InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Broken Dreams ❯ Unmasked ( Chapter 22 )

Broken Dreams

 

If you thot my LAST chapter was tense, this one is a million times worse! But on the bright side, it's the chappie you've been waiting for!

 

Thanks to `The Violent Tomboy' and `dog-demon-emiko' for pointing out the Shikon-no-Camera error. I meant Shikon-no-Kakera. The error has been fixed now.

 

A chapter dedication to `Orlando-Inuyasha-Lover', my 300th reviewer on FF.DOT.net.

 

Chapter 22

 

Unmasked

 

Kagome sighed and kept stirring the stew. It seemed that in the end, she was repaying Youkai for all his kindness; he had taken care of her through her injuries, which were all mostly healed now except for a few sore places. Now it was her turn to take care of Youkai. He had been asleep for what Kagome figured had been an hour after his seizure.

Kagome mentally cursed herself. Youkai had had a jewel shard in his shoulder the entire time. With Toga's so-called ofudas masking the mystical energies within the cave…although at least now Kagome had a good idea as to how those phony wards got their powers.

She wondered if Youkai even knew about the shard. He had mentioned feeling pain when he started to remember, but he hadn't mentioned the shard. He hadn't even cared about her shards when he had found them. He had never even mentioned that pain until she had returned. Youkai had seemed clueless as to his situation.

He wasn't like the other youkai who used shards of the Jewel. Most were bloodthirsty, power hungry monsters who slaughtered villages. Youkai was nothing like them. Why would he need a jewel shard in the first place? He didn't fight, so he didn't need the tainted strength it gave its user. It didn't make any sense.

Kagome had seen the jewel shards be used for almost anything. They had revived the dead, saved the near-dead, enchanted all sorts of ordinary objects, and gave purity powers to those who knew how to use them correctly- Naraku's barriers came to mind. Despite his foul youki, the shards gave him the power to project barriers. But Youkai didn't do any of those things. All he did with the shard was enchant ofuda, and he seemed unaware of doing it.

Whenever he had been out of the cave, he had been carrying Kagome's pack. The only time he had put it down was when he left the village. She wouldn't have noticed if he had taken his mask off then. Kagome hadn't been able to tell the shards in her pack apart from the shard in Youkai's back. She hadn't even taken the time to pay attention to the hum of the shards. As long as she had sensed the shards near her pack, she had brushed off the feeling.

Kagome reached to the other, smaller fire she had built from the spare firewood in the cave and removed the cloth that was soaking in the pot of water. Walking over to the motionless form on the bed, Kagome dabbed the cloth over Youkai's chest. Once the Shikon-no-Kakera had been removed from his back, Youkai's chest had cracked into all sorts of wounds. He was bare from the waist up, with only his wire and cloth mask and his dirty gray hakama protecting him.

Kagome dabbed a cut on his collarbone and frowned. A small trail of blood had leaked out from under Youkai's mask and was dripping down the side of his throat. Kagome reached up and pushed the bottom of the mask up to dab the blood away from the cut. She was met with more blood. The cut was on Youkai's mouth.

Kagome frowned and washed away what she could. Then her fingers trailed up over the coarse cloth of Youkai's mask before going further up to the wire mesh that made up the majority of the mask's front. She wasn't even sure if Youkai was really still alive, except for the rise and fall of his chest. And he was probably going to be out of it for a while yet. And besides, if he was hurt on his face, it wouldn't hurt to make sure he was okay.

Kagome shrugged. What Youkai didn't know wouldn't hurt him. Kagome carefully turned Youkai on to his side and reached to the back of his head where the mask was securely tied in place. Kagome undid the ties and pulled out the string, the back flaps of the mask going limp. Kagome put the string down in her lap and reached around Youkai's neck to the bottom of the mask, and got a grip. Taking a breath, Kagome pulled back, the mask coming off the top of the head. Kagome set the mask in her lap as well, and turned Youkai back on his back. Then she got a good look at his face.

Her eyes doubling in size in the space of a half-second, Kagome got to her feet like a bat out of hell. The mask hit the floor of the cave with a smack as Kagome stared at the true face of the man who had saved her life. She stumbled back into the cave wall and gasped for breath, a hand slapping up to clutch her chest.

“N…no…” She wheezed. “It's impossible.” Kagome gulped down the lump in her throat and fell to her knees. With a loud cough, Kagome vomited onto the cave floor before falling into the throes of darkness, Youkai's face burned into her mind's eye. It couldn't be…it couldn't…it couldn't be him…the one man who had lurked in the back of Kagome's mind for years…

 

I'M SORRY!!! Please forgive me! I said Youkai would be unmasked, I never said I'd tell you who he is! I'm so so so so so sorry for leading you on like that, really, I am. But I feel that to correctly convey the emotions Kagome is about to go through with Youkai's identity, I'll need a full chapter. Again, please don't kill me. I think this is the worst cliffy I've ever done. I honestly do feel bad about this…

 

But there is hope! Next chapter, no tricks, no puns, no misleading. Next chapter, I really do reveal Youkai's identity!!!!!! So please hold off the maiming until then, I beg you!