Chapter 1: The Breaking
of Bonds
As a result of various leads going in opposite directions their customary group had split up. Sango, Miroku, Shippo, and Kilala had all gone towards Sango's old village following a rumor about a demon with suddenly gaining extraordinary strength. Mean while, Inuyasha and Kagome headed towards the Eastern lands after a snake youkai they had been chasing for the last three days. Finally they had cornered the youkai and retrieved two jewel shards from its head. Mission accomplished, Kagome asked Inuyasha to take her back to the well as agreed only to be denied… again… as usual.
"Inuyasha, I need to go home!"
"What do you need to go home for, wench? We still need to get the other jewel shards!"
"Inuyasha…" His name came out in a terrifying singsong voice, "You promised me I could go home this weekend if I stayed here for the last weekend." Inuyasha glared at the miko before sitting down cross-legged, shoving his arms in his sleeves and turning his head away.
"In-u-ya-sha." The name was whispered in warning.
"Keh, Fine go! Don't expect me to take you."
"It's miles to the well!"
"Not my problem." Inuyasha's nose stuck up in the air.
"SIT BOY!" Inuyasha was flung up in the air only to be slammed back down.
"Ahhhh!" THUD. Lifting his head from the hanyou sized crater the dog demon yelled at the source of his pain.
"What the hell was that for!"
"You are such a jerk!" Kagome's hands flew about wildly.
"Well if you weren't so lazy-"
"LAZY! Me! Why I aught to…"
"You aught to what?" There was a long pause as the Kagome searched for words.
"Hmph" With that Kagome turned on her heel and started walking proudly away from the aggravating hanyou. Inuyasha stared at her receding form for a moment before it hit him that she was leaving. Jumping up he ran quickly after her to catching up. Kagome glared at him as he moved to block her path.
"Where do you think you're going?" He demanded throwing his arms out. Kagome stepped up to him, took two steps to the side, and then continued forward.
"Home." The clipped way she spat out the word should have warned Inuyasha not to push the human girl. Despite her dull teeth she had a rather strong bite. Like any and all warnings concerning the miko from the future, Inuyasha a) ignored them, b) never heard them to begin with., or c) was simply girl dumb.
"How are you going to get there, eh?" Inuyasha dropped his arms and continued to tail the girl.
"By walking on my own two feet. I do know how." Patience Kagome, patience. Kagoma attempted to calm herself down. She knew Inuyasha, so why had she expected this time to be any different was beyond her; a foolish hope. He never wanted her to go home. Though in truth, he never wanted her to stay either. Not so long as his precious Kikyou 'lived'… or perhaps existed was a better word. One who needs to feed on the souls of others in order to move cannot really be referred to as alive. Damn clay pot. Kagome kicked the ground imagining her previous incarnations face beneath her feat. She knew it was petty but it was oh so satisfying.
"You'd never make it. You'll be eaten alive before you get half way there." Inuyasha taunted. Kagome did a roundface causeing the hanyou to skid to a stop to avoid colliding with her.
"I can take care of myself!" Inuyasha's ears flipped down to prevent further damage to his eardrums.
"Ha! You're always getting into trouble." He had a point there; not that she was willing to admit it. Just today the snake youkai had almost eaten her when she had first come across it. Thankfully its fangs hadn't been poisonous and Inuyasha had come in time. Though where he had gone off to begin with… ARG! She was going to kill Inuyasha if she stayed much longer! He…he was… was inconsistent, moody, and unreliable and couldn't make up his BLOODY MIND!
"You can't survive without me taking care of you." Kagome's eyes narrowed at Inuyasha's words. He did not just imply… oh yes he did. The forest around them quieted as if sensing the human girl's fury.
"You! Take care of me! All those times you ran off to her I was nearly killed; sometimes by your darling Kikyou herself." Inuyasha shifted uncomfortably as a wave of guilt almost overwhelmed him. Not knowing what to do, he lashed back out.
"It just proves my point that without me you're dead meat." Kagome's hand shot up poking him in the chest.
"I beat you, didn't I? I came back through time, won a battle with Mistress Centipede, revived you, saved the village, freed you, and then I beat you when you tried to kill me. Then I saved you from your brother. I gave you the tentsuseiga that I pulled out. I even saved you from Kikyo when she tried to drag you to hell. I broke you brother's armor when you fought him. I brought you back when your demon blood took control. Regardless of your claim, you are not my protector!" The human girl's foot stomped the ground with her fury as her hands fisted at her side. Her words slowly echoed through the trees eventually fading into an eerie silence.
Inuyasha stared at Kagome in shock. She had never struck out like that before. Sure, she called him a jerk and sat him a lot, but this? He remembered that day in his father's tomb when he had told her he would protect her; the feeling he got when she had accepted his words. No one had ever trusted him to protect them before. Not even Kikyo. His ears laid back against his head in hurt. Did she even realize what she had just said? Inuyasha knew he had to fix this somehow. If going home would make her take back those last words he would gladly bring her back to the well and suffer through those days while she was gone. While she was living a life without him in it.
"Kagome-"
"No, Inuyasha. I've had enough. I'm leaving." With that the girl marched off leaving a very confused and hurt hanyou behind her. How had he messed up so badly? He was about to go after Kagome when another voice intruded.
"Foolish Inuyasha." The hanyou slowly turned to glare up at the tree behind him. There, high in the branches he could make out an all too familiar white clad form resting on a thick branch leaning back against the trunk. How had he missed Sesshomaru's scent?
"What do want?" Inuyasha managed to keep his words civil. He could tell his half-brother wasn't here for a fight…this time. Still he drew Tenseiga just in case. Sesshomaru ignored him staring up at the sky as night fell. Inuyasha began to shift uneasily as Sesshomaru kept his silence. Finally he spoke again.
"If you were smart you'd go after your miko." With that he leapt down from the tree and started to walk away. Inuyasha's jaw dropped is shock.
"She's not my miko!"
Sesshomaru paused, but did not turn around. "Your woman."
"She's not that either."
Sesshomaru continued his exit merging into the tree line.
Inuyasha turned to run after Kagome, but the oddity of the situation made him paused. Why on earth did Sesshomaru care if he went after Kagome…let alone what his relationship to Kagome was? He suddenly had an image of Sesshomaru's hand around Kagome's throat squeezing out her last breath just so his half-brother could hurt him. He couldn't let Seshomaru know how much Kagome actually mattered to him. They were just having a fight. She'd go home and come back in a few days like she always did. He'd say he was sorry and everything would be alright again. She was his best friend. Maybe more. No, Sesshomaru must never know Kagome's worth
"Nothing. She is nothing to me." Inuyasha yelled into the woods where his half-brother had vanished. He waited to see what his brother's reaction would be, but there was no response. Inuyasha cursed loudly before turning to go after Kagome. Sesshomaru was a cold bastard and he didn't trust him. While he could have run and caught up with her in a few minutes he knew that when she was this mad she needed space. (He wasn't quite that stupid.) He'd follow at a safe distance. Out of sight but well with in hearing range if she screamed.
Unbeknownst to Inuyasha, his proclamation had been heard.
"Foolish Inuyasha." The words whispered on the breeze unheard by all but he who spoke them.
"Inuyasha no baka." Kagome muttered under her breath as she marched back towards the well. She made an interesting sight to anyone who might be watching as she strolled through the forests as the sun started to dip below the horizon. Her body was bent forward under the weight of an obscenely overstuffed yellow backpack as she stared at the ground. Mud decorated the majority of her strange clothing and along with a slightly darker substance a more sensitive nose would recognize as blood. Several bruises were starting to develop adding to the haphazard polka dot look to her assemble. The strange girl's hair was matted and in danger of blinding her field of vision entirely. To top things off she was only wearing one shoe giving her a slight limp. The other shoe lay miles behind. A rather sharp stone had caught the edge of the shoe as Kagome stepped upon it effectively tripping herself and destroying her already abused footwear.
"He is such a jerk!" Kagome yelled indulging in verbally abusing the hanyou. She needed to go home. It had been over a month and she needed supplies. Kagome sighed as she readjusted the weight of her pack yet again. At least she was in familiar territory now. She had spent enough time in Inuyasha's forest that she could recognize the trees and the way the land flowed. Unfortunately, it was long past nightfall. Kagome considered herself very lucky to have come this far with out any confrontations. If there wasn't some demon looking for jewel shards or a meal it was one of Naraku's offspring trying to kill her. On reflection it wasn't luck, it was miracle she was still alive. So maybe Inuyasha was right. She did attract trouble in large doses. That didn't mean she couldn't survive without him babysitting her constantly. She was almost to the well and soon she'd be home with no help from that stupid inu demon. Need him to protect her…ha!
Inuyasha snarled as the last rays of sunlight faded. Kagome's scent had led him into the middle of nowhere before it ended abruptly. He cursed the girl's stupidity and his own. Where could she have gone? Once more he circled the area searching for something he might have missed before; a clue, a foot print, a scent, anything. The normally soothing sounds of night irritated Inuyasha's nerves. Humans in general should not be alone in the woods at night. Human females even less so. Human females with shikon shards…. he needed to find Kagome and fast. Inuyasha jumped up into the air landing on the nearest tree branch. From there he leapt from tree to tree scanning the ground below him. The moon had risen before he came to a stop. Sniffing the air a cruel grin marred his face.
"Kagura." The name whispered on the wind to the demon that it belonged too.
"Yo." Kagura floated on her leaf not far from where Inuyasha balanced.
"What do you want?" Inuyasha spat the words out.
"My freedom and you're going to help me get it."
"Why would I help you?"
"Right now you're in a circle trap. I'll get you out… if you agree to help me."
"I'm not in any trap." Inuyasha crossed his arms and started walking away, branch by branch. Kagura's leaf swerved in front of him.
"Fool. Try going somewhere. Anywhere." A part of Inuyasha wanted to just sit down where he was simply because Kagura said to move, but Kagome…
"Fine!" With that Inuyasha took off for the village. Kagura couldn't trick him. Eventually a circle trap repeats. If he was in one it would have repeated already and would have run into Kagome's scent trail again. Or the same tree patterns. He had been going long enough where even the most skilled would have had to set a repeat in the spell. Kagura was just a distraction set by Naraku. Which meant… Kagome was in trouble! Inuyash bolted through the forest only to skid to halt as he came upon the wind sorceress again.
"What the fuck!" He 'was' in a damn trap!
"I told you." Kagura smiled.
"There wasn't a bloody repeat."
"A master of illusions indeed."
"How'd you know it was a circle then?" Kagua just looked at him. Slowly he figured out that she had seen him walk in circle from above the trap. Not within it. "Fine, what do you want?"
"I knew you'd see things my way."
Kagome cursed under her breath. She knew where she was but she was lost; a contradiction in and of itself but none the less that was the case. She looked up at the God Tree for at least the twentieth time that night. The well was only a couple minutes from the tree, but just before she could reach the well's clearing she stood back at the Goshinboku. With a sigh she set down her heavy back pack and stretched. Kami she was sore. Ruefully she admitted traveling with Inuyasha was easier then on her own. The instant she thought that she was filled with anger. It just went to show she depended too much on him. Like she had told Inuyasha, she had two feet and knew how to use them. Too bad her feet were tired. Kagome slumped unceremoniously against the tree with releasing heavy sigh.
"It seems to me that you don't want me to go home tonight." Kagome spoke to the tree. She knew it was foolish, but she had always talked to the tree when the world confused her. Now was no different. She couldn't find the well although she knew where it was. If Kagome walked in a circle one more time she might have broke down crying in frustration. She wanted, needed to prove she could do this alone. Inuyasha was going to laugh when he discovered she got this far only to fail.
Kagome's stomach rumbled loudly protesting its treatment. It was inhuman for it to be subjected to this many hours without nourishment. Kagome dug through her bag searching for any food Inuyasha and Shippo might have missed. Her fist punched the bag when she found nothing but crumbs. The pigs! Sulking some what she decided to clean up the best she could. She wasn't going anywhere and there was nothing to eat; at least she could get more comfortable. Not to mention her mother would flip if she returned home looking like this. Thank the modern era for moist napkins. Kagome hummed softly as she cleaned the dirt from her skin, her tune pausing abruptly now and then when she discovered a deep scratch that needed cleaning. When she finished with her skin she moved on to brushing her hair. This took much longer than planed. Wincing in pain Kagome finished the job and was filled with an air of satisfaction. At least now she didn't look defeated. Sitting back against the God Tree yet again, Kagome rested. It wasn't long before she opened her eyes again. Something had changed. Quickly she shouldered her back pack and headed off for the well. She hesitated before taking that final step before she would wind back up at the Goshinboku. When she saw the well instead she broke into a run for it. Her hand luxuriated in the feel of the rough wood beneath her hands assuring her it was real and not an illusion made up by her tired mind. She climbed up on the ledge and jumped into its familiar depths.
An expression very close to a smile crossed the demon lords face as he watched the miko leap into the old well in Inuyasha's Forest. Claims had been revoked, the protector had failed and been proven unnecessary. It was a good thing both the miko and her 'former' guardian knew nothing of the politics of their relationship. Sesshomaru lifted his head to gaze at the moon mirrored on his forehead. Like the moon their deal was fading into darkness; and in the darkness he was well at home. Silently Sesshomaru slipped into the shadows as he felt his half-brother's aura racing towards the well.
Inuyasha tore into the clearing eyes searching franticly for what was no longer there. His nose told him that Kagome had been there though. He followed her scent directly to the well and felt relief sweep him knowing she had made it to the well. Inuyasha didn't know what was up with the circle trap he had fallen into but he didn't spare it much thought. Kagome was safe in her own time and that was all he needed to know. Slowly the hanyou left for the village. Perhaps Miroku and Sango were back with more shards. Besides, he had a debt to Kagura to see too.
Sesshomaru glided through the woods to his lands. This day had accomplished much and had required very little on his part. It was as if fate agreed with his plan. As he came upon his entourage he added one more thing to his mental list. Inuyasha's necklace, the subduing beads, needed to be destroyed. The last thing connecting them was such a fragile thing. It was a shame he couldn't remove them himself. Taking a breath of the night air he plotted. It wouldn't take much to get the impulsive girl to remove them herself. If the girl could play with time so could he, Sesshomaru, Taiyoukai of the Western Lands.