Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ One for the Ages ❯ Chapter Eleven: A Moment's Peace ( Chapter 11 )

One for the Ages

By Gan Xingba

Chapter Eleven: A Moment's Peace

 

Luckily for Kuwabara, Kirara was in good enough shape to help carry the wounded back to the team's camp, though the boy was still forced to carry a few passengers. Upon arrival, the conscious members of the team assessed the damage. While Kirara had made the trip back to the camp easily enough, she was far from being in fighting shape, and Kuwabara had to pull out numerous splinters that had been lodged in her side. Sango was still unconscious, but she had managed to escape the battle with the least damage, only sporting a large bruise on her abdomen. Miroku had attempted to convince the others that he should examine the rest of her body, but they new better than to listen. As for Miroku, it was a testament to his single-mindedness that he was able to focus on acting like a lecher, seeing as his foot had been sprained when he had hit the ground after Youko's kick. This martial prowess of Youko's did have one benefit, however. It left Kurama himself physically uninjured, though he was completely drained of spirit energy and still unconscious. How long it would be before he was back at full strength remained in question.

 

Inuyasha and Yusuke had so many injuries that if every cut and scrape was bandaged, they would look like a pair of mummies. Thankfully, no single injury was serious enough that it couldn't heal on its own, but with so many of them, fighting was clearly unadvisable. Kagome, one of the few who had not participated in the fight directly, had managed to reopen her wound yet again, and while it was not nearly life threatening, it was still a major hindrance. The same could not be said of Hiei. The beating that Youko had administered to him left him bruised and bleeding all over, with at least two broken ribs and a simply gigantic gash on his back that went from his left shoulder all the way down to his right hip. His body was weary enough to keep dragging him into unconsciousness, but the pain from all his injuries kept mercilessly bringing him back. It was not a sight anyone wanted to bear witness to.

 

With combined efforts from Kagome, Shippou and Kuwabara under Miroku's direction, everyone managed to get at least temporarily bandaged up. Though even with that taken care of, everyone realized that the situation was far from well. Kuwabara stood as the only fighter in the group that was uninjured, Shippou not withstanding, meaning that he would have to stand alone should Naraku decide to launch an attack. Even he realized that he may not be able to protect the others in such a situation, though no one could tell based on how he was boasting

 

“…take anything that sissy can throw at me! He can send the demons, robots, or even demon-robots, and I'll kick all their asses!” Kuwabara bragged as he continued to try and convince the others of their safety under his protection. “Because I, the great Kazuma Kuwabara, am a super awesome, extra invincible, kick-ass warrior of justice…times ten!”

 

“That's it. We're doomed,” stated Yusuke with a sigh as Kuwabara attempted to strike a dramatic pose.

 

“It doesn't matter how skilled you are, Kuwabara,” interjected Miroku, attempting to be diplomatic. “We still need a safe shelter to lick our wounds before we can set out against Naraku again. Right now, we don't have one.”

 

“Well, why don't we just go find one then?” demanded Yusuke curtly.

 

“None of us are really in the condition to go wandering around the forest except Kuwabara, and he's needed here,” Miroku explained. “Besides, we can't move until everyone is conscious.”

 

“I could go,” volunteered Shippou excitedly, eager to do anything helpful. “I'm not hurt at all.”

 

“Hey, that's a great idea, Shippou,” concurred Kagome with an encouraging smile. “Just make sure you're careful, and don't stay out there too long.”

 

“Don't worry, I'm a demon. Of course I'll be OK,” the fox demon cub replied confidently, and then bounded off into the woods.

 

With nothing left to do but wait, the conversation ended, and everyone went to their own personal business. Everyone aside from Inuyasha, anyway, who had never entered the conversation in the first place. He simply sat there, brow furrowed and eyes narrowed, and thought.

 

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For hours now, Inuyasha had been as a stone, just sitting there while the others busied themselves in the camp. Sango and Kurama had awoken earlier, only to be urged into resting more by Kagome, who seemed to have willingly taken to the role as nurse pro-tem. Hiei still traveled the fringe of unconsciousness and reality, and was unable to even eat any food with the rest of the group during dinner. Inuyasha, too, had not eaten, though he had made a conscious decision not to. His mind was far to busy reflecting on recent events for him to focus on eating. First it had been Hiei, then Kurama, and at last himself. Three members of the party had posed a threat to their comrades in as many days. It was too troubling to not think about.

 

`The same things could so easily happen again,' he thought grimly. `Youko could come back, or Hiei could lose control again, and so much more could happen, too. What if Naraku finds a way to make Miroku's Wind Tunnel too powerful to seal? What if Sango loses it and goes rogue again? What if those Spirit Detectives decide to take our jewel shards and leave?'

 

He clenched his fist and gritted his teeth. These things may have been possible, but he knew that the odds of them actually happening were next to nothing. No, the real reason for his anxiety wasn't his teammates. It was himself.

 

`Damn it, who am I kidding? If there's anyone that can't be trusted here, it's me,' he admitted to himself. `Hiei was being mind controlled, and Kurama had to get a jewel shard in him before Youko came out. All I did was drop my sword, and I nearly killed that kid. Who knows what will happen next time?'

 

He looked back towards the camp, where Kagome was rummaging through her backpack for some food. Kagome had stopped him from doing something horrible this day, as she had done on other occasions where he'd transformed. Though truthfully, she stopped him from doing horrible things ever since the first day he'd met her, and, though Inuyasha would never even admit it to himself, he was grateful for it.

 

`What if she can't stop me next time? I could kill her…' he continued to think as the girl in question noticed the look on his face and walked over to him. `No. That won't happen. I won't let it.'

 

“Something on your mind?” asked Kagome as she gingerly sat herself down beside the half demon.

 

“It's nothin',” lied Inuyasha dismissively before he noticed that Kagome had her hand resting on her wounded side. “Your wound still hurt?”

 

“A little, but it's much better than before,” replied Kagome like she was talking about a simple scratch. “Besides, yours are a lot worse. You should let me patch them up.”

 

“I told you before, I'm fine,” he said defensively, but this only made Kagome smile.

 

“OK, but if you change your mind, I have some bandages in my bag,” she relented as she stood herself up. “Goodnight, Inuyasha.”

 

“`Night, Kagome,” he responded, and then tried to find a way to get some sleep.

 

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The first thing that Hiei noticed when he finally came back into complete consciousness was that he was on the ground. This was startling realization number one. Hiei had not spent a day sleeping anywhere but in a tree since he had been forced to live in a hotel during the dark tournament. That he was not in one now was deeply troubling. The next thing he noticed, or startling realization number two, was that he was in a tremendous amount of pain. In fact, it was some of the more intense pain that he had felt in his entire life. Naturally, this was also a bad sign. Then came startling realization number three: voices. Like with the tree, Hiei never, under any circumstances, slept near other people, meaning he should not be hearing voices.

 

Startling realization number three caused Hiei to instinctively reach for his sword, which led him to startling realization number four: he couldn't find his sword. Apparently, it only takes four startling realizations for Hiei to go into panic mode, because that's precisely what he did. Ignoring the pain, the fire demon quickly pushed himself off of the ground and onto his feet, raising his spirit energy and looking wildly about the area with his Jagan Eye blazing. Needless to say, this startled everyone else that was in the camp, Kuwabara so much so that he almost choked on his breakfast. It turns out that all Hiei needed to do to avoid this sudden outburst was make a fifth startling realization: the massive wound on his back was now covered with a medical bandage that wrapped around his torso like a bandolier, and it was accompanied by several band-aids on his smaller cuts

Realizing the rashness of his actions, Hiei growled and sat down with a grimace from the pain. He remembered now. The fight with Youko, if you could call it a fight, had left him broken upon the grass and the humiliation he felt upon realizing this was great enough to quell his sudden anger. Adding to that humiliation was that he realized he was the last one to regain complete consciousness after the battle. This humiliation really served no purpose, though. It was just…humiliating.

 

“`Bout time, three-eyes,” reproached Yusuke as Hiei located his sword and moved to retrieve it. “We were about to head out without ya'.”

 

“My appreciation exceeds words,” responded Hiei with much more than a hint of sarcasm. “And just where are you planning to go?”

 

“I found a cave!” chimed in Shippou proudly.

 

“We figured that we should find a place to safely recuperate, so we sent Shippou to find us some refuge,” explained Miroku adjusting the makeshift crutch he had constructed.

 

“Hn, there is no `we',” scoffed Hiei as he attached his sword to his hip and reached for his black cloak. “You are going to a cave. I am going wherever I please.”

 

The fire demon quickly donned his cloak, and turned to walk into the woods. However, after only a few steps, he was stopped by a hand on his left shoulder. Turning his head slightly, he recognized the hand as Sango's.

 

“Just where do you think you're going in that shape?” asked the demon slayer sternly, keeping a firm grip on Hiei's shoulder. “Your wounds are too great for you to travel alone.”

 

“Woman…” started Hiei slowly with deadly seriousness. “Get your hand off of me, or I will cut it off.”

 

“If you keep acting like such a stubborn idiot, you're going to get yourself killed,” stated Sango, her grip on Hiei's shoulder unfaltering.

 

“My fate is of no concern to you,” the irate demon retorted before thumbing his katana out of it's sheathe slightly. “Now let go. Now.”

 

At last, Sango slowly removed her hand from the shoulder, apparently relenting. However, that was merely a ruse, for she abruptly moved the hand to the back of Hiei's neck, placing her fingers on several very specific points and squeezing hard. Caught completely unaware, the only movement Hiei managed was opening his eyelids wide in surprise, and then he went limp. Being as careful as possible, the demon slayer lifted Hiei in her arms and carried him over to an already transformed Kirara and placed him upon the twin-tail's back. Noticing the rather astonished stares she was receiving from her companions, she returned their gazes with a puzzled look.

 

“What? He's half dead. If we'd let him run off like this, I doubt we'd be hearing from him again,” she clarified. “Now then, are we going, or what?”

 

“Yes, let's make haste,” suggested Miroku as he hobbled over to Kirara and sat himself down behind Hiei's sleeping form. “I don't wish to be the closest person to Hiei when he wakes up.”

 

After a few more moments to gather the remainder of the supplies, the group had set out, with Shippou proudly taking up the lead. Soon, several conversations had sprung up among the group, ranging from Kagome trying to explain to Inuyasha what a shower was, to Kuwabara and Yusuke discussing whether the pile-driver or the elbow drop was a better finishing move in wrestling. Having no real interest in any conversation going on at the moment, Kurama walked silently onward next to Kirara, where Miroku was trying to find a comfortable position that was also unlikely to wake Hiei.

 

“I saw you creating another sutra last night,” spoke up Kurama after a few minutes.

 

At this, Miroku tensed slightly, but he did not say anything. What was there to say?

 

“It is understandable,” continued Kurama after a moment's pause. “I put you all in great peril, so taking a precaution like that makes perfect sense.”

 

Still, Miroku said nothing in response. He did, however stop fidgeting, and look downwards slightly. He would remain this way for the rest of the journey to the cave.

 

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For the second time that day, Hiei awoke to unfamiliar surroundings. This time, however, he had no startling realizations, and he had no confusion as to how he had ended up where he was now. Cursing whatever entity decided it would be amusing to create pressure points, he rose to a sitting position and looked around. As expected, he was in a decently sized cave, and the rest of the group scattered about it either resting or trying to pass the time. The only one missing was Sango.

 

“Awake at last, I see,” commented Kurama from his seat to Hiei's left. “Sango's little technique works far better than I had anticipated...”

 

“Kurama, think about how much you value the ability to walk before you continue,” warned Hiei with a snarl. “As for the demon slayer, she'll be lucky if that's all she loses for her insolence when I find her.”

 

“She's only looking out for your well being,” rationalized Kurama, shaking his head in amusement. “You should be grateful.”

 

“I don't care what her intentions are, it's irritating,” growled Hiei stubbornly.

 

Kurama sighed at his friend's childish display. Hiei had a lot of good qualities, but acceptance was not among them. In all his life, his Spirit Detective teammates had been the only ones he had really displayed any kind of friendship towards, and even that appeared in limited quantities. Not being a “people person” didn't even come close to describing it.

 

“You're an idiot, you know,” voiced Kurama after a few moments of silence.

 

“I'm warning you fox…” cautioned Hiei menacingly as he grabbed his sword from its place against the wall.

 

“Honestly, would it really do that much harm if you for once showed gratitude for something someone did for you?” asked Kurama unfazed by Hiei's threats.

 

“Hn,” the fire demon grunted. “I've made it clear that I don't care what happens to anyone. They should have the same sentiments about me.”

 

“Well, it's quite apparent that some people don't,” replied Kurama patiently. “Sango, for example, clearly doesn't. In fact, I suspect she…”

 

Kurama trailed off and began to stroke his chin, as if he suddenly needed to think about what he was about to say. At this, Hiei raised an eyebrow. Kurama rarely second guessed himself.

 

“You were saying?” inquired Hiei, his curiosity now roused.

 

“My point is that you should return some kindness on occasion,” concluded Kurama, diverting the conversation away from what he had almost said. “It's not as painful as you make it seem.”

 

“Hn. If that was your point, then you've just wasted your time,” scoffed the fire demon. “I do what I please.”

 

With a final sigh of exasperation, Kurama finally allowed the conversation to be abandoned. Whether Hiei would even bother to recall his advice latter was a questionable possibility at best, but he had felt the urge to say something. He had always had a knack for reading people, and it was this knack that led him to a very interesting hypothesis regarding Sango. However, he realized that it would best that he not interfere with it. If Hiei was to find it, he needed to do so on his own.

 

Meanwhile, the rest of the cave was unusually peaceful. Noticing this, Kagome looked around to see what the usual suspects were doing. Inuyasha was sleeping, Kuwabara was doing an exceptional job at cheating in a card game against Miroku and Shippou, and Yusuke was alone in a corner doing...something. Curious, Kagome rose and made her way over to the unusually silent boy. As she got closer, it began to look like Yusuke was meditating. She may not be a martial arts expert, but she knew that meditation required concentration, and she tried to back away as silently as possible.

 

“You don't need to try and be so sneaky,” voiced Yusuke without moving. “I'm not doing some stupid zen thing or anything.”

 

“Oh, well what are you doing?” she asked, a little embarrassed with her behavior.

 

“I'm trying to use a technique called the Spirit Wave to heal myself,” he explained. “But I can't get the damn thing to work right. At this rate, all I'll do is recover a little faster. Damn it! I can't believe that old hag forgot to teach me this shit.”

 

Too frustrated to continue, Yusuke broke his trance like position and leaned his back against the wall. Kagome smiled at his pose. Right now, he looked an awful lot like Inuyasha. It was only now, though that she noticed his hair. Normally, it was slicked back against his head like some kind of greasy thug, but now it was only partially so, with some of the hair sticking out in random directions.

 

“What's with your hair?” asked Kagome, trying to hold back a giggle.

 

“I…uh…” began the Spirit Detective and then turned his head away from Kagome and muttered something incoherent.

 

“What was that?” Kagome inquired with a little smile, almost positive she knew what the response would be.

 

“I…ran out of gel,” said Yusuke finally, though it was still barley loud enough for Kagome to hear.

 

By now, Kagome could no, longer keep her laughter in check, and began to giggle like the school girl she was. Yusuke, now thoroughly humiliated, began to turn just a slight shade of red.

 

“It's OK, I won't tell anyone about your dirty little secret, tough guy,” Kagome teased. “You can use some of my hair products if you want.”

 

“Can it already,” grumbled Yusuke. “Why don't you go hang out with your fuzzy-eared boyfriend?”

 

Now it was Kagome's turn to blush. Looking around to see if any of the other occupants of the cave had noticed her reaction she cleared her throat and tried desperately to regain her composure. It wasn't working that well.

 

“Don't be silly,” she responded, doing a very poor job of being dismissive. “Inuyasha isn't my boyfriend.”

 

The tables now effectively turned, Yusuke's embarrassment was now replaced with smug satisfaction. It was clear that he was going to take full advantage of this situation.

 

“Gee, that's funny,” he began with a smirk. “That's exactly what he said back in that fogged up forest.”

 

“He did?” she asked with interest, realizing to late the mistake she had just made.

 

“Ha! You wouldn't care so much if he wasn't your boyfriend,” taunted Yusuke, his smirk now fully evolved into a devilish grin.

 

“Shut up,” Kagome hissed, noticing the stares of some of the others in the cave who had noticed the commotion. “Stop being so immature.”

 

“Say,” began Yusuke in a mock whisper, still sporting the grin. “When you kiss him, does he sometimes bite your tongue with those pointy fangs?”

 

By now Kagome was as red as a tomato, and she had taken about all she could stand from the sarcastic Spirit Detective. Wishing that she could use the “sit” command on Yusuke, she took the best alternative and gave him a swift kick in the gut. Despite being caught by surprise, Yusuke quickly recovered from the retaliatory strike and burst out in uncontrollable laughter as Kagome walked away in a huff back towards her bag. Awoken by the sudden commotion, Inuyasha yawned and stretched a little before noticing Kagome's enraged expression.

 

“Somethin' wrong?” he asked sleepily.

 

“Sit, boy!”

 

With that oh so familiar purple glow, Inuyasha found his face being slammed against the cave floor, which was considerably harder than the grass and dirt he was used to. Picking his face of the floor, he couldn't help but feel confused.

 

“What'd I do?” he moaned to nobody in particular, hoping for any kind of sympathy.

 

Back in his corner, Yusuke was overcome with a fresh wave of hysterical laughter.

 

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Sango adjusted the small bag of supplies she had foraged slightly as she began to get closer to the cave that the group had made their temporary home. It was not elevated off of he ground, but it was covered by dense foliage, which at least provided them with slight protection against Naraku's scouts. As she came within sight of the vines that covered the entrance, she noticed a black clad figure sitting a short distance to the right of the entrance with its back against the mountain. Recognizing who it was almost instantly, Sango smiled and walked over.

 

“You should be inside resting,” she chided the fire demon as she approached.

 

“Hn, I can rest here,” Hiei scoffed without looking at her, and after a pause changed to a more sinister tone. “I should kill you for what you did earlier.”

 

“You won't,” Sango stated without a hint of concern and then leaned against the mountainside and looked outward nonchalantly.

 

“Don't presume to know me, woman,” Hiei snapped in response, placing a hand on his katana's sheathe as if to intimidate the demon slayer, though he still avoided looking at her.

 

“I don't need to presume to know you,” replied Sango, her gaze also staying outward. “You're not a hard guy to figure out.”

 

“Hn, you fool,” the demon snorted. “You couldn't possibly hope to understand anything about me.”

 

“Is that so?” Sango challenged, finally shifting her vision back to Hiei. “Enlighten me.”

 

Hiei stayed silent. While it was certainly a step up from death threats, it wasn't exactly what Sango would consider friendly for most people, either. For Hiei, though, it may just qualify.

 

“Fine, have it your way for now, but don't think you've gotten out of this,” she said as she turned and made for the door before suddenly stopping and pulling a large fruit out of the bag she was carrying. “Oh, and since you're probably not going to come back into the cave…”

 

Suddenly, she turned around and whipped the fruit right at Hiei's head. Without even looking in the direction of the edible projectile, Hiei just raised his right hand and caught it deftly out of the air. Smiling, Sango turned back around and walked into the cave. When she had left, Hiei eyed the fruit for a moment, and then took a bite out of it.

 

`That woman,' he thought as he spit out a seed. `She is starting to become a nuisance.'