To Catch A Demon (Inuyasha fanfic)

Chapter 9

For the next week, Inuyasha made a habit of going out hunting with Kagome since their date. He enjoyed the thrill that came with the chase, and she enjoyed his company. It was a bit of a win-win situation for them both. She had his attention, and he had his fun.

Things were working out well for them. In fact, Inuyasha was in a much better mood than before. Despite having that smidgen of desire for Kagome racing through him, he could put it aside almost always, and instead entertained himself while out with her. It was better than being cooped up inside the house with nothing to look at but the walls and pictures which only made him ache.

Inuyasha was already planning their next hunt for the day. He wanted to try his hand at catching a few fish as well as a boar or deer; he wasn't yet sure of which he desired most for dinner. So he intended on starting it first with a trip to the river. There, he and Kagome would see who could catch the most fish. Then they would seek out the other creatures and end their day atop that hill.

Excitement pulsed through him, his appetite nearly feverish.

Unfortunately, some of Kagome's day had been consumed by work, so while she continued tending to patients with Kaede, Inuyasha decided to police the village. It bored him quickly. He found it somewhat strange that demons never came to bother the people there. His last recollection of a past now long gone was of demons constantly attacking humans for their flesh and the like. Why did they stop coming?

Suddenly, he remembered the sacred jewel and his curiosity got the best of him. He went to the small shrine where the jewel had once been held in. Kikyou used to guard it, making sure no demon or man, including him, could take hold of its power and destroy the world. He remembered wanting the damned thing so he could become a full fledged demon since no one ever bothered to accept him as himself, half demon that he was.

He didn't feel any kind of pressure to be someone he was not when he was with Kagome, and it gave him another reason to like her. She appeared to appreciate his company whenever he offered it, never once telling him to give her solitude or leave her be.

It was rather surreal being next to her sometimes. Kikyou used to call him a half demon to annoy him, but Kagome never even mentioned his issue. He remembered how discriminatory practices used to be enacted whenever he was near; how his mother used to have to hide him or his ears because no one liked a demon. He was an abomination, after all; something which should never have been.

Yet, for Kagome, this did not seem to matter to her. In fact, for the world he now lived in, this idea didn't seem to be an issue mulled over very much. Kaede's village even allowed Shippo and Kirara to roam free, without worrying if they'd enact any kind of horrors.

It was a strange world he lived in. But better, he supposed.

The shrine was decrepit, now nothing more than an ancient heirloom of the past. Webs covered the bar which once held the sacred necklace, but it was barren. As he suspected, the jewel was gone. But where had they placed it? He could not feel its presence, and if demons chose not to destroy Kaede's village, then it must have been because the thing was forever destroyed.

He thought he would feel disappointment, but instead he felt nothing. His desires had changed at some point in his life, and even though he could not recall what had transpired in the past five decades, perhaps his soul did. That's why it still felt something for Kagome even though the mind it inhabited was wiped clean.

He returned to his home and sat on his stoop, waiting for his wife-he was growing rather accustomed to this moniker-to come home. Because he was hungry. Of course.

Villagers walked along the winding road, working on their menial tasks. Some children aided their parents with work which ranged from gardening to harvesting. Some would pass by Inuyasha's home and wave to him. He waved back out of a sense of politeness, but didn't really care for them so much as he did for the woman sitting only a few meter's away. He could see her black hair blanketing her shoulders; the waves falling to her waist like water down a stream. Her skin was like alabaster, a sheen rivaling the snow during a winter storm. He could see her tending to a young man. He laid on the floor as she placed her hand over his back. A light poured out from her hands, an image all too familiar to a demon often attacked by priests and priestesses.