Categories > Anime/Manga > Inuyasha > Future Uncertainties
Ok, so I just got my wisdom teeth pulled last Saturday and it really sucks. Lucky for me there is Vicodin, and you can take Advil with it, which I have, a lot. I can’t wait to feel like a normal person again. For now, I will pour my discomfort into this.
Disclaimer- Something Rumiko Takahashi, I’m sleepy, Inuyasha. Oh, get off my back, damned copyright laws.
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Future Uncertainties
Chapter 3
Rescue and Argue
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Kagome struggled as the water closed over her head for the second time, but kept her mouth tightly shut. It was no use, she knew. The damage was done. She could feel the tingle of power begin in her stomach, and spread through her limbs. When it reached her head, sparks erupted in front of her eyes and she found herself unaware of her surroundings. She stopped fighting the water as it attempted to swallow her up. An unnatural feeling of calm engulfed her, and she couldn’t seem to fight it, nor could she fight her need for air much longer. At least, she thought as her vision began to darken, she would die free from the taint of Naraku, as she had felt the presence flee her body the moment she swallowed the magical water.
She had all but given up any hope of finding the surface, when she felt something strong and warm wrap around her in a firm embrace. Something, someone, was holding her tightly, pulling her straight in one direction. The arm around her was comforting and she allowed herself to melt into it, giving herself over to death in the arms of whatever creature had captured her.
Death, it seemed, wasn’t interested, for a moment later, her head broke the surface of the water. The person holding her was dragging her to the bank on which she had been standing with Inuyasha. Inuyasha was gone. For a terrible moment she wondered where he could have gotten to, but then the oxygen seeped back into her brain and she noticed the red sleeve covering the arm that supported her. He, Inuyasha, had saved her.
The magic was sweeping through her leaving a warm tingle in its wake, and Kagome felt sleep begging to come and claim her. Safe in the arms of her favorite half-demon, who clutched her close and held her above the water, she allowed herself to drift away, leaning back into the firm body that supported her. Feeling strangely at ease and unable to worry about the thing that had just occurred, Kagome closed her eyes comfortably and let unconsciousness claim her.
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Before he could react, Inuyasha saw Kagome, or the thing using her body like a hand puppet, fall into the water and swallow a considerable amount. She spluttered, her eyes becoming her own momentarily, then, to his horror, went under. Inuyasha didn’t waste time on thought. He threw himself into the water directly where he had seen her go in, and dived under to find her. To his dismay, the water looked as silver underneath as it had from the bank, and Inuyasha couldn’t see a thing, his nose, too, was useless, as he couldn’t smell for Kagome without drowning himself. He relied on his ears, praying the water would allow sound to pass to him.
The magical water, it seemed, was listening in on his thoughts, for a moment later he heard a slight whimpering sound about a foot below his outstretched hand. He pushed himself toward the sound, kicking with all his might. His hand brushed fabric and his heart leapt. Kagome! He wrapped his arm tightly around what could only be her waist, although he was blind in the water, completely engulfed in what was as clear as molten silver, and puller the girl against his chest. She offered him no struggle. That scared him.
Kicking out as hard as he could, he forced himself toward the surface, thinking only of getting Kagome above it so she could breath. The second they broke the surface, he pulled Kagome bridal style against his chest, using only his legs to get him to shore. When his feet found ground, he took the chance to look down at the girl in his arms. She cuddled herself against him briefly, then, before he could so much as redden in the face, she passed out.
Fear gripped him like a vice around his heart. He ran toward the bank and set Kagome down gently. With a hand over her heart and one triangular ear pressed to her lips, he held his own breath for silence and waited. For a moment, he heard nothing and the vice on his heart tightened painfully, but then he felt it. Her heart was beating, and her breath tickled the soft fur of his ear. Inuyasha released his breath so fast he felt light headed, and slumped beside her, keeping his hand against her chest, counting beats. For someone who had nearly drowned, her heart was moving unusually slowly. If he had not seen it for himself, he wouldn’t believe it, but judging by the pace, he would have thought she had simply lay down and fallen asleep on the bank where she was. Inuyasha could feel his own heart, pounding so hard he thought it wanted to escape his chest and see if Kagome was alright for itself.
Despite the fact that Kagome was seemingly unharmed, Inuyasha felt no relief. She had swallowed water from the Silver Spring. She had done the unthinkable, and drank the cursed water. Though he knew it wasn’t her who had been pulling the strings, he knew it was she who was going to be affected.
Inuyasha wanted to scream. He couldn’t think of a single thing that would help Kagome at all. With one hand below her shoulder blades, and the other under her knees, the hanyou lifted the girls limp form, and, after making sure that her head rested against his chest rather than hanging backwards from her neck, Inuyasha lifted his dearest friend and took off at break neck pace towards the camp. While he ran he realized that the two of them had been gone barely three quarters of an hour, and yet their whole world may have been changed. It amazed him for a brief minute, but he didn’t dwell on it. Instead he focused on keeping his breath even so he could run all the faster to his friends, in the hopes that Miroku or Sango could help.
They grew up in the feudal era, just like him, and would know the story. He only hoped they would know something he didn’t.
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Kagome woke feeling warm and dry and unbelievably comfortable. She was lying on a bedroll, probably hers, though it was hard to tell without opening her eyes, which she didn’t feel like doing. She couldn’t imagine why she felt so very tired. Now what had she been doing before going to sleep? She couldn’t seem to remember at all. How strange. There was warmth coming from her far left, and it was crackling peacefully. There was another source of heat to her right, so close she could touch it if she wanted. The heat sighed, and she felt a slightly calloused hand gently stroke her hair, brushing the bangs from her forehead. The hand was shaking slightly. She knew that touch. Inuyasha. He was too far for her liking. She had preferred when she was pulled against his wet chest. No when had that happened.
Suddenly, her memories came crashing down on her. The Spring, the story, Naraku, the power, Inuyasha’s daring rescue. Somehow, unable to muster up any worry at the moment, Kagome blearily opened her eyes. She was back at camp. On the other side of the fire, Miroku and Sango were seated together, Miroku with his staff standing before him and his forehead resting on it so that his fringe blocked his eyes from view, and Sango staring into the fire, though it was clear that she was not really seeing it. Kirara was on her lap, being stroked by Sango’s hand which seemed to be moving of its own accord, without its owners notice. Shippo was coloring quietly. She glanced the other way, toward her right. There, as she had expected, sat Inuyasha beside her, one leg up so his foot was flat on the ground and the other one lying against the dirt, foot underneath his raised knee. His hand was still brushing at her hair with more care and gentleness than someone who didn’t know him well would believe possible. Kagome, however, wasn’t surprised at all. His eyes were averted from her face, staring at the dirt near his foot, features clouded with worry. He hadn’t noticed her wakefulness yet. Without thinking Kagome raised her right hand and tenderly brushed the back of her fingers along the smooth and defined line of his jaw, making him jump and pull his hand away from her, until he registered that she was awake.
“Kagome,” he exclaimed, kneeling by her side so fast that she couldn’t make out his movements.
“Hey there, dog boy,” Kagome answered, reaching dazedly for his face again. He made no move to stop her as she ran her hand up and down his jaw, drawing a thumb across his cheek below his eye, enjoying the softness against the pad of her finger.
“Kagome! You’re awake. How are you feeling? Are you all right?” he asked, his voice strained by worry, and she felt another rush of tenderness toward him that she couldn’t really explain.
“I’m just fine, sweet thing. How ‘bout you?” she said back, her words slurred slightly.
“Do you remember what happened?” he asked her urgently, trying hard to ignore the feeling of her hand as it slid down the side of his throat, reaching his collar bone and sliding a finger so gently across it that she may have been checking for dust.
“Sure do. I got all wet, and you saved me. I’m all dry now, though. Good job,” she commended. The worry in Inuyasha’s eyes became more pronounced. He glanced up at Sango, who was watching avidly with the monk now, pleading silently for her help. the slayer obliged her stricken friend, rising and kneeling next to the half-demon.
“Is something wrong with her?” he asked, trying to maintain perfect calm and failing beautifully as Kagome dragged her hand down his chest to the waist of his pants and he gulped.
“It’s ok, Inuyasha. She’s just a little dazed by the rush of Magic. She should be herself in no time. Think of it as an intoxication. It’ll wear off after a while.” Inuyasha nodded, but the worry didn’t fade from his eyes as they returned to Kagome’s face.
“Aww, don’t you worry, pretty boy. S’all good up in here, a’ite?” Kagome giggled gently at herself. “Such nice ears,” she added, spotting the patches of fur atop Inuyasha’s head. “I want to play with them. Can I?” Without waiting for an answer, Kagome reached up. Smiling sleepily, and grabbed gently at one of the ears, rolling it around between her fingertips. Inuyasha tried hard not to gasp, his worry turning to nervousness as he glanced up at Sango, trying to suppress a shudder as the girls finger slipped into his ear and tickled it gently. He gaped at Sango, slightly frightened. She looked sympathetic, and mercifully refrained from commenting.
This continued for a good hour as Kagome sat up and slowly returned to normal. By the end of that time, she was behaving like herself once more, speaking coherently as the discussed the results of her little drink. It failed no one’s notice that, though she did eventually stop rubbing Inuyasha’s ears and stroking his throat, she never stopped touching him. In the end she was sitting beside him, leaning against his shoulder, a hand absently on his knee. Kagome didn’t seem to notice it, so Inuyasha pretended not to, though his gaze drifted to it every few minutes, often followed by a hard swallow.
“So I’m definitely going to have some sort of power than?” Kagome was asking Miroku, who was by far the most knowledgeable about spells and the most well read on the subject.
“I’m afraid there is no doubt of that. Unfortunately, we don’t know what dictates how your power is chosen, so we must be very careful.”
“What do you mean, Miroku? Why must we be so careful?” Sango asked.
Miroku sighed heavily, looking worried, and the group could tell that the nerves were genuine as it didn’t seem to occur to the lecher that Sango was less than a foot away and an easy target for a bottom rub, and instead rubbed his lecherous hand against his own forehead, as though it was paining him. Sango moved closer seemingly subconsciously.
“Are you feeling all right, Monk?” Sango asked worriedly.
“Not to worry, my dear Sango, I am fine, though your care for me is greatly appreciated.” He flashed her a dazzling, lecherous smile and closed the small gap between them.
“Hey, lecher, you were talking about Kagome. Why is it that we need to worry huh?” Inuyasha demanded, placing a hand protectively on said girls shoulder.
“Well, her power may not, unfortunately, mirror her personality,” Miroku sighed unhappily.
“Meaning what, exactly?” snapped Inuyasha.
“Well, my friend, we all know that Kagome is a gentle person who wants only to help people and protect them. It is possible that the power she receives will be one that helps her to do just that. However, magic also has a very ironic sense of humor some of the time. As such, it is very possible that whatever ‘gift’ she is lent by the silver waters will be of use only for destruction and chaos,” he said resignedly.
“But I thought that good magic like the waters usually is meant only to help people, not hurt,” said Kagome nervously. She didn’t like the idea of being dangerous.
“Well, yes, true good magic would never cause something so unfair as forcing someone like you to do harm. The water’s, on the other hand, are no longer true good magic. Indeed, they began that way, but the spell of the priestess, though meant well, was tainted by her anger at the lord and her fear of the Spring. Her spell, therefore, had the unexpected and unintentional side effect of causing that water’s magic to become impure,” Miroku finished and sighed
The group looked uneasily around at each other. Kagome was the first to speak.
“So you mean that, cause of this power, I could end up hurting you guys?”
“It is a possibility, I’m afraid.”
Silence.
“Well then you have to leave,” Kagome said finally.
“Kagome,” said Sango, shocked, “What do you mean?”
“If I’m a danger to you, then you should all be away from me until I know what this power is, and if its dangerous, get rid of it.”
“Kagome, there is something I don’t think you understand,” argued Miroku. “There is no way to tell how long it will take for the power to fade. It could be days, weeks, or even years.”
“Oh,” said Kagome, clearly depressed. “Wait, does that mean it isn’t safe me to go home or anything, cause I have a test in a week, and if I miss it…”
Inuyasha cut her off angrily. “Test! A test! After all that, almost getting killed by Naraku, and possibly becoming a huge danger to your friends, you’re worried about a stupid test?! Are you freakin’ mental?”
Kagome was quiet and subdued. She could understand Inuyasha’s reaction of course, but that only got her worrying again. When she finally spoke, it was with an air of resignation.
“Then we are going to have to separate to protect you guys from me, at least ‘till I know what it is I can do.”
“But Kagome…” Sango cut in, but Kagome silenced her with a wave of her hand.
“I’m not going to have you all be put in danger ‘cause of me. Go away from me before something happens. Go to Kaede and see if there’s some way to block powers or something.”
“Kagome, be reasonable, we shouldn’t just…” Miroku argued, only to be cut off by an angry Kagome.
“Guys, so you know, I’m not asking you. I’m telling you.”
“But what if a demon shows up?”
“I’m not useless, you know,” Kagome huffed, crossing her arms in front of her chest.
“I can fight for myself just fine.”
“Feh,” snorted Inuyasha, crossing his own arms, hands buried in the opposite sleeves. “Yeah, right. As if you’d last a day alone. I’m not going anywhere.”
“But Inuyasha, if something happened to you…”
“I can take care of myself, wench, and I ain’t leaving. Miroku and Sango can go to Kaede on there own, and take Shippo with them.”
“But I want to stay with Kagome!” protested the tiny kitsune.
“Shippo, Inuyasha’s just saying that to protect you, and he isn’t staying.”
“I’m saying that ‘cause the runt annoys me, and I am too staying.”
“No, Inuyasha, sweet as that is, you aren’t,” Kagome argued.
“Yes, I am too.”
“No you’re not.”
“I am.”
“Are not!”
“Am too!”
“Are not!”
“Try and stop me wench,” laughed Inuyasha bitterly. Kagome opened her mouth to deliver a biting retort, only to be stopped by Miroku.
“Enough, ENOUGH! You two,” Miroku calmed them, raising his voice uncharacteristically. “If Inuyasha is going to stay with you, then we can compromise. Sango and I will go and see Kaede…”
“And Shippo,” added Inuyasha.
“Hey!”
“Yes, and Shippo, as well. We will go and find out what we can do, and Inuyasha can protect you while we’re away. Agreed Sango?”
Sango looked considerably happier, appeased by the thought that Kagome would still be protected by Inuyasha, who she’d trusted with her own life many times. “I’m alright with that, monk.”
“Well, I’m not!” said Kagome angrily. “I still don’t know what my power is going to be. What if I should end up hurting him?”
“Feh, as if you could,” laughed Inuyasha arrogantly and with more than a touch of his trademark, irritating self assurance.
“Well, maybe I’ll just s-i-t you into leaving. I could, you know,” retorted Kagome, her desperation being fast replaced by annoyance.
“You could try, wench, but I ain’t leavin’ no matter how much you sit me and that’s final.” With that said, Inuyasha spun himself around, turning his back on the discussion, as though that finalized everything.
As far and Miroku and Sango were concerned, it seemed it had.
“Very well,” Miroku said, nodding, satisfied by the conclusion. “I would prefer to wait until morning to begin the journey, but as dawn is but an hour or so away, I believe we should set out now, and on Kirara. That should shorten the journey.”
“Wait just a minute!” Kagome demanded. “What about Inuyasha? What if he stays and I hurt him or something?”
Inuyasha answered her with a ‘Feh’ but didn’t turn around.
“I don’t think you need to worry Kagome,” Sango comforted her. “Inuyasha is powerful. I’m sure that, whatever should happen, he’ll be strong enough to deal with it. Besides, I seriously doubt any one of us could get him to leave if he was truly determined not to. At least not without injuring him, and the last thing we need is to have him out of commission at a time like this.”
“I…guess so,” Kagome reluctantly agreed, glancing worriedly at the hanyou, who still had his back to her. When she turned back around, Miroku had already stood up, followed immediately by Sango.
“Kirara,” the slayer called, but she didn’t need to continue, as the cat had clearly been listening in, and transformed immediately into her larger form, positioning herself in front of the pair.
“We should be back in a few days if all goes well,” Miroku said to Kagome, scooping up the wiggling and grunting kitsune. Then, turning to Inuyasha, he continued, “If you should discover Kagome’s power before then, and it is not, in fact, dangerous, then head towards the village and meet up with us.”
Inuyasha, who had turned around to face the monk addressing him, nodded once, and then inclined his head towards Sango by way of a goodbye.
“I don’t like this,” said Kagome, but she found herself ignored, as Miroku swung himself onto Kirara’s back, positioning himself behind the slayer so he could hold onto her waist with on hand and the wriggling Shippo in the other.
“Hey, hold on,” shouted Kagome. “Doesn’t anyone care what I think about this?”
“No,” answered Miroku and Inuyasha together, causing Sango to stifle a giggle behind her hand. She then waved at her shocked friend on the ground, and took off before Kagome could think of a reply.
Kagome huffed for a moment after her friend’s disappearance into the slowly lightening sky. Then she looked back at Inuyasha, who was watching her warily, as though expecting her to jump him or demand his lunch money.
“Inuyasha,” started Kagome, fully ready to argue it out with him. She found herself interrupted.
“It’s still really early and you’ve had a rough night. You should probably get some more sleep while you can.”
That said, he launched himself from sitting position into a tree and vanished into the leafy covering, leaving Kagome with her mouth slightly open in shock.
Surrendering to exhaustion, Kagome settled down on her bedroll once again, knowing instinctively that, though she couldn’t see Inuyasha, he was watching her from his perch.
“You know, you really ought to get some sleep too,” she muttered groggily as a heaviness came over her eyelids.
Inuyasha, in his tree, ‘fehed’ to himself, knowing full well that he wasn’t going to get any rest that night at all, not with his nerves wound as they were. He opened his mouth to give Kagome some excuse, only to find her eyes closed and her breathing slowed by sleep. Sighing, he rested his back against the wide trunk of the tree and watched her, wondering edgily what chaos the next day would bring the pair.
He looked at the sun, which seemed to have ceased its assent into the sky somewhere near a range of mountains, and sighed to himself, one thought occupying his mind at that moment.
It’s going to be a long night.
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Disclaimer- Something Rumiko Takahashi, I’m sleepy, Inuyasha. Oh, get off my back, damned copyright laws.
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Future Uncertainties
Chapter 3
Rescue and Argue
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Kagome struggled as the water closed over her head for the second time, but kept her mouth tightly shut. It was no use, she knew. The damage was done. She could feel the tingle of power begin in her stomach, and spread through her limbs. When it reached her head, sparks erupted in front of her eyes and she found herself unaware of her surroundings. She stopped fighting the water as it attempted to swallow her up. An unnatural feeling of calm engulfed her, and she couldn’t seem to fight it, nor could she fight her need for air much longer. At least, she thought as her vision began to darken, she would die free from the taint of Naraku, as she had felt the presence flee her body the moment she swallowed the magical water.
She had all but given up any hope of finding the surface, when she felt something strong and warm wrap around her in a firm embrace. Something, someone, was holding her tightly, pulling her straight in one direction. The arm around her was comforting and she allowed herself to melt into it, giving herself over to death in the arms of whatever creature had captured her.
Death, it seemed, wasn’t interested, for a moment later, her head broke the surface of the water. The person holding her was dragging her to the bank on which she had been standing with Inuyasha. Inuyasha was gone. For a terrible moment she wondered where he could have gotten to, but then the oxygen seeped back into her brain and she noticed the red sleeve covering the arm that supported her. He, Inuyasha, had saved her.
The magic was sweeping through her leaving a warm tingle in its wake, and Kagome felt sleep begging to come and claim her. Safe in the arms of her favorite half-demon, who clutched her close and held her above the water, she allowed herself to drift away, leaning back into the firm body that supported her. Feeling strangely at ease and unable to worry about the thing that had just occurred, Kagome closed her eyes comfortably and let unconsciousness claim her.
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Before he could react, Inuyasha saw Kagome, or the thing using her body like a hand puppet, fall into the water and swallow a considerable amount. She spluttered, her eyes becoming her own momentarily, then, to his horror, went under. Inuyasha didn’t waste time on thought. He threw himself into the water directly where he had seen her go in, and dived under to find her. To his dismay, the water looked as silver underneath as it had from the bank, and Inuyasha couldn’t see a thing, his nose, too, was useless, as he couldn’t smell for Kagome without drowning himself. He relied on his ears, praying the water would allow sound to pass to him.
The magical water, it seemed, was listening in on his thoughts, for a moment later he heard a slight whimpering sound about a foot below his outstretched hand. He pushed himself toward the sound, kicking with all his might. His hand brushed fabric and his heart leapt. Kagome! He wrapped his arm tightly around what could only be her waist, although he was blind in the water, completely engulfed in what was as clear as molten silver, and puller the girl against his chest. She offered him no struggle. That scared him.
Kicking out as hard as he could, he forced himself toward the surface, thinking only of getting Kagome above it so she could breath. The second they broke the surface, he pulled Kagome bridal style against his chest, using only his legs to get him to shore. When his feet found ground, he took the chance to look down at the girl in his arms. She cuddled herself against him briefly, then, before he could so much as redden in the face, she passed out.
Fear gripped him like a vice around his heart. He ran toward the bank and set Kagome down gently. With a hand over her heart and one triangular ear pressed to her lips, he held his own breath for silence and waited. For a moment, he heard nothing and the vice on his heart tightened painfully, but then he felt it. Her heart was beating, and her breath tickled the soft fur of his ear. Inuyasha released his breath so fast he felt light headed, and slumped beside her, keeping his hand against her chest, counting beats. For someone who had nearly drowned, her heart was moving unusually slowly. If he had not seen it for himself, he wouldn’t believe it, but judging by the pace, he would have thought she had simply lay down and fallen asleep on the bank where she was. Inuyasha could feel his own heart, pounding so hard he thought it wanted to escape his chest and see if Kagome was alright for itself.
Despite the fact that Kagome was seemingly unharmed, Inuyasha felt no relief. She had swallowed water from the Silver Spring. She had done the unthinkable, and drank the cursed water. Though he knew it wasn’t her who had been pulling the strings, he knew it was she who was going to be affected.
Inuyasha wanted to scream. He couldn’t think of a single thing that would help Kagome at all. With one hand below her shoulder blades, and the other under her knees, the hanyou lifted the girls limp form, and, after making sure that her head rested against his chest rather than hanging backwards from her neck, Inuyasha lifted his dearest friend and took off at break neck pace towards the camp. While he ran he realized that the two of them had been gone barely three quarters of an hour, and yet their whole world may have been changed. It amazed him for a brief minute, but he didn’t dwell on it. Instead he focused on keeping his breath even so he could run all the faster to his friends, in the hopes that Miroku or Sango could help.
They grew up in the feudal era, just like him, and would know the story. He only hoped they would know something he didn’t.
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Kagome woke feeling warm and dry and unbelievably comfortable. She was lying on a bedroll, probably hers, though it was hard to tell without opening her eyes, which she didn’t feel like doing. She couldn’t imagine why she felt so very tired. Now what had she been doing before going to sleep? She couldn’t seem to remember at all. How strange. There was warmth coming from her far left, and it was crackling peacefully. There was another source of heat to her right, so close she could touch it if she wanted. The heat sighed, and she felt a slightly calloused hand gently stroke her hair, brushing the bangs from her forehead. The hand was shaking slightly. She knew that touch. Inuyasha. He was too far for her liking. She had preferred when she was pulled against his wet chest. No when had that happened.
Suddenly, her memories came crashing down on her. The Spring, the story, Naraku, the power, Inuyasha’s daring rescue. Somehow, unable to muster up any worry at the moment, Kagome blearily opened her eyes. She was back at camp. On the other side of the fire, Miroku and Sango were seated together, Miroku with his staff standing before him and his forehead resting on it so that his fringe blocked his eyes from view, and Sango staring into the fire, though it was clear that she was not really seeing it. Kirara was on her lap, being stroked by Sango’s hand which seemed to be moving of its own accord, without its owners notice. Shippo was coloring quietly. She glanced the other way, toward her right. There, as she had expected, sat Inuyasha beside her, one leg up so his foot was flat on the ground and the other one lying against the dirt, foot underneath his raised knee. His hand was still brushing at her hair with more care and gentleness than someone who didn’t know him well would believe possible. Kagome, however, wasn’t surprised at all. His eyes were averted from her face, staring at the dirt near his foot, features clouded with worry. He hadn’t noticed her wakefulness yet. Without thinking Kagome raised her right hand and tenderly brushed the back of her fingers along the smooth and defined line of his jaw, making him jump and pull his hand away from her, until he registered that she was awake.
“Kagome,” he exclaimed, kneeling by her side so fast that she couldn’t make out his movements.
“Hey there, dog boy,” Kagome answered, reaching dazedly for his face again. He made no move to stop her as she ran her hand up and down his jaw, drawing a thumb across his cheek below his eye, enjoying the softness against the pad of her finger.
“Kagome! You’re awake. How are you feeling? Are you all right?” he asked, his voice strained by worry, and she felt another rush of tenderness toward him that she couldn’t really explain.
“I’m just fine, sweet thing. How ‘bout you?” she said back, her words slurred slightly.
“Do you remember what happened?” he asked her urgently, trying hard to ignore the feeling of her hand as it slid down the side of his throat, reaching his collar bone and sliding a finger so gently across it that she may have been checking for dust.
“Sure do. I got all wet, and you saved me. I’m all dry now, though. Good job,” she commended. The worry in Inuyasha’s eyes became more pronounced. He glanced up at Sango, who was watching avidly with the monk now, pleading silently for her help. the slayer obliged her stricken friend, rising and kneeling next to the half-demon.
“Is something wrong with her?” he asked, trying to maintain perfect calm and failing beautifully as Kagome dragged her hand down his chest to the waist of his pants and he gulped.
“It’s ok, Inuyasha. She’s just a little dazed by the rush of Magic. She should be herself in no time. Think of it as an intoxication. It’ll wear off after a while.” Inuyasha nodded, but the worry didn’t fade from his eyes as they returned to Kagome’s face.
“Aww, don’t you worry, pretty boy. S’all good up in here, a’ite?” Kagome giggled gently at herself. “Such nice ears,” she added, spotting the patches of fur atop Inuyasha’s head. “I want to play with them. Can I?” Without waiting for an answer, Kagome reached up. Smiling sleepily, and grabbed gently at one of the ears, rolling it around between her fingertips. Inuyasha tried hard not to gasp, his worry turning to nervousness as he glanced up at Sango, trying to suppress a shudder as the girls finger slipped into his ear and tickled it gently. He gaped at Sango, slightly frightened. She looked sympathetic, and mercifully refrained from commenting.
This continued for a good hour as Kagome sat up and slowly returned to normal. By the end of that time, she was behaving like herself once more, speaking coherently as the discussed the results of her little drink. It failed no one’s notice that, though she did eventually stop rubbing Inuyasha’s ears and stroking his throat, she never stopped touching him. In the end she was sitting beside him, leaning against his shoulder, a hand absently on his knee. Kagome didn’t seem to notice it, so Inuyasha pretended not to, though his gaze drifted to it every few minutes, often followed by a hard swallow.
“So I’m definitely going to have some sort of power than?” Kagome was asking Miroku, who was by far the most knowledgeable about spells and the most well read on the subject.
“I’m afraid there is no doubt of that. Unfortunately, we don’t know what dictates how your power is chosen, so we must be very careful.”
“What do you mean, Miroku? Why must we be so careful?” Sango asked.
Miroku sighed heavily, looking worried, and the group could tell that the nerves were genuine as it didn’t seem to occur to the lecher that Sango was less than a foot away and an easy target for a bottom rub, and instead rubbed his lecherous hand against his own forehead, as though it was paining him. Sango moved closer seemingly subconsciously.
“Are you feeling all right, Monk?” Sango asked worriedly.
“Not to worry, my dear Sango, I am fine, though your care for me is greatly appreciated.” He flashed her a dazzling, lecherous smile and closed the small gap between them.
“Hey, lecher, you were talking about Kagome. Why is it that we need to worry huh?” Inuyasha demanded, placing a hand protectively on said girls shoulder.
“Well, her power may not, unfortunately, mirror her personality,” Miroku sighed unhappily.
“Meaning what, exactly?” snapped Inuyasha.
“Well, my friend, we all know that Kagome is a gentle person who wants only to help people and protect them. It is possible that the power she receives will be one that helps her to do just that. However, magic also has a very ironic sense of humor some of the time. As such, it is very possible that whatever ‘gift’ she is lent by the silver waters will be of use only for destruction and chaos,” he said resignedly.
“But I thought that good magic like the waters usually is meant only to help people, not hurt,” said Kagome nervously. She didn’t like the idea of being dangerous.
“Well, yes, true good magic would never cause something so unfair as forcing someone like you to do harm. The water’s, on the other hand, are no longer true good magic. Indeed, they began that way, but the spell of the priestess, though meant well, was tainted by her anger at the lord and her fear of the Spring. Her spell, therefore, had the unexpected and unintentional side effect of causing that water’s magic to become impure,” Miroku finished and sighed
The group looked uneasily around at each other. Kagome was the first to speak.
“So you mean that, cause of this power, I could end up hurting you guys?”
“It is a possibility, I’m afraid.”
Silence.
“Well then you have to leave,” Kagome said finally.
“Kagome,” said Sango, shocked, “What do you mean?”
“If I’m a danger to you, then you should all be away from me until I know what this power is, and if its dangerous, get rid of it.”
“Kagome, there is something I don’t think you understand,” argued Miroku. “There is no way to tell how long it will take for the power to fade. It could be days, weeks, or even years.”
“Oh,” said Kagome, clearly depressed. “Wait, does that mean it isn’t safe me to go home or anything, cause I have a test in a week, and if I miss it…”
Inuyasha cut her off angrily. “Test! A test! After all that, almost getting killed by Naraku, and possibly becoming a huge danger to your friends, you’re worried about a stupid test?! Are you freakin’ mental?”
Kagome was quiet and subdued. She could understand Inuyasha’s reaction of course, but that only got her worrying again. When she finally spoke, it was with an air of resignation.
“Then we are going to have to separate to protect you guys from me, at least ‘till I know what it is I can do.”
“But Kagome…” Sango cut in, but Kagome silenced her with a wave of her hand.
“I’m not going to have you all be put in danger ‘cause of me. Go away from me before something happens. Go to Kaede and see if there’s some way to block powers or something.”
“Kagome, be reasonable, we shouldn’t just…” Miroku argued, only to be cut off by an angry Kagome.
“Guys, so you know, I’m not asking you. I’m telling you.”
“But what if a demon shows up?”
“I’m not useless, you know,” Kagome huffed, crossing her arms in front of her chest.
“I can fight for myself just fine.”
“Feh,” snorted Inuyasha, crossing his own arms, hands buried in the opposite sleeves. “Yeah, right. As if you’d last a day alone. I’m not going anywhere.”
“But Inuyasha, if something happened to you…”
“I can take care of myself, wench, and I ain’t leaving. Miroku and Sango can go to Kaede on there own, and take Shippo with them.”
“But I want to stay with Kagome!” protested the tiny kitsune.
“Shippo, Inuyasha’s just saying that to protect you, and he isn’t staying.”
“I’m saying that ‘cause the runt annoys me, and I am too staying.”
“No, Inuyasha, sweet as that is, you aren’t,” Kagome argued.
“Yes, I am too.”
“No you’re not.”
“I am.”
“Are not!”
“Am too!”
“Are not!”
“Try and stop me wench,” laughed Inuyasha bitterly. Kagome opened her mouth to deliver a biting retort, only to be stopped by Miroku.
“Enough, ENOUGH! You two,” Miroku calmed them, raising his voice uncharacteristically. “If Inuyasha is going to stay with you, then we can compromise. Sango and I will go and see Kaede…”
“And Shippo,” added Inuyasha.
“Hey!”
“Yes, and Shippo, as well. We will go and find out what we can do, and Inuyasha can protect you while we’re away. Agreed Sango?”
Sango looked considerably happier, appeased by the thought that Kagome would still be protected by Inuyasha, who she’d trusted with her own life many times. “I’m alright with that, monk.”
“Well, I’m not!” said Kagome angrily. “I still don’t know what my power is going to be. What if I should end up hurting him?”
“Feh, as if you could,” laughed Inuyasha arrogantly and with more than a touch of his trademark, irritating self assurance.
“Well, maybe I’ll just s-i-t you into leaving. I could, you know,” retorted Kagome, her desperation being fast replaced by annoyance.
“You could try, wench, but I ain’t leavin’ no matter how much you sit me and that’s final.” With that said, Inuyasha spun himself around, turning his back on the discussion, as though that finalized everything.
As far and Miroku and Sango were concerned, it seemed it had.
“Very well,” Miroku said, nodding, satisfied by the conclusion. “I would prefer to wait until morning to begin the journey, but as dawn is but an hour or so away, I believe we should set out now, and on Kirara. That should shorten the journey.”
“Wait just a minute!” Kagome demanded. “What about Inuyasha? What if he stays and I hurt him or something?”
Inuyasha answered her with a ‘Feh’ but didn’t turn around.
“I don’t think you need to worry Kagome,” Sango comforted her. “Inuyasha is powerful. I’m sure that, whatever should happen, he’ll be strong enough to deal with it. Besides, I seriously doubt any one of us could get him to leave if he was truly determined not to. At least not without injuring him, and the last thing we need is to have him out of commission at a time like this.”
“I…guess so,” Kagome reluctantly agreed, glancing worriedly at the hanyou, who still had his back to her. When she turned back around, Miroku had already stood up, followed immediately by Sango.
“Kirara,” the slayer called, but she didn’t need to continue, as the cat had clearly been listening in, and transformed immediately into her larger form, positioning herself in front of the pair.
“We should be back in a few days if all goes well,” Miroku said to Kagome, scooping up the wiggling and grunting kitsune. Then, turning to Inuyasha, he continued, “If you should discover Kagome’s power before then, and it is not, in fact, dangerous, then head towards the village and meet up with us.”
Inuyasha, who had turned around to face the monk addressing him, nodded once, and then inclined his head towards Sango by way of a goodbye.
“I don’t like this,” said Kagome, but she found herself ignored, as Miroku swung himself onto Kirara’s back, positioning himself behind the slayer so he could hold onto her waist with on hand and the wriggling Shippo in the other.
“Hey, hold on,” shouted Kagome. “Doesn’t anyone care what I think about this?”
“No,” answered Miroku and Inuyasha together, causing Sango to stifle a giggle behind her hand. She then waved at her shocked friend on the ground, and took off before Kagome could think of a reply.
Kagome huffed for a moment after her friend’s disappearance into the slowly lightening sky. Then she looked back at Inuyasha, who was watching her warily, as though expecting her to jump him or demand his lunch money.
“Inuyasha,” started Kagome, fully ready to argue it out with him. She found herself interrupted.
“It’s still really early and you’ve had a rough night. You should probably get some more sleep while you can.”
That said, he launched himself from sitting position into a tree and vanished into the leafy covering, leaving Kagome with her mouth slightly open in shock.
Surrendering to exhaustion, Kagome settled down on her bedroll once again, knowing instinctively that, though she couldn’t see Inuyasha, he was watching her from his perch.
“You know, you really ought to get some sleep too,” she muttered groggily as a heaviness came over her eyelids.
Inuyasha, in his tree, ‘fehed’ to himself, knowing full well that he wasn’t going to get any rest that night at all, not with his nerves wound as they were. He opened his mouth to give Kagome some excuse, only to find her eyes closed and her breathing slowed by sleep. Sighing, he rested his back against the wide trunk of the tree and watched her, wondering edgily what chaos the next day would bring the pair.
He looked at the sun, which seemed to have ceased its assent into the sky somewhere near a range of mountains, and sighed to himself, one thought occupying his mind at that moment.
It’s going to be a long night.
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