InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ One Less Star, Book 1 ❯ Chapter 7 ( Chapter 7 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Chapter 7

Kagura reclined on her side in the floating feather-boat, head propped on her elbow, and watched as Miroku ran. Even had she not possessed demonic speed, she'd have had no trouble keeping up with him-he'd been slowing down for the last ten minutes until his run had become a jog, and now a sluggish, pained walk.

"Are you going to give me a ride yet?" he asked from between gritted teeth, injured arm held stiffly to his side.

She only quirked a dark brow. "You might have ridden this entire distance, had you but asked," she said in surprise, then reached out a hand to help him board. "Why did you not?" She was silent as he slowly and painfully hauled himself aboard.

"It's not considered polite to invite yourself," Miroku replied at last, flopping back and draping his uninjured arm over his eyes, catching his breath and willing his pain to recede. The feather-boat took to the air in earnest, zipping above the tree tops, and he relished the feeling of cool air on his face.

"But it is considered polite to make demands when you have reached the end of your endurance?" Kagura quipped. "Houshi, you have spent yourself down my throat. I hardly think we need to stand on ceremony anymore."

Slowly, Miroku lifted his arm and turned incredulous eyes to her, staring in amazement as she calmly looked back at him. There was no embarrassment, no shy dropping gaze, no proud boldness at her daring. Just placid red eyes under dark bangs.

"I've been wondering," he commented, "what you're doing here."

"We are following Inuyasha," she replied, but it was clear she was evading him. He watched her for several long minutes, hoping the piercing quality of his gaze would wear her down into confessing her true purpose, but she only smirked sideways at him.

"Do you forget who created me?" she asked. "Your stare cannot begin to compare to Naraku's. You will learn nothing from me by simply watching."

"Then explain it to me," he urged. "Sesshoumaru commands your loyalty now, is that right?"

"Naraku never had my loyalty," she ground out, her voice low and venomous and her eyes flashing with anger. "He forced me to comply, bending to his will in all things."

"How did he force you?" Miroku wondered aloud. "What could he have held over you?" He shifted carefully, making sure not to jar his arm.

"My heart," she whispered, hands moving unconsciously to the centre of her chest. She folded them protectively over her breast, small and white. "He took it from me, and would have had no compunctions about crushing it, killing me, if ever I dared to disobey him."

"But you have it back now," he stated, recalling the silvery line of a scar between her breasts during their interlude the other day. "How?"

"Naraku was a cruel bastard to his allies as well as his foes," Kagura replied, facing forward in the boat, allowing the wind to stream through her hair and ruffle the sleeves of her kimono. "He kept our hearts in jars within plain sight." Her face settled into lines of pure hatred. "He liked taunting us with how easily we could die, if the fancy took him."

"Our?" he prompted. "Kanna and the others, as well?"

She nodded. "My spite knows no bounds where he is concerned, and I knew that to deprive him of his victory, at this late and last hour, would be a cruel setback indeed. But to accomplish it, I must be able to act freely... The morning of the battle between your friends and Naraku, the chamber containing the jars was there, open and waiting for me, it seemed."

Kagura sucked in a breath. "I took my heart. Took it, and replaced it with the heart of one of those baboons he slaughters for his pelts." Her pretty little face contorted into a sneer. "The fool never knew... I cut open my own chest, replaced my heart in its rightful home." She met Miroku's gaze with her own fierce one. "It is mine once more, and none shall take it from me again."

"I... don't blame you," Miroku said, feeling somewhat stunned by her revelation. What other response could he give? He did not understand someone who was terrible even to those with whom he was allied. "And Sesshoumaru? Why exchange one master for another?"

"Protection," she replied succinctly. "His name holds great power in all the lands. Being known as his vassal carries great influence."

Her words made a strange weight settle in Miroku's chest as he remembered Kagome... Kagome, and her strange behaviour of late... Kagome, who was at that moment in the hands of the taiyoukai. Sesshoumaru himself was even more of an enigma than ever, given his recent conduct.

"It has become increasingly hard to tell friend from foe," Miroku murmured, lifting troubled blue eyes to Kagura's face. "You and Sesshoumaru are helping us, Inuyasha attacks us..."

"Are not all things fluid, houshi?" she asked, gaze teasing as she reminded him of one of his own lessons. "Is not change the only constant? Are not all things doomed to end?" At his slow nod, she flashed him a smug grin. "And so it is with this. Foes become friends, and friends--"

"And friends need help," Miroku finished for her, voice very firm. "Know this, Kagura. Inuyasha is not my foe. He made a mistake, and needs our help to correct it. No matter what he does, we aim to subdue-not kill."

She nodded slowly, then cocked her head to one side. "It would seem," she told him, "that we shall have the opportunity to subdue him sooner than I had expected." She peered into the trees surrounding them, eyes narrowing as she concentrated. "There is stronger youki here. They are near. But," she continued, "I wonder if you are in any state to continue." Kagura's gaze settled on his arm, still seeping an alarming amount of blood; the sleeve of his robes was soaked with it, and there was an obscene spattering of scarlet drops on the pristine whiteness of the feather-boat.

His own gaze followed hers; he pushed up his sleeve and observed the long, deep, and jagged gash in his arm. "I'm fine," he muttered, and set to trying to rip a few strips off his hem to bind it with. "It'll stop in a little while, once I wrap it-" But his fingers were going numb, and felt thick and awkward as they fumbled with the cloth, refusing to obey him.

Frowning, he tried to concentrate, but it was hard as sweat dripped off his forehead into his eyes. And yet he was cold, very cold, and his head was swimming. Straightening, he blinked rapidly, trying to focus on Kagura's face, but she was merely a blur in his vision.

"Houshi?" she asked as blackness began to encroach on the edges of his vision. The numbness rushed from his fingers up his arms, engulfing him, and the last thing he heard before sliding sideways was her voice: "Houshi?"

Then cool hands caught him, laid him down, and he let himself sink into the welcoming dark where there was no pain or blood or betrayal, just peace and calm. With a sigh, Miroku fainted.

* * *

Sango woke abruptly, with the clarity of mind characteristic of a warrior. She remembered everything of what had happened. And knowing Inuyasha, he was probably aware that she was no longer unconscious.

"Welcome back, Sango," he said, proving her theory. "Ready to walk on your own?" He pulled her off his shoulder and set her on her feet, not reaching out to steady her when she stumbled uncertainly.

The sun had risen while Sango had been unconscious. In the early light shafting through the tree branches above, Inuyasha's eyes were wary and grim but there was no longer any tinge of red.

"The only place I'm walking is back to the others," Sango said, her voice tight. She was unnerved and a little scared by Inuyasha, now that she had seen him fight them for the shard, and wanted nothing so much as to have everything back to how it used to be, their little party united by hatred of Naraku. This way, with lines blurred and alliances shifting, she felt like she'd stepped off a cliff and was falling, falling…

His fists curled, but he didn't come any closer to her. "I can't let you do that."

"Inuyasha, this is-this is insane!" she exploded, her fear of him overcome by her frustration. "You can't think they'll just let you take the jewel, and me, and won't come after you!"

"They already are," he admitted, head low as he peered up at her through his bangs. "That's why I need you."

Sango sighed. "You already saw that Sesshoumaru would have gladly killed me to stop you, Inuyasha. Having me won't stop him."

He smirked. "Good thing it's not Sesshoumaru following us, then."

"Who is it, then?" she demanded, hands on hips. She became aware, then, that she wore only a flimsy sleeping yukata over her taijiya uniform and it probably looked ridiculous. Remembering the wildness in Inuyasha's eyes when he'd fought them, however, she found herself glad for yet another layer of fabric between them, even as she wasn't sure exactly why.

"Miroku and Kagura." His eyes gleamed with amusement. "Didn't figure them for a couple."

"They're not a couple," Sango snapped automatically, feeling her head pound harder, then paused. "Why is Kagura involved in all this, anyway?"

He shrugged. "Working for Sesshoumaru now, I guess."

"Well, that doesn't matter," she said after a moment of pondering yet another strange partnership. "You can't do this, Inuyasha. Even with half of the Shikon, Sesshoumaru has the other half. You two have been at loggerheads for years about the Tetsusaiga, and neither of you has been able to kill the other."

He remained stubbornly silent, and turned his head away a little to avoid eye contact. Sango stared at him a long moment, trying to impress upon him the severity of what he'd done. "It won't be any different for this, except if you don't go back right now and give Kagome the jewel and make amends for what you've done, you won't have any friends."

He whipped back to her, glaring. "Oh, like the great friends I have now? The ones who attacked me to stop me from taking the one thing I've wanted for the past sixty years?" He snorted. "Yeah, great friends."

She was silent a moment, choosing her next words carefully. "Inuyasha, I don't pretend to understand why Kagome can't let you have the Shikon now that it can be put together. But I know that we have to trust her. If she can't give the jewel to you, I'm positive there's a perfectly good reason for it."

"Then why didn't she say that?" he asked, and Sango saw for the first time how hurt he was by it all. Kagome's refusal to give him the Shikon no Tama had cut him deeply. Her chest clenched for him in sympathy, and she reached for his hand, squeezing it tightly.

"I don't know," she had to admit. "But I'm sure there was a good reason for that, too. We just have to trust her."

"That's the problem!" Inuyasha snarled, pulling away from her. "Every time I try to trust her, all I can think of is Kikyo and how she sealed me to that fucking tree." His voice was low, he was turned from her, and his head was bowed. Sango doubted he even remembered she was there.

"I've been waiting for years for Kagome to prove to me that she's willing to believe the worst of me, just like Kikyo," he whispered. "And now she has. You were all willing to fight me, to kill me if you had to. You all turned on me, the only people I've ever cared for. How am I supposed to forgive that? How can I be sure you won't do it again?"

He turned to her, eyes blazing with pain and betrayal. "I can't, Sango. It hurts too much."

Sango, for her part, was speechless. She couldn't believe he was revealing so much about his feelings, that he'd actually admitted he felt pain, that they'd gotten to him. He always pretended he was impenetrable. It was so very unlike him…

She gasped. Of course! The shard was making Inuyasha give in to his impulses, impulses he'd normally have been able to suppress. Determination filled her, determination to get that tainted shard out of her friend as soon as possible. But it was mingled strongly with pain on his behalf… she ached to hear him admit how deeply he was hurt. She hadn't realized how very sensitive he was-it was easy to forget when he acted like such a jerk most of the time.

But standing here now, seeing the way his golden eyes shimmered with the faintest hint of tears, she felt his loneliness like a physical thing. It called to her own, the living wound in her chest since the slaughter of her village, since the corruption of Kohaku, since the death of her father and all that she had known.

She'd landed on her feet, certainly. She always had, and always would. But the grief would always be there, a hard knot behind her heart.

"I know it hurts," she said at last, and reached for his hand again. "But that's part of life, Inuyasha. The alternative is being alone forever, if you can't trust. You always say you don't need anyone, that we're all a bother to you, but do you really mean it? Would you be happier with no one?

"I was so alone after Father and Kohaku died, and even more so when I learnt my village was destroyed. But when I met up with all of you, I found another family. When I began to trust and love all of you, it made the pain easier to bear."

She tugged on his hand, and grabbed for the other one, too. "Please, Inuyasha. Don't do this to yourself. You're too good a person to be alone forever. Don't let your fixation with becoming a full demon ruin this for you. Give back the jewel."

He stared down at her with frightening intensity. "You trust me? You… love me?"

Sango swallowed, unnerved by his reaction. "Yes. Of course I do! I love all of you, you and Kagome and Shippo and even Miroku, when he's keeping his hands to himself-"

Her words were cut off by his lunge toward her, and then again when her air was cut off by his embrace. "Inuyasha, what-?" His face was buried in her hair, but she could still hear him despite the muffled voice.

"No one's ever said that to me before," he muttered.

She stared in shock at the trees behind him. In her wildest dreams, she'd never expected Inuyasha to hug her. It was… it was very weird. Something, her heart she suspected, twisted in her chest and her arms came up to enclose him in kind.

"Inuyasha," she whispered.

And then she was crying, crying for her own losses as well as for him. She hadn't let herself show this sorrow to anyone else, preferring to do her weeping in private, hiding it even from Kagome. But now, with a warm shoulder against her face and arms around her, she couldn't stem the tide, couldn't push it back.

Inuyasha's arms tightened around her. He said nothing, but just being there was enough for her. She wept raggedly against him, for her father, for her long-departed mother, and most of all for Kohaku. Fresh worry swept through her-if Miroku and Kagura were coming after her and Inuyasha, that left Kagome alone with just Sesshoumaru, having to take care of Kohaku as well as Shippo and Kirara.

"Inuyasha," she gasped, "we really have to go back. We can't leave Kagome with Sesshoumaru, there's no telling what he'll do, and Shippo and Kirara are hurt-"

Then she cursed herself for mentioning his half-brother's name, because it chased away any softness that might have been in Inuyasha's eyes, and with it any chance she might have had to convince him. Sango's head was throbbing so hard now from her crying that she thought it might split open.

"She's probably perfectly happy, being with him," Inuyasha snarled, releasing her like something that disgusted him. "Just where she wanted. It's just good I got the rest of the jewel away from her before she gave that to him, too. No telling what he'd do if he had a wish to make-probably kill every human in the world, or make all youkai invincible. Or make his hair prettier."

He twitched his head to the side, sniffing. "They're catching up," he said, and turned away so she could climb on his back. When her weight was not immediately forthcoming, he glared over his shoulder at her. "Either you come with me this way, or over my shoulder again."

Sango considered making a break for it, but knew he'd catch her within five steps. Weaponless, her head still pounding from being knocked out before, it was hopeless. And she didn't want to spend another few hours with his bony shoulder jouncing into her solar plexus.

With a resigned sigh, she clambered onto his back. His hands grasped her knees, and then they were airborne once more.

Sango just hoped that Kagura's feather-boat was able to make good time, or there was no telling what could happen.