Akida-Kangei! Akida has returned to banish the evil cliffy I left you with in the previous chapter ::digs up mallet and mashes cliffhanger :: Seeeee, the cliffhanger is no more! Also notice that Miroku has acquired an inner voice, don't ask me why I gave him one, I guess the amount of caffeine I've had could be the cause of that. Nonetheless I've put in a few things to clear up some possible confusion in the future.
Miroku's own thoughts (and everyone elses) are shown in plain italics: Like this
Conversations with his inner voice are shown with italics and quotations:
"Like this"
-:-Disclaimer-:- ...I do not own Inuyasha or any of its characters.
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He couldn't move. He was paralyzed, heavy, as if his body were made of lead. Miroku felt weighted yet at the same time as light as air.
It terrified him that he couldn't budge, but he found it relaxing, soothing, and he wanted nothing more to remain this way and forget...forget everything all together.
Forget pain. Forget loneliness. Forget his curse. Forget this tainted wound. Nothing mattered in this inky, quiet darkness, nothing caused him emotional or physical pain in unconsciousness.
He would remain here in his own private void, and he smiled weakly to himself as a calm took hold of whatever was left of his rational mind, and slipped into an all but welcome sleep.
He was about to succumb to his urges, when a faint voice caught his attention rousing him from the doze that might have been the end of him.
"Oi monk! Monk!! You listening to me?! Hey!"
Extremely miffed at being summoned by his invisible speaker, he growled in protest but responded nonetheless.
"Leave me be..."
The voice groaned. "Oh hush, c'mon wake up you lazy bum!"
"Get lost! I just want...to sleep now.."
"Ah I get it, you really do want to die don't you?"
Now he was awake. The words "die" weren't pleasant to here while your floating around in a pitch black space of nothing, so he decided maybe this time he wouldn't ignore the voice...well...maybe just this once.
Ok now I'm listening. "What do you mean 'die'?"
"It means exactly what its implying......monk.....your floating around in an all to dark and quiet place, and you feel the sudden urge to sleep....what part of THAT did you miss as accepting death! In any case, you cant die just yet, the story has just begun! Besides, I think it might break that lovely exterminators heart if you died now, then again you grope her enough maybe she wouldn't mind your absence."
"What? Hey!"
He didn't have time to yell at his inner voice for that last comment, for another voice caught his attention. It wasn't from within but seemed to come from farther away, and it forced his mind into a painful awakening.
The first change he observed was the weightless sensation of his body recede, and become heavier as feeling circulated to his limbs, though they felt cold and sore. Sounds began to invade his senses first as a muffled thrum, then became more distinct and he soon recognized it to be the sound of rain beating down on earth and rock.
He opened his eyes and found he still couldn't see anything. He panicked suddenly wondering if he'd gone blind, but blinked a few more times as his vision returned. The first two things that came to mind after that were;
1.
What the heck happened to me? How did I end up like that..2.
There's something warm....and red near me....and its very, very close...
The latter thought disturbed him, and he couldn't help the knot that twisted its way into his chest.
Had whatever it was that I had sensed out in the rain, have finally made off with me? Where are the other? And what's with all this red fuzz? Whatever it is...its awfully warm but...why the heck does it look like Inuyasha's-....wait a minute...
Indeed it was the white haired hanyou that was emanating the warmth. Miroku found himself in the grasp of the demons arms, the crimson hue of his coat filled his line of vision, and a thick lock of snowy white hair brushed against his cold face. His mind toke a considerable amount of time to process what was going on, and when it finished its analysis hit him like a ton of bricks.
Inuyasha looked like he was grieving.
But why would he grieve for me? All he did was slip out of consciousness, perhaps to fall asleep. He hadn't died...right? So why, all of a sudden, was Inuyasha holding him and trembling like he was. Had he really...? Confused to no extent he placed a paled hand on his chest to pull away from him, and tried to say something but it came out as a strangled groan.
That seemed to be all he needed to get his attention, for soon he was staring groggily into two amber orbs.
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Inuyasha felt completely helpless when he could do nothing to awaken the monk, not convinced with his inward lie of 'he's just asleep'. He was hesitant to see if he was still breathing, and once he convinced himself to confirm it, he had unfortunately found that he wasn't. Before he realized what his limbs were doing, he had drawn the body of his friend against him in a loose embrace, not liking the way Miroku reminded him of a worn out rag doll.
It just didn't seem real to him. He was expecting him to wake up from sleep and give him a groggy smirk, but it never came. As the hours slowly wore on, and his comrades still form refused to display movement, he realized the cruel truth behind reality. Miroku was gone.
Minutes themselves felt like years, and still Inuyasha hugged the body as if it were going to dissolve if he let go. What would he tell the three remaining members of the group? He had to...somehow, and was about to delve into ways of breaking it to them while keeping a straight face, when something groaned into his arm.
At first he thought he was hearing things, but a slight pressure against his chest told him otherwise. He looked down slowly half expecting to see a zombie, or other manner of undead creature taking the place of his friends body, and was relieved to find it was not so. Although he was still stunned by what he saw, and he stared into the monks sickly face with wide eyes, and found that the power of speech had left him.
He was alive but it seemed surreal, no it was surreal. His sensitive hearing picked up a faint pulse where before there was none, along with short labored breaths.
Ok...this is just creepy...a minute ago he was edging his way to Rigor Mortis, (A/N: I'm supposing he knows what it is.) and now he's...
"M-Miroku?", he said warily hoping he hadn't gone insane and imagined the whole thing.
"Inu...ya-yasha," Miroku replied in pained gasps.
He brought his face a mite closer to his, still not believing exactly what was going on, and noted the confusion in the monks eyes as well. He was just going to ask him about the odd situation, when a loud sneeze broke the air. Both Inuyasha and Miroku turned abruptly to face the back of the cave to see...
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Shippo perched on Kagome's shoulders rubbing his nose, and Kagome clutching onto Sango's. All eyes were focused intently on the two.
"Oh Shippo-chan," Kagome pouted slightly. "You ruined the moment."
"Gomen I couldn't hold it in," he replied grinning impishly. "But please don't let us stop you from whatever it was you two were attempting to do."
I didn't take very long to figure out what the fox child was implying, and when it did Inuyasha turned an interesting shade of scarlet at the thought.
"Wha-shut up you little twit! I-Its not like that," he growled defensively.
"My Inuyasha there's no need to get so worked up over it," Sango added with a mischievous smile. "You don't have to hide things from us were all friends here....at least I thought we were all just friends."
The look on the hanyou's face was priceless, a mixture of emotions that left him with a dazed unintelligent appearance. Miroku, on the other hand, was just understanding the meaning behind their pun, and grinned shyly at the dog-demon.
"Inuyasha I'm flattered, I had no idea you cared for me in such a way. But alas I am a monk you know it just wouldn't be right," he sighed donning an expression of 'holy-innocence' (which isn't very convincing coming from him).
In the space of a moment, the dog-boy had traveled as far away from Miroku as possible, and was giving him a horrified look as he mashed himself against the caves rock wall.
"Ugh!! That's filthy! Leave me outta your sick thoughts you perv!"
"Oh come now Inuyasha, why so shy all of a sudden?" Miroku added giving him a tantalizing smirk.
"Your filthy, all of you...." He sneered then sank against the wall near the entrance of their shelter, and grumbled something inaudible about nauseating people.
Deciding that a cranky demon wasn't pleasant to be around, Miroku ceased his teasing and made to stand up. He was surprised at the painful shock that ran through his legs when he tried to move them, but didn't bring it to anyone's attention as they found their resting places. Besides he didn't want to ruin the light-hearted mood that lingered, and watched the two woman converse softly as they made themselves comfortable again.
It was moments like these that he longed for, and they were becoming increasingly sparse as their journey wore on.
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He couldn't sleep. Then again not many can sleep sitting up other than a certain hanyou, but he found it uncomfortable that even now his legs remained unmovable. He shivered suddenly and wrapped his arms in the thick folds of his robes, and looked out into the night.
It had stopped raining at last, funny how he hadn't noticed, yet that eerie nagging presence was still out there, waiting, watching. Enemies he couldn't see frightened him, and even more so now that he was weakened considerably, and that this enemy sought his death with a passion.
He glanced across from him expecting to see the other side of the rock wall, but instead saw two demonic eyes gazing back at him with hawk-like vigil. He gasped softly reaching for his staff, but froze when the heard faint laughter and relaxed somewhat.
"Geez monk, don't have a heart attack." Inuyasha snickered his grin evident in the tone of his voice.
"Well it isn't exactly normal to have a companion who's eyes glow in the dark," he shot back leaning against the protruding rock. "Then again I should be used to seeing abnormal things whilst traveling with this group."
Silence hung for a while as they pondered those last words, and Inuyasha was first to speak.
"You've been awfully edgy lately," he said poking at the subject carefully which received a 'Hmm...' as his only reply. He prodded deeper.
"You haven't been yourself at all...something's on your mind, and I know it's more than just that wound of yours..." Miroku looked to him slowly. He was still shivering visibly, but it didn't feel that cold to him now that he thought about it. He was becoming disturbingly distant, even now he seemed to be focused on something else and looked directly through him. It aggravated Inuyasha to no end, but he knew forcing him would only make him more of a taciturn, and bent all his will power on being patient.
Miroku didn't fidget or make any reaction, and it brought him to question if he was even listening.
After a tense few moments, and after Inuyasha was considering whether or not he would walk over and shake him, Miroku turned away from him and stared outside.
"I'm....I'm not sure what's on my mind. Things just don't make sense anymore," he replied faintly.
Inuyasha could make nothing out of his answer, and noted that he might not get a better response. He leaned back further into the cold jagged stone surface, and kept an eye on his comrade as he seemed to space out again.
Something's not right with him, but I don't see why he just doesn't say what's bothering him. Its not like him to clam up like this.
With that thought out of his head, he was about to comply with the craving to explore the inside of his eyelids, when a faint voice interrupted his attempt.
"Inuyasha...may I ask you something."
"What," he replied trying to keep the annoyed edge out of his voice.
"Did I....did I really.....leave this realm."
"You could say that," the demon replied thoughtfully.
"I see," he said letting an uncomfortable amount of time pass before he continued. "Tell me....how long was I, away."
"Long enough to freak me out."
Inuyasha raised an eyebrow. In the expanse of time from when Miroku had awoken to this present frame, he hadn't remembered telling him that he had died. Yet, here he was asking him as if he already knew what had happened. Was it possible that he just knew he was dead and accepted it? And if so, why had he come back if he had accepted his fate.
There were just too many jumbled questions he wanted explained, and things he couldn't understand disturbed him. He made up his mind that the only real person with possible answers was this Healer they were to meet, and even then things may still be in a clouded mess. As he finished rubbing at the scabbard of the Tetsusaiga in contemplation, Miroku's voice broke his train of thought.
"Inuyasha...could you-" he began as he tried to raise himself from the icy floor, his legs still refusing to make things easier for him. The hanyou sighed shaking his head, and strode over to him.
Grabbing his right arm and draping it across his shoulders, he lifted Miroku to his feet and allowed him to lean on on him. He felt like a feather. He laid him down on a gap between Sango and Kagome, letting a roguish grin creep on his face as he pictured the reactions of the two women when they woke up the following morning. Pulling away he found he had already gone to sleep, and he watched his friend for a while.
Although his body was still, the steady rise and fall of his chest was assurance enough that he wouldn't be going anywhere....at least not for now. Satisfied, he walked over to his previous seated position on the far wall, and sank slowly down to the earth.
There was still a long way to go and already, things were difficult. Shaking the turmoil away from his mind, he closed his eyes and accepted the beckoning requests of sleep.
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Akida- ::phew:: My brain was really fried on this chapter (please no more writers block), but I'm sorry I wish I could've made it more interesting than this. Egh, need mooore caffeine...
Reviews:
Kaylana: No, I would never stop there. Miroku is one of my favorite character, so you don't have to worry about him suddenly being deceased.....of course you never know, my fingers seem to have a mind of their own sometimes. ^.^
Kitai Matsuru: Yep, cliffhangers are evil but that's what makes a story such a good one!
These seem to be my two die hard reviewers O.o; they've been with me since the beginning. ::hands out cookies to them::, now I feel loved. More reviews, equals more chapters! Do the math and push the button!