Disclaimer : I don't own Inuyasha or Lord of the Rings (I know I haven't written any fanfiction about Lord of the Ring, but one of my lines in the story sounded a lot like a line from The Two Towers.) I just wanted to be safe.
Captured Moon : I loved your review, thanks. I did count it as two.
Chapter Seven
Kikyou smiled to herself as she sat in the dark room. She was beginning to have an affect on Kagome. At first she had trouble, all she could do was call out Kagome's name, but she actually got Kagome to walk toward the castle a little bit.
"She's being worn down, it won't take long now." She whispered into the shadows.
"Lady Kikyou, Lady Kikyou. Someone was in the castle."
"What?" Kikyou walked out of the room and into a hallway. She saw one of her servants running to reach her.
"One of the cooks found a demon walking around the castle."
"What did he look like?" Kikyou asked.
"I didn't get a good look at him, but I was told that he had black hair and a tail, like a wolf."
"A wolf? I couldn't have been Inuyasha. Find him, who knows what he heard." She said, then the servant left to find someone in the castle willing to hunt a wolf demon.
xxxxxxxx
"Why are we going to Kaede's house?" Miroku asked. They had all been walking all day and Kagome didn't go into much detail.
"Because I want to." Kagome responded.
"Don't bother arguing." Inuyasha told him. "I know from experience, we should listen to her."
Kagome smiled at Inuyasha, she didn't feel like explaining the voice in her head to anyone, not now a least.
Shippo jumped up on Inuyasha's shoulders without warning. "Hey, runt!" Inuyasha yelled, "What's the big deal?"
"I'm tired a walking."
"I don't care."
"But you give Kagome rides all the time. And I'm lighter then her."
"Shippo. I'm not so heavy." Kagome shot Shippo a mean look.
"You could stand to lose a few pounds." Inuyasha mumbled.
"Sit!" Kagome screamed. "I'm not fat."
"I was only joking." he said into the ground. Shippo started laughing as he got off of Inuyasha's shoulders.
"Ok, you don't have to give me a ride." Shippo said while trying to stop.
"Stupid runt."
"Inuyasha," Miroku bent down to his level. "Even I know, not to joke about a girl being fat."
"Fine." Inuyasha stood up and brushed some dirt off his cloths, "I'm sorry Kagome."
Sango, Miroku, and Shippo were a little stunned. Inuyasha wasn't really an I'm-sorry kind a guy.
"You're forgiven." Kagome said. "I can carry you, Shippo.". Shippo thanked her and rode on her shoulder for the rest of the day.
Kagome didn't talk a whole lot until she heard the voice, Kagome … Kagome are you listening. She put her hands over her ears "Yes! Will you just SHUT UP!" She yelled.
"Nobody said anything." Sango said.
Kagome stopped walking and looked at her. "What?"
"I said, nobody said anything."
"I know."
Inuyasha let out a frustrated groan. "Kagome stop acting like that."
"Like what?"
"You told us to shut up, but nobody was talking." Miroku replied.
"I — I said that out loud?" Kagome thought she only thought that.
"Yeah, you're weird Kagome." Shippo said.
"Is anything wrong?" Sango stared into Kagome's eyes, as if she was trying to see something.
"No, nothing." She broke her eye contact with Sango and looked down at her feet.
"Alright." Sango said, but Kagome could tell that she didn't believe her.
"Are we going to see Kaede or what?" Inuyasha complained.
"Yes." Kagome mumbled, then started walking again. Everyone followed her in silence for a little while. They had no idea what had just happened.
Eventually Inuyasha got tired of the silence and tried to get everyone talking again. "Kagome, what should we do for your birthday?"
"Birthday?" Miroku asked. "It's your birthday?"
"Not for a few days." Kagome responded. "Inuyasha, who told you?"
"Your brother."
"Should we have a party?" Sango asked.
"I love parties!" Shippo yelled.
"No, I don't want you guys to make a big deal out of it."
Inuyasha and Miroku rolled their eyes. "Kagome, we're not going to fall for that." Miroku said.
"Fall for what?"
"You know," Inuyasha said, "Girls say that they don't want a party, but they really do."
"I don't."
"Kagome I - " Inuyasha started to talk, but he stooped and sniffed the air.
"What's wrong Inuyasha?" Sango asked.
"Kagome do you remember when you asked me what animal was my favorite?"
"Yeah."
"I can tell you the animal I hate the most."
"Huh."
"Wolf. I hate wolfs."
Kagome was confused when Inuyasha said this, but when she sensed jewel shards she knew that it meant Kouga was around. "Kouga!" She called out.
"Why are you calling him?" Inuyasha asked.
Kagome just shot him a cold look and continued calling. "Kouga. Are you following us?"
She was answered by Kouga jumping down from one of the trees a few feet away from her. "Hello Kagome." He grabbed her hand and kissed it, causing Inuyasha to growl a little bit.
"What are you doing here?" she said, Kouga didn't let go of her hand.
"I need to talk with you, alone." He said eyeing Inuyasha.
"What do you need to talk to her about?" Inuyasha asked.
Kagome could tell that they were both ready to fight if she didn't do something. "Why do you want talk with me alone?"
Kouga turned his eyes from Inuyasha to Kagome, "Just … something." Kagome eyed him suspiciously, "Come on Kagome. I just need to talk to you."
Kagome pulled her hand away from Kouga, this made Inuyasha feel a little bit better. "Fine." She said and followed Kouga away from everyone's ear shot.
"What do you think he wants?" Sango asked after a few uncomfortably silent moments.
"He probably just wants to convince Kagome to go away with him and become his mate, or something like that." Miroku said, he sat down on the ground. Sango took the spot next to him and rested her head on his shoulder.
"Inuyasha, are you ok?" Shippo asked. The others looked at Inuyasha and saw that he was truly angry. His eyes were fixed on the spot he saw Kouga and Kagome disappeared in.
"Inuyasha?" Sango called out, but he just ignored them.
"Who dose he think he is!" Inuyasha finally yelled out. "How dose he know we're not in a hurry or something!"
"Inuyasha he only wanted to -"
"What if he tries to kidnap Kagome! We wouldn't even know it until it was to late."
Sango stood up and grabbed Inuyasha's arm. "Inuyasha you need to calm down."
Inuyasha looked at her for a few seconds then pulled away. "I'm gonna follow her." He said then jumped and ran through the trees.
"He's hopeless." Miroku muttered.
xxxxx With Kagome and Kouga xxxxx
Kagome followed Kouga silently till he stopped walking and stood still. He didn't say anything for a long time, so Kagome tried to talk to him. "Kouga, I don't have all day …"
"I know, I just needed to tell you something."
"What?"
He glanced in the directions of the mountains. "There is a castle up in the mountains and - "
"I know. Inuyasha and I have already been to it."
Kouga looked at Kagome, he was a little taken back. "So, you know that a lady named Kikyou owns it."
"Yeah." Kagome said with a bit of detest in her voice.
"And you know about her calling you!"
"What?"
Kouga looked into Kagome's eyes, "I was sniffing around the castle to find out more about the woman who lives there and I heard her talking about you."
Kikyou was talking about me! Kagome thought. She knew that this couldn't be a good signal.
"She said something about making you come to her castle, or something."
"Do you know why?"
"No." Kouga blushed a little bit, but tried to hide it. "One of the servants found me and I had to run."
Kagome smiled. "The great and powerful Kouga, running away with his tail between his legs!"
"It wasn't like that Kagome!" he yelled.
"Sure. If that's all you wanted to talk to me about, I'll get back to Inuyasha." Kagome said. She started to turn and walk away form Kouga, but he grabbed her arm.
"Kagome, could I ask you something?"
Kagome heard a faint growl on the wind and looked up. In a tree not too far away sat Inuyasha. She normally would have been mad, but for some reason she didn't care. "What?" she said to Kouga, he didn't have to know that Inuyasha was there.
"I want you to know that …"
"What?"
"That I still stand by my offer."
"What offer?"
He let go of her arm and grabbed her hand. "Kagome, you could leave Inuyasha behind and come with me. Be my mate. You'll be better off." He stepped closer to Kagome and kissed her.
Inuyasha had to hold onto the branch he was sitting in to keep himself from jumping down and attacking Kouga. Kagome he thought Don't let him do that, you're mine.
It was much to Inuyasha's relief when Kagome pulled away from Kouga and slapped him hard in the face. "Kouga, what the hell do you think you're doing!" she screamed loud enough to make Inuyasha and Kouga cover their ears.
"Kagome, you should be with me."
"Why? Give me one good reason why I should go with you."
Kouga started to pace around and talk quickly. "Kagome, I'm a lot better then that Inuyasha guy you're always with."
"First of all," Kagome said with anger still in her voice, "I don't want to be with a guy who thinks he's the gods gift to women. And second," Kagome continued in a louder tone then before, "You're not half the man Inuyasha is … and you never will be!"
Kouga stared at Kagome for a few seconds then walked off mumbling something, but the only part Kagome heard was 'being around Inuyasha must have messed with her mind'.
"You can come down now Inuyasha." Kagome said when her temper had gone away.
"You knew I was here?" He said when he jumped down from the tree."Yeah, I saw you a while ago."
"And you didn't say 'sit' once, I'm impressed." He laughed.
Kagome surprised Inuyasha by wrapping her arms around his neck and hugging him closely. "Thank you for not attacking him Inuyasha."
"I figured you could take care of yourself. Besides I liked how that turned out. It must have hurt him when you slapped him."
Kagome pulled her arms from around his neck, Inuyasha wished she hadn't done that, he liked her hugs.
"Come on, the others will want to know where we are." They started to walk to the spot where Sango, Shippo, and Miroku where waiting.
"Kagome, you know what would make me really happy."
"What?"
"If you told me that Kouga was a really bad kisser."
Kagome put her hand up to her chin and pretended to be in deep thought. "I don't know." She said. "I don't have a lot of guys to compare him to."
Inuyasha stopped walking and put both his hands on the side of Kagome's face. He leaned down and kissed her deeply and passionately. Kagome felt his tongue slip through her lips. Their kiss broke only for air.
"Compared to that." Inuyasha said, but he didn't let go of Kagome's face.
"Compared to that, Kouga is the worst kisser in the world." Kagome said, she leaned in for another kiss, but heard the voices of Sango and Shippo talking. "We should get back." She whispered, almost hoping that Inuyasha wouldn't listen to her, but he was too nice of a guy.
"Alright." He grabbed Kagome's hand as they started to walk in the direction that the voices came from.
"Kagome, you're back." Shippo shouted when he saw Kagome and Inuyasha walking toward them.
Sango was the only one who noticed that the two of them were holding hands, but she decided not to bring it up. Not now anyway.
"What did Kouga want?" Miroku asked when they all started to walk again.
"Oh." Kagome had almost forgotten about Kouga. "He wanted to warn me about something."
"What?"
Kagome thought about it for a few moments, then decided not to tell them what he said. She didn't want them to worry, at least not until she could talk to Kaede about it. "Umm nothing important."
"If it wasn't important he wouldn't have wanted to talk to you alone." Sango said. "Unless he tried to win over your heart or something."
Kagome blushed a little bit, "Actually he did, he tried to -" she paused for a second, "Inuyasha, when did you drop in on our conversation?"
"Just in time to hear you say that he 'ran away with his tail between his legs.' " Inuyasha said, not bothering to hide his laugh.
"What was he running from?" Miroku asked. He knew that Kouga was a brave demon that normally wouldn't run away from anything.
Inuyasha looked down at Kagome and could tell that she desperately wanted the subject to be changed. "Hey Shippo, why don't show Kagome, that new move you learned." He said, in a tone that let Shippo know it wasn't a request.
"Sure." Shippo responded.
Kagome gave Inuyasha a thank you look and squeezed his hand a little bit as she watched Shippo run a few feet ahead of them.
xxxxx At Kaede's House xxxxx
Kaede sat outside her house and watched some of the children from her village run around. They were playing some kind of game that she vaguely remembered from when she was a small child.
"Lady Kaede!" One of the boys walked up to her, "Isn't that Inuyasha?"
Kaede looked in the direction that the boy was pointing. "Yes." She said. She could see Miroku and Sango walking beside Shippo and a little bit behind them, Kagome and Inuyasha were walking hand in hand while talking to each other.
Seeing Kagome and Inuyasha like that interested her, and she wondered if this meant they had finally developed feelings for each other.
"Hello Kaede." Shippo yelled out as she walked over to them.
"I wasn't expecting you back so soon." She said, it had only been a few days seine they left.
"Kagome wanted to talk to you." Sango said.
Kaede looked at Kagome who was still talking with Inuyasha, though they weren't holding hands anymore. She had a happy look on her face, but Kaede could tell that something was bothering her.
"Kagome, did you want to talk with me?"
Kagome stared at Kaede blankly for a few moments, then regained her train of thoughts, "Yes. I do. Could we talk later tonight?"
"Of course."
Everyone went into Kaede's house and sat down to discuss all the things that had happened on their journey. When dinner was given the conversation died down.
Inuyasha was the first one to finish his food and when he did he moved closer to Kagome and wrapped his arm around her waist.
"So." Kaede set her plate aside, "You and Inuyasha seem to be a bit closer now then you were a few weeks ago."
When she said that Kagome was taken of guard and she swallowed her food to quickly. She started choking and her face turned red. Everyone tried to do something to help her. Sango ran to get her some water, Inuyasha tried hitting her on the back, and Miroku laughed at the color of Kagome's face.
The first thing that Kagome did when she drank the water was hit Miroku hard on the head for laughing at her. "Jerk." She mumbled
Everyone finished up dinner then went off to bed, except for Kagome and Kaede. "What did you want to talk about child." She said when she was sure that everyone was asleep.
"Lady Kaede, there is something I need to tell you. I haven't told anyone else.""What?"
"I don't want you to think I'm crazy, but I've been hearing a voice in my head."
Kaede sat back, "Whose voice?"
"I'm not sure, but I think it might be Kikyou."
"What?"
"I started hearing the voice about the same time we left her castle."
"Castle? Kikyou has a castle?"
"Yeah it's somewhere in the mountains."
Kaede closed her eyes and sat silently for a few moments. Kagome couldn't tell if she asleep or just thinking. She sat back and waited for Kaede to open her eyes again when she heard the voice. Kagome, come here.
Kagome couldn't resist it very long. She stood up and walked out the door. Kagome had no idea where she was going, she just let her feet lead her.
"Kagome?" a hand rested on Kagome's shoulder. Inuyasha had woken up when he smelt Kagome's scent as she walked out of the house. "Where are you going?"
Kagome turned and faced Inuyasha. She saw that Kaede was not far behind him. "I don't know." She replied.
Inuyasha was a little confused when she said this, but he thought she must have been tired or something. "Come on, you're going to sleep." He said and he started to pull Kagome back to Kaede's house.
Kagome looked at Kaede. "Go to sleep Kagome, I need some time to think about what you said." She nodded and walked off.
Inuyasha continued to pull Kagome until he got to the tree he had been sleeping in before. He stopped walking and grabbed Kagome around the waist.
"Inuyasha?" Kagome started to protest to the idea of sleeping in the tree.
"What?"
"N-nothing." When she looked up into his amber eyes, she remembered the way it felt when his arms were around her and she fell asleep listing to his heart beat.
Inuyasha jumped into the tree and found a comfortable stop for him and Kagome. "When are you going back to your time, Kagome?"
Kagome had her eyes closed and was already starting to fall asleep. "Tomorrow."
"Can I -"
"Can you what?" she said while yawing.
"Can I come with you?"
Kagome took a few extra seconds to answer (though it seemed like hours to Inuyasha.) "Sure." She rested her head on Inuyasha chest and fell asleep quickly.
"Good night Kagome." Inuyasha whispered. He was really happy that he would go to Kagome's time with her. Maybe he would even get the chance to tell Kagome how he felt about her. Maybe.
Inuyasha kissed her lightly on the top of the head and fell asleep.
xxxxx End of Chapter 7 xxxxx
This time I don't want any certain number of reviews. I would just like a really long one … none of those ones that are just the same word over and over again. Like : I really really really really really really really really really really like your story … I hate those.