Kagome was getting tired of ramen. Why did she even bring it
anymore? She didn't even like it all that much... She knew that she had
only brought it cause dog-boy loved it so much. Probably more then Kikyo.
A huge grin spread over Kagome's face. I wonder what he'd pick if I told
him to choose between the ramen and the zombie pot? Again, an extremely
huge grin covered her face as she imagined a stack of ramen (every flavor)
and Kikyo on opposite sides of a clearing, and a struggling and disturbed
Inu Yasha in the middle.
Before she realized how it had happened, Kagome found herself laying
on the floor laughing her head off. What made it so funny was the fact
that she knew that Inu Yasha would have a challenge picking between ramen
and Kikyo, which proved just how much he felt for the zombie...
When Kagome had finally settled down, she decided to leave the ramen
behind this time. See how the beast faired without his food. It would be
interesting, to say the least. But she couldn't help packing a large store
of chocolate. Shippo loved candy, and Kagome had also been having weird
cravings for sugary stuff.
Kagome swung her backpack over her shoulder and walked outside. She
realized how much lighter this bag seemed now that she had trained. Lets
see Inu Yasha call her weak now! But Kagome briefly realized that she
still needed everyone on the team to be on her side if she was going to
fight, let alone beat, Naraku and make it out alive. She wasn't prideful
enough to think she didn't need any help she could get. At least in that
matter.
Kagome slid open the door to the shrine and stepped inside. She
stopped automatically as she heard a small groan at the other end of the
shrine. Peering into the dark corner that was just out of her view, Kagome
felt the bag slide from her shoulder, and made no move to retrieve it. Her
mouth hung open, and her eyes were wide. She sneezed at the new smell of
blood that entered her nose. But she still didn't take her eyes from the
crouched form in the corner. She felt her lips move before she could stop
herself.
"Hie... Hiei?!" It was as quit as a whisper, and yet Hiei's eyes
snapped open and he jumped to attention. The sudden movement made him
flinch, and caused Kagome to observe him more closely. His clothes were
soaked in crimson blood, and blood seeped from the bandanna on his
forehead. Kagome noticed that the hand wrapped around his katana was
dripping blood as well. As she went to step forward, she heard an
unearthly growl, looking up, she saw that Hiei's brow was furrowed and his
lips pulled into a snarl.
Kagome rolled her eyes, knowing perfectly well he could see it. She
was proved right when his growl grew louder. She half smiled, and began to
walk toward him. She watched as one of his left foot slide back and he
went into his fighting stance. Kagome stopped and sighed.
"I'm not going to hurt you," she said, sounding slightly annoyed.
"Like you could if you tried, ningen," he snapped, sounded angry and
thirty times as annoyed. Kagome grinned.
"You'd be surprised," and she knew he was when she suddenly appeared
behind him. He spun around, blood splattering the walls. Again, Kagome
sighed.
"I could have hit the cuts on your chest twice for extreme pain, the
cut on your forehead to knock you unconscious, or three essential parts of
your spine to cause paralysis or death by now. It's obvious that your not
exactly in the perfect condition to fight." She hung her head when his
fighting stance didn't waver. "Will you please just let me help you?"
Though her eyes were shadowed, she could see enough through her bangs to
know that his snarl only widened, "Ether that or the hard way... And trust
me, if you couldn't block those shots before you wouldn't have a chance for
these." She waited for a moment while Hiei watched her curiously, not
coming out of his fighting stance, before shaking her head, "Fine... The
hard way then." And with that she appeared behind him and pinched a vein
in his neck, cutting of the blood to his head.
As soon as his eyes closed, she removed her hand, catching the
falling demon in her arms as he slumped she took a deep breath. Under the
metallic smell of blood a smell of pine and pain stained his skin. It was
a surprisingly enticing scent and Kagome leaned over to try and smell it
more deeply. Catching herself with her face pressed into his neck she
ripped back, disgusted with herself for not keeping her instincts back.
She began to pull him back and struggled for a moment.
"Damn!! How could a little guy way so much?!" She looked him over
to check for any differences in his stomachs size from what she first
thought when she saw the problem. His waist was firmly attached to the
ground, pulled down by the katana at his waist. Putting him down (gently)
for a second Kagome reached to pull out the sword. As soon as she pulled
at the hilt though, she found exactly how much of the weight had been the
katana.
She focused a large amount of her strength to pick it up, finding
that only after she had used a half of it on this could she pick it up
fairly easily. Eyes wide, she examined the weapon. She had to sniff the
blade various times to realize what it was made of. Some sort of silver-
quarts compound with diamond edging. The blade and hilt seemed to have
something of power inside. Probably a demon or legendary creatures hair or
scale or feather or something that was buried between it and the hilt. The
hilt was a demon version of amethyst covered in steel. And the only scent
on the hilt was Hiei's, meaning he had always had it, and therefore made
it.
The looked upon the unconscious fire apparition with a new respect.
She looked back to the sword and strapped it around her waist, before
picking up the demon boy and dragging him gently down the steps and, once
placed on a plastic trash-bag to catch the blood, worked her way into the
house.
She briefly considered putting him on the couch. But quickly trashed
the idea in favor of her room. Discontinuing her dragging, she sat down
next to him and decided to try out another trick. Spreading her right
index and middle finger (AN: think peace sign) she placed them on his
forehead.
Focusing her imagination on a speedy mental trip to her room. Across
the living room, up the stairs, passed the bathroom and her brothers room
and into her room. Not wanting to have to pick him up, Kagome brought
herself to sit on the bed, thus bringing Hiei as well. Anyone who would
have seen, demon or no, would have thought they had blown away with the
wind.
Kagome was exhausted by the time she had finished this little trick,
and was suddenly glad she hadn't unstrapped the katana from her waist. Two
trips had to be harder then one.
Suddenly remembering the katana, she pulled it off and extracted her
scent, wanting to preserve the unshared quality this beautiful weapon had
held. She knew Hiei would have been far beyond pissed to know she had
destroyed that quality, but she had done it for another reason then
avoiding his wrath.
He had apparently gone through a lot more then she had thought. He
had lost a sister, she knew that much before, as well as that he must have
lost the rest of his family before that. He must have lived all these
years alone. No. Not lived. He had thrived. He had made himself a
record. He had joined a team to fight for the better. But she was sure
she was the only one who understood how he must feel.
That sword was the only thing that was really his...
He had lost a family that he must now think was never his. He had a
sister within his clutches who could never be his because he was afraid to
grasp her. His record showed nothing of what he had really been trying to
prove. At least, she hadn't found it. And that had not even been him
anymore when he joined the Spirit Detective on his journeys. And that
wasn't really him. Not even the minds he could control were really his,
just puppets he had borrowed for a game.
She had always felt the same way in that. Inu Yasha had never been
her own. The well had been shared with him. Her life here had been lost
when she had moved it to the side to work in the feudal era which was also
Kikyo's in a way. The shards were ether Midoriko's or Kikyo's. The only
thing that was hers was any oblivious friends she gained here, who knew
nothing of how her and Kikyo's soul was one in the same. The only thing
she had was ignorance... and yet, she was losing even that now.
It was really getting boring. Sitting in the feudal era wishing to
be there, and yet, she had only ever wished half-heartedly. She had
secretly begged the skies at night to make Inu Yasha come and drag her back
early. It had felt like home there ever since they had started traveling
with friends on the other side. Sango had been her sister. Miroku her,
even if extremely perverted, brother. Shippo was her son. And Inu
Yasha...
He was her immature boyfriend...
But it seemed all of those relationships, at least the ones she'd
seen, had failed. Inu Yasha wasn't serious enough right now. He hadn't
quite grown up. He couldn't let go of anything... but hell he couldn't
seem to grasp anything either. 'No following me, Inu Yasha!' and 'Stop
calling me wench!' and even 'I'm SO going to say the word!!!' had never
seemed to stick inside his head. He just didn't get that she was serious.
He could never see her as serious. He couldn't even see her as real. She
was the copy. The rippling and distorted reflection of his love.
Kagome couldn't stop the sadistic grin that spread to her lips.
'What did I warn you of Inu Yasha... Now you've gone and backed
yourself into a corner'. He had always thought himself strong. Thought
that that alone could keep her by his side. Thought that he would always
be the only thing standing between her and death. But he'd gone and messed
that up. Forced her to learn to fend for herself in favor of being his
puppet. She had loved him. He had screwed it up. She smiled softly. And
he could never gain that advantage again.
He was an idiot. Always had been. He was almost the exact opposite
of how she had once seen Sesshomaru. Intelligent, graceful, prideful...
cruel. Inu Yasha may boast and snarl and do some things to make himself
look like an ignorant, selfish little bastard. But she knew what he was
really like. Sure he was still selfish and ignorant... but he had never
lowered himself to hurting someone who had helped him only to help his
pride.
Though, he made it VERY obvious that he was mad at you. Ignoring
you, snarling on occasion, doing just what would bug you... She remembered
the night he had ran them after a shard till midnight because she had
accidentally sat him in front of an old village man. It wasn't HER fault
that the village man had laughed at how easily the boastful half demon
could be bested. But he had been mad at her all the same. She still knew
though that he would never hurt her purposely. The same as he'd never hurt
Sango. Miroku and Shippo he wouldn't hurt beyond a point.
So, even though he had hurt her, she decided that maybe he was going
to have to do. They would be able to work as a team, as long as the
wishful corpse didn't decide to heg-hike (sp?) with them across the lands,
she'd be perfectly fine with it. It wasn't because of her and Inu Yasha.
He could take the clay as a mate for all she cared anymore. But the bag-o-
bones and clay had gotten on her bad side one to many times. She had tried
to kill her. Tempted her to fight with all that 'unworthy copy' crap. She
had pissed Kagome off in way too many ways.
Not to mention that the little clay Barbie doll had actually said Kikyo
was the jewels rightful protector. She knew better though. She knew the
jewel closely. She had heard it's whispers in her ear. Four wispy voices
for each of the souls almost seemed to shout with joy the first time she'd
released her miko gift. She knew from then that they had only settled for
Kikyo then because she was far enough along to purify. Keada had been
there first choice at the time, but as young as she was they could not let
her get caught up with it.
Kagome was pulled out of her musing when an owl hoot made her jump.
Spinning around to try and catch a glimpse of it (she'd never seen one
before), she noticed the moon. 'Left Crescent' she continued, 'thinnest
line. The first stage of the new moon.' Another broad grin hit her lips
and she ran to her dresser. Throwing random clothing around, she finally
found what she wanted to wear and, after glancing at the sleeping (male)
demon, she ran to the bathroom to change.
Coming out a few minutes later, Kagome had changed. She had
discovered a few light silver streaks in her hair and, knowing they'd show
up in the neon lights of the party she decided to show them off. Hair
pulled into a bun, ebony and silver tendrils stuck out at different angles.
Two silver streaks framed her face, which now had a light layer of shining
silver glitter coating it.
A light lavender was her choice of eye shadow. She was pleasantly
delighted to find the silver mascara her friend had given her last year
finally worked alongside her eye color. A rosy lip gloss coated her lips.
A pair of engraved loop earrings hung down the side of her face. She knew
the words on them from heart, even though they were written in elfin. DO
NOT LOOSE YOUR SENSE OF LIFE BECAUSE OF GRIEF. LIFE IN ITSELF COMES WITH
GRIEF, AND WE MUST FIGHT FOR BOTH. Keada had told her that this had been
made in the Mage War centuries ago, where the last of the elven people died
off.
They had supposedly been fighting for a golden scepter which gave
it's wielder what they most wanted. The elves had fought to keep it, for
if they could learn to wield it, they would have the capability to fall in
love. The few who had protected the scepter had in fact fallen in love,
and when the one that the first to hold the scepter had loved died, she had
shed tears over the scepter, thanking it for giving them both the chance to
live.
The scepter had disappeared then, even though the war had gone on for
nearly a millennia. They were both accused the other of taking it, and in
the end, both the Mage and Elven people died. Leaving behind them only the
legacies of their lessons and power. The magic which lit her earrings up
at that very moment.
She was wearing a tight pair of jeans, knowing that after the
parties, the real fun would begin. She couldn't participate in those
events if she was wearing a skirt. The occasional gash across the denims
sides gave her more room to move, and also gave them a rebellious appeal.
Her glittering silver tube-top showed only in the center. Her purple-
silver (get my color scheme yet??) vest covered her shoulders and the sides
of her exposed waist. She zipped it up halfway, sure that it would fall
off afterward and she'd never find it.
Charging down stairs, she stopped briefly and considered Hiei. She
quickly wrote him a note and set it on her bed stand. Dashing out the
door, Kagome had one thought. 'Tonight's my night. Hold on Yumi HERE I
COME!!!'
~*~*~* thirty minutes later in Kags room *~*~*~*~
Hiei sat straight up. He growled softly to himself. He had been
remembering what had happened again. How his father had so graciously
given him up, and his mother doing the same, just not quite as
enthusiastically. They had both wanted him gone. That much was obvious.
And he still couldn't get over the fact that they had done it so easily.
His eyes widened as he realized he wasn't in Makai. He wasn't even
in a tree in Ningenkai. NO! He just HAD to be in the stupid girls room!
He growled louder. The events of the night before became clearer, and his
eyes widened. 'No ningen can move that fast. At least, no ordinary
ningen. The baka hasn't even achieved that'. He felt very drawn to the
girl now. She had beaten him. He wanted a rematch. And he wanted
answers. Yes... he wanted ALL of the answers. He knew now that she'd been
evading the questions that day at the shrine.
About that time is when the note on the table caught his eye. In
big, sloppy letters, ^Hiei^ was written. Flipping it open with one hand,
he read the contents.
^ I'm going to be gone for a while. I went to meet a friend of mine. And,
by the way, don't try leaving. I know that you're wounds aren't healed yet
so I took the lib^ she had scratched out the word. Hiei snorted. How
charming. The girl couldn't spell liberty, ^ I took the honor to put a
barrier around the house ^ Hiei growled when he saw the little happy face
she had drawn there ^I'll be back soon. Please don't be mad. There's some
old rice and sushi in the fridge. And, on personal death threat, don't
break ANYTHING!!!^