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

Disclaimer: All characters pertaining to the show InuYasha are owned by Rumiko Takahashi. I am not making any money from this...the only thing that I am getting out of this story is the satisfaction of knowing that other people enjoy my writing. All original characters are my creation and belong to me...as does the plot and storyline.

 

 

Chapter 14

 

It was almost noon when Sesshomaru crawled out of his tent. Miroku was polishing his bike. Kouga was sharpening his knife, and Inu was crashed in his tent with his feet hanging out. To everyone's surprise, there was a girl asleep beside him. Sesshomaru stretched and walked around. He had not slept very well and he was stiff, as well as sore.

 

“You look like warmed over dog food,” Miroku told him.

 

“Gee, thanks a lot,” Sesshomaru replied sarcastically.

 

“You didn't sleep too good. You kept mumbling in your sleep.”

 

“Sorry if I kept you awake.”

 

“No problem. So when are we going to leave for the reservation?”

 

“As soon as I get my boots on.”

 

“Thought so.”

 

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Later that afternoon, Sesshomaru and Miroku arrived in Rosebud. They asked around about Kagome, but no one seemed to know anything about anyone in particular. The only promising lead they got was that a green-eyed girl had broken some guy's leg out front of the convenience store on the previous day. But when they questioned the guys involved, they had no idea where she had gone when she left. Finally discouraged, they left the reservation and headed back to Sturgis.

 

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Tuesday morning, Kouga got a message that his mother had passed away in the late hours of the night. So everyone packed immediately and prepared to leave with Kouga for Denver. They reached Denver late in the afternoon and paid their respects, leaving Kouga to be with his family. Everyone else headed back to Arizona.

 

No one was in a particular hurry to get there. Sesshomaru was preoccupied with trying to guess where Kagome had gone. Miroku was busy trying to find a way to get Sesshomaru to think about something else. Inu was smoking a joint.

 

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The guys reached Phoenix on Thursday morning. Everyone went to Sesshomaru's house and crashed. They were all exhausted from the long ride. Sesshomaru went to his own familiar bed and fell asleep immediately. All of them slept out the remainder of the day. Miroku got up and left around seven and went home to his dogs. Inu got up and got a beer. Sesshomaru went back to sleep.

 

Friday morning, Sesshomaru woke up feeling more determined than ever. He called Miroku up and told him to meet him at the gas station up the street from Miroku's house. Twenty minutes later, Sesshomaru pulled up in his beat up red and white pick-up truck.

 

“Where are we headed?” Miroku asked.

 

“Cameron.”

 

“Could I possibly ask why?”

 

“Because that's where Kagome's grandfather lives. Maybe he can tell me where she is.”

“Ok. Let's drop off my bike and get rolling.”

 

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“May I help you?” the old man asked cautiously as he answered the door.

 

“Are you Raymond Gray-Eagle?” Sesshomaru asked.

 

“May I ask who wants to know?”

 

“I am a friend of Kagome's.”

 

“I am Raymond Gray-Eagle. Please, won't you come inside so that we may talk?”

 

“Thank you, sir,” Sesshomaru replied as they followed him inside.

 

“How can I help you, Sesshomaru?”

 

“How do you know me, sir?”

 

“My granddaughter spoke very highly of you when I saw her on Sunday. She feels rather strongly about you, young man.”

 

“I love Kagome, sir. I need to know that she is safe.”

 

“She is safe. I sent her to stay with her brother so that she will not be charged for the crime she is accused of. I know she is innocent.”

 

“I believe she is innocent too, sir. I need to give this money to her,” he said as he pulled a thousand dollars from the pocket of his jacket. “I told her that I would give it to you to give to her. I need to repay her for bailing me out of jail.”

 

“I know what you did for her, son, and you have my gratitude as well. However, I regret that all I can do is tell her that you were here and that you are looking for her. I cannot tell you or anyone else where she is.”

 

“I looked for her in South Dakota, but she seems to have disappeared without a trace.”

 

“Sesshomaru,” the old man put his hand on Sesshomaru's shoulder as they turned to leave, “it is for the best.”

 

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Miroku and Sesshomaru left Cameron and went to Flagstaff to get gas and something to eat before returning to Phoenix. They went to a burger stand and ordered their food. While they were waiting, someone with a smart mouth started a fight with Sesshomaru. The end result landed both of them in jail. Miroku drove Sesshomaru's truck back to his house and waited for Sesshomaru to be released from jail.

 

Well, to make a long story short, when Sesshomaru was arrested, he was carrying the gun that he had taken from Kagome. And since it was confiscated during the arrest, the police checked the ballistics to see what turned up. In the end, they found that it was the same gun that was used to kill Rose Crawford a little more than a week earlier, and the only fingerprints on it were Sesshomaru's since he had cleaned it in Sturgis.

 

Of course, this was all news to Sesshomaru, who was left sitting in jail. He told the police that he had found it at a rest stop off of Interstate 285 near Webster, Colorado, but they didn't believe him. They said he was just lying to try and weasel his way out of a murder charge. It occurred to Sesshomaru that Kagome was not as innocent as she had claimed to be. He began to wonder if she had killed Rose Crawford and then played the innocent to get her way. He didn't want to believe that, but as things grew continually worse over the next few weeks and the evidence piled up against him, it got harder and harder not to.

 

The police, while investigating Sesshomaru's claim of finding the gun in Colorado, called the Webster police department. They had discovered the body of Sango Randall and a dead Indian man and returned them Cameron, Arizona for burial and autopsy. When they found that the same gun had been used to kill Sango Randall, they convicted Sesshomaru of all three murders and locked him away in the Arizona prison system for a sentence of forty years.

 

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Kagome adjusted to life on Souta's ranch quite well. There was plenty to do. She was never bored. There was no television. They did have a CB radio, though it was only used for emergencies, and they had a radio to keep up with the weather. She enjoyed getting up early each morning to feed and water the horses. Souta had a mountain of laundry to do. Although he didn't have a washer or dryer, it wasn't long before she convinced him to buy a washing machine. She also fixed meals for Souta and his helpers, which was something they truly appreciated. Most of his helpers were really nice, hard working guys around her age, but Souta had made it clear to them that she was off limits, and they showed her only respect - with an occasional teasing. Kagome was content and enjoying the simple life she was leading in Montana.

 

In mid-September, Kagome talked Souta into building her a chicken coop. She bought the chickens herself, insisting that the money they saved on eggs and meat would more than pay for the coop. She bought herself a nice flock of about fifty black and gold hens and ten gold roosters, and by the end of the month, they were getting around two dozen eggs a day, which was a good thing, because the men ate them like they were going out of style.

 

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One morning, near the end of September, Kagome got up to do her chores as usual. She fed the chickens. She fed the horses. She went into the kitchen and began preparing breakfast. Craig and Jason walked in and sat down with their coffee. Then for no apparent reason, Kagome rushed out the back door and became ill. Jason and Craig rushed out after her. After several minutes, she convinced them that she was fine, and returned to the kitchen to finish breakfast.

 

 

Kagome's sick spells continued for another month. She began to get dizzy when she was up in the hayloft. She also noticed that her horse was acting unusually gentle when she was riding. Then one day, it occurred to her why these things were happening.

 

“Souta,” she told him over dinner that evening, “I'm pregnant.”

 

“What?” he asked, not sure that he had heard her correctly.

 

“I'm going to have a baby.”

 

“Are you sure? Have you seen a doctor?”

 

“No. I haven't seen a doctor. I haven't been into town since I got here. But yes, I'm sure. I haven't had a period since July.”

 

“Is Sesshomaru the father?”

 

“Hai. He's the only one I've been with.”

 

“You have to tell him, you know. It's only right.”

 

“I know.”

 

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Kagome received a letter from her grandfather in late October. She curled up on the sofa near the fireplace to read it. The letter stated that the charges against her had been dropped. The man responsible for the murder of Rose Crawford had been caught and sentenced to forty years in prison. The letter also contained a thousand dollars. Her grandfather said that Sesshomaru had come looking for her and that it was safe to contact him if she chose to. Her grandfather said that Sesshomaru was a very nice young man and that he appeared to care for her very much.

 

That night, Kagome sat down at the kitchen table and wrote a letter to Sesshomaru. She told him that she loved him very much and that she wanted to see him. She told him that she was pregnant with his child. She told him that she had made a mistake when she had left him, and she knew it. She told him that she wanted to be with him. Kagome closed the letter and drew two gray feathers on the envelope. She put it in the out-going mail, truly hoping for an answer.

 

 

TBC...

 

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