Kagome pummeled on InuYasha's back furiously. Why was he doing this? She had been trying to spend some time with her friends, and he just bursts in and nabs her? Right in public? What was wrong with him?
InuYasha said nothing as Kagome's little blows rained on his back, stalking determinedly towards the village. By the time the two arrived, Kagome had gotten tired of punching him, and was busy threatening him. Finally, she got very tired of being carried over his shoulder, and scowled. "SIT!" She yelled at the top of her lungs, causing him to slam into the ground with tremendous force. Suddenly deprived of any support whatsoever, Kagome also fell, landing neatly on top of him.
InuYasha let out a gasp, and tried to struggle to his feet, only to be weighed down by Kagome.
There was some slight scrabbling, and a ball of orange fur whipped out of one of the buildings at high speeds, crying Kagome's name at the top of its lungs. InuYasha looked up from his sprawled position, and snatched Shippo out of the air, clutching him by the scruff of his neck. "Back off, idiot!" He barked at him. "She's fragile!"
Kagome blinked at this comment, and 'sat' him again, crawling over to Shippo, and gathering him in her arms. "Don't be so mean, InuYasha!" She yelled at him, her temper flaring.
InuYasha slowly sat to his feet. "And you shouldn't be walking around so much!" He yelled at her, jumping to his feet, and dusting himself off.
"Kagome?" two voices came from inside the hut Shippo had come from. "Are you here?" Miroku and Sango looked tentatively out of the hut, scanning the area for the miko.
Upon seeing Kagome cuddling Shippo, they immediately let out a sigh of relief, running out to the fallen miko. "Are you alright?" Miroku demanded immediately.
Kagome wasn't quite sure how to answer that.
Sango dashed up soon after him. "What happened?"
Kagome looked at her, confused. "What happened when?"
Sango cocked her head at her. "Last night, between you and InuYasha." She said, as if it was obvious.
Kagome looked sharply at InuYasha. "He didn't tell you?" She asked. InuYasha didn't return her gaze.
Shippo looked up at her, giving her an innocent happy look. "Kagome," He said. "You shouldn't leave anymore. I want you to stay here with us."
"Tell us what?" Miroku asked.
Kagome looked down at Shippo, then back up at her friends. I have two weeks to live, at most. The implications of that started to sink in. She gave Shippo a sad look, and picked him up. "We should go inside." She said. "Tell me what happened last night after InuYasha came back."
Sango and Miroku nodded, and led her into the hut, although InuYasha stayed outside. The inside of the hut was a jumbled mess. There were scrolls, books, pictures, and all sorts of things scattered throughout the floor. Carefully, Miroku cleared away a section, and motioned for Kagome to sit down.
Kagome began to sit, but a lance of pain shot up through her leg, and she fell down hard. Shippo looked at her worriedly. "Are you okay?" he demanded.
Kagome gave the kitsune a half smile, and turned to Miroku and Sango. "Haw did you get those bruises?" She asked. Miroku lifted a hand to his back and blue nose, and Sango rubber her head tenderly.
"InuYasha was in a very foul mood when he returned from you're time." The former explained. "He leapt out of the well, and took both of us out."
Kagome blinked. "He what?" She asked. InuYasha had been upset, but attacking his friends?
Sango nodded. "He ran of, then came back a few hours later, still very angry." She elaborated. "He promptly demanded that both of us find out whatever we could about someone named Vadise, and then left again. Apparently, he's been going through the village demanding anyone if they know of anyone by that name."
Kagome thought for a moment. "Why is he doing that?" She mused out loud. "What does that have to do with anything?"
Sango looked hopefully at her. "Do you know who he is?" She asked.
Kagome shook her head. "No." She said.
Miroku thought for a while, then shrugged. "Well, there's no point in thinking about it for a while." He said reasonably, then turned his attention to Kagome. "It's obvious something happened in you're time that made InuYasha angry." Kagome winced. "What happened?"
Kagome looked down at the floor, then laughed slightly, though totally without any amusement. "Well…" She started. "Apparently my wounds were worse than we thought."
Miroku sighed. "So… you wanted to come back here to get Kaede to heal you, but couldn't because-"
"I have two weeks to live." Kagome cut him off bitterly.
Silence. Absolute silence filled the hut. Kagome's three friends stared at her in shock, their mouths hanging agape. No one even blinked until InuYasha stormed into the hut.
"Why the hell aren't you looking for Vadise?" He demanded angrily of Miroku.
Miroku glanced from Kagome to the hanyou, then back again. "What do you mean?" He demanded, rising to his feet, getting angry. Sango and Shippo also glared at InuYasha angrily, but Miroku was, for some odd reason, beyond fury. "Kagome is going to die!" He said, his voice getting softer, but getting more threatening all the time. "And you just want to find some weird freak that no-one had head of?" For a moment, InuYasha blinked at him, and backed up. "What's wrong with you?" He demanded. "I knew you were selfish, but this is beyond excuse! You're friend has only a short time to live, and you don't even care! You little bastard! I'm ashamed to call you a friend!" He said, his voice now just above a whisper. "I should just suck you into my wind tunnel and rid the world of an arrogant, egocentric, selfish little bastard of a hanyou right here and now."
Before he could even continue, he found himself held up against the wall by a very angry InuYasha. "Listen!" HE demanded. "If you want even one little chance of saving Kagome, we have to find Vadise, wherever of whatever he is!" HE informed the monk. "I don't know any more than you do, but I know this." HE got even closer to the monks face. "I will not let Kagome die."
With that he dropped the monk, and crossed his arms, glaring around at the rest of the group. "Well?" he prompted.
Sango looked at InuYasha, then at Miroku, then glanced over at the pale Kagome, then back at InuYasha. She nodded, with a new hint of determination in her eyes, and began to shuffle though scrolls.
Miroku himself looked up at the hanyou, and nodded at him, returning to the books as well.
Another silence fell over the room, this one imposed by InuYasha. The hanyou seemed different somehow. HE seemed to be almost possessed by some unstoppable force, and he kept glancing at Kagome nervously.
Shippo was still staring slightly ahead. Suddenly, as if coming out of a dream, he looked up at Kagome with big, green eyes, and suddenly jumped into her lap, and hugged her around the waist fiercely, refusing to let go, tears brimming in his eyes. "I won't let you die!" He declared at the top of his lungs. "You just can't die!"
Kagome looked down at the little kitsune thoughtfully, then stroked his head comfortingly. Almost at that instant, there was a light pressure on her head as well, and she looked up to see InuYasha looking down at her, his hand gently on her head. He was smiling down at her with a comforting expression. For a brief moment, Kagome felt safe, warm, and secure. All the things that plagued her life just melted away.
The moment was severed, however, as InuYasha also knelt down beside Sango and Miroku, and began to look through the scrolls. Mostly, however, he only looked at maps. Every once in a while, he would pick up a scroll full of writing, and look at it for a while. Kagome had to choke back some laughter as he turned the writing upside down, then sideways, looking perplexed. Gently, she picked up Shippo, and crawled over to him, and turned the paper right side up.
InuYasha looked at her in surprise, glanced down at the floor sheepishly, and put the paper down. Kagome patted him lightly on the shoulder, and began to search through the various articles with them.
It wasn't long, however, before InuYasha held up a small piece of parchment. "What's is this?" He demanded suspiciously.
Miroku looked over at the parchment, then shrugged. "Oh, that's the piece of parchment that Kirara carried the jewel shard in." He said. "It has some sort of map on it, but it looks to be too old to be of any use."
InuYasha starred at the map a moment more, then burst full out into laughter. The sudden outburst caused everyone to stare at him. "How could I have been so stupid?" He said. "Of coarse! Why else would only he know about it, and nobody else?" He demanded of no one in particular.
"What?" Miroku asked.
InuYasha flashed the map in front of his face. "We leave tomorrow." He said.
**
Whew! That was a bit better than last chapter, but I'm still not totally able to concentrate. I've got a test tomorrow, another test on Friday, and finals next week. YEESH!
AS for what's up with all the OOC-ness, just imagine what they're going through, and think of how OOC you'd be!
Anywho, I've only got about five days of school left, and them I'm out for the summer. WOOOHOOOO!
By the way, My E-mail was down all weekend, so if anyone tried to E-Mail me, then I probably haven't gotten it.
Thanks a lot! TOODLES!
