AUTHORS NOTES:
Wow, yet more fan fic! Aren't you so amazed?! Okay, just read and reply and have a nice day!
DISCLAIMER:
We don't own InuYasha, sorry, we're just borrowing him, along with all the other characters and stuff like that. Anything you don't recognize from the show or manga belongs to my friend who's helping me write this, Ravyn89, and me, Kayhera. So no stealing! And the title is kinda a joke from the "Shiori's Family and InuYasha's Feelings" episode, but it really has nothing to do with this post, sorry. Kirara also does not belong to us. We have forgotten to mention the demon cat this whole time… I feel so bad!!! Oh well, she actually does something in this post, so you can enjoy that!
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Chapter Six: InuYasha's Secret and Yoshiko's Feelings
Sueko woke up to her alarm clock ringing on the nightstand. Whacking it a few times before finally hitting the snooze button, she sat up and blinked sleepily. It was Tuesday. Something was supposed to happen today… but what it was Sueko really could not remember.
Shrugging to herself, she got up, took a shower, got dressed, grabbed her school stuff, and, skipping breakfast because she was too lazy to make anything, opened the front door and headed towards school.
But she had barely walked off the front porch before someone tapped her on the shoulder.
"What?" she said tiredly, turning around and expecting her mother to be standing there crying, "You forgot something!" But it wasn't Sueko's mother… it was InuYasha.
"It's been seven days," InuYasha said crankily, crossing his arms.
"W—what?" said Sueko sleepily, blinking at InuYasha.
"It's been a week. You're supposed to come back today," explained InuYasha.
"Huh…" said Sueko, her brain still not working.
"Wake up already!" cried InuYasha, grabbing her shoulders and shaking her gently.
"I don't want to…" mumbled Sueko, shrugging the hands off her shoulders.
"Look, are you coming or not?" complained InuYasha, crossing his arms again.
"Oh, fine," said Sueko, scratching her head and walking back in the house. Taking off her school uniform and putting on some normal clothes (a skirt was really not practical in a world full of demons) and packing up stuff she would need in the Feudal Era, she said good-bye to her mother (her dad was at work) and went back outside. InuYasha was still outside and he was leaning against a tree.
Then Sueko thought of something. If she was supposed to have a crush on the guy in front of her then why wasn't she feeling anything? She might be tired, but not that tired. And she had been wearing a skirt earlier (for it was part of the school uniform) and she didn't even care, and she got embarrassed about wearing a skirt in front of everyone.
"Hello?" Now InuYasha was standing in front of her, waving a hand in front of her face.
"Hi," Sueko returned, walking towards the well. Though she didn't show it, now she was extremely happy. 'I don't like him anymore! Wahoo! In that way, I mean…'
"Fine, be that way," muttered InuYasha, catching up with her. Sueko smiled.
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Climbing out of the well, Sueko had barely stood up before a small fuzzy something came colliding to Sueko's chest. She screamed, but it turned out to have only been Shippo.
"Yay! You're back!" cried Shippo, hugging her.
"Yeah…" said Sueko, pushing Shippo down a few inches. "So, anything new happen?" she asked, turning to InuYasha.
"No. That's why I got you. It was getting boring," said InuYasha, showing absolutely no emotion whatsoever. Which really bugged Sueko, but it's not like she could do anything about it.
"Okay. Well, if nothing exciting is happening, maybe I should go back home…" teased Sueko, grabbing her book bag.
"You're leaving? Again? No! Don't go!" cried Shippo, clinging to Sueko's stomach and crying.
"It'd be quite unusual if you went back home. You just got here," said Miroku.
"Oh. So now you want me," said Sueko, raising an eyebrow at the monk.
"No, I'm just worried about Shippo's well-being," said Miroku simply.
"Yeah, sure," said Sueko as Sango hit Miroku on the head. "Okay, Shippo, sit," said Sueko, pushing the little fox demon down. But she was interrupted by a loud crashing noise.
"WHAT'D YOU DO THAT FOR?!" bellowed InuYasha.
"Huh?" said Sueko, looking at InuYasha. But he wasn't there. "Where are you?!"
"Oh, I don't know… THE GROUND!!!"
"Huh?" said Sueko, looking down.
"That's interesting," said Sango, looking down at the half-demon on the ground. "Only Kagome could do that."
"What'd you do?" asked Sueko, raising her eyebrows at InuYasha who was lying on the ground face down.
"Me? Me? What'd you do?" cried InuYasha. He sounded extremely pissed.
"Um…" said Sueko. Shrugging, she got Shippo off her and grabbed InuYasha's wrist to help him stand. Or tried… she wasn't that strong.
InuYasha was still looking down at Sueko (for he was a few inches taller than her) with a menacing look on his face. "Um… I'm sorry?" tried Sueko, smiling sheepishly.
"Feh," said InuYasha rudely.
"What'd I do?" cried Sueko, looking around at everyone.
"Well, InuYasha had been trying to kill Kagome for the Shikon Jewel so Lady Kaede put this necklace on him. Only Kagome could say the word to restrain him. By saying 'sit' you tapped into the power of the prayer beads to control him. It should have been only Kagome who could have done that… but you are the protector of the Spirit Shrine which did give Kagome her mystical powers so there's probably an exception for you," explained Miroku.
"Uh huh," said Sueko. She had just woken up so her brain wasn't quite processing. "Could you say that in English?"
Miroku blinked a couple of times and then he cried out: "Wh—what!? You didn't understand that!? You impertinent little child! It's not that simple of things. The mystical powers make sense so you should be grateful that I even tried!!!"
"Calm down Miroku," sighed Sango, rolling her eyes.
"Well—I—" tried Sueko, though InuYasha interrupted her babbling.
"I'll put it in English: Don't do it ever again!" he snarled.
Sueko smiled sweetly. "InuYasha… SIT!"
"YOU LITTLE—"
"InuYasha, what did you expect?" said Shippo, who had sat down in front of InuYasha's head with his arms and legs crossed and a little smirk on his face. "You told her not to do it so she did it. What did you expect?"
"Why, I oughta…" muttered InuYasha. He looked as though he was struggling—to probably murder Shippo or something of the likes.
"Don't make me say it again," teased Sueko, sitting next to Shippo.
InuYasha growled.
"I'll say it again if you don't learn to behave," taunted Sueko.
Just then a thin, whitish substance started moving along in the grass right next to Sueko. She suspected it had been here for a while but she was just now noticing it. Everyone else stopped what he or she was doing (which was actually not much, just watching the scene between InuYasha, Sueko and Shippo, but whatever) and looked at the whitish string too and cried out as it wrapped itself around Sueko's wrist and started dragging her off.
"A spider demon!" cried Sango, pointing to the source dragging Sueko. There was a large, black spider about twenty feet away, and even though Sueko wasn't afraid of spiders she wasn't exactly happy about this one. Sueko tried ripping the thing on her wrist but even though it had looked so thin it wouldn't come off.
She was now right in front of the spider. Its head seemed to look down at Sueko, and she flinched as if she had been slapped. She sat up, trying once more to rip the stuff off her wrist when she felt a sharp pain on her shoulder. Turning towards it, Sueko noticed that she had been bit by the spider demon.
"If you faint you're on your own!" she could hear InuYasha cry out.
"Damn it!" she screamed just as her eyes started drooping.
"Are you all right?" asked Shippo worriedly, though his voice sounded far away.
"No, are you blind or something?!" Sueko yelled, though when it came out all she did was mutter. She felt exhausted for some strange reason…
The last thing Sueko heard before she fell unconscious was InuYasha crying out, "Sueko!" realizing what was wrong.
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The trip to Kaede's village was far less eventful than her first, as Yoshiko followed Myoga's instructions to the Bone-Eater's well. This time, though, she wasn't alone and it wasn't all that quiet. The flea just wouldn't shut up! She had flicked him into a tree, squashed him, threw him into the ground and threatened to drown him but still he continued to talk.
But it wasn't that bad. Sometimes he was quite entertaining. Other times she could actually carry on a decent conversation with him. But it really was annoying how he kept on bringing up her family… until pointed out a snake that looked very hungry. Then he shut up about it. He didn't completely shut up though… Myoga just kept on talking about other things. Like his family!
Yoshiko did not relent though to his subtle attempts to get her to talk about her family. She just let the flea talk on, sometimes laughing sometimes getting annoyed. Finally they weren't that far away from the village and Myoga started seeing some familiar landmarks.
"Ah yes! Just a few more miles this way and we should meet up with Lord InuYasha and the others while they wait for Lady Sueko to show up," said Myoga.
"You don't think that maybe she's all ready shown up?" asked Yoshiko, noticing some nice yellow flowers that Sueko might enjoy.
She shook her head sadly remembering them as her little brother's favorite flowers. At least, she thought they were his favorite. He would give them to her on her birthday every year… and other special events.
"May I ask what is on your mind, Lady Yoshiko?" asked Myoga.
Yoshiko blinked and grinned at the flea.
"I thought I saw a spider web with a spider who looked very hungry… but then I realized the spider must have left a few days ago," teased Yoshiko.
"Wh—what!?" cried the flea.
"I said…" started Yoshiko.
"I heard what you said!!" cried Myoga. "But did you really mean to feed me to that spider!?"
"Do you really think I would have thought of it if I wouldn't have?" asked Yoshiko, smirking.
"I should have known… You hate me, don't you!?" accused Myoga, pointing his fingers at her.
"No, not at all!" said Yoshiko, sarcastically.
"Oh, well, in that case…. Hey!"
Yoshiko burst out of the trees near the well laughing at the flea. When she looked up she found InuYasha clenching his fists, Sango comforting Shippo and Miroku in deep thought. At first she thought maybe Sueko was just late but the girl's bag was sitting right next to the well so she obviously had come back. Why then did everybody look frustrated? No… not frustrated…
"What happened!?" snapped Yoshiko.
"What makes you think something happened?" growled InuYasha.
"You really don't trust me, do you?" sighed Yoshiko, rolling her eyes.
"What makes you think that?" snapped InuYasha.
"Enough! What is going on?" asked Yoshiko.
"Nothing," said InuYasha.
"Something is going on! The monk doesn't think that hard unless something is. Now what is going on?" cried Yoshiko.
"Nothing is going on!" yelled InuYasha.
"WHERE'S SUEKO!?" screamed Yoshiko. Everybody looked up, wide-eyed. "Tell me where she is right now or, so help me, I will break your neck!"
The wind blew through the grass as Yoshiko stood shaking with anger and every body else stared at her, shocked. During the shouting Myoga had abandoned Yoshiko for Kirara, thinking it far safer than on the furious half-demon. She looked from each face but still nobody seemed willing to give her any information.
"Well?" said Yoshiko, her voice seeming to ring across the clearing.
"Well, um…" started Sango.
But it almost seemed like Yoshiko had given up on asking for information. She walked, almost calmly, up to InuYasha, pulled back her fist and hitting him in the eye. He recoiled slightly, almost falling, but catching his balance. He looked back at her, clutching at his injured eye. For a minute he thought about hitting her back but there was more than just anger in Yoshiko's face. A sort of grief hovered there as well.
"She was kidnapped by a spider demon," muttered InuYasha, looking away.
For a minute everybody expected her to explode, to blame InuYasha. But instead she sat down and leaned against the well. She clenched her eyes closed to try and stop the inevitable tears. Shippo thought about giving her a hug but hesitated. She was a lot like InuYasha after all.
'She's just a girl… A silly, stupid little girl. Why do I care? There's plenty more girl's out there so why do I have to get attached to this one?' thought Yoshiko, struggling against the tears.
"The thing about spider demons is that they always leave a trail of spider web. If we're going to rescue Sueko we better leave now. We don't want to wait too late or it'll be dark by the time we find her," said Miroku.
"How big was the demon?" asked Yoshiko, stalling for time.
"How would I know!?" snapped InuYasha. "Do you think that we could have taken out a measuring tape and see how big the thing was? If we could do that Sueko wouldn't still be kidnapped, would she?"
"Give me your best estimate then," said Yoshiko coldly.
"It wasn't that big. It was more like it was quick and agile," muttered InuYasha. "What is it with you anyways!?"
In response Yoshiko looked up and glared at him.
"We can deal with this later," said Sango. "In the mean time lets go try and find Sueko."
"Yeah!" agreed Shippo.
Yoshiko nodded, and stood up. She felt numb all over as if she was swimming in ice-cold water. The small Kirara changed into her larger form and Shippo quickly jumped on.
"You're such a little coward," muttered Yoshiko, following InuYasha toward the spider web trail in the forest.
"I—am—not… a coward," stammered Shippo, shivering.
"Somebody will need to stay here and guard Sueko's stuff," said Yoshiko kindly. "And I think there's a brave little fox demon who's willing to do that."
"Really? Where?" said Shippo, looking around.
The half tiger demon smiled slightly and picked Shippo off of Kirara. Then she set him down next to Sueko's bag and handed him her little dagger.
"Wh—what's this for?" asked Shippo.
"Something to keep you safe… and also something else you need to protect," said Yoshiko seriously.
"Wait! You tell me I'm supposed to use it to protect me but also I'm supposed to protect it? That's just messed up!" cried Shippo.
"Just do it," snapped Yoshiko, hurrying after the rest of the group.
The trip through the forest was quiet… a little too quiet. It left too much time for thought. Sometimes her mind wandered to Godric, other times to what the spider demon could be doing to Sueko. Mostly she tried to figure out why she even cared at all. The girl was annoying!
'But she is quite determined… just like Godric,' thought Yoshiko.
She shook her head violently to purge it of those kinds of thoughts. Thinking of Sueko was fine. Thinking about Godric was okay. But thinking about them both in one thought was just too much for her to handle. Sango looked at her worriedly.
"Are you all right?" she asked.
"Yeah…" muttered Yoshiko, looking away.
"I'm sure Sueko is fine. She's a strong, stubborn girl," said Sango.
Yoshiko nodded and looked away silently.
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By the time the sun was starting to set they had reached the cave where they expected to find the spider demon. At least, InuYasha said he could smell Sueko's blood in it but that didn't make Yoshiko feel any better about it. But before anybody else could do anything she was rushing into the cave listening for any sound of the girl. It didn't take too long to find her though.
She was standing not too far from the mouth of the cave looking down at the ground in almost disbelief. Yoshiko sighed in relief and contemplated hugging Sueko. But then she looked up and her face softened.
"Oh. You showed up. Sorry… the demon is kind of… dead… all ready… I don't know why… it just… died," said Sueko.
"You're alive," said Yoshiko in a sort of half daze.
"Yeah! You think that stupid little spider demon could kill me? It wasn't even that big!" cried Sueko.
Suddenly Yoshiko's eyes narrowed and she slapped Sueko… hard.
"Don't you ever scare me like that again, you hear!?" she snapped.
"Um… that kind of hurt… What did you do that for!?" Sueko half shouted.
The others stood in the entrance of the cave in total disbelief unsure of what's going on. Kirara walked in and started nudging the dead body of the spider demon. But still Sueko and Yoshiko just looked at each other.
InuYasha was just about to say something when Yoshiko burst into tears and hugged Sueko. The girl stood there, shocked for a moment but then patted Yoshiko's back awkwardly.
"It's okay… You can vent your anger on some other demon…" muttered Sueko in a trying to be comforting way.
"I am not going to lose you too…" whispered Yoshiko.
"Feh," said InuYasha, walking away.
In response Miroku hit him over the head with his staff.
"InuYasha!" said Sueko, looking at him over Yoshiko's shoulder.
"Oh no you don't—" started InuYasha.
"SIT!"
With a cry InuYasha fell to the ground. Yoshiko looked up at him, blinking rapidly. Then she started laughing. The others joined in and soon they were all standing around laughing at InuYasha who looked up and just glared at them all.
"What do you think is so funny?" he growled.
"Oh shut up mister cranky," said Yoshiko, helping Sueko into the forest. "You don't have to snap at us for your stupidity."
"WHAT!?"
"We all love you, InuYasha!" cried Sueko.
With that they all started laughing again and headed back to the well… and Shippo.