Aurora Whisperwind: Again, I was overawed by your reviews! Thank you, everyone! I really enjoyed reading what you had to say, and so here's chapter 4 for you!
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any of its characters. They belong to Rumiko Takahashi. I'm only borrowing them for a while.
The forest was creepy, impending doom written all over it. Inuyasha was on the ground, trying to smell Naraku. "It's not him…" he said after a while "All I can smell is a great big rotten swamp monster. Can you sense any jewel shards?" he asked Kagome. "Huh? The jewel shards? No, I can't sense anything" she said, trying to sound normal. They continued walking, hunting this monster. A thick fog hung ominously, restricting their view to a mere few feet. The ground was mucky, bones of god-knows-what popping up occasionally.
"This monster seems to have quite a constant trickle of food" muttered Sango, stumbling on a bone. "Yes indeed" agreed Miroku, reaching over to catch Sango "It must be huge". Sango blushed as Inuyasha declared "Well it's going down, huge or not" Kagome heard all this with an odd detached air. "Hey Kagome" Shippou asked her "Why aren't you saying anything? Are you mad at us?" She had no time to reply as something wrapped itself around her waist just as Inuyasha whipped around to scream "KAGOME WATCH OUT!"
She found herself being pulled into the air, screaming and kicking. Inuyasha drew the Tetsusaiga and Sango readied her Hiraikotsu while Miroku held out his right hand, just in case. A huge mouth opened up behind her, drooling as a gigantic head pulled itself out of the swampy mire. "Ah! A young woman" said a loud booming voice "Rare around here…she'll make a good lunch" it laughed, sparing Kagome in drool. "SHUT UP UGLY!" Inuyasha yelled as he cut the tentacle holding Kagome. She fell to the ground in a heap.
The monster roared over its missing meal and unleashed a million tentacles at them. Kagome narrowly dodged one as it pierced her side, ripping her skirt pocket. The tiny bottle containing the jewel shards fell to the ground. She tried to reach for them, but another tentacle attacked, this time piercing her shoulder. Pain ripped through her as she vaguely felt something go into the wound. That was all she knew before she blacked out.
"There's something definitely wrong with her" Miroku murmured, looking at Sango. Unease was spread on Sango's lovely face. "Yes…she's been really... you know? Not been herself lately" They shut up immediately as Inuyasha reappeared, throwing a heap of firewood at their feet. There was no point of telling Inuyasha what Kaede had told them. He'd only freak out. "She up yet?" he inquired. They shook their heads. He bent over her, trying to wake her up.
It was when they were thinking of making dinner when she finally woke. Inuyasha promptly launched into a huge lecture on what all she did wrong and what a pain it was to carry her to their new camp and how she should be more careful the next time, etc. etc. to hide his relief. She listened without protest. When they were sure that Inuyasha was quite out of breath, Sango gave her the jewel shards. It was then that she remembered that the coin was in the pocket where she put the jewel shards. "Um…Sango?" she asked hesitantly "Did you find anything else next to these?" Sango looked at her, confused. "No" she said, "Did you lose something?" Kagome said no, her heart sinking now. This was bad…
She spent most of the evening looking for the coin in all the places she could think of with no success. There was absolutely no trace of it. Unless…unless it had slipped off and somehow sunk in the swamp. 'Should I tell Inuyasha?' she debated with herself for a long time, spilling the ramen Sango made into her lap, burning herself. She squealed in pain as the hot meal stained her skirt and most of her shirt. Everyone stopped eating and looked at her incredulously. "Kagome…." Shippou began, but she got up hastily, mumbling an apology, drowning out his sentence and ran off to the nearby stream to wash it off.
She fumbled with her clothes, and somehow ended up drenching herself. She decided it was safer to sit out there until her clothes dried, or it would be like giving Miroku a treat. An idea came to her. "Dad?" she whispered to the air, "Are you there? I really need to talk to you…Dad? Can you hear me?" nothing happened. Figures, he told her that coin was very important. Maybe he couldn't contact her without it. Despite her suspicion on whether he was really her father or not, she still felt an odd sense of loss and despair. She pulled her knees to her chest, and buried her face in her arms. She had no idea of how much time had passed until Sango approached her cautiously and asked her what she was doing out there. She muttered a vague excuse about her clothes being wet and all and discovering then that they had dried, allowed herself to be led back to the camp.
Inuyasha bellowed himself hoarse again, probably hoping to evoke a 'sit' remark again, but she didn't really feel like it. Miroku just watched her, suspicion evident in his dark eyes. He didn't say anything though. Deciding that she had better stop acting weird, she 'sat' Inuyasha around twenty times, later regretting what she had done, because it only made them think she was behaving even weirder. Inuyasha didn't even do anything to her; he had climbed up his tree. Feeling wretched, she fell into disturbed sleep again, filled with Kikyou's memories.
All the time neither she nor anyone else noticed the dark shadow in the woods, and neither did they hear his words. 'It's almost over my dear priestess, one more piece to go and your doom is complete…' Kagome tossed and turned in her sleep, not noticing the eerie glow in her shoulder.
Drama! I like drama! Lots of mysteries now, I'm afraid. Where is the coin? Where is Kagome's dad? Who's the creep in the woods? And what's the glow in her shoulder? Read and review to find out! The more reviews I get, the faster I post the next chappie, MUHUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA…..ahem, sorry, I know I sound greedy, but desperate times call for desperate measures….
I thank all my reviewers, and SlummyRedDragon, why do you find this story confusing? Did I contradict something I had written earlier? Please give me a detailed review…. And thank you to missy-bear31, see I updated! Don't send your evil robotic hypnotized squirrels against me, please! Keep reviewing! Ja ne!