InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Delayed Dawn ❯ Another Reason ( Chapter 13 )

A Delayed Dawn

 

Disclaimer: Not even worthy of pretending to own what is hers.

 

Warning: This story is posted in the mature section for good reasons. If ideas such as vulgar language, descriptive violence, and sexual situations such as rape disturb you, then you are warned now.

 

Chapter Thirteen Another Reason

 

After so many years, who could remember why anyone fought in this damn war? The older people knew. Remembered the day when things went from peaceful to bloody. They remembered that a demon had been found guilty. But of what, that's where people differed in their tales. And even for those who believed they knew the truth, could anyone really believe it? What if those that were even involved in the trial had it all wrong?

 

That didn't matter now. The ideals that existed at the start of the war were a lost memory. Fighting for justice, a claim that people only said, not something they had faith in. War was all about power. And this war was no different. This wasn't a war about land, or whose religion was stronger, it was about power and control, simple as that.

 

Demons wanted control over humans. Humans wanted control over the humans. Men wanted control over women. Women wanted control over men. Nationalities wanted to control over nationalities and so forth. Over the years of the war, the makeup of the gangs changed. Demon gangs were mainly demons and human gangs were mainly human. Only a few gangs existed that contained a mixture of demons and humans and everything else between. The War Dogs was the largest and most powerful gang of that type.

 

Many of the women who were with Kikyou stayed with The War Dogs, however, some left to stay with the women who had saved them and taught them to be strong. Many couldn't believe that Kikyou would betray everyone as she had. Where Kikyou and those who followed her went, no one was sure. But it was clear that it had something to do with the artifacts and the jewel. What her reasons for wanting those was what no one knew.

 

*One Year Later*

 

Sango, Miroku, and Inuyasha were given the worst assignment imaginable. At least that was what Inuyasha thought. Sesshoumaru was the largest asshole alive for doing this to him. He was the commanders of the Toukens, and instead, Sesshoumaru had him scouring the country for a girl who was doing a hell of a job of keeping herself hidden. If she didn't want to be found, why search for her?

 

Sesshoumaru pounded it into his head why they were going after this chick. Even after all of that, telling Kikyou that they had canceled the search, it didn't make sense to him, but Sesshoumaru had said that it was to throw people off their backs. But, he was ordered and he had to follow orders. At least Sango and Miroku were able to go with him. And Kouga was left behind to make sure that The Toukens didn't slack off and were trained hard everyday.

 

The problem that they encountered when looking for this girl was that they weren't the only ones. Word about the artifacts and especially the jewel spread quickly. Soon, everyone wanted to get their hands on the jewel that could grant them unlimited power. The fighting that occurred was for information about the jewel or the scientist who knew of its existence. Even though the paper disclaimed its existence, the rumor of the jewel itself was enough to cause new fighting between the gangs. Peace was no longer the goal.

 

Inuyasha, Sango and Miroku had been backpacking across Japan for the last year. They followed leads and rumors and hunches. Sango even tried to use her womanly instincts from time to time to track down her lost friend. Everything they tried was fruitless. In the end, they made it back to Tokyo, right back where they started.

 

Tokyo had changed into something unrecognizable from its former self. Many of the buildings had been destroyed; vegetation had crept back into the city as the forest landscape proved to be a better hiding place than the city landscape. Inuyasha preferred the nature over the urban sprawl. It was easier on his senses. They found themselves on the outskirts of the city. New Tokyo was what remained of the original city and everything else was given back to Mother Nature.

 

A large thunderclap above them and then rained poured down. It was that time of year again. Now that it had started raining, no one knew when it would stop. Rain was a problem for Inuyasha.

 

“Shit,” Inuyasha said as the first drops landed on him.

 

“How the fuck are we suppose to be able to do shit in this weather?” Inuyasha whined.

 

Miroku sighed. “Ask your brother,” he suggested.

 

Inuyasha growled. “Asshole,” he said describing his brother nicely. And it was also a good word for describing Miroku and his sarcasm.

 

The rain changed intensity. Sango found herself without anything to keep herself from getting wet, and soon everybody was soaked through and through. “Hey,” she yelled out over another thunderclap. “We need to find shelter. This is going to be bad.”

 

Everyone agreed with her. They hurried down the path until they hit concrete. It used to be a street that cars drove along to their homes. A former residential area. Some small gang may have taken one of the houses as their own. They stopped to look around. It was hard to see anything through the rain.

 

“Hey,” Miroku yelled, pointing. “Let's try up.” Everyone nodded and followed him up. “I think the wind is picking.” He said loudly as he felt a breeze drift over his body. “It could be a typhoon.”

 

They all sighed when they found a house with a light in one of the windows. Hurrying over to the house, they find relief in the overhang of the roof. Sango reached up and knock on the door. They waited for someone to answer, if anyone was even in there to answer. Inuyasha nodded as he could hear footsteps. The door swung open.

 

“What?” A familiar voice boomed out over the howling wind and rain.

 

Sango blinked. “Kagome?” She asked.

 

“Sango?” Kagome asked. “What are you doing here?” She then looked and saw Miroku and a strange man. “And with him?”

 

“Kagome, could we please come in, out from the storm?” Sango asked. Miroku stood behind her smiling and nodding.

 

Kagome sighed. “I wish I could. . . “She started to say as her voice disappeared. “You were looking for me, weren't you?” She asked, more strength in her voice.

 

Sango sighed and then looked back at Miroku and Inuyasha. Miroku looked away knowing that Kagome still remembered. “Kagome, look, could we come inside? We could talk about it.” She was trying.

 

Shaking her head, she answered, “No. You, you shouldn't be here. Just leave me alone.”

 

Inuyasha scoffed. “Fuck. Let's go. Stupid wench is too stuck up.”

 

Kagome went rigid. Who the hell was he? He didn't know anything about her and he was saying all of this crap about her. She balled her fists by her sides. “Fine. You may stay the night, but I expect you all to be gone by morning.”

 

“Thank you Kagome,” Sango said with a smile.

 

Miroku followed Sango. “Ah, Kagome, your beauty has only grown over the time we last saw each other. Perhaps you've reconsidered my proposal,” he smoothed talked her.

 

Sango hit him over his head. “Pervert. I swear.” She was tired of him and his ways. Inuyasha pushed Miroku out of the way so he could get inside.

 

Kagome closed and locked the door behind them. “There are three spare bedrooms upstairs. The bathroom is also upstairs. Laundry is past the kitchen which is over there,” Kagome said pointing out all of the locations of the various places.

 

Sango walked over to Kagome. “I'm glad to see that you are okay.”

 

Kagome smiled. “Thanks,” was all that she said. Kagome turned and headed up the stairs, leaving her unwanted guests downstairs to find their own ways. “Remember, gone in the morning!” She yelled from upstairs. Then everyone heard a door slam shut.

 

“Ungrateful wench,” Inuyasha murmured, crossing his arms.

 

Sango sighed. “Well, that ungrateful wench is still letting us stay here. So, we might as well make use of it. I'm going upstairs to get out of these clothes before I catch a cold. We better get to sleep so we can get out of here in the morning.”

 

“We're going to leave? Just like that?” Miroku asked.

 

Sango looked over at Inuyasha. “I guess it's his call. We found her. Now what do we do with her?”

 

Inuyasha sighed. He wasn't really sure. His mission had been to find her. Well, they did. So then what? He would have to call his brother. Sesshoumaru would finally be pleased. Inuyasha couldn't take any more of the insults his brother had thrown at him over the last year about how much of a failure he was for not being able to track down a measly human girl. A human girl who didn't even have any war skills at all. How wrong he had been.

 

“Let's get to sleep. We'll figure it out in the morning,” he commanded them. They nodded and all three silently went upstairs and found the guest rooms and then found sleep.

Inside his room, Inuyasha looked around. It was very different from the compound, and it was better than anywhere he had slept in the past year. He found what he was looking for. On the nightstand next to the bed sat a phone.

 

Inuyasha picked up the receiver and pressed the contraption to his ear. He started to punch in the numbers for Sesshoumaru until he realized, there was no dial tone. “Shit,” he cursed out slamming the wretched thing down. Now he didn't know what to do. Stripping out of his wet clothes and laying them around the room to dry, he crawled into the bed and sighed. He would do the only thing he could think, in the morning.

 

*Morning*

 

Inuyasha woke up early. The rain had stopped, but the clouds hadn't gone away. There was no sun to greet him today. Crawling out of bed, he looked around for his clothes. Instead of them all sprawled out like he had them, they were folded neatly on the dresser. He yawned not wanting to bother with it. After dressing, he walked downstairs, noting that Sango and Miroku were still sleeping, and still in separate rooms.

 

Even though the sun was not out, it wasn't that cold out yet. Not that the cold actually bothered him, he just didn't like it. Walking away from the house, he looked around at his surroundings. The house seemed to be located at an old shrine. It was a great hiding place. Some of the few people who were still treated with some respect were those involved in religious studies, monks, priests. Many demons were not threatened with human faith, but still respected it because demons still believed in divine power given to humans by the gods.

 

Rubbish, Inuyasha thought to himself. He had already learned that there was no god, just a big divine nothing. Finding himself walking along unconsciously, he stopped when he sensed her. That wench. She was about fifty feet away from him, looking at a tree. He turned his head to look at the tree. It had a thick healthy trunk, lots of foliage and it was tall. It was the tallest tree in the whole area. That meant it had to be a couple hundred years old. With the fence surrounding it, the people who maintained the shrine must have thought that the tree was favored by the gods. Ha, he thought, again, rubbish.

 

Inuyasha took no more than ten steps only to find an arrow being pointed at him. He paused, not knowing what to do or to say. It wasn't like he could just kill her like any other enemy. Sesshoumaru said that she had value or some crap like that. Possessing her was possessing power and strength. Bullshit, Inuyasha thought. So far, she was just a pain in his ass, and it wasn't going away.

 

“What the fuck?” He asked. Anger started to pulse within him. “Was this a setup?”

 

Kagome shook her head. “I know of you. I know why you are here. And I will stop you,” she told him, her eyes narrowed, arrow ready.

 

Inuyasha looked at her and his eyes went wide. Kikyou. He knew it wasn't her, but dammit, she looked like Kikyou. He had spent the last year trying to get her out of his head, and now, this look-alike was standing in front of her, just as pissed off at him as Kikyou was that day. Some higher power was getting their jollies watching him as they royally fucked with his life.

 

But he wasn't about to let her get away with pointing some lame arrow at him. “Listen here. I don't fucking care what you think you can do, I have a mission and I'm going to carry it out, whether you like it or not,” he growled at her, his aura spiking.

 

Kagome chuckled. She could feel his demonic aura. It was getting stronger with each passing second. This one lost control easily, not unlike the few demons she had encountered since coming to this place. All of them had one thing in mind, that stupid jewel. Kagome sighed. She thought that threatening him would be enough to drive him away. But he was stubborn. She didn't want to have to do it. It always brought attention to her.

 

Inuyasha could only watch as the girl in front of him reacted to his demonic aura. He watched as she started to faintly glow pink. It wasn't anything new to him. He lived with the Mikos for three months. The War Dogs had the largest population of mikos compared to any other gang. Besides, she wasn't Kikyou. Kikyou was the strongest. Everyone knew that. It was a god given fact.

 

Kagome watched as Inuyasha studied her. Kagome hated doing this. Things never turned out good. “I don't want to kill you,” she told him.

 

Inuyasha found her voice to be full of concern and not that of someone who was cocky, much like how he talked. She really didn't want to kill him. Sango and Miroku had both explained to him on several occasions this girl's dislike for the war, believing that no one had the right to kill another, unless it was for self-defense. Inuyasha knew that she probably felt threatened by him. Who wouldn't be?

 

Inuyasha grinned. “Oh you won't,” he told her, some of his pride slipping into his tone.

 

Kagome shook her head. This guy was fairly dumb. He wasn't backing down. Was this because he was familiar with her kind? It had to be. She had heard rumors about other mikos, but never paid much attention to them. She refocused her attention on the demon in front of her. If he wanted a fight, he was about to get one.

 

“What the. . . “Inuyasha stuttered as he saw her aura change. Originally her aura was a dark pink, and he learned that it meant one wasn't a very powerful miko. The concept was the same with demons and hanyous, the more intense the aura in feeling, and the different colors, allowed other demons to see how powerful or weak they were. However, he could easily see the pink color fading.

 

Kagome steadied her breathing, using her mind to control her vitals as she slowly let loose her power. She was also using her power to sense for other demons. Her aura usually attracted them, which meant she had to keep her aura very low, near the point of nonexistence. Inuyasha watched as the pink faded into a white color.

 

“Like I said before,” she said her voice crackling with energy, “I don't want to kill you.”

 

Inuyasha had never seen anything like it. Just who the hell was this woman?

 

“Kagome?” A voice spoke out from behind Inuyasha. Sango and Miroku came running out. Kagome dropped her arrow as well as her aura, but leaving enough around her to remind Inuyasha not to try anything.

 

Kagome set the bow and arrow down and walked toward them. “There's food in the kitchen. Eat what you want now for breakfast and the rest is to take with you.” She stopped so that there was about twenty feet between her and the others. Sango ran inside and brought out the food. After what they just saw, they knew that they had already overstayed their welcome.

 

“Kagome,” Sango started, handing some of the food to Miroku. “Please, come with us. We can protect you. If we found you, it won't be long until someone else does.”

 

“There is no reason for anyone to find me,” Kagome stated.

 

“But the artifacts. . . “Sango started.

 

“I don't know where they are at,” Kagome explained to them. “The artifacts were given to someone who I trusted. They hid them for their protection, and then he immediately killed himself afterwards.” She looked away from them. “So you see, I have no value. There is no reason for you to do anything with me. Please, you should go now.”

 

Sango wanted to step forward and say something, but Miroku placed a hand on her shoulder, holding her back. “But. . . “she started only to have Miroku shake his head at her.

 

“She has made her decision and it wouldn't be right of us to force her to do anything she doesn't want to do,” Miroku explained in a soft voice. “Besides, we're not that far from home, I kinda miss it, don't you?”

 

Sango sighed. He was right. Neither of them wanted to make Kagome do something against her will. She looked up at Inuyasha. He, on the other hand, wasn't as compassionate toward anyone. “Inuyasha, we better go,” she told him.

 

Inuyasha nodded. He didn't want to be around this freak of a girl anymore. Mikos were nothing but trouble. There was no understanding them. Mioks lived by a set of rules that were dumb; at least, that was Inuyasha's opinion.

 

Sango stopped next to Kagome, who was still looking away from everyone. “Kagome, if you ever need anything, a friend, or protection, we'll be there for you, remember that, please?”

 

Kagome looked up at the teary-eyed Sango and nodded. Sango joined up with Miroku and Inuyasha. She watched as Kagome just stood there. Sango was hoping that Kagome was thinking about changing her mind, but they had reached the steps and were walking down them. Kagome disappeared from their sites and Sango looked forward. She should be happy, right? She was going home.

 

Turning back to look behind her, she noticed that they were gone. Kagome sighed. That was difficult, she thought. It's not that she didn't want their protection; it was that if she were to go with them, then she couldn't do what she had set out to do in the first place. Kagome ran over to the well house, opening up its locked doors. Inside, Kagome turned the light on. She walked over to the back wall and opened up the old wooden cabinets. Hanging on the wall was an old sword stored in a drab sheath.

 

No, she couldn't go with them. Not until she found who were the true wielders of this item. When she first escaped Miroku and Sango, it wasn't that she was abandoning her research. Instead, she was following the leads she had found. She had figured Miroku out pretty quickly, and was devastated to learn about Sango. She overheard them talking once and she heard enough to figure it out. Sango and Miroku worked together.

 

Knowing that the people were only around her for the information, she just had to leave and do this on her own. For the last year, she was reading and researching, deciphering the truth. Kagome understood that there was a reason to this war. And that reason included the artifacts.

 

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