Chapter 2
Thoughts and Actions
Quick note: in this fic, Sess-chan has both arms, only so that he can- well you'll see
Inuyasha was doing his best to keep Sesshoumaru's blows directed away from the village, and Kagome. It was amazing he had lasted this long.
"Inuyasha, you cannot stand against me for long. Without your woman here, your fighting is hopelessly slow," Sesshoumaru said preparing for another attack.
"Kagome ain't my woman," Inuyasha retorted while trying to get a hit in without being hit. He couldn't just rip off the hand like last time, how the hell was he going to get the Tetsusaiga back now?
"But she will, no doubt, mourn you after I kill you," Sesshoumaru missed an obvious opening and regretted it when Inuyasha took advantage of the oversight by driving a kick into his arm. Since when does Inuyasha kick when he fights? Damn, I can't get that strange woman out of my thoughts. It will cost her dearly if I lose the Tetsusaiga because I could not concentrate. Where did she go? No, stop, you don't care where she went, you just care about killing Inuyasha and keeping the Tetsusaiga, he berated himself.
"Sesshoumaru, what's a matter? You're getting sloppy," Inuyasha had noticed. "Your mind is somewhere else." Wow, Inuyasha's being really attentive today. That is, until he smelled Naraku nearby. Of course, this found him on his back with the Tetsusaiga to his throat.
"Who is sloppy? I'm feeling generous today. Surrender and leave or die." Sesshoumaru pressed the sword just hard enough to draw a line of blood. Inuyasha didn't get a chance to respond.
Angel tried to get up but to no avail.
"It's just a change in plans," Naraku amended. "I will still use you against Inuyasha, but in a much different manner."
"You just tried to turn me into a pin cushion! What makes you think I'm going to LET you do anything?" she asked still trying to get up without increasing the flow of blood. She rolled to her side and pushed herself up on her arms, making sure not to let them slip out from under her.
"Perhaps it's the fact that you cannot even manage to sit up," he said. The sarcasm was not wasted on her.
She knew he was right, but she was not going to admit it. "I'm fine," she lied. "Any minute now you're going to be on your ass begging for mercy." and then the Easter Bunny is going to hop out and eat your heart. Both have about the same likelihood of happening she thought with disdain. She gave getting to her feet one more valiant try. It was unsuccessful and she slumped to the ground in the small pool of blood that had spilled from her abdomen. Naraku laughed at her and lifted her up. She barely had the strength to stay awake and make sure her he didn't try anything kinky, let alone the strength to get away from him. Yuck! Sorry for putting that thought in your heads He carried her in the opposite direction she had been traveling, in other words, back towards the village. Angel now noticed that there was a long slice up the back of her arm. It wasn't very deep but enough so that the blood was dripping off onto her, already ruined shirt.
Now is the perfect chance to use the Acid Flame. But if it doesn't work it'll have used so much energy that I'll have practically screwed MYSELF over Angel thought, contemplating whether or not it was worth the risk. She decided it was. She shifted her body as if she were trying to get less uncomfortable, but really she was just trying to get in a better position for the blast. Then she fired off the most powerful force of energy in the green flames she could summon. It was enough. It sent both Naraku and her flying in opposite directions.
Sesshoumaru was about to let the Tetsusaiga leave a rather large gaping hole in his half brother's neck, but instead had to turn to the side to keep from getting toppled over. He dropped the great sword in order to catch the female fire demon that had just come flying into his body. He absorbed most of the impact as if it had been a pillow thrown at him instead of a person. He looked down at the unconscious girl in his arms then turned to regrettably notice that he had in fact let his grip on the mighty Tetsusaiga slip for her when he could have easily dodged her. Inuyasha had already regained possession of the sword and was running away to get his friends. He shifted her weight in his arms so her could carry her more easily. This is going to be a long and interesting day he thought as he tried to decide where exactly to take her. His palace was too far away, he couldn't very well stay in the forest with her in this condition, and Rin was still waiting with Jaken for his signal.
After getting Rin and Jaken and having the chance to think it over, he came to the conclusion that there was only one logical option. He had a very sure feeling that he would regret this decision. He would take her to the old priestess woman in that village of Inuyasha's. Sesshoumaru needed to be alone with his thoughts to figure out what was going on in his head in regards to this girl, Angel.
"Sesshoumaru-sama, is that lady going to be Rin's new mother?" his young charge asked interrupting his ponderings, the exact reason he had to be alone to sort through this. He decided the best thing to do would be to send her and Jaken home, so that he wouldn't be worrying over them (well Rin mostly) out alone in the forest.
Sesshoumaru summoned the two-headed dragon to take them back. "Rin," he said." Go back with Jaken to the palace and wait for me there. I cannot be certain as to how long I'll be away."
"Hai, Sesshoumaru-sama," the girl said as obedient as ever to him.
He found it very difficult to resist the urge to either smile or sigh. Seeing the look on his lord's face and the woman in his arms, Jaken knew better than to complain about being left with the human for an even longer period of time. He silently complied as he climbed up on the dragon's back and took the reigns.
Once they had taken off into the air, Sesshoumaru turned back toward the village and began the short journey. (Short meaning it took only a few minutes for him to walk there)
As the demon lord stepped into the small village, the people scattered in every direction, hiding. It gave him some comfort to know that he was feared even outside his lands. Only one hut was different from the others. Instead of running to hide, the people inside came out, a monk, two priestesses, a kitsune, a demon slayer, and a hanyou.
"Sesshoumaru! What are you doing here, again!" Inuyasha was very surprised to see his older brother for a second time in one day, one hour especially.
"I did not come to fight you, Inuyasha," Sesshoumaru stated to everyone's surprise, even his own disbelief. "I have come to see if that old priestess could help heal this girl." He indicated the unconscious youkai in his grip.
"You've gotta be kidding me," Inuyasha displayed his non-belief quite well. "Why would we want to help either of you?"
"She is the reason I dropped that sword you are holding," he admitted. "You should be thankful to her."
"Hah! She's the reason you had it at all, what thanks does she deserve?' Inuyasha countered.
"I would have gotten it with or without her help," Sesshoumaru stated in all his mighty arrogance. "She only made it all much simpler."
"Inuyasha, stop bickering with your brother over whether or not we'll help Angel-san," Miroku interrupted. "I think the real question is, can Kaede-baba help her?"
"Listen to the monk, Inuyasha. It may save your life," Sesshoumaru threatened.
"Aye, ye should not take it upon yourself to speak for all of us," Kaede said. Gotta love her sometimes "I will see if there is anything I can do for her."
"At least your friends have some sense, little brother," Sesshoumaru was all but sticking his tongue out and chanting some immature nonsense like 'nya-nya-nya-nya-nya' in spite of Inuyasha. "I do still know how to change your opinion of her as well."
"Yeah? How?" the hanyou asked skeptically.
"It's quite simple," Sesshoumaru walked into the hut so that Inuyasha had to follow him to hear. "Who's scent does she have on her body?"
Inuyasha took only a second to realize, "Naraku."
"Yes," Sesshoumaru continued. "And there would be only one explanation as to the reason behind Angel's condition. A common enemy makes you allies of a sort." He moved to place Angel on the mat on the floor, but even in her unconscious state, she still held on to the sleeve of his kimono, distracting his train of thought. What is she doing?
"Look at her arm," Kagome said not exactly sounding pleased. They did look, and what they saw explained Kagome's tone of voice. Angel's right arm was bloodied and burned.
"Naraku's got a lot to answer for, and this is just one more thing on the list," Inuyasha stated sounding quite noble, as opposed to his usual 'feh' attitude.
Now was the time Angel "chose" to wake up, everyone staring at her and Sesshoumaru leaning over her because her left hand was holding his kimono sleeve. "What did I miss?" This question drew a few small smiles from the group.
"I think the real question is what did we miss?" Miroku said from his position dangerously close to Sango's smack trigger (i.e.- her butt).
"What do you mean?" Angel asked after letting go of Sesshoumaru.
And the trigger has been activated:SMACK:
"Why do have Naraku's scent on you and what happened to your arm?" Inuyasha said, ignoring the monk with the handprint on his face and the pissed off demon slayer.
"Damn," she said after seeing the damage inflicted on her arm. "Every single time I use that attack... I hope I caused some serious pain for that asshole."
"You might want to explain what you mean," suggested the little kitsune.
"Good idea," she gave him a small smile, hoping it didn't scare him. "I used the Acid Flame, my most powerful attack. Because Naraku was being his usual arrogant, snotty self and trying to either control or kill me, I had the opportunity to use it, so I did. He had cut my arm during the fight, and because having blood flowing from my arm makes the attack all that much stronger, I think I put him in a serious amount of pain if he was lucky enough to avoid the concentrated point. If he wasn't lucky, he's dead. And since Miroku hasn't said 'It's a miracle, I'm no longer a human vacuum cleaner', I'm pretty sure he's, unfortunately, still alive."
"What's a vacuum cleaner?"
:SWEATDROP: "Did you hear anything I just said besides home appliance!" she was getting a bit frustrated.
"Ye must relax, and Inuyasha, stop vexing her," Kaede was trying to calm everyone down.
"I'm fine." Angel sat up too fast and winced. "Look, it's stopped bleeding, and my arm is healing normally. I should be good as new by Saturday."
"I never did find out what Saturday was," said Inuyasha. The time Kagome wanted to be back for her date with Hojo
"I'm glad I was sitting for that one..." Angel said sarcastically. She asked Kagome to hand her the bag that was right next to her.
"Sure, though the last time we dealt with this bag, you wound up chasing Inuyasha through the forest," Kagome commented trying to lighten the mood as she handed the bag over.
"Well, it was one of my favorite pictures, along with my computer desktop pic," she answered in an equally light tone.
"Does anyone have a clue what she is talking about," Miroku asked the others softly.
"No, but I think she's got Pocky in her bag," Shippou said excitedly.
"Here you go Shippou-chan," Angel tossed the kit a small pack of Pocky.
"Wow, I don't know what Inuyasha was talking about," Shippou said happily crunching his strawberry Pocky sticks. "You're not any of those stuff he called you."
"Really...?"
"Hey, what else you got in that bag?" Inuyasha was suddenly very curious about its contents.
Angel decided to humor the hanyou (and torture him of course.) "Pretty much everything I need: food, cell phone, laptop, books, manga, magazines, a change of clothes (just in case), cash, extra accessories..."
"You do realize they have no clue what most of that stuff is, right?" Kagome asked.
"Yes, but Inuyasha's the one who ventured the question. It isn't my fault he was unprepared for the answer. And actually it reminds me that I have to check my e-mail," she said as she pulled out her small Dell notebook.
"How can you fit a laptop in a bag that size? And how can you connect to the net from here?" Kagome wanted to know. Everyone else just wanted to know what the thing was.
"Spells, plain and simple. A seamsaver spell and a super-ant spell," she stated matter-of-factly.
"'Seamsaver and super-ant'? what?" not even Kagome got that part.
"Hm, well a screensaver keeps an image from burning onto the screen, right? So a seamsaver makes sort of a portal inside the bag too keep the seams from busting," she explained. "And super-ant is just short for 'super antenna'. I have the same spell, in a much lower grade, on my cell. Basically, all it means is I can connect from anywhere in the universe, even parallel dimensions." They only got about half of what she was talking about.
"Um, would mind repeating that in a language we understand?" Inuyasha had to speak first.
"Oh, I give up," Angel flopped back down, a bit too hard. "Oww..."
"Enough, she will never get the rest she needs if ye keep asking her all these questions," Kaede interrupted them. "And her wounds need to be properly bandaged. That means the men leave"
All four males got up to leave, though Miroku needed an extra "push" from Sango.
Long chapter... was it good, though?
Codependence: you depend on me for new chapter of the story/ I depend on you for approval. It all works out
