The Skaters Edge

I slowly open my eyes and look up to see Sango. She is cradling my head in her lap and she is crying. She has not noticed that I have come to yet so I look over to the side and see Miroku holding her other hand.



“Sango… Are you ok?” I say to her in a harsh whisper. My throat is sore and dry and I feel like the whole baseball team has taken turns hitting me during their latest batting practice. I start to sit up but I am held in place by Sango’s hand on my shoulder.



“You just stay put, InuYasha will be back in a moment and he wanted me to make sure you stayed here. Miroku told me what happened out there. I don’t remember anything after I started to fall… I must have blacked out pretty good. He said that he thinks that when you purified Ayame…”



“What the hell do you mean?!?!? I just couldn’t have killed her, could I?!?” I bolt up from her lap and look into eyes looking for the truth.



“No you didn’t, just calm down so I can finish, will ya?” She says in her motherly tone as she wipes the remnants of tears away.



“As I was saying, you purified her, but only her demon blood was purified. You seemed to have turned her into a human Kags. I didn’t think that was possible to do to a full demon. I thought if you purified them, that was it…. your dead. That isn’t the only thing though.” She sighs heavily and continues as she looks down at her hands in her

lap as Miroku grips her one hand more tightly and puts his other arm around her shoulder.



“After I talked to Miroku, he believes that while you were doing that, you were also subconsciously healing my wounds.” She looks over to Miroku.



“Yes indeed Kags. You are the most powerful miko I have ever met and I was brought up in a temple. I imagine that you are too young to be fully trained so the raw power you have shown and still have control over, is absolutely astonishing.” Miroku says with awe.



“I don’t even have a bump on my head. How did you manage to do all of that?” She looks to me hoping that I would give her an answer to her questions. I see her shed tears that I have not seen her shed in 2 years. It takes a lot to get to her and this must just have hit that button to get her to snap.



Miroku is looking on with interest as I take my hand and brush my bangs out of my eyes and drag my hand down my face as I sigh heavily. I am totally wiped out and this would explain why.



“I can’t tell you how I did that, it sounds like a freaking miracle to me. Not only did I not kill Ayame, I also managed to heal you. The wounds you had were really bad and it wouldn’t have surprised me if you would have had some serious damage. Your helmet is trashed and is cracked all the way through. I think we should sue the company for putting your life in danger like that.” I say to her with all seriousness. She could have died. She is just lucky that she has a freakishly powerful best friend who happens to be a miko with healing powers.



She lets go of Miroku’s hand and grabs me tightly and brings me into a bear hug as she cries on my shoulder. I am so very happy that she is ok and doesn’t seem to be injured. I need her to know that it is going to be ok.

“Hey! Enough of this now… Just because you were tripped, doesn’t overshadow the fact that I kicked your ass…” I smirk at her as she pulls her head away from my shoulder with wide glassy eyes trained on my features and returns it with a smile.



“Along with Ayame’s too of course. I won Sango. You didn’t get to see it but I actually beat her fair and square. Can you believe it? I totally thought it would be you tonight…” I look down at my own hands in my lap trying to hold my emotions at bay.



“I am so sorry that you didn’t get to place but we have to look on the bright side now. We both made the team. I won’t be going to college for another year so we have a bunch of time left to spend together before that happens.” I look up at her with a renewed smile plastered on my face.



I am trying to lift the mood that has fallen over my sullen friends. That is what I was good at after all, getting everyone to feel better. Just my lot in life I guess.



It really does not show the reality of my own personal situation though. On the inside, I am totally beat; both physically and emotionally and I think the best thing for me now would be a nice hot shower and a comfortable bed. Oh how my pillow is calling my name.



I have to get up early tomorrow, 4:30 a.m. to be exact. I am in charge of taking care of the shrine grounds before I have to get ready and come into the rink for work at 11:00. It makes for a hell of a long day when you get up that early. That on top of the fact that I am pulling a double tomorrow at work… That means I will be on my feet working from 5:00 a.m. until about 11:30 tomorrow night. Sigh… Oh well, doesn’t do any good to bitch about it, I need the money anyway.



Saturday afternoons at the rink are filled with lots and lots of little kids and parents that don’t know how to skate. We usually have 3 guards on these days to help out but tomorrow we are only going to have two because Yura is going out of town. I will be the DJ tomorrow so that is always a plus. That lets me get immersed in the music and try to get the family’s to have a good time.



Saturday night is totally different. This is the night when all the good skaters come out to just kick back and have a good time. It’s a night to talk to friends and relax and not have to worry about races and competitions. I am almost always off on these nights because the sisters know how important it is for me to try to keep myself sane and take some time for myself to have a good time and enjoy my youth away from some of the responsibilities. They know all about my school and shrine schedules so they do their best to make things easier on me.



I am fully sitting up and my head is feeling a lot better than it had been a few minutes ago. Miroku had gotten me a bottle of water and a few Tylenol and I am feeling more like myself as the minutes tick by.



I look out to see Kaede talking to Mr. Nakimishi and I have yet to find out what is going to happen. I did win the match after all and that means he should want to see my abilities. I don’t think there is any way I could do that tonight but if that is what they want, that is what they will get. I am not going to miss out on my future because some stupid bitch deciding to fuck up my best friend. On top of that, how long was I out? Did the guys do their final? I really didn’t want to miss that.



I move to get up and fall back and end up catching myself on the edge of the bench. I hunch over to put my head between my knees and start taking deep breaths. I am hoping this will help me to stave off the dizziness so that I don’t fall flat on my face. I need to get it together here so I can take care of business.



“Wench, what the hell do you think your doing?!” I hear the beautiful baritone of InuYasha say as I slowly raise my head. I am utterly shocked at what I see before me. There stands a raven haired man. He has deep violet eyes that are just striking and it feels like he is looking right through me and into my very soul. I cock my head to the side slightly and narrow my eyes at this stranger.



“Who the hell are you to call me a wench?! You better back the hell up guy; I don’t need your shit right now, whoever the hell you are.” I look at him questioningly. He is quite handsome, if I didn’t know any better, I would think this is how InuYasha would look as a…



“Wait a minute, InuYasha??” I say to him, forgetting my dizzy spell as I stand and lose balance. I fall right into his rock hard chest and crane my neck to look up at him. He is on skates after all and I am in my sock clad feet so this guy is like 6’5”.



“Who the fuck else would call you a wench?” He scoffs as he wraps his arms around my petite form. He nuzzles my neck and takes a sniff. “Damn it!!! I hate being a fucking human!! I can’t smell shit and I don’t like not being able to smell my mate.” He blushes slightly at the last statement as he sits me back down on the bench.

“What happened to you? It’s not your ‘time’ is it? I know hanyous have a time when they revert to their human forms.” I ask him. Sango and Miroku are just staring at us.



“No, it’s not. Didn’t Miroku tell you?” He looks over to his friend who has his hand behind his head shaking it in an apologetic fashion.



“Sorry Inu. She has only been conscious for a few moments. We only got to tell her what happened to Ayame and Sango. We didn’t even tell her about tomorrow yet.” Miroku says as he starts to take off his skates. Sango proceeds to do the same thing as we see paramedics enter the rink with a gurney and move towards the still unconscious form lying in the center of the rink.



I look out to see the now brunette Ayame start to stir as they give her some smelling salts. I can see her tear stained cheeks and kind of feel bad. I know I shouldn’t, especially for what she did to Sango. It’s not in my personality to keep a grudge like that though and I am actually happy that I didn’t take her life tonight. That would have been really horrifying for me. I have taken the lives of quite a few lower level demons but never one like Ayame. On top of that, we were acquaintances, it’s not like she was just some random demon trying to rob a bank or something.



“What about tomorrow? I have a whole shit load of stuff to do. You know how Saturdays are for me.” I look over to Sango as she nods her head in agreement looking over to Miroku.



“We will be coming back to the rink tomorrow to do our final. We did not do it tonight due to the unfortunate circumstances of the evening.” Miroku says as we make our way from the benches over to the lockers. The human InuYasha has his arm around my shoulder possessively as I walk next to him.



“What happened InuYasha? Why are you a human?” I ask in a very low voice as we continue to our destination.



“I’m not sure Princess. I asked Fluffy about it and he said that it has to do with the link that we share with each other. Now that you have my youkai, you can not purify me… But, we are linked and when you used so much power, your miko aura dominated the youkai completely and made it vanish as if it were never there in the 1st place. He doesn’t think I will revert back to my hanyou self until you are fully regenerated and back to normal. So that being said, do you want to go get some chow? That will help immensely with the recovery of your body.” He says to me every so gently.



We get to the locker and I take out my braids as InuYasha sits on the floor to remove his skates. Sango and Miroku have made their way over to the table that Kaede is sitting at with Kikyo.



“Are you sure you are feeling ok Kagome? You still look quite pale. You had me really, really scarred. I thought I lost you for a second there. I had no idea since I couldn’t smell you properly.” InuYasha says to me in a quiet voice as he stands and walks up behind me. He wraps his arms lovingly around me and I feel the raven curtain of his hair fall around me.



I am still in the process of removing my braids and I finally have the second one out. He moves his hands to my hair and smoothes it out running his fingers through it. It feels heavenly as I close my eyes to enjoy the feeling. This is such a loving endearment from the now human man. I don't think he had been this gentle with me all night and I can only deduce that it is from him being in his human form.



He slowly turns me to face him as his hands gently touch my face. He is looking right into my eyes and I just about turn to putty in his large hands. He is still towering over me as I stand on tip toes to grasp his neck in order to bring his luscious lips to mine in a loving and tender kiss. There was nothing but love in this kiss. It was passionate but it was not a passion that was consumed by lust. It was only the yearning of two people to be with each other in that moment. I slowly pull away from his mouth as he brings his forehead to rest against mine.



“I love you Kagome. You are my princess, and I will make you mine forever.” He whispers to me. I am floored by this statement. I think about it for a second and come to a startling revelation, I love him too. I didn't think that love at first sight stuff was possible but now I know that it is. All of the feelings that I have been experiencing all night can be chalked up to that fact. I start to open my mouth to respond when over comes Kikyo.



“InuYasha, I need to talk to you… NOW!!” she spits at my boyfriend. I have decided that with his declaration of love and my new found revelation, it is safe to say that we are actually together. I release his neck and take a step back to look at him. I slowly take a breath and turn my head to my boss.



“What is it that my boyfriend can help you with Kikyo-san?” I say sweetly to my boss. I make sure it does not sound condescending because after all, she does sign my checks.



“It has nothing to do with you Kagome. You are not with him because he is still with me.” She says with a triumphant look on her face. I look back to InuYasha to see the truth in his previous declaration but I find that he has turned away and has become quiet. That was it? That was his reaction after just spouting his words of tender love and sharing the intimate moment we just did. My world crashed in around me... again. How is it even fair that I could be able to come to such a striking realization in my life so quickly, only to have it shot down in the matter of 2 seconds. That's it, I'm done. You can stick a fork in me...



“Fine... You go ahead and take him. He’s yours.” I say to her, trying to hide my heartbreak behind a veiled curtain of rage. It really wasn’t working but InuYasha would never know because he was still a human and couldn’t smell me. He snaps his head back to look at me as I grab Big Betty, “Sango!!! Let’s get the fuck out of here, I can’t stand the company any more!”



I turn to InuYasha, “I’d like to say it’s been a little slice of heaven, but it hasn’t. You have ruined me and I really hope that will sink in for you soon. Doesn't seem to bother you too much that you ripped your Princess's heart out of her chest and stomped on it? Thanks for nothing asshole. Don't ever try to see me or talk to me again. Have fun with Kikyo-san. You two seem to be meant for each other."



I turn on my heel and march away. I can still move pretty damn fast considering how tired and drained I am. I have to make it outside and home before I can break down and cry. I was going to tell that fucking prick that I loved him back. I am such a naïve twit, I will never, EVER take him back. Not after what he did. I head straight out the door to wait for Sango when I hear InuYasha calling out my name. That did it, I dropped by by the trunk and collapse to my knees and start sobbing uncontrollably.



There is the shadows of the parking lot, he lurked. He was biding his time. “Oh yes my sweet Kagome. You will most definitely be mine…. Forever…”



The evil chuckle coming from Naraku was all but impossible to hear as he lifted himself off the ground in a cloud of noxious miasma.