InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Indestructible love ❯ Chapter 5: Homecomings ( Chapter 5 )

A/N- This chapter was hard to get right and I ended up going through about four versions of it just to find the right one...anyway, I am looking for a beta right now, I feel that I really need one, so if you are interested, please, pm me and we'll go from there.

Now, I don't own InuYasha, but the storyline is mine.

I think that's everything, let’s get on with the fic then!

The trip back to the castle had been utterly miserable, as she crawled in through her secret entrance, Kagome felt exhaustion and loneliness drift over her.

‘Stop it Kagome! Don’t think such things, he promised that he would come back, so he will come back no questions about it.’

Standing, Kagome brushed herself off only to freeze when a hand clamped down upon her shoulder, “so there you are, we’ve been looking everywhere for you miss, you’re father has nearly gone insane with worry.”

Sighing dejectedly, Kagome grudgingly turned around and smiled sheepishly at the elderly woman standing before her, “sorry about that Kaede, I happened upon a wounded creature and nursed him back to health. It took longer than I expected it would, anything eventful happen while I was gone?”

Kaede had always been there for Kagome, she had been her dearest companion and teacher since the day Kagome was brought into the world, she could always trust the truth from Kaede.

But the kind and cheerful expression on Kaede’s face faded at her words, Kagome felt a strange sense of foreboding at the look that now crossed her companions face, ‘no…don’t tell me…’

“He…he didn’t, not without asking me first, please Kaede! Tell me!” Gripping her friend’s shirt, Kagome gave her a pleading look as tears began to fill her eyes, Kagome already knew the answer she just hoped that she was wrong.

Kaede let out a small sigh as she gripped Kagome’s arm in her own and started to lead her back into the castle, “let’s get you cleaned up first, then we can talk. Besides, your father has decided to hold off informing everyone until tomorrow morning. Only a select few know, come mistress, let’s go.”

Kagome nodded her head dumbly as she let Kaede lead her into the castle, her mind had focused inwards and it wasn’t until Kaede had gotten her bathed and redressed that she came out of her thoughts.

Looking about her room as she walked inside, Kagome made her way over to the window seat that sat at the side of her bed, sitting down she patted the spot next to her while smiling up at Kaede. Dutifully, Kaede sat down and ran a hand gently over Kagome’s brow as her eyes softened, “you look just like your mother.”

Blushing lightly Kagome looked away and out the window, it had a beautiful view from where Kagome could see almost the entire expanse of the forest that surrounded the castle, usually this vantage point made Kagome happy but tonight it filled her with sadness.

‘Is he out there in the forest, somewhere I cannot see? I hope you are alright Bankotsu, wherever you are…’ “Please Kaede, tell me as you promised…”

“As you wish miss. Two days ago your father met with the great demon Lord of the West, Lord InuTashio. They were in discussion for several hours before they parted ways, promising to meet again tomorrow morning.” Turning towards Kaede, Kagome found that Kaede had something clutched in her hand, slowly Kaede extended her hand and opened her fist letting the object within tumble out to dangle from her fingers.

It was a silver chain necklace upon which sat what looked to be a charm to Kagome’s eyes, it was in an oval egg like shape but strangely enough it was see through, inside it sat a dark blue crescent moon that as it swayed upon its chain seemed to sparkle.

“His youngest son has formally asked for your hand and your father has accepted the proposal, but he has placed conditions which he will explain to you himself,” unclasping the necklace in her fingers, Kaede slid the chains about Kagome’s neck and reclasped them together.

Pulling back, Kaede stood slowly as she smiled gently down at Kagome, “in the end mistress, it is you who can choose what you want or don’t want, never forget that.”

Turning, Kaede started towards the door but she had only gotten a few feet before Kagome’s voice called out to her, “wait Kaede…I…I want to tell you something. It’s the real reason I didn’t return earlier, please, listen to me. I need to tell someone about this.”

Smiling, Kaede made her way back over to Kagome’s side and sat down again, “I will always listen to you miss, you know that…please, tell me what’s on your mind.”

Letting out the breath that she hadn’t known she had been holding, Kagome returned the smile before her eyes turned serious, “I found a man bleeding to death from a demon attack in the forest, he was nearly dead but I didn’t care. I took him to my cave and patched him up, when he awoke he was rather hard to deal with at first but he soon warmed up to me.”

Seeing the surprised expression in Kaede’s eyes, Kagome looked away, “he and I began to speak, I found he was a very kind and caring person. I told him all about myself as well, don’t worry, he can be trusted. But what I really need to tell you is…is I…” hearing the sound of chuckling at her side, Kagome paused as she turned her confused eyes upon Kaede.

“You’ve lost your heart to this stranger, have you not? I will not let anyone know, but I would refrain from telling your father, he would not understand. Now, I must leave you. Good night Milady.” Standing before Kagome even had a chance to reply Kaede bowed and began to turn only to be nearly tackled to the ground in a backbreaking hug by Kagome.

“Thanks Kaede! Good night!” Releasing Kaede, Kagome smiled as she watched Kaede leave the room, sighing Kagome collapsed back onto her bed an arm placed over her eyes.

As she drifted off to sleep, Kagome found her mind wandering back to the time she had spent with Bankotsu in the cave, a sense of contentedness passed over her as she finally succumbed to the lulls of sleep.

Meanwhile, far off in the forest Bankotsu shook his hair out, water flew everywhere, splashing the ground and rocks that surrounded him.

A small laugh greeted his ears and Bankotsu looked down and smiled at the pair of emerald eyes that were shining up at him, reddish brown hair framed the face and eyes of the small demon kit that was sitting in his lap.

“This lady sounds nice…will I really get to meet her?” Letting loose a small chuckle, Bankotsu picked up the towel that he had at his side, dropping it upon the child’s head Bankotsu watched as the kit dried himself off.

“Of course you will, I made a promise after all. Besides, she is going to come and stay with us from now on, so you’ll have lots of time to get to know her, alright Shippou?”

Shippou pulled the towel off his head as he climbed out of Bankotsu’s lap, handing the towel to Bankotsu, Shippou gathered up his clothes and started to dress. “So when are we going to go and get her, I just can’t wait to meet this Kagome, she sounds like a lot of fun…besides, if she’s kind…maybe she’ll become my new mommy, what do you think Bankotsu?”

Shock was clearly written on Bankotsu’s face, he was reaching for the towel but now his hands were planted on the ground on either side of him, “uh…I guess so, but uh…don’t tell any of the others that…please.”

Shippou just nodded his head and hugged Bankotsu around the neck, releasing him Shippou ran back towards their camp, leaving Bankotsu alone in the clearing.

Letting out the breath he had been holding, Bankotsu slowly took up the towel and dried himself off before beginning the arduous task of braiding his long hair, when the silence got to be too much for him to bear Bankotsu started to think over what he was going to tell the others about Kagome.

Shippou was easy to handle, he was a demon but he was also still but a child, Bankotsu’s brothers on the other hand were going to be very hard to handle, especially Jabots.

‘Why am I even going to bother arguing with them? I want Kagome to stay with me and if they don’t like it, then I guess I’ll have to leave and Kagome and I can live on our own…but…if they do accept her…’ tying off his braid, Bankotsu got to his feet and popped his back before beginning to dress.

“That’s it then, I’ll just have to ask them and see what happens…here’s hoping…” sighing, Bankotsu pulled on his hakama’s and started to slip his haori on when he decided that the sooner he asked, the sooner he could see Kagome again.

His mind made up, Bankotsu grabbed Banryu and his outer haori and sprinted back to camp, a small smirk beginning to appear upon his face.

As he reached it he could smell that nights dinner of fish wafting in the air and Bankotsu couldn’t help but lick his lips in appreciation, Suikotsu was not only the best doctor Bankotsu knew but the best cook as well, ‘aside from Kagome.’

A smile replaced his smirk as he thought about Kagome, she wasn’t even there yet his mere memory of her was enough to bring countless smiles to his face, “get away from those, they aren’t fully cooked yet, you should know that by now Aniki.”

Jerking at being caught, Bankotsu rubbed his shoulder ruefully as he turned around to face the source of that stern voice, his smile had dissolved into a sheepish one as he faced his brother Suikotsu. A few feet behind his brother sat Shippou, the kit had fallen asleep on a small bed of leaves that he must have gathered earlier, glad at seeing this, Bankotsu turned his eyes back upon an annoyed Suikotsu.

“Sorry…I just couldn’t help it, I haven’t eaten since this morning, so I’m little hungry.” The man before him just rolled his eyes as he walked over and poked at the fish with his index finger, “alright, your forgive this time, but your not going to get your dinner until you tell me where the hell you have been the last two weeks. Understood?”

Snorting, Bankotsu walked over to a nearby tree and placed his Banryu against it, once this was done he finished putting his outer haori on and once he had it secure he turned and sat down Indian style. “Yeah, yeah. I get yah, by the way, where are the others, I haven’t seen them sense I got back.”

Suikotsu had just opened his mouth to answer when sounds could be heard from the outskirts of the camp, Bankotsu tensed as he listened and Suikotsu stepped closer to Shippou’s curled form, after a couple moments voices drifted into the camp and both of them relaxed.

“…looked everywhere! Where else could we possible look? You tell me that Renkotsu!” A couple moments of silence drifted before a loud shrilly screeching filled the air, “I want to find Aniki now! He could be hurt or even worse…dead! Ah, let’s go back out right now and look for him again! I am not going to give up that easi…mrph!” “Shut up Jakotsu! I can’t stand hearing your damnable voice at this time of night, we will find him, so just shut up and quit worrying for once.”

Unable to stop himself, Bankotsu began to chuckle, it never ceased to amuse him with how his brothers got on together. ‘Kagome would fit right in…heh, I can’t wait to see the looks on their faces when they hear about her.’

The trees shifted a few feet away and five men walked into the clearing, one was holding a scantily dressed one in a headlock while the others were only shaking their heads as they stomped over to the fire, “hey Suikotsu, any developments?” came a tired voice.

Bankotsu merely raised an eyebrow as he traded amused glances with Suikotsu, apparently the others hadn’t noticed him just yet, ‘this’ll be interesting…’

“Actually…” before Suikotsu could finish, a loud scream filled the clearing and before Bankotsu knew what hit him, he was flat on his back with a whining and whimpering Jakotsu who was crushing his ribs in a back breaking hug.

“Aniki!!” Clenching his eyes shut at the ear piercing scream that sounded right in his ear, Bankotsu patted his brother on the back weakly and when Jakotsu failed to move, he shoved him off roughly and placed his hands to his ears as the wailing only continued.

Finally as Jakotsu settled down, Bankotsu slowly removed his hands from his pounding ears, “are you finished?” Jakotsu simply smiled and nodded his head and Bankotsu had to stop himself from groaning aloud, resituating himself, Bankotsu looked over his brothers once to make sure that they all were alright.

Feeling something poke his leg, Bankotsu glanced down to see that Shippou had awakened and was pointing at his lap in permission, nodding his head Bankotsu let Shippou seat himself in his lap before he looked over at Suikotsu.

“I know you all are worried and curious as to my whereabouts for the last two weeks, but before I explain, is the fish done yet?” At Suikotsu’s nod, Bankotsu smiled and waited patiently as his brother handed everyone including himself their own fish.

Minutes and a bunch of full bellies later, Bankotsu was leaning back against his chosen tree and was running his fingers gently through Shippou’s hair as he looked at his brother’s around him.

“Alright, do you remember when we parted ways and I remained behind to fight that hanyou?” Seeing six consecutive nods, Bankotsu went on, “I was exhausted from our fight before that and wasn’t able to put up much of a fight, I was badly wounded and left for dead. In fact, I should be dead.”

Shaking that off, Bankotsu let out a sigh, “Anyway, I had lost so much blood that I passed out expecting death to claim me soon, but when I awoke my wounds were dressed and I had been placed upon a futon. Someone had found me and taken care to make sure that I would survive, I heard something at the caves entrance and when I turned to see who had saved me, I was surprised and shocked to find that it was a woman.”

Around him his brother’s eyes grew wide with surprise and confusion, but for one in particular the reaction was a lot more violent, “No! That’s a lie! Women are filthy creatures, how could one of these harpies take care of you? She wanted something didn’t she, tell me Aniki! What did she want from you, oh! No, not that! Not my brother’s bod…”

Bankotsu smiled when Renkotsu placed a hand over Jakotsu’s mouth, effectively shutting him up, but Bankotsu could feel a headache coming on and knew this was going to be a long night.

‘Hopefully I’ll still be sane at the end of it…’


A/N- And the end of yet another chapter is here...this one is finally winding down and I think it has a few more chapters left in it. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this update and the next chapt is going to be up sometime at the first of April...

It's a while, but I've been really working on it! I swear!

Until then, I hope you review...

Ja Ne!