InuYasha Fan Fiction / Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Those We Leave Behind ❯ The Start of a Beautiful Relationship ( Chapter 21 )

Those We Leave Behind

Chapter Twenty-Two

The Start of a Beautiful Relationship

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A small figure stumbled along the beaten path. The dust, hardly allowing him to breathe, was unbearable. The smoldering sun wreaked havoc on his body. Dehydration and prolonged exposure to the sun threatened to force the seemingly weak demon to collapse, but he could not stop.

For her, he must not stop. Her safety was far more important than his own. It was a lesson he had learned long ago. She had changed him. The first had merely made him see his heart had the potential to open, but the second, the second had actually forced him to love.

Unfortunately, master did not notice the difference.

“RIN! RIN! Where are you, you insufferable child? RIN!” Jaken bellowed in vain. He had been searching for her since she ran away from his Master. And although he would not admit that bit of information to anyone (his Lord included), he had started to worry about the innocent girl. She knew of little outside the palace, and her nature was unlike most demons.

He did not know what would become of him if he could not find her. He loved her as if she were his own. He felt shamed that his Master had yet to notice his `beloved' daughter's absence. It wasn't her fault who her mother was. Rin herself did not know from whom she was born. The master had never spoken of it to anyone he knew of.

Where could that stupid, disobedient, incorrigible...perfect child be?

As he forced his pathetic, meager body to endure, he came across a familiar demon, one loyal to Lord Sesshoumaru.

Jaken cleared his voice and proudly announced, “Demon! Are you not loyal to my Master, the Great Lord Sesshoumaru, the Mighty Master of the Makai and rightful Ruler of the Western Lands?!”

Ryoukan looked stunned. Yes, this was the toad with whom Lord Sesshoumaru traveled. “I am. I, Ryoukan, serve only Lord Sessoumaru.”

Hopefully this scum could help him in his search. “Then answer me this. Have you seen the Lady Rin, beloved daughter to the Lord?”

Daughter? The only girl he'd seen...oh shit! The only girl he had seen was the one he attacked. And she was wearing those really shiny clothes too! Oh NO! “Can you describe the girl to me? It might help me remember.”

Jaken must have been extremely desperate to not see through Ryoukan's awful attempt to fool the toad. Upon hearing Jaken's description, Ryoukan faltered. How could he have known the girl was the princess and not a morsel of food? He had to think quickly, something he did not do often.

“Oh! The Lady Rin! I am so sorry Master Jaken. I did all I could to save her, but a red-haired kitsune and his human slave kidnapped her!”

`No! This could not be! Poor Rin! Wait, a red-haired kitsune? Master Sesshoumaru had recently captured a human. A red-haired kitsune and another human, probably a slave, came to claim him!'

“I did everything I could, but the kitsune knocked me unconscious with his cowardly weapon! I am sorry I failed Lord Sesshoumaru!”

However, the final part of Ryoukan's lies did not reach the ears of his intended target, for Jaken had already stared sprinting back to the palace.

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Inuyasha hated having to meet with the guest he was expecting, but it was important. The demon he summoned still carried a great deal of clout due to his gruff, temperamental reputation. In fact, it was much like his had been so long ago. However, that was all long ago, before the Shikon no Tama ruined his life forever.

He wished he could be with her. There was nothing more he wanted in the world, with the exceptions of her safety and happiness. Like his brother, his own decisions had insured that his desires would never come to realization.

He had hurt her one too many times. He didn't even have the hope of seeing her in the afterlife. As a human, she was destined to die.

However, as a god, he would live forever, alone. He had fulfilled his obligation. Now that he was finally free to want to be with Kagome, he was unable to. If he saw her directly one more time, his own aura would involuntarily encapsulate hers in desire to protect her.

If that happened, his energy would suffocate hers. Normally, it would not affect a human. Due to Kagome's vast amount of power, his energy would poison her. It would literally drive her insane. The inability of her power to expand beyond the instinctive barrier he would create would force her own power to kill her, like it did Kikyo.

After Kikyo gave birth to Enma, the amount of power her body had tried to discharge because of the strain had destroyed her. If that had happened to Kikyo, Kagome's stronger abilities from training would destroy her for simply being in close proximity to him.

He would not let that happen to her. He had already betrayed her enough to rack him with guilt for the past five hundred years. He would not cause her more harm.

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Kuwabara could not stand leaving the girl in the Spirit World. He just could not do it. She was too gentle and too sweet. Therefore, he had asked for permission to take her to as peaceful a place as could accommodate her. He took her to Genkai's temple.

As it so happened, there was one room available because Yukina had left with Hiei's urgings. He had rejected her as he feared she would reject him. She sadly returned to her home without even a parting goodbye with Kuwabara.

Genkai agreed to take on the veiled demoness. Apparently, her powers were suppressed, causing her to appear human.

Rin loved it there, and with Kazuma's frequent visits, she knew he really cared about her.

Was there a time before when she had been this happy? The only thing that twinged her otherwise blissful presence at the shrine was her inability to remember.

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Sesshoumaru, the ever stoic lord, had not changed his expression since Kagome left. He didn't know what to do. He felt as if every time an opportunity to win her back arose, he completely screwed up. That was an expertise for his brother, not he the Demon Lord of Makai. He did not do any task improperly, incorrectly, nor imprecisely.

Yet somehow he had. The realization had finally sunk in.

He had lost her forever.

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Kouga had travelled for a few hours on his way to see Dog-Crap. He hadn't actually seen the mutt in about sixty years when he abruptly left one of their meetings to check about some petty human war. He himself didn't care to bother himself with humans, at least not since the Fuedal Era.

Those had been great times. The tribe prospered, there was a sparser human population which allowed him to just run without anyone to get in his way, and he had found his soulmate.

It had been five-hundred years since he had seen Kagome. He had searched for her for eight years before giving up and mating Ayame. He didn't love her the same way he did Kagome, but she was a good woman and he did care for her. She had given him numerous pups and had earned his respect in every sense of the word.

She would be sorely missed.

He traveled the path he had not taken in almost half a century.

However, when he saw a familiar, slumped figure laying motionless in the road, he stopped. As the leader of the united wolf-tribe, Kouga had formed a working, if not amicable relationship with Lord Sesshoumaru. He had met with him often enough to distinguish the piled heap of a demon as Jaken.

He crouched down and proceeded to poke and prod the humble servant to the demon lord. When he did not respond, Kouga examined the body for head injuries or blood. He found none. Upon closer inspection, he saw how flaky and dry the toad's usually moist skin was.

He picked up the toad and carried him to a nearby stream in order to replenish the toad's water supply.

Jaken regained consciousness for a moment only to recognize Kouga and belaboredly moan, “Save...Rin...captured...Reikai's kitsune...red-haired...Please.” After the last utterance, Jaken lost consciousness once again.

The fact that Sesshoumaru's daughter was kidnapped was surprising enough, but what really shocked Kouga was the please thrown into the prideful servant of Lord Sesshoumaru. What kitsune would be stupid enough to take her? He knew only one person who could direct him on the right path. He had to ask Dog-Crap to direct him to Reikai to retrieve the girl and take revenge.

He howled to call Ginta, Hakkaku, and some of his more faithful wolves.

When they arrived, he instructed them to return the toad to his Master and inform him of Jaken loyalty along with his assurence of personally handling the matter.

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Kagome cursed her big mouth. Her luck, however, had bailed her out.

“Kagome,” chided Shizuru, “you're stupid if you thought I'd let you go through with that. I realize your mouth can be as big as my brother's, but you should know better to let your friends goad you like that.”

Kagome hated it when Shizuru laced sound advice with mocking criticism. It not only made her feel even more stupid, but she felt like a three year old.

She thought about the dumb bet and how the disinterested Hiei and a disappointed Kurama miraculously received a mission just before she was about to lose. Kuwabara had left right after she stupidly agreed.

“Eww! That is so gross! She's like...my SISTER!”

“Hey kid, I'm gonna make sure Mom and Gramps are okay. I'll call if something goes wrong. Love ya.”

“See you later, Shizuru.” Her melacholy oozed out of her words.

After another half-hour of catching up with Ayumi the Smarty Pants and Yusuke just listening, Ayumi left the two alone.

It was nice to get a break every once in a while. However, that little bit of luck made the gods no where close to even with her for all the the bad things that have happened to her. She felt so alone and confused.

Would she always be second choice? When would she finally be someone's one and only?

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Yusuke was not called in, but he wouldn't really have allowed her to do that, muchless make her do that. It was just a stupid suggestion he hadn't expected to be seriously considered.

She was hiding something, and he could tell. The fake cheer was sickening. It didn't carry anywhere near the warmth her genuine demeanor did.

“Kagome? What's going on with you?”

She couldn't hide her flinch. “Well, I was just thinking about Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha.”

`Inuyasha?' “The old guy you danced with?” Yusuke ground out. “What's the deal with you two?”

“Well, we were in love and it all fell apart.”

“What about that dance? It sure looked like he still had feelings for you?” Yusuke's jealousy was consuming him.

“It's not that simple and it's an extremely long story.”

“I've got time.” Yusuke crossed his arms in a defiant stance.

After considering his determined posture, her simple and quiet reply was “Okay, I'll tell you.” She led him over to the couch and he sat next to her.

“It all started a long time ago. Inuyasha's...ex-girlfriend and he were tricked into betraying each other. Then, he and I met and we...” She smiled reminiscently over their initial, explosive meeting. “When we first met we absolutely hated each other. After awhile, we did manage to grow on one another. You could say we started to develop warm and fuzzy feelings, but our relationship changed when a witch brought her, the ex, back to life using part of my soul.”

Yusuke incredulously interrupted, “Wait. Wait. You're trying to tell me that a green-skinned, wart-faced, pointy black hat wearing, broom stick riding witch stole part of your soul to raise you ex-boyfriend's ex-girlfriend from the dead? You're kidding me, right?”

“I kid you not.”

“Okay. Just checking.”

“Anyway, I caught him cheating on me a few times-

“A few times?! You mean you stayed with him after you found him with her?”

“Yes.”

The confused look on his face perfectly revealed his frustration.

“Well, he wanted to wish on the jewel to restore Kikyo's life and to grant him the power to protect me and all those I loved, thinking that meant my friends. In the end, the jewel took the rest of my soul and gave it to Kikyo.”

Yusuke did not speak, but took in the pain, the hurt, and the betrayal she still felt.

“I was sent to the realm of the dead. Inuyasha was turned into a god instead of the demon he wanted to be. He thought any protection I needed would be as a living creature, not dead. The last thing it did was to make the three worlds.”

`This jewel thing was that powerful?'

“Inuyasha, as the head god, watched over all three realms. I was in the Spirit World. My family would be in the Human World. Finally, our friends and allies would be in the Makai. He felt so guilty for how the wish had turned out for me he made a deal. He agreed that if Kikyo returned the entirety of my soul to me, he would give her a son to bear.

“She didn't really care about actually raising the child, but if he had a son with her, Kikyo knew he would never be with me. That dance you saw was him apologizing and saying his goodbyes.”

One thing really didn't make sense to him. “Kagome, who was this child?”

“Well, you do know who the child is, but it really doesn't matter, does it?”

Yusuke felt overwhelmed and angry. How could someone do that to her? When he saw her tears, he was done. He pulled her close into a comforting embrace and softly ran his unsure fingers through her hair.

He pulled slightly away to wipe away her tears with his thumbs, but in the process, he lost himself in her glimmering, tear-filled eyes.

She saw him pull closer and closer. The ever shortening distance between them continued to decrease. However, her heart quickly and rapidly sped up. She was surprised he could not hear it in her chest.

The eternity it took him finally ended as his lips descended onto hers. Her lips were softer than he had imagined. The magic reacting between them would have become visible to anyone there. But both were glad this perfect unspoiled moment was private as the chaste kiss escalated its passion and intensity as the moment engulfed both participants.

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The omniscent, all-seeing eyes knew. The girl he had loved and protected for so long was now kissing the employee of his grandson.

He knew he had no right to her heart anymore. That didn't change how he felt. Inuyasha was crushed.