InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Tale of Two Worlds ❯ Of Memory's Past ( Chapter 4 )

Chapter Four

 

Of Memory's Past

 

 

Beep. Beep.

 

“In—Inuyasha?” I could feel my heart slow—no—my heart hitch in a frantic attempt to figure out why there was so much coldness surfacing around me…around my naked body. From what I could tell, I'd aroused at the most godforsaken heart of darkness where the brain and heart ran far slower than usual. The firelight was finally squelched by the cool waft slipping in through the reed-flap that served as a door for the small hut. The few pieces of wood that I was so sure Inuyasha had stoked the fire with had finally diminished down into fowl-smelling cinders that nearly caused my nose to crinkle in distaste.

 

I tugged the rough, rancid smelling blanket tighter against my body, wincing in pain when I'd realized that I was pressing it too hard against my breasts. My eyes were glued on the flap that was fluttering crookedly within the gentle winds. I could feel my heart clench when I'd peered out of the corner of my eye just to take in the perceptible fact that Inuyasha was gone and I was alone…ensnared by pitch-black darkness and idiotically entranced by only the faint slapping of a reed-flap.

 

Absentmindedly, I got up and made my way to the hut's entryway, which seemed to make me fall under the illusion that it might close in on me if I tried to step through it. Though I'd tried constantly to remind myself that it was still—and always will be—seven inches wider and a whole foot taller than me, something within me still proved persistent to force me under the impression.

 

Carefully, I padded barefoot onto the very small veranda, impulsively wobbling on the tips of my lacquered toes. I'd painted them a short while back in my time. For once then, the television set was the only thing entertaining me besides my homework.

 

“Inuyasha?” I murmured hesitantly. Spookily, the trees shook and moaned and whispered, almost as if they were mocking me without a reason in the world warranting their ignorant actions.

 

Out of fear, and maybe even out of habit, I pulled the blanket tighter around my body and tugged what was left dragging behind me to the front as I stepped barefooted off of the veranda and onto the moist ground. I stopped dead in my tracks when I heard the forest roil around me…practically burst into a shadowy display of puppetry. Their gnarled boughs trembled and seemed to outstretch farther beneath the deceitful light of the moon.

 

I gulped, completely scared out of my wits. That was before the distant, otherworldly sound of splashing water drifted into my ears.

 

“In—Inuyasha?” I slowly made my way deeper into the forest, hardly acknowledging the fact that I didn't have a flashlight with me and that my backpack was…well…back at the village.

 

The splashing became louder when I neared the edge of the forest. A flood of silver light blinded my eyes for a quick second when I'd arrived at a large clearing that was probably no larger than 150 by 100 yards. In the middle of it lay a comfortably large hot spring with a naked occupant wading through its steamy waters.

 

I felt myself stiffen when I'd been able to register the person's trim waist and curvy backside. My heart practically stammered when I caught the barest of movement of his muscles as they coiled briefly and then slackened.

 

The moon.

 

Right then, with its reflection rippling along the hot spring's surface like some hazy apparition, my lips curled upwards into a scanty, but tender smile—

 

ii. Between Stronger and Strongest

 

Beep. Beep. Beep.

 

I squinted my eyes hard to block out the faint light trying to seep beneath my lids. I'd hoped that the action would force out the infernal beeping frolicking with my eardrums, but it didn't.

 

Beep. Beep.

 

“Is she awake yet?” somebody whispered—a soft, sympathetic voice.

 

“Not really,” came an answer. So rich, so deep, my mind whispered.

 

I tossed my head jerkily and groaned in pain when I felt a sharp sting shudder up my right arm and dissolve at the crook of my shoulder. My temples were throbbing ruthlessly, sadistically. My heart was burning, pining for something to dull the pain.

 

“W—water,” I rasped, my eyes still closed.

 

“W—what did she say?” I heard a familiar voice stammer diffidently.

 

Again, my voice scraping harder against my throat, I spoke, “Water…”

 

“Here.” I listened quietly as someone sat a plastic cup down on the nightstand beside me. I twitched irritably at the pain gnawing tortuously on my brain as if it was some succulent chew toy. Reluctantly, I cracked my eyes open just enough so that I could see the slurred outline of the pinkish cup. I made a weak attempt to grab it with my right hand, but the pain shooting through its veins was enough for me to whimper in agony and shy away from the bedside table.

 

“Oh no! Kagome-chan, are you okay?”

 

I immediately recognized the voice once my mind fully registered the question, though it was slightly muffled by some imaginary alarm clock that just now decided to go off inside my head, causing my migraine to worsen and my temples to squall out in anguish. Feebly, I croaked, “I'm…okay…I…guess. Thanks…for asking, Eri.”

 

“The doctor said that you might feel a little bit sore due to the pain-killers he'd given you a few hours ago.” Eri explained quietly.

 

Humph. A lot of good those did me, I thought derisively.

 

I couldn't believe how much effort it took for me to open my eyes wider in order to sharpen all of the blurry images dancing like wiggly earthworms in front of me. For a moment, pain didn't seem to describe it since the room was dark, and the only light was that of the moon's shining through a nearby window. It was so soft and fell upon the small, unoccupied space of my bed in an unwieldy line.

 

I looked at it, unwaveringly, dreamily ensuing its path up and down as if it was something far too abnormal to be a part of this world.

 

“In—Inuyasha,” I heard his name slip softly from my lips.

 

That night, I saw Inuyasha's imposter smile daintily before he dropped a kiss on my swollen lips. But I wanted to believe he was the real deal. That he was actually Inuyasha as I felt his hands glide slowly down my abdomen, gasping briefly when his lips idly wandered southward to the jugular of my neck and suckled gingerly.

 

His muscles were tightly coiled when I ran my hands over his chest, and he was way too thick in the waist to be Inuyasha. But I let my mind have its way and fool me right into believing he was.

 

“Kagome…”

 

“In—In…Inuyasha…”

 

Sometime during the ride back to my place after his “surprise” bash, I recalled Hojo asking me who this “Inuwasha” person was. I'd flashed him an even look and watched him drive with the same, imperious poise that he was in when he first picked me up. The ghostly lights of passing cars caressed him with such diligence and welcoming fingers that I felt my breath hitch when the moon formed a light halo around his jet-black head.

 

“Inuyasha, was someone very special to me,” I told him.

 

He gave me a sidelong glance before returning his attention back onto the road. “For what it's worth,” he'd started slowly, still adeptly turning the steering wheel from left to right, “I'm sorry.”

 

"For what it's worth," I suddenly muttered, still feeling that unusual sensation that crossed between pity and guilt, "I'm sorry."

 

“Kagome-chan? You okay?”

 

It took me a moment to answer since I was still partially trapped in a trance. “Y—yeah,” I stammered.

 

I squinted my eyes to spot the tiny dust particles fluttering around through the beam of moonlight. “Is he here?” I asked softly.

 

“Who?” Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Eri frown in confusion.

 

“H—Hojo,” I said flatly.

 

Silence rang throughout the air for several seconds.

 

“Is there something going on between the both of you that I should know about?” Eri suddenly asked.

 

I closed my eyes, debating with the strong presence inside me that wanted to tell her, “Yes, there is! I had sex with him because I mistook him for Inuyasha, and now we're stuck in this sexually frustrated feud that will probably send me straight into the nuthouse.”

 

But I didn't want to tell her that. There was a good chance that she wouldn't understand the situation anyway.

 

“Not really,” I lied.

 

Eri was silent for a while and I could feel her gaze settling on the side of my neck, like heat waves kissing my cold flesh. Yet I didn't say a word, even when the door to my room creaked open and I heard Hojo's voice wracking against the walls of my mind.

 

“Everything alright?”

 

“Yeah,” Eri answered uncertainly.

 

“I bought some Sprite for you. And a bag of chips and a drink for…Kagome.”

 

“Can she even eat that kind of stuff right now?”

 

“Yeah. It's just a bump on the head. Caffeine and sodium won't affect it.”

 

I heard him set the plastic bottle and the small bag of chips down on the bedside table. I turned my head slowly to look at him, brown fastening heavily on brown. My heart was hammering roughly against my chest as I studied his hair and how it now brushed the squared peaks of his shoulders, frolicking with the fine ends of my desires. My gaze swooped down suddenly to take in his entire figure while he stood tall like some kind of soldier who was denied his freedom to move even a solitary inch. But then I took in those large hands of his, thick fingers jutting out and clenching briefly.

 

The same fingers that touched me in places that I never thought I'd allow Hojo to touch.

 

I quickly squeezed my eyes shut and turned the other cheek, trying desperately to hide the red warmth rising in my cheeks. Hojo did the same, and I got a good glimpse of Eri as she flashed both of us unusual looks.

 

“Eri…” I whispered, nearly wincing at the feebleness wrapped around my voice like a soggy burrito. It almost felt like I was old while I lied there on that hospital bed like a crumpled sack of potatoes.

 

Crap.

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Could you—” I couldn't control the intensity of the blush as it grew even warmer and more intolerable, “—could you please leave us alone for a moment.”

 

I watched Eri as she let the pregnant silence overpower her for a moment. Her voice was strong and steady when she finally managed an answer, “Yeah. Sure.”

 

Eri's shoes clicked evenly along the linoleum. She opened the door and closed it gently behind her as she stepped outside. When she left, Hojo let out what sounded close to a relieving sigh as he plunked down into one of the chairs sitting alongside the nightstand. Looking at his half-slack, half-tense form, I began to compare countless questions in my head, easily eliminating those that wouldn't help to lighten the situation any.

 

“Are you okay?”

 

Startled, I tried to make what could've been identified as stable eye contact with him, but failed miserably when I squirmed around in an effort to make myself more comfortable on the hospital bed. The railings running down beside me like jail bars pilfering the long sought-after treasure of liberation, were a pain in the butt. I had to prop myself up just to make decent eye contact, if ever such a thing was possible concerning the threatening whirlpool I managed to stumble into.

 

“Yeah. I'm fine,” I replied, “but my well-being's not the only thing on my mind.”

 

A heavy hush settled over Hojo, an obvious indication for me to continue.

 

“But, before I start speaking my mind,” I started, “who was that girl?”

 

“Kasumi?” he said slowly, seemingly afraid to make a dreadful slip of the tongue, “She's just a student that I coach back at HGH.”

 

I could feel the sarcasm rising up in my throat like flam as I spoke, “Really.” I tried to keep it from becoming an unnecessary part of the situation, but it persistently wormed its way in.

 

“I'm sorry, Higurashi,” Hojo began, his voice dripping with ill-retained venom, “but my pragmatic affairs require none of your concern.” He tried to hide what was skin-ripping acrimony beneath a businesslike veil, but I could already see right through it.

 

I sighed. True, it was none of my business and curiosity got the best of me, but I didn't want to get into an inessential fight with him over a “student” no matter how much I doubted him. I needed to get down to the bottom-line, which just now decided to go taciturn on me.

 

“I'm sorry. I was just…curious.” I let my head sink further into the flimsy, hospital pillow, the bed groaning slightly. The IV in my arm was a bit of an inconvenience since I had to squirm around several times in order to come to a more comfortable position. And the pain drilling a hole through my head was something that I just couldn't dispel, so I picked up trying to stomach it rather than whimper it out, “But I really wanted to talk to you about…the night we…”

 

Hojo looked up then and I could see the alertness burning in his eyes.

 

“I wanted to talk to you about Monday night.”

 

“The night we…”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Kagome I…”

 

“Hojo it was a mistake,” I blurted out.

 

“What?”

 

“It was a really big mistake that shouldn't have happened. That was what I was trying to tell you before you left.”

 

I twisted my neck to face the window and studied the moonlight running along its frames in a perfect square. It strangely felt like a ghost was watching me from outside, stubbornly refusing to come in. I almost waited for the window to slam outwards and a gush of cool air to slap me full in the face as it blew all sorts of stuff around in a small tornado. But nothing like that ever came.

 

“Kagome, I was waiting for a night like that with you.”

 

There. He said it. Those words that I knew would come tumbling out of his mouth sooner or later. Damn it all! Why couldn't he be like Inuyasha and just not spill out his feelings like that?

 

I moved around to face him. “So you were actually waiting for a night when I'd sweep you off your feet and into my bed and start making love to you while screaming out some other guy's name that you've never even remotely heard of before!” I half-screamed, half-asked.

 

He was quiet for a moment, and for the first time in all my life I felt like I'd won a huge battle against Naraku all by myself. No Miroku. No Sango or Kirara. No Shippo. And definitely no Inuyasha.

 

“Not really,” Hojo answered lamely.

 

I was on the verge of pulling off a gawk that would've made me look somewhere between dumbfounded and dim-witted.

 

He sighed heavily. “Kagome, you sparked something within me that night, something that I'll never forget.

 

Okay. Here I was, lying in bed, probably flaunting off some new epitome of ugly or chaotic. I knew my hair looked like it needed a good combing down and that my face probably looked unsightly with bags hanging morosely from my eyes. How could he even sit there and say something like that with me looking like the monster from the Green Lagoon?

 

“What could I have possibly sparked within you, Hojo? I—,” I gulped, taking some time out to mull over the harsh milieu of the word I was about to use, “I…fucked you, Hojo. I literally fucked you and used you for my own gain and nothing more.”

 

“But you can't honestly say you don't hold any feelings for me now, Kagome.”

 

“Actually, I can,” I huffed ignorantly, smugly. I saw the disbelief in his eyes and began to await the inevitable.

 

“Then tell me that you harbor no feelings for me whatsoever. If you can do that, then I guess intercourse between us was nothing but a figment.”

 

I held my chin high with that so-called “Miss Independent” superiority, “I—I…don't…harbor any feelings for…for…” I paused when I saw his eyes, those heartrending orbs of his. Yeah, they were coffee brown in a way and not anywhere close to Inuyasha's amber orbs. But they held that same kind of passion, if ever possible, and truth and sovereignty that swirled around within Inuyasha's eyes when he was in his human form.

 

I felt my whole expression crumble and my shoulders fall slack, “I—I don't harbor any feelings for…for…for y—y…”

 

Hojo gulped and his eyes fell shut as he weaved his fingers together in his lap.

 

Surrender seemed so close, just hovering beneath the surface. I didn't want to admit that, but something within me decided otherwise, “Hojo, I can't. I could never say such a thing because, frankly, dishonesty isn't my cup of tea.”

 

A tiny smile tugged at both his lips and mine.

 

“Kagome, I tried my best to ask you out on so many dates during high school because I had a huge crush on you.”

 

“Yeah, I know.”

 

“But I never felt anything like this before.” He got up and I tried my best to inch away from the railing, “Kagome…”

 

I shook my head, “Hojo, no.”

 

He strode towards the bed, towards me, and stretched out his hand to touch my cheek and gently turn my head further to him.

 

Instinctively, I licked my lips.

 

“Kagome,” he said tenderly, huskily, “I think I may actually love you.”

 

“And how is that?” I asked, “Was seeing me naked enough for you to have a run-in with good old Mr. Enlightenment?”

 

He huffed and bowed his head until I felt his warm breath settle on my nose. Quickly, I grasped the fabric of his dress shirt with intentions of pushing him away, “Hojo, don't.”

 

“Why?” he breathed, “I just want to—,” he got closer, “kiss you.”

 

“Hojo…” And that was all I could say before his lips embraced mine in what first started out as a chaste kiss and then a kiss of win-or-lose when I felt his tongue boldly touch mine.

 

Hojo groaned softly into my mouth and I heard the railing clack when his free hand bumped into it. I was also very close to moaning with his good-smelling cologne drifting up my nostrils like some new form of spicy aphrodisiac and causing a powerful lurch of desire make itself known in the pit of my belly. But then the door opened and a sharp gasp brushed against my eardrums. Impulsively, I shoved Hojo away and turned to face the window, fully flushed. “It—It isn't what you think,” I quickly mumbled as Eri click-clacked into the room.

 

“Really?” Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her flash a suspicious glance at Hojo as she took a swig of her Sprite.

 

I gulped nervously, hoping she would just walk out of the room repeating over and over again that she truly didn't see anything. Yet, when she finally did say something, I gasped in shock and let all hopes of forgive-and-forget go flying straight out the window.

 

“It's a good thing that Yuka gave him your number now, isn't it?”

 

iii. The Unexpected

 

The sun was gleaming brilliantly through the window as I put whatever was left of the snack that Hojo bought for me last night in the metal, lavatory waste bucket. I smiled triumphantly at my reflection in the mirror, very much glad that the doctor finally chose to let me out today after continually hassling him about feeling better and wanting to go home.

 

Thank, God!

 

I still couldn't buck off the wondrous volumes of curiosity still clinging to my body in more uncomfortable ways than one. While Hojo's stares continued to scorch a hole straight through the side of my skull, I desperately wanted to know what happened to my poor Cavalier after I was shipped off unexpectedly to the hospital. Eri, however, finally spoke up once she finished off the last corner of her Sprite with a dim, slightly drunken leer, “Oh, and Kagome-chan, in case you're wondering, Hojo drove your car back to your place.”

 

“Why?” I'd asked.

 

“Because the doctor thought it best that somebody else drives you back home instead.”

 

“Damn.”

 

At daybreak, I called Eri and asked her to drop by my condo and grab the sports bag full of clean clothes, lingerie, and tennis shoes lying in the trunk of my car so that I would have something to change into come later on. She didn't feel like driving the car down to the hospital because she had a long drive ahead of her to make it back down to Tokyo. So I calmly informed her that there should've been a copy of my car key under the welcome mat at the front door and that it was imperative she stow the key away back under there after she was done—After all, I have a real problem when it comes to searching for stuff.

 

I waited earnestly for her answer and it wasn't long before she groggily (or is that crankily) plucked up enough awareness to mumble a brief, “Okay.”

 

Shortly, I realized that she only agreed because she didn't have to go through the troubles of playing hide-and-go-seek with my car keys, since my original set were with her…mistakenly nestled in the jeans she wore yesterday.

 

I don't even know why or when I started packing such a thing as a sports bag full of clothes in my trunk. Maybe I did it just to be prepared, just like with all the other people in the world who packed guns or toiletry bags in theirs. I mean, being prepared wasn't necessarily a crime now, was it?

 

I grumbled angrily beneath my breath as I tried to make my hair more presentable in front of the bathroom mirror and beneath its very poor lighting. After I was done, I frisked and frantically searched the pockets of my old jeans for both my house and car keys. With that infuriating chore now completed, I crammed the keys in the incredibly tight, right pocket of the denims I was currently wearing before packing my dirty clothes in my bulky sports bag and starting downstairs for the main desk.

 

After I paid my insurance deductibles, among other things, I made my way outside to the parking lot.

 

Eri, Ayumi, and Yuka were all waiting in Eri's old Mustang convertible when I made it to the parking strip; I'd forgotten completely that Eri volunteered to pick me up.

 

Eri was drumming her fingers to an offbeat melody when I got to the car. Without saying a word, she popped the trunk and I placed the bag inside before pulling the top back down.

 

“Hi, Kagome-chan,” both Ayumi and Yuka greeted in unison.

 

“Good morning.”

 

There were no secretive smiles or giggles when I slid in on the passenger's side next to Eri. It was pretty obvious that she didn't tell them about last night and for that I was internally grateful.

 

I exchanged a brief smile with her before she started the car and began to pull out of the parking spot and onto the road. I wanted to say something about her hair and clothing style today, but opted not to.

 

Her hair wasn't bound back by a yellow hair band today. It was free, whipping back in the wind like the silky mane of a horse. And it was black, so very black in the sunlight. And she was wearing that sinful, purely seductive, red-red lipstick that many mothers would've said was Hell on a Stick. Her dress was black and strapless, leaving much to the imagination of any man that just happened to bump into her. But her black Stiletto heels were what really got me. They weren't the type of shoes you'd wear in the very early morning.

 

I guess Yuka caught me staring because she said, “Eri's supposed to be visiting her family back down in Tokyo. Rumors say that she has a little boyfriend down there waiting for her.”

 

“Ahh. So that explains why she's all dressed up,” I murmured.

 

“He's not my boyfriend!” Eri exclaimed, and I didn't try to argue otherwise, “We're just friends. And I happen to be all dressed up because I love dressing up.”

 

“Really?” Ayumi looked flabbergasted, “But you called Yuka and I earlier today saying that you were going somewhere special with him today and that you probably wouldn't be able to pick up Kagome.”

 

“Ayumi!” Eri growled.

 

I tried to make a quiet gesture with my index finger against my lips to the girls in back, hoping that that would settle things down a bit as the car clambered up onto the highway. Getting into a car accident was a definite no-no in my book since it was pretty avoidable and I was just too young to die.

 

Hmmm. Too young to die, I pondered, Strange. That didn't seem to stop me before from going ahead and joining Inuyasha on those death-defying escapades.

 

Most of the journey home was entirely uneventful. Ayumi didn't say a word, just kept her cheek turned to the flow of the nipping wind as she watched countless cars swish by. But Eri was trying her hardest to stir up some conversation, most of which only lasted for ten minutes at the most until they struck rock-bottom. During the ride though, I kept on brooding over one of the things Yuka had brought up.

 

“So, since we already know Eri has a boyfriend,” Yuka started, “what about you Ayumi.”

 

Ayumi nearly toppled out of her seat when she heard her name, “Huh! Oh, me? Well…I've had quiet an adequate share of boyfriends if I do say so myself.”

 

Eri, Yuka, and I all tossed Ayumi shocked looks until she broke out into a nervous smile.

 

“Well it's true,” she said.

 

Yuka sighed and just as I'd predicted, her gaze immediately fell on me. “What about you, Kagome?” she asked, “Hopefully your boyfriend isn't as bad as the last one.”

 

I quickly turned my head around to face the windshield, crossing my arms over the seatbelt crisscrossing snugly across my chest, “Who even said that I had a boyfriend to begin with.”

 

Yuka fell silent but eventually replied, “It's pretty evident. You don't look all that sad anymore after that badass dumped you.”

 

“Yuka, maybe I've come to realize that…that it was all for the best,” I muttered, and felt my words linger in the air. Like a white lie it stuck to my mind and echoed over and over again within its chambers.

 

Yuka leaned back in her seat and began to relax, slowly engulfed by the contentment of the ride. After that, she didn't say another word.

 

I propped my elbow up onto the door panel and rested my head on top of my knuckles. Eri was still driving and the last exit we passed clearly told me that we had several more exits to go until I was home free. But I let that thought slowly drift away along the boundless, black plains of nothingness until I staggered heavily over the precipice that defined consciousness from unconsciousness.

 

Inuyasha.

 

I knew it had to be him as his power pulled flush against my body in a wash of warmth, pushing through my skin and frolicking with my own sacred aura. I was like the wick on a candle, slowly bending into the heart of a passionate flame, but even as I felt my knees grow wobbly I continued to walk towards him. Before I even arrived to the hot spring's, lopsided embankment, he paused and wheeled around to face me. His eyes fixed sharply on me and began to burn a hole straight through my skin, propelling me to stop in my tracks. My fingers tingled from exhaustion, from pressing lust and desire, and the blanket fell to the ground.

 

“I want you,” I mouthed to him as if it were some sort magic word that would allow me into a place so wonderful, so magical.

 

He didn't say a word, just went back to wading through the water and settling down near a large rock jutting out of the center of the water. I watched his back slump heavily against it and I took a sharp intake of breath as I saw the moonbeams dance across his glossy, silver hair and then drop down to kiss his pallid muscles.

 

“Then come to me,” he suddenly mouthed.

 

My lips parted beneath the soothing warmth of the hot spring as I stepped in. I waded deeper and deeper into the water until the temperature mounted steadily, curling around me with perceivable, white fingers. They caressed me, caused me to sweat and finally stumble into the water-slick arms of Inuyasha. When I looked up, his eyes entranced me to where my mind went completely blank. I put my hands against his chest, unaware that I'd called forth my sacred energy, which rippled through my veins and tingled against my palms.

 

Inuyasha hissed suddenly and seized both of my hands in his larger ones to peel them off of his chest.

 

Demonic and sacred auras truly don't mix well together. That counted even if the demon itself wasn't even all the way demonic.

 

“Sorry, Inuyasha,” I apologized, then smiled lightly, “I really need to control that, don't I?”

 

`Strange…' I thought.

 

His smile seemed like an exact mirror image of mine as his grip on my hands loosened. Tenderly he cupped my cheek with his clawed hand and his thumb began to stroke it even when my own hand overlapped his.

 

“You know I love you, right?” he inquired abruptly.

 

“Yeah,” I sighed, brushing my lips against his palm.

 

The wind murmured against my skin and the water rippled gently around our bodies. Following the elegant curves of Inuyasha's lips, I gulped deeply and half-wished to have those same lips seizing mine in a fiery kiss.

 

I blushed, bowing my head.

 

“Hey, don't do that!” I felt him grip my chin and pull my face up to meet his eyes. His thumb grazed my bottom lip gingerly and I sensed the pressure of my blush grow even more intense. I wanted to bite the inside of my cheeks just to alleviate the pain, but couldn't find the courage to do so. I would've ruined the mood anyway by looking like some kind of poor excuse for a fish.

 

“You okay, Kagome?” A veil of concern lashed forth into the air, covering Inuyasha in an imaginary tent it seemed.

 

I waved off the question with a nervous flap of my hand and broke out into a brief smile, “Yeah, I'm just fine. It's just that…”

 

Without warning, a prickle of claws crept up my left thigh and fingers clutched gently, coaxing my leg to wrap around Inuyasha's waist. I felt him hard and ready against me and I gasped and blushed harder and harder until I was sure I looked like a boiling lobster.

 

“Inuyasha…” I started, but his lips roughly grasped mine and my words soon deteriorated into a dreamy sigh.

 

His mouth hovered closely above mine when he finally broke the kiss. A claw carefully brushed the moist inside of my thigh, trailing lazily upwards. The urge to kiss him then became so strong that I wrapped my arms around his neck, hiking my other leg up and curling it around his waist. I locked my ankles securely behind his back and heard him moan as he tugged at my bottom lip with his teeth and my fingers tangled ravenously in his hair.

 

“Do you actually think he wants you, young priestess?” Someone—a woman, I quickly deduced—snidely asked from a distance.

 

I wanted to believe, I truly did, that that voice was just my mind playing tricks on me, but something inside me kept persuading me that it was indeed real.

 

Inuyasha's lips were fastened to the crook of my neck when I made an attempt to twist my neck around to face the bank. I whimpered when he began to suckle and one of his fangs grazed my skin. Closing my eyes, I tossed my head back, smoothed my hands up his chest, and felt my legs tighten in anticipation. My heart was beating fast, matching the rushing flow of my blood and eventually pounding in my ears. Several seconds later, I tried for a more comfortable position, writhing in the wet, rosy ring of his embrace. But, just as I'd suspected, he growled in my ear and made a sharp sound that sounded close to a doggish bark.

 

That was certainly the first.

 

“Inuyasha,” I strained, “what are you doing?”

 

He didn't answer the question, just nipped my ear. I groaned and he leaned back to kiss me brusquely as the finger stationed on the inside of my thigh slowly trailed upwards through the steamy water until it was rubbing against me.

 

I severed the kiss to whisper his name against his lips, holding myself steady by grabbing his shoulders. His lips stayed close above mine, so close that a sharp breath would've made us touch. He spoke, his breath adding onto the heat that cradled my skin just as he caressed the edge of me, “Gods, you're beautiful.”

 

I wanted to smile, but two things happened all at once; he kissed me and his finger slid inside me. I screamed against his mouth, back arching, fingernails digging into his shoulder as his finger found that special spot and brought me at dizzying heights. From up there, the world had soft, white edges, like seeing through gauze, like peering through a cloud even.

 

“He doesn't want just you,” the same woman from before whispered, this time inside my head.

 

I gasped. An image of Kikyo flashed briefly behind my eyes and her power was pulsing through me, entwining insatiably with mine. I saw another visual of her forcing Inuyasha onto his back on the grass, of kissing down his naked chest, down the fine line of silver, peach fuzz until the next thing I remembered clearly was groaning into the shallow concave of Inuyasha's neck.

 

“He wants both of us…”

 

“Kikyo,” I heard him moan as his thrusts became fast and uncontrollable.

 

My jaw dropped loosely. I made an attempt to push him away, but he held fast and I could only whimper pathetically, trying my best to call forth my sacred power, which never came.

 

“INUYASHA!” I hollered, “INUYASHA, STOP!”

 

The moon seemed to smile wickedly…maniacally. When Inuyasha's face came into my line of vision, I wanted to scream, to shock him just like Kikyo had done when she was first resurrected by Urasue as a clay replica.

 

His eyes were red, so red, and certainly not the color of wild passion, but…blood. His lips were twisted into a malicious smile as he pulled his finger from inside me and drew it into his mouth. I watched the claws on his other fingers elongate slowly. He suckled his finger and his smile grew sickeningly broader.

 

“Maybe this'll be better than the first, eh Kagome?” he asked me, drawing his finger out of his mouth, “Maybe this time I can do things to you beyond your wildest imagination.”

 

I screamed out in horror and quickly lashed out, viscously hurling a barrage of punches at his chest only to have the hand behind me tighten its hold on my back. He entered me then and my head rolled back as he stretched me to limits that I thought no normal human could reach.

 

He grunted as his hips slammed into mine.

 

Looking up at the lustrous moon and the ink-black skies that embraced it, I gave a bloodcurdling cry.

 

iv. Reunited

 

“Kagome-chan”

 

Somebody was jostling me manically by the shoulder. Oddly enough, some small part of me wanted them to shake harder until I fully regained consciousness, but then came its iniquitous counterpart, which I was so ready to believe was Kikyo.

 

“Kagome-chan, wake up. We're here.”

 

I groaned softly. My nose felt faintly stuffy when I finally aroused to the pleasant smile of the sun. Sadly, the first thing I noticed was a slender line of moisture gradually hiking down the chest of my shirt. Blushing furiously, I jolted to an upright position in the passenger's seat to try and wipe it off.

 

I frowned darkly during the process. It was still day time, probably somewhere close to noon according to my instincts. I was hardly enthusiastic to waking up to the sunlight beaming down on me and shining brightly in my eyes.

 

“What's wrong?” Eri wasn't sitting in the driver's seat anymore, but standing tall right alongside me.

 

"Nothing." I gave a jaw-cracking yawn before wiping off the last bit of drool on my shirt. I spared a glance at the rearview mirror hanging just above my head. Both Yuka and Ayumi were still sitting in the back, fast asleep.

 

“They nodded off sometime back on the highway,” Eri murmured.

 

With a sigh, I opened the door to get out and stretch. Yeah, the sun may've been shining in my eyes, but the weather felt so relaxing. It was lukewarm—not all the way cool, but definitely not hot either.

 

“Oh, and here's your key.” Eri reached over to pick up the shiny thing resting on the hood of her car and handed it to me.

 

I took the key and twirled it around once by its pudgy body with my forefinger and thumb, eyes observing it numbly before I stuffed it in my pocket. I was just a mere thread away from hissing out in pain when I slid my hand back out and the distinctly rough material of my denims nearly bruised my hand. That didn't keep me, however, from relishing in the breeze that swept around me for a slick-quick second before trudging over to the trunk, which was already cracked open. I grabbed my things, careful not to wake up Yuka and Ayumi as I wrenched the door shut.

 

“Take care!” Eri waved goodbye and so I did the same before she rounded the car to get in. I stood on the third-from-last step near the driveway and watched her maneuver out of the parking lot and onto the main street, a red dot dwindling away slowly in the distance. Turning around when I was completely certain she was gone, I started for the door.

 

When I got there, I patted the right pocket of my jeans, thankful to feel the slight bulge of the tiny mass of keys poking at my thigh. Digging my hand inside to grab my house key, I juggled it inside the lock and opened the door. Stepping inside, I closed and locked the door behind me before journeying upstairs to my somewhat capacious heaven on Earth, my bedroom, where I couldn't wait to envelop myself in my bed sheets and sink into a deep sleep that was sure to last for centuries.

 

“God, I'm so—” My words died hopelessly on my tongue, captured by the net of emptiness hanging in the air when I arrived at the bedroom's doorway. My sports bag immediately crumpled to the floor when I felt my fingers tingle and my hands fall abruptly to my sides. My eyes grew wide and my lips parted. Time seemed to stop and my heartbeats were caught in hyper drive, pushing maybe at five beats per second.

 

Courageous amber and delicate brown.

 

At long last reunited.

 

Extraordinary silver locks and thick, raven strands.

 

At long last reunited.

 

"Inuyasha…" I muttered, my voice heavy and nearly incoherent beneath the waves of heart-wrenching anguish and unfulfilled desire. I wanted him to just slap the jewel out of my hand and scoop me up within those protective arms of his, shedding reassuring warmth, embracing me with a raw passion that needed to be acted out rather than just spoken.

 

Is that really you? I asked.

 

“In—Inuyasha?”

 

 

A/N: Next chapter is “Stowaway.” Hmmm…I wonder if the figure truly is Inuyasha…