Part Two
Inuyasha inhaled sharply. In the pause between heartbeats, he was swept away by the horrible fear churning restlessly in the woman's eyes. Who is she? And why is she crying? he thought with furrowed brows. What's going on here?
She didn't move to wipe the tears from her cheeks. Instead, she reached out as if to touch him, but discarded the effort when her hesitation proved too powerful. It was the most damning feature about having such an expressive face – he was able to see everything she was feeling. Remorse, confusion, horror, and guilt warred across her face in rapid succession, and it all happened so quickly that he was almost unable to identify each individual emotion. Without even knowing how he knew, he realized that he hated it when she was in pain and immediately wanted her to stop crying. So, swallowing his reluctance, he reached forward and gently wiped away her tears with his fingers.
The woman stilled under his touch, and he feared for a brief moment that he had offended her; however, the warmth that filled her dark eyes implied that she approved of the nice thing he was trying to do for her.
"Thank you," she said softly, and Inuyasha stopped breathing altogether, entranced by her tender voice.
He wanted to respond to her so badly, but something had robbed him of the use of his tongue; that, and there was a disturbance nearby – one that was quickly approaching them. He tensed immediately and wondered what he could possibly do to protect them both, but the woman seemed unafraid as a sobbing kitsune child emerged from the foliage around them and threw himself into her waiting arms. Inuyasha slowly inched away from the reunited duo and began to wonder if all these strange people did was cry.
"Kagome!" the kitsune wailed, burying his face in the woman's chest. "I'm so glad you're okay! I thought that oni was going to kill you when he took you. I was so scared!"
"I'm fine, Shippo," the woman – Kagome – assured him in a surprisingly steady voice. "I don't have a scratch on me. Inuyasha protected me."
Inuyasha stiffened at the sound of his name. Wouldn't he remember something so important? An oni was kinda hard to forget, especially if he had somehow battled with it.
The next thing he knew, the kitsune – Shippo – was standing in front of him, gawking at him with wide eyes and a hanging jaw. "Kagome?" he said, his voice seeping with panic as he regarded the hanyou with a bewildered expression. "W-why is Inuyasha a child?"
Word count: 433
A/N: WOW. Editing is so hard after being out of practice for almost a year! Anyway, thank you all for the lovely reviews on the last chapter. I'll try to get the next part up soon! Cheers! :)