InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A New Love ❯ Chapter 12 ( Chapter 12 )

Chapter 12


As the soft rays of the dawn began to touch the earth, Inuyasha stepped from Kaede's hut to greet the day. He bounded from the village to enter the surrounding forest. Once enclosed in the embrace of the leafy trees and growing things he took a deep breath of the clean air. He cared for the group but damn humans smelled. Something about their chemical makeup, so different from a youkai, made them that way. He guessed that it was the sickness and their own mortality that made them that way. Even baths could not seem to completely take that smell away. After awhile that smell always made him feel a little ill. The fresh air was the only thing that could eradicate that scent from his nasal passages. This was one of the reasons he was out in the forest at this time of morning.

The other was Kya. He had known immediately when she had risen from her futon the night before. His eyes had tracked her from under heavy lids as she had left the hut. He had debated on whether or not to follow her as his keen hearing had picked up her footfalls entering the forest. It was not safe to enter the forest alone in the dark. There was no telling what might be out there. Anything could suddenly pop up and decide to eat you. So deep had Inuyasha slipped into these thoughts he had not even realized that he was standing at the mat covering the doorway of the hut. As his thoughts began to clear, he noticed the position he was in. He shook his head sending the silver strands sliding over his back as he made himself cross back across the room to take his former position. He made himself think about the fact that Kya was no weak human. She was a hanyou like himself. That should make her plenty strong enough to handle herself in any situation. Besides, she must have needed some time alone. This had been a very busy day for her on top of her earlier upset that she would be rejected by the villagers.

He had closed his eyes and tried to make himself sleep. Somehow, the slumber he wished for had eluded him. He had kept waking and searching the hut for Kya's presence. He had known upon waking that she had never come back to the hut the night before. So here he was in the warming rays of the sun that filtered through the trees of the forest. His nose lifted to the air as he caught Kya's scent. He began to track it through the forest trying to find her location. He passed the goshinboku and the well before finding a tree that held a strong scent of her. She had obviously slept in it the night before. He passed around this following her smell further on into the forest. Finally, he came to a large clearing. In front of him the knee high grass swayed in the slight breeze that blew across it. Kya's scent trail seemed to end here but he saw no sign of her. He stood silently for a moment before deciding she must have backtracked and he had somehow missed the direction she had headed in.

He was just about to turn and head back in the direction he had come when something tackled him from behind. As he landed face first in the soft grass he heard a tinkling laugh above him. His mind took a moment to process the fact that what he heard was Kya's laugh. Then suddenly he realized that she had pounced on him. That bitch somehow realized she was being followed and had backtracked her path and hid. How the hell had he missed that. He should have caught her scent. He had given her the perfect opportunity to pounce on him. It was a further irritant when she finally spoke, still laughing at him.

"Haa. Haa. I got you so good." Kya said as she got off of Inuyasha.

"Keh. I let you get me." said Inuyasha as he began to roll over.

"Yeah right. I got you fair and square. Go ahead and admit it." she taunted

"Will not."

"What you think you can do better jijii."

"Keh you better run now little girl." so saying Inuyasha bounded to his feet to chase after a fleeing Kya.

In moments he had caught her. He pounced on her this time. He turned her as they fell so that she landed on her back and not her face. He was straddling her hips and pinning her hands to her sides. He leaned in close to her and started to taunt.

"Ok so now who has gotten whom?"

He only had a second to see the gleam in her silver eyes as she gave her hips a buck and a twist. Suddenly she was now the one on top pinning him down. A bright smile was on her face as she looked down at him. Inuyasha gave a growl as he bucked his hips to dislodge her from her current position. Before he could reverse their positions again, she was off like a shot. Inuyasha gave chase. For the next hour they cavorted around the clearing in this fashion. Each time one would pounce, they would roll around grappling to be the one that held the dominant stance. Neither could take the upper hand so finally they called a tie as they both slumped to the ground. Kya's laughter rang all around them. The sound was so infectious that Inuyasha suddenly found himself chuckling. As Kya turned her head to look at him, his chuckles gave way to deep belly laughs at the look on her face.

"Oh my god you can smile and laugh." said Kya in mock awe.

Inuyasha just kept right on laughing. Finally, his laughter began to quite and he looked over to a trembling Kya who was wiping tears of mirth from her eyes.

"Keh I know how to laugh and smile. Why did you think I couldn't." said Inuyasha as he smiled at Kya.

"Well this whole time I haven't seen you smile once. Laughter usually follows a smile so I thought you couldn't do that either. I am glad that you have done so now." said Kya with a smile of her own. “You know this has been a lot of fun. Thank you again Inuyasha."

"Thank you for what. I haven't done anything."

"Yes you have. Yesterday you helped me out when I panicked over the village and today you helped me laugh. I needed that so I thank you."

"Keh. I didn't do a thing."

"Ok. I get it. We won't argue this point just know that the thanks still stands."

"Come on we need to head back now. The others are probably worried by now."

So saying Inuyasha rose to his feet and they began to head back to the village. Both kept the smiles on their faces all the way back.

Meanwhile with Kagome

"Momma I am going out now." yelled Kagome as she stepped out the door.

Eri was waiting for her in the car she had received for a combination birthday and early graduation gift. They were in the final weeks of school now. Just a little longer and finally Kagome would be a high school graduate. Somehow, she had managed to keep her grades up enough to stay ahead in her studies. The school officials had felt sorry for the sickly Kagome so they had let her do a lot of makeup work. They did not know just how grateful she was. She had assumed in the beginning that one day she would make Inuyasha fall in love with her. It was her most desperate desire. She had watched him grow and change always holding true to his promise to Kikyo. When Naraku had destroyed the undead priestess, her heart had secretly rejoiced. Her mind had screamed at her to tell Inuyasha just how much she loved him. With Kikyo now out of the way he just had to love her. So Kagome had confessed and been rejected. She could not believe that he had told her he did not care for her in that way. He had bumbled his way through a brush off and told her he cared for her as a sister. Kagome felt as if her heart had shattered in her chest. She had run home as if all the demons in the feudal era were after her.

She had spent the first day or two in misery. Then she had decided that he would come and tell her he had changed his mind. He would let her cool down and then all would be well. This was good she had decided. He just needed time and a couple of days to think things through. Then he would come to her and they would be together. A week went by and then five more days. Finally, it had hit her that he was not going to come for her. He in fact did not love her as one would a mate. The rejection stung all the more. She had almost hated him in that moment, as her heart hit the floor all over again. Then she had realized that it was better to find out now instead of waiting until later to find out that he did not care. So she had gone back to Inuyasha and her friends. Things had almost been normal except that now she was embarrassed to be near Inuyasha. As time went by she realized that she still wanted to be his friend but things could never be the same.

"Kagome quit day dreaming and come on we need to get to the mall now or we will miss all the good stuff." yelled Eri through the car window.

This jerked Kagome out of her daze. She ran to the car laughing as she apologized. As her butt hit the seat, Eri was off like a shot. Kagome held on tight to the door handle as they sped through the busy Tokyo streets. Her stomach tied itself into knots halfway there and then she began to feel funny. She put it all down to Eri's less than spectacular driving skills. Little did she know that some of those feelings would turn out to be fate giving her a hand.



Converting /tmp/php3comTV to /dev/stdout