InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Metamorphosis. ❯ Romancing the Miko ( Chapter 60 )

~~Chapter 60~~

~Romancing the Miko~

 

“So he wanted the vial? Did he say why?” Kagome asked as InuYasha sniffed the ground.

 

He craned his neck up to glance at her. “I told you, he didn't stick around long enough for me to find out. He just demanded the vial.”

 

“And you're sure he works for Hisadaicho?”

 

He sat back on his haunches. “Keh! I told you that, too! I recognized his stench. He was born in the same cave that she was.”

 

Kagome shook her head. “Why would Hisadaicho want the vial?”

 

Resuming his sniffing, InuYasha shrugged. “Ain't that obvious? She wants to destroy it. If she did that, then I'd always see her as you, wouldn't I?” He stood up and grabbed her hand to drag her onto his back. “Found it! Come on!”

 

She relaxed against his shoulder as he broke into a sprint, following the scent that lingered. “Kaede told me to tell you thanks, for humoring the children.”

 

InuYasha wrinkled his nose. “Keh.”

 

“They loved it, you know,” she giggled, remembering his tolerant look as he had taken all the village children, one at a time, for a quick sprint through the forest.

 

“Remind me next year that I ain't doing it again,” he said.

 

“All right,” she agreed as she stared at the forest flying past. “InuYasha?”

 

“What?”

 

She sighed as she snuggled closer. “I'm glad we're alone again.”

 

He almost tripped as he missed a step. “You are?”

 

She nodded. “Yeah . . . it's nice, just being with you.”

 

He felt his cheeks heating from her praise. “You're the one who let the brat sleep in the tree with us,” he grumbled.

 

She turned her face as she giggled, her breath tickling his neck as it rubbed against him. “He misses us. You can't really blame him. You're like his older, meaner, grouchy big brother.”

 

He snorted. “Was that supposed to be flattering?”

 

She slipped her arms around his neck and wiggled higher on his back so she could lean forward to kiss his cheek.

 

“Keep squirming, wench, and I'll drop you.”

 

She kissed him again as she caught one of his ears and tweaked it back and forth with her index finger. “Come on, InuYasha . . . no one else is around here . . . it's just us . . . what does it matter if I kiss your cheek?”

 

He flattened his ears to keep them away from her predatory fingertips. “Keh! We got a long way to go, Kagome. Now stop or I'll dump you.”

 

“You would not,” she scoffed as she smacked another loud kiss on his cheek.

 

“What's gotten into you?” he demanded as his cheeks reddened.

 

“I don't know . . . it's just a beautiful day . . . we're finally alone again . . . not that I mind everyone, of course. I just miss traveling with you, and—”

 

“And I'm sorry I asked,” he grumbled.

 

She looped her hands around his neck again and gave him a quick squeeze. “InuYasha . . .”

 

He rolled his eyes but couldn't keep back the small grin that lifted the corners of his lips. “What, wench, what?”

 

“I . . . I bought something for you.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

She shrugged, hooking her chin over his shoulder, her eyelashes tickling his cheek when she blinked. “A little present, I guess.”

 

He tried unsuccessfully to hide his curiosity. “What sort of present?”

 

She squirmed around again. “You have to put me down, if you want it. It's in my backpack.”

 

After a moment of deliberation, InuYasha slowed to a walk then stopped before gently letting her slide off his back.

 

She giggled as she shrugged off the bag and knelt to dig around inside. “It's sort of stupid,” she hedged as she kept looking.

 

InuYasha crossed his arms over his chest and tried not to look too interested.

 

“I just saw it when I was out buying ramen and stuff,” she told him. “I don't know . . . for some reason, it just reminded me of you.”

 

She handed him a little scrap of opalescent silvery material. He stared at it, turning it in his fingers. “What's this?”

 

Kagome shrugged, wringing her hands nervously as she shifted from one foot to the other. “Well, it's just a kerchief, really . . . the color reminded me of your hair. I guess some guys would put it in their suit jacket pocket . . .”

 

She was rambling in that nervous way of hers. InuYasha stared at the delicate fabric before he tucked it inside his undershirt.

 

She made a face and sighed, shaking her head as she closed up her bag and swung it over her shoulders again. “Never mind. It was stupid.”

 

He caught her hand and pulled her close, kissing her gently as she leaned against him. “Thank you,” he mumbled.

 

She pulled away with a smile, eyes shining, bright, cheeks pinking from his words. “You really like it?”

 

“Well, it wasn't something I'd have picked for myself,” he allowed, “but it'll do, wench.”

 

“You're such a baka,” she told him with a giggle as he quickly kissed her again.

 

“Hell, dog-shit! What did you do to Kagome? Or better yet what did she do to you?”

 

InuYasha's growl was low and immediate as he slowly pulled away to glare over his shoulder at the uninvited visitor. “What the fuck do you want?” InuYasha snarled.

 

Kagome groaned softly, hiding her face against InuYasha's chest.

 

Kouga shook his head. “I'm looking for Hisadaicho, if you must know,” he remarked.

 

InuYasha snorted. “You sure she's worth it?”

 

Kouga's gaze narrowed, an angry glint igniting in his blue eyes. “She'll die by my hand,” he promised. “I don't care who she is.”

 

“Well, it was nice knowing you,” InuYasha grumbled insincerely. “Who'd'a thought that Sesshoumaru would do something good for me, for a change?”

 

“You're such a stupid piece of dog-shit,” Kouga growled at InuYasha's blatant reminder of the consequences of killing one's mate.

 

Kagome straightened up with a marked frown on her face. “Wait . . . the tai-youkai only deals with those who kill their mates, right?”

 

InuYasha wrinkled his nose. “Yeah . . . which is what Kouga wants to do because he's fucking stupid.”

 

She shook her head. “How do you know? I mean . . . if Emi left Old Seer to go to this mystery man of hers, how do you know she isn't already mated to someone else?”

 

“Who?” Kouga asked, shaking his head in confusion.

 

“Emi . . . she's the one who became Hisadaicho,” Kagome explained as InuYasha rolled his eyes.

 

“She was a human?”

 

“Keh! So you can figure something out. Then you should also be able to figure out how fucking stupid—”

 

“InuYasha, do you think that it's possible?” Kagome interrupted.

 

“Anything's possible,” he remarked. “Leave it to that mangy wolf to be too stupid to figure out he'd mated the wrong thing.”

 

Kouga's eyes flared wide as he considered Kagome's words, ignoring InuYasha's blatant verbal assault. “That bitch!” Turning on his heel to speed off into the forest once more, Kouga waved over his shoulder. “See you, Kagome! I'll make time to bat that baka around some for you when we see each other again!”

 

“Oi!” Growling in frustration since Kouga had already disappeared back into the forest, InuYasha shook his head as he crossed his arms over his chest. “Why does he always have to do that? Fucking coward . . . just once I'd like to see him try to back up his threats.”

 

“InuYasha?”

 

“Stupid mangy wolf . . . hella nasty—”

 

“InuYasha . . .”

 

“—bastard . . . who the hell does he think he is? Bat me around, will he? I'd like to see him try!”

 

Kagome heaved a heavy sigh as she grasped his face between her hands and pulled his lips down to meet hers, effectively ending his tirade as his arms slipped around her, as a low growl erupted in his throat. Unmerciful, the way the contact between them seared right through him. Unbelievable, the way the concentrated heat shot through every part of him. Undeniable, the way her aura called to him. Somewhere deep inside, he'd always known. From the moment he'd come back from . . . wherever he had been . . . pinned to Goshinboku by Kikyou's sacred arrow, he'd known Kagome. Enticingly familiar yet wholly fresh and new, the sweetness of her mouth under his was like the cresting of the flowing tides. He knew her soul, everything about her heart, but he needed to know the secrets of her body, too.

 

Still a part of him wondered, worried, tempered his rising desire. “Ka . . . gome,” he managed between kisses, before he lost his sanity in her.

 

She didn't stop kissing him to answer. “Mmm?”

 

“Are you . . . sure?”

 

She paused long enough to sigh before kissing him again. “Yes,” she murmured.

 

He moaned then pulled away far enough to stare at her. “Absolutely sure?”

 

She sighed again. “Yes.”

 

He nodded slowly. “All right,” he agreed, “because we can't undo it, if, uh . . .”

 

“Now who's talking too much?” she grumbled as she gently pulled him down to kiss her again.

 

The tumultuous crush of their lips, of their bodies, the rage of emotion that built, that swelled, that shattered the will to resist gave rise to the need for absolute sensation. Kagome's body seemed to mold around his, to flow into him. A slow ebb, a steady burn, a growing ache that consumed him goaded him further as her arms wrapped around his neck, holding him close. Crushing her to him with one arm, he pushed her blouse up over her side with his free hand, his claws gently grazing the soft skin of her lower back. With a sharp gasp, she wrenched her lips away from his, jerking her head to the side.

 

And then she laughed.

 

His hand stilled as he stared down at her. She caught the expression on his face as her laughter escalated. “What's so funny, wench?” he growled since he really didn't see any humor in the situation.

 

“Okay, I'm sorry, sorry,” she giggled as she tried to stop laughing. The harder she tried, the more she giggled.

 

InuYasha cocked an eyebrow. When she finally managed to contain her humor, he reached for her again. The second his hand touched her hip, she burst out in another fit of giggles. InuYasha snorted as he jerked his hand away. “Keh!”

 

Waving her hand to fan her red face, Kagome stopped giggling long enough to grab InuYasha's hand as he turned away. “It's all right, I'm sorry . . . it just tickles.”

 

“. . . Wench.”

 

“I won't laugh this time, I promise,” she assured him.

 

He shot her a haughty look. She stepped around him and slipped her arms around his neck again.

 

This time he didn't even get his hands on her before she dissolved in laughter, great gales of laughter that rang through the forest. With a growl, InuYasha pulled away from her as she doubled over, struggling to breathe as she laughed.

 

“Now what?” he bellowed. “I didn't even lay a hand on you! Wench!”

 

“Sorry . . . just . . . can't . . . I . . . knew it . . . would . . . tickle . . .”

 

“Keh! Never mind that, let's just fucking go.”

 

As her laughter wound down, she groaned. “My stomach hurts now,” she remarked as she wiped tears of laughter form her eyes.

 

InuYasha couldn't even summon the tiniest bit of compassion for her, given the circumstances. Trying to retain what was left of his pride, he grabbed her wrist and started to pull her onto his back, only to have her break down in shrieks of laughter all over again. “Keh! You can fucking walk, Kagome,” he growled as he stalked away.

 

“Wait! InuYasha!” she hollered as she stumbled after him, trying to hold her stomach and run at the same time. She caught up with him and ran around to plant her hands in the center of his chest. “A thousand apologies, I didn't mean to laugh . . . I'm really sorry . . . see? Look.”

 

He did, rolling his eyes at the wide-eyed, eyelash-batting look he was being given. “Forget it,” he told her gruffly.

 

“Oh, don't be mad . . . I wasn't laughing at you . . . I was just laughing.”

 

He stopped walking as he flattened his ears and looked away. “It don't matter.”

 

“It does,” she argued. With a sigh, she shook her head and leaned toward him, pushing up on her toes as she lifted her face to him. Her lips barely touched his. He stepped closer to her, hands on her shoulders—he figured there wasn't much chance that would tickle her—cautiously kissing her back.

 

“InuYasha?”

 

“Shh.”

 

“But—”

 

He growled.

 

And she started giggling once again.

 

InuYasha stepped back, dropping his hands away as he glanced around for something—anything—he could shred. Finding nothing acceptable as Kagome's mirthful laughter echoed around him, he shook his head and stomped off into the forest.

 

“Where . . . ?” she called after him between rounds of giggles.

 

“I'm going hunting!” he yelled. If he hadn't thought so before, he did now. He had to have offended someone somewhere because at the moment, he was absolutely certain that someone was gathering their sick, twisted revenge on him . . .

 

 

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

 

 

“I'm really, really, really sorry.”

 

“Keh.”

 

“Ramen?”

 

He didn't deign to look at her. Kagome shook her head slowly. “Are you going to give me the cold shoulder all night?”

 

She poured hot water into the instant food and bit her bottom lip as she waited. Taking extra care as she stirred the noodles and broth together, she held the disposable container in her fingertips as she scooted toward the hanyou with the peace offering. “I'm sorrier than you'll ever know, InuYasha,” she told him. “Please, please forgive me for laughing.”

 

He took the food but ignored her as he dug into the noodles.

 

“I wasn't laughing at you,” she explained again. “I couldn't help it!”

 

He continued to ignore her as he slowly ate his food.

 

Kagome sighed. “It just struck me, I guess . . . it all seemed so . . . forced, so . . . unnatural, and then your claws tickled . . . I didn't mean to hurt your feelings.”

 

He snorted. “Keh. You didn't.”

 

She winced at his blatant lie. “I just . . . I don't know . . . want things to be special,” she admitted quietly then shook her head. “Not that I mean you aren't special enough . . . just . . .” She trailed off as she stared at her hands in her lap. There wasn't an easy way to explain her feelings, and even then, he obviously didn't want to speak about it.

 

Finishing off his ramen, InuYasha set the empty container aside and finally looked at her. “Here, wench,” he said as he dragged the vial out of his shirt. She shook it and watched in silence as he did, too. She forced a smile before she leaned forward to kiss his cheek. Turning quickly as she stumbled to her feet, she hurried over to lie down, pulling the thin blanket over her head as she heaved a sigh.

 

It was too difficult to explain. The entire time, she'd heard this stupid voice in her head, this nagging thought that it wasn't how it was supposed to be, that in all her daydreams and fantasies, she'd always imagined this romantic moment, this fantastic scenario where everything just felt right, perfect. Though the guy was right, the place had seemed awkward, and in the end, she'd probably laughed on purpose because, well, it wasn't `right'.

 

She gasped as the blanket was jerked away from her. InuYasha sat beside her, a troubled look on his face, a hint of a flush on his cheeks. “What, uh, did you mean? `Special', how?”

 

Kagome sat up slowly and shrugged. “Just . . . with you and me . . . I want to feel like . . . like we have all the time in the world, even if we don't.”

 

He nodded, a fleeting grimace flashing across his face. “Was I . . . did I . . . rush you?”

 

She smiled wanly, leaned against his shoulder. “No, you didn't. Can we just . . . stay like this? Just for tonight?”

 

He finally smiled as he relaxed against a fallen log. “Yeah,” he answered as he wrapped his arms around her.

 

She cuddled against him and closed her eyes.

 

 

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A/N:

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Final Thought from InuYasha:

`Special'? Keh!

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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~