Something was dripping softly, a pattern of sound that slowed by each drip.
She'd expected it to hurt, for there to be a blinding pain and a then a slow slip into darkness. She didn't expect for there to be… nothing, except those eyes staring at her. She blinked once before her eyes moved over her own body, searching for blood they didn't find. Slowly Kagome pushed herself to her feet and turned toward him. She was trembling. "How… how did you find me?"
"Like it was that hard." He crossed his arms in red sleeves and glared at her, "What? You think just cause you ran off I wouldn't be able to find you? It isn't like I've never tracked you further than this before."
"I… guess that's… true…" She backed away a little, "What do you want Inuyasha?"
"You know what I want Kagome. Just give me the damn jewel already." His oddly red eyes followed her as she moved toward the far side of the clearing.
"Inuyasha… you know that I…"
"Save it Kagome, just give me the jewel and I'll let you go back to your friends."
"You're… going to try and stop me from going back?" Kagome stared at his eyes, shocked by the red in them. She'd only seen his eyes turn that shade when he lost control, but he was carrying on a conversation with her, not wildly trying to kill everything in sight. There was something strange about all of this, but Kagome could barely stand through her fear, let alone try to understand what was wrong with him. "Why do you keep doing this Inuyasha? What do you want?"
"You know what I want. You run off for weeks at a time, with the damn jewel no less and you think I'm just going to sit around waiting for you to come running back? How stupid are you?" He advanced on her, his knuckles popping threateningly as he clenched and unclenched his fist, "Just give me the damn jewel already, you never could fight and you still don't have a shot at beating me."
"Inuyasha…" She watched him closely, tears starting to well in her eyes again, "What's wrong with you? What happened? Why are you being this way?" He'd always been harsh, even mean occasionally, but since before the jewel had been shattered he hadn't ever attacked her, hadn't ever tried to hurt her, then why was he advancing on her now, just as he had in her room a few weeks ago, with those same glowing red eyes.
"You know something Kagome, I'm tired of listening to all your complaining. You didn't want to jewel to begin with, and you still don't. Just give it here before I have to take it from you."
"I… I can't." He took a step toward her and Kagome shifted back from him, knowing that even if she ran he would catch her. She was no match for his speed.
"Damn it Kagome." His red eyes shifted, taking back their normal golden tint, "Can't you see what's going on you idiot? Get ou…" He grimaced slightly just before his snarling face took back its previously blank expression, the eyes glowing that ominous red again, "If you won't give me the jewel then I'll take it by force." He surged forward, his claws sweeping for her, the tips glowing with golden power that somehow seemed darker than it had been.
This time Kagome screamed. She threw herself backward and to the side away from him, her arms coming up in an attempt to block her face and chest even though she knew it wouldn't do her any good. If he landed a hit his claws would easily go through her, bone and all.
She collided with a tree trunk, the sharp impact quickly replaced by scrapes as she slid slowly toward the ground, the bark catching against her skin as she went. "Inu… Yasha… pl… please." She breathed, closing her eyes tightly as the pain continued to blur her vision. The moment stretched as she waited, again, for the blow that would end her life. It would only be a moment now, but she couldn't face it, couldn't see proof of what Inuyasha was about to do to her. She didn't need to look anyway.
She knew what he would be doing, how he would be holding his hand, the look that would be on his face. Kagome wished that she would see his soft golden eyes filled with regret and sadness, any show of regret that she could find, but she knew it wouldn't be there, just as it hadn't been when he'd turned on Sota two weeks ago. She'd saved her brother in a panic, but it wouldn't work for her, that power wasn't something she could control after all.
An arm descended, the wind whistled in a howl of agony and disgust. There was a clang, a hiss of pain following a flurry of motion that could barely be heard, let alone seen, and eerie red eyes were singed by a natural crimson gaze.
XXXXX
"This shouldn't be so damn hard." Yusuke grumbled between panting breaths, "Damn it, I'm going to make Botan get me one of those compass things to track Kagome so we don't ever have to do this shi…"
"You know Urameshi if you just took care of your sister better we wouldn't be…"
"What was that Kuwabara?"
"She shouldn't be off this time of night on her own. If she had a man for a brother he would have gone with her."
"Yeah, well you were there too Kuwabara why didn't you go after her sooner?"
As the inevitable fist fight began Kurama sighed and looked away. They would never get anywhere like this. Kagome was going to be harder to find the longer they waited and something in him whispered that it was urgent that he find her.
A soft scent teased his sensitive nostrils, weaving around him as his eyelids dropped half way and ghostly hands banished most of the tension that had claimed him. The first step he took was slow, nearly hesitant. For a moment he nearly shivered, then his eyes snapped open and he was already running, the breeze whipping the smell around him, pulling him helplessly forward.
XXXXX
"I don't know who you are, but get out of my way." A foot scraped against the hard dirt.
A soft chuckle was nearly swallowed by the leaves that shivered overhead, "Coming closer is not something I would do."
"Yeah, well I'm not you…" Another scrape of skin against dirt, "And I'm busy with Kagome right now, but I'd be happy to take you down after."
"The girl is the least of your concerns." The tone of his voice lowered slightly, darkened by annoyance that he was nearly able to hide.
Kagome stiffened, recognizing the voice. Slowly she forced one eyelid up, then the second quickly followed as she stared up at the form standing between her and Inuyasha, wondering where the black clad man had come from. She hadn't even noticed he was nearby until he spoke.
"Look… runt; get the hell out of my way before I take you apart."
"You're welcome to attempt it." The sword in his hand shimmered brightly as he twisted it slightly in his grasp, letting a glint travel the length of the blade before bringing it slowly back as he altered his grip yet again.
"Like that little sword's gonna be enough to stop me." Silver hair fluttered down as he threw aside the cap she just noticed he'd been wearing. At least he wasn't running around showing the world exactly what he was… which was odd considering he'd come here to take the jewel and try to kill the person who normally made him wear that hat. Kagome considered him for a moment. There was something weird going on here. She watched him move slowly forward, saw that telltale twitch of his hand again.
"Inuyasha stop this!" She found her feet suddenly, moved just past the black haired man that had been standing in front of her. Yusuke's distinctly demon friend, whose name she knew, but couldn't remember clearly for the moment with how intently Inuyasha was demanding her attention. If she didn't do something they were going to fight and that meant someone getting hurt, and she couldn't let that happen.
"Shut up Kagome. I'm going to deal with this bastard, then I'll get back to you." The still red eyed half demon stepped forward again; his hand shifting at his side in that way that meant an attack was coming.
"That's poor planning. You won't be getting back to anyone… or anything for that matter." Hiei's red eyes considered a twitching dog ear before dropping back to snarling face.
"You're pretty damn cocky you little…" The words died to a muffled groan as Inuyasha flew inexplicably backward only to crash very painfully into a tree. Kagome blinked twice before glancing at the clenched fist the demon beside her was dropping to his side. He had to have hit him. Kagome felt herself stiffen tightly, she hadn't even sensed movement, let alone seen it. The rustle of heavy fabric brought her eyes to the spot the demon beside her was staring at.
Inuyasha's clawed hand rose to his face, brushing at a thin trail of blood that had leaked out of the corner of his mouth, only smearing the red liquid across the lightly tanned skin of his face. He was smiling as his hand dropped to his side, and a shiver went across Kagome's spine when he chuckled. There was something wrong with it, even though she couldn't quite figure out why. It just didn't sound like him. "Well, it's been a while since anyone made me bleed. This should be interesting."
"Hardly." Hiei considered him coldly, slipping the sword easily away. He glanced at her from the corner of his eye for barely a second, "Stay out of the way." He murmured, and ahead of where he stood the one she'd called Inuyasha laughed softly.
"Kagome's never been able to do that. Why don't you just let me deal with her and then we can finish this." The way he held his hand now seemed wrong, the fist held up near his head, fingers curled into the palm toward his face and his forearm displayed. She couldn't remember him ever doing that before, but he must have the gesture seemed so… familiar.
"I've stated before, you'll be dealing with me first."
This was bad. Kagome had been between enough angry demons to be able to tell when a fight was going to be serious, and this had all the warning signs, it also meant that she was in the danger zone as much as either of them, and she had no way of defending herself or really of staying out of the way. They were both fast, and she knew that Inuyasha tended to get reckless when he was fighting, she couldn't imagine that this demon, despite the fact that he'd saved her, would be all that concerned about keeping her out of the line of fire. Things weren't looking up for Kagome.
They had started before she could finish her thoughts, but oddly it wasn't Inuyasha who charged. He merely stood on the other side of the clearing, waiting while the shorter demon got to him, blocking his attacks, though admittedly he took nearly as many blows as he managed to dodge, perhaps more Kagome could barely see that he was moving, let alone exactly how many punches he was throwing. This wasn't going to end well.
Her suspicions were confirmed when Inuyasha screamed. The sound froze her blood in an instant and sent a shudder through her. She'd only ever heard him yell like that when he was injured so badly it nearly killed him, but she couldn't see any blood. However when she finally got a look at his face Kagome's freezing problem was escalated at terror hit her. The red eyes had been bad enough, but now…
The marks that appeared on his face were nearly reminiscent of his older brother, but they were jagged, and Kagome knew what they meant, knew what was coming as he smiled that way that revealed his lengthened fangs and held up claws that were also longer than they had been moments before. The other demon however seemed to be only mildly surprised as he jumped back, sword now at the ready as he watched carefully.
The half demon, now in his transformed state threw himself forward, his claws slashing mindlessly at the smaller man staring at him. He brought the sword up to block, and stared in horror as the blade was sliced cleanly into segments. He turned, his red eyes widening a little as the claws came toward him.
"No, get back!" She was moving without meaning to, her feet carrying her as quickly as she could across the clearing even though she knew she would never get there in time, her hand reaching out she felt the strange power building again, the same as when she'd tried to stop him from harming Sota, but somehow… she was sure it wouldn't be enough to stop him this time, it had only thrown him slightly before and now that he had been taken over by his demon blood she couldn't be sure it would do any good. Either way she was moving, even as his hand came down, the brilliant pink and white beams escaping her palm drawing his attention from the demon he'd been about to slice in to. Seeing this distraction the second demon chose to take advantage of it, jumping up with what remained of the blade he'd been using, just long enough that it would be able to slice off the half demon's head with a little effort. "No!" She threw herself forward again, praying that she would get there in time. There was something wrong with Inuyasha, but even with him acting like this she couldn't just let someone kill him, but even as she got there and felt her hand press against him, heard him hiss in pain she knew he wouldn't fall fast enough. "Inuyasha… sit!"
The force of it yanked her down to the ground with him, sending yet another shock of pain through her and knocking the air out of her body. Lying there, trying to pull air into her protesting lungs that didn't want to hold it all she could do was wonder why she hadn't thought about that before. She squeezed her eyes closed tightly and groaned as she pushed herself up from the ground, rubbing the spot on her back where the collision had been hardest. Maybe she should have thought about sitting him before she'd grabbed him.
Hearing the half demon start stirring again she backed away, fixing her wide eyes on him again, hardly noticing that the other set of red eyes were still glued to her rather than the half demon she was watching so intently. Squeaking a little she climbed to her feet and rushed back from him, knowing that trouble was coming her way now. She held her breath as he shook his head, then looked up and her breath left as a sharp exhale when she met amber eyes.
"K…Kagome…" He struggled to his feet and looked at her, rubbing the side of his head again, "Where are we?"
"Inuyasha… you don't…" She swallowed. He had to be trying to trick her, but he wasn't that clever, she jumped when he came toward her, "Stay back."
"Oh… Kagome… I'm…" He covered his eyes with a hand, stared at her through his fingers, "You've got to stay away from…"
"Stay away from you? I've been trying Inuyasha." She glared at him suddenly, not liking that he had made it sound like she was the one looking for him, "You keep coming after me."
"Kagome…"
"Just stay away from me Inuyasha. Leave and this time don't come looking for me again." It was hard, sending him away when he was looking at her with those eyes she'd been longing to see earlier. She had to force away the person who was probably her best friend, who also had attempted to kill her twice in the last two weeks. Her life just couldn't help being complicated.
"Kagome…" He looked at her for a moment, then turned and vanished into the trees, followed by the annoyed red eyes of the demon he'd been fighting with earlier.
She stood perfectly still, her eyes on the place he'd vanished from as she tried to sense his location, trying to tell if he stopped. After a long moment she found herself falling. The air whistled past her ears and she barely noticed yet another pain as her kneecaps collided with the hard forest floor, her hands dropping to rest limply on her thighs as she fell back onto her heels and stared at her upturned palms. Tears pricked her eyes, but she held them back. There was something else she had to do.
"Are you after it too?" Her voice was low, hardly a whisper, but she knew that he would be able to hear her.
"After what? What could you have that I might have any interest in?"
She looked up at where he lingered on the other side of the clearing, surprised to find him watching her. "Then… why are you out here?"
"Any demon within three miles felt that power surge of yours." He murmured looking away from her at last.
"So, you came to see what caused it? How did you know it was me and not Inuyasha?"
He made a soft scoffing sound and threw something toward her. Knowing somehow that he had no intention of harming her Kagome didn't even flinch. She watched him for a second longer before dropping her gaze to the item that had landed in front of her. She nearly chuckled as she reached for it, her fingertips running gently over the clipped feather fletching. One of her arrows, "So, I guess you saw my not so nimble exit from the building then huh?" She couldn't help blushing at the idea, "I'm not exactly the most graceful person in the world sometimes am I?" He scoffed again and turned away at the obvious understatement. "Alright, what do you want?"
"What?" He turned back to her with wide eyes that returned to normal after only a moment.
"To not tell Yusuke and the others… what is it going to take?" She demanded softly, her eyes glued to the arrow in her hands.
"It makes no difference to me whether they know about you or not."
Kagome looked at him for a long moment, "Well it makes a big difference to me." She looked down again, not liking how intently he was staring into her eyes, like he was trying to read her mind or something. "So just tell me already."
"Again, what could you have that I might possibly want?"
"Well…" She clicked through things in her mind, and slowly she was coming up with nothing, "That's why you're supposed to tell me what sort of thing you might want."
"Your skills at bribery are sadly lacking."
"Well it's not like I go around trying to bribe people you know." She sighed, "I just don't want them to know about any of… this."
"You don't want them to know about you. This jewel he was looking for, what is it."
"It's… nothing all that important. Inuyasha just… thinks it's his."
"Even stupid humans aren't willing to die for nothing." He murmured, watching her closely.
Sensing the danger of this situation and further arousing his curiosity Kagome sighed, considering her options. She could tell him, but there was a chance that he would just decide he wanted to jewel for himself, and she had no way of fending him off. "Look… it's a really long story…"
"Regardless I'll take the explanation."
She smiled, realizing that there was no way she was getting out of this one, and he had saved her life after all. He really didn't seem all that bad. "Could it maybe wait…?" She cringed a little at the glare he gave her, "I'll tell you, I promise, it's just…" She looked down at her hands again, cringing again at the dirt and blood on her, "I'd like to go clean up, and I left the others kind of suddenly so they're probably… going to be really mad at me and I don't want Yusuke to be waiting up for me or something." She tried smiling again and received only an annoyed glare. "I'm not lying. I'll tell you, but… you can't tell any of them."
"I don't take orders from humans."
"Fine then. Please." She looked down for a moment, "Please don't tell them."
"Hn. Try again."
"Alright fine then." She slowly pushed herself to her feet, "You're friends with Yusuke and Kazuma right?"
"Hardly."
"Sure you are, or at least you spend a lot of time with them." She smiled a little, "So I'm sure that they've done something to annoy you." From the slight growl he gave she could tell she was right, "So I'm also assuming that you might want some kind of payback?"
"And you would be willing to help me in that pursuit."
"Well I wouldn't help you hurt them or anything, but… I have something that will help you shut them up the next time they start in." She waited through the silence, saw him narrow his eyes suspiciously at her.
"And what might this object be?"
"Just a very embarrassing picture of the two of them. Interested?"
He paused for a moment, his eyes holding her gaze for a second before he looked away. Ignoring her protest he began walking, slowly enough that she could easily follow. Kagome sighed and fell into step beside him as she retraced her earlier path out of the woods. "So it's your height right?" She smiled when he only looked at her this time. "What they pick on you about. We're about the same height and they never shut up about how short I am, so they're probably even worse about it with you because you're a guy."
"You talk entirely too much."
"And you don't talk enough so we've got a pretty good balance going here huh?" He ignored her again and Kagome glanced at him, "You're a tough nut to crack, but I have a feeling that eventually we're going to be pretty good friends."
"I sincerely doubt that."
XXXXX
He finally came to a stop just short of a gate, pausing to take in the surrounding area before continuing. It was a park, just a small one that seemed to be mostly unused. He could make out no playgrounds and only one bench along the edge of the single gravel path. He considered bypassing it, but the wind and that ghostly scent pulled at him, forced him to continue. His eyes swept across the gathered darkness, taking in the poorly maintained lawns and the thick trees growing beyond them. He was about to turn away when he found it, a discarded bundle of brown fabric resting against one of the trees. Unable to stop himself and ignoring the voices calling his name Kurama set off into the park, toward what he knew was her coat. He was half way there when the smell of her intensified and brought him to a halt, then a ghostly giggle carried the wind to him.
She seemed to glow slightly in the moonlight that washed over her, her pale skin nearly luminescent against the darkness behind her. The wind shifted, bringing that delicate and unique smell that had lured him here mercilessly to him once again, trailing her hair forward and then pulling it back across the skin of her bare neck. The skirt she wore was pulled by the wind, forcing the fabric to dance around her legs. She was smiling and when she glanced to the side he couldn't help following her eyes, taking his off the angelic image that inspired this peaceful feeling settling over him and found himself looking into the harsh eyes of a smirking demon.
"Kurama… what the… hell… man?" Yusuke nearly fell over, but braced himself on his knees, listening to Kuwabara run up to where they had stopped with the grace of an elephant.
"What was… that all… about?"
"It seems that we weren't the first to locate her." He murmured, watching as one of Kagome's small hands retrieved her coat before she stood and turn to look at them. He followed shock registering and quickly being chased by what could only be determination, then worry as she glanced toward Hiei and back.
"What the…" Yusuke's mouth had fallen open, his finger shaking as he pointed at the two, his sister walking next to a demon he'd seen kill with complete disregard on several occasions as if it were the most natural thing in the world was enough to send him into a temporary shock.
Kuwabara however, was not silenced by his surprise. "Hiei! What the hell are you doing out here with Kagome Shorty?"
Kurama stiffened, practically able to smell Hiei's annoyance and felt himself shivering a little as Kagome's obvious nervous energy swept over him. He wondered what she was doing here with Hiei himself, wondered what might have been going on between the two, and strangely some of his ideas were starting to get him very annoyed with the demon that was still smirking at him.
"That's none of your business idiot." Hiei moved past the girl toward them, not pausing as he drew up alongside a still staring Yusuke.
"None of my… what did you just call me Hamster legs?"
"I knew it." Kagome laughed softly beside him and Kurama couldn't help looking at her slightly confused.
"I said it's none of your concern… idiot."
"Yeah well it is my concern." Yusuke turned between the two, "So just what in the hell is going on out here? What are you doing in the woods with my sister at this time of night you little…?" Carried away by his anger Yusuke grabbed the demon by the collar, lifting him slightly off the ground.
"Yusuke…" Kagome rushed forward, catching his arm, "Stop that…"
"Fine," He released his hold, "But I still want my answer damn it."
He saw the look that went between them, even if the others didn't. Her eyes pleading and Hiei's calculating. Then the fire demon smiled slightly, "I went for a walk and came across her lost in the woods."
"Yeah, I don't know that I ever would have gotten out if Hiei hadn't found me." She smiled just a little, but it trembled slightly on her lips. Kurama stiffened, well aware that they were lying, even if hers was likely a half truth. Kagome wasn't the type to lie, at least not and be happy about it, and with all the lies she'd been attempting to tell something interesting must have happened in the forest. He could hardly wait to hear about it, surely Hiei would tell him.
"Sure. Come on guys let's get home. This place gives me the creeps." He murmured under his breath.
Kurama watched as they walked away, Yusuke leading and Kuwabara following him closely. Hiei paused for a moment, turning to the young woman who stood beside him. "I accept you offer. This picture of yours…"
"You've got it Hiei." She whispered, "I knew they'd be on you about the height thing." She smiled, "Those guys really need to learn to pick on something else in people. It's not like we can help how tall we are right?" She was smiling, but Hiei just scoffed and started walking.
He watched her for a long moment as she stared after the retreating forms, noticing for the first time all the smudges of dirt on her skin and the scratches on her knees. She shivered and pulled her coat on, cringing and pulling a piece of a leaf from her hair. He heard her sigh.
"Kagome… are you all right?"
She jumped a little, having forgotten he was there. "Shuichi… why are you always asking me that?"
"It seems like I always have reason to." He glanced pointedly at the still bleeding scrape on her knee, "Did something happen to you?"
"I wandered off the path and tripped, that's all." She smiled again, and looked away, hoping that he would leave it at that, but knowing that he wouldn't. Shuichi was nice, and she liked being around him, but there was something about talking to him sometimes, she couldn't help feeling she was being interrogated. "Oh…" Her face turned slightly pink in embarrassment, "I guess I owe you an apology for taking off like that…"
"Think nothing of it." He smiled down at her, enjoying the way her cheeks flushed just a little, absently he reached out to touch her silken hair, saw her stiffen and considered pulling back, but thankfully a small leaf gave him an excuse. He brushed his fingers against the glossy strands and withdrew the brown material, held it out for her to see, "I'm glad you are in relatively good condition."
Kagome smiled a little, reaching to take the leaf he was holding without thinking about it. She couldn't help smiling a little and shifting her eyes away from his as their fingers brushed. A shiver rushed over her. "So… you were worried about me?"
She met his gaze and he was momentarily lost to it, those emotional brown eyes that held so many secrets, had the answers to the puzzle he'd been attempting to put together for the last two weeks. Brown eyes that were just… pretty. He saw her nip lightly at her lower lip, and became engrossed with those as well, the soft coral pink tissue holding his attention even as he leaned toward her.
"HEY! You two coming or what?" Kuwabara thundered, waving almost frantically over at them.
"Oh … of course…" Kagome seemed momentarily frozen, but seemed to get over it quickly. She smiled at him, her blush a little darker now and began walking.
Kurama couldn't help falling in step beside her. "We were all worried about you." He murmured, and saw her smile from the corner of his eye. Even that small of a smile was dazzling. He shook himself mentally, wondering what was coming over him. The girl was hiding something, and now she was hiding something with Hiei, and all he could seem to do was wonder if she tasted as good as she smelled, or if she would have actually let him kiss her. But even as he tried to banish the thoughts his arm brushed hers and a shiver went across his skin.