InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Metamorphosis. ❯ Controversy ( Chapter 15 )

~~Chapter 15~~

~Controversy~

 

“All right, the coast is clear.”

 

InuYasha peeked out from behind the tree and spotted Sango and Miroku kneeling by the garden. “Come on, wench. It's now or never.”

 

“Okay.”

 

InuYasha grabbed Kagome as she climbed onto his back and leapt forward through the trees.

 

“Where are you going?” a child's voice rang out behind them.

 

“Damn it!” InuYasha snarled as he picked up speed. “I'm gonna fucking kill that kitsune yet.”

 

Kagome sighed and laid her cheek against InuYasha's shoulder. “Well, I guess I can understand their concern.”

 

“Keh! Hold on. I ain't waiting for them!”

 

With a wince, Kagome heard Kirara's roar behind them. “They cheated.”

 

“I could still kill him,” InuYasha offered in a very generous tone.

 

Kagome giggled. “I think they think you're going to throw me off a cliff.”

 

“Keh. As if.” InuYasha stopped though and waited for the others to catch up.

 

“InuYasha!” Sango called out as Kirara closed in on them.

 

“Going somewhere?” Miroku asked pleasantly.

 

Kagome shot them a big smile. “Oh, uh, yeah . . . InuYasha thought maybe we could see if Bokuseno knew anything about the jewel.”

 

“Bokuseno? Who's that?” Ichisaru asked from his perch on Sango's lap.

 

“Bokuseno is the spirit in an ancient Magnolia tree. Tetsusaiga's sheath was made from him,” Kagome explained.

 

“Yeah, and he hates monks, women, kitsunes, and monkeys, so we're going alone.”

 

Shippou frowned. “But Kagome's a woman.”

 

“Keh! Kagome has the jewel, damn it. She has to go.”

 

Sango and Miroku exchanged worried glances. Miroku was the one who finally spoke. “Why don't you take Kirara?”

 

“Yes, Kagome . . . do you think it's a good idea, to have your stomach pressed against InuYasha's back like that?”

 

Kagome refrained from rolling her eyes. “I'm not even five weeks along, and InuYasha's always careful with me.”

 

“We'd feel better if you did take Kirara,” Miroku added.

 

InuYasha cracked his knuckles. “It's not too late to shred you,” he remarked tightly.

 

“How far is Bokuseno?” Sango asked.

 

“Well, it's pretty far. Might be gone six months or so,” InuYasha lied. Sango's mouth fell open in shock. Miroku started to say something. InuYasha narrowed his gaze menacingly. “Wanna try for a year?”

 

“We're just concerned,” Miroku assured InuYasha.

 

InuYasha snorted. “Keh. Can't you see? She's fine, and she don't need you fussing over her. She ain't gonna break, and you're driving her crazy with your concern. She can't even breathe without you two thinking there's something wrong, so back the fuck off.”

 

Miroku and Sango exchanged guilty looks. “I'm sorry, Kagome,” Sango said quietly. “I just worry . . . I know you're careful.”

 

Kagome slid off InuYasha's back to hug her friend. “It's all right. I know you mean well.”

 

“Can we come?” Ichisaru asked, bouncing up and down in his excitement.

 

“Hell, no,” InuYasha growled. “We ain't going to be gone that long, anyway, just a day or two.”

 

Miroku sighed. “Looks like we're outnumbered . . .”

 

“Don't worry,” Kagome assured them, “I'm always safe when I'm with InuYasha.”

 

InuYasha grabbed her hand and pulled her onto his back again before heading off into the forest again.

 

“Thank you,” she said as she settled herself comfortably against him.

 

“Keh. They give me a headache,” he commented as he tried to brush off her thanks.

 

She smiled and snuggled against his shoulder.

 

He smiled, too.

 

 

::0::0::000::0::0::

 

 

`This is absolutely intolerable,' Hisadaicho mused as she stalked the inner sanctum of her chambers. Lavender eyes flashing as she fought to control her rising temper. `Sesshoumaru . . .'

 

She had known it would prove difficult to get under his skin. She had special plans for him . . . It simply frustrated her. Eventually it would all bear fruit, but for now . . .

 

The child, Rin, had proven useful—more useful than Hisadaicho could have thought possible. Apparently deciding that perhaps Hisadaicho wasn't as intimidating as she had first believed, the girl had spoken during the morning meal.

 

“Do you have any relatives, Sesshoumaru-sama?” Hisadaicho asked.

 

Remaining locked in his stoic silence, the tai-youkai said nothing.

 

“InuYasha-sama is your brother, right, Sesshoumaru-sama?”

 

Sesshoumaru's gaze was icy as he regarded the girl with a narrow-eyed gaze. “InuYasha is only my father's son.”

 

Hisadaicho digested that in curious silence. `Interesting . . . so there is no love loss between the brothers . . .'

 

“Sesshoumaru-sama . . . are we close to InuYasha-sama and Kagome's village? Can we go see Kagome?”

 

Sesshoumaru shot the child a quelling glance and ignored her question. “Why do you ask about him?” he demanded as he shifted his gaze back to Hisadaicho.

 

Hisadaicho offered him an innocent smile. “Simple curiosity, my lord.”

 

He didn't look like he believed her.

 

“Shouldn't the woman who has part of Kagome's soul give it back? You said it was rude to take something that isn't yours, right, Sesshoumaru-sama?”

 

To Hisadaicho's surprise, the inu-youkai nodded. “So I did . . . however, Rin, it was her soul, first.”

 

Rin looked duly befuddled. “How can that be?”

 

Sesshoumaru shook his head. “Go ask Jaken.”

 

Rin grinned and ran off to locate the imp.

 

“Another woman holds a part of this girl's soul?” Hisadaicho asked, drawing Sesshoumaru's gaze back to her again.

 

Sesshoumaru shrugged slightly. “So it would seem.”

 

Snapping out of her musings, Hisadaicho dug her fingernails into her palms. `That means the miko's soul is incomplete . . . I cannot accomplish my plans without it . . . However, if the other should die, then the soul will be completed again . . .' A small smile surfaced on her face. `Troublesome but necessary . . . I must remember to thank that child, Rin for her loose tongue . . .'

 

 

::0::0::000::0::0::

 

 

“Oden,” Kagome sighed wistfully, accompanied by a small, longing whine.

 

InuYasha rolled his eyes but kept moving.

 

She suddenly gasped. “InuYasha! I forgot to give Shippou his pocky!”

 

“Keh. Like he needs it . . . but it might be kind of funny to toss it between him and that ape-shit . . . watch `em battle it out for it. Hell, just dip them both in chocolate and let them eat each other.”

 

“That's mean . . .” she contradicted. “Maybe I should eat it . . . I don't want them to fight over it . . .”

 

InuYasha rolled his eyes again. “Will you knock that off? You'll get all fat, then I won't be able to carry you. I'll have to roll you around . . .”

 

She reached up and flicked his ear. When he twitched it away from her, she giggled and grabbed for it again. “You aren't supposed to make fun of my weight, baka.”

 

“Then stop talking about food all the time.”

 

Her answer was a long-suffering sigh. “But I'm hungry,” she complained.

 

“We just stopped so you could eat my ramen, wench . . . you don't need anything else.”

 

“That was two hours ago,” she countered, “and it isn't my fault you wouldn't catch something better than your ramen, so don't even go there.”

 

“There ain't nothing better than my ramen, and I ain't hunting every hour so you can get fat, wench.”

 

She sighed. “But I'm so hungry!”

 

Stopping abruptly, InuYasha let Kagome down and turned around to pin her with an irritated look. “Are you going to eat for the next eight months?”

 

She shifted on her feet, twisting her fingers together as she shot him her most winning smile. “No . . .”

 

“Good. Now sit down, get out your pathetic bow and arrows, and wait here . . . got that?”

 

“Where are you going?”

 

He rolled his eyes again. “To find something for you to eat,” he growled.

 

She blinked quickly, as though she had just thought of something. “InuYasha?”

 

“What?”

 

“Are you going to kill something?”

 

“Well, yeah, that was the plan.”

 

The smell of her tears hit him instantly. “But you can't!' she wailed. “What about their families?”

 

“Oh, kami . . .” Clenching his hands into tight fists as he struggled to remind himself that he really shouldn't yell at her since she was breeding, he had to wait a minute before he dared open his mouth. “You want I should find you some berries?”

 

She shook her head as she dug around in her backpack for a kerchief. “No . . . I ate some this morning, and they didn't sit well . . .”

 

“Kagome, if you're hungry, you need to eat something . . .”

 

She sniffled and dabbed her eyes. “I'm not that hungry.”

 

He growled at her subdued tone, which only meant that she was trying to keep him from blowing his stack. “Then eat the runt's pocky.”

 

“There's not that much nutritional value in those . . .”

 

“Then eat some fucking grass!” he retorted.

 

Instant tears once more. “You think I'm a cow!”

 

“Damn it, I do not!”

 

“Only cows eat—”

 

“That's fucking it! You ever even think of carrying a pup for that damn lecher and I'll—”

 

“Dog-shit, what the hell did you let happen to my Kagome?”

 

“Fan-fucking-tastic,” InuYasha growled as he stomped over to plant himself between Kagome and the uninvited and unwelcome intruder. If he hadn't been so busy trying to placate the wench and her bizarre mood swings, he'd have smelled the bastard a mile away . . . He made a face. `Eight more months of mood swings? Keh!'

 

“Move,” Kouga demanded.

 

“Make me,” InuYasha countered.

 

“Love to,” Kouga snarled.

 

“Just keep it up, mangy wolf . . . I've been wanting a reason to shove Tetsusaiga up your ass,” InuYasha threatened as he reached for his sword.

 

“I'd like to see you try! Tell my why my woman smells like she's carrying a pup.”

 

“No fighting!” Kagome bellowed. Both men turned to stare at the miko, who was now standing on the tree stump where she had been sitting. Face screwed up in an irritated scowl, she glared at both of them. InuYasha couldn't help it when her glower hit him. Ears flattening as he waited for her tirade, Kouga—the bastard—laughed—until that formidable glare hit him full-on, too. “There will be no fighting, no name calling, and no Tetsusaiga shoving! Do you hear me? InuYasha? Kouga?” she demanded, stomping her foot for added emphasis.

 

“Look what the hell you did, bastard! Not that it's any of your business, but she's carrying a pup for Sango, because she can't. Now back the fuck off before I have to shove Tetsusaiga anyway!”

 

InuYasha's frown darkened as the anger in Kouga's expression slowly faded, leaving behind only a strange admiration on his ugly mug. “Kagome . . . you'd do that for your pack?”

 

“I'd do that for my friends,” she corrected as she leaned on InuYasha's shoulder to hop down from her pedestal.

 

InuYasha was caught off-guard as Kouga shoved him aside, grabbing Kagome's hands in his as he stared into her eyes. To InuYasha's utter amazement, the stupid wolf looked even more in love with her than normal, and that alone was enough to draw a vicious growl from the hanyou. “I always knew you were the woman for me,” Kouga assured her, “but now . . . Kagome, I can't believe the lengths you'd go to for those you love. As soon as this pup's born, I'll be back to claim you.”

 

“The hell you will, damn it!” InuYasha snarled, shoving Kouga away from Kagome. She stumbled. He caught her and shoved her behind his back. “She ain't going anywhere with you, ever!”

 

“And when I come for you, Kagome, I'll rid the world of this stupid baka, too.”

 

Kagome opened her mouth to argue that. InuYasha poked a finger under her nose. “Not a word, wench.” Turning back to stalk toward Kouga, InuYasha cracked his knuckles. “You can't have her. She don't want you, or are you just too fucking stupid to see that? Don't you think that if she did, she'd have gone with you long before now? Get lost, Kouga, before I do decide to gut you!”

 

“She hasn't gone with me because you won't let her, dog-shit! Now get out of my way. I've changed my mind. I'll be taking her with me now. We'll drop off the pup after it's born.”

 

“I'm not going anywhere!” Kagome yelled then sighed just before she burst into tears all over again.

 

“Look what you did!” two male voices hollered at each other.

 

“I didn't do that, you did!” InuYasha growled.

 

“The hell I did!” Kouga retorted. “You're the unbalanced baka that keeps telling her what she can and can't do!”

 

“I don't tell her what she can and can't do or she wouldn't be fucking carrying that damn lecher's pup!” InuYasha shot back.

 

“How did she end up breeding? She hasn't been claimed, or I'd smell it,” Kouga asked suddenly, forgetting for the moment that he was arguing with InuYasha.

 

“Keh! Does it matter?”

 

Kouga must have decided that it really didn't because his glower returned as he squared his shoulders and cracked his knuckles, too. “All right, mutt-face. Let's do this.”

 

“'Bout time,” InuYasha replied.

 

“No!” Kagome insisted as she darted out from behind InuYasha and plastered her back against his chest, pushing him away.

 

Kouga sighed and stepped away. “All right, Kagome . . . since even I know it isn't good for you to be so upset . . . give me a kiss and I'll go.”

 

“Fuck, no,” InuYasha snarled, wrapping his arm around Kagome's waist protectively.

 

“Oi! Hands off my woman!”

 

“InuYasha!” Kagome gasped since his arm was tightening around her. He instantly loosened his grip but didn't let go completely.

 

“Don't even think it, bitch. Keep your damn lips off him or I'll remove his and shove them—-”

 

“I'm not going to,” she assured him before turning back toward Kouga. “You'd better go,” she told him sweetly.

 

Kouga shook his head slowly. “All right, Kagome. I'll be back as soon as you've whelped that pup.”

 

“And she won't be going anywhere with you then, either, bastard!” InuYasha pointed out. “Get it through your thick head, will you?”

 

Kouga stepped forward. InuYasha retreated, dragging Kagome with him and growling loud enough for the wolf youkai to hear. With a defeated sigh, Kouga waved to Kagome and ran off into the forest again.

 

“We've got to talk about your propensity for shoving things up people's—”

 

“Keh!” InuYasha snorted as he let go of her. He had thought that Kouga would have backed off the second he figured out Kagome was carrying Miroku's pup. Something about Kagome's tone when she'd asked Kouga to leave bothered him. Ears drooping slightly, he snuck a peek at her as she knelt beside her huge backpack and dug out a box of pocky. “Kagome?”

 

“Hmm?” she asked, preoccupied as she tore the box open and pulled out the treats.

 

“If I hadn't stopped you . . . would you have kissed him?”

 

She blinked in surprise and finally looked up at him. “What? Of course not! Don't be silly.”

 

For some reason, her answer didn't convince him. A sudden inspiration hit him, and InuYasha sighed. “You owe me a favor,” he stated.

 

“Okay,” she agreed as she nibbled on a pocky stick.

 

“No kissing . . . no kissing that mangy wolf, no kissing that Houjou-thing . . . no kissing anyone, at all.”

 

Kagome looked surprised at his favor and a little sad. He didn't even want to consider why that would be as he waited for her answer. “ . . . All right,” she promised. “No kissing.”

 

 

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A/N:

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Final Thought from Kouga:

My Kagome has such a big heart! I'll claim her soon . . .

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Blanket disclaimer for this fanfic (will apply to this and all other chapters in Metamorphosis): I do not claim any rights to InuYasha or the characters associated with the anime/manga. Those rights belong to Rumiko Takahashi, et al. I do offer my thanks to her for creating such vivid characters for me to terrorize.

~Sue~