InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Birth Marks ❯ the next morning ( Chapter 19 )

I can't really think of much to say except that I accept all roses In the form of reviews (and I only own Rumiko the bird demon and Reichou the black dog lord)

 

Last time: “feh, like that picture is going to matter anyway,” Inuyasha shrugged it off, putting on an almost-convincing act of indifferent. In fact, he knew that Gin was going to see it when the film was `de-veel-iped' and she wouldn't let it down. # great, that's all I need: a gushing mother #

 

Kagome lifted her doggie head an inch off the ground and groaned. She was starting to feel her demonic power ebb away and the best she could describe it was it must have felt as close to a hangover that she ever wanted to get. The pre-dawn sunlight came through the trees and Kagome glared at it to dare it to come up any sooner. If she was a cat, she would hiss at it. But since she wasn't, Kagome settled with the glare.

 

Inuyasha rolled up from where he was sleeping beside Kagome and scratched her ears in a silent good morning. He then turned his attention to the thick black soup in last night's coals and gave it a good stir, also silently telling the others to keep their mouth shut about his less-than-gruff treatment from yesterday.

 

“so are we going to travel today?” Sango asked, putting some new kindling on the fire pit and lighting it up with one of Kagome's lighters for breakfast. As she did so, she noticed a drag pattern in the dirt around the fire from Miroku's original sleeping claim to between Sango's claim and the fire. She looked suspiciously at the houshi as he put on the innocent act as he grabbed some dry pancake mix for breakfast. “houshi…” she drew out his title sickly-sweet.

 

#uh-oh, she figured it out # he tried to sneak away from the immediate striking range of HiraiKotsu but was caught by Inuyasha who turned him to face Sango squarely.

 

“… did you sleep well last night?” she was fighting down an anger tic. The others sniggered at Miroku's expense as Kagome tapped Shippou with her muzzle to wake up… and to also get off her numb front paw. The red fox yawned, showing off his pink tongue, and turned back into his humanoid form shaking out his tail. Shippou caught sight of the show and put his hands behind his head to watch the show. Lets just say that Miroku got to sleep in a bit.

 

With the whack of HiraiKotsu welcoming the morning sun, Kagome inwardly cringed as she felt her bones and organs change and reorganize. It wasn't exactly painful, like she was feeling it with a lot of anesthetic that was promising to wear off at any moment, but felt weird. Kagome was glad that her sleeping bag was covering her after the transformation just in case. She grabbed her arm to check and there were her glorious clothes just as good as yesterday, and cleaner too!

 

“Kagome-okaa-san, are you okay?” Shippou asked, peeking under the sleeping bag that she was currently hiding under. Kagome looked up into his hazel eyes and smiled, showing that she was, indeed, fine. She pushed the bag off her and tried to stand up, only to wobble dangerously until Inuyasha grabbed her elbow to steady her.

 

“are you okay Kagome?” Inuyasha asked, searching her for any pain in her multi-colored eyes. Kagome nodded and tried to stand without any help.

 

She finally gave in and sighed, “just a bit woozy. Like I'm on an energy low or something. I'll probably be fine later after some rest,”

 

Inuyasha nodded and let her sit down on her pile of sleeping bag. “I'll carry you today so we can catch up on the time that we missed yesterday training you. Not like this happens often, but we have a time limit and you want to at least meet your chichi-oya before going to the castle for the ball. And we still need to send the response if you're up to it this morning so it will get there on time. And by `us' I meant `you',” Inuyasha poured the fresh ink into an ink jar that he pulled out of his haori and handed it over to the she-hanyou.

 

Kagome groaned and leaned over her pack to grab the scroll and her phoenix quill. Opening the scroll, she did a simple design to separate the notice and the response ( ex: (}|{) ~ (}|{) ~ (}|{)… butterflies!), “what do you want me to write?” Kagome asked through a yawn, # its way too early, why can't I sleep in? #

 

“ how about this: why did you even invite me you sorry bas…”

 

“how about something that shows that you're at least partially mature,” Kagome interrupted, pointing the ink-filled tip at Inuyasha like a dangerous weapon.

 

Inuyasha grumbled something incomprehensible before starting again, “I thank you for your invitation and I am aware that you want me to come to the ball as much as I want to come. I will be there on time and I expect that I will have my room prepared for me. I will be bringing my we…” Inuyasha saw Kagome tense and decided to save his butt from a sitting, “I mean, lady Kagome of the Higurashi family as my guest. Prince Inuyasha, second son of Inutashio, of the western lands. There, how was that?” Inuyasha said, hating deeply his official title that he had to use.

 

“not bad, a little stiff, but not bad,” Kagome complimented, blowing on the parchment to dry the ink. “but what about the others? Won't they come also?” she asked, inspecting her handwriting in the deep-gray ink. It definitely looked better than the chicken-scratch of a ball-point pen or pencil.

 

“no, only one guest is allowed and the others prefer female relations to `show off.' Miroku, Sango and Shippou will stay at Kaede's village while we are there.” Inuyasha took the scroll and tossed it into the air where a small gray cloud caught it and zoomed off to the west.

 

“h…how did you do that?” Kagome asked as she watched the magic cloud. Inuyasha followed her line of sight briefly before shrugging nonchalantly.

 

“Sesshomaru and I are cloud-inu. You can tell that because we are from the white-dog clan. Dad was what I think is called a `shishi,” a god-inu youkai. Of course, we're often called `lion-dogs' but I have no clue where that comes from. Why do you think my sword has a wind attack?” Inuyasha looked around at the group and Miroku (recently re-awoken) looking like he was about to bust a gut. “its because we have some control of the skies and the winds. It's also why it doesn't rain much when we're traveling. What's so funny monk?”

 

Miroku straitened up and looked Inuyasha in the eye, “I don't see you having any similarities between you and a carved temple guardian. In fact, I don't really see you as much of a temple guardian at all!” Miroku couldn't hold it any longer and doubled over in laughter.

 

“oh, yeah,” Inuyasha drawled, “you haven't seen Sesshomaru in his demon form before, have you?” Miroku thought for a good few seconds before shaking his head no. “okay, Kagome's inu form. Bleached white with a lion's main and about ten meters tall. That a good idea for you?” they hadn't gotten much of a look for Kagome's demon form, so they had to guess in regular dog terms.

 

Miroku nodded vaguely and gave up, “so, we're going to Reichou's lands today, aren't we? Then we should get going, it's still a few days' journey away.”

 

“I have to write a letter first before we leave; before I forget to write an apology to Koga,” Kagome let out a whimper/sigh and took out her quill and paper, “the ink you made is only formal, right? It doesn't have anything specific to you does it?” Kagome asked before dipping her quill in. Inuyasha gave the go-ahead and she sent out to make a decent apology.

 

Dear Koga-kun, I am sorry for injuring you. I… I was not thinking straight when you came and I felt… frustrated… for you interrupting Inuyasha and my practice-fight. And then when you insulted me (hopefully unintentionally, by the way) by calling me a half-breed wench. For a certain person, that's a term of endearment, Kagome sent a momentary glare at Inuyasha (who, luckily, didn't notice), but it was insulting from you. I hope that we can still be good friends and allies. # what should I put? Love? No, wrong impression. Sincerely? Too formal and cold. # your friend, Kagome Higurashi

 

Kagome sighed and put the cork back on Inuyasha's ink well. Inuyasha looked back at Kagome's sigh and picked up her bow and an arrow, “you don't know how to send a youkai letter, do you?” he held up the bow and arrow. Kagome took the weapon tenderly and silently sent him a questioning look. “point the arrow toward Koga's home and put your demon energy into it instead of your miko energy. It should land very close to him if it doesn't hit him in the first place,” # please hit him, please hit him, please hit that sorry bastard! # Inuyasha chanted mentally as he watched Kagome close her eyes and mentally aim the arrow and release.

 

The dark blue arrow soared over the trees and out of sight like a daytime comet.

 

Somewhere near Kaede's village: “oh! Mommy! Mommy! See the pretty shooting star! Its blue!” cried a little six-year-old girl in a sky-blue yukata, tugging on her mother's arm and pointing skyward. Kaede looked up at the `shooting star' and recognized it as Kagome's arrow and smiled before going back to her work.

 

“well, if we're all ready to go, let's go already!” Inuyasha the motivational speaker said, hefting up Kagome's bag and wobbling for a second before heading in the southwest direction. # how come the women have to carry such heavy stuff! # he thought as Kagome grudgingly trudged along behind him out of range of that heavy pack… just in case. Miroku and Sango shrugged and followed, Miroku lugging HiraiKotsu along.

 

“that's the last time you bet me, right? `cause every time you lose, you'll be carrying HiraiKotsu!” Sango laughed, watching the two weaklings known as men walk ahead of the sane ones known as women and small demons (ho ha! Whole girl-power thing there, I'm over it now).

 

By mid-afternoon, Kagome was feeling the after-effects of her power-boost yesterday and was lagging behind. Inuyasha noticed and decided to speak up, “hurry up wench, we don't have all day and this trip is completely your fault!” Inuyasha waved the others ahead as he waited for Kagome to jog up to him. He leaned in close to Kagome's ears so the others couldn't hear, “I can carry you if you want. It's fine that you're tired, I just want to make it out of this area before nightfall because there's some, ah, dangers at night here and I know where we can camp safely.” Kagome nodded and Inuyasha swept her up into his arms.

 

One giant leap took Inuyasha to the front of the `pack' like before and next to Miroku. They saw that Kagome was almost asleep and didn't say anything. Kagome wrapped her arms around Inuyasha's neck unconsciously and dug her nose into his chest to inhale his wildly-soothing scent. The pine forest that they were in now nearly drowned out each other's scent and was slowly driving them mad.

 

Miroku and Sango exchanged looks silently as they observed the haninus. They knew that the I-can't-stand-you-and-I-wouldn't-if-I-didn't-have-to act was only in front of the humans and they really cared for each other's welfare constantly. Sango rolled her eyes and Miroku chuckled softly as they looked away from the two into the forest to keep away from danger. In truth, they didn't feel anything out of place whatsoever. There were a few small animals and demons, but nothing to worry about unless a Shikon shard suddenly showed up.

 

By nightfall, Inuyasha had led them to a clearing that had a lake in the middle of it. Inuyasha led them to a small hut on one shore and gestured for them to wait inside. Inuyasha shrugged off Kagome's yellow backpack with a silent deadly grin and carried the deeply-sleeping girl back outside. Shippou tried to follow, but was shoved back in by one of Inuyasha's feet. Sango and Miroku gave Kagome a worried look but waited inside anyway and started a fire for dinner.

 

“bonsai!” Inuyasha yelled, followed by a splash and a very feminine scream.

 

“Inuyasha!” everyone ran outside to see what had happened, “kisama (insulting `you'), Ohen jana(damn it), kono-i-yerro (you bastard) BAKAYAROU (mother fucker)!…” Kagome's insults kept rolling off at her sudden wake-up call.

 

“I didn't think Kagome knew that many curses,” Miroku whistled.

 

Sango nodded, “that's almost as bad as Inuyasha after he gets sat!”

 

“worse!” Shippou put in his two cents.

 

“meow!” (along the lines of yeah, wow, jeez, etc.)

 

Kagome waded out from the lake, her green moth-silk turning clingy and semi-transparent. “ECCHI! (horny!)” followed by a wallop of a slap sent Inuyasha into the lake also and Kagome stomping into the hut for a towel.

 

“well, that was a complete switch of rolls,” Sango commented as she pulled out a second towel for Inuyasha after Kagome sat down by the fire attempting to dry her hair, “ take this out to Inuyasha, he should be swimming back to shore by now.” Miroku gave Kagome a look somewhere between humor and pity and walked out to Inuyasha.

 

“you know that you shouldn't have done that Inuyasha,” Miroku intoned, handing the sopping hanyou a pink fluffy towel. (haha! Pink!)

 

Inuyasha shook himself off like the dog that he was and wrung out his haori before reluctantly grabbing the… yeach…. Pink towel. “after yesterday, she needed a bath anyway!” he said just loud enough for Kagome to hear from the hut.

 

“sit!”

 

#oh poor Inuyasha, getting sand on his wet clothes after washing them off, I guess he needs to go back into the water and take another bath. # Kagome thought sweetly, a feral grin plastering itself onto her face. Inuyasha saw her expression and knew it well. It was one that was feared by all that knew her personally enough to find her bad side. It was the say-one-more-thing-and-you-will-not-see-tomorrow look. Inuyasha paled and ran into the hut to, hopefully, find something to save his butt.

 

“he-hey Kagome. Do you feel better after that dip?” Inuyasha tried to dispel the vengeful energy crackling in the atmosphere. Kagome stopped for a second to catch up with the sudden change of subject. Inuyasha continued, “that lake is the last thing before going into you chichi-oya's lands. The lake is called the lake of renewal and I thought that you shouldn't be tired in dangerous lands. Right now we are in what I could call no-Inu's-lands. The land between the west and south-west territories.”

 

Kagome sat down to listen to Inuyasha's political knowledge, proving herself wrong about him not knowing anything but survival tactics. “how do you know all this?” Kagome asked, staring at him through the fire.

 

Inuyasha gave a why-DON'T-you-know-this look and continued. “soldier. The space is about a kilometer wide and our fathers made a pact that continues between Sesshomaru and your dad that neither of the packs can fight in this area. You are safe here while Kagome and I head to Reichou's castle. If you are bothered by anyone, say that you are part of Inuyasha-ooji (prince Inuyasha's) cadre, they'll leave you alone. There are plenty of resources here and if you need to, you can barter with either side. Don't go into Raizen and Reichou's lands if you can. They tend to treat humans like a delicacy.” With that morbid note, Inuyasha gripped Tetsuiga and leaned against the wall to wait for dinner.

 

“well…” Kagome looked around after a minute, struggling to find something to break the silence between the group, “at least you will be safe here while we're gone.” Kagome rubbed the back of her head in slight embarrassment and turned to the `sleeping' hanyou, “so. Since you seem to know so much about this area and how its run, why don't you tell us more about my dad.” It was true, Kagome knew next to nothing about her dad and what he was like when he was alive.

 

Inuyasha cracked open a lazy eye and took in Kagome's still semi-clingy wet-clothes look. “your dad's a bit of an ass in this time, and I don't know if he would change in five-hundred years at all. him and Raizen are blood-brothers and you can never see one without the other.”

 

“I knew all that already, I meant what is he like aside from being a pain.” Kagome interrupted, dismissing the whole blood-brother thing. Yeah, it was one for the other for a common plight kinda thing.

 

Inuyasha studied Kagome's face for a second before continuing, “Sesshomaru's had to bail your dad out in wars more than once since I can remember. If you think I'm reckless, Reichou and Raizen are worse. But at least they have the power to go with their attitudes. Nothing's serious with them and they think life is a big laugh riot. That's what an east castle life does to you, and that's why I like wondering better than politics.” Inuyasha closed his eyes for a second and continued, “if we run, we can make it to the castle by the afternoon tomorrow. That means no wimpy stops along the way.” And with that warning, Inuyasha turned his attention to the clearing outside and tuned out the pack.

 

Nothing really happened in that chapter, but that happens and was necessary. Sorry for the long wait, but I didn't feel like writing and finals are coming up too soon for my taste. See you guys later! dark