Two's A Crowd

Translations – Nani fuka : What’s wrong?


Chapter 2: Back to the Past


Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits, and
Are melted into air, into thin air;
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capp’d towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve,
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made of, and our little life
Is rounded with sleep.

~Our Little Life by William Shakespeare (From: “The Tempest”)



“God damn it, Inuyasha I’m not going!”

“Kagome! Kagome let go of the door frame before I take that as well!”

“No!”

*****

“She wasn’t at school today.” Yuka said with a frown as the trio began walking towards Kagome’s house.

Eri frowned herself and then smashed her fist into her other hand in decision.

“We need to go over and force her out of there!”

“Yea! And take her clubbing, like we were supposed to yesterday!” Ayumi said with a grin. They all cheered, the sight of the shrine staircase coming into view.

That was exactly what their friend needed!

*****

“Inuyasha I just got out of the SHOWER! Let me go now, before I do something very bad to you!”

Inuyasha snorted.

“YEAH, right! Now let’s go!”

“NO! And let go of my waist!”

“Let go of the door first!”

“You idiot, no!”
He glared at her.

“Then I won’t either!”

“INUYASHA!”

*****

“Hey…you guys hear that?” Eri asked as she paused halfway up the stairs. The others paused as well.

“Yeah…hey isn’t that Kagome?”

“And is that a guy?”
They looked at each other.

“You don’t think she played hooky today, do you?”

Ayumi shrugged and began to run up the stairs, the others following suit closely behind.

*****

“Kagome, what are you doing?”

Kagome’s head whipped around in relief at the sound of her brothers voice.

“Sota! Help me, he’s crazy!”
Inuyasha huffed angrily and pulled harder, settling back on his heels to try and pull her free of the house.

“I’m not crazy, you are! You. Told. Me. Yesterday. That’s you’d come back tomorrow!”

She wanted to cry.

“Just-”

“Uh Kagome…what are you doing?”

“Yeah, and whose that guy? Why does he have your bag?”

She really did cry now. It was the three people she least needed to see-aside from Hojo that was. Great. Just perfect. She had a raving hanyou trying to tug her out of her own house, and her brother was doing nothing to stop it! NOT TO MENTION Inuyasha was the object of her obsession among her friends…if they ever found out this was him, well…bad, bad, bad…

“Inuyasha, for god’s sake, don’t say a thing to them!” She hissed at the red clad hanyou as he glared at her friends.
Of course he didn’t listen to her.

“Not that it’s your business, but the name’s Inuyasha!” He said as he growled and tried pulling her again.

“NO!”

Her friends gasped and looked from him to Kagome to him again, taking in all of his features from his silver hair to the way out of date fashion he was wearing.

“Wow…isn’t he that jealous, two-timing boyfriend of hers?” Yuka asked with awe as Kagome still managed to hold on to the doorframe.

“NO! No-he is SO not!” Kagome yelled frantically as she kicked out at Inuyasha to let her go.
By god, her priestess powers were going to come out in as second-friends or no friends!

His ears perked up.

“Boyfriend?”

“NO, no, no, no, no! I’ll let go, I’LL LET GO!”

“Yeah. You’re the one who left her for that Kikyo girl. Bad move mister!” Ayumi said with a shake of her head.

“Yeah, do you know how upset she was over that? She cried for days!” Eri said with a glare.

Giving a scream of embarrassment and something in which to distract them, Kagome let go of the house and landed in a heap on top of Inuyasha.

“ERI! STOP-NO MORE!”

“Kikyo? How do you know about her?” Inuyasha asked darkly as he lifted Kagome’s hair off of his face to look at them.

“Kagome’s always talking about it. Seriously, we think that she’s in lo-”

“ERIIIIIIII!!!” Kagome squealed as she pushed herself off of Inuyasha and jumped to her feet, tackling the other girl, who gave a cry of surprise and toppled over backwards onto the ground.

“Kagome! KAGOME – THAT’S ERI!” Yuka screamed as she tried pulling her off.

“I know! I KNOW!” Kagome growled as she put her hands around Eri’s neck and squeezed.

Inuyasha was behind her in a moment and pulling her off of her best friend. Eri gasped as her throat was released, the others crowding around her to try and help. Kicking and screaming, Kagome tried getting out of his grasp but he had his hands around her ribs ad she couldn’t get any good angles. And in a flash, he was bounding into the air, her yellow bag held tightly in his hand as they arrived in the well house, both of them going feet first into the old structure.

She screamed the entire way.

Meanwhile…

“Jesus Kagome! What happened to yo- Kagome?” Eri, still breathing heavily, glanced around for her friend and saw her and Inuyasha gone.

There was a pause as silence ensued.

“She did it again, Yuka!” Ayumi said worriedly as they helped Eri stand.

“Was that some side affect of a disease or something?”

Sota who was still there and had been watching the whole scene as it played out, jumped in at the chance of escape for his sister.

“Oh yea! It’s usual for people with…um…Tutankhamenitis to lose control of their sense of reality!” They all looked at each other.

“Tutankhamenitis? Never heard of it. Is it serious?” Sota nodded heavily, hands waving dramatically in the air for emphasis.

“That’s why Inuyasha was here! He was trying to bring her to the hospital but well…you saw how she was...”

“Oh…” They all said simultaneously.

“Well tell her we still want to take her out…but she needs to REALLY get over this Tuta…Tatua…”

“Tutankhamenitis?” Sota asked helpfully. They nodded thankfully.

“Yeah.”

“Alright, well she’ll be gone a few days, maybe a week so…”

“A week?” Yuka looked shocked at the thought.

“We have exams! She can’t miss those! And how is she going to study?”

Ayumi broke in angrily.

“And it’s her birthday in a six days!”

Sota smiled sadly and ushered them towards the stairs.

“I’ll get her stuff to her, don’t worry. The disease needs to run its course, you know. Now, see you in a week!” He said when they were halfway down the stairs.

“Uh yeah, but-”

But as Yuka turned to get more information, Sota was suddenly gone as well.

They all looked at each other again.

“Is it just a THING with this family?”

*****

“How dare you! How could you possibly-I’M ONLY WEARING A TEE SHIRT AND PANTS!” Kagome screamed as they reached the other side and jumped out. Inuyasha winced and set her down on the ground.

“I TOLD you, I’d come on my own! I didn’t expect to have to fight you all day!”

“Hey, I was just-”

She interrupted him.

“NO. You were feeling bad that Kikyo got chosen instead and came to me to try and get me to cheer up! What, is she sick? Too lazy to comply with your wishes? Is that graveyard soil starting to GET to her?!” Kagome yelled angrily, stomping her foot into the ground then realizing she didn’t have any shoes on and screeched, jumping onto the rim of the well. He blushed, looking away slightly before looking back at her.

“She went to another village to train their new priestess.”

Kagome continued to glare at him.

“Oh yea? Well-well-well-well I don’t care! Now if you’ll excuse me-”

“Kagome-chan! You’re finally here!”

“Kagome!”

She felt something soft and furry pounce on top of her shoulder and gasped in surprise.

Looking around, she saw who was speaking.

“Shippo-chan! Sango-chan!”

“Kagome, did you bring me some sweets?”

“How was your time? Does it snow there as well? Is it cold?”

“Kagome, can you come see my new drawings? Inuyasha’s all pink in one of them!”

Stunned, she looked back and forth between her two friends and then finally gave up. Sighing, she glanced back at Inuyasha and shrugged. He grinned in response, and gave her his haori for her to warm up in as he picked her up. Finally realizing how cold it was, her teeth began to chatter and she sneezed.

“Come on…let’s go back to Kaeda’s and get something to eat.” Sango said as she shouldered her boomerang and began to walk back through the foot deep snow, Kilala on her shoulder. Nodding, Inuyasha bounded off, getting to the village in seconds, still clutching her big yellow bag. Welcoming the warmth, Kagome huddled under a few blankets and began sorting through her bag for a sweater and some socks. Her feet were still bare after all.

*****

“Now…” Kaeda said as she poured hot stew into a bowl and pushed it towards Kagome and then the others.

“The last jewel shard is out there somewhere, and ye all know Naraku is searching for it as well.”

Everyone nodded except Kagome who - still chattering - pulled a thick sweater out of her bag and hurriedly put it on.

“I suggest that since Kikyo is gone, we head west and catch up to her. Since now we have Kagome, the battle should be much easier.”

Kagome sighed and began to noisily eat her stew. Kaeda glanced at Inuyasha as he spoke.

“Yeah, and then we can possibly relax for a while.”
Everyone nodded in agreement and a silence settled as they finished of their stew.
Kagome gave the bowl back to Kaeda.

“I’m going to go take a walk.”

Sango stood at her words.

“I’ll go as well then.”
Nodding Kagome slipped on her boots from her bag and waved goodbye as the two left.

“Surprised you didn’t - oh.” Inuyasha said as he turned to Shippo and saw that he was deeply asleep.

“I think foxes hibernate in the winter, don’t they?” Miroku asked as he leaned against the wall and continued to eat his own stew.
Inuyasha shrugged.

“Whatever.”

*****

There was that smell again…but not as strong. It was as if someone had placed a heavy blanket over it to douse it…or if nothing else, dilute it.

He frowned, tipping his head to the side where it was more potent. His eyes narrowed, the familiar spark of interest and…no. No he wouldn’t say that word. He refused to.

Rin tugged on his sleeve.

“Sesshomaru-sama? Nani fuka?”

He walked forward without looking down, unconsciously heading towards the scent. From behind him, Jaken huffed and began scolding the young girl.

“Rin, why must you bother my lord so! Can’t you see he’s thinking, you little urchin?!”
Rin laughed toothily and hugged the small toad in reply.

“Master Jaken is jealous of Rin!”

“Hey! Hey stop, you miserable-”

“Jaken. Enough.”
Immediately, the toad went silent and Rin grinning, hugging him once more before starting after her lord. He stuttered an apology as she did so, but then glared at Rin.

‘I know this smell…’

The snow was falling down around them gently, tiny snowflakes drifting lazily into his hair and clothes. He ignored them and continued on, his golden eyes watching carefully for anything hazardous to himself or his entourage.

It was getting stronger.

From behind him, Rin began humming and he listened with half an ear to it. The other footsteps of his ward and vassal seemed like thunder compared to his light ones. Sesshomaru fairly glided across the snowy terrain.

‘We should not go.’ The thought was more an order to himself then anything else but he continued on, ignoring it. He felt something within him become angry or annoyed, he was not sure of which.
From behind him, Jaken fell over a snow covered root with a loud gasp, momentarily distracting him.

‘She is with another person.’
The thought made him pause, Rin neatly dodging his legs to stop beside him since she was used to it.

He did not want to draw attention to himself. If he went there was more a chance of being sighted or sensed, and he did not want to worry her-

‘No. You do not want to worry Rin and Jaken. After all, it requires us to leave them behind…’ He looked around, his eyes narrowing. The scent was moving away, and his sharp ears faintly caught words here and there.

He had to hurry now or not at all.

‘You are not my caretaker.’ He thought with an inward sneer as he signaled Jaken to watch after the girl. The voice growled in anger, unused to being ignored or disobeyed.

‘I am your other half…your side of reason. If we go, she will take you like she has before.’
He stepped forward into the thick trees, frosted over with snow. Their bows were heavy with the glittering stuff and faintly, they reminded him of himself. The weight of hundreds of years placed upon his shoulders.

‘You are. But I can refuse your advice.’ He tilted his head up as the trees became less dense and heard the voices growing louder.
He moved faster.

‘What is it that you call our self? A demon? A…perfectionist?’ Sesshomaru’s eyes narrowed at the tone of his arguer.

‘She will ruin that…will create flaws in our design. She will smash up our world into tiny little pieces and laugh at us for it.’

‘She is too kind for that.’ He thought as he leapt lightly over a fallen tree. A squirrel chattered at him from overhead but he ignored it.

‘She is a human…a human and a woman. They are not kind.’
He frowned even more deeply, his eyes seeing two figures walking in the distance.

‘I cannot deny my-’

‘We can! We can and we will. Do not go to her.’ Sesshomaru covered his aura neatly, making sure they would not sense him and drew closer.

‘You will destroy us.’

‘No...I will only destroy you.’

*****

“You needed to be away from Inuyasha, didn’t you?” Sango asked quietly as they began walking through the forest.
Kagome sighed gently in answer and stepped over a tree stump.

“I’m sorry, Sango-chan…it’s just…”

“It makes you hurt.” Sango finished for her.
She nodded somewhat in shame.

“He was the first guy I ever loved…and every time I finally say to myself that I don’t love him anymore he just…does something really nice to change my mind.”

Sango nodded.

“Like when he gave you those pretty shells at the beach?”

This time Kagome nodded.

“Or when he fought those bee demons just to get me some of their special honey…” Kagome said with a smile.

“He got stung so many times; I thought he was a giant raspberry!”

They both laughed and continued on, Sango adjusting her boomerang slightly since it was dragging in the snow.

“You’re so lucky with Miroku.”

“Woh, wait a minute. We’re not going to go there!” Sango said embarrassedly.
Kagome giggled and pushed at her friends arm.

“Why not? At least I’m honest about Inuyasha. Face it, you like the monk!”

Sango’s face got so red it reminded Kagome of fresh strawberries.

“I…well…alright fine, I do kinda like him.” She said as she looked down at her feet.
Kagome rolled her eyes and then gave a small cry of surprise as she fell through a gopher hole hidden by the snow. Sango looked at her, now almost waist deep in snow and began laughing.
Kagome glared mockingly at her.

“Well!”

“Well what? You look fine like that!” Sango said as she covered her mouth with a hand to try and stifle her smile.

“I do not!”

“Yes you do.”

Kagome plopped backwards into the snow, immediately feeling her pants become wet. Sighing, she dislodged her foot and used it to kick a pile of snow at her watching companion who laughed as it hit her in the face.

“I’ll get you back later for that!” Sango said with a giggle as she wiped the snow from her legs and kicked some off of her boots.

“But anyway, about Inuyasha. What do you think you’ll do?”

Kagome finished dusting her clothes off and tossed her hair over her shoulder.

“I’ll come to terms with it…in time.”

“Time is never on our side…you should know that from being here with all of us for the past three and a half years.” Sango said with a frown as they started forwards again.

“I have no choice. I’ve been getting over it for two years now…and I’ve come a long ways…haven’t I?”
Kagome glanced at the other girl who had her brows furrowed in thought.

“How do you remain optimistic Kagome-chan?”

The said person laughed bitterly, kicking a clump of snow away with her foot.

“I’m not. I’m just telling the truth. I lost my optimism long ago.”

*****

He watched her walk, her long legs clad in some sort of tight blue material he was unaccustomed to seeing. He couldn’t see her face, but heard her as she spoke with another woman that traveled in her group. He couldn’t remember her name.

“But anyway…what about Inuyasha. What do you think you’ll do?”

He watched her as she dusted off her clothes. She was covered in white, which led him to assume that she had fallen in the snow. At the mention of his brother, his breath caught, a line of something hot burning at the front of his mind.

Warning him.

‘She has our brother…what use are you to her?’ The soft voice whispered at the back of his mind. He ignored it, waiting for her answer.

“I’ll come to terms with it…in time.”

She sounded sad as she said it and he wondered why. Wasn’t she happy being with his brother? Had Inuyasha…done something? His thoughts blocked out the response of the other woman, but focused when Kagome spoke.

“I have no choice. I’ve been getting over it for two years now…and I’ve come a long ways…haven’t I?”

He watched her glance over at the other girl and studied the profile of her face. It was so soft…white and smooth in the light reflecting off of the snow. And her black hair only brought that out, curling around her heart shaped face, a loose strand curling along her bottom lip before she tossed her hair over her shoulder. Her hair itself ran down her back, almost to her waist and he could only stare at it in longing.

It was so wavy…so much more different then his. It was thick and luxurious…so full of body and so glossy he wondered if he could see himself in its shine. His hair was the complete and total opposite…white and straight. As thin and light as spider web silk and just as heavy. While it shone like hers, he doubted really that there was any other similarity between them.

‘There is no similarity, don’t you see? One light and the other dark - we cannot become an item to this girl!’

‘I cannot stop myself from this…’

‘Try…and try and see that I am doing this all for us! For our lives…our futures.’

“I have no future…” He whispered softly, the sound as light and soft as the flap of a butterfly’s wings.

Her next words seemed to ring in his head.

“I’m not. I’m just telling the truth. I lost my optimism long ago.”

Optimism…could he, Sesshomaru be optimistic? Or would his nature prohibit it? Could he ever tell her what he felt? How he watched her - followed her to keep her safe. Admired her audacity in battle when she fought…or the humbleness she used when arguing with his brother? No…no he couldn’t because that would be foolish. His other side was right about that. So what would he do? Would he watch her for the rest of her life? See her marry? Have children…die? Was he to simply watch her have joy in her life…while he in turn remained an empty husk, devoid of happiness?

‘She will not bring us hope… We cannot be so selfish as to think that she would want you. Do not be weak as Inuyasha is!’

He looked away from the two females as they began to walk away once more.

Was he weak? What was he besides a perfect predator? What did he have besides his vassals and castle?

‘I have Rin…’

‘She is worthless to us though. What good has she done us besides complain for food and follow us around tirelessly?’

‘She has taken the place of Kagome.’

‘Fool. She takes the place of nothing! She is a whim, a thing, a toy. Do not confuse her for something worth having.’

Sesshomaru looked back at the two figures, now a fair distance away, the snow blurring their outlines.
He turned from them and began to walk back along the path of snowy footprints he had left behind, his fur pelt shining as light from the snow reflected off of it.
For now he had seen enough of her…any more and he might do something rash.

Snow began to fall harder as he went, and soon he was just another white shrouded tree, in the whitewashed forest.

*****

“You don’t want to at least pretend that he’ll come back to you?” Sango asked as they circled up and around to start back towards the village. Kagome shrugged.

“Why? The sooner I come to terms with the whole thing the sooner I’ll fall out of what I feel for him.”

Sango was silent for a few minutes and they walked in deliberate silence during that time.
“Will you…try and find someone else?” She asked the priestess.

“Depends…it sounds like a possible thing.”

Kagome frowned.

“But there aren’t many choices…Koga’s too full of himself and Muso’s dead so…” She said with a grin.

They both laughed, the village coming into view.

“As long as it’s not Miroku.” Sango said softly as they walked along the paths through the now frozen rice paddies.

“I knew it! This proves that you like him!”

Sango scowled at her.

“I already said I did.”

“Yeah but you just made a possessive comment towards him! You’re officially hooked!”
“I do not understand this…“hooked” expression you speak off ladies, but I assume it’s something good?”

They spun around, Sango almost knocking into the speaker.

“GAH! Miroku, stop DOING that!” Sango said with a gasp as she put her boomerang behind her again.
Miroku put his hands up in apology.

“Forgive me, but I couldn’t help but fol - er…‘chase’ after you both!”

The two women glanced at each other and shared a secretive smirk.

“I’m sure.” Sango said as they finished walking through the maze of walkways and arrived at the entrance of the village.

“Anyway, I was coming to tell you that Inuyasha wants us ready to leave bright and early tomorrow. Oh…and he said something about no exceptions.”

Kagome groaned as they entered Kaeda’s hut, toasty warm from the fire blazing in the middle of it.

“I guess that whole “woman problems” thing isn’t going to work this time.” She whispered to Sango as they sat down and warmed their hands. Sango rolled her eyes and nodded as Miroku sat next to her as was his usual habit.

It didn’t escape either of their notices.

“Tonight is supposed to be cold…perhaps you would like me to-”

“No.” Sango said flatly as she rubbed her hands together and put them close to the fire.

Miroku looked hurt.

“I was only going to offer giving you my blanket so that you’d be more comfortable!” The monk said, the expression of a whipped dog on his handsome face.

Sango’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Oh! I thought-” She stopped.

“Yes?” He leaned forward.

“You thought…?”

*rub rub*

“I thought you wanted me, TO KILL YOU! HENTAI NO BAKA!” Sango yelled as she punched him over the head with her fist, and threw him to the side.
She didn’t realize that a part of the monk’s robes had landed in the fire pit.

Grumbling, she stared moodily at Kagome who had her own innocent look on her face and crossed her arms over her chest.

“Sango, my love-”

“Don’t you ‘Sango, my love-’ me! You should be dumped naked in the mountains and left to freeze!”

“Oh but Sango! You’re so cold, so fridgid…so…so….so HOT!”

Kagome looked up.

‘Hot?’

It took her a moment to register what was happening.

“Oh my god, HE’S ON FIRE!” The demon slayer shrieked.

“Miroku! Oh my God, Sango get water!”

“EOWWWWW!!! HOT, HOT, HOT, HOT, HOT!!!!!”

Both Women literally ran into each other, Miroku dancing around as he tried to put out the growing fire on his robes. Panicked, Kagome looked around for something wet then remembered her third grade health lesson on fire.

“MIROKU! STOP, DROP, AND ROLL!!” Without asking, the monk fell onto the floor, rolling back and forth wildly to try and get rid of the flames. Sango, who had disappeared outside, shot inside with two buckets of ice water and splashed one all over his clothes in the direction of the smoke.

The flames went out with a muffled crinkling sound as the thick cloth smothered the flames. Breathing hard, Miroku quickly used the second bucket Sango had brought in and poured it on himself as well.

He seemed to momentarily forget that it was very cold.

“Thanks Sango - YE-AHHHH! COLD!”

“Jeez, what’d the monk do now?” Inuyasha said as he walked in and saw Miroku desperately trying to keep his wet clothes away from his skin.

Kagome shook her head.

Trust me when I say that Miroku has learned not to mess with fire, metaphorically and literally.”



Notes – Anyone think of Golem from Lord Of The Rings, when Sesshomaru’s little voice speaks to him? Sorry for that but it’s the only way to show who is…uh…speaking(?)…