Just so you know, my story is plotted out before hand. I'm not going to change it, so don't give me suggestions on what should happen in future chapters, okay? Those sort of reviews bug me. I don't care if you guess what happens, but please don't tell me what to do.
Save Me From Myself
Chapter Eighteen: Just Like Old Times
Love. The thought of love saving me was laughable. How could anyone love me in this state? And using that to cure me sounded like a child's fairy tale. It didn't make any sense.
But, I felt love for InuYasha after he gave me that necklace. And I still have it. Somehow, it hasn't rusted or lost its shine, but the silk ribbon that is used to tie the necklace is stained and frayed a bit. Though, I didn't have the heart to get a new ribbon.
Hope; that is what the necklace says. I look to that in times of sorrow, and to be reminded of the person I love.
- - -
Kagome got out of the well and arched her, her spine cracking in numerous places. She had slept wrong, but a simple stretch had made her feel as good as new.
The miko reached for her newly replenished backpack, but InuYasha got it before her and put it on his shoulder, walking in front of Kagome towards the village.
Though Kagome had walked the path so many times before, she felt like she noticed something new every time she walked to the village. She saw some mushrooms on the ground, and she also saw a dead bird. She almost had the urge to go over to it and bury it.
The sun fell through the leaves in little blotches along the path that had been worn by Kagome, and people before her going to the well for whatever reason they had to.
InuYasha snapped Kagome out of her thoughts when he said, "Kagome, look out for that tree."
Kagome stopped right in front of a tree, her nose barely touching the bark. How could she not see that?
"Sorry," Kagome said quickly, hurrying off to catch up to the hanyou in front of her.
"You're such a klutz. If you didn't have me here you'd be dead in five minutes," InuYasha said, glaring at Kagome.
"We've gone through this before, InuYasha," Kagome said, not looking at him.
InuYasha growled. "Yeah, but it doesn't seem to get through your thick..." InuYasha stopped mid sentence and quit walking.
"InuYasha?" Kagome asked, looking at him sniff the air. "What is it?" Kagome asked.
InuYasha growled more fiercely now. "Naraku."
Kagome nodded and said, "Well, let's get the others and go."
The two of them ran towards the village, InuYasha not running at his usual pace so Kagome could keep up, and barged into the hut.
Barely glancing at the startled faces of their friends, InuYasha blurted out, "We're leaving!"
Seeing that InuYasha was too vague, Kagome said to Sango, Miroku and Shippo, "InuYasha caught Naraku's scent."
Understanding that InuYasha wasn't going to take no for an answer, the others started to pack their things and get ready to leave, a little slower than usual. InuYasha waited impatiently outside, his leg tapping against the ground as he sat cross-legged on the roof.
Once they were all ready, InuYasha practically pushed them out of the village, though all of them were eager to get going to an extent.
"This time it's him, and not just a puppet," InuYasha explained, trudging out in front.
Miroku was thinking carefully. "Well, either Naraku has gotten careless, or more likely he's leading us to a trap," said the monk, tapping his chin.
"Who cares? It's been so quiet lately," InuYasha spat.
They all followed InuYasha without their complaints voiced, but soon enough Kagome persuaded him to let them rest. Poor Shippo was hardly standing up, and InuYasha could smell the fatigue on the rest of the humans, especially Kagome.
All this transforming shit must be taking a huge toll on her, InuYasha thought as Kagome told him that they needed to rest.
"Yeah, sure," he said, not arguing with her a bit.
Kagome's eyes widened. What's going on with him? He's not putting up a fight or anything! And he did this once before, too! Kagome thought, watching InuYasha leap up into a tree to watch over the camp.
Most of the members of their party were too tired to eat, so they all went to bed early, except InuYasha who raided Kagome's backpack for chips.
- - -
Sango awoke to the smell of breakfast. Surprisingly, she was the last one up, but she did have a lot on her mind, and for once, it wasn't just about Kohaku or the monk.
All night the exterminator had thought about Kagome and what would happen to her. She didn't know how to be supportive of Kagome when she was in such a condition, and could kill any one of them at any time.
She got up and straightened her hair out, a bit embarrassed to be seen like she was. Though, the others had similar hairstyles that morning. The only one who seemed to be fully awake was Kagome, who was dishing up Sango's food.
Not really caring, Sango took her breakfast and sat next to Kagome, eating her food and not paying attention to her surroundings.
"Sango, are you alright?" Kagome asked, looking at Sango sadly.
Sango looked at Kagome for a few moments before realizing what the younger girl had said. She seemed to wake up by saying, "Oh! No, I'm sorry. I was just thinking, that's all." Sango put on a small smile, and Kagome smiled back, turning to eat the rest of her meal.
There's a rift between us now; I feel it. It's because I can't help her... Isn't it? Or maybe I can, but I'm not doing it right, Sango thought to herself. InuYasha could help her, but Kagome didn't realize it. Sango knew that the miko wasn't as dense with friendships compared to love.
Right when the last person finished eating, they packed up and set off, leaving nothing behind but a few ashes from the fire.
They traveled at a walking pace, much to InuYasha's dismay. Everyone seemed lost in thought, and usually their thoughts strayed somewhere close to Kagome and her curse.
How can we get the jewel out? Kagome asked herself. A human cannot get rid of the jewel, and if we don't defeat Naraku this time, then I may have to try to use love to get rid of the jewel. But would that work? Will anything work? Kagome quietly sighed. She felt trapped, like nothing was going to help her out of this, and she was just digging herself deeper into this mess.
Miroku was thinking about Kagome too. Her curse... it's a bit like mine, in a way. It slowly eats her alive, but hers is more mental than physical. But I've noticed much more youki in her aura. Her spirit is becoming stained. If we don't get it out soon, she may become a full demon. And I am not helping her very much. I suppose I should probably be more supportive, Miroku told himself, looking at his right palm. He was looking at his hand a lot more lately, Miroku had felt it growing bigger. He thought that it might not be long now.
"He's near a village," InuYasha said to the people walking behind him. "Or at least he was for a while. I can smell him."
The others nodded or didn't answer him. They just were eager to get this over with.
Sango readied her weapon, and she had taken her kimono off and straightened up her exterminator outfit before they left camp.
The sun was starting to set, and they would have to rest soon, though none of them seemed very tired when they learned that Naraku may be near the town that they were going to.
Soon enough, the town was in sight, and there was a strange youki coming from it, but it wasn't Naraku's.
"Naraku isn't there," Kagome said to the others, in case they hadn't already noticed.
InuYasha glared. "He was earlier. He moved to the mountains just recently," explained the hanyou.
"We'll have to travel up there tomorrow," Miroku said, looking around for an inn.
Sango looked at what Miroku was doing and asked, "Aren't we going to get rid of that youki around the town?"
Miroku brightened and looked at Sango with a wide smile. "You're right, Sango! We can get food, shelter and women that way!" Sango's Hiraikotsu met with the monk's head. "Did I say women? I meant drinks."
"Sure you did," Shippo muttered as he sat on InuYasha's shoulder, causing InuYasha to nod in reply.
"What an idiot," the hanyou said.
Kagome said to the group, "We better get going. It will be easier if we get rid of whatever youkai is there if we do it before sundown." She walked into the village, leading the others until InuYasha caught up with her.
They tracked down the village headman and explained the situation, telling him about Naraku and the strange youki around the village. He quickly agreed to let them stay in the finest inn if they got rid of the youkai in the village.
"I sense the youki coming from that direction," Sango said, nodding her head towards a river. They made their way over to the river and found a hut.
A strange smell was coming out of it, and it was a wonder that no one had investigated it before.
"It smells awful!" Shippo exclaimed, burying his face in the back of Kagome's shirt.
"It smells like death," InuYasha said, glaring at the door before him. Bits of youki would seep out every so often, but otherwise, only the smell was coming out.
"Let's go," Sango ordered, walking towards the door. She went to push it aside, but was thrown back by a barrier.
Miroku caught the exterminator, half in his arms, and half by her landing on him. The force of the barrier threw her back several feet, and threw her up who knows how many yards.
"A barrier... how do we get through?" Miroku asked, taking a rub off Sango's butt. His reply was a quick slap across the cheek as Sango got off of him.
Kagome's eyebrows furrowed in confusion and she said, "Funny, I don't see a barrier."
"Neither do I," InuYasha said.
"I do!" Shippo exclaimed, and was backed up by Kirara.
Sango glared at the ground. "I don't know why I didn't notice it at first."
"Well, I'm going to try to go in," Kagome said, walking confidently towards the door. She closed her eyes and held out her hand, trying to see if she would touch anything, but the only thing she touched was the door flap, and she was through.
"You moron! Don't go off by yourself!" InuYasha shouted, running in after her.
Sango and Miroku were taken by surprise.
"Why could they go through?" Sango asked.
Miroku had thought this over quickly and then said, "I think it's because InuYasha's a hanyou."
"And Kagome?"
"The Bachiatari Jewel has tainted her aura with youki, and no doubt her blood. Whoever made the barrier may have forgotten about any hanyou, or maybe that's who they're trying to lure inside."
"So, it could be a trap," Sango summed up.
"Yeah," Miroku answered, not taking his gaze from the door.
- - -
Kagome looked around. There's nothing here... she thought, looking up at the ceiling.
"Kagome, what were you thinking? What if there was something that could hurt you in here?" InuYasha shouted at the miko.
Kagome sighed and walked towards the other end of the hut. "InuYasha, I'm fine. Don't worry about meeeEEEEEEEAAAHHHHH!" The wood cracked and fell through, causing Kagome to fall with it. InuYasha obediently followed, not daring to let Kagome out of his sight for a minute.
"Oomph!" Kagome said as she landed hard on her butt. She stood up and rubbed her backside in pain, stretching back a bit as well.
"What did I tell ya?" InuYasha asked.
Kagome ignored him and looked down the long underground hallway they were in.
"Do you see that down there? Something's glowing!" Kagome said, running.
"Don't change the subject on me!" InuYasha yelled, following the miko down the long hallway.
The hallway soon stopped and led into a large room with millions of giant green glowing orbs stuck along the wall. All of them were pulsating, and it felt like someone had the music speakers on too loud and was shaking the whole house.
"What are they?" Kagome asked, looking around.
"I think they're eggs," InuYasha answered.
Kagome took a step forward into the room and her feet started to sink down.
She gave a loud shriek upon seeing the millions of different sized eggs on the ground, all of them pulsing, and the one she stepped in sucking her leg inside.
"Kagome!" InuYasha called, running over to her and yanking her out. The egg that she had stepped in popped and sent the liquid-goo inside it flowing all over the floor. That was when InuYasha realized that the whole floor was covered in that goo, and even the walls and ceilings had it on them. As the eggs grew bigger, the ones that had a weaker outside or were too close together would pop and feed the remaining eggs.
The two intruders heard shifting above them, and they looked up at the massive ceiling. At first they saw nothing, but then a giant head shaped like a woman's face flew down at them, her long, black neck suspending her from the ceiling.
"More hanyous! Wait... This one's a human!" the female youkai hissed. "How did you get through my barrier? It only allows those with human and youkai blood inside!"
Kagome started to look worried. Then it hit her. Is the Bachiatari Jewel changing my human blood into a youkai's blood? Her eyes widened. That couldn't be true! But that was the only reasonable explination.
"Why do you need hanyous?" InuYasha shouted, ignoring Kagome's shock for the moment.
"Many reasons, actually. They are not as strong as youkai, but their blood is not as weak as a humans! They are easy to defeat, but hold a good amount of nutrients in them for my babies. Besides, when they die, no one misses them," the youkai said, obviously hitting a nerve in InuYasha.
The hanyou's face turned to one of anger, but before he could retort, Kagome shouted at the youkai, "You're wrong! There are many people who would miss InuYasha if he was killed, and I'm one of them!"
The demon glared at Kagome and said to her, "You're a disgusting little human. I think I should get rid of you."
Before Kagome could even think about grabbing an arrow out of her quiver, the woman slashed her long tongue out at the miko and threw her into one of the largest eggs, not popping it, but getting stuck inside.
"Kagome!" InuYasha shouted, watching as Kagome thrashed at the sides of the egg, holding her breath so she wouldn't drown from the liquid inside and trying to pop it open. She even took an arrow to it and used all her spiritual power to try to break it, but it wouldn't budge.
"Ha ha! Those eggs will not break from the inside unless my babies are ready to hatch!" the gray faced youkai yelled triumphantly.
InuYasha growled and jumped up, attacking the mother youkai with his claws. She evaded him by moving her neck, but InuYasha yanked out his sword and jumped off the nearest egg, slashing through the air at the youkai.
Her head fell to the ground, spewing blood everywhere.
"Foolish hanyou! I can regenerate!" she shouted, her neck slowly stretching down to reach her head.
"You're the foolish one, InuYasha said, continuing to cut off parts of the youkai's body.
Before the youkai could retort with a witty comeback, she started screaming as the babies that she loved so much started to suck her into their eggs.
InuYasha ignored her screams and went over to Kagome, holding his claws out and breaking open the egg that she was in, almost unconscious for holding her breath for so long.
The goo rushed all over and Kagome was caught in InuYasha's arms, desperately wanting air and a bath.
"You wait here," InuYasha commanded as he set down Kagome in the hallway they used to come in.
The glowing eggs were destroyed quickly by InuYasha's claws, and he carried Kagome back, ignoring her protests of saying that she could walk by herself.
- - -
Kagome sighed and washed out all the goo and soap mixed up in her hair. A nice, hot bath in an inn was nice, and she was as relaxed as they could get...
That is, until InuYasha walked in at the monk's suggestion to take a bath.
He stood there, looking at Kagome for a bit, until he walked out and stood outside the door, blushing furiously.
"InuYasha..." came a warning voice from outside the door. The hanyou's eyes widened. He hadn't heard that voice in a long time, and he wasn't happy to hear it now.
"SIT!"
End Chapter