InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Remnants of the Spider ❯ Into the West ( Chapter 36 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Remnants of the Spider
Into the West __________________________________________________________________ ______
From just outside the small hut, the group watched as both Tsunjin and the fox youkai shrank into the distance. The elemental was returning to his post, and the kitsune to his home in the North.
The maps clutched in her hands, Kagome stared blankly into the distance, her mind meticulously mulling over the intricacies of her mission. Unaware that she was being watched by the others, she made no move to acknowledge their unvoiced questions. Finally, someone decided to speak up.
“Well, are we gonna get goin’ or what?! We’re burnin’ daylight ya know!”
Jolted from her inner musings, Kagome shot the hanyou irritated look from the corner of her eyes. He did have a point though. Turning to Sesshoumaru she asked, “Which direction should we go first?”
“What’re you askin’ him for, since whe--?” A masculine hand on his shoulder brought the hanyou up short as Miroku quietly gestured for him to calm. “This is Lady Kagome’s mission, we are simply accompanying her. If she wishes to consult Lord Sesshoumaru for his advice, I don’t think any of us have the right to question her.”
The hanyou huffed. He hadn’t even realized the bastard was going with them, and now Kagome was asking for HIS advice??!! It was almost enough to make him wretch! He shrugged away from the monk’s grasp and turned his back to the group. “Fine!” he said irritably, “Do whatever you want. See if I care!”
His mood already spoiled for the day, the hanyou flinched and was again about to snatch away from the light touch he felt on his right arm. When he turned to see a pair of soulful brown eyes fixed upon him, he paused in his movements to give his full attention to his future mate.
She stared at him as if attempting to convey something through her eyes alone. Before he could ask her what was wrong, she turned back to the group and politely asked for a moment alone.
Sesshoumaru said nothing, but was the first to turn and walk toward the edge of the village. Kagome looked indecisive at first, but then she shouldered her yellow bag and made her way to his side. Kirara on her shoulder, Sango said her goodbyes to the priestess before slowly following after the miko and daiyoukai. Miroku bowed and was the last to leave.
“What’s this all…” the hanyou began once they were alone.
“Come.” the priestess commanded shortly.
Her small hand wrapped securely around his arm, she lead him back into the hut. Once inside, Kikyou did not face him right away; when she finally did, Inuyasha was surprised by the hurt he could see in her eyes.
“Kikyou…” he began repentantly. “What’s…?”
“You need to stop this Inuyasha!” Her voice was stern, but slightly raspy almost as if she were on the verge of crying. “You need to stop!” she said again, surprising him by raising her voice.
“I… I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Any fool can see that you are jealous over Kagome, but you need to let go now!”
His heart leaped into his throat. Was he really that obvious? “It’s not… you don’t… you don’t understand.” he tried feebly. “It’s not like that.”
“Yes it is!” she intoned vehemently, her brows furrowed and her hands fisted at her sides. She glared up at him for a long time before she finally took a deep breath and allowed the tension to melt from her body. “Inuyasha,” she began more calmly, “I can understand that you care a great deal for Kagome. You have spent a lot of time with her, and during that time it was your duty to protect her.” She stepped closer to him and placed a light hand to the side of his face.
“But that is no longer your place. Even if it was, do you not see that your brother means her no harm? He cares for her Inuyasha.”
Noticing how he tried to move away, Kikyou placed her remaining hand on his shoulder. “He cares for her.” she said again. “I can see it in the way he looks at her. What is happening between them… it is meant to be, and I know it is difficult for you, but you must accept that.”
The hanyou shook his head slightly. “You don’t understand Kikyou. Sesshoumaru is not a good person. He doesn’t deserve Kagome.”
Taking her hand from his shoulder she placed it on his remaining cheek and waited for him to look at her. “That is not for you to decide Inuyasha. Only she can make that determination.”
Though he still did not fully agree, the hanyou nodded slightly. A weary smile formed on the priestess’s lips and she pulled him into a tight embrace. Feeling his tension ease a little, Inuyasha pulled her close his fingers threading through her hair. After a moment or two they each withdrew, but Kikyou continued to hold his hands. “I want you to promise me something.” she said quietly. When he nodded in response she continued, “I want you to promise me that you will not fight with your brother during the course of this journey.”
“But what if--”
“Promise me Inuyasha.” she cut him off, her tone subdued and beseeching.
The hanyou thought it over. Sesshoumaru was such a bastard!! How could he avoid fighting with him when they were going to be spending so much time together?! The very thought of keeping his claws away from the arrogant jerk’s throat nearly made his skin crawl.
On the other hand, he cared a lot for Kikyou, and until now she had never really asked anything of him. How could he deny her this single request?
Finally, his shoulders slump in defeat, and he reluctantly gave his word. “Alright Kikyou, for you… I promise.”
A genuine smile graced the priestess’s lips and she embraced him again. “Thank you Inuyasha.”
“Yeah, yeah.” he murmured into her hair as he held her close. They soon moved apart and the hanyou placed a light kiss on her forehead before he turned and made his way to the door. Her heart racing from his display of affection, the miko blushed prettily as she watched him leave. He paused at the door and glanced at her over his shoulder. “Take care of things while we’re gone.” he said before he pushed the straw door aside and exited the hut.
By the time he had joined the group they had already decided that their first stop would be the Western province. Since it was closest, Inuyasha felt no need to dispute the decision.
“Alright,” he said as he stretched the muscles of his back, “Let’s get going then. C’mon Kagome.” he told the miko as he kneeled in front of her and offered her his back.
The daiyoukai looked at him with a raised brow. “I do not think so.” he intoned icily. Before Inuyasha could retort, and before Kagome realized what was going on, a firm arm wrapped around her waist and the ground was suddenly no longer beneath her feet. The miko made a startled noise and immediately clutched onto the firm body next to her.
A long low growl vibrated the air around him as Inuyasha looked into the sky to see his jerk of a brother and Kagome together on a sprawling cloud of demonic energy.
“We are being left behind.” a calm voice spoke from behind him, “And,” Miroku continued sagely, “I hardly think that sitting there and growling is going to help us catch up.”
Inuyasha stood and rounded on him. “Who says I was growling monk??!!”
“Oh knock it off Inuyasha!” Sango said as she took her place on Kirara’s back. “We’re burning daylight, remember?”
Taking in the hanyou’s agitated appearance and erratically twitching brow, Miroku held up his hands in a gesture of surrender and slowly backed away. “Of course you weren’t growling. It must have been the wind!” A large goofy smile plastered to his lips, the monk continued his slow motion retreat and was soon settled on the nekomata’s back behind his wife. Without another exchange of words, the cat pushed off the ground and was soon following the invisible trail of demonic energy left behind by the daiyoukai.
The hanyou whirled around to glare up at their departing forms. “Hey, don’t just leave me!! Wait up!!” he yelled angrily before he leapt from the earth to bound after them.
For her part, Kagome was pretty sure she had just experienced a mild heart attack. Their sudden ascent into the sky had literally taken her breath away and though she could feel Sesshoumaru‘s arm around her waist there didn’t seem to be anything solid beneath her feet! There was no escaping the fact that she was literally standing on a cloud!! Her left hand grasping the top of his armor between the protruding spikes, and her right clutching a portion of obi at his back, the miko held on for dear life. Normally she would blush at such close contact but right now she just wanted to make sure she didn’t fall!
As if it had read her thoughts, a portion of Sesshoumaru’s pelt wrapped itself around her legs. It was tight enough that it made her feel more secure, but not so tight as to be uncomfortable. Looking down at it, she breathed a small sigh of relief and almost regretted the fact that she was wearing a hakama. If she was wearing a skirt or shorts she would be able to feel the soft fur on her legs. ‘Then again,’ she amended mentally, ‘It’d probably tickle, and I‘m fairly sure Sesshoumaru wouldn’t want to hear me giggling like an idiot the whole trip.’
She smiled to herself and her eyes soon strayed from the pelt to the dizzying blur of trees and grass below. Turning away, she sought a distraction and looked up to the demon lord who stood so calmly at her side. She was unsurprised, and a little encouraged seeing Sesshoumaru’s impassive face as he stared unfalteringly at the path ahead.
“Why did you do that?” she asked somewhat breathlessly. When he did not answer, she said, a bit teasingly, “Who’s to say I didn’t want to ride with Inuyasha?”
He glanced at her from the corner of his eyes. “Who is to say that was ever an option?”
“Oh?” Kagome challenged, “And why wouldn’t it be an option?”
He turned away from her then. “…The hanyou’s attachment to you exceeds the boundaries of friendship. Do you really wish to encourage his obvious desire for you?”
Kagome felt color rush to her cheeks. “I… I hadn’t thought of that, but… I’m pretty sure you’re mistaken. Inuyasha is in love with Kikyou.”
“Hn, Your inattention surprises me.” he said blandly, not sounding surprised at all. “He is clearly divided between his affections for yourself and that of the other miko.”
Kagome’s lips parted soundlessly. For years she had watched him pine over Kikyou, and while she knew he cared about her, the thought that he might desire her, as Sesshoumaru so frankly put it, it made her feel… weird. She had always assumed that he didn’t actually want her himself, he just didn’t want anyone else to have her either. In a way she almost couldn’t blame him though. Inuyasha had very few people in his life that cared for him and no matter how macho he tried to act; she knew he didn’t want to lose the ones he did have.
“Besides,” the daiyoukai spoke up drawing Kagome’s attention again, “I overheard his conversation with the other priestess.”
She gasped quietly and looked up to see a faint smirk on his lips. “You mean just before we left?” she asked incredulously, “Sesshoumaru, that’s eavesdropping!!”
He looked offended. “This Sesshoumaru does not eavesdrop.” he said resolutely. “I can and will not be blamed for my acute sense of hearing.”
“Riiiiight.” Kagome said, her tone clearly indicating a lack of faith that he hadn’t listened on purpose. A long stretch of silence passed between them before she asked, almost conspiratorially, “So… what did they say?”
He smirked again. “Hn,” he murmured as he glanced down on her, “If I told you that, would it not be as if you had eavesdropped yourself?”
The miko’s mouth shut with a light click as her teeth snapped together. ‘Leave it to him to point that out!’ she thought with mild irritation. Looking away, her eyes were again met with the lovely, but terrifying view of the distant forest as it whipped by so very, very far below. She quickly looked away deciding to instead focus her attention on the clouds which looked far closer than she had been expecting. Without realizing it, she moved a little closer to him and tightened her grip on his armor.
“Whatever,” she finally said, striving to sound as if she didn’t care. I didn’t really want to know anyway.”
“Dishonesty does not suit you miko.”
She stuck her tongue out at him then. “Who asked you anyway?! And now I’m back to miko? What happened to Kagome?!” __________________________________________________________________ ______   After a long, long day of traveling, the group was well into the Western province. Though the maps were not specific, they did indicate that the key they were looking for was hidden somewhere near the southern portion of the Western territory. Just as the sun was setting, Kagome had gotten to see Sesshoumaru’s castle.
Even though the construction was not quite complete, she could tell that it was going to be beautiful. It was beautiful already! The landscape had been covered in sprawling gardens, waterfalls and koi ponds. Though it was apparently built partially into a mountain, the castle itself had been magnificent as well! It was not excessively large, but could not be described as small either. The building’s exterior was a pristine white, while the tiered roofs were a brilliant red. Even the thick meandering wall which surrounded the structure and its breathtaking landscape did not take away from its overall beauty.
When she had seen it, she knew almost before she asked that it must be where he lived. It looked so… him; elegant and beautiful, yet distant, and impenetrable at the same time. The little girl in her spent a great portion of the day imagining what it would be live there as a princess. She knew it was silly, but it was fun to think about. Besides, it kept her mind off her newly discovered fear of heights.
She had asked him if he thought it would be okay if she visited him one day.
“Perhaps.” he had answered cryptically and she thought she had seen a slight smile on his lips. If she hadn’t known any better, she would have suspected that he knew something she didn’t. The feeling didn’t last long though, as she was eager to get one last glimpse of the castle before the distance became too great and it was swallowed up by the towering trees that made up the swiftly approaching horizon.
After so much time spent high in the air, it was good to be on the ground again. The miko hadn’t really noticed it at the time, but it was a little harder to breathe up there. Now that she was on the ground she found that she did not have to breathe as deeply in order to get adequate oxygen. Unsurprisingly, Sesshoumaru didn’t seem to notice one way or the other.
They had found a suitable clearing, and begun setting up a small camp where they would spend the night. Kagome was spreading out her old sleeping bag a short distance from the fire while Sesshoumaru, leaned against a nearby tree and studied her maps.
Grateful for the rest, Kirara had reverted to her smaller form and was sprawled out on the medium sized bedroll Sango had brought to sleep on. The slayer herself was tending the fire while Miroku, who Kagome would later discover had to be talked out of sharing a bedroll with his wife while in the company of their friends, was not so discreetly moving his own bedroll closer and closer to hers. Watching him through thick dark lashes, Kagome could only smile. Absently, she wondered how a man who claimed to be a monk could be such a pervert.
Predictably, Inuyasha appeared to be sulking and had chosen a tree on the other side of the clearing as his selected perch. For once though, he had not complained that they had to stop and rest for the night. They had traveled almost nonstop throughout the day so really, he couldn’t honestly say they had wasted a great deal of time.
Kagome stared up at him noting how he was facing away from all of them with his hands folded in his sleeves. She wanted to talk to him, but she suspected that he needed some alone time for the moment. When she was finished setting up her bedding, she turned her attention to Sesshoumaru. Seeing that he was still studying the maps, she made her way to his side. “Have you discovered anything?” she asked, then realizing the question was somewhat unclear she amended, “I mean have you got a better idea of where the key might be hidden?”
“Yes.” his answer surprised her. From across their small fire, Miroku and Sango looked up to see what he would say. “There is a collection of caves approximately half a day’s travel from here. I suspect that the key may be there.”
Kagome frowned with uncertainty. “A collection of caves?” she wondered aloud. How would she be able to find the key in a collection of caves?
As if knowing he thoughts Sesshoumaru asked, “Did the old fox not say that you would be able to sense the keys?”
“Yeah,” she recalled, but unease remained evident in the furrow of her brow. Kagome didn’t really like caves. Didn’t bat’s live in caves? Plus caves liked to do stupid things like um… collapse in on themselves.
“Do not worry.” she heard the inu lord speak up. “You will do fine.”
“Hmm…” she breathed noncommittally, her eyes staring glassily into the distance.
Finally, Sango, who had been eyeing her suspiciously ever since they landed, touched Kagome on the shoulder starting her out of visions of cave-ins and screeching bats tangling themselves in her hair.
Looking up, the miko’s eyes met with Sango’s brightly smiling face. “We passed a spring on the way here. I’m going to take a bath, would you care to join me?”
‘Ah yes,’ Kagome thought knowingly, her previous misgivings dissipating with her friend’s suspiciously large smile. ‘I knew this was coming. It’s time for a riveting episode of twenty questions!’
“There are demons in the area.” Sesshoumaru warned mildly.
“Not very many!” Kagome added cheerily. “And they’re not very powerful ones anyway. We’ll be fine!”
He stared at her for a long time before finally saying, “Do not dawdle.”
Not really sure what to say to that, Kagome just nodded before collecting her things. Together the women left the campsite and made their way to the spring. Smiling, Kagome was already thinking of the many questions she was going to have to answer. __________________________________________________________________ ______