Golden Fire
Chapter 9: The New Moon

"Very well, Kagome. Are you ready to shoot a gun?" Yuki rested against a rock with her arms in slings. It was amazing how graceful she still looked.

I nodded vigorously. For the past three hours, she had been teaching me everything I could possibly need to know about the care, sighting and shooting of a gun. I felt like I had been firing a gun for years.

She closed her eyes. "See the rock at the other end of the clearing? Fire at that. Don't worry if you miss, there's nothing beyond it. And be careful of the gun's kick, it might startle you."

I lifted the gun and brought the rock in my sights. As I was about to pull the trigger, Yuki spoke again. Her eyes were still closed. "The safety is still on, Kagome."

I blushed and took off the safety. Taking aim again, I pulled the trigger. The force of the gun pushed me back and I yelped. My heart was beating very fast and I thanked the gods that it had a silencer, or it might have been a heart attack. How did Yuki make this look so easy?

A soft sound hit my ears. Yuki was laughing at me. And she was smiling. "Try again."

It took me a few seconds to get over the shock of her showing actual amusement. "Well, did I at least hit the rock?" I squinted and tried to see if I had chipped the rock.

She laughed again, although shorter and softer this time. "No, not even close, Kagome."

A few shots later and my arm hurt like Kagura had sent a few wind blades through it. I helped Yuki to her feet and we began to walk back to Kaede's hut.

"You were improving. It's too bad I don't have enough bullets to give you real practice. At least you know how to fire a gun now," she observed. "If anything happens to me again, however, I would stick with the purified arrows if I were you."

It was my turn to laugh. "I think that would be for the best."

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After sunset, I went out to find Inuyasha. He hadn't raised any objection when we told him that we would have to stay in the village for a couple days. As I had been eating dinner, I realized why. Tonight was the new moon. In a few minutes, Inuyasha would be turning into a human.

I circled the God Tree, looking up at where he usually spent his time. Frowning, I wished that I had a demon's sense of smell. Then I would be able to find him.

"Wench, how do you expect me to be in a tree without claws to climb it?"

Gasping, I turned to find him a few feet away. He could even sneak up on me as a human. It was annoying. However, as I watched him brush his now raven hair out of his eyes, I felt my annoyance wash away. He looked so vulnerable as a human, even though I knew he could still hold his own.

"Oh, hi, Inuyasha. I guess you aren't coming back to Kaede's tonight?"

He crossed his arms. "Of course not. Kouga and Sesshoumaru will be my enemies again after this is over and they can't know about this."

I frowned at him, but said nothing.

He smirked at me. "They might not be your enemies, but they are mine. So I hope you understand when I kill that wolf cub after I turn into a full demon." His face fell. "Unless you want to become that mutt's mate." His ears twitched.

"Oh really? Well, that's very kind of you, not killing Kouga and all." I closed my eyes and set my mouth. I didn't want him to realize how cute I thought he was, especially when he was jealous. No matter how much he loved Kikyo, I knew that he would always be protective of me. I was his shard hunter and therefore his avenue to becoming a full youkai. In a twisted way, I was important to him. My eyes snapped open. "Wait, what do you mean 'mate'?"

"You reek of Kouga," he answered. "When he hugged you a week ago, his scent imprinted on you. And again when you fought together today."

"I've taken a bath. Can you really still smell him on me?"

He snorted. "Of course I can. You'll smell like him until another male displays affection towards you. Or until you accept Kouga as your mate." He made a face. "Then, you'll smell like him all the time."

I stood up. "I'm not Kouga's mate! Not now, not ever! And you're stupid if you think I am!"

Inuyasha blinked at me. "Then why do you let him hug you and touch you like that?"

My face burned red. "There's no touching! He hugged me and that's it! No touching!" I breathed in and out a few times, trying to calm myself. When I spoke again, I kept my voice soft. "Even if there was more than hugging, can you blame me? He's kind to me and is actually open with his feelings." I almost bit out the last part.

Before I knew it, Inuyasha stood in front of me. "So you do care about him?" His hair was covering his eyes as he looked down at our feet.

I sighed. "Yes, Inuyasha. I care for Kouga. But only as a friend, nothing more." I smiled at the hanyou, even though he wasn't looking at me. "And you're my friend too. I just wish you two wouldn't fight."

He just grunted.

"Anyway, I should probably go and get Kikyo for you. I'm sure you'd rather spend tonight with her." My smile was gone now. But what was I supposed to do? Admit my undying love to him? Anyway, he found out that I cared about him the day I saw him with Kikyo so many years ago. Wow, it really had been three years. I was almost eighteen. Eighteen and still without any type of normal teen romance. I shook myself and tried to concentrate on what Inuyasha was saying.

"No. I told you already, I don't want other people knowing about me being human." He sat back down.

"Okay, well," I paused as his words hit me. "Wait, you mean Kikyo doesn't know about you turning human during the new moon?"

"Feh." He turned his head away. "The only reason you know is because we got attacked that night and I had to defend you and Shippou. And then that brat told Miroku and Sango. No one else can know. It's my weakness and I have to deal with it, okay?"

I moved next to him. "You aren't weak. I mean, you defended me and Shippou against a really powerful spider demon as a human. That's hardly weak." I put my hand on his shoulder lightly. For once, he didn't push it away. "Besides, it's nice to know that the big, scary Inuyasha can be really human for once."

"Hey," he protested, even though there wasn't any anger behind it, "I can be human without actually being human."

"Are you pouting, Inuyasha?"

"Of course not!" He immediately wiped away his look to replace it with something more 'demonic'.

I slowly stopped laughing, and we sat in silence. After about five minutes, I looked over at him. "Inuyasha?"

"What?"

"Do I really smell like Kouga?" It was amazing how interesting the grass became at that moment.

"Feh. What do you expect, wench? You let him touch you."

"Hug! Only hug!" I paused and calmed down. "And I didn't know that that was how it worked with youkai."

"Well, now you do."

I hesitated, not believing the thought that just crossed my mind. Oh well. You only live once. I leaned over and hugged the hanyou. He stiffened immediately and I glanced up at him. "Oh stop it, Inuyasha. You can't stand being near me with Kouga's scent on me, so I'm changing that. It doesn't mean anything."

"Yeah," he murmured. "Okay." He put his arm around my shoulders. "As long as no one's around to get any funny ideas about us."

I yawned. "No one's here. And anyone who actually knows us, wouldn't get any funny ideas, Inuyasha." I realized with a pang to my heart how true that was.

I fell asleep on his shoulder, knowing in my heart that he imagined that Kikyo was in my place.

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Needless to say, Inuyasha and I didn't mention the incident in the forest again. However, I noticed that Kouga frowned a lot around me, especially when I avoided his attempts to "imprint" his scent on me again.

Almost before we got a decent rest, Yuki was doing handsprings and declaring herself fit to travel.

"Good," said Inuyasha, "it's about time we moved on. How long will it take to get to the mountains?"

"About a week," answered Sesshoumaru. "On the way, we can discuss how to conceal ourselves in order to steal the Orb."

"Disguises? Stealing?" scoffed Inuyasha. "That doesn't sound like you, Sesshoumaru."

The youkai lord glared at his little brother. "You would understand if you had ever met Lord Yama and his sizeable army." He and Yuki shared a look. That was the second time I had noticed that. Inuyasha noticed too.

"I saw that look, Sesshoumaru. What's going on? What do you and Yuki know that the rest of us doesn't?"

"This Sesshoumaru does not see the purpose of telling you what is clearly a personal matter." His arms were crossed and I noticed that his left arm had completely healed.

I stared at him for a second. No wonder Rin talked about herself in the third person. It was a miracle Inuyasha didn't do it too. "Fine," I answered. "Let's go. But I'm telling you, it's hard to keep secrets in this group."

"That, miko, is painfully clear."

Kikyo came up to us then. "Are we ready to go then?" A few of the wolf clan turned to go, but the rest watched a little girl run up to the Lord of the Western Lands and attach herself to his leg.

"Sesshoumaru-sama! Bring Rin with you!" She was crying.

And then I witnessed one of the most amazing things. Sesshoumaru crouched down and patted Rin's head affectionately. "I will be back as soon as I can, Rin. I promise. And I, Sesshoumaru, never break my promises. Go play with the miko's brother. And obey her mother and the old humans as you would obey me."

She smiled up at him with slightly red eyes. "Yes, Sesshoumaru-sama!" She hugged his leg once more and ran back to my mother and Souta. I was in shock at Sesshoumaru's kindness. That little girl created a real soft spot in his heart. And she was a human.

I waved to my family, Kaede and Rin. Souta had concern plastered on his face, so I gave him an encouraging smile.

After all, we were off to save the world.