InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Divine ❯ Chapter Three ( Chapter 3 )

A/N: Thank you for all the reviews so far guys! I'm lovin' the feedback, so here's the newest chapter!

Divine

Chapter Three

"Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies."

-Aristotle

Besides the dull pulsing pain in her ankle, there was at least one advantage to being injured…

No one wanted to leave you alone.

"Are you sure you don't want my lollipop, Kagome?" Shippo asked with large, too-bright eyes. From the way he was looking at her, anyone would think that Kagome was on her death bed.

"No, Shippo, I got them for you," she reminded him. "I just need to rest my foot for a while and I'll be fine."

"Do you want me to fluff your cushion, Kagome-chan?" Sango asked next, indicating the feather-stuffed pillow that Kagome was leaning her foot against.

"No thanks, I'll be fine." Kagome waved her off.

"Kagome-sama." Miroku's turn came next. "Do you wish me to massage your back - I hear it-"

"I'll be fine!" Kagome cut him off abruptly. After all, there was no doubt in her mind about where those crafty hands would wonder if she permitted them to get any closer than they were now.

Despite having one of their members injured, the group had decided to move off to continue their journey the next morning. Kagome had once more exchanged her pink bicycle for her red hanyou, and so far their progress hadn't been hindered all that much. Inuyasha's periodic complaints about hauling her weight around had been minimal for a change… perhaps because Kagome had already pointed out that the reason she was injured was because he had failed to catch her fall.

Not that she wanted to think that she needed Inuyasha every time she tripped or had trouble opening a jar of preserves. But anything to keep him from whining…

Miroku had been the one to suggest that they take a rest and have a midday meal. This was where they were now; sitting beside the well-traveled road on a grassy verge beside the forest.

All was peaceful. All was well. And Kagome's virginity was still intact. So far so good.

Actually, it was surprisingly hard to fall victim to crazy fortunes when you were in the constant company of several experienced fighters. Things were starting to look up for Kagome. So far, Inuyasha hadn't even so much as twitched to indicate anything suspicious… perhaps Kagome really would survive a whole week without getting laid?

Well, she'd survived fifteen years by herself, surely three more days wouldn't be so hard?

Tell that to fate.

"Inuyasha, do you want some ramen?" Kagome called as she unpacked the necessary objects from her bag.

"If it's going…" he shrugged, although she could tell by the way that he shuffled closer that he was more than apathetic when it came to ramen. Or any other food for that matter. She smiled and passed him the sealed cup of dry noodles. "Hold onto that while I heat the water."

He rattled the package curiously while Kagome hopped to her feet, treading very lightly on her injured ankle, and hobbled towards the fire and the flask of water that they'd collected from Kaede's village earlier.

That's when the trouble hit - or rather - the incredibly bad smell hit.

"Oh god," Kagome gagged a little and clapped a hand over her nose. "What the hell is that smell?!"

"It wasn't me." Shippo said instinctively, darting his shifty eyes left and right.

Miroku and Sango just blinked in confusion. "What smell-?" But as soon as the monk said it, he immediately broke off and covered his nose and mouth with the large sleeve of his robe.

"That's putrid!" Sango gasped, scrambling for her exterminator mask.

"Smells like rotting stuff…" Kagome couldn't seem to keep the smell from the invading her sense, no matter how she pinched her nose. She turned to look at the one person whose nose would be able to sort this dilemma out. "Inuyasha, what is this… um… uh… Inuyasha?"

He had keeled over backwards with his claws still firmly clamped over his pot of ramen. Even in a state of unconsciousness, his protective instincts knew their priority.

Kagome limped over quickly. "Inuyasha!" she crouched down to take him by the shoulders. "Inuyasha - wake up!"

The smell was only getting stronger… and with it, intermittent little vibrations in the ground. Kagome lifted her chin as she had a very Jurassic Park like moment. The leaves on the trees beside them were quivering gently in time to a steady beat in the distance.

Thump… thump… crunch… thud… thump… thump…

"Something's coming through the trees." Kagome suddenly gasped and began looking around for her bow and arrows. Sango was already pulling her boomerang onto her back while Miroku was readying his staff and ofuda charms. At last, Kagome spotted her weapon of choice propped up against a moss-covered boulder towards the tree-line.

Biting down on her lip to keep from noticing the pain in her ankle, she all but ran towards the bow. She snatched them up just in time for the densely packed trees in front of her to swing apart like a flimsy curtain and out stepped the most the most wretched creature she'd ever seen. Besides her obese cat, of course.

Now, Kagome wasn't often the type of girl that would say hurtful things to others… but there were times when she just couldn't help it.

"Oh dear god!" she cried, covering her nose again in a desperate attempt to stay conscious. "I think I'm going to be sick!"

Eighteen foot of rotting demon flesh. What could be worse? Possibly the fact that it was only standing a meter away from Kagome at the time. Shippo had already lost his dinner, while Sango and Miroku stood warily, braced for action, not too far behind Kagome.

"You… have shards…" the monster wheezed.

"No… no… that's… someone else you're looking for…" Kagome tried to edge back a little, cringing at the stench.

"You…"

"No really, we don't have any shards." Anything to stall for time now. Her fingers fumbled with an arrow as she tried to string it discreetly… her pained limp was going to slow down any hasty exit she tried to make so she needed to be ready to fight.

"Give them… to me!!" One vile, oversized hand began reaching for her. Clumps of mud, flesh and what looked like parasites, dripped down.

Kagome squeaked and stumbled back a step or two. The ogre's hand missed catching the vial of shards strung around her neck.

Apparently, he was just as slow as he was gross.

"I-I'm warning you!" Kagome drew the arrow and aimed high, straight for the monster's chest - the largest target. "If you don't back off now, you'll be sorry!"

"We'll all be sorry." Shippo muttered from the rock he was hiding behind. But he was right, if that thing died and its body parts splattered down on everyone and everything (as they tended to do), Kagome wasn't sure she could live with the smell.

Inuyasha sure couldn't.

"Give…" the monosyllabic creature grated out and began to reach for Kagome again.

She had no choice.

She released the arrow.

Scenario #3: The Hot Spring

They were forced to move camp, one way or another. There was just no way that Inuyasha would wake up around the stench of scattered corpse, so there was no other choice. Kagome hobbled after the group, at a distance, to spare them all the stench she was currently emitting.

As Miroku had commented, it was never bright to make particularly smelly and unsightly enemies explode… especially when you're standing within "splatter" range.

It was even worse that Inuyasha was too unconscious to carry Kagome… as a result she was putting an unnecessary strain on her foot. Even Kirara didn't want to give Kagome a ride. The cat was also turning her nose up at the smell, and favored carrying Inuyasha instead.

But luckily for Kagome, they only walked for a quarter of an hour before they decided on another campsite.

And even more luckily…

"I do believe there is a hot spring through those trees." Miroku declared. "What a delightful surprise… considering how actually rare it is to find hot springs in this country… yet we always seem to come across one!"

"Wonderful." Sango set down her boomerang. "Kagome-chan, I mean this in the nicest possible way. Go take a bath. Quickly."

If I didn't know any better, I would have thought you guys deliberately led me here. She wasn't offended all that much… her own stink was pretty unbearable.

"Fine, I'll just take my supplies then." The supplies that Miroku had been carrying. The monk saw her coming, put down the bag hastily and backed away quickly to give her room.

Kagome just rolled her eyes. She snatched the bag up and stalked - with a limp - into the trees.

Fine. She'd just bathe alone and…

Bathe… alone…?

Suddenly Kagome swiveled awkwardly and marched right back towards the others. They all looked horrified, but it was only Sango that Kagome was aiming for. Without giving the exterminator time to run, Kagome grabbed her by the wrist and began dragging her in the direction of the hot spring.

"Kagome-chan!" Sango was fairly indignant and very unhappy at being handled with dirty hands.

"I just want some company." Translation: I need female company to keep away male company. "Miroku - keep an eye on Inuyasha."

Miroku sighed under his breath as he watched the two girls disappear into the trees. "And where shall I keep the other one?"

"Kagome-chan… is it me or are you a little on edge these days?" Sango asked through a pinched nose as she watched her younger friend from the bank beside the hot spring. She would have taken the opportunity to join her… but really, the water was very polluted now that Kagome was splashing about in there.

"On edge?" Kagome twitched. "I don't know what you're talking about! On edge… hah! I've never been more relaxed in my - what was that?!"

Sango glanced lazily in the direction of the bush that had rustled. Out crept a squirrel. "Just a rodent." She reassured the girl as aforementioned rodent caught wind of Kagome and turned tail to run back into the forest.

"Good… good…" Kagome sank back down into the water and worked hard to scrub off the grime on her skin and clothes.

Sango blinked at her. "Did something happen between you and Inuyasha?"

Kagome twitched. "No."

"Kagome-chan, you twitch when you lie, did you know that?"

"I'm not lying." twitched Kagome.

With a sigh, Sango steeled herself and picked up Kagome's soiled skirt that lay on the grass a few feet away. She knelt down by the misty water and began to wash it, using the heat of the water to break down the stains. "You seemed very anxious around him last night."

"When?" Kagome gasped, seemingly simply outraged at the comment.

"When we left you two alone - you couldn't get out of there fast enough." Sango pointed out.

"Well… there was a moth in there with us…" Kagome turned a flushed face back to her school blouse. "You know how I hate moths… and worms… I hate worms too."

But Kagome had to make a conscious effort to relax. She was here with Sango, Inuyasha was unconscious… there was just no way that anything naughty could happen now…

So why did the hairs tingle along the back of neck…?

Maybe she could already sense what Sango was about to say next. "Kagome-chan, do you mind if I go back to camp? It's just that I need to repair a little crack on Hiraikotsu and now is the only time to do it before we're on the move again."

Kagome opened her mouth to protest - no - to plead with Sango to stay and keep her company. But she shut it again quickly when she realised that a cracked Hiraikotsu was a compromise, and the last thing their group needed was to be compromised.

"Sure…" she told the exterminator with a resigned sort of smile. "I'll be ok alone."

As long as no Hanyou's bumbled by…

There was a rather bad smell in the air when Inuyasha began to rise. It brought along an instant headache that made him hold a hand to his brow as he sat up.

"Back among the living again, Inuyasha?" Miroku was poking at a small camp fire with a stick, looking rather miserable. Sango sat opposite him with her boomerang strewn across her lap. She seemed to be busy putting some kind of patch over her weapon.

Shippo was sitting beside the exterminator, alternating the licking of a lollipop with Kirara.

"Where's Kagome?" Inuyasha asked at once.

"Having a bath in the river." Sango said, mistakenly using the wrong word. The wrong word which would cost Kagome dearly…

Inuyasha perked his ears. He could hear the distant sounds of a fast moving river somewhere to his left… undoubtedly that was where Kagome would be washing. But to his other side, he could smell the poignant sulphur of a hot spring.

Now why would Kagome take a bath in a cold river when there was a perfectly good hot spring close by?

But something told Inuyasha not to question this further. At least this meant that he could go and wash his slightly gut-splattered clothes with warm water.

With a grunt, he got to his feet. "I'm going for a wash." He said bluntly to the others who simply nodded and waved without bothering to look up.

And so no one noticed the Hanyou slipping off in the direction of the hot spring…

Repercussions… repercussions… just want kind of negative repercussions would be produced by sex with Inuyasha?

The complete breakdown of Kagome's mental health?

One of Kikyo's homicidal rampages induced by jealousy?

Or maybe it was just a squad of little Inuyasha's and Kagome's running around and causing general mischief?

Kagome chewed her lip as she let the heated water sooth her injured ankle. That last possibility had her hackles raised… as much as she loved the idea of having children, there was no power on this earth that would make her think that now was a good time to have them. She wasn't going to end up as another teenage mother with no husband and hardly any education. When she had her first child she wanted to be happily married with a secure job and a safe home that stayed in one place.

Whether or not Inuyasha would be the father of that child…?

Kagome hadn't figured that out yet.

But perhaps she should have arranged some kind of protection before she'd returned here… just in case fate really did plan to stick it to her.

Whatever the repercussions were, Kagome would try her hardest to dodge them. She had to maintain her distance from Inuyasha… and if they were ever caught alone… she always had the subduing command at her beck and call.

Perhaps she would go through with it in a few months… maybe even a few years… but right now? She didn't feel ready enough…

So why did she get tingles in the pit of her stomach and a flush of excitement whenever she thought about Inuyasha in that way?

A groan escaped her mouth - one of agonized befuddlement. She slipped down into the water, letting it close over her head and paused for a moment or two, letting the last soap suds that she'd missed be washed out of her hair.

With a gasp, she resurfaced and lifted her arms to push back her hair.

She turned to fetch a towel from the bank… but froze as she locked eyes with her hanyou.

Actually, no. Inuyasha was too busy staring at her breasts to notice her gaze.

With a cry, Kagome threw her hands over his chest and dropped straight back down into the water till it was up to her chin. The spell was broken over Inuyasha, and he inhaled sharply as if only just waking up.

Anger and embarrassment flushed through the schoolgirl - enough so that her favorite S word was forming on her lips.

But the subduing word slipped away, like the water running from the tips of her hair.

The danger of the situation had only just hit her…

She needed to get rid of him. Fast.

"What are you doing here?!" she hissed, trying to encompass her expected façade of livid anger.

"What are you doing here?!" Inuyasha's face was probably, if possible, more red than Kagome's.

"Taking a bath! What does it look like I'm doing?! Riding around a pink elephant?!" she snapped. Ok, perhaps this really was a little bit of anger she was feeling…

Inuyasha leapt to his defense. "They told me that you-" He bit off the end of his sentence and threw up his hands in disgust. "Screw it. I came here to wash my clothes and I'm going to wash them, whether you like it or not."

Kagome did not like it. "How dare you intrude on my bath time!"

"Then leave!"

"NO!"

Probably not the wisest decision. Kagome's stubbornness had, once again, overruled her head and heart. She wanted to leave! Why was she letting him goad her into staying? Of course, he wasn't deliberately doing it…

Kagome had to make a grand effort to swallow her pride. "Fine." She said evenly. "Just hand me my towel and I'll go."

Inuyasha's eyes narrowed, and for a moment she tried to figure out what he was thinking. But then he moved forward, snagging her towel off the ground in one sweep and stood on the bank, dangling it for her.

This meant Kagome was going to have to wade into the shallow water to get it…

Resigned, she told him warily, "Don't look."

"Don't plan to." His head turned away, looking peeved.

Normally, Kagome would have misread this look as one of disgust… but she knew better. Not after he'd shown her what he wanted a night or two ago. But still… didn't he even want to sneak a look? Just a small one…?

Kagome waded forward acutely aware that she was stepping out of the frying pan and into the fire. Out of the deep end and into the shallow end, where the water could only helplessly lap around her hips.

Her hands remained clamped over her breasts as she tried to climb onto the bank as gracefully as she could… which was, to say, a very ungraceful experience. She stood beside Inuyasha, carefully watching his eyes to make sure he didn't peek… but at the same time she found herself disappointed when he didn't.

She snatched the towel and wrapped it around her frame, tightly, so that there was no chance of it falling loose. Inuyasha finally seemed to relax and glanced down at her… and Kagome was consoled slightly when his gaze flicked over her wet form before returning quickly to her face.

Kagome smiled and reached out to pat his shoulder. "Thanks."

For what? For giving me my towel? For appreciating my body? For not jumping my bones the minute you saw me?

Inuyasha just shrugged, as if it was nothing at all. But Kagome could still see the pink dusting on his cheeks, and the way his eyes remained carefully fixed on some distant object.

Kagome let her hand drop back to her side.

But not before her fingertips caught on the rosary, tugging it unintentionally.

The clasp snapped.

The bead necklace fell with a thump onto the damp grass.

Both hanyou and schoolgirl looked at it in dumb surprise.

Kagome may have looked calm and vaguely interested in the fallen rosary, but her mind was a spinning hurricane of thoughts. Images of the first time she's released Inuyasha from a strong binding spell came rushing back to batter her mind's eye, and at any moment she expected him to laugh that same triumphant laugh…

…and then jump her bones.

Her gaze jerked to Inuyasha, waiting for the expected reaction. Teenage motherhood, here I come…

But all he said was, "Oops."

Oops?!

Kagome watched in stupefied disbelief as Inuyasha reached down, picked up the necklace and proceeded to hang it back around his neck, the same way Kagome would do had she dropped an earring.

The clasp snapped back into place as Kagome lifted her hand, like a student asking permission to speak in class. "Uh… Inuyasha…?"

He froze.

Kagome froze.

"Shit!!"

"Sit!"

"Gyack!"

Splash!

Kagome clapped a hand over her mouth as she watched her hanyou disappear in a tumble of red and white into the hot spring. "I can't believe you just did that!" she cried after him.

Only the bubbles responded to her.

"Inuyasha?"

More bubbles.

"Inuyasha!"

Regardless of the fact that her towel was slipping quite dangerously now, Kagome ploughed straight into the water and began groping around for the fallen boy. For a moment she thought she had a handful of his hair, but when she pulled it up, she discovered it was only a rock with weeds growing on it. She resumed her efforts and was soon rewarded when her hands found his haori. Kagome pulled him up as quickly as she could.

"No!" Inuyasha gasped as he surfaced. Kagome held his head to keep him from sinking again. "Just let me drown!" He gripped her wrists to try and get her to release him.

"Don't be stupid!" she snapped angrily. "That was your own fault!"

"Don't rub it in!" But then he seemed to remember something. "Why did you sit me?!"

"Because!" But that wasn't a good enough answer. "Because I wanted to see if I still could!"

"Argh!" Inuyasha growled angrily. "Why is it that fate is out to get me?!"

Out to get you?! Kagome thought angrily. Try being Kagome Higurashi for a weekend, then you'll know injustice!

That thought was enough to remind her of her proprieties. Suddenly, she realised that her towel had long since slipped away through the water and here she was, holding Inuyasha's head level with her torso.

Inuyasha realised this too.

Kagome watched as he gained his footing, and rose to his feet before her. The water only came up to his waist, but for Kagome, it reached all the way to the undersides of her breasts. This protected her in no way from prying eyes… but her hands didn't seem interested in covering herself up…

Probably because Inuyasha was holding them.

She knew he was looking at her - all of her - but she knew his gaze was focused mainly on her eyes… even though she couldn't seem to bring her own gaze above his collarbone. She dared a glimpse up at his face and what she saw there had her knees knocking under the water.

Pure adoration… and a lost kind of longing.

Kagome had to look away again, but she could feel herself leaning towards him, the same way he was leaning into her. His hands left her wrists and moved up to touch lightly against her shoulders…

Her chin lifted.

His head lowered.

A pair of warm, moist lips pressed against her temple, and Kagome felt her eyes slide close and she reveled in that simple contact. It felt so nice… so tender… and it made her heart squeeze.

Between the lips that traveled down her cheek, and the hands that clasped loosely against her shoulders, Kagome felt herself being pulled into the warmth that Inuyasha emitted. It surrounded her, guarded her, cherished her.

And when those lips finally pressed against hers, she found herself procrastinating. She was pushing the palm-reading away, telling herself that this was ok.

This is nice, I can handle this.

One of Inuyasha's hands moved to cradle the back of her head, while the other moved to rest against her waist.

This feels good. I can allow this.

She didn't want the warm feeling to end. Her fingers twisted into the wet material of Inuyasha's haori as her breathing grew choppier and shallow, matching his. The kiss was growing intense.

This isn't too bad. I don't need to stop this.

Inuyasha's hand slipped further under the water, moving from her waist to her hip, then to her thigh. Then, with very little warning, the hand slipped between her legs. Kagome had to break away from the kiss with a gasp of mixed shock, sudden arousal, and blatant embarrassment.

… wait… that's too far…

"W-Wait - Inuyasha - hold on!" she pushed against his arms.

He pulled back quickly. "What?" he asked quickly, guardedly, as if he hadn't been doing anything even remotely sexual.

She struggled to regain her momentum. "I don't think-"

Sango's voice from nearby cut her off. "Kagome-chan!" Footsteps were drawing very near.

Kagome's hands flew to cover herself as she cast around desperately for her lost towel while Inuyasha did the same - only looking for a quick exit instead.

There! Kagome snagged the towel from where it had drifted to the bank, and jammed it around herself. She looked up, hearing the telltale crash of foliage that informed her Sango was only a few metres away. She whirled to Inuyasha. "Sit!!" she hissed as quietly as she could.

Inuyasha vanished under the water with only a stream of bubbles to mark his disappearance - just as Sango arrived.

The exterminator looked at the bubbles, then looked at Kagome with an eyebrow raised.

Kagome instantly caught her meaning. "It's a hot spring! Of course there are bubbles - they're not mine!"

Sango chuckled. "No, just thought you might be hiding a man down there."

Kagome meekly averted her gaze.

"I just remembered that I might had told misinformed Inuyasha about where you were," Sango continued obliviously. "I thought he might have wandered down here by accident."

"Oh, no. Inuyasha's not here." Kagome said quickly, waving a hand around. "See?"

A few bubbles trickled up beside her.

"Are you sure?" Sango said in a manner that suggested Inuyasha may have not been all that unlike Miroku.

"Uh… let's see…" Kagome raised her voice. "SIT!"

Nothing. Except, maybe a few more bubbles.

"Nope, not here!" she told her friend cheerfully. "You can go now - I know the smell is probably bothering you!"

"Oh, that's gone, I think." Sango shrugged and smiled at her. "So, are you finished up?"

"Oh… yes, I am." Kagome glanced at the bubbles before starting to wade towards the bank, shakily. She was well aware that she had only just narrowly avoided completing her assigned fate. "I'll come back to camp with you." Anything to get out of the 'risqué scenario' - as she was now calling all her moments alone with Inuyasha.

Kagome quickly dried off with her secondary, emergency towel, then shucked into her uniform and quickly gathered her things. "Let's go!" she said loudly, for everyone's benefit, and dragged Sango off in the direction of their makeshift camp.

Only a few moments after the two girls had disappeared into the trees, a rather bedraggled hanyou burst out of the surface of the tranquil spring. He greedily gulped in the breathable, blessed air and draped himself over the nearest rock.

Perfect. Now, not only did he have the world's most uncomfortably raging hard-on, but he was now doubly hot and bothered for his little dip under the water for… three… whole… goddamned… minutes!!!

This would probably take a whole afternoon in that frigidly cold river to fix the problem.

>TBC<