Disclaimer: Inuyasha and co. belongs to me. All mine! ::sobs:: I wish…
Ok, so I lied. It didn't take me so long to get out another chapter. And do you know why? It's because of you! My inspiration! So the more you review, the faster I post! If you have any questions about this story, feel free to ask! Enter Chapter 4…
Ch. 4Kagome rummaged through the near-empty fridge, as she called out to the young man in the dining room. "Inuyasha, we're all out of food, we'll have to go out grocery shopping after lunch. Right now, I can only cook instant noodles." She shut the refrigerator door close and reached for his stash of instant noodle cups in the top cabinet. Her hand came just short in reaching the food.
"What's wrong with instant noodles?" Inuyasha asked innocently, as he came into the kitchen. He watched as she jumped up and down in an attempt to reach the Ramen cups.
Kagome turned to him and glared with her hands on her hips, "I'll tell you what's wrong. We've had Ramen for the past three days. It's not healthy for you! And even if you're a demon, I'm human and I need my nutrients." She told him in a no-nonsense kind of way.
"Fine," Inuyasha glared back, "We'll go after we finish eating." He reached up and grabbed a couple cups of instant noodles for her. "Shrimp flavor all right with you?" He asked offhandedly and tossed both cups to her.
She checked the flavor labels, "You can have the shrimp, and I'll have the chicken flavor." She said, pulling out a pot and filling it with water.
He made a face at her playfully and went back into the dining room. Kagome smiled to herself as she waited for the water to boil. It had only been a month since she moved in with Inuyasha, but it seemed to come so naturally to her, sharing an apartment with a half demon, that is. She dumped the two blocks of raw noodles into the pot and stirred once in a while with her chopsticks. She knew that he still held many things about his past from her, but she didn't mind. He would tell her when the time was right. She ladled the noodles into tow bowls and added the flavoring, before meeting Inuyasha at the dining table.
Kagome placed one bowl in front of Inuyasha and the other at her seat. When she went back to the kitchen to get chopsticks, Inuyasha sneakily switched their bowls, confident that he had won the battle over the chicken-flavored noodles.
He was already halfway finished with his meal, when he realized something, "Hey, wait a minute, this is shrimp flavor!" He cried indignantly.
Kagome gave him a smug smile.
~*~*~*~*~
"Jeez, Inuyasha! Are you still mad about that little switcheroo I pulled? That was at least two hours ago! I said I was sorry!" Kagome told a ticked off driver.
Inuyasha gripped the steering wheel and mumbled something incoherent. Kagome leaned closer to his mouth and heard him mumble, "I just don't like being tricked." She sighed exasperatingly. They had already gone to the store and were now coming back with a trunk full of food, including more instant noodles, but Inuyasha continued to grumble.
"How about we make a deal, Inuyasha, I'll make instant noodles again for you tomorrow with whatever flavor you want, and in return, you'll stop fuming." Inuyasha grudgingly agreed to her terms.
Kagome looked out of the windshield at the deserted freeway rod ahead of them in the middle of a desert-like area that led to the apartment complex. For some reason, she had never seen any people drive down this road, or live in the other apartments in the buildings aside from them. How strange…
Suddenly, the roof of the car caved inward as a huge weight crushed onto it. "Shit," Inuyasha cursed as he swerved off the road. He slashed their seat belts to ribbons and pulled Kagome with him out the door seconds before his car hit a huge rock. He used the ground as leverage as he leaped into the air to avoid the explosion that followed soon after. Kagome tightened her arms around his neck.
"Relax," he soothed as he landed lightly on his feet, "I'm not gonna let anything hurt you," She continued to cling to his neck from the surprise of the sudden attack and released him reluctantly.
"W-what was that?" She asked him shakily.
"Apparently a giant centipede," Inuyasha replied, looking in the direction of the remains of his once functioning car, Kagome followed his gaze and gasped when she saw the demon. It had to be at least several hundred feet long. Half of its body was wrapped loosely around the large rock they had hit and the other half including the humanoid head and torso slithered along the ground.
"What is that thing? It's so big."
"It's a demon centipede, though I don't know why it attacked us." Inuyasha said calmly.
Kagome squinted up at him, "How can you be so calm?"
"That's only a small-fry demon," he reassured.
"Small-fry?" Kagome nearly screamed, "Small-fry?! Does that thing look small to you?!"
Inuyasha sighed, "Look, just because it's big doesn't mean it's strong. Don't worry about it, this won't take long."
The demon suddenly rushed at them, its countless legs scurrying on the ground and the eight human-looking arms that sprouted from its feminine torso waved excitedly, "The Jewel of the Four Souls," it spoke in a grating voice, "Give me the Jewel of the Four Souls! I can smell it on one of you. Give it to me!"
Inuyasha looked in surprise and then turned his gaze to Kagome, "You have it? Why didn't you tell me?"
"I don't know what you're talking about," she hissed, eyes wide in fear.
The demon dived at Inuyasha, "You! You must have it half demon!" It grabbed him and examined him quickly before he tore the arms off of him. The centipede howled with rage and grabbed him with her remaining five arms and threw him ruthlessly against a rock. His head cracked against it and he lay limp.
"Inuyasha!" Kagome screamed in panic. The demon rounded on her.
"He doesn't have it, so you must have the jewel, little girl!" It snarled and dived at Kagome, one arm outstretched to claw at her with her long, sharp nails. Kagome stood unable to move, even unable to scream, when suddenly, a silver blur ran in front of her. Amber eyes widened in pain as he took the blow meant for her. He slumped against her a little, but continued to shield her, as the monster slashed at his back, creating long, deep cuts. He looked down at Kagome and gave her a weak smile.
"Inuyasha!" She pleaded, "Please stop this! I'm not worth it!" She cried pushing him away. Inuyasha fell to the side and watched in horror as the centipede struck her side. Enraged, he gave a feral growl and cut off the demon's head, plunging a hand into the demon's heart to make sure it died. Her legs and body continued to writhe, but after a few minutes, it stopped.
"Kagome," Inuyasha whispered, forgetting his own injuries, as he crawled to where she lay. Three cuts dug into her side, each a centimeter long, bleeding profusely. He touched one gently and Kagome moaned and opened her eyes.
Struggling to say something, she opened her clenched hand, "This… came… out of… my body." Inuyasha stared in shock when he saw the pale, pink jewel glowing faintly in her hand.
"The Jewel of the Four Souls," he whispered in awe before Kagome fainted dead away, from her blood loss. "Kagome," he said worriedly and scooped her into his arms, leaping away from the battlefield and toward their apartment.
Minutes later, a helicopter arrived and men with the Organization logo on their shirts hopped out. They washed all the blood and evidence away, after they attached the corpse of the demon to the helicopter and flew it away, leaving no sign that a demon centipede had ever been there at all.
~*~*~*~*~
Inuyasha hovered over Kagome anxiously as she lay once again unconscious on his bed, but this time it was because of a physical injury. He growled at himself. Since when had he started to care about anyone? Since Kagome came along, that's when, he thought answering his own question. Inuyasha's thoughts disappeared when he heard her breathe raggedly. This wasn't good, every time he had bandaged and re-bandaged her, the blood continued to pour out. At this rate, she would die. It was time to call in for reinforcements. He picked up the phone.
~*~*~*~*~
"PERVERT!" A resounding slap could be heard through the entire apartment complex. An old couple living in the apartment below them winced. This was usual though.
Sango sat on her couch and fumed. How dare he! She hadn't heard so much as a 'hello' from him, when he came through her door, before she felt his hand rubbing her backside. She was about to yell at him some more when she heard the phone ring.
"Hello?" She answered, putting on a friendly voice, masking her anger.
"Sango, I need you and Miroku over here. NOW!" A familiar voice spoke urgently.
"Inuyasha?" She would have teased him about asking for help but she sensed the seriousness of his tone of voice.
"Yes, and bring some medical supplies. I'm running out."
That didn't sound good. "We'll be right over," she replied, hanging up. "Come on, monk, we're needed at Inuyasha's." Sango went over to her closet and fished through it before finding her First Aid kit.
"Right," Miroku said, growing serious. There was a time for play and there was a time for work. And from the serious look on Sango's face, this was definitely not a time for play.
~*~*~*~*~
The doorbell rung noisily, its sound reverberated around the apartment. Inuyasha nearly ripped the door off its hinges before the last echoes died away. "What took you so long?" He growled angrily.
"What's the problem, Inuyasha?" Miroku asked calmly.
"Kagome's hurt. Badly."
"Who's Kagome?" Sango asked, confused.
"A priestess. Long story, I'll tell you later. She was hurt by a demon centipede," he explained as he led them to his room, "It cut her and she's still bleeding."
Sango knelt down next to Kagome and felt her forehead. It was unusually cool. Not a good sign. "How long ago?" She asked, feeling her pulse and pulling back the sheets to examine her injury. There was a blood spot slowly seeping through the side of bandages around her midsection. She pulled out her First Aid kit.
Inuyasha growled lightly when he saw the Organization logo on it, but still replied, "Approximately six hours ago." It had been quite a while since the wars between the demons and humans, bur the demons that still lived continued to hate his kind, including his half-brother, Sesshomaru. For some reason, he seemed to despise his little brother's kind even more than the average demon, which led to several assassination attempts. All of which had failed miserably to kill him. It was true that Sango, a demon exterminator, and Miroku, a monk given a curse by a demon, were part of the Organization, but they had never betrayed the secret of their friendship to their co-workers and boss.
Sango unraveled the bandages and inspected the wounds. She searched through her kit and pulled out a tube of ointment. She gently dabbed it on the cuts and rewrapped her with new bandages, "There that should do it. The ointment will close the wound," she said with a satisfied sigh, packing her things away.
She and Miroku were about to head out the door, when Inuyasha stepped in front of them, "Wait, there's something else." He held out his closed fist. When he unclenched his fingers, Sango and Miroku gasped in unison.
"What are you doing with the Jewel of the Four Souls, Inuyasha?" Sango asked suspiciously.
"It came from Kagome's body when she was cut. I think she's Kikyo's incarnation."
An uneasy silence fell upon the three. Sango shifted uncomfortably, not wanting to bring up anything about the dead priestess, in case she said something disrespectful and brought Inuyasha's rage on herself. Both she and Miroku knew about his past.
Inuyasha sat in a chair near his bed and watched Kagome, without moving once. He noted that her face had turned from pale to a more rosy color. He jumped when her long lashes fluttered open.
"Inuyasha," she murmured. She tried to sit up, but Inuyasha pushed her back down.
"Easy," he told her. Sango and Miroku rushed over.
"I-I…"
"Save your strength," he said putting a finger to her lips. He couldn't help marveling at the soft texture of her lips, despite the fact that they were dry from lack of liquids. Miroku and Sango stared in surprise. This wasn't like the Inuyasha they used to know. This Kagome must be some girl to be able to change Inuyasha so much.
Sango again knelt by Kagome and felt her forehead once more. This time it felt warmer. "Hi, I'm Sango Taijiya. I'm one of Inuyasha's friends and the man with the staff over there is Miroku Houshi."
Kagome nodded politely in acknowledgement, "Nice to meet you. I'm Kagome. Though I have a question. Could someone tell me about that jewel that came out of me?"
Inuyasha shoved Miroku forward, "You tell her."
Miroku sighed, "Very well. It's a complicated story though, so brace yourself, Lady Kagome.
"We live in a galaxy called Shikon, meaning Four Souls. Long ago, humans and only humans inhabited Shikon. There were no such thing as demons, well, real ones anyway. The galaxy was named Shikon because the humans that lived in the nine worlds were very pure and good hearted. I suppose some weren't as pure as others, but that didn't make a difference. The four souls of Shikon are called ara-mitama, nigi-mitama, kushi-mitama, and saki-mitama. Ara-mitama means courage, nigi-mitama means friendship, kushi-mitama means wisdom, and saki-mitama means love. These four traits balance out the human nature. And so the worlds lived peacefully and happily.
"In that era, there lived a powerful priestess, by the name of Midoriko. She purified those with impure hearts, hoping that it would prevent trouble from breaking out. On this world of Goshinboku, she met up with a thief named Onigumo. He had been pushed off a cliff by angry villagers, but somehow managed to survive and drag his broken body to the nearest village, which was the one Midoriko was staying at. She pitied the poor man and tried to help him heal, but she knew that he would never walk again. On his back, the imprint of a spider design, created by the jagged rocks at the bottom of the cliff, would forever scar him as a reminder of his punishment.
"Midoriko tried to purify him, but his evil thoughts were too impure. Those thoughts were the only thing that kept him alive. Before long, he began to fester desires for the kind priestess who took care of him. His evil desires and thoughts called the devil to him, who proposed a deal. The devil told Onigumo that he would give him a body that would allow him to pursue those desires and in return, he would gain the man's soul. Onigumo agreed and thus with that deal, he sold his soul to the devil.
"But the devil, was just as evil and cunning, and he had tricked him. The devil was from the underworld and so his form was not tangible. He twisted the deal and gained not only Onigumo's soul, but his body as well. The demon Naraku was born into the world.
"From his body, Naraku formed thousands and thousands of demons, and those demons spawned thousands and thousands of demons, infesting the whole of Shikon with evil. The people began to lose the traits of Shikon. They began to lose courage, friendship, wisdom, and love as wars broke out and families were split apart. Soon, barely any people were still pure.
"Midoriko was up to her neck in fighting demons. She used her holy power to purify their souls and destroyed them. After seven days and seven nights of fighting demons without rest, one particularly fierce demon called all the demons around it to its body and formed into one being. That demon managed to sink its fangs into Midoriko.
"With the last of her fading strength, Midoriko reached deep into her soul where the four traits of Shikon continued to thrive, and forced it out of her body, in the hopes that her pure soul could still help others even after her body died. What she forced out of her body was the Shikon no Tama, the Jewel of Four Souls. All of her purity was forced into a concentrated ball of power. But at the same time she forced her own soul out, the demon's soul was forced out as well. And in this small jewel, their souls continue to battle it out in a never-ending war of good against evil."
Kagome sat speechless, trying to digest this large chunk of information, "So, you're saying that depending on the user…"
"… the jewel can be used for either good or evil." Miroku concluded.
"But why was it in me?" She asked.
"The jewel was passed down for generations in the hands of good and evil. My ancestors were demon exterminators as am I," Sango cut in, "After they slew a exceptionally evil demon that had the jewel in its possession, it became too evil for them to handle, so they gave it to a powerful priestess named Kikyo," Sango glanced a look at Inuyasha," to purify it. But after an… accident, she died and took the jewel to her funeral flames. We believe you are her reincarnation."
Kagome massaged her temples. This was just too much.
"Get some sleep, Kagome," Inuyasha said, pulling the sheets back over her. He led the others to the door and mumbled a quick thanks. When he came back to his room, he found that Kagome was already asleep. He sat down on a chair close to his bed and watched as she breathed lightly. He yawned sleepily. The day had taken a lot out of him. He rested his head on the pillow Kagome lay on and after breathing in her floral scent, drifted off to a peaceful sleep.
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I'm on a roll today! That chapter took less than 24 hours to write! I owe it all to you! Review, review, review! Hehe, that rhymes! Again, if something confuses you, ask away! I think even I'm confused… LOL.
Ok, I've decided to start something new. I'm going to respond to my reviewers starting from the very first ones, so here goes…
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Review Responses~*~*~
lovecups: Thank you, I'm really grateful for all of these compliments. This is like a dream come true! ::sobs:: I tried to make up a plot line that no one had come up with before. Of course it still leans in the direction of a fanfic I've read or two, but otherwise I've tried to make it sound totally original. Thank you! ::blows kisses::
Shadow: You don't have to worry about that. I don't plan on stopping! Just keep on reading and I'll be happy! Don't stop reviewing!
E. Marie: Thank you sooo much! I really appreciate your encouragement. If it wasn't for you, I probably wouldn't even be this far! You also reviewed my other story and I'm so happy! Your comments almost made me cry! (In a good way of course! Ya know, tears of happiness!) I'll try to keep updating my story, and I'll try to update Fulfilling a Promise. You are the only person that has reviewed both my fics! I don't know what else to say to you but THANK YOU! Oh, wait, I already said that… LOL, but that doesn't matter because I could say it a thousand times!
CrissyRose: Hey! What's up? Haha, just kidding, but thanks, I like my idea of the different world too! LOL
moonlight: Hi, moonlight! I'm so happy you think that this story could go somewhere. To tell you the truth, I don't really know where it's going to go. I've got somewhat of a plot line in my head ::scratches head:: its very vague though, so if you have any ideas, just let me know! I'll update again as soon as possible! See ya!
Dallandra: I'm glad that you're enjoying this! It was pretty hard to think of this. I had to stop and think once in a while. ::stops and thinks:: LOL, stay tuned 'cuz I'll be updating again in the near future! Boy that really sounded like the narrators of a TV show, huh? Oh, well LOL
Leomae108: Yeah, he was a little out of character, but I wanted to put some fluff in these beginning chapters. It's not much fluff, because they're just getting to know each other, but I try =). You know, I never thought about Inuyasha telling Kagome about Kouga being a demon, but that's a good idea! Thanks! As for your other question, you'll have to wait, or it might spoil the story. Thank you so much for your review! Come back again! Oh great, now I sound like a seller at a store ::sigh:: Anyway, don't go crazy because here's chapter four! Though, by now you would have finished reading it…
ArtemisMoon: Thank you, ArtemisMoon! I hope I get more reviews too! LOL. I'm so glad you think my story is worth reading. Do you know how much that means to me? ::sniff:: THANK YOU SO MUCH! I love Inuyasha's attitude too! Why do you think I'm writing a fanfic about him? 'Cuz I love him so much! I love your review! Hope you enjoyed this latest chapter!