InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Soul Exchange ❯ For Forgiveness ( Chapter 20 )

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

AN: Well I didn't get the job in Waterstones (that job went to my arch rival and best friend ¬_¬) But I DID get a job working under Timperley Nunnery. And if you're thinking I work with Nuns... then you're right.













Soul Exchange

For Forgiveness

















Over the next two days the palace seemed to fill up again with staff and servants alike. Though, fortunately for Kagome, none seemed to remember the little fiasco that had happened before around Naraku and Kagome... they seemed to have forgotten completely that she was a supposed traitor.

However, the one person who hadn't really forgotten was Inuyasha... just to spite her current luck. She'd tried to go see him that morning he'd gotten back, but Urami had politely refused her entrance into his room... saying his highness was busy resting from his severe injuries.

Kagome paced the length of her own bedroom with a tight frown creasing her forehead. Every now and then she stopped and listened, trying to hear what might be going on next door... but with her pathetic human hearing she could only hear the sigh of the ocean breeze outside along the cliffs.

Great... now she was starting to think like Inuyasha... calling her own abilities 'weak' and 'pathetic'...

Growing bored and a little too antsy, she stepped out of her room and looked down the corridor to the next room over. She saw a heavily built soldier standing guard over Inuyasha's door... the man glanced over at her and stared at her, as if daring her to try and break past him. Kagome just switched on a polite smiled and zipped back into her room before she began to look too suspicious.

Ok... so the front entrance of his room was blocked... but he still had a window didn't he?

Kagome hurried over to her own window and pushed it open to allow herself access to the outdoor balcony that ran around the upper half of the palace. Slipping out, she picked her way carefully across the wooden boards to reach Inuyasha's window to see if he was inside.

Well... she didn't really need to look inside since the window was already open and part of the drape was sticking out onto the balcony. Kagome frowned as she spotted little dabs of dried blood here and there around the window, before poking her head inside to find Inuyasha was gone.

Typical.

He'd done a runner...





^_^





San go stifled a yawn with the back of her hand as the Queen paced past the throne to look out of the window into the night. She would normally be sitting in the throne... only it didn't really belong to her anymore.

"I'm so relieved Sango..." Lady Inu said quietly. "I really thought we were done for."

"Me too..." Sango blinked tired moisture from her eyes. "I talked to the Captain of the Guard... he told me what happened in more detail. He said the sword Sesshomaru used was another one bequeathed to him by Lord Inu..."

"Tenseiga." Lady Inu nodded. "A sword that can save hundreds of lives with one swing... as opposed to destroy hundreds like Tessaiga...."

Sango shivered. "Sounds dodgy..."

"Ironic really... how the sword of mass destruction went to Inuyasha and the sword of mercy went to Sesshomaru."

"Lord Inu was old..." Sango shrugged, as if that would explain his reasoning.

"You're probably right." Lady Inu frowned. "But why would he allow Inuyasha to live... he had the war won, he owned the South for a short time there... but he threw it all away when he revived Inuyasha... and not just Inuyasha - but everyone else who died."

Sango cocked her head. "Mikato said that Sesshomaru said something about being unsatisfied with the events of the battle. When he revived Inuyasha and everyone else he said that they will all live to fight another day... they've been given another chance to become stronger and make a fair fight."

"It's all about honour I suppose..." Lady Inu tutted. "Just like Sesshomaru... he'd rather leave a fight incomplete than win a pointless victory."

"We should be thankful... at least we have more time..." Sango sighed.

Lady Inu suddenly perked up and turned around. "Sango...?"

There was something suspicious about her tone and Sango glanced up dubiously, waiting for what she knew was coming.

"Did you know Miroku was back?" Lady Inu said lightly, as if it were an easy topic of conversation.

"Uh... yeah... I've seen him around..." Sango said while rubbing her elbow idly. "I said 'hi' to him..."

Lady Inu stomped her foot in exasperation. "Sango! We are talking about the father of your child here - not the early morning messenger!"

Sango edged back a bit. "I know...!"

"What's the matter with you two?" Lady Inu gasped at her. "Two Days - tw0 - DAYS - and all you've said is 'hi' - what, are you still a virgin?!"

Lady Inu was in one of her matchmaking moods... she could be ruthless if she felt the need. Sango just flushed red and looked away. "You think this is easy for me? Just to accept him back like nothing has happened?"

"But NOTHING has happened!"

"That's the problem then!" Sango snapped at her. "I've been a single mother for all of Fushi's life - I had to go through the pregnancy all on my own with no help or support from the father... and..."

Lady Inu rubbed her temples with a sigh. "Ok... don't worry about it... it's late, you should probably go get some sleep. Check on Fushi."

Sango nodded slowly and walked off out of throne room via the back door. All along the way back to her rooms she kept nervously checking the corridors for signs of Miroku... the last thing she wanted to happen was to bump into him accidentally.

When Sango finally arrived back at her room she gave a light sigh of relief finding that she'd managed to slip undetected through the palace quite effectively. Well... it WAS pretty late, so no doubt wherever Miroku was he was bound to be asleep.

Sango slipped back the door and promptly tripped over Kiroi the big black dog who was sleeping just before the door. But she didn't even let herself give a peep of a squeal as she landed flat on the floor - because at once she'd spotted someone else in her room... on her bed to be more exact...

Well... she was right... Miroku was asleep at least...





^_^





"If I was an irritable, grouchy, unreasonably angry and outrageously gorgeous Inu hanyou..." Kagome looked around the balcony. "Where would I go...?"

She had to admit it was awfully stupid of him... to run off in the middle of the night with wounds as bad as the ones he'd received was like suicide. They weren't just flesh wounds either... apparently he'd somehow managed to crack his skull into three fragments and shatter his entire upperarm.

Kagome had once broken a finger... and the pain had made her faint dead away at once. How the hell did Inuyasha manage to summon the strength to run away from his bed?

"Idiot..." Kagome sighed as she vaguely tried to follow his blood trail (ew!) along the balcony. It seemed he had only gone a few metres... before he'd presumably jumped over the rail to the ground below. Looking down, Kagome could see disturbed grass and shrubs around the base of the palace wall.

But Kagome wasn't a natural tracker like Kouga was... or even Inuyasha for that matter... apart from a few disturbed bushes she couldn't see which direction he'd gone after that.

Well... there was no harm in going looking for him, she sighed.

So with a carefulness and awkwardness that would have made Inuyasha embarrassed for her, she climbed over the rail and edged her body down until she was literally just hanging by her hands, her feet as close to the ground as possible.

It was still quite a long way... but those bushes did look fairly comfortable to land on. Kagome closed her eyes and took a deep breath... before finally letting go of the balcony.

She gasped as she fell, a frightened tingle spreading through her limbs... until she suddenly hit the bushes below with a rustle and a thump. With a groan she began to sit up and brushed the leaves and twigs out of her hair and clothes...

"Maybe I should have taken the stairs..." Kagome reasoned as he pulled out a thorn from her hand with a wince.

Well... there was no point beating around the bush (oh how hilarious) so she carefully pushed herself to her feet and padded off in the vague direction she thought Inuyasha might have headed... she was basically just following her nose since she had to real idea where he'd gone. She'd just have to take a wild stab in the dark...

Which was what she'd probably get from Inuyasha once she found him. No doubt he was still mad at her... but she needed to get him alone so she could explain. And it was best to explain things to him when he was weakened so she'd have a chance to escape if he decided to try and throttle her again.

Kagome wandered around the grassy gardens to the side of the palace for a while, wondering where to go next when her eyes fell on the perimeter wall that surrounded the palace. Part of the wall had been broken away to produce a hole roughly big enough for a man to fit through. She'd never noticed it before... so it was probably new.

She just tutted and rolled her eyes. So not only had he escaped his room, but he'd escaped the palace too. Where was he planning to go? Back up North to challenge Sesshomaru with one arm in a sling? He must have received some brain damage with that hard knock to the head.

Kagome stopped as she passed through the hole as she considered what she'd just thought. Brain damage wasn't that unreasonable to assume right now actually...

Shaking her head, Kagome straightened outside the wall and looked around. To her left were the two lakes, and to her right, were the forests and the Southern cliffs.

Which way would Inuyasha go?

"What a moron..." she said again, sighing in frustration. "Half dead and he runs away... of all the idiotic, stupid, insanely bad ideas-"

She stopped herself short as her gaze fell on the big old weeping willow tree beside the lake. Kagome had quite fondly name it 'their tree'... not that she'd share that information with anyone, especially Inuyasha.

Kagome picked up her skirts and started to jog across the grassy meadow towards the lakeside, towards the miserable tree... where a miserable Hanyou should be hanging out be... with any luck.

As Kagome neared the tree she saw him... even in the poor light she could at least make out his form lying a short distance from the tree. Kagome didn't like how Inuyasha seemed to have fallen asleep out in the open air... that was slightly worrying, so she quickly sped up her pace. "Inuyasha...!"

He didn't stir as she called out to him, until she finally reached his side and forcibly rolled him over onto his back, trying to do this with the utmost care. "Inuyasha?" Out of instinct she brushed a hand against his cheek, only to withdraw it quickly as the skin she touched seemed to burn her.

He had a fever.

"Oh you complete, utter moron!" she growled angrily at him, her own concern making her livid. "What were you thinking?!"

As she fussed over him he slowly began to stir with a slight groan and tried to swallow with some difficulty. Kagome brushed back his bangs whilst being careful not to actually touch his head... it was still bandaged (by Urami presumably) and the white bands covered his left eye, so he could now see out of the right one at least.

"Inuyasha?" Kagome hovered over him. "Are you ok? Can you hear me?"

"...Kagome...?" he frowned lightly as she saw his eye open slowly. Even in the dim light of the moon she could see his pupils were so dilated that there was little gold rimming his eyes to be seen.

"It's me..." she whispered with a soft smile. "It's ok, I'm here now... it'll be ok now..."

"I should... fucking well think so..." Inuyasha managed to gasp.

Kagome frowned at him in confusion. "What?"

Without any warning Inuyasha growled and suddenly flipped their positions. And despite Inuyasha being as ill as he was, he could still put an awful lot of strength behind that grip on her neck. "Don't you dare touch me you bitch!" he ground out as he pressed her harder into the ground.

Kagome's eyes were beginning to water, and she desperately pulled and tugged at his hand, trying to get him off her. "Inuyasha... please..."

"Shut your mouth!" he snapped, but he was beginning to sway.

"Please... you'll hurt yourself..." Kagome gasped breathlessly.

That was just like Kagome... typically thinking of something trivial when her life was in danger. Suddenly Inuyasha couldn't be bothered strangling her anymore and slumped to the ground beside her, fighting to stay conscious.

Kagome blinked rapidly, trying to clear the stars from her vision... before realising she was actually looking at the real stars above her head in the sky. She cautiously felt her throat and turned her head to look at Inuyasha... only to see him dragging himself away to the edge of the lake.

"Where... are you going?" she rasped, her voice slightly strained.

"Too hot..." he answered shortly as he reached the bank, and suddenly dunked his whole upper body into the water to cool down.

When he didn't come back up again Kagome started to worry, and scrambled after him on her hands and knees. With a grunt of effort she managed to pull his shoulders up, only to have him slap her hands away so she would drop him back in the water.

"Don't you try and drown on my time!" Kagome growled and yanked him up with a strength that surprised even herself. She dragged him out of the water and lay him on his back. "What's with you?!"

"Mom... can you open the window... just a bit..." Inuyasha murmured, his eyes drifting closed.

"Inuyasha...! Don't go all hallucinated on me - I need to talk to you." Kagome said loudly, pushing back his moping wet bangs so she could see his face. "What happened with Naraku - what you heard - it wasn't the truth! I was just saying those things to get rid of him, I never planned on hurting you in any way!"

Inuyasha sighed and rolled his head away from her. "What are you talking about...?"

Kagome closed her eyes in despair. "Please... stay with it... you need to understand..."

"I understand - I understand everything." He started off, sounding annoyed before turning back to her quizzically. "Which one are you again?"

"Kagome!"

"Sango...?"

"No!"

"Ur ami..." He wrinkled his nose. "Kikyo?"

"Kagome!" She all but shouted. "Oh come on Inuyasha - it isn't that hard!"

He suddenly began to chuckle as he found what she'd said amusing. Kagome stared at him... wondering how dirty Inuyasha's mind really was.

"Why did you leave your room?" she asked, changing the subject.

"Too hot..." Inuyasha repeated with a light shrug of one shoulder. He still found whatever she'd said amusing and the smile still played on his lips. "... hot... yeah..."

"Listen Inuyasha, you have to understand..." she squeezed his shoulder to get his attention. "I never meant to hurt you..."

The hazy focus in his eyes seemed to a clear for a moment, and his expression changed from amusement to anger so fast she barely saw it change. "You bitch!" he reached up with hand, heading for her neck again, but she swotted it away, taking advantage of his weakened state.

"We already did that, remember?" she pointed out.

Inuyasha growl and tried to shuffle away from her. "Get lost Kagome... I don't want to talk to you."

"But I need to talk to you." She easily followed him. "Talk to Sango if you won't listen to me - she'll tell you the same. I didn't betray you - I never plannned on betraying anyone. It's just... I needed to come here to get the Shikon, to hide my essence from Naraku so he couldn't contain my soul."

Inuyasha growled, growing irritated with her presence already. Kagome ignored the warning and grabbed the front of his shirt to hold him in place so he couldn't shuffle away anymore.

"I mean it - I never came to hurt you - I only came for the jewel!"

"Then why did you say all those things to Naraku?!" he spat back.

"Because he wanted me to kill you to get my soul back - I thought you were coming back with the Shikon so I just said those things to get rid of him quicker!" Kagome bunched her fist into his shirt. "Please - you have to believe me - I NEVER planned on hurting you."

Inuyasha shoved her hand off and sat up, a bit of a mistake since his head reeled and he had to slump back down. "Why didn't you just tell me?! Rather than risk me finding out like this?! You must be lying!"

"I'm not, Inuyasha!" she slapped her palms against the ground to demonstrate her anguish. "I didn't tell you because I knew you'd react like this - I just thought maybe I wouldn't have to tell you at all! I could deal with this problem without involving you and when it was over I could stay here with you - god!... don't hate me... I can't stand it when you're mad at me..."

He didn't fully understand her reasoning... but she'd sounded honest... like she'd spoken from the heart. Her voice had even broken on that last part...

She must have been a very good actress... or maybe she really was telling the truth.

Whatever the reason, Inuyasha decided not to pursue it anymore. His head hurt because of Sesshomaru... not to mention how much he hurt inside because of Kagome. He just wanted to rest and get better... he'd deal with this in the morning when he didn't feel quiet so hot.

During his silent contemplation Kagome had cautiously pulled him half onto her lap and leant her back against the willow tree, seeing as he didn't seem to be protesting anymore.

"Kagome...?" he muttered, shifting to get comfortable.

"Yeah?" she waited for him to tell her to leave.

"I wanna sleep..."

"Me too..." Kagome closed her eyes and dropped her head back against the tree.

"Sing for me."

Kagome's head shot up and her eyes snapped open. She opened her mouth the protest... she didn't like singing. Singing was like bearing her soul to complete strangers... she didn't want people to see too deep.

But then again, Inuyasha wasn't exactly a stranger to her. And last time it had really helped to calm him down. So with a resigned sigh she let her head fall back and tried to search her memory for a suitable song... she didn't think 'An old man and his stick' would cut it this time.

She decided to settle for an old lullaby that her Aunt Kaede had used to sing for her.

"When fortune fails you,

When you walk a path with strain...

Take my hand in yours,

And we'll walk this path again..."

Already she could feel the tension leaving the muscles in Inuyasha's shoulders. He gave a small sigh and turned his head slightly towards her, closing his eyes as rest took over him. She could help but smile at that.

Inuyasha couldn't help but smile inside, marvelling at the quality of her voice. Unlike Kikyo, Kagome's voice swayed to match her mood whenever she opened her mouth to speak. When she was angry she let him know about it with her voice... when she was happy her voice sounded sweet and light... she laughed when she was happy.

Kikyo's voice had always been slightly monotone... she'd rarely, if ever, raised it or lowered it no matter what mood she was in. Urami's had been even worse... her voice always seemed to fall slightly flat and irritating on the ears when she spoke... Inuyasha was unfortunate enough to hear her attempts at singing a few times too early in the morning.

But Kagome's voice was beautiful in every sense of the word. Kikyo's voice had made him uneasy... Urami's voice just plain made him irritable at times... while Kagome's voice had the power to soothe him... just like her scent.

"The weight on your shoulders,

Will break you till you fall,

The beginning of an end...

Was it worth it after all...?"

Inuyasha's breathing had fallen into a steady pattern... and he now lay completely relaxed in her lap. Kagome paused her singing a moment to see what he would do... but he seemed to be sleeping now. Kagome sighed and brushed her hand lightly against his cheek, closing her eyes as she relaxed.

She decided the change the lyrics of the last verse, just a little, to suit how she felt.

"Will you walk with me,

Now that you've set me free,

Together we'll welcome back the night

For you are... my love...

And you are my light..."

Kagome wasn't aware of Inuyasha's eyes snapping open... she didn't feel it or see it with her eyes closed and as relaxed as she was. She smiled to herself and echoed the last note, thinking she was alone. "...My Love..."

Inuyasha wasn't a complete fool. He knew the song off by heart as well, well enough to know that she'd changed the words of that last part. It should have been 'friend' not 'love'...

And then he understood. Kagome had never betrayed him... she'd never planned on betraying him. How could she when she was in love with him...?

For a moment he sat in perpetual stillness contemplating this for a minute, trying to figure out how he felt... a difficult task through his muggy stupor.

Eventually he decided on the simplest explanation. It made him happy... it made him feel warm inside... and strangely sleepy. He shifted closer to Kagome and let himself drift off. For once... at peace in her company again.













AN: Next chapter - 'Compromising positions'