InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ One Simple Question ❯ The Death of Kaede ( Chapter 14 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: harpersong 
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Hentai / Comedy / Adventure | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 02.28.2007 | Pages: 2 | Words: 2.1K | Visits: 3.9K | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Hentai / Comedy / Adventure | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 02.28.2007 | Pages: 2 | Words: 2.1K | Visits: 3.9K | Status: Completed
He read down the list and mentally went through the ritual in his head.
He could always start the recipe over, but according to Myouga the brew had to simmer about 12 hours, and he didn't know how long Kaede had left.
But for the first time since he pulled the dead weight off of her, InuYasha began to feel a sliver of hope shatter the gloom that had encased his heart.
Round and round his brain the instructions ran in a dizzying circle, until finally the last ingredient was all the concoction lacked.
One drop of his own blood every hour or thereabouts until it had been simmering for about half a day.
With the more important potion on its way InuYasha yanked another pot out of Kagome's bag and began concocting a second brew. Only this new one was somewhat less magical. Partway through his mad scientist routine Shippou wandered in and sat behind him quietly, watching like a hawk. The kit knew if he made a pest of himself he'd be chased away, but he hoped if he remained silent and made an effort to not annoy him the hanyou would allow him to stay.
Indeed, InuYasha noticed when his little runt wandered in, but the brat seemed to be behaving, so he wasn't about to bother himself getting pissed over nothing...yet.
Once all the other ingredients had been ground into fine powder and steeped in the second pot of boiling water InuYasha sat back and wiped the sweat from his brow.
"C'mere, runt."
The kitsune imediately obeyed, wondering if there was a life-saving duty in his future. His chest filled with pride at the mere thought--
--and then burst when his papa spoke.
"I want ya to know what all this shit does."
At the sound of InuYasha's normal speaking voice the others crept slowly back in from where they had been hovering outside for the past two hours. And InuYasha did what he does best, ignored them.
"The first thing is complicated and-- Oh, shit!" He leapt lightly over to the first brew and added a second drop of his blood as his internal clock ticked into a new hour.
He snorted as he sat back down in front of the second brew and motioned Shippou back over. "Yeah, we'll go over the first one when it's done, there's a lotta shit still left to do with that." He sent a glare toward the happily simmering pot, which ignored him completely, and turned his attention to the one in front of them.
"This is kinda like the one I made for Kagome when she was sick, 'cept this one doesn't fight sickness, not really." He rubbed the back of his neck as he thought. "Kikyou used to make this one for herself after she'd spent lots of energy slaughtering youkai, or...ya know." His nose twitched like he wanted to sneeze.
"Like what, InuYasha?" Miroku asked.
InuYasha gave a deadpan glare at Miroku and the girls got the sudden distinct impression they were missing something.
Miroku's eyes widened in realization before his face took on a lecherous smile.
"InuYasha, the cycles of the female body are nothing to--"
"Hentai!" Sango cut him off before he could finish the thought.
So, if he doesn't have to say it out loud he's less embarassed and more willing to explain things? Kagome wondered to herself. Then another thought hit her. Oh! He was refering to periods. Duh, Kagome. Then an even worse thought hit her. Oh God! He can smell that?!?
She turned bright red, but no one seemed to notice as InuYasha 'feh'd' and continued. "It always seemed to help her push the pain away and keep her miko powers strong, even when I thought she should have collapsed long before. And not once did she ever give it to a villager. I always thought it was a potion for mikos. Tomorrow night is the full moon. It should help keep the old hag with us until then, and I can use the other potion on her then."
A stray thought shot into Kagome's brain like an arrow, she could almost hear the thought make the same 'twanging' noise too.
"If that's a miko potion, why haven't you made it for me?"
InuYasha answered offhandedly as he watched his potions boil. "'Cause you don't need it."
Kagome paused, did he just compliment her?
"But you're always calling me weak."
"Yeah but it's not the same."
"Well then how is it, InuYasha?"
InuYasha's whole body tensed like he had been caught stealing. His attention snapped back to the people sharing the room with him and every instinct screamed at him to yell at her, insult her, tell her she's nothing like Kikyou and bolt from the hut. But he just couldn't, and it brought him almost physical pain, his need to avoid situations like this. He squirmed in his skin and bit his tongue as he forced the stupid words away from his mouth. From the corner of his eye he saw Shippou's eyes, wide as bowls, practically begging him not to send Kagome crying into the future and away from them. That the runt could learn to curb his natural reaction to yell and scream and flail at InuYasha shamed the hanyou that he was having so much trouble just being honest. He swallowed the ball of anxiety and nausea lumped in his throat and hoped that the effort he was putting into this wouldn't be wasted by his lack of verbal finesse.
"It's...not the same." He repeated. Ok, so far, so good. At least I ain't eatin' dirt yet.
"Kikyou's body was strong, and her powers were pretty strong too." Kagome began to look sad, and the hanyou couldn't help but wonder if there was any way in the world to save himself.
"But see, your mind is strong, and your heart. And that makes your powers stronger." Kagome perked up like a plant that just got watered and it made InuYasha swallow convulsively. He had no idea what he could say that wouldn't toss him back into mental quicksand, the woman was damn infuriating! He fought against his temper as he continued pushing words past his fangs.
"Kikyou could take more of a beating than you and survive, but she wouldn't step into fights she didn't know she could win." And the glower was back. "You'd fight harder, longer, but you'd get yourself killed cause you're stubborn and you don't know when to quit. And ya don't seem to give a shit what you're fighting." Shit! No tears yet! What the fuck am I doing right?! His mind quailed, afraid he'd never understand how he was avoiding the 'osuwari's'...
"Well, she'd use the potion when she felt beaten down, when she felt like giving up or that she was in too much pain to bother fighting until it passed. The potion made her feel stronger, whatever it did worked on her mind, made her feel like she could take on whatever was goin' on. And I've never fuckin' seen you back down from a fight, bitch. I mean, yeah, you cry a fuckin' lot," He saw her face swiftly morph into anger and his mind screamed at him, Fuck! "But your body gives long before your heart does, you don't give up, you don't quit, and you don't need that fucking potion. I'm making it so in case the old hag feels like giving up on life she won't be able to even think like that until I fixed her." He finished the last bit in a rush, hoping whatever miracle held her tongue was still in place and he didn't get 'sat' into the boiling potions.
Miroku was smiling proudly at him, and he couldn't understand why. Sango had a very tiny smile playing across her lips which kinda scared him. But what drew his attention was Kagome's silent contemplation. He could almost see his words getting absorbed one by one into her little sponge-like mind. He was scared shitless.
"So..." InuYasha dreaded the words that were about to come from the young miko, he had no idea what they were, he just knew they couldn't be good. "Do you think I could one day be stronger than Kikyou?" Sango bristled, and Kagome knew her friend wanted to yell that she already was stronger, but she needed to hear it from him.
He shrugged noncommitally and grunted, "That's up to you, I guess." He answered as evasively as possible.
And yet Kagome was in bliss. For once Kikyou had come up and she wasn't reduced to tears. He even said that, whether or not he actively realized it, he knew there were differences, and that her strengths lay in other areas, which in turn meant she was stronger than Kikyou in some or another area. Not that he said it so bluntly, but that was the jist, right?
Just like on the nights of the new moon the entire group was on edge all night long, InuYasha popping up every hour to prick his finger anew and add one fat, heavy drop of blood into the larger of the two pots.
At some point Kagome inquired as the specific properties of the magical potion and was a tad put out when InuYasha told them he decided to wait until he got Kaede up and about to talk about it, because, as he put it, she'd want to know as well and he only wanted to explain everything once.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* -*- *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* -*-*-*-*-*- *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
The moment the sun had completely finished setting InuYasha went into a flurry of motion. The final drop was added to the magical potion still bubbling, the second potion long since coaxed down the ailing miko's throat.
InuYasha opened the cover of Kagome's photo album, and then used one of his claws to cut his right hand from the tip of his middle finger to the heel of his hand. He pressed his hand down on the inside cover hard, and when he removed his hand there was a perfect hanyou handprint in the book.
Achingly slow, he pulled Kaede into a semi-sitting position and forced the sleeping woman to drink the magical elixir.
He closed his eyes and seemed to count heartbeats. Then he took Kaede's hand and pricked her finger with his nails. He let blood pool on her fingertip and then turned her hand, the drop of blood splashing onto the bloody handprint in the book.
Red light flared from the handprint, Kaede's drop of blood looked as though it was steaming pink and yellow-white light.
The older miko moaned, the first sound she had made in days, and began shivering.
"Keep her warm, I'll be back." InuYasha leapt out of the house with the photo album and quickly vanished out of sight without a backwards glance.
Everyone was puzzled, but they were not about to let the hanyou and miko down now.
Less than ten minutes later she stopped shivering. A few minutes after that she opened her eyes.
"InuYasha..." she croaked, her throat not used to working properly, "What have ye done?"
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rofl oh god don't hurt me...hehehehehehe...*wipes tears from her eyes* The chapter was titled misleadingly on purpose just to make you guys freak out....don't hurt me hehehehehe
I must say the response the last chapter got was more than gratifying...even after such a long absence(or perhaps because of it) I had more than 10 reviews in less than 24 hours. It got me psyched to say the least ^.^ So don't get used to it, I may or may not have the inspiration and time to update again in such a timely fashion...but this update was supposed to be kind of a 'thank you' to all the readers who hung with me through the dry spells and whatnot.
-me
He could always start the recipe over, but according to Myouga the brew had to simmer about 12 hours, and he didn't know how long Kaede had left.
But for the first time since he pulled the dead weight off of her, InuYasha began to feel a sliver of hope shatter the gloom that had encased his heart.
Round and round his brain the instructions ran in a dizzying circle, until finally the last ingredient was all the concoction lacked.
One drop of his own blood every hour or thereabouts until it had been simmering for about half a day.
With the more important potion on its way InuYasha yanked another pot out of Kagome's bag and began concocting a second brew. Only this new one was somewhat less magical. Partway through his mad scientist routine Shippou wandered in and sat behind him quietly, watching like a hawk. The kit knew if he made a pest of himself he'd be chased away, but he hoped if he remained silent and made an effort to not annoy him the hanyou would allow him to stay.
Indeed, InuYasha noticed when his little runt wandered in, but the brat seemed to be behaving, so he wasn't about to bother himself getting pissed over nothing...yet.
Once all the other ingredients had been ground into fine powder and steeped in the second pot of boiling water InuYasha sat back and wiped the sweat from his brow.
"C'mere, runt."
The kitsune imediately obeyed, wondering if there was a life-saving duty in his future. His chest filled with pride at the mere thought--
--and then burst when his papa spoke.
"I want ya to know what all this shit does."
At the sound of InuYasha's normal speaking voice the others crept slowly back in from where they had been hovering outside for the past two hours. And InuYasha did what he does best, ignored them.
"The first thing is complicated and-- Oh, shit!" He leapt lightly over to the first brew and added a second drop of his blood as his internal clock ticked into a new hour.
He snorted as he sat back down in front of the second brew and motioned Shippou back over. "Yeah, we'll go over the first one when it's done, there's a lotta shit still left to do with that." He sent a glare toward the happily simmering pot, which ignored him completely, and turned his attention to the one in front of them.
"This is kinda like the one I made for Kagome when she was sick, 'cept this one doesn't fight sickness, not really." He rubbed the back of his neck as he thought. "Kikyou used to make this one for herself after she'd spent lots of energy slaughtering youkai, or...ya know." His nose twitched like he wanted to sneeze.
"Like what, InuYasha?" Miroku asked.
InuYasha gave a deadpan glare at Miroku and the girls got the sudden distinct impression they were missing something.
Miroku's eyes widened in realization before his face took on a lecherous smile.
"InuYasha, the cycles of the female body are nothing to--"
"Hentai!" Sango cut him off before he could finish the thought.
So, if he doesn't have to say it out loud he's less embarassed and more willing to explain things? Kagome wondered to herself. Then another thought hit her. Oh! He was refering to periods. Duh, Kagome. Then an even worse thought hit her. Oh God! He can smell that?!?
She turned bright red, but no one seemed to notice as InuYasha 'feh'd' and continued. "It always seemed to help her push the pain away and keep her miko powers strong, even when I thought she should have collapsed long before. And not once did she ever give it to a villager. I always thought it was a potion for mikos. Tomorrow night is the full moon. It should help keep the old hag with us until then, and I can use the other potion on her then."
A stray thought shot into Kagome's brain like an arrow, she could almost hear the thought make the same 'twanging' noise too.
"If that's a miko potion, why haven't you made it for me?"
InuYasha answered offhandedly as he watched his potions boil. "'Cause you don't need it."
Kagome paused, did he just compliment her?
"But you're always calling me weak."
"Yeah but it's not the same."
"Well then how is it, InuYasha?"
InuYasha's whole body tensed like he had been caught stealing. His attention snapped back to the people sharing the room with him and every instinct screamed at him to yell at her, insult her, tell her she's nothing like Kikyou and bolt from the hut. But he just couldn't, and it brought him almost physical pain, his need to avoid situations like this. He squirmed in his skin and bit his tongue as he forced the stupid words away from his mouth. From the corner of his eye he saw Shippou's eyes, wide as bowls, practically begging him not to send Kagome crying into the future and away from them. That the runt could learn to curb his natural reaction to yell and scream and flail at InuYasha shamed the hanyou that he was having so much trouble just being honest. He swallowed the ball of anxiety and nausea lumped in his throat and hoped that the effort he was putting into this wouldn't be wasted by his lack of verbal finesse.
"It's...not the same." He repeated. Ok, so far, so good. At least I ain't eatin' dirt yet.
"Kikyou's body was strong, and her powers were pretty strong too." Kagome began to look sad, and the hanyou couldn't help but wonder if there was any way in the world to save himself.
"But see, your mind is strong, and your heart. And that makes your powers stronger." Kagome perked up like a plant that just got watered and it made InuYasha swallow convulsively. He had no idea what he could say that wouldn't toss him back into mental quicksand, the woman was damn infuriating! He fought against his temper as he continued pushing words past his fangs.
"Kikyou could take more of a beating than you and survive, but she wouldn't step into fights she didn't know she could win." And the glower was back. "You'd fight harder, longer, but you'd get yourself killed cause you're stubborn and you don't know when to quit. And ya don't seem to give a shit what you're fighting." Shit! No tears yet! What the fuck am I doing right?! His mind quailed, afraid he'd never understand how he was avoiding the 'osuwari's'...
"Well, she'd use the potion when she felt beaten down, when she felt like giving up or that she was in too much pain to bother fighting until it passed. The potion made her feel stronger, whatever it did worked on her mind, made her feel like she could take on whatever was goin' on. And I've never fuckin' seen you back down from a fight, bitch. I mean, yeah, you cry a fuckin' lot," He saw her face swiftly morph into anger and his mind screamed at him, Fuck! "But your body gives long before your heart does, you don't give up, you don't quit, and you don't need that fucking potion. I'm making it so in case the old hag feels like giving up on life she won't be able to even think like that until I fixed her." He finished the last bit in a rush, hoping whatever miracle held her tongue was still in place and he didn't get 'sat' into the boiling potions.
Miroku was smiling proudly at him, and he couldn't understand why. Sango had a very tiny smile playing across her lips which kinda scared him. But what drew his attention was Kagome's silent contemplation. He could almost see his words getting absorbed one by one into her little sponge-like mind. He was scared shitless.
"So..." InuYasha dreaded the words that were about to come from the young miko, he had no idea what they were, he just knew they couldn't be good. "Do you think I could one day be stronger than Kikyou?" Sango bristled, and Kagome knew her friend wanted to yell that she already was stronger, but she needed to hear it from him.
He shrugged noncommitally and grunted, "That's up to you, I guess." He answered as evasively as possible.
And yet Kagome was in bliss. For once Kikyou had come up and she wasn't reduced to tears. He even said that, whether or not he actively realized it, he knew there were differences, and that her strengths lay in other areas, which in turn meant she was stronger than Kikyou in some or another area. Not that he said it so bluntly, but that was the jist, right?
Just like on the nights of the new moon the entire group was on edge all night long, InuYasha popping up every hour to prick his finger anew and add one fat, heavy drop of blood into the larger of the two pots.
At some point Kagome inquired as the specific properties of the magical potion and was a tad put out when InuYasha told them he decided to wait until he got Kaede up and about to talk about it, because, as he put it, she'd want to know as well and he only wanted to explain everything once.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* -*- *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* -*-*-*-*-*- *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
The moment the sun had completely finished setting InuYasha went into a flurry of motion. The final drop was added to the magical potion still bubbling, the second potion long since coaxed down the ailing miko's throat.
InuYasha opened the cover of Kagome's photo album, and then used one of his claws to cut his right hand from the tip of his middle finger to the heel of his hand. He pressed his hand down on the inside cover hard, and when he removed his hand there was a perfect hanyou handprint in the book.
Achingly slow, he pulled Kaede into a semi-sitting position and forced the sleeping woman to drink the magical elixir.
He closed his eyes and seemed to count heartbeats. Then he took Kaede's hand and pricked her finger with his nails. He let blood pool on her fingertip and then turned her hand, the drop of blood splashing onto the bloody handprint in the book.
Red light flared from the handprint, Kaede's drop of blood looked as though it was steaming pink and yellow-white light.
The older miko moaned, the first sound she had made in days, and began shivering.
"Keep her warm, I'll be back." InuYasha leapt out of the house with the photo album and quickly vanished out of sight without a backwards glance.
Everyone was puzzled, but they were not about to let the hanyou and miko down now.
Less than ten minutes later she stopped shivering. A few minutes after that she opened her eyes.
"InuYasha..." she croaked, her throat not used to working properly, "What have ye done?"
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
rofl oh god don't hurt me...hehehehehehe...*wipes tears from her eyes* The chapter was titled misleadingly on purpose just to make you guys freak out....don't hurt me hehehehehe
I must say the response the last chapter got was more than gratifying...even after such a long absence(or perhaps because of it) I had more than 10 reviews in less than 24 hours. It got me psyched to say the least ^.^ So don't get used to it, I may or may not have the inspiration and time to update again in such a timely fashion...but this update was supposed to be kind of a 'thank you' to all the readers who hung with me through the dry spells and whatnot.
-me