Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon or InuYasha
AN: There are those who are wondering who Usagi is gonna be paired up with, I'm afraid you're just gonna have to wait. I'll try to include all the major characters before mentioning anything that deals with the coupling. So just enjoy and tell me what you think about this chapter.
Ch4
Naraku's red eyes stared deeply into Kanna's mirror. He silently wondered what could be Kagura's plan of action. From what he had gathered, Kagura had gone to a blind youkai and received a simple clay doll. As curious as he was to what the point the toy was used for, he was slightly upset with the confused look on Kagura's face as she studied the doll. He watched with a bored look on his face and sighed. He leaned his back against the wall and glanced down to the floor.
"Naraku-sama," Kanna said softly, "Look."
Naraku glanced back up to see that Kagura had thrown the doll to Kagome, causing the hanyou he detested to jump in the way. A cloud of orange colored dust surrounded InuYasha when the doll made contact with him, preventing everyone, including Kanna, from seeing what had happened. After a few minutes, the cloud dispersed and in its place was a toddler-like InuYasha. He lifted a black eyebrow at Kagura's method of making his enemy weak. But when he caught sight of InuYasha trying to attack Kagura with the Tetsusaiga, only to make himself unable to attack and in a vulnerable position, a small smile of amusement rose up on his face.
!-!
"Kaede-baachan(1)," Kagome shouted, holding an unconscious InuYasha. She raced into the small modest–looking hut where the aged miko lives. Her friends quickly followed behind her.
Kaede was an old lady, about the age of sixty, with gray hair tied back into a ponytail. She wore a black eye patch over her left eye with nothing concealing her wise brown eye on the right. She wore the traditional outfit for a miko, a loose white shirt that resembles the top of a robe, and wide red kimono pants.
Kaede was stirring a pot of soup when she glanced up from it. "Kagome, what happened?" Kaede asked, after taking one look at the sleeping hanyou.
"Kagura threw something at him and he just came out this way," Miroku said, "Kaede-sama, can you help him?"
Kaede stared deeply into thought as everyone stared anxiously. "Kaede-sama!" children's voices were heard. Everyone turned their heads to the doorway and saw about three children from the village peering in.
"What's the matter?" Kaede asked, wondering if there was a rogue youkai around, "Did something happen?"
A boy shook his head and smiled. "Onee-sama said that we can come and pick herbs with her if we ask you," he said.
"Kaede-sama, can you go with onee-sama?" a girl asked.
Kaede's old boy relaxed when she heard that it wasn't a youkai problem. She nodded her head. "You may go, but make sure that you listen to her."
"Hai!" the children all cheered. Giggling, they ran in the same direction, shouting, "Onee-sama!" over and over again.
"I haven't' seen them this happy before," Miroku said, wondering what kind a person this onee-sama is. Or better yet, wondering if she was beautiful and whether or not she would be willing to bear his children.
"Onee-sama?" Kagome repeated. She glanced over at the old miko. "Who is 'onee-sama'?" she asked.
"Let go of me, Kagome!" Everyone looked at the hanyou to see that he was finally awake. He pushed himself out of her arms and jumped to the floor. "Why were you carrying me around like a baby for?"
Kagome smiled nervously at the embarrassed and glaring hanyou. "Well…you fell unconscious so I had to carry you to get to Kaede-baachan for help," she replied, pushing her two pointer fingers against each other.
"I fell unconscious?" InuYasha said, staring at Kagome with a 'give-me-a-break' look. "Whose fault do you think it is if I was knocked out? You were the one who shouted, 'Osuwari'!"
Sango watched as the two started to argue once again. She leaned over to Miroku and whispered, "It's like nothing changed between them."
Miroku nodded his head and whispered back, "Especially the part when InuYasha gets Kagome-sama upset and then…"
"OSUWARI!" Kagome shouted, interrupting the monk.
Kaede watched as InuYasha hit the floor with a yelp and all was silent. As InuYasha had said, the command does knock him out, especially now since he was in a child-like form. She sighed deeply and went to her stirring in the pot. "Kagome, put InuYasha on the blankets over there. I'm sure she won't mind if he uses it," she directed the teen to a laid out blanket against the wall in the corner. "Now, why don't you eat some of this and tell me what happened."
Kagome did as Kaede had told her. When she tucked him in, she watched as he snuggled against the covers. She smiled gently and left him alone, silently musing that this was the first time she had seen him actually under blankets.
InuYasha breathed deeply and inhaled a scent he had never forgotten, no matter how long it had been since he had smelled it before. "Haru(2)…hana(3)…" he thought silently as his eyes opened slightly before shutting them again, "Aneue…"
Kaede handed Kagome a bowl of warm soup and went on listening to Miroku telling her the events that had happened. When Sango asked if the spell could be reversible, Kaede shrugged her shoulders and sighed. "Something like this must've been a really powerful spell and it may take a while until I could find a cure."
Shippo quickly drank the last gulp of soup and sighed happily. "This is delicious, Kaede-baachan." He lifted his bowl up and silently asked for another seving.
"Arigato, Shippo, but I didn't make it," Kaede said, with a warm smile, "But I'll be sure to tell her that you like it."
"Her?" Sango repeated.
"A young boy from the village found a woman by the road and brought her to the village. At first we all thought that she was a youkai, what with that ethereal look around her. But the child told us that she wasn't a youkai and that she was looking for someone," Kaede said, "We allowed her to stay for the night and as long as she needs. All the children adore her and just started to call her 'one-sama'."
Miroku rubbed the bottom of his chin in silence. "I wonder what she looks like," he mused as Kagome and Sango stared at him suspiciously.
Kaede heard laughter coming closer to the house. "Well, why don't you see for yourself?" she suggested, staring at the doorway.
Everyone followed her gaze as they heard a sweet voice saying, "Arigato, minna-chan. Why don't you head back to eat and then we'll do something later," and a bunch of younger voices cheering, "Hai, onee-sama!"
The thin straw mat covering the doorway was pushed aside and a beautiful woman walked into the hut. Long blond hair was pulled back into a low ponytail and nearly trailed on the dirt ridden ground. She had wide blue eyes with thick black eyelashes that caress her cheek each time she blinked. She wore a light blue kimono that trailed down to her ankles with the sleeves ending at her elbows. She held a basket filled with green herbs against her waist.
"Ah, Usagi, I take it that you've gathered enough herbs for your journey," Kaede said with a warm smile, the same smile a mother would give to her daughter or granddaughter.
Usagi nodded her head. "Hai, Kaede-baachan," she said with a grin. She giggled at the memory of that morning. "We decided to make the harvesting into a game; whoever gets the most, wins." Her blue eyes caught sight of the travelers. "Kaede-baachan, who are they?"
InuYasha's ears twitched when he heard Usagi talked and opened his eyes slowly. "Aneue?" he whispered so softly that no one had heard it. He lifted his head up quickly and stared at Usagi with wide eyes. She was exactly as he remembered…as he had seen her last; from the long blond hair to her bright blue eyes. There was the same gentle kindness in her voice and aura and the warm sweet smile as she welcomed his friends.
"May I ask the fair maiden for her name?" Miroku asked. He smiled kindly at her as he grasped her hands and felt pleased to discover that her hands were smooth and warm.
"U…Usagi?" InuYasha called out loud, interrupting the girl from speaking. She may look like her, but if it turns out that they had different names then… The tiny strand of doubt was immediately clipped when Usagi turned her head and gasped when she saw him. Tears started to arose in his golden eyes as he caught sight of recognition in her eyes. It's her…he doesn't know how exactly…but it's her, back from the dead. "Usagi!" he shouted, running to her.
"Yasha-kun," Usagi whispered. A teardrop collided down her cheek as she watched the young hanyou practically glowing with happiness. He's here…she found him…and he's safe and sound. If possible, her smile became even brighter as she kneeled down and opened her arms wide open.
Everyone watched in complete silence as InuYasha fell against Usagi, wrapping his arms around her neck, as she embraced him to her chest. But what shocked them the most was the fact that InuYasha had started to cry and she allowed the tears to fall and damp the front of her kimono.
"You're here," InuYasha whispered. He buried his face deeper in the corner where her neck and shoulders connected. He breathed in the scent he missed and was forced to wait until the season of spring comes. "I thought that…" Usagi stopped his sentence as she quieted him in that gentle way she had always done whenever he woke up from a nightmare. Afraid that she was only here to see him one last time and then she'll leave him forever again, just as his mother had done, InuYasha tightened his hold onto the girl. "Gomen…gomen nasai, aneue," he said softly, only letting the words reach his and her ears.
Usagi laughed and pulled away slightly to see the hanyou's face. She brushed her hand through his bangs. "I told you before that it wasn't your fault," she said, "I chose to do that, Yasha-kun." Smiling gently, she leaned her face closer and kissed him on his forehead.
Jaws dropped to the ground as eyes widened and they watched the scene in disbelief for different reasons. Sango and Kagome were shocked to see this unfamiliar habit being portrayed by InuYasha. Kaede brushed it off and figured that he was the one Usagi had been searching for. Shippo and Kirara glanced curiously at Miroku, who was muttering how lucky InuYasha is able to hug the beautiful woman but also for how foolish he was for not taking advantage of the closeness.
Sango and Kagome heard his statement and glared at him; they made a movement to bash his head in when a bright light enveloped itself around InuYasha, who continued to hold Usagi in his embrace, not knowing what was happening. Silence loomed around the room as the hanyou started to grow back to his original size.
InuYasha's eyes widened as he stared at his hands in shock. He stood up quickly and started to examine himself to see that he no longer looked like a child. Usagi also studied InuYasha in silence as she figured that he had indeed grow older in the past hundred or so years.
"InuYasha, what happened?" Shippo asked, "You're taller than me now."
InuYasha didn't answer, but just continued to examine himself and make sure that none of this was a dream. He was no longer a child and his beloved sister was in front of him. He looked up to see Usagi smiling at him, as if she was proud of all of his accomplishments he had done while she was gone. Wanting to know exactly what was going on, InuYasha brought Usagi close to his body, and he lifted her up into the air and started to run towards the woods. "Don't even think about following," he warned his friends, namely those who made it their habit to spy on him.
(1) 'Kaede-baachan' means Grandmother Kaede
(2) 'Haru' means spring
(3) 'Hana' means flower
AN: And this chapter is finished! So, how was this chapter? I know I made it where InuYasha was a child for a short amount of time, but I wanted him to be a child when he meets up with Usagi again. If you were wondering on the whole history behind the hanyou and the princess, I'm afraid that you'll have to wait a little while longer.