For all you guys who worried about Kagome, here you go. Like I said, she's not dead, but she's never going to be the same.
I don't own Inuyasha
Chap: Hojou's last request
Later that day, night, actually, Inuyasha sat in his branch of the tree, watching over Kagome. She had yet to say one word to anyone. All of them were worried sick about her, but no one really knew what to do. Grandpa was currently in the shrine, saying prayers for the dead. Mama was downstairs in the basement, looking for another one of her daughter's uniforms. The one she'd worn today was beyond saving. Souta was with his mother, taking comfort in her prescense.
Kagome was in her room, sitting curled on her bed. Her back was to the head board, and her head rested on her knees. After the bath her mother had given her, she'd changed into some clothes her mom called pajamas. Then she'd walked woodenly to her room, locked the door, and simply sat there.
She'd been like this for a couple of days now. He'd tried to come and talk to her before, but the window had been shut, with the curtains drawn. Their own little signal that she was either still mad at him, or didn't want to talk, or was studying, usually. But now it just cut him off from her totally, and he could barely stand it.
He'd even tried coming through the door of her room, but her mother hadn't let him. She'd just given him a sad and worried look, and told him to be patient. Kagome would talk when she was ready to. He'd just nodded and gone back to watching from his branch of the Goshinboku.
Inuyasha was more worried about her silence than anything else. She wasn't crying at all. Anytime something like this happened in the past, when they walked through villages that were attacked by demons or raided by armies, he knew where she'd be later on. When the group would make camp, after bathing or making dinner, and everyone would be asleep, Kagome would get up from her sleeping bag. He would follow her every time. Always, she'd try and find a place where the others wouldn't hear her, and speak prayers for the dead. And always, she'd cry for them. Her tears always fell for those who'd died. And he would watch over her, helping her find her way back in the dark, never saying a word about her ritual.
Yet now, her eyes were dry. And that awful, almost heart-broken look, had yet to leave her face. The hanyou had no idea what to make of it. Should he try to talk to her? But what the hell could he say? Without sounding like an insensitive prick, of course. Otherwise he'd be responsible for the Inuyasha-shaped hole in the floor of her room.
From what Souta had said, this shooting thing was all about a break in trust. So Kagome had been betrayed. That much he could understand. Someone you thought you knew and trusted, trying to kill you, ah, he was all too familiar with that. But her reaction still puzzled him. If something like that had happened, Kagome would be trying to make it right, to understand why they would do a thing like that. This seemed like something else, at least to him.
Sudden movement had his ears pricking up. Kagome had gotten up, and was opening the window. She simply leaned out it, looking up at him. He nodded. She backed up, going back on the bed, as he leaped out and onto the window-ledge. Slowly, he stepped into her room, almost afraid to make any sudden motion. She looked like a deer about to run, even though she was sitting still.
"You can come here, if you want."
He nodded, mentally wincing at her voice. It was so hoarse and raspy. "Want me to get you a drink of water?"
She shook her head no. Inuyasha mentally winced at the sight of her. She looked very pale, and even thought her mother had been pleading with her to eat something, she'd had no appetite. It showed in her face. The girl looked haggard, like she'd had either no sleep, or too many nightmares.
He came over and sat to the side of her, completely at a loss as to what to say. But when Kagome started to speak, he wished he had thought of anything other than what they were about to talk about.
"Hojou's dead."
He started, then frowned in slight confusion. "Who? Oh, you mean that guy that keeps bringing you stuff, the wu—oh. Killed by the shooter?"
"By Eiji. I had a class with him. He sat two seats behind me."
Inuyasha glared into space, picturing this Eiji guy anywhere near Kagome. "Fucking—"
"He was just firing randomly." He stopped at her blank tone. "He hit Mitsu and Tomo, but he didn't even notice. He just kept shooting. And then he looked at me." Kagome shivered. "He looked at me, and I know he didn't even really see me, didn't see a person there at all. He just kept shooting at part of the wall."
"Kagome"---he stopped. What could he say? To randomly destroy life and not care, that sounded too much like his demon half.
"Hojou saved me."
"Saved you? How?"
"He jumped in front of me. He took the bullets meant for me."
Inuyasha mentally nominated Hojou for sainthood.
"I don't think Eiji expected that. He stopped shooting and looked at me. And I told him that Hojou's mom would be so sad that her son was killed. He kept screaming that nobody would care about that, so I told him about Hojou's sister, and how she'd be sad too. That when he pointed the gun right at my head." She pointed to her forehead. "He told me to shut up, so I kept talking."
Inuyasha was breathing hard, near to shaking. Kagome was driving home the point that she had almost been killed. And he hadn't been there to protect her.
"I told him that no matter what, someone always cares, about who lives and dies, someone would always be sad. And then he pointed the gun at his own head and shot himself." She paused, taking short breaths to try and keep talking. A part of her knew that she had to get it out, all of it, now, or some part of her would be eaten away by this. "I should probably ask Miroku to say a prayer for his soul."
"Kagome...."
She went on, a tear trickling down her face. "Hojou, he was still in my arms. He'd fallen, so I tried to catch him, and then I saw all this blood." She clenched her eyes shut. "I tried to help him, slow the bleeding, but nothing worked Inuyasha, I tried and I still couldn't"---
Inuyasha scooted over to take hold of her shoulders, lifting her chin to look him in the eyes. "You tried, and since I know you, if nothing worked, then there was nothing you could have done. You probably comforted him. I'll bet you made him happy, being there with him."
She shook her head. "No, I didn't."
"Oi. Don't sell yourself short, you always make me feel better when I'm"---
"I was hurting him."
Inuyasha frowned in confusion. "What?"
"I was trying to stop the bleeding, and he looked up at me. He asked me not to cry, and I tried not to. Then he got this sad look on his face." She looked him in the eyes. "He asked me who I loved. I asked why he asked. And he said"—(gasp)—"said that even though—he was in my arms right now, I was thinking of someone else." More tears had begun to fall, her breath coming in hiccups. Inuyasha reacted without thinking and pulled her into his arms, anything to make her stop crying.
"And the worse part is, he was right! I was thinking of someone else!"
"Kagome," Inuyasha said, at a loss. He had no idea what to say.
"I was thinking of you."
He froze, then pulled back to look at her. "What?"
"I was thinking of you, how I'd almost never got to see you again, and what I would tell you when I saw you. I was thinking of your face and your smile, and trying to keep from crying by thinking about you, and he knew it. I think he could see it in my face, that even though he'd died for me, I was thinking about another guy, right then.
"He said, oh, gods, he was coughing when he said it, he was choking on his own blood. He said that you always think of the one you love when you need them the most. And he wished"—(sob, gasp)—"he wished for me to be happy with the man I loved. And then he died! Oh, gods, Inuyasha!" She finally let go of all her tears, pulling herself further into the arms of the man she loved.
(&&%&$
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