Chapter 30
The early morning sunlight breaking through the branches of the trees stirred Kagome to consciousness slowly. She stretched her legs to wake her muscles for the day ahead of her. The gentle pull of gravity at her feet caught her by surprise, there was nothing beneath them. The sudden sensation of free-falling instantly jarred her to alertness. "Eeep!" she squeaked as she flinched from the shock, trying to catch the balance she feared she had lost.
A pair of arms that she didn't even notice; tightened the grip they had around her waist. The comforting embrace eased her racing heart, Inuyasha. "Oi, what's your problem?" the gruff voice said as she gratefully buried her face in his chest.
"I just didn't realize," She paused, suddenly taking note of her location. A blush flamed across her face at the intimate embrace she found herself waking in. "Um…Inuyasha? Did I sleep like this?" She prayed the answer was no; that she hadn't spent the night wrapped around the hanyou's hips.
"Keh, not like I would let you fall or anything."
So much for hope. "Can you get me down from here?"
He smirked, making his violet eyes sparkle with mischief. "Shh." He whispered, pressing a finger to his lips. "The others will realize we are awake and make us help cook breakfast."
"Since we can hear you already, get down here and help." Shippo yelled from his place by the fire.
Kagome narrowed her eyes at the hanyou. "Is that what you did all the time when we were together? Acted like you were sleeping so you didn't have to do any work? I should have known!" The bright blush in response confirmed her suspicions. "Let's get down and help them, Inuyasha. It is only fair."
He rolled his eyes and released his hold on the miko, standing up. Panicked, Kagome tightened the grip on his hips with her legs and wrapped her arms around his neck tightly. She held onto him for dear life, afraid she would fall since he had let her go. He grinned at her, leaping to the branch below him. He leaped around from tree to tree, savoring the feel of her wrapped around him. When he finally reached the ground, she practically melted off of him. "You did that on purpose!" She yelled in response to the satisfied smirk he wore.
"Yeah, whatever wench."
"Inuyasha, Sit boy!"
The group watched in amusement as the hanyou was forced into the ground at the young miko's words. All of them, including a grumbling hanyou, helped make a quick breakfast and packed up their belongings to get on the road quickly. Not quite sure of where they were headed, they just knew they needed to get on the road.
It was a nice day, the sunshine and birds were out, but Kagome quickly began to feel claustrophobic. Inuyasha had placed them directly between their friends, Shippo and Yuka leading the way with Shinju and Makoto behind them. She understood that he was worried about her getting into trouble or getting hurt, but things quickly got ridiculous when she stumbled on a rock.
It had rested there, just waiting for her to come by and trip on it. When her foot hit it and she began to head toward the ground, the hanyou had been in such close proximity that she didn't even have time to realize what had happened and she was in his arms. "Inuyasha, I am fine. Put me down."
"Can't you just stay out of trouble?"
"It was a ROCK, Inuyasha. A rock is not going to hurt me."
"It is always something stupid like a rock that hurts you! Just get on my back, and I will carry you." He placed her feet on the ground again.
Kagome sighed, "I can walk just fine, Inuyasha. Everyone else is walking, I can too."
"Feh, they are all stronger than you. Just get on my back and you won't make us fall behind."
"We won't fall behind because of me. We never do."
"I said, GET ON MY BACK, WENCH!"
Kagome stormed off ahead, grabbing Yuka by the arm and dragging her away from Shippo. "I am walking with Yuka now. She can hover over me for a while to give you a break."
"Dammit Kagome! You aren't walking with Yuka. Get back here where you belong."
"Why don't you talk to Shippo? I bet he has learned a lot of interesting things since we saw him 500 years ago." She turned around and resumed walking with Yuka, ignoring the grumbling coming from the hanyou.
Within two minutes, the order of the group had changed. Inuyasha forced Makoto and Shinju to walk in front of the pair of girls, in order to surround Kagome again. Much to her annoyance, walking with Yuka wasn't much better than Inuyasha. The girl kept asking if she needed help carrying her bag or quiver and bow, if she was hungry or tired. About ten minutes into the walk, Kagome turned to her childhood friend and yelled. "Jeez! Yuka you are almost as bad as Inuyasha. I am fine. I can carry my things by myself." She turned and glared at the hanyou, "I don't need to be carried."
After her outburst they all walked in amicable silence until Kagome finally voiced something she had been wondering about since she discovered Yuka was a youkai. "Um…this may seem to be a strange question, you guys. How old are each of you? I mean, Yuka; you say you're sixteen but you only look a couple of years younger than Shippo. I happen to know that Shippo is about 500 years old. I don't even know how old Inuyasha really is."
"Feh, I'm sixteen wench!"
"Not including the times he was pinned to the tree." Shippou added. "Inuyasha and Yuka are still just babies."
"Oi, who you calling a baby, runt?"
Yuka interrupted the quickly advancing argument. "Youkai's age like humans until the age of eighteen, after that they slow down. Depending on the species, each is different. For instance, kistunes like Shippo age about one year for every seventy five human years. He is approximately 24 or 25 human years. Inuyasha will age about one year for every twenty five, being a hanyou. Sesshoumaru ages about one every fifty years, as will I."
Kagome walked and pondered that quietly for a while, hardly noticing when Yuka and Inuyasha switched places again. She flashed him a grin, noticing something that was going on with the pair in front of them. As usual, Makoto had been hit several times already because he had touched Shinju in a way she had deemed "inappropriate".
Although this was nothing new to the couple, Kirara's part in it was. She was walking next to Shinju, transformed into her firecat form. It appeared she found something amusing with knocking the young girl into the lecher, giving him an opportunity to grope her. This repeated every couple of minutes, until Shinju finally burst out screaming. "Kirara, what is with you? Why do you keep bumping me into him? Do you enjoy watching me hit him? What is with you?"
Kagome exchanged an amused look with Inuyasha, "Kirara, come here. Leave them alone for a while. I know you are excited but give them time to get to know each other." The firecat transformed into a kitten and ran over to the miko, jumping into her waiting arms.
"Kagome, what are you talking about?" Shinju growled, wondering why Kirara listened when Kagome told her to stop, but not when she did.
"She's trying to help. You forget; you are the reincarnation of one of her previous companions. Kirara adored the person Sango ended up married to, who Makoto just happens to be the reincarnation of. She thinks the two of you should be together, is all."
Shinju shot her a dirty look, "I am not Sango, thank you. I don't fall in love with perverted lechers!"
"Feh, that's what Sango said." Inuyasha snorted, earning a glare from the taijiya.
"So I should expect that my beautiful Shinju will fall in love with me any day now?" Makoto laughed gleefully.
"Listen, hentai!" Shinju yanked something from behind her back that had remained hidden until that moment. The flicker of steel caught Kagome off guard; she hadn't seen a weapon on the taijiya until that moment. The girl held the chain sickle up to the boy's throat, making him smile nervously. "You should expect to get the crap beat out of you, nothing more." Shinju huffed; as he used the bo staff he had been using as a walking stick to push the sickle away from his neck.
Shinju stopped and stepped between Inuyasha and Kagome, separating them from each other. "Oi! What're you doing?" Inuyasha demanded looking at the fiery young taijiya.
"You walk with the lecher for a while. I am tired of getting groped all day. I can keep an eye on Kagome." The girl pushed the hanyou forward toward the reincarnated monk before sheathing her sickle in the hidden pack on her back. She then turned to Kagome and smiled, taking Kirara from her. "You too, traitor. You like him so much, you hang out with him a while." The little kitten mewed and took off after the pair of boys in front of them, landing in Makoto's hair.
"The sickle surprised me." Kagome said. "I didn't think you had a weapon on you today, I saw Makoto's right away since he is using it as a walking stick."
"I don't go many places unarmed these days. I have had to fight quite a few youkai after the jewel more often lately. I wish I had brought my Hiraikotsu with me; I am more comfortable with that. This is just easier to carry, and more deadly." She sighed, staring at the ground. "I just feel so guilty. If it wasn't for me…none of you would be here doing this."
"Hey, at least yours wasn't shattered into about a million pieces across Japan. We are just helping others do what people did for us. We couldn't have done it without our friends." Kagome's stomach growled, making her blush. "I guess I am hungry."
"Was that your STOMACH?" Inuyasha growled, glaring at the miko. "You CAN'T be hungry already."
"It is noon, Inuyasha." Makoto said diplomatically. "We humans do need to eat."
"It wasn't that loud, anyway." Shippo said, "There is a small town, just ahead. We should be able to find someplace to stop there."
The closer they got to the town; a strange feeling came over Kagome. It seemed very slight, but it was as if she could feel a shikon shard. She knew that wasn't possible, since the jewel currently sat around her neck. Taking a look at Shinju, she decided that she was probably imagining things. It didn't look like the other jewel's keeper felt anything at all.
They found a restaurant on the outskirts of town that suited their needs just fine. They sat down and ate half of their lunch before Kagome stood up. "Oi, what are you doing?" Inuyasha yelled.
"Nothing, I will be right back."
"I'm going with you."
Kagome sighed; she had gotten tired of the smothering hours ago. "No, you are not."
"You ain't going anywhere by yourself, Kagome."
"You AREN'T going to the bathroom with me, Inuyasha!" She seethed at the hanyou.
"Fine, Yuka will go with you."
Kagome growled, "Inuyasha, sit boy!" She stood above the floored hanyou, glaring at him. "No one is going to the bathroom with me. If you are SO worried, I will take my bow and quiver with me." She yanked the items off the top of her bag, before storming away from the group.
"Don't worry." Shinju said quietly. "I need to go too. I will make sure she is safe." She silently followed after the miko, picking up her backpack on the way. When the taijiya entered the bathroom she immediately made her way to the window, opening it wide.
Kagome stepped out of the stall, watching as the taijiya dragged the garbage can to the window. "What are you doing?" she asked incredulously as the older schoolgirl overturned the trash onto the floor.
"I know you felt it too, my jewel. It's nearby. I'm going after it."
"We're here to help you, Shinju. You can't expect to do this alone."
"Kagome, you know what its like. You know how powerful these things can be." Shinju shook her head, sending her bright red tipped ponytail swinging. "No, I can't ask you guys to do this. It shouldn't have gotten stolen in the first place. It's my responsibility to get it back."
Kagome watched as the taijiya climbed on top of the trash can, heading out the window. "I'm going with you." She said firmly.
Shinju turned around and frowned, "It's too dangerous, besides Inuyasha will tan your hide if he finds you gone."
"Contrary to popular belief, I can handle myself just fine. I am going with, weather you want me to or not." Kagome watched as Shinju digested this information, with a frown on her face.
"Are you sure about this, Kagome? Inuyasha will kill me when he finds out I said you could."
"He doesn't have a choice and neither do you." She said, holding the trashcan still for the taijiya. "Let's get out that window before someone decides we are taking too long and send Yuka in looking for us."
Shinju laughed, knowing that to be true before turning and leaping out the window with agility. Kagome climbed out with a little less finesse moments later. Both headed of in the direction of the jewel without a word. Kagome wondered if she had just made a big mistake going with Shinju alone, but he choice had been made. They needed the jewel back, and only the two of them could do it.