InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Bottled Genius ❯ Sweet Surrender ( Chapter 19 )

Author's Notes: After some problems accessing the last chapter in ff.net - here's a tip to access chapters that apparently 'don't exist'. If you type '&page=0' after the chapter number in the address bar then the missing chapter should come up. It always works for me.

Oh - and I've changed my divider from ^_^ to ~*~ The reason? I'm bored with the smiley faces and they sometimes seem out of place, like Shippo may have just been horribly murdered and cut into six pieces by an insane Youkai and the next thing you see below the scene is a ^_^.

Though ~*~ reminds me of a little Sesshomaru face… much prettier.

Bottled Genius

Chapter 19

Sweet Surrender

"Souta! Breakfast!"

Kagome listened to her brother come thundering down the stairs at their mother's call. She curled up more tightly on the sofa in the living room, pulling a cushion against her stomach and kept the remote control aimed at the television set.

"Kagome? Do you want any toast or something?" Mrs Higurashi called from the kitchen again.

"No thanks!" Kagome called back and went back to channel hopping. She hopped past adverts about dog shoes, banana splits, video rentals and loan companies. There were a few news programs on, doing grim reports on a lighthouse that had fallen off a cliff and a house that had burnt down in the city… Kagome hopped past those as well, she was already depressed enough as it was.

She eventually settled for watching a wildlife documentary about the African Sahara. she had to turn the volume up because the sound of Souta and Inuyasha squabbling in the kitchen was getting louder.

"And so, the lioness fixes her gaze on a potential mate… and after days of waiting, she makes her move…" Kagome watched transfixed as the narrator commented about the animals on screen. "Only, the male blocks her interests and moves away…"

"Don't worry, girl, you're not the only one." Kagome sighed miserably.

"Perhaps this is because the male is on an empty stomach, but the female does not give up her attempts…"

Maybe Inuyasha didn't want to kiss her because he was too hungry? Kagome pondered this thoughtfully. Maybe he didn't want to kiss her because she had bad breath? Anxiously Kagome raised a hand to her mouth and tested that theory… nope… everything smelled ok, but maybe that was just her opinion? What if she'd had spinach in her teeth?

As if the embarrassment wasn't enough already, she had to go wondering about ways in which to make it worse…

"And so, the lioness, continues to pursue her unwilling mate…"

Kagome sighed to herself as she hugged the pillow tighter. Inuyasha walked in at that precise moment and both of them froze upon seeing each other, Kagome stared at him and he stared straight back.

"…the male avoids eye contact with the female to avoid confrontation…"

Inuyasha dropped his gaze to the carpet at once and made a gesture behind him. "Your mom says that she needs you to go out and get more milk from the shop down the road."

The shop down the road being nearly two miles away. Kagome nodded in acknowledgement and watched him turn and walk out again, all without looking at her once. Kagome blinked and turned back to the Tv.

"…eventually the female's persistence pays of and a mating takes-"

Kagome turned the box off with a sharp punch of the remote. Kagome doubted it would be as simple as sheer persistence to get Inuyasha to like her… not that she would be as conceited as to try either. If he didn't want to like her, that was his choice, she wouldn't force it on him.

Well, better get going on that trip to the shop. Maybe a walk would clear her head?

She slipped on her shoes and grabbed her shoulder bag before marching out the door without so much as a glance at Inuyasha as she passed him in the hall. She was kinda disappointed that he didn't glance at her either… she'd been watching him in the corner of her eye, and maybe had the feeling he'd been doing the same.

No sooner had she closed the front door behind her than a car pulled into the driveway. Kagome recognised the person who got out at once as she was greeted with a cheerful, familiar call. "Higurashi!"

"Hojo." Kagome trotted down the steps with a wave.

The car drove off and Hojo gave her an odd look. "Were you just going out?"

"Uh…" Kagome remembered and slapped her head. "Oh - I totally forgot that you were coming over to tutor me today… I was just going to get some milk from the store."

"I can come with you if you like." Hojo offered.

"Oh…" Kagome blinked. "You don't have to do that."

"Its ok. The store can't be far if you're walking, right?" he pointed out.

"Actually… it's more like two miles away." Kagome told him.

"Oh… shouldn't you take the car then?"

"Well… it'll be an hour by foot, two hours by car." Kagome pointed to the old banger that Grandpa had gotten as a replacement for the car that had been wrecked before. It was a very old, very knackered car that didn't start up very easily. "It's ok, I don't have to get milk now, we can go inside and get started on-"

"No, I'd like to walk with you, Higurashi." He smiled. "If… that's alright with you?"

Kagome had always had a soft spot for fools. Now more so than ever. She knew that Hojo was probably itching to ask her on a date… and although she wasn't really interested in him, and would try to avoid a date with him at all costs, she knew that if he asked her on one, she would go just to keep him happy.

Perhaps now that she understood unrequited love a little better, she felt a little more sympathetic towards him.

"I'd like that." She smiled genuinely and held out her hand for him to take. "Come on, it's this way."

They set off together down the country road with no pavement.

~*~

"What's the matter with you?"

Inuyasha jumped back from the window guiltily as Souta entered. "Nothing! Nothing's the matter!" he snapped back at the boy self-consciously.

Souta bundled himself over to the living room window and peered out. "Oh. It's Hojo again." Souta didn't sound too impressed. "Wonder where he's taking Kagome…"

"The store." Inuyasha moved back to the window to peer out beside him. "And they're holding hands…" he noted with a hint of a growl in his voice.

Souta glanced up at him dubiously. "Maybe you should go hit him or something." He suggested. "I mean… aren't you jealous?"

Inuyasha didn't say anything.

"Show him your superstrength and make a big Hojo shaped hole in the ground with him in it, yeah!" Souta imitated a punch in thin air. "That'll teach him for messing around with your girlfriend."

"Kagome's not my girlfriend." Inuyasha told him hurriedly.

"What?!" Souta gaped at him. "You mean… then what the heck are you two doing together if you're not going out together?!"

"What?" Inuyasha managed to tear his gaze off Hojo and Kagome's joined hands as he turned back to Souta.

"If you're not snogging and making out then what is it that you do alone together all the time?" Souta scowled at him, finding it hard to believe that nothing was going on between them.

"Nothing happens." Inuyasha turned back to the window and cursed to find that Hojo and Kagome had moved out of sight behind the trees up the road. "Dammit…"

"Well…" Souta sighed and stepped back from the window. "If you don't do something soon then she's going to go with him instead. Hojo's cool… but he don't have dog ears like you."

"Mm." Inuyasha sagged slightly onto the window sill. Souta just left him to it.

~*~

"Higurashi, are you cold? You're shivering?" Hojo looked over at her in concern.

"Maybe I should have put a jacket on before I left the house…" Kagome said with a sigh as she glanced up at the sky. It was clear, but the wind was a little cold.

"Here, you can have mine." Hojo shrugged out of his jacket and draped it over her shoulders. Kagome took it gratefully, glad to be out of the chill of the breeze. "Thanks… but aren't you cold?"

He smiled. "I'll live."

They carried on walking back home, Hojo the dutiful gentleman as ever carried the shopping bag with the milk in it… and a few extra chocolate biscuits to stuff in Inuyasha's mouth to fill his stomach… it might just win him over if the documentary on the lions was anything to go by.

Another cold breeze blew past and Kagome huddled down further into Hojo's jacket. It smelled nice… of clean and fresh laundry… washing powder… but that was all. She was left a little disappointed again. Hojo's scent lacked the wild intangible hue that Inuyasha's had… that natural zest that made her want to bury her nose in his shoulder and do nothing but breath in for all eternity.

Kagome felt a faint blush spread across her cheeks like prickly heat. That must have been the love talking…

By now she noticed that Hojo was shivering from the cold rather badly now. And since now her thoughts was keeping her body temperature on its toes, she nudged him and passed the coat back. "I'm ok now, thanks." She smiled.

~*~

The day seemed to pass slowly enough. After depositing the milk in the fridge, Kagome had taken Hojo up to her room to begin her studies. Her brain was a little rusty from lack of use… but Hojo was patient and helpful enough. Though she had to admit that she kept one eye on the window in case she saw a repeat of yesterday's events with Miroku and Inuyasha mud-wrestling in the yard below.

The day passed… normally. Around lunch time Hojo stayed long enough to eat with the family. Inuyasha was oddly absent from the meal.

"Where's Inuyasha?" Kagome asked her mother as she sat down at the table and counted only five people including Hojo and herself.

Her mother shrugged as she served out some pickled radishes. "Probably went home for once. Assuming he remembers where he lives."

"He's like a cat, that boy." Grandpa commented absently and Kagome gave him a hard stare. "What?" she asked abruptly.

"Well, he comes and goes as he pleases and if one family feeds him better he makes himself at home." Grandpa explained. "He's a cat person."

"Oh definitely. Cat person." Mrs Higurashi agreed.

"Kitty cat person." Souta nodded.

Hojo went home after lunch and seeing as Inuyasha seemed to be in a mood and wasn't showing himself, Kagome went to amuse herself with Souta. He took them down to the river and set about trying to catch the biggest fish they could manage. It turned into a competition that Kagome eventually won, much to Souta's chagrin. Her largest fish came in at a whopping three and a half centimetres!

She set the fish free before Souta added it to the growing wildlife collection in his room.

Evening rolled around, and so did supper. Kagome sat down at the kitchen table and pulled a face as she counted only four people this time. Inuyasha still wasn't among them. "Where's Inu-"

"For goodness sakes Kagome, stop pining after the boy." Her mother admonished with a smile. "You have to give him some air to breathe sometime you know."

Kagome quietened down and shrunk a little in her seat. Perhaps that was the reason why Inuyasha didn't want to kiss her back. Because she continually crowded him and pressured him. Maybe he freaked out and ran away from the girl who couldn't leave him alone for five minutes.

Kagome decided that was just another silly excuse. She didn't crowd Inuyasha… if anything he crowded her. He was the one hanging over her shoulder as she tried to study, demanding to know why an English poet called Shakespeare could become so famous even though his poems didn't rhyme.

And every time it came time to go to bed she'd have to order him to leave the room so she could change and settle down. And if that happened he often got huffy about being told what to do.

Except that evening Inuyasha didn't hang over her shoulder while she studied and found it oddly quiet without him nearby. It reminded her starkly of only recently when he'd been gone for three days and she'd been worried sick about him…

He didn't bother her by refusing to leave her room when it came time to get changed and go to bed. He wasn't there for a start. As she settled down under the covers, a little anxious part of her heart gnawed at her sensibility. Inuyasha didn't often go missing for long periods of time… maybe she should check on him.

"Inuyasha?" She whispered into her room. Nothing happened. "Inuyasha?!" she called a little more loudly.

"What?" he popped into view beside her bed, looking faintly irritated as he swatted a hand back and forth to clear the red smoke that had accompanied him into the room.

He was, if anything, get clumsier at relocating.

Well at least he was safe and sound… though now Kagome had to think of a good excuse to have called him in the first place. "I… uh… you're not hungry or anything are you? I mean you skipped lunch and tea and-"

"I'm fine." He interrupted curtly.

Kagome bit down on her tongue and frowned slightly at him.

"Is that all?" he demanded snappishly.

"Well… yeah…"

Without as much as a farewell he dissipated into thin air again and was gone from the room once more. Kagome's frown deepened and she rolled over in bed to face the wall and the window. She pulled the covers over her head and closed her eyes tightly. "Jerk…"

~*~

Kagome overslept the next morning, mostly because she hadn't gotten to sleep very quickly last night. Her mother had to come in and shake her shoulder to rouse the girl.

"Kagome… Hojo's here. You have to get up now."

"Ok, I'm getting up Mom." Kagome replied as she woke, except it came out more as a rush of air and a, "OkehgerrupMo…"

"Ok dear." Mrs Higurashi smiled and left Kagome to it.

After a few moments Kagome nearly fell straight back to sleep before remembering why she had to get up. It would be rude to keep Hojo waiting after all…

No sooner had she come back from brushing her teeth to rummage around her drawers for some socks, there came a knock on the door. "Higurashi? May I come in yet?"

"Uh…" Kagome blinked down at herself and noted that, yes, she was completely dressed despite being half asleep. "Come in…" she mumbled, coming out as, "Coma…"

Hojo entered, smiling like the perfect gentleman he was. "Morning, Higurashi. You look pretty this morning."

Kagome caught sight of herself in the mirror and realised he was just being needlessly polite. Her hair was all over the place and she had creases down the side of her face from where she'd been lying on her rumpled pillow… it kinda looked like she'd been slashed repeatedly and now had scars.

"You two, Hojo, you two." She conceded as she pulled up a second stool to her desk for Hojo to sit on. "What are we going over today?" she asked as she sat down in her swivelling chair and he followed suite by sitting on the stool.

"Well, before half term came, we were did a little history on the slave trade. Do you remember doing that in school?" he asked, getting down to business at once.

"It's all news to me." Kagome smiled.

"Ok then, we can use my notes to work from." He dipped a hand into his satchel and pulled out a folder containing his especially neat and organised notes. "Here we go… we can start here I think."

He went over the entire long story about the slave trade, and Kagome listened attentively to what he was saying, positive that she didn't want to be left behind in her academic class. Occasionally she interrupted to ask questions and he answered helpfully. She had to admit that Hojo was a very good teacher one on one.

"Ok, so do you think you understand it all now?" he asked.

"Sure." She smiled.

"Then you can read through my notes and copy them out in your own words."

"You sound so much like a teacher, it's scary," she teased him as she pulled out her own books and began reading a few lines of his work before writing out her own version, shortening the details somewhat.

She quickly grew absorbed with her note taking and grew a little oblivious to Hojo's presence beside her. She quickly became acutely aware of him however when she felt his hand on her thigh as though grasping for leverage as he leaned across her to pick up one of her pens. She smiled politely as he took the pen and went back to making more of his own notes.

His hand didn't move from her thigh.

Kagome coughed behind her hand and discreetly moved her legs so his hand slipped off. The action seemed to startle him. "Oh - sorry - I didn't realise." He apologised quickly.

"It's alright." Was Hojo really that oblivious to girls or was he really a secret perv?

They carried on working quietly. Until…

"Higurashi, who's this Inuyasha person everyone keeps talking about?"

"Um…" Kagome's pen tip lifted off the paper she was writing on as she debating this question. "He's a friend… of the family… he comes around sometimes." More like at all times.

"Oh." Hojo carried on working, but with a faint frown. "Your brother seemed to suggest that you… well… you liked him."

"Souta told you about Inuyasha?" Kagome tried to dart around that accusation he'd just made.

"Do you like him?" Hojo looked up at her.

Kagome nodded slowly. "He's a friend…"

"Is he your boyfriend though?" Hojo pressed.

Kagome blinked at him a moment before sinking her gaze back to her half finished work. "No…"

"But you wish he was, don't you?" Hojo sounded a little sad.

"Possibly." Kagome tried to give him an encouraging smile. "He's a bit of a jerk though. You're much nicer than he is…"

"But you still like him better than me, don't you?" Hojo asked.

Kagome didn't like to lie, she thought it was a horrible thing to do. But sometimes a little white lie was appropriate to cheer people up… but… no… she couldn't lead him on. It was cruel. "I… I suppose I kinda crush on him… It's not serious or anything. He doesn't feel the same way back I suppose."

Hojo nodded and got back on with his work. Kagome had the feeling she'd made him suddenly very depressed. "I… uh…" she looked around, looking for a way to lighten the topic. "I'm going to get a drink. Do you want one?" Lighten the topic or just get out of that awkward situation.

"Yes, please." He smiled weakly.

Kagome got up placidly and shut the door after her on her way out, she winced once she was out of sight and turned to head down the corridor towards the stairs. But no sooner had she turned than she bumped into someone's chest, someone who winced when her cheek hit a rather recent and sensitive wound over his heart.

"Oh… Inuyasha." She stepped back a bit to look up into his face. He was glaring at her. Hard. But did he look at her any other way these days? Kagome looked between him and her bedroom door and suddenly grew suspicious. "Were you just passing by or were you listening on in me and Hojo."

He didn't answer. Instead he reached out, fisted a hand in the front of her dress and pushed her against the wall, and pinned her there with his body covering hers. The breath was knocked out of her lungs and she went limp from the shock, just enough for him to push both of her hands above her head and pin them there with one hand around her crossed wrists. He was very close… too close… even Kagome felt the need to squirm away for personal space again.

"I-Inuyasha - what are you doing?!" she hissed once she could drag enough air into her lungs. She could feel hot puffs of air furling against the underside of her jaw as he leaned in closer.

"I'm sorry," he told her breathlessly. "I can't help it anymore… I need you…"

"To get more aspirin for you?" she found his closeness a little intoxicating… and when he pushed his nose into the crook of her neck and inhaled deeply her eyelids fluttered and she fought the light-headedness that descended on her. "Stop it…"

He brought his head back up. "No, don't say that, you love me."

She squeezed her eyes shut and figured that maybe if she ignored him as though she was angry and turned her head away, he would leave off her…

No such luck. Presented baldly with the smooth curve of her cheek and jaw, Inuyasha seemed to take it as an invitation of some kind. She gasped as she felt his warm lips pressing and nipping gently against her jaw line.

Now things had really gone too far. "Why are you doing this?!" she demanded, turning her head back to him in an effort to dislodge him from the sweet ministrations on her skin. "You're doing this just to upset me, aren't you?!"

"No - no, don't think that!" He whispered frantically. "I'm doing this because I love you - I tried to ignore it… but it's too strong, I can't ignore it… I can't ignore you!"

Kagome frowned, feeling a lump in her throat that seemed like the verge of tears. "Well you certainly changed your tune." She wasn't sure what to make of him now. Except she knew she felt very angry all of a sudden, mostly because she felt utterly helpless pinned against the wall like this, and angry because she was afraid Hojo would hear and come running, or one of her family would wander past.

"I love you…" he whispered, his warm breath tickled her cheek as his lips grazed the skin.

What if this was Naraku?

Kagome forced down the note of panic that surged within her. If this was Inuyasha he would back off if she told him to. Naraku would ignore her…

"Let go of me." She said in a firm voice… even though it shook slightly.

He paused and looked at her. She caught the look of scant regret and disappointment, before the hand which gripped her wrists loosened until it eventually fell back to his side. He backed off slightly, looking at the ground, at the wall, anywhere but at her. Was this really Naraku…? Inuyasha had been pretty confident that the monster was still hiding away to recover…

"What's the matter with you?" she demanded in a low hiss, sounding too much like her mother for her own good. "First you're giving me the cold shoulder and then this!"

"I couldn't help it!" he hissed back, still avoiding her eyes. "I didn't want to hurt us both by… but yesterday when you came back from the shop - you smelt like him!" Inuyasha jerked his chin towards her bedroom door. "I got so… angry… I don't like you being alone with him all the time!"

Kagome exhaled slowly and tried to look him in the eye, only he refused to make eye contact back… She reached out without much hesitation and gently forced his chin upwards, forcing him to look at her. But the moment his eyes met hers he stiffened and something flickered within the amber depths…

Before she had a chance to identify the look in his eyes she felt her back and head connect with the wall behind her with a loud thud that knocked her short of breath again. She opened her mouth to cry out in shock or anger, to yell at Inuyasha for pushing her like that, to drag in much needed oxygen after being winded.

Inuyasha's mouth was fastened over hers, so she didn't get a chance to do any of those things. Anger at the unfairness of it all slammed through her and she tried to bite his lip to get him to back off… he was too quick for her though, but at least it gave her a chance to shut her mouth and clamp her teeth together firmly so no wandering tongues got through.

His growl rumbled deep in the back of his throat and his hand came up to grip her chin and force her mouth to open. Kagome was not going to hand over her first real kiss like this… maybe before - but not like this.

She slapped him. Hard.

Inuyasha didn't even flinch. So she slapped him again on the same cheek. Maybe if she slapped him enough he'd eventually feel the sting. But as it was, he didn't seem to be aware of much, especially oblivious to her protests at being treated like this… like some kind of… girl-asking-to-be-dominated. The invasive 'kiss' he was forcing on her was alarming in itself and made her feel downright cheap.

She slapped him again, noticing that her blows were getting weaker and more hopeless. Maybe if she tried hitting him with her other hand… nope… that was too busy being trapped between their bodies… Kagome wanted to keep it there, even though it didn't act as much of a barrier between them, but it helped.

Hojo was probably going to come and see what all that banging and thumping was about in a minute… she'd die of pure embarrassment… not to mention how hurt the poor boy would probably be. Well, Inuyasha would be very hurt by her when he gave her room to speak.

She slapped him just once more for good measure and went slack in defeat. Inuyasha just didn't take subtle hints. Besides… her slapping him also jarred her own head. He seemed to take her slumped posture as acceptance and pulled back only long enough to flick her a gaze and whisper something she'd longed to hear for only a short while now.

"I love you."

Tears leaked out of her tightly shut eyes. Her mouth seemed to start obeying her heart instead of her brain. "I love you." This time when he kissed her again, she kissed back, clenching her hand in the material of the back of his shirt. Now her body seemed to obey her heart and her mind seemed separate and detached from what was going on… it seemed all so unreal. She was either daydreaming at the desk with Hojo or still asleep in bed…

Inuyasha broke off the kiss again and crushed her into an embrace, Kagome reciprocated at once, holding him as tightly as he held her. She felt so secure and safe…

"You don't know how long I've waited to hear those words…" he confided in her in something barely above a whisper.

Kagome buried her nose against his shoulder and inhaled deeply. She was addicted to his smell… the perfect blend of his naturally male smell that gave her deeper comfort than she was really ever conscious of feeling, and of a forest in the humid heat of summer…

And a tingle of poisonous nettles hidden within all those warm flowers and ferns of the forest…

Kagome's eyes snapped open and she found herself staring over Inuyasha's shoulder, his smell hadn't changed in the slightest but all of a sudden she felt like gagging from the noxious stench underlying in it. Inuyasha didn't smell of poison… but Naraku did.

She wanted to draw back and fight him with every terrified fibre of her being, she could almost feel the warm tingle of adrenaline rushing through her limbs, begging her to fight or take flight that very moment. But at the same time the fear kept her frozen. Too still…

"What's the matter?" the man she held in her stiff arms was rubbing her back gently. She'd never felt so suddenly filthy and disgusted in her entire life… her stomach lurched and nausea made her body nearly crumble in weakness.

His grip on her loosened somewhat and his head turned to look down the corridor. Kagome was acutely aware of every muscle moving in him… but too frightened to follow his gaze. "Oh…" he sounded bored. "And how long were you standing there for?"

"Hojo called. Said he was sick. Couldn't come to tutor Kagome today. He says sorry." That response was slow… cold. Icy fury flowing a strong undercurrent beneath the words.

Kagome closed her eyes in despair. Oh Inuyasha…

The real Inuyasha.

AN: Oooohkaaaaay… Even though I'm sure a lot of people figured out what just happened, it'll all come be explained next chapter. I'm not sure how many chapters are left… but we're drawing close to the end quite soon… I think…