Hey everyone! Hikoboshi here! This story is a quick one-shot I came up with a long time ago but never finished or posted. Now I am! Anyway, enjoy!
True Love
by: Hikoboshi18
"See ya!" a raven haired girl shouted back to her family.
"Bye Kagome," they said in unison as her lithe form ran to the shrine house. She threw back the sliding door and made her way to the enchanted well in the middle with a nervous look plastered to her face. It had been five days since she'd been back and she knew of a certain hanyou who wouldn't be too happy with her. After two years of practice, she easily jumped over the edge and into the depths of the magic well. A familiar blue light appeared as she passed through times.
She had said, 'Oh, don't worry, I'll only be gone for two days, promise!' before she disappeared into the well. She knew the half-demon knew that 'five' and 'two' weren't the same thing. Initially, she only had to stay for a major test she was required to pass at her school. She would've held her promise if it wasn't for the new shrine her family dragged her to right after she got back from school on day two. They ended up staying three nights there with family friends and weren't back until late that day. It had been so late, Kagome just decided to wait until the next day to return to her friends. So much for 'two'.
She had been nervous about her return ever since she left to go the the new shrine. No doubt the hanyou had tried to come through the well to look for her after day two. (He never gave her a break.) He was probably worried about her when he discovered her house was empty. And she could only imagine what her other friends, Mirkou, Sango, and Shippo were thinking.
So, to make up for her extended stay, she had brought extra snacks for everyone. That included double the candy, double the chips, double the sodas, and of course, double the ramen. The added supplies made carrying her backpack even harder. Which was why she was now struggling to get it over the edge of the well and into the world of the fedual era.
"Come on! Be a good bag!" Kagome grunted. Suddenly, she felt herself and the bag being lifted up abruptly. The afternoon sunshine blinded the young girl as she was dropped rudely to the hard grass floor.
"It's about time you got here!" a familiar angry voice said above her. Kagome looked up to see a boy with dog ears nussled within his silver hair. He wore his usual fire rat kimono. A beaded necklace with white teeth was around his neck. It suited the hanyou perfectly.
Kagome got up and brushed herself off. "You didn't have to drop me like that, Inu-yasha!"
"Well, that's what you get for taking so damn long!" Inu-yasha shouted back.
"It was only five days! You act like it was a month!" Kagome yelled exasperated.
"What if Naraku came while you were gone? How would we be able to tell where the sacred jewel shards were?"
"Well, he didn't come, did he?" Kagome challenged. "So it doesn't matter!"
"Oh yes it does!"
"No it doesn't!"
As they bickered back and forth, four forms stepped out of the shade. The young woman had her long flowy brown hair in a loose ponytail. She had on her colorful kimono instead of her slayer uniform, but she still carried her faithful boomerang on her back. The young man had on his usual purple monk's uniform and carried a long golden staff. The little boy's fiery orange hair was his most noticeable feature along with his tiny fox paws and fox tail. Sango, Miroku, and Shippo all heaved a bored sigh. Sango's shapeshifting cat Kirara jumped onto her owner's shoulder and softly growled.
"She's been back for two seconds and they're already at it," Shippo complained. Sango and Miroku nodded in agreement. They all were happy to see their missed friend and wanted to greet her properly. But all of them knew not to try to break up the two and so they all held their ground.
"It does!" Inu-yasha continued.
"It does not you idiotic dog boy! And if you feel like you need to disagree with me again, I'll just SIT you to hell!" Inu-yasha's necklace glowed before he nose-dived into the hard ground as Kagome stomped away with her backpack in tow. "And you're not getting any ramen either!" Kagome added before she was out of hearing distance.
Inu-yasha peeled his face off the ground before jumping to catch up with her. "Why not?" he fumed.
As their voices faded, Sango and Miroku looked at each other. "Here we go again," Sango sighed. The four of them caught up with the arguing couple a few moments later.
xXx
"I don't see why you have to do these stupid 'tests' anyway," Inu-yasha said defiantly. Kagome was looking straight ahead, trying to hold her tongue. Inu-yasha was about a milisecond away from being sat again. Sango was dodging Miroku's straying hand and Shippo was playing a game of tag with Kirara around everyone's feet. They were walking towards Kaede's village. They figured the old women might have an idea where they should look for more shards.
"We've been through this," Kagome said through gritting teeth, "I have to do them so I pass school. If I don't pass, then I'll have to keep doing these tests which means I have to keep leaving." A slap was executed by none other than Sango as Miroku's hand found it's target. Shippo was shouting joyiously as Kirara tackled him playfully.
"But you can't keep leaving!" Inu-yasha shouted as if she was miles away. "We have to hurry up and find the jewel shards! The shards are way more important than these tests!" Kagome kept quiet, daring Inu-yasha to say on more word. "And why--"
"Sit!" Inu-yasha's rosary necklace glowed as he went down to the floor with a thud.
"You stupid wench, what was--"
"Sit!" Kagome repeated. "Inu-yasha, I am not in the mood to hear you complain. Just keep it shut until we stop to make camp, will you?"
A few moments later, the spell wore off and Inu-yasha was already yelling in her ear again. "Are you telling me what to do?"
"No, I'm telling that squirrel over there what to do," Kagome sneered sarcastically, pointing at an innocent little squirrel chomping away at an acorn.
"I know you aren't getting sarcastic with me!" Inu-yasha growled as if he was a parent scowling a child.
"Of course not," Kagome said innocently, "I'm being sarcastic with the squirrel."
"Dammit Kagome, stop that before I make you!" Inu-yasha cracked his knuckles menacingly. Sango was now beating Miroku with her boomerang with a strong blush plastered to her features. Apparently, both of Miroku's hands had found their way to her ass. Kirara and Shippo were now playing tag with a couple of butterflies.
"Stop what," Kagome said with the same innocent voice. Inu-yasha raised his hand threateningly but before he could do anything else, Kagome shouted 'sit' at the top of her lungs. Inu-yasha's head painfully collided with the dirt path they were walking on. To add to his misery, there just happended to be a pile of horse dung where his head landed. Kagome burst out laughing. Sango, Miroku, and Shippo, all distracted from their activities from Kagome's shout, joined in. Even Kirara purred.
As soon as the spell wore off, Inu-yasha jumped up and glared at Kagome. It only made Kagome laugh more however. His face was plastered with dung. Inu-yasha just glared coldly before jumping toward a lone patch of woods. Everyone guessed he smelled a hot springs within the vacintity.
"Alright, well since we've stopped, who's up for some ramen?" Kagome said cheerfully.
xXx
Kagome looked nerviously at Inu-yasha's siloette up on the tree. Kagome had fixed ramen and just fed everyone with snacks when Inu-yasha got back (he was now dung-free). He refused to talk to her, even though he had smelled the mouth-watering aroma of ramen. His pride forced him to jump up onto that tree and sit there as everyone else played games and told stories around the camp fire. It was only just getting dark but they knew they wouldn't be traveling any farther. It should've been easy to get to Kaede's village in the time they had but because of the little incident, Inu-yasha refused to walk or talk. She felt guilty as she watched him look off into the distance. She could at least say sorry. Kagome had pride, but not enough to hurt someone or their feelings.
Her pride told her that it wasn't her fault there just happened to be horse shit right there, and he got what he deserved, not to mention it was funny as hell. It was all true but she still, she hadn't even said sorry. Kagome sighed wearily before she filled a bowl to the top with ramen and walked over to Inu-yasha's tree about twenty yards away. She felt akward when she reached him. He didn't say anything and she was just standing there.
Finally, she said, "I'm sorry... about earlier." He looked as if he didn't even hear her. Kagome lightly bit her bottom lip before saying, "I'll leave your bowl here." She placed the bowl at the bottom of the tree and began to walk away.
"Thought you said I wasn't getting any," Inu-yasha said defiantly.
Kagome growled at his pride. "I can take it back if you want," she snapped.
Inu-yasha growled as he jumped down and snatched the bowl before she could do so. He was back up in the tree contently eating his noodles before Kagome could even blink. She smiled as she went back to the fire.
Sango eagerly awaited her return. She was desperate to get away from Miroku's straying hands. "Kagome, do you want to come to the springs with me?" she asked with a desperate look about her.
Kagome looked past her friend to see Miroku nursing a red mark on his face. "Sure," Kagome laughed.
The two gathered what they needed and set out toward the hot springs. It took them a while, but they found it. A single hot springs pool was there, surrounded by large boulders. Plantlife grew in variation around the healthy water. Steam swirled around in the small drifts of wind. Kagome sighed in content. After she had put her bow and arrows next to a rock, she began to undress.
"So, how'd it go with Inu-yasha?" Sango asked as she untied her kimono. She put her bomerang next to Kagome's bow.
"Not good," Kagome answered with a sigh as she stepped into the pool.
"Mmm," Sango murmered gravely as she followed Kagome after completely undressing.
"When he finally did talk to me, all he had to say was something mean," Kagome complained.
"Well, that's Inu-yasha for you," Sango said matter-of-factly.
"Yeah, I know... But still, I wish he was at least a little nicer," Kagome said sadly. "Sango, it's been two whole years since I've been with him and he hasn't change one bit! I thought that maybe after all we've been through, he might be nicer to us but he's still that arrogant prick I met in the beginning!" Kagome was mostly talking to herself but it was nice to have someone to listen.
Sango chuckled softly. "You might not notice it since you're fighting with him all the time but he has changed, if not a little."
"He has not! He still orders us around, yells at everyone of us, and doesn't say a single kind thing to anyone!" Kagome fumed. She had worked herself into a rage. All that swam through her mind was all the bad things the boy did, will do, has done, everything. Not a single nice thought lingered.
Sango was quiet for a moment. "He just hids his nice side carefully," Sango said softly. "After Kikyo, he's afraid of getting hurt again. That's why he doesn't open up to any of us. He's afraid that once he opens up, he'll lose them, or worse, they'll betray him."
At the mention of Kikyo and betrayal, Kagome quieted in sadness. Kikyo... his first and, most likely, only love. "Well, I suppose he has to have a nice side for him to love and be loved by Kikyo," she said quietly.
Sango studied the pain in her friend's eyes. She frowned. She didn't like seeing her friend so sad and it was only worse that she had brought up the subject. Suddenly, she smiled mischieviously. She swam over to Kagome who had her head down deep in thought. As soon as she got close enough, she stood up and splashed Kagome playfully at full force.
"Hey!" Kagome said in surprise. When Sango splashed her again, she laughed and joined in the fun, forgetting all about her thoughts.
The two joyiously slashed each other laughing all the while until their sides hurt. Their laughter was only just receeding when Kagome heard a rustle in the leaves. She paused to hear while Sango was oblivious to it. The rustle was louder the next time Kagome heard it.
Kagome gasped and hissed to her friend, "Sango, sit down!" They were both still standing from the water fight. Now, they sank into the cover of the warm water.
Suddenly, they heard a terrible noise from behind them. They both whipped around in time to see a red blur break two thick tree branches and land smack into the floor with a thud.
"Inu-yasha!" Kagome shouted angrily. "What are you doing here?" She realized it was her who had caused him to crash into the tree branches. He was probably running along the tree tops when she had told Sango to sit down. The beads took care of the rest at the sound the word 'sit'.
Suddenly, Kagome shrieked as she felt an agonizing pain in her right shoulder. Whatever had collided into her pushed her into the hot water which further pained the gash in her shoulder. Because she had screamed right before she went under, she didn't have any breathe. She writhed under the weight of the furry creature that pushed her down. Just when she thought she'd drown, the weight was lifted. She felt herself being lifted soon after that.
Kagome choked and sputtered in an effort to get the water she had swallowed out. When she opened her eyes, she saw Inu-yasha's face looking down at her. He put her down gently by a tree and said, "Wait here." Inu-yasha turned around to face the demon that had nearly killed her.
It was a dog-like creature and was about the size of a horse. It was snarling viciously and his teeth were stained with blood. Each of his claws were up to three inches long, each green with poison. His left ear was torn and his tail was sticking out in every direction. "Give me the jewel shards, girl!" he roared.
Inu-yasha pulled his sword out of its sheath and it transformed instantly. "You dirty bastard!" he shouted before he swung. The demon easily dodged and counterattacked with his claws.
Kagome felt dizzy. She weakly registered Sango reaching for her weapon. I should help, she thought, like Sango is. Kagome struggled to her feet, and didn't even realize that she and Sango were still naked in the presense of Inu-yasha. She was concentrated solely on reaching her bow and arrows beside her clothes. When she picked them up, they seemed heavier than normal. Nonetheless, she put an arrow in place and took aim at the demon that her two friends now battled.
Sango threw her weapon at the creature but it easily jumped off the rock the bomerang hit. As she went to retrieve her weapon, Inu-yasha took over and swung. The demon ducked and reached out to bite him. Inu-yasha just managed to dodge it.
Kagome pulled back her arrow as much as she could. She felt exhasted and could barely summon her miko powers to fill the arrow with. A pink light surrounded the arrow just before Kagome let go. She suddenly felt light headed and fell to the ground.
"Kagome!" Sango cried. Inu-yasha's attention was directed toward the fallen girl. He looked just in time because a pink arrow was headed his way. He just managed to get out of the way before it whizzed by.
It met its target and the dog demon howled once before it dissolved before Inu-yasha's eyes. Now he remembered Kagome. He easily ran to her side and crouched beside her as Sango inspected the wound on her shoulder. Kagome was laying on her back, her entire backside exposed to the warm air from the lack of cloths. Her breath came out in short gasps.
"She's poisoned and she's losing blood fast," Sango said after a short inspection. "We've got to get her help!" Sango looked at Inu-yasha with a panicked expression. Inu-yasha looked uncertainly at her and Kagome.
Kagome moaned in Sango's arms. She turned herself around to face her two friends. She blinked dizzily a few times before she asked, "Did... Did I kill it?"
Sango nodded and said, "But the demon poisoned you, and now you have it in your blood. We have to get you to Kaede. She'll know what herbs to treat it with."
Suddenly, a searing pain shot through Kagome's wounded shoulder. She yelped and writhed in pain. She tried to rememeber what had happened before she got scratched. When she remembered, she turned to Inu-yasha with angry eyes. He had his eyes wide open at the sight of Kagome and Sango with no clothes on. He was trying desperately to close his now opened jaw. He couldn't manage to tear his eyes away from their chests.
"You!" Kagome shouted. She abruptly stood up so she was taller than Inu-yasha who was still crouched down. "Why did you follow us? If you hadn't distracted me, I would've seen the demon and could've avoided it!"
Inu-yasha blinked at the sight of Kagome's entire body revealed before his eyes. Knowing that it would only make her even more angry if she knew he was looking where he shouldn't be, he stood up also so he'd have no choice but to only look at her face. "I wasn't following you! I smelled the damn thing and knew it was headed our way. I told Miroku I'd go kill it before it even came near camp and I just happened to come this way! It's not my fault the demon headed straight for you!" Sango watched the two feeling hopeless. She couldn't stop them now they had started but she knew that Kagome shouldn't overdue it or the poison would get worse.
"You could've warned us! You could've yelled or something! I would've known ahead of time and I wouldn't have gotten scratched in the first place!"
Inu-yasha rolled his eyes. "If you weren't so careless in the first place, we wouldn't be in this mess!"
Kagome scoffed at the abserdity of his comment. "I am not careless! I was being cautious. We just happened to see you first instead of the demon! If you hadn't been there--"
"You would be dead right now!" Inu-yasha finished. "If you didn't notice, you almost drowned just now! I had to save you!"
"I did notice, thank you very much," Kagome fumed. "And it was only because the thing caught me off guard! You distracted--"
"You should have been paying attention to everything! Doesn't matter if I was there or not!"
"Well sorry if I don't have demonic hearing senses! I only have miko powers! I can't do as much as you can!"
Inu-yasha sneered. "You can't do anything in battle. You're pretty much useless." He didn't mean it but the words came out anyway. All arguments worked his nerves to the point he said things only to hurt the poor girl. He never meant them and he always regretted saying them afterwards.
Now he wished he'd never opened his mouth. The look of Kagome looking down, having been defeated in words, and swaying as if she would tumble down by a gentle breeze made Inu-yasha feel more guilty than ever.
She looked up at him with anger burning in her eyes. Inu-yasha flinched inwardly. Was that anger... or hate? Kagome opened her mouth to say something but suddenly swayed again and had to catch her balance. She shook her head and tried to say something again but this time, her eyes fluttered and the next thing she knew, she had fallen to the ground into Sango's arms again. The last thing she remebered was the agonizing pain in her shoulder.
xXx
Inu-yasha watched Kagome as she tossed and turned on the the floor matress of Kaede's hut. Guilt washed over him. They weren't even sure if she would survive. By the time Sango had dressed her and he had ran her to Kaede, she was crying in pain. Kaede had treated her as much as she could but it was up to Kagome and her will to live whether or not she would survive or not.
Guilt washed over him like a tsunami. He had told Miroku he had smelled something before he left camp but it wasn't true then. His original intentions were to give the girls a scare as payback for his 'experiance' with the 'dirt' path. He hadn't smelled the demon until he hit the floor from Kagome's sit. And she had been right when she said it was his fault she was distracted and couldn't dodge the creature in time. If revenge hadn't been on his mind and he hadn't come, she could have seen it. As he watched her suffer, he wished it had been him instead, or that he had gotten there in time to prevent it. Anything was better than Kagome squirming in pain the way she did now.
Inu-yasha had always felt protective over Kagome, like she was a little sister. But throughout the two years they had been together, hunting for jewel shards, he felt his feelings for her develop into something more than brotherly protection. He wasn't quite sure what it was. He knew what love felt like since he had experianced it with Kikyo at some point but these new feelings for Kagome were different. He couldn't tell if it was more powerful than what he felt with Kikyo or nothing at all. Now he began to wonder if it really was love he felt with Kikyo all those years ago. He had always just assumed it was... but was it really?
Kagome moaned in her sleep and Inu-yasha instinctivly moved closer to her. He sat next to her on her floor mattress and felt her forehead. She was hotter than she had been when they first brought her here.
Kaede and the others had gone somewhere but Inu-yasha couldn't remember now. He had been so busy with his thoughts of guilt that he hadn't been listening when they told him where they were going. Kirara and Shippo had stayed behind for some reason he had forgotten but were now sound asleep beside an oak tree just outside the hut. As he studied Kagome's disturbed face, he thought of his options.
He could go and sniff out Kaede to see if she had any more herbs she could give to Kagome that might cool down her fever, but that might take too long. And it would leave only Kirara and Shippo to protect Kagome. He could take Kagome back to her time so they could use her modern medicine, but he hestitated at the idea. He didn't want to take her back because he was afraid she would stay even longer this time because of their fight, and she had only just gotten back. He felt guilty about his selfishness.
Kagome shifted in her sleep again so she was laying on her back. She looked like she was having a nightmare with all that tossing and turning and all Inu-yasha felt like doing was waking her up. He didn't like to see her so distressed, especially since it was his fault.
Inu-yasha stared at her a moment longer before he inched closer to her. He hesitated only once before he leaned down and kissed her gently. His body was moving on its own, purely on instinct, desire, and, yes, love. It was true that he had never experianced this with Kikyo. But then again, that was because that wasn't true love. This was. The feeling he had felt cumulating over the past year was without a doubt true love, and it was much more powerful than what he had felt with Kikyo, he was sure.
Just as he was about to pull away from his kiss, Kagome suddenly wrapped her arms around Inu-yasha's neck and yanked, with surprising force. Inu-yasha flipped over her body onto the other side of her mattress. He instantly blushed at the realization of how close he was to her. She snuggled up against him like he was one of those things she called a 'teddy bear'. But she wasn't awake. Her breathing patterns were still even and her grip loosened after her sharp yank, as if she just reacted to something in a dream.
Inu-yasha stayed frozen in place. She had her arms wrapped around his torso. He attempted to slacken her grasp on him but every time, she would snuggle closer and clasp tighter until she loosened up again. Inu-yasha sat there, tense as ever, for a few minutes longer. He tried one last time to get away. No such luck, he thought as she tightened her hold momentairly.
It wasn't so much that he didn't want to be next to her. He was just afraid she would wake up and see him next to her in bed.
But then again, she was the one who grabbed him in her sleep. She'd have a hard time explaining that one, he thought with a smirk.
After laying there for a moment, he realized that Kagome had stopped tossing and turning. He touched her forehead again. It was definetly an improvement but she was still very hot. He lay there and thought that if he hadn't been so caught up in his own desire for revenge, she wouldn't be laying here, burning up like a wild fire.
"I'm sorry, Kagome," he whispered, even though her breathing told him she was asleep. "You were right, it was my fault you got hurt." He paused and stroked her hair. "I'm sorry I keep telling you you're worthless. I don't even know why I keep saying you are because I know it's not ture. You mean so much to me..." His whisper trailed off and he studied her peaceful face. He leaned closer to her and whispered even softer, "I'm sorry."
Before he knew what was happening, Kagome's lips were on his and she was hugging the life out of him. When she pulled away, she buried her face in his chest and said joyiously, "Thank you!" She removed her head and looked into his eyes. "And I forgive you," she said with a smile.
Inu-yasha's face slowly transformed from surprise to horror. "Y-You h-heard me?" he gasped. "B-But you were alseep!"
Kagome giggled and said, "I was asleep. I woke again when the pain kept bothering me. Being with you, I've had to perfect the art of getting you to believe I'm actually asleep." When she saw Inu-yasha's confused expression, she giggled again and said, "I'm pretty good at it, don't you think?"
Inu-yasha still looked stunned, horrified, and embarrassed all at the same time.
Kagome laughed again and kissed him. His look melted into pure happiness.
"Do you love me?" she asked as she snuggled closer to his warmth.
He looked down at her and smiled. "Yes," he answered, "I love you."
So whatcha think? Again, this was kinda just completely outta boredom so I don't know if it's good or not. Just a cute little one-shot. Hope you enjoyed it!
Hiko18