InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Beast ❯ Danger ( Chapter 10 )

Disclaimer: Inuyasha is not mine. He belongs to Rumiko Takahashi, and his little friends, too.

A/N: Lots to cover and sore hands already for some bizarre reason, so let's see how this one turns out...I'd wait till tomorrow, but breaking 50 reviews makes me happy, and when I'm happy, I wanna update. Everyone wins.

Beast

Chapter 10

Miroku was waiting for them when they got back from their morning bath, which had turned into another water fight thanks to the kit: he had spent most of the day yesterday either looking for the monk or talking with Kohaku, and as much as he enjoyed the card games, they provided little outlet for a hyperactive child's excess energy.

"You look as if you enjoyed yourselves," the monk greeted them before they could ask where he was yesterday. "Please sit down and bring out the magic screen, Kagome-sama."

"Are you sure? We don't have long," Kagome pointed out, thankful that they'd already dressed in the other room as she plopped down and pulled the laptop onto the floor. Note to self...grill him about yesterday later. She caught Sango's eye and made a `wait' gesture, and her friend sighed and nodded reluctantly.

"Yes, I know. I've been rehearsing what I wish to tell you," Miroku was saying, oblivious of the exchange and his ironic timing. He watched her turn the machine on and tap the waning battery light nervously. "Sango-sama tells me it's possible to use the device without the words appearing, but this is for everyone's benefit."

"Oh, yeah. Is it the name thing?" Kagome opened their file off the desktop and moved over to make room for him to begin. Shippou hopped onto her lap, watching the little hiragana characters avidly as Miroku typed.

"Yes. For one, speaking her name may alert Inuyasha that you know of her. He will then assume, and rightly, that you know much else. He would not be happy."

"No kidding."

"But more importantly, you may be Kikyou-sama."

"WHAT?!"

"Your resemblance and your" He stopped and hit Backspace again. Kagome would've loved to smack him as he went on after `resemblance,' but they were running out of time. "indicates you may be her reincarnation. Have you ever been able to do things others cannot?"

"No," Kagome protested. "And so what if I could, and I am, or whatever?"

"If you are, hearing her name could reawaken her, and that would be"

DEEEET DEEEET DEEEET started up again. "Keep going!" Kagome urged him over the noise.

Miroku grimaced and kept going. "very bad. Trust me. Demons, memories, the Shikon J"

The screen flickered. With a little dit the laptop died, leaving them all staring at a blank screen.

"What do you mean, demons, memories, and the Jewel?" Kagome grabbed a piece of paper. "If you could just explain that by typing, I can translate as you go. Please?"

Miroku and Sango exchanged glances. The monk had only mentioned reincarnation and the Jewel to her yesterday, and she had understood him after a bit of verbal cat-and-mouse around the curse's limits. "You may not want to know, Kagome-chan."

"What the hell are you idiots doing in here?" Sango snatched the key off Miroku's lap and sat on it as Inuyasha flung the shoji open. "I heard that damn noise again. What're you up to this time, wench?"

"Just playing a game, Inuyasha." Kagome picked up the laptop and held it up for his inspection. "That sound was the noise it makes before its power runs out. It won't work anymore unless we call an electrician or something and I can recharge the battery."

All four of them looked at her blankly. She sighed. "It's broken. Get it?"

"For good?" Shippou leaned out of her lap and tapped a few keys. "Wow, it feels weird!"

"Well, that's good." Inuyasha jerked his head at Miroku. "C'mon, bouzu."

"What are you two doing?" Kagome asked as the monk obediently got up.

"None of your business," Inuyasha snapped, just as Sango said, "Trying to fix Tetsusaiga, I imagine."

Inuyasha growled, and Miroku gave Sango a speculative look. "Quite right. I say, Inuyasha, why don't we let them assist us?"

"What good would having a couple of wenches underfoot do us?"

"Because one wench knows more than twice you do about swords, and the other was the one who unsheathed the blade in the first place." Sango got up. "We've nothing better to do till the rain stops anyway."

"Sounds like fun," Kagome agreed.

"Dammit..." Not even Inuyasha could argue with that. "Fine! But stay out of the way. And the runt stays here."

"Awwww..." Shippou whined, but Kagome shook her head.

"You might accidentally get hurt, knowing how Inuyasha likes to fight." Kagome patted Shippou's head and ignored Inuyasha's grumbling about accidents. "Go play something quiet with Kohaku, would you? He still seems pretty tired."

Shippou pouted, then brightened. "Can I teach him how to play Go Fish?"

"Sure." Kagome picked up the deck and handed it to him. "Don't lose any, got it?"

"Okay! Thanks, Kagome!" The kitsune returned her hug and raced off.

"Thanks, Kagome-chan," Sango whispered as they followed the men upstairs.

"No problem. It'll keep Shippou from trying to eat my lipstick again," Kagome whispered back, and Inuyasha glared back at them as they giggled like schoolgirls.

"Do you two always sound so stupid?" he called over his shoulder.

"Only when you're around," Kagome replied.

Miroku smiled, and Inuyasha scowled but turned his eyes back to their destination, a small door at the back of the second story. "Stand out of the way when I tell you two wenches, all right?"

Kagome gaped around her as she followed Sango inside. The slayer had obviously been there before, and no wonder: it was a wide, well-kept practice room, almost like a small dojo, with worn tatami mats spaced evenly across the newer floor mats for better footing, racks of weapons against the walls, and what looked remarkably like sword or claw gouge marks in the sturdy wood of the high ceiling and thick walls.

Inuyasha lifted Tetsusaiga off a wooden stand and unsheathed the blade. "See, it comes out easy enough. Before I squashed the flea yesterday, he said it's supposed to transform into a sword, not this rusty piece of crap. Gods forbid the old bastard should actually tell me how to do it..."

"Well, have you tried fighting with it?" Sango asked.

"Against who, the bouzu?" Inuyasha retorted. "The blade's supposed to protect humans, whatever the hell that means. I can't attack him with it. And I can't find the wimpy wolf to try it against him, so-"

"You called?" Everyone looked at the open shoji. Kouga was lounging against the wall near the room's entrance. "Hey, Kagome. How's my woman today?"

"I don't know, you better find her and ask her," Kagome muttered, and the wolf laughed.

"She doesn't want you, wimpy wolf, so piss off." Inuyasha moved to block Kagome from his line of vision, but Kouga was up and past him in a blink.

"So-" Kagome tried not to roll her eyes as Kouga grasped her hands again and Inuyasha's eye began twitching violently. ""I understand you're not much for the idea, so I'll just have to be patient. I can wait a little. What is it you want? Jewels? Flowers? Silk? I can get it for you."

"From where?" Kagome leaned away. "Look, I don't want anything. I'm not marrying or mating anyone, so please leave me alone."

"Sounds pretty clear, don't it?" Inuyasha rapped the undersides of Kouga's arms with the Tetsusaiga. "You can get your paws off her now."

"And what if I don't want to, dog-turd?" Kouga let go and crossed his arms. "You gonna come after me with that rusty stick?"

"Whatever it takes, asshole!" Inuyasha lunged at him and swiped at empty space.

"You're even slower with your crappy toy than with your claws!" Kouga taunted from across the room, cracking his knuckles. "If I really wanted to take her, there wouldn't be a damn thing you could do about it!" He paused, then smiled and waved at Kagome. "Not that I would, of course, not till you said it was okay."

Kagome sighed and massaged her temples. "Glad to hear it, `cause it's not okay!"

"This is idiotic," Miroku complained. "Kouga-sama, please abandon your suit. Kagome-sama is not interested, and it's unseemly for you to pursue her when Inuyasha-sama is already in the midst of-"

"Of what? Bugging her to marry him when she hates his guts and he's still obsessed with that dead bitch?"

Inuyasha dropped Tetsusaiga. Before it hit the tatami, he was across the room and his fist smashed into Kouga's jaw, knocking the wolf demon into the wall with wood-crunching force. "If you ever insult her again, I'll chew your fucking head off and shove it up your ass!" Inuyasha rasped, hands clenching and unclenching, mindless of his claws digging into his palms and drawing blood. "You got that?!"

"She's dead, dog-turd." Kouga climbed out of the depression his body had made, massaging his jaw and glaring at Inuyasha, completely somber now. "Whatever happened, she's dead now. You're the one who doesn't get it."

"Shut up!" Inuyasha lunged for him, and his claws raked a thin but deep gash down the side of Kouga's face as he dodged.

A well-placed heel to the spine smashed the half-breed to the floor. "Gods, you're pathetic." Kouga ground his foot into Inuyasha's spine, speaking over incoherent growls of rage and pain. "Here you not only have a great woman just waiting for you to convince her to marry you, but she looks exactly like the wench you were slobbering over before all this shit started, with the spirit that wench always lacked-and you treat her like garbage because she's not cold and stuck-up the way you like it? As if you had your pick of any wench in the world, you piece of crap! You don't deserve to even look at her!"

"Kouga, stop it!" Kagome picked up the Tetsusaiga and stalked over to him. "It's not his fault he's still in love, okay? You made your point! Now quit kicking him while he's down!"

"And why not? You're the one he's insulting!" Kouga stepped disdainfully away from Inuyasha's prone form and moved in front of her. "Just let him go. He's hopeless."

"Move." Kagome tried to get around him, but he laid a heavy hand on her shoulder. "Let go of me!"

"No." He did let go, but only to grab her forearm and raise the Tetsusaiga for his inspection. "Geez. What a piece of..." Kouga made as if to pry it from her fingers, but a sudden jolt of energy made them both drop it. He blew on his hand to cool it, while she was surprised: there'd been a flare of something, but it hadn't hurt her. "Damn, that stings!" the wolf hissed.

"Only humans and Inuyasha may touch the Tetsusaiga," Sango said, moving closer. "You've made your point, Kouga-sama. Now please leave so we c-"

"Why should I leave her with him?" Kouga turned his head to glare at Inuyasha, who was not moving. "He just insults her and wastes her time. If he gave a damn about her, he'd let her go!"

"Whether you like it or not, she is here because of Inuyasha." Miroku also came closer. "Please leave us so we can attend to-"

"Make me." Kouga smirked and looped an arm around Kagome's waist.

"Would you stop that!" Kagome would've smacked him if she could, but he was too close. She satisfied herself with driving her elbow into his side. "Let go!"

It was like poking a brick wall, padded as he was with fur, armor and muscle, but he got her point and narrowed his eyes. "I don't get it. You act like I'm hassling you or something."

"There's a reason for that!" She tugged again, and Sango and Miroku drew closer.

"Let..."

They all turned at the scratchy mumble from the floor. Inuyasha had raised himself onto his hands and knees and reached out for Tetsusaiga, using it to lean on and push himself shakily to his feet, panting for breath but speaking clearly enough. "Let go of her, asswipe. She's not interested, so you are hassling her."

Kouga deliberately pulled her back against him. "Says who?"

Kagome lost all patience and clasped her hands together. "Says me! Please, let me go?"

"Hmmm..." Kouga scratched his head with his free hand. "What if I don't want to?"

Hands still clasped, she swiveled and used both arms to slam her elbow right into his groin, and scrambled away as he wheezed and doubled over.

"Okay, I get it," he croaked, glaring at her. "But if you ever do that to me again..."

"What's wrong with her defending herself?" Sango took Kagome's arm and moved her behind herself and Miroku.

"Butt out, wench!" Kouga turned on Sango, raising his claws menacingly. "I'm gettin' tired of you telling me what to do here!"

"Do not threaten her, Kouga," Miroku said calmly and deliberately. They all gaped at him: his blatant disrespect surprised even Inuyasha, who was standing with only minimal support from his deceptively sturdy katana. "I think it would be best if you were to leave so that we may discuss this when everyone is feeling up to a civilized conversation."

Kouga leapt to the ready, growling. "Give me one good reason I shouldn't tear both of you apart!"

"Because if you so much as touch my servants or my guest again, I'll feed you your own guts." Inuyasha took a careful step forward, and the wolf roared with laughter.

"You couldn't tell that fox brat what to do right now, much less me!" He sobered quickly. "And you heard the monk. Do you always let them get away with that? I should've known you would let humans treat you like they were your equals, you stupid bastard."

"Kouga, leave now. We can talk about this later," Kagome said firmly, but he completely ignored her, and that made her even madder than if he'd told her to shut up.

"Tell you what, dog-turd, why don't I just kill you now and do the whole castle a favor? Saves you a lot of trouble, too, and then I can keep you from distracting Kagome and teach the humans their place." Kouga cracked his knuckles. "Sounds good."

Sango had quietly and steadily withdrawn a little pouch from her kimono. "You will not kill anyone today, Kouga-sama. We will not ask you to leave again."

"Oh, really, you hypocritical whore?"

Miroku's staff flashed out and struck the wolf squarely across the face. Everyone else froze again as he scowled and tucked the staff into the crook of his arm. "I warned you, Kouga-sama," the monk snapped, holding up his beaded hand and beginning to unwrap it with the other. "Leave or-"

"Or you'll open your hand and suck the whole room up? I've seen that thing, and there's no way in hell you can use it inside, moron!" Kouga snarled, recovering from the shock. "And I warned you!"

Even as Miroku hesitated, prayer beads still sealing his hand, and Sango eyed him uncertainly, Kouga launched at the two, claws aimed to take their heads off, and Kagome, blind panic seizing her, pushed forward and directly into his path.

Time slowed to a crawl. Kouga saw her, eyes widened and he began to pull his claws back, but she was falling forward, losing her balance and still too close, Sango and Miroku too late to catch her-

A hoarse shout, and shnk as a huge white blade flashed across Kouga's path, clipping a few hairs from his furred armband and catching Kagome neatly, letting her stop herself with both hands flat against the dull side of the blade.

Inuyasha's arms were trembling hard from the exertion, but he held steady and allowed Kagome to push off and slide to the floor. "Inuyasha, what...?"

Kouga backed up as Inuyasha held out the Tetsusaiga, which was no longer a chipped and battered katana, but a huge white-sheened sword with feathery tendrils encircling the guard where blade met hilt. "Get out now or I'll chop your fingers off one by one."

This time, the wolf took the threat seriously. With a last glare at Sango and Miroku, he darted out of the room.

"Incredible," Sango whispered, tucking the pouch back into her kimono and coming closer to examine the blade. "I guess that was what Myouga-sama meant by protecting humans. You did defend us."

"Not like any of you morons deserved it!" He slammed the sword into the mat point-first and sank to his knees, breathing hard. "What made you go after him like that? All of you! I swear!"

"Yes, and frequently." Miroku bent to examine the blade. "Maybe I was wrong yesterday. Perhaps Sango-sama or myself could've drawn the blade just as easily-because, after all, we are also human."

"Who knows?" Kagome knelt next to Inuyasha. "Thanks. But he shouldn't have said that about K-" She clamped her jaws shut.

"Fuck off. You smell like wolf," he spat, and grabbed for the Tetsusaiga to help him up. "Don't touch me till you get that stink off."

Obliging as ever, Kagome grabbed one of the locks that hung over his shoulders and yanked his head so that he was looking at her. "Don't you dare talk to me like that! I defended you, in case you didn't notice! And if you think I like him being all over me, you're even dumber than I thought!"

"Shut up and go take a bath." He leaned his head away, and his hair slid out of her unresisting grasp.

Kagome stared him down for a second, angry tears threatening to form, but he wouldn't look at her. "I hate you!" Kagome pushed herself to her feet and stalked to the door, almost shoving Miroku aside. "Come on, Sango, time to go roll in the mud and appease Dickhead-sama!"

Sango looked at Inuyasha, whose expression had hardened into determined indifference. "But-"

Kagome was already gone. Sango sighed and gave Inuyasha an utterly disgusted look. "You're not an idiot. You're worse." And she set off after her friend.

Miroku also sighed and crouched next to Inuyasha. "Why do you do this to yourself, Inuyasha?"

"I don't do anything," he mumbled. "I don't have to, in case you haven't noticed. The wimpy wolf was right. She hates me. You heard her."

Whack went Miroku's staff again. "Would you stop doing that?!"

"I will stop when I detect some sense rattling around in there somewhere." Miroku settled down, staff across his lap. "Kagome-sama was worried about you, annoyed with Kouga, and unnerved by what she heard. And then you had to go and treat her as though she'd done something wrong, when she was only trying to defend you."

"That's her problem, not mine!" he snapped, but Miroku shook his head.

"You're fooling no one but yourself, my thick-headed friend." He tapped Inuyasha lightly between the ears. "If I were you, I would think very hard - to the best of my ability, at least - about what just happened here, and what I would say to Kagome-sama later tonight."

"You're one to talk," Inuyasha grumbled, pushing the staff away. "At least I can take what I get when I hit the stupid wolf in the face."

Miroku shrugged and rubbed his head sheepishly. "That was a bit foolish of me, wasn't it? I believe I saw the world through your eyes for a moment...it would have been impossible for me to do anything but hit the bastard."

Inuyasha smirked. "See? It's not always easy to sit back and pretend you don't care when the asshole insults your woman, is it?"

Miroku gave him a long, even look he couldn't quite decipher, then coughed sharply. "Speaking of your woman, I believe I need to go smooth the ladies' feathers a bit. Kagome-sama will need to hear an apology from your own mouth later tonight, though."

"Why me?!"

All he got in reply was a withering look. Dammit...

Upon further reflection, he had to admit that Kagome's new nickname for him wasn't too far off the mark. She did stick up for me when the jerk-off was insulting me and...His fists clenched just thinking about it, reminding him that he still had several puncture marks in his palms. He held them still, waiting for them to close. Now, how to go about this without having to actually apologize...?

Miroku was waiting for them again when they returned from their second bath of the day, this time with lunch laid out. Shippou had already started eating, and Kohaku sat on the bed, smiling and nodding when they came in, but otherwise silent and motionless.

"So what happened?" Shippou asked, hopping into Kagome's lap and tugging on her sleeve. She'd had to change again, too.

Kagome was still angry, but venting with Sango in the bath had helped. "Inuyasha's a completely insensitive moron, that's what."

This wasn't news to anyone, so when she refused to elaborate, Sango and Miroku told the whole story to Shippou and Kohaku, ending with Inuyasha dismissing Kagome.

"It sounds like he's already protective of you," Kohaku commented, accepting some of Sango's rice when she urged him to eat. "He just has a hard time expressing himself, I guess."

"Of course he does. Kouga hit him right where it hurt the most, and after that and an additional beating - in front of Kagome-sama, no less - he was not at his most tactful." Miroku sipped his tea. "He may not have shown it, Kagome-sama, but I suspect a great deal of his anger at you was for putting yourself in danger."

"Like it was my fault that Kouga went ballistic on you guys?" Kagome handed Shippou her chopsticks lest she accidentally cram food into his mouth without thinking. "I didn't do a damn thing, and he acted like it was all my fault!"

"You've already figured this out, Kagome-chan, but part of Inuyasha's charm is that he has no idea how to handle his feelings." Sango tapped her bowl thoughtfully. "You just need to be patient with him."

Kagome had no patience left, of course, but she was tired of the conversation. "I'm gonna go take a look outside. Maybe we can get in some more archery practice."

Sure enough, it was drizzling, but not hard enough to deter a few hours of physical activity. Kagome was extremely irritated to find that her aim had actually gotten worse; she developed an irrational conviction that the guards Sango gave her for her arms were to blame, and finally she called it quits for the day and decided they should play tag instead for a while.

Miroku elected to watch rather than muddy his robes, but once Kagome tagged him, he threw away his dignity for a few minutes, chased Sango in vain, faked defeat and then tapped her rear lightly when she turned to discuss who was It next. Her retaliation - supported enthusiastically by a brother, friend and fox cub - completely obliterated his plan to preserve his apparel, but they could all tell despite his protests that he didn't really mind.

As fun as it was to run around in the mud - Kagome barely even minded ruining her old T-shirt and jeans by falling once - it soon began raining too hard to stay out. In addition, the looks they received from the servants who watched them troop inside, spattering wet dirt everywhere even after removing their shoes, were enough to dampen their spirits quite a bit.

Things improved slightly when they briefly split up to change and then reconvened in the women's room. Shippou suggested they teach Miroku and Kohaku how to play BS.

Once he understood the cards' meaning and the basic concept, Miroku proved a formidable adversary; his poker face, perpetually calm voice and ability to detect lies made him the perfect player, and soon Kagome and Sango formed an alliance, conferring every time he laid cards down to determine if he was lying or not.

"Three fours...how many fours do you have, Sango-chan?"

"I don't have any. What about you?"

"Just one...hey, Shippou-chan? Do you have any?"

"Nope."

"Kohaku-kun?"

"That's not fair!" Miroku protested, holding his single card against his front.

"BS!" both women said instantly, and cheered as he scooped up the deck-then groaned as he flipped the top three cards to reveal 4s and handed them the cards.

"You suck," Kagome muttered, dividing the deck into two piles and giving one to Sango.

His luck seemed to run out after that point, though; when his turn came again, Kagome had all the 9s in the deck and was able to call "BS!" before he even opened his mouth.

"Almost time for dinner, Kagome-chan," Sango pointed out as Miroku took up the cards with an air of martyrdom.

"I'm not going."

"Two t-what?!"

"You heard me. I'm not going. Two elevens." Kagome slapped two cards onto the pile.

"Yes, but...Kagome-chan?" Sango said hesitantly.

"Yeah? What?" She folded her arms.

"...There are no elevens. BS."

Sango opened the shoji and entered as usual, heart hammering. Inuyasha was too busy rehearsing his speech to notice her entrance till she cleared her throat pointedly. "Oh! It's you. Where's the other wench?"

"Kagome-chan is not coming."

"Ah, that's good, I really didn't w-WHAT?!"

"You heard me correctly, Inuyasha. She refuses to come up here tonight."

"The hell she does!" Inuyasha jumped up and shoved her aside. "We'll just see about this...!"

"She's not in there," Sango said helpfully, as Inuyasha leaned over the rail and prepared to leap down in front of the shoji leading to her room.

"Whaddya mean, she's not in there? Is the stupid wench hiding from me?"

"I don't know. You'll have to ask her," Sango replied, wondering if he could speak any louder.

With a final growl in her direction, Inuyasha placed one hand on the rail and swung down anyway, landing right in front of Kohaku and scaring the daylights out of him. "Oi, kid, where's Kagome?"

"Leave him alone, Inuyasha!" Sango yelled down from the third floor. "He doesn't know, either!"

Inuyasha snarled and decided to think: he could smell her all over the place, but it was strong here, still fairly fresh, within the past few minutes. All he had to do was follow his nose, find the wench and-

He stopped dead. Her scent trail was freshest as he stood right in front of one the baths. "OI! Are you in there, wench?"

"Not if your name is Inuyasha," her voice called from around the corner. From the sounds of water splashing, she was actually taking a bath. "I'm not decent. Go away."

Well, of all the scheming....He smirked. "You think that'll stop me, wench?"

"I'm warning you, Inuyasha..."

"Oh yeah? Well, thanks, but-"

He rounded the corner and froze. There were at least fifteen other women in two other tubs, some of whom were very old, and none of whom looked pleased to see him.

"Perv." Kagome's voice drew him out of his horrified shock. She was facing him, pressed against the inside of the tub, everything below the shoulders hidden. "I tried to warn you. Now shoo."

Inuyasha was out in a trice, and he could hear offended murmuring and giggling behind him as he hopped up the rails, right back to his room. Damn her!

After a few minutes, though, his sense of pride and authority worked up enough courage to come up with a few ideas, and he smirked. So she thinks she can hide behind my servants, does she?

Kagome was relaxing in near-perfect contentment, hair up, head lazing back and forth as she listened to the servants chatter. It was mostly about the remaining food supplies, which had been magically preserved and were sufficient to last the castle another year if necessary, and about husbands and children. She wished she had Shippou here; bathing by herself was really no f-

"Everyone except Kagome out."

All heads swiveled to the entrance. Inuyasha was standing just around the corner: one red sleeve was just barely visible. "I hate to interrupt, but everyone except Kagome-sama, leave now. I need to talk with her."

Kagome gulped and slid down in the water. Plans to dress up as one of the servants and sneak out flitted through her mind, then were discarded as unwise, since he could just sniff her out. The other women were getting out, drying off and dressing, sparing her glances of slight resentment but mostly sympathy for her predicament. She smiled reassurance and nodded at the ones who didn't immediately look away, cursing as the last spare kimono was put on and the last servant hurried out with a final bow to her and then Inuyasha.

"So." The castle's lord nearly strutted into the baths, and she leaned her elbows on the edge of the tub, still covered and determined not to let him see anything. "Are we too good to eat dinner now?"

"Of course not." Kagome gave him a smile he now recognized as DANGER. "I was just trying to get the stench off. I thought it might take a while to soak it out, your poor little nose being so delicate around filthy people like me."

"Oh, shut up. You did smell, y'know."

"Yes, I did! And it was not my fault, and you acted like I'd jumped on him and laughed at you! I didn't do anything, and you still yelled at me!" She drew her arm back and flung a sheet of water straight at him, soaking his sleeve as he blocked.

"Quit that!" He growled as another wave hit him and sprinkled his ears. "I didn't mean to take it out on you! QUIT IT!"

A few hot drops actually got inside his ears somehow, and that did it. As she drew back for another assault, his other arm shot out and grabbed her wrist.

"What are you doing?!" Kagome plastered herself against the tub, face flaming. "Let go of me, you pervert!"

"I couldn't care less about looking at you! I do care when you get water in my ears!" he snarled. "I'll let you go if you stop splashing me!"

"I'll stop splashing if you apologize!" Now this sounded familiar...except of course that she was naked this time, and Inuyasha wasn't hurting her. In fact, if he loosened up just a bit, she could probably slip free.

"I just did apologize, wench! Now are you gonna behave, or not?"

"That was not an apology! That was a crappy defense!"

"It was as much of an apology as you're getting!"

"Fine!" Kagome yelled, pulling in vain at his supposedly loose grip. Why am I surrounded by guys fifty times stronger than me?! "Then let me go! Unless you happen to like holding onto naked girls, of course?"

Inuyasha dropped her wrist like it was burning him, and she drew her knees up to her chest, pushing into the middle of the tub, beyond his reach. "So you came down, you found me, you insulted me, and now what?"

He kicked himself: this wasn't as easy he'd thought. His fault for supposing he'd have no distractions here... "Now it's time to go eat. I'm starving."

"Why would I eat with you after the way you treated me earlier?" Kagome crossed her arms so she could lower her legs and turn herself so that her back was facing him. "I'd thought we could at least pretend to put up with each other after last night, but then you turn around and treat me like I'm your worst enemy!"

Good idea. All that skin was shorting out his thought processes. He turned around and crossed his arms. "Well, you're the one who said you hate me, remember?"

"That was because you hurt my feelings. I said the wrong thing. I don't hate you...but I really hate the way you treat me sometimes."

"Why didn't you say so?"

"Would you have listened even if I'd have said the right thing?"

Got him again. "Look, I know it wasn't your fault. That asshole just pushed me too far, and then I thought he was gonna kill you guys for a minute there. It scared me, and I don't like being scared." There. He'd said it.

Kagome turned around, unwinding when she saw that his back was turned. "Really?"

"Of course it did!" She clamped her arms and legs back into position as he glared at her over his shoulder. "How else do you think I keep sane? If you idiots get killed, what am I gonna do?!"

Her mouth fell open. "So...you were worried about us?"

"Yes, dammit! How many times do I have to repeat myself?!"

Kagome carefully drifted to the side of the tub again. "I'm sorry. I thought you were just taking everything out on me."

"Well, I kinda was. But you get why, at least?"

She could almost feel his patience wearing out, and she nodded rapidly. "Yeah, yeah, I do. Just...try to think about how I feel next time. You got hurt pretty bad, too."

"But I can take it. If the wimpy wolf wants to claw you, you're screwed."

"True. It doesn't mean I like seeing it....But hey, at least you got the Tetsusaiga to transform, right?"

"Yeah..." Inuyasha looked back up at the steamy ceiling. "Guess I oughta thank you for that. So, you wanna call it even?"

She was pretty sure that, all things considered, he owed her way more than she owed him, but she was willing to drop it for now. "Sure. Now hand me a towel and get out so we can go eat."

"Towel?" He glanced around. "They're all wet."

"All of them?!" She draped an arm across her chest and rose out of the tub to her waist, unaware of Inuyasha's gaze as she scanned the room desperately. "There has to be at least one!"

Inuyasha redirected his eyes just in time as she addressed him. "You got me into this. Go get Sango and tell her to get me something to wear."

"I'm not your errand boy. Dry off with those." He indicated her clothes.

"That's the third set I've worn today! I'm not dirtying any more!" Kagome stuck her tongue out at him. "And what would I wear if I did use those?"

"Fine, wench. If you use your clothes instead of a towel, I'll find something else for you to wear." He began walking around the tubs, looking for anything dry. "I'm not gonna peek. You can get out before your brains dry out."

"You are freakin' impossible." She stood up, arms covering herself, and snatched up her clothes, crouching to dry herself and watching him like a hawk.

"You still talk funny." Keeping his back always turned towards her, Inuyasha gave up finding anything wearable that wasn't dirty and soaked. "Tell me when you're dry."

"All right," she said behind him a few minutes later, letting her hair down and running her fingers through it to fluff it back out. "Now, what'd you find?"

"Nothing." She yelped indignantly as he began walking backwards towards her. "Calm down, wench. Here."

Kagome gasped as he removed his haori and held it back towards her without looking. "This ought to work till you get back to your room."

Speechless, Kagome took it automatically and slipped it on. The red material was surprisingly soft; it reminded her of very fine cotton, but thicker and sturdier. The garment was still warm and smelled like him, like wood and earth and sweat, a pleasantly masculine combination. She took a few whiffs as she finished tying it like a short dress: it wasn't that long, but it covered enough for modesty's sake. "Okay."

Inuyasha turned and eyed her sardonically, stuffing a sudden, ridiculous urge to tell her to keep it on for dinner. "That'll keep you from blinding anyone till you get to your room."

"Yeah, too bad you'll have my stench all over it now." She stroked her shoulder unconsciously and led the way out.

Thankfully, they saw no one till they reached her room. "Just a minute," she said, slipping inside.

Kagome opened the shoji and stopped. "Miroku? What're you doing in here?"

Miroku got to his feet. "What are you doing here, Kagome-sama? I was exp-" He coughed, but the damage was done.

"Ah, you wanted to talk to Sango?" Kagome grinned. "I think she's upstairs. Inuyasha's right outside, so if you want to ask him while I change..."

"What are you wearing?" Miroku squinted at her. "Isn't that-"

"Too many questions are bad for you. Adios!" She shooed him out too quickly for any further inquiry and slammed it shut. Damn, that was close.

Inuyasha looked at her sourly when she emerged in a halter top and tight jeans. "Everything else is dirty," she said apologetically. "Here."

He snatched his haori back and draped it over his shoulder, the way a modern male would a sports coat. "Hurry it up, wench. The food's probably cold by now."

They were silent all the way up to the room, where they discovered that the food was indeed cold. "Figures." Inuyasha began to eat anyway.

"So did Miroku say anything?" Kagome asked, toying with her lukewarm, sticky rice.

"Yeah. Bouzu was lookin' for Sango again." Inuyasha drank some tea and made a face. "Wish he'd just tell her he likes her and get it over with."

Kagome choked, coughed and pounded her chest. "You what?"

"Yeah. He's been like that since she got here." Inuyasha scowled at her. "Don't tell me you didn't notice. Even I did after the first couple of weeks."

"You did?" Kagome grinned. "I knew it!" Just as suddenly, her grin faded. "But they don't want to acknowledge it because he's..."

"Idiots." She glared at Inuyasha as he shoveled rice. "Y'd think they'd wanna take advantage of what little time they have left. But noooo, it's this stupid cat-and-mouse."

"I thought Miroku didn't want to have any children?" Kagome pointed out. "He'd just be passing the curse on."

"So?" Inuyasha shrugged. "I've known the bouzu a long time. He's got a lot of good ideas, but never for himself. There could still be a way to break it. If he lays down and dies, he's never gonna find out."

Kagome grinned again. "That's very true. You know, Inuyasha, I never would've thought you would think of it like that."

Inuyasha snorted. "It's just logic. With the way he is, it makes no sense for him to not get some before he dies. Why deprive himself when she needs to loosen up, too? They both win."

"You pig!" Kagome flicked a wad of sticky rice at him.

Without looking up, he flicked it right back, nailing her on the nose.

An epic but very brief battle ensued, with Kagome the winner only because she had eaten so little of her own food, and because everything stuck to Inuyasha's hair like glue.

"Want any help?" she offered, still wiping tears of laughter as he began picking rice out.

"Why, so you can yank it again?" There was no real anger in his voice, though, and she took that as sufficient invitation to lean over and begin combing through.

"I think I got some on the back somehow, too." She pushed the little table aside - nothing left was fit to eat anymore - and set to work plucking rice and pieces of sushi out.

After a few minutes, Inuyasha gave up untangling his claws and let her take over, willing himself not to growl when she brushed his ears by mistake lest she stop and leave him with food in his hair.

"It's not fair," she said idly, working around to the back, where a few clumps of rice had indeed gotten stuck. "Any girl would kill for this hair, and here you probably don't even brush it."

"Brush it?" he repeated.

"Yeah, brush it. Like this." And she gently dug her fingers in and raked through the hair from the top of his head to the bottom. "Do you ever do that?"

He was quiet for a moment, and she wondered if she'd pushed it too far till he murmured, "I used to let Mom do it sometimes, but it always hurt, so not like that, no...do it again?"

Kagome happily complied, starting just below his ears, working her fingertips down through the silky layer to his scalp and then running them down through several feet of hair, pausing to gently untangle the few snags she encountered. "You like?"

"Mmmmm." Inuyasha didn't sound angry. Good enough. So she continued, finding a few grains of rice here and there but mostly just running her hands through it, so happy to be permitted that she began humming very softly under her breath.

The sleepy tune didn't help, and his head began drifting backwards. "Uh...Inuyasha? You awake up there?"

"Mmmmmm." His head came back up. "Yeah. Feels nice."

"Good. Like I said, anyone would kill for this kind of hair." She gave his scalp a last rake and scooted away. "Would you mind if I did that more often?"

"Keh. We'll see." Inuyasha reached back and rubbed his head vigorously to get the feel of her hands off again. At least his hair couldn't twitch...

"Well, we're both about to fall asleep, so..." Kagome moved around so she was sitting in front of him again, and restrained a laugh as he yawned hugely, fangs gaping. "I think I'll tell Sango what we talked about."

"She won't listen," Inuyasha said dismissively. "You c'n waste your breath if you..." Another yawn, and Kagome echoed him. "Sorry, wench."

Kagome blinked at him. He wasn't looking at her, and she had a feeling the sudden mumble wasn't for making her yawn. "Accepted, don't worry about it." She yawned again. "Sorry. So, question?"

"Right, right. Will y'marry me?"

"Nope, I won' marry you. G'night."

"G'night, Kagome." He waited till she was out of sight to pull his haori off his shoulder and put it back on, bringing the fabric to his nose and inhaling deeply. Getting weak again. Gotta stop acting like this...starting tomorrow. Or maybe the day after...

Kagome nearly danced down the steps, humming and thinking of what to tell Sango. She opened the shoji to their room and started. "Miroku, what are you doing here?"

Sango massaged her hand and put down Kagome's pen, handing her a sheet of paper with romaji - Japanese words put into the English alphabet - on both front and back. "We worked on this while you were at dinner. That should impress a few important things upon you."

"And meanwhile, I shall retire." Miroku covered a yawn with his gloved hand. "Good night, Kagome-sama, Sango-sama." He bowed and quietly left.

"So that was why he was looking for you," Kagome murmured, more than a little disappointed.

"What was that?"

"Nothing, Sango-chan." Loss of nerve and curiosity got the best of her. I'll bug her about Miroku later. Now, what does this thing say? She began to read slowly, lips moving as she translated to herself:

As Kikyou-sama's reincarnation, you must take care. If our suspicions are true, the Shikon Jewel may rest in your possession without your knowledge; if her soul awakens and recognizes this place, it may relive her final moments, and using you try to harm Inuyasha. Lastly, if you do possess the Shikon and it awakens, it will attract demons as it did in the past. Whatever you do, do not relate these suspicions to Inuyasha. Please be careful, and ask no more about Kikyou-sama.

And both the monk and slayer had signed their names as a formality.

Gulp. "But..." She looked up at Sango. "But what if I'm not her?"

"We're as certain of some things as we are the color of snow," Sango replied around the curse. "Please think about it."

All thoughts of white hair and haoris driven from her mind, Kagome went to sleep more troubled than she'd been since her first night. I'm not some dead priestess come back...I might look like her, but it happens. Just a weird coincidence...like that stupid tree.... And I don't have some weird monster-magnet jewel, either. And no way I'd go after Inuyasha. He could take my head off with one swipe. That thought was oddly comforting-whether because she knew he wouldn't or she knew he could defend himself, she didn't know. Stupid hair is making me go easy on him. Next time he yells at me, I'm gonna strangle him with it...yeah, that's it...

With her old mental footing restored, Kagome nodded to herself, pulled the snoozing kitsune into her arms, and fell into an uneasy slumber.

A/N: There we go. Would've been up much sooner, but when I was about halfway through writing it, my oldest brother came home for his last 10-day visit before he gets shipped to Iraq. Will not elaborate in general, but...yeah. I should be able to update okay, since I usually write when he's asleep, but it might disrupt things a bit.

Couple of notes...first, right as Kouga referred to "that dead bitch" and I was gearing up to write Inuyasha's reaction, I heard a funny noise, looked over my shoulder...and saw that the cat was puking on the carpet. Ewwwwwww...so of course I had to stop and clean it up. X'D Irony is funny, but very icky sometimes...

And to everyone wondering about the gold vs. red eyes, this is all I can say without giving spoilers: he is indeed a hanyou, like he told her, and the only times she's ever seen his eyes gold and not red (like when he's a full demon, which is how he looks 24-7 here for a very specific, still- untold reason) was when she was in his room once. Go reread the scene if you want to try to figure out why. ;D I got it covered, don't worry. (Being cryptic is fun...)