Chapter Three
Kurama awoke in the middle of the night, his scarlet locks tumbling
down his back. He was breathing heavily, but it had not been a nightmare
that he had had. No...It was a dream that had caused this reaction from
him.
He had never had a dream like that before.
He had been walking through the forest - searching for something.
Then he had found her. This beautiful girl that he had never seen
before. She was lying in a clearing, covered in mud. It had looked like she
had been in some sort of trouble.
He had recalled approaching her, then being shot away by some kind of
force. Then she had turned to him and...they had talked.
He couldn't recall what they had discussed, only that he had taunted
her and been amused by the growing furstration he aroused within her. But
then, for some reason or another, he had left.
Leaving her alone.
But he had not really left.
He had hidden in the forest and watched her.
Then he had woken up.
Kurama shook his head as if to clear it. His window was open allowing
a cool night breeze to caress his bare chest (drooling currently allowed!
^_^) eliciting an involuntary shiver from him. Streching a little so that
his lean muscle rippled in the moonlight (Drooling still allowed!) he
crossed his room in a few strides and closed the window. It had gotten a
bit cooler in the night.
Suuichi Minamino made as if to go back to his warm bed, but decided
against it. It would be no use. He was wise enough to know that their would
be no returning to sleep after that dream. The kitsune part of him wanted
to stay up and figure out why it had come to him.
Forcing himself to disregard the comfortable expanse of his blankets
and pillows, Kurama walked instead to his desk in the darkest corner of his
room and sat in the chair. He was positive that he had never seen the girl
before in his life. At least not in his life as Suuichi. It was possible
that he had known her as Youko...No it wasn't. Closing his emerald eyes,
the distressed young man forced himself to picture the subject of his dream
once again. Youko definately could not have known her. She was wearing
modern clothing. A uniform similar to the ones worn at his highschool, yet
not nearly as modest.
In spite of himself, he found his thoughts turning to the revealing
length of her skirt. It had definately suited her long legs...
'Snap out of it!' he yelled at himself mentally. If it was possible,
he would have supposed that he had yelled a little too loud. But he wasn't
completely sure that one could do that in their own mind. Not completely.
But it seemed that he had, for in the recesses of his mind, he felt a
presence stir. One that had been, to his relief, absent for the past few
days. That meant that his kitsune nature was reliving memories of his
freedom and past. It was usually around these times that Suuchi found
himself having strange dreams such as this.
Again the notion toyed with him that maybe...
But her clothes were modern. Youko couldn't have known her.
'Couldn't have known who?' A husky voice cooed to him. If Kurama
hadn't known who it was and where it was coming from, he would have perhaps
been startled and attempt to bat the air behind him in an effort to ward
off the intruder. As it was though, there was nothing that he could do
about it. After all, the intruder was in his mind. It was him.
In a manner of speaking.
Suuichi rolled his eyes and ran a hand through his slightly ruffled
ruby tresses. Now there really was no chance of ever sleeping again that
night.
"Done chasing memories of what used to be?" The boy asked softly, yet
aloud.
The voice in his head gave a small chuckle but did not provide more
of an answer.
A silence lapsed once again in his mind, though Kurama could feel
that all to familiar presence lurking there, impatient for something to do.
He sighed heavily, all he wanted was to sleep. He had school the next day
for kami's sake.
Another soft mocking chuckle rang through his head.
Kurama stood and pulled at his hair in aggravation. He hated nights
like this! Hated them with a passion. They were the almost the only things
that could stir him from his impassive, yet calm, ways and he found that
most frustrating.
Unwillingly his thoughts strayed to the dream again. Her tattered
clothes and unkempt appearence. As he pictured her once again he felt his
alter ego tense a little. Only for a moment though. Then the excitement
Youko was feeling washed over him, contagious to the human. His curiosity
spiked, though not all of it was his own.
'Know her?' Kurama thought, unable to help himself from asking the
question that was driving him crazy. He could almost feel Youko smirk in
response.
'I'll take that as a yes.'
There was a long pause.
'So are you going to tell me about her?' Suuichi pressed. He really
wanted to know.
He could almost feel Youko's spirits drop, like a school child who
didn't know the answer to a simple question and was being mocked by the
class for it. An image of the girl flashed in his mind once again.
'I suppose not. After all she looks like she's from modern days. If
that would be the case there's no way you could know anything about her.
Even if you do seem to recognize her.'
Youko Kurama tensed in irritation at this assumption. He was about to
make some rude comment about it when the picture flashed once again across
their mind.
'Kagome...'
**********************************
Youko watched the girl from a few yards away, hidden in some brush.
As he had deduced, without the jewel fragment, she could no longer sense
him. He was a little annoyed with himself that he had overlooked that at
first. His only excuse was that it was so damn obvious.
His molten stare followed her as she paced impatiently aroung the
clearing. It was as if she was waiting for someone. But for who?
For once Youko's restless spirit was not urging him to leave on some
journey or another. For some reason or another he was oddly grateful. And a
little confused. He could not understand his own actions. Why was he still
there, almost an hour after he had 'left', watching the strange ningen,
when she was obviously doing nothing interesting.
'I just want to see what she's waiting for.' he told himself sternly.
Somewhere deep inside of him a little voice did not agree.
The trees were silent, as was everything else in the forest. Nothing
seemed to dare break the silence that he was treasuring at the moment. It
was almost as if all of nature feared upsetting the beautiful youkai hiding
in the brush.
Hiding in the brush like some kind of human stalker.
The kitsune couldn't help but snicker inwardly at the thought. As if
he would ever do something like that!
'But isn't that what you are doing?' That doubtful voice dared to
question.
Youko chose to ignore it.
********************************************
Inuyasha sniffed the ground, looking exactly like a blood hound
searching for a fugitive. Was it...? He wasn't sure. He needed to check
again. Yes. It was. After almost a day of searching he had found Kagome's
scent.
"Oi! I've found it. She's this way!" He called triumphantly to his
companions. He could feel his chest swelling with pride. The wench owed him
this time!
"Truly Inuyasha?" Miroku questioned as he peered suspiciously at the
hanyou. The dog demon had claimed to have found Kagome's trail a few times
already that day, only to mysteriously 'lose' it or at one point stumble
upon a hermit's herb garden.
Inuyasha glared daggers at him. How dare the monk express his doubt
in him so blatantly! "Of course I'm sure!" he snarled.
Miroku caught the promise of a slow and painful death if he disagreed
in the half demon's eyes. Wisely he chose to trust his friend once again,
and merely shrugged his consent. Turning with a small jangle of his staff,
he walked over to where Sango and the transformed Kiarara awaited him.
His hand began to creep a little more south than was proper as he sat
behind the demon exterminator. The back of his hand lightly brushing over
her thigh as he reached for the other end of his staff, which he held
horizontally in front of her as a sort of safety belt.
He chuckled softly as he felt her muscles jump a little at the
unexpected, though completely innocent, touch. Sango only scowled. "Just
make sure to keep your hands to yourself monk." She snarled over her
shoulder. "Or I shall have to personally remove them for you." Miroku
feigned an involuntary gulp. He was used to such threats due to his
lecherous ways. Especially from his dear Sango.
"Ah. Lady Sango. How it pains me so to think that you believe me to
not have only the purest of intentions. Especially when it comes to one
with such beauty as yourself."
"Onegai, spare me houshi-sama. I do not care to hear your spouting of
meaningless devotions right now."
Miroku knew that it was pointless to argue. Though he honestly spoke
the truth to the young woman in front of him, she always doubted him. Not
that he blamed her. She had reasonably solid evidence on which to stand her
cases. If only she knew how much he cared for her...
Unwillingly the monk sighed as he relaxed in his posture. The noise
bought a puzzled look to Sango's face, but as she was looking forward, he
did not see it. Instead the companions travelled onward quietly, in
torturous suspense as to whether or not they would truly recover their
missing priestess.
******************************
Golden light tinted the forest as the sun's last rays spread
throughout the trees. Kagome raised her head to the sky and noting the
time, could feel the hope that she had been trying to hold onto all day
draining from her body and rushing to the ground.
'They aren't here yet.'
Kagome looked wistfully towards the darkening edges of the clearing.
Her stomach was growling its protest at not being fed all day but she
didn't want to take the chance of wandering off and getting lost again. No.
If she stayed put then there was a better chance that Inuyasha would find
her.
Then everything would be okay.
If only her rumbling bowels could agree.
Sighing heavily for probably close to the thousandth time that day,
the raven haired girl walked over to the tree that she had met that youkai
under. What did he say his name was again?
"Youko Kurama..." she murmered softly, testing the feel of the title
in her mouth. Unbeknownst to her, upon hearing the name fall from her lips,
a figure on the outer bounds of the clearing jerked its head up and stared
curiously.
Kagome began to feel slightly uncomfortable as she tried to relax
against the rough bark of the tree. It was almost as if she was being
watched. But she couldn't sense any youkai or, for that matter, any
wildlife around for quite a distance. None of them were close enough to
even catch her scent if they were standing upwind of her. Unable to endure
the nagging suspicion sitting still, the miko began to fidget and twitch
until she was incapable of sitting upon the ground and forced to stand up
once again.
It was in the process of standing that she felt it.
A small group was coming towards her.
And she knew exactly who they were.
Breaking into a run, Kagome fled the clearing, heading towards the
south. A genuine smile unlike any other that she had worn that day lit up
her face as she continued to travel, gaining speed, in the direction of the
appoaching presences.
Youko, who was STILL hiding in the brush despite the large interval
of time that had passed, was momentarily surprised at the suddenness of her
actions. For a few seconds all he could do was sit there and stare at the
ground where Kagome had once stood. But as it always happened, he shook his
entire body in attempt to ward of the shock, and returned to rational
thought.
'Go after her!' his mind screamed at him.
Well almost rational thought anyways.
With a twitch of his silver tail, he leapt to stand on his feet and
began to pursue his chase. Though he was not actually hunting her for any
reason other to see where she was going, he couldn't help but feel
excitement racing through his blood, heating it to unbearable levels. The
youkai instincts in him were screaming for him to catch her and end the
chase, but being the kitsune he was, he was enjoying himself. Besides he
knew that he shouldn't reveal himself to her if he wanted to keep watch on
her. If she knew that he was still there than she might catch onto him.
'Catch onto what?' his mind asked his spirit.
It recieved no answer.
Oh well, it hadn't really expected one either.
The miko was actually quite fast for a ningen. Youko had to actually
use some of his speed in order to keep pace with her. He could've always
lagged behind her, but for some reason or another, he wanted to watch her.
The smile on her face was enchanting, and the grace with which she ran
breathtaking. She was truly a puzzle to him.
Kurama was so caught up in watching his target that he didn't catch
the scent of the approaching creatures until he saw them. Then it took all
of his power to bring himself to a halt without causing noise that would
alert them to his presence.
When he finally managed to stop and get cover he began to curse
himself mentally. It was only due to pure habit of covering his scent that
the other demon hadn't sensed him yet. He never let his guard down like
that. What the hell was he thinking. He began to laugh at himself. He knew
exactly what he was thinking, and it was surprising even to him that he had
been beginning to lust for the human.
'Kagome..' he mouthed the word suspiciously, almost as if he thought
that by saying it he was helping to strengthen whatever spell she had put
on him. Oh yes. He would definately enjoy trying to solve this puzzle. The
shock and confusion that this girl was causing him was only making all the
more interesting..
He was ONLY pursuing her because he wanted to try to figure her out.
'Uh huh...' his mind began doubtfully.
He put a stop to that faster than he could run. Content that his mind
was no longer going to try to betray his inner nature, he returned his
atttention to the girl. And he felt the humanoid need to gasp at what he
saw.
Obviously while he was arguing with himself he had missed something
for now, instead of running, Kagome had thrown her arms around the neck of
the inu-youkai and was embracing him with her head buried in his outer
haori. Upon seeing this a foriegn emotion began to rise up in the
bystander, bringing his blood to a boil. It was urging him to hurt the one
that the girl was holding in her arms and make him pay for daring to return
the affection, however subtly that he was.
Youko Kurama had never, in all his years of lovers and lust, felt
this way before him. These strong urges were almost enough to make him more
than a little uncomfortable.
'This must be what they call jealousy...' he thought when he watched
the girl and inu seperate. It was not an emotion that he ever planned on
having again. He was partially repulsed, partially shocked, that he had
felt this.In an attempt to ignore and hide the true reason from himself as
to why he was experiencing this new emotion, he began to ask himself why.
'Don't even start that.' the annoying little voice warned.
Youko resisted the need to growl low in his throat. Having a
conscience was pretty damn annoying. Especially when there was nothing he
could do about it.
***********************************
Inuyasha raced deeper and deeper into the forest. Kagome's scent was
getting stronger. Hiding the elation that he was beginning to feel at the
prospect of finally finding the miko, he increased his speed, literally
hurtling past unsuspecting vegetation and occasional wildlife. Oddly, the
amount of wood creatures was thinning out as he approached his destination.
And it was definately getting quieter.
Those sign would have normally triggered some kind of response from
him. Normally one that said DANGER. But not now. All he could think of was
that he had finally found Kagome, not just another deadend, he had found
her.
Her scent was increasing dramatically as he continued onward. He
inhaled it deeply, basking in the warmth that it spread throughout his
body. Only Kagome had ever managed to make him feel this way, not even
Kikyo had been able to make him feel so...at peace.
Inuyasha forcefully broke through the brush and undergrowth that
hindered his movements. Kagome was coming towards him now, no doubt she
could sense his presence as well and was coming to find him. He would never
admit it to anyone, not even her, but he had been worried about her. He had
been unable to cease the thoughts that flooded his mind, all of them of the
worst possible things that could've happened to her.
Frightening and disturbing scenes had plagued him all throughout the
last night and passing day. The most disturbing thought of all however, was
the one that maybe she had purposely left him. He knew that he was cruel to
her sometimes, but he couldn't help it. He was so angry with himself for
allowing him to become emotionally attached again that he took it out on
her. And though he would only ever speak of it to his conscience, he missed
her whenever she left. He was constantly afraid that she would never return
to him.
He could run no faster, despite how he tried. Kagome was just a
little ways away. Any moment he crash through the trees and she would be
there, running towards him with that smile that always lit up her face
whenever she knew he was coming for her. Distantly he could hear Miroku
yelling for him to slow down a little.
Like hell he would. He wanted to go faster, not slower! Didn't the
monk know that they were almost there. Only a little farther and they could
put aside all their uncertainties and rejoice in their reunion. He would
not wait for that moment. He was going to rush to greet it.
"Kagome....."
Her name left his lips, a whisper on the wind. He could see her now,
her hair in wild disarray and mud and dirt clinging to her clothes. But to
Inuyasha she had never looked more beautiful. Momentarily forgetting his
tough guy act he ran happily into her open embrace, relishing the feel of
her throwing her arms around his neck and pressing her face into his chest.
He returned her display of affection, wrapping his arms around her small
waist and pulling her closer to him so that he could rest his head upon her
own.
Kagome was finally back where she belonged. She was with him.