InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Fragment of Eternity ❯ Two Thousand Words ( Chapter 12 )

Disclaimer: ::sings:: My bologna has a first name. . .

Author's Note: ^_^ Hiya! How are you all today? I'm all right. Some problems with some people (both reviewer and otherwise) and crap, but I'm doin' okay.

One: You know, I had about three people mention that the scene in the attic reminded them of certain scenes in Beauty and the Beast. I re-read it and was like: `^_^; They're right.' So, I'm sorry. . . I didn't intentionally make it out to be like that, that's just the way I saw the scene in my head.

Two: Someone asked a good question about time periods. They were mentioning that Inu and Kik's clothing didn't match up to the time period I was writing about them living in. But you see, Inu and Kik lived/worked in a shrine home. So I imagine them wearing authentic shrine clothes. (Like Grandpa does.) That, and they live(d) in a weird town. ^_~

Three: ~How long will this fic be?~

Right now, it's planned to be around 23 chapters. Something like that. It may change, though. ^_^;

Anyway- it's the chapter you've all been waiting for! A little bit of fluff for y'all. Nice weekend treat, ne?

I hope you enjoy!

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~Fragment of Eternity~

Chapter Twelve: Two Thousand Words

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"Wha- - - ?! You're going?! Already?!" Kagome gaped, open-mouthed, at Sango's bustling back. The exterminator was busily picking up her things and stuffing them into tote bags, humming softly to herself as Kag began to hyperventilate. "But you can't leave!"

"Sorry, Kagome-chan," she replied apologetically, momentarily stopping her gathering so she could turn and face at her friend. "But we've got three scheduled jobs in other districts. I promise we'll be back soon- we haven't forgotten the `chore' we said we'd finish for you."

Kag blew out her cheeks, crossing her leg's on the guestroom bed and supporting her chin with her palms. "So you're gonna leave me `n Inu-Yasha here all alone for some odd nights?"

"Don't forget about Kikyo! She's here too," the female exorcist added cheerfully, trying to hold back a laugh as her employer's expression darkened a bit. Kagome seemed to like Kikyo a little less every day. . . Sango couldn't help but find it cute. "Oh! And speaking of Kikyo, how's looking up info going?"

"Okay. . ." the girl sighed, fiddling with a lock of her hair and gazing out the window. "I haven't been able to talk to her directly, but I've gotten a bit from her journal."

"Oh? What have you learnt?"

`That she was totally obsessed with Inu-Yasha. . .' "Nothing of much importance," Kag returned slowly, un-pretzeling her legs and rolling over to stretch out on her stomach. "But I haven't read it all yet. I've still got a bit more than half to go."

"Well then, try and finish it before Miroku and I return. We can sort out the clues together." Sango smiled kindly at her depressed buddy. "Hey, Kag, it's gonna be okay. It's not like we're never gonna see each other again. . ."

"Yeah, I know," Kagome returned sadly, leaning her forehead against her arms and speaking into the comforter, muffling her voice. "But. . ."

"But. . . ?"

"But I don't want to be left alone with a *spirit* . . ." the black haired teen whispered, so soft that Sango almost missed it. "I feel. . . uncomfortable around the dead."

"I don't think that's it," the elder one chuckled, folding up a pair of black jeans and slipping them into a duffel bag. Kagome's head snapped up, her eyes narrowing indignantly in Sango's direction.

"It is!" she insisted.

The exterminator grinned gently and flopped down on the bed next to Kag. "Uh huh. Then answer me this: Do you feel this same `lack of comfort' around *Kikyo*, another one of the many dead- as you do Inu-Yasha?"

". . ." Kagome said nothing, her half-lidded eyes slightly glazed as she rested her chin on her forearms.

Sango smirked slightly. "I rest my case. You're just scared around him."

"Oh, Sango- I dunno what I'm gonna do!" the college student practically wailed, rearing up on her knees so suddenly the exorcist almost fell off the bed in surprise. "He practically bit my head off last night! I don't want to face him- let alone be left with him in this house!"

"Kag, calm down!" the elder female admonished, resting a calm hand on the teen's shoulder. "It'll be okay! I promise. Just be yourself and everything will be fine between you two."

. . .

Kagome cast a dry glance at her friend. "That has got to be the stupidest, oldest, and most cliché line in the book."

"I know. But hey- who doesn't like ancient catch phrases?" Sango joked, teasingly poking Kag's sides. "You know what they say! Oldies but goodies."

The second female let a small smile overtake her pink lips. Resting her chin against her balled up fists, she exhaled softly. "I suppose. And I guess you're right. I can't go wrong. At least, if I follow your advice. . ." she trailed off.

"That sounded almost contradictory," the exterminator laughed, zipping up her last bag and patting it in satisfaction. "There. All done. We'll be out of your hair in no time at all!"

. . .

"Um. . ."

She looked down at Kag with an inquisitive look. The younger of the two looked away, as if afraid her nervousness would show.

"You will be. . . back in my hair in the same amount of time. . . right?" Kagome asked, clenching the material of her skirt. She hated letting friends go. . . even for only a little while.

Sango chuckled softly, patting Kag on the top of the head, just as she had done her luggage. "Yeah. I promised, didn't I? Now, you be a good girl and don't make Inu-Yasha kill himself. Er- again."

!

Kag frowned up at her friend, eyes glinting with a steely tint. "That's not funny." Venom seemed to lace her voice in a protective fashion. The grin was wiped from Sango's face in an instant. The exterminator had hit a sore spot and she knew it- had known it before she had spoken. She shouldn't have needed to pry to confirm it. . .

"You're right, it's not," she agreed firmly, hanging her head slightly in remorse. "I'm sorry. . ."

. . .

"It's all right. . .

Just. . .

*Do* come back soon," the teen whispered, relaxing once more. "It won't be the same without you and Miroku here- - -"

"What about me?" the monk asked bluntly, noisily let himself into the room as he slurped down an oversized mug of hot chocolate. Sango glared dryly at him, eyeing the cocoa with a visible twitch. Her husband was infamous for his- er- sounds. It drove his wife insane.

"You're not planning on taking that with us. . . are you?" she inquired dangerously, fingers clenching subconsciously as he glanced down at his drink. He blinked and then grinned boyishly up at his spouse.

"Yep! That's why I have such a big cup!"

As Kagome glanced between the two- Miroku happily (and loudly) gulping down his liquefied chocolate and Sango looking as if she were about to rip out her ears- Kag decided that it was, in fact, the exterminator who needed to worry about someone in a car being killed. Specifically one of two driving to Kyoto, which was 5 hours away. Even MORE specifically a certain male. . .

`Course, she couldn't say she didn't feel bad for Sango.

That slurping *did* get annoying.

*

The sun was shining weakly today, dully illuminating the moist earth the storm had left behind. The grass was more like soggy carpeting, the dirt turned to mud. Rain barrels and eves were filled to the bursting point with water, and dead worms lined the roads. Puddles shimmered like glass, and clumps of waterlogged leaves were pasted to the ground in heavy groups. Kagome shivered slightly in a cool breeze, wrapping her white knit sweater a little closer to her body.

Sighing for the umpteenth time, she looked up at the hazy heavens; watching the bare branches tremble in the wind, scratching the sky.

It seemed so. . . sad out today. The weather made her feel so. . . alone.

Or maybe it was just that Sango and Miroku had just left. . .

Perhaps both.

She trudged slowly through the slippery yard, eventually coming to a stop in front of the grove of leafless cherry trees. The dead one in the middle of the grounds no longer stood out, since all the plants seemed lifeless at this time of year. The girl stood there for a while, looking up at the clouds once more; watching them pass with an artist's eye.

Hm. . .

It seemed that no matter where she rested, she would continue to feel the same about the day's weather. It was `lonely' out. Empty. Like a blank canvas.

Speaking of canvases and other things related to art. . . And school work. . .

The girl blinked as she suddenly remembered what she was carrying underneath her arms. Snapping out of her daze, she quickly flipped her watercolor paper pad open to the next fresh page, pulling an eraser out of her deep pocket. Dipping her hand into a satchel resting against her hip, she rooted around for a moment before pulling out a box of watercolor pencils. Now she was ready to finish her first painting assignment.*

. . .

Too bad she didn't know what she wanted it to be of.

Another loud sigh escaped her as she began to tap one of her pencils against the papers, eyes taking in the damp scenery around her. There had to be SOMETHING she could paint. . . Pity this wasn't just a sketching project. She was better at drawing than at painting. . .

Though it seemed that her incarnation was the opposite. . .

Mulling this over for a moment, Kagome's eyes eventually fell upon Inu-Yasha's tree. It waved in the wind, beckoning her. Calling her. Crying for her.

. . .

She began to sketch.

*

Curves of rough brown, clumps of soft green, kisses of the palest pink. Layers of sky blue, splashes of blood red, tendrils of white-silver. . .

Twin pools of molten gold.

She hadn't even realized the picture she was creating until she was done. But when her eyes fell upon her drawing, it didn't take her long to realize what she had created: a quickly sketched replica.

A replica of her infamous incarnation's painting- the one hanging in the living room.

But there were some differences. Different times made different visions, different artists. Different pictures. Different Inu-Yasha's.

In Kikyo's he had been the beginning and end of the picture, full stop. Placed in the middle with an air of confident loneliness, his bright, sharp colors greatly contrasted the pale hues around him. But in Kag's version Inu-Yasha was portrayed as a faint shadow; an illusion. . . So lightly drawn in it was as if he was only a breath of air, about to disappear forever. His haori's light red fabric slowly vanished into the pencil strokes of the tree and the blanket of blue that was the sky, his hair becoming part of the wind. Only his eyes. . . Only his amber eyes seemed real. Everything else seemed to be disappearing, leaving her alone. . .

. . . Leaving her completely alone. . .

She frowned down at the grass. Since when had the prospect of being alone frightened her so much? Not so long ago she had been ecstatic at the mere prospect of living by herself. But now. . .

Ever since seeing that rope, something about being by herself scared her to. . . well, death. As if. . . As if if she was left to her own devices, she might end up like that too. . .

She shivered involuntarily, pushing a few colored pencils behind her ears and into her low ponytail. She didn't plan on EVER committing suicide. . . Yet, at the moment, she felt that if she was ever completely forsaken, she might do something she later regretted. . .

Just as she suddenly regretted drawing this picture.

Returning her gaze to her quick sketch, Kagome lightly pressed her eraser to the tree. Watercolor paper was expensive; she didn't want to waste any by throwing this away. Maybe in another time, at another place she would have kept this picture- perhaps even considered it her best- but at the moment. . .

She shouldn't have drawn this. . .

Time to destro- - -

!

But seconds before she made her first eraser swipe, something stopped her.

Literally.

A transparent, clawed hand suddenly appeared an inch or so over her own hand, protecting the page. She instantly froze in shock, feeling so numb that she barely noticed as her eraser was tugged from her hand by an unseen force.

"Don't. . ." a soft male voice whispered into her right ear.

Inu-Yasha.

He was standing right beside her- his back all but pressed against her own, looking over her shoulder. She hadn't even noticed him- - - ! "Don't destroy it. You just need to brush up a few of the smaller details. It's not worth erasing the whole picture over."

Kagome couldn't speak, let alone breath. All she could do was slowly turn her head, staring with wide, shock-filled eyes into the calm face of the hanyou. At the moment his honey colored orbs were not on her, though- they were on her sketch; examining it with trained grace.

`Wha. . . ?' she mentally gasped, trembling slightly. `What it is he doing here. . . ? Why isn't he yelling at me for drawing him just like Kikyo did. . . ? Is he still mad about last night, or not? What's going on through his mind right now. . . ?'

And as if to answer her unasked question, he spoke:

"Hm. . . Your branches are a little too thin, and the proportion is a little off," he murmured, sweeping a hand over the right side of the picture. "See? Right here. If you add some brown there and erase just a little red, that should help."

. . .

He turned to her and cocked an eyebrow as she gaped. "Well? Don't you trust my advice?"

"Oh!" Kagome jumped, as if only just now realizing he was speaking to her. "No! Wait, I mean, yes! I mean. . . never mind." She blushed and hung her head, taking out a second eraser and the brown colored pencil. With out another word she began fixing up the sketch, acutely aware that Inu-Yasha never once moved, too deeply interested in watching her work.

The silence was too much for her.

"How do you know so much about proportion and stuff. . . ?" she whispered after a moment of hesitation, glancing into his intense eyes.

"I was an art student, too," he replied without much emotion, not looking at her as he spoke. Instead he watched her thin fingers work. "Two years ahead of Kikyo. I majored in it. I even had my own studio. It was small and falling apart, but it was mine."

Kagome nodded, vaguely recalling the mention of Inu-Yasha at a studio in Kikyo's diary. "Oh. . . Do you still have any of your old pieces?"

He shrugged, not really caring. "Somewhere, maybe. Dunno. I wasn't insanely wonderful, just your average artist. Kikyo, though. . ." He frowned thoughtfully as Kag looked away, her fingers clenching the pad of paper in her arms very tightly. `Here we go again. . .' she mentally braced herself, swallowing hard. "She had natural talent." He chuckled softly, looking down at Kagome's picture. "Just like. . . you."

. . .

?!

Kag's eyes widened as her eyes snapped up to meet his. He only stared at her; looking rather awkward as a soft magenta blush crept up the girl's cheeks, staining the back of her neck and the tips of her ears in the process. Had she really heard him right. . . ?!

"E-excuse me- - -?" the teen choked out, totally bewildered. Inu couldn't have just- - - just COMPLIMENTED her. . . Could he have?

"You're a good artist," he replied, ear flicking nonchalantly as he looked seriously into her stormy blue orbs. "What? You know it's true."

". . .

. . .

. . ."

He seemed to be become a little nervous as Kagome's silence drew out longer than usual, her eyes large and her cheeks deliciously pink. "Don't look at me like that," he demanded, his voice giving the smallest of shakes. "Just because you're a good drawer, doesn't mean you're good at anything else or. . . or whatever." He grumbled to himself, averting his eyes. Her's remained locked upon him, though, and- to his disgust- they were starting to make him feel. . . embarrassed. "I mean, you're still stupid and annoying and crap! And judging by the condition of the shrine you can't clean or anything either! I don't like you any more than I did before, Kagome- and I still want you out of MY house!"

But his harsh, stumbling words didn't anger her like they usually did. In fact, to Inu-Yasha's great surprise, she didn't frown. Nor did she glare or begin to yell at him in return. All she did. . .

Was smile.

No- not smile. She didn't smile- she positively beamed at him. There was so much happiness radiating from her body there was almost no need for a sun anymore.

Suddenly- from somewhere within his spiritual body- Inu-Yasha felt something skip a beat. It couldn't have been his heart- he literally didn't have one. Not any more. But something *did* tug at his emotions, his soul; making one, unexpected thought cross his mind:

`She's. . . very pretty. . . when she smiles. She smiles like nothing is wrong. . . like. . .right now. . .everything in the world is perfect. Hell- she makes other's feel like that. . .

Me feel like that. . .'

And that made him smile in return.

So they stood there for a while, silently regarding each other. They didn't apologize for early actions- they wouldn't have been able to express themselves correctly. They didn't mention what had happened in the attic- they already knew and didn't need to be reminded. They didn't come right out and say `Hey! I consider you a friend now' or `Maybe being with you isn't so bad'- there was no need to. They didn't need to say anything at all. Because instead of speaking with words- - -

They were speaking with their actions.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words.

A smile is worth two thousand.

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^_^ Hope you all enjoyed! Please R&R!

Ja ne!

*Ah, watercolored pencils. One of my new favorite mediums, apart from colored pencils themselves. Watercolored pencils are really easy to use, and give a great effect. You simply use them like normal colored pencils (though you might not want to color so hard with them) and then go over them with a watered down brush, just like you would when watercoloring. They're really fun to use and most people allow you to use them for painting projects. (Good thing for me, since I'm a terrible painter. I'm a pretty good drawer though.) ^_^