InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Delusions ❯ Chapter Nine ( Chapter 9 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Author’s Notes: None

Delusions Chapter Nine Rated - M (for suggestive adult themes, references to some violence, and coarse language) Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.

Inuyasha, still holding her hand, answered, “You kinda said everything that you were seeing and thinking out loud.” Kagome blushed, “Oh….well, then I guess you know then.” Kagome looked down at his hand covering hers and she slowly pulled her hand away. She now felt embarrassed for having revealed an inner part of herself - on top of everything else - to the hanyō. She looked back up at him and saw hurt in his eyes. A hurt that she put there and could not heal. She had to harden her heart though. She had a daughter to think about now. “Inuyasha,” she began softly and he looked into her eyes, “we need to stop by the well first. I’m sending Amaya back before she gets hurt.” He looked at the girl and back at Kagome, then nodded. “Yeah, sure,” was all of the response she got before he turned away and walked over to Sōrin to converse with him and let him know the detour. Miroku and Sango watched the scene together and looked to one another, their hearts going out to the pair. They both knew that Kagome and Inuyasha needed to work through their issues on their own. They were just going about it aggravatingly slow. They had both agreed to let their relationship play out as it may but moments ago. Shippō, on the other hand, was not above trying to help out his long-lost friend. As the group set out to the well he fell in step with Kagome who trailed at the end of the procession along with Amaya. Inuyasha led the group and was flanked by Sōrin, with Miroku and Sango following behind. Kagome leaned over to him and whispered lowly in hopes that Inuyasha’s keen hearing would not pick up her questions. “So, who is that Sōrin kid anyway?” she inquired. Apparently, there were some questions that even Shippō was uncomfortable answering. By Kagome’s figuring he should have been prepared with an answer but the kitsune only stammered. “That’s...uh...he’s...well….he&rsq uo;s…” “He’s what, Shippō?” she whispered as lowly as she could. “You have Amaya, right?” “What’s your point?” “Inuyasha has Sōrin.” Kagome stopped dead in her tracks. “What?!” she yelled. Everyone stopped and looked at her for her outburst. Inuyasha quickly jumped back to where Kagome stood, his face drawn into a look of concern, “What is it Kagome? Is it your mark?” “Inuyasha, is Sōrin your son?! Why wouldn’t you just tell me that instead of letting me put one and two together on my own?” she demanded. He looked dumbfounded and Kagome almost felt sorry for him. Shippō inched away and pulled Amaya with him. Inuyasha shot him a glare that Shippō responded with a shrug of the shoulders. Obviously, Shippō did not feel sorry for him as he left him to Kagome’s frustration. “It’s not like that, Kagome. And how can you be mad at me? You went off and had a kid.” It stung. It was supposed to. Kagome winced but could not help but want to know the rest. “That doesn’t mean you have to lie to me. I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you about...things...but I had my reasons. I hadn’t even had the chance to talk to you before she dropped in! You could have at least said, ‘Hey, this is Sōrin, my “not” kid’.” “Ya, well I have my reasons, too, ya know!” “And what would those be? What is he to you then?” “It’s complicated…” “I’m an adult, Inuyasha, I think you can spell it out for me and I can get it.” “I found him and I took care of him.” “That seems a little too simple to be “complicated”.” “It is complicated, Kagome, I don’t know how to explain it. Not right now.” She threw her hands up in the air, “Gah! I don’t even know why I try. Let’s just go and get this over with.” Her face flushed with anger, she stomped off and shouldered past her friends who were waiting several feet away and beelined towards the well, grabbing Amaya’s arm on the way, effectively dragging her along. Amaya, who protested to the rough treatment, snatched her arm away from her mother and followed sullenly. Kagome pointedly gave Sōrin a once-over as she passed. Inuyasha stood behind as everyone else followed a couple of paces behind her, all of them afraid to face her wrath. He sighed and followed along as well. Sōrin waited to join him again and whispered words no one else could hear to the hanyō. Kagome reached the well, with Amaya tailing along. She hoped that the tension between the group would dissipate once Amaya was home and they were on their way, with one common goal between them. She turned and looked at Amaya. She couldn’t help but be reminded of herself at that age and her adventures. Amaya looked almost resentful to having been ordered to return through the well. “Ok...I need you to go home and not come back. I’ll be back once this is all taken care of.” “Mama, you know that I can help you! I’m president of the Judo club at school. I can take care of myself,” Amaya tried to add persuasively. “What? I thought you were in track and field?” Kagome fired back. “Well, I knew you wouldn’t think highly of it so I told you it was track and field. Papa knew about it…” “I don’t have time for this right now,” she grumbled. “We’ll speak about this when I get back. Everyone can’t continue keeping things from me. I’m not a doll, I’m not going to break.” “I’m sorry. I just wanted to protect you,” Amaya said with a small pout. Kagome sighed, she could understand the need to protect the one you love by shielding them...even from the truth. She realized that she had been living a sheltered life without comprehending the repercussions of her actions on those she loved. It wasn’t fair to Amaya or anyone else, not even to herself. Amaya looked at her mother with concerned eyes and worried on her necklace as she always did out of habit. Kagome gave her a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder. “Look, I’m not angry with you. There is a lot that we need to talk about. And we will...once I get back. This is something I have to take care of and I don’t want to risk you getting hurt or worse. I have Inuyasha to protect me here,” she looked to the hanyō who waited a bit aways with Sōrin. “It’s my job to protect you, and to do that I need you to go home.” Amaya nodded in assent. She hugged her mother and waved to the rest of the group in farewell. Miroku, Sango, and Shippō all returned the gesture as Inuyasha and his protegee merely looked on. Kagome watched the exchange but then had the most odd sensation, one that she vaguely remembered. She heard the not-so-subtle whoosh of Tessaiga being unsheathed. Whirling around to face the forest, she could see trees whip around in the distance, dislodging birds and causing a ruckus. The snap of branches became clearer as the seconds past. Kagome wished she had a weapon, but she had nothing so she stood protectively in front of Amaya who looked around dumbfounded. Sango grabbed Hiraikotsu while Miroku and Shippō stepped into battle stances. The idea of shoving Amaya into the well crossed Kagome’s mind but before she had the chance to act upon it objects began to fly into the clearing. Inuyasha reacted by sailing into the air and slashing them into oblivion with his Wind Scar. Seconds later, a grotesque and large humanoid creature burst onto the scene. Amaya gasped, “What is that thing?!” It lurched forward and whipped its arm around which shot pieces of flesh that solidified into deadly projectiles out in the direction of Kagome. Inuyasha, again, simply utilized his wind scar to decimate them. “Haven’t you figured out that ain't gonna work?” Inuyasha yelled. “I can do this all day,” he challenged. “Is that so?” came the voice of a child. “Huh?” Inuyasha grunted and turned to the direction of the voice. Next to the monstrous yōkai who was idling now stood a child with pale skin, dead violet eyes, and bone white hair. “Who the hell are you? Get outta here kid before you get hurt,” Inuyasha too easily wrote the child off. The child chuckled and motioned to the yōkai who began to assault Inuyasha with a barrage of attacks. Inuyasha easily matched the blows that the monster threw. It wasn’t until it began to shoot out extra appendages from it’s body in the form of hooks and claws that it seemed as though Inuyasha may need a hand. He was trying to rely on his wind scar but the monster was regenerating faster than he could cause damage. “A little help here or are you guys enjoying the show?” Inuyasha called to his comrades. Kagome yelled to Sango, “The child...it’s controlling the yōkai!” Sango needed no more to take the hint and she immediately threw her boomerang to take the child out of play. Kagome thought that this may be over soon as she watched the boomerang reach it’s target and then as a purple barrier shot up around the child to which Hiraikotsu harmlessly pinged off of and returned to Sango. “A barrier,” she called, “like Naraku!” The child laughed as he rose up inside his barrier bubble. He motioned to the yōkai, “Mōryōmaru, that’s enough for now.” The demon stopped and stood motionless again. Inuyasha held Tessaiga up defensively and waited for his enemy’s next move. “We came to retrieve some property,” he said looking in Kagome’s direction. “Over my dead body,” Inuyasha yelled. The child smiled, “I'd like that.” It was quite strange to hear a child talk so casually about death but there was nothing usual about him. Kagome knew that this was the time to get Amaya through the well, while everyone seemed distracted with monologuing. She turned around and shoved her towards the well, knowing the action would cause the girl to stumble and topple into the well and back into the modern era. The demon child immediately snapped his head back towards Kagome and his smug smile disappeared from his face. He merely pointed at her and the yōkai attacked. Inuyasha was there to stop him, but the yōkai had detached a piece of itself which launched itself in Kagome’s direction. The appendage seemed to take on a life of its own. Inuyasha, too busy dodging and attacking the creature, could not break away to pursue the piece. “Sōrin!” he yelled and the boy unsheathed his own katana and launched himself at the thing. But the creature was too fast and Sōrin could not reach it in time. It only took seconds for the thing to reach Kagome and Amaya who watched as she instinctively flailed her arms in the attempt to steady herself as she stumbled over the lip. She fell backwards but the living flesh was lightening fast and whipped around Amaya’s waist and elongated itself to brace the well and stop her fall. Another piece of living flesh came out from nowhere and tried to wrap around Kagome’s ankles. Sōrin appeared beside her and stabbed it, which caused it to disintegrate. He made move to attack the piece that was wrapped around Amaya’s waist but Kagome grabbed his arm before he could get any further, “Don't! You could hurt her!” Sōrin looked down at Kagome, “I'm not an amateur. I know what I am doing.” But it was, too late anyway as the living flesh sprouted legs like an insect and crawled back towards the yōkai, dragging Amaya back with it.. Sango threw her boomerang again in the hopes of stopping the aberrations return but was thwarted by another aberration appearing and stopping the boomerang dead in its path. “Amaya!” Kagome yelled out, reaching for her daughter. Sōrin held out an arm to stop her from going any further. She glared at him and tried to push him out of the way but he returned the gaze, “Unless it’s your plan to be taken as well, I would suggest you stay put.” Much to Kagome’s chagrin, he was probably right. It didn’t stop her from boring holes into the back of his head once he turned to watch Inuyasha’s progress. The hanyō was having his own difficulties trying to kill the enormous yōkai as it kept regenerating after each blow that Inuyasha inflicted upon it. Once he saw the aberration from the corner of his eye crawling towards the body of the yōkai he made to use his wind scar. As quick as his reflexes were, the realization that there was a girl attached to the thing was not fast enough to stop him.

Next time on Delusions…… ….Kagome didn’t know the words that she screamed, it was familiar and came to her almost instinctively. All that she knew was that she yelled as loud as she could once she saw the onslaught that was to come. “SIT BOY!” Inuyasha, in mid-swing, immediately was pushed to the ground by an unseen force, effectively stopping him from obliterating Amaya. The aberration rejoined with its body and the yōkai held the girl in its ungainly hand. Despite being tossed and dragged around, Amaya struggled against the hand that held her. “Let me go,” she growled…..