Posted: 1-3-05
Chapter 2
AN: Yay break. I can write! But boo braces. I can't eat! Yeah. I still don't own Inuyasha. Seriously. I am just not in a good mood right now... (polishes baseball bat) Don't make me mad. Review, or I will be forced to hunt you down like I do with Slade! (Uh, Teen Titans reference) Speaking of reviews, I shall now reply to the lovely people who reviewed chapter one! ;)
Yun Fei: Yeah, I've sort of though of Naraku as being that diabolical... Especially after reading more recent chapters in the manga.
medlii: Heh, this one's going very quickly for some reason. And yeah, my mouth will stop looking so weird... My teeth are so crooked it's unbelievable. And I still need to get some pulled XP.
Iggy04: o.O Uh... Well, I've thought about whether Kohaku knows or not, to tell you the truth, and from what I know, I really don't think that what he has observed would lead him to believe that they were together, you know? That's actually one of the questions I asked myself that inspired this fic! Thanks for reviewing!
ShinjuJaganshi: Thanks! And I hope you update soon, too!
Inuyasha sat near the fire, his eyes closed and his face wearing its usual scowl. The others were spread out around the circle that it made as well. It had been an uneventful day. They were walking the entire time and had found no sign of the jewel shard, Naraku, or any villages where they could stay. They had finally set up this small camp as darkness fell, much to the chagrin of Inuyasha, who felt the strange urge to just go out and defeat their foe.
Kagome was polishing her bow, seeming intent on that task and ignoring Inuyasha's obvious complaint to their current location. Shippo was leaning back on his tail, clearly bored. Sango seemed lost in thought, slowly stroking Kilala who sat in her lap. Miroku balanced his staff upright against his arm, looking like he was meditating. It was strangely silent amongst the group, although they probably didn't want to start up Inuyasha's complaining once again and lead to yet another "sit."
Suddenly, Kilala leapt out of Sango's lap and started growling slightly at the woods. The others immediately turned their attention to her. "What's wrong?" Sango asked, her eyes going back and forth between her friend and the nearby forest.
Kagome dropped her bow. "Uh, guys, I just sensed a jewel shard nearby," she said, looking nervous. They all looked at her.
"How big is it?" Inuyasha asked, standing up and gripping Tetsusaiga with his hand. The others started standing up as well, getting ready for a battle.
"Well," she began, looking concerned, "there's just one. And it's a small one."
All eyes went to Sango. Every jewel shard had been accounted for, and other than Naraku, who had most of the jewel, and Koga, who still had his shards, there was really only one person that it could be.
"...Kohaku?" Sango finally said, quietly.
"What's that kid doing here?" Inuyasha grumbled, releasing his hold on the sword. "Last time I saw him, he went running off after Kikyo."
"Who knows?" Kagome said, standing up with the others. "Maybe he decided to come back with us."
"We'd still better be ready for something," Inuyasha answered, looking around with suspicion. "Naraku probably still has a hold on the kid after all. And I'm starting sense some demons coming close."
"Let's get ready," Miroku said. "We most likely have a battle on our hands."
Sango still looked toward the woods. "What about Kohaku?" she finally asked.
"He'll be fine, Sango," Miroku replied, walking toward her.
Inuyasha growled a little. "They're attacking us in groups. We'll have to split up. Kagome, which way is Kohaku?"
"I... I'm not sure anymore. Something strange is going on. It seems like it keeps moving."
"Naraku's trying to trick us," he mumbled. "Fine. Kagome, you come with me. Sango, you and Kilala can head off in that direction, and Miroku can take the woods."
"What about me?!" Shippo exclaimed. "You can't just leave me here all alone!"
The hanyou sighed. "Fine. Just come with us all ready! Now let's go. The sooner we take care of these demons, the sooner we can eat and go to sleep."
They went off in their assigned directions, Sango still seeming worried for some reason.
Miroku ran into the forest, his gripped tightly in his hand. He could definitely sense a demonic presence headed in this direction as well as two others coming from where Inuyasha had sent everyone else. As he ran closer, though, he noticed something very strange. It seemed like the demons were leaving the group one by one, suddenly appearing in the all ready large group that Inuyasha had gone to take on, or to the one that Sango had been assigned to.
As he came into the clearing, he stopped running. He looked around, but felt no other demons coming toward him. "This is very odd," he said, staring to turn around to run to the aid of Sango, who now had a rather large group to contend to with only Kilala to aid her.
"Stop," a quiet voice said.
Miroku turned to make sure he heard correctly. Sure enough, Kohaku stood there in his more casual outfit, scythe in hand. His eyes didn't seemed to be empty like they usual were when Naraku was controlling him, but the expression on his face was a grim one.
"Kohaku," he began, smiling at the boy, but still feeling strangely uncomfortable. "What are you doing here? Come on, I'll take you back to Sango and the others."
He walked toward him, but stopped abruptly when the boy raised his weapon. "What is it, Kohaku?"
"I'm sorry, monk, but this is something I have to do." He ran toward him with his scythe ready to strike. Miroku watched him in shock and finally leapt out of the way the second he realized that he was the target.
"What are doing?!" he exclaimed, looking confused.
"I have to kill you," Kohaku replied, running toward him again. Miroku raised his staff and blocked the attack this time. They stood there for a moment, their weapons pushing against each other, before Kohaku finally pulled away.
"Why do you want to kill me?!" he asked with the same expression on his face.
"Because I must," the boy answered, preparing to charge him again. Miroku once again raised his staff and blocked his scythe, looking hard at Kohaku's face. There still was no sign that Naraku was doing anything to him. In fact, he seemed to be his normal self.
"Kohaku, if Naraku told you to do this, you know you don't have to," he said, still pushing his staff against the blade. "You can control your own life."
"I know," he answered, not making any signs of retreating this most recent assault. "That's why I have to do this." He suddenly pulled his weapon way and leaned farther in, attempting to cut him across his body. Miroku tried to dodge and held in staff in front of Kohaku to stop his swing, but was cut across the arm.
Kohaku leapt backwards and watched his victim, slump to the ground, his right hand clutching the wound on his arm. Blood seeped through his fingers as he looked at his assailant.
"W-why?" he asked, trying to keep his composure over the pain in his arm.
"This is the only way," Kohaku replied. "This is the only way for me to come back to Ane-ue."
AN: Arrowed! Er, sorry, I'm actually just writing this and not worrying about posting right away. And I'm watching the Twilight Zone marathon, and some guy just got arrowed, so yeah. That was chapter 2. I'll start working on chapter three and post this fic sometime, but you're all ready reading it, so never mind. Three will be up soon hopefully. I"m going to start working on it, and you can keep doing whatever you were doing on New Year's Eve. ...I need to do my laundry.
