AN: Okay, this chapter might seem a bit weird in the beginning, because I had a cold when I wrote it, and I was a wee bit delirious, hee hee. Uhm, to Silver Dragon 2488, Inu-Yasha isn't just your average Joe, and he's not a youkai either. He's like Kagome, a vampire hunter. And to Final Spirit, thanx for the idea, but I've got big plans for Miroku *evil chuckle*. He'll have his own chance to play hero when Sango's in the story (which isn't for another few chapters). And about those good vampires…we'll see. Man, I'm glad Kagome and Inu-Yasha are buddies now! *Phew* It was really hard making them be friends first. Enjoy this chapter (which I kinda like, for some weird reason. Maybe it's the ending.)
Porcelain Memories
Kagome fitted an arrow into her steel bow, not her collapsible one, and aimed at the figure rushing towards her. She calmly released the arrow, letting it slice the air and pierce her opponent's chest.
The figure reeled back, gasping. Wide golden eyes raised to meet her cold brown ones. With a choke, he fell backward onto the ground, the arrow exactly perpendicular to the floor.
"Kagome…why? Why did you kill me?" Inu-Yasha whispered, then groaned and closed his eyes.
Kagome rolled her eyes and walked over to him. She bent over his limp, moaning form and plucked out the suctioned-tipped arrow that had flown into Inu-Yasha's chest guard. "You're such a doofus sometimes," she said, bonking him on the head with it.
"Your heart…is as cold as ice…" Inu-Yasha rolled over so he was facedown on the ground. "Just leave me to die, traitor."
She stood there for awhile, gazing down at the motionless figure. Then she reached behind her and felt for an arrow tip that wasn't rubber. When she located a silver arrow, she fitted it to her arrow and aimed it straight at Inu-Yasha.
"Hey, Inu-Yasha! Smile!"
He turned around to look at her. "Aaagggh!" He scrambled to his feet, trying to run out of the way. Kagome kept her arrow pointed at him as he ran around Myouga's dojo, yelling he was sorry. Then, when he was near the door, and knowing he would dodge it easily, Kagome snickered evilly and loosed the arrow.
It soared through the air and as expected Inu-Yasha ducked. It flew through the open door and out of sight. A few seconds later came a bloodcurdling scream. Then a thud. Then nothing.
The color flowed out of Kagome's face. Inu-Yasha too looked shocked. "Oh my god, Kagome, you hit someone," he whispered.
"You don't say!" she shrieked. "Oh my god, I hit someone! Inu-Yasha you have to hide me—"
"No! This is your crime! I am a witness!" He tried to fight off Kagome as she ran to hide behind him. "No! No! You'll make things look fishy! Leave me be, woman!"
"What's going on here?" Miroku demanded, poking his head into the room. Kagome took one look at him and screamed as loud as she could, the walls trembling with the volume. There was an arrow that had gone straight through his forehead. She sank slowly to the ground, her arms still clinging around Inu-Yasha's legs.
Miroku grinned as his best friend seemed to be having a heart attack right there on the dojo floor. "Oh, hey, Kagome. Like my new hat?" He grabbed the tail of the arrow and lifted it off his head. He'd done one of the oldest pranks in the book—the bent arrow-went-through-my-head prank.
Inu-Yasha laughed as Miroku bowed, saying thank you, thank you very much Elvis Presley style. "Hah hah, I knew that was a joke," he snickered.
"Sure, which is why you're trembling like a leaf," Kagome said snippily. They all looked down and saw Inu-Yasha's knees quivering. "Miroku! That was not funny. Where'd my other arrow go?"
"Hit the wall a few feet down. It was the right timing, though, since I'd just been to the joke shop to buy my new headgear. But that scream was real—your arrow wasn't too far off my nose," Miroku said, slipping his headgear back on.
Kagome stood up and hit Inu-Yasha's shoulder. "Inu-Yasha. Go get it."
"What? Why me?"
"Because you started it. Go get it."
"I did not—" But Kagome shoved him and he stumbled out the door. "Fine," he grumbled, stomping off in search for an arrow on the wall.
"Kagome, I've got some more arrows I've sharpened," Myouga called out, entering the dojo. Kaede followed, also holding a tied up cluster of arrows. When she saw Miroku, she screamed and dropped them.
"It's fake, it's fake!" Miroku said hurriedly, quickly removing the fake arrow as evidence. "I'm sorry, please don't get a heart attack!"
"How old do you think I am?" Kaede snapped, a hand over her heaving heart. "You just gave me a damn good scare…" Kagome looked slightly startled to hear Kaede swear, but then nothing was going right today anyway.
"How's the training going?" Myouga asked Kagome, handed over his arrows.
She shrugged. "Inu-Yasha seems to be allergic to suction-cupped arrows…we'll have to use the regular ones from now on." Myouga looked confused, then dismissed it as Kagome chuckled evilly. It was just the normal rivalry…hopefully.
From outside a loud, "Ow!" rang through the hall. Kagome rushed outside, wanting to see what sort of accident had happened this time.
Inu-Yasha was standing across the arrow, clutching his hand like something had burned him. Kagome ran up beside him. "What happened?" He glared down at her. "Nothing." Kagome grabbed his hand and tilted it upwards. Across the backs of his fingers a red welt was forming. "Okay, so the arrow tip was a bit sharp, and I grabbed too tightly."
"Why'd you grab the tip, silly?" Kagome reached over and pulled on the handle. "Oh, I see, it's wedged in deep." Her fingers worked at the metal tip and she twisted the arrow back and forth to dislodge it.
Myouga peered curiously at Inu-Yasha's wound. "Strange how it's not bleeding if it were sharp," he mused to himself. Inu-Yasha saw Myouga looking and quickly stuffed his hand into his pocket. "I have to go," he said. "We can continue training next time."
Kagome put her hands on her hips. "Go?" she repeated. "We've barely even started."
"Look, I have to start packing for my soccer camp retreat," Inu-Yasha said. After the varsity competition, it was tradition for the teams to go on weekend retreats and play their sport and reflect on the competition. Kagome wasn't going on hers because she was to start training with some of the other vampire hunters.
"Since when do guys need an entire day to pack?" Kagome demanded, following him as he walked down the hall towards the door. Inu-Yasha didn't answer her.
Myouga frowned thoughtfully. Then he reached over to a little table that held picture frames and other sorts of trinkets (Kaede loved them) and picked up a little silver cat figurine. "Hey, Inu-Yasha, put this on that table beside the door before you leave, will you?" And he threw the cat in the air.
Out of reflex Inu-Yasha caught it. Immediately after he yelped in pain and practically threw the cat onto the table. He looked up and saw everyone's confused faces. "Heh heh…Myouga you've got a strong throw…really should consider pitching for baseball or something…gotta rush!" Quickly he opened the door and slipped through it.
"Honestly!" Kagome muttered, turning to head back into the dojo room. "You know, his behavior was strange…as if he were hiding something…"
Myouga's gaze slid sideways to Kagome, to see if she'd noticed it as well.
She snapped her fingers. "Hah! I know! I bet he didn't even need to pack! I bet he's got a date with one of those dumb cheerleaders! Well, he'll get the stuffing beat outta him when he comes back here…"
Her master shook his head and pushed Kagome to keep walking. Besides, it was only a suspicion, and Kagome had proved what could happen when you acted on a suspicion.
* * *
Kagome was nervous, but she wasn't going to admit it out loud. It was Friday night, the first day of her training session with Myouga's partners. It wasn't so much a training session as it was an evaluation period. The others wanted to see the girl Myouga had boasted of, to replace Kikyo and attain her revenge. They wanted to know if she could really live up to such a reputation.
Unlike Myouga and Kaede's simple house and dojo, his vampire hunter friends lived in grand mansions just at the edge of the city. Kagome wondered where they got their money, unless they looted the vaults of the vampires they killed. It was already becoming dark—soft rain fell, sending little rivers rushing down the huge window panes.
She was sitting in a large room like an office, in a chair. Myouga was sitting on a sofa with a tall woman with short brown hair. The way her cool eyes studied Kagome made even more squeamish—this woman looked like she'd have no problem killing vampires that ambushed her while she was running cross-country.
Standing behind the sofa was a tall (why were they all tall?!) grinning man with blue hair. It was spiked up like the bracelets and necklace he wore. He looked like a punk rocker, but Kagome knew his silver spikes served another purpose—no vampire could strangle him or hold him down for long without getting skewered and burned at the same time.
If she had to go up against these two, she was retiring and letting Inu-Yasha take care of the revenge stuff.
"Are you going to eat?" the sudden voice of the brown haired woman made Kagome jump. She looked down at the coffee table, where there were trays of cakes and other pastries. Her stomach did a flip. "No, thanks, I'm not hungry," she replied.
"Then shall we begin?"
"Actually I'm famished," Kagome said without missing a beat. She grabbed a slice of chocolate cake and forced herself to nibble at it.
The blue-haired man laughed heartily. "You don't have to look so scared, you know. We only want to see your level of fighting." But the expression in his light eyes said otherwise—the worry that Kagome would not be able to overcome her fear and fight.
Easier said than done, Kagome thought, scowling. Silence in the room settled again. It seemed to be biting into her shoulders. Finally she asked, "So what are your names?"
"Oh, forgive us," the woman said, and cracked the first smile Kagome had seen out of her. "I'm known as Falcon. He is Takada. In the vampire world he's known as the Blue Lightning, but we would never call him anything that corny."
"And sometimes my hair's pink," Takada added. The goofy grin that followed would have made Kagome smile, if the crumbs of chocolate cake she'd nibbled weren't threatening to come out the way they came in.
What the hell, Kagome, just get it over with, you've trained for six years, you can't be that bad, she told herself, swallowing nervously. And how can you fight the Inu-kai if you can't even fight these two? "I'm done," she said, and her stomach objected with a violent lurch. "Let's get this over with."
"That's the spirit!" Takada cheered. "Come on, let's go to the training room, it's already been set up." He walked over to her, grabbed her arm, and began pulling her to towards the door.
As Kagome very unwillingly followed, she heard Falcon say to Myouga softly behind her, "From what I've seen of Kikyo's pictures, she does resemble the legend amazingly. Physically, at least."
"You'll see. She's been granted the power. She'll complete Kikyo's job," Myouga said confidently.
Kagome closed her eyes. And reclaim Souta, too. And kick Naraku's ass. God, how did Kikyo manage it?
* * *
Their training room was just as big as Myouga's dojo. On one side of the wall was a sword rack, full of blades of different sizes and styles. Maces and axes hung on large hooks on another wall, and there were chains with spiked ball tips casually draped across the room.
Suddenly Kagome felt like she'd entered a battlefield carrying one of those tiny water pistols. She looked down at her steel bow, thought of the suction-tipped arrows strapped to her back, and knew she was dead.
She walked to the center of the room, still absorbing her surroundings. Then she looked back to the door, where the three adults were gathered. "So, which of you am I facing first?"
Takada was just wrapping a strip of white cloth over his fists. Falcon was examining a blade. "Guys?" Kagome asked again. Takada and Falcon looked at each other, and at the same time ran towards Kagome with lightning speed.
They crossed to her in the blink of an eye, and Kagome barely had time to lift her bow in defense as Falcon brought her sword down. The force of the sword made Kagome's arms quiver. As her arms were up, Takada ducked under Falcon and thrust his leg out. In the nick of time Kagome pushed herself away from the two, and flipped backwards.
Oh my god, they're attacking me at the same time! For a brief moment Kagome allowed panic to rush through her. During that moment, Falcon slapped her face with the flat end of her blade. Two parallel slits glowed red against her cheek, where the sharp ends had pressed. Kagome moved backwards again and forced the panic down. Be calm, like Kikyo…they are the enemy…they're hurting you, for god's sake. Quickly Kagome grabbed an arrow and loosed it at Falcon. The woman knocked it away with her sword.
Takada suddenly appeared and threw a punch. Kagome ducked and kicked at his stomach. It felt hard as rock, and he only took a few steps backward. Pretend they are Naraku…she kept telling herself as she blocked his fist with her bow. Pretend they're Inu-kai…pretend they're coming after your brother…
Her eyes blazed. Falcon rushed towards her, sword outstretched. Kagome jumped over the blade as it swung sideways and rushed towards Takada. She threw her steel bow over his shoulders, so that his arms were momentarily trapped. To distract Falcon just for awhile, Kagome grabbed the stake in her pocket and hurled it at the woman. She barely missed it.
Kagome was ready to kick ass.
* * *
Half an hour later, the training room looked like a full scale war had occurred in there. Some axes were now lying on the floor, their handles broken. Several swords had been snatched from the fight during the match, and Kagome had shown them her fencing skills, which weren't as good as Inu-Yasha's but enough for Falcon and Takada. By purifying the blade, it made the blade stronger and nearly knocked Falcon's arm off whenever their swords made contact. Dozens of suction-tipped arrows were lying all over the floor. At a corner, Kagome's steel bow had been snapped in half like wood by Takada, after she'd thrown the bow over him a second time.
Now Takada and Falcon were standing on one side of the room, Kagome another. Takada had a bruise on his face and a gash across his stomach from another of Kagome's stakes. Falcon was also bruised, and her limbs were laced with cuts.
Kagome had a gash across her arm from where Falcon had struck. Takada had also slammed her in the chest. She held one of the ball-tipped chains coiled around her arm. Both sides were panting heavily.
Kagome shut her eyes and sent her power to the silver chains, purifying it. Now it would obey her even with her slightest touch.
She was no longer afraid—she knew she could take them on…they knew much more than she did but she could still take them on…
When she opened her eyes, both of them were near her. Kagome lashed out with the chains, and one end of the chains hit Falcon. She tripped over them, the chains slicing her side. As Kagome called the chains back, they wrapped around Takada, tying his arms to his sides like her bow had done. With a hard tug she set him flying to the ground. One arm held strong to the chains as Takada struggled with them, and another reached down to pick up a discarded thin sword. With a furious stamp she cut the blade in half. As Falcon got her feet, Kagome quickly tied the blade to her end of the chain, purifying it at the same time. By the time Falcon faced her, Kagome was holding the bladed end in one hand and a coil of ready to be unleashed chains in the other. If Falcon took one step, Kagome could send the blade flying into her.
They looked into each other's eyes. Then Falcon smiled wryly and nodded her head. "You'll do," she said.
From the door of the room, where Myouga had been watching, came applause. "I knew you could do it, Kagome! You took both of them on! They're some of the best out there, you know."
"Yay," was all Kagome said, and slumped to the floor.
After some water had been splashed on her face, and Takada had been untangled from the chains, he and Kagome were able to drag themselves back to the room where they first met. Food had been laid out, and this time Kagome could eat—a lot. She and Takada wolfed it down while Falcon sipped her wine calmly.
As servants flitted around bandaging whatever cuts they had, Falcon asked Kagome, "Do you know how to sense an enemy's presence without sight?"
"No," Kagome replied. "Didn't know that was possible."
"I thought so. Often you didn't know that we were behind you until we were extremely close. We ought to teach you how to sense your enemies so that they're present in the dark. Vampires can smell hunters, you don't want to give them an advantage, do you? With your power, I'd say you'd be able to learn it in two days." Falcon looked at Kagome over her tea. "And there's another thing we need to talk about."
Kagome was sparring Takada for the last miniature club sandwich with her plastic fork. "Which is?" she asked, finally skewering Takada's wrist and snatching the food away. All Takada could do was clutch his blue head and moan, "She's the same with food and the battlefield…"
"There's another reason why you have to go back and fight the Inu-kai," Falcon said. Kagome raised her eyebrow and looked at Myouga. He was grave, and gestured for her to keep listening to Falcon. "Around fifty years ago, Kikyo, Myouga and my parents stormed the Inu-kai castle. Back then, it was fixed in the human realm, easy to find by anyone. They were ready to kill this powerful clan, but there was also another reason. Before any of them were born, and that was a long time ago—don't look at me like that, Myouga, you know it's true—the Inu-kai had stolen the Shikon no Tama. Do you know what that is?"
"No…"
"It's a powerful jewel, which can be purified or tainted and give the user extreme power. It has enough power to turn a vampire human, which is impossible otherwise. In the hands of vampires, it could be very dangerous, although they hadn't used it yet. The vampire hunters of that time couldn't even attempt to retrieve the jewel, since there was no way of purifying it."
"When Kikyo first heard of the jewel, she was driven trying to get it. She told me she needed the jewel, to get it away from the Inu-kai. With her powers, she could purify the jewel so it was clean again. But it seemed to me she wanted it for something else…" For a moment Myouga seemed lost in thought. After Takada prodded him with his plastic fork, his eyes cleared and he continued. "Anyway that is the reason why we fought the Inu-kai. Kikyo had managed to retrieve the jewel and cast a very strong purifying spell over it, so strong that she was drained of practically all her power. I think that was why they were able to catch her so easily." His voice caught. "The last time I saw her she still had the jewel around her neck, glowing white. I don't think they could break such a spell so easily."
Kagome nodded thoughtfully. "So the jewel is still with the Inu-kai?"
"We need you to avenge Kikyo and retrieve the jewel. Kikyo wanted it desperately, and part of her revenge is to take back what she wanted. Do you think you can do that, Kagome?" Takada asked.
Great…as if just killing the Inu-kai, killing Naraku, and retrieving Souta wasn't enough, now she had to find some jewel and come back alive. Kagome gulped. But she knew that her priority was Kikyo, not Souta. As much as it pained her to think it, she knew Myouga trained her specifically for Kikyo's revenge. He and Kaede had saved her from bleeding to death, and made her this strong. She owed it to them.
"Of course," she said, resisting the urge to bawl like a baby.
* * *
"Shikon no Tama, huh?" Inu-Yasha asked. He and Kagome were walking casually down a street full of shops, dusk already falling. "You're going to have to try and get that?" Kagome nodded gloomily. "I heard it can transform vampires into humans."
"Tell me something I don't know," she said in a despondent voice. "I thought all I had to do was go in there and kick vampire ass, now I actually have a mission? Geez."
"Poor baby," Inu-Yasha snickered. "Well, it's okay, you have me to save you. Or maybe not. Myouga told me you kicked serious ass this weekend. Why can't you be that good when Naraku is concerned, huh?"
Kagome pinched his arm. "It's called psychological trauma," she said. "And it probably won't happen again. I don't want it to. I'm going to kick Naraku's ass."
"Of course you will, Kagome-chan," he responded automatically. Kagome growled and tried unsuccessfully to give him a noogie.
It was getting dark quickly. They walked a few blocks in silence, staring casually in store windows. Suddenly Kagome remembered Myoug saying that Inu-Yasha had skipped the soccer retreat. "Hey, how come you didn't go on the retreat?"
He looked down at her. "Hmm? You mean the soccer one? I was sick to my stomach over the weekend. I'd give you the details, but it's major gore. Think of dysentery times two…"
"Eww! I bet that wasn't it at all!" Kagome stuck out her tongue. "I bet you weren't sick at all. I bet you went on a date or something with one of those bimbos. Or Yura." She shuddered.
Inu-Yasha shuddered as well. There was no thinking what Yura might do on a date…maybe drug him and shave all his head off. "Please, you'd have to rip my limbs off to get me to date either of them. Besides, I wasn't on a date. I wasn't feeling well." At least that's the partial truth.
She grinned and poked him. "Are you telling me you've never dated? Come on, you had to at least once. Even Miroku's gone out a few times, and lord knows what kind of a person he is around girls. Any special girls in your life? Or did your big magical sword scare them away?"
He scowled and brushed her arm off. "I think I liked it better when we didn't act all chummy, it was less bothersome. You were less nosy." But Kagome pressed on. They must have walked two whole blocks with Kagome bugging him incessantly. Finally he stopped walking and turned on her. "So you want to know about my love life?"
"Or lack thereof," she said with an evil grin. Realizing that she might have lost her only chance to make Inu-Yasha the Scowler/Glarer open up, she said quickly, "I'm sorry. Please tell me."
"Fine." Inu-Yasha held up one finger. "One woman. One year. Ended pretty ugly. And that's all you're going to know."
"But—" Kagome started, but Inu-Yasha brought his finger down on her lips. She frowned and crossed her arms, resisting the urge to childishly lick his finger to gross him out. She could do that with Miroku, since he always shouted "Gross!" and took his finger away when he tried to shut her up. Besides, she wasn't a child anymore.
Finally he took his finger away. Kagome stuck her tongue out impishly, and they continued walking. Sneaking a glance at Inu-Yasha's face, Kagome saw his eyes looked stormy. Maybe talking about his past love life wasn't a good idea, she thought. It seemed to bring back bad memories for him.
Those thoughts flew out of her mind, however, when she peeked into a store window and saw a small object in the center of the other little trinkets. "Oh! Look at that!" She held out a hand to stop Inu-Yasha and crouched down to peer through the window.
It was a small porcelain figure of two children walking cheerfully through a field of flowers. There was a girl, who looked about nine or ten, with shoulder length black hair and thick bangs. Her dress was pink and sparkled with diamonds. Her delicate white hand was clutching a little boy's, who looked about four. His blue sailor shirt was dusted with sapphires.The expressions on their faces, carefully painted, were happy and carefree. The flowers they walked on were sprinkled with semi precious stones.
Inu-Yasha looked at the figure, then looked at Kagome. She looked completely enraptured by the sight, and her eyes were shining.
An old man came out of the store. "Hey there. I see you're admiring the prize of my shop. Isn't it a beauty? I made it myself."
"Did you really?" Inu-Yasha thought he heard Kagome's voice cracking.
"Yeah. Got the inspiration for that maybe six years ago. The kids didn't know they were modeling for me, though. Bet they'd be grown by now. They used to walk down this street every afternoon…then kinda disappeared. Don't know where they are now, but I'd sure like to know."
"How much is it?" Kagome asked.
He named a price practically large enough to buy New York. Both their jaws dropped, but the old man explained that the jewels and craftsmanship were worth a lot.
For the second time, Inu-Yasha saw Kagome cry. A tear slipped down her cheek and she quickly wiped it away. It didn't take a genius to figure out who those two kids were. Instead of telling the old man her identity, Kagome just bowed deeply and walked away quickly.
"Uhm, she's scarily emotional," Inu-Yasha said hurriedly to the man. "Kagome, wait!" He ran after her.
She stopped crying when they stopped in a coffee shop for dinner. Inu-Yasha went and ordered their food. They'd had enough of after-training dinners that he knew what she wanted. He got their food and carried it over to their table.
"I just remembered…this was one of the streets we used to walk on the way home from school," Kagome said. "It was just kinda sad to see that image of us again…but I don't want to mope about it." But the way she pushed the straw of her macchiato around and nibbled at her cheesecake when normally she could fit in two told Inu-Yasha she was still obviously upset about it.
It disturbed Inu-Yasha slightly how he could see all these aspects of Kagome. No one but Miroku had probably seen her like this, and they'd known each other forever. But he'd barely known her some months and already he'd seen her strong, weak, happy, sad. She was so open to him, and yet he still couldn't bring himself to trust her with his own secrets. Somehow he felt that once the secret was out, he was going to fall—hard.
Enough guilt, you've spent the last six years feeling guilty, he told himself. Abruptly he stood up. "I have to go do something," he told Kagome. "Just wait for me outside when you're done." She nodded silently.
Inu-Yasha left the talkative coffeehouse into the quieter streets. The cool air helped clear his head somewhat, blowing some guilt away. I have do to something, he thought to himself as paced around.
Then it clicked. He knew just what to do.
* * *
Kagome waited outside the coffeeshop. Inu-Yasha had been gone for about twenty minutes. She needed to head home. She scanned the area once more, and relaxed when she saw him running towards her, his long black hair flowing messily about his face. He stopped in front of her and crouched down, panting heavily.
"Inu-Yasha! Where the heck did you go! Did you fight some vampires without me?" Kagome crossed her arms. "What, so now am I completely incapable of fighting my own fights?"
She stopped when Inu-Yasha stood and held out a tiny porcelain figure enclosed in his hands. Kagome's jaw dropped. Inu-Yasha slowly uncurled his fingers to show Kagome and Souta walking together, immortalized in porcelain.
"Inu-Yasha…you didn't pay for that, did you?" she whispered. If he did, she was screwed. She would be forever in his debt to repay him for that. And there was no way she was going to be in debt to Inu-Yasha.
"That man…drives a hard…bargain," Inu-Yasha said through breaths. His cheeks were flushed. "Can you imagine? He only gave it to me when I promised I'd find him his models."
Kagome gaped at him. "You did that?" she asked.
"Yeah, I know. Especially since you're such a sucky fighter, I thought he'd never ever see his models. So guess you gotta work extra hard if you want to keep this," Inu-Yasha said nonchalantly. Carefully he settled it in Kagome's limp hands.
She stared at it for a moment, her eyes lit by the sparkling jewels. Without another word she threw her arms tightly around Inu-Yasha, careful to keep a hold on the figurine. Aside from Inu-Yasha carrying her when she'd been defeated or the several death grips she'd inflicted on his neck/arm/waist, they'd never hugged before. And now Kagome had her arms around his neck, crying for the third time. After awhile Inu-Yasha slowly wrapped his own arms around her waist.
Those days where Kagome made Inu-Yasha's school days a living hell were history…at least he hoped so.
"Thank you," she said simply through her tears. She took a step back. "Thank you."
Inu-Yasha was suddenly reminded of a time long ago, when a woman had looked up at him with tears coursing down her face. What had he done that time? He'd been so shocked when her icy exterior had finally broken…he closed his eyes. What did he do?
That's right…he'd dried her tears. Inu-Yasha moved towards Kagome's face. His lips touched her eyelid.
Kagome was so stunned she stopped crying. "Inu-Yasha?"
In a world of his own, a world that mostly involved the past, Inu-Yasha's lips traveled down her cheeks, taking up the moisture of her tears. The way they pressed against her skin to soak up her tears seemed almost like a kiss, and yet not quite. Kagome didn't move, she was frozen with shock. Millions of thoughts raced through her head like a supercomputer, but unlike one of those, they made absolutely no sense. Like she knew how one of those worked anyway.
Once, when his lips were against her cheek, she could almost hear him whisper something, sort of like, "Don't cry, K…" but that last word had ended in a breath.
Inu-Yasha only realized what he was doing when his lips were dangerously close to hers. Quickly he drew back. His own amber eyes looked as stunned as Kagome's. "Sorry," he said. Nervously he licked his lips—they tasted salty. "Well, at least your face is dry," he defended himself.
"Why?" her dry lips voiced the question.
He fidgeted. "Dunno…I guess it just sucks to see you cry." He was blushing.
Kagome shook her head, and fire seeped into her eyes. "You…Inu-Yashaaa…!"
His eyes widened. Kagome seemed more embarrassed than angry, but with the way she was glaring at him, he wasn't so sure. Perhaps it would be best to run.
"Hey, I got you your figurine!" He yelled over his shoulder as they ran through the streets. "You know, bargaining, cajoling, and ass-kissing? Think mental exhaustion here!"
"You…you…!" she shouted at him. He never found out what he was, because Kagome jumped into the air and latched onto his back. "Oh my god, what was that all about, huh?" Kagome held a viselike grip around his neck. The blush in her cheeks was furiously red. "Inu-Yasha! You have so much explaining to do! What was with all that? Answer meeeeee!"
Such and such, all the way home.
