InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Something Entirely Different ❯ Part 4 ( Chapter 4 )

Something Entirely Different

Just A Starving Writer/JustAnotherGirl

Disclaimer: nope, not mine.

Part 4: To watch you live

Kagome had no visits from the cold demon lord for a month and it bothered her to no end. After his questionable actions the last time, she was itching to discover just what was going on in his mind. However, his lack of appearance proved a problem in her quest for knowledge. She struggled between a feeling of loss and anger at his continued absence.

Finally, on a cloudy day right after a hasty lunch, the shard hunters came across the lord sitting languidly at the base of a tree. The irate miko immediately stalked up to his relaxed figure and stared at him accusatory.

"Hey!" she yelled, her previous feeling of loss forgotten for the moment, replaced by indignant anger.

The youkai merely slightly inclined his head and looked at her without expression.

"Where have you been?" she asked harshly. Something indescribable flickered across his eyes before being hidden once more. He looked down again and she crouched to look into his eyes.

"You bastard! You can't do this! What the hell is wrong with you?!" she insisted before he fluidly struck out. When she came to, she was lying on the cold ground, him still reclining against the tree.

"You arrogant jerk!" she screamed while punching him in the shoulder. He barely moved under the force of her assault but still managed to somehow kill her again. With a green glow, she came to suddenly.

"WOULD YOU STOP THAT!" She was answered with another strike. When the darkness receded, she sat up and glared at him furiously.

"Stop. Killing. Me," she said behind gritted teeth. The shard hunters could only look on with dumb expressions, not quite sure what to think.

The girl suddenly sprang onto the youkai lord, intent upon strangling the lack of expression right off his face but she only died on top of him. While her body recovered, he pinned her to the ground, waiting stoically for her to live again. When her eyes opened, he was ready.

"STOP DOING THAT!" she spat into his pale face as he regarded her coolly.

"If you wish to die again, continue." His threat calmed her somewhat, but she was still simmering in anger.

"Then tell me, explain to me, why you've been gone for a month," she said quietly, trying without success to force all the hurt anger out of her voice.

He was silent as his eyes wandered across her features. Anger was replaced by embarrassment as the miko felt the demon on top of her staring quite intently at her lips.

"I can find no reason for this inability," he stated quietly without breaking his gaze at her mouth. "I have discovered nothing concerning this…bond." She could only stare at him in wonder. He was, if anything, more unreadable than ever.

"Yet this bond exists," he said while he slid his hand from her throat and onto her chin, his thumb tracing the line of her lower lip. He lifted his gaze to her eyes and suddenly she understood perfectly what was going on in the mind of the youkai.

"You…you're scared?" she breathed silently. He grimaced slightly but did nothing to refute the claim. Instantly Kagome relaxed her body under his hold and softened her features.

"There's nothing to be scared of," she said comfortingly as he stared at her intently, his features still coldly unreadable to the remainder of the shard hunters who wondered what exactly the girl was seeing in him.

"You know nothing," he stated frigidly, his face practically freezing, his slack expression replaced by something much harsher. He disengaged himself from her and began to walk away. It took a full minute before Kagome realized he had left and jumped to her feet.

"But…" she began as she grabbed his hand. Without stopping, he killed her. She fell with a dull thud to the ground.

However, this time, something seemed slightly different. He could not feel the reassuring power of the green light and she didn't get up to scold him for the senseless action. Glancing back, he stopped in his tracks. The girl was dead, and appeared to be perfectly content to remain dead. Sudden fear crossed his face as he leapt the few steps and crouched beside her blood soaked figure.

When it became abundantly clear the girl was not going to return to life by nature of whatever magic had kept her alive before, he reached for one of the swords at his hip and pulled it out, willing it to respond. After a few dozen futile attempts, he cast the sword aside in anger, resorting to pulling the deceased miko to rest on his leg while his usually inexpressive face was a perfect picture of pain.

"Kagome?" enquired a terrified fox child, tears pouring freely down his cheeks.

Drawing the body carefully into his arm, he suddenly leapt upward, away from the shard hunters, carrying the miko with him. He traveled as quickly as he could, away west into his own lands before finally landing in a courtyard and opening a screen into a massive bedroom. He immediately set the still cold body on an expansive futon before taking a seat beside it, grasping her lifeless hand hard enough to wound it with his claws.

Time drew on and still the miko remained dead. Laying down in defeat, he sighed and stared at the tiny hand before bringing it to his lips. When he opened his eyes, he was nearly blinded by the familiar green light as life poured back into the still girl. Finally, with one large gasp for air, she threw herself into a sitting position and looked around frantically. Turning crazed eyes onto his surprised face, she began trembling. He pulled her into his lap and rested his chin on her head as her tears were soaked up by the white silk of his clothing.

"I was so scared," she gasped while grasping onto the top of his armor as if he would leave her if she didn't hold on with all her might. He responded with a reassuring hand in her hair. Before long, she lifted a tear stained face to his.

"Don't do that again, okay?" she pleaded to his veiled countenance. She was shocked when his warm lips were suddenly pressed insistently to hers. After a minute to realize what was going on, she responded by deepening the kiss and securing her hands around his neck. They seemed intent on proving her life through the embrace. Soon, however, the strain from the day caught up to her and she pulled back and leaned wearily on the lord.

Right before sleep finally overtook Kagome as she was nestled in the arm of her partner, he spoke his first words since killing her.

"Never again. Never die again." She smiled at the soft command and slipped into blissful dreamless sleep.

~*~

When she woke the next morning, she felt completely relaxed. The events of the day before seemed like a strange dream and she had a hard time believing what her mind told her had happened. However, upon realizing that she was alone in a field of red flowers, she came to the conclusion that not only had everything happened, but her dubious partner was completely insane. She couldn't stop the pained feeling that invaded her entire being. Her heart felt as if she had been abandoned.

"THE BASTARD!" she screamed in frustration.

After a few hours that consisted of her screaming every obscenity she could think of at the absent demon who she considered had so thoroughly used her, she was found by her companions who were very enthusiastic about her life. A happy, tear filled reunion ensued but the hanyou seemed hesitant to join in the festivities. He kept eyeing the miko with suspicion. Once everyone had settled down and began to set up camp in the flower filled field, he took Kagome aside.

"What did he do to you?" Inuyasha asked critically, keeping his eyes locked on hers.

He expected indignation. He expected anger. He expected to be sat. He didn't expect her to fling herself into his arms and sob painfully. Her entire body shook with her heartbreak, and though he still wasn't sure just what his half-brother had done to his friend, he was positive the bastard would face his wrath once they met again. After comforting the girl as best as he could, he led her back to camp and settled her into her sleeping bag without any further questions. He would say nothing to the others, who took his silence as a sign that their friend was more troubled than she had let on.

It was a long strained week before they came across the demon lord again. They were looking for a spot to camp for the night when his ethereal figure appeared before them on the road. Inuyasha wasted no time and immediately stalked furiously up to the lord and punched him square in the eye. The youkai barely flinched and stood still, ignoring the yelling hanyou. He only turned his eyes when the miko of his interest came up and pushed the half-breed out of the way before thoroughly assaulting him. He still did not move, only stared at her blankly as she continued to beat her fists upon his chest, tears pouring from her strangely blue eyes.

"YOU BASTARD!" she yelled, fury and heartache fighting for dominance in her voice as she continued her pointless attack. "How could you?! You left me, how could you?!" Her voice cracked and she broke into sobs, as her hands lost their angry energy and fell limply to his chest. He wrapped his arm around her, pinning her against him and waited for her to calm.

"Just kill me now, please," she insisted once she had regained some of her faculties. He remained silent.

"Please, dammit, please, I can't live like this," she pleaded.

"No."

"Why the hell not!"

He lowered his face into her hair and pulled her closer.

"I won't risk you dying for good," he stated blankly.

"But why!" she sobbed as her tears returned in full force. He did not respond.

"How can you just kiss and run all the time?!" she whispered angrily as she weakly hit his chest.

"WHAT ARE YOU SO AFRAID OF?!" she screamed in abject agony. Her knees failed her and she sank to the ground. The demon lord went with her, keeping hold of her even as he fell to his knees.

"Do you think I won't love you back?" she questioned through a sob. "Because it's too late for that. I don't know when or how or why I fell in love with your arrogant ass but I did and now I'm stuck with you." Her friends could only look on with something akin to horror at that declaration.

"Tell me, please," she pleaded as she looked up at him, trying to lock her eyes on his. "Tell me why you want me to live. Please, tell me…"

He stared at her and tightened his grip on the sobbing girl but otherwise remained silent. The spectators wondered just what emotions were running through his mind at that moment, as he was doing a good job of not making them known.

"Tell me or I'll leave," she threatened through tearfully frustrated hurt. Her hands clenched around the edges of his armor, tight enough to whiten her knuckles with the effort. Pain persisted in her gaze as she stared relentlessly into the lord's veiled eyes seeking some form of resolution. He held her closer.

"TELL ME!" she screamed in emotional agony and the lord flinched. In that second, his mask broke and the pain that had been straining beneath the surface was viewable to all. Suddenly the shard hunters understood what their miko friend knew.

"Tell her, brother," Inuyasha said forcefully, as the situation, and the possible consequences, became achingly clear. "You are a lying fool if you deny it, but keeping silent will only push her away as well."

The demon lord with his failing façade looked over to his brother and read the pained remembrance in his eyes.

"Don't make the same mistake," the hanyou said through gritted teeth. "Tell her. Now."

The proud youkai turned his gaze back onto the girl in his arms and suddenly released her. She clung to his chest in defiance of his rejection but her sobs echoed loudly through the lands. Throwing herself from him, she landed on the ground with a dull thud and curled into a ball, seeking solace through the childlike form. Her spectators were grief stricken, not least of all the offending party who stared at her shaking form with wide eyes that betrayed his determined act of carelessness.

"I want to watch you live." The words were spoken quietly but everyone heard them through the sobs of the miko. Without warning, the stricken girl was once more in the arm of the demon lord, pleading with tear stained eyes for truth.

"I want to watch you live," he repeated, trying without success to push the emotion from his voice.

Kagome brightened and the change was astonishing. The words were not the best, perhaps, but it was something. It was a start and quite a large one considering the trial she had before her, embodied in the demon who had refused to acknowledge himself for so long. She pushed herself up and kissed him, terribly glad that he could admit that much, tremendously happy that she wouldn't have to leave him.

After a moment of stunned silence, he tightened his grip and kissed her back, completely reveling in the act and her radiating happiness that so thoroughly engulfed him. The spectators turned their backs on the touching scene.

"I would never have expected this," Miroku stated later that evening by the campfire. Their group had one current addition, but he seemed slightly preoccupied with watching the miko prepare dinner and was ignoring the monk.

"Who could have expected so much death to bring new life?" the fox child asked sagely.

"Perhaps you are right, Shippou. Perhaps it isn't as unusual as it seems. But that doesn't make it any less unexpected." The two males nodded in agreement, their eyes turning to the slightly more relaxed demon lord that was accepting a bowl of ramen from the brightly smiling miko without taking his gaze from her shining face.

"I would never have expected," the monk began again. "I would never expect something that started off as a desire to kill would become something….entirely different."