Eyes to Life Scroll 27

Scroll Twenty-Seven

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A/N: Edited on 1/27/2016

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Kagome sighed as she finished wrapping Kouga's wounds. They were not as deep as she initially had thought, but one of the scratches hit a large vein and had the appearance of a deep cut. Kagome sighed and turned to Sango. Her demon slayer friend was feeding Kirara some of the cat treats that had been in her backpack. She smiled as she watched Sango have to hold some away from the demon cat so she wouldn't gobble them down in one sweep.

"Where did InuYasha go?" Shippo interrupted the silence.

"Hue?" Kagome turned to where she had seen Miroku head over to the cliff area where InuYasha had been standing. Miroku was walking back over, alone. Kagome looked around for the dog demon, but he had vanished.

"Mutt needs to lay off." Kouga snorted as he stood up. "I don't need to explain to my pack why I keep letting him get away with injuring me."

"Then why don't you go Kouga?" Sango asked. "Nothing is keeping you here."

"You know why I'm here women. To protect Kagome from anything that could harm her. That includes mutt-face." Kouga snorted in reply.

"It appears that may be the case Kouga." Miroku came up to the group, his face showing a grim expression. Everyone looked at him to continue. The monk took a deep breath and let out something that Kagome hadn't heard in a while. "InuYasha went to see Lady Kikyo."

Kagome's throat hitched and she actually heard herself gasp at Miroku's statement. Sango narrowed her eyes and looked ready to kill InuYasha if he had stood right in front of her. Shippo hung his head in shame as Rin looked at her new friend with worry. Sesshomaru said nothing. Kouga actually snarled and looked downward, noticing the soul collectors hovering over the trees.

"Mutt is dead." Kouga snapped and turned to head the direction that InuYasha had which lead to the dead priestess.

Miroku's hand grasped the wolf demon's shoulder to stop him. "You will not get through Lady Kikyo's barrier, Kouga."

"I can try." Kouga snorted. He turned around and stared at the group. "You really want to wait for him to come back then?"

"That would be the best alternative." Miroku said. "Lady Kikyo might also have information, which we don't have, about InuYasha turning into a full-fledged demon."

"I highly doubt that's the reason he went to see her." Sango hissed, making Miroku take a step back from her.

Kagome actually remained silent. Part of her felt the old ways of their relationship float back in waves. His life belonged to Kikyo's, but while he is still alive they were companions, a couple that worked together to complete the Shikon Jewel. However, another part of her, the new part that was a recent exploration of their relationship, felt extremely betrayed. She actually felt hatred for Kikyo, she had experienced once before, begin to bubble to the surface. They had almost made love, not once, not twice, but three times. And he still went to see her!? Kagome realized her face was growing hot and she felt the buildup of tears. She couldn't cry in front of her friends or the children. The questions about her feelings of this would be asked and it would end in a fight. Kagome bit her tongue and stood up. Miroku and Sango stopped their heated conversation and stared at the modern priestess.

"Kagome…" Sango started. Suddenly InuYasha floated down from the sky, his face showing a lost dog looking for its owner. Silenced edged the clearing as everyone stared at the dog demon, waiting for an explanation. Kagome noticed his right shoulder's armor and fire rat were destroyed and lasting spiritual energy resided from it. Kagome felt the hatred double in her stomach as she realized Kikyo had shot him with one of her arrows. How dare she!? She knew her anger was coming off in waves and she had no intention of hiding it.

"Kagome, I can…"

"SIT BOY!" The command was so loud in the air that nothing seemed to make any noise, except for the crash that InuYasha made. Kouga backed away from Kagome, thinking he would be next to feel Kagome's wrath. Sango looked angry as well, and came up and put her hand on the priestess shoulder.

"I'm taking Kagome for a walk. Any of you follow us you will be hit by my Hiraikotsu." Sango stalked off with an angry priestess. The woman disappeared into the woods leaving only the men and the two children pondering on where their own conversation was going to land.

"That went well." Miroku sighed. He looked at the crater where InuYasha slowly crept out of.

"Is she gone?" InuYasha asked.

"Yeah, no thanks to you mutt-face!" Kouga snapped. "Why the hell are you playing around with Kagome's feelings again!?"

"I had to tell Kikyo I was a full demon alright!?" InuYasha snapped back. "That and find out anything she might know about the God that's following us!"

"So…?" Miroku asked.

"It's a Hell God. She confirmed it."

"Well that meeting wasn't an entire waste." Kouga snarled.

"Interesting." Sesshomaru glared. "And how was this priestess able to see this God that you can only see?"

"She's dead. Her body is made up of clay and dirt and lives off lost souls." InuYasha answered his older brother. "It's also why none of you can see him."

"Then how did Rin sense him?" Miroku asked. "Remember those nightmares she had all that time ago?"

"I revived her with Tensegia." Sesshomaru said simply. "She has experienced death once."

"And now she's part of the living and can't see him." InuYasha crossed his arms.

"Why don't you stop avoiding the subject of this dead priestess and fix your problem with Kagome!" Kouga yelled. "You keep betraying her every time you go to that dead woman."

"Kouga…" InuYasha hissed warningly.

"You want the dead women? Fine! Keep her! Then Kagome will come with me and won't have to deal with betrayal any longer." Kouga stared InuYasha down. InuYasha cracked his claws, and this time the ringing sound vibrated in the air.

"InuYasha, please don't." Miroku begged as he braced himself to cover his ears.

"Whatever." InuYasha snarled. He adjusted his attack stance and his hands turned into fists. The ringing noise subsided, to everyone's relief. Shippo and Rin where in the vicinity and Miroku was sure Sesshomaru would have tried to cut off InuYasha's hands if the noise attack had decided to go further. "I need to talk with Kagome…alone." He stared at Miroku. "Is there a chance you cane tame Sango and get her away from Kagome for a minute?"

"I would wait a little longer." Miroku shook his head. "I have no interest in getting hit by her boomerang."

"Neither do I." Kouga muttered.

"Me either." InuYasha groaned. "I didn't think this would be her reaction."

"What were you expecting?" Kouga growled. "Her to be all fine and dandy while you cheated on her?"

"I didn't cheat on her!" InuYasha roared, "Kikyo and I had a conversation. That was it!"

"This conversation is going nowhere." Miroku groaned.

"I agree." Sesshomaru stepped up. "This dead priestess may have some use if she can see the God."

"Have you not seen this fight at all!? You think that by adding Kikyo to this group will help matters!?" InuYasha snapped at his brother. "You're blind."

"I see no point in fighting over something so pointless." Sesshomaru stated coldly.

"Pointless? Maybe that's why you've never had a woman in your life!" InuYasha boasted, sort of.

"I only seek power. A wife or a lover is considered a weakness." Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes.

"Then explain her." InuYasha pointed to Rin. "She might not be either of those two things, but she sure is a 'weakness' like you imply." Sesshomaru actually growled at InuYasha's observation with Rin.

"Look." Miroku sighed as he stood up to all three demons. "Right now are priority is getting this God off of our backs. We will need to continue to follow his scent tomorrow and see where he wants us to be."

"I thought playing by his rules was a bad thing?" InuYasha snapped.

"Those rules won't be to our favor, but if the end result is getting whatever is making you a demon, out, then we all should be for it." Miroku eyed InuYasha before his explosion.

"Well I'm not!" InuYasha hissed. "When did you decide you were the leader here?"

"I'm not." Miroku answered back. "I'm just saying what we all are thinking."

InuYasha looked like he wanted to kill something. Luckily, a tree took most of the punishment as InuYasha sliced it to bits and left nothing but timber wood. He unleashed the Tessaiga and started to attack even more trees.

"Mutt's having a tantrum." Kouga muttered.

"Let him." Miroku sighed. "He probably feels like everyone is against him, and it's true. None of us want him to be a full-fledged demon except him."

"I fail to understand your destruction little brother." Sesshomaru eyed the other dog demon.

"Shut up or I'll turn you into the same pile of limbs." InuYasha snarled. "I'm going to find Kagome." He sheathed the Tessaiga and stalked in the direction where the girls had disappeared too.

"Should we follow?" Miroku asked no one in particular.

"How hard does that women hit with her weapon?" Kouga asked.

"Hard." Miroku sighed.

"No thanks."

"I have an interest in keeping an eye on our surroundings then to deal with human women." Sesshomaru answered.

Miroku sighed and closed his eyes. "Then we'll wait. We can't follow the God unless InuYasha is here anyway. Hopefully they don't kill him when he finds them."


(-)_(-)


Kagome was secretly glad Sango had decided to lead them away from InuYasha and the group. Once they were out of range, the tears came down in full. Sango hugged Kagome as she sniffled, but restrained herself from going full on giving into her hurt.

"I could hit him where it hurts if you want." Sango said.

"No. It won't matter anyway." Kagome sighed. They had reached a clearing and Sango sat on some boulders that had a nice view from the edge of the mountain. For a while, silence edged the two women as they thought of many things. That's when Sango noticed a small waterfall not to far from their clearing and asked Kagome if they wanted to wash up. Kagome agreed and followed the demon slayer as they approached the running water.

The running stream actually revealed a hidden hot springs and for a moment, both girls forgot their anger and quickly undressing and sank into the warm waters. Kagome closed her eyes for a moment and dipped her head under the warm water, letting it rest her face muscles and fill her ears blocking out any other sounds. Kagome let her tears fall freely under the water and then she came back up and looked at Sango.

"Am I overreacting?"

Sango stared at her as the demon exterminator began to ring out her hair. "No."

"I think I did. I sat him for no reason again." Kagome sighed.

"He deserved it." Sango looked away. "He should have never had gone to see her."

"But she had information." Kagome looked at Sango.

"And I bet Naraku does too. So InuYasha should go consult Naraku about his God problem?" Sango stared at priestess friend. "Kagome, he hurt you. You can feel whatever you want."

"I don't why it still bugs me so much." Kagome put her hands on her shoulders. "I think this most recent turn in our relationship made me even more defensive."

"Being with him?" Sango stared.

"Not completely, but it was getting close to that." Kagome made eye contact with Sango. "Why do I feel so threatened by Kikyo? She can't do what I can do. I…"

"She can still take him away from you." Sango stared. "I can still see in his eyes he still cares for her."

"He cares for you." Kagome was trying to reassure herself.

"Not the same." Sango shook her head. "He'll protect me from harm, but that's as far as it goes. He still really cares for that woman. The same way he cares about you. The only problem? He can't have both of you. It's not right."

Kagome sank half of her face into the water, not sure how to respond to Sango's blunt point. She closed her eyes and felt the auras around her. She felt her priestess powers becoming stronger and then dissipating. Though she really didn't think about it at that time, when she was naked under InuYasha, before they were attacked by the God, she didn't sense the Shikon Jewel shards that had been discarded next to her. Kagome gasped when she realized the real reason neither one of them had gone all the way through the act. Her priestess powers. Her purity. Both of them unconsciously refused to do it because, her powers where protecting her and his consciousness about her being weak, prevented them.

"Sango?"

"Yes?"

"I know why we haven't gone through with it."

Sango stared at her, her face turning a little pink at to where this conversation was going. "And?"

"My priestess powers." Kagome answered. "I will lose them if InuYasha and I…" She didn't need to finish her sentence. Both girls stared at their reflection in the water for a few minutes.

"I see." Sango stared. "So Kikyo probably told him this."

"Probably. She probably can sense my powers decreasing." Kagome shook her shoulders. "I hadn't noticed until a few days ago and now that I think back when all this started, it has been happening for some time."

"Kagome, you shouldn't have to choose between InuYasha and priestess powers. That's wrong."

"Just like its wrong for InuYasha to choose between me and Kikyo?" Kagome stared.

Sango actually clicked her jaw together realizing how contradicting she suddenly was. "I…it feels like when the monk goes after other women and begs them to bear his children. It's not right."

"No, it's not." Kagome sighed. "What should I do?"

Sango shook her head. "Apparently I'm not the best person for this advice."

"Sango, you're my closest friend. I trust you."

"Kagome, if he truly loves you and you truly love him, it will happen. I guess we both overacted. I saw you two getting close and then I saw him go flying to Kikyo like some lost dog. I felt threatened for you. However, he came back, and I don't think Kikyo is going to like a full-demon InuYasha. You're scared for him in this form, heck we all are, but you can tolerate it. Kikyo will not or cannot."

Kagome soaked in those words and let out a breath of air. She relaxed even more in the springs as she felt the impact of Sango's words vibrate to her eardrums. "Thank you Sango, I truly appreciate it."

"Of course."

"I better apologize to him." Kagome stood up out of the springs, the cold wind hitting her body. "I shouldn't have sat him."

"He still deserved it in my opinion." Sango shrugged and got up to get dressed as well.

"You know, I was looking at that necklace this afternoon and I felt hate towards it. For the first time since I've met him, I want to take it off."

"Now? When he's a full-fledged demon?"

"Especially now that he's a full-fledged demon." Kagome felt tears sting her eyes again. "He is what he always wanted to be. He won't pursue the Shikon Jewel anymore and I know after being close to him, he won't hurt me."

"He hurt you with Kikyo."

"I felt that way initially, but I can't see Kikyo as a threat anymore. Like you said, it will happen. Kikyo won't like InuYasha as a demon. She wanted him to be human to purify the jewel. She'll want nothing to do with him."

"Don't be too optimistic. She obviously might still want to kill him."

"She did shoot him, yes." Kagome threw on her undergarment and started to put her uniform on. "But if she wanted him dead, it would already have been done."

"Kagome…" Sango stopped and started towards the woods. "I'll leave you alone to talk to him. But if you need me, you know I'll kick his ass for you." She smiled and let out a laugh as she hugged the modern priestess. InuYasha's aura was getting closer to them and both girls sighed in relief. How things can change over a conversation in a hot springs.

Sango finished her dressing and hitched her boomerang over her shoulder. InuYasha peeked around a tree, anticipating Sango throwing it right at him. "She's all yours InuYasha." Sango called out. "However, if you hurt her again tonight I will not hesitate to chase your ass off this mountain."

Kagome snorted a laugh at Sango's comment. "Thanks Sango."

"No need to thank me Kagome. I'll always help you in any way I can." With that, the demon slayer disappeared into the forest heading back to camp and probably to keep an eye on Miroku. InuYasha slowly came out from behind the tree and eyed Kagome with apprehension.

"We need to talk." He said.

"Indeed." Kagome replied.

They stared at one another and for a moment; it looked like their talk was going to be nothing more than silence as they continued to stare at one another.

"Can you promise not 'sit' me?" InuYasha asked.

"Yes." Kagome quickly said. "And can you promise me the next time you want to speak to Kikyo you tell me first?"

Afterward a long, awkward pause. "Yes."

Kagome sighed in relief as she sat down on a large boulder. Her hair was still wet and water was dripping down her uniform. Since she did not bring her backpack, so she could not dry it with her towel.

"Before you ask, Kikyo did shoot me with one of her arrows. It hit my right shoulder, but it's healed now." InuYasha eyed her. "But there is something else more important we need to talk about. Kikyo mentioned it and…it concerns us."

"My priestess powers?" Kagome asked her face hardening as she stared at him. InuYasha hitched a breath, but he did not ask how she guessed right.

"Yeah." InuYasha scratched his scalp. "I don't know what to do. I can't let you make such a choice."

"It's my choice to make." Kagome said confidentially, but inside the choice was ripping her heart into two.

"Kagome…"

"It's my choice InuYasha!" Kagome snapped, immediately regretting it. He had asked her not to 'sit' him, leaving yelling an option. "I would not have stood in the way if you made a wish on the jewel to become a full demon."

InuYasha gave her a funny look. "Yeah you would. Don't lie Kagome. I see it now. I was blind to it until Miroku told me. You don't like me as a full demon. You don't want me to be one. You, like everyone else, want me to return to a half-demon." He actually almost glared at her.

"That's not true!" Kagome let the lie slip her lips, and then the tears made their appearance yet again.

"Kagome…"

"The only time I've seen you as a full-demon when you were transformed! No! That's what I didn't want you to be and neither did you!" Kagome sniffled. "You even told Totosai that it had made you sick to kill those bandits. It's why the Tessaiga got light for you."

"I can still wield Tessaiga." He pulled it out to prove his point. Kagome stared at the fang, the blue band still foreign, but the fang had transformed in all of its glory. She sensed his demonic aura coming from it and she could feel her body and priestess powers react in the exact opposite directions.

"InuYasha…we just don't know what we're dealing with here. I don't want to lose you." Kagome stepped up to him and they were finally close again. Kagome felt her body fight its war. She wanted to be with him, her body did, but her priestess powers were fighting the urge. Her purity need to remain to be the powerful reincarnated priestess to protect the Shikon Jewel.

She gripped his hair and pulled him down letting the kiss take over them. InuYasha growled in her mouth as Kagome let him grip her body and pull her closer to him. Kagome took a breath when the released and InuYasha's lips sucked on her neck. Kagome gasped as she felt her body pulse in delight and fear. Did she want to choose? No. She hated choosing between two very important things. Her priestess powers are what made her able to hunt the Shikon Jewel. However, InuYasha was what made her human.

"InuYasha…" She whispered in his fuzzy ear. "Could you transform into your full form?" The question stunned the half-demon now full-demon.

"Why?" He managed to ask.

"Because…your right. I'm sorry. I don't accept you as a full-demon. I need help. Please, I want to see you in all of your glory. I want to see it when you're not in a fight or in pain."

"I…I don't know if I can." InuYasha actually managed to say, embarrassingly.

"I know you can." Kagome whispered and brought her lips back to his. He growled and as she opened her eyes, and she stared at his red and blue orbs. "You can do it."

The wind suddenly picked up around them and Kagome took a couple of steps back. There he stood. There he stood in his full-fledged form, a great dog demon. Like Sesshomaru, and like his father. Kagome felt her breath taken away as she truly stared at him. This time he wasn't confused like the first time and not in pain like the second time. He stood there, his large red eyes staring down at her. She was small compared to him. He was about the same size as Sesshomaru and it felt like they had come full circle. InuYasha had wanted to be a full demon when she met him. He pursued the Shikon Jewel to do so, failed an ended up pinned for fifty years. Now, with God's interference, he was what he always wanted to be.

"InuYasha…" Kikyo was somewhat forgotten at the moment. Actually, Kagome secretly wanted Kikyo to see him. Maybe she would have finally understood the demon side of InuYasha. InuYasha's nose came down towards and Kagome felt something tickle her limbs. Excitement. She took a step on his snout and jumped up onto the top of head. "Let's fly!" She said as loudly as she could. The large dog lifted off the ground with a human priestess on his head as the flew around the area the mountain claimed. A small group of demons and humans were the only witnesses to the spectacle. None had a thing to say.