FicWad

Disclaimer: I don't and never will own the Inuyasha show and characters. Now on to the story!

------------------------

Edited: July 9, 2007

A/N: Enjoy this hopefully better version....

------------------------

Japanese volcabulary:

nani: what

hanyou: half demon

inuyoukai: dog demon

Netsuretsu na tsuchi ya: Glowing earth arrow

Name:

Yuryoku na zako: Powerful Treasure

--------------------------

Episode 5: Little Voices

----------------------------

Kagome reached out, placing her hand in the red mist. She paused but no sizzling noise or glowing of hand came as she reached out and grasped the bow handle. The red mist dissapated and Kagome now held the bow in one hand with the arrows in the other. As she stared down at them in awed suprise and felt the smooth texture beneath it, a sense of rightness filled her of holding it in her hand. She tightened her grip, smiling slighty, and pulled the black strap of the arrow case over her right shoulder while holding the bow in her left. She looked up at Kikyou whose eyes were narrowed ever so slightly, her mouth pulled into a thin line.

Kagome smirked. "Looks like your BABY sister was able to grasp something when my BIG sister was unable to."

Kikyou's mouth tightened into a thinner line and her eyes narrowed further.

"Aw," said Kagome. "Is that jealousy I see in your face?"

"But that's impossible!" Tolkein cried. "A weak half-breed could never weild such a powerful weapon!"

CRACK!

Tolkein now lay on the ground, swirly eyed, sporting a large lump on his head. An angry Inuyasha stood above him, fist held up. "Shut up, you stupid, beady eyed, little lizard!"

Kagome was about to make another taunt but stopped as Kikyou's youki thickened with anger and her eyes became tinged wtih red.

"It seems that the Yuryoku na zako has picked a weak master," the demoness hissed. "I'll just solve that little problem."

Kikyou shot foreward and Kagome tried to move out of the way, swinging her fire claws at her older sibling but the demoness quickly dodged. Kagome leapt back a ways and notched an arrow to the bow, releasing it. The arrow sped through the air but missed Kikyou by feet.

"Nani?!" cried Kagome before turning her head towards Korogi in anger. "I thought you said this thing had special powers so I couldn't miss!"

Kikyou chuckled. "So you cannot use Mother's weapon to its true potential. How sad. I'll just have to take it for safe keeping for you." She leapt foreward and Kagome just barely found time to dodge Kikyou when the demoness sent a blast of dark green liquid at the hanyou.

Kagome dodged but not before the attack caught her in the side which also happened to unfortunately be the side Kikyou had dug around in earlier. The female half demon slid back a ways on her feet as she clutched her hand to her side, gritting her teeth.

Kikyou rushed towards her younger sibling with a growl. "Give me the Yuryoku na zako!" She swung her claws, leaving 3 glowing dark green marks on Kagome's cheek to match the other one. Kagome skidded backwards again and tried to hit Kikyou with her fire claw but the female inuyoukai easily dodged the attack.

"Give it to me!" Kikyou growled.

"No!" Kagome cried back. "Mother left it for me so it's mine!"

"You do not even deserve to speak of her!" Kikyou hissed.

Suddenly, Kikyou whirled around, swinging her arm to unleash a red wave of energy. Inuyasha who had been set to attack the demoness, was hit with the attack, causing him to skid backwards. The black haired inuyoukai stalked towards Inuyasha and grasped him around the throat, causing him to gasp for air.

"I've had enough of your interference," she grounded out. Her hand started to glow red and Inuyasha clawed at in pain.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome cried. She quickly held up the bow, unconciously grabbing 2 arrows, and notching them, aiming, as if she had done it a million times before.

'I've got to do this,' she thought. 'I have to protect Inuyasha.'

She felt power rush out from deep inside of her and down her arms into the bow and arrows. She subconciously noticed them glowing with a light green glow, but her attention was focused on Kikyou.

The tip of the arrow glowed brightly as Kagome cried out," Netsuretsu na tsuchi ya!" as she released the arrows, zooming towards her target.

They shot forward, straight and true, reaching their marks. One shot through Kikyou's left shoulder, the one holding Inuyasha's throat, causing her to drop him which gave him much needed air. The other, scratched the demoness' right side, only because she barely moved out of the way in time.

Kikyou now stood there with a scratch on her right side and a hole through her left shoulder. Just a few inches down and the demoness would have found herself dead.

Finally, the female inuyoukai turned around slowly to look at her younger sibling, her face neutral but the smallest hint of suprise could be seen in her eyes. Her left arm lay limp at her side, useless for the moment.

There was a short pause before the demoness stepped back and nodded towards Tolkein, beckoning him. " I shall come back another time to claim what is mine", Kikyou said, as Tolkein rushed to her side. She closed her eyes and disappeared in a flash of light while a red orb was seen flying over the trees, leaving the spot she had been only moments before, empty.

Kagome stared at the spot, her bow arm limp at her side, panting.

"Kagome. . . "

She looked up and saw Inuyasha looking at her worriedly but safe. "Are you okay? You look kind of pale."

Kagome smiled. 'He's okay... That's good...' Then she realized she was feeling a pain coming from the side Kikyou had dug around in AND hit with her venom strike. The female hanyou clutched the side wincing, as if that would make the pain disappear. If she didn't get the venom out soon, she was going to die. Oh goody.

"Kagome? What's wrong?"

She looked at Inuyasha, now standing beside her, brow furrowed. She pulled a fake smile and said," Don't worry. I only got scratched by Kikyou's venom strike is all."

The boy of the future narrowed his eyes at her as if he was seeing through her deception and Kagome started to sweat a little under the scrutiny. He pulled her hand away from the wound and his eyes widened.

"You call that a scratch," he said, in disbelief. "That scratch is deep enough to fit about half of my pinky finger and it's dripping green liquid and blood from it. Oh yeah. Nothing to worry about at all... Hear my sarcasm."

Kagome chuckled nervously, scratching the back of her head. "Okay maybe it's a big scratch."

He stared at her disbelieving for a few moments before sighing. "Come on. Let's get back to Rin's. Maybe she will know how to fix this up." He held out his arm for her to lean on.

"I mean it, I'm fine", said Kagome, waving the arm away, and walking. "Don't worry."

Suddenly, she felt herself growing light headed and dizzy as she started to sway.

"Whoa," Kagome said, putting a hand to her head. "When did the world get so tilted?" She started to fall but felt someone catch her.

The black haired hanyou looked up and saw Inuyasha looking down at her with one eyebrow raised. "You're fine, huh?"

Kagome smiled sheepishly, as she fell into unconciousness. Inuyasha looked at her laying in his arms and sighed. "Now how am I going to get her back to Rin's? Hm. . . I wonder how heavy she is."

He picked her up and found she was actually rather light. Then, he tried to decide how to hold her. After a while of different positions, he settled for bridal style seeing as hanging her arm over his, her feet dragged, and carrying her on his back, well. . . . . he just didn't like it, okay?!

'Oh I say you liked it just fine. . .' came a voice in his mind, sounding similar to his own, yet different.

'Wait! Who are you? And what do you mean by that?' Inuyasha spoke, well, thought to the voice in his mind.

'Oh nothing. I just noticed how you LIKED feeling the the smooth curve of her bare thigh-'

'Stop right there, you pervert! How long have you been in my head? You were never there before.'

'Tsk tsk tsk. My poor innocent little friend. Everybody has a little pervert in their head. You just needed Kagome here to get me to reveal myself. After all, you've never even had a girlfriend. . . . '

'I have to had-'

'Samantha in Kindergarden does not count. And Ami in Middle school was only a crush.'

'Shut up! It's not my fault that I don't like any girls there!'

'More like none of them like you...'

Inuyasha flushed. 'That's not true! I just don't like them...'

'So... you'd prefer Kagome to any of those girls? '

'Yes!. . . I mean, no! I mean. . .maybe. . . '

'Ah ha! I see a future romance possibility here!'

'Shut up! I mean it!' He could feel the heat consuming his cheeks. 'I-I don't like her like that!... Even if she's kinda pretty. . . '

'So you think she's pretty, do you?'

'Yes! No! I-I mean, I...Shut up!'

'Alright. . . Fine. I've had my fun for now. Now I'll leave you and the very lovely Kagome. . . but think about it. . . a romance with her would have special privledges... Oh. By the way. . . your nose is bleeding.'

Inuyasha wiped away the trickle of blood from his nose, blushing madly, as the laughter died away in his head.

(You'd have to have seem Naruto to understand the nose bleed thing...)

-------------------------

"Inuyasha, are you alright? You look kind of red."

Inuyasha turned to Rin sitting beside him. She had tended to Kagome's wounds earlier but she had opened Kagome's kimono top, RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM, and although the bandages that bound her chest (He'd found out that was their version of a bra.) kept her modesty, he'd still seen the creamy skin of her neck and stomach, along with the hint of the curve of her hip, which led to thoughts of other things...

'Wait a minute!' Inuyasha cried out in his mind. 'I did NOT just think that! Gah! You stupid pervert! You're dirtying my mind! I'll get you for this!!!'

The voice only chuckled. 'I just thought you needed a little push in the right direction. . . '

Inuyasha mentally growled or as much as a growl as a human could do. He'd always done that ever since he was little. He'd always been around dogs since his family were HUGE dog lovers. I mean, seriously. They'd never gone more than a WEEK without a dog in their house! After their last dog had died, Old age, they brought Inushiro home from the Pet store four days later. So, living around dogs his whole life, it shouldn't be surprising that he'd pick up a few habits, such as the growling.

'You can growl all you want. I'll still be here.'

'I hate you! You evil pervert!'

'I know you do. Yes, you don't know how much I really do know. . .'

'Just shut up already! I wonder if Sesshoumaru ever had to deal with someone like YOU. . . '

'Actually. . . .'

'Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Too much information! I did not need to know that!'

'But I didn't say anything.' The voice sounded innocent. Too innocent.

'I already knew what you were gonna say by actually. . . . Wait! How would you know?'

'Duh! Your soul was his soul! You don't think I was there?'

'Oh great! Just great!'

"Inuyasha? Did you even hear me?"

Inuyasha blinked his eyes a few times and looked at the older woman looking at him, curiously. "Just what were you thinking about that had you so deep in thought and your face so red?"

"Nothing!" Inuyasha said, quickly, face red.

She looked at him with a sort of a knowing twinkle in her eye but didn't push it. Instead she asked," So what happened?"

"Well. . . " said Inuyasha, before he told her the whole story.

"Her older sister, huh?" said Rin," I never knew she had a sister."

"Half sister," Inuyasha corrected.

"The way you explained it," said Rin," It's seems they're not very fond of eachother."

"Me and my little sister aren't very fond of eachother", said Inuyasha. "Those two on the other hand. . . .they seem to go way past unfond, maybe even hate."

"I wonder why," said Rin. She shook her head.

"So hey," said Inuyasha. "Why do you think the bow suddenly started to work?"

"Hm. . . " said Rin. "Thinking back on what you've told me, you said the bow worked around the time that Kikyou had you by your throat and ready to kill you. So, think about it. Maybe... Maybe she wanted to protect you. And so, maybe... maybe that's what caused the bow to work."

Inuyasha was silent as he thought over that.

'She didn't have to protect me. I don't need a stupid girl to protect me.'

'What's it like in the land of denial? Come on! Admit it! You liked that it was the fact that Kagome protecting you was the reason it worked.'

'. . . . . .'

'I knew it!'

'Shut up! I don't need to be protected!'

'Oh really? Then, what happened back there? Hm?'

'. . . . . .'

'I thought so.'

'Shut up.'

'Alright. . . . but I will be back!'

'Great. . . . .'

"Inuyasha."

"Hm?" he said, turning to Rin.

"You look a bit beat up, although considering what you've been through, I'm not surprised," she said. "Maybe you should change clothing and I could tend to your scratches. The bruises don't look too bad. They should dissapear in a few days, but we should at least make sure the scratches don't get infected."

Inuyasha looked down and had to agree. He had rips and tears all over his clothing and scratches and bruises on his body from Kikyou's wave claw. Plus, his neck was sore from where she had held him by his throat. And there was also the blood stain on his shirt from where he had carried Kagome back, the blood dripping from her wound had gotten on him.

"Yeah," said Inuyasha," You're probably right."

"There is a stream nearby where you could bathe and wash out your scratches and clothing," Rin said, as Inuyasha got up and grabbed his backpack.

"Thanks", said Inuyasha, over his shoulder, as he left the hut.

-----------------------

Inuyasha's bag was laying on the shore of the stream with his clothing laying on top of it. Inuyasha himself was in the stream, having gotten used to the cold temperature quickly. The celestial shard was in a small jar attached to a silver chain that went around his neck. His mom had gotten it for him for safe keeping.

"Man, am I glad I took all those camping trips when I was younger with Dad or I would have been freezing in this water forever before I got used to it," Inuyasha said. The boy of the future's face seemed to sadden slightly and he sighed. 'I know he's been dead for ten years and all but still. . . . '

Inuyasha suddenly, felt a strange feeling like someone was watching him and turned around. He looked around but didn't see or hear anything. After a while of standing there, the feeling seemed to go away and after a while longer, Inuyasha shivered and shook his head. "Well that was creepy," he said.

After he washed his clothes as best he could in the stream, he got out and pulled out a green t-shirt that said in white lettering,"National Sarcasm Society- Like we need your support" and a pair of black jeans. Then, he picked up his wet clothing and backpack and headed back. But what he didn't see were two ruby red eyes with black slits looking after him, curiously.

-------------------------

The first thing Kagome realized when she awoke was that she could hear voices. Muffled voices, but voices none the less. The next thing she noticed was that the side that Kikyou had wounded and had been causing her pain earlier had been reduced to a dull ache. Nothing she couldn't handle. Then, she realized that the voices weren't so muffled and when she sniffed the air, she came to the conclusion that it was Inuyasha and Rin. She could barely catch their scents though, because the scent of blood and venom hung so thickly in the air. Finally, Kagome opened her eyes.

"Hey, you're awake."

Kagome turned and saw Inuyasha looking down at her. She noticed that he had changed clothing and that he had cleaned up.

"What happened?" the half demon asked, getting up, but she put a hand to her head. She still felt a bit light headed from the venom had gotten into her system, but the feeling passed quickly. Oh the joys of having demon blood.

"Your half sister came and you fought her over that bow and arrow set, Yuryoku na zako, I think it was called, remember?" he said.

"Oh yeah," said Kagome. "Now I remember. Kikyou managed to scratch me with her venom strike and I passed out. But wait... how'd I get here then?"

"Well, I-" started Inuyasha.

"Inuyasha carried you here," Rin interrupted.

Kagome turned to Inuyasha in surprise at first, but then a small smile curved her lips. "Thank you."

"I-It was nothing," said Inuyasha, turning around so she couldn't see his pink dusted cheeks. 'What's wrong with me?! All she said was "Thank you."'

But then he paused, eyes widening in surprise. 'Wait a sec. Did she... Did she just SMILE? And at ME?'

"Hm," said Kagome, staring at Inuyasha. 'What's with him?'

She shrugged it off and said," We should probably be leaving soon. The sooner we leave, the faster we can find the shards, less chance demons would have gotten them, and the quicker we can put the jewel back togeather."

'Then....' Kagome thought. 'I can right what I've done. I'm sorry, Sesshoumaru. I should have trusted you better. I'll do whatever I can to fix this. I promise.'

"Kagome's right," Inuyasha agreed. "We should leave soon but Kagome are you alright now? That wound looked pretty bad."

"Don't worry," said Kagome. "I've suffered much worse than that. It's no big deal."

"How much worse are we talking about?" asked Inuyasha.

"Mm...." said Kagome, thinking as she put a finger to her chin. "Well, once I broke my arm, had a black eye, sprained my ankle, and had my ear nearly torn off."

"When was that?" asked Inuyasha, a bit disbelieving.

Kagome shrugged. "I don't know. Around. . . . . Hm. Not counting the years attached to the tree. . . . . . . 141 years ago when I was 9."

"Nani?!" Inuyasha cried. "Just how old are you anyways? I thought you were only 15!"

"Well hanyous do age slower than humans," the half demon pointed out. "I'm 150 if you don't count the years on the tree because really I wouldn't. I mean, in a ways, I don't really think I was aging. Demons, depending on what kind of demon they are, age even slower."

"Whoa," said Inuyasha, but then he remembered how this all started in the first place. "Wait! You had a broken arm, a black eye, a sprained ankle, and your ear nearly torn off when you were 9. . . . and you're okay?!"

"I'm half demon remember?" Kagome said. "I heal faster than humans and I can handle wounds better. A hard punch to you would probably leave you grounding your teeth in pain but for me, I don't really notice it that much, at least coming from a human. Besides, I've actually had worse things happen to me than the things I told you happened when I was 9. It's really no big deal."

"How can you be so nonchalant about all that?" said Inuyasha, staring at her in disbelief.

Kagome shrugged one shoulder. "I'm just used to it. It's normal for me."

Inuyasha watched as the female hanyou's gaze took on a sadder, reminescent tone. 'This is normal for her? I keep forgetting that this is the Feudal Era. The Era of fighting and war.'

"So," said Kagome, standing up. "We should get going."

"Right," said Inuyasha, nodding. He grabbed his bag, got up, and turned around to look at Rin. "We'll see ya later, Rin."

"I'll be waiting for your return," said Rin, nodding.

"Bye," said Inuyasha, going out the door behind Kagome.

They went down the dirt road leading out of the village until they reached the outskirts of it. Just as they stepped out of the village, Inuyasha stopped. 'There's that strange feeling again,' Inuyasha thought,' like someone's watching me.' Inuyasha turned around and looked but didn't see anyone.

"Inuyasha, you coming or not!" Kagome called from up ahead.

"Yeah!" Inuyasha called back. "I'm coming!"

He turned around to follow Kagome, but turned his head to look behind him once more. Still seeing nobody, he turned and ran to catch up to the black haired hanyou, still not seeing the ruby red eyes with black slits, peering after him once again.