InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Chronicles ❯ Stuck ( Chapter 66 )

~~Chapter 66~~

~Stuck~

 

InuYasha shook his head as he stared in amazement at Blue Tetsusaiga. “What the hell's going on?”

 

Kagome shook her head and sat back with a muffled sob. “We can't go back . . . but we didn't even get to say goodbye . . . .”

 

Dropping Tetsusaiga into the sheath, InuYasha hunkered down beside her, drew her into his arms. He wasn't good at this sort of thing. He knew that as well as anyone. Still, instinct told him that he needed to be the strong one. As much as the thought of having to remain here in her time bothered him, he'd cut his tongue out before he'd say anything against it to her. `At least we're still together.' He smoothed her hair, let her sob against him as he winced. He hated to see her cry. “Maybe we can find a way,” he told her.

 

She sniffled and shook her head. “You know we can't. You're just saying that because you think it's what I want to hear. I'll just miss them . . . and Shippou.”

 

`Shippou . . . who's gonna teach the brat what he needs to know? Who's going to teach him the things a youkai needs to know?' InuYasha sighed. “He'll stay with Miroku and Sango . . . the runt'll be fine.”

 

If she caught the doubt in his tone, she didn't comment. “I just don't want them to think that I didn't want to say goodbye,” she mumbled. Suddenly she sat up straight, eyes widening in alarm as something else occurred to her. “I left my backpack there!”

 

InuYasha frowned. “You're worried about your bag?”

 

She shook her head. “No, but if someone other than Miroku or Sango finds it . . . there's stuff in there that shouldn't be in that time!”

 

“Don't worry about it,” he assured her. “Even if someone else found it, there's not much use in worrying about it, right?”

 

“I'm glad you're here,” she said quietly. “I just wish . . . .” She shook her head and drew a deep breath. “It's because of the jewel, isn't it? But . . . what about Tetsusaiga? Why is it so blue? Why was it casting that barrier on both of us?”

 

“Keh,” he snorted as he stood and pulled Kagome to her feet. “I have no idea. I don't get any of it.”

 

She stared at the rabble left where the well used to stand. “Why did it do that? Why did it pulse like that? Like it wanted you to use it? Maybe . . . you're supposed to use Tetsusaiga . . . maybe . . . do you think it can open the well?”

 

InuYasha didn't believe that. But Kagome looked so hopeful, so trusting . . . . He nodded and drew the sword once more as she stepped back. Again the blade glowed blue, and again the two of them were wrapped in the sapphire light. InuYasha raised Tetsusaiga above his head and slammed it into the hard ground, embedding the blade deep into the earth. The walls of the well-house trembled. The ground resonated with the force of the sword. A bright blue light flashed out from the blade, jetting out around it like a wave of energy, but when the light faded, nothing had changed.

 

Jerking the sword out of the earth, he put the Fang away. Kagome sighed softly. “It was worth a try,” she mumbled sadly.

 

`What the hell is going on? Why can't anyone ever give me a straight answer? Damn it, someone has to know something . . . .' A low snarl escaped InuYasha as he realized that there was someone who might be able to answer some of his questions. `I'll make that bastard talk, even if I have to use Tetsusaiga to loosen his tongue . . . .' He turned on his heel and stomped up the stairs and out of the shelter. Kagome followed him. “Where are you going?”

 

He shook his head. “I'm fucking sick of all these riddles. There's one person who's got some answers, and he's damn well going to spill `em.”

 

“Sesshoumaru?” Kagome murmured and nodded. “I'm coming with you.”

 

He started to tell her to stay here. He didn't like dragging her over there. He never liked the idea of her being anywhere near Sesshoumaru. Determination lit her eyes with a fierce glow. She stared defiantly back at him as though she knew what he was thinking. He sighed. `You'd think she'd listen to me more now that I'm her mate, but no-o-o-o . . . .' Shaking his head, he knew that telling Kagome to stay behind was a battle he was sure to lose.

 

“Keh. Come on.”

 

 

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

 

 

“InuYasha probably stayed at the well all night,” Shippou remarked as he scampered ahead of Miroku and Sango along the forest path that led to the meadow where the Bone Eater's Well stood. “He hates to admit how much he misses Kagome whenever she goes back to her time.”

 

Miroku grinned. “What do you think, Sango? Do you suppose InuYasha is done giving us the silent treatment?”

 

Sango shook her head and tried not to smile. “Surely not. Most times InuYasha sulks at least a week.”

 

Miroku grabbed Sango's arm as they stepped out of the forest and into the clearing. “Something's wrong . . . can you feel it?”

 

Sango frowned. “There's been a youkai here recently . . . .”

 

He let go and stepped forward. More than the simple lingering youki, there was something far more eerie about the silence in the meadow. As if something had been shifted, altered.

 

“No!” Shippou screamed.

 

Miroku ran. “Shippou!” Eyes widening in shock, the monk skidded to a stop next to the kitsune. Rummaging through a pile of debris where the well used to stand, there was nothing but some dried up wood and a few rocks. Kagome's backpack lay on the ground nearby.

 

Sango gasped as she drew up beside Miroku. “What . . . ?”

 

“Kagome!” Shippou wailed as he struggled to move the rubbish. “InuYasha!”

 

Miroku dug through the wreckage. The area was covered in grass, as though the well hadn't stood there at all. `It's as if the Bone Eater's Well never stood here . . . . It's closed, and . . . and that means . . . .' Shaking his head in disbelief, turning his stunned gaze on Sango as the kitsune threw himself onto the grass, digging frantically with his tiny paws, Miroku cleared his throat. “She did it . . . Kagome purified the jewel . . . .”

 

“Houshi-sama!” Sango gasped. “Does that mean—?”

 

Miroku cast a warning glance toward Shippou, stopping Sango before she could say the words. Lifting his gaze back to hers, he nodded slowly.

 

The exterminator's eyes filled with tears as she sank to her knees. Miroku hugged her, wincing as he realized that there wasn't a thing he could do to comfort her, just as there wasn't anything he could say that would console the kitsune. The idea that Kagome was somehow gone from their lives was a painful thing, and Sango, who had already lost so very much, was not only losing a friend, she was somehow losing a sister, as well. There wasn't a thing Miroku could do, not a thing he could say to soothe Sango's spirit. All he could do was hold her . . . .

 

`InuYasha . . . . He's gone, too . . . . The emptiness in the forest, the whisper of the wind . . . the forest mourns the loss of its protector . . . .' Miroku closed his eyes, willing away the pang of loss. To lose both Kagome and InuYasha . . . it was a hurtful thing. Sango might not have realized yet, that the hanyou was gone, too. But Shippou . . . the kitsune knew.

 

Shippou kept digging, even after his hands were bloody and raw. Gently Sango pulled the kit out of the little hole he'd created. Shippou fought against her hold for a few minutes before turning, sobbing, throwing himself against Sango.

 

Miroku closed his eyes as the kitsune's words came back to him: `All I wanted since my father died was a family. That's all, I swear . . . .'

 

The three friends sat in that place in silence as the evening shadows fell.

 

 

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

 

 

The door slammed open as InuYasha barreled into Sesshoumaru's mansion. Without paying any attention to the threats from Sesshoumaru's employees that came his way, InuYasha dragged Kagome behind him as he strode from room to room. “Sesshoumaru, you bastard! Get out here!”

 

Nibori loped down the staircase with a wide grin. “Uncle! Good to see you . . . I take it you wish to see Father?”

 

At the sound of that greeting, InuYasha growled.

 

“Yes, please,” Kagome said as she peeked out from behind InuYasha's back.

 

“I believe Father's in his study . . . the one door you've yet to break down, Uncle,” Nibori remarked dryly, suppressing a grin though his eyes sparkled in his amusement.

 

“Thank you!” Kagome called back as InuYasha dragged her down the short hallway to the last door.

 

InuYasha threw his shoulder against that door, too. It splintered and cracked, groaning on its hinges before snapping open. “Really, InuYasha. Must you raise such a fuss?” Sesshoumaru asked as he glanced up from the papers on his desk.

 

“I want some answers,” InuYasha snarled. “And you're going to give `em to me.”

 

Sesshoumaru gathered the stack of papers together and tapped them against the desk. He laid them aside and sat back in his chair before giving InuYasha his complete, if not a bit bored, attention. “You purified the jewel this morning, Miko. I felt the shift.”

 

Kagome blinked in surprise. “How did you know? The shift in what?”

 

Flicking his wrist in a dismissive gesture, Sesshoumaru waved away her questions. “It matters not. How did you accomplish this?”

 

Sesshoumaru's eyebrows lifted when he caught the decidedly nervous looks that passed between InuYasha and Kagome. When both faces flushed deep scarlet, the tai-youkai narrowed his gaze. “Perhaps I'm far better off not knowing the . . . technicalities.”

 

“I need some answers,” InuYasha cut in.

 

“You think I have answers for the likes of you?” Sesshoumaru countered.

 

“I know you do.”

 

“And you think I'll just give them to you?”

 

“I'd be more than happy to beat them out of you.”

 

“InuYasha!” Kagome scolded.

 

“Keep out of this, wench.”

 

Sesshoumaru stood and slowly rounded his desk. “Once a baka, always a baka.”

 

“Baka this, you bastard!” InuYasha snarled, drawing Tetsusaiga with a flash of sapphire light.

 

Sesshoumaru stared at the glowing blue blade with vague surprise before shifting his gaze to his brother and on to Kagome, who were also engulfed in the sheen. “What have you done to Father's fang?”

 

“It's not the old man's fang anymore,” InuYasha growled. “It's mine. Unfortunately, I have no fucking idea what Totosai did to it, so sorry if I can't tell you.”

 

Sesshoumaru blinked in surprise as a strange sort of understanding lit his gaze, almost a sense of satisfaction . . . . Kagome frowned. `Why would he be pleased?'

 

The Inu no Taisho stared at InuYasha. “You allowed him to do something to Tetsusaiga, and you know not what he did? You're more of a baka than I thought . . . .”

 

Wind twisted around Tetsusaiga's blade, which meant that InuYasha had every intention of using it against Sesshoumaru. Kagome rushed between the two. “InuYasha! Stop that!”

 

“Wench—”

 

Sesshoumaru leaned back, a look of disgust filtering over his stoic countenance. “You defiled the miko?”

 

“I didn't defile anyone! Shut the fuck up, bastard!” InuYasha bellowed, pushing Kagome out of the way as he lunged at Sesshoumaru.

 

Kagome pushed between the two again and wasted no time in tweaking both of the brothers' noses at the same time. “Knock it off, already! You're brothers! You shouldn't be trying to maim each other!”

 

Sesshoumaru looked about as appalled as he ever had. “InuYasha . . . control your mate.”

 

“Keh!” InuYasha snorted. “That's impossible.”

 

Sesshoumaru pinned Kagome with a cold stare. “One does not tweak the Inu no Taisho.”

 

She squared her shoulders and lifted her chin. “Maybe not the Inu no Taisho, but I can tweak your nose if you go picking a fight with InuYasha.” Turning to InuYasha, she crossed her arms and stared at Tetsusaiga. “Put that away, will you? Just ask nicely.”

 

“Nicely?” InuYasha echoed incredulously. “You gotta be kidding . . . there ain't no way I'm asking him a fucking thing, let alone `nicely'.” He did drop Tetsusaiga into the sheath, glaring mulishly at Kagome the entire time.

 

Sesshoumaru strode over to the mantle and picked up the small wooden box. He turned back to face them and stepped back to the desk to set the box down before he turned away. “Be gone, InuYasha, and take that with you.”

 

InuYasha eyed the small box with a suspicious glint in his eyes. “What the hell is that?”

 

“Don't recognize your own fang?”

 

“I thought you said you needed it.”

 

“Don't flatter yourself, baka. This Sesshoumaru requires not the pitiful fang of a half-breed like you. Take it and go. Your stench is hard to get out of the carpets.”

 

InuYasha opened the box and stared at the necklace. “What did you do to it?”

 

Sesshoumaru sat down at his desk and leaned back. “When I discovered that it could not be used, Leikizu had it made into a concealment charm for you. She likes you . . . but then she's always had a soft spot for pitiful beasts.”

 

Kagome grabbed InuYasha's arm before he could lash out at his brother again. “Come on,” she muttered. “Sesshoumaru doesn't seem to have any answers for you, anyway.”

 

The hanyou let her drag him toward the doorway.

 

“Aoirotoku,” Sesshoumaru mumbled as InuYasha reached the threshold.

 

InuYasha stopped and pulled his arm away from Kagome. “What'd you say?” he asked dubiously, his voice quiet, controlled, eyes narrowing as he glared at his half-brother.

 

Sesshoumaru nearly smiled as he stared back. “Did I say something?”

 

“How do you know the name of the barrier?”

 

“Perhaps you ought to ask Totosai.”

 

InuYasha blinked in surprise. “That old geezer's still alive?”

 

Sesshoumaru chuckled nastily. “So it would seem.”

 

“Tell me where to find him.”

 

“You don't know?”

 

InuYasha growled in frustration then grabbed Kagome's hand. “Come on.”

 

Sesshoumaru's smile widened just a little as he heard the front door slam open. Nibori sauntered into the study and sank down in one of the thick chairs across from his father. “That went well.”

 

“Quite.”

 

“You sent him to Totosai? You could have told him.”

 

Sesshoumaru nodded mildly. “I could have.”

 

Nibori shook his head slowly. “Then why didn't you?”

 

“That's simple, Nibori,” Sesshoumaru said as he turned his attention back to the stack of papers again. “You don't think that baka would listen to the truth if it came from me, now do you?”

 

 

 

 

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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~