InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Haunted ❯ Bitterness ( Chapter 5 )

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

Chapter 5: Bitterness

Sango looked over at Miroku, and tilted her head towards Kagome. Miroku nodded, and proceeded to walk up to Inuyasha. It had been three days since Kagome's birthday, and Kagome had barely spoken. She seemed lost.

Shippo was getting scared, he hated watching the woman he considered his mother like this, it was like she had lost all hope. Miroku had to agree. Kagome was normally such a high-spirited young woman, happy and laughing. Now she was quiet, and barely spoke unless necessary. Miroku glanced over at Inuyasha as he came up even with him. This was killing him.

"Inuyasha." Miroku smiled over at him. "We should see if we can find accomodations for the night in that village up ahead. It's getting a little late, and I don't think we will get much farther tonight. What say you?"

Inuyasha squinted up at the sky, judging how much daylight they had left, before grudgingly looking back at Miroku. "Feh. I guess that's fine, you pathetic humans are so slow that we really won't get very much further before it gets dark."

Sango smiled over at Kagome. "Did you hear that, Kagome? We're going to stay in the village, maybe we can find a bath! I could sure use one!" Everyone was trying to be extra cheerful around Kagome, hoping to keep her from getting even worse.

"Yeah... I could go for one of those myself," she sighed. "I know Inuyasha gets irritated with me over wanting to bathe all the time but, back in my time, I bathed every day. It's considered normal to do so. I think that's been one of the hardest things to adjust to here, the lack of time and facilities to bathe."

"Don't worry about it, wench. I'll find ya a place to bathe. I won't mind a bath myself." Inuyasha looked over at her, a small smile curling his lips. "Besides... I really do like how you smell after a bath."

Everyone stared over at him, and he blushed. Kagome's eyes had widened.

You like the way I smell after I bathe? Wow, whats gotten into him?

"What? Stop staring at me, all of you!" he yelled, getting even redder. "Geez, can't a guy say something nice once in a while without everyone staring at him?"

Giving a disgruntled sigh, he glanced over at Kagome, and smiled when he saw her small grin. It was good to see even that much, she'd been much too solemn for the last few days.

"Ummm... sorry, Inuyasha, its just, you usually don't say nice things, you kinda took us all by surprise, that's all," Sango said.

"Keh. Well, get used to it. Kagome deserves compliments, so I'm gonna start giving them to her."

He was still blushing, but determined not to let himself be embarrassed out of his resolution to start letting Kagome know how he really thought of her. "Besides, I love it when I can make you blush," he said to her.

She blushed then, hard. "Inuyasha! Whats gotten into you?"

Sango, Miroku, and Shippo, meanwhile, had stopped even pretending to walk, and were just staring at Inuyasha and Kagome. Sango, knocking her elbow into Miroku's side, whispered, "What in the hell has gotten into Inuyasha?"

Miroku leaned into her and spoke into her ear. "I think that this 'Kichiro' guy is frightening him. All this time, he's been pretty much confident in his ability to protect Kagome, and in the fact that he could keep all other males away from her. But now, he's afraid to lose her, and I think he's reacting to that by trying to bind her to his side by other means. This situation just might be what they have needed to break the impasse between them," Miroku said, "and, if I'm right in my suppositions... Kikyou may well find herself on the losing side of Inuyasha."

Sango looked at him funny. "What do you mean?" Catching the look on his face, she whispered "Ohhh, do you think Kikyou might be the one behind Kichiro's appearance?"

"My dear Sango, think about it. Who else would stand to gain?" Miroku said, "I won't say anything to Inuyasha about it, though, and you shouldn't either. Let him find out on his own."

Sango nodded. "Yeah, and we shouldn't tease him about the things he says to Kagome, either, you hentai monk, you got that?"

Miroku sighed.

"Sango, you take all the fun out of my life," he said with a grin.

"Oi! What are you two talkin' about back there?" Inuyasha asked, with a glare in their direction. "Shippo, what are they sayin', huh? You'd better 'fess up, or else I'm gonna thump ya!"

Shippo shrieked and threw himself into Kagome's arms. "Kagome, Kagome, Inuyasha is threatening me again, and I didn't even do anything!"

Kagome looked at the frightened kit in her arms. "It's okay, Shippo, my love, I won't let the big, bad dog get you," she glared over at Inuyasha, "but now I'm curious. What were they talking about back there?"

Inuyasha glared back at Kagome and Shippo.

"They were just wondering why Inuyasha was being so nice to you, Kagome." Shippo smiled up at her. "Usually, he acts like you're the most useless, annoying person around."

"Oi!! That ain't true, you damn fox! I am not that mean!" He growled at the snickers suddenly coming from behind him, and looked at Kagome. "Tell them, Kagome. I'm not that bad."

She looked at him. "Umm, well, I can't really say that, Inuyasha. Let's see... I"m not as pretty as Kikyou, I'm not as powerful as Kikyou, I'm not graceful like Kikyou, I can't find shards as well as Kikyou," she caught his shocked look, "well, you get the picture. Come to think of it, most of the insults are about me not being as good as Kikyou. I never really thought about it before," she mused, beginning to look sad.

She started walking again, with a thoughtful look on her face. Inuyasha, who's ears had gotten flatter and flatter to his head while listening to her, followed, trying to think of something to say.

"C'mon you guys, let's get to the village and find someplace to stay, it looks fairly large, so maybe there'll be an actual inn," Kagome said, quickening her pace.

"Damnit, Kagome," Inuyasha said, hurrying after her. He looked over at her as he caught up and softly asked, "Do I really compare you to Kikyou that much?" He looked down when she nodded solemnly. "I don't mean to, and none of those things are true anyway. I already told you that you are migoto, you are a powerful Miko, more than Kikyou, and as for graceful, well... you didn't use to be, but you are now. Sometimes all I can do is stare and watch you move - please, please don't be upset!"

He blushed, still looking at his feet. "I hate it when you're upset."

Kagome kept walking, keeping her expression unchanged. They were nearing the village now, and she could see that it was, indeed, fairly good sized.

Time to find that Inn...

She glanced over at Inuyasha. "Careful, there, if you keep saying things like that I might begin to think you love me and not Kikyou - but we both know that's not true, now, don't we? You should keep your compliments for her," as she sped up again and left him standing awkwardly in the middle of the road.

He was shocked at the bitterness in her voice. Does she really believe I'm in love with Kikyou? If I was I wouldn't be with her, damnit! But... I guess I haven't made that clear.

I mean, I really haven't acted towards her like we're a couple, or anything... maybe I should just swallow my pride and start showing her my feelings for her. And that just might make her push that Kichiro guy off as well... fuck, yeah, its past time that I started staking my claim, and to hell with Koga, and that Kichiro bastard!

He hurried to catch up with the rest of the group as they headed into the village. Miroku stopped and asked several passerby about accomodations for the night, grateful to find that the village did indeed have an inn. They all looked around, noting the prosperous appearance of the place, and its fortuitous location, in a beautiful valley surrounded by mountains.

It would be a good place to stay for a day or so... and they might find some rumours about shards, or Naraku.

And maybe I need to start doing some work on my relationship with Kagome, well, hopefully, soon-to-be-relationship, anyways.

The inn was large and well appointed, and even had the hoped-for bathing facilities, which had the women throwing their things in their room and taking off for the baths immediately. That left the men unoccupied, so they went out into the street and wandered around for a while, listening to the talk, and hoping for rumours of Naraku and shards. Finally, two streets over from the inn, they came across an interesting conversation.

"... and I had to run quickly and hide while the demon was busy eating the livestock. I didn't think I was gonna get away, honestly. It had destroyed that whole village."

"Really? Where was this at?"

The two men were sitting on an empty crate, drinking sake and eating. Inuyasha and Miroku stepped up and listened closely for the answer.

"Well, lets see," the first man squinted up at the sky, "it was just about two days north of here; I heard some other travelers talking about this same demon, though, and saying that it had destroyed a couple other villages to the northwest. It seems to have appeared about a week ago, from everything I could gather."

Inuyasha glanced over at Miroku, nodding back towards the inn.

So. A demon running around destroying villages two days to the north. If it's that powerful it might just have a few shards. Maybe we should just go ahead and leave tomorrow....

Miroku glanced at Inuyasha. He looks to be deep in thought. I wonder.

"Oi, Miroku." Inuyasha glanced over. "Can I ask you something?" He looked away, blushing slightly.

Miroku smiled. "Of course you may, Inuyasha, how can I help you?

Inuyasha thought for a moment. How best to phrase this? "I need some advice," blushing even harder and looking down, he mumbled, "how do I go about, well, showing someone how I feel about them? Umm - you know, damnit, I want to lay a claim on Kagome," he got out in a rush.

"I mean, I know how to claim her in the youkai manner," he continued, "but Kagome's human, and she wouldn't understand youkai courting and mating rules. What should I do?"

Miroku stared at Inuyasha. "Wow. What brought this on, Inuyasha?" He waved a hand at him.

"I mean, we all know that you're in love with her, it's been obvious for, well, years, actually. But why make your move now? Could it possibly be because of Kichiro? You're afraid you're going to lose her, aren't you," he asked, looking at his friend with sympathy.

"But you also have to consider, Inuyasha. You're not free to make such a commitment to Kagome, are you? You cannot make a commitment to her when Kikyou holds your heart, and your life. It's not fair to Kagome."

"Feh! It doesn't matter why now, and for your information, I have no intention of going to hell with Kikyou, and no, she doesn't have my heart! I owe her... yes. But what I owe her is vengeance, which I will take from Naraku, sooner or later."

He looked up at the sky, then, and folded his hands into his haori.

"Kagome holds my heart," he said softly, "though, I know that I've hurt her by my attention to Kikyou. I can't stop seeing her when she requests it, but from now on, Kagome will be with me when I do, whether Kikyou likes it or not. I think... the next time I catch sight of her soul collectors, I will see her alone one more time. She has the right to be told about my decision privately, but after that, I won't see her alone again. Guilt only goes so far, you know."

Miroku looked thoughtful. " Well, you seem to have thought about this pretty deeply, Inuyasha. I must admit, I'm... surprised. I think you should just sit down with Kagome, when you find a good time, and be blunt. Tell her straight out how you feel, and also about your feelings towards Kikyou, and your decisions regarding her. Kagome needs to know that. I'm afraid you're going to have to swallow your pride and just lay it all on the line so that there can be no more misunderstandings between you."

Inuyasha nodded. "I was afraid of that, but yeah, I owe Kagome that. Thanks, Miroku." He glared over at the monk. "And if you say one word to anyone about this discussion, I'll make sure you never have that kid your always asking women to bear, got that?" he asked, cracking his knuckles and grinning evilly.

Miroku swallowed hard. "Of course I won't mention this discussion, Inuyasha. It would just cause more problems if I did, and I have no desire to hurt Kagome."

"Good. Lets go back to the inn, and get some rest. We have an early start in the morning."