InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ One Last Chance ❯ Chapter 7 ( Chapter 7 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Kawa-Misuterii 
Finally! Back to the feudal Era!!! And they run into an old friend! But not before a trip down memory lane.
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Fantasy / Drama | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 05.26.2008 | Updated On: 05.26.2008 | Pages: 6 | Words: 9.3K | Visits: 305 | Status: Work In Progress
Finally! Back to the feudal Era!!! And they run into an old friend! But not before a trip down memory lane.
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Fantasy / Drama | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 05.26.2008 | Updated On: 05.26.2008 | Pages: 6 | Words: 9.3K | Visits: 305 | Status: Work In Progress
So yeah.....I’m not dead.....I’m sure anyone who used to like me is currently damning me to a horrible, soggy grave, as it has taken much longer than usual to get this chapter out. I should have you know that I do not, and probably will never have writers block! I have what I like to call writers ADD. You see, I can’t concentrate on just one part of the story. I’ve spent most of the last month writing chapters much in advance, a.k.a. parts of the story that haven’t happened yet, but I just had to get out of my system. So that’s my crappy excuse. Don’t eat me. This means that in the future, you won’t have to wait so long for other chapters!
To pewter_wings: in case you didn’t get my message, I give you permission to post whatever kind of link you want, so long as you don’t say the story is yours. Same goes for everyone, you can do whatever you want to make this story more popular, should you wish, so long as you don’t steal it.
Okay, on with the story
Disclaimer: InuYasha shall never be mine.....he is the sole property of Takahashi-sensei and VIZ media.
One Last Chance: Return to the Feudal Era
“Oh no....” whined Betty Lou as the plane began its descent. She looked worriedly out of the window as the ground rose up to meet them. She found that she did not take to flying well, and had spent the last several hours alternating between sick spells and trying her hardest to look out the window.
In fact, the only person on the plane who was as agitated as her was the delinquent-looking boy sitting next to her, who had not taken his claws out of his armrests for the entire ride, a terrified scowl permanently sealed on his face, gritting his teeth audibly.
InuYasha had never been a fan of modern transport. He tolerated cars and subways because they were just plain easier than leaping over the buildings, although that didn’t stop him from getting slightly carsick. But planes were another matter. After riding the one to America ten years ago, he wouldn’t allow Hiro to take him on one until it was time to take the girl back to Japan. He was now regretting their decision, wishing that they had used a boat instead.
He had been tense the entire time, for the feeling of flight chilled him to the very bone. It didn’t help when he saw that Betty Lou was almost as afraid as he was, curling up into a ball, obviously fighting to keep her fear (and stomach contents) in.
“Jeeze, lighten up, you two.” said Hiro over InuYasha’s shoulder. The hanyou looked at him back over his shoulder, his neck twisting jerkily as he turned to glare at his companion, his nails never leaving their position deep in the upholstery.
“Man, Kyoko must be terrified.” said Betty Lou as the plane made touchdown, trying to take attention away from her own tension. (Insert visual of Kyoko in an airline hot tub with a pina colada and some cute Dobermans here. ^-^)
At the jolt of the plane hitting the ground, InuYasha nearly crushed his own molars with the tension in his jaw, and succeeded in ripping out the stuffing the arm rests.
“Sooo....how do ya feel, InuYasha?” asked Hiro lazily, reveling in torturing his friend. He never understood his passion for teasing the hanyou. He’d always been a very understanding person. Just something about seeing him uncomfortable brought about a glee deep in his stomach that never ceased to make him laugh.
“Never......again.” he said through clenched teeth. Hiro snorted. Betty Lou turned green at the passing grass far beneath them.
_______________________
“That’s it?” Betty Lou asked, obviously unimpressed at the humble shrine.
“It’s a shrine, not a palace. It’s not supposed to be flashy.” InuYasha said indignantly. He felt a strange sort of pride over the place, despite the fact that it was not his actual home. InuYasha fought to keep the sorrow and remembrance that threatened to overtake him as he looked upon the old home of his....for lack of a better word....friend. He was pleased with himself when he managed to swallow the lump in his throat.
They were alone, for the first time since they got off of the plane at the Tokyo airport. He was surprised at the lack of luggage Betty Lou brought with her. They had a heated argument over it, but she stubbornly refused to go anywhere with out her acoustic guitar.
Betty Lou had disappeared from his persistent watch after he’d given up on their fight, and return with some very expensive items that InuYasha was positive she hadn’t acquired legally. Along with a tiny device that she claimed could hold music inside of it, (Inuyasha had learned by then not to ask anyone to explain these sort of gadgets.) she got a guitar case that was easily carried on her shoulder, and seemed to have a pack on it, zippered to look like a large pocket.
“Perfect for the hitchhiking musician!” she’d told him enthusiastically
She had disappeared again last night after their return to Japan, returning to their hotel room with an item that she refused to show InuYasha, and had pointedly clutched the paper bag in her sleep to make sure he didn’t try to peek.
Now that they were back in Japan, InuYasha realized that he never felt more at home in this time than at Kagome’s house. A tiny part of him was afraid that the well had closed up after all this time, but he’d come to terms with that possibility while traveling in America.
He’d decided, after meeting a girl that did look remarkably like Kagome, save for her fiery red hair, that should he ever be stuck in the wrong time zone, he himself would take over Higurashi shrine. It was the least he could do for their family. InuYasha knew he wasn’t the best man for a holy job like that, but he could fake being pure human, the people in this century weren’t that observant, anyway.
Betty Lou seemed distracted from their impending journey. InuYasha noticed that she was staring off into the woods behind the shrine.
“I’ll, uh...I’ll be right back.” She said before dropping her case at his feet. Betty ran off into the woods, on a minuscule path leading farther into InuYasha’s forest.
Then hanyou was intrigued, and decided to follow after her. Kyoko, strangely, stayed put by her mistresses pack, and barked at InuYasha in inu to come back and leave her alone. The hanyou turned around to cock his eyebrow at the dog, but continued after Betty Lou, who was running at a considerable speed through his woods.
The tree’s began to thin out and he noticed a few houses on what used to be his land. It wasn’t until he’d passed two or three that he managed to catch sight of the girl, who had slowed down after running out of breath.
InuYasha slowed down and thought twice about jumping in front of her when he noticed the change in her demeanor. She was a dark-colored shadow of a girl against the blinding screen of a happy yellow house with a big, bright garden in the front, and a swing set in the back which a few children were happily frolicking on. She looked up, and InuYasha could sense her distress over the area.
The children in the back had stopped playing, and were watching Betty Lou to see what she would do. She blatantly ignored them, still staring nostalgically at the top most window.
“Hey Betty, what’s the holdup?” InuYasha asked quietly as he came up behind her, trying to get her used to speaking in Japanese again.
“I just had to see it again.” she said, speaking more to herself than to him. “Hey....you said we’re leaving as soon as possible, right?”
“Yes.” he replied forcefully. His anticipation had been building up ever since they’d first stepped off the plane. Well, that wasn’t exactly true. He’d been anticipating this day since he’d set out on this journey. But the ten years between leaving Japan and finding Betty Lou had passed in a daze, he himself not really noticing as the years blew by, the only marker being Hiro’s aging face.
“There’s one other place I have to visit. How long will we be gone?” she asked, never taking her eyes off of the house.
“Well, if you can purify it as soon as we get there, about a month. It would be a week if <b>SOMEONE</b> didn’t HAVE to bring along that stupid instrument and let me carry her! I told you I can travel-”
“Oh Kami, shut UP! You said yourself I shouldn’t have to do this, so I’m going to make damn sure it’ll be the best and probably only vacation I ever go on! Ain’t no WAY I’m riding you on your back, dude, okay? That’s just weird. And I have to learn a whole butt-load of songs while I’m gone, if I want that band to keep hiring me.” she said simply, finally turning away from the yellow house, and walking away with her eyes down.
InuYasha wisely (and uncharacteristically) kept his mouth shut, knowing that there was no way to win this particular battle. They had been arguing over how they would reach the Western Lands ever since she’d agreed to go with him, and though he’d raged and threw her his dirtiest looks, he’d found that he’d finally met someone who could meet his stubbornness. She’d decided (against his will) that A) Kyoko was coming. B) She was hefting her guitar with her, no matter how useless it would be, and C) she would be hiking the entire way, no hanyou interference.
Said hanyou was still scowling.
She walked quietly back the way she came, passing the shrine and going straight down the huge flight of stairs and to the street below.
‘She hasn’t been here for years, how would she know where she’s going?’ InuYasha asked himself, but followed her to make sure she didn’t get hurt.
After a while, it became apparent that she did know where she was going, and that apparent destination was a familiar route to InuYasha. At first, he was reluctant to assume, but there was no denying the coincidence when she walked with her back as straight as it would go and her chin held high into the graveyard, four blocks away.
At first, InuYasha had thought that she could feel some kind of strange pull from Kagome’s grave, and was doing something weird and miko-related. But that thought was immediately squelched when she walked purposefully in the opposite direction, heading towards an old willow tree overlooking a valley.
Although he kept his ears and nose alert for Betty Lou, his curiosity over where she was going was silenced by the call of Kagome’s grave. He ran like the wind to go see it again, as if it were a drug to which he was horribly addicted.
Not much had changed about it in the ten years he’d been missing. He was starting to think about the time he’d been searching for Betty equal to the time he’d spent stuck to the Goshinboku for fifty years; alive, but not really. Time passing, but not for him. Her grave stone seemed to be a little worn, and it was painfully obvious to him now how long ago she’d died.
“Seems like yesterday.” he grunted to himself. He fluidly sat in a cross-legged position, before peering over the hill to see Betty Lou’s head moving back and forth, and jerking this way and that, apparently looking for something.
‘I’ll investigate that later.’ he thought to himself, turning to the familiar headstone. For a moment, he felt merely stupid. But that moment passed as the need to talk to her overwhelmed him.
‘Well, I found her, Kagome. Your reincarnation. She’s absolutely nothing like you, but I’m sure she’s it. She snores like a pig, I’ll tell you that. Smells worse, too.’ he thought traitorously, shooting a glance at the floating head of hair almost out of sight, as if he were afraid she could reach his thoughts. She was starting to pace around frantically, now.
InuYasha audibly sighed.
‘This better be the end of it, Kagome. I can’t take much more. It’s the searching. It’s driving me nuts.
‘You know, first, it was just searching for some place to belong. Then the whole incident with Kikyou happened, sure as hell taught me what to expect if I even tried to be happy. Then it was searching for the jewel shards...and you. You’d think I’d have known what happens to women when they get close to me, but no, I let you in anyway, to hell with the past.’
InuYasha sighed again.
‘Well, never again. Kagome, I’ve been wandering around for fifteen years, avoiding what I should’ve done the minute you were gone. I promise, as soon as the jewel is gone, I’ll join you in the after life. I can’t stand not having you with me anymore. There isn’t a minute that goes by that I don’t think about you. Kami, I miss you so much! I hope you’re happy, where ever you are.’ He thought sadly, his ears flat against his head underneath his bandana. As if on cue, he heard a tiny noise of recognition coming from Betty Lou’s direction.
He reluctantly got up to investigate, and to his surprise, saw Betty Lou standing in front of a cluster of graves with the name on them, a stoic look on her face to rival Sesshomaru’s. To his surprise, there was one with her name on it, next to the headstone of an infant.
“I’m guessing you already know about my past?” she asked without turning from the graves. InuYasha grimaced. There were a lot of people buried here that had been important to her. It didn’t seem to be the best of places to be right now.
“Keh.” was his answer.
“They said if people here thought I was dead, no one would come after me. They actually had a funeral for me. I even went to it, after begging the government people. They thought I was nuts, but I just wanted to see my friends. I didn’t even get to say hi or anything, I had to act like some obscure cousin no one knew about while hiding under a veil. You have no idea how creepy it is to go to your own funeral.” she said. Betty Lou sighed.
“You know, the lady who gave me my new identity hated my guts. I wasn’t in the most pleasant of moods, and here she is going on about her stupid cat and showing me pictures and crap. So I called it ugly, right? And she goes ‘Well, how do you like the name Betty Lou?’ like it’s some sort of punishment. So I say ‘That’ll be just fine.’ all cocky like. Anything was better than the name my mother gave me.” she said. It seemed she babbled when there was something she didn’t want to talk about.
“So is that your sisters grave?” he asked, pointing to the infants head stone. It had a tiny angel engraved at the top, and the name ‘Aiko’ in an elegant Kanji.
“Yeah.” she said, and to his horror, her eyes misted over with unshed tears, although her face held none of the other usual tell-tale signs of grief; instead of getting red and scrunched, she kept her usual sickly yellow coloring, and she never even twitched for all the pain rolling off of her.
Although her face held the stoic expression to a pinpoint, her knees were shaking, and before he could catch her, she fell. Betty Lou kneeled in front of her unborn sister’s grave.
“I named her.” she said, her voice cracking. “Mama hadn’t decided on a name yet, but I had her name picked out from the beginning. She was going to be so big! And I was going to be her b-big sister.” she said, now choking back sobs.
“Umm....I can leave you alone a little longer if you want.” InuYasha said, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment. He felt as if he was witnessing something forbidden as her shoulders shook with unreleased sobs, and she held her hands in front of her mouth as her self-control began to crack. Taking deep, shuddering breaths, she managed to calm herself, and stood and turned away from the graves.
Betty Lou, her head held as high as ever, walked away without another word. InuYasha followed, feeling a bit sheepish. They walked out of the graveyard together, the hanyou waiting for the girl to say something.
“It really sucks, cause every time I see any random little girl, I get angry. Like, why did they get to survive? Why did I get to survive? She had her whole life a head of her. No kidding, she wasn’t even born yet! UGH!” she finished, throwing her hands up in the air and stalking away, scraping her heels on the sidewalk.
They came back to the shrine house, where Kyoko sat waiting, and looking a little uneasy in the unfamiliar territory. InuYasha picked up Betty’s bag, and hefted it over his shoulder. She began wandering over to the Goshinboku, which she had yet to see.
“Oh, wow.” she said simply, her earlier emotions having worn off a bit on the walk. InuYasha nodded his head in agreement, not sure how to convey his feelings of contentment at being near it again. He settled for a lazy half-smile as a gentle breeze ruffled his hair.
“This whole thing must be real.” she whispered, talking to only him as she lifted her hand to her face to pull back a stray strand of hair. “I got some serious deja vu, here.”
She shook her head roughly, and cast a glance at the well house. InuYasha almost felt like smiling, the view was so familiar after years astray in unknown territory.
“Well, no time like the present.” (haha, I made a funny!) she said, taking her bag from InuYasha and heading towards the little shed.
The door slid open at her insistence, and once again InuYasha was faced with the quiet void that connected this world with his. His anticipation had his heart pounding in his throat, as his feet ached to be free of the kami-damned shoes, to run across the unsoiled ground of the Feudal Era, to feel the fresh breeze in his hair as he ran faster than the wind through the trees. He couldn’t help but smile a little at his companion. No matter what he said in contradiction, he really did like having company as opposed to being on his own.
‘She’s not Kagome, not by a long shot. But she is Betty Lou.’ He thought with a smirk, as Betty Lou made a rather ‘un-Kagome’ like face at the smell of the old well.
“So how do we do this?” she asked, running her hands over the old wood frame. InuYasha sighed.
“Come here.” he said, motioning to his side. She walked cautiously over to him, eyeing him suspiciously. InuYasha rolled his eyes, and grabbing both her and Kyoko around the waist, jumped up and fell into the well, disappearing in a flash of light.
___________________________
She looked all around her as InuYasha set her down by the well. His heart gave a wrench as he was reminded of Kagome’s infinite curiosity. Betty Lou started bouncing on her heels in excitement.
“This place is great! It kind of reminds me of that time I took a trip to Pennsylvania and went hiking and stuff. Except here, it’s all hiking grounds...” she began blabbering to herself, obviously wanting to go play in the beautiful scenery.
“Just remember, not a word of English. It could mess up the time line, or something.” InuYasha said in Japanese.
“Do you feel like running? I feel like running. I’m gonna go explore.” she said in her muddled but basically correct Japanese-American accent, giving two more little jumps before she set off, almost flying across the field, after dumping her guitar by the well.
Kyoko gave a short yip before InuYasha realized that he had yet to put her down. To his surprise, she chose to sit be his side, instead of run off with Betty Lou.
He took in a huge breath of air, reveling in the freshness and lack of pollution. He couldn’t help but smile when he caught the scent of a lower youkai in the distance. Whatever it was, he’d make sure he got killing it out of his system before nightfall. With a content sigh, he leaned back and fell into a light doze while leaning back against the well, Kyoko resting comfortably beside him. It was just too good to be home.
______________________________
Betty Lou had never been anywhere so quiet, even her special tree in the junk yard. She couldn’t hide the tiny smile as she watched butterflies drift lazily by, birds twittering in the background.
“Luna would have loved it here.” she said out loud. With that, a pang in her heart leaped into her throat. She missed her guardian fiercely. Betty had always secretly thought that Luna would come striding through the door someday, her impossibly huge smile on her face and a piece of home made jerky for everyone to share.
Betty Lou sighed as her memories threatened to send her into a mood that would not let her enjoy the new world around her, especially after visiting her family’s graves after so long. She looked off into the sky, reminiscing and wishing Kyoko were there with her. She didn’t notice the small youkai watching from the bushed behind her.
__________________________
The youkai cursed the slow growing rate of demons. In fifteen years, he couldn’t have grow more than a few inches! Sure, that made it easy for him to hide from bigger demons who would like him for desert, but it also kept him from catching any food bigger than a bunny.
Shippou growled angrily to himself. He had tried to take up residence in the Kitsune Mansion he’d come across once while traveling with InuYasha and the others, but he’d found the other foxes to be childish and annoying. He sighed. After all he’d been through, he doubted if he’d ever fit in with the playful young demons.
He’d steeled himself, decided that he was going to be like InuYasha and raise himself. Despite how mean, rude, obnoxious, and a whole rainbow of faults that Shippou could come up with, the hanyou could take care of himself and then some, which he himself had learned how to do, more or less.
At the present moment, he was stalking a monestrous youkai rat, which upon catching it would not only get it away from the village nearby, but give him something to chew on for the next couple of days. Shippou still silently guarded the old village in which he had lived with his foster mother and their friends from lower youkai who tried to attack.. He was quite proud of himself, as he had yet to find anything that he couldn’t scare away with his illusions. Then again, he’d never have to face off anything more powerful than a lizard youkai.
The rat was sitting on it’s haunches, sniffing the wind.
“Go ahead and try. I’m downwind, doofus. I’m gonna make stew outta you.” he said with an evil smile.
The rat turned sharply at the sound of his voice, however. Shippou realized his mistake and rushed forward to attack the thing before it caught on that it was being hunted. To his dismay, it dashed off into the forest, close to the village. The fox demon ran after his pray, not giving up easily.
He ran for about ten minutes before he figured out that he’d lost the scent of it. Stopping, he lifted his head to smell the gentle breeze. There was something almost mothering about the way the wind caressed his cheek. He smiled, forgetting about his lost dinner. He thought about Kagome, his Okka-san, longingly, and would have sworn he caught a tiny whiff of her on the breeze. He smiled another sad smile.
Wait....he <i>could</i> smell her! No, no that was impossible. The last time he’d scented his adopted mother, she had smelled of death and decay, and rather similar to the scary clay woman who was said to be her incarnation. But there was no mistaking it, she was nearby!
All reason was lost as Shippou raced toward the scent, and came upon a young girl walking slowly through a field of flowers. He stopped for a moment, keeping himself from tackling her that moment. She had grown her hair, and her clothes were different, but there was no doubting it, she was Kagome! She had come back to him!
“KAGOME!” he shouted gleefully. Shippou ran forward on all fours, the grin on his face blinding. After all this time, she’d come back to him! His spirit soared so high, he didn’t noticed the terrified shriek coming from the girl.
___________________________
“I haven’t been here a half hour and already I’m being chased by a demon!” Betty Lou thought desperately as she ran as fast as her legs would take her. She spotted a tree in front of her and leaped into the branches, surprising herself at how limber she was.
“InuYASHA!” she screeched as she hung on for dear life to a single branch with both her arms and legs, fearing that it wasn’t strong enough. Whatever little demon that was chasing her down was getting closer, and it was only a matter of time before it crawled its way up the tree and ate her or something.
InuYasha had just changed into his fire-rat, and feeling more at ease than he had in ten years. He strapped Tessaiga to his waist when he heard Betty Lou’s scream.
In the corner of Betty’s eye, a red-clad figure was leaping out of the forest with amazing power and grace. Betty Lou sighed in relief, recognizing the magnitude of silver hair.
Just as Shippou was going to take a running leap into the tree to ask Kagome what was wrong, he was met headfirst with a wall of hanyou. InuYasha looked down at the kit, who’d fallen flat on his bottom and rubbed his stubbed head, his arms crossed in front of him and a familiar smirk on his lips.
“Yo, Shippou. I was wondering when I’d run into you again.” he said, doing his best to stay friendly to the kitsune he hadn’t seen since Kagome’s death.
Shippou looked up at his old friend, and then into the face of the girl peering at him from behind a branch, which she was stretched out on as she gazed at him. Her eyes widened in even more surprise as the branch she was clutching gave a cracking sound and a lurch beneath her. She came tumbling and screaming down, and fell flat on her tail bone among a pile of sticks.
Shippou tried to leaped into her arms again, but before that happened, she had somehow managed to get unsteadily to her feet at the speed of light as the tiny demon tried to attack her again, along with a club-shaped dead branch which she swung behind her like a baseball bat. As Shippou’s leap sent him into her range, she used his head as a softball, and cracked him backwards, right into the tree trunk.
“OI! What’s your problem, bitch?!” he shouted, picking up Shippou, noting the huge lump on his forehead. Shippou was officially out of commission for the next couple of hours, at least.
“What’s that matter with you? That thing tried to attack me? Didn’t you hear it?” she said, still shaking and holding the branch, albeit it was dangling from her hand now, and she had an uncertain look in her eyes.
“He wasn’t trying to attack you, baka! He was trying to hug you! Fuck, what the hell is wrong with you?” he shouted at her, holding Shippou by the tail.
“I guess you know him, then?” she asked, calming down enough to put down the branch as Kyoko trotted over to where they were standing. The dog tried to get a sniff of Shippou, but InuYasha (still holding him by the tail) held him up over his head, glaring at Kyoko angrily.
“Of corse I do, you idiot, he’s the Kitsune I told you about! You know! Kagome adopted him after I avenged his father from the Thunder Brothers! How could you not remember him!” he said, becoming horribly frustrated. She’d taken care of him for years! How could she not remember?
He shut his eyes and looked away from her in order to compose himself.
‘She’s not Kagome. She never met Shippou. No wonder she got scared, the stupid runt tried to tackle her. Man is he going to be in for it when he wakes up. Maybe if he could get a better whiff of her, figure out that she isn’t Kagome, he might not take it so hard....’ he thought, accidentally gripping Shippou’s tail a little harder than he should have.
“I knew it.” Betty Lou said, looking at him with narrowed eyes. InuYasha raised his eyebrow, and realized too late his slip of tongue.
“You ARE the hanyou in the story!” she said, completely forgetting about the unconscious kitsune swinging from his hand. She stepped closer to him, and was looking intently into his eyes that caused him to squirm a little.
“Keh!”
“Well, there’s a brilliant reply.” she said, crossing her legs and sitting down by the tree. InuYasha rolled his eyes, and leaned against the tree next to her to wait for Shippou to wake up.
“Why didn’t you say something?” she asked.
“I don’t know!” he said, feeling the need to jump off into the trees.
“When you told me the whole story, you just said ‘the hanyou’. How could you fail to mention that ‘the hanyou’ is you!?” Betty Lou. She turned to look at him again, and took in the sight of his fire-rat haori and hakama.
“What the hell are you wearing?” she asked him, snickering.
“What? What’s wrong with my clothes? They’re way stronger than your pathetic human rags!” he spat.
“And the fact that you’re wearing M.C. Hammer pants doesn’t factor into that equation at all?” she giggled, clutching her stomach. InuYasha grimaced. If he hadn’t known better, he’d have thought that Kyoko was grinning at him too.
“Shut up! This thing has saved my life more times than I can remember! Not to mention the life of your stupid incarnation!” he said, turning his nose up at her.
InuYasha stiffened when he realized what had just come out of his mouth. If he had ever, EVER mentioned Kikyou like he’d had just now, she would get all tearful and quiet, and he’d have to deal with her moping all the rest of that day. Just reminding her of the time he’d spent with Kikyou before Naraku had caused them to betray each other caused her aura to become blue.
Betty Lou, on the other hand, grinned at him widely, a sparkle of amazement in her deadened eyes.
“So YOU were the one who did all that stuff, huh? Kind of hard to imagine a regular shmoe like you fighting off a dragon.” She said, tapping her chin lightly with her finger.
“Regular shmoe? Is your head on backwards? Do I look like a regular shmoe to you?” he yelled, pointing to his ears.
“Is that...that isn’t.....is that the Tessaiga?” she asked in wonderment as her eyes caught a hold of Tessaiga’s sheath, and widened to the size of saucers, remembering all of the fantastic feats he had told her about.
“Yeah...” InuYasha said, annoyed. He set Shippou down, after dangerously allowing him to dangle from his hands by his tail for quite some time. Being back in Sengoku Jidai, he felt back in his element, his <i>home</i>. He had thought it would be almost impossible to get him in a bad mood after his homecoming. Then again, he’d never been respected for great thinking.
InuYasha unsheathed Tessaiga, allowing it to enlarge in all of its glory, the giant fang glinting in the afternoon sun. Betty Lou gasped in amazement, as Kyoko growled in warning. InuYasha couldn’t help but smirk as Tessaiga’s familiar weight in his hand reminded him of all that he’d missed while searching for Betty Lou.
“That...has got to be the most ridiculously huge sword I’ve ever seen.” she said, putting a hand up to her mouth to stifle her giggles.
InuYasha gaped at her, insulted. He didn’t think he’d ever surpass being as pissed off as he was when he’d found out that Kagome had shattered the jewel into a million little pieces, but Betty Lou had just proven him wrong.
“WHAT? You’ve GOT to be kidding me! What do mean, ridiculous? If it were any smaller, I doubt it would have been able to destroy Naraku! This thing’s killed more demons than you can dream of, bitch!” he shouted, swinging he sword around dangerously. All of the yelling seemed to bring a reaction out of Shippou.
“Unngg......InuYasha, just let Kagome go home.” he mumbled. Of corse that stopped InuYasha from starting into his rampage.
“OOOOHHH!!! THAT’S why he came after me! He thought I was my other...what should I call it? My other...life? Whatever, he thought I was the miko who broke the jewel? Poor little guy, I just had to use his head for batting practice.” she said, looking down at the Kitsune sympathetically.
InuYasha thought process had skidded to a halt, not even taking in Betty Lou’s words. What had just happened? Had he his anger at her been so similar to how he interacted with Kagome? Had he really gotten that comfortable around her already? He shook his head, Betty looking at him with a questioning gaze.
Shippou began tossing and turning, finally widening his eyes very slowly to be met with the muzzle of a very large, foreign dog.
“Ugh, what happened?” he asked, rubbing his head.
“Hey, Shippou.” said InuYasha in a monotone. He was still digesting what the kit had said in his sleep and chastising himself for allowing himself to get comfortable enough around her to let it happen.
Shippou was still rubbing his head, and he looked blearily around him. His eyes landed on Betty Lou, although he didn’t seem to recall her knocking him out. He did, however, remember something vital.
“You...but-but you...you <i>died</i>!” he said, tears welling up in his bright green eyes as he clutched his arms around himself.
“Uh, kid....I think you have me confused with someone else.” Betty Lou replied, her eyes wide with sympathy.
“What are you talking about, Kagome? What did you do to your hair? And what are you <i>wearing</i>?” he asked, staring at her intently.
“Hey runt, take a good whiff. Does that <i>really</i> smell like Kagome?” InuYasha said, still irritated. His eyebrows slanted downward and a familiar frown graced his lips.
Shippou leaned forward to inhale sharply, his eyes losing their hopeful gleam faster than InuYasha could say ‘keh’.
“You’re...you’re not Kagome.” he said, a questioning upward inflection at the end of his sentence. He stared at her, hurt. InuYasha narrowed his eyes as he remembered how he had spoken almost the exact same words to Kagome, when he’d first met her when she’d awakened him from his fifty year sleep.
“Uh, no. You can call me Betty Lou. And your Shippou the kitsune youkai, right?” she asked, trying her best to be friendly.
“Y-yeah. Who...who are you?” he asked, his heartbreak thick in the air.
“Shippou, come with me.” InuYasha said, indicating for Shippou to hop on his shoulder. The kit tool one last glance at Betty, and jumped up, as InuYasha was walking away from where Betty Lou and Kyoko were now sitting alone.
“Ahh...listen, Shippou-”
“Where have you been?” Shippou asked, his voice choking with rage.
“Wh-what?” InuYasha asked, almost fearful of what the pup was going to say.
“Where have you been all this time? And who is she? How could you...did you forget about her?” he asked, tears glazing over his traumatized glare.
“What? No! Of corse not! I-”
“Then WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!?” Shippou screamed, pounding his little fists into InuYasha’s head. He cringed, and for once allowed the kit to take out his frustration on him. In all of his misery and grief, along with his eagerness to find Betty Lou, Shippou had been forgotten. During the five years InuYasha had run wild over Sengoku Jidai, his thoughts had almost never strayed to the kit, save for the few moments when he allowed his memory to reflect.
Shippou was now sobbing hopelessly into his haori, clutching him in a vice-like grip. InuYasha’s eyes softened, and he pried the kid off of his arm and put him on his shoulder, leaning his cheek against him in what he hoped was a comforting gesture.
“I know, Shippou, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have left you by yourself.” he said, reaching up and wrapping his arm around the kitsune. Shippou froze in his grasp, and InuYasha could feel his blush.
“I-it’s not like I needed you or anything! I’m alive, aren’t I?!” Shippou said, embarrassed at having been caught showing brotherly feelings toward the hanyou. InuYasha looked at the ground, remorse creeping into his aura.
“You’re right, you didn’t need me. You’re a lot tougher than you look, Shippou. I wasn’t really expecting to run into you again.” he murmured. “What have you been doing all this time?”
“I’ve been raising myself, just like you! I’ve been protecting the village, and they’re even talking about giving me a shrine if I keep it up!!!” He said excitedly, a proud grin on his face. Then, he suddenly turned serious again. “And you?”
InuYasha sighed and leaned his head into his hand, pinching the skin between his eyebrows.
“I’ve, uh.....I’ve been looking for Kagome’s reincarnation.” he said, jerking his head in the direction in which they had left Betty Lou, who he could hear was singing to herself to quell away the loneliness that the had left her in. Shippou’s reaction was as he expected. He gaped at him, his mouth opening and closing a few times as he tried to speak.
“You....that...<i>her</i>...wh....what about <b>KAGOME</b>!!!!” he screeched. InuYasha’s ears flattened at the way he said her name, as if he had done something to dishonor her.
“Wh-what about her?” he asked, his eyes wide with confusion.
“How could you forget about her?” he asked quietly. Instantly, InuYasha’s eyes went from confused to enraged, grabbing Shippou by the hair and tossing him to the ground in front of him.
“I will NEVER forget her! What the hell gave you that kind of idea?” he growled, low and menacing.
“You don’t spend ten years looking for someone if you really cared about Kagome!”
“I don’t! She has to purify the jewel!” he shouted at him. He vaguely noticed that Betty Lou’s singing was coming closer.
“What? What do you mean? The jewel was destroyed with Naraku, wasn’t it?” he said, a worried look on his face.
“No. Sesshomaru snatched it right before Naraku could take it to hell with him. She’s gonna end it all.” InuYasha said.
“What happened to making a wish on it?” Shippou said slyly, narrowing his eyes.
“I don’t want to be a full youkai anymore.” InuYasha said simply. He didn’t feel the need to tell the kitsune of the sheer terror he felt when his youkai half took over his body, the rushing blood deafening his ears, blinding him until he could see nothing but enemies, his soul devoured piece by piece until there was nothing but a monster left.
“That’s not the only wish you could make, baka.” Shippou said, his voice low.
“What do you mean?”
“You could wish Kagome back to life!” he said excitedly! InuYasha’s blood froze. He’d never thought about it, never considered it, the very idea had never come close to his mind! Somewhere along the line, he’d decided that the jewel belonged to Betty Lou, and he had no intention of touching the thing, least his youkai did surface around the thing again, since it was most likely still black from Naraku’s evil. He wouldn’t have Kagome there to purify him with her touch. With the jewel.....was it even possible?
“Forget about that baka girl, she doesn’t even look like Kagome! She ran from me!” Shippou said, a childish pout on his lip. The tell-tale bruise on his head seemed to get a little darker to emphasize his point.
“Think about it! The jewel can be purified with a pure, unselfish wish! Bringing someone as nice as Kagome back from the dead is the most unselfish thing I’ve ever heard of!” he continued, his sideways logic not lost on InuYasha.
“I don’t know Shippou, I’ll have to think about it.” he replied, ending the conversation as Betty Lou’s singing started to get farther away now, the melody silly and unsuited for the conversation he’d just been having. InuYasha got up and stalked off after her, a scowl set on his face. He’d think about it later, it was just too much right now.
______________________________
Betty Lou got tired of waiting for the demons to return, so she started off on her own, eager to explore some more, despite almost being attacked by a demon moments earlier. The melancholy of the morning melted away as she started down a slightly overgrown path, Kyoko close on her heels.
Before long, she came upon a hut at the bottom of a steep hill, and almost tripped over herself as she went to investigate. She was strangely comfortable in this world, despite the bizarreness of it all.
“Well that’ll be the day, when you say goodbye. Ye-ah! That’ll be the day when you make me cry-y. You say you’re gonna leave, you know it’s a lie, cause that’ll be the da-a-ay, that I die!” she sang out, for some reason in a Buddy Holly mood.
“Stop right there!” called out a high, shrill voice. Betty Lou flinched at the mere sound of it.
Betty turned around and faced a woman standing about fifteen feet from her, a bow and arrow in her hand, pointed at her.
“State your business, nymph!” she said, her voice unbearably grating. She was dressed in miko garb, yet she had her hair in a rather unnecessarily complicated knot, along with makeup that was just plain undignified for a shrine maiden.
“Uhhh.....just passing threw, thanks. You can, uh.....put away the arrow there, I’m not a nymph.” Betty Lou said, totally caught off guard but the threat.
“Liar. What human would wear such strange garments? And what of that wolf-dog you have there? No human would allow such a beast to accompany them! I should slay you on the spot for daring to come near our village!” she squeaked, and pulled back a little more on her drawstring. “I am the priestess Orokami, and you shall not pass to place your evil spell upon the village people! I will purify you!”
“You’re kidding, right?” Betty Lou said, not believing her luck. For some reason, she didn’t feel very threatened, even though she was staring a draw arrow straight down the barrel. Something about this girl just radiated.....overconfidence.
Betty Lou remembered all of the stories InuYasha had told her. Although she wondered how she was supposed to measure up to such a kind-hearted martyr as the legend, she also knew for a fact that Kagome had relied on InuYasha to protect her from the physical, fighting world.
Well fuck that.
Faster than the idiot miko could see, (thank you track team!) Betty Lou was beside her and grasping the bow and arrow, rendering them useless in Orokami’s hands. She obviously had very little training, because Betty could feel no spiritual power in the arrow.
‘Wait, how am I suppose to know what spiritual power feels like?’ Betty Lou shook her head, deciding that she would contemplate that later. She was born a miko, right? That’s not unusual.
Now that the girl was unarmed, Betty Lou glared down and observed hwe, secretly thanking her father for her unusual height. She put on her favorite menacing scowl and took in the sight in front of her.
Orokami was no older than herself, and yet she was shaking in fear as Betty Lou towered over her. Now that she was close, she saw that she was wearing an obscene amount of face paint. For some reason, Betty felt the need to show her up.
“I thought miko’s were supposed to destroy youkai, not share their weapons.” she said with a nasty grin. If she could get the girl to run away, then maybe the day wouldn’t be a total miserable waste after all.
“Wh-what siren’s spell did you mean to cast on me?” she stuttered out, although Betty Lou could tell her bravery wouldn’t last long.
“What? You mean that song I was singing?” she asked confusedly, examining the bow and arrow.
“That was no song which escaped your lips! ‘Twas a strange melody and a foul demon tongue that came from your mouth! What manner of youkai are you, beast? Surely you mean to seduce the men to do your bidding, dressed worse than a whore, you are! I won’t allow it!” she said, and attempted to wrench the bow out of Betty’s grip.
Betty Lou smirked.
“Look it, scag cake, I’d lay off the whore insults if I were you. I just got a wife beater on. You got enough makeup to rival Mimi.” she smirked, and then groaned, realizing that a miko from 500 years ago probably didn’t watch Drew Carey.
“Be gone, beast!” she screeched, and attempted to hit her. Betty Lou scowled, and shoved Orokami to the ground easily, taking the bow and arrow out of her grip as the girl fell.
“Bet you can’t even use this.” she said, examining it even closer, although now she was just doing it to enrage the miko even more. Betty Lou put her foot on Orokami’s chest, to ensure that she didn’t get up, and continued her taunting.
_______________________
Of all the things he thought he’d find Betty Lou doing as soon as she came through the well, tormenting a fellow priestess was not one of them. He had to restrain a snort as he watched Betty keep a foot on the chest of some girl who wore robes like Kaede while she turned over a bow and arrow, apparently having a pretty good time.
It didn’t take long for him to deduce that the miko currently struggling under Betty’s boot had probably threatened Betty Lou, and thus deserved whatever punishment Betty Lou decided to inflict. Not to mention, InuYasha was rather prone to behavior like that himself, and couldn’t help but become even more amused when he remembered how he had once held a man in a similar fashion, looking for information about a painter who used jewel shards, not long after they met Miroku.
“Making friends already?” he called out gruffly, desperately holding back a bark of laughter.
“Oh yeah! I think this chick is suppose to be a miko, too!” she called back sarcastically. She grinned down at Orokami’s red-faced glare.
“I knew it! You converse with demons, you must be a siren of sorts!” she shouted from her place on the ground. Betty Lou grinned down at her sadistically.
“I’d rather be a siren than a fake miko.” she hissed. Orokami’s face went from angry and a little afraid to downright terrified.
“That’s right, I can tell. You’re just a regular human, I can feel it. Why are you parading around as a priestess?” she whispered. InuYasha’s eyes went wide and his ears perked forward, interested.
“Y-you....ho-how could.....I-I-I d-don’t-” Orokami stuttered.
“Can it, I could care less about whatever ploy you’re pulling on the local idiots. I just want you to answer two questions for me.” she stated, leaning forward so that she was nose to nose with her, her foot still on her chest. Orokami nodded, pace void of any color now.
“Is Kaede-sama still around, and if so, can you take me to her?”
(Author’s Note)
Okay, couple things:
#1) I don’t appreciate people telling me that I should bring Kagome back from the dead. I wish I could tell you what I have planned, but it would just ruin the story. As a matter of fact, don’t tell me at all what you think I should do, because it is pointless. I’m not going to take your advice, I have the rest of this story planned out, and I’m just going to delete any of the reviews that insist on doing so. I want your opinions on my work, not your own ideas. Sorry I have to be a bitch, but my senior friends just graduated (probably never going to see them again), and it was a bad time for those particular reviews to show up. Pissed me off to no end....
#2) Before you bite my head off, I do plan on taking a little break from this story. I know I said I wouldn’t ever do that again, but I lied. At least this time, it’s planned. Don’t worry, I will come back to it, but I have to focus on getting a job for the summer and I’ve been having fun writing flames for crappy one-shots. I just can’t concentrate on this right now, I’ll come back to it once the boredom of summer break gets to me.
#3) Yes, InuYasha is planning on suicide. Before you jump on me about how OOC that is, let me tell you something. Anyone who is into Japanese culture would know that killing yourself for another is considered very honorable. InuYasha didn’t hesitate to say that he would go to hell for Kikyou, and I think he would do the same for Kagome, should the situation ever arise. But you have no idea what I have in mind, so don’t give up hope yet.
#4) I had fun with Orokami's name. It can either mean "stupid beauty", or (*snort, this on had me rolling on the ground for a while) "Goddess of post-natal vaginal discharge"!!!! HAHAHAHA!!!! I crack myself up!
Any other questions you may ask of me, although I’ll probably answer them in the next chapter.
Again, sorry for the total bitchy-ness. I know most of you are very respectful and like my story, and you shouldn’t have to hear me rant. I do love you all, this story is for you guys, don’t give up hope on me!
To pewter_wings: in case you didn’t get my message, I give you permission to post whatever kind of link you want, so long as you don’t say the story is yours. Same goes for everyone, you can do whatever you want to make this story more popular, should you wish, so long as you don’t steal it.
Okay, on with the story
Disclaimer: InuYasha shall never be mine.....he is the sole property of Takahashi-sensei and VIZ media.
One Last Chance: Return to the Feudal Era
“Oh no....” whined Betty Lou as the plane began its descent. She looked worriedly out of the window as the ground rose up to meet them. She found that she did not take to flying well, and had spent the last several hours alternating between sick spells and trying her hardest to look out the window.
In fact, the only person on the plane who was as agitated as her was the delinquent-looking boy sitting next to her, who had not taken his claws out of his armrests for the entire ride, a terrified scowl permanently sealed on his face, gritting his teeth audibly.
InuYasha had never been a fan of modern transport. He tolerated cars and subways because they were just plain easier than leaping over the buildings, although that didn’t stop him from getting slightly carsick. But planes were another matter. After riding the one to America ten years ago, he wouldn’t allow Hiro to take him on one until it was time to take the girl back to Japan. He was now regretting their decision, wishing that they had used a boat instead.
He had been tense the entire time, for the feeling of flight chilled him to the very bone. It didn’t help when he saw that Betty Lou was almost as afraid as he was, curling up into a ball, obviously fighting to keep her fear (and stomach contents) in.
“Jeeze, lighten up, you two.” said Hiro over InuYasha’s shoulder. The hanyou looked at him back over his shoulder, his neck twisting jerkily as he turned to glare at his companion, his nails never leaving their position deep in the upholstery.
“Man, Kyoko must be terrified.” said Betty Lou as the plane made touchdown, trying to take attention away from her own tension. (Insert visual of Kyoko in an airline hot tub with a pina colada and some cute Dobermans here. ^-^)
At the jolt of the plane hitting the ground, InuYasha nearly crushed his own molars with the tension in his jaw, and succeeded in ripping out the stuffing the arm rests.
“Sooo....how do ya feel, InuYasha?” asked Hiro lazily, reveling in torturing his friend. He never understood his passion for teasing the hanyou. He’d always been a very understanding person. Just something about seeing him uncomfortable brought about a glee deep in his stomach that never ceased to make him laugh.
“Never......again.” he said through clenched teeth. Hiro snorted. Betty Lou turned green at the passing grass far beneath them.
_______________________
“That’s it?” Betty Lou asked, obviously unimpressed at the humble shrine.
“It’s a shrine, not a palace. It’s not supposed to be flashy.” InuYasha said indignantly. He felt a strange sort of pride over the place, despite the fact that it was not his actual home. InuYasha fought to keep the sorrow and remembrance that threatened to overtake him as he looked upon the old home of his....for lack of a better word....friend. He was pleased with himself when he managed to swallow the lump in his throat.
They were alone, for the first time since they got off of the plane at the Tokyo airport. He was surprised at the lack of luggage Betty Lou brought with her. They had a heated argument over it, but she stubbornly refused to go anywhere with out her acoustic guitar.
Betty Lou had disappeared from his persistent watch after he’d given up on their fight, and return with some very expensive items that InuYasha was positive she hadn’t acquired legally. Along with a tiny device that she claimed could hold music inside of it, (Inuyasha had learned by then not to ask anyone to explain these sort of gadgets.) she got a guitar case that was easily carried on her shoulder, and seemed to have a pack on it, zippered to look like a large pocket.
“Perfect for the hitchhiking musician!” she’d told him enthusiastically
She had disappeared again last night after their return to Japan, returning to their hotel room with an item that she refused to show InuYasha, and had pointedly clutched the paper bag in her sleep to make sure he didn’t try to peek.
Now that they were back in Japan, InuYasha realized that he never felt more at home in this time than at Kagome’s house. A tiny part of him was afraid that the well had closed up after all this time, but he’d come to terms with that possibility while traveling in America.
He’d decided, after meeting a girl that did look remarkably like Kagome, save for her fiery red hair, that should he ever be stuck in the wrong time zone, he himself would take over Higurashi shrine. It was the least he could do for their family. InuYasha knew he wasn’t the best man for a holy job like that, but he could fake being pure human, the people in this century weren’t that observant, anyway.
Betty Lou seemed distracted from their impending journey. InuYasha noticed that she was staring off into the woods behind the shrine.
“I’ll, uh...I’ll be right back.” She said before dropping her case at his feet. Betty ran off into the woods, on a minuscule path leading farther into InuYasha’s forest.
Then hanyou was intrigued, and decided to follow after her. Kyoko, strangely, stayed put by her mistresses pack, and barked at InuYasha in inu to come back and leave her alone. The hanyou turned around to cock his eyebrow at the dog, but continued after Betty Lou, who was running at a considerable speed through his woods.
The tree’s began to thin out and he noticed a few houses on what used to be his land. It wasn’t until he’d passed two or three that he managed to catch sight of the girl, who had slowed down after running out of breath.
InuYasha slowed down and thought twice about jumping in front of her when he noticed the change in her demeanor. She was a dark-colored shadow of a girl against the blinding screen of a happy yellow house with a big, bright garden in the front, and a swing set in the back which a few children were happily frolicking on. She looked up, and InuYasha could sense her distress over the area.
The children in the back had stopped playing, and were watching Betty Lou to see what she would do. She blatantly ignored them, still staring nostalgically at the top most window.
“Hey Betty, what’s the holdup?” InuYasha asked quietly as he came up behind her, trying to get her used to speaking in Japanese again.
“I just had to see it again.” she said, speaking more to herself than to him. “Hey....you said we’re leaving as soon as possible, right?”
“Yes.” he replied forcefully. His anticipation had been building up ever since they’d first stepped off the plane. Well, that wasn’t exactly true. He’d been anticipating this day since he’d set out on this journey. But the ten years between leaving Japan and finding Betty Lou had passed in a daze, he himself not really noticing as the years blew by, the only marker being Hiro’s aging face.
“There’s one other place I have to visit. How long will we be gone?” she asked, never taking her eyes off of the house.
“Well, if you can purify it as soon as we get there, about a month. It would be a week if <b>SOMEONE</b> didn’t HAVE to bring along that stupid instrument and let me carry her! I told you I can travel-”
“Oh Kami, shut UP! You said yourself I shouldn’t have to do this, so I’m going to make damn sure it’ll be the best and probably only vacation I ever go on! Ain’t no WAY I’m riding you on your back, dude, okay? That’s just weird. And I have to learn a whole butt-load of songs while I’m gone, if I want that band to keep hiring me.” she said simply, finally turning away from the yellow house, and walking away with her eyes down.
InuYasha wisely (and uncharacteristically) kept his mouth shut, knowing that there was no way to win this particular battle. They had been arguing over how they would reach the Western Lands ever since she’d agreed to go with him, and though he’d raged and threw her his dirtiest looks, he’d found that he’d finally met someone who could meet his stubbornness. She’d decided (against his will) that A) Kyoko was coming. B) She was hefting her guitar with her, no matter how useless it would be, and C) she would be hiking the entire way, no hanyou interference.
Said hanyou was still scowling.
She walked quietly back the way she came, passing the shrine and going straight down the huge flight of stairs and to the street below.
‘She hasn’t been here for years, how would she know where she’s going?’ InuYasha asked himself, but followed her to make sure she didn’t get hurt.
After a while, it became apparent that she did know where she was going, and that apparent destination was a familiar route to InuYasha. At first, he was reluctant to assume, but there was no denying the coincidence when she walked with her back as straight as it would go and her chin held high into the graveyard, four blocks away.
At first, InuYasha had thought that she could feel some kind of strange pull from Kagome’s grave, and was doing something weird and miko-related. But that thought was immediately squelched when she walked purposefully in the opposite direction, heading towards an old willow tree overlooking a valley.
Although he kept his ears and nose alert for Betty Lou, his curiosity over where she was going was silenced by the call of Kagome’s grave. He ran like the wind to go see it again, as if it were a drug to which he was horribly addicted.
Not much had changed about it in the ten years he’d been missing. He was starting to think about the time he’d been searching for Betty equal to the time he’d spent stuck to the Goshinboku for fifty years; alive, but not really. Time passing, but not for him. Her grave stone seemed to be a little worn, and it was painfully obvious to him now how long ago she’d died.
“Seems like yesterday.” he grunted to himself. He fluidly sat in a cross-legged position, before peering over the hill to see Betty Lou’s head moving back and forth, and jerking this way and that, apparently looking for something.
‘I’ll investigate that later.’ he thought to himself, turning to the familiar headstone. For a moment, he felt merely stupid. But that moment passed as the need to talk to her overwhelmed him.
‘Well, I found her, Kagome. Your reincarnation. She’s absolutely nothing like you, but I’m sure she’s it. She snores like a pig, I’ll tell you that. Smells worse, too.’ he thought traitorously, shooting a glance at the floating head of hair almost out of sight, as if he were afraid she could reach his thoughts. She was starting to pace around frantically, now.
InuYasha audibly sighed.
‘This better be the end of it, Kagome. I can’t take much more. It’s the searching. It’s driving me nuts.
‘You know, first, it was just searching for some place to belong. Then the whole incident with Kikyou happened, sure as hell taught me what to expect if I even tried to be happy. Then it was searching for the jewel shards...and you. You’d think I’d have known what happens to women when they get close to me, but no, I let you in anyway, to hell with the past.’
InuYasha sighed again.
‘Well, never again. Kagome, I’ve been wandering around for fifteen years, avoiding what I should’ve done the minute you were gone. I promise, as soon as the jewel is gone, I’ll join you in the after life. I can’t stand not having you with me anymore. There isn’t a minute that goes by that I don’t think about you. Kami, I miss you so much! I hope you’re happy, where ever you are.’ He thought sadly, his ears flat against his head underneath his bandana. As if on cue, he heard a tiny noise of recognition coming from Betty Lou’s direction.
He reluctantly got up to investigate, and to his surprise, saw Betty Lou standing in front of a cluster of graves with the name on them, a stoic look on her face to rival Sesshomaru’s. To his surprise, there was one with her name on it, next to the headstone of an infant.
“I’m guessing you already know about my past?” she asked without turning from the graves. InuYasha grimaced. There were a lot of people buried here that had been important to her. It didn’t seem to be the best of places to be right now.
“Keh.” was his answer.
“They said if people here thought I was dead, no one would come after me. They actually had a funeral for me. I even went to it, after begging the government people. They thought I was nuts, but I just wanted to see my friends. I didn’t even get to say hi or anything, I had to act like some obscure cousin no one knew about while hiding under a veil. You have no idea how creepy it is to go to your own funeral.” she said. Betty Lou sighed.
“You know, the lady who gave me my new identity hated my guts. I wasn’t in the most pleasant of moods, and here she is going on about her stupid cat and showing me pictures and crap. So I called it ugly, right? And she goes ‘Well, how do you like the name Betty Lou?’ like it’s some sort of punishment. So I say ‘That’ll be just fine.’ all cocky like. Anything was better than the name my mother gave me.” she said. It seemed she babbled when there was something she didn’t want to talk about.
“So is that your sisters grave?” he asked, pointing to the infants head stone. It had a tiny angel engraved at the top, and the name ‘Aiko’ in an elegant Kanji.
“Yeah.” she said, and to his horror, her eyes misted over with unshed tears, although her face held none of the other usual tell-tale signs of grief; instead of getting red and scrunched, she kept her usual sickly yellow coloring, and she never even twitched for all the pain rolling off of her.
Although her face held the stoic expression to a pinpoint, her knees were shaking, and before he could catch her, she fell. Betty Lou kneeled in front of her unborn sister’s grave.
“I named her.” she said, her voice cracking. “Mama hadn’t decided on a name yet, but I had her name picked out from the beginning. She was going to be so big! And I was going to be her b-big sister.” she said, now choking back sobs.
“Umm....I can leave you alone a little longer if you want.” InuYasha said, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment. He felt as if he was witnessing something forbidden as her shoulders shook with unreleased sobs, and she held her hands in front of her mouth as her self-control began to crack. Taking deep, shuddering breaths, she managed to calm herself, and stood and turned away from the graves.
Betty Lou, her head held as high as ever, walked away without another word. InuYasha followed, feeling a bit sheepish. They walked out of the graveyard together, the hanyou waiting for the girl to say something.
“It really sucks, cause every time I see any random little girl, I get angry. Like, why did they get to survive? Why did I get to survive? She had her whole life a head of her. No kidding, she wasn’t even born yet! UGH!” she finished, throwing her hands up in the air and stalking away, scraping her heels on the sidewalk.
They came back to the shrine house, where Kyoko sat waiting, and looking a little uneasy in the unfamiliar territory. InuYasha picked up Betty’s bag, and hefted it over his shoulder. She began wandering over to the Goshinboku, which she had yet to see.
“Oh, wow.” she said simply, her earlier emotions having worn off a bit on the walk. InuYasha nodded his head in agreement, not sure how to convey his feelings of contentment at being near it again. He settled for a lazy half-smile as a gentle breeze ruffled his hair.
“This whole thing must be real.” she whispered, talking to only him as she lifted her hand to her face to pull back a stray strand of hair. “I got some serious deja vu, here.”
She shook her head roughly, and cast a glance at the well house. InuYasha almost felt like smiling, the view was so familiar after years astray in unknown territory.
“Well, no time like the present.” (haha, I made a funny!) she said, taking her bag from InuYasha and heading towards the little shed.
The door slid open at her insistence, and once again InuYasha was faced with the quiet void that connected this world with his. His anticipation had his heart pounding in his throat, as his feet ached to be free of the kami-damned shoes, to run across the unsoiled ground of the Feudal Era, to feel the fresh breeze in his hair as he ran faster than the wind through the trees. He couldn’t help but smile a little at his companion. No matter what he said in contradiction, he really did like having company as opposed to being on his own.
‘She’s not Kagome, not by a long shot. But she is Betty Lou.’ He thought with a smirk, as Betty Lou made a rather ‘un-Kagome’ like face at the smell of the old well.
“So how do we do this?” she asked, running her hands over the old wood frame. InuYasha sighed.
“Come here.” he said, motioning to his side. She walked cautiously over to him, eyeing him suspiciously. InuYasha rolled his eyes, and grabbing both her and Kyoko around the waist, jumped up and fell into the well, disappearing in a flash of light.
___________________________
She looked all around her as InuYasha set her down by the well. His heart gave a wrench as he was reminded of Kagome’s infinite curiosity. Betty Lou started bouncing on her heels in excitement.
“This place is great! It kind of reminds me of that time I took a trip to Pennsylvania and went hiking and stuff. Except here, it’s all hiking grounds...” she began blabbering to herself, obviously wanting to go play in the beautiful scenery.
“Just remember, not a word of English. It could mess up the time line, or something.” InuYasha said in Japanese.
“Do you feel like running? I feel like running. I’m gonna go explore.” she said in her muddled but basically correct Japanese-American accent, giving two more little jumps before she set off, almost flying across the field, after dumping her guitar by the well.
Kyoko gave a short yip before InuYasha realized that he had yet to put her down. To his surprise, she chose to sit be his side, instead of run off with Betty Lou.
He took in a huge breath of air, reveling in the freshness and lack of pollution. He couldn’t help but smile when he caught the scent of a lower youkai in the distance. Whatever it was, he’d make sure he got killing it out of his system before nightfall. With a content sigh, he leaned back and fell into a light doze while leaning back against the well, Kyoko resting comfortably beside him. It was just too good to be home.
______________________________
Betty Lou had never been anywhere so quiet, even her special tree in the junk yard. She couldn’t hide the tiny smile as she watched butterflies drift lazily by, birds twittering in the background.
“Luna would have loved it here.” she said out loud. With that, a pang in her heart leaped into her throat. She missed her guardian fiercely. Betty had always secretly thought that Luna would come striding through the door someday, her impossibly huge smile on her face and a piece of home made jerky for everyone to share.
Betty Lou sighed as her memories threatened to send her into a mood that would not let her enjoy the new world around her, especially after visiting her family’s graves after so long. She looked off into the sky, reminiscing and wishing Kyoko were there with her. She didn’t notice the small youkai watching from the bushed behind her.
__________________________
The youkai cursed the slow growing rate of demons. In fifteen years, he couldn’t have grow more than a few inches! Sure, that made it easy for him to hide from bigger demons who would like him for desert, but it also kept him from catching any food bigger than a bunny.
Shippou growled angrily to himself. He had tried to take up residence in the Kitsune Mansion he’d come across once while traveling with InuYasha and the others, but he’d found the other foxes to be childish and annoying. He sighed. After all he’d been through, he doubted if he’d ever fit in with the playful young demons.
He’d steeled himself, decided that he was going to be like InuYasha and raise himself. Despite how mean, rude, obnoxious, and a whole rainbow of faults that Shippou could come up with, the hanyou could take care of himself and then some, which he himself had learned how to do, more or less.
At the present moment, he was stalking a monestrous youkai rat, which upon catching it would not only get it away from the village nearby, but give him something to chew on for the next couple of days. Shippou still silently guarded the old village in which he had lived with his foster mother and their friends from lower youkai who tried to attack.. He was quite proud of himself, as he had yet to find anything that he couldn’t scare away with his illusions. Then again, he’d never have to face off anything more powerful than a lizard youkai.
The rat was sitting on it’s haunches, sniffing the wind.
“Go ahead and try. I’m downwind, doofus. I’m gonna make stew outta you.” he said with an evil smile.
The rat turned sharply at the sound of his voice, however. Shippou realized his mistake and rushed forward to attack the thing before it caught on that it was being hunted. To his dismay, it dashed off into the forest, close to the village. The fox demon ran after his pray, not giving up easily.
He ran for about ten minutes before he figured out that he’d lost the scent of it. Stopping, he lifted his head to smell the gentle breeze. There was something almost mothering about the way the wind caressed his cheek. He smiled, forgetting about his lost dinner. He thought about Kagome, his Okka-san, longingly, and would have sworn he caught a tiny whiff of her on the breeze. He smiled another sad smile.
Wait....he <i>could</i> smell her! No, no that was impossible. The last time he’d scented his adopted mother, she had smelled of death and decay, and rather similar to the scary clay woman who was said to be her incarnation. But there was no mistaking it, she was nearby!
All reason was lost as Shippou raced toward the scent, and came upon a young girl walking slowly through a field of flowers. He stopped for a moment, keeping himself from tackling her that moment. She had grown her hair, and her clothes were different, but there was no doubting it, she was Kagome! She had come back to him!
“KAGOME!” he shouted gleefully. Shippou ran forward on all fours, the grin on his face blinding. After all this time, she’d come back to him! His spirit soared so high, he didn’t noticed the terrified shriek coming from the girl.
___________________________
“I haven’t been here a half hour and already I’m being chased by a demon!” Betty Lou thought desperately as she ran as fast as her legs would take her. She spotted a tree in front of her and leaped into the branches, surprising herself at how limber she was.
“InuYASHA!” she screeched as she hung on for dear life to a single branch with both her arms and legs, fearing that it wasn’t strong enough. Whatever little demon that was chasing her down was getting closer, and it was only a matter of time before it crawled its way up the tree and ate her or something.
InuYasha had just changed into his fire-rat, and feeling more at ease than he had in ten years. He strapped Tessaiga to his waist when he heard Betty Lou’s scream.
In the corner of Betty’s eye, a red-clad figure was leaping out of the forest with amazing power and grace. Betty Lou sighed in relief, recognizing the magnitude of silver hair.
Just as Shippou was going to take a running leap into the tree to ask Kagome what was wrong, he was met headfirst with a wall of hanyou. InuYasha looked down at the kit, who’d fallen flat on his bottom and rubbed his stubbed head, his arms crossed in front of him and a familiar smirk on his lips.
“Yo, Shippou. I was wondering when I’d run into you again.” he said, doing his best to stay friendly to the kitsune he hadn’t seen since Kagome’s death.
Shippou looked up at his old friend, and then into the face of the girl peering at him from behind a branch, which she was stretched out on as she gazed at him. Her eyes widened in even more surprise as the branch she was clutching gave a cracking sound and a lurch beneath her. She came tumbling and screaming down, and fell flat on her tail bone among a pile of sticks.
Shippou tried to leaped into her arms again, but before that happened, she had somehow managed to get unsteadily to her feet at the speed of light as the tiny demon tried to attack her again, along with a club-shaped dead branch which she swung behind her like a baseball bat. As Shippou’s leap sent him into her range, she used his head as a softball, and cracked him backwards, right into the tree trunk.
“OI! What’s your problem, bitch?!” he shouted, picking up Shippou, noting the huge lump on his forehead. Shippou was officially out of commission for the next couple of hours, at least.
“What’s that matter with you? That thing tried to attack me? Didn’t you hear it?” she said, still shaking and holding the branch, albeit it was dangling from her hand now, and she had an uncertain look in her eyes.
“He wasn’t trying to attack you, baka! He was trying to hug you! Fuck, what the hell is wrong with you?” he shouted at her, holding Shippou by the tail.
“I guess you know him, then?” she asked, calming down enough to put down the branch as Kyoko trotted over to where they were standing. The dog tried to get a sniff of Shippou, but InuYasha (still holding him by the tail) held him up over his head, glaring at Kyoko angrily.
“Of corse I do, you idiot, he’s the Kitsune I told you about! You know! Kagome adopted him after I avenged his father from the Thunder Brothers! How could you not remember him!” he said, becoming horribly frustrated. She’d taken care of him for years! How could she not remember?
He shut his eyes and looked away from her in order to compose himself.
‘She’s not Kagome. She never met Shippou. No wonder she got scared, the stupid runt tried to tackle her. Man is he going to be in for it when he wakes up. Maybe if he could get a better whiff of her, figure out that she isn’t Kagome, he might not take it so hard....’ he thought, accidentally gripping Shippou’s tail a little harder than he should have.
“I knew it.” Betty Lou said, looking at him with narrowed eyes. InuYasha raised his eyebrow, and realized too late his slip of tongue.
“You ARE the hanyou in the story!” she said, completely forgetting about the unconscious kitsune swinging from his hand. She stepped closer to him, and was looking intently into his eyes that caused him to squirm a little.
“Keh!”
“Well, there’s a brilliant reply.” she said, crossing her legs and sitting down by the tree. InuYasha rolled his eyes, and leaned against the tree next to her to wait for Shippou to wake up.
“Why didn’t you say something?” she asked.
“I don’t know!” he said, feeling the need to jump off into the trees.
“When you told me the whole story, you just said ‘the hanyou’. How could you fail to mention that ‘the hanyou’ is you!?” Betty Lou. She turned to look at him again, and took in the sight of his fire-rat haori and hakama.
“What the hell are you wearing?” she asked him, snickering.
“What? What’s wrong with my clothes? They’re way stronger than your pathetic human rags!” he spat.
“And the fact that you’re wearing M.C. Hammer pants doesn’t factor into that equation at all?” she giggled, clutching her stomach. InuYasha grimaced. If he hadn’t known better, he’d have thought that Kyoko was grinning at him too.
“Shut up! This thing has saved my life more times than I can remember! Not to mention the life of your stupid incarnation!” he said, turning his nose up at her.
InuYasha stiffened when he realized what had just come out of his mouth. If he had ever, EVER mentioned Kikyou like he’d had just now, she would get all tearful and quiet, and he’d have to deal with her moping all the rest of that day. Just reminding her of the time he’d spent with Kikyou before Naraku had caused them to betray each other caused her aura to become blue.
Betty Lou, on the other hand, grinned at him widely, a sparkle of amazement in her deadened eyes.
“So YOU were the one who did all that stuff, huh? Kind of hard to imagine a regular shmoe like you fighting off a dragon.” She said, tapping her chin lightly with her finger.
“Regular shmoe? Is your head on backwards? Do I look like a regular shmoe to you?” he yelled, pointing to his ears.
“Is that...that isn’t.....is that the Tessaiga?” she asked in wonderment as her eyes caught a hold of Tessaiga’s sheath, and widened to the size of saucers, remembering all of the fantastic feats he had told her about.
“Yeah...” InuYasha said, annoyed. He set Shippou down, after dangerously allowing him to dangle from his hands by his tail for quite some time. Being back in Sengoku Jidai, he felt back in his element, his <i>home</i>. He had thought it would be almost impossible to get him in a bad mood after his homecoming. Then again, he’d never been respected for great thinking.
InuYasha unsheathed Tessaiga, allowing it to enlarge in all of its glory, the giant fang glinting in the afternoon sun. Betty Lou gasped in amazement, as Kyoko growled in warning. InuYasha couldn’t help but smirk as Tessaiga’s familiar weight in his hand reminded him of all that he’d missed while searching for Betty Lou.
“That...has got to be the most ridiculously huge sword I’ve ever seen.” she said, putting a hand up to her mouth to stifle her giggles.
InuYasha gaped at her, insulted. He didn’t think he’d ever surpass being as pissed off as he was when he’d found out that Kagome had shattered the jewel into a million little pieces, but Betty Lou had just proven him wrong.
“WHAT? You’ve GOT to be kidding me! What do mean, ridiculous? If it were any smaller, I doubt it would have been able to destroy Naraku! This thing’s killed more demons than you can dream of, bitch!” he shouted, swinging he sword around dangerously. All of the yelling seemed to bring a reaction out of Shippou.
“Unngg......InuYasha, just let Kagome go home.” he mumbled. Of corse that stopped InuYasha from starting into his rampage.
“OOOOHHH!!! THAT’S why he came after me! He thought I was my other...what should I call it? My other...life? Whatever, he thought I was the miko who broke the jewel? Poor little guy, I just had to use his head for batting practice.” she said, looking down at the Kitsune sympathetically.
InuYasha thought process had skidded to a halt, not even taking in Betty Lou’s words. What had just happened? Had he his anger at her been so similar to how he interacted with Kagome? Had he really gotten that comfortable around her already? He shook his head, Betty looking at him with a questioning gaze.
Shippou began tossing and turning, finally widening his eyes very slowly to be met with the muzzle of a very large, foreign dog.
“Ugh, what happened?” he asked, rubbing his head.
“Hey, Shippou.” said InuYasha in a monotone. He was still digesting what the kit had said in his sleep and chastising himself for allowing himself to get comfortable enough around her to let it happen.
Shippou was still rubbing his head, and he looked blearily around him. His eyes landed on Betty Lou, although he didn’t seem to recall her knocking him out. He did, however, remember something vital.
“You...but-but you...you <i>died</i>!” he said, tears welling up in his bright green eyes as he clutched his arms around himself.
“Uh, kid....I think you have me confused with someone else.” Betty Lou replied, her eyes wide with sympathy.
“What are you talking about, Kagome? What did you do to your hair? And what are you <i>wearing</i>?” he asked, staring at her intently.
“Hey runt, take a good whiff. Does that <i>really</i> smell like Kagome?” InuYasha said, still irritated. His eyebrows slanted downward and a familiar frown graced his lips.
Shippou leaned forward to inhale sharply, his eyes losing their hopeful gleam faster than InuYasha could say ‘keh’.
“You’re...you’re not Kagome.” he said, a questioning upward inflection at the end of his sentence. He stared at her, hurt. InuYasha narrowed his eyes as he remembered how he had spoken almost the exact same words to Kagome, when he’d first met her when she’d awakened him from his fifty year sleep.
“Uh, no. You can call me Betty Lou. And your Shippou the kitsune youkai, right?” she asked, trying her best to be friendly.
“Y-yeah. Who...who are you?” he asked, his heartbreak thick in the air.
“Shippou, come with me.” InuYasha said, indicating for Shippou to hop on his shoulder. The kit tool one last glance at Betty, and jumped up, as InuYasha was walking away from where Betty Lou and Kyoko were now sitting alone.
“Ahh...listen, Shippou-”
“Where have you been?” Shippou asked, his voice choking with rage.
“Wh-what?” InuYasha asked, almost fearful of what the pup was going to say.
“Where have you been all this time? And who is she? How could you...did you forget about her?” he asked, tears glazing over his traumatized glare.
“What? No! Of corse not! I-”
“Then WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!?” Shippou screamed, pounding his little fists into InuYasha’s head. He cringed, and for once allowed the kit to take out his frustration on him. In all of his misery and grief, along with his eagerness to find Betty Lou, Shippou had been forgotten. During the five years InuYasha had run wild over Sengoku Jidai, his thoughts had almost never strayed to the kit, save for the few moments when he allowed his memory to reflect.
Shippou was now sobbing hopelessly into his haori, clutching him in a vice-like grip. InuYasha’s eyes softened, and he pried the kid off of his arm and put him on his shoulder, leaning his cheek against him in what he hoped was a comforting gesture.
“I know, Shippou, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have left you by yourself.” he said, reaching up and wrapping his arm around the kitsune. Shippou froze in his grasp, and InuYasha could feel his blush.
“I-it’s not like I needed you or anything! I’m alive, aren’t I?!” Shippou said, embarrassed at having been caught showing brotherly feelings toward the hanyou. InuYasha looked at the ground, remorse creeping into his aura.
“You’re right, you didn’t need me. You’re a lot tougher than you look, Shippou. I wasn’t really expecting to run into you again.” he murmured. “What have you been doing all this time?”
“I’ve been raising myself, just like you! I’ve been protecting the village, and they’re even talking about giving me a shrine if I keep it up!!!” He said excitedly, a proud grin on his face. Then, he suddenly turned serious again. “And you?”
InuYasha sighed and leaned his head into his hand, pinching the skin between his eyebrows.
“I’ve, uh.....I’ve been looking for Kagome’s reincarnation.” he said, jerking his head in the direction in which they had left Betty Lou, who he could hear was singing to herself to quell away the loneliness that the had left her in. Shippou’s reaction was as he expected. He gaped at him, his mouth opening and closing a few times as he tried to speak.
“You....that...<i>her</i>...wh....what about <b>KAGOME</b>!!!!” he screeched. InuYasha’s ears flattened at the way he said her name, as if he had done something to dishonor her.
“Wh-what about her?” he asked, his eyes wide with confusion.
“How could you forget about her?” he asked quietly. Instantly, InuYasha’s eyes went from confused to enraged, grabbing Shippou by the hair and tossing him to the ground in front of him.
“I will NEVER forget her! What the hell gave you that kind of idea?” he growled, low and menacing.
“You don’t spend ten years looking for someone if you really cared about Kagome!”
“I don’t! She has to purify the jewel!” he shouted at him. He vaguely noticed that Betty Lou’s singing was coming closer.
“What? What do you mean? The jewel was destroyed with Naraku, wasn’t it?” he said, a worried look on his face.
“No. Sesshomaru snatched it right before Naraku could take it to hell with him. She’s gonna end it all.” InuYasha said.
“What happened to making a wish on it?” Shippou said slyly, narrowing his eyes.
“I don’t want to be a full youkai anymore.” InuYasha said simply. He didn’t feel the need to tell the kitsune of the sheer terror he felt when his youkai half took over his body, the rushing blood deafening his ears, blinding him until he could see nothing but enemies, his soul devoured piece by piece until there was nothing but a monster left.
“That’s not the only wish you could make, baka.” Shippou said, his voice low.
“What do you mean?”
“You could wish Kagome back to life!” he said excitedly! InuYasha’s blood froze. He’d never thought about it, never considered it, the very idea had never come close to his mind! Somewhere along the line, he’d decided that the jewel belonged to Betty Lou, and he had no intention of touching the thing, least his youkai did surface around the thing again, since it was most likely still black from Naraku’s evil. He wouldn’t have Kagome there to purify him with her touch. With the jewel.....was it even possible?
“Forget about that baka girl, she doesn’t even look like Kagome! She ran from me!” Shippou said, a childish pout on his lip. The tell-tale bruise on his head seemed to get a little darker to emphasize his point.
“Think about it! The jewel can be purified with a pure, unselfish wish! Bringing someone as nice as Kagome back from the dead is the most unselfish thing I’ve ever heard of!” he continued, his sideways logic not lost on InuYasha.
“I don’t know Shippou, I’ll have to think about it.” he replied, ending the conversation as Betty Lou’s singing started to get farther away now, the melody silly and unsuited for the conversation he’d just been having. InuYasha got up and stalked off after her, a scowl set on his face. He’d think about it later, it was just too much right now.
______________________________
Betty Lou got tired of waiting for the demons to return, so she started off on her own, eager to explore some more, despite almost being attacked by a demon moments earlier. The melancholy of the morning melted away as she started down a slightly overgrown path, Kyoko close on her heels.
Before long, she came upon a hut at the bottom of a steep hill, and almost tripped over herself as she went to investigate. She was strangely comfortable in this world, despite the bizarreness of it all.
“Well that’ll be the day, when you say goodbye. Ye-ah! That’ll be the day when you make me cry-y. You say you’re gonna leave, you know it’s a lie, cause that’ll be the da-a-ay, that I die!” she sang out, for some reason in a Buddy Holly mood.
“Stop right there!” called out a high, shrill voice. Betty Lou flinched at the mere sound of it.
Betty turned around and faced a woman standing about fifteen feet from her, a bow and arrow in her hand, pointed at her.
“State your business, nymph!” she said, her voice unbearably grating. She was dressed in miko garb, yet she had her hair in a rather unnecessarily complicated knot, along with makeup that was just plain undignified for a shrine maiden.
“Uhhh.....just passing threw, thanks. You can, uh.....put away the arrow there, I’m not a nymph.” Betty Lou said, totally caught off guard but the threat.
“Liar. What human would wear such strange garments? And what of that wolf-dog you have there? No human would allow such a beast to accompany them! I should slay you on the spot for daring to come near our village!” she squeaked, and pulled back a little more on her drawstring. “I am the priestess Orokami, and you shall not pass to place your evil spell upon the village people! I will purify you!”
“You’re kidding, right?” Betty Lou said, not believing her luck. For some reason, she didn’t feel very threatened, even though she was staring a draw arrow straight down the barrel. Something about this girl just radiated.....overconfidence.
Betty Lou remembered all of the stories InuYasha had told her. Although she wondered how she was supposed to measure up to such a kind-hearted martyr as the legend, she also knew for a fact that Kagome had relied on InuYasha to protect her from the physical, fighting world.
Well fuck that.
Faster than the idiot miko could see, (thank you track team!) Betty Lou was beside her and grasping the bow and arrow, rendering them useless in Orokami’s hands. She obviously had very little training, because Betty could feel no spiritual power in the arrow.
‘Wait, how am I suppose to know what spiritual power feels like?’ Betty Lou shook her head, deciding that she would contemplate that later. She was born a miko, right? That’s not unusual.
Now that the girl was unarmed, Betty Lou glared down and observed hwe, secretly thanking her father for her unusual height. She put on her favorite menacing scowl and took in the sight in front of her.
Orokami was no older than herself, and yet she was shaking in fear as Betty Lou towered over her. Now that she was close, she saw that she was wearing an obscene amount of face paint. For some reason, Betty felt the need to show her up.
“I thought miko’s were supposed to destroy youkai, not share their weapons.” she said with a nasty grin. If she could get the girl to run away, then maybe the day wouldn’t be a total miserable waste after all.
“Wh-what siren’s spell did you mean to cast on me?” she stuttered out, although Betty Lou could tell her bravery wouldn’t last long.
“What? You mean that song I was singing?” she asked confusedly, examining the bow and arrow.
“That was no song which escaped your lips! ‘Twas a strange melody and a foul demon tongue that came from your mouth! What manner of youkai are you, beast? Surely you mean to seduce the men to do your bidding, dressed worse than a whore, you are! I won’t allow it!” she said, and attempted to wrench the bow out of Betty’s grip.
Betty Lou smirked.
“Look it, scag cake, I’d lay off the whore insults if I were you. I just got a wife beater on. You got enough makeup to rival Mimi.” she smirked, and then groaned, realizing that a miko from 500 years ago probably didn’t watch Drew Carey.
“Be gone, beast!” she screeched, and attempted to hit her. Betty Lou scowled, and shoved Orokami to the ground easily, taking the bow and arrow out of her grip as the girl fell.
“Bet you can’t even use this.” she said, examining it even closer, although now she was just doing it to enrage the miko even more. Betty Lou put her foot on Orokami’s chest, to ensure that she didn’t get up, and continued her taunting.
_______________________
Of all the things he thought he’d find Betty Lou doing as soon as she came through the well, tormenting a fellow priestess was not one of them. He had to restrain a snort as he watched Betty keep a foot on the chest of some girl who wore robes like Kaede while she turned over a bow and arrow, apparently having a pretty good time.
It didn’t take long for him to deduce that the miko currently struggling under Betty’s boot had probably threatened Betty Lou, and thus deserved whatever punishment Betty Lou decided to inflict. Not to mention, InuYasha was rather prone to behavior like that himself, and couldn’t help but become even more amused when he remembered how he had once held a man in a similar fashion, looking for information about a painter who used jewel shards, not long after they met Miroku.
“Making friends already?” he called out gruffly, desperately holding back a bark of laughter.
“Oh yeah! I think this chick is suppose to be a miko, too!” she called back sarcastically. She grinned down at Orokami’s red-faced glare.
“I knew it! You converse with demons, you must be a siren of sorts!” she shouted from her place on the ground. Betty Lou grinned down at her sadistically.
“I’d rather be a siren than a fake miko.” she hissed. Orokami’s face went from angry and a little afraid to downright terrified.
“That’s right, I can tell. You’re just a regular human, I can feel it. Why are you parading around as a priestess?” she whispered. InuYasha’s eyes went wide and his ears perked forward, interested.
“Y-you....ho-how could.....I-I-I d-don’t-” Orokami stuttered.
“Can it, I could care less about whatever ploy you’re pulling on the local idiots. I just want you to answer two questions for me.” she stated, leaning forward so that she was nose to nose with her, her foot still on her chest. Orokami nodded, pace void of any color now.
“Is Kaede-sama still around, and if so, can you take me to her?”
(Author’s Note)
Okay, couple things:
#1) I don’t appreciate people telling me that I should bring Kagome back from the dead. I wish I could tell you what I have planned, but it would just ruin the story. As a matter of fact, don’t tell me at all what you think I should do, because it is pointless. I’m not going to take your advice, I have the rest of this story planned out, and I’m just going to delete any of the reviews that insist on doing so. I want your opinions on my work, not your own ideas. Sorry I have to be a bitch, but my senior friends just graduated (probably never going to see them again), and it was a bad time for those particular reviews to show up. Pissed me off to no end....
#2) Before you bite my head off, I do plan on taking a little break from this story. I know I said I wouldn’t ever do that again, but I lied. At least this time, it’s planned. Don’t worry, I will come back to it, but I have to focus on getting a job for the summer and I’ve been having fun writing flames for crappy one-shots. I just can’t concentrate on this right now, I’ll come back to it once the boredom of summer break gets to me.
#3) Yes, InuYasha is planning on suicide. Before you jump on me about how OOC that is, let me tell you something. Anyone who is into Japanese culture would know that killing yourself for another is considered very honorable. InuYasha didn’t hesitate to say that he would go to hell for Kikyou, and I think he would do the same for Kagome, should the situation ever arise. But you have no idea what I have in mind, so don’t give up hope yet.
#4) I had fun with Orokami's name. It can either mean "stupid beauty", or (*snort, this on had me rolling on the ground for a while) "Goddess of post-natal vaginal discharge"!!!! HAHAHAHA!!!! I crack myself up!
Any other questions you may ask of me, although I’ll probably answer them in the next chapter.
Again, sorry for the total bitchy-ness. I know most of you are very respectful and like my story, and you shouldn’t have to hear me rant. I do love you all, this story is for you guys, don’t give up hope on me!