Alright, this chapter I had some problems with. I went on a writing binge and stayed up until nearly four in the morning to write it. I finished it, went to bed, got up later and decided that I wasn't happy with it! I was trying to keep everyone in character and get points across without making things too confusing or too focused on my own made up characters. Anyway, after cutting and pasting this thing to death, I think I'm finally happy with it. Read review and enjoy!
Mayu Kitsune.
Oh yeah, and there's a little bit of fluff in this one! Cheers to fluff!
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Chapter 5: More Than Meets the Eye
"So Kagome, how's your mother been doing since Inuyasha here got the medicine for her?" Miroku questioned as Kagome served them dinner for the fourth or fifth day in a row.
She smiled, "She's been doing good. She's still in bed a lot, but she seems a lot better now. Thanks for asking."
Inuyasha let out a huff as soon as Kagome was out of ear-shot. "Why do you have to bring all that up Miroku?"
"I don't see what's wrong with it; you did something nice for her. And she's a really pretty girl too." Miroku replied. A smile drew its way across his face, "So, Inuyasha, you ever consider settling down? I'd say she's a keeper."
Inuyasha shot him a look, "I considered it before."
"And?"
"Shit happened. I'm not settling." Inuyasha retorted grumpily. "I don't see you settling down with anyone either, you just go from one girl to the next."
Miroku looked to the ceiling innocently, "I can't help it if the ladies love me."
Inuyasha rolled his eyes. Ladies loving Miroku? That would be one cold day in hell. Especially if someone were to judge by how many times the gambler had gotten smacked across the face. Inuyasha had only known him for a little over a year and he had lost count at about a hundred. Well, he hadn't actually lost count; he just didn't care to count anymore after so many.
Inuyasha and Miroku looked to Kagome in confusion as she approached with a few glasses. She looked a little confused herself.
"We didn't order those." Inuyasha stated.
"I know, but she said to give them to you . . . From her." Kagome replied, motioning with her head to one of the showgirls currently lounging a bit.
The red-headed woman winked at the two men as they turned to look. It seemed as though she had had her eyes on the two and buying them a drink just seemed like something to do. She blew Miroku a kiss, making the gambler happy enough.
"See? The ladies love me." Miroku confirmed.
"Right . . ." Inuyasha said slowly, giving a look to his drink. "Well, if you like her so much then you can have my drink too." he added, sliding the glass over to his friend.
Kagome had already gone about her business again, getting some of the other customer's orders to them when her attention was caught by someone sitting in her area. "Seiya?" she asked as she approached.
"Oh, hi." Seiya replied, looking up to her from the table. He looked a little rough, like he had had a hard day. "Do you have anything kind of light . . . You know?"
Kagome nodded slowly, "Sure . . ."
"Good, can I have a glass?"
"Okay." she said, taking the money he held out to her. This was throwing her off. He didn't seem like the type to drink, so what was driving him to it now? He had been okay the other day, what was wrong with him now?
"Hey, Miroku." Inuyasha said in a hush-hush tone.
"Yeah?"
"You see that guy over there?" Inuyasha questioned, discreetly gesturing to Seiya.
"Yeah, what about him?"
"Doesn't he seem a little familiar to you?"
Miroku took a hard look, trying not to be too conspicuous at the same time. There was something familiar about him though he couldn't quite place what. He was sure that he had never met him before though. "He does." Miroku replied, his eyebrows furrowing, "I just can't place him."
Seiya seemed oblivious enough as he continued to mope, just sitting there, looking depressed, and waiting on his drink. He knew this was probably not the best way to go about dealing with his problems, but he had too many and didn't want to even think about them. Maybe if he were just a little tipsy he'd have an easier time getting them off his mind for a moment.
His attention was drawn elsewhere by a sudden commotion. It appeared that a waitress had tripped, spilling a large glass of beer all over a table where a few men had been gambling. None of the men looked too happy.
"I-I'm sorry about that . . ." the waitress stammered.
"You do know you're gonna have to pay for all of this." one of the men stated.
"But I don't have a lot of money."
"That's alright, you can pay for it in other ways." the man replied, jerking the scared waitress into his lap. She let out a yelp, trying to get back up, but finding it hard to do so with the man's arm wrapped around her. The other men just laughed, throwing out more jokes and laughing a bit more at her attempts to get away.
"No! Let me go!"
"Not until you pay up doll."
"Jerks." Inuyasha muttered darkly, setting down what he had been eating and beginning to get up, Miroku with him. They paused upon seeing that Seiya seemed to have gotten there first.
"What now?" Miroku questioned.
"I guess we just see what happens." Inuyasha answered, sitting back down. He watched the carpenter intently to see what he would do next. There just had to be more to that guy than he was letting on . . . Something about him was just a little off.
"Excuse me sir," Seiya began casually as he stopped near them.
"What do you want boy?" one of the men demanded, obviously disappointed that Seiya had interrupted their fun.
"I think you should let the woman go. She said she was sorry."
"She ruined our game."
"It was an accident." Seiya argued.
"Are you going to pay the money for her?" one of the men questioned.
"I don't have the money-"
"Then it looks like there ain't much you can do. This ain't none of your business anyway kid." the man cut him off.
Seiya sent the man a glare. He wasn't liking this and talking nice wasn't getting him anywhere at the moment. Mr. Nice Guy was going to have to hit the road for the time being.
Kagome paused with Seiya's drink as she came back from the bar to notice the predicament. What was he doing? That was the roughest bunch in the town and he was picking a fight with the leader, Slaughterer Sam! Oh great, not another fight. She thought as she took note of the expression on Seiya's face. He looked determined.
"Alright, beer for brains, the lady said she wanted you to let her go." Seiya snapped, this time much more forceful than he had been. This earned him quite a few surprised looks and laughs at the same time.
Sam locked glares with him for a moment before getting to his feet and passing the shaking waitress to another of his pals. "Look kid-"
"I'm not a kid."
"You're not really smart either are you? Now I don't wanna have to kill you, but you're really pissin' me off." Sam growled through clenched teeth.
"The feeling's mutual." Seiya retorted.
"He's got guts, I'll give 'im that much." Inuyasha commented from where he was watching. Seiya didn't even seem the least bit intimidated and Sam was obviously bigger than him. He had to look up to glare at the guy, but it didn't even faze him.
"Shouldn't we do something?" Miroku asked.
"It's not our problem." Inuyasha stated, his attention still trained on the scene unfolding in front of them. So Seiya wasn't all nice all the time. This could be interesting.
"Does this little lady really mean that much to you?"
"I just think you're being a complete and total ass to her. A real man wouldn't treat a woman like that. You could just spare yourself a lot of trouble and let her go."
Seiya's statements were getting him quite a few surprised looks from other people in the saloon. By now everyone's attention had been caught. Some men were shaking their heads slowly while others seemed to be silently cheering the carpenter on.
None of this seemed to matter to Seiya though. This man reminded him a bit of someone, and that someone was the reason he was having such a hard time. That someone happened to be someone that he hated and he was not about to let anyone like that someone get off easy.
"Look, the little man wants to fight." Sam laughed, looking to his buddies who laughed as well.
"No, I don't. I just want you to-"
His sentence was cut off as the bigger man's fist came across his face. He stumbled, using a table to catch himself. It didn't look like he would do much more as he tried to gather his thoughts together again. He hadn't seen that punch coming and he was really feeling it.
Inuyasha sighed. Maybe there wasn't anything special about this guy. So far he just seemed to be getting the snot beat out of him. Perhaps he was just thinking too hard.
"I bet on the big guy." Miroku said all of a sudden, only earning him a look from his friend, "Twenty dollars."
"Hey! Break it up!" Kagome's voice suddenly shouted. She didn't want another bar fight to break out, and at the rate things were going, if she didn't do something then another one was inevitable. "Come on, can't we all be civilized here?" she demanded, giving a pointed look to Sam. "Would you please let the waitress go?"
"She messed up our game."
"But it was an accident."
"You can join her if it'll make you feel any better."
Kagome paused, backing up a bit. This wasn't going too well, but what could she do? She couldn't just leave poor Hannah to those jerks! She grabbed an empty glass on the table next to her when the big man turned his back to her. It looked like the bar fight was inevitable. I don't really want a fight, but it looks like I'll have to start it.
A strong hand caught her arm before she had a chance to let the heavy glass fly. She looked back to see that Inuyasha had made his way over to her. He didn't seem to think that her next plan of action was a good idea.
"Are you tryin' to get yourself killed?" he demanded.
"No, but somebody's gotta do something."
Inuyasha pulled her protectively behind him, "Me and Miroku can handle it. You'll just get yourself hurt."
"But your arm." Kagome argued.
"It's fine, it hurts a little but it's not like I can't still move it."
"Um, Inuyasha." Miroku said, elbowing his friend in the side and earning himself a glare.
"What?"
"I think someone else is beating us to the guy."
Inuyasha looked just in time to see Seiya walk calmly back over to Sam. The normally mild tempered carpenter actually looked angry. His one good eye was narrowed into a glare that could have rivaled the sheriff's.
Kagome stared a bit. She had really only known Seiya for a week, but this didn't seem like him. Of course, she'd never really seen him angry before either. If he had been glaring at her like that she was sure that she would've run for the hills.
Sam turned upon feeling a slight tap on his shoulder only to have his face met with a fist. He stumbled, his back hitting the bar. "What the-" he muttered angrily as he began to recover. He looked for his attacker only to find the man that he had punched a few moments earlier glaring daggers at him.
"You little son of a biscuit eater." Sam growled.
There were quite a few raised eyebrows in the saloon and a good deal of silence as well. This was unexpected, a mere carpenter taking on the most cutthroat gang leader in the town. Seiya didn't even seem too perturbed that Sam was so much bigger than him and it was catching a good bit of attention.
"I didn't want to fight, but you're not giving me much of a choice." Seiya stated.
Sam charged him, trying to catch him with another punch, but Seiya wasn't going to be taken off guard by the same trick twice. He ducked at the last second, letting Sam's punch sail over his head. He came back up with a punch of his own, slamming a fist into Sam's stomach.
Sam doubled over looking stunned. This was entirely not what he expected. He was barely aware of exactly what it was that he had leaned over when Seiya punched him, but unfortunately for him, Seiya was well aware. It didn't take but another moment before Seiya practically slammed his opponent's face into the hard wooden table, knocking the man senseless.
The whole saloon was nothing but silence as the big man hit the floor, obviously out cold. Most people stared. Even Kagome, Inuyasha, and Miroku couldn't help but to stare. It was almost like it was the big guy that hadn't stood a chance!
Seiya suddenly paused, seeming to revert back to the way he had been before when he noticed that his opponent didn't show any signs of getting back up anytime soon. "I didn't kill him did I?" he asked, looking a little troubled now.
"Why you!" one of the other members of Sam's gang shouted.
Seiya looked a little taken off as he was jumped by a group of a few men. What was this? The other guy had asked for it! It wasn't his fault that the man picked a fight with the wrong person on the wrong day.
"You owe me twenty dollars." Inuyasha said to Miroku before the two began to enter themselves into the fray.
Seiya seemed to be having a few difficulties, but now the men had forgotten about the waitress from before. One of them never saw what hit him as the woman took up her tray, hitting him hard with it. This opened up a hole big enough for Seiya to slip out without too much injury.
"No! Wait! EVERYONE PLEASE STOOOOOOOP!" Kagome cried out in despair. Yet again, the whole saloon was a war zone. Great, now I'm going to be working overtime again! She thought as she sank down behind the bar and waited for the storm to calm. Could things get any worse?
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"She's cute, I'll give her that much." Kagura stated. She had caught up with the girl that had been babysitting Rin. They had been deep into conversation about nearly everything from the places they would like to see, to men. Kagura thought it all to be ridiculous, but she had to keep up the act and at least seem trustworthy before she could get to Rin. She had twelve more days after this to earn the sheriff's trust or else . . .
"I can't get her to say anything though." Moyuru said, frowning, "I'm kinda glad you came along, things were beginning to get a little too quiet."
"Well, you did look slightly bored."
"Really?"
"Only slightly." Kagura replied sarcastically.
They were walking down the sidewalk toward a small restaurant. Kagura had promised to pay for them a meal if they were hungry and Moyuru had been all too happy to accept. This job was turning out to be absolutely wonderful! She should have done this kind of thing more often.
Moyuru paused as she caught sight of a piece of paper hanging up on the side of one of the buildings. Her eyes went a bit wide when she realized what it was. Another one? She thought, making sure that no one was looking before snatching it off of the wall and crumbling it up.
"What was that?" Kagura questioned.
Moyuru stiffened, holding the wadded up poster behind her back and putting on an innocent expression, "What was what?"
Kagura was beginning to question her further when a loud crash caught her attention. Looks like all hell's broken loose. Kagura thought as she stared in the direction of the saloon. Someone had just gone flying through the window and she could see the deputy going to settle it. But where was the sheriff?
Moyuru looked down upon feeling a tug on her skirt. Rin was clinging tightly to it, nearly hiding her face in the folds. "It's alright." Moyuru said softly, trying to be of some comfort.
"This has all got to be scaring her. It's probably better we get her away from that dump." Kagura stated.
"Right. But what about eating?" Moyuru questioned, her stomach letting out a growl. The restaurant had been kind of close to the saloon, but on the other side of it from where they were standing.
"Don't worry about it. We'll come back later when this mess is cleaned up."
Moyuru let out something that sounded a little like a whine, but picked up Rin and headed back the way she had come after she had put the wadded up poster away to burn it later. I can't believe they've made it this far already. She thought, walking back toward Kaede's in silence.
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It didn't take too long for Sango to get everyone's attention in the saloon, especially not with the loud firing of the shotgun she had brought with her. Things got quiet rather quickly as soon as a few shots were fired at the ceiling. "Alright! What caused all this?" she demanded.
She sighed as there seemed to be nothing but silence. "Okay . . . Can someone tell me who started it then?"
Fingers were pointed everywhere.
She couldn't just arrest everyone in the saloon! It was pointless to ask, all she could really do was proclaim the saloon closed so that the employees would have an easier time cleaning up. This could take a little bit of force to accomplish emptying the place.
"Everyone out, this place looks worse than tornado alley. Move it people!" she ordered.
There were quite a few grumbles and a few disagreeable people, but the place soon cleared, the last of the people to be leaving being Inuyasha and Miroku. Inuyasha was searching trough the people currently filing out the door to see if he could find Seiya, but there was no sign of him anywhere. Had that waitress led him out a back door or something? It was possible.
"Well hello Miss." Miroku greeted the deputy, tipping his hat to her.
"Hi. It's good to see that you and your friend didn't start this one." Sango replied.
"You seem a little disappointed. What's wrong?"
"It's nothing. I just find it kind of hard to do justice when you can't pinpoint who did what."
Miroku gained a thoughtful expression, "You know . . ." he began, "If you're disappointed that you didn't get to make an arrest, then I'll gladly take the blame."
Sango gave the gambler a flat look as he held his arms out to her.
"Well? You can tie me up, drag me off, and then we can be alone. . ." Miroku offered hopefully, raising both eyebrows.
There was a loud smack before the deputy could be seen walking out, her shotgun slung over her shoulder. "Stupid lecher." she muttered darkly on her way out the door.
Inuyasha let out a heavy sigh. So the gambler still hadn't learned yet? Some things just never change. He occupied himself with something else for the moment. Where was that Kagome girl? He hadn't seen her since the big fight broke out.
He left his buddy behind, finally finding Kagome cleaning behind the bar. She was on her hands and knees with a rag furiously scrubbing at the floor to get the sticky beer and whiskey off. "Stupid drunks, stupid beer, stupid . . ."
"Are you okay?"
Kagome nearly jumped out of her skin, calming down once she noticed who it was. "Yeah, just fine."
"Don't scrub so hard, there's probably still glass on the floor." Inuyasha scolded once he felt a few shards crunch under his feet. The last thing he needed was to have to take her to the doctor to get some cut stitched up or something.
"It's okay; I already swept it - Ow!" Kagome exclaimed, stopping and looking upset at her hand that now had a nice cut in it. "Ohhh. . ." she moaned in frustration.
Inuyasha sighed, "I told you, idiot."
Kagome shot him a look before getting to her feet so she could see in the light. "Ow." she muttered to herself, "I think there's still a piece in there."
"Let me see." Inuyasha stated. He rolled his eyes a bit when she seemed to ignore him. Was she really going to have to be so difficult? He didn't hesitate to grab her wrist, pulling her hand towards him so that he could get a better look.
Kagome seemed a little shocked, but didn't protest. He hadn't been rough with her, but did he have to look so closely? Her cheeks tinged a faint red as she watched him. He was holding her hand so close to him that she could feel his body heat.
"Hold still." he ordered suddenly.
Kagome couldn't help but to flinch a bit as he pulled the small glass shard out, setting it down on the bar beside them before taking out a handkerchief and beginning to wrap her hand in it as carefully as he could. "You should really learn not to be so clumsy." he muttered.
The only reply he got was silence as he finished, tying off the hankie. He looked back up to see Kagome staring at him a bit. "What're you staring at?" he questioned.
Kagome immediately averted her gaze elsewhere. "Nothing." she answered quickly, her blush becoming a bit more obvious as she took her hand back. Luckily for her though, Inuyasha didn't seem to notice.
"I'm gonna go back to the inn . . . I feel like crap." he muttered, "Oh, here."
Kagome barely caught the coins as he tossed them to her.
"A tip." he said simply before walking out.
No sooner had he left than Kagome was swamped by a few of her waitress friends. It didn't look like there was going to be much cleaning up going on like this. What was it with them? Were they just trying to throw her together with that guy? He was a bounty hunter! Things wouldn't ever go anywhere like that! It didn't seem to matter how many times she told them that though. The accusations were still made and she was still blushing as red as a beet.
Inuyasha stopped in front of the inn, picking a wadded piece of paper up from the ground. It looked like it had been some kind of poster or something. The one thing that had interested him in it was the large black "W" that had been visible even in its damaged and crinkled state.
He unfolded it curiously. "Wanted" was written across the top in big bold letters and the words "dead or alive" were written at the bottom along with a stated reward of a thousand dollars. In the middle was a picture of someone that looked suspiciously like. . .
No way. Inuyasha thought to himself. A thousand dollars for him?
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Seiya cautiously peeked around the corner of the saloon door, hesitantly entering. He noticed the waitress from earlier and slowly began that way. She was busy picking up some of the glasses on the floor that had managed to escape being broken and could still be used. She had smuggled him out the back door and he hadn't even been able to come back in to see how she was or anything.
She paused upon seeing someone's feet in front of her, her gaze slowly traveling upwards to meet Seiya's. She seemed at a loss for words or actions as their eyes locked for a moment.
"Uh . . . here, let me, uh, help you with that." Seiya offered quietly after a moment, kneeling down to pick up a few more of the glasses.
The waitress smiled at him a bit as she stood, setting a few of the heavy mugs on the table next to them. She began situating quite a few on a tray so she could carry them back to be washed. "Thanks." she said, her voice nearly inaudible.
Seiya stood with a few more glasses, setting them on the tray as well, "Oh, no. You don't have to thank me, I helped cause all this mess."
"Don't worry about it, things could've been worse." the waitress replied, "Besides, I should be thanking you for earlier. Sam's been harassing me and some of the other girls here for a little while now, I'm glad you stepped up."
Seiya went a shade of red, "Oh, that . . . Um, it was nothing . . ." he stuttered, rubbing the back of his neck and looking at the ground.
The waitress smiled softly at him, "You're about one of the only real gentlemen I've ever met."
"Oh . . . Really?" Seiya managed. He blushed an even deeper shade of red, if that was possible. What was with him? He could stand up to some guy nearly twice his size and not even be afraid, but he felt like running screaming from a girl! His knees felt all weak and his palms were getting sweaty.
The waitress couldn't help but laugh a bit at his sudden shyness. "So, does the gentleman have a name? I can't say I know what it is."
"Seiya . . . Uh, my name's Seiya."
"Seiya." the waitress repeated, deciding she liked the sound of it, "My name's Hannah."
An awkward silence fell over both of them for a moment before Hannah spoke up again, "So, you came back to help?"
"Yeah. That and to see if you were okay. I mean, you shoved me out the back door so fast I didn't have time to do much of anything." he replied with a bit of a laugh.
"I'm fine." she said, smiling, "And it's really nice of you to help."
Once Seiya had done nearly all he could do he decided that it was time that he left. He didn't want Moyuru waiting on him for too long, nor did he want her at the campsite by herself at night. You couldn't be too cautious at times.
"So you said you're a carpenter?" Hannah asked as they both stood right outside the door.
"Well, yeah. Just trying to make a living."
"I can put in a good word for you with the owner. I'm sure they'll pay a good price if you helped fix the window and some of the furniture." Hannah offered.
Seiya seemed all too happy. This could be one of the breaks he had been looking for. Finally, some real work! "That would be great." he stated with a smile.
Hannah smiled back, "Well then it looks like I'll be seein' you tomorrow."
"I guess so. Well . . . goodbye for now."
He was beginning to leave when Hannah asked him to wait. He looked to her in question for a moment as she caught up with him. She seemed like she wanted to say something, but was really hesitant about it. "What is it?" he questioned after a moment.
He was surprised to say the least when she stood on her toes to give him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Thanks again." she said softly, before nearly running back into the saloon to help the others.
Seiya only stared after her for a bit. He could feel all the blood rushing to his face as he tried to make his heart stop beating so hard. He had to make his legs move as he walked away. That Hannah . . . She was nice . . . And pretty. . .
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Soooooo cute! Yeah, I had to find something to do with Inuyasha and Kagome, and not to mention my two trademark made-ups. You gotta love Seiya don't you? Come on, say it! He's so Kawaii! He was in my first fic as well and he's already got quite a fan club of my friends at school. I drew a picture of him and it got kidnapped, photocopied, and returned to me a week later. . . He's one popular guy. Next thing you know, they'll be asking me for a ransom.
So, have you figured out who it is on the wanted poster yet? I'm pretty sure that most of you have. For those of you that haven't,(says in sing-song tone) I'm not telling! Anyway, here's a preview for the next chapter.
PREVIEW!
Chapter 6: Wanted Dead Or Alive
So, now it seems that Inuyasha has a target, a surprising one. What happens when he tries to do his job and what could this person's bounty be so high for? What did they do and what exactly are they wanted for? Also, Sessomaru returns! So, where'd he go? Find out! Next Chapter!
Thank you for your time and patience! Don't forget to review!
Mayu Kitsune
