InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Inexcusable Nature ❯ Another day in paradise ( Chapter 10 )

Inexcusable Nature

Just A Starving Writer

Disclaimer: nope, not mine.

Part 10: Another day in paradise

Waking up was a problem. She cursed the lack of bed, the lack of adequate covers, and the wet hair she had fallen asleep with. But at least her own clothing was dry now. She always felt slightly ridiculous in clothing that fit this era. After a sleepy command to her relaxed companion, she changed back into the tired skirt and sweater behind a large tree.

Looking at the articles, it was clear they would not be lasting much longer. It was something of a miracle they had made it this far, especially considering her penchant for trouble. She really should pick up some clothing from the nearest village just in case.

Somewhat comforting was the idea that once they arrived at Kaede's village, she could send Inuyasha through the well to retrieve supplies. She was still hesitant, even frightened, to go through until the shard business was taken care of simply because of the well's strange temperament before. As well, the demon lord she was tethered to was enough to give anyone qualms.

Actually, now that she thought about it, since her little rant the previous day, he had been almost nicer. Not particularly nice, but certainly it was an improvement. He was doing just as she had asked, ignoring her like a regular human rather than taking every opportunity to degrade her. It was much appreciated but she was still not taking him home with her. Nope, home would simply have to wait until he was dealt with.

"Inuyasha?" she called out quietly, knowing he was awake, could hear, and not wanting to wake the others. After the ordeal they had been through, they deserved all the rest they could get.

A red blur signaled his decent from the tree he had been resting in and he stopped in front of her. She did not miss the way his eyes lingered over her matured figure... and the lines of worry on her face. She couldn't help but feel unattractive.

"Yeah?" The scruff tone was overlaid with friendly concern.

She grinned wryly remembering a time when that knowledge would have simply made her heart jump for joy. Ah, the wonders of adolescence. Time away from the Feudal Era had had the unforeseen consequence of fading her crush on the hanyou. The saying goes that absence makes the heart grow fonder, and it had been true enough for the first few months. However, Inuyasha was a rough being of rare displays of tenderness, and his visits had been few and far between. The human half had failed to appear often enough and as she grew older and more experienced, it occurred to her that he was not maturing at the same rate. Perhaps one day he might be ready to accept her attention, but the time had passed for her. The crush had faded to brotherly affection, a love deeper than before. She figured it was for the best considering the Kikyou issue. Still, she couldn't help but be sad that such an important stage of her life was now behind her, especially since the future wasn't looking all that bright.

"I need a favor," she explained quietly. "When we return to the village, I need you to go tell my family where I am."

"You aren't going back? Don't you have a test or something?"

"Well, yeah, but I'm not leaving here until I do my duty. I simply can't risk not being able to return again."

He nodded in solemn agreement. Apparently that time in the dungeon had aged him somewhat…but still not enough.

"While you are there, can you pick up some supplies? I wasn't exactly planning on coming back or I would have brought some Ramen."

Of course, the word Ramen brought back all his selfish, childish tendencies and he actually had the gall to look pissed at her. She dismissed it with a sad grin before looking down at the other shard hunters. Dawn was breaking and it was best if they started soon. Glancing over at the quiet demon lord, it was obvious that he was of the same opinion.

She woke each gently, begging for their forgiveness but promising to make it up at a later date, once they were farther from Naraku's castle and closer to a familiar face. Once everyone was roused, they set out without breakfast, considering they had no food anyways. They would surely feel the sting of hunger soon.

The procession had already been en route for a few hours and the going was much tougher than any of them remembered. Perhaps it was the tired legs of the recently freed shard hunters or the exhaustion of the miko, or perhaps it was that their new leader was making no allowances for their human faults. He pulled on, quite content to leave them behind, and would have been successful had the miko he was leashed to not been quite adamant about keeping a more respectable pace. As the sun bore down on them from high in the sky, the girl hopped up to the western lord.

"We need to stop. In a village preferably."

"No."

"They are exhausted! They need a break and some food! They are only human."

"No."

"What is your problem?!"

"There isn't time, wench."

"There won't be any time if they collapse from hunger!"

"Regardless, we will not stop."

Frustrated and completely unable and unwilling to argue with his strange circular logic, she chose to act out instead. With an evil gleam in her eye, she shot him a triumphant glare before she lowered herself to the ground and proceeded to stretch out on the road, quite content to remain until he acquiesced to her request. If he wouldn't allow a break, she would just have to take one.

"Get up, wench," he threatened coolly.

"No," she proclaimed with crossed arms.

"Now."

"We take a break with or without your approval."

His eyes narrowed in irritation before a particularly malicious thought occurred to him. Walking proudly to her sitting form, he lifted her.

It was quite a surprise to the young woman. One minute she was lounging on the wonderful ground, the next she had a great view of a certain demon's hair as she was quite unceremoniously thrown over his shoulder. Of course, she wasn't going to take it lightly. Kicking and punching with all her human might, she thoroughly assaulted the lord who was treating her like such baggage.

"PUT ME DOWN!!" she screamed and the hanyou winced, even from quite a distance behind.

"Quiet, wench."

"NO, YOU PERVERT! PUT ME DOWN!"

"No."

Her kicking resumed with new found strength but still the demon lord did not flinch. Seeing this, she changed tactics and began to stretch for the white hilt of her katana still perched on his hip. Sensing this and feeling slightly too comfortable with the feel of her body against his, he dropped her.

Unfortunately, he miscalculated her ability to land correctly. Her sudden pained whimper alerted him to the mistake and he turned to look at the damage. She lay in a heap on the ground, groaning softly from the apparent injury. Seeing that she once again was favoring her formerly sprained ankle, he bent to examine it more thoroughly. Sure enough, the damn girl had once again hurt it, this time pretty seriously. Judging from the amount of swelling already visible, she would not be walking on it anytime soon.

He could almost hit himself for his own stupidity. Instead, he only sighed in exasperation.

"Wench," he demanded but her eyes were still closed in agony as she rocked slightly back and forth on her back, keeping the injured foot in the air.

"Miko," he commanded slightly softer. This seemed to surprise her enough to make her eyes open. Her teary, pained expression was enough to make him want to cringe. Sometimes he almost forgot she was human…but not this time. Now it was entirely obvious. And now the girl needed the help of a healer, so she would get her original wish. They would head for the next village and take rest.

But how to get her there? The miko could not walk on her own. His brother was out of the question, seeing as he would have to be unreasonably close to him due to the girl's leash. The monk was also not a possibility as he doubted the lecher's ability to keep his hands to himself - something the girl would no doubt not appreciate. The slayer was still too weak to be of much use in this area, and the fire cat was already limping heavily on one side from an infected paw. Seeing as he had no other options, he carefully lifted the limp girl into the crook of his one arm. It was, of course, quite the impossible position for anyone who had not the strength or long arm of the demon lord.

"What are you doing?" she mumbled even as her head rolled to rest against his chest.

"Seeing as you are incapable of keeping yourself uninjured, we are going to a village."

"Oh…" From a combination of exhaustion, exertion, and pain, the girl faded into unconsciousness even as he continued walking, incoherently babbling something about aspirin into his armor.

"It's almost sweet…if it wasn't so very wrong," whispered the demon slayer to the monk beside her. He only nodded in agreement while a nearby hanyou crossed his arms in annoyance.

*

The village was in an uproar. The current visitors were a strange lot and not at all welcome. Still, the injured party had been identified as a miko by the village elder and therefore her healing was allowed. Which was great considering their punishment at the hands of a certain demon lord had they not accepted.

Kagome was now resting in the elder's hut, unconscious on top of a rough futon with an ankle thoroughly wrapped. She had woken up just long enough to drink some remedy for the pain and swelling but had otherwise decided staying asleep was the best way to deal with the situation.

The remaining two humans from the original group also saw the benefit in that plan and did likewise, sleeping not far from the girl nor far from each other, something that was bound to be the cause of an argument when they woke. A vibrant little girl was cleanly passed out against a two headed dragon, apparently becoming sleepy mid flower pick. As it was, the only members of the odd collection in the world of the conscious were those of demon heritage.

The siblings had resigned themselves to leaning against two different trees in plain view of each other. The fox child had chosen to lean against the hanyou, sucking enthusiastically on a Lifesaver that the ever thoughtful Kagome had had in her pocket at the time of the unexpected trip and had kept safe since. Of course, the young demon was entirely ignoring the evil glances being exchanged by the brothers.

"Why didn't you bring any candy back from Kagome's place, Inuyasha?" Shippou asked curiously, intelligent enough to leave out the miko's actual origin.

"I dunno. She never packed me any." The hanyou could only hope the boy never discovered the true resting place of the many packets of candy the girl had sent.

"Do you think she'll bring back some more?"

"She's not going back."

"You know you can't keep her here, stupid dog."

"Shut up! I'm keeping her nowhere, kid. She's not going back because she's afraid she'll get stuck again." He crossed his arms in satisfaction. "She's finally seen it my way."

"Yeah right," the fox said as he fished another brightly colored ring out of the tube. "So Kagome isn't going home?"

"Nope. But she's sending me back to get supplies."

"You gonna bring me candy?"

"Yeah, yeah. Ramen comes first."

"I'll tell Kagome when she gets up!"

"You'd better not!" he yelled as he made a grab for the kit.

Of course, his shouting did have one consequence that he really should have seen coming. Perhaps it was his long separation from his future friend or maybe even his imprisonment, but either way, he should have known better.

"OSUWARI!"

A thunk, a splatter of dirt, and the fight was over even as the deservedly abused hanyou spit curses into the ground.

"Really, Inuyasha, when will you leave him alone?" the tired miko asked while limping to sit on the slight step of the doorway, in between the sibling's trees.

"Kagome, he's been mean ever since you left…" the fox began expertly in his best sad child voice.

"I know, Shippou, and I'm sorry I wasn't here to stop him. But trust me, he won't get away with it while I'm around."

Her shoulders seemed to be bothering her as she was rolling them an insane amount, popping damn near every bone in her back and spine. Strangely, it was a cross between extremely odd and seductive looking. Though the lord was making no show of staring, the hanyou could almost feel the look he was giving his miko friend.

"Cut it out, wench," Inuyasha grumbled while he gave his brother his very best evil glare.

"Osuwari," she grumbled back as she tried to massage a particularly tender part of her back. The satisfying thump was ignored as she located the proper point to put pressure on. The look of relief on her face was almost comical had it not been strangely alluring. When she finished her ministrations, she stood on her one good foot and stretched thoroughly, legs, arms, back, neck. It seemed to be her goal to stretch every muscle and pop every joint - basically to be as loose in body as was currently possible.

"Can't you do that somewhere else?" grumbled the recently risen hanyou who was trying desperately hard not to look at her exposed stomach as she stretched her arms above her head. She'd done a lot of maturing since the last time he'd spent any time with her.

"Sorry, can't. It's not like I can hop very far right now, I don't care if any of you see me, and Miroku is safely behind the mat. So deal with it." Really, she was feeling too strangely good right now to deal with his attitude problem.

"Are we staying here for the night?" she asked nonchalantly as she sat herself back onto the stoop, leg spread out in front to spare the injured ankle.

"Yeah."

"Good. We humans need rest, food, and I need something to wear. I don't guess you have any money?"

"Feh. Where'd I get money?"

"Miroku maybe?"

"Yeah right. That pervert didn't get around to that before we got caught. Even if he did, Naraku would have found it."

She frowned and began considering what she could do to get her hands on a kimono when a white bag landed by her foot. Lifting it, she found it to be full of money and she looked questioningly toward the demon lord.

"Use it."

"But I can't…"

"You can and you will. Your present condition is deplorable."

"Hey, you…"she began as her anger rose to the challenge and her sword in the demon's possession started to tremble.

However, the hanyou saw it to his benefit to stop the altercation. After all, he didn't need the girl any more injured than she already was. His brother carrying her was simply not to his liking as he'd already made abundantly clear.

Anyways, he was beginning to suspect the full demon had ulterior motives concerning the young woman's apparel. Sure, he was a demon lord with a supposed dislike for anything with a smidgeon of humanity in it, but he was still male, and worse, a male with a deep appreciation for beauty. Kagome surely qualified for the hypocrite's taste. Though he was not familiar with reading the facial expressions of his cool brother, he was very familiar with the expressions of a certain lecherous monk. The similarities were slight but disturbing.

"Just drop it, Kagome. Get him back by using all of it," the hanyou said with a smirk. Upon further consideration, she smiled with bright mischievousness.

"Done!" She stood and began to hop toward the village's tiny market when the invisible leash stopped her cold. It was so sudden and her balance was so off due to the mere one leg she was using for transport, that she began to fall toward the ground. She was already preparing herself for a hard hit and a lot of pain when an arm snapped around her waist, stopping her decent harshly before she settled into the appendage. Looking up, she saw the familiar hanyou who was presently swinging her fully into his arms.

Strange how different it felt than the demon lord.

They tried to continue toward the market but were still unable to. The youkai was relaxed against the tree, watching them with veiled humor.

"Yo, bastard, are you gonna let her get some damn clothes or what?" Somehow he managed to incorporate all of his present emotions into that one glare: annoyance, irritation, hatred, dislike, impatience, and a slight hint of the wonderful `I know what you're thinking'.

It must have occurred to the lord that he would not get his show without allowing the girl to purchase suitable attire. Slowly and sinuously raising himself, he walked toward them and they once more began their progression toward the market.

Kagome sighed as she tried without success to relax into the hanyou's hold. It just wasn't the same now that she no longer had the same feelings for him. That thought gave her pause. Though she had barely been awake at the time, it had been incredibly too easy to sink into that one arm of the demon lord.

`Does that mean I have feelings for HIM?' she asked herself silently. Instantly she paled in horror.

Her companions ignored her. The hanyou was too busy trying to ignore his brother, and the youkai was considering how to make this purchase most to his advantage. Something blue perhaps? A glint of humor in his solid face was the only hint of his interesting thoughts.

*