DISCLAIMER/AUTHOR'S NOTES
We still don't own InuYasha, sorry. All we own is the plot and any characters that you don't recognize from the show (which is a bit too many to list… okay, there isn't a whole lot, only about ten since you haven't met them all yet, but I'm just lazy. :P). Merry Christmas and a belated Happy Hanukkah! (I'm posting this on X-mas day. Wahoo!). I got an InuYasha calendar, and it has this little picture of human-InuYasha every day it's a new moon. It's soooo cool, except my birthday picture sucks!!!! Who wants Kagura on their birthday month?! Okay, maybe just me. Birthday's in March, by the way… And just to let you know, after Chapter Eight (which will be up in a few days) there won't be any updates for about a week or two because Ravyn89 is going over to California to visit family…. I might be able to write Chapter Nine on my own but… whatever. Anyways, I'll post this and go back to listening to my new No Doubt CD (The Singles 1992-2003) and update my Harry Potter fan fic, Life is a Road, a Wonderful Journey, and you can have a jolly good time reading this wonderful update and replying to it. If you like human InuYasha then you'll really like this post! :)
PS: Just to let you know, I do know the difference between stalactites and stalagmites (stalactites, ceiling; stalagmites, ground) but InuYasha doesn't. So the mix up is actually intentional and I'm not an idiot so don't say in your reply, "but he didn't use a stalactite!" because it'd just be a complete waste of time and would make me cranky.
And to answer your question, yes, they do go into a cave again. This leaves off exactly where the last one ended, except for its nighttime. Wahoo.
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Chapter Seven: The New Moon
Eventually the gang headed back towards Shippo and the Bone Eater's well. When they got there, Shippo jumped up and cried, "Yay, you're back!" and ran over to Sueko to hug her again.
"Um…" said Sueko, looking down at the little fox demon. "Shippo, I know you're happy to see me and all, but could you not do that every time you see me?"
Shippo ignored the comment, hugging her legs tighter and sighing in contentment. Sueko rolled her eyes and looked up. Miroku and Sango were just coming out of the forest (for Sueko had been ahead of everyone) and they were closely followed by Yoshiko and a man with a red kimono, black hair and grey eyes who looked strangely familiar…
"InuYasha?!" Sueko cried out.
"Feh!" the black haired man said, crossing his arms.
"Oh, it's the new moon," said Sueko thoughtfully.
"Ah yes, good for me," said InuYasha grumpily, sitting down and leaning against the well.
"Oh, shut up you party pooper!" said Sueko.
"At least its only once a month, InuYasha," said Yoshiko, trying to hide a smile. "The half moon shows up twice a month."
When InuYasha just growled at this remark, Sueko sat down in front of him and said with a smile, "You know, I could make your life so much worse by saying a certain s word…"
"Give the poor guy a break," said Sango, who had started to fix up Sueko's bite wound.
"Oh, like he would be nice to me if I was in his shoes," said Sueko, crossing her arms and giving InuYasha a look.
"I don't know, you might actually be surprised," said Yoshiko.
"Feh," said InuYasha again.
"Stop complaining!" said Sueko impatiently. "You're actually kinda cute looking… except for you're missing a little something here, and here," she added, putting a finger on the two spots where his dog ears would have been.
"Do that again and I'll kill you," snapped InuYasha.
"Oh please! Like you can do anything when it's not the new moon!" laughed Yoshiko.
InuYasha rolled his eyes and Sueko laughed. "Okay, I'll stop torturing you… for now."
"Fine."
"Cheer up already!" cried Sueko. "Guys have it made! They don't have to deal with cramps or periods or anything like that. So you have to deal with turning into a mortal once a month… girls get to be in pain and agony for a whole week once in a month, so shut up!"
InuYasha just blinked at Sueko for a few minutes.
"I don't think he understood a word you just said," said Yoshiko, sounding amused.
"Humph!" said Sueko, who leaned over against the well's side and crossed her arms, copying InuYasha's position. Though the both of them were both on their feet a minute or two later when—
"The ground's starting to move!" cried Shippo, clinging to Sueko's leg, making Sueko sigh and roll her eyes.
"It's not moving," she said tiredly. "Something really big is walking."
"You're supposed to make him feel better, not make him feel worse," said InuYasha.
Sueko just muttered, "Well aren't you cranky?!" as the ground continued to shake.
Yoshiko pulled out her sword and Sango got her boomerang ready. InuYasha didn't do anything, just stood there looking quite impatient. Sueko, noticing that the others were preparing for battle, decided to do so too so she pulled out her sword—without any help either! Then again, she had been practicing…
A giant beast appeared when it finally stepped out of the forest. It kind of reminded Sueko of an ogre, but she didn't exactly met very many on the daily bases, so she might be wrong… he was sort of grey in color, and… well, there wasn't much to say about him. He was just plain ugly!
The ogre turned his head as if looking for something… or someone.
'Oh great,' thought Sueko, 'not another demon after me. Shesh! If I'm this popular with the demons, how come I never was at school?!'
When the ogre spoke, Sueko was surprised at what it said. With a voice that actually sounded ugly (if that was even possible) and sounded cold and angry, he said, "Where's InuYasha?"
'He had to pick tonight, didn't he?' thought Sueko miserably. After all, tonight was the new moon and InuYasha was in no shape to be dealing with his own demons.
"Where's InuYasha!" repeated the ogre when no one had spoken, walking right up to the well that InuYasha, Sueko and Shippo were standing near.
"What's it to you?" yelled InuYasha, crossing his arms tiredly as though he had been through this a million times and just wanted the whole damn thing to be over with. After all, battling demons wasn't exactly fun or anything.
"I want…" the ogre paused for some reason. "Tetsusaiga…"
'Wow, he wants his sword,' thought Sueko sarcastically. 'InuYasha, can you just kill him and get it over with?'
"Well, you can't have it, sorry!" cried InuYasha, pulling out Tetsusaiga and gripping it in front of him, ready to attack.
Sueko resisted hitting the guy aside the head. He had just revealed himself, the idiot! She resided to just sighing in an annoyed sort of way, making InuYasha glance at her before looking back at the ogre.
"So you're… InuYasha…" said the ogre. Sueko realized that he kept pausing when he talked because he was talking so slow. Though this idea was amusing Sueko knew this was a serious situation. Unless the demon was really pathetic and could be killed easily… but he was really, really, really big…
"Yes. And you're dead!" cried InuYasha, using the Wind Scar to defeat the ogre.
Well, at least, he tried. He forgot that, because he was lacking of demonic powers at the moment, the sword didn't transform, so therefore the Wind Scar no longer worked.
Seeing this, the ogre laughed. Well, Sueko thought he did. It kind of sounded like a laugh but it was just so slow. Then the ogre said, "I knew… tonight… would be… a good night… to attack… You are… only… mortal now…"
"InuYasha!" cried Yoshiko, who began to shove InuYasha aside so she could attack the demon. But before she could even lift her arms to push him back, the ogre bent down and grabbed InuYasha around the waist.
"I… have… you now!" the ogre cried out triumphantly, lifting InuYasha up in front of his face. Sueko could see InuYasha struggle, but it was absolutely no use. The ogre was just too strong… and big…
"What do we do now?" cried Sueko crankily. This had got to be the worst Tuesday ever. First she has to wake up to go to school (she never gets used to waking up early till Thursday, but by then what's the point?), then she had to go back to Feudal Japan (though this is actually a good thing… but she still had to pack), then she got kidnapped by some spider demon and then killed it without knowing how, and now her friend was getting kidnapped by some ugly and slow ogre? What next?!
In response Sango flung her boomerang at the ogre, only to have it bounce off his leg. Then the ogre started walking back into the forest, laughing.
"Hey, come back!" cried Sueko. "We haven't killed you yet!"
Well, she knew that would never work, but whatever.
"Lets go after it!" said Sueko, putting her sword back into its sheath and heading towards the woods.
Someone might have called out for her, but Sueko didn't pay attention or look back, just kept walking.
"No one steals my boyfriend without some pay back!" muttered Sueko. Not that InuYasha was her boyfriend or anything. She didn't even like him in that way. It just sounded more dramatic.
But then someone called out her name, and Sueko found herself stopped and turning around. Yoshiko stood there looking flustered and extremely worried. Yet she also had this glint in her eye like she knew something she shouldn't. Sueko raised her eyebrows at her but said, "What?"
Yoshiko didn't say anything at first, just walked up to Sueko. Then she just walked past her as if to say, "Continue walking," so Sueko did so, rushing to Yoshiko's side and walking with her. But Yoshiko still wouldn't say anything so Sueko said, "What do you want?"
Yoshiko sighed. "You like him, don't you?"
"Huh?" said Sueko, confused.
"InuYasha," said Yoshiko quietly. "You like him."
"Duh," said Sueko. "No, I hate his guts and he's my worst enemy and I'm only saving him because I'm bored out of my mind."
"No, I'm being serious!" said Yoshiko. Now she was sounding amused. "You're in love with InuYasha, aren't you?"
Sueko's eyes widened in shock. She couldn't believe what she was hearing—she, in love with InuYasha?! Sure, she had just gotten over that stupid crush, but still… why would anyone suspected that she liked him?
Getting her voice back, she cried, "No, I do not like him! Why in God's name would you think that?!"
Yoshiko, who had been looking ahead the whole entire time, finally looked down at Sueko (apparently everyone was taller then Sueko… not that she was short or anything, she was just younger!) with a smile on her face. "Well, let's see… you tease him all the time, act embarrassed around him, rarely look straight into his face, act like at total klutz around him, and are extremely protective over him. You can't say you don't like him!"
Sueko found this kind of funny… except the whole klutz thing. Must everyone rub that into her?!
"I did like InuYasha," Sueko admitted. "In-that-way, I mean. But now… nope, I just like him as much as I like everyone else."
"Uh huh," said Yoshiko, her voice full of doubt.
"What?! I don't like him!" cried Sueko.
"Okay…" said Yoshiko, smiling. Sueko scowled and crossed her arms in frustration.
"Sueko? Yoshiko?"
The two girls spun around and found Miroku, Sango and Shippo running to catch up with them.
"Oh. So now you want to come with," said Sueko.
"Don't run off like that again!" cried Shippo. "I was so worried about you!"
Sueko sighed. Shippo was really starting to get on her nerves…
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InuYasha wasn't very found of caves. They weren't exactly a cozy, comfortable place to be in and they reminded him of Onigumo which was never a nice topic to think about because then it reminded him of Kikyo and Naraku and Kagome… the three people he never wanted to think about.
Nope. Caves really weren't InuYasha's thing.
Anyways, the ogre had carried InuYasha to this cave—though it was a different cave then the one Sueko had battled the spider demon in (how many caves were around here?!)—and, after taking his sword away from him, dropped InuYasha on the ground. This wasn't exactly a trip, seeing how the ogre had to be at least twenty feet tall and the cave floor being made of rock and all… well, InuYasha really didn't feel like getting up after that but knew he had to get the Tetsusaiga back somehow so, trying his best to ignore the pain in his back, got up anyways.
"Give that back!" InuYasha shouted to the ogre, leaning against the rock wall.
The ogre just laughed, inspecting the sword.
InuYasha sighed. The ogre had the Tetsusaiga, so he couldn't exactly use that to defeat him, and with it being the new moon his demonic powers were gone until sunrise… there was nothing in the cave he could use as a weapon besides little rocks but that would probably just provoke the ogre… what was he to do?
"Now what… am I… to do… with you?" the ogre said, sounding amused as he tilted his head in InuYasha's direction.
InuYasha groaned. He didn't liking the sound of this.
Dodging a blow to the head from the ogre (apparently it had decided on crushing him to death in order to get rid of him), InuYasha spotted a cluster of stalactites… well something like that. Kagome had at one time taught him the difference between stalactites and stalagmites when she had been studying for one of those test things in this era, but he couldn't remember how to tell the difference. All InuYasha knew was that they were tall, stick things coming up from the ground that would make the perfect tool for whacking a giant ogre who's trying to kill you.
He rushed over to the clump of stalactite-thingy's and, using all his strength, yanked one from the ground and gripped it like a club, facing the ogre.
Seeing InuYasha with a stalactite in his hands, the ogre laughed again, which just annoyed InuYasha and made him grip the stalactite tighter.
"You think… you can defeat… me… that easily?" roared the ogre, laughing some more.
InuYasha's eyebrows narrowed in annoyance. "I can try!" he yelled, swinging the stalactite like a baseball bat.
The ogre laughed yet again, for when InuYasha swung the stalactite all it did was bounce off the ogre's leg. "What did… I tell you? No mortal… can defeat… me!" And with a twisted sort of smile he took his long, thick arm and used it to shove InuYasha against the wall.
InuYasha cried out as he fell to the floor. He felt as though every bone in his body had been crushed—actually, that might have been the truth. The pain was almost unbearable… probably the only reason why he didn't loose consciousness now was because InuYasha suddenly heard a voice cry out—
"InuYasha!"
Standing at the mouth of the cave was Sueko, a sword in her hand and a slight breeze blowing through that messy brown hair of hers. Her green-hazel eyes were on InuYasha and were wide with worriment but a second later they were staring at the ogre, squinting with detestation.
With a cry of rage Sueko swung the sword with all her might. Though all it did was graze the ogre's leg.
The ogre didn't say anything, just laughed some more. Sueko narrowed her eyebrows and swung the sword again, doing no more damage then the first swing did.
'It's no use!' thought InuYasha, trying his best to keep his eyes open and say conscious. 'There's no way it can be defeated without Tetsusaiga…'
Sueko just barely dodged a blow from the ogre's arm, but she wasn't quite fast enough to dodge the second arm coming her way and found herself being pushed away. Lucky for Sueko the blow was weaker then the one used on InuYasha so she was only "tossed aside" and found herself lying on the ground. Really hard cave ground, but still. Sueko quickly got up and held out her sword in front of her. But the ogre whacked her aside yet again—this time with full power, as Sueko was whammed against the cave wall.
InuYasha didn't think Sueko would ever get up, but she did weakly. She leaned on her sword for support and stood there shakily.
The ogre smiled and looked down at Sueko. "You… are… going… to… die!"
Just as another one of his arms went towards Sueko, she screamed at the top of her lungs, "I WILL NOT!" and held out her sword. With no longer having anything to support her weight Sueko fell to her knees, and just as they made contact with the ground a sort of blue bubble came out of her sword and surrounded Sueko. When the ogre's arm finally did make contact with Sueko, it just bounced off the blue bubble. It must have been some sort of shield… coming out of the sword?
The ogre hesitated, looking at the bubble-shield surrounding Sueko with befuddlement. Sueko looked just as confused as InuYasha felt, looking around the blue bubble that surrounded her. Then, as quickly as it had come the bubble vanished, going back into the sword. Noticing that the barrier between him and Sueko gone, the ogre made a fist and aimed it towards Sueko, but not before Sueko lifted her sword over her head and brought it back down to the cave floor, wind sweeping forward with great force.
"The Wind Scar…" muttered InuYasha as he watched the ogre die from the attack. 'But that's impossible! Only the Tetsusaiga can use the Wind Scar!"
But InuYasha didn't have another thought as the pain became too unbearable and his vision clouded up.
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When InuYasha finally woke up his eyes opened wide and he quickly sat up, though collapsed back on the floor after feeling the pain.
"Finally, you're awake."
"Yoshiko?" muttered InuYasha, turning his head to the source of the sound. Yoshiko was leaning against the wall of some sort of hut with her arms and legs crossed and a smirk on her face—but other then that she was relatively calm.
"Hello, sleepy head," she said quietly.
"Where's Sueko?" InuYasha cried out. He would have probably have sat up again if he hadn't regretted it the first time he did so. But he all of a sudden wanted—no, needed—to know where Sueko is, and if she was all right—right now.
Yoshiko, amazingly enough, was not startled by his outburst but said sternly, "She's right over there. Now shut up or she'll wake up." She pointed to the other side of the small hut. InuYasha turned his head and saw a young woman with lovely brunette hair with bits of it cascading across her face. Her pale pink lips were slightly opened and her dazzling green and hazel eyes were covered because she was asleep. She looked so peaceful lying there… she could have been mistaken for being dead instead of sleeping if it wasn't for the fact that locks of her silky brown hair fluttered each time she breathed out.
InuYasha knew this girl. This was the annoying, silly, foolish girl that came out of the Bone Eaters well a month ago, but somehow she wasn't the same girl. It was like now she had become a woman. It was really weird…
"InuYasha?"
InuYasha slowly turned his head back to Yoshiko, not wanted to tear his eyes away from the stunning beauty lying to his right.
"I suppose you want to know what happened," said Yoshiko wearily.
"Sure," said InuYasha.
"Okay, well, basically Sueko showed up a head of us so I'm not sure what she did, but when I showed up she had just done the Wind Scar… Miroku says that the sword must be able to tap into all four of the elements powers in desperate situations, seeing how it belongs to the protector of the Spirit Shrine… in other words, it was a complete fluke and probably never happen again… Then I went over and got your sword while Sango and Miroku got you and Sueko onto Kirara… and now you are here. And just to let you know," said Yoshiko with a slight smile, "It's still the new moon."
"Huh?" said InuYasha, startled by the last statement. "Oh."
"Now that we have that out of the way," said Yoshiko, a smile appearing on her face again, "There's an issue that must be dealt with."
"W—what?" said InuYasha, taken aback again.
Yoshiko paused as if thinking of the best way to start saying what she was about to say. But eventually she got an idea and said in a bit of a rush, "Have you noticed that lately Sueko's been acting a little—erm—strange?"
"Uh…" In truth InuYasha didn't have the slightest clue what she was talking about. Okay, Sueko was kind of acting different right now, but InuYasha was pretty sure Yoshiko was not talking about a change in character that sudden. Actually, InuYasha felt slightly remorseful after realizing that he never really paid much attention to the girl, as silly as she was.
"I take it you haven't," said Yoshiko tonelessly.
"Not really," said InuYasha.
Yoshiko sighed and tried to think of how to explain whatever she wanted to explain. Then she tried again. "You haven't noticed how she acts slightly different whenever you're nearby?"
"What do you mean 'slightly different'?" snapped InuYasha, propping himself up against the wall slightly. Maybe Yoshiko was just trying to play with his all ready fragile emotions. Besides it was the new moon and they were always closer to the surface at that time…
"I mean she blushes a lot, teases you, becomes really ditsy… the things girls do around cute guys," explained Yoshiko off handedly, with a slight smirk.
If InuYasha hadn't been so stubborn he might have gotten it right away. But he wasn't willing to believe it. If he thought about that he might face losing somebody else he cared about… like his mother, like Kikyo, like… Kagome. He turned away from Yoshiko and his eyes fell on the sleeping form of Sueko again.
"You're pathetic," scowled Yoshiko, leaning back completely against the wall and closing her eyes. "You're too bundled up in feeling sorry for yourself because you lost Kagome that you hadn't noticed that Sueko had fallen in love with you!"
InuYasha looked up, eyes wide. Yoshiko didn't look at him but continued on speaking.
"But even if you had noticed what would you have done about it? Nothing because all you really care about is drowning in misery over losing Kagome."
"That's not true!" shouted InuYasha.
Sueko groaned and rolled over on her mat. Yoshiko opened her eyes and glared at him until he crossed his arms angrily.
"And let's say you noticed and you fell in love with her, what then? Nothing because you won't let anybody take Kagome's place even though she's dead!"
"What's up with Kagome? You bring her up every other sentence," replied InuYasha moodily. He wouldn't admit it, but Yoshiko was right—completely and utterly correct. He had been such a jerk to Sueko and all this time she had liked him. It had kind of been like that with Kagome… except he kept on thinking about Kikyo.
"I was about to ask you the same thing. She's dead, dog-boy! There's no way she's going to come back and still be the same Kagome that you knew. Like I said before, InuYasha, if you could get over Kikyo you can get over Kagome but you have to try! No more of your moaning over one dead girl. Kagome wouldn't want that," said Yoshiko.
"How would you know what Kagome would want?" growled InuYasha.
"Because my little brother wouldn't want me to become depressed because he's dead… and neither would my father," said Yoshiko quietly. "I'm not saying you have to suddenly fall in love with Sueko but… know that you might just break her heart one of these days."
With that the half tiger demon stood up and left the hut, leaving InuYasha very much alone except for Sueko who was still sleeping. He looked down at her thinking how much like Kagome she looked when she slept. Never in his life had he thought that the pain of losing Kagome would ever go away… but maybe Sueko could help him.
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Sueko sighed. Today was a dull sort of day… though considering the fact that yesterday was so action packed it was okay. But she was so terribly bored.
She was lying on her stomach outside trying to read a book but she wasn't in the mood to read. She was in the mood to go out and do something though there was nothing to do except to wait for Yoshiko to come back. She had left again and took Sueko's sword, saying she wanted to find out more about the sword. Sueko wanted to go with but Yoshiko wouldn't let her, saying she needed to rest. The weirdest thing about it was that InuYasha even agreed to this—having Sueko stay and get better. He was actually caring about her for once. Sueko tried not to think about it too much because then it made her head hurt.
But she was over that silly crush she had on him. Sueko had to be grateful for that. Except for now InuYasha was acting weird today and it was bugging Sueko… it was like he was pretending she wasn't there and then all of a sudden caring about her. It made absolutely no sense!
"Uh… Sueko?"
'Here we go again with the whole "I'm ignoring you and then I care about you!" thing!' thought Sueko.
"What?" she said, not looking up from her book.
"What are you doing?" asked InuYasha.
"Reading." 'What does it look like I'm doing?!'
"But you haven't turned the page for nearly ten minutes."
'From somebody born in the 1500's he sure knows a lot about reading!'
"I'm thinking," replied Sueko.
"Oh."
InuYasha was really annoying Sueko. Couldn't he go back to his normal self? Maybe it was a new moon thing. He's all loopy for a few days and then he gets right back to his normal, arrogant, indifferent, selfish self!
Could a few days come by any quicker?