InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Say Goodbye ❯ Chapter 4 Dearest ( Chapter 4 )

Chapter 4: Dearest

For once

I'd like to forget

All the bad things

About life

Wouldn't that be nice,

Just to know

Happiness and love

Is all that really matters

But life isn't like that

Your smile and laugh

They're so rare to see

Yet when I close my eyes

They're all I picture

Until the day you return

Or I pass on

I will wait

With your smile in my eyes

Even if it takes

More than one lifetime

I will stand here

Until you come back

No matter what

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Inuyasha, Kagome, and Shippou were walking through Kaede's village trying to occupy themselves for the time being. Miroku wandered off somewhere with Sango following her distrustfully, doing who-knows-what in the other of the village and said they would meet everyone else at Kaede's hut later on.

It had been two weeks since the whole thing with Kikyou's death. Amends were made, apologies were accepted, and wounds were healed. Everybody was pretty much laid back and enjoying the free time because no one heard of anything dealing with Naraku since he killed Kikyou.

Kagome was planning on returning back to her time so she could try to catch up on her schoolwork, even though she found it hopeless. As usual, Inuyasha wasn't too happy about this but was willing to cope.

As they passed through a few open markets, Shippou saw all of the new things up for trade and ran to one of them. Kagome thought it was a chance to ask Inuyasha something that had been on her mind for a while.

"Inuyasha?"

"Hm? What is it?"

"Well, I was wondering… There's this festival that's being held throughout this weeks in my time. It's suppose to have this theme of different time periods of Japan. I was thinking that since the new moon is suppose to be sometime this week that, well…" Kagome's cheeks tinted some.

"Well?" He already knew what she was asking, but he thought it was amusing and that she looked cute whenever she squirmed around nervously.

"…I was wondering if you'd like to come with me. Everybody would be dressed in traditional clothing so you wouldn't stick out. And you wouldn't have to worry about being attacked in your human form. So, what do you say?"

"So you're saying that not only do you want me to let you go do your tests thing but you wanna drag me along as well?"

"Well, if you put it like that…"

"Well…" Inuyasha was assessing the situation. He would be in his human form without anybody else finding out about it, and no demons could make it through the well to Kagome's era. And it would be a chance to be with Kagome without the other bothering him. "Why not. Sounds kinda fun."

Kagome smiled brilliantly at Inuyasha. "Thank you, Inuyasha. It's gonna be great! You won't regret it!" She gave him a big hug.

Inuyasha felt like people were staring at him and could've sworn he heard someone awing at them.

"Uh, Kagome? Could you, ya know, let go? People are gonna stare." It wasn't very custom for two people to show their love for each other openly in public in the feudal era. Well of course there was Miroku, but he was a pervert.

"What's wrong, Inuyasha?" she asked letting go. "You don't like being seen with me?"

"No, no, nothing like that. It's just embarrassing." Wrong thing to say.

"Oh, so now I embarrass you, is that it?" She said looking mad.

"I mean -that's not what I meant!"

Kagome looked up at Inuyasha with big, sad, brown eyes, her bottom lip sticking out just slightly. In other words, the sad puppy dog look. "But I thought you liked me."

Inuyasha tried to look away, but the more he struggled, the more it intensified. He finally gave in and held out his arms. "Here."

Kagome smiled and gave him another hug. He sighed. He hated it when she pulled the look.

He noticed everyone was staring at them and whispering things like, "That's the inu youkai that everyone used to fear," or "He doesn't look so tough, being subdued by that young girl like that," or "Don't those two look so cute!" He was ready to blow his top.

"WHAT'S EVERYONE LOOKING AT?!!!" he yelled, scaring everyone back to his or her own business. But, somehow, Kagome didn't hear it or chose to ignore it.

"Whatcha yellin' for?" Shippou asked as he walked back over to them,

"Mind your own damn business, kid."

Shippou blew a raspberry at him. "Make me," he mocked.

"Why you-" Inuyasha was reaching out to strangle him, but Kagome wouldn't budge.

"Be nice or else," she threatened.

His arms dropped to his sides as Kagome still held onto him. Shippou skipped off to Kaede's hut. `Why me?' he thought to himself, already regretting this.

After Kagome finally released him, they both headed for Kaede's hut. Shippou was already there playing with Kirara. Kagome sat her bag down inside and went to go get some water from the stream just outside. Inuyasha settled inside and so did Shippou and Kirara. Shippou sat next to Inuyasha, lying against the wall. Out of nowhere, Inuyasha whacked him hard on the head.

"Ow! What'd I do?" Shippou cried and ran across the hut, away from Inuyasha.

"That oughta teach ya." He grinned when he saw the lump on his head.

"KAGOME!" Shippou yelled.

As if knowing what had happened, she yelled back, "Osuwari!"

Inuyasha slammed into the wooden floor face down and murmured, "Damn it, woman!"

Kagome sighed as she continued to fill her water bottle. `He really needs to work on his temper,' Kagome thought to herself.

When the bottle was full, she got up and was about to go back to the hut. Suddenly, an ominous wind blew over, and Kagome sensed something. She turned around expecting to see something, but saw nothing. `Weird.' She turned back around and something in the grass caught her eye. She looked through the grass and still didn't see anything.

Suddenly, she felt a sharp pain shoot through her ankle and cried in anguish. She fell onto the ground holding her ankle. Inuyasha and Shippou bursted out of the hut, hearing Kagome's cry.

"Kagome, what's wrong?!" Inuyasha said rushing to her aide.

"S-Something bit my ankle, but I don't know wha-"

Kagome was cut off by a menacing laugh coming from the opposite side of the stream. All three of them looked up to see Naraku in his usual baboon disguise. A snake-like demon was slithering around his left arm. "Inuyasha, we meet again." A grin appeared on his half-covered face.

"Naraku! What the hell are you doing here?!" Inuyasha growled fiercely.

"Naraku?! What have you done to Kagome?" Shippou yelled though hiding behind Inuyasha.

"Destroying the only other one that is a threat to me."

"What do you mean other?" Kagome asked weakly as the snake's poison began to quickly take effect.

"Killing you of course. Just you and Kikyou are the only ones that can come close enough to harm me. Destroying Kikyou first was necessary so that she couldn't get the chance. You, on the other hand, are much more powerful than she, yet you do not know how much. You do not realize the full extent of your powers. But you will not live long enough to see that."

"Damn you, Naraku! You've already killed Kikyou twice and are now trying to get rid of Kagome too. No! I will not let this happen! Not when I'm alive!" Inuyasha leapt over the stream and used Iron Reaver on Naraku and the other demon.

Naraku easily dodged the attack and said, "Pathetic half-breed. Do you really think that you can escape the inevitable?! The wench will die before your eyes, just as Kikyou did. And it will be all your fault as the one you hold so dearly slips from your grasp.

"She's already suffering as I speak, and there's nothing you can do about it." Naraku chuckled evilly as he formed the miasma around himself.

"Oh no you don't!" Inuyasha unsheathed the Tetsusaiga and charged towards him. He swung the sword horizontally at Naraku and managed to hack him in half along with slicing the snake's head off. Bits of poison gas arose from the severed bodies.

"Damn it! It's just a puppet." He sheathed his sword and looked closely at the snake.

"Inuyasha, hurry! Kagome needs help now," Shippou yelled as Kagome had just passed out from the loss of strength.

Inuyasha ran to Shippou and Kagome and picked up her unconscious form. He took her back into the hut and placed her on the wooden floor. "Shippou, stay here with Kagome and Kirara. I'm gonna get Kaede and the others."

"Okay, but hurry."

Inuyasha quickly gathered Kaede, Miroku, and Sango and returned to the hut. Kaede examined Kagome while the guys waited outside. Inuyasha and Shippou were becoming very impatient while Miroku tried to calm them down with what was hopefully not false optimism.

When they were finally welcomed back in, it was on grim news. The three sat down near an unconscious Kagome, embracing for the worst.

"It seems Kagome isn't doing so well. The demon that you said bit her poisoned her as well," Sango announced.

"Aye. A snake demon, was it not?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"It is far worse than I thought. Many a time have I seen this. Kagome has been poisoned by a special and rare breed of snake demons. The poison of the Hirameki is deadly yet slow to take in fully."

"The Hirameki? I believe father spoke of them once before. He told me of the poison they inject if bitten by them. The poison enters the blood and deteriorates the inside of the victim very slowly. It cause fever, coughing of blood, and excruciating pain. The outcome is a slow and unmerciful death." Sango was near tears knowing that she might lose one of her dearest friends. Miroku pulled her close to him in an attempt to console her.

Inuyasha looked at Kagome resting. Sometimes at night when he couldn't sleep, he would look over at Kagome. Kagome always had a peaceful and either happy or content look to her. It seems as if nobody was against her or anything of the sort. Everytime he watched her sleep, he felt calm and relaxed. Every so often, she would softly mumble his name and smile a little. He always wondered afterwards what she was dreaming about and why of him but was to embarrassed to ask. So he just left it alone and was satisfied enough that Kagome liked being around him.

But now, her face didn't portray peace or content. It showed pain and suffering as her hands gripped at the blanket covering her. She moaned slightly, and her breathing became labored. She seemed kind of feverish as her face tinted red lightly. The sight of this angered Inuyasha.

"Damn it all!" he yelled as he punched the floor hard enough to make a hole. Then he thought to himself, `Baka, why didn't you sense Naraku before?! If you had been paying attention more, Kagome wouldn't be like this. And now she's suffering while I can't do anything to help her but just watch as she dies. Damn it all to hell! Why did this have to happen? Why?!'

Everybody looked at Inuyasha as he displayed both looks of anger and sadness.

"Inuyasha," said Shippou, "don't worry."

"Don't worry? Don't worry?! How can I not when Kagome is suffering and dying and there's nothing we can do about it?"

"Kagome won't let the poison kill her so easily. She's too strong for that. Besides there's gotta be a cure for it, right, Lady Kaede?" Miroku asked.

"Aye, there is."

Inuyasha grabbed the collar of Kaede's clothing. "Well, then spit it out, old hag!"

"Calm ye self down, Inuyasha. `Tis not as simple as ye will think." Inuyasha released her and sat back down. "There is a way to stop the poison. The Hitorishizuka. A flower that originates on the mountainsides past the northern mountains. To get to it, ye must cross over the northern mountain and the volcanoes that surround where the flower resides."

"Then let's go! Sitting around here won't help Kagome," Inuyasha said standing up.

"As ye have been told, the journey shan't be easy. Many a men have tried, and none have ever succeeded. Most have perished before reaching it, but those who do survive don't make it back in time. Young Kagome will last no longer than the sunset of the seventh day. Ye must leave immediately."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go already!" Shippou said, ready to go.

"I'm going too," Kagome proclaimed as she sat up some. She had heard the whole entire thing since Kaede mentioned the Hirameki.

Inuyasha, who was sitting closest to Kagome, tried to gently lay her back down. "I'm sorry, but you can't."

"And why not?" she objected.

"It would be too risky. In your condition, you wouldn't be able to defend yourself and would probably slow us down," Miroku stated.

"Besides, it would worsen your state. To give us as much time as possible, you need all of your strength to prolong the poison for as long as you can," agreed Sango.

Inuyasha too joined in agreement. "Naraku's plan is to kill you, and knowing him, he might try to stop us from getting the flower, thinking he can kill us without you. So it's best that you do stay."

"But what if…" She was about to mention the new moon but was cut off.

"We'll be okay. Just worry about yourself. You know me; nothin's gonna stop me." He gave her an encouraging smile. She returned it. "Oh, and Shippou. You stay here too."

"What?! I wanna go and help Kagome too. You need me."

"It's too dangerous. However, you can help Kagome by staying here and assisting Kaede."

"Okay." Shippou wasn't so convinced but knew he would be of more use there than with the others.

Inuyasha was about to stand up when Kagome grabbed his hand. "Be careful. I'll be waiting here so hurry back. If you don't, I'll be ready to kick your butt in the afterlife." She smiled.

He squeezed her hand back. "Don't worry. I'll be back way before that ever happens." He saw the hope and trust in her eyes, which gave him all the more reason to hurry back. Kagome trusted him with her life, and he wouldn't let that go to waste. Inuyasha wouldn't let another woman he loved die because of him.

"Let's go!"

"Right!" Miroku and Sango said in unison.

Inuyasha took one last look at Kagome and mouthed, "I love you." She nodded in return before Inuyasha headed towards the northern mountains with Sango and Miroku mounted on Kirara at his heels.

`Come back alive, Inuyasha. Come back soon, before it's too late.'

Okay, I'm really sad. None of you have voted on my polls. Only two people voted and they are my middle school best friends. I will extend it till next week and here's my e-mail address if it didn't come up on the second chapter.

prplangel326 @ yahoo . com

just take out the spaces and that should be it. If that doesn't work, then just check my bio.

Sorry, but gotta leave ya there till next week. I gotta update two other fanfics before people start to nag and see what's up with mediaminer cause the quotation marks won't show.

Ja ne!

Final Words:

Shippou: I wonder what Inuyasha would do if he were there at that festival of yours?

Kagome: yeah, I wonder. (pictures it in her head)

Security: Uh, sir, we'll have to confiscate that weapon before you enter the grounds.

Inuyasha: I dare you to even touch Tetsusaiga.

Security: I'm sorry, but it's not safe to carry a sword around in this crowded place. Please hand over the sword.

IY: Safe my ass! I ain't givin' you my sword and you ain't touchin' it unless you want my to shove it up your ass!

Security: (intimidated) I'm sorry sir, but it's policy! Please, I'd rather not start anything.

IY: Too late, bastard. You just ticked me off! (unsheathes Tetsusaiga) Bend over so I can shove it in all the way!

Kagome: (sighs) He just better get back here in time or I'll sit him straight to hell. You hear that, Inuyasha!

IY: (shivers)

Miroku: What's wrong with you Inuyasha?

IY: Something tells me there's a bad omen coming my way. And she won't be a very happy one.