AN: Yes, exams are over! I have three days before the hands of fate fall on me again. But I don't want to think about school or studying…well here's the next chapter. Some of you noticed that I'm hinting at something, but believe me it'll be very obvious after the next few chapters. This is a sort of tie-in chapter, nothing crucial happens in here, but that's probably because I wrote it while thinking of how to write my English essay and how to find the length of a building when the angle of depression is…blah, no more! Anyway enjoy this chapter. Next chapter—a little fluffy moment between the two, but not an all out WAFF fest. Tah!
Take Me Home
Mrs. Higurashi was in tears when she got to the hospital. "Where is she?" she asked the front desk frantically. Grandpa was right behind her. They'd rushed to the hospital as soon as they could, as soon as they got Myouga's phone call. "Where is my daughter?"
"Who is your daughter, ma'am?" the nurse behind the desk asked politely, but all too slowly.
"Kagome Higurashi. She must have come in a few minutes ago. Please, just tell me where she is!"
In a few agitated minutes the nurse had given Mrs. Higurashi directions to the emergency room. Mrs. Higurashi ran like an Olympic sprinter towards the room, Grandpa close at her heels. In the room, there was a line of beds, all covered by curtains. Most of the beds were empty. She scanned inside each enclosure carefully for a sign of her daughter.
In the far end, someone was saying, "Hey, Kagome, does it hurt if I do this—?"
"Arrgh! Miroku! I've already told you it freakin' hurts! You just want to get closer to my butt, that's all!" The girl's voice was unmistakable. Mrs. Higurashi ran towards the end of the room and ripped open the curtains.
"Kagome!" Tears spilling out of her eyes, Kagome's mother rushed in and enveloped Kagome in a hug. It wasn't until five seconds later that she realized the whimpers coming from her daughter were not sounds of joy. Quickly she drew back and gasped as she saw Kagome's injuries for the first time. That bone-crushing hug she'd given probably didn't help much. "Oh my god, Kagome, who did this to you?"
Kagome's gaze traveled to where Inu-Yasha was sitting. Mrs. Higurashi followed her gaze. "You! Young man!" Inu-Yasha looked up, startled. "You did this to my daughter? How dare you! You're going to pay for that, look at how much pain she's in!" She swooped down on Inu-Yasha, who threw a terrified glance at Kagome before Mrs. Higurashi blocked his view with an angry face and lecture.
"Mom!" Kagome called out. "Mom, he didn't do this to me. You're jumping to conclusions. In fact, he's the one who saved me. As much as I hate to admit," she added under her breath. "In fact, no one did this to me."
Mrs. Higurashi stopped yelling at Inu-Yasha. "Then how did you get all those horrible injuries?"
Her daughter forced a laugh. "It would be funny, if it weren't so painful. While I was trying to beat Yura, I tripped and rolled down the hill. That's all."
"That's all?" her mother repeated. "Kagome, look at these injuries! They're quite serious! Sprained ankle, bruises, cuts, a black eye…"
'So I ran into a tree," Kagome shrugged, looking down. Miroku coughed.
Mrs. Higurashi began to tear up again. "How can you sound so casual? When I received the call from Myouga, I didn't know what to expect. Especially after Souta…"
"I know, Mom," Kagome interrupted. "But I'm okay. Really." She saw Mrs. Higurashi's face and laughed weakly. "Mom, you look horrible! Why don't you go to the bathroom and fix yourself up? There's also a coffee machine outside…don't worry, Myouga's talking with the doctor now." Her voice suddenly caught on something, and she couldn't talk anymore. She flashed her mother a wavery smile.
Mrs. Higurashi smiled back. "Okay, if you're so sure…" She gestured for Grandpa to follow her, and he did, after giving Kagome an encouraging smile. They left the emergency room, shoulders drooped in obvious relief.
Miroku had noticed Kagome's voice catch. "Kagome? What's wrong?"
A tear rolled down Kagome's cheek. "Why is he doing this to me?" she whispered, burying her face in her hands. Miroku sent a helpless look at Inu-Yasha. The vampire hunter stood up and left the cubicle, and Miroku followed.
Outside, Inu-Yasha muttered in a low voice, "Yesterday she found out who her black-haired vampire. His name is Naraku, and he's only one of the most powerful vampires. I think her fear of him goes deeper than what she'd show, because when I saw her last night after she encountered him she practically couldn't move. And she's been told Souta's alive, and she was attacked by Naraku's vampires yesterday…she can only take so much before breaking down."
"Aren't you the concerned one," Miroku said slyly.
"She isn't as strong as she thinks," Inu-Yasha continued, pretending he hadn't heard. "I think she expects too much from herself to live up to Kikyo's expectations."
"So you're saying she doesn't have the strength to avenge Kikyo?"
From inside the cubicle came a very irritated, very stuffed-up voice, "You know, curtains aren't exactly soundproof, so if you're going to talk about how weak I am, do it somewhere more private!"
"Sorry!" Miroku called in. Inu-Yasha shrugged.
The door to another emergency room opened and the doctor walked in, flanked by Myouga. He saw Inu-Yasha and Miroku standing outside, and asked, "Why are you out there?"
"Oh, we're respecting Kagome's privacy and leaving her to blubber alone," Inu-Yasha replied. "Poor girl's been through quite a shock, after all."
"Such pretty teeth, Inu-Yasha," Kagome said calmly through the curtains. "Keep smiling while you have them. And I'm done blubbering. What's up, Myouga?"
"Is her mother here?" Myouga asked the two boys. They nodded. Myouga handed Miroku a manila envelope. "Go and give this to her mother. Tell her it's Kagome's medical report, and the doctor's waiting for her in the office." Miroku left the emergency room.
Inu-Yasha and Myouga slipped through the curtains again, and met Kagome's dry-eyed but red-rimmed stare. "You have any tweezers?" she asked, holding up her fingers. "I might be all bandaged up like a mummy but my hands still look like cacti—and feel a lot worse."
"Unfortunately we don't have emergency tweezing needs like girls, so we don't exactly carry them around," Inu-Yasha replied. Kagome scowled. "But I'll look around for them," Inu-Yasha added quickly. He began to browse the trays and shelves in the little cubicle.
Myouga sat down on the stool beside Kagome's bed. "Kagome, you really are like Kikyo," he said, shaking his head.
Kagome lifted an eyebrow. "I'm sorry, am I supposed to be shocked?"
"You attract the attention of the highest class vampires, just like she did," Myouga explained. "Do you know how much power Naraku holds?"
"Well, he gave his minions enough power for them to walk around in the sunlight," Kagome mused. "And his bite really hurt. I' m guessing pretty strong? The only elite vampires I've concerned myself with so far are the Inu-kai."
Inu-Yasha sat down on Kagome's other side. "Found the tweezers," he said shortly. Kagome gratefully reached for them, but her fingers, sore and gnarled from clutching so many pieces of wood, dealt with the tiny instrument clumsily. Inu-Yasha let out a loud sigh. "One fight and you're as weak as spaghetti," he muttered. Kagome rolled her eyes, then made a sound of protest as Inu-Yasha yanked the tweezers from her hand. She blushed as he reached for one of her hands and began searching for splinters, gently removing them from her fingertips.
"Being Kikyo's partner, I knew a lot about the vampires who were interested in her. She was very beautiful, and had so much power that vampires lusted after her. In fact, near the end of her career, there was a rumor circulating among the other slayers about one vampire striking her fancy…I've denied them, of course, they couldn't be true…"
"Ouch!" Kagome yelled. "Inu-Yasha, most splinters are near the skin level, not six feet under!"
"If you can call some of these things splinters," Inu-Yasha shot back. "They're more like miniature stakes of wood." He was glaring down at her hand like he was mad at the splinters or something. Kagome grumbled inwardly to herself.
Miroku walked in, a cup of hot chocolate in his hand. "Your mom and grandpa are with the doctor," he told Kagome. "From the sound of that medical bill, looks like you aren't going to university any time soon." He set the hot chocolate down on the table beside her.
"So what else about Kikyo and her vampire?" Kagome asked interestedly.
"Well, Kaede is Kikyo's sister, she would confide in her more than I. The rumors say it was a doomed love…well she died, didn't she? But like I said, they're just rumors. Any vampire who would actually approach Kikyo for love would be very brave—or very suicidal."
"Ow!" Kagome cried again. "Inu-Yasha, my hand is going to look like a sieve once you're done with it!" With her free hand she plucked the tweezers from his hand. She gave them to Miroku, who looked at it, then bowed. "As you wish, master," he said seriously.
Inu-Yasha stood up, face dark. "Whatever. I'm going." He walked to the curtains and yanked them open. "Hey, Myouga, come out here. I wanna ask you something." Myouga lifted his shoulders and followed Inu-Yasha out of the cubicle, shutting the curtains behind him. Their footsteps faded down the room.
"Are you sure Kagome can do this?" Inu-Yasha asked while they walked. "I mean, I've seen her in training, and she's pretty good, but if she took a beating this bad with Naraku's vampires, then how is she going to face the high class ones? You told me she was strong."
Myouga put a finger to his chin. "Even the best of the vampire hunters will have trouble when they are outnumbered and without their weapon. That is, after all, how Kikyo met her end. She'll have to carry a collapsible bow from now on, I suppose.
"Indeed, she is strong, but I think this vampire has paralyzed her more than she knows. He's bitten her twice, once when she was a little kid. He also has her little brother…it was a lot for a little girl to handle. She had nightmares for a month after the incident. Kaede made her drink some herb—probably some less concentrated form of this evil stuff she calls tea—that made her forget. Against other vampires she's almost as good as Kikyo, but this vampire might be her one weakness." Myouga sighed. "I'm wondering whether to put our search for the castle on hold and find this vampire or to continue with the search."
His student cut in. "Continue searching for the castle. Kagome said that she wanted to deal with the vampire on her own."
"Hmm…for six years she's been molded to become just like Kikyo. She learned her skills and gained her power. Kikyo's pride has apparently also found its way to Kagome. However, Kagome is still learning. She has her weak moments."
"She looks just like Kikyo, too…" Inu-Yasha muttered under his breath.
Myouga looked over at him. "What was that?"
"No, nothing. I saw Kikyo's picture on the wall and noticed how identical they are."
"But they are also different. Kikyo did everything coolly and stonily. You felt no emotion coming from her. She smiles, but it would be rare if she laughed. With Kagome, it would be rare if she didn't. Kikyo was flawless in her fights—except for the last. Kagome has been driven by anger, against the Inu-kai and against her own vampire. Her fighting is more passionate, but she will make more mistakes." He let silence pass before continuing. "Inu-Yasha, you must protect her."
The younger man jerked up, eyes flashing. "Me? Protect her? She can protect herself! I thought I was going to help overthrow the Inu-kai, not act as a bodyguard!"
Myouga winced. "Sometimes Kagome doesn't know how vulnerable she is, Inu-Yasha. You have to watch her."
"Vulnerable my ass," Inu-Yasha scoffed. "You know what she did to me on my second day of school?—"
"Knowing Kagome, it must have been unpleasant, so spare me the details," Myouga interrupted. "Just watch her. I'm not asking you to be her bodyguard or to be so openly obvious about it, since she'd kill us if she found out. Even if you two don't get along…do you?"
Inu-Yasha shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "Well, we still fight, but no open hatred," he admitted, gold eyes cast down on the floor
"Yes. Well, even if you don't like each other, just look after her. I don't want something like this to happen again. It brings back too many memories of Kikyo…" Myouga shook his head and began walking away, looking slightly lost.
His student was still staring at the ground. "I'm sure it does," he replied to himself. "But you don't know the half of it."
* * *
By the next day, Kagome was out of the hospital in crutches. Two and a half weeks after that (a time in which she was fiercely—and discreetly—guarded by some vampire hunters in the area) she was off the crutches and most of her injuries had healed. Now she carried her collapsible silver bow along with silver tipped arrows in a small duffel bag that she carried everywhere. Inu-Yasha carried his Tetsusaiga in a long narrow kendo sword bag.
Miroku lay on the grassy slope beside the school track. Shades covered his eyes, and a little radio blasting out cheerful J-pop tunes sat beside him. On his stomach was an open bag of chips, which he often dipped his hand into.
The sun shone down on him, and the ground felt warm under him. Ah, bliss… The day was so peaceful, he could almost fall asleep…
"Aaaaaaggh!" Thud.
Miroku groaned inwardly to himself and slowly rose into a sitting position. He very deliberately lifted his sunglasses and rested them on top of his head. "Kagome, must you be so loud?" he called down towards the track.
Kagome was flat on the ground, her face buried in the rubber track. She had removed her crutches the previous day and had bugged Inu-Yasha and Miroku to help her get the use of her legs back. Obviously she should have started walking first, because she was tripping every other minute.
Inu-Yasha lifted his eyes to the heavens with a why me? expression on his face and jogged backwards to the fallen Kagome. "I told you to pace yourself and go slower," he reprimanded her as he helped her to her feet. "But no, you just had to try and race me."
"It's in my blood," she growled. "And how am I supposed to pace while you zoom off a hundred meters ahead of me, huh?" She brushed off dust from her shorts. "Hmph. Forget it. Sometimes I wonder if you're doing this on purpose." She stormed towards the grassy hill with a very slight limp.
He stared after her innocently. "How am I doing this on purpose?"
"Back so soon?" Miroku asked, an elbow casually propped up on one knee. "And Kagome, I thought you were training, not collecting track samples with your teeth." Behind her, Inu-Yasha snickered. She gave him a hard nudge with her elbow.
She sat down next to Miroku and started undoing the tight strap around her healing ankle. "I'm done for today. Inu-Yasha can torment me some other time." She threw the strap in her duffel bag and stood up. "Coming, Miroku?"
Her best friend shook his head. "I've got a date with that girl who needed help when we were jogging. So many things keep happening to you, Kagome, so I keep putting it off with her."
Kagome placed her hand over her heart. "That's so sweet, I think I'm going to cry," she said with as much sarcasm as possible.
"I'll walk you home," Inu-Yasha offered casually.
She rolled her eyes. "Right, because it's on the way to your house."
Inu-Yasha looked annoyed. "No, I'll walk you home because I want to. And because you can never go anywhere without being attacked these days," he added quickly at her incredulous look. "Myouga would never forgive me if I get you get all hacked up again—"
"You said because you wanted to," Kagome said slowly, like she couldn't believe it. "And only a few weeks ago you said, and I quote, 'Like I'd ever walk someone like you home.'"
"I'm a witness!" Miroku called out. "I think your personality is rubbing off on him, Kagome. Who knows, you might actually get through a day without snapping at each other's throats." Grinning widely, he slipped his shades back on and settled back down on the grass.
The two vampire hunters started off in the direction of their homes. They walked at a slow, leisurely pace, partially because if they went any faster Kagome was sure to trip. (At least that's what Inu-Yasha thought.)
Occasionally their arms would bump, but they were so used to each other's presence that they barely noticed it. For almost a month already they spent most of their days together, what with school and vampire training.
Barely a day in her life and Inu-Yasha already knew what she'd been doing for the past ten years. It had taken her much longer to decide to tell Miroku about it. Kagome thought about it as they neared her house. She already knew Inu-Yasha's bark was worse than his bite—most of the comebacks and teasing they did to each other was mostly habit. And even after she'd tricked him into going to the girl's locker room and pushed him down the hill, he still saved her twice from the black-haired vampire, Naraku. It took a man with a lot of patience—or some evil ulterior motive—to do that.
As Kagome mused over the better qualities of Inu-Yasha her legs hit something and she fell forward, her legs tangled. All she could do was yelp before her knees scraped the ground. It wasn't until she hit hard gravel that she realized the thing that tripped her was long, lean, and had a training shoe attached on the end of it.
She looked up to see Inu-Yasha's amused face. All thoughts about his kindness and valor vanished. Kagome growled as she got to her feet. "You'd better have a good excuse, Inu-Yasha, or that telephone pole's going to have your face prints on it soon."
"We're at your home, moron." Inu-Yasha jerked his thumb to the right. Kagome saw that they were indeed at the shrine. She reddened.
Inu-Yasha shook his head and started walking away. After a few minutes… "Hey, Inu-Yasha!" He stopped when he heard his name. He turned around and saw Kagome smiling almost tentatively. "I don't think I remembered thanking you for…y'know, saving me," she said. "I would have been screwed back there—or worse, married off to Naraku."
He shrugged. "No prob." Swinging his duffel bag over his shoulder, he continued walking. "Tomorrow's a weekend—think you can stay out of trouble for a few days, little Kagome-chan?"
"Argh! I hate it when you do that!" In an action that attempted to prove her maturity, Kagome stuck her tongue out at the retreating figure. Then she stormed into the shrine.
Inu-Yasha just laughed, then wondered how many times her antics had made him smile. This was the girl he'd sworn to stay away from. And yet it looked like that wasn't going to happen.
* * *
Naraku sat in his throne like a king, his fist resting on his knee, his chin on his fist. By now Kagome should have been in his arms, as his bride, as his queen.
She'd grown wonderfully since the first time he saw her—he knew she would look like Kikyo, he'd had the resemblance even during her childhood. And something in her eyes—some defiance, or strength—had made him look at her twice.
Kagome would still be his. Although her powers had surprised him at first, she was no match for Naraku. Oh, maybe if she hadn't known him then she would've put up a good fight. But his presence frightened her, and he knew it. He paralyzed her, and as long as he kept the fear going, and as long as he still had Souta, he would always be stronger.
It was time to try again. Souta needed a companion—he himself needed a companion. Naraku snapped his fingers, and instantly two vampires appeared.
"Yes master?" they asked, getting down on their knees.
"You incompetent fools better not mess up this time," Naraku said in a bored tone. "I don't care if Inu-Yasha's there, you bring me Kagome. You better not laze around…two weeks ago you could have had her, but you waited for Inu-Yasha to come and save her. Soon I will send you scour the city for her, and capture her. Fight her if necessary. You should be ready any time I summon you." They bowed. "What are you waiting for? Get out of here." They bowed again and vanished.
How could he get rid of Inu-Yasha? Naraku settled back in his chair and thought. Then the idea hit him, and a small smile touched his face. Somewhere in the castle Souta cried out for Kagome.
Naraku stood up. It was important for Inu-Yasha to step out of the picture, and he knew just how. "I fear Inu-Yasha will get closer to her heart before I do," he murmured softly. "Why not? He's done it before."
But not this time. No, Inu-Yasha would never get that second chance.
