InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Drifting ❯ Blur ( Chapter 18 )

Blur

 

“So you're looking for Kuroaki?”

 

Kagome narrowed her eyes. “He destroyed a village. Burned it to the ground. He murdered the people there. I will see him.”

 

“Those are some pretty strong accusations,” said the darkest taka Kagome had seen so far, striding into the small gathering of youkai around her. He looked her up and down. “You are not the woman I expected to see,” he said simply, with a small smirk on his face.

 

Kagome quickly drew an arrow brought her bow up. She aimed the arrow straight at his heart.

 

“I see that you bear the same grudge, however. I suppose that kit was like a son to you, wasn't he?”

 

Kagome's eyes flashed in anger. “You are a murderer, Kuroaki,” she whispered. There was murmuring from the youkai around her. She let her eyes rove around them, noting that their number had grown.

 

Kuroaki lifted a feathery eyebrow. “A murderer? I did not kill your friends. I would have thought that the other woman would have told you that.”

 

“What do you mean?” Kagome asked, bowstring still pulled taut.

 

“I simply gave the order. The one who actually killed them was Torio.”

 

Kagome eyed the youkai again. Was he telling the truth? Would she know if he were? As if in response to her wonderings a huge hawk landed in front of her and clicked his beak. The other taka instinctively backed away from him. He stretched out his massive wings and beat them as if to show off his strength. Kagome ran her eyes along his muddy brown feathers, his flexing talons, his snapping beak. Hate ran through her mind. She slowly lowered her bow, giving her arm a rest as she studied this new adversary.

 

“Does he scare you, human?”

 

Kagome glared at Kuroaki. “Your kind will never frighten me. The pure need not fear the tainted.”

 

Kuroaki shrugged and ran his hand through his feathery hair. He narrowed his eyes, growing a far off look before glancing back at Kagome. “If you want your revenge, woman, you will have to do it by our terms. You will not kill anyone on this land.”

 

“Why should I listen to you?”

 

“Because you are surrounded by over a hundred taka. Do you honestly think you could survive them all?”

 

Kagome simply raised her chin and stared at him unblinkingly.

 

Kuroaki continued. “My people will not see our land violated. If you are going to go through with this, you must go to the graveyard. Torio will face you off there.” Kagome looked at him doubtfully. Why should the taka even leave this area and follow her to the graveyard? Kuroaki seemed to read her thoughts. “He will go because he knows it is your right to get revenge. That is, if you can.”

 

Kagome looked around, seeing that this was all accepted as routine by the other taka. “Where is the graveyard?” she asked.

 

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The graveyard was barren. The ground was hardened soil, littered with bones. The word graveyard was a misnomer, however, as there weren't actually any graves. The horrifying realization of a taka's death came over Kagome slowly. They come here to die, and they die alone. She looked up at Torio. Kuroaki's parting words came back to her. `We won't know the results of the fight. Neither of you will be coming back in any event.' The hawks that came here, they never went back. They couldn't bring back the death that lingered here. They couldn't, as Kuroaki put it, “violate” their land.

 

The hypocrisy had Kagome seething. They lived in a place that they kept free of death, but they had no qualms killing others? It is sick. Death doesn't violate this land, their presence does.

 

The hawk settled down in front of her, and clicked his beak. Was it honor that brought him here or bloodlust? There was nobody else around. The takas' feelings on death were obvious to Kagome now. This battle would only be seen by them. Even if Kagome died, the hawk could never return to his homeland. Why would he still come, even knowing that? Could the beast even feel remorse?

 

She drew an arrow, strengthened her aura, and brought her bow up to face the taka. It jumped up into the air, and prepared for a dive. Kagome pulled the bowstring taut, and waited until just the right moment… Suddenly the taka's image twisted in her mind and instead of seeing a hawk descending on her it was InuYasha facing her off. Her bowstring snapped as she tried to blink the image away, and then all she could see were talons.

 

A red streak barreled into her from the side as the talons closed in around nothing. The wind was knocked out of her and she rolled off to the side, landing on top of InuYasha. She stared at him with wild eyes before he gently shoved her off of him. She stumbled to her feet, dropping the useless bow.

 

InuYasha faced the taka, ready to strike with his claws, but the taka ignored him and seemed to be waiting for Kagome to get ready to strike again. InuYasha stepped in front of her, and the taka hesitated.

 

“He won't fight you,” Kagome said, “He's only here to fight me, so I can take my revenge.” She stepped out in front of InuYasha. The taka flexed its talons once more, ready for her.

 

“But I won't fight him.” Tears gathered in Kagome's eyes. “I can't. I thought that I knew… what I was doing. But I didn't.”

 

The taka seemed to understand. He looked around, beat his wings, and took off. With a final screech he was gone.

 

A tear trailed down Kagome's cheek. He can never go home because of me…Baka no Kagome, feeling remorse for a child-killer… She turned to look at InuYasha and embraced him with such force that he stumbled. As he caught his balance Kagome buried her face into his chest, gripping his haori.

 

“You were right,” she murmured, “You were completely right.”

 

InuYasha wrapped his arms around her and held her there. Then he picked her up and carried her out of the forest of the takas.

 

 

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AN: You are getting this chapter because some mischievous women told me that it was more important than hw… maybe I can turn this in instead of my English essay.

 

Torio: Bird's Tail

Xenus:

Anyway, do you plan on making this long, or short? Just curious. . .

 

I really can't answer that…When I started I had no end in mind, and now that I do it's no less foggy to me. Not to mention the fact that I may always just change my mind on where it's going…

 

 

DarklessVasion: I stand by what I said. :p

 

Deadlyabyss12: I dunno… I kind of liked your review, lol.

 

Lavender Valentine: Aww, thanks for the great review! I rather love Sango and Miroku, slaps and all.

 

cj flutterbye: that answer your question? If not… keep reading…

 

Trunksgurl05: Ehhh, I got a little grief for that, but I hope people can still enjoy the fic…

 

AN: I do not own the rights to InuYasha