InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Sutras of Love and Lust ❯ Purgatory ( Chapter 2 )

Chapter 2

 

Purgatory

 

Kagome woke up feeling the need to relieve herself. Too much to drink before bedtime, she thought with a sigh, I guess I won't be able to go back to sleep until I take care of it. Carefully she got out of her sleeping bag, making sure not to disturb Shippo. Next to her lay her knap sack, and she reached in it for some toilet paper and her flashlight. Her stash was getting low she noticed, a clear sign she was due back for a visit to her own time soon. Before she left the campsite, she looked around for InuYasha. He always woke when she did, even in the middle of night, as if he had some kind of strange alarm that went off. Whenever she needed to go at this time of night, she always made sure to tell him what she was doing so he would not worry. Sometimes he would follow her a-ways and keep a discreet distance while she did her business, always with his back to her. She stood up and scanned the tree branches. Funny, there was no sign of him, she thought. I was sure he had gone to sleep in that tree right here above me.

 

After a few more minutes of fruitless searching, she gave up with a puzzled sigh, and walked away from the campsite. It was just after she had finished and was preparing to go back, that she thought she heard something. Uh oh, she thought, what if it's dangerous, InuYasha is not here to protect me. For a moment she stood there, undecided on what to do. Well, she at least had to know what she was up against. Maybe it was just a rabbit or something, it did not have to be a demon. Slowly she made an arc with her flashlight, and caught what could only be the unmistakable red of InuYashas fire rat fur clothing. Breathing a sigh of relief, she moved towards him.

 

InuYashas back was to her as she approached, and he seemed to be digging a hole. It was very unusual for him not to notice her presence as she came up behind him. To her astonishment, she watched him toss three sutra scrolls in the hole and start to bury them.

 

“InuYasha?” she said tentatively, “What are you doing?”

 

He spun around and faced her, his chest heaving. She was dismayed by the distraught look on his face, and he looked like he was about to be sick.

 

“I'm burying these scrolls the stupid monk brought with him,” he growled, “before they're used for no good.”

 

“I don't understand…” said Kagome slowly.

 

InuYasha smirked but it seemed like more of a wince.

 

“These aren't the scrolls he showed you,” he said, “these scrolls are the sutras of love and lust which he secretly stashed in his robes.”

 

Kagome gasped and moved closer to InuYasha.

“Are you okay?” she said, “You don't look well at all.”

 

As InuYasha fought for control of himself, she came over and laid a concerned hand against his cheek. The warmth and sweetness of her touch and the worried look on her face made him let out an involuntary groan.

 

“Kagome, get back.” He said and gently pushed her hand off him before turning away, falling to his knees and heaving into the underbrush.

 

Instead of moving away, Kagome laid one hand lightly on his back, raising the hand he had pushed away to her mouth. Was it something he ate? She wondered. They had all eaten the same meal tonight, yet InuYasha was the only one sick. There was a feeling she had that his sickness had nothing to do with eating. Something was not right here. There was more going on than what InuYasha had just told her, she just knew it. But she did not know if she would be able to get the whole story out of the stubborn hanyou that easily. With a sigh she contented herself with trying to comfort him until she could find a way to get at the truth.

 

InuYasha felt her touch as he retched, and did not have the ability to push her away again while the nausea continued. He was mortified having her see him like this, and her concern for him both comforted him and made him feel a deeper self loathing. He did not deserve her sweet, caring, solicitations. If she knew what he had done, he believed she would turn away from him in disgust, repulsed. But he could not help but feel a longing for her warmth after being with the cold, undead Kikyou. The nausea finally abated, and he kneeled there, panting, reeling inside from emotional exhaustion. Kagomes soft hand reached out and smoothed the hair away from his sweat slicked face, and he moaned.

 

“Are you better now?” She said.

 

He nodded and got to his feet, wiping his brow with the back of his hand.

 

“Let's get back to the campsite,” he said, “you walk in front of me with your light.”

 

“I'd rather walk with you, if you don't mind,” she said, and slipped her arm into his.

 

He sighed deeply, but could not bring himself to fight the issue.

 

Back at the campsite InuYasha wearily climbed onto his tree branch, while Kagome got back in her sleeping bag beneath him. He fell into an exhausted sleep. Kagome found it hard to fall back to sleep, she kept thinking about InuYasha, his sickness, and the sutras. What was the connection here? Her musings were disturbed by some strange sounds coming from above her, and she realized that InuYasha must be having a nightmare. He was moaning and muttering something, and she only wished she could get closer to hear what he was saying. No matter, she tried to banish the nights strange occurrences from her mind and get some sleep. She would try and think of what to do in the morning.

 

The next morning as they broke camp, InuYasha was more withdrawn and moody then ever. Miroku was surreptitiously patting his robes when he thought no one was looking, but Kagome noticed what he was doing and said nothing, yet. She had to have more pieces to the puzzle before she made any accusations.

 

“Ah!” Miroku suddenly exclaimed, and everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at him.

 

The monk colored slightly as all eyes fixed on him, then said, “There's a hole in my robes, I'll have to get it mended at the next village.”

 

“I'll sew it for you, Miroku.” Said Kagome. “No reason to wait until then.”

 

“No time for that now,” grumped InuYasha, “let's get going. The sooner we're out of these woods the better.”

 

Kagome wondered if there wasn't some other reason InuYasha wanted to be away from here so quickly, but thought better of asking him about it now. Their trek this day took them down the other side of the mountain, and Kagome was disappointed that InuYasha chose to travel ahead in the trees. But if what he had told her was true, and somehow she did not doubt it, it now came clear to her why he had walked next to her the previous day. Ever suspicious, he was protecting her from the possible predations of the perverted monk. Well, what ever Miroku had planned to do with those sutras, she did not want to believe he would ever use them against her and Sango.

 

When they stopped to eat lunch, Kagome got her needle and thread and went and sat over next to Miroku. InuYasha crossed his arms and frowned as she took the fold of his robes over her lap to repair the tear.

 

“Gee Miroku, looks like some animal slashed your robes,” she said as she examined it.

 

“Yes, it does,” said Miroku musingly.

 

When Kagome looked up after she had finished, she saw Miroku glance over at InuYasha with a slight, troubled frown on his face. InuYasha seemed to be paying no attention to him. Hmm, interesting, she thought, better not interfere. It was unlike InuYasha to not be making a rude remark for looking at him that way, or worse, Kagome thought. I really don't want to see my friends get into a possible fight, and sighed inwardly at having to wait longer to get to the bottom of things.

 

 

They reached the end of the forest on the other side of the mountain just as the sun was starting to go down. Not far away could be seen a village, nestled in the valley. It looked warm and welcoming after the night on the mountain, and since they were undecided at what their next move would be, they decided to spend the night there.

 

“Maybe we can find some work there, exorcising demons.” Said Miroku, “Sango and I will ask around, while you, InuYasha and Shippo see if you can find a lead on our next jewel shard.”

 

“Sounds like a plan,” said Kagome, “but let's also see if we can find a place to stay tonight.”

 

“Oh, it will feel good to spend the night indoors” Sighed Sango.

 

“Hmph,” said InuYasha, “humans are so fragile. I prefer to sleep outside.”

 

Later that evening, they all met back at the Inn. Unfortunately, they were only able to procure one room. But the proprietor put up a screen to make the room into two separate sides.

 

Sango frowned.

 

“I don't think this is good enough to keep out spying eyes,” said Sango, looking pointedly at Miroku who looked back at her with an innocent look on his face, “I'm going to sleep in my clothes tonight.”

 

Kagome shook her head and laughed, unrolling her sleeping bag on her futon.

 

In the middle of the night, Kagome was startled out of her sleep. Had no one else heard it? Shippo and Sango were still deeply asleep. She heard it again, and realized it sounded like InuYasha, having another bad dream. It seemed like this dream was worse than the previous nights. She stole quietly over to the screen, where she could make out the sound of InuYasha on the other side. It sounded like he was saying sutras, Kikyou and so cold, and groaning in anguish. Grabbing her flashlight, Kagome made her way over to InuYasha, undecided as to what to do but feeling the need to do something. Hearing Kikyous name and the scrolls sent a chill up her spine and made her heart pound loudly in her chest. She dimmed the flashlight and shone it briefly on him. He was sweating where he sat sleeping, his brow furrowed, twitching. When it seemed like he might be getting loud enough to wake the others, she decided to try and wake him up. Whatever had happened, she would never find out if everyone woke up and came to see what was going on.. InuYasha would just probably say none of your business, go back to sleep, and then she would never know what had happened. So she reached over and squeezed his hand. He startled awake, making Kagome jump where she sat.

 

“What is it?” He hissed, blinking into the soft light that shone on his face.

 

“You were having a bad dream,” said Kagome, “you seemed pretty upset so I woke you.”

 

InuYasha raised his hand to his head with a moan.

 

“You want to talk about it?” She asked.

 

A pure look of anguish came over his face.

 

“No!” he said, and he pulled his hand away from where it rested under hers.

 

“InuYasha,” she said, “you can tell me.”

 

“Never!” he said, leaping up with a strangled sob and bolted out of the room.