Disclaimer: Nope, not yet. I'll keep trying, though!
Ok, when I last updated this story I posted two chapters one after another. I think several people missed Chapter 4, because I posted it so quickly after chapter 3. I mention this, because it is VERY important to the plot, and much of it won't make sense if you don't read it. So, run along! Go back and read it. Please. It might not make complete sense, but it will. And as I said, it is very integral to the plot.
Ok, I'll stop yammering. On with the story!
*******************************************************
Chapter 5
What Love Isn't
A few hours later, Inuyasha stepped back out into the clearing with a large bouquet of fragrant, vividly colored flowers clutched tightly in one hand. He had finally decided on flowers as a groveling gift for Kagome because they were beautiful and fresh, and reminded him of her. That, and by giving her something he could pick himself, he wouldn't own Miroku anything. He'd learned over the years that being beholden to the lecherous monk could be at best annoying and costly, and at worst, deadly.
Peering around to see that the coast was clear, his eyes hit upon a site that brought a sudden chill up his spine. Lying nestled among a patch of grass, still tightly clutching the last thing Kagome had given him (save for the jewel shards), was the fitfully sleeping kitsune. But it wasn't that familiarity that shook Inuyasha to the core. No, it was the fact that at first sight, he would have sworn that he was seeing a shadow of his own past. If the little fox demon had had white hair and red clothing.......... Memories of the day his own mother had died came flooding back, as he recalled running as far has his legs would carry him before his little body gave in to exhaustion, curling around himself in a similar patch of grass, and crying himself to sleep. He remembered clearly the feeling of loss and absolute isolation ~ of knowing that there wasn't a soul in the world who would want to take him in and care for him. Noone wanted a freak half- breed.
No one. Not even Kikyo. Even her love was conditional on him giving up half of himself to become a human.
No one until Kagome.
He hadn't realized where he was going until he found himself crouched in the grass, idly scratching Shippo's little head. He gazed at him, remembering the absolute fear and despair he had seen in the child's countenance as he yelled at him to go retrieve the woman he had adopted as his new "mommy." Softly he said, "Believe me kid, I know how you feel. I can't lose her either." Giving him one more scratch, he added, "Don't worry ~ I'll bring her back. I'll do whatever it takes, and I will bring her back."
He said this with more confidence than he felt. Something just didn't feel right ~ approaching the well, he could sense it. He stopped and frowned at the dry well that had been responsible for so many changes in his life. Because of that well, he actually had a life again. And yet, something was different. Something that was making the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.
"Keh!" he shook the premonition off. "You just don't want to be sat down to the earth's core!" With that thought, he took one long leap for the lip of the portal......... and ended 5 meters back and flat on his butt.
" What the........." He sat and gaped momentarily at the old wooden structure. "How the hell?!?" Getting back to his feet, he tried again.
And ended up landing in the exact spot he had just occupied, again on his butt.
Among his many strengths, Inuyasha could not count patience. By the time he had taken aim at the well 5 times, his shouting could be heard throughout the forest. His once lovely, but now somewhat disheveled bouquet had been violently flung aside in the tirade. By the time he had tried his approach from every conceivable angle, including dropping down from a very high tree branch, only to once again be bounced onto his hind quarters, he was well into livid mode, and ready to hurt something. At this point, being one to act first and ask questions later, he probably would have taken it out on the innocuous weathered wood surrounding the portal that he had become so dependent on. So it was probably best that he couldn't anywhere near it.
At least his volatile temper had proved to be somewhat productive in that it brought Miroku, Sango, Kirara, and Kaede from the village to see what all the commotion was about. They couldn't imagine that he would be shouting like that at Kagome.
Bursting into the clearing, Miroku yelled, "Inuyasha, what in seven hells is going on?" The group surveyed the scene before them: Their friend, now incoherent with rage, throwing himself repeatedly at the well, spouting threats all the way, only to be repelled violently by some unseen force. A few disembodied flowers littered the ground.
The angry hanyou gave no answer, or indeed any notice that anyone had come into view. Shippo, however, had awoken to the ear-splitting bellowing, and was currently cowering behind a tree. Upon the arrival of his friends, he bounded out and sought refuge on the monk's shoulder.
"I woke up when he started yelling, and have been watching him ever since. He can't get anywhere near the well ~ let alone go through it!" The kitsune explained. Meanwhile, Inuyasha had decided to try the "sneak- attack" method of foiling the well's refusal to admit him.
The well wasn't fooled.
"Aaaaaaagh! Dammit! What the f#(k is going on here! The bitch sealed the well! I can't believe it." Inuyasha finally sunk to the ground and buried his face in his hands in defeat.
"Good. You would be a fool to believe it." Miroku's temperate voice sounded out over the suddenly silent clearing. He strode over to the well, and not being a demon himself, was able to peer over the edge to see into its depths. Bones, bones, and more bones. Not just the remains of those long gone, but bones that still radiated some sort of malice ~ some kind of evil. Seeing this didn't particularly shock him, but it did make him seriously doubt that this structure would ever be used again for time travel. He shook his head sadly, but decided not to mention his discovery just yet. Waving his hand in a brief blessing, he turned away, back to the small group at gathered there.
Taking notice of is companions for the first time, Inuyasha groused, "What do you mean, Monk? If she didn't do it, who did?"
"I don't know, Inuyasha. But consider a moment. Even if Kagome knew how to put a demon ward on this well or anything else, how would she have been able to do it on this side? She might put one on her side of the well, but she wouldn't put one here. Still, supposing that she could put one on this side, did you see her do it? Shippo was still on the lip of the well when we left the clearing ~ if she had put a ward on the well, he would have been thrown just like you were."
"Ok, you have a point." The Hanyou conceded. "But if she didn't do it, what the hell happened? Why did this thing suddenly stop working?" He got to his feet again and prepared to take a running dash toward the well again, until the houshi swept him with his staff, and saved the well the trouble of again dumping the half-demon on his well-abused backside.
"Inuyasha," Miroku said calmly, "only a fool tries the same thing over and over again and expects to get different results." At his friend's glare, he continued, " I know you are anxious to get to see Kagome again, but this is getting you nowhere. Let us go back to the village and discuss this over dinner."
Being the stubborn, and by now somewhat frantic creature that Inuyasha was, it took some convincing, but finally a couple of hours later, they were all seated around the fire in Kaede's hut, eating their by now late evening meal, and discussing the new problem at hand: Namely, why had the well suddenly ceased to admit the Hanyou, even though he still bore the enchanted rosary, and what be done to open the portal again. And if the time hole was indeed closed forever, how they would be able to find the jewel shards without Kagome's gift of site.
For if they didn't possess the jewel shards, it was a good bet that Naraku would get his slimy hands on them, and that would spell far more trouble for everyone.
At the suggestion that the well might be eternally sealed, Inuyasha abruptly left. That wasn't a subject that he could deal with. He wasn't willing to give up yet. Not by a long shot.
But if by chance......... if the unthinkable happened, and he could no longer get to her ......... Oh, Kami, he just couldn't even consider that. If that were the case......... if that were the case, his life was over. Pointless. Gone would be everything that made life worth living. No, she couldn't be gone for good.
But if she was, he was in for one hell of a long wait. A 500 year wait. And if he had any say about it, if he could survive that long.........he would be waiting for her when she came out on the other side of that cursed well.
Ok, when I last updated this story I posted two chapters one after another. I think several people missed Chapter 4, because I posted it so quickly after chapter 3. I mention this, because it is VERY important to the plot, and much of it won't make sense if you don't read it. So, run along! Go back and read it. Please. It might not make complete sense, but it will. And as I said, it is very integral to the plot.
Ok, I'll stop yammering. On with the story!
*******************************************************
Chapter 5
What Love Isn't
A few hours later, Inuyasha stepped back out into the clearing with a large bouquet of fragrant, vividly colored flowers clutched tightly in one hand. He had finally decided on flowers as a groveling gift for Kagome because they were beautiful and fresh, and reminded him of her. That, and by giving her something he could pick himself, he wouldn't own Miroku anything. He'd learned over the years that being beholden to the lecherous monk could be at best annoying and costly, and at worst, deadly.
Peering around to see that the coast was clear, his eyes hit upon a site that brought a sudden chill up his spine. Lying nestled among a patch of grass, still tightly clutching the last thing Kagome had given him (save for the jewel shards), was the fitfully sleeping kitsune. But it wasn't that familiarity that shook Inuyasha to the core. No, it was the fact that at first sight, he would have sworn that he was seeing a shadow of his own past. If the little fox demon had had white hair and red clothing.......... Memories of the day his own mother had died came flooding back, as he recalled running as far has his legs would carry him before his little body gave in to exhaustion, curling around himself in a similar patch of grass, and crying himself to sleep. He remembered clearly the feeling of loss and absolute isolation ~ of knowing that there wasn't a soul in the world who would want to take him in and care for him. Noone wanted a freak half- breed.
No one. Not even Kikyo. Even her love was conditional on him giving up half of himself to become a human.
No one until Kagome.
He hadn't realized where he was going until he found himself crouched in the grass, idly scratching Shippo's little head. He gazed at him, remembering the absolute fear and despair he had seen in the child's countenance as he yelled at him to go retrieve the woman he had adopted as his new "mommy." Softly he said, "Believe me kid, I know how you feel. I can't lose her either." Giving him one more scratch, he added, "Don't worry ~ I'll bring her back. I'll do whatever it takes, and I will bring her back."
He said this with more confidence than he felt. Something just didn't feel right ~ approaching the well, he could sense it. He stopped and frowned at the dry well that had been responsible for so many changes in his life. Because of that well, he actually had a life again. And yet, something was different. Something that was making the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.
"Keh!" he shook the premonition off. "You just don't want to be sat down to the earth's core!" With that thought, he took one long leap for the lip of the portal......... and ended 5 meters back and flat on his butt.
" What the........." He sat and gaped momentarily at the old wooden structure. "How the hell?!?" Getting back to his feet, he tried again.
And ended up landing in the exact spot he had just occupied, again on his butt.
Among his many strengths, Inuyasha could not count patience. By the time he had taken aim at the well 5 times, his shouting could be heard throughout the forest. His once lovely, but now somewhat disheveled bouquet had been violently flung aside in the tirade. By the time he had tried his approach from every conceivable angle, including dropping down from a very high tree branch, only to once again be bounced onto his hind quarters, he was well into livid mode, and ready to hurt something. At this point, being one to act first and ask questions later, he probably would have taken it out on the innocuous weathered wood surrounding the portal that he had become so dependent on. So it was probably best that he couldn't anywhere near it.
At least his volatile temper had proved to be somewhat productive in that it brought Miroku, Sango, Kirara, and Kaede from the village to see what all the commotion was about. They couldn't imagine that he would be shouting like that at Kagome.
Bursting into the clearing, Miroku yelled, "Inuyasha, what in seven hells is going on?" The group surveyed the scene before them: Their friend, now incoherent with rage, throwing himself repeatedly at the well, spouting threats all the way, only to be repelled violently by some unseen force. A few disembodied flowers littered the ground.
The angry hanyou gave no answer, or indeed any notice that anyone had come into view. Shippo, however, had awoken to the ear-splitting bellowing, and was currently cowering behind a tree. Upon the arrival of his friends, he bounded out and sought refuge on the monk's shoulder.
"I woke up when he started yelling, and have been watching him ever since. He can't get anywhere near the well ~ let alone go through it!" The kitsune explained. Meanwhile, Inuyasha had decided to try the "sneak- attack" method of foiling the well's refusal to admit him.
The well wasn't fooled.
"Aaaaaaagh! Dammit! What the f#(k is going on here! The bitch sealed the well! I can't believe it." Inuyasha finally sunk to the ground and buried his face in his hands in defeat.
"Good. You would be a fool to believe it." Miroku's temperate voice sounded out over the suddenly silent clearing. He strode over to the well, and not being a demon himself, was able to peer over the edge to see into its depths. Bones, bones, and more bones. Not just the remains of those long gone, but bones that still radiated some sort of malice ~ some kind of evil. Seeing this didn't particularly shock him, but it did make him seriously doubt that this structure would ever be used again for time travel. He shook his head sadly, but decided not to mention his discovery just yet. Waving his hand in a brief blessing, he turned away, back to the small group at gathered there.
Taking notice of is companions for the first time, Inuyasha groused, "What do you mean, Monk? If she didn't do it, who did?"
"I don't know, Inuyasha. But consider a moment. Even if Kagome knew how to put a demon ward on this well or anything else, how would she have been able to do it on this side? She might put one on her side of the well, but she wouldn't put one here. Still, supposing that she could put one on this side, did you see her do it? Shippo was still on the lip of the well when we left the clearing ~ if she had put a ward on the well, he would have been thrown just like you were."
"Ok, you have a point." The Hanyou conceded. "But if she didn't do it, what the hell happened? Why did this thing suddenly stop working?" He got to his feet again and prepared to take a running dash toward the well again, until the houshi swept him with his staff, and saved the well the trouble of again dumping the half-demon on his well-abused backside.
"Inuyasha," Miroku said calmly, "only a fool tries the same thing over and over again and expects to get different results." At his friend's glare, he continued, " I know you are anxious to get to see Kagome again, but this is getting you nowhere. Let us go back to the village and discuss this over dinner."
Being the stubborn, and by now somewhat frantic creature that Inuyasha was, it took some convincing, but finally a couple of hours later, they were all seated around the fire in Kaede's hut, eating their by now late evening meal, and discussing the new problem at hand: Namely, why had the well suddenly ceased to admit the Hanyou, even though he still bore the enchanted rosary, and what be done to open the portal again. And if the time hole was indeed closed forever, how they would be able to find the jewel shards without Kagome's gift of site.
For if they didn't possess the jewel shards, it was a good bet that Naraku would get his slimy hands on them, and that would spell far more trouble for everyone.
At the suggestion that the well might be eternally sealed, Inuyasha abruptly left. That wasn't a subject that he could deal with. He wasn't willing to give up yet. Not by a long shot.
But if by chance......... if the unthinkable happened, and he could no longer get to her ......... Oh, Kami, he just couldn't even consider that. If that were the case......... if that were the case, his life was over. Pointless. Gone would be everything that made life worth living. No, she couldn't be gone for good.
But if she was, he was in for one hell of a long wait. A 500 year wait. And if he had any say about it, if he could survive that long.........he would be waiting for her when she came out on the other side of that cursed well.
