Wolf's Rain Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ After the Lunar Flower ❯ Chapter 3 ( Chapter 3 )

A/N: Thanks so much for all the reviews. I feel so loved! But yeah, I do have one complaint. You guys are all complimenting me and telling me how much you want me to write more, but where's the CRITICISM? How am I ever supposed to become a top writer if you guys don't tell me what's WRONG with my writing? Don't you want my story to be even better?

And so, to be a mean and demanding authoress, I ask, no, demand, that there be at least one criticism on this chapter. Or the previous chapters.

Since I'm not much of a threatener, I'm not saying I won't write another chapter. I like this story idea too much and you guys seem to like it too.

So I'm not threatening, just pleading for help. I need to know what I'm doing wrong! And don't you people who were good in English tell me there isn't anything, because I know there must be.

And please, no offers for beta-ing. I've loved my previous betas, but I just don't have time to send it to people and stuff. Plus, I want you to see my original work. That way many people can see the flaws and maybe I can improve on it instead of having someone else fix it for me.

So anyway, after that long-winded rant, here's some more of After the Lunar Flower.

Chapter 3.

Sesshoumaru could smell it miles before he ever got there. Youkai had told him of a great battle on his lands, and of course, since they were his lands, he should have known far before now. How he had missed it until now was an anomaly.

His brothers' blood clogged his nostrils so badly it was making him nauseous. But it wasn't only his brother's blood. He could smell that of the other young youkai that traveled with him as well as the humans dirty blood. And though he could smell them he could not feel them at all. It disturbed him slightly.

When he got closer, the smell of evil revealed itself quite suddenly as he went through a barrier. And whatever evil had made that barrier had bled as well. Its stink filled the air so thickly he could hardly smell anything else anymore. He lifted an arm to cover his delicate nose with his sleeve. When he arrived upon the scene of battle the stink became almost unbearable. What he saw made him forget the smell.

His half brothers friends were lying in pools of their own blood. It was easy for him to reconstruct the battle as he moved throughout the clearing. Inuyasha and his friends had charged into here, probably heedlessly, to end up trapped. They might have even known it was a trap. The attack was bloody. There were purified demons everywhere from the monk and the weird miko. The rest were in shreds from Inuyasha and the Tajiya. But he could see the blood spatters on the ground were also from the slayers. They had been hurt pretty badly during the fight. In fact, the little neko youkai had died trying to protect her mistress when the children of Naraku had been taken down.

So when they had turned to face Naraku they were already badly hurt. But they were angry. He could see it in how hard they hit Naraku despite their injuries. And then they started to fall. The Kitsune first, though he did not die immediately when the Saimyosho stung him. There were marks in the dirt where he had thrashed in pain. There were also knee marks where the miko had tried to help him. He could smell the antidote and the bottle was lying nearby. Apparently she hadn't gotten it to him fast enough, because the kitsune lay in this spot, lifeless.

The monk was next. The Saimyosho also poisoned him, and since the antidote had been finished on Shippou, there was no way to save him. Again, the Miko's prints could be seen, but Sesshoumaru reasoned that this time she didn't have to watch him die. She had propped his head up with some cloth and probably left to help the others when he prompted her to. He could smell a slight saltiness and knew that there had been tears in her eyes when she left him.

He pondered this, and then gave it up as something he simply could not understand.

Kagome had not gone far when she had stopped. He stood where she had and looked in the direction she must have been looking. She was looking in the direction that Inuyasha had been battling Naraku. He went that way to understand her sudden stop.

He could see by the pattern of Inuyasha's feet that he was making a desperate effort. He was charging forward and then there was a hesitation in his step and a lot of blood. But his steps continued at a slightly slower rate. A trail of blood followed. Just to the side of the trail was a tentacle of Naraku's. It was puzzling, because Naraku's flesh usually came back to him. There was blood smeared all the way down the tentacle. It was Inuyasha's blood. It must have punctured Inuyasha, who kept charging even as the tentacle slid through the puncture. His idiotic brother had used this as a way to get close to Naraku's body.

What a dimwit.

There was a blood spatter on the ground next to Naraku where Inuyasha's trail ended. It was Naraku's blood. When he bent down to touch the blood on the ground there was a flash of pearly white. In it he glimpsed Inuyasha ripping the jewel out of Naraku's body. He stood up.

Inuyasha must have ripped the tentacle off just before taking the jewel. The jewel was what regenerated Naraku's body.

Inuyasha's trail of bloody, scuffed prints lead in the direction of where Kagome had stopped. His steps dragged more and more until he fell. Kagome's prints from where she had stopped lead to where Inuyasha lay, face-first on the ground. She had dropped to the ground next to the dying hanyou and turned him over. Sesshoumaru looked down at Inuyasha's front and saw that the whole in Inuyasha's stomach had been poisoned to keep him from healing. Since no healing whatsoever could take place, his intestines and other things had spilled out. And yet Sesshoumaru could see where the Hanyou had still been moving. He had sat up and given Kagome the jewel, who gripped it very tightly. He figured that from the little spatter of her blood on the ground, and because she had sustained no other wounds.

The damn hanyou must have died sitting up because when he had hit the ground again, he had been dead. The Miko's scent was all over him, and there was a strong smell of salt in one spot on Inuyasha's chest. She must have cried on him. Sesshoumaru did not understand why this girl shed so many tears for so many people.

Naraku had charged at them as Kagome had cried unheeding on Inuyasha. The exterminator had seen the danger and in a desperate attempt to save Kagome's life had jumped in the way. The tentacle had punctured her right through her chest, right through the girl's heart. It had been her killing blow.

Sesshoumaru was about to go over to the exterminator, to see if the young miko had visited her as well. But then he noticed that the girl's tracks led in the opposite direction. He hadn't spotted them at first because they were as light as air. She was walking slowly, and there was disturbance in the dirt nearby. He had seen this type of thing happen before when someone used huge amounts of power. The power would actually become wind and affect its nearby surroundings. It was hard to believe that this trail was that of that weakling human. She had been a miko, but a weak one.

Unless she was getting this power from the jewel.

She must have fused the whole jewel together. And when she did, she must have wished for such power. But there was a flaw in this plan. Magic like that left behind traces, and there were none. One moment, the girl was as weak as any human, and the next she had power to match most demons. Maybe because she was the jewel's guardian it gave her its power when she fused it back together. This conclusion seemed most probable.

The tracks led to about ten feet from the vile Hanyou who had killed Inuyasha and all of her friends. Except where Naraku should have been, there was scorched earth and a pile of ashes, accompanied by the girl's power. So this Kagome had finished off Naraku. And her trail simply vanished. There was no scent leading anywhere. It was like she had been lifted into the air to disappear.

Sesshoumaru was finished with this for the moment. He went back to his home, fully informed and thoroughly confused.

~**~

It was a bumpy ride in the car. Silent, too. Kagome hated silences like this. It always felt so awkward.

The wolves ran alongside the car, Tsume and Kiba easily keeping up, the other three having a slightly harder time. They were being stubborn though and would not accept the multiple offers to ride in the car. At first, when they started to trail behind, they took frequent breaks. After a while, Blue and Toboe were constantly unable to keep up.

There was little scuffle, and then Toboe got in the car, looking entirely put out. They went for a short time this way, and then Blue and Toboe switched.

This went on for almost two days before they came upon a city. All involved were starved, since they had been in desert again for the last day and a half. The wolves were used to going long periods without food, but the people weren't. Especially Kagome.

Kagome didn't notice too much. Since she couldn't drive she mostly slept, so she didn't feel the hunger the way the others did.

So when they saw the city, Hubb put the petal to the metal in the car and left the wolves behind. All except Kiba, who immediately thought they were trying to steal Kagome. Soon even he couldn't keep up with the speeding car.

Kagome awoke because the ride had suddenly become very jarring.

“Whas goin' on?” She said, rubbing sleep from her eyes. She sat up and nearly hit her head on the ceiling and then toppled back down to the floor. She landed on Toboe who yelped when she squashed his toe.

“Sorry!” She said, scrambling off of him.

“S'okay.” he said, his voice sleepy. Kagome had been using him as a pillow, which she had been embarrassed by the first time but had gotten over rather quickly. Even Blue had insisted that it was fine for her head to rest on their furry shoulders. So eventually she had given in. Apparently Toboe had fallen asleep as well.

“There's a city.” Cher informed them excitedly. Kagome climbed upright, clinging to anything she could to stay that way. Toboe sat up too, now human. He was gripping the seat in front of him tightly.

“Really? A city? Food!” He said, joy on his face.

“What about Kiba and the others?” Kagome asked. She could feel Kiba's anger. What had happened to make him angry?

“They're back there somewhere.” Hubb said, taking one hand off the steering wheel to motion behind them.

Kagome folded her hands over her chest. “Well, that wasn't nice. Stop the car, we have to wait for them.” Both the people in the front looked back at her with astonishment. Which meant Hubb wasn't looking at the road. Kagome shrieked and pointed at the road. Which of course brought the drivers attention back to it. There was some rough steering and bumping and then it smoothed out again.

“I am not stopping this car to wait for them. It will take them an hour to catch up!” Hubb stated forcefully.

Kagome's eye twitched. “I said, stop the car!” Hubb glanced at her in the rearview mirror. Toboe had flinched away from her and was now looking slightly scared. Whatever Hubb saw must have unnerved him a little because he did bring the car to a stop.

“Why are we stopping?” She looked at Hubb. “We're so close! Another half an hour and we'll be there.”

“Because we need to wait for the others.” Kagome said coldly from the back. Cher turned to glare at her. Kagome gave her the best scary look she had. Cher, being a woman, gave it right back. Finally Cher sat back, a smile on her face.

“Fine, fine. If they get here within an hour, we'll find a way to stuff everybody in the back. If they're not even visible, we're leaving in an hour.” Cher said. Her voice light.

“Sounds like a compromise.” Kagome said cheerfully. “I feel like a run, anyone want to come with?” She looked from face to face. Cher pointed to her high heels, Hubb gave her an apologetic 'I'm tired' look.

“I'd go but I've been running a lot lately.” Toboe said. Kagome smiled at him.

“Good, you can keep an eye on them. Don't let them drive off!” She whispered. Toboe nodded.

“Uh huh!”
Kagome crawled out of the car, stretched, and then took off in the direction of the wolves at a jog. She was in damn good shape, so after two miles she took a break, and then ran another mile. It took her about 25 minutes before she saw the wolves when jogging that third mile. They were bobbing up and down, running in her direction. She knew when Kiba caught sight of her because suddenly he broke away from the rest of them, running full out. Kagome smiled.

She stopped just as he was getting close. He slid to a stop five feet in front of her, breathing hard.

“Are you okay?” He asked.

Kagome grinned. “The car just a few miles up ahead. And yes, I'm fine.” She turned to go back toward the car. Kiba came up to walk beside her.

“What?” He placed a hand on her arm. “How did you get away? And where's Toboe?”

Kagome finally understood. “You thought they kidnapped me?” She chuckled. “No, they just saw the city and wanted to get there quickly because they are hungry. I woke up and found out and told them it wasn't nice to leave you guys behind. Toboe's with them, making sure they don't drive off.”

“They weren't trying to...” He grinned. “How didn't I figure that out?”

And then he pulled her close, wrapping his arms around her. Kagome's cheeks flamed.

“What are you-”

“I'm glad you're alright.” He whispered in her ear. “I thought they were trying to take you away from us.” His lips gently grazed her ear in an affectionate kiss. Kagome blushed harder and pulled away a little.

“You don't even hardly know me! Do you think maybe you're a little too forward?” She said, her eyes not meeting his.

“Forward? That was supposed to be affectionate. If you want to see forward...”

Before she could reply that no, she certainly did not want to see forward she found her face trapped between his hands and his lips assaulting hers. Though his hands held her firm, his lips were so gentle that resistance never even entered her mind. She simply melted.

'I always wanted Inuyasha to kiss me like this.' And as soon as that thought entered her mind, she pulled away.

“Is that really necessary?” Tsume's voice was almost angry.

“No. Just enjoyable.” Kiba said. Tsume looked even angrier for a moment, and then he turned away. Blue was just giving them a knowing look.

“Hey, what's up? How did you get the car to stop?” Hige asked, trying to change the subject. Kagome was still a bit flustered from the kiss so Kiba answered.

“It turns out they weren't trying to take her after all. They just saw the city and wanted to get there as fast as possible so they could eat.” He pointed in the direction Kagome had come from. “The car is a couple of miles ahead of us.”

And so they started at an easy run to catch up to the car. After a mile, Kagome had to take a break. She had already run almost three miles and though she was in good shape, she was not a wolf. When Kiba offered to carry her she adamantly refused, but eventually gave in. It had already been almost an hour. She was afraid that maybe the hungry couple would leave without them.

When she climbed up on Kiba's back she forgot her fears. It was so nostalgic of something she thought she would never be able to do again that, for a moment, her eyes burned and her throat tightened. And that kiss...

How could she be letting someone else kiss her like that? She had loved Inuyasha; she should be mourning his death. He died to save her and to save the jewel. Guilt assaulted her so badly that this time a tear did spill down her cheek.

Kiba must have been able to smell her tears because he stopped. The others did as well.

“What's wrong?”

She shook her head. She couldn't tell him that she was guilty about their kiss. She just couldn't.

She didn't see Kiba motion the others to go on ahead to let Hubb and Cher know that they were coming because her face was buried in his shoulder so no one could see her. She hated to cry, and she hated it even more if it was in front of people.

It surprised her when Kiba swung her down from his back and set her down on her feet in front of him. Her eyes flew open and in that instant while she was swung around, she saw the other wolves running on ahead.

“What are you...”

“You're troubled.” He interrupted her. Kagome shook her head.

“I'm fine. The car will leave-” She started, dreading spending this time alone with him. She knew it wouldn't be that hard to get her to open up.

“Tsume and Hige and Blue won't let it.” He said soothingly. He drew her close once again but this time she struggled.

“Its not something I want to even think about.” She said, trying to pull away from him. But he didn't let go. After a minute she gave up and just sank into him; she was no match for him strength-wise and she wasn't willing to hurt him either. So, chest heaving, she gave up.

Somehow, giving into him also meant giving into the tears she hadn't wanted to shed.

His shirt was soaked through. She noticed how wet her face was getting and she sniffled, trying to make her tears stop. They slowed some, but the couldn't be dammed up completely.

Not yet.

“Kagome...”

“I really don't want to do this.” She said, her eyes glued to the wet stain on his white undershirt.

“Its bothering you.” He lifted her chin so she was looking in his eyes. “It hurts you.”

“No.” She replied.

“Your guilty about something that wasn't your fault.” He said intuitively.

“It WAS my fault!” She said. “If I had been stronger I could have saved them.” She pounded his chest. “Don't you get it? If I hadn't been such a wimp they wouldn't have had to save me!” She sobbed. “They wouldn't have died saving me!” Suddenly, her body went limp, almost like liquid. Kiba found that he couldn't keep her upright. It was like she was boneless.

“Oh, Inuyasha.” She sobbed, sliding to the ground. Since he couldn't hold onto her, Kiba went down with her. He ended up sitting and she ended up on his lap, silent sobs wracking her body. There were no tears left, only pain. He could feel it emanating off of her in waves. This was true pain, the pain of losing someone very close to your heart.

That's why, as a wolf, he tried to never let people too close. Even Cheza had not been in his heart. He had cared for her, but he kept something of himself back. Kagome had not done that. And now it was tearing her apart.

“Was this Inuyasha important to you?” He asked gently. She nodded against his leg.

“I l... loved him.” She admitted.

Kiba felt jealousy stab through his heart. “How long were you lovers?” His voice was still gentle, even though the feelings inside of him weren't.

“You think...” She turned pink. “We were never like that.” Her sobs had dissipated into little hiccups. “He was in love with someone else. And I never told him the truth.”

Kiba couldn't keep a little anger from his voice. “You were comparing my kiss to his?” She could feel the tension go through his body.

“It's not like that!” She sat up. “It's not like that at all!”

He glared at her and she steeled herself to swallow her pride. “He never kissed me like that. He never kissed me at all.” She was staring at the rapidly drying spot on his shirt again. He tipped her chin up.

“Never?” His eyes were gentle again.

“I told you. He loved... someone else.” She tried to look down but he wouldn't have it. So she stared him straight in the eyes and let him see how much that had hurt her.

He smiled at her and brushed her hair behind her ear. “Maybe I can help you forget him.” Kiba said, slowly closing in on her. She knew what he was going to do. She could see it in his eyes before he even said those last words. And for a moment, she wanted him to. Any other day she would have done something to stop him. But right now the comfort would be welcome.

So when he kissed her she kissed him back, almost desperately. It was her second real kiss ever. She melted into it.

It was Kiba who pulled back, surprised. “We should-” But she kissed him this time. When she flicked her tongue against his she felt parts of his anatomy get bigger and harder. And she knew what that meant. Despite being a virgin, and despite being pure of heart, she had not been exempt when Sexual Education had started in school.

It still embarrassed her though.

So this time she pulled back, blushing. His eyes were dark, glazed with passion. He was breathing as though he had run miles without stopping. Kagome was surprised to find her own breathing was rapid and uneven. She laid a hand on her chest, trying to control the fluttering within.

“We should, catch up to the others. They might get worried.” She stood and he groaned.

“They could wait.”

She blushed even harder. “Um, but I'm really hungry. So lets go.” She held out a hand to him and though he took it, he never really used it to get up. He was still staring at her with an almost predatory look in his eye and it was making her nervous. She couldn't help but notice the bulge in the front of his pants. And no matter how hard she tried; she couldn't stop herself from glancing at it. She turned her back to him. It was a mistake.

His strong arms wrapped around her from behind and though he did nothing overtly sexy, she could feel him pressed against her butt. It was making her feel things she hadn't felt before.

“You want me.” He said simply into her ear. “I can smell it.”

Her blush had turned her whole face completely red now. “I, I, I... I can't. I'm not, I don't...” She stuttered. His arms tightened around her.

“It's all right. I'm willing to wait until you are.” he said, and then finally released her. At first she found that she didn't want to move. It was Kiba who turned toward the direction of the car and started walking.

She followed.

~**~

END.

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