Insane-san says: About that huge gap? Basically, life caught up with me...Hahaha...Yes...

I became completely addicted to Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. It's the best game I have EVER played and I can't get away from it. And when I'm not on Oblivion, I'm trying to keep in touch with my online friends, and things go crazy and we end up laughing and talking for hours...

SO, to get myself out of this freak circle of non-fanfiction, I've decided that ever Thursday is fanfiction day. I will do nothing on the computer but type fanfiction on Thursday. Doesn't that sound fun? So no more scary gaps inbetween chapters. -wink-

MikoTennyo, that review brought TEARS to my eyes. I THANK you for that review. If you were my only reviewer, I would be happy with just that. Thank you so much for being here with me through this story. I dedicate this chapter to you as a late birthday present.

So every Thursday, I alternate the fanfiction update. This week is Peacock Feathers, next week it will be Shousetsu no Kowai, then Nefarious, then Peacock Feathers again. Get it? That shouldn't be so bad. Tell me what you think in a review.

I doubt you want to hear me babble for so long, so here's the new chapter. Enjoy, my thousands of readers.

Peacock Feathers

XVII

It had been three hours.

Three whole hours since we'd spoken a word to each other. Well, at least since I'd said anything to him...

When I say "him" you pretty much know that I'm talking about Inuyasha, right?

I thought so.

We get out of that village and then what happens? Silence. I had no idea what was going on. I'd been in the dark for such a long time I forgot how the light looked. How it felt to like...Sort of...Be in on someone's idea. Someone's fantasy or thoughts or plans. Inuyasha was like a present. You want to open it and get to the inside to see what's there really bad, but you don't want to open it too fast or try to force the lace off because you might...Rip it...

I stood there, biding my time. I watched his back and examined how his arms moved when he walked. I stared at his hair, his ears, his claws, his clothes. I wondered if he was bleeding anywhere I couldn't see. I felt like he was injured somehow. It wasn't like I had any band-aids or anything on me, and it wasn't like they'd actually help someone like him. So I just walked in silence.

And what did I care anyway, right? He wasn't exactly friend material.

At least I thought so at the time. How could he be a friend to anyone? Sure, he had favored and was favored by what, four or five people total in the city he lived in? Well, five was enough, but I didn't see that then.

The bow that I received knocked against my shoulder lightly with each step I took. It was pretty. My sack of arrows made these quiet little rustling noises from hitting against themselves. Every time I thought about using weapons for the sake of my life, I got all jittery. I tried to focus on things like the landscape, the sky, clouds, and Inuyasha.

He was my only company. I always used to watch those shows where something happened like, a psychopath murderer killed people just because he was so lonely. People go mad when they are alone for too long. I was a social person. Inuyasha wasn't.

So I either talked to the wall, or didn't say anything. I chose the latter.

Any minute, I was telling myself. Any minute I'll say something to him.

There was nothing to say. There was something that was always strange about him every time my eyes wandered over his form. There was this kind power that came off of him saying, "Back off!" So what's a girl to do? Say, "Hey, what's up?" And giggle?

Not with that guy. I wanted to talk to him. I was lonely. I was really lonely. And scared. I was kind of caving in at that time.

I wanted him to sense it. Maybe turn around and say, "Need anything, Kagome?" No...That wouldn't happen. I didn't think he gave a care about me at all. Besides the fact that I was his "duty" and all of that...He felt the need to protect me as an object, not a person.

Another hour passed and the sun was low in the sky. It was so boring. So plain. It was empty. I started having a panic attack. It was the weirdest thing really, and kind of laughable...So if you're laughing, I can understand. But...I got really sick. I could catch my breath. I felt heavy. I was telling myself not to throw up. 'Please don't throw up, please don't throw up, please,'

The sun was colder there. It wasn't so blinding to look at. The thought of a different sun just upset me even more. But what was I so upset about? I felt so sick and cold and wrong. Sad and lonely and scared. Wasn't it that inconsiderate jerk's job to look after me?

'I'm gonna die.' I groaned in my mind. 'I'm really going to die.'

Pathetic? Is that what you said? Don't rub it in, okay? Try putting yourself in my shoes and see how it feels. Geez...

It was only a few minutes later that I started to feel my legs slowing me down. The sun was nearly gone and the grass was orange and purple. I felt like the earth had turned sick colors for me to make me not feel so alone in my illness.

It only made things worse.

"Inuyasha," I rasped in a far-away voice. He gave no answer. He didn't know, I don't think. Maybe he was spaced out or couldn't hear it in my voice. "I'm gonna be sick." Tears came to my eyes in reply to my statement and cold sweat dotted my face. I saw his shadow on the grass shift and knew he was looking at me.

He didn't get a word out before I bolted to the left towards some trees and emptied my belly's contents.

Puking feels good and bad at the same time, doesn't it? That's one of those amusingly disgusting thoughts.

'You're behind the trees, Kagome, it's okay. He's not staring at you being sick all over the place.' I assured myself.

When nothing else would come out, I backed away, panting and shaky. My stomache, jaw, hands, shoulders, and legs trembled. My mind was in a haze, but at the same time it was so clear. I heard this sloshing sound suddenly and held back a wretch.

Something hit my shoulder. I looked over and saw a canteen attached to Inuyasha's hand. I fumbled for it, trying to mutter a word of thanks, but when I opened my mouth it just clamped back shut.

I twisted the lid off and rinsed my mouth out; back turned on Inuyasha. I poured some in my hand and slapped it around my mouth to get whatever was there washed off. "So where'd this come from?" He asked in a low tone. I barely heard him over my buzzing head. I shook my head at a loss for words. "I just-" I clamped my jaw down again.

He sighed and said, "Well, can you make it up a little more so we can make camp?" I slapped myself mentally and forced out a smile. I nodded. I was the cool, brave Chosen after all. But not to Inuyasha. To him, I was weak. I knew he felt that way. That's why he was there to begin with. To protect me.

To guard me.

He glanced at me constantly over his shoulder as we walked. It made me feel extremely self-conscience. Maybe he was thinking of how bad I smelled or something. Or wondering if I was going to throw up again...

His body tensed up and then he suddenly seemed to have made up his mind and walked sharply to the left. There were these three huge oakish-looking trees there, kind of shaping a dome. Little parts of my mind started shutting down and I felt like I wanted to sleep right away. You know that feeling you get when you're sick and you feel like if you lay down with lots of covers on, you'll sort of just "sweat out" the sickness? Or depression or whatever?

That's how I felt.

So I sort of...Stumbled forward kind of quickly and awkwardly and almost fall to my knees on the grass. But before I fell, Inuyasha bolted forward and caught me.

I let out an ill groan and said, "Thanks..." In this weak voice. He nodded and helped me down on the ground. I thought in one horrid second that he was disgusted by me, but then I realized the guy was actually flustered or something. "You doin' okay?" He asked. I made an effort to shake my head. He frowned and watched our surroundings carefully.

It was night by the time we were settled down then. It wasn't one of those peaceful nights.

There was all this tension in the air. I'll never forget when I was finally falling asleep and Inuyasha sort of hissed out, "Who the hell are you?" And he stood up and lunged forward at me to protect me or whatever.

I screamed so loud and I punched him uhh..Like, where it hurts.

We didn't talk after that.

He tried to explain in this evil, angry way, that he saw someone in the trees. I was convinced he had been having a nightmare.

Later, I found out, when we were speaking again, that he had been. He was too embarrassed to admit it.

I slept horribly that night. I woke up a dozen times sweating so badly. Feeling so sick. My throat was swollen worse each time I woke up. And each time I woke up, Inuyasha would look up at me curiously and fidget his ears. And each time that would happen, I would give him this glare. Then I'd sigh. Then I'd lay back down with my back facing him.

He didn't sleep after the nightmare thing earlier in the night. That sort of fed my bad night and gave me a cause for not being able to sleep well, I think. He was awake the whole night, and every time I woke, he was staring. It wasn't comfortable.

The night ended, just like every night has to.

I woke up in a shock to find myself completely drenched. I mean soaked. To the bone. It was raining extraordinarily hard. Like buckets of water were being poured down around me and on me every split second. I sat up in shock at this freezing, pouring rain and the first thing I noticed was that Inuyasha was gone.

I sat there, my eyes as wide and scared as a deer in front of a car. Drenched locks of black hair were plastered onto my face. I was pale with sickness. I was chattering with cold. And Inuyasha was gone.

I played with my fingers and swallowed the lump in my throat. "Oh, no..." I chattered out. "Oh, no..."

I stood up and kind of turned a little to the left and the right in a childish state of panic. I was that little kid you see lost at the mall without his mother.

The fire had been out for a while. He wasn't anywhere. I looked up to the trees, through the trees...But it wasn't any use. The rain was too thick to see any way. I walked backwards and sat with my back against the nearest tree. It offered a slight bit of coverage from the rain. I shot my arm out and grabbed one of my arrows. I stroked it and chattered.

The rain kept on pouring.

After at least twenty minutes, I heard a crunch. I jumped and felt my heart almost explode in the surprise.

Inuyasha stood several feet away from me in the pouring rain. He was, if possible, wetter than I was.

He just stood there staring at me. I looked down at his feet and saw three dead rabbits. The crunch had been him tossing them on the ground. I looked back up at him after a shocked examination of those poor dead rabbits...

He suddenly grinned hugely. "I hope you like drenched rabbit, because the rain doesn't s eem to like fire."

He had to shout over the slamming of the rain. "You're not serious." I shouted back in despair. My voice trembled harshly. I was shaking violently from the cold that had added to my already sick body. Inuyasha stood perfectly still. He threw his head back and laughed.

I was scared then.

"Serious? I'm more than serious." He sprinted forward and picked up the rabbits. He grinned at me again. His eyes were bright in the dark grey sheet of rain. He was seriously amused by all if that, it looked like. Or maybe he was just being himself. Or maybe he...

Had snapped.

"At least the rain cleaned most of the crud off their fur." He said more quietly. I pictured myself eating a dead, raw rabbit, fur and all, and I shuddered in disgust.

I had the horror, the complete horror then, to witness by surprise the act of Inuyasha ripping off the first rabbit's head and tossing it away. I cried out and covered my eyes. But it was too late by then. I had already seen it. I could see it with my eyes closed.

"The hell's wrong with you?" He snorted. "Don't tell me you like to eat brains or somethin' odd like that..."

I had the pleasure of hearing the distinct little "pop" sound of the other two rabbits' heads being pulled off.

"Odd?" I screamed. I opened my eyes and dropped my hands into the puddle that was the ground. "Me, odd? Ugh!" That image of the rabbit's head being pulled off was etched in my brain forever. And I guess it might be useful to really...Really know the sound a rabbit's head makes when its being literally ripped away from its body.

Or maybe it wasn't useful at all.

"C'mon, eat up! Maybe the hot, bloody organs will make you feel better." He grinned boyishly in my face and wiggled a rabbit around my head. It's dead limbs flopped around and a paw touched my face. I shrieked and slapped it away. He moved back a little with the rabbit and laughed. What was so funny? None of this was funny at all! I was sick! I was supposed to be in my warm, soft bed with a TV and my mother's soup!

'This sucks.' I thought to myself. "Hey," I heard. I looked up from my depression and stared into his glowing eyes. Maybe he had night vision...Like a dog. His face looked different. My heart sped up a little and I felt myself get sucked into his gaze. His face got closer and closer to mine, slowly. My face flushed and I stared.

He pulled a dead rabbit up from no where, shook it around in my face and yelled, "Eat me!"

I screamed and jumped up from the ground. I slipped and fell back down. I landed in a huge mud puddle. It sloshed and splashed up all around me. I was almost completely brown...There was silence. Then he started laughing. He laughed and laughed. Then I felt myself doing something horrible.

I started laughing too.

It got funnier an funnier by the second. I didn't understand. It was funny. It was so bad, but it was funny.

I replayed the whole thing over in my mind, and each time I re-played it, I laughed harder. I had a feeling he was doing the same thing, because he kept laughing harder, too. Inuyasha, laughing...I would have never thought that I'd see that.

It was the first time I saw him really laugh. It made me happy to see that. I stood back up, giggling more quietly.

I walked back to my seat and sat down with a grin. "That was so mean." I said, smiling. He flashed a fanged grin and played with the dead, headless rabbit. It was very gothic. I wondered if Inuyasha would be goth if he lived in my world. In my time.

"You feelin' better?" He asked suddenly. My eyes widened a little and I looked at him. His head was bent down to the rabbit and he looked like he was trying to be completely absorbed in his fiddling with the lifeless thing.

I smiled. "Yes," I said. His eyes shot up, and it looked like he meant to look away, but he was suddenly stuck staring at my face.

"I do feel better. Thank you for asking, Inuyasha." His mouth opened a little and he stared. I continued to smile.

Then, completely out of the blue, he tossed the rabbit aside and stood up. He kind of stumbled backwards and turned around quickly. I stopped smiling and stared at his form through the smashing rain. He folded his hands behind his head and stood there with his back to me. I smiled again and wrapped my arms around my knees. 'Maybe I was a little too quick to judge this guy.' I thought.

The rain finally stopped. Inuyasha and I both agreed that we were completely drenched and cold. We never ate those rabbits, but he carried them as we walked. He was looking for some hot springs. He told me they were absolutely everywhere, and they were easy to spot. You could see the steam rising over the trees, he said.

After we were warm again, we would cook those rabbits and eat them. He probably didn't even intend to eat them raw in the rain, either. That was just his sense of humor. I was just so confused at the thought of Inuyasha making a joke that I thought he had been serious at that time. He was funny, though. Inuyasha was actually funny. I had no idea.

I felt a lot closer to him. I was much more open and talked a lot more. Before when I had thought he would ignore me completely, when I talked, he talked back. We talked for a long time while searching for the springs. Suddenly, I saw steam rising through some trees.

My mouth opened like a shocked little girl and I pointed and shouted, "Inuyasha, a hot spring!" He whipped around and stared. "Ahhh, you found one." He said. He nodded his head towards it and started running. I ran with him. He didn't run ahead of me even though he was more than capable of doing so. He kept my pace. Keep in mind I was always first place on the track team back in school, so I was pretty fast.

Little by little, this scary feeling was coming over me. I liked Inuyasha. For the first time, I admitted that I liked him. A lot.

Maybe he was friend material. Maybe he was nice. Sure he was arrogant, but he was also funny. And he did care about me.

Why hadn't I seen that before?

I turned my head toward him and grinned. The left side of his face winced and then he looked back at me. He narrowed an eye.

"What're you lookin' at?" He snapped. The grin vanished from my face and my mouth was left hanging open. "Uhh...Nothing." I drawled. His eyes widened in a shocked glare. "Oh, so I'm nothin', huh?" He shouted. I waved my hands as we ran and said, "Oh, I mean...No! No, you're not nothing! I was--"

"Just shut up, we're here already. You talk way too loud." He complained while he slowed to a stop.

I was appalled!

Here I was, saying all these wonderful things about him in my head, and he treats me this way!

'Well, I guess a demon can't become an angel overnight...'

Water dripped from my hair and skin, and I stared longingly at the steamy pools of water...I laughed and clapped my hands. It looked so inviting! I thought I was going to cry from happiness! Now there was a cure for my illness, coldness, and worries.

I immediately took off my soaked shirt and threw it on the ground. I was about to take off my bra but then...something dawned on me.

"W-W-WHAT THE HELL?" I heard a familiar voice screech. I turned to my right and met the burning red face of Inuyasha. My face was equally as red. We stared at eachother. Inuyasha threw his arms up over his face, horrified, and screamed at the same time I did.

He jumped up into a tree, and I ran for a hot spring and dove in to hide myself.

The warmth of the bubbling water consumed me and I smiled happily despite my utter embarrassment and humiliation.

The top half of my face came up out of the water, and my nose bubbled air over the surface. I turned around slowly with my arms over my chest. I couldn't see Inuyasha, but I could hear the distant mumblings of a chain of curses. "In-" I cleared my throat.

"Inuyasha," I called. "You can go in that one over there, and I'll be in this one. Just...Don't turn around, and I won't...Okay?"

I got no reply other than silence. It was so horrible! I was so embarrassed! I was just like, "Woo! Take off my clothes!"

What the HECK was I THINKING? Nothing. That's what.

"I won't look, I swear!" I called. I wanted to make amends. Things had been going so well, too...

"Just as long as you don't look at me," I shouted into the air. "KEH!" I heard. "Why would I be tempted to look at YOU?"

I sunk the lower half of my face in the water and let my eyelids droop. I raised an eyebrow.

"Fine, if you're not tempted," I shouted coolly. "Then you should be fine getting in that pool all the way over there!" I turned around and took off my other clothes. The steam and the bubbles hid me, and he was far away. I flattened my clothes on the rocks to dry in the warm sun. A rainbow slashed against the sky and I smiled at it.

Suddenly, I heard a splash in the background. I grinned and was happy that he finally decided to get in.

"Don't worry," I shouted. "My back's turned and I can't see. Plus, there's a huge rock covering your pool."

"Good," He shouted back defensively. "Better for you because you'd die from the nose-bleed!"

I felt my face twist together in amusement and I busted out laughing. I laughed and giggled. I hid my face in the water but it just bubbled like crazy. I choked on the water and laughed even harder.

My giggle-fit died down and I shook my head with a grin. He had a weird way of making me laugh over odd things.

"Y'know, I like you, Inuyasha." I said in a decisive tone and nodded my head. "SHUT THE HECK UP!" He screeched. I slapped my hand against the water and laughed. "Aw, did I embarrass you?" I shouted back with a laugh. "No, now SHUT UP." The last part of his sentence was drowned out by bubbles, but that was the give-away that he had hid part of his face in the water.

I started a giggle-fit again.

I wouldn't have been surprised if by the end of the day, I would have died laughing from everything...

But no, that wouldn't have been the thing I almost died from... Right after I dried off in the sun and got my clothes on,

Little white feathers...Started to fall all around me. Like snow. I looked up to the sky through the trees. The feathers fell and fell...It was so pretty. So capturing. I stared for a long time. Why didn't it seem weird to me? Why didn't I call out, "Hey Inuyasha, look at the feathers!" I was in a trance. I felt light and fluffy. I felt like a feather...Like one of those feathers that fell all around me.

They landed gently into my hair without noise. On my feet, in the hot spring, on the fallen leaves that littered the ground...

I smiled in an empty trance. Something kept pulling at my stomach, like I wanted to gag. Or cough. Something was stuck in my throat.

It confused me, and I wanted it to go away. But then I felt that it wasn't me that wanted it to go away...It was something...

Someone else.

My head pulsed and I felt nauseous. It was so sickening and dizzy. Finally, I allowed that strange sensation to be released from me. I released that stuck gag...Or cough. Or whatever I thought it was.

It was a scream.

That scream pierced the sky and woke the heavens. It must have. It ripped through the trees and was so loud, I could hear nothing but that scream. Suddenly I was knocked off my feet by an enormous gust of wind. I landed on my knees and then I was picked back up again by that same wind. My eyes were blurred with scared, sick tears, and the wind kept drying them out. My clothes flapped around me fast and loud in the wind. I crossed my arms over my head and tried to remain standing.

Then there was...It was like there was too much air. Too much oxygen. I wanted to breathe it all in, but there was way too much...It was suffocating me. The thing that keeps every animal alive was killing me.

Even though there was so much air, there was none inside of me. My lungs wouldn't take in the air.

I felt so light. I fell backwards and landed on something soft. Like a huge feather.

I heard screaming over the deafening wind, but it wasn't mine. I wondered who was screaming so loudly, so desperately...

Then I passed out.

Insane-san says: Well kiddies, that's it... I know, I know, I'm the cliffie queen. Heeheh. So, you can flame me for my absence in a review, or congratulate me for coming back. Thanks to everyone who's reading this now. And thanks to those who will review.

I'll see you guys in this fanfiction again in a couple weeks. -grin-

OH, something I've always wanted to ask was, Can everyone see the divider lines? I write this on FireFox, and provides everyone with divider lines and stuff...I can see them fine, but I was wondering if they aren't there for some people.

So at the end of your review, could you guys tell me if you see it okay? n.n Thanks.

Oh, I thought of something cool. If you guys out there ever wanna drop me a line and talk, my AIM name is PirateWolf01.

(lame, I know...)

Byeee!