing, Inuyasha found himself kneeling beside her, looking down at her face. He couldn't prevent himself from leaning in closer, placing one hand on each side of her head. His body seemed to move on its own, regardless to what his mind was telling it, and he soon found his mouth less than an inch away from hers. His eyes closed, and he began to close the distance between them.
At the faint brush of his lips against hers, Kimiko was immediately awake. Gasping at the hanyou's face being so close to hers, she acted on immediate instinct, and reached up to grab his arms right below the shoulders, before releasing her purifying holy power.
A blinding light came from her hands, and Inuyasha gasped, falling back. However, her grip on him remained, and he screamed as her powers tore through his body, ripping through his youki and attempting to purify him.
Kimiko held onto him while he continued to scream in agony, and watched as strands of his silver hair began to turn black. His eyes, wide open from the pain, began to darken to brown, and a moment later she finally released him. He slumped to the ground, but before he lost consciousness he saw a glow in the girl's side, one that was very familiar.
Shikon no…Tama… he thought, before falling unconscious. His hair was now entirely black, and his claws had been reduced to human nails. Inuyasha was, by all appearances, human.
