One Thing
Chapter 5) Awaken True Love
Kouga listened in disbelief as Kagome had mistaken him for the hanyou a second time. And each time she did that it was like a slap to the face.
How is it that even though he was one of the first ones to her, the one by her side healing her and the one worrying about her that she could even have the hanyou on the brain?
'Kagome…' Kouga thought almost heart brokenly as he hugged himself to her.
It wasn't fair. It wasn't like the hanyou was helping him with her at this moment. And from the others that just left he found out it was indeed the dogs' fault that she was even in this condition. Anger and resentment began to build within Kouga.
'I knew I shouldn't have left Kagome in his care. I knew it! Kagome I'm sorry. I'm sorry.'
"Where are they!" InuYasha yelled angrily down at Shippo. Poor Shippo shrieked as he continued to cringe in fear of the now infuriated half breed.
"They're…at the s-s-s-springs!" Shippo cried trying to cover for everyone. He covered his head with his arms and leapt away from InuYasha.
"No they're not Shippo quite lying to me! I don't hear them and I don't smell their scents in that direction!" InuYasha exclaimed stomping towards the little fox. "So I will ask you one last time Shippo…Where did everyone go? And you better not lie." InuYasha said in a low voice.
Not too long ago he had came back to camp. At first he had bought Shippo's story. But now after a while and no signs of anyone, not even the sound of Miroku getting slapped, InuYasha wanted the truth.
Shippo jumped at InuYasha's demand.
'You guys hurry! I won't be able to hold him off any longer!' Shippo thought afraid.
Sango and Miroku stood a good ways out of InuYasha's senses, though they were still capable of hearing him.
"Miroku, Shippo can't fight InuYasha alone forever." Sango said stating the obvious. "Tell me something I don't know." Miroku muttered.
He was deep in concentration on what the next move would be. And his brain was beginning to hurt from thinking so hard since he was pressed on time.
"Miroku!" Sango slightly yelled as she punched his arm. "Sango please! Look I think we should come clean with InuYasha." Miroku responded.
"Come clean?" Sango repeated looking at Miroku like he was crazy.
"Do you know how InuYasha will react when we tell him that…"
"I know, I know I can imagine that. But what other choice do we have?" Miroku interrupted.
"And how do you think he'll react when we tell him she's with Kouga? And we left her with him? Besides what happened to the plan? You buying time for me and Kagome." Sango questioned.
"Time will still be on your side. You see we won't come fully clean, but clean enough to get InuYasha to help us." Miroku stated as if he was trying to convince himself of what he was saying.
Sango stood still for a moment trying to figure out what he meant. 'He can't be serious!' She thought.
"But should you be right…and this is the last time we see each other before InuYasha kills us in rage…we should take advantage of this time." Miroku said as he grabbed Sango's hands in his and puckered up his lips to kiss her.
Sango blushed and looked surprised before she freed one of her hands and slapped him in the face.
"Now isn't the time Miroku." She said turning around, her face glowing a violent crimson.
Miroku hit the ground laughing a little, rubbing his sore cheek. "It was worth a try." He said, slowly getting up for everything was spinning.
Once Miroku regained his sense of balance he headed off to InuYasha and Shippo. Sango turned around as she heard Miroku's retreating feet.
"Miroku wait up!" Sango called after him.
With no signs of him slowing down Sango trotted after him. Miroku looked over his shoulder and saw Sango chasing after him, Kirara following.
"No stop!" Miroku said to her making Sango stop. "But why?" She questioned.
"Just go to Kaede's village and get her to the Den. I'm going to see if I can get InuYasha to go to Jinenji's house for us. He's faster and knowing Kagome's in trouble will cut the trip in half." Miroku answered her.
"Oh I get it." Sango said finally understanding.
"Alright, but you need to go now!" Miroku stated as he turned around and began to run off again.
Sango nodded to him and watched him go off before turning around and getting onto Kirara's back heading to the village where Kaede lived.
Back at the den Kagome laid on the furs Kouga had placed her on. He had gone outside the cave to get some fresh air and also to calm his fried nerves. Though if he had stayed longer the response he had begged and pleaded for were happening.
Her body began to shake a little and her hand fisted at her side. Sweat began to dot her brow and she started to moan a little, shaking her head as if saying 'no'.
† Flashback/Dream †
Kirara growled as she dodge another one of the bird demons chasing them.
"Take this!" Kagome yelled as she shot another pure arrow at the very demon that had attacked them, hitting it with bulls' eye accuracy and precision.
The bird began to disintegrate once coming in contact with the arrow and what remained fell out of the sky in great clumps of burnt flesh to the ground. But there was another demon behind the one that attacked and was flapping its big black wings toward them.
The demon flew so fast that Kagome didn't have enough time to grab another arrow and shoot it. Her eyes widened in fear and immediately she screamed for Kirara to move faster. But it was already too late.
With one swift powerful attack the bird had hit Kirara and down the fire cat and Kagome went. Kagome tried to hold on to Kirara, but as they continued to go down she felt her grip on the cat loosen more and more until she was completely separated from Kirara.
In the middle of the free fall Kagome turned her head and saw Kirara's hurt form; unconscious and falling limply. Panic began to settle in Kagome's stomach as she felt the force of gravity pulling her closer and closer to the ground.
"InuYasha!" Kagome cried out, the outline of tree tops coming into vision. "INUYASHA! SAVE ME!" She cried again. But no matter how much she cried out for him he never came.
Kagome squeezed her eyes shut tightly as she felt her body hit the branch of the first tree. Then, like a pine cone falling off its branch, she tumbled down to the forest floor. She bounced off one tree branch to another until she fell to the floor in a heap.
Tears ran from her eyes as the pain was unbearable. She could taste a bit of blood, her blood, on her tongue. One of her arms and one of her legs felt like they were ablaze in sheer pain. She clenched her teeth and rolled over on her side.
Kagome opened her eyes trying to see into the forest night. She only succeeded in viewing what little could be made out in the darkness with blurred vision.
'Where are you InuYasha? I need you.' She thought, whimpering.
With what little energy she had she tried to sit up. But the pain in one of her legs and arm stopped her in her tracks. From the severity of the pain Kagome blacked out…
With no signs that InuYasha would come…
--------
But soon she found herself standing near a waterfall. The sounds of the falling water seemed to snap her out of her trance like state.
It was a mystery to her why she was there and well. The pain was gone; as if the fall never happened.
She looked all around her. The waterfall's water fell into a very beautiful river as so clean and clear that you could see the little fishes. The grass was very green and short, bright colored flowers dotted across the green blanket and far to her right side the beginning of a forest.
Suddenly Kagome felt as if a pair of eyes was on her and she turned in the direction of where she thought they would be. Only what she saw wasn't what she'd expected. For when she had turned she came face to face with…..herself.
Kagome was shocked as she looked on at the person that looked so much like her in a white kimono. The Kagome double smiled back at her and pulled out a pink folding fan and opened it so she could place it before her face to cover her mouth as she spoke.
"You had quite a nasty fall there." She said. "So terrible that your mind created this place for you to escape the pain until your beloved came for you." She added.
"Who are you and where is InuYasha?" Kagome asked as she took a step forward and looked around her for any sign of the said hanyou.
The Kagome in the kimono chuckled at her and swiftly closed her fan with a soft clap and with the same hand holding it, brought the back of it up to her lips as she continued on chuckling.
"You have no idea who I am and yet the answer is so obvious!" She quickly began to calm down her little amusement as she noticed the confused look on Kagome's face.
"My dear I am you. The Inner you. The inner you with no ties what so ever to our other half, Kikyou." She answered at last. "Every last thought you have is that of my own and every bit of jealousy comes from me. I am your deepest thoughts you push away."
"But…but how? What do you want from me?" Kagome asked growing fearful.
"Do you know how far you fell from the sky to make contact with that tree and the ground?" The other Kagome asked seriously. "Death is a possible repercussion from that accident. And do you know that no matter how long we beg and plead InuYasha will never come!" She said as she narrowed her eyes.
"No!" Kagome shouted. "InuYasha will or has come for me!"
"You're in denial! InuYasha will not come! Remember what he said in warning you not to go home? Do you remember the little fight you had earlier? Do you remember the way he sounded as if he meant it as he continued walking on, not caring if you followed or not?" The kimonoed Kagome stepped up to the original, closing the distance between them, and begin to walk in a circle around her.
"No stop it!" The original cried as she placed both her hands up to her ears and squeezed her eyes shut much the same way she did during the free fall.
"Stop ignoring me!" The Kagome in the kimono stated as she angrily snatched her hands from her ears.
"Why do we waste our time on someone we don't know how he truly care? Who acts like he doesn't care! If he can't rule how we live then we are nothing more than the dirt beneath his feet. If he can't have the woman he wants then we are his sloppy seconds." She continued.
Again tears formed in Kagome's eyes. Now she knew for a fact this women standing there holding her hands down, forcing her to listen was indeed herself. These were her dark thoughts. The little whispers of doubt in InuYasha's interest of her.
But just because she spoke what Kagome sometimes thought didn't mean she had to cave into her.
"Even if those are my thoughts, I'm in love with InuYasha! I can over look his faults because I love him!"
"His love isn't the love you need!" The other girl shouted. "What if you waste your time worrying so much on InuYasha that the true keeper of your heart is left in the shadows in sorrow."
"InuYasha is the only keeper of my heart." Kagome crossed. "That's where you're wrong!" The other yelled. "You may think that, but you're wrong…There is someone more deserving and he's…" But Kagome could hear no more.
She was waking…
The surroundings around her began to swirl around, slowly at first, to the point it was like a colorful tornado. Kagome stood in what seemed to be the eye of the furiously spinning colors and she watched as the other her cried out 'Not now!' as she began to disappear.
† End †
Now returning to consciousness Kagome blinked her eyes a few times until her blurry vision subsided and she could make out where she was.
Turning her head to one side she found a wooden bucket with a cloth folded over the edge and some bandages. To her other side she saw most of her clothes, plus her bow and arrows. She moved her one hand and felt the fur blanket under and over her. She tried to move her other hand, but it was too painful.
She let out a cry as she tried to sit up and then felt a hand push her down gently back into the furs. Then Kagome heard a calm voice calling her name.
"Kagome…Kagome child…Ye need to take it easy. Calm down child." "Kaede?" Kagome cried. "Yes... it tis me child." The old woman said in a gentle voice.
"Where am I? And where's InuYasha, where is he?" Kaede took a deep breath and looked off to the side of her debating whether or not to tell Kagome.
"Kagome…Thy half-breed demon, InuYasha, isn't here." Kaede half answered. "He…He isn't?" Kagome questioned in a small voice. Memories of her nightmare coming back to her.
"Do you know how far you fell from the sky to make contact with that tree and the ground?" The other Kagome asked seriously. "Death is a possible repercussion from that accident. And do you know that no matter how long we beg and plead, InuYasha will never come!" She said as she narrowed her eyes.
"I'm afraid he isn't." Kaede confirmed as Kagome blinked back into the conversation at hand.
"Then….where is he? What about the others? Where are they?" Kagome asked beginning to worry.
"Don't worry they are all fine. 'cept for InuYasha, who is nowhere to be found, they have all gone to gather some herbs." Kaede said while adjusting the fur cover hiding Kagome's nudeness.
The old woman remembered being stirred from her sleep by a worried Sango and a fellow village girl. When she heard that Kagome was in really bad shape that was all that needed to be said. She dressed as quickly as she could and joined Sango heading for the Wolf Den.
Kagome remained quiet a moment as she saw a weird expression crossed the elder miko's face before she asked her last question.
"Then where am I?" Kagome asked in a louder voice.
"You're here in my den Kagome." Kagome recognized the owner of the new voice to be Kouga.
He had returned from outside after hearing noises come from inside. Thinking that the old bat was talking to herself or that maybe Kagome had awaken he went to go see for himself. Though he was happy it was that Kagome was awake.
"I'm so glad you're alright Kagome. I was beginning to think you wouldn't wake up." Kouga said as he sat down by her like had down so many times before.
Kagome watched as a look of relief passed over Kouga's face as he made his way to her side.
"How did I get here?" She questioned as Kouga settled beside her.
"He found ye in the forest and brought ye here. I was then called forth and brought here by Sango to help." Kaede answered for Kouga as she moved to get fresh water for Kagome to drink in a wooden dipper.
"Ye must be thirsty." She deducted as Kagome nodded her head and opened her mouth.
Kaede carefully poured some into her mouth. As she swallowed Kouga had placed one of his hands over Kagome's unharmed one and brought it up to his lips so he could kiss the back of it.
"Don't worry Kagome. I'll take good care of you and I'll protect you. Nothing will harm you now or ever again so long as I'm here." Kouga vowed to her and then gave her hand a little squeeze of reassurance as he looked into her chocolate brown eyes that were crying tears.
Again Kagome's mind was attacked by other memory from her nightmare.
"What if you waste your time worrying so much on InuYasha that the true keeper of your heart is left in the shadows in sorrow?"
"InuYasha is the only keeper of my heart." Kagome crossed. "That's where you're wrong!" The other yelled. "You my think that, but your wrong…There is someone more deserving and he's…"
'Could she have meant…Kouga?' Kagome thought as Kouga brushed away her tears.
A/n- Sorry I took so long people. Really unintentional. Though just incase I hit a dry spell like that I'm working on the next update now as you read this probably. Thank you to everyone who reviewed. I hope I didn't lose too many of you and if there are any errors up there let me know otherwise I have sent this to be edited by my beta.
I wanted to update this thing as soon as possible so bare with me.
I'll personally respond to your reviews unlike how I've done in the past. So if you don't have an account here leave an email address or if you do leave you account name so I can respond to you. Bye for now.
Miro.
