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Left in Pieces chapter 2

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Left in Pieces chapter 2
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“What happened to Inuyasha…?” Shippo muttered to Miroku when they saw Kagome hesitantly approach the hanyou. They watched from afar as Kagome placed a hand on his shoulder, seemingly to coax him into standing, or perhaps for comfort. In response to his question, the monk studied the hanyou’s hesitant reaction to Kagome’s touch as they stood to make their way back over by them before replying,
“I don’t know, Shippo, but judging by the change in his appearance and his aura, I’d safely wager that Naraku was behind it,” he commented when he saw that Inuyasha’s hair was half silver on his left and half black on his right. From this distance, the details of his appearance were invisible to his human eyes, but the heavy darkness that had settled within Inuyasha’s aura most definitely did not go unnoticed.
“Hey guys, we’re back,” Kagome said, her hand still soothingly placed on the small of Inuyasha’s back as he bowed his head. The last thing he wanted his friends to see was the ashamed look on his face. He felt the hand on his back tighten just the slightest bit, and he drew comfort from that, silently thanking Kagome for her support when he knew he wouldn’t find the courage to out loud.
“Kagome…about Inuyasha…” understanding what Sango’s implied question was, she gently explained the situation and that Naraku’s miasma was to blame for this. When all four of their companions nodded in understanding (four including Kirara,) they suggested the same thing that Kagome had to Inuyasha earlier; that they should head to Kaede’s to seek her advice. The hanyou silently agreed, still trying to sort himself.
As odd as it sounds, he seemed…unbalanced; his left half, his youkai half, was obviously the stronger half, but he never really noticed such a difference in power until he started to actually move. With every move he made, he would often underestimate the strength of his left half, which seemed to have an abundance of power, and he’d end up using more strength than intended, while his right half seemed to stumble uncertainly about, clearly being the weaker of the two, and having to be used often to gain control of his movements. Breathing was even a chore, now that one lung was noticeably superior to the other; his chest would throb painfully if he breathed in too deeply, or too shallowly, resulting in several aches in his upper torso that he had otherwise never thought could be possible.
He was grateful, however, for Kagome’s hand, now resting on the middle of his back. He used her hand as a center of gravity to steady himself when he was unsure of his footfalls, and he mentally thanked her for her help yet again. He would occasionally allow his demon eye a glance at her (for she was standing to his left, after all,) and she would in turn face him with a gentle, almost reassuring smile that made him feel almost as if things would be okay in the end.
His musings were temporarily put off when they came to the border of Kaede’s village. Inuyasha and Kagome, behind the rest of the group, hesitated a moment. Well, Inuyasha had, and Kagome had stayed beside him. She looked up at him, retracting her hand from his back after one last squeeze of his haori. “Inuyasha…?” She questioned softly. He wrinkled his nose a moment in an attempt to scowl. Rather than respond, he gave no signs of acknowledgement and continued deeper into the village. With a quiet sigh, she moved to stay at his side as they continued.
Sango, Miroku, Shippo, and Kirara had already made it to Kaede’s, and were explaining their latest dilemma to the aged priestess, when Inuyasha and Kagome had made it down to the row of houses that made up the village. Those who were outside took notice of Inuyasha’s changed appearance almost immediately. Some were shocked, some were frightened, but all were highly prejudice of the change in their own silent way. Even Kaede seemed weary of Inuyasha at first, and the hanyou couldn’t help but allow himself a mental whimper at their silent rejections. The villagers had now crowded around behind the hanyou and his miko, forming a half circle curving away from them, as if they were infected by a deadly virus. One of the elders of the village stepped forth through the crowd.
“You there, Inuyasha,” the old man called. With a barely visible flinch, the hanyou turned to face the one who addressed him. After regarding him for a moment, the elder spoke again, “what has happened to you, lad?” Inuyasha was afraid that if he opened his mouth, they would see his one elongated fang and possibly start some sort of uproar about it. Thankfully, Sango and Miroku understood that risk and quickly explained everything that they were told that led up to this. There was a pause as the villagers gathered around their elder for advice. The soft roar of their mutterings was silenced immediately when the old man raised a hand high in the air to get everyone’s attention. “It is apparent that Naraku has marked you as his target. Leave us,” the old man spoke harshly to the hanyou. He flinched once again, this time a bit more visibly than he would have liked. One of the younger men spoke up,
“Until you are back to your original form, you are not welcome in this village, half-demon. We will not let our village be destroyed because of you.” Kagome’s eyes widened at the villagers that had seemed to so openly welcome them all this time suddenly demanding that he leave. She had to stand up for him! She had to say something!
“How can you say that? He’s protected this village for so long!” She exclaimed from his side.
“Be that as it may, we have no choice but to exile you, half-breed. The sentence will expire when you become yourself again. Now leave us willingly, or we shall have no choice but to use force.” Many cries of agreement, mixed with some insults directed toward the silent hanyou rose up in a chaotic union in Inuyasha’s ears. He suddenly felt so small, so insignificant, worthless, even more so than he had already, mainly because he was being forced to re-live his exile from his home village when he was a pup.
‘But…
I have someone I have to protect now…
…I have to protect Kagome…’
The villagers’ eyes all widened in horror as they saw Inuyasha step toward them slowly, his head bent so that his silver and black bangs covered his red-blue and violet eyes respectively. He stopped when he was about a foot away from the village elder, not saying anything for a few moments before speaking up in a quiet voice,
“The Goshinboku,” the elder’s brow creased in confusion. Inuyasha lifted his head to look the old man square in the eyes before he elaborated, “is the Goshinboku far enough away that I don’t tarnish your precious damn village?” He growled out, hiding his pain with anger, as he had always taught himself to do. The elder seemed to ponder over the proposition a moment before nodding his head solemnly.
“But come any closer and we will not hesitate to eliminate you.” Kagome knew that exiling Inuyasha would solve absolutely nothing, and she felt that there was no justification for him being punished for something that wasn’t even his fault!
“You can’t just do this to him! Why must you be so cruel-?”
“Kagome.” She froze in shock at the firm voice that called her. That was Inuyasha! She turned toward his back, silently demanding an explanation as to why he suddenly stopped her like that. He turned his head to look over his right shoulder, exposing his human eye to her. “Don’t.” was all he muttered darkly before fully turning and heading for the place of his exile. She gently caught his shoulder as he was about to walk past her.
“Inuyasha, please-” He cut her off with a sharp glare as he fully faced her.
“Don’t get caught up in this.” Her frame went rigid at his growled out command, giving him the window of opportunity to walk out of her grasp and continue onward to the sacred tree. Her hand stayed in midair a moment in shock as she quietly muttered his name to herself, silently noting that he was trying to deal with this alone again. Her hand lowered to her side as she turned back to the villagers, all of whom had continued about their business like nothing had happened, like nothing was wrong with doing this to an innocent. Anger burned deep within her as she watched them carry on their lives like they were not to blame for the pain of rejection that Inuyasha was undoubtedly going through. Her gaze returned to Inuyasha’s retreating figure, watching with tears streaming down her face as the shadows of the forest dragged him into their cold embrace.
here's chapter 2, so enjoy! :hug:
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applejack-sparrow's avatar
*sniff* *sniff* I- .. I can't bear anymore of this DEPRESSION!!! XD NUUU!!! *hugs InuYasha with a squeeky sound* I luff you, don't worry!! =]