InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ When there is a full moon ❯ To Believe and the Unseen Relation ( Chapter 13 )

Author's note: Your reviews are really making my head grow big, but by all means continue; it's a lot of fun. Just to warn you, I probably won't be updating for at least a week. This week is my provincial exam week, and as much as I would like to be doing this, I have to study if I want any scholarships. And then, right after that, I'll be moving so the computer won't be hooked up for a couple of days. So, don't be mad at me or think that I have given up on the story. No, my dears, I have a LOT planned out for it. So read and review and don't forget that I don't own Inuyasha.

To believe and the Unseen Relation

Je ne suis ni optimiste ni pessimiste, parce que je ne suis jamais sûr que les choses se termineront bien ou mal. Je me contente d'espérer. Espérer, c'est avoir le sentiment que le monde et notre action ont un sens, cela ne dépend sur aucune circonstance.

Une vie sans espoir est vide, inutile et triste. Sans espoir, je ne pourrais rien entreprendre. Je remercie Dieu de ce don, car il est aussi précieux que la vie elle-même.

~Václav Havel

"Let's go!" Inuyasha commanded, urging Sango to move. She didn't question him, but jumped onto Kirara's back and waited for him to lead the way. Inuyasha didn't wait to see what Sesshoumaru's reaction would be, nor did he care. All he knew was that Naraku's scent was coming from where he had left Kagome, and that was not a good thing.

He ran as fast as he could, trying desperately to reach Kagome before it was too late. But when he and Sango finally reached the small clearing there was no sign of her. Her bike lay innocently in the middle of the clearing, and both Miroku and Shippo seemed to be in a deep sleep, neither of them stirring as Sango tried to shake them awake. But they were not who Inuyasha was worried for. At least he knew where they were. Kagome on the other hand was missing. He tried to follow her scent, cursing as Naraku's soon joined hers. He followed their trail for about a minute, but it soon disappeared as though they had just started to fly the rest of the way. He cursed loudly. Damn Sesshoumaru and his distractions. He couldn't help feeling that if he hadn't followed Sesshoumaru he would have been able to save Kagome.

"What do we do now, Inuyasha?" Sango asked, still cradling Miroku's sleeping form.

He cast her a weary look, not sure what to say. "He took her, Sango. We have to find her."

Sango gave him a small nod, and then looked around at their other companions. He could tell she was worried about them. He wanted to go and find Kagome, but maybe he could no longer just follow her scent and find her. He had no idea where Naraku had taken her. But Shippo and Miroku had been with her when she was taken, there was a good chance they knew what had happened. And he couldn't just leave them unconscious no matter how worried he was for Kagome. He had to help his other friends. He motioned towards his two slumbering friends. "We'll first take them to Kaede's; see if she could do something to help."

Sango nodded in agreement. They hauled Shippo and Miroku onto Kirara's back and made their way towards Inuyasha's forest.

He stood where Inuyasha had left him. He was half tempted to follow Inuyasha and finish him off, but thought better of if. He was in no mood to be chasing after the silly hanyou, especially since the other hanyou was somewhere close by and was playing more of his stupid little games.

He turned towards where Naraku's scent was coming from. He was not sure whether he should follow it. What if he was trying to lure him away? His scent was quickly fading and Sesshoumaru had yet to do something.

That's when Tensaiga pulsed at his side. It did that every once in a while, almost always when the miko was somehow or other involved. He looked down at the sword with an air of disdain. What are you trying to say now? He asked exasperatedly. You want me to go after Naraku's scent?

The sword pulsed.

Why should I? His only response was the sword's continued pulsing. Casting it an inauspicious glare, Sesshoumaru ignored the sword, turning to make his way towards his headquarters almost in defiance of the sword. The sword vibrated angrily, making him stop to consider the sword again. The hanyou's smell came from where Inuyasha had left the miko, Kagome. Had the treacherous hanyou come across the miko? If he had, then he would definitely abduct her, he had no doubt about that. As if to encourage him, Tensaiga's quaking vibrations became gentle beats against his hip.

Almost sighing in defeat, Sesshoumaru turned back towards the quickly fading scent of the hanyou. But once more he paused, this time a look of anger flashing across his features before his mask covered it. Why go through the trouble of finding the bastard hanyou, to save a miko? He planted his feet firmly into the ground. Something in the bases of his heart made him feel ever more uneasy, but he ignored it. He had decided; it was not his business to save the miko. If the expense for the success of his plan was his pride, then he would much rather keep his pride instead of the plan. He was a Taiyoukai, one particularly famous for his ruthlessness. One human miko was not going to change that, no matter how strongly Tensaiga pulsed or how the uneasiness in his heart grew at the decision. He was not going to go out of his way to save her despite how much his instinct urged him to go to her aid.

This time he turned and walked away from his brother and the hanyou's stench, walking sure footedly towards his temporary headquarters.

Kagome watched as a series of ominous clouds gathered about the far horizon over the setting sun, casting the world in a dark shadow. The air had the thick, wet quality to it that it had just before it was about to rain heavily. A hot wind rippled the long grass that grew in the meadow in front of her make-shift prison like waves in a green sea.

She waited till the sky was completely dark, the indigo ceiling covered with a thick layer of thunder clouds, before she turned her gaze away from the open window that mocked her freedom. She was inside a lone room off the main branch of a deserted castle. The room was completely empty but for her presence and a lone mirror in the corner of the room. It was a circular mirror with an intricately designed, silver border. It looked innocent, but Kagome could easily see the similarities between this mirror and that of Naraku's soul-sucking off-spring, Kanna. She knew she was being watched.

The room had a large window and a single door for entrance, neither of which were being guarded. If she wanted to, Kagome could have easily stepped over the ledge of the window and walked away, but she knew better than to try. She knew that behind those innocently standing trees at the borders of the small clearing was where many lesser youkai were hidden, waiting Naraku's orders to finish her off. She could sense their presence.

The back of her head pounded with a sickening pain where her head was broken. She wasn't sure how it had happened. All she knew was that when she had awoken, the sticky was still trickling down her neck, making her feel queasy as she brought a shaky hand to touch the blood. There was even a small puddle of blood where her head had been lying before. She couldn't remember hitting her head, and had to assume that it was the work of Naraku. The bleeding had stopped about an hour ago, leaving behind the queasy feeling at the pit of her stomach.

She sighed in the heavy heat of the night, a light sheen of perspiration making her hair stick to her face and her clothes to her body. The whole day she had been visited once by Kagura, telling her that she was not to move. She was also sent to retrieve her share of the Shikon shards. But as the Wind-user half-heartedly reached for them, Kagome used her miko powers to barricade a shield around herself; she'd be damned if she was going to give the hanyou anymore shards. Upon that, Kagura gave her a lop-sided smirk, her calculating eyes roving over her in thought before stepping out through the door.

Inuyasha…she thought wistfully, why haven't you saved me yet. She leaned against the ledge of the window with her back, her hands clamping onto it with white knuckles. She turned her face towards the night breeze that flitted in through the window, allowing it to lift her hair from her damp neck just as the first roll of thunder shook the skies above. The bright flash of a closer lightning flashed across the dark night sky, illuminating a pair of golden eyes in the see of the red ones hiding in the woods.

He stopped as the scent of thunder storms and water lilies reached his sensitive nose. It could have been the approaching storm that he was scenting, but there were no bodies of water nearby that could account for the smell of the water lilies. There was only one person that he knew that smelled like that and he had good reason not to want to see her. He tested the air wishing for the first time in his life to be able to smell his hanyou half-brother as well. As fate would have it, there was no sign of the insolent mutt, only hers and to his displeasure that of her blood. He forcefully pushed down a sigh that threatened to escape his lips.

To his immense displeasure, the stupid sword had resumed its incessant pulsing wholeheartedly. He cursed the miko for causing so much abruption in his life.

He turned his back stubbornly away from her scent, forcing his reluctant mind away from the image of the water fall breaking across her naked shoulders as she smiled in his direction. He pushed aside the memory of her bending down to whisper a 'thank you' to him.

But what about your plan? A voice echoed in his mind that sounded suspiciously like himself. Screw the plan, he growled silently back. Any demoness would be more than happy to satisfy my current desire. He was quite certain of it; it had been the case before the silly miko had waltzed into his life, and nothing had happened to change that. He had no real need of her and he knew that.

He slowed to a stop, muttering a 'damn human miko and her ridiculously distracting allure' before grumpily heading towards the edge of the woods.

Inuyasha waited impatiently as Sango tried her best to explain to Kaede what had happened while casting a worried look towards the still slumbering Miroku every once in a while. He got up abruptly, stomping towards the screen door and shoving it open to get out of the over-crowded hut. Outside, he took in a gulp of the moist air, revelling in the relief that it brought him.

He couldn't help but feel guilty for following Sesshoumaru. The cursed bastard was probably in cahoots with Naraku to lure him away from Kagome. I was so stupid to follow. First Kikyou, now Kagome…he sighed in exasperation.

He jumped onto a high branch of one of the spruce trees in his forest. He looked up into the sky, hoping to see the pearly light of the moon. Too bad it was covered in a layer of thick storm clouds. He knew there was going to be a heavy downpour soon. Or as Kagome would say it, 'it was going to rain cats and dogs'.

He could never understand the particular pattern of words with which she spoke. They were foreign and odd to him even though he knew it was common for her time. There were many things about her time that made her a stranger to him.

He had never had someone care so much for him yet defy him so openly at the same time. It was unnatural to him, yet Kagome seemed to take that for granted. Sometimes he thought she loved him and she had said that she would stay by his side no mater what. But then as soon as that lousy wolf showed up, she would always side with him and protected the wimp from him. To him, Kagome was an enigma, a puzzle that was too hard to solve, yet a constant reminder of another.

He sat up straight suddenly, his body tensing at the scent that drifted towards him. He tested the air, making sure it was Naraku that he smelled. He let out a growl and jumped off the branch, rushing towards the hut to alert Sango of his discovery. Naraku was near, and, if he was right, so would be Kagome. With that thought in mind, he hurried with renewed speed. I have to save her. I have to save Ki - Kagome!

Kagome had to fight hard not to gasp. The light from the lightning faded, throwing the woods back into darkness. But the image of the golden eyes remained embedded in her mind like a pair of haunting ghosts. She felt relief wash over her. Inuyasha…you came. She was careful not to betray her joy to the mirror; she did not want Naraku to find out that Inuyasha was here.

She turned fully towards the window, keeping her eyes locked on to where she had seen the eyes. Leaning slightly out of the window frame so that her face could not be seen by the mirror, she waited for the next set of thunder.

The sky rumbled with threat as heavy rain poured down with a vengeance. Lightning flashed down, forking its way into the sudden soil of the Earth. This time she caught a glimpse of silver hair, her heart skipping a beat in joy. She couldn't help the smile that spread over her features.

She pulled herself into the room, the smell of the falling rain sharp in her nose. Making sure her face was void of all emotion (even Sesshoumaru would have approved of the blankness on her face), she waited for Inuyasha's next move.

He watched her closely with his keen eyes as her chest rose and fell repetitively as she calmly breathed, all previous callous thoughts of her forgotten. The faint light shimmered enticingly against the exposed parts of her moist skin. He suddenly found that he rather liked the suffocating heat that filled the summer air. His breath almost caught in his throat as the night breeze played itself through her dark hair.

But he was brought back cruelly to reality by the scent of the other youkais' arousal. He eyed them with disapproval as the sky roared with the first thunder of the night. He did not like the way they were eyeing Kagome. He could tell by the smell that hung to them that they were Naraku's spawns and Kagome's guards. He would have no problem slicing through them.

He turned his eyes back towards the girl just as another flash of lightning flashed across the sky, lighting her features. He saw her surprise as her eyes caught his in the flash. He could see excitement and relief swim in her eyes and was surprised by them. She leaned out of the window, her hair brushing past her shoulder as the rain began to pour down. She kept her eyes in his general direction until the next flash of lightning. This time she even smiled that smile of hers.

She leaned back inside the room, her face turning completely blank as it passed the window pane, surprising him with its lack of emotions that were so probe to playing themselves over her soft features. As he watched her, he realized that she was probably waiting for him to take the next step.

Allowing his lips to turn in a lop-sided smirk, he did just that. He pulled out his sword, turning towards the mass of youkai who were guarding her. The smirk never left his face as he made short work of them, slicing through each like knife through warm butter.

He flicked off the head of the last of the lower youkai unceremoniously, turning his gaze back towards his prize. She still had her eyes glued in his general direction even though he was sure she could not have seen him with her human eyes in the dark. Ignoring this, he turned and walked back towards the heart of the woods.

Kagome followed the flashes of silver as Inuyasha cut through the youkai hiding in the woods with his Tessaiga. It was odd how he didn't use the Kaze-no-Kizo; he would have finished them a lot faster and with so much less effort. But he managed to kill them pretty quickly nonetheless. She was slightly impressed by how much he had improved.

The flashes of his sword stopped with one last fling, and she knew he was looking at her and she had to fight hard not to smile while in the view of the mirror. She thought she saw a flash of white and as the lightning flashed again she got a glimpse of the back of his white head as he moved deeper into the forest.

"What the…?" Kagome whispered under her breath. "What is he doing?" she leaned back out of the window for a better look, but could see no sign of him. Lightning flashed over the empty woods, the roar of the thunder filling her ears. There was no sign of Inuyasha.

Maybe he went so that he wouldn't be seen by Naraku, she thought to herself. She dismissed the idea almost instantly. Knowing Inuyasha, Kagome knew that he would be charging in head first at the chance to head off with Naraku. Perhaps it was a good thing that he was gone, for whatever reason. At least now he was safe from Naraku for a while longer.

She knew it was now safe to step out; there were no more demons threatening her safety. She wondered again why Inuyasha didn't even come to help her out. It was probably a good thing though since he would have been seen via the mirror.

She cast the mirror a nervous look, sighing in exasperation and stepped over the ledge of the window, ignoring the sudden dizziness that rippled through her due to the loss of blood she had suffered.

She tried her best to sneak quickly out of the open space of the meadow, feeling vulnerable in the small valley. She stole her way into the shelter of the woods, stopping awhile to allow the rain to wash off the blood from her neck and the mud from her legs; Sengoku Jedi was not the place to be wearing skirts. Even the water drops felt hot to the touch.

She resumed her walk, wondering whether Inuyasha was. She kept having horrible thoughts like what if some of the demons had escaped Inuyasha's sword, which was more likely than she would have liked. What if some of them were hiding right now in the woods, just bidding their time till she passed by? Curse Inuyasha for not waiting, she thought angrily. She felt a little hurt that Inuyasha hadn't stayed with her. She felt almost as though he had saved her out of duty and nothing more even though she knew better. "Inuyasha no baka!" she said in a voice just above a whisper.

"I quite agree with you on that," the cool voice cut through the heavy air from just behind her.

She whirled around, her heart beating rapidly somewhere near her throat. She knew that voice, she recognized its smoothness, but could not give her ears the credit. But as her eyes took in his silver hair and golden eyes she had no choice but to believe. "Sesshoumaru?!"

Inuyasha jumped from tree to tree at top speed, Sango astride Kirara following silently. He could just make out the white of Naraku's baboon pelt. He landed softly a few feet away from the evil hanyou, Tessaiga already drawn out. Kirara landed just behind him.

"Where is she, bastard?" he growled out through gritted teeth.

"Why Inuyasha, what a nice surprise!" Naraku said with an air of complete amiability. "Where is who?"

"You fucking bastard, don't play games with me! Where is Kagome?"

"Oh but it's so much fun watching you waste so much energy trying to save the reincarnated miko almost as if you thought you were saving the original!"

"SHUT UP!" Inuyasha yelled, Naraku's last comment hitting a rather sore nerve.

Naraku only smiled in contempt. "Don't worry; the girl is safe for now."

Grounding his teeth, Inuyasha glared full-heartedly at his enemy. He would have already cleaved him in two if he knew where Kagome was. "You fucking coward, you're always taking the coward's role, doing things behind people's back. What do you want with Kagome?"

Naraku let out a short laugh. "She is quite similar to the miko Onigumo desired so much…," he trailed off ominously.

"IF YOU FUCKING TOUCH EVEN ONE STRAND OF HER HAIR, I'LL HURT YOU SO BAD YOU'D WISH YOU WERE DEAD!"

"How novel of you," Naraku bit out in mock amusement. "But I want nothing from the girl except her jewel shards, which I can get whenever I want. So you could have her back if you want."

"What's the catch?" Sango asked. She was very wary of the hanyou, and kept looking around for any signs of her brother.

"No catch, my dear Sango," Naraku said in a would-be charming way. By now the rain had begun to pour down, the sky rumbling with the sound of thunder. "I only wish to know one little, inconsequential thing."

They waited silently for him to continue.

"How are the miko, the reincarnation that is, and your brother's fang related?"

His question was met with complete silence. Kagome and Sesshoumaru's fang…does he mean the Tensaiga?

"What are you talking about?" Sango asked in a rationally calm voice, sounding uncannily like Miroku.

"My Sango, I would have thought you had some intelligence. The reincarnate and the sword given to Lord Sesshoumaru by his father, how are they related?" There was a touch of impatience in his voice.

"How could they be related?" Inuyasha asked in his condescending tone.

Naraku was silent, as though contemplating whether or not Inuyasha knew what he was talking about. His youchi started leaving his body in angry waves as he realized the hanyou was oblivious to what he wanted. A whole day's worth of planning and strategizing for and end that was unsuccessful; he was not pleased. With an angry snarl, he unleashed the full force of his youchi, not even waiting to see what had happened to the two. He wanted get back to the miko as soon as possible, perhaps he could extract the information that he wanted from her.

Inuyasha and Kirara took to the air without hesitation, not needing to wait to see what the after effect of Naraku's youchi would be. Still air born, Inuyasha looked around for the hanyou. To his great horror, he had already disappeared, leaving no clue as to where he had gone behind. He growled in frustration, vainly trying to follow Naraku in the direction he thought he might have gone.

*~*

I am neither an optimist nor a pessimist, because I never am sure whether things will be for the better or worse. I make myself happy with hoping. To hope is to be aware that the world and our actions have an awareness, one that does not depend on any specific circumstance.

Life without hope, useless, and sad. Without hope, I can take on nothing. So I thank God for it, because it is just as precious as life itself.

~Václav Havel