InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Shikigami ❯ Chapter three ( Chapter 3 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Alrighty, chapter three of maybe ten. By the way, I like the manga, so beware spoilers of happenings, shenanigans, and goings-on that did not appear in the anime. Caveat emptor. And sometimes I like to alter things to suit me. So if you don't like something, remember, it may just be me making stuff up. Go ahead and believe that if it makes you feel better.


Shippo was still screaming. The rope appendage, snaking around from the swing that had torn Kagome in half, snapped through the air where the kitsune's head had been a moment ago. Inuyasha, with the traumatized kit tucked into his arms, leapt two-thirds up a tree, dropped the now-silent Shippo, and launched himself back towards Kagome's body.
Except the body wasn't there.
Crouching where he'd last seen her, Inuyasha stretched his talons, cracking joints. He bared his fangs and snarled into the underbrush.
Something snarled back. Inuyasha grinned.
The incarnation in the undergrowth thrashed forward, rising up above the trees. The stench washed over the hanyou, and he lay his ears flat against his scalp. It was nothing he had ever seen before. It pulsed, cord-like veins throbbing. There were eyes, and mouths covered in pustules. No head. He tensed, digging in his feet, raising his sword, readying himself for attack.
From a distance, Inuyasha heard, "Is that Kagome's bag?"
At that moment, two things happened simultaneously. One, Kagome barreled into him, wrapping her arms around his chest and burying her head under his neck. Two, Kagome ran in front of the bubbling mess, planted her feet, and launched an incandescent arrow straight into the undulating center. The creature gave a high scream like a burnt child. Then it blew into ash from the inside out.
Kagome, still standing with her bow, turned to him with a blinding grin. She gave him an enthusiastic thumbs-up.
Kagome, still gripping him tightly, tilted back her head to see his eyes. She gave him a squeeze and buried her head again.
Inuyasha, mind still fuzzy, simply took advantage of a good thing. Still holding Tetsusaiga, he wrapped his arms around Kagome and closed his eyes. Her hair smelled like oranges.

Kagome frantically shoved her way through the underbrush, cursing as her green skirt caught on deadwood, yet again. She had been on the verge of catching up to the group-- she had heard Inuyasha shouting something about rats-- when the reek of old blood had hit her, a split second before a deafening roar. Kagome's ears still rung from when she had slapped her palms over them, eyes scrunched shut, but she had still felt the rumbling in her breastbone. Then she had heard Shippo screaming. He had stopped, abruptly.
My bow. Where is my bow?
She burst from the foliage, her eyes instinctively swiveling towards her friends. Kirara was already in the air. Miroku and Sango were poised for action, two dark figures against the autumn-bright meadow. All were focused on the other end of the clearing. A snarl ripped it's way through the warm air, and Kagome snapped her head around to find her hanyou, Tetsusaiga blazing, ready to launch himself at a nightmare. She stepped forward, hand raised, not quite knowing what to do but knowing she had to do something--
Then she saw herself run into the clearing and throw herself at Inuyasha. And she saw herself purify the demon.
At that point, her mind went from fifth gear to full reverse. Her mental transmission seized, and her thoughts slammed straight into oncoming traffic.
Distantly, she watched Kagome-with-a-bow give a smile and a jaunty thumbs-up to Kagome-around-Inuyasha. Then Kagome-with-a-bow jogged over to the base of a tall, sparse pine, looked up, and called Shippo's name. Kagome-around-Inuyasha was still snuggled under the hanyou's chin, and he was holding her so tightly his sleeves overlapped.
Kagome jumped when a hand gripped her shoulder. She turned to stare into gray-blue eyes. Familiar, amused eyes that were dancing at her. A little odd, but very familiar. And very amused.
"About time you got here," Kagome said to Kagome.
Kagome shrieked.
"Shush." The amused Kagome glanced over at the group in the meadow. "They'll hear you. C'mon." Kagome felt a hand wrap gently around her wrist, propelling her forward, pulling her toward Kagome-with-a-bow. The bewildered girl looked over at Kagome-around-Inuyasha. He was holding her so tightly--
Her thoughts pulled slowly off the shoulder and back into traffic. The shikigami.
She was torn between incredible elation and absolute horror. I did it! Boy, have I done it now. How had they gotten here? Why did they all look like her-- in her old uniform, no less? What had they said? What had they done? And why was Inuyasha still holding her? And why couldn't it be her?
As they approached the tree, she noticed Kagome-with-a-bow still calling to a very doubtful Shippo. Miroku and Sango, with Kirara between them, were standing in the center of the field, looking from Inuyasha, to her group near the pine, to Inuyasha again. Then they looked at each other.
The amused Kagome released her wrist and tapped Kagome-with-a-bow on the shoulder. "We need to talk."
"Huh? Oh, sure. Hey, you made it!" Kagome found herself wrapped in a hug. "I'm so glad to see you! Hope you didn't have too rough a morning." The amused Kagome, who was rapidly shifting to an impatient one, grabbed both girls by the wrists and, with two Kagomes in tow, started towards Inuyasha. Shippo, left behind in the tree, managed a weakly indignant, "Hey!"
As they approached Kagome-around-Inuyasha and Inuyasha himself, Kagome found herself digging her heels into the soft ground of the clearing. She really didn't want to intrude. Well, technically she wasn't intruding, but still...
Once-amused-Kagome felt her resistance and stopped. She turned on Kagome with exasperation. "Look. I know you have a hard time facing up to your emotions, but we really need to talk, and you're not helping."
Kagome, stung, reacted automatically to the attack. "What?! I have no idea what you're talking about."
Kagome-with-a-bow smiled at her. "You're really funny. We know how you feel, but you shouldn't let your feelings get in the way."
What in the world did that mean? Kagome looked at the two with confusion.
Once-amused-Kagome rolled her eyes and sighed. "Ignore her. She often speaks without thinking first. She's impulsive."
The young woman grinned at her. "But you can call me Imp."
The other shikigami sighed again and turned towards the embracing couple. Waiting a moment to be noticed, she tapped her foot. When that received no response, she cleared her throat. After a full minute, she bypassed a polite 'excuse me' to go straight to a loud, "Hey! Get a room!"
Inuyasha jumped as if he'd just sat on Sesshomaru's armor. Releasing the third shikigami with almost offensive speed, he whirled around and defended, "We weren't doin' nothin'--"
"Well, you should have been," the once-amused Kagome snapped. Inuyasha opened and closed his mouth at her. Then he did the same to Imp, and again to Kagome, throwing in a weakly pointing talon for good measure. Tetsusaiga abrubtly deteriorated into the familiar rusty blade.
The third shikigami, looking a little bereft once released from Inuyasha’s embrace, scowled at them. "You had to go and ruin a perfectly romantic moment, didn't you?"
"Yes." Once-amused Kagome eyed the hanyou speculatively. "He's so hot, even when he's acting stupid. And you just stood there and never even felt up his--"
"Hey, I thought you said we needed to talk," Imp broke in. Kagome thanked her silently.
However, the earthy shikigami was not so easily distracted. "-- ears." She looked over at Imp. "What did you think I was-- oh, I know what you were thinking. Shame on you."
The third shikigami huffed, "Right. We all know what you were thinking, and it certainly wasn't anything above the belt, so to speak."
The embarrassing discussion was cut short by a squeak. The four Kagomes looked around and noticed the hanyou, still staring, arm outstretched as if for protection. Imp shook her head. "Don't mind us, Inuyasha." He didn't move. Kagome wondered if he was permanently scarred. She certainly was.
The third shikigami, the one he had held so tightly, smiled at Inuyasha with affection and a dash of pity. "You'd better go before she decides to do a full-body exam."
Once-amused Kagome sucked in her breath. "I never thought of that." She whirled on Inuyasha. "You could be injured. Maybe you'd better take off your haori."
"Don't you dare take advantage--"
Imp broke in again, reaching toward the frozen male to pat him on the arm. "I think they need your help with Shippo," she suggested pointedly. Either the words or the action released him, and Inuyasha scrambled madly across the meadow, half-falling in his haste. He darted behind Miroku and Sango, who were trying to talk the kitsune out of the tree. Kagome, shock slowly dissipating, managed to dredge up faint indignation. He certainly was in a hurry to leave the woman he had been so recently embracing. Which was she. Kind of.
The third shikigami turned to Kagome, and in an abrupt shift of mood, stated brightly, "Hi. Glad you're finally here." Glancing at the group under the pine, she continued in a lower voice, "You can call me Love."
The once-amused shikigami snorted.
Imp laughed, lightly. "And she, as if you haven't guessed, is Lust."
Kagome, her mind up to speed, announced firmly, "We need to talk."

Miroku and Sango peered into the treetop.
"Shippo, it's all right! The demon is gone," Sango called reassuringly.
"No way!" came the immediate response.
Miroku sighed. "Well, at least he's coherent now." A tail was visible, and a flash of blue. "Do you think Kirara--"
"No," Sango said firmly. "He's scared enough already. And you know he'd just go right back up again."
"True."
They stared up in companionable silence.
That is, until Inuyasha grabbed the two of them, flung their startled bodies between himself and the clearing, and peered out between their shoulders.
"Inuyasha, wha--"
He turned to the monk. "Do you know what she said?! What she wanted to do to me?!"
To his credit, Miroku's mouth never twitched. "Yes, we heard it. And it wasn't exactly what she wanted to do to you as much as with you--"
"Houshi-sama!" Sango looked shocked. However, her mouth did twitch. Inuyasha scowled, and straightened up. Crossing his arms across his chest, he muttered, "I thought you were my friends--"
Sango cut his self-pity off at the knees. "Did they say what they are, or where Kagome is?"
"No. And they all smell like Kagome," he growled.
Miroku looked back up the tree, where a bright shock of hair was visible above a bobbing frond. "Shippo, come down and tell us what you saw during the fight. You were the closest."
"We need you," Sango added, appealing to the kitsune's ego.
Even his copious pride couldn't get him down the tree. Two eyes appeared below the hair, and glared accusingly down at the trio. "Not until Inuyasha calms down!"
Inuyasha muttered something uncouth at the kitsune. The kitsune mumbled something rude at the hanyou. Miroku and Sango eyed Tetsusaiga pointedly, and Inuyasha roughly thrust in back in the sheath. The hanyou kept one eye on the huddle of girls the entire time. They were furiously discussing something, hands gesturing wildly. He couldn't make out specific words-- there were too many words, all at once. He flicked his ears against his rough hair, trying to seal out the chatter, and shuddered. They were dangerous.
As Inuyasha thrust his hands into his sleeves, Shippo crept down the trunk. When the kit reached the ground, he turned, folded his arms in an unconscious imitation of Inuyasha, and gave the hanyou a dirty look. "You have no idea how creepy that was."
"What, runt?""How'd you like to be grabbed by a bloodthirsty demon?"
"I nearly was!" Inuyasha snapped.
“Well, she’s not as scary as you!”
As the two bickered, Sango and Miroku looked at each other, then over at the flock of Kagomes. Miroku, curiosity overcoming his common sense, moved towards the group, only to receive a very pointed look from one of the girls. Alerted by her gaze, whatever they had been discussing was abruptly cut off. The whole group stared silently at the monk. They looked like a pack of wolves defending their kill. One went so far as to peruse the monk from head to toe, and back again. Then she licked her lips.
Sango approached Miroku and placed a firm hand on the monk's arm.
"I think they need some time alone." Her voice was soft, but her eyes were flint. However, for once the steely gaze was directed at the group, and not him.
He sighed, and looked from Sango to the girls. His eyes wandered.
Their eyes glared.
Miroku's ear was suddenly seized, and he found himself dragged backward. Sango, via the handy ear, hauled the monk to the spot the demon had originally attacked. Kirara, curiously unconcerned, trailed behind them. The slayer released the monk, who whined softly, and began scouring the ground. The Kagomes went back to their heated, if inaudible, discussion.
"Wait up!" Shippo cried. Belatedly, he had noticed the lack of a protective audience. He bounded over to where Miroku was brushing the point of his staff through the long grass. "It happened over here," the kitsune pointed. Inuyasha, following at a more dignified pace, pushed the kit aside, sniffing avidly.
Inuyasha crouched. Delicately, he reached out and pinched what was left of a paper doll between two talons. Flinging his arm towards the four girls, he shouted, “Did you do this?!” Four heads popped up, and he received four identical shrugs.
“Man, I hate these things. I really do.” He glanced up at Miroku, who had jingled up beside him. “What do you think it means?”
Miroku stretched his staff out and prodded the paper thoughtfully. "Shikigami. It means someone has had access to our Kagome."
Sango eyed the group of girls in ill-fitting uniforms, who were whispering in a furious huddle. "But why do this to them? Why create.." Sango paused, torn between truthfulness and loyalty to her friend. Since they weren't really her friend, truth won out, "...those idiots?"
"They're not all idiots," Inuyasha growled defensively.
Shippo stared at the pieces of paper solemnly. “It’s got a hole through its head.”
“So it does. Well, that would explain things.” The monk brushed dust dismissively off his robes.
Inuyasha paused in his olfactory examination of the paper doll halves. “What d'you mean?”
“Well, her affection for you, for one thing--”
“What has a hole in the head have to do with her affection!?” Inuyasha snapped to his feet, clenching his fist at the monk. Calmly, Miroku pried the proffered talons open and removed the abused upper half of the shikigami.
“A shikigami’s characteristics are influenced by the paper that creates them,” the monk explained. He held the broken doll at eye level and looked through the hole at Inuyasha. “The shikigami that was destroyed showed very little intelligence.”
“Yeah, Inuyasha,” Shippo added, peering from behind the monk’s robe. “She didn’t yell at you once.”
Inuyasha growled at the kit. “She really liked you, runt. Whad’ya think of that?” Shippo bristled, and drew a breath, preparing to let the hanyou know exactly what he thought of it.
“Why would someone make a shikigami with a hole through the head?” Sango interrupted diplomatically.
Shippo, distracted, leapt up to Miroku’s shoulder and sniffed at the scrap. “That’s just where the rings go.” The others looked at him blankly. “In her book, you know? The one she studies out of.”
“Ah, yes. I remember now. This does look like the paper Kagome uses. See the blue lines?”
“So Kagome made this?" Kagome popped her head out of the huddle and scowled at the incredulous Inuyasha. Three arms snaked out and pulled her back into their cabal.
"Apparently. I didn't think she had the ability,” Miroku said, thoughtfully.
"Well, she obviously doesn't."
"Now that's not fair, Inuyasha," Sango defended. "Kagome is a very powerful miko."
Inuyasha flapped the lower half of the paper doll at her with a scowl.
"Just not a very good one," Shippo conceded. Sango looked sideways at him.
"Why would Kagome make shikigami?"
"And where’s the real Kagome?”
"Well, now that's the question, isn't it?" Miroku curled two fingers under his chin, shifting his staff into the crook of his arm and propping his elbow with his other hand. "If I were Kagome, where would I be?"
“Oi! Wench...es!” Three offended pairs of eyes glared at Inuyasha. The fourth pair just beamed adoringly. “Which one of you is my Kagome?”
“I am!”
“Are not!”
“Are not!”
"Are not!"
“Am too!”
“Are not!”
“Are not!”
Miroku held up a restraining hand. “Obviously, none of them are the real Kagome. Just aspects of her personality.”
The Kagomes grabbed each other's necks and dragged their collective heads back into the huddle.
“Which aspects?” Sango murmured to the monk. The Kagomes were getting really worked up, and one clenched her fists angrily. The others mimicked her perfectly.
“I think we’re about to find out.”