Disclaimer: This is not mine. Rating: M
Heart Broken Arrows-Ch. 2
Inuyasha shook himself in disgust. The smell became overpowering, but still the rat youkai kept itself in the shadows.
"Dammit Kagome! Where is it!" Inuyasha snarled, shaking himself again, as if that could dispel the stench that clung to the air like Naraku's miasma. Kagome relaxed her stance slightly and sent out fingers of her power. They wiggled and wove their way through the dense forest floor, searching for the siren call of the corrupted Jewel shards. A crashing sound came from the south end of the clearing. Kagome spun around, seeking the rat's fragments. Yet, the call she found was not that of a corrupted Jewel Shard. It was a pure tone…the cry of the shard became many…it wasn't what Inuyasha thought!
"ABOUT TIME!" yelled Inuyasha, as the crashing increased tenfold. He raised the sword above his head, preparing for his powerful strike.
"WAIT INUYASHA!" Kagome realized too late who the approaching Jewel shards belonged to. They were hers. She must have dropped them in the haste to leave. She was always losing them, but Miroku kept an extra eye out for her…He had rescued them them several times...
"WIND SCAR!" As Inuyasha slashed downward, a very brown and dirty Sango, Miroku, Kirara, and Shippo entered the clearing. Kagome screamed in warning, but Kirara was ahead of her by precious seconds. Whether it was the time she had spent practicing against that same attack with Inuyasha, or simply her power as a youkai, she had already scooped Sango, Miroku, and Shippo onto her back and had vaulted into the air. The rushing, destructive power of the Wind Scar whipped across the clearing, but had to empty its fury on nothing more than a few innocent trees.
Kagome felt the pounding of her heart in chest. She put a hand there, trying to contain its erratic thumping. She took a few deep breaths and sent a prayer of thanks to the kami, that once more her friends had been spared death. And it would have been by the hands of Inuyasha no less! In place of the adrenaline, Kagome felt her anger returning. It was a good feeling. In these past few months, she had found that it was easier to be angry than scared and worried. She had regretted her anger sometimes. But, lately, it was all that kept her going. That stupid hanyou would be the death of her one way or another.
She tore her eyes away from the graceful site of Kirara landing, and let the full weight of her fury settle upon Inuyasha's golden eyes. She took a deep breath, and then…
"YOU STUPID MISERABLE GOOD FOR-"Suddenly, Kagome gasped and coughed as one of the most disgusting scents that had ever had the indecency to exist invaded her clean fresh air. Inuyasha seemed to be affected by it as well, for he had turned a lovely yellow-green color and looked like he was considering puking his guts out all over the lush forest floor.
"Ah Lady Kagome! Your warning was most advantageous! Should you not have spoken when you did Sango, Shippo, Kirara and I would have surely been but dust by now." Miroku had walked up to stand beside Kagome, and her eyes widened as she realized that the disgusting smell was in fact coming from Miroku, because he was covered from head to toe in dirt, twigs, and what could be nothing else but neko crap. And from the smell of it, all four of them had taken a bath in it.
"Have you've been rolling in that shit?" Inuyasha gasped out. He had a sleeve held up in front of his nose and mouth that clashed nicely with the yellow-green face he was still sporting. Miroku rolled his eyes. Sango came up to stand beside the monk. Her beautiful long ponytail looked decidedly bedraggled and…gooey. Kagome swallowed down the bile that was rising in her throat. Inuyasha put his other sleeve in front of his face, effectively muffling his voice.
"Ot ou too!" he cried.
"What was that Inuyasha?" Sango asked sweetly, tossing her hair over her shoulder.
"NNOT YYOU TOOO!" He roared through his sleeve.
"What happened to you all!" asked Kagome, bewildered and utterly disgusted.
"Well," came the voice of Shippo, "when you ran off in a hurry, the rat decided he was tired of fooling you and decided to fool around with us instead, Inuyasha." Shippo had his hands on his hips. "He led us into a big stinking hole that—"
"That's enough Shippo." Kagome felt a hysterical laughter building up inside of her. They were all making stupid mistakes, but it was because they were all just so tired. Yet in this place, one mistake could cost you your life. Kagome sobered quickly. It had almost happened tonight. She sighed, "There was a stream about fifty paces that way, I think, that I remembered seeing from Inuyasha's back. You all should go bathe there, and then return to the camp."
"Hat abou eh at oukai!" Inuyasha still held his two sleeves in front of his nose and mouth.
"What was that Inuyasha?"
"I SAID, WHHHATTT ABOUTT THE RATTT YOUKAI!"
Kagome's senses flared outward. There was nothing nearby. "He's gone now Inuyasha." Her voice was barely audible. "Let's just go." Inuyasha, for once, did not put up an argument. He walked over to where Kagome stood and let her climb onto his back, leaving their stinky friends to clean themselves up. As they flew over the branches, heading back towards camp, Kagome placed her head down on Inuyasha's back and thought back about her actions over the course of the day. An apology seemed to be in order.
"I'm sorry I was so angry with you," she whispered. Inuyasha kept wisely silent. "It's just that I get more and more scared the closer we get to the final battle with Naraku." She inhaled the scene of herbs and sweat on Inuyasha's haori. "I have dreams about losing you all." A single tear crept from the corner of her eye that she dashed away hastily. Inuyasha never liked it when she got emotional.
"Don't worry about it Kagome." The words were spoken so softly that the wind almost succeeded at snatching them away. Kagome felt anger building again; she wanted to apologize. She needed to. Kagome took a deep breath. Anger was entirely too easily to reach these days. Inuyasha was offering her his own acceptance and apology of sorts. She should be grateful. Kagome smiled as their descent towards the ground pressed her face deeper into the folds of the fabric. Thank you Inuyasha…
As Kagome relaxed even further, a sudden thought popped into her head. She had left Sango alone with Miroku! Shippo didn't count. Sango needed another girl. She and Inuyasha would just have to turn back, and then they could stand guard or something like that.
A deep resounding CRACK broke the stillness of the night air. She felt Inuyasha's body shake in silent laughter. Kagome felt her smile grow wider, and then to her surprise, her own laughter, completely sane, with only a touch of weariness, sounded from her lips. Bless that stubborn hentai. He would never learn.
Six friends sat around a glowing, crackling campfire. Miroku grinned at Sango; showing off a red hand emblazoned across the side of his face. She hadn't done that in weeks…Sango seemed to feel better for her hentai-repelling action as well. There was warmth to her gaze that complimented the flush of righteous anger to her cheeks. Kagome watched the antics of her friends as they renewed bonds that had been stretched and strained over the past few weeks. Perhaps rolling in crap was something they should all do more often. She let out a small chuckle.
"What's so funny," spoke a voice from above.
"Oh, nothing." Kagome replied airily. "I'm just happy to see everyone else back to normal. More or less."
"Feh." Answered the voice, but that too had certain warmth to its tone. Kagome snuggled down into her sleeping bag, and held open her arms as Shippo trotted over to where she lay and joined her.
Kagome rolled over slowly, carefully prying away and untangling the stubby fingers and arms that had invaded her space. Shippo was such a sleeping bed roll hog. She ruffled the kit's hair lightly. The fire had gone down to a soft, red glow. It needed one more little stick, and then it would last till morning. Kagome glanced to the small bundle that was stacked beneath the hanyou's tree. It was about ten feet there, ten feet back to her bed roll, plus another five to and from the fire. Kagome willed her muscles respond to her brain's command. A little time now saves a lot of time later she reminded herself, starting the fire in the morning would be a pain in the ass
She stood up, shivering a bit in the cool night air. Kagome crept over to Inuyasha's tree, glancing up to see if he was asleep or not. But he wasn't even there…Kagome swallowed the lump the sprouted up in her throat. For Inuyasha not to be here meant that something more important had drawn him away. Kagome let her miko powers search for nearby Jewel shards. There were none.
Kikyou…it was Kikyou then.
Kagome felt the anger rise again.
Till next time,
Aidyn
Preview of Next Chapter:
The sacred arrow was behaving like a drunken hummingbird who had imbibed too much sake. It darted about the clearing, weaving threw tree and bushes. Kagome felt her mouth fall open. It certainly wasn't pink anymore. The wood had taken on a green tinge and the arrow tip had taken on the appearance of a worked sapphire. It didn't even make the right sound. Normally, her sacred arrows had a hum to them which she could feel within herself. This arrow whistled and popped, making her jump back when it dived to close for comfort. It almost sounded like it was…laughing. Kagome turned her head to see the rat demon rolling on the ground in a state of utter hysterics.
Inuyasha shook his head. "Great! It'll just laugh itself to death." Kagome wished the ground would open up and swallow her right then and there.
A/N: Ahhh, so there are now two chapters. Do let me know what you think, eh? I shall try to correct any and all faults. This story seems to be settling down now, but we shall see.