InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Inexcusable Nature ❯ Arguments & Suspicions ( Chapter 15 )

Inexcusable Nature

Just A Starving Writer

Disclaimer: nope, not mine.

Author's Rant: Woohoo! The last bit of this chapter marks the 100th page I've written on this story, by far my longest ever. heh, makes me feel all good.
As always, mucho love to my readers and mucho mucho love to my reviewers. I'll try to keep up the pace for y'all's sake.

Part 15: Arguments and suspicions

The sounds of metal striking metal filled the clearing as the demon lord blocked another attempt by the miko. The young woman stepped back for a breather as the lord remained wary. He simply didn't trust her not to try something sneaky, not after her morning victory.

"Is there any reason for this?" she asked as she adjusted her grip on the white hilt of the katana. "Surely you simply aren't trying to save the scenery."

"I am curious as to your skills against a real adversary."

She snickered, resorting to holding the sword with two hands to keep it from falling as she laughed. He looked at her questioningly with one arched eyebrow.

"You don't strike me as the curious type," she said once she had some control of her faculties again.

Striking suddenly, the lord attacked before she could adequately defend herself. Had he intended to harm her, it would have been entirely too easy, but, of course, that was quite the reason he was using the sword he was. It had been the girl's idea for him to use a weapon that would not injure her and he had agreed only because he had no intentions of doing so.

No, he had a much better idea and the sword would work just fine for his purposes.

He retreated to examine his work. The girl still looked shocked, not quite realizing what had happened. Until the silk of her sleeve pooled around her sword hand. Looking down in indignant wonder, she saw that he had mirrored her earlier move and exposed her arm. Now she understood his quick acquiescence to her demand that he use Tenseiga. The sword could not cut flesh, but it apparently had no issues with clothing.

"Jerk!" she muttered as she moved the sword to her other hand and let the blue sleeve fall to the ground. "If that's how you want to play, fine." Her expression hardened slightly with mischievous determination.

This time it was she that attacked, weaving toward him in traditional Inuyasha battle stance until she smartened up and ducked just as he moved to deflect her. All those years forced to attend various dance classes as a kid gave her moves he was unfamiliar with and she gracefully was able to land a blow.

Stepping out of retaliation range, she smiled as his other sleeve sank onto his arm. Forcing herself to forget about the torturous sewing he would surely insist upon later, she grinned victoriously.

His eyes traveled from her to his fallen sleeve. He had been distracted by her body as well as by the knowledge that she was but a human and therefore unable to pose any threat to him. But she had once again managed to leave his arm exposed.

The idea made him smirk. It seemed she was not opposed to this form of battle. If that was the case, let it be. She would soon become familiar with exactly how skilled he was. And being the genius he was, he would no longer underestimate her capabilities, though of course he might still let himself be distracted by her interesting techniques. It was worth some torn clothing to see the positions she could twist herself into.

Now he was glad he had neglected to put his armor back on. It would only give her more options in this new battle and he was curious what she would do.

Within seconds he had attacked and retreated again, and her other sleeve fell off in a flurry of blue silk. Her face turned red with anger and embarrassment and she retaliated. Mindful of the sleeve of his she had just finished mending, she chose instead to assault his colorful sash.

She laughed when it dropped, spilling two sheaths and a rather menacing looking sword.

"Very well, wench. Your challenge is accepted," he stated in a tone so calm and suggestive that she blushed furiously.

The battle began anew, both parties so involved that they completely ignored their spectators.

"Quite the show," mentioned the flea off hand as he reclined against the shoulder of the sword smith.

"Yes, yes, she's doing quite well."

"I'm assuming that is the sword's work."

"Nope."

"You mean the Lady Kagome is in control?"

"Yup."

"But how? I've never seen anything like this."

"The sword was only meant to control her until she was ready to take over."

"But these moves…"

"All her. The sword doesn't know anything about technique. It only picked up any natural abilities she had that could be used in defense. She already knew these moves."

"Interesting."

"Yes indeed. Looks like the fluffy jerk has met his match."

Suddenly a shout from the miko drew their attention back toward the battle.

"YOU JERK!" she cried as her full length kimono became knee length. The lord merely smirked until she attacked, leaving him with a large tear in the back of his haori.

Unfortunately for her, the slice was a bit too long and caused the entire garment to cleave in half. With a suggestive smirk he removed it and prepared for another assault. She blushed knowing she had truly messed up this time. Because she was absolutely certain of her duty as tailor after this session, she simply couldn't attack his pants. There was no telling what he would do then and she couldn't risk it. She was unable to continue the battle as they had. He knew this and was simply not going to let her walk away until he was finished.

Praying to every deity in existence that he would leave her with some dignity, she prepared for his attack.

*

The child and fox sat on the dragon discussing the usual subjects favored by the young. All too soon, the talk turned to their favorite people.

"I can't wait til I see Kagome again. I miss her," sighed the fox.

"I miss Sesshoumaru-sama…" sighed the girl.

"Kagome is the best in the world…"

"No, Sesshoumaru-sama is."

That, of course, was simply not going to do. The girl had insulted his Kagome and she must be corrected.

"No, Kagome is. She protects me all the time, especially from Inuyasha."

"No, Sesshoumaru-sama is. He protects me, especially from Jaken."

Well, she did have a point. If there was anything they had picked up on from their few encounters when the girl was present, the taiyoukai was not pleased when she was attacked.

"But Kagome is beautiful!"

"So is Sesshoumaru-sama!"

Once again, when he thought about it, she was right. He had to think of the miko's other attributes carefully before finally coming across something that he was sure would stump the girl.

"Kagome is really nice and plays with me!"

The girl was about to retort but hesitated, knowing plain and well she had been beaten.

"Sesshoumaru-sama doesn't play….Kagome is really nice," she said quietly. "And clumsy."

The fox giggled. "She really is."

*

She cringed when she heard the first "Kagome!" and saw the flash of orange that indicated a quickly approaching fox demon. She missed her friends dearly, wanted to be with them, had gone to extremes to return to them, and yet she cringed.

Because she wasn't entirely positive Totosai had rid her sword of its emotion broadcasting problem. And because the present situation was going to look highly suspicious.

After the first round of hellos from the arrived group, it was Miroku, as expected, who brought up her current outfit.

"Your attire is quite interesting, Kagome." The lecherous twinkle in his eyes made her wary.

"What were you working on there?" asked the demon slayer as she eyed the cloth in the miko's hands.

"What the hell is he wearing?" asked the hanyou, looking slightly worse for wear and deeply troubled, eyeing his brother from the corner of his eye.

She sighed. Of course it looked suspicious. Here she was dressed in one of the sword smith's spare tops and her own yellow skirt, a pile of torn clothing beside her as she worked on sewing a particularly troublesome cut in her formerly lovely kimono. And there, standing near her, looking particularly troublesome himself was the bastard youkai lord, his overly pompous attitude and recently mended bottom layer of his haori encouraging all sorts of speculation.

"Was your day enjoyable?" questioned the monk with a wink.

She snorted.

"As if it could be, stuck to him!" she retorted as she jerked an aching finger towards the silent youkai.

However, as she turned to look at him, still looking undeniably gorgeous even in the slightly rougher cloth, she came to a shocking realization.

Her day had been enjoyable. In fact, her entire time with him had been enjoyable. She had enjoyed every last sarcastic, battle filled second.

She was torn from her reverie over actually enjoying the company of the lord by a question from the demon slayer.

"Has the connection been shortened?"

"Yeah, Sango. Yesterday night it was cut in half."

"Ah. That would explain it."

"Explain what?" The worry and embarrassment in her voice was enough to create even more speculation.

"We are still receiving your emotions, Kagome," answered the monk with another twinkle. She cringed. "Though not as strongly as before."

Kagome could only blush as she muttered something about killing Totosai. The slayer and monk exchanged knowing glances.

Meanwhile, the hanyou was glaring at his brother who was rightly ignoring him.

"What do you want, little brother?" the lord asked finally without taking his eyes from the trees.

"What have you done to her?" the hanyou accused.

"I have done nothing to the wench. Perhaps you should ask instead what she has done to me."

"Oh, I know what she's done to you."

The hanyou immediately realized he'd said the wrong thing but refused to back down. After all, perhaps his brother wouldn't understand. During their journey, the shard hunters had decided that ultimately, it was in everyone's best interest that the taiyoukai not know about his broadcasted emotions. The only point of argument had been if the miko should be informed of her companion's feelings. In the end, they decided it would be unfair. Should the situation change, she might be informed but for the time being, that knowledge would remain restricted to those who already knew.

The lord looked slightly suspicious at the statement but decided there was nothing to it. After all, his brother was an idiot.

Said idiot had ceased his babbling. Glancing at the hanyou, the lord was almost shocked to find his brother staring at him in incredulous wonder. His eyes hardened in definite suspicion. The half-breed was acting odd even for himself.

Seeming to sense that he was being obvious, the hanyou turned tail and walked away leaving a slightly peeved demon lord in his wake. Said demon lord only shook it off, deciding he would deal with the matter later and in the meantime possibly take out his anger on the wench he was connected to.

Unfortunately, wide brown eyes stopped him. His ward was staring at him with her usual undying loyalty. Sometimes he questioned if there was something wrong with the girl as it certainly couldn't be possible for someone to be that…attached.

"Shippou and the others are playing a game, Sesshoumaru-sama," she said excitedly, hope shining through every inch of her being. "Will you play?"

Whoever had given the girl that idea? Looking over at the miko, he saw her evil grin as she tied her odd shoes back on and the her comrades prepared for the game.

"Wench." The warning indicated his knowledge of her plan as well as her inability to proceed.

"Oh come on! It's been ages since I've played tag and the kids really want to!"

The miko's eyes were sparkling with an emotion he had yet to see on her expressive face and he pondered its meaning. Either way, it was obvious he would be suitably punished should she not get her way. He could only wonder what it could possibly be this time. Not that he was worried or anything, but she could be particularly annoying.

"Impossible with our connection." That should be enough to keep her from running around.

"I'm sure we can manage," she said as she crossed her arms over her chest, a clear indication that she meant to fight him if she had to.

"You have yet to finish your job," he stated, indicating the pile of unmended clothing.

"Don't worry, you'll be back into your haori by morning. I can't see well enough to continue until there's a fire anyway. So I have some time to kill and I want to do that by playing with the kids."

He stared at her relentlessly for a good few minutes, ignoring the childish brown eyes belonging to his ward that were staring relentlessly at him from below. Realizing he was outnumbered and not in the mood to deal with an irate miko he was connected to, he submitted.

"Explain this `game', wench."

Both child and young woman smiled so brightly he had to wonder if they were related.

*

Kagura gave up and threw herself onto a boulder, listening in quiet agony as the water of the spring rushed by.

She tried to catch her breath, glad that the need to rush was gone now that she had discovered the hanyou and his companions and eternally thankful they were resting so she could. It had been a long day and some time to relax was greatly appreciated, no matter the cause.

Her laughter in her master's castle had not been taken lightly. In fact, it didn't go over well at all. But it was nothing a few hours of being degraded in the dungeon couldn't fix. Finally released, she was immediately sent with all haste to find the hanyou and spy to her distant heart's content.

And now she had found the hanyou, camping for the night now that he had relocated his missing miko. Now all the group was together again. How happy. The reunion had been interesting.

Though she still considered the youkai lord to be nothing short of drop dead gorgeous, she no longer saw him in the same promising light. After all, he was completely arrogant, something she just didn't like in men.

She was disturbed from her reverie by the hanyou who approached without seeming to even see her. Thanking the wind for sending her scent away from him, she sat still and watched curiously. He was deep in thought and whatever was on his mind was a bit more complex than he was accustomed to. Still, the expression made him look a little more like his beautiful brother. The change was welcome.

"Yo," she finally said, feeling like being confrontational.

Snapping to attention immediately and placing his hand on Tessaiga's hilt as was habit, he eyed her warily. Despite their last encounter, he obviously still didn't trust her.

"You want another fight?" he asked.

"Not particularly. I'm only here to spy." Naraku had never said anything about being secretive.

"Oh really. And you think I'm just gonna let you?"

"Not really, but I was hoping I could at least catch my breath before we went through all the formalities."

He stared at her harshly, looking for anything sneaky but found nothing. Instead, the wind sorceress really did look tired.

"What's wrong with you?" he finally asked as he relinquished his grip on the sword and relaxed a tiny bit.

"You could say I spoiled the atmosphere."

"Huh?"

"I laughed, you idiot. At the bastard's castle."

"Why the hell did you do that for?"

"I saw something particularly humorous."

He shrugged and allowed himself to sit down. A few days and nights of constant travel, as well as dealing with his brother's extreme emotions, had left him a bit tired as well.

"What's your problem?" the wind sorceress asked, trying to hide her interest with sarcasm. It wasn't quite working and he smirked.

"I found something out. Something I didn't know."

"Don't tell me you just now figured out the miko and youkai…"

"Shit, no, don't remind me. That's just…shit."

"Then what?"

He eyed her once more, as if judging whether she was worthy of hearing his revelation before he laughed. The minion had kept the secret of his human transformation for all these years so what did this small thing matter?

"My damn brother….he doesn't hate me."

Now that really interested the incarnation. It had always been assumed that there was no love lost between the siblings, despite their inability to kill each other.

"Where'd you get that from?" she asked incredulously.

"I just know, okay? It's not like he actually likes me or anything. In fact, I think I disgust him… But no hatred."

"Interesting."

"No shit."

They sat in relative silence, resting their exhausted bodies.

"So," Kagura began again. "What do you think of the miko and him?"

"Shit…I don't know. It's so very wrong."

"No shit."

"Why did Naraku connect them?"

"Wanted your brother to kill your miko." She laughed lightly and he thought for the first time that she had a nice laugh...when it wasn't at his expense. "Now look what he's done."

"No shit. Stupid bastard…"

They sat in comfortable silence once more.

"So what now?" she asked, a bit afraid of the answer. "I still have to spy. It's my life if I don't."

He stared at her and the lack of expression in his face made her remember again exactly who his brother was. Despite their dislike for each other, they were still siblings and were a lot more alike than either was willing to admit.

"Then," he began and she held her breath. "I guess I'll just to make sure no one says anything stupid."

He looked away into the water that was still rushing by merrily, face a study in blankness. Sometimes the hanyou could look decently handsome, she decided with a grin.

*