InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Western Lands ❯ Out of the Woods ( Chapter 3 )

Western Lands
By Professor Moony

Chapter III
Out of the Woods

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Kagome sat on the porch of her hut, holding one knee and letting the other dangle over the side. Shippou was jumping through the herb garden, catching fireflies in the moonlight. She sighed happily, smelling rich earth and listening to the soothing song of crickets and the distant sound of music from the center of the village.

She was pretty much exhausted after her day. In the morning she had helped Kikyou collect roots from the forest and in the afternoon had participated in the star festival, helping out at the temple in accordance with her duties as priestess. Then evening ended with her joining the festivities with Shippou.

“Good evening, Miss Kagome!”

She looked up to see the forms of Miroku and Sango in the dusk just beyond the stone fence, arms around each other, heading to their own hut.

“Good evening,” she waved lazily back.

The priest and the demon exterminator had been married for about three months now. She smiled, thinking about their wedding. It had been so adorable - she knew they had always been in love despite the occasional gropings and the inevitable beatings.

As for herself she had hoped that, after the completion of the Jewel, her and Inuyasha might be married. But after returning to Kaede's village, Kikyou had walked out out of the woods one evening, completely resurrected. That chased any thoughts of Kagome far away from Inuyasha's mind. Kagome mentally shrugged. She had wished for them to be happy.

“Oi Kagome!”

Speak of the devil. Inuyasha was leaning over her fence, Kikyou was waving.

“Hey guys,” Kagome smiled, getting up and walking to the fence.

“Do you and Shippou want to come over for some tea?” Kikyou asked. She was much friendlier alive than a wandering ghost, and much less high strung without the burden of the Jewel on her shoulders. After getting to know her the past few months, Kagome realized they had more in common than she thought and found herself spending much of the time with the older priestess.

Kagome sighed wistfully, leaning against the fence. “I'd love to, but I need to put Shippou to bed soon.”

“He's so cute,” Kikyou chuckled.

Inuyasha muttered something about a “friggin terror” under his breath before straightening up under the two priestesses' glare. “Well, I guess we should head home now too. I'm damn tired.”

“Good idea,” Kikyou said with a dangerous look in her husband's direction. “Goodnight Kagome.”

“ `Night, guys.” Kagome waved, watching them walk down the road before turning into the garden and clapping her hands. “Alright Shippou. Time for bed.”

“Aww but Momma, the music is still playing!”

“The music will be playing all night, and little fox cubs need their rest. Come on.”

Shippou made a face and reluctantly opened his hands, letting the fireflies free before bounding into the hut. Kagome followed a little more slowly, lifting the hanging to find him already on his mat. “Will you read me a story?”

Kagome nodded and took a dirty book off the shelf with the pots, one of the few storybooks she had actually brought back with her for Shippou. She knelt and pulled the thick covers up to his chin, and read to him about the littlest garden frog. Before long, the fox cub was already asleep. She rolled her eyes and kissed his forehead then stepped around the firepit to her own mat.

She grimaced as she untied her priestess uniform - a white shirt and red divided skirt. Kagome still hated how they looked on her, that had not changed since she was fifteen, but considering the well had closed up after the battle with Naraku, she had not been left with a lot of clothing options. She pulled on her sleeping clothes and slid into bed. Today at the festival, the wish she had secretly tied to the bamboo tree was to finally not be alone anymore. Sure, she had her adopted son, but she did not mean like that.

I'm not entirely sure what I mean, she thought, staring into the fire. She was not in love, and there was no one she was really interested in. Inuyasha was married, Kouga.... well, who knew where he was. Actually, she had not seen him since he presented her with his shards. She suspected that had finally taken the hint and found someone in his own tribe to marry. Who else was there? She had met many young men in the village while working in the temple, but most of them had thought her a bit unusual. Well, she never really had tried to act like one of them until the well had closed up - running around in her school uniform and handing out weird foods. She never tried to cover up the fact that she was educated either, and that might scare some people. She glanced at Shippou across the fire and smiled slightly. She did not want to be the wife of a villager anyway.

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As had become usual, Kagome woke before the sun the next morning and stirred the glowing embers in the firepit to life, heating up a pot of tea. Shippou was still asleep and contorted into what had to be an uncomfortable position. She sighed and straightened him out so he would not be sore when he woke then smoothed his hair away from his face.

Noticing that the tea it was done, she poured it into a clay cup and took a tentative sip, lifting the heavy flap and stepping onto the porch. What did she have to do today? It was the second day of the star festival, so she would have to take Shippou to the stream to float lanterns down the river.

That was when she noticed her sock was feeling a little wet. And... warm? She looked down, seeing blood on the porch.

Kagome screamed and dropped the cup, running into the road. The sun was just coming up over the trees, creating a lazy haze, and she could see Inuyasha walking up the road with a bundle of fish slung over his shoulder. She bolted for him.

“Hey, Kagome!” he shouted as she ran up. “Do you and Shippou need any - agh!” he was nearly knocked over as she ran right into him, grabbing his sleeve and pointing to her hut.

“There's blood on my porch!” she said frantically.

“What? Is there a body?”

“I don't know!” She started to bite her nails. “Shippou's in there.”

Inuyasha dropped the fish on a rock and walked towards her hut, claws out. There was little chance it was an injured person. They would have probably crawled to Kaede's porch since, Kagome fancied, of the three village priestesses it was well-known that she was the bumbler. Could it be a demon? If so, then how did it die? Was it even dead?

She stood fearfully the road, watching Inuyasha get closer and closer until finally he stepped onto the porch and slumped his shoulders.

“What is it?” Kagome called. She took from Inuyasha's expression that there was no danger and walked towards her hut.

“A deer carcass.”

“What? Ew! How did it get there?” She stepped onto her porch, noticing five slashes across the belly and throat. It was similar to how Inuyasha hunted, with his claws. He sometimes caught her and Shippou a rabbit or raccoon for dinner, but never a whole deer. “Did you put it here?”

“It sure as hell wasn't me. I don't know how it got here.” He knelt and sniffed the fur. Then, suddenly, his back went rigid and he growled.

“What's going on?” Kikyou's distressed voice came from the road. “I heard Kagome screaming.” She was hurrying to them, a blanket draped over her shoulders.

“Sango and I did too,” Miroku said. He was standing at the gate, dressed in his sleeping clothes with staff in hand.

“You want to know what's going on? My damn brother's gone and left a friggin deer on Kagome's doorstep, that's what!”

“Gods, are you serious?” Kikyou asked.

“Lord Sesshoumaru?” Kagome gasped. “Are you sure?”

“Dammit, yes I'm serious and yes I'm sure!”

Kikyou looked slightly perturbed, crossing her arms over her chest. “What does that mean? Is it a threat?” Miroku asked.

“It's the first step in demon courtship, you friggin dolt!” Inuyasha growled, bearing his teeth.

“Inuyasha, no need to get so worked up!” Kikyou said, going to the half-blood and throwing an arm around him.

 

“Courtship?” Kagome asked. She thrust a finger at the blood-soaked deer. “That is not romantic, Inuyasha!”

“I'm going to wake up Sango,” Miroku sighed. “I think she would want to be here.”

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“Well, this is certainly interesting,” Sango said, clutching her green blanket close over her sleeping clothes. The six friends were all crammed onto Kagome's small wooden porch, staring at the deer.

“Sesshoumaru left this here?” Shippou asked in Kagome's arms.

“I don't know what he thinks he's playing at,” Inuyasha muttered.

“I can't believe Lord Sesshoumaru was here last night,” Kagome said quietly.

“Do you think he was at the festival?” Miroku asked.

Sango turned, looking around groggily. She was not a morning person and the few occasions that she had woken up early, Kagome remembered very clearly and with little affection. “This is going to require some of what Kagome calls, `girl talk'.”

Inuyasha's eyebrows raised. “What?!”

“Someone needs to explain demon courtship to Kagome.”

“Well, I'm a demon!” he huffed indignantly. “Who should know better than me?”

“I'm a woman and a demon expert by trade,” she said, pointing a finger to her chest. “Therefore, we need girl talk.”

“I'll talk to Kagome! She ought to know it from a demon and besides, I know Sesshoumaru better than anyone else!”

Kikyou raised her eyebrows in what the group had learned to be her `don't interfere' look. “Inuyasha, we need girl talk.”

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Author's Note: Well, I know I shouldn't like to find a deer on my porch. But then again, I don't live in feudal Japan or anywhere even close. Alas and alack - whatever that means!

 

Author's Note II: Revised. Slightly.