InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Hymn for the Missing ❯ Hymn 7 ( Chapter 7 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
Hymn 7

~oOo~

Inuyasha...

Silver hair whipped around as golden eyes widened in shock... I heard her... “Kagome?”  he whispered, looking around at the forest they were still racing through trying desperately to find any trace of Byakuya or Naraku.

Skidding to a halt, his heart lurched at the despair that had been in the faint sound.  “Kagome!”  he yelled,  “where are you?!”

He completely ignored the shocked and confused expressions of the others as Kirara landed just behind him as he called out to the missing miko.  He knew he'd heard her – it hadn't been his imagination.

Listening with every bit of his ability, he slumped to his knees when he didn't hear anything else.  Bitterly, he slammed a fist into the ground.  “Damn it!  I heard her... I know I did,”  he said weakly, his voice barely above a whisper as grief throttled it in his throat.  “She's calling for me...”  

Miroku and Sango exchanged concerned glances, while Shippo just looked on with misery on his face.  

Dismounting from Kirara, Miroku approached his friend with understanding in his eyes.  “What did you hear, Inuyasha?”  he asked as he crouched next to the hanyou, placing a comforting hand against his shoulder.

Clenched tightly with pain, teeth gritted, Inuyasha said,  “She called for me – I heard her call my name!”  His shoulders dropped under Miroku's hand.  “She sounded so forlorn, so frightened,”  he finished.

His fist clenched against Inuyasha's shoulder in understanding.  “We must find Naraku, then.  There is no telling what he is doing to Kagome-sama.  After all, look what he did with Akago,”  he said grimly.

Inuyasha was silent for a moment, then he flowed upright, startling Miroku.  Tilting his head to look into the sky through the leaves of the trees, he nodded, one hand gripping fiercely onto Tessaiga for support.  “Let's go,”  he said shortly, waiting for Miroku to remount Kirara before leaping into the trees again and disappearing in the direction they were tracking faint scents of miasma.

Once they were back in the air, Sango asked softly,  “Do you really think he heard her voice?”  

Miroku was silent for a few minutes as he considered everything, then finally said,  “It is possible.  We all are aware that there is a very strong bond between them.  She may be trapped somewhere and calling out to him.”

“It's his fault she's gone,”  came a stilted, angry voice, and Miroku looked at the small kitsune on his shoulder.  “If he hadn't been out chasing Kikyou...”

“That is not certain, Shippo.  Remember – none of us even woke when she was taken, and you were right there in the same bedding with her.  If even you noticed nothing, it is very possible that Inuyasha would not have, either,”  the monk returned.

Shippo turned his face away.  “But he might have,”  he said.  “How many times has he put her in danger by running off?”

Sighing, Miroku gave him that, but said,  “And how many times has he saved her from that same danger, Shippo?”

“True, monk, but... there's always a first time for everything – even failure,”  Sango said, and with that, silence fell – because she was right.  There was always a first time for everything...

Would this finally be the time that Inuyasha failed Kagome – permanently and irreversibly?

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