Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Golden Gaze ❯ Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Inuyasha kept his golden eyes on Kagome. He could sense her uncertainty rolling off her in powerful waves. It was tinged with fear. But fear of what? It only made him more convinced that she had been attacked.

The lingering scent of kitsune was teasing his senses. The hanyou wanted nothing better than to go out and find the youkai that dared to touch his Kagome. But he knew he couldn't right now. He needed to stay with Kagome. She needed his comfort, his protection.

"Kagome, were you attacked?" HE managed to ask, his voice barely above a whisper. A few raven locks fell into the miko's face as her sapphire orbs met his. But just as quickly, she looked away. Her uneasiness increased.

'I knew it!' He thought, barely able to suppress the growl that was begging to be let out. Kagome had been attacked, possibly even hurt and it was all his fault! He hadn't been there to protect her. Inuyasha's ears flattened back onto his head as for a moment his attention strayed from the girl in front of him to his own thoughts.

'I am nothing more than a worthless hanyou...' He thought sadly. 'I promised to protect her and I couldn't! I wasn't there when she needed me!' Unsuppressed misery flooded over him. If only he had been a youkai, Kagome would never have been in any danger. He would have been able to find her and protect her. But he was a half-breed. Lower than the dirt that he walked on. And yet Kagome still ran to him, and embraced him.

She acted like he was her equal.

And it tore him up inside.

"Well, I wasn't actually attacked..." Kagome's voice broke through his train of thought.

'She wasn't attcked?!' Inuyasha couldn't help the relief that coursed through his veins. His ears perked up slightly at the newly revealed information. He didn't even notice how hesitant her reply was, or if he did he didn't acknowledge it.

Everything drifted away from him in that moment. He no longer could smell Kagome's anxiety or fear; he no longer saw the forest around him. There was no forest floor, no approaching firecat or ningens. All there was was Kagome's warmth, filling his arms and completing him for the precious moment.

And there was that one coherent thought.

'I didn't fail her...'

And it was all over before it could really begin.

"INUYASHA!"

Kagome's alarmed shriek pulled the hanyou out of his stupor. He looked up just in time to see a silver blur rushing at him with claws bared. He only knew one person that could attack that swiftly.

"Sesshomaru!" Inuyasha yelled his brother's name as he pushed Kagome away from him, towards the safety of the surrounding forest. He dodged the fatal attack, barely escaping with a gash on his right shoulder. Taking a breath in preparation for battle he drew the Tetsusaiga from its sheath, barely registering its transformation as suddenly a scent came his way.

"What the fuck?!"

Inuyasha golden eyes darted feverishly, trying to locate the demon that had just tried to kill him. The scent that he was catching was not that of Sesshomaru but of a kitsune. The inu's eyes widened in realization.

The same kitsune that had been near Kagome!

In a rush of memories, Inuyasha suddenly recalled Kagome's scent and voice as she assured him that she had not been attacked. He began to realize that her uncertainty and hesitation had drasticly increased as she had lowered her eyes and voice. She had been lying. He was a fool to have not noticed right away. She was an awful liar after all.

He began to mentally berate himself for jumping so quickly to bask in her kindness that he almost didn't make one last vital connection. Almost.

Kagome had been lying to him. She had been tainted with this kitsune's scent and she had lied about not being attacked. That meant that this youkai was the one that had attacked her.

Inuyasha cracked his knuckles as he adjusted his grip on Tetsusaiga. A feral gleam came into his eyes as they narrowed in hatred. This was his chance to avenge Kagome and make whoever had dared try to hurt her suffer. This was his opportunity to prove himself to her.

Inuyasha felt the slight discrepency in the air flow as it rushed from behind him. His ears twitched as he caught the faintest rustle of dead leaves on the forest floor. Spinning around at the last moment he parried the attack that had been meant to decapitate him and countered with a swing of his mighty blade, hurling the kitsune into a tree.

Kagome winced at the resounding crack that echoed through the deadly silent woods as the tree splintered with the force of the attackers body hitting it. Her eyes grew wide as she glanced upon the victim of Inuyasha's blow and she realized who it was.

Inuyasha raised his fang above his head and began to search for the windscar. The kitsune lay temporarily unconcious at the base of the splintered tree trunk, obviously caught of guard by the hanyou's speedy defense and counter attack. Inuyasha briefly saw his opponent, absently noting his silver hair and ears much like his own. He didn't bother with a further analysis though.

He knew that this fox was full youkai.

And he had attacked Kagome.

Inuyasha found the wind scar.

Tetsusaiga raised a little more as Inuyasha prepared to slice along the clashing of the two demon youkis. Kagome watched in horror as, as if it were in slow motion, Inutaisho's fang began to gracefully descend, beginning to graceful arch that always ended with the death of whomever was on the recieving end of the kaze no kizu.

Without stopping to think what might happen, the miko raced in front of Youko Kurama, shielding his unconscious body with her own frail frame.

"Inuyasha! STOP!"

***************************************

Suuichi's head jerked up violently as he cried out in pain.

Vaguely he was aware of the voices of his classmates asking him if he was okay. The pain in his head was too intense for him to really grasp their words though let alone answer. He cried out again as another wave went through his head. This time their were words with it.

"Inuyasha! Stop!"

That voice, it was so familar, yet he knew that he had never himself heard it before. A brief flash of the same raven haired girl with ragged clothes, covered in dirt and mud, flashed in his mind.

"Minamino?" A steady voice called out to him as a hand gently shook his shoulder. "Are you alright?"

Kurama forced open one emerald eye. It was met with a deep brown pair of orbs staring at him intently, concern plainly visible, from behind glass lenses. Opening his other eyes, Suuichi forced himself to take his hands from his head and place them on his desk. Erasing all emotion from his eyes he returned his teacher's gaze as solidly as he could.

Another flash of pain went through him and his hands flew to his temples, his eyes once again firmly shut. His teacher was once again gripping his shoulders, shaking him a little more roughly and demanding to know if he was alright.

The pain left him as suddenly as it came and Suuichi felt a calm, serene feeling engulf him. His eyes snapped open in surprise as he stared at the man in front of him without actually seeing him.

"Minamino, can you hear me?" That deep voice called out again.

Absently Kurama nodded, unconsciously noting the whispers and snickers in the background.

"Are you alright?"

The scarelt haired boy forced himself to focus on the person in front of him. Dumbly he nodded as he lowered his hands to fold them in his lap. His teacher frowned in doubt as he placed a palm firmly on the boy's forehead, searching for signs of a fever.

Realizing that his teacher was not assured by his mute nodding, Kurama opened his mouth. In words much hoarser than he would have like he began to try to speak. "I am fine Mr. Takama..." His raspy voice, violently conrtasting to his normally silken one, trailed off there. He offered no explanation for his earlier behavior.

Mr. Takama's frowned deepened at Suuichi's voice. He made a small grunt of disproval, but could think of nothing else to do. "Why don't you go to the nurse's office for a drink of water." He said more than suggested as he straightened and walked to the front of the room to resume the earlier lesson.

Suuichi nodded politely to the retreating back, and gathering his books, silently made his way to the exit. Ignoring the questioning stares on his back, the young man turned the knob, and slipped out into the halls.

As soon as the door was closed, Suuichi let out an inaudible sigh of relief. Leaning against the wooden barrier, he closed his eyes for a moment, relaxing his body and mind. He did not want to deal with the stress now that was sure to come later. He knew that his little outburst would not remain a secret for long. By the end of the next period the entire congregation would most likely know that Suuichi Minamino was going crazy.

He shuddered involuntarily at the thought of the weeks to come. He would have to endure everyone's questions and stares for quite a while now. It was going to be hell.

Opening his eyes, Kurama stood straight and began to walk in the opposite direction of the nurse's office. He was definately not going there. There was nothing that the old woman who claimed to practice medicine could do for him anyways. He wasn't sure what was going on with him lately, but he had his suspicions that it had something to do with Youko and his past.

Suuichi massaged his temple as he climbed the stairs to the roof exit. Right now he just needed to be alone. If it wasn't for his mother, he would have just left the building and perhaps gone off to Makai for a while. At least until he was sure what was going on. But he didn't want to worry her. She was the only person that really cared for him in this world and he couldn't betray that trust.

Kurama pushed open the heavy door that lead to the roof and walked out into the slinding sunshine. For a moment he stood still and silently cursed the shining sun for having to be so bright. A voice quickly snapped him out of his revere though and he bit back the urge to groan in frustration when he recognized who it belonged to.

"Yo Kurama! Skipping out on class?" Yuuske called out from his perch on the roof of the doorway. His brown eyes displayed a hint of concern as he stared down at his scarlet haired companion.

"No Yuuske." Kurama replied in a monotone, unwilling to reveal the reason that he was here in the first place. Inwardy he scolded himself for forgetting that this was Yuske's favorite stakeout during school. He longingly wondered where Keiko was, wishing that the brunette could magically appear and haul the black haired boy off to class like she normally did.

Fate was never really fair to him.

Just to prove that point, another person joined them on the roof. Suuichi smiled slightly as he heard Yuske whine in annoyance. "Kuwabara, what are you doing here?"

For a moment the tall, thin man who had just joined them on the roof glanced around franticly, trying to locate the speaker. He finally ceased his ridiculous searching when laughter trickled down to his ears from above him.

Kuwabara glared accusingly at Yuske who was clutching his sides laughing at the orange haired boy's idiocy. "Hey it's not funny Uremeshi!" Kuwabara yelled, resulting in more laughter from the Spirit Detective. "I mean it! It's not! You keep laughing and I'm gonna have to punch you so hard that...that..."

Kuwabara's face visibly screwed itself up in confusion as he tried to think of a suitable insult to apply to the end of his threat. Needless to say he wasn't taken seriously and Yuske practically rolled off off his perch above the door he was laughing so hard.

The only thing stopping Kurama from rolling his eyes and telling them both to shutup was his manners. "Kuwabara, Yuske, could you two just be quiet for a moment?" He finally managed to ask between clenched teeth.

The two boys stopped immediately and stared unashamedly at their fellow spirit detective. The annoyance that seeped into his voice was highly out of character for the young man who was normally so quiet and composed. Kurama realized his mistake at once but made no move to explain himself or rectify what he had done.

Yuske let out a low whistle and walked over to where Suuichi was leaning over the side of the building. Kuwabara stayed where he was, perhaps too shocked by the outburst despite the fact that it was hushed and respectful.

"Yo Kurama? What's the matter?" asked Yuske as he sat down indian style on the roof ledge and gazed out in the same general direction as the boy next to him. Suuichi didn't even blink. The jet haired boy peeked curiosly out of the corner of his eye, awaiting an answer, but still Kurama did not acknowledge his presence. Whatever was bothering him it was something he obviously didn't want to talk about.

Taking the silent hint, Yuske got down from the edge and walked away towards the door, pasusing only long enough to drag the still frozen Kuwabara with him. Together they walked down the stairs and towards their classrooms, each silently pondering what could've affected their friends normally subdued, yet cheerful, nature.

Suuichi was finally left alone on the roof to contemplate his thoughts. He felt a little guilty for being so cold to Yuske and Kuwabara

************************************

"Inuyasha! STOP!"

The hanyou's eyes widened in horror as he watched Kagome fling herself in front of his demon blade, sheilding the kitsune's body with her own.

Tetsusaiga contined its descent, beginning to tear into the wind scar, before, due to his remarkable reflexes and brute strength, it halted just above the miko's ebony head.

Inuyasha could feel his knees shaking in the aftershock of what he had almost done. He felt like he was going to be sick, his stomache was leaping into his throat. His eyes were still wide and his father's hand hovered in midair right where it had stopped in its deadly path. He was so scared about what had almost happened that he couldn't force himself to think straight, let alone be angry. He couldn't even move.

As it was, a strong gust of air whipped at Kagome and Youko Kurama, the only sign that Inuyasha had been about to execute the kaze no kizu.

Inuyasha's knees finally buckled underneath him and he slumped to the ground as Tetsusiaga reverted to its harmless form of an old rusted blade. His empty golden eyes continued to stare straight ahead, but a fire was quickly growing within them as motion and thought tentatively returned to his body.

Kagome remained on her knees, her entire body shaking in fear. She wasn't aware of anything except for the limp body beneath her and the dying wind rushing past her. Her tensed form flinched when she heard Inuyasha fall to his knees in front of her.

Neither of them moved or said a word.

***********************************************