InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ One Step Forward, Two Steps Back ❯ Step 2: Don't touch those! ( Chapter 2 )

Disclaimer: The Inuyasha characters are not mine, a fact that Miroku is probably very thankful for right now. After all, I'm sure Rumiko Takahashi never plans on making him swear off women in the manga.

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One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

Chapter Two

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"What do you think is wrong with Inuyasha?" Sango questioned Miroku as quietly as she could as they sat beneath the cool shade of a tree. They were back at Kaede's village and had been there for almost three days. "Ever since Kagome-chan went home, he's been avoiding everyone like the plague. Do you think he is angry with us for some reason?"

Miroku silently considered the dog demon in question, who was perched in his favorite tree a small distance away from the hut. He remained quiet for several moments before deciding to answer Sango's questions. "I am not sure. He always acts grumpy when Kagome-sama is absent, but this time there seems to be something different about his attitude that I can't put my finger on."

About that moment, Inuyasha suddenly realized he was being stared at and shot what could only be described as an evil glare towards the monk and demon exterminator. If Miroku hadn't known better, though, he would have sworn that the glare was directed fully at himself.

"Oi, Bouzu! Quit staring at me, you disgusting pervert!"

Sango and Miroku both sweat-dropped and looked at each other uncertainly. "Do we dare ask?" The former inquired hesitantly. She was beginning to think everyone around her had finally lost their minds. First Miroku was swearing off women, and now Inuyasha was…well, he wasn't acting like himself, that was for certain.

Miroku slowly shook his head. "No, Sango, I believe there are times when some things are better left alone. And this, I'm sure, is one of those times."

The dark-haired girl couldn't help but agree.

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Inuyasha carefully watched the two companions sitting on the ground, growling occasionally for seemingly no reason. Neither was looking at him anymore, but he was still feeling wary after Miroku had been staring at him so intently earlier.

'That stupid wench! She'd better hurry up and get back here or I'm going after her! I don't know how much more of this I can stand...' Inuyasha's ears drooped a bit as his thoughts took a sudden turn. 'She really didn't mean that about me not showing any interest in her, did she? Stupid Kagome...'

For a long moment Inuyasha remained lost in his dejected thoughts and forgot to watch the couple on the ground nearby. When a cold chill raced down his spine, though, he caught Miroku once again eyeing him intently.

"STOP STARING AT ME!" Inuyasha shouted furiously before realizing he was probably only drawing more unwanted attention to himself. With a huff of disgust, he jumped off his perch and bounded towards the well without looking back.

Sango and Miroku were left staring at his retreating back with gazes full of confusion.

"Idiots!" He growled between clenched teeth as he ran. "They all know I'm not like that! What do they expect me to do to prove it, start groping girls?" In reaction to the very idea of doing such a thing, a bright blush spread across his cheeks as he ran.

'You wouldn't mind groping a certain girl, would you?' An evil little voice whispered inside his head, causing the blush to spread further. 'She probably wouldn't mind it, either...'

"Keh! Not mind? I'd probably get sat six feet under." He muttered under his breath. "The last thing I need is to give her a good reason for thinking I'm a pervert!"

'Why not? You have nothing to lose. She already thinks you're a pervert after all those times you saw her taking a bath… '

"It was an accident!"

'Sure it was…go ahead and believe that if it will make you feel better.'

Inuyasha stopped running suddenly and found himself perched on the side of the well. He was cursing colorfully under his breath for being crazy enough to argue with himself while staring into the dark depths below.

'So are you going to jump in and go see Kagome?' The little voice nagged. 'You know you want to…'

"GAH! Just shut up and leave me the hell alone!" he shouted, causing his voice to echo against the stone walls of the well. "It's all that bouzu's fault that I'm losing my mind. I should go back and slice him into tiny little pieces..." Just the thought was giving him some satisfaction.

'That would mean you'd actually have to touch him, idiot.'

The grumpy hanyou growled. "Now you're ruining my fun, too."

"Inuyasha!" a small voice suddenly cried out, causing the dog-demon to look around alertly. He soon spotted Shippo scrambling along the path that lead towards Kaede's village and once again cursed himself for not noticing the kit's approach sooner. He was normally much more alert than that. "Hey, Inuyasha? Who were you talking to? Is Kagome in the well?"

Inuyasha turned red at being caught talking to himself and frantically debated between running or actually attempting to answer Shippo's questions without making a bigger fool of himself.

He finally settled for jumping into the well where the fox cub wouldn't be able to follow.

"Inuyasha!" Shippo cried out as he scrambled for the well as quickly as his little feet could take him. "It's not time to bring Kagome back yet! She wanted to come back tomorrow! Inuyyaasha!"

No matter how much the poor little kit hurried, though, by the time Shippo managed to scramble up the side of the well the white-haired hanyou had already completely vanished from sight.

"Jerk." He muttered.

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Inuyasha silently gazed around the dark interior of the well house in Kagome's time and wondered what he should do next. He refused to go anywhere near Miroku if he could help it, so that crossed going back through the well off his list of choices. That left Kagome's time as his only option, and since it was still early in the afternoon, Kagome probably wouldn't be home yet from that 'school' place that took up so much of her time. The thought made Inuyasha scowl deeply.

"I don't see what's so great about that place anyway. All the boys there are wimps…and they don't have hair as nice as mine!" This small burst of added vanity was caused by a comment Kagome had made once about his hair.

Slipping out the door of the well house, Inuyasha stealthily crossed the yard of the Higuarshi Shrine and jumped up to the window he more often than not used as an entrance to Kagome's room.

"Stupid girl, wasting time and making me wait here with nothing to do for her to come back." He muttered angrily. "I should go find her and drag her back kicking and screaming!"

Luckily for Inuyasha, he was at least smart enough to know better. A stupid stunt like that one would most likely earn him a broken back and cold shoulder courtesy of Kagome.

Glancing around the room with a bored expression, he suddenly caught sight of a small item lying on the floor beside the bed. This was unusual because Kagome always kept her room very neat and clean at all times, unless of course she did something stupid like oversleep and had to get dressed and leave in a hurry.

Kneeling on the floor, Inuyasha gingerly picked up the item with his claws and nearly dropped it when he realized exactly what it was.

'This looks...like one of those funny pieces of cloth she wears...down there...' He couldn't even bring himself to finish the thought properly. The only reason he had any clue at all as to what they were was because of those times he'd 'accidentally' seen Kagome taking a bath.

Once, the now very embarrassed hanyou recalled, he had even caught Miroku digging through Kagome's bag and handling the small scrap of clothing like it was something of interest to a pervert like himself. Even though he hadn't known what was going through the monk's mind at the time, Inuyasha had still put a very swift end to Miroku's fun. He hadn't liked the idea of some other man going through Kagome's personal possessions at all.

"I don't get it!" Inuyasha muttered gruffly, staring at the innocent piece of cloth dangling from his hand. "What's so interesting about these things that it would get the bouzu all excited?"

Now Inuyasha wasn't exactly dumb, but every now and then he did reveal a slight tendency to be rather slow about some things. This just happened to be one of those instances.

Glaring at the scrap of clothing that was hanging from his claws, thoughts slowly began to click together one by one like pieces of a puzzle, gradually shading his face redder and redder at the same pace. The cloth...'there'...sexual interest...

"AAARRRGGGHHH! I'm going to kill that pervert!" He shouted out of the blue when Miroku's actions finally became clear to him. "I'll teach him to think of Kagome like that at ALL!" His fist clenched tightly over the pale blue underwear as he growled darkly.

'Dummy, he's probably thinking like that about YOU now!' The evil little voice was back full force, and Inuyasha paled considerably at its suggestion. 'But, since he DID think of Kagome like that, you can still kill him...if you feel like going near him, that is...'

Maybe his revenge could wait a while.

"I'm home!" A voice called out from downstairs and Inuyasha could hear the front door sliding open and then closed with a soft click.

At first, Inuyasha could only feel relief that she was back. He always felt so restless and unhappy when she wasn't present, and it wasn't just because without her around, they couldn't continue their search for the shards.

The second thing he felt when he heard her footsteps quickly scaling the stairs was sheer PANIC!

"Oh great!" Inuyasha hissed under is breath.

Eyes darting frantically around the room, Inuyasha searched for some place to stow the incriminating item still clutched in his clawed hand before he was discovered. And you know that whenever someone is panicked, they aren't thinking very clearly.

"Dammit!" Just as the door was opening, Inuyasha stuffed the blue underwear in his red haori, barely able to get it all tucked in against his chest before she entered the room and came to a screeching halt at the sight of him.

"I-Inu...yasha?" Kagome questioned hesitantly, taking a small step forward before stopping again. She stared at him with wide eyes, unsure as to what he might be doing. All she knew was that Inuyasha was crouched on the floor beside her bed with his right hand fisted and stuffed in the front of his haori, and his face almost as red as the cloth itself.

"What?" He stared back at her as if insulted, or perhaps just being defensive.

Kagome sighed and placed her hands on her hips. "WHAT are you doing in my room? I told you I wasn't planning on coming back until tomorrow!"

"I..." Inuyasha's already weak voice trailed off completely. 'That 'uniform' thing of hers is really short...I wonder if she's wearing one of these pieces of cloth now too?' His fist unconsciously clenched around the small scrap of clothing.

"Inuyasha!"

The hanyou jerked his eyes back up to her face and flushed. He seemed to be doing that a LOT lately.

"Are you going to answer me or not?"

"Keh! I don't have to explain myself to you, wench!"

Kagome's eyebrow began to tic, and the telling motion caused the half-demon's stomach to sink with feeling of impending doom. "You WILL explain why you are in my room...or..." She paused, knowing that she didn't have to finish in order to make her meaning clear.

Inuyasha gulped nervously. "Uhh..."

"Well?"

Silence.

"OSUWARI!"

Inuyasha crashed to the floor with a terrible force, and unluckily for him his hand was still firmly stuffed in the front of his clothing. He could only hope that all the bones in his hand were still whole, although at the moment it didn't feel like it.

"You are such a jerk sometimes, Inuyasha! Why can't you just answer a simple question?"

The hanyou/pancake ignored her and concentrated on prying himself off the floor.

"I'll never make it through school at this rate if you keep dragging me back!" Kagome continued to rant. "I'll end up an old lady, begging on the streets for spare change because I couldn't even pull a C- in math! If you'd just be more considerate and think of my feelings for a change, then maybe-" Kagome suddenly broke off and stared at the hanyou on her bedroom floor.

"Are you through yelling at me?" He growled, pushing himself up with both hands. "For your information, if I WEREN'T so considerate, you'd never get any chances to come back!" He shook his fist at her angrily during his small speech.

His RIGHT fist…

"KYAA! PERVERT!" Kagome shrieked as loudly as she possibly could. Any louder and Inuyasha's sensitive dog-ears wouldn't have survived intact.

As soon as the hapless hanyou figured out what she was screaming at, he dropped the underwear as if it were on fire and backed away with fear in his eyes. He'd be lucky if he survived her wrath this time, and he knew it. "Wait! This isn't what it looks like, Kagome!"

"Oh, it isn't?" Kagome's voice was cold and scathing. "What were you doing then, using them to polish my bedroom furniture?"

"NO! I found them on your floor and picked them up-"

"And decided to steal them?"

"NO!!!!!!! If you'd just listen to me, bitch, I-"

Ohhh, WRONG thing to say, dog-boy. "OSUWARI! OSUWARI OSUWARI OSUWARI!"

In the end, he earned himself that broken back and cold shoulder, after all...

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So, is the story plot beginning to look a little more obvious? LOL! It might not be intentional on his part, but Inuyasha is slowly but surely become a very good replacement for Miroku. After all, the Inuyasha gang wouldn't be quite complete without a resident pervert, now would it? *evil smile* Also, a few interesting plot twists are ahead, so be looking forward to those! ^_^