All I Want Is Another Chance
I don't think this story will be longer than six or seven chapters, I really don't. But hopefully the shorter the sweeter with this one, right? I was planning to keep the other characters out of this story as much as possible, but Kaede was kinda necessary to explain an unnecessary search. Without further ado, heeeeeeeeere's chapter 5!
Chapter 5: The Search
Inuyasha groaned. "Ow, my head." He rubbed his skull tenderly, wincing as his fingers brushed the goose-egg on his forehead. "Ano…Kagome? Where are you?" No reply. Again he called, and again no answer. Climbing out of the well, he looked around. Still no Kagome. Now Inuyasha was starting to panic. Where was that girl? Had she…had she run off?
As quickly as possible, he ran to the village.
"Kaede! Kaede! Where are you?" He screeched to a halt in front of the old priestess's hut. The villagers recoiled from him, as if he carried a plague, and with good reason. They knew he had died only a few days ago, and did not know what had transpired since then.
"Who is it that calls me so loudly?" Kaede emerged from the hut.
"It's me, old woman, don't you recognize me?" Inuyasha snorted. "I guess not. Not a big surprise I guess, you've never seen me human."
Kaede gasped and dropped the water bowl she had been holding. "Is that ye, Inuyasha?"
Inuyasha grinned sardonically. "In the flesh. No time to explain, though. Where's Kagome?"
"I did not know she had returned. After ye had…" she hesitated, "died, she swore never to return. Apparently, this time held painful memories of you."
Inuyasha sighed. "She did come back, though. I guess that me coming back in her time was a big shock. To her, I was just dead a day." He scratched his head thoughtfully. "Where could she be?"
A thought hit him. Back at the well, there had been a trail where there hadn't been earlier. Trampled as if a very angry person had stomped through the area. And Kagome had certainly looked upset before he had blacked out. He turned and ran back to the well, leaving Kaede confused.
'Explain later?' she thought. 'Explain what? What could he have meant?'
"You better not have run away, because I swear if I die because of you, I'll haunt you for the rest of your life!" Grumbling and swearing to himself, he started to follow the trail of trampled foliage, hoping desperately that Kagome had made it.
He reached a clearing and looked around. The trail seemed to turn, as if the maker had gotten lost, then… Inuyasha knelt to examine the ground where the trail ended suddenly. It looked as if Kagome had been snatched into the air. Frowning, he realized that tracking her was going to take a lot of time. Probably more than he had left, about four days. But he had to try. This wasn't about him anymore; he could sense that Kagome was in trouble.
He stood up to leave, to try and find even the faintest trace of a trail, when he spotted something. Beyond the trees, there was a mound of earth uncovered by grass, seeming to call to him. Obediently, he walked over to it. Is that…?
A grave, where the grass had not yet had a chance to grow. Someone had strewn flowers on it recently. Who… Then he knew, even before he saw the kanji on the tombstone. It was his own grave, and the one who put the flowers there…most likely Kagome.
It felt so strange, looking down at the place where his own body had been laid to rest, and not too long ago. For several long moments, he knelt at the graveside, seeming to stare past the dirt and into his past face.
Anger swelled in his heart. Suddenly, he knew who had taken Kagome.
Inuyasha growled. "Wasn't one of us enough, Maryaghu? Must you slaughter innocent Kagome as well?" He stood abruptly, and set about finding traces of the demon's passage. He would track down the one who killed him, and Inuyasha had every intent of returning the favor.
No, I'm not using Himitsu any more. That was just a cover name, sorry if it got confusing there for some of you, but I only needed it for one chapter. And when are all of you reviewers gonna wake up and realize I added two chapters while you were sleeping! I just happen to have better ideas for this story than my other ones. I better go before you start pelting me with rocks for talking too much. 'Bye!