A/N: I hope you all weren't expecting an instant kagome & hiei love confession. . . Cuz it aint gonna happen. O.o
Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own them. . .
Last Chapter
"What's going on?" Kurama asked, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. Over the past week, his friends, especially his older ones, had discovered that he wasn't exactly a morning person. In fact, the past few days it had been hell trying to get the demon out of his slumber. Just yesterday Kuwabara was given the task of throwing the poor guy into the river, sleeping bag and all. Of course, this event and similar ones before it had given Yusuke, who had had a certain impression of Kurama, quite a bit of amusement.
Sango, sitting up in the bag next to his, wore a rather annoyed looking dead pan look. "Kouga's here." She said flatly, and the fox curiously followed her gaze to where the ruckus was coming from.
A few meters away stood a demon Kurama quickly identified as a wolf facing Inuyasha who was glaring death at him from an almost-fight stance.
Nine Months
Kagura growled inwardly, it didn't take a glance behind her to realize she was being followed. Just as always, one wrong move on her part and those blasted insects would fly back to daddy Naraku and tell on her. She picked up speed, the wind carrying her a bit faster.
Once her army of sorts had been properly summoned, she had returned to him once more, and had been rewarded by a red object sporting rather unearthly glow.
"What exactly am I supposed to do?" The wind demoness asked sharply, glancing at the object in her hand before returning her gaze to him.
He spoke as if he were commanding a child, "Just use it to stop them from getting across the well."
She glared at him questionably. "Don't we want them to get across the well? I thought that was the point of attacking."
He paused, and she was certain pain would follow for speaking up. "Kagura. We brought them here to test their strengths. I only want Inuyasha kept back here."
Bravely, she argued once more. "Isn't Inuyasha who we want in the present, to-"
"Complications, Kagura. Jealousy is a. . . complication to humans. Use that to separate Inuyasha from the rest of the group. It contains something… similar to miko powers."
She blinked. She had heard of demons that had been trying to control the magic of a purified human miko. It was supposedly a feat second only to the impossible.
His chuckle snapped her away from her thoughts like the pull of a leash, "If you don't think you can handle it, Kagura, I could always-"
"Okay." She didn't let him finish. There was absolutely no way she was going to let herself be bound up again, like some kind of animal.
Pulling her thoughts away from the memory of a few moments ago, she closed her eyes slowly.
And when she opened them again, there was nothing in her mind but the sense of freedom as the wind flowed freely through her hair, and the sun greeted her airborne presence. If only for a few minutes, she was able to feel nothing but the joy of pretend freedom.
Chapter 7: The Changing Currents
"Its scary, really. To find out that your not the one controlling your own actions.."
-White Stag
Hiei rubbed the sleep from his eyes tiredly when he realized that no one was looking. He was thankful that everyone's attention was on the scene playing rather loudly in front of them, allowing him to secretly express how exhausted he really was. It had actually been a while since he had actually took the time to sleep. Since they had gotten to the feudal era, he had seen the time the rest of the group devoted to sleep as his only chance of freedom. Taking advantage of this, he had gone off to explore the vast lands of the feudal era.
Still, he wasn't thankful for the fact that he had been awaken from his slumber by two amazingly loud idiots such as Inuyasha and this strange newcomer.
"You're not even around to ever take care of Kagome!" Inuyasha yelled, throwing an arm to the side as if to block said schoolgirl from the demon's view.
"I trusted her to you for a while, but she's still my Kagome." The man said coolly, throwing a slight smirk to "his Kagome".
Hiei sized up the strange argument, and looked over to the girl who seemed to be the object of overly loud demon/half-demon attention. She wasn't anything he would consider as special, then again, he couldn't exactly remember the last time he thought anyone was anything special-in that way at least.
In an display of speed that still didn't surpass the fire demon's own, the wolf demon was on the other side of Inuyasha's recently upraised arm and had Kagome's hands in his own grasp.
"Kagome, put an end to this already. Tell that mutt who you really belong to."
Kagome looked for a second as if she truly didn't want to hurt the man's feelings, but that was only for a brief second before her anger showed once more. "I don't belong to anyone, I-"
But they ignored her protest, and cut off whatever it was she was about to say, and continued babbling in an obnoxious blur of what ranged from yelling to squealing.
Kurama looked back to Sango, who was calmly stirring the substances of a modern day cooking pot while Miroku fed the fire she was using. Neither showed the slightest bit of regard towards the scene playing in front of them, which even Yusuke looked too tired for.
"This is..?" he began, his voice wary.
"Normal." Sango completed dully, continuing to stir.
Miroku nodded beside her, "That would be Kouga." He said, tilting his head in the direction of the wolf demon as he shuffled the pieces of wood in his arms.
Sango still refused to look up, "He's under the impression that he and Kagome are engaged or something like that." The annoyance in her voice reflected everyone else's moods.
Kurama nodded in understanding, "And Inuyasha-"
"Inuyasha's just . .petty because he's an overprotective idiot." Shippo finished for him, though with words that were a bit more blunt than Kurama's would have been.
"Oh, good morning Shippo." The demon slayer said pleasantly, finally looking up from her cooking.
Hiei glared, listening to their conversation from a few feet's distance where he had chosen to lean against a tree. This was absolutely ridiculous, and quite frankly, his eardrums were starting to ache from the sound of the feud. What irritated him the most, strangely, was the way Inuyasha was acting. Was he not the one he had seen just the past night with another woman? And now he was suddenly acting as if the other girl was his?
Botan stretched, reaching into the air abover her head as she sat happily beside the running stream. Blissfully unaware of the racket that was being caused by one of her new companions and his "friend", she smiled at the weather. Sango the demon slayer had sent her to fetch some water from the nearby stream. It wasn't far enough from the rest so that she'd be in any real danger, but far enough for her to get a sense of calming aloneness.
They were pretty close to the well they had time traveled with, Botan noted.
Deciding not to keep the slayer waiting long enough to cause worry, she stood, 20th century water bottles in hand.
ZZZZZZ
ZZZZZZ
The vibration in her pants startled her, the bottles hit the soft grassy ground as realization hit her. She felt very much like a kid who forgot to call his parents who were most likely going to be very angry once the phone was answered.
"H-Hello:" Botan asked, flipping open the communication device, feeling more than a little foolish. The picture was much more blurry than usual, she could barely make out the form of Koenma on the compact device.
"BOTAN!" And yet, even with the static-ridden screen, she could make out the look of worry on her boss' features.
"Koenma! Um. . sorry sir, you see, there was so much excitement after you sent us here that I forgot to contact you, an-" Her quick, sweat drop accompanied "im sorry" speech was cut short.
"Botan! Where are you? The feudal era!"
"It truly is a shame," Miroku began, nodding toward the heated argument that was going less than nowhere, "not every being is quite as . . .loving as I." His hands wandered slyly to Sango's squatted behind.
The sound of a rather painful smack was soon drowned out by, "OH THAT'S IT, WOLF CUB!" Inuyasha yelled, this statement (amazingly) louder than any of his previous ones. Grasping the hilt, he unsheathed his sword, the blade sliding into transformation upon leaving the scabbard.
Before Kurama could check with Sango to see if an actual fight was normal as well, the ground rumbled, throwing them all off guard as the sound of an explosion blasted.
The cloud of dust that had formed in front of them subsided eventually, and Hiei's senses flared and he cursed himself for being too irritated earlier to predict this not so little entrance. Of course, this only did to further his irritation.
A gust of wind blew what remained of the explosion aside to reveal the very wind demon he had encountered with Kagome the night before. Her blood red lips curled as she smiled with the calm of a hidden storm.
"Come at a bad time?" She drawled in a teasing tone.
"Kagura!" Inuyasha spat, shifting his hold to point his father's fang at their second unwanted visitor of the morning.
"Good to know your memory isn't too affected by that small brain, dog boy." Kouga muttered, already in fighting stance to face the wind demon.
The "dog boy" growled, but wasn't about to let his gaze wander from the enemy. "What do you want?" He asked, his anger made it amazingly hard to even speak clearly.
"Now, now, is that any way to treat your," with a swipe of her fan, blades of sharp gusts of wind manifested into projectiles. Inuyasha jumped out of the way, the blades cutting into the ground he had just been standing on. "guest?" She finished in a laughing tone.
Kouga had reacted just as quickly, but he had also managed to pick up the object of his affection in the process. "Its okay now, Kagome." He said, and it was unknown whether he didn't notice what her sweatdropped expression meant, or if he just didn't care.
At this, Inuyasha did, in fact, take his eyes off the enemy. "And what the hell are you doing?" His heavy sword welded into the earth as he turned to yell at his rival.
The wolf smiled, as wryly as only a wolf could, "Don't worry, I'll keep Kagome safe, try not to get killed." And before Inuyasha, or even the girl could protest, the forms of both wolf and girl were consumed within Kouga's whirlwind of speed. They didn't go very far, just enough to get clear out of harm's way.
Kagura watched with a bored expression, fanning herself lightly with the fan she could turn into a weapon at will. "Pay attention, Inuyasha." She said, before doing so, sending blades of wind stronger than the ones she had conjured before.
Inuyasha swore, crashing his giant blade in front of him once again. The blades either passed by him or ricochet off the sword.
"INUYASHA!" His ears twitched at her call, and he turned slightly to see Kagome, still within the confines of Kouga's arms, pointing to the skies.
Sango glared in annoyance, this wasn't exactly the way she liked to start a morning. The skies above them darkened, covered by the wings, bodies, and a variety of different body parts of oncoming demons who looked anything but friendly. It was a sight that was not foreign to the feudal gang. The demons were usually low class, but the amount of them was always the problem, and it seemed like this time, Naraku had found more followers than usual.
"And, is this normal?" Yusuke, who had been eating as much food as he could despite Kagura's arrival, asked. His body hummed with power, as he began to focus the mixture of spiritual and demon energy that flowed constantly within him.
"Well, relatively." Miroku answered, smiling nervously before readying himself, staff firmly in hand.
Sango raised Hiraikotsu, her left hand raised in front of her to steady her oncoming attack. At this, however, her view of the demons approaching was blocked, as Kurama stepped in front of her.
"Please, let us handle this." He said, smiling kindly. Ignoring the fact that she was probably blushed at his concern, she glared at him.
"There's more than enough for all of us." She said, stepping stubbornly beside him.
He looked at her in surprise for a moment, before nodding, defeated. And he scolded himself playfully for forgetting the nature of a demon slayer.
Eager to nurture the pride Kurama knew he had hurt, the woman slayer made the first attack. The boomerang soared through the air with great speed, plummeting through the air and severing the bodies of any demons in its path. Sango slid back, but kept her balance despite the force of Hiraikotsu as it returned to her.
Kurama looked back at her and smiled, mouthing a "sorry" before turning back to face what seemed like thousands of surviving demons. Once again, Youko made a valiant attempt to come out, and once again he suppressed his past self.
Hiei sprung himself into the air, head on into the mindless demons that were coming to land on the ground in front of the group. His masterful sword dance was a prequel to far more powerful attacks. He felt no inclination to waste his energy needlessly on a bunch of low class beings.
In mid strike, he saw the girl, Kagome, struggle within her "rescuer's" grasp.
"Kouga! Let me go!" Kagome said, as politely as she possibly could. Well, that was basically not politely at all.
He looked at her skeptically, "Kagome, I just don't want you to get hurt." He said, his face far too close to hers for comfort.
"It would be better than not helping at all!" She argued desperately as her hanyou companion narrowly avoided yet another one of the wind demon's attacks. "Kouga!"
He frowned, unwilling to remove his gaze from her as if oblivious to the fighting the others were involved in. "Is that what that mutt's been telling you? Does he make you fight?"
The girl rolled her eyes, huffing loudly 'This guy is impossible.'
Kuwabara placed his hand on the ground, and a few feet away, his energy rose from it in the form of a large sword, plunging straight into the bodies of a few demons.
"Kuwabara, we're gonna need more than those wussy attacks!" Yusuke shouted from beside him, grinning arrogantly as he steadied his finger in front of him, preparing to fire a blast of energy.
The boy growled from his kneeled position, and in the next second Yusuke was poked right in the behind as a second, smaller energy sword popped up from the ground. The detective yelped in a fashion that was anything but manly, his blast firing unintentionally into what was conveniently the one void of sky that wasn't covered in demon.
Kuwabara snickered as he stood.
"Oh, grow up would you?" Shippo screamed from behind, waving his little arms madly at them. "We're in a battle here!"
Yusuke's head turned around to face him so fast he was certain his neck would crack. "I don't see you doing any fighting!"
"PAY ATTENTION!" He screamed, and he spun around to see a clawed hand coming straight for him.
Hiei couldn't help but snicker inwardly between slashes as the Detective's face after Kuwabara practically saved his life with his Spirit Sword.
But it was then that a sharp recoil rippled through his arm as his sword bounced off the surface of a particularly hard demon hide. His sharp senses caused him to spin around mid air, where sharp fangs were far too close to react off balance.
His surprise was only furthered when the fangs and the mouth attatched to them, along with a fair amount of other demons in front of him disappeared. Their bodies dissolved, purified into the blinding path of bright, unmistakable power. Just a few fractions of an inch closer, and he too many have been purified.
His gaze retraced quickly, to where the schoolgirl, who had apparently found a way to free herself, stood with her bow in hand. "Are you alright!" She yelled.
He glared, and spun back around, unwilling to be caught off guard again. As if being saved by a human once wasn't enough.
"Sesshoumaru-sama!" The young girl called Rin exclaimed, leaving her little green, unwilling companion Jaken with his own annoyance as she abandoned their argument happily. She ran up to the approaching canine demon and bowed.
"AH! Sesshoumaru- samaaa!" Jaken too ran up and bowed, but his lord ignored his presence, leaving his annoyance toward the girl to rise even more.
"Rin." The westland lord regarded. He held out the net of various fruits he had obtained, and she took it happily. He watched her smile, and sighed inwardly as he was unable to do the same.
"Thank you so much, Lord Sesshoumaru!" She sang, her cheeks red with all the innocence and excitement of her age. Rin had always been more than happy, even the slightest gift she seemed to treasure. But it was the air of absolute joy that surrounded her when she caught sight of him returning that really got to him.
"Let's go." He said, stepping over Jaken to head in the other direction.
Rin nodded happily, and followed suit, hopping over the toad demon to follow. Her demon lord turned to her, and picked her up, surprising both the girl as well as Jaken. He then placed her gently on top of Ah-Un, took hold of the demon's reigns, and continued walking, disregarding his poor green-skinned follower.
"Sess-Sesshoumaru-sama." He muttered sadly, before following.
Sango found steadying her breath harder than her comfort zone allowed. The dust quelled around her, what remained of the recoil of what must have been the hundredth time she had used her heavy weapon. Miroku landed beside her, "Sango!"
Her exhaustion was evident, and he grabbed her as he jumped back from demons who had noticed. The wards he threw disintegrated them on touch. Their landing was rough and the girl winced, grabbing hold of her side where she had been slashed.
The monk looked around desperately. Kouga, unsurprisingly, had taken off somewhere during the course of battle, leaving Kagome who he saw was down to a grand total of four arrows. Yusuke and Kuwabara were a few meters away, spirit and demon energy blazing.
Inuyasha was worse off. He leaned on his sword for support, another failed attack taking its toll. From all sides he was being attacked by random demons, while trying to concentrate on the wind demon.
A rustle in the forest went unnoticed in that moment, until the girl broke out into the clearing.
"Botan!" Miroku exclaimed.
"Miroku! Sango!" She cried, her face displaying absolute terror.
Kagome reached back, only to find herself grabbing at air. She swore. She had entered this battle with an abundance of arrows, but there was no telling how much time had past since it had began. And yet, it didn't seem as if the number of demons was dying down at all.
She screamed at the sight of oncoming talons, and he heard Inuyasha yell her name in the distance.
But once again, the impact never reached her, and once again, she saw the black figure standing in front of her.
"Hiei. . ." She said unconsciously, her widened eyes watching him. With a blast of flame that emitted from his arm, a few more demons nearby were completely wiped out. He huffed before turning to her.
"When will you learn to take care of yourself?" He asked harshly. But before she had time to answer, he had picked her up with ease, and they were flying through the air.
"We have to get back!" Botan screamed hectically.
"What are you talking about? Get back where?" Yusuke yelled, firing another blast of his famous spirit gun as he walked backward to them.
Hiei landed, and didn't bother to put the girl in his arms down gently. But, as far as Kuwabara was concerned, it was a surprise there had been a girl in his arms in the first place. Not that the attacking demons were giving him any chance to tease the fire demon about it.
"That wasn't Koenma at your house, Kagome!" Botan said, unable to calm her voice. She couldn't imagine how dangerous or absurd the situation was, but there was only one thing running through her mind.
Get back to the present.
"He doesn't know we're here!" She finished, confirming Yusuke's suspicion. He swore.
Inuyasha's ears twitched as he heard the conversation. Anger and a familiar feeling ran through him. There had been another time, too, when Naraku had taken the form of one's people trusted.
If Naraku had been the one who wanted them here in the first place. . .
"GET TO THE WELL! GET KAGOME BACK TO THE WELL!" He yelled, swinging his sword away from Kagura, and sending Kaze No Kizu to clear the way to the old well.
Kagome looked at him briefly, before she found herself being pulled onto Kirara's back and flying swiftly in the direction the hanyou had cleared.
"Sweet, Inuyasha." The wind demon drawled, before rising slightly and flying in the same direction he had sent the others.
"Kagome!" Sango pointed from behind her on the cat demon to where more demons where approaching.
The girl had never seen more demons in one place in her life. Kirara landed, a few feet from where the well stood, and from there, everything happened in slow and fast motion at the same time.
A demon landed in front of them, crashing to the ground with enough force to make the futuristic miko stumble off of her feet. But before he could attack, his massive body was slashed, literally from head to toe by the Tessaiga. And in front of her, stood Inuyasha, who looked at her with all the exhaustion that must have come from hurrying over as fast as he had to save her.
She saw Kagura in back of him, and Kagome wasn't sure whether her scream reached him or not.
Everything seemed surreal, and there was no sound and yet, blinding noise at the same time.
Something pulled her back as the wind demon's attack hit the hanyou.
She wasn't sure if she screamed "NO!" when she realized it was Yusuke trying to pull her into the well.
Around the well, demons were landing wildly. And the air was filled with bloodlust. Miroku growled, eyeing the poisonous insects intermixed with the demons, and backing up as he grabbed the beads around his outstretched right arm.
"NO!" He heard the slayer shout, as she wrapped her arms around him from behind, in a rare form of affection.
His eyes widened, and he looked at the girl holding his attack. "Please." She nearly whispered, voice muffled by his robes. And he lowered his arm, acting quickly in the only way he could think of . The monk's mind firmly on protecting the girl who had never wanted protection, he acted.
He turned and grabbed hold of her, and jumped blindly into the well he had never traveled down before.
"Hurry!" Botan screamed at the mouth of the Bone Eater's Well.
Inuyasha swore, and Kagome screamed as he was pierced once more.
But the falling of yet another demon's body in front of her arose a cloud of dust that clouded her vision of him. And, in that moment, the spirit detective, Yusuke pushed her into the well, and she screamed the hanyou's name, tears trailing as she descended.
Kagura smiled as her opponent fell to one knee. "Giving up, Inuyasha?" She reached into her kimono, pulling out the strange shaped object. It glowed a dangerous red before turning to a cool cyan of spiritual power.
Inuyasha panted angrily, one breath. Two breaths. Three.
Kagome was safe.
Kagome was safe.
Kagome was sa-
Yusuke's landing beside him startled him, and he looked up at the detective, asking with his eyes why he too hadn't gone for safety.
The boy looked down at him, and smirked.
The flurry of bodies at the other end of the well was a bit hard to navigate through. But the real danger was the fact that Kuwabara had somehow ended up on top of a very annoyed Hiei.
"No. . . NO!" Kagome's voice rang throughout the well, as she snapped back into reality and control of her body.
The struggle of the group stopped at the outburst, and all eyes turned to the girl who was on all fours in the dirt to the side of them.
"Kagome?" Sango asked, untangling herself from between Miroku and Kurama.
"I can't. . get back." Kagome said quietly, slumping. "I CANT GET BACK!" She screamed, pounding on the ground.
Sango's eyes widened, watching her. "What?" She asked.
"The well..its not working!" She answered between breaths. "Inuyasha. . ."
Kuwabara, just now realizing asked, "Urameshi?".
"Hiei! The well!" Kurama gasped, feeling the effects, or rather, not feeling the effects of the Bone Eater's Well's power.
"It's gone." Kuwabara confirmed. "I feel it too."
"No. . .He was in trouble. . .he was hurt!" The girl began gasping for breath, pounding and scraping at the ground furiously. "Inuyasha. . .INUYASHA! No! NO!" She was very aware that she sounded like a baby, and quite frankly, she didn't care. She just didn't care.
Hiei watched, listening to the girl's painful cries. The battle had obviously taken its toll on her, yes, but this was just sad. Still, her beating fists into the ground and the tears rolling down her cheeks annoyed him, but not in the way he would have thought to be normal. He wasn't sure what, but just as he was about to say. . .something, he felt the slightly familiar burst of power blaze through the well.
It was different this time, though, the light that emitted from the ground where Kagome knelt flashed red before it turned blue once more. And from it, arose the very half-demon she had been crying for.
He stood there for a second, and all she did was watch him for a second before reality seemed to hit.
Kagome threw herself at him, tackling to the ground with her as she held on to him as if he were about to disappear. The hanyou looked sufficiently shocked for a moment, before nervously placig his arms around her. Hiei mentally rolled his eyes. He decided he had seen far too many pathetic love scenes since this mission began, and it was most definitely starting to annoy him.
Inuyasha winced, and the girl pulled away to see the many wounds streaking across his body. The blood soaked and darkened his already read hakama. "Inuyasha!" she gasped.
"Kagome?" The group looked up to the roof of the wellhouse. A little boy peeked down from the mouth of the well.
"Oi! Souta!" Inuyasha answered for the boy's wordless sister. He moved his arms to hide his wounds from him.
"Is- is that your little brother?" Sango asked. Miroku looked at her lightly, knowing what – who the slayer's mind must have been on. Climbing out of the well after battle was a bit harder than before. Luckily, their injuries weren't serious, it was exhaustion that hindered the group. But once out, the air of battle seemed to disappear, and it seemed as if they could finally take a true breath of relief.
It could have been much worse.
"S-Souta." Kagome said, trying very hard to appear normal to her little brother. "I'm home. Go back inside, I'll be right in." She smiled encouragingly as the group watched.
The boy nodded, a suspicious look crossing his face. Nevertheless, he turned and walked back to the main house after waving at Inuyasha.
"Yes, sir." Botan said quietly, before closing the compact communication device. She looked nervously at them, knowing they were all very anxious for answers.
A moment of silence passed by, before Botan smiled cheerfully, her oar manifesting into her hands. "Koenma said to go home." She said, as if they had just come from a lovely picnic in the hills.
"What?" Yusuke nearly yelled in surprise, voicing the other's thoughts. Botan sighed and hopped onto her oar, hovering in front of the detective.
"We all need rest, Yusuke. Koenma said he'll see us tomorrow." She sang, far too happily for the situation they had just been in.
"What kind of crap are you spewing? Were you there ten minutes ago?" Yusuke spat at her, his voice a bit more than raised.
Botan giggled, "Sorry, gotta get back to Koenma, see you tomorrow, Yusuke." And before he could shoot her off her oar, she was off into the skies, leaving the others bewildered beyond words.
"What the hell was that?" Yusuke yelled to the heavens.
". . perhaps we would be wise to follow Koenma's words." Kurama suggested, though he was mentally scratching his head."
"Yah, look where that got us last time." The detective shot back.
"Um. . we have a problem." Kagome announced, snapping the attention away from Yusuke, which was probably a good thing.
"?"
"Well, I'm not so sure Sango and Miroku can stay with me. Souta's back from the camp he left to, and I'm not sure how well mom will adjust to two more Feudal Era guests. . ."
Sango and Miroku exchanged glances. "And its not like they can find a place of their own or anything, they've never been here before." Kagome continued.
"They can stay with me." Kurama nodded, catching the others off guard. Hiei shot a knowing look at the fox that went unnoticed.
"Oh. . . that's right, you live by yourself now, right Kurama?" Kuwabara asked.
"Yes, it wouldn't be any trouble."
Kagome glanced sadly at Inuyasha, before looking away. "Maybe we should rest for the night…" She said, before looking to her companion's wounds.
Shippo started to walk toward Kagome, but Sango pulled him back, along with Miroku who leaned down as well. "Oh, no," the slayer said, a mischievous look in her eyes. "You're staying with us tonight." She said, and it didn't seem like Inuyasha or Kagome heard.
"Yes, let's give them some time alone." Miroku said, his smirk and monk-like tone clashing very strangely.
Hiei sighed in annoyance. He wanted answers, and it didn't seem as if he would get any here. With a "Hn.", he disappeared, his movement a bit too fast for most of their eyes to follow.
Something seemed to hit Yusuke, and his face contorted into another glare.
"What?" Sango asked, looking at him strangely.
"Keiko!"
"?"
"Oh shit!" And with that, he was gone.
Kuwabara blinked, "I guess that's our cue then." He said, none of them were quite sure about just leaving like that, after such a large battle and some disturbing discoveries. It just didn't seem right. But he waved, and walked himself out of the shrine.
"We should be going as well." Kurama said, smiling at the departing Kuwabara. "Will you be okay from here?" He asked Kagome.
The girl nodded. "Yes. Take care of them." She said, looking at Sango and Miroku. Kirara mewed in response.
"My dear Kagome, you make it sound as if we're babies. By the way, what is that?" He asked, pointing to the foreign structure that was her semi-modern house.
". . . my point exactly." She said, smiling nervously.
Kurama chuckled, and led the way out of the shrine. 'Be safe.' Kagome thought, waving.
"Keh. All these new people are starting to get on my nerves." Inuyasha finally said closing his eyes in annoyance.
"You acted like they were on your nerves from the beginning." Kagome said dryly. "We'd better get you up to my room without mom seeing your wounds."
"Eh?" He asked.
"She doesn't know really how dangerous it is there." Kagome said quietly. And he nodded, not quite understanding, but the solemn look on her features didn't make him want to ask.
Once in the house, Kagome helped him upstairs, he had finally let his guard down with the absence of the others, and his pain was evident to her. "I'll be fine," He assured her. "Just need a little time."
Kagome nodded, his arm around her neck as they continued up the stairs. "I'm sorry. ."
He looked at her questionably, but she didn't continue.
Mrs. Higurashi peeked from behind the wall, staring at the few drops of blood that had trailed from the floor up the stairs.
The sight of her in his shirt and pants (both of which were more than a little too big for her form) brought a smile to his face. She noticed his expression and her cheeks darkened considerably. Over the time he had known her, he had realized that as strong and confident as she seemed on the battlefield, and as hotheaded and irritable as she could be at times, the girl called Sango was actually a very shy demon slayer.
"What's wrong?" She asked. "Did I put it on right?" She looked down uncertainly at the foreign clothing. He was actually surprised that she had managed the buttons that ran from top to bottom, and he ignored the Youko in him that was more disappointed than surprised.
He chuckled lightly, smiling reassuringly at her. "Don't worry, its just a little big is all. It'll do for tonight, but I'm sure Kagome has something." If he had still lived with her mother, this wouldn't have been much of a problem, they were about the same size. The thought of her warmed him, as he imagined what his mother's reaction would have been liked upon seeing the strange girl he brought home. She would have most likely enjoyed teasing him.
"I'm not sure I'm cut out for this kind of clothing." Miroku's voice rose from the other side of the hallway Sango had emerged from. And, it was just Kurama's luck that it was Miroku who had neglected his buttons instead of the slayer.
Sango rolled her eyes and grabbed the two loose sides of his button-up shirt. The teenaged monk looked down at her in surprise, with a familiar glint in his eyes.
"Well, Sango, it seems you're being forward today." He said all too happily. The fox had a feeling he was about to cop a feel, but it never came. The monk had most likely deducted the situation, and was probably more likely to enjoy the whole close-standing button deal with Sango rather than Kurama.
The demon did see, however, the blush that crept onto her face once again as she concentrated firmly on buttoning the shirt.
Kurama cleared his throat quietly and turned away. It was a strange pull in his chest that caused him to do so. The feeling to turn away wasn't strong.
But it wasn't weak either.
A light breeze slid gently across the ground, only enough to stir the slightest bit of dirt. Our of the corner of her eye she watched. That was as much as her power could summon.
"SPIRIT WAVE!" "BAKURYUHAAAA!"
She smiled bitterly at the memory of the pair's battle calls. Those were the two attacks that had combined and sealed the failure of her mission.
She returned her gaze to the sky, only to see a little sparrow, fluttering happily up, down, and arou-
"Kagura. . ." His voice shot through her like a bullet of cold ice. And the vision of his eyes replaced the sight of the happy sparrow in the sunset-streaked sky. She twitched, and groaned in pain, blood trickling down from her lips.
"You failed me." He continued within her memory, and the blinding pain of the wounds inflicted from her enemies combined with that of those he was now providing captured her. And as instantly as it came, the episode was gone, and the peaceful sounds of her true surrounding replaced her memory.
The wind demon coughed, instantly feeling the painful effect of this action. Her wounded senses trickled at her, an eerily but somehow comforting familiar feel that she was too disorientated to place. She closed her eyes helplessly, hoping she would die here.
She prayed to a power she had seen far too much to believe in that this death would bring freedom.
A soft but audible thump in the dirt beside her made her eyelids snap open.
Her blurred vision focused to reveal strands of long, flowing silvery hair, sharp ears, and piercing golden eyes that rested above dark demonic markings.
Kagome sighed, running her towel through her hair. As far as she was concerned, the annoyed look on her face was justified, considering her companion had curiously peeked into the bathroom during her shower. "Okay, you can look n-" She stopped, mid-step and mid-sentence. "ow" She finished quietly, walking carefully over to him.
There he was again, curled up on the soft pink covers of her bed, with all the innocence of a harmless puppy. His nose wrinkled and his ears twitched for a moment in his sleep and instantly her anger left her. She dropped to her knees, and watched him.
She wondered fleetingly if Kikyo had ever watched him sleep like this. If she had ever sat an-
No.
She didn't want to think about Kikyo.
Her eyes wandered unconsciously to his stomach, and the thought of the wound that was there brought her hand to rest on her own. And she suddenly felt great pain at the sight in front of her. The hanyou was so unknowing, so oblivious of the terrible thing she had done. And the thought of her incarnation reappeared, as if to taunt her.
Had Kikyo ever gone off and gotten pregnant by another guy she knew nothing of?
For some reason, Kagome highly doubted it.
Outside the window, Hiei stood a few feet away on a branch. He frowned at the memory of earlier that day.
The thought of such a human saving him disgusted him, yes. But still. . .
The apparition growled, unable to place the feeling in his gut. And then, he lived up to his name of "flying shadow", and disappeared into the night.
"You known something, don't you?" Yusuke asked, his determined expression intimidating.
The Reikai prince sighed, and looked down, pretending to find a sudden interest in his paperwork.
"Koenma." The detective's voice rose within the walls of the silent marble-laid office.
A/N: Longest chapter of the story yet, which really doesn't say much. I've decided to take a new route in this story.
