By the time Kagome and the others arrived at Kaede's hut, it was already morning. Villagers were up and about, repairing and cleaning up the mess left by the centipede. Most of the women, children and elderly were outside of Kaede's hut as they were watching her bandage up Kagome, wrapping it around her belly and side wound. Inu-yasha was propped on his side, one leg bent over the other and head propped on his bend arm, his back to them. He hadn't said a word since, which kinda worried Kagome. He didn't even look at her, not even a glare.
"There. That should do it." Kaede said as she sat straight, helping Kagome it up. "But what a predicament we are in, eh? Now that the jewel has returned to this world." She sighed, "More evil beings will be seeking it."
She looked up to Kagome. "Best be keeping it with you at all times now. In the wrong hands, it can lead to great chaos."
"Hmm." Kagome wasn't really paying attention. She was too preoccupied with Inu-yasha. Speaking of Inu-yasha . . .
"Hey," she called out to him, "Why do you want the jewel, anyway? Your already strong. So whats the point in getting stronger?"
Kaede answered for her. "Inu-yasha is but a hanyou."
Inu-yasha still says nothing. And nothing. And nothing again. Wait . . .
She had a thought. Kagome slightly leaned back and softly knocked on the hardwood floor, enough for Inu-yasha to hear. His ear twitched, then, after a moment, he turned from his position and smashed a hole on the ground with his bare fist.
I knew it, she thought, he forgot.
Inu-yasha glared at Kaede, "Old hag, you've been acting real familiar since we've met. Do you think you know me?"
"So you really don't know?" Kaede asked, "You don't know Kaede? The younger sister of whom enchanted you fifty years ago?"
"Kaede?" He repeated, "Fifty years ago? So you were the little whelp, eh?" He smirked, "If you're that withered, Kikyou must be in far worse shape then you are!"
"My elder sister . . . is dead." Inu-yasha's smirk was whipped off his face. "Kikyou passed away the same day you were sealed to the tree, Inu-yasha."
The smirk returned slowly. "Ho. Is that so?" he returned to his previous position, "so the witch kicked it, eh? Glad to hear some good news."
Kagome kept staring at him, Whoa. I never thought that Inu-yasha remembered so much. And what an actor!
"I wouldn't be celebrating just yet, Inu-yasha," Kaede said as she stoked the fire, then looked at Kagome, "There is a matter of reincarnation. Do you not agree, Kagome?"
Inu-yasha glanced at Kagome for a moment till he 'feh'-ed and stood up and left. Neither of the two said anything. But Kagome watched him leave in concern. Something's wrong with him . . .
Later that afternoon, Kagome walked around the village looking for Inu-yasha, but already knowing where.
Inu-yasha didn't look at me at all on our way to the village. Not even a fake glare. The only time he's ever like that is if he's upset or troubled with something. Hopefully I'll be able to talk to him without really giving anything away. Gotta remember that we're in the past. Suddenly Kagome stopped, But how did Inu-yasha know that? She reminded herself to ask him later.
Kagome suddenly heard hushed voices behind her. She turned to see villagers praying to. She slightly cringed, then sighed. It's because I look like Kikyou, but I suppose I can't blame them. Kagome hurriedly left in the search for Inu-yasha, but not before leaving without the offerings, fruit and vegetables, from the villagers.
Reaching her destination, she didn't find him in the tree sulking. Instead, he was found crouched beside a pond next to it. She heard splashes as she approached him. Then his muttering.
"Gotta get it off . . . Gotta get it out . . ."
As she got closer, she noticed that not just water was flying everywhere, but mud was as well. That got her curious. When have I seen this before . . .
She watched him as, from what looks like, he continued to was his hands. Then she noticed the water give off a reddish color. She reacted with great speed as she dropped all the village offerings and rushed to Inu-yasha's side and grabbed his bleeding hands. "Inu-yasha STOP!" Kagome whispered loudly.
"Let GO!" He said as he tried to release his hands from her grasp.
"Sop hurting yourself!"
"No! You don't understand!"
"Just try me!"
"Let. Me. GO!" With that, he shoved her away with great force, making Kagome slide to the ground a bit roughly.
"Owww . . ."Kagome looked up to be surprised to see Inu-yasha in great shock, fear, and guilt.
"I . . . I . . . I didn't—I didn't mean to . . ."He turned away, ashamed. Silence blanketed them until Inu-yasha turned to the noise of Kagome standing up. She clutched her side as she walked toward him. She was a bit wobbly as she finally reached him, and then practically collapsed beside him. Inu-yasha immediately steadying her with both arms as she grabbed him around the neck and hugged him. Inu-yasha was a bit shocked at first, being weary if he should return the hug that she gave. Did he deserve it?
"It's ok, Inu-yasha. I'm alright."
She didn't know how much those words meant to him.
She felt him shake, then all of a sudden takes her in his arms and jump high, landing deep into the tree next to them. Once again she was on his lap facing him, him clutching her tight. Then she heard his muttering clearly.
"I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. I never mean to push you away like that or hurt you in any way. You know that better than anybody else. I just . . . I just had to get it off."
"Get what off?" she asked as she tightened her hold around his neck.
"You blood . . . and the smell . . . the smell wouldn't come off. I couldn't get it off!"
Kagome saddened, then pulled away enough to see his face, which she noticed was doing everything not to breakdown. Looking down, she took one of his hands and placed it on her cheek. Inu-yasha stiffened, but her smile calmed him somewhat. She shocked him even more, however, when she slid his hands through her hair. He started pulling back, but she held on to it.
"It's ok. I want to get rid of the smell."
"Wh-Wha?"
"The smell of blood is on your hands. And you told me once that you liked my smell so . . ."
He looked at her through glassy eyes. Then he asked nervously, "I-It doesn't bother you?"
"No. I trust you completely, Inu-yasha." Kagome closed her eyes and let go of his wrist just to prove it. All he did was smile gratefully as he took his other hand and began to rake her hair with his fingers. It was soft, he realized. And smooth. But what was more . .
. . . was that it was warm.
Kagome felt his hand on her cheek and opened her eyes to meet his. No words were spoken between the two but strong emotion for a moment. Then, Inu-yasha spoke.
"Thank you." Then brought her close and buried his nose in her hair, taking in her wonderful scent.
I can't believe this. All of a sudden I'm not so scared to say anything to her. Nor to hold her. I guess . . .what happened that night really . . . really scared me. He held her tighter. I could have lost her that night, and the fact that I hurt her . . . but here she is comforting me. What else can I give her, but what I am? And she's excepting it.
He sighed in content.
"Inu-yasha?" she slightly pulled away and met his face, only because Inu-yasha held her tighter after one bit of movement from her.
"Hm?"
"How did you know?"
"Know what?"
"I mean, how did you know that it was me? When you first saw me, you hated me. Then when I told you my name, you recognized it and remembered me. Well, what I'm trying to say is, what do you remember when we jumped in the well?"
Inu-yasha looked away for a moment, gathering his thoughts. "I remember trying to get you when you were pulled away. Then . . . nothing."
"Nothing?"
"Yeah . . . then, well, it was all like you said: I woke up, got out, tried to steal the jewel again and was bound by you, again."
Kagome giggled behind her hand, which made the hanyou smile a bit. "But I felt empty." That ceased her laughing, "I think it was because you were erased from my mind. When I woke up, I knew something was wrong. Then I saw your face and was told your name, and it just . . . came to me. In a flash and there you were: crying. When I reached out to you, it was because you turned away. I wanted to see your face longer because I remembered it. And your crying always drives me nuts." He added.
Kagome laughs again. "Well, I guess that answers part of my question."
"Part?"
"How did you know that you had to act and that this . . . past is a reality?"
He answered her in one word: "Instinct."
"Instinct?"
"Demons, whether half or full, are aware of time passing and changing. That's how we know when its time to migrate, mate, etc. Even, in some way, is the demon transported to a specific time in the past, that demon has to play the same part as before in order to return to that same time and fix what happen. We're aware of what would happen if you change the past: it leads to a different future and can destroy lives."
"Wow . . . I never thought you were that smart."
"Ha Ha. Very funny."
Once again she tried to hold in her laugh. This time she buried her self in his chest to contain it, shaking with mirth. "Oh, God," she laughed, "I-I can't laugh. Not now. N-Not . . . with the villagers . . . at earshot!"
Inu-yasha blinked, then chuckles as he lifts her chin. "Who says you can't laugh in front of me?"
Kagome looked at him with a red face and wide eyes. Since when is he so nice?
"Inu-yasha?" she felt his forehead, "are you ok?"
"Why wouldn't I be?"
"Well . . . you're acting so nice. It's not like you. Why the sudden change?"
Inu-yasha just smiled. "Because . . . ever since I realized that you were-and still are-an important part of my life, I'm always a little . . . too forward with what I really want to say, resulting into a lot of arguments. Now . . . I don't know. Ever since last night, there were possibilities that could have happened because of me. I could have lost you . . . and there would be nothing for me to live for."
"Inu-yasha . . ."
"Is that alright with you?" he asked, "That I'm like this?"
All she did was smile, and kissed his cheek. "Of course."
Inu-yasha looked down with a small smile and a blush on his cheeks. Then his eye caught a sparkling object around Kagome's neck. He frowned and took the jewel in his fingers for Kagome to see.
"Kagome, he said when he got her attention to the jewel, "What do we do?"
She didn't need to know what he meant. She frowned, "I wish I knew."
They fell silent. Neither of them knew what to do with the jewel. Now they have the chance to change the future–for better or for worse.
"If we prevent it from breaking," Kagome continued, "More lives will be saved, Sango's village won't be destroyed and Shippo will still have his father . . ."
" . . .but because of the shards being broken, we were able to find the truth about Naraku, and without him going after the shards, he will eventually come here and have a better chance of stealing the jewel, and that would be it. It would be over."
Her frown deepened. "And because of the jewel shards, we were able to clear your name and find Naraku through Miroku, who, without us, had no leads into finding him. And still would have if Naraku wasn't out looking for the pieces.
"So without the shards . . ."
"I would still be guilty of being Kikyous killer."
"Naraku will still wreck havock around the world, and no one would know what to do."
"Sango's village would have eventually been destroyed, for whatever foul purpose Naraku wanted."
"Hiten and Manten would still be out and about killing, killing Shippo's father anyway."
"And so would Yura."
Inu-yasha paused before he spoke. "So I guess the choice is obvious?"
"Yeah, because without the shards," she smiled at him, "You wouldn't have had a second chance in life, would you?"
He looked at her in slight shock, before returning the smile." No. Never."
Later that night, Kagome laid awake, thinking of her talk with Inu-yasha.
He's different somehow, she thought, he's . . . gentler. And more open to me. He even smiled to me. A real smile.
As her mind wandered off, she had forgotten why they are here—which is still a mystery to the both of them, I wonder . . .she began to drift to sleep, . . .if someone . . .sent us here on purpose . . .
Outside the hut, someone watched her with a pair of three eyes. Up close showed a crow licking its teeth, then suddenly flew as a rock was thrown at it. It turned to the dog- hanyou preparing to aim, then flew away before the he hit his target.
"I should kill you right now, crow," he said as it flew away, "But your needed to shatter the jewel."
Before Inu-yasha jumped off into the night, he had one last though, and turned to the retreated bird, "so why don't I feel good about that bird?"
And there you have it! Wow, another long one! I'm getting good at this. I'll probably stick to the idea a reviewer told me (Thanks Cap. Applesause!). BTW, this will be the last chapter for a while since I'll be leaving for a trip for a few days till Thursday, but I need this vacation to think of what my next move is. I got a twist for it and I need to know how to make it work. A little complicated and I need a bit of inspiration. Well, till next time!
Akida-chan