Red: Wow everyone! I'm so happy about the positive feedback that I've been getting for this story. :D
Replies to reviews:
CK: As always thank you for your lovely review, CK. :3 You always seem to write positive things for each chapter and it makes me feel great to read your comments. :)
BlueBird07: Wow, you're an amazing reader and reviewer. :) You took the time to leave me a review on every chapter, which was very kind of you.
SilverStar56: I also love how kind and adorable Kagome can be. And yes, it seems everyone has their own demons that plague their minds, Kagome is no different. Also, there is definitely going to be romance, my good reader. ;) Thank you for your words of encouragement, I will try my best! (^-^)
Scarlatta Rain: It's no problem that you didn't read my chapter the day I updated, I understand that people are busy at different times; it's just good that you decided to take the time to read my story when you could. You think this story is going a bit fast? Really? Why do you say that? Also, I hope you did well on your tests.
finnjake: I'm as bad as ONE and Murata with cliff hangers? xD That sort of makes me happy. Ha ha. But really, I didn't mean to do it, I just needed somewhere to end the chapter and waiting for the end of the fight would've made the whole chapter too long. And Kagome met Mumen rider during her week stay in the OPM world. Did you really think she would be cooped up in the apartment for almost a week? xD
Crystalize Moonnie: Well, I have a policy of making my chapters about three thousand words long, so if I start getting way passed that then I deem it "getting too long." I need a limit because if it gets really long then editing will take a while and the chapter will be delayed even more. Plus the longer the chapter is, the less I want to reread it and edit, so it's sort of good that I keep the chapters around three thousand words.
And I have to say, I did the same thing for my tests. I studied either the day before or the day of. Lol I'm such a bad student. xD But oh well, they are over and done with and I did relatively fine with them. It's good you did OK on them. OK is still better than bad.
Zaralann: You usually write "Wonderful!" as your review, but this time you put "Interesting…" and added an ellipse, which makes me question if you didn't like the chapter or not. :( Was it bad? I can change things if you want.
HarchCrictic: Wow, this review is really long. :P I'll split my answers into sections like you did with your questions so that it's easier to read.
1) Personally, I'm not exactly sure on how to describe Kagome's powers, but don't worry, she's not going to be entirely OP, she will have some limitations to her powers. I have plans for her later on, but we haven't gotten there yet. And if you don't like this story, then you can always write one yourself. When I first decided to write this, I knew I wasn't going to be able to please everyone with my writing. I mean, my grammar is pretty horrible and I'm sure I've made plenty of mistakes in my writing.
2) And yes, Saitama is still the strongest. Since he lacks certain emotions, there's nothing to hold him back when he fights, but for Kagome, her emotions still control her, so she could easily lose if she lets her emotions get the better of her. And just to let you know, I didn't write this story for popularity, I wrote it because I had an idea and I decided to share it with everyone else. I'm glad many people seem to like it, but really, this story is mainly for me to read because reading is more enjoyable to do than to just think about.
3) And yes, I'm hoping for Kagome to have some flaws, because like you, I don't want to turn her into a Mary Sue character either. I like her sweet personality, but sometimes being too kind can be a person's downfall. And I'm trying to keep Saitama as canon as possible since I love his character, but if I end up making some sort of mistake in his character, I have no doubt you will let me know so that I can go back and change it. :P And just to clarify again, I don't do this for popularity. It's the reader's choice to read my story or not, and if they leave a review, great! If not, then that's their choice. I like reviews, but I'm not going to be upset if people don't leave them.
YamiKeitsuki822: I actually do like the friendship that Saitama and Genos have in the anime/manga. I'm not really a Saitama x Genos fan, but I don't hate it, I just don't actively look for that kind of stuff; but man, I'm so glad that they have such a nice friendship going on. I always felt bad that Saitama didn't have many friends and that no one appreciated him before Genos came along.
Also thanks to these reviewers for their much appreciated reviews:
Guest
Toytoya
daisynaruto909
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Heaven-water-sister
Tinas86Roses
Alice
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Summary: She thought the only way to save everyone from the Jewel was to not make the final wish, and instead, consume it into her body so that she could remain the protector of it forever. But by consuming its limitless power, the Jewel turns her into a monster that controls her and makes her kill the innocent and destroy the world. Now in order to save everyone from what she had become, she must seek out the one person who has the power to kill her—Saitama.
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or One Punch Man.
"Talking"
'Thoughts'
Chapter Five: Developing Feelings
The wind bellowed around the figures standing within a circle of citizens from the city who came to watch the commotion. As more time passed, more and more people got interested in the large crowd and decided to join in on the action. Some people even decided to take out their smartphones and try to record what was going on in the middle, while others use their phones to try to see better over other people's heads. What they could see on their phones wasn't much, but they could make out a few figures on the screen.
A raven-colored haired girl carefully watched a weird ninja with purple markings under his eyes as the ninja did the same to her, both unsure of what to make of the other. His eyes narrowed with interest as he had watched the girl effortlessly disposed of his explosive shurikens like they were nothing. The two of them continued to watch each other carefully after the ninja's attack on the large hero next to her. Kagome didn't really care much for the Tiger hero next to her, but the blast from the shurikens would've dragged her into unnecessary fighting, and she always did hate random fighting.
Their intense staring contest got interrupted when a certain tank-top hero got irritated that he was being ignored. "Hey! Why are you looking at her like that?" he yelled at the ninja, getting a bit jealous that a pretty girl like Kagome was giving the villainous stranger more attention than he was getting even though he had seen her first. His thick mind did not put together that the look that the two of them were sending each other was not one of love, but instead, subtle calculation of each other's skills. "She's mine! I saw her first!" he yelled out, which made Kagome smack her head with frustration.
'Not another one of these types,' she thought as she held her face in her hands to hide her shame of attracting guys like him. "Look, buddy." She takes her hand from her face and puts both of them on her hips. "I'm not yours. I barely even know you," she stated while sending a glare in his direction.
Tank-Topped Tiger had his mouth gaped open. "B-but we talked once before."
Kagome stared at his intensely. "Exactly, only once. And I'm definitely not yours. I'm with no—" Kagome paused. If she said she wasn't with anyone, then more people like him would continue to pursue her, which she's had past experience with and she did not want that to happen again. "Actually…" she begins to say as she turned her head to look at the man who she was currently living with and who was currently standing to the side with a bored expression on his face as he yawned into his hand. 'Maybe this can work…' she thought as she quickly moved over to him and put her lips close to his ear. "Please follow along," she told him softly without any other explanation and turned back to the other hero, not even waiting for Saitama's reply. "I'm actually with him," Kagome confidently stated while she latched onto Saitama's arm and hugged it to her chest like a lover might do.
Saitama looked down at her with a slight surprised expression on his face. "Eh?"
The Tank-Topped Tiger hero was even angrier now since she made that statement and proclaimed her being with the low-life beginner hero. Due to his rage, he was too clueless to notice the confused expression on Saitama's face, clearly hinting they were not together at all. "I won't accept this!" He pointed a thick finger at the couple. "I don't believe what you said is true!"
Kagome, who was still hugging Saitama's arm, sighed. 'Why does this guy have to scream everything? Can't he be quieter, especially when he screams such embarrassing things?'
"I want proof that a cue ball like you was able to get such a girl!" he yelled while pointing at Saitama.
"He wants proof?" Kagome muttered, which Saitama was the only one who was able to hear her. 'I just met Saitama… Should I do it?' Kagome thought to herself as she scrunched up her eyebrows at the thought of going that far with her little plan. 'Eh. It doesn't really matter. If I do this, it would definitely get that Tiger guy off my back.' With a sigh, Kagome looked slightly up to look at her new friend and roommate. 'Would he mind?' Saitama noticed her looking at him, which made him turn his head a bit to look at her with his usual, bored look. 'It doesn't look like he would.'
Kagome mentally nodded to herself as she came to her decision. She continued to look at her friend and muttered a soft 'sorry' as she leaned up and kissed the man on his cheek, which he hadn't really expected. Saitama had never been kissed by a girl before, or anyone for that matter, so this was a new experience for him. Who knew a girl's lips could feel so soft.
After she pulled away, Saitama continued to give her his usual poker face, but something inside him told him he sort of missed those lips on his cheek; it felt cold without her warm lips there.
Kagome looked at her friend's calm reaction. 'Well, I'm glad that he didn't freak out,' she thought before turning to the other hero. "There's your proof. Now can you leave it at that?" she asked him, quickly getting annoyed by this man. The hero looked at the two of them with his jaw hanging wide open, not being able to believe what he had just seen.
"W-wh—" Before the tank-topped hero could say anything, three more explosive shurikens were thrown at him and this time actually hitting their mark, exploding his whole body and causing it to collapse onto the ground with smoke coming off of his body from the blast.
Everyone looked at where the shurikens could've come from. "He was getting on my nerves," the ninja simply said, as some people tried to help the fallen (and rather crispy) hero.
Kagome released Saitama and let out another sigh. "I can't believe I'm actually going to agree with you on that, but even then, I think it was a bit unnecessary to explode the man," she said to the ninja before turning to her friend. "Sorry about earlier, Saitama. I just needed a way to get that guy off my back," she apologized to the C-class hero.
Saitama touched his cheek where he was kissed and gave her a small smile. "It's not a problem. You had to do what you had to do," he simply replied.
Kagome gave him a smile. "It's great that you're so understanding."
Sonic crouched down and pulled out more shurikens. "Now, Saitama, let's continue our battle!" He threw six more shurikens, which Saitama just continued to watch fly through the air around him, already knowing none of them were going to hit him. The explosive stars flew through the air at extreme speeds, barely missing some citizens before crashing into a large object and exploding it into hundreds of pieces.
"Saitama!" Kagome called out with alarm when she saw what the shurikens had hit.
Saitama looked behind him and saw all of the explosive shurikens had hit the buildings around him, causing rubble and debris to fall onto the nearby ground and cars parked on the side of the street. "Hey, stop!" Saitama looked at the ninja, who decided to start jumping around and causing more destruction.
"Hero Saitama!" Sonic threw a few more bombs. "I hope this will convince you to fight me seriously!" The ninja began laughing maniacally as he continued to terrorize the city. One of his explosives hit the ground and uplifted a few nearby cars. The explosions had already caused the civilians to scatter away from the area, but there were always those who were slower than the others, which in this case was a little boy who was crying and walking at a very slow pace who was about to be crushed by the flying car from the explosion.
Kagome watched the car flying with fear in her eyes. 'No!' she shouted in her head as she watched the kid about to be crushed by the car. Since she had been watching the ninja, who was still jumping around, she hadn't paid close enough attention to the kid. 'C-can I make it?' she thought as she tried to force her feet to move quickly, but before she could make it over there, there was a blur of yellow and white as Saitama went between the car and the child and was able to block the car from hitting the kid and crushing it under his arm. Kagome watched with amazement. "Wow," she said out loud as she watched the rippling muscles under her friend's hero outfit. 'How was he able to look so lanky usually?' she thought to herself.
Saitama set the broken car back on the ground. "I don't have time for this, I have to find an enemy to defeat," he said to himself, clearly annoyed at this situation.
Kagome heard what he said and face-palmed at his cluelessness. "Saitama…" The hero turned to her as she pointed to the jumping ninja who was terrorizing the city and its citizens, clearly showing him that the ninja was the enemy he was looking for.
"Oh." His mouth opened slightly in realization before he decided to jump up above the ninja.
Sonic was so preoccupied with destroying the city that he hadn't noticed Saitama jumping into the air. "Hero Saitama, where are you?" he shouted as he looked everywhere on the ground for a yellow-wearing hero.
Saitama held up a hand in a karate-chop position. "I'm right here," he said as he slapped down his hand on Sonic's head, sending his body flying at high speeds to the ground, creating a human-shaped creator in the asphalt of the road.
Kagome ran up to the crater as Saitama dropped down to the ground. "Do you think this will count as hero work?" he asked her.
"Well, he was terrorizing the city, I don't see why not," she replied as she inspected the unconscious ninja. "We should probably call the authorities to have him taken into custody." She picked up the ninja from the crater and threw him onto the sidewalk. "That way he won't be attacking anyone anytime soon."
Saitama shrugged. "It doesn't really matter to me." Kagome face-palmed again. 'Is this guy really a hero?' she asked herself.
After waiting for some time, the authorities eventually came to pick up the unconscious ninja and medics came to take the fallen tank-top hero and bring him to the hospital, leaving Kagome and Saitama alone on the street. The two of them weren't alone for long as the citizens eventually began to come back to the area once the threat was taken away. Some people began to help others get out from under rubble, while others decided to mourn for their destroyed shops and vehicles. Luckily no one died from any of the explosions or falling rubble.
Kagome looked around at the injured people and the destruction of the street. "It seems I am of assistance," she mumbled to herself as she walked up to a crying mother over her injured teenage son. "Here, ma'am, let me see him." Kagome knelt down next to the woman and put a gentle hand on her shoulder.
The woman looked up at the Asian girl with her tear filled eyes. "Can you help him?" she asked between sniffles. Kagome nodded and held out her hands over the injured boy, who watched her every move. Her hands began to glow pink as she let a familiar feeling wash over her body. People began to crowd around the girl and watch with amazement as the injuries on the boy began to disappear before their eyes, only leaving traces of dried up blood from the wound which had previously been there.
After the light died down, the boy moved his limbs perfectly, like he was never injured in the first place. "There, you must feel much better now," Kagome said to the teenager with a smile before standing up. "Now, who else is injured?" she asked around. A man pointed to someone sitting and leaning against the wall of a destroyed building and Kagome instantly went over to the woman with an injured leg. As time went one, Kagome continued to heal everyone who had gotten hurt in the blast from the ninja, while Saitama continued to watch her work from a distance and eat his bag of chips without a care in the world. Despite him being the one who had saved the city, the citizens quickly forgot he was even there.
About an hour had passed before everyone was healed and everyone had said their "thank you's" to their savior. Kagome let out a tired breath as she picked herself up from the last person she had to heal. "Now that you are all healed, please move to the side so that I can fix everything," she told the citizens. Everyone looked at each other, confused at what she meant, but they decided to follow her order and move away from the area.
Saitama walked up to her. "Are you sure you can handle this? Last time you did this, you could barely stand," he informed her.
Kagome waved his concern off. "I'm fine. As long as everyone's happy, it doesn't matter to me how exhausted I get." Kagome turned toward the destruction and held out both of her hands in front of her as the strange power she had gotten recently began to course through her body. Her hands and eyes glowed as power began to build up inside her. "Repair," she softly stated yet again. Like the other day, everything began to go back in place and mend together. With each second that passed with her using her new power, she could slowly feel her body losing energy and her legs slowly giving away underneath her. Sweat began to glisten on her forehead as she continued to hold her hands out and let her powers fix up the city.
Once everything was finally fixed, she released her energy and let herself fall onto her hands and knees, panting heavily as sweat fell from her chin onto the asphalt of the road, leaving dark spots wherever the droplets fell. People cheered around her, but their voices were muffled like she was listening to them from underwater. 'I guess this is the downside to these powers,' she thought to herself as her mind was still hazy from using a lot of the foreign energy.
Saitama walked over to her and knelt down to her level while putting a comforting hand on her back. "You all right?" he asked her, a bit worried for her.
"I'm...fine…" she replied between huffs of air. "Just...just a little tired...that's all." She gave him a smile.
"Do you need me to carry you home?" he asked.
Kagome slowly shook her head to tell him no. "I'll be fine by myself." She picked herself up by putting her hands onto her shaky legs to try to steady herself upright, but right when she was somewhat standing, her legs gave out again causing her to fall back onto the floor. "On second thought…I guess I do need some help," she laughed as she rubbed the back of her head with embarrassment.
Instead of replying, Saitama decided to just pick her up and start walking home, causing a little cute squeak to escape her lips. Kagome blushed as she found herself in Saitama's arms and in the princess hold yet again. She looked up at his face and couldn't help but remember what she had done earlier and blush even harder at the memory. Saitama looked down at her and raised an eyebrow at her reddening face, he wasn't sure why her face was turning red—a side effect from using her powers he guessed.
Kagome continued to stare up at him, noticing that when he got serious he was actually kind of handsome, but it seems like no one ever noticed the changes in his features except her. Actually, it seemed like no one noticed when he saves them either, no one seems to care about his existence, which is really sad to her. Did he have anyone in his life that ever cared for him before Genos came around? Kagome became sad at the thought that he had no one all his life.
'Maybe that's why he didn't react when I kissed him; he has never experienced affection before. He's never been praised, loved, or appreciated until recently…' A frown deepened on her face, which Saitama took a notice to.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
'He's been saving people, but no one knows him at all. He's been doing everything without any sort of gain from it.'
"Oi, you alright?"
'He's like the most under-appreciated and selfless hero I have ever met. He fights because he has the power to make a difference, not for the fame and glory that usually came with it.
"Are you still hurting?"
Kagome finally got out of her thoughts and looked at the somewhat concerned face of her companion. She shook her head in reply. "I was just thinking that's all."
"About what?"
Kagome let a small smile show. "I was just thinking about what an amazing person you are," she stated.
Saitama looked at her with a blank face before turning his head to look straight and watch where he was walking. A comfortable silence fell between them as Saitama continued to carry her on the empty road leading to the restricted area of City Z, where his apartment was. "What's with the sudden compliment? It's weird…" he simply replied.
Kagome covered her mouth as she began to laugh at his reaction. "It's not weird." Kagome swung her arms around his neck so that she was a bit closer to him. "I think you deserve more compliments for what you do."
Saitama looked at her face, which was quite close to his, but he didn't really notice the close proximity, instead he tried to adjust her gently so that she was more comfortable since she changed her position in his arms by wrapping her arms around his neck. "It's not like I do anything special. I'm just a hero for fun."
"But you're still a hero, which means you help others. And even if it's for fun, you don't even stay long enough for people to know you were the one who had destroyed the monsters for them; you don't wait for the fame that comes with being a hero, you just do it, and I think that's very admirable," Kagome told him.
Saitama's heart thumped with something unfamiliar from hearing her words. 'What was that feeling I suddenly felt?'
"You know, even if I didn't kiss you on the cheek to get that other hero off my back, I feel like I would give you a kiss anyway for all you do," Kagome said with a smile before leaning down and snuggling into the crook of his neck and using his shoulder to rest her head on as she shut her eyes and enjoy the slight rocking from Saitama's walking.
Saitama looked down at the resting girl and couldn't help but wonder what people might think if they saw them right now if there was actually people around on the street. 'She's such a strange girl…' he thought as a small smile appeared on his face as he continued to look at the girl, 'But I guess I sort of like her.'
Red: Thank you for reading, everyone! Please leave any comments or questions for me in the reviews! :)