InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Bittersweet Rhapsody ❯ Tension ( Chapter 7 )

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha. If I did, well, let's just say that the plotline would go a little differently...

Summary: Tempers flare angrily between everyone when a thunderstorm hits later that night. Everyone is a victim, especially poor Kagome, who gets into a heated argument with Inuyasha...

Author's Note: Hi! Thanks for all the reviews! I finally feel like this is something actually worth reading... Anyway, this time around I've hopefully fixed the paragraph breaks. When there's a change of scenes I've always meant to have a small line of stars showing a change in the action, but they always disappear.

Oh yes, and I'd better clear this up: despite what you're seeing now, this IS an Inuyasha/Kagome fic. I can't really say more than that, since it would be giving away the plot, but there's a reason for all of this happening (I've even left a few hints).

The sun (if it could have been seen) hadn't even set over the lofty mountains nearby, but Miroku was already up to his old tricks. "Oh, come on!" he pleaded, staring at each member of the group in turn. "It's much better than soaking out here!"

Sango raised her eyebrows. "Really?" she countered in a cool tone, putting her hands on her hips. "So what you're saying, Miroku, is that it's much better to con some lord into boarding us instead of spending just one wet night out here?"

"Yes!" The monk nodded vigorously. "Of course!" He froze at the sheer dirtiness of the look that Sango was shooting him. "Oh, come on, Sango-chan!" he begged. "I won't even make the black cloud that ominous!"

Kagome rolled her eyes as she took in the scene from her spot under a large tree, whose leaves were constantly dripping rainwater onto her. It had been like this for some time, starting when Inuyasha finally called for a halt and with them trying to set up camp here at the edge of the forest. "Trying" was the keyword, it had to be added. Miroku and Sango were at it with the "ominous black cloud" argument again, which occurred every time there was a rainstorm. Inuyasha was bending down with some flint and tinder, using some very colorful curse words as he failed yet again to start a fire. She had no idea where Shippo was, but she was sure that he was probably up to some mischief.

(This day sucked,) Kagome thought, shifting restlessly as she watched Inuyasha somehow start a small flame and then somehow snuff it out again. The rain had continued unceasingly; although the forest had halfway provided them with cover, they were by now completely soaked to the bone. And no one had talked to each other for most of the day; they had all just marched depressed through the forest. Although, she reflected, it didn't really matter whether or not she talked to Inuyasha; the dirty looks occasionally shot in her direction all day said more than any words.

Inuyasha... That accursed name still made her grit her teeth in pure frustration. She gazed at him, eyes narrowed, as he continued to bend down over the non-existent fire, swearing vehemently as he somehow ignited his own sleeve. She wished that he'd just disappear, or that he'd shut up already...then again, perhaps not, he was, after all, bending over... And in her direction, too. Damn, she'd forgotten over the years just how sweet that ass of his had looked---

"Ugh!!" she found herself exclaiming out loud, realizing what blasphemous thought had crossed her brain. Honestly, no matter HOW good it looked, the last thing that she should be thinking about at the moment was Inuyasha's nice, tight, wonderful---

"I won't!" she found herself bursting out, unconsciously kicking a nearby clump of dirt. She wouldn't, she couldn't, she absolutely SHOULD not think dirty, perverted thoughts about her now-enemy! Speaking of dirty, though...

"The HELL?!" Inuyasha cried out, rubbing his behind and finding that his hand was smeared with dirt. He whirled around to glare at Kagome, who, as always in his book, was his immediate suspect.

Kagome felt her face turning fire engine red. "Um -er- sorry, Inuyasha!" she stammered out.

He gave off some kind of unintelligible growl in reply and turned around to resume unsuccessfully starting the fire.

Kagome scowled as his back once again faced hers. What a way to handle the situation, being all meek like that... If anything she should have yelled at him for being in the way of the dirt clump. Weakness was the last thing that she should be showing him at the moment; if she showed even a hint of it he would be sure to exploit it, to flaunt his love for Kikyo openly... And the last thing she needed was any mention of Kikyo.

"Hey, guys!" She jumped in her place as a small but familiar figure jumped down from the trees. "Guess what I found!"

Miroku and Sango took time aside from their bickering to stare at the newly-arrived Shippo, who was dripping wet but quite happy about something or other. "What is it?" Miroku asked him, puzzled.

"I found a place!" Shippo responded happily, jumping up and down for good measure. "It's right at the foot of the mountains! A really big place---somewhere where we can stay!"

Miroku perked up considerably. "Wonderful! You see, Sango-chan," -here he looked at his wife- "-we can't back out on an act of fate, can we?"

She scowled at him. "Well, I can!"

"But it's soaking wet out here!"

"I'm willing to take that sacrifice!"

"Not if you want to be out here alone!"

"Fine!"

At this Inuyasha threw down the tinder and glared at all of them. "Can't all of you shut up for just five minutes?! " he interrupted, jumping to his feet, looking disgruntled. "I say we just go there already! We're wet, we're miserable, and this sucks! So lead the way, Shippo!" he barked, pointing at the little fox-demon.

Kagome almost felt relieved when they all packed up to leave, heading in the direction that Shippo had indicated. Although she thought that Miroku had better watch it; going by the looks that Sango was giving him, he had better keep an eye out for the welfare of certain vital organs during the next few days... However, she had her own worries right about now. Especially since they would probably be sleeping indoors tonight. Doing that would make it all that much harder to avoid the currently bad-tempered Inuyasha.

Geez... It wasn't exactly a groundbreaking thought, as she had thought it often lately, but it seemed that her life really really sucked.

***

"Aaaaaaah, this is much better!" Miroku sighed happily, flinging his bags aside as he greedily eyed the heavily-laden table prepared for them and their heroic "efforts". "All in the day's work of a servant of Buddha!"

"You mean all in the day's work of a lying bungler," Sango muttered vindictively, just loudly enough for him to hear as she purposely sat in the spot directly across from him at the table.

"Ummmm...so how many of those wards did we put up, anyway?" Kagome asked her as she kneeled down herself, trying to alleviate the tension that seemed to be so rampant of late.

"Too many," was all that Sango would reply darkly as she picked up her pair of chopsticks.

They all began to eat in complete silence, with the friction still quite apparent between everyone. Damn...if there was anything Kagome hated, it was tension. And especially that tension that still seemed to be radiating towards her from Inuyasha's direction... Every now and then she caught his sienna orbs flickering towards her from across the table, scrutinizing her every move. She wondered at this, but figured that it was nothing more than his newly reawakened anger towards her. Though what she had done to deserve being his scapegoat was still a mystery.

She stared out the window as she continued to force down her rice, out at the still pouring rain. They were, she reflected, very lucky that they Shippo had found this manor; vicious forked lightning streaked down out of the black, rain-swollen clouds, and thunder rumbled ominously nearby. She was loath to imagine what would have happened even if Inuyasha HAD managed to start that fire. Not to mention that there was no way that he would have put his arm around her this time around... Errrr- not that she in any way would WANT him to anymore, of course---

"I trust that you are enjoying your stay so far?" The lord of the manor, a comely ebony-haired man in his mid-twenties, had swept into the room at some point, while she had been preoccupied. "Is there anything I can do for you all---seeing as you warded the evil spirits in such a timely manner?" he added, his gaze sweeping over them all (but for the most part resting on Sango, as Kagome uneasily noticed).

"Nope," Inuyasha replied through a mouthful of sushi.

"Nothing, thank you," Miroku said as well, though through gritted teeth (he, too, had been noticing the lord's appreciative gaze in Sango's direction).

"All right, then," the prince responded pleasantly, turning to leave. "I have another room made up for two or three of you as well, since it is so cramped in here. Oh---" -at this he turned around casually, as if having an afterthought- "And you, young lady," he added, nodding towards Sango. "You look quite familiar. Are you not one of the demon exterminators from the village of Kyobe?"

Sango looked taken aback, but nodded. "Yes," she replied quietly, suddenly aware of his roving eyes.

He nodded. "I thought as much. A shame that our scouts found your village as sacked and destroyed as it was four years ago." He paused uncomfortably. "But I do remember you," he started again, seemingly more confident. "You and your group exterminated a nest of demons plaguing our region a few years ago. And, as you know, your bloodline is a very strong one, and seeing as you are now without family and that I am also looking for a wife..." He looked at Sango meaningfully, apparently unaware of the livid gasp coming from Miroku's direction.

"I am sorry, but I am already spoken for," Sango responded simply. "And I love my husband very much, although he can be an idiot at times." She took a moment to shoot Miroku a very pointed look.

The silence became even more uncomfortable and pronounced after the prince apologized and speedily made an exit. In fact, it forced Kagome to retreat to the darkest corner as soon as her rice had been sufficiently picked through. Wrapped securely in a blanket, she watched as everyone else, one-by-one, all did the same, all of them going into their little islands of isolation, looking either angry or forlorn. She couldn't, although having scolded herself about twenty thousand times, help but stare out at Inuyasha with hooded eyes. There he was, sitting against the wall with his long legs stretched out, an annoyed scowl pasted on his face... His cute doggy ears twitched in irritation, and his long silver hair tumbled far down his

back---

Oops. She had done it again.

However, her attention was quickly diverted when she heard some hushed whispering coming from the corner neighboring hers. She turned her head only to see that Sango had tentatively approached Miroku, who was sitting there cross-legged, looking royally pissed. "Come to bed in the other room, Houshi-sama," she breathed, kneeling down next to him.

"No," came the peeved reply.

"Are you certain?" she pressed, beginning to massage his shoulders lightly.

"Positive," he said stonily as he jerked away from her.

"You know, I did not ask that man to say that," she continued, letting her hands fall to her lap forlornly. "So I wonder at why you fault me."

"Perhaps you didn't ask, but maybe you wanted him to!"

Sango looked stunned at his accusation but managed to compose herself. "Why would I want him to?" she asked him calmly after a moment, getting up to leave. "He's not you. He's not strikingly handsome, he hasn't given me a beautiful daughter, and above all I'm sure he's not particularly good in the-" Luckily Kagome couldn't catch the rest of this, as Sango had leant over to whisper this last part in his ear.

"Now I'm only saying this once more, Miroku: come to bed," she added with a tone of finality, kissing his reddening cheek and heading for the door.

Miroku obviously needed no second bidding. He exited the room with surprising speed, obviously rather pleased with Sango's heavy hinting. Kagome sighed as she shifted position within her cozy cocoon of blankets. She supposed that tomorrow morning would dawn bright and sunny, and they would both pop out relaxed, well-rested (ha-ha), and extremely happy, having both gotten what they wanted. Unlike her.

"Damn wishy-washy crap," she heard Inuyasha spit from the opposite side of the room. "Yuck! And great. Just great. Now instead of leaving early in the morning I get to watch them screw for two hours."

Kagome's mouth tightened as she heard his bitter comment; not at the comment itself but at what Miroku and Sango's little joy ride of love really meant for her. (Wonderful. How wonderful,) she thought as her eyes swept across the room, finally resting on Shippo, who had long since slumped across the still half-laden table, snoring uproariously. Now she was completely alone with Inuyasha.

Yes, completely and utterly alone with him. Alone and unprotected. For the first time since before she had left. Had Sango realized what she had just done?! No, she reflected, probably not. She was probably too busy doing God-Only-Knows-What to Miroku in that other room. And that in itself wasn't an altogether warm fuzzy thought.

Sighing heavily, she slumped down into a reclining position with her blankets still wrapped around her, watching the candle on the opposite side of the room sputter wildly for its life as it got closer and closer to burning out. Although her roving eyes eventually went slightly to the right to catch a glimpse of Inuyasha... Luckily, he wasn't moving or looking at her. He was still looking quite irked, with his head slumped dejectedly against the wall. One of his hands was restlessly playing with the hilt of the Tetsusaiga, which he still wore within the waistband of his belt, and the other was lightly massaging his slender neck. As if in a trance Kagome watched as it slowly went down his body, eventually tucking itself within the folds of his haori where his chest steadily rose and fell. Damn, she had always wondered what exactly was under that thing...he rarely undressed in front of anyone, much less her. She supposed, her heart sinking, that Kikyo probably knew the answer to that... Argh, WHY was she thinking about this?! This wasn't funny, for crying out loud! Any minute he could start making fun of her weakness, taunting her for thinking that he preferred her over Kikyo! Or he could start verbally bashing her like earlier today... But that, she mused, might be all right... The thought of him yelling at her, for some reason, seemed to be oddly arousing---

"What?!" She jumped as his taut interjection snapped her back to reality. She glared at him angrily, but it only elicited another "What?!" and caused her to grit her teeth in frustration.

"What do you mean, what?!" she snapped, feeling her cheeks redden as she raised her head to look him square in the eye.

"You've been staring at me for the past two minutes!" he growled, twitching his ears agitatedly. "What, am I so good-looking that you can't take your eyes off me or something?!"

"Don't flatter yourself," she replied coldly.

He let out a low snarl, turning a rather interesting shade of purple himself.

"But I suppose you know all about flattery, Inuyasha," she spat, getting onto her elbows, "since you're so big-headed all the time, thinking that everything and everyone revolves around you! You're so selfish!"

"Are you calling ME selfish?!" His voice got higher and higher with every word. "What about YOU?! YOU'RE the one who took off and left us all in the dust! You abandoned your duty! Look how everything turned out because of you! And you're calling me SELFISH?!"

"You just don't GET it, do you, you asshole?!"

"Get what?! "

"WHY I left!" Kagome screamed, her eyes blazing with fury. "WHY I couldn't continue! I have my pride, you know, Inuyasha!"

"No, you're being selfish!" he persisted hotly.

"What would YOU know about doing things for others?! Huh?! For crying out loud, you only want the Sacred Jewel to become a full-fledged demon who might even kill us when it's all over! And you call that selfless?!"

"Then how about being loyal?! Goddamn it, Kagome, you can't just-"

"Well, what about YOU?!" Kagome interrupted. "Loyal---that's honestly the last thing you are! And what's worse is that you don't CARE! You don't CARE! I - it's obvious!" Here her voice choked, and she quickly dove under the covers, the rest of her speech coming out in a shrill, wavery voice. "J-just shut up and leave me alone, you jerk! I hate you! I don't want to talk to you!" From then on the conversation was officially over.

The tempestuous night slowly rolled on, with rain being unleashed in torrents and vicious lightning streaking down out of the bloated skies. Eventually Kagome's ragged breathing became slow and regular as she fell into the blissful confines of slumber, being safe and dry in the elegant manor and rolled up within a snug roll of coverlets. However angry and confused she was, she was still exhausted. Even Inuyasha being in close quarters with her wasn't enough to keep her alert.

Inuyasha, on the other hand, stayed up for a very long time. His knees drawn up to his chest ruminatively, he watched as the lightning outside grew fainter, and as the steady stream of rain eventually slowed to a trickle. Although it was getting late and it was very unlikely that even Miroku and Sango were even still awake, still he continued to sit there, as the candles in the room gradually burned out and the room was plunged into a soft darkness.

His sensitive ears pricked up as he caught the sound of Kagome's shallow breathing. (She's asleep,) he thought to himself, grunting slightly as he stood and padded across towards her. He stared down at her sleeping form, at her rising and falling chest. A chest that held some very pert white breasts, if he wasn't severely mistaken... That alone was already enough to get him---ergh, he'd best not think about it. Instead he stared upwards, at her peaceful, relaxed face, and at her silky black locks, which spilled out luxuriously over the top of the covers. Almost as if he couldn't help it, his hand tentatively reached towards those locks...

"Kagome," he murmured as his hand slowly stroked her soft hair, which sent shivers up his spine.

A/N: Again, I must warn you: the next time you see this fic it will be slapped with an R rating, for -well- you'll see. Better be safe than sorry, right? Anyway, if you find this fic by using the main page you should now use the R or All Ratings filter. *Sighs* I've been writing fics for some time now (on another account, of course), but I've never had an R rated one until now. It's basically touch and go for me.

Review replies:

AngelOfLight: Yeah, I did the waiting thing with Inuyasha on purpose. The battle scene would have been much different if he had been around to protect the village, and I needed them to almost lose for a reason. I also really didn't want to rush it with him and Kagome, especially since I wanted to give some attention to Miroku and Sango's relationship.

inuyashas girl: Hopefully he does...problem is, there was much much more to it than what Kagome saw! :)

Tigerchick: I'm not positive about the amount of fanart there, but I know a really good website where you can find anime screenshots of all the characters, including Kagome and Kikyo. The site is inuyashaworld.com. It has everything you could possibly want to know about Inuyasha, trust me! :)

Third-Reincarnation: Thanks for the critique earlier. This story's kinda my baby, and if there's something wrong with it I like to get it fixed as quickly as possible. I'm trying to get the characters to think a little more, though I'm really wary about doing that with Inuyasha, since he's keeping a couple of secrets from everyone. ;)

earthshine411: I SO agree. I get totally turned off when I see Inuyasha and Kagome screaming "let's make a baby!" by chapter three after a totally debilitating argument. Then again, what I did in chapter one wasn't much better...

Also thank you to mish-sernity, Demoness Tsukara, ChibiKenshin6490, SakuraBaby, MyNameIs Rini, Carly, Moonmage (cool name!), kj-kagome, kagome-1990, Chione, for your reviews and support! :)

And yeah, I really did feel better when I got a lot more reviews this time. I really had no idea how many people were reading; there's no hit counts on this site unless you pay! Please review again (criticism welcome, especially); the more reviews, the more likely I'll update on schedule (which is roughly every week, towards the weekend). Thanx!