Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Painful Decisions ❯ Chapter 2

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Title: Painful Decisions

Author: Ryutsu and T.K. Incognito

Disclaimer: There was a day way back when... when everyone knew that fan fiction was exactly that: a fan fiction. A product of a fan's imagination, one that did not necessarily follow the real story's plot, but was just made up for fun. It was during this period in history that no one had to worry about being accused of stealing the rights to things they did not own—or want to for that matter. Alas, that was a long time ago, and now comes the disclaimer that is a must: we do not own, and are not attempting to either.

Chapter two: Through The Well

She couldn't believe what she was hearing. First her brother manages to get a jewel shard that no one knew about and then he passed through the well? Speaking of that damned jewel shard how was it possible that it was here, in this time? Did it mean that they didn't succeed in defeating Naraku? Or just that they didn't manage to complete the jewel?

She paused, recalling the jewel shard that the Noh Mask had. Why didn't this click before? They must not have finished the jewel completely, or maybe they did but there was a certain order of events that everything had to happen in or else things would get askew. After all, they were dealing with time. Maybe Souta was a part of that order of events... She hoped not. He shouldn't have to get involved in such dangerous things, even if he could take care of himself quite clearly.

Not to mention that saving the world was supposed to be her job in the family! Jeez. Couldn't everyone just stick with the jobs they were assigned? But wait, Souta just turned fifteen, didn't he? Yeah, she was pretty sure he did, so maybe that was significant somehow... Maybe it was something that ran in their blood that allowed him to get through the well now that he was older?

Her head was beginning to ache and it wasn't from her up close and personal meeting with the concrete earlier. None of this made any damned sense to her. Her ability to sense the jewel shards had improved greatly over the years but she had never once had the slightest whisper across her senses to indicate there was a jewel shard unclaimed in this time and she had passed right underneath that damned shelf!

But no, her brother had to be the one to find it. And it wasn't just the fact that he had found it, but as she looked at the blasted thing there hadn't been the slightest hint of a taint. Apparently Souta had more holy powers in him then anyone had ever thought to look for. Once more she felt as if she had been passed by to sit in someone else's shadow.

She bit back the feeling of despair that was trying to overwhelm her. She should be used to this situation by now. After all, everyone else in the group was better than her at almost everything. Even little Shippou had mastered spells that were supposed to come easy to her. The only thing she had ever excelled at was sensing the jewel shards and now... And now it seemed as if she was unable to do even that much.

She didn't even want to contemplate what this could mean for the future. If Souta could pass through holding the jewel shards then the likelihood that Naraku could do the same was a distinct possibility. What if Naraku or one of his spies had been watching the well the day that Souta went through? Naraku was smart; he would easily put together the clues laid before him. If he did that then all hell would break loose in the modern era.

The entire city would be defenseless and his for the taking. The only thing that held him back in the slightest in the Feudal Era was that Lord Sesshoumaru and the other three Taiyoukai's protected their lands and everything contained therein including the human villages to a certain extent. In this era there had been no signs of demons that she had experienced.

There would be no safeguards in place should he come through, there had to be something she could do. She thought of sealing the well once she was through but there was a problem with that idea. She hadn't yet mastered that particular spell and even if she did from what she had learned from Kaede there was every possibility that it would stay sealed; permanently.

She could be trapped in the Feudal Era with no way home. Could she give up her family? She didn't know what to do anymore, she needed to talk to Inuyasha and tell him about this latest development.

Souta and their silent watcher kept their gazes trained on the young Priestess, waiting to see what she had to say about this little revelation. Her emotions showed clearly on her face: despair, anger, resignation, and confusion. It was all there for them to see but neither was sure if she would voice her thoughts.

Souta was half dreading hearing what she had to say. Would she hate him for concealing the jewel? Or for the fact that he could go through the well? He wasn't sure and it worried him, he was well aware of Kagome's views of herself even though she tried desperately to hide them. After living with someone for so many years you learned of the others every idiosyncrasy.

She finally broke the silence, asking the one question she needed the answer the most to. "Did anyone see you on the other side Souta? This is important." His answer could very easily make her decision for her as to asking Kaede about sealing spells. She waited, not realizing that she was holding her breath. An uncertain look passed over his face and her heart sank.

Somehow Souta had known she would ask him that. He didn't know the answer to her question, at least not with any certainty anyway. Curiosity had gotten the better of him when he had realized what had happened. He left Bouyou in the bottom of the well knowing that if he carried him out then the fat cat would want to go exploring.

Not that he could blame him for that; it was exactly what he had wanted to do. And since there was no one to stop him that is exactly what he had done, although he did have enough common sense to stay near the well in case a demon attacked him. He could easily jump into the well and escape any danger. "I don't think so Kagome."

He didn't think so? How could he not know, he would have seen someone looking into the well wouldn't he have? Unless... She got that sinking feeling once more. "Souta you didn't climb out of the well did you?" He didn't even have to answer; the look on his face told her everything. She felt a surge of anger at him.

Why couldn't he have just traveled back through the well? Didn't he realize what danger he was in carrying a jewel shard? "Damn it Souta; do you realize what could have happened to you? Don't you know that our entire family could be in danger now? If Naraku knows he can travel through the well he won't hesitate to kill you and there won't be anything anyone can do to stop him!"

"Well, maybe it has nothing to do with the well!" Souta suddenly said, raising his voice to her firmly. It was very rare for Souta to raise his voice lately, even while they were arguing, and Kagome suddenly felt bad for making him raise it to her. "Did you ever stop to think that it might just have to do with us and not the well? No, you automatically think that hell will be bestowed upon the world just because I fell through the well."

"Souta, I..." Kagome tried to intervene, but Souta stopped her. She had her moment of anger and now he would be heard. He was tired of being ignored by everyone. He had an opinion. He had feelings. He had things that he felt were important to input to the conversation. He would be heard.

"No, Kagome. You think that just because I went and looked around a bit that I could have been killed, don't you? Well, here's a little information, Kagome. The reason, the real reason, why I took all those classes and learned all those lessons was so that if in the event that something came through the well, or—god forbid—something happened to you, I would be ready to protect our family." Souta was ready to pull his hair out in frustration. There was so much he wanted to say, but he couldn't say it all at once.

Silence stretched between the two. Both were in their own thoughts for an unexplained period of time that felt like years to both. Finally Souta said, "I can't sense the jewel shards. I only noticed it because the books fell on my head."

Kagome nodded her acceptance to this. Maybe there would be something she would still be useful for. Something she could add to the group still. After all, if Souta could take care of himself, and go through the well, and sense the jewel shards, then wouldn't the smart thing be to let Souta go complete the jewel? She took a deep breath and said, "Maybe Kaede might have answers for us..."

She didn't really want Souta to go back through the well, but it seemed like it could be necessary. Maybe if there really was an order of events that things had to happen in, his going back through the well was part of it. But then again, now that these thoughts were with her about an order of events, her thoughts were contorting on themselves with "what ifs".

What if Souta wasn't supposed to go through the well a second time? What would happen if she screwed up the way time flowed? Just thinking about it made her sick to her stomach and she wondered if maybe she wasn't fully rested enough. More what if's barraged her and she wondered if she should stay in the modern era another day just to rest.

What if she made the wrong decision? What if she cried at the wrong time? What if she didn't meet someone she was supposed to? What if she died? What if she failed to fix the jewel? What if Naraku prevailed instead of her group? What if her family got hurt? What if Souta was supposed to help aid them in the hunt?

She had to stop doing this. Souta was looking at her strangely and honestly she didn't blame him. What if's would never get them anywhere other than cramps from sitting in awkward positions on the floor. She didn't know what to say to him anymore.

It seemed as if they were separated by a large chasm and there was no hope of spanning it. Well, there was no time like the present to take him to the past. They really did need to talk to Kaede about this entire mess and see if she had any words of wisdom to impart.

"Let's go Souta," Kagome picked up the backpack once more and rested it on the edge of the well. When she didn't get a response she looked over to her brother who was staring at her with his mouth open. She repressed a laugh that wanted to break loose despite the severity of the situation.

"Earth to Souta, I said let's go." He still didn't look as if he comprehended what she was getting at and finally tired of his hesitation she took his hand in her own. When he looked at her with a startled _expression she just shook her head in exasperation and began to step up onto the edge.

Slowly he followed her, still surprised by what she was doing. After all the ranting and raving she had done she wanted him to go with her? He wondered about all of her questions she threw at him earlier. Didn't they matter at all? Apparently not based on the way he was being hauled up next to her.

He started to ask her if she really thought this was a good idea but she didn't give him a chance. It really wasn't surprising considering how she often did things without thinking. Hell, she wasn't even allowing him to get some stuff together and let their mother know where he would be.

Kagome jumped over the edge pulling him down with her and he felt the now familiar sensation of passing through time. Truth be told, it made his skin crawl, he wasn't looking forward to experiencing it again but he knew that he had no choice.

Another horrifying thought struck him as they landed on the other side. His girlfriend was going to kill him for certain. They had been planning this date for weeks and now it looked like he was going to stand her up. He was dead for certain, forget worrying about Naraku.

-Feudal Era-

He glared at his partner for a long moment before finally he could no longer take it. All the fox wanted to do was sit on his rear end all day and enjoy the presence of women. True, the fox might not have been a complete deadweight, he served his purposes and could whisk information from flap-jawed females easier than Hiei could, but watching the sight got to be rather disgusting.

So he did the next best thing he could think of. He picked himself from the ground and walked out of the cave they called a hideout, walking toward the forest. His thoughts were scattered enough, but to top that off, his elements were again surging through him like a wildfire. He wasn't sure what to do to appease their battle. It wasn't easy to be born with opposing elements, and often he found himself cursing his parents for cursing him, which did make sense in a round-about way.

The silence under the trees was limited, but it was better than listening to the giggles that came from the fox's latest "information source". Instead, he was able to hear the chirping of birds as they went about their afternoon.

He could hear the rustle of small animals in the undergrowth, and yes, even his feet made a crinkling sound as they crunched the autumn leaves. He walked continuously until he came upon the village that he knew better than to enter. Once he had arrived, he jumped into the tree at the edge of the forest to watch the people go about their day.

As usual, the half breed was there and the young fox cub was as well. They were always there when their priestess disappeared temporarily, but Hiei had never found out where she went to. She was a mystery. Hiei heard footsteps and voices behind him. He looked to where they were coming from and saw the priestess from his thoughts was there with another who looked similar to her. Hiei thought they could be siblings.

Again, Hiei was struck with the curious notion that the priestess was very different from anyone he had ever seen, human or demon. She usually kept her hair unbound, though when she bathed she did have it up. Sometimes being so sneaky was a good thing..... She wore indecent clothes, but he had to admit it was smarter to wear the revealing things she wore rather than the restricting kimonos that most ladies wore. It would be hard to run in such clothes.

Hiei slipped from one tree branch to another so he could get close enough to hear what they were saying. He was sure to stay out of sight. As of yet, no one knew of his strange fascination of the three humans who traveled, looking for jewel shards. If Kurama were to know, he would probably have wooed and screwed each of them, maybe even the male. Kind of gross, but Youko Kurama was like that. He seemed to take everything both beautiful and everything that Hiei enjoyed.

That was why Hiei had decided he would never let Kurama find out about his fascination. Hiei had his reasons for putting up with Kurama. Kurama was there to help Hiei find his sister, though they had come to the "agreement" that Kurama would never try anything with Yukina. Well, the agreement was more that if he did, Hiei would kill him, even if it meant that he died himself...

Hiei's curiosity over the three humans was because of how different they were from the rest of the population. The monk was facing death every day, yet he continued his life happily as htough that impending death threat was not there. The demon slayer had lost everything she held dear, yet vengeance kept her going.

The priestess... He had no clue about, and he had been watching her for three months already. He thought about approaching her, but decided against it one more time. He had no reason to do so. He did not desire the jewel, so where was his motive?

He certainly couldn't say he wanted to be friends, and he had nothing against the demon Naraku. He couldn't get too close to people anyway because his elements would doubtless rage and he would probably kill himself. That would kind of suck.

Hiei watched the two for a few seconds, anxiously settling into the tree. The woman was intriguing him enough that he would wait for her to come into view before following just behind the two. He listened to their conversation for a moment and as they came to be just underneath him, the male tensed. "Kagome," The male whispered. Hiei wondered who he was. He had never seen him before.

In observation of the male human, he saw he wore equally as strange clothes as the priestess. His clothes were not like the male humans normally wore. The bottom to his clothes were ripped a bit as were the top near the shoulders. He had a scrape by his left eye, as though he had hit it on gravel or something.

His build was toned for fighting, not farming. Hiei wondered if he was a fighter, or a slayer of some sort like the female demon slayer. Again he wondered where the priestess disappeared to for two weeks. Hiei couldn't help but notice her disappearance, since she was his favorite to watch.

She said odd things that made no sense and recently he had caught himself trying out those strange foreign words himself, though of course out of hearing range from Youko Kurama. "Yeah, Souta?" Kagome asked, not perturbed by anything like the male. She continued walking while the male had stopped.

"Stop moving." he ordered, and she stopped to look at him in confusion. "Don't you feel that?” Hiei wondered what the human was talking about. He perked his senses to the surroundings and all he noticed was the silence of the birds. Wait, silence of the birds? They normally chirped unless... unless there was something bad coming.

Kagome was silent for a long moment before she realized the birds' lack of chirping. "You're right. Let's get to the village before--"

"It's coming fast!" Souta grasped his sister and dove to the side. Hiei could have stopped it. He could have unsheathed his sword before the large three-eyed rat, about the size of a Great Dane, had come upon them, but he decided to wait it out. If his little priestess got into too much trouble, he would help them, but until her life depended on it, he would wait it out. Besides, it appeared the male had a handle on the situation anyway.

Souta bit his lip as the rat stared at him and then said, "Kagome, look around for a long straight stick. Damn, I knew I shouldn't have let you drag me through the well without grabbing the old katana grandpa kept on the living room wall. What do you think our chances of survival are?"

Kagome looked around and frowned. "How is it that every time you need something, it's not there?"

"You mean; no sticks?" Souta paled. That sucked ass really bad. As the rat tore toward them, he grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the way. The rat hit the tree and it wobbled.

Up in that very tree, Hiei nearly lost his balance as the tree wobbled dangerously. The branch he was on began to break, but before he could get to another branch, he tumbled right into the middle of the lovely fight scene. The branch landed on the giant rat, and dignity be damned, so did Hiei.

He sat up, groaning and rubbing his back. From now on, he would stick to the ground. Or at least branches that wouldn't break under his weight when the tree was assaulted. "Great," Kagome muttered from behind Souta, rubbing her arm. She swore Souta had to watch his strength. Her arm felt dislocated, it hurt so much. "One problem is knocked out by another."

Hiei was faced with a dilemma that he never once thought he would encounter before. On one hand he could get up and dart away before anyone said anything but then undoubtedly the Priestess would be wondering exactly why he had been in that tree. Most likely she'd be on her guard after this mess and it would be more difficult for him to observe which meant that he would have to find his entertainment elsewhere.

The thought was not appealing, they'd been staying in that damned cave for weeks now. He wasn't entirely certain why they hadn't continued on with the search as of yet, though truthfully he hadn't pushed the issue since he had occupied his time watching this odd group.

His other option was to attempt to engage them in a conversation and make it seem like he had just been passing through the area and was going to assist them when the branch gave way. Neither possibility exactly thrilled him but he needed to make a decision soon before the rat regained consciousness. He didn't exactly relish the idea of being bit on the ass by a rodent.

Keeping an eye on the two humans in front of him he stood up quickly just as the rat began to stir. Quickly unsheathing his katana he plunged it into the eye directly in the center of its forehead, driving the blade clean through it's skull. Pulling it free he quickly flicked the filth off of it and examined the blade critically. It would need a good cleaning before he re-sheathed it. Stalking over to a nearby log he sat down on it and began to wipe the blade down.

Kagome and Souta watched him carefully, waiting for any move that would signify an attack but none was forthcoming. Both had numerous questions they wanted to ask but neither was extremely anxious to approach the small youkai. After all, his _expression looked less than pleased which was understandable considering he had just taken a nose dive out of a fifty foot tree.

It didn't take long for him to finish cleaning his katana, as he sheathed it he looked at the other two carefully. They seemed to breathe a collective sigh of relief once the weapon was away. He inwardly scoffed at this reaction. He was a youkai, he could have killed them no less than fifty times in the first two minutes that he had spent in their company.

Instead he'd for the most part ignored them and they were acting like he had held the blade to their throats for the joy of seeing them squirm. Perhaps he had given the Priestess to much credit. She was reverting back to the sheep like behavior that he despised about humans.

He stood up so he could leave, but when he did so immediately the girl jumped back landing roughly on her rear though to be honest it was more because the boy had shoved her backwards and placed himself in between him and the girl. The girl however looked offended as she picked herself up off of the ground. "Souta, dammit! How many times are you going to shove me to the ground today?"

Hiei looked at the boy with a slightly amused _expression. It would seem the girl was important to this boy, though he had a strange way of showing it if he was always this rough with her. However it really wasn't his concern as to how the girl was or was not treated. She was a curiousity, nothing more. Only good for providing him some amusement until he tired of watching her.

It wasn't his fault that she seemed to be full of mystery though! Had she been any other human and he would never have looked twice at her, but instead there were things he could not explain away and he was determined to pry each of her secrets from her one way or another. Now that his cover was blown he'd just have to rethink his methods.

"Kagome I was just trying to protect you!" To this Kagome looked ready to explode, Hiei wasn't exactly sure who the boy should fear more at this point in time. The girl was clenching and unclenching her hands as if she itched to pummel him into the ground.