InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Expectation ❯ Chapter 9
Part 9
"Houshi-samaaa…" Sango ground out in warning as Miroku rested his head against the back of her shoulder. Not two days, not two days had they been out patrolling and already the licentious monk was pushing his luck. She should have realized that his promise to put a reign on this sort of behavior for the duration of their journey would eventually prove too much for him, but not forty-eight hours in… That was a new low. Not that she thought for a second that he'd be so decent as to suffer any shame for having broken his oath. Knowing him, he was probably in the middle of congratulating himself for having lasted so long! If both of her hands hadn't been fisted tightly in Kirara's thick neck fur at that moment, she would have been tempted to clobber some humility into him, even if they were flying over a particularly rocky area at that moment. Unfortunately, as was always the case, she had to be the one to make the mature decision. While a broken wrist or blunt head trauma might make her feel temporarily vindicated, it wouldn't improve their already weakened chances of finding and retrieving any shikon shards without Kagome-chan or Inuyasha.
Of course, it was becoming increasingly difficult to keep things in perspective the longer his head remained on her shoulder. To make matters worse, his hands, still clenching the staff that was braced across the front of her body, had slipped steadily downward until they were now almost resting upon her thighs.
"You…" she snarled, one hand releasing its hold on Kirara's mane as she shifted halfway around, preparing to strike. Yet, as the blow was about to be delivered, the sound of soft snoring caught her ear.
"Houshi-sama?" she asked, dropping her hand uncertainly. She received no response from the monk, and after a few minutes in which they flew on in unremitting silence, she began to notice the slow rise and fall of his body against her back.
He hadn't been pressing his advantage; he'd fallen asleep.
She considered waking him for a moment, but this idea was met with the startling image of him coming around too abruptly and falling headfirst onto the rocks below. It was strange how such a thought could change from pleasing to horrifying in a matter of seconds, all contingent upon whether or not she believed he was trying to grope her at the time. Since he hadn't done anything to deserve it this time around, she'd feel truly awful were anything bad to happen to him. They'd have to stop for today, she decided, carefully guided Kirara down into a small, sheltered grove of trees.
"Houshi-sama." she prodded softly once they had landed, reaching back behind her to grip one of his shoulders and gently shake him. As expected, Miroku startled awake, dropping his staff in surprise and nearly toppling off the back of Kirara. Sango silently thanked the gods that she'd had enough foresite to land before waking him. He was completely disoriented, his eyes impossibly wide as he looked about frantically, trying to piece together what had happened. He looked so unlike his usual, unflappable self that she might have chuckled, had she been less annoyed. It took him a few moments to fully recover from his shock, but once he had, he gave her an apologetic smile.
"It would appear that I fell asleep." he said contritely.
"Yes, that you did. Is this going to be a regular occurrence, Houshi-sama? I would like to think that you're taking this search a bit more seriously than that." Sango couldn't seem to keep the accusatory tone from creeping into her voice. He had caused her to worry about him. She didn't like it; didn't like the way it made her feel. She was almost disturbingly relieved to see him sitting there, completely unharmed, and that in itself was unsettling.
"My dear Sango, the sky is light and it is almost dawn. Shouldn't we have stopped before now?" he replied, fighting to keep his tone light and easy in an effort to hide the fact that he was feeling more than slightly perturbed by her rather harsh and unfair reaction to his little nap.
"My dear Houshi-sama," she answered mockingly, arms akimbo and planted firmly on either hip. "It's not yet morning and we are supposed to be making up for several months' lost time. I would think that you, of all people, would be anxious to cover as much ground as possible before daybreak."
Miroku found his years spent training for the brotherhood to be immensely beneficial within those next few moments. He could see plainly that he had rattled her somehow, and that she was looking for a reason, any reason to fight him, but he'd be damned if he would be that man. He didn't want to be what she expected of him, at least not the boorish things. So rather than eagerly rising to the bait as she was anticipating, he raked his fingers through his hair and offered up a sheepish grin.
"You have been pushing us very hard the last two nights, Sango. Both Kirara and I, but also yourself. Do I flatter myself in imagining that it is because you are concerned for me?"
Sango turned immediately from his piercing blue eyes. There was a sudden, alarming tightness within her chest, and it had become very difficult to breath.
"You're a fool if you aren't concerned." she was able to manage once she had escaped his gaze and the dreadful feeling of vulnerability that had accompanied it. "So much time has been squandered that it's criminal. I swear, I could strangle him for having delayed us so long!"
I see, Miroku thought to himself, regarding the outraged girl sadly, I would not participate, and so there has been a shift in your anger.
"Sango," he said calmly, "there is nothing to be gained in trying to pin the blame on anyone. It will profit none and solve nothing. Right or wrong, what is done is done. What we must concern ourselves with now is the present."
"Indeed." Sango said tightly, silently fuming. "A present in which you and I have been left to pick up the remaining pieces."
"It's true, what you say." Miroku sighed, bowing his head. "It seems hardly fair that it has been left up to the two of us. Nor does it seem fair that Inuyasha has been forced to stay behind, when he has as much a right to vengeance as either of us. Life is seldom fair, as you well know, my dear Sango, for if it were, your people would still be alive. Were it fair, I would not have had to learn at the callow age of six that my life expectancy was to be a third of that of any normal man. Even Kagome-sama has had to choose between being with the father of her child and being with her own people. She has had to trade a life of love and comfort that she has always known for a very uncertain future. As for Inuyasha himself, I wouldn't know where to begin… So how fair is it to blame him for the situation we now find ourselves in? This could have happened to any one of us. It could have happened to you and I, Sango, had our relationship been different."
Miroku paused, raising his eyes to fix them on her once again, hoping that she'd return his gaze. For her part, she pretended not to notice, and continued to look away, absently stroking Kirara's head. Miroku smiled humorlessly and continued on.
"Back before we left, you told Kagome-sama that she was not to blame for any of this. You cannot honestly hold Inuyasha responsible, nor anyone but Naraku himself. I am sorry that you are angry, but this is the truth as I see it."
"Houshi-sama," she whispered hoarsly. "for just once I wish that you'd be quiet and let me have my anger. I'm stronger, faster, smarter… I'm so much better at everything when I'm angry."
Miroku was courteous enough to allow a full minute of silence to pass before he insinuatingly asked,
"Everything?"
"Don't start that now." Sango warned, clenching her hands into tight fists.
"Forgive me." Miroku said, smiling broadly. "I was only trying to oblige you. You did say that you wanted to be angry."
"I must be getting tired." she sighed, reaching up to rub her forehead and temples with one hand. "For a moment there, you almost sounded charming."
"Come now, Sango. We're alone. Let's be honest with each other." he said satinly, pulling her into a one-armed embrace and resting the side of his head against her own. A loud thumping sound began to pound in Sango's ears, and it was a few seconds before she realized that it was her own heartbeat.
"…honest?" she gulped, shifting uncomfortably in his arms.
"I see no reason to pretend. Why don't we both just admit it? I'm very charming." he said decisively. "To a fault."
Sango masked a rather enormous sigh of relief as one of exasperation, before she grudgingly admitted,
"Sometimes."
"I'll take it." the monk said happily. "Now, I don't know about you, but I'm exhausted. What do you say, my dear taijiya? Would you care to sleep with a sometimes-charming man of the cloth?"
"Head to toe," he assured her before she could utter a sound of protest, "and I solemnly promise not to attempt to seduce your lovely feet, as tempting as that will be."
"Houshi-sama!" she scolded, wriggling out from underneath his arm.
"My gods woman!" he lamented, his voice full of indignant pride as he followed after her. "Even a paragon of virtue such as myself is not made of stone! One need only look to see how shapely and delicate they are. Even so, I swear to you that I will not molest so much as a single baby toe."
~
Several miles away, dawn was breaking over another sleeping pair. The early morning sun filtered through the branches of the tree beneath which they slept, creating a dappled pattern of light and shade upon the picnic blanket they had wrapped themselves within the night before. Inuyasha lay nestled against Kagome, his eyes closed. The only evidence that might suggest to any onlookers that the hanyou was not actually asleep could be found twitching restlessly atop his head. The incessant twittering of obnoxious little birds had woken him much earlier than he would have liked, but he'd remained still and silent beneath the blanket, letting her sleep. Expectant mothers need their rest, he knew, and it was the least he could do after keeping her up most of the night. Unfortunately, while he had seen fit to let her be, the ground-dwelling insects were not so kind. She had already startled a few times in her sleep, brushing away the crawly feeling of miniscule legs from various parts of her body. Whether they were real or imagined was anyone's guess, but when a big, fat Japanese beetle clambered over her ear, the day officially began.
"Eeeeeee!" Kagome shrieked, suddenly very awake. "Inuyasha, there's a bug in my hair!"
Inuyasha peeped one lazy eye open, while it's counterpart remained firmly closed against the dawn. He yawned loudly, the new rays of sunlight glinting off one of his long canines.
"So?"
"Get it out!" she squealed, smacking him furiously.
"Wimp." he grumbled, shifting himself up onto his elbows. "Hold still…" He combed his claws through the tangled nest of her hair, quickly extracting the shiny insect.
"Is it out? Is it out?"
"Calm down, I've got it." he sighed, cupping it in the palm of one hand. "Woman'll take on an entire horde of the undead but can't stand a little bug…" Opening his fingers, he frowned down at the iridescent beetle, cradled belly-up in the center of his palm.
"Get lost." he said, flicking the struggling insect with his thumb and forefinger. It shot off, smacking against the tree and falling to earth, momentarily stunned. When it was able to right itself again and fly away, Inuyasha barked after it,
"Let that be a lesson to you and all your friends! Stay the fuck out of Kagome's hair! Damn bugs should know better than to fuck with the mate of an Inu-hanyou…" he grumbled, worming his way back into the warm cocoon of blanket and woman.
"You really are desperate for a confrontation, aren't you?" Kagome mumbled groggily, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.
"You don't know that half of it!" he huffed, tossing beneath the blanket restlessly. "I don't think I've ever been this wound up."
"Well," Kagome said softly, rolling onto her side to smile at him suggestively, "at least I can think of one kind of tension that isn't going to be a problem anymore, right?"
"Right?!" she asked again, her voice raising anxiously when he didn't respond as quickly as she would have liked.
"What?" he said absently, turning over to look at her. "Sorry, I was thinking."
"Oh really?" Kagome teased, tracing her fingertips up the taunt lines of his stomach, all the way up to his clavicle. "Were you thinking what I'm thinking?"
Inuyasha snorted, stopping her hand as it turned south and headed for the ticklish spot below his ribs.
"I doubt it. I'm not a raging hentai."
"I'm not a hentai, I'm hormonal." she protested, yanking her fingers out of his grasp. She didn't make a very convincing argument, however, as she began to trail tiny, open-mouthed kisses across his chest.
"From what I've seen, there doesn't appear to be much of a difference." He struggled to keep his voice steady and his breathing even as her hands wandered beneath the covers.
"It's perfectly normal for a pregnant woman to act this way." she sighed into his neck, making the fine hairs at the back stiffen and rise, in a perfect imitation of what was going on below his waist. "The book says so."
"That's what you keep telling me." he groaned, squeezing his eyes shut.
Kagome flicked her tongue out over her lips, running it across the bobbing protrusion in his throat.
"You didn't seem to have any trouble believing it last night…"
"After what you put me through yesterday? I would have believed anything."
"What about now?" she asked, her fingers squeezing him gently in a place that simply begged to be squeezed. She smiled at the sharp intake of breath, followed by the halting gasp as she ran the tip of her tongue from his jaw line down to his shoulder. He grunted afterward, forcing his next words out on an unsteady breath.
"I guess I could take your word for it…"
Grinning smugly, Kagome pushed him flat onto his back. She shifted her body over until she sat across his, straddling his waist.
"Mmmm… How generous of you."
~
"Where were you all night? I was worried!" Shippou whined miserably, throwing himself into the young miko's arms the second that she and Inuyasha set foot into the village.
"There, there, calm down, Shippou-chan!" Kagome soothed, rubbing her fingers in small circles against his back as she reassured the frantic kit. "Inuyasha and I decided to sleep out under the stars last night, that's all. For old time's sake." she added as an afterthought.
"You could have at least waited for me! I would have liked to come too, you know!" he cried furiously, his bottom lip curling down into an angry pout.
"Well you weren't invited, twerp! Even if you had been, it's too late now, so what are you bothering us for? Don't you have some little girls to be pestering or something? Where are all these bishoujo I keep hearing about?"
The kitsune turned beet-red at the hanyou's remark, but he refused to be swayed so easily from his vexation at having been left behind.
"I know why you wanted to be alone." he muttered darkly, glaring up at Inuyasha from the safety of Kagome's arms. "You probably went into the woods and did something disgusting to her like you used to before, back when we were traveling all the time! I can smell your stupid dog breath all over her!"
"Shippou-chan!" Kagome gasped in disbelief, her cheeks growing hot.
"Shippoouu…" Inuyasha warned, raising a clawed fist, but the little fox would not be silenced until he had voiced his disapproval.
"When are you gonna quit it, huh? She's already having your stupid cub!"
An outraged snarl ripped through Inuyasha's body. In a flash, he had snatched Shippou from Kagome's arms and was holding the struggling kit up by his tail, dangling him within inches of his gleaming fangs.
"That's enough you little shit!"
"Kagome!" Shippou wailed, flailing his puny arms at Inuyasha's face in a desperate attempted to scratch the hanyou's eyes out with his tiny claws.
"I don't think so, Shippou-chan." the girl said gravely, folding her arms over her chest. "Not this time. Certainly not after that."
"You hear that kid?" the hanyou growled menacingly, "You must have seriously fucked up if she's on my side. Now if you want to live to see your next growth spurt, then you'd better listen to me and listen good!"
Shippou gulped audily, his large green eyes growing impossibly larger as he twisted slowly by his tail, hanging limply from Inuyasha's right fist. Not trusting his voice at that particular moment, he declined speech and nodded up and down rapidly.
"You are going to have to learn to keep your nose and your opinions to yourself, you got that?" Inuyasha explained very slowly, a murderous glint in his eye. "What Kagome and I do or don't do is nobody's business but our own. All that you need to concern yourself with is staying the hell out of our way whenever I tell you to. Do you think you can manage that, or am I going to have to break all your legs to be sure?"
Shippou shook his head vigorously in the negative.
"Good." Inuyasha said, releasing his hold on the kitsune's tail. Shippou fell to the ground with a soft thunk, landing on his backside. "Now, you want to try this again?"
"Hello Kagome." the little fox said quickly, dropping into a polite bow. "I missed you last night, but I'm not angry anymore."
"Thank you, Shippou-chan." she said, smiling at this adorable display of manners. "I missed you, too."
"I hope you had a pleasant evening-"
"I did, thank you."
"-and I hope that dog breath over there didn't ruin it too much by drooling all over you!" he finished, breaking into a flat-out scramble before his lips had even finished forming the words.
"That's it!" Inuyasha roared, "All four of them! I'm breaking them all!"
"You'll have to catch me first, asshole!"
Kagome sighed quietly to herself, listening to the sounds of chaos as the boys ran amok, tearing through the village. There was the usual string of curses shouted by incensed village men as the demonic duo plowed through, upsetting their work. This was soon accompanied by the squawking of outraged poultry. She was about to give the afternoon up as a total loss and head back to the hut for a quiet read, when suddenly and unexpectedly, there sounded a loud, shrill, screeching unlike anything she'd heard since the last slumber party she'd had in the third grade. Amidst the high-pitched, feminine squealing, she could distinctly hear the sound of an enraged Inu-hanyou.
"Stop hiding behind those little girls, you coward!" This hollered demand was immediately met with violent resistance from the petite mob.
"Go away, you big bully!"
"Leave Shippou-chan alone!"
"Eeeeek! Kaa-chan! It's that monster!"
But it wasn't until their tiny voices all melted together to become one long, earth-shattering wail that Kagome caught sight of Inuyasha again. He appeared to be fleeing in her direction, having abandoned his pursuit of Shippou. The chagrined, somewhat astonished expression on his face was absolutely priceless, but what caught her immediate attention was the way that he walked. He was hobbling slightly, favoring his left leg.
"Well?" she asked expectantly, trying not to smirk.
"One of them cracked me in the shin with a shovel." he grumbled, then shot her a hate-filled look when the laughter began to bubble out of her.
"It's not funny!" he barked hotly. Kagome nodded, forcing her mirthful features into a sober mask.
"I'm sorry." she said very seriously, her voice only wavering the tiniest bit. "Are you going to be alright?"
Unfortunately, merely asking this question prompted another eruption of irrepressible giggling.
"Cut it out!" Inuyasha screamed, his flushed face beginning to break out into a sweat. "It's pathetic! He's supposed to be a youkai, and he's hiding behind a bunch of little girls!"
"Oh dear…" Kagome gasped as she tried to reign her laughter to a stop. "Ha ha, ahhh…mmn. Sorry! I'm sorry, Inuyasha, but it's just as well. That was a bit much."
"How do you mean?" he asked, scowling at her . "He needed to be taught a lesson, didn't he?"
"He did," she agreed, "but don't you think you were being a little harsh?"
"Harsh?! Are you kidding me?" he demanded gruffly, leaning down to rub at his bruised shin.
"You know, with the baby coming, it wouldn't be a bad idea for you to try to use a little more patience with Shippou-chan." Kagome said, her voice softening as she reached over and began to smooth out his disheveled yukata and tousled hair.
"I was being patient!" he muttered defensively. "I didn't hit him once!"
"Then I hope you'll use more than that when this little one finally decides to show up." Kagome sighed as she straightened his collar. Inuyasha reached up, taking her hands in his own and holding them gently by his shoulders.
"Hey…" he said, staring straight into her eyes as his voice became low and serious, "that'll be different. This one's mine. He'll know better than to disobey his Oyajii."
"Mm. Especially if Oyajii makes a habit of threatening to break his legs." she muttered.
"I won't have to do that." he said sincerely. "We'll have had him right from the beginning, so he won't have any of Shippou's bad habits."
"Of course not. He'll have all of yours!" she quipped, raising her fingers to cover her lips as she rolled her eyes. "Gods help us."
"I don't know why you say shit like that. We get along alright. You certainly seemed to like me well enough this morning." He had meant it as a joke, but she wasn't smiling with him.
"Kagome?"
"Yes, I like you." she said eventually. Her voice sounded distant, hollow.
"What's with the sad face?" he asked, his voice edged with concern.
"It's nothing." she replied woodenly. "I'm fine. Just a little baby blues. It's normal, it'll pass."
"Hmph. More book stuff, huh?" He studied her carefully, not liking at all the way the life and color seemed to have drained from her face. He hated when she became sad like this. It made her look more like Kikyo than Kagome.
"Yeah, more book stuff." Kagome sighed. "Listen, I think I'm going to go lie down."
"Already? But you just got up."
"I know, but I feel… tired."
Inuyasha watched helplessly as she turned away from him and headed back into the village, wondering what had just happened. He began to replay their entire conversation in his mind, breaking it apart to see if it had been something he'd said. He knew that the pup could be blamed for a great deal of her moodiness, but this had seemed different. She hadn't started crying or used the rosary on him like she usually did when she was upset with him, she had simply shut herself off. He had made that crack about them getting along, and then…nothing. No smile, no hint of embarrassment; He would even have preferred anger to the sullen, non-response that she had given him.
What did I say? he pondered unhappily, wracking his brain as he followed her dusty footprints down the well-worn path to Kaede-baba's hut. It didn't occur to him that it might have been something he hadn't.
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