InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Inexcusable Nature ❯ Displays of emotion ( Chapter 16 )

Inexcusable Nature

Just A Starving Writer

Disclaimer: nope, not mine.

Author's Rant: Glad to hear the Kagura angle is going over well. On that note, please don't kill me.

In reply to question: this will go on until my bitchy muse calls it quit. Hopefully, that won't be too far in the future, seeing as I'm in my last year of college and kinda need to study….eh. Either way, do not despair, lately I've been fond of happy endings and that's still a good bit in the future. Cool?
Enjoy if you can.

Part 16: Displays of emotion

Naraku had his gaze split in three directions: the mirror relating the blooming relationship between his minion and the hanyou, the mirror relating the relationship between the connected youkai lord and miko, and the jewel that he had his own sickening relationship with.

He supposed a weaker being would be worried about causing relationships between his enemies, but he was not. Instead, he was well skilled in ruining relationships. These strange connections growing only called to him of possibilities for torture.

A particularly malicious idea occurred to him and he laughed, once more sending his poor minions into hiding.

"Kanna," he called and the ghostly little girl came forward, mirror in hand. "It's time to bring out our surprise."

The girl, vacant of all expression, merely nodded and retreated back into the usual all encompassing darkness.

"Soon, Inuyasha," he stated to the mirror portraying his own incarnation with the hanyou. "Soon you will suffer again at my hands."

He laughed before glancing over at the other mirror. Furrowing his brow slightly he looked closer, wishing for not the first time that sound came with the images. One of these days he would learn how to read lips. Until then, all he could do was watch.

"You, little miko…your fate shall be decided upon soon." His brow furrowed deeper as he tried to understand what the hell was occurring in the mirror. It just didn't make any sense.

"You and your lord are not safe," he finally stated. Keeping his eyes locked on the mirror, he pulled the glowing string from his sleeve and cut it in half once more.

The mirror related the magic of the action.

Minions everywhere ran for cover at the sound of the menacing laughter.

*

"Ugh!" Kagome cried as her feet were suddenly taken out from under her. At once her attacker was upon her.

"Tag!" shouted Rin as she slapped her, hard, on the shoulder before taking off at a run.

The miko smiled, did her best to jump to her feet, and began to chase the girl before her feet were once again stolen.

"Hey!" she yelled, but there was no one near enough to have been the cause. Instead, but five feet away from her, was the demon lord, looking quite bored and quite irate simultaneously…somehow without moving a damn muscle in his face.

Suddenly, the thought occurred to her.

"Noo….." she groaned as she tried unsuccessfully to crawl away.

"NO!" she screamed in extreme irritation.

"Cease, wench. It was your wish to participate." The order was cold, calm, and yet somehow angry at her. Was the lord upset, perhaps, because of the strict rules he was under during the game? He really shouldn't complain as it obviously wasn't fair if he was allowed to use his abilities when they were doomed to mere human skills.

"No, it's not that, jerk," she said as she sat and crossed her arms in annoyance. He really had a way of spoiling the fun. "Try and walk away."

He eyed her suspiciously before taking a step that was simply not allowed. With narrowed eyes, he tried once more without success.

"Our connection has been shortened."

"No way!" she retorted. "And here I thought you just enjoyed my company."

"You have no idea what I enjoy, wench."

"No, of course not. To know that, I would have to be able to read your expressions and you have so precious few."

He smirked.

"See, that's your `I'm better than everyone' look. That's actually a pretty frequent one."

"What other `looks' do you assume I employ."

"Well, besides that, the only others I've seen are angry, irritated, and the ever so popular `laughing at my expense'."

She paused and looked at him with hard, studying eyes.

"Don't you feel anything besides those things?"

"I, Sesshoumaru am not subject to weak human emotions."

"Of course you are. All youkai are, some just don't want to admit it."

"You know nothing."

"I know other demons besides you, you know. And they have emotions AND show them."

"They are fools."

"No, they aren't. They simply find nothing wrong in letting people know how they feel." She paused in thought, bringing a finger to her chin as ideas floated into her head. "They are confident enough to allow others to know what's going through their minds."

"You mistake stupidity for confidence."

"You mistake weaknesses for strengths. Really, it's only good form to be truthful about your emotions. If you hide them, or lie about them, you're just as bad as any liar or thief. You're just about as bad as Naraku."

His gaze hardened as he glared at her full force. However, in the course of their stay together, she appeared to have become immune.

"Show your emotions, just once. You'll see it is not a weakness," she prompted, almost daring him. He would not be fooled.

"I will not."

"What? Are you afraid?" she taunted.

"I fear nothing."

"Sure you do."

"Wench."

"One tiny show of emotion other than anger or irritation."

A silent glare.

"Oh, come on!"

She really did need to learn her place. Her eyes were flashing in angered determination even as she rose to her feet and tried her best to intimidate him. It worked about as well as his glare did on her. Suddenly, as his gaze was taken by her pursed lips, an idea formed in his head, a way to answer her challenge as it were. He smirked dangerously.

"You wish for a display of emotion."

"Yes."

"As you wish."

Grabbing her arm, he pulled her forward and poured all of his frustrations, all of his pent up worries, all of his anger and inner turmoil, all of his confusion, and, of course, all of his lust, into one assault on her completely unprepared lips.

A collective breath was taken by the forgotten spectators in the field.

*

"Shit!" the hanyou yelled as he paused mid swing. After relaxing beside the river, Inuyasha and his current female companion had decided a good battle would work wonders on their nerves.

They had been quite enjoying the fight when he had been rudely interrupted by a sudden intense emotion in his already aching head.

"Shit, no…" he mumbled as he dashed away toward the others, leaving the poor wind sorceress alone.

"Shit!" she hissed as she took to her feather transportation. While she didn't understand what was happening, she knew it was nothing she wanted to miss.

However, she never expected to see the unlikely couple kissing in the middle of a field.

*

When he finally released her, he expected her to be overtaken, perhaps even in awe. He expected the young woman to be anything but what she was.

"WHAT EMOTION WAS THAT?! LUST?!!!" she yelled while tensing in anger. While it would have scared lesser beings, and was scaring several of the spectators, it only further excited him. Perhaps she would slap him if he tried again?

He ignored both her and the hanyou's pathetic groans of terror as he once again pulled the fuming miko close and proceeded to once again pour emotions into her via her soft lips.

This time he was rewarded with a slap. It did her absolutely no good.

Once again ignoring the hanyou as he yelped in something akin to frustrated horror, he repeated his demonstration again. Even if the girl wasn't enjoying it, he was and in the end, that was all that mattered, right?

However, he should have expected her to use his own tactics against him. When she started participating in his new form of emotional display, he merely reveled in the moment, completely oblivious of her hand drawing her sword from his side. He only became aware of her clever distraction when she managed to maneuver the blade to his throat.

"Wench," he warned as he drew away from her.

"This isn't the sword," she said with a glimmer in her eyes. He couldn't help but find her challenge completely alluring.

Inuyasha almost appeared to be having a tantrum on the ground. Seriously, what was wrong with the half-breed?

"I only did as you requested, wench."

"No. You did a lot more than that." How could she hold the blade so steadily against his throat? She had never been so confident before. And why did that only make him want her more?

The hanyou seemed to be sobbing. What an embarrassment.

"You've been trying to throw me since I got back. Why do you keep testing me?"

"You must earn respect."

"I have," she stated through gritted teeth. "So why do you keep testing me?"

He remained silent, his expression not betraying his inner conflict. Why did he keep testing her? If she hadn't earned his respect, she would have been dead a long time ago. It was interesting, really….

"He doesn't know, Kagome," Inuyasha grumbled, apparently recovered from his episode.

"What do you mean he doesn't know?" she yelled in frustration, dropping the sword a bit to a slightly less threatening position. "He's Sesshoumaru! He's got to know!"

Her momentary distraction was enough to let the youkai lord in front of her remove the sword from her possession and throw it clear. Tired of the situation, his confusion, and his audience, he pulled the girl against his chest, keeping her there with a powerful arm.

"HEY YOU JERK! LET ME GO!" she yelled before he pressed something on her neck, causing her to sag into his grip, unconscious and thankfully silent.

"Let her go!" the hanyou yelled, transforming his sword in the girl's defense.

"The wench is fine and her release is pointless. Our connection has only further been shortened. However, if you wish me to drop her, it can be arranged."

He made a move to release her but the hanyou and his companions jumped forward to stop him. Accepting their acquiescence, he instead lifted the miko over the one arm and carried her past the gathering and back into the sword smith's cave.

Setting her down on a pile of hay covered by a cloth that served as Totosai's bed, he took a seat beside her. His features hardened as he regarded her sleeping form solemnly.

"You are troublesome," he stated softly, leaving it at that as he retreated into his own thoughts.

*

"What was that?" asked a still awestruck demon slayer.

"My lovely Sango, would you care for a demonstration?" smooth talked a monk as he inched his way closer.

"PERVERT!"

One unconscious monk later, Sango and Inuyasha regarded each other with similar shocked expressions.

"Did that really just happen?" she asked warily. The hanyou nodded mutely.

"Did he really not know?" He nodded again.

"What's going on?" she asked in confused worry.

"I have no idea."

They turned their eyes to the cave.

*

The two children continued their play until all the adults had left the scene. After all, it was a conversation not suited for older ears.

"So what do you think is going on?" asked a curious fox child as he relaxed on the ground, watching as the stars brightened up the night sky.

The girl looked thoughtful as she picked a flower that had thus far escaped her hands. Such is the fate of pretty plants.

"Isn't it obvious?" began the girl. "Sesshoumaru-sama likes Kagome."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"He has a weird way of showing it," the fox grumbled, a bit perturbed at his Kagome's rough treatment.

"Yes. But he is showing it."

The wisdom in the girl's voice as well as her certainty struck a chord in him. Of course she would know all the nuances of the quiet demon lord. After these past few years in his company, of course she would know him better than anyone. Of course this human child would be able to read him better than anyone, even those who could feel his emotions, for what one feels and what one lets known are often two very different things.

"He is different," the fox allowed.

"Yes. He is gentler with her. He just doesn't know what he is feeling."

Truly, the child was wiser than her years.

"What happens now?" the fox asked, finally allowing that perhaps the intimidating youkai did share a special connection with the caring miko.

"I don't know," the girl allowed as she plucked another flower before jumping to her feet with the natural grace of a child. "I think we have to help him."

Before he could ask what she meant, the girl had taken off at a run towards the cave, her precious flower still in hand.

*

The hanyou couldn't sleep, not after all that had happened, and certainly not with all these troublesome thoughts.

He'd stayed around the cave long enough to know that his half-brother, the odd character that he was, had fallen asleep. That he found intriguing. Demons, especially strong youkai such as the lord, did not need sleep very often. Yet here he was, sleeping rather peacefully, face as slack as usual. And he had just slept not two days before, and if his feelings were correct, last night as well. Three days of sleep in a row must be a record in demon society. Hell, three days of sleep in a month must be a record to this particular being.

Of course, being as fond of his brother as he was, Inuyasha simply didn't trust the apparent unconsciousness of the lord until he did something he most definitely would not have done had he been aware.

His hand, his only remaining hand, was tangled in Kagome's hair. He'd seen it happen, watched in awe as the fingers twirled into the black mass and stopped. The hanyou has witnessed the small softening of features that occurred once the hand was thoroughly lost.

It took all of a second for the hanyou to leave in confusion, even as the foreign contentment filled his mind.

He sighed against the tree. Sometimes life was just cruel to him. Both Kikyou and Kagome were beyond his reach, as he was certain his brother would never let the girl go now. No one who looked that pleased in their sleep would let the cause of their contentment be released, especially not someone as possessive as the lord.

But then again, the hanyou was still young. Just as Kagome had helped him through both of Kikyou's deaths, others would help him get over the loss of losing her that he never really had. There was hope in the air. If someone as stiff as Sesshoumaru had become enamored with someone as carefree as Kagome, then anything was possible. He could only wait for what the wind would blow his way.

Speaking of wind, he wondered where Kagura was. The minion could be entertaining at times, especially lately. While he had never considered she might be caught as hopelessly as the others were, it was definitely a possibility. Naraku had interesting ways of manipulating people. What could the bastard possibly be holding over her?

Either way, it was probably for the best that he let her be. They had come to an agreement of sorts and it was safer if he just let it stand at that. After all, the agreement wasn't exactly for the best. He was knowingly allowing everyone to be spied on by the enemy. But it didn't trouble him much. Naraku would know what he would. Kagura was only there for the details.

And after the whole new moon incident, she could be trusted to keep the important details secret.

The wind blew past suddenly and he looked toward the source. The sorceress in question was standing on a boulder not too far from him. She smiled. He returned it. Odd how there was no longer any animosity.

However, the peace was not destined to last. A noise in the bushes prompted him to take his stance for battle. He could never have expected what actually emerged, though perhaps he should have. It had happened before so there was no reason it wouldn't happen again.

"Kikyou?" he asked while dropping his katana from slack hands.

The wind sorceress didn't bother to stay and watch the reunion. Not when Naraku was up to something this hideous. Angry and bitter, she took to the air, trying not to look at the scene beneath her.

This time the evil bastard had gone too far.

*