Update! Of course the standard disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. Good news! Rumiko T. is continuing the series past 500 chapters until… well who knows, perhaps indefinitely! Falls over in weariness just thinking about all those chapters. But thanks to Rumiko, I can continue with my fanfic! Yeah! Other note, I am working two jobs this summer so it is unlikely I will update again before fall on any of my stories. But I felt like I should update this one because, surprise, the heart-shaped locket worked for me (okay, I'm being ridiculously superstitious). But, the story is this. I was driving a motorcycle and veered to avoid a car and crashed. But I walked away completely unscathed! The moment I stood up from the accident, get this, the pendant broke free of the chain and fell onto the ground. Creepy. So, for those of you who can't buy insurance, believe in the urban legends! Mwahaha! Okay, then again maybe not. You're better off buying insurance, and don't sue me for misadvice cause I ain't giving any, other than not to rely on lockets which is unscientifically proven and probably unrelated. On to the story!
When a Lie Leads to Truth
(Chapter Three)
A single shadow fell upon two inhabitants of a hut, shrouding them in a complete darkness. A single voice, of anguished breathing, surrounded both as one listened, hovering nervously, and the other lay in feverish dreams. All curtains remained closed, the doorway fastened tightly and the edgings stuffed, in order to prevent any wayward wind from getting in. Only a few faint glimmers, evidence of slivers of light which forced their way in through cracks between worn shingles, exposed the nature of the sunshine that blared without. In here, all was quiet. All was calm fraught with worry. The very air breathed silence perfumed with curative herbs. Visibility was unnecessary, the gloom a mimicry of the tomb that may await those whom do not recover from an illness. Yet the darkness did not hinder Inuyasha's vision, not in the least bit. Instead his demonic vision fell upon each rise and fall of the chest of the woman he had so long admired, for whom he had so longed to cherish. To his everlasting regret, this was the same sweet girl he had so recently failed to protect- from her own doings.
"Why Kagome?" the hanyou murmured, running the backside of a clawed finger gently across her forehead. With a great tenderness only such a youthful face as his could emphasize, he gazed upon her. The hanyou's gold-illumined pupils reverently traced her form, just as if he had continued to glory her with his caresses, around her raven-haloed head and down to her delicate toes which stuck out towards the ceilings, bandaged anew from the travel sores the young girl had been hiding. Inuyasha would have wept, if he had been human. As it was, his demonic pride restrained him; but here in the darkness, in the privacy the absolute gloom provided, some of his affected heart came tumbling out. His eyes trembled from the unshed tears, and he draped his head ashamedly. His hair became a curtain.
"Why Kagome?" the hanyou reiterated clasping her hand in his, soothingly. "Why would you promise such a thing to me, a lowly hanyou? I don't deserve even your friendship. So…why? Why go out of your way to protect me at such a great price to yourself? I would rather die myself than shame you." The silence, momentarily broken, only returned in full force. The absence of her voice drove him to madness so he spoke again, this time filled with his deepest secret- his angst-ridden rapture for her.
"Kagome you should have told me," the hanyou muttered wilding, pressing her fingers to his lips before laying them down on the infirmary blankets to scoot away in guilt. The furtive action caused him to half-expect her revival.
"Inuyasha?" a raspy voice called out. Kagome stirred upon her pallet and opened her eyes languorously, the lashes fluttering upwards in the same generosity of her timid murmur. They immediately knitted upwards in an expression of confusion and concern.
"Inuyasha, why is it so dark in here? Where are the others? Is it nighttime?" Kagome tried to sit up and immediately was restrained by a clawed hand supporting her back. The young miko turned to look at her companion.
"Inuyasha, as much as I appreciate what you're doing for me, I feel fine. A little hot and tired, but fine. Now let go. I need to do something!" Shrugging away his attentions, the miko rose to her feet with a slight totter, fully intending to make a bathroom break. She tugged on the barricading doorscreen fruitlessly only to find her hand caught up in his. Kagome raised her eyes to Inuyasha's, causing the hanyou to fully realize his mistake. Abruptly, he dropped her hand and turned away blushing. Inuyasha gulped, desperately trying to re-find his courage.
"Kagome!" he said whirling around suddenly while doing a reasonable impression of his haori. "We have to talk about something!" Without offering an explanation as to what, the part dog-demon hanyou hunkered down on all fours in his trademark, very canine-like position. Kagome's attention was arrested. She sighed and squatted down on her tiptoes to reason with him, which was a big mistake. The action caused her recently bandaged wounds to twitch painfully.
"Kagome!" the hanyou called out. In one fluid motion, Inuyasha pulled her down to sit against him, resting snugly against his shoulder with all subtleties cast aside; for the miko looked pale to Inuyasha, and it frightened him. "Are you all right?" The reply that followed was typical, a sort of dance by her whereby neither of them were forced to admit their feelings.
"I'm all right," Kagome muttered, her eyes glazing over with the lie that both of them knew and ordinarily genuinely accepted, as if mutually conspired. So it would have been accepted, if today had been like all other days. But today was not just another day to Inuyasha. Today was the day, the hanyou knew privately, that this dance had to end. It was time to take strike at the heart of the battle. It was time for his demonic half to supply him with the necessary courage.
"Kagome," Inuyasha blurted out in a heroic measure which personally he considered to far outweigh any he had carried out previously, whether it being taking on ancient monsters or saving entire villages from rampaging demons. "I didn't reject you! I'm wearing the locket again, see? So you don't have to worry about anything. I'll always protect you, Kagome." Instead of looking relieved, the miko before him cast him a weirded-out look.
"Okay. If you say so Inuyasha." Nearly shaking her head at his mood changes, Kagome turned her attentions back to her the stubborn doorway.
But inside her chest, the young miko's heart was pounding. A scarlet blush stained her cheeks at the thought that at such close proximity, Inuyasha might even hear it. His words, although bumbling and awkwardly constructed, had been as close to an admission of love as the hanyou was capable, in her estimation. It was at moments like these that Kagome felt special, hopeful even that one day they might be more than fellow seekers of the Shikon-no-Tama. It was this extreme hopefulness that caused her young heart to flutter at even one kind word from the hanyou she loved.
Their relationship, if there even was one between she and Inuyasha, was extremely strained, Kagome thought. There were times, she believed, that they both came to a mutual understanding that they belonged with one another, and that she, on her part, would never desert him. If Kagome had her way, they would always be together. For a few, snatching moments at a time, Kagome had truly felt that her hanyou might reciprocate the same.
But then there was Kikyo. Whether alive but dead or truly banished from corporeal living, the long dead priestess always seemed to hold the hanyou's heart. Over time, Kagome had come to grips with the painful truth that Kikyou would always be an important love to Inuyasha. With great pains Kagome had even come to accept the former priestess as an individual. More recently, at the summit of a sacred mountain where she had been tested by the local mountain spirit in order to receive a sacred bow, Kagome had even been able to come to the brave declaration that she meant every bit as much to Inuyasha as Kikyo did. Kagome had been able to announce to the entity she had thought was Kikyo that she had been able to be part of his life in ways that she never be; that she was a part of his family, enough to be called a rival lover. But that was all before their encounter with the Naraku, when Kikyo's life was taken again. As Kikyo lay dying, there had been a light of love in Inuyasha's eyes, and tears such as Kagome had never seen cried for herself. It had been painful to watch as her notions of importance to Inuyasha were indelicately chiseled away. It had hurt equally as much to be ignored by him as he grieved for Kikyo, and nearly followed after her in death at the hands of a youkai whom promised him a reuniting with his fallen love. The encounter had left Kagome even more broken hearted than she had ever been. Would she ever mean even a fraction of Kikyo's worth to Inuyasha? It was becoming impossible to imagine. Still, there were times when just the two of them held hands, or she coddled next to him without rejections and these small scraps of comfort Kagome had come to deeply rely on. But now, in the cloistered shadows of Kaede's hut, Inuyasha's next words startled her.
"Kagome..." the hanyou blundered nervously moving as far away from her as possible. "I would be honored….if-you-would-be-the-mother-of-my-children…" Kagome blinked rapidly, trying to figure out what her hanyou had said and began to smile. "If you have to," Inuyasha continued. The loving light in her eyes died. Kagome stood. With feet splayed, she opened her mouth. The miko began a nearly demonic volley of yells, her once cute lips curled up in a furious scowl.
"If I have to? If I have to! What kind of an answer is that Inuyasha?! Here I have been waiting on you for all these years and this is the kind of thing you ask me? Well, if I am such a burden to you then the answer is NO! I'm not about to ask anything of you since you obviously can't stand the sight of me! Go find someone else to be a replacement to Kikyo!" Inuyasha colored angrily and stood up to stand nearly toe-to-toe with Kagome.
"Well if you haven't noticed, all of this is your fault you know! You should be grateful for what I'm trying to do for you! But no, you just had to put this enchantment around my neck without me knowing so and now we're both stuck! Well, you're just going to have to deal with this Kagome since you're the one who trapped me to this!"
Kagome followed his words angrily, then tears sprang up instead. With a guttural sob, she reached up to Inuyasha's collar where to his puzzlement, she moved to grab hold of his beads. Instead of following through on her actions, she froze, and Inuyasha trembled.
"Inuyasha…" Kagome said with menacing sweetness, "SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT,…"
After approximately sixty-nine sits, Kagome reached down into the hole Inuyasha had made and with a heart-wrenching sob, tore his rosary necklace off. She threw it on his face to dangle off his ears. At this point, Inuyasha too dazed to even listen.
"There you go, Inuyasha," Kagome raged vehemently. "You don't need the rosary now anyway since you mastered control in your demon form. Now you can be free of me and my sit commands. Go on! Go run rampant around the countryside for all I care! Maybe somewhere on the other side of Japan you can find someone else who is willing to be with you!" With one last trod of the dog-demon's head, she strood off, with tears dribbling freely as she pushed back the now half-torn curtain. Shippo hopped through the gaping hole at the bottom and peered down at Inuyasha, whom had sunk far below the floorboards.
"Curse you Inuyasha! What did you say now? Kagome seems really angry this time!" Completely out of it, the hanyou was unable to bat the angry kitsune off his ears nor even to notice that they were being chewed on.
Elsewhere, Kagome stomped through the forest and startled sparrows from their meadow roosts. Rapidly, she reached the Bone-Eater's Well threw herself over its lip with an audible sniff. "Stupid Inuyasha," she muttered bitterly before disappearing into her world with a blinding light. It would be several days before Inuyasha even dared to come after her. Hiding in the bushes beside Kaede's hut, Sango and Miroku shook their heads at Inuyasha's lack of tact as usual.
(Yeah this chapter is short. Inuyasha gains the ability to transform into a demon and still maintain control in Manga Volume 48, chapter 477.)