InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Invitations to Trouble ❯ He Says, She Says ( Chapter 10 )

Chapter Ten

"Get along…little doggie… Get along…little doggie…" the pleasant crooning drifted through the treetops and threatened to drive one bounding hanyou straight out of his mind.

"If you don't quit singing that shit Cuckoo, I swear to god I'll kill you!" Gritting his teeth together, Inuyasha nimbly sprang to another branch and wondered how he had accomplished the feat before without squashing his manhood into paste. Perched on his back and only partially ignorant of his dilemma, Kuroi pouted.

"Koinu, do you realize that this is the umpteenth time you've threatened to end my life today? Anyone would wonder if we're really friends if they heard the way you talked to me."

"They aren't being assaulted by bad vocals right in their fucking ear!" Halting on the branch of particularly large tree, he stopped to let her down. "Now stop singing that weird song for a minute and let me get my bearings."

A sulky, 'It's not weird, Kagome taught it to me.' followed by an even sulkier 'I can too sing.' met his terse order. Kuroi gratefully took the small opportunity to take a break. After all, they weren't traveling in a normal way.

Although she could travel just as quickly as her friend, they had devised a method that would keep their obvious nudity to a minimum. Kuroi would ride on his back to cover her front since her hair hid both her backside and his quite nicely. She had wrapped her tail around Inuyasha'a waist to cover his hips with the thick silver hair of the long appendage. Inuyasha had kept a hold of tetsuaiga in both hands behind him to create a type of seat for her to rest on.

Flicking her tail across her legs, Kuroi let her hair fall across her shoulders to cover her front now that they were stationary. 'Why the hell do I look like this tonight? I'm not due to change until Inu does.' Pondering the claws on her hands and feet, she knew that she might not discover the answer tonight. If ever.

When Inuyasha had presented the fact that she was in her transitioned state outside of the night of the new moon, she'd freaked. Rational thought and irrational assumptions had whirled through her head in frenzy, each one fighting to be accepted as the one and only truth. Back when she had been babbling and shrieking like a banshee, Kuroi could only attribute her current placidness to a time honored remedy.

A light smack across the face from a friend.

Of course, she'd kicked Inuyasha right back out of reflex. 'After all, I am a fighter. What did he expect me to do?' Watching Inuyasha rub at his inner thigh and wince over the large bruise that started there, Kuroi vowed to get him as many of her mother's cakes as she could in apology.

'Well, at least he won't be obsessing about Kagome for a while.'

'Cuckoo, if I can't make love to my wife again because of what you did, I'll kill you.' the dark thought came like a breath of winter in a greenhouse, potentially deadly.

Laughing weakly, Kuroi muttered another apology to her glaring friend. 'Umpteen and one Koinu.'

Straightening, he mumbled lowly, "Where the fuck are we?" Exasperated and in more pain than he wanted to admit to, Inuyasha took a seat beside her on the wide branch. Kuroi still found it odd to see the cat-like balance he displayed in trees. Trying to lighten the mood, she queried, 'Any kitty-cats in the family history Puppy?'

'Evil bitches in yours?' came the snide counter.

Frowning, she poked the outside of his leg, drawing a hiss from the hanyou. 'Damn it, I said I was sorry for kicking you!'

'And I said I'd kill you after you did it! Now stop fucking around and help me figure out where we are!'

She turned to look at him in genuine shock. 'You mean you really don't know?'

His sarcasm would have done Sessy proud. 'No baka girl, I just enjoy bouncing my abused balls around for the fun of it. Yes I'm lost!'

'Rude much?'

'Only to you baka.' Sighing in resignation, Inuyasha scrubbed his scalp in frustration. The two weren't speaking aloud in case their voices alerted anything unfriendly that two tasty morsels were strolling around the woods. 'This forest isn't familiar and I sure as hell can't figure out how we got here!'

Reminded of his lethargy when he'd awoken in the cave earlier, his thoughts settled somewhat, 'Although if I was just running blind, there's no telling how far from home we are…'

'I'm sorry Koinu.'

Now it was his to look surprised. 'What for? You already told me you were sorry about kicking me.' Huffing softly, he crossed his arms and stared out into the night. 'Saying it again won't do any good now.'

Sensitive nostrils flared at the intrusive smell of salt and he groaned. 'Oh fuck Cuckoo, don't start crying about it! I forgive you, just don't cry!'

Shoulders shaking, the drops continued to fall. 'No Koinu, it's not that. I'm sorry I'm not normal.' Drawing her knees to her chest, she shook her head from side to side. 'If I was just a youkai or a human, we probably wouldn't be connected like this and you wouldn't have been affected when Sessy bit me.' The bark of the tree was rough against Kuroi's back and seemed to remind her again that their current situation was her fault.

'You wouldn't be stuck out here in the middle of nowhere with me.' Trying to suppress the noise from crying, her breath came in short, jerky hitches. 'If I wasn't such a freak, you'd be home with Kagome right now instead of naked up a tree!'

'You know, you and Sesshomaru are a perfect couple after all. You're both certifiably insane.' Without glancing away from the darkened horizon, Inuyasha wrapped an arm around her waist and drew her across his lap. A dull throb reminded him too late that he was injured in that area, but he pushed that aside. Not without first mouthing a few words that were better left unvoiced, but he managed it.

When Kuroi stiffened and tried to draw away to avoid hurting him further, he reflexively clamped his hand down on her thigh and growled. 'Stop moving baka, you're making it worse!' Kuroi froze, but didn't trust herself to relax until he forcefully pulled her head against his shoulder. 'Calm down or I'll kill you.'

'Umpteen and three.' she thought softly, but let her limbs go limp.

'Umpteen and four, because I'll kill you if you say 'umpteen' again.' he replied shortly. Stroking her back, Inuyasha closed his eyes and let his anger go. 'I love you Cuckoo. I've never regretted meeting you, and even though I would rather be home with Kagome, I'm happy that you're here with me.' As her breathing steadied and the sounds of the night rose up to them, it all lent a sublime air to the situation.

'I honestly don't know why we both blacked out after my brother bit you, or how I was able to bring us out here but we'll figure it out Kuroi. Just trust me.'

'Like you've been trusting me lately? No thanks. I think I'll just jump from here and try to land on my head. That might hurt less.'

As soon as the contempt-filled statement left her lips, the hand on her spine stopped, and she felt the minute prick of claws on her leg. 'That is not fair Cuckoo.'

'Fair?' No longer caring if she hurt him or not, Kuroi drew back and glared at him, suddenly feeling every shred of the battered emotions she had tried to ignore all day. 'What the fuck isn't fair about it? In one day you've accused me of adultery, lying, rape, betraying our friendship and just being a bitch in general!' Ruby-red eyes burned into gold ones, 'How the fuck do you get to sit there and tell me that I'm the one who's not being fair?'

Inuyasha wondered why every time he tried to amend a wrong to this girl, he only hurt her worse?

'Cuckoo, what I'm trying to say is that even with the link getting as strong as it has, I could never hate you about it.'

'But if it possibly separated you from your dear, sweet brother, you'd tear my head off!? Screw you hanyou.' Inuyasha seethed inside. She had never called him that before today, not once . 'Shit, I really did hurt her.'

Her thoughts were a study in misery as she looked down in contemplation. 'I'm tired of trying to make you happy all the time Inuyasha. I know you find it hard to believe in people but you should at least believe in me.' Leaning in quick, she nipped him on the shoulder hard enough to draw a trickle of blood.

'I don't know what you want from me, but when you've looked after me for half a century, then we'll talk about fair.' Both her emotions and her energy withdrew from him as she stood and prepared to leave.

The knotted muscles in Inuyasha's thighs screamed murder when he jumped up and grabbed her hand to stop her. Knowing that he risked discovery, he said urgently, "Please Ku-Cuckoo. Wait, I'm sorry."

"Save it for the person who wants you to dick them over Inuyasha." Yanking her wrist free, she fell over the side without a sound. Inuyasha swore hotly, grabbed his sword and followed.

"Kuroi! Wait a minute damn it!"

Crimson orbs shone briefly as Kuroi peered over a shoulder before speeding on. Now he turned his curses inward. 'If I hadn't trained that baka on how to run, I could have caught her by now!'

"Kuroi! Wait!"

'Fuck you Inuyasha!' Backed by a disturbing glimpse of her mind, it made him stumble and lose his footing momentarily. That gave Kuroi the advantage she needed to widen the gap between them. Instantly recovering, Inuyasha wondered if the increasing distance might be more than physical.

'I hurt her. I really did hurt her.' Dropping to a lower branch to avoid the more slender ones which he knew wouldn't hold him, Inuyasha couldn't believe how stupid he'd been.

'You should stop calling everybody else dickhead, because so far Inuyasha, you're the crowned king of them.' He dug his claws deeply into the tree he was in as the fleeting form in front of him executed a complicated mid-air turn. A proud grin crossed his face when he saw it.

'Sesshomaru had to have taught her that one.' The grin died. 'Will she forgive me enough to show it to me?'

The question was valid, and he knew it. Kuroi's earlier accusation had been right. Seventy years was too long a time to watch over and love someone, only to have them doubt your veracity. 'Twelve years versus more than seventy, whatever do you mean? Oh no Cuckoo, I think you lie all the time and I should never trust a thing you do for me ever again simply because I have emotional problems!' While sarcasm wasn't the answer to his problem, it felt mighty good at the moment.

'I am a complete shithead.'

'No arguments here.' The touch of her mind in his caused him to nearly fall.

"Kuroi!"

Still refusing to answer his cries, she took to the higher branches, knowing that with his greater mass it would be harder for him to follow. Inuyasha gritted his teeth in sheer frustration. 'I'm going to kick the shit out of her when I catch her.'

'Try it and I'll keep kicking until nothing ever dangles on you again.'

"God damn it Cuckoo! It's not fair to read my thoughts and keep yours from me!" Inuyasha's annoyed cries rang out into the trees, causing small nocturnal creatures to scurry and flee.

'Still crying fair and foul? How else would I know if you're sincere Inuyasha? You haven't been an infinite fount of trust and comfort to me lately.' Pausing on a narrow limb that bent marginally under her weight, Kuroi looked down at where he crouched on a studier one. 'Koinu, I love you, but you can't expect me to keep forgiving you every time you hurt me.' Tears fell and disappeared into the blackness beneath them, journeying to the forest floor over a hundred feet down as she watched him.

'How can you ask that of me Koinu?'

"Because I'm stupid and hotheaded and I'm sorry." Knowing that he risked her taking flight again, he sprang up to a higher branch, but came no closer. "Cuckoo, you're my little sister. We are a family now and no family is happy with each other all the time. You should know this already, look at yours." Inuyasha stood straight and stared her directly in the eyes, assurance showing in every line of his body. 'They fight, they argue, they hurt each other and do stupid things every now and then. Even with all of that, one thing stays the same. No matter what, they love each other!'

"Koinu…" he could feel her through the link. Hesitant, but wanting so badly to forgive him.

'C'mon Cuckoo. You know you want to. I promise to be a good Puppy.' He held out a hand towards her. 'Just hurry up and forgive me already!'

'You are such a baka boy.' Sniffing once more, she shook her head and jumped. For a moment, Inuyasha saw her as his brother did.

The light of the half moon above them sprinkled her pale, fanned hair with stars and outlined every curve of her body, giving the illusion that she was lit from within. Coupled with the gentle smile on her luminous face, the image was one of near perfection.

'Whoa, sis. You're beautiful.'

Startled by the compliment, Kuroi completely misjudged her landing and lost her footing on the branch near him. At the sight, Inuyasha sniggered darkly, 'Now that was priceless.'

Grumbling as she scrambled up onto the limb, she stuck out her tongue. 'Fuck you Puppy.'

'I thought we already figured out that wasn't a possibility?'

Cool and wicked, the thought drifted over to him, 'Keep it up and I'll make it an actual impossibility on your part.'

Inuyasha's knees locked together and he turned away from her slightly with a petulant reply. 'That is beyond evil sis!'

She started to say more, but an ominous crack split the silence. Wide-eyed, Inuyasha disappeared from view as the branch supporting him gave way suddenly and he plummeted towards the ground. Without a thought, Kuroi screamed his name and dove after him.

On his end, Inuyasha flung out his hands in a desperate attempt to slow his descent. Sharp, blinding bursts of pain lanced up his fingers and arms as he dug fruitlessly at the tree whizzing by him. Blood scented the air as the wind howled in his ears.

Inuyasha's last thought before rapidly impacting with the ground and blacking out was, 'Where are my claws?'

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Kouga slowed as he neared the silent den. 'Something's off here.' While it

was normal for the rest of the pack to be out on hunts and patrols, usually one or two were present to defend their home. Only the whisper-soft whines of the wolves greeted him. One in particular, flatly watched his approach with icy green eyes.

'Yami.' Coming forward and bypassing the black wolf, Kouga wondered dismally, 'What the fuck does that old shit want with me now?' Behind him, the large wolf padded along as if to ensure that he didn't try to leave before seeing his lord.

'My lord, I hate you. My lord, I want to kill you. My lord, I think you're a pompous overbearing sack of mule dung that I want to fling over a cliff!' The sardonic litany wove through his tremulous thoughts like cool water and kept him from shaking outwardly.

Kouga knew that Gorotsuki was pissed.

His bare feet stumbled a bit as he neared the lord's quarters. 'If you can call this dump a room.'

The lord's quarters were untidy and dismal, a smallish alcove swamped in furs and the discarded femurs of past hunts. Human hunts. The fetid air that wafted out of the room would have made Kouga retch except that he'd become used to it over the years. A furry wrist band tickled his nose as he pressed it to his mouth.

Used to it, but not overly fond of it.

From nowhere, a meaty fist shot out and yanked Kouga forward before slamming him hard against the wall. "Oof!" was all Kouga had time for before a clenched hand struck him across the face, the force of it knocking loose a tooth and sending out a spray of blood. The fresher stain was lost amongst the older ones on the walls around him.

Over the years, he had visited this room quite often.

"How dare you miss a gathering! How fucking dare you make me look bad in front of my pack you waste of seed?!"

A waste.

A weakling.

That was how his lord saw him.

Kouga went limp in the larger man's clutches, not even trying to resist. He knew where this was going, just as he knew that fighting back would only draw it out. There was no sound from his throat as he felt razor sharp claws gouge and tear into the skin of his arms and chest, cutting easily through his armor. Blood scented the air in a grisly testament of his 'punishment'.

Outside of the doorway, Yami laid down to bar all entrance and exit as it watched. Kouga saw the wolf from the corner of a rapidly swelling eye. 'If I tried to run, that fucking thing would tear me apart.'

Fangs gleamed below the pale green eyes as the wolf appeared to relish in the young man's beating. Kouga had to fight the urge to cry out when a score of cuts were made over his spine and shoulders, causing older wounds to reopen and bleed anew. 'He'd tear me apart, again.'

Doubled over from another blow that he could feel cave in more than a few ribs, Kouga dimly wished from the corner of his mind that he usually retreated to during these sessions of chastisement for that beast's death as well. Moist breath blew across is cheek as his lord delivered blow after blow to his chest and face. The abuse, verbal and physical, seemed to go on for hours.

A fist to his body.

A foul name from a fouler mind.

Despair had no hold on Kouga. To despair, you had to have hope.

Half of his hope died with his mother and the rest went the night his mate disappeared. When he'd seen the painting in the scroll, for a short time, Kouga had remembered what that fleeting emotion had felt like.

Then he'd learned the truth from Kagome and it had died anew.

"You're a no better than your slut of a mother you little bastard! She coddled you too much, kept you from being a man!" the air was driven out of him as Kouga was rammed repeatedly into the floor, his skull cracking against the stone each time. "She ruined you!"

Spittle foamed at the corners of the large mouth that loomed over him, falling down like poison rain. "I'm glad I strangled that bitch."

It was a cruel jab by a sadistic man and Kouga knew it. In the past, similar slings had made him fight his lord until he'd been left in some godforsaken corner of this very room, broken but alive.

Even his thoughts lacked any emotions as he watched the knuckles coming directly at his face without flinching.

'Am I alive though? Why do I keep coming back here?'

Because there was no where else to go.

Gorotsuki's harsh words sliced through the daze of his son's thoughts. "I am the leader here you little shit! You think you can just ignore me and go anywhere you want without my say so?!" raspy and guttural, Gorotsuki's voice was a nasty promise of pain which he proceeded to deliver.

His beefy foot whipped out and sent the prince sprawling over the jagged bones which cut him further as they dug into his body. The roughened sole came down hard over Kouga's neck, pinching the vertebrae there dangerously. Gorotsuki slowly put all of his ample girth onto that foot to torturously choke the life out of his son.

"Say it boy and I might spare your pathetic life!"

'Pathetic because I'm your only heir, or because I hate you?'

Burbling with the blood filling one punctured lung, Kouga's voice was nearly inaudible. "Fuck you."

The pressure increased. "That's not the answer I want boy. Say it!"

Shame burned in Kouga's chest and made his breathing more difficult than it had already been. He almost did it right then. He almost uttered the words the sick bastard knew would kill him to say aloud.

You're my father.

A vision of white arose behind his swollen and blackened eyes. No, he would never be worthy of her if he said it. 'Kill me you old fuck because I won't say it just to please you!'

"…no…"

Infuriated by the defiance that still had a handhold in his son, Gorotsuki snatched him up and violently shook him. Kouga's dark head flopped around like a rag doll, but the words the lord wanted to hear still didn't come. "What the fuck did you say boy? I gave you an order!" Dirt-encrusted claws broke the skin over the corded throat, drawing more blood from the already bleeding boy. "You do what I say, Kouga. I lead, not you!"

"…I said no..."

Howling in incoherent rage, Gorotsuki drew back his hand, ready to plunge it deep into his child's scarred and lacerated chest. With his lips painfully split and swollen, Kouga was ready to welcome it. A cry from the other room stopped the lord and he released his captive.

"Remember boy, a good leader must provide for his pack." Kouga marveled at the way Gorotsuki could shift from a vengeful monster to a seemingly decent person so readily. 'You sick fuck. Who are you trying to fool with that act?' bitterness filled his face as Kouga struggled to sit up.

Gorotsuki yanked back his son's head in order to sneer in his face. "Clean yourself and don't let me catch you missing a gathering again or I will kill you Kouga." The quiet tone was suddenly dismissive, but no less vile. "You may not acknowledge being my son but that doesn't change the fact that I'm your father." Patting Yami affectionately on his head when he walked by the wolf, Gorotsuki swiftly exited from the room and left his child behind to gather up the far too few shreds of his remaining self-respect.

Crawling to the corner of the room, Kouga attempted to block the painful protests of his hands in order to open the rough-shod chest sitting there. Ruefully pulling out the spare clothes and armor within it, he gave a bitter laugh and coughed up a spurt of blood for his foolishness.

His lord always provided, even in the depths of his brutality the bastard always made sure that the chest always held more clothing. Two large, stoppered skins were in there as well. Wincing as he used the teeth that weren't too loose to open it, Kouga hissed at the stings brought about from pouring the herb-water over his wounded body.

Yes, his lord provided quite well.

The water, coupled with his natural healing abilities would see to fixing most of the external damage by the time he managed to pull his stiffening limbs from the currently gory attire and into the fresh set. All the while that Kouga cursed over every ache from a knitting bone, Yami silently watched him from the door.

"Fucking beast." Kouga was partially pleased that his snarl drew a faint growl out of the wolf but that small victory wasn't worth much to him. There had only been one true light in his life and she was gone.

'Maybe he's right. If I'm too weak to fight him now, do I deserve anything good in my life?' One eye managed to open as the puffiness went away. 'Do I really deserve what he does to me?'

From outside the room, Kouga heard his father's shout followed by an odd commotion. Curiosity drove the prince to his feet faster than normal despite his injuries.

Curiosity and a voice.

"If you smelly bastards put your hands on either one of us again I swear to god you will draw back nubs!"

Pounding harder than he could have imagined, Kouga's heart soared at the string of curses that fell like pearls. 'It can't be!'

Shoving past the wolf who snapped at him in passing, Kouga barreled into the main room in time to see Tsuki get dropped like a brick and Gorotsuki clutch a bloodied eye as a slender fist connected solidly with it. Everyone else was busy creating a widening circle in their adamant attempts to stay well out of reach of the pale, white-haired girl who was braced over the unconscious body of a human boy.

Kouga thought he'd died and gone to heaven. "It is you!" In the center of the room stood his naked, vengeful goddess.

"Kemani!" Pushing forward through the ring of youkai, Kouga swept her up into his arms and buried his face in her hair. "I knew you'd come back. You said you would and you did!" his voice was heated and breathy, both from relief and a still healing lung. "Oh god, I missed you so much koi."

The body which had stiffened when he grabbed her, relaxed somewhat and familiar hands lightly touched his back.

"Of course I came back koishii. I-I promised to, didn't I?"

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A/N: Don't you just love the smell of a cliffhanger in the morning?

DANGLE PEONS, DANGLE FOR MISTRESS BAKANI!!!!

Oops, had a moment there but I'm back.