Hey guys! I thought of just skipping towards the story for this chapter. Also, I have another little secret, Soul(my beta and friend) and I talked about... Some things. I'm not going to say what, but I will say that it's interesting little twist for a later chapter.
I'm excited for this one and the other idea, Soul and I came up with. ~flails~ eeeeeeeeee! x3
Anyway, without further adieu, enjoy the chapter ~~
Last Time:
InuYasha turned at that, to look angrilly at Myouga while rising a fist in the air, resulting in the flea hiding into the basket attached to the bicycle.
"What'd still tagging along with us, Shippo?" the halfling asked, by then kept his pace with his hand into his fire-rat sleeves.
"Why do you think?! You need me and you know it!"
Kenshin looked to the fox with a smile as he looked to be in a child-like pose, a serious frown and furrowed brow. He could almost laugh at how that little one acted, demon or otherwise.
"Go easy on him, he doesn't have a home. Besides, he's not hurting anyone"
"Yeah, I'm a defenseless orphan, how am I supposed to get by in the world?"
"Alright, you could stay with us but only if you could look after yourself."
There was a brief paused then and Kenshin looked over to InuYasha expecting something else.
"So, Shippo their village called, they're missing their idiot"
And there it was...
"Kagome, he's being mean to me" he stated, pouting.
"Now, look you've done! You've hurt his feelings" Kagome was quick to say in reponse.
InuYasha tsked slightly and finally, Kagome sat him. Kenshin sighed out at this. This'll be a very long journey.
The Ribbon That Binds Us (Terrors of the Future)
The sun shone bright over the Higurashi residence, where Kagome and her brother hurried towards the stairs that led to a series of sidewalks surrounded by mainly streets; street lights and people going on with their own day. Currently, the school girl and her younger brother ran through the streets to make it to school on time.
Meanwhile, a strange occurance went on within one of the smaller sheds on the Higurashi shrine property. A dark cloud loomed over one of the many locked away treasures, almost as if the powers from the shards contained in a bottle in Kagome's room had awoken the power. A dark purple-like glow took shape over the box, even as there seemed to be worn sutras keeping whatever was inside, locked away.
Kagome made it to the gate of the school about eight minutes before the bell was to ring. That must be a new record yet. Looking over, she noticed her friends and immediately a smile appeared on her lips as she jogged over.
"Hey, wait up guys!"
Each one turned, with their own bright smiles. All three of her friends wore the same sailor-style schoolgirl uniform, as with all the female students. Ayumi, the most gentle and naive of the three girls, had black wavy hair and wide, onyx-hued eyes. Eri, was the shoulder-length brown-haired girl with brown eyes and Yuka, also short haired, but with red tints in her brown tresses. Her eyes were unlike the rest of the group of friends, they were bluish-grey.
"Kagome!" Yuka exclaimed.
"You sure you're well enough to be at school?" Eri asked with a smile, yet her tone sounded very much concerned for her friend.
Kagome's mouth grew agape at the slightest as nervousness set in, feeling the series of questions just moments away.
"We heard about your accident with the cat. That's one nasty place to get bitten" Eri stated, looking over at Yuka just to her left, her smile gone.
"How's your back after that fall outta bed?" Yuka asked, looking right over at Kagome with concern.
"Before you put your back out, you were away for some Lyme disease tests. Got the results back yet?" Ayumi chirped in.
"And what about that case of ringworm?"
And there they were. Honestly, it felt like she was being interviewed on national television. Kagome lowered her head, bangs covering her eyes or at least try to cover them in a sense. A bead of sweat formed at her temple and slid down her cheek. Her first and immediate thought was, that Gramps was certainly involved in those bogus stories. Though she couldn't very well tell them that, even if she wanted to. This situation was embarrassing enough as is.
"Hey, Kagome" came the familiar voice of a boy from her school, followed by the ring of his bicycle bell.
Turning her head, Kagome looked over her shoulder at the young male who wore the male uniform for the school. Short brown hair, a dark set of blue eyes and fairly pale skin made up his appearance. Slowly she turned further to have a better look at the boy, while her friends stood behind.
"How are you making out with those bunions?" He asked once in front of her on the bicycle.
"It's Hojo, the mega hunk..." Eri whispered under her breath as each girl noticed him getting off said bicycle.
"Wow, talk about a double whammy. Bunions and gout?" He looked at her, features filled with concern.
Really? He couldn't think of ANYTHING else? Kagome lowered her eyes to the pavement, either one as small as saucers. This was all too embarrassing, nearly enough to make her regret the decision of coming to school. But raising her eyes again on a pink polkadot carefully wrapped package, handed over by none other than Hojo made her forget.
"Here, this is from the shop. You know, for your ailments. Mom wrapped it up, I hope you like pink" Hojo smiled and chuckled towards the end, as Kagome took the gift from his hand.
All three of her friends stepped back a few feet, likely in surprise as she opened the pink wrapping to reveal a set of orange and yellow sandals with strange objects meant for under her feet. Kagome looked up, only to watch Hojo leaving on his bicycle, yet he looked back while he did.
"Therapeutic sandal. For your bunions." he said aloud with a smile before turning to look where he was headed.
"Kagome!" Yuka was the first to speak out, while the others approached her again.
"Are you going out with Hojo?" Eri asked somewhat excited, but mostly surprised.
"'Course not! I haven't got the time" she turned to Eri, entirely serious.
"Does that guy totally have the hots for you or what?" Yuka asked, more to herself as she turned to look over at the retreating male.
"Yeah" Ayumi agreed, rising her slightly curled fist to her lips.
All four girls made their way to class just as the bell rung. Kagome sat at her desk while the three girls surrounded her. As that was going on, several other students arrived and seated themselves at their desks.
"You mean that he's never talked to you before?" Yuka asked, from her position to Kagome's left.
"Uh, not really..."
"Aren't you even excited?" Eri chirped in.
"Oh no, maybe she likes someone else" Ayumi pointed out, raising her hands to lay them over her cheeks in a bit of a surprise.
"Come on! I don't like anyone!" Kagome turned to look at Ayumi from her seat, either of her brows furrowed in the process.
"If you did, what would he be like?" Yuka couldn't help but ask, as her and the other two leaned in with a smile.
"The athletic type or the intellectual type?" Eri asked, the tone she used indicated that she was very much excited.
Kagome rose her right hand to her left cheek, allowing skin to touch skin as she shut her eyes. Uttering her answer of "I don't know" though in reality, she thought of InuYasha back when he tried to plug up the well for good, to keep her from returning home. And in doing so...
"He definitely wouldn't be aggressive, or selfish... he wouldn't get mad easily. He'd be kind, and understanding. And he'd bring me flowers, and write me poetry." She stood from her seat and walked over to the window, which had been opened to keep the class cool.
/ Someone the exact opposite of InuYasha, that's the perfect guy for me / She mused to herself, a small smile taking shape over her lips then.
But almost immediately after thinking those very words, a certain male appeared in her mind. A chibi Kenshin, turning his head to look at her with the word "oro" escaping his lips. Either of her eyes grew wide at that, and quickly shook her head to clear that thought away.
All three of Kagome's friends watched her from their spot, where they were left and Eri was the only one to say something...
"I'll take that as an undecided"
"Maybe she is still sick..."
Meanwhile, in the feudal area, InuYasha lay on the floor boards, rubbing at his back as best he could. He was clearly annoyed. Kagome had left, again. And even worse, that giant rock he planned to use on that stupid well was instead used on his now sore back. Kenshin sat by the door observing the halfling as he moved to stand, though a crack from his back was heard, almost making the redhead wince at that and the cry that followed. Almost. Kaede on the other hand, turned her head to glance at InuYasha, stopping her mixing of herbs.
"Stop lazing about, get off ye duff and seek out some information on the Sacred Jewel"
"And if ya haven't noticed, my back's out thanks to all those sit commands!" He retorted from his pained position on the floor behind her.
Kenshin watched as he curled his fist, his brows furrowed angrily which nearly immediately turned to shock, then pain as another crack was heard. Kaede sighed out and returned to her work on the medicinal herbs, as the redhead took this chance to rest up for a little while. Clearly, InuYasha would not be going anywhere in that condition, and he wanted to be sure that the stubborn halfling did not disturb Kagome.
Meanwhile, within the future, Kagome's grandfather had seen smoke coming from the storehouse and hurried over to find out the source, and perhaps put it out. Once inside, he almost immediately noticed the source. The box in which an ancient evil was sealed had caused flames to start. Each sutra keeping the object sealed turned to ash just as he noticed. What's worse, the thick wooden surface in which held up the locked away evil fell through and with that, the last wooden piece keeping it in, fell apart. A bright light shot out of the packaged box, which broke out into a several dozen pieces before turning to ash, revealing a floating mask. At first glance it seemed harmless, but he knew otherwise. The face on the mask was terrifying enough, even without the floating and radiating power.
"This is terrible! The Noh mask burned through the talismans that had sealed up its evil for generations!"
"I must have a physical body!"
Thinking quickly, Grandpa took a traditional bucket that was left within the storehouse for whatever reason, and poured the water that was left over on himself. Likely to protect him from the heat of the flames for a time. Once he'd done that, the bucket was tossed aside and five sutras perhaps more, were pulled from his shirt, while talking to himself about the danger of the now awakened mask. Immediately afterwards, he approached closely enough in order to aggressively throw three of those sutras at the mask, which were unfortunately burned. Sweat gathered at his brow as the now glowing mask attempted its luck at taking his body, while he avoided each attempt, until it found its way onto a statuette of sorts of ancient samurai armor. Shortly after trying to command the fake body to stand, it shattered onto the floor, leaving the mask floating there.
"A body! I must possess a human body!"
Grandpa uttered something under his breath as the flames continued on to burn through the rafters, and soon two pieces collapsed onto him causing him to cry out in surprise and soon, in pain. Upon hearing the mask's cry for a body once again, Grandpa lifted his head to look up at the rapidly approaching mask. He had to think very quickly for his next course of action, despite the pain shooting through his back.
What happened next was quite the mystery, save for the ringing fire alarm that had been previously installed in the storehouse. Likely a recently added object, perhaps a few years or so. What followed next were the sirens of the ambulance fast approaching the Higurashi residence, once they'd been called by Kagome's mother. Ironically enough it was at about that time, that Kagome was seen walking on the sidewalk as it passed and she stopped in her step when overhearing a conversation between three young males. Likely teenagers. Finding it cool that her home was on fire. It took a moment but it hit her like a giant ton of bricks. Her house was set ablaze?! Kagome upon realizing it, raced home while carrying her backpack.
A few dozen neighbours and other people stood behind a police tape while the cops kept them away from the many steps leading up to the Higurashi Shrine. That gave the firemen the much needed chance to climb the stairs with their hoses and such, so that they may set out the fire. Upon arriving, Kagome moved past the tape saying that she HAD to get up there, even though the policeman standing there tried to stop her.
"Thank you for all your help officer" Emi offered the officer a light bow, while holding onto a pink wrapped object.
The officer offered his words to her before turning away while Kagome approached her mother in a quick jog. Hearing her daughter's voice, Emi turned to look at her approaching form.
"Kagome..."
"What happened? Where's the fire?" she asked, halting in her step once she'd closed the gap.
"The old storehouse caught on fire, and Grandpa was trapped inside the smoke"
"Grandpa's hurt?" Kagome asked, her tone laced with concern.
Noticing that and more from her daughter's features, Emi smiled a little as her brows somewhat lifted up in the process.
"Oh, don't worry, he'd fainted and suffered from a bit of smoke inhalation but they say two or three days in the hospital, and he should be good as new. I'm just on my way to check in on him and see how he's doing"
"I'm going with you!" Kagome's brows furrowed as she lifted her curled fists in the air, the tone in her voice showed just how determined she was to do just that.
"Kagome, you stay here and wait for Souta, someone has to explain things to him" she offered a comforting hand on her daughter's shoulder.
"... Yeah, okay"
Kagome looked at her for a moment longer before turning her attention in the direction of the storehouse, where she imagined many of the firefighters still remained. Thankfully though, the fire had been put out already, leaving behind a decent amount of damage on and inside the storehouse. Two of the firemen decided to go inside again, and inspect the inside of said storehouse while the others remained outside to be sure there was no other missed damage. One walked right in while the other stopped at the strange hole in the floor, where a miniature lake of sorts was found. Probably from the water that was previously used to put out the flames. The longer he stared at the surface, the more he felt uneasy. Just as quickly as he leaned over to have a better look, it was the end. The mask had shot out from the water's depths and attached itself to his face. There was a futulie struggle from the man before his consciousness faded to nothing despite having heard his partner behind him.
Meanwhile Souta was seen running over to Kagome, he slammed into her but she managed to help him stop and keep him from falling back. The older sister of the young boy knelt down with her hands over his shoulders. She wanted to put him at ease, or somewhat at the very least.
"Don't worry Souta, it wasn't in the main shrine and no one was seriously hurt"
Though just as soon as she'd said that, a crash came quickly from below past the Higurashi shrine's many steps, followed by panicked screams. Which is what caught the attention of the two siblings, who both rushed for the steps. Either one got there on time, to see a firetruck crashing through three police cars, then it almost run over one of the firemen and immediately drove off somewhere around a corner. One of the policemen took charge and sent two patrol cars after the larger red truck. One in particular asked a superior officer it was alright to call for back-up. The one driving the red firetruck was none other than the Noh mask, which had taken the body of the human. A body that was rapidly turning into a thick black liquid.
"The flesh is disintegrating! If I could find more jewel shards of the sacred Jewel, I could gain the power to stop this flesh from decomposing. Then I will have an almighty, everlasting body and living, pulsating flesh."
It was later in the evening when Kagome was finally able to go to the hospital, where her mother, Emi met her just outside the room where her grandfather rested.
"How's Grandpa? Is he awake yet?"
"He's still unconscious, but the doctor's a little baffled... He says it's nothing serious so he expected Grandpa to have woken up by now. I'm sure it's just a matter of time, let's not forget his age is a factor..."
As her mother spoke, she heard the words but her eyes were drawn to the three crumpled papers. No, that wasn't right...
"Mom, what are those?"
"These are talismans, the firefighters found them plastered over Grandpa's face and in his mouth... Poor Grandpa, something must have really spooked him"
Mere moments after she'd said that, they heard groaning coming from his room while he was still unconscious, which was soon followed with words about a mask.
By now, night had fallen and Kagome had returned to the Higurashi residence, at least when the raven haired schoolgirl realized, that she needed to go study. Currently she was in her room, where the only lights were on in the whole house. Souta had heard her, even as he drug his blanket and pillow into her room. Both siblings had changed into their pajamas before then. Kagome rose her eyes from studying to look over at her little brother to see what he was up to.
"Sis... Got any room for Buyo and me to sleep here tonight?"
"No chance" she said turning her sight from him with somewhat of a furrowed brow.
"Please sis..."
"Don't be such a scaredy cat, I'm gonna be up all night studying for a test. The only thing you should be scared of are the dust bunnies under your bed" she begun and half-way through that sentence, she reached for a green book that likely was math related.
"Well, Grandpa was scared... He covered his face in those written spells, something creepy happened in there, sis... I just know it"
Kagome turned her head to look at him as she plainly recalled their grandfather muttering about something in his unconscious state. Something about a mask... a shiver ran up her spine, then. She couldn't put a finger on it, but thinking back on that now was... frightening. Suddenly the sliding window to her room rattled, startling both her and Souta. Kagome kept her eyes on the window that had once rattled, that shiver along her spine coming back with a vengeance... Something wasn't right. Then it hit her like a ton of bricks to the face. Either of her dark brown orbs fell onto the small bottle with the seven pieces of shikon jewel shards, in a variety of sizes.
"That's it! It's because I've brought the jewel shards back!"
Suddenly, sirens flared. So loudly that it frightened her and her brother, they sounded so close. Soon after, distant echoing screams were heard though she thought that maybe, by some small chance it was just the wind. Or perhaps her imagination.
Moments passed and nothing had happened, though she couldn't help but feel the small shiver up her spine, now and again. Suddenly she and her brother heard a crash that had, for some reason, sounded awfully close to the house. Before either could utter a warning or otherwise, a ladder clearly from a firetruck crashed through the wall of Kagome's bedroom. It all happened so fast, but Kagome moved to tackle her brother to the floor, protecting him from the glass and debris sent flying in. Slowly, she and her brother sat up to see the Noh mask attached, to a large blob of black goop.
"A Noh mask! That must be the one Gramps mumbled about in the hospital!" she said aloud, more or less to herself.
A gasp escaped her when she noticed it was reaching for something: the bottle containing the Shikon Jewel shards! Without thinking it through, but then again she didn't have the time or luxury to do so, Kagome jumped at the chance to grab the bottle before it could. Due to the sudden adrenaline rushing through her body, she didn't quite feel that a piece of glass had cut through her palm as she'd moved to take the object in her hand. Moments later, a piece of the strange liquid at fallen to where said bottle had been.
"Give me the pieces of the Shikon Jewel!" the Noh mask said aggressively, and frustrated.
Kagome felt another shiver along her spine as she moved to retrieve her brother from the floor, who was petrified. Noticing his position and unmoving body due to fright and shock, Kagome moved to pick him up and rush out with him under her arm. The cat was seen clinging to the boy, as she rushed down the stairs and out of the house, while carrying both. Unable to carry either of them for much longer, she dropped him to instead take his hand. That apparently seemed enough to break him out his stupor, so that they could both run to further the distance from the danger, with Buyo hanging from Souta's shoulders.
"I have to call InuYasha, he and Kenshin are the only ones who can help us"
As they ran, their breaths were heavy, but Souta had not only heard her but noticed blood trailing from her hand.
"Kagome... Kagome! Look at your fingers, they're bleeding"
"It's nothing. I just cut my fingers on the glass, that's all"
Unfortunately for them, the Noh Mask would not give in so easily. It had managed to draw back the ladder into place and rise it up into the air, where it spotted them. And finally, it took but a moment for the mask to come to a decision. It jumped from the end of the ladder, landing in the very same spot that they'd jumped from, to avoid being caught. As the entire black mass landed, the Noh mask made it stand, or so it seemed to be standing in a sense, in order to look at Kagome.
"The Jewel Shards! Give me the Jewel Shards!"
Kagome slowly stood on her bare feet, either of her eyes taking notice of the Jewel Shard in the center of the mask's forehead. A small bead of sweat slowly slid down her temple and along her cheek, as she looked down at the bottle which contained the Jewel fragments, and their problem at the moment. Kagome rose her eyes to the mask, it seemed to be sitting there for little, as if to ascertain the situation... Or was it just waiting for some sort of response? She rushed up a small set of stairs that was on the large property, shouting back to her brother. Telling him to go to the well house, and to call InuYasha, and to tell him that there were Shards of the Jewel in her time.
"I have to go in that spooky well?!" Souta asked her or rather more to himself, considering Kagome had rushed off to the large set of stairs, leading to the streets below and so on.
Souta shuddered as the black goop of strange liquid trailed after his sister, therefore pushing him into action. He shot up and ran right for the well house as quickly as he could. Within mere moments, the young boy had slid the well door open, rushed down the creaking stairs and finally stopped at the well itself, all with a cat on his shoulder, whom managed to leap onto one of the four flat wooden corners of said well. Peering down at the darkness below, he took a nervous breath and gulped before strengthening his resolve. Taking a deep breathe, Souta climbed up and immediately jumped into the well with his screams echoing along the walls of the well. His face was unfortunately met with the bottom first, and his body followed with a slump. After a few short moments he lifted his head with tears in his eyes, questiong as to why he was still here. Sitting up, Souta looked around as he begun to panic. His sister was in danger for crying out loud. In his desperation, he begun to dig up the sand-like dirt at the bottom in hopes that it would activate something, as he cried out.
"I gotta get through the well, 'cause sis is in trouble and I'm the only who could help" he continued to dig through some of the sand as his vision blurred and finally the sting was too much, causing him to halt in his actions and shut his eyes, lifting his hands to wipe the tears with his sleeves.
Moments after he'd cried that out aloud, a small sense of weightlessness came about him and opening his eyes again, a blue light surrounded him with white specks floating about. InuYasha and Kenshin both emerged from that light. Only once it vanished did they both turn to look at him, InuYasha with a smirk, and Kenshin with blink or two, before smiling at the boy.
"What's the problem you need help with?"
Eventually, the trio found their way to the city. Both Kenshin and Souta sat at InuYasha's back, while he leapt from rooftop to rooftop. Souta frowned somewhat, and Kenshin silently turned to him with a questioning stare. His question was answered shortly after.
"I guess I wasn't strong enough to pass through the hidden well"
"Lucky for you. Because in my world, there are plenty of monsters who'd love to have you for lunch."
Kenshin at that point, wanted nothing more than to just hit InuYasha over the head but refrained from doing so. InuYasha ran across a rooftop and leapt from there onto a moving truck that had conveniently drove by.
"Do you know where to find my sister?"
"Sure, I'm not human remember? I can pick up scents from miles around using this nose"
"Really? Then, you can find her? She cut her hand on some glass."
"Don't have to tell me that, I could smell the blood from back in the well. Don't worry, I'll rescue Kagome before she gets into any real trouble" He stated, standing as he prepared for another leap.
Meanwhile Kagome could be seen running for her life, through a construction site of all places. She was running out of breath and fast. Even worse, when she stopped in order to look down, the black liquid at the bottom was hard to miss. She took a few more heavy breaths, her thoughts were rushing. Why hadn't InuYasha shown up yet?! And her luck got worse from there. By the time she noticed, the odd liquid had shot up in the air, mask and all. Landing in front of her when she'd turned to run.
"Give me the Shards of the Shikon Jewel!"
She gasped out and that's when she heard not only one familar voice, but up to three. First, came the most aggressive of the three voices.
"Iron reaver soul stealer!" the voice shouted out, while the familiar yellow-gold arches of an attack sliced the strange black glob in half, to reveal InuYasha with her brother on his back.
Kenshin had in that time, rushed around the creature with the Noh mask, to stand in front of Kagome with his sword drawn. InuYasha was quick to join him and Souta climbed off his back asking if she was alright in the process, a question to which she nodded and responded with a "yes". Kenshin couldn't help but smile and feel thankful that she hadn't hurt herself, beyond the cut on her palm he was told she had. Souta immediately went to hug his sister, with obvious relief.
"Hey, what's with all the tears? I thought you said you weren't afraid?"
While Kagome was left to reassure her brother, Kenshin glared at InuYasha, as he felt the want to bonk him on the head with that comment. InuYasha ignored him to turn to the two siblings, his arms crossed in his sleeves.
"Before we get on- no, I get on to my little rescue mission here, this might be an appropriate time for an apology. Wouldn't ya say?"
"Huh? An apology for what?"
"For what?! For shouting all those incantations and putting my back out!"
Before Kagome could stand to respond and apologize, Kenshin moved before InuYasha and bonked him on the head with the blunt side of the blade.
"Now is not the time to argue. If you have not noticed, we are giving that strange enemy the time to recover!"
It was at that very moment that the mask decided to speak out, its words quite clearly revealing its anger. InuYasha sent Kenshin a glare of his own before turning to look at the mask recovering rather quickly now.
"Aim for the mask, the jewel shard is in the forehead!"
"I am known as the flesh eating mask..."
It went on, explaining what it was originally and how the Jewel shard came into its possession, and how it craved and devoured its victims. Likely, humans.
"But now, I long for a living body that will not rot! And for that I need, I require more power from the Sacred Jewel!" the mask cried out, as it begun to show signs of complete recovery from InuYasha's attack.
"I see, so that's why the mask's so desperate to have these shards"
"I don't know how many humans you've eaten so far... But, it's time to lose some weight!" InuYasha began calmly before moving after his target, shouting the last of the sentence.
InuYasha rapidly sent his hand into the lion's maw, or in this case, the mask's maw. Quite literally. Kenshin's eyes grew wide with shock, it would have seemed to be a trap, and dog boy fell for it hook, line and sinker. He didn't even think of a plan or examine the enemy for potential weaknesses or something of the sort. Though come to think of it, did a mask even have a weakness, much less a demon mask? Kenshin and the other two could only watch as InuYasha was pulled into the large black globby liquid.
"InuYasha!" she cried out, desperately.
He did not respond. Perhaps it was because he could not hear her, or maybe he was trying to focus on getting out of whatever that stuff was. The strange substance wasn't making it easy. Small forms of lightning or electricity were beginning to slowly fester along the length of the halfling's body.
"I should've known better" he managed to growl out in his near frozen state at the moment.
While InuYasha was out of commission for the moment, the Noh mask escaped from the dark goo, immediately becoming one again after having revealed its vertical fangs that had previously drawn in the red-clad halfling. Kenshin's eyes grew wide as the mask, with an eerie white-like glow, rushed towards Kagome. Quickly, he dropped his reverse-edged sword to knock her back away from danger, but he was now faced with it. The mask was mere inches from his face, the only thing stopping it was his hand. For something wooden, it sure was strong.
"Miss Kagome... Run"
"B-But..!"
"Go!" he shouted to her.
Not his most... kind decision but even so, he didn't want her to come to harm. However that want wasn't enough, for the mask rushed after her and Souta, whom had joined her.
"Miss Kagome!"
Both stopped at the edge of the building, Kagome moving before her brother to keep him from the rapidly approaching danger. Kenshin only had time to get up and take one step, one single step but InuYasha being half-demon and the wielder of Tetsusaiga, burst through the strange liquid with his blade drawn and giving off a bright golden glow. InuYasha rushed along the building floor and shouted for them to take cover before jumping for the mask, utilizing Tetsusaiga to slice the mask horizontally. Light shone momentarily before the Noh mask exploded outward, turning into nothing shortly thereafter. The shard fell to the floor, its glow dissipating as soon as it hit the metal. Kenshin was left to sigh out in relief.
"You destroyed the mask!" Souta declared happily.
"You still have those Jewel fragments?"
Souta nodded, with tears threatening to escape his eyes, and Kagome moved her arm down to gaze at InuYasha just as the sun began to rise behind them.
"Hey Kagome, you okay? How's your hand?"
"Fine..."
/ Okay this is weird, when did he start being so nice? I mean, not so nice... but kinda nice. And maybe it's just the morning light, but he looks pretty cool with his sword. /
"Wait a minute... Morning light? Oh no! It's morning already and I haven't studied for my test!" Kagome in her panic turned, and went to rush down the building.
"Hey where you going?!"
Kagome told InuYasha a few parting words, and told Souta to bring the shards home, before continuing down from her slight pause. The one clad in red overheard her saying something about being mad if he and Kenshin were still there by the time she went back home from school. A light tugging on his sleeve caught his attention, his gold-yellow eyes lowering to peer at the younger brother of Kagome, whom had a goofy smile plastered on his face.
"Know what? I've got a new hero, bet you can't guess who it is"
"Oh man..." InuYasha lifted his gaze to the skies, his ears lowering slightly.
Kenshin stood there, having already retrieved his own blade, with a light rub at the back of his neck. Having been an audience of sorts, to all that happened in such a short time. Though the redhead wished he could've been the one to save the day.
/ Oh well, there's always next time / he mused.
Until then, he'd let that rude pup bask in the glory... For now.
~~&&~~I'm sorry If it's not that long, but I've been trying, and I look forward to writing the next one. And Soul, thank you again! :D~~&&~
