InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ In Your Eyes ❯ Ain't Love Grand ( Chapter 3 )

A/N: I know, it took longer than I had said. A MILLION apologies!!!! A special THANK YOU to my reviewers! I appreciate the encouragement!!!! This chapter will hopefully bring some clarity to the plot of the story. Read on!

 

 

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha & Co. They belong to the brilliant mind of Rumiko Takahashi.

 

 

“” Speaking

`' Thoughts

 

 

Chpt. 3 Ain't Love Grand

 

 

“So?”

 

“So what?”

 

“So what didja think?”

 

“Ah. Well the service was a bit slow but-”

 

“Not about the service, stupid! About Kikyou!”

 

“Ah, my good man, you should've specified.”

 

“Keh. What an ass, as usual.”

 

“What an arrogant, simple-minded, barbaric dog, as usual.”

 

WHACK!

 

“What the hell!?”

 

“Just what you deserve, idiot! Now answer my question!”

 

“Goodness sake, you proud, immature hanyou!”

 

WHACK! WHACK!

 

“Dammit, Inuyasha! Enough! You're almost as bad as Sesshoumaru.”

 

BOOM!!!

 

“What's going on here?” Sango suspiciously questioned as she walked over to a very aggravated hanyou and a very unconscious figure of his `best' friend.

 

The formal dinner had been a quasi-success for Inuyasha, coming out of the whole ordeal with his pride completely intact. Almost. The entire group of adults had managed to interrogate the lovely Kikyou to their fullest ability, reveal some very embarrassing, face-reddening, heart-stopping stories about Inuyasha's youth, and unknowingly rub the `undeniable perfection' which resulted from the two good-looking, young adults getting together into Kagome's face.

 

After a beautifully, enchanting evening of wining and dining, the close-knit family and `happy' couple returned to the Shrine to further discuss the utter perfection which was Kikyou and Inuyasha. No one ever noticed the young, raven-haired girl seated on the shaggy, old, brown couch in the corner, slowly sinking deeper and deeper into the cushiony abyss, bile vigorously rising in her throat, a painful tightening in her chest. Everyone around her, save for a tall, brown-eyed girl, was completely oblivious to her state of sorrow and torment. And the only thing that coursed through Kagome's veins, the only thing that ran through her mind, the only thing that pounded through her heart was a mantra, a chant that spoke volumes, depicting the depth of her pain. `Love is a BITCH.'

 

“Nothin'at all.” Inuyasha stated nonchalantly, lightly kicking Miroku's twitching body before strolling away.

 

“Good Christ,” Sango started as she bent down to examine the multiple lumps sprouting out of Miroku's head, “ you really pissed him off.”

 

“Quite a temper,” Miroku groaned, lightly running his hand over the swollen areas around his head.

 

“Houshi, don't you think Kikyou resembles someone?” Sango hesitantly asked, gently helping the injured, young man into a sitting position.

 

“So you've noticed it as well,” he started as he allowed Sango to help him completely stand, “ I was beginning to think my eyes were deceiving me. There is, indeed, an uncanny resemblance between Kikyou and Kagome.”

 

“That boy, he's breaking her heart!” Sango huffed as she helped Miroku walk back into the Shrine.

 

“Hai. He's still as thickheaded as before.” `Yet… the resemblance … he must see it…'

 

“Uh..maybe I'm pressing my luck, but you haven't tried groping me once….”

 

“My dear, Sango, I'm in a great deal of pain,…perhaps later.”

 

-0-0-0-0-0-0-

 

“Fuck yeah!! Pass that shit, man!”

 

“Crank up the fucking jams!”

 

It's so hard to see when your eyes are rolling in the back of your head
It's even harder to speak when everything you say just comes out wrong

 

“Where the fuck's the beer?!”

 

CRASH!

 

“Mosh pit!”

 

Gutted like a pig
All you want is the world to bleed
Someone somewhere stole your desire
The pain akin
To being punched in the throat
And stabbed in the chest

 

These sounds resonated throughout the entire manor as it shook with the pulsating bass. A toxic atmosphere hung over the house due to the collaboration of drugs, beer and sex; once used as a home to shelter a very affluent family, now used as a regular place to uphold `social gatherings' of sorts.

 

You would rather bleed than be without her
Gone are the tender whispers dancing in your ears
Replaced with lackluster memories you cry
Your screams play in your empty room

 

Tonight was no different, the air in and around the house, foul, heavy, thick with an acrid haze that hovered over the furniture and seeped into the cracks in the floor. Hundreds of high school students ran up and down the manor, poisoning the once clear, pristine air.

 

It's so hard to see when your eyes are rolling in the back of your head
It's even harder to speak when everything you say just comes out wrong

 

A small raven-haired girl whimpered as she curled into a tight ball, hidden behind a wooden door, her only barrier against the boisterous ambiance on the other side. Nine-year-old Kagome sat in a coat closet, nestled in between raggedy, worn out coats and sweaters, awaiting the proper moment to make her escape out of the closet, out of the house, and out of the high school student-made hell.

 

Your bed swallows you whole
As the days bleed together
Torment on the lips of a loved one
And if you try hard enough
You can almost taste her

 

Another loud CRASH rose above the pulsating music, leaving a series of `OH SHITS' and `FUCK YEAHS' in its wake. Young Kagome had snuck into the familiar house in search of her protector. Her parents had gone out for the night and Kagome and Souta were left in Shippou's young, watchful eyes. Having had learned from the master himself, Kagome resorted to trickery as her way out of the Shrine. When she squeezed her way through an open window, the young girl was met with a terrifying surprise, Sesshoumaru and undoubtedly one of his famous `gatherings'. Beer, drugs, sex and god knows what else galore.

 

Feel her pass and scream OH GOD WHY ME
You would rather bleed than be without her
Gone are the tender whispers dancing in your ears
Replaced with lackluster memories you cry
Your screams play in your empty room

 

“Inuyasha…” Kagome whimpered as a heavy bang threatened to break down the closet door. Inuyasha had been nowhere in sight, nor Miroku or Sango. Another loud bang against the door echoed throughout the small room as Kagome squeezed her eyes shut and held her knees closer to her chest, wishing, praying that someone would find her and end the whole game of hide `n' seek.

 

It's so hard to see when your eyes are rolling in the back of your head
It's even harder to speak when everything you say just comes out wrong

 

Another CRASH shook the entire house followed by violent screams and yells. Suddenly the knob on the closet door turned, the thick smog filtering throughout the closet room, bright yellow lights slicing through the darkness like knives. A small whimper escaped young Kagome's lips as brown collided with gold.

 

“Come on, Kid” Came the gentle voice of a certain hanyou as he lifted the small girl into his arms, “let's go.” He wiped away a few stray tears that fell from brown pools as he settled Kagome against his chest and walked out of the polluted house, “Everything's ok.”

 

“Inuyasha..” Kagome whispered as she fisted her small hands into his shirt, `I knew you'd come…'

 

-0-0-0-0-0-0-

 

A small smile tugged at the corners of Kagome's lips as the memory faded away. She had endured the terrible dinner and the whole discussion afterwards. She couldn't remember a time when she was so grateful to see Inuyasha leave. He had seemed so happy, eyes sparkling like wild fires, always blushing and grinning. He had changed a lot over the years, but never once had she seen the hanyou so content. `If he's happy, then I'm fucking ecstatic.'

 

Ever since she could remember, he was always there, always chasing away the monsters under her bed or the boogey-men in her closet. He was her hero, a safety blanket that she thought she'd always be allowed to carry around, the bright light at the end of a dark tunnel.

 

`He's still all that, isn't he?' She winced at her own ponderings as she sat under Goshinboku, a light breeze ruffling her hair, the late afternoon sun filtering through the canopies of leaves. Could the addition of a girlfriend into his life really cut him off completely from all those things? Inuyasha was always very popular with the opposite sex; throughout high school he was the object of countless female fantasies. Being the shy, simple-minded hanyou that he is, Inuyasha would never own up to it, he never dated as a teenager and for that Kagome had been grateful. If he was free then she still stood a chance, even if it was slim to none. Now she had no chance at all, not with Kikyou's breath-taking stature.

 

She was free now, having any chance with Inuyasha shot straight out of the sky, Bang, Bang! Straight to hell. This was her opportunity to move on, finally look at the hanyou as nothing more than a brother-figure, finally pick up the pieces of her broken heart once again and just move on. `There's gotta be someone else…' Kagome thought as she fell into a deep, tranquil meditation, channeling all her anger and sorrow into her miko energy, `there always is…'

 

A dark silhouette gazed at the young girl from the Shrine roof, dark eyes burning her face to memory. At the sound of a sliding door being pushed open, the figure silently crept away, stopping to look at the miko once more before jumping off the roof and into the forest.

 

“Kagome?”

 

At the sound of her name, Kagome instantly snapped out of her stupor, raising brown eyes to meet the intruder.

 

“Ki.. Kikyou?” Kagome's eyes widened in shock as she miserably tried to regain her calm composure.

 

“Forgive me if I startled you,” she smiled disarmingly, “ if you prefer, I'll leave you with your thoughts again.”

 

“I uh.. `s ok, I wasn't doing anything important. Sorry, um.. Please sit down.” Kagome nervously smiled as she gestured for Kikyou to sit beside her.

 

“Arigato,” the older woman said as she sat down next to Kagome, vibrant eyes taking in the outer surroundings of the Shrine. “I am a miko as well.”

 

Kagome choked at Kikyou's blunt, random statement, managing to rasp out what sounded like an “Oh”.

 

“For a couple of years now, yes. That's actually how I met Inuyasha.” She smiled again, smoothing out a wrinkle on her white sweater. A slight blush dusting her cheeks.

 

“Oh,” was all Kagome could muster again, not bothering to mask the defeated tone that had seeped into her voice.

 

“You have known Inuyasha for quite some time now, have you not?”

 

“Hai, ever since I can remember I guess.” Kagome closed her eyes as she willed away the thousands of memories that flooded her mind, images, pictures, moments when everything was right with the world and Inuyasha only had eyes for her. Mind you, they were the eyes of an `older brother', but nevertheless.

 

“He's very charming, isn't he?” Kikyou beamed.

 

“Yeah,” Kagome whispered. `Why is she talking to me? What does she want? Does she know? She couldn't know, could she? Of all the people to find me out here it had to be Kikyou! Darn, God must really hate me…'

 

“Indeed, I am so glad that I was given the opportunity to work with him, he truly is amazing.”

 

“Work with him? You work with Inuyasha?” Kagome blurted out without thinking. No one ever knew of Inuyasha's whereabouts when he was at work. No one even knew that he had a job until a while ago.

 

“Yes, but of course you must know all about it already, don't you?”

 

Kagome just sat there, silent and bemused.

 

“Perhaps this is a story better fit to be told by hi-”

 

“No! Um, what I mean is please, he wouldn't mind. Heh, we're like family, remember?” Kagome nervously pleaded, hoping that Kikyou would succumb to the cheap statement.

 

The older woman smiled again, “ Very well then. Inuyasha and I are part of an underground organization run by demons and humans in collaboration with one another. The Assemblage.”

 

“The Assemblage?” Kagome asked, unconsciously arching an eyebrow.

 

“Hai, The Assemblage. A gathering of two different worlds, two different races, unifying together in defiance.”

 

“Eh?”

 

“The Assemblage is a defiance alliance, construed in order to keep peace among both worlds. Those part of The Assemblage only look to better the modern world, and correct the moral decline of society. Inuyasha, better than anyone in the alliance, knows what it means to be judged and reprimanded for being different. Both worlds collide ever so intensely in him, having allowed The Assemblage to grant him the honor of joining the movement.”

 

Kikyou's gaze darkened as she continued her explanation, “ But there is another who strives to undo what The Assemblage has begun. Naraku.”

 

“Naraku?”

 

“Naraku is also a hanyou, much to his dismay. He, unlike so many, wishes to disrupt the growing equality between ningen and youkai. Though only a half-demon, Naraku craves complete domination over humans and demons alike. He seeks out a world of terror and darkness, of fire and hell, a world roamed by a different kind of a breed.”

 

“Breed? If.. if not humans, demons or half-demons… then of what?” Kagome pondered, more to herself than to Kikyou.

 

“He longs for an enhanced breed of demons and humans. His own twisted collaboration of the two worlds, slaughtering and mutilating millions of youkai and ningen bodies, fusing their appendages, their blood, their hearts with tainted souls and tainted power. These would not be hanyous, they would be wild beasts.”

 

“Jesus Christ.” Kagome breathed out as she let all the information sink in. Something was wrong here, something didn't quite fit. The entire story seemed a bit too farfetched. “This…. Is this all happening?” `Great job Kagome, real articulate.'

 

“Indeed it is. Naraku already has an increasing number of followers, both human and demon. Poisoning their minds with promises of ultimate power and wealth, he will continue to gain more,” Kikyou paused as she silently stood up, “ only one thing will stop Naraku and his coalition. The Shikon No Tama.”

 

`What? Did she just say that the Shikon No Tama would stop Naraku? You gotta be kidding me.' Kagome roughly bit the inside of her cheek to cease a chuckle that had formed in her throat. “The Shikon No Tama? You mean there's an actual jewel with all that said `power'?

 

“Did you think it a legend? The jewel has immense power. If fallen into the hands of a tainted heart, the jewel will become polluted. Its power will summon evil, creating a world of sorrow and hatred. If attained by a pure heart, the jewel would bring peace, illuminating the darkest of souls. ” Kikyou calmly stated as she stared down at Kagome, her dark hair elegantly spilling out of the low ponytail at her neck.

 

“I…” the young girl opened and then promptly shut her mouth. `Don't need to sound any stupider in front of Kikyou…'

 

Kikyou weakly smiled as she started to walk away, “ Power drives everyone to unfathomable actions. Inuyasha knows this.”

 

Kagome lifted her brown orbs only to realize she was alone once again.

 

“Inuyasha wanted the jewel to become a full demon….” `Does he still yearn for that power? What did Kikyou mean?'

 

 

A/N: I don't know how I arrived at `Assemblage'. It had a weird ring to it. :)

Please, Read and Review!! It helps SOO MUCH.

Ain't Love Grand by: Atreyu