InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Grudging Loss ❯ Damn Picnic ( Chapter 14 )

Chapter 14: Damn Picnic

 

Inuyasha was angry. The wench had the audacity to refuse a date with him and now she was clinging to his back on his motorcycle. He growled in annoyance. `Of course, she doesn't know that she refused a date with me,' he thought. `Goddammit!' he thought, `Why does this have to be so complicated? And why can't the wench just go for the real me? Not my human side?'

 

Then he sighed. Inuyasha supposed that he really shouldn't be feeling too upset. He did have Kagome's soft body pressed up against his back on his motorcycle. Her face was peering over his shoulder as he drove and she seemed to be elated at the fast speed.

 

“Woo hoo!” she yelled as they pulled off the freeway. “Oh Kami!” was the next thing she yelled as he leaned to the right maneuvering the bike to hover close to the asphalt underneath. She seemed to gulp and pulled even closer to him. Suddenly her head was nestled behind his back instead of his shoulder.

 

He couldn't help smirking at her behavior. He drove on down First Street and made his way down to `Little Tokyo'. Soon they were right in front of the `Sunset Shrine'. He placed both feet on the ground to steady his bike before he kicked down the kickstand. He took off his helmet and was momentarily lost in thought as he stared up at the red torii gates at the top of the shrine steps.

 

“Mother,” he murmured. Images of her walking him up the step stairs into this shrine meandered across his mind before Kagome snapped him out of it.

 

“Ash. Come on. I made us a picnic,” she said while grabbing his arm and attempting to pull him off the bike.

 

He followed her blindly up the steps before she winked at him. He could only blink at her flirtatious behavior, “What?”

 

“I'll get the picnic basket. Why don't you find a spot for us to picnic at on the grounds?” she laughed as she skipped away.

 

“Uh, a spot. Yes,” he murmured with a grimace. He was still angry with her and no damn picnic was going to make him feel any better.

 

She looked at him quizzically before walking back to her home on the shrine grounds.

 

He first walked up to the Goshinboku tree and considered eating under its shade. He breathed in again deeply and his mind drifted. Soon he found himself in the past again.

 

“Yash?” asked the freckle faced girl in the tree.

 

“Yes?” answered the little boy with silver hair and a red baseball cap.

 

“Promise me you'll always come visit me,” she asked with wide brown eyes.

 

He sighed as he looked at her. “Oi,” he said as he crossed his arms.

 

Then he saw the most brilliant smile cross her face. She held out her hand and wiggled her pinky at him. “Pinky promise?”

 

He cocked his head to the side. “Pinky promise?” he asked as he saw her pinky finger wrap around his in a weak grip. The girl smiled at him again and inched closer to his face before placing a quick kiss on his cheek.

 

He pulled his head back. “What was that for?” he asked as he put his hand to his cheek. Why she would even want to do something like that was just too confusing to him.

 

She just beamed at him, “I just felt like it,” she said while giggling. “Is your mom done yet?” she asked.

 

“Keh. Girls,” he said as he looked down through the tree branches. His mom quickly came into view. “Yash-chan!?” she called out. Inuyasha smirked as he saw the top of her long black hair and the way she pivoted around with her hand cupped around her mouth. “Bye,” he said as he dropped out of the tree.

 

“Bye!” the little girl waved as he fell beside his Mom.

 

“Yash-chan!” she said in surprise when Inuyasha suddenly dropped in next to her. “You're going to make me die of a heart attack.”

 

The little boy looked up at her in fear. “Die? Don't die Mom!”

 

“Oh! My dear one, it's just a figure of speech…,” her voice trailed off to see the young boy's confusion and upset. She drew him next to her as tears started to form in his eyes and his jaw started to tremble. “It just means you surprised me. That's all it means.”

 

The little boy drew himself closer to his Mom and tried to wrap his little arms around her legs. “Don't ever die Mom.”

 

“I'll try Yash-chan. I'll try,” was all she murmured as she stroked his hair before she picked him up into her arms and lead him back towards the torii gates.

 

Inuyasha was leaning against the Goshinboku tree again. “So many memories,” he thought as he looked wistfully up at the tree branches.

 

“Ash, is that where you want to picnic?” Kagome asked.

 

Inuyasha was suddenly taken out of his reverie to see Kagome standing next to him with a large picnic basket in hand. He looked from the picnic basket to her face that was beaming a smile. Then he looked at her dress. She had changed for him. Now she was wearing a sleeveless sky-blue summer dress that flared out at her waist. He liked the way the dress followed her curves. He suddenly wanted to touch her skin and felt the need to smell her scent again. He bit his lip in annoyance. He was `Ash' now. He could probably touch her, but smelling her scent was out of the question.

 

She seemed to pick up on his frown as he walked over to her and put his hand on her arm. Her arm was so soft and warm. He nuzzled his nose up next to her pulse point under her ear and sniffed. He sighed. Almost no scent was discernable. He frowned again. “Uh. No. How about a little further back?” he asked as he pulled her away from the Goshinboku tree and led her toward the back of the shrine. He found an area that was a little more private, with age-old trees and green grasses littering the spaces between the trees. He helped her spread out a cotton blanket.

 

“Ash, what's wrong?” she asked.

 

Inuyasha huffed in annoyance. “How do you feel about Inuyasha? You said that you had a crush on him,” he said as he crossed his arms in front of himself and held up his chin in a pout.

 

Kagome paused and looked up at him in disbelief. “Is that what this is all about?” she said while peering up at him with wide eyes. She giggled momentarily. She looked him directly in the eyes and he swallowed as her liquid brown eyes stared through him. She pulled his two arms apart that were folded up against his body and placed each arm on the side of her waist.

 

“What are you…?” he asked in alarm as she nestled in against his chest.

 

“I don't have a crush on Inuyasha anymore,” she murmured as her warm petit form snuggled in closer to him and he felt his arms hugging her small waist on their own accord.

 

“You don't…?” he murmured Inuyasha as his eyes widened.

 

“No, I developed a crush on another guy,” she said with a slight smile.

 

Inuyasha stiffened in her arms and tried to pull away. She held his arms firmly against her and she looked directly into his eyes again.

 

“I have a crush on a guy with this long raven black hair and these beautiful violet eyes. And he has the most adorable pout when he doesn't get his way…”

 

“I don't pout!” he barked before he stopped himself when he realized what she had been saying and how he had reacted. “You uh, you uh…,” was all he could say.

 

She snuggled up close to his chest again and sighed deeply. `This is wrong,' he thought. But even though his mind was telling him one thing, his body was telling him another. Nothing felt better than cradling her petit form and feeling her warmth buried against his chest. Somehow he felt entirely too content. He should have been angry that she no longer had a crush on him as Inuyasha, but knowing that she still cared for him as `Ash' his alter ego—still warmed him. She couldn't help but to stroke her raven black hair and to kiss the top of her head as he held her close.

 

“I'll stop singing in his band,” she announced as she snuggled into his warmth.

 

“No, don't do that!” exclaimed Inuyasha in a panic. “Inuyasha needs you. I mean his band needs you to sing. They're going to loose gigs if you don't sing with them.”

 

Kagome leaned away from him and looked at him quizzically. “I thought you wanted me to stay away from him. And I will…if you want me to.”

 

Inuyasha tried to backpedal his way out of it. “No. I trust my cousin. He's a good guy. You don't need to stay away from him.”

 

Kagome pouted. “If that's what you want, Ash.”

 

“That's what I want,” Inuyasha said while gulping. “Uh, you made us a picnic?”

 

Kagome quickly beamed again. “Yes. I made us a bento lunch with my specialty, omelets.”

 

“No ramen?” asked Inuyasha.

 

Kagome's eyes narrowed dangerously. “No ramen,” she mouthed.

 

“Keh. Just checking,” said Inuyasha sheepishly as he reached down for some chopsticks. He speared the small egg omelet with his chopsticks and plopped it in his mouth. He swallowed it quickly before spearing the remaining omelet and then started to ravenously eat anything in the black lacquer bento box.

 

“Save some for me,” Kagome exclaimed before taking a pair of chopsticks in her hand so that she could also eat. As she knelt on the blanket Inuyasha could see that her movements were more measured and careful than his.

 

They ate for a few moments together in silence before Kagome spoke up. She seemed to be chewing on her chopsticks. “Ash, I've been wanting to ask you…,” she paused as if trying to find the words to say.

 

“Oi,” said Inuyasha between bites of food that he was stuffing into his mouth. The food was filling him up in a satisfying way. The wench could cook!

 

“It's about you and your cousin, Inuyasha…,” said Kagome as he voice trailed off.

 

Inuyasha simply froze with a bite of sushi in his mouth. “Whumph.” He chewed for a second and swallowed. “Uh, what do you want to know?” he asked.

 

Kagome looked at him quizzically as she put her hand under his jaw as if analyzing his face. “You two look so much alike. Well, that is except for your hair, eyes and ears.” She then laughed at herself as if telling herself how stupid her questions were. “But your voices... Do you know that you have the same singing voice?”

 

Inuyasha swallowed again, but this time he didn't have any food in his mouth.

 

“Same voices?” he said while trying to steel his voice and keep the edge of worry out of it.

 

“Yes,” said Kagome as she looked at her hands in her lap. “I mean you both sing the same. When I was singing with him—I almost imagined it was you I was singing with.” She looked up at him and stared at his eyes. “You sound exactly alike.”

 

Inuyasha paused. He knew that he needed to come up with a good explanation for the way their voices were the same. “Oh, uh. When we were in junior high we took singing lessons together. You know, part of band class…,” he said as his voice trailed off. “The teacher said we sound like twins. Hell, we even act alike sometimes.”

 

“Oh,” said Kagome. “So you and your cousin are close then?”

 

Ash smiled. `Closer than you could guess,' he thought. “Like this,” he said while crossing two fingers with his hand. “He's like a brother to me.”

 

“A brother?” she asked astounded.

 

“Yeah,” drawled Inuyasha lazily. The lies were flowing smoother now that he had a basis for him to weave his tale around. “Uh, after our Moms died his Dad raised us together.”

 

“Your Mom died? Oh God, Ash. I'm so sorry,” said Kagome the pain in her voice was almost palatable.

 

“Uh, don't be,” added Inuyasha as he reached behind his back to scratch his neck. “It uh, happened a long time ago when I was a kid. I got over it.”

 

“But you never truly get over a loved one dying do you?” asked Kagome.

 

He swallowed again and tried to spear another piece of sushi from the bento box. “Uh, in some ways no. But the pain becomes more bearable as time goes on. She always believed in the Kamis. I just hope…,” said Inuyasha as his voice trailed off.

 

“Just hope what Ash?” Kagome asked with concern.

 

“I just hope that her faith was deserved. That the Kamis have her soul and that she is happy in heaven,” Inuyasha turned his face away from her. “I can't bear the thought of her being gone forever. That just hurts too much.”

 

Kagome wrapped a gentle hand around his cheek and pulled his face to look at hers.

 

“My Dad died too, in an airplane wreck when I was a kid. I was so angry with the Kamis for taking him from me. But my Mom and Grandpa told me that his soul would live on, in heaven. That I would see him again when I died and that while I lived he would be watching me, looking down at me, taking care of me…”

 

“I hope you're right Kagome. I hope that you are right,” he added with a sad smile.

 

“Of course I am right,” said Kagome with a smile. “I'm a miko. We know these things. Who do you think gives me my power Ash?”

 

“Uh…”

 

“The Kamis. Ash, they give me my powers. I always thought that perhaps the Kamis wanted to make up my fathers death to me by giving me these abilities.” She looked down briefly at her hands and he tried not to blanch as white purification power briefly built up around her hands. Small white globes of energy glowed in each of her hands before Kagome opened her hands and let the energy dissipate.

 

“They give and take away, Ash. If they took your mother away, there must be something that they will give you in return. You just need to find out what it is.”

 

“Perhaps you're right Kagome,” he said with a small note of doubt in his voice.

 

“Of course I'm right,” she added thoughtfully as she kissed him on the cheek. “Now eat up,” she added as she took a slice of sashimi into her chopsticks and fed him.

 

Within five minutes all of the bento box food was gone and Inuyasha was trying to shove up the remaining grains of rice into his mouth.

 

“Did you like it?” asked Kagome hopefully.

 

“Umns gumph,” said Inuyasha with his mouth full of rice.

 

Kagome raised an eyebrow and then moved right next to Inuyasha. She took a paper napkin and tried to wipe his mouth. “You have rice stuck to your face,” she said. Ash looked at her lips and the way she moistened them briefly with her tongue as she set to work cleaning him up. He was so focused on her lips that he almost missed the mischievous grin that spread across her face.

 

Inuyasha was momentarily off balance. “What do you have planned Kagome?” he asked in surprise.

 

She only smiled and crawled over him as she leaned forward. Her lips brushed against his and then he felt her tongue licking around his mouth. “Kagome, what?” he asked again.

 

There was no answer, but he felt the sticky rice that was on his face was being licked off, one grain at a time. Her soft breasts pressed up next to his chest and he was trying everything he could to keep from touching her body. She was so close that he felt the warmth coming from her skin and her lingering breath that brushed against his face.

 

“Damn woman,” he murmured. He really couldn't stop his actions. He grabbed her forearms and pulled her toward him, capturing her mouth with his. She knelt in front of him and pulled her hands up to cup either side of his face, drawing him closer to her for a deeper kiss.

 

His hands gingerly moved from her forearms, then down her waist and traveled along either side of her body. She moaned as he kissed her. `She does like being touched this way,' was all he could think as he smirked. `And she was so angry the last time I did this…' Inuyasha's hands traced a lazy trail from her thighs, up to her bottom, to her waist, then up to cup her breasts. Unlike her anger from last time, she was moaning now. His hands continued to knead her breasts through the thin cotton fabric, but it was maddening. There was too much fabric in the way of what he wanted to touch.

 

Her delicate fingers crept down from his face and moved under his shirt. Her trembling fingers ghosted over his chest leaving a hot ache in their place. She moved her hands up methodically against the hard planes of his upper chest until they started to move steadily downward, tracing fires across his hot skin. They lightly touched his quivering six-pack, glided across the bulge that was developing at his crotch before returning to his upper chest.

 

“Damn,” he murmured again. The need to smell her and to take in her scent overrode the logic that had now vanished from his mind. Kissing her and touching her without her scent was like trying to appreciate the brilliance of the diamond in the dark or asking someone who was blind to describe a sunset to you. There was so much that was lost, so much more that you needed to experience.

 

`I really shouldn't be doing this. But damn, I need all of my senses,' he thought. He reached over to a cloth napkin and started to fold it over diagonally so that it looked like a bandanna. “Kagome let me put this one you,” he ordered.

 

“Wha…Ash?” she asked.

 

“Just let me blindfold you for a moment,” he said as the startled girl let him tie the napkin like a blindfold.

 

“What's this for?” asked Kagome as she tried to pull at the blindfold.

 

“Just trust me,” Inuyasha intoned softly.

 

She had a puzzled look on her face as she stared ahead with a yellow blindfold covering her eyes. Inuyasha waved his hands in front of her face to make sure that she couldn't see—then he tugged his ring off of his finger. His black hair quickly changed to grey and then silver. His human ears melted away, traveled up the side of his face until they became white dog-like ears. He breathed in deeply. It was like taking a breath of fresh air in the wilderness. Smelling things that you had taken for granted before when you were in the city. Instead of smelling pine needles or the richness of warm earth, he was smelling Kagome and it was a luscious scent.

 

“Kagome,” was all he could say with the deepest need. He put another hand back over her eyes as his golden eyes looked at the beautiful girl in front of him. He bent down to kiss her again. Even the taste of her became more intoxicating when he was in his true form. The essence of Kagome wrapped around him, clogging his senses—mesmerizing him. “You're my drug woman,” he murmured to her. She was his designer drug--better than any alcohol or drug he had ever experienced.

 

She only moaned under his kisses and touch. His hand trailed down her side and he groaned when he smelled her scent spike again with a warm musty scent. His own body reacted to hers without any conscious volition on his part. He moved her onto his pelvis, her legs straddling his lap. He bucked against her without realizing what he was doing. Then she slid up against him--her warm core rubbing up against his hardness. He smelled her wetness, her arousal, broadcasting to him that she was ready and that he could take her. He couldn't help but to try to grind against her even though the thick cotton of his jeans pants felt abrasive. `Fucking jeans,' he thought. He moved a hand behind her and touched her warm and firm bottom. Then he slid a hand under her thin cotton panties to touch round, satiny smooth skin.

 

“Ash?” she asked.

 

“Hummm…,” he drawled lazily as he kissed up and down her neck—licking and tasting her wonderful scent.

 

“Your nails,” she said as she swatted at his hand that had gripped her bottom.

 

“Sorry,” he murmured trying to touch her again without his claws coming into contact with her supple ass.

 

Kagome pulled back against him and her face wore a confused look. “Why do you have sharp nails?” she asked.

 

He panicked. Quickly he fumbled with his hands trying to grasp a silver ring that had fallen onto the back of her sky blue skirt.

 

Suddenly images from his dream from last night cascaded into his mind. Images of him taking off his ring while having sex with her, images of her noticing his silver hair, images of her look of absolute astonishment, images of her hurt and finally an image of her leaving him… `What the fuck was I thinking?' he reprimanded himself. `If she sees who I really am…'

 

“Ash?” she asked again. But this time she sounded a little annoyed and she started to tug at the blindfold. He gulped.

 

“Uh, I have to trim my nails?” he said doubtfully as he finally managed to grasp the ring, moved his finger within the circle and slid it on his finger. His silver hair shimmered into obsidian black, his golden eyes changed quickly to violet and his ears moved down the side of his face until they became human ears. Suddenly the inviting smell that had enraptured his senses faded away again. He sighed at the loss.

 

`I can't do that again,' he thought. `That was too damn close.'

 

Kagome pulled the blindfold down from her eyes. She looked at Inuyasha with a curious look on her face before she grabbed one of his hands and pulled it up to her face for a closer look. She turned his hand over and traced every nail with her finger. “I could swear that you had the sharpest nails that I had ever felt,” she said while perplexed. His nails were obviously blunt.

 

“Uh, maybe I scratched you by mistake?” he said.

 

“Maybe?” answered Kagome in confusion. Then she looked down to see how closely she was wrapped around Ash and blinked. She quickly blushed and a shimmer of pink graced her cheeks. “I…uh…,” said Kagome with some embarrassment.

 

Inuyasha quickly nipped her under her ear. “You're pretty cute when you blush, you know that don't you?” he asked. She giggled and kissed him chastely on the lips.

 

“Kagome!” an elderly man yelled out.

 

“I'm over here, Grandpa,” yelled out Kagome as she tried to brush her hair with her fingers and managed to sit down next to Inuyasha, rather than on top of him.

 

She took his hand in hers just as her grandpa found them sitting on their picnic blanket in the middle of a copse of trees. “Granddaughter, you still need to attend to your miko duties. You need to say the sacred rites and burn the prayers that have been offered.”

 

Kagome looked up at her grandfather as if nothing important had happened in the last few moments. “Sure thing Grandpa. Just let us finish our picnic.”

 

Her grandfather looked at them both curiously before he turned around and left the area. When her grandfather was out of hearing, suddenly Kagome erupted into giggles.

 

“What's wrong with you wench?” Inuaysha asked.

 

Kagome stopped giggling for a second. “My name's not wench it's…”

 

Inuyasha closed the gap between them and quickly kissed her on the lips. As his lips hovered above hers he whispered, “I know…Kagome…” he said breathlessly.

 

Kagome looked back up at Ash with a smirk on her face. “Better not forget it buster,” she added playfully before kissing him again.

 

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Big thanks to Theleb K'aarna and Blackdeathmessenger for being my betas for this chapter.

 

Authors Notes:

#1: I have been through hell this past week. After my laptop died, my desktop Mac stopped booting after we had a blackout. I had no backup of this Chapter or the mostly finished next chapter. I was in tears! Luckily for me and everyone else I was able to bribe the repair technician with `Lindt Truffle' chocolates and I got my Mac back in working order. I've just backed up everything (AGAIN) and I have a new UPS. Wheeh! I hope I don't have to go through that again.

#2: I listened to Cascada's `Everytime We Touch' while writing this chapter.

#3: Originally I had quite a lime going on in this chapter instead of the `intense kissing' that you were left with. Sorry to cut out the lime. There's citrus at the start of the next chapter. Hee hee…

#4: In an interview Rumiko Takahashi mentions that Kagome's Dad dies in a plane accident.

 

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Review Responses:

Diamond369: Errr…no, Inuyasa does not reveal his secret in the next chapter. But she will find out…eventually… just wait and see…

TiffanyM: I hope you enjoyed additional flashbacks in this chapter. I'll update as long as my computer is running. Pray to the computer gods for me…

Sofiakalaughable: OK. “WOOT!” I get it. :-)

 

Next chapter: Dreams, Teams and Flings. Yes, some citrus. See you then, ja ne?