InuYasha Fan Fiction / Fullmetal Alchemist Fan Fiction ❯ In Pursuit of the Green Dragon ❯ Obstacles ( Chapter 15 )

Tokyo, May, 1925

"Absolutely not!" Great-uncle Souta's voice sounded flat and muffled, as if the book-lined walls of his tiny study were trying to absorb his words.

Kagome felt each syllable strike her like a blow to the chest. "But, uncle—"

He shook his head. "It's too…dangerous, Kagome-chan. I'm sorry. But Ikeda-san has forbidden you to go anywhere near the well."

"But he wants his dragon, doesn't he?" Kagome protested. "And if I can open the well…"

Souta removed his eyeglasses, and closed his eyes with a weary-sounding sigh. He rubbed at the red mark that the glasses had left over the bridge of his nose. "Ikeda told me he'd arrest you if his men caught you anywhere near the well."

Kagome made a small sound of alarm despite herself, and Souta's eyes opened. His face was shadowed by fatigue, as if he had spent several sleepless nights. "He wanted to arrest you, anyway, but I managed to convince him that you were an innocent victim of Alphonse-kun's experiment. Don't give him any excuses to take you away."

"But, my family... Inuyasha—" Kagome said again, her hands clenching.

He couldn't do this to her. He couldn't! She had to convince him, somehow.

She felt Al-kun take her hand. His warm fingers wrapped around her icy ones, and he squeezed gently, reassuringly.

She glanced sideways at him, and saw that Al's usually-cheerful countenance was marred by a scowl.

"…nothing at all like the Colonel…" he muttered under his breath.

"Eh--?" she began to ask, but Great-uncle Souta spoke again.

"Kagome-chan, I am your closest relative in this time and place, is that correct?"

Puzzled by the abrupt change in subject, she nodded.

"Good," he said. His black gaze dropped from hers, and he reached for his glasses. "Then, as head of this family, I forbid you to do anything that might endanger yourself—or my brothers."

Still not meeting her gaze, he began polishing the lenses with his handkerchief. Kagome felt as if he had just punched her in the stomach.

Nausea roiled through her middle, and she suddenly couldn't breathe.

"Wha—no!" Kagome said, when she had recovered breath enough to speak. "No, you can't! I have to get home!"

Alphonse stepped forward, pulling Kagome with him, and slammed his free hand down on Souta's desk.

The pile of books stacked there jumped, and so did Great-uncle Souta.

"You're so fearful," Al said, his tone thick with loathing. "Can't you even see that Ikeda's making empty threats?"

Souta very carefully put his glasses back down on the desk's blotter, as if they were made from the most fragile crystal, and might shatter at any instant.

"No, Al-kun, I don't see that at all," he replied, softly. "What I see is a man, a powerful man, backed by the resources of the secret police, who has given me explicit orders and threatened my family if I don't obey."

His expression was apologetic as he finally met Kagome's eyes, but he didn't waver.

"Look," said Al, straightening up. "Ikeda's priority is recovering the dragon, right? He's made that pretty clear. As long as he thinks that it's my—our-- priority, too, everything will be okay. The rest of what he says is just bluster. He's trying to bully us."

"You may be correct," Souta said, slowly. "But what if you are not? I refuse to gamble with the safety of my brothers."

Al's scowl deepened in the face of Souta's reluctance. Without releasing Kagome's hand, he leaned forward, using his height to loom over Souta.

"And what about us, Professor Higurashi? What about the two people—Brother and Kagome-san--who are stranded because of your attempts to give Ikeda what he wants?"

Souta's mouth thinned, but he didn't reply, just looked back down at his spectacles.

Al sighed. "Maybe Ikeda has the power to arrest and threaten, but we have power, too. We have something that Ikeda badly wants, but by rolling over and showing your belly, you're just giving Ikeda the upper hand."

"Al-kun. Kagome-chan," Souta said, in a pleading tone. "Please don't do this."

Kagome shook her head, and gripped Al's hand tightly. The panic hadn't quite gone away, and it was hard to draw enough breath to speak. "We have to, Uncle Souta."

"We don't want to make trouble for you and your brothers, Professor," added Al, "but I'm not going to abandon my brother. He's out there somewhere, maybe even in the Warring States period, without so much as a sleeping bag or flask of water, since none of the knapsacks made it through."

"I'm not suggesting that you abandon anyone, Al-kun," Souta said, spreading his hands. "Just to wait a little longer, until I can--"

Despite his words, Kagome realized that Great-uncle Souta was never going to agree.

The nausea that had been knotting her stomach since Souta's first refusal rose with renewed strength. Clapping a hand over her mouth, she pulled her hand out of Al's, and ran out of the room.

Somewhere behind her, she could hear Al's voice rising in a shout, but she just kept running until she burst through the front door. Grabbing her loafers, she slipped them on, scarcely missing a step, and continued on through the sad little garden, with its knee-high weeds and struggling vegetable garden, and into the shrine complex.

Without being directed by conscious thought, she found herself standing in front of Goshinboku, shaking with anger and the beginnings of panic.

The ancient tree, at least, had not changed. It stood, tall and strong, just as it had in all the time periods that she moved through.

Inuyasha had been pinned to this tree. Her mother had received a marriage proposal under this tree. Kagome had never known a time when it wasn't a landmark in her life.

More than anything else, Goshinboku meant home to her, no matter what era she found herself in. She looked at it, trying to calm herself, and concentrated on simply breathing for a few minutes.

What am I going to do now? she thought, and then with more determination: Well, I'm not going to cry. I'm not.

And she wasn't. Tears usually came from a hot place inside her--burning grief or smoldering rage. There wasn't any warmth inside of her now. She was cold. So cold…

Kagome shivered despite the warm spring sunshine, tucking her hands into the wide sleeves of her miko clothing, and stared, unseeing, at Goshinboku's smooth trunk.

Up until now, she had been treating her unexpected visit here as just an odd little side-trip, confident that she would soon find a way to continue her journey to the Sengoku-jidai, or return home to 1997.

But now... what if she couldn't get back to Inuyasha? Was she going to be stranded here...? Forced to watch her every word, her every step? Bad enough that she caught sight of herself in reflections a dozen times a day, and thought she saw Kikyo staring back her each time.

No. No, I'll find a way. I have a jewel shard. There has to be a way!

"Kagome-san?" It was Al. "Are you all right?"

She opened her mouth to reassure him that of course, she was perfectly all right, she just needed some fresh air.

What emerged was, "Al-kun, I want to go home!"

Home to Inuyasha and the others in the Sengoku-jidai, or home to Mama, and little brother Souta, and Jii-chan in the 20th century, it didn't matter at this point.

He put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I'll find a way, Kagome-san...Kagome-chan. I swear it."

His hazel eyes were utterly serious.

Despite her turmoil of emotion, she managed to summon up a smile for him. "We'll do it together. I have faith in you."

Al's answering smile was sweet and radiant. He was so kind, and very good-looking in an exotic way--she wondered what Inuyasha, Sango, and Miroku would think of him--

And then he enfolded her in his arms, and to her utter shock, bent his head, and pressed his lips firmly against hers.

oo0oo

Astonished at his own daring, Alphonse temporarily forgot his worries about Brother, his anger at Ikeda-san and Professor Higurashi, and even his relief and joy at being able to use alchemy again.

His world narrowed down to pure sensation--the warmth of Kagome's mouth against his, the faintly smoky scent of the shrine's incense clinging to her hair, the smooth slide of her traditional miko garments against his forearms. He felt the soft curves of her breasts pressing against his stomach, and the soft puff of her breath against his lips, and wanted the moment to continue on forever.

He was kissing her! He was finally kissing a girl…more importantly, he was kissing Kagome!

His wonderful, beautiful, amazing Kagome.

Finally, he understood why there were so many songs, stories, poems about this. It was dizzying, fantastic, and very real.

He tightened his arms around her shoulders, pressing her against him. He only wanted to keep kissing her.

He felt, rather than heard, her gasp. Her arms moved, but instead of circling his waist as he expected--hoped--she pushed him away.

Very strongly, as a matter of fact.

Startled, he stepped back, and looked down at her, still feeling dazed. Still feeling the soft imprint of her mouth against his lips.

Her eyes were wide, but he couldn't' read the emotions there. Slowly, her hand drifted up to wipe her mouth, and the gesture struck him like a punch in his gut.

He opened his mouth. "I--ah--"

He had no idea what he wanted to say. He wanted to kiss her again.

"I wish you hadn't done that, Heiderich-san," she began, frowning

Al's heart sank as he heard himself demoted from "Al-kun" to "Heiderich-san."

"I'm sorry!" he said, hastily, though he wasn't--well, not sorry for kissing her, anyway.

But he was sorry that she obviously hadn't liked it as much as he had.

"That was my first kiss!" The back of her hand returned to her mouth, rubbing harder this time.

Mine, too! Al wanted to say, but he kept silent. He felt hot, and knew his whole face had turned red. How could he have misjudged the situation this badly?

Kagome's cheeks were flushed, too, and her eyes flashed with temper. "It was supposed to be special--I wanted Inuyasha to--" She turned away from him, shoulders hunched, hands balled into fists. "Oh, never mind."

It wasn't special to her? Al winced as her words tore at him like claws, followed immediately by the acid lash of jealousy. Inuyasha? She wanted him to kiss her?

From her previous references to Inuyasha, Al had assumed--wrongly, it seemed--that they were just friends.

"Sorry," he said, again, knowing his words were completely inadequate, but compelled to defend his motives, anyway. "But I-I really like you, Kagome-ch...san," he corrected himself. "And I didn't want to offend--"

oo0oo

Al's stumbling apology was interrupted by a deep pulse of energy that moved through the ground.

Kagome, her lips still tingling from the unexpected kiss, instinctively looked towards the well-house.

It was glowing with the same eerie blue light that Al-kun...Heiderich-san...had produced when he had transmuted the rice crackers.

"Brother!" Al exclaimed, and sprinted for the shrine.

Kagome didn't hesitate. Cursing the flimsy zori sandals she was wearing as part of her miko uniform, she ran after him as best she could.

As they drew closer to the small building, Kagome saw that the policeman who was guarding the entrance to the well-house looked frozen with fear, indecision, or both.

"What's happening? What is that?" he shouted, taking several, stumbling steps back from the glowing building.

"Go fetch Professor Higurashi," Al shouted, pointing at the house, and the policeman obeyed without question.

Kagome slowed. The well-house was unguarded. Should I...? But what if Ikeda-san finds out...?

Al was apparently thinking the same thing.

"Come on!" He grabbed Kagome's hand, pulling her forward, and heaved open the sliding door, just as the blue light guttered and faded.

"Brother?" Al's voice echoed in the dim, dusty interior of the building. "Brother, are you there?"

Kagome followed him closely down the stairs to the rim of the well. "Inuyasha?" she ventured, unable to force her voice above a shaky whisper.

No one replied, and the square opening of the well remained dark and silent.

She and Al peered down into the gloomy depths, and found it empty except for...Kagome squinted, trying to make out what had caught her attention.

"Nothing," Al muttered, after an anxious moment. "Brother, what were you trying to do?"

He pushed away from the rim, scowling a little.

Kagome caught at his sleeve. "But what about that?"

She pointed down, at the object that lay at the bottom of the well, pale against the dirt and shadows.

He stared for a long moment. "You're right--there's something there." He swung a leg over the edge, feeling with the tip of his shoe for the first rung of the rope ladder that hung there. "Wait here--I'm afraid you might slip and fall if you try to climb down in those sandals."

Kagome nodded, and watched him climb down. When he reached the bottom, he bent and picked up the paper.

"It's written in Japanese, and it's addressed to you!" he said, and she saw his grin even in the darkness.

Her annoyance at his theft of her first kiss faded a little. He was awfully nice, and being a foreigner, maybe he had misinterpreted her friendliness…?

Her hands tightened on the rim of the well as Al climbed back up the rope ladder. Sitting on the rim of the well, he reached into his shirt pocket to retrieve a folded sheet of paper.

Hardly daring to hope, she took the paper from him. "Kagome," it said on the outside, and something loosened in her chest. Unfolding it, she scanned the neatly-calligraphed columns. Her heart caught as she read the text.

"It's from Inuyasha!" she said, and felt the tiniest stab of guilt as she noticed Al's wince.

Her regret at having hurt his feelings evaporated in her eagerness to decipher the old-fashioned kanji.

Kagome—Where are you? The sorcerer bastard who broke the well thinks you're stuck with his brother. Get your ass back here. Shippou has eaten all the ninja food, and there's only one bowl of ramen left.

Someone stole the jewel from Naraku, and we have to find it. If you can, use one of those clock-things. That sorcerer says we'll try to reopen the well again at noon. There was a large blot on the paper, as if Inuyasha had hesitated, letting ink drip from his brush, and then one final sentence. I hope this gets to you. I miss you. Inuyasha.

Kagome's heart skipped a beat when she read those final words. She read them again.

Al cleared his throat politely. "Er, what did he say? If you don't mind me asking..."

"Oh," Kagome's joy turned sour as she remembered that she had let this boy kiss her just a short time ago. She wasn't exactly angry any more, but what was she going to do once they passed through the well and he met Inuyasha?

She longed to see Inuyasha again with every fiber of her being, but at the same, she was dreading it.

"He says that a sorcerer broke the well, but thinks they can open the well again at noon. Hmm, sorcerer--I guess that means your brother really did make it to Sengoku-jidai," she said.

"Thank goodness," Al said, closing his eyes briefly.

"And there's something written below Inuyasha's note," Kagome added, extending the paper to him. "The letters look like English, but I don't recognize any of the words."

Al took the paper from her, and felt relief flood him as he spotted Ed's familiar handwriting.

"It's from Brother!" he said, after a second, scanning the lines quickly. "He says he's got a good lead on the dragon, they're going to open the well again in two hours, and that we should be ready to go when it does, because he can only do it for a short time." Al looked at his wristwatch. "It's 10 a.m. now, so we need pack up and return before noon."

"And where, exactly, do you think you'll be going, Alphonse-kun?" Ikeda asked crisply.