I am sorry about how long this took to update. Thanks to anyone who was willing to put up with the wait; your infinite patience is a lesson to us all. By the way, someone sent me an e-mail recently asking when I would continue the story. I'd like to thank them for helping me get my rear in gear, but I didn't save their e-mail. So whoever you are, thanks.
Anyway, enjoy.
I do not own Inuyasha.
Just A Hanyou – Part 4
Sango felt awkward as she walked ten yards in front of the rest of her companions. Taking the "point" position of a traveling party was nothing new to her; she had done it numerous times in the past during youkai exterminations. However, since she had joined up with this rag-tag group of adventurers, the need had never arisen. Inuyasha was always more than willing to distance himself ahead from the others, scouting the terrain for any possible dangers.
"I bet he was still able to hear our conversations from here, though," she thought as she could make out some of the idle chit-chat Miroku and Kagome were currently engaged in.
They had been traveling for over two hours through the forest. Shippo had awoken from his nap shortly after they had left and was now perched on Kagome's shoulder. Miroku, though hampered by the extra weight of Kagome's backpack, was able to keep stride alongside the girl. Nevertheless, he looked quite winded.
"I think we can take a short break here," Sango announced, looking back. Miroku gave a very relieved sigh as he quickly and unceremoniously dropped the yellow book bag. The loud thud that resounded caused Kagome to lightly blush.
"Gomen, Miroku, I should really learn to travel lighter."
"No worries, Lady Kagome," Miroku said with a small smile as he sat back in the shade of a tree, "a young man as fit and handsome as myself has no problem carrying such a-"
He was cut off as a half-empty water canteen hit him in the face. Miroku turned to face a now smirking Sango.
"I fail to see why you being handsome would have anything to do with carrying Kagome's bag, Houshi-sama," she said as she took a drink from her own canteen.
It was Miroku's turn to smirk as he raised one eyebrow and responded, "Dear Sango, the mere fact that you would call me handsome fills me with so much joy that I now have the strength of ten men!"
Sango's face reddened before she stood up.
"If you're rested enough to joke, you're rested enough to continue on our journey, Houshi-sama," she stressed the last word out, her posture making it clear to the monk that she was slightly cross at falling so easily for his trap.
"You and your big mouth, Miroku," Shippo commented, hopping back on Kagome's shoulder as the girl stood up.
"My apologies, Shippo," Miroku responded as he lifted to backpack once more, "I was unaware that you were so tired after being carried by Lady Kagome for the entire journey."
Shippo crossed his arms and turned his head to the side, eyes closed.
"Feh."
Kagome had to stifle a laugh, although it still came out as a rather loud snort, after hearing what the kitsune had just said. Obviously, Shippo had been hanging out with Inuyasha more than she had originally thought.
********************
"Damn it, Shippo, get back here!" Inuyasha yelled ahead of him, hoping his commanding tone would bring the kitsune out of hiding. "Come on, kid, don't you do this to me too."
"How could you let her leave!?" a voice called back ahead of him. Inuyasha momentarily winced at the accusing tone the brat had taken.
Steeling himself, Inuyasha answered the invisible kit's question. "You heard her; she doesn't want anything to do with me." Though he tried to sound unaffected by what Kagome had said, Inuyasha was in fact very upset about it.
Shippo suddenly dropped in front of Inuyasha, staring up at the hanyou with a disbelieving face. "Are you really that thickheaded? Don't you know that she didn't mean it, stupid!"
"Hey! Stop with the name calling, twerp!" Inuyasha said as he crouched down and playfully knocked Shippo on the head. In the past few weeks, Inuyasha found he wasn't able to really pound on the kit. Not that Shippo had been behaving himself, far from it actually. Inuyasha just couldn't bring himself to hurt the young fox…too badly.
Shippo smiled at Inuyasha's own name-calling as he dug his tiny claws into the hand the hanyou had left on top of his head. "You gotta apologize, you know."
Inuyasha's face suddenly went grim as he sighed.
"You are gonna go get her and apologize, right?" Shippo pressed again, suddenly not liking where this was inevitably going.
Finally, Inuyasha's face contorted into an angry scowl. "What's the fucking point, huh? You heard her with your own damn ears. She doesn't want to be with a hanyou, Shippo," Inuyasha started in righteous anger before quieting down. "No one does."
The kitsune abruptly jumped back in frustration, his patience with the dog demon's thick head having run dry. "I can't believe how blind you are, Inuyasha!" Shippo then drew a leaf from inside his shirt and threw it to the ground, producing a thick cloud of gray smoke that effectively concealed the entire area around the two demons.
Once the smoke had finally dissipated, Inuyasha was able to observe two things. First, Shippo had decided to end their discussion by exiting the clearing they were in. Second, the brat had left one of his immovable statues right on top of the hanyou's hand!
"Shippo! Get back here and take this damn thing off!" the Inu-hanyou bellowed as he futilely tugged at his trapped hand.
"Not until you've come to your senses," a fleeting voice in the trees called back. "We both need Kagome here, Inu-papa. I'll come back when you're ready to go get her."
Inuyasha let off a low growl that built into a savage snarl. With no other choice, he started punching at the stone statue, hoping to somehow break the kit's magic. "Yeah, good luck with that."
********** (still part of the flashback, just a little later on)
Shippo sat lounging on one of the Goshinboku's limbs, totally exacerbated with Inuyasha's stubbornness. "Why can't he just make her happy?" the kitsune asked himself. "Then she would be his mate and we could all be a family."
Shippo had been thinking about this subject matter a lot in the past week or two, ever since Inuyasha had started acting more like a parent than an annoying younger brother. Now, though, the hanyou had been acting very fatherly to the kitsune, even going as far as letting the kit sleep on his chest like Shippo's own father had once done.
"If he would just admit he loves her, Kagome wouldn't have any reason to leave," Shippo continued, suddenly oblivious to the pair of eyes that peered at him from another tree.
Without warning, Shippo was knocked from his branch and grabbed in midair by a large, strong hand. The hand then lifted the kit up, bringing him level with the beast to which it was attached.
"Scream for me, young one."
"INUYASHA!"
********** (end flashback)
About an hour later, Sango stopped short at the edge of the forest, signaling the others to stop. The demon exterminator quietly doubled back to her friends.
"What's wrong, Sango?" Kagome asked in a quiet voice.
"We're here."
The exterminator didn't have to elaborate on what "here" meant. Kagome had been dreading this arrival for the last hour. She knew they needed to retrieve Inuyasha's body, that he deserved a proper funeral. But deep down in her heart, Kagome wasn't sure she could stand to see his corpse. It killed her last night to see him hanging from that cross, a beacon for pain and grief. He looked…so broken.
"I can sense the fading presence of that horde of youkai we encountered last night," Miroku said as he gripped his metal staff with two hands. "There also appears to be something…else that's closer, more recent."
"We should be quick then," Sango muttered, moving her hand to grasp the handle of Hiraikotsu.
The group nodded their agreement before silently exiting the forest and entering…
…An empty meadow.
"Where is he?" Kagome asked, looking from one end of the meadow to the other. The meadow's appearance had changed drastically since last night. The ground was scorched and smoldering in some places. The center of the field, the spot where Inuyasha had been just the night before, was replaced by a sizeable crater.
Miroku glanced around the field. "I do not like this."
"What's wrong, Miroku?" Shippo asked from his perch on one of Kagome's shoulders.
"That 'something else' has disappeared…" Sango answered, guessing that was what troubled the monk.
"That's good," Shippo responded before pausing uncertainly, "isn't it?"
"No, Shippo, I don't believe it is," Miroku said, suddenly whipping around, only to encounter nothing. "I could've sworn I felt it behind us!" He glanced at Sango, who seemed to also have felt the sudden change, as she crouched into a battle-ready stance. A worried expression spread across her face. Wherever it was hiding, this creature had officially spooked them.
Kagome slowly slipped her bow from her shoulder as she deftly notched an arrow. She couldn't sense any Shikon shards, but she could feel the immense power; probably that of the youkai Miroku was searching for. It was strange, though. Something felt different about this from the ones that attacked last night.
Her attention was suddenly drawn to the center of the crater. A blue faint light had begun to glow from the center…and if she squinted, she could almost make out a form…
Dropping her bow, Kagome took off for the light; unaware that Shippo had fallen off her shoulder due to the unexpected movement. Each casting a suspicious look to the other, both Miroku and Sango turned to the center of the crater, though they saw nothing there; no blue light, no familiar form.
It wasn't a long run, barely over fifty yards, and when she finally reached the point where the blue light engulfed her; she could better see the form in front of her. Fire-rat fur covered his entire body in a baggy red haori. Long, silver locks of hair framed his peaceful face which was pointed towards the sky. Inuyasha stood before her, his body whole and mended.
"Inuyasha?" Kagome whispered, reaching a hand out to touch him, to make sure he was real…
…but her hand passed straight through his form, making contact with nothing. Slowly retracting her hand, Kagome felt hot tears begin to travel down her face as a choked sob burst from her throat.
His eyes suddenly left the sky and turned towards her, and that's when she realized that what she first thought was a peaceful look on his face had actually been a sad one. His eyes held her own and displayed to her all his grief, all his pain, until she was forced to look away.
He reached out to her then, hoping to rest his hand on her cheek and comfort her, show her everything would be alright. However, his hand could comfort no better than a cool breeze.
At this, Kagome turned her gaze back to his face, only to see that he was once again looking to the sky, seemingly studying each cloud. Finally he faced her, that same sad look still in his eyes.
"Kagome,"
His voice sounded defeated, the life gone from it.
"Run."
His words hadn't begun to sink in when he shot both arms forward and pushed her, his hands actually making contact with her body. Kagome flew backwards, traveling away from Inuyasha as two orbs of energy exploded where she had just seen him.
"INUYASHA!" she screamed as she was snatched out of the air by Sango who was aboard Kirara. Looking down, she saw that the blue light had vanished, replaced by the blazing red of flames. Below them, Miroku stood with Shippo at his side, the monk franticly scanning the skies for this new danger.
A slight tingling at the edge of her senses was Kagome's only warning.
"Miroku, look ou-!" she screamed, but before she could finish her shout, another large blast of energy exploded on the ground beside the monk, sending both he and the kitsune to the ground.
"Miroku!" Sango screamed as she set Kirara down and rushed over to the fallen houshi while Kagome ran to Shippo's body. "Kagome, what happened? Where did those energy blasts come from?" Sango shouted over the chaos that had suddenly erupted all around them.
"I-I don't know," Kagome replied as she checked Shippo for any injuries. She stopped abruptly as her miko senses picked up another energy blast heading in her friend's direction. "Sango!"
Kagome saw as Kirara threw herself in front of the demon exterminator and the monk, trying to shield them. However, the force of the blast was greater than the first, thus throwing the three several yards away. Kagome stole one quick glance to see that both Sango and Kirara were unconscious. She did not see Miroku.
Kagome then froze as she realized the sun had suddenly been blocked out above her. Slowly, she turned her face to the sky, only to have the sight she beheld cause her to gasp and hug Shippo's unconscious form to her body.
"Surrender, girl, or I will be forced to harm you," a crack of thunder commanded her. The voice belonged to the man that now floated above her, his gigantic wings flapping in a slow rhythm. The wings were covered in white feathers that, coupled with the sun being directly behind him, gave the image that the man was actually emitting pure light.
A small groan from her arms drew Kagome's eyes to Shippo, who was just now coming around. Kagome then turned her gaze back to the winged man above her…she had never seen anything like him…
But Shippo had.
"Tenshi."
**********
Inuyasha was seething. He had been trapped in this damn clearing for well over thirty minutes and he was pissed. To think he had been going easy on the brat for the last week. Well screw that, Inuyasha was gonna make Shippo pay.
"Damn kid's wasting my entire day! I could be doing more productive things than just sitting around here!" the hanyou yelled into the forest.
"Yeah, like waiting by the well for Kagome," his inner voice chimed in.
"Feh," the hanyou responded, brushing off his thoughts.
Hopefully, he could catch Shippo and beat on him before Kagome got back. Usually, the kit would be so happy about her return that he would forget all about tattling on Inuyasha. The kid sometimes forgot about things because of his short attention sp-
"YOU BETTER NOT HAVE FORGOTTEN ABOUT ME SHIPPO!"
His cry was not answered with the expected silence of the forest. Instead, it was met with another cry, a fearful cry.
"Inuyasha!" the yell traveled through the forest. Shippo was screaming for him. Inuyasha instantly set his senses to work, trying to locate the kitsune and identify whatever had gotten him so worked up.
Shippo. South of here. Another demon nearby. Big demon. Powerful demon.
"Screw this," Inuyasha growled before leaping in the direction of Shippo's cry…
…Only to be yanked back to the ground thanks to his hand that was trapped underneath the statue.
"Inuyasha! HELP ME!" came Shippo's cry again.
Panic. Shippo. Needed to reach him. Panic. Statue. Shippo. Panic.
Inuyasha furiously tugged at his arm, feeling his shoulder dislocate and then right itself numerous times as he continued to pull.
Panic.
Inuyasha's thoughts were cut off by another cry for help from the kit. He suddenly stopped and took a ragged breath before readying himself for one final tug. He had to free himself from the statue quickly, even if he had to tear his arm off to do it.
All he knew was that he needed to reach Shippo. Now.
**********
Oh, how do you like the double cliffhanger? Once again, I'm sorry about how long this chapter took to get up, but now its here. The story is about to pick up a lot of steam as we meet our main villain (Kuma-Shiro) for the first time; plus some familiar faces should make an appearance as well. Next chapter, the action finally gets underway.
Reviews for Chapter 3:
Luminescent: Ah shucks, you've gone and made me blush. Thanks for your support.
Byakuya: Thanks for the…interesting post, Byakuya. Keep Bob away from me.
Mockingbird917: Yawsa! Read this chapter and you tell me if he is or isn't.
Tigers_eye_stable: Thanks for the review, like I've said before, I just 'get' angst. Remember, this is an Inuyasha fic, so I'd be hard pressed not to make him a pretty central character to it just because I might have killed him off. If anime has taught us anything, it's that 'death don't mean forever'.
Black Mage Dad: Well, I hope this chapter has been as interesting as the others. Don't worry though; I don't intend to leave this story unfinished.
Dark Mimi-chan: Sorry for taking so long with this chapter, but I hope it has lived up to the past chapters in regard to angst. Keep sobbing…er, reading.
Crispy Muffin: I'll tell you a secret, but only if you deep it on the DL: we're gonna find out what happened to Inuyasha after he was captured next chapter. The chapter after that, we might see the return of Inuyasha…kinda.
storm runner: Inuyasha is dead? Who said that? Oh right, I did. Keep reading.
Gigi-chan: I'm hoping to make this an epic adventure for the Inuyasha gang, so all your questions will be hopefully answered but probably not right away (especially that Inu/Kag one).
Feyhowl: It is a sad reality for Inuyasha, but unfortunately, it's about to get a whole lot sadder.
AleGnA: Thank you.