InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Genuine Desires : Unity ❯ Despondent ( Chapter 25 )

Despondent

 

 

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` . . . She was here.'

 

 

Sesshomaru stopped short behind InuYasha and allowed his eyes to run over the area. It resembled that of a place Kagome would take time to rest, and her scent was strangely faint, but he knew that it would be unmistakably strong to InuYasha.

 

 

 

“ . . . Have you found it?”

 

 

 

InuYasha nodded and wiped a shaking hand over his face. He was losing energy and weight dramatically, and the dark bags under his eyes grew with each passing day. But he was still spunky and sarcastic, and Sesshomaru knew that they still had, if not much, the time that they would need, if they hurried.

 

 

 

“I've picked it up, but it stops at the pond.” InuYasha said with frustration. “It's like she just vanished.”

 

 

“Do you pick up anything else?”

 

 

“Yeah . . . a kitsune, but the scent isn't together, which means she couldn't have taken Kagome. And from the scent, it's a female---a pup, even.”

 

 

 

Sesshomaru drew back his lips with a scowl and ran his fingers through his hair. The days were ending quicker, and he knew a little too well that the harsh weather of the forest could prove fatal to an unprepared human. InuYasha sat down on his haunches and stared into the water sadly. “I never thought . . . I'd screw up this badly.”

 

 

 

“This Sesshomaru didn't think so either.” InuYasha flinched and his ears flattened, and Sesshomaru winced. “She can't be far. If we keep searching, we'll find her in a couple of days.”

 

InuYasha's ears were still flattened, and his shoulders slumped a little. Pushing himself to his feet, with his chin lowered, he nodded and sighed. “So . . . what do you suggest we do?”

 

 

 

Sesshomaru shrugged. “We don't have the time to risk and ask the kitsune---and yet it's very likely that if it's a female, that she helped Kagome.”

 

 

 

“I say we ask the kitsune. We've nothing else to go on.”

 

 

 

“But---“

 

 

 

“I'll keep searching, even if I die. So what does it matter?”

 

 

 

Sesshomaru looked at his brother, in his quiet determination, his strength fading quickly, but his will to find her never wavering. And he finally understood why InuYasha was, and would always be, stronger than him. “We search for the kitsune then, little brother.”

 

 

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Kumi stirred the stew with shaking fingers as she peered out into blizzard. It had just started without much warning, and it was horrible. She didn't think anything out there without any shelter would survive. She tried to find Kagome, but when she followed her scent, it was like she vanished off the face of the Earth. Kumi didn't have the proper clothing to search for her any longer---she was forced to return home. Two creatures were near her home . . . a tai-youkai, and a hanyou and she had a feeling that they weren't coming to do her any good.

 

 

 

She thought about putting up a spell to hide the hut, but the tai-youkai would see through it. Then she decided to attack and give everything she had. The tai-youkai would demolish her. Than she decided she'd run and tell Kagome.

 

 

 

 

It was as if she had vanished, as if she had disappeared off the face of the earth. Her `book bag' was still wear she left it, with the bandages that she had washed before for her arm still hanging over it lazily. Her scent was still strong in the hut, her soft smile making Kumi feel at ease . . . but the hut felt oddly strange without her there anymore.

 

 

 

She ventured out into the door way, recognizing the angry glow of the tai-youkai as he ventured forward, out of the darkness of the woods with the hanyou on his back, the hanyou looking very ill and weak.

 

 

 

Kumi wanted to run, but his eyes narrowed and he bared his fangs at her, and she was frozen on the spot. But he had a strange desperation to him, and she beckoned for him to come forward, knowing in her mind this would be the last mistake she'll ever make.

 

 

 

“You've been with her,” He muttered as she hanyou fell to a slump on the floor. He pushed him close to the fire, peeling his haori off of him.

 

 

 

Kumi quickly began to boil some water. The hanyou was unresponsive, but she knew that he wasn't dead. Kagome's scent was strong on him, and she didn't doubt for a moment that this was her mate---her partner. `So . . . is this why she didn't want to talk about her home? Is the hanyou she foolishly fell in love with?'

 

 

 

The tai-youkai watched her every move she made with narrow eyes, but she understood it clearly. He was watching over his brother, but he did it with such a glower she was dropping things clumsily and tripping over her own feet.

 

 

 

Putting a hot clothe on his forehead, Kumi sighed and wiped her brow before waving her hand towards the large pot in the middle of the floor. “You can have some stew . . . if you want. I can't eat all of that by myself.”

 

 

 

The tai-youkai's nostrils flared and he looked around, eyes falling on Kagome's `book bag' before they widened slightly and finally darkened with understanding. He looked at his brother one last time, and gave a breath of relief, until one thing filtered into his mind.

 

 

“Where's the miko?”

 

 

Kumi blinked innocently and shrugged. “I know of no miko.”

 

 

Sesshomaru's lips twisted in irritation and his eyes narrow. “Do not lie to This Sesshomaru---you are covered in her scent. Now I will ask you one more time; where is Kagome?”

 

 

 

Kumi looked away quickly, checking the hanyou's temperature as the tai-youkai studied her sharply. “I have no idea what you're talking about---“

 

 

 

“I will not stand for this . . .”

 

 

 

“Do I . . . please, just don't ask me anymore, okay? Let me help you and your brother. That's all I ask.”

 

 

 

Sesshomaru sighed and looked at his brother than at her back pack again. She watched him closely, feeling a flush rise in her skin as his eyes caught the firelight and darkened mysteriously. He was as beautiful as he was dangerous, and she slowly felt herself wishing to know what lurked behind those sharp eyes.

 

 

 

She bit back her embarrassment when he caught her staring and smiled down at the hanyou. His scent was the same as Kagome's . . . the two of them mixed with the faintest scent of death. If he didn't make it till the morning . . .

 

 

 

 

Kumi reached her hand to the bag and wiggled her fingers. The tai-youkai understood what she meant and handed her the bag, watching with curiosity as she dug in the bag and pulled out a small blanket. It was covered deeply in Kagome's scent so much that the room was filled with it as soon as it was brought out of the bag. She draped it over InuYasha's form and his mumbled stopped immediately, and he gripped it tightly.

 

 

 

She smiled and pushed the bag away, putting some stew into a bowl and forcing it into the tai-youkai's hands. “Here . . . you look like you haven't had something to eat in a couple of days.”

 

 

 

The tai-youkai---Sesshomaru---snorted and tried to hand the bowl back. “Youkai do not need to eat.”

 

 

 

“True, but would you really turn down vitamins that your body can use?”

 

 

 

Sesshomaru shrugged and brought it to his lips, eating slowly, deliberately, his eyes on Kumi as she changed the clothe on InuYasha's head and sighed. “They've been through a lot, haven't they?”

 

 

 

Sesshomaru snorted. “You are accustomed to this weather, are you not?”

 

 

 

“I'm accustomed to natural blizzards . . . not those enforced.”

 

 

 

Sesshomaru didn't answer. He polished off the rest of the stew and handed her the bowl, snorting when she filled it again and handed it to him. InuYasha was beginning to rouse slowly, and it was then he realized the was massaging his chest through his undershirt.

 

 

 

“So . . . you are the few kitsunes with healing powers?”

 

 

 

“Few?” She laughed. The sound was hollow, humorous, and it made him flinched. “How about the only one left?”

 

 

 

Sesshomaru was silent for a long time. He finally replied, “Do you wish to be escorted back home?”

 

 

 

She nodded quickly, blinking back her tears rapidly. “I can't go back, even if I wanted to.”

 

 

 

 

InuYasha's eyes snapped open and he sat up, nearly knocking Kumi over as he looked around quickly. His eyes were still dulled, but he brought the covers up to his nose and sniffed them deeply for a long time before his ears flattened and he winced. “I . . . I passed out again, didn't I?”

 

 

 

“Um . . . my name is Kumi---as of two weeks ago. You're looking for Kagome, right? I . . . I think I can help you.”

 

 

 

 

“What's with the change of heart?”

 

 

 

“It's hypocritical for someone with no family to hide her from the family that's searching for her so desperately. When the storm dies down, I'll show you the last place where she was.”

 

 

 

“What you mean the last place where she was?”

 

 

 

“She---she went for a walk, and when I went to look for her, she was gone, like she vanished---“

 

 

 

Before she finished, InuYasha erupted in a long, mournful howl that broke her heart.

 

 

 

It was the howl of a mate that lost his other half.

 

 

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“This is very strange, indeed . . .”

 

 

Kumi winced as Sesshomaru's frustrations increased. The snow had covered her scent fairly well, but with no problem Kumi was able to find where it was and showed them where she must have stood . . . and where her scent ended.

 

 

InuYasha hadn't said a word since Kumi explained to her Kagome had been upset because Kumi had told her not to touch her ears, and how she had apologized to her, and somebody else about how she wasn't able to give them the reassurance they deserved when all needed was a friend. His ears had flattened, and for a minute, she thought she heart him whimper.

 

 

 

“I don't understand,” She mused out loud. “It doesn't make any sense.”

 

 

 

“Spiritual things aren't meant to make sense to us youkai and hanyou,” Sesshomaru said off handedly, looking off into the distance. “Maybe we seek the aid of another priestess?”

 

 

 

InuYasha flinched and shook his head. “No, another priestess isn't going to do anything but make it harder. What we need is a scent, a sign . . . something.”

 

 

 

Kumi dropped to her knees and felt the ground. It was nothing but cold ice, and the snow was packed so thick above it that you couldn't even feel it unless you were searching for it. She was warm, but she didn't doubt for a moment the brothers would have to return to the heat in a little bit.

 

“I'm worried, My Lord,” She said without actually looking at him. “These harsh conditions are pushing the living conditions of human---and even for the strong ones.”

 

 

Sesshomaru nodded solemnly, his gaze on the vast lands that were covered in the white snow sharp and concentrating. Kumi sighed and brushed away more of the snow when the floor underneath her began throbbing.

 

 

If she could just touch it . . .

 

 

 

`Where Kagome scent ends . . . put your hands there . . . hurry . . .'

 

 

Where the voice came from, she'll never know, but she followed it quickly, searching desperately for the spot that she was looking for. When she finally found it, she nearly smiled. It was glowing in a fading pink light, an aura, no doubt, and when she touched it, she felt her hair being blown back as her strength was taken from her so quickly it was like a lash of fire.

 

 

 

She awoke with a pitiful sob, a ragged breath as she sat up. She couldn't sense anything, and her sight wasn't clear. Everything was blurry, and the darkness of the cold dungeon she was in didn't help at all. She missed the sun, she missed the rain, she missed Shippou, and most of all, and she missed InuYasha.

 

 

 

It had taken her too long to figure out what she was missing. She always felt as if she had forgotten to do anything, and when she finally figured it out, she had hated herself. She told Kumi that she wanted to go for a walk, but by the time she got herself together, Kumi had cried herself to sleep. She doubted that was the first time that had ever happened, either.

 

 

 

She wrapped her arms around her tiny formed, wincing when she could feel her ribs through her skin. She rocked back and forth until the door opened with a terrible creak and a ray of light filtered in, lighting practically everything but her. The sudden rush of light was painful for her eyes, and she looked away when someone stepped in, allowing the door to close hardly and with such force the ground and the walls trembled when it closed.

 

 

 

She felt a hand grip her face. Someone was studying her closely, and by the ragged palms, she could tell it was a man. Youkai, no doubt, but someone was strange. She could sense the youkai within the man, but for some strange reason, something told her this man wasn't always youkai. She quickly stored the thought away in her mind as she snatched her chin away from the hand and tried to quickly stand.

 

 

 

She was struck across the face, and she gave a startled yelp, shuddering when she tasted the coppery taste of her blood in her mouth and felt it trickling down her chin. “What do you want with me?”

 

 

 

“We've been asked to keep you alive,” Someone growled coldly. “But I don't see much use in a wench like you. Miko or not, I do not sense the Shikon No Tama in you.”

 

 

 

“That's because it's gone, you baka,” She muttered, loud enough for him to hear. “And it won't come back. So tell your precious queen to shove off!”

 

 

 

She was struck again, and this time she hit the ground with such force her head began ringing.

 

 

 

“Enough!”

 

 

 

The voice was cold and clipped and sliced through the tension like a knife. The man grumbled and she felt him take a step back. She sat up, still unable to see anything as someone walked over to her and dropped a tray of food at her lap. She walked somewhere, the soft pads of her feet echoing in the room and opened a window. Kagome hissed as the rays of light stung her skin and she really began to see how bad the area actually was.

 

 

 

It had a futon in the far corner, and everywhere else was nothing but piles of dirt. She could see her legs, hands and feet smeared with dirt, and her clothes had been replaced with rags. Her heart was aching terribly, and she looked at the food on the tray with a look of disgust on her face. “If you don't eat, you won't last very long.”

 

 

 

“Is that supposed to be a bad thing?” Kagome said, kicking the away from her with a snort. She tried to summon something, anything, but as soon as she focused energy, a lash of fire ran through her veins, and she screamed as the pain didn't immediately leave her body. It felt as if it was being destroyed from the inside out, and she fell to the side, curling into a ball and trying to bite back a scream.

 

“I know where she is!”

 

 

 

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Miroku sighed as he stared off into the distance, feeling his confidence slipping away with each day that went by. Two weeks . . . InuYasha and Kagome had been gone for two weeks, and he was beginning to wonder if they'd ever come back. For InuYasha to make up with Kagome never took this long . . . that's if he survived to find her.

 

“InuYasha.”

 

 

 

InuYasha whimpered and turned his face so that the wind blew shielded him from his angry voice. He didn't want to deal with him, or anybody, not now, not ever.

 

 

 

“InuYasha, I know you're up there. It's been three days. Surely whatever happened couldn't be this bad.”

 

 

 

“Go away,” InuYasha whined. His voice was scratchy and hoarse. He felt horrible. He flattened his ears and covered them with the sleeves of his haori---but that didn't stop Miroku's voice from reaching them.

 

 

 

 

 

“InuYasha, believe it or not, but I'm worried. I'm worried about you more, actually. What happened? She won't talk . . . she won't eat . . . she looks horrible. What happened?”

 

 

 

InuYasha whimpered again, digging his claws into the bark of the tree. “I . . . I told her to . . . she said she wanted to go home, and . . .”

 

 

 

He could feel Miroku's anger. “You . . . didn't push her away, did you?”

 

 

Miroku's tone was tight . . . clipped. “I see.”

 

 

Miroku had felt more annoyed than angry, and maybe that was because he didn't understand the severity of the situation. He was caught with surprise when Sesshomaru announced he was going after him and even more surprised when Shippou announced that each and every time Sango get into an argument, he was going to use kitsune-bi on them until they make up. Miroku understood how Shippou felt---he wanted the three of them to come back home desperately.

 

 

 

His heart went out the little kitsune. Shippou had opted to sleep in the empty hut. Nobody had the stomach to go in there without Kagome there. He slept there, spent the day there, he even ate there. He was coming by the village fewer and fewer times, until one day he didn't show up at all.

 

 

 

Come to find out, he was cleaning the hut. It was sparkling clean, but his knuckles were bloody and he looked as if he was fighting a hoard of youkai rather than cleaning an abandoned hut. Shippou said Kagome's aura was attracting youkai---but maybe that was an excuse. Miroku had even drifted there a couple of times for the reassuring aura. It gave him a surge that maybe she would come back.

 

 

Sango didn't want to come out and play with the children anymore either and he didn't blame her. Yes, she still traveled and exterminated youkai and protected the village, but she was very different. Her whole demeanor was changed, and there were still those days he would come home only to find her sniffling with an extremely swollen face.

 

 

And the blizzard that caught them yesterday only made their dread worst. He didn't have to look at them to know that they were wondering if Kagome was maintaining her own. He had been worried, but he trusted InuYasha to bring her back. He loved her more than anything, and if he was shaky on telling her before this, he wouldn't hesitate after he finally brought her back home, right?

 

 

And Rin was just destroyed. She waited all morning and all night for Sesshomaru to return, sitting on the rock just outside the village gate, and coming back with slumped shoulders each and every time. Shippou even tried to cheer her up, which she called hypocritical, and she cried through the night.

 

 

 

Miroku sighed and stood up, rotating his arm and sauntering towards Kagome's hut, looking at the village, whose happy villagers seemed to be losing their humanity. They looked as if a part of them had died, and Miroku just realized how important Kagome was to everybody . . . even the creatures.

 

 

 

`The well doesn't even glow anymore,' Miroku thought with a grimace. `We sure do miss you, Kagome . . .'

 

 

 

 

The door was wide open, and Shippou was sleeping on the floor in a tight ball. Nearly twelve, Shippou was growing into a fine young man. Miroku knocked on the door and grimaced when Shippou's jade eyes fell on him. “Would you like to go hunting with Kirara and me?”

 

 

 

Shippou nodded, his lips pressed into a fine line as he pushed himself to his feet. Running his fingers through his messy hair, he tried to force a smile and looked away as Miroku frowned deeply. “Mi---“

 

 

 

“You want to talk about it?” Miroku asked, ruffling Shippou's hair in an act meant to cheer him up. Shippou managed a tight smile and shook his head, fingering the jewel between two fingers and rubbing it idly.

 

 

 

“No, I'll be fine. I'll find Kirara, and you can meet us at the gate of the village.”

 

 

 

Miroku nodded and watched as Shippou avoided his gaze and started back towards the village. He was growing more and more distant, and no matter how he tried to hide it, Kagome's absence was affecting him more than anybody. Miroku grimaced and sighed.

 

 

 

 

Maybe he'll leave the hunting up to them and comfort Sango . . .

 

 

 

 

 

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A/N

 

 

Sorry I took so long to update, and this isn't what I had originally, but I thought maybe I'd change it because I wasn't completely satisfied with what I had, so . . . Enjoy!

 

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