InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Better Things than You ❯ Memory, thy Foul Mistress ( Chapter 8 )

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha. He's Rumiko Takahashi and Viz Productions.

 

A/N: Hopefully this chapter isn't too repetitious with Miroku's response to the Amazons. As I was typing it, I felt like I had written it before. Oh well.

 

Some…interesting…reviews on the last chapter guys, but thanks anyway. The questions and wonderings really help me out on the things I needed to work on to flesh this thing out.

 

Juliana: several people asked about a better description of the Amazon's clothes. I tried to put a better picture in this chapter, but its difficult because I can't just come out and say “it looked like she was wearing a diagonal-one strapped bra and a super mini skirt” or “a one shoulder-bathing suit top and tiny skirt” since their supposed to be in Georgian England. I have little to no artistic ability…I could probably sketch the clothes, but I don't know if they would be modeled by “people”, more like misshapen rocks than Kagome or Sango. If you want to draw something up, I would be more than happy to post a link. I think people would be happy to have a visual. If not, no worries. I'm glad you like this story, and I'll try to keep it and my other stuff going.

 

Kisshu-luv: Um…I think I'll leave the story where it is, but thanks for noticing its more than your garden-variety drama. I'm never sure what I'm going to write when I start off, so I feel like “Drama” is an ambiguous enough category to encompass pretty much anything I can come up with. You might want to lay off the chocolate ice cream before reviewing fanfics, but do whatever the fuck you want. Thanks for reviewing, your comments were just quirky enough to put me in a good funk so I felt like writing more.

 

Alexa: Good idea—I hadn't thought of that yet.

 

Thanks to everyone else to reviewed!

 

Chapter 8

 

Kagome fidgeted with her clothes. Sango had left her some time ago, saying the word “brother”, so Kagome hoped and prayed she would see Miroku again soon.

 

Even in these clothes…

 

Kagome shifted her legs, trying to milk out the most coverage possible from her skirt. At the same time she attempted to adjust her “shirt” as well. A thick strap wrapped snuggly around her breasts and was held by another that went up and over her shoulder. All of her stomach was exposed down to her navel or would have been if it was not currently wrapped in bandages to match her arms in order to cover the nasty wounds from the snake demon. Just bellow her belly bottom, the “skirt” fitted over her hips. It was really more a rag than a skirt as it only just covered her backside, falling midway down her thigh but well above her knee—an area also wrapped with gauze. She was worried when the dressings would be removed—not that she was comfortable as she was now.

 

Pulling her eyes away from the fire, she looked down at her clothes for the brief moment before she had to take her eyes away. She didn't want to think of what the people back in London would say about her if they could see her now; even if they were a million miles away she still felt cheap.

 

Her eyes burned and her face flushed at the memory of her last few months in London.

 

Inuyasha.

 

He had always been there for her, always protected her from any rumors spread by jealous mouths…until he was the one to cause the jeers.

 

A tear dripped down onto her hands folded in neatly in her lap.

 

There had not been much time for her to think about him in the past weeks, but now he flooded her thoughts. It had to be the snake demon. As the monster had tried to crush her to death, the one coherent thought she had been able to grasp had been her need for Inuyasha to be there; for him to rescue her.

 

He was her protector, or he had been before he left her for Kikyou.

 

Kagome's hands clutched the hem of her skirt. He had pushed her aside, abandoned her like an unwanted plaything.

 

Shaking her head, she tried to push away the destructive thoughts swelling up in her mind, but they refused to leave.

 

It must have been too much for me to ask for happiness. I must have seemed like such a silly girl to Inuyasha. No wonder he wanted to be with Kikyou…she's so, so poised.

 

Kagome tried to pull her legs up to her chest, but found the action made things a bit drafty. Leaning back down toward the fire, Kagome propped her elbows on her knees and stared at the flames.

 

I was never good enough, was I?

 

Her angst moment was interrupted as Sango returned. The Amazon smiled at her before sitting back down.

 

Kagome couldn't be sure, but the woman seemed pleased about something.

 

XXXXXXX

 

Miroku was in a quandary.

 

He was sitting in the dark of a stuffy room.

 

He had a knot on his head…at least he assumed the throbbing pain on his skull was a bump.

 

And worst of all his hands were tired behind his back and his arms were lashed down to his sides. He had been allowed to sit cross-legged on the ground, and he wasn't sure he had the balance to stand. Not that it mattered. Even if he could get to the door, he wouldn't be able to open it or even scream for help considering the gag in his mouth.

 

He had been woken earlier by the sound of a shrieking animal but then everything had gone quite with only the soft sounds of people moving about sifting though the vents in the walls.

 

Besides his aching head, Miroku had no idea what had happened to get him here. All of his memories were blurred and muddied. Painstakingly, he tired to pull out the details, causing the pain in his head pound all the more for his efforts.

 

He remembered their arrival and setting up camp. Then he had been getting ready for the night when they had been attacked…

 

Here Miroku's ability to remember tanked, and he sat wondering what had gone on. There had been screams of the men and Kagome had come running into the main room of the tent.

 

And that woman had appeared.

 

In a dizzy flash, everything up to the point he was knocked unconscious was pulled into his recollection: fear for himself and his sister, the thrill of the fight, a brief rush of victory when he drew blood on the woman, and finally the humiliation and exhaustion as he collapsed on the floor of his own tent. After that, it had been pure and sweet blankness until he had woken…whenever he had regained consciousness.

 

Testing the strength of his bounds yet again Miroku found them just as tight as they had been the last time. There was no way for him to escape in his current position.

 

His stomach clenched at the thought of Kagome.

 

He had almost had her hand in his when that woman had attacked them. Miroku mentally cringed. When he had signed onto Kouga's expedition, not in his strangest imaginings had he ever thought he would have to fight a woman like that. Perhaps that was way he was painfully shocked when she had bested him.

 

There was a sudden noise from one of the walls and what he could only describe as a door slid open. There was a flash of bright light but that was quickly dosed as two forms stepped in the doorframe, blocking out the light at they did so.

 

Miroku gulped.

 

Before him stood two women, both fierce, frightening, and scantily clad.

 

His jaw dropped, or it would have if the gag hadn't been shoved halfway down his throat.

 

The swept into the room quickly, gliding more than walking. Tugging him to his feet, the two women guided him out where he was immediately blinded by the bright sunlight.

 

Miroku felt a sinking feeling in his chest as he was walked though the village. It was clear he was somewhere deep in the jungle, and the natives had kidnapped him. What was more frightening was the realization he could not see any men. Women, women, women everywhere. There was not a male face in sight, but there were so many girls—girls wearing, well not wearing much at all.

 

What was important had been covered on their bodies, but other than that there was not much left of their clothes.

 

If his hands weren't tied behind his back, he'd be in paradise.

 

He was taken through to the village's center, and unceremoniously shoved into a hut where he was pushed to the ground so he found himself sitting across a cooking fire from an old woman. She—much to his great bliss—was covered as a woman should be, but the scowl about her features was a bit disconcerting. A black scrap of cloth covered one of her eyes, making her seem even more fearsome.

 

The woman looked over his shoulder at her two tribeswomen who had brought him there are began speaking in a rapid dialect Miroku could not even begin to follow. He could only sit by and attempt to take in the dizzy speed of the words exchanged.

 

“Sango believes he is a relation to our miko?” Kaede asked.

 

Both nodded.

 

“Fine, take him to Sango. We have no use for him if he belongs to the miko.”

 

After bowing to their leader, Miroku was gathered up again and dragged back out into the sunlight. A short walk later and he found himself being jostled through another doorway into another hut. He was forced to the floor again, but this time his female guards only said something snappy to people in the room and left.

 

As soon as his eyes adjusted enough to the room's shadows to take in details, Miroku felt as though his eyes were going to pop out of his head.

 

The first thing he noticed was that he was sitting in a room with the same dammed woman who had attacked him. He flinched backwards, tottering as he tried to back peddle to escape. Without his arms, he lost his balance and fell ungracefully to the ground. Lying on the dirt floor, he wondered idly if he were dead and this was some horrible nightmare.

 

There was a movement at his side and he cautiously looked over, finally taking in whom the second person in the room actually was.

 

Now he was sure he was dead.

 

Because there was no way Kagome would ever be dressed like that.

 

 

XXXXXXXXXX

 

 

Inuyasha sat in his cabin, still a little shaken from the night before. Perched on the end of his bed he was tenderly feeling the bruise on his eye. It was healing, his youkai strength allowed it. But it wasn't healing fast enough and that had him worried.

 

The captain had brushed him off, refusing to search the ship for his attacker and telling him to lock his door at night. He had said the intruder had more than likely been a drunken sailor looking for trouble.

 

Inuyasha didn't think so. The man from the night had not smelled of spirits. He had told the captain as much but found himself only ignored.

 

Now he readying himself for bed, and he was finding himself unsure of the dark.

 

If it had not been for his attacker being clumsy, he would have died. Of that he had no doubt; the man had been able to land a blow on his eye that had not healed a day later.

 

Nevertheless, he was going to have to sleep some time.

 

Standing, he went to the door, securing the lock. Next, he drug the desk over, pushing it flush in front of the door.

 

Safe as I'm going to be, he decided.

 

It took a lot to shake him and this had done it: the stranger on the ship's deck just that morning, the attack itself, the nonchalance of the Capitan. Nothing about any of it smelled right, and for once Inuyasha had decided was better to be cautious than sorry and dead with a knife lodged in his hanyou's heart. He wasn't sure what exactly had brought on his sudden lack of recklessness, but there was a quite voice whispering in his ear.

 

All it said was if he died on the ship, he would never be see Kagome again. And right now, that wasn't high on his to do list. He had hurt Kagome enough. At the very least, he wanted the opportunity to apologize to her and keep her safe until he could bring her home unscathed.

 

Tonight, he would be sleeping with one ear open.

 

XXXXXXXXXXX

 

A/N: I think I'm going to end this chapter here. I know its short, but I have so many things I want get in, I think I'll get more out faster if I divide I up. I'm going to try to get the second half out by next Friday. If I write everything in now, it may be August until this gets posted because writer's block is hovering on the horizon.