Losing Kagome, Part 5

Early the next morning, Kagome packed her bag, and headed out back for the well with her mother, brother, and grandfather.

“Come home soon, dear.”  Her mother called.

“Yeah, see if you can talk InuYasha into coming with you!”  Sota added eagerly.  Kagome smiled slightly.

“That might not be a good idea.  The last time he came, he didn’t react well to Hojo...” Kagome trailed off.  Sota winced slightly.  He had seen InuYasha get the sit command after he tried to attack Hojo.

“Oh, yeah.  Maaybe not...” Kagome laughed.

“I’ll tell him you said hello.”  And she jumped into the well.

InuYasha was once again being treated to interrogation, this time from Kaede.

“Why do ye seem so unsettled, InuYasha?”  She asked, hiding a small smile.  He glared at her.

“I’m not unsettled, you old hag!”  He snapped.  Kaede’s eyebrows raised.

“Oh, really?  Then why be ye so fidgety?”  She asked gesturing at the way his claws were drumming on his knee.  He glanced down, glared at his fingers, then at Kaede.

“I just want to get going, that’s all.  Dammit, why is Kagome taking so long?”  He snarled.

“Kagome had a test yesterday.” Shippo said as he entered the house.  “And she wanted to spend so time with Hojo.  Ouch!” He yelled as InuYasha slammed his fist on his head. “Hey, what was that for?  All I said was that Kagome had a test, and wanted to spend some time with her boyfriend! Ahh!”  This time he managed to dodge InuYasha’s fist.

“Shut up you stupid fox!”  InuYasha growled.  Shippo gulped.

“Uh, right!  Well, Kagome should be home sometime today!  Hey, I’ll go wait for her by the well with Kirara!”  And he ran.  Fast.  InuYasha glared after him for a long time, then settled down, closing his eyes, and resuming the drumming of his fingers.  Kaede watched him for a moment.

“InuYasha, is the thought of Kagome seeing someone else setting you out of sorts?” She asked slowly, ready to gauge his reaction.  InuYasha’s eyes were open in a second, glaring once again.

“What are you talking about, you old hag?  If Kagome wants to see some stupid human, that’s her business.  Why should that bother me?”  He said, furious.  He stalked out the door, leaving Kaede behind him, shaking her head.  

When will InuYasha admit that he despises the idea of Kagome being with anyone except him? She asked herself, as her lips twitched into a smile.

The second Kagome got through the well, Shippo pounced on her.

“Hey Kagome!  We’ve missed you!”  He said eagerly, and Kirara meowed her agreement.  Kagome laughed.

“It’s good to see you too!  How is In-” she broke off, and shook herself.  “How is everyone?”  Shippo stared.

Was she about to say InuYasha?   He wondered, slightly less than surprised.  He did not think Kagome really liked Hojo any more than Sango and Miroku did.  He acted like he had not heard her slip up.

“Everyone’s fine.  We’ve dealt with a few demons for Kaede, but that’s all.  There hasn’t been too much trouble.”  He assured her. “Sango wants to talk to you, so I guess you should go see her-”

“Sango’s here now.”  Sango called from behind them. “Hello Kagome!  It’s good to see you.  How was everything at home?”

“Fine.  The math test was a killer.”  Sango laughed.

“That’s what you always say.  So, how was your date?”  Sango’s eyes locked on Kagome’s face, following the flickers of emotions on it.  Kagome looked slightly startled, then vaguely uneasy, as though she did not want to talk about this, before she masked her face with a look of happiness.

“It was great... once I got rid of InuYasha.  I still don’t get why he tried to stop me.  It’s like he thought he owned me, or something.”

“He is really protective of you.”  Sango reminded her.  “He probably just didn’t like it because he doesn’t know Hojo.”  Then Sango saw the expression she had been expecting.  For a split second, Kagome looked elated, but it immediately changed to a more pensive look.

“Maybe that’s it.”  Kagome agreed, and sighed slightly.

“You should go talk to him.  He really doesn’t like this.”  Sango encouraged, knowing Kagome wanted to talk to InuYasha, but was not certain if that was alright.  Kagome smiled.

“Yeah.  I probably should.”  She started walking towards the village, and InuYasha.