Welps, here yet another chappy for ya! Hope ya enjoy this lil trip they are about to take-I promise to make it an excitingly fluffy/waffy trip ^.-
Chapter 17
Kagome threw her few small traveling things over the side of a large black horse, securing them tightly to the saddle. "Are you ready yet?" Inuyasha whined from his resting place in his tree, from which he hadn't moved all morning-though it was still quite early. The sun was beginning to rise in the east and Sango and Miroku watched as Kagome mounted her horse gracefully, trotting by their hut on the way out of the village.
Sango's smiling, yet worried eyes looked up at Kagome pleadingly. "You will be careful, won't you?" Kagome smiled reassuringly. "Of course I will...don't worry-we will be back in less than a week if all goes well, but don't worry yourselves if we are gone longer-things tend to come up..." Miroku nodded understandingly, looking at Inuyasha with curiosity-some of his old houshi thoughts playing with the words Kagome had spoken.
"Inuyasha! You coming?!" Kagome yelled over to Inuyasha, who looked to have dozed off again. Kagome rolled her eyes back to her friends in the hut staring up at her. She gave Shippo one last hug before letting him hop onto into Kohaku's free shoulder, the other occupied by Kirara. Kagome smiled at everyone waving as she began to walk her horse out of the village. "Bye guys! See ya when I get back!"
Inuyasha yawned, annoyed as he hopped from the tree and picked up the large bag of herbs, throwing it over his shoulder and taking after Kagome's horse with a few quick leaps. "Are you sure you know how to ride that thing?" Inuyasha walked beside Kagome-poking fun at her in an innocent way. Kagome smiled, patting the horse's neck a few times with her free hand. "I think I can handle it..." Kagome looked confidently as Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "It would have been much faster if I had taken you..."
"Maybe so...we are going a bit slow aren't we..." Kagome looked over her shoulder with a sly smile. "What are you looking at?" Inuyasha glanced back. "Making sure Sango and Miroku can't see us anymore..." Kagome answered playfully. "What? Why?" Inuyasha looked forward to the hard pounding of hooves-Kagome was racing her horse through the forest at speeds that would shame the wind. Kagome's face held pure pleasure, the quickening pace pulling her loose tendrals and bangs back from her honey complection & her brown hues held a mischeivous glow as she galloped away from Inuyasha.
"Wait a second! Kagome!" Inuyasha took off after her in his demon run, catching up to the horse as it slowed down to a trot in a clearing, rounding off the run to a half-circle in the cleared area. "What do you think you are doing! You wanna get yourself killed on that thing? What if you fell off?!" Kagome was laughing with pure excitement at Inuyasha's face. "Don't get all worked up-I've been riding horses for over a year now...I know how to not fall off..." Inuyasha mumbled to himself angrily before noticing the well sitting in the middle of the clearing.
Kagome's face went blank of emotion as she spoke. "Something wrong Inuyasha?" Though she already knew what he was looking at. "Kagome..." Inuyasha's voice seemed to leave him as he stared down in confusion at the well, which was now nailed shut with a wooden board covered in sacred seals. Kagome turned the horse with a tug and continued into the forest without acknowledging the change. "Come on Inuyasha...we need to get going..." Kagome's words felt forced with no emotion as Inuyasha turned and began to follow her in disbelief. 'Sango and Miroku said she hadn't been back there in a while...but...'
Kagome rode at a steady pace in front of Inuyasha, her Kinjai attached firmly at her side and rocking back and forth with the motions of the horse's walk beneath her. Kagome's hair was loosley braided, though many small tendrals still hung freely around her face, flowing in the slightest of breezes that passed. She knew Inuyasha would inquire about the sight he had just beheld-but it didn't matter-she didn't care to explain it to him...but explaining herself was a whole other story.
Inuyasha walked in silence for sometime, wondering what to make of the well and Kagome. He looked up and caught something that was thrown at his head. He looked over the apple curiously. "You remember how to eat right? Dying doesn't make you stupid..." Kagome smiled playfully. "No..." Inuyasha gave a pouting response, biting into the apple. "So how far to this village?" Inuyasha asked, trying to start a conversation instead of an argument. "We won't make it by nightfall, so we will have to camp out and we should make it there by early afternoon tommorrow if we don't run into any trouble with the local wolf-demons..."
Inuyasha's silvery ears twitched at this, giving a strange look to Kagome. "What do you mean wolf-demons?" Kagome sighed. "This village is located near a branch of the wolf-demons, they are black-coated wolves under a leader called Rinsei. Kouga has told him to keep away from me and my villages, but Rinsei always likes to stir up trouble with me." Inuyasha walked alongside Kagome, finishing his apple and placing his hands in his sleeves, getting a confident grin across his face. "Well, I guess if he comes sniffing around, I will just have to teach this wolf-pup a lesson too..." Kagome smiled at Inuyasha's overconfidence, looking up at the sky, noticing it was already midday.
By nightfall, Kagome and Inuyasha had set up camp by a small creek, with hot springs nearby. Kagome led her horse down to the slow running waters of the brooke, talking soothingly to it as she stroked its long dark mane.. "There ya go Yurusu...that's better..." Inuyasha put down the firewood and heard her speak to the horse. "Are you talking to that horse?" Inuyasha cocked an eyebrow at her. Kagome merely smiled softly, continuing to stroke the animal. "Hai, I guess I am..." Inuyasha approached the beast, looking over it intently. "Ya know...I have to wonder where ya got this from...it's too good come from Kaede's village-the few they actually have are mostly work horses..." Kagome tied the riens to a tree. "Hai...but this one isn't from the village-it was a gift...to me..."
Inuyasha looked interested now. "Really? Who from..." Kagome walked back into the firelight of the camp. "It's not really important-I am going to go take a bath..." Kagome walked off, leaving the dicussion at a dead end and Inuyasha with many unanswered questions. Inuyasha walked back to the horse, that looked at him funny. "Where did you come from...hey-stop looking at me like that..."
Kagome stepped into the steamy atmosphere surrounding the hot springs. She sighed with a content smile crossing over her lips. She untied her sash, letting the cloth and her sword fall gently to the ground, followed by her black outfit. She placed the towel she brought just by a rock, then slipped into the waters with little disturbance to the surface. Kagome sank into the water, closing her eyes in satisfaction. "Ahh...this feels so good after a long day's ride..."
Kagome thought back on Inuyasha's question. She would eventually have to tell him the whole story, or he would find out on the trip into the village. Kagome rolled her eyes, suddenly dreading the return to camp. She lifted her hands from under the water's depths, shattering the mirror surface which held her reflection-her cupped hands went to her face, throwing waters in small tides over her skin, letting it wash down her neck gently. She sank even deeper, her hair half-plunged in the water until she finally dipped her whole body under, staying there a moment and then reluctantly resurfacing. Kagome gasped for a breathe as she returned, the washed herself off completely and left the waters.
Kagome made her way to the towel, drying off and then redresing herself, finishing by tying her sword around her thin waist. She began to walk back to camp, smoothing out and drying her hair along the way until she came within the glow of the blaze. Inuyasha looked back as Kagome's figure came into sight to match the scent he had been keeping watch over. Kagome sat down across from Inuyasha, awaiting the questions which were written on his face to be spoken.
"Is there something you want to ask Inuyasha?" Kagome became impatient with the stubborn hanyou. "Huh...hmm" Inuyasha looked back into the flames with a deep thought passing his mind-as though arguing with himself silently to keep quiet. "Kagome...where did you really get that horse..." Kagome looked over at the animal tied to the tree, then returned her gaze to Inuyasha's eyes the next moment, before ending up on the fire. "It was a gift...from your brother..."
Inuyasha's brow furrowed. "Sesshomaru...what does he have to do with it?" Kagome sighed. "He gave it to me soon after your death...he had been trying to steal tetsusaiga for quite sometime, and when he brought Rin to see me, he insisted I take the horse as payment." Kagome saw many emotions, including confusion and ander pass through Inuyasha's glance, so she continued to explain. "Sesshomaru was involved in a fight with a demon who had instructions to steal Tenseiga-when he failed, he poisoned Rin with something that could not be healed by Tenseiga...Sesshomaru killed this demon but Rin was still fatally ill. He brought her to me, and I cared for her for days...she is such a sweet girl and when she was fully healed Sesshomaru insisted I take this horse he called Yurusu as a gift.
Inuyasha thought back over the story a few moments. "And as for what happened while I was dead? Between you and Sesshomaru?" Kagome smiled, rolling her eyes. "Between me and Sesshomaru? Nothing Inuyasha...who have you been talking to?" Inuyasha gave her a look. "What do you mean nothing? Miroku said...Kouga said..." "Said what?" Now Kagome was interested in what those boys had told Inuyasha when they themselves had no idea. "Nevermind..they just said I should ask you about it that's all..." Inuyasha became a little pouty. Kagome shook her head and sighed.
"We better get some rest..." Kagome pulled blankets from her small pack, laying them across the ground and then unrolling her sleeping bag out over them. "You still have that thing?" Inuyasha looked over the sleeping bag. "Yea...I guess so..." Kagome smiled while climbing into the warm bag. Inuyasha jumped into his tree settling back to sleep as he stared up at the stars. "Kagome..." Kagome rolled over and looked up at the hanyou bathed in moonlight. "Hai...what is it?" "Why didn't you return to your own era...after I died..." Kagome rolled her back to Inuyasha, facing the fire and fingering the jewel around her neck gently. "I don't know...I felt...I felt I needed to stay here...staying here meant holding a piece of you-even if I didn't want it..." Kagome smiled, closing her eyes as if drifting to sleep. "I'm..." Inuyasha sighed, his voice becoming softer. "I'm sorry...kagome...if I hurt you..." Kagome opened her eyes a bit. "I know Inuyasha...I know..." Kagome pulled herself deeper in the sleeping bag, hugging it dearly.
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Well, this is only the beginning of the fluff I am planning on their little trip...now we have feelings out in the open-it's time to play up the emotion....just wait until I intro the next charrie-Rinsei! He is a black wolf with a history with Kagome-chan...Just wait until Inu meets him!
Chapter 17
Kagome threw her few small traveling things over the side of a large black horse, securing them tightly to the saddle. "Are you ready yet?" Inuyasha whined from his resting place in his tree, from which he hadn't moved all morning-though it was still quite early. The sun was beginning to rise in the east and Sango and Miroku watched as Kagome mounted her horse gracefully, trotting by their hut on the way out of the village.
Sango's smiling, yet worried eyes looked up at Kagome pleadingly. "You will be careful, won't you?" Kagome smiled reassuringly. "Of course I will...don't worry-we will be back in less than a week if all goes well, but don't worry yourselves if we are gone longer-things tend to come up..." Miroku nodded understandingly, looking at Inuyasha with curiosity-some of his old houshi thoughts playing with the words Kagome had spoken.
"Inuyasha! You coming?!" Kagome yelled over to Inuyasha, who looked to have dozed off again. Kagome rolled her eyes back to her friends in the hut staring up at her. She gave Shippo one last hug before letting him hop onto into Kohaku's free shoulder, the other occupied by Kirara. Kagome smiled at everyone waving as she began to walk her horse out of the village. "Bye guys! See ya when I get back!"
Inuyasha yawned, annoyed as he hopped from the tree and picked up the large bag of herbs, throwing it over his shoulder and taking after Kagome's horse with a few quick leaps. "Are you sure you know how to ride that thing?" Inuyasha walked beside Kagome-poking fun at her in an innocent way. Kagome smiled, patting the horse's neck a few times with her free hand. "I think I can handle it..." Kagome looked confidently as Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "It would have been much faster if I had taken you..."
"Maybe so...we are going a bit slow aren't we..." Kagome looked over her shoulder with a sly smile. "What are you looking at?" Inuyasha glanced back. "Making sure Sango and Miroku can't see us anymore..." Kagome answered playfully. "What? Why?" Inuyasha looked forward to the hard pounding of hooves-Kagome was racing her horse through the forest at speeds that would shame the wind. Kagome's face held pure pleasure, the quickening pace pulling her loose tendrals and bangs back from her honey complection & her brown hues held a mischeivous glow as she galloped away from Inuyasha.
"Wait a second! Kagome!" Inuyasha took off after her in his demon run, catching up to the horse as it slowed down to a trot in a clearing, rounding off the run to a half-circle in the cleared area. "What do you think you are doing! You wanna get yourself killed on that thing? What if you fell off?!" Kagome was laughing with pure excitement at Inuyasha's face. "Don't get all worked up-I've been riding horses for over a year now...I know how to not fall off..." Inuyasha mumbled to himself angrily before noticing the well sitting in the middle of the clearing.
Kagome's face went blank of emotion as she spoke. "Something wrong Inuyasha?" Though she already knew what he was looking at. "Kagome..." Inuyasha's voice seemed to leave him as he stared down in confusion at the well, which was now nailed shut with a wooden board covered in sacred seals. Kagome turned the horse with a tug and continued into the forest without acknowledging the change. "Come on Inuyasha...we need to get going..." Kagome's words felt forced with no emotion as Inuyasha turned and began to follow her in disbelief. 'Sango and Miroku said she hadn't been back there in a while...but...'
Kagome rode at a steady pace in front of Inuyasha, her Kinjai attached firmly at her side and rocking back and forth with the motions of the horse's walk beneath her. Kagome's hair was loosley braided, though many small tendrals still hung freely around her face, flowing in the slightest of breezes that passed. She knew Inuyasha would inquire about the sight he had just beheld-but it didn't matter-she didn't care to explain it to him...but explaining herself was a whole other story.
Inuyasha walked in silence for sometime, wondering what to make of the well and Kagome. He looked up and caught something that was thrown at his head. He looked over the apple curiously. "You remember how to eat right? Dying doesn't make you stupid..." Kagome smiled playfully. "No..." Inuyasha gave a pouting response, biting into the apple. "So how far to this village?" Inuyasha asked, trying to start a conversation instead of an argument. "We won't make it by nightfall, so we will have to camp out and we should make it there by early afternoon tommorrow if we don't run into any trouble with the local wolf-demons..."
Inuyasha's silvery ears twitched at this, giving a strange look to Kagome. "What do you mean wolf-demons?" Kagome sighed. "This village is located near a branch of the wolf-demons, they are black-coated wolves under a leader called Rinsei. Kouga has told him to keep away from me and my villages, but Rinsei always likes to stir up trouble with me." Inuyasha walked alongside Kagome, finishing his apple and placing his hands in his sleeves, getting a confident grin across his face. "Well, I guess if he comes sniffing around, I will just have to teach this wolf-pup a lesson too..." Kagome smiled at Inuyasha's overconfidence, looking up at the sky, noticing it was already midday.
By nightfall, Kagome and Inuyasha had set up camp by a small creek, with hot springs nearby. Kagome led her horse down to the slow running waters of the brooke, talking soothingly to it as she stroked its long dark mane.. "There ya go Yurusu...that's better..." Inuyasha put down the firewood and heard her speak to the horse. "Are you talking to that horse?" Inuyasha cocked an eyebrow at her. Kagome merely smiled softly, continuing to stroke the animal. "Hai, I guess I am..." Inuyasha approached the beast, looking over it intently. "Ya know...I have to wonder where ya got this from...it's too good come from Kaede's village-the few they actually have are mostly work horses..." Kagome tied the riens to a tree. "Hai...but this one isn't from the village-it was a gift...to me..."
Inuyasha looked interested now. "Really? Who from..." Kagome walked back into the firelight of the camp. "It's not really important-I am going to go take a bath..." Kagome walked off, leaving the dicussion at a dead end and Inuyasha with many unanswered questions. Inuyasha walked back to the horse, that looked at him funny. "Where did you come from...hey-stop looking at me like that..."
Kagome stepped into the steamy atmosphere surrounding the hot springs. She sighed with a content smile crossing over her lips. She untied her sash, letting the cloth and her sword fall gently to the ground, followed by her black outfit. She placed the towel she brought just by a rock, then slipped into the waters with little disturbance to the surface. Kagome sank into the water, closing her eyes in satisfaction. "Ahh...this feels so good after a long day's ride..."
Kagome thought back on Inuyasha's question. She would eventually have to tell him the whole story, or he would find out on the trip into the village. Kagome rolled her eyes, suddenly dreading the return to camp. She lifted her hands from under the water's depths, shattering the mirror surface which held her reflection-her cupped hands went to her face, throwing waters in small tides over her skin, letting it wash down her neck gently. She sank even deeper, her hair half-plunged in the water until she finally dipped her whole body under, staying there a moment and then reluctantly resurfacing. Kagome gasped for a breathe as she returned, the washed herself off completely and left the waters.
Kagome made her way to the towel, drying off and then redresing herself, finishing by tying her sword around her thin waist. She began to walk back to camp, smoothing out and drying her hair along the way until she came within the glow of the blaze. Inuyasha looked back as Kagome's figure came into sight to match the scent he had been keeping watch over. Kagome sat down across from Inuyasha, awaiting the questions which were written on his face to be spoken.
"Is there something you want to ask Inuyasha?" Kagome became impatient with the stubborn hanyou. "Huh...hmm" Inuyasha looked back into the flames with a deep thought passing his mind-as though arguing with himself silently to keep quiet. "Kagome...where did you really get that horse..." Kagome looked over at the animal tied to the tree, then returned her gaze to Inuyasha's eyes the next moment, before ending up on the fire. "It was a gift...from your brother..."
Inuyasha's brow furrowed. "Sesshomaru...what does he have to do with it?" Kagome sighed. "He gave it to me soon after your death...he had been trying to steal tetsusaiga for quite sometime, and when he brought Rin to see me, he insisted I take the horse as payment." Kagome saw many emotions, including confusion and ander pass through Inuyasha's glance, so she continued to explain. "Sesshomaru was involved in a fight with a demon who had instructions to steal Tenseiga-when he failed, he poisoned Rin with something that could not be healed by Tenseiga...Sesshomaru killed this demon but Rin was still fatally ill. He brought her to me, and I cared for her for days...she is such a sweet girl and when she was fully healed Sesshomaru insisted I take this horse he called Yurusu as a gift.
Inuyasha thought back over the story a few moments. "And as for what happened while I was dead? Between you and Sesshomaru?" Kagome smiled, rolling her eyes. "Between me and Sesshomaru? Nothing Inuyasha...who have you been talking to?" Inuyasha gave her a look. "What do you mean nothing? Miroku said...Kouga said..." "Said what?" Now Kagome was interested in what those boys had told Inuyasha when they themselves had no idea. "Nevermind..they just said I should ask you about it that's all..." Inuyasha became a little pouty. Kagome shook her head and sighed.
"We better get some rest..." Kagome pulled blankets from her small pack, laying them across the ground and then unrolling her sleeping bag out over them. "You still have that thing?" Inuyasha looked over the sleeping bag. "Yea...I guess so..." Kagome smiled while climbing into the warm bag. Inuyasha jumped into his tree settling back to sleep as he stared up at the stars. "Kagome..." Kagome rolled over and looked up at the hanyou bathed in moonlight. "Hai...what is it?" "Why didn't you return to your own era...after I died..." Kagome rolled her back to Inuyasha, facing the fire and fingering the jewel around her neck gently. "I don't know...I felt...I felt I needed to stay here...staying here meant holding a piece of you-even if I didn't want it..." Kagome smiled, closing her eyes as if drifting to sleep. "I'm..." Inuyasha sighed, his voice becoming softer. "I'm sorry...kagome...if I hurt you..." Kagome opened her eyes a bit. "I know Inuyasha...I know..." Kagome pulled herself deeper in the sleeping bag, hugging it dearly.
ยป--------------------
Well, this is only the beginning of the fluff I am planning on their little trip...now we have feelings out in the open-it's time to play up the emotion....just wait until I intro the next charrie-Rinsei! He is a black wolf with a history with Kagome-chan...Just wait until Inu meets him!