InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Love Is Blind ❯ The Debt ( Chapter 2 )

Naraku's puppet slipped into the sleeping village. There was a power that was new, a spell unlike anything he had tasted before. He found the house with a sleeping boy in it. The spell came from the necklace. Naraku's puppet touched the necklace and immediately identified the spell. Naraku smiled at the information the remains of the miko sent him. This was a vessel he could use. He recalled the woman, one of his few servants who could walk among humans, and began to move. He had to have the boy, he was too tempting a target. He began to set things in motion. The boy did not have to be dead for his plans to work, and he preferred it that way. Although he was almost a man grown, he was still young enough for the bitch who tagged along behind Inuyasha as though she had the hanyou by a leash to think of as a child. It was almost dawn when he sent the dead miko back into the village, jewel shard in hand.

Kagome awoke from the nightmare in a cold sweat. Naraku had stood over her, cackling with the severed head of Inuyasha in one hand and the corpse of her brother in the other. Behind them, impaled on wooden stakes, had been Sango, Miroku, Shippou, and strangely enough, Sesshomaru. She'd never felt anything more than fear toward the taiyoukai but seeing him there had been a terrible blow. He was, after all, the Lord of the Western Lands, and considered every human and youkai in his territory his responsibility. He'd even fought against Naraku, though not wholeheartedly, on several occasions. She frowned suddenly, pulled from her musings by the presence of a jewel shard nearby. There hadn't been one before. She rose and decided to let the others sleep.

The feeling drew her into the forest, near the well. Inuyasha regularly patrolled these woods and there were few youkai who would brave them in the face of an irate Inuyasha and his Tetsusaiga. Notching an arrow she wondered if it was not perhaps a human she was sensing. She entered the clearing and frowned. Souta stood, seemingly in conversation with a woman dressed as a miko. Kagome stepped into the open.

"Souta! Who's your friend?"

He turned and she gasped. Now she sensed two jewel shards, one from the miko's back and the other from Souta's. Souta held a small sword in his hand. His eyes were vacant, as though he could not see. He began to advance on her, his sword poised to attack.

"Souta!"

She screamed more out of frustration than anything else. Almost three miles away, in a shaded glen, Sesshomaru's ears perked at the sound. He rose and jumped skyward, racing across the trees toward the source of the noise. Kagome dodged and feinted, unwilling and unable to strike at her brother, even to disarm him. Her spelled prayer beads prevented her from doing him any harm. She snarled to herself as his sword bit into her left side. His next thrust pierced her arm. The pain brought her to her knees and he loomed over her. Tears filling her eyes she reached up, her eyes intent on the prayer beads rather than the boy. She touched them and they glowed then snapped, the beads spraying over her. At least now the others would have a chance against him.

Sesshomaru saw the miko break the spell. He landed between her and the boy and swatted the sword from his hands. Reversing the blow and balling his fist, he punched him across the face, sending him flying. The miko was struggling to remain on her knees.

"Jewel shard…in his back…remove it to break the spell."

He frowned at her gasping halting speech but walked over to the boy and flipped him over with one booted foot. He found the jewel shard and plucked it from his back. He turned to find the woman leaning heavily on one hand. Her bleeding arm clutched at the wound at her side. He tucked the jewel shard into his robe and drew Tenseiga. She winced, obviously thinking he was here to slay her, but she met his gaze, her dark eyes filled with defiance and something else, something he could not quite identify.

"Arigatou." He almost jumped and his arm paused as he raised the sword to heal her. "Arigatou for not killing him."

He nodded and prepared to slash at her. Her eyes did not cast downward as he thought they would. Her gaze held his for an interminable time. Had he slain her, Sesshomaru did not doubt that those eyes would have followed his dreams for the rest of his life. Then suddenly her eyes widened. With a surprising bust of speed and strength she threw herself at him, tackling him to the ground. He felt something hit her with surprising force and she huffed softly as the air was driven from her lungs. He watched her eyes fill with pain as a second then a third black arrow slammed into her tiny frame. All the while she used her body to shield his. He looked around and saw Kikyou, his brother's dead miko, standing in the woods, bow in hand. She had a sick smile on her face as she turned and walked away. The woman clutched at his kimono as a spasm of pain ripped through her body.

"Gomen…I will not…be…able to…repay…my debt."

Sesshomaru shook his head slowly. "How little faith you have."

He pulled the arrows from her and laid her on the ground. With a single swipe of Tenseiga she was healed. She rose, carefully checking her wounds. The eyes that met his were filled with gratitude.

"This is a debt I cannot repay Lord Sesshomaru."

"I will think of a way for you to repay me, miko, be assured of that."

She bowed deeply. "I await the day you inform me of the task you wish me to undertake."

He nodded, turned and was soon gone from sight. Kagome walked over to the miko and pulled the jewel shard from her back, finally allowing the woman to have her rest. Then she helped Souta to feet and they walked back to the village. On the walk, Kagome decided that she did not need to tell Inuyasha the part his brother had played in her rescue. She sat round the fire with the others, explaining how Naraku's dead miko had placed a second spell on Souta's prayer beads. Inuyasha seemed satisfied and walked them back to the well.

On the other side, as Kagome had feared, most of the house was gone. She sighed softly and they began to pick through the rubble. The well house was, surprisingly enough, intact and so everything they found that was salvageable they placed in there. At last it was night. They rolled out sleeping bags and camped beneath the sacred tree. In the morning their search began again. There was an amazing amount that had been saved and a terrible amount that had been lost. Midway through the day, Inuyasha appeared to help them. With his added strength they could search under collapsed sections of the house. Buyo was the greatest discovery they made that day. Asleep in an empty paper bag and protected by the remains of the living room sofa, he yowled a greeting at them demanding to be fed.

Kagome's mother and grandfather arrived the next day, worried almost to tears since the phone lines had all been down. Her mother was immensely grateful to Inuyasha for his help and they began to make arrangements to go stay with an aunt on Osaka until a new house could be built.

"That's fine, but Kagome can't go with you."

Her mother jumped slightly. "Why not?"

"She still has to help find the jewel shards, that's why."

Kagome laid a restraining hand on her mother's arm. "Inuyasha's right."

Inuyasha opened his mouth to argue then stopped. "I am?"

"If it were only a few days or even a few weeks, I could go, but we'll be there for months. I can't stay away that long."

"And when you want to come home?"

"I can make arrangements to fly to Osaka for a week or two, to come visit. At least I don't have to worry about school."

"And why not?"

"Because the school is gone. The entire building collapsed and the rest of the district is so over crowded that they're asking everyone to take the proficiency test offered in the summer rather than try to find a way to finish lessons."

Her mother sighed and Kagome recognized surrender. "Fine, when will you leave?"

"Tomorrow."

"Very well, let's go out to eat." She glanced at Inuyasha. "I suppose people will notice him like that."

"Give him an hour, there's a new moon tonight, though you will need shoes."

Souta ran into the well house and emerged with a pair of his old shoes. True to her word, in an hour Inuyasha was human, and they went off to try to find something to eat resembling a happy, if odd, family.