InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Crystal Clear ❯ Fickle ( Chapter 3 )

Chapter Three
Fickle



*~*~*

*Inuyasha’s POV*

The past three days have fucking sucked.

Sango, Miroku and I were sitting outside the village. I was sitting against my favorite time tree, and the monk and his fiancé were sitting by a small fire a few yards away. They were happily chatting away, cooking a decent lunch of fish with some vegetables Kaede had gathered from her garden. They were completely unaware of my dilemma as far as I knew. Kagome may have mentioned it to the exterminator, but I somehow doubt it with how busy everyone was.

Kagome was off with Kaede, and Shippo wasn’t feeling well, so he was at the Miko hut with Kirara. The old hag blamed me for that one because Shippo went and tattled to her instead of Kagome this time. The young Miko-in-training wasn’t going to do anything…she seemed too embarrassed anyway by the reason that I was actually mad at the brat.

All I did was throw him in the river…it wasn’t my fault he caught cold…

Just as I expected, Kagome had decided to take time away from the group. We hadn’t truly spoken in three days. It was just as well. My head was too boggled with shit half the time to sort out what I wanted to say. She remained with Kaede day and night, working hard on all the Miko tasks she could possibly come up with. I was cautious, letting her take her time away from me, and so we would only occasionally greet each other, pretending that nothing out of the ordinary had happened around the others. She’d been having a hard time meeting my gaze…though the one time she did, she blushed furiously, and her scent spiked dramatically with a lusty emotion I was now becoming very familiar with.

Well, of course she’d been thinking about the other morning. So had I. Constantly, in fact. And I was rather proud of it.

I wondered what would have happened if Shippo hadn’t interrupted…if we’d be acting differently towards each other. It was possible that she was just embarrassed as hell, and couldn’t look at me without getting turned on. She also could have been completely repulsed, or regretting the actions we both so boldly took.

Not that I thought I was worth the looks of adoration, but I wasn’t going to complain if Kagome thought of me that way. It’s something I’ve always wanted, but never thought I’d get.

I wasn’t sure what to think about the situation, or even how to act. So I didn’t. I couldn’t bring myself to feel angry or happy about it because I just wasn’t sure what Kagome was feeling.

Which is why I was just sitting here now, neutrally thinking about it, replaying the event over and over in my mind…

Okay, so not really that neutrally…but I could pretend all I wanted. Nobody was going to say a goddamn thing about it.

She could have been mine.

Mine…I always have to stop myself and think about what that truly means; roll it around on my tongue and see how it tastes. That’s a woman to have, to hold, to bear my children, to protect and care for like any man would his wife. Every time we’d touch, like it was now, would be something to truly treasure and appreciate. I used to deny it, but now, I don’t think I’ve truly ever wanted anything more in my life, and Kagome was the only woman I saw in my arms when I dreamed at night, when I dreamed. I would do anything to make her mine; I’d even marry her in the human tradition if only she would say yes to me.

The act alone was all it would have taken for me to claim her, and it was very important to me anyway in consummating a relationship. That was part of the reason I was so upset by Shippo’s interruption. My senses were in tune to the idea completely by that point, and I wouldn’t have stopped unless she wanted me to. My human side was thrilled at having her by my side, and my demon side wanted her. I wasn’t usually too worried about the human.

In flesh and blood, Kagome would have been mine, and no one else could ever have had a claim on her. No one else could have had her, held her, and touched her. We would have had a slight mental bond, depending of course how deep our relationship with one another was. Our scents would even have started to mingle and become one.

But would she have wanted that? Would she have regretted it after all?

I wasn’t sure what had come over me that sunup. The emotional frequencies of the night before had put us in the right position at the right time that morning, and me being so bold the night before had helped along, but had I taken advantage of her feelings? Had what I done fucked up everything now?

I growled to myself. The gods had given me some major balls that day, but they’d given her some, too. When I woke just before dawn, I found her just where I’d always wanted her, with our clothes on, anyway…and I had too much time to think to myself before I had a massive hard-on.

Just her contact, and me touching her, excited me. That was bad point number one.

That morning I was beat red in self-consciousness, and I prayed like crazy that she wouldn’t wake up when I was in that state, but I just didn’t want to stop thinking about her being so close to me…my beast almost refused to ignore the fact, and sometimes, the beast had a better hold on my body than I did. It told me to pretty much just shut up and enjoy the moment.

So I did. That was bad point number two.

And, of course, she woke up slightly after the sun rose. She tried to pretend that she wasn’t awake for a while, but everything about one’s body changes when they wake. I knew it the second she did. I tried to give myself a mental cold shower so that she wouldn’t notice my problem, but it just wouldn’t go away. My beast wouldn’t let it...fucking asshole.

So, once I realized she’d noticed, I had two choices, or be completely mortified, which was out of the question. One, I could ignore it, and pretend it wasn’t there, or two…I could go along with it, slowly figure her reactions to it, and maybe go from there. Guess which one I chose? Had it been a different day, I would have ignored it.

Maybe I was rash…I don’t know. But I had given her plenty of options to get away from it if she wanted to, and she refused them all. Maybe she did want me almost half as much as I do her, but I just don’t fucking know for sure.

Okay, so it was clear we needed to talk about this. I wasn’t sitting around in this awkward silence anymore. We could either acknowledge that it happened, or it didn’t. But if she didn’t regret it, then I needed to ask her and find out what her feelings were about everything.

…About me…

An insignificant growl worked its way pleasantly into my throat. God, I loved the feel and taste of her lips, of her skin…I would do anything just to do it again. I would literally fall over dead if she wanted me to, if she allowed me a few moments of what we had before first.

I chuckled to myself quietly, ears rotating around to make certain that no one heard me. I was like a dog chasing a damn bone, but I’d had a taste of it first, and only wanted more.

If she was still mortified, I wasn’t. Everything that had happened would forever be etched in my mind. The thought was enough to give me a hard-on again. Even if she didn’t want a repeat of that morning, it wasn’t leaving me. It would take something of mammoth proportions to destroy that image from my mind, and I was not giving it up willingly.

Even after all we did (which actually wasn’t much, I know, but it was to meing asshole.___________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________).

It wasn’t enough. I was left wanting the full package more than ever now. I wanted that woman to be mine body and soul, and I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

I couldn’t sleep, and I could barely eat. Actually, now, I was starving. I was growing worried over Kagome’s nervous behavior, and by now, I was sure that I’d blown it.

What the fuck do I do?

I was nudged suddenly, and out of pure reaction grabbed the hand doing it, practically ready to rip the monk’s arm off when I saw him smirking in front of me. “Where are you, Inuyasha?”

Thank god it was the stupid monk…

I glanced around for Sango, just out of mere curiosity, and she wasn’t around. I hadn’t been paying the slightest bit of attention to anything around me.

Miroku continued to smile at me. I resisted the urge to growl at him, and instead rubbed my eyes viciously. “What are you doing, monk?”

“I was inquiring if you wanted food, but you weren’t paying attention.”

“Where’s your girlfriend?”

“She joined Kaede and Kagome in the aide of a birth. They needed extra female hands around.” He sat down across from me, staff now resting against his shoulder, observing me very carefully. “Now, I’m no psychic, but you appear off balance, my friend. Care to talk about it?”

I wasn’t entirely sure that the perverted monk would be the best one to talk to with this, but I did need to talk to someone, and Sango and the old bat were completely out.

Maybe I could force him to behave… “If I’m going to talk to you, you are going to be serious and not ruin this. You screw this up at all and I’m going to slap the shit out of you.”

Miroku smiled in the annoying way he does. I give up… “Of course, Inuyasha. I will be good, I promise.”

I reluctantly told him everything, absolutely everything I could about what had happened with a tight stomach. He acted like he understood how hard it was for me to talk to him about this…If he could just be a true friend, then I could get through this with my sanity intact. So why did I feel like he was going to screw this up and piss me off?

Maybe that was just me being paranoid…

The monk was tapping his chin when I was finished, at least pretending to think hard on the subject. “Hmm…truthfully, Kagome-sama didn’t seem upset this week. Perhaps slightly withdrawn, like you are, but not angry.”

My brows creased at him. “So what are you saying?”

I freaking hate it when that monk smirks at me, because it either means everything or nothing at all, and either way, I’m supposed to know what it means. “Simply put, Inuyasha, Kagome was just embarrassed that you were caught. Although I do think it’s a good thing you were interrupted. You both need to sit down and have a talk about this before your bodies think for you again. No doing anything else until you do.”

I glared at him more out of habit than anything, and I did hate being ordered around, but maybe I shouldn’t have. He was doing what I’d asked of him.

At least, as far as I knew.

He took my expression as he needed to explain himself some more. “My friend, mating between demons is very different from Kagome’s human marriage in her time. If you were to marry her, like in her time, she probably wouldn’t hesitate, because if she stopped loving you she could just ‘divorce’ you. In your case, she wouldn’t be able to choose another. Even if you die, she’s dedicated to you. I know you both care for each other, but it’s just very important that everybody’s thought this out.”

What he said made sense, so I relaxed, but I tensed up suspiciously when I observed the monk’s playful grin and his struggle to hide it. “Alright, monk, what did you do?”

He shrugged gracefully, and it meant nothing to me. “How long until you found Shippo sitting in the tree?”

Aha…(Translation–“I put Shippo in that tree to stop you.”)

I could feel myself snarling, almost like a wolf. Sometimes I hated that I relate so much to an animal, but other times, it was useful.

Miroku stood, waving his arms at me. “Before you say anything, just remember I am a man of honor, Inuyasha. To kill me is to damn yourself to a life of hell by wishes of the gods.”
That was a crock of shit, and I knew it. I wasn’t even involved in the religions, and he knew it. After all, none of them really explained me.

“You did it, didn’t you?”
“I don’t have any clue what you’re talking about.”

I shook my head, dismissing his bullshit. “Don’t give me that. You spied on me.”

“No, I didn’t.”

Anger was pooling in my gut now. “Miroku…”

“I haven’t done a thing wrong. I’m just a humble monk.”

I stood so that I could get my message in his face. “You’re a dead monk.”

When I moved to take a step forward, he slammed his stupid stick into my chest and stopped me. He hit hard for a human. “You were out in plain view of the entire village. Better him than one of the village children. Besides, I never spied on you, just simply sent the kit up when I saw you. Had I not stopped you, and there were regrets between you two, what would you have done?”

I thought about that for a minute. Would I have hated Miroku if something bad had happened between Kagome and I, and he could have stopped it? I doubted I would have looked that much into it, though, but coming this way, I knew I would have. I’m still childish sometimes. It’s one of my best qualities.

Rolling my eyes, I threw my hands up in the air in defeat. He was right…and I fucking hated it. “Fine, whatever, you’ve made your point. But stop making my business your business.”

“Something inappropriate that children can see in this village is my business.”

I snorted. “She was covered…”

“I’ve made my point, so for the love of the gods don’t make it a habit. Are we clear? Good,” he finished, obviously pleased with himself. “Now eat some fish.”

“Damn you, Miroku.”

The monk just shrugged and threw me fish anyway, and I ate it quickly. We sat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes.

Now, I was thinking less about the event and more about what I was going to do to get Kagome to talk to me. I was hoping she’d make it easy and just let me talk to her, without any delays or anything. Personally, even if she was going to turn me down, or not, I’d rather not wait forever to find out.

Something hard hit me in the head, and I grunted in surprise. I found the rock on the ground by my foot and glowered at the monk to yell at him, but his attention was towards the village, his eyes cautious and worried.

Kagome was outside Kaede’s hut, a newborn baby in her arms. Her Miko outfit was beautiful on her (yes, just like Kikyo’s outfit, but on Kagome it was more curvaceous), her hair back in a ponytail to keep loose strands out of her face.

But it was who she was talking to that worried me.

It was Sesshoumaru, and Rin, and his ugly little toad pet. The dragon with two heads, Ah-Un (I think that’s the damn thing’s name) was there, and the leash was held tightly in his hands. He had flown there directly, talking to my dream woman. It disturbed me that he was here because he never talks to anybody anymore. Not unless he has a problem.

This area was out of his territory enough that he had to have purposely come here. It was technically my territory, but I wasn’t quite yet a lord, and I may never be a lord, so it was being split among Sesshoumaru and Lady Mika, a lord whose sole god was the moon. She was very gorgeous, but she was also very dangerous. Sesshoumaru was predictable to me…she wasn’t. The woman was queen of surprises. We had met her just once on the search for the jewel shards and the territories were still being figured out. Once was enough. Nobody knew what to do with the extra land when Naraku perished. She was the only one strong enough to rival Sesshoumaru, so the land could be equally divided without Sesshoumaru’s ego becoming even more incredibly arrogant.

But Kagome’s face was pleasantly neutral, a crying baby bouncing in her arms, as she spoke to the demon lord. It was strange that he was there, but the fact that he wasn’t causing problems, or hadn’t come looking for me, worried me slightly.

What was he up to?

Sango came running up to Miroku from what seemed like nowhere, but it was actually from out of the forest. The woman was quick and quiet when she wanted to be.

“Miroku, they need you to perform a service.”

Both of us stared at her. “Sesshoumaru needs a service done?” I asked. For some strange reason, marriage of he and Rin had popped into my head. That didn’t seem right. The girl had to be like 14-15 now…and come on; this was fucking Sesshoumaru we were talking about.
She frowned in confusion to my relief, looking to where we had been. “I didn’t know Sesshoumaru was here.” She shook her head and looked back to her fiancé. “No, a woman of the village has died giving birth. For some reason, the oldest son wants her buried now.”

Miroku seemed genuinely surprised. “Are we talking about Chihiro? Her eldest son is 14.”

Sango nodded.

“Then that is her baby Kagome is holding. What is to become of the child, and the younger brother?”

“We’re not sure yet. Someone will have to take the baby. Kagome’s going to watch over it until then. As for the younger brother, the older one claims he will watch over him. They’re not too far apart in age. I can’t say that I argue, but maybe they need someone to pal around with during the day.”

I sighed. That meant that she wasn’t going to put the child down for even a second unless someone else would hold it.

I knew this because Kagome was a firm believer in the first few weeks of birth, it being almost very important to hold children as much as possible. She said she’d learned that from somewhere in her time. It was supposed to help the child’s mental functioning, or something like that. Touching also improved some bond between parent and child that would help the mother and baby recognize each other, possibly by scent. Sure, humans can’t smell very well, but there’s not much else that a little baby would stick with. Eating, crying, smiling, shitting itself…how else would the child know when it was around its mother?

I know that scent is very important in the case of demon and hanyou children. Though very different, humans, demons and hanyous were still built the same way, still bleed red. The child cried still, though slightly more comforted by Kagome’s motherly affections. The baby missed its mother already, but this child had a surrogate now. Kagome would have been good at it, but I wanted to see her holding her own child, my child. She would be a great substitute mother until that child was adopted.

It was strange, how enlightening it was for me to see her with that baby, wishing it was my own. I was just hoping I’d still have a chance to talk to her. I wanted her even more now.

“What’s Sesshoumaru doing here?” Sango asked, almost as if she’d forgotten about him. I had, too, for a moment, and I could feel myself frowning.

That could have been a deadly mistake in the wrong time and place.

We all watched as Kagome humbly nodded to Sesshoumaru, and then he turned his attention to Rin. He bent down, spoke to her gently, and the teen girl cried and hugged him hard. Finally, he left, but Rin stayed behind with Kagome. She was now enamored with the baby in Kagome’s arms, touching its arms as if wanting to hold it.

Kagome looked my direction and met my eyes without flinching. She knew we needed to talk. I stared at her for a good couple of minutes before she looked away, realizing that Rin was trying to ask her something and she wasn’t paying attention.

Why had Sesshoumaru been here? Why was Rin here?

Screw this shit.

Why was I standing 100 yards away wondering what the hell was going on when I could just go up there and find out myself? I started marching in Kagome’s general direction, determined to figure all this out.

We had to talk sooner or later, anyway.

*~*~*

*Kagome’s POV*


“Kagome-sama?”

Rin’s words hit me, harsh and cruel, out of what seemed like nowhere, making that misty day-dream I was pretending I wasn’t having go away. It’s so hard to have a pleasant wet dream when you’re babysitting. Also when you were inside a hut considered holy…

“Kagome-sama, are you okay?”

I glanced at Rin’s concerned words and smiled. Years of traveling with Sesshoumaru really hadn’t changed her much, except for her body maturing. She was a healthy 15-years-old, maturing nicely into an extreme hour-glass shape, and Sesshoumaru was just now starting to act differently towards the girl. She was wearing a beautiful silver kimono with a white dog outline on that looked suspiciously like Sesshoumaru. The kimono made me envious. There were matching silver sandals lining her feet, and they looked suspiciously real silver. Her hair was pulled back and pinned with two metal sticks. She was well taken care of.

He had decided to leave her here for a couple of days to attend business with a second demon lord to the north. The fact that he specifically asked me to watch over her had brought a wary tremble in my eye. Why not Inuyasha?

Maybe he thought that Inuyasha would try to steal her away? Rin was a beautiful young woman. She was going to be a stunning mature adult someday.

And Sesshoumaru had called me a suspicious creature.

She was bouncing baby Yumi softly, attempting to quiet her uneasiness. The baby was uncomfortable, and had been since the mother had died. I suspected she subconsciously knew what was missing out of her life. She was named Yumi only because her mother had told us that was what she was going to name it if it were a girl. She’d prayed for a girl, and after two boys had had one, and paid dearly for it.

But Rin got to hold her now, partly because I had other things to do and my arms were tired, but also because Rin and Yumi had something in common…dead parents, that is, and Rin was able to calm her down almost to the point of complete ease. It was better than I or Kaede could do at the moment. I didn’t know who else to give her to right now beside Sango, but she was busy somewhere, doing something. I had my own crap to worry about, so away the baby went for now with somebody very trustworthy. Rin seemed pretty taken with her, anyway, and had been more than happy to do something she considered useful.

But I looked at her and realized that she was more useful than anyone here with that baby girl. I wondered slightly if she’d be able to give her up.

I wondered again if I’d hit my head recently.

“Rin, please, it’s Kagome, okay? I don’t feel like your superior.”

“But you are, Kagome-sama! You are older than me, and a hardworking Miko in this town! My Lord has taught me to be a lady, and I will never call someone, superior to me, something else.”

I grinned, patting her on the head. “And who are you superior to? Who gets to call you Rin-sama?”

She frowned at me thoughtfully, confused. “I don’t know, Kagome-sama. I don’t think I have any yet.”

“I think Yumi can call you Rin-sama, don’t you think?”

She smiled thoughtfully. “Oh, but Kagome-sama, Lord Sesshoumaru wouldn’t let us stick around that long, I think. He likes to travel the lands…we wouldn’t get to stay too long.”

I kneeled in front of her, smiling as much like an older sister as I thought I could. I played with Yumi’s hands, the baby gurgling happily now. “You’d do anything to make Sesshoumaru-sama happy, wouldn’t you?”
She nodded shamelessly. “Oh yes. I care deeply about Sesshoumaru-sama.”

“I guess someone has to…”

Sighing, we both glanced up to Inuyasha, standing broad shouldered, arms crossed and legs hip-width apart. To me, he was like a wet-dream waiting to happen. Rin was careful of him, almost as if she was expecting him to launch his rocket and kick her out of here. I couldn’t say that I wasn’t entirely certain that wouldn’t happen, either. That was pretty damn sad.

“Inuyasha, don’t speak badly of your brother in front of Rin, okay?”

He shrugged, and it wasn’t graceful. “I’ve known him all my life. Why should I stop just because his concubine asks?”

My eyes widened in surprise. I’d yell at him later… “Inuyasha! SIT!”

He braced himself, closing his eyes, but by the sounds of his fall when the beads pulled him down, and the cursing afterwards, it hurt just as bad when I always did it. I was almost surprised I had done it…I hadn’t done it in months. I hadn’t needed to.

Rin sat there wide eyed, staring at me. “Kagome-sama, what does concubine mean?”

I exhaled with relief. She was wide-eyed because she knew it meant something bad; otherwise Inuyasha wouldn’t have been taste-testing the wood work. If I lied to her, Sesshoumaru would get mad. If I told her the truth, and she told him, he might try to fight with Inuyasha. It didn’t seem promising. “Don’t worry Rin, Inuyasha’s using words that he doesn’t know the meaning of.”

She squeezed Yumi tighter to her. “Oh…”

“Please, Rin, go ask Kaede for milk for the baby. She has to be getting hungry.”

Nodding graciously, Rin left us. There were enough mothers nursing at the moment to have extra to give to Kaede every couple of hours. The baby would be fed well with natural human breast milk, but it still wasn’t as good as what his original mother’s would have been. But nobody could bring her back, no matter how much we wished it. That baby was an orphan, but I was doing my damndest to make sure she had a good life.

I was left staring now at a rather amusing heap of man-meat on the floor, still right where I left him.

“…Inuyasha, get up,” I stated without even blinking. It was harder than it should have been to be calm when all I wanted to do was jump his bones. But we were talking, and nothing else. He hadn’t mentioned the incident yet.

Inuyasha got up slowly, almost as if pulled by invisible strings. He took in a deep breath, and then leaned against the doorframe as if I hadn’t just sent him hurling towards the ground and human-bone crushing speeds. I was suspiciously wondering now what he was going to talk to me about and my stomach got tighter thinking about the other night.

For the most part, I had ignored it pretty well, keeping very busy with my work. I just didn’t know what to think about it, and when I tried, I couldn’t seem to sort it out.

Maybe we were going to ignore it. Maybe not.

“What is she doing here?”

Shit…were we going to fight? He was carefully quiet, but with him nowadays, I never knew for sure what he was thinking.

“You’re brother was going North to speak with another demon lord. He asked if I would keep an eye on her, or put her to work for a couple of days. Why?”

“Because he never does something without a reason. You know that.”

I frowned. “Maybe his reason was good this time. Or at least not bad. Don’t be mean to Rin because you have issues with Sesshoumaru.”

“You’re right, but the damn bastard has given me reasons to worry. Who’s to say he hasn’t trained her to be an assassin or something?”

I laughed, pushing the back of my hand to my mouth to stifle it. I knew my eyes were shiny with the effort, but he looked utterly serious. It was cute. “Do you really think that girl could take you? Or me, for that matter? Come on, Inuyasha, I think that’s a little low, even for your brother. Besides, the girl’s aura is clean. She’s as pure and innocent as ever.”

“She’s not a damn kid anymore, Kagome. She can have children of her own now.”

“Which is why I think Sesshoumaru brought her here. He wants her safe and protected while he’s out doing business. He’s never done it before. I think he might be seeing something new in her that he’d never seen before.”

Inuyasha hmphed at me, and I smiled. I just wanted to kiss him so badly. Lust was an evil demon that resided nearby constantly. Love was his neighbor, but was much more peaceful, and much more complicated. I get into arguments with lust frequently. Most of the time, love didn’t have to argue to get its point across.

“Sesshoumaru would marry himself if he had the choice, and you know it.”

Nodding, I had to snigger quietly. That usually was the case with Ice-Prince.

“Are you mad at me?”

The question caught me so off guard. I had to lean against the wall like Inuyasha was on the door or I would have stumbled. “Of course not. Why would I be?”

My answer seemed to ease some sort of tension out of him, and it was becoming easier to read him again. “Don’t play stupid, Kagome, please.”

He didn’t say please often. I hated it that he did it now. “What about you? Are you mad at me?”

He frowned almost purposely at me. “I could never be upset with you, woman. Irritated, yes, but not upset. But what happened wasn’t your fault. I’m to blame if anybody.”

“I helped instigate it.”

“You’re not the one with the dick.”

I stared at him, and he stared back. There was a minute of silence between us, and the questions were building.

God, I wanted him. He looked so sexy just standing there, staring at me, and leaning against the door with his clothes and hair billowing around him. That was it; he must have been a God of some sort. His biceps were bulging under his sleeves, his chest sticking forward a little more than it used to with muscles developing. I remembered the feel of them underneath my fingers and wanted to do it again. His eyes were a drug I could get lost in, and would gladly. I was more than well aware of his mouth being able to fulfill every fantasy and wet dream I’d ever had.

I bit my lip and swallowed my pride. I was going to have a problem in about a minute of thinking like that. “Do you regret what happened, Inuyasha?”

His face suddenly became carefully neutral. “I regret nothing.”

“Then why is your face blank now?”

Ears flopping playfully, he eased up just a little on his shoulders. That was an improvement, but still not where I wanted him. “Because I don’t want you to hate me, Kagome, not for anything.”

I swallowed, and then took a few steps forward. I was now within reaching distance of him, but I didn’t touch him, and he didn’t move. He was carefully watching me, though, as if trying to know what I was thinking. “Then tell me something, please.”

It took him a second, but he nodded. “Sure.”

“Did you mean for that to happen? I mean…did you want it?”

I could feel myself blushing just asking, but I had to know. One thing about Inuyasha was that if he didn’t want to tell me something, he wasn’t going to do it until he was damn good and ready. I had to know now, I just felt like I did, because I also felt like we may never get the chance to do this again.

He sighed after what seemed like ages. My, weren’t we all just a talkative bunch today? “No, I didn’t mean for it to happen. I mean to comfort you, that’s all, I swear it. But when it happened, I didn’t stop it because I did want it.” He took a step forward and brushed my cheek gently with the back of his hand. I have never seen him try to walk normally, and fail so badly. He must have been nervous. “And I would do it again in a heartbeat.”

I closed my eyes and breathed soothingly. His fingers grazed my chin, and when I opened my eyes again, he was barely a breath away, close enough to kiss. As he stared at me, expression deeply solemn, I figured out that he was waiting for me to close it. I had to take that final step if I wanted it bad enough.

So I did. I pressed my lips against his hard, hands grabbing the sides of his head to hold him still. His arms responded around my waist, pulling me close as he practically tried to force my tongue into submission. His lips were so soft, his tongue a quick wetness. He kissed me like he could stay like this forever. I really wouldn’t mind it, either.

The heat of him pressed against me gently, warming my body from the outside in, left my stomach clenching with anticipation. The way he held me was so comforting; I would have given anything just to stay in his arms.

And the awkwardness was gone this time. It was just him, and me, and the confidence we so desperately needed to finish what we were doing. I wasn’t sure what would have happened the other day in the tree, but today, I felt like it wouldn’t have been a problem in either of our minds. I was so sure of it, and willing to go for it.

But then, he pulled back carefully; almost as if afraid he would have upset me by doing so. His ears bent backwards, and a conquered look sat rested on his face. “We have to go.”

I blinked, and I knew it wasn’t graceful. “What?”

The ground quaked, and only his braced stance and arms on me kept me on my feet. He probably heard it just before it happened. The question was what was it?

Rin ran into the hut, a screaming Yumi in her arms. She looked panicked. “Kagome! Inuyasha! A demon!”

I rushed over to the door. I almost screamed at the sight.

A giant freaking snake demon was standing tall over the now crushed stables, one of the village horses in his mouth. He was brightly colored, a red so deep that it was hard to tell the blood from his scales. Blue stripes wound around his body. It had to be the fucking length of three semi-trailers, and as big around as a small car in some places of its body. I knew that snake demons existed, but were rare. Yet here I was, staring at one eating a fucking horse, and was gaping like a child who just discovered the monster under the bed was real. Naraku was so much worse than this monster, and he was certainly more threatening, and yet…

Snakes and bugs were some of my biggest fears back at home. That fear came crawling back to life like ants all over my skin.

The snake stared right at me, and I swear it grinned, if snakes could grin. It made a sound between a harsh hiss and a scream, and my ears sharply ached with the intensity. Glancing back at Inuyasha, he had his hands tightly pressed to his head, a wince on his face as if the monster had done more than just make a noise.

I could hear the body moving with that slithering sound that snakes make, and swung my head to look back. The snake had come closer now, definitely looking down on me, as if daring me to do something. His fangs dug into the beast in its mouth like a kid chewing on taffy, blood and clear fluids flowing in a steady trail down his jaw to the ground. The horse made no more noise, but thicker shit than blood started falling out of his body. Inuyasha had made a sound like he was about to be sick, but I didn’t dare turn to look. It just didn’t seem like a good idea to take my eyes away from the monster in front of me to look at my almost-lover behind me.

Inuyasha’s voice came hurriedly over the commotion. “Rin, take that baby and hide.”

“Wait…” I said, and at first, I wasn’t sure why I said it, but then I remembered. I turned to her frightened eyes. “Take that baby out of here, and run, just outside the village. Get everyone away from the buildings if you can. Take them with you.”
“Why?” Inuyasha asked, a sleeve still over his nose to cover the now noticeable lingering smell of intestinal fluids.

“Because that snake is going to take down buildings, and everyone in them. His attention’s on me. Maybe he’ll just focus on me while you get everybody safely away.”

I glanced for Kaede, but saw her nowhere. I didn’t see Sango, Miroku, Shippo or Kirara either. They’d be okay…they had to be.

“What if he comes after you?” Inuyasha growled after a stubborn minute of debating.

“I’ll start shooting at it.”

“You won’t be able to take it, Kagome. He’s too big. All he has to do is smash into you and you wouldn’t be able to get away.”

I sighed. The snake was just standing there, but how long would he cooperate waiting on us? “Purification arrows are different than regular arrows, you know that.”

“Would you look at that thing?! And you want me to leave! What if he bites you?!”

“Then I guess that would be bad. But I’m not worried about me right now.”

He snorted rudely. “Do you see the size of that thing’s fangs? One drop of that poison would kill you in seconds. What would you do if it dug those into you after breaking every bone in your body?”

“Then I guess I would die. It would kill you, too, Inuyasha, and you’re more sensitive to the sights and smells apparently. Go get everyone else out.”

“No way.”

I shook my head. His old stubbornness was shining through again. He just had to do this for me, or I would never forgive myself. “Inuyasha…”

“Fuck that shit, Kagome. You go get the villagers.”

The snake shrieked again, bones crushing in the horse as it squeezed its jaws and more bodily fluids poured out. The sickening sound of a crash hit the ground. The horse, once in the snake’s mouth, now a mangled mess on the floor of what once was a hut. I prayed the owners were not in it. The horse was so badly misshapen it was hard to tell it had been a horse once. We had to do something now, right this minute. The thing’s mouth was empty, and it was probably going to try and put something else in there.

Inuyasha made a muffled weak sound, and then I saw him smash his fist through a table in anger. I had proved my point. He knew he sounded feeble, and hated it.

“The snake has eyes for me. I don’t know if you can go closer or not right now with that smell.”

“If it smashes into you, or bites you…”
“Please, Inuyasha…” The snake started moving around now, looking around for people. They were screaming and running. He was looking for another target.

I grabbed Inuyasha’s hand, literally scared to death now. Someone was going to die. “Please!”

He sighed, defeated, pulling his hand out of mine. “God damn it…”

I had to turn around again when I grabbed for my bow and arrows, and saw Rin just standing there in shock. Why the hell was she still here?! “RIN, move!”

She startled like a switch had been hit, and turned to run out the back door.

It was only after she was gone that I caught a glimpse of Inuyasha and what was taking him so long to get ready.

His eyes were very heavy like he could barely keep them open, his arm still over his nose, and he seemed slightly woozy. Inuyasha was fumbling carefully for tesuiga, like he was having a hard time getting a hold of it. I could only frown. What the hell was wrong with him?

Our eyes met, and he nodded, though warily, his eyes shiny and worried. For the first time, I realized that he trusted me more than ever to protect myself. He wouldn’t have given me any room for argument a couple of months ago. It was a big compliment coming from him, though he may not have meant it to be.

He shuffled out the back door to help the villagers, because Rin wouldn’t be enough to get everybody out alive. I was trying hard to preserve as much life as I could, but with a snake this size, it was going to be impossible.
I swallowed hard and headed out the front door with the snake just watching me again. His tail was curled up against the hut now. I could reach out and touch his scales. I was going to play with one big, bad creepy-crawly, and I had honestly never been more scared in my life.

*~*~*

*A/N

Well, just tell me what ya’ll think. I’m really just goofing off, I swear.