InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Long Awaited Reunion ❯ Apologies are not Required ( Chapter 9 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha *sad sigh*

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"Example" = Spoken words

'Example' = Thoughts

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Chapter 9: Apologies are not Required

Not long after going to sit by the tree, Inuyasha and Kagome had fallen into a light sleep, both being rather tired from the day's events. They had been sleeping for a few hours, and it was late afternoon when Inuyasha's ears twitched and he woke from his nap. He could hear footsteps coming in their direction from the woods, but knew who it was so he wasn't worried. He yawned widely and was about to stretch until he noticed Kagome still sleeping on his shoulder. He blushed slightly, thankful that no one was around to see it, but then remembered that someone was coming, and he really didn't want them to see. 'Kuso, if that subeke bouzu sees us like this I'll never hear the end of it.' He really didn't want to wake Kagome 'Gods, she's pretty when she sleeps. Woah, where the hell did that come from?' He reluctantly started to gently shake Kagome's shoulder and call her name.

"Kagome. Ooi, Kagome. Wake up."

"Hmm…Inuyasha? What's going on?" she replied sleepily as she yawned.

"We feel asleep. Miroku, Sango, and Shippou are coming. They should be here in a few minutes."

"Oh, ok. How's Inukigo doing?" she asked, rubbing her eyes.

"She's still sleeping. I can't smell her blood anymore, so her wounds are closed and healing, but it'll be a few days before her wounds are healed completely."

"Should we wake her up before the others get here?"

Inuyasha thought for a moment then turned to look at his sister lying in Kagome's sleeping bag. He noticed her ears twitching and smirked.

"Nah, we don't have to. She's already waking up. I think that she heard them coming same as I did."

As if on cue, Inukigo's eyes fluttered open, and she yawned widely. She started to stretch, but was reminded of the wound in her stomach when the sudden movement caused her pain and she stopped herself. She glanced over and say Inuyasha and Kagome looking at her, they had noticed her slight wince when she moved, and she gave them a faint smile to say she was ok. Both breathed a sigh of relief and got up to go over and sit next to her.

"Hey, Inukigo-chan. How are you feeling?" Kagome asked with a smile on her face.

"Still sore, but much better, thanks Kagome-chan." she replied as she tried to sit up. She was gently stopped by a hand on her shoulder.

"I thought that I told you that you weren't getting up until your wounds healed?" Inuyasha said as he looked her in the eye.

"C'mon, Inuyasha. Let me sit up. I'm feeling better now, not to mention that I'm stiff from lying in one place for so long."

Inuyasha contemplated her request. He didn't want her moving around fearing that she would hurt herself, but lying still for too long wasn't all that good for her either, so he reluctantly removed his hand from her shoulder.

"Alright, but you're only sitting up. You're not standing until I think that you can without hurting yourself."

"Fine." she replied as she glared at him. She hated it when he ordered her around and treated her like a little child, since they were after all the same age. But she knew that he was just being protective of her and trying to keep her from getting hurt and she loved him for it. She slowly tried to sit up, but seemed to have trouble doing so, so Inuyasha helped her sit herself up. He was worried when she seemed to be exhausted from the slight movement.

"Ooi, you ok?" he asked her, not attempting to hide the concern in his voice.

"Aa, just sore and stiff, don't worry about it." she said as she smiled at him. She then twitched her ears as she heard voices and footsteps come close to camp. "Miroku, Sango-chan and Shippou are coming." she said as she turned in the direction that she heard them coming from. Inuyasha noticed a sad look coming across her face and knew exactly what she was thinking.

"They aren't mad at you." he said bluntly.

"Huh?" she replied, surprised that he had known what she was thinking.

"I said they aren't mad at you." he repeated.

"You sure?" she asked as she turned her head to look at the ground. 'She sounds like she is really scared about them rejecting her because of what happened.' Inuyasha thought to himself.

"Of course Inukigo-chan." Kagome said with a smile. "They're not angry with you. They were really worried about you when we left."

Inukigo was a little stunned to hear that they had been worried for her when she had hurt them, but continued to look at the ground.

"Kagome-chan, how badly did I hurt them?" she asked, the sadness very apparent in her voice.

"Not to badly. Miroku has a cut on his arm, Kirara has a few on her shoulder, and Sango-chan's back was scratched up a bit. They weren't too serious, that's why we came on ahead with you."

"What about you?"

"Huh? Oh, I've got a few puncture wounds on my shoulder, but they aren't too bad."

Inukigo nodded, she was happy that she hadn't hurt anyone too badly. Just then, the rest of the small group emerged from the forest. Sango, who had Kirara in her arms, had a very pissed off look on her face, while Miroku had a bright red hand print on his face. Shippou, who was walking ahead of them, just sighed and shook his head.

"But Sango, I swear, my hand has a mind of its own!"

"Well then explain to it that if it keeps touched me it will be detached from your arm!"

Inuyasha and Kagome just looked at the pair, then sighed and shook their heads in the same way Shippou had. They knew exactly what had happened.

"Ooi, bouzu, why do you keep it up even though you know that you're gonna get the shit beat out of you?!" Inuyasha yelled.

"It's worth it every time Inuyasha!" Miroku yelled back, earning him a smack on the head from Sango.

"Subeke." she mumbled.

Inukigo just looked on, shocked. Sango and Kagome had told her that the monk was like this with every woman he saw. She then noticed that he was looking at her with a rather strange look on his face.

"What the hell are you staring at?!" she yelled at him, causing everyone to turn their attention to Miroku. Inuyasha, Kagome, and Sango looked at Miroku, then at Inukigo, then back to Miroku. Then the recognized the perverted smile on his face. He was looking at Inukigo because, at the moment, the only thing she was wearing from the waist up was a layer of bandages. They weren't leaving much to Miroku's perverted imagination. Sango, who was standing closest to him took the liberty of bringing Hiraikotsu down on the lecher's head.

"Stop looking at her that way subeke!!" she yelled at him.

Inukigo was a little confused. In what way had he been looking at her? She saw that Kagome had an annoyed look on her face, while Inuyasha and Sango looked as if they were going to kill the houshi.

"Um…Kagome-chan?" she whispered, getting Kagome's attention. "Just how was he looking at me that got those two so pissed?" she asked, pointing to Sango and Inuyasha.

"Oh, he was staring at your, um, chest because all you have on are those bandages." Kagome explained.

"Oh." was her calm reply. Everyone then turned to look at her.

"What do you mean 'oh'? The lecher was staring at you! You sound like you don't care." Inuyasha yelled at her.

"I don't." she replied calmly.

"HUH?!" everyone was shocked.

"Naze?!" Inuyasha screamed, his voice gradually climbing higher. 'Does she actually like the subeke?'

"Why should I? I'm not naked, so he can't see anything. He's just picturing it. As long as he stays far, FAR away from me, I don't really care what goes on in his hentai mind." 'That's a relief.' Inuyasha thought to himself.

Everyone just stared at her for a few minutes, then sighed and decided to forget about it. When Sango and Miroku finally came over, Miroku of course keeping his distance because of the glares he was receiving from Sango and Inuyasha, Inukigo's guilt returned when she saw the blood stained cloths that covered Miroku and Sango's wounds. At some point Miroku had removed a part of his robes and had given a large piece of it to Sango so that she could wrap it around her torso as a temporary bandage. He had used the rest of it to wrap his arm. Everyone noticed her sudden shift in mood as she turned her head to look directly at Sango and Miroku.

"Sango-chan, Miroku, I-I'm sorry for what happened earlier. I'm sorry that I hurt the both of you. I…"

"You don't have to apologize Inukigo-chan." Sango said with a smile, taking Inukigo by surprise.

"Nani? But I…"

"There is no need to apologize." Miroku said as he held up a hand to silence her. "We understand what happened to you, and we don't hold you at fault."

Inukigo was speechless. In front of her were two people, not to mention Inuyasha and Kagome, who she could have very well killed if she had not regained her senses and her youkai blood had remained in control. And they were saying that forgiveness wasn't necessary because they had never blamed her in the first place.

"How is it that all of you can be this way?" she asked regarding the entire group with confusion.

"What do you mean?" Kagome asked.

"How can all of you dismiss this as if it were nothing. If I had stayed that way, I could have killed someone, and all of you are just tossing that fact away as if it doesn't matter. I don't understand how all of you can act like that."

Kagome smiled and leaned forward to place a hand on Inukigo's uninjured shoulder.

"We act like that because we are your friends and we care about you. We understand the circumstances, we know that you couldn't control what you were doing, so we don't blame you for it, even if you blame yourself. From now on, we will always be here for you and we will never abandon you."

Inukigo couldn't believe what she was hearing. She was in total shock. She glanced at the people around her to see that they were all smiling in agreement to what Kagome had said. They reassured her that she had indeed heard the truth. She gave a small smile, and tilted her head downward slightly as to hide her eyes from view.

"Arigatou, Kagome. Arigatou, minna. I don't think that I deserve friendship like this."

"Feh! Baka, of course you do. Why wouldn't you?" Inuyasha said with a smirk on his face as he lightly smacked her in the back of the head.

She turned to face him and glared at him, then smiled widely as she grabbed him around his neck with one arm, pulling him into a headlock, and used her free hand to playfully tweak one of his ears.

"O-ooi, cut that out!" Inuyasha yelled, suppressing laughter at her playful actions and quick mood change. "Let go of me before you open your wounds again and hurt yourself."

"Hai, onii-chan!!" she said in a childlike voice as she released him. She had heard the amused tone in his voice so she knew that he wasn't angry with her, just concerned for her.

Everyone around was either smiling or giggling at the twin hanyous and their actions. Inuyasha let it go, he was in too good a mood to be bothered by his friends' amusement and just smiled along with them. He was glad that Inukigo was acting like herself again. He loved her playful side, and had it not been for her injuries a full out wrestling match would have ensued between the two of them. He was only just realizing how much he had missed her presence and their playful games over the past year.

Inuyasha was so deep into his own little world that he barely heard any of the conversation going on around him.

"So, you're really Inuyasha's sister?" Shippou asked from his spot in Inukigo's lap. He had found that although Inukigo's scent was much the same as Inuyasha's, it was softer and gentler than his was. It comforted him in much the same way as Kagome's did.

"Hai." she replied, a little amused by his question. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, you look and smell enough like him, but you're a whole lot nicer than that idiot."

Inuyasha had heard the idiot comment that Shippou had directed towards him and was instantly pulled out of his thoughts.

"You little runt! Start running!" he yelled as he made to give the little kitsune a good whack over the head, and Shippou took off running. Inuyasha wasn't far behind, and caught up quickly, and gave Shippou a good sized lump.

"KAGOME!!" Shippou yelled in tears.

"Inuyasha…" Kagome said in a voice that was way too calm.

"No, Kagome, w-wait a sec…" Inuyasha tried to plead. Inukigo was really confused by this time.

"Osuwari."

Inuyasha was sent face first into the dirt. Inukigo was shocked.

"What the hell was that?!" she yelled in stunned voice.

"Oh, I forgot you didn't know about the rosary." Kagome said.

"What?"

"When I first met Inuyasha, I had the Shikon no Tama, and he tried to steal if from me. To stop him, Kaede put that rosary around his neck, and every time I say 'o-', that word, well, that happens." she explained, gesturing to Inuyasha, who was just picking himself up off the ground and glaring daggers at Kagome.

"Bitch."

"Oh, urusai." Kagome said, rolling her eyes.

'Gods, these two fight like an old married couple. I wonder what kind of relationship they have with each other. They seemed awfully close while they were sat next to that tree earlier. I'll have to find out later.' Inukigo said to herself as she watched her brother and Kagome's quarrel.

"Sorry to break up this little squabble," Miroku said, "but, we do have other things to worry about."

"Such as…?" Inuyasha asked impatiently.

"Naraku." he replied simply.

"Oh yeah."

"How did you of all people forget that Naraku could be nearby?"

"I was preoccupied ok?!" Inuyasha yelled in his defence. "Besides, I doubt he hung around once he thought that Inukigo would finish us for him." When he saw Inukigo flinch he regretted bringing the topic up. "Oops." 'She's putting on a brave face, but she's still really upset with herself. It's gonna take awhile for her to get over it completely.'

"Don't worry about it Inuyasha." Inukigo said. Then without warning she began to pick herself up off the ground.

"Hold on a second! I told you that you weren't getting up until I thought that you could."

"I'm fine Inuyasha. Just let me stand up, please?" she said, her voice pleading.

"And just where do you think that you'll go if you stand up? I'm not letting you leave my sight!"

"Inuyasha, onegai, let me be. I'm not going to run away, I promise. I just need to be alone and think for awhile."

"Alright." Inuyasha said reluctantly before helping her to her feet.

"Arigatou." she said quietly as she slowly made her way over to the rock where she saw her shirt laid out. She stumbled a bit at first, but quickly got her bearings and proceeded to pull her shirt on over her head. The action aggravated her wounds, but she ignored it as she tucked her shirt in and fastened the clasps in the front. When she was finished she slowly began to walk towards the edge of the forest. Just before she disappeared into the trees, Inuyasha stopped her.

"Ooi, don't go to far away. I want to be able to find you quickly if anything happens."

She turned to face him with a small smile on her face.

"I won't go far. I just need to be by myself for a little while. If I take too long you can come look for me."

Inuyasha nodded, and Inukigo made her way off into the forest. When she was out of sight Kagome turned to Inuyasha.

"She seems fine on the outside, but she's still suffering because of this. I wonder if she'll be alright."

"She will be, eventually," Inuyasha replied, "But I think it might take her awhile before she truly forgives herself for all of this. All we can do is wait."

Kagome nodded, then turned to look sadly at the spot where Inukigo had entered the forest. Inuyasha was right, all they could do now was wait, and be there for her when she needed them.

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Here is one more chapter. This fic is going to end soon, but what I forgot to mention is that I plan for this to be the first fic in a series, which at the moment doesn't have a title, but it will soon. Anyways, this fic was really just to introduce Inukigo. The next fic (which I'm still thinking up) will pick up sometime after this one. I have tons of different ideas (which I'm not gonna tell *haha*), I'm just not sure what to do first. Oh well, sorry for the wait.

Be sure to visit my site http://members.fortunecity.com/inuyashaforever within the next few weeks, cause when I get time, I'm gonna do a section dedicated to Inukigo (so you guys can learn more about her) Sign my guest book to let me know what you think of the site ok? (I keep asking but no one ever does it *pouts*)

Ja ne!!