Until You Were Gone
Chapter 2:
Her tears stopped and she pulled herself away slowly.
"Gomen ne." She whispered, a little scared by the look he was giving her. And then she jumped. Yellow eyes. Two of them, staring back at her. But they weren't Inuyasha's, they were Yuki's.
"Something wrong?" He asked suspiciously.
"You're eyes..... They're golden." She whispered.
"Yeah..... I know it's weird but it's the way I was born." He explained, confused as to why she was SO surprised all of the sudden.
"His eyes were golden." She whispered. "Are you him?"
"Him? You mean Inuyasha? I don't think so....."
"Have you ever met anyone else with golden eyes?" Kagome was completely serious now.
"No, only my older brother."
"You must be him, just like I am Kikyo....." And now that Kagome really looked, she could see the same face shape, same smile that she knew all to well. "Never mind....."
"Wanna go do something to get your mind off him?" Yuki said, getting up and giving Kagome a strong arm.
'Are you giving me a second chance?' Kagome awed at the towering tree above them. 'Did you send him back to me so that I could try again?'
"Sure." She said, smiling for the first time since Inuyasha's clawed hand had intercepted her delicate face.
"Here we are." Yuki said, stopping his moped and helping Kagome off the back.
Gently sloping hills faded into blue, grasses swayed lethargically and tall trees littered the fields. Below, rice paddies dotted the slope.
Mouth open in awe, Kagome jumped over an irrigation ditch onto the grassy rise, followed closely by Yuki. Scrambling up onto a large boulder, Kagome looked down upon the valley. It was unlike anything she had seen in her time. It reminded her of the feudal era exactly. Yuki climbed up next to her and looked down upon the river flowing happily far down in the valley.
"I used to come here when I was a kid. I built forts and stuff like that, I'll show you a few." He offered.
"This is much better then school." Kagome said, smiling.
Surprised by her sudden change in mood, Yuki was entranced by her smile. He realized he had never really seen her smile before today. 'Am I making her smile?' He blushed.
"You're it!" Kagome yelled, tagging him and jumping off the rock lightly. He was caught off guard but recovered quickly and bounded off the rock in close pursuit of her.
Running for dear life, Kagome giggled for all she was worth. Suddenly, Yuki pounced mysteriously like Inuyasha, flattening Kagome to the soft grass.
"You're it." He said, gazing down at her from his position in which his body covered her.
The tall grasses swayed above their heads in anticipation.
"You win, and you get to pick the prize." Kagome whispered.
"I already know what I want." Yuki said.
He leaned down so that his lips were only a centimeter apart, his eyes asking permission. He seemed to find what he wanted and his lips met hers. Her breath came in small gasps, her tongue asking for more.
'Why the hell am I kissing her?' Yuki thought helplessly, 'I only just met her, so why does it still feel right?'
Kagome looked up into the yellow eyes she wanted so much to forget, and yet wanted too much to remember.
"S- sorry." Yuki whispered, his words gently nudging her hair.
He removed himself from his prevalent position on top of Kagome, sitting cross-legged next to her. "So... what's your last name?"
Kagome stifled a laugh and replied. He tasted the name, separate and together until he seemed satisfied. "Yuki Hateyama, at your service." He reached over to shake her hand and took the offer.
"Thanks for the kiss, it helped." Kagome's cheeks were subtlety stained pink.
"You're it!" He prodded her playfully and jogged off. Kagome leaped up and sprinted after him, easily overtaking his purposely-slow speed. He dramatically accepted defeat.
Inuyasha blinked. No. NO. There was no way he could go back. Absolutely no way.
Yet he knew he had to.
He had to.
Godammit, Miroku didn't help things at all either. Why did the monk have to be so logical?
A few more days.
Torpedoes from the ominous clouds struck the ground in splashes. Soon the rocks turned dark with moisture.
"#, Rain." Yuki cursed and took Kagome's hand and began to sprint towards the nearest tree.
Kagome wiggled out of his grasp and stopped, smiling and tilting her head up to catch the large drops on her face. Her clothing was already soaked.
Yuki watched her from the shelter of the tree and she smirked at him, spinning in circles.
"You're going to catch a cold."
"And you're missing a free shower." Kagome giggled and pulled him out into the storm.
Submitting, he sat atop a lo, flat rock and blinked back raindrops that threatened his vision. He was amused by the spinning and dancing of the seemingly cured girl in front of him.
Not able to dance anymore, Kagome collapsed onto her knees and her smile slowly faded. To think a couple hours ago, her life was unimportant, and here she was living it to it's fullest. She could tell the sky was crying for her. Whether in sadness and happiness she didn't know.
The rain was letting up slightly, worst behind. Yuki got to his feet slowly and led Kagome under the tree again. This time, she didn't pull away.
A few hours aren't much at all, and Yuki knew that. However, that didn't stop him from letting the shivering girl sit in his lap. She could be sobbing for all he knew, the emotion thing never clicked with him. When he really began to sorry was when she suddenly stopped. Just stopped and stared straight ahead as if she was seeing something else, somewhere else.
"He's coming."
Such a statement could puzzle one. First of all, who's coming, second, how did she know?
Inuyasha was the only logical guess for "He," and how the hell Kagome guessed he was coming he didn't know and never would.
"Now?"
"Hai." Kagome shivered and pressed herself against his chest.
"KAGOME?!" His miffed voice was audible for miles, she was sure.
A red figure appeared at their right and upon spotting them, stopped dead.
"What have you done to Kagome?" Inuyasha's voice was an angry growl.
"This is Inuyasha?" Yuki asked Kagome quietly.
Kagome only nodded into him, not daring to turn around.
"Let go of her or you're gonna have a talk with my sword." Inuyasha asserted confidently.
"Only if Kagome wants me to." Yuki pulled both of them up, still maintaining a protective hold on her.
Kagome's head promptly shook her head "no" and Yuki shrugged his shoulders.
"My question for you is;" Yuki paused to ponder his words,
"What have YOU done to Kagome?"
"Goddammit, I only said a couple of words, and I'm here to apologize. And why the fuck should you care, stupid human."
As to why being human would be an insult, Yuki wasn't sure. The intention was what bothered him though.
Kagome turned around to face the eared fear.
"Inuyasha. You knew." She glared. "You knew I loved you. So why the hell are you trying to bring me back after saying something like that to me. What are you thinking inside that marble sized brain of yours?! SURELY there's enough sense in there to know you... you fucked up this time."
Inuyasha promptly slammed into the ground, harder then he ever had due to her angry intent. Yuki still looked on in utter confusion, though never letting go.
"Kagome... I just wanted to apologize... I didn't mean." Inuyasha stumbled over unrehearsed words.
"Inuyasha, I want you to go sit in the branches of the goshimboku and think about what you said to me. I don't want to see you again until you come back knowing why what you said hurt me so much, and made me so empty."
Inuyasha couldn't take it anymore, that other stupid human holding on to her like he was the only thing keeping her here, like she was HIS.
The whole thing annoyed him. Just flat out annoyed him. Something else too though. Something deeper that made his heart sink. Regret for those words. Dread that... that HUMAN could take Kagome from him. The way she trusted that guy made him sick. The way she clung to him and buried her face in his chest. The way she glared at him like he was the enemy or something absurd like that.
So, he decided he'd take her up on her offer– only because he couldn't stand seeing her like this. He knew she'd be different next time he came. He just knew.
And so, without further delay, he bounded off, back towards the shrine and the great god-tree.
Kagome turned to Yuki and bowed in apology and thanks.
"I didn't mean to drag you into this... I'm so sorry..." her mind groped for words, coming up with nothing.
Yuki smiled. "You know I wanted to help."
Leaving Kagome with those words to be pondered, he made the decision to take her home, and so they rode off into the sunset, or as clearly as you can ride into something farther away then any human has ever been.
Hero of Love came into the night
Sick and tired of making things right
Devilish thoughts crept into his head
That night he slithered from bed to bed
Lover's hearts became heavy and dumb
And now confusion's the rule of thumb
And there you have a short concise poem, (Notice each line has 9 beats) foreshadowing the story a bit. I wrote it so you can accredit it to me when you quote it in the literary magazine I know you write for.
-kakite