InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ She Walks In Beauty ❯ She Walks in Beauty Chapter 3 ( Chapter 3 )

Well, I must say that this was a quick update! He he! Hope you all like that! This one is slightly longer than the ones in the past! LOL! Which if your like me will really like! Cause when I read other stories I like long chapters!

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She Walks In Beauty

By: HayleyM425

Chapter 3

"I can't help you. I'm sorry."

The silence that permeated the room was defining. Both Miroku and Sango did nothing but standing still and staring at her with unreadable expressions. Sweat was beginning to form on my brow and I felt it as it slowly began to slide down the side of my face to my chin. I'm sure they could sense my sorrow and pain in the answer I had to give, but there was nothing I could do. I had moved on with my life when the jewel was completed and hidden from the rest of the world in a place no one would ever find it.

"Kagome," Miroku began to say slowly, "we understand and we don't hate you for it, we're sorry that we took away your time. I'm sure you have finally settled back into your own life. Well, I guess we'll have Kirara bring you back to the well so you can go home. Don't be afraid to drop by sometime either."

With that said they both turned and exited the room, Kirara staying inside waiting for me. As they stepped through and I could no longer see them, silent tears began to fall from my eyes. I wiped at them furiously, mad at myself for letting them fall.

'No, I swore that I would never cry again,' I said, forcing myself to stop the tears from falling.

Standing up I nodded to Kirara and we both headed outside. Climbing onto her now transformed back we took to the air once more and in no time we had reached the well. Giving Kirara a hug around the neck and pat on the head I leaped out of that world once again. I had left it once before and now I was leaving it again with a wounded heart.

As the professor continued to lecture about the different levels of law and what we were expected to know by the time we took the bar test, I spaced out and tuned him out. It had been a week since I returned from the Feudal Era and the guilt of not helping them was beginning to take its toll. I couldn't sleep at night, I was tired, famished, and just about ready to blast the next person who talked to me with miko energy, and I was not in a good mood. Laying my head down in my arms I closed my eyes to let them rest for a moment, not caring if I missed a few notes, I would borrow them from someone else later.

Just as I felt myself slipping into a welcomed sleep my eyes snapped open as I heard my name screamed and a flash of light. Jumping up I glanced around myself, panting softly. Nothing had happened no-one had screamed, the professor continued lecturing, people scribbling notes quickly.

Taking a deep breath I tried to calm myself down but I couldn't, my heart continued to accelerate and the scream wouldn't leave me alone. It sounded so much like Sango. I couldn't stand it anymore, I quickly stuffed my papers and pencil into my small carrier bag and stood up, quickly exiting the room as curious eyes followed me down and out the door.

As I exited the building I headed straight to the large parking lot where my black Alero sat in-between two other cars. Stuffing my bag into the back seat I put the key in the ignition and shot out of the lot, heading toward my home, and where the well waited for my return.

Quickly heading up the stairs I headed toward the wooden well house that sat alone to the right, apart from the rest of the shrine. Shoving the door open I glanced around inside and headed down the steps. The well started to glow faintly as I approached, as if sensing my presence and my motive. Stepping around it for the time being I grabbed the bow and arrow set I had left next to the well in case of an emergency and the yellow bag I carried around in the past. Exiting the well house I went into the house and quickly loaded it with essentials like food and clothing, and lots of water.

Pausing as I began to exit the house, I set my bag down and headed upstairs and went into my old bedroom closet. Getting down on my knees I pulled up a loose floorboard and pulled out a small handgun I had bought awhile ago for protection. Checking to make sure the safety was on, I placed it in the back waistband of my jeans and stood up, covering the hole once more. Heading back down the stairs I grabbed my bag, slung the bow and arrows over my back and slipped on a white baseball cap before heading out and into the well house.

Stepping up next to the edge of the well I carefully stepped up on its rim and after taking a deep breath, and jumped in. The moment I felt the warm energy surround me I felt all the guilt that had built up lift off my shoulders and my muscles relax. Maybe this had been a smart decision after all.

Landing with a soft thud on the other side I paused to glance around myself. The last time I had been drug through by Kirara and flown straight out, but now I was alone and had to climb out myself. Looking around I grinned when I noticed the old ladder was still in place. It had been erected by Inuyasha and Miroku to help me get out easier. Stepping up to it I reached up and stepped up cautiously to test it's sturdiness. Reassured that it would hold my weight and not collapse under me I began to climb up until I reached the time and swung my bag over then myself.

Standing up after lifting my bag back over my shoulders I took a deep breath of air and smiled to myself. I noticed that it was eerily quiet and felt my hair stand on end. Feeling antsy I began to head toward the village that had been my second home. Reaching the top of the hill and exiting the quiet forest I glanced down and smiled at the picture it made. It looked exactly the same as when I had left, the sun setting high in the sky as the men worked in the fields and the women and children walked around doing random chores.

Heading down the hill I ignored the curious stares and whispers I heard around me and headed toward the home of the predecessor of Kaede, a middle aged Miko named Edina. Stepping up to the large hut with the herb garden and stones surrounding it I called out her name and waited for her to appear.

A moment later she pushed aside the cloth doorway and looked at me for a moment before she broke out into a smile and stepped forward to give me a hug and welcome me in.

"Why, if it isn't Lady Kagome, it's been awhile, to what do I owe this pleasure," Edina asked setting down across from me and motioning for me to sit as well.

Accepting her proposal I sat down and set my bag next to me on the ground.

"Edina, it's been awhile, before I tell you why I'm here why don't you tell me how you've been doing," I asked, grinning brightly over at her.

She had always caused me to loose my breath at her simple beauty. She had long chestnut hair pulled back at the base of her neck with bright green eyes and rosy cheeks. She was a great friend and welcomed anyone with open arms. She wore the simple garbs of a village priestess, in red and white.

"I've been doing well, those treatments you taught me before you left have saved a many a life and are much appreciated. Yet, times have changed from our peaceful break and I'm afraid war has broken out over the land," she said softly, gazing at me with wide, open eyes.

"Yes. I know that is the reason why I have returned. About a week ago I met up with Miroku and Sango and they filled me in and asked for my assistance but at the time I could not give it, but I've been thinking lately and well, here I am," I said all this in a rush, trying to quicken our conversation without being rude.

Edina simply nodded and glanced over at the fire that burned across the room in its own little corner.

"Well, I wish not to prolong you on your quest and I know what you need and I will help you get that, right now."

Standing she headed out the door and began to travel across the village toward the south end where the animals were kept. Stepping inside a small barn she came out with a beautiful black horse and handed the reigns over to me with a smile.

"Kagome, you just have to promise me that you will be careful," she said, staring at me in concern.

Strapping my bag onto the horses back, I slung myself over and positioned myself bareback on the horse. Grabbing the rope acting as reigns I motioned for the horse to wait as I looked down at Edina.

"Don't worry about me Edina, I'm not the same girl I was when I left, I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself," I said strongly, releasing some of the miko power I was concealing, my eyes flashing silver for a moment before returning to their unique hazelnut brown.

Edina's eyes widened as I showed her a portion of my power and she could only stare after me in wonder as I nicked at the horse and we took off.

"Yes, Kagome, you certainly have changed, your no longer a young girl, but strong young woman, but even the task that lays ahead of you has caused many a man to fall," Edina said to herself, before turning and heading back toward her hut.

It had been 2 days since I had left the village, and there was still no sign of any activity that should cause me concern. Glancing around myself I tried to figure out where I was. From what I could tell by the position of the sun and the shadows lining the forest it was around noon and I was heading in the right direction, west.

Stopping next to a small river I led the horse I had named Shadow, over to the water and let him drink to his hearts content. Reaching into my quickly depleting bag I pulled out a NutriGrain bar and began munching on it as I refilled the 4 empty water bottles in my bag. Letting Shadow graze in the grass and rest from his run I walked back toward the shade and sat down against a tree to rest.

'I have to reach the Western village sometime soon,' I thought, closing my eyes for a moment.

Hearing a soft thud I opened my eyes to see a little girl sitting across from me. My eyes snapped open and I jumped up, grabbing the dagger from my boot that I had found in a sac on Shadow. Holding it in front of me I stepped back, putting distance between me and the now giggling girl.

She looked no older than 10, but she had an aura about her of being much older. She had silver hair that was put up in high pigtails on her head and fell down past her shoulder with different colored ribbons twisting and swaying innocently with it. She wore a gypsy style dress, sewn together scarves it looked like, different colors of pale blue, pink and white. Her golden eyes stood out from the rest of her face. Her eyes were sharpened with what appeared to be thick black eyeliner. Her eyes were a bit off though. They were slit and looked like those of a cat. Her face appeared innocent and childlike, her smile almost blinding. I couldn't tell if she was a demon or not but she appeared human.

"Hello there lady! What are you doing out here by yourself," she asked cheerily, grinning up at me in mirth.

"Traveling," I said simply.

I didn't feel any bad vibes coming off of her so I began to relax.

For a moment, I'm not sure how long we just stared at one another, her grinning widely and me staring impassively at her. I looked away from her momentarily at the sound of galloping hooves and saw Shadow running toward me quickly. Glancing back to the girl I saw her lazily laying in a soft bow shaped branch, completely content and just staring at me.

"You best be careful lady! There's a camp just over that hill there," she said, pointing in the direction I had been heading.

"Who are you," I asked, curious and getting a strange feeling from her.

"Don't worry about that for now, just think of me as a friend, a companion of sorts," grinning she stood up and balance on one foot on the branch, "you can call me Shira, I do believe that Sango is at the camp over there though, until next time."

"Wait! How do you know I'm looking for her?"

Just as suddenly as she appeared she disappeared. Blinking rapidly, I thought I was loosing my mind as she slowly fizzed out until she was simply not there. Turning back toward Shadow and petted his nose and reached up to grasp his hair and pull myself up. Turning him around I began to head in the direction that the young girl Shira had said Sango and a camp sat.

Pushing the girl out of my mind for a moment I headed over the hill and grinned as I saw the large camp of troops, humans and demons were everywhere walking around or training. Setting the horse into a gallop I headed down the hill toward an ensemble of people, waiting at the ready to attack at the first sign of violence. Tightening my thighs around the horse I lifted my arms into the air to show I meant no harm as I approached.

Apparently my appearance had attracted the attention of a bunch of people and I heard someone shout to find the camp leader. Coming to a stop in front of a buff looking tiger demon I hopped off Shadow and waited patiently for the leader to present himself. Of coarse I shouldn't have been too surprised when Sango pushed her way through with a fox demon in tow.

'Crazy girl was right,' I thought before smiling weakly at Sango.

For the most part the moment Sango saw me she froze and then grinned.

"I knew you weren't going to just turn your back on us! I told that hentai you'd be back! You just can't leave people in need, alone can you Kagome," she said, stepping up to me and engulfing me in a tight hug.

Hugging her back stiffly I merely nodded and smiled at her. I didn't fail to notice some of the demons stare at me weirdly when they heard my name and some even whispered something to a friend. One even backed up. That made me grin inwardly.

"Come now, I have someone I want you to meet!"

Stepping back away from Sango, I nodded and waited for her to present the person. Sango turned around and drug a stunned looking fox demon forward.

"Kagome, I'd like to introduce you to someone you know very well," she said, grinning mischievously, "Kagome, this is Shippo, Shippo I'm sure you remember Kagome."

I felt as though I had just been struck by lightning as I stared wide eyed and open mouthed at the mature fox demon in front of me. He was taller than me for crying out loud! He used to me able to sit on my shoulder. He stood in armor that resembled that of Sesshoumaru, but less flashy. His face had matured and his hair was cut short.

He was faring just as good as me. His eyes were wide and his mouth hung open slightly.

Then, before I knew what was happening I was engulfed in a big hug and swung around a couple times.

'God, I feel dizzy,' I said as he finally set me down on the ground.

"Kagome! I can't believe it's you! I haven't seen you in forever," he practically shouted grabbing me and hugging me again.

"Nice to see you to Shippo, of coarse, you've changed a lot more than I have since I last saw you! I would never have recognized you if Sango hadn't said something," I said, glaring over at a grinning Sango.

"Oh my god! I can't wait to tell Miroku that you came back! I had a bet going with him, no touching for a month," Sango began saying, rubbing her hands together and grinning wickedly.

"I'm going to rub this in dog boys' face! He's going to be yelling and screaming when he finds out I saw you first before him, he's going to be running over here like a lost puppy when I tell him," Shippo said, stepping back and grinning down at me.

"Come on now, let's head back to the tent, we'll fill Kagome in and let her know what's going on," said Sango, stepping up and grabbing my hand and leading me through the large group of onlookers.

I almost laughed as all the demons stepped back away from me as I passed, apparently they had heard about me and purifying Naraku's ass back to the hell he came from. I couldn't help the small chuckle escape my throat as we finally entered the dusty looking tent.

Once Sango told me everything that had been happening, which wasn't a lot, only stationing, I noticed Shippo was gone.

"Hey Sango, where'd Shippo go?"

Sango glanced up from the letter she was reading that had been dropped by and looked around.

"He probably went to gloat about you to his friends or pester Inuyasha or Miroku, he's a fox demon after all, and he's probably causing a problem somewhere."

Merely nodding at her answer I asked if I could take a small nap since I had been traveling for a couple of days. She pointed me over to a sectioned off room with a little bed set up in the corner.

Thanking her I laid down and closed my eyes, intending on sleeping for at least 4 hours.

I woke up to the sounds of a battle. Just waking up, I was completely unprepared for the sudden crash I heard as the tent began to collapse around me. Jumping to my feet I shot out of bed and literally dove out through the opening of the tent just as the cloth fell to the ground limp.

Propped up on my hands and knees I glanced around myself quickly and had less than a second to dodge a large cat demon from crashing into me. I rolled to my left and jumped up onto my feet. I was in the middle of an all out brawl. I couldn't tell who was who. My hair stood on end and I ducked just as a sword swooped past my head, intent on taking my head off.

I whipped around and stared at a floating lizard demon who grinned before bringing the sparkling sword up for another swipe. With no other weapon on me I grabbed my guns hilt, pulled it around while clicking the safety off and pointing it directly between the demons eyes. Pushing some of my miko power into the bullet I pulled the trigger and the loud 'bang' shot off like a rocket, lighting up the area with a white light as it took off he lizard demons head. All of this happened within less than a second.

Placing the smoking gun on safety and back in my jeans I grabbed the sword that had fallen and released some of my miko energy into it causing it to glow a white-purplish color. Swinging it up I blocked a well aimed swipe from a panthers claw, I pushed forward sending the demon flying backwards away from me.

Hearing a childish giggling I turned around and stared in shock and horror as the little girl from earlier, Shira ran through the battle field. Suddenly she stopped, winked at me, and like earlier vanished before my very eyes. The moment she vanished the opposing demons began to retreat and within minutes they were all gone; leaving behind a devastated camp in ruins.

As I felt a burning sensation in my right hand I quickly dropped the sword that was sending off large demonic waves. Hearing my name being called I turned to see Shippo and Sango racing toward me through the crowd.

"Thank the gods you alright, it happened so suddenly I didn't have time to come and wake you," Sango said stopping in front of me and letting her eyes search over me for injuries.

She was a little worse for wear, a small cut rested on her upper cheek and a few tears in her outfit were beginning to turn a dark reddish color.

"Don't worry about me, I'm not the same person I was when I left," I said grinning.

Nodding her head she turned and looked around her before sighing.

"Well, we best clean this up and return to the Western Castle, give them our report and introduce you to Inuyasha and the lords. They still don't know you're here yet," she said, a mischievous glint appearing in her eye.

Nodding my head to let her know I understood she turned around and shouted the orders to return to the Castle. Immediately the demons and humans in the area began to collect their things and within 5 minutes were all heading off to the Western Castle.

I turned to ask Sango where they had stationed Shadow when I saw him coming up to me from behind Sango, followed by Kirara. By the time they reached us, Sango and I were the only ones standing in the abandoned field. Hopping onto Shadow while Sango jumped on Kirara, I checked to make sure my bag and arrows were still in place before turning to nod to Sango before we both took off.

Kirara led in the front at a normal pace so as for Shadow and me to keep up with her. After traveling for less than an hour we mounted a hill and a large kingdom came into view. Following at a trot behind Sango I almost gasped as the large amount of demonic energy came over me. My head felt like it was going to explode and I began to feel faint. Closing off my senses to avoid passing out I began taking deep breaths till I became used to the power and by that time we had reached the heavily guarded gate.

Recognizing Sango and Kirara they let us pass through uninterrupted with a few curious glances in my direction. As we entered the town I mesmerized by the demons and humans intermingling peacefully with one another. The small and large homes that littered themselves along the main street leading the palace entrance were all exquisite and beautiful. Children frolicked with no worry on an opposing threat and appeared unbothered by demon presences.

Women walked around in gorgeous dressed of all colors while men walked around in armor and carried weapons on their hips, or back. Moving quickly through the crowd, Sango suddenly jumped off Kirara who detransformed and jumped on her shoulder. Following her example I jumped off Shadow and gripped his reigns moving to walk beside Sango.

Apparently my casual appearance of jeans and a black hooded sweatshirt was odd. Who would have guessed? Entering the castles walls we walked up the grand staircase toward the entrance where we were met by a grinning Miroku.

"Why, if it isn't Lady Kagome," he said, smirking brilliantly with a sly grin.

"Why, if it isn't the lecherous monk, please to make your acquaintance once again," I said sarcastically.

"I dare say that thanks to you I lost my bet with my dear Sango and am no longer allowed to 'grope' her as she likes to put it," he said, a slight frown marring his features.

I had to grin at that on. Sango just smiled happily and threw her arm around my shoulder. Miroku's mood switched as we headed inside the castle and I couldn't help but gawk and the grandness of the castle. Pure white marble lined the floors with white walls, giving it an appearance of wealth. Gold and silver trinkets lined the walls as well as well placed tables for pots and other unnecessary articles.

We stopped in front of a large wooden door. I could hear some chattering coming from behind it and I suddenly began to feel increasingly nervous. I could sense the strength that rested behind the door as well as the one I was dreading on meeting once again.

'Inuyasha,' I thought, my mind wandering away from me for a moment.

"Now, there's a meeting going on between the lords at the moment, their discussing the attack earlier this morning and are waiting for your report. Lady Kagome, I'm sure that you've been told that Lord Inuyasha and Lord Sesshoumaru have not been told about your presence," he asked me, raising an eyebrow in question.

Nodding my head I couldn't help but glare at him as he began to grin and nod his head with me.

"This is going to be good," he said allowed as he signaled for the two guards to open the large doors.

I don't think anything could have prepared me for the reaction I received

as I stepped through the threshold and into the lions den.

Mwa-ha-ha-ha! How was that? Let me know! Review please! ï