Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Feelings for a Fox ❯ Chapter 18

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Kagome's POV

~Chapter 18~

'He-why-he-ahhhhrrg! He's allowing me to do my job? How dare he kiss me like that! And those ears of his were twitching, mocking me! I'm sure of it! Just who the hell does he think he is?! And he'll punish me if I get myself hurt? I'd like to see him try! He can't tell me not to get myself hurt! I'll get myself hurt if I damned well please!'

I paused to think about what I had just thought.

Ok, now I am sure that my mind has taken an official leave of absence. How dare he seem so- so sexy and reasonable and then turn all sexy dominating and…and… sexy! He's making me crazy. It's all his fault, damn him! And the way he looked at me before he left… Smug bastard. He's going to pay for making me a basket case.

I continued to stalk towards the energy I felt earlier, muttering about overprotective idiot males. It's the y-gene you know; makes them stupid. And prolonged association with them drops your IQ to their level, I'm sure of it. I almost wished some demon would jump out and attack me. As it was I was just going to have to wait until I tracked down Karasu and beat the shit out of him. Ahh a new target for my rage.

And he was close.

My mind snapped back to the situation and I really began to take in my surroundings. I found myself at the top of a ridge over looking a rather impressive forest. Don't get yourself hurt indeed! I'm lucky I didn't walk off the edge while I was busy being annoyed about that.

Hm, seems like Karasu's in that forest down there. If he's not moving then he wants to be found, meaning it's a trap. That also means he won't come out while he's safe in the center of his web, so to speak. Like a spider. Oh well, might as well get this over with.

I picked my way down the incline, carefully placing my feet to keep from tripping and killing myself. I could just see the headlines now if I did fall. Clumsy Priestess Becomes One With Nature. Barrier Broken with Neck. Poor Kagome's Had an Accident, and So May You ALL! I giggled. I kinda like that one.

I come to the edge of the forest, fortunately in one piece and all that. Carefully keeping my senses open I enter the canopy of trees. I feel my back itching, almost like there's a blade about to be plunged into it. Could just be me being paranoid though.

"What took you so long?" an oh so familiar voice comes to me when I reach a clearing in the woods. Took me so long? Oh now that doesn't scream trap at all. Evening, alone in the Makai in a densely forested area with only someone who seriously wants me dead for company. Man do I know how to spend my weekends or what?

"I'm terribly sorry. I got a little held up by traffic," I replied with an admittedly cocky grin.

"Interesting."

"Really?" I asked facetiously.

"No." Pout.

"You have something that belongs to me little girl. Now return the Shikon no Tama to its rightful keeper!"

I couldn't keep myself from staring when he walked into the light and I realized just who Karasu had merged with.

Figures.

Now the shield created from miko souls that had been hiding what he really was dropped I could see both faces superimposed over each other, just as I could with Kurama.

"Mr. Yotaru."

"Hello Kagome. Please don't make this difficult. Return the jewel and all will be well. Only part of me has any real desire to hurt you."

Wait a minute. No desire to hurt me? Return the jewel to it's rightful keeper? That doesn't sound like Naraku. And Karasu would never say that to me. I stare harder at Yotaru, clearing my mind of my expectations. I open my senses to actually feel his life energy and sense his soul. And when I recognize the soul behind Yotaru's personality I can't suppress my groan of sheer annoyance. That crow has a sick sense of humor. And I'm going to have to have a word with Koenma about the effectiveness of his information sources.

"Oh give me a break! Just how many times am I going to have to kill you today?" I demand before a thought strikes me and I start laughing.

"What is so funny?" my high school principle demanded testily. I just shook my head as trying to regain my composure.

"I'm sorry," I wiped a tear from the corner of my eye when I had calmed down again. "I just happened to realize that the male reincarnation of my miko ancestor has merged with an evil demon to try and get back the jewel that she lost while trying to prevent it from falling into the hands of an evil demon." I continued that line of thought in my mind and realized something even more important, that once again set me off. Karasu obviously hadn't thought things through before he joined with Yotaru.

"I fail to see the humor in the situation," Yotaru growled at me.

"That's ok, I don't," I snickered. "And here I was expecting to have to take on Naraku. Instead I get Kikyo."

"I grow weary of your amusement. If you will not give me what I want then I will take it by force. Die!" Yotaru raised his hands in preparation to attack. He didn't even realize what was going to happen when he tried that. I raised my own power, and began forming it into a shield.

"Papa?" A faint voice came from somewhere, along with a light knocking.

Wait a minute, I know that voice. Who was it this time?

Keri? I felt my powers slide away with the distraction.

"Supper's ready."

A door opened in mid air, on the other side was a hallway with white plaster walls and a table holding potpourri and a vase of flowers. Framed by the door was Keri who stared at the scene unfolding between us in shock.

"Papa?"

Don't come out here! That'll close the portal! Oh Shit!

Yotaru was wrapped up in struggling with the energy that was doubtlessly going out of control by now to notice the sudden appearance of the school girl. Keri stood there, looking scared as she watched the hanyou-esque being glowing with yellow and blue energy.

"Keri! Get down!" I shouted and launched myself at her. I dived into my powers and ripped it out around myself and the girl in a rough cocoon of raw power, not having time to shape it into a real barrier against the explosion of power emanating from where Yotaru stood. I felt a searing heat scoring my back as some of the backlash from Yotaru's powers broke through my shield.

When the blinding storm of power, ended behind me I lay there, sprawled out over my classmate in an undignified heap. I looked up to see Keri's face and took in her huge unseeing eyes and pale face. Shock. Lucky her. I wonder how long it'll be before I go into shock.

Maybe I'm going into shock right now and I don't even realize it? It's possible…

I've never summoned my power like that before. That really hurt. I'll have to remember not to do that again. …. Why is there blood on my hands? …You know I've been injured more this week than I have at any other time during my stint as the barrier.

I wonder how long I've been lying here… rather a while I think. Or maybe it just seems like it…Hey Keri…Oh, she's fainted. Looks like it's just me and me to keep me company…

I glanced around vaguely, not even bothering to move more than my head. Poor trees. They were so pretty. Like the ones in that dream I had with Kurama. Kurama… something else about Kurama… oh bugger. I'm going to actually have to sit down and figure out what to do about him… and how exactly I feel about him…

That's a nice breeze…

… wonder if you're supposed to be able to feel the wind on your spinal cord…

You know what I've just realized? I'm bored. Bored. I'm probably bleeding to death right now, and all I can feel is bored. How sad. Or maybe it's just really funny and my sense of humor is resting. Well… if there's nothing better to do I think I'm going to go to sleep. Why didn't I think of that before?

Pretty Kurama… such lovely green eyes… You're very pretty… now go away and let me sleep…

Stop yelling at me! You're always trying to tell me what I can't do. I can go to sleep if I want.

Wait, who are you? Have I met you before?

You look familiar. Red eyes? I know someone with red eyes… don't I?

That's it! I'd snap if I could move my fingers at the moment. I know who you look like!

You look like that lil' Hiei guy. Just like him, except blue. And female… ok so maybe just like him isn't quite accurate, but a lot like him. Are you his sister? Really, you could be twins. Oh did you just heal me? That was lovely of you.

Kurama why are you all upset. No, I don't wanna go anywhere. I just wanna sleep. No I don't care what you want… I'm going to sleep… yes sleep…

What do you mean I can't go to sleep yet?!

Look here… you're a nice guy…and all…but…I've had a rather… … wait…what was I saying? N'rmind. …going to …. s…l…e..e…p…

~

Huh, where am I? I cracked my eyes, squinting painfully as the harsh sunlight beat against my eyelids with merciless spiked hammers. Vicious. That's sunlight for you though. I pried my mouth open and unglued my tongue from the top of my mouth. Icky. When I sat up I looked around, noticing how the room looked. Simple, sparse furnishings, a tiny dresser. I was laying on a futon and I was wearing a plain white nightgown.

I wracked my brain trying to figure out where I was and how I had gotten there. Hm, let's see. Fight with Kikyo, argument with Kurama, and meeting with Karasu, appearance of Keri and Yotaru's death. Check. Then what? I can't quite remember… voices, someone blue… Kurama talking to me, yelling… That must be it. Kurama must have found me after the blast and then brought me back here. Keri! I wonder what happened to her?

Huh? What's that noise? Inuyasha? Why is he carrying on this time?

The screen covering the door was wrenched to the side and Inuyasha burst through a second after I finished that thought.

"Kagome! You're finally awake! We were so worried about you!" I found myself in a bone crushing hug, barely able to breath. In fact I had to tug his sleeve to get him to loosen up enough so that I could do so.

"Were we?" I asked him before I realized how stupid that was. "Who were we? I mean, who was worried?"

"We all were. Your family. Shippou was especially upset. And Rin has been coming by to check on you. She's grown quite a bit hasn't she? Oh and that girly red head too." He was still holding my hands as he spoke, and looking at me as if he were afraid I was going to topple over or vanish into thin air. "Are you really alright Kagome? When you returned I smelled your blood. There was so much of it…" I couldn't help it, he looked so much like a lost puppy, I reached up to touch his face and then allowed my hand to reach up and give him a reassuring scratch behind his doggy ears.

"Scared you did I? I'm sorry," I murmured quietly, staring into the golden eyes I hadn't even thought of in decades. I felt a flash of guilt for that realization. It was another reminder that things change. That I had changed. I could never forget my friends, or the events that occurred in the Sengoku Jidai but I could go for surprisingly long stretches without consciously calling those memories to the surface. I briefly wondered if I needed to update the family tree.

Sango and Miroku had been married and had a numerous children. They had even been reincarnated a couple of times so that had started up a whole couple of new family trees along the way for them. Kami but it's hard to keep up with all of them. Miroku is such a lech. I don't know how Sango puts up with having all of those kids. I can barely handle Shippou. It's surprising just how many of them resemble their ancestors, in looks, or personality traits, and especially in the case of their male descendents, perverseness. At any rate, they have so many descendents at this point I wondered why I even bothered to keep track of them all. Morbid curiosity. That's gotta be it.

"So how are you doing?" I asked him, remembering the circumstances of our reunion.

"Well. You're family has been helping me adjust to your time. And I've seen Koenma-sama. Since that Urameshi guy is going to retire from being Spirit Detective soon, he wants me to me to take the job when he does. I'm training to take his place, I like it." he gave a faint smile.

"You're a Spirit Detective now? Why that's wonderful for you Inuyasha! I'm so happy for you!" And I was. That meant he wouldn't have to forget all the skills he had as a fighter and could be useful protecting people. He always was protective, and this job would suit him perfectly. I made a quick calculation in my mind. That also meant there would be fully trained detectives around for back up rather than just keeping one detective until that person died. It also meant that there was something else in store for the current detectives since minions of Spirit World are rarely left alone after they join.

"Kagome…" he hesitated over my name, drawing me out of my musings. He was about to speak when the screen was once again jerked back, this time revealing my diminutive relative.

"Oi, dog boy. You have a mission. Koenma says it's urgent and to hurry."

"It's always urgent," Inuyasha grumbled, rising to his feet.

"Figured that out already have you," Rin watched him with amused eyes.

"Well, we'll talk later ok?" his voice was soft and there was something unreadable in his eyes when he looked at me.

"Sure Inuyasha." He passed by Rin, muttering a brief and general goodbye the room as he walked away.

"Well I see you're finally awake."

"Apparently. Where am I?" I asked, glancing around again.

"Genkai's temple. It's almost a good thing you got hurt, dear. I haven't seen Genkai since Hitler was a corporal," she was smiling when she spoke but I wasn't sure if she was joking or not. With her you can never tell. I was briefly tempted to ask her if she actually had something to do with the World Wars but a glance at her face let me know that she'd never answer me anyways. I smiled and let the comment slide, without taking the bait.

"And where's Shippou?"

"Genkai said that Kurama was taking him somewhere." She waved her hand vaguely, completely unconcerned. I raised my brow at this casual show of trust. When it came to Shippou she was fiercely protective, nearly as extreme as I could be at times.

"So?"

"So what? I blinked, trying to follow what she was talking about. Normally I could, but that was rather vague and random, even for one of us. Or one of us who's not inside the other's head… Ok forget I just thought, whatever it was I was trying to think with that because that didn't even make sense to me.

"So what are you going to do about your choice? You know you still have that mark on your neck. I mean that blast didn't rattle your brains that much right?" Rin rolled her eyes at me. I narrowed my own eyes in response.

"You are a very offensive little woman you know that?" She gave me a cheeky grin.

"Come on! Spill it! Are you going to accept or not?" she demanded, ignoring my insult. Was I? I paused to stare at her as I seriously considered the question.

"Oh do NOT tell me you are still hung up on Inuyasha! I will thwack you if you are!"

"Thwack me huh?" I grinned at the display. She was actually tugging on her braid in annoyance.

"Answer me damn you! You have a centuries old silver kitsune who wants to be your mate, who your son adores, and your family approves of, all of us by the way. Considering Papa's temperament that's saying a lot. You can accept him and be stuck with him. Or you could refuse him and give him up. Either way it'll be forever."

"What do you mean 'it'll be forever'?" I demanded, rubbing the mark in question.

"Meaning it'll be forever. If a youkai tries to mark a woman and she rejects the mark then he can't mark her again. The mark is a binding of souls. If your soul rejects him once then that's what it'll always do. Similarly if you ever died, no matter what form you took you would be bound to him, no matter what. That's what marking is about for youkai They don't just mark their mates. They mark their soul mates."

Lose Kurama forever?

"Yeah, I knew that, I just… I don't know Rin. I'm going back to Shippou's den ok? Tell Genkai thanks for me." I dropped my hand.

"I haven't had time to seriously think about it."

"You do that," she purred, straightening from leaning against the door jam.

Rin pinned me with her black almond eyes, she seemed to consider me very carefully. Whatever she was considering she seemed to come to a decision about since she nodded to herself before giving me a brilliant smile. Then she faded into the shadows, disappearing.

I know that look she gave me. I have seen that same smile send the hordes of demons in Mukuro's army all running for cover. I suddenly feel very nervous.

Rin's feeling playful.