Oh yay! It's that time of week again! Where I post another bad short chapter and...well..yeah.
For the particular person that was interested to know what was in the painting, I find it kind of tough to include it in this chapter...so like the Chapter 4 scene I drew go here to see: ), I'll also draw the painting to the best of my ability. That way, no one has to listen and stop for a while to draw a mental image in their head on what I'm talking about. Is that okay? But I still include it in the story nevertheless...at least, I think I will...
And on the above picture, yes I KNOW Inuyasha's head and body is swollen. Yes, I KNOW the table looks pregnant. Yes, I KNOW Kagome is way too skinny and she's not properly proportioned. Yes, I KNOW my attempts at drawing a chicken and textbook are terrible. Yes, I KNOW Inuyasha's eyes are too big and his hair all weird. Yes, I KNOW I probably wrote the wrong katakana on the textbook. Yes, I KNOW what I wrote in Korean has nothing to do with what Inuyasha's learning. Yes, I KNOW it's blurry, it's because I couldn't scan it so took a picture of it instead...and all that stuff. snoozeburgle.
Disclaimer: Iono about owning Inuyasha...but my Necoyasha is mine. 33 oh yes, no direct credit goes to me for this fanfiction. because it is a FANFICTION!
This chapter was also difficult to write...my finals are in July 9 to 13 and I've been robbed of ideas.
Or rather, (because then I'd be suing someone) my imagination ran away...and my excuse for my incoherence is that my brain left to find it.
Okay, on with the story, because I bet I just told you my life story by now.
Jah!
Anything But This
Chapter 9
Emptiness
-Inuyasha-
The next morning had a cool and peaceful air. Where they had been blood, everything looked bright and clean. Windows were open everywhere, and morning light came through, highlighting flurries of an autumn dust. Thin curtains lifted every now and then on the soft breeze. The place looked innocent. His bedroom door was open, a rarity. The bed was made, the room was immaculate. The sun was streaming in through the windows.
He stood in the middle of a large sunny room. The house reverbrated with silence. Everyone was gone for the morning. It was something he could instantly understand. Nothing. He waited. The house creaked. He could smell the oldness of the wood. As he looked out of his bedroom door, he could see the bottom floor shining from heaven's embrace. The emptiness in the house, and the emptiness within himself resonated each with the other, and the two voids harmonized.
He stood there a long time.
Nothing.---------Kagome-
Each morning, the light would spread a gentle feathery touch on her bed, rousing her from her sleep. That was, before Souta came in with Buyo nearly crawling after him and bumbling about in haste. He would always run in, jump and leap straight onto her bed. He never managed to miss her body. He was getting bigger and bigger, and once she could swear he had fractured her arm. There was a chase, which involved Kagome giving Souta a noogie. Then it was confirmed. Her arm was in fact, not fractured. Surprise, surprise.
But this morning was quiet, a dull Saturday morning where everyone was asleep past 11 o'clock, and by the time someone woke, they would simply stumble about to the kitchen, get a snack and return to the couch, very ready to spend six hours wasting him or herself in front of the television set. Yup, that was Saturday.
Today was no different.
She was definitely awake, her hair tousled above her pillow and her blanket a wildly proportioned twisted cloth, winding around one arm where she had hooked it below her armpit. Yawning, she stretched, and was content in staying in her bed although she was not sleeping, finding a peacefulness in just hearing the birds twitter and looking up at the bright white ceiling. She stared at every object in her room, her toes, her closet, the bedroom door, her desk, the chair, the computer, the night stand, the lamp... Her eyes lingered on one object the longest, the clothes she had neglected in a big bundle underneath another pile of clothes. The ones stained with Inuyasha's blood. Another heap were the washed, outrageous looking clothes complete with the orange flower-shaped purse that had not been folded up and put away yet.
Closing her eyes, half between wanting to fall asleep but get up and do something, she realized why she felt so restless.
Hojo!
It was...what? 11:17?
Scrambling from her bed, she pounced into the bathroom to get ready.... after tripping on the blanket sheets bound about her body like a loose bandage.
A few minutes later she was racing out of the bathroom back to her room, ignoring the fact there were still a few water droplets dripping down her hands and flecking her face. Running her hands through her hair, she pulled on the neat, tidy stack of clothes she had arranged just for today. It was peculiar how she hadn't noticed them until now.
Through the thumping and jumping from Kagome's upper floor, a few inhabitants of the shrine stirred from their rest. And they weren't what you'd call, exactly a 'happy bunny'.
"Kagome!!" Kagome's mother called out, walking out her door with careful steps, still suffering headrush. Kagome however, could only utter one word as she raced about the kitchen from her room, to outside, with one sock on her foot to retrieve what she had forgotten.
"Late! Late!"
Well, she wasn't late, but she always went to wherever she had to go, that would include Hojo, at least twenty minutes earlier so she could get acquainted with the area again. Not only that, but she wanted to appear ready. Things that affection, and in this case, obsession could do to your coherent brain, eh?
"Late, late!!" As Kagome was taking her last trip inside to snatch her coat, her mother stopped her in mid-step with a slap to the cheek. She froze instantly.
"Shush, Kagome! Some people are sleeping, and you know what Grandpa would do if he knew you were going out to meet a boy!" She scolded silently through thin lips, and then extended her hands to flatten out the small curls in her hair that reached out to the sky. Kagome simply bounced about, impatiently.
As soon as she was released from her mother's day to day requirement checks, she half ran, half hobbled to catch a taxi to the orphanage. She realized then she had chosen the wrong shoes for this sprinting marathon.
When the taxi arrived at her destination, she literally hopped out of the taxi because of her shoes, and was pulled back by the driver who demanded his money. In vain she digged through her purse for her wallet, and realized it was in her coat.
Reaching the orphanage, she slowed her pace, trying to catch her breath. Wiping her damp brow with the back of her hand, she began to walk slowly and instantly, a group of children recognized the pretty and decent-looking girl. "It's Kagome! Hi Kagome!" They shouted to her, and waved simultaneously. She smiled, and waved back. She wasn't having so much regrets about coming here this time. As she neared, they grinned mischeivously, and suddenly morphed from a infantile game of jacks to a thunderous stampede of rhinos.
"Get her!!" They cried out, pouncing on her all at once.
Three minutes later, she was panting again and wrestling with a little boy, laughing with cherry red cheeks. "Get off me, or I'm not giving out any candy!" She threatened mildly, but the children immediately climbed off her and sat before her on their knees with wistful eyes. Looking away, she shielded her eyes and grimaced. "Oh dear, how could I give candy to such dirty little boys and girls? Oh woe is me..." She raised a hand to her forehead for effect.
Eyes growing wide, they all shouted in unison. One boy's voice was intelligible through the blubbering. "Last one there is a rotten...white oval thing!" Each and every child raced to either grab a hose attached to the large building, and some escaped to the nearest form of shelter. Soon the air was bubbling with a children's laughter and each of them were completely soaking wet. The unabashed young ones were stripped of their clothes, running around stark naked for anyone near to see.
Kagome glanced at her watch, and then out to the road bordering the land. Hojo should be here any minute now...---------Inuyasha-
If there was one thing he hadn't forgotten, it was Kagome. And he found himself itching to meet her again. He just needed once chance to tell her the thing with white hair plus very visible claws and ears in the picture was not him at all, but his father. Striking family resemblance, really. His real father. The demon who had destroyed another monster called Onigumo, and there were rumors that the freakish creature was still alive. He doubted it. If even his pa had died from the other's attacks, how possible was it for that crippled being to go on living?
Even his mother had died. He now had a vain and far too soft model for his mother, and a fat lawyer who used to be a martial arts teacher for a dad, but he wasn't so bad. His influence had made him into a skilled fighter that he was now, not the 'rip, shred and kill' half-demon he had once been.
That was it though. Just half-demon.
And he needed to explain that to her.
But where was she?
Memories barreled through his mind, and his fingers fiddled with the already fading stiches on his stomach in thought. He had definitely healed fast after the sun had rose, and had tidied up his room so there would be no suspicions of any kind of misdeed he had committed the previous night. And then it struck him.
Hojo.
He recalled the call Kagome had gotten from this boy, how she had promised to meet him next Saturday, a week ago. Today was Saturday. Today was next week. Kagome would go to wherever he was going.
But where would Hojo go?
Another memory came from his mind. Insane children. Hojo working to become a priest. Kagome talking about crazy nuns.
He pieced the few clues he had together. Where would a nun, priest and insane kids be all at once? This would take alot of thinking...
There was a church, but today was Saturday. The next might have been a day care center, but the priest and nun? What about the Children's Grand Park? Still, the matter was about the religious people. What would they have to do there?
A few minutes later... "The orphanage!"
(Try to figure out why he used 'the' instead of 'a' before orphanage. Guess quickly, it's easy, the answer comes soon...)
He dressed quickly, not bothering to make sure he was wearing proper clothes or making an effort to have a messy in a casual way look. More childhood memories rushed up to meet him, and he was surprised at how many he could not fight away. He was surprised at how many there were.
When his mother had breathed her last dying breath, and he had tried to revive her, he had seen and heard the most revolting sight he could have ever seen. When he had made an effort, a vain effort to breathe life into her, his air simply made a sickly wet sound mingled with the sounds of air rushing out of a balloon. A moment later, he had fallen next to Sesshoumaru's detached figure and had vomited.
He had only been six then... Six. Fragile and soft-hearted, a mound of clay still molding. Even Sesshoumaru then was the older brother who got him into trouble. No longer.
The windows on the bus were a bit smudged, but there were few people on this morning. Most just resting at home or having a nice day at the park. As he passed the ancient trees on the way to the orphanage, he inhaled the clean fresh air deeply. Today's weather was the kind of weather that was spent outside, watching the autumn leaves flutter down, gaze at the cloudless slightly gray sky wistfully. He decided to walk the last mile to his destination, getting off the bus.
It was an experience he had never expected to have, never in a billion years. When he had left this place at sixteen, he had already been in seven families. Four in which he had been seperated from his half-brother. And as much as he hated to admitt, he clung to Sesshoumaru like an urchin and did not let go.
"I'll trust you." He had said to his older brother once as they had made their first appearance at the orphanage. "Okay Sess?" His brother had simply lost his meditative look, and suddenly looked distressed. But soon even that faded from the pre-teen's face, and he brushed away a lock of hair from Inuyasha's forehead. It was the only gesture of affection that he had ever got from him.
Now that he was back, he saw that not alot of things had changed. Just more screaming children. He searched for Kagome, and did not go near the orphanage himself. He'd probably be questioned for his presence, and Kagome would be told that he was there. No, he wanted to meet her privately, personally.
Suddenly to his left, he heard a soft 'plonk'. Probably a pebble falling on water. Turning his head, he saw a little boy, probably his age when he had first come, with bright red hair and the most fragile body he had ever seen. He seemed so small, so defenseless, and cryptic even among the dense and tranquil scenery. A small hand grasped another rock, and tossed it into a little pond without a thought.
"Don't." He said without thinking. He found himself approaching the little boy, and kneeling down beside him, grabbing his hand to prevent any more movement. The boy turned to him in surprise, emerald eyes widening. His wrist was so scrawny, Inuyasha thought. In fact, his entire self was scrawny. "Don't throw rocks into the water, it'll get dirty."
The boy solemnly nodded, and soon began to drag a stick around the dirt to draw. Instantly Inuyasha was reminded of himself. "Why aren't you playing with the others?" He asked softly, a gentle tenderness he had never shown but to children that did not get on his nerves. His carrot red hair quivered, and a small voice squeaked.
"I have no friends..."
Inuyasha found the need to commiserate. When he had come to this orphanage for the first time, the first thing that had happened was a boy had come up to him and had started yanking on his ears. "Are you the new kid? What's your name?"
"Shippo." The boy mumbled nearly inaudibly, but then abruptly faced Inuyasha with a quizzical face. "Why are you here? Are you an orphan?"
"Yes." The word flew out before he had a chance to stop himself. But it was true..enough. He had been abandoned by his parents, and now even his tutor. He was such a pathetic guy. "My mum and pa died." The empty void came back. The emptiness in which he was so accustomed to.
Shippo stared at him curiously, and his eyes shadowed at his last string of words.
Seeing this reaction, Inuyasha frantically searched for a way to ease the gloom that was creeping over them both. It also felt awkward to speak of his tragedy to this small boy he had just met. "I'm also a demon." He winked. It would definitely seem like an amusing lie, and would probably have him screaming...once he showed him a few moves.
This time Shippo's eyes became gigantic, and he dropped the stick on the ground silently. But even this shock passed, and he returned to the little drawing of...two small canines it seemed. Particularly a fox. Queer, Inuyasha thought. Before Shippo spoke.
"Me too."
I have no idea where I'm planning to go with this...
yes, I KNOW it's short. this took me an entire day to write though...that's how blank and stupid I am right now...