InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Sealed Away ❯ What it all means ( Chapter 3 )

He felt the strong emotion that she carried with her, and it made him want to wince. How could she care for him so much? He could do nothing more than just hold her, aware that her family would be coming up to see her soon, surprised that they hadn't already come to her room.

"Inuyasha…arigato." Kagome sat up slowly wiping her tears with one hand. He smiled, not used to being in this position. Crying girls, maybe, but they cried in fear, not in sadness, and they didn't lean on him for support.

"It's okay, Kagome." She couldn't lean on him. He was a dead half-breed demon. The demon itself had to be bad enough for a human wench like her. The whole ghost part threw a definite loop in the works for any type of relationship.

Wait a minute here…relationship? He sighed. Kagome was already a companion to him. A…friend. What else did you call someone who kept you company at your loneliest moments?

She smiled at him. "No…really, Inuyasha. Thank you…I'm surprised you didn't push me away. That's what I expected you to do."

Kagome's door suddenly flew open, and Inuyasha's eyes focused on the woman from earlier storm into the room, her eyes wild and wide with concern for her daughter.

"Kagome, I want to know HOW you did that earlier. What…happened?"

Kagome sighed and leaned back against her pillows. "Wasn't it obvious? Inuyasha picked me up and took me to my room. I was exhausted from freeing him from the spell his was under."

"Haven't we gone over this? Are you still talking to Inuyasha in your head? I don't want to send you away, but you're starting to scare me! You should talk to real friends…what about Yuka? She was such a nice girl, so concerned over you."

Kagome reluctantly left Inuyasha to face her mother. "I don't care if you think I'm crazy! Yuka and Midori aren't friends! I thought they were, but they were just spreading gossip about me."

Kagome's mother sighed. "What do you expect, when you say that you can talk with that demon Inuyasha? And it was cute when you were younger…but you've grown out of that now! You're a freshman in junior high! Start acting like it!"

Kagome glared, the tears still in her eyes. "I'm supposed to have spiritual power, aren't I? Maybe I can see ghosts. Maybe that's what I can do. We can't all be like grandpa with his charms."

"Kagome…your grandpa has real power. You're just…" She paused, not sure how to go on.

"I'm just crazy, right? Your own daughter is just crazy. Go on and say it, mama."

Kagome felt as if she was looking at herself from another's perspective. One that's vision blurred with anger at seeing this, seeing her give up in a small way.

:Inuyasha…is that you again? Why are you so angry?: Kagome was confused by the level of anger and frustration that she was feeling, and knew that if it wasn't her, then it had to be Inuyasha.

: You are irritating, you know that? Of course I'm going to be angry! Look at what she's doing to ya! Don't you have better sense than to let her run all over ya? :

Kagome nodded, and faced off her mother, hers and Inuyasha's anger lending fuel to a fire that was about to rage out of control.

"SHUT UP! I don't want to hear it! Inuyasha is real, damn it! Do you know how many times I've talked to him, and had him comfort me for the HELL I go through each day? To know that from an early age I dreamt I was some miko that had killed the 'great demon'? That as time grew by I knew to not be proud of that? That…that…"

Kagome's vision blurred, and she could hardly form coherent words, and didn't want to spill out the ones that were on the tip of her tongue. She felt overwhelmed by memories, thoughts, and emotions, and she tried to find a steady point in the maelstrom of chaos.

Kagome's mother stood in shock as her daughter ranted on and on, and at one point during the tirade, she reached out a tentative hand towards her daughter only to have Kagome smack it away, her eyes blazing with anger…anger that had built up over the years. Her daughter's eyes narrowed at her, and Kagome's mother backed away slowly, almost fearing her daughter. Kagome took a slow step forward, and then was suddenly wrenched away, spun around by an invisible force.

Inuyasha couldn't stand it anymore. This was making him sick. Kagome's mother shouldn't act that way. He remembered his mother. She had loved him, despite the fact that she was shunned, because she married a demon lord, and her son was nothing but a half-breed to remind her every day of what she had lost. She loved him, and never treated him this way.

He was glad that Kagome was getting some backbone, defending herself, but he wondered if it was too much. His anger at the situation was being driven through their bond at the speed of an arrow, making Kagome's emotions topple over.

It was like his emotions were adding fuel to the fire that was building inside Kagome, though, and his fists clenched to stem the anger. Kagome's eyes blazed, and he recoiled at the shock of power that emanated from her. He didn't want to know what she was going to do. He quickly grabbed Kagome and held her hands firmly in his, trying to dampen the anger. It seemed that their emotions really did feed off each other, and he tried to calm himself down for her sake.

It finally seemed to work as Kagome sagged against him, her eyes gone blank. All the energy seeped out of her, and Inuyasha recognized the power that slept inside of her for the miko that she was.

"Kagome…" Her name came out softly, and she stared up at him, almost as if she didn't recognize him for a moment, then she violently pulled away from him.

"You aren't real!" She yelled, and Inuyasha recoiled at this violent turn in emotions. First she was defending herself, and all of a sudden she was saying that she was crazy? His eyes narrowed, and he grabbed her by the shoulders, his hands digging into her flesh.

"Listen, wench. I know that you aren't crazy. You're acting like a spoiled child right now! What the hell are you thinking, actin' like your mother is right? Huh? What happened to that Kagome that believed in me enough that every freakin' night she visited me in her sleep? Are you givin' up on me?"

She winced away from him, and he shook her, trying to knock some sense into her. He realized that he was frightening her, but he had to shake her out of this depression.

Kagome's mother came up behind her, and her hand went gently on her shoulder. Inuyasha shook her head. He supposed it was because that she saw her daughter shaking without a wind nearby. If Kagome didn't snap out of this soon, then…he thoughts were cut short when Kagome's arms came up around him, and she sobbed in relief. Inuyasha could feel the grief and loneliness seeping out of her as she sobbed.

"Inuyasha, you're my only friend…" Inuyasha winced. He wanted to stay her friend…hell; they were friends for how many years while he was locked away? He didn't want to lose her now. He didn't want to be her only friend, though. It wasn't right…she was a human girl. He was dead. There had to be something wrong with this picture. He didn't want to lose Kagome, though. When she denied that he existed, he could feel the bond between them start to waver, and he couldn't lose that. That was the only thing sustaining him. That was the only thing that kept him from losing who he was in the years that followed Kikyo's arrow.

"Kagome…tomorrow…you've gotta find some way to prove to people that you're not crazy…I…" Inuyasha swallowed uneasily as he continued.

"I care for you, Kagome, but you need people who are alive as friends, too."

Kagome shook her head. "I've tried! Don't you think I've tried? But I have no proof…" Her voice trailed off, as her emotions seemed to be cracking her in two. She had to be crazy…she had to be…

Inuyasha grinned down at her, and she wondered at that smile. What was he up to? Narrowing her eyes, she leaned up against Inuyasha, peering into his eyes.

"Inuyasha…what are you thinking?" She whispered. He just shook her head and tapped her on the nose.

"Well, I'm here now. We can show 'em that I'm not some thing that you just made up. We already did that earlier."

Kagome laughed, seeing through his eyes the expression on her mother's face, and the doctor's face as she was seemingly lifted into mid air.

She buried her face in his kimono, fingers clenching around the fabric, feeling some power stir in her fingertips, residue from the blast she was about to give her mother, no doubt.

"I…I just wish people could see you, Inuyasha…" Her words were muffled as to be hardly heard, he closed his eyes, resting his chin on top of her head.

He jerked suddenly when he felt a familiar power wrap around him and through him, and he almost threw Kagome away from him, scared that she was accidentally blasting him with power. This felt warm, though…and he pulled away from Kagome gently, to pull at the set of prayer beads and stare at them, which seemed to be giving off the faintest of glows.

Kagome's mother stared in wide eyed shock as the faint outline of a dog haired boy appeared next to her daughter. It was too much for her, and she hit the ground with a thump. Perhaps Kagome wasn't crazy in the way that she thought she was.

"K...Ka…gome…" Her mother's voice sounded strangled, and Kagome grinned for a moment at her mother sounding so discomforted. For once she sounded as if something had gotten the better of her.

"Hai, Mama?" Kagome's voice was just a little too sweet as she kneeled next to her mother, Inuyasha next to her, seeming to be a little clearer to her, not quite fading into the background so much.

"Kagome, is that Inuyasha?" She let her daughter help her up, but backed away from Inuyasha, rubbing her eyes as if by doing so the vision of the long dead legend would vanish from her sight.

Kagome wanted to spill out with "you can see him?" but she wanted to have the upper hand with her mother. She realized that somehow…she gave enough power to Inuyasha to make him visible to her mother. At least this much…

A quick nod from Kagome as she hauled her mother upward in one smooth motion. A smirk tilted the corners of her lips, and Inuyasha grinned in approval at Kagome getting some of her backbone back that he remembered from her visits with him.

"Hai, Mama, this is Inuyasha, the hanyou from the Sengoku Jidai period that saved our family, not destroyed them."

Kagome's mother peered around Inuyasha, knowing that there had to be a trick somewhere. But no…there was nothing set up that could be such an elaborate trick. There was just the faintest outline of a boy that seemed to be about Kagome's age…maybe a little older…with dog-ears on the top of his head.

"Kagome, is he so faint to you? Isn't it hard to see him or talk to him?"

Kagome looked confused, then realized that the faint power only allowed a faint image. Inuyasha must really look ghostly to her mother, and she smiled.

"Inuyasha is almost perfectly normal looking to me now, Mama. For all of life, though, I never saw him outside of my dreams."

Kagome's mother nodded slowly. "Right…" She still sounded dazed, and while Kagome couldn't blame her for being so shocked, she wasn't quite ready to forgive her mother yet either.

"Mama…I'm going outside to get some fresh air. I think you need to lay down." At her mother incredulous look at Kagome treating her like a child, Kagome just smiled at patted her mother's hand.

"After all, you've been through so much. You need to relax." Kagome's smile was still a tad sadistic, but her mother was so dazed that she let her daughter lead her back to her room.

Inuyasha followed Kagome as she left her mothers room and walked quietly out the doors of the shrine into the night air. She seemed like a different person almost. More happy than before, and he was glad that she no longer carried that despair around her.

When had he become so soft? When would he, Inuyasha, care for someone like that? Since his mother he had not… except for Kikyo… Kagome, though…he frowned, eyebrows drawing in as he thought about her.

It was like she truly knew him. It wasn't too much of a surprise considering their souls lay so closely next to each other for so long. Maybe that was why he turned so soft. He looked at Kagome in the moonlight, and she was walking towards the edge of a large set of stairs…stairs that he remembered from his time.

Kagome turned to him with a sad smile, her arms outstretched. "I used to love coming out here, staring out at the city below, wondering what it was really like four hundred years ago, when you were alive." She patted the ground next to her, startled when Inuyasha actually complied and sat down next to her, sharing in her view of the landscape of the city.

"I don't know how much you saw, Kagome, but this was just a slight wooded area when I was shot…at the edge of the village before Sesshoumaru and I destroyed it." His eyes had gone sad and serious, and Kagome laid a soft hand on his shoulder, looking at him with understanding eyes.

"Inuyasha...I know that this may not be the right time to say this…but…you loved Kikyo, didn't you?" She ignored his astonished look at continued on.

"I know that she loved you…" A sheepish smile crossed her face as she looked down at her hands in her lap. "I felt so many emotions this last time…as if I knew somehow that you would be free today…I saw so much there…that she loved you, and it killed her inside to fire that arrow. She died that day, you know…"

Inuyasha's head whipped around, and he stared at her in utter disbelief. Kikyo had died that day? He felt his inside twist, and he closed his eyes in the sudden pain. He knew that Kikyo was injured when she had fired that arrow…her blood smell had lingered with him for years after he had been sealed away.

"Kagome…do you know how it happened?" His voice was quiet and pain filled, and Kagome sighed softly. "I'm not sure, Inuyasha…I'm awake now, and I think it's only when I'm awake that I remember more of Kikyo. I'm not her anymore."

The last was spoken in a sharp, almost bitter tone, and Inuyasha remembered her anger from the start, and he nodded in understanding.

"Ka…Kagome…I know that you aren't Kikyo anymore. I wouldn't want you to be, ya know…Kikyo and I never could have been together…"

Kagome laughed. "And we can, Inuyasha? My goodness, you and Kikyo had a better chance than you and I do, even for simple friendship! Every now and then I have to wonder if you are a figment of my imagination, or if you are really here. No one else can see you, and…and…"

Tears again…why were their tears again? She reached up a hand to wipe away the wetness on her face, and was surprised by a strong grip on her wrist, then a gentle hand wiping the tears from her cheeks.

"Are ya still wondering that, Kagome?" His concern for her wavered along the bond that they had, reminding her that he cared for her…not in words admitted aloud, but they were connected, without consent from either party. She didn't mind…but to coerce Inuyasha, even unknowingly, tore at her.

"I…I know that you are real now, Inuyasha…but…I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to trap you…and keep you here with me. You should have been reborn or something…or been off on your own, something! Instead you're here stuck with me…"

She tried to pull away from Inuyasha, but she was pulled into him, and his hands gently stroked her hair, as her distress of the situation that they were in was broadcasted to him clearly.

"Kagome…I don't mind…" Her disbelief was evident, too, and he just smiled slightly as he continued to stroke her hair. "I know better than ya do, wench. Now, what are we gonna do tomorrow? Ya think people will still be able to see me?"

Kagome started, and he allowed her to pull away slightly. "That's right! My mother saw you, somehow! I don't know how…"

Inuyasha frowned and recalled the warmth that swept through him at the time, and he kept silent. It was probably the Shikon no Tama, but if he mentioned it to Kagome, he didn't know what she would do.

"It was probably you, Kagome. You've got that miko power…" He paused at the speculative look on her face, and she nodded slowly, then realization dawned on her face.

"It was the jewel, wasn't it, Inuyasha? Somehow it made you visible…" His almost despondent look confirmed her guess, and she leaned her head against his chest, wondering how this had all come about. The fact that he was allowing this close contact… she wondered if they both needed it. Both had spent so long with their souls directly interacting with each other, touching each other…hers had held his close to hers for all of her life; it was no wonder that she almost needed his arms around her.

"Maybe we can use the jewel…" Her tentative words were cut off when Inuyasha grabbed her shoulders, and stared down in her eyes, his anger evident in the golden eyes that glared into her own.

"Don't even think about it, Kagome! That jewel causes too many problems. It's good to be left with you; it's safe there! I don't…" He paused, swallowing uneasily, not wanting to speak aloud his fears, wondering that if he was visible, if people could overhear him, too…and he didn't want any vulnerabilities exposed in such a way.

: I don't want to be trapped again, Kagome. Who knows what's going to happen if the jewel was used again, fully? It might suck you into it, too…seeing that your aura is full of the jewel itself. I don't want to take that risk. I don't want to…:

Kagome's eyes were filled with understanding, and looking a little uneasy, she put a hand on his face, not voicing her thoughts to him, in her mind or out loud.

I just want you to be happy, Inuyasha. I would give you up for your freedom and for you to be happy.