InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Y Cyfnewidiad ❯ Trafodaeth ( Chapter 5 )

Y Cyfnewidiad

This is going to have to be quick, since I don't have a lot of time. Which seems kind of funny, since last week I thought I had too much of it on my hands.

Do you ever feel that if you had done things differently, everything would have worked out perfectly?

Well, I guess not. You're a diary. You can't feel anything.

But that's how I feel right now. I know I'm living in the past-in more ways than one-but I can't help it. It was just the two of us, and then I had to come back and take another test. I hate calculus.

And then everything went wrong.

But I wonder what would have happened had I not come back to take that test. It's not like I would have missed anything-I failed it anyway.

The well. That's where Inuyasha found me, and where I learned how seriously I had misjudged him. That's another place where everything could have been different. But if I want to look at it that way, I guess I could say that none of this would have happened if I hadn't walked towards the well that day in search of the cat.

If we hadn't come back to the village, Inuyasha would never have found out what had really happened. I know I should thank him, I'd probably be dead now if not for his help. Two mortals-even two such as us-could hardly have defeated what we were up against. If not for Inuyasha…

But maybe it would have been better the other way. I know that Inuyasha saw all of this as a personal betrayal. Another one.

And I can't really blame him.

Chapter 5: Trafodaeth

With a yawn, Kagome settled gratefully back into the futon that had been provided for her. At the sound of footsteps, she pushed her hair out of her face and glanced up in time to see Sango pulling her bedding to the spot between Kagome and the wall.

"What's wrong?" the miko murmured.

"That lecher. I don't trust him," Sango replied darkly, her eyes flashing in the direction of Miroku, who was leaning back against the other wall, watching her with a large, dumb looking grin on his face.

Kagome leaned back again, a slight smile now tugging at her lips as well. 'Poor Sango. If only Miroku was able to see what was right in front of his face…' She was beginning to wonder if it would ever happen.

At least tonight, Miroku had not found himself needing to perform a fake exorcism. A little past sunset, Sesshoumaru had informed them that there was a village several miles to the east. That, of course, had immediately set off Inuyasha, and Kagome had found it necessary to 'sit' him several times before he finally chose to calm down.

Still, Kagome couldn't help but identify with Inuyasha; Sesshoumaru was undeniably not interested in human affairs. How had he known the precise location of a village? There was probably a very simple answer to that question, and Kagome couldn't help but feel somewhat foolish.

"Are you asleep?" Sango murmured.

"What? No, not yet," Kagome replied, her tone still somewhat distracted.

"What are you thinking?"

"Earlier today…well, tonight-how did Sesshoumaru know about this village?"

For a moment, Sango was silent. "Well, we are technically in the western lands now. He probably knows the geography well. I'm surprised Inuyasha didn't figure that out."

'I guess that makes sense,' Kagome laughed softly, "No. Inuyasha just wanted to fight. It hardly matters why."

"I suppose you're right. Though I wouldn't blame it just on Inuyasha…"

"Speaking of which," Kagome broke in somewhat nervously, "where is he?"

"I don't know. He never did come in with us…"

"Hm," Kagome murmured. Ever since they found the village, Inuyasha had been in a particularly bad mood. Kagome would have expected the hanyou to be happy when they realised that Miroku would not need to fake an exorcism, but instead, he seemed even more angry. Kagome couldn't begin to figure out why.

Inuyasha seldom was good company when they were resting in a village. Perhaps it was for the best that he had chosen to spend the night somewhere else. Her only concern was that Sesshoumaru had vanished as well-even without his demonic powers, he seemed to be awfully good at that-and she didn't much like the idea of the two of them alone somewhere.

In that case, it was definitely possible that one wouldn't survive the night.

Kagome shook the thought out of her head. Inuyasha would probably avoid his brother tonight. All day he had been acting strange; Kagome had noticed even if the others had not. Half the time Inuyasha looked about ready to kill the former taiyoukai. But the other half…

No. Inuyasha would stay away. He wouldn't want to do anything rash.

She turned her mind away from the two half-brothers and focused it once more on herself. 'I should definitely sleep. I haven't been doing much of that lately.' She knew that come tomorrow, she was going to wish she had slept. There was a reason why Miroku had not needed to lie tonight. Upon their arrival, the headman and several other villagers had come out to meet them. It was a discussion that Kagome could still remember clearly.

The villagers had quickly looked them over, and had quickly appeared to accept Miroku and Sango. It had taken them a bit longer to decide that Kagome was human-it annoyed her that she still was occasionally mistaken for a demon. Of course it had been rather obvious that Inuyasha and Shippou were not human, but the villagers had not seemed overly disturbed by them. Sesshoumaru had given the villagers the most pause: Kagome supposed they had been unable to decide whether he was a neighbouring lord or a youkai in disguise.

Kagome had been relieved that for once, she was not the human who caused the most comment because of her outlandish ways and style. She had never actually adapted to this time period, and she knew just as innately that as much as this adventure might change her, she would never truly be able to adjust. Kagome decided that it was probably similar for Sesshoumaru. Although technically he was now human, she doubted that he would ever willingly act the part.

For the first time, Kagome found herself sympathising with him, and realised that she might be beginning to understand him.

It was an idea that almost scared her.

In any event, after the villagers decided that they were not particularly dangerous (which didn't actually happen until after about ten minutes, they realised they were still breathing), the headman explained how a group of demons had been harassing the village for several weeks now. Miroku had made it quite clear that they were willing to destroy the youkai, and the delighted headman had offered them a place to rest in his house.

It wasn't a task that particularly worried Kagome, but considering the temporary addition to their group, it wasn't one to which she was looking forward. With their luck, she realised that if they weren't careful, more than one 'demon' might get killed.

"You're not worried about tomorrow, are you?" Sango asked her.

"A bit," Kagome admitted.

"It will be okay, Kagome. I'm sure these demons will be no real challenge. Miroku and I should be able to destroy them. And then you can control Inuyasha."

"I know…but I'm so tired of using that word on him. He hates it…especially now."

"You don't have much of a choice, Kagome."

"Yeah, you're right." But as right as Sango's statement might have been, it still seemed wrong to Kagome. Sometimes she hated the necklace that she used to subjugate Inuyasha, and now was one of the times she despised it most. She wished that the two brothers could figure out how to get along-at least for now, and long enough to give the rest of the group some rest. But Kagome knew that her ability to subdue Inuyasha didn't help at all.

"You two are planning on sleeping, right?" Miroku complained wearily. He noticed the threatening, almost murderous glance that Sango threw at him and backed against the wall mumbling, "Okay, okay."

"Why is everyone talking?" a drowsy voice grumbled, and Kagome felt the small body of the kitsune move against her back.

"Go back to sleep, Shippou," she said, shutting her own eyes again. Morning would come soon enough, and if she was going to be able to face it, she would need some sleep herself.

He had always liked the night.

At the moment, however, he would have almost preferred to stay in the village, where Inuyasha's human friends were resting. The silence that he had once appreciated was now practically oppressive. His diminished hearing was contributing to that: being virtually unable to hear anything in the middle of a forest was making him feel vulnerable…

A sensation he had not experienced since he was a pup.

And it was freezing. As he shivered, Sesshoumaru wondered whether the night was unusually cold or if this was another consequence of his recent transformation. Either way, he did not like it.

At the moment, however, there was very little he could do.

Silently Sesshoumaru made his way through the forest. His demon powers might have deserted him, but his time honed skills had not. He knew that wandering alone through a dark, wooded area was not the safest way for someone without demon blood to spend a night-he had been attacked often enough in the past to realise that-but he had no intention of depending on his idiot half-brother for protection.

'The hanyou can barely protect himself.' Sesshoumaru was vaguely surprised that the half-breed managed to keep his human friends alive. Relying on Inuyasha was not only intensely humiliating; it was suicide. Of course, one could argue that wandering through a forest at night during the Sengoku Jidai was suicidal as well…

Sesshoumaru was not particularly worried about being attacked by youkai. This village was well within the boundaries of his territory; he had always carefully monitored the presence of other demons within his land. Of course, there was still some chance that human bandits or daring and stupid youkai had ventured into the region. And there were the demons that had apparently been plaguing the village. For that reason, he had not wandered too far from the village. In any event, it was still unlikely that any youkai had yet learned of his disappearance…

'With luck, they never will.'

He was not giving up. Sesshoumaru would never resign himself to the life of a mere mortal. He was still surprised that some creature or creatures had found a way to transform him thus. An undoubtedly remarkable feat, the likes of which he had never before heard. He would have to congratulate them…before their demise.

Reason told him, however, that there was a way to reverse the transformation. In his experience, nothing was one-sided. Someone had managed to cause this change. Logically, once he found the perpetrator, he would also have the means to undo this.

'Therein lies the problem.' As he had said to the monk, Sesshoumaru could not remember what had happened. Without that knowledge, of course, he could not begin to solve this. And as a human, his methods of attaining that information was severely limited.

Sesshoumaru wondered just how long he was going to have to survive this newfound humanity.

Behind him, he heard the unmistakable sound of a trig snapping, and spun around, cursing his weak human senses and reflexes.

He relaxed somewhat when he saw that his would-be attacker was none other than his half-breed brother. "What do you think you're doing, Inuyasha?" he demanded, his tone angrier than he would have liked. Despite his demonic heritage, Inuyasha was unnecessarily loud. The future did not bode well if the half-breed could take him unawares.

"Looking for you, moron," the hanyou replied testily. "You do know it's dangerous out here?"

Sesshoumaru saw no reason to reply to that statement.

Inuyasha apparently took his silence as indifference or a personal slight. With a soft growl, the half-breed said, "Look here, bastard. You stay out like this and you're gonna get killed by some animal. Is that the sort of death you want?"

"As compared to by your hand?"

"Why the hell would I want to hurt you like this?"

"You will never get another chance."

Inuyasha snorted, "Like hell. Even if I don't take your arm again, Tetsusaiga can still do tons of damage."

Sesshoumaru found himself grimacing at the memory. Inuyasha might be clumsy and half-witted, but he had demonstrated adequate ability with the fang. That last statement was still largely bravado, however. Sesshoumaru credited the hanyou's continued existence to the sword; without it, he doubted Inuyasha could defeat any demon with some degree of intelligence.

"Inuyasha, what do you want?"

"I…ah… Damn you, Sesshoumaru, why do you have to make this so hard?" The hanyou stopped for a moment, staring at everything except his brother. Sesshoumaru waited silently, realising that Inuyasha was not yet finished. The sooner the half-breed dealt with whatever was bothering him, the sooner he would leave.

"Look… I just want that chance…" the hanyou finally muttered.

"You want to try to kill me again?"

"Well, basically…"

Sesshoumaru found himself vaguely amused. The hanyou had a roundabout way of saying, 'I don't want you to die.' Assuming, of course, that was what he was trying to convey. With Inuyasha, one could never be certain.

"Inuyasha, you are going to end up dead yet," he commented easily.

The hanyou froze for a moment, clearly not sure how to respond. Finally a sardonic smile cut across his face, "You haven't managed it so far."

"There will be many more opportunities."

"There've already been plenty of them, moron."

Indeed there had. Inuyasha was always leaving himself wide open to attack. Considering that, it was a surprise that the hanyou was still alive. Sesshoumaru did not want to ponder the implications. "Who are you trying to insult?"

"I…" his brother began angrily, then stopped himself; on his face was an expression that on anyone else could have been considered thoughtful. On Inuyasha, however, 'comical' was probably the best description.

The hanyou shook his head vigorously and then turned to go. 'Good. He's leaving.' Sesshoumaru had never enjoyed associating with his brother, and was not accustomed to communicating with him without the use of swords and claws. Despite his constant declarations to seeking Inuyasha's demise, Sesshoumaru found their relationship fairly satisfactory. The idea of killing the hanyou was more gratifying in theory than in practice. Of course, if Inuyasha ever became stupid enough to make his death absurdly simple to accomplish…

Not that there was much chance of that happening at the present.

Sesshoumaru's mind was turned back to his current plight, and he wondered how he had ever been distracted in the first place. Surely the hanyou's futile struggle for words had not been that amusing…

"Are you coming?"

So Inuyasha had not left yet. A pity. His presence was beginning to wear down Sesshoumaru's already strained patience. Without looking at his brother, he said coolly, "Go away, hanyou."

Out of the corner of his eye, Sesshoumaru saw his half-brother stop moving and turn around. Belatedly, he realised that ordering the hanyou thus had not been the best of ideas. Now Inuyasha wore a half angered expression on his face and was obviously more intent on expressing himself than ever. "I know what your problem is."

"So you are not blind. What is your point, hanyou?"

"Damn you, just shut up for a minute. I know what…that's like," the hanyou finally managed, waving a hand loosely towards his brother.

Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow, somewhat amused by his half-brother's pathetic attempt at sympathy. He wondered how long it would last. "That I doubt."

"Don't act stupider than you are, moron," Inuyasha bit out. "Half demons turn human once a month, or did you forget?"

'For Inuyasha, the night of the new moon, if memory serves me.' There was no reason that his memory would have been affected by his recent transformation, but the details of his brother's existence did not overly concern him. Inuyasha was seldom a real challenge as a half-demon. As a mere mortal, he would be pitifully weak. 'As I am now.'

"This will last considerably longer than a night," he replied coldly, trying to block that last thought out of his mind.

The hanyou snorted, "Stop feeling sorry for yourself, jackass."

"I assure you I am not," he answered truthfully. 'Self-pity. An utter waste of time and energy.' Self-pity would not aid him in escaping from this predicament.

"Sure…" Inuyasha answered incredulously. Seeing the challenging look in his brother's eyes, his face suddenly softened. "Look, it's not as bad as it seems."

"It's not?" Sesshoumaru asked sceptically. "How so?"

"I…um…" For a moment, the hanyou just stood there, looking stupider that usual. He then shrugged, "Fine, so maybe it is. But there's got to be a way to reverse it."

"Of that I am aware."

"Then what the hell are you doing brooding here?" the hanyou demanded.

'Brooding…?' Sesshoumaru wondered if there might be some merit in what Inuyasha was saying, or if this last comment was just another consequence of his unfortunate lack of intellect. "Inuyasha. Are you done yet?"

"What…?"

"I neither need nor want your sympathy, hanyou. Go away."

For an instant, Inuyasha looked stricken. Sesshoumaru felt a wave of something vaguely resembling guilt run through him-'Damn these human emotions. I will soon be rid of them forever.'-at his half-brother's wounded expression. He wondered why Inuyasha had not seemed upset earlier in this sad excuse for a conversation.

Sesshoumaru waited as his brother stared at him in silence. After a moment, Inuyasha grew tired and turned away, "Fine, bastard. Do whatever the hell you want. I don't give a damn. If you're still alive in the morning, meet us back in the village."

The hanyou was thinking of the youkai that had been attacking the village: the creatures Inuyasha and his friends had been hired to exterminate. "You needn't worry about the demons, hanyou. Even you should have little difficulty with them."

Inuyasha turned back around. 'Why do I constantly encourage him?' Sesshoumaru wondered. The hanyou had apparently forgotten his recent anger and now seemed almost curious. "What do you know about it?"

"This is the Western Lands."

"Keh," Inuyasha responded, clearly trying to cover up his apparent stupidity. He then turned and began to walk away, finally growing bored of the entire conversation. Perhaps now he really would leave. 'That is probably too much to hope for,' Sesshoumaru decided, standing still and waiting for Inuyasha to turn around and start speaking again. Often, talking seemed to be the only thing the hanyou was good at doing.

Three…

Two…

One…

"You know," the hanyou began, turning around on cue, "since you're gonna be hanging around with us for a while, you could at least try not to be such a damned arrogant jackass."

"Inuyasha, you are an insufferable idiot."

"Damn you. This is what I'm talking about," the half-demon complained.

Sesshoumaru did not answer. 'Perhaps if I ignore him he will cease to exist.' It had never worked in the past, but there was a first time for everything… And in any case, the hanyou might finally get the message.

'He has a point, though. Remaining with him and his friends is not going to be a pleasant experience.' He had already decided that Inuyasha's human companions were not as useless as they looked. Obviously they had managed to stay alive despite the hanyou. That was quite impressive.

The humans would probably be more bearable than Inuyasha himself. They, at least, had enough common sense to know not to hunt him down in the middle of the night. Perhaps in their company he would begin to remember some of what had happened. In that case, their assistance would probably-hopefully-no longer be necessary.

If he could not recall how he had been transformed, things would be considerably more difficult. Inuyasha and his friends would be of no use to him in that case; there would be little point in staying amongst them. Sesshoumaru had no desire to remain in his half-brother's company for an extended period of time.

There were several-though not many-allies Sesshoumaru could approach. The tree demon Bokusenou immediately came to mind. However, there was a great distance between this village and the forest where the tree demon resided. Inuyasha's friends had been more helpful than he had ever expected, and the thought of dragging them across Japan did not appeal to Sesshoumaru.

If something of that nature occurred, he could imagine how unbearable Inuyasha would become.

Unfortunately, Sesshoumaru saw no immediate solution. In his current state, he would never be able to cross the island unscathed. There were too many potential enemies between this village and any other part of Japan, and unfortunately, he now had to consider human foes as well as youkai.

"Sesshoumaru…?"

He looked up to see Inuyasha still looking at him. Preoccupied with his ruminations, he had actually managed to forget that Inuyasha was there. A feat he had never before managed to accomplish.

"Hello?" the hanyou continued obnoxiously, tapping his head. "Anyone up there?"

"Inuyasha…"

"Already zoning out? You're becoming useless awfully quickly."

Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed dangerously at the accusation, but Inuyasha just ploughed on, "Well, bastard, you're just gonna have to wait. After we deal with the jewel and Naraku, we'll figure out what the hell happened to you."

'Naraku…' Had the abomination played some part in what had transpired? Sesshoumaru did not think so. He pushed the thought out of his mind and concentrated on the veiled offer Inuyasha had just made. "Why would you help me?"

"Why not? Anyway, I can't kill you in good conscience if you're this damn weak."

"Inuyasha, your… assistance is not required," Sesshoumaru responded evenly. In all likelihood, 'assistance' was not the best description. Inuyasha was at the moment undoubtedly the stronger of the two, but he was remarkably adept at attracting trouble. In the long run, the hanyou would probably become more of a hindrance.

Inuyasha growled something under his breath; without his enhanced demon senses the only word Sesshoumaru caught was 'bastard,' and decided that the hanyou's latest comment was no more than a variant of his customary speech. "Damn you, I don't know what I was thinking," Inuyasha snarled, this time audibly. "I'm not gonna try again, moron. Next time you're gonna have to beg for help."

"Never," Sesshoumaru hissed.

"Then go crawl away somewhere and die, bastard. It's not like anyone would miss you," the hanyou spat before spinning around and rushing back towards the village, leaving Sesshoumaru alone and at the mercy of his dark thoughts.

This time, Sesshoumaru knew that Inuyasha would not be returning.

A/N: There you go! After four chapters of what basically amounted to an introduction, I've decided to actually "start" for real! Which means that the pairing should be starting sometime soon...though I won't be rushing that. I'm probably going to start working on some sort of outline for this thing...not good at that, so whether I hold to it is anyone's guess.