The Fox's Son

Chapter 38 - Kikyo

Moments later, Kagome was finally able to see them. It was a familiar sight. Inuyasha stood, looking into eyes of his long dead lover and she stood just a few feet away. The miko looked around for Naruto and saw him no where. In all honesty, she had lost track of him a few paces back. Her attention returned to the two lovers as she hid behind a tree.

"Inuyasha" the priestess greeted with the same cold, dead tone she always used. Her features were blank with no visible emotion marring them.

The dog hanyou stepped forward. However, just as he was about to speak, two needles, as fast as lighting, flew from the shadows of the forest and hit him in the neck. His neck gave a small jerk and his eyes rolled in the back of his head before he fell to the ground with a soft thud.

Kikyo and Kagome, who was watching from the treeline, each gave identical gasps of surprise and horror as they saw their lover fall onto the ground. Being the first to move, Kagome was about to move forward to aid him when Naruto appeared in front of her.

"He'll be fine. He is just unconscious." He whispered.

However, at the moment, Kagome didn't care. She was concerned and worried about her crush, and tried to push past him to get to Inuyasha. However, her actions were thwarted when Naruto grabbed her shoulder with a firm hand, holding her in place.

"This must be said and you must hear it." the hatted man said critically, before disappearing out of sight.

Kagome bit her lip hard, torn in her decision. While she wanted to run and be at Inuyasha's side, she was also curious as to what Naruto meant when he spoke to her. Once again, curiosity got the best of her and in the end, decided to trust her now older brother figure. He hadn't lied to her or given her any reason not to believe him. And with his given skills, most of which were still unknown, he could have killed Inuyasha and the rest of them whenever he damn well wanted to, but he hasn't. He had been faithful since their first encounter so she saw no reason to doubt him now. Going back into hiding, Kagome watched the scene unfold before her.

Kikyo finally moved forward and knelt beside the hanyou in attempt to help him. However, before she could, a voice directly behind her made her stop in her tracks.

"There will be time for that later, Lady Kikyo." a deep voice spoke from behind her. "Right now, you business is with me."

Kikyo quickly turned and saw a tall, dark figure standing just before the tree line. He was wearing all black and had a staff in his had. He wore a black cloak and she could see two swords at his hip. She couldn't see his face, due to the large conical hat he wore on his head. Not knowing who the intruder was, she got into a defense position, ready to fight if she had to.

Naruto stared at her with a blank expression on his face as he watched her stand. She knocked an arrow into her bow and raised it to aim at him. He raised an eyebrow at the oddly familiar situation. 'Due all miko greet people in such a way?' he mused to himself as he thought about his encounter with the miko, Kaede. 'Or is it just me......' he thought to himself before he sweat dropped at his own question. He knew it was automatically the later.

"What do you want, assassin?" she spoke, her tone rather venomous.

Naruto sweat dropped again at the question. 'Yep, definitely just me....' he said inwardly as he turned to answer the woman's question. "The truth." he said plainly.

"What truth do you speak of?" she asked, her gaze piercing with coldness.

Naruto just looked at the revived priestess. His gaze and features amusingly lazy under his hat. He absently turned and walked toward a nearby tree and touched its bark as if he were searching for something. He felt Kikyo's cold gaze, watching his every movement.