InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Drenched, Frozen, Warmed ❯ The Talks: Part 1 ( Chapter 4 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Drenched, Frozen, Warmed
By: Lilin's Gal
Disclaimer: I don't own anything, blah, blah, blah
Inu Yasha get stranded in the wild. What ever shall become of them? And now that they have returned to the village, how will they deal with new situations?

A/N: Wow. I'm sorry about how long this has taken. School was rough and I lost the notebook this was written in, but no classes this summer = time to write.
to everyone who reviewed and encouraged me to continue.****************************************************************** ******



It took a moment to for Kagome's eyes to adjust to the lack of light. Before she could see everything, Shippo had launched himself into her arms, almost knocking her off of her feet. "Kagome! I'm so glad your back. It's been so boring here without you. Sango's been getting better and Keade's been taking care of villagers but all Miroku's been doing os bugging the village girls and-"
Kagome clamped a hand down over his mouth before he could keep on talking. "I missed you too Shippo."
Happy that she was home, he snuggled into her neck for a moment, then pulled back and studied her for a moment. He then hopped onto Inu Yasha and did the same, jumping away before the hanyou could react. Miroku was rubbing away a hand print from his face and Keade was getting bowls of soup around, so neither of them noticed the quick actions of the kit, but Sango saw the whole event, including the slight blush on Kagome's face. Before she could say anything though, Kagome had grabbed the bowl of soup and hurriedly set into it.
"Thank you, Lady Keade. I've been so hungry!"
"You hungry?!" Inu Yasha cried in disbelief while grabbing his own bowl . "I was the one doing all the running!"
"Yah, but you had more of the ramen last night," she said defensively. "Plus, I thought demons didn't need as much food as a weak human."
"Feh," he grunted sitting on the floor and digging into his soup. "That doesn't mean I don't feel hungry, wench."
"I take it that it wasn't an easy trip, then?" Miroku sighed from the opposite side of the fire pit. Kagome paused mid bite before shooting a side-long glance at Inu Yasha.
"Well, we couldn't catch up with demon we were after. Then we ran out of supplies when we hit an unexpected wasteland."
"So you just came back?" Sango asked carefully, studying both of the returned travelers. The tension that had left their bodies when they began to eat had returned and a blush was slowly creeping up Kagome's neck.
"Yes, we just came back," Inu Yasha snapped. "Do you have a suggestion on what we should have done?"
Sango shook her head quickly and went back to her soup. Kagome sighed before glaring at Inu Yahsa. "Don't mind him, he's just tired... we're both tired. It was a long trip."
They all finished their dinners in silence except Shippo, who chatted mindlessly, filling in a slightly awkward silence. After they finished eating Sango approached Kagome. "How about we go to the hot springs, you look like you need to relax a bit."
"Ok," she replied cheerfully and gathered her bath supplies.
"Ladies I will accompany you to make sure that you are not disturbed," but before the monk could even stand up, Inu Yasha grabbed the back of his robe and dragged him back to the ground.
"No way, you're staying here." Inu Yasha stated roughly before helping himself to a second bowl of soup.
"Thank you, Inu Yasha," Kagome called softly while looking at her feet. "We'll be back soon."

After the girls left, Inu Yasha leapt up on to the roof of Keade's hut. He didn't really think about anything in particular, mostly he was just enjoying the calmness of the moment. 'Probally wont last for long.' Ironically enough a few minutes later he saw Shippo exit the hut. 'Shit. I need to clear up a few things with him before he gets any stupid ideas.' "Oy, runt! Get up here!"
"But Inu Yasha," he whined, "It's too high. How am I supposed to get up there?"
The hanyou just rolled his eyes and pointed to the tree that grew next to the building. 'Of course the little brat's got to make this ten times harder than it needs to be. I just to get this over with...' Once he had climbed the tree Shippo stood on the far edge of the roof, hesitant to come any closer to Inu Yasha. "Get over here, we need to talk about a few things and I'm not about to yell this so the entire village to hear."
He waited until the young demon was directly in front of him before he started to talk. "I know what your thinking, runt. You can tell that something happened between Kagome and I. And I know that you think of Kagome as your new mother..."
"I wasn't going to tell anyone, Inu Yasha, I swear!" Shippos squeaked out in a panic.
"It's not about that!" Inu Yasha snarled back at him. He couldn't ignore the way the boy was cowering before him, and took a deep breath, trying to calm down. "This is not about you telling or not. This is about me not being your father."
'Shit, I didn't mean to be that blunt with the kid. If he starts to cry...' "Come on now, this has nothing to do with you. Kagome and I... can't happen. That's just the way it is. Go on acting like she's your mama. She loves it, but I can't be any part of this."
Quickly, before Shippo could say anything, he leapt off the roof and into the woods. Speeding away as fast as he was, he still couldn't ignore the last thing Shippo yelled, "Why can't anything happen?"

The girls were at the hot springs and Sango was doing her best to ignore the fading, finger-print shaped bruises on Kagome's hips. She was also trying to ignore the younger girls nervous twittering, eyes that kept darting to the tree-line and the perpetual blush that stained her cheeks. 'If Kagome wants to talk, I'll be here. Until then I'll just ignore my bath and resist the urge to smack some sense into her.'
For quite a while they both sat in a comfortable silence as Kagome tried to form a starting question in her head. Suddenly a light came on in her eyes and she turned slightly to Sango. "Your village knew a lot about demons, right? and you had to learn all that information as well?"
"Of course Kagome, we did learn more about their deaths than their lives, but we did know some useful information."
"And do you know anything about inu-demons?" Sango had a pretty good idea where this conversation was going, but for her friends sake, she feigned ignorance.
"Oh, I know bits of info; birth rites, death rites, mating rituals..." she paused for a second, quite aware of the blush on Kagome's face flaring up. Kagome looked over and caught the knowing look on her friends face and gave up the charade. Turning to face the older girl, she squared her shoulders and looked her directly in the eyes. "Two nights ago, Inu Yasha and I... we..."
All confidence suddenly leaving her body as soon as she had gained it, she sank back into the water and started mumbling.
"He made you his mate?" Sango ventured carefully.
"No! He didn't!" Kagome said, suddenly angry with him and the entire situation, not to mention confused. "Why didn't he make me his mate? We... slept together, but he wont.... He said it's not because I'm too weak ad it's not because I'm too young, but he wont say why!"
Kagome suddenly threw her arms around Sango, hugging her tight. "Shh... it's ok Kagome. Demons and all their rituals are just too confusing sometimes. Maybe Inu Yasha just doesn't know what he wants yet."
"What do you mean?" Kagome asked while whipping away tears she didn't realize she had been crying.
"Well, inus are usually either polygamous and the male will take lots of females as mates through out their lives or they are completely monogamous and will never mate with another woman.
"Why such a difference?" the younger girl questioned, her eyes wide in confusion.
"I don't know," Sango replied regretfully.

While the girls were talking Inu Yasha was off on his own thinking. Shippo's last words were eating away at his nerves and every doubt he had about denying to mate was coming to the surface. 'She isn't too young, but her mother would kill me the minute she found out. And she can certainly hold her own better than most human girls. I don't know what to do.'
Durning all this another thought ran through his head, but he needed to talk to Shippo. 'Great, the kid's pissed at me and of course he's the only one who can help.' Taking a deep breath he found Shippo's scent and bound off in the proper direction. Sneaking up on the little demon, he grabbed him by the tail before he could run off. "Hey, how specifically did Kagome's smell change? What smelled different?"
"Huh? It wasn't any different."
"Then how did you know that we..." Inu Yasha trailed off embarrassed, rubbing the back of his neck unconsciously.
"Her scent wasn't any different, it was just that your's was all over her too," he said with an innocence that made Inu Yasha nervous.
"Just how much do you know about mating, Shippo?" The younger demon paused for a moment, surprised to be addressed by his name.
"I know enough I suppose," he eyed Inu Yasha suspiciously. "Why are you asking?"
Avoiding his question, Inu Yasha countered with his own. "You know that if a bitch is left unmarked, her scent will attract a different mate, right?"
"Yah."
"Then why isn't her's any different?" he asked, resting his chin in his hands.
"You didn't mark her, you baka?!" Inu Yasha started at the sudden shout.
"I can't do that yet, there are too many consequences!" he glared back at the young kit.
"Not even a promissory marking?"
"You should know, runt, that even that could cause problems."
"Ok, ok. So she's not marked, but her scents not any different," Shippo stated.
"But it is, just not to anyone else," he sighed looking off into the forest. " It's stronger, I can smell her from here. It's almost like it's wrapping around me, trying too pull me to her."
"Well, maybe it's because she only wants you," the younger demons said thoughtfully. "Usually if there isn't a marking it's because the male isn't considered strong enough. But you save Kagome's life all the time. I'm sure Kagome think's your strong enough."
This was all true and usually it wasn't the male that refused a mark. 'Well, if she's only attracting me more than normal then it's one less thing for me to worry about. Time to find Kagome I guess...'