Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Inuyasha. Those are the property of one Rumiko Takahashi. I thank her whole-heartedly for giving us such an amazing manga/anime to read/watch.
One Heart – Chapter 9
Kagome was at the edge of the school grounds when a familiar voice cut through her thoughts.
"Higarashi!"
Shit, she thought to herself as she turned and gave Houjou what she hoped was a pleasant smile. The last thing she needed was his overly optimistic, insistent attitude when all she wanted to do was get home and deal with the two Inu-Yasha's before she lost her resolve.
"Oh, hi, Houjou-kun," she said as she kept on walking. She hoped he would notice that she was preoccupied and leave her alone.
"Are you okay, Higarashi?"
"I'm fine, " she said over her shoulder without slowing down.
Houjou quickly fell in step with her as he pushed his bicycle along between them.
"I couldn't help but be a little worried, Higarashi," he commented as he studied her face. "You look a little pale and you seem to have something bothering you."
Kagome sighed. She did appreciate his concern, but really didn't have time to deal with him. She turned to him, opening her mouth to respond, only to be cut off by the feel of an arm circling her waist.
"Hey, Kagome." Human Inu-Yasha glared at her schoolmate before turning her towards him and pulling her into his arms.
"Inu-Yasha," she hissed softly into his ear as he gently pressed her face into his shoulder. "What are you doing?"
"I came to pick you up from school, of course, Kagome," he said with an emphasis on her name. He was not about to let this well-mannered pretty boy move in on his woman and was determined to make sure that Houjou knew exactly who Kagome was with.
Kagome noticed a rustling in some nearby bushes and glanced at them. She caught a flash of silvery-white and what sounded like a low growl coming from behind the plants.
"Thanks, Houjou-kun," she said quickly and squirmed out of Inu-Yasha's embrace. She took his hand and started pulling him in the direction of her house. "I'll see you tomorrow, Houjou-kun," she called back over her shoulder before glancing nervously at the bushes. The rustling seemed to have stopped, but now she had to worry where the youkai was.
Houjou looked at the retreating figures of Kagome and Human Inu-Yasha and shrugged before swinging his leg over his bike and pushing forward on one of the pedals. He caught a flash of silvery-white in his peripheral vision but it was gone before he could turn his head to see what it was.
Either Kagome's friends had been wrong about her supposed boyfriend, or else the object of his own affections had come to her senses and dumped the jerk for a new guy. Both options didn't leave him much room for success with her, but he was determined not to give up. He would simply have to find a way to prove himself to her, he thought as he headed home.
"Inu-Yasha!" Kagome stopped suddenly when they were out of sight of the school. "What's the idea?"
"What do you mean?" he asked, trying to appear innocent. The look on her face told him that he had failed.
"You know darned well what I mean. You were supposed to stay at the house and keep an eye on your youkai half."
Inu-Yasha frowned and pointed to a red-clad figure perched in the branches of a near-by tree. "You mean him? He wasn't going to hang around your house, waiting for you to get home. I figured I'd better come, too, just in case."
A flash of red landed next to Kagome and Human Inu-Yasha. The youkai pushed between them, clenching his hands as he growled at his human counter-part.
"Stop it!" Kagome practically screamed as Human Inu-Yasha pushed her out of the way and took a fighting stance facing Youkai Inu-Yasha.
They both looked at her at once. Kagome's face had become rather pale and she now stood shaking as she faced them.
"Kagome." Human Inu-Yasha moved towards Kagome, his concern evident in his expression. "I'd better get you home."
"Think again," Youkai Inu-Yasha spat at him as he scooped Kagome up in his arms and darted off in the direction of the Higarashi Shrine.
"Damn him, " Human Inu-Yasha muttered as he took off running after them. His bare feet were still blistered and sore and he found himself slowing to not much more than a fast walk before he reached Kagome's home.
"Put me down," Kagome demanded as Youkai Inu-Yasha leaped silently into her bedroom window.
He sat her carefully on her feet and then pulled her roughly towards him. "You let that damned human hold you like this," he growled as his arms circled her. His nose twitched as the scent of his human half reached it. He was going to have to do something about the way the human was always touching her. Kagome was his woman, after all. He was prepared to fight to defend his right to her, too.
"Inu-Yasha," she pleaded as she fought to get out of his embrace. The more she struggled the tighter he held her, laughing softly at her attempts.
"You're not going anywhere, Kagome," he snarled as he moved one hand to cup her face and turn it to face his. He leaned his head towards her, his expression unreadable.
Surely he wasn't going to do what he appeared to be doing. She turned her head sharply, pulling from his grip just as the bedroom door flew open.
"If you ever take off with her again," Human Inu-Yasha panted from the doorway as he tried to catch his breath. One look told him that he had arrived just in time.
Kagome managed to free herself from Youkai Inu-Yasha's arms and turned to face the two men who now appeared to be ready to battle.
"Please," she whispered as she practically collapsed, sitting on the edge of her bed and burying her face in her hands. How was she going to be able to reason with them when they were acting like this?
"See what you're doing to her?" Human Inu-Yasha quickly sat next to her on her bed, sliding a protective arm around her shoulders.
"What do you mean me? You're the one who's upsetting her," Youkai Inu-Yasha insisted as he took the spot on her other side and slid his arm around her waist.
Kagome's head felt like it was about to burst. She could hear Inu-Yasha's two halves arguing back and forth over her, but the words were lost to her. For the first time since he had been split into two, she was losing all hope of getting him back to normal.
"You have to learn to get along if you want to get back to her." Kagome's voice was quiet and strained as she forced herself to say the words.
"Get back to who?" Human Inu-Yasha asked.
"Kikyou," Kagome stated, glancing at one and then the other. She expected a strong reaction but wasn't prepared for what she got.
"Why the hell would I want to get back to that fucking bitch?" Youkai Inu-Yasha was practically shouting, showing more emotion than he had since he had been split from his human half.
"I'm not going anywhere," Human Inu-Yasha snarled as he tried to pull Kagome closer to himself.
"I don't understand," Kagome started. Youkai Inu-Yasha's reaction had been nothing like she had expected. She was especially surprised at his reference to Kikyou as a bitch.
"She wanted to get rid of me, damn it. Why would I want anything to do with her?" Youkai Inu-Yasha snarled as he remembered the events that led to him being sealed to the Goshinboku tree.
Get rid of him? Kagome suddenly realized what he meant and she turned to look at the youkai sitting next to her. Kikyou had asked Inu-Yasha to use the Shikon no tama to become human. It would have meant not only that the Shikon no tama would disappear, but that she could finally live the life of a normal woman. To do so she would have had to rid Inu-Yasha of his youkai half.
Get rid of him. Is that how his youkai half saw what Kikyou had been trying to do? She felt a tightness in her chest as she looked at him. Had he been harboring this anger since Kikyou had asked him to become human?
"And just what do you think you were trying to do to me?" Human Inu-Yasha glared at his youkai counterpart.
"I never did anything to you, idiot," the youkai snarled back.
"You wanted to use the Shikon no tama to become full youkai. Just where would that have left me?" Human Inu-Yasha snarled back.
"I had no use for you. You were just a weak human. I knew that if I didn't do something to make myself stronger, we'd be killed." He paused and shook his head, his voice dropping so low it was nearly inaudible. "I thought that Sesshoumaru might accept me if I was full youkai. He was the only family I had left. I was tired of being alone."
My God, thought Kagome. Had this argument been raging inside him all this time, unheard of by anyone but himself? She glanced worriedly from one to the other, trying to find something that would distract them from the rapidly mounting argument. Their voices were getting louder and she could see them both starting to clench their hands, indicating that they were reaching the point of physical action.
She opened her mouth to speak, but couldn't find her voice. The only thing that came out was a strangled sob as the tears she had been trying so desperately to hold back ran unchecked down her face. Her own fears over her inability to bring the two halves back together, coupled with her reaction to the deep-rooted hatred and hurt Inu-Yasha's two halves were now lashing out at each other with had become too strong. She felt totally useless as the argument continued to escalate around her.
"Stop," she sobbed. "Please stop it!"
The room became strangely silent, the quiet only being broken by Kagome's choked sobs. Human and youkai stared at her before throwing angry glances at each other.
She was surprised by the feel of a pair of hands on her shoulders. The touch was gentle, concerned. She jumped when two voices said her name at the same time.
Kagome blinked the tears from her eyes and frantically tried to rub the blur away as she glanced to each side of her. The pair of hands on her shoulders actually were two single hands. Inu-Yasha sat next to her on the bed, both human and youkai. Despite the difference in their appearance, their faces held the same expression. They looked at her with a gentleness she had never seen on his face before. An emotion so deep she felt her breath catch in her throat as she looked at them.
"Don't cry, Kagome," they said in stereo. Was it her imagination, or were the two moving in unison?
She shook her head, squeezing her eyes tightly shut as she tried to force back the tears. Hands gently wiped away her tears, again in unison as the two Inu-Yasha's sat by her sides.
What's going on? She felt confused as two sets of eyes filled with concern looked at her.
"See what you've done?" Human Inu-Yasha snapped at his youkai counterpart.
Youkai Inu-Yasha growled, "Nothing more than you've done, idiot."
"If you would only think about Kagome's feelings."
"You're the one who's been thinking about himself."
There was a moment of silence.
"What are we going to do?"
Two voices, so similar and yet with just a slight difference in attitude, continued to argue back and forth across her. Her mind was reeling as she felt herself pulled back and forth between the two battling Inu-Yasha's. She wasn't going to be able to take much more of this.
"STOP IT!" she screamed. Kagome's shoulders shook as she gasped for breath. Tears flowed freely as she buried her face in her hands. Stop it, she repeated silently. All she wanted was her Inu-Yasha back. Was that really asking too much?
They stopped arguing and looked at Kagome.
"We're tearing her up," one voice said quietly.
"What do you suggest we do, idiot?" the other answered.
"If you think about it, there's only one way to stop hurting Kagome."
"And, what if I don't agree?"
"Just look at her. Are you going to refuse?"
"I'm the one who is losing the most here, moron."
"We'll both lose if we don't stop this."
There was a moment of silence.
"You seem to know so much about this. What exactly do we do?"
"I don't know."
Kagome continued to struggle against her despair. She felt detached from the voices around her, barely feeling the touch as two sets of hands pulled her to her feet. Warm arms surrounded her, holding her with a gentle firmness that made her relax. Which one is it? she found herself wondering.
With her sobs under control, Kagome opened her eyes and gasped. Both Inu-Yasha's were by her, their arms holding her gently.
"Inu-Yasha?" she whispered. Two heads responded, looking at her.
Human Inu-Yasha suddenly lifted her into his arms and moved to the bedroom door.
"And just where do you think you're taking her?" Youkai Inu-Yasha moved forward and blocked the door.
"You know where, idiot. Just open the door."
Youkai Inu-Yasha pulled the door open and watched silently as his human counterpart carried Kagome through it. He followed without a word.
They made their way downstairs and out of the house, passing close by the Goshinboku tree as they moved to the mini shrine. Youkai Inu-Yasha reached the door first and opened it, closing it behind him as they stepped into the semi-darkness of the building. They moved down the stairs and paused near the old bone-eater's well.
"So, what's the idea? Why did we come here?"
Human Inu-Yasha set Kagome down. "It just seemed to be the right place to go, " he said without looking at his youkai counterpart.
"Feh!"
"What are we doing in here?" Kagome looked around her in confusion. Why had they brought her to the mini-shrine?
"This is where it happened, after all, " Human Inu-Yasha said softly.
"It's what you wanted, isn't it?"
Kagome turned to look at Youkai Inu-Yasha. "What do you mean? What I wanted?"