Author The chibi hime
Author's notes: I know you're all probably ticked at me by this point, so figured I ought to get this in fast before I experiance a rather painful, mysterious death due to mad kagome followers...I'll have you know I'm in hiding, so don't even try it. um...I love you guys...; heh..Did I buy any time?
Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha or any related characters, so technically, it gives me no right to kill them off...life's just screwy that way.
Chapter Ten
The warmth..where had it gone? Only hours before her beautiful eyes had shone..but now, they were empty. Her eyelids had not once fluttered, not even when her shirt had become drenched with tears.
InuYasha kept her cold hand in his own, begging her to wake up. He refused to believe she was gone...it wasn't possible. All this time she had been that invincible girl that always got in the way....
His head bent low, he buried his nose in her shoulder...the only thing left was her sweet scent, even now it was different. For hours Miroku and Sango had stood by his side, watching sadly. Kirara had come up cautiously and nudged Shippou with her nose. Getting no reply she stared intently at the Kitsune..waiting for an answer that did not come.
"InuYasha..You should take miss.Kagome back to her time..one last time. Her parents deserve to hold the burying ceremony." Miroku finally whispered.
"No...I won't..she's not..she'll wake.." InuYasha stumbled on his words, knowing it was a lie. She was gone...and there was nothing he could do about it.
"Oh InuYasha" Sango placed a gentle comforting hand on his shoulder and kneeled down next to him. "She deserves a proper burial....You can't hold her back. As horrible as it may sound...she isn't coming back" Sango had to stop to prevent her own tears from escaping. Soon, her own sleeve was damp.
Being too much of a man to cry, Miroku avoided getting teary as much as he possibly could. "Come now InuYasha..."
InuYasha nodded lightly and gently reached down towards the lifeless teen. He slowly lifted her into the air and positioned her in his arms like a baby, letting her head rest on his arm.
As gently as Kagome had been lifted, Sango scooped the severely wounded, Shippou into her arms carefully
"W-where are we going master?" A small, green, annoying little man asked timidly, trying his best to keep up with his master's long strides. Receiving an annoyed, cold look from his master, he took the hint and looked away, in hopes of saving his own life.
The demon lord Sesshoumaru walked on, ignoring Jaken as much as he could.
"I don't think for a second it's true" Sesshoumaru replied boldly, after 10 minutes at least.
"hmm?" Jaken turned his head, unable to speak due to the lack of breath.
"You're hopeless Jaken" Sesshoumaru scoffed coldly. "My idiot brother..."
"InuYasha, sir? What about him..." Jaken had been working so hard to keep up with the angry seeming demon lord, that it had begun to be very hard to speak.
There was a long silence, in which neither Sesshoumaru or Jaken had said a word. The night around them seemed eerier that usual and the shadows of the tree's seemed to taunt them. If they had come any closer, they may have even attacked, it would seem.
A cool, bone chilling breeze played with the Sesshoumaru's neat bangs and to Jaken was enough to almost stop him in his tracks.
"Stop, Jaken. Your continuous teeth chattering has become much of a nuisance to me." Sesshoumaru glared down upon the frightened little man.
"Y-yes Sesshoumaru-sama!! I-I'm s-sorry...!" Jaken stumbled around for words like a fool, trying his very best afterwards to control the movement of any part of his body.
It seemed like it had been forever since they had last stopped to break, although this seemed to bother Rin, little. She hopped around nonchalantly behind them, doing wild twists and turns with her arms stretched out far at her sides as if she were flying. The happy expression on her face showed that she wasn't worried at all, in fact, she looked pretty content.
"Sesshoumaru-sama" A polite little voice piped up from behind them. "What is it Rin?" Sesshoumaru sighed, rolling his eyes as if it bothered him, although even he knew that it never did...for this, Jaken envyed Rin.
"How long til we get there?" Rin asked, for the first time showing the slightest sign of whininess.
"How long till we get where?" Jaken asked, annoyed.
"You mean you don't know?" She giggled.
"What!? Master!? You told that little nuisence before me!?" Jaken whined, thrusting the staff of heads into the air accusingly.
"Silence Jaken! I've had it up to here with you." Sesshoumaru threatened, grabbing hold of the staff of heads. Placing one bony finger at Jaken's throat with the other hand, so that just the tip of his claw touched his skin, he made a motion as if he were going to slit his throat.
"I'm sorry master! I'm sorry! please forgive me, I had no right to use such tone!!!" Jaken pleaded, sweat forming on his forehead.
With a small hint of a smile, Sesshoumaru released him and continued on if as the confrontation had never happened.
"Don't smile!" Jaken pleaded again, for even he knew, that his punishment later would be greater. "I've just shortened my life, again"
The darkness seemed even more dull than before, although slowly as the evil aura died the scenery actually began to become brighter, as it should be. The birds began to sing catchy little tunes, one by one, although no matter how merry they may have been, they all sounded the same..as if they were just taunting him for being sad. Telling him he had no right on such a glorious occasion. Tormenting him to the point that he wanted to shut them all up in a horrifying manner.
In his arms, cold and empty, was the only thing that made his life worth living. She was the ticket to his power, and one thing that made everything worth the while. It was hard to believe she was gone, although as time passed by, his heart gave in and he no longer denied it as he had done before, there was no point. She had died at the hands of a great evil that had taken Kikyou away only 50 years before..This made him want to bring Naraku back to life and kill him all over again, more brutally, as himself.
InuYasha sighed heavily, as a lone tear rolled down his cheek and dangled dangerously at the tip of his chin, just threatening to drop. Within an instant, the tear let go of it's lifeline and fell upon the face of the miko, continuing its journey down her cheek, finally stopping in her coal black hair.
A familiar scent tickled the hanyou's nose.
'Sesshoumaru'
More aggressively than he had meant to, InuYasha set Kagome down on the ground, safely by a tall oak tree. Sure enough, a figure in white stepped out of the shadows, accompanied by Jaken, Rin, and Ah-Un.
"Ah, dear brother, there you are." Sesshoumaru called monotonously from afar.
"What do you want?" InuYasha called back aggressively.
"I have come to prove the rumors wrong of course" Sesshoumaru replied arrogantly, as if this were completely obvious, and InuYasha was nothing but a mere idiot for not figuring this out.
"Rumors? Whatever went on here is none of your concern! go back to your pampered life and go away" InuYasha growled agitatedly
"So I take it you failed then?" Sesshoumaru mocked.
"No! I killed that bastard, and I could do it again if I wanted." InuYasha stated boldly, glaring into his brother's eyes.
"You seem more tense than usual, InuYasha...you did something stupid didn't you?" Sesshoumaru mocked again, rolling his eyes teasingly. He loved to mess with his brother's head, and InuYasha noticed. He watched Sesshoumaru's eyes travel disinterestedly to Kagome's lifeless body in the grass. He seemed to stare for a few moments, as if deciding on his own that she were really dead, before returning his gaze on InuYasha.
" I see" Sesshoumaru replied in a low, toneless voice.
The little girl at his side made a sad little noise as she eyed Kagome curiously, she looked as if she were itching to wander up and take a closer look, but as if she were tied to her master by an invisible chain, she resisted.
Embarrassed, InuYasha refused to make eye contact with his brother's ice cold stare, and instead stared at his chest. It was then when the thought occurred to him...
"Tenseiga..." InuYasha mumbled aloud.
Sesshoumaru seemed to see what he was getting at and rolled his eyes again. "I'm no savior, InuYasha. I'm not going to revive your woman."
InuYasha was just about to make an attempt to deny the 'woman' comment, when he was over taken but a sudden urge to rage out on his brother.
"you have to!" InuYasha challenged loudly, reaching out and grasping a hold of the front of Sesshoumaru's robes.
"Or what? Are you going to kill me, InuYasha?" He scoffed arrogantly in reply." I admire your determination, but my answer is still the same. grow up, dear brother." To close the conversation, Sesshoumaru turned sharply breaking InuYasha's grasp without any trouble at all.
Before he had time to think about what he was doing, InuYasha had sprung into the air towards his brother, who seemed to vanish before his eyes and reappear feet from him.
"Don't do this InuYasha, I'm in no mood for pointless games" The demon lord's expression seemed sharper, and more annoyed than usual. "There is nothing I find more annoying than a half breed who doesn't know the meaning of the word 'no' "
"Bring Kagome back, or you will regret ever finding me" Seconds later, a shimmer of light blinded Sesshoumaru for a split moment. When his sight was returned, InuYasha had Tetsusaiga raised above his head, bright beams of sun were bouncing off the high raised blade, creating a glare.
"Stop this now InuYasha!" Two familiar voices chorused from behind him. Miroku and sango had finally caught up to him. He had purposely stayed far ahead so that they wouldn't see his emotion. He had nothing to lose now.
Kirara lept in between InuYasha and Sesshoumaru, fur on end, yet her eyes were kind, and he knew her only intention was to help.
"You must stop this madness, InuYasha. We don't need anymore death on our hands." Miroku scolded, catching his breath.
"What are you saying, monk?" InuYasha scoffed
"Oh come on InuYasha...don't be that way" Sango soothed, cradling Shippou in her arms.
"Don't be what way!?" InuYasha erupted. "I see what your doing..your being nice to me because you pity me, aren't you!" InuYasha stabbed the ground impatiently with the blade of Tetsusaiga " I don't need your pity, so whatever you have to say..say it!"
"Alright." Miroku replied humbley
The horrified look on Sango's face pleaded Miroku to discontinue the conversation then and there, but the monk ignored her completely.
"You would easily be crushed by Sesshoumaru, and it would be a bad time to do that since we are all ready grieving over lady kagome...die on your own time." Miroku replied, in a professional tone, although his words didn't seem that way.
"Smart friends" Sesshoumaru added, amused.
Balancing Shippou on one arm, sango used her other hand to slap herself in the forehead, which was the only way to prevent herself from slapping Miroku, instead.
InuYasha opened his mouth to speak, but Sango interrupted him quickly.
"You" Sango growled, pointing an accusing finger at Miroku "Stop being an idiot, and get serious" (this seemed to offend Miroku only slightly)
"and you" Sango turned on her heel sharply to face the heated Hanyou "We all know in a fair battle you'd have as much chance to defeat your brother as he would, you.. but your too emotional now, and you wouldn't be doing it for the right reasons, nor would it get you what you wanted anyhow. so calm yourself."
"What reasons would be the right reasons?" Miroku commented flatly "He's doing it for love."
"Why change your tune so suddenly, monk?" She replied in the same tone "It's obvious he's doing it for love, but it's not right!"
"HEY! I AM NOT" InuYasha fumed, trying to get a word in. The two,however, completely ignored him as if he had never said it.
"Love's most important" Miroku argued
"What's so important about it, that would make doing something stupid alright?" Sango challenged.
"I don't know.." Miroku replied, fading off.
"You don't kn-" Sango was quickly silenced as Miroku grabbed a hold of her free hand and yanked her forwards, into an unsuspected (yet seemingly planned) kiss.
When the had both pulled away, Miroku watched sango's wide eyed expression. She was blushing, yet she hadn't smacked him...yet.
"Was that alright?" He smirked
"Well it was stupid...but.." Sango looked him in the eye suspiciously " Was it for love?"
"Feh,You two are going to make me puke" InuYasha scoffed , looking over his shoulder at Sesshoumaru who seemed to have an extremely similar look of disgust on his face.
Embarrassed, Sango quietly turned in the opposite direction, her cheeks could have matched InuYasha's robes almost perfectly.
"Well, this has been interesting" Sesshoumaru turned on his heel, making another attempt to take his leave.
"No you don't!" InuYasha growled, lunging towards Sesshoumaru again, missing him by inches.
"Why must you be such a pest, InuYasha?" He grumbled. "Why would you go through so much for a human girl" The emphasis on the 'human' was well known in this sentence.
InuYasha let his angry gaze drop as he looked at his own bare feet. He let a heavy sigh escape before replying.
" I can't live without Kagome...She may be just a human girl to you, but to me she is more than that...okay?" He mumbled to his feet.
"So you love her?" Sesshoumaru asked, a small teasing note in his voice.
InuYasha's cheeks lit up as soon as the words left the demon lord's mouth.
"Well, do you?" Sesshoumaru stared at the hanyou patiently. There was no reply from his embarrassed brother.
"Alright" Sesshoumaru turned on his heel once more, with little intention of leaving. He was enjoying this too much. As he took two steps forwards, he silently counted down in his head. Right on cue, a small voice from behind him arrived. "Yes..."
When Sesshoumaru didn't stop, InuYasha plunged towards his brother again, in any attempt to stop him from continuing on his way.
Sesshoumaru whipped around again.
"If you are going to keep bugging me..." Sesshoumaru sighed
The hopeful look in InuYasha's eyes disgusted him, and almost made him take it all back. "I will do it...if you leave me alone and stop being such an annoying little pest" Sesshoumaru finished. He made it look like a painful decision... although if one were looking, one might find it looked as if he were actually enjoying the power over InuYasha that he had.
Sesshoumaru reached to his left, unsheathing Tenseiga dramatically for effect. Stiffly, with Tenseiga ready, he made his way towards Kagome.
Unbelieving, InuYasha watched in complete awe as his brother actually did something for..humanity. It made his mind race...would Sesshoumaru really do something like this if he loathed him...or does he actually maybe like his younger brother in some way, shape ,or form?
A large shadow was cast upon the young girl, as Sesshoumaru stood before her, Tenseiga raised. The others watched on the tips of their toes as he swept cleanly through the air at something that to them, didn't even seem to be there.
"What are you trying to pull, Sesshoumaru? Are you just playing a trick on me?" InuYasha accused with a low growl.
Sesshoumaru said not one word, but instead, with a nod, he assured them all that he was finished.
With similar looks at Rin and Jaken, they quickly leapt to his side, as he strode away from the scene as peacefully as he had come.
Everyone's gaze was quickly focused on Kagome. InuYasha's heart began to pound wildly as he watched intently, hoping.
"Kagome..?"
The blurs were enough to make one's head spin. The whole world seemed to spin in circles around her, and trees and shrubs seemed to dance wildly before her eyes. What she thought was the sky was pale and almost a sort of grey. All the colors of the rainbow seemed to be in front of her eyes at that moment, so it wasn't exactly an easy choice to make in her current condition.
Kagome continued to try to let her eyes focus, but it seemed to take a lot of energy just to open her eyes. As time passed, it became easier to let her eye lids slide open and things even seemed to come into focus.
'What is that'....
Underneath the silvery blur of color were two enormous golden balls...
'hmmm?
Moments later, the balls became two very large eyes and the silvery color fell forwards onto her face, tickling her nose as she felt a warm breath on her cheek.
"InuYasha! what are you doing!" She cried aloud, finally figuring it out. As she said this, she had sat up suddenly and accidentally, in the process, kneed the poor hanyou right in the face, sending him backwards into a daze. "I'm sorry...I didn't...you were so close..I...InuYasha?"
InuYasha seemed a little out of it for a few moments, letting the shock of the blow wear off slowly before letting his usual expression return. He opened his mouth to reply with a usual snide comment, but instead found that his whole body had betrayed him, and he shot forwards, yanking the surprised and rather flushed miko into his arms.
"Kagome..I thought I'd never see you again.." He whispered in her ear.
She could feel his heart pounding and she wondered what had actually happened...after all, the last thing she remembered was a sharp pain and blinding light and then...this.
None the less, she returned the hug and wrapped her own arms around his waist tightly, burrying her nose in his shirt.
Seconds turned to minutes, and minutes turned into what seemed like an hour..although it was the happiest hour she'd ever had, even when she felt as sick to her stomach as she did.
"Wait a minute!" Kagome pulled away so suddenly, that InuYasha nearly yelped in surprise. As her memories slowly came back to her, she remembered she had the small Kitsune in her arms. "Shippou!!!"
Her heart raced as she whipped around to find two blurred figures that she had recognized as Miroku and Sango, even before they had come completely into focus. In Sangos arms, nestled tightly to her stomach, was the small Kitsune.
The world still disagreed with her abit as she stumbled over to them as fast as she could manage without tipping over, struggling with each step.
"Is he alright?" Kagome's eyes seemed to grow in sadness.
"He's fine..He is a full blooded youkai after all. He is pretty badly wounded, but nothing that he cannot recover from within a few weeks." Miroku replied in a soothing tone. "Death, however..isn't something we expected you to just overcome..."
"Yes, Kagome...InuYasha did you an incredible favor today..we are all glad, especially him" Sango laughed, glancing over at the hanyou. He was still and silent, but within his eyes it was clear that his insides were leaping for absolute joy, and he was close to doing this on the outside.
" I was dead?" Kagome choked on her words, horrified. "but how...why..am I here?"
"It was the 'so called' heartless demon lord, Sesshoumaru." Miroku replied truthfully and professionally.
Her expression quickly molded into a disbelieving 'stop kidding me' look, but as she noticed their expressions didn't change in the slightest, her mouth fell open.
"For InuYasha" Sango smiled "They are brothers...there is more to the demon lord than meets the eye."
Mouth still open wide, Kagome's legs gave out and she came crashing to the groud, landing on her knees with enough impact to let a small 'eee' escape.
"Kagome!" In a split second, InuYasha was at her side with one arm around her waste, helping her stand to her feet.
She looked up into the worried eyes of her savior, as her own heart pounded uncontrollably.
'Thank you..'
Watching this scene, Sango side glanced at Miroku.
"Was it for love?"
With an assuring smile, the monk's hand crept slowly for it's destination, just as he began to say something he thought romantic. However, within seconds, the air erupted with that 'ever so' familiar sound.
"Try to pull that one again and I'll- What are you doing"
A mock hurt look appeared on Miroku's face as he held his cheek protectively.
"It won't work" She warned
The monk's head drooped instantly.
"oh..fine" Sango mumbled, as she held out her arms. Right on cue, Miroku stepped forwards and wrapped his arms around her waist, as his 'sad expression' quickly vanished.
"Do it and you die" She whispered into his ear, dangerously
Well, looks like there will be 11 chapters after all. Well, I hope your happy, I didn't kill off Kagome, Shippou is alright , there is a corny love scene,and everyone even got to see a mildly fluffy side of Sesshoumaru...you're all set. Review it, and I will be too!