InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Returning Home ❯ Hungry Eyes ( Chapter 7 )

Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha or any characters there in.

Chapter 7: Hungry Eyes

Kagome walked ahead of the group at an unusually fast pace, working hard to keep the boys behind her. Shippo and InuYasha had been argueing again and Miroku's additions to their little "game" made Kagome boil. She couldn't stand the looks she would catch him giving Sango either. Just made her want to spit.

It had been some days since they had left Mary Jane and began to travel north and east, the direction the unfriendly miko had told InuYasha Sorrell was traveling. She sorely missed the strange foreign girl. There was something about her that had comforted Kagome, maybe because she had been lost too. Not lost because she didn't know north from east, but… lost in her own skin, like she didn't know what she was, she didn't even know if she was human or not. But she had managed to push on in hopes of finding out. She told Kagome that she planed on trying to blend in again after she did whatever she was going to do with her friend in the western lands.

And if she could keep up the hope of finding herself when she never knew who she really was, surely Kagome could maintain the hope of regaining her old self, buried deep beneath the shattered green eyes and parlous balance of energy.

Now it was just her and Sango, and the boys, traveling through the mountains. Villages were few and far between here and they were thinly populated, so inquiries went quick, and left them sometimes with hours to just sit and watch the villagers work or mill around. And they took every minute of that to show her their ignorance, coarseness, baseness, lack of self control, respect, and neediness. Weak sniveling little creatures that had nothing better to do then get into pissing matches and figure out ways to entrap, use and beat down their women.

The worst thing was while she was traveling, lost in thoughts of her plight, or of when she might get to see her family again, the boys would start to talk, or fight. And they would look just like those village men. How she hated them for that. Every time one of them would open their mouth she would pick up her pace and try to get as far as possible up the path to avoid the sound of their voice. But she would still hear them. If she went to far ahead, or lagged to far behind, InuYasha would call out to her, or worse, come for her.

Why wouldn't they just leave her alone.

"Hey, Kagome!" InuYasha called out. Kagome forced her feet to still, "It's time to stop for lunch."

Stupid, arrogant bastard couldn't even feed himself.

*

Kagome sat a bit away from the others, watching as they ate their solid food happily and talked their lively talk. She looked down at her cooling broth with a slightly disgusted expression.

She couldn't stomach anymore vegetable broth.

Miroku and Shippo laughed and the sound grated on her nerves. She needed some time alone, away from men.

A walk, she decided, might help to sooth her nerves. She stood and drifted away easily. No one noticed as she walked away and melted into the forest.

The trees masked the sounds of the camp she left behind, all that she could hear was the sound of the wind through the leaves and the burbling of a stream that was flowing somewhere off to the left. The light fell in a dappled pattern on the forest floor after passing through the thick canopy, casting a strange greenish hue that drew Kagome in. It was peaceful, quiet and new here. Mostly quiet.

She could breathe here. Relax here. Here there was no need to try not to notice idiousy. No need to listen. No need ignore the need-

"Kagome?"

Crap.

Kagome turned, folded her arms and regarded Kouga coolly.

"What are you doing out here? Alone." The wolf prince took a few steps toward her, "Where's the dog turd?"

Well…he's powerful.

"I needed some time away them." Kagome blinked slowly.

Just full of life.

Kouga looked around, confused. Something wasn't right about Kagome. But it was her, it had to be. She smelled like her… mostly.

"Are you feeling alright Kagome?" Kouga took another cautious step toward her.

"I'm fine, just… hungry" Kagome looked away.

Not really as powerful as InuYasha, but…

"Give me your shards." She said suddenly, surprising herself.

"What?" Kouga practically fell over in shock.

"I want your shikon shards Kouga." Kagome stepped towards him slowly, "Don't you want to give them to me? Don't you love me? InuYasha gives me his shards."

"No! I mean…" Kouga backed away from her with every step she took, "I need the shards get vengeance for my brothers."

Kagome stopped walking and made a big deal of looking thoughtful, "InuYasha doesn't need shards… InuYasha doesn't need shards to keep up with you, in a fight anyway. I guess InuYasha-"

"NO! I'm stronger then him! Faster then him! I'm the better youkai!" Kouga's pride temporarily overpowered his unnatural sense of danger and he moved towards his woman again, "I can treat you like you deserve. That piece of dirt doesn't know what he has with you. I see you for the treasure you are-"

"SHUT UP!" InuYasha roared from his perch in a tree. He had just arrived in time to hear Kouga's outburst. He jumped down and then to Kagome's side, "Shut the fuck up! You don't know anything about Kagome, or humans. Except how they taste."

Kouga snarled at InuYasha, he didn't need that being brought up now. Not with Kagome doubting him. "That's finished. You are supposed to be protecting her, but you let her wonder off. Again!"

"How I protect Kagome is none of your business." InuYasha snarled back.

Kagome, meanwhile, had retreated back into the trees a bit to watch. She felt so strange. Any minute now they would start to fight physically, and she couldn't really care. When she thought about one of them dieing she was… displeased, though she knew that she would feel differently when the event drew near, and would probably try to stop them.

But now she didn't care about that. She was thinking about Kouga. For the first time ever he had managed to sneak up on her. Really sneak up on her. She sensed nothing when he was approaching her. She could see them now, faintly. It was like when she first started looking for the jewel.

Kagome shook her head, she was just… unbalanced. It would get better.

"SHUT UP!" InuYasha lunged for Kouga, and Kouga prepared to counter, but they stopped when he heard the noise of many youkai.

They turned in Kagome's direction.

Kagome looked down. A large spike was protruding from her stomach area.

`That's never happened before.' She thought as she faded out of consciousness and slid off the spike to the ground.

It was InuYasha that jumped forward and grabbed Kagome, he was closer. Kouga distracted the creature that had impaled her.

InuYasha jumped back, into the trees. Kouga followed him.

"I thought they disbanded." InuYasha grumbled. It was a portion of the youkai horde that Kagome and the others had fought while he was chasing shadows.

"You know them?" Kouga watched the horde through the undergrowth.

"Shards." Kagome croaked from over InuYasha's shoulder, "Leader, a shard."

"Yeah, kill the leader and the rest will run." Kouga squinted into the growing group, "Nothing else to hold those youkai together."

InuYasha scowled and put Kagome down. She was far to pale, but shouldn't she be more… dead? "Which one has the shard Kagome?"

"The ugly one." Struggled to open her eyes, "Big, ugly, smug. Behind…"

"Right, you heard her." InuYasha faced the wall of youkai that was advancing on them. "Get the leader before they get any closer."

InuYasha drew his sword and jumped out into the fight with Kouga. He was slashing with his sword, barely paying attention to what he was killing. It would have been easy to use his swords special attack to sweep them all away, but he wasn't sure where his friends were. What if they had gone searching for Kagome too?

The horde was made of weak youkai, barley capable of triggering the swords attack when standing together. But at the back, smirking as he watched Kouga struggling with his lackeys, was a large purple… thing with horns and a fringe on his head and one round eye. That had to be the thing Kagome was talking about.

The purple creature refocused past them, to where Kagome was hidden. His army was slowly pushing the two defenders back toward the girl they were guarding. The leader wondered what was so important about a dead girl that they would fight so fiercely to protect her, or her body. She must possess something of great value, maybe even more jewel shards.

InuYasha soon realized that they were simply out numbered. A glance at Kouga, who was a few feet to his left, gave him an idea.

"Kouga! You see the purple guy?" he yelled over the noise of the army, Kouga gave a short nod before dogging and attacking a youkai that usually wouldn't even dare look his kind in the eye.

"Kouga!" InuYasha called again, "Jump!"

Kouga jumped up as InuYasha swung his sword sending a smaller version of his most powerful attack through the edge of the attackers and into the ground.

Kouga realized InuYasha's plan immediately. He had a few seconds before the second line of youkai recovered and attacked again. He changed direction in mid air and aimed for the purple smirking guy. He kicked him in the face while he was watching InuYasha being pushed back faster then before, then sliced him neatly apart with his claws.

He really didn't like doing that, it would be difficult to remove the smell from his claws. But it was necessary in order to find the shards, assuming Kagome was unconscious again, and was also a power display for the lesser youkai that had been taking his orders.

He was right, as soon as he had disassembled the leader; the others slowly stopped fighting and ran away.

InuYasha was left panting as they turned tail, but quickly recovered as Kouga watched the chunks of youkai, waiting for one to start moveing. Ignoring him, InuYasha turned to Kagome's hiding place.

Kagome was leaning against a tree, standing.

"Give me the shard Kouga." She said flatly.

"Kagome," Kouga looked up, concerned, "you shouldn't be up."

"Don't worry about me Kouga," she panted, a pained look on her face, "Give me the shard."

"I need to keep this shard Kagome." Kouga said, "I need to get my revenge so I can come back for you. It's not like you guys use them anyway."

Kagome took a deep shuttering breath, "Then go, warn your pack of the horde."

Kouga's eyes went to Kagome's wound and it looked like he was going to say something.

"JUST GO!" InuYasha yelled, "I'll take care of Kagome."

"Go, Kouga." Kagome closed her eyes.

Kouga nodded and took off into the forest.

Kagome sank to the ground, unconscious.

*

"Kagome!" Shippo squealed unhappily when the group met InuYasha and Kagome halfway back to the camp.

InuYasha was holding Kagome delicately, trying to prevent more damage to her injured belly, "We were attacked." InuYasha said simply.

"Kouga?" Miroku asked. InuYasha had run off claiming that the wolf was in the area.

"He was there," InuYasha continued to trudge past his shocked friends, "he killed the leader and took the shard."

"He left Kagome like this?" Shippo hopped onto InuYasha's shoulder and looked down at the remains of her bloody shirt, "Is she ok?"

"… She was standing and talking." InuYasha answered as they reached the lunch site, "She told Kouga to leave."

Sango knelt beside Kagome once InuYasha lay her down and started to sort through Kagome's massive first aid kit.

InuYasha sat under a near by tree to reflect as the others ran around tending to Kagome. She had taken a spike through the middle, and not a small one either. It had been about the diameter of his fist. InuYasha himself would have had some difficulty fighting after a blow like that. But Kagome wasn't him. Kagome was human, and most humans have difficulty moving after getting a sword through the trunk. But Kagome had managed to get herself up and walk to the edge of the battlefield.

How could she have managed to do that? Kagome's just a fragile human.

Isn't she?

*

Kagome woke up to a terrible numbness in her middle. The numbness itself was somehow bordering on pain. It was almost as if her whole abdomen had fallen asleep and was thinking about waking up, but not.

Somehow, she hadn't thought it would feel like that.

At least it was quiet now. Now she could think and wallow in silence.

Slowly she opened her eyes and found herself looking into a brightly burning campfire. It had no right to burn that brightly. Not when her life was so dark. Not when it couldn't help her find her way back.

Kagome could no longer hide from the fact that she wasn't getting any better. She was getting worse. She had a feeling she shouldn't be alive right now, if she was still human.

Maybe she couldn't die now. Maybe she was immortal… no, Sorrell died so she couldn't be immortal. Just really hard to kill. Still, she wasn't really human. That was the important thing.

There had been this strange voice, no… push, something telling her about the power in Kouga and InuYasha while she was in the forest. That… compulsion to feed, to take that power.

She was slowly becoming a succubus and there wasn't anything anyone could do about it.

The worst part was her friends. She would let them down. She could barely sense the shards any more, unless she knew they were there to find. How long before she couldn't see them at all anymore? How long before she couldn't purify them anymore? How long before she really hated InuYasha? How long before he ceased to be anything other then food? What would she do then?

What about her family? She couldn't go back to them as a… as what she was becoming. So… that leaves her here? In the past? She didn't like the thought of that. She didn't like the thought of never seeing her family again. Hell, she didn't like the thought of a life time with out plumbing!

Several life times.

As a succubus.

Kagome sighed and forced herself to sit up. She felt dizzy and drained. Utterly out of energy. It would take a long time for her to save enough energy to heal, if she lived that long. Somewhere in the back of her mind she realized a recharge would get it done faster. She lifted her last uniform top to look at her wound. Of course it was wrapped up. She would have to wait until the already very wet bandages were changed before she got a look at it.

"It's not closing." InuYasha startled her by sitting down next to her. He stared into the fire looking very tired.

"InuYasha!" Kagome hissed, so as not to wake the others, "Don't do that! What did you say?"

"The wound isn't sealing." He repeated in a detached voice, "You won't live if it doesn't seal."

"Don't be so sure about that." Kagome tugged her shirt back down and pouted, "I shouldn't be alive now."

"I know." InuYasha growled, he knew that very well, "But if my wounds don't seal, I die too." He looked at Kagome, his concern showing plainly, "Sorrell died that way, remember? Kagome, take my energy."

Kagome glared at him for a moment before she realized that not getting better might not be such a bad thing. She lay back down on her pallet, "I'll be fine."

"Kagome," InuYasha moved to kneel beside her, "Take my energy. We need you to get better."

"No." Kagome stated and closed her eyes. She would take her chances. She would not feed. If she couldn't survive without it she would die. She was Ok with that.

"Kagome." InuYasha growled.

"No!"

"Kagome, stop this bullshit and kiss me!" InuYasha insisted, "We can't waist anymore time here!"

"NO!" Kagome shouted.

InuYasha growled again, Kagome had to take his energy, she had to get better. Kagome was supposed to live, damn it!

In an instant InuYasha lunged forward and pressed his lips to hers. He wasn't sure what he was trying to do, but he remembered what it felt like when Kagome was taking his energy.

Kagome tried to get away, But InuYasha was too strong, too fast. He held her head still. She tried not to take that pull that she wanted so much. But InuYasha pushed.

She didn't want to take it. But it tasted so good. Soon Kagome was pulling the energy out of him. She didn't even realize how passionate the kiss looked, or felt, she was just so hungry.

InuYasha pulled away, and had to push Kagome back down against her bed. Between the kiss and the energy loss, he was horribly dizzy and uncoordinated.

He stood unsteadily and stumbled over to his tree. Kagome blinked up at the illuminated branches above her. She could feel the feeling returning to her stomach, the wound was healing itself. She would live.

Kagome closed her eyes and felt the tears fall into her hair.