Inu-Yasha: 'sneaks into the room that has Kagome, Kittychan, and Hinochan in it' Uhhh... Hello?
Kittychan: It's Inu-Yasha!! Yaaaaaaay!! 'joined by Hinochan' Hark, the herald angels sing, GLORY TO THE NEW BORN KING!!! We do not oooown anyyyyy of the INU-YAHSA CHARACTERS!!!!
Inu-Yasha: 'holds ears' 'Whimpers'
Hinochan: Toca el la stufe!!
Kittychan: 'speaking like a reporter' 'randomly shouting unrelated things out in the middle of her sentences, twitching and her eyes go all screwey every time she says something random' That's right, Hino. There was a big turn out today. Hundreds of people PENGUINS line up today to SHARPIE MARKER touch the stove and already ten KNEE BRACE people were sent to the CALLER ID hospital with third degree burns. It seems that a felon was FAX MACHINE hiding behind the stove and would turn the heat up waaaaaay high WALKMAN every time someone went to touch one of the imfamous BABY OIL eyes.
Hinochan: No kidding, Kitty! That BUTTON stove has graced us with it's METRONOME presence since our ancestors first came to this beautiful LIGHT BULB kitchen. No one knows where it TREE came from, but it is said to have WORMS special powers! Said to be able to roast a turkey in .05 seconds. Wow.
Kittychan: Now, read the story, and learn more about this TOUCH THE STOVE imfamous stove!
Inu-Yasha darted from tree to tree, racing himself. He was frustrated to no end with himself and that Kikyo girl. How could he have let himself give away that much vulnerability?! How?! He was trying to work off some frustration by running. However, a lot of times, he could go on like this for up to three days before he became extremely tired. He was only at about four hours before he passed the river and decided to stop for a drink. He stopped and knelt down next to the riverbank and cupped a bunch of water in his hand before holding it to his lips and drinking. He took a few more sips before stopping and just thinking. Mostly his thoughts dwelt on Kikyo. He seemed to be doing a lot of that lately. He was about to get up to leave when a familiar scent caught his nose. He stood and peered over the waterfall. Down at the bottom, along the riverside about one hundred feet was a figure hunched over the side with something clutched in frail hands. Upon a closer inspection, Inu-Yasha found that it was none other than Kikyo. She was wearing a thin white kimono and a bucket was the thing she held in her hands. She dipped it into the water, filling it, then threw the water over her body.
Inu-Yasha paused. He had noticed it before, but his mind never really pointed out her beauty this intensely before. Her long black, silky hair accented her pale face, and her brown eyes always had a caring warm feel to them that never failed to comfort his anger to a certain extent. She opened her eyes and smiled at the refreshing feel of the water. Her smile. Something that caused her perfect face to reach an unearthly beauty. He couldn't deny it, he thought she was the most beautiful being alive, but that didn't matter. He couldn't let this woman take advantage of him like so many demons had taken advantage of the fact that he was not full demon. He turned and ran before he saw anything she shouldn't.
Kikyo knew that Inu-Yasha was following her, but she really didn't mind. She felt honored that he found her interesting. She hoped he found her as interesting as she found him, but oh well. She made her way though another week, counting down the days until he would be near her all the time. However, since she had had the talk with Kaede, her feelings had not dulled, but she hid them a lot better, and a lot more often. She walked up and sat down on the grassy hill overlooking the village. She set her bow and arrows down and closed her eyes as the wind blew her troubles away. She couldn't resist anymore. She opened her eyes and spoke. "Inu-Yasha! I know you're there. Won't you come down?"
Inu-Yasha appeared above her in a tree. He jumped down and sat about five feet away from her. He sat in a way that seemed as if he was ready to bolt at any second. Kikyo didn't mind. She knew he didn't trust her all the way yet and it was his instinct as a demon. Or half demon anyway. "It is the first time we have spoken like this." She said, meaning calmly and not when she has already done something to annoy him or vise-versa.
Inu-Yasha tensed and leaned away from her a bit. "So what?" he cried.
Kikyo almost smiled. Him and his tough guy act. Would he never learn? She continued and asked him a question. "Inu-Yasha, how do I look? Do I look human?" she wondered, turning her face to him.
Inu-Yasha was caught off guard by her question. "Huh?! What are you talking about?" he cried, sitting up straight again. She wasn't making sense.
Kikyo continued on what she needed to tell him. "I never show anyone my weakness. I must never waver. Otherwise, some demon will get the better of me. I'm human, but I mustn't be human. You and I have things in common. You, the half demon. That's why I couldn't kill you." She said.
Inu-Yasha scrunched up his face in an expression of disapproval. He now understood that she didn't want to kill him because he was an outsider like her, but she didn't need to complain. "Hmph! Complaining! That's not like you at all! Hmph!" He stood and turned to leave but turned back around when he almost heard a laugh. The eyes that he met changed his viewpoint of her.
Kikyo's eyes held such a look of loneliness that reflected much of his own. He could relate to what she was saying. He found it difficult to look away. He found so much of his own hurt in those brown eyes. At that point, he knew that he wanted to help protect her from more hurt that he, himself had suffered. He didn't know where that would lead him, he only knew that this was something he needed to do. He continued looking at her as she spoke. "I guess... It's unlike me." She smiled once again and stood to leave. "Well, thank you for being here, Inu-Yasha. I just want you to know that I want to view you more as a friend than just another demon. I sense that that is what you want too, but you are afraid that you will be hurt just as you have been over, and over again in the past. I hope that someday you will be able open up a bit more to me as a friend. I'm not sure how long that will take, but I'm willing to wait."
Inu-Yasha couldn't stop thinking about Kikyo. He suspected that... maybe... maybe he was falling for her as he suspected she was for him. He considered it shameful, but after all of the time he had spent thinking about her, following her around, making his own vow to protect her, he was beginning to believe it himself. Whenever he saw her, she seemed to get more beautiful, even when it didn't seem possible. Like his mind would point out, her eyes are really sparkling today, or, the attire of a priestess really suits her form, does it not? Other days it was things like, Wow, how can she have that much patience?, or maybe, I hope that she is always this kind to me. Some days are just, Boy, I'm sure glad that bow doesn't point at me. But no matter what his mind was complimenting her on, she just seemed to get better and better. Her love for what she was doing, her kindness toward the people of her village, and her patience with him. She was trying her best to be friends with him, but he just plain couldn't trust her as much as he wanted to. He wanted to trust her with all of his being, but because of his past, that was just impossible. For now, he would just have to keep his feelings bottled up. Otherwise he would become more vulnerable than ever. So he stuck with following her all of the days of the week to protect her. He was always by her side, and she was always by his whenever he needed her.
Over this period of around two months, the village began to grow suspicious. Kikyo wasn't distracted from her job, she was just always acting weird. She didn't seem herself. Kikyo had no intention of telling the village that she was spending time with a half demon. However, she was worried that soon, they would discover him and hurt him. They probably wouldn't suspect their feelings for each other, but they would want to get rid of Inu-Yasha nonetheless. Inu-Yasha seemed unfazed by this. He was loyal and wouldn't leave her side. He was never seen by anyone but her, but he was always near. The two didn't talk much. They didn't have the chance to. Often, she would need to talk to villagers or perform other duties, and at those times, Inu-Yasha would disappear and reappear when they were finished.
Kikyo entered the hut where the village leaders were to discuss certain matters about the village. She turned to the door to see Inu-Yasha bound off into the forest to do whatever it was he always did. Kikyo smiled and knelt down next to a few other leaders as the village head stood and addressed the group.
"We have called this meeting on account of protection. Kikyo, we need to discuss certain matters of the protection of the Jewel of the Four Souls." He said as all of the heads swiveled around to look at her.
"What is the matter? If you need me to improve upon an area of my guard, please tell me." She said, quietly.
"Well, not to speak above your expertise in this area, but some of the villagers think that there is a demon lurking about the village like a shadow. Many food supplies have been raided and quite a few houses have been robbed. Many precious things have been stolen straight from the houses, with no sign of any human entering the hut. This kind of robbery could only have been committed by a demon of sorts. The food stores are our chief concern. Since winter is coming soon, we need to save as much food as possible, and having a demon steal it is not helping the villagers." Explained a second committee member.
Kikyo let all of this sink in. The first thought that came to her head was that Inu-Yasha had done it. It would make sense considering how this starts soon after he gains my trust, but Inu-Yasha is so loyal! I can't imagine him doing any such thing!
Kikyo was pulled out of her reverie by the head of the village. "Kikyo- sama? Do you think that it would be wise to post guards by night? It could protect our food stores."
Kikyo looked up at him and then stood. "I will think on this matter. I will go draw water from the river and think. I will come back in three hours time. Be back here when I come and I will tell you my decision then."
"Yes, Kikyo-sama."
Kikyo headed out to the river, thinking about the possibilities of the perpetrator being Inu-Yasha. She thought all the way to the river and once she was there, she set the bucket down and splashed some water on her face. She heard another splashing noise and looked up. She was worried because she was unarmed and she could do nothing if it was a demon. Inu-Yasha wasn't there to protect her.
Or maybe he was.
Across the river, about waist deep in the water was a distracted Inu-Yasha. His red over cloak hung on a branch nearby, as well as the white one that he wore beneath it. He still wore the red baggy pants that were, at this point, almost completely submerged in the water. His back was turned to her and he seemed to be examining something on his arm. She stood and waded about up to the thighs in the cold river water. She ran out of the water and up on the log bridge that crossed over the river. "Inu-Yasha!" she called waving at him.
Inu-Yasha spun around, recognizing the voice to be Kikyo's. His eyes widened at the sight of her walking across the bridge to greet him. He quickly hid his arm behind his back as she stopped about five feet in front of him, the cold water of the bank, only reaching her mid shins. "What are you doing here? I thought you were at that meeting with the village leaders." He said, a shiver running down his back. It was cold.
"Yes, but they needed me to make a decision and I always walk out to the river and draw water for the village whenever I have to make a decision." She answered, her face gained a bit of a solemn look.
"What was the decision?" he asked backing up into deeper water. He was now in water that reached up to the middle of his strong chest, concealing whatever it was that he was examining on his arm when she arrived.
"Well, I kind of wanted to talk to you, Inu-Yasha. An interesting issue has been brought before the group of leaders of the village. I am one. The issue is that many food stores and homes have been robbed of precious things. My decision was to find out if we should have guards stand out at night." She answered, looking expectantly at Inu-Yasha.
Inu-Yasha noticed her staring. "What?" he asked. Then he got the gist of what she was hinting. "Kikyo! You don't think it was me, do you?" he asked, not hurt, but surprise in his voice.
"Please say you didn't. I didn't think you did either, but I just need to know." She said, her brown eyes pleading with him.
Inu-Yasha almost broke down his wall at that point. Those eyes. Inu-Yasha loved Kikyo's eyes and couldn't stand to see anything but happiness in them. "Of course not! I wouldn't do such a thing. I don't want to do anything to make you mad. Besides, your food tastes strange. I prefer to hunt my own thank you. I don't need to depend on your village to get my own food."
"Good." Kikyo smiled again. Inu-Yasha relaxed. But he tensed at her next question. "What were you doing here anyway?"
Inu-Yasha seemed to struggle for what to say. "Uhh... I got a cut and I was trying to clean it." He answered as if he was trying to minimize something.
Kikyo's face took on a worried expression. "Oh! Let me see! Maybe I can help." She said walking toward him a bit.
"That's okay, you stay there! The undercurrent is strong. You could be swept downstream." He said holding out his good arm.
"Well, either come here, or I'm coming out there." She said, putting her hands on her frail hips.
Inu-Yasha sighed in defeat and walked toward her. He finally reached her so he was about three feet in front of her. He held out his arm and Kikyo gasped at the gash that ran along the underside of his arm. It started about two inches from his wrist and went all the way to about a half an inch from his elbow. "What on earth happened?!" she almost screamed.
"It's nothing. It might take a day or so, but it will heal. I got it when I was passing a tree. A sharp branch cut into my arm. It's nothing." He explained.
"That's not nothing! That looks pretty serious!" she exclaimed.
"Well, you forget that I'm half demon. Not a weird human like you!" Inu- Yasha joked.
Kikyo smiled and splashed some cold water on him. "Hey! That wasn't nice!" she cried.
"AHH! That's cold!" he cried, wrapping his arms around his torso.
"You are standing in it up to your hips! How can you say that now?" she wondered laughing a bit.
"Hey! My chest wasn't used to the water yet. And I bet your whole body isn't either." He said smiling a bit. He put his hands together and slammed them into the water, causing a large amount to cover her body. She screamed a bit before standing up straight and turning around to get out of the water.
"T-T-T-That's c-c-c-c-c-c-c-cold!" she stammered.
"Well, duh!" he said, walking slowly out of the water. He stopped for a few seconds to make sure the gash was no longer bleeding and then stood up to get his cloaks back on. They weren't on the tree. "Kikyo!! Where are my cloaks?!" he cried.
"Oh, I don't know." She answered a bit too innocently.
"Kikyo, Come on! It's cold out here! I need my cloaks!" he cried, shivering a bit.
"That's for splashing me!" she said walking back across the bridge. "I also want to see how far you can jump." She made it to about half-way across the bridge and stopped, waiting for him to come to her.
He did so, a confused look on his face. "What is that supposed to mean?" She pointed at the tree behind her with her thumb. His eyes climbed the tree until they found his cloaks pinned by an arrow at about the top of the tree. "You have got to be kidding me. How did you get them up there?" he wondered, turning his eyes back on her.
"Bow?" she asked in answer.
Inu-Yasha sighed and crouched down low, letting as much energy build in his ankles as he could get, then launched himself at the tree. He made it about three-quarters of the way up, but covered the rest of the distance with one jump. He reached the branch they were next to and slipped them over his head. He tied them and jumped back down. He landed in front of Kikyo and smiled grimly. "Satisfied?" he asked.
"Very much so." She said smiling back.
Kikyo looked at Inu-Yasha's eyes. They were a lot softer than they used to be. They used to be full of rage and hurt, but now, they looked like a sea that had been calmed. The two held each other's gaze for a while. Ever so slowly, the distance between them closed, until they were about an inch apart. Inu-Yasha's eyes snapped open and his ears twitched as a rustle was heard in the bushes. Kikyo noticed his disturbance and turned around to see Kaede emerge from the bushes. Kikyo gasped.
"Kikyo, what are you doing? You're all wet!" Kaede cried. Kikyo turned around to find that the half demon was gone. "I thought you came to draw water. What happened, sister? Did you fall into the water?"
"No, I didn't Imoto." Kikyo answered, coming off of the bridge.
Kaede gasped quietly. "You were with that hybrid, weren't you? Listen, sister. I don't approve of him. He is half demon." She said as Kikyo picked up her bucket.
"Kaede, nevermind him. I am not marrying him. So, do not worry."
"I worry for your safety, sister." Kaede whispered solemnly.
Kikyo had eventually agreed to putting up guards to watch for any demon that could possibly steal any type of valuable. Her love for her job grew with each passing day. As did her love for the half-breed. It was clear that both had strong feelings for one another, just, both were too shy to admit it. However, words didn't seem necessary. Kikyo would be the main person talking if they spoke at all, but Kikyo understood Inu-Yasha's silences more than his words, when he used them. Kikyo could tell he still had so much anger built up in him, and was rash sometimes, but Kikyo understood. No matter how angry he got, he would never resort to hurting her. That in itself proved to be a sign of how much he cared. Kaede had once told her that demons, and even hybrids have almost no control over their anger. When they get angry, they may do things that they would never do in real life. However even when in complete rage, he never laid a clawed hand on her. She could tell that he was beginning to love her, maybe not as much as she loved him, but, he did love her. And it would take a while for him to work up the guts to say that. She would wait. She knew he needed time.
Kikyo sat inside the shrine. She was polishing the jewel as she always did, on the last day of every month. The jewel could be damaged if it lost its shine, so she or another caretaker of the jewel would polish it with a special substance every last day of the month. She looked at it sparkle through the light leaking through the cracks in the wood of the shrine. Inu- Yasha wants this to become a full-fledged demon. I wish he would use it for something else. What if he wished to be turned to a human! Maybe, just maybe, his and my future together could work out. The jewel would be purified and disappear, I would be a normal woman and be able to live out my life with him if he wanted to! Oh, wouldn't that be wonderful! Kikyo continued to daydream about Inu-Yasha as a human until her job was done. She wasn't thinking about asking him about it anytime soon, though. That would be ridiculous!
She walked out of the shrine and headed toward her tree. She had been waiting to get some meditating done, and this was going to be her only chance this week. Last week she had only gotten three hours of meditating in, and she needed to think about many things. A lot of them had to do with Inu-Yasha. She smiled as the tree entered her line of sight. A familiar thought struck her as she saw someone laying down on the thickest branch. Inu-Yasha. She smiled and climbed up onto the branch. She sat and watched him sleep for a few minutes before he stirred and sat up when he saw her.
"Gomen! I didn't mean to keep you from your meditating. I'll go." He was about to jump, when Kikyo caught the sleeve of his robe.
"Wait! That's all right! I don't mind you being here. In fact, I'd enjoy your company." She said as he sat back down. She looked at him as she thought about her idea of him becoming human. That would be so wonderful!
Inu-Yasha looked over at her, but then quickly studied something on the forest floor. Kikyo swore she saw something of a blush creep onto his cheeks. She smiled. The two sat in silence for a long time, sitting on the tree leaning against the tree trunk. Kikyo felt fatigue begin to overtake her, and Inu-Yasha noticed that she was beginning to lean on his shoulder.
"You look tired. You should sleep." He said quietly.
Kikyo smiled, but didn't right herself. "That's okay. I'm fine."
"Liar." He said a bit playfully. Kikyo smiled before the two once again drifted into silence. After about five minutes, Kikyo was asleep. She had almost fallen over, but Inu-Yasha caught her and brought her to rest in his lap, pillowing her head on his chest. Inu-Yasha almost fell asleep too, but he remained awake. He had sworn to protect her, and he was going to follow through.
Inu-Yasha guarded the sleeping priestess for about an hour before she stirred in his lap. He looked down as she slowly opened her eyes and blushed a bit at her position. She didn't move however. She was comfortable. She looked up at Inu-Yasha, who was looking back at her.
Inu-Yasha couldn't take his eyes off of hers. She was so beautiful. Her eyes had a spark of life in them. The spark that yearned to help him. He wanted it to help him, he just didn't know how to let it. I have to surrender myself to the help. I can't let it help me if I hold back my feelings for her. I have to let her know. But, how? Inu-Yasha then noticed that once again, like the time at the lake, his face was involuntarily drifting slowly toward hers. Likewise seemed to be true for her face. But, the likeness of their last encounter like this did not end there. A rustle in the bushes and the scent of a human caused him to look up. Kikyo opened her eyes to see Inu-Yasha looking off to the side, and she knew that Kaede was probably coming. He turned back to her, and she knew he didn't want to leave, but he had to. She quickly got out of his lap and stood as he bounded off into the forest. She looked wistfully after the half demon before turning to face none other than her younger sister.
"Onesama! It is time for you to come back! Our meal will be ready soon." She called up.
Kikyo nodded and hopped down. As she passed Kaede, she whispered something. "Imoto, you have terrible timing."
Kittychan: Yaaaay! Yooo like story? I hope so!
Hinochan: 'has locked doors and is bouncing around in circles' agnhanhagnhagnhanghanghnahanhnhnahnagghnhgnhnghnanghanhnan!!!!!
Kittychan: What was that? I didn't quite hear you. 'giggles'
Hinochan: agnhanhagnhagnhanghanghnahanhnhnahnagghnhgnhnghnanghanhnan!!!!!
Kittychan: Say it again, I didn't get it.
Hinochan: agnhanhagnhagnhanghanghnahanhnhnahnagghnhgnhnghnanghanhnan!!!!!
Kittychan: 'looks like is conducting a concert' Again! You're beautiful!
Hinochan: agnhanhagnhagnhanghanghnahanhnhnahnagghnhgnhnghnanghanhnan!!!!!
Kittychan: Let's go again!
Inu-Yasha and Kagome: STOOOOP!!
Hinochan: agnhanhagnhagnhanghanghnahanhnhnahnagghnhgnhnghnanghanhnan!!!!!
Kittychan: Music to my ears! Again!
Inu-Yasha and Kagome: Come back to get us! We need to get outta here!!