A/N: Like I said last chapter, this is a continuation of the Corpse theme. Again, there's a more serious tone to this chapter and I hope the emotions I wanted kag and Inuyasha to feel come through. Let me know what you thought!
Enjoy and review please!
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The Lessons the Corpse Taught:
Luck of the Draw:
The strange electric blue light faded as their feet touched the dirt floor of the well. Inuyasha leapt to the lip of the well and balanced there as Kagome wordlessly clambered up the ladder.
She hasn't said a word for hours, Inuyasha thought uneasily. Seeing the normally too talkative girl so quiet was raising the warning hairs on the back of his neck and the half-demon shifted in response.
Her terrified face as she woke up screaming from a nightmare replayed in Inuyasha's mind and he inwardly winced. The sweet scent he associated with her had completely altered with her fear and guilt staining her smell. This whole situation is pissin' me off. It was just one stupid dead body, Inuyasha growled to himself as Kagome catatonically opened the door to the wellhouse.
For a moment he debated whether or not to insult her as that was almost a guarantee of a response. Looking at her slumped shoulders and the paleness of her skin he dismissed the idea without thinking about why.
"Hey! It's Kagome!" Souta ran forward with a grin, his ever-present soccer ball under his arm. Waving enthusiastically, he dashed toward the time travelers, never noticing the way his sister swayed on her feet or her soft, despairing moan.
"Oh Souta…," Kagome whispered as she finally saw her little brother alive, bursting into sudden, inconsolable tears.
"Kagome-nee-chan…? What's wrong with her?" the younger boy demanded, shaken by his cheerful older sister's sobs.
Inuyasha shook his head wordlessly and drew Souta away. "Go get your mom," he commanded as Kagome slumped to the floor, weeping hysterically. The youngest Higurashi nodded jerkily and rushed off, shouting for his mother.
Inuyasha knelt by Kagome's side, protective and watchful yet refusing to touch her. Her shoulders heaved as she wept and though his hands wanted to do something to stop her tears, Inuyasha offered her no comfort.
He simply didn't know how to soothe a person in pain.
The scent of Kagome's mother flowed toward Inuyasha's nose, her normal smell burnt acrid by her fear and anxiety. As Mrs. Higurashi collapsed next to her daughter and Souta hovered nearby, Jii-chan exploded out of the shrine and his hakama was stuffed with sutras to aid his beloved granddaughter. All three crowded around Kagome, patting her back and murmuring soft, loving words. The emotionally drained schoolgirl leaned gratefully into her mother's arms, consoled by the feel of home.
Inuyasha stared at the small, panicked scene that was developing in the shrine courtyard and slowly stepped away from Kagome. I have no place here right now, he realized. Turning away he soared onto the shrine rooftop with one agile leap. It did not escape his notice that no one realized that he had left.
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Kagome kneaded at her eyes as she woke up in her comforting, familiar bed. Shaking her head, she ruffled at her hair sleepily and looked out the window.
What the-? It's dark! Kagome stared at nighttime sky in confusion. It was barely past lunchtime when I came home. Swinging her legs out of bed, she hit her guardian on his head.
"Damn it wench! Watch where you're throwing those things!" Inuyasha spat out from his spot on the floor by her bedside.
"Sorry!" Kagome gasped. "You were so quiet I didn't realize you were there!"
Inuyasha mutely glared and folded his legs, keeping his nose up in the air.
She shrugged and let out an apologetic smile. "How long did I sleep?"
"A while," he answered vaguely. "It's past dinner."
"I must have been tired," Kagome said with a smile. "I can't believe I fell apart like that."
Strangely, Inuyasha didn't say anything but just stared at her for a moment and then turned away.
Getting familiar with her new friend's mood swings, Kagome said nothing and waited for the beginning throes of his temper to cool.
"You okay?" she asked finally when the furrow lessened between his eyebrows.
"I can't believe you fell apart like that either," Inuyasha replied nastily.
Kagome glared. "You're a jerk."
"You're lucky," Inuyasha spat out heedlessly.
Both of their eyes widened at his slip of the tongue and the reticent boy leapt to his feet to escape.
"Wait!" Kagome said urgently. "What do you mean?"
He looked at her distrustfully but slowly settled back onto the carpet. "When you came back here," Inuyasha said uncomfortably as he concentrated on a faded bit of wallpaper, "your whole family rushed to come see you."
"What of it?"
"You're lucky."
She shook her head. "I don't understand…"
Inuyasha turned suddenly and faced her, the girl who had everything he never had. "You saw that dead boy, right? It reminded you of your brother and you were upset."
"Yeah-"
"Not yeah! You were more then upset," he interrupted roughly. "You were torn up by the fact that someone who only looked liked your little brother was dead."
"It was horrible to see. I thought I was okay with it when I went to sleep but I saw his body in my dreams and it was awful…," she trialed off and shivered. "I had never seen a dead body before and to see one that looked so eerily like Souta was really scary," she explained softly.
Inuyasha strove for the right words. "They all came out when you were crying…while you were crying about that boy. For you, that total stranger wasn't just some dead body. It was important. Some random, dead body mattered…all because he looked like a member of your family. And your mother, brother and grandfather, who had no idea what was bothering you, just came to comfort you because they're your family and that's what families should do..."
Kagome's mouth gaped open slightly as all he was and wasn't saying began to make sense.
"Like I said," Inuyasha concluded softly, "you're lucky."
Kagome looked at Inuyasha's hunched shoulders and closed expression, wanting to do something to erase that look from his eyes but she said nothing and offered no comfort.
She simply didn't know how to soothe his pain.
Searching for something to say, Kagome was spared the confrontation with an issue she wasn't prepared for as Inuyasha stood up abruptly.
"I'm going. You go back to sleep."
"I'm not tired."
"I don't give a shit. Go to sleep in your weird bed and be ready to leave in the morning."
Blue eyes narrowed. "Hold on. You mean I'm not going to school tomorrow?"
Golden eyes rolled. "What the hell do you think the answer to the question is?"
"Jerk."
"Go to sleep," ordered Inuyasha and he stormed from the room.
"He didn't even shut off the light," groused Kagome as she got up and flicked down the switch.
In the darkness, the memory of the murdered boy surged forward again.
This time however she had a weapon against the despair.
Inuyasha's words resonated in Kagome's memory.
You're lucky…
She saw the love that surrounded her at all times, a blanket that would protect her heart and mind from the worst the world would throw at her.
Because of the comfort Inuyasha unknowingly gave, her knowledge of that love became a weapon that was stronger then the horrific recollection of that first corpse and protection against everything she would see in the future.
With Inuyasha by her side, the knowledge of love allowed her to survive the bloody years in Sengoku Jidai.
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A/N: well, what did everyone think? I'm a little nervous about the ending but I'm okay with it.
This piece was inspired by a girl in my college complaining about how her family smothered her and wouldn't let her do anything and what b.s. it was that they claimed to do it out of love. I had the strongest urge to ask her how she would feel if that support system dropped out from underneath her, if her family died- how would she feel? I wanted to slap her. Without family, life is extremely difficult.
Family is important and often, in times of trouble, family will be the one thing that's always there. If you take a stumble in life, family and love will help you up. Now, I know that not every family is happy or even healthy. Just as family can be your biggest support, they can also be your biggest problem. I am aware of this unfortunately common circumstance.
However, I think in terms of Kagome, her family is great and she needed to be reminded of that. Poor Inuyasha is an orphan, hated by everyone around him and I can see his impatience/disgust/longing for a family who would treat him like Kagome's treats her.
She's a lucky girl and it just might make seeing a dead boy to point that out to her.