Disclaimer - I don't own Inuyasha. I don't claim to own Inuyasha. I never
will claim to own Inuyasha. So there! ^_^
A/N - La la la la la... update, anyone? ^_^
With You
Chapter 6
Parting Words
Inuyasha drew his foot back, bracing himself to kick down the door before him. "One...two...thr-!"
"Inuyasha."
He furrowed his brow slightly at her "What now?" he griped.
"What about the handcuffs?" she inquired curiously.
"Oh...guess I should take them off..." he grumbled and set her down on the floor, reaching into his sleeve and pulling out a set of keys.
Kagome stared at him in surprise "Where did you get those?"
A smirk crossed his face as he tried the first key "Doesn't matter" he said loosely as he let go of it with a frown and tried another. "I've got 'em now, don't I?"
She narrowed her eyes at him "Did you take it fro-"
"I might have" he interrupted, the smirk returning to his face. "Why won't any of these damn keys work...?" he grouched as he tried a fourth and a fifth one.
Kagome sighed and folded her arms, this guy wasn't gonna listen to her, so why argue with him? She had to hold back a little laugh as she watched him try the different keys though. Didn't he know what he was doing? "Inuyasha..." she started with a smiling tone in her voice "You're putting them in wrong!"
"I am not!" he shouted at his own defense "I know how to put a key in a lock!"
She just sat there and grinned at his idiocy. She'd just let him try all the keys and when he'd figured out that none of them would work the way he was putting them in, she'd help him out. Might take him a while though...
After he'd tried all eleven keys he threw them to the floor and walked back over to Kagome. "None of those are right..." he growled as he sat down. "Damn guard didn't have the right ones..."
"One of them is right!" Kagome corrected helpfully.
Inuyasha rolled his eyes at her and shook his head "I tried every single key, stupid. None of them fit!"
She sighed and repeated his actions. "I told you - you weren't putting them in the right way!"
"Yes I was!" he snapped.
"No you weren't!" she snapped back.
"Prove it!"
"Fine!"
Inuyasha stood up and stomped over to the keys, picking them up and walking back over to Kagome. "Here." he said and shoved them in her hands, holding his wrist out expectantly.
Kagome desperately tried to keep the grin off her face as she looked at the lock in his left wrist, then at each of the keys. She snatched the correct one in her hand, letting the rest dangle noisily on the key ring as she grabbed his left wrist and pushed the key in the lock. She turned it proudly and beamed triumphantly as the shackle unlatched itself from his arm and dropped to the ground. Then she quickly pulled his other arm towards her and repeated the process.
Inuyasha blinked at her in shock "What the hell..." he mumbled "How'd you do that?"
Kagome smiled in recollection as she explained with modest enthusiasm "When I was really little, one of the things my brother would do when we got bored was sneak down to the old prison cells and play with all the locks on the chains and such...so I got really good at opening them." she chuckled a little as she continued "One time, there was a guard who'd fallen asleep on duty, and so while he was still dozing we chained his ankle to the chair, and we tied one of the prison dog's leashes to his arm..." she brought her hand to her mouth as she laughed energetically. "You should have seen him when he got...up..." she trialed as she realized where her other hand was...
A slightly flustered feeling swept over her as she looked up at Inuyasha; watching the almost unnoticeable grin that had been there gradually slide away to be replaced with a hardened expression as he perceived the same thing she did. He jerked his arm back protectively and turned his gaze to his side.
"Sorry..." Kagome apologized quietly as she moved her eyes to her knees, subconsciously rubbing her offended hand. What just happened there?
"...We should leave..." Inuyasha said evenly after a long pause.
Kagome nodded politely and sat forward as Inuyasha picked her up and walked back to the door; this time not bothering for a big entrance, just simply kicking it open.
But they didn't find what they had expected to.
"Inuyasha...!" Kagome stuttered out as she hid her flushed face in his haori "I-I don't think this is the..."
"...the right room." he finished as he hurriedly shut the door and stalked the other way; his eyebrow twitching in irritation. "What moron decided to stick a damn bathing room this close to the prison cells?!"
~~*~~
"...Kanna." A deep voice called from its position at the end of the gloomy hall. "Has the boy been caught?"
"He was, lord Naraku..." the young girl's voice replied somberly "But..." she informed as she tilted her mirror to face him. "He has escaped from his chamber..."
"And not alone either, Naraku." The voice of another young woman intervened. "He's brought the little princess with him."
Naraku narrowed his eyes as she stepped into the small ray of light that was sliding through one of the open windows. "Kagura..." he started disdainfully "Where have you been?"
She stared at him, a smirk crossing her face "Just checking up on a few things..." she told him leisurely as she flicked open her fan. It really wasn't much of his business...so why tell him? Plus, there was no harm in aggravating him just a little bit...
"Why weren't you keeping an eye on the boy?" he asked her composedly.
Kagura shrugged it off as she turned her back to him "I was sort of...preoccupied." She saucily dropped over her shoulder as she strolled back down the hall.
"Kagura." He said sternly, making her stop and look rather irritably over her shoulder at him. "Catch them." he said as he showed his face in the light. "And do it quickly."
She furrowed her brow and turned her gaze towards Kanna as she answered him indignantly. "Yes, Naraku."
~~*~~
"Are you sure you know where you're going?" Kagome inquired suspiciously as he stomped down the hall.
"Yes!"
Same answer as usual....but it was obvious that he had no clue where he was.
"But this is the fourth time we've been down this corridor..."
"No it isn't!" he snapped.
"Inuyasha..." she sighed as they reached the end of the passageway once again. "Maybe I could try and help...?"
"Nope."
"But I might be able to-"
"Just let me handle this, okay!" he barked as he turned right for the fifth time. Okay...there was officially something wrong with him. Doubtless it had something to do with the fact that he seemed a bit...groggy...
"...Are you okay?"
"Fine." He answered quickly, frustration hinting his voice.
Well that was a total lie. The guy had a freaking hole in his stomach! Perhaps she should rephrase the question... "Are your wounds bothering you?"
"No, of course not. I only have a gap the size of my arm going straight through my stomach. Why the hell would I be in pain?"
Kagome winced; you know the saying 'you could cut the tension with a knife'? Well, it'd take a machete to cut the sarcasm he'd loaded that statement with. And if he was really in that much pain, he shouldn't be carrying her... "Inuyasha...put me down."
"Don't be stupid." He sighed "You know you can't walk."
"I swear..." she thought "Inuyasha's attitude changes every five seconds..." "Well, that was a while ago...I should be fine now." She reasoned optimistically "Besides, it'd probably do me some good to walk for a while!"
Inuyasha furrowed his brow at her disbelievingly. What was she on about...? He kept his doubtful gaze on her as he set her down cautiously.
Kagome frenetically tried to keep her legs straight as she felt the pads of her feet touch the cold floor. She'd have to ignore any pain she felt and walk on her own; she couldn't make Inuyasha carry her any longer, his injuries were much more severe than hers.
She gasped lightly as he released her watchfully and let her support her own weight. Forget any ideas she had of walking on her own; she wasn't gonna last three steps...! "Aep!" she yelped as her knees buckled under the strain in her ribs and fell against Inuyasha's arm. (And clung to it for dear life... -.- )
Inuyasha flinched and stiffened his upper body in an effort make holding her up a little easier. "I told you you couldn't walk!" he retorted angrily. "You should've listened to me, you stupid girl!"
She snapped her head up to face him "Well I'm sorry then!" she shouted furiously, still clinging to his arm. "I only wanted to walk so that you wouldn't have to carry me anymore! You don't have to be so mean about it, you - you big jerk!"
"I didn't mind carrying you! You didn't have to ask to get down, idiot!" he snapped as he shot her a glare.
Kagome's jaw dropped; how rude could he be!? First he called her stupid, now he was calling her an idiot! Well wait...actually, she wasn't doing much better than he was; she'd called him a jerk... "A-and who says I can't walk?!" she came back with pitifully. Couldn't she have thought of something better...?
"Ugh!" he bellowed "You just fucking collapsed! Are you trying to tell me that you can walk just fine?!"
She opened her mouth to reply, only to snap it shut again for lack of a reply. He'd gotten her with that one... "...Okay." she surrendered "But...how about I just use your arm as a walking stick. Wouldn't that be easier than carrying me?"
Inuyasha looked thoughtful for a second "I guess so..." he answered as he looked down at the floor. "A walking stick, huh?" he added flatly.
"E-eh heh heh..." she chortled uneasily; she would have placed her hand to the back of her neck if she hadn't remembered that she'd fall in the process...
She watched him curiously as he shook his head with a distressed grin, as if he was dismissing a current thought or memory. "Let's go." He said promptly. She nodded unquestioningly and tottered slowly beside him, leaning on his arm all the while. He seemed to tighten up considerably though...
They walked through the halls for quite a time, and Kagome's ribs hadn't really been bothering her too much. When they'd reach a 'fork in the corridor', so to speak, she'd point the direction she thought was correct as Inuyasha would either agree, disagree, or completely shrug it off, then they'd continue on their way once reaching another decision. "Hmm..." Kagome speculated as they reached the end of a different hall "Do you think we should go straight, or to the right?" she asked as she shifted her eyes from the hall in front of her to Inuyasha.
He sniffed the air for a moment and then frowned in puzzlement. "...Neither." He answered, not sure if he was correct himself.
"Neither...?" she reiterated, clearly confused as well.
"Well that's what I said, isn't it?" he countered sarcastically. "It isn't either way...in fact, the scent seems to be coming from..." he turned his head to the left, staring at the wall with a mystified expression.
"...the wall?" Kagome finished as she repeated the latter gesture.
He nodded "Yeah, I can almost guarantee it."
"Then...what should we do?"
"Break it down...?" he guessed.
She gave him a dull expression "How? You aren't really in any condition to do that."
"Fine then! Our only other option is to say 'open sesame' and hope for the best!" he griped.
"...Open sesame...?" Kagome tried with a glance at the wall. "Well, I guess we're out of options then..." she looked over at Inuyasha's blank expression expectantly. For some reason or another, the silence that was stretching through the air just then was rather tense...so if he wasn't gonna break it, she was. "...Umm...why don't we take a rest for a minute or so...?"
He shrugged nonchalantly "Whatever..."
They slouched over to the left wall and Inuyasha sat down in a pretzel first as Kagome doddered down beside him, straightening her legs ahead of her. But just as they both leaned back against the wall...
"Eep!" Kagome squeaked in unison with Inuyasha's 'Nangh!' as they both fell backwards onto the stone floor.
"What in the..."
"An illusion spell!" Kagome exclaimed in realization "I get it now! There really isn't a wall here!" she clarified as she sat up and swiped her hand through the now partially- transparent wall.
"So that's why the scent was coming from this direction..." Inuyasha elucidated for himself. "Trash that rest then!" he said as he swiftly got to his feet.
Kagome snapped her fingers in disappointment; a rest would have been nice... "Kay..." she complied as she stood up reluctantly and turned around, fastening herself to Inuyasha's left arm once again, and once again, feeling him tense up. He seemed extremely uncomfortable having her on his arm like that...it wasn't like they had a lot of other choices though. But when she looked up in front of them, she gasped in surprise. "The exit!" (A/N - Hmm...this would be the perfect place to stop...but I'm in a pretty good mood, and I'm not that evil anyway. ^_^ Not to mention this chapter would be way to short...)
Inuyasha blinked in bafflement (A/N - That so doesn't look like a real word... ^.^;) "Wow...didn't think we were this close to it." He replied as he ogled at the slightly opened door.
"This is great!" Kagome squealed in excitement. "We're getting out of here!"
That reminded him...he'd wanted to know how long she'd been in there. But just as he parted his lips and was about to verbalize his thoughts, he stopped himself. If he asked her that, it would sound like he actually cared. Which, of course, he didn't; his curiosity was just getting the better of him. 'Care...' his mind scoffed 'Now there's a word I haven't heard in a while...'
"C'mon, Inuyasha!" she chirped as she tugged him forward while she took a step further herself.
"Coming, coming..." he mumbled as he trailed slowly after her. (Or was tugged slowly after her, rather. ^_^)
When they reached the door, a beaming Kagome flung it open in a hurry and hauled a slumping Inuyasha with her. "Oh crap..." he thought. "Here comes the light...!" Inuyasha quickly flung his spare arm in front of his eyes in an effort to spare himself from losing his sight.
"Whoa..." Kagome breathed as the bright sunlight hit her full in the face. She had to keep her eyes closed for a minute, then finally resorted to squinting. "I'll never take sunlight for granted again!" she shouted with a laugh as she dragged Inuyasha out the door with her. She wasn't gonna let her injuries get her down; not this time.
She sucked in a breath of fresh air and looked up at the cloudless sky. Truly, she would have preferred a few fluffy giant cotton balls scattered here and there...but she'd take what she could get. Then she remembered another thing she'd missed quite a bit in that minuscule little chamber. "Trees!" she squeaked as she ran to the closest one and plopped down in the damp leaves at its roots, letting go of Inuyasha half way there. It must have rained recently...
She threw herself back into the fallen foliage and drew in another deep breath as she looked up through the bare branches at the blue sky once again. Wait... it was actually looking kinda grayish... and what was that? Oh! A could!
Inuyasha watched her peculiarly as she laid there in the leaves with her arms spread beside her. She was a strange girl...seemingly a little bit different from all the village girls he'd seen as he'd traveled. She wasn't afraid of him like they were...he really wondered why he didn't frighten her like he did them.
He kept his inquisitive eyes on her as she took a deep breath and started up at the sky. She looked so peaceful, and almost...relieved.
"What's that scent in the air...?" he wondered as he took another sniff "...a storm, huh? We shouldn't stick around then..." "Hey!" he called to his companion "We need to get moving." He told her as he walked over to her still form amidst the leaves.
"So soon...?" she whined "But we just got out... I wanted to rest for a bit." She pleaded with a frown.
"Nope" He said firmly "There's a storm coming."
"C'mon Inuyasha... I'm really tired...we have a little bit of time, don't we? And why do you want to go so soon, you idiot?! You're gonna drop dead from pain!"
"I'll be fine" he grunted and folded his arms in front of him. "Now let's go!"
Kagome sighed to herself; and again, it wasn't worth arguing with him. She'd just let him have his way. "Fine." She complied grudgingly as she got to her feet and took hold of his arm. Only then did she notice how badly her dress was ripped... "Inuyasha...!!" she began wrathfully "You - are - a - pervert!!!" she roared, scaring a few birds from their nests as she hastily pulled the upper left side of her dress up to where it belonged, tying it with a piece of material from the back.
Inuyasha flared his eyes open and yelled back "What the hell was that for!?! I have really sensitive ears, you know!!"
"For not telling me that my dress was like that!!" and infuriated Kagome shouted back.
"It wasn't my fault! And who says I was looking anyway?! It's not like you're anything special to look at in the first place!!"
"You jerk!" she screeched "You're so rude!!"
"I - don't - care!" he spat back at her as the thunder started to rumble over the clouded sky. "I don't care about you or your stupid dress!"
"Well I don't care about you either!!"
"Then why don't you just leave!?" he threw his arms up in the air, causing her to stumble a little as he felt a rain drop hit his cheek.
"M-Maybe I will!"
"Good!"
"Fine!" she cried furiously as the rain sprinkled lightly down on her.
They stood there and looked fiercely at each other as the rain began to pour on then, soaking them from head to toe. Kagome was the first to move "G-Goodbye!" she hollered her parting statement and stomped off to follow the trodden path that started from their exit.
"Good riddance!" he shouted after her as he jumped into a nearby tree and settled himself under the branches. "Stupid girl..." he grumbled.
"Dumb boy..." Kagome growled as she trudged along the muddy path in the heavy rain. Her ribs were bothering her again, but she wasn't going to let him see that. Once she was out of sight she might rest for a minute, but definitely not until then. She was actually thinking about skipping the rest altogether and looking for a town to stay in... That might be a better alternative. And since she was a princess, they'd help her out.
So she went about her not-so-merry way for quite a while. The road didn't turn much; for the most part it was straight, so it wasn't the most exciting little escapade. Not to mention the rain bucketing on her head...she must have looked like a wreck.
Kagome let out a distressed sigh and shook her head. She really shouldn't have been so stubborn and rude to Inuyasha... he had the right to be grouchy; he was probably in a lot of pain. It would have been nicer to have had him to lean on right then instead of walking all alone. He really wasn't bad company when you were around him for a while; he was just a little jagged around the edges.
Another thing that bothered her was what bad terms they'd gotten off on. Their parting words had been a very bitter 'Goodbye!' and 'Good riddance!'. Yep, they definitely could have gotten off on better terms.
She stopped and looked back, questioning herself for a minute. "Should I go back...? Maybe I should apologize to him..." she could...
But no. Kagome turned forward and resumed her trudging. Her pride had gotten the better of her.
She let her head fall lazily down as her pace slowed a bit. "How much longer...?" she bellyached to no one but herself. This road was getting tiresome...
"Princess?!"
Said girl's head shot up with hope. "A voice!"
~~*~~
Inuyasha, who happened to be very wet, sat somberly in his tree and pondered his decisions of that day.
"Was I right to tell her to go...? The damage to her rib cage was nothing to laugh about... And what if she doesn't get to the town?" he wondered. Maybe after he rested for a while he could make sure she hadn't gotten eaten by wolves or something...?
Then again maybe not; she seemed resourceful enough to survive on her own. Even if a wolf attacked her, she'd probably bite it right back. And apparently, she didn't need his help at all, because she could care less about him, and he could care less about her. She didn't matter anyway, did she?
Yeah...that was right. The only reason that he'd saved her back there was because she was a crying little girl. Nothing special about her...right?
Right.
Ahh...a nap sounded good right about now; he was tired. Plus, if he slept for a bit, he'd be free of any and every thought. Thinking was rather tiring these days. His wounds might heal a little quicker too...
'Any and every thought? Is it just me, or are you implying that you're trying not to feel guilty for not checking up on her?'
"Humph" he grunted "Who, Kagome? Guilty for what? It was her fault for walking away, not mine."
'It was your fault for yelling at her though. Do you really think she would have walked away if you wouldn't have yelled back at her?'
"Well, she was the one that made a big deal out of it in the first place, not me!"
'You know what?'
"What?"
'You're a jerk.'
"Didn't need to hear that from you!" Wait a second...from whom? Who was that voice anyway...?
No matter! Now time for that nap...
~~*~~
"Princess dear? Is that you!?" The older voice queried and took a step towards her.
"Miss Kaede!" Kagome called as she ran to her friend.
"You've escaped! Oh however did you do it, child?" Kaede inquired eagerly as she bowed quickly to her.
"Inuyasha helped me!" she piped with a smile "We got out...together..." Kagome sighed. She'd just heard her own words; 'Inuyasha helped me!'. The same Inuyasha she'd finished screaming at half hour or so ago. And once again...
Here came the guilt.
"Inuyasha?" Kaede echoed.
"Mm hm" Kagome nodded slowly "You know...the hanyou boy they were trying to catch."
"Oh Kagome dear!" the older woman gasped "Did he hurt you at all? Where is he now, child? And...this means he's free now!"
"N-no Kaede, he didn't hurt me." She answered, trying to keep up with all the questions "I don't know where he is. And yes...he's free now."
"This is very bad..." Kaede mused "Having that dangerous boy free and able to do as he pleases is not a good thing for the villages..."
Kagome frowned at that. "What do you mean? Inuyasha isn't evil or anything, he just has a bit of a temper. And I wouldn't really call him dangerous." With the exception with when he'd killed all those men earlier that day...
"Of course he's dangerous, princess dear!" she exclaimed. "He's a terrible-"
"No he isn't!" Kagome cried out "If it weren't for him I might be dead right now! He saved me! Inuyasha isn't cruel or evil, he couldn't be!"
They stood there for a minute, and Kagome finally realized how bad-mannered and childish she was acting. "I-I'm terribly sorry Miss Kaede, my behavior was awful." She apologized and bowed. Then she noticed something else...it had stopped raining.
"Kagome dear," she started with a soft smile. "Why don't you come with me. I'll give you some clean clothes and we'll have something to eat."
She returned her smile and they walked down the mud path together as Kagome told of her escape.
A/N - I know... kind of a boring ending, and I took ages to get this chapter up. EIGHT days!!! ::falls over dead:: I'm really sorry. ^ ^;; I tried to finish it quicker, but I had a busy week.... (I know, excuses excuses, huh? ^_^;) I'm pretty sure I made it the normal length... so yea. I'll really try to keep my updates under a week. ^ ^; ja!
~Eternal White~
A/N - La la la la la... update, anyone? ^_^
With You
Chapter 6
Parting Words
Inuyasha drew his foot back, bracing himself to kick down the door before him. "One...two...thr-!"
"Inuyasha."
He furrowed his brow slightly at her "What now?" he griped.
"What about the handcuffs?" she inquired curiously.
"Oh...guess I should take them off..." he grumbled and set her down on the floor, reaching into his sleeve and pulling out a set of keys.
Kagome stared at him in surprise "Where did you get those?"
A smirk crossed his face as he tried the first key "Doesn't matter" he said loosely as he let go of it with a frown and tried another. "I've got 'em now, don't I?"
She narrowed her eyes at him "Did you take it fro-"
"I might have" he interrupted, the smirk returning to his face. "Why won't any of these damn keys work...?" he grouched as he tried a fourth and a fifth one.
Kagome sighed and folded her arms, this guy wasn't gonna listen to her, so why argue with him? She had to hold back a little laugh as she watched him try the different keys though. Didn't he know what he was doing? "Inuyasha..." she started with a smiling tone in her voice "You're putting them in wrong!"
"I am not!" he shouted at his own defense "I know how to put a key in a lock!"
She just sat there and grinned at his idiocy. She'd just let him try all the keys and when he'd figured out that none of them would work the way he was putting them in, she'd help him out. Might take him a while though...
After he'd tried all eleven keys he threw them to the floor and walked back over to Kagome. "None of those are right..." he growled as he sat down. "Damn guard didn't have the right ones..."
"One of them is right!" Kagome corrected helpfully.
Inuyasha rolled his eyes at her and shook his head "I tried every single key, stupid. None of them fit!"
She sighed and repeated his actions. "I told you - you weren't putting them in the right way!"
"Yes I was!" he snapped.
"No you weren't!" she snapped back.
"Prove it!"
"Fine!"
Inuyasha stood up and stomped over to the keys, picking them up and walking back over to Kagome. "Here." he said and shoved them in her hands, holding his wrist out expectantly.
Kagome desperately tried to keep the grin off her face as she looked at the lock in his left wrist, then at each of the keys. She snatched the correct one in her hand, letting the rest dangle noisily on the key ring as she grabbed his left wrist and pushed the key in the lock. She turned it proudly and beamed triumphantly as the shackle unlatched itself from his arm and dropped to the ground. Then she quickly pulled his other arm towards her and repeated the process.
Inuyasha blinked at her in shock "What the hell..." he mumbled "How'd you do that?"
Kagome smiled in recollection as she explained with modest enthusiasm "When I was really little, one of the things my brother would do when we got bored was sneak down to the old prison cells and play with all the locks on the chains and such...so I got really good at opening them." she chuckled a little as she continued "One time, there was a guard who'd fallen asleep on duty, and so while he was still dozing we chained his ankle to the chair, and we tied one of the prison dog's leashes to his arm..." she brought her hand to her mouth as she laughed energetically. "You should have seen him when he got...up..." she trialed as she realized where her other hand was...
A slightly flustered feeling swept over her as she looked up at Inuyasha; watching the almost unnoticeable grin that had been there gradually slide away to be replaced with a hardened expression as he perceived the same thing she did. He jerked his arm back protectively and turned his gaze to his side.
"Sorry..." Kagome apologized quietly as she moved her eyes to her knees, subconsciously rubbing her offended hand. What just happened there?
"...We should leave..." Inuyasha said evenly after a long pause.
Kagome nodded politely and sat forward as Inuyasha picked her up and walked back to the door; this time not bothering for a big entrance, just simply kicking it open.
But they didn't find what they had expected to.
"Inuyasha...!" Kagome stuttered out as she hid her flushed face in his haori "I-I don't think this is the..."
"...the right room." he finished as he hurriedly shut the door and stalked the other way; his eyebrow twitching in irritation. "What moron decided to stick a damn bathing room this close to the prison cells?!"
~~*~~
"...Kanna." A deep voice called from its position at the end of the gloomy hall. "Has the boy been caught?"
"He was, lord Naraku..." the young girl's voice replied somberly "But..." she informed as she tilted her mirror to face him. "He has escaped from his chamber..."
"And not alone either, Naraku." The voice of another young woman intervened. "He's brought the little princess with him."
Naraku narrowed his eyes as she stepped into the small ray of light that was sliding through one of the open windows. "Kagura..." he started disdainfully "Where have you been?"
She stared at him, a smirk crossing her face "Just checking up on a few things..." she told him leisurely as she flicked open her fan. It really wasn't much of his business...so why tell him? Plus, there was no harm in aggravating him just a little bit...
"Why weren't you keeping an eye on the boy?" he asked her composedly.
Kagura shrugged it off as she turned her back to him "I was sort of...preoccupied." She saucily dropped over her shoulder as she strolled back down the hall.
"Kagura." He said sternly, making her stop and look rather irritably over her shoulder at him. "Catch them." he said as he showed his face in the light. "And do it quickly."
She furrowed her brow and turned her gaze towards Kanna as she answered him indignantly. "Yes, Naraku."
~~*~~
"Are you sure you know where you're going?" Kagome inquired suspiciously as he stomped down the hall.
"Yes!"
Same answer as usual....but it was obvious that he had no clue where he was.
"But this is the fourth time we've been down this corridor..."
"No it isn't!" he snapped.
"Inuyasha..." she sighed as they reached the end of the passageway once again. "Maybe I could try and help...?"
"Nope."
"But I might be able to-"
"Just let me handle this, okay!" he barked as he turned right for the fifth time. Okay...there was officially something wrong with him. Doubtless it had something to do with the fact that he seemed a bit...groggy...
"...Are you okay?"
"Fine." He answered quickly, frustration hinting his voice.
Well that was a total lie. The guy had a freaking hole in his stomach! Perhaps she should rephrase the question... "Are your wounds bothering you?"
"No, of course not. I only have a gap the size of my arm going straight through my stomach. Why the hell would I be in pain?"
Kagome winced; you know the saying 'you could cut the tension with a knife'? Well, it'd take a machete to cut the sarcasm he'd loaded that statement with. And if he was really in that much pain, he shouldn't be carrying her... "Inuyasha...put me down."
"Don't be stupid." He sighed "You know you can't walk."
"I swear..." she thought "Inuyasha's attitude changes every five seconds..." "Well, that was a while ago...I should be fine now." She reasoned optimistically "Besides, it'd probably do me some good to walk for a while!"
Inuyasha furrowed his brow at her disbelievingly. What was she on about...? He kept his doubtful gaze on her as he set her down cautiously.
Kagome frenetically tried to keep her legs straight as she felt the pads of her feet touch the cold floor. She'd have to ignore any pain she felt and walk on her own; she couldn't make Inuyasha carry her any longer, his injuries were much more severe than hers.
She gasped lightly as he released her watchfully and let her support her own weight. Forget any ideas she had of walking on her own; she wasn't gonna last three steps...! "Aep!" she yelped as her knees buckled under the strain in her ribs and fell against Inuyasha's arm. (And clung to it for dear life... -.- )
Inuyasha flinched and stiffened his upper body in an effort make holding her up a little easier. "I told you you couldn't walk!" he retorted angrily. "You should've listened to me, you stupid girl!"
She snapped her head up to face him "Well I'm sorry then!" she shouted furiously, still clinging to his arm. "I only wanted to walk so that you wouldn't have to carry me anymore! You don't have to be so mean about it, you - you big jerk!"
"I didn't mind carrying you! You didn't have to ask to get down, idiot!" he snapped as he shot her a glare.
Kagome's jaw dropped; how rude could he be!? First he called her stupid, now he was calling her an idiot! Well wait...actually, she wasn't doing much better than he was; she'd called him a jerk... "A-and who says I can't walk?!" she came back with pitifully. Couldn't she have thought of something better...?
"Ugh!" he bellowed "You just fucking collapsed! Are you trying to tell me that you can walk just fine?!"
She opened her mouth to reply, only to snap it shut again for lack of a reply. He'd gotten her with that one... "...Okay." she surrendered "But...how about I just use your arm as a walking stick. Wouldn't that be easier than carrying me?"
Inuyasha looked thoughtful for a second "I guess so..." he answered as he looked down at the floor. "A walking stick, huh?" he added flatly.
"E-eh heh heh..." she chortled uneasily; she would have placed her hand to the back of her neck if she hadn't remembered that she'd fall in the process...
She watched him curiously as he shook his head with a distressed grin, as if he was dismissing a current thought or memory. "Let's go." He said promptly. She nodded unquestioningly and tottered slowly beside him, leaning on his arm all the while. He seemed to tighten up considerably though...
They walked through the halls for quite a time, and Kagome's ribs hadn't really been bothering her too much. When they'd reach a 'fork in the corridor', so to speak, she'd point the direction she thought was correct as Inuyasha would either agree, disagree, or completely shrug it off, then they'd continue on their way once reaching another decision. "Hmm..." Kagome speculated as they reached the end of a different hall "Do you think we should go straight, or to the right?" she asked as she shifted her eyes from the hall in front of her to Inuyasha.
He sniffed the air for a moment and then frowned in puzzlement. "...Neither." He answered, not sure if he was correct himself.
"Neither...?" she reiterated, clearly confused as well.
"Well that's what I said, isn't it?" he countered sarcastically. "It isn't either way...in fact, the scent seems to be coming from..." he turned his head to the left, staring at the wall with a mystified expression.
"...the wall?" Kagome finished as she repeated the latter gesture.
He nodded "Yeah, I can almost guarantee it."
"Then...what should we do?"
"Break it down...?" he guessed.
She gave him a dull expression "How? You aren't really in any condition to do that."
"Fine then! Our only other option is to say 'open sesame' and hope for the best!" he griped.
"...Open sesame...?" Kagome tried with a glance at the wall. "Well, I guess we're out of options then..." she looked over at Inuyasha's blank expression expectantly. For some reason or another, the silence that was stretching through the air just then was rather tense...so if he wasn't gonna break it, she was. "...Umm...why don't we take a rest for a minute or so...?"
He shrugged nonchalantly "Whatever..."
They slouched over to the left wall and Inuyasha sat down in a pretzel first as Kagome doddered down beside him, straightening her legs ahead of her. But just as they both leaned back against the wall...
"Eep!" Kagome squeaked in unison with Inuyasha's 'Nangh!' as they both fell backwards onto the stone floor.
"What in the..."
"An illusion spell!" Kagome exclaimed in realization "I get it now! There really isn't a wall here!" she clarified as she sat up and swiped her hand through the now partially- transparent wall.
"So that's why the scent was coming from this direction..." Inuyasha elucidated for himself. "Trash that rest then!" he said as he swiftly got to his feet.
Kagome snapped her fingers in disappointment; a rest would have been nice... "Kay..." she complied as she stood up reluctantly and turned around, fastening herself to Inuyasha's left arm once again, and once again, feeling him tense up. He seemed extremely uncomfortable having her on his arm like that...it wasn't like they had a lot of other choices though. But when she looked up in front of them, she gasped in surprise. "The exit!" (A/N - Hmm...this would be the perfect place to stop...but I'm in a pretty good mood, and I'm not that evil anyway. ^_^ Not to mention this chapter would be way to short...)
Inuyasha blinked in bafflement (A/N - That so doesn't look like a real word... ^.^;) "Wow...didn't think we were this close to it." He replied as he ogled at the slightly opened door.
"This is great!" Kagome squealed in excitement. "We're getting out of here!"
That reminded him...he'd wanted to know how long she'd been in there. But just as he parted his lips and was about to verbalize his thoughts, he stopped himself. If he asked her that, it would sound like he actually cared. Which, of course, he didn't; his curiosity was just getting the better of him. 'Care...' his mind scoffed 'Now there's a word I haven't heard in a while...'
"C'mon, Inuyasha!" she chirped as she tugged him forward while she took a step further herself.
"Coming, coming..." he mumbled as he trailed slowly after her. (Or was tugged slowly after her, rather. ^_^)
When they reached the door, a beaming Kagome flung it open in a hurry and hauled a slumping Inuyasha with her. "Oh crap..." he thought. "Here comes the light...!" Inuyasha quickly flung his spare arm in front of his eyes in an effort to spare himself from losing his sight.
"Whoa..." Kagome breathed as the bright sunlight hit her full in the face. She had to keep her eyes closed for a minute, then finally resorted to squinting. "I'll never take sunlight for granted again!" she shouted with a laugh as she dragged Inuyasha out the door with her. She wasn't gonna let her injuries get her down; not this time.
She sucked in a breath of fresh air and looked up at the cloudless sky. Truly, she would have preferred a few fluffy giant cotton balls scattered here and there...but she'd take what she could get. Then she remembered another thing she'd missed quite a bit in that minuscule little chamber. "Trees!" she squeaked as she ran to the closest one and plopped down in the damp leaves at its roots, letting go of Inuyasha half way there. It must have rained recently...
She threw herself back into the fallen foliage and drew in another deep breath as she looked up through the bare branches at the blue sky once again. Wait... it was actually looking kinda grayish... and what was that? Oh! A could!
Inuyasha watched her peculiarly as she laid there in the leaves with her arms spread beside her. She was a strange girl...seemingly a little bit different from all the village girls he'd seen as he'd traveled. She wasn't afraid of him like they were...he really wondered why he didn't frighten her like he did them.
He kept his inquisitive eyes on her as she took a deep breath and started up at the sky. She looked so peaceful, and almost...relieved.
"What's that scent in the air...?" he wondered as he took another sniff "...a storm, huh? We shouldn't stick around then..." "Hey!" he called to his companion "We need to get moving." He told her as he walked over to her still form amidst the leaves.
"So soon...?" she whined "But we just got out... I wanted to rest for a bit." She pleaded with a frown.
"Nope" He said firmly "There's a storm coming."
"C'mon Inuyasha... I'm really tired...we have a little bit of time, don't we? And why do you want to go so soon, you idiot?! You're gonna drop dead from pain!"
"I'll be fine" he grunted and folded his arms in front of him. "Now let's go!"
Kagome sighed to herself; and again, it wasn't worth arguing with him. She'd just let him have his way. "Fine." She complied grudgingly as she got to her feet and took hold of his arm. Only then did she notice how badly her dress was ripped... "Inuyasha...!!" she began wrathfully "You - are - a - pervert!!!" she roared, scaring a few birds from their nests as she hastily pulled the upper left side of her dress up to where it belonged, tying it with a piece of material from the back.
Inuyasha flared his eyes open and yelled back "What the hell was that for!?! I have really sensitive ears, you know!!"
"For not telling me that my dress was like that!!" and infuriated Kagome shouted back.
"It wasn't my fault! And who says I was looking anyway?! It's not like you're anything special to look at in the first place!!"
"You jerk!" she screeched "You're so rude!!"
"I - don't - care!" he spat back at her as the thunder started to rumble over the clouded sky. "I don't care about you or your stupid dress!"
"Well I don't care about you either!!"
"Then why don't you just leave!?" he threw his arms up in the air, causing her to stumble a little as he felt a rain drop hit his cheek.
"M-Maybe I will!"
"Good!"
"Fine!" she cried furiously as the rain sprinkled lightly down on her.
They stood there and looked fiercely at each other as the rain began to pour on then, soaking them from head to toe. Kagome was the first to move "G-Goodbye!" she hollered her parting statement and stomped off to follow the trodden path that started from their exit.
"Good riddance!" he shouted after her as he jumped into a nearby tree and settled himself under the branches. "Stupid girl..." he grumbled.
"Dumb boy..." Kagome growled as she trudged along the muddy path in the heavy rain. Her ribs were bothering her again, but she wasn't going to let him see that. Once she was out of sight she might rest for a minute, but definitely not until then. She was actually thinking about skipping the rest altogether and looking for a town to stay in... That might be a better alternative. And since she was a princess, they'd help her out.
So she went about her not-so-merry way for quite a while. The road didn't turn much; for the most part it was straight, so it wasn't the most exciting little escapade. Not to mention the rain bucketing on her head...she must have looked like a wreck.
Kagome let out a distressed sigh and shook her head. She really shouldn't have been so stubborn and rude to Inuyasha... he had the right to be grouchy; he was probably in a lot of pain. It would have been nicer to have had him to lean on right then instead of walking all alone. He really wasn't bad company when you were around him for a while; he was just a little jagged around the edges.
Another thing that bothered her was what bad terms they'd gotten off on. Their parting words had been a very bitter 'Goodbye!' and 'Good riddance!'. Yep, they definitely could have gotten off on better terms.
She stopped and looked back, questioning herself for a minute. "Should I go back...? Maybe I should apologize to him..." she could...
But no. Kagome turned forward and resumed her trudging. Her pride had gotten the better of her.
She let her head fall lazily down as her pace slowed a bit. "How much longer...?" she bellyached to no one but herself. This road was getting tiresome...
"Princess?!"
Said girl's head shot up with hope. "A voice!"
~~*~~
Inuyasha, who happened to be very wet, sat somberly in his tree and pondered his decisions of that day.
"Was I right to tell her to go...? The damage to her rib cage was nothing to laugh about... And what if she doesn't get to the town?" he wondered. Maybe after he rested for a while he could make sure she hadn't gotten eaten by wolves or something...?
Then again maybe not; she seemed resourceful enough to survive on her own. Even if a wolf attacked her, she'd probably bite it right back. And apparently, she didn't need his help at all, because she could care less about him, and he could care less about her. She didn't matter anyway, did she?
Yeah...that was right. The only reason that he'd saved her back there was because she was a crying little girl. Nothing special about her...right?
Right.
Ahh...a nap sounded good right about now; he was tired. Plus, if he slept for a bit, he'd be free of any and every thought. Thinking was rather tiring these days. His wounds might heal a little quicker too...
'Any and every thought? Is it just me, or are you implying that you're trying not to feel guilty for not checking up on her?'
"Humph" he grunted "Who, Kagome? Guilty for what? It was her fault for walking away, not mine."
'It was your fault for yelling at her though. Do you really think she would have walked away if you wouldn't have yelled back at her?'
"Well, she was the one that made a big deal out of it in the first place, not me!"
'You know what?'
"What?"
'You're a jerk.'
"Didn't need to hear that from you!" Wait a second...from whom? Who was that voice anyway...?
No matter! Now time for that nap...
~~*~~
"Princess dear? Is that you!?" The older voice queried and took a step towards her.
"Miss Kaede!" Kagome called as she ran to her friend.
"You've escaped! Oh however did you do it, child?" Kaede inquired eagerly as she bowed quickly to her.
"Inuyasha helped me!" she piped with a smile "We got out...together..." Kagome sighed. She'd just heard her own words; 'Inuyasha helped me!'. The same Inuyasha she'd finished screaming at half hour or so ago. And once again...
Here came the guilt.
"Inuyasha?" Kaede echoed.
"Mm hm" Kagome nodded slowly "You know...the hanyou boy they were trying to catch."
"Oh Kagome dear!" the older woman gasped "Did he hurt you at all? Where is he now, child? And...this means he's free now!"
"N-no Kaede, he didn't hurt me." She answered, trying to keep up with all the questions "I don't know where he is. And yes...he's free now."
"This is very bad..." Kaede mused "Having that dangerous boy free and able to do as he pleases is not a good thing for the villages..."
Kagome frowned at that. "What do you mean? Inuyasha isn't evil or anything, he just has a bit of a temper. And I wouldn't really call him dangerous." With the exception with when he'd killed all those men earlier that day...
"Of course he's dangerous, princess dear!" she exclaimed. "He's a terrible-"
"No he isn't!" Kagome cried out "If it weren't for him I might be dead right now! He saved me! Inuyasha isn't cruel or evil, he couldn't be!"
They stood there for a minute, and Kagome finally realized how bad-mannered and childish she was acting. "I-I'm terribly sorry Miss Kaede, my behavior was awful." She apologized and bowed. Then she noticed something else...it had stopped raining.
"Kagome dear," she started with a soft smile. "Why don't you come with me. I'll give you some clean clothes and we'll have something to eat."
She returned her smile and they walked down the mud path together as Kagome told of her escape.
A/N - I know... kind of a boring ending, and I took ages to get this chapter up. EIGHT days!!! ::falls over dead:: I'm really sorry. ^ ^;; I tried to finish it quicker, but I had a busy week.... (I know, excuses excuses, huh? ^_^;) I'm pretty sure I made it the normal length... so yea. I'll really try to keep my updates under a week. ^ ^; ja!
~Eternal White~