InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Some Things Never Change ❯ Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to any of the InuYasha characters

 

The sun rose over the horizon, its warm rays filtered through the slated window of the hut a hanyou and his youkai and human companions were occupying. Inside a small youkai kitsune child rubbed his eyes sleepily at the harsh sunlight beckoning him awake and burrowed deeper into the blanket to block out the sun. The kitsune's movements awoke the raven haired girl he shared sleeping space with, the girl was accustomed to this, it was often that she shared her bed with the kitsune when in the Feudal Era.

 

This morning was no different than any other morning Kagome -a typical 20th century, Japanese schoolgirl - had spent in the times of Sengoku-Jidai, it was sunny and the air smelled of freshly fallen dew. Kagome sat up and breathed in the clean air, it was a welcome change from the polluted smog choked air in her time of 20th century Tokyo. Judging by the position of the sun Kagome approximated that it was still pretty early, so with taking care not to wake Shippou-chan, the still sleeping kitsune; Kagome untangled herself from the blanket and made to go out to the hot spring she had spotted the night before when they had stopped to make camp.

 

Kagome was about to walk through the burlap that served as a door to the hut when the call of her name from behind stopped her. “Where are you going, Kagome-chan?” Sango, the only other human female in their little group was sitting up and rubbing her eyes, “Ohayo, Sango-chan” said Kagome and she turned around to face the skilled taijiya. “Anou...Where are you going?” Sango asked again a little annoyed that Kagome had discarded her question and was now rummaging through her over stuffed bag. “Hush, you'll wake Miroku-sama” Kagome said and gestured wildly for Sango to lower her voice; “Houshi-sama?” Sango whispered.

 

“Hai, I'm going for a swim in that hot spring we spotted last night” Kagome said as she made to leave the hut again this time holding a towel; “Aa, I'll come with you” Sango said as she untangled herself from her bedding as Kagome had done moments before. Being careful not to wake the others, the two girls left for what they hoped to be a relaxing and undisturbed dip in the spring.

 

A short while later Kirara started to stir, the twin tail youkai neko would have normally curled up and gone back to sleep; but the absence of her master made her nervous and scared and she leapt into Houshi-sama's lap.

 

Miroku had been asleep against the wall directly under the window, his legs were crossed and his staff rested across his lap, ready to be used should they have come under attack in the middle of the night. A light pressure between his legs awoke the houshi, but this pressure was different than the one Miroku was accustomed to feeling upon awaking, and he couldn't remember having had dreams before being awaken. Looking down into his lap Miroku was met with a pair of large pleading red eyes; Kirara cocked her head to one side as if to ask “Are you awake?” before she scampered up Miroku's robes to his shoulder where she sat nudging his cheek and meowing a desperate plea of “Help me find Sango!” Now fully awake, Miroku could see what had made Kirara so anxious, both Sango's and Kagome-sama's beds were empty.

 

After removing the nervous neko from his shoulder (not such an easy task, he'd have a talk with Sango later about trimming her companion's claws) he did a few stretches then made his way over the hanyou sleeping against the opposing wall. “Ne, InuYasha, wake up!” Miroku urged, and gave the hanyou a nudge with his foot, “Keh. What do you want?” InuYasha growled. “Sango and Kagome-sama are gone”, Miroku answered; “gone?” yawned InuYasha trying to shake off sleep; “Hai, gone” came the houshi's reply. Surveying the small hut InuYasha could see Sango's large weapon resting next to Kagome's bow and arrows, “Chikushou, they're unarmed” he growled.

 

“Shippou...Shippou...” Miroku called, shaking the small kitsune child all the while “Shippou...”; “Go away” whined Shippou as he was reluctantly pulled from his sleep. “Do you know where Sango and Kagome-sama went?” asked a concerned Miroku; “Iie...Iie, I've been asleep this whole time” answered Shippou before falling back to sleep.

 

“Ahh! This is heavenly!” Exclaimed Kagome sinking in to the hot water till it reached her chin; “Hai!” Agreed Sango, “It's nice to relax without having to worry about Houshi-sama spying on us”. Kagome giggled, she knew Sango-chan held feelings for Miroku-sama and it was more than obvious that Miroku-sama held those same feelings for Sango-chan; but after countless ploys to try to get the two to share there feeling for one another Kagome had started to loss faith that they ever would.

 

“GYAH!” Sango suddenly cried, she had just noticed the sun's now high position in the sky, “We should get back, InuYasha and Houshi-sama will have woken up by now” said Sango. “Alright, I'm getting pruny anyhow” said Kagome as she stood from the water; they both dried off and got dressed, Kagome, after having dried off used her towel to wrap her hair in a sort of towel turban atop her head, Sango left her hair down to air dry.

 

As the girls walked back to the hut they became greatly aware of how hungry they were, it was way passed breakfast time and lunch would be their first meal of the day. Sango's stomach growled and then as in agreement Kagome's did, both girls giggled and not wanting to keep their stomachs waiting they broke into a run. “T-the-- boy-s-s- mu-s-t be st-ar-arv-ing” breathed Sango, holding her side and gasping for air. “Th-ere is-- so-me in-st-an-t-- ra-men in my-y b-ba-ck- pac-k, InuYa-sh-a-a will snif-ff it ou-t” Kagome answered, she was breathing hard and running had caused her oddly balanced towel turban to unravel and flap in her face.

 

They stopped running a few yards away from the hut to catch their breath then walked the rest of the way. Upon entering the hut they saw that Kagome had been right, empty ramen cups littered the dirt floor and by the looks of it both InuYasha and Shippou were on their third helpings. “Ahem!” Kagome stomped her foot to get the two greedy gobblers' attention; “Umph, Konnichi-wa, Kagome” InuYasha greeted after swallowing a mouthful of ramen. “GYAH! HOW CAN YOU HAVE SO LITTLE REGARD FOR OTHER PEOPLE?” Kagome shrieked and advanced upon the hanyou; “Keh, you can't place all the blame on me, Shippou ate just as much, though I don't know how the little shrimp put so much away in that little body of his.” Said InuYasha, he tried to sound defensive but he was cowering in fear from the thought of what Kagome's next word might be. “Grr...OSUWARI!” Came Kagome's command and InuYasha crashed to the ground, sending empty ramen cups bouncing across the floor.

 

“I'm afraid to ask but what's going on in here?” Miroku asked from behind Kagome, “Eh...” Kagome said as she turned around to face the houshi. She hadn't noticed he hadn't been there when she had entered the hut, she had been to focused on InuYasha and Shippou-chan eating their food rations for that week. “Anou, Houshi-sama, where were you?” Sango asked, she had witnessed the fiasco that had just unfolded and wanted to direct attention away from it before it started up again. “Oi. I was out looking for you and Kagome-sama, InuYasha was worried that you might get into trouble without your weapons” Miroku answered; at hearing that Kagome stomped out of the hut obviously still very annoyed.

 

“Feh. What's her problem?” Asked InuYasha who had gotten up from his previous splayed position and was now sitting with the soles of his feet touching and arms crossed. “InuYasha no baka, you ate all the food” explained Shippou, “So did you” InuYasha retorted, “I'm not to blame anymore than you, runt” InuYasha had his fist raised above Shippou's head. “Hold on for just a minute, InuYasha” said Miroku and grabbed InuYasha's wrist before it came into contact with Shippou's skull, “Now, you both owe Kagome-sama an apology-yes Shippou, you too must apologize” Miroku spoke in his know-all tone of voice.

 

“Fine, I'll go” said Shippou, “C'mon InuYasha lets go find Kagome-chan and apologize.” Not having much of a choice InuYasha reluctantly got up and let Shippou lead him out of the hut, leaving Miroku and Sango to be alone. “Maybe we should tidy up a bit” said Sango feeling slightly uncomfortable; she quickly moved to pick up Kagome's forgotten towel which had fallen unnoticed during her rant at InuYasha. The damp towel was covered in dirt and sand and though Sango knew it would be impossible to clean by just brushing at the dirt with her hand she did it anyway, anything to make herself look busy.

 

Glad to have something to do to help ease the thick tension, Miroku started to pick up the empty ramen cups, paper napkins, and other garbage on the floor. Miroku tried to keep his eyes on the floor and away from Sango but it wasn't easy, her skin was still flushed pink from the hot spring and her black hair was shiny and smooth, Miroku's hand itched to touch it and other parts of her body as well. He had stopped his work and was now watching Sango; she was bent over slapping a dirty towel with her hand. Miroku's mind reeled and before he could stop it his imagination had picked up on `Sango', `slapping' and `dirt'...but the towel-the towel his mind had replaced with him.

 

Miroku quickly tore his eyes away from Sango as he fought for control of his thoughts and tried to remember what it was he was supposed to be doing. Seeing the dirty napkin in his hand triggered his memory and he resumed cleaning the floor of the hut, hopefully, he thought, if only for his sake, InuYasha and the others would return soon.

 

Kagome's anger had subsided almost immediately after she left the hut but she knew there was no way InuYasha would ever apologize for being a pig if she went back in and apologized for her out burst. She walked a ways and started to pick wild flowers, she loved the smell of wild flowers, their aroma always reminded her of...InuYasha. It reminded her of InuYasha's scent, the way he smelled when he held her close and protected her from danger; and she wished that she could stay that way in his arms forever. Knowing InuYasha was not about to admit to having even an inkling of feelings for her, Kagome shook the fantasy images from her mind's eye and continued on her way.

 

InuYasha had lost Kagome's scent when he and Shippou had reached a large grassy meadow over run with wild flowers. The smell overpowered InuYasha's nose and made his brain feel fuzzy, Shippou wasn't feeling much better, the aroma of flowers tickled his sensitive nose causing him to sneeze again and again. “Shimatta!” cried InuYasha, he sniffled and wiped at his red puffy eyes, Shippou sneezed again and they started to walk aimlessly through the meadow in search for Kagome. They didn't make it very far before they had to stop, the dizzying smell was too powerful and soon the hanyou and kitsune both lost consciousness.

 

Kagome was not too far off from where InuYasha and Shippou had collapsed when she decided to head back, she had forgotten her hunger in her fit of rage and now that it was nearing mid-afternoon she felt half starved. As she headed back with her arms full of wild flowers, Kagome spotted something red laying in the meadow, and as she got closer she caught glimpses of other colors as well. White, orange, blue, finally Kagome came to where InuYasha and Shippou-chan were, “InuYasha?” Kagome called, she got down on her hands and knees, dropped her flowers and firmly shook InuYasha; it was then that she noticed that InuYasha's eyes looked swollen shut and red blotches covers his hands, neck and face.

 

“INUYASHA!” Kagome cried in fear and disgust, “ INUYASHA, PLEASE WAKE UP! ...YOU HAVE TO WAKE UP!” Kagome cried again frantically.