Author: Soliloquys
Disclaimer: Hiten nor any of the characters in my fanfiction aren't mine, all belong to Rumiko Takahashi.
Chapter 3: Returning Home Alone
Their footsteps were traced all the way back to Kaede's village. Down the steep hill into the valley that concealed the village she pedaled her bike idly, feeling the dead weight of InuYasha's body slouch forward as if it were to fall off the bike and be twisted up in her wheels. One hand moved from her handlebars as she pulled his body back against her own. Blood oozed its way against her fingers, painting them red, and nausea threatened to overwhelm her as another dam of unstoppable tears flowed down her cold cheeks.
Outside of the old woman's hut she stopped, not bothering to prop it up with a leg. Instead, the whole device collapsed onto its side, taking the young girl, the dead hanyou, and the sleeping fox tyke down with it. It hurt. It hurt the whole of her body as it was crushed between the bike, InuYasha, and the ground. Yet, it hurt not nearly as much as her heart; as her soul.
Shippou finally awoke, finding himself tossed back into reality and onto the cold hard ground of a foreign place to him. Eyes grew wide when he saw Kagome holding her limp friend on the ground. "Kagome! What happened to InuYasha?!" His only answer was a desperate, crying whine. Her eyes stared beyond this world and were transfixed in a state of grief. Kaede shuffled off to the side of the bamboo flap to take in a raspy gasp of air.
The world around her danced about as a fuzzy image. She could recall herself telling the old priestess that she could not explain herself now, and to bury InuYasha without her.
Next thing she knew, she was in her mothers arms, sobbing violently and staining her mothers clothes with the demon blood that clung heavily to the school uniform. Up the stairs she was carried, fumbling with each step and being led into the bathroom. And now...now she was alone. Into the warm, scented water of her bath she sunk to her neck. Shaky fingers weaved into her hair, and she gripped at it as she gazed down into the water. "Get ahold of yourself Kagome." She told herself this, her hollow voice echoing against the bathroom tiles.
"You have to accept it. You weren't that close with him anyway." But with each word, her voice quivered even more and she found her tears dripping into the bathwater, making tiny ripples that spread out to nothingness. Sobs consumed her for the remaining hours of the evening, until she was sent to bed...only to weep there as well.
. . . .
All demons are limited to the amount of grief they can spare for a close one, even a demon so close to his brother such as Hiten. Kagome was not the only one who returned home that evening alone. The thunder youkai returned to his castle as well, and so much like the fifteen year old girl, he was uncertain on what to next. What happened now? What would he do?
Off to the side his weapon was thrown to be neglected. Slouching down on one of the tables, a leg was propped up on one of the chairs seated at the table, and he leaned forward with his elbow on his knee as he thought. The lines of his frigid eyes narrowed; the hanyou had the jewel shards that was for damned sure. Yet, he searched that corpse in and out for nothing. Where the hell could they have go---that woman...
Yes, it made sense now! He hadn't found her dead, charcoaled body lying around like it should have been. That bitch must've taken the jewels while he slept by his brother's side and made off with them! A low and full growl barreled from his chest and off his lips, spreading out into the empty castle's hallways and rooms and filling them with his irate mood.
Manten could be revived with those jewel shards sure enough, and that pathetic human girl had his five shards plus the ones InuYasha had--nearly the full jewel if the girl wasn't lying about that either. He'd hunt her down, take the shards, and finish by killing her as well. Shifting on that table, he forced the chair his foot was propped on to collapse backwards and then stood.