InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Consciousness ❯ Realization ( Chapter 4 )

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

The gang realizes exactly what the promise Inuyasha made means, Kagura, Sango and Kagome come to an agreement. Inuyasha wonders what Kagome won't tell him.

Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Action / Adventure / Hentai | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 05.02.2005 | Updated On: 07.14.2005 | Pages: 4 | Words: 3.4K | Visits: 569 | Status: Work In Progress

Realization

“Half-breed,” Sesshomaru sneered.

“What do you want?”

“Inuyasha?” Sango queried.

Shifting his gaze slightly, he glanced at Sango. She was staring at him, as if she expected him to rip her to shreds. He took in her defensive posture and slayer outfit. Sango looked ready to fight.

“Oi, need me to kill him for you, Sango?” Inuyasha looked at his brother, cracking his knuckles. Something was niggling in the back of his head. Somehow it didn’t seem right. Sango was too close to Sesshomaru to be fighting with him.

“What?” He bellowed. The two of them were just staring at him.

Relief swept through Sango as she looked at Inuyasha; while he still didn’t seem right, he was coherent and apparently ready to protect his friends.

“Sesshomaru was here to help us, not to fight. You’ve been out for over a week!” Sango exclaimed.

“Relax, half-breed, I am not here to fight, merely to find out why it took more than a week for you to awake.”

At that moment, all hell broke loose. Rin and Shippo were the first to burst through the door. Hearing Inuyasha’s voice sound normal and no screaming, they couldn’t wait to jump on their now awake friends.

“KAGOME!” Shippo shrieked as he flew into the hut, barreling straight at Inuyasha and Kagome. Rin followed hot on his heels. The two were followed by Kirara and Miroku.

“Shippo, wait!” Miroku hollered, charging in after the kit and the small girl.

Kaede was quick to follow, concern for the little ones first on her mind. She knew Inuyasha wouldn’t hurt Kagome, but the kit and child were not as familiar to him if he still wasn’t right.

A low growl of warning broke from Inuyasha before he could stop it. Shippo darted around him and jumped on Kagome. Surprisingly the growl wasn’t directed at the kit. It was directed at the monk who followed him inside the hut.

“INUYASHA! You did not just growl at Miroku!” Kagome admonished, still hidden behind Inuyasha. Once again, she was trying to move herself out from behind the grouchy hanyou.

Once again, a growl erupted from the form in front of her. “I TOLD YOU TO STAY!” he snarled.

Sango glanced at the group in Kaede’s hut. It occurred to her that Inuyasha was still not about too calm. Looking around, one thing became apparent. The addition of another male only served to irritate Inuyasha even more.

“Uh, gentlemen. Could you please leave,” Sango asked.

Sesshomaru and Miroku exchanged glances.

“Rin, come,” Sesshomaru stated as he turned on his heel and left the hut. Miroku followed close behind.

Kanna and Kagura were waiting just outside the hut.

The group moved away from the hut toward a grove of trees to settle in and wait.

As they settled in, Kanna began to relate to Sesshomaru what she had discussed with the monk.
“Inuyasha, could you please let me out of the corner now?” Kagome asked as his growling subsided.

“Whatever,” he snapped.

“Kaede, what happened?” she asked moving out toward the center of the hut.

“That is a question for ye to answer, child,” Kaede responded knowing that she still had not taken in Inuyasha’s features, nor he hers.

“Kagome, there is so much to tell and to ask. Perhaps you would like to clean up and have some food while we discuss this,” Sango said taking note of the now grumbling stomachs of the pair.

“Oi! What the hell happened to you?” Inuyasha asked looking at Kagome. He moved closer, sniffing her and her hair. “About that bath Kagome,” he wrinkled his nose at the odor.

“Inuyasha, SIT!” she growled. As his form connected to the ground, Kagome caught sight of the marks on his face.

Oh crap! What did I just do? She thought moving away from Inuyasha. She noted a dark streak in his silver hair. Kagome started to tremble, knowing she just irritated a transformed Inuyasha even further.

“Uh, Sango,” she trailed off helplessly.

Sango laughed lightly. “He’s been that way for the last few days. I admit I was surprised, but he appears to be in control.”

“What the hell are you talking about! And what the hell happened to you?” Inuyasha said. Looking from Kaede to Sango to Kagome, he waited impatiently for an explanation.

“What happened to me?” Kagome demanded.

“Your hair and your face!” he demanded while pointing to the features in question.

“Inuyasha, please. We will talk soon enough. This happened while ye were still recovering. Your markings are still evident, and there was a change to your hair as well. Kagome’s showed up today,” Kaede supplied.

“WHAT?” They cried out in unison.

Grabbing Kagome firmly by the wrist, he tossed her onto his back and leapt out of the hut, headed for the hot spring.

Sango laughingly, picked up Kagome’s bag and followed behind. She knew once Kagome was at the hot spring, she wasn’t coming back without a bath.

*****

“What the hell happened?” Inuyasha asked again.

The two were standing side by side, staring down into the surface of the hot spring. Inuyasha kept looking at the streak of darkened hair in his silver locks. For the life of him, he couldn’t figure out how the stripes were present on his face, and he was still in control. Kagome still had the jewel. He knew that couldn’t be the cause of it.

As Kagome reached up and touched the silver stripe in her hair, Sango came up behind her.

“Hey, I have your bag, and you should use your mirror. The hot spring really doesn’t do it justice,” Sango said.

Picking up the mirror, Kagome gasped; she had not noticed the jagged stripe on her face. Looking closely, she also noted that her eyes held flecks of gold. Just as she was pulling her hair back to check the mark on her cheek, Inuyasha reached over and pulled the mirror away. The first thing he noted was the blue flecks in his eyes and the red tinge around the edges.

“Ok, Inuyasha, enough gaping. Here, take some soap and go to the river for a bath!” Sango pushed him in the direction of the river. “Let Kagome get a bath!”

“Whatever; is Kirara with you?”

“Yeah.”

“Ok, make it quick. I’ll meet both of you back at the hut; just holler if you need me,” Inuyasha grumbled.

*****

Kagome quickly stripped off her clothes and dropped into the hot springs.

“Oh, Sango! This feels like heaven. Pass me the shampoo, please.’

So, what happened?”

‘Well, I’m not sure I really know. I’ll tell the whole story when were back at the hut; however, while we were unconscious, we saw Midoriko! I seems that the jewel won’t disappear with a simple wish.”

“We were suspicious of that; Sesshomaru brought some scrolls with him, and Kanna has been doing a lot of research since they got here.”

“Speaking of which, when did he get here?”

“I sent Miroku after him because Inuyasha was human for the first several days after the battle, so I sent him to ask Sesshomaru for help. We were concerned about the time you had been unconscious.”

“So more than a week? Wow! Midoriko said she was keeping us suspended until Inuyasha was healed! I didn’t think it would take that long!”

She paused as the phrase Inuyasha was human ran through her mind. “Hey, wait! Did you say Inuyasha was human?”

“Yeah, I guess you were pretty out of it by that time; Kikyo tried to kill him. She would have succeeded if it hadn’t been for Sesshomaru.”

“Well, let’s get finished and get back to the hu, before you know who comes looking!”

*****

The odd little group settled into Kaede’s hut around the fire pit. Bowls of soup were fixed for the hungry pair and a new loaf of bread was split between the two.

Sesshomaru brought them up to date on the details of the end of the battle: Kikyo’s betrayal, how Inuyasha became human, and their observations while the pair was unconscious.

“So, tell us about your visit from Midoriko?” Sango prompted.

“Well, it appears that the jewel will not disappear with a pure wish,” Inuyasha noted.

“That doesn’t surprise me,” Sesshomaru said, “Our research indicates that the myth may not have any substance. I take it there is more?”

“Well, let me ask you something, Sesshomaru,’ Kagome started slowly. “Have you ever sensed a darker presence in these lands, something darker than Naraku?”

“Why do you ask?”

The pair related their conversations with Midoriko, from the warnings of a darker evil to the promise that they would be bonded together to protect Kagome. Kagome left out the conversation between herself and Midoriko. It did not go unnoticed by Inuyasha. He knew she was keeping something from him and planned on finding out about it.

“Well, a binding, huh? That may explain the shared markings. That would also explain how that happened!’ Kanna now joined in the conversation. “There was reference to this happening in the past between a miko and a demon; we were suspicious of Midoriko and another demon.”

“If she was responsible for this binding, it might explain this; it would explain how she would know how to do it,” Kagura showed the first indication that she had heard any of it. “Kagome, you said Midoriko noted a darker power?”

“Yeah, the way she said it almost made me feel like maybe something was actually responsible for Naraku, like he was only a “creation” of someone with a darker power,” Inuyasha joined in.

“I remember when we went to Mount Hakurei after Naraku was injured. I also remember feeling something dark and sinister there; it was fleeting, and it seemed to fade in and out. It quit after Naraku settled in up there, though.”

“I remember something my father used to talk about. When I was a young, he had gathered the other Lords together at our castle, and they were talking about the risk of a rise to power of a dark force,” Sesshomaru added.

“I wonder what or who it is? I don’t ever remember coming across anything that evil, aside from Naraku,” Kagome ended.

The group was in agreement. In their time, they could not remember anything with a stronger evil aura than Naraku in recent past. Sesshomaru couldn’t shake the feeling, though, that there was something that he was forgetting. Knowing well, that as a child, he may not have listened closely. However, he knew where to look.

“So, I have to ask, Kagura and Kanna, how did you get here?” Kagome asked.

“We came with Lord Sesshomaru,” Kanna replied

“We needed somewhere to recover and sought protection with Sesshomaru. He has been gracious enough to allow us entry into his castle.”

“Kanna has proved most useful,” Sesshomaru stated. “She is quick and efficient with research.”

“Kagura trains with the warriors! Rin likes to watch Kagura train with the warriors. Rin wants to be a warrior when Rin grows up!” she chimed in happily.

Kagome shifted her attention to Kagura again. “You’re training warriors?”

“Yes, my speed makes me a valuable resource for the warriors when Sesshomaru is unavailable or traveling; he has asked me to stay on and work with his forces.”

“Inuyasha?” Kagome turned to him because he seemed lost in thought.

“Hm?” His attention shifted back to Kagome

“What do you think?” Kagome asked as she absently rolled the Shikon No Tama in her hands.

“Fuck, I don’t know Kagome. I don’t know what to make of any of it.”

“Well, we won’t get any answers sitting here,’ Sesshomaru joined back into the conversation. “I believe we are best off to return to the palace and begin research in Father’s scrolls. The information contained in the scrolls I brought is limited. I believe there is more here than anyone is taking into account. Something dark happened on the battlefield, and I believe that it is somehow responsible for the current conditions of Inuyasha and Kagome.”

“What do you mean?” Inuyasha asked.

“Well, Inuyasha, in case you failed to notice, you are slightly different now then you were then. We know that no wish was made; even if it was, it wouldn’t have worked.”

“So what exactly is different besides the obvious?”

“Well, while you were out, you were human for several days. After that, you were full youkai. There was no trace of humanity in your form. While I admit, the longer you are awake, the more humanity I can sense coming from you. Apparently, you will return to your normal half-breed self.”

“Speaking of which, Sesshomaru, do you know why Inuyasha woke up and was still in control of himself?” Kagome asked.

“No idea,” he replied, “one more mystery on which we will hopefully gather information when we return to the palace.”

“First thing in the morning, we will head back. Rin, I recommend you get some rest.”

“Yes, my Lord.”

“Kagura, Kanna, and Jaken, we travel at first light. Inuyasha?”

“What?”

“I recommend you follow us to the palace.”

“Uh, Inuyasha. I really need to go home and see my family.”

“Sesshomaru, we will come to the palace, but I need an additional day before we head out. Sango and Miroku, you will travel with us?”

“Of course, Inuyasha, we will prepare to leave while you and Kagome are in her time.”

“Do you want to leave tonight?”

“No, we can leave first thing in the morning. I would like to spend an evening with Kaede, Shippo, and Rin. I would also like time to talk to Kagura.”

“Fine, we leave at first light,” Inuyasha said as he got up and went outside. Night had fallen, and he headed into the forest. He could sense Sesshomaru and Miroku following him.

*****

“I take it you have something to say?” he asked as they cleared the village area.

“What was the miko hiding?” Sesshomaru asked bluntly.

“I don’t know what your talking about.”

“Inuyasha, don’t play stupid. What did Midoriko tell her?” Miroku piped up at this point.

“I dunno. She won’t tell me.”

“Have you thought about your current situation, Inuyasha?” The icy tai-youkai asked with one brow raised.

“Which one?” Inuyasha asked evasively.

“You are obviously linked to the miko. That means your life is her life and hers is yours.”

“How does that happen Sesshomaru? How is Kagome linked to Inuyasha?” Miroku asked, brimming over with curiosity.

“I think Midoriko is responsible because she asked me if I would protect Kagome with my life.”

“You said yes,” Sesshomaru sneered. “Do you have no faith in your miko’s ability?”
“Feh, she’s only human.”

“Inuyasha! She is one of the strongest mikos I know,” defended Miroku.

“Speaking of mikos, Sesshomaru, I owe you a debt of honor for protecting Kagome after the battle. I still can’t believe that Kikyo would betray us.”

“I will remind you of your debt when the time comes,” Sesshomaru echoed ominously.“So tell me about the miko’s time,” Sesshomaru commanded as they settled on the forest floor.

They were not in a hurry to get back to the hut, knowing well the girls would be chatting for hours.

*****

“So, Kagura, you are teaching battle skills as well? You are not just a sparring partner, right?” Kagome and Sango looked on expectantly.

“That is correct, why?’

“When we get to the palace, can you train me to be a stronger fighter? I need to be able to defend myself. Inuyasha’s life is linked to mine. It is not fair if I cannot protect myself.”

“I would also like to sharpen my skills,” Sango added. “If we are potentially going to face an enemy nastier than Naraku, I need to hone my fighting skills.”

“ME, TOO!” Shippo piped up from his spot on Kagome’s lap.

“Yes, Shippo, you should learn to use your magic better,” Kagome grinned at him.

“Will you do it?” Sango and Kagome asked in unison.

“If you would like,” Kagura answered, “although when it comes to magic, Kanna may be more suited to work with Shippo; she has a few magic tricks up her sleeve.”

“Kagome, what are ye not telling us about your visit from Midoriko?” Kaede inquired.

Kagura lifted her eyebrow, so she wasn’t the only one that thought Kagome was hiding something.

Kagome blushed deep; they never ceased to amaze her as to how quickly they caught on and how Kaede never missed a beat. There were no hiding things from Kaede and Sango. She had seen the look Sango gave her earlier, and now Kagura had that same look.

“I don’t know what you mean,” Kagome said coyly.

“If ye wish to leave it that way,” Kaede responded.

“Oh no, you don’t! I don’t give up that easy. You’re blushing, so there is something you’re not telling me!” Sango wasn’t going to let go that easy

“Lets just say Midoriko wanted to be sure that I would stand by Inuyasha,” Kagome answered vaguely.

“So, you two still haven’t told each other how you feel about each other?’ Kagura interrupted.

“WHAT! What do you mean told each other?” Kagome asked innocently.

“Oh please! That hanyou has been courting you for almost four years, feeding you, hunting for you, protecting you, and fighting for you; he basically pisses his boundaries for you when that wolf comes around! Or haven’t you noticed?” Kagura smirked.

The girls bantered late into the night about Sesshomaru, Miroku, and Inuyasha, all the while laughing and teasing.

The guys wandered in late just as the girls were settling down to sleep. Inuyasha sat down with his back against the wall and hauled Kagome up onto his lap. Shippo came over and snuggled up in Kagome’s lap.
Sango, Kirara, and Rin shared a mat; Kanna and Kagura each took another. Kaede was already sleeping in her room in the back. Sesshomaru slept against the wall, his legs stretched out between the lecherous monk and the girls in the room. This was the first time since they all arrived that they all shared the hut; fortunately for them, it was a chilly night.

“We leave at first light, so sleep deeply,” Sesshomaru breathed out before slipping into sweet sleep.

OK: time for the disclaimer again!
I don’t own Inuyasha, its characters, or its story.
That sole pleasure belongs to Rumiko Takahash.i
I’ll let you know which characters I own as I go!