AN: 3rd chappie! It ends at a weird point, but I got tired. When I get more sleep and more food, I'll update ok? Okey day!
Disclaimer: It's only the 3rd chapter and already the disclaimer thing bugs me. But here we go! ahem kyuuka-kitsune does not own Inuyasha, although she does in her dreams. Her dreams are very nice. grins
Stealing Four Souls and a Few Hearts
Chapter 3: Protector Prevails
Kagome slowly turned around and saw who the hand belonged to.
"Hojo..." Kagome said, slightly irritated. (AN: You were expecting someone else?) Hojo smiled and let go of her hand.
"Hi Kagome, I was just wondering if you wanted to go see a movie with me sometime?" Hojo asked hopefully. Kagome wanted to slap him. He never understood that Kagome didn't like him, did he?
"Uh...well..." she started, trying to find a good excuse, her eyes darting about the food court. That's when caught a glimpse of silver and gold coming their way. 'Uh oh,' she thought. But then a smile crossed her lips as she thought of an idea. The hanyou and the pervert quickly reached them, but before either of them had a chance to say anything, Kagome grabbed Inuyasha's hand, not wanting to get near Miroku and pulled Inuyasha in front of her, poking her head around him to look at Hojo.
"You see, this is my boyfriend, so I can't, Hojo, sorry!" she hurriedly said, hoping it would work. Judging by the look on Hojo's face it did, at least for the time being.
"Oh," he said sadly, "Well, maybe some other time. See ya around, Kagome!" He then turned and walked away. Kagome sighed as soon as he was out of sight, but her relief soon left as Inuyasha turned around and glared at her.
"What was that all about!?" he shouted. Kagome flinched and opted to try to explain about Hojo.
"Well that guy keeps trying to get me to go out with him, but I don't want to and I don't want to hurt his feelings that much either, so I thought..."
She was cut off when Inuyasha said, "You thought? That's a miracle!"
Kagome was surprised by his rudeness but she kept herself from being hurt by it. "You don't even know me, baka! I probably think a lot more than you judging by your thick sku-" That's when she noticed his ears. Inuyasha looked at her, waiting for her to continue. He expected her to continue yelling, but what he did not expect was for her to reach up and start rubbing his ears. When he felt her touching his ears, he tried to suppress a smile from crossing his lips and tried to glare at her, but he couldn't help emitting a low, content growl. He stopped immediately after he heard himself, and asked, "What are you doing, wench?"
Kagome stopped and blushed, just realizing that she had been rubbing this stranger's ears. Sango, Miroku, and Shippo looked on in amusement. Sango was too busy thinking of ways to make fun of Kagome later, though, to notice an unwanted hand reach behind her and grab something he wasn't supposed to.
"HENTAI!!!" she yelled, hitting him on the head with Hiraikotsu (thanks to kit for the spelling!). When they heard 2 loud thumps, Inuyasha and Kagome turned to their friends, forgetting what they had been doing, and stared at the unconscious man on the ground. The first thump had been Sango hitting him, and the second had been him hitting the floor.
"3 times..." Kagome heard Inuyasha mutter under his breath and stared at him confused. When Inuyasha felt her gaze on him he turned to her, "Quit staring, will ya?" Kagome blushed and mentally slapped herself.
'I have to quit doing that. I'm such a baka!' she thought, watching as Inuyasha tried to slap Miroku back into consciousness. She took this opportunity to quietly grab Sango's hand and walk away. They only walked a few steps, though, when Inuyasha stopped them.
"Don't go anywhere, or I call the cops," he said threateningly. Kagome and Sango stopped, knowing the jig was up. Shippo didn't know what was going on however and decided to defy Inuyasha.
"We can go anywhere we want, we haven't done anything wrong. That stupid pervert deserved it!"
Inuyasha looked up at the little kitsune and scoffed. "Where'd you pick up that sorry excuse for a demon?"
This angered Shippo however and he jumped on Inuyasha's head and started biting his ears while shouting, "What do you mean 'sorry excuse'! I'm probably more powerful than you! You look like you're only a hanyou, stupid baka!"
Inuyasha stood up and picked the struggling kitsune off his head and held him up by the tail. "Never make fun of me for being a hanyou!" he shouted and dropped Shippo onto the floor.
"Hey, leave him alone, he was only defending us. He's got nothing to do with what we did so leave him out of it!" Kagome said angrily as she picked up the unconscious kitsune and held him like a baby in her arms. She then continued, "And what's so bad about being a hanyou anyway?"
Miroku had regained consciousness and he heard Kagome's question. He looked over at hanyou in question to see his reaction. He only crossed his arms and turned his back to them, simply stating, "Feh!"
Miroku sighed and called Kagome over to him as he stood up. "Kagome, the bad thing about being a hanyou, as in Inuyasha's case, is that humans and demons alike despise him because he's not a full human or full demon and he has a hard time fitting in."
Inuyasha started walking away and Kagome looked after him and whispered, "Inuyasha..." Even though she didn't really know him, she still felt sorry for him. Inuyasha twitched his ears when he heard Kagome say his name.
'I've been nothing but rude to this girl and yet she still feels sorry for me? Feh! I don't need anyone or their pity!' he thought. He heard footsteps behind him and he stopped and turned around. Miroku, Kagome with Shippo still in her arms, and 'boomerang girl' were following him.
"Oi, why are you following me?" he asked. Kagome decided to answer.
"Well you figured out that we stole from you, that's why you threatened to call the cops, so we figured it wasn't a good idea to run away."
Inuyasha nodded and asked, "Why did you steal the Shikon no Tama?"
Kagome stared at the ground and replied, "Well we found out that if we sold it on the black market, it would be worth a lot of money."
"Don't you know what that jewel is capable of?"
Kagome shook her head.
Inuyasha sighed, "That jewel is more powerful than you know and if it gets into the wrong hands, it would be an extremely bad thing."
Kagome looked up. "What's it capable of doing?"
Inuyasha looked around. The mall was not a good place to be discussing the jewel. He motioned for them to follow him. They walked in silence towards the exit, but didn't stop there. They walked through the parking lot to a red car and then stopped.
"Do you guys need a ride home? We can discuss the jewel in the car," he explained.
Kagome and Sango looked at each other and then looked back at Inuyasha and nodded. He unlocked the car and got in the driver's seat. Miroku took the passenger seat and Kagome, Sango, and Shippo took the back seat. Kagome gently placed the now conscious, but sleeping Shippo in the middle seat and buckled him up. Inuyasha started the car and they sped off. All was silent while Kagome and Sango waited expectantly for someone to tell them about the jewel.
Inuyasha broke the silence, "The jewel is capable of granting any wish."
Kagome nodded and silently replied, "If we had known that it was that powerful, we wouldn't have stolen it. I'm very sorry." She pulled the jewel out of her pocket and held it out to the boys in front. Inuyasha took a glance at it before looking back at the road. He then widened his eyes and looked at the jewel again. It was a lot brighter than before. It looked like it had when Kikyou had had it. Miroku noticed this too and looked at Inuyasha expectantly while the Kagome waited for one of them to take it.
"Keep it," Inuyasha said gruffly. If it was as bright now as it was when Kikyou was its protector, then that must mean Kagome would be its new protector.
Kagome looked up at him, confused. "But you said..."
"I said it would be bad if it was in the wrong hands. You can keep it as long as you don't sell it."
"But why are you giving it to me? I tried to steal it from you!"
"Listen, wench, you're the new protector of the jewel."
Kagome felt her blood boil when he called her wench. "My name is Kagome, not wench! And how do you know I'm the new protector?"
Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "Do you see how the jewel is glowing bright pink? Well, it only glows that bright when the protector has it. Got it...wench?" He enunciated the last word while smirking.
"Quit calling me wench, Dog-boy!"
Inuyasha certainly hadn't expected her to retaliate but he quickly shook off his shock and stated, "I'll call you whatever I want, wench!" He pulled up a driveway and turned off the car and started to get out.
Kagome was really mad now. "This isn't my house, sit back down and take me home!!" she screamed. Then the most unexpected thing happened. Inuyasha fell to the ground and couldn't get back up.
"What the hell happened!?" he yelled, still unable to get up. This roused everyone's curiosity and they all got out of his car, including the now awake Shippo, and walked over to where Inuyasha had fallen. Eventually he got up and looked at Kagome with an accusing expression on his face.
"What!? I didn't do anything! Quit staring at me like that!"
"You had to have done something! I didn't fall until you started yelling at me again!"
"It's not my fault you're clumsy!"
"I'm not clumsy; it felt like something pulled me to the ground!"
They stopped arguing and just glared at each other, auras flaring. Sango looked over at Miroku when she noticed he looked like he was deep in thought.
"Perhaps it was something Kagome said?" Miroku suggested.
"But all I said was 'sit back down and take me home'."
Inuyasha hit the ground again. Miroku looked down at him and then up at Kagome. "Say that sentence one word at a time."
Kagome nodded, "Okay." She cleared her throat and said the first word, "Sit..." Inuyasha went deeper into the ground, if that was possible. Kagome smiled and said, "So that's it! Every time I say 'sit', he literally 'sits' so I guess 'sit' is the magic word!"
Poor Inuyasha groaned in pain as he continued being drilled into the ground because Kagome used the word 'sit' 3 times in one sentence and he knew he was gonna feel this in the morning. Before Kagome had another chance to continue torturing Inuyasha, both Sango and Miroku clamped her mouth shut. That's when Sango noticed something on her butt and looked behind her. She glared at Miroku and slapped him. Miroku rubbed the red handprint on his cheek.
Inuyasha finally managed to climb out of the crater he had made in the ground. He immediately glared at Kagome. Kagome looked at him, confused at first, but then she realized what she had done and a guilty expression crossed her face
"Oh kami, I'm so sorry Inuyasha! I guess I shouldn't say that word anymore! But I'm really, really sorry, I swear!!" she gushed with sincerity.
"Feh! Yeah, keep your trap shut next time, wench!"
Inuyasha soon realized that was a bad idea as he crashed into the ground once more as Kagome yelled, "SIT!"
It was at that moment that Miroku cleared his throat. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but I don't think we've been formally introduced yet. My name is Miroku."
Kagome looked over at him. "I'm Kagome," she said shaking his hand.
"I'm Sango," said Sango as she reached for Miroku's outstretched hand. She didn't realize however, that his outstretched hand grabbed her ass instead of her hand. "HENTAI!" she yelled while smacking him for the 5th time that morning.
Shippo spoke up and said, "I'm Shippo!"
Inuyasha got off the ground and wiped himself off. They all looked up at him expectantly. "Inuyasha," he stated simply.
"Well, Inuyasha, can you take us home now?" Kagome asked sweetly.
"Hold on, I have to talk to my half-brother first."
"Your half-brother?" Sango questioned.
"Yeah, it might take a while, though, so follow me." He led them into his house and told them to make themselves comfortable in the living room, pointing out the remote while he went to look for Sesshomaru.
He went to Sesshomaru's room first, but he wasn't in there. He then headed to his own room. No Sesshy there either. He decided to look in the garage. He went out to the garage and saw his half-brother practicing using his sword, Tokijin with a small girl watching him.
"Oi, Sesshomaru! I have to talk to you!" Inuyasha said to his older half-brother.
Sesshomaru stopped his movements suddenly and looked at the hanyou with an expressionless face. "What is this about, Inuyasha?"
"The Shikon no Tama."
Sesshomaru kept his calm demeanor, but surprise flashed in his eyes for a split-second before returning to their stoic gaze. He looked over at the small girl.
"Rin, leave us for a while."
The girl nodded, got up, and saluted. "Yes Lord Sesshomaru," she said in a small high-pitched voice before running through the door.
"What about the Shikon no Tama?" asked Sesshomaru once the door closed behind Rin.
"It was stolen today-" Inuyasha started but was interrupted by Sesshomaru.
"You let someone steal it?" he asked with a sharper tone than usual.
"It's ok, we got it back!"
Sesshomaru slightly sighed in relief. He knew what the consequences would be if the jewel was stolen.
Inuyasha continued, "When the person handed the jewel back over, it was glowing brightly. You know what that means don't you?"
Sesshomaru nodded. So the jewel had chosen its new protector. It was about time. The last protector it had was over a year ago. Sesshomaru studied the hanyou's features. He had been very fond of its last protector. He wondered how he would react to the new one.
"So where is the protector?"
"She's waiting in the living room with 2 of her friends and Miroku."
Sesshomaru sheathed his sword and walked towards the door with Inuyasha following.
----Meanwhile, in the living room----
Miroku, Sango, Kagome, and Shippo sat down in the living room after Inuyasha left to look for his half-brother. The only one who relaxed, though, was Miroku who had been here many times before. Silence filled the room as the others surveyed their surroundings. After that, Kagome broke the silence.
"So what's Inuyasha's half-brother like?"
Miroku turned to her. "Well, it's kind of hard to explain, so you'll just have to wait until you meet him."
"We're going to meet him?"
"I'm pretty sure you will. After all, you are the new protector."
"I have a question about that. How exactly am I supposed to protect this? I mean, I don't know any martial arts or have a weapon or anything."
Miroku looked at her in skepticism. "Aren't you a miko?"
"A what?"
"A miko, a priestess. All the other protectors were."
"What happened to all the other protectors?"
Miroku was about to answer when they were interrupted by a little girl walking in. "Oh hello, Rin! How are you today?" asked Miroku who seemed to know the little girl.
"Hi Miroku! I'm fine. Are these your friends?" she asked, walking over and sitting next to Miroku.
"Yes they are. This is Lady Kagome, the lovely Sango, and Shippo," he introduced, pointing to them in turn.
Rin stood up and bowed. "I'm Rin! Do you want to be my friends?" she asked with such a big smile that Kagome and Sango couldn't help but giggle.
"Of course we will, Rin!" Sango said.
Rin smiled even bigger and saw Shippo. "Hey Shippo, do you want to go out and play?"
"Sure, let's go!" With that, they raced outside before anyone could stop them. Kagome cleared her throat and Miroku looked at her before remembering her last question.
"What happened to all the other protectors?" repeated Kagome.
"They died," came an unfamiliar voice from behind her. She turned around to face a tall demon with silver hair and amber eyes with marks on his cheeks and forehead.
"I'm Sesshomaru. You must be the new protector."
AN: Well kyuuka's tired, so she's gonna end it there, okay? If you can guess how all the other protectors died you get...ramen! I'm out of cookies, coz I ate them all! Hehe!! Anyways, Rin entered the picture today and Inuyasha has the evil 'sit' curse! I had to do it, it wouldn't be the same without Kagome screaming "SIT!" every time he made her mad. Time for Review Responses!
Serenity- Nope, it wasn't Inuyasha, but yes, Inuyasha is hot! Box of cookies for reviewing! I saved them for chapter 2 reviewers! Feel special? Hehe!
crazy-kitsune- I'm very flattered! You may have your own cookies, but have another box! It's good coz it's cookie dough instead of cookies. I got too lazy to cook them. Hehe, cookie dough is good though!
Okay, people I now have 5 reviews! ( ) ( ) ( ) -that would be a happy dance! Anyway if you review this chapter you get...ramen! I love ramen! Mmmmm... ahem anyway, I'm out, catch ya later!