Chapter Three

Dark Passions

Author's Note:  Kikyo is in this part…and my little brother, Raptor, wants me to tell you something:  He's going to make fun of this story in a humor fic.  I would NOT, I repeat, absolutely NOT be letting him do this except for the fact that he is my brother…(and his ideas were kinda funny…)  …feh.  So I just wanted to tell everyone I'm not handing it out for a bunch of parodies to be written up. 

Now that everything was set up, it was still daylight.  Kagome could see that Miroku and Inuyasha were having a conversation, so she could easily slip away without either of them noticing so that she could take a bath.

As she sunk into the hot spring, she started thinking again.  What would change now besides the things Inuyasha had told her about?

She bit her lip again.  Well, she knew she'd be depressed.  And more likely to be injured both physically and emotionally since Inuyasha no longer had to save himself from her "sit" command.  But she knew she had to look on the bright side…well…WAS there a bright side to it?  Probably not.

Suddenly, she stood up in the water, fury overcoming depression.  There was no way—no way in hell!—that she was going to let Inuyasha do this to her.  It was his fault all of this had happened, because it was him that fell into Naraku's trap half a century before!

As Kagome's anger grew, she felt a strong wind blowing her long, black hair back.  Suddenly, a beam of light burst forward, snapping the trunk of a giant tree.  Kagome jumped out of the way as it almost hit her.

Her heart was pounding, her breathing uneven, adrenaline running as she tried to calm down.  She quickly re-dressed in case any of the others had heard the noise.

Looking down at the tree trunk, she could see that the energy had come from her direction.  That caused her to wonder.  Had she herself released that energy?  Why hadn't this happened before if she had this kind of power?

"I've gotta get out of here," she sighed, then turned to head back to the village, then stopped, giving the tree one last look.  It must have been her anger, she decided, her anger at Inuyasha that had sparked this transformation.

"Then, maybe…"  She lifted a hand uncertainly, then tried for the previous effect.  Nothing happened.  "Hm."  She frowned, then thought harder about it.  What had she done before?  She tried to remember what had been going through her mind.

She…she hated him.  He couldn't treat her this way…then she'd tried to give herself strength to confront her sadness, and…

"Oh, so that's it," she whispered, smiling slightly.  She lifted her hand up again, then concentrated on the energy around and inside of her, then moved it to her hand.  She gasped when she saw a bright light coming from her fingertips.  So she did have the powers Inuyasha always complained she didn't have enough of!

She let the ray cut down another tree.  What kind of things could she do with these powers?  She could do more, probably, than Kikyo ever did.  The thought made her grin again.  So all wasn't lost!  But she needed to develop this some more…without the others knowing.  Then one day she could surprise that stupid dog-demon and rub it in his face that she'd beaten down an enemy with one blow—an enemy that he was having trouble keeping up with.  Maybe after letting him feel depressed for a little while, she'd just leave.  Or did she want to stay with him…?

After what he did to you, you're even thinking about staying with him?! her brain screeched.  No, she decided.  She could do better than that.  A lot better.

She turned and started back to the village.

***

"About time!" an irritated voice greeted her.  She walked right past Inuyasha without even looking at him.  "Where the hell were you?"  She didn't answer, which made Inuyasha even angrier.  "Hey, I'm talking to you, stupid!"

"I took a bath," she replied tonelessly. "What?  Don't I smell better?  No more rotting corpse smell?"

For a moment, she thought she saw a hurt look on his face, but she looked again and it was gone—if it had even been there at all.  "Fine!  Ask me before you run off like that again!  The demon could've gotten you and stolen the Shikon shards we have!" he yelled at her.

She didn't answer, just walked away.  Inuyasha suddenly felt the pain again.  Had he hurt her?  He answered his own question.  Of course, he'd hurt her!  But did he care?  Yes!  He blinked.  And just where did that come from, anyway?

"Feh."  He sat on a long and rested his head in one of his clawed hands.  Why did she take the smell thing so seriously?  Was it because it was one of the first things he'd said to her, when he'd thought she was Kikyo?  Why would that even matter to her?

Unless…she actually…

Inuyasha shoved the idea out of his head before it was too late.  She didn't love him—she had that Hojo guy back in her time that he'd heard her telling Sango about.  Of course, that was one of the reasons he'd been so happy to keep her here.  She couldn't go to that guy anymore.  Before, he had felt like he was losing something.  But now he could watch over her and make sure no one else touched her.

Was that so terrible of him, he wondered, to want her for himself?  Kagome was definitely mad at him, and very upset that she couldn't see her family, but still…

"Am I interrupting, Inuyasha?"

He jumped up.  "K-Kikyo!"

The priestess was standing right there in front of him, her face as expressionless—if not more—as her reincarnation's had been.  "I'm ready now."

"Ready?" he echoed. "Ready for—?"

"To join your group."  She sat down beside him, fingering her bow.  "I think I can be of some use to you."

At this, the guilty feeling washed away instantly, entirely forgotten for the time being.  "R-really?  You're serious?" he asked.  She nodded.  "W-well, that's great!  Uh, Sango, Kagome, and Shippo are in the hut over there.  Tell Kagome I told her to kick Shippo out, and he can stay with me and Miroku."

Kikyo rose immediately.  "Then we'll fight the demon tomorrow?"

"Yeah," he said, smiling.  "Tomorrow.  Thanks, Kikyo."

She nodded again with a slight smile of her own, then walked towards the hut.

There's Chapter Three.  Warnings for the next few chapters:  Inuyasha's a jerk, obviously.  Also, Kagome gets more and more depressed, then gets angrier and angrier, and develops her powers secretly at night (thanks SO much for this idea, Geminia!), so this WILL BE ANGST-Y.  So, I'll get to work on the next two chapters.  Sorry it took so long to get 2 and 3 up, and I don't know when 4 and 5'll be up, but I'll see.  Thanks!  --Kat Yuy