Dannee: ::Looks about accusingly at different inanimate objects:: Hmmm...
Cat: ::Stares at Dannee mutely::
Dannee: You people who're supposed to be reviewing...I know who you are. I saw that little list of people who actually have me on their Author Alert list (::beams brilliantly:: I feel so proud, but that's not the point I'm trying to make...). I know who you are, and I know some of you aren't reviewing. So you better start reviewing or I'll start saying names!!!
Cat: This reminds Cat of Cat's most feared teacher calling Cat's name in class because Cat hasn't turned in all of her money for next weeks trip to the national Tar Pits. ::Shudders::
Dannee: PLEASE REVIEW! ::Gets on her knees:: I love hearing everyone's advice and or comments! So please!!!!!! Reviews!!!!! T.T
Cat: No flames please, Dannee is waaay too fragile, and Cat will be sent to the flamer's house to take things out of the dryer and eat everything in the freezer.
Sleeper Awoken
Kagome would've screamed, and she even tried to, but something soft was pressing against her mouth gently yet firmly, preventing her from parting her lips. The wind was blowing her hair about in a wild frenzy as she was carried up and into the trees. It almost felt as if she was flying...
"You really are useless, you know." A gruff voice reported to her from above.
Her eyes popped open in surprise when her brain finally registered the voice from above as a familiar one. It wasn't a friendly voice, but it certainly wasn't the voice of someone, or rather something, that wanted to grate her into ribbons. She pulled her face up over his arm that had been preventing her from chatting earlier.
"Inu Yasha!" She squealed happily.
Oh joy, oh happy days, he had rescued her!
Kagome flung her arms around Inu Yasha's neck the instant she recognized his face in pure relief and even delight. Unfortunately for him, he wasn't sharing the same heart-felt emotions that the tiny girl he was carrying bridal style was.
"Wench! What're you doing!?!?" He gulped nervously.
This wasn't Kikyo, she wasn't allowed to touch him!
"You saved me, I'm so relieved, I thought I was a goner down there!" She squeaked out, smiling brightly up at him.
He avoided looking into her eyes, they reminded him too much of Kikyo, and it made him feel like his heart was doing cartwheels in his chest. He just continued to stare directly forward, where the flashlight's beam was pointing.
"It's just what I have to do."
Her smile didn't fade for once.
"Well thank you for doing it."
He snuck a tiny peek down at Kagome's face curiously. The only emotions he had ever seen splayed across her face were the angry and irritated ones he had provoked out of her. He didn't know if he had ever seen her smile, so he couldn't help it...
Kagome had a weird thing with emotions that worked to her advantage. The way she conveyed her feelings through her facial features was just about whatever she wanted it to be. If she was angry, her scowls would darken her features and could be absolutely terrifying (though Inu Yasha would never admit that she had scared even him once or twice before.). If she wasn't happy with something, her pout was endearing while at the same time clearly showing her displeasure. When she was sad, the looks of sorrow that crossed her face could break onlooker's hearts, while at the same time the anguished looks she scarcely let show were inexplicably elegant. Her smile on the other hand was different...
Even through the shadows that weren't being bathed in light by the flashlight Inu Yasha was holding, he could clearly see her smiling up at him, like there was a warm glow illuminating her face. Her soft brown eyes were shining brightly up at him, and she was giving him the most honest smile he had ever received from anyone in his life.
Nobody had ever smiled so sincerely...so thankfully at him that it made his ego swell up maybe just a couple notches, pride bubbling in his chest. His mother had certainly smiled at him before, but not this openly...
And Kikyo...
Her smiles were rare and far apart from one another. It was like giving a child a scoop of ice cream for doing something good...like a reward. Inu Yasha always tried his hardest to make Kikyo smile at him, though most his efforts never truly paid off. Sure the two were in love and all, but he never felt like he truly pleased the girl. He felt like a puppy to her, begging all the time for a treat.
Of course when Kikyo did smile for him, he felt like his heart would explode. The way her rosy lips would curl up ever so slightly, and the tiny creases that would form in the corners of her eyes...that girl was flawless.
But...
She never smiled at him like Kagome was smiling at him now...
He didn't realize until it was too late that he had drifted off in thought while soaring through the air, staring down at the smiling Kagome. She had him entranced...and that was a bad thing in this case because...
THWACK!!!
Kagome flew out of his arms screeching like an owl the whole way when Inu Yasha collided head first into a thick tree. She had been catapulted from his arms at an angle, narrowly missing the tree as she went, then tumbled across the dirt at a speed that would've rendered most normal people dizzy for approximately a week and a half.
She was only dizzy for a moment after coming to a complete stop, but when she had hit the ground, the impact jarred her side enough to make it explode in searing pain. As she lay writhing on the ground in obvious agony, the flashlight rolled to a stop in front of her as well, bathing her in a radiance that just seemed natural for Kagome to be in.
As Kagome lay basking in artificial sunlight a couple yards away from Inu Yasha, he was still thoroughly pinned into the tree. He had let himself get distracted...damn.
Stupid wench, casting mystical spells upon him until he lost sight of everything in front of him...except for her. Why had he been so captivated by her smile anyways!? Kikyo was the only person in the world who could do that to him.
Damn...
He just wanted to find the sacred jewel, take it back to his room and go to sleep. Perhaps he'd have a lovely dream.
Inu Yasha's face slid out from the indentation it left in the tree with a small 'pop!' and immediately his ears stood vertical.
He could sense it again, and it was close by...
He stumbled away from the giant tree he had just made friends with and peered around it, over to where Kagome was lying.
"Hey!" He called to the dark figure hovering over Kagome's wriggling body.
That got its attention.
In less than a second, the demon was in front of Inu Yasha, lashing out at him with extended claws.
'Shit.' Thought Inu Yasha frantically. 'It's almost finished absorbing the Shikon No Tama...that idiot girl needs to find something to destroy it with quickly...'
"Oi!" He hollered out to Kagome this time.
Her head lifted ever so slightly so she could give him a dirty look. He ignored it.
"Take that light and go get the weapons! I'll hold the demon off until you come back! Hurry and go!"
What if she didn't feel like it?
Kagome wasn't feeling all that hot right now, and even though it was important, and her future depended on it, and blah blah blah, why didn't she get a say in the matter? Why couldn't she hold it off while he went and got the bow and arrows?
Her head hit the ground with a soft thump when she let it back down again, a little bit of dust floating into the air when she did so. He could do it himself.
"HEY! WENCH! I'M TALKING TO YOU!" Inu Yasha roared while jumping back to avoid another set of claws coming at him out of nowhere. "WHAT, ARE YOU STUPID!? HURRY UP AND GET THE STUFF, DAMMIT! GO! GET UP AND GO, I WANNA GET OUT OF HERE AND FAR AWAY FROM YOU! DIMWIT!"
He noticed that insulting her was having the desired effect, though he hoped that she wouldn't come back with a set of bows and arrows and shoot him as oppose to the demon she was supposed to be knocking off.
"THAT'S RIGHT, GET OUTTA HERE! HURRY UP YOU FAT SLOW OAF!"
That was it.
Kagome stood up angrily with the flashlight in her hand. She was so incredibly mad that she was almost seeing red...she wasn't thinking straight. Who did this jerk think he was, calling her names and telling her what to do!?
Normally Kagome was an understandable, kind, happy, forgiving person, but this...THIS was a crime against her that was unforgivable.
Yes, she would go get weapons, but when she came back she was going to saw those cuddly little puppy dog ears right off the top of Inu Yasha's head with an arrow head.
She stalked off to the best of her abilities, trying to show Inu Yasha how mad she really was, but he wasn't paying attention. He was a little preoccupied trying to keep an unruly demon at bay.
Kagome found the old shrine house easily...
If it hadn't been for that boor Inu Yasha wandering off on his own, thinking he knew the way around her house like he'd lived in it for 11 years...All he had to do was walk down the pathway leading from the house to the God tree, then turn right. It was a simple shack that tried to stay hidden from sight made from planks of rotting wood, but despite the fact that it was an eyesore to anybody who was unfortunate enough to accidentally lay eyes upon it there was a well that had much history behind it. But other than the well, it held the bow and arrows that Kagome and the big red idiot were looking for.
Kagome grasped the wooden bow in her slender fingers carefully and slowly pulled it from the wall. Chills ran along her spine as she studied the bow in the light of the flashlight, and goose bumps lined her flesh in neat little rows.
'That was weird.' Kagome thought uncertainly. It felt like she had picked up something she had lost a long time ago, despite the fact that she had never handled the bow before in her life.
Kagome shone the light at the decaying wall and discovered there were only three arrows being displayed. She could only hope that her mother had had wonderful aim when she used to practice archery, and that some of that magnificent aim had been passed down to Kagome herself.
After snatching all three arrows off the wall hurriedly, Kagome slung the bow over her shoulder in a very unappealing manner, and managed to keep the arrows tucked under her arm securely without hurting her side. The next step was to find that lumbering dupe labeled Inu Yasha.
The flashlight's beam of luminescence bobbled around ahead of the girl who was holding it maladroitly as she half hobbled, half lurched around the trees that surrounded her house blindly.
"OI!" She screamed out into the night, still slightly peeved about the select names Inu Yasha had decided to call her.
"Woman! Get you ass over here now!!!!!!!!!" Inu Yasha bellowed from her right.
'He's not too far away.' Kagome thought, trotting off towards the grunts of Inu Yasha that seemed to be getting louder and sounding slightly more strained.
There was a flash of bright red that swooped before Kagome in an instant, subsequently followed by the feeling of wind all around her. She looked up angrily at the dog-boy above her.
"Bout time you showed up." He growled at her while zipping through the trees hastily.
"Why didn't YOU go get the bow and arrows? If you knew I was going to be a 'fat slow oaf', you could've gone yourself!" Kagome shrieked back at him as he dodged past a tree.
Inu Yasha ignored her last comment and took the flashlight from her clammy hand and pointed it ahead.
"Next time you see it...shoot it. Do you understand or do I need to simplify that for you?"
Kagome mumbled something incoherent that was probably something parents would not want their small children hearing, but readied the bow she had anyways.
With only three arrows, and being carried by a half-demon zooming through the trees by her house, how hard could it be to shoot a blackened target and destroy it?
Kagome tried reviewing the proper bow techniques in her mind as Inu Yasha ran and flew and ran some more. She was beginning to think that they'd never run into the damned demon until...
"Oi, wench!!!"
Her head shot up just in time to catch a glimpse of a creature born of a wicked evil nightmare coming straight at her and Inu Yasha.
A broken porcelain mask that glowed a dull blackish-white in the dark covered its face. It's eyes were wide, pupils dilated until almost no white showed, and its greasy black hair blew about in a wild frenzy in the wind.
The long tattered fabric it had covering its body fanned out around it's back and blew about crazily as razor sharp claws extended from where sleeves would be expected to be on a normal shirt or top.
Proper techniques be damned, and Kagome began to scream while notching an arrow onto the bow, and she continued to scream after she pulled the string back and fired.
The first arrow was fired, and it flew into the night's sky as Kagome's target whizzed past her head, claws scraping her cheek as it went by. Blood leaked from the three incisions, but they were only minor problems compared to the problem Kagome was facing now.
"You idiot! What the hell do you think you were doing!? Did you even aim at the damned thing!?!? It was right there, how could you miss it!?" Inu Yasha berated the already flustered girl he was carrying.
Kagome's cheeks flushed crimson in annoyance. She was getting tired of all the verbal abuse she was receiving from this ungrateful bastard.
"I tried my best!" She began.
"But it was right THERE!"
"I've never shot an arrow before in my life!"
"I'VE never shot an arrow before in MY life, and I still could've hit that damned thing!"
Kagome scrambled heatedly to put the second arrow into place and aim it at Inu Yasha's head.
"I'm tired of you telling me what to do and how I do things wrong! If you want something done right, do it yourself, I'd like to see you try!"
Inu Yasha didn't say anything, just kept on much to Kagome's exasperation.
"Well, aren't you going to say anything!? Can't you back up what you say?" Kagome prodded him with the tip of her arrow lightly.
"There it is, AIM this time!" Inu Yasha responded sharply as Kagome lifted her eyes to what was ahead of her.
Indeed, the demon was there in front of the God tree, waiting for Kagome and Inu Yasha to pass so it could commence its attack on said couple.
Kagome brought her arms up carefully, trying to hold them still as Inu Yasha took another bounding leap into the air.
Aim...
Aim...
Please be true to your aim arrow...
And Kagome let it fly.
She watched in amazement as it soared through the air at breakneck speeds straight towards its target. From the tip a burst of pink energy was emitted and soon the entire arrow was enveloped in a bright pink light.
"That color is the same color as..." Kagome thought out loud.
"I thought so!" Inu Yasha shouted.
The arrow hit the tree behind it, and a feeling of icy cold dread gripped Kagome's chest as she realized that the glowing arrow passed right through the demon's body. Why hadn't it exploded upon contact or vaporized into thin air??
"Good woman, your aim is improving. Now concentrate on the Jewel of the Four Souls. You can see it if you concentrate hard enough, so think hard and aim at that next time."
"What!? I can't aim that accurately!" Kagome protested loudly.
"It's the only way to defeat this thing while it's in possession of the jewel! You have to try!"
"But trying isn't good enough!"
"You're starting to sound like me, now shut the hell up and concentrate!"
Kagome did just that after poking Inu Yasha's arm with the tip of her last arrow roughly.
Her eyes slid shut and she focused all her thoughts onto the pink sphere she had absorbed into her body naught but yesterday evening. It was hers, her responsibility, and it was calling out to her.
Calling to its protector...
Kagome's eyes snapped open and she loaded her final arrow. It was now or never.
Boy she hoped she wouldn't miss this one.
She let the jewel's presence guide her aim and she inhaled sharply, ready to fire.
"Don't miss!" Inu Yasha said somewhat encouragingly.
Gee thanks.
"You're gone, demon!" Kagome shouted into the surrounding blackness.
The arrow flew from the bow at an incredible speed, and pink light enveloped it quickly as it went soaring through the air, true to it's aim, just as Kagome had hoped for.
As the arrow disappeared into the darkness ahead Kagome and Inu Yasha could only wait for the inevitable...
Then something happened.
In the distance a tiny glint of pink flashed once...then twice, then it was twinkling and growing larger.
'I did it!' Kagome thought triumphantly.
Rays of pink shot out from the spot ahead of the duo and illuminated their surroundings in brilliant radiance. The light was becoming blinding, and Inu Yasha had to shut his sensitive eyes before it started to burn.
"I did it! I did it!!!! AAAAAH! INU YASHA, SIT!!!" Kagome squealed.
Inu Yasha went plummeting down to the Earth, narrowly escaping a thick branch hanging in his path, as Kagome was launched forwards and went soaring into the light.
"WEEEENCH, WHAT WAS THAT F-"
Thwack.
As Kagome was soaring through the air she could see the jewel hovering in the heavens, much like herself.
The demon was gone...thank the gods.
She reached out towards the jewel as she approached it, yet the moment her fingers made first contact with it the light tripled in it's brightness, and the Shikon Jewel shattered.
Kagome's stomach seemed to leap onto her heart, which leaped into her throat as she watched in horrified silence as the jewel split into at least 12 different pieces and each piece shot into different directions.
Then Kagome began her descent back towards the Earth.
What had she done!? Broken, it was broken! And it was all her fault, and now she would fall back down to the ground and probably die upon contact.
She had tried so hard to do something right, and once she accomplished her first task, another was born to show her how wrong she finished the first one.
Kagome didn't scream or cry out as she fell towards the ground below, just shut her eyes and allowed herself to glide down.
Death was probably a better way to escape Inu Yasha's wrath when he found out what she had done anyways.
There was a soft muffled 'fwump' as Kagome landed...in someone's arms.
'Oh no...' She thought miserably as her side began to ache once more. 'I'm going to open my eyes and Inu Yasha is going to start telling me how useless and stupid I am...why did he catch me!? Why!? Just let me fall! He never asks what I want...perhaps I wanted to become a permanent splatter on the floor!'
Her eyes peeled open slowly and Kagome looked up to meet the gaze of her savior.
Her heart jumped as she realized that he was...SMILING at her.
Why!?
Stop it!
Kagome couldn't hold it in any longer and buried her face into his chest and began bawling. Her sobs wracked her tiny body and she shook in Inu Yasha's arms.
"What's wrong?" Came the voice from above her.
She replied into the red in front of her, but unfortunately he didn't understand muffled, which was a common language for Kagome to use whenever she was feeling distressed or embarrassed.
He peeled her away from his chest and looked down at her.
Her tears shone in the moonlight and he shook his head while wiping them away.
Kagome's eyes opened once again and she shyly looked up to meet his fiery golden gaze.
"I'm sorry, Inu Yasha, I broke it. I broke the sacred jewel and it split and the pieces shot off and I don't know where they went, and...I failed, just like you thought I would!" Kagome admitted guiltily.
Inu Yasha began to grin down at her and she shrunk under his gaze.
'Oh gods, he's gone insane and now he's going to feast on my insides.'
"Dummy, that's what I intended on happening." He laughed mockingly down at her.
"Wha?"
"When I told you to shoot at the Jewel of the Four Souls your arrow was going to hit it and shatter it. Are you really that stupid!? When you shoot an arrow at something like that, most likely it's going to break."
Inu Yasha's mirth reverberated into the night as Kagome tried to fit the pieces of the puzzle together in her head.
"But what are we going to do about it?"
"Go pick up the pieces, of course."
"You mean both of us?"
"Of course, idiot. You can sense the jewel, and you're obviously too weak to be finding things yourself so I'll be protecting you."
Kagome let his obscure words sink into her head, and the scrambled pieces of the puzzle somewhat made a picture.
As she was looking confused, Inu Yasha took her shoulders gently and smiled down at her.
"You did good, Kagome."
Her face lit up like a Christmas tree at that.
First, he had complimented her for the first time ever; second, he had used her name for the first time ever.
"Thank you." She responded bashfully.
"If you weren't so stupid, I'd almost be glad to be working with you."
Kagome took that as a half-compliment and smiled up at him, wiping the remaining tears off of her cheeks.
"Thanks, Inu Yasha."
.¸¸.·´ `·.¸¸..¸¸.·´ `·.¸¸.
Cat: ::Is doing an Irish Jig:: Hooray, another chappie done! HAPPY ST. PATTIE'S DAY! ::Pinches Dannee a few times::
Dannee: ::Shoves Cat onto the floor, then steps on her face:: Stop that, it's not St. Patrick's day yet!
Cat: ::Jumps up:: Cat is celebrating early. Dannee: Anyways... ::Celebrates:: Finally! Sorry it took so long guys, but the broken muse and lack of response to this story doesn't motivate me much to write...so...
Cat: Hint hint, wink wink...REVIEWS!
Dannee: Please, I really want feedback to this story. You guys are my inspiration since my muse hasn't been around much, nor helping me much.
Cat: ::Cries:: Cat is sorry Dannee, Cat is having friend issues.
Dannee: ::Pats her head:: It's alright, we talked about it, and you don't need your friends.
Cat: Cat's friends are garbage.
Dannee: Good girl.
Cat: ::Purrs::
Dannee: Anyways, to the few of you who have reviewed, thanks!
Cat, Shiari1, Miroku the Virtuous Monk, Josie, kokoro, drake220, Inu- Marosan, writerofascientist, Vampire'sBlood, Samantha-1434, StarryEyedChick, and Melinda.
Cat: REVIEWS!
Dannee: Please! If you know someone who is able to review, MAKE 'EM! T.T I'm so desperate and lonely with my lack of reviews. ::Cries::
Cat: ::Pets Dannee:: There there... And readers, make sure to check out Dannee's Xanga site if reader is interested in the updates for this story. Dannee may write faster if Dannee gets more feedback, now go REVIEW EVERYONE!
Cat: ::Stares at Dannee mutely::
Dannee: You people who're supposed to be reviewing...I know who you are. I saw that little list of people who actually have me on their Author Alert list (::beams brilliantly:: I feel so proud, but that's not the point I'm trying to make...). I know who you are, and I know some of you aren't reviewing. So you better start reviewing or I'll start saying names!!!
Cat: This reminds Cat of Cat's most feared teacher calling Cat's name in class because Cat hasn't turned in all of her money for next weeks trip to the national Tar Pits. ::Shudders::
Dannee: PLEASE REVIEW! ::Gets on her knees:: I love hearing everyone's advice and or comments! So please!!!!!! Reviews!!!!! T.T
Cat: No flames please, Dannee is waaay too fragile, and Cat will be sent to the flamer's house to take things out of the dryer and eat everything in the freezer.
Sleeper Awoken
Kagome would've screamed, and she even tried to, but something soft was pressing against her mouth gently yet firmly, preventing her from parting her lips. The wind was blowing her hair about in a wild frenzy as she was carried up and into the trees. It almost felt as if she was flying...
"You really are useless, you know." A gruff voice reported to her from above.
Her eyes popped open in surprise when her brain finally registered the voice from above as a familiar one. It wasn't a friendly voice, but it certainly wasn't the voice of someone, or rather something, that wanted to grate her into ribbons. She pulled her face up over his arm that had been preventing her from chatting earlier.
"Inu Yasha!" She squealed happily.
Oh joy, oh happy days, he had rescued her!
Kagome flung her arms around Inu Yasha's neck the instant she recognized his face in pure relief and even delight. Unfortunately for him, he wasn't sharing the same heart-felt emotions that the tiny girl he was carrying bridal style was.
"Wench! What're you doing!?!?" He gulped nervously.
This wasn't Kikyo, she wasn't allowed to touch him!
"You saved me, I'm so relieved, I thought I was a goner down there!" She squeaked out, smiling brightly up at him.
He avoided looking into her eyes, they reminded him too much of Kikyo, and it made him feel like his heart was doing cartwheels in his chest. He just continued to stare directly forward, where the flashlight's beam was pointing.
"It's just what I have to do."
Her smile didn't fade for once.
"Well thank you for doing it."
He snuck a tiny peek down at Kagome's face curiously. The only emotions he had ever seen splayed across her face were the angry and irritated ones he had provoked out of her. He didn't know if he had ever seen her smile, so he couldn't help it...
Kagome had a weird thing with emotions that worked to her advantage. The way she conveyed her feelings through her facial features was just about whatever she wanted it to be. If she was angry, her scowls would darken her features and could be absolutely terrifying (though Inu Yasha would never admit that she had scared even him once or twice before.). If she wasn't happy with something, her pout was endearing while at the same time clearly showing her displeasure. When she was sad, the looks of sorrow that crossed her face could break onlooker's hearts, while at the same time the anguished looks she scarcely let show were inexplicably elegant. Her smile on the other hand was different...
Even through the shadows that weren't being bathed in light by the flashlight Inu Yasha was holding, he could clearly see her smiling up at him, like there was a warm glow illuminating her face. Her soft brown eyes were shining brightly up at him, and she was giving him the most honest smile he had ever received from anyone in his life.
Nobody had ever smiled so sincerely...so thankfully at him that it made his ego swell up maybe just a couple notches, pride bubbling in his chest. His mother had certainly smiled at him before, but not this openly...
And Kikyo...
Her smiles were rare and far apart from one another. It was like giving a child a scoop of ice cream for doing something good...like a reward. Inu Yasha always tried his hardest to make Kikyo smile at him, though most his efforts never truly paid off. Sure the two were in love and all, but he never felt like he truly pleased the girl. He felt like a puppy to her, begging all the time for a treat.
Of course when Kikyo did smile for him, he felt like his heart would explode. The way her rosy lips would curl up ever so slightly, and the tiny creases that would form in the corners of her eyes...that girl was flawless.
But...
She never smiled at him like Kagome was smiling at him now...
He didn't realize until it was too late that he had drifted off in thought while soaring through the air, staring down at the smiling Kagome. She had him entranced...and that was a bad thing in this case because...
THWACK!!!
Kagome flew out of his arms screeching like an owl the whole way when Inu Yasha collided head first into a thick tree. She had been catapulted from his arms at an angle, narrowly missing the tree as she went, then tumbled across the dirt at a speed that would've rendered most normal people dizzy for approximately a week and a half.
She was only dizzy for a moment after coming to a complete stop, but when she had hit the ground, the impact jarred her side enough to make it explode in searing pain. As she lay writhing on the ground in obvious agony, the flashlight rolled to a stop in front of her as well, bathing her in a radiance that just seemed natural for Kagome to be in.
As Kagome lay basking in artificial sunlight a couple yards away from Inu Yasha, he was still thoroughly pinned into the tree. He had let himself get distracted...damn.
Stupid wench, casting mystical spells upon him until he lost sight of everything in front of him...except for her. Why had he been so captivated by her smile anyways!? Kikyo was the only person in the world who could do that to him.
Damn...
He just wanted to find the sacred jewel, take it back to his room and go to sleep. Perhaps he'd have a lovely dream.
Inu Yasha's face slid out from the indentation it left in the tree with a small 'pop!' and immediately his ears stood vertical.
He could sense it again, and it was close by...
He stumbled away from the giant tree he had just made friends with and peered around it, over to where Kagome was lying.
"Hey!" He called to the dark figure hovering over Kagome's wriggling body.
That got its attention.
In less than a second, the demon was in front of Inu Yasha, lashing out at him with extended claws.
'Shit.' Thought Inu Yasha frantically. 'It's almost finished absorbing the Shikon No Tama...that idiot girl needs to find something to destroy it with quickly...'
"Oi!" He hollered out to Kagome this time.
Her head lifted ever so slightly so she could give him a dirty look. He ignored it.
"Take that light and go get the weapons! I'll hold the demon off until you come back! Hurry and go!"
What if she didn't feel like it?
Kagome wasn't feeling all that hot right now, and even though it was important, and her future depended on it, and blah blah blah, why didn't she get a say in the matter? Why couldn't she hold it off while he went and got the bow and arrows?
Her head hit the ground with a soft thump when she let it back down again, a little bit of dust floating into the air when she did so. He could do it himself.
"HEY! WENCH! I'M TALKING TO YOU!" Inu Yasha roared while jumping back to avoid another set of claws coming at him out of nowhere. "WHAT, ARE YOU STUPID!? HURRY UP AND GET THE STUFF, DAMMIT! GO! GET UP AND GO, I WANNA GET OUT OF HERE AND FAR AWAY FROM YOU! DIMWIT!"
He noticed that insulting her was having the desired effect, though he hoped that she wouldn't come back with a set of bows and arrows and shoot him as oppose to the demon she was supposed to be knocking off.
"THAT'S RIGHT, GET OUTTA HERE! HURRY UP YOU FAT SLOW OAF!"
That was it.
Kagome stood up angrily with the flashlight in her hand. She was so incredibly mad that she was almost seeing red...she wasn't thinking straight. Who did this jerk think he was, calling her names and telling her what to do!?
Normally Kagome was an understandable, kind, happy, forgiving person, but this...THIS was a crime against her that was unforgivable.
Yes, she would go get weapons, but when she came back she was going to saw those cuddly little puppy dog ears right off the top of Inu Yasha's head with an arrow head.
She stalked off to the best of her abilities, trying to show Inu Yasha how mad she really was, but he wasn't paying attention. He was a little preoccupied trying to keep an unruly demon at bay.
Kagome found the old shrine house easily...
If it hadn't been for that boor Inu Yasha wandering off on his own, thinking he knew the way around her house like he'd lived in it for 11 years...All he had to do was walk down the pathway leading from the house to the God tree, then turn right. It was a simple shack that tried to stay hidden from sight made from planks of rotting wood, but despite the fact that it was an eyesore to anybody who was unfortunate enough to accidentally lay eyes upon it there was a well that had much history behind it. But other than the well, it held the bow and arrows that Kagome and the big red idiot were looking for.
Kagome grasped the wooden bow in her slender fingers carefully and slowly pulled it from the wall. Chills ran along her spine as she studied the bow in the light of the flashlight, and goose bumps lined her flesh in neat little rows.
'That was weird.' Kagome thought uncertainly. It felt like she had picked up something she had lost a long time ago, despite the fact that she had never handled the bow before in her life.
Kagome shone the light at the decaying wall and discovered there were only three arrows being displayed. She could only hope that her mother had had wonderful aim when she used to practice archery, and that some of that magnificent aim had been passed down to Kagome herself.
After snatching all three arrows off the wall hurriedly, Kagome slung the bow over her shoulder in a very unappealing manner, and managed to keep the arrows tucked under her arm securely without hurting her side. The next step was to find that lumbering dupe labeled Inu Yasha.
The flashlight's beam of luminescence bobbled around ahead of the girl who was holding it maladroitly as she half hobbled, half lurched around the trees that surrounded her house blindly.
"OI!" She screamed out into the night, still slightly peeved about the select names Inu Yasha had decided to call her.
"Woman! Get you ass over here now!!!!!!!!!" Inu Yasha bellowed from her right.
'He's not too far away.' Kagome thought, trotting off towards the grunts of Inu Yasha that seemed to be getting louder and sounding slightly more strained.
There was a flash of bright red that swooped before Kagome in an instant, subsequently followed by the feeling of wind all around her. She looked up angrily at the dog-boy above her.
"Bout time you showed up." He growled at her while zipping through the trees hastily.
"Why didn't YOU go get the bow and arrows? If you knew I was going to be a 'fat slow oaf', you could've gone yourself!" Kagome shrieked back at him as he dodged past a tree.
Inu Yasha ignored her last comment and took the flashlight from her clammy hand and pointed it ahead.
"Next time you see it...shoot it. Do you understand or do I need to simplify that for you?"
Kagome mumbled something incoherent that was probably something parents would not want their small children hearing, but readied the bow she had anyways.
With only three arrows, and being carried by a half-demon zooming through the trees by her house, how hard could it be to shoot a blackened target and destroy it?
Kagome tried reviewing the proper bow techniques in her mind as Inu Yasha ran and flew and ran some more. She was beginning to think that they'd never run into the damned demon until...
"Oi, wench!!!"
Her head shot up just in time to catch a glimpse of a creature born of a wicked evil nightmare coming straight at her and Inu Yasha.
A broken porcelain mask that glowed a dull blackish-white in the dark covered its face. It's eyes were wide, pupils dilated until almost no white showed, and its greasy black hair blew about in a wild frenzy in the wind.
The long tattered fabric it had covering its body fanned out around it's back and blew about crazily as razor sharp claws extended from where sleeves would be expected to be on a normal shirt or top.
Proper techniques be damned, and Kagome began to scream while notching an arrow onto the bow, and she continued to scream after she pulled the string back and fired.
The first arrow was fired, and it flew into the night's sky as Kagome's target whizzed past her head, claws scraping her cheek as it went by. Blood leaked from the three incisions, but they were only minor problems compared to the problem Kagome was facing now.
"You idiot! What the hell do you think you were doing!? Did you even aim at the damned thing!?!? It was right there, how could you miss it!?" Inu Yasha berated the already flustered girl he was carrying.
Kagome's cheeks flushed crimson in annoyance. She was getting tired of all the verbal abuse she was receiving from this ungrateful bastard.
"I tried my best!" She began.
"But it was right THERE!"
"I've never shot an arrow before in my life!"
"I'VE never shot an arrow before in MY life, and I still could've hit that damned thing!"
Kagome scrambled heatedly to put the second arrow into place and aim it at Inu Yasha's head.
"I'm tired of you telling me what to do and how I do things wrong! If you want something done right, do it yourself, I'd like to see you try!"
Inu Yasha didn't say anything, just kept on much to Kagome's exasperation.
"Well, aren't you going to say anything!? Can't you back up what you say?" Kagome prodded him with the tip of her arrow lightly.
"There it is, AIM this time!" Inu Yasha responded sharply as Kagome lifted her eyes to what was ahead of her.
Indeed, the demon was there in front of the God tree, waiting for Kagome and Inu Yasha to pass so it could commence its attack on said couple.
Kagome brought her arms up carefully, trying to hold them still as Inu Yasha took another bounding leap into the air.
Aim...
Aim...
Please be true to your aim arrow...
And Kagome let it fly.
She watched in amazement as it soared through the air at breakneck speeds straight towards its target. From the tip a burst of pink energy was emitted and soon the entire arrow was enveloped in a bright pink light.
"That color is the same color as..." Kagome thought out loud.
"I thought so!" Inu Yasha shouted.
The arrow hit the tree behind it, and a feeling of icy cold dread gripped Kagome's chest as she realized that the glowing arrow passed right through the demon's body. Why hadn't it exploded upon contact or vaporized into thin air??
"Good woman, your aim is improving. Now concentrate on the Jewel of the Four Souls. You can see it if you concentrate hard enough, so think hard and aim at that next time."
"What!? I can't aim that accurately!" Kagome protested loudly.
"It's the only way to defeat this thing while it's in possession of the jewel! You have to try!"
"But trying isn't good enough!"
"You're starting to sound like me, now shut the hell up and concentrate!"
Kagome did just that after poking Inu Yasha's arm with the tip of her last arrow roughly.
Her eyes slid shut and she focused all her thoughts onto the pink sphere she had absorbed into her body naught but yesterday evening. It was hers, her responsibility, and it was calling out to her.
Calling to its protector...
Kagome's eyes snapped open and she loaded her final arrow. It was now or never.
Boy she hoped she wouldn't miss this one.
She let the jewel's presence guide her aim and she inhaled sharply, ready to fire.
"Don't miss!" Inu Yasha said somewhat encouragingly.
Gee thanks.
"You're gone, demon!" Kagome shouted into the surrounding blackness.
The arrow flew from the bow at an incredible speed, and pink light enveloped it quickly as it went soaring through the air, true to it's aim, just as Kagome had hoped for.
As the arrow disappeared into the darkness ahead Kagome and Inu Yasha could only wait for the inevitable...
Then something happened.
In the distance a tiny glint of pink flashed once...then twice, then it was twinkling and growing larger.
'I did it!' Kagome thought triumphantly.
Rays of pink shot out from the spot ahead of the duo and illuminated their surroundings in brilliant radiance. The light was becoming blinding, and Inu Yasha had to shut his sensitive eyes before it started to burn.
"I did it! I did it!!!! AAAAAH! INU YASHA, SIT!!!" Kagome squealed.
Inu Yasha went plummeting down to the Earth, narrowly escaping a thick branch hanging in his path, as Kagome was launched forwards and went soaring into the light.
"WEEEENCH, WHAT WAS THAT F-"
Thwack.
As Kagome was soaring through the air she could see the jewel hovering in the heavens, much like herself.
The demon was gone...thank the gods.
She reached out towards the jewel as she approached it, yet the moment her fingers made first contact with it the light tripled in it's brightness, and the Shikon Jewel shattered.
Kagome's stomach seemed to leap onto her heart, which leaped into her throat as she watched in horrified silence as the jewel split into at least 12 different pieces and each piece shot into different directions.
Then Kagome began her descent back towards the Earth.
What had she done!? Broken, it was broken! And it was all her fault, and now she would fall back down to the ground and probably die upon contact.
She had tried so hard to do something right, and once she accomplished her first task, another was born to show her how wrong she finished the first one.
Kagome didn't scream or cry out as she fell towards the ground below, just shut her eyes and allowed herself to glide down.
Death was probably a better way to escape Inu Yasha's wrath when he found out what she had done anyways.
There was a soft muffled 'fwump' as Kagome landed...in someone's arms.
'Oh no...' She thought miserably as her side began to ache once more. 'I'm going to open my eyes and Inu Yasha is going to start telling me how useless and stupid I am...why did he catch me!? Why!? Just let me fall! He never asks what I want...perhaps I wanted to become a permanent splatter on the floor!'
Her eyes peeled open slowly and Kagome looked up to meet the gaze of her savior.
Her heart jumped as she realized that he was...SMILING at her.
Why!?
Stop it!
Kagome couldn't hold it in any longer and buried her face into his chest and began bawling. Her sobs wracked her tiny body and she shook in Inu Yasha's arms.
"What's wrong?" Came the voice from above her.
She replied into the red in front of her, but unfortunately he didn't understand muffled, which was a common language for Kagome to use whenever she was feeling distressed or embarrassed.
He peeled her away from his chest and looked down at her.
Her tears shone in the moonlight and he shook his head while wiping them away.
Kagome's eyes opened once again and she shyly looked up to meet his fiery golden gaze.
"I'm sorry, Inu Yasha, I broke it. I broke the sacred jewel and it split and the pieces shot off and I don't know where they went, and...I failed, just like you thought I would!" Kagome admitted guiltily.
Inu Yasha began to grin down at her and she shrunk under his gaze.
'Oh gods, he's gone insane and now he's going to feast on my insides.'
"Dummy, that's what I intended on happening." He laughed mockingly down at her.
"Wha?"
"When I told you to shoot at the Jewel of the Four Souls your arrow was going to hit it and shatter it. Are you really that stupid!? When you shoot an arrow at something like that, most likely it's going to break."
Inu Yasha's mirth reverberated into the night as Kagome tried to fit the pieces of the puzzle together in her head.
"But what are we going to do about it?"
"Go pick up the pieces, of course."
"You mean both of us?"
"Of course, idiot. You can sense the jewel, and you're obviously too weak to be finding things yourself so I'll be protecting you."
Kagome let his obscure words sink into her head, and the scrambled pieces of the puzzle somewhat made a picture.
As she was looking confused, Inu Yasha took her shoulders gently and smiled down at her.
"You did good, Kagome."
Her face lit up like a Christmas tree at that.
First, he had complimented her for the first time ever; second, he had used her name for the first time ever.
"Thank you." She responded bashfully.
"If you weren't so stupid, I'd almost be glad to be working with you."
Kagome took that as a half-compliment and smiled up at him, wiping the remaining tears off of her cheeks.
"Thanks, Inu Yasha."
.¸¸.·´ `·.¸¸..¸¸.·´ `·.¸¸.
Cat: ::Is doing an Irish Jig:: Hooray, another chappie done! HAPPY ST. PATTIE'S DAY! ::Pinches Dannee a few times::
Dannee: ::Shoves Cat onto the floor, then steps on her face:: Stop that, it's not St. Patrick's day yet!
Cat: ::Jumps up:: Cat is celebrating early. Dannee: Anyways... ::Celebrates:: Finally! Sorry it took so long guys, but the broken muse and lack of response to this story doesn't motivate me much to write...so...
Cat: Hint hint, wink wink...REVIEWS!
Dannee: Please, I really want feedback to this story. You guys are my inspiration since my muse hasn't been around much, nor helping me much.
Cat: ::Cries:: Cat is sorry Dannee, Cat is having friend issues.
Dannee: ::Pats her head:: It's alright, we talked about it, and you don't need your friends.
Cat: Cat's friends are garbage.
Dannee: Good girl.
Cat: ::Purrs::
Dannee: Anyways, to the few of you who have reviewed, thanks!
Cat, Shiari1, Miroku the Virtuous Monk, Josie, kokoro, drake220, Inu- Marosan, writerofascientist, Vampire'sBlood, Samantha-1434, StarryEyedChick, and Melinda.
Cat: REVIEWS!
Dannee: Please! If you know someone who is able to review, MAKE 'EM! T.T I'm so desperate and lonely with my lack of reviews. ::Cries::
Cat: ::Pets Dannee:: There there... And readers, make sure to check out Dannee's Xanga site if reader is interested in the updates for this story. Dannee may write faster if Dannee gets more feedback, now go REVIEW EVERYONE!