Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Evolution ❯ Forget ( Chapter 6 )

Evolution

 

OooooO

 

“ Hold it right there!”

 

Youko and Kuronue both glanced down at the arrow between their feet, before staring into the shadows, spotting a girl with a bow complete with a drawn arrow that was pointing at them. Kuronue looked back at the arrow then to the girl again.

 

“ What is this? First she slaps me, then she bites me, now she's shooting at me!” Kuronue said incredulously. Youko smirked at his partner's expense.

 

“ Maybe she's sensed your masochism and decided to take charge?” Youko replied. Kuronue didn't seem to find his response amusing.

 

“ Okay you two! If you just turn around now and go back the way you came, you won't get hurt!” the girl called. Youko sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose between two fingers.

 

“ How many times have we heard that line before?” Youko wondered. Kuronue ruffled his wings.

 

“ I don't know, but it sure is getting annoying. Can't anyone come up with something more original?”

 

“ Hey! I'm serious over here! I'm telling you to leave NOW!” both youkai turned back again to watch the girl stomp her foot in frustration.

 

“ And what are you going to do if we don't?” Kuronue said blandly. The girl released her arrow, which whizzed by the bat youkai's head dangerously.

 

“ I'll shoot you!” Kuronue felt a shiver tingle up his spine. A purification arrow. Meeting eyes with Youko, he knew that he had felt the pure energy as well.

 

“ Watch where you shoot those arrows, little one, someone might get hurt,” Youko said. In response, she strung another arrow. Youko tensed. `Does she realize that her arrows are charged with purification energy?' Youko knew that so far, the energy the girl was giving off would only give him some burns and prevent them from healing quickly. But if she exuded any more energy, then she may do more damage than some minor burns. Kuronue had obviously come to the same conclusion as the muscles in his arms flexed.

 

“ How did you find out we were going to be here?” Kuronue questioned. The girl shifted.

 

“ The hotsprings. I'm surprised you two didn't realize I was there earlier,” she replied. Kuronue gave a small wince. Youko growled inwardly at himself. `She's right. How could we have not noticed her quicker?'

 

“ Girl. Let us pass now,” Youko said. It was an order. Youko could see the blood slowly draining from her face. Out of the corner of his eye, Youko watched Kuronue touch his scythes. Apparently, the girl had too, as she shifted into a more defensive stance. It was standoff. Youko really didn't want to kill the girl, but this was getting irritating. Kuronue must've felt the same way. The female squeaked and ducked away as a scythe lodged itself in the wood just inches from where her neck had been previously. Tightening his fingers around the cord attached to his scythe, Kuronue yanked it back. The blade glinted in the moonlight as he caught it deftly.

 

“ Payback for earlier,” Kuronue said, his lips curling into a wicked smirk. The girl gulped audibly. It looked like she was starting to lose her nerve. Well, no one had stood up to the two youkai thieves long anyway. Kuronue tilted his head, his eyes flickering to the shrine, from the door. Youko understood. While Kuronue would be taking the stone, Youko would distract the girl. Youko, due to his plants, had a wider range of abilities, and could very easily train the girl's attention on himself. He nodded. Kuronue darted towards the door. The girl shot an arrow towards him, forcing him to dodge. The girl stood between the two thieves, confused. Now that they had separated, it was hard to tell which one was more important to defend the shrine from. Youko stepped forward. As he did so, he let his youki extend, wrapping around the girl. He felt her power crackling violently against his own, but his youki proved to be too powerful. Youko was slowly overpowering her, and she knew it. Youko smirked.

 

“ There is one thing, girl. You have yet to tell us your name,” Youko said. She stepped back. Her blue eyes had gone wide. Oh yes, she was cornered now. Kuronue had even abandoned his job and was stalking forward slowly. It was all a very fun game, when you were in control.

 

“ N-name? Why would you want to know my name?” she retreated another step, her hands were trembling.

 

“ Surely you do not want us to keep referring to you as `girl',” Youko replied. She nibbled on her lip mercilessly.

 

“ K-Kagome. My name. Kagome,” she said. Darting forward, Youko reappeared before Kagome abruptly, a dark violet flower in hand. The bow slipped through her fingers.

 

“ Wh-what?” she breathed. Youko held up the flower and she sniffed instinctively. Within seconds her eyes became half lidded. She was almost asleep on her feet. Then, she fell forward into Youko's arms.

 

OooooO

 

Kagome turned over. She had the feeling she had dreamt something, but whatever it was, she had forgotten it. Funny, it had seemed important. Kagome turned on her back. When had the forest floors gotten so hard? They were usually a bit soft and squishy, unless the group was sleeping next to a road. Kagome rolled over again. She grunted in pain. Something was digging into her side. She opened in her eyes to move the irritation.

 

“ What?!” Kagome sat up in shock. She was on a porch! Then she recalled where she was. The group had stayed the night at the village they exterminated the youkai for. But what in the world was she doing outside? Looking down, Kagome saw that one of her arrows had been jabbing into her side. Then she noticed something strange. Kagome had used nearly all her arrows yesterday to defeat the centipede army, but for compensation, the village gave her back enough so that her quiver was full. But there were three arrows missing! Her heart clenched. Had something possessed her again? Did she kill her companions? No, that wasn't right. She would be missing more than just three. Plus she would probably be covered in blood and not lying on the porch. And she would probably be injured too. Kagome gave herself a quick once over. There were no strange markings, blemishes, bruises, or cuts. Nothing hurt either. She was just sleeping outside with three missing arrows. Kagome felt tears rise in her confusion. What had she done last night? Hearing footsteps, Kagome looked up. Inuyasha stood over her, breathing raggedly.

 

“ Ka-Kagome…” he said. He knelt down in front of her and grabbed her shoulders, looking all over for any wounds. When his eyes came back to hers, Kagome's lip trembled.

 

“ I don't know what I did last night…” she whispered. Inuyasha just stared at her.

 

“ Kagome…last night, a stone made of youki was stolen from the village shrine,” he told her. Kagome's heart almost stopped.

 

“ The wards appear to be untouched. Only Miroku can sense a slight disturbance, someone had taken down the barriers and then replaced them. They think it was the work of a holy person,” Inuyasha continued. Kagome shook her head.

 

“ I don't know what I did last night,” repeated Kagome. Sango, Miroku, Kirara, and Shippo appeared, running towards them.

 

“ Kagome-chan! Are you okay?” said Sango as she ran forward. Kagome nodded numbly. Pushing Inuyasha aside, Sango began to inspect Kagome. Then she began to lean forward, almost like she was going to…

 

“ Sango-chan! You don't need to kiss me!” Kagome said. Sango scowled.

 

“ Don't be silly, Kagome-chan. You've got pollen on your nose. Dream Flower pollen,” Sango said, peering into Kagome's eyes.

 

“ What's that?” Miroku asked. Sango leaned back, brow furrowed.

 

“ It's a youkai plant. Smelling the pollen will make you fall asleep and believe that recent events were mere dreams that you forget upon waking. Smelling the flower itself will make the victim believe that any event of the user's choosing were dreams that are forgotten when they awake. The dream part of important, because some people are strong enough to break through their forgetfulness and remember, but they will think it no more than a dream if they do remember,” Sango answered. Kagome swallowed. `Did someone make me steal that stone and give it to them last night? What happened?' Inuyasha swore.

 

“ We should let Mama go home and rest, so she feels better,” Shippo said wisely. Inuyasha growled slightly, but instead of protesting, encouraged it.

 

“ Yeah. Yeah, you're right runt,” Inuyasha said. The hanyou helped Kagome stand.

 

“ C'mon. We're leaving before this village decides to blame us for taking that damn stone. Keh, they should have protected it better if they were so worried about,” Inuyasha sneered. Kagome nodded weakly.

 

The next day saw the shard hunters moving steadily -and swiftly, away from the village. Kagome was still severely shaken by the incident. She held a deep distrust of herself now, and had forfeited her weapons up to Sango. She had even begun to encourage Shippo to ride on Miroku's shoulder. Kagome was disgusted with herself. She had nearly been sick this morning after awaking from a dream of her being intimate with two youkai strangers. `If this flower made me dream and forget, how come I'm still dreaming and remembering them?' Kagome nibbled on her lip. `A fox and a bat youkai…how strange a pair. Perhaps Sango will have heard of them…'

 

The whole group had changed their structure for Kagome. As if forming a type of wedge formation could protect Kagome from any possible attack. Some sort of sniper or mind attack could easily penetrate the formation. Inuyasha, like usual, was at the front. However, instead of Sango being beside or slightly ahead of Kagome, she was behind her. Kirara had abandoned her normal post beside her mistress to ride with Kagome. Shippo remained stubborn and rode on Kagome's other shoulder. Miroku held up the very rear, almost beside Sango, but not quite. The two of them had a bit of a gap between them, in case they needed to rush ahead and not clash with each other.

 

Kagome was still disturbed that she couldn't remember anything of the night before. What was it that she had forgotten? Had she really stolen a precious stone of youki? Two youkai strangers…had she had some pact with them that had gone sour? Was she their lover? Kagome felt the famaliar sting of tears. `I swore to myself that I wouldn't forget any of the people I met here…and yet…I've forgotten possibly the two most important people to me…' Kagome clenched her hand over her heart. Had she been lying to Inuyasha and fooling him into thinking that she did have romantic feelings for him? Or had she just decided to whore herself out? Was she giving up her body in return for something? Why did her mind decide that these moments were the moments she had to remember, to recall these strangers that most probably erased her memory? Kagome broke out of her thoughts as she heard Shippo address her.

 

“ Mama? We're stopping for lunch,” Shippo said. Kagome gave Shippo a fake smile.

 

“ Uh, right! Just let me unpack some food and-“ Inuyasha cut Kagome off.

 

“ I'm going hunting. Bouzu, go find some wood,” Inuyasha said. Seeing Kagome's sad face, he continued on.

 

“ You need some meat Kagome. It'll be good for you,” Kagome glanced at Inuyasha out of the corner of her eye and blushed lightly. `Even though I might have betrayed everyone…he still looks out for me…'

 

After a quick lunch, the group was on its way again. They eventually bypassed the village before the misty forest from some days ago. They were making great time. They were nearly half way through the forest when they paused for the night. Unfortunately, there wasn't any springs in this forest that Inuyasha could sense, so they were forced to remain dirty for the next few days until they could find a clean water source. Over the course of the next day and a half, they trekked through the forest and were on their way home to Kaede's village. Kagome found that after she had time to think on it, she really did want to go home. She just wanted to see her mother. Not only that, her time was a constant. No demons, no complicated matters, no magic…it was a rather simple life, compared to Sengoku Jidai. Kagome just wanted some rest, where she wouldn't wake up in the middle of the night wondering if she heard a youkai coming towards the camp for a late night meal.

 

The shard hunters had been out of the forest for about five days when Kaede's village finally came in sight. As they walked through the village to Kaede's hut, villagers waved and greeted them warmly. Kaede herself seemed to have been overcome with prophetic abilities as she was waiting for them outside her hut to welcome them back.

 

“ Come in children. Ye must be tired.This old woman has some stew made for ye,” said Kaede. Everyone sighed in relief. Warm, filling food and a safe place to rest and later on, a place bathe. It was a dream come true to the stressed Kagome, who still had thoughts whirring about nonstop in her brain. The group entered the hut gratefully and settled in while Kaede began to dish up some hot stew. They immediately began to eat, and, between bites, Miroku began to explain Kagome's sudden bout of amnesia.

 

“ Hmm. This is indeed troublesome. I am sorry my dear child, but I cannot think of a solution to release ye memories,” Kaede told Kagome apologetically. Kagome cast her eyes down, staring into the depths of the stew as if it held the answers to her problems.

 

“ The only way I can think of to reverse ye amnesia is to see a plant master. Someone who has mastery of both youkai and human plant life,” Kaede finally said. Deep inside Kagome's mind, a name drifted to the surface. `Jinenji…' Miroku seemed to have thought of the same thing.

 

“ Hmm, there is that hanyou, Jinenji. He seems to know quite a bit of plants. Perhaps he could help Kagome-sama. But first, I think we will all agree, Kagome-sama needs some time in her world, no?” Miroku looked around for confirmation. There were solemn nods. Inuyasha shifted.

 

“ Okay then. Kagome, after you finish eating and wash up, I'll take you home,” Inuyasha said. Kagome nodded absently. Polishing off her meal, Kagome grabbed her pack and started for the hotsprings. A few moments later, Sango joined her. They walked together in silence, not speaking even when they had settled in the warm water. Then Sango broke the silence.

 

“ About a week ago, the night before we arrived in that village, you asked me about a youkai. A fox youkai thief named Youko Kurama,” Sango started hesitantly. Kagome snapped to attention. `A fox youkai…I dreamt of one, I keep dreaming of one…and a bat youkai…'

 

“ Did I…did I ask about a bat youkai?” Kagome asked tentively. Sango shifted.

 

“ No. I told you about a bat youkai though, because he was Kuronue, Youko Kurama's partner. Listen, I think you had some sort of bad contact with that fox youkai, because you told me you met him a few times, but I knew you were hiding something. And that thief…he is known for his mastery of plants. Kagome-chan, I'm willing to bet something happened and Youko Kurama made you forget about him and his partner, Kuronue,” Sango told Kagome. Kagome frowned and sunk into the water. `A name to go with a face…so they were thieves..'

 

“ It is possible that you didn't help them take the stone at all. Those youkai are notorious for their crimes, and how often it looks as though nothing ever happened. Until of course they find the missing object or a corpse. But the rumors say that they've been awful quiet lately. I'm willing to bet that Youko Kurama is playing it safe while Naraku is still out there, because he doesn't know what's going on,” Sango said. Kagome nibbled on her lips. `Is it possible? Had I just met them a couple times and nothing ever happened? But what about these dreams? What about that? Is it just my brain sending me dreams of two beautiful youkai?' Sango touched Kagome's shoulder, breaking her from her thoughts.

 

“ Kagome-chan…I don't know what happened. Right now, only those thieves do. But…I still trust you. You can tell me anything,” Sango said softly. Kagome's lip trembled and she burst out in sobs. Sango's arms wrapped around Kagome's small frame and the crying girl felt even worse. `These people…how do they continue to trust me even after everything I might have done? I might have given up all their secrets…and still, they believe in me…I..I am grateful..for these friends…I am glad…I…will swear I'll do everything in my power to protect these people that care for me…I'll try…for all of you guys…' After some time when Kagome's crying subsided, the two girls proceeded to clean themselves and started back to the village.

 

“ Sango…” Kagome said. Sango turned.

 

“ What?”

 

Kagome smiled softly at the older girl.

 

“ Thank you,”

 

“ It's no problem at all, Kagome-chan. No problem at all,” Sango replied, smiling back. Together, they entered the village, smiling together, and their spirits higher than ever.

 

OooOooOooOoo

 

I'm sorry that this chapter is shorter than the last one. I've been trying to keep the chapters as long as or longer than the previous, but this one didn't quite make it. The next chapter probably won't be out until November, just so everyone knows.