The Scent of Despair
Written by Catrina Winner
Author's Note: Erg! I think I'm going to go insane! So much work, etc, but I won't bore you with all that! Here's the next chapter! Review, please, it keeps up my inspiration to continue with this story. (Considering the very, very small amount of time I have to devout to it as of now.) Enjoy! I hope I got it out in a more timely matter then usual.
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Chapter Twenty-OneInuyasha pulled back from Kaede, his eyes wide with mixed feelings of terror and broken heartedness. The old woman watched him quietly, finally straitening up a little. "I will look for a way to do something…" she rested a wrinkled hand on his fire rat kimono, "I am sorry for your… loss." She turned and began to hobble away slowly, then paused. Without turning she began to speak, "Inuyasha, the Shikon Jewel works in many ways. There may yet be a way to reverse this wish. I give you hope so you have a reason to remain on this world. Even if there is only a little hope, Inuyasha, there is hope." She vanished into the trees gradually, leaving the hanyou alone with his thoughts.
Inuyasha sat heavily down at the edge of the well, staring into the bleak darkness. "Kagome, Kagome… Why did you leave me…?" He dropped his head into his human hands, feeling surges of painful emotions that were so acute when he was in his non-demonic form. "We were… going to be… mates… mates…Kagome…" A single tear slid slowly down his cheek and he smeared it away with his blunt nails. "I can… I can wait…" He glanced up at the moon, his chest moving up and down roughly as he tried to quash the emotions that crashed like waves upon his soul. "Hope. Kaede said there was hope. Ho… pe…" He turned at a rustle in the brush and Sango entered the small clearing, her face frightened and sad.
"Is she really…?" the demon huntress asked hesitantly. Inuyasha turned his back on her again, and nodded so quickly his hair shimmered in the moonlight. He was therefore surprised when he felt Sango holding him. "I'm sorry… Inuyasha… If… If Miroku and I can help you… at all…" Inuyasha tore away for her grip, his emotions pounding through him. He bit down on his tongue; dimly thankful his fangs were not a part of him tonight.
The hanyou bolted into the woods, frightening Sango further. Her surprised scream brought Miroku to the clearing at a slow, dizzy lope. He snatched her up and hugged her. "What's the matter? Sango?" She shook her head lightly and waved into the woods.
"Inuyasha just ran away… I don't know… I don't know!" Her tears splashed onto his clothing, though he didn't seem to mind terribly.
Shippo rushed into the clearing a moment later, his red-rimmed eyes holding a glint of hope. It was a small shine, but in his hollowed face, it was the world, and both humans noticed it immediately. Sango bent and opened her arms, which the demon scampered into, clinging to the material around her neck.
"Kaede found something!" he squeaked. "She said to bring Inuyasha to her, and all of these." He shoved a bit of parchment into Miroku's hand. The priest glanced over it and nodded thoughtfully.
"We can find these in the woods. Shippo, you will be the only one with any chance of finding Inuyasha. He just crawled into the woods to suffer alone… I suggest, when you do find him, that you are very cautious. He is highly emotional… considering his… predicament, though… I suppose…"
"His mate is gone… Kagome is gone…" the little kitsune sniffled again sadly. "I will find him!" He pushed himself from Sango's arms and scampered along the ground, lifting his nose into the wind to catch the hanyou's human scent. A moment later, he had vanished into the trees as well.
Sango took a deep breath and looked at her husband-to-be. "Let's go Miroku… We have to help Inuyasha… We have to help Kagome…" The monk nodded, and began to read off the list. It was difficult to see, the handwriting being faded and the paper was wrinkled and yellowing. He ended on a strange name, shooting Sango a confused look.
The demon huntress looked as if she would collapse on the spot. "It's a demon flower… Something that died out years ago… years ago… There's no way any exist around here any longer… This means-this means…" she caught her breath, trying to hold back the sobs. Miroku shook his head fiercely.
"Maybe it's not the most important ingredient… Maybe we can still make this work. Let's get everything else… Maybe we can do it, Sango. We have to try to help Inuyasha… We have to."
Sango nodded, and the two of them set off into the woods on their hunt. Shippo, meanwhile, had discovered the hanyou staring into a pool of water, whispering to himself. "Hope, hope, hope." It was a strange mantra, but Shippo understood, though somewhat dimly.
The kitsune rested his small paw on the hanyou's kimono. "Kaede may have found something already. Hope?" he tried to smile, but failed miserably. Inuyasha stared at him with dulled eyes.
"Something for me? Will I see Kagome again?" he asked, his voice a flat monotone.
"I don't know… Kaede… I bet you will, Inuyasha… Come back with me… Please…"
The hanyou and the kitsune arrived far before the engaged couple, and Kaede quickly outlined her plans for them.
"This is a very old spell," began the old woman, "but it will center you in your demonic state, prolonging your lifespan over the four hundred years that separate you from Lady Kagome. If it all goes correctly, you should be able to become hanyou again, even if it is only for a short time… Which should be long enough to find the girl. Maybe she can save you, maybe she can return to this time before the spell is cast upon you. I do not know the exact outcome. As I said, this spell has not been used for many years." She paused to take a large breath. "If you have something that will always remind you of the girl, give it to me. Sango and Miroku's generations will care for you when you are a demon… Until it is time to reawaken you with the object. Those two will return soon, and I can create the potion in the next few days. Will you wait?"
Inuyasha's eyes hardened. "For Kagome, I will wait forever."
Shippo looked at him surprised. "Four hundred years is a long time, Inuyasha, even for a demon."
The hanyou nodded. "I don't care. I want to be with Kagome again." Kaede nodded and agreed silently.
"Then it will be done. Inuyasha, the item."
The hanyou tugged the necklace Kagome had given him before, on that moonlit night, off of his neck and dropped it into the wizened hand. "Take care of it."
Kaede nodded.
"Soon. Soon it will be ready, and your waiting will begin."
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Review please! Writing this made me late for another appointment, and I didn't do my math homework. Chocolate muffins and strawberry pie! (Hear my anger!!) Review! I love you all, darling fans! Remember: there is a happy ending, there is a happy ending! (Chant it, it will come true!)