DISCLAIMER: If I owned the series and had millions of dollars I would just publish this with the series. If.
Kuroi to ShiroChapter Four – The Forgotten
By Blue AKA asian tofuKagome hugged her knees closer as the streetlights crept into her room. It wasn't especially loud, but just enough for her to stay awake.
He's gone because of you… A spiteful voice crackled. You.
It was hard to swallow the lump at her throat, her digital clock's green lettering blurry from watching them so closely. She had thrown away her old clock and gotten this one, keeping the memories of him remote. But, she let herself muse that night, hoping that it wouldn't end in tears as it had before.
Because of me…
She stalked closer to the cave, tightening the bowstring's strain on her notched arrow. The crickets' chirps had ceased, leaving her in a unsettling quiet.
The first steps into the natural grotto echoed, and Kagome spun around, ready. She stayed in the shadows behind a considerably large stalagmite, attempting to block out the sound her blood made as it pounded in her ears. She had the procedure memorized exactly.
Friend comes; shoot them in the legs; stranger comes; shoot for the heart. Friend comes; shoot them in the legs; stranger comes; shoot for the heart…
It was getting harder to breathe, half from the anesthetizing chill and the other from terrified anticipation. Frankly, it was difficult to tell how long she stood there, waiting. Kagome's soul was kept away from the cave for a specific reason, and she wasn't going to let that stop her.
Because he was in there.
The crisp shine of the stars jauntily circled around before her, just as her figure left the mouth of the cavern.
It was less than what she had expected – there wasn't even a barrier to proscribe humans or demons. Had she not been alone, another person would have seen the pale pink aura that she had clumsily prepared dissipating as she edged nearer.
The sight of him took her breath away only momentarily. He was basked in a dark light, only half of him visible because of a solitary beam from the moon. She caught herself before moving forward, taking wry strides. He was forced against a stalagmite by enchantments, the papers set expertly across his most vulnerable points. His demon markings were even now flared starkly on his face, as vivid as their last battle. Those eyes; as if colored by the blood in which his claws reeked of; they were gazing so contemptuously at her.
This human incarcerated me…she will die.
He tested the spells the bound him and smirked mentally; the full moon had taken its course and would soon completely weaken them until he could freely move.
Kagome didn't miss the hungry gleam in his eyes stretch indolently, almost dulcetly at her.
"It won't be any use, you know," Kagome informed him, the words choked out of her throat. Inuyasha growled, his resonance spreading across the cave. She didn't flinch. This is what he had become; everything he'd wanted.
The only thing.
The full demon off-handedly ran his tongue against his fangs, his vengeance drawing nearer. "You intend for me to die."
Kagome jerked her eyes at his, their cobalt essence ripping away his red ones. Her scent had peaked, reinstating the alertness of her arrival.
"Yes."
The demon grinned smugly at her, as if he had just beaten her in her own game. In a way, he had, from the manner her aura had dissolved with her entry. Inuyasha knew quite well that a miko's power only activated fully during combat and healing, "The moon will free me." He said, blurting out his plan haphazardly.
Kagome was taken aback, almost unprepared for a confession. She hadn't expected him to tell her openly, "I know."
"What is it that you wish then, miko?" Inuyasha cocked his head, sending an involuntary shiver through Kagome. What remained of the former hanyou stared listlessly as she took a few steps back. The risk of emotions taking over threatened to interfere with her purpose; it scared her.
Even as he stood there, the core of his malevolence showing dauntingly, she couldn't help but continue to feel something. A strange sense of security in the hands of a barely contained, rampaging demon who she was sure would take her life without a thought.
It was horrible.
Inuyasha dared a glance at the moon, finding her to be less than interesting. A few seconds later the papers in which concentrated his movements mitigated in strength, and he found his limbs unbound once again.
The girl does not know yet, he reminded himself, careful not show his glee. She seemed lost, a dulled look to her eyes. The demon sniffed discreetly, recognizing a turmoil that emanated from her. Though he had lost his human half, he hadn't lost his memory.
It was then that he decided that he wouldn't kill her right off, but use a simple torture to satisfy his sadistic needs before the bloodlust.
In a fraction of a second, the demon leapt from the stalagmite, clutching the miko from at the throat, only giving her slight breathing space. He pushed her up against the cave wall, taking his claws off her throat to hold down her wrists.
Kagome was beyond controlling him, the fear evident in her cobalt orbs. Is he going to kill me now, like all the other innocents?
You're not innocent, Kagome, a malicious conscience whispered inside her. You're the reason he's like this…bitch.
If the fact that there were voices in her head didn't bother her, then the precision in which they spoke did. It was her fault. Inuyasha was a demon because he had been trying to protect her.
Obviously, when the two locked eyes, something made the limestone wall behind her much colder than it initially had been. She could feel his heart beating slowly, inaudibly, against her own. The former hanyou growled, the rumble in his chest vibrating, sending sparks through her body. The miko breathed harder, noticing that their proximity didn't affect him at all.
"Would you kill me now?" The demon inquired, tightening his grip on her hands.
Despite her unresponsive façade, inside Kagome was caught in a heated debate. A part of her held onto her mission, while another impulsively pulled her towards him, her insides melting as her thoughts converted into legitimate babbling.
"Don't…please," she barely breathed, unaware that the words had left her. Inuyasha took no second guesses on what she meant.
Kagome instantly lost it the second his lips touched hers, the cries within her dying with her sense. Quickly the kiss became passionate, but she couldn't let it go on.
She shouldn't have.
The clawed hands around her wrists loosened, and she was allowed to freely use her hands again. She entangled one in his hair, smiling upon his lips as she endeared how soft every silver lock was, just as she'd imagined. Kagome ran her tongue over his fangs, pricking it in the process.
Stop…stop this!
It was small, feeble at say the least. But she heard it; heard her mind screaming back at her body to cease, to understand that it was all a lie.
And so she took out the arrow from inside her sleeve.
Please understand, Inuyasha.
As she prepared herself, they broke for air. Inuyasha could almost feel the pierce of the arrow, but said nothing.
Kagome looked him in the eyes, the red expressionless.
A purified arrow plunged itself deep into demon flesh.
The digital clock replaced the p.m. icon as it struck twelve. A girl found herself staring blankly at it, acknowledging that it had gone blurry a while before. To close her eyes was like reentering the past.
The past is meant to be forgotten.
Miroku tossed to one side of the bed, tousling the sheets as he had a few minutes previously. The night had waned on, and its events still haunted him.
She had called me houshi.
It was entirely coincidental, he knew, but that tiny aspect didn't abate the lingering sense of hope.
Why do I even wait? The man thought, his past in the feudal era halted. Everything he had had there was gone.
It was time to make a start in the future. He sat up straight, listening absently to the squeak of the mattress before throwing the covers off him, sliding into his slippers.
The former houshi dragged himself mutely towards the kitchen, careful not to disturb the young woman snoring peacefully in the other room.
Searching through the cabinets, he found a fairly clean glass. Perhaps a glass of milk will put me off… He thought, taking the carton out and pouring the glass scarcely beneath the brim. Insomnia is quite unpleasant.
Prudently, Miroku continued back through the hallways, taking a momentary peek into Sango's room. The girl was half-covered by her blanket, the window open to its fullest. He sighed, milk still in hand, and shut it for her. Honestly, you would think that she would uphold some sense of physical health preservation…
The thoughts of Sango as a taijiya caused a trickle of longing course through him; how he missed it, what he had meant to forget.
He pulled up a chair from her desk, putting his milk on the table. It was dark, as he hadn't bothered to turn on any lights, but he preferred it like this. Sango was hardly visible, but just to know that she was there was enough.
Miroku reached out and lightly stroked her face, the silkiness sending warmth up his fingertips. Without her memories she was pure and innocent, nothing like he was.
He remembered.
/Flashback
The she-demon retracted her tongue, licking her chops as the poison dribbled down her chin, "I require a human soul. In return for my services you promised a soul – where is it?"
"Right here."
Miroku whirled around, baffled.
"Sango!" His worry for her turned coldly, "I told you to wait outside until my signal!"
The taijiya shrugged him off, instead focusing her attentions of the serpent she-demon, "So will you take me?"
"She is not the offering! Sango, shut up!" Miroku shouted, the ire burning in his regularly calm eyes.
The she-demon scrutinized the taijiya critically, "You shall come with me. Rid yourself of weapons."
"Fine," Sango replied, automatically unloading her surplus of self-defense mechanisms.
Miroku spluttered, "Enough!" He grabbed Sango's retreating hand, wrenching her back with a force he never knew he had. "You're not leaving!"
With a crack, the she-demon's massive tail collided with the houshi's legs, sending him crumpling to the ground. Sango felt her hand dawdle in his, brushing her fingertips on his clumsier, large ones before heading towards the she-demon, sliding through the barrier.
"Miroku…this is for you," she choked, tears threatening to penetrate her steel expression. Miroku scowled.
"Damn it! I want you to stay!" With an anguished cry, he rose from his place on the floor, crawling in his hands to the barrier.
As he neared the demon barrier in which Sango has passed easily through seconds earlier, it snapped at him, "Damn!"
He couldn't see her anymore.
/End Flashback
They had found her weeks later in the forest, bruised and suffering from a heavy concussion. With the feudal era's healing, she didn't appear to respond. Kagome decided it was best to take Sango to her time.
Miroku had personally asked Kagome to take him to the future as well. It was a simple question, of course, but the miko had spoken and argued with him for almost a day before giving the only answer he would accept.
He began to think of how Sango had improved from that time, nearly three years ago. He had accustomed himself to the future, finding that it was the only time that Sango could know about now.
It just wasn't the same without her.
The first rays of sunlight slapped Sango straight in the face, stirring her grudgingly from her sleep. She tried to pull the covers over her head, but found it too difficult.
Something heavy was on her blanket.
Immediately her eyes fluttered open, attentive.
Miroku's head was laid down almost directly below hers, enough so that his stray strands of hair tickled her nose.
"Miroku?!"
"Ah!" Miroku jumped, inadvertently causing himself to lose balance and the chair to tip over. The man groaned, raising himself from the ground while massaging his back. "Sango? What're you doing in my room?" He questioned apathetically, his eyes still half-lidded.
"What do mean your room?!" She practically shrieked, covering herself up the best she could with her blanket. Why had she so stupidly, stupidly worn her red lace nightgown?
Memories of the previous night found their way through the man's head, and he visibly blushed. "I – uh, couldn't fall asleep – "
"So you decided to molest me in my sleep?!" Sango was very much losing her calm – suddenly very cognizant that Miroku was only clad in boxers.
He noticed her staring downwards from his face, and instantly became very self-conscious.
"Damn!" he yelled before running out.
Sango glared at his retreating figure, supposedly red from anger. She hollered, "I'm locking my door from now on!"
The milk on the desk remained untouched.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Well, here I am, staying up till 1:33 AM to finish this chapter because I happen to get about six reviews since my last update. Even if I didn't get reviews, I would update, but they sure do make me write faster! Anyway, I thought that this story sorely missed the humor from the first two chapters, so I added a little of fun for Sango/Miroku. The Inuyasha/Kagome part was slightly, if not really, hard to write. I left it choppy and it's cut off at a critical moment, but I don't feel like going back. Well, hope you enjoyed it and drop a review while you're still here!