InuYasha Fan Fiction / Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Stronger Than Yesterday ❯ Chp 12 Hungry Eyes ( Chapter 12 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Kagome hated herself. She hated herself for not being able to stop crying, she hated the boys for seeing her so vulnerable, and she hated the fact that the only person who she could openly converse with was Hiei. She cried harder.

With the car being destroyed by the gerbil, the group had to make do with walking. And their journey was a somber and desolate one as they were serenaded by the tears and subconscious mutterings of a miko with bad luck.

Their trek took them past there dilapidated car; pass the fork in the road, down the long stretch of never ending road and into the city. The walk took them hours and it was way into the late night hours that they arrived home.

"Kagome…" Lui said as the dark haired maiden flew up the stairs, but she didn't pay him any mind as she raced to her room and the solitude of her misery.

"Do you know how to fix her?" Hiei asked, looking up at Kurama, who merely shook his head.

"Not without knowing what happened to her." The fox answered back.

"Damn." Yusuke muttered as Kuwabara shook his head in sympathy. "I can't even begin to think about what she going through."

"That's not a surprise." Hiei muttered. "You, can't think?"

"Go to hell, you chicken-legged midget." Yusuke shot back absentmindedly.

~___~

The next few days a less talkative Kagome was around, yet, by not wanting her innermost thoughts broadcast to the world, Kagome opted to singing in her head; which, turned into a singing Kagome.

And a singing Kagome was pretty damn annoying. The only one who seemed to not be openly irritated by Kagome's attempt at keeping her sanity was Lui.

The other boys seemed to always find somewhere else to be when the singing Kagome appeared, all except Lui. He was there to comfort her when she was alone. He was there to provide the lyrics she couldn't remember. And it was with him that she finally laughed aloud. With him, she was getting the hang of her life altering affliction.

"So I need you to fill in the blanks for me," Lui was saying, as he and Kagome enjoyed a movie together. "What you're favorite color?"

"I don't know." she said aloud. "I guess…I like the color purple."

"Come on." Lui goaded her.

"What?" she demanded with a smile.

"Purple? Can't you be a little more specific or even articulate?"

"Are you calling me stupid?"

"No…just bland."

"Bland?"

"Yes, bland? What shade of purple? Come on, you could have even said dark purple, or light purple? Lilac…something."

"Okay…I like all shades of the tint produced from the mixture of crimson and ultramarine. How's that?"

"Beautiful. So you like the color purple."

Kagome punched him the arm and laughed, but she slipped and her laugh was only in her head. Lui thought about letting it go but decided against it and attacked Kagome's ribs with spirit fingers.

Outside the living room three set of eyes stared moodily at the duo.

"What the hell are you doing?" Kuwabara asked as he came down the hall to find Kurama, Hiei, and Yusuke forcing the stink eye through a crack in the living room door. However, as he arrived the stink eye became directed at him. "What the hell are you doing?" he asked again as he came over to see what they were looking at.

"Why are you looking like that?" he asked them aggravatingly as an inkling of the truth tried to make itself known to him.

"I always look this way." Hiei answered blandly before disappearing.

"Well yeah, that's true." Kuwabara agreed as he turned to face the other two.

"If I'm not killing something, beating up someone, or in the presence of someone else's misfortune; I'm not smiling and this is the face I wear." Yusuke answered truthfully.

"Right, that ugly is to the bone. BURN! So what about you?"

Kurama, being the last to be questioned made a slight face of frustration that went unseen by Kuwabara.

"I'm….constipated."

"Eww. You're Kurama; you don't lie, so that must be true…and gross."

Feeling a bit ashamed at his answer, Kurama stalked off to think about what he had done, as Yusuke, catching on to the insult thrown his way, attacked Kuwabara from behind.

In the living room, Kagome and Lui stared at each other in confusion. What the hell was going on in the hallway?

"Hey!" Lui suddenly exclaimed, making Kagome jump.

"Hay is for horses." she laughed aloud.

"So I was thinking." he began as he clasped her hands. "Why don't you and I go on a date?"

The smile that had been plaguing Kagome's face fell away. "Are you crazy?" she blurted out.

"Now I don't know if you meant to say that or not, but I'm serious. Go out on a date with me?"'

Kagome kept her mouth shut and looked away.

"Hey." he called out again, trying to gauge her attention.

"I told you, hay is…"

"For horses, yeah, you told me. Listen, I'm not saying you have to say yes, but you don't have to say no either. I just want you to think about it."

She just looked at him.

"You're going to have to let me anyway, because of our bet and all."

"Oh, am I?" she finally voiced as she turned to follow him

"Yes. Because I've been holding up my part," he answered as he circled behind the couch and leaned over it hover close to her face. "And so now it is time for you to hold up your part. I have to make you fall in love with me and you have to let me try."

Not bothering to respond, Kagome turned back towards the TV and crossed her arms and legs in defiance.

"Right." Lui muttered as he straightened up. "So what about tonight?"

"Fine." she answered as she heard him start to leave. "BUT, it'll have to wait until after we come back."

"Back from where?"

~_____~

'Where' turned out to be the middle of a wooded area; again. As they trudged along in search of their fourth relic, all was quiet but for the complaints of Yusuke, Lui, and Kuwabara.

"Why the hell is this thing always in the woods?" Yusuke whined. "I'm tired of the woods."

"It hasn't always been in the woods, stupid." Kuwabara shot back.

“My father used to like to hunt me for sport in the woods.” Lui muttered darkly to himself.  “I hate the woods.”

Up at the front of the pack, Kagome could be heard muttering to herself. But whether she meant to say it aloud or in her head was unknown. “What did I do to deserve this?” she muttered lowly. “Was I a bad person in a past life? Was I Hitler’s conscious and this is punishment for not doing my job?  Is my life some big entertainment for deities to enjoy? First the well and now being kidnapped and forced to hunt antiques with idiots, rapists, and psychos?  Why does this happen to me?”

Kurama was put out to find that she still considered him a rapist. He thought they had gotten over this. He sighed at the sound of a fight breaking out behind him. Was she right about them? He mentally shook his head. No. It was a mistake. It hadn’t been their fault. His nor hers. Youko had gotten out of control and did what he did best. She had just been another victim, and he a prisoner within his own mind. He was conscious of everything that went on and couldn’t do anything about it as Youko trapped, glamoured, and seduced her. Then when they had turned back, he had intended to stop, but he had gotten caught up in the last of Youko’s emotions. He was always weak after transformations. Then she had still been glamoured, and the smell of arousal was deep in the air. He couldn’t stop, she didn’t know how to, and she had looked at him…it had been so hot, she had been so soft, and then she had…

He stumbled into a tree and was jolted out of his thoughts. Embarrassed, he glanced around to see if anyone noticed. The boys were behind him and too busy fighting with one another, Kagome was at the head and muttering to herself, and Hiei…Hiei was entranced at the way Kagome slinked silently through the forest.

Remembering his friend’s interest helped to clear his head and he found a small smile grace his face.

‘If you don’t watch it, the spirit detectives will catch on.’

Kurama could see that his comment had startled the fire demon, and after he cast a glare at him over his shoulder, his attention remained above Kagome’s shoulder and wouldn’t budge. But he knew he had been found out.

‘What do I care about what the idiots think?’

‘I was merely stating the obvious.  If you put in an effort, she might even take a notice in you that isn’t accompanied with an attempt to maim you.’

‘What are you trying to say, fox?’

‘Try to impress her.  Gain her attention.’

‘Should I glamour her out of her mind and steal her in the night?’

‘Try to defend her.’ Kurama answered, ignoring the intent.

Hiei looked at him over his shoulder and smirked. ‘Just what does that woman need defending from?’

Kurama’s lips quirked in humor. ‘Maybe another tactic would work.’

Hiei grew silent and made no further comments.  Kurama, used to this, thought nothing of it and tried to ignore the men behind him. Kagome, he saw, had stopped to reorient herself, and without a glance in their direction, she continued on her way. The  poison the snake demons had given her seemed to be slowly and steadily changing her. Her reflexes were quicker, her hair had gotten a slight green sheen to it, and she moved silently. Her body was now a constant dance as she moved graceful and fluidly around. Her every movement seemed to lure the eyes, whether that be walking, fighting, or just hand motions. It was a sinuous rhythm that she wasn’t even aware of. He was sure he wasn’t the only one to notice.

‘Why are you trying to help me?’ Hiei suddenly asked.

It took him a moment to realize what they had been talking about, but before he could answer, Kagome, once again, drew their attention as she grew still and silently crouched down. Glancing at each other, Hiei and Kurama followed suit.

“What the hell are you doing with my woman?” Lui asked as he and the others noticed the scene.

Looking back at their teammates, Hiei and Kurama looked back at each other and then at their closeness to Kagome. Kurama backed up, but Hiei remained in place and looked back to what had made them crouch. Kagome never paid any of them any mind and continued to look ahead.

“What’s going on?” Kuwabara asked as they joined them down in the bushes.

“I found the relic.” she answered, as she turned to look at them.

“Then what’s the problem?” Yusuke asked now.

“It’s in that cave.” she told him, pointing a little ways up to the cave she had been staring at. And after a little searching, they saw it, covered in moss and vines and blending in with its surroundings.

“Then lets go get it.”

“Hell no. I’m not going in that cave of death. I findy, you fetchy.”

“What the hell is that suppose to mean?”

“It means, I’m not…” but Kagome was silenced as a hot hand covered her mouth. Turning to yell at the hand’s offender, Kagome grew silent as Hiei placed a finger to his lips. And as they grew quiet, they became aware of a low thumping noise.

Whump! Whump! Whump!

Whatever it was, it was getting closer, and the thumping was now associated with a trembling in the earth. As a whole, the group grew closer and crouched lower.

Trees began to rustle and they could feel the impacts of the thumps in their very body. It was big, whatever it was. As one, the group, practically on top of each other, began to silently back away from the direction of the rustling trees.

But as IT entered their view, they froze, they barely breathed; they stopped moving so effectively, their very hair and nails stopped growing. All this in an effort to keep the dragon from noticing them.

The dragon was serpentine in anatomy,  it scales were teal with enough green to make it blend in with the foliage. The  thumping came from its powerful legs as they propelled its slithering body along. Its tail, swished lazily behind it, stripping the bark off trees and beheading bushes.

It made its way to the cave and entered quickly, but just as they thought it wise to move, the dragon stuck its head back out and looked around. As the dragon’s head stopped to look in their direction, they thought invisible thoughts. It continued to stare in their direction so long that they began  to consider who to throw in its path first when it attacked, but before anyone could be sacrificed, the dragon sneezed and went back inside. They counted the seconds in their head, and when a minute passed, they picked each other up and moved farther away, and away, and away.

~_____~

“1...2...3!”


Kura ma shifted against the tree.


“1...2...3!”


Kagome sighed.


“1...2...3!”


They glanced at each other in unison. Two hours of sitting in the woods, waiting on a dragon to vacate his cave so they could rob it, did not make for happy campers. Lui, Yusuke, and Kuwabara had resigned themselves to playing rock, paper, scissors to see who would risk their lives to lure the dragon away. Hiei had run away long ago; to keep an eye on the dragon; he had told them.


“1...2...3!”


Suddenly, Kurama began to laugh.

Kagome looked at him and sighed. Getting up to come stand in front of him, she grabbed his hands and helped him stand up while he remained laughing the whole time.


“There, there Kurama.” She cooed as she grabbed his head and forced him to lay it down on her shoulder. “We all snap at one point.”


Sighing and bringing his fit to a stop, Kurama stood up straight and placed his hands on Kagome’s shoulders. “We’ve wasted so much time. You’re the key to our success here.”


Kagome smiled sweetly at him as she placed a hand on his cheek. “There’s no way in hell I’m being your bait.” She told him gently. “You can shove that idea up Hiei’s ass.”


“Why was my ass brought into this equation?”


Hiei arrived to survey the scene of Kurama and Kagome’s intimate embrace with a skeptical eye in Kurama’s direction that only he could decipher.


“Someone wants me to be the bait!” she huffed angrily as she stepped away from them and folded her arms defiantly.


“I’m sorry, Kagome.” Kurama spoke up. “But you have gotten it wrong?”


“Do I, Kurama?” she snapped at him.


“Yes.”


“Do I!”


“Yes?” he confirmed once more with less conviction. “You see, I merely implied that you…”


“Do I?”


“Perhaps, for once, you keep that abysmal, trash spilling, hole in your head, that you call a mouth , shut, and listen to what he has to say.”


As Kagome made a move to confront the short demon, Kurama grabbed her arm, ignored Hiei, and forced Kagome to look at him.


“I wouldn’t dare consider using you as bait. I was merely thinking of your ability.”


“Which one?”


At this they cast her a curious glance, and she had the decency to blush. “Well, its not like I’m a one trick pony.”


“Of course not. But I was thinking about your illusions.”


“What you got planned, Foxy man?”

“Right.” He commented, not looking at all pleased with the name.

Calling over the other  members, Kurama relayed his plan to them, and reconstructed it to meet the approval of all involved. As it finally came to fruition, they planned on having Kagome lure the dragon out and away, she and Hiei would then enter the cave, quickly find the relic, and get the hell out.

“Why can’t I be the one to go in there with her?” Lui had asked.

“Because you’re not fast enough. We need them to get in and get out.”

“What are  we going to do?” Yusuke voiced with his usual irritation.

“We serve as a distraction incase it returns before they have found the relic.”

“I don’t really like that.”

“Too bad,” Hiei interjected, “lets go.”

“What the hell could make the dragon leave?” Kagome wondered aloud as they ventured closer to the dragon’s lair. “I don’t know dragons.”

“Dragons are very territorial.”  Kurama told her, his hand at her back as they hurried along. “So I think having another dragon present on its land will be enough to lure it out and away for a while. With the threat of another on its territory, it should probably search the total of its range to find it. That should give us plenty of time to retrieve the relic and get out.”

“Retrieve the relic and get out, right.” Kagome breathed out, trying to wrap her mind around the plan. “It’s not like I’ll be out here with the dragon. That’ll be you guys. The dragon’s in there, I’m out here, the dragon comes out here, I’ll be in there. Yeah.”

“There you go,” Yusuke chimed in. “Think selfish thoughts.”

“Everyone deserves to be selfish every once in a while.”

“Is that right?”

“Well I feel that I do.”

“Quiet.” Hiei hissed as they finally arrived at their destination.

“Alright.” Yusuke whispered. “Everyone know what they’re doing?”

As he looked to them, they all nodded. This was no time to be themselves.

“Good. Go for it, Kagome.”

With all the attention on her, Kagome concentrated on a dragon. She didn’t know dragons. Until that day, she hadn’t even seen a real one. The only dragon reference she had was of cute, cuddly ones from cartoons. Yet, she tried her hardest for a fierce, dangerous, and terrifying beast that was worthy of combat to a defending rival. She had it, based on what she saw that day, her imagination, and any B movie with dragons, she had produced a most splendid, horrific, and beautiful monster. Too bad no one saw it. She had produced it away, far away, in the depths of the forest. They needed the dragon gone, not simply outside.

Kagome’s monster roared, and they  knew the general area from which it was manifested by the sudden cries of the birds as they took flight in horror.

The roar had an immediate effect.  The dragon exited it’s cave so suddenly that they jolted in fright. Kagome had the dragon roar again, and with a snarl their enemy was off in pursuit of its trespasser.

They waited until they could no longer hear it growling before they turned to face one another.

“You two ready?” Yusuke asked, looking at Hiei and then Kagome.

Nodding her head, Kagome turned to look at Hiei and found him already looking at her.  “So how are we going to do this?”

His head tilted slightly at her question, and not bothering to answer, he turned his back to her.

“What?” she asked with an obvious hesitation.

He turned his head to look at her, his face fierce and serious. “Don’t waste time, girl, get on!”

Not wanting to fall victim to the déjà vu she was experiencing or admit to the reason of her reluctance, Kagome quickly straddled Hiei’s back, with her arms encircling his neck, and his hands gripping her thighs.

“Shut up, Fox.” Hiei suddenly said after adjusting his passenger into a more comfortable position. But before anyone could question the outburst, they were gone and inside the cave.

In the quiet aftermath, Yusuke narrowed his eyes in suspicion. “Something’s…uh, something’s going on here and I’m….unsure what.”

~______~

“Wow. This shouldn’t be too hard.” Kagome admitted as she and Hiei surveyed the dragon’s lair. “I said that sarcastically by the way.”

“Obviously.” He commented dryly as he took in the piles upon piles of jewels, gold, and general treasure the dragon had accumulated.

“You can put me down now.” She commented after a pause, and as he released her, she was too preoccupied with her raised temperature to notice any hands roaming on her legs as someone set her down. “You’ve got me all hot, and it may be snake poisoning turning me cold-blooded, but it feels good.”

“You can explore my body temperature later,” he snapped at her. “Right now you have a job to do.”

“What was that?” she halted in her step.

He looked at her with a scowl.

“You are so confusing. Its like everything you say is an innuendo, or you’re just trying to start a fight.”

He blinked slowly.

Kagome completely forgot about hunting down the relic as her mind began to work things out.  “And I know first hand that you’re a closeted pervert.”

“Are you done?”

“No, no I’m not.” She muttered absentmindedly as she continued to analyze. “You…you cut off my clothes when we were sparring.”

He made no sign that he recalled the incident. He merely stood there and scowled at her.

“Its like you get off from the violent encounters.”

Her eyes widened and her face grew red. “There was no scabbard that night.”

He scowled and blinked slowly at her. “What are you going to do about it?” his voice held no animosity, but it came out sounding like a threat.

She bit her lip and avoided eye contact as she tried to control her blush. “I’m, I’m going to go find that relic.”

She stalked away from him, her mind set on locating the missing relic, but a burning sensation in the back of her head made her turn around, and as she did so, she locked eyes with a predator.

The gaze ignited her fight-or-flight response, and as her body responded her miko flared up, but with the flare also came a stronger sense of the relic and as she turned her head, she pinned it down with uncanny accuracy.

‘Guess perversion has to be good for something.’ She thought, her mind now entirely focused on the pile of treasure furthest back.

She made fast work at burying herself amidst the pile. In her search, she tossed aside beautiful pieces of jewelry, shiny trinkets, and anything King Midas might have touched. She was tempted to keep some for herself, and she thought maybe a few interesting pieces had fallen into her sub-pockets. But that could have been her imagination.

As she caught on to the dragon’s style, apparently that of a child who liked anything shiny, she began to wonder why the relic would be here. All the other relics were stone and dingy. Nothing to catch the eye, they didn’t even have any jewels to accent them. Just stone colored…stones.

Though she couldn’t understand the dragon’s want of the drab little relic, it was the bleakness of  its appearance that helped her to spot it among the shine.

“Got it!” she yelled triumphantly, but as she reached and lunged for it, she dislodged a major portion of the pile and was soon buried and trapped.

She coughed in the dust cloud that the avalanche produced. Disoriented and bruised, she tried to climb out, but found that she could barely move amidst the clutter. Besides, she wasn’t entirely sure which way was up.

“Ugh!” she groaned aloud. “A little help.”

She felt the rubble shift and new Hiei had arrived. But he wasn’t exactly there to help. He stood on the pile quietly and looked on in amusement at the odd foot sticking out of the heap.

She called out to him again and he smirked to himself.

“Did you call out for me?” he finally asked her.

“What?” she yelled, her foot wriggling in agitation. “Of course I called you! Didn’t you hear me?”

“Yes. But you could have been calling for anyone. I did not hear my name.”

“Get me out of here!” she whined.

“Ask me.”

“What? Get me out of here! This stuff is pushing on me in all the wrong places!”

“Ask me, and I just might help you.”

There was a silence that issued after, and though he couldn’t see her, he knew that she was angry. Today turned out to be a good day, despite the interference of a nosy fox.

“Can you help me out of here?” the question came out low and strained.

“I didn’t hear my name?” he heard her growl at this.

“Hiei,” she spat out. “Can you get me out of here? I’m breathing in moldy gold.”

“Ask me nicely.”

“You bastard! Get me out of here!” as she yelled, she sent out a flare of miko and he had to jump away to avoid getting burned.

If he was the type, he would’ve laughed, but he wasn’t so he didn’t. He contented himself by smirking a little more than usual.

“That’s not very ladylike.” He told her as he ventured closer.

“I’ll show you what a lady’s like!”

“Will you now?”

She grew quiet at this.

“Are you blushing?”

“No.” She lied. “What is this? Are you in heat or something?”

“Are you?”

He clasped her ankle with one hand and dug into the pile with the other until he grabbed hold to something  solid. As he grabbed her, she mentally counted to three, but before she could get finished with one, he had tugged and lifted her into the air and into his arms. Bridal style.

In his arms, she looked into his reddened eyes and thought, ‘they’re not half bad.’  He continued to smirk at her.

“I got the relic.” She told him unnecessarily as her body began to heat up at his touch.

~_____~


“So, that just leaves the other half from your boyfriend’s dad, right?” Yusuke asked,  counting up the relics in his head.

After a hasty retreat, in Hiei’s arms, they rejoined the others and hurriedly began to leave the area. She wasn’t really sure why Yusuke took the effort to count when he just could’ve looked at the holder when she pulled it out. But he was right. The first one had been guarded by water beings, and the boys had handled them. Next time was her turn, but luck had her confronting a giant, fire living, dog demon. She had gotten half on one from Lui, and gained a follower/friend/stalker/lover boy in the mix. They had gotten chased by a gerbil for the last one, and now they had just gotten the 4th 1/2 . And no one had to die by dragon to get it.

“Hey.” Kagome looked up to see that Lui had decided to walk next to her. Real close to her. Really close.

“Hey.” She called back with a wary look.

“You know what this means, right?” he made an obscene gesture with his tongue against his cheek.

“Ew, what?”

“We get to go on that date now.”

“Oh. Right.” He hadn’t forgotten.

His face dropped and he scowled at her. “Don’t sound so enthusiastic.”

“No. I mean, yeah, you’re right. Right.” She began to sic herself up.  How bad could it be?

“Hey guys.” She called out slowly, as she turned to face the others with an uncertain smile. “We’re going out…later.”

“No. They’re not coming. That’s an outing, not a date.”

“When I said ‘we’ I meant us. You and I.” She explained, using hand motions. “They’re going to stay home and make sure I come back.”

He looked offended. “What are you insinuating?”

“Nothing. Just…remembering that room and…shivering on the inside.”

“I’ll make you shiver.” He growled, as he drew her in closer to him. “But it’ll be for a good reason.”

He tickled her and she let out an uncontrolled giggle. “Stop.” She growled half heartedly. “You make me sound like a girly girl.”

“What’s wrong with that?”

“Girly girls don’t kick ass, and I do.” And then she grew quiet as everyone stopped in their tracks.

“Except, that ass.” She wouldn’t have bothered to talk, and would have took the smart route and stayed quiet. But she felt there was no need to do so. The dragon was already looking at them. And it didn’t seem happy.

“That’s a really big ass.”

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