4/ 12/ 06
Chapter 8 of the Inuyasha fanfiction with Sailor Moon powers
Note: The song for this chapter is "Shining Star Wasurenaikara". Also, in this chapter, my own character, Tsubaki, makes an appearance. I've already written a Tokyo Mew Mew fanfic with her, but I lost the story, so it's not posted on yet, so keep your fingers crossed that I find it, cause it's one of my best works. Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters and/or songs used in this story. All characters not created by me are the property of their original authors or artists. All songs are the property of the original writers and/or artists. Thank you. Credited authors/artists: Takahashi Rumiko, Takeuchi Naoko, and Tamaki Nami. P.S. –The one character I do own is Tsubaki; Tsubaki is my creation and does not belong to any of the accredited artists above. Okay? She's mine. --;;;
CHAPTER EIGHT: IN WHICH PLANS ARE MADE, AN ALLY IS FOUND, AND SOMEONE STOPS BEING LOVESICK
"Umn," Sango mumbled. She sat up andtouched her head; it tingled with great pain. What'd I do to myself? she wondered. Sango looked around her and noticed that she had no idea where she was. The demons were attacking me when I was trying to save Miroku and then… MIROKU! The demon-slayer quickly stumbled to her feet, threw the door open to the room beside hers, and found her monk peacefully asleep on the floor. "Whew…"
Kajikanda tenohira tsumetai kazeo uke
Yukiba nakushiteru
"May I help you?' came a voice from behind Sango. She turned around sluggishly and caught glimpse of a pretty girl with a long blonde ponytail. This girl was obviously a foreigner; she had an extremely long blonde ponytail with three large braids, big, plum-colored eyes, and a strong accent when she spoke Japanese. "May I help you?" the girl repeated.
pokettoni iretatte namidade hiekitta
kokorowa iyasenai
"Would you mind telling me how I got here?" Sango politely asked.
Matataita hoshio hitori miageta toki
Anatano hoshiga kagayaiteta
The girl nodded and stood. She walked gracefully over to the window of the room and answered, "I had been observing those demons for about a month and was going to make my move when I found you and your friend in that dire situation. I rushed to help you, but you ended up collapsing. I was able to defeat the group of demons, but I ran home with both of you on Kuroro's back and took care of you."
Sango didn't blink. "How long have we been here?" she asked unwaveringly.
"Three days," the girl answered, looking straight into Sango's eyes. "By the way, I'm Tsubaki. Just let me know if you need anything, uh…"
"I'm Sango, and my 'friend' here is Miroku. Thank you for your help, Tsubaki."
"No problem. I'll be back soon with some food, so you should see if you can wake him up, okay?" Tsubaki smiled and exited the room, quiet as a mouse.
Wake up Miroku, huh…? Sango looked down at his sleeping face. He looks like a child when he sleeps, she thought. It's kind of cute… she knelt down by his side and sighed. "What am I gonna do with you, Miroku? We got ourselves into another bad situation and here we are, injured and stupid…"
You are my shining star itsudemo itsumademo
Watashio terashite ite ookina aide zutto
You are my shining star kitto wasure naikara
Anatato sugoshita hibio…
"Who's stupid?" he asked.
Donnani tsurakutemo namidawa misenai yoo
ganbatte miruwa
"I-I didn't know you were awake," Sango said, faltering slightly as she began to stand, but Miroku caught her arm and looked her in the eye. "Um, I was just kinda speaking to myself, you know, so…"
Kyoodakewa tsumetai amewa furasanaide
Anatano hoshini aitaikara
Miroku looked Sango in the eye. "You're okay, though, right?" he asked tenderly, gently caressing Sango's left cheek as he said it. "I'm sorry… I can't believe I let my emotions get a hold of me again. It's really my fault that we ended up in that situation."
SMACK!
You are my shining star itsudemo itsumademo
Naniga okitatoshitemo hitoride omoi nagara
You are my shining star sotto furuete iruwa
Anatano inai kisetsuo…
"I swear-! If you don't stop kicking yourself all the time, then your fiancé is going to get violent!" Sango shouted at him.
Hitori, hizao kakaete namide shiteshimau yoruwa
Oblivious to most of what she said, Miroku echoed, "Fiancé? Then you…?"
Tsutsumikomu yooni sotto daiteite
Hitori jyanai soo shinjitaikara
Hishiga matataku yozora miageru tabini negauwa
"Didn't I tell you that you already knew my answer to your question?" Sango hmphed.
"Then you won't mind my repeating it so you can give me your answer like how it's supposed to usually go. So, Sango," Miroku began, situating himself so he was down on one knee. Gazing into her eyes, he repeated, "Sango, will you marry me?"
Teary-eyed, she answered with a quick "Yes!". She leapt into her new fiancé's arms and nuzzled his neck. "Of course…"
You are my shining star itsudemo itsumademo
Watashio terashite ite ookina aide zutto
You are my shining star kitto wasure naikara
Anatato sugoshita hibio…
Tsubaki coughed. "Excuse me… I just wanted to give the two of you some food to help you feel better, but I can see that neither of you really need any get-up-and-go, so I'll just leave your trays right here by the door." The girl turned to leave, but Sango halted her.
"Please wait! I wanted to talk to you some more," Sango said. Miroku looked at his fiancé warily.
Tsubaki turned back around and sat herself down on a mat by the door. "What can I do for you?" she politely asked.
"You said you had been tracking those demons for a while. I was just wondering why."
"Ah, yes, the demons…" Tsubaki glanced outside as if something was coming and then continued in a hushed tone. "I track demons down for a living. You see, I'm a bounty hunter, and Kuroro and I live of the money we receive for chasing down all these demons."
Sango didn't move an inch. "But… I feel as if there's something more to than just getting the bounty. You're driven by something more…"
"I'm sorry, but I'm in no position to talk about it right now. If you'll excuse me…" Tsubaki stood, bowed, and exited the room quietly, but she left an uneasiness to settle in the pit of Sango's stomach.
"Why did you want to know that?" Miroku inquired after several minutes of silence.
Sango sighed. "Hunting demons like that… It's an emotionally stressful job, and usually, you're driven for some reason to do each job. Tsubaki…she's much too young to have started doing something like this right off the bat, let alone just for money. I mean," Sango continued, facing Miroku now, "With our little group, we were driven by the reason that we all had some grudge against Naraku."
"But Kagome didn't," Miroku pointed out.
"Not exactly. You see, as we traveled together more, and Inuyasha and Kagome's relationship developed, Kagome developed a grudge against Naraku as well.
Miroku stared at Sango. "You mean…?"
"Since Inuyasha had some beef to pick with Naraku, Kagome wanted to help Inuyasha defeat Naraku out of her love for the half-demon. In the end, all of us were really driven by something other than material things, and I have a strong feeling that there's more to Tsubaki than she's willing to tell us."
"Well," Miroku started, "she kind of made that evident already, Sango."
"Whatever… I just don't want a girl as young as her getting messed up in such things. I- oh, never mind…" Sango sighed and leaned in Miroku's arms.
"What's wrong? Tell me what's on your mind."
Sango stared at the floor. "I feel some sort of connection with her, like I know her from somewhere. Like maybe she's kin to me or something… Nah, forget it; it's silly to think something like that." Sango hushed up and nestled closer in the warm strength of Miroku's arms, and, pretty soon, Miroku was sure he heard a light snoring sound.
"Ah, Sango-chan," he muttered to himself. "You just think too much…"
Tsubaki stopped peeking in through the crack in the door and turned to Kuroro. "I don't think they realized it, Kuroro. Of course, I did bleach my hair when I was only eleven."
BACK AT LADY KAEDE'S HOUSE
"This is so depressing," Shippo mumbled to himself as he plopped down on the ground right outside the doorway to the old priestess' house. "Kagome and Inuyasha are living together now, Sango and Miroku are engaged, and here I am, wasting time like there was no tomorrow. How come I'm the only one not in love?"
At that moment, Shippo heard the familiar trill he knew so well. "Kirara! Come here, girl!" The small cat-demon trotted over to Shippo and cooed when he scratched behind her ears. "It seems like only you can really understand what I'm feeling nowadays," Shippo whispered, picking up Kirara as he said it. "I feel as if you would talk with me if you could, you know?" Shippo smiled half-heartedly and Kirara nudged his hand in a nurturing way. "Easy there, Kirara." Shippo lay down on the grass on his back and closed his eyes. "Sometimes I wonder if I have any right being lovesick, you know, Kirara?" he stated without opening either eye.
Kirara purred as she nuzzled Shippo's neck.
"It's okay, Kirara. You're here with me…" Kirara soon heard a snoring sound come from Shippo and stopped purring. Slowly, she walked up to his head and lightly kissed him on the lips. And then there was a flash of light.
"Shippo…"
"Umn…" Shippo dazedly opened one eye part way and saw a silhouette sitting right beside him. He bolted upright and sat so he was looking the girl in the eye. "Sorry, but… Who are you?" he chuckled uneasily.
"It's me! Kirara! Oh, Shippo, I'm so glad that I'm back in my old body!" The girl stretched one arm and then the other as Shippo stared at her, dumbfounded.
"K-K-K-Kirara!" How the heck did this happen! the fox-demon thought. 'Original form'? This is what Kirara really looks like? She's human!
"Shippo, what's wrong?" Kirara asked innocently, looking directly into his eyes as she asked (which caused a slight loss of blood to his brain and came out of his nose instead; in other words, a nosebleed).
"N-n-n-n-n-nothing! Nothing at all! Excepting that you're human!"
A frown appeared on Kirara's face. "You don't like this form?" she asked, head tilted towards the ground.
Shippo, obviously realizing he had said something wrong, observed Kirara's body language. "No, that's not it," he said softly, lifting her chin up with his hand. "It's just that- I never really expected to see a human version of you. You're pretty, though." ACK! Shippo thought to himself again. It sounds like I'm some mini version of Miroku!
Kirara smiled. "Thank you, Shippo. I feel a little better now."
"Why aren't you feeling okay?" Shippo inquired nonchalantly.
"Uh! Well, you see… I, um, uh…" Kirara was stumbling over her words as if she had drunk a whole container of sake by herself, but she found her words hard to just come out and say. She turned red as she clutched Shippo's arms for support.
"Are you okay, Kirara?" Shippo asked, a little worried.
"I-I-I-I…," Kirara croaked, but she just couldn't come out and say it. Suddenly, she felt Shippo touch one of her hands. Looking up at him, he smiled.
"It's okay. Take your time. Anything you say is important to me, so when you're ready to say it, let me know."
Kirara felt her strength drain away, as if she lost all power just seeing him smile. She let her hands fall to her sides, gulped, and mumbled what she wanted to say.
"Hm?" Shippo said absent-mindedly.
Slowly, Kirara raised her head as she looked into Shippo's eyes once again and said, "I-I…love you…" Immediately, she dropped her head and let her gaze fall to the ground. I knew I shouldn't have said anything, Kirara thought to herself after a few minutes in silence with Shippo. But…if I hadn't told him, I think I would have regretted it more… Is this how painful it is to be a human or like a human? Can your heart really hurt all the time? Kirara grasped the cloth of her kimono over her heart, feeling like it was pounding at seventy-five miles per hour. No regrets…
"Kirara…," Shippo whispered –Kirara's heart skipped a beat. The fox-demon just stood and offered a hand to the girl as he smiled. "Need a hand up?"
Kirara took his offer and got to her feet as well, but as she walked with him, she could only think about how he had no response to her confession.
"Is that everything, Kagome?" Inuyasha hollered from across living room. He had just finished hauling a box of Kagome's clothing into their new house and was hoping that that was the last heavy thing he would lift for the day.
"I've just got the last one," Kagome called. She came in through the door and placed a small box on top of the pile of her larger boxes. I can't believe I finally moved in with Inuyasha, Kagome thought to herself as she wiped the sweat off her forehead. I'm so happy!
"Hey, Kagome," Inuyasha said, placing a hand on Kagome's shoulder. "So we're pretty much done, right?"
"Yep. That's everything…" Kagome faded off. This is it. Now we're living together. Nothing could make me happier, right? she asked herself. Kagome faced Inuyasha, but when she looked into his eyes, she felt something was missing.
"Is something the matter, Kagome?" Inuyasha asked, a little worried.
"Nope. Nothing's wrong. Let's go see what the others are up to. Maybe they'll want to see the house. Come on, let's go!" Kagome grabbed Inuyasha by the hand and dragged him out of the house, but he stopped her and yanked his hand away when they got outside.
"Kagome, I don't like this. Something's obviously wrong and you won't tell me anything. And that bugs me."
"Seriously, Inuyasha. Nothing's wrong."
"I don't believe you," Inuyasha stated.
Kagome gave a weak little laugh. "Then maybe you'll believe this… Osuwari, Inuyasha!" That said, the Beads of Subjugation did their job and flattened the half-demon into the ground.
"Damn you…"
"Inuyasha, Kagome, have you seen Miroku or Sango?"
Kagome turned to see Shippo walking towards them with a very pretty girl. "Shippo, who's your friend?" she inquired.
"Uh, well, actually… This is…" Shippo scratched his head.
Kirara smiled at Kagome and Inuyasha and casually stated, "I'm Kirara, guys."
Both Inuyasha and Kagome's jaws dropped. "You're Kirara!" Kagome asked frantically.
"It turns out she has a human form," Shippo mumbled. "Don't worry. I'm still in shock, too."
Kirara sideways-glanced at Shippo disappointedly. Still in shock? Oh, well… Kirara bit her lip. Still no regrets… "Have you seen Sango-san?" the girl asked. "I wanted to talk to her."
"Inuyasha, would you mind going into the house for now?" Kagome asked sweetly.
"Why? I…"
"NOW!" she ordered. The half-demon sauntered into the house as he was told, but not without tsk-ing first. Kagome turned to Shippo. "Shippo, can I talk to you for a moment? Alone?"
Shippo glanced at Kirara and then replied, "Whatever…" the fox-demon stepped towards the dark-haired female, who pulled him to the side into the shadow of her house. "What's up?" he asked.
"How the hell did this happen!" Kagome shrilly whispered.
"I'm not really sure," Shippo answered. "Earlier today, I was just talking to the cat-demon form of Kirara. I fell asleep, but then the next thing I knew, I was awake and there she was, sitting in front of me. And that wasn't even the weirdest thing that happened to me…"
Kagome eyed Shippo suspiciously. "What else happened?"
"When I woke up, she introduced herself as Kirara and told me she-she…" Shippo coughed uncomfortably as his face turned red.
"What? What did she say!" Kagome asked impatiently.
"She told me she loved me. I just stared off into space and didn't say anything. That was like, fifteen minutes ago."
FWAP!
"You idiot!"
"OW! What was that for, Kagome!"
Kagome sighed. "By not saying anything, you hurt her feelings. It seems like you're turning into a mini Inuyasha…"
"Hey…" Shippo glared at Kagome.
"Anyway," Kagome continued, smiling, "you didn't do yourself any good by not saying anything, Shippo. You practically dug a grave for yourself. Just…don't try to slip up on anything else, okay?" Kagome finished and began to head for the front of the house but stopped to ask Shippo one more question. "Do you love her, Shippo?"
Shippo, who was taken aback by the out-of-the-blue question, quickly stated, "What the heck do you mean! I practically just met her!"
"That's not true." The expression on Kagome's face turned very serious. "You've just met the human form that can actively talk with you, but you've known her all along in her cat-demon form, so you know and understand her even if she can't communicate with you. You know her with your heart." And with that, Kagome turned on her heel and disappeared into her house.
I know her with my heart…? Shippo shook his head and looked at Kirara behind him, who was playing with a monarch butterfly. When she saw him, she waved. "M-maybe…," Shippo mumbled to himself, red in the face as he ran back to Kirara.
"So what's going on with Kagome?" Kirara asked when Shippo approached her.
"Uh, n-nothing really… Say, Kirara… About earlier…" Shippo would've finished what he was saying if it hadn't been for Kirara cutting him off.
"Ah! Sango-san!" Kirara called into the distance. "Miroku-san!" She ran off with Shippo following her close behind.
"Shippo, who's your friend here?" Miroku asked teasingly.
Oh, great. Just what I need… Miroku teasing me. "Well, this is…"
"I'm Kirara!" Kirara blurted. "I'm so glad your back, Sango-san! I've missed both you and Miroku-san so much! Do you think you could scratch behind my left ear for a quick sec?"
"Kirara, calm down…," Shippo uttered.
Sango's face froze. "Kirara…?" she asked. She turned to the fox-demon. "How did this happen!"
"It's a short and sweet story, you see," Kirara began -the others leaned in. "But I'm not going to tell!" The girl wore a mischievous grin on her face as she turned her attention back to the butterfly.
Shippo looked behind Miroku and Sango and inquired, "Who's she?"
At that moment, Inuyasha and Kagome came out of the house and when they saw Tsubaki, their jaws dropped once again. "I see we have another visitor," Kagome pointed out, a little annoyed.
"Yes," Sango stated, motioning to the girl. "This is Tsubaki. She saved Miroku and me from this horde of demons. She's been a very kind soul to us, so I hope you guys won't mind that she travels with us on our demon escapades." Sango half-heartedly smiled and started chatting with Shippo.
Kirara, who had stopped chasing the butterfly at this point, stared at Kuroro and rushed over to her. "Kuroro! How have you been? I've missed you so much!"
"Excuse me, Kirara," Tsubaki started, but Kirara gave her a blank look.
"Who are you?" she asked.
"I'm Tsubaki."
"I know that, but who are you?"
Tsubaki stared back at Kirara, unsure of what the hidden meaning behind her question was. Deciding to not deal with the girl at the moment, Tsubaki faced Inuyasha and Kagome. "Inuyasha, Kagome, it's been a while," she stated, but she got strange looks from the both of them. This is going to be hard to explain… Tsubaki thought.
"I'm sorry, Tsubaki, but I don't believe I know you," Kagome said as politely as she could.
"Oh, well… You do, but… never mind." Tsubaki looked around for some way out of the conversation, but was flustered. How am I going to get out of this one!
"What do you mean by that?" Inuyasha growled under his breath, stepping in front of Kagome defensively.
"It's just a little hard to explain…," Tsubaki mumbled, starting to feel pressured.
"What? You know Kagome and Inuyasha?" Miroku piped up, joining the little gathering.
"She claims it, but I've never met her before in my life," Inuyasha retorted. Turning back to Tsubaki, he continued, "Explain yourself."
Sango came over and placed an arm around Tsubaki's shoulders. "Don't scare the poor girl to death, Inuyasha. By the way, Miroku and I have something to announce."
Miroku blinked. "We do?" Sango shot a deadly glare. "Oh, yes! We do!"
"We're engaged!" Sango revealed. At her exclamation, she squeezed Tsubaki. "Isn't it great?"
"We were kind of expecting it," Inuyasha commented. Facing Tsubaki once more, he repeated, "Explain yourself."
Ready to explode, Tsubaki said it. "All right, already! I'm Miroku and Sango's daughter from the future!" Tsubaki, who had squinted her eyes shut, opened one when she realized no one had said anything or had even moved an inch. She looked from Sango to Miroku, and vice versa. "Surprise?"
Hello! I'm done with chapter eight! Aren't you glad? I am. I wasn't really sure how Tsubaki would come into play in this fanfic, but I like the outcome. See, she's really just my own character that I use to fill any role I want, so she's pretty cool if you ask me. Anyway, chapter nine is coming soon, so please keep reading! I love my readers! - 3
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