Chapter 23: Green-eyed Disease
Miroku found himself next to the river. He threw down his staff, took off his robes and jumped naked into the cold water. He surfaced and scowled at the goose bumps on his arms and chest. His body shivered, and he cursed the water's temperature loudly. Going under again, he swam towards the far shore, where he only surfaced for air before going under again and swimming back to the other side. Back and forth he did this, his strokes even and effortless.
When his limb muscles screamed at him, he flipped over and floated downstream for a long time, staring up at the night sky. He started to count the stars several times, but never could get past a hundred. Eventually he just floated, occasionally feeling something brush against him or nip at the back of his body.
As the dawn tinged the sky pink, he climbed out of the river and made his way back to his clothes through the strangely quiet forest. He listened for a while as he crossed the forest, carefully suppressing any noise his bare feet may make, and with his hand grasping the prayer beads.
He found his clothes right where he'd left them, along with an extremely unhappy hanyou. "We need to talk, monk."
Miroku ignored him and went for his clothes. Inuyasha grabbed them and jumped high up a tree. "I said, we need to talk."
Miroku glared up the tree. "There is nothing to talk about, Inuyasha. Kindly return my clothes."
The half-demon smirked. "Make me."
Miroku calmly looked at him, a small smile on his lips. "Perhaps I should return to the village like this. I'm sure Kagome wouldn't mind. Neither would Sango. Nor any other female there."
His robes fell atop his head. "Feh. I don't want you scaring the children."
Miroku put his robes back on. "Thank you, Inuyasha." He turned and started back to the village. He stopped when his staff connected with his head. "Dammit, that hurt!"
"Feh, you deserved it. I said we have to talk. We're going to talk, whether you like it or not." Inuyasha had dropped down from the tree and now stood, arms crossed, scowling at the monk.
"And I told you there's nothing to discuss!" He turned and started back to the village once more. Inuyasha grabbed his robes and whirled him around to face him. "Let go of me!"
The half-demon growled. "Enough. We're going to talk about MY Kagome, monk."
Miroku smirked, but inwardly he scowled. Who the hell do you think you are, you sorry excuse of a male? "YOUR Kagome? The same one hugging Kouga last night?"
"MY Kagome, the one you were taking away from me BEFORE last night."
Not this again! Miroku watched Inuyasha patiently, even if he wanted to shake him. Hard. "She made her choice, just like you did. Remember?"
Inuyasha frowned, but didn't let go of the monk. "She was mine before we met you and she threw herself at you."
Miroku bit back a smile. "If she had not wanted to throw herself at me—"
"You know what I mean!" Inuyasha threw him to the ground. "We were fine until you came along. Then there's that damn kitsune, attaching himself to her all the time. Then my own brother gets into the picture with a damn human brat. And now that wimpy wolf did something to her."
Miroku held back a grimace from his most recent contact with the ground. He gathered his legs under him and crossed his arms, unobtrusively snaking a hand inside his robes to rub his sore behind. "She has been gone for weeks. I don't think she even knew he was okay—unless you DID go tell her he was…?" He left the question unfinished, and Inuyasha's guilty expression was his answer. "See? If she didn't know he was okay, what the hell did he do to her from here?"
Inuyasha scowled. I hate it when he's right! "That's not the point—"
Miroku's temper snapped. "That IS the point, Inuyasha. You're looking to blame someone for something that isn't your problem anymore. So you're losing Kagome. Big deal. You have someone else already."
Inuyasha flinched. "But—"
"Stop whining. You lost her the day you made your choice. Sure, she's your friend, but she's not yours anymore. Only Shippou, and perhaps Hoonomei, can claim her as their own. Whoever else tries will be met with anger and violence as you well know." Miroku breathed in and out deeply, trying to calm himself. "She must have had a reason to throw herself at Kouga. Are you going to ask her what it was, risking your neck and back in the process? Or will you let her make her own decisions?"
Miroku slowly stood. He looked into Inuyasha's eyes, making the half-demon squirm. He then turned to the village, speaking softly but knowing Inuyasha's sensitive ears would catch what he was saying, "We have to let her choose, Inuyasha. We can't force her to. I'm not going to force her to choose, and neither should anyone else." He then walked down the wooded path, turning into the underbrush and vanishing about halfway down.
*****
Kagome avoided everyone taller than she was for the next few days, spending it with the three kids and listening to their stories and news. They walked through the woods together exchanging tales from the weeks she had been gone. Kagome learned that Sesshoumaru had been in a battle with another demon lord over a land dispute, that Shippou had managed to defeat a threatening bear demon by himself while shard-hunting, and that Hoonomei was much more accurate using an ice attack he'd learned.
For her own part, Kagome told them about her friends in school, had delighted them with several bags of sweets and junk food, and even showed Rin her sketches of the little secluded garden, which had led to a barrage of questions about flowers and gardens.
As they led her to an open field close to the next village, she thought back to that night, when she saw Thomas. First, I sense a demon, then a strange energy, and then Thomas shows up to help me out. Why? All I wanted was a quiet afternoon in the park. What went wrong? She sat near the edge of the clearing and watched the kids play tag. I'm too damn curious is the problem. If I'd stayed in the garden, nothing would have happened. She shook her head to clear it. Why was he there anyways? He himself mentioned he never crossed the park while running. Then why?
Kagome thought back to Thomas' tirade outside the shrine. He hinted at something… What was it? That Inuyasha hadn't…something. Why'd he stop? She frowned. Then there's the comments—almost straight from Miro's mouth! I was convinced that pervert was in my time somehow. She looked at the clear blue sky. But that night…That night it was Kouga who had been there for me. Not Miro, but Kouga. Or was it? Kagome scrunched her eyes. Headache… Damn reincarnation, damn time travel, damn everything!
She finally laid back on the spongy grass and watched the clouds roll by. Soon she was asleep.
Rin ran back to the boys. "Neechan is sleeping again." All three looked at Kagome. Rin frowned. "What do you think happened to her?"
"Mama's fine now. She's back where she belongs."
Hoonomei watched Kagome with a thoughtful expression. "You know, she smells… different. Like a demon."
Shippou and Rin looked at Hoonomei like he was crazy. "Neechan is NOT a demon!"
"Shush, Rin! Do you want her to hear?" Hoonomei frowned. "I didn't say she was. But she smelled like a demon the morning she came back, before she bathed."
"You know, I think you're crazy." Shippou stared Hoonomei down. "Mama didn't smell different. I should know; I'm her son."
"Shippou, I know what I smelled. I'm a cat demon. So's Kirara. You're a fox demon. Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru are dog demons. Kouga's a wolf demon. We know their smells by heart, so they're not strangers to us. We even know the human's smells." Hoonomei paused, watching Shippou closely. He wasn't sure how the kit would react to what he had to say.
"Hoonomei, is neechan okay?"
"I dunno. But I do know she smelled different." He turned abruptly and ran over to Kagome. The others followed, but stopped when he glanced back at them. Holding a finger to his lips, he bent down to look closely at their mother figure. He sniffed her and frowned again. He ran away from Kagome again, past the other two, who followed him closely. He lowered his voice. "Definitely something strange. But not demon either. I can't tell what it is, though… I could have sworn it was demon…"
"Maybe we should tell Inuyasha."
Shippou snorted. "That baka? All he would do is yell at her for being with someone else."
"How about Sango-neechan?" Shippou shook his head.
"What about Miroku-sama? He's a monk. He can help neechan." Rin smiled.
Hoonomei shook his head. "He didn't come back again last night. No one's seen him for the past few days. Hmmm. Kaede-baba's old and wise. She can help."
Shippou shook his head. "She can't smell Mama like we can." He sighed. "We need to tell someone who will understand."
All three looked at each other suddenly and grinned. They ran off into
the woods, leaving Kagome in the clearing fast asleep.
*****
© 12/19/03, M.A.R.
Aphiopsyduck: Hello again! I can see many of you had to put up with my voice of reason the other day. I apologize. As for the anime quote... *shakes head* I don't know what to say. That was NOT supposed to be there, but I guess he wanted to spice things up or something--I'll ask him when I see him again. As for this chappie... I left most of the details to your imagination--I'm sure you can do a much better job than I ever could. ;-)
Now shoo. Please review before you go off to the next chappie... If
you're still interested in whether these two will get together, that is.
:o)
(More or less) Permanent A/N: *sweatdrops…* Ehehe…
First fanfic… If nothing else, it's a test run, since this will be my first
real fanfic posted anywhere. I don' really know where it's going though,
so please bear with me. Reviews are welcome, and flames will be used on
undead mikos who refuse to leave our heroes alone. :o)