InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Price of Vengeance ❯ Chapter Thirty-Six: Return ( Chapter 37 )

Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha....Rumiko Takahashi does. I do not own any money...the government does. I do own, however, a vast ocean of imagination, and somehow that makes up for not having either of the others...

A/N: Sorry this took so long to post! The next chappie is already written, and being edited now. I want to thank everyone for all their lovely reviews, and I will take the time to write up replies, etc. on my next chappie. One quick note: thanks Vyncent and AmyF, Shiro Ryu and numerous other continued inspirations from other reviewers! All ideas/suggestions/laffs accepted and appreciated!

Chapter Thirty-Six (Return)

They burst forth somewhere above the ragged forests surrounding the small village that was so familiar to him, more familiar than his own family's cold rocky home in the Western Lands. InuYasha growled softly as the molten fire-laced shield abruptly died around him, and then pulled back in concern as the amazing neko under him seemed to falter.

*Kirara is exhausted. That...whatever it was...took a lot out of her strength.*

Miroku had jerked at the youkai's stumble, and tightened his arms around Sango, which made HER jerk and tighten her arms around Kohaku. Kirara rumbled soothingly beneath them, but InuYasha wasn't going to take any chances. The flaring black paws of the neko were already flickering and spurting, their usual strong flames creeping toward extinction as the youkai's power and strength waned.

Only one thing to do...

Without warning, the impetuous hanyou slid off the left side. Kirara tried to twist her body around to catch him, but InuYasha was already free and falling into the cloud-spotted blue sky of late mid-afternoon. Opening the expansive sleeves of his fire-rat haori, he widened his arms and used the soft upper winds of the air to cushion his descent to the earth far below.

Kirara roared far above, and Miroku was yelling something at him. Sango was giving him a furious look, but he didn't care. They were only a few miles away from the village, and Kagome. He could travel much faster---alone and unhindered---than the tired neko. Waving a pacifying fist at them in response, he spotted a handy tree, and braced for the impact and forward leap that would take him all the closer to Kagome.

He was back up, the stronger winds of his passage pulling at the ends of his long silver-white hair and flapping the loose sleeves of his red robes in an accompaniment to his slight grunts of effort. He really needed to take a few days to rest...he was still recovering from all the injuries he had suffered, unknowing, from the blurred confusion of the night before---or was it a few nights? If Kirara had sped them forward through time, then he had just jumped three days ahead?

Shaking his white head at the confusing muddle of it all---there was no time for stupid philosophical questions and baffling conundrums right now, damn it anyway---he pushed the thoughts away and concentrated on the one thing he could right now.

*Kagome.*

She was close. He could sense her, feel her...

He sniffed tentatively, seeking the familiar comforting note of her own, uniquely feminine scent. The slightest hint of fresh springtime flowers, the faintest fragrance of pure dew-drops in the early morning rays of a gentle sun....

*What the hell? Now I'm getting all soft and stupid!*

Damn it, anyway.

A distracting wind sprang up, pulling the first hint of her longed-for scent away from him. Growling, he increased his speed as the wind brought his hair forward to swirl in silver-edged tangles across his narrowed amber eyes. Spreading out his body, he let the interfering wind take him along with it, using the shift to increase his forward motion.

*There.*

There in that copse of surviving green trees, really close to the village. She was there, alone. Well, not really alone. The villagers were all around, and he could even see the red-and-white robed figure of old Kaede, huddling over the dirt-patch she called her herb garden, a villager leaning over the split-rails of the fencing, pausing on the winding path to speak a moment with the elderly miko.

He didn't care about any of that. He just cared about Kagome.

Twisting his body around, he sped like an arrow to fall right in the middle of those thickly-leaved green trees that hid any view of Kagome from him. Feet first, he plummeted to the earth, the self-exhilaration he always felt in using the physical strength of his demon-enhanced hanyou abilities smothered under the feeling of anticipation at finally beholding Kagome with his own eyes, seeing for himself that she was okay, unhurt, unharmed, whole...

"Kagome!" He bellowed as his extended bare feet felt the first brush of the top-most foliage extended toward the sun-streaked sky as if to welcome his return with their embrace.

He could hear a faint gasp below, and he scraped through the entangling branches to land not twenty paces away from where she stood, a gathering basket at her feet, the half-filled green contents spilling out over the edge to lie on the grassy verge as if she had dropped the whole basket in astonishment at suddenly seeing him.

Even as his knees bowed, taking the gentled impact of his landing, and his clawed toes curled into the soft grass beneath them, and his silver-white haired settled into stillness down his red-clad back, his darkly golden eyes were drinking in the very sight of her.

Beautiful. Wonderful. Whole. Alive.

Huge brown eyes, widened in shock, were staring back at him, and her silky black hair was tied back in a loose tail with a white ribbon. A faint blush stained her cheeks, and her mouth was parted slightly in her surprise. She wore the white kimono and red hakama of a miko, and his throat tightened at the sight, his heart stirring as distant memories flowed over him.

"Kagome." He said with his lips, even while his mind said the name of another.

*Kikyo.*

The slight color drained from her pale cheeks, and InuYasha jerked as he took in her ashen complexion and the flash of sad hurt in her eyes.

His heart stopped.

*No, damn it, no!*

He had spoken the wrong name aloud...

Soft lips thinning in heart-torn pain, she spun around, running on sandaled feet away from him, her midnight hair pulling free of the limp white ribbon to stream after her disappearing form among the entombing, shadow-ridden trees.

"Kagome!" His heart called in bitter agony.

He was after her, his first leap taking up the twenty paces that had seperated them in a single stride. She could never outrun him. He would catch her, hold her, explain all, force her to understand...

She was crying, and the salty tang of her tears dominated his sensitive nose. Stretching out his claws, he had her as he swept past, hauling her close as her stumble into him forced him off balance. InuYasha twisted, so that it was he who landed in the tangling, thorny brush, and not her.

Never her...

"Kagome!" He cried out against her, as she fought him, even as they rolled into the brush and thrashed in the twisting brambles. She struggled for freedom, and he refused to let her go.

*Never!*

Pulling her close against him, he awkwardly regained his feet and dragged her after him as he fought free of the damn thorns, twigs snapping and leaves showering around them. His skin burned slightly from various scrapes and thorn-drawn scratches, but he didn't care. Winning free, he hauled her closer and hugged her tightly to him, his strong arms encircling her small back as his face buried in the inky tangles of her warm hair, hearing her racing heartbeat against him, seeking the familiar brush of her soothing scent among the salty touch of her tears.

"Kagome." He whispered into her hair, holding her tight, her struggles falling into soft submission. "You're all right. You're okay. You're..."

Something was wrong...

He inhaled deeply, seeking the strengthening comfort of her soothingly feminine scent.

Scent was so important to an inu...

He froze, and pushed her way from him as dread recognition widened his staring amber eyes.

Her thick black lashes sparkled with the shiny diamonds of tears, and she looked lost in misery, the hint of fear edging her deep brown eyes.

"Kagome..."

His claws traced the round edge of her cheek, brushing the black tendrils that clung to the damp pale skin. Something flashed, a bright, sudden blaze of magenta and fuchsia and palest rose. His amber eyes narrowed on it, and his claws fell to her thin shoulders, the strong hands tightening in reaction as fury washed through him, the red mists coming up to streak across his eyes.

*NO!*

The betraying crescent-moon mark blazed at him once again, driving the knife of dread recognition deeper into his thundering heart.

He hadn't saved her...he hadn't saved her...

He wanted to howl the pain of his betrayal to the uncaring heavens above. He glowed with fury and anger, the deep growl coming up between the clenched bite of his fangs as the red streaks swirled through his amber eyes.

"WHY?"

He roared that accusation at her, not knowing if it was for her or for himself.

"InuYasha!" She cried at him, her voice edged with fear as her weak ningen hands came up to try and remove his from their tight grip of her shoulders.

Her scent...her scent was deeper, muskier. No longer the pure hint of morning flowers, it was more vibrant, the scent of ripening earth and heavy blooms mixed among salty tears and heavy shame and fearful remorse and the hinted arrogance of his youkai brother...

*SesshouMaru...*

"NO!" He shouted in blind rage and anguished misery, thrusting her back and away from him as his claws suddenly released her small body and sent it falling toward the ground as he stepped back, away from her, furious denial filling his mind.

*Not that...not that...not that...*

"InuYasha!" She cried at him with longing even as she drew her knees up to fold them in front of her, her arms coming to encircle them protectively as she huddled, the tears streaming down her white cheeks.

InuYasha couldn't stand to look at her. He whirled away, a curled fist swinging up to pound the nearest tree bole in frustrated anger and pain.

"He CLAIMED you!" He snarled at the tree, fist striking again and dislodging a small storm of flurrying leaves at the mighty oak shook under the impact of his rage.

*I failed you...*

There was no reply to his bitter accusation, but he could sense an increase in her silent tears. The rage and pain frothed inside of him, twisting him inside out until he had to twist around and face her, his amber eyes red-streaked, revealing the fury and anguish that warred within.

"WHY?" He roared, fangs flashing, his heart cracking.

*I did not protect you...*

She flinched, ducking her head between her encircling arms, the midnight waves of her hair hiding her pale face from him.

"Why did you LET him?" He cried, speaking the wrong thoughts, the wrong words...again.

*Why did I not save you?*

"I..." The whisper was full of desolation, and he wanted to take her in his arms again, to shield her and protect her from it....but how could he? He had already proven how worthless he was, how weak and stupid and pathetic he really was. He was only a hanyou...half of what his damn youkai brother was. And the half he was, was nothing.

He had failed her, failed to protect her, as he had failed to protect Kikyo...

The red streaks broadened as the inu in him stirred, and he had to clench his claws into fists as he shouted the ultimate betrayal of the inu to one he had seen as his possible mate.

"YOU CARRY HIS SEED!"

The roar left him panting, trying to control the snarling fury that accompanied it. He stared with betrayed fury as the girl lifted her head up, her brown eyes wide with pain and sorrow, but no surprise.

*She knew!*

"InuYasha..." Her whisper of his name was hoarse and lingering between them.

The inu snarled, and his eyes flashed red blood before he struggled with himself, dampening down the youkai rage that was still so new to him. His damn brother would never have let the inu rage take hold of him, would never have spat damning accusations at the woman he loved...it just emphasized to him once more his own weakened worthlessness as a half-breed bastard...

"I..." He said helplessly, the amber eyes turning to gold as he shook in reaction to the inner battle that surged through him, the inu and the human fighting for control.

She was standing, stepping forward on shaking legs, her small hands held up in pleading as the tears ran unchecked down her beautiful face. She looked so much like his old love in her white and red robes that he felt as if he was transported back in time...

*I failed her, too!*

"Kikyo..." He said again, his mind overcome with the double failure of his diluted blood.

Kagome's eyes darkened at the sound of the dead miko's name, and he flinched at the sudden fury that sent the color flushing to her pale, tear-stained cheeks.

"You never loved me! You only ever loved her!"

*No, no, no! Kagome!*

Kikyo...

"And you dare..." Her small hands were fisted at her sides, her head bowed as the anger melted through her.

The rage of him, the inu, was dying away as fresh sorrow and pain swamped through him.

*Oh, Kagome. How I have failed you!*

Kikyo...

Dark eyes flashed, and he almost welcomed her shout of outrage.

"OSUWARI!"

He welcomed the abrupt pull from around his neck, welcomed the sudden impact with the moist, hard earth as his body hit it with the power of the prayer-beads' command. Her shout rang through his sensitive, flattened ears as his body carved a deep hole in the ground with the sheer intensity of her anger.

Perhaps...perhaps now she could forgive him...

Although he would probably never forgive himself...

His head rang from the abrupt collision with the ground, and white lights flashed behind his eyes as he waited for the pain to recede enough for him to spit the dirt out of his mouth and crack his closed eyes open, to see if she still stood furiously above him...

But she wasn't.

Frightened, he jumped up, wincing as the spasming muscles of his back and legs firmed under him as his body demanded the strength of his limbs to hold him up. The damn hole was damn deep, and he made a crouching leap up out of the churned earth.

*Kagome!*

He found her, hunched over and barfing in the bushes.

"Kagome?"

Her body heaved and shuddered, and she spat the last of her lunch out of her mouth as the tears swam over her cheeks. She reeled away, shaking her head, a hand curling over her mouth as she stumbled away from him, refusing to look at him, not wanting him to see her shame.

"Kagome..." He whispered, stepping forward, claws outstretched in anguished concern, an overwhelming sense of failure pulling at his self-confidence.

She whirled, her brown eyes darkening to almost black, her sharp words the same words hurtled at him by Sango less than a day (in his time-churned viewpoint) before...

"STAY AWAY FROM ME!"

His hand fell to his side, as her pained cry froze him in mid-stride. The girl pivoted back around, and sped away from him, her running form melting into the concealing shadows of the entangling trees as his heart fell, cracked and bleeding, to the grass-torn floor at his feet.

"Kagome." Amber eyes sad, shoulders drawn in dejection, he watched her leave and did nothing to stop her.

What could he do?

He had failed her, just like Kikyo.

No wonder they both hated him.

*I've lost you both...*

*~*~*~*~*

They made their way down the dusty path, topping the last hill, the water-spotted rice paddies of the small village revealed as they climbed the crest and descended over the edge. Trees waved gently in the wind that blew airy kisses and flirted around them. Miroku was holding the unaccustomed fluffy form of a smaller Kirara, the neko too exhausted to do more than flick her tails in annoyance at him and yawn widely while blinking softly glowing red eyes.

Sango had refused to give up the boy cradled in her arms, and Miroku hadn't wasted time with argument. Once the taijiya had her mind made up on something, nothing short of an earthquake was going to shake her out of it.

Moments after InuYasha had slid off of Kirara's back, Sango had suggested they land also, as Kirara really was straining under their weight. The exhausted neko had growled a denial, but Sango's voice had been sharp with concern over her youkai companion, and she ordered Kirara down. The cat had made a less-than-graceful landing, and Miroku had felt a stab of worry. It had been he, after all, who had asked the neko to make such a leap ahead through both time and space. But they---he and Kirara---had just left the village the day before, when the neko youkai had stunned him into amazed silence as the flaring flames of her paws had risen to engulf him and spewed them toward where---and WHEN---the cat knew her mistress needed her, the bloodied remains of the battlefield in the Taiyoukai's forests.

Miroku watched the braced form of the demon slayer as she clutched her dead brother to her, and he closed his eyes for a moment as his hand tightened on his staff, the rings jangling in protest. He had remarked idly as they walked that Kagome and InuYasha would probably benefit from a few moments alone, and really, he needed to talk to Sango alone as well...

Sango had made no reply, had just turned down the path and started walking, her brown eyes blank and emotionless as her hands white-knuckled over the wrapped boy in her arms.

They walked in silence, the neko nestled in his bead-wrapped right arm yawning once more.

"Er, Sango?" Miroku began nervously.

The taijiya paused, her head tilted slightly back as she waited patiently for him to step up beside her. She said nothing, simply waiting.

*She has changed so much...*

"Um, there are some things I should let you know about. Some, uh, things have happened..." Miroku began tentatively.

She nodded once, and resumed walking.

"Uh..." The houshi simply didn't know where to begin. With Kagome? Or with Ko---

"Miroku!"

There was a flash of red and white from the nearby trees, and Kirara hissed in annoyance as she jumped out of his cradling arm when the slight figure of Koharu was tumbling against him, her arms wrapping around his waist, her soft lips whispering across his cheek and mouth as he blinked blue eyes in sudden surprise, a chagrined flush creeping up his face.

"Um..."

"Miroku! I am so glad you are back! I have missed you, houshi-sama!" The freckles scattered across Koharu's nose were dancing as much as her delighted brown eyes upon seeing him.

"Er..."

His dark blue eyes searched for Sango, and he gave her a weak grin. The taijiya was staring at them, her beautiful face closed and expressionless. Kirara's twin tails twitched as she huffed at the embarrassed monk, before the neko turned and rubbed Sango's leg in comfort, mewing her concern.

Sango ignored the little youkai kitten.

She nodded once toward Koharu as the girl suddenly realized the slayer was standing there, a long bundle wrapped in her braced arms. Koharu blushed slightly, but her arms stayed tight around Miroku's waist, and she giggled nervously.

*Oh, that giggle...*

Sango simply turned her back, and continued walking, her back straight and her figure tall and proud, feelings sealed, as cold and dead as one of the steeled weapons she carried at her side.