Chapter 3: Tragedies All Around
Inuyasha never had a real chance.
Miroku had his staff up against his throat and Shippou stood in front of Kagome, palm open, his kitsune fire ready to blaze.
Inuyasha snapped and barked, as if a savage animal instead of the gentle, decent hanyou he was. But, I deserved it. I had left them, hadn't explained, just gone, like a breeze just passing through. I had no concern for their thoughts and feelings.
I dropped to my knees, feeling shame and guilt wash over me.
"I am so sorry! I am! Please!" Nothing seemed to get through to Inuyasha as Miroku, and Shippou held him off. My tears were fat and plopped on the floor. Even their scent did nothing to calm him. He seemed to be even more enraged and fought them harder.
"LET ME GO!" he roared, pushing them away.
I stopped them from stopping him. "Let him come."
He came to me, snarling viciously. I just stood there.
And I felt the rip of his claws at my sides and arms. But I didn't care. I didn't feel the blood trickling from the wounds.
I just looked into those bright red eyes and felt his pain, and my pain, at causing them all so much trouble, so much heartache and guilt. Finally, I couldn't stand it anymore. I leaned forward, and kissed his snarling mouth.
I kissed those dry lips, and it seemed to calm him. He pushed away from me, his eyes returning to their normal state. I wiped my tears and barely noticed the pool of blood on the floor.
He touched his lips and looked at me. Then howled, and ran from the house, faster than I had ever seen him run before. And then, without a word, or a warning, my mind slipped into blackness.
Inuyasha sat brooding in the Go-shinboku tree.
He swung his foot anxiously in the air, staring off into the night sky. 'She kissed me.' It echoed through his head. From that one kiss, he had known it was Kagome. Hell, he always knew it was. He could smell her scent, and though she had matured, he knew it was still the same annoying girl he had fallen desperately in love with so long ago. 'That won't happen again,' he promised himself, feeling a prick of pain in his heart from the memory. All the longing and wanting, all the hopes and dreams he had harbored, burned the day he cut his hair for her. They had burned and burned, leaving him hollow except for the love and pride he felt everyday for his growing adopted son.
And now, she was back out of the blue, and kissing him!
His head swam.
He took a breath, and then another, and sniffed the air.
Someone was coming.
When I woke back up, I was again in the futon type bed in Sango's house. I could see the sun was beginning to rise. It painted the sky a light lavender and blue. I smiled and sat up, feeling the uncomfortable burn of the long slices down my arms and sides.
I got out of the bed easily, and through the house, back to the main entrance. Inuyasha had not returned.
'He's at the Go-shinboku tree, I know it,' I thought.
I looked around. I was wearing only a white under kimono. I couldn't find anything to put over it, of course, because everything was probably being washed.
I sighed and looked at the sky again through the window near the door. It was brightening to a blue. I needed to talk to Inuyasha.
And I set off into the woods, after bowing stiffly to Sango-chan's house again.
Inuyasha couldn't believe Kagome.
He knew he had sliced her good last night, but now, as if it had never happened, she was walking around the woods, wearing nothing but a thin under kimono! And it was only just past dawn! Her stupidity amazed him.
He jumped down from his branch, landing with a solid thud on the ground.
He landed in front of me with a solid thud.
I wasn't startled and only bowed my head.
"Are you stupid or something?"
My head immediately snapped back up.
"What?"
"I said, are you stupid or something?" Inuyasha repeated, his gaze traveling over me.
I felt a blush creep into my cheeks. "No, but there was nothing else to wear..."
"You're going to freeze to death!" He said, shaking his head and crossing his arms over his chest.
I sighed, and shook my head. "Look, that's not the point. I came out here to apologize to you personally. What I did then was wrong and stupid. And for the kissing thing...I remembered how it worked once...and..." I let my voice drift off, letting him fill in the blanks. He simply nodded and then turned his back on me.
I stared at his back and had to fight the urge to hug him from behind.
"You can go now. I know you're probably freezing and those wounds must be painful," he said dismissively.
I stood my ground. "I'm not leaving yet."
His ears twitched.
I took a step forward.
"I just want to know...two things."
He didn't reply.
I took another step, in arms length of him. "What's been happening these past years? What have you been doing other than raising Shippou?"
Inuyasha shook his head and turned around and was startled by how close she was. He could smell her clearly now, could smell the blood that was still oozing from her wounds. "Why do you care?" he half snarled, staring into those wonderful eyes that had bewitched him so long ago.
"You have no idea how much I've regretted leaving here...I realized that much when I came back...I missed you all very much...and I want to know what you've been doing...to know why you've become this mature, responsible man that I thought never existed inside of my first love," I half whispered.
He didn't say anything again. Just waited. He saw the truth in her eyes.
"I missed you."
It was all he needed to hear for him to tell her what had been going on. He gathered me in his arms, and leapt up into his tree branch on the ancient tree and after settling m in, and tucking his black haori around me, he looked out at the sky, which was now a vibrant blue.
"After you left...a lot of things seemed to happen at once. Shippou was almost dead from grief, and needed support, Sango and Miroku decided to get engaged, to end one another's heart break and Kaede-baba broke her leg."
I nodded and leaned unconsciously against him. He didn't seem to notice or mind. I didn't break the contact of my head on his shoulder.
His voice became a melody.
"I suddenly found myself alone, broken-hearted and caring for a baby kitsune who didn't know what to do without his mom. Finally, I felt responsibility take shape on my shoulders. And so, bundling up this mess of a kid, I went to the only person who I knew was completely in control of his life. Sesshoumaru.
I ran the whole way, trying to keep my bundle as still as possible. And when I arrived at the gates of his castle, I was afraid. Afraid that he would turn us away, and treat me like a hanyou that I was and still am. And yet, by some miracle he took us in. I nursed Shippou back to life for over a year, making regular trips back to the village to check if you had shown up yet.
So things gradually got better. After a year and six months of waiting there and learning how to be a mature, adult youkai, Shippou and I re-entered the world. I built us a house, which you may or may not see, and we settled down. About a year after that, I got word that something had happened to Sesshoumaru and I had to return as quick as I could back to his castle.
But, I was too late.
He died, gasping my name.
I had never felt so much guilt, except for when I thought I was responsible for your death, for not being there and protecting you. I raced back to my home. Everyone was waiting.
"He's dead. He died with my name on his lips," I had snarled at them. I sat on the floor, barely breathing.
Finally, everything came crashing into me, all the heartbreak and sorrow I had been fighting against. I let myself cry.
Finally, Sango said something that made sense to me. "It is better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all. Take it with a grain of salt and move on." I had never heard such wisdom before in the slayer's voice.
And so I did. I had Sango cut my hair in mourning and died my haori black. For five years I have been in mourning for the both of you, watching my son grow and trying to be everything I can be. Trying to learn and be a teacher.
But always in the back of my mind…always, there was you. You never left me."
I slipped out of my trance, almost falling face first into his lap. I straightened quickly, flushing in embarrassment because of the tears that painted my face.
He smiled at me.
I blushed more and looked away. "Must you be so dumb?" I said softly.
"I'm not the one who's crying."
"Oh. You didn't say anything about Kikyou!" I realized as I ran over silently the whole story.
"Oh that bitch?"
I held back a gasp. I had never heard Inuyasha speak of her in that tone.
"She died just before Sesshoumaru did! Some kind of farming accident," he said, snorting. "She was stupid anything. Nothing compared to you." He didn't blush, or stutter over the words, just said it strong and simple. He had loved me. I couldn't help but wonder if he still felt the same way.
"Egh. Its getting later in the day," he said, stretching.
"Yeah…Sango and them must be worried…" I said, itching at a bandage.
Inuyasha smiled.
I smiled back.
And the world was right again as we headed down from the ancient tree and back to Sango's for a tongue lashing.
A/N: Sorry for the shortness of this chapter, I just wanted to hurry and please a few people. Um...also...I noticed I haven't been putting disclaimers up at the beginning..so here it is! I do not own any of the Inuyasha people, but I do own some flip flops!