DISCLAIMER: How many times do I have to bloody say it?!?!?! I DO NOT OWN INUYASHA. Period. End of story. (literally, in this case...)
20. The Aftermath
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"Inuyasha! You're ok!" Kagome shouted as he immerged from the trees. "Is Naomi alright?"
Behind Inuyasha came Hikaru, who was carrying Naomi on his back.
"What happened?" Sango asked, rushing over to them along with the others.
"She's just had a long and tiresome fight," Hikaru said, smiling a little. "She'll probably be fine."
"That's good to hear," Kagome said, breathing a sigh of relief. Then she looked around cautiously. "What about that demon or whatever she was fighting....Where is he?"
"Gone," Inuyasha replied. "Forever. She'll never have to worry about him again."
At that moment, she stirred. Her eyes opened slowly and she looked around. "Where am I? What happened?" she asked, yawning. "Why am I on your back? Will someone explain all this to me? The last thing I remember was – Me....killing....Keitaru...."
"Then you remember right," Hikaru said cheerfully. "You collapsed, so I decided to carry you back."
"Oh....Well, I'm awake now, so you can put me down!"
Inuyasha whispered something in his ear quietly. Naomi, still just waking up, didn't hear what he said. Hikaru grinned and, well, put her down. By dropping her onto the hard ground.
"Hey!" she exclaimed, glaring at Inuyasha and Hikaru. "That wasn't funny."
"It's just payback for a few of the things you did to me," Inuyasha said, laughing. She just scowled before climbing to her feet and brushing herself off.
"Hey, could someone who's actually semi-intelligent explain to me something?" Naomi asked.
"That excludes you, Inuyasha," Miroku said calmly. This earned him a whack on the head. "Anyway, what is it, Naomi?"
"Well, back there, when I defeated Keitaru...." She explained to them about the light that had given her strength.
"I believe that was Hikaru's doing," Myouga said after she'd explained it all.
"What?" said everyone at once.
"You see," Myouga explained, "there's something about Hikaru that gives you strength, Naomi. You two share a special link to each other. When there was that barrier created by Toshiro, Hikaru went right through it and straight to you. He would've been able to do the same for Keitaru's barrier had it not been so strong."
"But what about the barrier thing?" Shippou asked. "I mean, you said that humans can't go in there without getting paralyzed."
"It seems that the bond they share is stronger than that magic."
"Wait, wait, WAIT!" Naomi interrupted. "Lemme get this straight. You're saying that me and him,"she jerked her thumb towards Hikaru, "share some kind of bond? Like, what are we talking here, love or something sappy like that?"
"Not at all. Did you ever in your life feel as though you two were alike in some way?"
Naomi thought back to that day at the village. Right after she'd saved him from the demons and returned him and his friends to the village. "Yeah," she said slowly. "I guess so....I didn't realize it at the time, but we both only had one true best friend...."
"There you go. You were alike in that way, and apparently that was quite enough for the bond to become stronger."
"Um....By the way.....What happened to the flea bag?" Inuyasha asked, looking around.
"He ran off back to his den," Kagome said. "He was saying something about his wolves being hungry."
"Good. At least he's gone."
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Kagura was sitting against the rock, asleep. Her knees were drawn up and her head was laying on them. She was sound asleep, and didn't feel a thing as a ghost of a hand pushed back a strand of her hair that had fallen in her face. This ghost looked at her, wishing she could hear the words he had to say. Even if she couldn't hear him, though, he determined that it'd be better if he said them anyway.
"Good bye, Lady Kagura."
She stirred a little in her sleep, and the ghostly hand touched her face one last time before disappearing from the world forever, traveling to where his lovely Shina awaited him.
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"Do you really have to go?" Shippou asked.
"Yeah," Naomi said the next day. "Sorry kid, but I'm still an assassin, and I have places to go and things to do."
"We'll miss you," Kagome said. She cast a side-glance at Inuyasha. "All of us will miss you."
"Keh, whatever," Inuyasha said, arms crossed. "Just be sure to visit!"
"Why should I?" she teased. "What'd you ever do for me?"
"Just don't forget me again," Inuyasha demanded.
"Fine, fine, fine, whatever," she replied, smiling. "I'll be sure not to. Besides, do you really think I could forget you with that loud mouth you've got?"
"Keh!"
Naomi smiled at them. 'I'll miss you all too,' she thought. She'd never say the words aloud, of course. She started walking away, Hikaru by her side.
'I lied to her back there,' Myouga thought, sitting on Inuyasha's shoulder as they all watched her go. 'The bond that holds them together truly is love. But if I'd actually said that, she'd have squashed me, and I really didn't feel like being squashed again! I'll probably tell them one day. Maybe when they have a family together....'
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.......'Twas very cheesy, I know. (hides from cheesiness haters) Oh well. I can't help it. I'm a romantic and heart. As well as a comedian. I dunno which I am more, acomedian or a hopelessromantic. Oh well. Anyway, you had better be glad, cuz I had to type this thing with one arm cuz I broke the other! lol But I don't mind, really, because it wasn't that hard to type it. And I'm getting used to the cast now. And I know that it must've been TORTURE waiting for me to update. And I'm soooo incredibly sorry about that! And yes, I'm still grounded, but I've been sneaking on just for y'all. But it doesn't matter because this chapter is now up! REJOICENESS!! lol You're probably getting tired of me ranting and raving, so I'll just go ahead and tell you that I'm putting in a special bonus chapterfor ya'll that tells what all the names I used in this story mean. Now then....
Review Please!