Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Golden Gaze ❯ Chapter 6

Golden Gaze

By:

Goijh

Author's note:

This chapter is not really what I had hoped it would be. But some parts of it are necessary so here it is. For those of you who have been asking I will say this again. The final pairing of this story is a suprise. For the most part it will be Youko/Kagome with hints of Inuyasha/Kagome. So if you want a Kurama/Kagome fic, this is technically one. I'm just making things a little more complicated because right now, Kagome is still in love with Inuyasha. Inuyasha also happens to love her, he just hasn't told her.

See how that can make things interesting? It'll provide for a lot of conflict later on.

I also apologize for how slowly this has been moving. (The whole things's taken place over the course of less than 24 hours.) The pace will pick up a bit in a little while, but its not really my style to just rush through things. I like to use detail and when I'm trying to hurry something, I leave out all the descriptions that I think make the story what it is.

Chapter Six

Miroku and Sango clung to the firecat as Kiarara tried desperately to relocate the hanyou's trail. A neko's nose was not nearly as strong as an inu's, but as it was all that they had, it would have to suffice.

The monk found himself shaking his head in frustration. Inuyasha had run out of their sight almost 20 minutes ago. He thought that they would have caught up with the hanyou by now, but obviously Kagome was a bit farther away than they had assumed.

Kiarara let out a low growl to inform her passengers that she had once again found his scent. Because Inuyasha ran with a pace full of leaps and bounds, it was often erratic and difficult to stay on track.

Sango felt her stomach tighten as they once again raced forward, hot in pursuit. Leaves rustled in the breeze of their own creation, and color flashed by. The taijiya had no idea where Inuyasha had suddenly gotten his speed from. She could've sworn that he couldn't move that fast, but maybe it was because she and the others were so tired.

Miroku's grip on his staff tightened as Kiarara plunged downward toward the forest floor, still following the hanyou's scent. He was behaving himself for once, even though Sango had never looked so tempting. At least not in the past hour. Her lower lip jutted out in a pout as she lost herself in her thoughts. The monk felt his hand twitch in response, yearning to grope her.

But he wasn't too keen on getting knocked off of Kiarara's back right now while they were flying through the air, so he restrained himself and held on for the ride.

"Houshi-sama?" Sango asked in a voice barely above a whisper.

Miroku started at hearing her voice, violently snapping out of his naughty thoughts. Recollecting himself before Sango could notice though he responded.

"Hmmm?"

"Do you think that Kagome's alright?"

Miroku was a little startled by Sango's question but chose not to show it. In all honesty the same thought had crossed his mind quite a few times since the previous night. After all, Lady Kagome was a powerful miko and a lovely young girl. There was no telling what could have happened while she was lost in the forest.

"I'm sure she's fine Lady Sango. If she wasn't Inuyasha would have sensed it and alerted us."

Sango still appeared a bit doubtful. She chewed on her lower lip as she once again drifted into the world of her thoughts. For surely not the first time that day, she found herself praying to kami that the younger girl was still safe.

'I hope we find her before anything happens.'

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Kagome, still shuddering from the aftermath of her fear, finally found the courage to lift her eyes to meet Inuyasha's. He was on his knees before her, his molten amber orbs staring straight at her. She could see the flickering flame of his fear beginning to fan into a fire of anger in their depths.

She flinched as she thought of the insults to come, but kept her gaze steady. She didn't want Inuyasha to know that she felt guilty, as if she had done something wrong by saving this youkai's life. But something had compelled her to. Something that not even she could explain.

Inuyasha's eyes finally focused. They narrowed in confusion and rage, burning holes into Kagome's own as she continued to return his glare, though hers was not as challenging as his own.

"What the hell was that for wench?!" Inuyasha managed to snarl through gritted teeth. He was still to shocked to yell, but it wouldn't take long before he would have that blessed ability back again. Then Kagome was REALLY going to get it.

Kagome still continued to meet his eyes for a few minutes, her sapphire orbs begging to understand some cryptic message that he just couldn't. Finally she lowered her head so that her bangs shielded her eyes.

"I don't know."

'She doesn't know?!' Inuyasha's mind screamed, rage finally breaking down all barriers. 'She doesn't know?! She throws herself in front of my blade and she doesn't know why?! Why the hell would she want to save some youkai scoundrel like this?!' Inuyasha's inability to comprehend the situation frustrated him to no end. Kagome frustrated him to no end.

Couldn't she tell that he cared for her? He always protected her, even at the risk of his own life, and yet she still had no idea of how he felt about her! Instead of realizing that she was his, she went around saving all these male youkai like Kouga and this guy, who ended up wanting her as their mates. Couldn't she tell how jealous that made him? How much it hurt him to see her care for strangers apparently more than she cared for him?

"What the hell do you mean you don't know wench?!" Inuyasha yelled, his voice miraculously returning to help him vent his anger. "You throw yourself in front of my kaze no kizu to save some youkai that just tried to kill me and you have no fucking idea why?!?"

Kagome winced at his volume and harsh language, but did nothing to defend herself. In truth she thought that Inuyasha had every right to be angry with her. Ruefully she admitted that she would probably feel the same way had the tables been turned.

"I'm sorry Inuyasha, I just don't know why."

"I heard you bitch! And that answer isn't good enough! You have to have some fucking idea as to why you did that or you wouldn't have done that!"

Kaogme didn't answer and Inuyasha took that as a cue to carry on.

"This bastard is the youkai that attacked you. I can smell him all over you! Don't try to deny it!" Inuyasha yelled, getting carried away by the current in his river of fury.

Kagome's head snapped up at his words, her blue eyes darkening. "I told you Inuyasha, I was NOT attacked!" She yelled, her voice confident, showing that she was telling the truth.

Inuyasha drew back as if struck. "You weren't?" He finally managed to ask in a pathetic attempt to respond. If Kagome wasn't attcked then why did she reek of this kitsune? Inuyasha's eyes widened as he jumped to conclusions, forgetting for a moment that the scent on her was not nearly as strong as it should've been had the fox actually touched her.

"No Inuyasha, I wasn't," Kagome replied, her voice now calm.

"Well then what the hell happened?" the inu demanded, growing angry again as he replayed all the worst possible scenarios in his mind, mainly ones where Kagome and the silver haired stranger were romanticly involved.

Kagome began to grow a little nervous under Inuyasha's relentless golden gaze. 'Should I tell him?' she asked herself as her eyes began to dart to anywhere but the hanyou in front of her.

"Well?" Inuyasha growled again as the girl in front of him began to fidget. Deciding to have a little mercy on her, the half demon back away a little to sit cross legged about 5 feet in front of her. He didn't move his eyes away though.

As soon as there was a little more distance between them, the miko visibly relaxed. For a moment both forgot about the strange kitsune lying behin Kagome as the ningen girl opened her mouth to explain what had happened.

Kagome hurried through her explantion of how she had gotten lost and wandered around looking for her comrades, barely making it through without stumbling over her words she spoke so quickly. Everynow and then she was interrupted by a "Feh." or a muttered comment of, "Stupid wench." Finally she came to her meeting with Youko Kurama.

There she hesitated.

Inuyasha immediately attacked her verbally when she stopped, "Keep going wench! You're not done yet!"

Kagome bit her tounge to stifle the urge to sit him. Then she continued:

"While I was in the clearing, I felt a shard nearby. It turned out to belong to the kitsune that you attacked. He didn't use it though..." A hint of wonder snuck into her voice as she recalled the event. "He didn't seem to want to harm me at all. It fact, he seemed to be quite...well...interested in me." At this Inuyasha covered a possessive growl with a disgusted, "Feh!" Kagome shot him a glare but other than that continued on without further acknowledgement of his rude behavior.

"He and I talked for a while. He told me that his name was Youko Kurama and he had taken the shard from a goup of weak youkai that had tried to attack him. Somehow, while we spoke, he took the shikon shards that I had around my neck. I didn't even know what had happened until he was about to leave."

Inuyasha jumped to his feet prepared to skin the still unconcious youkai alive in order to retrieve the shards from his body. Kagome stopped him though with a simple gesture as she lifted the delicate chain which held the shards from her her neck and dangled it for the inu to see.

"He tossed the necklace back to me, and he added his own shard to it." She offered in explanation as she showed Inuyasha the extra shard, as if in proof of the act.

"Feh. He still tried to kill me wench. And you haven't explained why you saved him."

Kagome's attention was drawn back to the limp figure behind her as she glanced over her shoulder as if to make sure he was still there.

"I told you, I don't know why Inuyasha. But something about him..." A dazed expression crossed Kagome's face as she continued to gaze at the kitsune, one hand coming down to caress the silver locks that splayed all over the ground. That all to familiar little green monster was creeping up on Inuyasha as he watched her. He growled deep in his throat, but Kagome seemed not to notice.

"Something about him tells me that he's not a bad youkai." She finally finished as she turned back to face Inuyasha. Her fragile hand remained on Youko's hair, but the placement of them now seemed more accidental than before.

"So, you spared his life on something as little as intuition? What if he had regained conciousness while you were in front of my blade? He could've killed you then and there and there would have been nothing I could do about it." Inuyasha argued, a little shocked that he had acknowleged how helpless he would've been in the situation, had it occurred.

A night breeze floated through the woods, playing with Kagome's hair as it passed. It helped to cool the flush of embarressment that was beginning to show on the miko's face. But her cheeks visibly burned all the same.

In all honesty Kagome was feeling extremely foolish at the moment. Especially sitting there under Inuyasha's superior stare. What if Youko had tried to kill her? What if he wasn't the enigmatic, yet harmless, creature that she assumed him to be? She hated how Inuyasha could bring up all those valuable points in a matter of seconds. It always made her feel so naive.

"I don't know Inuyasha." She whispered as she turned her head away from him, her eyes once again falling on the silver tresses splashed against the forest floor.

Inuyasha, though he tried to be gruff and uncaring, could see how stupid Kagome was feeling at the moment and decided to take pity on her. Standind once again, he held out a hand to help her up as well. Her sapphire eyes looked up at him, wide with surprise and confusion.

"Feh." Inuyasha huffed, turning his head away, but keeping the hand extended.

Out of the corner of his eye though he saw Kagome smile thankfully. Taking his hand in her own she stood, still regarding him with a bit of puzzlement, but grateful that he had let the subject drop. Inuyasha could barely contain his chest from swelling in pride. It never ceased to amaze him how pleased he became with himself when he did something right or made the ningen girl smile.

Suddenly his head snapped to the surrounding trees, all his attention focusing on the scent that he had caught coming towards them. Kagome tensed and unconciously clung to his arm, scooting closer to him as one hand moved over her shoulder, prepared to grab her bow any moment.

The youkai scent drifted towards him again as the breeze strengthened and Inuyasha visibly relaxed. "Its Miroku and Sango on Kiarara," He quickly explained as he shifted away from Kagome and prepared himself in a triumphant pose to greet his comrades when they arrived.

Eager and blinded by anticipation, neither heard the soft moan that came from behind them as a certain thief stirred.

**************************************

Youko opened his eyes slowly, moaning softly in pain as he did so. How could he have been so careless as to attack like that? It was completely out of his nature! Once his eyes were completely opened he realized that he had made yet another mistake as they were met with the vision of the inu and ningen onna standing in front of him.

Stifling the groan that threatened to make itself known when he shifted his weight a little, Youko kept his eyes on the two. It appeared that they were waiting for something, or someone. Though he didn't really want to stick around to find out, the kitsune knew that he had no choice in the matter. His back was killing him from that blow into the tree. Barely any youkai alive could hit him hard enough to knock him out with one blow like that.

It was just his luck that the ningen happened to be somehow involved with the one that could.

Youko's vision, blurred from the throbbing in his head, was now clearing along with the rest of his senses. He immediately smelled the fast approach of a firecat along with...two more humans? In too much pain to really wonder about it, he shifter his attention elsewhere.

The ningen.

His eyes immediately fell to her long legs, and without really noticing what he was doing, they began to slowly move upwards, until, with a barely contained gasp, he realized that when the night breeze blew just right, he could see right up her kimono. What did she where under that thing? He wondered at the piece of cloth for a moment until he forced himself to move his eyes away.

She was nothing more than a ningen. Albeit and interesting one, but still a ningen.

And the reason why he was in this situation in the first place.

Curse his curiosity.

The girl, Kagome, and her youkai companion continued to ignore his state of awareness as they waited expectantly for the approaching group. Youko couldn't help but inwardly chuckle as he began tally the number of times he could have killed them by now. His youki was quickly returning to him and his enhanced healing attributes were already taking care of his injuries. He was almost like new.

He could've left right then and there and they wouldn't have noticed.

But for some reason he wanted to hang around.

He didn't know why he was still alive, but as he was, it meant that they weren't interested in killing him. At least not yet. And perhaps if he stayed a few more moments, he would gain some information about the shikon jewel and the mysterious girl who seemed to possess half of it.

"You do know that I could've killed, skinned, and eaten you by now?" He asked in a cool voice, causing Kagome to jump and Inuyasha's to whirl around, Tetsusaiga drawn.

Kagome was a little slower, but soon she too faced him, one of her hands resting on Inuyasha's arm in almost a soothing fashion. Her blue eyes sparked a little in annoyance as she looked at him, but he thought that he could detect a little bit of relief in their depths as well.

That was surprising.

Was she concerned for him?

"Youko Kurama, nice to see you're awake now." Kagome replied with a smile, plainly ignoring his previous comment. Her hand tightened its grip every so slightly on Inuyasha's arm when the handsome kitsune picked himself up, dusting his body off. Flexing his fangs suggestively, Youko met the inu's enraged amber gaze. He could tell that the other youkai wanted to slit his throat and cut him into pieces.

The feeling was mutual.

Kagome cleared her throat loudly to interrupt the staring contest that was taking place. Neither moved, but Inuyasha's ear twitched at the sound. That caught Kurama's attention. Ears on his head?

Youko's eyes unwillingly darted to the sight and the inu let out a small yelp of victory. The demon didn't even notice though as realization dawned on him. Only certain types of extremely powerful kitsune's could retain their animal ears. An inu possessing them only meant one thing.

He was a hanyou.

That was definately a big blow to Youko's pride. A mere half-breed had defeated him in battle with a single blow. It was the ningen's fault. For some reason she distracted him so. If he had been focused he would never have lost. If it wasn't for her he wouldn't have even attacked that hanyou in the first place.

He turned an accusing glare to her.

Kagome jumped a little in suprise to be the subject of such a angry stare for no apparent reason. What had she done to offend him? Inuyasha, noticing the look in the foreign youkai's eyes and at whom it was directed, growled low in his throat and tightened his grip on the Tetsusaiga.

"Wench, why did you spare his life again?" Inuyasha growled as he stepped in front of her, blocking her from the kitsune's eyes.

Kagome herself couldn't answer that now as the words seemed to get caught in her throat. For a moment she thought that she saw a flicker of pain in the kistune's eyes when she didn't reply, but it vanished so quickly that she was forced to blink and wonder if it was ever there at all.

Youko could tell that without Kagome's support the hanyou was going to try to cut him down any moment now. He was disappointed that the ningen could't articulate any reason as to why she had spared his life, but whether it was at her for not being able to do so or at himself for making her change her mind about him, he wasn't sure.

Preparing for the fight that he knew was to commence, Kurama bared his claws and flexed them dangerously. He watched with amusement as the hanyou began to sniff the air in confusion when he masked his scent once again. He would like nothing better than to even the score with the mutt.

Kagome felt Inuyasha's muscles tense as he got ready to leap at Youko. She knew it was now or never. Luckily her voice agreed as well, and miraculously found its way back to her.

"Inuyasha, SIT!"

Youko watched in unmasked shock as, before his very eyes, the hanyou slammed into the ground in a blur of red and silver. You defunately did not need to have youkai hearing to catch the curses that ensued.

Unwilling to voice his question, yet curious all the same, he brought his golden eyes to meet Kagome's. The annoyance that flashed in those ocean depths surprised him, but he didn't look away.

"He has a subduing charm placed on his necklace." Kagome finally supplied with an exasperated sigh. She had no idea why she was still being friendly with the fox. She should have purified his ass by now for attacking Inuyasha and then having the nerve to glare at her like that when she had saved his life.

Why she didn't just shoot him right now was beyond her.

But she knew that she couldn't.

And to make matters worse, HE knew that she wouldn't.

As soon as Inuyasha's subduing spell wore off, the inu was back on his feet, unwittingly turning his back to his opponent as he moved to yell at Kagome. Youko growled at the insult. That was the second time that day that that had happened to him! Inuyasha however, only smirked when he heard the noise and realized what it meant.

"Bitch! What the hell was that for?!" He demanded, continuing to ignore the bristling demon behind him.

Although Kagome never realized it, Youko immediately knew what it meant when Inuyasha called her by that name. And for one reason or another he found himself really disliking it. It brought back all the jealousy that he had been feeling as he watched them embrace, and then the frustration that a mere human girl was arousing that green little monster in him. However, only one thought remained clear in him mind.

'How dare that half-breed call her his!'

A/N: A female dog is a bitch. When Inuyasha calls Kagome a bitch he's actually saying that she's his. Of course she doesn't know that because she thinks its an insult and Inuyasha's not exactly willing to explain it all to her.

"SIT! My name is KAGOME! Use it!" The miko yelled as once again Inuyasha hurtled into the forest floor, making a crater in the shape of his body.

"As for why I did that, I told you. Youko Kurama did NOT attack me in any way shape or form and I still firmly believe that he doesn't intend to. Therefore you'll just have to get over your bloodlust because you're NOT killing him!"

Youko's eyebrows shot up at her words. It amazed him that she could be so trusting. Especially after he had already displayed to her that he could steal her shards without any effort. But it also made him feel a little warm inside to think that she did infact, trust him.

After all, no one trusts a thief. It was surprising to find just how much he had missed the feeling of acceptence.

His eyes narrowed.

He didn't like how this girl was so easily evoking all of these emotions in him.

Suddenly his ears perked up.

The forgotten Miroku and Sango emerged from the surrounding forest in a graceful bound from Kiarara. Having sensed a foreign demon presence when they were still a ways away, both humans were already prepared to launch their attacks as soon as they appeared. What meet their eyes when they arrived was the final prodding they needed to jump into a full scale assualt.

There on the ground before them was Inuyasha, struggling against injuries not visible from their view point to rise. Kagome stood protectively in front of him, trying to act as a barrier against a silver haired youkai, who with narrowed eyes, looked particularly malicious.

Things are not always what they appear to be.

Almost before Youko could react, hiraikotsu was whistling through the air, aimed for his head. He just barely dodged it as it soared past. Retaliating quickly he bent his knees. Then with a powerful push he was off the ground and airbound...

...Until something large and heavy struck him from behind.

Falling to the ground he landed in an uncermonious heap at the base of a tree. Getting a sparce glance at the object that had hit him. He groaned in anger at himself. How could he not have noticed that the weapon was a boomerrang? One thing was for sure, this was not his day.

'Stupid ningen girl!' His mind screamed as he leapt to his feet, quickly recovering and ready to attack.

"WAIT! STOP!" Kagome yelled.

Inuyasha and Youko's ears flattened themselves against their owner's heads as they snapped their eyes to Kagome to glare at her. Out of pure reflex, Kiarara and her passengers ceased their actions and turned questioning faces to the miko.

Seeing that she had everyone's attention, and feeling slightly embarressed from it, Kagome seized the opportunity to storm over to Youko. Without a word she grabbed his hand as a furious blush colored her cheeks.

"Youko is my friend. DO NOT KILL HIM!" She scolded through clenched teeth.

Then, without any any explanation what so ever, she turned on her heal and dragged the speechless youkai behind her into the forest.

Kiarara descended to the ground as soon as the young girl was out of sight and allowed her mistress and the monk to alight. Transforming into a kitten, she jumped into Sango's arms, burying herself into her chest and purring loudly.

Miroku and Sango stared at Inuyasha expectantly, who in turn look extremely pissed off.

"Feh! Stupid wench!" Was the only answer he supplied them with. Then he turned and began to gather firewood. Taking it as a sign to make camp, and honestly not knowing what else to do, the others followed suit.

Kagome was going to have a lot of explaining to do when she returned.

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BONUS SCENE:

Naraku's Honorless Death

By:

Goijh

Scene One:

"Naraku, while conducting his mysterious and maniacal laughter, accidently sucked in one of his poisonous insects. The results were terrible. He began to choke like President Bush on a pretzel. His suffocating limbs lashed out franticly as he tried to clasp his hands to his throat in an effort to release himself of the clog located there.

His features slowly greyed as his slow death steadily advanced upon him. With his last dreg of energy he called out to Kanna to help him. The little incarnation though, so lethargic in her movements was slow to come to his aid. When she finally did though, it was Naraku or her mirror.

She glanced once at the humanoid youkai before her. The man called Onigumo who had given his body to the demons. The cruel and brutal monster that held her heart in his hand, and clenched it painfully when she didn't abide by his orders.

Then her pale eyes fell lovingly upon her mirror. The one thing in her forsaken life that she cherished. The only good thing that had ever come to her.

Her back turned as Naraku's gasps for air became more rugged and farther in between. There really was not much of a choice."

Hee Hee. Just a little something that I felt like adding in there.