InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Early December ❯ Eleven ( Chapter 12 )

Disclaimer: I own NOTHING! BUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

~Inu-Yasha: -_- She's lost it.

Kagome: ::shoots Inu a dry look:: She had nothing to loose.

Inu-Yasha: . . . Good point.~

Author's Note: OMG- I was at a craft show with my mom and some other relatives and I saw some KAWAII home-made baby quilts and I just went:

"AWW! Now I wanna write Early December!"

~*~

~Chapter Eleven: The Disappearance~

~Inu-Yasha's PoV~

The day starts normally enough.

We're all roused around 5 AM to the inhumane sound of my poor Kag-chan being violently sick in the front yard (as we have been for the past three months).

I go out to help her, get `sat' a few times, then hug her as she cries (damn mood swings).

We all leave Sango and Miroku's hut and make our way to Kaede's village to help the old bag of bones with her chores and crap.

Then. . .

The day takes an odd turn.

*

"Ugh. . . Getting- hot. . ." Miroku complains as he scrubs Kaede's porch, glaring up at me as I mop his fingers.

"Generally it *does* get toasty during June," Sango replies dryly as she glances over at Shippo and Kaguya, who are playing in a sakura tree.

Kagome smiles and opens her mouth to comment-

When her eyes catch on something else.

"Oh my God," she whispers as she drops her broom, instinctively scooting behind me.

I blink back at her, still holding my mop in curiosity. "What's wrong?"

Wait- - -

That smell. . .

?!

"Keh," a voice sighs emotionlessly from in front of my face. "You didn't even sense me `til now? You're pathetic, little brother."

Damn.

*

"Sessho-Maru," I snarl, throwing my mop away and grasping the hilt of my sword as Miroku, Shippo, and Sango all turn to see what's going on.

My brother *did* just enter in a irregularly quiet fashion. . .

"What are *you* doing her-" Sango begins, but is cut off by her daughter pushing past her, rushing to in front of Sessho-Maru.

"Oh, my!" Kaguya gasps, the now all-too-familiar stars twinkling in her eyes.

Clasping his hands in her own and looking seriously up at him, we all watch in horror as she basically digs her own grave.

"Will you let me bare your child?"

Sessho-Maru's elegant eyebrows arch as he pries Kaguya's hands away from his own; oblivious to Kag and I as we exchange dry looks.

He glances coolly over at the demon exterminator- who has a look of pure horror on her face- and the monk- who has tears of joy streaming down his cheeks, muttering something that sounds suspiciously like `that's my girl!'.

"Is this yours?" he asks coldly, hoisting Kaguya up by the back of her dress.

"Kaguya-chan!" Shippo gasps before glaring at Sessho-Maru. "Give her back!"

"You can have her," he grumbles, tossing the little girl into the kitsune's arms.

Then he returns his attention to me.

Though both Kag's fear and my anger have turned to slight exasperation.

As my mate would have put it, it was a `sweatdrop worthy' moment.

"You can't have my sword," I finally sigh, deciding to be blunt. "So could you just go?"

That statement will make our `business' together brief.

But I doubt it.

A long silence passes as our amber eyes clash.

Then-

Something unexpected happens.

"I'm not here about the Tetsusigia," he finally proclaims, his voice calm and indifferent. "I'm here to see you about your woman."

Kagome blinks.

"M-Me?"

"No, Inu-Yasha's OTHER woman," Sessho-Maru drawls dryly.

Unfortunately, Kag doesn't catch the sarcasm.

"KIKYO?!"

My brother glances at me, an eyebrow arched.

"How many ladies do you keep around, little brother?"

I groan. "I'm NOT still with Ki-!"

"WELL? WHAT ABOUT KIKYO?!" Kagome fumes, glaring at me as people

from the village begin to stare and point. "WELL?!"

"Kag-chan-!"

"SHUT UP! SIT!"

WHAM.

"SIT SIT SIT SIT SIT!"

WHAM WHAM WHAM WHAM WHAM.

"I *was* talking about you, you know," Sessho-Maru tells Kagome coolly as I lay, twitch, in the dirt. "Kikyo is of no concern to me."

Kag says nothing for a minute.

Then she sums up her feelings in the best way possible:

". . . Oh. . .

. . .

Sorry, Inu-chan."

"You may leave," he then announces, glancing down at me as I lift my head, spitting out random pieces of sod and soil. "I wish to speak to my sibling alone."

"But-!"

"Go. And take that weird little girl with you."

He subconsciously rubs his hands together, shooting Kaguya a slightly wary glare as my pack walks slowly takes their leave, glancing at me rather nervously from over their shoulders as they go.

*

Sessho-Maru waits until he can no longer hear my little group- which means they must have gotten pretty far away (taking his hearing skills into account, and all)- to continue.

Then he crouches next to me, looking utterly bored.

"Can you stand?" he asks emotionlessly.

"Yeah," I snarl, pushing myself to my feet and leering down at him. "So what do you want? You gonna kill me now that no one's here to hear me scream?"

Not that I would. . .

But whatever.

"No," he replies calmly, standing as well and dusting off his pants. "I told you- I want to talk about your woman."

"What about her?" I growl warningly, flexing my claws in a way that- curse it all- doesn't intimidate him in the slightest.

"She's carrying your pup, is she not?"

His cool eyes clash with my angry ones as I take a small step backward.

I'm really not surprised he knows- after all, it's pretty evident to anyone with a good nose.

But I hadn't wanted him to find out.

"What of it?" I glare, unnerved by the lack of verbal and physical abuse taking place.

He says nothing else for a moment, instead piercing me with his hard amber gaze.

Then he turns to walk away- - -

And motions for me to follow.

*

We travel in silence for a time, listening to the singing of the birds as the smell of the forest presses in on all sides.

It's. . .

Odd. . .

To walk with my brother.

I haven't been this close to him without fighting since. . .

Since. . .

Hell, I don't know.

Let's just say a really, really long time.

"You gonna say anything?" I finally grunt, looking towards the blue sky.

I want to get back to Kagome.

I hate leaving her side.

It's like I leave a piece of myself with her every time I go-

Even if it's just for a minute.

They say love is a leash-

And they're right.

But. . .

I guess it's a nice leash.

. . .

Yeah.

It is.

But getting back to reality- - -

I glance over at my elder sibling; his silver hair shining in the sunlight as he suddenly comes to a stop.

I blink.

"Tell me what happened. . ." he finally murmurs. "Tell me what happened between you and Naraku."

I blink again.

He turns to face me, his face set and serious.

"Tell me what happened when he died."

I raise an eyebrow.

Ooookaaay. . .

If I may ask- - -

Why?

"He melted. We dumped water over his head and he melted," I reply dryly.

He shoots me a confused look.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

Oh-

That's right.

He wouldn't get the joke.

Always forget about the different time thing. . .

Sighing, I lean back against a tree, looking up at the clouds- but not replying.

"Tell me what really happened, little brother, or I shall `melt' *you* with my venom claws."

I roll my eyes-

Though I can't help but frown at the serious memories and feelings washing over me as I recalled that day.

"Well? I'm waiting."

. . .

"We had half the Jewel. Naraku had the other," I stated bluntly, my eyes half lidded to accompany my frown. "It got to a point where he could no longer send his little golems, or his little alter egos. It was time for a head to head fight.

No one was expecting it. We were all just heading to this village where we had heard a rumor about his location and there he was- waiting for us. He wasn't even wearing a special bodies or his stupid little monkey suit to hide himself.

He just. . .

Came.

Came as he was.

`Course, he wasn't alone- he *did* take Kagura and Kanna and all those other `forms' of his. . .

But they were easy enough to wipe out.

With Kag's arrows, Miroku's hell hole, Sango's boomerang, MY sword,-"

Couldn't help putting the emphasis there-

"and our half of the Shikon, it was almost too simple.

As for Naraku. . ."

I took a deep breath to continue, glancing up at Sessho-Maru-

Who had been so quite I'd almost forgotten he was there and I wasn't just ranting to myself.

"He wasn't so easy.

He used his shards to the max. Even with all our allies and skills he was difficult to beat.

In the end. . .

. . .

Everyone was hurt. Sango was having a hard time breathing and Kirara was unconscious. Miroku had taken in a lot of venom from the wasps. Shippo- bruised- was taking care of Kaguya, who was still too young to fight. The wimpy wolf and his pack were all nursing deep wounds. Our other allies were randomly injured. I had broken about all the bones in my body. And Kagome. . ."

I swallowed hard, feeling an if an icy wave had just washed over me.

. . .

That day. . .

She had looked. . .

So very much like Kikyo.

. . .

Her school uniform had been ripped beyond repair from our last battle for a Jewel shard, and I hadn't given her any time to go back to her world.

So she was wearing priestess' outfit.

She was bleeding all over. . .

Yet she still kept a firm grip on her bow and arrows.

Never giving up.

Never giving in.

My Kag-chan. . .

"And Kagome. . .?" my elder brother echoes as my silence draws out an unnecessarily long time.

"She was hurt pretty badly too," I finish lamely, shaking my head as if to clear it. "Anyway. . . Our half of the Jewel was pretty much purified, whereas Naraku's portion was defiled and tainted. Kagome came up with a plan.

Her purification powers were strong- but Naraku seemed stronger. She needed to intensify her magic.

And so. . .

She tied her half of the Jewel to an arrow with the Shikon's chain- - -

And fired it at him.

It worked. The arrow's powers blew him up- along with a bunch of other demonic spirits in the area. It was. . . very powerful. . ."

I look up at my brother just in time to see a single shiver pass down his spine.

He must have felt her powers that day, too.

"And that was it. He was dead."

"Everyone got better?" he questioned in monotone.

"Yeah."

"What about the monk?"

. . .

"He still has his hellhole, does he not?"

You know what's odd?

Kaguya. . .

She never had a void in her hand.

She had been born without one, even *before* Naraku's defeat.

It had given us all hope that Miroku's would disappear soon too- a sign, if you will.

But then. . .

When we *did* defeat him. . .

It never left.

I sigh and nod. "But it's not getting any bigger."

"And the Jewel?"

. . .

The Jewel. . .

. . .

I rub my temples.

The Jewel.

It had just. . .

Disappeared.

It up and vanished-

*Both* halves.

After bandaging everyone up, Kagome- who insisted on coming to search, despite her terrible wounds- and I- still just about totally broken- went and searched for it in Naraku's remains-

But it wasn't there.

It hadn't even been taken by anyone-

There was no one left in the area to take it.

And I would have been able to smell them, anyway.

The Shikon no Tama was just. . .

Gone.

"Keh!" I finally snap, leaving his question unanswered. "This all happened three years ago! Why the hell do you care *now*?!"

His blank expression never falters as I glare at him.

"Well?!" I press in annoyance- hoping he would reply or at least throw a punch.

Instead, turns his back to me and walks away.

"WELL?!" I yell after him, taking a single step forward. "Answer m-!"

"You'll see, soon," his voice echoes through the woods as his tail transforms into a crimson cloud, carrying him slowly into the sky. "Soon."

"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!"

But he doesn't answer me; doesn't even glance in my direction as he drifts away.

And so, confused and slightly worried, I race back to my friends and mate.

~*~

Well, that's all for now! ^_^

Next chapter: Guess who was floating around while Inu was away with his brother? I'll give you a hint: They look like bugs and enjoy stealing souls.

^_^

Please R&R!

Ja ne!