InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ One Last Chance ❯ Chapter 2 ( Chapter 2 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
Disclaimer: InuYasha and co. aren’t mine. I’m just borrowing them. Their mental stability upon their return is not my responsibility.





One Last Chance: Chapter 2



InuYasha leaped out of the well, finding himself in the old shrine again.

‘Well, what now?’ InuYasha thought stupidly. ‘I’m a half demon with nothing but some weird clothes and a sword in the future. *sigh* Better find some help.’

InuYasha walked out of the well house, thinking that he would sneak pass the house without the family noticing, but to his mild surprise, the shrine house was deserted, and from the moldy scents he picked up, it had been that way for a while now. ‘Probably couldn’t stand living with the memories.’ he thought grimly. ‘Same reason I can’t stay in the village.’

He leaped up to her window, just like he used to, surprised to discover that some of her things were still there. The bed was bare, and her stuffed animals and other possessions were gone, but the scuffed carpet still held her aged scent, but it was so stale he almost choked inhaling it. It wasn’t that he hadn’t ever smelled something foul, but the fact that it was her scent that smelled so old and decrepit that made him feel nauseous.

“Kagome...” he whispered, deciding that it wasn’t a good idea to stick around and remember. He turned to leave, but a thought occurred to him. A thought that made him cringe with guilt but seemed necessary.

He got on his hands and knees to begin sniffing around, making sure he was well away from Kagome’s room and half-way down the hall so he didn’t bring up any memories that’d spent so long in the dark reassesses of his mind. Then he managed to find it, a smell he was almost sure he’d forgotten.

‘Downstairs...’ he said, crawling his way nimbly down the stair case. It was the smell of that weird paper currency. To his surprise, there was ramen close to it, as well. Although his face wouldn’t show it, he smiled a little inwardly at the thought of his favorite meal. He remembered telling Kagome that he just wanted some ninja food, and there was no other reason he would ever come to visit her house, but that was a complete lie. From the moment he stepped foot in the place to retrieve her, he felt as if it was his own home, there was so much welcome and love in it, despite the old man trying to purify him half the time.

He was sure it was coming from one of the cabinets in the kitchen, the ramen smelling stale and old. He stood up and opened the small door, and to his surprise, a piece of paper drifted gracefully off the shelf to land by his feet.


Dear InuYasha,

I’m leaving this here for you incase you ever need it. I know where you come from is dangerous and you might need a safe place to stay. I just want you to know that mom was sorry about trying to hurt you that night. She knew there was no way you’d ever hurt her. She’s been real sad lately, but I think moving to Osaka will help to get her mind off of it. Grandpa died not too long ago, and we decided that it would be better if we just got away from this big old house. I kept hoping that maybe you would come back before we left, so I’d get to see you one more time. I wanted to thank you again for all the help you gave me whenever I needed it. I want you to know that you were like the big brother I always wanted. I’m leaving you a box of ramen and some money to buy more, if you need it. Don’t forget to wear a hat outside.

I wanted you to know something important. I know you think that no one likes you because you have dog ears, but Kagome really did. I think she loved you. I know this doesn’t mean much, but if you go up to her room and look under her bed, I left you a box full of stuff that ought to help. I miss her a lot sometimes. I keep thinking one day she’ll just open up the shrine doors with a big smile on her face, and a new story to tell me. Anyway, the house is going to stay empty until my mom decides what she wants to do with it, so stay as long as you want. If you want to visit Kagome, we buried her in the graveyard two blocks away, in the other direction from her school. Good luck, InuYasha, for whenever you find it.


Souta


To his dismay, InuYasha felt the tears in his eyes again, but this time did nothing to prevent them from falling. He looked at the box of ramen and the baseball cap sitting in the cupboard, and felt gratitude towards the little boy. He still had friends, no matter how far they were.

‘Pull yourself together. You got a job to do.’

‘But you really want to see what’s in that box.’

‘That won’t do anything but bring back memories.’

‘Don’t you think you’ve been blocking them out long enough? You’ve got no problem remembering Kikyou-’

‘That’s completely different.’

‘Yes, it is. She just quelled your loneliness. Kagome, on the other hand...’

‘They both helped me. And they both left me.’

‘What’s this we feel? Is that anger?’

‘How could she leave me?’

‘It was that or you left her. Which would you choose?’

‘It’s not like I wouldn’t sacrifice myself for her.’

‘And she knew that.’

‘This can’t keep up. I-I can’t keep doing this to myself.’

‘Okay then. Her brother did leave you a rather good amount of cash. Before you find the reincarnation, you should find somewhere else to stay. Perhaps a job. A little money wouldn’t hurt.’

‘What the heck can I do here?’

‘Something strength related. Should be easy enough, compared to these humans.’

‘I guess something temporary wouldn’t hurt. It’ll take a while, won’t it?’

‘Only the fates can tell.’

‘I don’t believe in fate.’

‘Oh come, now-’

‘No, not any more.’


______________________________


InuYasha had slept in Goshinboku again, trying to ignore his misery, and her window in the corner of his eye. As the sun’s ray’s gently prodded him awake, and the sounds of morning Tokyo reminded him where he was, he decided that perhaps it wasn’t the worst way to wake up.

‘First things first. I need new clothes.’ he grumbled to himself, deciding that today was probably going to suck.

He went back into the house to get the money, and fingering through it, hoping there was enough to buy himself something decent. Perhaps if he went to one of those thrift shops Kagome had told him about once when an old homeless woman had walked into him and he ended up smelling like mothballs.

He grabbed the hat and slammed it on his head, walking purposefully out the front door. Leaping gracefully down the huge set of shrine steps, he decided that he’d have to learn how to act more human, which met not running like a leaping deer. Or growling. Damn, this was gonna be hard.

Although InuYasha had refused to ever put on shoes, he though perhaps that was what made him feel so out of place on the street, despite his (he just noticed, compared to others) rather ridiculously large pants, the bright red haori, or his long silver hair. He had left Tessaiga in the well house, against his better judgement, but then again, what was going to happen in this world?

He had to restrain himself from getting on the ground and sniffing out the mothballs Kagome had told him about, but thought that perhaps that was a mistake as he realized he was lost. Looking wildly around him, he realized that he was in the wild, downtown section, and wondered how he had gotten there so fast. He noticed a group of dirty-looking teenaged boys pointing and laughing at him, but something in their laugh was good natured. Before he tried to punish them for laughing, a small smile played at his lips. He could smell mothballs.

“OI! Where’d you get those clothes?” InuYasha yelled, walking quickly over to them, impressing his obvious superior height upon them, looking down his nose. It didn’t get the response he’d hoped for.

“Eh, man, you lose a bet or somethin? What’s with the duds? You look like a cosplay or somethin...” one of the older boys said giggling, looking rather starry-eyed.

“Uhh...are you okay?” the hanyou asked, lifting his eyebrow.

“Aww, man, your stoned outta your mind!” squealed one of the other boys, smacking the oldest on the shoulder as he doubled over with laughter.

InuYasha felt the small smile staying on his lips as he witnessed the silliness of the boys. He thought perhaps this was because of those ‘drug’ things Kagome had told him about once, with disgust in her voice.

“Are you baka’s gonna help me or what?” he said irritably.

“Sure man, okay, okay, we ain’t got nothing better to do.” smiled the oldest boy. The group led him to a narrow ally, and descended down a suffocating flight of steps. InuYasha found himself in a small room, filled with racks of old cloths and bins of worn-out shoes.

“Everything is 100 yen, man. Awesome, huh? Some crazy old lady runs the place, and she don’t have a clue about money. She’ll give a whole outfit for a couple hundred yen. How much you got on ya?” said one of the smaller boys, talking quickly.

“Uhhh....this much.” said InuYasha, pulling the fist full of money. The oldest boy squinted his eyes, scrutinizing it closely.

“Yeah, that’ll be enough. Browse around.” he said, waving InuYasha off as he went to go talk to the pretty girl sitting at the counter.


___________________________


It had taken over an hour, but InuYasha finally had two sets of cloths and even a pair of shoes that fit him. He drew the line at socks, but all in all decided that he was rather pleased with himself.

Disgruntled that he couldn’t read the strange foreign words on his hat, (*It says Big Dog in English, muahahaha) he bought a few bandanas to cover his ears, like some of the guys who brought him there were wearing. Feeling comfortable in the loose jeans and red shirt he bought, he paid for his cloths, slipped on a pair of only slightly worn oversized converse, and walked out of the store with a paper bag, holding his other set and his firerat.

Happy that he was getting less stares on the street, InuYasha felt strangely pleased with himself, as he still had plenty of money left over for more ramen. He stopped in a store to get some fresh ramen, and decided that the only place he could go is back to the shrine. Sighing deeply, he shuffled his feet back to the house, feeling a familiar melancholy draping over his shoulders.


_____________________________


Night had fallen again, and InuYasha found himself wishing he knew how to turn on the box with moving pictures to entertain him. He tried pressing buttons, throwing things, even threatening the stupid thing, but nothing worked. His face flushed with anger, he sat upon the couch and began reading one of the old mans books, which had been left on the table.

Becoming quite interested in learning about the Japanese history the book talked about, he didn’t notice the time slip by until he heard a clock from another house strike midnight. Almost zombie like, he stood up, and marched slowly upstairs.

‘Her room again.’ he thought absentmindedly as he crouched on the floor and pulled a box out from under her bed.

‘What am I doing?’

‘You knew it would have to happen sometime. Your going to visit her.’

“Wait.” he said out loud. InuYasha looked intensely at the shoe box. A full minute passed without him moving a muscle. His minds was moving so fast that at first when he made his resolution he wasn’t sure if it was him or the annoying voice that claimed to be his soul. But, it was decided and for once he didn’t feel like arguing the inevitable. InuYasha was almost looking forward to it, and immediately felt sick with himself. His breathed yet another sigh of relief as he left the empty house.

The graveyard Souta had described was only a five minute walk away, but to the hanyou’s dismay, it was huge, headstones going on for acres. He felt disheartened at the rows and rows of markers of the dead. As the scent of bones and grave soil assaulted him, he was reminded of Kikyou’s walking corpse. He squeezed his eyes shut, and much faster than if it was a thought of Kagome, it was gone.

‘You don’t really miss them the same way.’

‘Shut up.’

‘I’m trying to help you understand. The fact that I’m talking to you proves that you aren’t going to come to terms with these sort of things yourself.’

‘Where were you when I left Kagome alone and unprotected to chase after a rumor of Kikyou?’

‘I’m afraid I was confused then as well. More so than you’d ever be willing to admit.’

*Sigh* ‘I’m tired of this. All of these deep thoughts. Why can’t it just go back to before I met either of them? All I had to worry about was survival, none of this deep feelings crap.’

‘You can do that whenever you let your full demon bloodlust loose. But you never stay that way. I can tell you why, too.’

‘Oh?’ thought InuYasha, walking down a small pathway and reading all of the names on the gravestones.

‘It’s because no matter how much it hurts, you want to remember. It’s causing you more pain not to be able to look back on the times you shared with her than it’s worth to hold them back.’

The hanyou had no reply for himself, and so quelled his own thoughts to dissipate into quite greyness, much like his surroundings. He stopped in front of a particular grave. It wasn’t the headstone he was looking for, but there was a small statue perched on top that made his thoughts spring alive again, spinning with memories.

The grave was that of a child. There was a sculpture of an angel, whose wings had been broken off, holding the child in it’s arms, and InuYasha was reminded irrefutably of the night of Kikyou’s second death. The night sky over him was much like that night, and he remembered their goodbye. For a moment, his minds slowly turned over the events of that night. Holding his first love in his arms, giving her one last kiss as she faded from this life into the next, was all the goodbye he could ask for, and although he did feel the grief, he was also a little happy that she had moved on, finally at peace. His only regret had been that she wouldn’t be there for the final battle with Naraku, but his relief overall was unparalleled.

With a blush creeping across his cheeks, he pick up two small triangular rocks on the ground in front of him and set them on the angel’s head, mimicking his own ears. Although the comparison was far fetched, he couldn’t help but feel a little better.

___________________________

It took him over an hour to finally find it, but the frustration melted at the sight of the Higurashi name engraved in stone. In truth, he had found the old man’s grave at first, but then he saw the stone sitting on the ground near it, with Kagome’s name in a thin signature. There was nothing fancy about it other than what was engraved underneath it.

Beloved Daughter, Adored Sister, and Dear Friend.

That did it. At this point, InuYasha no longer cared if anyone saw his weakness, the dam of tears had finally ceased it’s leaking and burst in flood. It didn’t matter to him at that point that many had considered Kagome a dear friend. It was for him, and woe to the person who tried to say otherwise.

He took the shoe box out from under his arm and opened it, the silent tears still streaming down his face. In it, there were dozens of pictures of him, none of which he knew she had taken with that ‘camera’ she had told him about. Almost all of them were of him sleeping or lounging in Goshinboku, one of them even in his human form, scowling. There was one that made his heart jump to his throat. She was sitting under the sacred tree, reading a book, while he was up on the highest branch, watching her contentedly.

‘Her mother must have taken this one, it’s the only one she’s in...’ he thought distractedly. There was also scrap of his fire rat. He wasn’t sure how she had gotten a hold of that, but then again, it wouldn’t have been that hard. He probably ripped it in one of his many battles, and by the time she’d picked it up, the robe had already mended itself. Beside the scrap of material was a golden locket. InuYasha thought at first it was the one she had given him before their defeat of the demoness Kaguya, but it was slightly bigger than that one. ‘Was she going to give me another one?’ he lifted the small necklace out of the box, debating on what to do with it.

He didn’t take long, though. Like the first one, he put it around his neck, and held it in his hand for a moment. He knew he wanted to say something else, but his mind was blissfully blank as the tears kept coming. And then he was talking. He was talking and crying more than he could ever remember, to her. With each pause, the wind caressed his face as if she were comforting him, as he confessed his love to her.

“I think I knew the moment you woke me up. I was so filled up with bitterness towards Kikyou that I didn’t realize it at first, but it was there. I knew for sure my first human night with you, remember? But I couldn’t let you know. You’d be disgusted, like in all the stories whenever the demon would kidnap the princess it fell in love with, just to have her taken away by some handsome warrior. And then you said you loved me back. Those three seconds after we kissed and Naraku hadn’t come back to life yet were the happiest I’ve ever had. You know, I picked out the land we would live on. It was that field, not too far from Goshinboku, so you wouldn’t be too far away from the village or the well, but we’d still have our privacy. But I couldn’t tell you that until Naraku was out of the way. I couldn’t get my own hopes up, anyway. What if you wanted to stay in the future, with your family? What if you got trapped on the other side. What if you loved someone else, I don’t know, there were just a million reasons for you to go, and only few to stay, and I was just one of those.” he went on like that for a while, a tree nearby shaking it’s limbs in agreement.

After telling the breeze all of the plans he had made, and all about his secret passion, the silence that followed was the exact opposite than what he’d thought it would be. It was....awkward. The blush that hadn’t burned his face since she was alive had returned as he got the feeling he was being watched. The wind continued to caress his face, but instead of being comforted, he was reminded of Kagura.

InuYasha’s senses went into overdrive, but all the feedback he got was that he was alone. He turned back to Kagome’s headstone and took out a picture of himself when he was actually smiling,(albeit because he had just swiped an extra bowl of ramen off of Shippou) and placed it in a bushel of wilted flowers beside her headstone. He stood up and took a defensive stance, but felt vulnerable without his firerat. Still, he drew Tessaiga and prepared for an ambush.

“Ha ha ha, still as brutish as ever, eh InuYasha?” said a shrill voice, coming from a squat man hiding behind the tree. The hanyou was baffled as to how the man had evaded his nose, but there was something familiar about him that stopped him from attacking. Instantly, anyway.

“What do you want? How’d you sneak up on me?” he said loudly, arching his eyebrow.

“Come now, InuYasha, don’t you recognize me? Surely modern technology hasn’t progressed so far that you don’t have a clue as to who I am?” the stumpy man snickered. InuYasha’s annoyance at being interrupted began to fade away as the recognition washed over him as he looked into the slightly amphibious eyes.

“Jaken?” he said hesitantly, not moving a muscle.

“It seems you are not as stupid as you look. Come with me, my lord wishes to speak with you.” he said, turning and marching smartly back towards the city. InuYasha’s jaw dropped.

“That asshole’s still alive?” he shouted.

“Of corse he is, no thanks to you, ungrateful little-”

“WAIT!!! Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Are you telling me after five centuries, HE’S STILL ALIVE!? WHAT THE HELL?” InuYasha felt his comfort level go from awkward to incredibly paranoid, and began looking wildly about him, expecting his half brother to appear before him with Tokijin, to wield his final blow.

“Quit standing there like a dumb human and follow me!” shouted the increasingly annoyed toad demon.

“And why the hell should I? I’d prefer NOT to get into a life and death battle between me and my asshole brother right now, if that’s okay with him.” he shouted back indignantly, turning on his heel and marching back towards the shrine house.

“For your information, he doesn’t want to fight you, filthy hanyou! As if you’d present a challenge. He wants to speak with you, help you even! You ungrateful wretch, your lucky I don’t carry the staff of two heads with me anymore!”

“Help me?”

“Yes, you miserable excuse for a demon, although I’m not sure I’m so inclined to follow his orders at the moment. Perhaps I should let you continue fruitlessly without any information about your quest-”

“Wait, he knows about that?”

“Of corse he does! You idio-”

“Take me to him. NOW!” he shouted, preparing to leap.

“That’s what I’ve been trying to-Ooooooh!” whined the infuriated toad youkai as he ran after the blur of red and dark blue, leaping like a deer between the graves.

_______________________________________

“Took you long enough.” remarked InuYasha casually leaning against a huge building in downtown Tokyo.

Jaken glared at the boy. He looked like one of those gang hoodlums in his oversized jeans and a black bandana over his ears, looking at him so expectantly while jaken fought for oxygen.

“How...*huh*...did you...*huh*...know where....*huh huh*....to go?” Jaken asked painfully, clutching his heart.

“You insult me. Like I couldn’t sniff out my own brother. Guess he’s still a stuck up big-shot, huh?” he said, eyeing the huge building, head quarters to Japan’s defense secretary, according to the logo above the revolving glass doors.

“You...*huh*...ought to...*huh huh*...be...proud....*huh*...to be....*huh huh huh*-”

“Alright, alright, don’t keel over. So where is he?” said InuYasha, his nose trying to filter out the smell of bacon grease coming from a restaurant across the street.

‘Sushi, female, old carpet, sweat, old male....Sesshomaru!’ he ears perked up under the black bandana as his nose picked out the discerning scent again.

“How the heck could I have missed him?” InuYasha asked out loud before trying to storm his way through the revolving door.

“He keeps himself hidden. But he wanted to see you, so he removed the technology that hides his scent so you’d recognize him.” Jaken’s words were lost on InuYasha as he tried to figure out how to get into the building. In place of a regular door, there were four walls of glass in an odd position in his way.

“What the fuck?” he said indignantly, crouching and observing the strange entrance contraption. He reached his hand to the side to have it crushed by an out-coming business woman.

“AHH! FUCK!” he yelled, trying to pry his hand out. It popped out when the woman realized her mistake and pulled the doors backward.

“Oh my goodness, are you alright?” she said, crouching low beside him, peering at his scrapped hand. InuYasha’s eyes opened wide as his hand began to heal itself right before her eyes. He couldn’t let her see that!

“Yeah, no thanks to you, bitch!” he yelled, wrenching his arm out of her grip. His eyes melted a little when he noticed her resemblance to Kagome’s mother. Guilt twinged in the back of his mind as he remembered that he really had tried to lay off the swearing around her.

“Well, I apologize.” she said cooly, picking up her briefcase and walking away in a huff. InuYasha watched her as she disappeared into the crowds. His flash of anger had been replaced by remorse, even though woman really had nothing to do with him.

“Damn...” he swore, still sitting on the ground.

“Follow me, you dolt. We’ll take the back entrance seeing as revolving doors are beyond your evolution.” said Jaken, annoyed. InuYasha thought about coming back with a retort, but decided against it, instead sending a silent prayer to whatever Kami would listen to a hanyou that the woman would not hold a grudge over him.


___________________________


“He’s in there?” InuYasha asked, pointing to a huge oak door at the end of an empty hallway.

“Of corse he is, you can smell him, can’t you? Idiot boy...” growled Jaken.

InuYasha took a deep breath. He was glad he’d thought to take Tessaiga with him to the graveyard. He unconsciously tightened his hand around the hilt, and felt his heartbeat speed up with anticipation. The gold handle seemed to foreshadow his brother inside, so regal, and unbearably pleased with itself that the hanyou almost didn’t want to touch it.

Before he could reach his hand out, the door opened, and a pretty young woman was startled to see an angry-looking teenage boy in her way.

“Pardon me.” she said rudely, moving to the side so she could continue moving. InuYasha stepped out of her way, but feeling her contempt at the world, couldn’t help but give her a parting shot.

“Pardon yourself.” he said, an evil grin stretching across his face.

“What did you say?” said the woman, freezing in her steps, but not turning around. InuYasha felt his heart drop to his lower regions as he felt a hint of dark miko energy in the woman’s aura, much like Tsubaki.

‘Aw crap, me and my fat mouth.’

“Nothing.” he said quickly, not wanting to get into a fight over a stupid comment. What had gotten into him today? The woman walked away, but not with out a victory flip of her hair.

“It seems you still can’t control yourself.” said a regal voice. InuYasha turned from the hallway to be face-to-face with his brother. Or, at least, he thought it was his brother.

“You son of a bitch! What the hell are so still doing here! You should have died centuries ago!” he said, taking in his brothers appearance. He now had medium length black hair, and his ear were no longer pointed. The crescent moon was no longer on his forehead, as well as the strips on the side of his face.

‘But he still has the same stuck-up face, no matter what.’ InuYasha thought evilly.

“It’s good to see you too, little brother.” he replied monotonously, raising an elegant eyebrow. “I thought you knew it was common sense that youkai age only one year for every fifty human years.

Now that InuYasha looked closely, it did seem that Sesshomaru had aged about ten years. His face wasn’t as tight and young as he remembered, but it didn’t have any noticeably wrinkles yet, either. He looked to be about thirty-three or thirty-four. Still much younger than most of the men in charge there.

“Hey, you know that woman who just walked out was a-”

“A dark priestess? Yes, of corse I know. She, thankfully, does not. Quite useful, despite the obvious danger...” said Sesshomaru.

Sesshomaru turned and led his brother through another empty hallway, this time leading to a door even more grand than the first one. On the other side of the door, there was a great office, not unlike a library with all of the books it held. An oak desk the size of a bed was the center piece of the room. InuYasha watched his brother wearily as he took his place behind it, folding his hands together....hands.....WAIT!

“Where’d you get that arm!?” InuYasha said, pointing.

“That is a story for another day, brother. I wish to get-” he said.

“No way! I cut that arm off! Meaning your supposed to be a cripple, no second chances!” he yelled, feeling himself get angrier as his brother’s stoic face displayed the tiniest of smirks.

“InuYasha, I wish to help you.” Sesshomaru responded simply. His brother stopped his rant immediately, his eyes freezing on the taiyoukai’s face.

“Oh really?” InuYasha said suspiciously.

“Yes. You are looking for the miko’s reincarnation, are you not?” Sesshomaru said smoothly.

“What of it?”

“Well, I’m sure you’ll be glad to know that I know where she is, as well as-”

“And what would compel you do be so helpful, Sesshomaru!?”

“Pure self-preservation, I assure you. I realized some time ago that the events in the past directly effect myself today, and I have no wish to change my circumstances.”

“Keh, should’ve known. So tell me where she is and we can get on with our lives.” InuYasha said promptly, crossing his arms in front of him, seeing as he didn’t have the sleeves of his fire-rat to hide them in.

“That, I’m afraid I can’t do. You see, an unfortunate situation arose not long ago. There are some complications that of which you couldn’t have anticipated. I’m afraid you desperately need my help, little brother.” Sesshomaru said, as two sets of golden eyes locked on each other.



------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------Dun dun dun! You wait till you see what I have in store for you guys! Well, I’ve had about a hundred views on media miner and still no reviews. I’m disappointed in you people. I didn’t want to have to beg.....

*takes out her mom’s .45*

So I’ll threaten you instead! *pulls on a chain as Rin comes into the room, looking like she was just waking up* leave a review or the girl gets it!!!!!

Sesshomaru: I’d think twice about that, human...hey wait, why are you looking at me like that?

Kawa-Misuterii: *drool* SESSHY-PANTS!!!!!!! *tackles Shessomaru* Well, thats all for now! Come back in a week or so to see what I decided to do to our favorite dog-demons next!


*sesshomaru fights for air* “help me.....”