Kagome was within arms reach of the top of the well when a familiar dark shape, complete with triangular ears, blocked out the sun. Before she could react, she found herself being grabbed under one arm and hauled up like a sack of rice.
Inuyasha dropped her unceremoniously on the ground, then turned and crouched, his back to her. "Get on," he directed.
Kagome clambered to her feet, rubbing the abused hip that had taken the weight of her fall, then rolling her pulled shoulder. "Mou, Inuyasha, I might be better off walking to Kaede’s at this rate."
He shot her an irritated glance over his shoulder, then turned back around. "We’re not going to the Babaa’s, woman. Now quit arguing and get on."
Frowning, she did as he directed, and within seconds, they were flying low through the trees toward the mountains in the northwest.
"What’s happening, Inuyasha?" she asked, leaning forward to make herself heard over the rush of wind. "Where are Sango-chan and Miroku-sama? Where’s Shippou-chan? Where are we going?"
He navigated them silently to the edge of the forest, then burst out to race along the rolling plain. "It’s complicated," he said, settling into a comfortable run. "You remember that village, the one where Sango picked up a shard just before we got to her?"
"Yes," she replied instantly. "She exterminated a demon for them. What about it?"
"They sent a runner to the village this morning. He said they saw demons go over last night, a whole flight of those damn things Naraku controls. They were heading into the mountains, toward-"
"Sango-chan’s village!" Kagome shouted, and Inuyasha stumbled, nearly falling before recovering and running on.
"Damn it, woman! Don’t scream in my ear like that!" He tightened his grip on her legs where it had slipped at her exclamation. "Yeah, they were headed for the taiji village. Sango and the bouzu left on Kirara already, and Shippou’s gonna meet us there after he flies the guy back to his own village."
"He’s so young..." Kagome murmured before another thought occurred to her. "Inuyasha, why didn’t you come for me this morning, when the man arrived? I would have come right back..."
"Keh. After taking the time to go through and find you, explain everything and wait for you to pack? Sango wasn’t going to wait, and Miroku didn’t want her to go alone. You were already coming back at mid-day, so I said I’d stay behind to wait and explain on the way." The mountains in the distance grew larger ever so slowly, though they were covering ground rapidly.
"It’s happening again, isn’t it? Everything we’ve done to stop it this time, to make things different, and it’s all falling apart. Sango-chan is going to lose her brother again, and I can’t stop it." Kagome buried her face in Inuyasha’s hair, comforting herself with its familiar scent.
"Brother?" Inuyasha asked. "Oh, yeah. That kid. They’re trained youkai taijiya, Kagome. It anyone stands a chance against those youkai, it’s them. Don’t blame yourself. You couldn’t have stopped it even if you’d known."
She bit down on her lip to keep from screaming. It was all happening too fast: Houjou had lost all active memories of their future, and now it seemed Inuyasha had lost his own memories of their past as well.
Kagome had never felt so alone.
---
They were too late, all of them.
It was clear, when Inuyasha and Kagome arrived late in the afternoon, that they had been too late from the moment they had set out. Even if the peasant-farmer had been able to travel with the speed of Sesshoumaru, streaking through the night like a shooting star, they could not have arrived in time. From the moment the flight of youkai had been spotted, the village of the demon exterminators was doomed.
They had not gone quietly or easily, however. Corpses of youkai, already bloating in the muggy July sun, were thick on the ground. Kagome wove among them, the red handkerchief of her uniform pressed tightly over her nose and mouth with one hand to combat the worst of the stench, the other hand glowing as she purified the putrid bodies one by one, allowing the others to reach the people crushed to death underneath. If I never see another one of these things again, it will be far too soon, she thought, vaporizing another malevolent air spirit. She’d been weeping as she worked early on, and now her face felt gritty with salt and dirt, her eyes hot and swollen.
Under the next youkai corpse, she found the body of a young girl, no more than four or five, the hilt of a tanto clenched tightly in one fist. She’d had a reasonably peaceful end considering all the chaos, her head resting at an unnatural angle, neck clearly broken. Tears welled up again to sting her tired eyes, and Kagome knelt a moment in the dirt next to her, reaching out to brush the back of her hand over the girl’s pale cheek. She looked so much like Sango that she had to be close kin; a cousin perhaps, who idolized the older taijiya. "I’m so sorry about this," she whispered, easing the girl’s dull eyes closed. "I hope your next life is a lot happier." Pushing herself to her feet, she went back to her dreadful work.
It was near sunset when Inuyasha pulled her aside, taking her over to the sad remains of the village’s houses. "See if you can’t figure out some place for us to sleep tonight," he directed, his voice uncharacteristically gentle. He’d been taciturn all day, moving the bodies so Sango could bathe her loved ones, digging graves with Miroku in the least-devastated corner of the enclave, checking on Kagome when her gorge had risen too far to be suppressed. He hadn’t spoken one word of complaint or reproach, and his directive now was transparently designed to relieve her of her terrible burden. "There’s just some small-fry left to clean up."
"Shippou-chan’s not here yet," she noted woodenly, trying not to see the destruction as she looked around. "It’s getting awfully late, Inuyasha."
"Keh. Probably met some cute little girl in the jijii’s village and lost track of time." He rolled his eyes at her tired scowl. "I’m gonna take a look around the forest after I finish up in here. I’ll keep an eye out for the brat, leave him some tracks he can’t miss."
"He’s so young, though. I’m worried."
Inuyasha scoffed again. "He’s youkai and orphaned. You grow up quick or not at all. Hey, don’t start that," he warned, seeing her bottom lip begin to tremble. "I’ll look for him in a while, but he’s fine. Get on dinner. Whatever you can find is fine." He gave her arm a reassuring squeeze and slipped away into the chaos.
---
"Kagome-sama?"
She turned from her contemplation of the decimated tokonoma. "It’s my fault," she said, wiping away the last of her tears. She’d cried herself dry for the moment, a feeling she remembered well.
"What do you mean, Kagome-sama?" Miroku asked, coming further into the room. He looked disheveled from his hard work, coated in sweat and dirt. Kagome felt the same grime covering her own skin; they’d all need baths before settling down for the night.
"This," she replied, waving at a hand at the wrecked trappings of the shrine alcove. "There was a Shikon shard here, a pretty big one. I can feel the imprint of it on the walls, on the gohei." She fingered a scrap of paper streamer still hanging from the shimenawa. "They were protecting it, trying to purify it. If I hadn’t shattered it in the first place, those things would never have come here. I should have told them, warned them to be careful, not to keep shards here, for their own safety..."
"Kagome-sama, you could not have known," Miroku insisted gently. "You had no choice, The Jewel had to be kept from Naraku. And you could not have foreseen such a tragedy. Even those schooled in the study of the stars and other omens cannot always say what will happen. A terrible thing has happened here, but you are not responsible."
How could she tell him, or any of them, the things she knew? What did she know anymore, about what was to come? Things were changing all the time, and her only hope was to go with the flow. "I suppose you’re right, Miroku-sama. How is Sango-chan?"
"Grieving. All that she knew was here. It pains her greatly, and yet she has hope. Inuyasha and I cleared the grounds completely before he left, but there are still people unaccounted for. Sango believes they may be gone on an extermination."
Kagome nodded, refusing to think about that possibility. "I think I can get this room habitable again."
"I think that would please her greatly. Sango wishes to sit in vigil for her kin tonight, and I have offered to sit with her." He fingered the edge of his kesa almost shyly. "She has accepted the offer of my company."
"I should do something about baths and dinner, then. Will you tell Sango-chan I’m sorry for her loss? I’ll let you know when I have things ready." She made her escape quickly, before the guilt wrung words from her she couldn’t explain.
---
It was full dark before Inuyasha returned. Kagome waited just outside the palisade, staring into the forest, her senses stretched to the limits trying to pick up the slightest trace of him. And yet, when he dropped from a branch to land at her feet, she hadn’t picked up the slightest hint of his youki. "How did you do that?" she asked, amazed.
"What?" he asked, rising. "You shouldn’t be out here."
"I was waiting for you, trying to feel your youki, but I got nothing." She looked around, concerned. "Where’s Shippou-chan? Did you find him?"
Inuyasha took her by the elbow, trying to lead her back inside the village. "I found the jijii’s village. The brat found some kids to play with. I told him we’d pick him up on the way back."
Kagome nodded. He seemed no more eager for Shippou to see the devastation than she was. Resisting his gentle tug toward the gate, she moved toward the trees. "I don’t want to go back inside yet. It’s too..."
"Creepy?" he supplied. He studied the nearby trees, then lifted them effortlessly to a wide branch and settled with his back against the trunk, Kagome perched across his lap.
What would she have given to be with him like this the first time? He was still arrogant and temperamental as ever, but now they had these moments where she felt safe and comforted, like the only other being in his world. "Sad," she finally finished. "Poor Sango-chan. Everyone in this place was a member of her family, and now they’re gone." She shifted her head more comfortably against his shoulder. "We never found her father or Kohaku-kun, or some of the other taijiya. Sango-chan thinks they may be alive somewhere, out on a job." She hadn’t been able to find the courage during the agonizingly long afternoon to tell Sango the truth about the exterminators’ finale mission.
"Where is she now?" Inuyasha asked, his breath a warm puff against her ear.
"In her house, with Miroku-sama. He’s been so different today, Inuyasha. He hasn’t tried anything perverted. I was shocked." His hands moved where they cradled her against him, sliding under her clothing to caress bare skin, and Kagome fought back a shiver of anticipation. "I-I thought maybe they could use some privacy." She fought to focus against the distraction of his warm and gentle touch. "We shouldn’t be doing this," she murmured, trying not to let her voice quaver with desire. How could she want him so much after the things she’d seen that day?
"Kagome..." His breath puffed warm in her ear again. "You smell so alive." he whispered. "All day, all I could smell was death. But you smell alive." His hands shifted again, then the front-clasp of her bra popped open and he pushed the fabric aside, hands sliding up to cup her breasts. Then she felt the press of his lips against the sensitive skin between ear and jaw, the touch of a fang that pressed but did not bite. "Kagome, please..."
She slid a hand into his hair, fingers brushing one ear, and her pounding heart raced when his hands tightened against her. "Hai..."
---
She woke in the dark to the feeling of energy skittering over her skin, Inuyasha’s closest and strangely calming. But she could feel waves of it rolling over her from a hundred other sources and she tensed, burying her face in his neck and inhaling great gulps of his woodsy scent, waking him in the process.
"What?" he demanded, snapping to attention. "What is it? What’s wrong?"
"Youki," she whispered, trying to crawl further into his embrace. "It’s huge, everywhere. I can’t... I can’t..."
She heard him sniffing, better able to perceive though smell than her poorly described ‘feel,’ then snorted and settled back against the trunk, eyes closing. "Nothin’ there. Everything’s fine."
She pushed up a little, irritated. "Inuyasha, I have never felt that much youki in my life without some kind of threat present. And it’s coming from everything. I could swear I’m getting youki from this tree."
"You are," he muttered. "Tree’s got a spirit, doesn’t it? Not my fault most of the trees in your time are dead on the inside." He cracked one eye open to gaze at her as she settled back against him. "Everything alive has some kind of energy, Kagome. Should be wondering why you never felt it before," he pronounced before sliding back into sleep.
It was a question that kept her up well past dawn.
AN: For my purposes here, ‘youki’ refers to magical energy of any kind, whatever the source, as opposed to ‘jaki,’ the energy given off by demons and demon items (i.e. Toukijin) that has a particularly nasty feel to it.
PSA: Book 15 rocks, and was a source of inspiration, as always. And extra-special thanks to Pip, who kept Yash and Kagome out of a truck, among other things.
TBC...
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