Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha but my wonderful Kate who I love SOOOOOOO über much bought me Inuyasha Manga 13!!!!!!!!!!! I've been waiting 4 that 4 weeks! I LOVE YOU MY KAKAROT-CHAN!!!!!!!!!!
Amehana: well just lemme tell ya how hard this has been, I love this ficcy so much & I don't want it 2 end but…its taking so darn long 2 do!!!!!!!! Last chapter I had particular trouble with…& this one better be easier. Though I'm not sure it will be…
Let's review…
Myoga has just informed Inuyasha of his "inheritance" but what the heck is he talking about? You'll have 2 R&R 2 find out.
Chapter XIII– Somewhere I Belong
The wind blew cold against the gray sky, the hanyou's amber eyes widened a little; for reasons he couldn't explain he didn't like the remark his little servant had just told him.
"Nani?" Inuyasha asked in a surprisingly calm voice.
Myoga just smiled a smile that someone gives you when they know something you don't and you want to know but…anyway…it was a very self centered smile, with a hint of pride for whatever accomplishment he had performed to know this particular bit of information.
"Well, you don't think your father was the only one who left with something valuable, do you?" the old flea asked, alluding to the sword at Inuyasha's waist.
Kagome gasped a little as Inuyasha blinked with wide eyes.
Then Inuyasha grabbed Myoga in between his fore and middle finger claws, apparently trying to kill the tiny youkai. He glared daggers. "What did you say?" Inuyasha growled.
Kagome then glared at the enraged hanyou. "Inuyasha, if you kill him he won't be able to tell us. Duh."
"Shut up, Kagome." Inuyasha said cruelly without even having the decency to look at her, but he let Myoga drop into his palm, regardless of his implied apathy concerning the point she had just stated.
Kagome found herself doing that weird growling thing again.
The inu-oni ignored her threat completely and went back to terrorizing the minuscule youkai in his hand. "Explain." he commanded.
"Well, Inuyasha-sama, your father left you his great blade Tetsusaiga, but your mother also wanted to leave you something."
Inuyasha blinked once and relaxed, he fell silent, trying his best not to look saddened. He didn't do too well with that.
"Myoga-jichan?" Kagome questioned slowly, considering it looked like her fellow hanyou didn't want to continue. Something inside told her to press this matter until it was completely solved. And Inuyasha didn't seem have any objection to her prodding at the moment.
The flea youkai turned to her "Hai?"
Kagome twitched slightly, what a moron he was, "What is it!?"
"I don't have it with me for it's something I must take you to." Myoga seemed pretty pleased with himself at this point in the game.
The silence in Inuyasha ceased. His left eye twitched. In one unexpected movement he had Myoga in the same position as earlier– in his claws. "And why didn't you ever say anything earlier about this before?! … not that I believe you…"
"Well milord, I was informed to wait until the time was right." Myoga said as best as could while being choked to death.
"And what the hell is that supposed to mean?!" The inu-oni yelled and squeezed his victim tighter.
This time Kagome didn't tell Inuyasha to stop; she just gave Myoga a blank and disapproving look as she realized something. "Probably that he was supposed to tell you a long time ago and either forgot or waited until we killed Naraku off– we're pretty dangerous people to be around." she calmly explained with a sweat drop, though her epiphany come as a surprise to her.
Inuyasha "keh"'d in agreement and dropped Myoga on the ground, who looked like he was an inch from passing away into Nirvana.
But after a few seconds after lying in a deathlike state on the ground, the tiny youkai regained consciousness and jumped up to Kagome's shoulder.
Inuyasha stubbornly crossed his arms inside the long sleeves of his haori and glared at the bug on Kagome's shoulder, "Yeah. Right."
With that he turned on his heels to walk to…somewhere.
"But it's true Inuyasha-sama!" Myoga protested.
"Fine, then show me." Inuyasha said sarcastically without turning around to address him.
"Okaaaaaaaaaaaaay!" The old flea cried happily and jumped off Kagome's shoulder and onto Inuyasha's.
Kagome sighed in defeat, slumping over for a second, but then perked up herself and ran to catch up with the two demons in front of her.
"So… it's a residence?" Miroku said to Myoga on his shoulder.
"Hai, one of great magnitude." the flea replied.
"It's interesting…" Sango said as she walked by the monk's side.
"What is, Sango?" Miroku asked.
"Well…it's near to the village but not that close…like it was planned or something…" the slayer said as she stared idly at the scene in front of the group of four (Kirara was on her shoulder).
"Of course it was planned! Inuyasha's mother was an amazing woman! She had the best seers in the land find a location, and the best carpenters to build it!" Myoga cried while jumping up and down on Miroku's shoulder to emphasis his words.
He stopped jumping. "Do you mean to say that you cannot believe me?"
Sango and Miroku exchanged glances then looked at Myoga and said, "Yes" in unison.
The old flea sighed dejectedly.
The monk looked behind him, "I can't even see Kaede-sama's village anymore."
Sango nodded "We're pretty far."
"But near enough to where we could get back in time to help them if we ran or rode on Kirara…if there was an attack." Miroku added, his eyes sliding back to where the unseen village was in concern.
"They'll be alright, houshi-sama…at least I hope so…" Sango told him.
He nodded uncertainly.
Ahead, Inuyasha and Kagome walked in silence.
She looked at him, concern in her sliver-blue eyes. He may be acting weird, but she still cared about him…a lot… She knew that this was probably hard for him; he hated to talk about his mother. The girl didn't exactly know why, she guessed it was because his mother was a human, but perhaps it was hard because Inuyasha really did love her… when she was alive, that is…
"Ahh! Help me, I can't see!" Shippo cried from the tall grass.
Kagome blinked at the sound of his voice, she had been so preoccupied in trying to find out what was with Inuyasha lately she hadn't even thought about poor Shippo! It wasn't surprising; the grass was so tall that it brushed against her waist– this was an untouched part of the country. Out of sight, out of mind.
Before the miko could do anything to help her little Shippo, Inuyasha had sighed in disapproval but without one word he picked up Shippo and set him on his shoulders. He may be acting weird, but he was still Inuyasha.
"Thanks, Inuyasha" Shippo said gratefully– that field was scary all alone!
"Keh" was the hanyou only reply, but Kagome could see the pain over this current matter return to his eyes.
That same concern for him flickered in her own eyes. Then, unseen to anyone else thanks to the tall grass, she slipped her hand in his.
Inuyasha didn't even look at her, but he felt the gesture all right. For one second he wondered of he should continue with his plan and reject her but maybe…just this once…
He held her hand back and enlaced their fingers together. All the while neither of them made any sign that this was happening at all– they kept staring ahead as if nothing happened– contrary to the feeling of safety inside both of their hearts that had flared with the contact.
"How much longer, Myoga?" Miroku asked.
"A few more miles" the questioned one answered.
"Ah, here we are" Myoga said happily and the team stopped their walked.
After a gentle slope downward, the field had flattened once more to give way to a large clearing surrounded by massive, tall trees. The tall grass had suddenly shortened to an ankle length.
But there was nothing there.
Or so they thought.
After a few second of staring Kagome had an epiphany she walked forward a small ways. "There's a barrier here…a strong one…"
Kagome walked up to the barrier that one else present, but she, could sense.
The hanyou placed her hands out in front her and called up a small, blue amount of chi on her finger tips that flickered like the reflection of water against leaves of trees. Carefully, controlling her energy –she didn't dare use more chi or pierce the barrier with an arrow, for she had no idea if she could damage the thing inside or not– she placed one hand on the wall that was more sensed than seen.
As she gently touched it, the barrier lit up to reveal its dome form, the off white blue swirling as it stood, then seconds after showing its true form it disappeared at Kagome's silent command.
Their eyes widened in unison at the sight in front of them in shock, save Myoga, who looked more pleased with himself than ever.
There in front of them, just like Myoga had said was a house…no, a fortress…okay, so it wasn't big enough to be a fortress but it looked like it could belong to a lord of the age or some similar form of hierarchy.
And it wasn't just one building, it was four. They were in the style of this time period –long, one story, buildings. They had roofs that came to a point at the top all the way down the length of the structure– all made out of wood.
The building walls were of wood too, but it had the customary rice paper, sliding doors. There were four of the doors on each wall of each building, which showed the separate rooms, most had windows of glass, rare for the Feudal era, meaning expensive.
The four buildings were divided in pairs with a large space in between them; the space could serve as a courtyard.
The two houses that made up each pair were closer and joined with two walkways (roofed but open), one at the front and at the back of the two spaces between each house. And the four structures were joined by one walkway going through all four buildings.
So each of these buildings was separate, but connected by the walkways and main hall, which, also was an airy walkway.
(A/N: I'm SO sorry if you're confused about what it looks like, I'll have my artist ne-chan draw it for you, if she will– keep reading!)
In a daze the team walked into the courtyard glancing around them to no end, their eyes soaking up the scene.
They could see that all four buildings had porches going down the full length on both sides.
"I suppose it wouldn't hurt to look around, sō?" Miroku asked.
"Of course not!" Myoga said with glee as he jumped off the monk's shoulder.
"Um…okay…let's spilt up" Sango suggested, and much to Miroku's surprise she linked arms with him and dragged him to one side so they could explore the building pair on the right. On the way she shot a glance at Kagome that clearly said, "You find out what's up with Inuyasha considering he yours."
The hanyou didn't know whether to be glaring or smile thankfully at her friend, but before she could decide, the monk, slayer and cat demon had disappeared into the closest house on the right.
Shippo jumped down from Inuyasha's shoulders and easily landed upright on the grass. He pointed to a circular stone structure that he could see beyond the main walkway. "What's that Myoga?"
The flea hopped to the kit's shoulder, "I'll show you."
The fox demon smiled and ran forward, jumping up on the main walkway ahead, going across, then down jumping off of it to investigate.
Kagome and Inuyasha stood for a moment in silence, then Kagome looked at Inuyasha. "Are you okay?"
He nodded without looking at her.
"No you're not."
"Don't concern yourself with me…" he said lightly.
The demoness blinked "Why not?"
"Just don't." Inuyasha returned coldly and turned to the left and went off into the houses to explore.
Kagome stared after him, even when he was gone. Something was wrong with him. Very wrong.
"Kagome! Come here!" Shippo joy filled yell broke her sad trance, so she smiled and did as asked.
Sango sighed, "It's so beautiful…even though it's dreary outside"
"Hai, it is." Miroku agreed.
The rings on his holy staff jingled with his step. He, Sango and Kirara had finished their investigation and found that they liked this place very much. So they decided to explore the forest around and were finding they greatly approved of it too.
It was beautiful. They could scarcely see the gray sky trough the small gaps of the trees above, the grass was as green as the leaves and plants around.
Wild flowers dotted the forest floor and gently brushed against their ankles as they walked.
"Houshi-sama?" Sango began.
"Sango…" Miroku protested with a sigh.
"Nani?"
"Must you call me that? It's so formal." the monk said.
Sango blinked, "But…I'm supposed to."
"Yes, well, I give you permission to call me by my name, that is if you don't mind…"
The huntress smiled. "No, of course not!" she continued. "Anyway, Miroku?"
"Hai"
"Have you noticed how Inuyasha's been acting awkward lately?"
Miroku thought back for a moment. "Yes, I have, ever since Kagome-sama was changed by Midoriko-sama."
"Hai, that's what I thought…I wonder what's wrong with him"
"That I don't know, but I'd rather not have to be the one who asks."
The slayer smiled wryly with agreement. "Yeah, I agree with that…it's just…it's bothering Kagome-chan."
Miroku smiled, "You don't want anything to happen to their relationship do you?"
"No!"
"Me either."
Sango smiled this time, but then sighed, "I just wish there was something I could do…" she couldn't exactly finish.
But fortunately Miroku finished for her. "But we really shouldn't get involved and screw things up."
"Sō"
The houshi sighed, "Well, I pray it'll be all right soon."
Sango nodded "Yeah". The slayer glanced up into the canopy wondering if everything would be all right.
"So…if we fill it with water, it'll be a pond?" Shippo asked as he walked next Kagome down the long corridor-porch.
"Hai" the miko answered.
"Cool! We could get goldfish and Koi (A/N: those are those oriental fish you see in paintings. They are usually gold, orange or black…completely different from the word "koi" which means "my love" – try not to get confused it will be terribly sad if you think the couples are calling each other fish…funny though) and water lilies for it!" the kitsune said happily.
Kagome smiled. "Hai…and maybe I could save enough money for a fountain and make Inuyasha and Miroku set it up."
"Yay! Fountain, fountain, fountain…er, Kagome what's a fountain?"
The addressed girl giggled, "It's like water that shoot up from a pump…they're really pretty"
"OOOOOOOOOOOO" he said in approval, and then Shippo "eep"'d when thunder cracked in the sky.
"Well…the rain's finally here…." Kagome said, "I suppose we can't go back to the village, we won't make it in time."
"And why should you?" Myoga exclaimed, "This place was built for you all!"
Shippo blinked along with Kagome, "Really?"
Myoga sweat dropped. "Hai!"
"But, Myoga-jichan, if Inuyasha's mother really did build this place…how could she know that other people would be with Inuyasha? …"
"She didn't, of course, she just issued for the construction with the last of her money…I suppose she just hoped he wouldn't be alone."
"Oh…but then who set up the barrier?"
"As I will explain to everyone at dinner, Inuyasha-sama's mother knew a priestess. That miko made it unable to be seen or removed to all except another priestess". The old flea said.
"Interesting." Kagome replied, and then lost herself in thought.
"So…it's ours? We can live here?" Shippo asked Myoga.
"Hai!" the flea demon said, regaining his earlier visage self-centered pride.
"Cool! I wanna pick out my room! Lesse…four rooms on each building and four buildings…" Shippo said to no one in particular.
"Kagome, what's that?" the kit asked.
The hanyou was snapped out her flow of musings. "Huh?"
"What's four times four?"
"Sixteen."
"Thanks, so…I've got sixteen rooms to choose from…"
Kagome smiled. She liked this place…it seemed too big for a house to her, but then again it would be for five people and a cat-like thing. The forest around seemed wonderful also. All this place needed was some fixing up.
She decided she would like it here…if only a certain other hanyou was as happy as she was…
Owari Chapter Jūsan
Amehana: okay I know, lame and unreasonable, but hey, the Inuyasha series is based on the opposite of reason…sort of…anyway lets not let me go off on that tangent.
I had to give them a place 2 live since, they can't keep hanging out in Kaede's place all their lives, and the villagers are kind of afraid of Inuyasha, and I didn't want them 2 build a house because I think that's even more lame than this (buts that's because I'm mentally insane) and it would take too long…enough ranting.
This chapter title is…you guessed it! An allusion!
"Somewhere I belong" Is a song by Linkin Park
sings (now you be quiet– if there's one thing I know it's that I have great voice)
♫ I wanna heal
I wanna feel
What I thought was never real
I wanna let go of the pain I've felt so long…
I wanna heal
I wanna feel
Like I'm close to something real
I wanna find something I've wanted all along…
Somewhere I belong
I wanna heal
I wanna feel like I'm
Somewhere I belong♪
Doesn't have anything 2 do w/ a house but it sounds like Inu's the narrator. Perhaps I should write a songfic to it, ne?
What in the name of God's red pajamas is up with Inuyasha?! I don't know myself, and I am only the author of this story, but I hope we all find out soon (don't worry we will).
Now 4 the sad news…
I'M STUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have a point 2 get 2 but I don't know how 2 get there yet, this is going 2 take some massive pondering sessions (i.e. when my mother & father are scolding me for doing something "stupid").
Well, that's it…
Sayonara and be sure to review, kids .