InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Decisions ❯ If you go down to the woods today... ( Chapter 13 )

Chapter 13: If you go down to the woods today

“This is not my idea of fun” Ayame whined as she loaded her rucksack into Kagome's car. She was wearing the oldest pair of jeans she possessed, her hair pulled into its conventional pigtails and a life guards sweatshirt over her t-shirt. She stomped her feet irritably and Ranmaru rolled his eyes and loaded a rucksack twice as big as him into the car.

“What are you complaining about now?” Sasuke asked appearing from nowhere with yet another bag to load into the poor sagging car. His hair was tied into a lose plait and he was wearing very beat up clothes.

“Shouldn't you have gone home by now?” she asked irritably

“Shouldn't you have a boyfriend by now?” he countered his eyes glinting mischievously

“This is why I hate cats!” she fumed

“That's stereotypical, a dog not liking a cat” Hana pulled the appearing from nowhere trick as well as Sasuke had and dumped her own bag into the car which was seriously looking unstable under the duress of so many bags.

“I'm a canine” Ayame retorted snapping her fangs “but I am by no means a dog”

“Dog, wolf what's the difference?” Sasuke taunted

“Cat, fox what's the difference?” Ayame asked grinning as both the cat demons snarled at her

“Break it up you guys, if you can't play nicely you don't get to come with us” Kagome chuckled at the scene and loaded the last bag into the poor car. She shut the door on their luggage with timid care, the car didn't look too sturdy under all that weight. She was wearing her old faded jeans and one of Sasuke's jumpers with her hair pulled into a messy topknot.

“He started it” Ayame was sullen

“He is nineteen” Kagome rolled her eyes “what's your excuse?”

Ayame said something under her breath that neither Yokai nor human could quite catch before getting in the car in a resigned fashion. Hana and Sasuke quickly followed suit leaving Kagome and Ranmaru to look at each other in perplexed annoyance.

“How'd this become an entire group outing?” she asked her son “wasn't it just supposed to be our weekly trip to the lake?”

“Yeah but since Sasuke-niichan and Hana-neechan are in town you invited them and then everyone else just invited themselves” Ranmaru was exasperated “even Rin-chan said she wanted to come”

“Rin?” Kagome was shocked and then was abruptly cut out of her thought processes as Ayame beeped her horn, universal language for `get your butt in the damn car'. She grinned at her son and they both hopped inside.

***

“What are they doing?” Kagome asked as she, Kikyo, Sango and Hana lay sprawled out on the soft grass watching the guys try to pitch a tent and Ran play dotingly with Kyo.

“I don't know, it looks kinda like Ayame's fourth grade science project” Sango commented and Ayame who had been rummaging in the food basket a little while away growled at her.

“Ears from hell” Hana snickered earning another growl from Ayame.

They all jumped a few seconds later as a tent pole collapsed and hilarity ensued. Inuyasha was cursing, Miroku rolling his eyes and Sasuke, who hadn't been helping in the first place, more like baiting, was laughing and gloating.

“They should just have allowed Kagome to do it” Kikyo sighed; she knew as well as the men did that Kagome was the most seasoned camper amongst them.

“Let them flounder” Ayame advised as she thumped down on the ground next to them

“Sasuke is right” Hana grinned at Ayame “you really do have something against guys”

“Only when she's single” Sango commented

“You're supposed to be on my side Sango!” Ayame moped “why is everyone being so mean?”

“Why do you sound like a child?” Kikyo asked

“Why is everyone answering questions with questions today?” Kagome asked giggling

“Bastard tent!” Inuyasha had finally lost it

“It's impossible for the tent to be a bastard” Sasuke pointed out only to have to leap to his feet and run from the suddenly irate Inu Hanyou.

Kagome chuckled and then cocked her head to one side and listened intently to what she though sounded a lot like her ring tone, but muffled. Then she realised it was her phone.

“Why are you glaring at my daughter?” Sango asked in an amused tone as she noted her baby engaged in a bizarrely heated staring contest with her friend.

“Because our daughter is trying to ingest my phone, again” Kagome growled whilst staring at the little girl who gurgled flailing her fists and legs, catching Kagome on the chin with her bootie clad feet.

“Kagome's losing a battle of wills with a baby” Hana pointed out

Ayame was blasé “Let her have her mental breakdown; it's the weekend!”

“You know, saying `it's the weekend' doesn't automatically excuse everything” Hana reprimanded

“Do I care?” Ayame asked lazily scratching her arm where some kind of bug had landed

Meanwhile Kagome was still otherwise engaged with the child who was staring up at her with huge eyes.

“Come on Megumi-chan, I just need my phone?” Kagome pleaded, by this time it had stopped ringing but she still needed to know who called, only her mother and grandfather had her phone if you discounted everyone else there. So she was a little anxious.

“There's an easier way to get that back you know” Sango said pulling her own phone from a pocket and waggling it in front of the babies face. The child spat Kagome's phone out so fast you'd swear it was bitter poison and dived upon her mother's phone eagerly inserting the new tasty morsel into her gummy mouth.

“Could have told me that earlier” Kagome muttered as she dried off the phone on Sasuke's sweatshirt, hoping he wouldn't notice but knowing she was living in denial. He was a demon after all.

“That was cool, she sure switches chew toys quickly” Hana commented

“She has a thing for that particular brand of phone” Sango shrugged

“You're all insane” Kikyo murmured as she bounced Sango's son on her knee whilst watching Kyo and Ranmaru play.

Kagome walked a little ways away from the group and was about to redial the unknown number that had called her when it began to ring again.

“Mushi, mushi?” she answered

There was a slight pause in which her mystery caller gave a small smirk, unbeknownst to her “Ka-go-me” he purred low and intentionally seductive but laced with a certain malice that set her on edge. She knew who it was immediately.

“What the hell do you want?” she ground out, subconsciously pacing away from the group in her agitation.

“What a charming greeting Ka-go-me” he over emphasised her name again making her shiver.

“Naraku, what do you want, and whilst we're on that subject how'd you get this number?” she demanded harshly

He laughed softly “I am fastidious Ka-go-me” he said

“You're an asshole” she reminded him

“Such harsh name calling” he chuckled “but Ka-go-me you should know that it is your fault”

“How is you being a selfish pig my fault?” she snarled softly, wary of her conversation being overheard

“But is it not your selfish ways that denied the school its new computer suite?” he asked softly “Ka-go-me”

“What?”

“If you had accepted my offer the children would have benefitted” he crooned “you selfishness denied them that”

“How dare you twist my actions?” she demanded harshly

“You can still reconsider” he interjected silkily

“I'd rather not” she replied shortly before hanging up abruptly. She pressed the phone to her forehead and sighed running her other hand over the top of her head, pulling it from its ponytail to fall around her shoulders again. A heavy sigh escaped her lips; she'd had enough of this.

A loud growl caught her attention and she turned round to see Inuyasha attempting to chase Sasuke up a tree. Sasuke was swaying in the top most branches, his face a picture of glee and Inuyasha looked like he was going to maul him. That was if he ever recovered enough sense to be able to jump up there, it was known amongst his friends that whilst drunken or angry he was spectacularly useless at most physical things.

“Ran-chan!” Kagome called out gently and the kelpie heard her even over Inuyasha's anger and Sasuke's baiting.

“Hai, Okasan?” Ran asked blowing a dandelion at Kyo. Who clapped and giggled and tried to catch the clocks, his ears flipping them away. One landed on his nose and he crossed his eyes to look at it inadvertently rolling from a sitting position onto his back, he gurgled again.

“Let's go to the river ne?” she smiled at him and his eyes lit up

“Hai!” he grinned

She smiled and they walked together down towards the cool lake that was thankfully unpolluted, or at least as clean as it could be in the modern era. Kagome knew that no matter how clean it was Ranmaru would purge its impurities anyway. All kelpies can purge small amounts of impurities fro bodies of water, only serious pollution can kill them. He wouldn't use his true form either. It was instinctual for young Yokai to only revert to their true form once in a completely safe area, as a young Yokai they were easy prey for other Yokai.

He walked over to the water and then grinning at his mother walked out onto the surface of it, his feet leaving barely discernable ripples behind him.

“Come on Okasan!” he enthused doing a quick seven- year- old- half-cartwheel on the surface and sticking his tongue out.

“Yeah, yeah” she rolled her eyes and pulled off her layers of clothing to reveal a dark blue bikini that consisted of your average top but a shirt like bottom part with a flower printed over one hip. She grinned and slipped smoothly into the water.

“It's different” Ranmaru was referring to her choice in attire

“Hana” the name was suffice, Hana loved shopping for everyone and anyone and didn't know how to take no as an answer.

“Normally it covers your tummy” he frowned

“What?” she demanded

“You're really pale” he said grinning

She growled at him and attempted to splash him, failing miserably of course. No one has ever managed to successfully splash a kelpie. He stuck his tongue out.

“Cannon ball!” a new familiar voice yelled and Kagome held up her arms as a small tsunami engulfed her, thoroughly soaking her through. She shook her hair off like a dog. Ran of course was untouched.

“Rin-chan?” Kagome spluttered as she flipped her hair from her eyes

“Higurashi-sensei!” Rin enthused, singing Kagome's title and giggling madly. She was wearing a lime green one piece bathing suit with a white and green polka dotted skirt attached. Her hair was pulled into identical bunches.

“What are you doing here?” Ranmaru asked now laid on his stomach on the surface of the water his head propped in his hands.

“I told you I was coming” she put her chin into the air as if angry at him but soon overcame it when she realised what he was doing “Cool!”

“What?”

“That!”

“Oh” he was nonchalant “So?”

“Teach me” she commanded

“Can't”

“Why?”

“You can't learn how to do it, you either can or not” he explained simply

“That sucks” she lamented

“For you”

“How come you can?”

“I'm a Kelpie, I told you” he rolled his eyes and she huffed at him folding her arms.

“Rin-chan” Kagome interjected “How are you here?”

“Sesshoumaru-sama brought me!” she grinned at her sensei “aren't you happy?”

Trying to ignore the last question Kagome soldiered on “Does he know you're here on your own Rin-chan?”

“Probably” she hedged

“What do you mean probably?” Kagome asked in her best `concerned teacher' voice.

“I didn't tell him” Rin sniffed “but he always knows everything anyway”

Kagome grinned “Maybe you should go back and tell him where you are” she suggested

“No need” Rin said looking over Kagome's shoulder and grinning hugely.

With a sense of impending doom similar to when one makes a crass comment about a person, only to find said person behind them, Kagome turned around.

And fell over.

She fell onto her butt in the shallow water and stared up at it. The first thing that popped into her head was `where'd the sky go?' and then she realised it was probably still there, just concealed behind the huge white fluffy dog.

With red eyes, the size of her shrine, the crescent marking, the hissing claws that cut into the earth, the floppy ears and the messes of shaggy fur he was a cross between cute and terrifying. So Kagome settled for being stupefied.

Sesshoumaru regarded the fallen human with detached amusement. Suddenly the reason Rin had been so adamant about coming with him to the cabin this weekend was obvious. She normally didn't care for the cabin, it being too cold and isolated for her happy sociable temperament. She seemed to not only be obsessed by her teacher but also seemed to have befriended the orphaned kelpie inadvertently.

Rin sprang from the water and ran up to him happily pouncing on the fluffy looking fur of his right front paw and laughing.

“Cool” Ranmaru said craning his neck up to see the massive Inu's head

Kagome stood up shakily “Holy shi—” she attempted to say and then Ran drenched her in another, slightly larger tidal wave of water

“What was that for?” she demanded when she could finally speak again

“You were going to say a bad word” he told her with a grin

She stuck her tongue out at him and then turned back to the Inu “I'm guessing that's Sesshoumaru?” she asked

“Yep” Rin grinned

“He wasn't kidding” Kagome noted “he really is big, white and covered in fur”

Sesshoumaru gave a couch like laugh and Kagome grinned.

“What you didn't mention is that you're cute!” she enthused clapping like she was Rin.

He huffed slightly and bent his huge head down to her level, she had just about enough time to register the mischievous glint in his now ruby eyes before he nudged her with his nose and sent her falling back onto her butt; again.

She growled and Sesshoumaru gave a dog like chuckle. In his Inu form he was loath to keep up his usual uncaring unemotional facade and was noticeably more relaxed.

“Ran-chan?” she turned to look at her son

“Yeah?”

“Any way for me to get up there?” she asked

Ranmaru grinned and pressed his palms to the surface of the water. Kagome squealed as she was pushed up and out of the lake by a huge funnel of water.

She laughed as the pressurised water formed a platform under her knees so that she was steadily being raised to the eye level of the Inu that towered over them. She reached his eye level and they just looked at each other for a while.

She was knelt on a pressurised magical funnel of water that was levitating her. This made Sesshoumaru smile inwardly, apparently the kelpie she cared for was exceptionally strong, this was no small feat for a pup of his age.

She stood shakily atop her makeshift platform and smirking slightly dangerously she flung herself across the two metre gap between her tower and Sesshoumaru's nose.

She landed with a muffled thump on his nose and fisted her hands in his fur to keep herself there. She giggled again as she watched the Inu cross his red eyes in order to look at her properly. He wondered if she actually realised she had just straddled his face in her bikini. Maybe she did, but probably not, she was not so brazen as to do so consciously without blushing.

“Now what are you going to do?” she asked “retaliation is futile, anything you do will result in my back going crunch”

He wondered for a bizarre second what she would do if he licked her in retaliation, she was after all dangerously close to his mouth and then he decided he was above that.

What makes you believe this Sesshoumaru cares if you live? He whispered inside her mind

She blinked a few times “Are you talking inside my head?” she questioned the dog beneath her

Yes

“I didn't know you could do that!” she yelped

Since when are you obliged to know everything about this Sesshoumaru?

“You're still an ass even when you're a dog then” she said rolling her eyes and then she punched his muzzle “and was that a death threat?”

Maybe

“I'm not afraid of you” she told him stubbornly

We'll see

“What does that mean?” she demanded

She soon found out when the muzzle she was sitting on disappeared. She was left to free fall.

She screamed as the air rushed by and closed her eyes tight as she waited for the inevitable harsh impact with the unforgiving ground.

She opened her eyes unsteadily as she realised that she hadn't hit anything yet.

Sesshoumaru's head, his human one, was looking down at her with one eyebrow raised.

“You were right, you are not afraid of this Sesshoumaru, you were terrified” he gloated

“Bastard” she growled at him as she punched his chest. She looked down at him, he was holding her gently in his arms he'd obviously caught her. What she couldn't work out though, was where his clothes had come from. “How come you're not naked?”

At this his other eyebrow joined its twin at his hair line “Would you prefer this Sesshoumaru to be so?” he smirked a predatory gleam in his eyes.

She glowered at him as a light blush dusted her cheeks “Not what I meant” she reprimanded him “I meant that you didn't have any clothes a second ago, where'd they come from?”

“This Sesshoumaru was wearing them before this Sesshoumaru transformed” he told her

“So where'd they go?” she asked dubiously

“This Sesshoumaru does not care, it is magic and does not have to follow a pattern which you deduce as normal” he informed her

“You mean you don't know” she pointed out

He growled at her

“Touchy” she muttered

“Sesshoumaru-sama, why are you still holding Higurashi-sensei?” Rin piped up and the two adults twitched, they had forgotten that there were children present.

Sesshoumaru swung Kagome down to the ground and deposited her on her feet. Where she frowned at him. “I still haven't forgiven you for dropping me you know”

“This Sesshoumaru rescued you did he not?” he said looking at her impassively

She rolled her eyes “You're impossible”

“And you are infuriating” he replied

They both stiffened in shock as a new tsunami of water almost knocked Kagome over, the only thing stopping her from being sprawled on her ass for the second time in the day being Sesshoumaru's hand grabbing her around the elbow.

“We challenge you to a water fight” Ranmaru proclaimed “me and Rin against you two”

Kagome glanced up at Sesshoumaru who was as sopping wet as she was and fought the urge to dissolve into giggling mush. She was fighting an entirely different urge a few seconds later as he discarded his shirt and stepped into the water smirking dangerously. She stood on the bank and sort of stared stupidly at the two strips on his hips. She smirked as she wondered if he'd let her touch those as he had the one's on his face, but with her tongue instead. And then mentally slapped herself for having such Hentai thoughts when children were present. Sesshoumaru turned to look at her over her shoulder and by the way his eyebrow was raised she realised he knew exactly what kind of reaction she had to him. Damn him and his nose. She joined him in the water and promptly soaked him.

“Okasan, you're supposed to be on Sesshoumaru-san's side” Ranmaru protested

“I know” she said sweetly and then balked a minute later as Sesshoumaru in all his water bejewelled glory emerged from the water, picked her up and threw her into a deeper part of the water with an almighty splash.

She emerged and flipped her hair over his shoulder “Oh, it is so on!” she growled and the children smiled.

“We should go back” Ranmaru told Rin quietly

“Why?” she sulked, she was enjoying the fight

“I can smell food, I think Miroku-ojisan has started cooking” he told her

“Yay!” she clapped her hands together and Ranmaru lead her away from the oblivious fighting adults and towards their nearby camp. He was quite content to let them have their time together.

God knows how much time later, after experiencing flying a few times Kagome realised the distinct lacking of Ranmaru and Rin.

“Where are the children?” she asked as she glanced around the river edge, the sun was setting she noted dumbly. She turned back to Sesshoumaru in time to notice he wasn't there and shrieked as he picked her up and tossed her again.

She landed with a huge splash and glared at him from where she had plunged just her head above the water.

He smirked “They went to your camp a while ago” he said waiting for her retaliation he was surprised when she didn't move from where she was.

She was frowning down at the water as if it had done her a personal grievance.

“What is it?” he asked

“It's gone” she mumbled

“What is?” he asked

“My bikini top” she muttered

He fought to stop the stupid smile that wished to spread across his features and slowly advanced upon the small woman.

Kagome's eyes widened as she realised he was advancing upon her with a distinctly non-innocent look upon his features. She backed up as far as she could go until her bare back met with the rough surface of one of the rocks that lined the small lake. She squeaked as a frog jumped off the rock and over her shoulder before returning to staring at Sesshoumaru. A dear caught in headlights.

He cornered her against the rock an arm either side of her shoulders, caging her in. She looked up at him and crossed her arms over her breasts, suddenly hyper aware of their proximity. His golden eyes were smouldering, making it peculiarly hard to breathe and she looked down to avoid eye contact with the Inu.

“Do you yield?” he asked leaning into her space, breathing her breaths.

“Um...” she said as he removed his left hand from the wall and swept her damp hair from a pale shoulder.

“Am I interrupting something?” came a greatly amused voice and then both turned horror writ upon their faces to see Sasuke perched upon the rock Kagome was trapped against, grinning his best Cheshire cat smile.

Sesshoumaru stepped back from Kagome to glare and the neko and growl menacingly. Kagome used this movement to escape onto the bank of the lake and grab her t-shirt pulling it on quickly.

“What are you doing here Sasuke?” she asked

“It's getting late, we were worried” he explained “we also wanted to ask Sesshoumaru-sama if Rin-chan could stay with us tonight, she's fallen asleep in a mess of children and we can't move her”

Sesshoumaru nodded in acceptance, still glowering.

“Oh, I'll be come back in a minute, just let me say goodbye” she said

Sasuke turned to leave but not before he tossed his parting remark over his shoulder “Just as long as saying goodbye is all you're going to be doing” his eyes flashed and he disappeared.

“This Sesshoumaru is beginning to understand why common Inu hate common neko” Sesshoumaru growled as he hauled himself from the water.

“Bye” she said smiling at him and turning to follow Sasuke, leaving Sesshoumaru feeling strangely disappointed. Until she paused at the tree line and turned flitting back to his side.

She smiled the warm half light of the setting sun illuminating her pale skin strands of her wet hair still clinging to her cheeks. She rested a hand on one broad shoulder, stood on her tip toes and pressed her soft lips to his in a chaste kiss. She smiled again and disappeared back to her camp.

Sesshoumaru watched her go fighting the smile before letting it break free, there was after all no one here to see him. He cast his eyes back out to the lake and smirked.

There it was, the elusive bikini top, floating harmlessly across the surface. He retrieved it and his shirt and turned in the direction of his cabin. Surely she would not miss it and if she did it was tough, he refused to relinquish his prize.

A/N: we all know that I don't own Inuyasha right? Good. So there goes the thirteenth chapter! *dances like the freak she is* what did you think guys? Thank you for reading and now onto my favourite part of these here authors notes the review replies!

On FF.net a big thanks goes to: Vampire-princesses, darke wulf, Megumi Yamanashi, TheAnonymus, mmmyeah4, llebreknit, ruby red 1989 and Dominant-Snowcone.

On Dokuga:

Eliza: Don't worry this isn't a sad fic I promise, thank you very muchly for reviewing!

Rei: You make me laugh, but not in a nasty way, promise! Thank you for reading and reviewing twice!

autumngold: if things become to intimate too fast then it's not as realistic don't you think? I agree with you there, thanks for reviewing!

UtterChaos247: Thanks I'm glad you liked it!

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