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Monster - Chapter 3

Miroku woke early the next morning, groggy, uncomfortable, and insanely stiff. His head was hurting, his eyes were still heavy, his mouth was as dry as cotton, and his side leading over to his back was sore as all hell. The air felt weird. Something was off. The sensation was so predominating, it quickly overpowered the physical ailments he’d focused on as soon as he’d come to.

He blinked several times, attempting to push away the sleep that beckoned him back, the pull of the lingering drowsiness due to fatigue and medicinal properties. He wished he could stretch, awaken his muscles, but he knew that wouldn’t have the same effect as it did yesterday morning. He knew it would only hurt like a bitch. Resolving to deal with the tension in his body, Miroku turned his head, taking in his surroundings to see if he could pinpoint anything in his bedroom that may have been out of the norm to create the awkward feel in the atmosphere.

Sota sat on the edge of his bed, a straight and sullen expression on his face, brown eyes holding still on their wooden flooring. His fingers gripped the fitted sheet of his mattress, and Miroku could see the lack of color in his cheeks from across the room.

“What’s up?” He tried, his tone huskier than he’d expected.

Sota glanced up, unsurprised that he was awake, but as his voice came out, it held no conviction. “Nothing.”

“You okay, munchkin?” Miroku tried again, slowly, slowly pushing his elbows beneath him to start sitting up.

Sota didn’t say anything that time, his eyes falling back to the floor.

“You have a nightmare or something. Are you sick?”

His gaze flickered back up to Miroku but avoided his eyes, unable to hold steady on him at all. They faltered away, then wandered back up, faltered, then lifted, finally meeting Miroku’s patient, indigo stare. “Kagome’s gone.”

Miroku’s brows gave a minute twitch together, unable to understand what his younger cousin had meant by that. The corner of his lips curled downward slightly, but when there was no elaboration given, he had to, inevitably, reach for it. “What do you mean, Kagome’s gone?”

“I mean, she’s gone.” Sota stated.

“Where? On an errand?”

“No.”

“Then where did she go?”

There was a moment of hesitation, one where Sota sucked in a suspenseful breath, the hollow of his throat emphasizing before he sighed it all out and gave Miroku the direct answer he was looking for. “To fight Naraku.”

A surge of ice rushed through Miroku’s body. Any expression he was holding fell away, eyes widening, and his body moving of its own accord as he jolted to sit upright. His ribs protested heavily, feeling as if they were stabbed through and bringing him to immediately regret the action, and he groaned, clutching his side and fighting the urge to curl into himself. He shoved the held air in his lungs out, forcing himself into composure, hardly even realizing Sota had rushed across the room to support him if he needed anything. When the boy’s hand, cold and clammy, met Miroku’s bare shoulder, he glared up at him. “Tell me this was a bad dream you had.”

At first, Sota didn’t know how to answer that. There was so much panic in that single moment with Kagome’s disappearance and the inability to help Miroku’s pain, so he couldn’t help but have the words, or lack thereof, catch in his throat from the unbelievable perturbation.

“Sota, you can’t be serious.”

“She’s gone.” He finally confirmed. “Whatever you guys were planning to do together, she’s doing alone.”

“Fuck!” Miroku cursed, swinging his legs over the edge of his mattress. He had to halt, to brace himself there as he caught his bearings, willing the pain to subside in such a dramatic moment. “When did she leave!?”

“I don’t know. Sometime in the night.” The defensiveness in his tone was rising. Although he’d expected Miroku’s justifiable temperament, he admittedly wasn’t very good at keeping a level head, himself, in the face of conflict.

“And, you knew!?”

“Yes.”

“You knew when she left, or you knew she was going to leave?” Miroku interrogated.

“I knew she was going to leave! Miroku, what are you doing!?” He extended his arms out, prepared to catch his cousin if he lost his balance as he rose to a standing, trudging over toward the door.

“Why didn’t you tell us!?”

“She asked me not to! You would have stopped her!”

“Yeah, that’s the point!”

“She really wanted to do this! She said there was no way to talk her out of it!”

“Sota, don’t you understand?” Miroku asked, winded as he braced against the doorframe of the door he’d just opened. “She could be killed on her own! We had a plan to do it together for a reason!”

“Sit down! You’re in pain!”

“She’s so stupid for going alone! We were supposed to help! God, why is your sister such an idiot!?”

“You’re hurt, Miroku! How could you have helped any? You can hardly walk!” Sota argued.

“She should have waited!”

“She should have, but she didn’t! There’s nothing we can do about that now!”

“Sota,” Miroku had barely moved a foot, leaning against the wall as he slowly turned to look at the younger boy. His heart was pounding within his chest, air pumping through his lungs like he’d run a mile, a heat in his eyes he knew his cousin felt. “How long did you know?”

Again, he hesitated with his answer, feeling nervous and strained. His jaw hung agape, but his tongue created no words, hardly breathing as he physically felt the anger coming from Miroku.

“How long, Sota?” He repeated slowly, clearly.

“Since Naraku’s men left; when I took her aside to calm her down. She told me then.” Sota admitted.

“What is going on?” His mother asked, looking shocked and upset and disheveled while she wrapped her arms around her center to keep her body heat in.

The two boys stared at her, their expressions wavering to match the other’s. Shoulders sagged and brows curved sadly, sympathetically, as they knew this was going to be the worst part of all.

Miroku couldn’t bring himself to say anything more, using the wall as assistance while he trudged down the hall to Kagome’s bedroom, Sota sticking very close while his aunt followed behind, small noises escaping her mouth as her confusion became more prominent. He didn’t bother knocking, though he’d almost raised his knuckles to rasp on the door, completely out of reflex. His fingers curled around the knob, twisting it and pushing it open.

The room was empty. Cold. The bed was unmade, the window was open, and the energy of the room felt lifeless. Kagome was long gone. He limped forward, straight to the open window, noticing the undisturbed dew and leftover raindrops on the windowsill, and even some that had made it to the wooden floor inside just below.

“Where’d Kagome go? I didn’t hear her get up this morning.” She said with a small voice. She could tell something was wrong. She was sure she’d heard her daughter’s name come from the boys while they were yelling, but she was barely waking up at the time and wasn’t quite able to process things well yet.

Miroku turned to look at her, noticing Sota had sat on his sister’s bed, his shoulders drooping further while his head had sunken down. As much as he wanted to pin the blame on Sota, he knew this was more so on him. He knew he was responsible for explaining since he’d helped originate the plan that Kagome had chosen to execute on her own. Sota actively failed to prevent the incident, but Miroku actually knew the details behind it.

“What is going on?” His aunt asked again, her tone slightly deeper, more serious.

“Auntie, sit down.”

“Tell me.” She sternly ordered.

He sighed, turning around to close the window. Again, his ribs protested, a sharp pain jabbing at his muscles and bones, so he was careful to move slowly as he locked it shut. He figured if he was able to do all this there was no way they could be broken.

“Kagome left to fight Naraku. On her own.” He said as he faced her once more, having the respect not to beat around the bush. “Kikyo’s messages really meant something to her, and you know how often she got them. What you don’t know is that we’ve kept up the training we were started on. Worse, actually.” He kind of flinched in preparation of his own admittance. “We’ve intentionally sought out demons - harmful ones - to test our strengths. That’s how Kagome really knew how to hide her powers whenever there were inspections. She’s learned how to use them pretty well. She didn’t want to be defenseless, and I agreed that she shouldn’t be. She’s a conjurer and they’re blacklisted, so she should, at the very least, know what she was capable of to potentially see why - if not only to protect herself. The thing was, and I’m sorry, but we all - Kagome, Sango, and I - planned on doing this exact thing together. She’s positive there are other conjurers receiving the very same messages that she is, so there’s probably going to be an army made up to take down Naraku. She wants to join, and Sango and I wanted to be part of the cause. But, apparently, yesterday she decided to do it all on her own. She left in the middle of the night without telling anyone. Except for Sota.”

There was a horrible silence that filled the air when Miroku had stopped talking. He could see that the information was sinking in with his aunt but her gaze stayed locked on him, only leaving to look at Sota when he was mentioned, and then shooting back to Miroku.

“You all had planned to leave together?” She finally asked.

“Yes.” He answered.

“Were you going to say anything when this happened?”

“No.” His blue eyes fell to the floor briefly, the shame evident. It wasn’t like they didn’t think about how it would affect their families; they’d discussed all the details several times over and eventually came to terms with their decisions. It wasn’t something he was prepared to face, though. “We were packed for it. Whenever Kagome felt like it was time to leave - as in Kikyo gave some sort of direct order or something - we were equipped to head out.”

“You - you were packed?” His aunt inquired, appearing somewhat taken aback.

“Yeah.” Miroku confirmed. “We kept our things hidden in the location we trained at, along with our weapons.”

She made a small sound of muddled astonishment, her brows shrugging and then furrowing. “I’d always wondered what had happened to Kagome’s bow and arrows.”

“Um - well, the bow you’re thinking of broke. We had to replace it a year ago, so we went and bought a new one.” He confessed, his jittery nerves showing a bit more.

“You - how - how did you buy a new one? Where?” She questioned speculatively.

“We’ve been doing side jobs outside of town for a while now - you know what, that’s irrelevant. What matters is that we were raising money for the trip so we weren’t empty-handed financially.”

“Good lord, it’s like pandora’s box is opening inside my house.” She groaned, rubbing her forehead. She exhaled heavily, regaining her bearings as she turned to her quiet son. “And, you knew about this?”

“Not all that.” Sota shook his head, his reply hasty while his fear of backlash rode on the surface. “When Kagome and I were in the treehouse yesterday she told me she was leaving, but she made me promise not to tell anybody.”

“And, you kept that promise knowing how dangerous the situation was?”

“It was a pinky promise.” He defended.

His mother opened her mouth like she was ready to quickly retort, but instead all he heard was the sharp inhale from her throat before she sealed her lips, leaving the air locked in her lungs as the hollow of her neck deepened. She closed her eyes, brows pinched together when she finally exhaled, once again rubbing her forehead with her fingertips.

“Anything else?” She asked testily.

Both Sota and Miroku shook their heads in reply.

“Do we know how long ago she left?”

“By the looks of it, hours ago.” Miroku said while Sota, again, shook his head.

“What are the chances of us finding her?”

“Slim.” Miroku answered. “There’s no saying what direction she went off in, and she’s got quite the head start on us. I can’t walk very fast in my condition, let alone chase after her. It’s not like we can gather up the town to get them to help out, because they’ll have questions and it’ll compromise her well-being and secret. Not to mention, even if we did miraculously catch up, it would be a fight on its own to convince her to come home.”

“So -“ There it was. The devastated expression he’d been waiting to appear on his aunt’s face finally emerged, though she valiantly tried to fend it off. “So, she’s gone?”

“We can look. See if she got far.” He breathed defeatedly. “But, yes. I’m pretty sure Kagome’s gone.”

—

“Alright, so I searched the areas we usually went to together, and she’s not there. But, she’s definitely been to the cave. Her weapon’s gone, and she took a few things from the bag we’d packed. I saw footprints in the mud nearby leading off onto the forest path, and thankfully the mud was soft so it left a deep impression. Unfortunately, it seems some horses and men have been on that path not too long ago, making it hard to follow, and where the mud gets firmer, her footprints have washed away. So, there’s no telling where she is, but we do know what direction she’s gone off in.” Sango said, a little breathless as she returned to her boyfriend’s side. She’d been flustered since the moment Sota showed up at her doorstep this morning, pale and rattled, and when she was caught up to speed after following him back to his house, she immediately went searching for clues.

“Okay, that’s something.” Miroku nodded, silently thanking her from his uncomfortable seat on the couch as he placed a hand on the back of her thigh.

“How is that something?” Sota queried.

“Because, we’ll know where to start when we’re able to follow her.” He answered.

“Thank you, Sango.” His aunt said from where she stood next to the kitchen table, sighing out a feeble ounce of stress.

“Wait, you guys are still planning on going?” Sota asked.

“Of course.” Sango confirmed.

“We’re not going to let her do this alone. The plan remains, and we’re going to help her. Unfortunately, I’ve got a handicap, but as soon as I’m good to go, we’ll head out.”

“And, my dad should hopefully be back by the end of the week. In the hopes that he won’t be out on another mission when the time comes, we’ll be able to take Kirara with us so we can hopefully catch up to Kagome faster. If you don’t mind, and I know this is wrong to ask of you, but would you keep this on the down low? We all know he wouldn’t allow this.”

“Rightfully so.” Kagome’s mother remarked. “This is incredibly dangerous, and I’m inclined to make you both stay out of this mess. We all saw a daughter violently torn away from her mother yesterday, my own daughter is now missing, and now my nephew and his girlfriend are ready to follow in her footsteps? Do you understand just what you’re getting yourself into?”

“Yes -“ Miroku barely got out before his aunt interjected.

“No, you don’t. Naraku is the demon of all demons. He’s singlehandedly ostracized beings for reasons unknown, put them on this hit list because he can, and you guys think you’re just going to walk up to him, challenge him to a duel, and leave unscathed? All because some Kikyo lady appeared in Kagome’s dreams and said so? I know you’re all adults and you’re capable of making your own decisions now, but you’re making the wrong ones so I’ll make them for you. Neither of you are going.”

“But, what about Kagome?” Sota argued.

“I can’t protect her, Sota. She’s already gone.” She slighted.

“They can help, though!”

“They’re eighteen, nineteen, and twenty acting like they’re as wise and experienced as the grown demon slayers in the village. Do any of you know exactly what those demon slayers had to go through to gain their knowledge and skills? And, don’t you answer that, Sango. I know your father’s the leader, and you’ve had a bit of experience yourself, but you don’t know the half of it. You think your dad’s told you all the stories? You think your dad’s let you in on every little, gory detail of his trials? It baffles me that you guys think training on your own and exterminating various demons outside of town would make you well-prepared for a journey like this. It’s a death sentence I won’t let you sign up for. You’re not going.”

“I understand where you’re coming from, Auntie, but we are. We’re going. Despite her decisions, I’m not going to let Kagome do this on her own.” Miroku spoke, keeping his tone as level and respectful as possible.

There was a moment of silence, one where his aunt clenched her jaw, dropped her shoulders, and plopped into the seat beside her. “You - all three of you - are too much like your fathers for your own good.”

“I know, I know.” He sighed. “It’s your number one complaint about Kagome and I. But, we’ve gotta see this through with her. At her side. I want to punch her as much as anyone in this room, believe me, but wouldn’t you feel more comfortable knowing she’s not alone? Wait, no, don’t answer that.” Miroku recoiled, holding up his hand to stop his aunt from saying anything the moment she glared his way.

“Thank you.” Sango softly spoke. “For showing how much you care about us. For expressing your concerns and voicing what’s on your mind. Thank you. You’re right, we don’t have nearly as much experience as we should. Truthfully, I don’t think there’s enough experience in the world that could prepare us for what we’re about to do. We’ve gotta try, though. This has been hell for us all, but imagine it from Kagome’s perspective. They’re after her. Her kind, but ultimately, her. We want to protect her just like you, we just show it in a different way. She’s justified in wanting to fight, so our way of demonstrating support and doing what we can to help is by going with her. Besides, you know Kagome. She’s as stubborn as a mule, so when her mind is made up, there’s no fighting it. There’s only going with the flow.”

Sota added his input by dramatically nodding in agreement, knowing all too well his sister's temperament and obstinance.

“She should have waited.” Miroku said again. “But, she can handle her own until we catch up.”

“Kagome can definitely handle her own.” Sango attested. “I don’t know if this matters to you, but she’s folded Miroku in a match before. She’s a tough cookie.” She smiled when her friend’s mother had to hide her conflicted giggle behind her hands, noticing her boyfriend’s slow, shifting, disapproving look from the side.

“It was funny.” She shrugged, not even bothering to hide her amusement.

“I wish I’d seen it!” Sota laughed.

“Are you guys sure?” Miroku’s aunt asked, more to see if there was any apprehension in their expressions. She could tell though, with their direct eye contact, their nods, their steady answers and confident demeanor, that even if she did attempt to forbid them, they would only be resolved to sneak out behind everyone’s backs - like Kagome. At least this way, being in the know, she would be able to help in whatever way she could. Whether that be in moral support, assisting Miroku to help him mend as fast as possible, or even making sure to help them pack for anything they may need.

Her daughter was brave. She was strong. She was like her father. What terrified her was that Kagome was mortal. But, she had to have faith. She had to take Sango and Miroku’s word for it that she could, in fact, take care of herself.

—

Kagome fluttered her brown eyes open, blinking away her sleep as she gathered her surroundings. She was fully and instantly aware that she was in the wilderness, incapable of forgetting that tidbit no matter how exhausted she was, but she needed to focus as best as she could in her sleepy stupor to make sure no demonic energies were nearby.

She was still safe.

The sun wasn’t too high in the sky yet, as far as she could tell from the trees and patchy clouds, so she had probably only dozed off for a few hours at the most, her fire reduced to nothing but flickering embers. She was still tired but she felt better than she had before, and she knew she needed to get moving. Where to? Who knows. She felt in her gut that she was on the right path, though. The only path, really.

Her back felt cramped and tense as she slowly peeled herself off of the tree she’d rested against, strands of her hair pulling while it stuck to the bark, making her groan. When she stood, dusting off her pants and stretching a bit, she felt life begin to flow through her muscles again. Kagome wasted no time in getting herself situated to head out. She adjusted her clothing, her bodice which had climbed up her chest a little, ran her fingers through her wavy hair, got her bag and bow and arrows situated over her shoulders again, and then kicked dirt over the remainder of what used to be called a fire, heading back toward the trail and on her way.

—

“Why’d you run?” Inuyasha asked.

“Why’d you chase me?” Hiten countered, an arrogant smirk on his face. His tan skin was moist with the afternoon warmth and the adrenaline flowing through his body, red eyes meeting Inuyasha’s proud stare. His long, brown braid swayed from side to side as it gradually began to still, heavy but neatly kept from his face.

“I caught wind that you’ve been a bit of an asshole. Apparently, rumors are true.”

“Yeah?”

“You wouldn’t have run if they weren’t.”

“Well,” Hiten shrugged, his smile widening, completely untroubled. “Looks like you just answered your own question.”

“I’ve warned you before, Hiten. I told you to watch your step.” Inuyasha reminded, swallowing the frustration that quickly built up in him whenever he dealt with cocky sons of bitches.

“Awe,” He feigned a pout. “Can’t you be cool and let me off with another warning, Inuyasha?”

“Unfortunately for you, I don’t like you. I don’t even know why I gave you an exception in the first place. This time, though, no chance. You killed a girl. That’s a dramatic escalation from what you did last time.”

“And, she was mighty tasty.” Hiten licked his lips.

Inuyasha cringed, his entire face contorting. “Ew! What? Hiten, what the fuck!?”

“What -“

“You ate her!?”

“Wait, what? You didn’t know that?” He questioned, all confidence fading from his expression as he looked skeptically over at his enemy.

“Does this look like the face of somebody in the know!? No, I didn’t know that! What the fuck!? Why!? You’re a fucking thunder demon, dude! You’re not even based off of a carnivorous animal! I don’t understand!” Inuyasha argued, absolutely and utterly disgusted. He was so appalled, he even took two steps away from the guy, his lips remaining distastefully curled.

“Wow - um - this is a little awkward.” He admitted, scratching his temple sheepishly. “Why are you here then?”

“Because, there’s money over your head!” Inuyasha exclaimed. “They want your head, I want their money, I got the gist of everything - I don’t know, I felt like it was a fair trade! You ate her!?”

“Y-yeah.” He shrugged again.

“Ew!” That time, Inuyasha cringed so bad his entire body convulsed, like a huge, unwelcome shiver ran down his spine. “Why?”

“I was - you’re not gonna like the answer to this.” Hiten said, giving fair warning. When Inuyasha didn’t decline further explanation, he proceeded. “She was - we were - nude, consensually of course, and - um - well, she smelled really good while we were - while I was - you know… So, like, during that I kind of wanted to - um - taste her.”

Inuyasha had deadpanned mid-speech, his mouth hanging agape, golden eyes blinking as he processed the given information. “Good sir, you took cunnilingus to a level it should have never gone to.”

“Yeah.” Hiten grimaced, nodding in agreement.

“When her soul leaves her body, it’s supposed to remain metaphorical.”

“Yeah, I get that.” Another nod, another grimace.

“And, yet…” Inuyasha grumbled.

“I took it there.” Hiten confirmed.

“Are you proud of yourself?”

“I mean…”

“Never mind, don’t answer that.” The hanyou waved off.

“I really wish you didn’t know now.” Hiten said uncomfortably. “Like, the moment’s gone. I don’t really feel like fighting anymore.”

“Hey, I wish I didn’t know either. Believe me, I have a horribly vivid imagination, so this is gonna eat at me for days.”

Hiten chuckled, attempting to hide it behind his fist as he glanced away.

“Hey - oh god. No pun intended, you sick bastard. Moment’s back! Come here, I’m gonna kick your ass!” Inuyasha yelled, grossed out.

“No, thanks! I’m good!” He laughed, jogging backward.

“I don’t even give a fuck about the money anymore! I’m just gonna kill you!”

“Didn’t know you were such a feminist, buddy!”

“Don’t you ‘buddy’ me, you creep! Stop -“ The two demons halted in their tracks, alert, one with a blooming grin and the other with wide, uneasy eyes.

“Let me tell you, Inuyasha.” Hiten spoke gruffly. "Once the taste sits on your tongue, there’s no preventing the addiction. She wasn’t my first. And, it looks like lunch is nearby. Too bad I’m a lot faster than you since I can fly and all.”

Inuyasha tensed as the demon flew off in the direction he’d smelled a girl walking not too far away. Cursing under his breath, he finally sheathed his sword, sprinting to follow Hiten.

Kagome had gone off trail. She’d seen a town in the distance, but if she looked as bad as she felt, the last thing she wanted to do was attract attention to herself. She said it was for the sake of adventure - and privacy - that she’d decided to venture through the trees, her boots crunching the leaves littering the forest floor. The trees weren’t close together by any means, leaving plenty of walking room between, light easily breaking through the treetops. She figured she’d go around the village and continue on the trail from the other side. No harm, no foul.

Until she felt a sudden and alarming spike in demonic energy. It was heading her way and fast. So fast, in fact, that by the time she’d turned around, she was staring at a man at the top of a slope, a dangerous smile curling his lips.

“Hey. You lost?” He spoke, even the click of his tongue proving menacing.

Of course. Of course this would happen right now. Kagome mentally rolled her eyes at her luck, bracing with a dragged inhale. His energy was threatening, and he definitely meant harm. There was no reason for Kagome to entertain his question. She knew what was about to go down. Without response, she ran off. All she needed was to give herself time. Just a little space. Given how fast he’d initially approached, he was going to be on her in a matter of seconds, but that was all she needed.

Kagome rolled her shoulder, allowing her bow to fall off, slide down her arm and into her hand where she tossed it over to her left. She spun back around to face the oncoming demon, her feet sliding - almost stumbling in the dirt - from the speed, an arrow plucked from its quiver and pulled back into the string of her bow, ready to shoot. The demon froze just feet away from her, his shocked expression shifting into one of entertained as he held his hands up in front of him defensively.

“Woah-ho-ho.” He chuckled. “You’re fucking quick.”

Kagome didn’t say anything just yet, eyes locked on the demon as her chest pumped air in and out of her lungs. She had good aim; she could hit him for sure. The trouble was, could she kill him? With her conjurer powers, sure. Maybe. Yes. But if, by chance, she missed, her secret was out and she was dead. Honestly, if she missed either way, she was dead. She was resolved to go ahead and use her powers before she felt the nearing aura of another demon - one not quite as strong, one with an intriguing warmth radiating from it, one she felt a compelling pull to investigate but she forced herself to leave it alone. Two demons in the same vicinity typically meant they came together. But, if she used her abilities and the other sensed or saw it, she was done for.

No matter what, the situation was looking grim. If they were together, why wouldn’t she just use her powers? Why wouldn’t she just protect herself the way she’d trained for so long now? Why was a voice in her mind telling her not to do anything she’d regret? You know what she’d actually regret? Dying on her first day, that’s what.

“What do you want?” She asked, her raspy voice adding unintentional, dramatic flare.

“I just want to chat. Come on, put the bow down.”

“Not interested.”

“What do you think you’re actually gonna do with that?” Hiten asked, smiling. “The big, bad archer gonna shoot down a demon? Even if you stuck me, it’d hardly do a thing.”

“Want to bet?” Kagome challenged.

She watched his grin twitch wider, his slimy tongue gliding out but then vanishing altogether as an incredibly powerful, whirlwind of a strike came thundering from her left, dividing the two as it brought them both to jump away.

“Hiten, you five-head, ugly ass bitch!” Came a loud, deep, husky voice. “Your fight’s with me!”

Kagome had tripped in her attempt to escape the blast of power, her butt sore from landing on the protruding root of a tree, and though she took a moment to pity her rump and rub the immediate tenderness away, her attention was still on the scene before her. It was, for lack of a better word, bewildering. Unexpected. A man with a hostile scowl stood at the top of the slope the other demon had appeared on, a large sword encircled in demonic energy held tightly in his grasp. His hair was tied in a high ponytail, light in shade - appearing silver to the eye but almost white where light hit him. Pointed, animalistic ears atop his head told her he was of demonic lineage, but his energy didn’t feel as apparent as the demon’s across from her, still standing but gaze diverted the other’s way. She took that moment to regain herself, standing up to ready her weapon again, this time keeping it aimed low until she understood just what the hell was happening.

“Faster than I gave you credit for. What a fun-sucker.” The demon grumbled.

“Leave her alone!”

If it wasn’t clear before, it was perfectly evident now. The silver-haired demon wasn’t Kagome’s enemy.

“Hiten! Back the fuck up!” He shouted, tone appearing more lethal.

“Or, what?” Hiten chuckled, taking a few steps closer to Kagome while his attention continued to hold on the other demon. Kagome took that opportunity to raise her bow and arrow then, steadying her aim and locking on his chest. His heart. The jerk was, luckily for her, too arrogant to even mind what she was doing. “What are you gonna do? The closer I get to her, the less you’re able to use your fancy sword.”

“Hiten!”

“Oh no, look’s like the pressure’s on. Who’s gonna get her first?” Two more steps forward, his long legs closing the created gap easily.

Kagome pulled her arrow back a smidge, taking a moment to center herself, holding her breath.

“Stop!”

“It’s so easy to rile you up, Inuyasha.” Hiten laughed. “You’re so melodramatic.”

“Hey, wait, that’s kind of rude.” Inuyasha feigned a grimace, dropping his sword a few inches. “I don’t think I deserved that.”

“You called me ugly.” The demon countered with an odd sneer. “And, you said I have a five-head. I’d hardly call that rude in comparison.”

“You know what, that’s fair. Go ahead. She’s all yours.” The hanyou shrugged, resting the tip of Tessaiga to the ground.

Hiten barely thought about it, cocking a brow and turning to the girl before him. There was no time to react, no time to process, his breath caught in his throat so roughly he nearly choked.

The moment he turned to look at her, Kagome released her arrow, the sharp, pointed tip piercing through the left side of his chest. His red eyes widened, crimson staining the front of his dirty, white shirt, stumbling backward two feet from the force of her strike.

“Run, kid!” The order was barked, and Kagome didn’t need to be told twice. She used no spiritual power, so there was no way in hell the demon was dead. He was merely stunned, and she wasn’t about to wait around for him to gather his wits.

She took off like a bat out of hell, racing away, slipping on leaves but keeping her footing well enough to stay balanced and jump over tree roots. She heard, even felt, the strike from the silver-haired demon’s sword, the ground rattling slightly. Hiten’s roar of frustration echoed through her ears as it shifted into a maniacal laugh, haunting, his voice growing louder as he somehow grew nearer.

Kagome was grabbed by her hair, yanked back painfully and stopped in her tracks as she was slammed against a wide, aging tree, dropping her bow in the midsts. Her scream was muted by her own, broken voice, and she fought to push his surprisingly strong body away - despite how scrawny he appeared - while he now pinned her from the front. She didn’t even bother to register whatever taunting statement slipped from his tongue, only paying attention to the torn body of the arrow still in his chest but split apart so it didn’t protrude greatly, and she grabbed the frayed, splintered end, using whatever strength she could muster from her disadvantageous position to shove it further into the crevice of his ribs, even going so far as to twist so the arrowhead hurt him further, his pained shout and agonizing features telling her it was affecting him exactly as she wanted. Demon or not, conjurer powers or not, being stabbed never felt good.

“Let her go.” Came a gruff demand, and everything stopped. The tone was so alerting that even Kagome heeded the venom-laced warning. She could barely see over Hiten’s shoulder, but she knew the silver-haired demon stood right behind him, his sword pointed toward Hiten’s back. With the way Hiten froze entirely, she was willing to bet it was pressed against him. One false move, and he was done. “Now.”

And, he did. Hiten released Kagome, his hands held above his shoulders to show his compliance.

“Behind me.” He instructed, and Kagome knew that was directed towards her. Given they were still standing so close, she had to shimmy her way out from between the tree and the demon, her squished bag sort of sticking to the bark and adding a slight difficulty to the already-awkward glide free.

As soon as she was out, she crossed to the backside of the man with silver hair, picking up her bow along the way to strap over her shoulder. He even went so far as to reach behind, grabbing the loose hem of her green shirt to pull her flush behind his back, completely sheltered by his frame while he held his sword steady with one arm. From the glimpses she’d gotten of it, it seemed huge and heavy. It was impressive to see anyone hold the thing up, let alone with one hand.

There was a rumble in the sky, growing, growing, becoming increasingly louder, surrounding them as the clouds quickly flooded above - dark and ominous. Thunder boomed as if the storm had been brewing for hours, encroaching, but Kagome could have sworn she saw patches of blue just moments ago.

“Stop it.” Inuyasha ordered.

Hiten didn’t say anything, but from the way his shoulders broadened from behind, hands still raised where they were, and head held up high, his body language was radiating obnoxious pride.

“Hiten.” He growled.

The clap of thunder was so loud that time, it startled Kagome, causing her to jump just a little closer to her savior, the fingers of her hands curling into the loose fit of his shirt. It was somehow louder than any storm she’d ever witnessed, last night’s proving incomparable. She stared directly above them, watching as sparks of electricity danced and bounced along the bottom of the dark grey quilt, this result of the friction she’d never before seen. In fact, she was sure that something like this wasn’t even organically possible.

“Um,” She began, merely whispering to the demon she held onto. “We might want to move soon.”

Inuyasha could feel the girl’s anxiety, her nerves, her fingers bunching his shirt tighter. He could feel the demonic energy soaring from Hiten, creating the dangerous scenario above, but her words were what had caught his attention. The hanyou glanced upward, noticing the waltz of the electricity.

“Hiten!”

The opposing demon only laughed, shifting his head to look at Inuyasha as he slowly turned around to face him, modestly pushing his sword aside with the back of his hand.

“Am I supposed to just adhere to you?”

“Knock it off!”

“Or you’ll what?” Hiten challenged.

“You know what!”

“Apparently, your plan is to kill me either way. So, might as well go out with a bang.” He smirked, thunder blaring at that exact moment.

Kagome unintentionally clung to the man, the booming so loud she could feel it in her chest. His large hand grabbed her hip firmly, guiding her as he began to walk backward, and she took the initiative to give him more room, not wanting to make things harder or cause him to trip, so she made her fingers release his shirt.

Lightning struck the ground just to her right, and she hissed the same curse as the man before her. He was quick. Quicker than she’d expected in the moment as he spun around, grabbed her wrist, and dragged her off to run.

“In case you’re wondering,” He began, forcefully keeping her legs moving as fast as they’d go as he sought out shelter. “He’s a thunder demon and - fuck!” He shouted, sliding in the dirt as he came to an immediate stop, lightning falling directly in front of them.

“Where are we supposed to be going!?” Kagome asked as clearly as she could when they ran off in a different direction, never minding the protesting ache in her throat.

“Wherever the fuck we can to get away from this! You want to die!?”

“Not necessarily!”

“Then keep up, kid!”

“Have you ever outrun lightning before?” She questioned. The thunder overhead was nonstop now, electricity falling wherever it could. It was like Hiten held the ability to control it, but also lacked it once the friction built up too much. Nature took over then, and Hiten was merely impervious to her fury.

“Can’t say that I have!”

“Great.” Kagome breathed, her expression falling sarcastically.

Inuyasha found a tree with a decently-sized hollow in the bottom, pulling the girl over and gripping her shoulders to shove her down to her knees and in. “Stay!”

“What?” Her tone was half frantic, half perplexed.

“Stay here, and stay low! If I get hit, I’ll be fine. You? You’re dead.”

“Hey, wait! Lightning can strike trees! Lightning can strike trees!” Kagome protested, trying to crawl out, but the demon casually shoved the sole of his boot against her chest, thrusting her back beneath.

“Stay!” Inuyasha ordered emphatically, his one free hand held up as a sign to stop.

The demon ran off then, leaving Kagome appalled in her hollow, mouth hanging open, and completely taken aback by the sheer audacity of this guy. He did not just use his foot to push her. What was she even supposed to do there? Wait out the storm and hope she got lucky? Sit back and let the boys duke it out? Sure, she’d love to say she had faith in her savior, but she didn’t even know the guy. She didn’t know what he was capable of, how strong he was, or if he was mighty enough to take on the freaking descendant of Thor, himself. Though, saying that made her feel like she was giving him too much credit. Maybe he was a second cousin, twice removed. Sure.

Lightning was more inclined to strike the tall, and while she stood at a solid five feet - two inches, the tree she sat under was significantly larger. While she was certain it held plenty of potential to be safe, it just wasn’t a chance Kagome was comfortable on taking. Plenty of times, she’d seen huge trees charred in half from strikes of lightning. Of course, the thought of being in the open range wasn’t all that desirable either, but it was definitely more exciting; no one could deny that. Sitting back and waiting had never been her thing, anyway.

She could hear them shouting, fighting somewhere behind where she was bunkered, the lightning striking the ground with loud cracks and bright flashes. Carefully, Kagome crawled out of her hole, keeping low to the ground. She peeked behind the tree to see if she could get a visual, but it didn’t look as if they were as close as she’d suspected, bringing her to quickly crawl her way to an adjacent tree, following the sounds of insults, curses, demonic sword attacks, and focused lightning strikes. The thunder roaring didn’t help any, her chest rumbling unsteadily with the noise, muting the pounding of her heart.

Kagome continued her low travels from tree-to-tree, doing her best to remain unseen and not electrocuted. When she finally found them, she realized she had the worst vantage point to help in any way. She could see more of the silver-haired man than that Hiten guy.

Her protector was breathing hard, brows deeply furrowed while he wore a dangerous scowl. The muscles beneath his black, long sleeves were visible and flexed, the veins on the back of his fists that white-knuckled the hilt of his sword prominent even from where she squatted. His fangs were sharp and threatening, and his nose crinkled with severity as he fended off a strike from the opposing demon, retaliating with one of his own that had so much force Kagome had to duck behind the tree entirely to avoid being knocked over.

From the looks of it, he wasn’t getting anywhere. Not fast, at least. Hiten was good at countering, he was quicker than was fair, and apparently packed a punch. It seemed like he needed an opening; one where he could get in his attack and make it count. And, that was where Kagome came in.

She crawled around the trees cautiously, concentrating on staying hidden, and pausing abruptly as lightning struck just a few feet ahead of her. Kagome stared at the burnt spot with wide eyes, her fearful and startled squeak silenced behind her breath as she dragged it out, an oh my god slipping out at the tail end. Kagome couldn’t even begin to help the other melodramatic noises that emitted from her throat as she realized that could have easily been her, and it took a solid moment to talk herself back into crawling forward, literally chanting, “please don’t hit me, please don’t hit me, please don’t hit me,” over and over until she reached a spot where she had a clear visual on the thunder demon.

“This will work.” Kagome whispered, pinning her back to the tree as she prepared herself. She was crouched down, one knee on the ground as she shimmied the bow off her shoulder and pulled an arrow out of its quiver, readying the nock along the string. It didn’t matter if she hit Hiten. It would help, that’s for sure, but all she intended to do was distract him. If he would hesitate, only for a moment, Mr. Silver Hair would have an opportunity to strike. And, if he missed the opportunity, Kagome had justifiable reasoning to call him an idiot.

Would that help any? No. But, justifiable reasoning was justifiable reasoning.

Kagome began to inch her way out from behind the tree, watching the patterns of their movements. It was okay to miss Hiten, but she still needed to hit as close to him as possible in order to grasp his attention. The distraction wouldn’t necessarily work otherwise.

Typically, as with any bad guy that had pride as large as a mountain, he’d stopped for an antagonizing and arrogant speech. He was bleeding from the very same eyebrow he tauntingly cocked, the crimson dripping down the outer corner of his eye, darker than his irises, and gliding slowly toward the center of his cheek. Apparently, her savior deserved a little more credit than what she’d initially given. That didn’t mean she couldn’t hopefully make things a little easier on him.

Kagome stole the opportunity, utilizing the man’s vanity against him, and she positioned herself, quickly pulling back her arrow and firing. The arrowhead whizzed just passed Hiten’s face, the sharp side cutting the edge of his pointed ear, and piercing the tree trunk behind him. Yet again, the man was stunned, his voice dying off mid-word and eyes falling to her.

Inuyasha was almost as surprised by the random arrow shooting through, the damned thing flying right passed his own head before the thunder demon’s. He glanced behind him, noticing the stupid girl staring daringly ahead, crouched down with her bow beginning to inch lower. He didn’t even have a moment to say the insult directed at her on his tongue before his opponent was moving, and fast. Hiten was taking her challenge to heart, running forward, and Inuyasha tossed his sword into his left hand, doing the only thing he could do in such close proximity. Just as the demon came close enough, he pulled back his arm and threw his fist in Hiten’s face, punching him so hard that he completely fell backwards, his head colliding with the hard ground.

“Did you get him?” Kagome shouted, almost unclearly thanks to her broken voice.

“Duh!”

“Is he dead?”

Inuyasha flailed his arms at his side in an annoyed manner. “No, he’s not dead! I punched him, you dipshit!” He yelled, and as if to back up his statement, Hiten push himself from the ground.

“What is with this chick?” Hiten murmured, using the back of his hand to wipe the blood that dripped from his mouth.

“Beats me, but she’s showing you up.” Inuyasha jeered.

“Fuck this.” He growled, his temper spiking. The thunder gave a trembling roar that rattled the ground, the out-of-control lightning strikes ceasing as the clouds seemed to boil with increasing friction.

Inuyasha couldn’t help but avert his attention upward, seeing the disturbing force of inhuman nature bubbling through the break in the treetops. This was bad. This was really fucking bad. This was an attack there was no coming back from if Hiten successfully hit the girl. It was going to be concentrated and lethal, and Inuyasha had no choice but to use his backlash wave. As much as he wanted to avoid the once-unnecessary use of so much power on an annoying fucker like Hiten, it was inevitable now. His amber eyes flew over to the astonished girl, and as if she’d sensed him, her gaze met his a mere second later.

“Run! Go! Take cover, now!” He barked.

His tone was non-negotiable, and given the amount of demonic energy in the atmosphere, Kagome didn’t much feel like arguing that she could help. Honestly, she couldn’t. She had no idea what the thunder demon planned to do, but it felt dangerous and terrifying, and if the silver-haired guy said she didn’t need to stick around for it, then she wasn’t about to.

She didn’t waste time with crawling. Since the sporadic strikes had stopped, she was safe enough to run, and she bolted as quickly as she could, heading back to her sanctuary of a hollow. Kagome skidded around the designated tree, dropping to her hands and knees and making home in the hole. Even through her shirt, she could feel the hair on her arms standing on end from the static, a high-pitched sound budding in the sky, and when a loud crash came, Kagome ducked and covered her ears, protecting herself however she could.

Inuyasha had to wait for the perfect opportunity. With a thunder demon, with the creation of electricity, came scattered energy, like sparks, and he couldn’t use his backlash wave until it all came together. He had one chance, and he was going to get this right. Hiten spared the hanyou a glance with his red eyes, smirking as he raised his right hand into the air. Inuyasha could feel it. He could feel the static, he could feel the threat blossoming, but overall, he could feel Hiten’s demonic energy forming into a saturated mass. It grew larger and larger, figuratively becoming more solid, and as a beam of blinding lightning came shooting down from the sky, Inuyasha stole the moment, raised his sword above his head, his own demonic energy surging to collide with Hiten’s as he whipped the blade to slice it through.

The backlash wave overpowered the thunder demon’s strength, bringing the attack to bounce back at him. Hiten may have been resistant to the direct wrath of the sky, but he wasn’t impervious to Tessaiga’s force deconstructing his own to be used against him. Hiten was arrogant, vulnerable, and in the end, reduced to ashes.

Slowly, as the world outside her little hollow quieted, Kagome began to unfurl. She no longer heard thunder, no longer heard shouting, no longer heard sounds of demonic attacks clashing, no chaos, no fighting, nothing. It was hit and miss as to what had happened. Did her protector win? Did the thunder demon pull through? Was it over?

Inch-by-inch, she crawled out, evaluating the atmosphere. It was calm. Her sights shifted up toward the sky, and once again, the clouds were breaking apart, pieces of blue showing through as if they were never hidden in the first place. The fight definitely had to be over.

Kagome dusted off her knees as she picked herself up off the ground, the bandages on her left hand dirty, and she made a mental note to change them when she could. Strapping her bow over her shoulder where it belonged, she ventured back over to where she’d last seen the two demons, finding herself moving wearily as she neared.

“Hey.” The husky voice startled her more than it should have, and Kagome gasped, spinning around with her fists raised to protect herself.

Inuyasha flinched back out of reaction, his palms shooting up in front of him - half out of his natural instinct to guard and the other half out of surprise. He hadn’t expected her to be so on edge after boldly disobeying him to partake in the battle; he’d figured she was gutsy and idiotic and probably too brave for her own good. That was the first time he’d gotten a good look at the girl’s face, though.

Her cheeks were red - probably from the commotion and the comedown, but her natural shade seemed fair. Maybe a degree or two lighter than his own skin tone. Her eyes were large and brown, but not that muddy-looking brown he more commonly saw in people he didn’t care to look at for more than two seconds. Hers, though deep in color, were finely blended with hues of reds and golds. An artist would have had a field day painting the detail of her irises, finding the golden circle just around her pupils, and freckling the way light caught her colors. The girl’s hair was as dark as raven, faint hints of oceanic blue glimmering in the rays of sun through the breaks in the trees and clouds. It was very faint, but Inuyasha could see it. Barely, but it was there. At the corner of her mouth, on her left cheek, sat a slight scuff of pink that didn’t belong and wouldn’t seem to fade when the heat in her face settled. And, on her neck, most disconcerting of all, housed a thick, red and purple ring that curved over the front portion. The girl, whoever she was, had recently been roughed up. No wonder she was a little skittish.

“Sorry.” Kagome grimaced, uncurling her fingers and lowering her hands. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” Inuyasha replied. “Are you okay?” And, he’d emphasized the word intentionally.

“I’m fine.” She said, giving a one-shouldered shrug. There was a moment of awkward silence where the two just stood there, and Kagome’s eyes bounced around, avoiding contact with his own. When they landed on her arrow in the tree, she figured she should just politely wrap things up here, collect it, and be on her merry way. “So, um, thanks. For your help.”

“Don’t mention it.” He muttered.

“Was he a friend of yours? You two seemed to know each other.”

“I knew him because he was a murderer, and he knew me because I’ve been on his ass for a while. It’d be kind of harsh if I just killed my friend without showing an ounce of remorse, don’t you think?” Inuyasha rebutted.

“That’s fair.” Kagome bobbed her head in agreement, regretting her choice of words before his own fully registered with her. “Wait, murderer?”

“Yes?” Inuyasha arched a brow quizzically. “Kid, what did you think he was gonna do with you?”

“I-I don’t know! I didn’t really think that far ahead of time! I only processed the danger!”

“That far ahead… wait, no - what is on the other side of danger?” Inuyasha asked, confused as all hell.

“Is that rhetorical?”

“No.”

“Well, harm, typically.”

The hanyou chuckled, almost defeatedly as his chest deflated. “Yes, and harm comes in all shapes and sizes, doesn’t it?”

“Okay, now that’s rhetorical.” Kagome deadpanned.

“Good job.” He slighted.

“Alright, well it’s been fun. Thanks for not letting me die. You’re a champ. You’re the M.V.P.. You are the man. I’ve gotta get going, so I’ll be sure to watch out for any other crazy murderers in the area.” Kagome presented a sarcastic, closed-lipped grin. “Speaking of which, are they common around here?”

“Don’t get out much, do you, Kid?”

“Hey, what’s with this ‘kid’ thing? Is this a common nickname you give strangers, or what? I’m not a child.”

“No, you’re not. Not at all. It just kind of came out, honestly. Though, now that I’m looking at you, you are puny.” He grinned, enjoying how easy it was to make her cheeks red all over again.

“Ex-excuse me?”

“Small.” Inuyasha clarified.

“I am not.”

“Okay.” He chuckled dismissively.

“Hey! I’m average height!”

“Please don’t yell. You’re voice gets all high pitched and breaks like a baby goat, and I’m sure it irritates your throat as much as it does my ears.”

Kagome stared at the man for a moment, wondering if he was trying to say all the wrongs things, or if he was just that witty and knew what he was doing. “You are really good at talking to people, did you know that?” She stated with satire, sauntering over toward the tree that harbored her arrow.

“So I’ve heard.” Inuyasha carelessly remarked. “Hey, thanks a lot, by the way.”

She spared him a peek over her shoulder, catching his tone, but rightfully not feeding into it. Directly, at least. “You’re welcome.”

He swallowed his huff, his annoyance beginning to grow. “No. Thanks a lot.”

“No need to repeat yourself; I caught your sarcasm the first time. But, I decided to take it as a thank you for using this arrow here to distract Hiten so you had an opening. Therefore, you’re welcome.”

“Oh, is that what you were trying to do?”

Kagome didn’t bother answering, pulling at the arrow that was lodged into the bark while balancing on the protruding roots. It was really stuck in there, so she tried to fidget with it a little to loosen up the grip.

“It’s because of that little stunt that I had to use my backlash wave. Now I know, being the simpleton that you are, you don’t know what that is, but I don’t really think I need to explain it. Go ahead and take a look around. Do you see Hiten?”

“Nope.” Kagome replied after not looking around, her tone a little more strained than usual as she continued to struggle with the arrow.

“Right. That’s because I killed him. More than that, really. I obliterated the mother fucker. He’s gone. No longer exists. Poof.” Inuyasha explained, using his fingers to gesture an explosion. “Thing was, and here’s the kicker, there was a bounty on his head. I may have been told ‘dead or alive,’ but either way, I usually need a body to show them so that I get my money. Again, do you see a body?”

Kagome exhaled heavily, aggravated, momentarily dropping her arms from her objective and turning around to face the man. “No, I do not.”

“You do not.” Inuyasha nodded, confirming.

“I don’t see what that has to do with me.”

“Well, problem was, you didn’t listen to me and stay where I’d left you. I was doing just fine without your so-called help. Then you just had to pissed the guy off and he went into final attack mode. Are you putting two-and-two together here?”

“Oh, please. Such a macho man mentality. Face it, me shooting my arrow shut him up and stopped him from focusing on you. I hurried things along.”

“I wasn’t worried about getting things done quickly! I wanted them done right! Besides, if you weren’t waltzing around where you didn’t belong in the first place, things probably would have never escalated this way!”

“Key word: probably.” Kagome sneered, shrugging heedlessly. “That means, it had nothing to do with me and everything to do with your skills. Or, lack thereof.” She finished, turning back around to return to freeing her arrow.

Inuyasha stood there, astonished, blinking his golden eyes in befuddlement. “Oh, okay.” The hanyou said gruffly, fighting back his surprised laughter as he walked over to where she stood. He grabbed the body of the arrow, preventing her from succeeding at anything as he gave an arrogant grin.

“Careful! Don’t break it!”

“Aren’t you a little too - um - banged up to be so sassy?” Inuyasha asked, gesturing to her marks.

“First of all, I don’t think the two go hand-in-hand. Second, no. I’d say, if anything, that’s the perfect reason to be sassy.”

“Why? A little sore?” He asked patronizingly, the cocky smirk still prominent on his face.

Without missing a beat, Kagome looked him dead in the eyes and said, “Yeah. Much like your ego. And, it only took one comment. You men are so fragile.”

Ignoring his large hand, Kagome gave a few more good pulls to the arrow, genuinely impressed by how stuck it was. She hadn’t realized she’d used so much force in how quickly she’d had to move. From the corner of her eye, she could see his expression holding amusement, shock, his tongue gliding over his teeth as he silenced his laughter and swatted her fingers to stop her from tugging. In quick retaliation, Kagome slapped his hand even harder.

He pulled back, rubbing away the sting. “Crap! With reflexes like yours, I’m surprised you’re -“

“Stop talking about my bruises!” She snapped.

Inuyasha forfeited, pursing his lips and holding his hands up to concede.

With one last jerk, she finally got her arrow free, but she didn’t make any move to walk away, her mind stuck on what she may or may not look like to him. She suddenly felt self-conscious. “Does it look bad?” Kagome innocently asked.

Inuyasha’s face twisted incredulously at her one-eighty, his mouth remaining sealed as he dramatically shrugged in question.

She groaned a response, knowing exactly what he was criticizing her for, and turned away, hopping down from the large tree roots.

“You know, you’re a…” His voice trailed off as he pondered, letting her take the lead as he casually followed. “What’s the term I’d use for you?”

Oh, this was gonna be good. Kagome did an about face, her heel gliding in the dirt from her smooth shift, eyes half-lidded in annoyance, and fingers wriggling her arrow at her side. “I don’t know. What is the term you’d use for me?”

“Gutsy, that’s for sure.” Inuyasha commented. It wasn’t where he was initially going, but it would have been impossible to miss the girl’s gesture to warn him. “What? Do you think you’re tough because you’ve got a pointy stick?”

“I could take you.” She stated.

“Hah! Okay!”

Kagome merely smiled. She knew, and she knew well, that she only stood a chance if she was able to use her powers. Otherwise, no way in hell. She wasn’t the strongest brawler, and the guy was definitely cut. She was merely looking to antagonize his pride a bit. He liked to dish out some teasing, so she’d do it right back.

“You aren’t actually serious?” It seemed more of a question than a statement.

“I am.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, you’ve seen what I’m working with.” He mentioned, gesturing to the sheathed sword on his hip. “Tell me, truthfully, do you still think your flimsy arrow can compare?”

“Yes.” Again, if she could use her abilities, it was the truth.

“You’re kidding.” Inuyasha said wryly.

“Not at the moment.”

“Then, if I may be so bold to ask, why didn’t you handle Hiten on your own back there? When I showed up, you were already locked and loaded. Hell, you even shot him in the chest. What was stopping you from finishing him off on your own? Why’d I have to be the one to seal the deal?”

Kagome shrugged arrogantly, matching his energy and maybe even upping it a smidge. “Why break my nails when you’re right there to break yours playing hero?”

All humor faded from Inuyasha’s face, his eyebrows furrowing with a hint of indignation as he studied the girl before him. He saved her ass, and she was challenging his ego. He let go of his bounty to rescue her, and she had the impertinence to say something as bitchy as that. If that was the game she wanted to play, then fine. But, he’d come out the winner.

Kagome knew the moment the words had come out of her mouth that she’d gone too far. And, when his expression shifted precariously, a chill legitimately raced down her spine and she lost the gall to hold eye contact. Foot in mouth. Foot in mouth.

“So, you want to be an ingrate, huh?” Inuyasha asked, his voice low.

“No, that’s not it. I said thank you, and I meant it. That just came out so wrong.” She weakly defended.

“How was that supposed to come out?”

“Not -“ She bit her tongue in hesitation, knowing there was no way her statement could have been perceived playfully. “Rude?”

“How so?” He interrogated. He enjoyed seeing her discomfort expand.

“Look, I see I’ve upset you, and that’s fair -“

“Yup.”

“But, I have a feeling that no matter how I explain it or how many apologies I give you, there’s no take-backs and you’re still gonna be mad. Am I right?”

“You are.”

“Alright, so I’m just gonna get going. Thanks, again.” Kagome found herself talking faster, nervous. She reached over her shoulder and dropped her arrow into its quiver, her hands having nothing to play with thereafter and only fidgeting with one another. “Um - okay, bye.”

“Hold it!” Inuyasha ordered. The girl halted stiffly. This thought had been on his mind since he'd analyzed her bruises. Where’d she get them? Why’d she get her ass handed to her? What’d she do to deserve it? There’s no way a girl like her would get stuck in an abusive relationship - not that he could imagine. It could be a possibility, but for some reason, he could only picture her dishing the beating right back. It could be a rocky household situation, but there were no visible signs of old bruises fading to back that up. Which meant, as far as he could presume, this was a recent and infrequent occurrence. Which brought him back full circle: what did she do? “Given how messed up you look, I’m guessing you did something bad and you’re on the run.”

Kagome’s brows furrowed uneasily, a frown pushing at her lips as she turned back around to him. “No.” It took effort not to let that come out as a question, her bemusement pronounced.

“I’m willing to bet there’s money hanging over your head.” He added.

“Then you’d be out some, because you’re wrong.”

“And, I’m supposed to believe you?”

“You should. Better than wasting your time, don’t you think?”

“I think I can determine that on my own.”

“Look, I got myself into some trouble, but it’s not as deep as you’re thinking.” She tried explaining.

“You got yourself into some trouble, you’re on the run, and even if there isn’t a bounty yet, I’m sure there will be one soon enough.”

“No! Really!” She could tell whatever she was saying was in one ear and out the other. How did she get here? Sure, she insulted him, but how did things escalate so dramatically in the span of just minutes? One moment he’s saving her, the next they’re bantering, and now he’s threatening her and she wasn’t sure what to do. “Demon’s came to my village and I stepped out -“

“Shut up.” He drawled, rolling his eyes. “I tried being nice, but you dug your own grave. If you didn’t talk shit, I’d have let you stroll right on out of here without a second thought. But, something tells me I shouldn’t do that.”

And, it was true. Even if she was telling the truth, which may be slim - it was hard to tell since her body language was wonky at the moment - his gut was telling him not to let her go.

“Seriously! Listen to me, I’m trying to tell you -“

“Are you going to give in, or am I going to have to get rough?”

“Neither!” She shouted brokenly, her frustration at its peak.

“Those were your only options, kid.” Inuyasha shook his head, the fingers of his right hand curling over the hilt of the sword on his left hip. Obviously a blade was unnecessary here; he wasn’t going to maim the girl. He was trying to scare her into submission. Nine times out of ten, it worked like a charm. Slowly, he pulled Tessaiga out of it’s sheath, the sharp sound like music to his ears, but to his dismay, as he presented the weapon in a power stance, the sword was thin, dull, aged, and untransformed.

Kagome would have been lying if she said she hadn’t become the least bit horrified when the man went to pull out his sword. There was no cause for things to be this way. There was no reason for her life to be on the line right now. She’d sucked in a bated breath, the muscles in her neck tensing as she frantically thought up her next move. The demonic energy she’d expected had never emerged, though. And, the sword she once remembered looking unreasonably large and heavy was now small, frail, worn, and didn’t even seem like it was sharp enough to cut paper.

She stared at the weapon confused, holding her breath as she glanced up to the silver-haired man’s face. His golden eyes were glued to the untransformed blade, his look of disturbed bewilderment telling her that she was right. This wasn’t normal nor predicted. And, Kagome wasn’t about to wait around to find out what was wrong.

“Bye.” She said fleetingly, absolutely booking it away from him.

Her feet moved as quickly as they could, arms pumping along her sides as she simultaneously balanced herself while she maneuvered around trees and entangling roots, and willed her body to go faster. Kagome heard him shouting for her, demanding her to stop, his voice not as far behind her as she’d have liked. He was pursuing, and she didn’t even bother wondering if she was capable of outrunning someone with demon blood. She pushed herself even harder, heading over a little slope and sliding half the way down as she lost her foundation, her voice cracking from the unintentional yelp she let out from the incidental shock. Hasty to regain her footing, Kagome continued to run, her lungs burning, heart pounding, and adrenaline racing even faster than she was.

No matter how badly her body protested, she wasn’t slowing. She wasn’t safe yet. Fight or flight was in full control, and a red, neon sign was blaring flight to her brain. It was the sound of oncoming stomps that terrified her further. It was the growls he emitted, the heavy breathing, his deep voice grunting as he caught up to her that had her mind racking wildly to try and come up with a last second escape plan.

Inuyasha reached for the girl, grabbing her by the arm and yanking them both to a stop, turning her entire body to slam against the rough bark of a tree. He used his own to pin her there, grabbing both of her wrists and securing them behind the small of her back. He held them with only one hand, using his other to grip her thick hair as she continued to struggle and try to wrestle her way free. The hanyou growled a warning, pressing his torso firmly against her, one of his knees pushed between her legs to prevent her from thrashing her hips back into his groin. She was breathing heavily, frantic, but was finally settling into submission, and he shoved her cheek a little further against the tree to really solidify that he was in control.

Why was it when she whimpered the smallest “ow,” he pulled back? Why was it, when she showed an ounce of pain, he didn’t like it? Especially being the bearer of it. Felt apologetic, even. Inuyasha found himself relaxing the grip he had on her hair, allowing her cheek to simply rest along the bark as her chest pumped air so heatedly that he felt the wheeze vibrating through even her bag.

“Hey, calm down. Calm down. I’m not going to hurt you.” He promised. He’d admit his tone wasn’t the gentlest, but it was impossible to present that after chasing the chick. She was stupidly nimble.

“Please. Please.” Kagome whispered between breaths, scared, frenzied. “Th-there’s no money. I - I swear.”

She was telling the truth.

“Why’d you run then?”

“You - please.” Kagome begged, her voice dying mid-word.

“Breathe. Come on, kid, breathe. Calm down.” He was substantially softer that time, easing a little more off of her so her chest could afford the deeper, slower expansion, while still maintaining control so she wouldn’t buck her hips back. Inuyasha was patient as he waited for her body to relax, her breathing coming more evenly, minutes passing but he didn’t mind. The last thing he needed was her passing out on him. She still shook in his hold, her bottom lip quivering, and he even noticed a tear fall from her eye, the salt displeasing his nose. She was legitimately panicked. While that was what he was initially going for, and this was unavoidable after she took off, he didn’t like it. Why? Why the fuck did it matter to him? Why was his stomach in knots and why was his chest unsteady? Inuyasha swallowed harshly, willing the unnatural symptoms to subside.

“There’s no money. I don’t have a bounty. You have it wrong.” Kagome tried again, more stable, though her abdomen rocked with a shudder from her still-prevalent anxiety.

“Why did you run?” He repeated.

“You threatened me.” She replied shakily. “I didn’t know what else to do.”

That was fair, and as soon as she’d said it, he realized the answer was painfully obvious. He didn’t give her much other choice. Still, his gut was telling him not to release her. He couldn’t pinpoint the reason, but he felt it deep. He continued on with the thought that even if there wasn’t any money yet, there may eventually be some.

“Are you on the run?”

“No.”

“Alright, look at me.” He said, spinning her around. She gasped at his speed, grunting as he pushed her back up against the tree, easily pinning her wrists above her head. Again, he only used one hand to keep them there, curling the fingers of his free hand to tilt her chin up to look at him. “What are you doing out here?”

Kagome found herself holding her breath, despite her lungs protests - having just gotten back their oxygen supply. She wasn’t expecting their close proximity, and she wasn’t expecting to be at a loss for words - which almost never happened. His amber eyes pinned her as adamantly as his body, observing her, seemingly glowing even though no light hit them from his position. Kagome willed herself to relax as much as possible in his grasp, allowing herself to breathe again as her lips parted to speak.

“I’m looking for someone.”

| Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 |

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