Hello! I'm finally back! I had so much to do, I just didn't have time to work on this. Sorry! But inbetween studying and working on art projects I found some spare time to write this next chapter. So, I hope you enjoy it! After finals this week I should have more time to write and update.. hopefully! Sometimes work and other stuff gets in the way. Oh well, hope you like this chapter, and don't forget to tell me what you think! Also, I am updating my poems too, I've got one for Miroku. So check it out!
*disclaimer: Still not mine *sigh* By now I'd hope that you all would have realized that...
~Review Responses~
Litoasngyrl - I'm writing, I'm writing! Finals... agh!
heather - Oh yeah, I did kinda feel bad for her. But now I just have a completely different opinion, after reading this one fic on here called "Drowning in the Sun." The author is "Sango." It was just amazing, it totally changed my views of Kikyo. Read it sometime, I can't even describe it. The girl writes the way I wish I could! I can't even do the story justice by trying to describe it to you, it's something that you'll just have to read. She wrote about Inu and Kikyo's relationship before Naraku broke them up, and it's just written beautifully. I can't praise it enough! But thank you for reviewing my chapter and I hope you like this one too!
ejqHorseLady - Yeah, it was weird, wasn't it?! But I guess that's what happens when you think of plot points for your story when you're tired...!
lilemmy - Hee! I know, the end of the semester sucks!! It seems like there's so much to do... Good luck with your papers. But yes, another dreaded cliffie! I'm pretty bad with those... this one doesn't end with too much of a cliffie though. And I'm glad that you found the Monty Python coincidence funny!
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Kouga looked down when he heard a little "mew" and saw Kirara who had managed to escape.
"Well, looks like I have to play the hero," Kouga smirked. He jumped up and freed Kagome from the web. He caught her up and landed with her in his arms. She slowly opened her eyes.
"Ko-Kouga?!" she said in a daze.
"That's right. I came here to save you, since dog breath over there is so incompetent."
"Inuyasha! Is he okay?!" Kagome cried, wiggling out of Kouga's grasp.
"Yeah, yeah, he'll be fine."
Kagome ran over to the rest of her friends that were still hanging. She stared up at Inuyasha's face. He looked distressed; his eyes were tightly closed. Kagome's own vision flooded her mind. Inuyasha's expression had been... so emotionless... the panic that she had felt gripped her chest again.
"Please Kouga, get them down!" Kagome said.
"Alright alright," he muttered, and jumped up and freed Sango and Miroku. He then got Shippo and placed the little fox demon in Kagome's arms, and last of all he cut the webs from Inuyasha, but didn't conveniently catch him so Inuyasha fell to the ground on his face.
"Kagome!" Shippo yelled as he woke up.
"Shippo! You're okay!"
Miroku and Sango were also coming to and Inuyasha groaned on the forest floor.
"Kagome, I had the worst nightmare ever! You and all the others were lost, and Hiten and Monten were gonna kill me!" the little fox demon wailed.
"You had a dream too, Shippo? How awful. Well don't worry, we're all right here," she said, hugging him close.
"My face...." groaned Inuyasha.
"What- what happened? I'm... still alive?" Miroku said groggily, rubbing his head.
Sango looked over her body and found there were no wounds. Her hands were slightly shaking.
"Are you guys alright?" Kagome asked, concerned. Kouga was still standing off to the side, watching the three come to their senses.
"Sango, what are you doing?" Miroku asked, after observing her peculiar behavior.
"I- I had a dream..." she faltered.
"Ah, I did too. Inuyasha, Kagome, did you also have a vision?"
Inuyasha sat up confused, forgetting about his physical pain. "Yeah, I.... did."
"Me too," Kagome said softly, looking at the ground.
"Hey! What about me?! I had one too!" Shippo shouted, determined not to be left out.
"Wait a minute... Kouga, what the hell are you doing here?!" Inuyasha growled, noticing his wolf adversary for the first time.
"Before you start throwing insults, dog breath, I'd have you know that I saved your sorry ass."
"You bastard, I'll beat you so-"
"Inuyasha, sit boy!"
"ARGH!"
*Smack*
"My face ...." (groan)
"Inuyasha, you should be thanking Kouga. He did save us all." Kagome spoke into the hole Inuyasha made in the ground.
"Yeah, you see? It's a good thing I came along, 'cause you sure aren't very good at protecting my woman," Kouga said.
"YOUR WOMAN!" Inuyasha sputtered, jumping out of his Inuyasha-shaped crater. "She ain't your woman!"
"She certainly isn't yours! You couldn't protect her to save your own life, you stupid mutt!"
"Shut up, ya wimpy wolf! Get the hell out of here now, unless you feel like getting ripped to shreds," Inuyasha threatened and cracked his knuckles.
"Inuyasha and Kouga!!!" Kagome said with a voice that would make even the strongest demons quiver.
They both were surprised at her outburst, and turned to stare at her. She was pretty mad. Inuyasha and Kouga felt very small all of a sudden and looked like a pair of naughty children being scolded by an angry mother.
"Both of you are so childish! GET OVER IT! I will not have fighting going on right now! We need to get out of this forest before anything else is settled!"
Inuyasha and Kouga felt reprimanded.
"She took them down a notch..." Shippo grinned.
"This is so ridiculous-"
But Kagome was cut off. A loud hiss was heard over the brush and webs.
"With all those webs we were bound to run into a spider sooner or later," Miroku said.
"EEP!" Kagome ran to Inuyasha and hid behind his arm.
"Why are you so scared all of a sudden?" Inuyasha smirked, feeling more confidence at the sight of Kagome's own diminishing.
Kagome stopped for a minute. 'Why am I this scared? I haven't been this frightened of demons before... Is it because I'm afraid he might leave me like in the dream?'
"Inuyasha," a voice said with amusement.
His ears twitched and he stiffened. Miroku and Sango gasped.
"Naraku," Inuyasha said, his voice dripping with disdain.
"I knew you would come into the forest if you thought your beloved Kikyo was here," he said.
"Kikyo! Where is she?!" Inuyasha exclaimed.
"You fool. Have you not figured it out? These webs can create illusions. I'm sure all of you had one while you were pinned in their sticky recesses. What did you see in yours, Inuyasha?"
"You twisted bastard, come out here so I can see you! Fight me man to man, or are you still too coward?"
Red eyes of the spider demon glared out over his massive tangle of webs.
"Kill him," was all Naraku said in reply.
The huge demon spat a sticky ball of webs at Inuyasha who jumped with Kagome out of the way. Then he drew tetsusaiga and charged up to strike it down. Kouga also jumped.
"Get out of here, wimpy wolf! This is my job! Run home to your stupid caves!"
"Shut up dog breath, you know you're not strong enough to defeat this overgrown spider by yourself. This requires a real demon!"
"What'd you say?!!!!" Inuyasha yelled, and started attacking Kouga instead. The two began to fight, and Kagome ran after shouting for them to knock it off. But her demands fell on deaf ears.
Sango and Miroku rolled their eyes and looked at each other. Sango used hiraikotsu and neatly sliced the spider in half. Miroku used his wind tunnel and the spider was no more. Then they spied Naraku getting away. Miroku threw his staff. It hit Naraku on the head and Sango quickly threw her boomerang. The puppet crumbled.
The battle between Kouga and Inuyasha was also put to an end, after Inuyasha was sat twice and Kouga realized the spider and Naraku's puppet had both been defeated by the monk and exterminator. Kagome was still yelling.
"Honestly, you two!! You act like you're five years old!"
"Come on, Kagome, you know that wolf boy here isn't your type!"
"Well Inuyasha, I don't know. At least Kouga doesn't go chasing after dead ex-girlfriends and get us all in trouble, now does he?!"
"Oh that's it Kagome, that was below the belt-"
"You see mutt? She likes me better." Kouga smirked.
"And as for you, Kouga," Kagome said, rounding on him, "Inuyasha is very capable and he can protect me just fine! So stop doubting his abilities!"
Inuyasha looked smug.
"Come on Kagome, you know he's not good enough for you. Come with me and you'll see how a true demon treats his mate."
"Oh no you won't," Inuyasha said grabbing her arm. Kagome looked indignant at Inuyasha's controlling gesture and rebellion fleeted across her eyes.
"Tell me Inuyasha, why you are so opposed for me to be Kouga's mate?"
"Yeah, dog breath, tell us," Kouga said mockingly.
"Kouga, stay out of this!" Kagome snapped at him. He humbly took the reprimand and lapsed into silence.
"Inuyasha," she addressed him again, "tell me why you won't let me go."
He started, and then his eyes narrowed. "Cause you're part of our group. We- we need you."
Kagome tried to hide her disappointment in his answer, but at the same time she realized the spot she was putting him in. She didn't expect a full confession, not in front of everyone like this, but she wanted to gauge his reaction and read what he was really feeling behind it.
"Is that all?" she said, more calmly this time.
Inuyasha also realized what she was trying to get him to say, in front of the surprised stares of Kouga and his other companions. But there was no way in hell he was going to suffer through this kind of embarrassment. He knew what she was playing at. And he wasn't buying it.
"Yeah. You're the only one who can see the shards. Of course we need you."
Kagome's eyes hardened. Inuyasha saw this and the feelings that she was masking behind them. He instantly felt guilty about what he said. He knew it hurt her much deeper than she was letting it show.
"Just a jewel shard detector, huh?" she said bitterly.
"Well, yeah... but we do need you... Kagome," he said, trying to make amends without losing his pride, but the damage had already been done.
Kagome closed her eyes, heaved a big sigh and ripped her arm away from Inuyasha, who had been gripping it tight.
"Let's get out of this stupid forest. I'm going home."
"Oh no you're not Kago-" Inuyasha started.
"SIT BOY."
~~~~*~*~*~~~~
Later on the group, minus Kagome and Kirara, was sitting around their campfire. Inuyasha was still grumbling. Miroku and Sango were conversing.
"What a pitiful trap that was. That spider demon was so easy to defeat. All of that was almost too easy," Sango remarked. "What does Naraku take us for?!"
"Idiots, apparently," Miroku replied, eyeing the sulking half demon across the fire.
Inuyasha glared with daggers at the monk but said nothing.
"But, you do have to realize that if Kouga had not come along we all might have been devoured by now," Miroku said. Inuyasha growled under his breath, and Miroku decided not to pursue that topic. So they let it drop and began quietly discussing the illusions they had. Miroku had left out the part about Sango being in his. He didn't quite feel the time was right to tell her...
"Inuyasha. What did you see in your vision?" Miroku suddenly asked, trying to include him in the conversation.
"Doesn't matter," he mumbled.
"I see," Miroku said. After a pause he spoke again, "I have been thinking, Inuyasha, about what we will do when we complete the shikon jewel."
"Good for you," he grumbled.
"Listen, Inuyasha," Miroku urged. "I understand that you are hell bent on using the jewel to become a full-fledged demon. But after witnessing your behavior when you are transformed I don't think that is a wise decision."
"What are you getting at?" he snapped.
"I'm saying I don't think you should become full demon."
"And why the hell not?" Inuyasha said, sounding annoyed.
"Because, you wish to protect Kagome, right? You almost killed her when you were transformed. You forget everything about your world, you forget about yourself, and you can't remember what you did. Do you want to live life that way? I watched you slaughter innocent men, even when they were on their knees crying and begging for their lives!" Miroku said harshly.
Inuyasha bit his lip, and felt his anger well up inside him. "Who said I want to be a good guy, huh? Who said? I don't care! You can't do this to me, you'll take away everything that I hoped for!"
"And what is that, Inuyasha?" Miroku said calmly.
"A place to belong! All my life I never had a place to be accepted! I drift between two worlds, and neither wants to acknowledge my existence! Demons and humans may hate each other, but demons are strong and respect one another, and humans are proud of their heritage. But neither of the two utter 'half breed' without contempt. We half breeds have nowhere to go. The demons shun us and the humans turn us away. We wander around wondering if there's ever a place where we can belong. We're not quite as strong as a true demon, and way too powerful to live life as a normal human. Some insist on trying, but everything's always our fault. Any village where we might be able to live peacefully, if anything goes wrong it's always the half breed's fault. And if we try to survive with the demons, that's even worse. Demons will try to take out a half breed any day. Demons are way more merciless than humans. Humans would never be able to kill a half breed, but a demon could. That's why I need to become a full demon. So I can have the power to protect myself in this unforgiving world. You tell me now, that you want me to give up my one chance of belonging somewhere for once?!"
Inuyasha sat back and bit his lip even harder. He was almost in a state of shock. He couldn't believe he had just said all of that.
The others sat quietly and the only sound was the crackle and pop of the fire. Inuyasha was staring hard into the leaping flames. Sango watched his face and saw many emotions flicker there. She got up and knelt beside him, placing her hand on his shoulder.
"I'm sorry, I never realized..." she said quietly. "That must have been building up inside you for a very long time..."
Inuyasha almost shook her hand off his shoulder but resisted. "Don't pity me," was all he said bitterly.
Sango withdrew back to Miroku's side.
"Anyway, I merely made the suggestion because I was thinking of a different way to use the jewel," Miroku started again.
"And what's that, monk?" Inuyasha muttered, still looking into the fire.
"There is the question of Kohaku's life. If the shard is removed from his back, he will die."
"So?"
"I was thinking, there are only two ways to save his life. Well three actually, if we leave the jewel shard in his back, but the jewel must be completed. One way is to beg your brother Sesshomaru to use his sword, tensaiga."
"No good there. He'd never save a human, especially if we're the ones asking," Inuyasha said sullenly.
"Right. So the only other way is to use the wish of the shikon jewel. Instead of you becoming a demon, we could use the wish to bring Kohaku back to life."
Sango looked astonished, as she had never thought of that before.
Inuyasha raised his eyebrows, but had nothing to say. He had already spoken too much. His sudden outbreak had resulted because of all the emotional strife he had been under. His bottle of stored and repressed emotions had finally burst. The vision he had in the webs was still fresh in his mind. He could still feel the pain on his cheek from his mother's burning hand, smell Kikyo's freshly spilled blood, and Kagome... he could still smell the salt of her tears. And hear what she had said... He couldn't bear to see the three women that had been and were most important in his life in pain.
'Keh,' he then thought. Kagome was being a stupid wench at the moment. 'What was she playing at? Did she honestly want me to tell her why she should stay? Isn't it obvious? But she was sincerely hurt. There must be something more to this. Why was she so upset? Kagome must have had a vision too. I wonder what she saw...'
Inuyasha looked up from the fire and connected eyes with a concerned Sango. She had been watching him as he mused, and she was genuinely worried about him.
"Inuyasha... I understand that you need the jewel. We might be able to find another way to keep Kohaku alive. But in your case, the jewel is your only hope. I cannot be so selfish as to take away your only chance at being a normal demon."
"Sango," Miroku said surprised.
"Spare me the pity, Sango. I'll think about it." Inuyasha said gruffly. He turned away. "I'm getting tired. You two can do what you want but I'm going to bed." With that he jumped up into a nearby tree to bunk down.
Sango looked at Miroku. "Why do you think he's being like this?"
"I think that he told us a little more than he wanted to about his feelings as a half demon. It's sort of a sensitive subject, and he has not been able to trust many people in his life. Inuyasha's story is tragic indeed."
Sango quieted. She knew Inuyasha desperately needed the jewel. But what about Kohaku? She felt horribly selfish, but when Miroku had suggested using the jewel to revive Kohaku her heart had felt almost light with hope again. But Inuyasha's intimate outburst had changed that. She now felt divided. Who should she choose? Her own dear little brother, or the shunned hanyou who needed to know he had friends in this cold lonely world? She decided to do as Inuyasha and sleep on it. She retired, and only Miroku was left sitting by the now dying fire, watching the embers glow.
~~~~*~*~*~~~~
Kagome hopped over the sides of the old well.
"Ouch!" she exclaimed, and examined her hand. A splinter was stuck in her palm. She sighed and picked up her bag and wearily walked across the courtyard for her house. As she passed the Goshinkinbu, she stopped and stared up into its peaceful branches. The sunlight filtered through the thick leaves, and patches of light danced on the trunk and ground around it as the wind gently rocked the treetop. The events that had happened the previous night flooded her thoughts, and Inuyasha's face contorted with fury was burned into her mind. She tried to brush them away and quickly turned from the tree and nearly sprinted to her house.
"Sis! You're home! Mom! Kagome's home!" Souta greeted Kagome as she entered her living room. She flopped onto their couch. Souta paused his video game and stared at Kagome.
"What is it?" she asked, a little irritated.
"You don't look so good," he said. "Your face is pale. And you look tired."
"Do I?" Kagome said, and raised a hand to her cheek.
"Yeah. You should have some of mom's tea. She bought a new kind and it tastes really good."
"Maybe..." Kagome closed her eyes and tried not to think about when she'd eventually have to get up from the couch.
"Oh, Kagome I see you're back," her mother said as she peeked around the door.
"Mom, Kagome isn't feeling good," Souta said.
"Tattletale," Kagome muttered under her breath.
"Kagome, what's wrong?" her mother said worriedly.
"I'm just tired, that's all."
"I'll get you some tea," her mother smiled and went to the kitchen.
"I'm not a tattletale. You really don't look well," Souta said indignantly after their mother had gone.
"I'm sorry, I know you meant well." Kagome was too tired to open her eyes. 'What is wrong with me?' she wondered.
After some tea Kagome's mother helped her to bed. Kagome rested for most of the day, and then by evening she was feeling better. She tried to study for algebra and wrote a short essay. All thoughts of the feudal era were pushed out of her mind, until she climbed under her sheets.
'Oh Inuyasha... what am I going to do?' She buried her face into her pillow.
"Stupid stupid stupid." Kagome wasn't sure who she was even calling stupid. The whole situation was stupid. And she was beginning to regret having pushed him to confess in front of everyone. 'To confess what?' she thought bitterly. 'That he loves Kikyo and always will. That there's no room in his heart for me...'
Why had she been so... aggressive like that? 'The dream, and that murky forest must have been messing with my head.' She had to smile however when she thought about how she had yelled at Kouga and Inuyasha, and both of them had stared at her wide-eyed. She didn't know she could be so threatening to two very powerful demons! Well, one demon and one half demon... But her smile quickly vanished, as she remembered why she was in her own bed tonight instead of sleeping out under the stars. Her heart felt heavy as she tried to drift off to sleep.
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Oooh... Inuyasha and Kagome had another fight... But that's okay, right? Cause then it always requires fluff for them to make up! ^_^ Oh, another thing... honestly I don't know how Inuyasha's mother really died... I was making up the part about the fever, cause it seemed like somthing a younger woman could have actually died from back then. Kinda like the huge horrible flu epidemic that's been going around here. I think like, six kids have already died from it. Very sad :( Anyway, on a more positive note, after finals I'm done with first semester of college! Yea! So that means more time to write. I'll try and update relatively soon.
*disclaimer: Still not mine *sigh* By now I'd hope that you all would have realized that...
~Review Responses~
Litoasngyrl - I'm writing, I'm writing! Finals... agh!
heather - Oh yeah, I did kinda feel bad for her. But now I just have a completely different opinion, after reading this one fic on here called "Drowning in the Sun." The author is "Sango." It was just amazing, it totally changed my views of Kikyo. Read it sometime, I can't even describe it. The girl writes the way I wish I could! I can't even do the story justice by trying to describe it to you, it's something that you'll just have to read. She wrote about Inu and Kikyo's relationship before Naraku broke them up, and it's just written beautifully. I can't praise it enough! But thank you for reviewing my chapter and I hope you like this one too!
ejqHorseLady - Yeah, it was weird, wasn't it?! But I guess that's what happens when you think of plot points for your story when you're tired...!
lilemmy - Hee! I know, the end of the semester sucks!! It seems like there's so much to do... Good luck with your papers. But yes, another dreaded cliffie! I'm pretty bad with those... this one doesn't end with too much of a cliffie though. And I'm glad that you found the Monty Python coincidence funny!
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Kouga looked down when he heard a little "mew" and saw Kirara who had managed to escape.
"Well, looks like I have to play the hero," Kouga smirked. He jumped up and freed Kagome from the web. He caught her up and landed with her in his arms. She slowly opened her eyes.
"Ko-Kouga?!" she said in a daze.
"That's right. I came here to save you, since dog breath over there is so incompetent."
"Inuyasha! Is he okay?!" Kagome cried, wiggling out of Kouga's grasp.
"Yeah, yeah, he'll be fine."
Kagome ran over to the rest of her friends that were still hanging. She stared up at Inuyasha's face. He looked distressed; his eyes were tightly closed. Kagome's own vision flooded her mind. Inuyasha's expression had been... so emotionless... the panic that she had felt gripped her chest again.
"Please Kouga, get them down!" Kagome said.
"Alright alright," he muttered, and jumped up and freed Sango and Miroku. He then got Shippo and placed the little fox demon in Kagome's arms, and last of all he cut the webs from Inuyasha, but didn't conveniently catch him so Inuyasha fell to the ground on his face.
"Kagome!" Shippo yelled as he woke up.
"Shippo! You're okay!"
Miroku and Sango were also coming to and Inuyasha groaned on the forest floor.
"Kagome, I had the worst nightmare ever! You and all the others were lost, and Hiten and Monten were gonna kill me!" the little fox demon wailed.
"You had a dream too, Shippo? How awful. Well don't worry, we're all right here," she said, hugging him close.
"My face...." groaned Inuyasha.
"What- what happened? I'm... still alive?" Miroku said groggily, rubbing his head.
Sango looked over her body and found there were no wounds. Her hands were slightly shaking.
"Are you guys alright?" Kagome asked, concerned. Kouga was still standing off to the side, watching the three come to their senses.
"Sango, what are you doing?" Miroku asked, after observing her peculiar behavior.
"I- I had a dream..." she faltered.
"Ah, I did too. Inuyasha, Kagome, did you also have a vision?"
Inuyasha sat up confused, forgetting about his physical pain. "Yeah, I.... did."
"Me too," Kagome said softly, looking at the ground.
"Hey! What about me?! I had one too!" Shippo shouted, determined not to be left out.
"Wait a minute... Kouga, what the hell are you doing here?!" Inuyasha growled, noticing his wolf adversary for the first time.
"Before you start throwing insults, dog breath, I'd have you know that I saved your sorry ass."
"You bastard, I'll beat you so-"
"Inuyasha, sit boy!"
"ARGH!"
*Smack*
"My face ...." (groan)
"Inuyasha, you should be thanking Kouga. He did save us all." Kagome spoke into the hole Inuyasha made in the ground.
"Yeah, you see? It's a good thing I came along, 'cause you sure aren't very good at protecting my woman," Kouga said.
"YOUR WOMAN!" Inuyasha sputtered, jumping out of his Inuyasha-shaped crater. "She ain't your woman!"
"She certainly isn't yours! You couldn't protect her to save your own life, you stupid mutt!"
"Shut up, ya wimpy wolf! Get the hell out of here now, unless you feel like getting ripped to shreds," Inuyasha threatened and cracked his knuckles.
"Inuyasha and Kouga!!!" Kagome said with a voice that would make even the strongest demons quiver.
They both were surprised at her outburst, and turned to stare at her. She was pretty mad. Inuyasha and Kouga felt very small all of a sudden and looked like a pair of naughty children being scolded by an angry mother.
"Both of you are so childish! GET OVER IT! I will not have fighting going on right now! We need to get out of this forest before anything else is settled!"
Inuyasha and Kouga felt reprimanded.
"She took them down a notch..." Shippo grinned.
"This is so ridiculous-"
But Kagome was cut off. A loud hiss was heard over the brush and webs.
"With all those webs we were bound to run into a spider sooner or later," Miroku said.
"EEP!" Kagome ran to Inuyasha and hid behind his arm.
"Why are you so scared all of a sudden?" Inuyasha smirked, feeling more confidence at the sight of Kagome's own diminishing.
Kagome stopped for a minute. 'Why am I this scared? I haven't been this frightened of demons before... Is it because I'm afraid he might leave me like in the dream?'
"Inuyasha," a voice said with amusement.
His ears twitched and he stiffened. Miroku and Sango gasped.
"Naraku," Inuyasha said, his voice dripping with disdain.
"I knew you would come into the forest if you thought your beloved Kikyo was here," he said.
"Kikyo! Where is she?!" Inuyasha exclaimed.
"You fool. Have you not figured it out? These webs can create illusions. I'm sure all of you had one while you were pinned in their sticky recesses. What did you see in yours, Inuyasha?"
"You twisted bastard, come out here so I can see you! Fight me man to man, or are you still too coward?"
Red eyes of the spider demon glared out over his massive tangle of webs.
"Kill him," was all Naraku said in reply.
The huge demon spat a sticky ball of webs at Inuyasha who jumped with Kagome out of the way. Then he drew tetsusaiga and charged up to strike it down. Kouga also jumped.
"Get out of here, wimpy wolf! This is my job! Run home to your stupid caves!"
"Shut up dog breath, you know you're not strong enough to defeat this overgrown spider by yourself. This requires a real demon!"
"What'd you say?!!!!" Inuyasha yelled, and started attacking Kouga instead. The two began to fight, and Kagome ran after shouting for them to knock it off. But her demands fell on deaf ears.
Sango and Miroku rolled their eyes and looked at each other. Sango used hiraikotsu and neatly sliced the spider in half. Miroku used his wind tunnel and the spider was no more. Then they spied Naraku getting away. Miroku threw his staff. It hit Naraku on the head and Sango quickly threw her boomerang. The puppet crumbled.
The battle between Kouga and Inuyasha was also put to an end, after Inuyasha was sat twice and Kouga realized the spider and Naraku's puppet had both been defeated by the monk and exterminator. Kagome was still yelling.
"Honestly, you two!! You act like you're five years old!"
"Come on, Kagome, you know that wolf boy here isn't your type!"
"Well Inuyasha, I don't know. At least Kouga doesn't go chasing after dead ex-girlfriends and get us all in trouble, now does he?!"
"Oh that's it Kagome, that was below the belt-"
"You see mutt? She likes me better." Kouga smirked.
"And as for you, Kouga," Kagome said, rounding on him, "Inuyasha is very capable and he can protect me just fine! So stop doubting his abilities!"
Inuyasha looked smug.
"Come on Kagome, you know he's not good enough for you. Come with me and you'll see how a true demon treats his mate."
"Oh no you won't," Inuyasha said grabbing her arm. Kagome looked indignant at Inuyasha's controlling gesture and rebellion fleeted across her eyes.
"Tell me Inuyasha, why you are so opposed for me to be Kouga's mate?"
"Yeah, dog breath, tell us," Kouga said mockingly.
"Kouga, stay out of this!" Kagome snapped at him. He humbly took the reprimand and lapsed into silence.
"Inuyasha," she addressed him again, "tell me why you won't let me go."
He started, and then his eyes narrowed. "Cause you're part of our group. We- we need you."
Kagome tried to hide her disappointment in his answer, but at the same time she realized the spot she was putting him in. She didn't expect a full confession, not in front of everyone like this, but she wanted to gauge his reaction and read what he was really feeling behind it.
"Is that all?" she said, more calmly this time.
Inuyasha also realized what she was trying to get him to say, in front of the surprised stares of Kouga and his other companions. But there was no way in hell he was going to suffer through this kind of embarrassment. He knew what she was playing at. And he wasn't buying it.
"Yeah. You're the only one who can see the shards. Of course we need you."
Kagome's eyes hardened. Inuyasha saw this and the feelings that she was masking behind them. He instantly felt guilty about what he said. He knew it hurt her much deeper than she was letting it show.
"Just a jewel shard detector, huh?" she said bitterly.
"Well, yeah... but we do need you... Kagome," he said, trying to make amends without losing his pride, but the damage had already been done.
Kagome closed her eyes, heaved a big sigh and ripped her arm away from Inuyasha, who had been gripping it tight.
"Let's get out of this stupid forest. I'm going home."
"Oh no you're not Kago-" Inuyasha started.
"SIT BOY."
~~~~*~*~*~~~~
Later on the group, minus Kagome and Kirara, was sitting around their campfire. Inuyasha was still grumbling. Miroku and Sango were conversing.
"What a pitiful trap that was. That spider demon was so easy to defeat. All of that was almost too easy," Sango remarked. "What does Naraku take us for?!"
"Idiots, apparently," Miroku replied, eyeing the sulking half demon across the fire.
Inuyasha glared with daggers at the monk but said nothing.
"But, you do have to realize that if Kouga had not come along we all might have been devoured by now," Miroku said. Inuyasha growled under his breath, and Miroku decided not to pursue that topic. So they let it drop and began quietly discussing the illusions they had. Miroku had left out the part about Sango being in his. He didn't quite feel the time was right to tell her...
"Inuyasha. What did you see in your vision?" Miroku suddenly asked, trying to include him in the conversation.
"Doesn't matter," he mumbled.
"I see," Miroku said. After a pause he spoke again, "I have been thinking, Inuyasha, about what we will do when we complete the shikon jewel."
"Good for you," he grumbled.
"Listen, Inuyasha," Miroku urged. "I understand that you are hell bent on using the jewel to become a full-fledged demon. But after witnessing your behavior when you are transformed I don't think that is a wise decision."
"What are you getting at?" he snapped.
"I'm saying I don't think you should become full demon."
"And why the hell not?" Inuyasha said, sounding annoyed.
"Because, you wish to protect Kagome, right? You almost killed her when you were transformed. You forget everything about your world, you forget about yourself, and you can't remember what you did. Do you want to live life that way? I watched you slaughter innocent men, even when they were on their knees crying and begging for their lives!" Miroku said harshly.
Inuyasha bit his lip, and felt his anger well up inside him. "Who said I want to be a good guy, huh? Who said? I don't care! You can't do this to me, you'll take away everything that I hoped for!"
"And what is that, Inuyasha?" Miroku said calmly.
"A place to belong! All my life I never had a place to be accepted! I drift between two worlds, and neither wants to acknowledge my existence! Demons and humans may hate each other, but demons are strong and respect one another, and humans are proud of their heritage. But neither of the two utter 'half breed' without contempt. We half breeds have nowhere to go. The demons shun us and the humans turn us away. We wander around wondering if there's ever a place where we can belong. We're not quite as strong as a true demon, and way too powerful to live life as a normal human. Some insist on trying, but everything's always our fault. Any village where we might be able to live peacefully, if anything goes wrong it's always the half breed's fault. And if we try to survive with the demons, that's even worse. Demons will try to take out a half breed any day. Demons are way more merciless than humans. Humans would never be able to kill a half breed, but a demon could. That's why I need to become a full demon. So I can have the power to protect myself in this unforgiving world. You tell me now, that you want me to give up my one chance of belonging somewhere for once?!"
Inuyasha sat back and bit his lip even harder. He was almost in a state of shock. He couldn't believe he had just said all of that.
The others sat quietly and the only sound was the crackle and pop of the fire. Inuyasha was staring hard into the leaping flames. Sango watched his face and saw many emotions flicker there. She got up and knelt beside him, placing her hand on his shoulder.
"I'm sorry, I never realized..." she said quietly. "That must have been building up inside you for a very long time..."
Inuyasha almost shook her hand off his shoulder but resisted. "Don't pity me," was all he said bitterly.
Sango withdrew back to Miroku's side.
"Anyway, I merely made the suggestion because I was thinking of a different way to use the jewel," Miroku started again.
"And what's that, monk?" Inuyasha muttered, still looking into the fire.
"There is the question of Kohaku's life. If the shard is removed from his back, he will die."
"So?"
"I was thinking, there are only two ways to save his life. Well three actually, if we leave the jewel shard in his back, but the jewel must be completed. One way is to beg your brother Sesshomaru to use his sword, tensaiga."
"No good there. He'd never save a human, especially if we're the ones asking," Inuyasha said sullenly.
"Right. So the only other way is to use the wish of the shikon jewel. Instead of you becoming a demon, we could use the wish to bring Kohaku back to life."
Sango looked astonished, as she had never thought of that before.
Inuyasha raised his eyebrows, but had nothing to say. He had already spoken too much. His sudden outbreak had resulted because of all the emotional strife he had been under. His bottle of stored and repressed emotions had finally burst. The vision he had in the webs was still fresh in his mind. He could still feel the pain on his cheek from his mother's burning hand, smell Kikyo's freshly spilled blood, and Kagome... he could still smell the salt of her tears. And hear what she had said... He couldn't bear to see the three women that had been and were most important in his life in pain.
'Keh,' he then thought. Kagome was being a stupid wench at the moment. 'What was she playing at? Did she honestly want me to tell her why she should stay? Isn't it obvious? But she was sincerely hurt. There must be something more to this. Why was she so upset? Kagome must have had a vision too. I wonder what she saw...'
Inuyasha looked up from the fire and connected eyes with a concerned Sango. She had been watching him as he mused, and she was genuinely worried about him.
"Inuyasha... I understand that you need the jewel. We might be able to find another way to keep Kohaku alive. But in your case, the jewel is your only hope. I cannot be so selfish as to take away your only chance at being a normal demon."
"Sango," Miroku said surprised.
"Spare me the pity, Sango. I'll think about it." Inuyasha said gruffly. He turned away. "I'm getting tired. You two can do what you want but I'm going to bed." With that he jumped up into a nearby tree to bunk down.
Sango looked at Miroku. "Why do you think he's being like this?"
"I think that he told us a little more than he wanted to about his feelings as a half demon. It's sort of a sensitive subject, and he has not been able to trust many people in his life. Inuyasha's story is tragic indeed."
Sango quieted. She knew Inuyasha desperately needed the jewel. But what about Kohaku? She felt horribly selfish, but when Miroku had suggested using the jewel to revive Kohaku her heart had felt almost light with hope again. But Inuyasha's intimate outburst had changed that. She now felt divided. Who should she choose? Her own dear little brother, or the shunned hanyou who needed to know he had friends in this cold lonely world? She decided to do as Inuyasha and sleep on it. She retired, and only Miroku was left sitting by the now dying fire, watching the embers glow.
~~~~*~*~*~~~~
Kagome hopped over the sides of the old well.
"Ouch!" she exclaimed, and examined her hand. A splinter was stuck in her palm. She sighed and picked up her bag and wearily walked across the courtyard for her house. As she passed the Goshinkinbu, she stopped and stared up into its peaceful branches. The sunlight filtered through the thick leaves, and patches of light danced on the trunk and ground around it as the wind gently rocked the treetop. The events that had happened the previous night flooded her thoughts, and Inuyasha's face contorted with fury was burned into her mind. She tried to brush them away and quickly turned from the tree and nearly sprinted to her house.
"Sis! You're home! Mom! Kagome's home!" Souta greeted Kagome as she entered her living room. She flopped onto their couch. Souta paused his video game and stared at Kagome.
"What is it?" she asked, a little irritated.
"You don't look so good," he said. "Your face is pale. And you look tired."
"Do I?" Kagome said, and raised a hand to her cheek.
"Yeah. You should have some of mom's tea. She bought a new kind and it tastes really good."
"Maybe..." Kagome closed her eyes and tried not to think about when she'd eventually have to get up from the couch.
"Oh, Kagome I see you're back," her mother said as she peeked around the door.
"Mom, Kagome isn't feeling good," Souta said.
"Tattletale," Kagome muttered under her breath.
"Kagome, what's wrong?" her mother said worriedly.
"I'm just tired, that's all."
"I'll get you some tea," her mother smiled and went to the kitchen.
"I'm not a tattletale. You really don't look well," Souta said indignantly after their mother had gone.
"I'm sorry, I know you meant well." Kagome was too tired to open her eyes. 'What is wrong with me?' she wondered.
After some tea Kagome's mother helped her to bed. Kagome rested for most of the day, and then by evening she was feeling better. She tried to study for algebra and wrote a short essay. All thoughts of the feudal era were pushed out of her mind, until she climbed under her sheets.
'Oh Inuyasha... what am I going to do?' She buried her face into her pillow.
"Stupid stupid stupid." Kagome wasn't sure who she was even calling stupid. The whole situation was stupid. And she was beginning to regret having pushed him to confess in front of everyone. 'To confess what?' she thought bitterly. 'That he loves Kikyo and always will. That there's no room in his heart for me...'
Why had she been so... aggressive like that? 'The dream, and that murky forest must have been messing with my head.' She had to smile however when she thought about how she had yelled at Kouga and Inuyasha, and both of them had stared at her wide-eyed. She didn't know she could be so threatening to two very powerful demons! Well, one demon and one half demon... But her smile quickly vanished, as she remembered why she was in her own bed tonight instead of sleeping out under the stars. Her heart felt heavy as she tried to drift off to sleep.
_________________________________________________________
Oooh... Inuyasha and Kagome had another fight... But that's okay, right? Cause then it always requires fluff for them to make up! ^_^ Oh, another thing... honestly I don't know how Inuyasha's mother really died... I was making up the part about the fever, cause it seemed like somthing a younger woman could have actually died from back then. Kinda like the huge horrible flu epidemic that's been going around here. I think like, six kids have already died from it. Very sad :( Anyway, on a more positive note, after finals I'm done with first semester of college! Yea! So that means more time to write. I'll try and update relatively soon.