InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Boxed In ❯ All Fired Up ( Chapter 2 )

All Fired Up

Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha or any characters there in.

"Inuyasha!" I yelled.

"What now?"

"I'm finished," I said quietly, I wasn't even sure he could hear me. "Open the door."

The boulder rolled back and I was once again facing Inuyasha's silhouette against the back drop of our camp.

"Well?" He continued to block the door as if I would try to bolt.

"Here." I handed him the notebook. "It's all in there. What I did and why it happened."

Inuyasha took the book hesitantly and started to turn around.

"Wait Inuyasha," he stopped, "let everyone read that. It's for everyone and um, could you please put the boulder back?"

He paused, I would have given anything to see the look on his face right then. I mean hadn't I been screaming to be released not that long ago? He nodded and rolled the boulder back blocking the light and sounds from me again.

I couldn't go out there yet. What was I supposed to do? Just sit there staring happily at the fire as my friends read over the inner workings of my mind? Stupid fevered mind at that. Ugh, It would be hard enough to face them tomorrow. And I still had thinking to do.

I sat back in my favored place by the door, shielded from the outside world and the reactions of my friends. I was safe here. I leaned against the rough wall and really did mean to think about this some more. But all that pondering took a lot out of me. I fell asleep, rendering me completely oblivious to whatever might have happened outside.

I still don't know how they reacted.

It was only a few hours before the sun would rise when Inuyasha made his appearance at the fire. He had been standing sentinel at the cabin since the earlier death threat.

Camp was made far enough away that the light was not quite reflected off the walls of the cabin. Every now and then there was shouting, and once Inuyasha had come and rummaged through Kagome's pack and left with a notebook and some other stuff.

No one at the camp said anything all night, even Shippo. No one slept all night, even Shippo. They all just sat and waited.

And then Inuyasha did show up. He walked slowly and quietly into the ring of light, a look of utter and painful confusion on his face. An open notebook dangling from one hand.

"Inuyasha?" Miroku ventured after a moments pause.

He looked blankly at Miroku. "How? How do you not know something like that?" Then he yelled, "HOW? It doesn't make any fucking sense!"

"Let me see the notebook Inuyasha." Miroku held out his hand to receive it. Inuyasha looked at the book in his hand and tossed it at the monk. "I presume Kagome wrote her answer in here?"

Inuyasha merely nodded dropping to a seated position to glare into the fire. Miroku was actually relieved that Inuyasha had yelled. He would not know how to deal with Inuyasha in any other mood and the way he dealt with him now would be determined by what was written in the book.

Sango and Shippo watched this exchange quietly. When Miroku opened the book and began to read Shippo tried to approach Inuyasha. Sango restrained him. Shippo tried to ask Sango why Kagome wasn't back yet. Sango silenced him. This only served to worry him more, but he remained still and quite while Miroku read Kagome's report.

Finally he closed the book, "Sango-sama, please ask Kirara to return to Keade's with Shippo."

Sango nodded, "Kirara." The fire cat was already transformed and waiting for the kit.

"But I wanna know what's going on too!" Shippo rebelled, "I'm just as worried about Kagome as the rest of you, I wanna help!"

"Shippo," Miroku knelt next to him, "we will explain as best we can when we return. Right now it would be best if you let us handle Kagome."

Shippo gave him an evil look of death, but relented. Climbing reluctantly on Kirara's back.

The fire cat flew away and m handed the book to Sango.

Silence once again descended on the camp.

Miroku had no idea how to handle this. He never would have expected this of Kagome, true she didn't know she was doing it and some how she thought it was for the good of the mission. But still…. `What do we do now? Now that she realizes what she has done and why, will she stop?' Miroku decided that while how to deal with Kagome was important, she was not the immediate problem. Inuyasha was.

Inuyasha was still glaring at the fire, stuck in a loop of emotions, sentence fragments and pictures. He felt betrayed. He felt angry. He felt responsible. True to form, he didn't express or explore any of these feelings, or bother to find out how the sentences ended, and through out the pictures before he could really see them. And so it would all start up again.

At last Sango closed the book. She looked up at Inuyasha. He glared at the fire. She looked at Miroku, he stared into nothing. Sango was not as surprised as the rest of them. `Kagome is powerful and life affirming. She reminds the group there is more to life than revenge and quests. But who reminds her?' Sango figured that was why she clung so hard to that "school" of hers, to remind her of her normal life, the one she would be returning to after the quests. No one here gave her any reason to hope. Look at them, a dying monk, a love sick outcast, and a soul survivor out for revenge. Well, there was Shippo. The orphan. Who's parents were slaughtered and skinned right in front of him. `What a depressing group. But in the end it wasn't the pressures that got to her but loyalty to the quests. And her own good heart.' Sango tossed the notebook onto Kagome's pack.

"Housh-"

"What the hell dose it mean?" Inuyasha interrupted.

Miroku blinked up at them. The nothing he had been staring at had drifted to the fire and now he was somewhat blind.

It was time to deal with Inuyasha.

"Kagome made it very clear." Miroku began, "Her fevered mind thought it logical for her to give her life for the quest."

"But I don't want her to give up her soul to Kikio!"

Miroku sighed, "This is not about what you want Inuyasha, this is about Kagome's state of mind."

"I should have encouraged her to practice." Sango said quietly, "I know people sometimes go through slumps…"

"And I should have realized something was wrong when she started calling herself the shard detector," Miroku sighed, "But that can not be helped now, it is done. We didn't do anything wrong, it was her decision."

"She's going home." Inuyasha said harshly, "And this time she's going to stay there."

"Inuyasha, I don't think that is the appropriate response-." Miroku said.

"I don't care! If she is fucking ready to commit suicide…"Inuyasha faltered, "She has to be protected!"

"You can't protect her from herself Inuyasha." Miroku tried again, "locking her away won't work. If she-"

"That's fine for you to say Inuyasha!" Sango interrupted, this was going to be harder than Miroku thought. "We're all fighting to die! We are all willing to die for the quest! When I first met you I KNEW I would die after the fight but I was willing to do that if I could avenge my village's death, and kill the monster responsible for it! I STILL am. And I know you are too! To avenge Kikio and kill Naraku as long as you do that you don't care if it kills you, do you? I think Miroku is the only one fighting to LIVE, and even he doesn't expect to."

"But its different with her." Inuyasha was surprised by her violent outburst, "She was TRYING to get killed!"

"Well-"

"That is so hypocritical of you Inuyasha!" Sango was on her feet shouting. "Your willing to die defeating Naraku, and then if you live just go waltzing off to hell with Kikio, that IS dying Inuyasha! But you won't give Kagome the privilege of dying for what she believes in? She is willing to die to save you, bring peace to Kikio and help us all defeat Naraku and … and all you can do is send her home!?"

"It's different with her Sango!" Inuyasha returned.

"How?"

"Kagome is supposed to live!" Inuyasha's voice broke, he looked about ready to cry.

For a moment there was silence.

"Kagome-sama wants to live Inuyasha." Miroku said, " Over the past three weeks she has had plenty of opportunity to get herself killed, all she had to do was hesitate. True she never hesitated to get into situations where she could have died, but she never hesitated to defend herself either."

"But it doesn't make any sense."

"She said that too, remember? Now that this thought has been revealed to her, we can hope that she will return to normal."

"How could she…?"

"It is what she thought was best." Miroku signed.

Inuyasha just shook his head as if to clear it. Kagome, light and smiles Kagome. She had actually thought of … of letting go. Even if she hadn't taken a blade to her wrists, even if she didn't know she was doing it, it hurt to think that she even thought about it. And he didn't even notice. It took him so long to see that something was wrong. So many times he could have lost her. She didn't say anything. `she didn't know to.' He reminded himself. Maybe Miroku was rubbing off on him, did he actually just have a rational thought?

Inuyasha looked expectantly at Miroku. "Well?"

"What is it Inuyasha?"

"What do we do Houshi-sama? When she returns?" Sango had returned to her seat.

"We are her friends Sango-sama, we act like it." Miroku gave Inuyasha a meaningful glare, "We behave ourselves and don't hurt her feelings or insult her."

"Feh." Inuyasha suddenly stood up. He didn't pay attention to his thoughts very often, but it turns out that when he does he can work through things, most things, pretty fast.

Inuyasha tramped over to Kagome's pack and roughly pulled something out. Turning he left the circle of light towards the cabin yet again. Leaving the two alone again.

"Now what Houshi-sama?"

"Now, Sango-sama," Miroku looked to the east, where the sky was turning the slightest bit blue, "now we sleep… but when we wake, you must do something for the rest of us, Sango-sama."

"What?"

"Start fighting to live, please."

"…Yes, Houshi-sama."

A/N: It would seem that some people did want see their reactions. Thank you all for supporting me. I hope you liked this chapter and I will not apologize for the shortness of it. That is the way the story flowed. There will be one more chapter, soon. If you have any questions about how I handled the story I will answer them at the end of that chapter.