InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Metamorphosis. ❯ Quarry ( Chapter 58 )

~~Chapter 58~~

~Quarry~

 

Sesshoumaru frowned as he watched as Kagura wandered through the garden.

 

`What is this sadness I sense in her?'

 

Gaze narrowing, he tilted his head to the side and silently watched as she knelt to touch a flower. The delicate movement of her fingers beckoned him. She turned her head, staring at the horizon as though she were waiting for something. If he only knew what it was . . . ?

 

“Kagura-sama!” Rin called as she ran over to talk to Kagura. Sesshoumaru's eyes lit in amusement as Kagura turned a patient smile on the girl. Rin knelt down beside the wind sorceress, describing something in vivid animation, arms gesturing as she likely told Kagura of her latest antics.

 

Still he could not forget the unfathomable sadness in her gaze as she stared, morning after morning, at the rising sun. She didn't always realize he was awake, and in those moments, he could almost feel the sorrow that she tried to hide. Something troubled her, and though he'd asked more than once, she always smiled and said that she was fine.

 

“What are you hiding, Kagura?” he mused as he stared at her, “and why would you hide it from me?”

 

Almost as though there were things that she wanted to say to him, things that she couldn't bring herself to lend voice to . . . the feeling that there was something she feared to tell him tore at him.

 

The Kagura he knew was fearless, undaunted. What could make her behave so differently?

 

He shifted his gaze out over the landscape with a sigh. `Kagura . . . you will tell me . . .'

 

 

::0::0::000::0::0::

 

 

“InuYasha, do you think this guy's human or youkai?”

 

InuYasha glanced over his shoulder and shrugged. “Keh! Youkai, of course. Why would a human do this to her?”

 

Kagome shook her head slowly. “That's probably true, but it seems a little weird, don't you think? I mean, it doesn't really make sense, any way you look at it . . .”

 

InuYasha shrugged. “It don't matter. Human or youkai, I'll still kill him. Maybe he's the butterfly youkai that has her under his power . . .”

 

Kagome made a face. “Yeah, but she's hanyou, right? So if that's the case, then wouldn't it be more like what happened with Onigumo? Obviously it was something she chose, right?”

 

InuYasha rolled his eyes as he pushed off the ground to sail above the trees. “I told you, wench. There ain't no one who chooses to be hanyou.”

 

“Oh? And what would you rather be?”

 

“Keh! I dunno . . . there ain't nothing wrong with being hanyou . . . just not something I'd choose.”

 

“I like you as a hanyou . . . the others do, too.”

 

InuYasha winced at the sadness in her tone. “Dunno why.”

 

Kagome sighed then giggled. “I think it's your ears,” she teased.

 

“Oi! Wench!” he reprimanded as she flicked the fuzzy appendage. “I told you, don't do that!”

 

“Then don't put yourself down,” she countered though she did stop tickling his ear.

 

He turned to look over his shoulder at her. She was inches away from his face, capturing his gaze with the mysterious light in her eyes. Slowly, she leaned toward him, brushing her lips over his. “I love the way you are,” she whispered before she pressed another kiss to his lips, “and it hurts me when you say those things.”

 

“Kagome . . .”

 

She silenced his argument as she reached out, stroked his cheek with her fingertips as her kisses rained down on him. Gentle, soft, completely reassuring and wholly unsettling just the same. His arms tightened around her legs, and he felt as though time had stopped.

 

She sighed softly as he took control of the kiss, deepening it, hesitating as he nibbled her lips, as he grazed his fangs across them. She shivered and leaned closer, her scent shifting so delicately that it blended together with the smells of the forest. She became his emotion, the palpitation of her heartbeat became his. Her will engulfed his as everything about her merged with him.

 

It could have been moments or hours, a whisper of breath, a moment in time where nothing really mattered but the feel, the smell, the taste of her, the knowledge that she loved him. If he never understood what he'd done to deserve her, did it matter? In the end, his heart made it's choice, and so had hers. Words had always gotten in the way before. The things he wanted to tell her were things that he freely showed her now. Allowing her to see all of him, his heart, his soul in those minutes, he knew she understood when she suddenly broke away, her eyes bright with unshed tears.

 

“I love being with you,” she murmured as she settled her cheek against his shoulder, squeezed his arm gently as her smile trembled on her lips.

 

Blinking quickly as a prickling sensation erupted behind his nose, his eyes, InuYasha faced forward again and cleared his throat before he could speak, wishing that he could put things into words, the things that he always felt unable to say. He shook his head in self-disgust, willed his thoughts back to the topic they'd been discussing. “Anyway, it doesn't really matter how Hisadaicho became what she is. The point of it is that I'll end it, once and for all.”

 

She giggled again, this time at the determination in his voice. “You know---”

 

InuYasha stopped short and frowned as he glanced around at the forest. “Miroku?”

 

“Miroku?” Kagome echoed, following the direction of InuYasha's gaze.

 

A loud roar followed by a loud holler announced the arrival of the monk as Kirara ran out of the trees. “InuYasha!”

 

InuYasha let Kagome off his back and stared at Miroku. “What are you doing here?”

 

Miroku slid off Kirara's back and bowed, holding his hand perpendicular to his nose. “Sorry for interrupting . . . Kaede sent me.”

 

“Why?” Kagome asked before InuYasha could even open his mouth. “Is everyone okay? What's wrong?”

 

Miroku nodded. “There was a strange man who came looking for you. He asked Kaede where you were, but Kaede said he was . . . strange.”

 

“Strange?”

 

“How?” InuYasha demanded.

 

Miroku shrugged. “She said he seemed like he possessed a mere portion of his soul. I didn't see him. I apologize.”

 

InuYasha started walking, hands shoved up his haori sleeves and a thoughtful frown on his face. “A portion of his soul?” He shook his head. `Like . . . Kikyou . . . ?'

 

“I don't understand . . . a part of his soul? How can that be?”

 

Miroku fell in step beside InuYasha as Kirara transformed into her tiny form and hopped into his arms. “I don't know, either. Kaede asks that you return to the village.”

 

“Why? If he's lookin' for me, he can fucking find me,” InuYasha growled.

 

Kagome sighed. “Maybe she knows more now, though.”

 

InuYasha scowled. “When did this guy show up?”

 

“The day after you left,” Miroku replied. “Unless you've found a lead?”

 

Kagome made a face. “Nothing.”

 

Miroku nodded as InuYasha's expression grew darker. “Don't worry about it, monk. I'll find this guy we're looking for.”

 

Kagome fell silent as she walked along behind the two. Staring at InuYasha's back, she cleared her throat to gain both InuYasha as well as Miroku's attention. “Do you think maybe this guy is the one we're looking for?”

 

InuYasha thought it over. “Maybe,” he agreed slowly. “But if he is, then where's the other part of his soul?”

 

Miroku shook his head. “I'm inclined to think InuYasha might be right. Whoever controls Hisadaicho can't be that weak. He's obviously the one giving her the orders, and according to what Kaede said, she thinks this guy is no more than a servant.”

 

“Do you think he serves Hisadaicho?”

 

InuYasha shot a glance over his shoulder. “Probably.”

 

Miroku nodded his agreement as he looked back at Kagome, too. He frowned suddenly and stopped as he turned around to face her. “Kagome . . . isn't that the same blouse you wore the day you left the village?”

 

InuYasha snorted. Kagome sighed. “Yes.”

 

Miroku looked a little more baffled by her resigned tone. “Is something wrong?”

 

“The zipper's stuck,” she muttered.

 

“How so?”

 

InuYasha shot him a `stupid lecher' look. “How do you think? She zipped it up, and it's stuck.”

 

“You can't get it loose, InuYasha?”

 

InuYasha cracked his knuckles. “I offered. She didn't want to use Tetsusaiga.”

 

“My mother would have a fit, you know, after the last time you shredded one of my blouses,” she pointed out.

 

“Oh?” Miroku echoed, eyebrows rising in avid interest.

 

Kagome was the first to realize the slip she'd allowed.

 

Miroku chuckled at the heightened hue of the miko's cheeks. “And here I thought `hanyou-in-hell'-red was reserved for the . . . hanyou.”

 

“Never fucking mind, lecher,” InuYasha growled. “It was an accident!”

 

“What was an accident?”

 

Narrowing his golden gaze on the monk, InuYasha snorted. “Keh! Like I'll answer that!”

 

“An accident, huh? A `gee-I-fell-down-and-tore-my-blouse' accident or an `oi,-wench,-let's-not-shake-the-vial' accident?”

 

InuYasha took a swing at Miroku, who scooted sideways to avoid the claws. “Keh! More of an `I'm-gonna-be-a-dead-monk,-better-kiss-my-ass-goodbye' accident,” InuYasha snarled.

 

“Can we talk about something else?” Kagome asked loudly cheeks flaming in embarrassed color.

 

Miroku chuckled. “But this topic is so interesting . . .”

 

“How are Sango and Marisaiko?” Kagome quickly demanded when InuYasha started stalking the monk.

 

“Good, good . . . fine . . . Sango wanted to come with me, but Kaede needed her help with the sakura festival . . . oh yes, InuYasha . . . would you be willing to---?”

 

“Keh! Fuck, no,” InuYasha retorted before Miroku could finish his question.

 

“But the children so enjoyed it last year,” Miroku pointed out.

 

InuYasha made a face. “Well, gee, lemme think about it . . . uh . . . nope.”

 

“Be a sport, InuYasha,” Miroku prodded.

 

“You're so keen on the idea, you do it,” InuYasha growled.

 

Miroku started to argue but cut himself off with a calculating look at Kagome. “Kagome . . . surely you can see my logic . . .”

 

Kagome considered Miroku's idea. She opened her mouth to tell InuYasha that she thought maybe he should consider it. He cut her off. “And don't bat your damn eyelashes at me, wench, because it ain't working.”

 

Kagome made a face then ran around InuYasha, walking backward as she clutched her hands together before her chest and smiled sweetly at the hanyou. “Please, InuYasha? It would mean so much to the children . . . and to me.”

 

InuYasha twitched his ears, tried to look away, felt his face heat up in a flush as Kagome kept backpedaling and kept smiling. “Wench,” he warned.

 

“Please? For me?”

 

He grimaced. “Keh! Fine!” he blustered as he stubbornly forced his gaze to the side.

 

Miroku hollered with laughter. “Kami, I never thought I'd see that!” he managed between bouts of laughter. “You've been---”

 

“Don't fucking say it!” InuYasha snarled as his face deepened a few shades.

 

“---Wenched!”

 

Kagome squealed as InuYasha shot toward Miroku. Kirara leaped out of the monk's arms and onto Kagome's head as Miroku held his hands up in surrender. That didn't work. InuYasha kept chasing after Miroku. Kagome sighed. “InuYasha!” she called after him. “Stop that!”

 

“Stay outta this, Kagome,” he growled as Miroku ducked behind a tree.

 

Kagome pulled Kirara off her head and held onto her. Rolling her eyes, she heaved a sigh and stood patiently as Miroku dug a few Ofudas out of his robes to warn off the hanyou.

 

“If it makes you feel better, InuYasha, Sango does that to me all the time,” Miroku tried to placate InuYasha.

 

“Hmm, for some reason, it doesn't, not really,” InuYasha shot back sarcastically as he shredded the paper charms with his claws.

 

“InuYasha, don't kill him!” Kagome tried again.

 

“Now, think of my wife and child,” Miroku hurried to say as he ducked InuYasha's lunge. “Sango would be quite upset, if she were to become a widow so young.”

 

“I ain't gonna kill you,” he snarled, “I'm just gonna hurt him some.”

 

“Ah, but if you hurt me, then I may not be able to perform my husbandly duties, InuYasha . . . and I'm sure Sango will be even more upset about that . . .”

 

“So she'd find another lecher . . . she's a fucking lecher magnet, anyway.”

 

“I'm so hurt, InuYasha.”

 

“You will be.”

 

“Are we going back then?” Kagome raised her voice to be heard, letting Kirara down. The fire cat youkai transformed back into her big form and waited for Miroku to climb onto her back.

 

InuYasha finally stopped chasing Miroku as he shrugged. “I suppose . . . might as well see what the old woman has to say.”

 

Miroku nodded and bowed to InuYasha. “Then I'll just travel back with you two. No sense in hurrying home when you're coming, too.”

 

He missed the obvious irritation that crossed InuYasha's features. He also missed the sad shake of the miko's head as InuYasha grabbed her hand and tugged her onto his back.

 

 

::0::0::000::0::0::

 

 

“It wouldn't have been so horrible if Ichisaru hadn't come back inside right then,” Miroku remarked as Kagome dropped another log onto the fire.

 

InuYasha dug his claws into the dirt and shifted a glare at Miroku as his cheeks reddened. “I don't think I want to know all this,” he ground out.

 

Miroku waved off InuYasha's complaints. “Seriously, InuYasha . . . with you and Kagome away all the time, the children . . . well . . . they're underfoot . . . a lot.”

 

“Keh! Good!”

 

Kagome shook her head and sighed loudly as she dug into her backpack for a magazine. “Are you sure Sango won't mind you talking about . . . this?”

 

Miroku considered her question. “I've not said that much . . . I was just trying to sneak a few kisses . . .”

 

“And a few gropes,” InuYasha muttered.

 

“Why don't you two stick closer to home for awhile? Give us more time to come up with a good plan for defeating Hisadaicho?” Miroku suggested.

 

Kagome didn't miss the irritated flare in InuYasha's eyes as he glared incredulously at the monk. “I think I can figure it out on my own.”

 

“Of course you could, InuYasha. The point is, you have friends! You don't have to figure it out on your own.”

 

That earned him a glower as InuYasha shook his head and wrapped his arms around Tetsusaiga. “

 

“Keh. Whatever.”

 

“I think I'll go to bed,” Kagome said briskly.

 

InuYasha got up and strode over to her. “Here,” he said, his tone gruffly gentle for once.

 

Kagome smiled up at him as she shook the vial. He did the same as he telegraphed her a wistful grimace that, thankfully, the monk missed since InuYasha had his back to him. “Night, InuYasha.” She leaned to the side to grin at Miroku. “Night, Miroku.”

 

“Good night, Kagome.” Miroku sighed and shook his head slowly as the hanyou returned to his spot and sat down. “You know, you've changed, InuYasha.”

 

InuYasha wrinkled his nose. “Dunno what you're talking about,” he grumbled as he purposefully avoided Miroku's gaze.

 

Miroku laughed. “Hide it all you'd like, InuYasha. You know it's true.”

 

InuYasha snorted. “Keh.”

 

 

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A/N:

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Final Thought fromInuYasha:

…Fucking monk …

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Blanket disclaimer for this fanfic (will apply to this and all other chapters in Metamorphosis): I do not claim any rights to InuYasha or the characters associated with the anime/manga. Those rights belong to Rumiko Takahashi, et al. I do offer my thanks to her for creating such vivid characters for me to terrorize.

 

~Sue~