A wish upon a star
Disclaimer: I haven't said this for a while...I don't own Inu-Yasha – heck, I live under a bridge and sneak into my neighbor's basement and write my fan fiction there.
Note: I did mention in chapter Nine there will be Inu-Yasha and Kagome fluff didn't I? I never mentioned when ...
I passed my 100 reviews mark, Yay! -^.^-
Wow – so many of you guessed it was Naraku. I guess I'm not good at hiding the identities of characters in the story -_-
Ahem – and one more thing...why don't u tell me how hard it is to try to write chapters while trying to control yourself from blurting the whole secret out? Believe me- This chapter was the hardest so far...
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Chapter Eleven
Misery of Memories
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Inu-Yasha chewed on his apple thoughtfully. He was back in his secret, private little room and was currently thinking up more comebacks he could hit Kagome with. He snickered; boy...it was fun teasing her.
He sighed and sat down on his bean bag chair, starting to feel a little drowsy, he yawned. He was feeling a little tired, maybe it was time for a nap? He nodded to himself, a little nap wouldn't hurt.
He got off his bean bag chair and walked over to the right side of the room; he shifted aside the cardboard boxes and pulled out a couple of blankets which were hidden behind the box. He set them down beside the wall and lay down on them. He sighed...he'll think up of nasty comments to say to Kagome later...right now, it was time for a nap, he didn't have enough sleep the last few days and a little nap didn't sound so bad.
He lay down on the blankets and strained his forehead. It wasn't like he was forgetting anything.
He closed his eyes but jerked them wide open immediately, he shifted uncomfortably.
It felt like someone needed protection in the castle, he shrugged the feeling off immediately.
He closed his eyes again but opened them and sat up straight. Hoping it was his imagination he shook is head...it felt as if a dark aura had entered the castle – not any dark aura, but the same one five years ago...
He grabbed another blanket and placed it over his face, forcing himself to just fall asleep as the memories returned to his mind.
__________________
Kagome walked angrily through the library, she had thought of a well planned comeback to hit Inu-Yasha with. She had looked in every corner of the castle, hoping to teach him his lesson but he was no where to be seen...so now she was going for her last desperate attempt to find him and was directed straight to his secret hideout.
She scoffed, why didn't she just tell the whole world that he hid there? A dozen people in the castle were searching for him and she had kept her mouth shut, she sighed...she knew better than to backbite on him like that.
She had taught herself a very valuable lesson. If you want to get someone back, do it on their faces because that hurts the most...backbiting is worthless, things could turn uglier by that...
She reached the dimly lit left wing of the library and headed straight for the candle. It was there...bent as usual. She rushed up to it and seized it. She pulled it up straight and waited impatiently for the door to open.
As the cement started to slide against each other she started to rephrase everything she had planned to say to Inu-Yasha in her head.
"Use simple words so he'll understand..." She nodded "...But be harsh all the same"
As the little tunnel appeared she practically pounced into it. She started to crawl with a little difficulty in the tunnel – it wasn't her fault – this was only her second time going through.
As she reached the end she jumped out and skimmed the contents of the room quickly. Inu-Yasha didn't seem to be here. She sighed, no fair...she had thought up of –
She stopped immediately as she spotted a sleeping hanyou beside the right side of the room. She rolled her eyes.
Great – he was sleeping.
She smiled slyly. Better wake him up then.
She walked up to him and crouched down – ready to scream in his ear. Just as she was leaning down a whisper caught her ear.
"Please stop..."
'Huh?' She leaned back and looked at Inu-Yasha and her eyebrows rose up slowly, a little in shock and surprise.
His face was filled with worry and depression. Kagome gasped, she had only seen one person like this – she had seen herself. Just after Kikyou's major priority change, Kagome had nightmares of death and had woken up crying.
She turned her attention back to Inu-Yasha.
He was breathing raggedly and was clutching onto his blankets with a death grip. His face was contorted, nothing like the prankster face he had put on earlier, actually, nothing like she had seen been before.
He seemed to be murmuring something but Kagome could barely catch any words, let alone figure out what he was saying.
He was having a nightmare for sure, but what nightmare could affect him in this way?
Kagome knew best that waking him up was the wisest thing to do... nightmares could change someone's life forever... it changed hers for sure.
Ever since she started to get nightmares about Kikyou, death and blood, she noticed she had become more aware of her surroundings. She knew she wasn't her cheery self she was at the age of 13, but she couldn't do anything but live with it.
Nobody could understand.
Well, at least nobody she knew.
She placed a hand on his shoulder and shook gently, all plans of comeback vanishing into thin air. "Wake up," She placed another hand on his forehead, to calm him down a little. Damn...his forehead was hot.
Inu-Yasha didn't open his eyes; instead it seemed as if he was choking on something that seemed like...tears?
Kagome's own face filled with worry. She had to wake him up now.
"It's just a nightmare, wake up!" she moved her hand from his forehead to his cheek and stroked it gently. If he wasn't going to wake up, she had to comfort him somehow. He shuddered at her touch but his breathing just got even more ragged.
He seemed to be suffering.
"Inu-Yasha!"
She shrugged him violently but he didn't wake up from his dream. His eyes were shut tight, his face was strained and he had started to sweat. Kagome looked at him worriedly, there had to be some way to comfort him...
Kagome lowered her hand from his shoulder and pulled his hand away from the blanket. He didn't resist, but instead, he eased his hand into hers. Her fragile hands gripped his rough, strong hand and squeezed them.
He squeezed back, much harder than Kagome had. She winced as she hoped her bones wouldn't break.
She drove her attention back at Inu-Yasha. He had seemed to calm down a little. His face wasn't contorted anymore, but actually looked – relieved?
Kagome sighed as she saw him loosen his un-held hand grip on the blanket. She blinked at him, there was one thing that she could do to make sure he wasn't still having the nightmare...
She leaned down at placed her ear on top of his chest and closed all sounds from around her to wait patiently for his...
She sighed contently. There it was - his heartbeat. It was still a little fast and uneven but it seemed to be recovering quickly. "You scared me..." She smiled inwardly as she listened peacefully to his heartbeat.
It seemed like a lullaby to her ears, she yawned. She shook her head; this wasn't the time to sleep. If she fell asleep now...well – she didn't want to be asleep on top of him when he woke up.
She lifted her head from his chest and leaned back, forgetting that her hand was still intertwined with his. As she got up she was jerked back down as his hand refused to let go.
She blushed deeply as she looked at her hand. He was holding on to her with a death grip – gentle but as tight as a drowning man would hold on to his only chance of living. She slowly moved her other hand and tried to pry his hand off hers but she succeeded with no success.
She sighed; she would have to wait until he woke up. Looking for something she could occupy herself with she spotted a book on the other side of the room, she sighed at her misfortune.
She yawned.
Damnit, if he didn't wake up soon, she would fall asleep.
.~x.~x.~.x.~.x~.x~.
Kagome strained as she tried to force her eyes to remain open. It had been an hour since she had decided to wait till he woke up and now she was damn right sleepy.
She yawned again, this time closing her eyes in the process. She opened her eyes immediately as she thought of all the possibilities that could happen due to that. She had lost feeling of her right hand a long time ago because of his grip on her hand – he had probably stopped all the blood circulation there and now the numbness was starting to creep up to her arm.
She moaned silently as her head started to feel heavy. She spotted the soft plush carpet underneath her; it looked so comfortable right now...
She rested her head on the carpet, a good distance away from Inu-Yasha, as much distance she could get. She sighed as she felt her head finally get some rest. Her neck had started to hurt from sitting up so long, and rest never seemed like such a good idea as it seemed right now.
She looked at Inu-Yasha; he looked innocent and peaceful, just like anyone would look while they fall asleep. She chuckled as she saw his hears twitch as they would when someone tried to pet them.
Didn't anyone notice how cute his ears were? She instantly shook the thought out of her head...where the heck did that come from?
She closed her eyes, it wouldn't hurt to just rest her eyes a little, and she would just open them up right now...
Kagome rolled onto her stomach as she tumbled into a deep sleep.
.~x.~x.~.x.~.x~.x~.
Inu-Yasha opened his eyes heavily. He blinked as he saw nothing but darkness. He groaned, the candles but have blown out, then he shrugged, since when had it become dark?
He sighed and swatted his free hand on his forehead, not even noticing the sleeping girl next to him. He had slept for this long? He was only supposed to have a nap.
He grabbed a candle beside him – not even paying attention to what he was holding onto with his other hand. He lit it with a match and then placed it on his left side.
As he did so, only was it then when he noticed a sleeping figure beside him.
Kagome?
What the heck was she doing here?
He raised a confused eyebrow at the girl who was currently sleeping on her stomach. One arms under her stomach and the other...
His eyes widened in surprise as he saw his own hand intertwined with hers, his nightmare rushed up to him in shock...damnit, he didn't have to get so emotional every time he dreamt about it.
Remembering that he was holding onto Kagome he let go immediately and eyed her hand. It had turned red and there were claw marks evident on her hand too. He rolled his eyes, damnit...did she have to come in the middle of everything?
He ignored the silent feeling in his stomach that was thanking her that she had arrived just in time.
He got up from his blankets and lit the other candles in the room, giving the room a fiery glow.
After lighting the last candle he left the room angrily.
He had left his guard down.
If she had heard what he was saying in his dreams she would have figured out everything. He growled.
She must NOT get included in this.
If she had figured out what he had said, her life would have been in danger. He sighed and shook his head. Too many lives had been taken due to him; he couldn't put her life in danger as well.
Inu-Yasha obviously didn't know how behind he was in all of this.
______________________
Sango was in Kagome's room. She had searched for Kagome in the whole castle but hadn't found her, now she was painting her dry clay pot and was waiting patiently for Kagome to come back.
She dipped her brush into the wet blue paint and painted the rim of the clay pot carefully.
She was almost done painting the rim of the pot when a sleepy Kagome walked into the room.
"Looks like you've been sleeping" Sango commented as she lay down her brush and eyed her clay pot. So far she had only painted the rim, but who doesn't like to admire their artwork?
"Yeah, I was" She rubbed her eyes and blinked at Sango, as if she was just processing what she was doing here.
Sango raised an eyebrow at her "Sleeping somewhere other than your room?"
Kagome, who was now fully awake, sat beside Sango "I just fell asleep...in the forest" A little white lie, but she couldn't possible say 'I fell asleep with Inu-Yasha in a secret room only Inu-Yasha and I know about' She flinched, how awkward that sounds...
"Oh, okay" She dipped a new paintbrush into the red paint and started to paint stripes of red on the clay pot.
"That looks nice" Kagome eyed her clay pot. Sango smiled.
"Thanks" She turned her direction back to the pot. Kagome sighed, if Sango was going to do this the whole time she was going to get pretty bored.
"Hey, Sango? I have to go check on something. I'll see you in a while okay?"
Sango nodded, not taking her eyes of her clay pot. Kagome stepped out of the room and ran down the corridor. She had to ask someone something...someone who knew Inu-Yasha very well.
After climbing down two flights of stairs she ended up standing in front of Miroku's door. She knocked politely on his door.
"C'mon in" came his reply.
Kagome opened his door and stepped inside his room. Miroku seemed confused by her appearance at his room but otherwise than that he didn't seem to mind at all. She walked over to him and sat down beside him on the bed.
"Miroku? May I ask you something...and you promise to answer truthfully?" She asked turning her gaze towards Miroku.
"It depends, ask the question" He shifted his position so he was sitting cross-legged on the bed and had his arms crossed against his chest.
"Has Inu-Yasha had nightmares before which turned out to make him ... suffer?"
Miroku seemed surprised at the question. "Why do you ask?"
Kagome shifted uncomfortably, she couldn't possibly tell him about the secret room, could she? She mentally decided against it, Inu-Yasha would kill her if she did. "Promise not to tell?"
"I swear" He placed a hand on his heart. Kagome smiled.
"I went into his room and he was sleeping...he was having a nightmare for sure, and you see..."
"He was acting sort – of when someone is threatening you?"
Kagome nodded "Yeah," She shifted uncomfortably, she didn't want to go into details about what had happened, if this wasn't a big deal – she didn't want to make a fool of herself. "Did anything happen like that before?"
Miroku placed a hand on Kagome's shoulder, making her feel like a child "Kagome, listen to me...when he's having nightmares, don't go near him...let him handle this on his own"
Kagome stared at him in shock, handle what on his own? Handle his nightmares? So he meant that they happened all the time? But that meant...he was having nightmares specifically about something...right?
Kagome shook his head "What do you mean? You should have seen his face –." She was cut of Miroku sighed.
"You don't understand, listen Kagome, I'm warning you – don't remind Inu- Yasha of this, if you do, run for your life..."
Kagome didn't know if he was joking or telling the truth, his voice was as blank as paper and she could only hint a scent of concern in it. "Don't bother him with it; he's probably used to it"
Kagome stared at him in shock... "You mean he has nightmares every night?" she gasped
Miroku sighed and shook his head "Kagome, if only you could understand," He sighed again, "the least you can do is be a trusty friend, understand?"
Kagome nodded; confused by mostly everything they had talked about.
Miroku had purposely avoided answering the question she had previously asked about Inu-Yasha having nightmares every night...if he didn't then Miroku would have told her that.
So it meant Inu-Yasha suffered through this every night? Even she hadn't taken her loss so hard...what had happened to him that causes him so much pain?
And now Miroku was telling her to be a trusty friend?
So, Inu-Yasha needed some sort of support? Kagome pondered on her thoughts for a while before Miroku lifted his hand off her shoulder and looked at her sympathetically. "Don't worry, I bet Inu-Yasha will tell you sooner or later"
Kagome scoffed...yeah right, she knew better than to get her hopes up. Knowing she wasn't going to get anything else out of Miroku, she got up and left the room in silence.
_____________________
Kagome stepped out of Miroku's room, confused about the advice Miroku had given her. God...Kagome was starting to think the whole family secret was mainly about him.
She shook her head. If they didn't want her to know, she shouldn't try to stick her nose in it...she just wanted to make it clear that if they wanted a shoulder to cry on she was right here.
Right here...
That she wasn't going anywhere...
She slumped her shoulders, damnit, she wanted to know what the heck was going on like hell, and everything was turning so darn suspicious that it felt unfair that she couldn't know what was going on.
She was barely noticing where she was going when she bumped into a strong muscular chest. She 'oomphed'and started to fall backwards when a pair of equally strong arms gripped her waist and saved her from the fall.
She blinked and at once saw a string of silver her. At once knowing it was Inu-Yasha she remembered her comeback she had planned up in her mind. Feeling his strong hands on her waist and his sharp claws she took in deep breath and screamed.
He brought her up immediately and she didn't even bother looking at him before releasing everything she had stored up inside of her for him.
"You know, you think that you can insult everybody you come by, but you know, the only person you should be insulting is yourself, because you're a dumb, stupid, loser!" She steamed everything out of her mouth, she was just about to start again when a cough interrupted her.
She looked up and her eyes widened in shock. Damnit...couldn't she have looked up earlier?
"Oh...sorry...I thought you were Inu-Yasha..."
Sesshomuru blinked "I thought so..." he looked down at the floor where he had dropped some books because he had chosen to save Kagome's fall instead. Kagome instantly crouched down and started to pick up his books.
"I seriously didn't mean to say all those things" She murmured to him as she started to stack the books on her left arm.
He shrugged casually and crouched down to help Kagome with the books. As she was picking up the last book the title caught her attention.
"Reviving the Swords?" She asked him as she stood up and handed him the books.
He nodded "I'm trying to find two swords my mother hid, Tetsusaiga and Tensaiga"
Kagome nodded "But, why not just ask her where she hid them?"
Sesshomuru froze at this comment, and it took a while before he answered her question "She... uh...doesn't like to be asked questions"
Kagome raised an eyebrow at his reply - that was weird, why the sudden tense build up? After an awkward moment of silence, he shrugged nonchalantly and gave an excuse of 'having to start his research' and left Kagome with her thoughts once again.
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Rin swept the dust off the shelf in the library. Humming a song to herself, she put down her dirty cloth and picked up a new one. It was only half bad being a maid here...she was considering the thought of actually staying here, but, as thoughts came to mind, she didn't belong here after all.
She was in the middle of cleaning the ladder when someone tapped her shoulder.
She turned around and came face to face with Inu-Yasha.
"No humming in the castle, you're fired" He said to her, looking around the library, acting as if she wasn't here anymore.
"Excuse me?" She asked, partially not believing his injustice.
He looked at her again and opened his eyes wide in surprise "You haven't gone yet?"
She rolled her eyes "No body told me that was forbidden, so you cant through me out"
"Fair enough," He sighed and looked around, and motioned Rin to stay where she was. He ran out of the aisle they were standing in and came back in a minute.
Rin looked at him suspiciously "What do you want?"
He looked back at her from where he was standing and walked a step towards her, Rin stepped back as she thought he was invading personal space.
He rolled his eyes lowered his tone to a whisper "...this is between you – and me, understand?"
"Who are you?"
He sighed, starting to feel annoyed with her. "Inu-Yasha" He motioned annoyingly with his hands, giving Rin the idea that he was trying to make it sound like it was obvious.
She looked at him, still confused. Inu-Yasha raised an eyebrow at her; she was definitely new to the castle. "I'm the prince of the kingdom!"
She strained her forehead as she thought of this. "I thought Sesshomuru was the prince of the castle"
He sighed at her "Its Lord Sesshomuru for you," He looked around to make sure no one was listening "I'm his brother"
She nodded understandingly "So why are you here...talking to a maid like me?"
"You're the only one around, that's why"
Rin narrowed her eyebrows at him. She figured out he was the younger brother. They were always the spoiled ones. Making another judgment in her mind she decided that Sesshomuru was also much nicer.
"I'll get to the point," He fidgeted with his hands before pulling out a golden dime out from his kimono. "I give you this, and you wont tell anyone what I'm about to tell you"
She stared at the golden dime, no thief would give up that offer, she reached out and snatched the dime out of his palm swiftly...she had only done the same thing with smugglers, other thieves and kidnappers a dozen or more so times.
"Listen to me carefully, I want you to go to my brothers room and snatch his sword Tokijin" His words were barely a whisper and Rin had to lean in to hear them.
Rin furrowed her eyebrows at his demand. That would be easy to do, she was a professional at it anyway, but a question tugged her mind "Why don't you ask him for it?"
"You ask a lot of questions for a slave here don't you?"
Rin narrowed her eyes at him at that comment "A maid, if I may correct you"
"Please don't..." He poked a finger on her shoulder "I don't have to explain myself to you, so do what I say or else I am going to through you out of the castle"
Rin looked down to the floor, she was trapped here...why the heck would he want his brothers sword?
Oh well, looks like she had no choice here, one question remained unasked here, she looked up and stared him in the eye "How would I know it's his sword?"
He raised his eyebrows at the question "So you accept?" he was more prepared for her to start crying or to immediately say no to his request, all in all, he hadn't been quite ready for her to say yes so easily, well, the castle did allow maids will all different personalities to work here.
"The sword been built from the fang of a demon named Goshinki, it has an evil aura, and whoever's not worthy of holding it, the aura will escape the sword. So if you go near it and you sense and evil aura escaping it, wear this..."
He threw her a mask which she caught gracefully "...take it and bring it to me"
She threw back the mask at him "I don't need it, I'll do your task, and how much time do I have?"
"I'll give you exactly a week," He started to leave "Not a word about this...to anyone!"
She nodded "Fine, but if you spread a bad word about me, you'll be sorry"
He smirked "You're not really a maid are you?"
"Do I make it sound that obvious?" She rolled her eyes and turned around and continued cleaning the ladder. Hearing a noise behind her she turned around and noticed that Inu-Yasha had left.
She shrugged and continued to wipe the dust off of the ladder. This was going to be one heck of an order.
________________________
{The plot thickens...}
Yay!! Chapter Finished!!!
*sighs and looks at the chapter briefly*
I see I've been putting the story a little on the 'dramatic' side so to anyone who wants to know, the next chapter wont have any clues to the secret – that means, no sad moments or confusing moments! All happy happy happy!!!
Oh – and I've also noticed that the story is having SOOO much secrets...
Just to let you know, you'll figure out why Inu-Yasha needs the sword in the next chapter...
Okay...so until the next chapter!
Disclaimer: I haven't said this for a while...I don't own Inu-Yasha – heck, I live under a bridge and sneak into my neighbor's basement and write my fan fiction there.
Note: I did mention in chapter Nine there will be Inu-Yasha and Kagome fluff didn't I? I never mentioned when ...
I passed my 100 reviews mark, Yay! -^.^-
Wow – so many of you guessed it was Naraku. I guess I'm not good at hiding the identities of characters in the story -_-
Ahem – and one more thing...why don't u tell me how hard it is to try to write chapters while trying to control yourself from blurting the whole secret out? Believe me- This chapter was the hardest so far...
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Chapter Eleven
Misery of Memories
_____________
Inu-Yasha chewed on his apple thoughtfully. He was back in his secret, private little room and was currently thinking up more comebacks he could hit Kagome with. He snickered; boy...it was fun teasing her.
He sighed and sat down on his bean bag chair, starting to feel a little drowsy, he yawned. He was feeling a little tired, maybe it was time for a nap? He nodded to himself, a little nap wouldn't hurt.
He got off his bean bag chair and walked over to the right side of the room; he shifted aside the cardboard boxes and pulled out a couple of blankets which were hidden behind the box. He set them down beside the wall and lay down on them. He sighed...he'll think up of nasty comments to say to Kagome later...right now, it was time for a nap, he didn't have enough sleep the last few days and a little nap didn't sound so bad.
He lay down on the blankets and strained his forehead. It wasn't like he was forgetting anything.
He closed his eyes but jerked them wide open immediately, he shifted uncomfortably.
It felt like someone needed protection in the castle, he shrugged the feeling off immediately.
He closed his eyes again but opened them and sat up straight. Hoping it was his imagination he shook is head...it felt as if a dark aura had entered the castle – not any dark aura, but the same one five years ago...
He grabbed another blanket and placed it over his face, forcing himself to just fall asleep as the memories returned to his mind.
__________________
Kagome walked angrily through the library, she had thought of a well planned comeback to hit Inu-Yasha with. She had looked in every corner of the castle, hoping to teach him his lesson but he was no where to be seen...so now she was going for her last desperate attempt to find him and was directed straight to his secret hideout.
She scoffed, why didn't she just tell the whole world that he hid there? A dozen people in the castle were searching for him and she had kept her mouth shut, she sighed...she knew better than to backbite on him like that.
She had taught herself a very valuable lesson. If you want to get someone back, do it on their faces because that hurts the most...backbiting is worthless, things could turn uglier by that...
She reached the dimly lit left wing of the library and headed straight for the candle. It was there...bent as usual. She rushed up to it and seized it. She pulled it up straight and waited impatiently for the door to open.
As the cement started to slide against each other she started to rephrase everything she had planned to say to Inu-Yasha in her head.
"Use simple words so he'll understand..." She nodded "...But be harsh all the same"
As the little tunnel appeared she practically pounced into it. She started to crawl with a little difficulty in the tunnel – it wasn't her fault – this was only her second time going through.
As she reached the end she jumped out and skimmed the contents of the room quickly. Inu-Yasha didn't seem to be here. She sighed, no fair...she had thought up of –
She stopped immediately as she spotted a sleeping hanyou beside the right side of the room. She rolled her eyes.
Great – he was sleeping.
She smiled slyly. Better wake him up then.
She walked up to him and crouched down – ready to scream in his ear. Just as she was leaning down a whisper caught her ear.
"Please stop..."
'Huh?' She leaned back and looked at Inu-Yasha and her eyebrows rose up slowly, a little in shock and surprise.
His face was filled with worry and depression. Kagome gasped, she had only seen one person like this – she had seen herself. Just after Kikyou's major priority change, Kagome had nightmares of death and had woken up crying.
She turned her attention back to Inu-Yasha.
He was breathing raggedly and was clutching onto his blankets with a death grip. His face was contorted, nothing like the prankster face he had put on earlier, actually, nothing like she had seen been before.
He seemed to be murmuring something but Kagome could barely catch any words, let alone figure out what he was saying.
He was having a nightmare for sure, but what nightmare could affect him in this way?
Kagome knew best that waking him up was the wisest thing to do... nightmares could change someone's life forever... it changed hers for sure.
Ever since she started to get nightmares about Kikyou, death and blood, she noticed she had become more aware of her surroundings. She knew she wasn't her cheery self she was at the age of 13, but she couldn't do anything but live with it.
Nobody could understand.
Well, at least nobody she knew.
She placed a hand on his shoulder and shook gently, all plans of comeback vanishing into thin air. "Wake up," She placed another hand on his forehead, to calm him down a little. Damn...his forehead was hot.
Inu-Yasha didn't open his eyes; instead it seemed as if he was choking on something that seemed like...tears?
Kagome's own face filled with worry. She had to wake him up now.
"It's just a nightmare, wake up!" she moved her hand from his forehead to his cheek and stroked it gently. If he wasn't going to wake up, she had to comfort him somehow. He shuddered at her touch but his breathing just got even more ragged.
He seemed to be suffering.
"Inu-Yasha!"
She shrugged him violently but he didn't wake up from his dream. His eyes were shut tight, his face was strained and he had started to sweat. Kagome looked at him worriedly, there had to be some way to comfort him...
Kagome lowered her hand from his shoulder and pulled his hand away from the blanket. He didn't resist, but instead, he eased his hand into hers. Her fragile hands gripped his rough, strong hand and squeezed them.
He squeezed back, much harder than Kagome had. She winced as she hoped her bones wouldn't break.
She drove her attention back at Inu-Yasha. He had seemed to calm down a little. His face wasn't contorted anymore, but actually looked – relieved?
Kagome sighed as she saw him loosen his un-held hand grip on the blanket. She blinked at him, there was one thing that she could do to make sure he wasn't still having the nightmare...
She leaned down at placed her ear on top of his chest and closed all sounds from around her to wait patiently for his...
She sighed contently. There it was - his heartbeat. It was still a little fast and uneven but it seemed to be recovering quickly. "You scared me..." She smiled inwardly as she listened peacefully to his heartbeat.
It seemed like a lullaby to her ears, she yawned. She shook her head; this wasn't the time to sleep. If she fell asleep now...well – she didn't want to be asleep on top of him when he woke up.
She lifted her head from his chest and leaned back, forgetting that her hand was still intertwined with his. As she got up she was jerked back down as his hand refused to let go.
She blushed deeply as she looked at her hand. He was holding on to her with a death grip – gentle but as tight as a drowning man would hold on to his only chance of living. She slowly moved her other hand and tried to pry his hand off hers but she succeeded with no success.
She sighed; she would have to wait until he woke up. Looking for something she could occupy herself with she spotted a book on the other side of the room, she sighed at her misfortune.
She yawned.
Damnit, if he didn't wake up soon, she would fall asleep.
.~x.~x.~.x.~.x~.x~.
Kagome strained as she tried to force her eyes to remain open. It had been an hour since she had decided to wait till he woke up and now she was damn right sleepy.
She yawned again, this time closing her eyes in the process. She opened her eyes immediately as she thought of all the possibilities that could happen due to that. She had lost feeling of her right hand a long time ago because of his grip on her hand – he had probably stopped all the blood circulation there and now the numbness was starting to creep up to her arm.
She moaned silently as her head started to feel heavy. She spotted the soft plush carpet underneath her; it looked so comfortable right now...
She rested her head on the carpet, a good distance away from Inu-Yasha, as much distance she could get. She sighed as she felt her head finally get some rest. Her neck had started to hurt from sitting up so long, and rest never seemed like such a good idea as it seemed right now.
She looked at Inu-Yasha; he looked innocent and peaceful, just like anyone would look while they fall asleep. She chuckled as she saw his hears twitch as they would when someone tried to pet them.
Didn't anyone notice how cute his ears were? She instantly shook the thought out of her head...where the heck did that come from?
She closed her eyes, it wouldn't hurt to just rest her eyes a little, and she would just open them up right now...
Kagome rolled onto her stomach as she tumbled into a deep sleep.
.~x.~x.~.x.~.x~.x~.
Inu-Yasha opened his eyes heavily. He blinked as he saw nothing but darkness. He groaned, the candles but have blown out, then he shrugged, since when had it become dark?
He sighed and swatted his free hand on his forehead, not even noticing the sleeping girl next to him. He had slept for this long? He was only supposed to have a nap.
He grabbed a candle beside him – not even paying attention to what he was holding onto with his other hand. He lit it with a match and then placed it on his left side.
As he did so, only was it then when he noticed a sleeping figure beside him.
Kagome?
What the heck was she doing here?
He raised a confused eyebrow at the girl who was currently sleeping on her stomach. One arms under her stomach and the other...
His eyes widened in surprise as he saw his own hand intertwined with hers, his nightmare rushed up to him in shock...damnit, he didn't have to get so emotional every time he dreamt about it.
Remembering that he was holding onto Kagome he let go immediately and eyed her hand. It had turned red and there were claw marks evident on her hand too. He rolled his eyes, damnit...did she have to come in the middle of everything?
He ignored the silent feeling in his stomach that was thanking her that she had arrived just in time.
He got up from his blankets and lit the other candles in the room, giving the room a fiery glow.
After lighting the last candle he left the room angrily.
He had left his guard down.
If she had heard what he was saying in his dreams she would have figured out everything. He growled.
She must NOT get included in this.
If she had figured out what he had said, her life would have been in danger. He sighed and shook his head. Too many lives had been taken due to him; he couldn't put her life in danger as well.
Inu-Yasha obviously didn't know how behind he was in all of this.
______________________
Sango was in Kagome's room. She had searched for Kagome in the whole castle but hadn't found her, now she was painting her dry clay pot and was waiting patiently for Kagome to come back.
She dipped her brush into the wet blue paint and painted the rim of the clay pot carefully.
She was almost done painting the rim of the pot when a sleepy Kagome walked into the room.
"Looks like you've been sleeping" Sango commented as she lay down her brush and eyed her clay pot. So far she had only painted the rim, but who doesn't like to admire their artwork?
"Yeah, I was" She rubbed her eyes and blinked at Sango, as if she was just processing what she was doing here.
Sango raised an eyebrow at her "Sleeping somewhere other than your room?"
Kagome, who was now fully awake, sat beside Sango "I just fell asleep...in the forest" A little white lie, but she couldn't possible say 'I fell asleep with Inu-Yasha in a secret room only Inu-Yasha and I know about' She flinched, how awkward that sounds...
"Oh, okay" She dipped a new paintbrush into the red paint and started to paint stripes of red on the clay pot.
"That looks nice" Kagome eyed her clay pot. Sango smiled.
"Thanks" She turned her direction back to the pot. Kagome sighed, if Sango was going to do this the whole time she was going to get pretty bored.
"Hey, Sango? I have to go check on something. I'll see you in a while okay?"
Sango nodded, not taking her eyes of her clay pot. Kagome stepped out of the room and ran down the corridor. She had to ask someone something...someone who knew Inu-Yasha very well.
After climbing down two flights of stairs she ended up standing in front of Miroku's door. She knocked politely on his door.
"C'mon in" came his reply.
Kagome opened his door and stepped inside his room. Miroku seemed confused by her appearance at his room but otherwise than that he didn't seem to mind at all. She walked over to him and sat down beside him on the bed.
"Miroku? May I ask you something...and you promise to answer truthfully?" She asked turning her gaze towards Miroku.
"It depends, ask the question" He shifted his position so he was sitting cross-legged on the bed and had his arms crossed against his chest.
"Has Inu-Yasha had nightmares before which turned out to make him ... suffer?"
Miroku seemed surprised at the question. "Why do you ask?"
Kagome shifted uncomfortably, she couldn't possibly tell him about the secret room, could she? She mentally decided against it, Inu-Yasha would kill her if she did. "Promise not to tell?"
"I swear" He placed a hand on his heart. Kagome smiled.
"I went into his room and he was sleeping...he was having a nightmare for sure, and you see..."
"He was acting sort – of when someone is threatening you?"
Kagome nodded "Yeah," She shifted uncomfortably, she didn't want to go into details about what had happened, if this wasn't a big deal – she didn't want to make a fool of herself. "Did anything happen like that before?"
Miroku placed a hand on Kagome's shoulder, making her feel like a child "Kagome, listen to me...when he's having nightmares, don't go near him...let him handle this on his own"
Kagome stared at him in shock, handle what on his own? Handle his nightmares? So he meant that they happened all the time? But that meant...he was having nightmares specifically about something...right?
Kagome shook his head "What do you mean? You should have seen his face –." She was cut of Miroku sighed.
"You don't understand, listen Kagome, I'm warning you – don't remind Inu- Yasha of this, if you do, run for your life..."
Kagome didn't know if he was joking or telling the truth, his voice was as blank as paper and she could only hint a scent of concern in it. "Don't bother him with it; he's probably used to it"
Kagome stared at him in shock... "You mean he has nightmares every night?" she gasped
Miroku sighed and shook his head "Kagome, if only you could understand," He sighed again, "the least you can do is be a trusty friend, understand?"
Kagome nodded; confused by mostly everything they had talked about.
Miroku had purposely avoided answering the question she had previously asked about Inu-Yasha having nightmares every night...if he didn't then Miroku would have told her that.
So it meant Inu-Yasha suffered through this every night? Even she hadn't taken her loss so hard...what had happened to him that causes him so much pain?
And now Miroku was telling her to be a trusty friend?
So, Inu-Yasha needed some sort of support? Kagome pondered on her thoughts for a while before Miroku lifted his hand off her shoulder and looked at her sympathetically. "Don't worry, I bet Inu-Yasha will tell you sooner or later"
Kagome scoffed...yeah right, she knew better than to get her hopes up. Knowing she wasn't going to get anything else out of Miroku, she got up and left the room in silence.
_____________________
Kagome stepped out of Miroku's room, confused about the advice Miroku had given her. God...Kagome was starting to think the whole family secret was mainly about him.
She shook her head. If they didn't want her to know, she shouldn't try to stick her nose in it...she just wanted to make it clear that if they wanted a shoulder to cry on she was right here.
Right here...
That she wasn't going anywhere...
She slumped her shoulders, damnit, she wanted to know what the heck was going on like hell, and everything was turning so darn suspicious that it felt unfair that she couldn't know what was going on.
She was barely noticing where she was going when she bumped into a strong muscular chest. She 'oomphed'and started to fall backwards when a pair of equally strong arms gripped her waist and saved her from the fall.
She blinked and at once saw a string of silver her. At once knowing it was Inu-Yasha she remembered her comeback she had planned up in her mind. Feeling his strong hands on her waist and his sharp claws she took in deep breath and screamed.
He brought her up immediately and she didn't even bother looking at him before releasing everything she had stored up inside of her for him.
"You know, you think that you can insult everybody you come by, but you know, the only person you should be insulting is yourself, because you're a dumb, stupid, loser!" She steamed everything out of her mouth, she was just about to start again when a cough interrupted her.
She looked up and her eyes widened in shock. Damnit...couldn't she have looked up earlier?
"Oh...sorry...I thought you were Inu-Yasha..."
Sesshomuru blinked "I thought so..." he looked down at the floor where he had dropped some books because he had chosen to save Kagome's fall instead. Kagome instantly crouched down and started to pick up his books.
"I seriously didn't mean to say all those things" She murmured to him as she started to stack the books on her left arm.
He shrugged casually and crouched down to help Kagome with the books. As she was picking up the last book the title caught her attention.
"Reviving the Swords?" She asked him as she stood up and handed him the books.
He nodded "I'm trying to find two swords my mother hid, Tetsusaiga and Tensaiga"
Kagome nodded "But, why not just ask her where she hid them?"
Sesshomuru froze at this comment, and it took a while before he answered her question "She... uh...doesn't like to be asked questions"
Kagome raised an eyebrow at his reply - that was weird, why the sudden tense build up? After an awkward moment of silence, he shrugged nonchalantly and gave an excuse of 'having to start his research' and left Kagome with her thoughts once again.
________________________
Rin swept the dust off the shelf in the library. Humming a song to herself, she put down her dirty cloth and picked up a new one. It was only half bad being a maid here...she was considering the thought of actually staying here, but, as thoughts came to mind, she didn't belong here after all.
She was in the middle of cleaning the ladder when someone tapped her shoulder.
She turned around and came face to face with Inu-Yasha.
"No humming in the castle, you're fired" He said to her, looking around the library, acting as if she wasn't here anymore.
"Excuse me?" She asked, partially not believing his injustice.
He looked at her again and opened his eyes wide in surprise "You haven't gone yet?"
She rolled her eyes "No body told me that was forbidden, so you cant through me out"
"Fair enough," He sighed and looked around, and motioned Rin to stay where she was. He ran out of the aisle they were standing in and came back in a minute.
Rin looked at him suspiciously "What do you want?"
He looked back at her from where he was standing and walked a step towards her, Rin stepped back as she thought he was invading personal space.
He rolled his eyes lowered his tone to a whisper "...this is between you – and me, understand?"
"Who are you?"
He sighed, starting to feel annoyed with her. "Inu-Yasha" He motioned annoyingly with his hands, giving Rin the idea that he was trying to make it sound like it was obvious.
She looked at him, still confused. Inu-Yasha raised an eyebrow at her; she was definitely new to the castle. "I'm the prince of the kingdom!"
She strained her forehead as she thought of this. "I thought Sesshomuru was the prince of the castle"
He sighed at her "Its Lord Sesshomuru for you," He looked around to make sure no one was listening "I'm his brother"
She nodded understandingly "So why are you here...talking to a maid like me?"
"You're the only one around, that's why"
Rin narrowed her eyebrows at him. She figured out he was the younger brother. They were always the spoiled ones. Making another judgment in her mind she decided that Sesshomuru was also much nicer.
"I'll get to the point," He fidgeted with his hands before pulling out a golden dime out from his kimono. "I give you this, and you wont tell anyone what I'm about to tell you"
She stared at the golden dime, no thief would give up that offer, she reached out and snatched the dime out of his palm swiftly...she had only done the same thing with smugglers, other thieves and kidnappers a dozen or more so times.
"Listen to me carefully, I want you to go to my brothers room and snatch his sword Tokijin" His words were barely a whisper and Rin had to lean in to hear them.
Rin furrowed her eyebrows at his demand. That would be easy to do, she was a professional at it anyway, but a question tugged her mind "Why don't you ask him for it?"
"You ask a lot of questions for a slave here don't you?"
Rin narrowed her eyes at him at that comment "A maid, if I may correct you"
"Please don't..." He poked a finger on her shoulder "I don't have to explain myself to you, so do what I say or else I am going to through you out of the castle"
Rin looked down to the floor, she was trapped here...why the heck would he want his brothers sword?
Oh well, looks like she had no choice here, one question remained unasked here, she looked up and stared him in the eye "How would I know it's his sword?"
He raised his eyebrows at the question "So you accept?" he was more prepared for her to start crying or to immediately say no to his request, all in all, he hadn't been quite ready for her to say yes so easily, well, the castle did allow maids will all different personalities to work here.
"The sword been built from the fang of a demon named Goshinki, it has an evil aura, and whoever's not worthy of holding it, the aura will escape the sword. So if you go near it and you sense and evil aura escaping it, wear this..."
He threw her a mask which she caught gracefully "...take it and bring it to me"
She threw back the mask at him "I don't need it, I'll do your task, and how much time do I have?"
"I'll give you exactly a week," He started to leave "Not a word about this...to anyone!"
She nodded "Fine, but if you spread a bad word about me, you'll be sorry"
He smirked "You're not really a maid are you?"
"Do I make it sound that obvious?" She rolled her eyes and turned around and continued cleaning the ladder. Hearing a noise behind her she turned around and noticed that Inu-Yasha had left.
She shrugged and continued to wipe the dust off of the ladder. This was going to be one heck of an order.
________________________
{The plot thickens...}
Yay!! Chapter Finished!!!
*sighs and looks at the chapter briefly*
I see I've been putting the story a little on the 'dramatic' side so to anyone who wants to know, the next chapter wont have any clues to the secret – that means, no sad moments or confusing moments! All happy happy happy!!!
Oh – and I've also noticed that the story is having SOOO much secrets...
Just to let you know, you'll figure out why Inu-Yasha needs the sword in the next chapter...
Okay...so until the next chapter!