Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Time Traveler Meets Spirit Detective ❯ Chapter 14 ( Chapter 14 )

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho or Inuyasha

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Chapter 14 - Drained

Kagome took a deep breath and once again tried to grasp the tendrils of energy she knew were there. And once again they flew out of her grasp. She gave a frustrated sigh and her eyes flew open as she stared at the darkening sky. Sure, these little one-hour sessions after dinner allowed her to control her powers better with weapons and wards, but she still couldn't channel them into her hands.

Kikyou had done it. She knew she had. They had talked about it later, and when Kikyou had her soul, the miko had hurt Inuyasha with her powers. They were probably weaker because of her dead body, but Kagome had a mostly full soul, so why was this so hard?

The stars that were appearing gave her no answers; simply shining weak rays of light down to meet her. Kagome let her mind travel over the past few days. Things had mostly stayed the same. Inuyasha had became more like his normal self, but that wasn't much of an improvement, and not who she was worried at. Yusuke had taken to ignoring her a good portion of the time while snapping at her the rest of it. Shippo talked to her, but spent more time around Kurama now, apparently deciding the tense atmosphere between Yusuke and Kagome didn't make for a nice place to stay, and he didn't cuddle with Kagome anymore. Not only because he was angry, but also because someone else had taken his place.

The only two being really friendly were Botan and Sango. Miroku amused them with light chatter and jokes every so often, but that usually ended up with him unconscious when he tried to grope either Sango or Botan. He didn't dare try Kagome, because Inuyasha wasn't the only one who reacted badly to that, no mater how mad the other one was at her.

It could perhaps be three if you counted Puu, who seemed constantly depressed, but taking comfort in Kagome's presence. Kurama had once looked between Puu, Yusuke, and Kagome, and then burst out laughing. No one had gotten him to explain what was so amusing.

Kagome flexed on hand, grinning slightly despite the turn for the worse her memories had taken recently. She'd see if he refused to tell her again when she got her powers under control. Kagome closed her eyes and let out another sigh, trying to focus on grasping the miko energy she could sense inside her. Perhaps that should have been an if she ever got her powers under control. This was getting to be boring, tedious, and was apparently redundant.

As if the stars sparkling in the sky decided to make it a bit less boring, her senses told her that a demon had suddenly appeared in front of her. She opened her eyes and eyed the ugly thing curiously. Then her survival instincts kicked in and she drew a breath to scream.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you little miko. I only want your shards. It wouldn't be so hard just to give them to me, would it? Your hanyou probably knows how weak you are, it's his own fault if you get them taken." Kagome let the breath out, seeing the poison dripping from its fangs. She briefly wondered what kind of demon it was before her mind supplied the answer.

A long slithering body covered in brown, black, and red scales wove back and forth in front of her, eyes flashing between red and green trained on her and the shards it knew she had. 'Snake demon,' her mind supplied with cool efficiency. Kagome shivered as the demon's eyes stayed red and it leaned in closer, some of its venom burning the grass underneath it.

"W-What do you mean?" The snake hissed at her question, snapping an inch from her face before falling back with an amused chuckle at her terrified expression.

"You think I do not know who you are, Girl-who-shattered-the-Shikon no Tama? Everyone knows who you are. You are a legend, as are your traveling companions. Some say you have recently gathered more, but that's just a rumor to keep others away, isn't it miko? Now," The demon paused and suddenly opened its mouth, rearing above her and looking as if it was about to eat her whole. "Give me the Shikon Jewel girl!"

Kagome stared at the demon before anger and fear mixed together, and she wanted to hide, but find a weapon at the time. She would never make it to her bow, only a few paces away. She had thought she would have been able to sense a demon before it came. Apparently she was too deep in thought.

She closed her eyes as the demon seemed to rear up farther, coiling its body to get ready to strike. Her mind supplied a subconscious answer as fear overrode her senses, and instead of trying to grasp the tendrils of miko energy, she dove into them, and to the maelstrom beyond, pushing the tendrils from the center.

Kagome's eyes came open with a snap and as she saw the demon's head a foot from hers, it's eyes flickering with wordless pain as one hand touched it's scales. It disappeared shortly after and Kagome took a shaky breath, feeling drained. She really needed to work on how much energy she put into those blasts. If... No, when she did that again, she wanted to be able to walk afterwards.

-~-

Yusuke's head jerked up to look in the direction where Kagome was presently "meditating" or so she said. He felt the others tense around him and knew that had not been his imagination. It faded in a moment, and everyone seemed to relax, as her aura was still there, just not as strong.

"Meditating huh? Why does her aura flare like that while 'meditating'?"

He caught Botan's confused look and she opened her mouth to say something. "Meditating? She not mediating! Well, I suppose she is in a way, but..."

Botan trailed off, seeing all the confused and one pissed off face around her. Before she could say another word, Yusuke stood up and stalked off towards Kagome's position.

Botan looked at the others and was glad Inuyasha hadn't been paying attention too much of what anyone said since that flea came. At least Kagome would only have to deal with one of them. She grinned nervously at the other angry and disappointed faces around her.

"Oops?"

-~-

Kagome heard Yusuke stomping through the forest towards her and wondered what had gotten him upset this time. She really didn't have the strength to do much more than sit up, and looked at the ashes of the demon with horrified fascination. What would Yusuke think when he saw those? She could just imagine that conversation. 'Oh, you see, it's just really dusty around here! No, that's not marks of demon venom on the ground! Why do you ask?'

Yeah, like that would work. She rolled her eyes as Yusuke came into view and settled herself in to listen to a rant. Instead he simply narrowed his eyes at her and leaned against a tree, hands in his pockets as he glared at her viciously. Kagome tilted her head slightly and her expression turned quizzical. This wasn't his 'I'm still angry about what you did so I'm making up something to be mad about' face. This was something new.

"You said you were meditating, but Botan seems to disagree." Kagome's confused expression remained a moment before she realized what he was talking about and a wince appeared briefly. It was enough for Yusuke who just glared at her, turning around just as Kagome saw the glimpse of buried hurt in his eyes.

She struggled up, calling out as she forced her drained body to move. "Yusuke! Wait! I was mediating! Just not normal meditating, I just didn't know what else to call it!"

Kagome was ignored in favor of more walking and Kagome actually cursed, causing Yusuke to stumble slightly right before Kagome's body decided that after being drained of miko energy, it wasn't going to stand up anymore.

Yusuke turned around briefly, seeing Kagome glaring at the ground hatefully. He eyes her suspiciously before asking, "What were you doing then, that you didn't know what to call it?"

Kagome ignored the lethargic feeling rushing through her body and forced herself to stand back up again, trying to pretend she had just stumbled. "Trying to access more of my miko powers. To help. When we get to faster demons, the bow can be knocked away, the arrow dodged, and I usually end up in trouble. I wanted to help out more instead of being a hindrance, so I came out here to concentrate after dinner. I just didn't tell anyone exactly what I was doing because I didn't want them to suddenly expect me to be better."

Kagome smiled a bit ruefully. "Most nights I don't get anywhere." She hesitated briefly before adding on to the statement. "I may have had a break through with it tonight. I think."

Yusuke gave a brief smirk at the unsure statement, relaxing slightly. It was a sort of meditating then, in her own way. She hadn't been lying, just not telling the whole truth. That didn't mean he wasn't angry. "Your wards seemed to work fine a few days ago."

At the nasty comment she winced, a regretful guilty looking pasting itself on her face, but before she could reply he spoke again. "What break through? Did it have to do with the really large energy spike a few minutes ago?"

Kagome gaze seemed to drawn to the spot where a faint outline of the demon could still be seen along the ground, along with the spots burned by the snake demon's venom. Yusuke walked by her, looking from her to the ashes back to her again, the at the snake venom. "Demon?"

"Snake demon."

Yusuke waited for her to continue then turned his head and glared at her. "Well, what the hell happened to it?"

Kagome shifted on her feet awkwardly, at the same time trying to keep from falling down. "I happened to it." Kagome frowned, thinking over what had happened, then admitted quietly, "I'm not quite sure exactly how I did it. But if I practice I'm sure I'll be able to do it again!"

Yusuke looked her over, scowling as she wavered slightly on her feet. "Right. So you made with the miko energy and that's what the stupid energy spike was." He paused briefly before crossing his arms and narrowing his eyes. "Drained you, didn't it?"

Kagome made a great impression of a fish and the first thing that came to mind was to deny it. The second thing was to find out how he figured it out. She put them together. "What makes you think that?"

Yusuke bristled, his gaze turning angry as the girl made as if she wasn't barely standing up right now. Before it could turn into a fight, a little voice interrupted them disapprovingly. "Puu!"

The cute looking creature was settled on a branch of a tree that stood an equal distance from both of them. Kagome sighed as she watched Puu gaze at her sternly, apparently upset at something. 'Yusuke's upset, that's why. He's mirroring him.'

"Yes it did."

"Huh?" Yusuke's brain seemed to shut down for a moment. What question was she answering again? Oh yeah... If she'd been drained. Yusuke glared at Puu. She'd lie to him, but not lie in front of Puu?

"Puu," Puu said sorrowfully, looking towards Yusuke. Yusuke rolled his eyes, then turned as a sharp snap was heard as Kagome took a few stumbling steps towards camp.

"What the hell are you doing? You just admit killing that one demon drained you and you're trying to walk back to that damn camp? You'll fall asleep before you make it halfway there."

Kagome shrugged, knowing he was right but not having enough energy to say much. She'd never beat Naraku if she fell asleep every time she used her energy without an object to focus and control it. She managed another few steps before she fell down, yawning as she lay there sleepily. She shook her head and sat up; trying to shake off the lethargy that had slowly grown ever since she'd unleashed her powers upon the demon.

She let herself fall into the rejuvenating darkness when two strong arms picked her up, grumbling under their breath. Kagome just smiled and went to sleep, the last words echoing in her mind.

"This doesn't mean I forgive you."

-~-

Sango viewed the scene in front of her, looking over Kagome briefly before deciding there were no injuries and that she simply looked exhausted. With a carefully hidden smile, Sango tuned back into everyone else to watch as they reacted to the Spirit Detective carrying in the miko girl. Everyone glanced at each other, but Miroku grinned at them and Sango sighed, reaching out a hand for her boomerang in case it was needful.

"So, what exactly were you doing in the woods that tired out Kagome so much?" Miroku wiggled his eyebrows suggestively and Yusuke tensed, glaring at the monk as he opened his mouth to make another comment. Or an answer to his own question.

"Don't even think about saying it." Yusuke tone lowered dangerously and Miroku seemed to pout slightly. Sango's grip on her boomerang eased as she went to go pull out Kagome's strange "sleeping bag". Sango didn't know what was going on, but she was fairly sure it wasn't what Miroku was suggesting. "So, what happened to her?"

"Drained her miko powers." Sango heard Botan sigh, but her attention wasn't on Kagome and Yusuke, it was on the dog hanyou who had finally come out of his own mind and had realized what was going on. A low growl split the puzzled air running through the group.

"So why the hell are you carrying her? She would have been fine until she woke up." Everyone turned to stare at Inuyasha, who ducked his head to hide his face under his bangs.

"But, wouldn't a demon have found her if that happened?" Kuwabara asked.

"The hanyou is simply jealous, his brain isn't even working at its normal idiotic level," Hiei said, giving his version of an answer. Another snarl erupted, but no denial. Yusuke rolled his eyes and put Kagome down inside the sleeping bag.

Kagome immediately began tossing around and the Spirit Detectives seemed alarmed. Puu gave the answer to the question they were all wondering when he landed near her and snuggled up to her. Shippo, seeing Kagome in such a state of exhaustion, snuck over, sniffing around her face. With a sudden flurry of movement he was inside the sleeping bag and Kagome slept peacefully, her arms curling around the small beings.

"She's used to having something small near her when she sleeps I suppose. She has that cat at home after all," Botan commented gently.

Yusuke glared at Puu, but it was a halfhearted glare, more out of a habit of glaring at something than anything else. They all settled down near the fire, Inuyasha hopping to tree nearby, obviously wanting to hear the conversation. Silence reigned, everyone staring at Yusuke while he stared at the fire, apparently willing the silent Spirit Detective to talk.

Inuyasha was the first one to break from the silence. "Damn it, just tell us how she drained herself, huh?"

Yusuke looked up slowly, eyeing the dog demon, Kagome's words running through his mind. She was right; they probably would expect more of her if they knew what she was practicing. She wasn't even sure of her own abilities yet, she didn't need everyone else pressuring her, especially since it would only make the air tenser around her. Yusuke shrugged nonchalantly.

He stood up, stared at Inuyasha long enough to make the hanyou start to twitch angrily, then slowly let his gaze flicker to everyone sitting around the fire. Finally, "It's not my story."

He turned and walked back to his sleeping bag, calling over his shoulder. "Let's just say it's not anything that'll get her killed and leave it at that."

As Yusuke settled down, ignoring the protests behind him, he glanced over at Kagome, remembering how tired she'd been afterwards, and then his memory went to the demon venom that had burned so close to where she sat. If a demon like that approached after she'd let out so much power, she might not be able to defend herself. He scowled slightly at her. She'd better not get herself killed.

"You'd better not make me a liar Kagome."

Only the still awake kitsune child heard the whisper headed his way, and the kit shuddered, curling up tighter next to Kagome and Puu. Kagome wasn't allowed to get hurt in Shippo's opinion. Shippo yawned suddenly, sharp little fangs glinting as the fire's light flashed across them, and let the warmth of the other two warm bodies’ wash over him. There was always tomorrow to worry about these things.

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