InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ From Beginning to End ❯ The Bogie ( Chapter 5 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

A/N: ::stares at ‘her’ new dog:: Uh...yeah, I apparently have three dogs now. She’s too smart and I’ve seen her open my jewelry box and a drawer, is that a little too weird? She’s also obsessed with Kasumi-Nazumi, my gerbil, and won’t leave her alone.

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Disclaimer: I do not own Inu Yasha.

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From Beginning to End

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--- Last Chapter ---

‘Let’s hope for both our sakes that you make it there to that bastard. Naraku...maybe this time...I’ll do more than just lead them. If I helped...maybe they...it’s about damn time I got out of this place.’

But just as a precaution, Inu Yasha would keep his wall up, keep his heart protected.

...If they did die, like all the others, he wouldn’t let himself care. He never had and he never would. That was for sure.

But...if he did get free because of these people...then maybe he could make it so that he could have friends again, but not till then.

As he drifted off, he remembered Kagome’s words, and the last thing to run through his mind was: ‘Damn, 50 years...I wonder how long that makes it since I got trapped...Shit, do they still have samurais?’

--- End of Last Chapter ---

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Chapter Five: The Bogie

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Kagome woke to being prodded awake by a clawed finger. She blinked her stormy eyes open slowly and let her clouded mind try to figure out where she was.

Kagome was sleeping on the cold, hard, stone floor of some random cave in the middle of the night. Wow...maybe her life was a little more adventurous then she’d like to think.

No, that wasn’t right. Kagome was with Miroku and Sango in a tunnel going after Naraku and it was dark because they were under ground.

But who the hell had a clawed finger?

“Hey, are you going to sleep all day?” A man grumbled in her ear.

A man...?

When the fear in the miko’s scent spiked Inu Yasha expected her to screech so he flattened his ears to his head. But, sadly, Kagome didn’t scream.

“Eep!” she squeaked as she sat up in a rush and ended up banging her head into the stone wall.

“Calm down,” he growled as he gingerly rubbed the back of her head before snatching his hand back. “Damn, you’re annoying. Come on, we need to wake up your...friends,” Inu Yasha glared through the dark at the cuddling couple.

“Is it morning already?” Kagome mumbled as she stood up shakily, one hand firmly on the back of her head where she was sure a bump would form. Memories of the last couple of days flooded back.

“Yeah, it’s getting late,” he growled, “Can you move any fucking slower?”

“Hey, watch it,” she snapped, turning on him. “There’s no reason to yell at me like that!”

“What, no one ever say ‘fuck’ around you?”

Kagome scowled at him, judging where his face would be. It was too dark and her eyes hadn’t adjusted yet. “Whatever,” she walked away and picked her way over the rough ground to her companions.

She knelt and put a small hand on Miroku’s shoulder and started to shake him gently awake.

Miroku answered her by groggily placing his hand over her rear.

Kagome, naturally, screamed in surprise and then outrage. Sango awoke to her best friend beating the crap out of her boyfriend.

“Miroku,” Sango muttered in a low, dark voice. Kagome stopped her energized kicking frenzy and took a step back. She huffed and began to make her way back to Inu Yasha to watch from a safe distance.

“Yes, my dear?” Miroku asked smoothly.

“Did you lay one of your wretched hands on sweet little Kag-.”

“I am not sweet!” Kagome snapped. Why did everyone insist on calling her innocent all the time? She faced evil bad guys and monstrous demons everyday!

“-Ome-chan’s backside?” Sango finished calmly.

Calm was a pretty good warning that Sango wasn’t in a good mood. With Sango she was either serious, laughing, cheerful, or violent.

“It was a complete accident. Not only was I not completely awake, but my hand has a mind of its own!” Miroku gave his girlfriend a charming smile even though neither of them could see through the blackness.

Kagome winced. Leaning towards Inu Yasha, she whispered, “That’s Miroku- sama’s favorite excuse.”

Inu Yasha looked down at her with a scowl. “Shouldn’t you be the one pummeling the monk?”

“Sango-chan can handle it,” was all Kagome answered.

Inu Yasha snorted. “So your friend groping you doesn’t bother you?”

“Used to,” Kagome muttered, “Then I got used to it.”

“He does it that often?” Inu Yasha looked back over towards the clean cut monk as he scrambled away from the angry looking Sango.

“It’s his hobby,” Kagome explained casually. “Groping is his talent, it’s like second nature to him. When Sango went out with him the first time, she made a deal with him. Sango-chan’s the only one he’s alowwed to grope. Which means, Miroku has it coming to him.”

“Oh. How long will this take? We should get moving if you want to get there before we fucking die of old age.”

“Hm,” Kagome hummed, “You have such a way with words.”

“Keh.”

“How far are we?” she asked quietly, watching calmly as Sango slapped Miroku on the same cheek for the second time in a few seconds.

“...Three hours if you walk like you did yesterday.”

“Oh, so sorry we can’t walk as fast as one with demon blood,” Kagome glared as her calm mood was desperately struggling to not disappear.

“I...actually meant you walk faster than a normal human,” Inu Yasha muttered while he watched in sick humor as Sango began to kick Miroku in the shins and the monk took it all without showing pain. “Keh.”

“Oh,” Kagome blinked, caught off guard. Was that a compliment? Or maybe it wasn’t...Uh... “Okay. We’ll get going as soon as-.”

“Miroku regains consciousness,” Sango finished for her friend before walking towards them smiling widely. “We should have brought a flashlight,” she grumbled randomly.

“Yeah.” Kagome shrugged, “Too late now.”

“What’s a flashlight?”

The two girls turned to stare at Inu Yasha.

...Actually, Kagome ended up staring at his chest instead of his face and Sango was looking over his head.

“What?” Inu Yasha snapped, glaring at them both. The darkness didn’t bother his eyesight.

“Uh...well, I guess,” Kagome’s eyebrow was drawn in concentration. “It’s like a lantern that you can turn on and off with out having to use fire.”

“Oh. Magic?”

“Uh...Well, it’s actually called ‘technology’ but to me any technology is dark, evil magic,” Kagome scowled. “I ended up setting my computer on fire last week when it crashed for the eight time in less than an hour.”

Sango rolled her eyes. “You could have just given it to me if you didn’t want it! I’d’ve taken it in gladly.”

“Or I,” Miroku piped up as he appeared at Inu Yasha’s elbow.

The hanyou, in turn, flinched and brought his claw slamming on top of Miroku’s head out of instinct. He wasn’t used to people being able to sneak up on him.

Oh well...guess the group would have to wait again for the monk to wake up.

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“Hey,” Kagome said as she grabbed Inu Yasha’s elbow and slowed him down behind the group. Miroku and Sango and Kirara carried on ahead of them.

“What?” Inu asked gruffly, yanking his arm out of her clasp and crossing it with his other one over his chest.

Kagome was unfazed. “How much further?”

“A few minutes,” Inu Yasha answered after sniffing the air a few times. He could smell the fresh air. As soon as they reached the end of the tunnel, they’d find another door that only he could open. Once out, they’d be in a whole different world and Ireland would be long gone.

“Oh,” Kagome’s happy, cheerful façade was shed. Inu Yasha noticed. “Can you tell me what the first obstacle will be?”

“Uh...” Inu Yasha had to physically force himself to stop thinking about why Kagome had gone from care-free to serious. “You’ll have to convince the keeper of the entrance to let you through.”

“...Is it that hard?” Kagome hesitantly asked as the two continued to climb after her friends.

“No. But you have to have patience,” Inu Yasha informed her, well aware of the fact that he didn’t have any to speak of. “He’s a real brat.”

“Hm,” Kagome hummed, already in deep thought. Finally she turned to him and asked softly, “Why do you work for Naraku?”

Inu Yasha swallowed, scowled, and then looked away. He didn’t have to answer that. He shouldn’t answer it. So why did he want to?

Maybe he didn’t want her, like the others who knew Naraku, to think of him as a bad person. Well, okay, granted he was not a good person, but he wasn’t a bad one.

“...When I was-.”

“Kagome!” Sango’s yell interrupted him.

The young miko reluctantly answered back when she saw Inu Yasha wasn’t going to answer anymore. “What, Sango-chan?”

“There seems to be a dead end,” Miroku answered.

Kagome sped up to go find her friends, leaving Inu Yasha standing behind wondering why he’d been stupid enough to almost answer the girl’s question.

Kagome stared at the seemingly solid slab of rock. Had Inu Yasha dozed off and forgotten to point out a turn to them?

“Inu-?” Kagome turned around to ask him about it, but didn’t see him in sight. Where was he? Did he...no, he didn’t, Kagome wouldn’t believe it...

But...Did Inu Yasha purposely lead them to a dead end and then leave them there? It looked like that, he was no where in sight.

Kagome felt her insides clench. She’d trusted him, they’d all welcomed him into their little group! Did the hanyou really lead them into a trap like they had thought-.

“Move,” A now familiar voice grunted as Inu Yasha pushed past her. Kagome watched dumbly as he placed a claw on the dead end.

A doorway lifted away and Inu Yasha walked through.

...

The other three stared after him.

Did he just open up solid rock...?

“Well, are you coming or not?” he snapped as the hanyou shoved his head back through. A blinding light leaked in and surrounded him, so his face was shadowed.

Kagome rolled her eyes at him, sure that he could see her clearly, and stepped forward and out the little doorway. Sango, with Kirara on her shoulder, and Miroku followed quickly after.

The miko looked around her at her new surroundings. They seemed to be in a small meadow of marsh-like qualities and sun seemed to be shining weakly down on them. It was extremely cloudy so the sun could barely push through, explaining why the group wasn’t blinded by the sudden daylight.

But what really got her was their guide. He stood just a little way off in front of them, staring off into the thick fog just a few meters away from the tunnel opening. In the tunnel, while her eyesight had been next to worthless, Kagome hadn’t really gotten a look at him...

Inu Yasha. Not bad looking. She’d called Naraku ‘not unattractive’ not too long ago. Against to Inu Yasha, the dark hanyou’s appearance had dropped some. Sure he wasn’t the best looking guy she’d ever seen...

...Kouga, their pilot, had had a more defined and chiseled face for example, but Inu Yasha was not bad looking.

Sango, unlike Miroku, seemed to catch where her line of sight was located. The taijiya sidled over to her best friend and poked the miko in the ribs while Miroku stepped forward and looked around.

“Kagome-chan,” the demon huntress hissed. “Don’t you-.”

“I’m not Sango-chan. Don’t worry,” Kagome grumbled.

Sango sighed. “Whatever. When we get back remind me to set you up on a date with one of my other friends, you need one after being locked away in your little shrine all your life.”

The two guys caught Sango’s statement, much to Kagome’s dismay.

“Set Kagome-sama up with one of your friends? You have other friends besides us?” Miroku looked hurt at the thought. Sango didn’t look too happy with him. Suddenly Miroku seemed to be struck with a ‘brilliant’ idea. “I’ll introduce her to one of my friends!”

“No!” Kagome and Sango shouted at the same time.

Miroku looked even more hurt. “What? I am just a simple monk with simple monk friends, surely their purity is good for Kagome-sama.”

‘Kagome-sama’ snorted. “Miroku-sama, I love you very dearly-.”

“Sorry, I’m taken!” Miroku winked at Sango.

“I love you dearly as a friend,” Kagome fixed her statement, “But if any of you’re friends are anything like you, then I’ll end up with 25 to life.”

“Not funny,” Sango said dryly. “Not funny, Kagome. You shouldn’t joke about this.”

Inu Yasha felt lost.

“Yeah, Kagome-sama. Don’t worry about it. We’ll be fine and the next time you go to jail, you won’t be dragged there in chains like last time.”

Yupp, now Inu Yasha felt even more lost.

“Ha, ha,” Kagome glared. “Actually...” Her face dropped her joking smile and her eyes seemed to mist over quickly by seriousness...and maybe a little fear.

Inu Yasha glanced back and forth between the three trying to figure it out.

Kagome gulped and looked off into the distance, into the same direction Inu Yasha had been staring at earlier. “I’m not worried. We won’t be hung like the court said,” Kagome whispered.

Miroku was about to say something along the lines of ‘that’s the spirit!’ but Kagome wasn’t done.

“...We get hung if we fail, right? But the only way we’re going to fail is if we can’t get out of the labyrinth or we can’t defeat Naraku...so the court won’t have a chance to hang us. We’ll already be dead.”

Kagome’s voice was calm, serene, and deadly serious. She said it so simply that it took a minute to sink in. If they failed, they’d die...

...It was simple if you thought about it.

“Wait,” Inu Yasha barked, unable to stay silent any more. “What the hell are you three babbling about?!”

Kagome jumped out of her trance and looked at the hanyou. The man who was being forced to lead them to Naraku for unknown reasons.

“Well? Fucking talk, I have a right to know if I’m stuck with you for the next-!”

“Under four weeks,” Kagome interrupted.

“What?”

Kagome shrugged and exchanged looks with her comrades. “We have under four weeks to make it through the labyrinth, confront Naraku, take back what belongs to me, and then get back out again. If we don’t make it on time...we die.”

“You die?” Inu Yasha looked at her like she was spouting nonsense.

Kagome plastered on a small, fake grin. “If we fail, no matter how, we die. If we can’t ge through the labyrinth, we probably died from a trap. If we don’t get away after confronting Naraku, he probably killed us. If we run out of time and go back, we get hung...

...So, either we get it back, or we die.”

Inu Yasha looked at the young miko.

She was young, she was pretty, she was powerful...she had so much to live for from where Inu Yasha was standing, yet...she talked about dying so easily.

And then it finally clicked in his mind.

He was going to help them. These three humans...he was going to do what he could to get them to Naraku and to get back whatever the bastard had stolen form them.

Inu Yasha was actually going to make sure they made it this time...Not only so he’d be free, but so that these three would live on.

“Keh...first, what the fuck did Naraku steal?” Inu Yasha demanded as he stalked back towards the group.

Kagome sighed and looked away, clearly not wanting to answer. Miroku and Sango felt like it was the miko’s job to tell him so they were at a stand still.

“Wait...it was that jewel you were talking about yesterday, wasn’t it?” Inu Yasha glared hard at the side of Kagome’s head.

Kagome finally seemed to give up hiding it from him. “Yeah. The jewel. Naraku took the Shikon no Tama from my protection and I have to get it back or I’ll be executed.”

Inu Yasha gave her a blank stare before he burst out into laughter. Kagome, irritated beyond belief, brought her foot down on his head.

“DON’T LAUGH! This is serious!” Kagome glared at him.

Inu Yasha’s laughter stopped and he pried himself up with a deadly glare directed toward the girl. “I know that,” he snapped. “It’s just...That damn thing’s still around? Fuck, it was there when I first got stuck in this castle!”

Kagome made a mental note to ask him about that again later. “The jewel was around when you came here? That means...” she looked at him horrified. “You’ve been stuck here for 500 years?!”

Inu Yasha scowled. “Hell no! That can’t be right! Demons, even half demons, don’t age like humans but I wouldn’t have stayed in my early twenties for 500 years.”

Kagome shook her head sadly. “You don’t understand...The jewel has only been in the world twice. Once 500 years ago with my great-great grandmother, which would explain your feudal era clothes, and then once with me. I doubt you’ve been here for only 20 years, especially if you knew Kikyou-sama 50 years ago.”

Inu Yasha thick black eyebrows scrunched down together as he scowled. 500 years? He’d been stuck doing Naraku’s dirty work for 500 years?!

‘Fuck,’ Inu Yasha thought dramatically as he glared at everything for all he was worth. ‘Damn Naraku must have been keeping me the same age since I stumbled in here...’

“Whatever, let’s just go,” he grumbled as he got back up from the ground where Kagome had put him on.

The three humans seemed a little taken aback by his sudden mood swing. He seemed to be...thinking. “Fine,” Sango finally said as she looped her hand through Miroku’s arm. She laid her head on his shoulder and the couple started off into the mist.

Inu Yasha looked back at Kagome and then the two followed into the thick fog. “The entryway for the damn maze is just up ahead.”

“What’s the keeper of the entryway?” Kagome asked as she trotted along by his side, looking up at the side of his face.

Inu Yasha let a nasty little smirk slide onto his face. “A bogie.”

“A bogie?” Sango repeated from up ahead, she looked over her shoulder as she kept walking. “Isn’t that an ugly little goblin thing?”

Kagome nodded solemnly.

Inu Yasha, however, kept smirking. “Oh yeah...he’s ugly all right. Could shatter a mirror if he looked into it,” the hanyou joked.

“I HEARD THAT!” An offended voice shouted. It sounded...young.

Inu Yasha smirked. Oh, this was always his favorite part... “I know, why the hell else would I say it? You are a stupid, lowly, beyond hideous little thing!”

“Am not!”

Kagome jumped a little when a small body walked out of the mist...she opened her mouth and then...

...squealed.

“He’s sooo cute!” she squeaked as she ran forward and gathered the tiny boy into her arms. The little fox demon just clung on as he was glomped and kissed.

Inu Yasha’s smirk turned into a heavy scowl as the miko began to coo and smother the little demon with kisses.

“Hey runt,” Inu Yasha greeted.

Shippou glared at the dog demon. “Shut up! I am not a runt!”

“Yes you are!” Kagome interrupted as she pulled the cute little thing away to get a better look at him. The little boy glared at her before Kagome kissed him on the tip of his nose, “That’s why you’re cute,” Kagome informed him.

Sango and Miroku watched from the sidelines as Shippou warmed up to the miko. In fact the little fox seemed to take an immediate liking to her...

Inu Yasha groaned.

“Bitch,” he spat, “You’re supposed to use Shippou to open the gate into the labyrinth not turn him into your new playmate.”

Kagome blinked back and forth between the kitsune cub and her guide. “Shippou-chan,” (said little boy grinned at the name) “Is the guard for the entryway?”

“Yeah. So set him down and force him to open the damn door!”

“You don’t have to force me,” Shippou chirped as he jumped down from Kagome’s arms. He waved his hands around and yelled ‘fox fire’. Blue flames flared up all around his body and the fog and mist began to disappear, leaving a huge wooden door visible.

“That would be very sweet of you,” Sango smiled down at the little fox.

“My name is Kagome,” the miko introduced herself. “That is Sango and Miroku.”

Inu Yasha glared at the kitsune as he was again picked up by Kagome.

“Nice to meet you,” the young boy chirped enthusiastically. “Normally the only people I get to talk to is Inu Yasha and the mean people he leads. I came here not long after Inu Yasha.”

The hanyou stood aside. It was true. Not long after he’d been trapped by Naraku’s ‘curse’, Shippou had found his way into the lair. Apparently the short fox demon had lost both his parents and had found the stone tunnel on accident. He used it to hide away from the people who killed his parents.

Naraku must be keeping them both young while they were in the maze so they didn’t grow up and die of old age. Shippou went into a deep sleep and only woke when there was someone to open the door to the maze for, just like Inu Yasha.

Neither of the two demons would admit it but they were pretty close. They spent some time together since the only other workers in Naraku’s labyrinth were disgusting little creatures or creatures with no warmth.

They were like brothers, but like hell Inu Yasha would let anyone know that...

“Thank you Shippou for opening the door for us,” Kagome whispered lightly as the large double doors swung open.

Suddenly, Inu Yasha smelt salt water...then he groaned.

‘Not this again...’ he mentally moaned in anguish. Why him?

“What’s wrong?” Kagome asked as she wiped away Shippou tears as the little fox demon started to cry...

Inu Yasha sighed. The little boy did this every time he opened the door. Because it meant that as soon as the door was closed, Shippou would have to go back asleep since his job was done.

“I only wake up when I have to open the door,” Shippou sniffled, clinging to Kagome. It was the first time he’d been around a woman who had acted like this. Kagome had one of those warm feelings about her...like his mother. Sure, Inu Yasha was nice to have around to talk to, but he hadn’t seen his mother in so long...

Inu Yasha sighed. “What the runt means, is that we,” here the hanyou pointed to himself and then at Shippou, “Work for Naraku. When we aren’t doing our jobs, me guiding people and Shippou opening the door, we sleep. Then we wake up when we have to do our job again.”

“Oh,” Kagome muttered as she let it sink in.

“So he’s only awake when he’s opening the door?” Miroku asked. Now that hardly seemed fair...

Sango shook her head. “Naraku’s a creep...”

Kagome kept silent as she pursed her lips, making up her mind. “Then, I guess we’ll just have to take Shippou with us so that he isn’t forced to go back asleep. Who knows, maybe he’ll be of some help to us?”

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A/N: I love Shippou! Sure, he’s a brat, but that’s aloud. He’s a good guy in his own ways.

Ask questions about anything, and please review!

Ja ne!

Fay