Disclaimer: Apart from Rei and the plot, I own nothing.
A/N: Thanx for all the lovely reviews.
About Inuyasha's two halves just mushing together like s'mores...well eh heh I'll see what I can do
And to Rome34...that was smart, just copy pasting those questions into ur review...never seen that one before ;)
This chapter is rather dark and doesn't do much for the plot. The next chapter will shed light on what Naraku and Kikyo are doing and what exactly happened to Miroku....
Chapter 11: Dark Forests
Centuries of water eating away at dirt had created the hollow behind the waterfall curtained from the outside world by the wall of tons of plummeting water. Not many knew of its existence, only a select few. Only one of them was alive.
The sun was setting fast, how long had he been here? One hour? Two hours? Five? Didn't matter. Time had stopped for him. The receding rays of light were the only indication that time had even passed. His palms had healed but they were still brown with caked blood. He had not bothered to wash them.
He was leaning on the side of the cave; his eyes watching a snail make its way through the damp earth. He was wrong; he was not the only one who knew of this cave's existence. With one small movement, he stepped down on the snail, smiling when he heard the shell break and then the ever-satisfying squish. Now...he was the only one.
He was brought out of his musings by the sound of a very faint laughter. He moved towards the waterfall and then jumped out. He landed in a tree, hidden carefully behind lots of branches. His eyes scanned the area, trying to determine the source of the pure innocent laughter. Before long, a small toad like animal came running out of the bushes.
"Jaken..." Inuyasha whispered in recognition. His presence meant that Sesshomarou was around, and so was his sword. Expecting to see the tall figure of his older brother, Inuyasha was surprised to see a young girl run out from the bushes. She was the source of the giggling and snickering. As soon as she had located the toad demon, she grabbed him and started poking him in different places. She laughed harder every time he screamed at her to stop.
Such pure innocence. So small and delicate that little girl is. So energetic and determined. So much like...Kagome.
His eyes turned hard and empty again, his hair blew around him threatening to give away his location.
"There is no use hiding, Inuyasha." His brother's calm voice floated into his hiding spot, "I could smell you a mile away."
He was out of his place on the branch in a heartbeat. They stood there facing each other for countless moments. Even Rin had quietened. Jaken was standing in the corner, ready to run if a fight resulted.
The sun finished setting, blanketing them in cool darkness. It was a cloudy night. The loss of the moon forced them to depend on their hearing and smell to ensure survival. The animals had quietened too. Even the crickets decided to sing on another night. For several dark moments, the only sounds were the calm long breaths of one Demon Lord and the short ragged breaths of his younger brother.
"Give me my sword back." If it weren't for the silence of the night and Sesshomarou's acute hearing, one would have thought that the younger one had said nothing at all.
Sesshomarou chose to ignore the demand and turned around to leave.
The next second, Sesshomarou realized that it was a bad idea to turn his back to his inferior younger brother. The half-breed had managed to attack him in one swift movement. Sesshomarou waited for the pain to begin, instead his belt holding the swords fell. Inuyasha had chosen to slice the belt in half rather than kill his hated sibling. How he had managed to be this accurate in the darkness of the blackest night yet under the thick cover of the trees was beyond him.
Inuyasha picked up his sword and started to leave.
"Why didn't you kill me?" He tried to keep his voice level; no way he would show the slightest bit of fear.
"Because you still have someone to protect." His answer was simple, but the voice was chilling. It was devoid of any emotion. He sounded like an empty shell. Sesshomarou wondered what had changed his brother so much.
Rin whimpered and ran to Sesshomarou's side tripping a couple of times in the dark but picking herself up and moving towards the source of the familiar warmth.
"Watch her closely." Again that voice...chilling and bitter. Then Sesshomarou heard it, it wasn't hatred that was seeping into his brother's voice and eyes...it was pain.
"Watch her closely, Sesshomarou. Protect her with all you've got. One day she will decide you are not good enough for her and leave you. Enjoy the time you spend with her. You might lose it faster than you think." Inuyasha strapped his sword to his side and then disappeared.
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Kagome had been looking for Inuyasha was a long time. Every time he had gotten mad at her, he had left to sulk on the branch of his favourite tree so that she could find him easily and apologize. But she had been searching for him for hours but there was no sign of him.
It was getting dark and she didn't want to be alone in the forest at night. She decided to go to the village on her own instead.
She reached the village a little after sunset, when the sky above her still retained a bluish touch. The cloud cover promised a dark night. She found that luckily no one was seriously injured. Sango and Kaede were standing in front of what looked like a girl.
Coming closer, Kagome's breath stopped. This girl was beautiful. She had long ice blue hair that fell to below her hips and her body was tall and slender. Overall, the presence of the girl made every other girl look like an ugly duckling.
The darkness seemed to bounce off her. She seemed to glow, but not like an aura or anything. She just seemed to radiate light. The darkness just passed through her. No wonder Kaede had made sure to leave Miroku behind.
They seemed to be in a stalemate. No one moved. The girl just stood there with a soft smile on her perfect lips and Sango had her Boomerang up while Kaede had her bow and arrow ready. The girl looked unarmed.
"What is going on here?" Kagome demanded as soon as she was within hearing range. Kaede was the first to respond.
"Where is Inuyasha?" She demanded hoarsely. Kaede looked tired and Sango was sweating profusely.
"I couldn't find him." Kagome answered. Why did they want to see Inuyasha so badly? Wouldn't it be a good idea to keep all male hormones as far away from this demon as possible? She was clearly a temptress.
"Oh you must be Kagome." The girl's melodious vice forced Kagome to pay attention to their opponent.
"How do you know me?" Kagome was confused.
"Inuyasha told me all about you." She extended the word 'all' and then watched Kagome's expression change.
"How do you know Inuyasha?"
"Let's just say, he's alive because of me. Now where is he?"
"What do you mean?" Kagome pulled her arrow back; threatening her to talk or die.
"You don't want to shoot that Kagome. You can't hurt me."
"Wanna bet?" Kagome released the arrow and watched as the arrow tip started glowing with purifying energy. The shot was dead accurate and she was sure the demon would not survive.
"Tsk, Tsk...Inuyasha said that you were stubborn." She twirled on her feet, her blue hair flowing behind her like a fan. The temperature dropped around her as the arrow headed straight for her heart.
The air around her chilled to the point of freezing as droplets of water became visible in the night air. The arrow stopped a few inches from her chest; the water had dampened the arrow and the freezing temperatures near the girl had frozen it. It fell to the ground and shattered into thousands of tiny pieces.
"Just like the Jewel, don't you think?" She asked in a bright cheery voice, then suddenly her cheery façade dropped and she looked sad almost, "But I came here looking for Inuyasha, since you don't know where he is, I'll have to kill you and then look for him."
"That won't be necessary." Inuyasha landed in front of Kagome. Kagome started to try and ask him about the girl and where he was and all sorts of questions but Inuyasha didn't even acknowledge her presence or see if they were all right.
"Inuyasha don't, she's dangerous." Kagome called out when she saw him heading straight for her.
To her surprise, he grabbed the ice girl's hand and muttered a small "Let's go" to her and disappeared into the forest.
Kagome's jaw dropped. He had just pretended that Kagome didn't exist. Hell, he had just ignored the whole village. And to make matters worse he had gone into the forest with a girl, who had just threatened to kill them, in the middle of the night.
"Kagome?" Sango tried to figure out why Inuyasha had done what he had done. Kagome almost always knew more about Inuyasha and what was going on. Kaede seemed to be more worried about the ones who had been injured in the little fight.
Kagome couldn't hold it in anymore. First one tear fell, then another. She had to talk to Inuyasha. She had to clear up the misunderstanding. She had to get him to talk to her. She wanted him to get angry with her, to shout at her and yell at her and tell her that she was a bitch and a wench. She wanted him to threaten her and then go sulk in the corner. She would then go and give him some ramen and apologize and make it all right. Then they would go to hunt some shards and then plan an attack against Naraku. She wanted the old days back.
She cried and cried. Sango tried to console her but none of her words got through to her. Kagome finally left to go to her era, where she could lock herself in her bedroom and cry herself to sleep. All that she had left of his were his beads. They were the only reminiscent of her lost past and a possible lost future.
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Souta was on the last level. If only he could defeat this monster, he'd be onto the Boss. Then he'll be able to retrieve the key to proceed to the next dungeon. His concentration was broken by the door opening and closing. He heard the almost soundless footsteps of his sister as she made her way to her bedroom. Strange, she didn't even say hello this time. And how come she's back so soon? She just left this morning. Souta made his way to Kagome's room wondering if Inuyasha and she had another fight. Wonder when they both will grow up, they never stop fighting. Half the time it's over things even he found childish.
"Sis, are you all right?" He knocked softly on the door. It was late, but it being a Saturday, he was allowed to stay up. Mama and Grandpa were asleep already.
"Yeah I'm fine Souta...just tired." Her voice was strangely muffled. Maybe she was really tired. Souta shrugged and returned to his game. He'll ask her if they had a fight tomorrow, right now he should let her sleep.
Kagome plopped down on her bed without changing out of her jeans. The tears had not stopped their onslaught and she felt like her eyes would burst from the strain. Just last night, Inuyasha had fallen asleep in her arms on this very bed. Just last night she had told him that he belonged with her. And tonight, she was sitting in this very room all alone crying. She opened the window. Just in case he comes in the night.
Why would he come? He was with that ice-demon doing whatnot in the dark forest.
The thought brought more tears and Kagome tried to stop herself from breaking down and waking the whole house up. She failed.
I don't ever want to go back. I don't ever want to see them again. They'll be better off without me anyway. She sobbed harder. I wish Inuyasha was here.
She buried her head in the familiar pillow trying to silence her intensifying sobs. She tried not to think about the way Inuyasha had completely ignored Kagome and had led the demon into the forest, hand in hand. She tried to forget the way he had said nothing when she had threatened to kill them. She tried not to think how he had looked when he had found Kagome with Kouga. It was all her mistake. She shouldn't ever have promised to be Kouga's mate. Now Kouga has a right over her, when she yearned for Inuyasha.
And the ice demon had been so powerful. She had stopped Kagome's arrow like it was a plaything. She had shattered it into a thousand pieces and then had the gall to joke about the Jewel. The Jewel she had shattered. The event that had forced Inuyasha and Kagome together. He had only wanted her for her ability to detect jewel shards. But eventually it had grown into something more...something more powerful.
But now there was another girl, she was more powerful than Kagome. She was a full demon and she was beautiful. No man in his right mind could resist her. Why would Inuyasha want to be with her if he had someone more powerful and beautiful than her? He was a man after all. He couldn't be blamed.
No one could be blamed but her. He had cut himself when he saw her with him. His fists were bloody. That idiot! He could have asked her to explain herself. He should have given her a chance to redeem herself. But no. He was too egoistic to ever allow a girl to explain herself. And its not like he ever heard what she said. Even if she explained herself he'll probably think that she's making excuses.
She made up her mind. If he wants to play rough then he chose the wrong playmate. She will not go back to her time unless he came to apologize. Even if he doesn't come to apologize, just let him come please. Let him come to this era just to tell her what an idiot she is, what a bitch she is for kissing his archrival. Just let him come to her era to shout at her and yell at her. Just let him come.
Most of all, she'll know that he still wants her if he comes. Even if it is because she can see the jewel shards. At least she'll be needed.
So...what did you think?????? :)
A/N: Thanx for all the lovely reviews.
About Inuyasha's two halves just mushing together like s'mores...well eh heh I'll see what I can do
And to Rome34...that was smart, just copy pasting those questions into ur review...never seen that one before ;)
This chapter is rather dark and doesn't do much for the plot. The next chapter will shed light on what Naraku and Kikyo are doing and what exactly happened to Miroku....
Chapter 11: Dark Forests
Centuries of water eating away at dirt had created the hollow behind the waterfall curtained from the outside world by the wall of tons of plummeting water. Not many knew of its existence, only a select few. Only one of them was alive.
The sun was setting fast, how long had he been here? One hour? Two hours? Five? Didn't matter. Time had stopped for him. The receding rays of light were the only indication that time had even passed. His palms had healed but they were still brown with caked blood. He had not bothered to wash them.
He was leaning on the side of the cave; his eyes watching a snail make its way through the damp earth. He was wrong; he was not the only one who knew of this cave's existence. With one small movement, he stepped down on the snail, smiling when he heard the shell break and then the ever-satisfying squish. Now...he was the only one.
He was brought out of his musings by the sound of a very faint laughter. He moved towards the waterfall and then jumped out. He landed in a tree, hidden carefully behind lots of branches. His eyes scanned the area, trying to determine the source of the pure innocent laughter. Before long, a small toad like animal came running out of the bushes.
"Jaken..." Inuyasha whispered in recognition. His presence meant that Sesshomarou was around, and so was his sword. Expecting to see the tall figure of his older brother, Inuyasha was surprised to see a young girl run out from the bushes. She was the source of the giggling and snickering. As soon as she had located the toad demon, she grabbed him and started poking him in different places. She laughed harder every time he screamed at her to stop.
Such pure innocence. So small and delicate that little girl is. So energetic and determined. So much like...Kagome.
His eyes turned hard and empty again, his hair blew around him threatening to give away his location.
"There is no use hiding, Inuyasha." His brother's calm voice floated into his hiding spot, "I could smell you a mile away."
He was out of his place on the branch in a heartbeat. They stood there facing each other for countless moments. Even Rin had quietened. Jaken was standing in the corner, ready to run if a fight resulted.
The sun finished setting, blanketing them in cool darkness. It was a cloudy night. The loss of the moon forced them to depend on their hearing and smell to ensure survival. The animals had quietened too. Even the crickets decided to sing on another night. For several dark moments, the only sounds were the calm long breaths of one Demon Lord and the short ragged breaths of his younger brother.
"Give me my sword back." If it weren't for the silence of the night and Sesshomarou's acute hearing, one would have thought that the younger one had said nothing at all.
Sesshomarou chose to ignore the demand and turned around to leave.
The next second, Sesshomarou realized that it was a bad idea to turn his back to his inferior younger brother. The half-breed had managed to attack him in one swift movement. Sesshomarou waited for the pain to begin, instead his belt holding the swords fell. Inuyasha had chosen to slice the belt in half rather than kill his hated sibling. How he had managed to be this accurate in the darkness of the blackest night yet under the thick cover of the trees was beyond him.
Inuyasha picked up his sword and started to leave.
"Why didn't you kill me?" He tried to keep his voice level; no way he would show the slightest bit of fear.
"Because you still have someone to protect." His answer was simple, but the voice was chilling. It was devoid of any emotion. He sounded like an empty shell. Sesshomarou wondered what had changed his brother so much.
Rin whimpered and ran to Sesshomarou's side tripping a couple of times in the dark but picking herself up and moving towards the source of the familiar warmth.
"Watch her closely." Again that voice...chilling and bitter. Then Sesshomarou heard it, it wasn't hatred that was seeping into his brother's voice and eyes...it was pain.
"Watch her closely, Sesshomarou. Protect her with all you've got. One day she will decide you are not good enough for her and leave you. Enjoy the time you spend with her. You might lose it faster than you think." Inuyasha strapped his sword to his side and then disappeared.
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Kagome had been looking for Inuyasha was a long time. Every time he had gotten mad at her, he had left to sulk on the branch of his favourite tree so that she could find him easily and apologize. But she had been searching for him for hours but there was no sign of him.
It was getting dark and she didn't want to be alone in the forest at night. She decided to go to the village on her own instead.
She reached the village a little after sunset, when the sky above her still retained a bluish touch. The cloud cover promised a dark night. She found that luckily no one was seriously injured. Sango and Kaede were standing in front of what looked like a girl.
Coming closer, Kagome's breath stopped. This girl was beautiful. She had long ice blue hair that fell to below her hips and her body was tall and slender. Overall, the presence of the girl made every other girl look like an ugly duckling.
The darkness seemed to bounce off her. She seemed to glow, but not like an aura or anything. She just seemed to radiate light. The darkness just passed through her. No wonder Kaede had made sure to leave Miroku behind.
They seemed to be in a stalemate. No one moved. The girl just stood there with a soft smile on her perfect lips and Sango had her Boomerang up while Kaede had her bow and arrow ready. The girl looked unarmed.
"What is going on here?" Kagome demanded as soon as she was within hearing range. Kaede was the first to respond.
"Where is Inuyasha?" She demanded hoarsely. Kaede looked tired and Sango was sweating profusely.
"I couldn't find him." Kagome answered. Why did they want to see Inuyasha so badly? Wouldn't it be a good idea to keep all male hormones as far away from this demon as possible? She was clearly a temptress.
"Oh you must be Kagome." The girl's melodious vice forced Kagome to pay attention to their opponent.
"How do you know me?" Kagome was confused.
"Inuyasha told me all about you." She extended the word 'all' and then watched Kagome's expression change.
"How do you know Inuyasha?"
"Let's just say, he's alive because of me. Now where is he?"
"What do you mean?" Kagome pulled her arrow back; threatening her to talk or die.
"You don't want to shoot that Kagome. You can't hurt me."
"Wanna bet?" Kagome released the arrow and watched as the arrow tip started glowing with purifying energy. The shot was dead accurate and she was sure the demon would not survive.
"Tsk, Tsk...Inuyasha said that you were stubborn." She twirled on her feet, her blue hair flowing behind her like a fan. The temperature dropped around her as the arrow headed straight for her heart.
The air around her chilled to the point of freezing as droplets of water became visible in the night air. The arrow stopped a few inches from her chest; the water had dampened the arrow and the freezing temperatures near the girl had frozen it. It fell to the ground and shattered into thousands of tiny pieces.
"Just like the Jewel, don't you think?" She asked in a bright cheery voice, then suddenly her cheery façade dropped and she looked sad almost, "But I came here looking for Inuyasha, since you don't know where he is, I'll have to kill you and then look for him."
"That won't be necessary." Inuyasha landed in front of Kagome. Kagome started to try and ask him about the girl and where he was and all sorts of questions but Inuyasha didn't even acknowledge her presence or see if they were all right.
"Inuyasha don't, she's dangerous." Kagome called out when she saw him heading straight for her.
To her surprise, he grabbed the ice girl's hand and muttered a small "Let's go" to her and disappeared into the forest.
Kagome's jaw dropped. He had just pretended that Kagome didn't exist. Hell, he had just ignored the whole village. And to make matters worse he had gone into the forest with a girl, who had just threatened to kill them, in the middle of the night.
"Kagome?" Sango tried to figure out why Inuyasha had done what he had done. Kagome almost always knew more about Inuyasha and what was going on. Kaede seemed to be more worried about the ones who had been injured in the little fight.
Kagome couldn't hold it in anymore. First one tear fell, then another. She had to talk to Inuyasha. She had to clear up the misunderstanding. She had to get him to talk to her. She wanted him to get angry with her, to shout at her and yell at her and tell her that she was a bitch and a wench. She wanted him to threaten her and then go sulk in the corner. She would then go and give him some ramen and apologize and make it all right. Then they would go to hunt some shards and then plan an attack against Naraku. She wanted the old days back.
She cried and cried. Sango tried to console her but none of her words got through to her. Kagome finally left to go to her era, where she could lock herself in her bedroom and cry herself to sleep. All that she had left of his were his beads. They were the only reminiscent of her lost past and a possible lost future.
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Souta was on the last level. If only he could defeat this monster, he'd be onto the Boss. Then he'll be able to retrieve the key to proceed to the next dungeon. His concentration was broken by the door opening and closing. He heard the almost soundless footsteps of his sister as she made her way to her bedroom. Strange, she didn't even say hello this time. And how come she's back so soon? She just left this morning. Souta made his way to Kagome's room wondering if Inuyasha and she had another fight. Wonder when they both will grow up, they never stop fighting. Half the time it's over things even he found childish.
"Sis, are you all right?" He knocked softly on the door. It was late, but it being a Saturday, he was allowed to stay up. Mama and Grandpa were asleep already.
"Yeah I'm fine Souta...just tired." Her voice was strangely muffled. Maybe she was really tired. Souta shrugged and returned to his game. He'll ask her if they had a fight tomorrow, right now he should let her sleep.
Kagome plopped down on her bed without changing out of her jeans. The tears had not stopped their onslaught and she felt like her eyes would burst from the strain. Just last night, Inuyasha had fallen asleep in her arms on this very bed. Just last night she had told him that he belonged with her. And tonight, she was sitting in this very room all alone crying. She opened the window. Just in case he comes in the night.
Why would he come? He was with that ice-demon doing whatnot in the dark forest.
The thought brought more tears and Kagome tried to stop herself from breaking down and waking the whole house up. She failed.
I don't ever want to go back. I don't ever want to see them again. They'll be better off without me anyway. She sobbed harder. I wish Inuyasha was here.
She buried her head in the familiar pillow trying to silence her intensifying sobs. She tried not to think about the way Inuyasha had completely ignored Kagome and had led the demon into the forest, hand in hand. She tried to forget the way he had said nothing when she had threatened to kill them. She tried not to think how he had looked when he had found Kagome with Kouga. It was all her mistake. She shouldn't ever have promised to be Kouga's mate. Now Kouga has a right over her, when she yearned for Inuyasha.
And the ice demon had been so powerful. She had stopped Kagome's arrow like it was a plaything. She had shattered it into a thousand pieces and then had the gall to joke about the Jewel. The Jewel she had shattered. The event that had forced Inuyasha and Kagome together. He had only wanted her for her ability to detect jewel shards. But eventually it had grown into something more...something more powerful.
But now there was another girl, she was more powerful than Kagome. She was a full demon and she was beautiful. No man in his right mind could resist her. Why would Inuyasha want to be with her if he had someone more powerful and beautiful than her? He was a man after all. He couldn't be blamed.
No one could be blamed but her. He had cut himself when he saw her with him. His fists were bloody. That idiot! He could have asked her to explain herself. He should have given her a chance to redeem herself. But no. He was too egoistic to ever allow a girl to explain herself. And its not like he ever heard what she said. Even if she explained herself he'll probably think that she's making excuses.
She made up her mind. If he wants to play rough then he chose the wrong playmate. She will not go back to her time unless he came to apologize. Even if he doesn't come to apologize, just let him come please. Let him come to this era just to tell her what an idiot she is, what a bitch she is for kissing his archrival. Just let him come to her era to shout at her and yell at her. Just let him come.
Most of all, she'll know that he still wants her if he comes. Even if it is because she can see the jewel shards. At least she'll be needed.
So...what did you think?????? :)