InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ An Arrow Not Burning ❯ Decision ( Chapter 3 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

An Arrow Not Burning: Part III: Decision

She didn't move within his arms for many long moments. Inuyasha did not dare stir, unable to do anything but wait for Kikyo's decision. When he did feel her shift, he tensed instinctively, then forced himself to relax with a long exhalation of breath. He felt her left arm moving, sliding along the raw flesh of his shoulder, and tried not to flinch as her fingers touched his neck. Perhaps, she was at least intending to be merciful--a blast of her power aimed at his throat would almost certainly kill him more quickly than her initial effort would have.

"Shape-shifter?"

His eyes opened at the barely audible whisper. "That's the only thing that makes sense, Kikyo." he said. "Someone who could look like me, someone who could look like you. I don't know what it's after, other than the Shikon jewel, but..."

"Or how it knew what we were planning," she murmured. "Did you tell anyone about our plan for you to turn human?"

Inuyasha snorted. "Me? Who would I tell? I don't have friends."

He felt her wince. He sighed, and held her a little closer. It didn't matter how the shape-shifter had found out. The damage was done.

"Inuyasha." Her voice was firmer, and her hand pushed against his chest. "Take me to the shrine."

He eased back and peered down, blinking. She looked up at him, her skin as pale as before, but her face now a mask. Her miko mask -- emotionless, hard-eyed, dedicated. The mask of a hunter. He knew, then.

She was dying. He could smell it, feel it. And he knew she knew it.

If the shape-shifter had taken the jewel -- which it apparently had -- then she would be able to find the jewel and with it, the would-be thief and murderer. And she intended to take the shape-shifter to the underworld with her.

He didn't want her to die. But he wasn't a healer, He couldn't give her life: he had already failed to protect her. The only thing he could possibly give her now was the opportunity to take her murderer with her.

"Hai. Just leave some of the shape-shifter for me."

Her small, thin smile held nothing but a predatory agreement. "We'll take it together."

---

Rage burned in her mind, shrouding the pain and the increasing cold of her body. Staring up at the eyes of the man she had -- so easily! -- been led to believe had betrayed her, the miko used her training to channel the rage into strength. It was a false strength, but it would have to do. If the shape-shifting demon was smart, it would have taken the shikon jewel and would be moving to keep its distance until she collapsed. But it wouldn't. She knew that. The cruelty that would lead a demon to try and trick two people into turning on each other wouldn't be satisfied with escaping. It would be watching. Waiting. Gloating.

And she--no, they--would find it, and slay it.

Inuyasha rocked back, shifting his weight from his knees to his feet. He started to pivot, surprising Kikyo, who had expected him to either stand and help her to her feet, or to pick her up and carry her. Nonplussed, she stared at his long hair, not understanding what he was attempting. "'Yasha--" she murmured.

"Stupid. If I carry you in my arms, how do I fight? Get on--shit!"

Bowstrings twanged. Kikyo found herself lying on her left side as something white and red blurred at the corner of her vision. Arrows whistled overhead, accompanied by at least two meaty thuds. Above her, Inuyasha screamed invectives at the unseen attackers.

"Stupid fucking idiots! What the hell do you think you were doing! You could have hit Kikyo!"

"Kikyo-sama?" several voices from further down the trail rose in in a babble of confusion. "What--" "Where--"

She pushed herself to a seated position, looking up. Inuyasha was crouching on a slender branch a little more than two lengths above her, his right hand gripping a branch above him for further support. Blood streamed down his left arm from an arrow lodged in his biceps, and she could see the feathered end of a second arrow that must be lodged in his side. With an odd mingling of dismay and shame, she realized that he had made sure to protect her, before trying to protect himself. None of the men in the village were skilled enough to even nick Inuyasha when he was free to move. The voices of the villagers changed from surprise to consternation, but she ignored them. "Inuyasha," she called out. "You're hurt--"

"Keh." His right ear twitched in her direction, but his gaze remained on the approaching villagers. "Now you worry?" he asked, with an edge of a taunt in his voice. "Scratches." As if to demonstrate, he released his grip on the branch, yanked out the two arrows and let them drop, then hurriedly grabbed the branch above him as he started to wobble. "They aren't your arrows."

"Priestess!" "Kami -- what happened, priestess -- you're hurt!"

"Never mind that." She kept her gaze on the hanyo. "Inuyasha, get down here."

Six bows came up, arrows aimed over her head. Inuyasha growled. "If they don't lower those bows, I'll take them out, and maybe a few arms with them. We don't have time for this."

"Agreed," Kikyo said coldly. She turned her head and glared at the villagers. "Lower your bows."

"But, miko-sama, we saw him! He came straight through the village, slashing about with those claws of his before disappearing. He killed seven people, including little Korana--"

Kikyo gasped in a sudden shock of pain and horror. Korana had been a tiny, vivacious girl of barely five, and had been easily the pet of the village. Grief choked her throat and tears stung her eyes. Not Korana!

"It wasn't me!" The shout was almost a scream, as Inuyasha landed next to Kikyo with a thump, crouching, his ears flattened and his hands arched into claws. "I wouldn't --curse you, I wouldn't kill a child!"

"I know you wouldn't." Kikyo forced her grief down, forced her face back into its impassive mask. "It was the impostor." Ignoring the signs of confusion in the faces of the villagers, she continued. "I need a bow and arrows. Inuyasha..."

The nearest man shrank back as Inuyasha leaped to his side, but did not resist as the hanyo plucked the bow from his grasp and pulled the quiver from his shoulder. Jumping back to Kikyo's side, he carefully slung the quiver, and then knelt before her. "Get on my back," he said, reaching behind to support her. Bow in her right hand, Kikyo used her left hand on his shoulder to pull herself up. His hands went under her lower thighs. Rising to his feet so gently that she felt no stab of pain from her wounds, he adjusted her position with his hands. "Can you hold on?" he asked. "This is going to hurt."

She gripped with her knees, and tightened her handhold as best she could on his shoulder. His hands fell away. "Just get us to the shrine." Inuyasha was standing in a crouched position, so it was easy to look over his head at the confused-looking villagers. "Get out of the way--Inuyasha and I have a job to do."

"But, Lady Kikyo, you're wounded--"

"Move!"

Inuyasha took a long step forward, growling softly. The men hesitated, and then fell back. "Stupid idiots," she heard him mutter.

"Angry and afraid," she corrected.

"Feh. Whatever." He took another step. "Hold on."

---

Inuyasha ran, not certain enough of his strength or of Kikyo's to attempt any of his long leaps. Pain stabbed his side with every step, and his lungs burned, but he was past expert at ignoring pain. What he was not expert as was ignoring the flickering memories.

A fall day, warm and clear, the leaves around him shades of scarlet and gold. Kikyo approaching his position with a gaggle of children, smiling as she talked with them. A flash of happy, laughing eyes as she looked up and spotted him. Her invitation to come down and join them. His flippant refusal, and turning away, pretending disinterest. His ears swiveling to catch the happy sounds of children and woman playing. A yearning he didn't want to admit, that kept him trying to sneak glances of the group.

Then a voice. "Why is playing with us 'silly'?"

He'd started, and found himself looking down at a tiny girl who had moved away from the group to stand directly next to the tree. "Don't you like to play? I like to play." A pause, and she smiled up at him. "I'm Korana. Won't you please come down and play?"

"It's there."

Kikyo's voice and fingernails digging into his burned skin shattered the skein of memories and brought his attention fully back. Sliding to a halt, he looked up the long set of stairs that led to the shrine, and found himself growling, ears starting to flatten. He was picking up a demonic scent, one he could not quite identify, at once familiar and strange. "And the jewel?" he asked.

"Yes."

"I'm jumping." With that warning, he pivoted on one foot and leapt. Zigzagging, he took the steps--that he would normally have taken with a single bound--in a double handful of smaller leaps, shifting direction with each jump in an instinctive move to avoid being too much of a target on the unsheltered stairs. His last leap took them to one corner of the shrine's porch. Holding his slight crouch, he felt Kikyo's knees release their grip as she eased off his back. She leaned against him a few moments longer as her ragged, pain-caught breathing eased. "Kikyo?"

"I'm--I'll manage," she whispered, as he heard an arrow being withdrawn from the quiver. "It's coming."

Inuyasha snapped his head around as he heard footsteps. A being in bright red with long, white hair and glowing, golden eyes stepped around the opposite corner, the Skikon No Tama dangling from one clawed finger. He smirked. "My dear Kikyo," he said. "Are you sure you are with the right Inuyasha?"