InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Little by Little ❯ The Honeymoon's Over ( Chapter 11 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: LittleKnownArtist 
Ah, an end to that newly wedded bliss, the honeymoon period.
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Hentai / Romance | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 08.28.2016 | Updated On: 08.28.2016 | Pages: 6 | Words: 7.6K | Visits: 420 | Status: Work In Progress
Ah, an end to that newly wedded bliss, the honeymoon period.
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Hentai / Romance | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 08.28.2016 | Updated On: 08.28.2016 | Pages: 6 | Words: 7.6K | Visits: 420 | Status: Work In Progress
Kagome stretched her arms over her head, staring up to appreciate the slow meandering of the clouds. A slight scraping noise drew her attention to where her husband had perched himself on the fence.
"Anything today?" Kagome asked, dropping her hands and returning to pulling weeds.
"Just a bear. They were busy eating the fish downstream, so I let them be. Probably won't bother makin' the trip up to this side," he relayed with a shrug.
"Well that's good," Kagome started, pausing her hands, "Did you check on Kaede and Shippo?"
Inuyasha snorted.
"Yeah, yeah. Old woman walks so slow, they ain't even made it half way to the next village. Don't know why you couldn't've gone instead."
Kagome sighed.
"I know. Kaede's got an old friend there she's been meaning to see, and I would have loved to see Shippo off at the next stop, but…"
"See him off? What d'ya call this morning?"
"Well, yeah, but I only got to see him for a few minutes today…He spends so much time in the mountains, I feel like I never get to see him."
Inuyasha rolled his eyes.
"Bah, runt'll be back in a few weeks. And he usually spends winter down here after that."
Kagome shot him an annoyed glare, before returning to her task. Checking over the rows of seedlings for any more weeds, she stood and brushed her hands off. She ducked back inside the house to wash up. Miroku would over soon.
"Inuyasha!"
The hanyou stiffened up at the irritated tone of the call, but begrudgingly dropped from the fence when it was followed up with a frustrated growl. He wasn't one step inside the house when Kagome set a hand to her hip and shot him a glare.
"I thought I asked you to clean the floor."
"Yeah, and I did," Inuyasha huffed.
"Then why's there muddy footprints everywhere?"
"Tch. I dunno, maybe I came in again afterwards."
"And you didn't think to wipe off your feet?" She growled. "Whatever, I'm just gonna get—where's my bucket?" Kagome spun around to find the two buckets not where they were supposed to be kept—where her stand of herb jars used to be.
"Where's my jars?" She whipped her head around the room. "And my chest? My laundry—Inuyasha!" Nothing was in its proper place!
"Why do you keep moving my stuff around?"
Inuyasha rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.
"Maybe if you didn't trip over everything I wouldn't have to move anything," he muttered as he turned his head off to the side.
"Excuse me?" She gawked.
"Oh, come on," he started, gesturing to one item of furniture in particular, "You've stubbed your toe on that damn thing roundabout twenty times! It don't belong near the door like that with a klutz in the house."
"Klutz?! I am not a klutz, Inuyasha!"
Inuyasha forced a laugh.
"Oh, right. So it was your intention to make me catch you every time you fall—which is constantly," he scoffed. "How romanic," he finished sharply.
"Well, you don't have do that every time I stumble, that's ridiculous."
"Like I said, if you didn't—"
The violet clad monk swatted away the noisy flies buzzing about his face as he walked down the path to his friend's residence. When he had successfully shooed them away, he noticed that the birdcalls and buzzing insects weren't the only noises about the forest. He could vaguely make out voices deeper into the trees. He pushed aside a branch that grew into the path as he started to make out a male and female tone. He understood why they built their house out here, his hanyou friend would was always most comfortable among the trees of the forest—but it was still quite separated from the rest of the families, and not exactly an easy walk with how cluttered with greenery the footpath was.
Unease set in when he began to notice that the volume was much too high for a casual conversation. He was slowly beginning to recognize the tones as…not particularly happy. He stopped, took a breath, and pulled a u-turn as an especially loud, feminine growl came over the sounds of the birds.
He darted off towards his home. He had a new baby and pair of toddlers; he had no energy to get in the middle of his friends' dispute, nor did he have a death wish.
"I'm just looking out for you!"
The argument had moved its way outside, with both parties walking in random lines about the front of their house.
"Inuyasha, I didn't ask for quite that kind of vigilance! What I would like is a little help around the house. I'm gone most of the day and sometimes I don't—"
"I don't? Fuck, Kagome have you ever had to even—"
"Okay, stop! Yeah, fine, you're right," she voiced in a condescending tone, "but if you could be a little more conscientious about wiping your feet and cleaning up after yourse—"
"Conscientious? Got it. Find some more stuff to bitch at me about," he huffed before she could finish.
Kagome's eyes went wide.
"What? What did you..? You promised you wouldn't call me that."
Inuyasha closed his eyes with a sigh. Why was she so hung up on that again? He hadn't called her any foul names since…he couldn't even remember, but she still thought he might?
"I didn't call you a bitch, I said you were bitching at me." He opened his eyes to an expression on his wife's face he hadn't seen in a long time. With her lips pursed he didn't have time to correct the mistake.
"Osuwari."
The command wasn't as loud as he had expected, but it drug him down just the same, the beads digging into the earth and earning him a faceful of grass. He was quivering now, trying to resist the spell. Oh, he was officially mad now, when he had been merely annoyed before. It was not because it hurt. The command rarely injured him, but Kagome had come into their rekindled relationship with a promise of her own. He had a right to be pissed off.
Kagome came out of a wince as he lifted his head. She'd forgotten just how violent the command was, and when he had started trembling, she was worried it had hurt him. But now, with the glare he sent her, she could tell he was perfectly fine. He was growling at her, to boot. Her worry dissipated, and she was angry again, this time with the look he gave her.
"You—"
That was it. She didn't care how angry he was, and she didn't care how much she may have deserved it, she wouldn't stand for it. She also wouldn't let him finish with "—promised you wouldn't do that," as she stupidly believed he held something else at the tip of his tongue.
"Osuwari!"
He was growling as her stomping footsteps grew farther away, but when the effect of the spell ended, he simply turned his head to the side and laid there for another few seconds. How the hell had that escalated so quickly?
He growled once more as he pushed himself up, glaring in the direction she had left. He wasn't going to follow her. He wasn't going to tell her off. He wasn't going to follow her. He wasn't going to continue this. He wasn't going to follow her. He also wasn't going to apologize for doing wrong when she had been just as wrong. He so was not going to follow her.
He darted through the trees in the direction she had left.
"I'm just going for a run—to clear my head…" he told himself. He wasn't going to follow her.
†********†*******†******†******†
The axe slammed down into the wood with the force of one very angry swing, sending one half flying off.
"Oops!" Kagome winced as she tried to pull the deeply embedded axe from the stump.
"Kagome, while we do appreciate it, we have more than enough wood for a some time," Miroku said, picking up the piece that had landed near his doorstep. He set it beside the growing pile of firewood.
Kagome sighed.
"Fine. So we're going to continue with—"
"Actually, Kagome… with anything that requires such concentration…how should I say this…?" Miroku started, scratching his head, "One's mind must be at peace, their emotions balanced… and considering the…disagreement you had with Inuyasha this morning, you likely have leftover—"
"Wait, wait. How did you know Inuyasha and I were fighting?"
Miroku gave a sideways glance to the needlessly large stack of firewood Kagome had cut that morning. Kagome cringed when she realized what the look was in reference too.
"That, and, I overheard a few words of it this morning while I was going over there."
Kagome groaned and hid her face under one hand.
"I assure you, I heard nothing of circumstance," the monk said, waving one hand in defense.
"Kagome?" Sango called out as she exited the house with a basket of laundry.
Sango convinced Kagome to come to the river with her to wash laundry. Kagome sat by the bank in thought, handing cloths to the older woman as she needed them.
"I'm not that upset about it, really," the Miko told herself. "It was stupid, after all…I don't…" A sudden wave of guilt washed over her, when she remembered that it had been a serious argument after all; at least on her end. She had promised Inuyasha she wouldn't use the spell, right off the bat. It was the day of after wedding, and she had curled her fingers around the beads and whispered an apology for all the times the spell drug him down.
"I won't use the necklace again, I promise" she told him.
He shrugged, indifferently, but Kagome thought he would appreciate the gesture. So why did she break that promise? She couldn't remember half the argument, nor how it started…but…
"He called me a bitch," she vocalized aloud.
*********************************
Inuyasha cringed from his perch on the far side of the river, hidden within the branches of a tall maple. He kept his distance, so as not to alert Kagome. He grit his teeth and sat back with a 'thud' against the trunk.
No, he hadn't. Sure, he didn't choose the best wording for her nagging about whatever—nagging! Why didn't he say she had been nagging?—but he hadn't directed an insulting name towards her. She didn't have to 'osuwari' his ass…his incredibly stupid ass. She hadn't done that—not once—since she had returned to this world. She had even said she wouldn't.
Inuyasha huffed. But then, how had he reacted when she promised him this? He shrugged, that's what. Because then it wasn't a big deal. Before they were separated, she didn't do it all the time and, hell, he probably deserved most of that—not that he would admit it. It didn't hurt, unless she gave the command three hundred times or so like she had when he actually didn't deserve—but hey, that spell had saved him on occasion too. When he was too stupid to duck or something. So it didn't seem like a huge deal…so why was it such a big deal now?
"Damn," he muttered. Because she had broken her promise. Because she had made that promise to begin with. Why did she have to go and do that? It wasn't like he asked her to.
I didn't ask for quite that kind of vigilance!
That's how all this shit started. He was just… Why did the squabble turn into this? It was probably their first real argument since she had come back. They squabbled a bit—and mostly over the furniture, interestingly enough—but this was their first fight where they had both been pissed off, not just annoyed.
He scowled and crossed his arms. He glanced down, and noticed both women were talking quietly. He learned forward, ears trained on the women, but he couldn't quite make out the words, even with his hearing. Were they purposely whispering? He heard everything, normally. He didn't dare get any closer, Kagome would feel his presence, and he didn't care for her to know he'd been spying on her.
*******************************_******
"He called me a bitch."
"Pardon?" Sango asked as she turned a questioning gaze to her friend. Kagome bit her lip, shaking her head.
"It's nothing," she muttered.
Sango raised a brow with a quiet, "is that so?"
Kagome blinked at the other woman.
"Kagome, maybe it's not my place, but…oh I don't know. What were you two arguing about?"
Kagome fiddled with a piece of grass at her side.
"He moved the furniture again… turned the entire place upside-down…" she started quietly. She told her friend why she had the house set up the way it was, his reasoning for moving stuff, but then she remembered the reason she'd gone stomping off in the first place. She became more animated, whisper-shouting, about the name he had given her.
"And of course I broke my promise but…I…" her face drooped in guilt.
"Why are you whispering?"
Kagome sighed.
"He obviously doesn't realize I know he's here. I can feel him up in the trees over there." Kagome wrapped her arms about her knees, as she very subtly glanced up into the tall maple on the far side of the river. Not a bit of silver hair nor red cloth was visible, but she could feel demonic aura, just the same as any Miko. He knew this, but she wondered how much he knew about her range.
"He's watching you then. Probably making sure you're cooling off."
Kagome scoffed. "He's probably waiting for me to apologize first."
Sango shook her head, dipping the cloth she held back into the water.
"Maybe…but give him a little credit."
"I'm not going to apologize to him…not first, anyway," Kagome mumbled the last part into her knees. Sango turned back to her friend, who was staring into the water, the incident with her white-haired husband obviously still rampaging through her mind. Her expression looked…guilty. Not angry, like black-haired girl had seemed when she showed up at Sango's house.
"Well, I should hope you feel a little better, you stabbed into nearly a month's firewood."
Kagome nodded, but then thought on the comment. Well, yeah, it had felt good to take her aggression out on the wood, but now she was just left feeling down. Kagome got half a sigh out before she realized something. Besides just now, and a few days ago for Kaede, Kagome had never had to cut firewood. And besides that…
"When Inuyasha give you the axe back?"
"Not long after you moved out into the woods, why?"
Coming up behind the women was a young and middle-aged man.
"Oh, good. Kagome-sama, you're down here," came the middle-aged man.
There was a branch that had apparently fallen near the large shrine, and he wondered if it looked okay to move without damaging the sacred place. Kagome gave it thought, and decided to have a look at it, since she hadn't been to the old shrine yet today. She asked Sango if it was alright to leave her, and Sango nodded. She didn't mention how little Kagome had actually helped her.
Kagome walked slowly behind the men as they made their way to the old shrine. Kagome shook her head and tried to focus when they arrived. A branch was an understatement, the limb was as big around as the young woman's leg. She examined the tree that it had fallen from—one that had never recovered from the effects of Naraku's miasma—and determined the entire thing would come down some time in the future. Luckily, the limb that had already fallen did no damage to the shrine, and could be safely removed today. With several other men, she discussed plans to take down the dead tree before it decided to fall on its own and damage the shrine or someone's house.
"Couldn't Inuyasha do it on his own?" One of the men asked.
"Oh yes, it would be much less dangerous for him to do it. When we were repairing our homes, he brought in trees that would take entire teams of oxen to move," a second agreed.
"And some of them uprooted rather than cut!" The first interjected.
Kagome bit her lip as she glanced to the side, where she felt the faintest demonic aura from the nearby forest. She turned back to the men.
"Well… I'll…"
A third man gripped the first man's shoulder, and whispered something to him. The first man cringed with an 'Oh,'.
Kagome raised a brow.
"What is it?"
"I'm sorry, Kagome-sama. I wasn't thinking. It wouldn't be good for a demon to come in contact with the shrine while he's taking down the tree. It would take long to purify the site, would it not?"
Kagome fought the urge to look outright offended. She took a deep breath and calmly laid out her opinion of his assumption.
"No. Inuyasha would not defile the shrine, and I would not need to take extra time to purify anything," she looked between the two men with her chin held firmly. She suddenly felt the demonic aura from her husband coming much closer, and briefly wondered where he might be hiding without tall trees to cover him. She shook off the thought and nodded to the men, closing her eyes.
"Kaede's let him in here before, and she's never had to do anything extra, so why should having him take down a tree be any different?" She said with a final nod. She didn't catch the quiet comment one of the younger men made after that, but she almost thought she heard the growling of an animal somewhere in the distance. Her eyes snapped open at the sound of a slap, to see the third man holding the back of his head, and the second with his hand still up. He bowed, and apologized for his brother, followed by the third, still rubbing his head.
The rest of the discussion went without issue, and Kagome had said, hesitantly, that she would ask Inuyasha to remove the tree.
******************
He had rarely left his various tree perches as he watched his wife. Hell, he wasn't even watching most of the time, just listening in on her, while he closed his eyes. He only started closing his eyes to her when he saw the sad expression on her face. Guilt maybe? It didn't matter. For a split second, he felt vindicated—like he was in the right—but that was quashed by his own guilt of having that sort of thought. Seeing those lovely brown eyes downturned would be the death of him. He hated it. He…he couldn't just apologize though. What would he even be apologizing for?
Oh yeah.
But that wasn't even the issue, was it? She had just misunderstood him. He had just spoken wrong. She didn't even give him a chance to fix it, she just sent him flopping to the earth. Therefore, it was her fault. So she had to be the first to apologize.
He followed her up to the old shrine she and Kaede tended, and listened in on the conversation there. He crept closer when they moved up to discuss the tree removal.
"Couldn't Inuyasha do it on his own?"
'Fine, fine. The thing's got dry rot. Don't look like it weighs much,' he agreed with a roll of his eyes. They tone became hushed between the men, and so, curious, Inuyasha crept even closer, not even thinking of being within Kagome's range. He wondered what all the whispering was about.
"It wouldn't be good for a demon to come in contact with the shrine."
Inuyasha glared in the direction of the man who had spoken.
"No. Inuyasha would not defile the shrine." She spoke so pointedly to defend him. Inuyasha swallowed as a bead of guilt rolled through him. She always defended him, even when he got pissy with her. His eyes traced the lovely young woman's silhouette, her stance was strong, her head held high, and he knew she would defend even the mildest of comments about him. Maybe the man meant no harm in the comment, but that didn't seem to matter to the hanyou's wife. He dropped out of the tree to come nearer, crouching in some of the taller bushes to listen to what she had to say.
"Kaede's let him in here before, and she's never had to do anything extra, so why should having him take down a tree be any different?"
He wondered about that. Maybe if a demon was wrought with evil intent, if might defile the shrine, he never cared to learn much on the subject.
He heard one man, under his breath, make the comment of, "guess it wouldn't defile it, since this one probably lets him into her body, too."
In an instant Inuyasha was ready to tear that bastard to shreds. What the hell kind of shit was that? All concern of how Kagome had ever pissed him off in the first place flew out the window, he now only cared about that obscene comment as an unconscious snarl twisted his lips.
In all the time he'd spent around the village this kind of shit was still being said behind his back, he knew that, he knew that wouldn't change either. He had more respect to his face, but there were still the few that didn't like the idea of the dog demon roaming the village. Even if he didn't have the legend that earned the forest's name tied to him, he was still a monstrous beast to humans. He understood that, but for them to include Kagome? Those things weren't even said in a woman's presence, so why the hell would they say that? Even if for the fact she was a Miko. Here this fucker was all concerned about harming the shrine, and he said that about someone wearing those red-and-white robes? Shouldn't he be concerned about bringing the wrath of the gods on his head?
'He's gonna feel someone's wrath,' Inuyasha thought, his growling growing increasingly loud. The man to the idiot's left definitely heard the growling, judging from the panicked expression as he whipped his head to face where Inuyasha was crouched. Kagome must not have heard the comment, but the man standing to the right of the idiot whopped him upside the head, looking almost as offended as Kagome might have had she heard the remark. Inuyasha pried his claws out of the earth and let his growling subside. It wouldn't do to murder the men for the words Kagome didn't even notice.
The man on the right bowed and forced down the head of the middle man to bow too. He apologized, for what Kagome thought was the earlier comment about Inuyasha. Kagome agreed pleasantly to talk to her husband about the tree, as if nothing had happened to cause the white-haired youth to grind his teeth and suppress his urge to pounce on the fool who had made the obscene comment. She left the men's presence, and Inuyasha changed up his game, letting Kagome pass by Kaede's garden and head on her way before he left the brush. The men were still on the scene after Kagome was gone, so Inuyasha leapt from the bushes, out in front of the three men.
He made it obvious that he was listening to the whole thing with one slow look over the men. His eyes promised violence. They all knew it, standing stock still with a growing fear in their eyes. He kept his glare focused on the men until he was sure of it. He made sure the look was all it took to get the warning across. Sure, he was a benevolent beast—one of the protectors of that village—but that was only until you fucked with his family.
He narrowed his eyes one last time before turning on his heel and going on in the direction of the home he shared with Kagome.
***********************************
At the conversation centered around her husband, she couldn't help thinking that she had been overreacting that morning…Inuyasha wasn't dull, but sometimes his mouth worked ahead of his brain. She looked over Kaede's garden as she passed, spotting no weeds that might need to be pulled, and headed back to Sango and Miroku's house. She wasn't surprised to find them out stringing laundry. She lent a hand to entertain the girls. She had perfected her flower braiding skill since the last time she watched them, but they had no interest in that today. She let the girls list off the colors of the flowers that they knew, and other random facts that they had learned until their parents had finished up.
Kagome helped the young parents around the house for another hour until Miroku suggested she get an early start home. The younger woman finally caught on, realizing she wasn't much help today, since she was…not mad anymore, but still hung up by her own actions that morning. What was Inuyasha even doing? Throughout the day she had felt him watching her. Whether he was near, or just barely within her sensing range, he was usually there. Even when she couldn't feel his presence—like currently—she was sure he was around somewhere. It was almost sweet that he was watching her—a little creepy—but sweet. If what Sango said was right, and that he wanted to make sure she was okay, it was kind of endearing. He could have just gone off to sulk somewhere, away from everyone, like he had done in the past. Sometimes he would have gone away somewhere for hours, maybe just to make her worry about him, but here he…stayed almost right beside her.
And after she had used the beads on him too. Talk about a guilt trip. What if that was the point? what if he was trying to make her feel guilty? Inuyasha had never been manipulative, but what if..?
As she started in the direction of home, she remembered that it was good she got an early start. It would take her a lot longer to put everything in its proper place, and clean up the hanyou tracks her husband had graciously left her. He probably hadn't touched the floors.
She frowned again. Of course he hadn't! It was like living with a child with all the messes he made. Her walk started to fall heavier as she made her way through the brush. Some of her annoyance had returned with the thought of what she'd have to clean up before she could be comfortable in her own home. The path was familiar, so she wasn't really looking where she was going when she stumbled.
******************************
It took longer than he'd thought, but he finally left the house and climbed back into the trees. He was still fuming about the comment that idiot had made, but he knew if he did more than give the man a warning…well, he wouldn't ruin Kagome's reputation like that. He rather liked living in an actual house in the village. If he was run out of a village for his actions, he would be fine living in the middle of the woods, but he would never force Kagome to move out there with him, and he never wanted to live apart from her again. Not ever.
He groaned and hunched down in the branch. He watched spirals of wood shaving split from the piece in his hands. His claws made for perfect chisels, as it turned out. He wasn't imagining it was anyone's face he was tearing into as he carved random shapes into the wood. It was tempting, but he wouldn't even let the thought into his mind. He didn't know how long he sat, muttering to himself and carving into the wood block, but he realized at some point he was idly carving a little tanuki statue. It was crude, since he had never been particularly artistic, but the shape was undeniably a raccoon-dog to him. He turned it over in his hands, looking for how to refine the shape and scratch off any splinters when his nose twitched to the scent of his wife.
He didn't intend to stay back here long, he had planned to go back to following Kagome around, but his destructive nature got the best of him. He ran his thumb over the little carving while he looked for his wife on her way down the path. Well, perhaps it wasn't that destructive, considering he'd actually managed to make something out of the chunk of wood he'd set out to destroy.
He spotted her shoving past a flowering bush as she came down. His ears flattened back with a scowl. She was stomping her way through the forest, still mad at him.
He flopped against the bark with a huff, thumb still tracing over the lines of the little carving while he closed his eyes. He opened his eyes to stare at the branch before him as the sound of heavy footfalls came closer. He sighed as his wife passed the tree he was propped in. No, he wasn't really mad at her anymore, but he was still upset about that stupid remark. Upset that he was upset. If Miroku had said something like that, then he would pelt him with rocks, but he wouldn't actually weigh the pros and cons of murdering the freak. Granted, this man was not Miroku, not a friend, and he had the audacity to make the comment where Kagome could hear it. She didn't, lucky her.
The real issue was that it was a matter of respect. He knew he had gained a certain level of respect in four years' time; since women didn't hide their children when he walked about, and men came to him when they had a task too big to complete in a timely manner. But it wasn't like he didn't hear the whispers when his ears twitched to a noise, or some movement he made brought attention to his claws, or some expression that he wore made his fangs more noticeable. The whispers didn't count the older residents, who either saw firsthand, or were told secondhand what he did fifty-some years ago when he thought he'd been betrayed. He had trashed the village. One person died in the fires. Some walked away with scars from the debris that got tossed around. Kaede's eye hadn't gotten that way on its own. Most of those people still openly glared.
But Kagome had done nothing to deserve anything less than praise and respect. The respect of a woman and the respect of a Miko. The respect to not have her goddamned sex life brought up by random acquaintances.
He slumped down further in his seat. Still, he was angry about it. Kagome was still angry at him. If he faced her now, she would assume he was still mad, since he couldn't get rid of his scowl. He refused to tell her what he had overheard. He didn't know how she would react and he didn't care to put that on her mind.
He shook his head and leapt into another tree, farther away from the trail she would be taking to make sure she wouldn't know where he was. He tucked the unfinished carving into his clothes and watched Kagome come up the path. She seemed to be muttering something, though Inuyasha heard nothing. He sighed again and turned his head off to the side, idly watching the patterns made by the rays streaming in through the leaves.
He heard a scuffle and Kagome squealed. He was ready to dip down the second he heard her voice. He hesitated for some reason, and it was already done and over with. Kagome had stumbled, and gripped onto the bushes to regain her balance. He remembered her earlier insistence that she was, in fact, not a klutz. Well, he still thought she was, but she had a point in saying she could always get back up on her own, without him there to catch her. He sat back down as she dusted off her hakama and stared back at the stickerbushes that had snagged her leg.
He sighed. He would have to cut those back later.
***************************
Kagome walked more carefully down the path to the clearing. She took note of the Inuyasha-shaped indent in the earth and winced. She shook her head and pulled back her sleeves, since she would still have to clean the floors. She pulled back the screen and blinked at the state of the room.
A small smile developed on her lips. All her things were back in their proper places, as if they had never moved. She looked down over the floors. Swept and mopped just like she had asked that morning. She took a few steps in and noticed that the bowls and cups had even been straightened up. She glanced to the other side of the room…he even dusted. She scanned over the firepit, which had been cleaned as well. Above her head, her pots were hung neatly, from largest to smallest. Her kitchen area had been wiped down extensively, and a few green vegetables had been cleaned for dinner. The wood pile had been replenished by the back, and it looked like he had played Tetris with the different sized logs.
Kagome held her arm as her smile began to fade. She bit her lip, wondering where he had gone that he left all this for her. Then she remembered she could feel the slightness of his demonic aura nearby…as it had been all day. So when had he had time to do all this?
Guilt washed over her when she remembered that that morning she had implied he was lazy. No, he did a lot around the house actually. Stuff she never thought about. Since they had this house, she had never once had to chop her own wood. Whenever the little bit they kept in the house got low, without word and without thought, there was more firewood in the house next time she checked. When Kagome mentioned she wanted fish, or rabbit, or pheasant, within twenty minutes Inuyasha would push back that screen, catch in hand. Sometimes, fresh water was ready for breakfast, and Inuyasha had slipped back into bed without his wife's notice. Or right after waking, he would leave for all of one minute and return without her ever having asked.
She had never even seen him cut wood, he had done that when she wasn't aware of it. Her husband wasn't as cleanly as she was, and she still had to remind Inuyasha to skin and pluck the catches outside. However, in the grand scheme, that wasn't a huge issue…the fish bones she found everywhere though…
She said some obnoxious things, the same as he did. She found herself blinking quite a bit as she sighed. She exited the house and turned her face up into the trees. She rubbed her arm and tried to figure what direction to walk.
"Inuyasha?" she called, with no response. She walked a little ways from the house, back into the treeline.
"Inuyasha?" she repeated.
She bit her lip as she walked, trying to figure out which tree he was in. She sighed. She looked down at her feet and continued, "I know you're there…you've been right beside me all day."
She looked back up into the trees.
"So please come down?" She asked, her voice small and her tone entreating.
She heard a sigh behind her.
"I'm here," he said as she turned to face him. She scanned over his face. Only the slight tension in his jaw showed his irritation. Kagome nodded once, coming to look down at her folded hands.
"I was being stupid. I should never have used the beads on you," she gave quietly.
His breath came out as a sigh.
"It's fine," he started but was cut off.
"Except that it's not fine. I said I wouldn't, and I ended up doing it anyway. I'm sorry Inuyasha. I really, really won't do it aga—"
"Don't make any promises," he interrupted, "you will."
Kagome sucked in a breath and met his eyes again. He was feeling really hurt by it, wasn't he?
"I won't! I mean it—I-I'll try to avoid even thinking about it."
Inuyasha huffed and scratched his head.
"I ain't even bothered by that, really. So you don't gotta apologize. As for me, I've gotta watch my mouth, I know."
She shook her head in disbelief. Had she broken the poor guy?
"Don't look like that," he started, taking a step forward, "you act like it's such a big deal. I'm kind of an ass, I get it. Let me know when I'm out of line. I don't care if you stop using the thing or not, but don't promise me anything."
Kagome tilted her head, pondering the words he held special emphasis on. He took another step forward, and Kagome a step backwards—confused. He glanced down at her feet before closing the gap in a few more steps. He held her gently by the elbows as Kagome stared up at him, still trying to decipher his expression. He didn't sound irritated, but the set of his jaw still indicated that he might be.
His grip shifted to her legs and back as he picked her up and leapt up into a tree. Kagome released her grip of his arm when he sat them down, holding Kagome in his lap like a child. She caught his eyes when she leaned back, and he looked away.
"Are you still mad at me?" He asked of the leaves.
Kagome sighed. She leaned her forehead against his chest.
"Thank you, Inuyasha." He sighed against her hair.
"You do so much for me, without me even knowing…but…"
He twitched at the 'but'.
"I think…you might have been right. I do trip right in the entryway a lot. So, rethinking the layout would be best." She thought she felt a chuckle in his chest.
"Probably," he agreed. She lifted her head to look at him again. She stared at him for several seconds, and he let her cup his face. She kissed him and whispered so quietly that only he would ever be able to hear.
"You're good to me."
"Yeah," he returned, "when we're not screaming at each other."
He helped Kagome shift to facing out towards the forest. He held her securely, twining his fingers under her bust. Kagome relaxed into him and he sighed, setting his chin on her head and looking out into the forest. They sat like that for a few comfortable minutes as Kagome's eyes drifted closed against the afternoon sun. They remained like that until a thought popped into Kagome's head.
"Hey, Inuyasha?"
"Mn?"
"Do we have an axe?"
Inuyasha blinked in confusion, lifting his head away from Kagome's.
"No…?"
"Huh, Sango said you gave hers back a while ago?"
Inuyasha looked around the forest, as if an attempt to find her point.
"I did…"
"How'd you cut all that firewood?"
Inuyasha rolled his eyes.
"Ain't it obvious?"
Kagome frowned. She turned her head to look at him from the corner of her eye.
"I'm serious."
Inuyasha scoffed, removing one hand from his lovely wife's middle to dig in his clothing. He handed her something. It was wooden and lumpy. Kagome turned it over and thought the more she looked at it, the more is almost—almost—resembled some sort of animal. But what did that have to do with the firewood?
"If I get my claws into it, wood will split right along the grain."
"Huh," Kagome breathed, "and here I thought you might be using Tessaiga."
Inuyasha sputtered behind her before breaking into a noisy chuckle.
Kagome chuckled from his reaction to the joke. She looked down at the rough little wood carving.
"Did you make this?"
The man behind her gave an affirmative grunt.
"It's a bear, that's kind of cute."
"It's not a bear, it's a tanuki."
Kagome squinted at the little object.
"This is not a raccoon-dog."
"Do bears have tails?" Inuyasha retorted.
"No. But taniki always have giant tes—you know what, I'll take your word for it."
"Well, thanks," Inuyasha replied with sarcasm, "sorry I have no talent."
Kagome giggled and snuggled back into her husband's chest, and he replaced his hands under her bust and his head on top of hers once again.
"Anything today?" Kagome asked, dropping her hands and returning to pulling weeds.
"Just a bear. They were busy eating the fish downstream, so I let them be. Probably won't bother makin' the trip up to this side," he relayed with a shrug.
"Well that's good," Kagome started, pausing her hands, "Did you check on Kaede and Shippo?"
Inuyasha snorted.
"Yeah, yeah. Old woman walks so slow, they ain't even made it half way to the next village. Don't know why you couldn't've gone instead."
Kagome sighed.
"I know. Kaede's got an old friend there she's been meaning to see, and I would have loved to see Shippo off at the next stop, but…"
"See him off? What d'ya call this morning?"
"Well, yeah, but I only got to see him for a few minutes today…He spends so much time in the mountains, I feel like I never get to see him."
Inuyasha rolled his eyes.
"Bah, runt'll be back in a few weeks. And he usually spends winter down here after that."
Kagome shot him an annoyed glare, before returning to her task. Checking over the rows of seedlings for any more weeds, she stood and brushed her hands off. She ducked back inside the house to wash up. Miroku would over soon.
"Inuyasha!"
The hanyou stiffened up at the irritated tone of the call, but begrudgingly dropped from the fence when it was followed up with a frustrated growl. He wasn't one step inside the house when Kagome set a hand to her hip and shot him a glare.
"I thought I asked you to clean the floor."
"Yeah, and I did," Inuyasha huffed.
"Then why's there muddy footprints everywhere?"
"Tch. I dunno, maybe I came in again afterwards."
"And you didn't think to wipe off your feet?" She growled. "Whatever, I'm just gonna get—where's my bucket?" Kagome spun around to find the two buckets not where they were supposed to be kept—where her stand of herb jars used to be.
"Where's my jars?" She whipped her head around the room. "And my chest? My laundry—Inuyasha!" Nothing was in its proper place!
"Why do you keep moving my stuff around?"
Inuyasha rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.
"Maybe if you didn't trip over everything I wouldn't have to move anything," he muttered as he turned his head off to the side.
"Excuse me?" She gawked.
"Oh, come on," he started, gesturing to one item of furniture in particular, "You've stubbed your toe on that damn thing roundabout twenty times! It don't belong near the door like that with a klutz in the house."
"Klutz?! I am not a klutz, Inuyasha!"
Inuyasha forced a laugh.
"Oh, right. So it was your intention to make me catch you every time you fall—which is constantly," he scoffed. "How romanic," he finished sharply.
"Well, you don't have do that every time I stumble, that's ridiculous."
"Like I said, if you didn't—"
The violet clad monk swatted away the noisy flies buzzing about his face as he walked down the path to his friend's residence. When he had successfully shooed them away, he noticed that the birdcalls and buzzing insects weren't the only noises about the forest. He could vaguely make out voices deeper into the trees. He pushed aside a branch that grew into the path as he started to make out a male and female tone. He understood why they built their house out here, his hanyou friend would was always most comfortable among the trees of the forest—but it was still quite separated from the rest of the families, and not exactly an easy walk with how cluttered with greenery the footpath was.
Unease set in when he began to notice that the volume was much too high for a casual conversation. He was slowly beginning to recognize the tones as…not particularly happy. He stopped, took a breath, and pulled a u-turn as an especially loud, feminine growl came over the sounds of the birds.
He darted off towards his home. He had a new baby and pair of toddlers; he had no energy to get in the middle of his friends' dispute, nor did he have a death wish.
"I'm just looking out for you!"
The argument had moved its way outside, with both parties walking in random lines about the front of their house.
"Inuyasha, I didn't ask for quite that kind of vigilance! What I would like is a little help around the house. I'm gone most of the day and sometimes I don't—"
"I don't? Fuck, Kagome have you ever had to even—"
"Okay, stop! Yeah, fine, you're right," she voiced in a condescending tone, "but if you could be a little more conscientious about wiping your feet and cleaning up after yourse—"
"Conscientious? Got it. Find some more stuff to bitch at me about," he huffed before she could finish.
Kagome's eyes went wide.
"What? What did you..? You promised you wouldn't call me that."
Inuyasha closed his eyes with a sigh. Why was she so hung up on that again? He hadn't called her any foul names since…he couldn't even remember, but she still thought he might?
"I didn't call you a bitch, I said you were bitching at me." He opened his eyes to an expression on his wife's face he hadn't seen in a long time. With her lips pursed he didn't have time to correct the mistake.
"Osuwari."
The command wasn't as loud as he had expected, but it drug him down just the same, the beads digging into the earth and earning him a faceful of grass. He was quivering now, trying to resist the spell. Oh, he was officially mad now, when he had been merely annoyed before. It was not because it hurt. The command rarely injured him, but Kagome had come into their rekindled relationship with a promise of her own. He had a right to be pissed off.
Kagome came out of a wince as he lifted his head. She'd forgotten just how violent the command was, and when he had started trembling, she was worried it had hurt him. But now, with the glare he sent her, she could tell he was perfectly fine. He was growling at her, to boot. Her worry dissipated, and she was angry again, this time with the look he gave her.
"You—"
That was it. She didn't care how angry he was, and she didn't care how much she may have deserved it, she wouldn't stand for it. She also wouldn't let him finish with "—promised you wouldn't do that," as she stupidly believed he held something else at the tip of his tongue.
"Osuwari!"
He was growling as her stomping footsteps grew farther away, but when the effect of the spell ended, he simply turned his head to the side and laid there for another few seconds. How the hell had that escalated so quickly?
He growled once more as he pushed himself up, glaring in the direction she had left. He wasn't going to follow her. He wasn't going to tell her off. He wasn't going to follow her. He wasn't going to continue this. He wasn't going to follow her. He also wasn't going to apologize for doing wrong when she had been just as wrong. He so was not going to follow her.
He darted through the trees in the direction she had left.
"I'm just going for a run—to clear my head…" he told himself. He wasn't going to follow her.
†********†*******†******†******†
The axe slammed down into the wood with the force of one very angry swing, sending one half flying off.
"Oops!" Kagome winced as she tried to pull the deeply embedded axe from the stump.
"Kagome, while we do appreciate it, we have more than enough wood for a some time," Miroku said, picking up the piece that had landed near his doorstep. He set it beside the growing pile of firewood.
Kagome sighed.
"Fine. So we're going to continue with—"
"Actually, Kagome… with anything that requires such concentration…how should I say this…?" Miroku started, scratching his head, "One's mind must be at peace, their emotions balanced… and considering the…disagreement you had with Inuyasha this morning, you likely have leftover—"
"Wait, wait. How did you know Inuyasha and I were fighting?"
Miroku gave a sideways glance to the needlessly large stack of firewood Kagome had cut that morning. Kagome cringed when she realized what the look was in reference too.
"That, and, I overheard a few words of it this morning while I was going over there."
Kagome groaned and hid her face under one hand.
"I assure you, I heard nothing of circumstance," the monk said, waving one hand in defense.
"Kagome?" Sango called out as she exited the house with a basket of laundry.
Sango convinced Kagome to come to the river with her to wash laundry. Kagome sat by the bank in thought, handing cloths to the older woman as she needed them.
"I'm not that upset about it, really," the Miko told herself. "It was stupid, after all…I don't…" A sudden wave of guilt washed over her, when she remembered that it had been a serious argument after all; at least on her end. She had promised Inuyasha she wouldn't use the spell, right off the bat. It was the day of after wedding, and she had curled her fingers around the beads and whispered an apology for all the times the spell drug him down.
"I won't use the necklace again, I promise" she told him.
He shrugged, indifferently, but Kagome thought he would appreciate the gesture. So why did she break that promise? She couldn't remember half the argument, nor how it started…but…
"He called me a bitch," she vocalized aloud.
*********************************
Inuyasha cringed from his perch on the far side of the river, hidden within the branches of a tall maple. He kept his distance, so as not to alert Kagome. He grit his teeth and sat back with a 'thud' against the trunk.
No, he hadn't. Sure, he didn't choose the best wording for her nagging about whatever—nagging! Why didn't he say she had been nagging?—but he hadn't directed an insulting name towards her. She didn't have to 'osuwari' his ass…his incredibly stupid ass. She hadn't done that—not once—since she had returned to this world. She had even said she wouldn't.
Inuyasha huffed. But then, how had he reacted when she promised him this? He shrugged, that's what. Because then it wasn't a big deal. Before they were separated, she didn't do it all the time and, hell, he probably deserved most of that—not that he would admit it. It didn't hurt, unless she gave the command three hundred times or so like she had when he actually didn't deserve—but hey, that spell had saved him on occasion too. When he was too stupid to duck or something. So it didn't seem like a huge deal…so why was it such a big deal now?
"Damn," he muttered. Because she had broken her promise. Because she had made that promise to begin with. Why did she have to go and do that? It wasn't like he asked her to.
I didn't ask for quite that kind of vigilance!
That's how all this shit started. He was just… Why did the squabble turn into this? It was probably their first real argument since she had come back. They squabbled a bit—and mostly over the furniture, interestingly enough—but this was their first fight where they had both been pissed off, not just annoyed.
He scowled and crossed his arms. He glanced down, and noticed both women were talking quietly. He learned forward, ears trained on the women, but he couldn't quite make out the words, even with his hearing. Were they purposely whispering? He heard everything, normally. He didn't dare get any closer, Kagome would feel his presence, and he didn't care for her to know he'd been spying on her.
*******************************_******
"He called me a bitch."
"Pardon?" Sango asked as she turned a questioning gaze to her friend. Kagome bit her lip, shaking her head.
"It's nothing," she muttered.
Sango raised a brow with a quiet, "is that so?"
Kagome blinked at the other woman.
"Kagome, maybe it's not my place, but…oh I don't know. What were you two arguing about?"
Kagome fiddled with a piece of grass at her side.
"He moved the furniture again… turned the entire place upside-down…" she started quietly. She told her friend why she had the house set up the way it was, his reasoning for moving stuff, but then she remembered the reason she'd gone stomping off in the first place. She became more animated, whisper-shouting, about the name he had given her.
"And of course I broke my promise but…I…" her face drooped in guilt.
"Why are you whispering?"
Kagome sighed.
"He obviously doesn't realize I know he's here. I can feel him up in the trees over there." Kagome wrapped her arms about her knees, as she very subtly glanced up into the tall maple on the far side of the river. Not a bit of silver hair nor red cloth was visible, but she could feel demonic aura, just the same as any Miko. He knew this, but she wondered how much he knew about her range.
"He's watching you then. Probably making sure you're cooling off."
Kagome scoffed. "He's probably waiting for me to apologize first."
Sango shook her head, dipping the cloth she held back into the water.
"Maybe…but give him a little credit."
"I'm not going to apologize to him…not first, anyway," Kagome mumbled the last part into her knees. Sango turned back to her friend, who was staring into the water, the incident with her white-haired husband obviously still rampaging through her mind. Her expression looked…guilty. Not angry, like black-haired girl had seemed when she showed up at Sango's house.
"Well, I should hope you feel a little better, you stabbed into nearly a month's firewood."
Kagome nodded, but then thought on the comment. Well, yeah, it had felt good to take her aggression out on the wood, but now she was just left feeling down. Kagome got half a sigh out before she realized something. Besides just now, and a few days ago for Kaede, Kagome had never had to cut firewood. And besides that…
"When Inuyasha give you the axe back?"
"Not long after you moved out into the woods, why?"
Coming up behind the women was a young and middle-aged man.
"Oh, good. Kagome-sama, you're down here," came the middle-aged man.
There was a branch that had apparently fallen near the large shrine, and he wondered if it looked okay to move without damaging the sacred place. Kagome gave it thought, and decided to have a look at it, since she hadn't been to the old shrine yet today. She asked Sango if it was alright to leave her, and Sango nodded. She didn't mention how little Kagome had actually helped her.
Kagome walked slowly behind the men as they made their way to the old shrine. Kagome shook her head and tried to focus when they arrived. A branch was an understatement, the limb was as big around as the young woman's leg. She examined the tree that it had fallen from—one that had never recovered from the effects of Naraku's miasma—and determined the entire thing would come down some time in the future. Luckily, the limb that had already fallen did no damage to the shrine, and could be safely removed today. With several other men, she discussed plans to take down the dead tree before it decided to fall on its own and damage the shrine or someone's house.
"Couldn't Inuyasha do it on his own?" One of the men asked.
"Oh yes, it would be much less dangerous for him to do it. When we were repairing our homes, he brought in trees that would take entire teams of oxen to move," a second agreed.
"And some of them uprooted rather than cut!" The first interjected.
Kagome bit her lip as she glanced to the side, where she felt the faintest demonic aura from the nearby forest. She turned back to the men.
"Well… I'll…"
A third man gripped the first man's shoulder, and whispered something to him. The first man cringed with an 'Oh,'.
Kagome raised a brow.
"What is it?"
"I'm sorry, Kagome-sama. I wasn't thinking. It wouldn't be good for a demon to come in contact with the shrine while he's taking down the tree. It would take long to purify the site, would it not?"
Kagome fought the urge to look outright offended. She took a deep breath and calmly laid out her opinion of his assumption.
"No. Inuyasha would not defile the shrine, and I would not need to take extra time to purify anything," she looked between the two men with her chin held firmly. She suddenly felt the demonic aura from her husband coming much closer, and briefly wondered where he might be hiding without tall trees to cover him. She shook off the thought and nodded to the men, closing her eyes.
"Kaede's let him in here before, and she's never had to do anything extra, so why should having him take down a tree be any different?" She said with a final nod. She didn't catch the quiet comment one of the younger men made after that, but she almost thought she heard the growling of an animal somewhere in the distance. Her eyes snapped open at the sound of a slap, to see the third man holding the back of his head, and the second with his hand still up. He bowed, and apologized for his brother, followed by the third, still rubbing his head.
The rest of the discussion went without issue, and Kagome had said, hesitantly, that she would ask Inuyasha to remove the tree.
******************
He had rarely left his various tree perches as he watched his wife. Hell, he wasn't even watching most of the time, just listening in on her, while he closed his eyes. He only started closing his eyes to her when he saw the sad expression on her face. Guilt maybe? It didn't matter. For a split second, he felt vindicated—like he was in the right—but that was quashed by his own guilt of having that sort of thought. Seeing those lovely brown eyes downturned would be the death of him. He hated it. He…he couldn't just apologize though. What would he even be apologizing for?
Oh yeah.
But that wasn't even the issue, was it? She had just misunderstood him. He had just spoken wrong. She didn't even give him a chance to fix it, she just sent him flopping to the earth. Therefore, it was her fault. So she had to be the first to apologize.
He followed her up to the old shrine she and Kaede tended, and listened in on the conversation there. He crept closer when they moved up to discuss the tree removal.
"Couldn't Inuyasha do it on his own?"
'Fine, fine. The thing's got dry rot. Don't look like it weighs much,' he agreed with a roll of his eyes. They tone became hushed between the men, and so, curious, Inuyasha crept even closer, not even thinking of being within Kagome's range. He wondered what all the whispering was about.
"It wouldn't be good for a demon to come in contact with the shrine."
Inuyasha glared in the direction of the man who had spoken.
"No. Inuyasha would not defile the shrine." She spoke so pointedly to defend him. Inuyasha swallowed as a bead of guilt rolled through him. She always defended him, even when he got pissy with her. His eyes traced the lovely young woman's silhouette, her stance was strong, her head held high, and he knew she would defend even the mildest of comments about him. Maybe the man meant no harm in the comment, but that didn't seem to matter to the hanyou's wife. He dropped out of the tree to come nearer, crouching in some of the taller bushes to listen to what she had to say.
"Kaede's let him in here before, and she's never had to do anything extra, so why should having him take down a tree be any different?"
He wondered about that. Maybe if a demon was wrought with evil intent, if might defile the shrine, he never cared to learn much on the subject.
He heard one man, under his breath, make the comment of, "guess it wouldn't defile it, since this one probably lets him into her body, too."
In an instant Inuyasha was ready to tear that bastard to shreds. What the hell kind of shit was that? All concern of how Kagome had ever pissed him off in the first place flew out the window, he now only cared about that obscene comment as an unconscious snarl twisted his lips.
In all the time he'd spent around the village this kind of shit was still being said behind his back, he knew that, he knew that wouldn't change either. He had more respect to his face, but there were still the few that didn't like the idea of the dog demon roaming the village. Even if he didn't have the legend that earned the forest's name tied to him, he was still a monstrous beast to humans. He understood that, but for them to include Kagome? Those things weren't even said in a woman's presence, so why the hell would they say that? Even if for the fact she was a Miko. Here this fucker was all concerned about harming the shrine, and he said that about someone wearing those red-and-white robes? Shouldn't he be concerned about bringing the wrath of the gods on his head?
'He's gonna feel someone's wrath,' Inuyasha thought, his growling growing increasingly loud. The man to the idiot's left definitely heard the growling, judging from the panicked expression as he whipped his head to face where Inuyasha was crouched. Kagome must not have heard the comment, but the man standing to the right of the idiot whopped him upside the head, looking almost as offended as Kagome might have had she heard the remark. Inuyasha pried his claws out of the earth and let his growling subside. It wouldn't do to murder the men for the words Kagome didn't even notice.
The man on the right bowed and forced down the head of the middle man to bow too. He apologized, for what Kagome thought was the earlier comment about Inuyasha. Kagome agreed pleasantly to talk to her husband about the tree, as if nothing had happened to cause the white-haired youth to grind his teeth and suppress his urge to pounce on the fool who had made the obscene comment. She left the men's presence, and Inuyasha changed up his game, letting Kagome pass by Kaede's garden and head on her way before he left the brush. The men were still on the scene after Kagome was gone, so Inuyasha leapt from the bushes, out in front of the three men.
He made it obvious that he was listening to the whole thing with one slow look over the men. His eyes promised violence. They all knew it, standing stock still with a growing fear in their eyes. He kept his glare focused on the men until he was sure of it. He made sure the look was all it took to get the warning across. Sure, he was a benevolent beast—one of the protectors of that village—but that was only until you fucked with his family.
He narrowed his eyes one last time before turning on his heel and going on in the direction of the home he shared with Kagome.
***********************************
At the conversation centered around her husband, she couldn't help thinking that she had been overreacting that morning…Inuyasha wasn't dull, but sometimes his mouth worked ahead of his brain. She looked over Kaede's garden as she passed, spotting no weeds that might need to be pulled, and headed back to Sango and Miroku's house. She wasn't surprised to find them out stringing laundry. She lent a hand to entertain the girls. She had perfected her flower braiding skill since the last time she watched them, but they had no interest in that today. She let the girls list off the colors of the flowers that they knew, and other random facts that they had learned until their parents had finished up.
Kagome helped the young parents around the house for another hour until Miroku suggested she get an early start home. The younger woman finally caught on, realizing she wasn't much help today, since she was…not mad anymore, but still hung up by her own actions that morning. What was Inuyasha even doing? Throughout the day she had felt him watching her. Whether he was near, or just barely within her sensing range, he was usually there. Even when she couldn't feel his presence—like currently—she was sure he was around somewhere. It was almost sweet that he was watching her—a little creepy—but sweet. If what Sango said was right, and that he wanted to make sure she was okay, it was kind of endearing. He could have just gone off to sulk somewhere, away from everyone, like he had done in the past. Sometimes he would have gone away somewhere for hours, maybe just to make her worry about him, but here he…stayed almost right beside her.
And after she had used the beads on him too. Talk about a guilt trip. What if that was the point? what if he was trying to make her feel guilty? Inuyasha had never been manipulative, but what if..?
As she started in the direction of home, she remembered that it was good she got an early start. It would take her a lot longer to put everything in its proper place, and clean up the hanyou tracks her husband had graciously left her. He probably hadn't touched the floors.
She frowned again. Of course he hadn't! It was like living with a child with all the messes he made. Her walk started to fall heavier as she made her way through the brush. Some of her annoyance had returned with the thought of what she'd have to clean up before she could be comfortable in her own home. The path was familiar, so she wasn't really looking where she was going when she stumbled.
******************************
It took longer than he'd thought, but he finally left the house and climbed back into the trees. He was still fuming about the comment that idiot had made, but he knew if he did more than give the man a warning…well, he wouldn't ruin Kagome's reputation like that. He rather liked living in an actual house in the village. If he was run out of a village for his actions, he would be fine living in the middle of the woods, but he would never force Kagome to move out there with him, and he never wanted to live apart from her again. Not ever.
He groaned and hunched down in the branch. He watched spirals of wood shaving split from the piece in his hands. His claws made for perfect chisels, as it turned out. He wasn't imagining it was anyone's face he was tearing into as he carved random shapes into the wood. It was tempting, but he wouldn't even let the thought into his mind. He didn't know how long he sat, muttering to himself and carving into the wood block, but he realized at some point he was idly carving a little tanuki statue. It was crude, since he had never been particularly artistic, but the shape was undeniably a raccoon-dog to him. He turned it over in his hands, looking for how to refine the shape and scratch off any splinters when his nose twitched to the scent of his wife.
He didn't intend to stay back here long, he had planned to go back to following Kagome around, but his destructive nature got the best of him. He ran his thumb over the little carving while he looked for his wife on her way down the path. Well, perhaps it wasn't that destructive, considering he'd actually managed to make something out of the chunk of wood he'd set out to destroy.
He spotted her shoving past a flowering bush as she came down. His ears flattened back with a scowl. She was stomping her way through the forest, still mad at him.
He flopped against the bark with a huff, thumb still tracing over the lines of the little carving while he closed his eyes. He opened his eyes to stare at the branch before him as the sound of heavy footfalls came closer. He sighed as his wife passed the tree he was propped in. No, he wasn't really mad at her anymore, but he was still upset about that stupid remark. Upset that he was upset. If Miroku had said something like that, then he would pelt him with rocks, but he wouldn't actually weigh the pros and cons of murdering the freak. Granted, this man was not Miroku, not a friend, and he had the audacity to make the comment where Kagome could hear it. She didn't, lucky her.
The real issue was that it was a matter of respect. He knew he had gained a certain level of respect in four years' time; since women didn't hide their children when he walked about, and men came to him when they had a task too big to complete in a timely manner. But it wasn't like he didn't hear the whispers when his ears twitched to a noise, or some movement he made brought attention to his claws, or some expression that he wore made his fangs more noticeable. The whispers didn't count the older residents, who either saw firsthand, or were told secondhand what he did fifty-some years ago when he thought he'd been betrayed. He had trashed the village. One person died in the fires. Some walked away with scars from the debris that got tossed around. Kaede's eye hadn't gotten that way on its own. Most of those people still openly glared.
But Kagome had done nothing to deserve anything less than praise and respect. The respect of a woman and the respect of a Miko. The respect to not have her goddamned sex life brought up by random acquaintances.
He slumped down further in his seat. Still, he was angry about it. Kagome was still angry at him. If he faced her now, she would assume he was still mad, since he couldn't get rid of his scowl. He refused to tell her what he had overheard. He didn't know how she would react and he didn't care to put that on her mind.
He shook his head and leapt into another tree, farther away from the trail she would be taking to make sure she wouldn't know where he was. He tucked the unfinished carving into his clothes and watched Kagome come up the path. She seemed to be muttering something, though Inuyasha heard nothing. He sighed again and turned his head off to the side, idly watching the patterns made by the rays streaming in through the leaves.
He heard a scuffle and Kagome squealed. He was ready to dip down the second he heard her voice. He hesitated for some reason, and it was already done and over with. Kagome had stumbled, and gripped onto the bushes to regain her balance. He remembered her earlier insistence that she was, in fact, not a klutz. Well, he still thought she was, but she had a point in saying she could always get back up on her own, without him there to catch her. He sat back down as she dusted off her hakama and stared back at the stickerbushes that had snagged her leg.
He sighed. He would have to cut those back later.
***************************
Kagome walked more carefully down the path to the clearing. She took note of the Inuyasha-shaped indent in the earth and winced. She shook her head and pulled back her sleeves, since she would still have to clean the floors. She pulled back the screen and blinked at the state of the room.
A small smile developed on her lips. All her things were back in their proper places, as if they had never moved. She looked down over the floors. Swept and mopped just like she had asked that morning. She took a few steps in and noticed that the bowls and cups had even been straightened up. She glanced to the other side of the room…he even dusted. She scanned over the firepit, which had been cleaned as well. Above her head, her pots were hung neatly, from largest to smallest. Her kitchen area had been wiped down extensively, and a few green vegetables had been cleaned for dinner. The wood pile had been replenished by the back, and it looked like he had played Tetris with the different sized logs.
Kagome held her arm as her smile began to fade. She bit her lip, wondering where he had gone that he left all this for her. Then she remembered she could feel the slightness of his demonic aura nearby…as it had been all day. So when had he had time to do all this?
Guilt washed over her when she remembered that that morning she had implied he was lazy. No, he did a lot around the house actually. Stuff she never thought about. Since they had this house, she had never once had to chop her own wood. Whenever the little bit they kept in the house got low, without word and without thought, there was more firewood in the house next time she checked. When Kagome mentioned she wanted fish, or rabbit, or pheasant, within twenty minutes Inuyasha would push back that screen, catch in hand. Sometimes, fresh water was ready for breakfast, and Inuyasha had slipped back into bed without his wife's notice. Or right after waking, he would leave for all of one minute and return without her ever having asked.
She had never even seen him cut wood, he had done that when she wasn't aware of it. Her husband wasn't as cleanly as she was, and she still had to remind Inuyasha to skin and pluck the catches outside. However, in the grand scheme, that wasn't a huge issue…the fish bones she found everywhere though…
She said some obnoxious things, the same as he did. She found herself blinking quite a bit as she sighed. She exited the house and turned her face up into the trees. She rubbed her arm and tried to figure what direction to walk.
"Inuyasha?" she called, with no response. She walked a little ways from the house, back into the treeline.
"Inuyasha?" she repeated.
She bit her lip as she walked, trying to figure out which tree he was in. She sighed. She looked down at her feet and continued, "I know you're there…you've been right beside me all day."
She looked back up into the trees.
"So please come down?" She asked, her voice small and her tone entreating.
She heard a sigh behind her.
"I'm here," he said as she turned to face him. She scanned over his face. Only the slight tension in his jaw showed his irritation. Kagome nodded once, coming to look down at her folded hands.
"I was being stupid. I should never have used the beads on you," she gave quietly.
His breath came out as a sigh.
"It's fine," he started but was cut off.
"Except that it's not fine. I said I wouldn't, and I ended up doing it anyway. I'm sorry Inuyasha. I really, really won't do it aga—"
"Don't make any promises," he interrupted, "you will."
Kagome sucked in a breath and met his eyes again. He was feeling really hurt by it, wasn't he?
"I won't! I mean it—I-I'll try to avoid even thinking about it."
Inuyasha huffed and scratched his head.
"I ain't even bothered by that, really. So you don't gotta apologize. As for me, I've gotta watch my mouth, I know."
She shook her head in disbelief. Had she broken the poor guy?
"Don't look like that," he started, taking a step forward, "you act like it's such a big deal. I'm kind of an ass, I get it. Let me know when I'm out of line. I don't care if you stop using the thing or not, but don't promise me anything."
Kagome tilted her head, pondering the words he held special emphasis on. He took another step forward, and Kagome a step backwards—confused. He glanced down at her feet before closing the gap in a few more steps. He held her gently by the elbows as Kagome stared up at him, still trying to decipher his expression. He didn't sound irritated, but the set of his jaw still indicated that he might be.
His grip shifted to her legs and back as he picked her up and leapt up into a tree. Kagome released her grip of his arm when he sat them down, holding Kagome in his lap like a child. She caught his eyes when she leaned back, and he looked away.
"Are you still mad at me?" He asked of the leaves.
Kagome sighed. She leaned her forehead against his chest.
"Thank you, Inuyasha." He sighed against her hair.
"You do so much for me, without me even knowing…but…"
He twitched at the 'but'.
"I think…you might have been right. I do trip right in the entryway a lot. So, rethinking the layout would be best." She thought she felt a chuckle in his chest.
"Probably," he agreed. She lifted her head to look at him again. She stared at him for several seconds, and he let her cup his face. She kissed him and whispered so quietly that only he would ever be able to hear.
"You're good to me."
"Yeah," he returned, "when we're not screaming at each other."
He helped Kagome shift to facing out towards the forest. He held her securely, twining his fingers under her bust. Kagome relaxed into him and he sighed, setting his chin on her head and looking out into the forest. They sat like that for a few comfortable minutes as Kagome's eyes drifted closed against the afternoon sun. They remained like that until a thought popped into Kagome's head.
"Hey, Inuyasha?"
"Mn?"
"Do we have an axe?"
Inuyasha blinked in confusion, lifting his head away from Kagome's.
"No…?"
"Huh, Sango said you gave hers back a while ago?"
Inuyasha looked around the forest, as if an attempt to find her point.
"I did…"
"How'd you cut all that firewood?"
Inuyasha rolled his eyes.
"Ain't it obvious?"
Kagome frowned. She turned her head to look at him from the corner of her eye.
"I'm serious."
Inuyasha scoffed, removing one hand from his lovely wife's middle to dig in his clothing. He handed her something. It was wooden and lumpy. Kagome turned it over and thought the more she looked at it, the more is almost—almost—resembled some sort of animal. But what did that have to do with the firewood?
"If I get my claws into it, wood will split right along the grain."
"Huh," Kagome breathed, "and here I thought you might be using Tessaiga."
Inuyasha sputtered behind her before breaking into a noisy chuckle.
Kagome chuckled from his reaction to the joke. She looked down at the rough little wood carving.
"Did you make this?"
The man behind her gave an affirmative grunt.
"It's a bear, that's kind of cute."
"It's not a bear, it's a tanuki."
Kagome squinted at the little object.
"This is not a raccoon-dog."
"Do bears have tails?" Inuyasha retorted.
"No. But taniki always have giant tes—you know what, I'll take your word for it."
"Well, thanks," Inuyasha replied with sarcasm, "sorry I have no talent."
Kagome giggled and snuggled back into her husband's chest, and he replaced his hands under her bust and his head on top of hers once again.