Chapter Six

Prepare to Begin

. A quick 'thank you' to my newest reviewer, Kagome4Inu, who has some great stories, and to elvesmagic010 and InuCrazedChick for reviewing again -. Kikyo was nice before she got killed and, yes, since I know what I'm writing I should update fairly quickly.

. You guys have such great taste!

Alright, a quick side note: I'm going to need to be using words AND thoughts now so this is what I'm going to do:

"blah blah blah...." is someone talking

'blah blah blah...' is someone thinking.

Everyone go that? then let's start the chapter!

Kagome was a bit hesitant to watch Kikyo, since Kikyo had a history of knowing if someone was watching her and who. Instead, Kagome chose to keep a look out for where she was and wait for her to begin to return to the village. Kagome was randomly walking around the woods now, keeping off the road and checking the clearing where she had last seen Kikyo. After freaking out the first few times that Kikyo had moved, Kagome's anxiety began to fade and she found this plan to be more exciting than nerve wracking. "I can't act, but I can try... I'll have to use that old speech too."

Kagome looked around her and picked up a large discarded branch and used it like a staff. Pointing into the emptiness of the forest, she shouted: "Don't fire until you see the whites in their eyes!" Looking around to see if anyone was watching, Kagome continued.

The pretending making her feel much better, she swung the staff and faced a mushroom on a tree. Picking up a leaf from the ground, she tossed the leaf at the mushroom. "Demon, be gone!" She then swiped the mushroom in half with the staff. She smiled to herself, remembering Miroku. She was going to miss his antics too.

Swinging and pointing the branch staff again as the former brother, Hiten's, thunder pike and she faked an evil laugh, "You have strength, but no style! This shall be an interesting battle!" Kagome looked up into the canopy as she remembered the battle between Inu-Yasha and the Thunder Brothers. She remembered how it ended, too.

Kagome and Shippo had been caught up in a huge blast of lightning and presumed dead, and when they approached Inu-Yasha shrouded in fox fire, the seemed like souls. In a desperate panic, Inu-Yasha had grabbed Kagome's wrist and beg them not to leave. He looked rather surprised to see them still there when the foxfire dissipated.

'That was one of his first displays of affection.' Kagome closed her eyes and clenched her fists to keep herself from crying again. 'He told me to leave him. I didn't understand it then, but I think I do now. He was lonely, though he would've never admitted it. He was hurting inside. He didn't want to loose anyone again... like he had lost Kikyo.' Now clenching the staff/branch in both hands, she fought back tears again. "I'm sorry, Inu-Yasha..."

A twig snapped behind Kagome and she froze up. Turning her head slowly, she nearly fell on her face when she saw that it was merely a monkey. "That'll be the 3rd monkey I've seen here."

A bit annoyed with herself for getting so worked up over a monkey, she raised the staff above her head and swung it down toward the monkey. "Wind Scar!"

The monkey sat there and starred up at her, the staff/branch hovering a yard away. Kagome had to go and almost kick it before it ran off. Kagome smiled to herself that she had dealt with the monkey on her own, but her smile quickly faded into a hurt frown as she lifted the staff/branch and held in front of her, holding it was delicate hands.

"If I really was in danger, Inu-Yasha would've been right here by my side to protect me....."

Kagome held the staff tightly and closed her eyes. After a moment, she opened them again and put the branch back on the ground and went to look for a different one to use that wouldn't now remind her of the Tetsusaiga.

Kagome was sitting on a rock off the road near yet another small clearing that she had seen Kikyo leave. It was approaching dusk and Kagome was carelessly scraping the bark off the branch and looking up every once in a while to see if Kikyo was coming back yet.

'I wonder what she does during the day.... She plays with the kid. I've seen that. She probably looks for herbs and scouts for demons. She's probably a light sleeper, since she has to protect the jewel from demons that come at night too.'

Kagome looked up into the clearing again, and then looked back down at the branch.

'I'm sure Inu-Yasha would help her. She probably wouldn't admit it right away, but she must've been thankful for the help.... She and Inu-Yasha are kind of alike.... I bet that if Naraku hadn't attacked them when he did, but later, there's no way that they would've betrayed each other.'

Having finished her cleaning of the stick, she absent-mindedly looked out into the clearing, resting her head in her hands.

'They were both so afraid to trust and to love, but both willing to try. Kikyo was afraid to put love above the jewel, which in the wrong hands would mean the death of countless people. Inu-Yasha was afraid to trust humans, the same creatures that had bullied him his whole life. Using the jewel to turn Inu-Yasha into a human was going to be the most delicate situation they would've had to face, the successful completion of it would've meant a happy life for the both of them..... but Naraku destroyed that.....'

At that moment, Kikyo returned to the clearing, Inu-Yasha turning into a mere blur again as he left her side for the night. Kagome got up quickly and hurried down to the beginning of the rice patties, leaning upon the peeled branch like a walking stick, preparing herself to put her plan into action.

'Naraku is unforgivably cruel. I won't let him destroy them!'