InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Synthetic Twilight ❯ XXII ( Chapter 22 )

(Tiny mixup in chapter 20 (which has been fixed): Ishikawa is west, not east.)



Inuyasha looked at the horse Kagome was leading out of the stable with annoyance, "You know, you don't need that damn thing. It'd be a lot quicker if you'd just let me carry you."
Kagome rolled her eyes as she adjusted the saddle on a small, brown horse, "I'd rather not have my sleeping bags and stuff strapped to me the whole trip. Besides, it doesn't matter if it can't go very fast, it beats walking." Inuyasha was trying to grab Kagome's bags from Shippo, who was helpfully handing them to her so she could secure them on the horse's back. "Inuyasha..." she said in a warning tone.
"Keh! Fine." He said, dropping the bags that he had managed to snag. "Why are you taking so much shit with you anyway? You're planning on coming back, ain't ya?"
"Of course I am! I just don't know how long I'm going to be there, and I'd rather not have to buy anything I don't really need simply because I left it here." She mounted the horse and giggled, compared to Umakuroi, the horses that the demonslayers used were ponies.
Inuyasha crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes, "What's so funny, wench?"
"Nothing," she said smiling. She remembered feeling almost intimidated by the black horse's size when she approached it, but there was nothing remotely intimidating about this horse. "Shippo," she called, "come over here and give me a hug before I go."Shippo climbed up and hugged Kagome tightly, "You're not going to be gone very long are you?"
"I hope not, Shippo. But I'll come to visit if have time, okay? You'll behave while I'm gone?" she asked, helping him down from the saddle.
"Yes, Momma" Shippo said, standing beside Miroku and Sango, who were waving them off.


Inuyasha jogged beside Kagome down the road, she hummed happily, blissfully unaware- or in Inuyasha's opinion, unconcerned- of his rising irritation at the mind-numbingly slow pace. He was currently thinking of ways on how to scare that damn horse away. The idea in the lead was just to growl at the horse loudly when Kagome stopped to rest for the umpteenth time today.
"Inuyasha, do you smell any water nearby? I want to stretch my legs a lit- Uh, Inuyasha? Are you okay?" Kagome asked, an eyebrow raised at the almost maniacal grin spread across Inuyasha's face.
Okay? I'm better than okay, I'm fucking excellent!, he thought gleefully at the imaginings of his plan coming to fruition- and in such a short period of time too! He'd scare the horse off, run to Sesshomaru's, rid them both of the jewel, then jam Tensaiga up his brother's ass sideways and they'd live happily ever after. He straightened proudly, the plan was brilliant!
"Inuyasha?" Kagome asked again.
"Huh? Oh! Yeah, I can smell a pond not too far away, how about we stop there? I mean, there's a stream about a mile or two ahead of us, but the pond's a few minutes away. That horse is looking pretty tired, we should go to the closest one, right?"
Kagome gave Inuyasha a dubious look, when she had stopped earlier, he was annoyed. This time when she asked, he was practically dancing around her rambling on about how stopping as soon as possible was a great idea. Something's up. I've been stopping every five miles, he should be foaming at the mouth by now. What is he planning? "Sure," she answered slowly.
"I bet you're hungry, how about we stop to eat too?" he said, leading her off the road through tall grass to the pond.
"How considerate of you..." she mumbled, little alarms were beginning to go off in her head.
"Think nothing of it! Here," he helped her dismount and was unbuckling the bags from the horse, "let me get these." He dropped one of the bags loudly beside the horse and his grin became wider when he noticed that it appeared startled. This is going to be easy. "It must be tired carrying all these heavy bags..."
The little alarm bells suddenly became loud, obnoxious sirens, "Okay, what are you doing?"
Play it cool. Inuyasha straightened and widened his eyes innocently, "What do you mean, 'what are you doing'? You wanted to take a break, didn't you?"
Kagome narrowed her eyes suspiciously, he wasn't acting like himself at all. "Yeah, but why are you suddenly being helpful about it? You're even doing things that would make it take longer to get back on the road again so... What Are You Doing?"
So close, he almost gave a sigh of relief as he sat the saddle on the ground. Still, he could tell she was on to him. That left only one option to insure his plan's success if he didn't want to carry a pissed of Kagome the whole way- piss her off right now. Inuyasha glared at the woman across from him, "Goddammit, woman. You want to stop, we stop. I fucking unpack your damn horse so we won't have to stop all the time. I try to be helpful and you want to know what I'm doing? I'm fucking helping you out!"
Kagome was taken aback by her companion’s outburst, “You know, I didn’t ask for nor do I need your help.” She ran her hands through her hair and exhaled loudly, “Whatever, I’m going for a walk, don’t follow me if you’re going to be an asshole,” she said, taking the horse with her.

Inuyasha sat in a tree over-looking the field that Kagome was stretching in. Time for plan number two, Inuyasha’s palm felt sweaty against the small pebble he clutched tightly. He’d only get this one shot, if he missed and it landed in the grass, Kagome would notice something was up. He angled himself in the tree to get a better shot at the brown horse who was swatting flies with its tail and eating grass… He’ll just have to do that in another field. Here goes! He let the pebble fly, the horse jerked up, whinnied loudly and ran for the forest.
Kagome sat up and watched in disbelief as her horse bolted for no reason at all. “Inuyasha! Help!”
Inuyasha ran to her side, his arms crossed, “What’s the matter, wench?”
“The horse from the village, it just started running that way,” she pointed at the forest franticly. “I sensed some demons at the edge of it, but didn’t do anything because they didn’t come any closer and-“
“It’s just wolves, Kagome, I don’t think Kouga would let any of them eat anything with your scent on it.”
“But there wasn’t anything on the horse except the reins, and not all of the wolves follow Kouga, Inuyasha.”
Inuyasha was about to comment something to the effect of wolves being too stupid to catch a horse on their own when he heard howling and the horse practically screaming. He gulped, Oh shit.


Inuyasha gave a sigh of relief as he felt Kagome finally starting to relax against his back. He’d have to find a good spot to camp for the night, if she stayed as tense as she had been for the hours after the horse debacle she was going to be really sore in the morning. He figured she hadn’t really questioned where he was taking her to, since Ishikawa also lay in the west. Luckily Sesshomaru had stopped randomly appearing whenever he stepped foot on his lands a few years ago, that alone made it easier for him to take Kagome there without so much resistance. Obviously Sesshomaru had given him the jewel to bring Kagome to him, the question was why. He would’ve gone to her if he’d told him that she was in this time, the setup was unnecessary. Didn’t he understand the danger he was putting Kagome in by giving her the jewel?
Inuyasha stopped in a clearing to set up camp for the night. He watched Kagome sleeping fitfully as he set up her sleeping bag on the ground. She curled up as he placed her inside, “Stop. Oh god, I’m sorry, please stop,” he heard her whimper as he pulled the blanket around her.
“I’m here, Kagome, I’ll protect you,” Inuyasha whispered, “It’ll be over soon, I promise.”


Kagome stood in her dream, watching her family’s house at the shrine burn, she could hear shouts coming from inside.
“You must never use the jewel to wish to return to your time. There are always those who will do anything to take it from you, and they will not always come after you first,” The Woman’s voice could be heard over the roaring fire devouring the shrine.
“I didn’t wish to go home!” Kagome cried hysterically, “Stop! Why are you showing me this? I’m trying to destroy the jewel, I’m on your side!”
“Yes, but you are beginning to have a strong desire to return. This gives The Others strength to persuade you to use the jewel. Do not lose your resolve, they will use any of your weaknesses against you, much like this.”

“Souta! Stay down!” she heard her mother scream.
“Mama, I’ve got to help Grandpa, he’s not moving!”

Kagome flinched as all the windows in the house began to shatter, “I can’t help it! I miss my family!” She watched in horror as the roof collapsed and flames fully engulfed the house, “Stop! Oh god, I’m sorry! Please stop!” she wailed.

“It’ll be over soon, I promise.”
Kagome relaxed as the nightmare ended, leaving her in a dreamless sleep for the rest of the night.






AN: Whoa, sorry it took so long to update. The sad thing is that I’ve had this chapter written since September and hadn’t had the time to upload it. So, no, the story isn’t dead, I’ve just been busy. I should’ve just uploaded it after I finished writing it >_< Oh well.

Thanks for stopping by!


I do not own any of the characters from Rumiko Takahashi’s Inuyasha.