Fan Fiction Title: A shift of destiny

Author: Soliloquys

Disclaimer: Hiten nor any of the characters in my fanfiction aren't mine, all belong to Rumiko Takahashi.

After washing herself, Kagome had stepped just outside of the inn to breathe in the fresh, clean air. The skies had cleared and the grass blades gleamed in the morning rays that shone down upon her as well, warming her face and body. Days ago she would have never imagined to be able to stand here like this. A faint smile triggered guilt moments later; how could she be slightly happy as Hiten's captive? She leaned against the outside wall and relaxed while facing the sunlight and a slightly vexing question. Would it be alright to let it go? Would it be okay to move away from her past and push forward with this demon?

Before she could reason with herself, a crash from inside jolted her back to the present and she turned to hear an all too familiar sound: metal colliding.. and sharp cackling sparks. Even as she slipped back inside, she heard the clamor coming from their room continue as there were several, foot-step like thumps and other louder thuds-- bodies hitting the floor? Sliding to a halt, she whisked up her bow and quiver of arrows she'd left just outside their room.

There, in the small space where she hadn't shut the door completely, she peered in and saw Hiten's thunder pike on the floor, as if thrown carelessly out of the way. Aside from the fact that that wasn't where he'd left it the previous night, fresh and wet blood coated certain parts of the hot gleaming blade. With a shift of her eyes, she now saw the body in which the blood belonged too, a matching opening in a male's collarbone that ran down to his hip. Something that still made her gut flop, a lifeless and pained gaze reflected in the pool of blood that took its time in spreading across the floor. At that time she heard the murmur of a voice come into focus. It did not belong to Hiten.

The door was wedged open a little further, and with a shift of perspective she saw the remaining group. Hiten only managed to get one of them before he was overtook by the rest, she assumed, upon seeing a group circled around the thunder demon. Each of them wore black outfits, with shortened sleeves, and varyingly colored headbands. The leader, she guessed, was the one standing in front of Hiten with his arms crossed. He was the only one wearing a red headband. Why isn't he fighting back? Too many were standing in the way of her view so she shifted and lowered her head to gaze between two bodies. And there stood Hiten, pinned in place with three separate blades pressed to his throat at different angles. His armor, she also realized, was still tucked away in the corner of the room. They'd attacked him while he was asleep? Again she focused on the low murmur of the leader's voice.

"You fell for our bait. Usually those who are intentionally looking for jewel shards already have a few on their person. I guess, youkai, that you're no different?" A subordinate moved forward at the former's gesture to search his body. Behind his head, however, an arrow flew past and struck another on the chest. Missing her intended target, the search was ceased and all turned to gaze at the frowning archer. The leader raised a brow.

"You're wrong. The shards you're looking for were entrusted to me. Or rather, I took them." A blatant lie to two of them in the room; she'd dare not do that as it would land her in a position she would never want to be in. Each of the bandits, however, were unaware of this and they turned for her. The composure she held broke the next moment and she bolted down the hallway and around a corner. A wild goose-chase, it was, as she weaved into rooms and through dividers. The thumping of her heart dulled out the gasps of surprise from the rooms she dashed through, and oftentimes curses as most guests weren't quite modest. However there were more of them following her than she first anticipated, and soon the inn was overrun with pursuers. Shoving a window open, she crawled out but was met head-on almost at once by one of the few who already moved outside. A few tendrils of hair were left behind as she barely avoided a horizontal slash.

The land surrounding the inn was flat and open, and although Kagome knew she was a sitting duck like this, she bolted off in hopes of reaching the small village in sight with its winding roads and many huts. A hand, rough and barbarian, gripped her shoulder and yanked back at her before she made it halfway and the girl lost balance. They were fast. Sure to feel a blade run through her, she was surprised when the pulling force slackened to nothing. There was a scream that was not her own, and she flopped onto her side roughly with a groan. What the hell had just happened? The trailing moans and frightened gasps were cut short when just behind her she heard that sharp cackling from before. Upon looking over her shoulder, she caught the silhouette of the thunder god as he stood over the dead body.

There should have been a sigh of relief but he glanced back at her, his molten eyes glowering down upon her. And then he left her side, swinging that pole out at a set of attackers and cutting through their torsos all at once with lightning spilling out from the blade as it tore their relatively frail bodies apart. The morale of those remaining, she could see, was severely shattered at the sight of this and even moreso when he threw the pike at one of them and took the head straight off. Some of them even turned away and began to flee when the maddened youkai took after them, his loose braid whipping to and fro. This was to the leader's distaste, as she noticed him calmly walk into the action with a hand on the hilt of his undrawn sword. And then she saw them.

There were two, each dangling from his lobe as earrings...two jewel shards screaming silently out at her and penetrating her mind. His focus was not on her. He must've figured out that she was no one to steal from this demon now taking down his followers one by one. No one. Then this was her chance. An arrow was swiftly drawn and notched, aimed, then fired. Too late did he notice her advance to avoid it, and his body was pushed back slightly when that shaft was lodged into his left shoulder. She shouted out to him as she pushed herself up to stand. "I see you have jewel shards of your own dangling from your ears."

What displeased look Kagome could see slowly melting on his features she soon saw up close, glaring her straight in the eye, as her throat was violently gripped. He lifted her up from the ground and snarled at her. "That was a bad mistake you just made there." He wasn't playing around either, as immediately his grip tightened on her throat and she choked for a breath that was too constricted to come. Peering down at him, she looked beyond that smirk to his shoulder. He hadn't removed the arrow, so she used that against him as she reached down and gripped it. The original intention was to push it down hard to strike a nerve, but accidentally a faucet of power was released and a shock riveted through the leader's body from that wooden shaft. It was enough for her to be released. Slumping onto the ground, she looked up through her tousled hair to see him bring the sword down at her.

Fortunately the worst of that slash was avoided when she rolled out of the way. However, she could feel the blood flowing from a somewhat deeper wound that found its way on her side, just below her ribcage. A flutter of fear overcame her and quelled the sharp contracting pain when she could imagine a second swing at her backside. A swing that never came. The flesh, bones, and innards of the leader yielded to the pronged tip of Hiten's pike as it impaled him all the way through. And he was held there, coughing out a deep, thick blood and dying as Hiten removed one hand to pluck those shards from his earrings. And while doing so, he looked down to Kagome with an ever-widening grin, as if thanking her for pointing it out earlier.

The body was dumped off to the side and the dirty blade was smeared against the leader's clothing. He looked down to the young girl with his eyes gleaming and tucked away the jewel shards with the rest of their little collection. "I do hope you weren't planning on really stealing them. You wouldn't have a clue on how to handle them against me anyway." Her reaction was closely watched but just a blanched expression. Heh; Hiten turned and began to walk away.

And so this was how he expressed gratitude? Lowering her head to glare at him between her thick bangs, she gripped her side and muttered out to him. "Did you treat your brother like this too after he'd help you out?" That relaxed pace came to a soft stop and he tilted his head back to look at her. "...Or do you have the right to treat me like shit just because you haven't known me all your life?"

"I have the right to treat you however I like." He replied with a threatening, low tone. To this she made no response, biting her tongue and pushing herself to her feet. With her hand pressing into her side, she walked with a broken gait back into the inn to bandage herself and lick the wounds that hadn't been physically inflicted on her.

The air was stinging her eyes inside the washroom---a sign that she felt close to tears. Kagome had fallen onto her knees and leaned into herself, drawing in and out a deep breath over and over while she applied more pressure to that damn wound ... apparently it was even deeper than she had first thought. Her body was shaking and swaying as she couldn't keep her balance now, keeled over herself and swamped in her thoughts.

She didn't know how long she had remained there until an outside touch reached her. Two firm hands gripped her shoulder and she felt his voice move into her ear and fill it. "Lean back into me."

And she did so, uncertain at first. "Hiten?" He noised an affirmative from within his chest. His voice, she noticed, had toned down. It no longer scratched her ears or made her wince. Not now, at least. She could feel the deep placid noise move into her body and die there, lingering on that feeling and not really noticing that his hand had slipped to her obi and pulled it free. Her summer yukata unfolded and slipped open, revealing the pale flesh of her abdomen. Underneath she wore nothing else but a bra and panties that were now stained with blood. When she felt her clothes fall back, her eyes widened and her voice was caught in her throat. She couldn't protest. But what was he doing? Staring up at the ceiling, the girl grew rigid to his wandering touches back up to her shoulder and when her yukata was drawn off her shoulders and pulled away. A moment ago she had felt ice-cold, but now the girl was feverish. Why did he have to do this now?

But he wasn't doing that now. First there was a wet cloth, cleaning up the mess around the sensitive opening. Then she felt bandages being strapped around her side tightly to seal in the blood. "Relax your muscles." Came a louder demand as he rubbed her back. It was difficult at first, but she slackened against him once again and let out a slow, shaky breath. Suddenly her bra unfastened in the back and fell around her body. She jerked forward but his other arm hand slipped underneath hers and Hiten reached up between her breasts and a loose bra and pressed her back against him. "If you don't fucking calm down I'll just knock you unconscious and do it that way." And Kagome, spell-bound by his close voice, felt the air sweep over her body as her bra was removed. The soiled thing was discarded atop her yukata.

She fought hard against the reflex to press her legs together as well when the last of her clothing was slipped off her body, down her legs, and over her feet. Another wet cloth was rubbed along her hips where blood had been smeared, then two strong arms picked her up and carried her back to the next room. "Just--lie there and try to sleep until I can get someone to dress that damn wound of yours properly. I'll have your clothes washed, too." Kagome looked up to his moving lips as he explained it, all the while laying her down on the soft mats and drawing the thick sheets over her body. She continued to stare at them after he stopped speaking and pursed them together as if frustrated with all of this.

"I--ah..." Her meek sentence interrupted by a soft groan, "...I'm sorry I'm such a burden to you. But I'm not thanking you for that right there. Not---" Her second sentence wasn't completed at all. At first the girl felt their lips touch for only a moment until he pressed them into hers furthermore where he held them just long enough for that feeling to be imprinted there after he had pulled away, smirked wickedly down at her, and then left her there to sleep.

( No, you're not seeing things! I actually updated with a chapter. :O Again I apologize for such long waits, and again I express my gratitude to those who put up with it and continue to read. A few notes about this chapter? I wrote it all in one night and proofread it on the same night. So I apologize for anything that doesn't make sense. Another thing? I felt almost dirty when typing "panties" ... I don't know why. I couldn't think of any other noun and underwear seems too, uh, no. Haha. There will only be one chapter left. I would say, "stay tuned" but I don't want to keep you guys waiting forever. 3 )