InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Divine ❯ Chapter One ( Chapter 1 )

Author's Notes: First Inuyasha fic - but don't feel you have to go easy on me! ^_^

"In the hills giant oaks

fall upon their knees

you can touch parts

you have no right to-"

~Kay Ryan, "Crown"

There was always a near tangent feeling about summer that Inuyasha could never quite put his finger on. Something happened when the snow lifted and the winds grew warmer and the world around him became vivid with renewed life. The air smelt sweeter and heady… warmth seeped from every blade of grass beneath his feet, chasing away the chills that winter leeched through his soles.

New life was something he could relate to… after all, it had only been last summer when Kagome had freed him from the goshinboku tree

Yes… summer was a good time of year. Not only was the heat and warmth chasing the demons away, but it also brought along a time Kagome had called 'Summer Holidays'. For some reason these holly-days meant she could stay away from that 'school' place for a wonderfully long length of time.

And of course… the best thing about summer…

Kagome's outfits grew skimpier.

Inuyasha smirked at his pesky thoughts as he diverted his gaze away from Kagome's behind. Today she had taken to wearing something she liked to call 'shorts' and that being the operative word for that article of clothing was indeed very short. It barely covered enough flesh to be called decent and every time she moved he was given another tantalising glimpse of smooth skin… always just short of anything satisfying.

And it wasn't just the lower half of her body that was suffering from lack of proper covering - but the top half as well! How on earth she managed to walk around in public with her midriff on display without so much as a blush was beyond him.

Not that Inuyasha was going to say anything. Looking at the lithe plains of Kagome's stomach and the inward pinches of her waist was almost as good as being able to view those curvaceous and completely naked thighs.

Life was definitely good when you got to spend your days with a half-naked girl…

Except when you also had to spend your days with a perverted monk.

"Ah, Kagome-sama, what is it that you're doing?" Miroku called over to the girl who lounged on her front further up the river bank. He may have been sitting with Sango, but any excuse to look over at Kagome in those tight shorts…

Inuyasha pondered whether or not to rip up the tree he was sitting in and knock the monk flying into the river with it.

"Oh," Kagome sat up, for all appearances, staring at her hand. She glanced up with a smile in Miroku's direction. "I was just thinking… My friend, Ayumi, back home was teaching me fortune telling tricks yesterday…"

"Fortune Telling?" Inuyasha echoed with a hint of a smirk as he dropped down from the tree branch. The long grass rustled around him as he made his way towards the river bank, more to put himself directly in Miroku's line of vision to Kagome. "Don't tell me you believe in that crap."

"Fine, I won't tell you." Kagome responded with a hint of a smile. "I'm telling Miroku-sama anyway."

"Does fortune telling even work?" Sango asked. "I mean…. Houshi-sama tries it but I have my doubts about his credibility…"

"Meaning?" Miroku prompted her, contriving to look wronged.

Kagome broke in before it could get ugly. She quickly stood and brushed past Inuyasha to sit down close to the pair. "I don't know," she said, regarding her hand again. "Ayumi says that she learnt how to read palms from her grandmother who used to own a booth or something… but she took one look at my hand and freaked out." Kagome looked severely puzzled. "I mean, I looked at my hand and used all the things she taught me but I don't understand what freaked her out. She wouldn't talk about it afterwards either."

Damn humans and their superstitions. Inuyasha rolled his eyes and separated himself from the others. He watched the midday sunlight reflecting off the constantly shifting surface of the river. The mayflies darted across the water, drawing his gaze with them, but he ears remained trained on the conversation going on behind him.

"So you can read palms?" Shippo asked, arriving back from where he'd been skipping pebbles near the river's bridge. "Can you read mine?"

Kagome grinned and dragged him into her lap. "Now let's see," she pried his small hand flat and lay it against her own with she ran another finger across his palm. "Interesting…. Very interesting…"

"What?" Shippo demanded impatiently, eager to know what she knew.

"From the shape of your hand you're a practical type of person and materialistic… and this line here…" she tapped his life line. "Says you will have a fuller love life than say…" she glanced up shrewdly at Miroku's unguarded palm. "Miroku-sama's."

"Who am I gonna end up with?" Shippo quizzed impatiently as Miroku double-checked his palm as if looking for where that last comment had been written.

"I can't tell." Kagome shrugged. "But you'll have many loves…. Apparently you've already run through a few and you'll have many children."

"Right." Inuyasha called over. "Just what we need. More Shippo's running around!"

"Can you really tell how many children someone's going to have from their palm?" Sango suddenly frowned at her.

"In theory." Kagome nodded. "Want me to look at yours?"

Sango seemed to hesitate for a long moment. Her eyes widened in alarm as her gaze faltered between Kagome, Miroku and the grass stains on her summer yukata. "Uh… um." She closed her mouth before any more unintelligent sounds escaped and just stuck her hand out to Kagome for analysis looking partly embarrassed.

Kagome ushered Shippo off her lap and shuffled closer to the other girl. "Now let's see…" she took Sango's palm and examined. "Hmm… says here that you're a direct and logical thinker and you don't let your heart rule your head. Oh!" Kagome suddenly peeped and smiled. "And four children!"

"Really?" Miroku looked slightly dismayed. "And how many will I have? I divined seventeen."

"Well if you somehow managed to fit seventeen lines onto your little finger then I'd liked to see how…" she trailed off as she took his palm. "Oh. Four for you too."

Miroku looked like he didn't know if that was good news or bad news. On the one hand it sounded like he was closer to ending up with Sango but on the other…

"And there is your proof that this is just a load of bull shit." Inuyasha clarified as he came to sit down beside Kagome. "No way in seven hells would Miroku only have four children. He's probably already got seven living in some distant tea house."

"He's sitting right here." Miroku commented dryly. Sango was shooting equally venomous daggers with the glare she had fixed on Inuyasha.

"Oh?" Kagome cocked an eyebrow as she turned to him. "And I expect you're above all this nonsense, are you?"

"A bunch of stupid lines on my hand isn't what's going to decide my future." He said condescendingly. "I'm going to decide what my future holds."

"So you don't even believe in the slightest bit of fate or destiny?" She seemed mildly surprised.

"And what about that shocks you?" he flicked his gaze across her slightly pouted lips, mentally scolding himself for deliberately pushing a disagreement. He couldn't help it. Kagome held her own in an argument and he loved the way she rose to a challenge… he loved the eye contact.

Of course he also loved the way she leaned ever so slightly closer.

Before he realised what she was doing, Kagome had whipped his hand up and laid it in her lap. And before he could even utter the slightest protest she was already analysing.

"Says here that your outlook on love is overly cautious and jaded." She snorted. "I'd say that's about right. And here on your life line you-"

For no reason at all she stopped talking and almost visibly tensed. If the back of his hand hadn't been pressed against her thigh then he wouldn't have noticed. He began to frown. "What's the-"

"You know, I just remembered something!" Kagome suddenly declared loudly. She all but shoved his hand away and stood, brushing imaginary grass blades off the back of her legs. "Grandpa wanted me back at the shrine to… to-uh… to clear out the-uh… I have to go."

The group watched in stunned surprise as Kagome quickly hauled her old yellow canvas bag onto her shoulder and scramble up the slope, away from the river. Sango glanced at Inuyasha in a peculiar way. "What did she see?"

Inuyasha glanced at his palm warily, wondering the exact same thing. All he saw were a collection of craggy lines with raised calluses on the pads on his fingers and palm. What could anyone possibly read in that?

He shook his head with a scowl. "She's being stupid." He concluded. "She didn't see anything."

"Hope she comes back." Shippo said cautiously. He only said that because the last particular time Inuyasha had caused Kagome to run home the girl hadn't come back for five days - during which Inuyasha's bad mood had infected practically everyone within a five mile radius and Kagome had been in a more sullen mood than Inuyasha when she'd finally returned.

Animosity had been at an all time high.

No one wanted a repeat of that incident so soon after.

So Inuyasha expressed his emotions in the usual way. "Keh!" he said, noncommittally. He stood and slouched off in the opposite direction of Kagome.

~~~~~~

It's a good thing I saw my watch when I looked at Inuyasha's palm or I would have missed out on this!

Kagome simmered happily in the dark theatre watching the production play out on stage. Beauty and the Beast, a musical. Granted she'd had to accept Hojo's invitation and admit that this was practically a date, but how could she have passed up this opportunity in good conscience. Beauty and the Beast had always been her favourite story book when she was younger and it still held a place in her heart. Now more than ever.

She couldn't help but find the hopeless love story relating to her and Inuyasha…

Granted, Inuyasha was a ton better looking and much sexier than a beast… and perhaps she was no where near as beautiful and enchanting as Beauty… but still.

Ok, maybe sleeping beauty held more in relation to her double life.

It was dark by the time the play drew to a close and Hojo insisted on walking her back home. Not that Kagome wanted to resist much. Walking home in the dark had never been her idea of fun.

"Let's take a short-cut through the park." Hojo suggested as they neared the park gates.

"Sure." Kagome shrugged and smiled in response. A nice evening walk through the park was always nice in summer… as long as you never walked alone.

The trees seemed alive. Like slowly sifting shadows, with their long twisting branches that obscured everything beyond the footpath through the park. The way was lit solely by moonlight, casting a soft, but pure white glow on the grass and tarmac.

This was about as close as her world would ever get to being as wild and untamed as the Sengoku Jidai. But even then she looked around and saw everything was manicured, perfected, man-made… controlled. She sighed slightly. After spending the best part of the last year in the open wilderness of the past she realised what she'd been missing her entire life.

Freedom. Nature.

A scruffy little Hanyou with cute ears…

A Hanyou with a very interesting palm as well. A thought that reminded her quickly of Ayumi's sudden and rather startling reaction to reading her own palm. "Hojo-kun…" she began, turning to her companion. "Do you remember last Monday when Ayumi was reading our palms?"

"Of course." He smiled and nodded. He did that most of the time.

"Do you remember why Ayumi ran away when she read my palm? I think I must have freaked her out… it's been bothering me I guess." She shrugged, knowing it was silly. In fact, Ayumi was a silly girl anyway for getting so worked up about a couple of creases on someone's hand… but for some reason it was getting Kagome worked up too.

"She probably remembered a doctor's appointment or something." Hojo told her easily in a good-natured way. "You shouldn't take it so seriously, Higurashi."

"I'm not!" she said quickly. "I just wondered…" she brought her palm up for examination. "Maybe she foretold that I would contract leprosy by Thursday and that's why she's been avoiding me…?"

Hojo laughed, but once again reminded her that it was just palm reading. Not something to be taken so seriously. She agreed whole-heartedly… although, if Grandpa's next excuse for her absence was leprosy then she would be in trouble with Hojo. But still… she couldn't help but wonder what on earth had scared Ayumi off…

I'll catch her tomorrow and ask… she thought as she waved her farewell to Hojo at the bottom of the Shrine steps.

~~~~~

"Why do you ask?"

Inuyasha stared across the kindling fire at the old miko opposite him. The flickering light of the fire danced orange patterns across her face, accentuating each line and wrinkle, only reminding him of his original question.

"What do you see?" he held out his hand. "You told me you could read palms, old bat."

"Why the sudden interest in the superstitious?" she raised a grey eyebrow. "I heard you disdain such beliefs."

"I'm broadening my horizons." He jerked his hand to get her attention. "Read already."

Kaede sighed, long and wearily but gestured for him to move around the fire to get closer. He obeyed silently, his old fire-rat robes rustling as he shuffled across the wooden floor. She took his hand and raised her eyebrows as she assessed.

"How precise is this shit anyway?" Inuyasha asked incredulously.

"Would you rather I not bother?"

"No, keep going. Just tell me how precise." He pressed.

Kaede tipped his palm this way and that, noting how badly he probably needed to dip his hands in clean water. "It isn't an exact art. It can be used by powerful sorcerers to divine one's future. I am merely a miko and cannot give you such preciseness. Just an idea."

"And what's your idea?" he asked keenly.

Kaede cleared her throat. "Your heart line reveals that you have a highly masculine nature and are easily aroused by your own desires." She raised an eyebrow as he tried to pull his hand away. She didn't bother to look up but she could almost feel the heat of his blush across the fire. She kept her firm grip and read on. "You are able to maintain a good balance between the physical and emotional sides that accounts for your warm and generous disposition…" she raised both eyebrows. "I think your lines are misleading. Well… that last part at least."

Inuyasha snatched back his hand quickly, regarding it like a foreign body part. "So you see nothing wrong with it?" He hoped the deep light given off by the dwindling fire was enough to hide his blush.

"Apart from the fact that according to your hand you should be a kind and generous person with romantic tendencies…? Nothing." Kaede told him.

"Ok then." Inuyasha contemplated for a moment before getting to his feet and heading for the straw-weave blind that covered the doorway.

"Where are you going at this hour?" Kaede asked pointedly. The rest of his companions were asleep, there was nothing outside for him to do.

"I'm going to fetch Kagome back." He answered, equally as blunt.

"She'll be sleeping."

"Sleeping people wake up." He shrugged and pushed past the blind to go outside.

Kaede shook her head slightly. "Fool." She muttered to herself as she went about extinguishing the fire for the night before turning in to bed.

~~~~~

Kagome was very much asleep when Inuyasha arrived outside her window. The ground floor provided enough of a roof ledge to stand on and look into her bedroom…

Between the semi-drawn curtains he could see the only light in the room came from a glowing torch of sorts that sat on her desk. She must have forgotten to turn it off. She also must have forgotten to have gotten to her bed as well. He could see her limp form slumped against the desk under the mild light of her lamp, her back rising and falling ever so slightly as she breathed evenly in her sleep.

He could probably bang on the glass now, wake her up, and demand an explanation about her sudden disappearance. But a slightly gentler side of him that only ever seemed to surface in his quiet moments (or on his palm) decided against it. Instead he quietly jammed his claws under the wooden rim of the window and slid it upwards.

The curtains fluttered soundlessly on either side of him as he dropped down from the ledge into her room. The mats on the floor covered any sound his feet made when they hit the floor. Just in case the gentle breeze was enough to rouse her from sleep he shut the window again.

Kagome slept on, a single strand of hair shifting restlessly across her cheek as her slow breathing caught it. Before he realised what he was doing he was beside her and tucking that stray lock back with the rest. She remained in her dream world, unaware of his presence.

Inuyasha watched her for a moment before deciding that she would probably get a bad back tomorrow if she carried on sleeping in that hunched position. Bad back meant slow travelling. Slow travelling meant delays. Delays meant the Shikon, Naraku and Kikyo were further away from being resolved.

So as gently as hanyou-ly possible, he scooped his arms under her. One arm sliding behind her knees, the other just below her shoulders. Miraculously she didn't wake, even when her head lolled back with nothing to support it. He took her over to the bed and laid her out on the soft covers.

Her bed was the one object in the entire room that smelled purely of Kagome. Sure he clothing smelled very Kagome-ish. But the bed held deeper scents than that of her daily perfume, clean clothes and soapy smelling hair. It held deeper secrets too…

Simply by lying down beside her he caught old, but sweet aromas of arousal. Distant now… but he knew that at one point or another she had lain on this very bed writhing in self-induced ecstasy.

Just the image of Kagome performing such acts was enough to cause a stirring in his blood. Maybe Kaede was right… he was easily aroused by his own desires, or more simply by his mere thoughts. He never bothered to deny himself those kind of thoughts - he would only be lying to himself if he did. Besides, no one but himself saw the things his mind's eye saw. No one knew the kind of thoughts he harboured when Kagome slid her supple legs around his waist and locked her arms around his shoulders to ride on his back…

No one knew of the plans he made whenever Kouga turned up… plans to ensure that Kagome could never be touched or claimed by anyone other than him.

If he tried to ignore those thoughts he would be in a constant state of denial… as it was he was pretty much in a constant state of arousal whenever Kagome sat too close or 'innocently' flashed a little of the skin her short kimono tried to hide.

But these probably weren't the kind of thoughts he should be having when he was alone with the girl, in a darkened room with no one due to interrupt for hours…

His eyes roamed over her face, taking in her parted lips. They were soft and full, pink and pale in her sleepy state. Long lashes rested delicately, barely brushing her cheeks. He travelled further down, gaze sliding along the slim column of her neck that elegantly tapered off to strong, unyielding shoulders. Feminine to a T.

His fingers travelled lightly across the smooth line of her collar bone, skimming across the small dip in the centre then further down over the swell of her breast… such a shame that her rumpled shirt blocked any further skin contact at that point.

But how many times had he dreamt and fantasised of startling her by grabbing her arms and descending his mouth onto her throat. Would she moan in pleasure? Squeak in surprise? Slap him, sit him and never speak to him again? For fear of the latter reaction he kept his hands to himself…

But she was asleep now.

What she didn't know wouldn't hurt her…

His hand paused against the curve of her hip as he regarded her expression. She was definitely asleep. Her breathing deep and even and a slight flicker of movement behind her eyelids told him she was dreaming.

Cautiously he smoothed his hand up towards that rumpled shirt, running a finger over the small black buttons that kept the strained material clasped shut over her chest. He wondered at his gall… but in the end his desire to see more of Kagome than he'd ever seen before was enough to push his good conscience aside. Sure he had seen her naked a couple of times… but only for split seconds. And while those images were practically ingrained on his memory he had never gotten the full chance to admire her, risk-free of her sits.

The buttons popped free with only a little bit of convincing from Inuyasha. He stopped dead and held his breath for a moment, waiting for Kagome's eyes to pop open and her scream of 'Pervert!' But nothing came…

He relaxed slightly and lowered his gaze to her bared chest. She was beautiful… if he'd thought her lips were full and pert, they were nothing compared to her breasts. Unfortunately they were bound tightly by some form of clothing or another - something he didn't dare touch in case he couldn't figure out how to put back together before she woke. He settled for running his hand over the rounded tops of the breasts before closing his hand over one. He was mildly surprised at how warm the flesh felt against his cool palm and he kneaded it gently more in awe and wonder than anything else.

Kagome stirred slightly, shifting in her sleep. But she gave no groan of pleasure that he'd hoped for… she didn't wake either. He took that as a good sign. Her lack of reaction emboldened him to try something more daring…

Removing his hand from her chest he lowered it to the red, pleated skirt at her waist. He shifted closer, moving his head closer to her shoulder while his thigh brushed hers. His hand flipped under the flimsy skirt and rested on her thigh for a moment, marvelling at the smoothness of her skin compared to his. Everything about Kagome was soft and tender… especially her body.

He moved his hand again, moving further up until he came to the apex of her thighs. The material of her underwear denied him further access… but he didn't want to challenge that barrier. There were some things he couldn't bring himself to do…

While she slept at least…

So he settled for gently running two fingers across the thin material, probing…

He must have done something, for at that moment Kagome's body suddenly clenched and her breathing pitched higher. He froze, paranoid that he'd woken her and earned himself a lift-time supply of sits… but she calmed and her body relaxed, although her breathing remained slightly shallower.

Intrigued by her reaction, and more than a little appreciative, he tried again. Gently pushing against her centre in search of that place that made her tense. He found it with little difficultly and found Kagome shifting restlessly, breathing becoming choppy as a grimace came upon her face.

It seemed that the physical contact was manifesting in her dreams.

Now was probably a good time to end it and leave in peace with no one any the wiser… but he didn't. Kagome's reactions was creating funny feelings that ran through his body in warm waves, pooling in his groin and turning that dwindling arousal into a full-on erection. His own breathing was coming a little choppy and he couldn't help himself when he eased himself closer to her till his leg completely overlapped hers and he could rest his aching arousal against her hip.

His fingers played over her centre again and Kagome writhed, mouth opening to gasp aloud. She still slept, but the movement of her hips played havoc with his hazed senses. Helpless, and a mere slave to his own pleasures, he rubbed himself against her hip. It was easy in such a detached state of mind to pretend that she willing and awake and responding to pleasure he was giving her… he wanted her to wrap her arms around him and welcome him into an embrace…

He bit back a groan as Kagome's legs spread slightly, pushing against his near-painful erection. He either had to rip those panties off her now and ride out the pleasure his body ached for or leave right then and take care of himself without any repercussions.

For one terrible moment he was torn for what to do.

But slowly he pulled his hand out from under her skirt and rolled silently away from her. Kagome's breathing took a moment to return to normal, and her body began relaxing. Her head rolled to the side…

Inuyasha wasn't calmed so easily. He'd unwittingly ignited something he shouldn't have and now he was going to pay the price.

"Fuck it…" he muttered angrily as he fumbled carefully with Kagome's shirt, trying to fasten it before he came right then and there in his pants.

It was an excruciating task to complete but the minute the last button was through the hole he was off the bed and through the window in an eye blink. He didn't spare himself the time to shut the window after him. He just dived straight off the roof and ran for the well house… a difficult thing to do when he was sporting the most uncomfortable hard-on of his life.

He shut the door hurriedly after him and leant against it, debating if he was safe. The moment he went through that well there was always the risk that one of his companions (or one of his enemies) would find him in his weaker moment.

Here in Kagome's time was probably the safest place to be….

It would have to do, he couldn't stand the discomfort much longer. He didn't like it but he slid to the floor and began to unfasten his pants…

~~~

Kagome waited until she was sure he was gone… Everything was quiet and the curtains flapped quietly in the breeze. He was definitely gone…

Slowly she opened her eyes and stared at the open window in wonderment. She clasped a hand over her mouth, not sure she trusted herself not to make some odd sound in shock. Her body was still on fire… a trail of burning skin seemed to mark the path of his hand across her crotch.

She couldn't believe she'd just lain there and taken it…

Everything inside her had told her to stop him, to sit up and scream 'Pervert!' at him. But she'd held out… wondering what would happen if she let him touch her a little bit longer, to grind himself against her hip a little bit more. Her body had yearned to reach out and embrace what he was offering but the sane part of her knew that he was only doing it because she was asleep and would scare him off otherwise…

But she felt strangely good about herself.

Did Inuyasha really see her that way? As an object of desire? She stifled a smile with her hand and rolled over, clenching her thighs to ignore that ache between them. She now had a powerful hand… she knew something he didn't.

She knew he didn't know she knew he wanted her.

Now how was she going to use this to her advantage? Or more importantly - how was she going to face him tomorrow knowing what she knew now?

>TBC<