InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Because of Tomomi ❯ Turbulence and Apologies ( Chapter 4 )

Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha or the like. This story is for my own entertainment. (Well. You can be entertained by it too, I suppose.)

 

A/N: OH GOD WHAT? CONSTANT A/N?? Who the HELL would want that?? Well, for those that are interested in my bizarre mind and some thoughts on this fanfiction, as well as UPDATES, you can go to http://lemony-goddess.livejournal.com/ and read it all up. I decided I didn't want to use my main LJ for my fic thoughts.

 

~==*==~

Because of Tomomi

Chapter Four

Turbulence and Apologies

~==*==~

 

“Kagome-sama.” The young man's voice was thick with surprise. He'd been busy repairing his uncle's fishing net, but he put it down quickly and motioned Kagome inside. Tomomi followed her. “Tomo-chan!” he said with equal surprise.

 

“Ryo-nii!” Tomomi beamed, throwing herself at him and wrapping her arms around his neck. Ryouta returned her embrace, looking over the girl's shoulder at the miko standing just inside his door. He wondered briefly at her tear-reddened eyes, but said nothing. Her expression was mildly happy, relaxed. Like she'd reached a good conclusion of something. Though he was curious, he kept it to himself. He owed the woman too much to be prying into her life.

 

“Thank you,” he said instead, trying to bow around his sister. “Please forgive my bothersome sister.”

 

Kagome waved off the apology with a smile. “She's really no bother,” she contested. A mysterious expression crossed her face. “It's been good to have someone like her around.” Before Ryouta could wonder about it, the expression was gone. “I'd better be on my way. Goodnight.” She bowed and turned, but then Tomomi spoke up.

 

“Miko-chan, Miko-chan!” she chirped. She went to the back corner of the hut and brought forth a wide bamboo hat. “Here!” She held it out to the miko. “Rain shield!”

 

“Thank you,” Kagome said. “Goodnight then, Tomomi-chan.”

 

Ryouta watched the young woman leave, then turned his gaze to his sister as she circled the fire pit with her arms outstretched like a bird. With a resounding thud, she sat on her knees and began to wring out her damp hair. He sat across from her and watched her work, twisting her hair so that the rain-water dripped onto her already wet clothes.

 

“Tomo-chan,” he said absently, connecting his knee to his elbow, and his chin to his palm, “you'll catch a cold if you stay in those clothes.”

 

The girl continued as if her brother hadn't spoken. It puzzled him. How could Kagome and InuYasha get Tomomi to react to them? To interact? Was it something he wasn't doing? Did it have to do with spiritual powers or youki? Was he going to have to resign himself to never being able to behave normally around his sister? Would they have to rely on the miko and youkai living with Kaede? He didn't like being powerless to help. He didn't like entrusting Tomomi to anyone else. Since the bandits… He didn't like it when he couldn't keep an eye on her. But what else could he do? She so frequently ran off on her own, and she was pretty good at staying hidden.

 

When Tomomi started to run her fingers through her tangled locks, Ryouta stood and retrieved their mother's comb - one of the few reminders of their former life. He sat behind his sister, and began to brush her hair. Tomomi was still and silent. He continued to fruitlessly ponder, and it took him a while for him to realize Tomomi's hair was snag-less. What's more, she'd fallen asleep sitting up. She didn't bob her head or anything. Shaking his head, Ryouta laid out her futon, undressed his sister, and put her to bed. He spread out her sopping clothes on the floor in hopes that they'd dry, and returned to his work on his uncle's net. Frequently he'd gaze into the fire, but as always, it held no answers for him in the night.

 

~*~

 

Kagome stood outside Kaede's hut for a moment, gripping the rain hat Tomomi lent her with white knuckles. She closed her eyes tight, trying to strengthen her resolve to tell InuYasha about Hojo. It wrenched in her gut that she was about to betray her promises to herself and to the boy she'd spent high school with. But this was InuYasha she was dealing with. `No secrets,' she reminded herself. Despite herself, she shivered before she closed the distance between herself and the hut entrance. She took a breath to speak as she lifted the mat aside, but was beaten to the punch as soon as she was in the door.

 

“Kagome!” came a gleeful cry. Suddenly there was orange hair in her vision and a young kitsune youkai clinging to the front of her shirt. Habit and reflex had her wrapping her arms around the creature and smiling.

 

“Welcome home, Shippo-chan.”

 

Well, there went any chance she had to talk to InuYasha tonight. She didn't let her nerves show through her smile as she sat by the fire. There was a surprise waiting for her there. A pot of stew bubbled mildly half-over the fire. There was even a bowl waiting for her, and it was still warm. Shippo jumped out of her arms and watched her taste the stew expectantly.

 

“Wow,” she said. “This is really good.”

 

Shippo couldn't sit still any longer. “I caught the rabbit that's in there!” he boasted.

 

“Awesome, Shippo-chan!” Kagome gushed. She reached out to ruffle the kitsune's hair, genuinely happy for him. He'd been bringing home larger and larger animals to cook since he started training with other kitsune. And just like his prey had grown, Kagome noticed that her little fox's limbs and torso were getting longer. She continued eating, wondering if Shippo would grow the same way an actual fox would, and be all arm and leg before the rest of him caught up.

 

“InuYasha's the one that made the actual stew,” Shippo admitted. “But he said he had something to do so he left just before you got here.” He muttered what Kagome assumed was an insult under his breath.

 

“Really,” she murmured. She spent the rest of her meal listening to Shippo recount exciting events from his training. She did listen attentively for most of his stories, but once or twice she caught herself looking at the pot of stew InuYasha had cooked up. She supposed the hanyou was still angry at her for earlier.

 

“Shippo-chan,” came a woman's voice. Kagome and the youkai in question looked to the door, where Sango was peeking in. “The girls are going to bed soon.”

 

“Oh!” Shippo exclaimed. He hugged Kagome. “I'm the twins' snuggle buddy tonight,” he smiled. Kagome chuckled.

 

“Sleep well then,” she replied. She waved to Sango as the woman left with Shippo. Her smile froze on her lips for a moment, and then she sighed. Alone again, she thought glumly. She stared into her bowl of stew, mostly empty. As she became more immersed in the life of the villagers, around people almost all day, she was really starting to hate being alone. When she was alone, her thoughts turned to InuYasha with a horrible swiftness she almost wished she could resist.

 

How had things become like this? She and InuYasha used to be so much closer. Had three years really driven such an awkward gap between the two of them? Did he still care for her the way he used to? She shook her head, cleaning up after her meal. Of course, she chastised herself. He was jealous because he cared. He was jealous because he wanted her attention. She looked out the small window to the darkening sky, and went to the back of the hut to change her clothes. Before she pulled on the sleeping yukata, she stood for a moment and idly touched the straps of her bra. How much longer would the elastic garment last her? With a quick sigh she removed it from her body and donned the light yukata, loosely tying it with the sash from her hakama.

 

Nothing else to do, she spread out her futon, crawled under her covers, and went to sleep.

 

~*~

 

InuYasha stood with his back pressed to the wall beside the door of Kaede's hut, one hand pressed over his thundering heart. Eyes impossibly wide, he fought to control his breathing as well as his pulse. He tried to swallow the lump in his throat, but to no avail.

 

What the hell was Kagome doing changing in the middle of the room like that right when he was walking in the door?!

 

He'd escaped before she could realize he was there, mostly out of instinct. He'd already been “sat” enough for one day. And while his mind's instincts were right as rain, they weren't the instincts his body wanted to be following right then. He groaned and clenched his eyes shut for a second, then propelled himself away from the hut and into the forest.

 

Run, run, fucking run. Don't think, don't think, don't go back, idiot!

 

Before he realized where he was headed, he found himself at the lake the river spilled into. Without a second thought he plunged into its chilly depths and let himself float, suspended in thought and action beneath the water's surface. When his lungs burned for air, he reared up and gasped. He slouched in the shoulder-deep water until his lips were submerged, and stared angrily across the lake.

 

`Fucking ay,' he thought. `Fuck-ing-ay!' Just what was up with Kagome today anyway? She'd never let him so close before. She'd never let him near when she wasn't properly clothed, either. What had happened to her modesty while she was away? He shouted wordlessly into the water and splashed around with his fists, angrily. Kagome was his! What was she doing being all modesty-less around other people? Had Hobo taught her all that? He shook his head furiously, splashing more. There was no way that'd happened. She'd been furious when he mention she might have kissed him.

 

He may be wrong about a lot of things when it came to Kagome, but he was pretty sure she wasn't going to go around sleeping with a guy she wouldn't ever think of kissing.

 

Muttering darkly to himself, he trudged out of the lake and stripped, wringing out his clothes before laying them out to dry. How fucking stupid was he to jump into the water fully clothed, anyway? He supposed it just went to show how easily he fell for immediate solutions.

 

“Goddamn it!” he shouted, slamming his fist into the ground. After all that time he'd spent running around and cooking and just doing things to keep his mind off of Kagome's body, he was right back at square one. But at least his blood wasn't on fire quite as much. He was just about to lay back and try to relax when he caught a familiar scent in the air.

 

“Oh no,” he growled. “Oh hell no.”

 

“InuYasha.”

 

“Fuckfuckfuck,” the hanyou whispered under his breath. He leveled a glare at his half-brother without bothering to get up. Sesshoumaru just stood there with his ever-stoic expression. InuYasha didn't let it bother him. He stood and faced his brother with his arms crossed, annoyance written on his face. “What?” he demanded.

 

“Young women are being taken from villages closer and closer to this one,” Sesshoumaru said, deadpan. “Rin will stay with this Sesshoumaru until you take care of whatever youkai is behind this.”

 

InuYasha sputtered a bit, bewildered. “Excuse me?”

 

“Your humans are the same age as the ones that have been disappearing,” Sesshoumaru returned without missing a beat. “Protect your land and your humans, else this Sesshoumaru will do it for you. And you will not like my alternatives.” Before InuYasha could form a coherent sentence, Sesshoumaru turned and walked away.

 

The hanyou flailed his arms, frustrated with the world and everything in it. As if he didn't have enough problems already! But no, his asshole of a brother had to show up and put the perfect cherry on top of the whole damn thing. Growling his anger, he threw his clothes back on - they were perfectly dry by then. Sesshoumaru's scent grew faint as he left rapidly, using whatever means he had to fly. InuYasha scowled, running through the forest to get back to Kaede's hut.

 

InuYasha snarled at himself for even feeling remotely grateful for the bucket of ice water that was Sesshoumaru.

 

But all that frustration, anger, and the twisted emotions that came along with Sesshoumaru counted for nothing when InuYasha entered the hut and lay eyes on Kagome. It all left him in a little sigh when he crossed the floor and knelt near her, just to look at her.

 

She was beautiful. She always had been.

 

His fingertips itched to just touch her, caress her smooth skin. It wasn't anything perverted, so he gave into the compulsion. He brushed a lock of her sable bangs away from her eyes, very gently. It almost felt like his heart would burst for how warm and full it felt. He just couldn't be done. He ran the back of his fingers across her cheek, stroked her cheekbone with his thumb. And still it wasn't enough for him. He smiled ruefully, wondering if it would be more satisfying when she was awake, or if he'd even get away with it.

 

When he sighed again, it was a calm, almost content sound. He found himself relaxing just being in Kagome's presence. In a way it was amusing, so he shook his head and smiled. Then he leaned down, his hand still on the young woman's face, and kissed her forehead where he'd moved her bangs.

 

Her hand came up to cover his, and oddly enough it didn't startle him, though he was surprised.

 

“InuYasha,” she whispered, barely awake. “I'm sorry… for earlier. And about Hojo… he…”

 

“Don't worry about it,” he growled soothingly.

 

“No,” she protested, continuing to wake up. Her hold on his hand tightened. “You don't understand. I didn't do anything with him.”

 

“I know,” he said. She blinked, barely comprehending through her haze of sleep. “Go back to sleep, Kagome.” She squeezed his hand again, a question in her eyes. He didn't fight the ghost of a smile that teased at his lips. “Move over.”

 

Kagome's smile was more pronounced as she made room for him on the futon. He slid under the covers with her and made himself comfortable with his head pillowed on his free arm - Kagome still held his hand. She snuggled up to his chest, and protested minutely when he tried to recover his hand. When she let go, he draped it over her waist and curled around her. She seemed happy with the change, so she wiggled closer to him, lightly holding on to his haori. InuYasha chuckled to himself when she passed out again quickly.

 

He kissed her forehead again, and buried his nose in her hair so he could fully enjoy her scent. With Kagome's scent and warmth wrapped around him, even as he worried at Sesshoumaru's warning, it wasn't long before he fell asleep as well.

 

He slept better than he had in years. Better than he could ever remember.