InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Colors of Life ❯ Self Destruction ( Chapter 6 )

Disclaimer- I do not own InuYasha or any of the original characters; they are the property of the brilliant Rumiko Takahashi. This story is an individual creation for personal and shared enjoyment of true InuYasha fans that I hope is up to the quality of the real series. Constructive criticism is always welcome.

Translation notes- Itai/ouch

- nani/what

- Goshinboku/God Tree

- otouto/younger brother

Chapter 6: Self Destruction

The mysterious, measureless space between times is traveled once more by two who are familiar with the strange floating feeling that occurs here.

But the young schoolgirl and the silver-haired hanyou are too impatient to appreciate the sensation on their hurried return trip to the present.

`InuYasha couldn't have dropped it,' the girl thought to herself as the walls of the dry well began to be discernable out of the formlessness.

The pair step lightly onto the dirt surface as gravity once again takes hold. And lying there, as if waiting for them, is the Scroll.

Kagome picks up the hated thing, "Why won't it go back through the well?" She looks at InuYasha with puzzlement, "It came forward to `now', why won't it go back?"

He crosses his arms and frowns, "I don't know…" His arms drop and he sighs, "…but I bet Myouga might."

In a sudden move, InuYasha picks her up in his arms and before she can protest, leaps out of the well to set her gently on her feet in the wellhouse.

"You stay here with the Scroll, Kagome." He holds her until she has her balance. "I'll go back and find out everything he knows about this thing." He looks hard into her eyes, "I'll be right back."

She gulps and nods, holding her breath and the Scroll in both hands.

InuYasha turns and leaps back down into the well…and is gone.

Kagome stands there in confusion trying to catch her breath, `Sometimes he can be so…' She sighs, `…wonderful.' She slowly climbs the rickety stairs, slides open the doors and stands staring at her house; at Souta's bedroom window. The curtains are still open. She looks down at the Scroll in her hand, `I don't want this thing anywhere near him.'

Holding her skirt, she sits on the wooden stoop to wait.

---------------

InuYasha takes great leaping strides back to Kaede's hut and bursts through the doorway, startling everyone still in the process of straightening things up. "Myouga!" He barks out commandingly.

Kaede, Miroku, Sango, and Shippo all stare at him then in unison point towards the corner where the tiny scholar had been pursuing stray grains of rice.

Myouga comes bouncing out of the shadows, "InuYasha-sama, wh-" He is cut off as the impatient hanyou snatches him up and starts questioning him.

"How do we destroy the Scroll?" His intensity captivates everyone's attention.

The small fleas stands up on InuYasha's palm and, waving his multiple arms, looks up at him. "Can I see it?" He starts hopping from foot to foot in excitement, "Where is it?"

"Kagome has it," he bites out. He asks again, "How do we destroy it?"

Sango steps forward, looking at the empty doorway then back at InuYasha, "Where is Kagome-chan?"

InuYasha sighs and grits out between his teeth, "She's at home." To the flea, "Do you know how?!"

Miroku butts in this time, "But I thought you both were bringing the Scroll back here?"

InuYasha glares at the Monk, "It won't come back through the well, so Kagome stayed behind with it." He shakes his hand with the flea-youkai in it and demands impatiently, "Well??"

Kaede sighs and sets her broom aside, shaking her head, "Getting information out of ye is like pulling weeds; the root is always elusive and there's always more to pull."

She comes closer and looks directly at the agitated hanyou who returns her look with a stubborn one of his own. "Now, InuYasha, what is wrong?"

He rolls his eyes at her and says with fangs showing, "Souta used the Scroll - it won't come back through the well - and we need to destroy it before it kills him!"

His glare shifted back down at Myouga, "Well?"

Sango reaches out and grabs InuYasha's sleeve and asks worriedly, "Kagome-chan's otouto?"

He glances distractedly and nods. She puts her hand over her mouth in concern for her friend, `Oh, Kagome-chan…'

Miroku puts an arm around her shoulders, startling her into looking up at him. He gives her a gentle squeeze causing her to blush as they all wait for Myouga's wisdom.

The flea clears his throat, "…Umm…I don't know."

"What?!" they all chorus.

The poor little flea is knocked onto his back with the force of their outburst and he raises three of his arms in defense. "I-I-I've told you all I kn-n-now!" He stutters quickly. Myouga looks up at all the huge disbelieving faces surrounding him, his gaze caught by the growing anger spreading across the hanyou's face with his fangs showing, making his appearance ominous, and rushes to placate him.

"The legend doesn't mention how to destroy the Scroll; at least none of the versions I've ever heard did. And I've never bothered to research it before because it was a good possibility that it didn't even exist." His little face brightened, "InuYasha-sama, maybe we could burn it?"

A growl began deep in the hanyou's throat, and everyone else took a step back.

InuYasha's closes his hand around the unfortunate flea and throws him across the room, "KEH!" Whirling, he disappears out the door.

Those left standing consider themselves lucky not to be on the receiving end of InuYasha's anger.

Shippo strolls over to bend over the crumpled flea lying on the floor, "Myouga-jiji?"

The flea in question pushes himself to a sitting position, rubbing his head, and looks up at the Kitsune, "Itai…nani?"

"We already tried that." He watches the flea's eyes roll up as he flops back to the floor.

--------------------

InuYasha hops out of the well in the present day to the smell of gunpowder drifting through the open doors of the wellhouse. He doesn't hesitate to leap past the stairs to the outside, almost tripping over Kagome sitting on the stoop, and stumbling to the side as she turns and stands. "InuYasha!"

He regains his balance, windmilling his arms comically and shoots her an annoyed look, "Damnit woman! Watch where you're sitting!"

Kagome covers her mouth to hide her sudden smile and turns her back to compose herself.

He scowls at her back then scans the area for the source of that acrid smell. The Scroll is lying on the ground about fifteen feet away surrounded by a scorch mark.

He frowns in puzzlement and calls her, "Kagome." She faces him and he asks, "What is that all about?"

She pushes some stray hair behind her ear and shrugs. "I thought that maybe I could blow it up, so I raided Jichan's stash of fireworks…" She shrugs and gestures to the unharmed Scroll, "As you can see, it didn't work."

She steps closer, hope plainly on her face, "Well? Did Myouga-jiji know what to do?"

He shook his head, disgusted with the wasted trip; time lost that they couldn't afford to loose and hated the way the light left her expressive eyes. `…Maybe…' an idea that had been floating in the back of his mind became more acceptable in a situation with few options.

He pulls out his sword. "I have an idea." Tessusaiga transforms in his hand and he faces the Scroll. Kagome's eyes widen and he glances at her, "Stand back."

She quickly moves out of the way, clasping her hands prayer-like with anxiety and biting her lip.

InuYasha braces himself, secures his footing and focuses on the Scroll and on calling forth the power of his weapon.

Mystic forces begin twisting along the blade and he raises it over his head. The blade sweeps in a downward arc, "Kaze no Kizu!" and the force is released, cutting across and over the Scroll, obscuring it from view.

Kagome holds her breath and InuYasha gazes intently, both of them…waiting.

The energies slowly dissipate to reveal the unharmed Scroll, lying exactly as it was.

"NO!" Kagome stares at it, shaking her head.

"Damnit!" InuYasha spits out and takes a few steps to one side, frowning fiercely at the Scroll and muttering under his breath, then stepping back and reassuming his attack stance.

Kagome watches as Tessusaiga slowly turns a blood red and the twisting forces return, twining caressingly along the blade.

InuYasha again raises his Father's Legacy over his head and brings it down powerfully, "Tessaiga!!"

The wave of force washes over the target, once more enveloping the Scroll in a violent flare.

The girl and hanyou wait for the burning energies to withdraw, not surprised this time but just as disappointed when the desired result is denied them yet again.

InuYasha drops to a crouch and starts punching the ground with his free hand, cursing with every blow.

Kagome turns away to begin pacing with her arms crossed, back and forth behind the frustrated half-demon, glancing every now and then at the hated Scroll lying innocently across gouges in the ground left behind from Tessusaiga's failed attacks. `What could destroy something a god created?' she asks herself, trying to ignore the sputtering hanyou. `What could possibly be powerful enough…?'

InuYasha had taken up tossing pebbles any which way and was still snarling with Tessusaiga discarded in the dirt, dull and rusty in its untransformed state.

`…Powerful…enough…to destroy it?' She watches him get up to stomp around kicking the dirt and still cursing, her thoughts turned inward, `if only we could wish it away…'

Her eyes widen and she stops her pacing, staring at nothing. Her sudden notion holding her motionless with its simplicity then drives her to walk over and pick up the object of all the trouble caused. Out loud she says, "I know what to do."

InuYasha halts and stares at her calm face and out-of-place smile. It's not a happy smile but a malevolent one, one he has never before seen on this human girl's face, and it disturbs him.

She meets his stare and holds the Scroll up. "It's so simple," her voice devoid of emotion as she shakes her head. "We'll make it destroy itself!"

He stands stunned and watches her run back to the house. He blinks in sudden understanding and snatches Tessusaiga up to follow her inside and up to her room. He stands in the doorway as she digs through her desk looking for something to write with.

"Ah!" She grabs the pen and slams the Scroll onto the desktop, pushing it open to a blank part and starts scratching the pen across the surface. She makes a sound of frustration and throws the pen on the floor and begins searching the drawers again.

InuYasha watches her go through two more pens only to toss them aside as well. She finally finds a pencil and starts writing frantically…nothing…she scribbles the tip furiously back and forth…nothing.

---Snap!--- The small piece of graphite rolls in a circle on the paper. Kagome stares in disbelief at the broken pencil in her hand and at the thrice-damned Scroll thwarting her every effort to save her brother.

"NO!" She snaps the pencil in two and throws the useless pieces aside, then leans tiredly with her hands on the desk and hangs her head in defeat, the bright colors on the Scroll seeming to laugh at her.

InuYasha can't stand seeing her like this. Her despair hurting him worse than any arrow ever did. He slowly moves to stand behind her, reaching out but hesitating, feeling helpless. `I didn't protect her from this…' guilty thoughts torment his soul and his hand closes into a tight fist, then drops to hang limply at his side. `I shouldn't have let her take the Scroll,' forgetting that it hadn't been his decision alone.

Kagome stares down at the colorful figures acting out a young boy's fantasies. "He shouldn't have to die for having dreams!" Her raspy whisper only flails the conscience-stricken InuYasha more. "It's not right!"

She continues to watch the two-dimensional play that Souta had drawn, `…drawn?' She straightens, holding the Scroll open and lifting it up before her like a banner for some great announcement. "Souta drew this!"

InuYasha looks at the back of her head in concern, wondering if the girl had lost her mind. "Yes," he agreed cautiously, "Souta drew that."

She turns to face him, excitement replacing the sorrow that had beaten her down only a moment ago, "No, you don't understand; Souta drew ON this!"

He nods at her, still puzzled.

"Maybe Souta is the only one who can, because he was the one who used it in the first place!"

Stumped once more, he stands there sorting it out in his head as she rushes past him and out into the hall.

Kagome flings open Souta's door and hurries over to the bed. Her Grandfather stands up, looking worried, "I can't keep him awake, Kagome." He holds up a singed feather to wave it in her face, making her nose wrinkle from the stink of it. "Not even this sure-fire way that my Great-Great-Grandfather--"

She grimaces and pushes his hand away, "Not now Jichan!" She drops the Scroll on the blanket over Souta's legs and grabs the boy's shoulders to lift and shake him. "Souta!" His unresponsive state a challenge she was determined to overcome. She shakes him harder and his head flops like a rag-doll's, "Souta!" but his eyes remain closed.

Kagome is peripherally aware of InuYasha entering the room behind her, but her attention stays focused on her unconscious brother. In desperation, she slaps him across the face.

Jichan grabs her arm in protest "Kagome-" and she pushes him away, `Did his eyelids flutter, or did I imagine it?' She calls out, "SOUTA!" There…another twitch. She slaps him again, "SOUTA! Please wake up!"

`Please…please…' she prays silently and holds her breath, listening to the soft groan that issues from his mouth and watching him struggle to move. "Souta! Open your eyes!" They flutter again, `that's it…come-on…'

His eyes open blearily looking dazedly up at her, "On...ee…san…?"

She smiles widely at his whispered question. "InuYasha, get me something to write with, hurry!" Kagome sits next to her brother on the bed and braces him with her arm and pulls the Scroll up across his lap with her free hand.

Souta's head lolls back onto her shoulder and she can feel his breath on her neck. She pats his cheek, "Stay with me, Souta!" Something red appears beside her and InuYasha holds out a blue crayon. She grabs it and wraps Souta's hand around it placing it on the paper. "Souta?"

"Hai… Oneesan?" it was a little stronger sounding.

"Souta, you have to write what I tell you to. Do you understand?"

The hand holding the crayon moved on it's own under hers and his head tilted forward as his eyes blinked, trying to focus, "…hai."

"Now write; This-"

The crayon begins to move, spelling out the word, `yes! It's working!' She watches the blue-colored wax mark the crayon's path on the white surface.

"Scroll-" She could see InuYasha standing next to her Grandfather but could not spare them a glance, her attention on her task, "Is-" but their presence bolstered her confidence.

"By-" Souta slowly writes each word, "It's-" as Kagome dictates. "Own-" She hears her Mother's steps coming from the hallway, "Power-" and pausing in the doorway. "Destroyed."

The Scroll begins to glow and InuYasha grabs it, throwing it on the floor. Mrs. Higurashi gasps and her Grandfather hides behind InuYasha as they all watch the Scroll of Truth, a divine gift given long ago, brighten almost blindingly. Then, with a small shower of sparkling lights, it dissolves completely.

Jichan walks over to look at the empty spot on the floor, and Mama steps into the room and looks at them all with her eyes wide. "Kagome, Souta…what…?"

Souta sits up and turns his head to look at his sister still sitting beside him, "Oneesan?" The color was returning to his face and his eyes were alive with curiosity.

She returns his look, examining his healthy demeanor, relief making her vision blur, "Oh, Souta!" Kagome wraps her arms around him and hugs him tightly, making him squirm.

"Aww… Oneesan!" He struggles to escape and finally notices the silver-haired hanyou all in red standing nearby. He looks up at the golden eyes gazing down at them, "Inu no Oniichan!"

InuYasha watches as the energetic boy wriggles away from his emotional sister and slides off the bed, standing barefooted in his wrinkled pajamas and rumpled hair. He starts chattering away and grabs hold of the red sleeve, "What kind of monsters did you…"

Mrs. Higurashi comes over to put her hand on Souta's forehead, smiling at the coolness there, and asks him how he feels…

Grandpa follows her, exclaiming on how amazing it all was…

InuYasha's head starts to spin with their closeness, and their talking all at once ends up blurring in his ears making him want to put his hands over them…if Souta wasn't holding one arm and Kagome's mother the other one.

"What in the world…?" "Where…go…?" "What was…?" "…Hungry?" One after another, running over each other's words, making no sense to the hapless Hanyou.

Kagome sat alone on the bed staring at her precious family; her kind and patient Mother, her wacky Grandfather, and her little brother that she had almost lost… `And it would have been my fault if…if…' She put her hand to her chest, pressing on the pain she could feel inside making it hard to breathe. `…If…'

InuYasha watches in surprise as Kagome suddenly leaps up, dodges around her family still gabbing at him, and rushes out of the room. Her mother calls after her but she doesn't answer.

InuYasha turns as if to follow, and is pulled up short by the small hands still holding him. He looks down at the young boy, completely different than a few minutes before and full of life, gently loosens Souta's grip and ruffles his hair in apology, squeezes past the now quietly thoughtful woman and cagey old man, and leaves the room.

Her scent is easy to follow, down the stairs and outside. He stops outside after closing the front door and scans the grounds, ears twitching.

When Kagome reaches the Goshinboku she leans heavily against it on one shoulder, eyes burning and out of breath. `I was careless…my fault…Souta could have…' Tears running down her cheeks she drops to her knees and hunches forward, arms wrapped around herself and sobbing hysterically, her hair falling around her face and blocking out the world as she gives into her misery. `My fault…'

"Kagome?"

She hiccups to a ragged stop, unable to block out His voice, and wipes at her eyes. And waits.

"…Good job."

`What?' Her eyes open wide and she looks over her shoulder to stare at him, cheeks flush with emotion. "Good job?" she echoes.

"You figured out what needed to be done." He smiled at her, a little smug at having gotten her to stop crying; he couldn't stand to see her cry.

Her disbelief growing, "good…job," keeping pace with her rising anger. She stands up to face him, eyes flashing, "Good job?"

InuYasha's smile disappears, `Uh oh…'

Her hands clinch into fists, "Was it a `Good Job' to carelessly leave that Damned Thing where he could find it?!"

He takes a step back at the vehemence in her voice, the look in her eyes making him cringe inside.

"He could have died…" her voice drops to a whisper, "…and it would have been…" Her eyes turn bleak, "…My Fault." Her tears return.

InuYasha stares at her, aching, "But he didn't die!" He steps closer, "YOU saved him," another step, "We, none of us, knew what that scroll was." One last step, "We made the best decision at the time."

He grabs her arms and gives her a little shake to make her focus on him, "Think…What would have happened if Naraku," he spits out the name in distaste, "had gotten hold of it?"

Kagome stares up at him in horror at the possibilities, "Oh…My God!"

He nods at her, "And He obviously knew what it was." He shakes his head as his thoughts go around, "If anyone had to `accidentally' use it, I'm glad it was someone without evil thoughts…like Souta."

She frowns painfully, trying to see past the image of her brother at the bigger picture.

InuYasha bends his head, struggling for the right thing to say, "Things can go wrong…things you can't control." She looks up at him, listening to his softly spoken words, "You fix what you can…and let go of what you can't." He moves in very close, eye to eye with the captivated girl, "You can't tear yourself up with might-have-been's."

Her eyes widen as he wraps his arms around her and holds her close, his heart beating strongly against hers and his warm breath brushes past her ear as he whispers, "Everything we've been through…you're courage humbles me."

Kagome buries her face in the red material mentioned only in fables, the returning tears dampening it, and feels the pain in her heart ease; it's thumping rhythm changing. After a few moments, she raises her head and meets his gaze, seeing something smoldering there…

His face turns red, making her blush and she pushes out of his arms to turn away, wiping her eyes and brushing her hands over her skirt. He turns away as well, hiding his hands in his full sleeves.

She peeks back at him; the breeze ruffling his long silvery-white hair starkly contrasted against his brilliant red garments, the false confidence barely covering his embarrassment, and smiles to herself.

"Kagome!"

They both turn to look towards the house at Mrs. Higurashi's call. She is standing just in the doorway, one hand on the frame looking their way and waves with her other hand. She calls out, "Are you and InuYasha staying for dinner?"

Kagome chuckles under her breath, `the world could almost come to an end…and dinner is still made.' She rolls her eyes and looks at her dog-eared friend, who shrugs back at her.

She answers back with a wide smile, "Hai, Mama!"

-----------------------

The trees bend gently in the nighttime breeze making their leaves rustle, a soft background to the cricket's song drifting up from the undergrowth in the forest.

Shippo hops down from the edge of the Bone-eater's well and sighs with boredom. "C'mon Myouga, I'm hungry. Let's go back to Kaede-obachan's."

The tiny flea-youkai stares down the dark throat of the well, empty as it had been all day. He frowns, wishing he could jump in and follow InuYasha where he had gone. But he knew he couldn't…climbing out of that deep hole once in one day was enough for him. With one last look, he jumps down onto Shippo's head. "I only wanted to see it…"

Shippo rolls his eyes, "yeah - yeah - I know!" The little Kitsune follows the path that leads back to the village, and supper…not noticing the dark form hidden in the trees, watching…plotting…

------- The End ------

Next Story:Tangled Ambitions