And another chapter out. Considering what happens for about the first half of it, I feel like I'm spoiling you, too – at least in comparison to up until now LOL Still, be patient and bear with me. Tell yourself that the longer I actually take in establishing the InuKag pairing, the better things I have in store for you (both in terms of fluff and drama *winks*). Maybe that'll make you wore willing to wait ;)
Happy reading :3
Tracks for this chapter:
Yui Makino:Tsuki no Shijima
Standard disclaimer and reader's key apply
Chapter 51 – True Friends
The wind blew softly as the sun's early morning rays blanketed the surrounding landscape, but the silver-haired hanyō standing at a side railing of a Buddhist temple saw nothing of nature's morning beauty, her mind wandering in much darker and unpleasant places.
Last night, Kagome finally realized not long before while waiting for Mushin to finish sewing Miroku's wound, was not an accident or a coincidence. Nor was it Naraku reacting to a sudden turn of events. No, last night had been a carefully created plan. A plan whose mastermind was more than obvious.
Naraku.
Kagome had offhandedly wondered aloud how Miroku had gotten wounded in the first place and Kohaku had informed her it had probably happened when the village and the well had been attacked. Curiously enough, although no one had thought much of it at the time, most of the demons attacking the village had been flying insect types with sharp pincers which could, when sucked in the wrong way, cut at Miroku's Air Rip. And that was probably what had happened. Which meant the attack from two days ago wasn't so much to ensure the well was a very much valid target if Naraku wanted to get at the group (although the information was probably a nice bonus for the spider), as to somehow weaken Miroku and use that weakness to kill him.
Of course, that would imply Naraku had correctly predicted that Miroku would leave them behind once his Kazaana was wounded, he wouldn't have bothered to go to such lengths otherwise. Or at least, that was what Kagome suspected. Which meant he had known the houshi would leave on his own in a situation such as this. Not that Kagome was surprised. After all, it was no longer a question that Naraku was watching them at all times. It stood to reason that he had observed them all long before they have met, and observed Miroku in particular, as the monk had been the only one in their little group actively hunting him for as long as he had. So the spider had more than enough time to figure out how Miroku's mind worked and what decisions he'd most likely make in certain situations.
And knowing Naraku could predict their reactions in certain situations was more than a little unnerving.
Just then, her nose caught the approaching scent of an old man and she turned around, her eyes meeting Mushin's for the first time since he wasn't possessed. The head monk regarded her for a second or two as if he were assessing her before nodding to himself.
"You must be Kagome, right? May I talk to you for a moment?" he asked good-naturally, his demeanor much different now that he was himself. Eyes narrowing partially in mistrust and partially in worry, Kagome nodded, unable to help wondering what the monk might want to talk to her about – especially alone. Without another word, Mushin stepped up beside her and leaned his elbows on the railing of the temple, much like she had done before. Turning back around, Kagome did the same, allowing the wind to ruffle her hair.
"You've treated the Air Rip wound properly, didn't you?" Kagome finally asked when the elder spiritualist made no move to start talking, despite being the one who originally wanted to have a conversation. His response, however, didn't seem to have much in common with the hanyō's question.
"Destroy Naraku immediately," he told her as he turned his head to stare at her imploringly, causing Kagome to blink in confusion as her mind reeled and tried to catch up with the man's words, and more importantly make sense of them. It wasn't very hard.
"You mean… the wound?" she asked, not really daring to voice what she was afraid was the truth. Mushin seemed to understand what she wanted to know, though, and he sighed.
"I treated him as best I could but… the wound had already widened," he said gravely, causing Kagome to freeze. The implications of that were more than clear. And more than just a bit frightening.
"So… Miroku-sama's life span has shortened," she said, rather than asked, knowing that it was the truth. If the wound had widened, there was really no way Miroku's life span didn't shorten accordingly. Kagome sighed, her ears drooping. "How long does he have?" she asked quietly, a part of her terrified of the answer. She hadn't known the houshi very long, but much like Inuyasha, he had become a friend to her – a friend she didn't want to lose if she could help it. But if she expected a definite answer from the man who raised Miroku, she was sorely disappointed.
"No idea," he said, his voice as disappointed as Kagome felt. It was obvious Mushin didn't exactly like the answer he had to give her. "But I do know that the Kazaana in Miroku hand is due to Naraku's curse. In other words, if you can destroy Naraku, the kazaana will dissolve and Miroku's life will be saved."
She didn't need to look into Mushin's eyes to know that the old monk wasn't saying that just for the heck of it. He was saying it because he believed she, with the others' help, could actually pull it off and defeat Naraku in time. He was saying it because he wanted her to tell him she'd do her best. He barely knew her, and she was a half-demon, but this monk still believed she'd help Miroku, the young man Mushin had raised. Most of that confidence was probably due to whatever few memories the monk might have from the previous night and the role that Kagome had played then, but it was still surprising to the half-demon, as she wasn't anywhere near used to being treated so… well, kindly, for lack of a better way to put it. It was nice, she had to admit. It was too bad that as a hanyō, she shouldn't actually hope for that kind of treatment.
"Why? Because you're 'only' a half-demon?" a voice echoed in her mind and her head snapped up, looking for the one who had spoken. But Mushin and her aside, there was no one there. Kagome frowned. The words and the voice seemed familiar to her somehow, and yet she could not place where or when she had heard whoever it was say those words. She was sure, however, that those words were meant as a reprimand for her. A reprimand for looking down on herself. But she wasn't looking down on herself… was she?
She was sure she wasn't. She had never thought herself any lower than anyone else, after all. What she didn't realize was that quite often, her words and thoughts and her actions in that regard were nothing short of contradictory. Which in turn pointed quite clearly to a single conclusion: she was in denial. She denied that the words and opinions of others affected her because she knew better than to let them affect her… but in reality, they affected her a lot. She just, surprisingly, failed to realize it herself.
Before she could ponder the strange words her memory seemed to throw at her, Mushin spoke once more, making her once again face the problem at hand.
"Miroku's father and grandfather have both tried and failed to hunt down Naraku and destroy him. And as things stand now, Miroku is on the path that will lead him to the same end as that of his predecessors," he said, his tone making it obvious that it was not a fate he wished for the young man, nor one he ever wanted to see again. Looking out at the temple grounds, Kagome's eyes were once again drawn to the mysterious hole with a small statue in its middle. Somehow, Mushin's words made her think that hole might just have been made by someone of Miroku's family as they time ran out. If that was true, then looking at what was left, the half-demon knew for certain that she didn't want to see exactly how Miroku's family ended when their time ran out. The images her mind provided were more than enough.
"He won't meet that kind of end. Not if I have anything to say about it," she muttered aloud, more talking to herself than anything else. It wasn't so much a promise as it was an assurance that she'd try her best to help, but it seemed to be enough for Mushin. The monk nodded and then walked back to where Miroku and the others were without another word. But his departure left Kagome with nothing short of chaos in her mind. And said chaos was due to a promise she had already given and a promise she had stopped herself from giving, but wanted to give nonetheless.
Miroku's time was running out, that was undeniable. He might still have several years, maybe even a decade if he was lucky, but the sand in the clepsydra was still flowing. And eventually, all would have flowed from one part to the other and time would run out. Not knowing exactly how much time was left was all the more reason to focus on the problem and try to solve it.
However, there was one thing that stopped Kagome from openly admitting to Mushin that she'd do all she could to save Miroku and hunt down Naraku. And that was the promise she'd given to Inuyasha – the promise to protect him along with the promise to help him find someone who could take the Jewel from him. That she'd ever be able to fulfill that second promise was unlikely at best and she knew it, but it didn't change the fact that it was a promise she'd given, and she was a woman of her word. Hunting Naraku would most likely put their search on hold if not mean they'd have to abandon it completely, not to mention it would be counter-productive to the promise of protecting the priest, because if she started to openly hunt Naraku, she would only be putting Inuyasha in more danger. It was enough that Naraku was trying to destroy them as he was, they didn't really need to try and pick a fight with him.
Kagome's fists clenched. For the first time in her life, she truly didn't know what to do. On one hand, she knew she had to hunt down Naraku if she wanted to help Miroku. But on the other hand, the thought of endangering Inuyasha in any way, and hunting the spider would do just that, made her feel sick. She couldn't do it. Nor could she ignore Miroku's limited time. She growled in frustration. One of her option was bad, but the other was even worse. Was there no right way to handle things?
'Miroku-sama wouldn't have wanted for us to worry too much about him,' she thought, knowing that to be true. She hadn't realized it up until now, but her and Miroku were quite alike. Their reasons for acting the way they did were certainly different, but they behaved much in the same way. Both of them put on a brave front to hide their dark thoughts and worries (possibly even from themselves in Kagome's case), both preferred to deal with their problems on their own and not involve others... and both were loners.
"I'm not very good with people," Miroku had told them when she and Inuyasha had first offered that he travel with them. Back then, Kagome had thought she had understood his reasons for that. But it was only now that she really did, now that she had seen firsthand what the kazaana implied. Of course, she had always known that the Air Rip would eventually cost Miroku his life… but somehow, she hadn't really realized just how bad it was or how much Miroku himself was affected by it. Actually, it was a lot like the way Inuyasha thought about her being a half-demon: he knew she was hated by both races, but while he thought he understood it, he hadn't really experienced it in the same way she had, and thus didn't fully grasp it.
Kagome sighed as her thoughts moved to the future-born teen. Miroku wouldn't want any of them to worry too much, that was true. But if Inuyasha was told of her dilemma…
'Inuyasha would want me to forget about the promise given to him and his safety and focus on helping Miroku-sama.' She didn't need to ask the kannushi for his opinion to know that that was exactly how he'd react. He was just that kind of person. He could be rude and selfish at times, sure, but he was still a kind soul who looked out for others, she couldn't deny that. She sighed again, her mind turning in circles. What the hell was she supposed to do?
"Hey, Kagome!" As if sensing she was thinking of him, Inuyasha came out of the temple and approached her. She didn't move other than flicking her ears in his direction to let him know she heard him and was listening, deciding instead to keep her eyes on the horizon. Inuyasha came up beside her and leaned on the railing as well, much like Mushin had done a few minutes before. "What did the old monk want from you?"
"Just to let me know that he treated Miroku-sama's wound and that everything is fine for now," she replied evasively, not lying, but not stating the entire truth, either. Inuyasha frowned as he glanced sideways at her. He might not have a half-demon's nose or ears to sense lies, but somehow, he could tell that there was more to it than that. There was something she wasn't telling him. And the idea that she was keeping secrets from him didn't actually sit well with him. He raised an eyebrow.
"That's all?" he asked disbelievingly, hoping she might end up telling him the whole truth. But Kagome wasn't going to tell him just what Mushin had needed to say to her. Inuyasha didn't need to know. It was enough that she knew. She, and Miroku certainly as well.
"That's all," she said and Inuyasha snorted, not believing a word of it.
[T]
"You're a bad liar, you know that?" he told her as he turned his head so he could glare at her instead of the scenery before them. "You think I can't tell something's bothering you?"
Kagome faltered. She actually thought that yes, although now that she stopped to ponder it a little, it was actually stupid. Inuyasha had often proved to be more capable of reading her than others. Although admittedly, for some reason, she had never been as able to hide her emotions in front of him as in front of others. She sighed, knowing that attempting to make him believe there was nothing bothering her would bear no fruit.
"It's nothing," she said instead, hoping he'd drop the subject. As she should have expected from the stubborn kannushi, however, he didn't.
"Bullshit," he said, his eyes narrowing angrily. But the frown didn't last long and instead of continuing to push her, Inuyasha turned away to look at the horizon just as Kagome did, his expression forlorn. "Why won't you talk to me?" he asked her softly, causing Kagome to glance at him in confusion as her ears twitched at the sad note in his voice.
"I am talking to you," she said and cocked her head to the side, wondering what he meant. It wasn't like she was ignoring him, after all.
"That's not what I mean and you know it," Inuyasha bit back, once again shooting her a glare, but it only confused her further. She didn't know what he meant, actually. Thankfully, the future-born priest went on without her having to ask him to. "You always do this! No matter what it is that troubles you, you never tell me or anyone else anything! Why, damn it? Why do you always insist on shouldering everything alone?" As he spoke, Inuyasha couldn't help but remember that one conversation he had with Ririko about Kagome. The other girl had, from his brief description, immediately called Kagome a 'born martyr', and whether or not she had been serious, the observation had been spot on. And Inuyasha had enough of that.
"I'm not trying to shoulder everything on my own," Kagome tried to defend herself, even though she knew she had little possibility to do so. In this particular case, the other person shouldering the burden was Miroku and the houshi probably wasn't even aware that Mushin had told her. But something told Kagome that if she let Inuyasha know that, it wouldn't help any. And as for the other instances… wait, were there any other instances? She didn't think so. At least, she couldn't recall any.
"Yes, you are. You did it when Kikyo was revived when you jumped on ahead without telling me or Kaede anything. And you were human then."
"I didn't exactly have the time to explain anything to anyone, Inuyasha," Kagome replied, her tone warning as her confusion gave way to irritation. Inuyasha didn't seem to notice, though. And even if he did, he ignored it.
"Oh yeah? Then how about that time after a wolf stole the Jewel from me? You could have told me straight out that it was affecting you. Instead, you talked in riddles and practically threw me down the well."
"I trusted you to figure it out on your own. And…" she broke off, bile rising in her throat and making her feel so uncomfortable that she had to look away from the priest. 'And I was afraid that if I stayed too close to you for too long, the Jewel would control me and I'd end up killing you, killing someone important to me again,' she thought, unable say these thoughts aloud. She suspected they'd make Inuyasha want to know where that kind of fear could possibly come from and his possible questions just weren't something she felt she was ready to deal with yet, if ever. The kannushi, for his part, took her sudden hesitation as a sign that she had nothing to rebut him with and continued pushing.
"There was the Baku, too. You insisted Miroku and I go on while you distract him. Conveniently leaving out that you might die if you win. Or… in that cave… when you insisted to fight alone. I might not know who that woman was that demon pretended to be, but I sure as hell know it wasn't someone who was easy for you to fight! I'm not stupid Kagome.
"Remember how you continuously told me that I was overconfident and that that overconfidence would one day come bite me in the ass? Well, guess what: it might have taken a while but I can finally admit you were right the whole time. I learned from my mistakes, from the mistake I made when I purified you. What kind of lesson will it take for you to finally learn to stop doing everything on your own, to stop acting like a fucking martyr?!" He was almost shouting now as his anger grew, but just like before, it deflated as swiftly as it came and he was left glaring at the wooden floor beneath his feet, his gaze sad and somewhat frightened had Kagome but seen it. Sadly, his bangs hid his eyes from her view.
And as for Kagome, she was astonished enough that it would take little more for her jaw to literally drop. It wasn't only because she wasn't used to having someone chew her out (mostly because the people who would care enough to chew her out were more than rare), but because Inuyasha's words struck something in her soul, some deep memory she couldn't quite recall, but one that seemed to ring in tandem with what the future-born teen was saying. And also because of what he called her.
"I'm not a martyr. A martyr is someone who'd willingly sacrifice himself for the sake of people he doesn't necessarily know because he believes there's no other way to help them. I'm a protector. I protect people. Doesn't mean I wouldn't mind dying for them. I very much would. I told you before, I intend to keep living," she said and crossed her arms in front of her chest. Really, the things Inuyasha said sometimes…
"Don't you realize that your actions contradict your words? Fuck, Kagome, you almost died once already! How many times will that have to happen before you finally learn that you can't do everything on your own?! How long until you finally learn that you have people you can and should trust?! When will you finally see reason, see that you're not alone anymore?!" The kannushi moved forward and grabbed Kagome's arms as he spoke, desperate to make the hanyō see where he was coming from. Kagome's eyes widened as gold met violet and she seemed to freeze in response, her arms falling limply at her sides. The black haired priest loosened his grip on her but didn't let her go. He lowered his head, however, his voice once again quiet and subdued as he continued.
"You're just like Miroku. He didn't tell us when his Kazaana got ripped and look where that got him. Don't you want to tell him that he should have trusted us more and told us what was wrong from the beginning? I know you do, we all do. But you should fucking start to follow your own damn advice, Kagome."
Whether the priest was realizing just how deep his words reached or not, Kagome wasn't sure, but she suspected he did. And she knew he was right, too, she had noticed the same thing a little while ago. Miroku hadn't shied away from getting somewhat close with them, but when it mattered, he always kept an arm's length distance. Just as Kagome did. Their reasons for that were probably, no, definitely different, but they still both did the same thing.
Unable to help herself, Kagome thought back to the previous night and the way Inuyasha's concern for her had made her feel. It had been a feeling she wasn't used to, it had been warm and kind of nice. But she had squashed it down. Why? It had seemed like the right thing to do at the time, but thinking back on it, Kagome couldn't for the life of her understand her own reasoning. Why would it be bad if she let Inuyasha's concern made her feel like she belonged? Why should she continue to push him away when he so insisted that she should stop?
She knew exactly why. Because all her life, ever since her mother had died (since she had killed her, to be exact) she didn't belong anywhere and she was all alone. No one accepted her and everybody hated her, with extremely few exceptions. It was just the way things were and there was nothing she could do about it. She had tried, of course she had, when she had been younger and a whole lot more naïve, but she knew better now. The world and life weren't fair and they would never be. Part of that unfairness was her fate as a hanyō, a fate neither she nor anyone else could do anything about. And since she couldn't do anything about being hated either way, why should she fight it?
A person like her would have been called a fatalist in Inuyasha's time. And that was what she had become, really. She was a half-demon and as such, her fate was to be hated by nearly everyone in the world just for what she was. It was a fate she couldn't oppose, couldn't fight… so why bother? Energy spent on fighting for herself against a thing like fate, a thing she could do nothing about, was wasted energy that would have been spent better to live as she had always lived, to be herself despite what the world thought of her: the protector that she was. So that's what she had always done. But it seemed that now, her unwillingness to fight her own fate had somehow turned into a hypocritical attempt to keep it unchanged despite the changes that had obviously already happened.
She had always told Inuyasha that hanyō, being hated by everyone, human and demon alike, were not meant to have a pack. That was a fact she had long since accepted and come to terms with. But what if a half-demon found people willing to be their pack? Could she still say that that hanyō wasn't meant to have a pack then?
Not in good conscience, no. If there was a half-demon who was lucky enough to find such accepting people, then that hanyō should embrace the possibility and try to form a pack with those people. But if the half-demon in question was her… then why wasn't she doing just that? Why did she keep insisting that she couldn't have a pack and keep those special few who accepted her at arm's length?
'I'm a complete fool,' she realized with a scowl, a soft growl rising from the depths of her throat as she chastised herself.
Hearing her soft growl, Inuyasha flinched slightly. He had wanted to make her see reason, even if it wasn't pleasant, much like she had done for him but a day ago when she had (not literally, but close) slapped him out of his funk. He hadn't wanted to make her angry, and he misunderstood her growl as one of anger directed at him. But he didn't back down, nor give Kagome time to respond to him with whatever angry retort she wanted to throw at him – what he didn't know was that there was none.
"Aren't I your friend?" he finally asked softly without looking up, unwilling to see Kagome's angry eyes. "Don't you trust me?" The idea that the response to both questions could be a negative hurt more than Inuyasha cared to admit. He wanted her to trust him. He wanted to be her friend. And up until not long ago, he thought that he was. But Kagome seemed to think differently and realizing that was a hard pill to swallow.
The soft question made her growl cut off abruptly as the half-demon focused on the black haired teen who still held her by her arms. His head was bowed and he wasn't looking at her, but the tone of his voice alone was enough for her to know that he feared the answer. And the only reason he'd have to fear was if he doubted what it was. She whined softly before she could stop it, then raised her hands to free her arms from his grasp and clasp his hands in hers.
"Of course you are," she said softly, quietly, a part of her yelling at her not to admit more but a bigger part of her telling her to take that risk, to keep going. This was a risk worth taking and one she needed to take. "And I do trust you. Never think otherwise. It's just that… I've been alone for so long that… I guess I forgot what it's like to have people I can trust around me. People who look out for me, who care for me… who'd want to help if I needed it. I'm just… not used to something like this, I guess."
Inuyasha's eyes widened at her soft admission and he raised his head slowly to glance at Kagome, not believing what his eyes told him as he looked at her face. It wasn't so much that he didn't believe what Kagome was telling him, the hanyō's voice was much too sincere for him to doubt her words. It was just that this was the first time he saw her opening up to anyone like this, that he saw her so sad and so… vulnerable. His chest tightened. She had always seemed so confident and strong on the outside, so untouchable by whatever people said around and about her that it had somehow never occurred to him that all that might just be a strong façade hiding a young woman who felt very much lonely and alone and who just wanted to find someone who'd care for her… and who couldn't believe she'd might have finally found that someone. And as Kagome continued to talk, her words only seemed to be driving that point home.
"Remember how I told you that hanyō weren't meant to have a pack? That I wasn't meant to have a pack?" she asked softly, the expression on her face making the kannushi unable to respond verbally, so he only nodded. But that seemed to be response enough for Kagome. "I truly believed that then, you know. And when you continued to tell me that you were my pack, or that at least you wanted to be, I kept pushing you away. I'm sorry for that. It was a… automatic, defensive response you could say. I've been on my own for almost as long as I can remember and suddenly having someone by my side who would want to be my pack, who insisted on being my pack despite my own opinion about it… it just seemed too good to be true, you know?"
[/T]
Inuyasha could only stare. Stare and wonder how in the seven hells he had never noticed anything. Hadn't Kagome told him that hanyō were hated by both human and demons? Hadn't she told him that she didn't believe she'd ever have a pack? She had. In fact, she had told him more than once. So how come he had never realized just how true it was?
He knew why. It was because back home, he had been subjected to prejudice as well. He had always been alone, avoided by everyone and as soon as people heard his name and the rumors about him, which caused them to automatically stay clear of him. Sometimes he had felt like maybe everyone else feared him, even. But that had been in school and in his neighborhood, where people knew of his reputation, false as it was, and thought he should be avoided. However, whenever he went into any given part of Tokyo, he was just another person among thousands of others, and while other people didn't pay him any mind, they didn't actively stay clear of him, either. And he had naïvely believed that it would have been something like that for Kagome, too. It had never occurred to him that she might have been treated the same way as people thought they knew everything about her just because they knew what she was everywhere she went. And now that it was more than obvious that that was how it was, he couldn't believe it he hadn't seen it sooner.
The situation from a few days back flashed in his mind again, that moment when Souta had started yelling at another villager and had almost been struck for it. Back then, he had wondered what the commotion had been about, but now it was more than clear and he cringed. Kagome's decision to let him go to the village while she went to the well had obviously not been received very well by the villagers and he couldn't believe he hadn't understood that the moment it happened. It had been so obvious. Why hadn't he seen it? Why had he ignored all the clues that he had been given? Because there had been a lot, Sango's own initial behavior and the villagers in that village that a samurai possessed with Naraku's sword had attacked being the first two he could remember of the top of his head. But he knew there had been more. So why hadn't he realized it?
The response to that was simple: denial. He had refused to believe things could be worse for Kagome than they had been for him because his own situation back home had been bad enough, even though he still had his mother on his side, and he hadn't even wanted to think what could be worse. And so his mind ignored all the signs and didn't put things together. Until now.
Still cursing himself for being blind in his mind, Inuyasha reached out and wrapped his arms around the half-demon-girl and pulled her close, resting his forehead on the back of her neck as she had already turned her back to him once again to rest her arms on the railing. It was meant as a gesture of comfort, really, but now that he'd done it, the kannushi wasn't really sure if he'd done it to comfort her or himself.
"I'm sorry," he said softly and closed his eyes, a sudden wave of grief consuming him for reasons he couldn't really name. Kagome blinked and turned her head slightly in an attempt to glance at him, but it proved futile with his current positioning.
"Why are you apologizing?" she asked softly, genuinely confused. After all, as far as she knew, he had nothing to apologize for. It would seem, however, that Inuyasha had a different opinion, not that that was unusual.
"Because I'm an idiot. I saw and heard firsthand how some people who never knew you talked about you… but it never occurred to me just how deep their hatred ran, or how it made you feel. It should have been obvious, but I never realized a thing. And I'm sorry about that."
"Don't be," the hanyō replied with a shake of her head. "You're right, after all, I never told you anything if something bothered me. How were you supposed to know?" she leaned backwards to be just a little closer to him as she spoke. The way he held her and the things he was saying were making that warm feeling she had felt last night spread within her again and this time, she wasn't fighting it back. She was tired of pushing him away and keeping him at arm's length. Would it be so bad if she let him in, if she allowed herself to become closer to him than they already were? Inuyasha obviously didn't think that way if his attempts to get through to her were anything to go by and frankly, Kagome no longer even knew why she had always thought she absolutely had to keep him from getting too close to her. If he really wanted to be her pack, who was she to deny him at least the chance to become one? And why should she deny herself the possibility of being happy and of having what she never thought she'd have, if only for a moment? Surely, the happiness of that short while would be worth it, wouldn't it? So why should she continue to fight it, especially if she was tired of it?
Inuyasha didn't agree with her. In his mind, her not telling him things was no excuse. Not in this case. After all, he should have figured things out by himself long before now, it wasn't like he hadn't seen things that should have made him think. Still, there was one thing she said that didn't feel right. It felt like it didn't add up to everything else he knew about her, little as it was.
"There's one thing I don't get, though. You said you aren't used to being surrounded by people who care for you. But what about Kaede and Kikyo before she died? You three were close, weren't you? Surely they cared about you? Kaede still does, too, there's no way you can think otherwise."
"It's not the same," the young half-demon replied with a sigh as she gently pried Inuyasha's hands off her and turned to face him, her head bowed and her eyes fixed on their joined hands without seeing them. She didn't release Inuyasha, either, nor did he attempt to pull away from her. "I meant that I'm not used to people who care like you do, people who will want me to tell them when something's bugging me and won't leave me alone unless I do. Kikyo and I… our relationship was a close one, but we never had that. We asked each other for help occasionally, yes, but if one of us was troubled by something and yet didn't make a move to talk about it of her own volition, then we didn't pry, neither of us. We were entitled to have our secrets and problems that we dealt with alone. If I was ever troubled by something but didn't approach Kikyo about it, then she'd never ask. Nor would I if it was the other way around. That's just how our relationship was. And my current relationship with Kaede is pretty much the same. If I don't come to her for advice, she will not pry. I know she won't."
"And… do you prefer it that way?" he asked her softly, unsure whether he wanted her to agree or deny it. He didn't think he'd like either answer to be honest. And much to his surprise, he hadn't gotten either answer as Kagome shrugged.
"I don't know," she told him honestly. "I can't know because I'm not used to the other variant at all. I barely ever experienced it." If she were completely honest, in fact, she had never experienced it until Inuyasha. The future-born teen had been the first to ever ask her what was wrong the moment he sensed there was something on her mind and he was also the first to continue pestering her about it if she refused to talk. Part of her was annoyed at that – if she didn't want to talk about it, then Inuyasha should just leave her the hell alone. But another part of her was undeniably happy that he cared. And it was hard to decide what was stronger, the annoyance or the happiness.
Inuyasha licked his lips, suddenly nervous. In his mind, another person whom Kagome was close to jumped to the forefront of his mind, although this time, he didn't even have a name to associate with it. Nor a face. All he knew was that it was a wolf-demon and he was wondering if bringing him up was a good idea. But as always, his mouth worked without his brain's consent, and the words tumbled out of his mouth before he could think better of it.
"And the wolf you're so close with? What about him?" he didn't dare say 'the wolf you're in love with', although what exactly made him so uncomfortable with those words, he wasn't sure. Kagome blinked at him, then frowned pensively.
"Kōga-kun?" she asked, her voice barely a whisper on the wind as her mind drifted to the wolf in question, the wolf who was the first and, her mother aside, the only one to ever truly enter her heart. She hadn't let him in, though, he had to claw and bite his way through the wall that surrounded her heart, the glassy fortress that was the last bastion guarding her only weakness (although she didn't always consider it such). And he had. Kagome smiled softly at the thought. She had never planned on letting the wolf become as close to her as he had… but he had, anyway.
"Our relationship is a complicated one for various reasons," she finally said softly, her smile turning somewhat sad at the thought. They loved each other. But no matter how much both of them wanted it, Kagome wasn't sure if they could ever be together. He was the prince of his pack, after all, their leader and he had obligations to the other wolves. Obligations that included getting himself a powerful and worthy mate, and while Kōga himself had often told her that she certainly qualified as such, she knew that his pack would have a very different opinion. "Because of that, there are secrets I can't ever tell him. And I'm sure there are secrets he's unable to tell me, as well."
Inuyasha raised an eyebrow at that. The way Kagome made it sound made him think that these secrets were something the hanyō couldn't trust the wolf, this Kōga as he was apparently named, with. But Miroku believed that Kagome and Kōga were in love and up until now, Kagome hadn't tried to deny that claim once and she must have obviously heard it at least one time. But if there were things Kagome didn't, maybe even couldn't trust Kōga with, then how could she be in love? Didn't love, or any kind of a friendly relationship, rely on unconditional trust more than anything else? As far as he knew, it did. And he was stupid enough to say it aloud.
"If there are secrets you can't tell him, then how can you really be close? If you were as close as I think you are… wouldn't you trust him with anything? Any kind of secret? And wouldn't he trust you in return?" he regretted the words the second he'd spoken them as Kagome's eyes widened slightly in surprise before narrowing. The silver haired half-demon was obviously thinking about his words, and if the following sad and somewhat pained look was anything to go by, she agreed with him. And Inuyasha wanted to kick himself as soon as that look entered her eyes, because he knew in that moment that without wanting to, he had once again said something to hurt her. He really couldn't have a single conversation without somehow putting his foot in his mouth, could he. "Kagome, I…"
"You're right," the half-demon interrupted quietly before he could say much and released his hands before taking a step back. The distance she put between Inuyasha and herself wasn't big, but the kannushi felt as if a rift had suddenly opened up between them, effectively negating any progress he might have made in trying to get Kagome to open up to him.
"You're right," the half-demon said again and Inuyasha winced at her sad tone. 'No, I'm not,' he wanted to say, but Kagome went on before he could even open his mouth. "I trust Kōga-kun in a lot of ways, but there is one thing I don't trust him with. Or anyone else, for that matter." And that something was her life, the one thing she had never dared to trust anyone with. "I never dared to trust anyone with it. And quite honestly… I'm not even sure I can anymore. But you're right, if there's even one thing I can't trust someone with, then it's not unconditional trust. And the feelings I thought I had for Kōga-kun can't exist without that."
There was no doubt in her mind that Kōga loved her. That fact was undeniable. And she thought the feelings she'd had for him were love, as well… but were they really? Could they if there was still something that stopped her from trusting Kōga, even if it was in just one way? Ah, but it was a very important kind of trust, wasn't it. So maybe she didn't love Kōga, maybe she had simply fooled herself into thinking she did because he loved her. Maybe she was incapable of loving someone anymore. It was certainly possible, right?
"Still, trusting someone unconditionally is something I haven't done for a very long while. It's something I couldn't do for most of my life and I don't know if I'm even able to trust someone unconditionally. So maybe… maybe I'm just unable to have the feelings I thought I had."
She didn't even realize the words left her mouth until Inuyasha roughly pulled her towards his chest and wrapped his arms around her, his face hidden in her hair. In his mind, he was cursing himself to hell and back for ever making her think that way. She couldn't be more wrong. There was not one more stupid thing she could have said. But she believed it anyway, and it was his fault. He really couldn't do any right by her, no matter how much he tried.
What he didn't realize and another thing Kagome never told him was that for every action that hurt her, for every miscommunication, there were several other instances that made her happy. So Inuyasha's assumption was wrong, he wasn't only good for hurting her. He just sometimes said things he shouldn't say, but that was bound to happen every once in a while, because even though his mother had tried to teach him what 'tact' was, his mind still had trouble comprehending the concept. Tact just wasn't something he had ever needed outside of his home.
"Don't say that," he whispered into her hair, desperate to chase those kinds of thoughts out of her head and cursing himself for putting them there in the first place. "Never say that, Kagome. You're the kindest person I've ever met. You always put others before yourself. So you have problems with trusting people, that's not a big deal and it's understandable. It doesn't mean you're incapable of love. Never think that, Kagome. Never."
In all honesty, given how often Kagome put others before herself and considering said others were people who were complete strangers more often than not, as far as Inuyasha was concerned, she could be considered love incarnate. She cared for everyone around her no matter who it was (except for people who threatened those she protected) and she loved everyone in her own way – she just didn't realize it. But Inuyasha did. He'd have to be blind not to see it. And he wasn't exaggerating when he said Kagome was the kindest person he'd ever met, because he seriously doubted anyone else would do half of the things she did to help others, including complete strangers who were anything but thankful for her help. And yet she never stopped. What more proof did she need that she was very much capable of loving others?
"Inuyasha," Kagome whispered from where she was nestled in his arms. If she had wanted to, she could have easily pushed him away. But she didn't. Instead, her arms rose and she gripped the front of Inuyasha's shirt, accepting his embrace and the comfort he wanted to provide. "Thank you."
Unbeknownst to Inuyasha, deep within the hanyo's chest where her heart was, a thick, glass wall, the last wall that surrounded said heart, finally cracked. A long time ago, a lone wolf had managed to make a dent in it and slip through. And now, a mere human priest was following the same path and making his own entrance… without ever being aware he was doing it, and with no knowledge how easily he had bypassed countless other walls before this one, final obstacle.
~ξ~
The following night, Inuyasha experienced a strong sense of déjà-vu as he was once again torn from his slumber by a frantic female, although this time, it hadn't been Kagome who had woken everyone up. The half-demon hadn't been anywhere in sight when he opened his eyes, in fact, and that, coupled with the way Kirara urged everyone safe Shippō to follow her, made it rather clear just why he wasn't allowed to sleep yet again. He didn't need any additional prompting from Sango or Miroku, either, as he immediately grabbed the sword that lay next to his bedding and shot out of the temple, following Kirara and what little he could feel of Kagome's fading youki – and the fact that it was fading to begin with was what made him run even faster.
As Miroku had only been well enough to travel once again mere hours before sunset, the group had decided to stay at the temple for the night and set out the next morning. Kagome hadn't objected to it, but she hadn't seemed too happy about it, either. When Inuyasha had asked her about it, she had told him it was nothing and that he shouldn't worry, once again shutting him out as he'd asked her before not to do. He hadn't called her out on it, however, because he noticed the fleeting glances she shot at the rest of their companions, and while he couldn't have been sure, he believed that whatever it was that had bothered the hanyō, it was something she just might be willing to tell him, but something she was unwilling to risk anyone else overhearing. So he hadn't pushed her. Now, he wasn't so sure if that had been a good idea. If he had known what had been bothering her, would he have persuaded the others to leave early? And would that have avoided Kagome's being in danger right now, as she must have been considering her flickering youki and Kirara's frantic behavior?
He didn't have the chance to ponder it because, despite how weak her youki felt, the half-demon was actually much closer than he'd expected her to be, barely off the temple grounds. She didn't seem to be harmed, either, much to Inuyasha's relief, although it only confused him more as to why her youki was flickering the way it was, as though it was on the verge of disappearing completely. The young priest didn't get the chance to ask her, though, as the situation didn't allow it. Instead, he swiftly unsheathed his sword and quickly made his way to her side (though he had to slice and dice his way through), intent on helping her out whether she wanted it or not. But much to his surprise, Kagome didn't seem to mind his being there. On the contrary, she seemed to have been waiting for him and everyone else.
"Took you long enough. I was starting to wonder if hoping you'd come at all had been a mistake on my part," she told him quietly between deep intakes of air as she tried to calm her heartbeat and her breathing. Inuyasha frowned, his eyes quickly scanning the half-demon before turning back to the demons that she apparently had problems dealing with. Kagome herself wasn't injured but, for whatever reason, she seemed to be out of breath and that worried him. Not to mention that her words made it sound as if she had been waiting for them, hoping they'd come and help her out which, despite making him kind of happy, was beyond weird. Never before had the hanyō expected anyone to help her, after all, much less asked for it.
"I wouldn't have thought you'd have problems dealing with the likes of them. They don't seem that strong. Or are my eyes fooling me?" Sango asked cautiously, despite already being in the midst of battle, much like everyone else to be honest. She had not mounted Kirara this time, but Hiraikotsu was flying this way and that, effectively killing several demons and keeping those it missed away from the slayer. Kagome snorted.
"They're not. They just caught me at a bad time. An hour or two earlier and I wouldn't have bothered you," she said curtly, obviously unwilling to elaborate further as she swung her blade, both to deflect an incoming attack and to retaliate at her enemy, but she had been too slow to actually harm him. She cursed. She could feel the approaching dawn more and more. They had to wrap this up soon, before she became a complete burden on the humans she was travelling with – her friends, she allowed herself to think.
The demon's she had been fighting were indeed no real threat to her, or at least they wouldn't be if sunrise wasn't as close as it was. Still, they were powerful enough to have a humanoid form and, from what Inuyasha could tell, they would definitely one day inspire future writer's to invent vampires. Their skin was pale and flawless, their faces as beautiful as any other demon in human form would be. Most of them seemed to be young men, but there were a few women, too. And just to make it all even more believable, they turned out to be bat demons. And, they loved to bite down on an unsuspecting prey's neck. It wasn't in order to such their blood, however, but rather in order to inject their poison into the victim's blood stream and kill them slowly, as the group found out the hard way when the sun's first rays came over the horizon.
Kagome felt the change immediately and, more importantly, she saw it as Tessaiga suddenly transformed in her hand, becoming once again a useless, rusted blade that could never hope to cut through anything. Unaccustomed to transforming mid battle, Kagome actually froze for a second, although she wasn't the only one. Having not expected her to transform at all, the humans fighting alongside her and even the few remaining demons froze as well as they watched the half-demon turn into a human. Only Kirara and Inuyasha didn't seem affected by the change, Kirara because she had known it would happen (it was the reason Kagome had sent her to get the others, after all) and Inuyasha because he figured that was about to happen from Kagome's words that an hour or two time difference would have been more than enough to allow her to deal with the demons by herself as she had originally obviously planned.
Recovering quickly, Sango, Miroku and Kohaku, along with Inuyasha and Kirara, used the demons' distraction to cut down their numbers all the faster while Kagome slowly started to retreat from the middle of it all, knowing well enough that she would be of no help as she was now. Not without a usable weapon, at least, and right now, Tessaiga didn't count as such. One of the bats, however, realized who the easiest prey would be and lunged straight at her with a shriek. She noticed him, it would be hard not to with the way he attacked her head on, which allowed her to dance out of his way in the nick of time. Still, without a way to fight back, she soon proved to be a sitting duck despite her ability to somewhat fight even in this form as another demon snuck up behind her and gripped her arms to ensure she wouldn't get away from him.
"Now what, little half-breed? What can you do now other than peacefully lie down and die a dog's death, like you deserve?" he whispered into her ear, his head moving tantalizingly slowly to her neck, where the best place to inject his poison was, as it would then spread through her body all the faster.
"Kagome!" Inuyasha called, his second of distraction immediately costing him as another bat-demon descended upon him and pinned him to the ground, a creepy smile on his face. Inuyasha glared at him over his shoulder, his reiki immediately flaring to life. "Get off me!" he yelled, his words lost in the demon's scream of pain as the purifying energy destroyed the very core of his being and he turned to dust, leaving Inuyasha free to go help his half-demon friend while the others occupied the few other remaining demons and dealt with them.
Kagome wasn't standing idly by waiting for the demon's fangs to sink into her flesh, either. Unable to wrench herself free from the bat's grasp now that her demonic strength was gone, she did the next best thing: she turned Tessaiga in her hand so that the flat of the blade touched her captor's arms. As a sword, the blade was useless right now, but that didn't mean Kagome couldn't use it differently and Tessaiga proved just that as its barrier flared to life upon contact with the demon's skin, forcing him to draw back and release one of her arms. He didn't let go of her entirely, however, but that didn't matter much considering Inuyasha chose that moment to stab him and soon enough, the demon was but a pile of ash.
"Thanks," she muttered distractedly, but sincerely nonetheless as her eyes surveyed her surroundings. Not far from her, Sango, Miroku and Kohaku were finishing a last enemy or two while Kirara flew above them and shredded any bat that dared take on its true, animalistic form and flee. Another minute or two and no demons would be left. Nodding to herself, the hanyō-turned-human glanced back at Inuyasha, noting the way in which he'd sheathed his sword as if he had carried it his whole life. She smiled at him. "You've gotten pretty good."
Inuyasha gaped at her for all of a second before her words sunk in and he blushed slightly, rubbing the back of his head uncomfortably. To say he hadn't expected her to praise him would be the understatement of the year considering in all the time she'd trained him, she'd never done it once. All she had ever done was point out his flaws and her admitting that he did something well was a surprise, but definitely not an unwelcome one. He smiled slightly.
"Well, I… I had… a good teacher… I guess," he replied, stumbling over his words and speaking only barely louder than a whisper would have been in his embarrassment. Whether he was more embarrassed by Kagome's sudden praising or by the fact that he'd admitted to her that it was because of her that he'd gotten this good was hard to tell, though. Still, despite how quiet his voice had been, Kagome still heard him and it made her smile widen just a little bit in pride.
Their little moment was interrupted by Sango's and Kohaku common, worried shout of Kirara's name which made the hanyō-turned-human spin around so fast she almost lost her balance, her eyes surveying the area frantically. Not even five minutes ago, she had seen that most demons were already dead and the few that remained were focused on the monk and two taijiya, though their number was so pitiful she had been sure she didn't need to worry about a thing. Had she miscalculated? Had her now-weaker, human eyes missed an enemy that managed to sneak up on the others and hurt Kirara?
A quick survey of the surroundings revealed that no, it didn't seem like the hanyō's judgment had been incorrect, the bats were all gone and not a single one remained alive. That fact should have eased Kagome's worries and it would have, were it not for the fact that her eyes sought out the distressed taijiya siblings next, along with the reason of their upset. Kirara was on the ground next to them, her eyes closed and her midsection rising and falling rapidly in the best indication that something was definitely wrong. In the next second, she disappeared from Kagome's sight entirely, transforming into a little kitten that Sango quickly picked up from the ground and hugged to her chest. Seeing that only made Kagome worry more, though. If Kirara couldn't even hold her transformation then things were pretty serious.
Without so much as another glance at Inuyasha, the currently-human girl quickly made her way to the two slayers with Inuyasha in tow. She didn't really need to look at Kirara to know what was wrong, however, as considering the nature of the demons they had just fought, there was only one thing that could have happened, really. Kirara must have been bitten and injected with the bats' poison sometime during the fight. There was no other explanation, no other possibility. Kagome clenched her fists as she knelt in front of Sango and took a good look at Kirara's condition, not daring to request that the worried taijiya release the cat. There wasn't much she could do to truly assess Kirara's condition right now, anyway. Not without her nose.
"We have to take her back to the temple. Now," the should-be half-demon said, her voice strangely detached as she pushed her emotions away as best she could. She turned her head to glance at Miroku then, her eyes questioning and hopeful. "The head monk should have some antidote-herbs he can heal Kirara with, right?" It made sense in her mind, at least. The old monk had herbs that knocked Miroku out cold for the duration of the sewing of the Air Rip, there was no reason he wouldn't have other types of herbs, too, antidote-herbs among them.
"So it is poison. I figured as much, but I hoped…" Sango trailed off, her eyes turning even sadder and more worried at the confirmation of her thoughts. Kagome felt rage bubble within her, although it wasn't directed at the slayer, or Kirara (kami forbid!) or even the bats. Instead, that rage was directed at herself for not paying more attention. She hadn't even known when Kirara had been bitten, much less how much poison could have been injected into her system before her assailant had been shaken off or killed. What she did know, however, was that these bats' poison was nothing to laugh at – she had smelled as much before turning human. While not as potent as Sesshomaru's, it certainly wasn't far off and was definitely strong enough to be deadly if enough of it had been injected. Which was why it was crucial that they take Kirara to someone who could cure her as soon as possible. Kagome wasn't about to leave the survival of one of two yōkai she dared to call a friend to chance. No way.
The track back to the temple was silent and swift, everyone rushing to where they hoped they could find something to help their demonic friend with little else, if anything at all, on their minds. Sango was walking up front with Kirara in her arms, followed closely by a pensive Miroku. Kagome, Inuyasha and Kohaku took the rear, the young taijiya being definitely the most distressed of all of them. And Kagome didn't blame him. He was just as close to Kirara as Sango and Kagome were, but he was much younger than them, plus he was still recovering from losing almost everyone he held dear in the worst possible way. It was really no wonder he was as out of it as he was. Kagome was close to being in the same state, really, and she was surprised that she could reign her emotions as well as she did through sheer force of will considering she was currently human – a condition that usually made controlling her emotions close to impossible, at least in extreme situations like this.
"Kirara will be alright, won't she?" Kohaku finally asked softly when they entered the temple grounds once again. The boy's voice was subdued, but both Kagome and Inuyasha heard him loud and clear, anyway. Inuyasha shrugged and 'keh'-ed.
"She's a demon, isn't she? And she's strong. Of course she'll be fine, she won't let something like that kill her," he replied gruffly, but although his voice and his words were somewhat harsh, there was no denying that he was just as worried as the rest of them. Kagome laid a comforting and reassuring hand on his shoulder and squeezed lightly before letting go and then patting Kohaku's head.
"Inuyasha's right. Believe in her. She won't let some poison tear her down. Not to mention we won't leave her to fight it herself, right?" she said, trying to sound positive and actually succeeding until Miroku turned back to glance at her, his eyes regretful as he spoke.
"I do not know if we will have much choice in the matter. I have lived here for a long time before going off in search of Naraku, but now that I think of it, I have never once seen Mushin-sama treat anyone else besides my father and myself. And even then, it were only ever wounds of the kazaana. I know not if he'll be able to help with poisoning, or even have the necessary herbs to create an antidote," he said slowly, not sugarcoating the news but obviously not liking them, either. Kagome frowned as Sango visibly stiffened, but the taijiya didn't say a word and merely sped up her already quick pace towards the temple's entrance.
As soon as they entered, Miroku told them to wait in the same room he had been resting in earlier while he went to fetch Mushin, as he was the one who knew both the shrine and the head monk best, and would thus find him quicker than anyone else. The group didn't protest as they shuffled toward the room in question, where a worried kitsune was waiting for them. He had been awoken by Kirara just like everyone else, but in the haste to follow the cat, he had been left behind. It was probably a good thing, too. The young kit quickly scanned everyone with his eyes and nose to reassure himself that they were unharmed, only briefly surprised at the fact that Kagome was human as he had kind of seen her like this once before. The relief born from his observation was short lived, however, and faded as soon as he got a closer look at Kirara, immediately realizing that something was wrong with the cat and immediately demanding to know what had happened to her. Sensing the growing tension the kit's words were causing, Kagome scooped him up into her arms and shushed him while trying to reassure him that the neko yōkai would be alright – which she would if the hanyō-turned-human had anything to say about it.
Miroku brought Mushin to the room shortly after that and the next few minutes were spent in complete silence as Mushin examined the little demon, his expression becoming graver and graver the longer he inspected her. Finally, he sighed and looked at the group with regret in his eyes.
"I'm sorry, but I cannot help your friend. I do not possess the herbs necessary for the needed antidote," he finally said, his words settling around the group like a dark cloud of miasma as everyone took the news in. All save Kagome who refused to leave it at that.
"Well, what do you need for it? We'll collect whatever you need," she said quickly as Sango nodded, unwilling to give up on her demonic friend without a fight – because with the way Kirara's condition was worsening, it was pretty obvious that despite all her strength, if she wasn't given an antidote, she could die. And even if she lived, she would never be completely healthy again.
"Antidote-herbs are extremely rare, which is why most healers grow them in their own gardens. They aren't that easy to find in wild life. You could spend months looking and still not find anything. And that is time you do not have," Mushin replied with a shake of a head, causing Kagome to narrow her eyes angrily at him. It wasn't her who replied to the old monk, however.
"So what, we should just give up without trying, is that what you're saying?" the future-born teen asked incredulously, his temper snapping as fast as a dead twig under the weight of a grown man. Miroku sent him a glare.
"Calm yourself, Inuyasha. All you've been told was that looking aimlessly in a forest will probably get you nowhere, but that does not mean all is lost. In fact, while I was travelling on my own I heard of a village relatively close to here where a healer keeps an astonishing herb garden. I'm sure if we go there we can find something to help Kirara," the houshi said calmly, although his eyes spoke of mild irritation at best. Inuyasha opened his mouth to respond, but sadly for him, Kagome beat him to it.
"How close does 'relatively close' mean, Miroku-sama?" she asked, and if she had her dog ears at the moment, they would have turned in the monk's direction as he clearly had all of Kagome's attention. Inuyasha huffed, but decided to remain quiet.
"Two to three hours on horseback, if I recall correctly. I have even been there once, but I have not met the healer in question," the houshi replied and Kagome frowned. She glanced out the open shoji door at the temple grounds, although her eyes weren't even close to appreciating the beauty of the early morning as the sun finally appeared in its full, disk-shaped form over the horizon.
"So four to six hours to get there and come back. And that only if we have a horse," she commented under her breath, her frown deepening. They would really need that horse, too, as Hacchi had already left the evening before, so asking the tanuki for a lift was definitely out of the question. "Damn it." If only it were any other day it wouldn't have been a problem. If she were hanyō, she would have simply run to the village, gotten the herbs needed and run back, end of story. But today, she sadly wasn't hanyō. She was human and as such couldn't simply run there and back again. She couldn't wait until sunset to leave, either. Time was of the essence, after all.
"I could ride on my bike. It's not as fast as a galloping horse, but you can ride at quite good speeds with it. Definitely better than going by foot," Inuyasha offered, causing Kagome to glance at him questioningly. During the time they had stayed in Kaede's village while Inuyasha trained, the priest had brought back a strange, metal contraption with him that he'd called a 'folding bike'. The way it had been when he had brought it, namely folded, it didn't look like too much of a hassle to carry around (at least, not for her, but she could carry several men on her shoulders and only barely feel their weight when she was her usual self) and at Inuyasha's insistence that it might come in handy sometimes, she had simply shrugged her shoulders and decided to let him carry it around if he wanted to. She didn't see how that thing could possibly be used for transportation and she still doubted it was actually good for that particular cause but she wasn't about to shoot Inuyasha's idea down if he was so certain it would work. Besides, what did she know about strange transport contraptions of his time? Certainly not enough to judge them before seeing them in action, that was for sure. There was one thing in Inuyasha's offer that didn't sit well with her, though, and she didn't hesitate to voice her opinion about it.
"You're not going alone," she stated firmly and leveled him with a glare to ensure he'd know she wasn't going to budge on the subject. And as expected, Inuyasha didn't heed the warning at all and frowned at her.
"Well, who else do you suppose should go then? Does anyone other than me even know how to ride a bike to begin with?" he challenged, already knowing the answer to his question. The first verified bicycle to have existed was only in the nineteenth century, after all, so it would still be a few hundred years until then. There were rumors of bike-like contraptions being in conception as far back as 1493, but first, that was in Europe and second, Inuyasha didn't believe that to be true, anyway. And even if it was, that first idea would have nothing on the bicycle of the twentieth century. What he didn't expect, however, was for Kagome to challenge not so much someone else's ability to use his bike, but the bicycle itself.
"Can't that 'bike' of yours carry more than one person?" she asked calmly with a raised brow and Inuyasha faltered. Well, technically, it couldn't, the bike he had was conceived for only one person to ride it. It didn't mean there weren't idiots in his time who rode in pairs on single-person bikes, though, so saying it couldn't carry two people wouldn't be quite true. Still, while riding this way was possible, it certainly wasn't safe for the passenger. Unfortunately for Inuyasha, Kagome wasn't willing to listen to his full answer and interrupted him as soon as he admitted that it could, in fact, carry two people. "Then there is no problem, is there? I'm going with you, then."
There was no way she'd be able to talk Inuyasha out of going, anyway, and even if there was, she wouldn't have bothered. He really was the only one who could ride the bike to begin with, after all, so he'd get to the village in question faster than anyone else in the group. Still, no matter how much stronger he had gotten, Kagome wasn't going to let him go by himself, even if she was currently human and thus in no real condition to protect him if anything went bad. And unbeknownst to her, Inuyasha was thinking along the same lines, although the things he said to try and make Kagome change her mind certainly didn't hint it. It wasn't really that he worried she'd slow him down or anything, it was more that he was worried that something would happen to her now that she was human, and thus weaker than she usually was.
"As I was about to tell you, two people can ride one bike, but that doesn't mean that they should. This type of bike wasn't meant for more than one person. And I'll be faster if I'm by myself, too. The speed of the bike depends on how fast I can make it move. It'll definitely be easier without the additional weight of a second person," he tried to reason with her, but Kagome merely waved her hand dismissively at him.
"See it as training, then, it'll definitely help you in the long run. I'm not changing my mind, Inuyasha. I know I can't make you not go since you're the only one who actually can on that contraption of yours, but I'm not about to let you go on your own."
"I have to agree with Kagome-sama, it would be better if someone went with you, Inuyasha. While I have been to the village, as I said, I have not met the healer, nor have I actually visited the herb field in question. But I heard it was protected by a yōkai, so getting the herbs might not be that easy. I'm sure everyone here would feel better if someone accompanied you," Miroku intervened gently, his eyes then moving to Kagome. "Although I have to agree with Inuyasha that, as you are now, and I mean no disrespect when I say this, you probably aren't the best choice for back-up, Kagome-sama." He eyed her apologetically and even though she wanted to, Kagome couldn't find it in herself to be irritated at him. He was right, as she was right now, she'd probably be more of a burden than anything else unless she got a weapon. Still, she wasn't going to back down that easily.
"If not me then who do you suggest should go? We both know that neither Sango nor Kohaku-kun should leave Kirara's side at the moment. I sincerely doubt they even want to," she added, glancing sideways at the siblings in question. They didn't seem to even hear the conversation anymore, both lost in their own little world that consisted of the two of them and Kirara. It was obvious just by looking at them that neither would leave Kirara's side and Kagome wasn't planning to force them to. Her eyes moved back to Miroku. "That leaves only you and me, Miroku-sama."
Seeing the look she sent at him then, Miroku sighed. It was plainly obvious that Kagome wasn't backing down from this one. But still, just to make sure the monk wouldn't try to rebut her again, she decided to add one other thing.
"And besides, you seem to forget: it is true that I am human today, but it is only for this one day. You are human as well, and unlike me, you were born human and you stay human. Just as Inuyasha, Sango and Kohaku. And despite being human, you all fight and survive. You don't run just because of what you are. Why should I be any different?"
To that, Miroku found no answer. Neither did Inuyasha. And so in the end, barely thirty minutes later once Inuyasha unfolded his bike and made it ready for riding, he and Kagome set off together while Miroku, Shippō and the two slayers stayed behind, with a promise of Mushin that he would give Kirara what he could to ease her suffering and the only weak antidote he could muster – one that would not heal the cat, by any means, but one that would ensure that even if something unexpected happened on the way, the kannushi and the hanyō would still have plenty of time to make it back before Kirara ran out of time.
And as they would learn as soon as they reached the village, it was a good thing, too, because unexpected setbacks always happened when you needed them the least. And this time would be no exception.
And that's a wrap. I think you can all guess which canon-based arc follows next, ne ;) On that note, yeah, I know, I'm doing a lot of canon based stuff the last couple of months, but please bear with it. I promise it won't be too close to canon. Not any more than the previous canon-based arcs have been, anyway ;)
Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed.
Next Chapter: The Herbalist Who Ate Human Bowels
See you then! :D