InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Identity Crisis ❯ Chapter Fifteen ( Chapter 15 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: ladygriddlebone 
The trap is set.
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Hentai / Drama | Type: Divergence | Uploaded On: 05.24.2009 | Updated On: 03.27.2010 | Pages: 3 | Words: 3.7K | Visits: 512 | Status: Completed
The trap is set.
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Hentai / Drama | Type: Divergence | Uploaded On: 05.24.2009 | Updated On: 03.27.2010 | Pages: 3 | Words: 3.7K | Visits: 512 | Status: Completed
Disclaimer: Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi.
Chapter Fifteen
Kagome focused all of her attention on Kagura, knowing that she had only a few seconds to fire her arrow before the wind demon noticed what she was up to, or attacked Inuyasha again. Her arms shook slightly from the strain of pulling back the string, but finally she felt that her aim was correct and let the arrow fly, flaring pink with spiritual energy as it went.
It missed, of course. By roughly a mile, she admitted rather sourly. But it had the desired effect of distracting Kagura from Inuyasha. The distraction gave him a chance to get back on his feet and make a counterattack.
The first attempt with the Wind Scar missed, and Kagura fired back almost immediately. The next shot nearly hit her, but she made no move to deflect the attack. The expression on her face, a combination of shock and frustration, was telling.
Kagura's outmatched, Kagome realized suddenly. The wind demon usually fled when the odds turned against her, whether she had accomplished her objective or not. What could be compelling her to stay?
She was about to shout her suspicions to Inuyasha when she caught the sound of something crashing through the underbrush toward them, though she could not yet make out what it was. Kagura smirked and muttered, "About time."
-----
"Kohaku…"
Any good feelings Sango may have had from the morning evaporated the moment she laid eyes on her brother. Miroku could tell without even looking at her. He knew her pain too well.
She had seemed so happy in the morning, had even smiled at him before they set off on Kirara… and now all of that was gone, evaporated in an instant at the mere sight of her brother.
It left Miroku feeling strangely angry and unsettled. He had not told her of his own suspicious feelings yet, the lingering sense of darkness and wrongness, choosing instead to enjoy what would probably be their last uninterrupted morning together. And now it seemed he would not get an opportunity. He could only hope that it would amount to nothing.
This was more important than his baseless feelings of taint, anyway. He had a feeling he knew what Kohaku was after. Naraku would never let one of his jewel shards fall into their hands so easily. He would have planned for the demon's demise and their retrieval of the shard even if he thought it unlikely. Miroku narrowed his eyes suspiciously.
For a long time the boy said nothing. He seemed content simply to stare down his opponents.
If he was happy with the staring contest, Sango was not.
"Kohaku," she said again, cautiously, as she stepped forward to stand next to Miroku. "What are you doing here?" With each word, it sounded as if a knife were tearing through her heart; Kohaku gave no sign of hearing her words at all, much less of recognizing her.
Sango repeated his name and stepped closer to the boy, and away from Miroku; it was all he could do not to reach out from her. He yearned to hold her back, knowing that this would only cause her pain, but knew it would hurt her more to be kept away from her brother. All Miroku could do was let her go, and hope to heal the hurt later.
Suddenly Kohaku looked up, his eyes as empty as ever, and asked, "Who are you?"
He had looked wrong, almost boneless or puppet-like, before. Now he snapped to attention as if suddenly coming to life, and looked ready to bolt at any moment. Sango made an anguished sound at her brother's apparent failure to recognize her, and Miroku knew that it would be his job to stop the boy if Kohaku should try anything.
He sincerely hoped that the encounter would not come to that. Not only did he have no wish to fight with Kohaku, but he knew that he would be unable to do much in his current condition.
"You have something of mine," the boy said, in a voice not his own. It may have been Kohaku's voice that spoke, but the words belonged to Naraku.
"I won't let you take that shard," Sango snarled. "And I'm not about to let you escape again!" Her grip tightened on Hiraikotsu's strap, though Miroku could not tell if she was planning to throw it, or use it as a shield.
An enormous blast of energy shot past just behind them, barely missing Kirara and Sango's stored pack, and tossing aside trees and vegetation as it passed. The Wind Scar… Miroku thought, absently, realizing that they must not be far from their friends. But if Inuyasha was already fighting something, he would not be able to help with Kohaku.
Kohaku took the opportunity provided by the temporary distraction and attacked Sango, lashing out with his chain scythe. She blocked it with Hiraikotsu, then tossed the large bone aside and drew her sword; the blade was far more battered than Miroku remembered, as if she had not been taking care of it lately.
She charged at Kohaku with a wordless shout of rage, knocking aside the chain scythe when he threw it at her, and deliberately tangling her sword in the chain so as to pull it out of his grip. For his part, Miroku hung back, knowing that the best way to help was to stay out of Sango's way until he found a good chance to intervene. He had to trust that she knew better how to deal with her brother than he did.
Kohaku scrambled, retrieving the the chain scythe and pulling hard on the chain. It had looped around Sango's arm, and the pull not only yanked the sword from her hand, but threw her to the ground. She hit the ground hard, tangled in the chain, and Miroku ran to her side to assist her.
"Don't worry about me," she hissed, "Make sure he doesn't get away!"
Miroku did not point out that he was nowhere near fast enough to catch the boy. From somewhere behind them, Kirara snarled.
She was standing in Kohaku's way, blocking his path to Sango's pack, where the jewel shard was hidden, but the effort was half-hearted. Like Sango, she had no desire to harm Kohaku. He slipped past her with little effort and plucked the shard from Sango's back before taking off toward the village, following the path cleared by the Wind Scar moments before.
"Kohaku!" Sango grabbed Hiraikotsu and ran after her brother without a second thought. Miroku and Kirara could only follow in her wake. Both were afraid of what might happen if Sango should catch her brother, and what would happen if she did not. Nothing good could come of this, of that Miroku was certain.
What is Naraku up to?
Whatever it was, he obviously wanted their group split up. Miroku counted it as a blessing that Kohaku had gone in the direction where they would most likely find Inuyasha and Kagome.
After following the path left by the Wind Scar, they came to a clearing that had apparently also been cleared recently by the same means. Inuyasha was there, facing down Kagura. And he looked none too pleased.
"What the fuck are you babbling about, bitch?"
As Kohaku slipped past the snarling hanyou, who barely missed grabbing him as he passed, Kagura drifted slowly to the ground. "Time to go," she said, boredly, drawing a feather from her hair. To Miroku's eyes, the display seemed somehow more fake than usual, as if her heart wasn't in it at all.
Odd…
The enchanted feather grew large enough to carry both Kagura and Kohaku, and they floated up and out of reach before their opponents had time to react.
Inuyasha swore.
As Kagura's feather drifted higher and higher into the air, Sango's fury grew. Miroku watched distantly, suddenly feeling overwhelmed by pain and nausea, probably from exerting himself too much, too quickly.
He heard Sango shout, "I'm not letting them get away. Kirara!"
The cat responded immediately, and they took off into the air after Kagura and Kohaku.
Miroku yearned to accompany them, to protect Sango from the pain of confronting her brother, but he knew he would have to let someone else go in his stead. He simply was not up to the task. He needed to sleep…
Dizzily, he realized that Sango and Kirara were already gone, and Kagome was demanding that Inuyasha go after them. He did not know where Kagome had come from, but he was glad she had appeared and was taking charge of the situation. Inuyasha was a good choice; the hanyou had saved Sango from herself in the past, and would not hesitate to do so again.
His vision swam as the hanyou disappeared into the forest, and he staggered once before leaning heavily on his staff for support. He was suddenly aware of the way the metal burned in his grip, as if previously dormant darkness were bubbling up inside of him.
This was not good.
He wanted to tell Inuyasha to go after Sango, forgetting that the hanyou was already gone; he wanted to warn Kagome that something was very wrong, but found he could not move.
The forest faded around him, darkening more and more as his consciousness was pushed aside to make way for something else.
Possession.
He'd been a fool to ignore the warning signs.
This was… not good…
-----
It took Kagome half a second to decide what had to be done. "Inuyasha, go after Sango," she ordered. "Shippo and I can look after Miroku until you get back." When the hanyou looked about to protest, she added, "There's no telling what Sango will do if she catches up to Kagura and Kohaku. And with Kagura controlling the wind… I'm not sure she stands a chance against them in battle…"
"Keh, I'm on it. But you had better not get in any more trouble while I'm gone, you hear me?"
She smiled, and knew that Inuyasha would take care of Sango. "Go on. I'll have Miroku and Shippo with me. We'll be fine," she promised.
As Inuyasha raced after Sango, Kagome turned to the rest of her companions. Miroku was still standing, but just barely; Shippo was watching the monk, his expression a mix of worry and fear; the woman from the village was nowhere to be seen, though Kagome guessed she was still hiding in the bushes.
She would have to see to her friends, and then see if there was anything she and Shippo could do to help the villagers. It seemed a suddenly daunting task.
"Wh – What's wrong with him, Kagome?" Shippo asked.
"It's okay, Shippo," she soothed. She was beside Miroku in an instant, urging him to sit down and feeling for a fever. His forehead was hot, very hot, and he looked like he had been through quite a fight recently. "Can you bring me my backpack?"
"Sure thing!" Glad to have something useful to do, Shippo ran off to fetch her bag from where she had dropped it in the bushes.
Miroku squeezed his eyes shut and groaned. When he opened them, his eyes looked dull and lifeless. Kagome felt helpless. He looked beat up, not seriously injured, but he definitely had a high fever.
Maybe he was just sick. She wished that she had gotten the chance to ask Sango what had happened before getting split up again, and could only hope that Sango and Inuyasha would return soon.
Shippo returned with her bag a few minutes later. She was about to ask Shippo to dig out her first aid kit when she remembered something that her mother had given her: the box of condoms. Blushing furiously, she took the bag from Shippo and found the first aid kit herself.
She had always been reluctant to give too many modern things to her friends, and that included medicines. They saw her medicines as magical cures, and it did not seem like a good idea to rely on them too much. But if there was ever a time to use her modern medicines, this was it.
"Are you getting sick, too, Kagome?"
He must have noticed her blushing and, along with the sweat from the recent battle and the stress of taking care of Miroku and the villagers, mistaken it for the flush of fever. "No, Shippo, I'm fine," she protested uneasily. She pushed her embarrassment aside, knowing she would have plenty of time to dwell on that - at length - later. "Hey Shippo, what happened to that village woman that was with us?"
"She was still in the bush when I went to get your bag…"
"Well go see if she's feeling strong enough to come out here so I can see to her wounds," she ordered. She needed to give Shippo something to do so he wouldn't hover near her and drive her crazy while she was trying to see to Miroku.
With Shippo out of the way for the moment, she fashioned a makeshift pillow out of her sleeping bag and urged the monk to lie against it. She would have liked to put him to bed and let him rest at least until their friends returned, but with the village in ruin that did not seem to be an option.
But since she had time on her hands, she explained the thermometer's purpose to Miroku, even though he did not seem to care, and set about taking his temperature and scanning the labels of the medicine bottles her mother had packed, looking for anything that might help with a high fever.
She had a bottle of painkillers that she had used occasionally when helping to treat her friends' more serious wounds, but realized with chagrin that it had never really occurred to her that she, or her companions, might get sick.
She took the thermometer from Miroku, but it only served to confirm her fears. Frowning, she wished there was more she could do for him. Kaede would know what to do, but Kaede was days away. Her mother would know, too, but she was even further away than Kaede. She wondered if this village had a healer, or if anybody else had even survived Kagura's attack.
It was a while before Shippo returned, even though he had not gone far, but when he finally emerged from the bushes he was leading the village woman. Her tentative steps explained what had taken so long. Kagome knew she must be feeling confused and terrified in addition to her injuries, after being so suddenly swept up by Inuyasha, carried so swiftly, and then dumped into the bushes, all with no explanation of what was going on. If she had not known him so well, Kagome would have been scared as well.
Smiling, she said, "You're still bleeding. Let's get some bandages on that wound of yours, okay?"
The woman nodded nervously. But as she bent to retrieve her first aid kit… Kagome felt a hand slip up her skirt and plant itself firmly on her butt. Her eyes widened and she whirled around in shock, only barely managing not to slap the culprit, on account of his illness. "Miroku! What are you doing?"
-----
Sango became aware, gradually, that Inuyasha was trailing them. Kagome must have sent him…
"You'd better not do anything stupid when we catch up to them, you got that, Sango?" he shouted, as if to alert her to his presence. Or to warn her that she was being watched.
If I try to end this again, will you stop me again, Inuyasha? she wondered darkly. But instead of asking him that question, she simply nodded. Most of her attention was still focused forward, anyway. "Faster," she urged Kirara.
Thus far, they had been able to keep up with Kagura, but she doubted they would be able to keep pace much longer. She had to do something soon, or they would get away. Taking careful aim, and trying to account for Kagura's manipulation of the wind as best as she could, Sango hurled Hiraikotsu at them. She only hoped that Kagura would misjudge her target and assist her throw.
But instead of attacking, Kagura took evasive action and simply dodged out of the way.
"Please," she sneered. "You think you can stop me like that? I'm the wind. You can't use it against me!"
Sango caught Hiraikotsu easily on the return. She did not wait for a clear opportunity, but turned the momentum around and threw again. She made no pretenses this time, aiming directly for Kagura.
She knew she had let anger get the better of her, and that Kagura would dodge again and would most likely use her own weapon against her, but she could not help herself.
Kagura dodged again, sweeping low toward the tops of the trees; Kohaku leapt from the feather and disappeared into the trees, taking the jewel shard with him. Kagura waved her fan and tossed Hiraikotsu back, not at Sango, but at Kirara.
It struck, hard.
Sango grabbed for her weapon, but it slipped through her fingers.
Kirara howled in pain and shrank, returning to her small form.
And then they were falling out of the air.
Sango had never been afraid of heights, or falling, and did not even think to cry out at the suddenness of it. Or the knowledge that if she hit the ground she'd be dead or seriously injured.
But before she even reached the treetops, her fall was arrested and she found herself coming to the ground much more gently than expected. Inuyasha had leaped high in the air, springing up to catch her and Kirara before they could fall and be injured. Inuyasha… I guess it's a good thing that Kagome sent you with me, after all…
When they were safely on the ground, Inuyasha drew his sword and turned to Kagura. "Try that again and I'll kill you."
"It's too late," Kagura said, grinning in spite of the very real possibility that Inuyasha would carry out his threat. "Even if you kill me, it's too late. The seed of darkness has already taken root. You were fools to leave your friends alone."
"What did you do to Kagome, bitch?"
Kagura's grin shifted into a smirk. "Go find out, dog-boy. There's nothing you can do now anyway."
Inuyasha swore.
"Let's go," Sango said dully. "Kohaku's long gone. We can't waste more time here."
They delayed only long enough to retrieve Hiraikotsu. Sango let Inuyasha carry her on his back, even knowing he offered just as much to ensure that she stayed out of trouble as to give Kirara a break.
"You shouldn't feel bad about this," Inuyasha grumbled.
"I… I wasn't feeling bad about this." I wasn't feeling anything at all…
"You're a bad liar, Sango, you know that?" She stiffened as he continued, "I don't want you and Miroku running off like this again, got it?"
Scolding me now, of all times…?
"I'm sorry, Inuyasha."
"Don't be sorry, just don't do it again."
"I promise."
"Good. You better mean that."
They ran the rest of the way in silence. Sango was not sure what he was thinking, but she doubted it was good. She was startled by how easily he had accepted that she had "run off" with Miroku, and also that he had merely ordered her not to do it again, rather than yelling at her at length, or insulting her.
She wondered if perhaps Kagome was having a good influence on him, after all. When she first joined their group, Inuyasha would never have reacted the way he just did.
She did not quite realize they had arrived until she felt the rumble of Inuyasha's growl. Looking up at the angry sound, she knew immediately what the cause was, and felt her own heart seem to stop in response.
Miroku had pulled Kagome into a very intimate looking embrace, while Shippo and a village woman looked on in surprise and horror. For a long, awful moment, Sango had no idea what to make of the scene. Something seemed wrong about it. It wasn't like Miroku at all to behave that way toward Kagome; he knew she was off-limits, and he respected her as a friend and companion. So, why? Why would he do something like that?
Sango's heart pounded as she watched Kagome squirm and shove herself away from the monk as hard as she could. She stumbled away, a horrified look on her face. Miroku looked up then, as if finally aware of the intrusion.
Sango froze. His eyes were wrong. They were darker than normal, opaque, almost glossed over. It was like looking at a stranger.
Inuyasha summed it all up, in his typical fashion, with one angry shout that neatly missed the point. "Miroku, you filthy pervert, what the fuck do you think you're doing?"
Chapter Fifteen
Kagome focused all of her attention on Kagura, knowing that she had only a few seconds to fire her arrow before the wind demon noticed what she was up to, or attacked Inuyasha again. Her arms shook slightly from the strain of pulling back the string, but finally she felt that her aim was correct and let the arrow fly, flaring pink with spiritual energy as it went.
It missed, of course. By roughly a mile, she admitted rather sourly. But it had the desired effect of distracting Kagura from Inuyasha. The distraction gave him a chance to get back on his feet and make a counterattack.
The first attempt with the Wind Scar missed, and Kagura fired back almost immediately. The next shot nearly hit her, but she made no move to deflect the attack. The expression on her face, a combination of shock and frustration, was telling.
Kagura's outmatched, Kagome realized suddenly. The wind demon usually fled when the odds turned against her, whether she had accomplished her objective or not. What could be compelling her to stay?
She was about to shout her suspicions to Inuyasha when she caught the sound of something crashing through the underbrush toward them, though she could not yet make out what it was. Kagura smirked and muttered, "About time."
-----
"Kohaku…"
Any good feelings Sango may have had from the morning evaporated the moment she laid eyes on her brother. Miroku could tell without even looking at her. He knew her pain too well.
She had seemed so happy in the morning, had even smiled at him before they set off on Kirara… and now all of that was gone, evaporated in an instant at the mere sight of her brother.
It left Miroku feeling strangely angry and unsettled. He had not told her of his own suspicious feelings yet, the lingering sense of darkness and wrongness, choosing instead to enjoy what would probably be their last uninterrupted morning together. And now it seemed he would not get an opportunity. He could only hope that it would amount to nothing.
This was more important than his baseless feelings of taint, anyway. He had a feeling he knew what Kohaku was after. Naraku would never let one of his jewel shards fall into their hands so easily. He would have planned for the demon's demise and their retrieval of the shard even if he thought it unlikely. Miroku narrowed his eyes suspiciously.
For a long time the boy said nothing. He seemed content simply to stare down his opponents.
If he was happy with the staring contest, Sango was not.
"Kohaku," she said again, cautiously, as she stepped forward to stand next to Miroku. "What are you doing here?" With each word, it sounded as if a knife were tearing through her heart; Kohaku gave no sign of hearing her words at all, much less of recognizing her.
Sango repeated his name and stepped closer to the boy, and away from Miroku; it was all he could do not to reach out from her. He yearned to hold her back, knowing that this would only cause her pain, but knew it would hurt her more to be kept away from her brother. All Miroku could do was let her go, and hope to heal the hurt later.
Suddenly Kohaku looked up, his eyes as empty as ever, and asked, "Who are you?"
He had looked wrong, almost boneless or puppet-like, before. Now he snapped to attention as if suddenly coming to life, and looked ready to bolt at any moment. Sango made an anguished sound at her brother's apparent failure to recognize her, and Miroku knew that it would be his job to stop the boy if Kohaku should try anything.
He sincerely hoped that the encounter would not come to that. Not only did he have no wish to fight with Kohaku, but he knew that he would be unable to do much in his current condition.
"You have something of mine," the boy said, in a voice not his own. It may have been Kohaku's voice that spoke, but the words belonged to Naraku.
"I won't let you take that shard," Sango snarled. "And I'm not about to let you escape again!" Her grip tightened on Hiraikotsu's strap, though Miroku could not tell if she was planning to throw it, or use it as a shield.
An enormous blast of energy shot past just behind them, barely missing Kirara and Sango's stored pack, and tossing aside trees and vegetation as it passed. The Wind Scar… Miroku thought, absently, realizing that they must not be far from their friends. But if Inuyasha was already fighting something, he would not be able to help with Kohaku.
Kohaku took the opportunity provided by the temporary distraction and attacked Sango, lashing out with his chain scythe. She blocked it with Hiraikotsu, then tossed the large bone aside and drew her sword; the blade was far more battered than Miroku remembered, as if she had not been taking care of it lately.
She charged at Kohaku with a wordless shout of rage, knocking aside the chain scythe when he threw it at her, and deliberately tangling her sword in the chain so as to pull it out of his grip. For his part, Miroku hung back, knowing that the best way to help was to stay out of Sango's way until he found a good chance to intervene. He had to trust that she knew better how to deal with her brother than he did.
Kohaku scrambled, retrieving the the chain scythe and pulling hard on the chain. It had looped around Sango's arm, and the pull not only yanked the sword from her hand, but threw her to the ground. She hit the ground hard, tangled in the chain, and Miroku ran to her side to assist her.
"Don't worry about me," she hissed, "Make sure he doesn't get away!"
Miroku did not point out that he was nowhere near fast enough to catch the boy. From somewhere behind them, Kirara snarled.
She was standing in Kohaku's way, blocking his path to Sango's pack, where the jewel shard was hidden, but the effort was half-hearted. Like Sango, she had no desire to harm Kohaku. He slipped past her with little effort and plucked the shard from Sango's back before taking off toward the village, following the path cleared by the Wind Scar moments before.
"Kohaku!" Sango grabbed Hiraikotsu and ran after her brother without a second thought. Miroku and Kirara could only follow in her wake. Both were afraid of what might happen if Sango should catch her brother, and what would happen if she did not. Nothing good could come of this, of that Miroku was certain.
What is Naraku up to?
Whatever it was, he obviously wanted their group split up. Miroku counted it as a blessing that Kohaku had gone in the direction where they would most likely find Inuyasha and Kagome.
After following the path left by the Wind Scar, they came to a clearing that had apparently also been cleared recently by the same means. Inuyasha was there, facing down Kagura. And he looked none too pleased.
"What the fuck are you babbling about, bitch?"
As Kohaku slipped past the snarling hanyou, who barely missed grabbing him as he passed, Kagura drifted slowly to the ground. "Time to go," she said, boredly, drawing a feather from her hair. To Miroku's eyes, the display seemed somehow more fake than usual, as if her heart wasn't in it at all.
Odd…
The enchanted feather grew large enough to carry both Kagura and Kohaku, and they floated up and out of reach before their opponents had time to react.
Inuyasha swore.
As Kagura's feather drifted higher and higher into the air, Sango's fury grew. Miroku watched distantly, suddenly feeling overwhelmed by pain and nausea, probably from exerting himself too much, too quickly.
He heard Sango shout, "I'm not letting them get away. Kirara!"
The cat responded immediately, and they took off into the air after Kagura and Kohaku.
Miroku yearned to accompany them, to protect Sango from the pain of confronting her brother, but he knew he would have to let someone else go in his stead. He simply was not up to the task. He needed to sleep…
Dizzily, he realized that Sango and Kirara were already gone, and Kagome was demanding that Inuyasha go after them. He did not know where Kagome had come from, but he was glad she had appeared and was taking charge of the situation. Inuyasha was a good choice; the hanyou had saved Sango from herself in the past, and would not hesitate to do so again.
His vision swam as the hanyou disappeared into the forest, and he staggered once before leaning heavily on his staff for support. He was suddenly aware of the way the metal burned in his grip, as if previously dormant darkness were bubbling up inside of him.
This was not good.
He wanted to tell Inuyasha to go after Sango, forgetting that the hanyou was already gone; he wanted to warn Kagome that something was very wrong, but found he could not move.
The forest faded around him, darkening more and more as his consciousness was pushed aside to make way for something else.
Possession.
He'd been a fool to ignore the warning signs.
This was… not good…
-----
It took Kagome half a second to decide what had to be done. "Inuyasha, go after Sango," she ordered. "Shippo and I can look after Miroku until you get back." When the hanyou looked about to protest, she added, "There's no telling what Sango will do if she catches up to Kagura and Kohaku. And with Kagura controlling the wind… I'm not sure she stands a chance against them in battle…"
"Keh, I'm on it. But you had better not get in any more trouble while I'm gone, you hear me?"
She smiled, and knew that Inuyasha would take care of Sango. "Go on. I'll have Miroku and Shippo with me. We'll be fine," she promised.
As Inuyasha raced after Sango, Kagome turned to the rest of her companions. Miroku was still standing, but just barely; Shippo was watching the monk, his expression a mix of worry and fear; the woman from the village was nowhere to be seen, though Kagome guessed she was still hiding in the bushes.
She would have to see to her friends, and then see if there was anything she and Shippo could do to help the villagers. It seemed a suddenly daunting task.
"Wh – What's wrong with him, Kagome?" Shippo asked.
"It's okay, Shippo," she soothed. She was beside Miroku in an instant, urging him to sit down and feeling for a fever. His forehead was hot, very hot, and he looked like he had been through quite a fight recently. "Can you bring me my backpack?"
"Sure thing!" Glad to have something useful to do, Shippo ran off to fetch her bag from where she had dropped it in the bushes.
Miroku squeezed his eyes shut and groaned. When he opened them, his eyes looked dull and lifeless. Kagome felt helpless. He looked beat up, not seriously injured, but he definitely had a high fever.
Maybe he was just sick. She wished that she had gotten the chance to ask Sango what had happened before getting split up again, and could only hope that Sango and Inuyasha would return soon.
Shippo returned with her bag a few minutes later. She was about to ask Shippo to dig out her first aid kit when she remembered something that her mother had given her: the box of condoms. Blushing furiously, she took the bag from Shippo and found the first aid kit herself.
She had always been reluctant to give too many modern things to her friends, and that included medicines. They saw her medicines as magical cures, and it did not seem like a good idea to rely on them too much. But if there was ever a time to use her modern medicines, this was it.
"Are you getting sick, too, Kagome?"
He must have noticed her blushing and, along with the sweat from the recent battle and the stress of taking care of Miroku and the villagers, mistaken it for the flush of fever. "No, Shippo, I'm fine," she protested uneasily. She pushed her embarrassment aside, knowing she would have plenty of time to dwell on that - at length - later. "Hey Shippo, what happened to that village woman that was with us?"
"She was still in the bush when I went to get your bag…"
"Well go see if she's feeling strong enough to come out here so I can see to her wounds," she ordered. She needed to give Shippo something to do so he wouldn't hover near her and drive her crazy while she was trying to see to Miroku.
With Shippo out of the way for the moment, she fashioned a makeshift pillow out of her sleeping bag and urged the monk to lie against it. She would have liked to put him to bed and let him rest at least until their friends returned, but with the village in ruin that did not seem to be an option.
But since she had time on her hands, she explained the thermometer's purpose to Miroku, even though he did not seem to care, and set about taking his temperature and scanning the labels of the medicine bottles her mother had packed, looking for anything that might help with a high fever.
She had a bottle of painkillers that she had used occasionally when helping to treat her friends' more serious wounds, but realized with chagrin that it had never really occurred to her that she, or her companions, might get sick.
She took the thermometer from Miroku, but it only served to confirm her fears. Frowning, she wished there was more she could do for him. Kaede would know what to do, but Kaede was days away. Her mother would know, too, but she was even further away than Kaede. She wondered if this village had a healer, or if anybody else had even survived Kagura's attack.
It was a while before Shippo returned, even though he had not gone far, but when he finally emerged from the bushes he was leading the village woman. Her tentative steps explained what had taken so long. Kagome knew she must be feeling confused and terrified in addition to her injuries, after being so suddenly swept up by Inuyasha, carried so swiftly, and then dumped into the bushes, all with no explanation of what was going on. If she had not known him so well, Kagome would have been scared as well.
Smiling, she said, "You're still bleeding. Let's get some bandages on that wound of yours, okay?"
The woman nodded nervously. But as she bent to retrieve her first aid kit… Kagome felt a hand slip up her skirt and plant itself firmly on her butt. Her eyes widened and she whirled around in shock, only barely managing not to slap the culprit, on account of his illness. "Miroku! What are you doing?"
-----
Sango became aware, gradually, that Inuyasha was trailing them. Kagome must have sent him…
"You'd better not do anything stupid when we catch up to them, you got that, Sango?" he shouted, as if to alert her to his presence. Or to warn her that she was being watched.
If I try to end this again, will you stop me again, Inuyasha? she wondered darkly. But instead of asking him that question, she simply nodded. Most of her attention was still focused forward, anyway. "Faster," she urged Kirara.
Thus far, they had been able to keep up with Kagura, but she doubted they would be able to keep pace much longer. She had to do something soon, or they would get away. Taking careful aim, and trying to account for Kagura's manipulation of the wind as best as she could, Sango hurled Hiraikotsu at them. She only hoped that Kagura would misjudge her target and assist her throw.
But instead of attacking, Kagura took evasive action and simply dodged out of the way.
"Please," she sneered. "You think you can stop me like that? I'm the wind. You can't use it against me!"
Sango caught Hiraikotsu easily on the return. She did not wait for a clear opportunity, but turned the momentum around and threw again. She made no pretenses this time, aiming directly for Kagura.
She knew she had let anger get the better of her, and that Kagura would dodge again and would most likely use her own weapon against her, but she could not help herself.
Kagura dodged again, sweeping low toward the tops of the trees; Kohaku leapt from the feather and disappeared into the trees, taking the jewel shard with him. Kagura waved her fan and tossed Hiraikotsu back, not at Sango, but at Kirara.
It struck, hard.
Sango grabbed for her weapon, but it slipped through her fingers.
Kirara howled in pain and shrank, returning to her small form.
And then they were falling out of the air.
Sango had never been afraid of heights, or falling, and did not even think to cry out at the suddenness of it. Or the knowledge that if she hit the ground she'd be dead or seriously injured.
But before she even reached the treetops, her fall was arrested and she found herself coming to the ground much more gently than expected. Inuyasha had leaped high in the air, springing up to catch her and Kirara before they could fall and be injured. Inuyasha… I guess it's a good thing that Kagome sent you with me, after all…
When they were safely on the ground, Inuyasha drew his sword and turned to Kagura. "Try that again and I'll kill you."
"It's too late," Kagura said, grinning in spite of the very real possibility that Inuyasha would carry out his threat. "Even if you kill me, it's too late. The seed of darkness has already taken root. You were fools to leave your friends alone."
"What did you do to Kagome, bitch?"
Kagura's grin shifted into a smirk. "Go find out, dog-boy. There's nothing you can do now anyway."
Inuyasha swore.
"Let's go," Sango said dully. "Kohaku's long gone. We can't waste more time here."
They delayed only long enough to retrieve Hiraikotsu. Sango let Inuyasha carry her on his back, even knowing he offered just as much to ensure that she stayed out of trouble as to give Kirara a break.
"You shouldn't feel bad about this," Inuyasha grumbled.
"I… I wasn't feeling bad about this." I wasn't feeling anything at all…
"You're a bad liar, Sango, you know that?" She stiffened as he continued, "I don't want you and Miroku running off like this again, got it?"
Scolding me now, of all times…?
"I'm sorry, Inuyasha."
"Don't be sorry, just don't do it again."
"I promise."
"Good. You better mean that."
They ran the rest of the way in silence. Sango was not sure what he was thinking, but she doubted it was good. She was startled by how easily he had accepted that she had "run off" with Miroku, and also that he had merely ordered her not to do it again, rather than yelling at her at length, or insulting her.
She wondered if perhaps Kagome was having a good influence on him, after all. When she first joined their group, Inuyasha would never have reacted the way he just did.
She did not quite realize they had arrived until she felt the rumble of Inuyasha's growl. Looking up at the angry sound, she knew immediately what the cause was, and felt her own heart seem to stop in response.
Miroku had pulled Kagome into a very intimate looking embrace, while Shippo and a village woman looked on in surprise and horror. For a long, awful moment, Sango had no idea what to make of the scene. Something seemed wrong about it. It wasn't like Miroku at all to behave that way toward Kagome; he knew she was off-limits, and he respected her as a friend and companion. So, why? Why would he do something like that?
Sango's heart pounded as she watched Kagome squirm and shove herself away from the monk as hard as she could. She stumbled away, a horrified look on her face. Miroku looked up then, as if finally aware of the intrusion.
Sango froze. His eyes were wrong. They were darker than normal, opaque, almost glossed over. It was like looking at a stranger.
Inuyasha summed it all up, in his typical fashion, with one angry shout that neatly missed the point. "Miroku, you filthy pervert, what the fuck do you think you're doing?"