InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Every Heart ❯ Chapter 5

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Author’s Note: I just wanted to thank everyone who has taken the time to read and review my story. You have no idea how much I appreciate the feedback! I have decided to accept anonymous reviews here to encourage reviews from non-members. Please let me know what you think, good or bad!

Disclaimer: The Inuyasha concept, story, and characters are copyright Rumiko Takahashi and Viz Media. This is merely one girl’s dream of life after “The End.”



The training did not begin right away. As soon as Rin calmed down, she attached herself to Inuyasha. She quietly followed him everywhere, managing to drive him insane in the process.

“Isn’t it obvious, Inuyasha? She prefers the company of demons to humans,” Kagome explained when he came to complain.

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. “But why me? I’m not the only demon here, you know.”

Kagome gave him a dubious look. “She has a thing for silver-haired dog demons?”

With a bit of “encouragement” from Inuyasha (by the way of a slap upside the head), Shippo managed to persuade the silent Rin to join him. Kagome had brought him a new set of colored pencils, and he was quickly immersed in his latest outrageous story.

“I’m going to be an artist when I grow up!” he informed Rin happily. “Kaede and Kagome love my stories!”

Rin smiled at that, and set about drawing pictures as well. Eventually, she felt better about her new situation, and took to Shippo’s friendship with ferocity.

During this time, Kagome worked with Kaede and Miroku in the continuing quest to find the jewel’s barrier. It was mentally tiring, and the three were becoming discouraged. After several days, however, it seemed their effort was paying off. The jewel began to radiate a pure, white light, and a very shallow barrier formed just over the surface.

“Is that what I think it is?” Kagome whispered, her eyes growing wide. She squeezed Miroku’s and Kaede’s hands with excitement.

“Aye, so it appears,” Kaede confirmed.

Kagome closed her eyes, trying to concentrate all of her spiritual power on a single point. “Is the barrier growing any stronger?” she asked softly.

In response, Miroku jerked his hands away from the circle the trio formed over the jewel. “Do you feel that?” he asked, turning to look at Inuyasha.

The hanyou was sitting at attention, his hand at the hilt of his sword. He caught Miroku’s glance and nodded once. “Youki,” he confirmed.

Kagome opened her eyes, her field of vision filled with the jewel and its weak but visible barrier. Now she could feel the demonic aura swirling in the vicinity. “Maybe that’s enough for today,” she said, snatching the jewel from the floor and closing it in her fist.

“It was only a matter of time until they found us,” Inuyasha remarked. Kagome nodded her agreement, her excitement fading as she followed the movement of the youki. It seemed to flow away from them as the jewel’s light faded.

So it begins again, Kagome mused, looking down at the jewel. Who will pursue us now?

The following week, Kaede and Kagome began Rin’s defensive training. Kaede found an old short bow and restrung it, loosening the bow string so Rin could draw it back with relative ease. Kagome set up a small target against a tree on the edge of the forest, a safe distance from the village. Inuyasha was also in attendance, as Rin wouldn’t let him out of her sight for long.

Kaede demonstrated how to hold the bow, and how to nock an arrow. Rin took to these basics pretty quickly, and was soon aiming with success at the little target. Kagome strapped a quiver to the girl’s back and helped her practice drawing the arrows from it. Her attention as so attuned to her task that she didn’t notice their approaching company until it was almost too late.

“Nice shot, Rin!” she exclaimed as one of Rin’s arrows hit the center of the target. “I think you’re ready for a bit more distance.” She stood and moved towards the tree, collecting the errant arrows along the way.

Suddenly, a huge serpant youkai swooped towards her, only barely missing her arm. “Give me the jewel!” it hissed as flew back in the direction from which it came.

Kagome yelped and dove for the ground, momentarily confused. She crawled behind the target and looked back at her assailant. The snake’s tail was wrapped around a low branch of the tree, and it was swinging its body with all its might towards her. Its eyes were blood red, and its fangs were practically sizzling with venom. It made another swipe at her as it drew close.

“Oh no you don’t!” Inuyasha shouted, leaping forward with his claws outstretched. He managed to scratch its skin, but the youkai didn’t register the attack, its concentration completely on its target.

Kagome nocked one of Rin’s discarded arrows into her bow and fired it, more in desperation than anything else. The arrow flew through the air, straight and true, piercing the serpent’s head. It sliced completely through, the tip glowing white as it emerged on the other side. A web of white magic shot out of the shaft of the arrow, entangling the immediate surface of the serpent’s body and carving it into ribbons.

Inuyasha fell back from the force of the arrow’s blow, his eyes wide. “What was that?” he gasped.

“Kagome, the jewel!” Kaede called, pointing the tip of her bow.

Kagome looked down. A white light shown just below the collar of her shirt, and the jewel was red hot against her skin. She reached for it. “Yaah!” she yelped, pulling her hand away. “It’s burning me!”

“Concentrate!” Kaede called as she approached. “Ye can control the jewel’s response!”

“I certainly didn’t want it to burn me!” Kagome replied indignantly. Nevertheless, she complied with Kaede’s request, mentally chanting for the jewel to calm. Slowly but surely the burning sensation ceded.

Kagome touched the jewel, finding it still warm, then pulled her shirt open a bit, fully expecting to see a huge wound. Much to her shock, her skin was clear, only a pale red splotch where the jewel lay in direct contact. “This is too weird,” she muttered.

She looked up, only to find she wasn’t alone in her thoughts. Inuyasha was standing in front of her, looking at her with a great deal of concern. “What’s happening?” he asked, grabbing her shirt where she held it open.

“Inuyasha!” she cried.

His eyes grew wide as he watched the irritation fade. “I saw it,” he said, looking mesmerized.

“I know exactly what you saw,” Kagome replied hotly, pushing her shirt back in place. The jewel began to glow again.

Inuyasha blushed lightly. “I meant, I saw the jewel’s barrier. Look!” He grabbed the jewel and brought it right in front of her eyes. Sure enough, a pale barrier had risen from its surface.

“Whoa,” Kagome breathed.

Inuyasha dropped the jewel and shook his hand. “Damn thing burned me, too,” he grunted.

“It must be protective,” she said. She closed her eyes; a moment later, the jewel was back to its dormant state.

Kaede and Rin approached the duo. “That was some trick,” Rin commented, stringing together more words in that moment than she had for most of her tenure with the group.

“So the jewel can raise a heat barrier in its own defense,” Kaede mused. She looked back at the body of the forgotten serpent youkai, which had been reduced to little more than dust. “And it has the power of the seal as well.”

“I sealed that demon?” Kagome asked incredulously. “Wow!”

Rin tugged on her sleeve. “Do you think you could teach me that next?”

“Hm,” Miroku mused later that same day, studying Inuyasha’s burned hand with great interest. Sango leaned in next to him, the same expression of curiosity filling her face. The group sat outside of Kaede’s hut in the fading daylight. The scent of their cooking meal lingered in the air, and was of much more interest to Inuyasha than a mere flesh wound.

Inuyasha battled with his impatience as the monk and the demon-slayer examined his hand. He didn’t see what the big deal was; he’d seen and survived much worse. The skin that had made contact with the jewel was charred black, but there was nothing terribly fascinating in that. He rolled his eyes heavenward, wishing the humans would believe what they saw and find something else to stare at.

“He didn’t feel that,” Sango murmured.

That brought Inuyasha’s attention back to the group. “Hey, what’s the big idea?!” he exclaimed, trying to pull his hand away from Miroku’s as Sango brandished her eating knife millimeters from his fingers. She poked each blackened digit in succession, and sure enough, he had no sensation of pain.

“Hm,” Miroku said again. “Can you move those fingers?”

Inuyasha wriggled his fingers at the monk. “Feh! It’ll heal by tomorrow.” Inuyasha snatched his hand away and leapt up into the branches of the tree they were sitting under as Kagome emerged from Kaede’s hut.

“Dinner’s ready!” she called. Inuyasha noticed that she carried the jewel by its chain, which was twisted around her hand. Apparently Miroku noticed as well, as he lingered behind after the others went in the hut. Inuyasha looked down at them.

“Inuyasha’s hand is numb,” Miroku informed her, to which Kagome merely nodded.

“Kaede told me she was sure that my arrow sealed that demon’s youki,” she said, holding the jewel up by the chain. “The trouble is, I have no idea how I did that.”

“Sounds like something you may need to practice,” Miroku replied.

Kagome sighed. “And I can’t do that here, not without putting everyone in danger. The jewel is already attracting youkai by itself; if they knew the power it held now…” She shrugged. “As if that wasn’t bad enough, I’m afraid of wearing it, too. It did burn me, even if I have no scar to show for it.”

“It seems like it was acting in your favor,” Miroku said. “Like Tessaiga’s sheath protects the sword, maybe the jewel has absorbed enough of your spiritual power that its barrier is not only shielding the jewel, but you as well.”

Kagome appeared uncertain.

Miroku took her arm. “Don’t worry, we’ll think of something. I am going to visit Master Mushin soon, perhaps he will have an idea.”

“Maybe,” she hedged, still sounding doubtful. The pair turned back towards the hut, their gloom lingering in the air.

Inuyasha watched as they disappeared into Kaede’s dwelling before leaning back against the tree. He hated to see Kagome upset, and it was obvious this episode had jarred her. He was a bit stunned himself; it wasn’t every day that his claws couldn’t at least get an enemy’s attention. The serpent that attacked them today was more stupid than powerful, and yet it resisted until Kagome’s arrow sprouted its mysterious magic.

Inuyasha absently raised his hand to his chest, where he was once sealed by an arrow. It was not a pleasant experience, akin to dying in fact, but he didn’t remember a web of purified energy enveloping him, either. Kikyo’s arrow was sharp and tainted with hatred; the single arrow was powerful enough to penetrate not only his body, but the Sacred Tree as well. A phantom of the old pain coursed through his shoulder again. Yes, Kikyo’s power was at the tip of her arrow.

If Kikyo’s arrow possessed only a fraction of Kagome’s… abruptly, Inuyasha was glad he had changed his mind about Kagome early in their quest.

He examined his charred fingers. He’d also seen the burn mark disappear from her skin. That lent some credence to Miroku’s protection theory, but it also meant that Kagome needed some protection from the jewel. They all did, if they were ever to handle it. His eyes strayed to his haori. Spun from hair of the fire rat, it was famously fire-resistant. It was also a piece of magical armor, the only physical inheritance from his father other than his sword. Both were given to his mother to protect her.

Silently, reverently, Inuyasha sliced a strip from the belled sleeve of his left arm. Perhaps it was time that his inheritance was used to protect another important female.

After dinner, Miroku and Sango slipped away from the rest of the group. They walked in the opposite direction of Inuyasha’s tree, toward the clearing before the gates of the shrine. Both were deep in thought; Miroku puzzling over the new predicament with the jewel, while Sango’s thoughts drifted to her brother.

After much thought – and some questioning of Rin – Sango was pretty sure Sesshoumaru hadn’t killed Kohaku following the battle with Naraku. Rin didn’t seem to know his location, however, and didn’t speculate about Sesshoumaru’s knowledge. That reassured Sango, and she again put stock in her gut feeling that her brother was still alive.

“I believe the time is right to seek out your brother,” Miroku announced, cutting into Sango’s thoughts. He slipped his arm around her waist as they strolled. “Demons are reemerging in the wake of Naraku’s defeat. If Kohaku is alive, he is most likely using his skills to survive.”

“He was so timid,” Sango said. Memories flashed behind her eyes: Kohaku’s fearful questions about what kinds of demons they faced; his shaking knees when their father gave him that fateful first assignment; the look of abject despair when he realized what he had done at the Hitomi castle.

“He did terrible things while under Naraku’s command, but his heart is innocent,” Miroku replied gently, encouraging Sango to lean on him. She was so independent, but vulnerable. “He saved Rin, after all.”

“He was very protective of Rin,” Sango agreed. “How ironic that Naraku’s puppet assassin was the very same one to saved her from him.”

“Whenever Naraku relinquished control of him, Kohaku had no memory of who he was or what he’d done. Perhaps, with Naraku destroyed, the same happened again. In his struggle to survive, Kohaku would not be shy. He would use every skill he had to live.”

Sango looked up at her fiancé. In that moment, he sounded so confident, so sure of himself. He looked content. Why would he not be? she reasoned. His curse had been broken, and he was once again an ordinary human being, an especially spiritual, if lecherous, monk.

“On our way to Master Mushin’s temple, we should visit some villages, see if there’s any news of him,” Miroku continued.

“Why do you wish to join me?” Sango asked. “Without your wind tunnel, you have no weapon to protect either of us.”

Miroku faced her. “Sango, I love you,” he said, his voice tender and soft. “You gave your life for me once, and that means my life belongs to you. I would do anything for you to be as happy as I am, and if that means finding your brother, then that’s what I’ll do. If it comes to it, I’ll return your favor. I’d die for you.”

Sango’s throat closed over the lump that had formed there. “Miroku,” she whispered, tears streaming from the corners of her eyes. “I love you, too. Thank you.” She kissed him, wrapping her arms around his neck and holding him very tightly. She didn’t even mind when his hands drifted down to squeeze her bottom; somehow, it only reassured her that he was the same as ever.

After a few more kisses and caresses, he said, “Then it’s settled. We’ll set out for Master Mushin’s temple at daybreak.”