InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Future Past ❯ Chapter 6: Lost and Found ( Chapter 6 )

Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi

 

 

Chapter 6: Lost and Found

 

 

Inuyasha raced down the road, worried because Kirara was with them, and if Kirara took off into the air, he would lose track of the scent. His rational brain told him Kagome was probably fine. Neither Kirara nor Shippo would let anything happen to her. Unfortunately, he wasn't thinking with his rational brain at the moment.

 

“Damn that woman,” he muttered to himself. “Why did she have to go off without telling anybody?”

 

He slowed down as he registered a presence somewhere behind him. “Kohaku. What are you doing here?”

 

“I'll help you look for her,” the boy replied. He pointed to a barren field ahead to the left. “Are you sure they didn't go that way?”

 

Inuyasha stopped and took the time to really sift through the various smells lingering in the air. Damn. The kid was right. How did he know?

 

Something must have shown on his face, because Kohaku shrugged and pointed to the dead grass up ahead, which was tamped down in one spot. “It looks like there's a path over there,” he said.

 

Inuyasha got down on hands and knees and investigated more thoroughly near the spot where they veered off the road. “This way.” He sprang up and sprinted across the field with Kohaku right behind him. On the other side of the field he could see trees, but he had the scent now and he wouldn't lose it unless--

 

Right before he got to the treeline, the scent disappeared. Kirara must have taken them up and over. At least he had the general direction. He glanced once behind him and spotted two figures just entering the field from the far side. Miroku and Sango. Well, he couldn't wait for them.

 

He jumped as high as he could, clearing the treetops before he came down again, balancing on a thin branch. Nothing. He scowled. This would be a whole lot easier if he could take off the stupid necklace and assume his spirit form.

 

Kohaku had followed Inuyasha on the forest floor and now stood on the ground below him, one hand shading his eyes as he peered upwards. “Did you see anything?” he called up.

 

“No,” answered Inuyasha shortly, before he took off once more. Sesshomaru was right. He should never have left Kagome behind. She was his responsibility.

 

They cleared the woods and came out near a rocky incline. Inuyasha recognized the place. He had been there before in the spring, when the hillside was green and dotted with flowers, and the sparse trees were full with leaves. Inuyasha hopped from boulder to boulder, following the scent trail. She better not be going on a `picnic,' he thought to himself as he remembered the last time they were here.

 

He rounded the top of the hill and spotted Kagome and Shippo kneeling at the base of a tree about halfway down the other side. Kirara stood beside them, tails in the air, nose on the ground, investigating whatever it was the other two were doing. Inuyasha's heart started beating again as the relief just poured over him. Nevertheless. . .

 

In one bound he was beside them. Kirara, in kitten form, mewed, and Shippo looked up with surprise as Inuyasha's scent and his physical presence registered at about the same time. Some protectors they were! Kagome was intent on digging something out near the roots of the tree and didn't notice him.

 

“Hey,” he said gruffly, arms across his chest.

 

Kagome looked up and instantly smiled. “Inuyasha!” she said in pleased surprise, kneeling back and brushing her hands off on the side of her jeans. “What are you doing here?”

 

“What am I—what are you doing here? Why did you take off without me?”

 

Kagome blinked. Inuyasha was mad at her? She pointed to the pile of grayish, wrinkled things on the ground next to her. “Mushrooms,” she said in explanation. “I wanted to get some mushrooms.”

 

“And you didn't bother to tell anybody where you were going? What were you thinking?” Inuyasha's voice rose.

 

“I did too!” Kagome's voice rose to match Inuyasha's, as she stood up and faced him. “I told Shippo and Kirara.”

 

“Yeah, and we came with her to make sure she stayed safe!” added Shippo.

 

“You idiot. And who did you tell?”

 

“I. . . er. . .” Shippo thought about it for a moment. Sango and Miroku had already gone home to take a `nap.' Shippo snickered when he thought about how obvious they were. Kaede had gone back to teaching little Rin about herbs that could be found in winter, and Sesshomaru had once more taken up his station in the woods just outside the village. That left Kagome, Kirara and him. He was bored. There wasn't a lot to do in the village in the winter, and he couldn't go back home to Miroku's house for a while. When Kagome, who had been watching Kaede and Rin, suddenly decided to go for a walk, he and Kirara jumped at the chance to get out and do something interesting.

 

“Everybody was busy,” said Kagome. I thought I could take a walk and look for some herbs to help out. Then I remembered about the mushrooms and Kirara was able to take us there. It was perfectly safe. I thought I'd be back before anybody even missed me.”

 

Inuyasha's heart flip-flopped. Before anybody missed her. Didn't she know how precious she was to him? He opened his mouth to yell at her some more, but instead he pulled her towards him and crushed her against his chest, burying his face in her hair. “Don't ever leave me again,” he murmured softly, not caring at the moment that the only one who might not hear him was the one other human in the group, Kohaku, standing silently a few feet away.

 

Kohaku spoke softly. “It was safe, you know. Lord Sesshomaru has been keeping watch over this entire area. If anything dangerous had been about, he would have dealt with it.”

 

Trust Sesshomaru to let him go off without mentioning that little detail. Still, Sesshomaru had been right about one thing. Kagome was ultimately his responsibility, nobody else's. He couldn't even take out his frustrations on Shippo or Kirara for going along with her on this. He was her protector, not them.

 

“Come on, it's getting colder,” he said mildly. “Let's go back.” He helped Kagome gather up the mushrooms and tie them up in the little cloth she'd brought for the purpose. “Are these for supper?” he asked.

 

“No, they're for Kaede. She can use them to show Rin how to make healing soups out of them. That's why I wanted to come here and get these particular kind of mushrooms.”

 

Shippo eyed Inuyasha warily. How come he wasn't getting thumped on the head for not telling anybody where they were going? Even Kirara hung back a little, keeping to her small form. Shippo worried that Inuyasha was just waiting to get him alone, so Kagome wouldn't `sit' him for beating up on him. Come to think of it, though, Kagome hadn't used the `sit' command on Inuyasha once since they'd come back. Was it because they were married or something like it now? Maybe Inuyasha had mellowed.

 

Inuyasha glanced over at Shippo and caught him staring at him. He sprang at the kitsune and crouched down to his level, putting both hands on Shippo's shoulders and staring directly into the little fox-youkai's wide eyes. “At least you didn't let her go off alone,” he said. It was almost praise, coming from Inuyasha. Shippo beamed.

 

“Hey!”

 

They all turned around at the voice. Miroku and Sango stood at the top of the hill looking down on them. “Is everything ok?” called Miroku.

 

“Yeah, everybody's fine. We're heading back,” said Inuyasha. “Kirara, you go give Sango and Miroku a ride home. What's that idiot thinking, dragging his pregnant wife around the countryside.” He handed the cloth filled with mushrooms to Shippo. “Will you bring these back to Kaede?” The little kitsune nodded. He took the package and ran up the hill to ride back with Miroku and Sango on Kirara.

 

“Kohaku, tell that brother of mine—tell him---I'll remember what he said.” Inuyasha thought of a bunch of other things he'd rather tell his brother, but this time he'd let it slide. Kagome was safe. Sesshomaru had been patrolling the area. If Inuyasha had been thinking straight, he would have realized that.

 

Kohaku nodded, and turned on his heel to leave. He waved away Sango's offer and ran beneath Kirara as she sailed above the hillside and over the forest towards home. At some point in the woods, Kohaku veered off, probably to meet Sesshomaru.

 

Inuyasha waited until everyone was out of sight. He gathered Kagome to his chest, no back ride this time—he wanted to see her face. All the worries that had plagued him earlier had returned. He felt again how precarious their new-found happiness was. So many things could go wrong. For the first time since they had returned to the Sengoku Jidai, Inuyasha found himself wishing they were back in Kagome's world, together in their own little apartment.

 

“Ready?” he asked. He gazed down at her. She had pulled one of the knitted hats they'd bought in New York down over her ears, and the wool tickled his chin. “You know I missed lunch because of you,” he complained. “You sure I can't have some of those mushrooms?”

 

Kagome laughed.