A/N- Sorry for this chapter being so late! I made it longer than the rest of the chapters to make up for it. I hope you guys like it!
The Colors of Emotions
Chapter 25
Returning Home
The hanyou landed with a 'thud' at the bottom of the old, dried up well. He still held a struggling Kagome in his arms, and with one mighty leap, they were out of the well. Inuyasha set Kagome down, and she turned to him with a scowl.
"What?" He asked innocently.
"You're not staying here with me! I have school to go to, I have too much homework that I need to finish, and I cannot have you hovering over me everywhere I go!" Kagome's eyes flashed with anger, but Inuyasha took that as a sign to calm her down.
"You're getting mad Kagome." He calmly stated.
Kagome already felt a slight twinge from the Shikon jewel. It was beginning to absorb the energy she had from getting angry. So with a sigh, she gave in to the hanyou and calmed herself down. "Fine. But I won't need protection in my time Inuyasha. You don't have to stay."
"What about the Noh Mask?" Inuyasha taunted. It was proof that she wasn't as safe as she wished in the present.
"Inuyasha, please. I need time to relax. I can't have you following me wherever I go. I need time to myself. It's sweet of you to feel the need to protect me, really it is, but don't you think you're overdoing it?"
Inuyasha turned defensive in a flash. Whenever Kagome got too close to his true feelings he got like this. So the hanyou immediately snapped, "I'm only watching out for my jewel shard." 'Ooh, good one Inuyasha. Way to piss her off. That wasn't even an original excuse.' He mentally kicked himself.
Kagome's eyes flashed angrily once again, and the jewel shard glowed a faint blue. Kagome staggered for a moment when she felt the loss of energy. Her eyes met with Inuyasha's, and she took a deep breath. What he just said had really stung. 'After all that has happened in the past week, he still only cares about the jewel shard.'
"I would've thought, that after all the times you've said that to me Inuyasha, you would have noticed that all that you ever accomplish by saying you only care about the jewel shards upsets me. But you really don't care how I feel do you?" Kagome's voice softened and Inuyasha didn't miss the tear that trickled down her cheek. "But I guess it shows how naïve I still am." And she bolted from the well house.
The hanyou was stunned at Kagome's parting words. 'How can you honestly believe I don't care Kagome?'
Inuyasha knew he had to apologize to her. He hadn't meant to upset her, heck, he hadn't even meant to say that he only cared about the jewel shards. It was a natural reflex. He gave a defeated sigh. As much as he hated saying her was sorry, the hurt look on Kagome's face right before she ran out was enough to make him do anything. So he ran after her.
Rain was pouring down from the skies on this side of the well. But Kagome didn't notice as the hot tears escaped from her eyes, and she ran desperately for her home. She hoped that someone from her family would be there. She didn't want to be alone with Inuyasha right then. She might just fling the Shikon shard away and purposely attack the hanyou in her hysterics. Of course, she knew she was exaggerating. No matter what Inuyasha said to her, she would never purposely hurt him.
The dripping young woman dashed into her house, not bothering to remove her soaked shoes. "Mom? Jii-chan? Is anyone home?" Kagome heard the door close behind her, and it didn't take a genius to know that it was Inuyasha. She refused to turn around and acknowledge him.
"Kagome, listen, I'm-" But he didn't get to finish as Mrs. Higurashi suddenly called from the kitchen.
"Kagome dear? Is that you?" Kagome's mother looked curiously into the hallway. She spotted her daughter immediately, and Kagome wasted no time in launching herself into her mother's welcoming embrace.
"Mom!" Kagome sobbed into her mother's shirt. Her shoulders were horribly shaking, and Mrs. Higurashi tightly wrapped her arms around her daughter's trembling form.
"Shh…Kagome, it will be okay now. Here, come with me and I'll get you something warm to drink. When you calm down, I want you to take a long bath, okay? Does that sound good Sweetie?"
Kagome nodded against her mother's chest, and she desperately tried to control her sobs while she her mother led her to the kitchen. Inuyasha stood by the door watching to scene in front of him feeling very uncomfortable. He had never seen Kagome completely break down like this. Sure she had cried plenty of times, but never like this.
Inuyasha suddenly noticed how weak Kagome looked. She was ghostly pale, and his haori that she wore barely covered the essentials. But now it was soaking wet, and it clung to her body revealing just how thin she was becoming. It hit the hanyou that Kagome had barely eaten a thing for the past few days.
The unwanted emotion of guilt crept up on him for probably the billionth time that week. Kagome hadn't visited her family for a good three weeks. She was trying to return home before she was attacked by the kotsonu, and after that, everything had happened so fast. 'She must not have wanted to risk hurting her family when she was unable to control her powers.' Inuyasha realized. Kagome hadn't been going home, although she missed her family immensely.
The hanyou was brought out of his thoughts when a warm, comforting hand was placed on his shoulder. He looked up at Mrs. Higurashi who was smiling softly at him.
"Inuyasha, do you want some tea? You must be cold Honey."
Inuyasha had grown very fond of Kagome's mother, as she had to the hanyou. She was a very nice woman, and over the years, Inuyasha had learned to trust her. He had missed having a mother, although he'd never admit it. Mrs. Higurashi treated him like a son, and Inuyasha was grateful for how easily she accepted him.
The hanyou was led into the kitchen, and Mrs. Higurashi gestured for him to sit down. He made himself comfortable on the chair across from a shivering Kagome, who was sipping her tea slowly. Her eyes never looked up at Inuyasha, and she was obviously ignoring him. Mrs. Higurashi noticed how quiet it was when she set a cup of tea in front of the dripping hanyou. Then, she went into 'mom-mode'.
"Alright you two. You both must be chilled to the bone. I think the laundry is done, so let me go fetch you two some nice warm towels to help dry you off." So the older woman left the silent duo.
Inuyasha saw his opening to apologize, having been left alone with Kagome. He didn't admit he was sorry often, so this was going to be difficult.
"Kagome, I didn't mean--" He started. But Kagome's head shot up to fix a glare on the hanyou. It was enough to make him shut up with a defeated sigh.
"Here we are!" Mrs. Higurashi's sing song voice was heard right before she entered the kitchen. Kagome saw her mom enter and snapped her gaze back to her teacup.
Inuyasha watched as Kagome's mom draped a warm, fuzzy, pink towel around Kagome shoulders. She then continued on her path and did the same to a horrified Inuyasha. The poor hanyou was now wrapped into a fuzzy, pink towel. Talk about loss of dignity. And he couldn't exactly remove it, because that would be rude. And besides, it felt good. It was nice and warm, and Inuyasha relished in the comfort he got from just simply sitting at a table with a steaming cup of tea, and a warm towel. So screw dignity for the moment.
Kagome however couldn't suppress a giggle when she glanced up at Inuyasha to see him all cuddled into the towel. Both Inuyasha and her mom looked up at her with a start, hoping that she was finally coming out of her mood.
"Kagome, you wanna tell me what happened?" Mrs. Higurashi asked. It felt good to talk about one's problems. And Kagome was obviously very upset.
Kagome's smile vanished and she shook her head. "I'm going to go take a bath now okay Mom?"
"Sure Sweetie."
Kagome stood from her seat, and walked briskly past Inuyasha towards the stairs. But the hanyou was too fast and caught her hand, which made her jerk abruptly around to face him.
Inuyasha had to get this out, "I'm sorry Kagome."
After a moment of awkward silence, Kagome's hand clenched a bit tighter around his, showing that she understood. Inuyasha didn't apologize often, so he must really regret saying what he did. Then she continued on her path to the stairs.
Mrs. Higurashi noticed how the two held hands a little longer than necessary, and she smiled. They really were quite the adorable couple. If she was lucky, she might get grandchildren with those cute little dog ears.
Inuyasha glanced nervously at Kagome's mother, as the silence was very uncomfortable. They only sound was Kagome turning the bathwater on upstairs.
Thankfully, Mrs. Higurashi broke the silence by asking, "How long are you staying Inuyasha dear?"
"As long as Kagome is." Inuyasha stated.
Mrs. Higurashi raised her eyebrow at this. "You usually leave while she is at school and such. Why do you want to stick around?"
Inuyasha fumbled for an excuse, "Well…uh…you see…" But he finally decided to just give a short version of the truth. "Mrs. Higurashi, I am supposed to protect Kagome. I have been doing a pretty lousy job of it recently, and there are some reasons for me to keep an eye on her." There, that sounded good. He didn't spill anything that had happened, as it seemed Kagome hadn't wanted to tell her mother the events of the previous week. But he also explained that he wasn't leaving.
"Inuyasha, I can assure you that Kagome is perfectly safe here. But if you feel that strongly about it, then by all means, you can stay. This is practically your home too. You are always welcome." Mrs. Higurashi smiled at the stunned hanyou in front of her.
"Thank you." Inuyasha commented. It felt very strange for those words to leave his lips, but it was all he could think to do at the moment. Kagome's mother had just told him that he had a home. Inuyasha hadn't had an actual home since his mother died.
"Souta is going to be home soon. He will be delighted to see you. I would leave Kagome alone for a while if I were you. And since both of you seem to be neglecting telling me what happened, I'm not going to push further for answers. But give her time Inuyasha."
* * * * *
Kagome sighed as she lowered herself into the warm water. Her bath was filled to the brim with lavender scented bubbles, and her tense muscles thoroughly enjoyed the welcoming water. It felt amazing to finally have a moment to herself to just relax.
That is what the young woman really needed. She needed to calm down, and think. Everything had been thrown at her, and the full force of what she needed to deal with hadn't really been made clear until she stood in front of Inuyasha in the well house. She had been angered so easily, and if she hadn't had the jewel that close to her, she would have once again attacked Inuyasha.
But if she continued to keep the jewel close to her, then at night Naraku could enter her mind and cause her physical harm. To Kagome, the choice was obvious. As she had told Inuyasha before, Kagome wouldn't let anyone get hurt because of her.
It had crossed Kagome's mind that she could just remove the jewel at night, since that seemed the only time Naraku was capable of connecting with her. But even then, Kagome didn't like the feeling of knowing the people around her were vulnerable to attack. And that might not even keep Naraku out of her head anyway.
Kagome was hoping that Naraku couldn't reach her, since she was five hundred years away. But it was just a guess.
Kagome knew she had overreacted when Inuyasha had told her, once again, that he only cared for the Shikon shards and not her. It was just, Kagome suddenly found herself faced with a horrible decision, and she needed as much support as she could get. Kagome closed her eyes as the lavender scents lulled her to sleep.
* * * * *
"Kagome, you know that Inuyasha doesn't only care for the shards." Miroku told the teary-eyed miko softly. She was sitting in a corner of Kaede's hut, and she and Miroku were apparently the only one's around.
"I know Miroku. But, *sniffle* it still hurts to hear it."
"You know Inuyasha better than anyone here. He cares about you. How many times has he saved you? And remember when he tried to make you return home when he thought he couldn't protect you?"
"I know…… Thanks for the reassurance Miroku."
"Anytime my dear." But it wasn't Miroku's voice that answered her this time. Kagome looked up instantly and saw that Miroku was no longer in front of her. But Naraku, in the lord's son's form, was in his place with a cold smirk. "This was quite an endearing little memory dream you were having huh? Too bad I had to end it."
Kagome suddenly found herself back in that all to familiar white mist.
"Naraku? But how did you…?"
"Find you? Oh, silly Kagome. I can always find you. I don't exactly know where you are right now though. Smells like lavender." Naraku's voice trailed off until he remembered what he was saying. " I admit, I had some trouble making a connection. But you have filled the Shikon shard with so much lovely demon energy, that it really wasn't 'too' difficult."
"So we're connected through the demon energy in the jewel? I was right!"
"Yes, but what are you going to do about it? You won't take the Shikon shard off for fear of hurting your little friends. I know you well enough to know that."
"You don't know me at all!" Kagome screamed at Naraku.
His eyes narrowed. "Kagome, my dear, do not raise you voice to me." Naraku's arm shot out and grabbed Kagome's shoulder. "After all, you don't even know some of things I am capable of."
Kagome winced when she felt his grip tighten considerably. "I hate you." Kagome hissed through the pain.
Naraku smiled evilly, and his claws pierced into Kagome's flesh. Kagome tried to struggle, but it only served to make his grip even tighter. Naraku bent down and licked off the blood that began to trickle down Kagome's arm. She cringed, and seeing as he was distracted, punched him in the jaw.
Naraku reeled back, thoroughly surprised at Kagome having the guts to throw a punch. It hadn't really hurt, but it was still enough to bother him. He let go of her shoulder and glared at her.
"If you can harm me in my mind Naraku, than I can harm you here too. What's stopping me from attacking you?" Kagome threatened, as she removed the jewel from around her neck. "I'm pretty pissed off right now, and I will not hold back."
Naraku laughed at her pitiful threat. "Kagome, if you died in your dream, you'd die in real life. Don't tell me you would risk your own life just to attack me. I would live through it anyway. Anger isn't a powerful enough emotion."
Kagome just glared at Naraku, while clutching the jewel shard tightly in her hand. He was right. She wouldn't actually have gone through with attacking him. She was bleeding after all, and she might not be as lucky as she was the last time she had attacked.
"I am leaving now Kagome. You are about to wake up. I'll see you again soon." And with those parting words, Naraku vanished.
* * * * *
Kagome woke with a start. She clutched her racing heart and took deep breaths.
This was too much for her.
Kagome found that she was still clutching the jewel shard in her right hand, and her gaze traveled up her arm following the trickle of blood until she reached her shoulder.
She grimaced at the four small gashes.
Not knowing what else she could accomplish in the now-cold bath water, Kagome pulled herself out of the tub, and wrapped a towel around her. She opened one of the drawers under the sink, and after some rummaging, she found what she was looking for: antiseptic and a large bandage. The Higurashi home was always stocked full of medical supplies, as Kagome brought plenty to the past with her.
She gingerly wiped the blood away from her shoulder and arm with a damp washcloth, and then continued to pour the stinging antiseptic on the scratches. A large bandage was the final touch to this frequent medical ritual, and with a sigh, Kagome placed all the items back in the drawer, and headed to her room…
After getting dressed, Kagome returned downstairs drying her hair with a towel. Inuyasha was sitting on the couch in the living room tormenting Buyo, and Kagome decided to pointedly ignore him.
To be fully honest, Kagome no longer was angry at him. She was only avoiding Inuyasha because she felt guilty when she saw him. Kagome was hiding so much from him, and he had asked her to always tell him where she was going and what was going on. He wanted to protect her.
Kagome knew that, but the only way to protect her from Naraku now was to remove the jewel. And Kagome wouldn't let her powers on the loose again. She had attacked Inuyasha twice, and with her power focused, she had destroyed a very powerful demon.
It led to one conclusion: She couldn't control her powers, and Kagome admitted that to herself now. She needed that shard near her to catch her before she did serious harm to anyone, including herself.
With a defeated sigh, Kagome sat down on one of the kitchen chairs and began to comb out her hair with a brush she had dragged with her from the bathroom.
She couldn't keep this up. Her and Naraku were connected, and it seemed as though she couldn't stop it. The only question now was whether or not to tell Inuyasha before her conscious consumed her with guilt.
Kagome could ignore it for now. But she was sure that Inuyasha would find out sooner or later.
* * * *
Inuyasha gave Kagome a quizzical look when she walked past him to the kitchen. She had smelled faintly of blood, but she didn't seem to be in any pain. So the hanyou continued to torture the poor cat in front of him.
Souta arrived home and walked into the kitchen to find his sister brushing out her damp hair.
"Kagome you're home!" Souta yelled happily.
Kagome looked up at him and smiled. "Inuyasha's in the living room if you want to see him."
With a large grin, Souta dashed into the living room and lunged himself at the unsuspecting hanyou. The young boy hugged Inuyasha around the middle, and Inuyasha ruffled the boy's hair with a "What's up squirt?"
"I'm not a squirt anymore!" And this was true. Souta had grown quite a few inches in the past couple of years. He still worshipped Inuyasha though, and he loved hearing the often-exaggerated tales that Inuyasha would tell him about fights in the past.
* * * *
The day continued very much as any normal day. Kagome called some of her classmates to check up on homework, and found that Jii-chan had merely told everyone that Kagome was on a trip to visit her sick cousin, instead of the old man's usual excuse of her having some strange and exotic illness for her absence. Of course, the entire excuse was fake, but hey, now Kagome wouldn't get so many weird looks from people anymore.
Speaking of Jii-chan, he arrived home around dinner after spending the day buying who knows what at antique stores. He came home with some weird old furniture and stuff, and most of it he claimed had a history behind it. His ramblings were of course, blatantly ignored.
Inuyasha spent most of the day playing video games with Souta. Souta then had insisted that Inuyasha take him for a ride around the shrine on his back. The hanyou, not having anything else to do, obliged. He had been leaving Kagome alone like Mrs. Higurashi had advised.
Dinner time came and Kagome had rushed happily down the stairs from her room smelling oden. Inuyasha noticed that Kagome stilled smelled faintly of blood, meaning that whatever had made her bleed had cut deeply into the skin. He still ignored it, as Kagome didn't seem to be injured at all.
Besides a few demon warding charms being discreetly thrown Inuyasha's way by a wary Jii-chan, dinner was uneventful. The phone rang and Mrs. Higurashi stood to answer it.
"Kagome, it's for you." She called.
Kagome rose from the table and took the phone from her mother's outstretched hand. "Hello?" She asked into the mouthpiece while she walked towards her room. She didn't like having phone conversations where the whole family could hear.
"Hi Kagome! It's Hojo! Arumi just called me and said you were back. How's your cousin by the way?"
"Umm, fine." Kagome replied while sitting down at her desk chair in her room.
"I'm glad. Hey listen, a huge history report was assigned yesterday and I wanted to know if you would like me to bring over the requirement sheet so you could start working on it. It counts for a huge part of our grade, and it would make a good impression if you turned it in on time."
"Thanks Hojo! That would be great. Just meet me at the bottom of the shrine stairs."
"Alright Kagome. I'll be right there." He answered. Kagome hung up and made her way downstairs again.
She walked to the door and slipped on her shoes. "Mom, I'm meeting a friend really quick so they can drop off some homework!" Kagome called.
"Alright dear!" Her mom called from the kitchen. Kagome continued to open the door, but she barely made it a step through before someone grabbed her shoulder to turn her around.
It was her injured shoulder, and Kagome hissed in pain, and knocked the hand away before turning to look at whoever had grabbed her. Inuyasha stood looking worriedly at her shoulder, than he switched his gaze to Kagome's face. "What happened to your shoulder?" He asked.
Crap, she was caught. Kagome had put a long sleeved shirt on to hide the bandage, but Inuyasha still found out about her injury. She said the first thing that came to her mind, "I hit a wall." 'Oh, brilliant answer you idiot!' Kagome mentally groaned. She was now adding something else to her list of things she was hiding from Inuyasha.
"Nice try Kagome. I smelled blood, hitting a wall wouldn't make your shoulder bleed." Inuyasha countered. Kagome stayed quiet. Inuyasha continued, "Where are you going?"
"I'm meeting a friend at the bottom of the shrine steps. I'll be right back." Kagome responded exasperated.
"I'm coming with you." Inuyasha stated as he followed Kagome out the door.
Not wanting to fight with him, Kagome just continued on her path down the steps that led from her shrine to the sidewalk below. It was a little past seven, and not many cars were out on the road. "Just don't let him see you. You don't--"
But Inuyasha cut her off when he turned her around abruptly by grabbing her non-injured shoulder. "Him?"
"Yes Inuyasha, my friend is a boy. Now stop being so over-protective and let go of me."
Inuyasha did remove his grasp on her shoulder, but he now was more on guard while he followed Kagome as she hopped down the last few steps. The two waited in silence under a streetlight until footsteps could be heard coming along the sidewalk.
Kagome shoved Inuyasha none too gently behind a nearby bush, so the hanyou did as he was told, not wanting to upset her further. But he watched like a hawk as some weakling human boy came strolling towards Kagome with a sheet of paper in one hand, and a wrapped up gift in another.
Hojo stopped in front of Kagome with a smile. "Hey Higurashi." He greeted her, and Kagome smiled at him in return, making Inuyasha extremely angry. 'She shouldn't be smiling for that wimp!' He angrily thought.
"Here's the requirement sheet, and I wanted to give you this. It'll help you relax if you get too stressed out with all the homework you have to make up" Hojo blushed slightly as he handed Kagome the paper and wrapped bundle.
Kagome mentally groaned at whatever strange thing Hojo could have come up with as a gift this time, but she was happily surprised to find a small bag of lavender scented bath beads. "Thank you Hojo! I love lavender." She smiled warmly at him, while she faintly heard a low growl from the bush nearby. Kagome took that as warning that she had better leave, so she told Hojo that she was cold and bade him goodbye. She needed to get out of there before Hojo asked her on a date for the millionth time, and she would have to reject him.
"See ya Higurashi!" Houjo called. Kagome gave him a final wave before sprinting back up the stairs, knowing Inuyasha wouldn't be far behind.
Sorry that the plot didn't move much in this chapter. I hope you enjoyed it, and please review!
Love ya lots
Vold!!!!!!!!!!!!!