InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Waking Powers ❯ Snake on picnic... ( Chapter 3 )

- Chapter 3. -

Snake on picnic…

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"Well I'm off mom." Kagome hugged her mother and received a kiss on the cheek, then she was out the door. "Hey Kagome wait a sec!" Kagome turned at her brother's voice and stopped running. "What's up Souta?" Souta ran towards her and stopped. "Gramps told me to give you this." Souta took her hand and pressed something hard and round into it. She opened it and looked at the object. It looked like a coin, but it was made of tree and had no markings on it. "What's this?" She asked curiously. Souta shrugged. "He didn't tell me. He just said that you had to keep it with you at all times. I think it's supposed to bring you luck or something. You know Gramps… well anyway, I'm off to meet some friends. Take care and say hi to Inuyasha from me." Then he turned and ran in the other direction.

Weird… oh well…She tucked the `amulet' into an inner pocket and went inside the well house. She had slept well for the first time in what seemed like weeks. And had managed to get over the gloomy mood she'd had yesterday. Jumping into the well she was actually excited to see Inuyasha and the others again.

When Kagome had managed to climb out of the well with the heavy backpack the first thing she did was gasp. She didn't gasp for air, she was looking at the black handprints on the well. Then I didn't dream? How did I do this? She ran her fingers lightly over the marks. They were unnaturally smooth. As if she had pressed her hands into mud and then let it dry over…

I have to talk to Kaede. She picked up the backpack she'd left on the ground and began to make her way to the village.

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SMACK!

"Keep your hands off me you damn houshi!"

"But Sango, I just tried to keep a bug off you." Miroku dodged the next blow. "You ARE the bug you pervert!" Sango retorted.

Kagome watched the display `till they were done. "Uh, hey guys. I'm back." They stopped immediately and looked guiltily up at Kagome, not having noticed that she was there. "Uh… we. We were on our way to the well to meet you there." Miroku mumbled. Kagome looked sceptical at the answer. After all they were only a couple of feet outside the door to Kaede's house.

"…Right… Anyway, have any of you seen…"

"KAGOME!" The little kitsune flung itself into Kagome's arms. "Shippo." Kagome said startled, before she caught him and hugged him. "I missed you Kagome." The pup continued. "I was only gone a night Shippo." "So?" The kit asked looking at her with bright green eyes. "I can miss you anyway. Even if you're gone only for some seconds." He hugged her again. "That's so cute Shippo. I've missed you too," She stated as she put him down on the ground.

"So, what are we going to do now Kagome?" Kagome looked over at Miroku before answering. "Well, Miroku. Inuyasha is eager to find the rest of the jewel shards. I'd love it if you would come with me. But I can understand it if you want to take a brake."

Her two friends looked at each other as if she was crazy before turning to her. "Of course we'll come with you Kagome. How can you even think that we will leave you alone with Inuyasha…" Sango began to trail off. Miroku to the rescue. "You know maybe we should leave them alone. I bet they'd both enjoy that." Kagome could feel her cheeks heating. "Keep those thoughts to yourself you lecher!" Sango cut him off before he could say anything else. "Anyway, Kagome. What we're trying to say…" She shot Miroku an angry glare when she saw that he was about to add his comment. Wisely he kept his mouth shut. "What we're trying to say," She continued. "Is that we care about you greatly (another glare at the monk), and we could never have beaten Naraku without your help. You're like a sister to me…"

SMACK!

"What was that for?" Miroku asked indignantly. "You know damn well what that was for. I know that expression too well. You were about to make another perverse comment. AND your hand was on my ASS!"

Miroku shook his head slightly while he sighed. "Well I couldn't let it go to waste now could I? Besides, your alluring beauty forced me to take a drastic step… er, I mean grab." (Again with the groping)

SMACK!

Pushing the monk away, Sango again turned to Kagome. "Sorry about the interruption." Kagome was trying very hard to keep the humour she felt from sounding in her voice. "No by all means Sango. I'm honoured to have both of you with me. In fact I'm sure I can't make it without you two. Now all we have to do is find Inuyasha. You haven't seen him have you?" When Sango shook her head, Kagome began to worry again. Surely he wasn't still mad at her. Not that he had any reason to be mad at her at all.

"Well, we'll just have to go search for him. I talked to him before I went through the well yesterday." At a continuously tugging from Shippo she looked down at him and picked him up. "What is it Shippo." The kitsune curled his fingers in her hair and began to whisper in her ear. "I saw Inuyasha yesterday. He was by the God Tree, but he was very angry for some reason, and he hit me. Did you two argue again Kagome. Because I don't like it when he upsets you."

Kagome hugged the kit tight and began to comfort him. "Don't worry about Inuyasha. He was just grumpy. I'll go and talk to him. You guys wait here." When Shippo nodded, she handed him over to Sango and began to make her way towards the huge tree.

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Inuyasha's ears flickered when his nose caught the trace of an intoxicating aroma. It was the familiar smell of fresh water and flowers in full bloom. Kagome? She's back? He jumped out of the God Tree and landed quietly in the soft grass. "Inuyasha? Are you here?" Again an ear twitched.

When he saw her walking towards him he knew it was too late to run away. She had seen him too. "There you are. We're ready to go search for the shards now." She walked closer and stopped when she was in front of him. "Inuyasha? Is everything okay?" She began to get nervous when he still didn't answer. He couldn't. He was too surprised about the fact that she was back. She'd come back to him. Even though he'd said the things he did.

"Inuyasha?" She asked again.

Finally he managed to snap out of the spell she had over him. "Keh! Come on what are you waiting for?" He began the walk towards the village, leaving a slightly bewildered Kagome to follow.

~*~

The heat was rising with the sun and Kagome began to feel warm and tired. They had walked `till midday without a break now and she really wanted one. The sun when it was on its highest wasn't exactly comfortable.

Walking past Miroku and Sango, she caught up with Inuyasha. He glanced at her once, and then he continued to ignore her. He had done it the entire day.

"Inuyasha?" She began. He grunted to let her know that he had heard her. "Can we take a brake? I'm really tired and I'm beginning to feel hungry." He looked over at her again before he answered. "Can you feel any shards nearby?" She shook her head. "No, I haven't felt anything. Not even youkai auras. The entire area is pure as far as I can tell." She waited to hear his answer.

When he saw the pleading look in her eyes he couldn't say no. Besides. He had already admitted to himself that he wasn't too sure about completing the jewel if it meant that she would leave. Sighing he nodded and turned off the road towards a tree that could provide shadow in the burning heat. "Yeah! Come on bitch. We'll continue after some food. You do have ramen with you right?" When she nodded that she did, he couldn't keep a smirk from his face. "Keh! That's good."

"Yes! Finally we are taking a brake." Shippo started to run towards the tree. "I was about to die." Reaching the tree he flopped down in the shadow and closed his eyes. It was beyond Kagome how the little fox could run in this heat.

Miroku and Sango also seemed relieved that they were taking a brake. They eagerly helped Kagome in unpacking the bag and finding the food. The only ones that didn't seem affected by the heat were Inuyasha and Kirara.

They had finished eating and were packing up when Kagome felt it. It was like a dark thundercloud that began to roll over the area. The only problem was that the sky was clear and blue. "There's a demon heading this way." She said as she picked up her bow and her quiver.

The rest of the group were instantly alert.

Miroku gripped his staff, Sango her bone boomerang and Inuyasha pulled Tetsusaiga. Shippo… well Shippo jumped behind Kagome's back and began to mutter about the fact that he still was a kid -_-;

"Do you know if it's nearby?" Sango asked while she looked around. Kagome kept her gaze towards the dark aura. "Yeah, it's coming up the hill now." Before she had finished her sentence, they all could feel the dark youkai aura, and soon they could see it too.

It was a giant snake youkai that crawled over the hill. It had black eyes and green poison was dripping form its fangs. Shippo crawled onto Kagome's back and hid under her hair. Everyone else stood ready to fight, so Kagome pulled an arrow and knocked it. It shook a second and then it was still. "Does it have a shard Kagome?" Inuyasha had transformed Tetsusaiga into the giant fang and was ready to attack, but if it had a shard, he needed to know where it was to kill it.

Kagome searched the snake youkai and looked for the familiar gleam of a shard, but something inside her made it hard to concentrate. She felt on fire again, but this time she couldn't see the sparks she had witnessed last time the feeling had come over her.

"Kagome! Does it have a shard!?" The yell from Inuyasha distracted her from the fire running through her body and she managed to search the giant snake. "Yes. It has one between the eyes." Inuyasha didn't bother to respond, but attacked without another thought.

Now that the distraction was gone, the pain and fire manifested itself tenfold, sending Kagome into a river of agony that consumed her. Her vision began to blur, getting covered with a red haze. She saw Inuyasha fighting with the youkai through the flaming haze. Everything seemed so unreal. The snake was fast, dodging or blocking every attack Inuyasha attempted. Kirara, Sango and Miroku had joined the assault too. Blocking, dodging and attacking with their best abilities. But still it didn't seem to be enough. The scales on the snake's skin were like thick armour, and it wriggled itself out of every attack. Through the haze consuming her, Kagome began to worry that they could loose. It would've been easier if Miroku still had his kazaana.

Inuyasha wasn't about to let this fucking snake get him. He dodged a frontal attack the youkai attempted and cut down with his fang. The sword barely made a scratch in the thick scales. "Damn!" He swore as he blocked another attack with his right arm. That's when everything began to go wrong. The snake youkai had managed to curl its tail around Inuyasha's legs, and it now yanked him into the air, leaving him defenceless and vulnerable. Cursing under his breath he tried to sever the tail that was holding him, but without the ground to back u the power of the swing, he didn't even manage to scratch the snake. The head of the youkai turned his way, blotting and open mouth full of long poisonous fangs. Preparing to trust his sword into the mouth if it tried to bite him, Inuyasha was dimly aware of Kagome yelling his name…

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A/n: Am I evil or what??? Hehehe, I just love cliffhangers… And thanks for the reviews. Please don't stop. I live for reviews =D