Howdy. I found a fantastically funny website, home of Jeremy "Norm" Scott and his comics. Go to www.ape-law.com /evilmonkey (without the space between com and /evil, for some reason it dies when I upload with a hyperlink) and read such titles as Hsu (pronounced 'Shoe') and Chan, The Otters, Violence Man, and more! Lots of laffs and 100% free!
*Receives large check from Norm Scott*
I wish. ON TO THE STORY!
Chapter 29: I'm Running Out Of Good Chapter Titles
The General lay in his bed, ragged wool blankets pulled up to his waist. He had disrobed, but still held his sword tightly in one hand. He was not sleeping.
*Flashback*
The General was on one knee, in a room quite unlike his current one. It was a large throne room. Ornate hangings were hung on the gleaming white walls, antique furniture was arranged tastefully around the area, and a golden throne dominated the center. In this throne sat an older man, bedecked in full regalia and with a jeweled crown atop his head.
The General himself also looked very different. He wore chain mail instead of his gray plate armor, and he wore a short sword at his side. He was not quite as muscular and did not have the expressionless features he wore always. His face was darkened with shame.
"You realize what could have happened?" said the king gravely.
"Yes, my liege."
"You could have been wiped out! Your entire army might have been routed! If it were not for Marcus's troops reinforcing your own, we would have suffered a terrible defeat." The king indicated a man standing next to him. He was in brilliant golden armor, with pure white hair and yellow eyes. At his side, he carried a large sword. The man flashed the General an arrogant smirk.
"I am sorry, my liege," said the General in a supplicating voice. "I will do better next time."
"If there is a next time," returned the king forcefully. "Your men will be on patrol until I say otherwise. You are dismissed." The General stood up and slowly walked away, doing his best to ignore the condescending looks shot at him by Marcus. He left.
Outside, the General's features changed swiftly to rage. After a cursory glance to make sure nobody was watching, he spat on the floor in front of the palace steps.
"That wasn't very nice, you know," came a voice from the shadows. The General jumped and whirled in that direction. A lanky, raven-haired teenage boy stepped from the darkened area. He had roguish good looks and a winning smile, quite different from the patronizing sneer of Marcus.
The General smiled. "Oh, it's you. Hello."
"Heya." The boy came over and began walking with the General. "So what was that display of expectoration all about?"
"What do you think?" muttered the General darkly. "The king put my troops on patrol." The teenager winced.
"Ouch. What happened? Did you get beaten in battle or something?"
"Let me tell you..." His voice reeked of frustration and anger as he turned to face the boy. "Pretty-boy Marcus convinces the king to attack Mistaria, claiming they're building up military forces or some such thing. Since I've been on my best behavior lately, the king surprises everyone by sending me into battle instead of Marcus."
"That sounds pretty good. Chosen over the king's own son?"
"I'm not finished," growled the General. "I ask Marcus if he has any intelligence that might prove useful in the coming battle. He says he does not. So my armies arrive in Mistaria, whereupon they immediately fall into an ambush. Hundreds were slain in the first wave alone, and we were ill suited for battle on the sloping, hilly terrain. My men put up a strong defense, but the Mistarians knew the land, and essentially decimated my troops."
"Go on..." said the teenager, listening intently.
"Right when it seems I'm about to lose, Marcus swoops in with his army and beats them back. He then proceeds to berate me for not gathering sufficient intelligence and marching blindly into battle. I pointed out that I asked him for any intelligence he may have had; and he clearly had some, judging on his epic entrance; and he dismissed it as irrelevant. We pull out of Mistaria, regroup, and defeat the locals jointly."
"Why is that so bad? I mean, Marcus was being a jerk, but..."
"Once we win, of course Marcus immediately sends word that he conquered Mistaria, leaving out the part where I absorbed the ambush so his privileged men wouldn't have to, and of course the king believes him. We head back for home, whereupon the king yells at me for losing so many troops. Now Marcus is the hero and I'm the one who made the tactical blunder!!" The General was yelling by now, livid with rage.
"That really sucks," said the teenager bluntly. "And now you're just on guard duty?"
The General grimaced. "Yes. The only reason Marcus's troops even made a dent in the enemy's line was that blasted sword of his."
"Huh?" This stopped the boy cold. "The sword? How?"
"You know how it grants him powers of lightning...he called down a thunderstorm and tore the enemies apart. My troops are superior to his, my tactics are better, I am a better strategist and yet because of that bloody sword, he's the one who wins everything!" The General sighed.
"I believe in you. Marcus isn't the brightest guy in the world, I'll admit that. One day, I just know...one day, you'll defeat the greatest army in the world."
The General smiled. "I thought we were the greatest army in the world."
"Well, whatever." The General laughed, for the first time in weeks.
"That means a lot to me. Thanks. Unfortunately..." He looked away. "I'll be leaving soon, and I don't know when I'll be coming back." The boy recoiled.
"What? Why?!"
"What use would I be here? All the plum assignments go to Marcus; and now that my men are on guard patrol, there's no use for a tactician like me around. Nobody will be sorry to see me leave, anyway."
"Well, send me a messenger once you do whatever it is you're gonna do. I know I won't have as much fun without you around."
"Well," chuckled the General, "that's one person's opinion. Who knows? Maybe I'll find a sword just like Marcus's and win the king's respect."
"Yeah!" The boy was excited. "That would be awesome. We'd never lose a battle!"
"No, we would not." The General walked toward his barracks. "I'm leaving at sunrise tomorrow, so I guess this is goodbye."
"See you later, then." The boy walked away. The General watched him leave.
"Nice kid," he muttered. "Too bad he'll die with all the rest when I come back." He began walking down the long path to his sleeping quarters.
*End flashback*
Kagome awoke. She was in Inuyasha's arms, and he was still asleep. They were in the water up to their necks, but they were lying on the bottom so they wouldn't drift away. The sun was rising. Kagome, very gently, tried to disentangle herself from Inuyasha's slumbering embrace without waking him, but as she slid out of his arms he muttered something. His eyes blinked open.
"Kagome..." he whispered. "I love you."
"I love you too, Inuyasha." It seemed that they just could not say those words enough. Kagome rose from the water but stopped suddenly.
"Do you...think it's safe?"
"Safe?" Inuyasha grinned. "We mated, so your heat is over. It's perfectly safe." Kagome tentatively stepped out of the water. She shuddered as the wind blew across her dripping, unclothed form. She grasped for her cloak and wrapped it around herself.
Inuyasha sniffed the air. Kagome's scent was back to normal. He got out of the water himself, taking his fire-rat kimono and wrapping it around Kagome. As his arms encircled her, she leaned up and they kissed again.
"Um...Inuyasha? Do you know where they are?" Kagome didn't have a clue.
"I can smell Tobias's blood," he said softly. "He's over this way." He led her through the forest. Birds twittered in the growing daylight. A squirrel scampered along the path in front of them, holding a nut in its paws and chittering away. The sun-dappled leaves cast spidery shadows over the cool forest path. Quite simply, it was beautiful.
After a few leisurely minutes, they came upon Miroku and Sango's camp. Tobias was lying on a bed of blankets. He appeared to be asleep. Most of his wounds were healed, and he seemed healthy enough.
"Hi!" said Kagome brightly. Miroku and Sango both started and looked up. Tobias opened one eye.
"Ah," he said. "You're back. I take it the spell ended?"
"Yes..." Kagome shot a glance at Tobias. He didn't seem to be catching on. "The water trick worked. The scent went away."
"That's odd," said Tobias. "Doesn't it normally last two days? It's only been about thirty-six hours..."
"Ah..." Kagome's cheeks turned a faint pink. "Well, I don't know, but I'm fine now so it must have ended."
"Hmm..." said Tobias. He sat up. "Now that is peculiar." Kagome squeezed Inuyasha's hand gently. Help me out here, was the clear message.
"Well, it worked, so it doesn't matter how. Now if you're not too crippled to move we can start actually looking for shards again," Inuyasha barked. Kagome was shocked at his gruff manner, but a quick glance in her direction revealed that he was putting on to avoid suspicion.
"Gee, Inuyasha, I thought you'd be a little more sensitive; seeing as it was YOU who 'crippled' me in the first place," Tobias shot back.
"Why didn't you just run?"
"You think I didn't?!"
"Quiet!" yelled Kagome. Everyone looked at her. "Stop fighting. We're all fine now, so let's just get on with our lives." Tobias and Inuyasha grumbled but sat down. Sango brought out some of Kagome's ramen for breakfast, and they all chowed down.
"I was thinking..." Kagome glanced at Inuyasha. He was too busy shoveling food into his mouth to listen. "I'm running out of stuff...so, maybe I should-"
"Hold on," said Inuyasha angrily, putting down his ramen. "You want to go back to your time?"
"Well, yes. I have things to-"
"We have things to do! We've got almost every shard except for the ones Naraku has! We've never been this close before and you want to LEAVE?"
"I-" Kagome stopped. Inuyasha was not one for double entendres, so did he realize what he just said? "Inuyasha?" she said, tentatively, looking at him. "Do you mean..."
Inuyasha looked at Kagome. Wait...what did I just say? He shook his head. "I mean...you know."
"So what? Are you going or not? If you aren't, I am."
"Why?" demanded Inuyasha.
"I need to do some things...things that need doing," said Tobias awkwardly. He turned a light crimson. "Just trust me on this one."
Kagome blinked. "If you're going anyway, then I'll come with you." She stood up. "Inuyasha...I need to talk to you for a minute." He shrugged but went off with Kagome. When they were out of earshot, Kagome turned to him.
"Inuyasha, I need some time."
"Time?!" He couldn't believe his ears. "Time for what?" Is she rethinking the whole thing? Does she not want to be mated to me? "Well?"
"Don't get me wrong, here," said Kagome defensively, raising her arms palms outward. "I'm not saying...I mean, what we did last night was unbelievable, but..."
"Well? Out with it!" Inuyasha roared. He was scared and angry at Kagome's words. She cringed a little, but soldiered on.
"I need to think. I'm not reconsidering anything. I love you, Inuyasha, and I'm proud to be your mate." To drive the point home, she leaned over and kissed him. He tried to deepen, to prolong the kiss, but she pulled away and resumed talking.
"I need to tell my parents, for one, and I need to get some...supplies. I won't be long...I just need to think about this. Remember, about a month ago, when you went and got drunk with Tobias? You said you needed some time to think...will you do that for me?"
Inuyasha calmed down. She wasn't having second thoughts after all. "Sure," he replied softly. "Go ahead. I'll stay here and make sure those two don't get captured again." Kagome smiled.
"You do that. We'll be back in a few days." She kissed him one more time, then stood up and walked back to camp. Tobias was lounging next to a tree.
"Are you ready to go? The well's pretty far away..." he said nonchalantly. "Am I going to have to carry you again?"
"No," said Inuyasha, coming out of the woods. "I'll come with you. You can ride with me."
"Yeah," said Miroku. "We'll come too. We've gone too far off course. I don't think there are any jewel shards around here. Kagome?"
"What? Oh..." She concentrated, but came up short. "Nothing." They began to pack up camp.
A few minutes later; Tobias, Miroku, and Sango were riding on Kirara while Kagome rode Inuyasha. Tobias turned to the others.
"What is going on between them? I mean, they've been close these past few weeks, but ever since this morning they just could not get enough of each other."
"I don't know," said Sango. "Who can tell, with those two? They were at each others' throats for a long time, and only just recently have been affectionate."
"Right..." Tobias stared into the distance. "Hey, whatever happened to Sesshomaru and Koga?"
"Did you kill them?" said Miroku.
"No, I just knocked them out. Didn't I tell you all this? I knocked them out and I pinned Inuyasha with Tetsusaiga. It baffles me as to what happened last night between those two, though." He relaxed. "Well, at least I know he didn't take her. That water did the trick."
Below, in the woods, Inuyasha raced along, with Kagome clinging to him. She purred softly into his ear. Inuyasha smirked. That's my mate...bold as anything. It really surprised him, though, when her arm unslung itself from his shoulder to gently stroke his fuzzy ear. A pleasurable tingling spread through his ear, and he shuddered at the sensation.
"Kagome..." he panted. "Do you...want me to...drop you or something?" She giggled.
"I'm sure you can handle it, mate," she cooed.
Mate, huh? I'll show her 'mate'. Without losing his careful grip, he softly dragged his claws up her thigh to her hip. She shivered at the gentle caress, and her legs tightened around his back. Smirking again, he gave her a light pinch, causing Kagome to yip in surprise.
She leaned her head into the crook of his neck and began kissing near the junction of his neck and shoulder. Little vixen, thought Inuyasha desperately. It was getting harder and harder to maintain his focus while she was teasing him like this.
Preoccupied as he was, Inuyasha failed to notice a tree root sticking out of the ground. He tripped and went flying, landing in an ungainly sprawl. His first instinct was to protect Kagome, so he pulled her off his back and held her above the ground as he skidded along the forest floor. The upshot of all this was that when they slowed to a halt, Kagome was lying on top of Inuyasha again. Kagome laughed aloud, but only for a second, as Inuyasha claimed her lips with his own.
In the air, Tobias saw Inuyasha stumble and land with Kagome on him. They began kissing and caressing each other. He turned to Sango.
"Those two...at it again." Miroku and Sango had questioning looks. "Inuyasha tripped and Kagome landed on top of him. They'll be a minute, so if you could just hover for a second I can get them up again." Kirara, hearing this, dropped low; skimming the treetops. Tobias leaped down and approached the couple.
"While it is good to see you two are on friendly terms again, we would like to get to the well by sundown," said Tobias lightly. Kagome broke her embrace. Inuyasha growled a bit, but a heated glance from Kagome told him all he needed to know:
We'll finish this later.
Eventually, with much fluff along the way, they reached the Bone Eater's Well. Kagome disentangled herself from Inuyasha, got her pack from Sango; and, with Tobias, leaped down the well.
End of chapter. Not only am I running out of good chapter titles, I'm running out of good ending bits! Geez...31 chapters...my well of imagination is beginning to run a bit dry in terms of idle banter. Don't worry about the story, though; I've got enough plot for at least 31 MORE chapters! We haven't even got to the second major event yet – oh, and I say too much. REVIEW!