Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Stay Gone ❯ Hunts ( Chapter 5 )

Chapter 5: Hunts

~*~

Kagome felt as if her stomach was up in knots. You think she would have gotten used to the unexpected questions by now.

"I…" she started.

Kurama tried prompting her with a "You…"

"I… I am the Shikon's Guardian." With that statement said, Kagome felt the urge to expose others. "I was the one who had it in her body before I broke it, I was the one who collected all of the shards and purified them, I was the one who fought beside my friends and beat Naraku, I was the one that lost it inside the earth, and I am the one who is trying to find it."

Kurama seemed to be incredulous. "But, that was five hundred years ago!"

Kagome looked at him. She wanted Kurama to understand the seriousness of that fact.

"I know," she said monotonously.

Kurama looked thunderstruck. This totally eliminated all suspicions of her being a human! "But," he sputtered, "how?"

Kagome appeared to be thoughtful. With a sigh she said, "I can't tell you now. I don't know how you would react to it. If you were a regular human, you would throw me in the loony bin straight away. And if you weren't, I'd still have to put it into terms that you would understand."

Kurama leaned back again. "I'm not going to get anything else from you, aren't I?"

"Nope," she said with strained cheeriness reminiscent of Botan. "I'm as stubborn as a mule when I want to be."

"I see…" Kurama drawled. "Well, is there anyway that you could answer this one question?"

"Depends what it is."

"Are you a youkai?" Kurama was only asking her to be sure. "I mean, the only logical way for you to live that long is to be a youkai."

Her facetiousness gone, she mumbled, "No… I am not a youkai. I'm one hundred percent human. I've even checked."

A little disappointed, Kurama thought about other possibilities. As he did so, a heavy silence descended over the room.

Kagome fidgeted. It had been 10 minutes since someone had spoken. Long silences between to people always made her nervous. Someone or something had to break the calm that had descended between them.

Kagome gave a slight cough, hoping to gain his attention and therefore lead to an inquiry about her health.

He ignored her.

Kagome huffed inwardly. And here I thought he was a nice, sensitive guy. She sighed; I guess it's up to me to start a conversation.

She put in a tone of playfulness into her voice and said "So are you a youkai?" She fully intended an outburst of laughter or a swift denial. But it never came.

He seemed to ponder over the question before answering. "I guess you could say I'm a hanyou, of sorts. I've never really thought about it."

Kagome was shocked, in the least. Hanyous were rare, and therefore not widely known. If he stated that he was a hanyou, then he must have done a whole lot of studying or he was telling the truth.

"Hanyou, you say?" she choked. "Of sorts? How so?"

He grinned, "Let's just say that you would 'throw me in the loony bin straight away'."

Kagome's lips twitched. She wanted to smile, but it felt unnatural to do anything of the sort, especially outside family. Those occasions that she had slipped were rare and were occurring less frequently. Only Shippo could make her beam.

"But you seem so human."

"Well, at this current time I am human."

"Current time? How can one be currently human? It isn't the full moon."

Kurama had his eyes closed. "There are ways to do the impossible, Kagome. According to Fate, I happened to be one of them."

Cryptic, very cryptic. But it had a ring of truth. She mulled over his words.

"Should be go to bed? I mean, it's late." Gone was the mysteriousness that Kurama held. In its place was quiet concern and pure logic.

"Yes, sleep would do us good." Kagome settled down in her corner of the hut. "Good night," she yawned.

"Good night."

~*~

There was a knocking on the door the next morning. No, it wasn't a knocking, it was a pounding. A never-ending, ceaseless pounding that made Yusuke's head feel like there was some hitting it with a hammer.

Yusuke powered up slightly. Whoever was at the door was going to pay.

The knocking stopped. Yusuke relaxed into the pillow thinking that whoever it was had left.

Boy was he wrong.

Just as he was about to drift into unconsciousness, the whole house shook from a huge impact.

Yusuke cursed as he pulled on a pair of pants. "That wasn't an accident!"

He sensed a youkai enter the premises. "Looks like Hiei isn't doing a good job in protecting the boundary."

He turned the corner and jumped out. His finger and thumb shaped like a gun. "Put your hands up, you…" Yusuke then proceeded to call the intruder every name under the sun.

The youkai had the sun to his back, so Yusuke couldn't make out any details. He could tell that he was short, and that was by Hiei's standards.

"Wha'cha doing?" piped up a young voice.

Yusuke lowered his hand slightly. He moved a little to the left, and noticed that the youkai was Shippo, Higurashi's son.

I could have sworn that it was a youkai…

"Are you sane?" It was an innocent question.

"What?!"

"Are you sane?" Shippo repeated.

"Of course I am."

"Sure…" he said while eyeing the still raised hand.

Yusuke quickly put it down. "So what are you doing here?"

"I'm looking for my mom. I thought she was here."

"Why would you think that she would be here?" Yusuke was already getting distracted with the thought of Breakfast.

Shippo ducked his head. "It was just a guess."

"Well, Kurama went out looking for her last night, maybe he knows."

"I didn't see him working."

This grabbed Yusuke's attention. "You mean he there?"

"Nope."

"Listen kid…" Shippo growled. "Shippo… Kurama usually sneaks into a house. He never announces his arrival."

"We have cameras all over the place, and I didn't see him come in."

"You mean he hasn't come back?"

"Nope. And I'm not really worried about him. Mom is my main concern."

"He went out to look for her last night."

Shippo immediately turned serious. "And neither of them has come back?"

I swear, thought Yusuke, he acts exactly like a fox. "Sorry."

"But Momma always comes back!" yelled a panicked Shippo. "We have to find her!"

"Ok Shippo, we need to go looking for him then. He could be in serious trouble. He doesn't look like it, but he is one hell of a fighter. And as you already know, he is very prompt."

Shippo nodded his head in agreement. "So where are we gonna start?"

"He said he was going to look for your mom in the woods. It seems that she was taking a walk. That would be the logical place to start."

"Let's go, let's go, let's go!"

"Alright! Let me get Kuwabara, he's good at this kind of thing."

Shippo inclined his head and waited. Yusuke went further into the hut to look Kuwabara. But one question still plagued him, how could Shippo knock down that door?

~*~

Shippo had woken up at dawn. He had gotten dressed, brushed his teeth, and had finished breakfast before he checked up on his mother. She would always be curled up on her bed with the blanket up to her chin. But today she wasn't there.

This was enough to send poor Shippo into panic mode.

He ran throughout the house looking for her, calling her name, tearing up furniture, and basically destroying everything in his path.

Finally, after turning his previously spotless house into a dump, a grain of logic took control. His fox instincts honed in on the nearest energy source, and without a second thought, took off running for it.

He came upon one of the workers quarters. After pounding on it for five minutes, he lost his temper and knocked the door off his hinges. Inside the threshold, was a crazed man yelling obscenities and holding his hand as if it were a gun.

Shippo blinked. It took him a moment to register that the man was Yusuke, one of the newbies. By the looks of it, he wasn't completely aware of himself. Shippo needed to gain his attention in a way that would make him pause for at least a minute. I mean, it wasn't everyday that you found an insane guy waving his hand in the shape of a gun. And people with mental disabilities tended to be violent.

"Wha'cha doing?"

Yusuke lowered his hand slightly. "What?!"

"Are you sane?"

He seemed to be confused with that question. "Of course I am."

Shippo didn't believe him. He was still looking at that… gun. "Sure…"

Yusuke quickly put his hand down. "So what are you doing here?"

"I'm looking for my mom. I thought she was here."

"Why would you think that she would be here?"

Shippo ducked his head. "It was just a guess." In actuality, it was because of the high amount of energy here. There would have only been two possibilities for that amount. First was that it might have been Kagome looking in on people, or it could have been her abductor. Inwardly he cringed; it seemed that his instincts went a little too far.

"Well, Kurama went out looking for her last night, maybe he knows."

Shippo shrugged. "I didn't see him at work."

This grabbed Yusuke's attention. "You mean he wasn't there?"

"Nope."

"Listen kid…" Shippo growled. He hated being called anything other than his name. "Shippo… Kurama usually sneaks into a house. He never announces his arrival."

"We have cameras all over the place, and I didn't see him come in."

"You mean he hasn't come back?"

"Nope," Shippo stated bluntly. "And I'm not really worried about him. Mom is my main concern."

"He went out to look for her last night."

Shippo immediately turned serious. "And neither of them has come back?"

"Sorry."

"But Momma always comes back!" yelled a panicked Shippo. "We have to find her!"

"Ok Shippo, we need to go looking for him then. He could be in serious trouble. He doesn't look like it, but he is one hell of a fighter. And as you already know, he is very prompt."

Shippo nodded his head in agreement. "So where are we gonna start?"

"He said he was going to look for your mom in the woods. It seems that she was taking a walk. That would be the logical place to start."

Shippo was jumping up and down. "Let's go, let's go, let's go!"

Yusuke threw his hands up in the air. "Alright! Let me get Kuwabara, he's good at this kind of thing."

Shippo inclined his head and seemed to be waiting patiently. Yusuke went further into the hut to look Kuwabara.

Why didn't they hurry? Didn't they know that his mother could be dying?!

~*~

Osuwari- commonly mistaken as the word "Sit" in Japanese. In actuality, it is a command of obedience for a dog.

Youkai- Japanese Demon; doesn't translate correctly

Miko- Priestess of the Shinto Religion, has magical powers; sometimes called a sorceress; doesn't translate properly

Haori- The "shirt" usually worn by men during the Feudal Era of Japan; it is the outer most of the layers in the outfit.

Makai- Youkai world; only used in Yu-Yu Hakusho

~*~

Review Responses:

Black Ruby Kitsune- I'm planning to put Hiei in here, so don't worry. But that will be later in the story. I need to make Kagome less of an Ice Queen first. And remember, you can't have Kagome and Hiei together without having a few spats!

Fire Elfglow- You know what? Something strange happened, instead of everyone hitting me for being obnoxious, I'm now hitting them! It seems like we have switched places. I'm like "whoa…"

Kristie- I'm glad you liked the cliffy. I seem to do those unconsciously; I have no control over them whatsoever! See, even this chapter has a cliffy. Albeit, a small one.

Night Fox- I didn't actually mean for Kurama to be confused that much, it just happened! But you have to think about it in detail, Kagome is talking about things that are impossible, how else would Kurama react to that? PS. What does QUA mean?

Rosie13- Sorry about the lack of updates! A month is too long! Do you keep track of your stories or something? Because how else would you know that it was exactly a month?

SuzumiTenshi- I hope I made the deadline! I've had so much work to do that it wasn't even funny! I barely got in five minutes a week!

Thanks to: Dark lil Hiei, SilverKnight7, Kegs-sama, tbiris, akuma_river, ptbear