InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Dark Past ❯ Cracked Shell ( Chapter 22 )

Disclaimer: You'll never get my money from me! Never! Never, ever, ever! Wanna know why? Because I (::random person:: do not) own Inuyasha! *Face blanks* All right, who was it? Who here said “do not” when I was talking? Who. . . ? Ah, it was you! *Chases after random person while holding a completely empty piggy bank*

 

A/N: Uh. . . sorry `bout the disclaimer. I had eaten about forty airheads before and was going on a sugar spree. . . and now I'm (as always) too lazy to change it.

 

AGE:

Inuyasha: 19

Kagome: 18

Kouga: 19

Naraku: 19

Miroku: 19

Sango: 18

Kaede: 65

 

A Dark Past

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Chapter Twenty-Two: Cracked Shell

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He came face to face with her.

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A couple second passed, and nothing happened.

 

Finally, Kagome cleared her throat. “Uh. . . so-o-o-o, how-was-your-session-with-Sango?-I-know-she-told-me-you-snapped-and-left-bu t- - -”

 

Inuyasha couldn't help but tug his mouth in a half-smile. “Do you always talk so fast?”

 

“Uh- - - Well, you see- - - uh. . .” Sighing, she relaxed and mumbled, “I heard you left in the middle of your session with Sango.”

 

“Yeah; what of it?”

 

“Mind telling me what happened?”

 

Huffing, Inuyasha turned his head. “Keh, none of your business.”

 

“Please?”

 

`Come on, what are you going to lose by telling her?

 

Inuyasha wrinkled his nose. “Do you really want to know?”

 

“Of course; why would I ask if I didn't?”

 

Inuyasha resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “Just checking.”

 

Kagome looked expectantly at Inuyasha.

 

There was a pause.

 

“Well?”

 

Trying not to smirk, the hanyou turned to face Kagome. “Just checking your loyalty to the subject. If you want to know what happened, I'll tell you. . .” He drifted off and inhaled deeply before letting it out.

 

Another pause.

 

Kagome couldn't help but twitch her eyebrow. “Stop dawdling!”

 

“Okay, okay!”

 

Rolling his shoulders to loosen the tenseness, Inuyasha leaned against the wall.

 

“Are you going to tell me?!” Kagome demanded.

 

“Maybe.”

 

Her eyes narrowed. `What a stubborn- - -!'

 

“I couldn't take it.”

 

“What? What couldn't you take?”

 

Inuyasha's voice was so soft, she strained to hear. His face was unreadable, his shoulders back. His pride was definitely taking a beating. “I- I don't really know. Everything was just. . . piled up, I guess. . . it burst. I'm lucky I stopped in time.”

 

“In time for. . . what?”

 

He didn't answer - she wasn't surprised, everything had to be coaxed out of him.

 

“Inuyasha,” she tried again, “what do you mean by you `stopped in time'?”

 

His ears seemed to droop. “I almost told her of my past.”

 

Kagome smiled slightly. “Is that so bad?”

 

His expression was answer enough.

 

“Um, I, uh, hate to intrude, but if you want to vent, I'll listen. . . if you want me to.” Her cheeks flooded with color and she had no idea why.

 

“I hate him.”

 

Well, that was unexpected. “What?”

 

“I hate him.” Inuyasha's voice was cold and harsh.

 

“Who?”

 

Inuyasha's youkai butted in. `How `bout we tell her about- - -'

 

“Remember how I told you that MenouMaru and I didn't get along?” He paused and didn't even look over in her direction to see if she nodded before continuing. “Well, there's a reason.”

 

“I knew there was one- - -”

 

“I found out something from his past that he had been trying to erase. . . he was an assassin.” Not even stopping at Kagome's sharp gasp, he kept talking. “He had a girlfriend, Monique. I told her a few stories about what he used to be. . . things I dug up from the Internet. Apparently he was one of the best there was. He could kill anyone - anyone at all, even in the government - and get away with it. There were a few shady torture stories. . . that's what I told Monique about. . . I felt bad for her. . . her eyes told me to stop after my first sentence, but I continued to tell her nightmares. . .” Laughing stiffly, Inuyasha's voice grew distant. “All because of a stupid, stupid fight I had with the bastard, I ended up scarring an innocent girl. She left for her home, for America, soon after. MenouMaru tried to contact her, but when he found out what I told her, he gave up and made it his life's mission to make me pay.”

 

Looking at his nurse, Inuyasha sneered. “See? I'm a monster! I betrayed the closest thing I had to a friend and hurt someone innocent. How do you feel?!” `Go away. . . please, just go away; everything will be alright when I'm alone,' he mentally told her, hoping she would somehow hear and listen. It didn't matter if she left or not, he was used to feeling isolated; he knew how it worked. . . friendship was something he didn't know much about. “Sick?!”

 

She did feel sick. . . he actually did that? But. . . `But something in his eyes is. . . begging for something. He won't admit it, but he. . . he feels worse than I do about this.' Kagome's mind reeled with all the new information, and before she could think about what she was doing, she reached out her hand - slowly; very, very slowly - until she was stroking one of his cheeks. The fact that he didn't pull away allowed her heart and mind to know that he wasn't a `monster' at all.

 

She didn't even know she was crying until she felt the lukewarm, salty water plop onto her collar bone and started dribbling down.

 

Rolling his eyes, Inuyasha reached over and wiped her cheeks free of tears. “Stupid wench. Why are you crying?”

 

Giving a half-restrained sob, Kagome tried to laugh - only to sob again. “I'm sorry!”

 

“Keh, sorry for what?” Pulling the nurse close to himself, Inuyasha slid down the wall and sat with Kagome on his lap.

 

Her cheeks burned as she pushed her face into Inuyasha's shirt. “Inuyasha, this is sorta. . . um, inappropriate.”

 

“Not really, I have to comfort crying girls. And you're cryin', ain't ya?”

 

“. . . Yeah. . .”

 

“And you're a girl. . . right?”

 

Slapping his chest without looking up, Kagome mumbled, “Baka. . .”

 

“And proud of it!” the hanyou huffed.

 

Kagome couldn't control a small giggle that escaped her.

 

“Oi! No laughin' at me!”

 

That only made her giggle harder.

 

“I mean it, wench! Stop!”

 

Her giggle escalated to a full-blown burst of laughter.

 

“Oi! Stop it, stop it, stop it now!”

 

“Okay. . . ! Okay. . . !” Kagome managed between giggles, calming down as she sat up, pinkening as she remembered where she was, exactly.

 

“ `Bout time,” Inuyasha grumbled as he crossed his arms in a huff.

 

Biting her tongue top keep from laughing again, a sudden thought struck her. “Oh!” Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a medium-sized shell.

 

“What's that?” Inuyasha wrinkled his nose at it.

 

“My brother gave it me. He found it at the shore a few days ago when he was there with his class on a field trip.”

 

“Okay, now what is it?”

 

“Why don't you look and find out?”

 

Snorting, he remarked, “I'd rather not.”

 

Rolling her eyes, Kagome replied, “I'm showing you whether you like it or not.”

 

“Keh, fine.”

 

Tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear, Kagome held up the shell. “What does this look like?”

 

“Like a. . . shell.”

 

“Har, har, real funny. I know it looks like a shell. But if you look at it, it has a few thin cracks over the top.” Flipping the shell so that Inuyasha could view the bottom, she continued. “On the bottom, the cracks get deeper and thicker. This little thing right here is like you, Inuyasha.”

 

Cocking an eyebrow, he examined her hand and the shell. “Why?” he challenged.

 

“Because you can't see the bottom of the shell, and yet there are so many cracks and other things; but on the top, on the visible side, the cracks are so hard to see you wouldn't even notice them unless you look real close and examine it. Just like you. On first glance you look fine - cranky -”- - -That got an “Oi!” out of Inuyasha- - -“but fine. And then you look closely and you see how much damage the shell has undergone and you sit and you wonder what could be inside the scarred shell. After a while, you decide to open it, so very gently, you pry open the protective shell- - -” Kagome started to open the little cracked thing, “- - -and once you do, you see the most beautiful treasure of all, you see the shell's inner self, it's true self.” Having opened the treasure, Kagome revealed a small pearl.

 

“You see? You're like this shell in many ways.”

 

Inuyasha blinked at the small thing in Kagome's hand. “Keh, ain't that special.”

 

“You'd be surprised at how special something so seemingly-not is.”

 

“Okay, you had me and ya lost me.”

 

Sighing in exasperation, she closed up her treasure and handed it to Inuyasha. “You keep that. When you figure out what I'm talking about, then you can give it back. Deal?”

 

“Deal,” Inuyasha agreed easily.

 

Nodding, Kagome grinned. “Good, then. Now, are you done venting or is there anything else you want to tell me?”

 

“Nothing, really.”

 

`Why don't you tell her a little more? It'll help you, I'm sure.'

 

Inuyasha scowled. `I've said too much, already. No, I'm done for awhile.'

 

`Whatever you say, bozo.'

 

Kagome, noticing Inuyasha's expression change, asked, “Is something wrong?”

 

“Just telling him to shut-up,” then hanyou grumbled, not really knowing what he was saying.

 

“Who?”

 

“Huh?”

 

“Who were you telling to shut-up?”

 

“What are you talking about, wench?”

 

Resisting the urge to stomp her foot in frustration, she replied as calmly as she could, “You told me you were telling someone to shut-up when I asked you if something was wrong.”

 

Blinking, he realized who he had been talking about. “Oh, uh, no one.”

 

“Well, I know it's someone! Or else how would you tell them to shut-up?”

 

“I'm telling you it was no one!”

 

Kagome shook her head stubbornly. “It had to be someone, now who is it?”

 

“No one!”

 

“No, it's someone!”

 

“Nuh-uh, it's no one!”

 

“It's someone!”

 

“No, it's not! It's no one!”

 

“Just tell me who it is!”

 

“Fine!” Inuyasha snapped. “It's. . .” grumbling the rest so she couldn't hear, Inuyasha finished with, “Are you happy now?”

 

“Wait, who did you say it was?”

 

“You heard me!”

 

“No I didn't. Who is it?”

 

“You better not laugh. . . It's. . . It's my youkai voice.”

 

“Your. . . youkai voice?” Kagome echoed in disbelief.

 

“Yeah,” Inuyasha mumbled. “Every hanyou and youkai has one. . . mine just won't shut-up.”

 

Tugging on a lock of hair, Kagome murmured, “So what does this youkai voice do, exactly?”

 

“It annoys the hell out of me. . . and it also gives me advice when necessary. . . and it reminds me of things I don't really want to remember half the time to teach me something about youkai laws or something else that's important.”

 

“So your youkai voice is sorta like a conscience?”

 

Thinking it over a few seconds, Inuyasha slowly replied, “Yeah, it's sorta like a conscience. . . except for the fact that it won't ever shut-up.”

 

Smiling, Kagome softly murmured, “Can it get annoying?”

 

“Hell, yes!”

 

“Really now?”

 

“Yeah; hell, yeah.”

 

“Does it tell you what you're feeling?”

“Sometimes, but most of the time, it just won't shut-up.”

 

“What does it talk about?”

 

Inuyasha shrugged. “Everything.”

 

“Does it just make conversations with you?”

 

“Yeah, that's when it won't shut-up.”

 

`Will you stop calling me an `it'? It's insulting!' his youkai hissed to Inuyasha. `And stop talking about me behind my back.'

 

“Just shut-up,” Inuyasha grumbled.

 

“What?”

 

“Just telling him to shut-up.”

 

Kagome's eyes widened with excitement as she asked, “What'd he say?”

 

“To stop calling it `it', and to stop talking behind it's back. . . even thought it's right here.”

 

“What are you going to tell him?”

 

“To go to hell.”

 

“But then you'd have to go with him.”

 

“. . . Then I'll tell him to go gay and he'll no longer be a part of me. . . I hope.”

 

Kagome couldn't hold back her bursts of giggles at Inuyasha's facial expression.

 

“Oi! What did I tell you about that? No laughin' at me!”

 

“I. . . can't help. . .it.” Laughing harder at his pout, Kagome put a hand over her mouth to try and keep from laughing.

 

It didn't work.

 

“I'll teach you who's boss. . .” Inuyasha grumbled loudly.

 

He didn't think then. He worked on impulse.

 

He bent his head down and placed his mouth on Kagome's open mouth in a sweet kiss.

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*Cough* Yeah, so. . . hi?

 

Wya! *dodges angry people attacks*

 

Sorry, this was the perfect chapter ending!

 

Ja ne!