InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Beast ❯ Snow and Steps ( Chapter 5 )

Disclaimer: I'm looking to own the third Inuyasha OST without buying a bootleg, but they're so expensive! $30 for a CD?! Stupid newfound principles! < Ah, well...other than that, a few plushies and other merchandise, I don't own Inuyasha or any of Rumiko Takahashi's characters in any way, shape or form. Not mine. Hers.

A/N: Only a week and a half left till I have to drive across the country and start working; I have absolutely no responsibilities besides breathing and eating till then, so I'll take further advantage and smite y'all with another chapter. Things get a leetle more adult, though it won't stay that way, and `tis still PG-13. Here we go:

Beast

Chapter 5

For the first time since she'd arrived, Kagome awoke on her own, stretching sluggishly under her covers and listening to Sango's soft breathing and light, shuffling footsteps over her head. One hand flopped out to grab her watch, and she squinted at the fluorescent display: 11:24. Time to get up...about two hours ago. Whoops.

Well, they'd needed the rest, of course. It looked like Sango wasn't getting up yet, either, so Kagome leisurely got out of bed, stretched some more, scratched in a most undignified manner and changed into more of her clothes. On an impulse, she slipped into some clingy black leggings for warmth, tugged some loose jeans on over it and also layered her favorite black denim vest over a long-sleeved maroon blouse. Thankfully, she'd been almost done growing when they lost their money, so most of her old clothes still fit, if a little tight across the chest. Not as if anyone 'cept maybe Miroku would let me catch them noticing.

That reminded her: she had an appointment to talk to the monk, and with Sango still down for the count, here was the perfect opportunity. Kagome stepped over the slayer quietly and crept towards the main hall. Now, if she could just find him without anyone n-

"My, Kagome-sama, whatever are you doing up so late? Too much sleep is bad for the skin," a woman clucked in her ear, scaring her half to death.

"Such lovely skin it is, too," another servant said wistfully from her other side, and not much farther away. Kagome vaguely felt as if she'd walked into a trap: it was almost like they'd been lying in wait!

"Whatever in the world is Sango-san doing? And where is she?" The first woman scrunched her stubby nose and shook her head firmly. "She should be attending my Lady, not lying abed, no matter what the reason."

"Indeed," the second woman sighed, trying for a patient expression and looking more like she'd just swallowed something pointy. "Inuyasha-sama is perfectly in his rights to demand her time, but she mustn't fulfill her duties one hour and then claim she's too tired the next."

"I gave her permission to sleep in," Kagome said sharply, forestalling her first attacker's sad agreement. "I find Sango perfectly satisfactory, and I'd appreciate a little less yakking in my ear when I've just gotten up. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Kagome-sama," both servants murmured, bowing deeply, faces unreadable.

"Good. Now, where's the houshi-sama at this time of day?" Kagome's stomach chose that moment to growl loudly, and the women promptly forgot their momentary chastisement.

"I'll fetch Kagome-sama something to eat before she goes faint," Snub-Nose said to her friend, who nodded as the first woman rushed off.

"Come this way, and I can assist you to bathe and find clothing more suitable to your station." The servant bowed, then whirled around almost without unbending and set off at a rapid pace. Kagome gaped after her, took a few steps to follow, and then stopped.

"I don't think so," she said coldly. The servant, almost halfway down the entrance hall, shuffled to a halt, realized that Kagome was standing still, and came back with thinly disguised annoyance.

"My Lady must have misheard me," she said impatiently. "I must ask that-"

"No, you must not have heard me." Kagome put her hands on her hips, straightening her back and reminding herself that as a `lady,' she didn't have to take any crap from the servants; if they were going to pull this on her this soon, all the better if she played the part and made some things clear now. Let's see if I can do it without screaming at them...

She kept her voice low and even, but strong, perfectly audible even to the first woman as she approached with breakfast and stopped a few yards away. "For one thing, I like to bathe at night, not in the mornings. And these are my clothes, as I have already explained to your master, and I will wear them if I want to. For another thing, I don't like stupid gossip about your fellow servants, especially not in a situation like this."

Kagome was gratified but not fooled as the woman lowered her eyes and bowed her head. "If you want to think like that, it's your choice," she continued, glancing at the other servant, whose resentful stare dropped into a similar attitude. "But if I hear any more of it, either to my face or if you keep harassing Sango, I'm going straight to Inuyasha, and we'll just see what he says about it. Do you understand?"

At the mention of the lord's name, both servants went pale, and they dropped to their knees, making it very clear that they were sorry and would not dream of displeasing the Lady again.

Kagome softened her tone just a bit, knowing any outright apology would be interpreted as weakness. "Good. I'd hate to have to bother him with this, and it's too petty for you to have to face him because of it."

She eyed the breakfast tray longingly, but decided with a sigh that Miroku came first. The chagrin made lying politely that much easier. "I know you two were acting in my defense, but I would prefer that you spend your time working for your master and let Sango worry about me till I decide she's not doing her job, or until Inuyasha removes her." They looked momentarily and positively gleeful at that, and Kagome made a mental note to tell Inuyasha not to believe anything he didn't see or hear personally. "You're dismissed."

"Thank you, Kagome-sama," they sing-songed in unison, gliding off towards the kitchen with the tray and whispering urgently. Kagome ignored their giggles and patted herself on the back: she'd already discovered the only threat she needed to keep them out of her hair and hopefully out of Sango's business.

Then it occurred to her that she still had no clue where Miroku was, and she ceased patting in favor of kicking. I had them right where I wanted them, and I forgot! Damn!

The castle was way too big for her to just wander around blindly. Beyond this entrance hall was another hall, and probably another judging from the size of the second floor. Sango hadn't taken her over much of the third floor yet, and she hadn't paid much attention to the rest of the first because it was mainly guest rooms, smaller meeting rooms, kitchens and baths. Short of wandering around and asking random servants or - God forbid - trying to find Inuyasha and ask him, Kagome had no clue how she was going to locate Miroku without Sango.

Maybe she should just tell Sango and leave the monk to her mercy...but her curiosity was at it again, and she knew Sango would suspect something if Kagome insisted upon being left alone with the lech. So now what?

"Kagome!" Like a furry cannonball, Shippou launched himself straight at her head out of nowhere, and she muffled a gasp as she caught him: her arm, which had been quiescent as she got up and dressed, suddenly twinged painfully.

"Hey, Shippou-chan," she panted, letting him settle down on her shoulder.

"It's been forever since you were supposed to wake up," he said in her ear, mercifully quiet out of respect for their proximity. "Inuyasha was getting really mad."

She frowned at him. "Why would he get mad about that?"

Shippou's eyes widened. "Uh...no reason. Say, where's Sango?"

"Still asleep. Say, is there any way you could tell me where Miroku is?" she asked hopefully.

"Right here, Kagome-sama," the monk said from behind her, and she jumped back with a shriek.

"What is it with people coming at me today?!" Kagome griped, one hand to her heart.

"Such unusual beauty as yours must naturally attract attention wherever it goes," he said smoothly, eyeing her `heart' and the curves around it with keen interest. "And speaking of which, where's Sango-sama this lovely noon?"

"She's asleep, and I have to talk to you before she wakes up," Kagome said firmly, drawing his appreciative gaze upwards.

Miroku raised his eyebrows. "Is there anything wrong, Kagome-sama?"

"You'll have to tell me." Kagome gently dislodged Shippou and set him on the floor. "Can you do me a favor, Shippou-chan?"

"Want me to stand guard and distract her if she wakes up?" the kit suggested.

Kagome grinned and ruffled his hair. "That's exactly it!" He batted her hands away, pretending indignation, then grinned back up at her. "It shouldn't take long, Shippou-chan. I'll have something for you when we're done."

The little boy brightened up even more. "Yaaaay!" He practically flew to the shoji and bowed with exaggerated grace. "You can count on me, milady!"

"Good boy!" Kagome clapped, then fixed Miroku with a look. "Now, where's some place we can talk in private? And you're walking ahead of me."

Miroku pulled a mournful face, sighed and set off across the hall. "Follow me, Kagome-sama." This wasn't going to be much fun.

"Why did you lie?"

Miroku gulped, scooting away from her as much as the stuffy room's scant space would allow. "I beg your pardon, Kagome-sama?"

"You told Sango Inuyasha would kill you if she didn't agree to take care of me, and he distinctly told me that it was actually your idea in the first place!" Kagome folded her arms, and her Look grew darker. Miroku half expected flames to start licking the air around her at any second.

"Well, I may have stretched the matter a bit," Miroku admitted, giving her the best smile he could manage under the circumstances. It didn't make so much as a dent. "But I did not lie. Inuyasha would in fact have been very annoyed if Sango-sama had refused and I had had to procure ano-"

"I hardly think that justifies the way you manipulated both of us, and especially Sango!" Kagome snapped. "And what if I hadn't turned out to be a semi-sane adult? What if I'd really been some spoiled kid who made her life hell? What would've happened then?"

"Then I would have suggested one of the servants who speak so freely about her in the kitchens be permitted to relieve her of her duties," Miroku replied, calm returning gradually. She was angry, but it wasn't the homicidal rage they'd all witnessed yesterday, and like the servants, he could tell the difference.

"So you found out what they're saying?" Kagome asked, wary of changing the subject but suddenly curious.

Miroku nodded gravely. "Even worse than I'd suspected. If I may be so bold..."

She waited, expecting the worst.

"I would like to express my appreciation of your befriending her. You've been better for her than I'd hoped when I first spoke to Inuyasha about it." Miroku smiled, sadness touching his eyes for the first time, and bowed deeply from the waist.

"Eh?" Kagome frowned at him. "What do you mean?" She'd guessed it was some kind of trick designed to amuse Miroku and possibly Inuyasha once he figured it out.

"Well..." Miroku shifted very subtly, and she noticed his acute discomfort as he tried to decide just how honest he should be. "Sango is not here of her own choosing," the monk said finally. "She didn't deserve to get stuck here under the curse any more than we did-even less than we did, I'd say. Without her little brother for company, she's been very lonely, and he isn't with her constantly even when awake. I was hoping that perhaps another female, even a child, would ease her sense of isolation, and she'd be able to help the child with her own fear and loneliness." Miroku's eyes had gone distant, darkened to near midnight blue and fixed on his bead- wrapped hand. "I'm sure you've noticed that Sango is remarkably strong, both within and without, but to assume she's any different from a normal woman, needs company and acceptance any less, is grossly unfair. I apologize for my dishonesty in pushing her to accept you...I knew it was wrong, but..." His voice sunk to a whisper. "All I wanted was to take a chance at making her happy." Miroku raised his eyes to hers, and for just a moment, as with Inuyasha, Kagome could almost feel his pain, a well of feeling deeper than any flippancy or lechery could hide forever. "Do you understand, Kagome-sama?"

"I think so," she whispered, feeling no small amount of distress herself. "I'm so sorry I misjudged you, Miroku-sama. Please forgive me." She bowed her head.

Miroku broke the tension with a light chuckle. "No, no, there is nothing to forgive."

Very distantly, Kagome heard a faint shout. That sounded like Shippou...

"After all," Miroku went on merrily, so intent on lightening the mood that he failed to notice rapid footsteps outside, "I did lie to you and Sango- sama to your faces on more than one occ-"

A chill wind seemed to sweep the room. Kagome groaned and placed her hand over her eyes as Miroku hunched defensively and turned to look behind him. Sango had quietly slid the shoji open, having just heard him through its paper thinness.

"Sango-s-sama," he stuttered, leaping gracefully to his feet and holding his staff out in appeal, ready to block if the need arose. "I was just saying that-"

Two heartbeats later, the monk was laid out cold, a lump made with his own staff swelling rapidly on the side of his head. Sango threw it down next to him and eyed Kagome, breathing heavily. "He lied, did he?'

Kagome sighed. "Yeah, he did." But it seemed unfair to tell Sango everything she'd just heard-that was the kind of thing the slayer needed to hear from him directly. "D'you mind if we go get something to eat? I'm starving."

Contriteness overcame anger, and Sango massaged her temples slowly. "Gods, I'm sorry, Kagome-chan. I didn't think about that. Please follow me and we'll have some br-lunch."

Aside from the very general specifics of how Miroku had lied to them, Kagome declined to discuss the incident further. She distracted both Sango and Shippou after lunch by digging through her things and giving Shippou one of her own favorites, a strawberry lollipop. Once he understood what the thing was for, the kit happily settled down to watch Kagome open a bottle of aspirin and explain its purpose to Sango.

"They help make headaches go away if you swallow two of them whole." She demonstrated, catching them and flipping them forward with her tongue to keep them from going down at the last second. "With my family, I always had to keep some of this handy. They take a while to work, but anything's better than nothing."

Sango got two capsules down with only three tries and felt the effects after only ten or so minutes. "That's remarkable. I wish I'd had some of that growing up!"

"You can have as much as you like," Kagome offered, tossing her another full bottle. "It's cheap, and you can get it anywhere."

"Thank you." Sango smiled and slipped the bottle into her kimono. "Are you sure you won't need it yourself?"

"Not when I'm here." Kagome snorted. "Half-breeds and demons fighting are nothing compared to my sisters when it's that time of the month and we run out of chocolate ice cream. That's a kind of cold, sweet mush you eat to feel better."

"You must miss your family, though," Shippou commented sadly, having just finished his lollipop by chewing it off the stick with his tiny but effective fangs.

Kagome hesitated. She did worry about how they were doing, but Sango had mentioned earlier that Inuyasha had returned the Bug last night, so they had the car back. The family was probably surviving, if not running too smoothly without her, but Kagome almost relished the thought of Nabiki and Akemi finally forced to pull their weight without her to pick up after them. No way the boys would ever do it. They're almost as lazy as those two are! And she had already caught herself forgetting the shrine every now and then, enjoying the castle's deep quiet, spending entire days with no responsibilities but to talk with her first friend since their move and eat dinner with a jerk who was, well, no fun to be around, not to mention cursed, but it could've been worse. He could've eaten her, after all. "I do," she answered slowly. "But this isn't the nightmare I'd imagined it would be." She rummaged through a bag and produced another sucker, which the kit immediately seized and attacked with childlike ferocity.

"I'm glad to hear that." Sango smiled at her, then beckoned her to come closer. "Let's see how your arm is doing, now."

It was healing nicely, and aside from the stress of catching Shippou, none of her use of it had hurt her thus far today. "Very good," Sango said, rebinding it. "It should be mended by the time Kaede has more medicine for it created. Not much surprise she ran out, considering how Inuyasha looked after yesterday morning."

Kagome couldn't help a smile. "Oh?"

"Mmmm. He couldn't move at all for a good portion of the day. He's terrible at hiding these things, but he was still fine by the time you saw him."

"Wow. Oh, that's right..." Kagome scratched under the bandage. "What does he do during the day?"

"I'm not sure," Sango answered thoughtfully. "The houshi-sama would know." She sniffed and knelt with a thump. "I don't know when he'll wake, of course."

Kagome deemed it wise to let that subject drop. "I think I'll clean the rest of this up." Sango followed her gaze to the haphazard piles atop the boxes. "It's too cold today to go out, but if we do this now, we can play tomorrow. How does that sound?" she asked Shippou, who nodded eagerly and had to be pulled feet-first out of his nosedive into her clothes.

"You'll be a bigger help if we start," Sango assured him, setting him down on the bed. "Now, where shall we begin?"

They were almost done by the time Sango escorted Kagome to Inuyasha's room. "I'll finish with the last two trunks," Sango whispered, pushing her forward gently. "Good luck."

Kagome was glad Sango had been able to tell her about the weather: the heavy, sullen clouds and biting cold that'd howled around the castle all day were perfectly mirrored in Inuyasha's sullen, striped countenance. "Took you long enough," he muttered.

"We were cleaning." She'd wondered if the almost-okay end of their last conversation would put him in a friendlier mood tonight.

That idea went straight down the crapper. "What the hell do you mean, you were cleaning?" Inuyasha glared at her as though she'd said she was sacrificing small children. "That's what the servants are for, wench!"

"They don't know any of my stuff, what it is or how to put it up. They could've broken something," Kagome pointed out, eating faster in hopes that they could get this over with quicker somehow tonight. She was pleasantly worn out, but the good tiredness could easily turn into crankiness the way this jerk was going.

"Do you have any clue what it looks like for my hostage to be doing her own cleaning like some kind of servant?" Inuyasha toyed with his food, for once not shoveling it between glances or pretending not to eat and sneaking bites.

"What do you care what it looks like? You're in charge," she snapped. His plan to humiliate her seemed to have been forgotten; now it was more convenient for her to be a guest and not lift a finger without complete necessity!

"That's not the damn point! My point is, you're supposed to have the maids take care of your crap, not you!" He jabbed his chopsticks directly at her, and she seethed for a few seconds before willing herself to calm down.

"I'm not used to having servants, okay?" Kagome also found herself pushing her rice around and forced herself to eat. "Sango did help me, and Shippou. Either way, there's nothing wrong with being able to take care of yourself."

"There is a problem with not knowing when to take care of yourself and when to sit back and let someone else do their job," he shot back. "You're not slaving away in that little dump with six other people anymore. Just try to remember that, okay?"

That hurt, worse than anything else he could've said. Her knuckles went white around her bowl and utensils. "Don't you ever suggest I lowered myself by taking care of my family," she hissed, trying and nearly succeeding in glaring holes into his bloody eyes. "I don't care how lazy or greedy or dense they are sometimes, they are my family, and we have a thousand times more honor than any vulgar, spoiled, whining, selfish, insensitive, thickheaded, violent noble pig who doesn't know if he wants his hostage to act like dirt or royalty! Whichever one you can use at the moment to bitch at me, I guess!"

"What the fuck is your problem?" Inuyasha had also gone rigid, spurred by rage rolling off her in nose-stinging waves. "I take you in, I let you do whatever you want, have whatever you want, eat whatever-and you still compare me to that precious family of yours back there? They let you work like a dog for them! And then they sent you off to die at the first sign of trouble, and you turn on me and make them into saints when I treat you as well as I know how! Don't think I wasn't listening when your idiot sire started talking in his sleep!"

"Stop calling him that!" Kagome didn't realize she was crying till a drop spattered on her hands. She touched her face in surprise to find tracks rapidly forming down both sides of her face.

Inuyasha's ears were laid back, and he shook his head wildly. "All right, dammit, I will. Just stop cr-"

"Shut up!" He backed away further as her eyes hardened, tears still brimming but not spilling over. "I don't give a rat's ass what they did! And for your information, I only came because Kirara took off too fast for my dad and brother to pull me back down! They did not shove me off here and then party because they were all safe! Your treating me decently was all I would expect of anyone after the way you took me away from them! And how do you call being mocked, ridiculed and imprisoned decent?"

"Don't give me that, bitch! In case you haven't noticed, you started it, not me, and any time you want me to stop, you can just keep your own damn mouth shut! And your prison is the finest building you've probably ever had the chance to gawk at, so don't pretend you hate it here!"

"I started it, Monsieur Took-You-Long-Enough, Why-Were-You-Cleaning, Why-Don't-You-Treat-The-Servants-Like-Toys-That-Only-Exist-For-Your-Own-Amu sement? And that was just tonight! Why should I sit here and let you insult me?!" She took several gulps of air in the vain hope that it would calm her down. "And has it ever occurred to you that being stuck in a moldy old castle and hostage to a wishy-washy jerk-off with a God complex is not something I'd be grateful for? That anyone would be grateful for?"

"And do you think I want you here?" he yelled right back, hurling his bowl at the wall and vaporizing the rice paper. Neither knew how far it flew before shattering: they were locked in another glaring match, and his weakness at her tears was long gone. "If it were up to me, the last thing I'd have hanging around my home would be a whiny, ungrateful bitch with your face!"

All the breath went out of Kagome's lungs. Her mouth fell open, and a dry hand seemed to be squeezing her chest from the inside, but the sickening impact of his words, the hatred behind them, left her more numb than hurt. Her eyes were completely dry.

It took Inuyasha a minute to realize she wasn't responding, and another to backtrack and realize just what he'd said. He swallowed hard, red eyes wide with guilt and alarm. "K-Kagome, I didn't...I didn't mean it th-"

"Shut up," she said automatically, groping for the floor to push herself to her feet. "I'm going home now."

"No! Kagome, wait!" He darted in front of her, blocking her attempts to move past him without touching her. "Kagome, I didn't mean it!"

"You didn't mean it?" Kagome stared at him, her voice flat. "You didn't mean it?"

"No! I didn't mean it the way you think I did!" Some of the feeling returned to her eyes, and Inuyasha braced his feet, waiting for her to slap him, scream at him, punish him somehow and make him feel better for having crossed one line too many.

Punish him, she did. As he watched helplessly, she slowly shook her head, sank to the floor, and began to sob.

"No! Kagome, please don't cry!" This was worse than anything he'd ever heard. She was not sniffling lightly, or wailing, or being loud or demanding attention in any way. In fact she almost seemed to curl on herself, burying her head in tight-drawn arms to muffle the sound of deep, biting sobs that made her whole body shudder and tore at him with each breath she took. As her control failed and she began to cry harder, Inuyasha suddenly realized what it was that made it sound so heart- wrenching: even with his demonic ears, and though she'd gotten louder, he could barely hear her. If he'd been in another room and not paying attention, the sound would've completely escaped his notice.

"I can't hear you," he said roughly, trying to cover the sudden urge to touch her somehow...hold her, let her dry her face off, he didn't know what. He did know he had no clue how he was supposed to fix this, or how to react to the vibes he was getting.

Idiot. As if she'd calm down with your filthy hands on her.

That niggling little voice effectively squashed the notion of brushing her hair back as his hand had been about to do; Inuyasha snatched it back and tried again with the only weapon he'd ever had: anger. If he could reach her any way, that would be it. With all the effort he could put in it, he tamped down on his weaker instincts and snapped at her: "Oi, wench! If you're gonna cry, make it count!"

Her head snapped up, and she stared at him with so much incredulous surprise that he knew she'd been unaware of his existence for a minute there. "I can barely hear you," he said quietly, looking away from her puffy, reddened brown eyes before his cover was blown. "If you're trying to let some feeling off, let it off. I'm not such a prick that I'd make fun of you for it."

"Just everything else!" Kagome rasped, wiping her eyes angrily on her sleeve. "I can't believe you-" And she was off again, but louder, angrier sobs that he could almost ignore. Almost.

"I know, I know, I'm a complete asshole," he said quietly, pulling the table towards her and sliding his tea forward. "Here, drink it before you choke and I have to clean you up."

"Rot in hell." She sniffled, but was so parched and congested that she made no other argument, reached over and downed the expensive stuff in one searing gulp. A quick turn with a linen napkin took care of her nose, though it disgusted Inuyasha so much that she shakily burst out laughing at the expression on his face: mouth gaping, one eye wide and the other almost squinted shut.

"That's just..." He dove away as she pretended to throw it to him. "Gods, wench, don't do that!"

Kagome laughed harder, only stopping to cough and blow one more time before folding it very carefully. "Sorry. I agree. It was just really bad."

"It's okay," he muttered, so quietly that she almost missed it. Inuyasha's head had drooped almost to his knees, and her rage at him ebbed away. He was obviously sorry, and his next statement just confirmed another point. "Pathetic. Not even the wimpy wolf goes around making women cry."

"It actually felt kind of nice," she offered, wiping her soaked hands on her soaked blouse. "I never get the chance to let it out like that. So if you want to use this as another excuse to think you're some kind of monster, I'm gonna-"

"We're not discussing this," Inuyasha said abruptly, standing and sliding open his shoji. "I don't deserve to be asking anyone right now...gods, I hate this curse...will you marry me?"

Kagome swallowed and shook her head. "No, I will not."

"That's because you're not a complete idiot. Good night."

Needless to say, relating and discussing this little episode took the entire time she and Sango spent in the tub, then all through preparing for bed and then nearly all night, especially with Shippou curled up next to Kagome on her pillow.

"I bet I know why he was such a jerk," Shippou said wisely, snuggling under the crook of Kagome's arm as she tweaked his hair gently. He yawned. "You smell really nice. It makes guys act funny sometimes."

"Do I?" Kagome asked, smiling sardonically and hoping his demon eyes weren't good enough to see her in the dark. "It must be one helluva stink to get him to act like that."

"He might have a point, Kagome-chan," Sango's voice said uneasily from the floor. "I never thought you wouldn't know about it."

"What?" Kagome raised her head, then settled back as Shippou murmured a sleepy protest.

"After he falls asleep," Sango whispered, and Kagome waited obediently till the kit's breathing was deep and regular before repeating the question.

She heard a sigh, then Sango speaking low and crisply. "Demons and partial demons can smell much more keenly than we can, and that includes all kinds of body odors, including your woman's cycle. You said you were having trouble with yours?"

"Yeah, the way I've been snapping at everyone, it should be any day now," Kagome said apprehensively. She needed to check if Kirara had brought her supplies for that...

"They can smell that, too. As a slayer, as soon as I became a woman, I learned that about five or six days before your time, your body tries to attract men by scent-only human men can't smell it. We don't know why. All we know is that demons can detect it, and though most of them technically know you're not trying to seduce them, it tends to make them...edgy."

"Oh." Kagome could feel her face heating up. "So Inuyasha and Kouga didn't attack me and just looked at me funny when I went ballistic because...?"

"I'd attribute that more to shock than anything....As I said, Inuyasha wouldn't hurt you in any case, but Kouga may very well have tried to get his revenge another way if you hadn't stood up to him."

The thought made her mouth go dry with revulsion. "So...he...he...and Shippou-"

"He's too young to understand why he likes the smell so much. And I may be wrong about Kouga. As much as he hates Inuyasha, to force himself on a guest in his host's care would be beyond the pale. Even wolves have standards," Sango reassured her, cursing her insensitivity.

Kagome rubbed at the fading bruises on her upper arm. "God, I hope you're right. Will it go away when I start?"

"It should, and then you'll smell different, but not nearly the way they like. Next month, I'll have Kaede make you a tea that suppresses the scent. You have to take it twice every day for three days before, though. It's too late for now."

Well, this was interesting. It could explain why Inuyasha was always so pissy, in addition to the curse: his hormones were cheering him on when the rest of him was repulsed. It made sense. Maybe he'll be nicer to me once it goes away.

And maybe I'll wake up tomorrow and my toes will be made out of caramel. Either one could happen.

But between the imminent lack of the distracting smell and the freshness of his self-disgust in mind from tonight, Kagome might be able to see what Inuyasha was really like tomorrow, or the next night. He'd been okay a few times before, and he hadn't made fun of her for crying in front of him as she'd feared, so who knew? As long as she had to be around him, might as well try to make friends, if possible...

She took a while to drift off, but when she did, it was a heavy, dreamless slumber that didn't break till Shippou shook her awake well after dawn. "Kagomeeee! Kagomemememememe! Look how hard it's snowing! We gotta go! You promised!"

"Leave her alone, Shippou," Sango ordered, pulling Kagome's heaviest sweater out of her trunk. "You can wear your clothes outside, Kagome-chan, then put on a kimono to keep warm and...modest, after we're done," Sango said cheerfully, even the slight pause.

Kagome understood perfectly: the heavier garment would help keep her scent literally under wraps. That was probably another reason why Inuyasha had complained about her own clothes, too.

Once breakfast was consumed and they were all bundled up, one last surprise stumbled his way out of a guest room, blinking wearily at them, settling on Sango. "Ane-ue?"

Kagome grinned, recognizing a very old and respectable form of "big sister" as Sango cried, "Kohaku!" and swept the boy into a huge hug.

"C'mon, sis, cut it out," Kohaku mumbled, blushing so that his freckles disappeared under the red. He had slightly darker hair and eyes than Sango, but they were undeniably siblings. She set him down reluctantly and introduced him to Kagome, and he responded with gentle politeness despite his evident need to sit down.

"Ah, Kohaku-kun," Miroku called out, striding in from outside and whipping the door shut before more snow could filter in. "I see you're awake. Would you care to join us?"

"What's this us?" Sango muttered, but Kohaku shook his head.

"No, thank you, houshi-sama...I think I need to sit down for a while." He tottered off with Sango in close attendance.

"He's the last one," Miroku said, almost to himself.

"The last one awake?" Kagome asked, and Miroku nodded. "Is that important?"

"Kagome-sama catches on quickly, as usual." Miroku paused. "Yes." Pause. "I may be allowed to say, then, that the deadline"

And Kagome and Shippou watched his mouth move without sound. "Are you not a pervert, Miroku-sama?" Kagome asked in sudden inspiration, and burst out laughing at his murderous look: he couldn't answer yet. "Ah, silence. Never mind answering, then, `cause you just admitted it!"

"That was uncalled-for, Kagome-sama," he hmphed a few seconds later.

"What was?" Sango asked, coming up and leading them out the door.

Kagome had to shout it over the wind, but once she conveyed the story, Sango praised her ingenuity in humiliating the monk for so long that she received the first snowball of the day, and certainly not the last. Everyone, without exception, spent a great time either eating or throwing snow, or both, and though there were a few sore faces every now and then, the snow was just soft enough not to really sting. Though they had to take a break at midmorning to go inside and warm up, and then another one at lunch, the foursome had established a set of rounds for snowball wars by the time they went out in the afternoon.

The sky had lightened and the cold's bite had lessened just enough for less hardy souls to wander out, and it was men versus women again, Shippou perching on Kagome's shoulder as usual and Kirara acting as Sango's occasional shield and mobile fort in her large form. It was only fair: Kohaku had just emerged to join the fun, along with three youths from amongst the servants, while only two women had come to help Kagome and Sango. Miroku had gone inside a few hours ago, but his absence was soon covered by more help from the servants, some of whom lingered in their firewood duties to watch their usually solemn resident demon-slayers and upper servants fling white powder at each other for no real reason.

Kagome was rather proud of herself: everyone, it seemed, was having a blast. Even when the war dissolved into a free-for-all snow melee, she managed to hold her own till Sango stuffed a handful down the back of her shirt and she had to retaliate by trying to trip the slayer, who only went down because she was laughing too hard to stay upright and support Kagome's laughing weight.

"What in the hells is going on here?"

Their lord's voice brought the fun to a standstill. Older servants hurriedly straightened up, dropped their snow and bowed, trying to dislodge snow stuck in various places without being rude. Still on the ground, Kagome looked up in irritation.

Inuyasha crouched on the railing of the second floor balcony - maybe the same one she'd confronted Kouga on - and glared down at them, making what Kagome had to admit was an impressive sight, framed as he was with his white hair billowing out, face set to Scary and grey clouds roiling behind him and speedily gaining on the castle. There goes our calm...Kagome sighed. Oh, well.

"You have ten seconds to get back to your duties before I start beheading and looking for dependable servants." Inuyasha sketched the kanji for 10 in the air with one claw. "10."

There was a mad rush back to the castle doors, and the last one was inside as he drew 7. He smirked, then threw a last look down at the others before heading back inside himself.

"That jerk," Kagome muttered. Honestly, it was at least an hour till dinnertime. He could've let them play a few minutes longer, or announced that they had a certain time to get back to work. "C'mon, Sango-chan, let's get back inside. We better take our bath now, too." They were both covered in dried sweat, which just reminded her of her biggest worry...she'd never thought she would ever want that time of the month to roll around so much!

At least he couldn't smell me up there, she consoled herself after a long, heavenly bath as Sango helped her with three underkimonos and the coup de grace, a magnificent purple silk kimono embroidered with multicolored flowers and tiny birds in patterns as beautiful as the colors themselves-red, white, gold, green, blue and bronze. If she hadn't been so self-conscious, Kagome would have fussed over it considerably more, and only resisted a strong urge to pin her hair up with the stronger urge to cover as much skin as possible, even if it was just with hair. She almost welcomed the tightness of her pale green and blue obi, too-anything to keep the kimono as shut as possible.

Dinner had never taken so long or so quick a time to arrive...

The object of all her worries gave her a careless glance as she came in. That was all.

"Good evening," Kagome said evenly, kneeling with much more grace and assurance than she felt. Ha. Take that....Whatever `that' is.

"Mmmph." He sipped at his tea, nodding vaguely at her and ignoring his food till she picked up her chopsticks and deliberately clicked the tips together. Inuyasha jumped, picked his up, and eyed her briefly again before starting his meal.

"We had a lot of fun outside today," she said mildly, wondering at his near- zombielike stare. She'd expected another lead-in to their usual shouting match. It was almost a letdown.

"Mmm. I saw," he mumbled, still eating slowly and methodically.

"Really?" Kagome put her head to one side. "How long did you watch?"

"Few hours. I dunno." Inuyasha missed her jaw dropping and her quick recovery.

What the...? This was new. She'd concluded after talking more with Miroku, who was after all Inuyasha's adviser, that Inuyasha's politeness that first dinner must've been on his advice, and God only knew if he'd had a battle plan for their other `discussions.' Somehow, she doubted Miroku was behind this particular tack. The only question was, what was he doing? And how long has he been stalking me?!

Kagome would've been fairly surprised to discover that not even Inuyasha knew what he was doing. True to the women's assumptions this time, Kagome's scent had been a source of buried but nonstop irritation for him, even if it did provide ample excuse the last day or so for his growing, almost violent attraction to her: just her body talking, most likely without her even knowing it. He wasn't stupid enough to tell her, and even if Sango had filled her in yet, what of it? Just one more reason for Kagome to be wary of him till her time was past.

Knowing it was purely chemical in nature didn't help. In fact, it made him even angrier now as he realized that his body was getting tired of listening to his mind. Any lack of control over his already tightly bound life was beyond infuriating. The only thing that really helped was comparing this strange, violent-tempered girl to her, and then his body subsided nicely and he was able to go on snarling and glaring like nothing was wrong, because then nothing was wrong.

Until she showed up for dinner in her favorite kimono, looking achingly familiar except for her hair down, slightly wavy across the shoulders. And her face was different, he conceded, not in its structure so much as its character. Kagome smiled way more, shouted way more, laughed-

And then his body started bugging him again, and when he pointed out the differences between Kagome and his memories of her to it, this time it sneered at him. She was beautiful in her own assured, regal, and serene way, and this girl, who yelled, cried, played in the snow and argued him down to nothing, was...well, she was stunning. Beyond stunning.

His mind leapt to the offensive: okay, yeah, she was, but look at her in that kimono...that wasn't Kagome, that was her. He was projecting. Recreating her in this near-clone and thinking of her the same way he'd wanted her all that time ago. What kind of lust-crazed monster was he to want someone new because she was here, she was in heat and she looked like a woman dead for centuries but always alive in his heart?

Kagome had no way of knowing his increasingly stormy thoughts, but his expression was a pretty good indicator. Painful as it was, the face remark from last night came back to her, and she began to remember a few of her theories.

No way in hell I'm asking him now, though. As soon as we finish and he asks, I'm out of here. The kimono layers were beginning to stifle her, but she didn't dare flap them to shuffle air in and out now.

Absently, and with complete detachment, she finished her soup and studied him briefly, wondering if he could be considered at all good-looking under the demonic features. To her mild surprise, she conceded that if you got rid of the stripes, shortened the fangs and gave him normal eyes, he wouldn't be at all bad to look at. Maybe kinda cute, even. Too bad he's such an ass. If I want good looks with a bad personality, I can always call Houjou...or Kouga.

The very thought made her shudder, and Inuyasha came out of his trance just in time to notice it.

"So Sango told you about your reek and you're wondering when I'm gonna jump you?" he demanded, ignoring the little voice as it triumphantly pointed out its rightness once more.

"What?" Kagome blinked, then shook her head. "No, I was just thinking about that creepy wolf again. I'm lucky he didn't do anything." She shuddered again, and Inuyasha eyed her suspiciously.

"Are you?" he mumbled, almost to himself.

"What?" Kagome bristled. "Look, I don't know what's gotten into you, but if it's my smell, I frickin' apologize for being female. Now ask me and we can both go to bed." Cough. "Separately. Yeah."

"Wolves mate for life," Inuyasha said aimlessly, draining his sake cup. "If he gets his paws on you, you're his. Keep that in mind."

She flinched. "All right! I get it! Now ask me, will you? This thing is roasting."

His mind, on the lookout for points against the girl in front of him, leapt on that like a fish into water. "What, is that kimono not good enough for you? That's one of my favorites."

"Mine, too," Kagome snapped, certain now that it was a Clone Thing. "It's beautiful, and I'm glad Sango picked it out for me. Now please ask me so I can go change."

"Damn, wench, I know I'm not that much fun to be around, but you can at least pretend to have some manners." Inuyasha deliberately splashed sake into her teacup. "Is that enough for ya?"

"You jerk!" She sprang to her feet. "I was trying to be nice, but if you're PMSing, too, you can lay there awake all night for all I care! Good night!"

"Y'know, I always thought Sango was pretty unfeminine..." Inuyasha had moved to block her and had one arm resting casually across the shoji. "But the way you talk makes her look like a princess, y'know that?"

"And the way you act in general makes cat vomit seem polite and welcoming," Kagome retorted. "Get out of my way."

"What're you gonna do if I don't?" Inuyasha knew this was stupid, but that scent was starting to drift his way, and though he naturally had perfect control over the situation, it wouldn't hurt to test her out a little. Right?

He got his answer as she glared at him, then gave him one of the worst shocks of his life: she placed her bare hand over his and plucked it off the shoji, limp as it was with unnerved surprise. "There."

"What the..." Kagome paused in the act of opening it to watch Inuyasha back up, staring at his hand in horror. "The hell did you do that for?!"

"I don't have cooties, you immature moron!" she yelled, stung by his reaction. "I promise you won't die! Unless you don't move, of course!"

"Fine! Get out of here!" He stabbed a finger at the shoji and left the room quicker than he'd ever gone before.

Kagome just stood there for the count of twenty. She was free to loosen her kimono, or go back to her room and change...or...

Mind roiling with evil possibilities and maybe a few grains of concern over his not having asked her tonight, she stiffened her spine and glided as quickly as she could through the trail of open shoji he'd left behind. He was not getting away with this!

If he doesn't apologize somehow, I'm going to have to oh dear Lord looky there...

Her mind diverted brainpower to more important things as she rounded a corner and stopped on the threshold of Inuyasha's room. A single good-sized window let in a nearly full moon, and once again framed directly in the center, like a shot from a movie but much better, stood Inuyasha. Next to his futon. Without his haori. And the top half of his white kimono folded down, and nothing else on his torso.

Okay, disregarding the face for now: in all female honesty, she had to admit that his broad shoulders, lean muscle, well-defined everything and toned...well...everything...were...wait, what was she going to do again?

A slight noise slid in on her drooling reverie, and as it crescendoed, she recognized it as a growl. Not a good one, either. "Yeah? You gonna say something, bitch? Or are you just gonna gawk?"

He was angry. Not good. Kagome concentrated fiercely on shoveling dirty thoughts out and packing angry thoughts back in. "Look, I don't know what your problem is..."

"Oh really?" Inuyasha could smell her stronger than ever now, and if she didn't leave soon, his mind was going to get beaten up and shoved in a closet for a while. It was losing fast.

"All right, fine! I just..." Another glance at him and she couldn't think about anything. Craa-aap! Is this what being a guy is like?! How do they ever get anything done?!

"What?" The single word dripped with so much malice that she had to think of a question, and fast.

"Who is it that you all knew that I look like now?"

Oh.

Fuck.

If he'd been malicious a moment ago, the look he slowly turned on her was beyond demonic. Closer to Satanic, but scarier-to her, anyway.

Inuyasha deliberately took a step towards her. Kagome just watched, flattened back against the screen. Then another. One more, then two, and he was within reach. He took a large step, and casually rested his left hand on the shoji, next to her right ear.

She could smell the sake on his breath, and noted in the part of her mind not busy looking into his larger-than-usual red eyes that his bare skin actually smelled presentable otherwise. Mostly, though, her mind was steadily shrieking at her for sticking around and provoking him in the most violent way possible with her questions and "Please take me!" smells and whatnot.

Too late now: if she tried to duck out to her right, he could do just about anything faster than she could breathe.

"That," he grated, breath puffing hot against her cheek as he deliberately leaned in closer, "is none of your fucking business. It is not, was not and will never be. And if you value your very soul, you will never ask me that or bring it up in my presence ever again!"

Inuyasha's eyes were just slightly above hers, titled at a dominating angle, and he could smell fear and that other damned scent still coming off her in droves. Mostly the latter, though, which increased as he leaned in and hissed in her ear. "Do you understand?"

He pulled back far enough to watch her face, noting clinically that the moonlight looked very pretty on the part of her hair his body wasn't blocking. Her eyes searched his, found only bleak rage.

And she shook her head.

Kagome yelped as Inuyasha's left fist drove a neat hole through the paper wall. Without moving a muscle otherwise, jaws included, eyes boring red and huge into her, Inuyasha inquired as to what, precisely, she did not understand.

She drew a ragged, shaking breath, then another, and whispered feebly. "You loved her, but she's g-gone now. They w-wouldn't have h-hated me if she'd d-died p-p-peacefully." Inuyasha's brows drew together in utter bewilderment, but he was silent as she inhaled again, trembling slightly all over. "What I d-don't underst-stand is why she would d-do that to y-you-"

Inuyasha's left fist came back through the hole in the shoji mechanically, his eyes going utterly blank. Kagome breathed more deeply as he backed away from her, a little at a time, until his heel caught on his futon and he went down hard, falling on his backside like a small child and just sitting there.

Kagome inhaled and exhaled, letting life flow back into her lungs, while the opposite was happening to Inuyasha on the futon. Forgetting the apparent danger her life had just been in, Kagome approached him carefully, as one approaches a sick or injured animal to help.

It was scary...he wasn't moving even to breathe. That innocent question had unleashed something in his mind, and though she had no clue what it was, Kagome knew she didn't like seeing this. Whatever the mystery woman had done, Kagome's blind guess would indicate that she'd struck pretty close to home. Probably a little too close.

Wondering in brief fear if he'd tear her arm off for it, Kagome slowly, lightly knelt next to the futon, and lifted one lock of hair away from his eyes, noting with vague disappointment that it was a bit rough, like a real dog's fur. "Inuyasha?"

His face was averted, eyes closed and profile turned as much away as possible. "Just leave. Please go away."

He sounded so pathetic, so unlike himself that without meaning to, she reached over and touched his chin lightly.

Eyes opened, head turned slowly and brown met...gold?

Kagome leaned in closer, blinking in amazement. The red was white, now, and the blue pupils looked almost like gold! What was happening?

"Kagome?" Inuyasha still sounded uncertain, but reached up, hesitantly, to grasp the hand under his jaw.

"Inuyasha!" A strident, cheerful shout shattered the spell like rocks in stained glass, and Miroku poked his head into the open shoji. "Kouga's harassing the cooks ag-what in Buddha's name?!"

In a trice Inuyasha had whirled away from her, up and was pulling her by the elbow out past the stunned monk, through the rooms and into the dining area. Releasing her as gently as he'd grasped her, Inuyasha scrubbed his face in both hands, looked back at her and said, abruptly, "This did not happen. D'you understand?" She nodded dumbly, gazing back into red eyes as usual, and he nodded back, waving in a distracted manner before sprinting from the room.

A moment later, he was back with a "Will you marry me?" and gone even as she shook her head.

...What the hell do I tell Sango? Kagome wandered back to their room, mind still awash with pity, confusion, hormones and vague anger. I know what I'm telling her. I'm telling her she's going to help me find Kouga and tie him down and not feed him or let him so much as breathe till I get some freaking ANSWERS!

A/N: Whew! Let it be noted that this is not going to be an R-skirter the whole time. It's not gonna be super-skanky like this a lot, so don't worry, everyone who didn't like it...and sorry, but there will be more, everyone who did. ;D (Popular demand works wonders, though, just as a side note...)

And a bio lesson for everyone moaning, "Not another `she's in heat' or `he's in heat' fic!" It's true that without the `demon' explanation to at least make it readable, the idea of males going into heat is BS: for every species I'm aware of, it's a case of He's Ready When SHE'S Ready. But the females' heat is backed up by fact, even in humans (girls really do release pheromones when we ovulate, and guys really can't smell female pheromones: that organ's been devolved into nothing); sorry if you knew that and it still seems overused, but honestly, he's a dog demon half-breed and a postpubescent male. Outside Rumiko Takahashi's slightly sanitized view of things (when it comes to sex, anyway), that'd be a pretty massive factor in a relationship, especially one that's awkward to begin with. Look at your average college-age or even some (too many) high-school couple and tell me hormones never come into play. XD But still, I'm not making this the focus of the fic. It's back to good ol' snowmen and relationships soon, not to mention a bit o' explanation for everybody.

(Not dumping on all `heat' fics. Just the crappy ones. If you're thinking of one and bristling and framing an angry review already, you need to stop and ask yourself why you're so defensive first. :D)

Wow. My hands hurt like hell. Time for upload and bed.