InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ When We Return Home ❯ Chapter Four: The Eyes That Blaze ( Chapter 4 )

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Chapter Four

The Eyes that Blaze

Disclaimer: If I owned InuYasha, then my basement would be too full of S&M material to fit the computer I'm using to type this. InuYasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi-sensei…

Kaname felt a burn, a scathing heat that she knew all too well. It was her power, her red flame. It danced about her, growing larger and larger, a barrier that threatened the safety of demons who lingered near it.

But Kaname didn't care. 'Let them burn,' she thought, squeezing her eyes shut as tears unwittingly fell from them. 'They all deserve to go to hell.'

God, she knew what he'd think if he saw her. She could see him in her mind's eye, his usually warm eyes cold and hateful as he turned from her.

But just then, she didn't care. Images of events after her return to the present made her flames flare, singeing her own hair. She remembered the screams, screams that were her own. The smell of sweat and dirt that covered her body. The realization that the hoarse pleads were coming from her, inaudible over his laugh.

She couldn't...she couldn't bear it anymore. There was nothing worth the pain she'd suffered. No one worth her agony. She'd tried to convince herself that she'd loved InuYasha, that there was nothing in the world that could change how she felt. But now, now she just wanted to rest...

As though her flame could feel her pain, it began to burn blue, changing its color. With a gasp, she realized what was happening.

It was going to burn her alive.

But, for some reason, she couldn't feel it. Her sense of pain had dulled, hadn't it? Ever since that day, she didn't really think she could feel pain.

Sighing as she lay back against the wall, Kaname readied herself for the evitable.

Then, all of a sudden, she felt a hand grip her arm tightly, pulling her from her barrier. She heard a curse as she fell against the person's chest, seeing only red cloth. Smelling a familiar scent. For a moment, she was dazed. That scent belonged to only him. Only he had that smell, a combination of cloves and what she could only describe as that of InuYasha. Daring to look up, Kaname's brown orbs widened as she met those of InuYasha.

"InuYasha...?"

^.^

InuYasha looked down at the girl pressed against him, speechless. When he'd walked into the cave, seeing the fire that shot around a body. A body that smelled of poppies.

He hadn't had time to think, only to act on what he saw. Reaching out his arm, he'd moved with such speed that he hadn't even felt her flames as the reached for him, threatening purification. The wolf-demon wench had gasped, trying to grab him away from the girl. But as she fell into his arms, her face coated in tears, he didn't think he could ever leave her.

Her face was exactly how he remembered it, though perhaps a bit more mature. Her face was pale, beautiful against her dark hair that hung long and loose, tendrils of which wandered across her face, stuck from her anxious sweat. One tendril rested on her quivering lips, sending a rush through him, forcing him to bite his lip as a groan tried to force its way out.

Her eyes. He remembered those eyes. Filled with such innocence and naivety that he always felt like a monster for hurting her. Those same eyes had looked at him three years ago, eyes filled with need that at the same time, burned with determination and hope.

"InuYasha...?"

Fuck, he couldn't stand it any longer. He felt himself losing control over his expression, felt his hand tremble on her arm. His gaze shifting away from hers, InuYasha wrapped his arms around her, hiding his face in her hair.

"You...you're back...,” he heard himself say, feeling embarrassed as his voice cracked.

He felt her back straighten, shocked at his actions. He held her tighter, his arms circling her waist as he silently begged her to lean against him. Hesitantly, he felt her arms reach up around his back, gripping his haori tightly with her hands. She shuddered against him, crying silently against him.

It felt like they stood like that forever, neither willing to let go of the other. It was like a dream, something InuYasha never believed would happen.

^.^

Home. That's what it felt like in InuYasha's arms. She'd wanted to be with him so badly, her departure from his world feeling like the lose of a limb.

But then she remembered what she was, what she'd been doing when he'd saved her from herself.

Pulling away, Kaname looked up at him, searching that face she'd memorized. She wanted to run her hand down his face, feel his warm breath against her palm. Raising her hand, she smiled at him, an action she hadn't done in a long time.

But out of the corner of her eye, she saw blood on her hand, saw splatters of it across her haori. She flinched, drawing her hand back. Glancing at it again, she shuddered, realizing that there wasn't real blood on it at all.

Summoning a cheerful smile on her face, Kaname put forward her cheerful facade, one she knew he was familiar with.

"InuYasha," she laughed, tugging on his hand, "I've missed you so much! I can't believe I made it back!"

For a moment, he looked confused, his eyes narrowing at her conflicting aura that radiated despair and her face that insisted on happiness. Shaking his head, InuYasha grinned back at her.

"Yea," he replied, laughter in his own voice, "it's been a while. It's good to have you back. Have an evil ancestor who needs you for a sacrifice?"

She laughed, her voice like the call of a lark, tugging on his heart. "No! It's strange really. I wished I could be with you guys, and I was back. It all happened in my storage house like it did last time too."

InuYasha looked surprised, nodding his head at her. Yea, she'd really wanted to see all of them again…

"But anyway," Kaname chirped, changing the subject, "how are you? What about Miroku and Sango? And Shippou! Is Kagome with you?"

He didn't miss that crack in her voice. Flinching, InuYasha mimicked her tone, "Yea...They're all back in the village..."

"That's good..."

^.^

Akane looked at the two figures standing before her, amazed. They looked at each other in the oddest way, as though both of them were trying to hide something from the other. The tension that arose in the cave was becoming unbearable.

"Excuse me," she called over, hesitating for a moment at the thought of the hanyou's -InuYasha's- wrath. They turned to her, their expressions still frozen in that disgustingly fake happiness.

"It appears as though you and this onmyouji know each other," Akane commented, voice cold. This bitch had almost killed her entire clan. But she was no fool. If she was a friend of the half-demon who'd defeated Naraku, then standing in their way would only harm the clan further. Forcing a smile onto her face, Akane gestured for them to walk outside with her, noticing how the hanyou's hand gripped his sword hilt. 'Quite on edge isn't he...'

Walking outside with them, Akane looked the girl over, astonished by the difference. The bitch who had so severely hurt her clan was only a young girl, something she'd known but hadn't really grasped. The girls face was dirty and worn; her once beautiful robes covered in grime and animal remains that had lain on the floor of the cave. But all Akane really saw were her eyes.

Red-rimmed and sullen at first glance, Akane would have never truly noticed those eyes had they not looked right at her. Within then, she saw a faint red spark, as though her very soul was on fire. A passionate fire.

But it was lonely. It was a fire that burned in the darkness, solitary. A flame that could never be forced to disappear, but would wander on, until it faded into the dark. Akane had seen such eyes before.

Shaking her head, Akane called over the rest of the clan that had been lingering outside. Extending regrets towards InuYasha for the condition of his friend, she promised that the girl would next time receive a less hostile welcome.

“I regret not believing your connection to Lord Koga,” Akane said the girl, her calm voice a peace offering. “Though we worried over your actions today, we will not hold you responsible for it…this time. We shall alert our leader to your presence in the companionship of the inu-hanyou and our lady.”

The girl nodded, her eyes unseeing. It peeved Akane a bit, how this chit ignored her. `Let bygones be bygones, Akane', she whispered to herself. `Humans need our guidance. Especially those as powerful as she.'

As she watched the hanyou and Kaname go, she realized something. Those eyes of the human girl. She knew exactly where she'd seen them.

In the eyes of women torn to pieces by war. Ravaged and murdered, witnesses to those ultimate acts of evil only the lowest demon scum were capable of.

Yes, the girl had seen something, had been subjected to something that could never heal.

Turning back towards her family and friends, Akane sighed, looking up at the great blue sky. For the first time, her heart ached for a mortal.

Could anything, or anyone, heal that kind of pain? Was the inu-hanyou the one the chit had been waiting for? Or would he only be a source of more pain for the child?

A/N:

Thanks to someone who let me know I made a mistake with the last chapter, I decided to go ahead and update this chapter before Virulence. Also because I love the idea of writing a good fluff. The next chapter is going to be my favorite one so far, and it's about the events of Kaname's life after she returned. Expect it to either be in two parts or one pretty long chapter! As always, R&R!