InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Between Darkness and Light ❯ Pairings ( Chapter 14 )

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, Rumiko Takahashi does.

Between Darkness and Light

Chapter 14: Pairings

By Cataluna

The once animated kitchen grew quiet at the sound of her voice as both males suddenly realized they were no longer alone. So heated in their discussion that they did not realize how loud the volume of their voice had become or carried.

Inuyasha's eyes met Miroku's in a nervous glance, before focusing down at the small pair arms wrapped tightly around his torso, her head pressing close to his back. "Kagome," he said her name slowly with caution. Her scent, tainted by dried tears, filled his nose.

She could feel the muscles on his back tensing through his shirt and the sharp intake of breath that followed. Her brows immediately drawn downward in absolute confusion. He was acting the way he had after their first kiss, only this time it was different. `Why is he so tense?' she wondered and loosened her hold on him.

He turned around and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. Looking down at her, "You're… awake."

"Yea." Her hand reached up to brush his thick bangs from his eyes. She was relief to find only warmth and concern radiating from his deep ambers.

"Are you alright? You were tossing and turning a lot in your sleep."

Kagome frowned, remembering the reason why she was here in the first place. "Just a nightmare, that's all."

"Is that-"

"Can we not talk about it now?" she requested, having a hard time with keeping her voice from wavering. She did not want to discuss this with Miroku and Sango possibly listening on.

Inuyasha looked at her intently for a while, then nodded. He understood her reasons for not wanting to do this right now. `We will talk about this later… rather you want to or not,' he thought determinedly and placed a tender kiss on her forehead, before taking her in his arms. He noticed the look of amusement Miroku was giving them, and gave him a look of warning. For him, displaying emotion in front of other people was highly usual and extremely out of character. But he didn't care what others thought when he was with Kagome. Fuck, he wanted the whole world to know that they were together, especially the males. With that thought, he drew her in closer, eyes sliding shut.

She sighed with contentment at the sound of his steady heartbeat thundering next to her ear. Being with him made her forget about everything, well almost… a nagging thought continued to taunt her, refusing to be ignored. "So who is he?"

"Who's who?" he raised his chin off her head, eyes cracking open.

"Naraku… the guy that got you two all uptight." She heard a sharp intake of breath, and the same tightening of his body that she had felt earlier. Still receiving no verbal responses, she tilted her head to search his face for answers.

Instead of meeting eyes with her, he guiltily looked away at Miroku instead.

Kagome was beginning to get a bit frustrated. It was almost like he was trying to dodge the topic on purpose.

"What's going on?" She took a giant step back, putting herself at equal distance between the two.

He glanced at the frustrated girl in front of him with a dumbfounded expression on his face, still completely unsure on what to say, and how to answer. Seeing that she was about to lose her temper, he opened his mouth to say something, anything. "Kagome… I- "

"We think that he's the guy responsible for what happened tonight." Miroku jumped in with the explanation, and in turn received a silent thanks from the hanyou.

"Oh… " chewing on her bottom lip. The reply she had just heard was perfectly sound and made perfect sense. Of course they would be anything but calm when it came to the guy responsible for tonight's catastrophe and horror. `But… ` Her eyes switched suspiciously between the guys on either side of her. Miroku looked pleased with the answer he had just volunteered. Inuyasha nodded at her and seemed… relieved. She knew there had to be something else they were not telling her, something that they did not want her to know. "There's more, isn't there?" she pressed, looking directly at Inuyasha.

He groaned at her stubbornness and persistence, though those were some of the traits that had attracted him to her. Coming up with the only thing that came to his mind at that tensed moment, "He's the guy I'm after, the one who killed my father," he said softly, staring down at the design of the tiles on the kitchen floor. It was true, that really was one of the reasons why he was so angry with him… ONE of the reasons. Still, he felt like a real jerk for using his father's death for the sole purpose of evading her question.

Kagome's face softened, from determination to embarrassment. She knew that anything relating to the death of his parents was a painful subject for him, just as Sota's was for her. She wrapped her arms around him. "I'm sorry Inuyasha… I didn't mean to- "

He pressed two fingers against her mouth. "Feh. Don't worry about it."

She gave him a small smile. Turning to face Miroku, "How's Sango?"

He signed and leaned back on the countertop. His violet eyes seemingly far away. "She's doing better now… finally moving and responding."

"You think… I can go in and see her?"

"She's asleep right now, so… "

Nodding, "I understand." They should probably leave her alone for a while, she needed time and space. Not that time could ever heal the pain of losing your entire life. "Call us when she's okay to talk."

Inuyasha took her hand. "Come on, I'll take you home."

Her arm snaked around his waist. "Can I stay at your place? I don't… want to be alone," she asked when they were out the door.

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He parked his silver Porsche at a low rise overlooking the beach, and removed the key from the ignition. They had not said a single word to each other since getting inside his car. He did not mind. The silence was not one caused by anger and resentment, but rather one of pensive meditation. The drive here had given him time to think about her strange behavior.

The sound of the engine dying out and the jingling of the keys jolted her from her dream-like state. From what she could tell, the beach was completely deserted, with only strong waves lapping against the shore. The full moon hanged heavily in the sky, surrounded by bright stars. It was like a scene out of a romantic novel, but she knew that this was not the reason why they were here. She turned to look at him and spoke the question that came to her mind. "Why are we here?"

He said nothing for a long while, as though she had never spoken at all, the muscles around his jaw tensing. His amber eyes staring out into the ocean. "Why didn't you tell me?" he queried in a voice that was barely above a whisper.

It was said so quietly that she wasn't even sure if she had heard it at all. Brows furrowing in confusion, "Tell you what?" She lightly touched his arm, wanting him to face her.

Inuyasha continued to glare out the window, hands fisting on his lap. "You've been putting on a front, haven't you? Hiding your true feelings for everyone including me," a little louder this time, sounding more hurt than mad.

Her eyes widened at his accusation, but said nothing. She was tired of lying and trying to be brave.

Exhaling deeply, he ran his fingers through his hair. "It's not your fault Kagome, your brother's death is not your fault. You can't blame yourself, the guilt will eat you alive."

Kagome laughed dryly. "Who said anything about blame? I know… I- I am the reason why Sota is dead. I should have been there, patrolling, if I had gone patrolling sooner… " tears spilled down her face. "Or if I wasn't so reluctant about slaying and-"

"Shut the fuck up." He grabbed her face and fastened his mouth over hers, more forceful and rough than usual, trying to kiss away her offending words.

She fought against him for a while before going slack, giving in to the warmth and feelings that were flowing inside of her.

He pulled back; one of his thumbs gently wiped away the tears on her cheek, the other tracing the outline of her swollen lips. "You can't keep doing this to yourself. I won't let you! Why are you being so fucking stupid about all this?"

"I saw him tonight… Sota, in my dream. It was h- horrible, blood everywhere, and he blames me." She broke down into loud sobs. "He kept asking me why I didn't save him, and… "

"It was a dream Kagome, that's all. It's all in your head… because of what happened to Sango." He crushed her towards him, and tucked her head under his chin, drawing soothing patterns on her back. `That's it Kagome, let it all out… don't keep it bottled up inside.'

"I just can't help feeling this way," her voice muffled. She buried herself even deeper inside his embrace.

It was kind of an awkward position, with the armrest and their seatbelts in the way. He unsnapped their restraints and shifted his seat back so that he could pull her to his lap. His mouth curled slightly at how she managed to remain tucked inside his arm through the entire process, but quickly dropped at the sound of another heart wrenching cry and the feel of his shirt dampening with her tears.

`Maybe I should tell her who's really responsible… then she won't blame herself so much. But what if… ' he pushed the thought aside; all he cared about at this very moment was to stop her pain. "The only person that you should blame is the vampire who killed your brother." He paused, and closed his eyes wishing with all his heart that he was doing the right thing by telling her this. "And Naraku."

She shifted and raised her chin, her glossy eyes filled with confusion. "Naraku?"

Inuyasha nodded.

"But, why would he… ?"

"He's a fucking bastard. He doesn't need a reason… probably just wanted to hurt you in the worse possible way, because of his sick fascination with slayers."

She sat there silence for a while, contemplating what she had just learned, before suddenly pushed him away, falling awkwardly back to her seat. "You knew? And you didn't tell me?!" fumbling wildly for the door handle.

He grabbed her wrist. "I didn't want you to freak out and do something stupid… like what you're doing now."

"Get your hand off of me," she hissed.

"No."

She gave him a cold glare before flinging her hand free from his grasp, and ran out of the car.

"Where the fuck are you going?" he slammed the car door shut behind him.

She ignored him, and continued running, sands spraying up in all direction with every step. Her eyes focused only on the dark inviting water and its crashing waves. She didn't know where she was going to go, just that she needed to get out of here.

Despite her speed, he was able to quickly catch up with her. He tackled her to the wet cushion just in time to prevent her from stepping into the water. She struggled against him, twisting and turning, trying anything to get loose. Finally realizing that she was overpowered, and her struggling was futile. "Just leave me alone!!" she pleaded.

"Feh, and let you run off to god-knows where again?" He spun her around, eyes blazing. "Just promise me you won't do anything stupid. Don't make the same fucking mistake I did." Inuyasha loosened his grip and lifted her chin, his voice softening. "Promise me. Tell me you won't."

"I won't…" her head clearing from the rush of madness. "But, it's still my fault… if I weren't the slayer-"

He let out a growl of frustration at her continued foolishness, and captured her lips once more. This time she returned it immediately, her hands gathering the hair at the nape of his neck. The foam of the waves washed beneath her, wetting her hair and the back of her clothes, but she did not care. All she could feel was the solid weight of his body pressing against her and the heat seeping into her skin. Sometimes her need for him was so intense that it frightened her.

He released her lips, ignoring the slight cry of protest. Panting softly, he pressed his forehead against hers. "Kagome… Naraku is the one you should be angry with, not yourself. Everything happens for a reason. His, is to hurt you. Now, you will use this to become stronger than before so you can avenge Sota's death."

She nodded.

He got off her and offered her his hand. "Let's go home."

Kagome sat up and pulled her knees to her chest, gazing up at the sky. "Can we stay here a little while longer?"

He took a seat behind her and pulled her to his lap.

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Miroku slammed the book shut in front of him with a loud bang. Coughing slightly from the cloud of dust, he grabbed another one from the mountain high pile on the desk. He leaned forward with one elbow propped up on the desk, eyes searching intently through the pages, hand massaging at the temple. Now more than ever he wanted to find out all he could about a certain vampire named Naraku.

// CRASH //

He grimaced at the sound of broken glass and ran quickly towards the kitchen. "Sango!" he exclaimed at the sight of her kneeling on the tiled floor, surrounded by glimmering shards and puddles of water.

The expression on her face was a cross between embarrassment and surprise. Cheeks tinting in a shade of red, "I - I'm sorry, I was thirsty and I didn't want to bother you… It slipped out of my hand."

He gave her a reassuring smile and crouched down in front of her. "Don't worry about it. Go sit in the living room, let me clean this up."

"No, don't do that… it's my mess, I should."

He caught her waist before she could reach the shards, causing her to jump at the contact. Misunderstanding her signal, he released her and drew his hand back into a fist on his thigh. With his eyes keeping her still, "Please, let me," he said softly.

Sango stood up and padded out of the kitchen, her bare feet careful of the glass lining along her path. She sank down dully on the couch and regarded what had just happened in the kitchen. It was never her intention to hurt his feelings again or have him think that she still did not trust him. The feel of his warm hand had sent a tingle down her spine, startling her, letting her experienced something she had never felt before.

He returned shortly after and handed her a glass, before taking a seat beside her, an arm-length away. "How are you feeling?"

She swirled the water around, then took a tiny sip, suddenly realizing that she was not so thirsty any more. "I don't feel anything," she replied with blatant honesty and set the water carefully down on the coffee table. Numbness was her only way of dealing with pain. She shifted her position to face his profile. "It was because of the ring, wasn't it?"

His silence confirmed her theory.

"You know… I`ve thought about this for a long time, and I still don't understand how anyone could have gotten past our barrier. It has protected our home for years. The strongest, most powerful magic. It doesn't make any sense."

"It was Naraku," he spitted out the name as thought it left a bitter taste in his mouth.

"Naraku… " she repeated it slowly with a flicker of recognition as she recalled a conversation or rather an argument she had overheard a couple of months ago.

~ Flashback ~

She paused in the middle of a series of kicks and punches at the sound of voices booming loudly from the next room. Wiping the sweat on her face with the back of her hand, she crept closer to the door.

"We need to up our defenses… Naraku is getting close."

"Yes, I understand, but no one should be able to get pass our barrier… no matter how powerful," her father replied.

"But what about… "

"They're dead."

~ End Flashback ~

"I don't understand… unless we were… "

"Betrayed."

She stared sadly down at her lap as her eyes once again became blurred with moisture. Why would anyone want to destroy his/her own tribe?

"We'll find out… trust me."

She hesitantly hugged him, wanting to make up for hurting his feelings earlier, half falling into his lap from the motion. "I do. Thank you so much… for this, for everything."

His eyes widened in surprise at her initiative. Miroku had been embraced by many women before, but never had an action so simple as the pressing of two fully clothed bodies together made him feel so… good. His arms quickly circled around her tiny waist.

She closed her eyes and rested her cheek on his chest. She felt so safe, despite how he may have acted at the beginning. "Where's Kagome and Inuyasha?"

"Went home… they wanted to give you some time alone." He leaned back a little. "But if you want I can drop you off at Kagome's place. I'm sure she won't mind."

"No… it's fine. I feel safe here, and I don't want to invade her space… their space." She tilted her chin to gaze at him with unblinking brown eyes. "Am I bothering you? Just tell me, I don't want to be a burden… "

He smiled down at her. "You're not. Stay here as long as you want. It's nice having company around."

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

The room echoed with the sound of bed squeaking and occasional escapes of loud moans. With a satisfied grunt, he collapsed on top of her, his hot breath fanning across the pale skin of her shoulder.

She shut her eyes, and attempted to catch her breath, ignoring the feel of his hot, sweaty body weighting down on her, and the cool metal branding into her chest. As much as she would like to push him off of her right away, she was much too tired to do so right now. To her relief, he rolled off of her.

The feel of his rough fingers crawling lazily down her arm brought her back to her senses. She swatted his hand away and got out of bed, dragging the sheet along with her. Limping because of the slight ache between her legs. He had been rough, like an animal… not that she would have been satisfied with anything else.

He raised himself into an upright position with his elbows and leaned against the headboard. Smirking in amusement as she attempted to put on what he had not already ripped earlier. "If I had known earlier that the complete slaughter of an entire town would get you so horny… " His eyes drunk in what remained uncovered, "Woman, come back to bed."

She paused in her motion and looked at him with disgust in her eyes. "I think I need to go take a hot shower."

Naraku sprang out of bed, not bothering to hide his nakedness, and grabbed her hips from behind, pulling her back toward him. "You didn't seem to mind me so much before," he whispered into her ear.

She ignored his comment, proceeding to walk out the door.

He was in front of her in a blink of an eye. "I didn't say you can leave."

She punched him in the face, causing his head to snap back. "You disgust me! Now get the fuck out of my way."

Chuckling, he gingerly touched his jaw. "Yet with your own free will, you crawled into my bed and fucked me. You know, you and I aren't that different, especially now that you've chan-"

She shoved him with the flat of her palms. "I didn't ask for this!" she yelled, her usual cold eyes blazing.

He slammed her against the wall. "I saw through your good girl routine. I freed you from your burden, your pathetic life."

She avoided his eyes and said nothing. He did free her; she was now free to do whatever she chose without conscience.

Naraku held the Ring of Midoriko in front of her. "You also didn't mind helping, did you? I couldn't have done that without you. I saw the glow in your eyes when you were ripping into those troublesome exterminators, the blood lust. You thirst for death and power." He ripped open her shirt and began to nip at the newly exposed skin.

She wanted to resist, but she couldn't. Instead, she threw her head back and wrapped her arms around his neck, her eyes sliding shut. A loud moan escaped her lips as Naraku sank his teeth into her pale neck, and fondled her breasts. She hated herself for this, for wanting him. But, he was right; she craved the power, the mayhem. They slid down to the cold floor as she once again gave herself to the man she hated, the man who made her.

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A/N: Eikos made me a new layout, it's so beautiful. http://www.missdream.org/cataluna/beyond.html Thank you so much!!!

I've had a sudden burst of ideas; my writer's block has been lifted!! My fingers have made themselves busy all day. BTW, from here on out, the chapters are going to be darker and more serious to fit the rating. I'm going to keep the rating at R. If I decided to do a lemon it will be a separate entry.