InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Difference a Little Time Can Make ❯ Chapter 6 ( Chapter 6 )

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha. Rumiko Takahashi does. I am not making any money from this.

 

Summary: A butterfly flaps its wings and a tornado occurs on the opposite side of the world. One difference causes a ripple effect, changing everything. What difference can a small change make? What if Inuyasha didn't arrive at Kikyou's village for several weeks? What difference would a little bit of time make? What if he arrived in time to save Kaede from the demons but was mistakenly blamed by Kikyou? What if he never heard of the Shikon no Tama, never had any type of relationship with Kikyou? How would this affect his meeting with Kagome?

 

Author's note: Thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far. Please continue to let me know what you think of this story. I am more likely to update quickly when I am inspired by reviews, otherwise I might lose interest and take a while to post the next chapter. I'm not saying that I won't post if I don't get a certain number of reviews, just that I write faster when I am inspired.

Warning: This chapter contains groping and attempted rape. Don't read if that bothers you. There is a reason for the rating on this story.

 

After a short time had passed Kagome sat up and dried her tears. “I guess he's not coming back” she said sadly. “I can't stay here by myself, and sitting around crying isn't going to help anything. I guess I'd better try to find a way home. If I can find the well maybe I can use it to get home. If not I can always head to that village. Kaede-sama would probably be happy to see me.” That idea didn't really sit too well with her, but she knew she had no other choice. With that settled, she set her face into a determined mask and set out into the forest. 'At least this time I have an idea of which way to go' she thought as she remembered which direction Inuyasha had brought them from the previous day.

 

The sun was high in the sky and Kagome judged it to be a little past midday when she spotted the Goshinboku in the distance. Glad for a familiar landmark, she quickened her pace and soon found herself in the clearing. She paused as she looked around but it appeared that none of the villagers were nearby. She looked around to get her bearings, and then proceeded in the direction of the old well.

 

“There it is” she said as she spotted it. She moved to approach when a noise in the foliage around her caught her attention and she spun around. “Who's there?” she asked nervously as she tried to see what had caused the sound. She didn't see anyone but had a bad feeling. “Inuyasha, is that you?” she called, hoping that the hanyou had come after her. She received no reply.

 

Becoming frightened, she began to back up towards the well, hoping she could reach it before whatever was out there reached her. She had only gone a few steps when there was a rustling in the bushes beside her and several men shot out to grab her. “AAHH!” she screamed as she struggled against them but there were too many and she found herself quickly subdued.

 

One of them asked “Is this her?”

 

Another replied “Must be. See them strange clothes she has on?”

 

“Then let's go. The boss is waiting” another said. One man held her by each arm as they forced her to march through the forest with the other two taking up positions in front and behind. Kagome wondered what she had gotten herself into now. At first she thought that they must be men from the village but then she realized that their clothing was different from that of the simple villagers. They were filthy and stunk but wore armor and carried weapons. After a few minutes of walking she realized that they weren't heading in the direction of the village and she felt her fear increase. 'If they were taking me to the village at least I'd have Kaede-sama. But I don't think that they are from the village after all.' She got no response to any questions she asked, only a harsh “Quiet or we'll gag you!” She kept her mouth shut after taking a look at them and deciding that she didn't want anything they carried to be placed in her mouth.

 

A short while later they came to what appeared to be an old abandoned shrine. There were a few horses tied up outside but they walked right past them and entered the building. Kagome found herself roughly thrown to the floor as the men looked around the building.

 

“Huh. Guess the boss isn't back yet. Wonder what he wanted with this girl anyway” one said as he tossed his weapons to the side.

 

“Don't know. But I can think of a few things I'd like to do with her” another replied with a leer at Kagome. Kagome felt herself shudder with disgust and fear at his look.

 

“Well, the boss only said he wanted her alive and in one piece, didn't he?” A third asked also looking at Kagome. “He didn't say we couldn't have some fun with her.” Kagome tried to scoot away from the looks that were being directed at her only for her to crash into the legs of the last man.

 

“You're right boys. And ain't she a sweet little thing too. Bet we could have a lot of fun with her before the boss get's back.” And he leaned down to grab her.

 

Kagome panicked and shot to her feet, looking around for a way out. She spotted a door and ran towards it but then she felt one of them fist his hand in her hair and she was jerked back painfully to the floor. “Now, now. It's not very nice to try to run away when we went to all the trouble of bringing you here. Hold her” the largest of the four said as he stood over her. Kagome felt the other three grasp her arms and legs as she struggled against them.

 

“Get off of me! Let me go!” she cried, afraid of what she knew was about to happen. She struggled but one had her arms pinned above her head while the other two each gripped a leg.

 

They laughed at her and she felt one roughly grab her breasts. “Now, now sweetheart. Just lie back like a good little whore and we'll all have some fun.” The one still standing over her said as she saw him untie his hakama. He knelt down between her spread legs and grabbed her shirt, tearing it open as the buttons popped off and exposing her chest. He roughly pinched and twisted her breasts through her bra before lowering his hands to her skirt and lifting it. She felt him reach for her panties and instinctively cried out “INUYASHA!” though she knew he wasn't around and couldn't hear her.

 

There was a sudden crashing sound and then the man leaning over her was gone. She heard growling and snarling as the other men released her to grab their weapons. She struggled to sit up and was in time to see a red and white blur easily take care of the bandits with a few swipes of his claws.

 

A moment later and it was over. Kagome stared at Inuyasha standing there with his back to her, still growling with blood dripping off of his claws. 'He killed them' she thought as she tried not to look at the bodies. She was surprised to find that she didn't care, not after what they were about to do to her. Clutching the remains of her shirt to her chest, she rose to her feet as she continued to stare at Inuyasha.

 

Inuyasha stood there growling, feeling his blood course hotly through his veins as he stared at the remains of the bandits. 'Fucking bastards didn't deserve such a fast and painless death' he thought as he remembered the scene he had crashed in on. He had returned to the hut to find Kagome gone and had thought “good riddance” believing her to have gone back to the village. He had tried to ignore the empty feeling he felt when he realized that she had left but as time had gone by he had been plagued by thoughts of her being attacked by youkai for the jewel she carried. After trying to unsuccessfully ignore those thoughts, he had tracked her scent back to the Goshinboku. Upon reaching the tree's clearing, he had believed himself to be correct in his earlier assumptions but further sniffing had shown that she had not gone in the direction of the village.

 

Instead he followed her scent towards the old well but found that it stopped before she met it and was joined by several unwashed male scents. He had growled when he had detected fear in the remnants of her scent, and when he realized that these scents also didn't lead off into the village he had felt his concern increase. He had quickly tracked the scents to an old shrine and as he had gotten closer he had heard Kagome's cries and increased his pace. When he heard her scream his name in that terror filled tone as he reached the shrine, he had crashed right through the wall without stopping. The sight of Kagome, clothes torn and pinned to the ground by three men while a fourth leaned over with his hakama at his ankles had caused his blood to boil and Inuyasha had seen red. He had ripped the man off of Kagome, knocking his head clear off of his shoulders before turning to the other men and dispatching them with his claws. He could care less that he had just killed four men in cold blood. All he had thought about was that they had dared to touch his bitch.

 

Movement caught his attention and he turned to see that Kagome had risen to her feet, shirt clutched to her chest. He saw the uncertain look on her face and felt his ears droop as realization set in. 'I just killed four humans in front of her. Now she'll really hate me if she hadn't already.' He thought as he turned to gaze at his claws covered in blood. He refused to look at her as he prepared himself for the disgust and fear he was expecting. He found that he didn't regret killing the men, he couldn't after what they had done, but he did regret how it would change how Kagome felt about him.

 

Kagome continued to stare at him. 'He came for me? But did he come for me or the jewel?' she wondered. She saw him glance at her before he lowered his gaze to stare at his blood covered hands. She saw the look on his face as he gazed at his claws and suddenly knew he came for her and not the jewel. 'He killed those men. I should be afraid of him but I'm not. I know he only did it to protect me. He saved me, again.' With that thought she began to come out of her shock as the horror of what almost occurred hit her. With a sob she threw herself forward and wrapped her arms around the surprised hanyou's waist.

 

Inuyasha was startled when he felt her wrap her arms around him. 'She's hugging me?' But then he felt her body trembling against his and smelled the salt of her tears. “Oi, d-don't cry” he told her. But his words had no effect. He hesitantly wrapped his own arms around her and felt her grip on his waist tighten. “Ssh Kagome. It's alright. You're safe now, I'll protect you.” He found himself wishing the bandits were alive so that he could kill them again. He forced that thought away as he continued to soothe the distraught girl in his arms. He felt her sobs start to quiet as she started to calm. Glancing around the shrine, he decided that this was not a sight that she should have to see again and picked her up before exiting through the hole he had made. He walked a short distance and then set her down in the grass. When he made to let go of her he felt her clutch at his haori and he looked down to see her staring at him with a desperate look upon her face.

 

When Kagome had felt him pick her up and carry her from the shrine she had relaxed in his grip. But when he set her down and she felt him start to move away she had been filled with a sudden fear that he was going to leave her again and had clutched at his haori. Seeing him look at her she cried “Don't go! Please don't leave me again! I'm sorry Inuyasha, please don't go.” She felt tears begin to well up in her eyes again.

 

Inuyasha was shocked at the despair and pleading that filled her voice and scent. 'She wants me to stay? Why? Why isn't she disgusted by me? Why doesn't she hate me?' Seeing the tears that threatened to fall he told her “I'm not going anywhere” and was relieved when she began to calm.

 

At his reassurance that he would stay Kagome calmed down and loosened her grip on him. She glanced up at his face and was startled to see him staring at her with an odd look of confusion on his face. She realized that he might still be angry with her from their earlier argument. “Thank you for coming after me Inuyasha. I'm sorry for earlier. I was wrong to say that I don't need you. I do. Thank you for saving me again.” She expected him to say something like “Damn right you do” and so was shocked by what he did say.

 

Inuyasha stared down at her. 'She apologized? She's thanking me?' He couldn't figure out why she didn't hate him. So he asked her. “Why are you being so nice?” She looked at him with confusion written on her face so he went on. “I tried to take the jewel from you before, yelled at you, abandoned you. And then I killed those men, ripped them open with my claws. They were human, not youkai. Why aren't you disgusted by me? Why don't you hate me?”

 

Kagome felt her gaze soften as she stared at him. “Because you saved me. I know you only did it to protect me. How can I hate you or be disgusted by you for doing something that saved me. And they may have been human but that doesn't mean that they weren't monsters. They were going to rape me. Who knows how many others they have raped or killed. They were bad people and I'm not sorry that they are dead. I'm not going to hate you for saving my life. I know that you would never hurt me, I trust you.” She took a deep breath. “And as for earlier, I know that it wasn't really you. The jewel was affecting you, it made you act that way. And as for the yelling, I think we both said some things that we didn't mean. Can't we just agree to forgive and forget?” she asked him quietly.

 

He could only nod as he stared at her in amazement. But he was broken from his reverie by a voice intruding on them.

 

“Oh isn't this touching” a voice said as they looked up to see an abnormally large man standing across the clearing from them. “You two are so sweet you're making me sick.”

 

“Who the fuck are you” Inuyasha snarled as he placed himself protectively in front of Kagome. There was something wrong about this guy, he smelled wrong, like death and rotting meat.

 

“Doesn't matter. Hand over the Shikon no Tama.” He drew a large sword and pointed it at them.

 

“Keh! Not likely, bastard.” Inuyasha said as he cracked his knuckles before lunging at the man. The bandit swung the sword and forced Inuyasha to leap back. “What the hell?! There's something wrong with this guy. He's swinging that sword around like he's drunk or something but I don't smell any alcohol, just the stench of rotting meat.” He watched as the man stumbled through another swing and a suspicion began to form in his mind. The next time he swung the sword, Inuyasha slashed with his claws and broke it in half. “Keh! What'll you do now? Why don't you show yourself, you weakling?”

 

In response the bandit threw the remainder of the sword. Inuyasha didn't even have to dodge as it came no where near him but then he realized that he wasn't the target and threw himself backwards at Kagome, knocking her to the ground. Neither of them noticed when the Shikon no Tama fell from her torn shirt. “You alright?” he asked. At her nod, he told her “Move away from here. Go over by the horses where it's safer.” He turned back to his opponent as she did what he said.

 

“Now you weakling, why don't you show yourself, crow youkai!” At Inuyasha's words there was movement on the bandit's chest, and his shirt fell open to reveal a hole in his chest. From her position near the trees Kagome saw a beaked head with three red eyes suddenly poke out of the hole and she had to stifle a scream. 'What is that?' Feeling nervous even though she trusted Inuyasha to protect her, she searched for a weapon. She saw the bow and arrows on the horse next to her and a strange feeling of deja vu occurred to her. She grabbed the bow and hesitantly placed an arrow on it, though she kept it pointed at the ground. 'What am I doing?' she wondered. 'I don't know how to shoot a bow and arrow.' But she had to admit that it felt right to hold it in her hands.

 

Inuyasha continued to taunt the youkai. “You must have been eating through that chest all night to make yourself a nice, cozy nest. What weaklings you carrion crows are. You're too weak to fight your own battles or even manipulate the living. You have to settle for manipulating dead bodies to get anything done.” Inuyasha lunged forward with his fist drawn back. “Come out of that putrid mass of dead flesh and fight me!” he yelled as he drove his fist into the dead body.

 

With a caw, the crow youkai exited the body through a hole in it's back. As Inuyasha made to swipe at it with his claws, it suddenly circled around and dove to the ground before rising back into the air with something clutched in it's beak. “What the-? Damn it! It's got the Shikon no Tama!” Inuyasha shouted as he lunged at it. It rose higher into the air and swallowed the jewel. “Gotta stop it before it can get away. Sankon Tessou!” he called as he swiped his claws but missed as the crow flew higher still.

 

From her position on the ground Kagome watched as the crow youkai swallowed the jewel and began to transform, growing larger and uglier. 'No' she thought as she watched Inuyasha swipe at it and miss. 'I've got to stop it somehow. I can't let it get away with the jewel.' She saw the crow turn with it's talons raised as it began to dive at Inuyasha. 'I can't let it hurt him' she thought. Feeling the bow that she still held in her hands, she raised it and sighted the arrow at the crow as a feeling of calm came over her. She took aim and the arrow began to glow pink as she released it.

 

Inuyasha had dodged the crow's attack and was just preparing to leap after the it again when a glowing pink missile shot past him and took off the crow's wing, causing it to crash to the ground in a mass of feathers. He looked back to see Kagome lowering a bow, a look of confusion written across her face. She snapped out of it as she looked behind him and yelled “Inuyasha! The jewel is allowing it to regenerate. You've got to stop it before it heals and escapes!” He turned back around and quickly slashed at the crow youkai, severing it's head.

 

“Keh! That should slow it down a bit.” He said as Kagome came running over. He tried not to stare at the way her torn shirt exposed her chest as she ran, covered only by the flimsy white binding on her chest. She knelt next to the corpse of the crow youkai and he asked “Oi what are you doing?”

 

“I've got to get the jewel before it can reconstitute itself” she told him. “The jewel's glow is coming from right here.” And she indicated a spot on the body.

 

“Keh. Step back a little wench” he told her and then used his claws to slice open where she had indicated. Once that was done, she moved closer and reached inside to pull out the jewel. Once she had removed it, the youkai stopped moving and began to dissolve.

 

Kagome quickly ran over to the horses and grabbed a small pouch from one of the saddles before placing the jewel inside of it. Then she hung the pouch around her neck. “There” she said when she was finished. She looked down at herself and blushed as she saw how exposed she was. She then looked through the saddlebags for something to keep her shirt closed with. She figured that the bandits didn't need any of it any longer. She found a couple of long ribbons and tied them over her shirt to keep it closed. “There, at least I'm not flashing everyone now.” She turned back to where Inuyasha was waiting and asked him “I don't suppose there is somewhere nearby I can take a bath is there? I feel disgusting and want to wash off the stench of those bandits.” She shuddered as she remembered their hands on her body. She really wanted to scrub her skin to get the memory of their hands off of her.

 

“Yeah, the river's nearby. I'll take you there. You really stink” Inuyasha agreed. He didn't really want to go to the river as he felt it was too close to the village for comfort but the smell of the bandits on her body was making him want to tear something apart. He quickly pulled her onto his back as he took off in the direction of the river.