"Inu-Yasha!" Kagome cried, as he fell to the floor. "Inu-Yasha, I'm so sorry, I didn't-"
"Be quiet!" someone said, and Kagome spun around. It was a woman, older than Kagome. She did look a little like Kagome though, and the woman laughed. "So it's true," she said scornfully. "What goes around, comes around. But of course, it never comes around quite as well the second time, does it?"
The woman grabbed Kagome's arm and held on, her long nails digging into Kagome's skin.
"No! No! No! No! No!" Kagome flailed in her sleep, hitting Inu-Yasha as she did so.
"Kagome! Wake up!" Inu-Yasha said, holding her arm. "Kagome!"
Kagome's eyes opened, and for a second, she looked terrified. But then she settled and calmed. She looked blearily down at her arm, and Inu-Yasha let go. He had accidentally dug his claws into her arm when he was trying to calm her down, and the cuts were bleeding. Inu-Yasha's nose filled with the smell of Kagome's blood.
"I'm sorry," he said, kneeling down. "I hurt you, didn't I?"
Kagome looked up and met his eyes. He seemed honestly sorry. "It's-all right," she said, examining the scratches. "It's not that bad."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah."
Inu-Yasha helped her up. She stood and fell down. Inu-Yasha helped her up again, and rewarded her with a tiny smile. Kagome felt the walls of her mind start to burst with memories, then they were gone. Kagome and Inu-Yasha walked outside and were instantly surrounded by the others. However, as Kagome talked and laughed with Sango and Shippo, someone appeared at her side. She turned and froze. A woman, older than Kagome stood next to her. She looked a little like Kagome, though.
"You are feeling better then?" the woman commented. Kagome stared. The woman from my dream, she thought, panicking. "Kagome?" the woman asked.
Kagome turned and fled, into the forest. She didn't know where she was going, all she knew was that she needed to get out of there. Everyone else stared, then the place erupted.
"What happened?" yelled Inu-Yasha, turning in time to see Kagome disappear into the woods.
"She saw me and ran," Kikyo said, confused. "I do not know why."
"She looked scared," Shippo piped up.
"Scared…" Inu-Yasha echoed.
"She didn't look scared, she looked terrified!" Sango declared.
Inu-Yasha stood straight and bolted for the woods. He alone had been with Kagome when she had awoke, and he alone had seen the terror in her face. Bad dreams? Inu-Yasha wondered. Or bad memoriesEither way, somehow, the dream had been about Kikyo, Inu-Yasha was sure of that. And seeing Kikyo had probably set things off in her head that shouldn't have been set off, not yet.
Kagome stopped running and sat on the ground. Images seethed throughout her mind. Kikyo, that was the woman's name. She had been a priestess. And Inu-Yasha had loved her. He had loved her, and Kagome even had an image of him kissing Kikyo. Somehow, Kikyo had died, (Kagome had an idea that it was partially Inu-Yasha's fault) but she was back to life now…and Kagome was of some sort of relation to Kikyo. Kagome pounded her forehead, wishing she could remember. Something about a woman named Kaede, Kaede could tell her. Kaede was Kikyo's sister…but Kagome's friend. That much Kagome understood from the images in her head.
The bushes shook, and Inu-Yasha appeared, with an impassive look on his face. He knelt down beside Kagome. She scooted away, not fully understanding why. Inu-Yasha now looked sad.
"You remember, huh?" he said quietly.
"I remember enough," Kagome whispered.
Inu-Yasha glanced at the ground. "Kagome…" he said. "Search your memory for me. Do you remember the time when I broke away from Kikyo to save you?"
"Yes. After you kissed her."
Inu-Yasha winced. He had hoped she hadn't remembered that. "Well, yes. But I stopped because I heard your voice. Remember?"
"Kind of," Kagome mumbled, trying desperately to remember everything. Maybe if she did, she wouldn't have to think of Inu-Yasha so badly. She looked up at him. "Inu-Yasha, how am I related to Kikyo?"
Inu-Yasha glanced up quickly . "You…don't remember?" he asked incredulously.
"No."
"You're…you're her reincarnation," Inu-Yasha said, surprised that she wouldn't remember something as important as that.
Kagome fainted. Just like that. After all, she had just gotten over being sick, she really shouldn't have gone running through the woods. Inu-Yasha caught her before she hit the ground, slung her across his back, and brought her back to the village. Kaede ordered that Kagome be put in a bed, and Inu-Yasha spoke privately with her. Kaede understood, and soon after, Kikyo left. After saying good-bye to Inu-Yasha, of course.
When Kagome woke up, Inu-Yasha stayed with her the whole day. She was nice to him and everything, but there was a kind of distance between them now. It bothered him. He probably shouldn't have thought about it so much, but he did. After all, she had only remembered certain parts. The parts with Inu-Yasha and Kikyo. She apparently hadn't remembered all the times between the two of them, and those parts were very important to the story.
Miroku noticed the distance, and so did Sango. They wondered what had gone on between the two in the forest, but were afraid to ask.
Inu-Yasha was bored. He hadn't collected any Shikon Shards for a long time now. That was bad. He wanted to, and asked if they could leave. Kagome agreed even before he finished explaining, and the others followed her lead. So they were off, and Kagome didn't even have her memory back yet. At least, not completely.
They hadn't even been out an hour when Kagome looked sharply to their left. Inu-Yasha, having seen that look a million times by now, stopped and swung out the Tetsusaiga. Sango pulled out her boomerang bone, and Miroku put his hand to the beads covering the tunnel in his hand. Neither of them knew exactly what was going on, but if Inu-Yasha swung out his Tetsusaiga, you brought out everything you had.
Out of nowhere, a large group of wolf-demons blocked their way. While Inu-Yasha was taking care of them, something whizzed past him, grabbed Kagome, and vanished. Shippo started screeching, and Inu-Yasha cursed. "Damn you, Kouga!" he cried, hacking off the head of a wolf demon.
Kagome sat amidst the group of wolf-demons, frightened. The one that called himself Kouga had come by a lot, asking her over and over again if she was absolutely sure that she didn't remember him. Every time, Kagome would answer no, but she had started to remember fuzzy parts of it.
The very first time Kouga had stolen her, (she had a notion that this wasn't the first time) Inu-Yasha had followed her and even fought Kouga for her. Kagome remembered that much. She pulled her legs close to her and wrapped her arms around herself. Kagome wanted to go home. She wanted Inu-Yasha.
"What?" Kouga cried, when Kagome asked to be taken back to Inu-Yasha. "That puppy? You'd rather have that sniveling, weakling puppy than a man like myself?"
Kagome quietly looked at him, then nodded. "Yes," she said, sounding a lot more confident that she was. "I would."
Kouga turned and fumed for several minutes. Then he turned back to her. "All right, Kagome." he said, smiling. "Let's make a deal. If Inu-Yasha can make it here…if he can find you…then he can have you."
"But you can't put any guards that will attack him or try to trick him!" Kagome cried, for she know remembered that entire part of her adventures. "That's unfair."
"Fine." Kouga looked downcast. "Fair play." Then he turned, and if he had had a cloak, he would have swished it.
Inu-Yasha punched the ground again. "Where could he have gone?" They had asked several villages, and most of them had said they hadn't seen the wolf-demons for a long time. But the last village had said that the clan had gone past the week before, but hadn't heard any news since.
"Maybe you could sniff her out!" Shippo said excitedly. "Kagome told me once about these dogs that could smell a person and follow their scent trail, and-"
Inu-Yasha gave him a withering look. "I am not a bloodhound," he said loftily, enjoying the fact that he knew the proper name for the dog Shippo was talking about. "And besides, Kagome was carried. Therefore, she probably wouldn't leave a scent trail."
"What about Kouga?" Miroku asked, who secretly wished that Inu-Yasha would sniff her out like a dog. Miroku thought that would be hilarious.
"His filthy scent? Feh, I couldn't get that nasty smell out of my nose for weeks the last time we followed him."
"Well, what other choice do we have?" Sango asked. "We have to find Kagome. What if she falls for Kouga?" Sango added, knowing this would spur Inu-Yasha on.
Inu-Yasha's ears flattened against his head. "She wouldn't," he said, sounding hurt.
"The best way to make sure is finding her quickly," Miroku commented.
Inu-Yasha glared at them, then sighed and got on his hands and knees, trying to figure out exactly how long ago Kouga had gone by.
Kagome was not having fun. All the wolf-demons around her were eating and slobbering. One of them quite near her was tearing into something that looked suspiciously like a human. Kouga offered her some meat, but she refused, fully aware of what the meat might be. She explained that she was not feeling well, so she'd better not eat, thank you very much.
There was a ruckus at the front of the cave. Seeing Kagome looking his way, Kouga ordered that whatever was causing the distraction be brought to him. Two large, frightening wolf-demons brought forth a strange creature unlike anything Kagome had ever seen. It was squealing and kicking and making crying noises. Kouga was going to have it eaten. Kagome knew this. So she begged Kouga.
"Oh, please! Give it to me!" she said desperately. "I'll take care of it, you won't need to bother about it. Please, Kouga!"
Kouga contemplated it, then laughed. "Why not?" he roared, and one of the demons threw the creature toward Kagome. She jumped up and caught the creature, then retreated back to her corner.
"It's okay little guy," Kagome said, petting it. The wolf demons laughed and shrugged, thinking this was clearly a female thing. But under her breath, Kagome whispered something different. "Shippo," she said quietly. "You shouldn't have come on your own. You could have been eaten!"
"I know," Shippo whispered back. He had apparently transformed into a creature and snuck in, trying to find Kagome. "but we missed you. So I volunteered to come and try to sneak past the demons and find you, then I was supposed to go back and tell Inu-Yasha where you were."
"And he let you!" Kagome whispered, shocked.
"No. He said no way, but I snuck past him."
"Well, you can't go back now. If Kouga sees you going back and forth, he'll get suspicious."
"Yeah," Shippo said sleepily. It was warm in Kagome's arms, and he fell asleep. Kagome however, stayed wide awake and alert. If Inu-Yasha came in, she wanted to see him.
Inu-Yasha watched the entrance to the cave. Shippo had entered earlier, but by then it was too late to stop him. Inu-Yasha was angry. He had told the little demon NO, but of course, he had disobeyed him.
"Inu-Yasha," Miroku said worriedly. "We should go in and look for him, wolf demons or no. What if Shippo's hurt, or has been killed? What if Lady Kagome is-"
"All right," Inu-Yasha said, not wanting to hear the words. "Come on!"
Sango had changed her clothes earlier, and thus they approached the cave. A wolf-guard intercepted them. "You Inu-Yasha?" he inquired in a gravelly tone.
"Yes."
"Well, we're supposed to keep you from coming through."
"Really?" Inu-Yasha said, cracking his knuckles. "That's too bad."
And so the battle began. Throughout the entire cave, they kept running into demons and having to slaughter them. It was getting old by the time they stumbled into the main cavern. Kouga was standing in the middle. Kagome was standing next to him, and a small furry creature of some sort was next to her. Kagome moved toward Inu-Yasha, but Kouga stopped her.
"Wait," he said. "He has to battle me first."
Kagome went red. "That was not in our bargain," she said.
"Change of plans." Kouga winked at her, obviously thinking she would do nothing. Oh no. Not Kagome! She brought her hand back and slapped him, as hard as she could. It sent him to the ground, by sheer surprise. Then Kagome ran to Inu-Yasha, who had the Tetsusaiga drawn. She ran to him and hugged him. He awkwardly put his hands around her, and she was very still for a long time. While this was going on, Shippo transformed back and talked with Miroku, making up stories about how he had battled a lot of people and won all these glorious victories so he could get to Kagome.
When Kagome looked back up and Inu-Yasha, the distance that had been between them was completely and wholly gone.
"Inu-Yasha," she said, but the way she said it had changed. It now carried more meaning. "Inu-Yasha, I remember!" and then she burst into tears and buried her face in his (robe? Coat? Shirt? Whatever the heck that thing he always wears is). Inu-Yasha no longer felt awkward. He was happy, happier than he had been in a long time. Kagome liked him! And she had slapped Kouga, in order to be with him! That made him feel good.
The only thing was, he wished it could have been him that slapped Kouga.
They did not return to the village. Instead, taking the food they had gotten from the wolf-demons, (but no meat) they left and continued on their journey. After all, what would be the point of going back?
Kagome and Inu-Yasha walked side-by-side. Kagome slipped her hand into his, and for once, he wasn't even a little embarrassed. Miroku tried to do the same with Sango, but she promptly slapped him. (his other hand was heading toward her butt. sigh)
Shippo shook his head and promised himself that he would never fall in love. Look what it had gotten Kagome into!
Kagome and Inu-Yasha were walking along the road, happy to be together. The others were behind them, talking about something they had heard from one of the villagers, something about a farmer going out to bring in his horses to feed them in the morning, and the entire herd was slaughtered, drained of blood and hollow of all their organs. It was the work of a demon, that much was certain.
Usually, Inu-Yasha and Kagome would participate in this discussion, but at the moment, they were both too busy thinking about the other.
Without warning, there was a loud crashing sound and a shrill scream from ahead of them. Everyone stopped, frozen in their tracks. Kagome was the first to act, she took off running for the source of the sound. Inu-Yasha followed her, to make sure she wouldn't get hurt. Sango was next, and Miroku close behind her, for he wanted Sango to think him brave. Shippo followed, riding on Kilala.
When Kagome had passed a small hill, she could see a rope-and-wooden bridge. It reached across a small canyon, which had a stream running through it, very far down. Kagome started to walk across the bridge, seeing nothing wrong. But half-way across the bridge, she saw a slat was missing. Mustering her courage, she looked down.
There was a little girl, about Shippo's age, holding onto a rope that had once kept a wooden slat in place. Her fingers were slipping, and she looked up at Kagome.
"Hello, there." Kagome said anxiously. "My name is Kagome. Do you need help?"
The girl laughed, and replied in a perfectly calm voice. "My name is Izabo. And yes, help would be greatly appreciated at this point." she looked down at the canyon floor.
"Inu-Yasha!" Kagome said urgently. "Can you lift her up onto the bridge?"
Inu-Yasha looked past Kagome at the little girl. "Of course," he said, sighing. "She's tiny."
Kagome moved, and Inu-Yasha lifted up Izabo with one hand, without straining at all. Izabo glanced up at him.
"Thank…you." she said, looking at all the people gathered along the bridge. Kagome suddenly realized something. This girl…she was different somehow. Almost as if…but no, why would she? Kagome looked harder and nearly gasped aloud. Around the little girl's neck was a length of rope, and from that rope hung a silver metal ring. This necklace, however, was no ordinary necklace. Kagome could see the Shards in it. This girl…was a shard carrier!
Kagome deeply wished she could tell Inu-Yasha, but there was no way to do it without letting Izabo know. So Kagome tried something else. "Hey Izabo," she said kindly. "That's a pretty necklace. Where did you get it?"
"Hm? Oh, this? A friend of mine gave it to me." The little girl betrayed no emotion whatsoever.
"Really? Who was this friend?" Kagome pressed. She wished the girl would go off and talk to Sango and Miroku, but Izabo was being stubborn.
"Oh…his name was Naraku." The little girl said sweetly. Time seemed to stop. Inu-Yasha looked at her and back up at Kagome, who nodded. Sango went red and pulled out the boomerang bone. Miroku put his hand to the rosary that held in the hellhole. Inu-Yasha put his hand to the Tetsusaiga's hilt.
Izabo's eyes had a slightly red look to them. "What's wrong?" she asked, looking around at all the pale faces. "Did I say something?"
"Izabo, may I see that necklace?" Kagome asked cautiously.
"No!" Izabo's voice was harsh and grating. She crouched and lunged at Kagome, not a good thing to do on a rope bridge. But oh well.
At the same time, Inu-Yasha lunged at Izabo. He grabbed the cold ring of metal and yanked as hard as he could. (Which was a lot of strength) The rope holding the metal snapped, and Izabo fell to the bottom of the bridge, howling. Miroku forced everyone to get off the bridge. Inu-Yasha, however, was on the wrong side. Kagome was screaming at him to jump over Izabo, and Inu-Yasha threw the necklace over the side before he did.
Izabo screamed, a blood-curdling shriek that people in the village nearby cowered at. She lunged at Inu-Yasha, and, being so close to the side, was thrown over. Both Izabo and Inu-Yasha went over, and Kagome pushed past Miroku and held out her hand, hoping he could reach. But even if he could have, he wouldn't have. It would have pulled her over too.
Inu-Yasha and Izabo fell, two demons fighting each other. For now that her necklace was gone, the image spell was destroyed, and her true form was shown. A large demon, as ugly as she was powerful. Inu-Yasha couldn't get to his sword, she wouldn't stop fighting him. To even move his hands from the fight for an instant would mean death. And second after second, the bottom of the canyon came ever nearer.
As Inu-Yasha thought of that, he yelled over the rushing wind, "You're going to be smashed like the bug you are!" hoping that she was as dumb as the other demons he had fought. Indeed she was, for she looked down. In that instant, Inu-Yasha pulled out Tetsusaiga. She saw this and screamed her rage, but too late.
"Wind-Scar!" Inu-Yasha screamed, and the demon was cut in half, both halves screaming in anger, both halves dead. As Inu-Yasha fell, he thought faintly that at least Kagome and the others were safe.
Then he hit the water.
Kagome called Inu-Yasha's name over and over, knowing that it wasn't going to help them any, but it felt good to call his name and weep. She watched him disappear, for the sun went down at that moment, and the canyon was engulfed in darkness. She fancied she heard Inu-Yasha's voice calling something, then a flash of light, but she convinced herself that it was only a hallucination.
"Kagome…" Sango put her hand on Kagome's shoulder. "Come on. Let's go."
"Can we…go down there?" Kagome asked tearfully. "Please?"
Sango paused and thought to herself that Kagome had already gone through enough. The least they could do was help her find Inu-Yasha, who had saved all their lives multiple times. Miroku shook his head sadly when he heard Kagome's request, but he didn't argue.
And so they went down the canyon. Kagome walked down the trail, followed by her friends. As they got further to the bottom, it got even darker. The moon didn't shine down here. Shippo used his foxfire to create a floating ball of fire that bobbed around them, lighting their way.
When they had gotten to the bottom, they searched everywhere. Inu-Yasha was not to be found. They found both halves of the demon, and Kagome wanted to kick it, but she didn't. Finally, just as they were about to give up, Shippo said,
"Hey, what's that?"
The foxfire floated over to where he had pointed, and Kagome caught sight of silvery hair, then she ran to Inu-Yasha. He had apparently been in the water and washed up on the shore, because he was all wet. Sango pounded on his chest, trying to get him to breathe again. Miroku prayed to his gods, and Shippo found a lot of gooey, nasty smelling stuff. He stuck it underneath Inu-Yasha's nose, knowing how sharp Inu-Yasha's sense of smell was. If anything would wake him up, that would.
All of them knew that Inu-Yasha was dead, they were only doing all these things for Kagome's sake. Miroku built a fire, and everyone glumly went to sleep. Kagome, however, did not. She sat by Inu-Yasha's side and let the tears fall like rain. What was the point of sleeping, anyway? Inu-Yasha was dead. Who cared about anything else?
Inu-Yasha could hear Kagome and the others talking. He smelled the stuff Shippo put under his nose and wanted to gag. But for some reason, he had no control over anything. He was still breathing, and his heart was still beating, so he was alive, at least.
There was a long silence, then he could hear someone crying close to him, quietly, but his dog-ears caught the sound. Kagome…he thought. Kagome…are you crying for ME?
Inu-Yasha could feel Kagome near him, and suddenly, she reached out and smoothed back part of the hair that was over his eyes. His eyes were still closed, but he could feel it. She smoothed back his hair and then sat back. There was a long silence after that. Inu-Yasha could feel her looking at him. If only he could tell her he was all right!
Suddenly, as if answering his thoughts, his ear twitched. All by itself, his ear twitched. He heard Kagome gasp, then she whispered,
"I-Inu-Yasha?"
He twitched his ear.
"You're alive!" she threw her arms around him. She was warm, he thought. And now she was wet, and most likely cold. He was, anyway. "Sango, Miroku, Shippo!" he heard her call. "He's alive!"
Inu-Yasha heard Sango's response. "Kagome, I'm sorry. Inu-Yasha's dead…"
"No, he's not. Come look!"
Inu-Yasha could almost hear what Sango was thinking. Humor her, was going through her head. she's just lost someone close to her. Humor her.
"Inu-Yasha?" Kagome said, coming closer. Inu-Yasha twitched his ear several times. It seemed that his ear was the only part of his body that he could move. "See!" Kagome said, and Shippo wailed.
"Inu-Yasha, Inu-Yasha!" he said, tugging at Inu-Yasha's robe. "Are you okay?"
Inu-Yasha flicked his ear forward, then flattened it against his head.
The group kept asking him questions, and they quickly developed a system of communication. Flick the ear forward, yes. Flatten it against head, no. This worked, to a degree. Within an hour, Inu-Yasha discovered he could turn his head and open his eyes. He could also talk now, and Kagome wouldn't leave his side.
She was constantly near him, making up stupid or absolutely crazy excuses. Miroku, Shippo and Sango could see straight through all of Kagome's half-baked stories, but they said nothing of it. What was the point?
"Two things," Miroku said, for they had called a meeting. Shippo and Kagome had managed to prop Inu-Yasha against the canyon wall. "First, was that girl another incarnate of Naraku? Or was she someone else, who simply used the name?"
"I would say she was a Naraku incarnate," Kagome said, holding up the necklace. It had been rescued from the river an hour or so before this meeting took place. Kagome had managed somehow to take the shards out of it. They were now lying on the ground in front of her. "I mean, look at how many shards she had!"
"Okay. One more thing; why couldn't Inu-Yasha move? Because it's obviously wearing off now."
"True." Sango looked away, and suddenly noticed something everyone else had overlooked. "Inu-Yasha, you're bleeding!"
Inu-Yasha's sleeve was soaked in blood. Inu-Yasha looked down and shook his head. "No," he said. "That's not mine. It's that demon witches."
Shippo came running up to them, yelling for Kagome. "What is it, Shippo?" she asked. He was flicking his hand, as if to dry it.
"My hand's numb!" he whined, showing it to her. The hand was covered in strange, red stuff that made Kagome's fingers tingle. The very tips of her fingers, (where she had touched Shippo's hand) went completely numb.
"Shippo, what were you doing?" she asked. Sango looked over Kagome's shoulder, and Inu-Yasha looked over at the hand and sniffed the air.
"That's the demon's blood," he said, narrowing his eyes at poor Shippo. "You weren't poking around that body, were you?"
"No!" Shippo defended. Then, "Well, kinda."
"That's it, then." Miroku said, sounding satisfied. "The demon's blood makes you numb! Thus Inu-Yasha could not move!"
"Make's sense," Inu-Yasha commented, shrugging.
By nightfall, he had complete control of his body. He could stand and everything, which was nice. They moved the next day, skirting around the body and climbed up the canyon.