InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Tree Messaging ❯ Chapter 6 ( Chapter 6 )

Disclaimer: I don not own Inuyasha. Never had, never will...

 

I'd like to thank my beta, kokoronagomu, for her help.

 

And as usual, please review. We authors need something to keep us motivated.

 

 

 

Chapter 6

 

 

Stupid clouds, stupid wind patterns, and most of all, stupid rain. Well, at least it was Friday.

 

Kagome walked along the crowded streets of Tokyo towards her school. A rubber parka covered her and her school books. The lovely cars passing by had such a nice tendency to drive through puddles on days like today.

 

It had been two days since she had attempted to free Inuyasha. Kagome felt the weight around her neck move as she dodged another fast moving pedestrian. Yes, she was wearing the old arrowhead around her neck. It reminded her to keep thinking of a way to free the stuck hanyou and of the hanyou himself.

 

After she had gotten over her shock, Kagome had immediately gone back to Inuyasha, but found him unconscious. After a few minutes, the hanyou finally came to and she explained what had happened.

 

 

~*~

 

 

"So you took the arrowhead out?"

 

Kagome sighed in annoyance, "Yes, for the umpteenth time, I pulled it out, a freaky wind and light come out of no where, I look up and you're not there."

 

"What do we do now?" the question wasn't directed at Kagome, but at the white figure lounging in the tree.

 

'This is beyond my knowledge. As far as I know, Kagome has always been able to release you just by removing the arrow. But now...'

 

"Keh, a load of help you are..."

 

"Inuyasha!" both Aki and Kagome exclaimed.

 

"What? Aki has done nothing but tell me what to do, and I'm getting sick of it."

 

"Oh, like you could do any better! She's trying to help us, and you're just doing nothing and acting like a child. Right now I just feel like slamming you into the ground..."

 

'I wouldn't do that. The force from just one sit would cause the entire Goshinboku to collapse in on itself!'

 

"Keh."

 

Kagome stood up, fuming, "Is that all you do? Just stand around and be stubborn? Geez this is such a pain."

 

Inuyasha turned an ear towards her, "What's wrong with you now?"

 

She glared at him, "What's wrong? What's wrong?! Oh, I don't know, I just found out that not only am I a miko, but the re-incarnation of Kikyo, a.k.a your lost love, and I have a little piece of glass stuck in my body that will ultimately decide the fate of the world. If that wasn't enough, if they exist, youkai will be after me to get the jewel, which would most likely bring bodily harm to me! Now if I've left anything out, please speak up." Kagome sat down at the base of Goshinboku and brought her knees to her chest.

 

Inuyasha was about to reply, but a pair of hands belonging to a spastic Aki stopped him, 'Kagome may not have the rosary, but she has other ways to cause you pain, like purification. I know this is asking a lot of you, but try to be considerate of her feelings, because she'd probably freak out if she saw you human.'

 

She removed her hands and stepped back. Inuyasha turned to face Kagome, but smelled salt water. Was she crying? Her head was now leaning against her knees, with her arms hugging her legs and her shoulder slightly shaking. He sat down next to her and wrapped around her quivering shoulders, which caused Kagome to jerk her head up and look at him.

 

"Look, I know this is hard to handle, both the situation and me being a jerk, but I know you can get through this."

 

"Thanks, I think. But what about you? How do I free you?" Kagome yawned and leaned into Inuyasha's semi-embrace. Before he knew it, she was asleep.

 

'Ah, so there is a fluffy dog underneath the gruff exterior. You should act like this more often, its cute.'

 

Inuyasha gave her a hard stare, but it softened as he turned back to the girl in his arms.

 

'You should take her back. She wouldn't last the night separated from her body like this.'

 

The hanyou grunted, but heeded the spirit's warning. He picked Kagome up and disappeared from the winter scene.

 

 

~*~

 

 

Inuyasha reappeared on one of the branches of Goshinboku. His sensitive nose wrinkled as the polluted air assailed it. The sites, the sounds, everything was foreign to him. Yeah, he did understand the concepts of some of the strange technologies, he wasn't stupid. But don't expect him to drive a car or anything.

 

He stepped off the branch, with Kagome still in arms, and glided down towards her physical form on the ground. He gently laid her back in her body and looked up at the sky.

 

There weren't as many stars as he remembered, probably because of that ee-let-ri-ca-ty, or whatever it was called. A breeze swiftly moved over the shrine, but he couldn't feel it. He hadn't felt a thing ever since he was absorbed into the Goshinboku…

 

A peculiar scent caught his attention, and he turned towards the north. He couldn't see anything unusual, but there was something there, and it wasn't good.

 

He knew his time in the real world was limited, but he was going to stay with Kagome as long as he could, especially with that scent. No one could see him, so that wouldn't be a problem.

 

Inuyasha sighed and settled down next to the sleeping girl. As usual, several questions were swimming around in his head, but one stood out… What now?

 

 

~*~

 

 

That was how Kagome had woken up two days before, under the shade of Goshinboku. Her mother had gone ballistic because she had slept outside again, but she thought nothing of it. For the rest of the day, she tried to act like everything was normal, despite what she had learned the night before. But at least the ominous clouds were gone, or so she thought.

 

That night, the clouds came back, and she couldn't sleep. She felt as though someone was watching her, and from the pair of red eyes that she saw once in her bedroom window, she was probably right. She had borrowed some sutra from Yasuo the next day, and she put them around her room, but the feeling didn't go away until morning. This of course, did not help her with her sleep. At night, she felt as though she was in constant danger, and wanted to go see Inuyasha. But she knew something was out there to get her, so she opted to stay in her room. She still went to talk to Inuyasha during the day, but hadn't told him why she was no longer coming at night.

 

This morning, she finally told him what was going on, and his reply held its usual gruffness;

 

'Keh, stupid. You still should have come here. The tree has a barrier around it, you're safe here.'

 

That little tidbit would have definitely saved her some trouble had she known it.

 

"Kagome-chan!"

 

Kagome turned around and saw Taiko walk up to her. She had gotten closer to her new friend over the past couple of days. She had found that, like herself, Taiko had a younger brother. According to Taiko, her brother, Kin, was as much as of a pain as Souta could be. Taiko also had a cat, called Mitsu who she had met when she had gone over to her house. The cat was one of the most adorable things Kagome had ever seen. She had creamy fur with black-tipped paws and tail, along with a black four-pointed star on her forehead. When Kagome had asked about her parents, Taiko sadly stated that her mother died soon after her brother was born. Kagome told her what had happened to her father, to which Taiko joked that maybe they should get their parents together.

 

"Hey Taiko-chan. You're later than usual. What happened?"

 

"My brother wanted me to walk him to school today. He's afraid of the rain for some reason. Kagome-chan, I wanted to ask you, did you understand the English homework?"

 

"Don't look at me. I can't even understand it. Besides, Yamana-sensai doesn't take homework as a grade; she just makes sure you did it."

 

"Ok, I guess... thanks." They walked together for another block when three figures raced towards them.

 

"Oh no. For just one morning can I have some peace from them?"

 

"Kagome-chan?" Kagome looked at Taiko.

 

"Do you mind if of few of my friends join us?"

 

"Kagome-chan, wait up!" Yuka, Eri and Ayumi walked up behind Kagome and Taiko.

 

"Hey guys, have you met Taiko-chan yet?" Kagome asked with a fake smile on her face.

 

Eri and Yuka looked at Taiko and then dragged Kagome up the sidewalk. "What are you doing Kagome-chan?"

 

Kagome stared blankly at them, "What do you mean?"

 

"You're talking to the girl who's trying to grab Hojo-kun from under your nose, that's what. Unless you're trying to..."

 

"That's it!" Yuka exclaimed, "You're trying to get dirt on her."

 

"What? No, we're just-."

 

"Go for it Kagome-chan. I know you can win Hojo-kun back from her grasp!" Eri and Yuka pushed Kagome back to where Taiko and Ayumi were waiting.

 

"See you in class, Kagome-chan." Eri and Yuka walked ahead, but Ayumi stayed back to talk for a bit.

 

"Sorry about them, they're total romantics. I'm Ayumi by the way; nice to meet you Taiko-chan."

 

"Thank you Ayumi-san. Are they always like that?"

 

"Yes, it does get quite annoying." Ayumi looked ahead to see where Eri and Yuka had wondered off to, "Great, they're bothering the medicine woman again. They can never take a break... See you guys later!" Ayumi left at a run towards a small shop that had herbs hanging in the windows.

 

"Well, at least they didn't try to tell you off..." Kagome laughed shyly.

 

"Who's Hojo? And why do they think I like him?"

 

Kagome sighed, "I'll tell you in Biology. It's a very long story."

 

 

~*~

 

 

The bell rang, signaling the end of the first class. The students stood and bowed to the teacher, than packed their books up and left the room. Kagome and Taiko were leaving the room, but the teacher held them back.

 

"Higurashi-jou, I need to speak with you." He turned off the projector and walked over to his desk and leaned against it.

 

"Kagome-chan, I'll meet you at your locker."

 

Kagome nodded, "Ok, Taiko-chan."

 

"Yes, Giman-sensai?" she walked up to the front of his desk.

 

"Higurashi, over the past couple of days, I've noticed a change in you." he folded his hands leisurely on his lap.

 

Kagome gulped, "You have?"

 

"Yes. But it seems you are completely ignorant of the situation. You've been going around, unprotected, which is rather foolish with the item you carry. But you can fix that."

 

"Pardon me sir, but what are you talking about?"

 

"What else other than the Shikon jewel?” a smug smile formed on his face, “I offer my services to you, miko. An untrained person with your power needs protection."

 

Kagome eyes widened and she shook her head, "I must decline your offer sir. I already found someone who is perfectly capable of protecting me."

 

He chuckled at her answer, "You don't honestly believe that a half-breed mutt can protect you, do you? Especially when he's still stuck to that tree..."

 

Kagome gasped, "So you're the one. You've been spying on me, haven't you?" She took a step back.

 

The teacher grabbed her wrist and brought her closer to the desk. He used his free hand to lift her chin up and his ice blue eyes locked with hers. Kagome tried to get out of his hold, but found that she couldn't move. "Listen good Higurashi. Being human, you have no use for the jewel. There's a big price tag for it in the Underground, so hand it over now and you won't get hurt."

 

She was scared. This person was supposed to be someone she could trust, and here he was, threatening her. She continued to struggle, but her body wouldn't listen. "Let me go, you creep!"

 

He slammed a clawed hand down on her mouth. "Why should I let you go? So you can squeal on me to the administrators and have me kicked out?" He moved his hand down and wrapped it around her neck, "Don't make me ask for it again... or I'll take it by force." A wolfish grin spread across his face, showing a pair of very sharp looking fangs.

 

Something in Kagome snapped and she felt a power surge through her. Whatever it was, it threw her teacher back against the wall, allowing her to escape. She grabbed her bag which had fallen to the floor and bolted out of the room.

 

"Ow...damn wench packs a punch...." the teacher stood up and brushed himself off. His blue eyes shot up as a black figure dissolved from the shadows.

 

"What the hell do you want, Yomi? Don't you bother me enough at HQ without you butting in during my work hours?"

 

The black figure smirked, "And what fun would that be, 'Giman'? You have really got to come up with a better name than that."

 

"You try to come up with a better name so that your civilian boss doesn't find out who you really are."

 

"Not like that matters now, after what you did to the miko. You know she's going to report it."

 

The teacher smiled, "Actually, my boss isn't in today. All I have to do is make sure that little imp of his doesn't say anything, and I can stay here for awhile longer."

 

"Yes, that would be good. But the boss sent me here to tell you not to mess up anymore. You have to get the girl to trust you, not scare her away, Kouga. You're under a heavier watch now. If you mess up again, you'll be sent to the Resort while someone more suitable takes over."

 

Kouga paled as the word 'Resort' left Yomi's lips, "Whatever you say Yomi. Oh, and tell Naraku to be more careful when spying on the girl. Insects or not, she was able to sense them." Koga picked up an eraser from the chalkboard behind him and threw it at Yomi. As the object hit, it went straight through its target, as if the youkai was never there. Yomi gave a cocky salute then vanished.

 

“Damn,” the wolf said to himself, “another illusion.”

 

 

~*~

 

 

TBC

 

Alright, I know, I know, how could I have Kouga as a bad guy? I have nothing against his character; in fact he's one of my favorites. I'm just using him as a creep in my story to make things more interesting.