InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Incomplete ❯ Chapter 14 ( Chapter 14 )

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

By: Langus

Inuyasha stared moodily at the Bone Eater's Well from his perch at the edge of the forest. Kagome wouldn't return for at least a few days, but that hadn't stopped him from watching the well anyways. In his current mood, sitting and sulking were just about the only things he felt like doing. Everyone had been cold towards him since they found out. Not a single one of them had even tried to understand his reasoning and after a day of their silent treatment and annoyed glances he'd given up.

"Keh, who cares what they think?" he muttered aloud, immediately feeling the gnaw of anxiety in his stomach. He knew full well that he did care what they thought. It scared him to the core that he might lose all of his friends and Kagome too.

If she went with Sesshomaru they might never forgive him. Miroku, Sango, Shippo, Kirara, even the old hag Kaede, they were like family - without one the whole group fell apart. Without them he'd be totally alone, forced to reprise his role as the outcast half demon he'd been as a child. Before he met Kagome he'd been bitter, resentful and alone. He didn't want that again, not after he'd worked so hard to change.

The night wind stirred suddenly and he caught a familiar but wholly unexpected scent on the air. Hopping down from the tree branches he slowly approached the Bone Eater's Well. He could hear sniffles and crying from inside, but knew it wasn't Kagome's tears he smelled. Curious, he peered down into the murky depths of the well and waited for his amber eyes to adjust to the dim light.

"Sota! What are you doing here?"

The boy looked up and smiled when he saw the half demon's face peering curiously down at him.

"Inuyasha! I'm so glad it's you!" he cried. "At first I thought they didn't work and then I realized that I had no way to get out and I got scared."

Stifling another sniffle he wiped his nose on the back of his sleeve.

Inuyasha's ears twitched with confusion. How had the boy come through the well? He'd never been able to before! Leaping over the edge, he landed gracefully at the bottom and stared hard at the dark haired boy's tear stained face. Uttering a groan he begrudgingly picked him up and set him on his back.

"Hold on tight kid," he commanded before leaping out of the well with ease and starting the relatively short trek to the village. He couldn't look after Kagome's kid brother on his own. He didn't know the first thing about how to handle kids, but Kaede and the others would know what to do.

Sota's sniffles quickly halted as he looked around in wonder.

"So I'm really five hundred years in the past?" he asked incredulously.

Inuyasha shrugged. "I guess so. That's what Kagome says."

"Wow! So they did work!"

The boy's eyes went wide and his mouth hung open as he stared at the landscape around him. It was hard to believe that the fields they were walking through would one day be his shrine and the surrounding neighbourhood.

Inuyasha's ears perked up and he asked Sota what it was exactly that had 'worked'.

"The jewel shards of course! I stole them from Kagome's desk and took them with me when I went down the well. I wasn't sure if they would work for me or not, but I guess they did. This is so awesome!"

The half demon's ears flattened against his head at the noisy intrusion. If Sota had all of Kagome's jewel shards that meant that she wouldn't be able to get back when she needed to. He would have to send the boy home as soon as possible.

At the same time though, his curiosity was peaked. Why now? And in the middle of the night? What could possibly be so important that he would risk getting caught?

Inuyasha walked on in silence and was grateful when he saw the light of Kaede's cabin up ahead. He couldn't send the boy home in the middle of the night so he would have to stay until morning. Stopping in front of the hut, he let Sota down to the ground gently. The boy looked from the hut to the half demon, confusion shining in his large brown eyes.

"Where are we?" he whispered, motioning with his eyes towards the hut.

Inuyasha knelt down so they were at eye level. It felt better talking to him this way, almost like they were speaking man to man.

"Inside are some of Kagome's friends," he explained quietly. "They can take care of you until the morning and then I'll bring you home okay?"

Sota sniffled and looked warily at the wooden structure. Shaking his head he threw his arms around the half demon's arm and held tight.

"Can't you stay with me too?" he pleaded. "Please Inuyasha?"

He patted Sota reassuringly on the head and resigned himself to going inside. He was definitely turning soft. Perhaps it was because he'd cried enough out of loneliness as a kid to never want anyone else to go through it if they didn't have to.

"Okay, okay I'll stay with you, but only if you stop crying. Real men never let other people see their tears."

Sota nodded and quickly wiped the tears from his eyes before putting on a brave face. Standing up straighter he smiled up at him.

"Got it! No more tears!"

Inuyasha nodded and stood up but the boy tugged anxiously at the edge of his sleeve. Closing his eyes he asked the gods to give him patience as he knelt down once more.

"What now?"

"I almost forgot to give you these!" he explained and fished the rosary out of his pants pocket.

Inuyasha stared down at the necklace the boy had placed in his hand and slowly closed his fingers around it. So he'd come all this way just to bring him back his subjugation beads? He couldn't keep a smile of approval from his face as he shoved the necklace into the inner pocket of his haori and out of sight.

"You're one crazy kid you know that?" he asked, tousling the boy's hair. "But thanks just the same. You did me a huge favour bringing these back!"

"Well you'd better use them to go make up with Kagome. She's really sad you ditched her for another friend. That's not cool at all Inuyasha!" Sota crossed his arms in front of his chest and glared up at him.

Genuine shock washed over his features as he looked down at the boy's stern expression. Just what the heck had Kagome told him?

He was about to ask when the flap that rested over the door of the hut lifted open and bathed them in a warm orange glow.

"I thought I sensed you out here," Miroku said coolly, levelling Inuyasha with a humourless look before stepping outside. The bamboo mat fell back into place behind him.

"Sota, this is Miroku the perverted monk," Inuyasha said with a smug smile and crossed his arms in front of his chest. Miroku glowered at him but turned a kind eye to the boy. Kneeling down he extended his hand towards him with a genuine smile on his face.

"Hello there Sota. I hope this horrible excuse for a demon hasn't been bothering you."

The boy stared at his hand warily and when he didn't accept it the monk closed it again without taking offence. Standing up he pushed the mat to the side and gestured for them to enter.

"Well come on in. We have plenty of extra food for both of you and I'm sure everyone would love to meet you Sota."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes at Miroku's placating tone and stalked inside the hut, with Kagome's brother clinging to his leg. Inside, Kaede, Sango, Kirara and Shippo sat around the small hearth fire talking amongst themselves. Sota lost all his bravery between the outside and the door and cowered behind his leg until Inuyasha reached around and plucked him off. He dropped him unceremoniously onto his feet in front of him, catching the attention of everyone.

Sota pulled off his baseball hat and fidgeted with it in his hands. He looked from one person to another and gaped at the two animals. The first one lightly sniffed the air in his direction and mewed before looking curiously at the girl whose lap she sat upon. The other animal scratched his head and stalked over to him, looking him up and down.

"He smells like Kagome!" he pointed out, leaning in close to study his features. Inuyasha sighed aloud.

"That's because he's Kagome's brother. This is Sota," he explained as if it should have been obvious to everyone who the boy was. Shippo gave him an irritated glance but smiled at the boy in front of him.

"Hi! I'm Shippo!"

Sota stared at the demon cub wide eyed, and blinked. Confused, Shippo looked up at Inuyasha.

"Doesn't he talk?" he asked incredulously.

At that moment Sota took hold of Inuyasha's haori sleeve once more and tugged on it. He whispered behind his hand, "How can that animal talk?"

The innocence of the question brought a smile to his lips, one that he tried unsuccessfully to suppress while awaiting Shippo's response. He turned to the fox demon and shrugged when he saw the look of horror on his face.

"Animal? He thinks I'm just some animal? I'll have you know," he said pointing his finger at Sota's chest, "that I come from a long line of well respected fox demons."

With that he turned in a huff, plopped himself down next to Kaede and glared at Inuyasha as if the misunderstanding was entirely his fault.

Inuyasha groaned and rolled his eyes.

"Okay Sota, you know how I'm a half demon right?"

The boy nodded understandingly.

"Well Shippo and Kirara over there are full demons. They are really powerful and definitely aren't animals. Kirara may look like a cat from your time but she isn't, so don't try to play with her like you do Buuyo okay?"

At this Sota's eyes went wide and he nodded his head slowly.

"When I told you there were a lot of demons in my world that would eat you for breakfast I wasn't joking. You have to be really careful."

Seeing how the colour instantly drained from the boy's face, he decided it would be best to change his line of reasoning.

"You can trust Shippo and Kirara. They'd never hurt you, especially since you're Kagome's brother. They'll protect you if any other demons come along."

Sota looked back at the group with a newfound understanding of the situation he'd put himself in. He always realized that the feudal era his sister travelled to was dangerous, but it hadn't sunk in just how dangerous until now.

"Speaking of Kagome, where is she?" the girl with the cat in her lap asked.

Sota found his voice and the little bit of courage necessary to answer her.

"She's back at home sleeping. I took her jewel shards and came here alone to bring Inuyasha back his necklace so he could go visit her."

Sango turned to Kaede as though asking for verification and the old priestess smiled.

"That was very noble of ye boy," she said softly. "But unfortunately your trip won't help Inuyasha now. Only Kagome can put the beads around his neck once more."

Sota hung his head in defeat. "Oh," he murmured so softly it was barely audible.

Inuyasha growled and glared at the old woman.

"Why'd you have to do that? You didn't need to tell him you old hag! Don't you have a single compassionate bone in your body?"

Kaede held her own and stared impassively back at him, "Inuyasha, just because ye feel the need to lie to save face does not mean that I must lie for ye."

At her words Sota turned his face up to the half demon. He looked scary with his eyes dark and glowering. His whole body was tense as if he was ready to burst across the room and attack her. Swallowing the fear that'd risen into his throat, he tugged once more at Inuyasha's sleeve.

"What does she mean?" he asked softly.

Inuyasha growled, never taking his eyes off the old miko.

"Nothing, don't listen to her. I've gotta get out of here before I throttle her, but I'll be back in the morning to take you home."

Without another word, he tossed aside the mat at the door and stalked out into the night. Sota stared after him, his eyes growing wide. Even though he'd promised not to cry any more he could feel the tears welling up. These people were supposed to be Kagome's friends, weren't they? So why were they all were so angry at Inuyasha? Hadn't he always protected them?

Bowing his head he sniffled and tried desperately to wipe the tears from his eyes. He stopped crying when he felt his body being pulled into a soft embrace. Looking up he saw the pretty lady smiling down at him.

"Hey now, don't cry, it's okay. Did Kagome ever tell you about me?" she asked soothingly. Sota shook his head and his tears began to slowly dry. The woman spoke to him in soothing tones and explained how she and everyone else had met Kagome.

"I have a little brother too," she said softly. "He's a little older than you, but Kagome's always telling me how alike you both are. We're really glad we got a chance to meet you," she explained and the rest of the group nodded.

"Kagome is always telling us stories about you!"

"Really? Kagome talks about me?" he asked surprised.

"Well of course child! Your sister loves ye," Kaede chimed in with a reassuring smile.

Sota smiled too for the first time since arriving at the hut. He was finally starting to understand why his sister spent so much time in the feudal era.

Author's Note: Sota is such a cute kid. If I had a little brother I'd want one just like him. Please let me know what you think of the whole Sota thing. A couple of you have already mentioned that you really like the idea, which is awesome. And THANK YOU sincerely to everyone who has taken the time to leave a review. I appreciate and read every single one. :)