InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Passing Cloud ❯ Trying to move on, maybe ( Chapter 4 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha. Ner.

Author's note: Firstly, I'd like to thank everyone who had reviewed, which I meant to do before but I forgot --; Also, there was a change of plans and it took me one day to update, not one week. yay. I just hope it doesn't come out sounding too rushed.

Chapter four

Kagome came into the kitchen just as her family was about to sit down to dinner. Buyo was the first to notice, followed by Souta who called out.

"Kagome! Hey, Kagome's home!"

"Kagome! Welcome home dear! You must be tired. Why don't you sit down with us for dinner, and then you can have a hot bath before getting ready for bed. We're having butajiru tonight." her mother offered as she took her backpack from her and sat it aside as she ushered Kagome towards the table.

"Thanks mom...but I'm not really all that hungry right now." she replied quietly.

"So!" Grampa exclaimed before her mother had a chance to ask any questions. "How long are you able to stay this time? A night? A week?" he went on as he indiscreetly attempted to spoon most of the pork into his own bowl, much to Souta's chagrin.

"Longer than that. ...I'm back for good. It's over. Everyone's gone, and it's all over..." she spoke, nearly letting out the tears she had been holding back since she gave ehr last good-bye to Miroku.

"It's over?"

"But what about Inuyasha?" Souta inquired, forgetting about the stolen pork for a moment. "Aren't we ever going to see him again?"

Kagome shook her head. "No. ...He's... He sacrificed himself in order to defeat Naraku..."

"He what!"

"You means he's..."

She nodded and her mother came over to take her into her arms as she finally let go and allowed herself to cry once again. "Inuyasha...and Sango, and Shippo, they're all gone. Miroku and Kirara and I were the only ones left."

"Oh Kagome, I'm so sorry. But I'm glad you're okay...if anything had happened to you..." she trailed off, not wanting to think about the rest of the sentence herself.

"Grampa," Kagome sniffled as she pulled away from her mother slightly. "I'd like it if you could seal the well as soon as possible. Tonight if it's possible."

"But-"

"Please?"

He hesitated, but then nodded. "I understand. I'll get to it right after dinner."

Miroku sat under a shade tree looking at the clouds slowly passing by with Kirara napping in his lap just as he had done for most of the afternoons since Kagome left. He knew very well that just because Naraku was gone that was no reason other demons weren't wreaking havok on other helpless villages, and he really should get on his way and get back into his old job of exorcising and...well...other things. But it just wasn't in his heart at the moment. He was content enough to tell himself that he might as well stay around here for awhile and help Kaede out around her home when he was needed, and he could get going after that, even though deep down he was well aware that there was another reason he wasn't ready to go on his way yet.

'A passing cloud...' he thought to himself as he watched a cloud leisurely float by, blocking the sun momentarily before moving on and allowing the gentle rays to warm his face again. 'I wonder how long it will take before mine moves on...'

"Mew!" Kirara greeted him as she woke from her nap and stretched, only to turn around and settled back down on her other side. Even she seemed to share Miroku's feelings. She had been sleeping more during the day since Sango had...since Miroku had adopted her as his own. She never appeared to be angry or even sad about what happened, she was just tired and sometimes lonely, and she and Miroku were happy to have each other's company, even though they couldn't have meaningful conversations, not that Miroku was in the mood for talking most of the time anyway.

'Indeed, I am content this way...just me, and Kirara, and the clouds passing by...I am content, and I am happy', he told himself over and over, and would keep telling himself for as long as it would take him to believe.

"It's been a month already," Kagome sighed to herself as she sat at her desk in front of her homework assignment, which she hadn't even started on yet despite the fact that she had been sitting there for nearly an hour. It seemed the harder she tried to forget the more memories came flooding into her mind, making it impossible to concentrate on anything else. It didn't help that everyone and everything around her seemed to remind her in one way or another...the god tree for example, which she couldn't even look at anymore and had to run past every day on her way to and from school or else she would get choked up from just being near it...and it didn't help that on her first day back her three friends immediately asked her about 'that guy' she had been seeing. Even without all of that, there was a feeling in the back of her mind that she had forgotten something...unfinished business maybe? Or possibly just guilt for leaving Miroku alone so soon?

"Arrgh!" she cried out in frustration, shaking her head as if it would make her thoughts go away. "Just stop thinking about it! There's no use in worrying over things I can't do anything about...like Miroku tried to tell me..." she caught herself and rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Geez! Why won't it stop?"

"Um...sis...are you talking to yourself?" Souta asked as he stuck his head through her doorway.

"Gah! Um...well I...maybe...nevermind. Is there something you wanted Souta?" she stuttered.

"I was just going to tell you that your friend is downstairs, waiting to see you."

"My friend?"

She stepped out into the hall and peered downstairs, spotting Hojo waiting at the bottom of the staircase.

"Oh no." she sighed quietly, and promptly wilted. It wasn't that she didn't like Hojo...she just wasn't in the mood to deal with him right now. But still, she didn't want to be rude; that and he had already spotted her so it was too late to go hide now.

"Kagome!" he greeted her happily as she descended the stairs.

"Hello Hojo. Is there something I can help you with?"

"Well, I was just wondering if, since your health is doing much better, and tomorrow is Sunday and all...would you like to go with me?" he asked, producing a ticket which read '1000-2000, A Thousand Years Of Japanese Culture: Exhibition and Lecture'. "That is, if you're free of course."

"Uhm...wow...that sounds...really...interesting!" She replied, trying hard to mask her lack of enthusiasm. But she had no excuses this time, and she did kind of feel bad for blowing him off all those times in the past. Maybe a nice outing with a friend was what she needed to take her mind off of things.

"So...how about it?"

She gave a kind smile and nodded in consent. "I'd love to go with you Hojo."

He smiled in return, somewhat surprised that she accepted without any excuses. "Great! I'll pick you up tomorrow afternoon then? Would three be alright?"

"That would be fine!" she agreed as she saw him out the door. "See you then!" she said before shutting the door and resting her forehead against it. 'Man, why did he have to invite me tothat?'

"It's good to see you going out with friends again." her mother spoke from behind her, startling her.

"Yeah...I guess it's time I moved on with my life anyway, huh?"

Her mother smiled warmly, but didn't agree or disagree exactly. "I know you're still sad about losing your friends, and are going to be for a very long time still, and I wanted to allow you as much time to grieve as you needed...but it is good to see you take the first step to moving on."

"Thanks mom." Kagome said, returning a smile before she returned to her room. If she had plans for tomorrow then she'd better get started on her homework...

Hojo arrived at Kagome's front door at two o'clock, fifty-nine minutes, and fifty-eight seconds. Kagome was ready of course, and they hopped onto their respective bicycles and went on their way to the building holding the exhibition, which was only about a fifteen minute ride. Kagome had convinced herself that it probably wouldn't be as boring as she imagined, but her fears were confirmed the second they stepped into the doorway...this was going to be a long afternoon...

"WOW! Hey Kagome, look at this!" Hojo shouted in excitement, who obviously felt the complete opposite about the entire thing. "An entire kiosk dedicated to holistic remedies of medieval Japan! Can you believe it?"

'I dont wantto believe it' "Really? How exciting that must be for you!" she feigned excitment, which she knew was only going to get her in deeper.

"Come over here and have a look! This stuff is amazing!"

'Three hours...three hours...threehoursthreehoursthreehours...I can't believe we've been here for three hours...' were the only thoughts in Kagome's head by now. If she never saw another daisho or shoto replica in her life it would be just fine by her...not to mention this ended up being the worst place to be in regards of taking her mind off of things, what with the seemingly endless Feudal Era exhibits and kiosks they had. Hojo, however, couldn't have been happier about how much further ahead they were going to go in their history class. At the moment they were 30 minutes into the 90 minute long lecture (the shortest one they were offering by the way) about 'A brief summary of the past thousand years of Japanese culture as explained by Dr. "Deadpan" Okamura' etc etc blah blah blah.

'Brief! Brief my-'

"...various artifacts connected to Shinto priests and miko, including o-fuda, shikigami, and summoning scrolls, which are of course obsolete in this day and age..." Dr. Okamura waxed on, catching Kagome's attention for once.

'What did he just say...of course...of course!' she thought excitedly and jumped up out of her seat without a second thought.

"Kagome, where are you going?" Hojo whispered after her, and she stopped just long enough to give an excuse.

"I'm sorry Hojo, but I just remembered that I have to go do something...thanks for taking me here, I had a really good time!" she spoke in a hurry as she ran off before he even had time to ask another question.

"Should I even really be surprised that she did it again?" he said to himself as he watched her run out of the room. "Well, I enjoyed the time we were able to spend together this time, at least." he sighed in acceptance and turned back to the lecture.

Kagome jumped on to her bicycle and sped home, returning in half the time it took for them to get to the exhibition. She bypassed her house completely and ran towards the shrine, where her grandfather would probably be taking inventory.

"Grampa!" she cried out, throwing the door open just as he was sneaking a(nother) sip of his hidden stash of sake.

"Wah! Kagome, you shouldn't cry out like that, especially at old people!" he said as he choked.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. But I need to know, do you have any summoning scrolls?" Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease...

Her grandfather beamed at her, thrilled that she had taken a sudden interest. "You're in luck!" he said, pulling out a large box full of scrolls. "Take your pick! I've got dozens of them..."

"Thank you! Thank you!" she cried out, taking one and turning back to him. "Grampa, I need you to unseal the bone eater's well."

"Unseal it! But-"

"Please! It's important, I have to go back there!"

He didn't ask any questions, and nodded as he did before. "I'll get right to it, if that's what you want."

She thanked him as she ran into the house to throw a few things into her backpack once again and grab the small bottle with the remaining two Shikon shards that Naraku never got. 'I hope these will still work for me...' she thought, before running back down the stairs.

"Kagome! What on earth are you doing? I thought you said you didn't need to go back through the well again?" her mother said, as she noticed the backpack as well as the Shikon shards around her neck once again.

"I have to go back mom...I just...I need to try something...just one more time. I can't let it go without trying." she replied without stopping, not wanting anything to get in between her and the possibilty of finding some way to get Inuyasha back.

She ran to the well, which her grandfather had already unsealed and was waiting for her next to it.

"Malaria this time, is it?" he said with a wink.

"Grampaaa..."

"Don't worry, don't worry, I'll take care of it, you just do what you have to do. Be careful though, do you understand?"

She nodded, and assured him she would be alright. She stepped up to the well and clutched on to the Shikon shards.

'Well...here goes nothing...' she thought as she lept over the side and plummeted down...