Broken
The Visit
"And don't forget those coloring books" Kagome pointed them out to an annoyed hanyou.
"I don't understand why you had to get so much stuff" he whined as he stuffed said books into the 'Should have been full by now' yellow monstrosity of a backpack that Kagome carried around with her all the time. How did she lug this thing around anyway? She didn't look that strong…
"Its been a long time since I left Inuyasha, more than a month. I'd feel bad if I didn't bring the others anything. I'm so excited to be going back!" She grinned at him.
"Keh" He glanced furtively at the cast surrounding her arm, it still wasn't completely healed. He didn't understand why she wanted to go back anyway. Its not like they could look for the shards or fight any demons let alone Naraku with her arm in a cast. She just wanted to see the others and frankly, he couldn't see the point of that. But he wasn't going to say that and get 'sat' again.
He pushed in the last of the potato chips, closed the bag and slung it over his shoulder and promptly lost his balance. He glared at the miko when she giggled at him before stalking downstairs.
Kagome's mother was in the kitchen as usual. She came out to say goodbye to them and told Kagome to be careful and to listen to Inuyasha while she was there. It was his turn to smirk.
They walked over to the well house and Kagome stared down into the shadows. She yelped in surprise when Inuyasha picked her up bridal style.
"What are you doing?"
"You might hurt yourself jumping in"
"We've already been over this! I hurt my arm not my leg Inuyasha"
"Keh, I know that wench" and with that he jumped in and the ethereal blue light engulfed them both.
Once they were on the other side, Inuyasha jumped out and finally let Kagome down. As soon as her feet touched the ground, a fuzzy orange ball hurtled straight into her stomach. The miko winced.
The dog demon steadied her with a hand on her lower back and used his other hand to pull the fox kit away from her and shook him around. Hard.
"You stupid runt! Did you forget that Kagome is hurt!"
"Inuyasha, stop that" Kagome hit his shoulder to make her point. He dropped the fox, none too gently, onto the ground. She knelt down and stroked his hair, "Are you okay Shippou?"
The kit started sniffling, "I-I'm sorry K-K-Kagome, I-I-I just missed you so muuuch!" The sniffle turned into full out bawling. Kagome glared at the half demon and pulled Shippou into a hug with her good arm.
"You didn't hurt me honey, see I'm fine. Now stop crying." She looked around helplessly when the kit wouldn't stop and her eyes landed on her backpack, "Don't you want to see what I got you?"
The fox demon immediately stopped and grinned up at her, "Did you get me chocolate?"
Inuyasha huffed. Stupid manipulative runt.
"Kagome!" Someone called out. Sango and Miroku were making their way toward them. Kagome stood up and went to go hug Sango who hugged her back just as enthusiastically, "I missed you" The taijiya said, pulling back.
Miroku cleared his throat and smiled suggestively at the miko, "Don't I get a hug? I missed you too"
Before Kagome could answer, a clawed fist came crashing down on the monk's head. Kagome sighed as Miroku swooned to the ground.
"Come on Kagome" Sango pulled her in the direction of Kaede's hut, "I wanna show you the flower garden Kaede let me plant next to her herbs"
An unconscious Miroku lay forgotten.
"So that thing is supposed to heal your arm?" Shippou asked the miko, tentatively poking at the cast.
Kagome sighed, "No Shippou.." she started to explain what the cast was for, for what seemed like the tenth time but she was interrupted.
"Its supposed to keep her bones in the right position while they heal on their own stupid" Inuyasha snapped before adding, "Now stop bothering Kagome with dumb questions""
Kagome smiled at him, "He's right, though that last part was uncalled for" she ended sternly.
"Feh" The half demon grunted.
"So when do we start our journey again" Miroku asked, "I believe I heard some shard rumours originating from the villages south west of here"
"Well, it'll be a few more weeks before the cast can be removed" Kagome stated, before stretching her good arm. "I've really missed this place, the clean air and the forest and the grass, everything is just so peaceful"
Sango smiled at the girl she'd come to regard as her sister, "Kagome, do you want to go for a walk?"
"Sure Sango" She said before getting up. Inuyasha watched her warily, debating with himself whether to follow them or not. His ears twitched as the two women left the hut, the straw mat falling back in place in front of the door after their departure.
He was just about to get up and leave himself when a hand on his shoulder stopped him, "So" the monk said seriously, raising an eyebrow at his half demon companion, "What exactly did you do in Kagome's time for the past month?"
Inuyasha looked at him in confusion, "What do you mean?"
"Well…" Miroku cleared his throat, "You had the chance to be alone with her, something must have happened?"
The hanyou turned beet red and threw the monk's hand off his shoulder, "I'm not a pervert like you!" He yelled before stalking out of the hut, snarling under his breath.
Miroku sighed to himself, "If I had a chance like that…" he never got to finish his sentence as a rock came flying from outside the hut and promptly knocked him out.
"He'll never learn" Shippou stated glancing at the monk's sprawled body on the floor before going back to his colouring.
"So how's it been having Inuyasha in your time Kagome?" The demon slayer asked her friend, a slight teasing tone in her voice.
Kagome blushed, "He's his usual self, overprotective, loud, and demanding. He insisted on carrying me around those first few weeks even though it's my arm I hurt!" she complained, but she couldn't help the small smile that found its way to her lips.
Sango saw it too and smiled herself, "You know it's because he cares a lot for you Kagome, it's so obvious how he feels for…" Sango stopped mid-sentence.
Kagome looked up to see why her friend was suddenly so quiet and saw that she was staring off into the forest. Kagome followed her gaze and her heart skipped a beat. There, floating gracefully between the trees was a soul stealer.
"What does she want now?" Sango asked, a slight edge to her tone.
"To see Inuyasha" Kagome answered, but she couldn't help her voice from breaking slightly.
"Then why is that thing stalking us?" Sango unconsciously took a step forward, partially hiding Kagome as the soul stealer inched its way closer to them.
The soul stealer stopped at the edge of the forest and continued to watch them. Kagome felt a shiver crawl up her spine as she realised what Kikyo must want, "She wants to talk to me" she said in a whisper but Sango heard her anyway.
"No!" She pushed her arm out in front of the miko, blocking her way, "You can't Kagome, she's already tried to hurt you before"
Kagome looked like she hadn't heard her, but then she turned to look at the demon slayer, a determination in her eyes that wasn't there before, "She won't hurt me, not so close to the village"
She pushed Sango's arm down and started walking toward the forest, toward the soul stealer. She stopped and turned to smile at the older woman, "I'll be fine Sango, you go back to the hut"
Inuyasha landed on a sturdy branch and started sniffing the air, trying to find the girls' scent when he heard frantic footsteps coming in his direction. He landed on the ground and was surprised to see Sango…and no Kagome.
"Oi Sango!" he yelled getting her attention.
She looked up startled before her eyes focussed on him. He walked toward her with a frown on his face, "Where's Kagome? Don't tell me you left her by herself?" He started to snarl.
Sango was silent, before she answered quietly, "She went to speak with Kikyo"
The half demon's eyes widened as he cursed inwardly, what could Kikyo want with Kagome?
He didn't spare Sango another second as he whizzed past her, his nose and ears working in overdrive. He had to find her. She was hurt and he didn't trust Kikyo with her. He wouldn't let her get hurt again damnit! He couldn't…
Kagome followed the soul stealer at a cautious pace, she might have sounded confident while telling Sango that she would be fine, but inside, her heart was beating a mile a minute. She saw the serpent like demon wind its way through the trees before she noticed a clearing just ahead of them. She stopped walking just as she entered the clearing and her breath hitched as she saw the woman that looked so much like her, staring back at her cooly. Her eyes were expressionless, like they always were.
The modern day miko started to fidget when only silence stretched between them. Kikyo regarded her with disinterest before her grey eyes landed on her cast.
Kagome couldn't take it anymore, the silence was deafening, she had to break it.
"What do you want?" she hated that her voice chose that moment to quiver.
"What happened to your arm?" Kikyo countered with another question.
"An accident" she said, subconsciously moving her injured arm behind her back, out of view.
"I think its time you go back to where you came from" The bluntness in the dead miko's tone cut through Kagome like a knife.
She stared at the woman standing in front of her in shock before she found her voice, "I don't think that that's your decision"
"You don't belong here, this is not your battle to fight" Kikyo started walking toward her and she had to stop herself from moving back. She would not be afraid.
"You don't need to be here and be forced to witness all the horrible things in this world" Kikyo's voice became softer, as if she was trying to convince Kagome.
"You can have a happy life, don't you see that? Away from all this war and suffering. I do not know why you still remain here"
Kagome clenched her uninjured hand into a fist, who was this woman to tell her what she sould do? "You don't belong here either Kikyo"
The priestess' eyes narrowed as she regarded her reincarnation with something close to contempt.
"I understand, its not fair that you had to die so young when you still had a lot of things you wanted to do" Kagome's voice got stronger as she continued, "But this is not the time to take care of your unfinished business. You can't move forward and you aren't letting Inuyasha move forward either. He deserves to be happy and that won't happen if you keep coming around and reminding him how much you hate him, and for something he didn't even do!"
Her voice echoed around her as she started breathing heavily.
Kagome's head whipped to the side as Kikyo's clay hand came in contact with her face, "Shut up! That is none of your business little girl"
"Kikyo!"
The miko turned at hearing her name, and was shocked to find the hanyou in question glaring back at her.
"Get away from her" he growled out, "Now"
AN: - I have no words to apologise, but I really have been very busy and I'm suffering from the longest spells of writer's block. This chapter took me months to write and it isn't all that long either. This story just has a few more chapters so don't worry, I have things planned out and I will finish it.
Meanwhile, I would just like to thank everyone who reviewed and also for not giving up on this story or me, reading your reviews inspires me better than anything else ever could!
So please review, the more I get, the faster the next chapter will come out! :-)
Thank you so much!
Till Next Time...