InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Silver Fox ❯ Freedom absolute ( Chapter 30 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

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Kagome sat in her room looking at the closed door. A servant had brought her some food and lain it on the bed side table. It was cold by now, and she hadn't touched it. She just watched the door, not moving. It opened and closed. People came and went. Faces and voices with no names asked how she was. Some one was always with her. At least it seemed that way. Sai was with her most of the time. By her side on the bed, trying to convince her to eat, and bringing her flowers. It was hard on both of them. And it lasted for two months. Then one day she just came out.

She looked years older than she was, and the lack of sleep left bags under her eye which didn't help her look. Everyone in the castle could tell that she was gradually getting better. She was slowly gaining that set back in her shoulders. The one that told everyone that she wouldn't take crap from anyone. Sai spent most of his time watching her, making sure that she didn't hurt herself. Now she and Sai sat in the gardens watching the multicolored butterflies float around the flowers. Summer was going to be over soon. There was alread a fall chill sweeping through the castle.

The lines of their bodies fit together like puzzle pieces. "Kagome, how are you feeling toaday?" She sucked in a deep breath and let it out in a long sigh. "I'm doing okay." She said. "Well then, how about we start your training tomorrow." She looked at him. "Training?" She asked. "Training for what?" He smiled. "Training in weapons. I know how to handle a whip and a katana. Though your guards would probably know more than I do." She looked like she was thinking about it. "Yes. I think I would like that." She gave a small empty smile that didn't reach her eyes.

Sai looked down at the woman in his arms when she turned away and hoped that she would go back to the way she was. He stood, pulling the little fox with him. "Let's go hunting Kagome." He said, pulling her along behind him. "What?" She stumbled behind him, to stunned to gain a propper footing. He drug her though the gates leaving behind curious guards. He drug her to the tree line and turned her to look at him. "This form or animal?" He asked. "This one." They bolted into the woods, Sai leading Kagome.

A young doe was grazing in a field. They didn't even try to stalk her. Their rush rustled leaves and snapped twings sending the deer bolting into the vegitation. They fell back enjoying the chase. Kagome felt herself being taken away in the feeling of the run. She charged in front of Sai swiping at the deer's haunches. A hoof caught her in the legs. She was up before her body had even registered that it had fallen. She swiped again. The deer's back legs slid out from underneath it. The doe came to a halt on her side, and Kagome was upon it, jaws locked on it's throat.

When the deer had died she and Sai fed, peeling off strips of meat with their claws. They walked a distance away when they were full. "So?" Sai asked her while washing his hands in the stream. "That was amazing!" Her wet hands shook with excitement. He gave her a small smile. It was the old her peeking though. The one he had missed so dearly. He knew that with time she would be better. With work it wouldn't take to long. He would enjoy teaching her.

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Fall and had been the most entertaining season overall. Kagome had no idea how to use any weapon but a bow. She was taught the basics and then she sparred with who ever was her teacher. Most of the the sparring matches were spent with Kagome running around in small circles screaming that it wasn't fair when she was new to it. Sai was training her and was surprised to find that the little fox female he so adored had a small masochistic streak in her. She almost tried to get hit. That in turned had lead to a few compromising positions and situations which had the staff giggling for weeks.

It was the middle of Febuary and Kagome was laying in the soft snow. Everything was good, except for the fact that Sai had been avoiding her for the past month and a half. And to that fact so had all the male staff. She was at a loss and the female staff wouldn't tell her when she asked, but they did turn red and looked away. She flicked her tail, flinging up the snow and watching it fall again. Then she saw a flash of red. "Sai!" He came back but kept his distance. A look of pain passed his face. "Why have you been avoiding me?" He gave her wide eyes and raised eyebrows. "Do you honestly not know?" He couldn't keep the shock out of his voice. She shook her head.

"From January to March is the fox mating season." He said, still stunned. Her jaw dropped. Bright red burned over her face. "Mating season!?" He just nodded, shoulders shaking. It took Kagome a minute to realize he was laughing. "What are you laughing at? It's not funny!" She clenched her fists. "But it is. All this time I thought that you hadn't been reciprocating my feelings for you. You and your body told me nothing so I thought that you had grown tired of me. If I'd known that you didn't know this was the mating season..." He burst into a fit of laughter.

"That's you, but what about the rest of the male staff?" She asked. "Kagome, really, didn't you know that foxes go into a heat like most animals when it's time to mate?" He raised an eyebrow. She shook her head. "Nope." She shrugged. "Well, now that you know what's going on..." He trailed off, making gestures with his hands. Kagome turned a bright scarlet and shifted around. Sai lowered his head. "I understand." He turned to walk away. "Sai." She called him back. "It's not that I don't like you Sai. It's that I'm...I've...never done anything like that." She shifted around again. He gave her wide eyes.

"Are you saying that you are as untouched as the freshly fallen snow?" He couldn't contain the shock in his voice. The woman before him was at least seven phases. That she hadn't had the pleasure of a male companion was unheard of. Kagome nodded at his question. "Well then." A grin pressed itself onto his face. "Allow me to teach you." Her mouth fell open. Sai was a pervert. She could see it in the gleam that was in his eyes. "Not until Naraku's defeat." Her voice was level and stern. His shoulders slumped. "That's just to bad." He winked at her. "And here I was looking forward to a good night." His eyebrows waggled at her.

Kagome had the grace to turn a wonderful shade of red that left Sai laughing as he walked away. "Let us start searching for that creature tomorrow. I think that you've progressed enough to handle yourself." He smiled at her and left. She sat in the snow for a while longer, thinking. Thinking about how she couldn't wait until she sunk her claws deep into Naraku. Now she had a personal stake in the fight. It wasn't just for some jewel. It wasn't just for the sake of her friends. It wasn't just because he was a terror on this land. It was for Shippou. It was for Ryoko. That was what she was fighting for now, and nothing would stand in her way when she took him down. She grinned in mad delight at the thought.

Sai stood just around the corner watching the grin splay over her face. His eyebrows drew together in worry. Just how far on the edge was Kagome? She had seemed to have gotten better...but. If that smile was anything to go on Kagome was teetering out on that edge and looking down preparing to jump. He had to get her out for awhile. The space he'd given her the past two months had seemed like a good idea at the time. Now though... He looked back at her smile. If it could be called that. Now he was regretting not making her talk.

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Sai slung a saddle bag onto Kagome's horse. She had insisted that she could do it, but Sai wouldn't hear any of it. It wanted it to be an easy trip the first time out. Just time alone. Sure they were supposed to be looking for Naraku, but he was taking all precautions on avoiding him until maybe their third round. The plan was to travel for a month, stopping at various villages, and then coming back to the silver fox village. He slung his bag onto his horse. Then they left.

The horses cantered on as the silence between the two travelling comapanions prevailed. Sai broke it. "Kagome, I am curious as to how a fox demoness came to travel with an inuhanyou, a priest, and a demon slayer." He looked at her. "And another thing you say you broke the shikon jewel, but it is said that a young priestess did that." He watched as all the muscles in her back stretched with tension. "I was a human priestess and was born with the jewel inside my body. Mistress centipede had sensed it and drug me to InuYasha's forest through the well intent on devouring me. I escaped only to find said half-demon pinned to a tree by his old lover, Kikyo. I was found there by the villagers who thought me a fox demon. The old priestess of the village, Keade, said that I looked just like her sister Kikyo. As it turns out I'm her reincarnation. Mistress centipede found me in the village and chased me back to where InuYasha was pinned, but this time he was awake and kept calling me Kikyo. I freed him from the tree and he killed the centipede. When he tried to kill me Keade put a subjugation necklace on him." She went on to tell how the jewel was broken and all the way until she met Reiken.

Sai nodded vigorously at her stories. That explained why she hadn't known anything about foxes, she was a human. He couldn't help it, but it did effect his view of her. He was brought up in a clan that had hated humans. They took their home and the like. When he had killed half the village for trespassing his clan cast him out. They hated humans but they didn't need some daimyo sending a small army to slaughter them all, which he did anyway mind you. With human controlling the old territory he didn't even bother to go back and try to reclaim it. It would have been a fruitless attempt that could have costed him his life, so he had just went rogue and wandered around.

He noticed Kagome looking at him now. He realized that his faced was screwed up into one of disgust. She knew why it was. She knew that he couldn't help it. She didn't even blame him for it. In this era prejudices between demons and humans were strong. In some dark part of her mind she had hoped that telling him the truth wouldn't have made a difference, but it had. The she asked herself how could he have not known? He met her mother. Even if her father was a demon that would only leave her a half-demon. She sighed. Maybe he just wasn't that quick. "Kagome...I..." She stopped him with a motion of her hand. "It's fine. I realize how demons feel about humans for the most part." He didn't know what to say to her, but she knew what she was going to do. She was going to wait until he fell asleep and then leave. Perhaps some one else would want her. For who she was now.

Kagome nudged the horse in the sides. The young horse trotted ahead to the lead. "We'll camp here tonight." Her voice was soft. He pulled his horse to a stop and got off. Kagome didn't bother to build a fire, she didn't need it. No matter how cold it got she would never need it. Sai, on the other hand, would. In the freezing Febuary night he was left shivering in the cold. His tail wrapped tightly around him. He snored lighlty once sleep finally did claim him. She pulled some paper and a quill from the saddle bag and began writting. The note was short only stating that she wasn't coming back and for him to watch the village. She set near his hand and looked to her horse. The stallion snorted a little and quivered under its thick blanket. She rubbed its nose gently. "Guess you get to go back home now." Then she left, careful not to make a sound. Before she left the camp she looked back to the sleeping kitsune.

"Goodbye." She said softly.

Once far enough away she started to run. She left everything there with him. Her supplies, the horse, and everything that had hurt her. Peace reigned over her mind for the first time in years. Her only thought was Naraku and even the familiar rage that welled up with his name stayed down, giving way to her inner peace, but she felt the creeping of insanity and did nothing to stop it. She just smiled and she laughed. Freedom. This was absolute feedom. The price didn't matter. Not yet.

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Plz review. I love reading them! Was this a surprise? I didn't even know this was going to happen, and I'm writting it! :) So thanks to those that have review, I greatly appreciate it.