InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Chaos is his Middle Name ❯ Chapter Four ( Chapter 4 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Chapter Four

The wind blew furiously against Kagome’s face as her kidnapper sprinted to who-knows-where. She clutched to his chest, afraid to tumble to the ground that he was almost flying over. She didn’t know where he was taking her, but she knew that wherever they ended up it would be somewhere remote. Once she got past the surprise of his actions, it felt nice to be running at such a fast speed.

She glanced up at his face discreetly and studied his features. His amber eyes were fierce with determination, as if he were contemplating all of the places to take her. She wished she were able to hear his thoughts. It would probably ease her mind if she knew what was going to happen to her.

Not that she feared for her life. She felt reassured that he wouldn’t kill her, but she couldn’t say that she felt as secure when it came to the other aspects of being kidnapped. What if he planned to finish what he had attempted to do in the woods? She knew that she wouldn’t have a fighting chance to stop him. Yet at the thought of him forcing himself on her she didn’t feel any anxiety. Instead she scoffed at the idea. She thought back to how he had kissed her knuckles. If he were planning on forcing her to do anything then why was he so gentle with her back on the hill?

They hadn’t been traveling long, but Kagome knew that at the speed they had been going that they had to have been miles away from Miroku and Sango. She knew that they were probably worried about her and would no doubt come to her rescue, not that she needed it. She felt perfectly safe with the man who had kidnapped her.

She was jolted forward slightly as he slid to a halt outside what appeared to be a secluded cave. At first Kagome hadn’t even been sure it was a cave. The entrance was so heavily covered in moss, indicating that the interior was damp, that she had overlooked it. He made his way into the dank cave and carefully put her down on the rocky ground.

They stared at each other for several long minutes, not knowing what to do. Kagome clumsily fiddled with the hem of her shirt and with great effort tore her eyes away from him to look around their hideout. It wasn’t a very big cave. Just big enough to fit the both of them. She absently wondered if this was where he lived. From the corner of her eye she looked back over at him. “So . . .” She saw his right ear twitch at the sound of her voice. “Is this your home?”

He continued to stare at her, not even attempting to answer her question. He suddenly looked away as if he found the far cave’s wall more interesting. Kagome found his behavior a little strange. Why wasn’t he looking at her? He was the one who made off with her. Shouldn’t he be the one telling her where they were and what he planned to do with her? After a couple of minutes of him avoiding her probing gaze, she sighed. “Can I at least ask for your name?”

Once again her question was met with silence. Figuring that he wasn’t going to open up to her just yet, she decided that maybe she should go first. “Well, my name’s Kagome Higurashi.” She faltered for a moment, trying to think of what he could possibly want to know about her. “I’m, uh, pretty sure you remember me. I mean, you seemed to recognize me.” She felt nervous. Like she was rambling on. What would he want to know about her? Did he even care what her name was?

She looked down at her hands as if they would answer her misgivings. Taking a deep breath, she decided she’d start again. But her words were caught in her throat when she looked back up at him. He was peering over at her with a puzzled expression. It was like he couldn’t figure something out. Kagome had half a mind to look away, but just as she was about to, he spoke. “I-InuYasha.” His voice was coarse with disuse, yet it fit his exterior perfectly.

It took Kagome a minute to get over the shock of him actually speaking, but when she did she realized that he had just given her his name. “Your name is InuYasha?” He nodded once in response. A slow smile crept onto Kagome’s face that was followed by a small laugh. She couldn’t help it. He had actually spoken to her. It seemed pretty surreal to her. She was sitting in a damp cave with a supposed monster and they were introducing themselves.

She continued to smile at him, wondering what else he would answer. It didn’t have to be a serious question. She just wanted to hear his voice again. “So you didn’t say earlier. Do you live here?” For a half a second she saw his eyes darken and she feared she had asked the wrong question, but once again the sound of his voice made her feelings of anticipation leave her.

“No. I don’t live here. I don’t have that kind of freedom.” Then his eyes darted away from her and were replaced by an almost ashamed look. Like he regretted telling her that particular information. She absently wondered why he would feel ashamed to tell her this.

She had so many questions she wanted to ask him, but she didn’t want to overwhelm him. She had a good feeling that she was the first person he’d ever had a civilized conversation with. She had no idea where to start, but she assumed that she had to start somewhere. Maybe if she explained her curiosity to him, he’d be willing to answer. “InuYasha?” She didn’t know whether it was the sound of her voice or his name that had startled him, but he jumped slightly when she spoke. “Sorry.” She mumbled before continuing. “I was just wondering if you’d be up to explaining some things to me. I mean, I hate being left in the dark about things and, well, you’re very mysterious . . .” She trailed off, hoping he’d catch her drift.

He studied her for a moment before saying warily, “What do you want to know?” A smile lit up Kagome’s face as she quickly sorted through the list of questions in her mind.

“What are you? Why do you have dog ears? And silver hair?” The questions slipped past her lips without her consent, but luckily he didn’t seem to mind. She even noticed the flicker over the right corner of his mouth.

InuYasha took in the appearance of the girl before him. So she wanted to know what he was, did she? He could tell by the bombardment of questions that this was only the tip of the iceberg, but he stopped himself from smirking. “I’m a half-breed.” He half expected her to scowl at him, but her confused expression surprised him. “You know, a half-demon.”

Her confused expression lessened slightly. “A half-demon. . . . So that must mean that you’re half-human as well.” InuYasha nodded in response. “. . . I didn’t know there were any demons left.” He didn’t know why he liked that the girl was so naïve. He came to the conclusion that it was because she wasn’t about to judge him like others would.

With great effort he fought the urge to smirk as he replied, “You’d be surprised as to know how many demons are still around.” Her eyes widened at the news. “They mostly live in small packs. Never staying in one place for too long.” His eyes darted down at his knuckles that were supporting most of his weight. He hadn’t realized that he had been leaning forward, causing his balance to shift from his hunched legs to his hands. They were starting to lose feeling. He tilted back once again before he continued. “But there is still one demon village left. Though it’s not easily vulnerable to attack. It can only be found by its enemies by accident.”

Kagome was more confused then ever. It can only be found by its enemies by accident? That didn’t even make sense. “What do you mean? By accident?”

This time the tiniest of smirks graced InuYasha’s lips and it silently shocked them both. “You can only find the village if ya ain’t looking for it. Other wise you could travel for days and walk right past it without even knowing.” Wonder appeared on the girl’s face, though it was still tainted with confusion, and InuYasha knew that she wondered how he had found out about the village himself. “I came across it when I was sent to . . .” He trailed off. He had been sent to destroy a village that had been spreading news about his despicable master when he had stumbled upon it. Though he hadn’t stayed long. Just long enough to hear the rumors of an enemy attack and many elders telling them not to worry for the barrier would keep them safe. He studied the girl, seeing if she’d pick up on why he’d stopped, but she just stared at him patiently.

“Yes?” she probed gently.

He blinked comically, then continued carefully. “I was out hunting.” he said. It wasn’t really a lie, but definitely better then the truth. “The whole village is hidden by a barrier. It’s a very old tactic, but so far it’s worked and as long as they lay low they should be able to live in peace.”

Kagome stared at him as she processed the information. There were still demons around and she hadn’t had the slightest clue. What other things had she been oblivious too? She wanted to know, but there were still more important things to ask. She didn’t want to beat around the bush any longer. This was a question that had taunted her thoughts ever since their first meeting. “Why didn’t you kill me? That time in the woods? Or now for that matter?”

InuYasha was taken aback by her abrupt change of subject. Although after he got over his surprise, uncertainty sank in. It was a question he, himself, didn’t know the answer to. “Did you want me to kill you?” he asked with a furrowed brow. It was an attempt to divert her from her original question.

Her eyes widened as she stuttered, “N-no. Of course I don’t.” She took in the frown on his face and continued. “I just want to know why you let me live.”

His ear twitched in aggravation as he turned his gaze to the far cave wall again. “I don’t know.” he said through gritted teeth. It had just been something about her. Something that even now he couldn’t detect. Her presence brought out emotions that he had learned to keep under lock and key long ago. He wasn’t yet sure if he appreciated it or not.

Sensing that the vague answer was all she was going to get, she chose to accept it. “Okay.” He still hadn’t looked back over at her. “Well, I just wanted you to know that for whatever reason that stopped you . . . I’m grateful for it.” This grabbed his attention. His head whipped over in her direction with glowering eyes.

“You’re grateful that I didn’t kill you?” he demanded. He wasn’t sure where all the irritation was coming from, but he knew he didn’t want her feeling grateful. If anything, she should feel lucky. Incredibly lucky. She’d escaped death not once, but twice. “Is your brain broken or something?”

Her confused expression was back. “What do you mean?” With inhuman speed, he sealed the small distance between them and wrapped his hand around her neck. It was big enough to enclose most of it and she tensed up as he pressed his nails into her skin. Not hard enough to draw blood, but enough to break skin.

He stared into her wide eyes. “I could kill you. With one swipe of my claws, you’d be dead.” He tighten his hand just a little bit more. “How grateful do ya feel now?”

Kagome studied his face and when she noticed, through the hard glare, a somewhat desperate look in his eyes, she relaxed in his hold. With some trouble caused by his offending hand, she said, “I suppose you could kill me. But you won’t.” She felt his hold on her loosen considerably. “If you had wanted to kill me, you would have already. You’re no more of a threat to me than I am to you. . . . Why that is I’m not so sure.”

InuYasha let go of her as if her skin had burned him. He backed up until his back was against the cave wall. Desperately trying to put distance between them. Just who was this girl? This Kagome Higurashi? And why did she hold this much power over him? To kill was the only reason he’d ever touched a person. The only reason he needed. It was an instinct really. So why could he touch this one girl and not have his instinct take over?

Kagome watched InuYasha press himself against the wall. His face was blank. She was beginning to think it was his defense mechanism. Whenever he was feeling too many emotions, he’d close them off. Or at least it was her theory. “InuYasha?” she asked uncertainly as she leaned toward him.

He tried to press himself further into the wall when she advanced toward him, but the wall was just as solid as he was. She outstretched her hand, as if wanting to console him. He flinched from the offering hand and bumped his head on the low ceiling in the process.

Kagome winced as he hit his head, but he gave no sign confirming that he even did it. “Here let me take a look at that.” When he made to move toward her, she sighed. “Look, whether you want to admit it or not, you hit your head pretty hard. Just let me see if there’s a bump.”

Caution crept onto his face. “I’m fine.” He didn’t need some girl to look after him. He’d been through worse than a bump on the head. But as she moved back into her regular sitting position, she looked dejected. Her disappointment caused a growl to rumble in his chest. She looked up with alarm. He closed his eyes in irritation then leaned forward. “Go ahead and look, but I’m telling ya, I’m fine.” he said through clenched teeth.

Kagome was pleasantly surprised when he leaned forward and demanded that she cheek his head. It even took her a minute to come to terms with what he was asking, but before he could pull away she brought her hands up to feel his head. She was even more surprised by the fact that there wasn’t even a bump.

She couldn’t help but let her fingers linger in his hair. It was silk smooth and, even though it wasn’t the best kept for, it still slid over her hands effortlessly. She bit her lip nervously as her hands moved toward his ears. She couldn’t stop her curiosity toward them. She wanted to make sure they were real. An impossible urge to touch them come upon her.

Very gently she grasped his ears and he jerked in shock. What did she think she was doing? No one was allowed to touch his ears. Of course that was because no one had ever wanted to, but still. He was just about to pull away from her stroking hands when she did so herself. Her abrupt stop made him disoriented. He barely even heard her quiet apology.

Blush colored Kagome’s cheeks. She hadn’t even meant to touch his ears. It had been beyond her control. They just looked so touchable and cute that she couldn’t pass up the opportunity. Luckily he didn’t look too angry. Maybe a little annoyed though. “I hope you don’t hold that against me. I promise I won’t do it again without your permission.”

“Feh. Hope ya don’t hold your breathe for that go-ahead. ‘Cause ya won’t be getting it.” he replied as he straightened up and crossed his arms over his chest.

A secretive smile appeared on her face. “I wouldn’t be so sure on that.” He narrowed his eyes in suspicion and she lifted her chin with confidence. “It’ll be my mission to get your consent.”

He could feel his features turn blank as he studied the girl in front of him. Did that mean that she planned on seeing him again in the future? ‘Cause he wasn’t sure if that were possible. His three days of temporary freedom were up at sunset. He’d have to go back to his master and he’d be damned if he was going to surrender her to the likes of him. . . . But maybe he could leave her somewhere until he was let out again. Granted he wasn’t about to lock her up and make her his own little prisoner, but maybe if he told her to wait for him . . .

“InuYasha?” She waved her hand in front of his vacant eyes. What was wrong with him now? A gasp escaped her lips when his hand shot up to stop hers. She locked her gaze with his and was surprised to find that they were no longer emotionless.

He continued to stare at her as if contemplating what to say. “. . . I have to leave.” His statement was so abrupt that Kagome didn’t even know what he meant at first. “Do ya have some place to stay? . . . Until I come back?”

“Umm. . .” She hesitated, trying to compose her thoughts into words. “Well . . . I guess you could take me back to my friends.” He nodded absentmindedly as he stood up in a hunched position to avoid hitting his head again. “Yo-you said you were going to come back for me?” She knew she shouldn’t feel as excited about it as she did, but she couldn’t help it. There was something about him that drew her to him. Something she couldn’t put her finger on . . .

He gave her a once-over before answering. “Yeah.” He saw the smile spread across her face and had to look away to hide his all to willing emotions. “Just don’t read too much into it, alright.”

She nodded, still wearing the smile. “Alright.”

“Feh, let’s go.” He grabbed her by the hand and pulled her out of the cave.