AN: Sorry I took so long with this chapter. Hope you all enjoy.
CH 2: This New Feeling
Hiten woke to a strange yet pleasing scent. He opened his eyes to see it was only dawn. His eyes then immediately went to Kagome's sleeping bag though she was no longer there. Shippou was still cuddled inside though. Hiten stood and looked around to see that all the others were still asleep in the same places they had been the night before.
He knew Kagome must have gotten up because there was a fire going and he noticed the pleasing scent was coming from whatever was in the bowl next to the fire. He heard a rustling and turned to see Kagome walk through some bushes. "Ohayou." She greeted noticing he was awake.
"Why aren't you asleep?" All of her other companions were still sleeping so it would make sense she should still be as well.
"I couldn't sleep well and since it was pretty much morning anyway I decided to get up and start breakfast." Kagome said and went over to pour some of the boiling water into another bowl. She picked it up and offered it to him.
"What is it?" He asked looking at the food being handed to him.
"It's ramen a food from where I'm from. Try it, it's good." Kagome told him and went to pick up her own neglected bowl and eat from it. Hiten watched her take a bite and decided it must be acceptable if she was eating it. He sniffed at it a bit and finally tasted it. It had a strange flavor he had never tasted before, but he found it delicious.
After a few moments of companionable silence they both heard Inuyasha stir awake. He jumped down from his tree branch and looked at Kagome accusingly. "You're feeding him my ramen?!" Inuyahsa yelled.
"There's a lot and I'm not going to let him starve." Kagome stated and stood to make Inuyasha a bowl.
"Feh, he could always go hunt for himself." Inuyasha said and roughly grabbed the bowl out of Kagome's hand. A bit of water splashed out of his bowl and landed on Kagome's hand causing her to wince.
"You could always hunt for yourself too you know." Kagome said softly though she knew Inuyasha heard her, as did Hiten.
The others woke up soon after and ate. Shippou kept a close eye on Hiten the entire time. They finally broke camp and began to travel. Kagome was wary that Shippou would run into something because he was paying more attention to what Hiten was doing than where he was going.
Kagome suddenly stopped when she felt the familiar tug of a shard nearby. "Ne, what is it Kagome-chan?" Sango asked seeing that the girl had stopped.
"I sense a shard...that way." Kagome pointed to the right.
Hiten looked at her strangely. 'She can sense shards?!' If he had known that earlier he would have tried to keep her rather than offer a trade with Inuyasha for the shards he had.
"Well, let's get going!" Inuyasha instructed and took off in the direction Kagome had pointed. Kirara transformed and Sango, Miroku, and Kagome, who was carrying Shippou by now, jumped on and took off after the hanyou. Hiten being a youkai himself easily kept up. He did, however, silently curse Inuyasha for destroying his method of flying.
When they came out of the forest, Kagome stood shocked at the scene before them. Flames were consuming a village. The screams of evacuating people pierced the air. Causing all the damage was a very large bear youkai. Kagome just stood immobile gaping at the flames unable to look away.
Inuyasha ignored the people and tried to ignore the pain their shrieks caused to his ears and the wooziness caused by the smoke from the fire. He immediately attacked the bear youkai. He slashed his claws across the youkai's chest causing it to bellow in pain and swing his paw at Inuyasha. Inuyasha was flung through the wall of one of the burning houses.
He sat up tossing a plank of wood off him. "Where's the shard?!" Inuyasha yelled causing Kagome to finally come back to her senses.
"It's in his left paw!" Kagome yelled back. Hiten smirked with the new information. He attacked the youkai before Inuyasha could even stand. Using his claws he sliced off the youkai's left paw. The shard flew out and landed on the ground. Inuyasha made the final blow of unsheathing the Tetsusaiga and cutting the bear youkai in half.
Inuyasha landed with a huff and brushed himself off. Hiten went straight for the shard which was a tainted black color. Shippou saw Hiten pick up the shard and went to steal it from him. He considered himself the best at thievery, but when he made a break for the jewel in Hiten's palm; Hiten quickly closed his hand and turned catching the flying kitsune in the other.
"Let me go!" Shippou said squirming as Hiten held his collar.
"You should learn to better at thieving, kit." Hiten smirked.
"Hand over the shard." Inuyasha turned to Hiten holding the Tetsusaiga in an attack position. Hiten just raised a brow at the inu hanyou. He didn't think that Inuyasha would really attack while he was holding the kitsune kit, but Inuyasha lunged forward anyway.
"Osuwari!" Inuyasha came crashing down in the middle of his attack. "What are you doing Inuyasha?" Kagome said when she ran over to the group. Sango and Miroku had figured the bear youkai was being handled and were helping the villagers put out some of the fires. They were still close enough, however, to hear everything that was going on.
"What did you do that for bitch?" Inuyasha said as he pulled himself up.
Kagome fumed at the name he called her. "Osuwari!" Inuyasha crashed back down in the dirt. Hiten smirked at Kagome's power over the hanyou. "How could you attack?! You might have hit Shippou and Hiten is part of our group now."
Hiten was surprised that she was also worried for him. He looked at the shard in his hand and back up at Kagome. Naraku's words played in his mind. 'Gain their trust and find their weakest link. Then destroy their group and steal the shards.'
Hiten walked over to Kagome. When she changed her attentions from Inuyasha to Hiten she blushed under the intense crimson gaze. He held out his closed hand to her. Kagome was a bit surprised, but held out her hand and Hiten dropped the shard into. The shard instantly purified and gave off a light pink glow. Hiten blinked at the sight. Everyone in the group was surprised that Hiten had given the shard to Kagome.
"Arigatou." Kagome said placed the shard in the little glass jar hanging from her neck. She then giggled at the look Shippou was giving her. The little kitsune was pouting with his arms crossed over his chest still being held up by Hiten. Her giggle caused Hiten to look down and seemed almost surprised that he was still holding the kit.
Hiten placed Shippou down and the kitsune was surprised that Hiten hadn't just dropped him like Inuyasha would have. "We should help with the fire." Kagome said. By now Inuyasha had finally pulled himself off the ground for a second time. He pouted about being sat and then went off to help with the fire that was being extinguished. He knew that if he didn't help the humans would take forever and he would never get the group to leave if they didn't make sure the village was alright.
The group helped rebuild some of the damaged houses. By the time the sun was going down they were all exhausted. One of the villagers offered them some rooms for the night which they gladly accepted. "Ne, Sango-chan, how about a bath?" Kagome said.
"I think we could both use one." Sango agreed. She then turned and looked pointedly at Miroku. "You had better not follow us, houshi."
"Why my dear Sango, how could you ever even imply such a thing?" Miroku tried to play innocent. Both of the girls saw straight through it though and gave him a look that said he wasn't about to get away with spying on them.
"Don't worry, I'll watch him." Shippou offered Kagome.
"Arigatou Shippou-chan." Kagome patted Shippou's head and left to go bathe. Inuyasha glared at Hiten after the girls left and jumped on top of the building keeping his eyes on him. Hiten just smirking knowing that he made the hanyou uncomfortable. Miroku sat down on the outside steps with a sigh.
"Well, I think I'll go inside seeing as though my other plans have been torn to pieces." Miroku said obviously implying that he had been planning to spy on the girls. He got up and walked inside.
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"Ahh...kimochi..." Kagome said as she slid into the warm water. "I don't think I've ever worked so hard before."
"Ne, Kagome-chan?"
"Nani, Sango?" Kagome asked and looked at her friend.
"I was wondering...do you think it's really good to have Hiten traveling with us?"
"I don't sense an evil aura off him and he's been acting...nice." Kagome blushed a bit thinking about the thunder youkai.
Sango noticed the blush and smiled. 'It's about time Kagome found an interest in someone other than Inuyasha. All he ever does is hurt Kagome.' The two finished bathing and went back.
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"Follow me kit." Hiten told Shippou. Shippou looked at him warily. Inuyasha really didn't care what happened to the annoying kitsune and laid back and closing his eyes. Shippou followed the thunder youkai to a quieter area.
"What do you want?" Shippou asked crossing his arms over his chest trying to act as if he weren't afraid. Hiten smirked as he smelt the scent of fear coming off the kitsune. He bent down and picked up a pebble from the ground and held it out in his hand. Shippou just looked at him strangely.
"Try and take it." Hiten told him. Shippou quirked an eyebrow and then shrugged. He tried to grab the pebble but was too slow and ended up in the dirt. He looked up to see Hiten smirking at him.
"You did that on purpose." Shippou accused.
"Mochiron." Hiten said. "Come on try again."
"Why should I try again?" Shippou asked.
"Because you'll get better at it and then maybe you won't get grabbed the next time you try to steal something." Hiten said as if it were obvious.
"Fine." Shippou sighed and they continued that until Kagome and Sango returned.
"What are you two doing?" Hiten turned to see Kagome dressed in a light green yukata that the villagers provided. It looked stunning on her and Hiten found himself having a hard time focusing on what he was doing. Shippou took the time to grab the pebble and land to the ground untouched.
"Thanks for the distraction Kagome, I've been trying to get that pebble for a long time." Hiten turned back to the kit to notice that he was now tossing the pebble up in the air and catching it.
"What was that all about?" Kagome asked. She didn't know why Shippou would want a pebble.
"Hiten was teaching me to be a better thief." Kagome wasn't too happy about that until Shippou added the next part. "He said it'll keep me from getting caught incase we ever need to steal a shard from an enemy."
'Well, I guess that's good.' Kagome thought to herself. She smiled and turned to look at Hiten and he gave her one of his boyish smiles and all her thoughts stopped. She could feel the blush rising in her cheeks due to the handsome youkai before her.
"We should get to bed now Kagome-chan." Sango said and brought Kagome back to reality. Hiten was slightly happy that Sango distracted Kagome because her smile had made him forget what he was doing for a moment.
"We'll train more tomorrow kit." Hiten said. Shippou nodded.
'I guess he's not that bad.' Shippou thought. He still didn't forgive him though. 'But Hiten lost his brother due to us. He also gave the shard to Kagome and was training me.' Shippou reminded himself. 'I guess I could try and be a little nice.' "Hey Kagome, can I sleep in your sleeping bag tonight?" Shippou asked and caught up with Sango and Kagome.
"Of course, Shippou." Kagome answered and picked up the kawaii little kitsune. Suddenly Hiten was feeling incredibly jealous of the kit. He shook it off and followed after them.
Inuyasha told everyone that he would rather sleep outside. In truth he had smelt Kikyou nearby and was going off to meet her.
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Kagome rolled out her sleeping bag and Shippou immediately snuggled into it and fell asleep. Hiten sat next to the window and watched the two of them. They were sharing a room since Sango had surprisingly accepted Miroku's offer to share a room though she was slightly regretting it now considering she had to beat the houshi unconscious to get him to stop groping her. She figured if it would get Kagome a bit closer with Hiten who she obviously liked then it was worth it.
An offending odor reached Hiten's sensitive nose and he flinched a bit. Kagome caught it and asked him if he was alright. "Yeah, it just smells like old dirt and bones." Hiten said and Kagome seemed to freeze in place.
'So that was why he wanted to stay outside.' Kagome thought depressingly. Hiten noticed how her mood seemed to drop right after he had said that.
"Is something wrong?" Hiten asked actually sounding a bit concerned. Kagome looked up at him and he noticed she was holding back tears.
"It's...nothing." Kagome sniffed. Hiten frowned when she didn't answer him.
"You're lying." He stated catching her a bit off guard.
Kagome walked over and took a seat next to him. She sat with her knees up and her head bowed. "I-Inuyasha is meeting Kikyou..." Hiten didn't really understand what she was talking about until she explained everything to him.
She finally let her tears fall and silently sobbed into her lap. Hiten was surprised by her show of emotion. Even when he had held her captive she hadn't cried. 'That stupid hanyou is choosing a horrible smelling dead miko over Kagome?' Hiten just couldn't understand it. He also couldn't help but feel a little jealous at Kagome's obvious feelings for Inuyasha.
Kagome jumped a bit when she felt Hiten put his arm over her shoulder and pull her to him. She melted in his embrace and cried into his chest. Hiten was surprised by his own actions especially when he began to whisper comforting words to her.
Her sobs turned to sniffles and then finally stopped. "Arigatou, Hiten." Kagome said and pushed herself out of his arms. They both immediately missed the warmth the other provided. Kagome went back to her sleeping bag and lay down. "Yasumi Hiten." She whispered right before yawning.
"Yasumi Kagome." Hiten said softly knowing she had already fallen asleep and wouldn't hear it. Hiten watched her sleep and listening to the soft rhythms of her heartbeat and breathing.
He felt an unfamiliar feeling in his chest and found it a bit painful. It wasn't a pain like when Naraku was squeezing his heart though. 'It's because of her.' He realized. He couldn't figure out though if it was because of his jealousy over her feelings for Inuyasha or it was because he knew he would have to betray the trust he knew she had given him. Hiten stayed up all night watching the raven haired miko sleep.
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Inuyasha walked into a moonlit clearing. Kikyou's scent was strong all around him. "Kikyou." Inuyasha called out.
The undead miko walked out through the surrounding brush. "Inuyasha." She merely stated in her unemotional and dead tone. Inuyasha rushed over to her and embraced her. Kikyou pushed him back a bit and said his name in a slightly warning tone.
"Yeah, I know I have to make nice with Kagome to get the jewel and then I can wish for you to come back to life and we can be together." Inuyasha stated, showing her that he hadn't forgotten their plan.
Kikyou nodded and allowed Inuyasha to hug her again. 'Soon my reincarnation, very soon I will walk as flesh and blood once more and you will be nothing but a memory lost in time.'
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Yay another chapter done. Oh yeah, if anyone doesn't know I have a website up for Inuyasha alternate pairings, you can find the link on my authors page. I need more fics, so if you're an author of alternate pairings drop me a line or if you know some really great fic tell me. Check out the site and please please please sign the guestbook.
Translations:
Kimochi: feels good
Nani: What
Mochiron: Of course
Arigatou: Thank you
Yasumi: Good night
Review Responses:
Aikousha no gingitsune: Nice to know you're enjoying the first Hiten/Kag fic you read.
Jazzylady: I know I'm usually a Sess/Kag writer but this pairing was too hard to ignore.
Aira^o^: Don't worry the next chappie of Trials of Life had been sent to my beta reader and should be up soon.
JadeAngel: I usually write happy endings, but I haven't thought as far as to the ending yet.
Sunstar - 1217: I haven't decided about Hiten getting his heart back yet, but yes Kagome will get stronger.
Kagome45765: Thanks for putting the fic on your favorites list.
VioletEyesSilverShadow: Thanks for letting me archive your fics.
TiarellaCordifolia: I love your fics to so please update them.
IceDragon: I agree there aren't enough Hiten/Kagome fics.
Thanks to all the others who reviewed and I hope you all enjoyed the new chapter.
~*Shichan
CH 2: This New Feeling
Hiten woke to a strange yet pleasing scent. He opened his eyes to see it was only dawn. His eyes then immediately went to Kagome's sleeping bag though she was no longer there. Shippou was still cuddled inside though. Hiten stood and looked around to see that all the others were still asleep in the same places they had been the night before.
He knew Kagome must have gotten up because there was a fire going and he noticed the pleasing scent was coming from whatever was in the bowl next to the fire. He heard a rustling and turned to see Kagome walk through some bushes. "Ohayou." She greeted noticing he was awake.
"Why aren't you asleep?" All of her other companions were still sleeping so it would make sense she should still be as well.
"I couldn't sleep well and since it was pretty much morning anyway I decided to get up and start breakfast." Kagome said and went over to pour some of the boiling water into another bowl. She picked it up and offered it to him.
"What is it?" He asked looking at the food being handed to him.
"It's ramen a food from where I'm from. Try it, it's good." Kagome told him and went to pick up her own neglected bowl and eat from it. Hiten watched her take a bite and decided it must be acceptable if she was eating it. He sniffed at it a bit and finally tasted it. It had a strange flavor he had never tasted before, but he found it delicious.
After a few moments of companionable silence they both heard Inuyasha stir awake. He jumped down from his tree branch and looked at Kagome accusingly. "You're feeding him my ramen?!" Inuyahsa yelled.
"There's a lot and I'm not going to let him starve." Kagome stated and stood to make Inuyasha a bowl.
"Feh, he could always go hunt for himself." Inuyasha said and roughly grabbed the bowl out of Kagome's hand. A bit of water splashed out of his bowl and landed on Kagome's hand causing her to wince.
"You could always hunt for yourself too you know." Kagome said softly though she knew Inuyasha heard her, as did Hiten.
The others woke up soon after and ate. Shippou kept a close eye on Hiten the entire time. They finally broke camp and began to travel. Kagome was wary that Shippou would run into something because he was paying more attention to what Hiten was doing than where he was going.
Kagome suddenly stopped when she felt the familiar tug of a shard nearby. "Ne, what is it Kagome-chan?" Sango asked seeing that the girl had stopped.
"I sense a shard...that way." Kagome pointed to the right.
Hiten looked at her strangely. 'She can sense shards?!' If he had known that earlier he would have tried to keep her rather than offer a trade with Inuyasha for the shards he had.
"Well, let's get going!" Inuyasha instructed and took off in the direction Kagome had pointed. Kirara transformed and Sango, Miroku, and Kagome, who was carrying Shippou by now, jumped on and took off after the hanyou. Hiten being a youkai himself easily kept up. He did, however, silently curse Inuyasha for destroying his method of flying.
When they came out of the forest, Kagome stood shocked at the scene before them. Flames were consuming a village. The screams of evacuating people pierced the air. Causing all the damage was a very large bear youkai. Kagome just stood immobile gaping at the flames unable to look away.
Inuyasha ignored the people and tried to ignore the pain their shrieks caused to his ears and the wooziness caused by the smoke from the fire. He immediately attacked the bear youkai. He slashed his claws across the youkai's chest causing it to bellow in pain and swing his paw at Inuyasha. Inuyasha was flung through the wall of one of the burning houses.
He sat up tossing a plank of wood off him. "Where's the shard?!" Inuyasha yelled causing Kagome to finally come back to her senses.
"It's in his left paw!" Kagome yelled back. Hiten smirked with the new information. He attacked the youkai before Inuyasha could even stand. Using his claws he sliced off the youkai's left paw. The shard flew out and landed on the ground. Inuyasha made the final blow of unsheathing the Tetsusaiga and cutting the bear youkai in half.
Inuyasha landed with a huff and brushed himself off. Hiten went straight for the shard which was a tainted black color. Shippou saw Hiten pick up the shard and went to steal it from him. He considered himself the best at thievery, but when he made a break for the jewel in Hiten's palm; Hiten quickly closed his hand and turned catching the flying kitsune in the other.
"Let me go!" Shippou said squirming as Hiten held his collar.
"You should learn to better at thieving, kit." Hiten smirked.
"Hand over the shard." Inuyasha turned to Hiten holding the Tetsusaiga in an attack position. Hiten just raised a brow at the inu hanyou. He didn't think that Inuyasha would really attack while he was holding the kitsune kit, but Inuyasha lunged forward anyway.
"Osuwari!" Inuyasha came crashing down in the middle of his attack. "What are you doing Inuyasha?" Kagome said when she ran over to the group. Sango and Miroku had figured the bear youkai was being handled and were helping the villagers put out some of the fires. They were still close enough, however, to hear everything that was going on.
"What did you do that for bitch?" Inuyasha said as he pulled himself up.
Kagome fumed at the name he called her. "Osuwari!" Inuyasha crashed back down in the dirt. Hiten smirked at Kagome's power over the hanyou. "How could you attack?! You might have hit Shippou and Hiten is part of our group now."
Hiten was surprised that she was also worried for him. He looked at the shard in his hand and back up at Kagome. Naraku's words played in his mind. 'Gain their trust and find their weakest link. Then destroy their group and steal the shards.'
Hiten walked over to Kagome. When she changed her attentions from Inuyasha to Hiten she blushed under the intense crimson gaze. He held out his closed hand to her. Kagome was a bit surprised, but held out her hand and Hiten dropped the shard into. The shard instantly purified and gave off a light pink glow. Hiten blinked at the sight. Everyone in the group was surprised that Hiten had given the shard to Kagome.
"Arigatou." Kagome said placed the shard in the little glass jar hanging from her neck. She then giggled at the look Shippou was giving her. The little kitsune was pouting with his arms crossed over his chest still being held up by Hiten. Her giggle caused Hiten to look down and seemed almost surprised that he was still holding the kit.
Hiten placed Shippou down and the kitsune was surprised that Hiten hadn't just dropped him like Inuyasha would have. "We should help with the fire." Kagome said. By now Inuyasha had finally pulled himself off the ground for a second time. He pouted about being sat and then went off to help with the fire that was being extinguished. He knew that if he didn't help the humans would take forever and he would never get the group to leave if they didn't make sure the village was alright.
The group helped rebuild some of the damaged houses. By the time the sun was going down they were all exhausted. One of the villagers offered them some rooms for the night which they gladly accepted. "Ne, Sango-chan, how about a bath?" Kagome said.
"I think we could both use one." Sango agreed. She then turned and looked pointedly at Miroku. "You had better not follow us, houshi."
"Why my dear Sango, how could you ever even imply such a thing?" Miroku tried to play innocent. Both of the girls saw straight through it though and gave him a look that said he wasn't about to get away with spying on them.
"Don't worry, I'll watch him." Shippou offered Kagome.
"Arigatou Shippou-chan." Kagome patted Shippou's head and left to go bathe. Inuyasha glared at Hiten after the girls left and jumped on top of the building keeping his eyes on him. Hiten just smirking knowing that he made the hanyou uncomfortable. Miroku sat down on the outside steps with a sigh.
"Well, I think I'll go inside seeing as though my other plans have been torn to pieces." Miroku said obviously implying that he had been planning to spy on the girls. He got up and walked inside.
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"Ahh...kimochi..." Kagome said as she slid into the warm water. "I don't think I've ever worked so hard before."
"Ne, Kagome-chan?"
"Nani, Sango?" Kagome asked and looked at her friend.
"I was wondering...do you think it's really good to have Hiten traveling with us?"
"I don't sense an evil aura off him and he's been acting...nice." Kagome blushed a bit thinking about the thunder youkai.
Sango noticed the blush and smiled. 'It's about time Kagome found an interest in someone other than Inuyasha. All he ever does is hurt Kagome.' The two finished bathing and went back.
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"Follow me kit." Hiten told Shippou. Shippou looked at him warily. Inuyasha really didn't care what happened to the annoying kitsune and laid back and closing his eyes. Shippou followed the thunder youkai to a quieter area.
"What do you want?" Shippou asked crossing his arms over his chest trying to act as if he weren't afraid. Hiten smirked as he smelt the scent of fear coming off the kitsune. He bent down and picked up a pebble from the ground and held it out in his hand. Shippou just looked at him strangely.
"Try and take it." Hiten told him. Shippou quirked an eyebrow and then shrugged. He tried to grab the pebble but was too slow and ended up in the dirt. He looked up to see Hiten smirking at him.
"You did that on purpose." Shippou accused.
"Mochiron." Hiten said. "Come on try again."
"Why should I try again?" Shippou asked.
"Because you'll get better at it and then maybe you won't get grabbed the next time you try to steal something." Hiten said as if it were obvious.
"Fine." Shippou sighed and they continued that until Kagome and Sango returned.
"What are you two doing?" Hiten turned to see Kagome dressed in a light green yukata that the villagers provided. It looked stunning on her and Hiten found himself having a hard time focusing on what he was doing. Shippou took the time to grab the pebble and land to the ground untouched.
"Thanks for the distraction Kagome, I've been trying to get that pebble for a long time." Hiten turned back to the kit to notice that he was now tossing the pebble up in the air and catching it.
"What was that all about?" Kagome asked. She didn't know why Shippou would want a pebble.
"Hiten was teaching me to be a better thief." Kagome wasn't too happy about that until Shippou added the next part. "He said it'll keep me from getting caught incase we ever need to steal a shard from an enemy."
'Well, I guess that's good.' Kagome thought to herself. She smiled and turned to look at Hiten and he gave her one of his boyish smiles and all her thoughts stopped. She could feel the blush rising in her cheeks due to the handsome youkai before her.
"We should get to bed now Kagome-chan." Sango said and brought Kagome back to reality. Hiten was slightly happy that Sango distracted Kagome because her smile had made him forget what he was doing for a moment.
"We'll train more tomorrow kit." Hiten said. Shippou nodded.
'I guess he's not that bad.' Shippou thought. He still didn't forgive him though. 'But Hiten lost his brother due to us. He also gave the shard to Kagome and was training me.' Shippou reminded himself. 'I guess I could try and be a little nice.' "Hey Kagome, can I sleep in your sleeping bag tonight?" Shippou asked and caught up with Sango and Kagome.
"Of course, Shippou." Kagome answered and picked up the kawaii little kitsune. Suddenly Hiten was feeling incredibly jealous of the kit. He shook it off and followed after them.
Inuyasha told everyone that he would rather sleep outside. In truth he had smelt Kikyou nearby and was going off to meet her.
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Kagome rolled out her sleeping bag and Shippou immediately snuggled into it and fell asleep. Hiten sat next to the window and watched the two of them. They were sharing a room since Sango had surprisingly accepted Miroku's offer to share a room though she was slightly regretting it now considering she had to beat the houshi unconscious to get him to stop groping her. She figured if it would get Kagome a bit closer with Hiten who she obviously liked then it was worth it.
An offending odor reached Hiten's sensitive nose and he flinched a bit. Kagome caught it and asked him if he was alright. "Yeah, it just smells like old dirt and bones." Hiten said and Kagome seemed to freeze in place.
'So that was why he wanted to stay outside.' Kagome thought depressingly. Hiten noticed how her mood seemed to drop right after he had said that.
"Is something wrong?" Hiten asked actually sounding a bit concerned. Kagome looked up at him and he noticed she was holding back tears.
"It's...nothing." Kagome sniffed. Hiten frowned when she didn't answer him.
"You're lying." He stated catching her a bit off guard.
Kagome walked over and took a seat next to him. She sat with her knees up and her head bowed. "I-Inuyasha is meeting Kikyou..." Hiten didn't really understand what she was talking about until she explained everything to him.
She finally let her tears fall and silently sobbed into her lap. Hiten was surprised by her show of emotion. Even when he had held her captive she hadn't cried. 'That stupid hanyou is choosing a horrible smelling dead miko over Kagome?' Hiten just couldn't understand it. He also couldn't help but feel a little jealous at Kagome's obvious feelings for Inuyasha.
Kagome jumped a bit when she felt Hiten put his arm over her shoulder and pull her to him. She melted in his embrace and cried into his chest. Hiten was surprised by his own actions especially when he began to whisper comforting words to her.
Her sobs turned to sniffles and then finally stopped. "Arigatou, Hiten." Kagome said and pushed herself out of his arms. They both immediately missed the warmth the other provided. Kagome went back to her sleeping bag and lay down. "Yasumi Hiten." She whispered right before yawning.
"Yasumi Kagome." Hiten said softly knowing she had already fallen asleep and wouldn't hear it. Hiten watched her sleep and listening to the soft rhythms of her heartbeat and breathing.
He felt an unfamiliar feeling in his chest and found it a bit painful. It wasn't a pain like when Naraku was squeezing his heart though. 'It's because of her.' He realized. He couldn't figure out though if it was because of his jealousy over her feelings for Inuyasha or it was because he knew he would have to betray the trust he knew she had given him. Hiten stayed up all night watching the raven haired miko sleep.
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Inuyasha walked into a moonlit clearing. Kikyou's scent was strong all around him. "Kikyou." Inuyasha called out.
The undead miko walked out through the surrounding brush. "Inuyasha." She merely stated in her unemotional and dead tone. Inuyasha rushed over to her and embraced her. Kikyou pushed him back a bit and said his name in a slightly warning tone.
"Yeah, I know I have to make nice with Kagome to get the jewel and then I can wish for you to come back to life and we can be together." Inuyasha stated, showing her that he hadn't forgotten their plan.
Kikyou nodded and allowed Inuyasha to hug her again. 'Soon my reincarnation, very soon I will walk as flesh and blood once more and you will be nothing but a memory lost in time.'
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Yay another chapter done. Oh yeah, if anyone doesn't know I have a website up for Inuyasha alternate pairings, you can find the link on my authors page. I need more fics, so if you're an author of alternate pairings drop me a line or if you know some really great fic tell me. Check out the site and please please please sign the guestbook.
Translations:
Kimochi: feels good
Nani: What
Mochiron: Of course
Arigatou: Thank you
Yasumi: Good night
Review Responses:
Aikousha no gingitsune: Nice to know you're enjoying the first Hiten/Kag fic you read.
Jazzylady: I know I'm usually a Sess/Kag writer but this pairing was too hard to ignore.
Aira^o^: Don't worry the next chappie of Trials of Life had been sent to my beta reader and should be up soon.
JadeAngel: I usually write happy endings, but I haven't thought as far as to the ending yet.
Sunstar - 1217: I haven't decided about Hiten getting his heart back yet, but yes Kagome will get stronger.
Kagome45765: Thanks for putting the fic on your favorites list.
VioletEyesSilverShadow: Thanks for letting me archive your fics.
TiarellaCordifolia: I love your fics to so please update them.
IceDragon: I agree there aren't enough Hiten/Kagome fics.
Thanks to all the others who reviewed and I hope you all enjoyed the new chapter.
~*Shichan