InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ To Fulfill a Duty ❯ Chapter Three ( Chapter 3 )

To Fulfill a Duty

Chapter Three

By: DeadBHunter

"talking" `thinking'

Chapter Three

The tai youkai held Kagome in his tail, and knocked on the door with his hand.

The door opened with a loud creak and a wheezy voice beckoned to Sesshomaru, "Come in."

Sesshomaru strode into the home of the aged miko, and glanced around. All Sesshomaru could see were a couple cushions to sit on and a low table with a rusty pot of tea set on top with four cups arranged around it. Straight ahead was a piece of cloth that he assumed led to another room that was used for Junsui's patients.

The elderly miko bowed to Sesshomaru and asked, "What brings the tai youkai of the West to my home?"

Sesshomaru looked at the old miko. Her face was covered in wrinkles, but her eyes showed with a wisdom that was not common in many. She was dressed in the traditional miko garb, with dark red pants and a white top. Her head was covered in a thin layer of straight gray hair. Junsui was wearing the sandals commonly worn by those in her status.

"I have an injured girl called Kagome that needs to be healed; can you help her, miko?"

"I will do what I can, milord. But please inform me what happened to the girl. It will aid in returning her to health. I can sense that she was struck by an intense youki, but beyond that my powers cannot sense."

Sesshomaru grudgingly told the healer of the battle with his brother and Naraku's army, deliberately leaving out the part about how a human saved him. He told her that Naraku had fired a ball of youki at her and how she collapsed right there. Also included in his explanation was the time when the injured girl had awakened and crawled to the nearby river and back.

Junsui listened to Sesshomaru tell his tale, frowning when she heard that Kagome had struggled to the river unassisted.

Junsui sighed, "I know what to do in order to heal her, but it will take a long time, maybe even months for her to be as she was before."

"Explain, miko," was the demon lord's response.

"In order to heal Kagome-sama, I must remain in contact with her while I enter her mind and teach her how to use her miko powers to strengthen and heal herself. But she is basically untrained, it will probably take her about half a year to heal, maybe more or less depending how soon she can master her powers."

`Half a year with my brother's wench!? I can do nothing to stop this; I have an obligation to uphold to this girl.' Inside Sesshomaru was disgusted, but his face remained unaffected.

"Fine, if it takes half a year to heal her, then start now. I will stay until she is healed. Hurry up for I have lands to protect and I do not want to spend my time watching over pathetic humans."

"Hai, Sesshomaru-sama. But I am required to start a ritual in order to enter the trance state with Kagome-sama."

"What do you need, Junsui?" replied Sesshomaru. He was not happy that his plans were being delayed.

"I will require some firewood, certain herbs that I have a list of, and some article that is connected to Kagome-sama in some way. Either by constant contact, sentimental value, or a spell of some sort," answered Junsui.

"Fine, I will return shortly with the materials required."

`What should I bring for the last item? I do not know what the human possesses. I shall have to go back to her friends. She is turning out to be more trouble than she is worth.'

~~~~~~~~~~

"Inuyasha, stop worrying. Kagome-sama will be fine. Sesshomaru will not hurt her. He told us himself and he will not go against his word."

"Feh! Like we should trust that bastard! He stole Kagome."

"She will be fine!"

"Shows what you know! Take this!"

"What was that for!?"

"For not listening to me! Take this too!"

~~~~~~~~~~

Sango, with Shippo perched on her shoulder, walked toward the Goshinboku and was greeted with the sight of Inuyasha throwing leaves, twigs, and whatever else he could get his claws on at Miroku, who was attempting to block the incoming projectiles with his staff. Both were panting and Miroku had leaves stuck in his hair and what looked like a fairly large stick caught in the rings of his staff. Miroku and Inuyasha were too busy to notice the two. When Sango and Shippo burst out laughing, Miroku and Inuyasha were shocked to say the least. Both fighters were frozen from shock. Inuyasha was in the middle of throwing a twig at Miroku while he was holding his staff as if it were a baseball bat, even though they had no idea what that was.

Miroku slowly turned around and walked toward Sango with a slight blush on his face. "My dear Sango, I am sorry tha-"

Before he could finish, a loud slap was heard along with the scream of "Hentai!" A loud thud of something large falling followed.

Sango muttered under her breath something about perverted people and cursed hands. She started walking back toward Kaede's hut with Inuyasha dragging Miroku by his foot.

`I don't wanna grow up. Grown-ups are weird…'

In the forest watching them was Sesshomaru; he had planned on asking the taijiya for something of Kagome's. Apparently, the whole group would have to be involved.

~~~~~~~~~~

Sesshomaru jumped down from the tree branch he was sitting on and walking toward the group of shard hunters.

"Sesshomaru! Where is Kagome?! She better be fine!" shouted Inuyasha.

"Calm down, Inuyasha. Sesshomaru has promised us to heal Kagome-sama," was Miroku's reply.

"Then what is he doing here!?"

"That is a good question, Inuyasha," Miroku said as he turned toward Sesshomaru. "What are you doing here, Sesshomaru? I doubt you are here to visit, it must be about Kagome-sama."

"You are right, monk. The healer I have taken her to, Junsui, needs something that is connected to Kagome."

"What the hell do you mean by connected!?" yelled Inuyasha. To say the least, he wasn't happy about the delay with Kagome.

"The item must be connected to her by either constant contact, sentimental value, or by a spell. I have come to find such an item."

Throughout the conversation, Sango had been listening intently. And now she was wondering what sort of item was connected to Kagome.

`There is always the prayer beads that are on Inuyasha, but only Kagome can take them off and she's not here. Maybe some part of the well might work, like a small bit of rock that makes up the well. I hope Inuyasha will be willing to go to Kagome's time to go ask her family for something.'

~~~~~~~~~~

Sango, Miroku, and Shippo were seated around the fire in Kaede's hut. Leaning against the wall, Sesshomaru watched the old miko search through her stock of herbs, looking for the specific ones that Junsui required to heal Kagome. Firewood was easy enough to get, all he had left was the item that was linked to Kagome. Because of that, Inuyasha had traveled down the well into Kagome's time to tell her family what had happened to Kagome and ask her mother for something that tied with her daughter.

~~~~~~~~~~

Thirty minutes later, the three humans and two youkai were still in their same positions. A tense silence filled the air making Shippo, Miroku, and Sango edgy. The demon lord was as emotionless as ever.

Inuyasha burst through the door, slightly panting from running from the well to the village. In his hand was a bracelet. It was a simple silver chain that had a faint aura of light purple, like the power of Kagome's miko powers.

"What do you have, Inuyasha?" asked Shippo.

"I asked Kagome's mother what to bring, and she said to take this bracelet. She also said that Kagome's father gave this to her before he died. Something about hidden powers. Feh! As if something made by weak humans could have any "hidden powers." It's probably just a piece of junk."

"Inuyasha, Kagome-sama will not be pleased if you are saying bad things about her bracelet."

"Feh, like she'll ever find out."

"I must go now, give me the bracelet now."

Inuyasha handed his half brother the bracelet, watching him for signs of hostility. He growled a warning to his brother about losing that "worthless piece of junk."

Sesshomaru acted as if he hadn't heard him and walked out of the hut into the sunset, autumn leaves falling to the ground following in his footsteps as he walked the many miles toward Kagome.

~~~~~~~~~~

Junsui waited for Sesshomaru to return. She had thought he would be back sooner, but she wasn't sure how far away Kagome's home was. She hoped he would be back soon. She could see the Shikon shards around Kagome's neck slowly turning a dark purple color. The darker they turned, the harder it would be for Kagome to recover.

~~~~~~~~~~

After Sesshomaru had walked out of Inuyasha's sight, he had been rushing through the forests in his lands. `The sooner I get there, the sooner she will be healed. And the sooner I will be rid of this annoying pest.'

At this pace, he would probably arrive at the miko's home in about one hour. With Kagome, he could not travel at his full speed because the girl was unconscious and could not travel fast without her hanging on for herself.

~~~~~~~~~~

Sango had been getting mad at the hanyou that was pacing throughout Kaede's hut. He had been like this since Sesshomaru had left, pacing back and forth. She could tell she wasn't the only one bothered by his behavior.

Shippo was glaring at Inuyasha's back, thinking about chewing up his ears like what he always did when he was being mean to Kagome.

Miroku was sitting against the wall, holding his staff in his hand. On his face was a grin that suggested he was thinking his rather perverted thoughts while staring at certain parts of Sango's body.

Whack! "Hentai!" shouted Sango, holding her boomerang above her head, looking as if she had just hit a rather perverted houshi.

Shippo giggled at their antics and decided that Inuyasha couldn't be stopped and fell asleep on Sango's lap, wishing that it was Kagome's lap that he was resting on.

~~~~~~~~~~

"Here it is," said Sesshomaru from inside Junsui's hut. He handed it to Junsui and told her that according to her family, this bracelet was supposed to have hidden powers.

"What sort of powers does this hold, Sesshomaru-sama?" questioned Junsui.

"Like I would bother myself in human affairs," scoffed Sesshomaru. "They do not concern me so I do trouble myself with them." In reality, the tai youkai had no idea what powers the bracelet had, but he was not about to admit that to a human.

"Yes, Sesshomaru-sama. I trust you have brought the required items, milord?"

"Of course. Now get on with it."

"Hai, Sesshomaru-sama. We first must prepare for the ritual."

Junsui started a fire with the wood that Sesshomaru brought. Once the fire was large enough, she added the herbs to the fire and started chanting a spell as the fire started to change color.

Sesshomaru watched as the fire changed to a light purple-pink color. He noticed a pink glow surround the old miko, and a soft purple glow radiate off of the unconscious girl.

A/N: I have to thank my lovely reviewers so THANKS!!! You guys really made me want to write! Sorry for the long time between updates, I couldn't think of how to introduce some things. Don't forget to READ AND REVIEW! I decided to TRY and update once a week, but I'm not sure how it's going to work out. Thanks!

~Jennifer