InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Hanyou and Miko ❯ Poisoned ( Chapter 12 )

 

Disclaimer: My plan to take over Adult Swim failed, but I'm not giving up that quickly!

 

Chapter 12: Poisoned

 

InuYasha woke the next morning to find Kagome's sleeping bag empty. He shot straight up, raising and twitching his dog-ears this way and that. He sniffed the air. No scent of a youkai, no sounds of a fight or lurking predator. Where is she?! Where did she go? Calming his rising panic, InuYasha sniffed for her scent. Picking it up from the moment she left the campsite, he followed.

 

Walking further, he heard the rumbling of water and Kagome's soft footprints. He hid behind some shrubbery, not wanting to be noticed, for the time being. She didn't have her bow, and she had left without telling him. His face burned with rage at the miko for being so stupid. She sat at the water's edge, filling a bottle and splashing some on her face.

 

Done with her morning ritual, Kagome gathered the water she had collected and turned back toward camp. InuYasha grimaced at her foolishness. Anything could have happened to her without him ever knowing about it. He had to teach her a lesson.

 

He waited, watching her every step. Dust rose from the ground as her feet patted the ground. One step, two, three… finally she was hovering right about where InuYasha squatted. With one merciless growl, he grabbed Kagome, clamping one hand over her mouth and the other gripping her arms and waist.

 

She screamed under his hand, nothing more than a muffled moan. Kagome squirmed, wriggled, kicked, all trying to free herself from the unknown enemy. When he thought he had taught her the lesson enough, he removed his hands, Kagome tripping away from her abductor.

 

She was breathing heavily, turning back around to InuYasha with a stick she had managed to stumble over gripped firmly in her hands. Her eyes were full of fierceness, stance ready for combat. InuYasha took a step back, not wanting to get womped by the miko's angry blows. She stopped, dropping the weapon to the ground as she realized just who she was confronted with.

 

“Inu-Yasha?!” His ears went down again, knowing instantly what was coming. “Sit, sit, sit, sit, sit, SIT!” InuYasha gave in to the power of his binding prayer beads, hitting the ground again and again, every blow burying him deeper into dirt. After the bombardment was over he sat up, spitting out a mouthful of grass, soil, and rocks.

 

“What. Did. You. Think. You. Were. DOING!” Kagome spat the words at InuYasha, still peeling himself out of his crater. “Did you think for a moment that that was funny!? Did you get some kind of kick out of scaring me to death?!” her loud words rang in his sensitive ears.

 

“Keh! What do you think you were doing, wench?! I wake up and you're gone, without your bow! What were you thinking, Kagome?! Anything could have happened to you!” Kagome flinched at his harsh tone.

 

“I promised to protect you, and I will, but you have to let me!” he recoiled at his own words. He didn't mean to be so harsh, but what if a wondering youkai sniffed her out before he did? What then? He might not have made it to her in time.

 

Kagome turned her back on the hanyou, a soft sniffle to follow. InuYasha sighed.

 

“Kagome…”

 

“No, don't say it.” She sniffed and turned back around. “You're right, you know. I am just a stupid, pathetic human, sometimes.” She cleared her throat. “I won't wonder off without you again. I promise.”

 

Satisfied that she would stick to her promise, InuYasha nodded and picked up the bottles of water Kagome had dropped prior to his attack and led her back to the camp.

 

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Kagome clung tight to InuYasha's back. The weather had taken a turn, and the air was freezing. The sun was hidden behind thick clouds, making it even colder to the miko. She was wearing a jacket and blue jeans, having thought the winter weather was still a little farther away.

 

“InuYasha?”

 

“No.”

 

“You don't even know what I was going to say.”

 

“Keh. What do you want? I ain't stopping, if that's what you want.”

 

“Never mind.” Kagome sighed. A warm fire sounded good. A hot bath sounded ever better, but knowing InuYasha, she wouldn't get another one until they were back in the village, which was still another long day away. It was around noon, she was tired, and hungry, and cold. Needless to say, her mood was going down the hole. She shivered against the hanyou's back.

 

InuYasha stopped, allowing Kagome to drop off of his back.

 

“I thought you said we weren't going to stop.”

 

“Keh.” Kagome smiled. He was hungry too. She built a fire and put water on to boil, then sat down laying her head on her knees.

 

“Here.” InuYasha held out his haori. Kagome took it gratefully and draped it across her shoulders.

 

“You're not cold?” she asked.

 

“Only humans and weaklings get cold.” He replied. Kagome took the now boiling water off the fire and poured it into two cups of ramen. InuYasha reached over and took his share from her and pulled out a pair of chopsticks from her bag. A few minutes later, InuYasha's noodles were gone, and Kagome was down to picking around with half a cup left. InuYasha eyed the noodles.

 

“You want the rest?” InuYasha looked up.

 

“Keh. There yours. You need them more than me.”

 

“I don't want anymore. Here,” she handed the cup over to InuYasha, “they're yours.” She got up, wiping dirt off the back of her jeans, and proceeded to go through her bag for a bottle of water. InuYasha didn't hesitate to dig in.

 

“InuYasha…” Kagome turned her head to the left. InuYasha sensed it too. He was on his feet, hand over Tetsusaiga.

 

“Who are you?” three youkai came out and stepped into view.

 

“It matters not.” The voice came from a tall, slender looking bat-youkai, accompanied by two rat-youkai. The bat-youkai used his dark, gray eyes to gaze over at Kagome, InuYasha instinctively grabbed her arm and pulled her behind his back. “Is that the miko, the one with the jewel?” he asked.

 

“Keh! That's none of your business!”

 

“I'll take that as a yes. I will have her now, so step aside half-breed.”

 

“You'll have to get through me and Tetsusaiga first, and that ain't gonna be easy.”

 

“Fine. If that's how you want it. Sassozai, Kuronezumi; get the miko. I'll deal with the hanyou myself.” InuYasha pulled Kagome closer to his side as the rat-youkai approached. Kagome readied and arrow to her bow. The bat-youkai lunged forward to InuYasha, who in turn lunged for the youkai. Tetsusaiga missed it's mark, coming down to hit nothing but dirt. The youkai didn't hesitate to take this advantage. He lunged again at InuYasha, Tetsusaiga flying through the air, hitting the ground, and turning back into it's rustic form.

 

InuYasha went in again, this time with nothing but his claws against the youkai. “Iron-reaver soul-stealer!” Kagome watched as the battle took place, grimacing at each blow InuYasha took. Sassozai and Kuronezumi finally turned toward her. She raised her bow, taking aim at the nearest one. Sassozai was to be the first victim. He ran full speed toward the miko, only to be shot down by one of her blazing arrows. It wasn't a direct hit, and he survived, but missing the lower half of one of his arms. The youkai howled in pain at the missing parts. His glare turned to pure hate, as did the other rat-youkia's.

 

Kagome took the chance to glance over toward InuYasha, he was fairing well, holding his own as usual against the bat-youkai, but was steadily being forced to move further away from her. The sound of the two rat-youkais moving toward her brought her back to her own troubles. Sassozai, using his good arm, wrapped around Kagome's firing shoulder. She dropped the arrow, using her hand to try and pry away from her captors hold. Kuronezumi took his time in advancing on the helpless, trapped Kagome. She struggled, kicked, hit; anything that she could do to get away.

 

“Kagome!” InuYasha threw the bat-youkai to the ground, leaping after Kuronezumi. With one fatal slash with his claws across the youkai's neck, Kuronezumi vanished into a pile of ash and dust. He grabbed Tetsusaiga, and not having time to recover, InuYasha was once again attacked by the bat-youkai, being pounded and tumbling with his attacker across the forest floor.

 

Kagome kicked and wiggled, and beat at Sassozai's arm, trying to make him lose hold. With one last move, she twisted her shoulder from his grasp, his claws ripping her flesh as he recoiled to her maneuver. One hand gripped the wound while the other landed on the ground, keeping her from falling head-first to the ground. Kagome tried to back away from the once again advancing youkai. Her hand ran across something familiar on the ground. She grabbed up the arrow, putting her miko energy into it, and at the right moment pierced the arrow into the youkai's chest.

 

Sassozai wasn't that quick to die. He stared down at the miko's arrow plunged into his chest with a look of utter defeat across his face. Kagome let go of the arrow and backed away, watching as the youkai faded as the other.

 

She quickly turned her attention to InuYasha, bloody, as usual. He had Tetsusaiga held out ready for the final blow.

 

“You will not live, there will be more, always more, as long as you travel with that miko.” The youkai quit struggling was he spoke the words.

 

“Keh! Why her!? All you want is the jewel!” the youkai laughed.

 

“The jewel she holds is a major part of it, yes, but not the only part. Do you forget, so soon, that all miko's are despised by youkai? Miko's are created to defeat us, and she is thought to become one of the most powerful of our time. Do you really think we will allow her to live?” an evil grin on the youkai's face told InuYasha he had heard enough.

 

“Wind Scar!” silver aura surrounded his sword, swooping out and striking the youkai down. He sheathed Tetsusaiga and stepped back.

 

Inu-yasha… Kagome tried to speak, but the words wouldn't come. Her shoulder throbbed, she could hear her own heart beating through her ears. Her whole body stung, her blood boiled and her head swam under something…

 

InuYasha… She tried calling to him again, her vision slowly fading. Why? Why couldn't she think clearly? Sassozai, `rat-poison'! It's poison! Kagome looked down at the marks across her shoulder, they lead right down to her elbow. The wounds were pulsing under her hand, a sure sign of the poison that was now flowing through her very veins. InuYasha! He seemed to still be thinking, unaware of the miko's silent cries.

 

“InuYasha!” Kagome wasn't really sure if that was her voice or not, as she fell to the ground…

 

 

A/N:

Glossary: Sassozai- rat poison

Kuronezumi- black rat