I want to thank ixi, SurfAngel, Katzztar, Shinigami-chan, Shinigami Clara, Artemis the Goddess, Dark Topaz, sky-918, Hinoke, Elyndewen Startree and Kinky Usagi who has an awesome site beginning for IY/YYH Xovers! Just what we all were waiting for right!? Someone finally had the initiative to make one!
Any way, there weren't any questions...but I'm posting five chapters this time so enjoy!
Also-
This chapter has my fav. Poem in it as requested by one of my best friends, and it is a bit long, but the characters will be recalling the words and meaning of the verses in later chapters. It is the Invitation by Oriah Mountain Dreamer (an Indian Elder)
The Company We Keep
Now that Kagome had relaxed around them, she seemed to be an entirely different person. The mischievous twinkle hardly ever left her eyes. Kurama was enchanted. He watched when the chance presented itself and saw that her good humor was contagious. Even Yusuke was pulled out from his gloomy mood by her jokes and stories. She was smart and wise in a way Kurama had never seen in a human so young. He wasn't sure when Youko had started looking at the girl in a way other then lustful.
They were halfway through lunch when Keiko suddenly remembered to tell Kagome about their literature assignment. Kagome laughed easily. "This I can do. I already have a favorite poem. Keiko you had me scared, there!"
"But it's due today." Boton said.
"That's okay. I have it memorized."
"Can we hear it?" Keiko asked suddenly.
"It's rather long..."
"Think of it as practice before class." Boton smiled.
"Ah, I guess..." she blinked.
Yusuke pretended to snore. Keiko hit him with her apple core.
Kagome ignored him. "It's called the Invitation by Oriah Mountain Dreamer."
"What kind of name is that?" Kuwabara's laugh was strangely high-pitched for such a big guy.
Kagome shook her head at them.
"Native American, I believe." Kagome replied seriously. "Lets see if I can remember this all...
"It doesn't interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your life's longings.
It doesn't interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dreams, for the adventure of being alive.
It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life's betrayals or have been shriveled and closed from fear of further pain. I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, with out moving to hide it or fade it or fix it.
I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own, if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstacy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, be realistic, or to remember the limitations of being human.
It doesn't interest me if the story you are telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself, if you can bare the accusations of betrayal and not betray your own soul. I want to know if you can be faithful, and therefore be trustworthy.
I want to know if you can see beauty even when it is not pretty everyday, and if you can source your life from God's presence. I want to know if you can live with the failure, yours or mine, and still stand on the edge of a lake and shout to the silver of the full moon "Yes!"
It doesn't interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up after the night of grief and do what needs to be done for the children.
It doesn't interest me who you are, how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back.
It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you from the inside, when all else falls away.
I want to know if you can be alone with yourself, and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments."
( I only had to look twice! I remembered it all!!)
Kagome had a far away look in her eyes when the last words of the poem were still ringing in the ears of her audience. She came back to herself suddenly. "No good?"
"No! No! It was good," they took turns reassuring her.
"Can I ask why that is your favorite poem?" Kurama asked her, looking into that same distance that she had been staring into moments before.
"Um...I suppose because every time I hear it, a part of it takes on a deeper meaning. There are pieces there I haven't even come close to understanding, but it's about life...and I want to experience it all! With each experience in my life, I come to closer to understanding who I really am."
"I thought you were Kagome," Yusuke joked, trying to lighten the thoughtful mood.
"Yes," she agreed, "But is that all?"
The warning bell rang, breaking the silence. "Time to go!" Boton grabbed Kagome's hand and pulled her up. "You'll get the best marks with a poem like that."
"I doubt it. Maybe I should use something less intense."
"No." Kurama said softly. "It meant something to you. Use it." He left them abruptly. He was thinking hard about her words. The company I keep in the empty moments...
That would be us, Youko announced.
Baka, he knows that.
So what's to think about?
Shuuichi let off a feeling of mild disgust. Have you ever thought about whether you like who you are, Youko?
I...
That's what I thought.
Youko waited for his opportunity.
Ouch!
The fox grinned. Kurama sighed and rubbed his temples. What sustains me form the inside when all else falls away...This heavy thinking would have to wait. He had class to return to.
The others all went to their classrooms and finished out their day. Kagome saw Kurama in her mythology class but found him distant and distracted. She began to wonder if he was feeling well.
When the last bell rang, Kagome looked up to find him prepared to grab her before she could run out the door like she had the week before. She gave him a strange look and tossed her things into her bag.
"Will Inuyasha be waiting for you?"
"No. I have three days...ah, two more now."
He walked by her side through the still crowded halls. He found himself moving closer to her and starring down any who dared look their way. He had to forcibly stop himself and move away. Now, more then ever, he was reminded that he had no right to burden himself on her. It didn't stop him from wanting to be closer to her. But those last few lines of her poem had sunk deep.
"You're going to be graduating in a few months," Kagome suddenly spoke. "Do you know what you are going to do then?"
His green eyes flicked her way and rested on the delicate features of her face. Her warm eyes smiled into his impassive ones. "I don't know. I used to think about being a doctor, or going back to the Makia. Two vastly different options and I find myself torn."
"Not both?"
"A doctor in the Makia? I highly doubt that's likely."
"I would think that is where a healer is most needed," she thought aloud.
"And most often taken advantage of."
"You have to allow that to happen."
"..." the silence grew bold. If you dare to dream about meeting your life's longings...
"They would never allow it."
"Who? What?" she asked, confused now.
"The Rekai, mostly...Youko Kurama would not be welcome as a healer."
She looked at him from under her long dark lashes. "Part of that long story?"
"Yes."
"Mmmm...."she let it drop.
He was thankful.
Boton joined them to escort Kagome home.
***************************************************************************************************
The next two days went by in a blur for Kagome. She was walking back to her families shrine to meet Inuyasha when the hanyou decided to hurry her up by looking for her.
Kagome was walking back with Shuuichi and Boton when Inuyasha abruptly landed in front of them. His ears were covered in a bright blue hat that clashed horribly with his red clothing.
As soon as he appeared, Boton looked nervous and embarrassed. She fidgeted with her own clothes and smoothed her hair. She saw Kurama watching her intently. She glared at him. He said nothing.
Inuyasha, was curiously silent as well. He was angry and relieved to see Kagome being watched out for. He knew he couldn't be with her all the time but relying on these stranger made him feel inadequate. He drew himself up in an attempt to tour over the other boy, but the kitsune was just as tall as he. And the calm green eyes made him feel coarse and uncontrolled, just like Sesshoumaru made him feel.
This fox was no better then he! He glared spitefully at the expressionless face of his adversary.
The emerald eyes watched him calmly for a second and then dismissed him. He felt his blood boil, and placed a searching hand on the sword hilt he forgot wasn't there. He scowled. Kagome's mother wouldn't let him run the streets with his sword, so had offered to hold it for him.
He wanted nothing more then to show Kagome how weak this Youkai really was. His rage built in the silence as an oblivious Kagome skipped ahead.
Boton cleared her throat loudly. Inuyasha hadn't even spared her a glance! Her temper was running at hot as his and she let him know it as she stomped past him and Kurama. She brought her foot down sharply on the dog demon's bare toes. "So sorry," she snarled. "Must not have seen you there!"
He grabbed his foot with a yowl and turned his complete attention to the blue haired girl rushing to catch up with Kagome. "Woman!" he bellowed.
"Boton," she answered back. "Bo-ton, understand me?"
It sounded so like Kagome on their first meeting Inuyasha stared at her back in surprise. A flash of red mad him look to the side. The Kitsune calmly walked by him without looking at him once. Inuyasha growled low in his throat. This arrangement was not going to work out. He stalked along behind them until he caught up at the shrine stairs.
"I'll be back in a week and a half," Kagome was saying. "And thank you so much for your help. Tell the others bye for me?" she smiled and began to climb the stairs.
"Keh! We may be back and we may not," Inuyasha glowered. Kagome rolled her eyes at him.
"We'll be back," she said confidently.
"Be careful... " Kurama said softly. "And tell Shippo thank you for the gift."
"Take care," Boton added in farewell.
"I'll take care of her. I always do," Inuyasha snorted. "Stupid girl, doesn't always know which way is up."
"I heard that," Kagome's voice was soft and dangerous.
"I-"
"Sit!"
Wham!
"Grrrrrr..."
"Serves you right," Boton muttered.
"Wait!" Kurama climbed the stairs and took one of Kagome's hands in his.
"Hey!" Inuyasha half sat up.
"Sit."
Wham!
Kagome looked at her new friend in confusion. She felt him press something small and round into her hand before curling her fingers over it. "For your Shippo." He backed away and stared into her eyes for a long moment. Then, he turned to leave. Boton hurried to catch up to the fox spirit.
Kagome watched them go, her fingers closed over the small, hard bead. She opened her hand and was surprised to see...a seed.
"Ka-Go_ Meeee!" Inuyasha hissed.
"Baka." She rolled her eyes at him again, before running up the stairs, leaving him to fend off the last of the subduing spell alone.