InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Winds ❯ Unstill Skies ( Chapter 3 )

Tired after his wakeful night, and intent on avoiding the speculation of Inuyasha's wandering memory, Miroku walked at the rear of the group, studying the patterns that their various feet made in the dust. Inuyasha's bare footprints, the tread of Kagome's bicycle tire, Sango's booted feet, and the tiny paw-pad prints of Kirara and Shippou all played across the narrow dirt road, alive with tiny details that failed to make any imprint on Miroku's mind.

He had tried a thousand times since breakfast to put the thought from his mind, to wipe the slate of his memory clean. The thought kept coming back to him, Kagura's voice on the wind.

 

You are running out of time, Houshi. Do not waste this chance.

 

Was it really a chance? Kagura had destroyed Kouga's tribe, attacked them every chance she got…

 

Not every chance…

 

Almost every chance, then. Last night could simply be the precursor to a much more fiendish kind of plot, and there was no greater fiend than Naraku. He knew that the others were not likely to let him go alone in the unknown, searching for who knew what, really, on the instructions of Kagura! Kagura, their enemy, Kagura, whose heart belonged to Naraku - but she had helped them before. She knew, had to know, the secret of Inuyasha's transformation, the new-moon nightmare that taunted the hanyou once a month.

If she had told Naraku, they would be in hiding every new moon, not searching for shards. Inuyasha was too impatient to hide - he would run out under the moonlight and be struck down by some demon that he would laugh at in the daylight, or on any other night.

So, Kagura kept Inuyasha's secret. For that matter, so did Kouga, but Kouga was their some-time ally, and most definitely would not betray their trust as long as he sought Kagome for himself. A hopeless quest, but amusing to observe.

Miroku was thinking so hard that he didn't notice the darkening sky over them, or a tingling presence that made the rest of the group stop. He walked into Sango's back, and looked up to apologize. She saw distance in his eyes, confusion and loss, and smiled, both comforting and quizzical. He shrugged, and shook his head, finally looking up. Now was not the time to discuss his thoughts.

The morning's promise of a clear, sunny day seemed to be dying before the approach of massive thunderheads, breaking the blue sky apart and thickening the air with humidity. Though it was nearly summer, they had not reached the truly hot days, and thunderstorms were unusual. Concentrating on the strangeness, he finally felt it, shaking himself free of his malaise.

 

Jyaki! And such a jyaki…

 

Sesshomaru had this much power, but Sesshomaru did not bring storms. Inuyasha had fought such a one before, but that had been a power of weaponry, not a power of being.

“Inuyasha!”

The hanyou turned to him with bared fangs and darting, listening eyes. The smell of rain was so close and heavy that Miroku was aware of it, along with the drifting taint of ozone, a lightning-singed smell.

“This storm is demon-bred; there are waves and waves of dark energy coming from it, and the clouds are moving much faster than the wind could carry them.”

“I see it!”

Inuyasha drew tetsusaiga, and stood ready, facing the approaching cloud mass with a snarl. Kagome lay her bike on its side, and sighted along a feathered shaft, the string loose in her fingers until a target presented itself.

“I'm not going to start shooting at the clouds - where's the demon that's making them? Can you see it, Inuyasha? Miroku?”

Inuyasha shook his head, and leapt straight up, intersecting the front wave of fog that was pouring down over them. The world became grey and misty, and very, very damp. The shifting yellow light of tetsusaiga was some help - demon bright vision was more, but still did not penetrate very far into the mists. He dropped back down, and landed in a crouch in front of them all, holding tetsusaiga in one hand.

He shook, sending beads of water flying in all directions from hair and haori, and then shook his head.

“I can't see much of anything up there - too much mist, and not enough light.”

Miroku strode up beside them and pointed at the cloud mass. It was growing - strikes of lightning fell at random, demolishing whole trees and burning patches of ground and grass into black ash.

“We cannot allow that demon to live! The storm is boiling out of control - I have never heard of a youkai with such powers, but the wind and lightning will destroy this whole area!”

Sango looked down at Kirara, who let out a small mew, and then nodded tersely.

“Right! Kirara and I will go scout out the edges of the cloud. When we find the youkai, I'll fly out quickly, and Kirara's fire will leave a trail. Inuyasha, you'd better watch for it and tell Kagome, so she can shoot. With any luck, the storm will be purified and the demon will be left unprotected.”

She flew up into the storm, and they all watched anxiously, until she had vanished into the boiling nexus of clouds. Around them, the darkness had gathered until they were left in a dim light, like a black-and-white ink painting splashed with water and running all to grey. The edges of things grew faint, and blurry. Rain suddenly drizzled, like fog solidified into droplets that one moved through, rather than falling from the sky.

The fog-drizzle became pouring, rain coming down in thick, blinding sheets. Miroku, Kagome, and even Inuyasha were wet through in moments. Shippou took cover in the bicycle basket, dodging the drops that snuck through the weave. Sango, drifting somewhat aimlessly through the cloud, was not much better off.

Kirara was hesitant to fly into the thickest bank of clouds, so much darker than the rest as to be almost black, and Sango was in no hurry to ask it of her. Yellow and purple flashes of lightning wandered in serpent-shapes and shadow-forms through the mist, and the rumble of thunder was a constant, streaming noise. She reached out a hand, touching the darkest roll of clouds with her fingertips - but it was not cloud.

Suddenly, she was looking into an eye. The eye was large, and red, and unblinking, and beneath the eye were long, powerful jaws with shining, lightning-tipped teeth. The tongue that slipped from between the teeth was forked and powerful, drawing out the lightning, and the rumble of its growl was the thunder that she had been hearing. She broke her gaze away from the glowing eye, and turned Kirara in a speeding arc, out of the cloud and back towards her friends.

Inuyasha did not miss a beat. Swiftly, gently, he turned Kagome and pointed with a shout.

“There!”

Just as swiftly, Kagome drew her bow and sighted along the line of Sango's retreat. The arrow flew straight and true, and hit its target with a splashing glow of blue-violet light. She let out her breath, and Sango paused in her flight, turning to watch as the miko shine grew, and flushed through the storm. The thunder became a howl, instead of a rumble, and a heaving, serpentine shape writhed momentarily free of the clouds. As the light from the arrow grew, and then faded.

The clouds remained, but the rain had stopped. Kagome drew another arrow, and looked at Inuyasha. He nodded, and hefted tetsusaiga with calm focus in his eyes, rare and interesting to watch. A swirl of wind began a slow rotation around the glowing blade, and he swung the sword in a slashing arc and let the Kaze no Kizu loose. Kagome's second arrow shone brightly in the midst of the whirling energy, but before it had moved more than a moment, a wrath of lightning bolts spewed out of the cloud remnants, viscous in their intensity.

Inuyasha swung Kagome to safety, and trusted his nose to guide him around the burning strikes. Miroku tensed, and waited, leaping aside where necessary and fingering the ofuda in his sleeves. With a shout, he whirled to fling them towards the demon-born storm, but above him there was suddenly a scream of horrible, inhuman pain, and he stopped, staring up. Sango was falling, a shrieking, smoking arc of fleshly agony, still tingling with bright yellow flickers of electricity.

Eyes wide with horror, Miroku watched the red streak of Inuyasha moving across the rain soaked grass, but he was not going to make it. It was only Kagome that made him capable of the impossible, and Sango was not Kagome. He unwrapped the beads, and opened his hand, and unleashed the howling winds. They captured the clouds by their lingering tails, and wound them down into the purple darkness; Sango sped towards him, silent now, her limbs hanging limp, and at the last moment he closed his fist, and she shot into him and knocked him over.

He was up in a moment, laying her straight and touching the edge of a shimmering burn that showed over her collar, a bright patch of red flesh that extended under her smoking clothes. With hard eyes, he stood and turned back to the cloud-wrapped demon, watching it howl against the force of Inuyasha and Kagome's combined power. Afterwards, more lightning, and Miroku held his staff tightly and closed his eyes. Beads of sweat collected on his forehead, and his mouth moved silently. A shimmering force enclosed himself and Sango, prone on the ground.

The lightning bounced around them, or shivered harmless off the barrier. When it passed, he opened his eyes and turned to find Inuyasha.

“Inuyasha! I'm going to take the rest of its clouds into the Kazaana. You and Kagome need to strike when it is exposed!”

Kagome's eyes were wide with worry for Sango, but she nodded, her lips pressing into a thin line. Miroku opened his fist, and again the vortex did its work, pulling the clouds out of the sky, bending the trees and sucking stones from the earth. As the clouds cleared, he squinted in the returning light, and pulled in a tearing breath.

 

A dragon!

 

Across from him, Inuyasha had already taken stance. In the sunlight, they could all see the damage the last attack had done. A black, burning hole was blasted through the dragon's body, lengthwise, and the yowling youkai had lost an eye.

“Kagome! The same spot - get him in the same spot!”

“Right.”

She was not normally so murderous, but this demon had injured Sango, and Sango was the sister she had never had. With thirsting eyes, she shot an air that drew power behind it like lightning of its own, and shattered the dragon into bursting dust-particles with tetsusaiga's glow behind them.

As soon as he was sure that the dragon was destroyed, Miroku knelt at Sango's side and touched her uninjured shoulder gently, shaking her as much as he dared. She let out a pained moan, so he knew she wasn't dead, but the red, blistered flesh he saw as he peeled away the edge of her collar scared him. Kagome ran up behind him, and put a hand on his shoulder.

“Miroku? Miroku, go with Inuyasha. I'll wrap her burns - I have special ointment for them, and then we can take her back to Kaede.”

Silent, he nodded, watching Sango's face retreat over his shoulder, her brow tight and her cheeks hollow, even while she was unconscious.

“Miroku.”

Inuyasha's face beside him was uncommonly tense, even for the aftermath of battle. His eyes had a blank, focused glare, and he stared down at the grass as though he expected it to suddenly raise swords, and chop at their feet.

“Walk with me.”

Miroku turned away, and did as he was bid - it was obvious Kagome was anxious to get to Sango's injuries, and equally anxious for him to go away, so she could be sure he was not peeking.

 

As though I would, now. As though her wounds do not matter to me, as though…as though she did not trust me. Ah, Kagome. You do not know me as well as I thought.

 

He looked at Inuyasha out of the corner of his eye, but decided not to speak. It looked like Inuyasha was gathering himself for a query of particular importance, and if Miroku spoke, he would abandon his quest for information and run off bashing on the wrong track entirely.

“How do you tell a woman that you do not care for her - a woman that you know has strong feelings for you?”

Of all the things Miroku had expected, this was not one. He could not ask the question he really wanted to ask - he did not think he would get an answer, and there was not often a chance to get Inuyasha to listen to - and really hear - some good advice.

“It is simple - you must tell her, Inuyasha. Quickly, quietly, alone, and with as much gentleness as you can manage. Do not mince words, and do not pretend that there is a chance she may change your heart. And, Inuyasha - do not expect not to hurt her. If, as you say, a lady has strong feelings for you, it will not matter how you say you do not care - you are still saying you do not care.”

 

But which one is it, Inuyasha?

 

Inuyasha nodded, and flexed his claws. Without another word, he ran off down the beaten path towards a gathering of trees several miles away. It was only then that Miroku saw the blue shimmer glittering through the trees, a faint glint through the trees, but unmistakable.

 

Kikyou. And what are you going to tell her?

 

Among the trees, Inuyasha found her, and he did not hesitate with his words. Seeing her unstuck his nerve, but his heart was strong behind his resolve.
”I saw Sango hurt today, Kikyou. Badly. We do not know if she will live. And while she was falling, and I saw that I would not catch her in time, I was struck. What if Miroku had not saved her? She would have died, broken.”

Kikyou turned her head sideways, looking at him with eyes that were hard and cold. She had not expected him to come to her so swiftly.

“What are you trying to tell me, Inuyasha? Is the huntress your newest woman, now?”

He grabbed her arm, fierce and with half a growl in his throat.

“No! That is foolish - she is Miroku's. I would not…I do not…no.”

Shaking his head, he released her.

“I thought, watching her fall, what if…what if it was Kagome? And it hurt me - I have not known that kind of pain. And then I thought - what if it was you? Then I knew that it couldn't hurt you, that you've fallen much farther, and I knew…I knew I could not be with you.”

He turned luminous eyes in her direction, and they were soft.

“I am sorry, Kikyou.”

Her face was fierce, her eyes just as bright as his now, but with furious tears.

“What is it, Inuyasha? What is it that she has, that I do not have - that I am not?”

He couldn't help it - he smiled, thinking of her.

“She is alive, Kikyou. Brilliant and glowing with life - and fierce. She is all woman, even though she is young. The essence of woman, with newness and openness and strange ideas from a different world. I cannot help loving her, Kikyou, and I cannot hurt her by letting her think that she is second in my heart. But I had to tell you, first. You…you deserve that.”

He met her eyes again, a silent moment in which he felt her pain, almost as blinding and burning as his own.

“I am sorry.”

Then he was gone - the trees swallowed him, and Kikyou was left alone amidst the green and gold. How could he choose her? How could he choose that child, that girl out of time?

 

Inuyasha sped back through the trees the way he had come, and the brushing arms of wind that wrapped around him as he moved helped to cleanse his thoughts. His eyes were full, and he dashed the sparkling from them with an eager sleeve. On the other end of this sad run was a helping, healing touch, and liquid eyes which salved him with warmth. This was how it should have been from the beginning - the past behind him, and Kagome in front.

When he returned to the place where Sango had fallen, Kagome was no where in sight. Miroku sat by Sango's side, holding her hand and peering intently into her face. The cut-off pieces of her exterminating outfit were piled next to her - her torso and left leg were wrapped in linen, and Kirara was curled into a singed ball by her feet. With a questioning glance, Inuyasha got his answer - Miroku pointed over his shoulder with a darting glance, and then turned back to Sango.

At the top of the hill they had crested before their dragon battle, Kagome sat with her arms wrapped around her knees, staring blankly into the distance.

“Kagome.”

Her eyes shifted to look at him, but she did not move.

“I thought you had left us for the night, Inuyasha.”

He sat beside her, and gathered her close. She didn't know what to do - it was too unexpected. Once before he had done this, but then…there was no well here, to cast her into. Inuyasha could have been content just breathing her, feeling a warm, solid weight slide down his throat like a hot drink, and settle above his heart.

“I had to find Kikyou, while I knew she was near. I had to tell her -“

He swallowed, and she felt his hands twitch against her skin. He was angry with himself now. Why was it so much harder to let out these words?

“I had to tell her that I had made my choice. I had to tell her I could not come to her any more, that she cannot claim me. I will seek my own vengeance on Naraku, and that is partly for her. But my life beyond vengeance…”

Kagome was held by his eyes.

“I will spend it with you, Kagome, if you will let me.”