Disclaimer: I do not own any of the plot or characters in InuYasha
I don't know when or how often I'll be updating. It's just a little story I'm doing in my free time. Please feel free to comment but constructive criticism only, please. If you don't like it then feel free to not read it.
2
As the days passed, InuYasha remained none the wiser about the conversation that had taken place or the nightly lessons Kagome was receiving from Sango. They started out slow, with the basics. Sango had Kagome doing exercises to build her strength before taking her through different forms. They would also do stretches similar to that of present-day yoga, and by the end of each lesson, Kagome was left exhausted but pleased with her training. Shippo served as their lookout to make sure Miroku wouldn't come near, trying to spy on the girls while they bathed.
Sango found herself pleasantly surprised by Kagome's progress. She was still the clumsy girl they met years ago but she was becoming more graceful as she learned, and by the end of the second week, there was already a subtle difference in her muscle tone and how she carried herself. They were working on hand to hand combat but the older girl planned on introducing knife fighting to Kagome soon, thinking it would come in handy later on with youkai. Kagome had still been hanging back during the few battles with youkai that they had encountered, neither experienced enough or willing to expose her recent training.
While InuYasha remained clueless, as usual, the ever-observant monk began to take note of the small changes happening to their friend and the fact that they had been taking longer baths as of late. He kept his observations to himself, making a mental note to ask Sango about it once they reached Kaede's village and could have time away from InuYasha. He, as well as his other companions, also noticed that InuYasha was becoming more and more mean and demeaning to Kagome as time passed, calling her weak to her face and always complaining about how she couldn't defend herself and how he had to protect her. He was also comparing her more and more often to Kikyo, talking about how he never had to protect her so much and how she could control her miko abilities, even though the dead miko hadn't been seen in weeks. However, he never offered to do anything about it and for the sake of keeping her secret, Kagome was forced to grit her teeth and say nothing about her nightly lessons. Instead, InuYasha found himself becoming the cause of more and more humanoid craters in the ground, which didn't help his temper. Kagome was quickly losing patience with him and found that her feelings for him were quickly diminishing with how he was treating her.
Before the group reached the village that they used as their "home base", Naraku decided to make an appearance. They found themselves surrounded by poisonous insects, and braced themselves for a fight. Sinister laughter echoed through the trees and InuYasha yelled for the dark hanyou to show himself. "How is my favorite little group doing?" Naraku's smooth voice floated through the air and a shadowy figure became visible in the forest ahead of them. Lifting a transformed Tessaiga, InuYasha growled and stepped back toward his companions, prepared to defend them.
"What do you want Naraku? Ready to die today?" The silver-haired hanyou shouted in typical arrogant InuYasha fashion. Kirara growled loudly and transformed into her larger form, ready to protect her mistress and friends.
"Oh, I don't think so InuYasha." His low, calm voice sounded amused. "But I am curious to see where your loyalties lie." His figure became more and more visible through the trees as he came forward, and InuYasha paid no attention to Naraku's words, preparing to swing his sword at the dark hanyou when Kagome gasped InuYasha's name and rushed forward to stop him.
"What the hell, wench?! I was gonna kill the bastard." InuYasha snapped at the girl next to him.
"Use your eyes InuYasha!" Kagome pointed at the figure that Naraku had tossed onto the ground near him, pointedly ignoring what he called her yet again. She backed up toward Sango and Miroku, readying her bow.
"Kikyo…" InuYasha breathed, eyes glued to the dead miko that lay motionless on the ground. Snarling, he lifted his sword once more, moving closer to Kikyo as the spider hanyou backed off to the side, circling the group slowly. "What game are you playing Naraku?!" Kagome frowned, noting once again that InuYasha would always favor Kikyo when they were together.
The spider youkai had placed himself equidistant from the two mikos, a fact lost on InuYasha and his group. A cruel smirk on his face, Naraku lifted his arms and looked directly at InuYasha. "Who will you protect?" InuYasha didn't have time to be confused before two tentacles were flying through the air, one at Kikyo and one at Kagome. The hanyou didn't hesitate to rush to Kikyo's aid, not realizing his mistake as he destroyed the tentacle and took her into his arms.
At the same time, Kagome's training kicked in and she rolled out of the way as Sango destroyed the tentacle that missed the younger miko by mere centimeters. Naraku's laughter could be heard throughout the forest around them and Miroku threw sutras at the figure, destroying the puppet that took the form of the hanyou. His laughter faded, echoing around them as they all stood wary, prepared for more nasty surprises. Finally tearing his gaze away from the miko in his arms, InuYasha froze, color draining from his face as he looked over at Kagome, who stood expressionless next to their shocked companions. They all knew of InuYasha's feeling for the two mikos, but none of them thought he would ever go this far. Going to her at night was one thing, but to leave Kagome to die? Sango, Miroku, and Shippo all glared at the idiotic hanyou, and even Kirara curled her lip up at him from her place next to Sango.
Standing with Kikyo still in his arms, InuYasha took a step toward the others. "Kagome, I…" He didn't get any further than that before she sharply turned her back on him and addressed the others in a dead voice.
"Let's go. Kaede's village isn't much further and Kikyo will need someone to look over her tonight." With that, Shippo hopped on her shoulder and Kirara transformed into her smaller form and hopped into Kagome's arms, the four friends providing silent support as they walked away from InuYasha and lost themselves in their own thoughts. It seemed that Naraku had achieved his goal of creating, or rather widening, a rift in the group.
Sango's heart ached for her friend. As soon as Kagome is through that well I am going to give InuYasha the beating of his life. Sango fumed internally. The nerve of him! There has NEVER been a time where Kagome has not had that boy's back and this is how he repays her? Leaving her for dead? She sighed, glancing over at the other girl. Kagome doesn't deserve this. I don't know if even she can forgive him this time.
Miroku was having similar, albeit calmer thoughts to Sango. He went over an inventory of sutras in his mind, picking out ones that would serve the purpose he desired. No doubt Kagome will need some time away from the idiot, I'll make sure he is unable to leave Kaede's hut for at least a few days.
I know he still loves Kikyou but she is DEAD. Why can't he get that through his head? I know all he sees is Kikyou when he looks at me but… I thought at least he cared as a friend. If not for Sango and her training, I would be dead right now. Cradling the neko youkai in one arm, Kagome reached out and squeezed Sango's hand gratefully. That's it. I am going to become strong on my own. She glanced around at her companions. I can't do this anymore. It's clear that I can no longer rely on InuYasha and I need to figure out how to really survive on my own. I can no longer stand to be a liability and a danger to my friends.
Once they reached the village, Kagome understandably beelined for the well and the others continued to Kaede's hut, Shippo remaining by the well in case the hanyou decided to make the mistake of trying to go after Kagome.
Kaede looked up from tending to soup on the fire as Miroku, Sango, and Kirara entered her hut, murmuring her greetings to the three. It wasn't long before they were joined by InuYasha, who set Kikyo on a mat in the corner. Frowning, Kaede immediately went to her sister. Finding no injuries, she determined that Kikyo merely needed rest and for her soul collectors to bring more souls. Turning, she narrowed her eyes at the group, finding the three steadily ignoring a scowling hanyou.
"Are ye going to tell me what happened? Where be Kagome and Shippo?" When nobody immediately answered, Sango looked coldly at InuYasha.
"Why don't you let InuYasha explain? After all, he is the reason Kagome almost died today." The old miko looked sharply at InuYasha, who had the grace to look ashamed and averted his gaze from the rest of the group.
"Is this true, InuYasha?" Her voice, though not unkind, definitely had an edge to it. She could piece together a general idea of what had happened, considering her sister's presence, but she wanted to hear it for herself.
"It wasn't like that!" His voice was defensive but he shrunk back into the wall of the hut at the looks from his other companions. At Kaede's raised eyebrow, he looked away once more and recounted what happened. Sango and Miroku interjected sharply to correct him when he tried to make it not sound so bad.
Shaking her head, Kaede turned away from InuYasha, choosing to stir her soup since she couldn't bear to look at him for the moment. "Ye truly are a fool InuYasha."
"Feh, whatever." He scowled again and started toward the door. "I'm going to find the wench. We don't have time for her to waste at home." He found his path blocked by a vicious looking Sango.
"I don't think so InuYasha. She has every right to go home and relax, especially after today. You are despicable and I should beat you until you can't move." InuYasha cowered away from the terrifying slayer's rage, only to walk into a sutra that Miroku slapped on him. Finding that he could no longer move, InuYasha cursed and began struggling against the sutra.
"What the hell Miroku?! Let me go!" He growled at the monk, who began placing more sutras on him in order to ensure that the hanyou would not be able to move until Miroku deemed it acceptable.
"No. Sango is right. Kagome will be back when she is ready to be back. She faced quite the betrayal by you today InuYasha and she deserves time away from you." The hanyou's ears went flat at Miroku's words and he found that he had no response. What did they expect me to do? Clearly, the wench was fine and I couldn't leave Kikyo there helpless! It's not a big deal, they should be grateful that I protect their sorry asses the rest of the time. InuYasha ranted mentally to himself, refusing to take responsibility for the gravity of what he had done.
Shaking their heads at his denseness, the others sat down to eat. After they finished, Miroku brought a bowl of soup out to the fuming fox kit, who refused to move from the well. "I don't care when she's getting back, or whether that idiot can get over here, I'm not moving until she's back." Smiling sadly at the little youkai, Miroku sat down to keep him company for a little while.
The blue light set Kagome down gently at the bottom of the well. Looking up, she could see the roof of the well house and noisiness of modern-day Tokyo. Sighing, she began to climb the ladder that had been placed in the well for her use and made her way across the yard. Opening the door to her house, she tiredly kicked off her shoes and called out her greetings, trying to disguise the pain from her voice. "Mom, Grandpa, Souta! I'm home!"
Her mother walked over from the kitchen, wiping her hands on a towel with a smile. "Hello dear, how long are you back this time?" She embraced her daughter, feeling many of her worries wash away with Kagome's return. "Souta is at a friend's house tonight and your grandfather is out for a walk." Kagome nodded, accepting the explanation for their absence.
"I'm not sure how long I'll be here this time. I think the group will be spending some time in Kaede's village." Kagome was careful not to tell her mother the reasoning behind their stay in Edo.
Her mother stepped back with a raised eyebrow, guiding Kagome to the table and busying herself with heating up leftovers from dinner. "InuYasha agreed to stay?" Kagome flushed and averted her eyes, choosing to fiddle with the tablecloth in lieu of looking at her mom.
Kagome hesitated. "Er, yeah," She tried to come up with an explanation. "I don't think he really had a choice in the matter." Kagome had never told her family about how InuYasha treated her. She didn't want her mother to worry or to ruin Souta's heroic image of the hanyou.
But she wasn't fooling her mother. Hiromi set the food down in front of her daughter and took a seat across from her. Looking kindly at the girl, she rested her chin on her clasped hands. "Okay, so what really happened?" She knew Kagome didn't tell her everything, and she didn't pry, but she could clearly see that her daughter was upset and exhausted and likely needed someone to talk to.
It only took one sentence. Those five words did Kagome in. Her chin trembled and her breath caught in her throat as tears began pouring down her face. She told her mother everything, from InuYasha's treatment of her to Kikyo coming around more and more often to feeling helpless all the time and the resulting lessons from Sango, and finally InuYasha's betrayal. Kagome let out everything she had been keeping from her mother, albeit toning down the dangers for her sake, since she fell down the well. Hiromi listened patiently and by the time Kagome was finished, her food was cold and she was all cried out.
Walking around the table, Hiromi engulfed Kagome in a hug, heart aching at her daughter's trials but forcing herself to be strong for her. She offered Kagome comforting words and reheated the food before sending the tired girl up to shower and sleep. Busying herself in the kitchen once more, she mulled over Kagome's story. Knowing she could do no more than offer her daughter support, Hiromi began preparing for whenever Kagome would be ready to head back to the feudal era.
Though still distraught over the day's events, Kagome felt like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Being so close to her mother, it was difficult to keep such things from her. She stood in the shower for a long time, allowing the water to wash away any trace of her tears. Once finished, she dressed and laid on her bed. Her head hadn't even hit the pillow before she was sound asleep, weary from the day's events.