Chapter Twenty-One
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Thank you to: Huggies90, JumbledThoughts, Kat, Guest # 1, RubyGemGreen, Kagz419, Kiwimari, Guest # 2, Wondla Master, Hina714, loserbopeep, FearOfFalling, Tiggs1990, Savage Kill, LowellBates, for your lovely reviews!
To those I couldn't private message:
Kat: I am honestly getting so excited for the entrance of Koga! He's one of my favourite characters in the series! Things should definitely get interesting with that particular dynamic hahaha. Thank you so much for your review! It's always great to hear from you!
Guest#1: I hope the first meeting with Naraku will live up to your expectations :) Thank you so much for leaving a review! It's always great to hear from the readers! I hope you continued to enjoy this story as it progresses!
Guest # 2: LOL well thank you! I'm afraid I might not be as cool as expected in real life hahaha. I'm glad you're enjoying this story and Mayumi and Yua as characters! Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a review! Hope to hear from you again soon!
Yua's POV
"I'm going to kick your butt, kid." I mutter lowly, the competitive side of me once again shining through. I hold the controller to the game counsel tightly in my hands, narrowing my eyes in concentration at the screen. To any onlooker, my cousin included, it might look like I actually knew what I was doing when it came to this fighting game.
To be honest I was just smashing buttons and hoping for the best.
My eyes widen as I take down Sota's character, bewildered that my senseless strategy had actually worked. Beside me Sota groans, dropping his controller to the floor and resting his head in his hands. I grin in victory. "That's right, little man! You do my chores around the Shrine tomorrow!" I hoot, pumping my fist into the air. Sota grumbles irritably, throwing me a sour look.
"When did you get so good?" He asks, referring to the times months ago when I had first gotten here and been so horrible at the game. I shrug my shoulders innocently, not about to admit to him it was simply dumb luck on my part. I set my own controller down, standing up and sighing as I look out the sitting room window. It was midday, the morning having already been wasted away it felt like.
"You should come out with me, get some fresh air for a change." I say as I eye Sota while he grabbed his controller back up and starting a new game on his own. His brown eyes are so focused, face pinched in concentration, that I find that I can't pull him away from his obvious goal to practice to beat me next time. Instead I turn, heading from the room and out front, leaning against one of the pillars by our doorway. My gaze lands on the well, a lump forming in my throat. The door was slid open, as if mockingly inviting me in for more disappointment.
"It's been four days now…he's not coming for me." I murmur softly to myself, before my eyes widen as I feel it.
The power of the Shikon Jewel.
Even as I rush over to the well, I'm trying to talk myself down. What if I was just imagining things? When I step into the shelter, I immediately look for familiar silver hair and amber eyes, only to be met with more doubt when Inuyasha clearly wasn't there. How could I have felt it here if Inuyasha wasn't here with them? He'd never let the shards out of his sight. I step down the stairs to the well, gripping onto the edge of it as I look over towards the bottom.
'There! I see something!' I gasp in disbelief, scrambling so fast to get down the ladder that I nearly fall right in. When I finally make it to the bottom, I drop to my knees and start to dig urgently. "There it is!" I exclaim to myself in shock, picking up the familiar large fragment, still attached to the string that Kaede had given me.
Then it finally happens.
A weightlessness takes over as the void below me opens up, and moments later I find myself at the bottom of the well back in the feudal era. My mouth falls open seeing Shippo sitting there, looking frightened, before I'm even more shocked seeing the tree sitting just behind him.
How did a tree get in the well?
"YUA!" Shippo shouts in happiness, getting over his apprehensiveness pretty quickly as he jumps into my arms. Laughing I pull him close, burying my face against the top of his head. "I thought I'd never see you again!" His voice wobbles with emotion, causing my own chest to ache knowing I had thought the very same thing.
"I missed you so much." I can't keep my own voice from cracking with emotion, before my eyes snap open at the sound of growling. Standing quickly as I push Shippo behind me, I look up to see multiple demonic looking wolves slowly crawling their way down the trunk of the tree. "Shippo, what's going on here?" I demand, frowning deeply as I raise my hands up in threat feeling the comforting feeling of my energy bubbling just below the surface, strong as ever now.
"Uh, it's a lot to explain." Shippo replies, his voice timid. "But they are bad news!"
"I couldn't tell." I respond dryly. "Stay behind me Shippo!" Holding my hands palm up I allow the energy to build in both, much like when I had battled with Sesshomaru. With a yell I blast the nearest of the wolves away, their bodies disintegrating upon contact with my energy. "How did you know to bring the Sacred Jewel to the well, Shippo?" I ask in the moment of reprieve, watching as more wolves appeared above us, crawling down the tree.
"I-I didn't." Shippo admits, a blush on his cheeks. "I fell down the well running away from these guys, and the jewel slipped out from my pocket. I was keeping it safe while Inuyasha, Miroku, and Kaede dealt with this gatekeeper demon guy name Royakan." My eyes widen hearing him.
"How are Inuyasha's injuries?" I ask sharply, praying he was alright.
"Even with your healing they are still pretty bad." Shippo admits, causing my stomach to knot in worry.
'And knowing the stubborn bastard, he won't let Miroku take over the fight for him if the chance arrives.' I think, allowing another blast to release from me over the next wave of wolves.
All of a sudden the tree begins to shake, slowly lifting up out of the well. I blink in surprise, watching as it goes and takes the wolves with them.
"YOU NEED MORE FIBER!" Inuyasha's distinct voice could be heard calling from above, before the crunch of the tree and a monstrous groan echo down into the well. I could only imagine what was happening up there.
"Hop on, Shippo." I murmur, waiting for the fox demon to climb onto my shoulder before using my power to help me levitate to the top. I take us over the edge, landing softly on the ground just outside, Inuyasha landing at the exact same time across from us. Wordlessly we stare at one and other, and I feel so many emotions taking over at once that I'm not sure what to express first. Without realizing it, Shippo left my shoulder, clearly sensing the tension.
"What are you doing here?" His voice his hard, cutting through me like a knife. My eyes widen in hurt and surprise at his callous tone.
Maybe he hadn't sent me back to protect me at all. Maybe he really had wanted to be rid of me.
Inuyasha's response dictates my own, and I feel absolute rage take over, my hands glowing dangerously purple as my entire body shakes. His eyes widen slightly at the burst of my energy, before they narrow once more in challenge. "I told you to not come back." Inuyasha states in the same hard voice. I breath hard out of my nose, before allowing a very small ball of energy to form in my hands and whipping it directly at his head. He moves out of the way just in time, looking at me with wide-eyed disbelief.
"And what makes you think you get to dictate to me like that?!" I argue hotly, throwing the next small ball of energy in quick succession. Admittedly, neither shot was enough to really hurt him, I was still in enough control to be conscious of that. "How dare you push me down that well! How dare you kiss me and then just throw me away like that!"
"T-throw you away?" Inuyasha frowns in genuine confusion, his gaze softening as he takes a tentative step forward. "I told you, Yua! It's for your own protection!" I glare at him, forming new orbs of my energy in each hand.
"Do I look like I feel protected right now?!" I shout back to him, throwing another orb at him with a grunt. He dodges it, taking another step forward. "NO! I'm hurt because of you!" I throw another, and he takes another step as he dodges, closing the distance between us further. I back up as I form more energy, the back of my knees hitting the well like they had three days ago before he pushed me in.
"Yua, you have no idea what we're up against-" Inuyasha tries, and I shake my head firmly, throwing another ball. This time it hits him directly in the shoulder, and he hisses slightly, gripping onto it as he pauses. I knew it wouldn't feel like more than a bee sting to him, but it still made me feel better.
"Stop treating me like I'm an idiot! I probably have a better idea than even you!" I fight back, throwing another orb, but this time he dodges it once more by rolling forward, slightly to the side. As he stands he comes to be only a hair breadth away from me, his hands slowly taking my own by the wrists. Almost instantly I lose focus at his touch, my energy dispelling and my hands going back to normal. My heart is racing, just like it had been when he had been this close to me before.
When he had kissed me.
My gaze flickers down to his lips for a moment, unable to stop myself at the memory of feeling them against my own, before I quickly look back up towards his eyes. He's watching me intensely, his face still set in a frown and his gaze troubled.
"I can't let anything happen to you." Inuyasha speaks up softly then, shaking me to the core. I swallow thickly, his hands moving slowly from my wrists and taking each of mine in his own.
"Inuyasha…that's out of your control, whether here, or back where I am from." I try to reason with him, finding myself weak from my spent anger. "I could get sick…I could get crushed by a falling tree…" I trail off, looking over his shoulder and seeing the tree he had drilled into the mouth of a massive looking wolf demon. 'Holy shit…gotta ask about that later.' I quickly turn my eyes back to him. "I could get hurt, whether or not I'm here by your side."
"Is that supposed to make me feel any better about allowing you to stay here?" Inuyasha scoffs slightly, before sighing and leaning his forehand down against my own.
"For starters, I get to make the choice to stay or leave, not you." I tell him firmly as I look up into his beautiful amber eyes. "Don't you ever take that choice away from me again." His face says it all, the guilt quickly overcoming his features. "I'm supposed to be here, with you..with Shippo….Kaede….Miroku. That is what I choose for myself." A tense moment of silence takes over us, before he lets go of my hands, wrapping his arms around me and pulling me into him firmly for a hug. Feeling relief flood my system, I hug him back tightly, burying my face against his neck as he tucks me in protectively against him. Just like that, my world once again feels like it's fallen back into place.
Other than the immature smooching noises that Shippo is making in the background.
Inuyasha can only ignore the sounds for so long, loosening his hold on me so he can lean away to glare at the boy only thirty feet away.
"Yua!" Miroku's voice calls as he and Kaede both approach us, Inuyasha stepping away from me completely then. Smiling widely I wave to him, before rushing towards Kaede and meeting her in a hug as well.
"I missed you." I can't help murmuring to the old lady, Kaede laughing softly as she hugged me back tightly.
"I missed ye as well, child." I grin, pulling away before freezing as I feel something ominous set over me.
'It's him.' My eyes widen in realization, somehow knowing who's presence I was feeling. It left me feel cold and anxious, just like in my dreams. "He's here." I gasp out, Inuyasha looking at me sharply.
"What did you just say?" He asks, eyes narrowed as his posture grows stiff. Miroku frowns as well, holding his staff at the ready. I look to Inuyasha, eyes still wide.
"Naraku…he's somewhere near. I can feel him and the many jewel shards that he possesses." I explain, instinctively reaching for my bow over my shoulder, only to grip thin air. Ice crawls down my spine, realizing that it must be back in Kaede's home along with my arrows. I wasn't defenseless, not by any means, but my bow still brought me security nonetheless. Without a word Inuyasha and Miroku take off into the forest in the direction I was staring, and I frown looking back towards Kaede and Shippo. I knew I had to stay here to protect them, but I hated the thought of not knowing what Inuyasha and Miroku were encountering in the woods.
And I wanted to meet Naraku face to face, finally see the man that kept terrorizing me in my dreams.
"What are ye waiting for, child. Let's go!" Kaede states impatiently, and I blink at her in surprise. Hardly about to argue, I follow the old lady closely into the woods, Shippo leaping up onto my shoulder.
"If things go south, you and Shippo need to book it out of there." I comment, already feeling guilty for selfishly agreeing to go in there with them instead of making them stay away. If they got hurt it would be my fault because I couldn't resist the urge to finally set eyes on this guy. Then again, I knew Kaede probably wanted to see him just as much as me, and nothing rarely stopped this woman. We break into a clearing, and my heart stops as I see familiar white fur.
'It really is him.' I think to myself, gooseflesh erupting on my skin. Inuyasha blocked him one way, while Miroku blocked him the other, Naraku standing between the two of them concealed in his baboon pelt. Inuyasha and Miroku both were glaring at him, faces hard and bodies tense.
I felt like I could barely move as well.
His head slowly turns from Inuyasha back to Miroku, and due to our position just beyond the monk, he spots us as well. Naraku's head tilts, and a dark chuckle leaves his lips from under his mask. The same sadistic sound I had heard so many times echoing in my head. Time almost seemed to stop as I had to continue to mentally check myself that this was real, and he really was standing right there in front of me.
"Yua, what a pleasant surprise." Naraku's voice comes out smoothly, the low timbre easily recognizable. "It's so nice to finally meet you in person."
"Can't say I feel the same way." I answer with a frown, taking Shippo and handing him to Kaede while I step in front of them protectively. "I'm not defenseless here, Naraku. The playing field is much more even now than inside of my dreams." I tap into my energy, holding nothing back as the electricity created by it snaps around my glowing hands.
'Yua, you need to be careful. This isn't the time to get cocky.' Mayumi cautions wisely.
'This is the time to show him I'm not to be messed with.' I argue firmly.
"You may look like Mayumi, but you certainly don't have her restraint." Naraku quips, and I could hear the smirk on his voice through I couldn't see it on his face.
"You have no right speaking her name." I warn him, my hair starting to fly around my head, unbound by the vortex my power was creating around me. Naraku laughs once more, clearly not at all worried.
"Oh, you will be fun to break." He hisses out, and the underlying meaning is all too clear. So much so, that Inuyasha starts to shake with rage across the clearing from me.
"You'll never get your dirty hands on her. I'll see to that personally along with avenging Mayumi's death." Inuyasha promises him, his voice deadly serious. "Before I kill you, answer me this, why do you have such a grudge against me?"
"Good question." Naraku compliments smoothly, before giving a short laugh. "I suppose you need an answer to that question, or else enteral rest will surely allude you in death."
"It is him." Kaede speaks up as she shifts to look around me, her voice solemn. I frown as I glance towards her. Naraku turns and looks back towards us, or more pointedly Kaede.
"Kaede…" He simpers. "Age has not be kind to you."
"Aye, that confirms it! You are Onigumo!" Kaede states, sounding sure. I blink, remembering the story that Mayumi had told me then. That's right! Onigumo was found by Kikyo who healed him. Kaede must have helped somewhere along the way!
"Onigumo…that name brings me such fond memories." Naraku responds with a laugh, though there is a hint of sarcasm in his voice. "Nay, I am Naraku, not Onigumo." He denies easily. "It cannot be denied that I was born Onigumo fifty years ago." I frown, my hands clenching tightly into fist at my side. "Onigumo was such a foolish man. He began to foster desires for the kind-hearted young priestess who nursed him. Eventually, he succumbed to his weakness and called forth the demons."
"You had them devour you, giving them your body in exchange for their powers." I supply knowingly, Naraku looking towards me from under his mask. "That way you could seek out the Jewel…and Kikyo as well."
"So Mayumi has spoken of me, has she?" He asks rhetorically. "Yes, that is precisely what happened. Hundreds of demons merged within my body to become one. A demon named Naraku. Myself" He proclaims. "It required countless demons to create my body. Because the priestess, Kikyo, was so powerless the region teamed with demons. Her power had diminished because she had fallen in love with a worthless half-demon." I can't help looking towards Inuyasha, watching as he shifts at that, his eyes widening slightly.
'He hadn't realized that her love for him had weakened her.' I realize, chewing on my lower lip.
"She submitted to her childish desires." Naraku goes on, sounding almost spiteful, even after all these years. "She attempted to use the Shikon Jewel for her own purposes. For that, she was punished." He growls out lowly. "And Inuyasha, you suffered the punishment as well."
'Talk about a woman scorned.' I can't help thinking as I listen to him, frowning all the more.
"After regaining my strength I returned to my fortress, only to find my men rising against me. They were easily taken care of." Naraku continues, giving a cold chuckle. "If I could not have Kikyo, I was determined to have Mayumi as my own. Naturally she fought it." Inuyasha was nearly vibrating with rage at this point. "She refused my claim on her, refused to release to me the Sacred Jewel within her nineteenth year, and I refused to be beaten by two worthless women. Do you really think Mayumi escaped me that day?" I blink in surprise hearing him, my mouth dropping open in disbelief.
'What? What is he talking about?' Mayumi asks, feeling just as confused as me in that moment.
"It is true, in the end my plan did not work as I had intended, and I had lost her completely." Naraku amended slightly. "Mayumi knew of the Sacred Jewel in Kikyo's possession, and I knew she would find her way to it in an attempt to keep it from me. I figured it would be easy, two Sacred Jewels in one place. I would take Kikyo's by force, and manipulate Mayumi into giving up her's. What I had not intended on was Mayumi falling in love with Inuyasha, nor Inuyasha falling in love with her." The last bit comes out as a low growl, anger dripping from each word. "I had protected Mayumi, cared for her even, and that was how she decided to repay me? My plan developed into something so much more…"
"You bastard." I can't help growling out, feeling not only my rage, but Mayumi's as well just barely being held back at the surface. "So what? Because you couldn't have either, you decided to kill them both?!"
"In the end, yes." Naraku easily agrees. "I had hoped to have both Jewels in my possession well before that, however. Though I was infuriated with Mayumi's love for another, I also knew that I could use that to my advantage."
"You killed her family and she didn't give up her Sacred Jewel. What makes you think threatening Inuyasha would change that?" I can't help asking in disbelief.
"The bond between family is different than the bond between a man and woman. Mayumi knew her family's wishes, knew that they had been prepared to lose their lives to keep another Sacred Jewel from being formed and falling into my hands. Inuyasha, however, was innocent in that matter. He didn't even know what Mayumi was fully capable of at the time." Naraku turns towards Inuyasha. "How does it feel? To know someone you loved so dearly couldn't even trust you not to turn corrupt against her should you have known about her capabilities to form a Sacred Jewel?" He jabs at him, and I can see a flash of hurt in Inuyasha's eyes.
'No…' Mayumi protests weakly. 'Inuyasha…it wasn't like that at all!'
'Then why didn't you ever tell him?' I can't help asking her, wondering if Naraku was actually right. I'm met with a hollow silence, and my heart ached for Inuyasha's sake.
"The rest, as they say, is history." Naraku finishes coldly. "I'm sure you've all been able to piece it together by now."
"You bastard!" Inuyasha growls lowly as he points at him threateningly. "You are to blame for everything that happened! You deceived Kikyo into believing I was still in love with her, so that in her jealous rage she'd kill Mayumi, and I would in turn kill Kikyo for revenge."
"It is claimed that the Sacred Jewel grows even more beautiful when it is tainted with malice." Naraku claims, his voice low. "I could not have planned it better to have Mayumi burned with it, her spirit angered and bitter from Kikyo's attack on her, and on you. Thank you for that, Kaede." He chuckles as he nods towards the old woman, who was looking at him with disdain.
"What are you talking about? Mayumi isn't a vengeful soul." I argue firmly, but Naraku simply laughs.
"Then why was her soul reincarnated into your body?" He points out. "Souls are only ever reincarnated if they cannot find peace, if they have unresolved business in the living world." My eyes widen, heart racing then. "Do you really think that Mistress Centipede knew to pull you into the well all on her own? That she didn't have help finding you? You must have felt something prior to coming to this time."
'The pulses…coming from the Sacred Tree…from voices from the well….' I think, mind racing. Naraku, obviously seeing the look on my face, chuckled darkly.
"She's been manipulating you from inside all this time, Yua. From the moment she got you pulled into the well. Everything that you have done, ever choice you have made here, has been because she has allowed it." I breathe a little heavier, feeling like my worst fears were being confirmed.
I wasn't in control of my own body after all. She had lied to me?
'Yua, stop! Don't listen to him! He's wrong!' Mayumi desperately tries to argue as I look down at my glowing hands in disbelief.
'But I feel what you feel! I never had these powers before I came here! You have even taken over my body completely before!' I argue back angrily, hands clenching into fists. 'Have you been using me all along?' I blink back tears of hurt, feeling utterly betrayed as I look towards Inuyasha across the clearing, memory of our kiss flashing through my head. 'Is none of this is me? None of this is real?'
'This is all very real, Yua. You're in control, you've been making your own choices! Don't let him manipulate you!' Mayumi insists urgently. 'This is what he's good at! He can already sense your internal conflict with me! He wants to drive a wedge between you and all of us so you're more vulnerable. Don't let him succeed!'
'Just shut up and leave me alone.' I growl lowly, before forcibly cutting her out of my head, glaring at Naraku now as I feel my energy pulse around me. It didn't matter if what he said was true, if I was being manipulated, because one way or another I knew he'd follow through with his threats against me.
There was no way in hell I was letting him touch me.
"Yua!" Inuyasha's face is set in a deadly glare as he stares at Naraku. "Look inside his pelt! How many fragments are there?!" Happy for the distraction, I gaze over Naraku, feeling my stomach drop in realization.
There was too many to even count.
"Lots! I can't even count how many!" I shout back to him, bending my knees and shifting my feet like Inuyasha had taught me all those months ago. Inuyasha smirks cockily then.
"Hey, Naraku, want to see something really scary?" Inuyasha asks rhetorically. "I'll slit you from head to toe to show you what malice means!" He promises, before launching himself across the clearing towards Naraku. Naraku leaps into the air, Inuyasha quickly following.
"IRON REAVER SOUL STEALER!" Inuyasha shouts loudly, swiping at Naraku. He shreds the pelt, revealing a man underneath that keeps his face hidden by his kimono sleeve. He has black hair, and looks strongly built as he and Inuyasha seemingly float in the air together. Suddenly, a dark purple haze emits from Naraku and begins killing and even melting all the greenery in its path. Miroku grabs at my arm and shoves me back towards Kaede.
"A cloud of destruction!" He shouts, pushing at us and urging us to run.
'Inuyasha!' I worry, brushing his hands off before clapping my hands together and forcing my energy outwards. The air around us purifies as it hits my aura, Miroku and Kaede both looking at me in surprise. I'm hardly paying attention, trying to find Inuyasha in the haze surrounding us. I can feel the familiar power of the Tessaiga as he draws it, though Inuyasha was too far away to see.
"I can't see either of them anywhere." Miroku frowns in frustration, his hand tightening around his staff.
"Inuyasha has drawn Tessaiga." I inform him, worry still gripping at me as well. Shippo jumps up onto my shoulder, looking around at the barrier that surrounded us.
"How long can you keep the barrier up?" He asks, and I look up to him with a small smile.
"Long enough." I answer truthfully, before looking back towards the direction I had felt Tessaiga's energy. A great tornado of the poisonous gases suddenly forms in the far distance, the gases being pushed out and dissipating as soon as the vortex disappears.
"Naraku's energy is gone." I frown deeply, releasing the barrier once it was safe. "Shippo, stay with Kaede and Miroku." Without waiting for anyone to say anything I start running through the ruined forest towards where the tornado had appeared, relief flooding me as I find Inuyasha there as well.
'The fire-rat kimono…the top disintegrated…' I realize with wide eyes, slowly stepping up towards him. The white undershirt still has the dried blood on it from reopening his wound, the red standing out vibrantly against the fabric.
"He got away." Inuyasha murmurs, obviously to himself as his shoulders slump in defeat, his ears tucking back. "That wicked demon managed to escape me." He drops Tessaiga down so the tip of the blade rests against the melted earth below us.
"Hey…" I frown, feeling my heart aching for him as he turns towards me, looking utterly defeated. "This isn't the end, you know? We're going to find him, and we'll make sure he pays for what he did to you, Mayumi, and Kikyo." I state, and though I wanted to be closer to him, suddenly I felt so unsure. He had just found out that Kikyo hadn't betrayed him, not on purpose, and that she had still loved him despite him leaving her for Mayumi. Maybe that was bringing old feelings between them to the surface? I actually felt sorry for the priestess when Naraku had revealed the truth behind Mayumi's assumptions on his orchestrated efforts behind both her's and Kikyo's death. Tessaiga transforms back into the dull blade in his hands, and he shifts to slide it back into it's sheath.
"Come here." His voice is gruff with emotion, meanwhile I feel relief rushing over me in a huge wave. I take a timid step first, wanting to make sure I heard him correctly. When he opens his arms up, I know I had, and I rush the last few steps into them. I bury my face into his shoulder, taking in the comforting scent of pine that thankfully overwhelmed the lingering sour smell of the decay around us. Carefully I wrap my arms around his middle, being sure not to press too firmly against his wound, but as he pulls me in more firmly, I can see he isn't particularly worried about it himself.
"I'm going to kill him for what he did to Mayumi and Kikyo." He promises into my ear, my chin resting on his shoulder as I hold onto him.
"I know." I whisper back, convinced Inuyasha would do just that. Regardless of whether it was Mayumi's will or mine…
I would be there to help every step of the way.
Night came swiftly it seemed, it wasn't long before and Kaede, Shippo, and Miroku were all fast asleep in various positions around the fire in Kaede's hut. Sleep, however, evaded me.
"She's been manipulating you from inside all this time, Yua. From the moment she got you pulled into the well. Everything that you have done has been because she has allowed it."
I can feel Mayumi pushing at my mind, trying to break in for the hundredth time today. I close my eyes tightly, shutting her out, needing more time on my own to think things through. I've always been horrible for my knee-jerk reactions, and I felt slightly guilty that Mayumi was now a victim of one of them. I just couldn't think with her there in my head, not freely, anyways. Mayumi had assured me, since the beginning, the my choices were my own, my powers my own, and completely separate from her. I had believed her, trusted her, and she had yet to do anything to break that trust. Mayumi had even given me my body back after encountering Kikyo's resurrected form.
'She wouldn't have done that if she wanted control.' I think, trying to convince myself. 'But maybe then it's still all a ploy until the opportune time comes for her to take over for good…' I feel ice cold fear race through me. 'She had said she could only take over if I willed it, but what if that's a lie?' Sighing quietly to myself I stand, glancing towards the three other sleeping figures to make sure I don't wake them as I quietly leave the hut. Looking ahead I can see him in the large tree in the distance, his figure outlined by the rising moon. 'He had looked so lost this afternoon…' Inuyasha had been unusually quiet the rest of the day, his eyes distant as he no doubt thought of any and all scenarios that he could have changed all those years ago. As hard as he could sometimes be on everyone else, he was actually the hardest on himself.
I walk down towards the tree, and as his ears twitch I know he senses me. I move to stand under him at the trunk of the tree, leaning my side against it as I gaze at the river below us that runs through the middle of the village.
"You should be sleeping." Inuyasha speaks up softly from above me, and I can't help a small smile.
"So should you." I murmur gently in return, hearing him scoffing slightly.
"I had enough of being babied with those three that last few days. They even locked me in a hut."
"As a result of your stubbornness to not slow down and recover, I heard." I quip lightly, and though I can't see his face I can envision that small smirk on his full lips. "Why aren't you sleeping?" I ask then, wondering if he'd admit to what he's been thinking about all day.
"Thinking. You?" He answers, his answer blunt but his tone gentle.
"Thinking." I answer in the same manner, a teasing lilt to my voice. Inuyasha scoffs once more, before shifting and jumping down from the tree to stand directly in front of me. I look up, his amber eyes gazing at me with some unreadable emotion. He opens his mouth, hesitating for only a moment, before finally speaking.
"We should talk…about what happened in the forest before I made you leave." My eyes widen in surprise when he says this, having not expected at all that he would be the one to initiate that talk. I feel my pulse speed up, my face heating at the memory of his hands on me, his lips pressed against my own with that hunger.
"W-what do you want to say?" I ask, apprehension filling me. This was where he said he hadn't meant it, that he lost control and forgot it was me he was kissing, and not Mayumi.
"I-fuck…" He curses, sighing heavily as he runs a clawed hand nervously through his hair. I tilt my head, finding it kind of cute as a reddish tint blooms at the high points in his cheeks. "I didn't mean to attack you like I did…" I chew on my lower lip, having prepared myself for this.
"I get it." I murmur softly, my voice sounding more hollow than I wanted it to. "You thought I was Mayumi-"
"No!" Inuyasha interrupts sharply, shaking his head with a deep frown as I look at him in surprise. "That's not it at all." His eyes look down, away from me. "I have to admit, I had to ask myself that, but it was you, Yua. I promise." He murmurs softly, and I feel that roller coaster effect as my hopes soar up again. "I've had feelings towards you growing for a while now, I didn't know what they were, but I knew that if that had been the last time I was to ever going to see you, I had to kiss you. To know." His eyes turn back up towards me, his gaze utterly serious. "I can smell it on you…your attraction towards me. For months it has been driving me crazy, especially when I saw that you actually cared about me." He reaches a hand up slowly, brushing the backs of his knuckles against my cheek softly as I blush hotly.
He smelled my attraction for him? Does that mean what I think it does?
"And when you submitted to me in that kiss…fuck…I almost couldn't stop." He growls lowly, heat rushing through me once again as his fingers tangle into the hair at the base of my neck. "But it was all you Yua, it's you that I want." He murmurs, putting all my fears to rest in that single proclamation.
"I want you too." I whisper softly to him, watching his unsure gaze widen in slightly surprise. "And it's me, Inuyasha, I'm the one falling for you." I admit with a shaky breath, feeling my entire body trembling. Slowly Inuyasha leans down, resting his forehead against my own, before grimacing and forcefully pulling himself away.
'What?' I gasp in shock, the warmth gone as he takes a couple steps back from me.
"We can't, Yua, not right now." He states regretfully, looking anywhere but at me in that moment. I swallow thickly, still feeling so confused. "With trying to defeat Naraku…with my revenge…I can't be…' My eyes widen in realization.
"You can't be distracted." I finish, my voice cracking weakly. I hold back the disappointed tears forming in my eyes, threatening to burn down my face. It's not like he was saying he didn't feel the same way, he was saying that it just couldn't be right now.
'I can't be selfish. I can't be impatient or I'll drive him away.' I know this about him, and I know that his revenge for Mayumi's and Kikyo's deaths were important to him. Rightfully so. I didn't want him to feel guilty about prioritizing himself, not over this at least.
"I-I get it." I nod, swallowing back the tears and offering him a small smile. "I do." I promise as his head shoots up in shock when I first speak, his eyes wide with disbelief. "What? Did you think I was going to leave?" I give a shaky laugh then, some tears leaking out despite my best efforts when I do. I wipe them away quickly. "When I told you I'm not leaving you, I meant it. We're going to do this together, Inuyasha."
"We sure as hell are."
The drama! Well I hope this reunion didn't disappoint? Let's go for the same goal of ten reviews for an update on Wednesday, shall we? You guys were amazing the last time, and I got a total of 17 reviews for an early update!
We're soooooo close to 200 reviews! I can't believe it!
Thanks again for reading, and for your continual support of this story! Until Wednesday (hopefully :P)
T.O.T.
