InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Price of Vengeance ❯ Chapter Five: No Way Home ( Chapter 6 )

Chapter Five (No Way Home)

Lord SesshouMaru was back up in the Western Tower, staring sightlessly at the stunning vista before him. This time his thoughts were centered around the girl, and not his brother's sword. The girl continued to elude him. He could not place her family, unless she was somehow related to the dead Kikyo. The resemblance was peculiar; the girl could be Kikyo's twin. She was not a sister; Kikyo's only sister was now a fifty-plus year old crow of a priestess. A cousin, perhaps? It would explain why his hanyou brother and his strange woman and their friends spent so much time in the old miko's village.

How amusing it was, to think that his half-breed brother had only fallen for a woman who but reminded him of his dead, former love.

*Pathetic.*

It was surprising, though, how little he could learn about the girl. The youkai he had bothered to interrogate could only give him sketchy details at best. From various sources, he had learned that she would disappear from time to time in his half-brother's forest. That could easily be accounted for, she could be trysting with the feeble hanyou. But InuYasha did not always go with her. Curious, indeed.

He knew that the girl could sense Jewel shards, which made her worth to most petty demons pretty valuable. A Taiyoukai such as he did not need the Shikon shards to increase his own inherent powers. The eventual gathering of shards by Naraku might lead to a confrontation with the dark hanyou one day, when the fumbling baboon turned his jealous eyes toward other lands and ambitions, but the thought had never really worried the Lord all that much. Naraku would die from his own ambitions one day, and SesshouMaru would take delight in it.

The girl also had some strange powers of her own. She had withstood attacks from many youkai that would have killed lesser beings. Of course, she had the protection of his foolish half-bastard brother, and of the other friends in their group. The monk and the demon exterminator had their own talents, but they were still petty compared to any real power.

Some of the youkai he had interrogated had said the girl used a bow and arrows, and that she had some type of purification powers. Such powers a miko might lay claim to. But the girl did not wear the robes of a priestess. In fact, her attire was rather immodest. It showed her status as InuYasha's whore. Foolish ningen.

There was only one thing left to do. He must go and observe the girl himself. Then, he could satisfy his questions, and if not, he could take the girl and ask her directly. He would see how much his half-brother preferred the woman, and if the foolish hanyou cared for her as much as Naraku had suggested, than the possibility of humiliating InuYasha by using her would be open to delightful contemplation.

A slow smile curved the cold, arrogant face of the thoughtful Taiyoukai.

"What do you mean, I can't go home?!"

*Somehow, this feels like deja vu. Haven't we had this argument before?* Kagome thought idly in the back of her mind even as she glared at the hanyou across the fire from her.

InuYasha gave her an indifferent shrug. "The well's gone."

"WHAT?" Kagome's eyes flashed daggers.

"Calm down, Kagome." Miroku, sitting between them, opened his dark blue eyes. "What InuYasha says is truth."

"What do you mean, he's telling the truth?" Kagome glared at the hapless houshi.

"The well was burned in the fire, Kagome." Sango said quietly, her eyes troubled for her friend. "It's covered in ash and debris."

"What are you saying?" Kagome pleaded with her friend.

"She's saying--" InuYasha stood up, jaw thrust out, arms crossed over his chest, "--that you can't go home. There's no way now, with the well gone."

"You...you can't be right." Kagome said, shaking. She stood up, disturbing Shippo, who had been curled up at her side, asleep. She pointed a finger at InuYasha, glaring. "You're lying! You just want me to stay here and find your stupid Jewel shards for you! You don't want me to leave at all! You just hate the fact that I have a life of my own in my own time! You...mutt-face!"

"Mutt-face?!" InuYasha yelled back. "You've been hanging around that stupid wolf-boy again, haven't you? Haven't you!" As an after-thought, he included: "And I'm not a liar!"

"Kagome! InuYasha!" Miroku stood up as well, holding his hands up to try and pacify the furious pair. "Stop yelling, it accomplishes nothing!"

"And what if I have? You wouldn't care!" Kagome yelled back, ignoring Miroku.

Shippo had sat up by this time, and blinked at the furious exchanges. Creeping over to Sango, who looked a little sad, he whispered, "At it again, huh?" Sango shook her head minutely down at the incorrigible kit, a faint smile curving her lips.

"Why, I otta---" InuYasha growled.

"What? Otta what?" Kagome egged him on.

"InuYasha! Stop this stupid, senseless quarreling! Kagome! Sit down and listen to what we are trying to tell you." Miroku interrupted them. Kagome, back stiff, glared at the whole group. She quieted, but refused to sit back down. InuYasha turned his back, arms still crossed, and glared at the lengthening shadows around them. The sun had patterned the sky in hints of amber and pink as it settled toward the horizon.

"Kagome." Miroku turned to the more amenable party. "InuYasha is telling the truth. The well has disappeared. The rim, which was made of wood, has burned to the ground. InuYasha and I went and looked for the Jewel shard that the Ash-demon had had in its body, and we saw that the spot where the well once stood was covered in dirt and ash. I don't know if you can use it to get back home. There's no opening there for you to use."

Tears sparkled in the girl's brown eyes as the monk's words sunk in. "You can't be right. You can't." She said brokenly. *Mom. Sota. Grandpa.* Pictures of her family flooded her mind, and the tears came in a flood.

"Aw, man!" InuYasha growled as he smelled Kagome's tears. He looked back over his shoulder, and saw the girl hunched over, small hands covering her face.

Shippo bounced out of Sango's lap, worry written over his small face. "Kagome? It's going to be okay, Kagome!" He hugged her leg. Kagome sunk to her knees, shaking with suppressed sobs.

"It can't be true! It can't!" She gasped. Sango reached out a hand, but she didn't know what to do for her friend. Raised in the harsh reality and training of a taijiya, she had difficulty with more tender emotions, but her heart hurt for her dearest friend.

"I...I have to be alone right now." Kagome said brokenly as she detached Shippo from her leg. She stood up, spun around, and ran for the darkening woods that lay closest to their campfire. Shippo looked after her disappearing form sadly, but stayed where he was.

Miroku looked stoically at InuYasha, his dark blue eyes trying to pass a message. The message wasn't being sent fast enough, so the houshi decided to use his staff as impetus.

Thunk!

"OW! What did you do that for?!" The hanyou jumped all the way around, glaring at the monk and rubbing the knot on his head.

"Go and comfort her, you idiot." Miroku answered. "She's just lost her family, stupid, and she needs you!"

"I'm going, all right already!" InuYasha growled at the monk, and then stared at the darkening woods, where Kagome had gone.

"Go on, InuYasha." Sango urged him, her dark eyes sad. She looked defeated, something InuYasha rarely saw in the strong warrior. "Kagome needs you." She added softly.

InuYasha nodded, and flew into the forest after Kagome.

"Will she be all right?" Shippo asked the monk.

"In time." Miroku said softly.

"KA-GO-MAY!" Her name rang through the forest, and Kagome shuddered behind the tree she sat against. She did not want to see the hanyou right now!

"Go away, InuYasha!" She yelled back, tears leaving hot trails down her pale cheeks. *I never said goodbye! All those times I went back and forth through the well, taking it for granted! I never, ever thought it would be closed off! Mom! I never even said goodbye!*

InuYasha was there; a dark, blurred form in front of her. His very presence had always overwhelmed her senses, and it still did now. She didn't want his brash words of argument right now, trying to take away her pain by distracting her with anger. She just wanted to curl up with her pain of loss and ignore the strange world around her. It was because of him that she was stuck in this stupid era, anyway! Couldn't he leave her alone for a few minutes just to be by herself and cry?

"Kagome." InuYasha knelt down, and gathered her small body in his arms. Kagome tried to fight him for a minute, but he tightened his hold around her. Kagome choked back a sob, and InuYasha patted her awkwardly on the back. He had meant the gesture to calm her, but it unleashed the girl's tears. She nearly strangled him as she grabbed hold of him and sobbed her heart out on his robe. Amber eyes softening, the hanyou held the lost girl close and let her pain wash them both away.

It was some time later that InuYasha could feel Kagome stirring in his arms. The girl had soaked the front of his robe with her tears, but he didn't care. He never thought how nice it would be to hold Kagome close like this in his arms. Her own sweet scent was heightened by the salty tang of her tears. She fit in his arms like Kikyo had, which felt right. The only difference between them was that Kikyo always felt cold now, like death, and Kagome was alive, warm and breathing, and needing him to protect her.

Hiccup.

There was another difference. InuYasha held Kagome's tear-stained face away from him, staring at her in surprise. Kikyo had never hiccupped.

"I'm not Kikyo." Kagome said, eerily following his thoughts.

"No." InuYasha said softly. "No, you're not."

Kagome started to struggle, and InuYasha let her go. Pushing away from the hanyou, the girl stood up and faced away from him, her black hair mixing in with the dark shadows of the night.

Sniff. "I'm not Kikyo." She said again. InuYasha stood up, and followed her. Putting his arms around the small girl, he gently turned her around to face him.

"No, you're not." InuYasha replied, his amber eyes intense.

"You can't keep thinking of her and me as the same." Kagome said brokenly, trying not to inhale his strong, woodsy scent as he held her encircled in his arms.

"I don't." InuYasha lied. When Kagome refused to look up at him, he pulled one arm from around her waist and used the tips of his claws to tilt her head up. Staring into her watery brown eyes, he said the first thing that came into his mind.

"You sure do cry a lot."

And then he kissed her.

It wasn't quite what Kagome had been expecting, and she started when his lips first met hers. The kiss was soft, and sweet, and everything she had ever hoped it would be. It was for her, and her alone, and not for some dead miko. She softened in the hanyou's arms, and melted into his kiss.

*InuYasha...*

Lord SesshouMaru's nostrils flared thinly. He could smell the arousal on both girl and half-demon. Her scent was enticing---and affecting. He felt his inu youkai blood stirring, and his eyes flashed red for a moment as his more basic instincts told him to seek them out, defeat the male, and claim the female.

*Intriguing.*

His more logical mind crept back in, taking control, and his blood cooled under his iron will. The fact that the girl could affect him so strongly was intriguing, indeed. He had never been around any mortal aroused with passion, and he was mildly surprised at his own reaction. He wondered if that was what so many of his youkai brethren found so attractive about ningen women.

He continued to watch the pair as his half-bastard brother broke off the kiss abruptly and left the girl alone. The girl stared after the disappearing hanyou with stunned disbelief.

*Pathetic.*

The girl had been his for the taking, and InuYasha had left her there. *Stupid hanyou.* If the brat had had any sense, he would have at least claimed the girl, so ripe for mating. If he discarded her after he used her, so be it. But, surprisingly, the girl had not known a male's touch, youkai or otherwise. He could smell the innocense on her. InuYasha was a fool.

The fact that he was still in love with his dead miko was well known. SesshouMaru had been surprised to learn that the miko's corpse still walked among the living. His hanyou brother's first love had fallen in with his blood enemy, Naraku, and was stealing the souls of the dead to keep herself alive. That was bitter irony that SesshouMaru could enjoy. But to spurn the willing arms of one who looked like his dead miko? That was foolish.

InuYasha foolishly loved his dead miko, and he was definitely hiding some care for this new girl behind it. The stupid hanyou had held the girl in his arms and comforted her as she cried all over him. That act alone showed he had some feeling for the ningen. And he had kissed the girl, showing that, if he didn't love her for herself, he at least loved her for his dead miko.

That was enough for the Taiyoukai. He could use the girl to humiliate his proud, brash younger brother. He could easily manipulate the situation to his enjoyment. He could actually steal the girl here and now, as his foolish half-brother had left her alone, in the forest, and at the mercy of any passing youkai.

But SesshouMaru wanted InuYasha's humiliation to be total. How much more satisfying it would be if he could take the girl while his brother was looking on, helpless to protect her. The endlessly delightful possibilities bared thinking on.

The Lord departed as silently as he had come, unknowing to the girl who stood all alone and despairing on the forest floor beneath him.