Kagome: Hi! I'm Kagome! This is Kittychan...
Kittychan: Hi! I don't own the Inu-Yasha characters! waving a paw at camera
Kagome: And this is Hinochan!
Hinochan: Neither do I!
Kittychan: Well, see you after the story! Bye! 'giggles'
Inu-Yasha: 'peeks head back in' Huh?
Inu-Yasha did not give up on getting the Sacred Jewel. Over and over again, he would crouch in the bushes and try a different strategy to get the jewel. However, no matter how many times he tried to get the jewel, Kikyo would beat him to the punch and keep him away. However many times she did this did not discourage him, though. He would just try again. Inu-Yasha was beginning to wonder at this unusual human. Every single time that she has stopped me from getting that jewel, she has had every chance to kill me. Yet, she doesn't. Why? Any other human would have slaughtered me as slow as possible the first time they had the chance. So why does she simply let me go every time she catches me? These questions began eating away at the half demon, the more he thought about them, which was constantly.
Inu-Yasha raced toward the shrine. Kikyo wasn't on duty as she often was. On the sixth and seventh day of the week, she would have time to herself. Often times, Inu-Yasha would follow her. Why? Even he was not sure. He just knew he wanted to be near her all of the time. However, he wouldn't allow himself that much vulnerability. He restricted himself to just the times that she wasn't guarding the jewel. He gave himself the excuse that he wanted to find out her weakness by following her on her days off, but deep down, he knew it was much more.
Inu-Yasha's ears caught the sound of light and graceful footsteps on the soft grass and bearly had time to turn when he saw three arrows streaking toward his body. He just managed to move his body out of the way, but not his clothes. He hung pinned to a tree by his red robes, Kikyo stood about twenty feet away, holding another arrow fitted to her bow to finish him off as she always had. However, just like always, she relaxed the string of the bow and slipped her arrow back into her quiver. She turned to leave. Inu-Yasha had had enough.
"Wait a minute!" he shouted at her. It was the first thing he had said to her in the past two weeks. She stopped, but did not face him. "Why do you never finish me off?!?!?!"
Kikyo didn't seem surprised that he had spoken to her. She simply turned and looked at him square in the eye, an unreadable expression in her brown eyes. "Quit bothering me! I don't want to waste my arrows." With that she simply walked off, leaving Inu-Yasha to get himself down.
"What is it about pinning her victims to trees that she finds so fascinating?!" he cried to himself. He finally worked the arrows out of his clothes and dashed off.
Inu-Yasha and Kikyo tried to keep their distance, however, fate seemed to have other plans. They constantly ran into each other. Kikyo didn't seem to mind the run ins. She was intrigued and invigorated every time she saw him. He seemed to represent everything that her village warned her of, but she didn't care. She was fascinated by his crude attitude, rough nature, and even a bit by his looks. His strong body gave her a sense of comfort and strength. Even though he would probably never try to protect her, she felt as if nothing could touch her when he was around. However, he never seemed to be there except to steal the jewel. Apparently her attraction was one sided.
Oh well! It's always nice to dream!
Kikyo often thought about the time she had pinned him to a tree in the middle of the forest on her day off. She just couldn't get his expression out of her mind. His bright, ever attentive, orange, eyes were not filled with fear, yet not with anger or vengeance. An unreadable creature, no matter what the situation. She dwelt on him all of the time and was beginning to fear that she was in fact falling in love with this half man. Though she never said this openly, Kaede was not ignorant to her dreamy expression every once in a while, and even muttering about a certain half breed constantly. Kaede knew what was going on. On the sixth day of that week, she confronted Kikyo on it. It was the beginning of a new day, and the world did not seem awake yet. Kaede called Kikyo out to a tree and began talking to her. "Onesama, I have noticed your distractions of late. Something is on your mind and I fear it has to do with that awful half- breed. Is this true?"
"Imoto, he is not awful. He is simply misunderstood. And I will admit that my thoughts have dwelt on him mostly since I first came into contact with him. But you must understand my reasoning. He seems to have a gentle spirit, yet has been through so much hardship in his life, that it has buried that. It comes out at different points, but I think that the best I can do for him is to try and help him." Kikyo explained.
Kaede eyed her as if she had two heads. "Onesama! You mustn't let this demon come between you and your duty as a priestess! Do you realize what will happen if the village finds out you are falling for a creature that is not mortal?!"
"Kaede, you know as well as I do that the village would never do anything to physically harm me! I do not fear what they could do to me."
Kaede shook her head. "I do not fear what they would do to you, but what they would do to the half-demon. They will fear that he will distract you from your duties, and they will go after him and slaughter him. You must understand that what I say is not only for your heart, but for that creature, that could be killed on your behalf."
Kikyo seemed taken aback by this statement. She paused for a long while before speaking slowly again. "Inu-Yasha is too strong to be killed by any human. He can defend himself against demons, so what would a few humans be to fend off. He has no desire to take the life of a mortal. Surely this feeling does not apply to demons, but he would never take the life of a human."
"How do you know that Kikyo? You cannot trust his kind. Demons are not to be trusted. They will use any twisted and evil means to get what they want."
"You forget! Inu-Yasha is half human! And I know he would not willingly take the life of a human because he would have done that already!" she cried. Kaede was surprised by her reasoning and stayed still to listen to her continued argument. "He could have taken a villager hostage and promised to kill them if I did not hand over the jewel."
"How do you know he's not planning to do that? You do not, sister. You do not."
"Kaede, Inu-Yasha has tried so many abstract different strategies to get the jewel, that he obviously passed that opportunity a long time ago." Kikyo put a hand on her younger sister's shoulder.
"Kikyo-sama, even though your reasoning has sense, there is no guarantee that the villagers could not take advantage of the hybrid like they did a few weeks ago. He could be put in the same situation and be beaten again, and what if we're not there. He could be killed. You must know this." Kaede reasoned.
"The last time, he was captured under such specific circumstances, that there is no way that kind of thing could happen again!" Kikyo smile reassuringly at her sister. Kaede still was worried, and drooped her head.
"Sister, I understand that you have an affection for him, and I am not saying that you need to forget that, just don't show it openly. For both the creature and the villagers' sake. Remember that you are a priestess, sworn to protect the jewel under any circumstances."
Kikyo smiled warmly. Kaede seemed to flinch, afraid that Kikyo would be angry with her for doubting her. But instead, Kikyo raised Kaede's chin to face her, a warm smile plastered to her face. "Kaede, trust me. I will not forget my duty as a priestess. If it makes you feel better, I will refrain from thinking of him in front of villagers. But even though I am a priestess, I am human and have the right to human emotions. I am allowed to have feelings for whomever I wish, am I not?" Kaede smiled. Her eyes seemed to communicate what she meant to say. Kikyo understood and responded. "I understand that I face persecution on behalf of my feelings, but, think. Inu-Yasha came out of persecution. Without a doubt, his mother and father were severely ridiculed. A dog demon and a human, together? Who ever heard of such a thing? And it was even worse for his mother than it is for me. She was in love with a full blooded demon. Not a half demon. I am not afraid. And besides all of that, I cannot say that I have completely fallen for him. He definitely has my affection. That's for sure. That might change into something stronger, but as of yet, there is no way to tell."
Kaede laughed lightly. "I understand, sister. But even that little attraction is enough to send all of the villagers into a flurry of hatred and fear."
"I know. Then I will just have to be careful." Kikyo smiled. Kaede smiled back. Kikyo then wrapped Kaede in a loving embrace. "Everything will be all right, sister, you'll see."
"I know it will." Kaede answered happily. "I am sorry I doubted you sister. You always know what is best and how to deal with problems. It is not my place to object to that."
Kikyo pulled away a bit. "It matters not. You were simply worried about your elder sister and voiced that concern. You need to think less of our rank, and more of our ties as family." Kikyo smiled. Kaede laughed a bit and nodded. They ended the conversation after that. Kikyo strolled about the forest, on her way to her tree on the seventh day of that week, the day after Kaede had confronted her on her feelings for Inu-Yasha. Kikyo wished that Kaede would use his name instead of calling him creature, or half-breed. However, Kikyo understood that, like many of the villagers, she did not trust or care for any type of demon. Kikyo would respect that and would not force respect for Inu-Yasha on them. She was about to turn toward her tree when a sound caught her ears. It was a gruff, angry, and familiar voice.
"Get away from me, baka! I have no desire to lay your mangled body to rest!! Get away, and go back to your own turf!" it yelled.
Kikyo peered around the tree that was blocking her view of the clearing. After thinking, she recognized it to be the same clearing where she and Inu-Yasha had first come face to face. She pushed aside some bushes and peeked into where, none other than Inu-Yasha and a few unknown demons were squaring off against one another. There was a large feline type creature, a human type demon with long brown hair in a low ponytail, and an alligator type demon at their feet. All three were glaring maliciously at Inu-Yasha, who was staring defiantly back at them, no fear in his eyes. Kikyo thought about rushing in to help, but dismissed it quickly as she thought about what it would do to his feelings about having her around. She lay low and watched the unfolding battle.
Inu-Yasha tensed as the alligator creature launched at him. Uncharacteristically fast for that type of creature, but... everything goes in this world. The half demon held up one mighty hand and swept it along the ground, catching the creature under the jaw and using his claws to cleave the creature in half, a clean cut. The creature instantly disappeared, leaving no evidence that it had ever been there. Kikyo stared in awe. One swipe! He killed it in ONE SWIPE!! Inu-Yasha stood up straight and faced the other two with an air of confidence. He smiled smugly and cracked his knuckles a bit to intimidate the other two offenders. They didn't look so.
The cat creature leapt forward to keep him busy, while the human type one ran around and grabbed his arms to hold them behind his back. As soon as this was accomplished, the cat creature made ready to attack. Kikyo thought fast. She couldn't expose that she had been spying on them. She suddenly got and idea and backed off so that they couldn't see her when she stood. She'd just have to play dumb.
"What's all this racquet?!" she cried from the bushes. She saw all of them freeze. Apparently, the beating had already begun, as Inu-Yasha already had a few scratches on his face. She entered the clearing and put on an angry and terrified face. She screamed quietly, and got out her bow and drew and arrow. "What's going on here?" she cried, pointing the arrow at the three of them so as not to hint bias. She pretended to digress the situation and aimed an arrow at the human creature. "Let him go. I can see that you two are stirring up trouble."
"And what if I choose not to, mortal?" he demanded. He tightened his grip on Inu-Yasha's arms, causing him to wince a bit.
Kikyo saw this and fired an arrow straight for the demon's head. The demon smiled and held Inu-Yasha up by the arms as a shield from the arrow. Kikyo didn't even flinch, on the other hand, Inu-Yasha braced himself for impact. However, none came. He opened his eyes and saw nothing but Kikyo standing there with an empty bow. He felt the hands binding his arms loosen and he dropped to the ground. He turned around to see the demon face first on the ground with a glowing arrow sticking out of the small of his back. Kikyo had redirected the arrow to miss him, and circle around to hit the offending demon! The image of the figure faded and then disappeared entirely. He looked back at Kikyo and gave her what she had to accept as a grateful smile. He then looked to see the feline creature running at Kikyo. She wouldn't have enough time to shoot another arrow! He launched himself at the creature and slammed into it about a foot before the creature hit Kikyo. The two rolled over and over, until Inu-Yasha came out on top and swiped the creature across the neck, causing it to disappear into thin air like the other two had. Inu-Yasha stood and, dusting off his robes, turned on Kikyo.
"Why did you do that?" he cried quietly.
"Do what, save your life?" she asked innocently.
"Yes, that. I could have handled them." He said turning away from her.
"Of course you could have. I just heard the ruckus and-"
"Don't kid yourself. I could smell you the minute you came into the forest, I know you were watching us from the start of the fight." He said, narrowing his eyes.
"I was simply coming by when I heard you yelling, and I thought I ought to check out what was happening in case there was any trouble and there was. My duty as a priestess is not only to protect the jewel, but also to maintain peace in my village and the surrounding area. This is the surrounding area." She smiled slightly, then asked her own question. "Why did you save me from that creature? Don't you think I could've handled him?" she asked, taking a step toward him.
"You wouldn't have had enough time to draw an arrow. I was returning the favor." Even as he spoke, she could see the scratches on his face disappearing. She softened her eyes to him, and his mental wall seemed to be falling bit by bit.
"How did you know how long it takes me to draw an arrow and fire it?" she asked, sort of hinting at the fact that she knew he was following her on her days off.
"How do you think? I have been shot at by you too many times for me to not know. Why are you dragging this out? Don't you have duties to attend to?" he asked as he readied to depart.
"You should know that, too. You know that I have the sixth and seventh days of the week off of my duties to relax." Inu-Yasha threw a confused look over his shoulder. She continued. "Do you not think that I cannot feel you when you follow me around? Do you think me that ignorant? I do not think so. I know you follow me. And I think it is because you are lonely. You do not have a home, and so you follow me around, trying to find a sense of purpose." Kikyo blinked, and he was gone. I must have hit a sore spot. So he is lonely. And he thinks that he will find a purpose following me around. How, I do not know. But I don't mind. If he indeed finds comfort in being near me that is fine, because I find comfort in being near him as well. I can tell he is softening. Maybe I can help bring out that gentle and kind spirit I see inside him. Hopefully I can.
Inu-Yasha: 'thinking' Why are they being so civil and normal now that Kagome's in there? They scared me before. Oh well, things look okay now.starts to walk into room Oh! Stay tuned for the next chapter. I think that's what I'm supposed to say. Yeah. Well, bye!
Read and review!!!