InuYasha threw his arm up to protect his face from the blast of steam and super heated water that rushed at him. A growl erupted from deep in his throat, and he furiously swung Tetsusaiga aside, knocking aside the spray, and pressed his attack… on Kirara.
The surprised hanyou managed to break off his attack before cutting the cat youkai in half, but managed to take a dip in the river while doing it.
The rest of the group looked at Kirara confusedly, then scoured the landscape looking for the greater wyrm. Only Kagome kept her eyes on Kirara, looking at her suspiciously.
Kirara looked back innocently with red eyes, then jumped up into the miko's lap. The cat youkai licked Kagome's nose, then said, in a very serious voice: "Mew!"
Kagome blinked at the cat, and reached down, searching through the thick fur around her neck. She sensed something there.
Sango, Miroku, Shippo, and Kaede all turned as Kagome began to chuckle slightly. She sat on her rock, and in her hand was an open piece of parchment in her hand. Sitting in the middle of the parchment was a perfect hemisphere of the sacred jewel.
There was an explosion of water, accompanied by a stream of oaths as InuYasha hurtled out of the river, soaking wet, and ready to rip something apart. His furious expression turned to a dumbfounded one as he turned to look for Atma, but instead found all his friends dissolved in laughter, save Sango, who was busy hugging Kirara for all the little cat was worth, and Kaede, who was deep in thought. "What the hell is going on?" He demanded.
Kagome managed to get her laughs under control, and held up the half of the Shikon jewel. "It was Kirara I sensed." She explained.
InuYasha's eye twitched in agitation. "You got us all worked up about a CAT!?" He yelled at her. "Honestly, woman! Could you be a little less idiotic?"
Kagome's eyes flared dangerously. "Jeez, InuYasha! I would think that you'd be happy!" She said, agitation flaring about in your voice. "We got the jewel shard! That's all you really care about, isn't it!"
InuYasha's eyes widened. Was that really what she thought? He growled at her. "What was that?" He demanded.
Kagome rose unsteadily to her feet, leaning heavily on her staff. "All you want me here for is so you can get you're little jewel shards!" She said, fury rising in her voice.
Almost instantly, InuYasha could tell that this wasn't one of their normal fights. Kagome was really… REALLY angry.
"All this time, I've been putting my life on the line so that you could get the shards!" She stormed. "The only reason you ever wanted me around was to get the shards, wasn't it?" InuYasha opened his mouth to deny the fact, but was cut off before he could say anything as the little half moon of the Shikon jewel hit him square in the forehead. "Well fine! There's your stupid jewel! Take it!" Kagome turned around and began to stalk off. "Good luck collecting the rest of the shards without me!" She said over her shoulder, then threw in an extremely powerful sit for good measure.
InuYasha strained under the command, but remained standing. "FINE!" He called out after her. "Go ahead! Run home to your own time! Good luck ever getting back, cause I sure as hell ain't commin' to get ya! You can stay there for all you're pathetic human life!" His voice raised to a veritable roar. "I don't need you! I'll get all the shards on my own!" With that, he turned and launched himself into the air in the total opposite direction.
The rest of the group, stood there blinking for a moment, then reacted. Shippo, realizing that Kagome was headed home, dashed after the furious Miko.
Sango, on the other hand, quickly ran after InuYasha.
Miroku, however, remained behind, staring at both members of the fight going in opposite directions.
He sighed. "This is serious… isn't it Kaede?"
Kaede sighed wearily, and nodded. "Aye, I fear that such a wound will not be so easily mended."
Miroku nodded. "However, there is nothing we can do now." He tightened and released the beads on his right hand unconsciously as he thought. "They are both to angry. It would be useless. We need to convince InuYasha to go back for Kagome after he has had time to cool down."
Kaede nodded. "Yet another thing puzzles me…" she said. "Atma did have a half of the sacred jewel, did she not?"
Miroku nodded. "Yes, a perfect half of it."
Kaede scowled. "Yes, then the piece that Kirara brought back is undoubtedly that which Atma possessed." She said. "Yet I have no idea what that could mean…"
Miroku thought for a moment, then reached down and picked up the parchment that the jewel had been kept in. After a brief inspection, he nodded. "It's a map." He said.
Kaede looked over at the parchment. "Yes, but it looks to be several centuries old. Some of the things on this map are underwater now." She said.
Miroku looked down at the map, then at Kirara. "Mysteries upon mysteries upon mysteries." He murmured.
The cat youkai looked up at him, and said in a regal voice, "Mew!"
**
Sorry this took so long. I've got a major English paper, and only three weeks till finals. Yeesh!
Anywho, It took me a while to write this chapter, because I never like how it turned out. I think I have it pretty good this time, though, so tell me what you think.
I know your gonna be really annoyed with both Inu and Kagome right now, but bear with them.
Also, I'm sorry Kagome has been acting sort of out of character lately, but given what just happened, and how mean InuYasha's being, I think it's justified. Oh well. Just tell me what you think, Kay?
