InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Haunted ❯ Possessiveness and Protectiveness ( Chapter 10 )

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

Chapter 12: Possessiveness and Protectiveness

Inuyasha tossed the bags of supplies up and over the top of the well, then grabbed Kagome's backpack from her and tossed it up also, then, grabbing Kagome, he leaped out, easily clearing the lip of the well. Landing next to the bags, he smiled down at her, kissing the tip of her nose before letting her go, and grabbing up the bags.

"Cmon wench, let's go... I'd like to get an early start. We've got shards to find."

Kagome rolled her eyes as she picked up her backpack and started off in the direction of the village. "Yeah, I know, I know... yadda yadda yadda shards yadda yadda shards yadda yadda yadda yadda. Geeze. Can't you ever think about anything else?"

"Keh, wench, come into my mind and see if I can! You might like what you find," he grinned at her.

"Lecher... I swear, you're turning into Miroku!"

Inuyasha glared at her. "The hell I am! Miroku makes passes at anything that moves. You're the only one I make passes at. Big difference."

Kagome couldn't help but be pleased with that declaration, but she sobered quickly enough. As they neared the village, her thoughts returned to all the things that had happened in the last few weeks.

She sighed. Maybe Inuyasha didn't flirt with anyone else, but that didn't mean that his past with Kikyou was completely erased, and she knew that that was something that still had to be faced.

Kikyou wasn't going to be pleased at the recent turn of events. And then there was Kichiro.

What am I going to do about him? And why do things always have to be so complicated? For once, couldn't something in my life just be easy? She could feel Inuyasha's sudden preoccupation through the link, and knew that he was doing some heavy duty thinking as well. Wonder what's on his mind?

"Kagome! Inuyasha!"

Kagome looked up as Sango came hurrying towards them. "Sango!" Her brow furrowed. "Is anything wrong?"

"No, no, I'm just glad you're back is all," glancing at Inuyasha as she noticed him relax. "Didn't mean to worry you. It's just that hentai monk. He's really getting on my nerves right now, he always seems to get worse when you leave, Inuyasha," she said. "I think you're a restraining influence on him." She shook her head. "At least, as much as anything could restrain him."

Kagome snickered as Inuyasha snorted and rolled his eyes. "Feh, see Kagome? Told ya I ain't like him, damn monk can't keep his thoughts off the perverted side - at least I have some self-control."

He absentmindedly reached out and caught the tiny projectile launching itself at Kagome by its fluffy tail. "Hey there, Shippo, slow down, you're gonna knock Kagome over." He handed the excited kitsune to Kagome, and reached out and pulled back the screen hanging from the entrance of the hut.

"Let's get inside and get packed up and ready. I want to hit the road within the hour."

"Kagome," Shippo whined, "why is Inuyasha always so mean to me? It doesn't hurt you when I jump on you, does it? It doesn't, right?" His eyes started to tear up. "I don't mean to hurt you, Kagome, I just don't like it when you're gone, and when you come back I get excited. I swear I'll be gentle from now on," he said, as he patted her face anxiously with his tiny hands.

"It's okay, Shippo, don't cry. I know you don't mean to hurt me, just be a little more careful. Sometimes it does hurt. But I still love you, no matter what, okay?" she said, as she hugged him.

Shippo cuddled into her arms, snuffling softly into her shoulder. "Okay, Kagome, I promise," he said softly.

Miroku stood up as they all entered the hut, moving to Inuyasha and motioning to him to step back outside, shaking his head at Inuyasha's questioning glance. "Outside," he mouthed. "We will be back in a few minutes, ladies, I just need to speak to Inuyasha for a few minutes." He waited while Inuyasha dropped the bags on the floor, then pulled aside the hanging mat and stepped out behind his friend.

Inuyasha called back over his shoulder, "Get everything packed up that we're taking, and be ready to go when we get back." He didn't say anything as they walked into the trees, waiting until they were out of sight of the hut. "Okay, Miroku, out with it. What's going on?"

Miroku looked into the distance, trying to gather his thoughts. He didn't want to anger his friend, but these things needed to be brought up. "Inuyasha, after you left yesterday, Sango and I spoke to Kaede, filling her in on what's been happening lately. She had some concerns that I felt should be brought to your attention. Maybe you have already thought of these things but, then again, maybe not."

"Well, then, out with it, Miroku." Inuyasha folded his arms into his haori, gazing out at the forest ahead calmly. He always felt calmer when he was in a forest, especially this one that was named for him.

Too many years of hiding in trees for safety's sake, now it's just habit... whenever I need to be alone, I jump in a tree.

It was cool and shady under here, and with the breeze rustling through the trees, it made him actually want to curl up under one and drowse the day away.

"We told Kaede about Kichiro", glancing over at Inuyasha at his friends low growl, "and about Kikyou's involvement in his appearance. We also told her about your bonding with Kagome. She pointed out that, while it would stop those two from being able to separate you and Kagome, it also held danger for the both of you, but most especially for Kagome."

"What do you mean, especially for Kagome?" Inuyasha, now frowning, asked.

"With you two bound to each other, all an enemy needs to do is focus any attacks on the weaker of the two of you - which happens to be Kagome. If he can kill her, you both die. Two birds with one stone, Inuyasha. Had you thought of that?" asked Miroku, looking forward again.

Inuyasha sighed. "Yes, Miroku... I'm aware of that. Originally, I'd planned to wait 'til we'd destroyed Naraku to take her as my mate for that very reason. Unfortunately, because of Kikyou's damn fool stunt, Kichiro became a more immediate threat than Naraku, so I didn't have much choice."

He rubbed a hand across his eyes, thinking. "There's no point in worrying about what can't be changed. What's done is done, and I can't really regret it. We'll just have to be very careful from here on out, keeping a closer eye on Kagome than ever." He smiled a little.

"Besides, as her mate, I have more control of her than I did before. She knows that I'm the dominant mate, and that she's subject to me now. She's learning to submit to my authority, as a proper Inuyoukai mate should," he grinned ruefully, "even if she doesn't always like it."

Miroku nodded. "So... what do we do from here?"

"Not much we can do about Kikyou or Kichiro at this point, all we can do is wait for them to show up. We'll just continue looking for shards as usual." Inuyasha frowned, looking thoughtfully off to the side. "Just be alert, Miroku... you'll probably sense Kichiro before me, since he's a human spirit. Kikyou I can deal with, I always know when she's around. Pull Sango aside as soon as you can without Kagome noticing, and tell her to stay near Kagome anytime I'm away from her side. I think that's about all we can do for now."

"I agree, Inuyasha. I will speak to Sango as soon as I can get her alone."

"If that's all, lets get back. I want to get going. Have you heard any rumors about shards, or youkai activity? Which direction should we take?" he asked, as they turned back the way they had come.

"Actually, we have. It seems that two days to the south, a couple of villages have been having problems with a youkai that appeared out of nowhere... and no one has been able to stop it." Miroku looked over at Inuyasha.

"One thing. The rumors also spoke of strange flying insects as appearing at the same time."

"Damn. Saimyosho," he said softly, speaking the name aloud that they were both thinking. "Naraku. It's probably a trap of some kind, but we still have to respond." He gazed down on the village, frowning.

Great, just what we needed. As if we didn't have enough bullshit to deal with right now.

As they arrived back in the village, Inuyasha was gratified to see that the everyone was standing outside the hut, ready to go. Waving Kagome over and bending slightly, he waited for her to climb on and situate herself before standing and looking over at Kirara. Sango and Miroku were already mounted, Shippo curled up on Sango's shoulder.

"Everyone ready?" he asked. "We're heading south, and we should make good time today, its still fairly early." With that, he pushed off, running smoothly, glad to finally be on the move again.

They traveled through the day, stopping only briefly for lunch. No one spoke much, everyone seemed pretty well pre-occupied with their own thoughts, even Shippo was pretty quiet, and that was no mean feat.

Kagome herself was simply reflecting on the past. The last three years of her life had been difficult, even painful, but she couldn't say that she would change any of it. If everything in life were easy, you wouldn't learn and grow. Pain is what teaches.

Sometimes, though, it would be nice if things could be a bit easier - too much pain could upset the balance.

She watched the landscape slowly change around her from the safety of Inuyasha's back, forest giving way to plains, then to hill country, and back to forests. It was truly amazing, and even humbling, that she would see sights that no one in her era ever would, and even more humbling that Inuyasha would choose to bind his life to hers - it's not like she was anything special. Just another average girl, nothing beautiful or wonderful about her.

Unlike him. He was so special, she had known when she had realized that she loved him that there would never be another for her, no one would ever compare to him. If he hadn't wanted to be with her, she would have lived and died alone.

Inuyasha heard every thought, and he couldn't have spoken if his life depended on it. He wasn't really eavesdropping, Kagome was unknowingly projecting her thoughts at him. He had never realized that she saw him that way. No one else but his mother had ever seen him as special. Only as worthy of being feared, and of being hunted down and killed.

Even if he hadn't already been in love with her, seeing her thoughts would have had him forever worshipping the ground she walked on. Of course, he already did. This just bound him even tighter to her. He realized that over the time that he had known her, she had healed many of the wounds in his heart. And now, she was healing the rest.

And the devil of it was - she really didn't see herself as anything special. But in his eyes, Kagome was the ultimate creation.

Nothing in all of history, in anything that the Kami had ever made, was more perfect than her. Nothing. And that she would choose to spend her life, to give her beauty, inner and outer, into his keeping, humbled him.

I used to curse my life, and wonder why the Kami hated me so. Now, I know they didn't. To give me Kagome, nothing else would ever compare. I understand now why Kikyou and I were not meant to be, why things happened the way they did. Kikyou was only the forerunner of Kagome. She always calls Kagome her copy, but the truth is... Kikyou was merely an imperfect precursor of Kagome.

That was something that would never be said, but it was what was in his heart. He smiled back over his shoulder at her, and gave her thighs a gentle squeeze.

Kagome smiled at Inuyasha right back, and pressed a kiss to his shoulder. "I think we should think about stopping soon, Inuyasha. I'd like to set up camp before it gets dark."

"Hm. Well, I guess getting an early night, and starting again first thing would work. We made great time today, so... we actually should arrive in the vicinity of those villages by tomorrow afternoon instead of the day after tomorrow."

He began to slow his pace, keeping an eye on the terrain for a good place to make camp. It probably wouldn't be the most comfortable night they'd ever had, most of the area they were in was rocky foothills leading down to the plains to the east, but there were probably a few caves around, so it would be okay for a night.

Sure enough, there were plenty of caves to choose from, and they quickly picked one out.

Using the excuse of needing to find firewood, Miroku drug Sango off. As soon as they were far enough from the cave for privacy, he outlined the discussion that he and Inuyasha had had earlier.

"...Inuyasha and I agree, there is nothing that we can do about those two at this point except wait for one or both to show up. We just have to keep a very close watch on Kagome," he rolled his eyes, "preferably without her realizing what we're doing. Inuyasha will be with her pretty much all the time, but anytime that he has to be away from her, he wants you to stick by her side. Do you think you can handle that? You two are together most of the time anyway, so it's possible Kagome won't really notice anything."

Sango nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, that will probably work out. It's frustrating having to wait on others to make the first move, though," she said with a grimace, "but I guess he's right." She turned away and began looking around. "Let's get busy finding the wood. Kagome will begin to wonder what's taking so long if we don't hurry."

Working together, they pretty quickly had enough firewood to last the night. Hurrying back to the cave, they piled it all against the wall nearest the pit that Kagome already had ready, and got the fire going. Kagome started on dinner, knowing everyone was hungry after only one quick meal at noon.

Afterwards, everyone just lounged around the fire, warm, full and comfortable after a long day. Kagome scooted nearer to the fire, feeling fairly cold for some reason, and almost jumped out of her skin when warm arms came around her from behind, pulling her into a nice soft lap. Inuyasha pulled off his fire rat, draping it over her, and began rubbing circles on her back absentmindedly. Her eyes closed in contentment, only opening when Sango addressed her.

"Kagome," she asked hesitantly, "I don't want to upset you, but, what are you going to do about Kichiro?"

Inuyasha started to growl, only calming down when Kagome reached up and put her hand against his cheek. As soon as he stopped growling, she turned in his lap and sat up, looking over at Sango, before staring into the fire. "Nothing, I guess, except refuse to go with him. From what I understand about my bond with Inuyasha, he won't be able to force me, so it's an impasse, really."

She sighed, she could feel Inuyasha's anger through the link. "Hopefully, sooner or later, he'll understand that it's never going to happen and just return to his rest."

"He'd better, there's no way on earth I'll let him anywhere near you, so he'd best figure it out quick." He looked up suddenly. "That reminds me, Miroku, Sango. For Kagome's sake, we need to get word to Koga that she's my mate now. She'd be kind of upset if I had to kill him, and if he puts his hands on her ever again, I will kill him. As soon as he hears that, he'll know to keep his hands off, because ookami youkai are pretty much the same with their mates as Inu youkai are."

Miroku frowned. "I wanted to ask you about that, Inuyasha. Why are Inu youkai so - so - jealous over their mates? It seems to me that you become almost insane about the no touching thing. Isn't the 'kill any male that touches' thing a little much?"

"Maybe, Miroku, but it's literally instinctive. Any male that tried to touch her would be fucking dead between one second and the next." Inuyasha thought about it. "Well, actually, for instance, if I gave permission for someone to touch her before they attempted it, it would be okay, but," he shrugged, "otherwise, it wouldn't be a good situation."

Sango looked uneasy for a moment as something occurred to her. "Inuyasha, do you think that Koga will actually refrain from touching her if we warn him? I mean, he really is in love with her, might he not try to challenge you for her?"

Inuyasha shook his head. "No. As soon as he comes within sniffing range he'll know that we're lifebonded. That bond can't be broken, so he'll know that she's lost to him forever. If we were just mated, but not lifebonded, then he could challenge the mating, and still have a chance. But not with a lifebond." He smirked down at the woman in his lap.

"Koga obviously has excellent taste in women, I'll give him that, but too bad for him she's taken. Forever."

"And what about you, Inuyasha? Males are not allowed to touch her without permission, are females still allowed to touch you?" asked Miroku, grinning a bit at the growling sound now coming from the small girl in Inuyasha's lap.

"Hell, no. I won't allow other females to touch me, either, without Kagome's permission." He laughed as Kagome looked up at him with a frown.

"You didn't mention that before, don't tell me you'll kill a female for touching you - this could turn into a killing ground. Sheesh, we'd have to live far away from people forever!"

"No, it's not quite that bad, koi. I wouldn't really kill the female. But I won't allow them to touch me either," looking up at Sango as she moved uneasily. "Pack is different, Sango. You and Miroku are pack. I wouldn't attack either of you for touching me or Kagome." He growled warningly at Miroku, then, as something occurred to him.

"Unless you were doing things you shouldn't be doing, monk, like trying to grope her, or spying on her bathing or things like that."

Miroku just smiled. "I understand, Inuyasha. You know I don't see Kagome that way, my heart is taken by Sango. I would feel the same way in reverse. Besides," he smiled gently at his friends, "I have too much respect for the love you have for each other to ever willingly try to come between you." He raised his eyebrow at them. "It took you both long enough to get to this point, I'm glad it's finally done!"

Sango laughed. "Better you than me, Kagome. I don't know if I could handle that level of possessiveness. It's pretty drastic."

"Actually, " Kagome looked a little shamefaced, "I kinda - like it. I mean," she said quickly at Inuyasha's grin, "I wouldn't like the killing part, but, the possessiveness makes me feel kinda safe, if you want to know the truth. Although," she frowned, "Inuyasha, you didn't explain all this when we bonded. I thought that this was just youkai mating. I didn't know there was a mating or a lifebonding. What's the difference?"

"The difference is in intent. In a mating, it's usually done for political alliances, or for an heir that has acceptable bloodlines. That's what happened when my father mated Sesshoumaru's mother. It was for an heir to his title. With my mother, it was a lifebond."

"But, Inuyasha, I thought that if one mate died in a lifebond, the other does, too. Didn't your father die the night you were born, but your mother died when you were what, five, right? How was that possible?" Kagome asked, turning slightly in his lap to look up at him.

"You're right, he did die before her. In a lifebond, if there is a pup that is still too young to care for itself, the bond can be denied for a time, but only long enough for the pup to be old enough to take care of itself." He shrugged. "I was old enough at five to care for myself, so the bond finally called my mother back to my father's side."

Kagome was aghast. "The bond between your parents left you an orphan at five, and that's okay?! God! I can't imagine leaving my children at such an age to fend for themselves."

Inuyasha smiled down at her. "It's okay, Kagome. Hanyou and youkai are different from humans. We develop faster. I made it okay, didn't I? Besides," he smirked wickedly at her, and lowered his voice so only she could here, "We won't be leaving our pups alone to grow up. And the thought of making those pups is really getting to me right now, K'gome, or can't you tell?"

Kagome blushed and squirmed hotly in his lap. "Inuyasha! D-don't talk like that in front of everyone!" she whispered, totally embarrassed in front of their friends.

'You're not usually like this in front of other people... what's changed?'

"What's changed is that you're my mate now. I'm not ashamed of that, I'm proud of it, so I don't see the need to hide how I feel anymore." He grinned over at the other members of their strange pack. "Does me being affectionate to my mate around you guys offend you?"

Miroku and Sango both shook their heads. "Nope, not at all," Sango answered. "Although, there is a limit on just how much affection we want to see," she finished, laughing at Kagome's deepening blush.

It was quiet for a while after that, as each person once again lost themselves in their thoughts. Kagome was actually beginning to drowse off when she felt Inuyasha stiffen beneath her - and then she understood why in the next second, as she opened her eyes and looked outside, she could see Kikyou's soul collectors beckoning.

Instantly, her fear of being rejected yet again in favor of Kikyou overwhelmed her mind, and she gasped softly in pain. Inuyasha immediately tightened his arms around her.

"Stop, Kagome. Don't you dare think those things! I'm not going to see her alone, not ever again. I won't allow her to touch me, either. You are my mate."

He flashed a stern glance at the soul collectors, then looked back down at her.

"Stand up and let's go. I intend to have it out with her, and right now suits me just fine." Looking back at the others, he said, "We'll be back as soon as possible. Just stay here, don't attempt to interfere, alright?"

Sango and Miroku looked at each other and then at Inuyasha and nodded.

"And Shippo? You can sleep in Kagome's sleeping bag with Kirara. She'll be sleeping in my lap tonight," as they walked out of the cave and followed the soul collectors off into the hills. Shippo just nodded drowsily and crawled into the bag.

Kagome felt hurt growing inside her as she walked behind Inuyasha, carefully picking her way through the rocks. Not only hurt - but fear. Too many years of hurt, and insults, of being compared unfavorably to the woman Inuyasha had loved for so long, couldn't be erased in a couple of weeks.

I knew this confrontation was coming sooner or later, though, so I won't falter now. I don't think I'm going to say anything to her about Kichiro, though. I'll leave it up to him, what gets said tonight.

Inuyasha glanced over his shoulder at her, noting her tense expression.

I hope I won't have to fight with her over this. I know she should probably be allowed to rip up at Kikyou for what she did, but I want to do it. I protect Kagome, and Kikyou interfered with that.

He glared at the rocky slope ahead of him at that thought, remembered anger sleeting through him when he thought of the direction that interference had taken.

I don't think she realizes that she's gone too far this time. But she will soon enough. And she will never be allowed to be a threat to Kagome again - even if it means sending her back to the underworld by my own hand.