InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Life and Consequences ❯ Chapter 6 ( Chapter 6 )

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

Blanket Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any of the characters listed below. They all are the property of Rumiko Takahashi. I am in no way affiliated with Takahashi, or VIZ Productions.


Chapter 6

Kagome sighed as she dug the first aid kit and a roll of gauze out of her backpack using the late afternoon light.  It had been a long day of emotional turmoil, half-truths, lies, and a fight with a youkai to top it all off.  If hiding their relationship was going to put this much of a strain on her, she would have to convince Inuyasha that it would be ok to tell Sango and Miroku.  

She handed Sango the first-aid kit after removing a tube of anti-bacterial ointment.  Everyone got a little scuffed up with the fight for the jewel shard against a locust youkai, so they decided to make camp early.  Kagome figured that Sango could handle the small cuts she and Miroku obtained while Kagome dealt with her stubborn hanyou mate.

“Ok, Inuyasha,” Kagome said as she approached him with the roll of gauze and the tube of medicine, “Let me see.”

“Keh!” Inuyasha crossed his arms into his sleeves, “I ain’t hurt, wench!  I’m tougher than some weak humans.”

“Don’t give me that.  I saw the fight, remember?  Now, let me see,” she demanded.  Inuyasha huffed and grumbled, but removed his fire-rat haori.  Just as she suspected, there was blood on his white kosode.  He started to remove that too, then paused and looked in Sango and Miroku’s direction.  They weren’t looking in his direction, so he finished taking it off, but left it bunched up on his arm that held his mating mark.  Kagome held up the gauze and raised an eyebrow, asking him if he wanted her to wrap that too.  His eyes shifted to the rest of the pack for a second, then he took his arm out and let her wrap it.

Kagome deftly wrapped his forearm and hid her name.  Her fingers brushed the area once and it caused both of them to shiver.  She’d have to remember that for later.  When she was done with the deceptive wrapping, she turned to his actual injuries.  He had a pretty nasty cut in the upper part of his sword arm and in that same shoulder.  In the Inuyasha-scale of things, he was right in that he wasn’t hurt.  However, if a ‘weak human’ had these same cuts, they would need stitches and a lot of bed rest.

As Kagome gingerly applied her anti-bacterial goop to his wounds, Inuyasha muttered, “You know you’re just wasting that crap.”

Kagome smirked at him and replied quietly enough where only demonic ears could hear, “Well, how else would I get a chance to run my hands across your body, dummy?”

“Keh!” Inuyasha replied while a blush instantly colored his cheeks as he looked away.  Kagome just smiled as she continued wrapping up his arm and shoulder.  She used the opportunity to caress some of his uninjured chest while applying the wrapping, so it took her longer than usual to wrap him up.  She eventually finished and gave him permission to get dressed again.  

Kagome moved away to treat her own scraped knees and Inuyasha checked the position of the sun.  He saw that there was still some daylight left.  His pack had fought today, so they could use something a bit more substantial than ramen.  He would never admit it because he loved the stuff, but he knew that the humans needed more nutrition than the heavenly noodles could provide.  With that in mind, he stood and started in the direction of a spring he smelled nearby in the hopes of catching fish or maybe a small boar if he was lucky.  He stopped and glanced back at Shippo.  The kit was sitting on the ground looking bored and using a stick to make idle drawings in the dirt while everyone bustled around him.  Well, no time like the present to start training…

“Oi, runt,” Inuyasha called.  When Shippo looked up, Inuyasha nodded his head in the way he was heading as an invitation.  Shippo looked confused, but stood and walked toward Inuyasha.  When he got close, Inuyasha gave a curt nod and started heading off again letting the kit follow him.  Once they got out of sight of the camp, Inuyasha stopped and waited for Shippo to catch up.

“You’re gonna start pulling your weight ‘round here, runt,” Inuyasha started in his gruff manner.  No need the kit thinking he was going soft or nothin’.  “You’re gonna start helping me hunt.  Now, let’s head to the water.”  Inuyasha stood there with his arms crossed, waiting for Shippo to start moving.  He figured that detecting the water was a good test of the runt’s senses.

Shippo puffed his chest out with pride that Inuyasha considered him old enough to help with the hunting.  He stood waiting for Inuyasha to lead the way.  They both stood staring at each other for a moment bordering on awkward.  Finally, Inuyasha raised an eyebrow silently asking, ‘Well?’  Shippo deflated and scrunched up an eye in confusion.

“Are…aren’t we going?” Shippo asked hesitantly.  Inuyasha sighed and resisted the urge to bop him.  Who said he didn’t have self-control?

“Start walking, Shippo,” he growled out, “How the hell do you expect to go hunting if you can’t even fucking find water?”

“I can too find water!” Shippo yelled.  

“Keh, prove it,” Inuyasha snapped.

“I will!” Shippo yelled back and started storming off.  In the wrong direction.  The runt didn’t even take a sniff of the air before moving.  ‘This is worse than I thought…’ Inuyasha bemoaned as he grabbed the kit by the tail and lifted him up to his eye level.  Shippo opened his mouth to protest, but then just crossed his arms and pouted.

“You’ve been hanging out with humans too long.  Use your fucking nose.  The water’s that way,” Inuyasha pointed in the direction he was originally heading while twisting Shippo around to face the proper way.   He plopped Shippo on his shoulder and started walking towards the spring.

When they got close enough that they could see the spring, Inuyasha detected that they were crossing a game trail and that a deer had passed by in the last day or so.  Figuring he could test Shippo again, he reached up, grabbed him by the tail and dropped him on the ground.

“Tell me what you smell,” Inuyasha demanded as he crossed his arms.  Shippo opened his mouth to quickly respond, but Inuyasha interrupted, “and not something that you can see.  Who or what has been through here?   And how long ago?”  The runt looked at him with wide eyes, probably surprised that Inuyasha expected him to know the answer.  Finally he sniffed to pick up the scent Inuyasha had been hinting about.  Shippo slowly walked in a small circle trying to find the scent.  After a while, he shook his head.

“I can’t tell…” Shippo said quietly.  Inuyasha ran a hand across his face in frustration.  ‘It’s not the runt’s fault… His dad died and he was taken in by a bunch of humans… Not all his fault, anyway,’ Inuyasha reminded himself.  Inuyasha sat on his haunches to get a little closer to Shippo’s level.

“Ok, do this,” Inuyasha started.  How the hell was he gonna teach this crap?  He had been forced to learn in a do-or-die situation so it was all instinctual.  “Close your eyes, and breathe in.  Hold it and try to sort everything out.  Tell me what you can identify.”

“Um….ok…” Shippo replied and did as he suggested.  Once he breathed out he said, “Water, trees, dirt, you, um…” he trailed off.  “An animal?...”

“Feh, you’re not gonna be much help hunting if that’s all that youkai nose of yours is telling you.  I might as well take Sango instead.  At least she knows how to walk quietly,” Inuyasha goaded.  He had noticed that the best way for him to get Shippo to do stuff was to turn it around on the kit.

Sure enough, Shippo’s eyes widened and he exclaimed, “No!  No, I can do it!  I’ll get better, I promise!”

“Feh, how?” Inuyasha asked dismissively.  

“Can…can you train me?  Please, Inuyasha!  I’ll be a good learner!”  And there it was.  Inuyasha knew he had the trickster by the tail now.

“You’ll do as I say?  No whining to Kagome?  I eat dirt because of you just once, the training’s over.  I’ll let you grow up as a human with a tail.”  He wouldn’t of course, but the kit didn’t need to know that.  He had also thought of a plan that would force the runt to use senses other than his sight.  It wasn’t do-or-die like his own childhood, but do-or-be-humiliated-in-front-of-the-pack should work just as well.

“I promise!  Will you teach me?” Shippo asked hopefully.  Should it be this easy to trick a trickster?  Maybe the kit needed training in that too.  Kami, what had he taken on…  First things first though.

“Fine,” Inuyasha replied and shot his hand to the back of Shippo’s head.  Shippo flinched as he thought he was about to receive another knot on his head.  Instead, Inuyasha pulled the blue ribbon out of his hair that he kept it pulled back with.  He gasped as his red hair fell to his shoulders.

“Inuyasha, wha-“

“Come ‘ere,” Inuyasha interrupted.  Shippo approached and Inuyasha tied the ribbon around the kit’s head, covering his eyes.  “Three days, runt.  I want you to keep that over your eyes for three days unless I say otherwise.  And no ‘carry me, I’m small and pathetic’ either.  Got it?  You’re gonna use your fucking nose and ears.”

Shippo nodded and stood still.  Inuyasha noticed that his nose was finally twitching like it should be in new areas.  Good, maybe this would work after all.  Inuyasha grunted in approval and told Shippo to stay put as he wandered into the stream to catch some fish.  Not enough time for real hunting with the kit along.

In no time at all, Inuyasha had caught enough fish for the pack for the night with an extra one for Kirara.  He was thinking of asking her for a favor later, and bribes never hurt anybody.  Before leaving, he dunked himself in the water and splashed water on his face to remove any dried blood or sweat from their earlier fight.  He also removed the flesh-colored paint on his cheeks Kagome had applied that morning for him and that he had forgotten all about.  He got out and shook himself dry causing Shippo to yelp in surprise.

“You smell like wet dog,” Shippo complained as Inuyasha came towards him with the fish.

“Keh, keep it up and you’ll smell like wet fox,” he sniped back.  “Here,” Inuyasha grunted as he handed Shippo a couple of the smaller fish.  Shippo groped, but found them and held on to them as he followed Inuyasha back to camp.  Inuyasha made sure to go slow so the kit wouldn’t lose his trail.

When they got closer to camp, Inuyasha heard Miroku telling a story about some con he pulled with Hachi that went wrong.  They were all laughing and relaxing.  He stopped and looked back at Shippo who was doing a good job keeping up even with a couple fish under his nose.

“You hear them?  Scent them?” Inuyasha asked the kit.  Shippo nodded.  Inuyasha suppressed a smile.  The runt did look funny with his eyes bound like that…  “Who’s closest to us?” Inuyasha quizzed.  

Shippo’s nose twitched for a bit then he replied, “Kagome?”  

Inuyasha heard the questioning tone of his voice so asked, “You sure?”  Shippo was silent a moment, then nodded his head.  “Feh, you’re right.  Go on,” Inuyasha told him.  Shippo shot him a smile that was usually saved for Kagome, then headed to camp.   Inuyasha smirked at his own cleverness and followed.

Back at camp, Shippo came through the bushes behind Kagome and interrupted Miroku’s story.  The three humans looked at him with his blindfold on, but of course, he didn’t notice the stares.

“Kagome, look!  We caught some fish!” he exclaimed as he held up the two he carried while facing slightly to the left of where Kagome sat.  Yeah, so he had only been there when Inuyasha caught the fish, but nearness counted.  “Inuyasha has the rest,” he explained to keep them from worrying about the lack of food he carried.

“Shippo?” Sango started, trying to keep from laughing, “Why are your eyes bound?”  He obviously wasn’t hurt or he wouldn’t be so cheerful.

“I’m in training,” he explained proudly as he puffed his chest up.  He didn’t see the need to tell them that he was only training because he turned out to be a disappointment on the hunting trip.

“I see,” Miroku started, “and just what is…” he trailed off and got very still, his eyes trained on something just behind Kagome.  Sango looked from Shippo to Miroku when he trailed off, then looked to see what had caught his attention.  She gasped and she could feel color draining from her face as she also became very still and mentally began planning the fastest way to grip and throw Hiraikotsu if needed.

Behind Kagome stood Youkai Inuyasha.  He was looking down at either Kagome or Shippo and still holding the fish they had just caught.  All she could see was the purple stripes on his cheeks because his hair hid his eyes and the lower half of his face was in shadows.  She inched her hand towards Hiraikotsu and could tell that Miroku was slowly reaching for some of his ofuda.  They had to be ready to react at a moment’s notice if Youkai Inuyasha decided to attack.

Youkai Inuyasha must have noticed them moving or the change in atmosphere because his head snapped up and looked at Sango and Miroku.  Instead of blood-red eyes and a feral expression, they saw his normal golden eyes staring at them with a disgruntled expression on his face.  Even in the face of his ire, they both let out a sigh of relief.

“What?!” he barked at them and started staring them down.  Kagome had been watching their reaction as well and had been trying to sense what they saw, but could only sense her mate.  She turned to look at him and saw the problem.  His youkai crests were showing.  He must have wiped off the makeup somehow.

“Inuyasha,” she said softly.  He glanced at her and she pointed a finger to her cheeks.  He stared at her blankly for a moment before his eyes widened in realization and the hand not holding the fish came up to his own cheek.  ‘I must have washed that shit off in the spring.  Dammit…  At least that explains the nervous scent when I showed up, along with the hint of fear.’

Sango and Miroku exchanged a look, then Miroku spoke up, “Well, my friend, it seems that you have a new facial feature that we have only rarely seen.  Care to tell us how you came to acquire it?”

“Feh, ain’t none of your business, monk,” Inuyasha tried to brush off as he set the fish down for them to start cleaning.

“Ah, well as there is a small chance that it concerns the safety of you, my lovely Sango, the Lady Kagome, young Shippo, and myself, I do believe that it is some business of mine,” Miroku retorted.    

“Dammit!” Inuyasha snapped, “I…I transformed, ok?!  These things didn’t go away afterwards,” he gestured to his face.

“Really?” Sango asked.  “When was this?  And why didn’t we see them before?”

Inuyasha studied Sango for a moment.  Besides himself, she was the person most knowledgeable about youkai in their pack.  She might be able to tell him about some of the mating stuff that he didn’t know without them having to wait for Myoga to show his cowardly hide.  When their cover gets blown, as he knew it would eventually, maybe they could get some answers from her.  He sighed and decided to answer her.

“Feh, a day or two after we split up.  Kagome didn’t want people in her time to notice and had some face-paint to cover them up.  I’d forgotten about it, actually…”

“You were wearing face-paint earlier?” Sango asked, amazed.  “I couldn’t even tell.  I thought most face-paints are white?  You’re darker than that, Inuyasha…” she trailed off.

Kagome laughed, bringing the attention to her which Inuyasha was eternally grateful for.  Maybe he would give her the extra fish instead…  He could bribe Kirara with the promise of an extra one the next time.  He sat quietly cleaning the fish hoping that he would be ignored for a while.

“I forgot about that,” Kagome started enigmatically, “Makeup is different in my time.  Instead of it being for actors or geishas to make their faces stand out, we mostly use it to enhance our natural features.  What I used on Inuyasha is skin colored and helps cover up zits or freckles and evens out the skin tone.”

“Enhance natural features, you say,” Miroku replied while rubbing his chin thoughtfully, “I must question why you would own any of that face-paint Lady Kagome.  Surely you are not in need of it.”  Miroku started to nod sagely as he saw Lady Kagome blush when the effect was ruined as a fish hit him in the side of the head.

Kagome and Sango both instantly doubled over laughing at Miroku’s stunned face with the added touch of fish scales dotting his cheek.  Shippo was busy pouting because he couldn’t see anything and had missed all the excitement.  Nobody noticed the low growl coming from Inuyasha.

Inuyasha was trying his best to calm down.  He knew the monk didn’t mean anything by it, but just the fact that he was openly flirting with his mate had made his blood start to boil.  Miroku was lucky that there was something like the fish nearby to throw at him.  Otherwise, it could have been his claws.  ‘Miroku’s a friend, he didn’t mean it.  He’s not after Kagome, he’s after Sango.  I can’t hurt him, he’s a pack mate.  I can’t kill him, he’s my beta.  He’s under my protection…can’t hurt him…  Fuck this, I’m outta here…’  Inuyasha stood, took a couple running steps and hurled himself into the overhead canopy to put some distance between himself and the bouzu.  He traveled as high as the trees would let him and tried to relax while keeping an ear trained on his pack below.

**********

That evening, Inuyasha joined the rest of the group once the fish were done cooking.  He’d occasionally shoot a glare at Miroku, but Miroku was playing it as safe as he could by staying away from Kagome while she studied.  Every now and then Kagome or Sango would see a bit of firelight reflect off of a fish scale that Miroku had been unable to wipe from his cheek and they would giggle.

“So, Inuyasha…,” Sango started after they had all sat in comfortable silence for a while.  “I’ve been thinking about your crests.  You said you transformed a day or two after we split up, correct?”  Inuyasha didn’t reply, but he didn’t tell her to mind her own damn business, so she took that as permission to continue.  “It did not occur to me until after we had arrived in the taijiya village, but it may have something to do with that oni with the club we fought.  Other taijiya have fought that type of oni before and have always worn their masks to do so because of the effects that its club produces.  It actually makes a dust that has differing effects on youkai or humans.  It tends to throw the body out of balance in some way.  Maybe you inhaled some of that oni’s dust, Inuyasha.”

“Keh,” Inuyasha answered non-committedly.  But he did share a glance with Kagome.  He knew damn well he had breathed in that dust because he was trying to figure out what was happening to Kagome at the time.  Hell, maybe that fucking dust brought his youkai half closer to the surface.  That could explain the control issues he’d been fighting.  Kagome was ok now though, right?  She had only seemed affected those first couple days…  This was definitely something to think about, at least until he could find that damn flea to ask about their mating.

His chain of thought was interrupted by an impressive growl from Kagome, right before she threw her book into the bushes near her.  “I can’t understand a thing in there!  Ooohhh, I hate algebra!”  Kagome stood up to move around and work off some of her anger.  She continued to vent, “Who cares if ex equals negative be plus or minus the square root of be squared minus four ay see divided by two ay.  When in the world will I ever use that?!”  She continued to stomp around the campsite oblivious to the questioning looks she was getting.

“Did…did Kagome just cast a spell?” the blindfolded Shippo asked, confused.  “Did it do anything?”

“Nothing appears to have happened, Shippo, but I don’t know if Lady Kagome was casting a spell or not.  I have not heard the incantation before,” Miroku answered.

“Oi, runt,” Inuyasha called while Kagome continued to fume.  “Go get her book, will ya?”  Shippo nervously stood up.  He wasn’t sure he could detect one of Kagome’s books, and with Kagome moving all around the campsite, her scent was everywhere.  Inuyasha knew he had given the kit a challenge, but it was better training than just having him sit on his ass all night.

“Hey Kagome,” Sango tried to get the upset miko’s attention.  When Kagome glanced in her direction, she continued, “Did you bring your playing cards?  I’m not quite ready for sleep yet.  How about you, houshi?”

“Why I do believe that is a wonderful idea, my lovely Sango.  What game from the future will Lady Kagome suggest we play?  Or perhaps it’s time for a new game to be learned.  What do you say, Lady Kagome?” Miroku said as he jumped on Sango’s idea to get their friend’s mind off of the studies that were troubling her.

“Sure guys, I brought my cards,” Kagome replied, having calmed down some by now.  That and she wasn’t going to study any more tonight anyway.  Stupid algebra…

“Oh, I know!” she exclaimed brightly as she pulled the cards out of her bag.  Her lips twitched a bit as she tried not to laugh, “We can play Go Fish!”  

Sango laughed again as Miroku just sighed and hung his head.  Kagome laughed as well and saw Inuyasha smirk slightly even as his eyes danced with laughter.  She gave him a brilliant smile before she began shuffling the deck.