InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Chronicles ❯ Magic ( Chapter 47 )

~~Chapter 47~~

~Magic~

 

“And he means to harm ye.”

 

Kagome nodded slowly as she carefully stirred the stew. Miroku and Sango weren't back yet. They'd gone to a neighboring village to take care of an infestation of rat youkai. Kagome figured that they'd decided to spend the night there. “InuYasha went looking for him, which means that, even if he did find Katosan, he didn't kill him, right? Because if InuYasha had killed him then I wouldn't have seen him in my time.”

 

Kaede sighed. “Aye, child, sounds right.” She got up and retrieved some bowls from the small cupboard and returned to her spot by the fire. “And ye know not why he sought you out in your time?”

 

She pursed her lips as she considered Kaede's question. “I don't know . . . I almost think he did it just to prove that he was still alive. I mean, if he was there, then he had to have lived that long, right? Because InuYasha and I seem to be the only ones who can go through the time slip . . . .”

 

Kaede agreed with a nod. “How did ye manage to escape Katosan in the forest, since you say that InuYasha was not there?”

 

Fiddling with the hem of her sweater, Kagome frowned as she remembered that day. Katosan grabbed her arm and he hadn't acted like he wanted to let go of her. “There was a flash of energy that sort of just . . . exploded. He let go then, like I'd hurt him, just before he disappeared.”

 

Kaede digested that bit of information in silence. Deliberately taking her time dishing up two bowls of the fragrant stew, she handed one to Kagome. “I remember something of this nature happening before, the night ye released InuYasha.”

 

Staring at her stew but not interested in eating any of it, Kagome set the bowl aside and shook her head. “I remember that, too. It was sort of like that, but it seemed different this time, stronger.”

 

“Aye, well, that stands to reason. You've grown stronger over time. `Tis my guess that your mind was reacting to the perceived threat, and it was your own miko's aura that took action when you could not.”

 

A small shiver raced up Kagome's spine as the feeling of being completely vulnerable assailed her again. She never wanted to feel that naked, that exposed, that frightened again. “Kaede, can I learn how to control those powers?”

 

Kaede sat back and stared at Kagome for a moment then nodded. “Aye, it can be done. It may be taxing on ye, both mentally and physically. Can ye withstand this sort of training?”

 

Kagome shrugged. “I don't have much of a choice. I can't stand always feeling so helpless, especially when InuYasha's gone.”

 

Katosan's words came back to her again. `Take care, Miko. There are worse things than death that could befall a hapless little mortal girl. It would be a shame for you to learn first hand, what some of those things might be. What would your hanyou do if his bitch reeked of another?' She closed her eyes against the hateful words.

 

`Would he have . . . he wouldn't have done that . . . as much as he hates humans, he wouldn't have done that . . . .' She sighed. She wished she felt more positive about that.

 

Kaede nodded. “All right. Best be getting plenty of rest then. Ye'll need it in the morning.”

 

Kagome dumped her bowl back into the pot, ignoring Kaede's disapproving look. Then she washed her bowl and unrolled her sleeping bag.

 

Katosan had left the shrine shortly after Kagome had retreated into the house. `He wanted me to know it was him,' she realized as she drew her knees up tight in the sleeping bag. `He was taunting me, letting me know that he knew where I was . . . but what does that mean about InuYasha? Did that mean that Katosan somehow knew that InuYasha wasn't there . . . ?'

 

Shippou bounded into the hut with Kirara fast on his heels. Kagome listened to the kit tell Kaede about his latest escapades as the old miko dished up his dinner. After he'd eaten, he yawned and curled up beside Kagome.

 

`InuYasha,' she thought as consciousness drifted through her fingers, `be safe . . . .'

 

 

:::8::8::8::8::8::8::8::8::8::8:::

 

 

Sango hissed as Miroku dabbed at the cut with a wet cloth. “Sorry!” he said with a wince.

 

“It's all right,” Sango gritted out. “How bad does it look?”

 

He swallowed hard as he stared at the pale flesh, glowing golden in the warmth of the firelight. She had taken a hit from one of the rat youkai. The beast had managed to dig its claws into her shoulder before Miroku had been able to get it off of her. The cut didn't look too severe though it had bled more than he liked. Even then, he'd had to practically threaten Sango to let him so much as see it, let alone clean it. But it was too late for the nearly hour and a half walk back to the village since they'd left Kirara behind to watch over things and to look out for Kagome and Shippou.

 

“It's not bad,” he answered, dragging his thoughts back to the present. Sango winced as she tugged the coarse white robe back into place. “I'll check it in the morning, too, to make sure that it is healing properly,” he remarked as he leaned back on his hands with his back toward the fire.

 

Sango held the robe closed at her throat as she stared pensively into the dancing flames. “Kagome looked troubled when we left,” she commented. “I hope she and InuYasha didn't have an argument before he left.”

 

Miroku frowned. The last thing he wanted to do was discuss Kagome and InuYasha. But Sango was concerned, and he knew well enough that once the exterminator started to worry over her friends, there wasn't much hope of distracting her until she was satisfied. “It would help if we knew where InuYasha had gone.”

 

“He never did say why they came back that night, did he?”

 

Miroku made a face. “No. I asked but he wouldn't answer. He did look quite agitated, though . . . but I didn't have the feeling that he was irritated with Kagome at all.”

 

Sango sucked in her cheek as she considered Miroku's answers. “I'll ask Kagome when we return.”

 

He picked up a rice ball and held it out to her. Sango took it and smiled before nibbling at it. Miroku watched her.

 

“Aren't you hungry?” she asked when he made no move to eat.

 

He shook his head. “In awhile.”

 

She made quick work of the food. Miroku grinned as he caught her staring at the other rice ball on the tray. He handed it over. “Are you sure?”

 

“Go ahead.”

 

She gazed at him almost guiltily before she gave in and ate it, too. She caught his amused stare and glanced around quickly. “What?”

 

“You're beautiful.”

 

He grinned as her cheeks pinked. “You're tired. Take a hit on the head you forgot to mention?”

 

“Not at all.”

 

She swallowed the last of her food.

 

“Sango?”

 

“Yes?”

 

Miroku couldn't help himself as he stared into her eyes. “I think I made a mistake.”

 

Her eyebrows drew together as she gazed at him with obvious concern. “What sort of mistake?”

 

He leaned in closer, brought his hand up to stroke her cheek. She stared at him, her bottom lip trembling precariously. “Houshi-sama? What—”

 

“Don't talk, Sango.”

 

His lips covered hers with an urgency built up by the weeks and months of wanting. She gasped softly, the sound muffled by his mouth. Her entire body was tense in his grasp. He coaxed her tenderly, let his lips persuade her with soft pressure, gentle teasing. With a sigh, she relaxed against him, accepted his kiss as she leaned toward him, into his arms.

 

Time and space fell away. Thought seemed to spin into itself. Anxiety that he would somehow let her down dissipated as her arms slowly, hesitantly, reached up around him, holding onto him as tightly as she could. The riot of emotions that soared and flowed twisted together into one tight coil that tied his body in knots. She breathed against his lips, shallow, ragged, as though she had forgotten that she needed to do that.

 

He stroked her face, cradled her close, telling her without words how precious she was to him, how much he needed her. She was the beginning and the end, everything he'd ever searched for. Nothing mattered so long as Sango was here with him, so long as she held him, so long as she kissed him.

 

He broke from her as his desire heightened. Unwilling to frighten the woman in his arm, he made himself let go, forced his instincts to obey his will. He leaned his forehead against hers as she clung to him. “I should have done that a long time ago,” he whispered.

 

Suddenly Sango laughed. He joined in. “But I didn't ask.”

 

“I tried to wait for you to ask. It was killing me.”

 

Sango's cheeks pinked. “Why?”

 

Miroku pulled her into a hug, her cheek pressed against his heart. “Because I knew that kissing you would be . . . magical.”

 

 

:::8::8::8::8::8::8::8::8::8::8:::

 

 

`Watching me . . . .'

 

She ran through the forest. Someone was chasing her. Panting for breath, she ran faster. She called out again, demanded to know who followed her. In the pale, the first rays of dawn, no answer came. Kagome sprinted on, hurtling over roots and ducking under low branches, toward the well, toward home, toward safety.

 

He was closer, just behind her. She could hear his breathing, feel his eyes on her . . . .

 

With a strangled cry, she sat up. In the darkened hut, she clutched her chest. Shippou hadn't moved at all. Kagome closed her eyes as relief washed over her. `It was just a dream . . . .'

 

“What the hell are you doing here?”

 

Kagome gasped and whipped her head to the side. InuYasha sat against the wall with his arms wrapped around Tetsusaiga. He glared at her with a ferocious intensity that pinned her to the spot as her breath caught. She wanted to run to him. The look on his face made her stay still. He was furious.

 

“I came back yesterday,” she whispered as she forced herself out of her sleeping bag, trying not to disturb the sleeping kitsune.

 

InuYasha got up and grabbed her hand to drag her toward the door. She tried to pull away. “What are you doing? InuYasha! Wait!”

 

He didn't listen. As soon as they were out the door, he picked her up and bounded away, straight toward the forest, straight toward the well.

 

“No! I can't go back! InuYasha, he's there!”

 

Stopping so suddenly that Kagome thought he was going to throw her, InuYasha set her on her feet and glowered at her. “Who's there?”

 

“Katosan. That's why I came back.”

 

“How? Where?”

 

“He came to the shrine. He wanted me to know it was him, I think. So I came back.”

 

He stalked back and forth, flexing his claws like he wanted to tear into something. Kagome could understand his frustration. She'd felt like that since he left her. The overwhelming desire to be in his arms welled up inside her, and she reached out as he stomped past her, touched his arm. He swung around suddenly, scowling down at her for the briefest of moments before he dragged her roughly against his chest, mouth dropping over hers in the same movement as he held her tight.

 

The world spun around her, opened up beneath her as she felt as though she was falling. He caught her against him, his lips demanding and hungry, drawing every emotion from her soul as though he was starving. Even as he drained her of her will, he filled her with another sentiment, something far more wanton, something heady, something unnamable, something that she wanted. Spires of heat shot from his body to hers as the days of forced separation fell away. “I missed you,” she mumbled between kisses.

 

“Shut up and kiss me, wench,” he growled as his lips sought hers out again. Her body was weak, yielding as he pressed against her, surrounding her in the consuming need, the urgent ache that made her want to melt into him. His insistent kisses lingered on her, rolled in her belly, churning in her mind as the cold became an abstract thing, as she forgot that he'd ever left her behind. His passion gave way to tenderness, his gentle touch fueling the burn that made her feel as though she was about to shatter, to break.

 

Nuzzling her cheek until her head fell to the side, InuYasha growled as his mouth dropped to her throat. He held her, suspended against him, ravaging her flesh as her body exploded in a solitary combustion of heat. Her knees buckled but he was there to catch her, sweeping her into his arms as she vaguely realized that he had left the ground.

 

`Goshinboku,' she thought dizzily as she kissed him a thousand times, a million times. Gentle touches against swollen lips, a conflagration of hope and desperation wrapped her mind in a haze of longing as his hands sought out the scorch of her skin. She turned in his arms, her hands seeking his flesh, delving beneath the confines of his haori, of his undershirt. The contact ripped a fierce growl from him, intensifying the power of his kisses, the ardor of his touch. Stroking her back with the tips of his claws, she shuddered against him as he whispered her name. She trailed kisses down his throat, savoring the taste of him on her tongue.

 

“Kagome,” he murmured as he pulled her closer, tightened his hold on her even as his body tensed, as though every muscle in him was fighting something she couldn't see. “K . . . Kagome . . . .”

 

Her heartbeat thundered in her ears, filled her head with an unsettling incoherence. He was trying to speak to her. His voice was muffled, far away, no more than a whisper. She nestled against his neck as she kissed him softly. He held her close, and then he sighed. His hand caught her chin, forced her to look into his eyes. The brightness of his gaze emblazoned in her mind, he smiled at her in the dark and gently pulled her close. “I think we'll fall if we don't stop,” he teased softly though his expression seemed pained. Kagome wanted to hit him.

 

She sighed long and loud in protest. He rasped out a chuckle as he wrapped her in the folds of his haori to shelter her from the chill night air. “I ought to push you,” she remarked.

 

“Keh. If I fall, you will, too.”

 

“Why did you stop?” she asked, unable to keep the frustration out of her tone.

 

He sighed, struggling for the words to explain, the words that eluded him. “Kagome . . . I . . . you . . . not here, not in a tree.”

 

She made a face, hating to admit that InuYasha had made a valid point. Then she gulped. `Did we almost . . . ? Was that . . . ?' Her eyes widened as she understood at last. To distract herself from the disappointment and acute embarrassment that was enough to kill her, she straightened up a little. “So I take it you didn't find Katosan?”

 

Irritation replaced the mellow look he'd been sporting. “I can't find him anywhere. Anyway, I figured I'd go talk to Totosai instead.”

 

“Totosai? Did something happen to Tetsusaiga?”

 

He shook his head quickly. “No. I wanted to see if he can make it stronger.”

 

“It's not strong enough?”

 

He shot her a dark look, as though her question was entirely foolish. “You can never be strong enough, wench.”

 

“Why do you need to be stronger?” she asked quietly.

 

“Because I never want you to be scared again,” he admitted, “and so when I do find Katosan, I can destroy him in one strike.”

 

She sighed, shaking her head at his perceived blood-lust, and idly wrapped his hair around her finger. “I asked Kaede to teach me how to control my powers. When Katosan came to the shrine I felt helpless. I don't want to feel like that anymore.”

 

His scowl was unaccountably dark. Kagome stared at him. His eyes flashed angrily as he glared at the surrounding forest. “No.”

 

“No?”

 

“You don't need to learn that, damn it! I'm the one who protects you!”

 

“You're the one who protects me,” she agreed, snuggling against him as a wave of drowsiness hit her. “It's just sometimes, you can't always be there.”

 

“Keh!”

 

“I'm glad you're back,” she whispered as her eyes drifted closed.

 

“Go to sleep, wench. We're leaving for Totosai's at dawn.”

 

 

 

 

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A/N:

 

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Blanket disclaimer for this fanfic (will apply to this and all other chapters in Chronicles): I do not claim any rights to InuYasha or the characters associated with the anime/manga. Those rights belong to Rumiko Takahashi, et al. I do offer my thanks to her for creating such vivid characters for me to terrorize.

 

~Sue~