InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Long Awaited Reunion ❯ For the Love of a Brother ( Chapter 5 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha, nuff said

Chapter 5: For the Love of a Brother

The three girls re-entered the camp, and Inukigo was rather dumbstruck by the sight that greeted her. Inuyasha was chasing the young kitsune, who Kagome had told her was called Shippou, in circles around the fire, yelling something about 'not giving advice on something you know nothing about,' and the houshi, who was named Miroku, was laughing and shaking his head, well off to the side and out of the way of the stampeding demons. She then noticed that Sango and Kagome were shaking their heads in much the same manner as the monk.

"Um...is this a common occurrence or something? You all seem like you've seen it so many times that it's normal behaviour," Inukigo said questioningly to Kagome and Sango.

"Unfortunately, you are correct Inukigo-chan. This is a common occurrence and normal behaviour for those two," Kagome said still shaking her head.

"Sadly, this is one of their better moments. It gets worse when that houshi becomes involved," Sango said.

Upon hearing himself mentioned by Sango, Miroku looked up and joined in their conversation.

"Why, my lovely Sango, I have no idea as to what you could possibly have meant by that statement."

"You know very well what I meant by it hentai," Sango retorted

Inukigo was rather confused.

'What in the world is going on here?' she wondered.

Inuyasha had finally noticed that the girls had returned and gave up chasing Shippou. He watched as they made their way into camp, and Inukigo sat down next to the fire and shifted all her hair over one shoulder so the fire would dry it more quickly.

'She looks a lot happier than she did when she left with Kagome and Sango. That's good.' he thought as he looked at his sister and smiled. Kagome noticed his smile and gave one of her own as she moved towards the fire with a large pot of water.

"I think that I'll make ramen for everyone, is that okay?" Kagome asked. Everyone nodded, except for Inukigo, who had a confused look on her face.

"Ra...men? What's ramen? I've never heard of it before," she asked, looking to Kagome.

"Oh, don't worry. Inuyasha can't get enough of it so I'm sure that you'll like it," Kagome replied.

Inukigo looked over to her brother, who nodded in agreement, then looked back to Kagome and nodded as well. With this, Kagome went about boiling the water, and then poured it into the individual cups of instant ramen. When the noodles were ready, Kagome passed them out to everyone. Inukigo looked at it suspiciously for a moment before taking a taste of the ramen and found that Kagome had been right, she liked this food very much. She also found that Kagome hadn't lied about Inuyasha's love for the noodles. He was, as usual, inhaling rather than eating his food. Inukigo just looked at him and sighed.

Inuyasha heard her sigh and looked up at her confused.

"Nanda?" he asked, with a mouth half full of noodles.

Inukigo stared at him with half lidded eyes.

"I see you haven't changed at all with regard to your eating habits. I guess some things will never change."

"And what's wrong with my eating habits?" he replied, not noticing that everyone else at camp was prepared to give him an answer to that question.

"To put it simply, Inuyasha, that stomach of yours is like a bottomless pit. Anyone who gets to close to your mouth while you're eating has to be careful, or they could very well lose a limb."

Inuyasha just glared at her in annoyance, then shifted his glare to the rest of his friends when he heard them start to giggle. Not knowing how to respond, he gave a very intelligent sounding 'Keh!' and quickly downed the rest of his ramen. Inukigo just shook her head and finished her ramen as well.

When everyone had finished eating, Inuyasha decided that is was time for him to ask Inukigo the questions that had been bothering him all morning. He hoped that she was ready to talk, because he needed an explanation, but didn't want her to be upset again.

"Inukigo," he said calmly, waiting for her to turn her attention to him, "I was wondering if you can give me some kind of explanation as to what happened yesterday, and what happened to you 50 years ago."

Inukigo looked at him for a moment, contemplating his request, then shifted her gaze to the fire before she nodded her head in response.

"Aa, I can tell you. What do you want to know first?"

"Um...let's see. How about you tell me why you were sealed away?"

"Very well, I guess that's as good a place as any to start. The reason I was sealed was because I chose, no, requested to be. After I found out that you weren't dead, but put into an eternal sleep, I wanted to be sealed away, so that there would be a chance that I would be with you again whenever you woke up."

"Inukigo...I...why would you do something like that?" Inuyasha asked, staring at her with wide eyes.

"Don't tell me you're that big a fool Inuyasha. I did it because you're my brother. We'd been together all of our lives, and you were the only family I had back then, except for Sesshomaru and you know what he was like. You're my twin brother, and I love you with all my heart. There was no way that I would have been able to live without you."

"Inukigo...how did you manage to get sealed? D-did...did Kikyou..." he was cut off by his sister.

"No Inuyasha, Kikyou was not the one who sealed me away," she paused for a moment before changing her sitting position so that her left knee was upright and her left arm draped over it. Inukigo then continued her answer to Inuyasha's question.

"On the day that you were sealed Inuyasha, I was furious. When I arrived Kikyou was still alive, I could see that she was already dying, but in seeing you and presuming you dead I was about to shorten the few moments of life she had left. Before I had the chance to carry out the action she explained to me that she hadn't killed you, but put you into an eternal sleep. Despite the fact that I wanted to see her dead then and there, I begged her to do the same to me. She said that she would, because she knew how much you meant to me and vice versa because of the things that you had told her about me, but she died before she had the chance to pull an arrow back in her bow."

"So if Kikyou died before she could seal you, how did you manage to get sealed?" Shippou asked curiously.

For this Shippou received a rather large thump on the head.

"Ow! Ooi, Inuyasha! What was that for?!"

"That was for interrupting you little brat! Now keep your damn mouth shut or I'll do it again!"

"Inuyasha's right Shippou-chan. You shouldn't interrupt people when they're speaking, and this is very important. However," she said changing her tone, "That doesn't give you the right to hit him Inuyasha."

"Gomen, Kagome," Shippo said pouting.

"Keh!"

Inukigo smiled and her eyes softened at the sight before her. The young kitsune was rather cute, despite the fact that he was equally annoying.

'Inuyasha really hasn't changed at all. He's just as childish and short tempered as he always was. Although his eyes are softer now. I wonder what caused that.'

She would have giggled, but someone cleared their throat and brought her back to her senses.

"Excuse me, Inukigo," said Miroku, "Could you possibly..." he was cut off by Sango, who finished his sentence, "Finish telling us your story. We would really like to know what happened to you."

"Oh, gomen ne. I got distracted," Inukigo said, and continued with her explanation.

"Well, after Kikyou died I was devastated. I didn't think that there was anyway for me to be with you again Inuyasha. Then Kaede spoke up and told me that there was a houshi that lived in a temple in this forest that should be able to help me. I succeeded in finding him, and after I told him what had happened to me he agreed to grant my request."

Inukigo stopped talking then. Judging by the tone that her voice had taken, Inuyasha guessed that there was something else, but Inukigo for some reason couldn't say it. He looked into her eyes and was shocked by the sadness that he saw there.

'That sadness is there again, just like before. What's bothering her so much?' he wondered.

"Inukigo, keep going. I know there's something else."

Inukigo took a deep breath and willed herself too keep going.

"When the houshi was about to seal me, he explained the workings of the seal to me. He said that the portion of the seal that kept me asleep would be broken as soon as you entered this forest, and then I would need to receive a large boost of energy to break the seal, which I could gain by having you share some of you youki with me. I told him that I understood. Does that answer your question?" she added the last part with a bitter tone in her voice which surprised everyone.

"Aa, but I have another one. Yesterday you said that I betrayed you. How did you come up with that idea? I would never do something like that."

"How can you say that!" she spat, startling Inuyasha, "After what you said to me while I was pinned to the tree, how can you say that you never betrayed me?!"

"There you go again! I already told you, I never saw you pinned to a tree and I never said anything to you!"

"Inuyasha, I saw you with my own two eyes. You were standing within arm's reach of me and said that you were 'grateful that I wasn't around when you woke up two years ago so I couldn't annoy you anymore.' How is that not betrayal, especially when you were supposed to know where I was?!"

"It's not betrayal because I was never there and never said those things...wait a minute...I was supposed to know where you were?"

"Aa, I also told the priest to relay a message about my sealing to Kaede, so that whenever you woke up, you could be told what happened to me. He agreed, and then shot me with the sealing arrow. That's why I got so angry when you came up to me and said that you had been free for two years and hadn't bothered to come look for me."

Everyone at camp could see how hurt Inukigo had become over the course of her explanation. Inuyasha really didn't want to ask her anymore questions right then for fear that she would have a breakdown. Instead, he chose to think about what Inukigo had just said.

'Kaede was supposed to know where she was and tell me so I could go get her. But, Kaede hasn't even mentioned her once in the last two years. This is really weird.'

Miroku then decided to break the uncomfortable silence.

"Don't you think that this whole situation is rather familiar Inuyasha?"

"Huh? What are you gettin' at houshi?" Inuyasha asked.

"Doesn't this seem a whole lot like the 'make them hate each other so they try to kill each other' kind of plot?"

"You're right it does! Inuyasha, this almost seems like the same thing that happened between you and Kikyou doesn't it?!" Kagome shouted.

Inukigo looked up when she heard Kikyou's name. She was a little confused.

'What did Kagome mean by that? Didn't Kikyou betray my brother by sealing him with that arrow?' She was awakened from her thoughts when Inuyasha started talking again.

"You're right Kagome, it does. That bastard, I'll bet anything that he's involved in this,"

Inukigo noticed that Inuyasha seemed to be getting angry, and was clenching his fists.

'Who is he talking about?' she wondered, as Inuyasha turned to face her again.

"Inukigo, I have one last question. Who was it that gave you those four jewel shards?" Inuyasha had a feeling that he already knew the answer.

"He told me his name was...Naraku. Why?" Inukigo replied with a confused look on her face when she saw how everyone's expressions had gone rather dark.

"I knew it!! Figures that damned bastard would have a hand in this! I can't believe I didn't find it out sooner!" Inuyasha stood up and started to pace around the campsite, mumbling incoherent curses as he went. Inukigo was now more than a little confused after her brother's outburst. She determined that it was useless to ask him anything, now that he was in full blown cursing mode, so she directed her questions to the rest of the group.

"Um...would someone mind explaining this to me? I knew that Naraku had something against Inuyasha because he just gave me the jewel shards without any apparent reason, but what does he have to do with anything else? From the looks on all of your faces, you obviously know who he is."

"Hai, Inukigo," Miroku replied, "Unfortunately, we know him all to well."

The group, minus one still pissed off and cursing hanyou, went about telling Inukigo of their encounters with Naraku, how he was responsible for Miroku's kazanna, what he had done to Sango's village and her younger brother, and finally what he had done to Inuyasha and Kikyou 52 years before. Inukigo was more than a little shocked. There were so many things flying through her mind at that time. She looked over at Inuyasha, who was beginning to calm down, but still pacing, and a painful ache began to well up in her chest.

'I can't believe that I thought he would do something like that to me. I fell for Naraku's stupid trick and lost the trust I had in my brother. How could I have been so blind?'

She stood up and slowly walked over to where Inuyasha was standing. He noticed her coming towards him and stopped what he was doing to watch her. When she reached him, she fixed her golden eyes on his, misty with tears that she would not allow to fall. Inuyasha was then surprised when Inukigo leapt at him, wrapping her arms tightly around his waist and burying her face into his shoulder.

"Inuyasha, forgive me. I fell for his stupid trick and I doubted you. I'm so sorry that I ever believed those things and accused you of betraying me. Onegai, forgive me."

Inuyasha just stood there for a minute, not sure of what to do. He quickly regained his senses though, and wasted no time in returning Inukigo's embrace.

"Don't worry about it. You're not the first person to be tricked that way by him. He did the same thing to me 52 years ago when he disguised himself as Kikyou. I have no right to be angry with you for falling for it. And besides, you're not the only one who feels like they should be apologizing," Inuyasha said calmly as he looked down at her, "I'm sorry for not coming to look for you after I was freed from my seal. I thought that you had either died or gone off and forgotten about me, so I didn't come after you. Forgive me?"

Inukigo didn't say anything, she just nodded slightly with her face still pressed against his shoulder. Inuyasha smiled, then flicked one of Inukigo's ears, causing the girl to pull back from him in surprise. His smile turned into a smirk as she gave him an annoyed glare. He was glad to get this reaction out of her. When they were younger he had thoroughly enjoyed annoying his sister, and her glare told him that nothing had changed. He then found himself in another familiar situation when Inukigo pounced on him, causing him to fall flat on his back, and then started to tickle him.

'Oh wonderful, now everyone's gonna know that I'm ticklish. I'm never gonna hear the end of this.'

As if on cue, Miroku started to laugh at Inuyasha's present predicament.

"Well I never thought that I would witness the mighty Inuyasha being subdued by something other than Kagome-sama's kotodama rosary."

"Huh? What does he mean by a subduing rosary Inuyasha?" Inukigo asked while getting up off her brother.

"Never mind. You'll find out soon enough," he mumbled the last part to low for even Inukigo to hear, "Anyways, you better not speak of this ever you baka, lecherous bouzu, if you know what's good for you."

"Hai, hai, Inuyasha," Miroku replied with a grin on his face.

"That's something I've been meaning to ask about. You're obviously a houshi, so why is it that you've been called lecherous and hentai so many times since I've been here? It doesn't quite add up," Inukigo said to Miroku with a confused look on her face.

"You know, I've known them for about two years now and I still haven't figured that out myself," Miroku said innocently, as his not-so-innocent hand made contact with Inukigo's rear end.

Inukigo stiffened at the sudden feeling on her backside. Inuyasha, Kagome, Sango, and Shippou all recognized the shocked look on Inukigo's face, and glared daggers at Miroku. They were about to explode at him for his actions, that is until Inuyasha saw the look that crossed his sister's face. He began to slowly back away, motioning for the others to do the same, indicating that he had seen this look before and it only meant one thing for the unfortunate Miroku - he was doomed.

*CRACK*

With one quick, fluid motion, Inukigo had turned and slapped Miroku across the face, sending him a good 10 feet before he skidded to a halt. Inukigo then stalked over to his fallen form, giving him a glare that out-did any look that Sango or Inuyasha had ever given him.

"Touch me like that again you hentai, and I'll make certain that you don't have a hand to touch with anymore," she said coldly. She didn't even wait for a response, and stomped off back to the fire. Miroku sat there for a moment, nursing his injured cheek, before Inuyasha walked up to him and offered to help him to his feet.

"I'd take her seriously if I were you Miroku. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if she tried to take off your hand if you did it again," Inuyasha said as he looked at Miroku with a very serious look on his face.

Miroku gulped and nodded his head in understanding.

"She seemed really mad about Miroku touching her Inuyasha. Anyone would be, I know, demo, she had this look in her eye. What's that about Inuyasha?" Kagome asked quietly.

Inuyasha sighed and then gestured for everyone to huddle in closer, mainly because he was afraid that Inukigo would bite his head off if she heard him and didn't want this information told.

"When we were younger, maybe twelve or thirteen, a group of older boys in a village we were passing through ganged up on her with the intention of bullying her and, well, one or two of them tried to feel her up to get her mad. Let's just say that when she was through with them, every one of those boys was afraid to go near any woman other than their mothers for months," he whispered.

"Served them right too dammit!" Inukigo yelled over her shoulder, having heard the entire conversation.

Kagome and Sango gave a nervous laugh and went over to sit beside Inukigo, explaining that she shouldn't be too mad at Miroku, since he sometimes couldn't help himself, even if he did deserve the treatment she gave him. Once things had calmed down a bit, and Miroku felt that he could speak without his life being put in danger, he decided to voice a question that had been bothering him for some time.

"There is something that has been concerning me," he said calmly, getting the group's attention, "Inukigo, you said that you asked the houshi who sealed you to bring a message to Kaede so Inuyasha would know your whereabouts when he awakened, am I right?" he asked. Inukigo nodded to show that he was correct, and Miroku continued.

"And Inuyasha, if I'm not mistaken, not once in the last two years has Kaede-sama even mentioned Inukigo to you?"

"Aa. Kaede-baba never once mentioned her. That's why I didn't know where you were Inukigo," Inuyasha explained after answering Miroku's question.

"What are you trying to get at Houshi-sama?" Sango asked.

"Yeah Miroku, what's this about?" Shippou piped up.

"Kaede-sama is not one to withhold information such as this, so she must have never gotten the message that was intended for her. And I very much doubt that the houshi who sealed you, Inukigo, would go back on his word to deliver your message after agreeing to seal you. Which means..." Miroku was cut off before he could finish his sentence.

"Something must have happened to the monk before he could deliver the message to Kaede-bachan," Kagome said.

"Exactly," Miroku replied.

"But what could have possibly happened to that houshi to keep him from delivering the message to Kaede-baba?" Inuyasha asked to no one in particular. Everything was quiet until an eerily dark voice broke the silence.

"I believe that I can answer that question for you."