Author's Note: We're getting closer to the big fight! This story is kind of taking on a life of its own - I have planned where the story will end up and what the major points are, but Inuyasha and Kagome have their own ideas. Nothing too citrusy this chapter, but there is a teeny bit of angst in this one. Poor Kagome!
Disclaimer: I don't own anyone but Tsuki and Hana.
Kagome's Gone
by Maia Serrelinda
Chapter 8
The meal was tense and uncomfortably silent. Kagome kept sneaking looks back and forth between Inuyasha and Tsuki. Inuyasha would occasionally glance at Kagome and then turn his attention back to his place. Tsuki didn't look at anyone.
Tsuki finished first. She rose silently and retreated to her room to meditate.
Kagome heaved a small sigh of relief before she could stifle it and turned to Inuyasha, hoping to lighten the mood a bit. The hanyou, however, concentrated on his meal, refusing to speak to Kagome. He knew she was upset but did not want to talk about it at the moment. Kagome eventually gave up and finished her own meal in silence. Together, the couple rose, and, hand in hand, left the dining room.
They walked quietly outside, to the pavilion where they had spent their afternoon.
******
"No matter how much this upsets me, I have to do this!" Tsuki had come to realize that she couldn't kill Inuyasha because...she couldn't kill. She didn't want to kill. I've come too far to back down now. I hope I can follow through. I've spent most of my life preparing for tomorrow.
She forcibly cleared all thought from her restless, churning mind. She took a seated position and meditated until the moon rose, at which point she retired to her futon. Sleep did not come to Tsuki that night.
******
Inuyasha refused to talk to Kagome about the upcoming battle. When Kagome pressed him, however, he said that he was not worried about what might happen to Kagome if the battle did not go as planned. She asked him why and he said that he did not think Tsuki was the type of person to involve innocent parties more than was absolutely necessary. There did not seem to be anything to gain by harming Kagome, and Tsuki had a strong sense of honor, as evidenced by the situation that caused them to be there in the first place. Kagome agreed and they fell quiet.
The promised couple sat together silently, holding hands in the moonlight. After the fourth smothered yawn from Kagome, Inuyasha scooped her up in his arms and carried her to her room. Kagome protested half-heartedly but snuggled closer to him, enjoying the feeling of safety his arms gave her. Kagome asked him to turn his back for a moment as she hurriedly donned the sleeping gown that was left for her. She decided her hair could be left as it was for the night. Stepping up behind Inuyasha, whose back was still turned, she slid her arms around his waist and hugged him tightly. Inuyasha "oof"ed in surprise, then slid his arms along hers to clasp her hands tightly. She buried her face in his gleaming hair. He unwrapped her arms and turned to embrace her, wrapping her tightly in the protective circle of his arms. He placed light kisses on the top of her head and at her temples, trying to soothe her. He knew she was upset by what tomorrow would bring, but he also knew he had to do this or they would never be able to free themselves from the worry.
"Kagome," Inuyasha murmured softly.
Kagome didn't respond but snuggled her head more deeply into his chest, as if she were trying to crawl inside. It was as if she was trying to be as much a part of him as she could.
"Koi, it'll be okay. I promise."
Kagome finally allowed a few hot tears to find their way down her flushed cheeks. She quickly brushed them aside so that he would not see them. She knew he was helpless against tears, especially hers, and it didn't seem fair at this point to use this to her advantage.
She took a deep, shuddering breath and stood back slightly from the hanyou, looking him squarely in the eyes. She smiled at him, and he gifted her with her favorite expression of his, a soft half-smile that lit his eyes. He leaned down and kissed her softly on the forehead. "You should try to get some sleep."
He picked her up again and set her down on her futon, arranging the blankets around her snugly. She felt tears trying to work their way out from under closed lids, and she stomped them down ruthlessly. She opened her eyes and watched him as he moved around her room.
Inuyasha blew out the torches that stood around her room and turned to leave. A soft sound from the futon stopped him.
"Inuyasha?" Kagome asked softly.
"What is it, koi?" Inuyasha replied, just as softly.
"I love you."
Inuyasha couldn't stop the involuntary gasp that escaped him, nor could he block his ears to the sound of her soft crying. "And I love you, Kagome," he whispered before pushing aside the door screen and sliding it closed behind him. He walked back to his own room, trying not to think of the young miko he had left behind him.
******
Tsuki spent a restless, sleepless night turning over in her mind over and over the reasons she had to go through with this. She'd never killed before and never thought it would be a problem, but when she'd had the perfect opportunity she had not been able to force herself to take that last step.
She told herself firmly that she was not trying to talk herself into killing the hanyou the next morning. She knew even as she thought it that it was a lie. She hoped that she would get lucky and kill him bloodlessly on the first blow. She suspected that this would not be the case and racked her mind for a way out that would keep her honor, and that of her family, intact. After a few hours of this, she decided finally that there was no help for it. She would have to go through with this.
Tsuki sighed to herself and tried to think of what she still needed to do. She made a mental note to have some tea laced with lavender sent to that miko of his in the morning. She needed the miko as calm as possible, because Tsuki didn't know how she was going to be able to kill him if Kagome started crying. She already knew the young woman had spent the previous evening in tears and had a pretty good feeling that she was spending this night in the same way. She realized that she actually liked the miko and felt badly for causing her so much heartache. She had figured out that they would be mated if he survived this fight and Tsuki felt even worse about the coming ordeal.
Tsuki flopped the covers open restlessly and sat up. She resigned herself to a serious lack of sleep. She arose, bathed, and dressed, then went to her library to read.
******
Kagome opened tear-swollen eyes to a bleak grey light. The sun had not quite risen, but she rose anyway and bathed quickly, half-hoping she would run into Inuyasha in the bathing room. She remained alone, however, and when she returned to her room she found another set of clothing waiting for her and a tray with a steaming cup of tea and a note. The note read, "I thought this might calm your nerves this morning. Tsuki."
She dressed quickly in the cream colored kimono and was pleasantly surprised to find, piled underneath it, deep plum colored hakama, similar to the ones she had seen Tsuki wear, and a matching haori. She pulled on the hakama but sat at the dressing table and gathered her hair at the nape of her neck, fastening it with a creamy silk ribbon. She left it loose but tied it securely so that her hair would not fall forward into her face as it had the tendency to do.
Once she had dressed her hair, she picked up the steaming cup, inhaling deeply and catching the slight scent of lavender. She smiled to herself to think that Inuyasha's self-sworn enemy was actually doing everything she could to calm Kagome this morning, even adding lavender to her tea to relax her.
Seeing that the sun was just peeking over the horizon, she set her cup down and slipped into the haori, slightly amused to think that she probably looked very like Inuyasha himself in this clothing. She picked up her tea and went outside into the cool, crisp morning, sitting on the bench in the middle of the pavilion to watch the sun rise.
******
Inuyasha had been unable to sleep the previous night. After he had heard Kagome's soft, almost-silent sobs cease and her breathing even out in a restless sleep, he left his own room and perched on the roof of the house. He always felt more secure on a roof - he could see almost everything around him, and predators - be they youkai, animals, or humans - rarely thought to look up.
Thus, he was awake and saw Kagome leave her room and go to the pavilion. He was content to just watch her for the moment, not wanting to ruin the fragile peace of the morning by speaking. He could smell the slight salty tang of her tears and saw the glistening trails lining her cheeks. Just as he had made up his mind and was about to go to her, she wiped her eyes and squared her shoulders resolutely. She sipped at her tea, radiating a purposeful calmness.
Inuyasha rose and leapt off the roof. He landed silently and stepped towards Kagome. He must have made some slight sound, because Kagome's head snapped around in his direction and a smile lit her face at the sight of him. He opened his mouth and took a breath in preparation to speak, when a door slid open at the far end of the courtyard and Tsuki stepped out.
******
Sesshoumaru snapped to alertness where he was camped. Rin, Aun, and Jaken were all sleeping, dead to the world. He'd caught the scent of the hanyou and his woman outside the building. He could tell that the young miko was crying and that the hanyou was becoming increasingly agitated, but he hadn't heard either one speak.
Then, the third scent he had been following made an abrupt appearance outside as well, and he knew things were about to get very interesting. He woke Rin to tell her that he was leaving for a little while, but that he was coming back, and to go back to sleep. Rin nodded sleepily and wrapped her small arms around his neck, planting a sloppy kiss on his cheek. "Hai, Sesshoumaru-sama," she slurred sleepily, closing her eyes and grabbing his hand. She curled around it like a baby with a favorite stuffed animal.
He resisted the urge to grin like a maniac, like he always had to when Rin kissed him, but quickly slipped his stoic mask back into place. He gently worked his hand free and stroked the small girl's hair back into place, tucking the blanket more closely around her small body. He rose, glancing over to make sure that Jaken and Aun were near Rin, and left the cover of the forest to investigate this new development.
******
