InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Centre ❯ Bonding Time - Part 2 ( Chapter 6 )

Back again, with chappy six. I find it so much easier to write “The Centre” than I do “Fading”, probably because my inspiration concerning that little fic is basically nonexistent by now. But don't worry—for all those who care, I still plan on finishing that story. Just… not right this second, lol. And so, without further ado, I present to you this latest chapter.

 

Disclaimer: I can't even remember if I've been putting these in the last few chapters I've written @_@ Ah well, I'm sure you guys are all aware that I own nothing involving the original Inuyasha gang.

 

Chapter Six: Bonding Time - Part 2

 

 

“Miko Kagome… and demon Inuyasha.”

 

Kagome couldn't move. The chill permeating her body had frozen her to the bench, her hands clenched together tightly and her eyes fixed on the elegantly-dressed form of Kagura. Strange things were happening to her; her heart was pounding out of control and her breathing seemed to be stopping and starting again sporadically. The feeling of foreboding was stronger than ever.

 

“Kagome, Inuyasha, if you will come and stand next to altar,” Kagura said loudly, her eyes flashing in red amusement at the unspoken insinuation in her words. Naraku, hooded once more, stood motionlessly in the shadows at the back of the dais beside the silent little girl called Kanna.

 

None of this is supposed to be happening, Kagome thought wildly. We're not supposed to be graduating yet! Prying her stricken gaze away from the wind sorceress, she chanced a quick look at the half demon next to her. Inuyasha looked as shocked as she felt, golden eyes wide and triangular ears cocked uncertainly.

 

“Th-this can't be right,” he said incredulously.

 

Some of the amusement faded from Kagura's face, and she snapped her fan open irritably. “Surely the news isn't that devastating,” she said. “You'd think the honour of being named the two most promising students of your age would counter any negative thoughts.”

 

Despite the acid tone this statement was delivered in, Kagome saw the truth in it. She's right; it's not like no one's ever done this before, and it is flattering to be called the best. And… if I had to pick a demon to be my partner… She glanced at Inuyasha and felt her cheeks heat slightly, then jerked her gaze back to the front, angry with herself for blushing. Either way, we've got no choice in the matter. Steeling herself against the cold feeling of premonition, Kagome got to her feet.

 

“Ah, the miko has finally decided to grace us with her presence,” Kagura said sarcastically, “but what of her demon protector?”

 

“Demon pro—? Like hell I'd ever want to protect a miko!” Inuyasha yelled, self-conscious as a multitude of eyes focused on him.

 

“Is that so?” Kagura asked, the sarcasm deepening into contempt. “And what exactly did you think you being trained for this whole time, half-breed?”

 

Inuyasha opened his mouth angrily but then shut it, having no answer to that. His ears were flicking back and forth agitatedly.

 

“Come on, Inuyasha,” Kagome hissed, jerking her head in the direction of the dais. Seeing him set his jaw stubbornly, she suddenly had an idea. “You better come now or I'll have to drag you up there with spirit bonds,” she warned, letting the bluish glow of her miko powers shine through her fingers where he could see it.

 

“You wouldn't,” Inuyasha argued automatically, but he eyed her hands warily.

 

“Wouldn't I?” There was a dangerous glint in the girl's hazel eyes, and Inuyasha found himself hastily standing up. Trying to appease his wounded pride, he made sure to step on Kagome's feet as he pushed past her on his way up the blue-carpeted stairs. She gritted her teeth at his childishness, but followed him wordlessly.

 

“And here's the happy couple,” Kagura said as the two reluctant partners reached the altar, alternately eyeing each other and the silent figures of Naraku and Kanna. “Now, perhaps, we can begin.” She turned her head to call over her shoulder. “Kaede!”

 

Kagome was surprised to see her old, gray-haired instructor laboriously climb the steps to stand next to the wind sorceress. What part did Kaede play in all of this?

 

“Greetings, child,” Kaede said quietly to Kagome, giving her a reassuring smile. “Congratulations on being named the most promising of the mikos. I knew ye would be the one.”

 

“Thank you,” Kagome said hesitantly. “But, Kaede, what—”

“Can we please move things along?” Kagura asked, a hint of impatience creeping into her voice. “Kaede, tell the girl what she has to do so we can finish this before nightfall.”

 

Kaede nodded agreeably, unperturbed. Motioning Kagome and Inuyasha to follow her, she moved to stand behind the marble altar. The two students stood on either side of her, Kagome beginning to feel excited and Inuyasha looking like a long-suffering martyr going to his death.

 

“Look ye here, Kagome,” the old woman instructed, sweeping an aged hand over the items arranged on the altar. “These are what ye and Inuyasha will wear to solidify your Bond.”

 

Kagome leaned over the huge slab of marble, studying the objects. They looked like simple necklaces; plain cord strung with beads and other rustic decorations. But then she noticed that there were two different types of necklaces, one of each kind placed together in pairs, and she knew that one type was for the demons and one for the mikos. How she knew which was which even she couldn't say, but she was certain that the necklaces of purple prayer beads strung with yellowed fangs would be given to youkai alone, just as the sky blue beads interspersed with white spiraled shells would only be worn by a miko. She snapped her attention back to Kaede when she realized that the old woman was speaking.

 

“Now, child, use your abilities to probe the necklaces—not too much energy, mind, just enough to sense the power of the prayer beads—and pick the most powerful of them all. Since you and your partner were named the strongest, it will take the most resilient necklaces to hold your Bond indefinitely.” Kaede stepped back, allowing Kagome to move closer to the altar. Inuyasha snorted, as if the whole process was beneath him.

 

Shooting the hanyou an annoyed look, Kagome focused completely on the necklaces before her, letting a wisp of her miko power flow out of her and into each set of beads. The entire Room was silent as the girl quickly worked her way through the array of crude jewelry, and after a tense minute she pointed without hesitation to a pair of overlapping necklaces.

 

“Good, child, good,” Kaede said, smiling and nodding. “Now comes the difficult part. First, place the purple beads over Inuyasha's head, then the blue over your own.”

 

Kagome nodded and picked up the two necklaces. Inuyasha flinched and jerked his head away when she tried to slip the purple beads and yellowed fangs around his neck, baring his own gleaming fangs unconsciously.

 

“I can put it on myself,” he growled, moving as if to take it from her.

 

Kagome, however, had had enough of his reluctance and whining and immaturity. She growled right back at him so fiercely that, in his astonishment, he didn't react in time to push her hands away when she grabbed the front of his gi with one hand and jammed the necklace over his head with the other. The beads began to glow softly as they made contact with their wearer, ancient runes and characters shifting like shadows under their glossy wooden surfaces.

 

“Childish,” Kagome muttered, pulling the sky blue beads and white shells over her own head and pulling her dark hair out from under them. She felt the soothing heat of the prayer beads' glow through the cloth of her gi as the ancient spells within activated.

 

Kaede had a slight grin on her weathered face at the display. “Ye are indeed a determined child. A fortunate thing, as it turns out, since now ye will need to clear your mind completely of all thought, just as ye have done during Meditation.”

 

Kagome grimaced, quickly turning the expression into a yawn as she caught a glimpse of Kikyo in the sea of faces below. She wondered briefly why Kikyo wasn't the one directing the Bonding, since the impassive miko was one of the most skilled priestesses to ever live. Focus, idiot, came the answering thought. Damn. Those little voices had caught up with her. “What do I do then, Kaede?” she asked, sighing.

 

“Concentrate first,” Kaede told her firmly. “Close your eyes and empty your mind.” Kagome obeyed, but the old woman wasn't done; with something like mischief glinting in her good eye, she added, “Since the whole purpose of this is to Bond yourself to Inuyasha, maybe it would help if ye both joined hands.”

 

Inuyasha, who had occupied himself by scowling at anyone who made eye contact with him, started. “Hell no!” he snapped, mortified at the thought.

 

“Jerk,” Kagome muttered without opening her eyes. But she made no move to grab his hands, cheeks stained faintly pink.

 

Kaede chuckled. “Is your mind clear, child?” She waited until Kagome had forced herself into an utterly relaxed state of mind before continuing. “There. Now, shut out everything but my voice. I will guide ye through the process of Bonding step by step.”

 

Kagome nodded lazily, feeling the stress and anxiety seeping out of her.

 

“All right, child. I want ye to search inside yourself until ye find the source of your spiritual powers, the very core of who ye are. When ye have found it, take hold of it.”

 

Letting her body go slack, Kagome turned her mind inward, oblivious to everything but the regular beating of her heart, the whoosh of air passing in and out of her lungs, the rush of blood through her veins…

 

And suddenly she was there, inside the blazing pool of her own essence with knowledge surging around her and power filling her mind until her ears rang. Dizzy with sensation, Kagome hurriedly seized the whirling energy before it could sweep her away.

 

“Ye have found it? Ah, yes, I can see the glow.” Kaede's voice reached her as if across a chasm of unfathomable distance. “Now, Kagome, ye must find the spirit of Inuyasha within him, pulling your own spirit with ye; never let go of the power ye now hold.”

 

Distantly, Kagome heard an incredulous yelp. “What? You never said anything about her going inside of me, old hag!”

 

Anger flickered along the edges of the girl's awareness. What right did the idiot have to be yelling at Kaede like that, when the old woman was only doing what she was supposed to? With more force than was necessary, Kagome jerked her consciousness out of her own body and reached into Inuyasha's, trailing iridescent bits of spirit with her. Another flicker, this time of satisfaction, circled the barrier between emotion and her mind as she heard a canine yip of surprise and discomfort.

 

“Draw some of Inuyasha's spirit out of his body, child. And remember; don't let go of your own essence no matter what.”

 

Kagome heard the warning and took it seriously. It was dangerous enough to search through your own soul, never mind that of another person. If she lost her grip on herself, she could become lost inside Inuyasha forever. Still, she couldn't completely shut herself off from the strange sensations pelting against her mental barrier.

 

It was a disconcerting thing, being inside someone else so completely. Another heartbeat accompanied her own, another set of lungs drew breath in time with hers, and the rush and pulse of blood was, if anything, even more fierce and chaotic than her own. Inuyasha was at war with himself, his human and demon natures locked in a permanent battle that would tilt in favour of one or the other depending on the hanyou's current circumstances and mood.

 

When Kagome found the very centre of Inuyasha's being, it was no less wild. This was the core of his internal struggle, and she felt like a woodchip being tossed about on a frothing river as the two halves of his nature crashed and swirled against each other in a fiery, molten brilliance.

 

Doubt began to creep through the widening cracks in Kagome's calm. How am I supposed to pull this out of his body? As soon as the thought flashed through her mind, Kagome felt the coiled bundle of her own spirit slip and begin to fray. With a sudden, desperate concentration, the girl forced herself back into a blank state of mind, rewrapping her glowing essence about herself. She couldn't think; she just had to act. Thinking was dangerous during a task such as this one.

 

Tentatively, Kagome tried to take hold of Inuyasha's flaming spirit and was rebuffed instantly, without mercy. Even on such a subconscious level, the hanyou's nature rebelled against timidity and weakness. Kagome saw this, and knew she had to be firm or she would never get anywhere. With sudden, swift movements, she sent branches of her consciousness shooting around the raging halves of Inuyasha's spirit and pulled them as tight as she could, drawing the ensnared bundle towards herself inch by inch.

 

The trapped essence struggled mindlessly, flaring alternately with human and demon fury, but Kagome had had enough practice handling Inuyasha himself to instinctively tighten her hold. And so the young miko dragged both Inuyasha's and her own spirit into the open, fighting the whole way.

 

“Kagome.” Kaede's distant voice startled Kagome, who had been so involved in what she was doing that she forgot everything else. “Good job, child, ye have completed the most difficult part of Bonding. Ye can return to yourself now, but do not loosen your hold on the two spirits.”

 

It was a relief to lower the barrier she had put up around her consciousness, and Kagome drew deep breaths as emotion and thought and sensation flooded back into her mind. When she finally opened her eyes, she could see two glowing streams of spirit flowing from both herself and Inuyasha, hopelessly tangled in the air between them. She raised her gaze to the hanyou's face and found him staring at the tangle of their essences, the emotions playing across his features changing too fast to register.

 

“Welcome back, child,” Kaede said, smiling once again. “Ye have done well. All that is left to do now is to weave the two spirits together until they are impossible to tell apart or separate. This requires very little power, Kagome, but ye will need every ounce of precision ye possess. Are ye ready?”

 

Kagome nodded. “I think so.” She quickly looked away from Inuyasha's face when he met her gaze with hot, accusing eyes. He clearly did not want anything to do with this.

 

Pushing the faint traces of guilt out of her thoughts, Kagome began separating the two spirits, being careful to hold on to them in case they wriggled free and returned to their respective bodies. Once the knots were gone, she used minute flows of miko power to weave threads of essence in a complex, irreversible tapestry that could never be duplicated by anyone, even Kagome herself. Each Bond was unique to the miko and the demon that were a part of it, and Kagome let her emotions flow through her along with her powers, shaping the glowing spirits.

 

“Don't do this,” Inuyasha suddenly hissed, too low for anyone but Kagome to hear. “I don't want… This will never work.”

 

Kagome faltered at the emotion she heard in his voice. But then she began weaving again, anger beginning to flare in response to his continued rejections. Did he think he was better than her? Did he think she wasn't worthy, that she wasn't good enough? What was it about her that he couldn't seem to stand? With every knot tied between their two spirits, Kagome felt herself being pulled closer to Inuyasha, linked in a way that could never be undone.

 

“Fuck, Kagome, stop this!” Inuyasha was beginning to panic, hated memories flashing behind his eyes. He tried to back away from the dark-haired miko girl but found that he was being drawn closer instead.

 

“No, you stop it,” Kagome snapped back, her voice lowered like his. “Hundreds will have to do this after us and hundreds have done this before. This is part of what you got yourself into when you came to the Centre.” She tugged firmly on two twined strands of spirit, eliciting a sharp gasp from both of them as a tremor ran deep into their cores.

 

“Are you trying to make me hate you on purpose?” Inuyasha snarled, twisting futilely as the web of glowing threads shifted, wrapping around his fingers, his hair, his legs… The entire front of the hanyou's body seemed to be connected to Kagome's by the shimmering tapestry.

 

Almost done, Kagome thought grimly, uncaring that her anger was sparking along the weaves. It's too late to turn back. He can hate me, but he has to do it by my side. Only two strands of spirit remained, and she twirled them around and around each other in a spiral before melding the ends together so that the gleaming corded mass was formed of an entire circle, unbroken by loose ends. Seemingly by chance, those final strands were connected separately to hers and Inuyasha's right arms. As Kagome pulled them into place, her hand—mirrored by Inuyasha's—rose of its own accord to join with the hanyou's, midair.

 

For a moment, nothing happened. The Room of Divine Unity was dead silent, and Kagome felt the weight of hundreds of eyes as they rested on her and Inuyasha and the shining web that bound them together. She was intensely aware of her body, and at the same time she was conscious of Inuyasha's; heartbeat matching heartbeat, breathing intermingling with breathing, blood rushing against blood, and the rough feel of his calloused palm against hers…

 

And then Kaede's voice, startlingly loud in the silence. “The word, child,” she breathed, as if afraid to disturb the turbulent energy riding the air currents around the hanyou and the miko. “Ye must choose a word to complete the Bond. It must be a word that holds special meaning for both of ye, for it will be used to call one to the other in times of need. Quick, child, speak the word!”

 

Kagome felt her mind go blank. What word could possibly encompass what she was experiencing right now? What word could solidify the Bond she had just painstakingly woven between herself and the unwilling half demon? Her wandering eyes found Inuyasha's through the tangle of shimmering, sparking threads and locked with them. His gaze was gold-amber with passionate anger and flecked with feral yellow that hinted at fear.

 

“I will never forgive you for this,” he told her, his voice low with the promise of retribution. His claws dug into the back of her hand where they were joined.

 

Those simple words spiked Kagome's fury to new heights. She was tired—no, exhausted—and confused and irritated, and if she wasn't as reluctant as he was about this whole thing, she was getting there. And he would have the nerve to place the blame on her? Eyes narrowing, Kagome's mind unfroze long enough to know she wanted to get him back for this. How could she humiliate him in such a way that he couldn't defend himself?

 

“Kagome, ye must pick a word now, while the Bond is still strong!” Kaede said urgently.

 

That's it. A word… Anger and hurt and countless other emotions thrumming along the web of spirit and through her body, Kagome opened her mouth and spoke. “Inuyasha, you mutt; Sit, boy!”

 

There was a blinding pulse of light as the knotted threads of spirit registered the completion of the Bonding, pulling the two partners the last few feet between them until they were nose to nose and then vanishing. The prayer bead necklaces flared as well, briefly, before dimming to their plain wooden luster.

 

Kaede, her grandmotherly smile widening in relief, stepped forward. “Excellent, child! Ye have finished the Bonding.” She turned to address the watching crowd. “Let—”

 

But something was happening that wasn't supposed to. As the faint echoes of Kagome's vehement statement circled the Room, Inuyasha's necklace began to glow again, the pure, colourless light of before tinted with purple. With a suddenness that made everyone jump—and cut Kaede off mid-sentence—the hanyou was yanked brutally to the floor, face-first.

 

Again, silence settled over the Room's occupants, but this time it didn't last. As the purplish glow retreated back into the prayer beads, Inuyasha pushed his face up to glare furiously at Kagome. “You bitch! You fucked up the spell, didn't you? You did something to it so that this would happen!” Jumping to his feet, the hanyou advanced menacingly on Kagome. “You better run, wench, because when I catch you…” He trailed off, cracking his fingers.

 

Kagome took a step back instinctively, but then stiffened her back. She was a surprised as he was by what had happened, but that didn't mean she wasn't about to use this to her advantage. “Sit boy,” she ordered, taking immense satisfaction in the sound of his irritating face hitting the stone floor.

 

A babble of voices began to break out as the crowd discussed the events it had just witnessed in incredulous tones and Inuyasha pried his face off the ground to swear loudly at Kagome, who was laughing, nearly hysterical from exhaustion.

 

Over the din, Kaede finished what she had been saying, her lined face puzzled. “Let it be known that the miko, Kagome, and her demon partner, Inuyasha, are now as one; the Bonding was successful.” But the old, gray-haired miko sounded doubtful, and the ceremony dissolved into confusion.

 

Unheard in all the noise, Naraku began to chuckle like a cat who's opened its claws and found the mouse inside them still struggling.

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Wow, ten pages again! I'm sorry if this was a somewhat boring chapter (I know not everyone likes the whole detailed explanation, internal struggle thing) but it was necessary for the story, and I'd already written part 1, which meant I now had to write part 2. That's one thing you should know about my writing style—I am not a planner. I don't plan my stories, I don't plan my chapters, I don't even plan which character pairings the story will be about. With me, I get an idea in my head and I have to write it out. The consequences are, I have a fraction of a story thought out and no idea how to turn it into a fully-fledged fic. I just kinda write when I feel like and let the words come, which then results in repetition, plot holes, writers block, and other bad things, lol. Anyway, if you haven't been scared off/put to sleep by my little ramble, please review!

 

~SilverMyste~