InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Birth Marks ❯ pain ( Chapter 23 )

Well, I guess that I have to write this next chapter, I've postponed it enough. I thank all of my loyal (and non-loyal) fans for reviewing. I'm thinking of eventually doing a fruits basket fic, just warning you. Dark

 

Disclaimer: ya know the drill

 

Chapter 23: pain

 

Last time: Laughing was heard from up above as she felt the cold, dull side of the katana slide across her throat. Kagome looked up when she felt the blade recede and heard it being carefully inserted back into its saya. “not bad for your first time, girl, but you still need a better weapon than a sharp stick.” Reichou offered his hand and hoisted Kagome up.

 

This time: it had been nearly a week of the training, Kagome and Inuyasha had gotten some `bonding time,' and the guys had nearly given up on hitting on Kagome. Nearly.

 

“ahhh!!!” currently, Kagome was learning to fly. The hard way. She was flying - falling - across the grounds after a particularly hard hit from Raizen. Inuyasha cringed when he heard a sickening thump and saw a dust cloud rise from the other side of the wall. That would call for more `bonding time' later while Inuyasha bandaged her wounds.

 

Inuyasha was also learning several new things, which included `how to bandage a female without getting slapped in the process' and `do not interfere with a pissed fighting bitch.' Inuyasha had long given up on trying to rescue Kagome from her `trainers' and settled for carving the tree that he resided in into toothpicks.

 

“oh, that was a nasty landing, wasn't it inu?” Jin asked from where he floated just off the branch to his right. “I'll have to teach her how to land from one of those hits!” he continued without even noticing that Inuyasha didn't even hear a single rambling of the red-head. The dust cleared and it showed the staggering figure of a girl, “she's up already! Now that's a recovery!”

 

The girl shook her head and jumped over the wall to her waiting opponents. She had graduated from one-on-one on the second day and now was fighting both of the best hand-to-hand combat demons in the area. Kagome pulled out a Tessen (I love this weapon, it's a fan that has razor-blades for the `ribs.' Its like Kagura's fan except black) that she had found behind some other weapons in the storage room and opened it, exposing the tips for a wider strike area.

 

“if you're just going to stand there looking pretty, go home!” Raizen taunted, knowing what ticked off the young hanyou by now. Black energy crackled around the fan in displeasure, clearly showing her lack of control for this type of energy. “come on, you couldn't hit the broad side of an oni!” That did it, she released black streams of energy that arced and dived under the ground, turning it black in turn, traveling until it exploded under the two idiots with a cry of kira-korosu (lit. soul killer).

 

After the initial shine of black, it turned blue and then a lovely pink of miko energy to make sure they hurt. All that was left of the two were two crispy piles of unconscious demons. Kagome jumped off the wall and joined the other spectators to inspect her work. Yes, they were still breathing, I guess that was a good thing. Kagome bent down between the two piles, “I don't take to nicely to insults boys, just to let you know.” Damn, Kagome was getting cocky and she knew it, the two `mice' (lol. are you men or mice?) nodded and the people who could move stepped back when Kagome straightened up.

 

“ah! It feels good to do some stress-relief every once in a while, doesn't it Inuyasha?” Kagome grinned, turning and walked back to the weapons shed fully intent of having her last day at her `father's' castle a peaceful one. The silver and gold streaks faded away out of her hair with every step she took. (remember, her uncle (Raizen) has gold hair (and so does her cousin in demon form), and whenever she gets extremely stressed, she gets silver streaks from her mom's side of the family. So in result, since she was stressed when fighting, she had gold and silver streaks.)

 

Inuyasha was the first to recover from the shock and leaped over to Kagome in the room. “do you know what you just did?”

 

“the kokoro korosu?” Kagome asked back, placing her `beloved fan' back on display by the pikes that looked a lot like the thunder brothers' ones.

 

“yes, when did you learn to do it?”

 

“just now,” Inuyasha did an anime fall, “I don't really know what happened in the first place.”

 

“what do you mean you didn't know?!” Inuyasha was in Kagome's face, oblivious to the fact that multicolored energy was crackling around them.

 

Kagome turned, looking at the weapons, fingering each one as if memorizing each detail: the kanji on the katana, the perfect point on the changing arrows, the tiny hooks on the end of the whip. Kagome finally turned around to face Inuyasha, trying to calm down her frazzled nerves before she did to him what she did to her `father' and `uncle'. “I was on the edge and I was pissed, you to the math.” The edge was what Kagome was pushing for the past week, learning to keep her inevitable feral side locked in.

 

Kagome turned back to the whip, she remembered when Reichou decided to introduce it to her, the hard way. Those little fishing hooks went into her arm when she brought it up to block, not knowing what being struck with a whip would be like. All the other strikes were blocked by her faithful baton… until the whip wrapped around the cold metal and flung it across the grounds. They left tears in her arm an inch long and it was nightfall before Inuyasha had the chance to bandage them.

 

Kagome rubbed her still-bandaged arm in the painful memory, hoping again that it wouldn't scar. Inuyasha came up behind her, seeing her rub the bandage along her left forearm, and wrapped his arms around her in a comforting gesture. Inuyasha whuffed a quiet calming sound and Kagome leaned back, “do you think I'll get to keep any of these Inuyasha?” he shook his head and followed her eyes to a certain Tessen.

 

“heh, probably not right now, but I can always get a certain senile old man to make you something.” Inuyasha's reassurances had many meanings, including that he was worried about her going feral also. “tomorrow we'll have to head to my brother's castle to help set up for that damn ball.” Inuyasha mentioned. One thing that had constantly worried Kagome when she had time to think was Shippou. ever since the beginning, either Inuyasha or herself had been watching the young kitsune. Its not like she didn't trust the humans, but she felt like he was her responsibility.

 

“will we be going through the `peace zone' by where the others are?” Inuyasha just knew that Kagome was going to bring that one up, just like every night that week.

 

“yes, and if you want to visit, we should probably leave tonight so you will have time with the pup before we leave,” Kagome turned around in Inuyasha's arms and rested against his chiseled chest (yummy!), “I know you miss him.”

 

Kagome nodded slightly and slumped against Inuyasha, seemingly in relief. If he wouldn't have been holding her already, she would have fallen to the ground. “Kagome?” he looked down worriedly, Inuyasha knew that she was tired, but not this much. His hand traveled down her arms to prop her back up, but felt something slick-sticky. He looked down and saw that her previously white bandage was now starting to take on a reddish coloring, contrasting her black haori sleeve. She had opened her wounds again.

 

Sighing, Inuyasha scooped up Kagome and walked back to the palace to repair her bandages, “what did I tell you earlier Kagome?”

 

“not to use my hurt arm while fighting,” came the sleepy reply as she winced from her arm shifting.

 

“and…?”

 

“and to tell you if it started hurting too much. But…” Kagome's eyes were still screwed shut, but she was slowly regaining consciousness.

 

“no buts,” Inuyasha bent down and nuzzled the top of her head, “I care for you too much and if you can't handle something, you should tell me.”

 

“what about when you get hurt, you don't tell me!”

 

“feh, that's different, wench, I'm not a weakling…” Inuyasha drifted off, not adding the `like you' for fear of his life. He knew what she could do, and to be honest, she was the most powerful one in the group.

 

Kagome's eyes shot open, “are you calling me a weakling!?” She struggled out of his grasp and stood up straight. “I am not a weakling!” she teetered slightly, and caught herself with a hand on Inuyasha's shoulder. “and besides, if you would just tell me when you were injured, I wouldn't have to fight you about it!”

 

Inuyasha side-stepped out of Kagome's reach and she fell into his arms, wincing. “lets fix your arm, and then we can fight about it,” Inuyasha insisted, picking Kagome up again and continuing to walk to their room

 

“you know,” Kagome hissed, “if you weren't carrying me, I would s-i-t you!”

 

Inuyasha gave a smirk, “then I should carry you more often.” Kagome opted to smack him upside the head instead, forgetting that the arm that she used was her injured one and paying for it in pain. “how many times have I told you not to do that to yourself?”

 

“don't start that again, just walk.”

 

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on the way to their room, Kagome still managed to sit Inuyasha, effectively knocking her unconscious in the process. If Kagome would just heal herself in the first place, he wouldn't have to do this every time she got her blood pumping. But nooo, she kept on insisting that if she could heal herself, she would have done it in the first place! Inuyasha set Kagome down on the futon and sighed. The servants had taken to leaving all the necessary medical supplies in their room, but Elektra still followed for the more… private wounds.

 

Inuyasha gently slipped off Kagome's haori, leaving the chest binding/ bandages in place for Elektra to change after he went outside. “are there any new wounds Inuyasha-ooji?” the young girl asked, holding up the gauze for him to use.

 

“no, she just reopened the ones on her arm as far as I can tell,” Inuyasha commented, unwrapping said arm. “she popped the stitching again, can I have a needle?” Inuyasha sighed and plucked out one of his hairs. (this is Inuyasha-world: his hair is clean and hygienic (and uber-strong))

 

while Elektra got out a needle, Inuyasha cleaned the other non-reopened gashes and picked out the broken thread/hair. “here you go. Do I need to hold down Kagome-hime again?” she asked, holding out the needle and looking down at the girl that she considered her friend. Inuyasha nodded, threading the needle and Elektra slipped in behind Kagome to hold her hand still.

 

As if sensing the closing in needle, Kagome started to whimper and tried to roll away. Elektra pinned her down and silently counted down with Inuyasha. `3…2…1!' the needle went into the skin and Kagome strained harder to get away from the offending object. Inuyasha bit his lip every time that she made that whimpering noise, soon causing it to become bloody.

 

Kagome smelled the blood and her eyes snapped open, immediately focusing in on the place that the coppery smell was coming from. She stopped struggling and lifted her uninjured hand up to wipe up the small trickle of blood seeping from his mouth in a moment lost in time. The only thing that would ruin that moment was…

 

“Ahem,” Elektra cleared her throat, reminding them that they currently had an audience, “ah, should I leave now that Kagome-hime is awake?”

 

The moment shattered and Kagome let her hand fall back to the mattress in a defeated gesture. Inuyasha quickly finished the sewing, Kagome twitching sporadically, and cut the extra with his teeth. Inuyasha lifted Kagome to a sitting position and Elektra took the silent cue to split. Inuyasha quickly slid in to replace her and pulled Kagome back against his chest.

 

“better?” he asked, gesturing the arm that Kagome was re-wrapping tightly with the white bandages. Kagome paused a moment and looked closely at the few still-exposed stitches.

 

Kagome nodded impassivity and leaned her head over his heart. “yeah. And I would heal myself if I could, but I can't, so don't ask,” she nipped the argument in the bud, not wanting to follow the script for the past week. Inuyasha mentally went through the so-called script mentally before shaking his head and spying her ears.

 

`revenge is sweet,' he smirked mentally, brushing his fingertips over the sensitive upper peaks. He was rewarded with a shiver and the offended ear moved in a different direction. He laughed slightly and repeated the gesture, this time the ear laying flatter against her head. It was the third time that Kagome turned her head, giving him a warning glare out of the corner of her eye. Inuyasha returned it with a `what?' and repeated the whole thing with the left ear. By now both ears were pinned and Kagome was starting to have that mad/playful look that she got during the arguments in front of the others.

 

`two can play that game,' Kagome slid her hands up and behind Inuyasha's head, faking pulling Inuyasha down for an upside-down kiss. Instead she brushed the barest of touches over his ears - both at the same time - just so that his ears started to itch in annoyance. Inuyasha shook his head to get rid of the feeling and pushed Kagome forward onto her stomach.

 

“hey, what was that for!” Kagome asked, trying to get up, only to discover that she was pinned at the hips by a certain hanyou.

 

Inuyasha smirked, `this is gonna be fun!' and started running his hands up and down her back, careful not to upset a bruise from a roundhouse right by the ribs. Kagome sighed, practically melting at his ministering touch. He started at she shoulder blades, finding a particularly large knot and working it out. Kagome moaned and buried her head in the quilt, trying to not fall asleep. “go ahead and take a nap, I'll tell you when we'll leave,” Inuyasha whispered, seeing her slight pillow-related nesting.

 

“your evil,” -yawn- “you know that, right?” Kagome closed her eyes, vaguely aware that if she fell asleep there was a good possibility that his hands wouldn't stay on her back…no, he wasn't Miroku. Inuyasha nodded as she fell asleep, his small mental hentai self leaping for joy. Not only did mini-Inuyasha have the chance when Kagome rode his back to enjoy her thighs, now she was asleep right in front of him.

 

`no! bad inu!' he mentally berated himself, he wouldn't take advantage while she was asleep and only work on her back instead. And there were plenty of knots to work out in the first place, he should have done this earlier.

 

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Kagome woke up to someone shaking her shoulder, releasing momentarily every time that her energy cracked. “Mmm? What?” came her sleepy voice, rolling further under the covers to get away from the offending appendage.

 

“time to go, Kagome, you need to get your traveling clothes back on and we need to say goodbye to our `hosts',” the last word came out as more of a sneer, but Kagome didn't notice. Instead, she threw her hand out on top of the covers for her outfit, not wanting to leave the warm cocoon of her blankets.

 

Inuyasha rolled his eyes and took hold of the near end of said blankets. “3, 2, 1!” and he yanked them off, exposing a topless Kagome (she had the chest bandages on you hentai!) curling into a ball to keep warm. She peered up from under her arms and growled, causing her arms to goosebump.

 

“that's abuse! You are nice to me, and then you steal my blankets!” she refused to uncurl, even with Inuyasha yanking her up around her torso.

 

“I was nice! I let you sleep for the entire morning!” Kagome looked out the shoji in shock, seeing that the sun was not making it glow as it did in the morning.

 

Inuyasha gracefully (not!) let her drop back onto the futon, her normal green and orange haori covering her head when he dropped it there. Grumbling, Kagome pulled it on, tying it just so to accent her curves in spite. She didn't even notice that Inuyasha was still in the room when she pulled off her straight-legged torepan (training pants) and replaced them with her green hakama.

 

Needless to say, he got a full view of those lacy- black- wannabe underwear (thong). “what? You like what you see?” Kagome stood up and faced the wall to tie her pants on correctly, working in a little butt action to torture the poor boy. With her hakama tied, Kagome turned around and faced Inuyasha, who had yet to close his mouth. “catching flies are we?” he abruptly closed his mouth, “so, are we going to say `later' to them or not? Since you want to leave all of a sudden.”

 

Inuyasha huffed and turned toward the door, “that bastard of a brother of mine wanted us to come early to `prepare' whatever that means.” Kagome nodded and followed Inuyasha's nose to the crispy rulers' chambers to say goodbye.

 

When they got there, Kagome saw that they had recovered quite well for the few hours they had since Kagome went to bed. The two of them were bandaged, but they were sitting in their common room and drinking sake, laughing at something before they were interrupted by Inuyasha barging in. Kagome entered a second later, bowing politely at the door before kneeling down in front of them. “I'm here to thank you for allowing us to stay this past week and I hope to see you at the ball in two days,” Kagome bowed slightly to the drunken brothers.

 

Reichou waved his hand loosely before replying, “your lucky for that. Usually people like you don't last too long. And just look at us!” he gestured to a partially blood-soaked bandage around his torso, “I think that you won't be kicking it anytime soon!”

 

Raizen laughed slightly at his brother's cause and continued, “if you made it with us, you can make it almost anywhere. You'll see us at the ball, don't worry my little hinotama (fireball).” He offered, using the same nickname that he found to irk Kagome.

 

The aforementioned rolled her eyes, “I'm glad you're not mad at me frying you guys, I was just a little… out of control… when I did that, sorry.” And with that, Kagome stood up and left. Inuyasha nodded gruffly at the two and followed, telling by her actions that she was still tired, even though she covered it very well.

 

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