Disclaimers: I do not own Inuyasha
A/N Sorry for the wait. I thought that maybe I'd complete my other stories before posting the next chapter for this.. But then I re-read over the reviews and thought that I'd just try to balance out my ficts and update as soon as I get a chance. So, here we go! Chapter 2!
Awakened Dead
Chapter 2. November 1st.
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Streams of light poured greedily into the small pink room, not disturbing the sleeping figure even the slightest. It wasn't until midday that the woman had stirred from her sleep, and even then it was only because of her noisy tenant. He had been quiet all morning until he had enough of being in the damn room. So he had begun to growl, fidget, then call her, and then of course yell.
"Wench! If you don't wake up right now and get me outta here, I'm gunna make your life a living hell!" He continued to rant as Kagome stuffed her head under her pillow to muffle his voice.
Though, it was a sexy, velvety, deep voice… 'Bad, bad bad bad thoughts about Inuyasha. He's dead. A freaking poltergeist! No thinking of dead people like that!' She thought to herself, finally becoming more alert to her surroundings. She had pushed her pillow away and moved her body into a sitting position, blinking a few times. "Why do I have… Oh right, to stop the ghosts.."
"Yeah, now break the stupid salt prison before I loose my fucking mind, wench!"
"Not so loud.. Jeez." Kagome moved off of her bed and walked to her window, pulling the curtains open. She smiled at the beautiful day, and then stared down at the thick line of salt. In one quick movement, she had wiped away part of it, successfully breaking the circle. It was in that instant that Inuyasha had dematerialized in a swirl of demonic wind and had left her alone in her room.
"I guess he really needed to get away from me. I wonder what he did all night? I don't think ghosts can sleep.." Kagome shrugged to herself and moved away from the window, opening the door of her room and going downstairs. 'I wish it was all just some bad dream. I wish none of it happened..'
Her house was a complete disaster. It looked like someone had robbed them, but at the same time nothing was taken. Chairs were moved, a lamp broken on the floor, broken eggs everywhere with toilet paper, the sinks were all on, but thankfully not plugged up, and the list could go on.
Kagome had realized that she may have been protected, but the rest of the house wasn't. And she had exactly four hours to clean up before anyone started to arrive home. 'Another reason why I wish last night didn't happen.'
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"Well, by the looks of things, you haven't had any wild parties. And I take it you had a nice Halloween?" Mrs. Higurashi smiled as she put her things down in front of the stairs.
"Yup! It was great mom," Kagome chirped. She was extremely proud of her cleaning skills at the moment. She had even put the old box back into storage with all the sutras plastered back on in the same spots. Though she had secretly put the Tessaiga under her bed knowing it would be good to have it on hand.
"Can I play some games mom?" Souta, Kagome's younger brother, pleaded with his big brown eyes, "I did all my homework already!" He added loudly.
Kagome knew her mother would give in to Souta, since she always did. Her mother was too nice for her own good. And so, the woman had and Kagome had proceeded to question her about her trip. Gramps certainly could not drive himself to his friends house, and Souta couldn't go along, nor could he stay at the shrine since Mrs. Higurashi thought it would be too much trouble for Kagome. The shrine grounds were difficult to take care of, especially on Halloween.
"You know, on our way back we noticed a lot of smashed pumpkins and even some damaged homes." Mrs. Higurashi began suddenly, as she carried her things upstairs to her room. Kagome had followed her rather nervously, but kept her mouth shut for her mom to finish. "Such foul behaviour, I must say. There were even some policemen around investigating."
'Good luck with that. I doubt they'd be able to find out what really caused the damages, unless they can speak to the dead.' Kagome thought, 'They couldn't have figured that out, could they? I mean what if there is someone out there that can also see them like I can!'
"They're blaming the damages on rebellious teenagers apparently.. You wouldn't have anything to do with this right? You were at home the whole time weren't you?" Mrs. Higurashi questioned.
"Of course mom. It took me forever to take down some of the decorations last night and handing out the candy was brutal. I didn't leave the house at all since I was so tired." She replied easily, "Anyways, I have some homework to do." Kagome added smoothly, exiting her mother's room before she could say anything else.
'At least I know I'm not in trouble. They think teens did it..' The raven haired girl thought to herself, closing the door of the room quietly. When her blue eyes had lifted, they had connected with an odd object sitting on her bed. She came to realize that the object was her witch hat from last night that had fallen off while she was running. How it got to her room she had no idea. Well, not until a very ill tempered hanyou had materialized into the room.
"Ya know wench, I went to a lot of trouble findin' that stupid thing," He scowled.
"I never asked you to do this, so don't get angry with me," She growled back.
"You ungrateful idiot! See if I do anything nice for you again! Keh!"
"You're insufferable! I'm the one who set you free! You should be thanking me, remember?!" She shot back.
"As if I'd thank someone like you! You're just like Kikyo, and as soon as I let my guard down, you're just gunna seal me away again!"
"Who is Kikyo?! I don't even know who you're talking about! And why would I try to put you back into the stupid sword?! I'm not that much of a bitch!" She shouted back, not even realizing she had actually swore.
Though it did have the desired affect on the hanyou since he had backed off. His ears that were once pinned back in defence were now twitching upwards as he stared at her in bewilderment. A grin a slowly formed on his face, "Heh, I never said you were a bitch, but if ya'd like me to, well I wouldn't mind." He said in a velvety sweet voice.
Kagome had blushed immediately after she had pieced together exactly what he meant, and thought that she would rescue what little pride she had left by muttering, "Thanks for finding my hat."
Inuyasha had dematerialized after that, leaving the girl to her thoughts. She knew what the meaning, the true meaning, of bitch meant. And since he was an inu hanyou, well she wasn't that stupid. He was basically asking her if she wanted him to call her his woman. Now that was something she could not understand why he would bring up. But judging by the look on his face after he said it, well, it looked like he regretted it. By doing this, Kagome couldn't help but feel a little hurt, like he was playing with her. But why would she care?
Kagome Higurashi woke this spirit up just one night ago, so she couldn't possibly be developing feelings for the rude poltergeist. He was a troublemaker and did nothing but fight with her. On the other hand he did protect her from the crazy spirits… "Okay, new topic." She had shaken herself awake from her thinking to finally focus on what was really important. She had done her schoolwork in record time, but she didn't have much to do in the first place.
The rest of her day wasn't really interesting either. She had taken down the rest of the decorations and had cleaned up a bit. Though Sango had called her up to talk about the party. The woman sounded far too excited and of course Kagome knew that it was because of their plan.
"He was so jealous! He had tried to cut in our dance but got refused." Sango squealed, "And then when another song came on, he was right there to ask me to be his partner."
"That's awesome Sango-san! Are you guys dating yet? Come on, please tell me he asked you out." Kagome whined, leaning back on her bed and twirling a piece of raven hair in her fingers.
"He did! He was like—"
"Kagome! Kagome? Why is the mirror broken in the washroom? Kagome!" Mrs. Higurashi yelled up the stairs.
"Sorry Sango but I have to go! Talk to me at school!"
"You know it, bye!"
As soon as the phone was off, her mother had entered her room looking not only angry, but furious. Her hands were on her hips as she walked in and she focused all her attention on Kagome. "Why is the mirror broken Kagome? I also can't find my blue floral lamp anywhere."
'Crap, what do I do? I couldn't piece all the broken things together, there were too many pieces! I..' She swallowed hard, "I uh, I'm a real klutz mom. I tripped in the living room and brought the lamp down with me. And I tried to fix the mirror after I sort of knocked it down, but it was so hard—"
"Oh, you didn't cut yourself did you?" Her mother asked in a momentary concerned way.
"I'm fine! I was careful, but I'm also really sorry—"
"I suppose accidents do happen.."
"Yes they do."
Once again, her mother's natural kindness just saved the day for Kagome and she found herself being cared for instead of being grounded. The older woman had first made sure her daughter's hands were alright and she wasn't injured before reminding her that dinner would be served very soon. Naturally Kagome responded with a "Thanks mom," and that was the end of that.
She was really relieved to see the woman leave and close her door since just moments later a figure shimmered to life into her room. She would have screamed, but who else would just pop into her room besides Inuyasha? Except that it wasn't Inuyasha that materialized into her room, but someone else. 'Oh my god, its gunna kill me!' Was her first thought, and then her second thought was 'Inuyasha!'
"Great, I got sent to a new girl. And here I thought they'd get me somewhere. Instead they sent me in the middle of nowhere!" The woman shouted venomously.
All Kagome could do was back up until she could no longer move due to the wall of her room. She swallowed hard and tried to bite back a shiver. She had nearly passed out when a second figure had materialized but had soon settled down when the familiar glimpse of red was seen.
"The hell is going on here? What is a witch like you doing here?!" Inuyasha barked, standing in between Kagome and the strange woman protectively.
"A half demon? Oh my, I haven't seen one of your kind in centuries. Well mutt, get out of my way. I need that girl to fix my problem!" The woman replied sourly.
"I don't move for anyone. Now tell me who you are and what you want or I'll tear you to pieces," He threatened.
The silver haired woman snorted, "Even if you did, I would just piece myself back together again. Stupid dog, get out of my way!" She shouted back.
"What is it that you want with me? I-I can't possibly be able to help y-you." Kagome stammered.
She huffed, "You really are new at this. My name is Tsubaki, and I was killed last night during a spell."
"I knew I could smell witch craft, your magic is beyond black. It's as far as demonic considering how you look and how old you really are." Inuyasha growled.
"Quiet mutt, the spell wasn't supposed to go out of control. One of the girls got frightened and broke the circle. I was killed the others just have serious injuries. What I want is for her," She pointed to Kagome, "To give me a body so I can return to my husband."
"She can't do that, it's impossible to just give a damn vessel to someone," Inuyasha replied for Kagome. "So leave now."
Tsubaki shrivelled her nose, "Something must be done! I refuse to leave my husband alone! And he isn't allowed to marry some other half-wit girl! He can only be with me!"
"Tsubaki-san, you have to accept your death and let your husband move on. I don't expect him to do it this soon considering you died yesterday, but he will eventually let go, and you need to as well." Kagome cooed gently, trying to ease the tension in her room.
This apparently had an opposite effect considering Tsubaki had screeched loudly in protest and yelled, "No! He is not allowed to forget me! I won't let him! He is mine and mine only, girl. I will be with him again!" With that said, the dead witch had dematerialized from the room in a puff of angry black smoke.
Inuyasha's shoulders had sagged a bit once he knew she was gone and he had slowly turned around, eyeing the girl slightly, "Thank the gods you called me, otherwise you'd probably be dead right about now."
"Called you? What are you talking about? I didn't do anything," Kagome insisted. "You're the one who showed up," She coughed slightly and moved to open her window, letting the fresh air in before sitting back down.
"Yeah, 'cause you called me."
"No, I didn't."
"Yes, I clearly recall your voice calling out to me wench."
"I did not—Oh never mind. I've got to talk to you about some more important things. Like, how the heck am I able to see the dead and why are they coming to me?!"
Inuyasha flattened his ears and growled lightly, "Keh, you can see the dead because you're a miko. All miko's can see spirits."
"No, you've got it all wrong. I have spiritual powers, but only enough to do warding spells and things, not see the dead."
"Listen Kagome, your real spiritual powers have been lying dormant in you since you were born. If it weren't for the fact that you set me free from the Tessaiga, you wouldn't be able to see spirits. You woke up your powers and now you gotta use 'em since everybody knows about them."
"And by everybody you mean.."
"The dead. You'll be getting a lot of visits from souls that are having a hard time crossing over to the after life," Inuyasha replied. "Any more questions?"
"So I guess that makes me like a.. a.. mediator or something, right?" Kagome asked.
"Yeah, it does. But since you can see the dead, they'll be coming at all hours of the day. We're going to have to set up some wards to keep them out at night so they don't wake you up," The hanyou whined slightly. "Meaning I'm going to be sleeping in here for a long time.."
"Do you actually sleep? Can you sleep?"
"I…. I dose off if anythin'. So no, I don't really sleep." He twitched one of his ears, "Dinners ready, you better go downstairs."
'Lie. He's lying.' She thought suddenly. She had slightly shaken her head in bewilderment when the thought had naturally popped up in her head like it did. "O-oh, right." She had mumbled, hurrying off her bed and walking passed the annoyed ghost. With one last glance back at him, she had exited her room to go and have her family dinner.
Later on that night, Kagome had gathered some materials from her family shrine. All the sutras her grandfather painted were actually incorrect, but not by much. They were all just missing a certain character to create a true ward, that and real holy powers to charge them.. Though Kagome didn't want to make a ward that lasted throughout the day and night. She wanted something that only kept out the lost souls during the evening.
The young miko had to do a bit of research on that one and thought that she might have found the solution. She had then created a specific ward using great amounts of her powers (a tremendous amount she never knew she even had) and buckets of confidence to keep her going. All of her sutras had then been glued in places her mother would never notice around the house, this way she could guarantee the safety of their home and most importantly her family.
Inuyasha seemed a bit weary of her skills and was unusually fidgety that night when she had finally settled into bed. He was obviously angry about something or at the very least, annoyed. When she had decided that enough was enough she had scowled and said, "What is your problem? You've been tapping your foot against my floor, growling, and moving your ears way too much!"
Said hanyou had snorted and turned away from her, crossing his arms, "Just shut up and go to sleep wench. You need your sleep if you want to keep up with the spirits tomorrow."
"Is it the fact that you're trapped in here with me? Because you know that you can go around the house now that the whole place is sealed," Kagome muttered in a bit of a growl.
"Feh, don't degrade yourself like that, idiot. I don't stay in here because I have to, but because I choose to. And I want to make sure you're always protected, even if your spells do work, it's good to have a back up plan in case of emergencies," He explained casually.
She huffed in annoyance, "Then why are you being so uptight?!"
He glared at the floor, swivelling his ears back as he poked at the floor with his semi transparent claws, "I'm not used to the purifying aura your sutras are giving off. So until I get used to them, I'll be getting small reactions against them."
"Basically.. Anxiety?" She scrunched up her face in wonder, and then it hit her. Her powers were hurting him! "Wait, should I take them down?! Oh my gosh you aren't going to be purified are you? I swear I didn't mean for them to—"
Inuyasha sighed and shot her glares, "Damn it, you silly little girl! Nothing, beyond small forms of anxiety, is gunna happen to me! As long as my youki keeps bonding with your miko powers, I'll be fine. Now get. Some. Sleep." He ordered coolly, turning so that his back leant against her bed.
"How do you even have youki? I thought you were just a poltergeist. How does that work?" Kagome had by then settled back into her bed and was now staring at the ceiling.
Of course he had growled in frustration and turned to her again, his golden eyes agitate beyond belief. "Are you honestly trying to piss me off, or are you just too curious for your own damn good?!"
"Hey! I'm just asking! Remember, I set you free you blockhead! I deserve whatever answers I want from you! And it's not like I ask you difficult questions!" Kagome defended hotly.
'By god, I think she's going to be the death of me… Why can't the damn woman sleep?' Inuyasha had thought, "Just get some sleep baka. 'Cause if you don't shut up soon, I swear I'll fidget all night just to piss you off." He threatened.
She had grudgingly kept her mouth shut and gone to bed like he had said. 'He's hiding something.. Avoiding questions.. but what could he be hiding?' She thought but didn't want to make things any worse for herself. Besides, she knew he was right. She needed a lot of sleep so that she could keep up with whatever was going to be happening tomorrow. She also needed to think of someway to help Tsubaki. Though the woman seemed to carry a foul aura..
The miko knew that tomorrow she'd have to locate Tsubaki's husband. For some reason, she just felt that he was in a bit of danger as long as her jealous spirit was hanging around. With that in mind, Kagome had drifted to sleep under Inuyasha's watchful eyes.
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A/N Short, but whatever. I had it set in one day. I might just go by days for each chapter. I'm not sure yet.. Then again things would move really slowly.. Whatever! –smiles- R&R!! Please and thank you! I love you guys!
Special thanks to : kagomesbutterflyfeeling
Yeah, you left one hell of a review for me! It was pretty amazing of ya to do that, so thanks very much! I'm glad you're into my story! Yeah, I spell Inuyasha's sword either way. Tessaiga being the Japanese way or whatever.. And Tetsusaiga being the American way. Either way, I've used both. I just chose to use Tessaiga in this fict 'cause.. I felt like it lol.
Anyways, R&R everyone!