Mrryl: Hiya! I'm kinda bored, so I wrote this one earlier, that's why Litadrene won't be making any comments to try and thwart me! Mwahahaha! Err… yeah, anyways. Enjoy this next chapter of "Tangled Threads of Fate"!
(DISCLAIMER: I NEED MORE REVIEWS… errr… I DON'T OWN INUYASHA, regrettably….)
Inuyasha awoke to a heavy wind outside, howling around the window shutters. Then there was a crack of thunder and a flash of lightning. This seemed to pop a bubble of water because quite suddenly rain began pouring from the sky, anyone caught outside would most likely be instantly soaked. Then he pulled up his sleeve, looking at the time, "12:00 AM, It's still early! I'm going back to sleep…." But no sooner did he lay down then he sat bolt upright, hearing a slight squeal and a loud thud as something hit the ground outside of the hut.
When he went outside, armed with a staff, he saw the source of the sound. A certain Neko hanyou had fallen from her perch on a tree branch and was huddled into a ball, her arms covering her head and Inuyasha could have sworn he heard some mild cursing at rain in particular. He just smiled and walked over to Nekogome, tapping her on the head lightly. He nearly laughed when she raised her head to yell, "Damn it! Rain
Quit—" but cut herself off as she looked into the eyes of Inuyasha. He saw her blush slightly and say, "Ummm… sorry?" He barely heard her however, as he grabbed her by the arm and pulled her towards Kaede's hut. When he started to enter, Nekogome yowled, "I can't go in there! That's HER hut! Let go of me!" but Inuyasha pulled her inside anyways, ignoring her digging claws.
When, after a small struggle, Nekogome stumbled in she gasped, Kaede lay sleeping in the deep lazy sleep only older people can fall into and the brazier in the middle of the hut was still burning, giving the hut a warm feel to it. Inuyasha let go of Nekogome, looking down at the slightly deep claw marks on his hand.
"Sorry… I'm kinda squeamish about going into a house of someone who tried to KILL ME last time we met!" she huffed, her face twisted into an indignant glare as Inuyasha looked back at her. He shrugged, feeling the sting in his hand as he grabbed her around the shoulders and moved her close to the brazier, noting that she was sopping wet and was dripping rainwater on the mats.
"Get close to the fire, get warm. I wouldn't want you catching a cold." He merely said, heading back towards his futon when he managed to get her sitting down. She swore under her breath, saying, "I don't need a human's help! I don't catch—" she was cut off by a violent sneeze "maybe I do, but not for long!" she sneezed again, hugging herself and shivering slightly. Inuyasha smirked, thinking to himself. She's too proud to admit she needs help, kinda like Sessh. When he reached his futon he pulled up his blanket, draping it over his shoulder as he walked back towards her. When he was looking down at her, she was zoned out, staring into the fire. He found himself staring at her. She was so beautiful, white locks of hair clung to her forehead and her eyes seemed glazed over. Her body was showing quite evidently because despite the haori covering everything on her except her hands and neck, the dampness of it made it cling to her body, showing off her curves. He shook his head, swinging the blanket around her shoulder. This made her jump and swing her gaze towards him.
"What's this for?" she asked, confused.
"Well, it's called a blanket, you use it to keep yourself warm," he answered, using the tone of someone who explains a cultural thing to foreigners.
"I know that! I meant why are you giving it to me? Aren't you going to be cold?" she asked, looking at the light clothing he was wearing.
"Nope, I have a nice warm place right now," he said, sitting down next to her. She winced when he wrapped his right arm around her back and pulled her close. She was now shaking, her eyes squeezed shut. "Hey, what's wrong? Are you alright?" he asked, the concern in his voice the only thing that reached her poised ears.
She almost stopped shivering, saying, 'What? You're not going to hurt me?" he shook his head, answering, "Why would I? Just let me warm you up a bit then I'll leave you alone, alright?" she nodded and this time snuggled up close to him. He smiled and wrapped his left arm around her, holding her in his arms in a gentle hug. He could hear her sigh in contentment and before long even he could tell she fell asleep, her breath even and deep. When he next blinked it was morning, and he was alone.
Interlude ---Sorry about that last part, for those of you who think it's too fluffy (for this early, at least) Litadrene made a surprise visit and threatened to bean to senseless if I didn't put more fluff in it, sorry for the interlude, I just had to explain the last scene. ---
Walking outside, he stretched the kinks of sleeping upright out of his back. When he looked around some men were rebuilding the housing that was destroyed by the youkai. Other men were working in the fields, planting rice and tilling the fields. The women were either helping them or watching the children play with each other in the open center of the town. Kaede was watching the men work with little interest, so he walked up to her, waving and saying, "Hi! How are you this morning?"
She shook her head, "Not good, these old bones always hurt after a storm. I saw ye sleeping sitting up near the brazier when I awoke, alone. Is this common in your world?" she asked, her gaze on his face.
He blushed, saying, "No, but I was having trouble sleeping so I sat up and watched the fire until I fell asleep I guess. By the way, did you see the girl around here anywhere?"
"Girl? Oh, you mean the Neko Hanyou you freed yesterday. No, and hopefully we never will. That girl was little more than trouble when I was ten, despite the fact that she has been sealed up for 50 years I doubt she will ever be more than such." Kaede huffed, leaving Inuyasha feeling confused, she doesn't seem to be that bad. Maybe she's just lonely. He decided to seek her out, searching the area around the village. She stumbled upon her quicker than he had expected.
The subject of his thoughts was dangling from a tree branch, attempting to pull herself up onto the branch, apparently. The branch was high up on the tree and it took Inuyasha a few minutes to climb the height of the branch. Once up there, she was still dangling from it, her grip beginning to slip as he crawled along the wide branch. When he was almost over her, he heard a muffled, "This is gonna hurt!" as her hands slipped off of the branch. Inuyasha gasped and dove for her hands, grabbing one before she fell to her death. The grip on her hands made her gasp and lash out, digging claws into the same hand she had last night. Inuyasha nearly swore, but held himself off as her eyes were squeezed shut. He quickly pulled her up, ignoring the claws which were half-heartedly scratching at the raw flesh of his hand.
When she was laying across the log he let go and she sat up, a scowl on her face until she realized who she was looking at. Her scowl shifted into an embarrassed smile and a blush that made her entire body a deep shade of red.
"Oh spirits! Sorry! I… I didn't mean to, I thought you were a youkai or something, come to kill me. I can fix that." She concluded when she saw no emotion play across his face. Her hands grabbed his and she bent over it, licking at the bleeding scratches on his hand. He pulled his hand back quickly, yelling, "What are you doing? That's the weirdest thing I've ever seen!" her eyes stared at the log, the blush deepening.
"I'm sorry. I should've told you what I was gonna do! The saliva of a neko youkai heals wounds quickly on beings other than the youkai. I've never had to do it before, I've never had someone try to help me before, so I don't know if it'll work but…." Her eyes remained on the log, tears were brimming in her eyes and she push herself up, a single tear trickling down her face as she began to spring up, but Inuyasha caught her.
"I'm sorry, it was MY fault. I should've told you I was coming to help you. I wanted to kinda surprise you, though. Anyways, please don't run off—" he said as she began a jump "— I just want to talk, alright?" he smiled when he saw her finally settle herself back on the branch, legs dangling off the branch. The posture seemed childish and he found himself smirking despite himself. "Alright, I just wanted to tell you that I can't give this—" he shook the necklace with the Shikon No Tama so that the little beads on it jingled as they struck each other. Nekogome eyed him intently, her golden eyes locked on his face, not the jewel. He found himself blushing as he continued, "—but I want you to help me protect it, I'm not that great in regards to the spear, and I'm barely sufficient with a sword to defend myself, let alone worry about a demon grabbing the jewel and running off. So if you could help me with the protection bit maybe I can help you with something." He concluded with a sigh, her eyes still hadn't left his face as she began to stand up, balancing herself with her tail as she said, "I'm not sure, I'll think about it." and jumped off the branch, landing on the ground with a thud and an almost audible gasp of pain. She kept walking however, not stopping to check if she had seriously hurt herself.
When he finally noticed that he was stuck up there, with no easy way to get down, he began yelling, "Nekogome! Are you just gonna leave me here? Come on! You can't do this—" but his last words were cut off as a great screech echoed from the skies. A multifaceted-eyed raven dropped from the clouds, scratching at his head with it's talons as it fluttered above him, eyes searching for something. Finally the raven found it. Reaching a talon down to Inuyasha's neck, it snipped the line of the necklace and ripped the jewel from its place on his chest. Before Inuyasha could react the damned bird had already swallowed the jewel and swooped away, leaving a bleeding Inuyasha still stranded on the branch.
The raven changed before Inuyasha's eyes. The small body grew in size, some feathers falling out to reveal scaled skin. The sharp beak became a gaping maw and the small, relatively harmless talons turned into razor sharp claws. The raven youkai swooped back towards Inuyasha, grabbing him in its talons and carrying him off. He heard a slight curse from under him and noticed that Nekogome had come back to see what was going on.
"Great going, jackass! You let the damned bird eat the Shikon No Tama and yet you won't let me even touch it! Figures! Damn human stupidity!" she cursed as she leapt after him, the trees whispering as she flew from on to the other, breaking the canopy frequently. He reached out his hand, yelling, "Grab it! Maybe you can get me down with the extra weight!" when she finally managed to latch on to his hand, she cursed, scratching a light line of red across his arm as she yelled up, "So, you think I'm fat enough to free you! Is that it?" he blanched, her claws hurt a lot more when she was pissed. He thought to himself as he felt the talons slowly begin to open, they were a few feet above the ground, just enough for Nekogome to have to run across the ground to keep from dragging herself along the ground.
"Just let go! You're gonna get hurt if you keep trying to run along with it, it's too fast." He blushed when she looked up at him, determination set into her eyes, "Never," was the single word she said when she finally pulled herself up towards the raven's talon, driving her claws deeply into the leg of the talon that was holding Inuyasha. When it released him, he fell with a thump, on top of Nekogome. The raven youkai, however, just kept flying, the blood coursing from it's leg left a bright red trail on the ground, enough for even the most inexperienced human to follow. When he found a group of hunter, throwing spears at the ready, burst from the forest, he thought that life was good. Grabbing one from the dumbfounded man closest to him, he threw it towards the raven, falling short.
"Oh come on! Ano could've landed that easily!" she huffed as she handed another to Inuyasha, who gripped it tightly and launched it, the spear's thick head ripping into the wing of the raven youkai, sending it plummeting to the earth. When it managed to begin flying again, Inuyasha was already near it, yelling, "BASTARD!" as he drove the spear into its belly. Nekogome screamed when she heard a splintering sound and a crack.
The raven youkai became mere tatters on the ground as the Shikon No Tama cracked and released all the pent-up energies inside of it. There was a bright white flash, the grass became charred and the men all covered their eyes. Nekogome stood starring at it, her eyes brimming with tears as she watched the shards fly all over the Sengoku Jidaii. When the flashing ceased, Inuyasha looked at Nekogome, who was silently crying.
"Are you alright? Nekogome… did I do something wrong? Where's the jewel? Is that what that light was? Oh crap… talk to me!" he said as he grabbed her to shake her. She jumped when he grabbed her, yelling, "Inuyasha? Is that you? What… I can't see anything!" She cried as she frantically looked around, her eyes slightly glazed. Kaede came walking into the clearing, waving the hunters away. The men bowed to her, than to Inuyasha and ran of with a glance at the frantic hanyou.
"Her eyes are merely hurt from staring at the jewel's light. She shall be fine within the next few days. I will take her to my hut until she can see… I suggest you go home if possible and explain what has happened. It is up to you." She grabbed Nekogome around the shoulders and led her to a path in the forest. Inuyasha thought to himself, wondering what to do. "How am I supposed to go home? I got here by falling into a well… maybe if I do the same thing I'll be sent back?" he said to himself as he headed for the Goshinboku, which was the only tree that broke the canopy. From there he headed for the well, which he could see clearly from there.
Leaping into the well, he saw the same odd colors and feelings when he first fell through, the odd swirling of the Shikon No Tama's colors brought about the same nausea and when he hit the bottom he looked up, seeing a dark ceiling. He was home.
Mrryl: There you are! The next chapter might take a bit longer since I'm typing 2 fanfics at once, so sorry but I want to do it this way. Please review, I would greatly appreciate it!
Litadrene: NOOOO! I shall fiercely poke you, you made Nekogome blind! I don't believe this!
Mrryl: Yeah, well. MY STORY! :-P GET OVER IT!
Litadrene: Meanie….