InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ All Things Come Full Circle ❯ Chapter 8 ( Chapter 8 )

Chapter 8

‘I can’t believe him. He made it sound like I was a whore or something. How dare he?’

Hours had passed and Inukigo was still sitting in the same tree, brooding over the hurtful words that Inuyasha had said to her.

She had known that he would be angry, it just wasn’t proper for a male to be so close to a female - especially in the state that she had been in - when there was no mark between the two. Add to that the fact that there was no courtship of any kind going on either, and well, there was no way that the outcome could have been good.

Inukigo’s face fell when she remembered the angry look Inuyasha had had on his face when he had been yelling at her. Her emotionless mask had fallen shortly after she had jumped into the tree, but she knew it would be up again before she went down. She didn’t know why she did it, it was something that just happened when Inuyasha yelled at her in the way that he had. She completely closed herself off to everyone for however long it would take for her to forgive Inuyasha.

He was her alpha, so she knew that he had the right to question her about such things, like why Kouga’s scent was all over her, and that wasn’t the reason that she was upset. It was the way he had handled it that made her mad. He had used his position as alpha to force her to act like a submissive pup. The speed of her submission had be ridiculous, she could usually stare him down until he used some physical method to make her submit, but his tone and the look on his face just made her crumble. It made her feel like the small, helpless pup that he was treating her like and she hated it with every fibre of her being.

‘If he thinks that he will be easily forgiven, he’s going to be sorely disappointed.’

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Inuyasha awoke to the bright, early morning sun light shining in his eyes. He was surprised by how deeply he had slept, although he guessed it had something to do with Kagome sleeping in his arms. It had taken some convincing but he had managed to get her back into his arms. He sighed as he looked down at her face. He didn’t want to wake her, but he had to check on Inukigo. He very much doubted that he was forgiven, but he had to make sure she was alright.

“Kagome,” he whispered, shaking her lightly.

“Hmm…” Kagome groaned and shifted, but didn’t wake up.

Inuyasha chuckled quietly.

‘Looks like she doesn’t want to wake up either. Now, how can I get her to wake up?’

He thought on it for a few moments before he got an idea.

‘Should I do it though? Oh, what the hell, I’ll go for it. I just hope that she doesn’t decide to sit me for it.’

Inuyasha glanced around to make sure no one else was awake and then leaned down to put his plan into action.

He began to trail slow kisses along Kagome’s chin and travelled up her jaw line until he reached her ear. Kagome stirred as he moved, shifting her head to give him more access to the area he was kissing, but didn’t wake up.

“Kagome,” he whispered again, this time right in her ear.

“Inu…yasha,” Kagome sighed in her sleep.

‘So you recognize me even in your sleep,’ he thought smugly.

He started to lavish attention on her neck, just below her ear. Kagome groaned again, and Inuyasha released her neck long enough to whisper in her ear again.

“C’mon Kagome, time to wake up.”

Kagome began to come awake slowly and tilted her head to the side to rest it further on his shoulder, which greatly exposed the mark on her left shoulder to Inuyasha’s eyes. He studied it for a moment before a smirk broke across his face. He leaned in and gave the mark one long, slow swipe with his tongue. Kagome’s reaction was immediate, and exactly what he had expected. She moaned loudly and jerked in his arms, than started completely awake and blushed when she saw him looking at her with a sly grin on his face.

“Good morning,” he said smugly.

Kagome gave him a measuring look before breaking out in a grin and going for his neck. She pulled his haori away before he could realize what she was doing and planted her mouth on his mark and giving it a wet, sucking kiss. Inuyasha growled lowly and shuddered at the feeling. Kagome released his neck after a few moments and looked up to see the glazed over look in his eyes. She smiled before moving so she could sit up on her knees, and then leaned up to kiss his lips. Inuyasha kissed her back immediately. The kiss wasn’t heated, but passionate all the same. Kagome was the one to pull back and she smiled at him sweetly.

“Good morning.”

Inuyasha grinned lazily and leaned forward to peck her on the lips again before leaning back against the tree. Kagome’s smile grew wider.

“I think that I like waking up like this,” she said dreamily as she wrapped her arms around his neck and tangled her fingers in his hair.

“Is that so?” he asked, bringing his arms around her waist, “I’ll have to remember that then.”

Kagome giggled and Inuyasha kissed her again. When they broke apart, Inuyasha stood up, pulling Kagome up with him. She looked at him curiously and he smiled at her.

“As much as I would like to stay right where we are and keep kissing you, I have to check on my sister.”

Kagome let her arms drop to her sides as he released her waist.

“She hasn’t come down yet?”

Inuyasha shook his head sadly.

“No. She’s still up there. I’m gonna go up and see how she’s doing. I’ll see if I can do anything to get her out of that damned tree.”

“Alright,” Kagome answered giving him a reassuring smile.

Inuyasha returned the smile as best he could then turned and walked towards the tree that he knew that his sister was occupying. The tree was massive, and it took him two leaps to reach where she was sitting. She didn’t acknowledge him, but he knew that there was no way that she didn’t know that he was there. She had that dreaded emotionless mask in place, but he could tell that she had exhausted herself by brooding all night long over what he had done.

‘I’m such a moron. Why can’t I ever keep my big mouth shut?’

“Hey, Inukigo?” he asked timidly.

Inukigo didn’t answer him and kept her head turned away. He sighed dejectedly.

‘This again? I hate the silent treatment.’

“Are you gonna come down and eat before we pack up and leave?”

No answer.

“Kagome is really worried about you. I think she might want to talk to you.”

Inukigo’s answer was to turn away from him and sit with both her legs draped over one side of the wide branch. Inuyasha’s ears drooped from her refusal to show him acknowledgement. He inched his way closer to her, not wanting her to feel cornered and flee.

“I’m worried about you too,” he said, looking down at the branch that he was crouched on, “And I’ve already told you that I’m sorry for what I said, so there’s really nothing more I can say to you. But I’ll say it again. I didn’t mean what I said, and I…I’m sorry for it.”

Inukigo didn’t turn to look at him, but did give him a reply this time.

“I know that you’re sorry and didn’t mean it,” Inuyasha’s ears perked up, and he thought for a moment that he had been forgiven, “But…” his hopes diminished at that word, “That doesn’t change the fact that those words made me feel like dirt.”

As soon as she said that, she dropped from the branch onto a lower one and then bounded off to a different tree. Inuyasha watched her go sadly before dropping from the branch as well, and made his way back down to the ground. When he landed, five pairs of eyes turned to him. He focused on Kagome, who looked a little flustered, and shook his head no, then walked over to sit by the fire with them while he waited for breakfast. Kagome handed him his food and looked at him with concern.

“So she won’t come down?” she asked.

He shook his head again.

“No, she’s not ready yet. She probably won’t travel with us either,” he replied and took a bite of his fish.

“She won’t? Than what will we do? We can’t leave her behind.”

“We won’t. She’ll still follow along, but she’ll stay out of sight for awhile.”

“Oh. How long do you think she’ll be acting that way?”

Inuyasha shrugged and swallowed another mouthful of fish.

“Can’t say for sure. Could be anywhere from a day to a week, depending on how mad she is at me.”

“You sound very sure of that Inuyasha,” Miroku piped up.

Inuyasha turned to glower at the monk.

“Not that it’s any of your business, but I’ve had experience with these situations, so I know how my sister will act.”

“Oh? Anything that you wish to share?”

Inuyasha began to growl.

“Not with you.”

Miroku shrugged as if he had been expecting that answer.

“Well, I suppose you will be sharing it with Kagome then.”

The tone of Miroku’s voice made Inuyasha look at him suspiciously. He sounded as though he were trying to imply something.

“Ooi…what exactly are you trying to get at?”

Miroku shrugged again and feigned innocence.

“I was not trying to get at anything. I was simply referring to the fact that you and Kagome are now intended. I’m sure that the two of you will be sharing many things with each other from now on.”

A light flush came to Inuyasha’s cheeks and his glower darkened.

‘I knew it. The dirty hentai,’ he glanced at Kagome and saw that her blush was returning, ‘So, she was getting an interrogation while I was in the tree. I know what you’re trying to do monk, you ain’t gettin’ your way this time.’

Instead of getting flustered and tongue-tied like he normally would, Inuyasha did something that shocked everyone else present. He wrapped an arm around Kagome’s waist and pulled her to him so that she was pressed tightly against his side. Kagome gave a little ‘eep’ in surprise, but he ignored it. Then he agreed with what Miroku had suggested.

“Well, now that she is my intended, of course I will be sharing more things with her. Probably not what you’re thinking of right now though, I’m sure,” he then turned his head and kissed her temple lightly. He then turned back to look at Miroku, “Don’t have a problem with that, do you bouzu?”

Miroku laughed nervously and held up his hands in a placating gesture.

“None whatsoever, Inuyasha. Congratulations to the both of you.”

“Yes, congratulations,” Sango added, glad that Miroku had decided to drop the issue, “I’m so happy for the both of you.”

“Arigatou, Sango-chan, Miroku-sama,” Kagome said, still a little embarrassed by Inuyasha’s open display of affection.

“Yeah, thanks,” Inuyasha said.

They all went back to eating their meal, and it wasn’t until they were finished and breaking camp that Inuyasha noticed that Shippou was being unusually quiet. He focused his attention on the kit and saw that he was sitting off to the side, half-heartedly playing with one of his toys. The little guy looked a bit put out.

‘He really has become attached to Inukigo. And I’m surprised by how taken she is with him. I never thought she would be one to be so good with pups. She mothers him almost as much as Kagome does, and now he probably feels like she’s left him.’

“He’s been acting that way all morning,” Kagome said as she walked up behind him, backpack in tow, “I tried talking to him, but he wouldn’t tell me what was wrong.”

“He’s probably missing Inukigo. He’s gotten pretty close to her over the last little while.”

“You think so? I noticed it too,” Kagome positioned herself on his back as he offered it to her, “He seems to be really upset that she’s not with us.”

“Yeah. He should know that she’s still around. I think that it’s her presence that he’s missing,” Inuyasha replied as he hiked Kagome’s legs up his waist and gripped the backs of her knees.

Kagome nodded against his shoulder than whispered so only he could hear.

“You too, right?” he didn’t answer, so she took his silence as confirmation, “You will tell me, right Inuyasha?”

He looked uncomfortable for a moment and shifted his feet a little. Kagome waited, knowing that he was getting ready to give her an answer.

“H-Hai, but later. I don’t want the others to hear.”

Kagome smiled and squeezed his shoulders reassuringly.

“That’s fine Inuyasha,” she then gave him a quick kiss on the cheek when no one was watching.

Inuyasha smiled and then took off in a run with Miroku, Sango, and Shippou following on a transformed Kirara. They were travelling for about half an hour when Kagome spoke to him again.

“Is she following, Inuyasha?”

Inuyasha had known that Inukigo was following from the moment the left camp. He could feel the presence of her youki, and stretched out his senses to determine her exact location. He couldn’t catch her scent because she was down wind, but he could hear her leaping from branch to branch in the trees.

“Yeah, she’s following. She’s a little behind us, and is sticking high in the trees.”

Kagome nodded that she understood and settled back down on his back. All was silent for some time, so Inuyasha surprised Kagome when he started to speak.

“Those situations with Inukigo that I was talking about…” he paused for a moment to make sure she knew what he was referring to. Kagome’s eyes widened. She wasn’t expecting him to tell her now, but she didn’t dare stop him. She probably wouldn’t be able to convince him later. She squeezed his shoulders to signal that she was listening and he continued.

“Well, they’ve only happened a few times. There have been times when she’s done something very foolish, and I just end up…blowing up at her. A few times I found out that I was…in the wrong and shouldn’t have handled it the way I did, but by then she’s pissed off and won’t speak to me.”

“Like now?” Kagome ventured.

Inuyasha nodded.

“Yeah, but there have been worse times,” he paused for a moment, as if gathering his thoughts, “The worst one was a few years before I was sealed. We were being chased by a group of demons and got separated. It took awhile to find her again, but when I did, I saw that she was picking a fight with a demon that she had no chance of beating on her own. I took it by surprise and managed to kill it just before it took her head off. I got mad, and yelled at her like I did last night, thinking that she had just picked a fight for the hell of it. She closed herself off for a whole week - she wouldn’t speak to me or look at me the entire time. And then I found out the reason she had been fighting with the demon. Turns out he was terrorizing a nearby village, stealing girls and having his way with them before he killed them. Inukigo had come across him and a girl that he had just kidnapped. If I had been paying attention, I would have noticed the scent of the human that Inukigo had helped escape.”

“So basically, you didn’t think before you spoke.”

Kagome knew that she was right when Inuyasha didn’t reply.

“You have a bad habit of doing that, you know?”

Inuyasha glared at her over his shoulder.

“Ooi, bitch. Who’s side are you on?”

“Yours, baka. I’m just saying that if you use this,” she knocked her fist lightly against the back of his head, “Before you open your mouth, things will turn out better in the end.”

“Keh!”

He knew that she was right, so didn’t fight it any further.

“Thank you for telling me, Inuyasha,” Kagome said quietly.

Inuyasha smiled, but kept his eyes on the path ahead.

“I said that I would share things with you, and I meant it. Just, don’t expect it all at once.”

Kagome smiled and nodded against his shoulder. They fell into a comfortable silence, and Inuyasha focused his senses ahead of them to keep a look out for danger, which was why he didn’t notice when his sister’s footfalls stopped abruptly and then drifted away as she veered off away from the rest of the group.

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Inukigo knew that she was probably making a mistake by running off from the group but there wasn’t really much she could do to stop herself. The scent that she had gotten just the tiniest whiff of had effectively drawn her away. Her nose was just the slightest bit more sensitive than Inuyasha’s, which was the reason why she had caught it while he had not.

‘It’s very faint, but I know that it’s him. I’d never forget his scent.’

She came upon a tiny clearing, where a small pit had been dug out for a fire.

‘That’s funny, why would there be a fire here? He’s never had the need for one before.’

She took a few experimental sniffs and was shocked by what she discovered.

“A human?” she sniffed again, “A human child?! A little girl by the smell of it. Why in the world does Sesshoumaru have a little girl with him?”

It was Sesshoumaru’s scent that she had caught while she was running behind her brother and the rest of the group. It had been very faint, but enough to spark her interest and she had taken off towards it. She knew that the scent was old, and that she wasn’t risking an encounter, which had been why she had no qualms with running off towards it on her own. Even in this clearing, where he had obviously spent a night while the human girl was resting, his scent was fading, telling her that it had been a few days since he had been there, and by now was long gone.

‘With any luck, he’ll be far enough away that he won’t pick up our scents.’

Inukigo thought for a moment, then scoffed.

‘Like that would make any difference. Probably wouldn’t spare us a second glance anyways. Pompous bastard.’

Inukigo sighed sadly, then walked over to a tree and sat down at it’s base. Sesshoumaru’s scent was strongest here, meaning that he had sat there while the human child in his company was resting. She huddled back into the tree, taking in the quickly fading scent of the taiyoukai. She was surprised when instead of the anger she was used to feeling, a deep feeling of sadness came over her as the scent reawakened memories that she had worked hard to lock away.

‘Why did you have to start hating us so much, Aniue? Why couldn’t things have stayed like they always were? I miss how things used to be so much, it hurts to remember. I miss…being close to you.’

Inukigo allowed herself a few moments, before forcing herself to her feet and stretching.

‘I have to put these things behind me. I’m letting it get to me way too much. I will confront Sesshoumaru, but not now. I don’t think I’m ready yet.’

With that thought, Inukigo started running back towards the scents of her brother and friends. As soon as she caught it, she was surprised to find another scent mixed in - the scent of demons.

“Kuso,” she cursed as she picked up her pace, “They must have ran into a pack of demons, it smells like there’s more than one. I’m sure that they’ll be fine, but I better hurry. If I don’t, they won’t leave any for me!”

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Shortly after Inukigo had run off, Kagome informed the group that she sensed a number of jewel shards closing in on them, and Inuyasha confirmed that he could smell the demons up ahead, but neither of them could determine the exact number of demons that they would be running into. A few moments later, Inuyasha was forced to skid to a stop as an oni with a large club broke through the trees and stopped directly in his path. The oni made to smash him with the club, but Inuyasha was too fast for it and jumped clear of the heavy weapon. He made to put Kagome down a safe distance away, but was forced to jump away again, as another oni jumped out of the trees.

“They both have Shikon shards Inuyasha! And I can sense more still in the forest. I’m not sure how many though, they’re too close together.”

Inuyasha nodded indicating that he understood.

“Yeah, I can smell them all over this place. They must have been waiting for us.”

Miroku, Sango, and Kirara had already engaged in battle against the first two oni, when two more appeared from the forest as well. A look to Kagome and it was confirmed that these had Shikon shards as well.

“This was definitely meant to be an ambush. How much do you wanna bet that Naraku is behind this too?”

“I think you’re right,” a sudden thought then dawned on Kagome, “Inuyasha, where’s Inukigo?”

“Huh?” Inuyasha questioned, looking around. Kagome was right, Inukigo was missing, “Where in the Hell did she go?”

Kagome looked worried.

“Do you think she could be fighting with one out in the forest?”

Inuyasha focused his senses on the surrounding forest, tuning out the sounds of battle.

“No, there’s nothing out there.”

“Where could she have gone.”

Inuyasha was worried as well, but he didn’t want Kagome to know he was upset. He looked over at the others, who seemed to be having a bit of trouble with the four onis. He needed to go help them, but was worried about leaving Kagome on her own. In the end he decided that she would be alright if she kept her distance, that way she would have time to fire her arrows if need be.

“I’m gonna go help. Keep an eye out okay?”

Kagome nodded.

“I will. Be careful.”

“Aa. You too.”

Inuyasha ran off into the fray, and with his help, they began to beat the onis back. He managed to kill one, and was turning to see how the others were faring, and paled at what he saw. A large oni, bigger than the ones that they were fighting was stalking out of the forest right behind Kagome, and she was so focused on the battle in front of her that she didn’t even notice.

“KAGOME!! WATCH OUT!!” he yelled, and made to take off towards her as she turned around to see what he was talking about. With his attention focused on Kagome, he never noticed the heavy club coming at him until it had collided with his back, and sent him crashing to the ground. He got his head up in time to see the oni raise the club, about to strike Kagome, who had turned around and was now frozen with fear.

“KAGOME!! RUN AWAY!!”

Kagome was unable to move, and Inuyasha tried to scramble to his feet in time to stop the massive club that was rapidly descending towards her.

“KAGOME!!!”

Everything happened in a split second. One moment, the oni’s club was about to strike Kagome, and the next its arm was severed by a massive sword as it flew by. The oni’s club and arm dropped to the ground just inches in front of Kagome and she fell to the ground as her legs gave out from the shock of the close call. Inuyasha didn’t question the intervention - he had recognized the sword - and was quick to pick Kagome up and move her away from the now howling oni.

“Kagome. Kagome, are you alright? Are you hurt?”

Kagome shook her head, still amazed by her close brush with death.

“What just happened?” she questioned when she got her breath back.

Inuyasha didn’t answer but looked off in the direction the sword had come from. Kagome followed his line of sight in time to see Inukigo proudly stepping from the trees. Inuyasha shot her an annoyed glare.

‘Always the show off. What’s with that entrance?’

The oni had stopped screaming and was now clutching what was left of it’s arm as it caught sight of Inukigo and began roaring.

“How dare you, hanyou bitch! You will pay!”

Inukigo looked at the oni and replied with a bored tone.

“I think that you’re mistaken. You will be the one to pay with your life, for daring to attack the future alpha female of my pack.”

Kagome blushed and looked at Inuyasha to see that he had the same embarrassed look on his face. Inukigo didn’t seem to be bothered by what she had said and turned to look at the others.

“Miroku, Sango,” she called at the two looked at her, since the onis had stopped fighting when the larger one had been injured, “Take Kirara and stay with Kagome.”

They looked like they were about to object but then she looked at Inuyasha.

“What do you think, Inuyasha? How about we double team ‘em?”

Inuyasha looked thoughtful for a moment, then smirked when he caught on to what she was saying. He turned to look at Miroku and Sango.

“It’s alright. You can do as she said.”

“But, Inuyasha…” Kagome said with concern.

“It’ll be okay,” he whispered to her, “We used to do this all the time. Just watch.”

Kagome looked as though she wanted to object, but when Miroku, Sango, and Kirara came to stand beside her she decided that she would go along with it.

“Okay, but promise me that the two of you will be careful.”

Inuyasha gave her a loving grin.

“Of course.”

Kagome took his word for it and walked off to the side with Sango, Miroku, Kirara, and Shippou, who had just popped out from his hiding place in the bushes. Inukigo walked over to Inuyasha, her back to his, facing the three smaller onis, while he stared down the larger one. The demons were starting to advance on them when Inuyasha spoke to her quietly.

“So, I guess this means you’re not mad at me anymore?”

Inukigo smirked, though Inuyasha couldn’t see it.

“Nah. Why would I be mad, when I have this fight to look forward to?”

Inuyasha chuckled at her response.

“I guess you’re right. You ready?”

“Always. I’m heading in the direction of Touitsaiga, so you take the other way.”

Inuyasha nodded once to single his understanding.

“Okay…Now!”

Both hanyous shot off in a blur, Inukigo heading in the direction of her sword, and Inuyasha going directly opposite. Everyone was confused, having expected them to jump directly at their respective targets. Both Inuyasha and Inukigo reached the trees at the same time, having kicked off the ground only moments earlier and land against the trunk so they could gain momentum by pushing off of the tree. Inukigo chose the tree that Touitsaiga was imbedded in, and pulled it out without slowing down as she kicked off. She and Inuyasha were so perfectly synchronized, Kagome had to wonder if they had practiced doing this when they were younger. Inuyasha pulled out Tessaiga on the way back, and they both reached their starting point at the same time. Kagome, Miroku, and Sango thought that they would now rush at their targets, but Inuyasha and Inukigo surprised them again. Inuyasha came to a stop at the exact moment Inukigo reached him and grabbed her free hand. Their combined momentum made him spin around, and he went with it, using it to make her go faster until he literally threw her at the three oni that didn’t know what hit them.

Inukigo kept low to the ground as she swept between the onis, slashing at them with her claws and sword as she passed by. The demons howled as they were torn into by the red, white, and silver blur. Before they knew what was happening, Inukigo was on her way back after kicking off of another tree, and she ripped through them again. Meanwhile, Inuyasha had darted off towards the larger demon, dodging its clumsy, one armed swipe to push off a tree directly behind it. He clawed at it’s side as he passed by it again, and when he reached the starting point again, it was Inukigo’s turn to throw him. There was still momentum conserved from when he had thrown her, so when she hurled him at the larger demon, he was travelling even faster than she had. They continued to do this, taking turns throwing each other at their enemies, gaining more speed on each pass until they were nearly impossible to see.

Kagome just stared as the four demons were slowly ripped apart by a seemingly invisible force.

“I-I never knew they were so fast,” she said in awe.

Miroku watched the one-sided battle before them for a few moments before making a comment.

“They’re not.”

“Huh?” Kagome asked, confused.

“They’re not really as fast as them seem.”

“What do you mean, Miroku-sama?”

Miroku pointed at one spot on the battlefield, directly between the group of smaller oni and the larger one.

“Watch that spot very carefully, and then I’ll explain.”

Kagome did as she was told, and stared at the spot he had indicated. After a few seconds she saw Inuyasha and Inukigo standing there for a split second, before they were gone. Moments later, she saw them again in the very same place.

“What are they doing, Miroku-sama?”

“They’re throwing each other to gain speed then bouncing back from the trees and doing it again. It’s false speed, but effective nonetheless.”

Sango nodded in agreement.

“They seem to be very familiar with the technique. Their timing is perfect. They both have to reach that spot at exactly the same time, or they’ll miss the throw and lose the speed they’ve gained, and possibly leave them open for an attack.”

“Wow,” Kagome said, still watching the battle in amazement, “Inuyasha said they used to do this all the time. I suppose that’s how they got so good at it.”

“Well, they do seem to be enjoying themselves,” Shippou commented from his place on Kirara’s head.

“What do you mean, Shippou-chan?” Kagome asked.

“My eyesight and hearing are sharper than yours. I can still see them a bit and I can hear them perfectly. The two of them are laughing.”

“Laughing?” Kagome questioned, turning to look at Miroku and Sango, “Are they taking pleasure in killing those youkai so slowly?”

Miroku didn’t look like he knew what to tell her, but Sango did have some reassurance for her.

“I don’t think they are Kagome-chan. I think that they might be playing.”

“Playing? As in playing with them?”

Sango shook her head.

“No, I mean playing with each other. From what I’ve learned about dog-demon behaviour, they love the feel of the wind in their face. The technique that the two of them are using now is probably something they developed as a game when they were younger to do that. I’d say that they’d be enjoying themselves and laughing even if the demons weren’t there.”

Kagome nodded in understanding.

“I think I see what you mean.”

Everyone’s attention was drawn back to the battle as they heard a loud ‘whoop’ that sounded like it had come from Inukigo. They were surprised to see her in the air. It looked as though they were finishing off their ‘game’, Inuyasha had already killed the larger demon after throwing Inukigo up into the air instead of at the group of demons she was fighting. He stood up and sheathed Tessaiga as he watched her plummet back down towards her targets. One horizontal and two vertical slashes later, all three onis were laying dead on the ground. Inukigo sheathed her sword as well, and looked happily refreshed after working out her frustration during the fight.

She and Inuyasha made their way back to the group, and when they stopped, Inukigo was smiling and bouncing on the balls of her feet. Everyone had to smile because it was a nice change from her mood earlier that morning.

“It is nice to see you once again in bright spirits, Inukigo,” Miroku commented with a smile.

Inukigo smiled a little wider.

“Thanks. I feel much better now. It was just what I needed to put me in a good mood.”

She didn’t even flinch as a fluffy-tailed child crashed into her chest. She lifted her arms to support him so he wouldn’t have to cling to her form, and smiled down at him.

“So, what did you think of that Shippou?”

Shippou looked back up at her with brightly shining eyes.

“Sugoi! That was so cool! Can you show me how to do that?”

Inukigo chuckled lightly, recognizing the word from Kagome’s era.

“I think we should wait until you get a little bigger Shippou. You’ll get hurt if we start tossing you around like that.”

Shippou pouted and crossed his arms, and Inukigo was hard pressed to hold back her laughter. The resemblance to Inuyasha was uncanny. She ruffled his hair and held him a little bit closer.

“Don’t worry. I’ll be sure to show you how to do it as soon as you’re big enough. Some other stuff too.”

Shippou’s expression brightened and he began to bounce with excitement in her arms. Inukigo had to laugh this time, as did Sango and Miroku.

“Really?”

At Inukigo’s nod he continued.

“How big to I have to be?”

Inukigo lifted him with one arm to place him on her shoulder and then placed a finger on the side of her chin in a thoughtful pose.

“Well…for the toss you’ll have to be about this big,” she said, moving one hand level with her hip. Shippou was a little disappointed because it would be a few years before he grew to that height. Seeing his put out expression, Inukigo quickly moved to fix it.

“But some of the other stuff that I have in mind is perfect for right now. We could start as soon as we get back to the village, if you want.”

Shippou’s mood shifted again and he looked at her from his place on her shoulder.

“Really?”

“Yup,” Inukigo answered with a nod.

She stilled when she felt two small arms wrap tightly around her neck.

“Arigatou!”

Inukigo wasn’t sure what to do. She’d never experienced this type of affection before. She remembered the affection she had received from her parents when she was a small pup, and the occasional times from Inuyasha, but she had never felt affection from a child. She felt a light flush come to her face from the attention. It was so pure and unaltered and innocent, that it brought a warm feeling to her chest, and a mistiness to her eyes that surprised her.

“Y-you’re welcome,” she replied after a few moments, reaching up with one hand to scratch his back.

Kagome, who had gone with Inuyasha to retrieve Shikon shards from the dead onis, looked up from putting the sixth and final shard in her little jar just in time to see the exchange. She grinned widely, and waved her hand at Inuyasha to catch his attention. He looked up at her, and then to where she was pointing and a small smile broke out on his face as well.

The smile disappeared and a look of shock came to his face when he smelled salt in the air. Kagome noticed the change and looked at him with concern.

“What is it?”

Inuyasha shook his head, almost not believing it. He knelt down next to Kagome and whispered in her ear.

“I can smell salt. Inukigo’s eyes are tearing.”

Kagome looked at him, equally shocked.

“Is she crying?”

“No, the scent’s not strong enough. But there’s something different about it. She doesn’t smell sad.”

Kagome smiled again.

“You don’t need to be sad to cry. You can cry when your happy too, remember?”

Inuyasha had the good grace to blush and nod, recalling how he had cried the night before when Kagome had said that she loved him.

Inukigo was still holding Shippou against her shoulder, and was surprised by what the fox kit said to her next.

“I missed you.”

Inukigo’s hand stilled on Shippou’s back as he squeezed her neck a little bit tighter.

“You did?” she asked softly as she turned her head to look at him as best she could, given their position. She felt Shippou nod into her neck and began walking slowly away from the group. The others were a little confused by her actions, thinking that she was going to wander away, but then she plopped down on the ground in a cross legged position with her back to all of them.

“Why did you miss me, Shippou? I wasn’t very far.”

“I know,” he said timidly, “But I couldn’t tell where you were, and I kept thinking that…you would run away like Kagome does when Inuyasha makes her mad. But she goes down the well, and…I didn’t know where you would go when you were mad at Inuyasha.”

“Oh, I see,” Inukigo answered with a small smile while rubbing Shippou’s back lightly. She stopped and pulled him gently from her shoulder so she could look him in the eyes.

“Well, now I know what we’ll be working on first. This,” she said, tweaking his nose, “Because you should have been able to catch my scent and find out where I was. And these,” a tweak to both ears, “Because you should have been able to hear me moving through the trees. I wasn’t being that stealthy.”

Shippou blushed and lowered his head sheepishly. He knew what she was saying was right. He should have been able to do what she said, but his senses weren’t that finely tuned because he had never been taught how to use them properly. His father had never had the chance, and Inuyasha never seemed too interested in teaching him how to do anything.

“Sorry,” he said quietly.

“Oh, it’s alright. There’s nothing for you to be sorry for. Just between you and me,” she whispered loudly, pulling him closer as if to tell him a huge secret, “When we were little, it took Inuyasha ages before he could tell the difference between my scent and his. We used to play games of hide-and-seek to sharpen our tracking skills, and he would follow his own scent around in circles sometimes when he was supposed to be looking for me.”

Inukigo had said it loud enough so that everyone could hear her. Everyone except Inuyasha began to giggle lightly trying to not draw too much attention from the now growling half demon. Or in Shippou’s case, laughing hysterically at the newfound information.

“Hey…” he growled out lowly while raising his fist, trying to pass off the blush on his face as anger instead of embarrassment.

Inukigo turned her head to look at him over her shoulder with wide, innocent eyes. Then her face split into an evil grin, which he easily translated as saying, ‘the torture is only just beginning’.

‘Aw crap…why do I have the feeling that by the end of the day, every one of my embarrassing childhood stories will be common knowledge. If the Kamis were merciful, I would have my own rock to crawl under and die right about now…’

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

After much grumbling on his part about Inukigo’s fascination with embarrassing him, they had been on their way, but only after a kiss on the cheek and a feather-light touch to his mark from Kagome put him back in good spirits. Inuyasha had thought himself lucky, because not another word of their childhood was broadcasted to the rest of the group, that was until he noticed the whispers and childish giggles coming from his sister and Shippou’s direction.

Shippou had decided to travel on Inukigo’s shoulder, and every so often he heard the child giggle and was sure that his sister was revealing all sorts of embarrassing information about him. The thought of Shippou knowing all those things and rubbing them in his face later brought a scowl to his face and he began growling low in his throat. He hadn’t even been aware of what he was doing until he felt Kagome’s hands kneeding his shoulders in an attempt to catch his attention. He glanced at her over his shoulder, seeing a worried look in her eyes.

“What’s wrong, Inuyasha?” she asked quietly, “You got all tense and then started growling.”

He didn’t say anything, but threw a hard glare towards Inukigo. Kagome followed his line of sight, still not understanding what had gotten him angry because she could not hear Shippou’s soft laughter.

“I still don’t get what’s wrong,” she told him.

Inuyasha sighed and glared at the path ahead of him.

“She’s telling Shippou something. The runt keeps laughing.”

“So what? She’s probably just telling him stories.”

Inuyasha looked over his shoulder at her again.

“That’s what I’m afraid of.”

“What? Why?” she asked curiously. When he just blushed and turned away she figured it out, “Oh…you think she’s telling stories about you.”

Inuyasha grunted and nodded his head once sharply. Kagome rubbed his shoulders again in an attempt to sooth him.

“Are you sure that’s what she’s telling him?”

“Well, no…” Inuyasha replied honestly.

“She could be saying something else to him,” she offered.

“That’s not very likely,” he replied, without taking his eyes off the path.

“Why do you say that?”

“She can be a damn vengeful bitch when she wants to be. When she’s mad, she usually gives me the silent treatment, like she did earlier. But it looks like she’s gonna do something different this time.”

“Embarrass you?”

“Yeah.”

“She wouldn’t do that, would she?”

Inuyasha sent her a tolerant look.

‘I guess that means she would.’

“How many stories?”

“I don’t know. I hope she sticks to the less embarrassing ones though.”

“Yeah, I’m sure that she won’t tell anyone else about the time…oops…” in her attempt to be reassuring, she had forgotten that he probably didn’t need to know that Inukigo had told her about that.

Inuyasha blushed when he realized what she was about to say.

‘I forgot about that…’

“Yeah…maybe she won’t tell anyone else about that.”

Kagome stilled, then leaned in closer to his shoulder.

“Inuyasha, you…”

“Yeah, I know that she told you,” he replied, the blush still on his face, “She told me that she did. She was a bit groggy, so she didn’t deny anything when I asked her why the two of you had been laughing.”

Kagome blushed and lowered her head a little.

“I’m sorry, Inuyasha. I…”

“No, it’s okay. I don’t blame you for laughing at something like that,” he paused for a moment then spoke again, “I suppose I should be grateful that she’s only told you or Shippou anything…well, not counting what she said earlier.”

Kagome wrapped her arms around his neck and rested her head on his shoulder.

“It’s no big deal, Inuyasha. Everyone has embarrassing childhood moments, me included. Don’t worry about it too much.”

Inuyasha grinned, spirits lifted by Kagome’s reassurance.

“Oh, you did, did you? Care to share any?”

Kagome shook her head.

“Nuh-uh, no way. I’m not telling you. I’m honestly surprised that you haven’t heard any from my family. Mama is notorious for doing stuff like that. I expected her to break out the baby pictures ages ago. Although, she’ll probably do that as soon as we tell her that we’re ‘engaged’.”

That reminded Inuyasha of something that he hadn’t done, but should have. He had never asked permission to take Kagome as his intended. Normally, he would have to ask Kagome’s father, but Kagome had told him not long after they met that he had died when she was a little girl, shortly after Souta was born. So he would have to ask permission from her mother. He didn’t let those thoughts get to him though - he would be sure to ask as soon as they went back to her time.

“Baby pictures, huh? Can’t wait to see those,” he said with a mischievous grin on his face.

Kagome groaned and buried her face in his hair.

“Oh, why did I tell you that? Now you’ll probably ask Mama to see them.”

Inuyasha chuckled lightly and rubbed the sides of her thighs with his thumbs.

“You told me because you wanted to make me feel better, and you did, so thank you. And you’re right, I probably will start asking your mother about those pictures. I’m curious to see what you were like as a pup.”

“Really?” Kagome asked, bringing her head back up. Inuyasha nodded, “Well…if I show you the pictures and tell you some stories, will you tell me about…what you were like when you were little?”

Inuyasha grew silent. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to talk about that. His childhood was full of painful memories, and he knew that she wanted to know about those too, not just the good times. He wondered what she would think, of some of the things that he had been through, and some of the things that he had had to do to ensure that he and Inukigo survived. Inuyasha felt Kagome’s arms tighten around him and he knew then, that she would understand him. She wouldn’t care about the things he had done, and she would be there for him when he talked about the hard times. He squeezed her thighs lightly and pulled her a little tighter to him.

“Alright,” he agreed, “I think I can do that.”

“I know that it’s hard, remembering the painful times,” she said, nuzzling her cheek against his, “But it helps to talk to someone about it.”

“I know, you’ve told me that before,” he replied, returned her gesture.

“I’m glad,” she said, planting a light kiss to his neck. It didn’t touch his mark, but it was close enough to make him shiver.

“Careful, bitch,” he whispered, “Or you’re gonna make me run into a tree or something.”

Kagome giggled and propped her head up on his shoulder again.

“I didn’t realize I was so distracting. I’ll have to remember that.”

“Keh!”

“Well, would you look at that,” Miroku said from his place behind Sango on Kirara’s back. They were flying a little above and behind Kagome and Inuyasha, and although they couldn’t hear anything that they were saying, they had seen the whole exchange between the two.

“I see it,” Sango replied, getting annoyed by her companion’s nosiness.

“My, they’re getting awfully friendly with each other down there aren’t they?”

“Yes, they are,” Sango said, then turned to glare at him, “And you will not utter one word.”

Miroku looked slightly confused, but Sango knew better.

“Why, whatever do you mean, my dear Sango?”

She decided to ignore the ‘my dear’.

“I mean, you will not say one word to Inuyasha about this. I know you well enough, Houshi-sama. As soon as we stop for the night, you’ll start teasing him. You know that he has a difficult time expressing himself openly as it is, and if you make him feel self-conscious, he’s going to stop all together. Inuyasha doesn’t deserve that, and neither does Kagome-chan.”

Kirara growled in agreement.

Miroku sighed and turned his head away.

“You are right Sango. They deserve to be able to express their feelings for each other. I’ll not tease Inuyasha about it,” he then turned to face her again, and Sango inwardly groaned when she saw the lecherous gleam in his eyes, “But I would be happy to give him some pointers.”

“Do that,” Sango said, raising her fist for him to see, “And I’ll hit you hard enough to send you into next week.”

Miroku raised one hand in defence and laughed nervously.

“What if he asks?”

“If he does that, which I highly doubt, than go ahead. But ONLY if he asks you.”

“Hai, hai, Sango.”

Satisfied that he was being serious, Sango nodded then turned to keep her eyes ahead of her. It was still only mid morning, and they would have a long day of travelling ahead of them.

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Here’s chapter 8, hope everyone liked it! I’m not sure when chapter 9 will be posted (school tends to take time away from writing), but I’ll try to make it soon. Remember, reviews may have the tendency to make me write faster (again, with school that’s no guarantee, but I’ll try). Ja ne!!