InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Falling ❯ Preparations ( Chapter 4 )

Chapter 4: Preparations

 

 

“So you're saying if I do this… this blood-binding thing, Kagome won't die?”

 

Sesshomaru rolled his eyes at his younger brother. The impetuous whelp was always unable to grasp subtle nuances. “She will die, InuYasha, as you will one day meet your end. Her life would simply be linked to yours. She will slip into the void when you do. Not a moment sooner or a moment later.”

 

Kagura picked up where her mate had left off. “Of course, the opposite is true as well. If you bind your lives together, you will die if she does. If she is attacked, if she loses her life in childbirth…” InuYasha had gone pale, thinking about just how fragile humans were. He covered his discomfiture with a forced smirk, though the youkai could tell he was shaken.

 

“Keh. I've protected her before, I won't stop now. I won't stop just because she'll have my blood flowing through her veins!” He lifted his head, made bolder by his own assertions.

 

Sesshomaru lifted a fine eyebrow. “She will? You sound as though you've already made up your mind.” InuYasha crossed his arms angrily.

 

“Bastard. Of course I have. I'll do it.”

 

Kagura chuckled. “You may wish to ask her opinion first.”

 

InuYasha's train of thought froze in its tracks. What if she didn't want to be linked with him? `That's stupid,' he reminded himself, `Miroku wouldn't encourage me to court her if he thought she'd turn me down. Plus, if she lives as long as I do, perhaps we'll be alive in the future to see her family.' The thought pleased him. Maybe there was something he could do to put a smile back on his miko's face.

 

A smile grew on his own face before he could cover it with a well-practiced smirk. “Keh. She won't say no, but I guess you're right.” He hated admitting he may be wrong, but he was consoled that he was saying this to Kagura rather than his brother.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

Kagome leaned back with a sigh. Sango and Kirara had dropped her back off at Kaede's home and taken off to hunt. There was a lot of secrecy surrounding where the two of them were going… until Shippou had commented flat-out that Kagome looked like she “could use a nap before the party” that night. Sango had given the kit such a cold glare he'd scurried up Kagome's body and hidden in the mess of her hair.

 

“Party?” Kagome's eyes dared Sango to lie as the word rolled off her tongue dryly. She'd just had a major breakdown, she wasn't sure she was ready to be surrounded by ecstatic, somewhat worshipful villagers just yet.

 

Sango seemed to know exactly what her new sister was thinking. “Don't worry. You know we'll all be by your side. It'll be a good chance for us to announce you're one of the family officially. We've all been waiting to celebrate our victory.” Kagome forced a smile as Sango helped her get comfortable. “Shippou's right, though. You look like you could use a nap. You're not used to being up and about, and if I know you, your mind is going over everything we said at the hot springs. Don't worry so much!” `Sango's really gotten more motherly since she got Kohaku back,' Kagome mused as Sango dutifully tucked her in. `I can't help but feel like we've sort of switched roles recently.'

 

“Kohaku! Rin!” The taijya called out the door. Kaede was still out with Kikyou gathering herbs and Sango was not about to leave Kagome alone in the hut with only Shippou. The girl had a habit of pushing past her limits… no matter how much she admonished InuYasha for the same trait. The two youngsters ran in laughing. Sango wasn't sure she wanted to know what they'd been up to.

 

“Please keep an eye on Kagome for me, you two. She should get a nap in, so don't be loud, but make sure you stay within earshot of the hut, okay?” Rin and Kohaku nodded solemnly. They'd be honored to help and protect the woman that had made their loved ones so happy. Kagome huffed as she folded her arms over her chest. `They talk about me as if I'm not even here!' She had to admit, though, she was rather tired. In just a moment, she had slipped off to sleep, Shippou curled up at her side.

 

Kohaku turned to the young girl, motioning that they should go back outside once it appeared Kagome would be sleeping for a while. Rin nodded in agreement.

 

“Did you hear? Lord Sesshomaru and Lady Kagura will be at the celebration tonight.” Kohaku spoke very respectfully when discussing the youkai lord who had saved Rin's life and spared his on several occasions. The stoic youkai had even allowed the taijya to accompany his group in the fight against Naraku. The young man owed the youkai much.

 

Rin's smile had melted off her face. She now appeared the very picture of dejection. “What's wrong?” Kohaku hated to see the girl upset.

 

“What if…” Rin gazed back and forth, as though assuring their privacy before continuing in a hushed whisper, “What if my Lord does not wish to have Rin around now that he has a mate?” The quaver in her voice betrayed the calm she tried to project, just as Lady Kaede had been teaching her. “What if he did not leave Rin here for teaching, but to get rid of her?” The girl still had a habit of slipping into talking in the third person when she was most upset.

 

Kohaku sighed, looking skyward. Calming young girls was never his strong suit. He'd managed to make his sister smile with a bouquet of beautiful flowers; they made her feel more womanly growing in a male-dominated village, taking a role in a male-dominated profession. Somehow, the boy knew flowers wouldn't help Rin with this problem. “Rin, Lord Sesshomaru may have a mate now, but I don't think you're going to lose him…” He trailed off, not sure if he was saying the right thing.

 

Tears in her eyes, Rin turned to stare at Kohaku. Behind those tears shimmered hope and that was enough to encourage the boy to keep talking. “Really, it's not as though you are losing a father… you're gaining a mother.” He looked away as he mumbled sadly, “I would have been thrilled to have a mother…”

 

Rin cocked her head, looking for all the world like a younger Kagome with curiosity evident across her face. “You didn't have a mother?”

 

Kohaku shook his head, “She died giving birth to me. Sometimes Ane-Ue tells me stories about her, but it's not really the same, you know?”

 

Rin nodded, biting her lip. “But… what if Lady Kagura doesn't want me around?” Kohaku was glad to hear Rin slip back into the first-person. “I don't wish to be a bother…”

 

The boy turned a bland face to Rin. “Girl, you've been kidnapped numerous times. You told me once you almost fell down a cliff trying to get a flower to heal Jaken. You, a small human girl, accompany one of the most feared youkai in the world. I doubt Lord Sesshomaru would send you away simply because he has a companion now. If he hasn't gotten rid of you up to this point, I don't think you have anything to worry about. Besides, Lady Kagura is very kind. She assisted me many times when we were under Naraku's command.”

 

There was still uncertainty in Rin's eyes, but her face no longer painted a picture of dejection. “I'll wait here in case Miss Kagome wakes up. Why don't you go find Lady Kaede and see if she needs any help preparing for the feast?” As Rin ran to where she knew her teacher would be, Kohaku allowed himself to relax. He'd spend the rest of his life trying to make up for the crimes he committed under Naraku's orders, but protecting Rin assuaged some of the guilt in his heart.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

“My dear Sango, I was just -” The monks protests were cut off with a thunk. The taijya sighed, slinging her unconscious fiancé onto Kirara's back with admittedly a bit of a glare to the young women who had gathered around him. The monk had announced his intentions to take Sango as his bride shortly after they returned to the village. However, he was handsome and he was a charmer. When he began his fortune telling, the ladies flocked to him, taken or not. Though they had stopped in the village often during the quest for Naraku, the village was expanding under Kaede's expert guidance, and there were always new ladies who were unaware of the lecher's reputation.

 

Sango looked down at Miroku, now drooling slightly, and slumped to the ground. “What am I going to do with you?”

 

“Well, Kagome says you keep knocking him out and you're going to do him some permanent damage.” InuYasha landed next to her nearly silently, startling the taijya for just a moment before she recognized the flash of red. “But I figure if you ain't hurt him enough by now, he's strong enough for a human to take it. If he's gonna marry you, he has to learn he can't go off with the women.”

 

Sango grinned at this. “Kagome mentioned that to me once, too. I asked her what she'd do if she broke your back with those beads. She told me that you're a hanyou and if you could survive a hole through your body, your spine would heal just fine.”

 

InuYasha snorted, staring at the dormant kotodama rosary on his chest. “Either way, she took the damn spell off. Sometimes I wonder if she regrets it, though. She could have just sat me that day instead of taking off into the woods.”

 

“Lady Kagome is more of a `flight' than a `fight' person, remember.” Miroku had easily regained consciousness sometime during the short conversation. “She's a very outgoing person, but it's in her nature to seek solitude when she's upset.

 

“Keh. Never stopped her using the bead when she was pissed before!” InuYasha crossed his arms, looking at the taijya and quickly changing the subject, “How's she now?”

 

“Sleeping. Kohaku, Rin and Shippou are keeping an eye on her.” Sango scuffed her toe in the ground, debating whether or not to continue. The fact of the matter was that Kagome probably wouldn't bring up her problems with the men, especially not InuYasha. She didn't want to appear weak, and she didn't want the hanyou worried about her. Didn't she know he worried anyway? “She… kind of had a breakdown at the hot springs.”

 

InuYasha simply nodded at the news. He'd been expecting it, could feel the miko's frustration in her aura and had hoped she might reveal something to her best female friend. “Did she say why she's been so upset?”

 

Sango stared. The hanyou wasn't reacting like she expected at all! “Well, yes. She feels weak, useless.” InuYasha had the grace to blush as the words he'd often hurled at his “shard detector” came back to bite him in the ass. “Kagome feels like she's interfering in your friendship with Kikyou because it's obvious you're avoiding her. She's upset you'll be angry about it later. She also…” Sango hoped Miroku wouldn't be upset with her next statement, “She feels guilty that she's so upset about not seeing her family again. She's lonely. I told her that we would be her family now.”

 

Miroku smiled, “That's my wise Sango, always looking out for her friends.” Sango flushed at the praise.

 

InuYasha smirked, pleased at the turn of events. Perhaps the kami had positive plans for them after all. “Good. Because I had an idea for both of you to think about.”

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

“InuYasha!” Kagome ran to meet her beloved hanyou at the base of Goshinboku, a smile on her face as she reveled in pain-free movement.

 

“You're looking better, wench.” She threw herself into his arms, laughing. Suddenly, she hit the ground, coughing as a root caught her in the stomach. Where had InuYasha gone?

 

“You stupid bitch!” A low snarl echoed in the woods around her, suddenly dark as night, even though the sun had been shining beautifully not a moment before.

 

“InuYasha?” Kagome rolled herself onto her back, eyes darting left and right to catch a glimpse of silver, gold or red. She sat. Nothing but darkness…

 

“Did you really think I'd let you live?” Hot breath on the back of her neck…

 

“What... what do you mean…?” Kagome stood, spinning to face that frighteningly sinister voice.

 

Even the tree was gone… the miko stood in the dark and shook with fear. There was no sky, no ground, no stars or trees or sound other than her harsh, frightened breathing and pounding heartbeat.

 

“You stole my wish, you stupid wench…” The voice echoed, came from nowhere and everywhere at the same time. A brush of hair on her side… the scrape of claws on her back brought her down to her knees, crying out in pain.

 

“Kagome?” A child's voice cut through her fear…

 

“Kagome?” She had to be strong, for them… but nobody was there… she couldn't be strong on her own…

 

“Kagome!”

 

The miko's eyes shot open, pain shooting up her leg. A dull throbbing from behind her eyes brought tears to them.

 

“Kagome? Are you awake now? You were having a really bad nightmare!” Shippou hopped anxiously from one foot to the other, wanting desperately to go to his mother and hug her and calm her but fearing causing her pain even more.

 

The miko tried taking calming breaths, willing her headache away. She opened her arms to the kit, who leapt at her, not even wiggling as she squeezed him tightly, sobbing into his hair.

 

“What's wrong?” InuYasha seemed to materialize beside her, gathering her carefully in his arms even before the curtain on the door stopped flapping from his hurried entrance. “Kagome?”

 

She buried her head into his shoulder, easing her hold on Shippou. “I'm sorry,” Kagome sobbed, just barely discernable even to hanyou and youkai ears through her sniffles, “So sorry!”

 

A/N:

 

I thank you all for your patience! This is a story I'm admittedly working very, very slowly on. I WILL finish it, I swear upon all without my reach (not much, I'm in the middle of my living room, but… still!) that I will not abandon the fic. However, it could easily be a while before I finish it, since my primary focus is on “Pack Law.” (It's only fair I give you proper warning, I figure.)

 

I admit it - I'm somewhat of a major Kohaku/Rin fangirl. I don't think the two get enough love! (Of course, when they're older. No offense, but I'm just not a kiddie-porn fan…) Also, I know I'm kind of bouncing from Japanese to English a bit… “please” versus “onegai” and stuff like that. It's a bad habit, I admit. I especially do it with titles… having Miroku call Kagome “Lady Kagome” but having the girls refer to each other as “-chan” and Kohaku calling Sango “Ane-ue.” I'll figure it out eventually, I promise… I'm just using what I'm most comfortable with… and it appears I'm most comfortable with a mixture!

 

Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha or any other characters from the anime/manga. They all belong to Rumiko Takahashi.