The carrion-crow's body fell in a shower of small chunks to the earth. Amongst the chunks was a bright, shiny object glinting in the sunlight. It was pinkish-purple, and about the size of a ping-pong ball.
The Shikon no Tama was free of the crow demon and still intact.
"Did you see that? I did it!" squealed Kagome in self-congratulation. "I popped that sucker!"
Inuyasha chuckled darkly. With his sharp eyes, he could see the Shikon jewel hit the ground in an open field, and there was no missing it now. Kagome had outlived her usefulness now. "Congratulations," said the dog-demon-boy. "Now you can die!"
Kagome's eyes widened as she suddenly found herself without support, as Inuyasha had disappeared from under her. Then she felt herself falling, back first, toward the ground. She let out a squeal of fear as she fell in an uncontrolled drop toward the forested area. Inuyasha watched in satisfaction as the annoying reincarnation of Kikyou vanished into the forest, with an audible crash and crackle of large, tortured branches.
Picking up the Shikon jewel, Inuyasha let out a peal of evil-sounding laughter. He was free of the woman who betrayed him, Kikyou. He was free of the woman she had been reborn as, Kagome. Now, with this jewel, he will be free of the human side that caused him such pain in his life. "Goodbye, mother! Today, I leave the human race for good!" he said to no one, with only the slightest hint of regret.
In a sudden fit of boyish playfulness, he decided to see if he could catch the jewel in his mouth. He tossed it a few feet into the air, his head tilted back and his mouth open. He shifted from side to side, trying to put his mouth at the end of the jewel's trajectory.
About three centimeters before it entered his mouth, a sod-encrusted hand appeared and caught the jewel in its closed fist. Cross-eyed, Inuyasha stared at the fist, then scanned down the attached arm, to an attached shoulder, to an attached torso and abdomen, to attached legs, another arm, and a head. In this head was a set of eyes burning with anger and a mouth turned down in a frown.
"You!" whispered Inuyasha, surprised to see Kagome still alive.
The robot-schoolgirl definitely looked like she had seen better days. Her clothes were ripped and ratty, and she was covered with soil, twigs and leaves. Her skin had shallow scratches and was slightly deformed in places. She looked like if she had fallen into a forest canopy, which she had.
"I am very disappointed in you, Inuyasha…" hissed Kagome. "OSUWARI!"
*SPLAT!* "OIF!"
Without letting him a chance to get up, Kagome fired off a fusillade of the words: "OSUWARI! OSUWARI! OSUWARI! OSUWARI! OSUWARI! OSUWARI! OSUWARI! OSUWARI! OSUWARI! OSUWARI! OSUWARI! OSUWARI! OSUWARI! OSUWARI! OSUWARI! OSUWARI! OSUWARI! OSUWARI! OSUWARI! OSUWARI! OSUWARI! OSUWARI! OSUWARI! OSUWARI! OSUWARI! OSUWARI! OSUWARI! OSUWARI! OSUWARI! OSUWARI! OSUWARI! OSUWARI!"
"Nnnnnngghhh!" groaned Inuyasha as he was slowly pressed three inches into the soil from the repeated 'osuwari's.
Kagome gasped for breath she didn't really need after firing off that rapid-fire 'osuwari' at Inuyasha. Finally, she turned and walked off at a relaxed pace.
Inuyasha spent several minutes cursing his luck and recovering from Kagome's serial 'osuwari's. That had HURT! Slowly, he pulled himself up from the Inuyasha-shaped hole in the ground and limped after Kagome. Soon, since Kagome was going at a relaxed pace, and Inuyasha quickly recovered from the sitting experience, Inuyasha had caught up to Kagome and was walking a few feet behind her.
For several minutes, the walk back was bristling with an uncomfortable silence. Inuyasha felt the urge to say something… anything… just to break it. But what could be said. He'd dropped Kagome from a long height to die to go after the Shikon jewel.
"I can't believe it!" Inuyasha murmured at last, just for the sake of breaking the silence. "You survived that long a drop with only scratches and bruises!"
"A little fall like that won't kill me, Inuyasha. I'm built to last."
Inuyasha jumped back, startled at her words. She must have awfully sharp hearing to hear him mumble that, the distance he was behind her. Then something she said caught his attention. "Built?"
"Never mind," Kagome said dismissively. She failed to say anything to his face this time too.
A couple of more minutes passed in silence. Again, Inuyasha ran out of patience. "Are you mad?" he asked softly, almost timidly, but not with intent to conceal.
Kagome took several moments to answer. "No. Not mad," she sighed. "Disappointed. Irked. Lonely. But not mad."
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be," came the calm reply. "I should've expected you would have done something like that. What, being half-demon and all. Totally my bad."
The self-depreciating tone of Kagome's answers annoyed Inuyasha. "Stop it with that, Kagome!" the dog-boy snapped, landing in front of Kagome. "I'm the one who dropped you! Me! There's no one else who can take the blame!" Inuyasha's voice was rising, and he was almost shouting when he concluded, "Now accept my apology, or else!"
*thu-thump…*
Kagome's maiden circuit pulsed weakly and became warm. It wasn't as intense as the first time, but it was a pleasant feeling for Kagome. She smiled, a small smile but sincere, and said, "Apology accepted, Inuyasha."
The robot-girl from the future twice over slid by the mentally stunned Inuyasha. The half-demon recovered and jogged to catch up. Side by side, they continued back to the village.
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(Posted Tue, 21 Dec 2004 09:35)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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