Stand By
Chapter Six
For a few minutes all I do is stand there numbly. Since when did I become the jerk? He was just worried and trying to help me, but I pushed it away, threw it back in his face… Oh gods. Closing my eyes and taking a deep, shuddering breath, I then walk around the room on autopilot and pick up my clothes, putting them into my great yellow bag. I feel like a stupid teenager again; except this time I'm acting Inuyasha's part and he's acting out mine. Turnabout is fair play, huh?
He's already put his sleeping bag away, pushed it into the silver carrier bag, and has it resting against the screen. I pull it over and plop down on it, pulling out mouthwash and deodorant. Just because everybody else in this time smells doesn't mean I have to.
Yawning as I put my things away once again, I brace myself for the strength it will take to face Inuyasha again. Unfortunately, I can't run away home this time. We're too far away from the well and Kirara is back with Sango and Miroku. I guess it's about time that I learned to face things on my own.
Every major fight before this, as rare and in-between that they had been since the completion of the Shikon no Tama, I have had Sango with me or could go home to blow off steam. It isn't to say that Inuyasha and I hardly fought anymore, because we did. We fought a lot, probably just as much, if not more, than we did as teenagers. It's just that it's usually over menial and stupid things that push each other's buttons.
Now our fight has once again been tied to the world of the magic and mystery, a world that all of us never wanted to breach again.
Or maybe I did. Maybe I wanted to go back into that world to get a second chance, to gain the impossible. I open the shoji screen and stare out to the mountains in the West, where Sesshoumaru rules. The great, emerald mountains have fog around the peaks, everything so far away that it looks dull, gray wash over the tops. It's so calm, so unaware of the catalytic happenings of this morning. If only I could be like the mountains, strong and unbreakable, something that stands alone.
Sighing, I close the shoji screen behind me with a small click and walk down the wooden panels that make up the floor to the room where the inn serves breakfast. My socks make hardly a sound, like I'm some sort of ghost or something. Maybe I am a ghost, something that walks as a memory of what it used to be.
The scratches along my back burn lightly as I start to hear the voices of the other people. I pray that they'll pass my clothes off as the strange garb of a youkaitaijiya or some other person of the like. I hesitate when my hand touches the door, ready to slide it open, and take another deep breath before opening it.
Only those close to the door look up, probably seeing a young woman with a pale, beautiful face and perfectly groomed hair. Maybe there are dark circles under my eyes; I didn't bother checking in my small mirror. They only stare at me for a second, four men and one woman, before turning back to their food and conversation. I look for an empty spot, seeing Inuyasha with his bright red garb near the other door. I sit down across from him and take a bowl filled with warm, steaming food. My stomach growls.
Breakfast is extremely quiet for me, the low lacquered table of bamboo between us and the various other occupants chatting happily around us thousands and thousands of leagues away from my fast, weary mind. I hesitantly look up from my bowl of fried rice. Inuyasha is staring intently at his food, eating quickly and nearly inhaling it, a scowl set on his face. He's purposely trying to avoid my gaze.
Oh gods, it's gonna be one hell of a day.
The first thing I did when we set out was avoid Inuyasha's gaze. He helped out and ignored me, probably too angry to ask questions and pester me about the scratches and bruises that were beginning to form on my back. Obviously the hanyou Inuyasha was a very rough lover, and something about that made Bad Kagome grin like an idiot.
Then I checked myself. Not physically, mind you, because that would have brought up another set of nasty questions from my traveling companion. I did it spiritually.
I could have been wrong when I thought about my "alternate reality". It could be a curse (Bad Kagome swears me out and says that having that kind of sex could possibly not be a curse; Good Kagome claps her hand over her evil twin's mouth and nods vigorously) or an incubus could have wormed its way into my body.
It's neither. A curse has a distinctive feel to it, no matter how weak or powerful it is. There is nothing to cover up a curse really; it all depends on how powerful the person who was cursed is. I'm not weak in that aspect so I'd be able to feel a curse in the same way anybody else might be able to feel the sting of a bee. No amount of coverage on the curse would be able to hide it away.
An incubus is the same. My miko powers are too great for incubi to even think about creating a symbiotic relationship with me; as much as the sex orientated dreams scream incubus, I really don't think that's it. I'd be able to destroy the little bugger within a matter of seconds if I wanted to and they prefer weaker, younger prey, mostly people in their teens or extremely horny men. It just makes their job easier.
More ideas pop into my head but they are all more radical than the one before; mind control, potions slipped into my tea last night. It's probably either the alternate reality thing and is kicking in now because of the new discoveries with Inuyasha and Kikyou. Either that or I'm just going insane.
I choose the first option and hold onto it tightly.
The horse that I'm holding the reins of whinnies and bites my hair, chewing on it. I laugh lightly and pull away from it, stroking the coarse hair between its great, dumb brown eyes. It's a pretty gelding, the color of mahogany with white hair the color of stars. A patch of white covers its left eye and spreads down its neck.
Inuyasha and I rented the horses from a merchant with many other animals on his hands. As long as they returned safe and in fit condition, the merchant would just make us pay the second half of the rent. If we lost them or they somehow were killed (we didn't tell him of our destination for we might have not gotten the horses at all) then we would have to pay him for them. It was a fair trade, even if the price was a tad bit high.
It snorts and continues to sniff my hair, nuzzling my neck. My laugh is loud and makes Inuyasha turn around. His dark face does nothing to deter my suddenly light mood, even if it is mostly my fault. I'm not really in the frame of mind to feel guilty and brush it off. I'm still angry with him, but that doesn't mean the horse has to get the brunt of it. He growls (I can hear it from here; I've always wondered how he can still growl like that) and jumps onto his horse, a mare with speckles of white across her gray body.
I sigh, following his lead and stumbling up onto my horse, wondering how Inuyasha can make everything seem so graceful. He kicks the poor mare into a gallop and I follow once I gain my composure, holding the reins loosely. I learned to ride a horse after Inuyasha became human; Kaede taught me. It hurt the first few times because my rear-end really wasn't up to riding all day when I was used to getting piggyback rides. It was less smooth than Kirara's rolling gait or Inuyasha smooth "flying", but I finally learned to deal. After that horses became a treat and I learned to love them.
Later on I started training on horseback, using Miroku and Sango's sturdy mare Kuro. I can fire my arrows with amazing accuracy while the horse runs at full-speed and learned to fight atop them with my small dagger that's currently in my backpack. I usually only use it to cut up animals that Inuyasha and Miroku have caught for supper or to chop vegetables when we're on a demon extermination.
Miroku made it for me some years back and taught me how to keep it sharp and use it. I've gotten very good at handling it, but prefer my arrows. Hand to hand combat still makes me uneasy and I leave it up to the others. Still, it comes in handy and has proven its worth several times in the past.
My horse whinnies and I snap out of my daydreaming. Inuyasha has stopped and he's looking around, like he sees or hears something that I can't. Instantly, I spread my ki and search for evil energy, the cold chill of a youkai's energy signature. Every being has a signature; have you ever heard people saying something about their "bubble"? Well, it's like that. My ki, something like my spirit energy/life force, has been trained and is extremely strong. Others, people who don't use their spirit energy too often, and can't use it as well.
It's comparable to tracking something on radar. I can spread out my energy incredibly far (I think it's a five-mile radius or so) and sweep the area. Comes in handy when something wants to sneak up to you, and it's incredibly easy for me as well. It takes more energy and effort into putting up barriers, shields of pure energy, and making holy arrows. Really, any object can be used to focus my energy on, like the tip of a knife or the blade of a sword. It's just I prefer arrows.
However, I don't feel anything. Nothing around for miles and miles except some human activity towards the southeast, and their souls are relatively clean. The quiet of the forest hangs thickly in the summer air and I feel the leaves of the forest we're in toss about, some of them falling to the ground. Nothing, nothing, not one single thing…
"Kagome." Inuyasha barks. I jump lightly, but look towards him. Half of me is grateful for the fight to end (that might be Good Kagome wanting to make peace, seeing as Bad Kagome wants the spice of fighting to continue); talking is a good sign of temporary truce… until the unresolved issues comes up again. It's been like that for years. "Sense anything?"
"Nothing Inuyasha."
"Exactly." He says simply, unsheathing the Tetsusaiga halfway and glancing around. Then it hits me. A forest shouldn't be this dead silent; the hum of bugs should fill the air and the chatter of birds should fly overhead. All I can hear is my own heart pounding and the whisper of the wind in the trees…
I pull my horse towards Inuyasha, lets out a worried snort and shifts from hoof to hoof. Inuyasha's mare isn't much better off. Once I loop their reins together, quickly knotting them, I stand beside Inuyasha. "Let's move on." He says quietly, his whispered voice rough and husky. He sheathes the Tetsusaiga once again but keeps his hand on the hilt, standing to the side of his mare while I pull them, bound together, down the forest road.
Tension hangs thick in the air. Very few demons can escape my senses, and the ones we've had since then that weren't easy to defeat at all. One demon we chased around for three years, longer than we had Naraku, and it was especially good at using its ki. Most demons, even the lower class ones, use their ki for certain things, like being able to spit "ice" needles or breath "fire". I know that Sesshoumaru uses his ki to change himself into the Great Dog and Shippou uses it to produce his foxfire.
We walk silently along the path, and for almost an hour nothing happens. It's quite unnerving really; you're constantly being shocked when the horse steps on a stick and rush to kill something, but really there isn't anything. On several occasions I heard the slide of the Tetsusaiga running against its sheath.
Then… I felt it as we both heard it. It was a sound that probably shouldn't have been too familiar with me, but it was; it was the sound of someone dying.
I remember my first funeral. It was for my father, when I was eight and Souta was only two. I had cried and cried and cried, knowing that I would never see my dad again, but I didn't have a full grasp on death. I watched my mother tear at her hair and then cut it short. She has never let it grow back out again. At times I thought of cutting my hair and never letting it grow back, like when Grandfather died or Kaede died.
I didn't. That was reserved for someone else; for Sango, she would cut her hair if Miroku died, and I would cut my hair if Inuyasha died. He loves my long hair; he told me that one day when I was contemplating cutting it around my shoulders so that it wouldn't get in the way. Touched, I only gave it a trim and have never thought about changing it again.
Living for seven years without a single death that didn't affect me, I wasn't prepared for the fall down the well. It wasn't only the fact that I had landed somewhere far into the past that left me in shock for awhile and made me wonder for the first couple of days if I would just wake up and think that it was all a dream. Fortunately, it wasn't. How silly it would have been if I had fallen in love with someone that was literally in my dreams?
But then…
I saw death everyday. At first it shocked me to see demon carcasses littered here and there, blood the color of the night sky and the horrible, unseeing eyes, but after awhile you got used to it I guess. No one really gets used to the whole idea of that they're dead, but they were bad. They were only hurting people. They deserved to be dead. Yet… It still wasn't the same knowing that they were actually dead and never coming back.
Worse of all, for me at least, was seeing the humans. Now I'm only happy to put them to rest, appease their souls and all that other stuff, because I know what can happen if they don't. Kikyou was a restless soul, and so was Mayu from so long ago. Unrest in souls could lead to big problems and it was best to just nip it in the bud.
I was only fifteen when I saw my first slaughter. Skeletons and fresh bodies are very different from one another, I'll tell you. In the beginning I saw lots of skeletons. I could deal with it. I saw a man torn in half by Inuyasha's claws, but that was okay, since he was already dead and being controlled by a demon. I saw a live human killed by the blade of his leader, but it didn't bother me. He didn't have anything to look forward to and had no life. Best he die and come back as something better.
It was seeing the bodies of women and children and old men did me over. The first time, I remember, I broke down. I saw a mother trying to protect her child, but in vain. I saw an old woman pinned to the wall, her eyes lifeless and staring, as if to ask why I didn't save her. I had nightmares and still do, on occasion. Inuyasha had to drag me miles away from where we dug the graves and yell at me to get my mind off all the blood, all the death…
Remember, I was fifteen at the time, and fifteen-year-olds do not really like thinking about death, much less seeing it, especially when they come from a time when this kind of thing only happens in horror movies. You live to a ripe old age or die early because of a car crash, but you weren't torn limb from limb and then had your insides devoured by a monster. I felt young and helpless.
This was one of my motivating factors when I realized that Naraku was pretty much behind all this. Years ago, demons didn't really bother humans, and picked them off, one by one. They wouldn't go around and slaughter whole villages on purpose. To them we are their food and they could exhaust the food supply. Baaaaaaaaaa.
Now it was our job to fix what Naraku had broken. It wasn't just kill-the-bad-guy-and-live-happily-ever-after, but we had a job to do now that he was gone. Some things that he had done really rattled our world and not even I had a real grasp of what those types of things were, but the group decided just to start out small, exterminating demons and other youkai.
Inuyasha and I ran to the source and my senses picked up humans, lots of them, and a few demons, perhaps twenty or so as we traveled. It had been just outside of my range and when we came across the man who had screamed, possibly in his early thirties, leaning up against the tree and staining the grass a crimson red, he begged us to go to his village.
He died and I knew we didn't have time to give him a burial or anything, but maybe we would come back. Inuyasha ran over to our horses and undid the knot as I closed the dead man's eyes and whispered him a bit of good luck on his journey to the afterlife. The best we could do was to honor his final wishes.
It's horrible. It took us nearly fifteen minutes to get there and by that time we could see the smoke rising in billows over the disappearing tops of the trees, screams echoing in our ears. As soon as it came into view, Inuyasha snarled and kicked his horse once again, making it go faster which I didn't really think was possible. I could only try to follow and my gelding wants to prove its strength.
The fort walls, made of trees (the stumps surround us, a few of them in the process of being pulled up to clear the land for farming purposes), have been broken through by some great boulder, or as I can hear from the roars inside, a large demon's fist. We charge in and see the demons, seventeen in all, destroying houses, one of them a large fire breathing imitation dragon. Notching my arrows, I pull three back at once and fire them from my charging horse. The dragon goes down and more screams follow. Humans run around in so many directions it makes my head spin.
Inuyasha goes for the more idiotic, yet heroic looking, approach. Jumping from his mare's back and letting her turn around to run, he jumps onto the back of one of the demons and cuts the head off with a single, well aimed cut. I can hear the crunch of bones and the splatter of blood as the head falls and he jumps to another. Five fall swiftly to his sword.
We just make it look and sound easy. Ten years ago it would have taken a human Inuyasha quite awhile to destroy those five demons, but his strength as a human has only grown as he grew. So has mine. I notch more arrows and kill eight more before I'm knocked from my horse by a large, blue gorilla demon with scales instead of fur. It's eyes roll madly in their sockets, bloodshot. It reeks.
I reach down to the strap of leather around my thigh, pulling the small dagger from its brown sheath and focus a point of energy strong enough to kill the demon. I plunge it between the things, great, rolling eyes and its whole head is blasted away before it can swing its great, mighty arms at me.
Screams. Quickly I turn around, seeing a great, ugly youkai that was probably a breed of something between a toad and a snake. It's large tail slams down on the ground and it roars, the huge mouth full of razor sharp teeth as sharp as my knife glistening with spit. Disgusting. One hand is as large as my torso, reaching for a lump of screaming cloth and black hair. I run towards it, knowing my dagger will not do enough to kill it, and pull an arrow out of another carcass. Training with Sango all those years have paid off and I draw the arrow, the string taut.
As I release it a trail of white blue power follows, but a burst of white-hot light that makes circles dance across my vision follows along its arm, the huge bumps and scars disappearing beneath the wave of purification powers. It opens its mouth to scream in pain but my arrow lodges deep within its skull and that too disappears.
Pieces of the creature fall as I scoop the person, a young girl, into my arms. She's unconscious, and I can see why; the power that destroyed its arm was not from myself but from her and she barely looks to be ten-years-old. I cradle her to my chest and look to see Inuyasha ramming his sword into the final demon's face.
The girl pulses in my arms and moans.
Pulses? I tear my eyes away from Inuyasha and stare into her face, still running. Something about her is familiar I realize as she opens her dark woody eyes. Despite their color, I know that I have seen them before, and have for all my life, in mirrors, in ponds, in the reflection of metal. She has my eyes. She pulses again, a wave of power washing over me. It too is familiar power, as familiar as her eyes. A power that I haven't felt in almost a decade.
I can feel the power of the Shikon no Tama from within her body.
*takes a deep breath then…* SQUEEE!! I LOVE YOU PEOPLE!!! ALL OF YOU!!! WHEEE- *Bad Kagome takes a shoe, knocks the authoress unconscious, and turns to make commentary* The point she was trying to get to was that she can't believe how many people actually like her stories. Personally I think they should have more of me in them and not that prissy, good for nothing counterpart that I share a body with…