Chapter 1...The Resurrection
"Inuyasha!"
Aforementioned hanyou grimaced at the volume at which his name had been said; his ears drawing close to his head in an attempt to block out the noise. He turned menacingly to the kitsune that was approaching him.
'Doesn't anyone realize how annoying that is?' he thought as he placed a scowl on his tan features.
"What the hell do you want, squirt?"
The little fox demon paused a moment before delivering his message, drawing in deep breaths to regain some of the energy he had lost on his short run. "Kagome thinks that we should stop soon," he finally said.
Inuyasha snorted at this. 'Stupid ningens and their need to rest.'
"Well, you can just tell the wench that we'll stop once we've found another jewel shard," the hanyou snapped angrily, "And not a second before."
"Oh Inuyasha," the kitsune replied with a small frown, "You don't have to be such a jerk about it! Everybody's tired! We haven't stopped to eat or sleep or anything for a whole day!"
"And we won't stop to do any of that crap until Kagome can detect another shard!!" Inuyasha bellowed as he picked the kitsune up by the scruff of his neck. He threw the fox demon to the ground forcefully, smiling when he heard a loud 'thud'. "Go tell everyone that they better pick up the pace before I decide they're not worth the wait, Shippo."
The kitsune sat rubbing his head, shooting daggers at the half demon. "You're so mean, Inuyasha! I'm gonna tell Kagome that you hurt me", here Shippo smiled. Inuyasha didn't like that smile. "You know what she's gonna do when she finds out how mean you were to me."
"Feh," Inuyasha huffed, turning away from the child, "Like that girl could hurt me."
Shippo shot him one last grin as he ran off at full speed, his screams of "KAGOME!!" echoing throughout the forest.
Inuyasha covered his ears, his inner voice screaming in his head, 'Why do they always have to yell?!?! Don't they notice how much that goddamn noise hurts my ears?!'
"INUYASHA!!!"
'Apparently not,' he decided, as a petite girl came into his line of sight. A petite and angry girl. 'Oh no.' he thought with a groan, as the steaming girl came even closer to where he was standing. Inuyasha could almost swear he saw smoke coming out of her ears. 'She's really gonna kill me this time.'
The girl, upon reaching him, drew her small form up in an attempt to look more intimidating. This failed miserably, and Inuyasha couldn't help but laugh at how hard she was trying to look fear inspiring. Big mistake.
"Osuwari!!" Kagome's enraged voice shot throughout the sky, making birds flee from their roosts in fear. The forest was once again returned to silence after this outburst, disturbed only by the muffled curses of Inuyasha. Kagome peered over the edge of the small crater he had made for himself, with the help of a certain restraining word as well.
'Oops,' she thought as she covered a smirk, 'that was a little harder than I had expected.' Kagome smiled down into the hole as Inuyasha began to stir, the restraining spell apparently wearing off.
"Have you learned your lesson, Inuyasha?" she asked sweetly as he stood up, brushing dirt of off his haori.
After leaping gracefully out of the crack, Inuyasha turned to face her. "Feh, there was nothing to learn," he would've stopped there, but he was mad at the moment, "bitch."
Flames filled Kagome's brown eyes, her hands clenching into little fists.
"Inuyasha-"she began. "OSUWARIOSUWARIOSUWARIOSUWARIOSUWARI!!!"
Shippo, racing forward at the sound of the all too familiar word, turned back to the three trailing behind him.
"C'mon you guys! We don't want to miss out on all the fun!" he cried with a sadistic smile. He charged over an incline in the trail they followed, his eagerness blowing away any semblance of patience.
Miroku shook his head at the little kitsune's apparent happiness over the hanyou's pain.
'Albeit, he probably deserves every 'sit' he receives,' the monk thought with a less than contained grin.
"And just what are you smiling about, houshi-sama?" the young demon slayer beside him asked. Scratching the head of the fire cat demon in her arms, she added, "Hopefully nothing of.impure origin is the cause."
"Why, Sango," he replied, casting a sideways glance at the girl, "where would you get an idea like that?"
Sango whacked away the hand that had begun to inch towards her, a scowl darkening her features. "Let's just call it a hunch."
By now, the trio had cleared a small rise in the well trodden path and come across a common scene. Standing a little ways ahead was Kagome, who apparently seemed to be venting to a hole in the ground. Sitting on her shoulder was a laughing Shippo, tears streaming down his face as he jeered at the half buried half-demon.
"Ha! Inuyasha's probably halfway to the other side of the world after that sitting. The big meanie deserved it, too. That's what you get for being grumpy, Inuyasha! I didn't buy into your 'that girl can't hurt me' crap.betcha it hurts like hell now, eh? Eh, Inuya-"
Shippo let out a small 'eep' as said hanyou emerged from the deep hole, face contorting in suppressed rage. As he approached, Shippo dug himself into the back of Kagome's shirt, peering fearfully over the collar.
"Let.me.at the little runt," Inuyasha breathed in a menacing tone, knuckles cracking as his hands became fists. Kagome stood firm, arms crossed over her chest as she stared into the seething face of her companion.
"No," she replied coolly.
"What?" Inuyasha hissed. Shippo cast a quick glance between the two, as it suddenly dawned on him that this argument was moving away from being focused on him. Jumping as discreetly as he could from Kagome's shoulder, the little kitsune decided he'd best keep out of the way.just in case. Looking about, he saw a comfy looking spot that was close enough to take in the action, and yet far enough so that he could get a head start if Inuyasha decided to kill him. Plopping himself down, Shippo grinned as the fight grew heated.
Sango and Miroku watched the exchange from their place on the top of the hill, eyes focused on one thing.or another.
"Some things really will never change," Sango muttered, shaking her head. Miroku would have agreed with her, had he even be paying attention to what Sango was saying to begin with. Presently though, her backside was practically calling to his cursed hand. And, of course, who was he to refuse the desires of his ill fated appendage? After all, he was a firm believer in granting the wishes of the dying and he would wind up dying.one day.
Sango was just about to make another comment on the fight- now that Inuyasha and Kagome were head to head, the human girl poking him as hard as she could in the chest- when she felt a familiar pressure just below the small of her back. Kirara growled as Sango visibly stiffened, her face glowing red. Twirling on her heel, Sango slapped the offending houshi as hard as possible without dropping her small youkai.
"HENTAI!!!!!!"
Inuyasha and Kagome stopped their bickering at the sound, looking up to see a clearly flustered Sango approaching them. Still frozen in mid argument pose (namely Inuyasha with arms raised and fangs bared; Kagome with her index finger shoved into Inuyasha's chest and a fear inspiring look on her face), the two could only watch her progress open mouthed. Moving past them a few feet to where Shippo sat taking in the fight, Sango plopped herself down, a light flush still evident on her cheeks.
"I hate men," she muttered under her breath, as she resumed petting a still agitated Kirara.
Shippo nodded in agreement as he full out glared at Inuyasha. "I know exactly what you mean."
Sango smiled amusedly at the kit's apparent forgetfulness of his own gender, but her attention was soon diverted as Inuyasha and Kagome continued to wage battle upon one another.
"Why do you always have to do such stupid things that just make me mad?" Kagome shouted.
"Why do you always have to get so pissed off?" Inuyasha shouted right back.
"I already said why!" she cried exasperated. "Because you always wind up doing something stupid!"
"Yeah, I suppose saving your life all these times would be stupid," he angrily declared, "because now I'm stuck with an ungrateful wench!"
"I'm not ungrateful; I only wish you'd be nicer!" Kagome huffed, turning her back to him. She blinked as she realized that he had insulted her.again. "And I'm not a wench!" she called, without bothering to turn around to face him.
"Feh. Whatever, bitch." She could practically hear the smirk in his voice; the sheer pleasure he got in provoking her. Well, she wouldn't let him down. She'd put him through hell and that was that. At least that's what she was planning to do.until her miko senses kicked in.
Inuyasha stood ready for another great fight, but it never came. Kagome simply stood there, her back still facing him in quite the show of disrespect. He tried to hide his surprise at the minimal reaction she showed to one her least favorite "pet" names. So, he waited for a few seconds. And a few seconds longer. His patience breaking at about thirteen seconds, Inuyasha ambled over to the still frozen Kagome and stood in front of her.
"Oi, what's up with you, wench?" he emphasized the last word just to irk her, but she still refrained from responding. Bending over with a slight frown on his face, Inuyasha brought himself eye to eye with her. "Hey, Kagome." it seemed as if she was looking right through him. So he did what any decently curious person would do to get someone's attention: he knocked on her head.
Startled out of her stupor, Kagome looked at him with her mouth still open to retaliate. He grinned in anticipation of continuing the fight, and thought he'd start it on the right foot.
"For a minute there, I thought you'd lost your brain.then I remembered you didn't have one to begin with."
But the rough words that he had been expecting did not come. Instead, she opened her mouth and silently whispered, "They're coming.fast. At least four shards."
"What's going on?" asked a dazed Miroku, as he approached the group still rubbing his sore cheek.
"Shikon fragments are coming this way," Kagome replied, turning herself away from Inuyasha.
"What do you mean they're coming this way?" Inuyasha queried. "D'you mean around here or right where we are?"
"Right here," Kagome answered, using her finger to point to the ground below them. "It's definitely coming for the shards."
Sango, who at the mere mention of a youkai had changed into her taijiya apparel, approached Inuyasha. "So, we'll just stay here and wait for it?"
Inuyasha looked over at Kagome for an answer, himself unsure since he couldn't smell any youkai approaching yet.
"It's still kind of far away, but I know it's coming," she assured them, "and soon."
"If it's still far away, why don't we just go after it?" Shippo asked, as he jumped up on Sango's Hiraikotsu.
"Believe me, Shippo, it's going to be here really fast," Kagome announced.
"She's right," Inuyasha said, while sniffing the air, "it's just gotten into my range of smell. I give it to the count of ten."
The group became poised, Inuyasha unsheathing his Tetsusaiga, Miroku grasping the prayer beads holding back his Kazaana, Sango hefting Hiraikotsu and Kagome notching her bow. Kirara stood to the side of the road transformed in her giant fire cat form and guarding Shippo, who was prepared to perform foxfire if need be.
A breeze blew quietly as the sun set before them, covering Kagome's confused face in a brilliant light. "It's here," she said, looking around at the open pathway. "The shards are right here."
"Yeah, I can smell it, but where-" Inuyasha let his voice trail off as he looked down at the road below him. A look of surprised realization passed over him as he yelled, "It's underneath us! Get off of the path!"
Sango and Miroku dove into the grass, while Inuyasha grabbed Kagome as a huge fountain of dirt and other debris filled the air. A giant snake youkai had sprung up creating a hole right where they had been standing. It hissed menacingly at them, flaring out its hood as it did so.
"Give them to me.the shards.they are mine," it breathed, allowing the sun to glint off of its gigantic fangs. A drop of venom hung off the edge of one, threatening to spill. "Give them willingly.or I shall forcibly take them.and your lives."
"Words never won battles!" Inuyasha growled, as he raised Tetsusaiga. Tilting his head slightly towards Kagome, he asked, "Where are the shards at?"
Kagome focused on the snake youkai for a moment, sending out her energy to sense the shattered pieces of the Shikon Jewel. The mystical shards called to her and within seconds she had located them. "There are three in its hood, and one in its stomach," she replied. Looking at him she added, "And I mean it quite literally.it's in its stomach."
Putting on a cocky smirk, Inuyasha lifted Tetsusaiga and said, "Then I'll just have to dissect this overgrown worm." Turning to Miroku and Sango, he said, "Distract him, will ya?" Without further prompting, Sango expertly threw her bone boomerang at the youkai as Miroku created some offudas. Kagome could merely watch as Inuyasha bounded off to face the agitated youkai, silently wishing in her head, 'Please, be safe, Inuyasha.' With that unvoiced plea, she ran over to join Miroku and Sango, letting loose a spirit infused arrow as she did so.
=*
Behind closed lids, her eyes began to stir. They were searching in the darkness for the source of her sleep's disturbance. A slight scowl found its way onto her face as she pondered this occurrence.
'I should have never been awoken.the wish assured that I would never awake.' Her brows furrowed in consternation, until a thought entered her mind. 'Unless.'
Film covered eyes shot open in sudden readiness, as the shadow of azure irises rose to the place where her hand remained clasped. Even her near lifeless eyes could register the glow that was emitted from within her fist. Grasping the object in her hand ever harder, she smiled as she felt it bite into her skin. The time had come for vengeance.
=*
"Goddammit!!" Inuyasha fumed, as Tetsusaiga merely nicked the snake's exposed underbelly. 'It's like this thing is covered in scales of steel,' he thought, hefting his father's fang. Letting out a feral growl, he rushed the youkai and swung his sword with as much power as he could muster. For all his effort, not even a drop of blood fell. Trying to keep himself from bristling in frustration, he clutched his katana's hilt and prepared to attack again.
The hanyou's apparent dissatisfaction was not lost on his companions, who were also having a hard time with the seemingly indestructible youkai. Miroku was throwing yet another offuda at the creature, only to watch it slip off as if it were water on a duck's back.
'I can only imagine how much Inuyasha's pride is being wounded now,' the houshi thought, as he decided that perhaps offudas weren't the best course of action.
Sango had just caught her returning Hiraikotsu when she saw Miroku begin to run towards the youkai. "Houshi-sama!" she called worriedly, "What do you think you're doing?"
Shooting a brief smile over his shoulder, Miroku continued to hurry to the center of the fray.
"Damn him," Sango muttered, imbedding Hiraikotsu in the ground. Drawing her katana, she called to Shippo, "You and Kirara need to come here and help Kagome-chan!"
As the two youkai scurried over towards said miko, Kagome could only confusedly look towards her friend. Sango, noticing the girl's reaction, smiled and tried to make light of the situation. "Don't worry, Kagome- chan. I just want to make sure that those two bakas are okay."
"Be careful Sango-chan!" Kagome called to her friend's retreating form. Sighing, she drew an arrow on her bow, letting it fly in a streak of pink power. The arrow hit the snake youkai in one of its sickly yellow eyes, and Kagome pumped her fist in celebration as it released a pained cry. Sensing the snake's momentary distraction, Inuyasha decided to attempt to go for the kill. 'Might as well try.' he thought, as he jumped in the air to a height that was just below the snake's head. Slicing Tetsusaiga through the soft flesh that hung from it's jaw, Inuyasha was surprised when he felt it pass all the way through. Blood sprayed into his face due to the puncturing of one of the youkai's main arteries, as the sound of tearing skin and tissue filled his ears. Suddenly, Inuyasha was no longer staring at the neck of the snake; instead, he was faced with a decapitated carcass that was periodically shooting our spurts of blood with the slowing beat of the youkai's heart. He landed nimbly on the blood soaked grass, quickly sheathing Tetsusaiga and approaching the snake's head.
"Hey, Kagome!" he called to the coming girl, "Move your ass! I'd like to get the shards out before this piece of shit regenerates."
Feeling himself being tapped on the shoulder, Inuyasha turned to see a very unhappy Sango and Miroku. The two were drenched in the snake's blood, their hair and clothing literally dripping the sticky substance.
"Warn someone the next time you decide to save the day, okay, Inuyasha?" Sango expressed through clenched teeth.
"It's not my fault that you guys don't know when to get out of the way," the hanyou nonchalantly declared, turning towards Kagome who was on her knees picking the shards out of the hood. Sango's eyes flashed at this statement and she gripped her katana, ready to skewer the dog-eared boy. Seeing the all too well known 'angry eyes', Miroku quickly grabbed the girl's wrists and held them over her head, keeping his eyes on her blade the whole time. 'Please don't get mad at me.please don't get mad at me,' Miroku thought, imagining himself becoming a shish kabob. Why was it that he had to suffer for Inuyasha's lack in social skills?
As Miroku wrestled with Sango, Inuyasha and Kagome were making sure that they got every shard. 'One.two.three.' Kagome counted, pointing out each one. 'There's still one missing,' she thought, looking towards the long, gore spewing body. Rising to her feet, she went to the body and scanned it for where she felt the jewel coming from. Knowing that the body would need to be opened in order to extract the shard from its stomach, Kagome motioned for Inuyasha to come over. When he was right next to her, she tapped the middle part of the corpse.
"We need to cut into there if we want to get the shard."
"Alright, then.just give me a sec and I'll hack this thing into pieces," Inuyasha said, lifting Tetsusaiga over his head. "Oi, Sango," he called, poised to strike the carcass.
Sango, who was still attempting to writhe out of Miroku's grip, paused in her squirming for a moment (much to the relief of Miroku). Looking to Inuyasha, she honestly expected him to apologize. Then she saw the smirk he was giving her.
"You might want to watch out, 'cause I have to save the day."
Miroku let out a yelp as he ran to catch the taijiya before she put that blade into the hanyou's sorry hide. 'I'll be sorry if I can't hide after this,' he deliberated morosely, resuming his former position of holding the girl's arms captive. At this rate, she was going to beat the crap out of him.and then some.
While the houshi was undergoing inner turmoil, Inuyasha was busy trying to cut open the snake's belly. The key word there is 'trying'. He was experiencing the same problem that he had faced in the beginning of the fight: really hard scales. Stopping to catch his breath, his pride and his good sense fought with each other. He knew that he needed help; the only problem was he did not want to ask for it. That's when Sango managed to throw her elbow into Miroku's face, causing him to release her as he fell into a swirly eyed heap. The angered girl ran past an objecting Kagome and lifted her katana to strike Inuyasha. Had he not been a hanyou, Inuyasha would have received quite the 'friendly' wound, but, as it was, he dodged her mere milliseconds before she struck where he had been standing. So, instead of hitting a rude baka hanyou like she had hoped, Sango struck the belly of the snake.
'YES!!!' both Inuyasha's pride and good sense cheered.
Sauntering over to Sango, Inuyasha said, "Feh. About time you served a purpose."
Sango would have attacked him again had she not seen Kagome, who was bent over a semi-unconscious Miroku, making pleading motions with her hands. And so, Sango did the only thing she could do-strike the snake body and pretend it was Inuyasha's fat head.
=*
Shippo watched from the sidelines with Kirara as what he had come to know as his family argued. He laughed quietly to himself- so Inuyasha wouldn't hear him as easily- when Sango went after the hanyou. Although he was a little disappointed that Inuyasha was left unscathed, Shippo decided that he could annoy him later and, if the hanyou retaliated, Kagome would sit him. A big grin split across Shippo's face at this thought (and the further imagining of Inuyasha being slammed into the dirt), until he heard Kirara begin to growl. Looking up with his big, curious eyes, the kitsune followed the clearly tense fire cat's gaze to the snake youkai's head. Cocking his head to the side, Shippo was confused for a moment as to what was the matter. That was until the eyes of the supposedly dead snake turned and focused on him. When the snakes tongue shot out, Shippo knew that something was not right. Gulping past the lump of fear in his throat, Shippo's eyes stayed riveted to the snake head as he called back to his friends, "You guys, I don't think this thing's dead yet."
=*
Hearing the fear in Shippo's voice, Kagome turned to see what was troubling him. He was visibly shaking as he shied away from the demon head, which Kagome noticed seemed to be moving closer to its body.
'I'd almost think they were trying to.' her eyes grew large as she understood, '.reconnect.'
Quickly, she turned back to warn Inuyasha and Sango, who were both still busy hacking at the body. But her voice failed her as some form of electricity filled the space between the estranged body and head, lines of crackling blue light drawing the two together. As soon as the energy filled the air, the youkai seemed to come back to life, and began to thrash its body to rid itself of the two pests. Kagome could only watch in horror as Inuyasha and Sango were both thrown across the path and into the neighboring forest by the violent movements of the creature, the sickening sound of breaking bones filling the air. Craning her head to try to catch a glimpse of her friends while also shaking Miroku's shoulder in hopes that he would get up soon, Kagome realized that she was almost completely alone. She began to prod the monk's shoulder desperately, acknowledging that she would be in quite the compromising situation if no one was able to serve as protector. Feeling eyes on her, Kagome hesitantly looked up and almost cried out in fear due to what she saw. There, looming no more than forty feet away, was the semi-decapitated snake youkai, its head and body connected only by strings of blue energy. It glared intently at her, the arrow she had shot earlier protruding from its bleeding eye.
"K-Kagome," a small voice called from behind her.
"Yeah, Shippo?" she whispered, barely moving her lips. The snake youkai's tongue flicked out as the distance between head and body drastically reduced.
"I'm scared," Shippo said, sounding near tears.
The truth was, Kagome was pretty darn scared, too. But she couldn't tell Shippo that, or else he'd become hysterical. And Kagome knew that that would be a bad thing.she needed to keep that youkai focused on her, so that it would stay away from Shippo. Miroku chose to pick this time to wake up. Eyes focusing on Kagome's fear filled face, Miroku followed her gaze until it rested upon the practically reconstructed youkai. He shot up from the ground as if he had been shocked, Kagome following suit. Miroku kept his eyes on the youkai as he whispered to Kagome, "Where are Inuyasha and Sango?"
"They were thrown off when it began to regenerate," she muttered back.
"Kuso," he breathed out exasperatedly.
"We've got to keep away from Shippo," Kagome said quietly, "I'd rather have this thing go after us than him and Kirara."
'Even now she thinks of others before herself,' Miroku thought admirably of his friend. "Okay, just stay behind me and we'll keep it distracted."
The snake remained focused on the two as they slowly edged away from Shippo. Kagome was starting to breathe in a sigh of relief, since it seemed like the youkai might not attack them. 'Maybe it'll just go away,' she thought optimistically. At that moment, the snake's disconnected body parts joined back together, giving it a renewed life force. It let out one ear shattering hiss before it raced towards Miroku and Kagome, mouth open in hopes of devouring them. Grabbing his staff, Miroku decided that, no matter what, he would not die a coward's death. 'If I had known that this would happen, I would have groped Sango at least seven more times,' he thought grimly. He felt Kagome clutch the back of his robes as the snake came within feet of them. Just as it was about to pounce on them, Miroku raised his staff and stabbed it into the snake's exposed stomach. He felt the staff slide into the snake's body, as he whispered a quick prayer to Buddha. And that was it...right? Miroku waited for the inevitable pain of death (he and his friend were going to be eaten by a snake so, yeah, he thought it might hurt), but nothing came. Looking up at the snake that stood before him, he could only ponder as to why it remained so still. Maybe Buddha had saved them by creating a time rift, like the one Kagome used to get back to the past! Looking around excitedly, he realized how untrue this was as he caught sight of Kirara trying to restrain a bawling Shippo from running to Kagome. Upon thinking of the miko, he looked over his shoulder to find her staring incredulously ahead of her, towards the place where his staff had entered the snake's body.
'That's right!' he thought hazily, 'I need my staff, so I better pull it out.' So, he pulled in an attempt to extricate his property from the innards of the youkai. But it wouldn't give; rather, he almost lost his staff entirely as he felt some extreme force begin to pull it into the stomach. 'Wait.this can't be happening,' he considered, confused.
When he saw the hand that popped out of the hole, firm grip sliding up the staff, he could not deny that this was happening any longer. He stared at it blankly for what seemed like eternities, before he noticed the light radiating from within the still transfixed youkai. Only then did he hear Kagome calling him.
"Miroku. Miroku!" she cried in a frightened voice. Still behind him, she pulled on his sleeve, hoping to get his attention.
"Hn?" he asked, though he sounded quite distant.
"We need to back away.now," Kagome requested, dragging one of his hands free from its grip on the staff. With much effort, she managed to pull the dazed Miroku away from the light infused youkai. It was then that the radiance exploded.
=*
The warmth of the sun caressed her skin, willing her to see its rays, as she lay unmoving in the crimson stained grass. Her chest rose and fell in quick breaths, giving off the impression of one in a troubled sleep. She knew better, though-sleep did not come easily to those without dreams. And she had seen all of her dreams die before her. That is, all except one. It was for that bitterness that she lived.there was no reason, save for that.
She involuntarily shivered as she felt a shadow fall upon her, obstructing the warmth of the sun. Something was touching her hand.holding it. Instinctively, she clutched the shining glass that she knew was still there. It had been there for seventy eight years, had it not? Voices reached her ears, their words slurring into garbled noise. But one word was audible above the rest. One word uttered as a small hand touched her forehead, innocent wonder tainting the voice:
"Enzeru."
"Inuyasha!"
Aforementioned hanyou grimaced at the volume at which his name had been said; his ears drawing close to his head in an attempt to block out the noise. He turned menacingly to the kitsune that was approaching him.
'Doesn't anyone realize how annoying that is?' he thought as he placed a scowl on his tan features.
"What the hell do you want, squirt?"
The little fox demon paused a moment before delivering his message, drawing in deep breaths to regain some of the energy he had lost on his short run. "Kagome thinks that we should stop soon," he finally said.
Inuyasha snorted at this. 'Stupid ningens and their need to rest.'
"Well, you can just tell the wench that we'll stop once we've found another jewel shard," the hanyou snapped angrily, "And not a second before."
"Oh Inuyasha," the kitsune replied with a small frown, "You don't have to be such a jerk about it! Everybody's tired! We haven't stopped to eat or sleep or anything for a whole day!"
"And we won't stop to do any of that crap until Kagome can detect another shard!!" Inuyasha bellowed as he picked the kitsune up by the scruff of his neck. He threw the fox demon to the ground forcefully, smiling when he heard a loud 'thud'. "Go tell everyone that they better pick up the pace before I decide they're not worth the wait, Shippo."
The kitsune sat rubbing his head, shooting daggers at the half demon. "You're so mean, Inuyasha! I'm gonna tell Kagome that you hurt me", here Shippo smiled. Inuyasha didn't like that smile. "You know what she's gonna do when she finds out how mean you were to me."
"Feh," Inuyasha huffed, turning away from the child, "Like that girl could hurt me."
Shippo shot him one last grin as he ran off at full speed, his screams of "KAGOME!!" echoing throughout the forest.
Inuyasha covered his ears, his inner voice screaming in his head, 'Why do they always have to yell?!?! Don't they notice how much that goddamn noise hurts my ears?!'
"INUYASHA!!!"
'Apparently not,' he decided, as a petite girl came into his line of sight. A petite and angry girl. 'Oh no.' he thought with a groan, as the steaming girl came even closer to where he was standing. Inuyasha could almost swear he saw smoke coming out of her ears. 'She's really gonna kill me this time.'
The girl, upon reaching him, drew her small form up in an attempt to look more intimidating. This failed miserably, and Inuyasha couldn't help but laugh at how hard she was trying to look fear inspiring. Big mistake.
"Osuwari!!" Kagome's enraged voice shot throughout the sky, making birds flee from their roosts in fear. The forest was once again returned to silence after this outburst, disturbed only by the muffled curses of Inuyasha. Kagome peered over the edge of the small crater he had made for himself, with the help of a certain restraining word as well.
'Oops,' she thought as she covered a smirk, 'that was a little harder than I had expected.' Kagome smiled down into the hole as Inuyasha began to stir, the restraining spell apparently wearing off.
"Have you learned your lesson, Inuyasha?" she asked sweetly as he stood up, brushing dirt of off his haori.
After leaping gracefully out of the crack, Inuyasha turned to face her. "Feh, there was nothing to learn," he would've stopped there, but he was mad at the moment, "bitch."
Flames filled Kagome's brown eyes, her hands clenching into little fists.
"Inuyasha-"she began. "OSUWARIOSUWARIOSUWARIOSUWARIOSUWARI!!!"
Shippo, racing forward at the sound of the all too familiar word, turned back to the three trailing behind him.
"C'mon you guys! We don't want to miss out on all the fun!" he cried with a sadistic smile. He charged over an incline in the trail they followed, his eagerness blowing away any semblance of patience.
Miroku shook his head at the little kitsune's apparent happiness over the hanyou's pain.
'Albeit, he probably deserves every 'sit' he receives,' the monk thought with a less than contained grin.
"And just what are you smiling about, houshi-sama?" the young demon slayer beside him asked. Scratching the head of the fire cat demon in her arms, she added, "Hopefully nothing of.impure origin is the cause."
"Why, Sango," he replied, casting a sideways glance at the girl, "where would you get an idea like that?"
Sango whacked away the hand that had begun to inch towards her, a scowl darkening her features. "Let's just call it a hunch."
By now, the trio had cleared a small rise in the well trodden path and come across a common scene. Standing a little ways ahead was Kagome, who apparently seemed to be venting to a hole in the ground. Sitting on her shoulder was a laughing Shippo, tears streaming down his face as he jeered at the half buried half-demon.
"Ha! Inuyasha's probably halfway to the other side of the world after that sitting. The big meanie deserved it, too. That's what you get for being grumpy, Inuyasha! I didn't buy into your 'that girl can't hurt me' crap.betcha it hurts like hell now, eh? Eh, Inuya-"
Shippo let out a small 'eep' as said hanyou emerged from the deep hole, face contorting in suppressed rage. As he approached, Shippo dug himself into the back of Kagome's shirt, peering fearfully over the collar.
"Let.me.at the little runt," Inuyasha breathed in a menacing tone, knuckles cracking as his hands became fists. Kagome stood firm, arms crossed over her chest as she stared into the seething face of her companion.
"No," she replied coolly.
"What?" Inuyasha hissed. Shippo cast a quick glance between the two, as it suddenly dawned on him that this argument was moving away from being focused on him. Jumping as discreetly as he could from Kagome's shoulder, the little kitsune decided he'd best keep out of the way.just in case. Looking about, he saw a comfy looking spot that was close enough to take in the action, and yet far enough so that he could get a head start if Inuyasha decided to kill him. Plopping himself down, Shippo grinned as the fight grew heated.
Sango and Miroku watched the exchange from their place on the top of the hill, eyes focused on one thing.or another.
"Some things really will never change," Sango muttered, shaking her head. Miroku would have agreed with her, had he even be paying attention to what Sango was saying to begin with. Presently though, her backside was practically calling to his cursed hand. And, of course, who was he to refuse the desires of his ill fated appendage? After all, he was a firm believer in granting the wishes of the dying and he would wind up dying.one day.
Sango was just about to make another comment on the fight- now that Inuyasha and Kagome were head to head, the human girl poking him as hard as she could in the chest- when she felt a familiar pressure just below the small of her back. Kirara growled as Sango visibly stiffened, her face glowing red. Twirling on her heel, Sango slapped the offending houshi as hard as possible without dropping her small youkai.
"HENTAI!!!!!!"
Inuyasha and Kagome stopped their bickering at the sound, looking up to see a clearly flustered Sango approaching them. Still frozen in mid argument pose (namely Inuyasha with arms raised and fangs bared; Kagome with her index finger shoved into Inuyasha's chest and a fear inspiring look on her face), the two could only watch her progress open mouthed. Moving past them a few feet to where Shippo sat taking in the fight, Sango plopped herself down, a light flush still evident on her cheeks.
"I hate men," she muttered under her breath, as she resumed petting a still agitated Kirara.
Shippo nodded in agreement as he full out glared at Inuyasha. "I know exactly what you mean."
Sango smiled amusedly at the kit's apparent forgetfulness of his own gender, but her attention was soon diverted as Inuyasha and Kagome continued to wage battle upon one another.
"Why do you always have to do such stupid things that just make me mad?" Kagome shouted.
"Why do you always have to get so pissed off?" Inuyasha shouted right back.
"I already said why!" she cried exasperated. "Because you always wind up doing something stupid!"
"Yeah, I suppose saving your life all these times would be stupid," he angrily declared, "because now I'm stuck with an ungrateful wench!"
"I'm not ungrateful; I only wish you'd be nicer!" Kagome huffed, turning her back to him. She blinked as she realized that he had insulted her.again. "And I'm not a wench!" she called, without bothering to turn around to face him.
"Feh. Whatever, bitch." She could practically hear the smirk in his voice; the sheer pleasure he got in provoking her. Well, she wouldn't let him down. She'd put him through hell and that was that. At least that's what she was planning to do.until her miko senses kicked in.
Inuyasha stood ready for another great fight, but it never came. Kagome simply stood there, her back still facing him in quite the show of disrespect. He tried to hide his surprise at the minimal reaction she showed to one her least favorite "pet" names. So, he waited for a few seconds. And a few seconds longer. His patience breaking at about thirteen seconds, Inuyasha ambled over to the still frozen Kagome and stood in front of her.
"Oi, what's up with you, wench?" he emphasized the last word just to irk her, but she still refrained from responding. Bending over with a slight frown on his face, Inuyasha brought himself eye to eye with her. "Hey, Kagome." it seemed as if she was looking right through him. So he did what any decently curious person would do to get someone's attention: he knocked on her head.
Startled out of her stupor, Kagome looked at him with her mouth still open to retaliate. He grinned in anticipation of continuing the fight, and thought he'd start it on the right foot.
"For a minute there, I thought you'd lost your brain.then I remembered you didn't have one to begin with."
But the rough words that he had been expecting did not come. Instead, she opened her mouth and silently whispered, "They're coming.fast. At least four shards."
"What's going on?" asked a dazed Miroku, as he approached the group still rubbing his sore cheek.
"Shikon fragments are coming this way," Kagome replied, turning herself away from Inuyasha.
"What do you mean they're coming this way?" Inuyasha queried. "D'you mean around here or right where we are?"
"Right here," Kagome answered, using her finger to point to the ground below them. "It's definitely coming for the shards."
Sango, who at the mere mention of a youkai had changed into her taijiya apparel, approached Inuyasha. "So, we'll just stay here and wait for it?"
Inuyasha looked over at Kagome for an answer, himself unsure since he couldn't smell any youkai approaching yet.
"It's still kind of far away, but I know it's coming," she assured them, "and soon."
"If it's still far away, why don't we just go after it?" Shippo asked, as he jumped up on Sango's Hiraikotsu.
"Believe me, Shippo, it's going to be here really fast," Kagome announced.
"She's right," Inuyasha said, while sniffing the air, "it's just gotten into my range of smell. I give it to the count of ten."
The group became poised, Inuyasha unsheathing his Tetsusaiga, Miroku grasping the prayer beads holding back his Kazaana, Sango hefting Hiraikotsu and Kagome notching her bow. Kirara stood to the side of the road transformed in her giant fire cat form and guarding Shippo, who was prepared to perform foxfire if need be.
A breeze blew quietly as the sun set before them, covering Kagome's confused face in a brilliant light. "It's here," she said, looking around at the open pathway. "The shards are right here."
"Yeah, I can smell it, but where-" Inuyasha let his voice trail off as he looked down at the road below him. A look of surprised realization passed over him as he yelled, "It's underneath us! Get off of the path!"
Sango and Miroku dove into the grass, while Inuyasha grabbed Kagome as a huge fountain of dirt and other debris filled the air. A giant snake youkai had sprung up creating a hole right where they had been standing. It hissed menacingly at them, flaring out its hood as it did so.
"Give them to me.the shards.they are mine," it breathed, allowing the sun to glint off of its gigantic fangs. A drop of venom hung off the edge of one, threatening to spill. "Give them willingly.or I shall forcibly take them.and your lives."
"Words never won battles!" Inuyasha growled, as he raised Tetsusaiga. Tilting his head slightly towards Kagome, he asked, "Where are the shards at?"
Kagome focused on the snake youkai for a moment, sending out her energy to sense the shattered pieces of the Shikon Jewel. The mystical shards called to her and within seconds she had located them. "There are three in its hood, and one in its stomach," she replied. Looking at him she added, "And I mean it quite literally.it's in its stomach."
Putting on a cocky smirk, Inuyasha lifted Tetsusaiga and said, "Then I'll just have to dissect this overgrown worm." Turning to Miroku and Sango, he said, "Distract him, will ya?" Without further prompting, Sango expertly threw her bone boomerang at the youkai as Miroku created some offudas. Kagome could merely watch as Inuyasha bounded off to face the agitated youkai, silently wishing in her head, 'Please, be safe, Inuyasha.' With that unvoiced plea, she ran over to join Miroku and Sango, letting loose a spirit infused arrow as she did so.
=*
Behind closed lids, her eyes began to stir. They were searching in the darkness for the source of her sleep's disturbance. A slight scowl found its way onto her face as she pondered this occurrence.
'I should have never been awoken.the wish assured that I would never awake.' Her brows furrowed in consternation, until a thought entered her mind. 'Unless.'
Film covered eyes shot open in sudden readiness, as the shadow of azure irises rose to the place where her hand remained clasped. Even her near lifeless eyes could register the glow that was emitted from within her fist. Grasping the object in her hand ever harder, she smiled as she felt it bite into her skin. The time had come for vengeance.
=*
"Goddammit!!" Inuyasha fumed, as Tetsusaiga merely nicked the snake's exposed underbelly. 'It's like this thing is covered in scales of steel,' he thought, hefting his father's fang. Letting out a feral growl, he rushed the youkai and swung his sword with as much power as he could muster. For all his effort, not even a drop of blood fell. Trying to keep himself from bristling in frustration, he clutched his katana's hilt and prepared to attack again.
The hanyou's apparent dissatisfaction was not lost on his companions, who were also having a hard time with the seemingly indestructible youkai. Miroku was throwing yet another offuda at the creature, only to watch it slip off as if it were water on a duck's back.
'I can only imagine how much Inuyasha's pride is being wounded now,' the houshi thought, as he decided that perhaps offudas weren't the best course of action.
Sango had just caught her returning Hiraikotsu when she saw Miroku begin to run towards the youkai. "Houshi-sama!" she called worriedly, "What do you think you're doing?"
Shooting a brief smile over his shoulder, Miroku continued to hurry to the center of the fray.
"Damn him," Sango muttered, imbedding Hiraikotsu in the ground. Drawing her katana, she called to Shippo, "You and Kirara need to come here and help Kagome-chan!"
As the two youkai scurried over towards said miko, Kagome could only confusedly look towards her friend. Sango, noticing the girl's reaction, smiled and tried to make light of the situation. "Don't worry, Kagome- chan. I just want to make sure that those two bakas are okay."
"Be careful Sango-chan!" Kagome called to her friend's retreating form. Sighing, she drew an arrow on her bow, letting it fly in a streak of pink power. The arrow hit the snake youkai in one of its sickly yellow eyes, and Kagome pumped her fist in celebration as it released a pained cry. Sensing the snake's momentary distraction, Inuyasha decided to attempt to go for the kill. 'Might as well try.' he thought, as he jumped in the air to a height that was just below the snake's head. Slicing Tetsusaiga through the soft flesh that hung from it's jaw, Inuyasha was surprised when he felt it pass all the way through. Blood sprayed into his face due to the puncturing of one of the youkai's main arteries, as the sound of tearing skin and tissue filled his ears. Suddenly, Inuyasha was no longer staring at the neck of the snake; instead, he was faced with a decapitated carcass that was periodically shooting our spurts of blood with the slowing beat of the youkai's heart. He landed nimbly on the blood soaked grass, quickly sheathing Tetsusaiga and approaching the snake's head.
"Hey, Kagome!" he called to the coming girl, "Move your ass! I'd like to get the shards out before this piece of shit regenerates."
Feeling himself being tapped on the shoulder, Inuyasha turned to see a very unhappy Sango and Miroku. The two were drenched in the snake's blood, their hair and clothing literally dripping the sticky substance.
"Warn someone the next time you decide to save the day, okay, Inuyasha?" Sango expressed through clenched teeth.
"It's not my fault that you guys don't know when to get out of the way," the hanyou nonchalantly declared, turning towards Kagome who was on her knees picking the shards out of the hood. Sango's eyes flashed at this statement and she gripped her katana, ready to skewer the dog-eared boy. Seeing the all too well known 'angry eyes', Miroku quickly grabbed the girl's wrists and held them over her head, keeping his eyes on her blade the whole time. 'Please don't get mad at me.please don't get mad at me,' Miroku thought, imagining himself becoming a shish kabob. Why was it that he had to suffer for Inuyasha's lack in social skills?
As Miroku wrestled with Sango, Inuyasha and Kagome were making sure that they got every shard. 'One.two.three.' Kagome counted, pointing out each one. 'There's still one missing,' she thought, looking towards the long, gore spewing body. Rising to her feet, she went to the body and scanned it for where she felt the jewel coming from. Knowing that the body would need to be opened in order to extract the shard from its stomach, Kagome motioned for Inuyasha to come over. When he was right next to her, she tapped the middle part of the corpse.
"We need to cut into there if we want to get the shard."
"Alright, then.just give me a sec and I'll hack this thing into pieces," Inuyasha said, lifting Tetsusaiga over his head. "Oi, Sango," he called, poised to strike the carcass.
Sango, who was still attempting to writhe out of Miroku's grip, paused in her squirming for a moment (much to the relief of Miroku). Looking to Inuyasha, she honestly expected him to apologize. Then she saw the smirk he was giving her.
"You might want to watch out, 'cause I have to save the day."
Miroku let out a yelp as he ran to catch the taijiya before she put that blade into the hanyou's sorry hide. 'I'll be sorry if I can't hide after this,' he deliberated morosely, resuming his former position of holding the girl's arms captive. At this rate, she was going to beat the crap out of him.and then some.
While the houshi was undergoing inner turmoil, Inuyasha was busy trying to cut open the snake's belly. The key word there is 'trying'. He was experiencing the same problem that he had faced in the beginning of the fight: really hard scales. Stopping to catch his breath, his pride and his good sense fought with each other. He knew that he needed help; the only problem was he did not want to ask for it. That's when Sango managed to throw her elbow into Miroku's face, causing him to release her as he fell into a swirly eyed heap. The angered girl ran past an objecting Kagome and lifted her katana to strike Inuyasha. Had he not been a hanyou, Inuyasha would have received quite the 'friendly' wound, but, as it was, he dodged her mere milliseconds before she struck where he had been standing. So, instead of hitting a rude baka hanyou like she had hoped, Sango struck the belly of the snake.
'YES!!!' both Inuyasha's pride and good sense cheered.
Sauntering over to Sango, Inuyasha said, "Feh. About time you served a purpose."
Sango would have attacked him again had she not seen Kagome, who was bent over a semi-unconscious Miroku, making pleading motions with her hands. And so, Sango did the only thing she could do-strike the snake body and pretend it was Inuyasha's fat head.
=*
Shippo watched from the sidelines with Kirara as what he had come to know as his family argued. He laughed quietly to himself- so Inuyasha wouldn't hear him as easily- when Sango went after the hanyou. Although he was a little disappointed that Inuyasha was left unscathed, Shippo decided that he could annoy him later and, if the hanyou retaliated, Kagome would sit him. A big grin split across Shippo's face at this thought (and the further imagining of Inuyasha being slammed into the dirt), until he heard Kirara begin to growl. Looking up with his big, curious eyes, the kitsune followed the clearly tense fire cat's gaze to the snake youkai's head. Cocking his head to the side, Shippo was confused for a moment as to what was the matter. That was until the eyes of the supposedly dead snake turned and focused on him. When the snakes tongue shot out, Shippo knew that something was not right. Gulping past the lump of fear in his throat, Shippo's eyes stayed riveted to the snake head as he called back to his friends, "You guys, I don't think this thing's dead yet."
=*
Hearing the fear in Shippo's voice, Kagome turned to see what was troubling him. He was visibly shaking as he shied away from the demon head, which Kagome noticed seemed to be moving closer to its body.
'I'd almost think they were trying to.' her eyes grew large as she understood, '.reconnect.'
Quickly, she turned back to warn Inuyasha and Sango, who were both still busy hacking at the body. But her voice failed her as some form of electricity filled the space between the estranged body and head, lines of crackling blue light drawing the two together. As soon as the energy filled the air, the youkai seemed to come back to life, and began to thrash its body to rid itself of the two pests. Kagome could only watch in horror as Inuyasha and Sango were both thrown across the path and into the neighboring forest by the violent movements of the creature, the sickening sound of breaking bones filling the air. Craning her head to try to catch a glimpse of her friends while also shaking Miroku's shoulder in hopes that he would get up soon, Kagome realized that she was almost completely alone. She began to prod the monk's shoulder desperately, acknowledging that she would be in quite the compromising situation if no one was able to serve as protector. Feeling eyes on her, Kagome hesitantly looked up and almost cried out in fear due to what she saw. There, looming no more than forty feet away, was the semi-decapitated snake youkai, its head and body connected only by strings of blue energy. It glared intently at her, the arrow she had shot earlier protruding from its bleeding eye.
"K-Kagome," a small voice called from behind her.
"Yeah, Shippo?" she whispered, barely moving her lips. The snake youkai's tongue flicked out as the distance between head and body drastically reduced.
"I'm scared," Shippo said, sounding near tears.
The truth was, Kagome was pretty darn scared, too. But she couldn't tell Shippo that, or else he'd become hysterical. And Kagome knew that that would be a bad thing.she needed to keep that youkai focused on her, so that it would stay away from Shippo. Miroku chose to pick this time to wake up. Eyes focusing on Kagome's fear filled face, Miroku followed her gaze until it rested upon the practically reconstructed youkai. He shot up from the ground as if he had been shocked, Kagome following suit. Miroku kept his eyes on the youkai as he whispered to Kagome, "Where are Inuyasha and Sango?"
"They were thrown off when it began to regenerate," she muttered back.
"Kuso," he breathed out exasperatedly.
"We've got to keep away from Shippo," Kagome said quietly, "I'd rather have this thing go after us than him and Kirara."
'Even now she thinks of others before herself,' Miroku thought admirably of his friend. "Okay, just stay behind me and we'll keep it distracted."
The snake remained focused on the two as they slowly edged away from Shippo. Kagome was starting to breathe in a sigh of relief, since it seemed like the youkai might not attack them. 'Maybe it'll just go away,' she thought optimistically. At that moment, the snake's disconnected body parts joined back together, giving it a renewed life force. It let out one ear shattering hiss before it raced towards Miroku and Kagome, mouth open in hopes of devouring them. Grabbing his staff, Miroku decided that, no matter what, he would not die a coward's death. 'If I had known that this would happen, I would have groped Sango at least seven more times,' he thought grimly. He felt Kagome clutch the back of his robes as the snake came within feet of them. Just as it was about to pounce on them, Miroku raised his staff and stabbed it into the snake's exposed stomach. He felt the staff slide into the snake's body, as he whispered a quick prayer to Buddha. And that was it...right? Miroku waited for the inevitable pain of death (he and his friend were going to be eaten by a snake so, yeah, he thought it might hurt), but nothing came. Looking up at the snake that stood before him, he could only ponder as to why it remained so still. Maybe Buddha had saved them by creating a time rift, like the one Kagome used to get back to the past! Looking around excitedly, he realized how untrue this was as he caught sight of Kirara trying to restrain a bawling Shippo from running to Kagome. Upon thinking of the miko, he looked over his shoulder to find her staring incredulously ahead of her, towards the place where his staff had entered the snake's body.
'That's right!' he thought hazily, 'I need my staff, so I better pull it out.' So, he pulled in an attempt to extricate his property from the innards of the youkai. But it wouldn't give; rather, he almost lost his staff entirely as he felt some extreme force begin to pull it into the stomach. 'Wait.this can't be happening,' he considered, confused.
When he saw the hand that popped out of the hole, firm grip sliding up the staff, he could not deny that this was happening any longer. He stared at it blankly for what seemed like eternities, before he noticed the light radiating from within the still transfixed youkai. Only then did he hear Kagome calling him.
"Miroku. Miroku!" she cried in a frightened voice. Still behind him, she pulled on his sleeve, hoping to get his attention.
"Hn?" he asked, though he sounded quite distant.
"We need to back away.now," Kagome requested, dragging one of his hands free from its grip on the staff. With much effort, she managed to pull the dazed Miroku away from the light infused youkai. It was then that the radiance exploded.
=*
The warmth of the sun caressed her skin, willing her to see its rays, as she lay unmoving in the crimson stained grass. Her chest rose and fell in quick breaths, giving off the impression of one in a troubled sleep. She knew better, though-sleep did not come easily to those without dreams. And she had seen all of her dreams die before her. That is, all except one. It was for that bitterness that she lived.there was no reason, save for that.
She involuntarily shivered as she felt a shadow fall upon her, obstructing the warmth of the sun. Something was touching her hand.holding it. Instinctively, she clutched the shining glass that she knew was still there. It had been there for seventy eight years, had it not? Voices reached her ears, their words slurring into garbled noise. But one word was audible above the rest. One word uttered as a small hand touched her forehead, innocent wonder tainting the voice:
"Enzeru."