Chapter 9 - In a Moment We Regret
Kagome stared up at the blue sky, ignoring the brooding hanyou to her right. She didn't move to take his hand, didn't move to stand next to him and lead him back to the village. He'd made it perfectly clear that morning what he thought of her and her help.
"I should have gone to KikyoU!"
She winced at the memory. She knew he was only upset, that he probably didn't mean a word he'd said to her that morning after finding out the spell hadn't worked but still.. She felt her heart clench.
It still hurt.
Inu yasha for his part walked silently beside his human companion, afraid to do much more. He'd known the moment the words left his mouth that it had been a mistake. He'd smelled the tears in her eyes and the distress in her scent and had tried to take it all back then, to appologize and tell her he hadn't really meant it but she had just put a finger to his lips.
"It's ok" she'd replied in a soft whisper. "I... I know you didn't mean it."
But her forgiveness had tasted so bitter. He knew that even if she did forgive him for this transgression, he'd feel the guilt for a good long while.
The silent pair made their way into the village and headed straight for the old healer's hut in hopes that she would be home. They had barely pulled the old skin back from the door when Shippou was plowing into Kagome's midsection, knocking her back into Inu yasha.
"Sorry," she appologized soft and stepped away from him.
"No problem." he mumbled, a deep blush speading across his face.
"KAGOME!" Shippou's wail cut through the akward conversation. "NARAKU TOOK THEM!"
That had their attention.
"Naraku!" Inu yasha growled. "What'd that bastard do now!"
Shippou sniffled, and turned to Inu yasha but stopped when he noticed the hanyou's blank stare. "Inu yasha? Didn't Kagome heal your eyes?"
He huffed and folded his arms into his sleeves. "That's not important right now. What did Naraku do?"
"Oh gods!" Shippou turned to Kagome, "Kagura surprised us in the field by the well about five days ago and kidnapped Sango and Miroku!"
"Damn it!"
Kagome ignored the hanyou fuming behind her. "Where did he take them?"
"He said that you and Inu yasha need to meet him at the old slayer's village. You're not allowed to bring your arrows and..." Shippou turned nervous eyes toward the hanyou.
"And you have to leave Tetsuaiga..."
Kagome led the way through the thick under brush, holding low branches out of the way for her traveling companion even as she ignored his presence.
The scene at the hut had not been pretty and it made her sigh in frustration just thinking about it. By the end, Shippou had been in tears, a few new bumps on his poor kitsune noggin, and Inu yasha had eaten enough dirt to pass as a new species of earthworm. She knew that Inu yasha was upset with the news of Naraku's latest transgression but that was certainly no reason to beat the poor kit to death.
Sighing again and turning to glance at the position of the sun, Kagome came to a stop near a group of logs just to the left of the path they'd been traveling on most of the day. So far they'd made good time, covering more ground that day then she'd expected for the late start they'd gotten and she felt it was about time they stopped to get some dinner.
"Why are we stopping?" Inu yasha grumbled as Kagome pulled him down to sit on the logs.
"It's almost night fall and I was hoping we could get something to eat before we go much farther." She placed a hand on her grumbling stomach. "I don't know how you do it dog-boy, but I'm starving."
"Weak humans..." he mumbled but ended up blushing as his own stomach growled.
Kagome just shook her head as she opened her large yellow pack and began digging through its contents. "What do you feel like for dinner?"
"KEH!"
She glared over her shoulder at the stubborn idiot behind her but it was lost on the blind man so she gave up and turned back to her task. "Fine," she snapped, her teeth grinding together. "Ramen it is."
Inu yasha listened to her move around the camp, fingers twitching to reach out and take hold of the small woman that just couldn't seem to sit still. He listened carefully to the sounds of wood being piled up and knew the moment the fire had been lit by the smell. Kagome was humming softly now, her earlier irritation forgotten in the midst of preparing their dinner. For a long moment Inu yasha wished it could stay just like that but all good things must come to an end and today would not make any exceptions.
"Here," Kagome gently took his hand and placed a cup of noodles in it.
He held it out to her again. "I don't want it."
"Sure you do," he felt her sit next to him. "It's even chicken! That's your favorite, ne?"
He pulled the cup back, blind eyes staring down into it as he listened to Kagome's nearly silent slurps as she ate beside him. He could feel his anger boiling just below the surface, fighting to explode. He held it in check, even as his thin rope began to fray...
"Are you gonna eat?"
With a growl, his control snapped and he threw the steaming cup across the clearing, satisfied when he heard the modern creation collide with a tree.
"I'M NOT FUCKIN' HUNGRY!"
Kagome let out an 'eep' as she jumped away from the raging hanyou, her own ramen falling to the forest floor next to her.
"How can you act so calm!" he raged, blind and furious golden eyes turning on her. "Don't you care about Sango and Miroku at all or are you really that much of a cold hearted bitch?"
That brought some fire to the miko's eyes.
"Cold hearted bitch am I?" She roared suddenly, knocking a suddenly panicked hanyou down from his high horse. "I thought that was Kikyou's job! But maybe I should give it a try seeing as how you seem to like that type of thing!"
She threw her arms up in frustration. "Gods know loving you isn't enough. Trying to help you and take care of you certain doesn't float your boat in the least! Do I have to become a cold, DEAD unfeeling bitch before you'll give me the time of day!"
Inu yasha sputtered for a moment, trying to pass words through his lips in retaliation but Kagome's rant was far from over.
"Of course I'm worried about Sango and Miroku! I love them like they were family but that's not why you're fuckin' mad is it!"
He gulped, feeling very small and very much trapped. Kagome was cussing... That was never a good sign...
"HEY!" he cried as two petite hands gripped the front of his haori and pulled him up until he could feel Kagome's nose nearly brush against his, her hot breath coming out in irate puffs against his lips.
"For the last two years I've followed you, Inu yasha," she growled. "I've followed you and never said a word when you went to see her but then I told myself that you loved her and I could live with that because I thought it made you happy. Then one day I bring you into my home, out of the goodness in my heart and attempt to help you because gods know that SHE sure as hell wasn't offering you any support other then a one way trip to hell. But, still knowing then what I did I tried my best to offer you support and help you then gave you my body because you said that you loved me but what did it get me, ne! What did it get me!"
She pushed him away and he stumbled back, barely righting himself before he crashed to the ground.
"I'll tell you what I got..." and he shuddered at the cold feeling behind those words. "The moment I proved I was no long useful to the GREAT INU YASHA I was cast aside for that... that..."
Was that blood he smelled?
"That damn cold hearted bitch that won't even give you the time of day! I'm worth more then that Inu yasha and I'm tired of you treating me like I'm some kind of toy for you to string a long..."
She was in his face again, growling low and deep. "I suggest you figure out what you want to do about us being mates because I sure as hell know I don't want to be mated to any one that can't tell me from a bunch of grave soil."
And with that she turned and stomped off into the forest and he let her go, falling to his knees in the cold, unforgiving dirt.
Naraku laughed, his hands clutching his sides and tears rolling down his cheeks. He watched as the furious miko stalked away from her blind hanyou companion and into the forest to cry. He relished the tears in her eyes, found joy in the agony that gripped her shattered heart.
Gods this was all just too damn easy when Inu yasha did his work for him...
Kagome's tear stained eyes looked down at her bloody hands as she carefully washed them in the stream. She wasn't far from where she'd left Inu yasha so if something happened she could make it back quickly but she just needed to get away from him.
She'd known the moment he'd begun his temper tantrum exactly what his problem was and she hadn't been able to stop before her own temper had risen to meet his challenge.. In truth, she was kind of glad she'd gotten a chance to voice her anger but at the same time...
She glance back towards where she'd come from and could ignore the guilt gnawing at her stomach.
With a sigh she brought her now clean hands up to inspect the damage she'd caused with her nails.
She hadn't even realized her fists were clenched that tightly until she'd made it to the stream.
The marks seemed fine and the bleeding had stopped for now but it would probably be a while before she could hold her bow again.
She sighed.
Not that that mattered right now.
Sitting with her back against a tree, Kagome brought her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms tightly around them to hold them in place. Her eyes glittered with unshed tears that she refused to cry. It was getting dark and soon it would be too cold for her short sleeved school uniform and mini skirt but she didn't want to go back yet.
Gods, she was in one hell of a pickle...
A/N: Hey! Just wanted to say thanks to all you guys reading this! I'm so glad I finally got another chapter out, even if it is angsty but don't worry! This story has a happy ending... Houjo gets the girl..
J/K! PLEASE DON'T KILL ME::laughs: No, my fic is Inu/Kagome all the way! With a splash of Sango/Miroku for color ;) Anywho! Please let me know what you think.. Love it, hate it, want to stone me for even thinking it? Drop me a line! Thanks again!
Oh and thanks bunchies to Inudemoness for proofreading this for me! I tried my best to follow everything you gave me! I promise! Except I couldn't get my notepad to make only one word italic... any other ideas?
Have fun everyone!
Sami