InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Same Thing, Different Time ❯ I Said I'd Protect You ( Chapter 18 )

Disclaimer: Still don't own any part of InuYasha, and am still not seeking to gain anything in means of profit, rights, or anything else from creating this.

I really, really, really want to thank all the people that have stuck by this story, and for ALL the wonderful and encouraging reviews and e-mail I've gotten over it. I did not mean for this chapter to take so long to get out. LOTS of personal life stuff got in the way, plus I cornered myself in a chapter that needed to be done, yet I wasn't ready to write it. I hope you're not disappointed after waiting soooo long.

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Same Thing, Different Time

by: aishiteru_inu

Part 18: I Said I'd Protect You

Previous Chapter:

His head jerked back and snapped up, just as his body did as he rose to his feet. He sniffed at the air to get a baring on what direction the odor came from, all the while his ears were vaguely registering, "I do not smell like a demon!"

"No, Baka, there's a demon nearby!" he snapped hotly, but the aggressively fierce emotion was not truly meant to be directed at her as much as it was toward whatever creature dared to come so near. His one goal: keeping her safe.

"Get behind me!"

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Keeping on alert, InuYasha moved the few feet it took to reach the discarded weapon that laid on the ground.

"Here," he thrust the bow and quiver of arrows into her hands, as he ordered, "take these."

"But… But…" she started, only the hanyou cut her off.

"Quit making noise," he snapped, unsettled at knowing that something that vile smelling shouldn't have managed to get that close unnoticed. It must have came from beneath the ground or been cloaked somehow, someway, because even as occupied as he was just moments ago, it should have been easy to detect that scent at much greater a distance.

What frustrated him even more was the fact that the stench permeated the air from everywhere which meant it could be a lot closer than he knew. He couldn't just leave Kagome there while he went in search for it, so the safest thing to do at the moment was to keep her with him until he knew for sure. "Get on."

"Umm… InuYasha…" she started again, just holding the weapons in her hands as if they were foreign objects.

"Don't just stand there," he griped restlessly, looking over his shoulder from his crouched position.

With a silent sigh, she slung the arrows and bow over her head and shoulders, then climbed once more on his back. Before she nearly had time to get a proper hold, he bounded into the air, and it was all she could do to hang on to him.

After he was already in the air, InuYasha realized by the tight pull of his shirt that he had not given her enough time to settle against him before he took off. Yet, despite the concern, his regret was only momentary as he turned to another, more urgent issue at hand. Besides, he had a hold of her and wouldn't allow her to fall.

At the vantage point he was at above the ground, InuYasha was able to scan the entire area of the shrine ground, and still he could find no demon to be about. A low growl issued from his throat in frustration.

'Where the hell is it?' he said to himself, annoyed that he had not laid sight upon it as he bounded from building top to building top; the scent of it definitely growing stronger the closer he got to Kagome's house, but his hearing failed in its detection.

Dropping down, InuYasha landed with ease near the door. Once he deducted that there were no signs of that the youkai had been present, he bent to allow her to slide off.

"Go inside until I take a look around." he told her as she slipped from his grasp. Kagome gave a single word of agreement, but being otherwise distracted he only caught a glimpse of her going inside. Immediately he took off into the air once again, leaping above the house to scan the ground on the other side with sharp eyes. The creature was somewhere nearby, now if he could just get a lead on where…

His sight caught upon the wave of mutely disturbed ground which laid between the back of the house and the brush and foliage a distance beyond it. Coming down near it, he scanned the trail, taking notice that the earth was only disturbed in one direction, which was straight toward the house. His golden eyes followed the path and saw that it went right up to the side of the house and ended, and since there was no apparent hole for it to have disappeared in, he looked up. Upon seeing the open window of Kagome's room, he realized with alarm just where the demon had gone -- inside the house -- exactly where he had sent Kagome!

"KAGOME!" he yelled, rushing toward the dwelling, but no sooner did he leap toward the window, he heard the piercing scream of the one he sought to protect -- and it didn't come from inside the house either!

His foot had barely touched the sill when he shot off toward the direction that he heard her, and no sooner did he come around the corner of the house did the snake-like creature race past him in a hiss as it gave chase to its prey. In one swift stroke he could take the creature down, but Kagome was in the way and more than likely she would get hit with some brunt of his strike.

"Chikusho," InuYasha cursed as he bounded off toward the direction the demon went.

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Kagome's heart pounded as she ran as fast as she could. She only had a minimal lead on the creature and it was gaining with every step she took, and she was running out of ground to run. With the agility the snake had, veering off to the side would only allow it to capture her that much easier, but ahead of her were numerous stone steps. By the time it would take to run down them that creature would surely have a hold of her there too, for it wasn't possible to leap down them without getting seriously hurt.

Time wasn't something she had, and neither were her choices -- save one. Pushing herself as fast and as hard as she could, she silently prayed with desperation, 'Be true to your word.'

Taking a literal blinding leap of faith, Kagome screamed, "INUYASHAAAA!" just as she launched herself airborne out over the steps. She closed her eyes as she soared, headlong, through the air, not wanting to see which fate was to meet her - the gullet of the snake monster or the snap of her neck on the hard, stone ground below.

It was only a matter of a second or two when she felt something wrap around her, then bundled her up close in quick fashion. Moments later, she felt the impact of landing upon the ground. She opened her eyes only to see the familiar white hair and red tee-shirt, before his arms tighten about her and instantly sped off. She didn't care where they were going. She just knew that he would take her someplace safe. Yes, he would see to that. After all, he had promised to protect her.

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As soon as they set down, InuYasha was in a flurry of questions, "Where's the jewel? Did you drop it? You are wearing it, right? You didn't leave it in the house, did you?" His eyes skimming around her neck in search of the jagged stones.

The necklace? Kagome thought dizzily. He was worried… about the necklace? Of course he would.

"I--I… have it…" and her fingers went up to grasp the ball that was hidden beneath her shirt. Without thought, InuYasha placed his hand against her chest to confirm it himself, but the instant he felt the orb he removed his hand.

"Good," was all he said before he turned away.

Kagome stood there in silence staring at his back with his white length of hair cascading on down past his waist. She was at a lost for words at the moment, even to say thank you, yet even that didn't seem appropriate now . He… He hadn't really saved her, it was…… it had been because of the necklace… again.

She watched as he sniffed the air, and then his golden gaze looked over his shoulder toward her.

"What's the matter with you?"

She only continued to stare at him, not saying anything, and his brows narrowed.

"Are you hurt?"

Shaking her head slowly, she just answered, "No."

"Why are you looking at me that way?"

"Sorry," she murmured looking away from him.

"Kagome……" His voice was a bit gruff, and started to turn back toward her when his ears picked up the scrapping sound of the snake demon's body sliding across the ground. "Stay here."

"Wh--Where are you going?"

"To kill a demon."

"You're going back out there?"

"What else do you expect? I'm not a coward! That thing……it hasn't got a chance against me!"

"But…"

"Whaaat? You don't believe me?!" he exclaimed from the expression on her face.

"It's… just… that… it's… so…"

"Let me handle this. You just stand there and watch!" He swung away only to see the creature come into view.

Dropping his body into a crouch, InuYasha cracked the bones in his hand with a flex, then launch himself up and toward it. He was ready to strike out when the ground beneath him erupted and another snake-like creature burst upward, ramming into the hanyou's body. It sent him flying out of control to hit the ground with a hard thud.

He skidding a distance before coming to a halt, and the next instant, before he managed to raise himself up, a heavy weight slammed upon him. He then found himself picked up, wrapped within the coils of the first snake.

"INUYASHA!" he heard Kagome's voice scream his name, and caught a glance of the frighten look on her face before being twisted away.

"Dammit! Don't draw attention to yourself!" he shouted back. "Stay where you are!"

InuYasha struggled against the crushing grip that the creature had on him.

"Kill the hanyou." The second creature hissed as it turned it's attention to the other serpentine demon that held the half breed captive. "A half breed isssn't worth our time, essspecially when there'sss ssssomething elsssse that we've came to devour!"

"Oh, yeah? You'll be eating those words in a moment when I split you from one end to the other and shove your insides down what remains of your friggin' throat!"

The serpents began to laugh.

"You ssshould have ssstayed in your pen and played, little koinu. Now you can die!"

Kagome watched as the creature coiled itself even more around InuYasha, immobilizing him. She watched as he strained against them, growling with teeth bared.

He had told her to stay where she was, but all she could think of was that she had to help him out. She couldn't just stand there and watch him be killed. She had to do something or he was either going to be crushed to death or die from suffocation.

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InuYasha was just about to release his strike to free himself, when the flight of an arrow caught his attention. His eyes grew wide in indescribable shock. Momentarily distracted from his predicament, he looked at her with the most incredulous expression on his face. The arrow had buried its tip into ground, barely managing to reach even halfway toward the demons.

'You gotta be kidding me!' raced through his head as he yelled, "What the hell was that?!"

But before he got an answer, the snake youkai slammed the white haired half demon into the ground. It was only moments later, in a burst of youki light, that the creature virtually exploded.

InuYasha freed himself as the energy blasted through the snake demons flesh, sending the parts of it in disarray into the air. His one thought was of Kagome, standing out there in full view for the other youkai to see. 'Stupid girl! She's going to get herself killed!'

"I told you to stay…awk…!" he started as he was coming out of the youki strike only to be cut short as an arrow went right by his head, disturbing his already flaying hair and its feathered end close enough to graze the side of his ear. He jerked away, but not before noticing that the other serpent already had its attention on the girl and was starting to charge after her.

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Kagome was trying to notch another arrow, but her hands were shaking and the arrow seemed like it was as slippery as melted butter. She had attracted the creature with that last shot, and it had turned its blood red sight upon her.

It gave her a wicked smile as it hissed, "Yesss. Thisss one'sss much better to devour!"

She heard InuYasha shout, but at the moment she was too preoccupied to understand what he was saying, as the creature started to slide its way toward her.

By some incredible luck, Kagome managed to notch the shaft and sent another arrow sailing through the air. This one reached it's destination, only it didn't have enough power to even pierce the skin and the arrow bounced off, falling harmlessly to the ground and crushed beneath the serpent's body.

"Sssstupid fool," it hissed with a laugh. "Your pitiful attempt to hurt me with your toyssss are laughable."

It was true. Her attempt to help out was pitiful and laughable. Not only that, she had put herself out in the open as an easy prey. What ever possessed her to even think she could help InuYasha out? She had only started her archery lessons, and knew how lousy she was. She was lucky that two arrows actually went a distance longer than a few feet.

Truth, luck, and the realization that she should have listen to the hanyou wasn't about to save her right then as the creature lunged at her with its clawed hands and an open mouth. Not even her feet could find flight, and she did the only thing she was capable of at the moment. As useless as the protective measure was, she threw an arm up over her head, then opened her own mouth and released a scream.

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InuYasha dropped his body from over top the monster, landing in a crouch in front of her.

"KEEP AWAY FROM HER!" he yelled as he jumped up to met the creature. He knew if he used the youki power of his claws, at this distance the momentum of the creature, the debris would still hit into the girl nearly fully force. So, instead, with a rounding twisting of his body, InuYasha caught the monster across the snout with his foot and knocked it away from it's intended course. With another twist, he pulled himself back to settle once again near the dark haired female.

He didn't waste any time as he gathering her up in his arms, and bounded away again to find safety, but not before the tips of the creatures claws slashed across his shoulder and back in another attack. Being a snake creature, InuYasha's attack had only graced them with minuscule moments as it coiled with the motion and came right back at them for another strike. He gave a grunt of pain as his body jerked in reaction, but it didn't stop his flight with his possession.

Kagome glanced up to see his face clench in discomfort only a moment before he opened his eyes and set his face with fixed determination. She turned her own into his chest to keep the wind out of her face, and releasing the hold of her bow, she reached her hand up around his neck to anchor herself more against him.

She closed her eyes feeling the warmth and security that he gave her. She could feel his body vibrating as he held her close, but whether it was unreleased energy or something else she wasn't sure, and at the moment it didn't really matter. He had rescued her for a second time from the jaws of that hideous thing.

InuYasha took a moment to look down at her nestled against him, seeing that her eyes were closed. Now that he had her within his arms away from that damn youkai, he allowed some of his pent up annoyance to flow through him. He was upset that she had put herself in danger like that. He was upset that she had not listened to what he had told her, and drawn attention to herself. He was upset that she had done so in an attempt to help him… and that didn't sit too well because he was the one suppose to be protecting her! And he was especially upset that she had done it without knowing how to use the damn bow and arrows in the first place!

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The demon wasn't too far from their trail, but that was alright. He needed to finish off the youkai anyway, and had led it away from the populace of the city to do just that; all the while searching for a place suitable to put Kagome. He needed to tuck her out of the way before he went after the creature again, but not before he had a few words with her first!

He descended once again to the ground to a grouping of some bushes near a tree, and allowed her to slip out of his arms. Once she stood on her own, he flashed angry, golden eyes upon her.

"You're suppose to shoot the demon, not ME, you idiot!" he pointed to his injured ear, causing her eyes to lift upward to see the red crimson stain upon the whiteness of his ear and hair. She gave a gasp, reaching out to see about it, but he shrugged his head away from her. "I thought you said you were an extra ordinary archer!"

"I never said that!" she defended back.

He made a pose similar to the one he had seen her make earlier, and in a spiteful change of voice he mimicked her. "Higurashi Kagome, Extra Ordinary Master Archer."

Her mouth dropped open as she stood staring at him for several heartbeats.

"That's not what I said, you idiot! I said Master Archer Extraordinaire! And if you were listening that much, you should have heard me say in about 50 years! Are you sure your ears didn't get damaged before I shot it?" she exploded back at him.

This time it was his turn to stare at her, but her words had only added fuel to the fire that burned within him.

"Well, I don't care what the old hag says, you're nothing like Kikyo! At least she was a master archer!"

Kagome was taken aback, and found herself only able to stare up at him. Now he was throwing up some dead girl in her face?

"And what the hell did you think you were doing out there knowing you couldn't shoot? I told you to stay put!"

"But it… was crushing you to death!"

"FEH!" He shrugged off her reason for her recklessness. "I'm not some weakling! It takes a lot more than that to kill me!"

"But…"

"Listen, I told you that I'd take care of it, and I will!" He turned from her to look across of stretch of ground in the direction that they had came from, a bit more irritated than he was before. He knew that because he was only a mere half demon she didn't believe he could!

It wasn't that she believed he couldn't do it; she had seen too many amazing things that he could do. And though she had not seen him fight anything more than mortal thugs, she was certain that he could handle himself in situations like this. After all, he was a demon himself, and she had caught a glimpse of the other snake creature being destroyed.

It was just that she worried, not wanting him to be killed. He talked a big talk about protecting her from demons, but they never really… talked… about much of anything. She hadn't given it much thought about him fighting things as such -- she was still coming to terms that he was of youkai breed, and that they were real.

"InuYasha," she quietly breathed. "You're hurt."

It wasn't until he turned his back to her, and his hair swayed to the side with his movement, that she saw the blood stained, ripped shirt and the open gashes that ran from his shoulder to some point underneath his hair, which didn't allow her a complete look before it laid back in place and covered the wounds completely. The blood also streaked his hair, standing out in stark contrast against the white.

He glanced back at her, then down at the direction of his back where her eyes were fastened. Looking away again, he shrugged.

"It's nothing. Just a scratch."

"But…" she started to say something, but her words dropped to silence as he cut in with a low, but emphatical tone of resoluteness, folding his arms across his chest. "I told you I'd protect you, and I will."

In the distance, InuYasha saw the youkai coming through the foliage, and once spying them, started to advance in their direction. He flexed his fingers of his hand just as he did before, and more audible cracks were heard.

"Time to put an end to this." he said flatly, then started to walk off to meet his opponent before it got much closer to the girl…… and the jewel she had on. "Doubt me, will you?" He added, his tone changed to that of an 'I'll show you' type. "This will be over before you know it!"

He had already taken several steps when he caught her voice, not more than a whisper, say, "I don't doubt you, InuYasha."

He didn't pause in his stride, yet the set determination was marred by the momentary half grin on his face.

"Prepare to die, demon!" he shouted at the oncoming serpent.

"I will kill you and ssswallow your bitch whole along with the jewel on her body!" It threatened as it charged at the hanyou with claws displayed in readiness to slash it's target to pieces.

"You've got to go through me first," he snarled, jumping toward it; his right arm drawn back in his own attack. "And that's gonna be hard to do when you're dead! IRON REAVER, SOUL STEALER!" he yelled and struck out.

Lights splayed out, hitting the creature full force with InuYasha following right behind them. The creature started splitting in two, sounding between crackling electric and ripping fiber, then, as it neared the tail, there was a burst, and the creature exploded into several pieces. InuYasha landed upon his feet, halfway in a crouch, arms and hands still at ready to fight, and an almost wicked laugh came from him. His silvery-white head twisting to peer behind him at the damage he had done. Confident that things were quite finished, he straighten and gave himself a quick shake.

Nope, that didn't take too long at all!

"InuYasha," he heard his name being yelled, and he quickly turned to insure that the girl wasn't in any other danger, then relaxed when he sensed no fear in her as she ran toward him.

Kagome had the expression of relief upon her face, mingled with that of excited victory as she made her way toward him.

"InuYasha, you did it!"

"Feh! Don't sound so surprised. I told you I'd take care of it."

Managing to finally reach him through all the slippery, smelly debris, she actually jumped into the air the last few feet to him, and landed with a soft thud.

"That was… That was… so awesome!" she said, highly excited. There was certainly much more to him than fists and brawn and mouth.

InuYasha just stood there watching her with amazing wonder -- the way she sprung into the air, and popped up with a huge smile on her face at him, and how her eyes had the brightest shine he had ever seen in them before. She was definitely on an adrenaline high, and why he didn't leave it at that he didn't know.

"Uh, Kagome? You still have the jewel, right?"

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Yes, where I wrote 'what ever' during the part of Kagome thinking of her predicament when the snake youkai was coming after her, I DID mean to write it that way.

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I want to give very special thanks to all those that have reviewed my story and gave me such wonderful comments and helpful support through this LONG period. This chapter was especially hard to write for me. Lots of problems with life, writing, and so on, but thinking of all of you kept me trying to do this one.

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I've had a few people request about defining the Japanese words in the story at the bottom of the page or something. I just like to say that when I use a new words of Japanese in my story, I put the English meaning beside it in parentheses. I will do a list of words at the bottom of this chapter, and as I use new words (if I do) I will list only those used in that particular chapter, at least for now.

Baka - Idiot, Stupid

Chikusho - shit (swearing usage)

Hanyou - half demon, half human

Koinu - puppy

Youkai - demon

Youki - demon's energy aura (from manga) [which I hope I didn't use the wrong way in describing InuYasha's energy attacks. And if I did, oh well.]