InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Damned If You Do, Damned If You Don't ❯ Will-o'-the-Wisp ( Chapter 2 )

Disclaimer: In the spirit of election year tomfoolery, I've decided to make wild and inaccurate claims. That being said, I own Inuyasha. Additionally, I singlehandedly built the Chunnel. By myself. In one day. With only a pickaxe and a bottle of bourbon.

 

Public Retraction of False Claims: After many hours of laborious fact checking, it has become clear that I do not own Inuyasha. Some lady named Rumiko Takahashi does. Yeah, I didn't have anything to do with the Chunnel, either. But I do own Park Place & Boardwalk.

 

*I'll admit this up front - I'm not sure what the rules are regarding mikos and sexuality. From what I've read, Shintoism does not view sexuality as something dirty. But I kept coming up with goose eggs on what where mikos fit in. So for the purposes of this story, we'll just say it was a no no back then. Please don't think I'm taking potshots at anyone's faith, as that is certainly not my intention. Just think of me like you would a presidential candidate - what I don't know, I'll make up and fill in the gaps with whatever I think people want to hear. If you'd like to make a contribution to my campaign fund, I can provide an address where you can send unmarked, non-sequential bills. Cash only, please. No checks…

 

 

Chapter II: Will-o'-the-Wisp

 

 

Ohh, Kagome; kiss me right… there…

 

The smallest of rustling noises pulled Inuyasha from a sound sleep and into that twilight middle world between consciousness and dreamland. He floundered in this in between place for several minutes, desperately seeking to fall back into that cozy dream state euphoria.

 

Just as he was prepared to dismiss the subtle sound as one of his companions shifting around, a sudden drop in air pressure caused his ears to pop uncomfortably, startling him into a higher level of consciousness. Mind sleepily trying to process the source of the disturbance, Inuyasha eventually shrugged it off as some sort of atmospheric phenomena that he'd come to associate with the typhoon season. Youkai and animals were far more sensitive to these dips and swells that heralded the onset of stormy weather, after all.

 

Damn, such a nice dream, too. Kagome, delightfully underdressed, feeding him grapes while he lazed in her lap like some Bacchanalian prima donna as she ever so graciously cleaned occasional squirts of grape juice off of his person with her tongue… Fat chance that'll ever happen, he thought morbidly.

 

Smacking his lips at the sensory memory of those sweet, juicy fruits, Inuyasha rubbed the sleep from his eyes and yawned, reveling in the last wisps of his nighttime flights of fancy. All he had to sustain himself these days were his dreams, it seemed. They were his escape, his refuge from the harsh reality of Naraku, the jewel, his failures and regrets with respect to Kikyo, and the recent shit storm he'd brought down upon himself due to his apparently uncontrollable urges to make himself look like the King Daddy of all Jerkwads to Kagome's eyes.

 

He wasn't weathering this storm very well.

 

Tired golden eyes struggled to focus, then immediately snapped to when his gaze fell to the vacant spot where Kagome should have been. A quick scan of the boxy hut that Kaede called home turned up no priestess. Alarmed, he quietly sprang to his feet and slipped outside into the bluish moonlight. She wasn't on the small porch either. Oh hell, where did she run off to now? How many fucking times to I have to tell her not to go anywhere without a buddy?

 

Mind whirling in a million different directions as he hunted down his misplaced miko, Inuyasha did his level best to ignore the multitude of unpleasant scenarios that flashed through his mind as a result of her absence. What if she was hurt? What if someone or something nabbed her? His heart dropped and his skin went all prickly. What if Naraku decided to finish her off while she was defenseless?

 

Inuyasha's eyes darted over the landscape, finding no sign of her. The hanyou's nose sniffed almost fiendishly, trying to track her scent. Over there. East by southeast. It was fresh, and leading off toward the shadow laden forest.

 

The moment his nose homed in on her scent, he was off like a shot. Legs not quite outpacing his galloping heart, he raced along the path, pursuing the scent that was irrevocably etched into his memory. He really hoped she was alright because he would never be able to find a decent replacement for that scent. Plus, he was really looking forward to chewing her ass out for pulling this shit. But if she was hurt or upset, then he knew he'd roll over and not be able to deliver the few choice words he'd collected, sorted and filed under “shit to impress/annoy Kagome with”, for just such an occasion.

 

Whether she liked it or not, whether she hated him or not, she was not to leave his sight. Period. No ifs, ands, or buts. Well, except for when she went to see her family. Even then, he made clandestine trips across the time gulf to keep an eye on her from his hideout in the Goshinboku. Inuyasha absolutely refused to abdicate what he saw as his gods-given position as Kagome watcher-overer. He seldom left her unwatched anymore, except to attend to certain bodily functions best not to be performed in public.

 

Kagome may not have been aware of it, but she was always within his line of sight. The height advantage and camouflaging foliage of trees came in quite handy when he wished to observe her without her knowledge. He couldn't help it. For him, it was a compulsion; she was just so intriguing. Even after years of acquaintance, she was still a stranger in this land, with eccentric habits and peculiar behaviors. Of course, it didn't hurt that she had a great rack and legs that just won't quit. Those factors were ancillary, or so he told himself for the longest time.

 

Shunting aside all thoughts not pertaining to her wellbeing, Inuyasha briefly shifted his eyes heavenward in order to gauge the lateness of the hour by the moon's position. It was fat and near-full, only one night on the waning side of its binge and purge cycle as it smiled disturbingly down at him.

 

All in all, it was quite a pleasant evening. For anyone who didn't have such a cynical take on nature, the net effect of the night was quite enchanting. Kagome would gush on and on about the beauty of it all, but Inuyasha knew the reality of what lurked in nighttime shadows. The greater part of his boyhood was spent being stalked by living, breathing nightmares and that moon had witnessed the majority of it with a contemptuous sneer.

 

He'd cleared any youkai out of his forest a long time ago, but that didn't mean that a stray bandit, wild animal or even a transient youkai couldn't nab her… or worse.

 

With some difficulty, he tuned out the nerve grating braggadocio of the crickets and frogs as they shouted out their availability and qualifications for producing offspring to the rest of the population and his unhappy ears, instead focusing on his rising anger at Kagome for gadding about on her own.

 

She is sooo gonna get an earful. Oh, who am I kidding? I'm not gonna say shit. She hates me enough already. No sense in adding to it.

 

Taking to the trees, he spotted her up ahead. What the fuck is she doing? Frolicking? At this hour?

 

Not quite sure whether to laugh or get really mad, Inuyasha let his curiosity get the better of him and settled for shadowing her in hopes of finding out what she was up to.

 

He finally caught up to her just as she entered the bamboo grove he knew she loved so much. Captivated by the glossy swirl of her blacker-than-black hair as she stepped into a gap in the trees and was highlighted by a bright patch of moonlight, Inuyasha almost didn't notice her change of direction that took her deeper into the bamboo copse. Almost. She's not heading to the well?

 

Not that he minded. Inuyasha loved the look of her in this grove. Something about the sight of her nestled into those reedy, jade green plants, like his own personal little wood nymph, lit his imagination afire and triggered some of his best and most licentious dreams whenever she came out here to clear her mind while he gazed at her from a distance.

 

Of course, this was not quite how he envisioned a late night escapade with Kagome among the bamboo culms. The frolicking thing was kinda cool, but he would have much preferred if she were naked as a jaybird at twilight. Toss in some streaking veins of heat lightning for visual effect, and the air would be heavy with the scent of jasmine and ozone and practically pregnant with moisture, the smooth, knuckled stalks closing around her like fingers capturing a firefly as she zips into a particularly dense thicket of bamboo culms… and voila - instant wetdream.

 

That's how the dream always began, but the end results were delightfully varied; the best of which bled over into his waking fantasies, providing many scenarios for him to contemplate during the daylight hours. His earlier dream, before he woke to find Kagome missing, came rushing back with a vengeance.

 

Unfortunately, this was not the time to entertain his libido. Now that she was within sight again, he needed to turn his thoughts to something far less provocative, lest he do something irretrievably stupid… like hop down there and… Knock it off! Breathe. Think of something else, anything.

 

Fleetingly tearing his eyes away from the prancing priestess, Inuyasha spied a familiar boulder. He remembered it as one that Kikyo would sit on to meditate from time to time.

 

Kikyo used to come here a lot too. Kikyo… Shit. How am I supposed to fix this mess? I don't think I can explain it to Kagome without fucking it up even more. Kikyo never had to take me to hell; I'm already there.

 

When had things gotten so complicated? Prior to the whole tree-pinning incident with Kikyo and his subsequent awakening via Kagome, he'd accepted his lot in life. It was far easier to pretend he didn't need anyone, that he didn't have a heart to be hurt, and he did a remarkable job of convincing himself of that. He did an even better job of convincing himself that he felt nothing more than dislike and annoyance for Kagome - for a while.

 

As a result, it irked him to no end when he realized that hot and prickly sensation he felt in Kagome's presence wasn't the heartburn that for years he'd mistaken it for. Only within the last year or so had he been able to properly identify that wonderfully treacherous feeling, vaguely reminiscent of that split second of panic you feel after slipping on a banana peel for what it really was. He wasn't supposed to feel this way about her. He was supposed to be committed to Kikyo and no other, even if the reasons weren't the romantic ones everyone thought them to be. Not that he didn't desire such things, but love was never something that existed within the realm of possibility for him. He never deluded himself on that account.

 

No, that's not entirely true. Kikyo and I did care for each other; just not enough for it to work. If I'd stopped to think about it back then, I would have realized we weren't good for each other. Misery loves company, and we did nothing but wallow in our misery together. It was depressing, but at least we weren't depressed alone. That's not much for a relationship to stand on. Though, at the time it meant the world to me.

 

From his perch above her, Inuyasha's eyes refocused on Kagome as she hopscotched over the terrain. He smiled just a little bit. Crazy ass wench. What did you tell me once? Ah yes, `variety is the spice of life, total conformity is for the mindless masses.' I would have paid good money for the chance to see you and Kikyo debate that concept.

 

Same soul, totally different tastes. Inuyasha's memories vouched for the validity of that observation.

 

The one brief intimate encounter he'd had with Kikyo before Naraku came along was nothing short of awkward and unfulfilling. In the end, it had driven a wedge between them. Kikyo's subsequent mortification over it, even though she was the one who instigated it, only served to alienate Inuyasha from the world even more. Although he was certain that her vexation was unintentional and no more than knee-jerk reaction on her part; regardless, it hurt him to a degree that he hadn't realized was possible anymore.

 

They'd been scouring the woods for a specific mushroom purported to have some sort of healing properties particular to that type of fungus. Never in a million years would he admit this aloud, but Kikyo, in life, could be klutzier than Kagome even on her worst days. Eyes ahead on the downed, rotting tree that appeared to be a likely host for a colony of the fungi, she'd tripped over a tree root, hands flying outward to catch her balance against the trunk before she could smear her pretty face off on the bark.

 

Inuyasha's brain had been preoccupied with imagining what her legs looked like under those billowy pants as he walked behind her. Initially, he felt remorse for having such unwholesome thoughts. Still, Kikyo was the first woman he'd ever been close enough to wonder these things about, so what could it hurt as long as he didn't broadcast his thoughts to the general public?

 

Just as Kikyo was about to go timber, Inuyasha's reflexes took over, reaching around to catch her. She gasped and trembled, why he wasn't sure, unless she was repulsed by his proximity… Then he realized where his hands inadvertently landed on her body. His left hand was clutching her breast, and his right was low on her abdomen, only centimeters from that mysterious feminine place that he never believed he would be privileged enough to encounter.

 

Scared out of his wits, he was about to jerk his hand away and babble out a string of idiotic apologies when Kikyo's hand, the one that wasn't steadying her on the tree, covered his, moving it lower until it was poised over the clothed warmth between her thighs. To his everlasting surprise, her soft fingers guided and manipulated his in swift, massaging circles.

 

At first, he was too overwhelmed to grasp the magnitude of what was happening. Then, when he felt her quiver under his fingers, it hit him like a sledgehammer, and as frightened as he was of doing something to piss her off while she had her way with his hand (the fact that he uneasily stood as far away from her body as possible was testament to that), he was awed and humbled that she would allow him this moment.

 

Her release, while wondrous to him, must have been a bitter and lonely thing for her - and something never to be repeated. Stupid me; I should have resisted and let her keep her dignity, but I was filled with such pride, such potency, such elation that my face hurt more from the smile I wore than the ache in my loins.

 

When she was silent for what seemed like an eternity before turning to face him with an expression of absolute horror and humiliation, with murky eyes that screamed that he was some sort of villain rather than a fantasy lover, his hopes were shattered. To have felt so powerful and glorious one moment, then less than zero the next was more than he could stand. Yet it was Kikyo who fled without a word like a frightened fawn that was nearly mauled by the big bad bear.

 

It was more than a week later when she finally sought him out and suggested using the jewel to become human in order to rid the world of its influence, and coincidentally allow her to relinquish her responsibility as its defender. Though Kikyo didn't come out and say it, Inuyasha knew it was an excuse. Secretly, he suspected that his touch revolted her so much that that's what prompted her to propose such a wish. Then again, would her reaction have been the same had he been human at the time? Probably.

 

The prevailing school of thought held that priestesses were supposed to remain untouched, pure and free of base desires. Whether this was true or a ruse to keep mikos subservient for the rest of their lives, it didn't matter. It was what Kikyo was taught. It was a tenet of her faith. Her credibility as a miko was dependent upon her conformity to this accepted standard. And whether right or wrong, his very existence was considered abominable by most.

 

Even so, I would have done it. I would have done anything for her then, if only to see that self-hatred and guilt wiped clean from her eyes. My becoming human would have been a much softer blow. She would have been judged, but only for abandoning her post as the village miko, not for consorting with a half-demon. It didn't matter that no one else knew what happened between us. She knew, and it ate at her.

 

This was his reason for chasing after Kikyo when she walked the earth in that clay form. He didn't want her to loathe him anymore, either for that moment of indiscretion or for what happened later as a result of Naraku's duplicity. Sick of the guilt and feeling responsible for all of it, he wanted nothing more than to make amends in any way she saw fit.

 

From his vantage point, Inuyasha's eyes traced longingly over Kagome's mostly bare shoulder and the thin aquamarine strap of her camisole. Would you have reacted the same way, Kagome? He scoffed. I doubt it. The way you looked at me the last time I “accidentally” walked in on your bath time was so… A tingly tremor zinged down his spine and shot into his crotch. No, Kagome looked like she was more likely to eat him alive than shun him. She hadn't even bothered to cover herself until he got a good long gander at her glitteringly wet and naked body. Long gone was the shy schoolgirl who freaked out if you looked at her sideways. Again, he shuddered. That was so very long ago, before it all went to hell in a handbasket.

 

His heart clenched a little bit at the prospect of coming clean to Kagome. As much as he wanted to do so, he couldn't help but think she wouldn't understand, and Inuyasha was positive that he would never be able to adequately express what she meant to him. If for no other reason, he knew he'd fuck it up all to hell and back because of his tendency to defensively lash out whenever he felt exposed. That and he always felt like a dickless wonder whenever she gifted him with that affectionate smile.

 

Shit, she hasn't looked at me like that in a long time.

 

He'd hoped that Kagome's disenchantment with him would pass, but as the days wore on, it only seemed to grow. Actually, “disenchantment” was far too charitable a term to describe Kagome's attitude toward him these days. You can coat shit in sugar all you want, Inuyasha, but it's still shit.

 

It was in quiet moments like this that whatever little chunk of the hanyou's brain that held onto all the crap he really wished to forget spoke up and poked at him, reminding him of his mistakes: first with his scorn and hot temper, next with his indifference, then came the jealousy, then the running off to Kikyo bit, then the unintentional disregard of her pain after Kikyo's death, and finally the icing on the cake and what would perhaps live in infamy as his worst mistake ever.

 

It all started two months ago, and only one month following Kikyo's death. Already vulnerable, the timing couldn't have been worse for the hanyou.

 

As usual, they were on the road, hunting down any viable leads on Naraku's whereabouts. A quick detour to a village that offered to pay Sango a decent wage for exterminating some termite demons that were wreaking havoc on all the village's wooden structures, which basically meant all the buildings, led to the addition of a seventh temporary travel companion.

 

Miroku had struck up a conversation with the young son of a local merchant, only to learn that the father was in poor health and couldn't make an important trip. In his stead, the son, Daiki, was set to make the trek. As luck would have it, the illustrious group was heading in the same direction. Worried about the recent proliferation of bandits, as he was carrying a hefty sum of money on his person, Daiki asked to accompany them as far as they were going for protection. In exchange, he would foot the bill for room and board at whatever scattered inns they might come across along the way.

 

“What's the harm in it if it gets us off the hard ground for a few nights?” Miroku had argued when Inuyasha resisted, citing his reasons of “having to watch out for one more useless human if Naraku shows up”.

 

In the end, Inuyasha had been outnumbered and Daiki joined them on the road for what was supposed to have been a fortnight. It didn't last that long.

 

Several days in, it became abundantly clear that Daiki had taken a shine to Kagome. He listened attentively, hanging on to every word she said, was chivalrous, witty, and seemed to have a never ending supply of humorous stories and anecdotes with which to entertain the miko.

 

Inuyasha detested him.

 

How Daiki looked at Kagome shook Inuyasha to the core; not with that starry-eyed schoolboy gaze, but with what appeared to be admiration, respect, attraction, and beneath it all… a growing lust. This guy was falling for her. The hanyou couldn't have that.

 

To add salt to the wound, Daiki was an intelligent, moneyed and well-mannered man, not one of the average bumbling Kagome-infatuated bakas that she seemed to collect. No, this young man was cultured yet unassuming, and exceptionally handsome. In other words, he was real competition. A threat. A quintuple threat at that.

 

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Inuyasha understood that neither Koga, Hojo, nor any of the others among the potential suitors that followed Kagome around like lost puppies ever had a real shot at capturing her heart. More than that, he knew Kagome could never love someone who tried to win her as if she were a prize. What worried him was that he could envision Kagome falling for someone like Daiki. What wasn't to like? He was everything Inuyasha wasn't.

 

Inuyasha really wanted to kill the guy. He even had several “accidents” planned, but figured Kagome would never forgive him if she found out. And then there was that slight problem with his bothersome conscience. The nerve of his conscience to dictate his more aggressive behaviors! Too bad it couldn't control his mouth…

 

It started out small. Whenever Kagome and the others scuttled off to collect water or firewood, he'd stay behind to “watch over the human”. At first, he dropped little hints about Kagome's novice miko status, casually suggesting that mikos could never be devoted wives and mothers because their duties came first. Everything else was secondary.

 

When this didn't seem to deter Daiki, who carelessly dismissed such notions as nonsense because mikos were the cream of the crop in terms of multi-tasking, Inuyasha stepped up his rhetoric, spouting a host of insidious little comments designed to make her look unattractive to the guy's eyes. All were stupid, bullshit, petty things like… “she snores” or “she can't cook worth a damn” or “insanity runs in her family”.

 

Okay, so two out of the three carried a ring of truth.

 

Still, Daiki was unyielding and simply laughed off Inuyasha's warnings as trivial matters. This was bad. Very bad.

 

By the time they were half-way to Daiki's drop off point, the hanyou was so desperate to get rid of the competition for once and for all, and running out of annoying habits and quirks to give her, that he blurted out, “She's been breached,” startling himself with the blatant falsehood.

 

“Pardon?” Daiki had replied, taken aback.

 

He should have stopped there. Truly, I should have kept my big fat trap shut to begin with. Either would have been better than what he said by way of explanation.

 

“Uh, yeah… she's been broken in… as in… she's not a virgin.” But it didn't even stop there, oh no. Flustered, his lie snowballed into a giant downhill slide of deceit that he could never retract. “Kagome isn't attracted to human men at all.”

 

He could have poked his own eye out right then and there. Shut up. Shut up. Shut up! You're gonna burn in hell for this. “She's got a thing for youkai, so you might as well give it up. And if other humans found out you were pursuing a known youkai lover, then you'd be cast out and probably lose your livelihood.”

 

So horrified by lies that spewed out of his own mouth was he that he didn't even notice that she'd returned and was standing right behind him.

 

The gasp that sounded, the crunch of leaves under her foot, then the near hyperventilation of the only girl that he ever really did betray were all magnified to his ears… and he knew, oh, he knew that there was nothing he could say to fix this one.

 

She'd heard everything.

 

And that asshole didn't even have the decency to give him that universal “shut your piehole before you lose your balls” discreet warning cough. Yet another reason to hate him.

 

His eyes slid shut and he slowly turned toward her, wishing he never had to open them for fear of seeing the damage he'd done. His nose explained the obvious: she was in shock.

 

Her mouth was open, raggedly sucking in air. Oddly, her face was blank. What little emotion that still resided behind her eyes suggested that she was truly seeing him for the first time in an entirely different light, and didn't like what she was seeing.

 

She didn't cry, she didn't curse him, and she didn't sit him. Instead, she said, “Go to hell, Inuyasha,” just as calmly as you please and walked away, jaw clenched and lips drawn into a tight, white seam. Come to think of it, she hasn't sat me since before that day. Nor had she gone out of her way to engage him in conversation or fight back with him or do anything the way she used to.

 

After her departure from the scene of the crime, Miroku and Sango, who'd entered just in time to catch the tail end of the whole disaster, were rendered speechless in slack-jawed astonishment. Even Shippo didn't seem to be able to immediately pull himself together enough to deliver his usual childishly antagonistic censure. The kit had a penchant for being a trouble maker with a fat mouth and saying the wrong things at the worst possible times, but he was also a die-hard Kagome loyalist, and witnessing that debacle was analogous to a boy walking into his father's office, only to be greeted by the sight of daddy boning his secretary, who happened to not be mommy.

 

When all was said and done, Daiki civilly excused himself from the group to travel on his own the following morning, and Kagome silently excused herself from traveling at Inuyasha's side. Mostly, she walked toward the back of the group, alone, politely rebuffing Sango's, Miroku's and even Shippo's attempts at cheering her up.

 

He had tried to apologize. His answer to that was, “Don't apologize. At least now I know how you really feel. If you'd bothered to pay attention, you would have seen that I was only trying to be polite to him. I kept looking at you, hoping you'd come sit next to me so he wouldn't think I was available. But you didn't notice my reactions at all. Just like when Koga comes around or when Hojo does one of his bike-bys. That only proves to me that you don't see me as a person at all. To you, I'm just a toy to sharpen your fangs on and bury under a pile of dirt when you're done with me, right?”

 

Okay, that stung worse than that time he accidentally crashed into a hornet youkai nest. Talk about poor sports with big pointy sticks up their asses.

 

Oh, and there was more where that came from. “You know what this experience has taught me? I've wasted over three years fawning over you, going `ooh, ooh, pick me, pick me!” she'd continued, waving her arms around, doing a passable impression of Horshack. “How fucking stupid was I? With a friend like you, who needs enemies? Find yourself another doormat, Inuyasha.”

 

His attempts at explaining himself came out all wrong, gibberishly incoherent and didn't even garner a response from the girl.

 

He had tried to give her some room, hoping she'd eventually want to talk it out and come to him. Still, she avoided him.

 

At one point, he even tried bribery, asking after every ten minutes or so of walking if she wanted to take a break, or if she wanted him to find a hot spring, or if he could carry her bag for her; he didn't quite have the cajones to ask if he could carry her for fear that she might slug him.

 

After ten days of what felt like a death march over the hot coals of her resentment, she finally accepted his apology, even though it seemed forced, more in the vein of someone who'd resigned herself to not expecting anything better from him. Still, there was an atmosphere of awkward tension that hadn't abated between them and she treated him as if she was just humoring him to keep the peace.

 

In a last ditch effort to get things back to normal when all other attempts failed, he dug out and polished off his old boorishly demanding ways. Just earlier that day, he'd crankily insisted she return by sunset, only to see if he could rile her up enough to fall into their old routine. He'd give anything for a good old fashioned Kagome versus Inuyasha screaming match.

 

At least she invited me this time. As much as he wanted to count that as a positive sign, he had the sneaking suspicion that, in all likelihood, she just did it to shut him up, knowing he was too nervous about Naraku's possession of the jewel to take her up on it.

 

How am I supposed to explain all this to her? What if I only make it worse? One way or another, I'm screwed.

 

The loud crack of a twig snapping down below dragged him away from his woeful ponderings in time to see he had run out of sprawling tree branches to leap. Bamboo, as it grows in nature, while sturdy, does not necessarily make for great springboarding action since it grows straight up with no lateral stems. If one was careless, one could end up impaled on the tips.

 

So in lieu of taking a bamboo shoot up the ass, Inuyasha alighted noiselessly upon the ground and continued his silent stalker routine. Sheesh, good thing I'm not some lawless sex-crazed fiend. Horny maybe, but definitely not lawless.

 

Now's not the time to think about that. He had to concentrate on steering clear of crunchy leaves and twigs if he wished to avoid alerting her to his presence. Sighing to himself, he wondered how long he would have to tiptoe around her, both literally and figuratively.

 

A few moments later, Kagome cleared the edge of the bamboo forest. Bewildered, he watched as she stormed up the small hill to Kikyo's grave and proceeded to have a meltdown. He crouched down behind an overgrown aralia shrub to observe as the girl he adored as she ranted and raved outside the shrine. Hell's bells, she's finally lost it. Oh Kagome, I'm so sorry. I've finally driven you insane.

 

Inuyasha was preparing himself to intervene when an extremely lucky moth, who'd managed to evade several snack attacks by various rodents that night, fluttered somewhere in the vicinity of his left ear.

 

The moth's assignment was a simple one. In exchange for a blessing from the lady of the shrine, he was to provide a distraction for the hanyou hiding out in the bushes, thus preventing him from sticking his nose where it didn't belong.

 

A dive-bombing bat swooped in on its kamikaze run at the moth, but her powers of echolocation were thwarted when her high-pitched sound waves were absorbed rather than reflected by the same twitchy dog ear. This miscalculation not only cost the bat her dinner, but also caused her to get tangled up in a nest of silvery hair.

 

A brief tussle ensued between the frantically flapping bat and the freaked out half-dog youkai, resulting in a whole lot of fitful flailing, slapping, near asphyxiation by a leathery wing, tugging and quiet cursing.

 

The moth, perched on a prettily variegated leaf not far away, nervously wiped sweat from its forehead with a hairy antenna. Whew! That was close. He then flitted off to investigate an enchanting light source. It called to him like a sweet siren song. That night, in his pursuit of the alluring light, he found his mate. In later years, his great, great something or other grandson would lead Buyo the cat on an epic journey from the Higurashi door-stoop to the well house, completing the circle of fate. His legacy would live on, just as the lady of the shrine promised. All things great and small serve their purpose.

 

When the bat was finally freed, Inuyasha breathed deep to calm his frazzled nerves. Nothing gave him the willies like a bat. By the time he was settled enough to look up, the poor wrung-out dog nearly pissed himself when he got the worst fright of his life.

 

The image of a phantom hand plunged up to the wrist into Kagome's chest, just prior to yanking her soul out, would be forever imprinted on his mind. Her body crumpled to the ground.

 

“Kagomeeee!” he shouted, crashing through the aralia bush.

 

In a mere second, he covered the distance and snatched her vacant body up, though he didn't dare move her any distance from the shrine for fear of severing the connection with her soul.

 

It was too much. He flipped.

 

##########

 

“Are you quite finished?”

 

Startled by the flat voice, Kagome blinked, finding herself eyeball to eyeball with the ghost of Kikyo, foreheads practically touching. Trying to catch her bearings, Kagome shifted her eyes around and realized they were packed into a tightly enclosed space like sardines and twisted up like a couple of pretzels. She was nearly impaled by her own knees which were shoved into her chest, and her feet were squished up against the far wall of the tight, coffin-like space. She couldn't move. Kikyo was in a similar position, mirroring Kagome.

 

“Wha… where am I?” she questioned, eyes reflecting her bafflement.

 

“You are inside my shrine.”

 

Aww, shit. Maybe I shouldn't have threatened her with the incense, Kagome nervously thought, sure that Kikyo wouldn't take kindly to smelly threats. Then again, what the hell could she really do to me now that we're a couple of disembodied souls.

 

“I do apologize for the cramped space. You'd think they could have fashioned me a larger shrine for as dedicated to this village as I was, but nooo…”

 

Kikyo went on as Kagome surreally wondered, what the fuck?!

 

There was a silence for a time, and Kagome realized that Kikyo was waiting for a response. Thinking flattery might get her out of this mess and back into her body, Kagome tried her hand at complimenting the dead miko. “So, uh, you seem… well. You look pretty good for being a poltergeist.”

 

Kikyo shrugged. “Death has been good to me. I can't complain, especially when Aoko brings by her killer fish stew as an offering. Have you tried it? Oh, you've got to try it; it's to die for.” Kagome found Kikyo's unusual brand of levity quite disturbing. Surely she didn't bring me here to discuss feudal cuisine and crack dead jokes? Really, this was just too bizarre, even taking into account all the weird shit that's happened to her up to date. Gee-whiz, when did Kikyo get so chatty?

 

Nodding dumbly because she really didn't know how to respond to that, the young reincarnation finished with a rather lame, “Oh, well, that's good to hear. Kikyo, why did you call me here?”

 

With apparent difficulty, the spirit straightened up as much as the tiny space allowed and her whole demeanor took on that deadly serious air that Kagome was more familiar with, and she had to wonder if wandering the spirit world had in some way made Kikyo bipolar.

 

“Given that no one else will take you to task, I find it incumbent upon me to reiterate the importance of your assignment since your negligence has only allowed the beast to grow stronger…”

 

Grinding her teeth, Kagome struggled not to lose her handle on her temper. “Look, insulting me is one thing. I'm used to it, so it hardly does you any good. Right now, it's just you and me. Could you maybe drop the pretentious miko-speak and talk to me like a human being? And the whole martyr act doesn't work on me, either, so don't even try it,” she snipped.

 

Kikyo heaved a sigh and in a surprisingly animate display, rolled her eyes. “Very well; it's a deal, but only if you drop the melodramatic downtrodden underdog act. It's getting a little old seeing you slop about like you don't have a friend in the world, and you have too much to worry about to constantly throw pity parties for yourself.”

 

They glared at each other, Kikyo's translucent, smoky brown eyes to Kagome's misty grey. Identical eyebrows arched in a show of impatience, identical mouths slanted in irritated expressions. Few physical variations existed to mark them as different women since Kagome had matured. At first blush, one could easily be mistaken for the other. Other than eye color and the fact that Kagome had grown her bangs out and now sported a long, layered haircut to complement its natural waviness, there wasn't much else to distinguish them. A couple of years ago, Kagome failed to see such a close resemblance, but now it was like a blow to the head.

 

The glaring intensified for a moment. The apparition's eyebrow twitched. The corner of the reincarnation's mouth quirked. Brown and grey took on a twinkle. Suddenly, Kikyo's face broke out in a big shit eating grin. Someone snorted. Spirit and soul burst out laughing like a couple of hyenas.

 

Similar yet dissimilar, past and future, each with their own strengths and weaknesses, both deadly in their unique ways; it felt good for both of them to cast off their mutual antagonism to share in a moment of mirth.

 

“Seriously, Kagome, you must kill Naraku, and soon,” Kikyo said once the laughter wound down.

 

The younger, living girl snorted. “Yeah, I'll get right on that, just as soon as I can figure out how to break this stupid seal you never warned me about.”

 

Ignoring the not so subtle dig, the spirit asked in a somewhat leading tone, “And how is it that your powers came to be sealed?” For a moment, Kikyo reminded her of her tenth grade math teacher, encouraging her to work out a problem on her own.

 

“Well, at first I thought it was your doing when Hitomiko suggested that the seal was in place since my birth,” she explained, curious as to why she felt guilty admitting this to Kikyo. “Then we came to understand that the seal was most likely placed by the evil within the jewel that manifested itself in the form of Magatsuhi. I guess it would make sense and explain why I've been sealed since I was born.”

 

Kikyo seemed to mull that over before responding. “It would, except that it doesn't take two key factors into account. Firstly, that Magatsuhi has been present within the jewel since its inception, which means that he was there when the jewel was still in your body. Granted, he didn't have a physical form then, but this gave him an advantage; he knows your doubts and fears. When he looked upon you and read your soul, he knew exactly how to exploit them and give you the final push. Still, it was nothing that he did directly to lock your powers away.” Here, she paused, knowing the question in advance.

 

“What do you mean? If he didn't do it, then who did?”

 

“That's the second point. If the seal had been in place since birth, you wouldn't have been able to use your powers at all. But you have used them. When you first crossed time, you doubted youkai ever existed - that they were merely fairy tales, correct?”

 

At Kagome's nod, she continued. “But when you arrived here and saw them with your own eyes, you came to believe in a whole new realm of possibilities. That's when your powers partially awoke. They were weak and only displayed in times of stress, despair or great rage, but they were there nonetheless. Your powers would have strengthened over time had I not been resurrected. Part of your soul was robbed when Urasue committed her sin, and as a consequence, part of your strength.”

 

“Then you began to doubt yourself, further hindering any progression. I had part of your soul, but your biggest handicap came when you allowed me to take your confidence. However, your powers didn't fully elude you until your soul sunk into despair and you lost all faith in yourself. I'm sure you've heard the saying that the power of a curse is only realized if the cursed believes in it, yes? Well, it's the same principle. A miko's power rests in her faith in it and herself.”

 

Kikyo looked upon Kagome as she listened in rapt attention. Her expression grew stern. “Do you know why you failed to purify Naraku when he had you in his grasp?” she demanded harshly, though not in a mean-spirited way. “No, you don't because you were too busy wondering if Inuyasha would fight as viciously for you as he did for me, if he would agonize over you the same, if he would miss you even half as much… Am I correct?”

 

Kagome didn't answer. Head dropped, fists balled, she sat there trembling in fury and sorrow.

 

“Well?” Kikyo pushed.

 

Finally, she went limp and the brightness of her soul seemed to dim a bit. “Yes,” came the whispered reply.

 

“Kagome…” This time, Kikyo's voice was softer, kinder. Kikyo reached forward to brush a stray strand of hair from the girl's forehead. “Don't you see? You effectively sealed yourself by allowing your self-doubt and fears to overwhelm you. Sometimes you are your own worst enemy. Can you honestly say that you think Inuyasha wouldn't be affected by your death?”

 

A shaky indrawn breath and a noncommittal sounding, “I guess not,” was her response.

 

As she said this, Kikyo's eyes drifted to the front façade of the tiny shrine and to something outside of Kagome's cognizance. Well, if this won't convince her, then I'm just going to have to slap some sense into this stubborn mule of a girl, Kikyo thought as she snapped her fingers.

 

Immediately, sound filtered into the space. A commotion from outside the cramped quarters drew the women's attention. “Wha…? Oh, Inuyasha must have followed me.”

 

Kikyo shushed her. “Shhh, listen…”

 

Straining her ears to hear past the tinny echo produced by the shrine's acoustical disadvantages, Kagome could hear a mangles mishmash of growling and shouting. Inuyasha's strained voice filtered in. The caustic timbre of his voice almost matched that of his full youkai's in his transformed state.

 

“Goddammit, Kikyo, give her back!” He did sound very upset. There were quite a few unflattering aspersions to her character flung around, as well as a few of his own ridiculous threats involving incense thrown in. What is it with these people and incense? Kikyo wondered.

 

“Isn't that what you've needed to hear?” She snapped her fingers again, cutting off Inuyasha's growing obnoxiousness as it was getting hard to hear herself think above all the racket. Sheesh, he's practically royalty, yet you'd think he grew up in a barn.

 

Confused, Kagome shook her head, eyes remote and glued to the far wall. A touch of irony bled through in Kikyo's voice. “You still haven't forgiven him, have you?”

 

“No, I've forgiven him.” Even to her ears, it sounded a little uncertain. “I just can't seem to forget it. He all but called me a whore to a stranger. I don't know what he wants from me. The jewel is…”

 

Kikyo winced at the gloss of tears that formed in her reincarnation's eyes and decided to nip it in the bud. “If you think this is still about you sensing the jewel, and by default, Naraku, then consider this: Naraku has had the jewel in his possession for nigh on a fortnight. Has Inuyasha even suggested that you go in search of him?” Seeing Kagome's head shake in response, she continued. “No, he hasn't because he knows that as soon as Naraku feels that he's built up his desired level of suspense, he'll come to you. So you can rule out your theory about him keeping you on as his jewel detector. Granted, what Inuyasha said was awful, but have you given any thought about why he might have said those things?”

 

Kagome shrugged halfheartedly. “Look, I know he cares on some level, and I know he's at least physically attracted to me.” She looked up into Kikyo's eyes and the spirit was amazed how thickly the hurt amassed in the grey, like a dense fog. “To be honest, sometimes that makes me feel even worse because I look so much like you. At first, I didn't think we looked very much alike at all, but I kinda… grew into you. Sometimes he acts as if he can't stand me, then he goes and does something completely opposite. He confuses the shit out of me. And the times he does show a little bit of affection, it's… I dunno… it's like he's got this great gift to give, but it's been rewrapped, regifted and a little tarnished because it's given so grudgingly.”

 

Ahh, so now we're at the heart of it. Exasperated, Kikyo sighed. Idly, she wondered is smacking the girl with her right hand would be any more elucidating for her than using the left. Violence is my last resort. So she settled for trying to explain some of Inuyasha's hesitance.

 

“To my everlasting shame, I treated him unfairly both in life and in death. Though I tried to be the model of what a priestess should represent, I'm not perfect, and I've made a several egregious errors where Inuyasha is concerned. He assumed it was because he was hanyou, but the truth is that mikos of this generation are taught that the corporeal desires are forbidden…”

 

Stiffening, Kagome cut her off. “Whoa, stop right there! I have no desire whatsoever to hear the… intimate details of your relationship with Inuyasha. It's none of my business, and I really don't care anymore.”

 

Blankly, Kikyo's spirit stared. “Intimate details…?” Recognition visibly dawned in her eyes. “Oh… ohhh. You think we…”

 

Peals of laughter emitted by the spirit startled the snot out of Kagome.

 

“Oh, Kagome, you couldn't lie your way out of a wet paper bag.” Despite their limited mobility, Kikyo managed to squeeze a hand between them to wipe a tear from her eye. “You silly girl…” Here, she paused, shaking her head. “Why do you insist on believing that ours was some tragic love story?”

 

Kikyo sobered after a few moments. Then she frowned, and Kagome was again stricken by how similar they were. Certain facial expressions made the resemblance all the more pronounced. “There was tragedy, yes. That much is undeniable. However, the emotions that bound Inuyasha and I together were loneliness and regret, not love - in the romantic sense anyway.”

 

“How can you say that?” Kagome demanded, outraged that Kikyo was making light of Inuyasha's feelings, regardless of how much it hurt to acknowledge them aloud. “It's obvious to everyone that he loved you… still loves you. He hasn't been the same since you died.”

 

With a pitying look, Kikyo studied the girl. “Kagome, Inuyasha and I were not meant for each other. He knows this, I know this. We both always knew it. But we clung to each other because the rest of the world didn't really care to know us. It was nice to have at least one person understand you.”

 

The pity in the spirit's eyes melted into guilt. “When I was resurrected, I was fueled by anger, sorrow and resentment, only seeing the evils of every situation, never the good. The tiny portion of my soul that was ripped from you was not enough to fill the shell, so I supplemented it with the borrowed souls of girls whose lives were cut short. They all had their own sorrows and tragedies, which only fed those horrible feelings. From that came the unconscionable desire to manipulate and hurt both Inuyasha and you because I knew you found something in each other that I would never have. That is my biggest regret.”

 

A bombshell might as well have fallen on Kagome for the shock she felt at her preincarnate's roundabout apology. She certainly wasn't expecting the remorse that was plainly displayed by the woman she'd been at odds with for such a long time. In turn, she felt guilt-ridden for her lousy behavior earlier. And naturally, Kagome being Kagome, couldn't stand to see someone else hurting.

 

“You know, Kikyo; if circumstances had been different, I would have loved for you to have been my sensei… and my friend,” she said, surprising even herself with that revelation.

 

Apparently it caught Kikyo off guard as well. It was worth it just to see her expression. Kagome had never seen her so dumbstruck and dazzled. She took a moment to admire the woman's face. She giggled. Damn, we're hot.

 

Kikyo's smile turned sly. “Hey, the next time Inuyasha annoys you too much, slip some fo-ti, sickle pod and ginger into his tea. It won't hurt him, but it'll give him the trots long enough to get him out of your hair. He used to get so tetchy over the stupidest little things, so I'd dose him and he'd take off for hours.”

 

They shared their second laugh of the evening, this one more uproarious than the last because it was at Inuyasha's expense. Poor Inuyasha would never know how frequently his intestinal fortitude came up in conversation and provided comic relief for the women around him.

 

Smiling genuinely, Kikyo told her reincarnation she would have to leave soon before Inuyasha destroyed her place of rest. Kagome reluctantly agreed. Still, she was itchy with curiosity about something and just had to ask.

 

“How did you know what I needed to hear?”

 

“We are carved from the same basic materials. We share a soul, and when my enmity died along with that body I was cast into, my consciousness was freed, to an extent. Prior to my resurrection, I was a part of you. When I died… again,” she rolled her eyes, “it allowed me to keep tabs on you. I've been doing just that.”

 

That reminded Kagome of something else that had been on her mind for quite some time. “Hey, not to sound callous or anything, but when you passed on, why didn't your soul return to me?”

 

“The desire to see Naraku's defeat has tied me to this plane, and has kept my own awareness intact.” Kikyo paused, thinking. “Once this is accomplished, I suspect my soul will be free to rejoin and find peace within you again. Now, are you ready to go tame the voracious puppy-eared beastie outside?”

 

“I suppose I'd better. Thanks, Kikyo. This was nice; we should do it again sometime.”

 

Fingers making a flicking motion as if to shoo away a gnat, Kikyo sent Kagome's soul hurtling at the speed of light back at her body. “I'd like that. Now be gone. I think I'll go haunt Naraku for a little while. His face is absolutely priceless when I jump out at him! He screams like a little bitch.”

 

There was an unsettling and thankfully brief instant in which Kagome felt as though she'd been turned inside out before she roused to find herself being swallowed up into a pair of powerful, sinewy arms. The body they were attached to was trembling slightly and a growl was rolling around in the chest she was crushed up against. It was squeezing her way too tightly and she could feel lips moving against her temple, but couldn't make out what was being said because a stray thunder cloud had taken up residence in her head.

 

“Inuyasha?” Of course, it didn't come out like that, considering her face was squished into his throat by a red draped arm that wound around the back of her neck. His hand clutched into her hair at the top of her skull, cradling her head into the crook of his elbow and completely restricting her movements. Nevertheless, by the number of syllables and inflections on each, he was able to recognize the muffled sound for what it was. Mmm, this is nice… warm, strong, svelte… but… but… but he was suffocating her.

 

“Hmm?” Good, he acknowledged her presence at least. Now if only he'd let her breathe.

 

She tried to communicate her problem, but all she could emit was an alphabet soup of meaningless vowel sounds. Still, he just stood there, clueless to the fact that he would inadvertently be the cause of her death if she didn't get some oxygen… like now!

 

Drawing what little air she could into her tortured nostrils that were smothered by the warm skin of Inuyasha's throat, Kagome did the only thing she could think of, aside from biting or kicking him. Lungs burning and only partially filled with stale air, the miko pried her lips open, sealed them over a particularly soft patch of flesh above his clavicle and poohed his neck as hard as she could, producing an absolutely atrocious noise and a startled shout of laughter from the hanyou. On reflex, he let her go.

 

Once free, Kagome gulped air while Inuyasha did a sort of squirmy, squiggly dance, scratching at his neck to shake off the tickle. Mentally, she was counting down. It wouldn't be long now.

 

Three seconds - a new record.

 

He exploded. “What the hell was that all about?! What did she do to you?! What did she want?”

 

“Personal business,” she replied nonchalantly.

 

“W-WHAT?! No! No! You can't just go running off like that whenever you feel like it. What if she wanted to hurt you? What if Naraku got his hands on you? I'm the one who calls the shots around here. What I say goes. You humans would be up shit's creek without a paddle if it weren't for me.”

 

She wanted to laugh. She might have if he weren't so red in the face. It didn't look healthy.

 

Despite his vainglorious claims, Kagome was imperturbable. Waltzing up to him, she lightly patted him on the chest in a patronizing manner and said with a poker face, “You really should be more careful with that. They say that excessively stroking your own ego can lead to blindness.” With that, she turned and strolled away, humming `Zipp-a-dee-doo-dah.' Hmm, Yuka said Disney Tokyo sucked. I'd still like to see it for myself.

 

Inuyasha's jaw dropped, stunned. “That's sooo not true,” he began snottily. “Goes to show how much you know; it's excessively stoking your peck… uhh,” He blushed on top of the super-red anger flush he was already sporting. “Hey! Get back here! I'm not finished with you yet!” he yelled after her, eyes drawn like magnets to her retreating derriere. His head tilted in that way that males do when they think it'll give them a better ass viewing angle.

 

Seems like she's always walking away from me anymore, he thought with a defeated sigh.

 

“Well, what are you waiting for? Go after her, baka.”

 

The voice from the past nearly jerked him out of his skin. Slowly, disbelievingly, he turned to face the specter who was smiling benignly at him. “Ki-Kikyo?”

 

Her smile widened at his bewildered stare. “I see you're still no better at figuring women out, even after all this time,” she teased.

 

After a moment of dumbstruck silence, he grumbled, “Can you blame me? You're a confusing bunch.” Then, after a moment's hesitation, he implored, “What's going on, Kikyo?”

 

“Nothing for you to worry about; I just needed to discuss a few things with Kagome is all. Sometimes even the rock needs reassurance of its place in the world.”

 

“What the hell does that mean?”

 

The ghost smacked her forehead and tiredly said, “Really, Inuyasha, I don't remember you ever being quite this thickskulled. Do yourself a favor and tell the girl the truth. She's had nothing to go off of but conjecture. Supposition can be more damning than the truth, particularly for someone who is from such a free-wheeling time. Now quit standing around like an idiot and go get your girl. I've done my good deed for the day and dealing with you two is such a drain on my energy.” That said, she dismissively flicked her wrist, turned and evaporated back into her shrine, leaving a fidgeting hanyou in her wake.

 

Inuyasha looked up at the moon. He got the distinct impression that it was enjoying his anxiety. “Not with you watching, ya bastard,” he growled. “Maybe tomorrow.”

 

Kagome was steadily plodding along on her way back through the bamboo forest, lost in thought. Is it really as simple as all that? Did I really seal myself? If so, how do I unlock my energy? Acupuncture? No. Electric shock? Fuck no!

 

Then Kikyo's words came back to her. Believe in myself? What is this, a cheesy after school special, she sardonically questioned. On the other hand, I've never seen Inuyasha so worked up, especially to the point of speaking crossly to Kikyo. He's never freaked out like that before, at least, not that I've witnessed.

 

Inuyasha chose that moment to drop out of the sky and land perfectly in front of her. Kagome jumped back, almost landing on her can.

 

“Oh, for the love of… Quit doin' that, will ya?!” she shrilled.

 

“Sorry,” he said, sheepishly scratching his head. “So…,” he tentatively tried, toeing a suspicious looking rock. When it didn't do anything, he kicked it, jumping slightly when it loudly thwacked off a clump of bamboo and echoed off into the night.

 

“So…,” she returned with a little more patience than she'd recently had for his hem hawing.

 

He looked up at her and sighed. “You really won't tell me what that was all about back there?”

 

“I told you already; it's personal. Don't worry about it, alright? Everything is fine.”

 

He didn't look like he believed her, but let it go. “Okay… At least you're talking to me again.”

 

“Is that really so important to you?” She had to ask.

 

His face scrunched up into an offended grimace. “Of course it is! Why wouldn't it be?” he fumed indignantly, but seemed to forcibly stop himself and take a breath. “Kagome, look… I'm… really sorry for… well, everything. I really didn't mean…”

 

She cut him off. “I know you are. And I know you didn't really mean it, but it was really a shitty thing to say and it just… I don't know; I can't explain it. It was like you tried to force a jenga block on top of an already destabilized tower and it all came crashing down.” She shrugged. “What you did hurt and I need to know that you're not going to keep cutting me down.”

 

Kagome started to walk away again. Three steps was all it took before her conscience started to jab at her, flashing the word hypocrite before her eyes. Quit being a selfish porkface, Kagome. This isn't all about you. Mama raised you better than that.

 

Inuyasha almost crashed into her back, not noticing that she'd come to an abrupt stop. When she turned to face him, they were very close and he had a brief mental battle over whether to step back or not. He preferred to stay put, enjoying the heat emanating off her body and the fact that her scent was warmer and stronger up close, but he wasn't sure his proximity was welcomed, so he started to move back a pace.

 

He didn't get far because Kagome caught him by the rosary and kept him there. Her face was confused and a bit strained and she kept her eyes trained on the beads. When she met his eyes, though, she seemed a little lost, and he wasn't sure, but maybe a tad… ashamed?

 

When she spoke, he dazedly watched her lips move in that hypnotizing way that always made him miss what she said, which, in turn, aggravated her because she was convinced that he was ignoring her. This time, however, he forced himself to pay attention - and was glad he did.

 

“I haven't been entirely fair with you, either. We shouldn't be competing to see who can piss who off more. We're both too old for this kindergarten shit. Friends shouldn't hurt each other. It's stupid for us to be at each other's throats. So how `bout we quit cutting each other down and start over? Is that okay with you?”

 

Not clear on where she was going with this, and barely stifling the urge to kiss her, he just nodded, completely amenable to whatever the hell she wanted while she was this close.

 

Which is why it didn't immediately sink in when she pulled the rosary over his head.

 

It still barely registered that she was holding it in her hand. But it hit him like a ton of bricks when she turned and pitched it off into the woods. He had to admit she had a pretty good arm. The girly throw insult certainly didn't apply in this instance as he watched the rosary sail off to somewhere in the distance.

 

Blank faced, he looked down at his chest, then back at her. Down, up. Down, up. Then he smiled.

 

Screw it, he thought - just before he grabbed her and laid a big fat kiss on her lips.

 

 

 

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Well, now that I have all the background crap out of the way, I can finally move on and have fun with this. None of the other chapters will be this long and filled with weepy strolls down memory lane. Yes, I am aware there are a couple things out of sequence with how they are timed in the manga, but come on, if every story out there kept in lockstep with the manga, then there'd be nothing interesting or original to read.

Sloppy smooches to Inuyashaloverr, Midoriko-sama and RadioActiveRedHead. Thanks ladies!