InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Bittersweet ❯ Summer Days ( Chapter 3 )

Bittersweet

Chapter Three: "Summer Days"

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In summer when the days were long

We walked together in the wood:

Our heart was light our step was strong

Sweet flutterings were therein blood

In summer when the days were long

- Anonymous -

AN: WOW, thanks for all those reviews! They really got me to write more so soon! ^_^ About the OOCness of Inuyasha in the first chapter.. well I will explain this and where they went within the next few chapters. Believe me, it wasn't as OOC as it sounded. As far as I know IY had done just this few times, running away from Kagome because of Kikyou or on search for Kikyou or to save Kikyou *blibbediblahblah*.. Besides it belongs to the plot ^_^

And big big thx to my betas xnycz azn angelx and Dee!!!

'blahblah' = thoughts

***

It was a beautiful morning. Kagome stepped outside Kaede's old hut, which now belonged to her, and stretched her aching muscles. Somewhere on the other side of the road a cock crowed. Today they would finish the preparations for the wedding that would take place tomorrow. She waved back to a woman that went by. Since they had defeated Naraku all the village inhabitants were friendlier than ever before. Perhaps it was also due to the fact that Inuyasha hasn't showed up. At least presently, he wasn't as violently as he before.

She shook her head to chase the upcoming thoughts about the hanyou away. There was a lot to do today, and she wouldn't allow herself to drift away as had happened the past days. The wedding was to celebrate the final commitment of Sango and Miroku, her best friends, and she wasn't going to ruin this.

When she turned to reenter the hut, she saw a red flash in the corner of her eye. Her mouth twisted slightly remembering her vow not to think of Inuyasha anymore, a vow which she kept breaking. 'What is he still doing here? Shouldn't he be back with Kikyou and be happy with her? Well, Sango and Miroku are his friends too; perhaps he will just attend the wedding. At least he isn't here with Kikyou. I am not sure if I could stand this.' She shrugged and went to make breakfast for Shippo and herself.

***

After breakfast Kagome and Shippo went to visit Sango and Miroku in their cottage to offer their help. The young Kitsune sprinted ahead, chasing after some village-kids, doing kitsune tricks once in a while to entertain them. Afresh Kagome wondered how much the village people had changed. They now accepted them all even considering they were social outcasts; two demons, a soon to be married monk, a female demon exterminator, a Miko from the future, and a violent hanyou. She had known that they tolerated them in the past due to Kaede's interaction and now that Kaede was dead it still surprised her that nothing had changed at all, even became better for them. If there was a place for Sango, Miroku, Shippo, and Kirara for life, it was here. She cared for her friends and for Shippo like he was her own son. Knowing they would be save, reinforced her decision to leave soon. The sooner she left the less hurt everybody would be. And no one was going to find out about the deal with her soul.

They reached the hut, and the young Miko straightened her back before she knocked on the door.

"Come in, Kagome," Sango called.

As they entered Sango and Miroku still had breakfast. It was amazing how close they had grown since the proposal and how they showed it with little gestures like now. Sango sat besides Miroku, as near as she could get without sitting on his lap while he still had the broken leg. And she fed him, which he obviously enjoyed very much.

Kagome smiled at the sight and sat in front of them with Shippo cuddling to her chest.

"We're here to help you with the mating." Shippo said happily.

Kagome and Sango watched him stunned while Miroku had to suppress the giggles that nevertheless escaped.

"Shippo," Kagome took him in her hands and turned him to face her. "The....um.... mating will be much later." She and Sango both flushed at the thought of this. "We will only have a little festival to honor the bond between them. There will be a lot to eat and the whole village will celebrate and there even will be fireworks." She sat him back in her lap and started to pet his head.

"Fireworks? Oh I love them, can I make some too? I am really good at it, they are a kitsune-invention you know?" he shouted enthusiastic.

"Of course Shippo," Sango told him smiling. In Shippo's view of the world nearly everything was a Kitsune-invention. "We need them tomorrow evening. Do you have all you need?"

And so they started to plan the next day and the festival they were going to arrange.

During the planning both Miroku and Sango tried to bring Inuyasha up but whenever he was mentioned Kagome become stiff and changed the theme immediately. Shippo often helped with wild jumping all around the hut and distracting them.

When they got ready with the planning, they went to the different tasks they had attended. Kagome would, with the help of some village girls, decorate the place in the middle of the village and the place in front of the old God tree where the procession would take place. It was as holy as the shrine without bearing the memories of the fresh graves of their dead beloved ones.

***

"Go talk to Kagome-sama now, Sango-chan. She is probably alone on her way to the tree and perhaps you can get something out of her." Miroku suggested the moment Kagome had left the hut.

"Your right, Miroku-chan. Will you be ok?" Sango stood up and hurried to the door, turning again to await his answer.

Miroku smiled brightly at the endearment she had used to address him back. "I will be fine, don't worry. And we will make sure Kagome-sama will be fine too!" he said happy.

Sango donated him a small lovely smile and turned to run and catch Kagome.

***

"Kagome, wait." she called out.

The young girl in front of her turned and stopped when she saw her friend.

"Sango? I thought you would help Miroku prepare the food?" she wondered.

"Hai Kagome-sama, but I wanted to walk you to the tree first." Sango said bowing slightly. Then she took the other girl by the hand and dragged her along the way. When they had passed the last huts they walked more slowly picking up some herbs here and there. Eventually the exterminator gathered her courage and started to speak.

"Kagome-sama I have a question. Why do you ignore Inuyasha-san?" Kagome did what she always did these last few days when anyone asked her about Inuyasha. She straightened her back and took on a cold look.

But this time Sango wouldn't let herself become discouraged, so she laid a hand on the shoulder of the other girl and asked again.

"Please, Kagome. You are so sad sometimes. We all worry about you. Please talk to me again."

The young Miko was startled at the pleading tone in the voice of her dearest friend and turned around.

'She has such an honest face; she never could conceal her hurt and sadness very well, although Inuyasha never seems to notice. Sometimes men are so stupid.' Sango thought.

"Oh, Sango...." suddenly Kagome hugged her as if her live depended on it and tears flowed freely

"Sango, I will leave soon and I will miss you all. I am so happy for you and Miroku." She sniffed. She really wanted to cry over this, but it was not the main reason she felt the way she did. Yes, she was happy but she was also sad. She couldn't tell Sango everything, though. They would worry even more, and she couldn't do this when they were all so happy now.

Sango held her close. She could sense that this wasn't all so she started again.

"Kagome, my dearest friend, we will miss you too, we all, especially Inuyasha...." Immediately the tears stopped pouring and the Miko took a step back.

With an odd emotionless voice she said, "He is happy now with Kikyou. The Shikon No Tama made her human you know, so they can be together again." She left out the part where she worked the jewel to do so and where she donated over half of her soul to Kikyou. "I am sure he won't even realize if I am still here or not." She took another step back and wiped the last tears away with her hand. Her gaze was about to drift away again when she heard Sango.

"You know, he watches you all the time since he came back from wherever he was. He won't talk to anyone about it but wherever you are he isn't far away. Yesterday I even saw how he scared some pigs away you were about to run into." She closed the gap between herself and the now quivering young girl and began to stroke her hair lightly.

"He cares for you, Kagome-chan. Perhaps he is just too afraid to confess his feelings?"

Kagome rested her head carefully on the other girl's shoulder, thinking about what she had heard. 'But it was so easy for him to confess his feelings for Kikyou. Kami, he said he would go to hell with her! I don't think he feels anything beyond friendship for me and sometimes I doubt even this.'

Together they sat down beneath an old tree, onto a tree-stump. Their fingers were entwined and the miko's head still leaned on Sango's shoulder. Then she answered slowly.

"I don't think he has and ever will have any feelings beyond friendship for me. This isn't the point. He made his decision and I have made mine." 'Trading my soul to bring Kikyou back so they could be happy together.' "I just don't know what about to talk to him and he never approached me since he came back." This, she knew, was only halfway true, since she had avoided him wherever she could and she was sure he could smell her rigidness too. "I only miss my family. The whole wedding thing keeps reminding me of my family, but I know when I'm back I will miss you too." she ended and sniffed one last time.

'Well this was something, but not everything' Sango thought. 'Perhaps Miroku should have a talk with Inuyasha too. I know he feels more for Kagome than he let on, he is always so jealous around her but he finally has to tell her, or he will lose her soon.'

They stood up again after some more hugs and made the rest of the way towards the god-tree in silence. Kagome indulged in her thoughts of Inuyasha, and Kikyou, and Sango plotting how to bring the hanyou and the Miko together at last.

***

They all met together during midday to picnic. They found a nice little glade not far away and settled down to eat. Everyone had brought a little bit of food such as rice balls and okonumiaki, some fruits, and ramen. Sango went to get fresh, cool water from a nearby spring. During her walk she felt the familiar presence of demon, or better, half-demon.

"Come down already, Inuyasha." She called him.

He plopped in front of her to the ground.

"What do you want, Sango?" he asked gruffly.

'At least he talks to me, its more than I had expected' she thought.

"Would you like to eat with us?" she asked politely.

He thought a moment about it. 'I wanted to talk to Kagome, but since this has to wait after lunch any way, when we are alone, I could at least eat something myself.'

"Do you have ramen?" was his crusty answer.

Sango smiled at him. "Yes, Kagome brought it!" and dragged him along just as she had done earlier with the Miko.

***

The meal went well, considering Kagome and Inuyasha ignored each other mostly as they ignored the attempts of the soon-to-be-wed couple to bring them to talk with each other. Shippo has run away when he realized Kagome was busy with not speaking to Inuyasha and when Sango waved to Miroku, the couple left too, leaving the hanyou and the Miko alone. Kagome tried to follow them but since Sango had to help Miroku with his leg she was the only one left to gather their belongings. She peered at Inuyasha, who silently played with his last ramen. Sometimes life sucked, she sighed.

Suddenly Inuyasha looked up, dispatching the rest of his meal. His eyes looked gently towards her and she could do nothing but stare back. Then he tilted his head slightly.

"We have to talk, Kagome." Inuyasha said bluntly.

'This is going to be a long afternoon,' Kagome sighed and ducked her head.

END PART THREE

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AN: Originally this chapter should include 'the talk' but I thought it would grow to long and this seemed like a natural cut. Bad cliffhangers *MWAHAHAHA*, but don't worry, the next chapter is already written, it will be up when it's betaed! Oh and due to my sucking timetable (*grrargh*) I only will be able to write like one chapter a week. I wish I had more time *sigh*