InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Confrontation ❯ Here Today, Gone Tommorrow ( Chapter 9 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Disclaimer: I do not own any of them, well Jouyoku and Meibi Kokushi are mine, yes ma'am they sure are!!

Chapter9: Here Today, Gone Tommorrow.

The group walked north mostly in silence since it was obvious that Kagome had a lot on her mind, and Sango still wasn't saying more than she needed to in regards to Miroku. They decided to bring Shippo along so that when the girls went for a bath they would have someone to keep watch in case one of them or both of them started to wonder away. The sun was now beginning to set so Inuyasha knew it would be best if they found a place to camp.

“Lets set up camp here!” He yelled from the back of the group where he walked quietly beside the constantly chatting monk.

The girls didn't really give any sign of acknowledgement that they had heard him or agreed with him, but they did deter from the straight path they were on, by walking into the clearing they were conveniently passing at this time.

Shippo immediately jumped out of the miko's arms, “I'll get the wood for the fire!” Then he scampered off before anyone could say anything.

`I wonder if there's a hot spring around here…damn I sure hope so, because I could use a bath'. Kagome thought as she glanced over at her friend who was now gathering large stones to place around the fire. “So do you think they'll let us get away long enough to take a bath, because I really need to talk to you about something…well a couple of things.” She said while walking over to where Sango was now kneeling, positioning the rocks in a circular pattern.

“Umm, a bath sounds really good right now, but I don't know if there's a hot spring nearby.” She replied as she stood up and inspected her work.

“Oi, here.” Inuyasha said as he walked up behind the two girls handing Kagome her satchel.

“Eeek!” Kagome squeaked. “Don't sneak up on me like that, I'm already nervous enough, you know!” Then she snatched her bag from his hand.

The hanyou just looked at her inquisitively for a moment thinking, `what's her deal?' Shaking his head as if saying `not this shit again' he turned to walk away mumbling, “ if I didn't love her I would've dropped her ass off a cliff years ago.” Of course no one heard this confession since he mumbled it so low and incoherently that you wouldn't have understood what he said if you had heard him. Taking off in light jog he yelled over his shoulder at the monk, “I'm going hunting so keep an eye on Kagome and the others!” Then he was gone disappearing into the forest.

Taking the iron pot from her satchel Kagome filled it with water so that when Shippo returned with the fire wood they would have less work to do. As she did this Sango prepared the skewers for the meat that Inuyasha would be bringing back.

“Kagome?” The slayer asked as she glanced in the monk's direction making sure that he was far enough away that he couldn't hear their conversation, “are you upset with Inuyasha about something? Did he do anything?”

Not looking up at her friend she shook her head, “No, I'm not upset with him…he's actually been so perfect lately that I can barely stand it. Do you know that I haven't had to `sit' him in over 3 months?”

“So, then why the attitude? I mean you know if I can see it so can Miroku and Shippo.” Sango replied, her eyes coming to rest on a now meditating monk.

Blushing Kagome sat the pot next to her and started digging in her bag again, “I was going to wait to talk to you about this later, but since we have some time I guess we can start now.” Pulling out a few cups of ramen and placing them next to her she looked at her friend whom was now staring unabashedly at the monk. Clearing her throat she said playfully, “excuse me, but I thought we were talking about me?”

Turning back at her friend the older woman started to blush ferociously as she stuttered, “ Uhm…oh…go ahead I'm listening.”

Smiling at her Kagome reached over to squeeze her friends' hand, “you know it's alright to forgive him. That's what love is, being able to know that the one you love will make some mistakes, but yet you still love him unconditionally.”

Sango looked at her friend with tears welling up in her eyes, “but you said…” she started to say.

“I know what I said, and I truly believe that, but this is your heart” she replied as she pressed her finger against Sango's heart, “you should listen to it…not to me.”

Sighing heavily, the slayer seemed to have found something rather interesting on the ground between them. Waving her hand in front of her face as if she was shooing away flies she smiled brightly as she stated, “enough about me now tell me what's going on with you and the always pissed off hanyou.” While with her free hand she reached up and wiped away the last trace of her tears.

It was Kagome's turn to check the surroundings for any unwanted ears, but she had to squint her eyes into the forest, since her hanyou had the hearing of the gods. Feeling sure that he wasn't listening she began, “Well…I feel foolish…I mean stupid really. Don't get me wrong I love the time that Inuyasha and I spend together, but I feel like I'm being used.”

Staring at her friend as if she was seeing her for the first time, Sango asked, “why?”

“Well I had a talk with Kik…” the miko started to say but was interrupted by a very rambunctious kitsune.

Running up to the girls with his arms full off dried tree branches, “Look I got a whole bunch of fire wood, enough to last all night!”

“We'll definitely finish this later.” The taijiya whispered to her friend then began to prepare a fire so that they could cook dinner.

“Shippo, you did such wonderful job!” Kagome exclaimed as she patted the little kitsune's head.

“Oi, bouzu!” Inuyasha yelled as he jumped out of the bushes nearest to the monk carrying 2 freshly skinned rabbits and 4 gutted and cleaned fish. “I leave you here to watch the girls and you sleep the whole time!” Advancing on the confused man he continued, “If anything would've happened to Kagome you would be paying with your life!”

Jumping to his feet he backed up against the tree he was leaning on, “Inuyasha I assure you I was merely meditating. At all times I was aware of where the girls were and what they were doing.” Feeling insulted that the hanyou would insinuate that he would allow something to happen to either one of the women he shot back, “and beside do you really think that I would allow something…anything to happen to Sango!”

Running over to the yelling men who were now staring each other down, Kagome stepped in between them so that she was facing Inuyasha, “stop it, I'm right here and we're both fine!”

Glaring down at her he replied harshly, “but what if…”

Knowing what he was about to say she cut him off, “but nothing! I promised you I'd fight him, right? And I will, so stop picking fights with Miroku he's just as worried as the rest of us!”

“Feh!” He hissed as he shoved the food he caught in her hand and leapt into the low branches of the tree that the monk was sitting under. `See if I worry about her ass again' he thought as he leaned up against the tree trunk while putting his hands into the sleeves of his haori.

Glaring up at the fuming hanyou Kagome knew he would probably stay up there all night because she had yelled at him, but he was wrong this time. He shouldn't have yelled at Miroku like that. Turning to the monk she smiled, “are you okay?”

“Of course I am. I'm use to Inuyasha acting so rash, and besides I probably would've reacted the same way.” He answered with a comforting smile of his own.

Once he was sure that the coast was clear Shippo ran over and jumped on Miroku's shoulder, “don't worry about Inuyasha, he's such a baka!”

“If I have to come down there Shippo you won't like me!” The hanyou yelled from his perch.

“I already don't like you!” The kitsune shouted back, but was too slow to dodge the thump the hanyou landed on his head. No one had seen him move he just kind of appeared next to the monk.

“Ow!” The little fox screamed as he sprang from Miroku's shoulder to Kagome's arms hoping that she would protect him.

“Shippo that wasn't nice. You shouldn't have said that to him.” Kagome scolded as she brought him up so she could look in his face. “After all the things that Inuyasha does for you.”

“Like what!” The fox child inquired as if he really didn't know.

“Like feeding you, protecting you, making sure you have a place to sleep, how could you say that?” She practically yelled the last part, because she felt like he was being very disrespectful and ungrateful. She had never yelled at him like that before, and honestly part of her felt bad but she knew he deserved it, he was behaving very bad lately and especially with the protector of the group. Speaking lower and in a softer tone Kagome finished, “Now I think you owe him an apology.”

Shippo looked up at her as if she was speaking a foreign language; as a matter of fact they all looked at her like she was speaking pure gibberish. She had never chastised the kit for anything least of all anything that he did to Inuyasha, so why now they all wondered.

“Ka…Kagome?” the kitsune stuttered.

The miko didn't answer instead she sat the kitsune on the ground in front of her and turned her back to him. Folding her arms across her chest she stood there with out saying a word.

Inuyasha took in the scene happening in front of him in awe, `what in the hell is she doing? Wait a minute how does she know about that…that's one of the ways an Inu Youkai punishes their young or the pup of a pack member when they do something wrong, she's can't be…' he thought, as a conversation he had with his mother when he was young came to mind.

Flashback

He had just been run off by one of the other villagers. All he wanted to do was play with the little girl, but her father wouldn't let him near her, so he did what he always did when he was younger, he ran to his mother crying and of course she hugged and kissed him until he had calmed down to mere sniffles.

“Honey, what's wrong?” she asked him.

Looking up at her, he responded through blurred vision, “t…they won't let me play with her, t…they say I'm not good enough, t…they call me worthless.”

“Oh, my sweet Koinu don't you worry about them or what they say, as a matter of fact I think she's not good enough for you, after all aren't you my little Prince?” She asked him as she nuzzled his nose.

“Y...yes” he replied weakly as he tried to stop her from nuzzling him by grabbing her cheeks and pushing her back to no avail.

“Then doesn't a Prince need a Princess?” She asked with a bright smile as she pulled him into her lap.

“Yeah.” He responded as he laid his head on her chest and listened to her heartbeat. Tilting his head up he asked, “How will I find my princess, momma?”

“Don't you worry sweet Koinu, she'll find you, and you'll know because she'll adopt the Inu-youkai ways, `at least I thing she will.'

Staring at his mother with a look of confusion on his young features he asked, “traits? What's that momma?”

“Don't worry about it now honey, you still have many, many years to go before that happens.” She answered with a smile.

“But momma, will she be able to play with me?” He remembered asking. Seeing his mothers' bright smile he knew that his princess would play with him all the time, whenever he wanted to.

End Flashback

The memory faded and he was left staring at Kagome's back, `damn, could it be?' He felt a tug on the leg of his hakama. Glancing down he saw Shippo at his feet pouting with his bottom lip pocked out as if he was ready to or about to cry.

“I…Inuyasha” He stuttered, “I'm sorry, I didn't mean what I said.” He then turned back to Kagome who was still facing away from him. Looking from the hanyou to his surrogate mother, the kitsune didn't know what to think. He had done what she asked, so why was she still ignoring him? `Is she kicking me out of the pack?'

Inuyasha had an idea of what she was waiting on, she wanted to hear him accept the apology then and only then would all be forgiven. He smiled subconsciously; he still couldn't believe what his mind was telling him. Glancing down at Shippo he said, “alright runt, but don't let it happen again.”

Hearing this Kagome turned around to find the other's staring at her. “What!”

Sango walked up to her friend and placed a hand on her forehead as if she thought she was sick, “why did you do that to Shippo?”

She in return shrugged her shoulder in an `I don't know fashion', “he needed to be punished and that seemed like a good idea to me.”

The other's still stood there staring at her, but she didn't care she was hungry and daylight was fading fast. “So are we going to cook, because I would sure like to have a bath before we turn in for the night.” She said as she walked over to the fire and began to prepare the rabbits and fish that Inuyasha had caught.

During dinner there was a lot of small talk. Every once in a while Miroku would say something about Kagome punishing Shippo, which of course made the kit feel even worst than he already felt. Since Kagome had never punished him before, he decided that he would never allow her to do it again, because for some reason it hurt a lot worse than Inuyasha's thumps ever did.

After cleaning up the plates and setting aside some extra water so that they could prepare breakfast in the morning the girls gathered their bathing supplies and headed for the stream.

Although it wasn't a hot spring they still wanted to go, since they had a lot to discuss. It goes with out saying that getting Inuyasha to agree was like pulling teeth from a viper snake, but eventually he agreed as long as they took both Shippo and Kirara with them so that if one of the guards were incapacitated then the other could run and get help. Reluctantly the girls agreed.

As he watched the girls disappear down the trail he yelled, “and don't make me come down there to get you!”

Hearing this Kagome laughed. He could hardly hold himself together around her when she had her clothes on, what would he do if he saw her naked. Sure he had seen her naked before by accident, but that was when she was younger. Just thought was enough to make her blush.

“So tell me what happened?” Sango asked nudging her friend in the side gently to get her attention.

Frowning Kagome wasn't sure if she could repeat what happened between Kikyo and herself, because if she did then maybe she would feel even more used than she already felt. Setting those feeling a side she told her friend about the altercation.

The entire time she was talking Sango was staring at her with her mouth wide open as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing.

“…And that's when I saw you at Keade's hut.” She said finishing the story.

“Are you serious?” What she had just heard was unbelievable, `quiet Kagome standing up to Kikyo of all people,' she thought as she started jumping up and down and clapping her hands together like a little girl. Throwing her arms around Kagome, “well it's about time, somebody tells that thing something, and I for one am glad it was you, because you know Inuyasha would be stuttering like the village fool.”

“I know and that's the problem. Inuyasha still acts like a two-year-old child when she comes around. Doesn't that mean he still has feelings for her?” The miko stated as she returned the hug.

Surveying their surroundings Sango sort out their two companions, since she hadn't heard a word out of either of them the entire story, “Uhm, Kagome where's Shippo and Kirara?”

Unsure of what the slayer was getting at Kagome turned around in a small circle, but saw hide nor tail of either bodyguard. Before she could think of why or what was amiss, she felt her self being pulled backwards against something hard and large hand was placed over her mouth. `What in the hell is going on?'

“Scream and you die!” A harsh voice hissed from behind her.

Before she could squirm or even begin to fight she felt herself being lifted roughly and tossed over what she figured was his shoulder. “Who are you? What do you want?” She yelled.

Her only reply was a powerful blow to the back of her head. “I…Inuy…” she whispered as she slipped into darkness.

Until next time…

Special thanks to Darkmikokikyo, for all your help!!