InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ On a Leash ❯ Fated ( Chapter 16 )

A/N: Happy Birthday, Ducky! Ah…I love my fire proof cloak…ah… I already knew if Kagome screamed or not. ^^ I just wanted to see what you guys thought.

Chapter Sixteen: Fated

Inuyasha's keen ears picked up the super-high-pitched sound of the beginning of a shriek. Leaping forward, he clamped his hand over Kagome's mouth and pulled her back into his shoulder. "Listen, Kagome," he hissed into her ear, "I am not going to hurt you. You have to trust me and not scream. All right?"

She shakily nodded, clutching tightly onto the collar in her hand.

"Good," he breathed, releasing her. He promptly jumped to his feet and yanked Kagome's fuzzy pink bathrobe out of her closet, turning his backside to her. Quickly covering himself, he tied the strips of cloth just above his hips; Inuyasha was only worried about the poor girl having to any more of anything below that level. At least from the back it wouldn't be nearly so embarrassing.

"Wh-who are you?" Kagome managed to whisper, getting to her feet. She walked to the bedroom door and quietly pushed it closed, watching him through cautious blue eyes.

The dog-eared boy gradually turned around to face her. "…I'm Inuyasha. Who else?"

Kagome waggled her head, making her obsidian hair fly to and fro. "N-no way. Inuyasha's my dog-"

"Demon."

Her jaw opened for a second then promptly snapped shut. "I think I need to sit down." The girl went to her bed and plopped onto the edge of it. She set the collar beside her. "Ok," she ran her fingers through her hair, "so, you're Inuyasha. You used to be my dog."

He cracked his neck then rolled back a stiff shoulder. "Yeah," he replied, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Inuyasha's my real name." The boy looked to Kagome, who stared unblinkingly at him. His mouth went into a slight frown, yet a pensive one. "You're a priestess, aren't you?"

"Well, yeah." She wriggled her hand down and began to interlink her fingers.

"I think because you've got some really unnaturally strong miko powers you understood me-well, part of the time, anyway." Inuyasha leaned against the sliding door of the closet. "That's what Kaede said at least."

"Wait, wait, wait. You mean Ms. Kaede the vet?" Now Kagome's head really started swimming.

He nodded. "Yeah."

"What exactly does she know?"

"Well," Inuyasha leaned upright and walked to the window, tucking his hands in the sleeves of the bathrobe, "I'm not exactly sure what she knows. What I can tell you, Kagome, is that she understands animals, so she has to have some form of mystical powers. Unlike you, she's fluent all the time."

Kagome adjusted position so she could look at his profile. It was strikingly familiar to her for some reason. Taisho… Shaking her noggin once to dislodge the remembrance, she asked, "Could you understand what we were saying to you?"

Without even looking away from the world of snow beyond the frosted glass, "All the time. I could see in color, too. I might've been in the body of a dog, but I did still manage to retain my normal consciousness."

The girl was quiet for a moment. A blush crept over her face. "I undressed in front of you!" She reached over and slapped at his elbow, aghast at the idea of him staring at her in such a state.

"Hey," he whirled on her, "I always looked away!" Scarlet colored his visage as well. "I'm not a pervert!"

"That's good to know…" Kagome watched the boy by the window for minute or so, letting the silence of the chamber consume all her cogitations; there was too much to ponder on, too many questions that needed answers. "Inuyasha…" she said quietly, waiting until she had his attention, "how did you…how did you get turned into a dog?"

Honey-rich eyes, ones marred by the sight of iniquity, odium, and discrimination peered ponderingly at her; Kagome was able to see all the somber things reflected there with some kind of foresight she didn't realize she possessed. A smirk slipped unevenly over his lips. "Bring Mama, Gramps, and Souta downstairs and I'll tell you all." He stepped away from the window and padded out of the room.

Kagome watched him disappear, thinking deeply, her musings very jumbled and hard to separate into anything cognizant. He's a demon, which explains the youki around him all the time, and now I'll know why he was transfigured into a real dog. I have a feeling that he's connected to us in some other way…

She chewed her lip. Inutaisho was a dog-demon, and Inuyasha is, too. His youki isn't as strong as a full-blooded demon, which probably means he's a hanyou. What are the odds that he's…The One we've been waiting for?

There was a dog-demon boy, transformed from her dog, exactly the way she dreamt him, downstairs wearing nothing but her pastel pink robe, with a high chance of being her destined fiancé. Only this sort of thing happened to her family.

Sighing, the girl slid off her bed and made her way to the door. This is not at all the romantic way I thought we'd meet at all.

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It didn't take long to coax everyone out of their rooms. Mama had wondered what the sound was and Souta had still been playing on one of his handheld game systems. Kagome would get Grampa when they descended.

"What's so important, Kagome?" Mama inquired as her daughter bade her to sit on the sofa with her other child.

"Just…trust me. You won't believe me 'til you see it. I have to go get Grampa." Kagome ambled through the kitchen to the elder Higurashi's room. She rapped gently on the door. "Grampa? Are you awake? It's Kagome."

The door slid away, having been another storage room at one time, and Gramps looked at her thru his spectacles. "I'm up, but what-"

"Just please wait with Mama and Souta in the living room, Grampa," the girl kindly interrupted.

Making no protests, trusting in his granddaughter's words, the old man toddled off.

"Thanks, Kagome," said Inuyasha from behind her.

She nearly jumped out of her skin at the sound of his voice. "Don't scare me like that!"

The boy chuckled, shutting the storeroom slider. "Forgot you're such a spaz."

"What? I am not," she sulked, glaring. She waggled a finger at him. "This is exactly the way imagined you would be like if I could understand you. Be nicer, would you?"

He flashed an arrogant smirk at her. "Keh." Inuyasha crossed his arms, now clad in a white, billow-sleeved shirt and black riding pants.

Kagome quirked an eyebrow at his ensemble."You look like a matador."

"Thanks, I thought so, too," he satirically countered. "Come on, girl, and I'll explain everything." He sighed deeply, the cocky smile fading. "You all have a right to know everything I know."

She watched as he started to step around her to go into the living room. Kagome grabbed hold of his sleeve. He glanced bemusedly at her, making a soft noise of wonder as she walked in stride with him. "I'm sure we'll work everything out, Inuyasha." She smiled assuredly at him, cupping her palm over his upper arm. "So, don't look so glum, okay?"

Inuyasha didn't say anything they promenaded into the chamber where the rest of the family waited, joining the ranks of the confused.

Needless to say, everyone gasped.

Clearing his throat as he strode forward with Kagome still holding onto his arm, which eased him a bit, Inuyasha began, "Uh, hey…Mama, Gramps, Souta…"

Buyo swaggered tiredly into the room and stopped mid-waddle to gape at the dog-demon, not saying a word, as was the rest of the Higurashis.

"Uh, I'm-uh-well, hell, I'm Tanaka Inuyasha," he finally blurted out, huffing a bit out of frustration. Time to lay all the cards on the table and see if the shit hits the fan…

"I was placed under a spell fifty years ago when I was seventeen by a miko named Kikyou. I was stuck living with her until I escaped one night, stupid b-witch," he curbed his language. Last thing I need is Mrs. Higurashi thinking is that I'm a completely uneducated cur and Souta picking up my fucking swearing habit.

Inuyasha shifted his weight from one foot to the other, looking from one Higurashi to another. "I had been in the animal shelter for a month before you got me, Kagome.

"The reason I changed into my true form was because Kagome took that collar off me. Kikyou's spell was contained in it, and since Kagome has enough miko power to remove it, the warding on it allowed her to do so." Inuyasha drummed his long claws on his leg anxiously; Kagome gave his arm a soothing squeeze.

"Inuyasha," started Mama gently, "why did this Kikyou woman put such a terrible curse on you? She was a miko and mikos are supposed to serve the people."

"Yeah," Souta chimed in. "They're supposed to be like Sis and help others."

Inuyasha turned his gaze to the bare-topped Christmas tree, dog-ears twitching fretfully. "She said it was for my own good," he said quietly after a pregnant pause. "But she never told me what she was protecting me from. Pretty convenient she was 'protecting' me when I wanted to call it off."

Kagome gazed at him. "'Call it off'?"

He nodded. "Yeah. We had been dating for about a year, but we didn't seem to agree very often. Things just weren't going to work out--I just knew she and I weren't meant to be. So, the last date we went on, right after I told her I wanted to go our separate ways, Kikyou put the collar on me. Next thing I knew, I was a scampering around on all fours and she put me on a leash."

That's just sick… Kagome thought. Talk about over-possessive.

Grampa watched Inuyasha intently, having been silent the whole time. Finally, he calmly drew out, "After all this time…"

Inuyasha nodded, chuckling softly. "Yeah, I still somehow found my way here. I didn't find out until recently from Sesshoumaru about the engagement."

"So, you're…" Kagome started, but stopped, the words dying in her throat.

The silver-haired demon turned his attention to her, alluring amber eyes fixed on her. "I'm a dog-hanyou, the son of Inutaisho and Setsuna. Apparently, Tetsusaiga is mine…and so are you."

The shrine-girl could only gape, wide-eyed, at the half-demon beside her. "You're my fiancé?" she squeaked.

He nodded once.

"Don't we have a way to prove that he really is Kagome's fiancé?" Mama beseeched Grandpa.

Gramps worked his jaw, attempting to get the first solution out of his brain and onto his tongue, but to no avail thus far.

"Ahem, I believe this is my field of expertise," a throaty voice asserted.

The Higurashi family glanced at Buyo, from whence the voice had come.

A dark speck bounced from the feline's hindquarters and up to Inuyasha's shoulder.

Kagome blinked. "Is that a flea?"

"My name is Myouga," said the small demon. "I was the retainer to the late Lord Inutaisho and now serve his youngest son Inuyasha. It is known to this family that the Tetsusaiga may only be wielded effectively by the destined offspring of Lord Inutaisho. Let my master hold the sword and if accepts him as its wielder, that should be proof enough." Myouga crossed his tiny sets of arms, sagely closing his eyes.

"Well, Myouga'd know better than me." Inuyasha glimpsed at Grampa. "So are we going to find out or not?"

The old man coughed once before rising. "Let's go to the mini-shrine. Kagome, you go ahead with Inuyasha and unlock it. The rest of us will follow."

Bobbing her head once, Kagome snatched a pair of beat up sneakers and marched to the back door. She slipped them on and went out into the cold night, the hanyou closely behind. The snow drifted up above her calf, stinging her bare skin. She winced. Then, Inuyasha crossed in front of her vision.

"Walk in the footsteps I leave so you won't get frostbite," he instructed without looking back at her.

She peered down at his bare feet. "Doesn't that hurt?" she inquired softly as they paced to the demi-shrine.

He shrugged. "I'm actually used to it. My feet have tougher soles than yours, not to mention my skin is not as frail, either."

"Oh. That makes sense."

"In translation," Myouga piped up from his master's shoulder, "Lord Inuyasha is saying that he appreciates your concern but he is more worried about you than him."

Inuyasha grunted as he reached up and squished the flea.

Kagome simply smiled as Myouga swished down into the snow and rebuked his master fiercely before hopping up and ducking behind Inuyasha's head.

They climbed up the steps of Tetsusaiga's undersized temple. The miko moved to the gray keypad attached to the right side and punched in five numbers. From within there was a quiet whirring noise followed like a small 'click'.

"It sounds like the system has disengaged now," stated Kagome, retrieving a keycard from the pocket of her pajamas and sliding it down the side of the keypad. "I carry it with me at all times." She shoved the doors apart and walked inside.

Inuyasha stared at the new security measures his brother had added: motion-detecting lasers, cameras, to name a few, and if he knew Sesshoumaru, there was something poison related somewhere as well. The boxes had been restacked since the last time he'd been in here; his brother's people were quiet and swift when they installed all the measures. Up ahead of him, Kagome slid the divider between them and Tetsusaiga away. He could smell the Higurashi family was coming up from the rear.

Kagome had removed the written spells and tilted back the lid. She extracted Tetsusaiga and rose from her kneel. Turning, she handed the sword to Inuyasha.

Their eyes connected, and it became clear to the hanyou that this girl was trusting him, not only with the sword but that if it should react the way it was expected to, she was trusting him with her.

"The Steel-Cleaving Fang, Tetsusaiga," reverently murmured Gramps. "The sword's true form should be revealed now that it is in your hands, Inuyasha, if you truly are Inutaisho's son, which I think you are."

Ok, Tetsusaiga, you have to transform or whatever. Reveal your true shape to everyone… My future depends on you. Inuyasha gripped the battered hilt of the katana tightly, feeling a tremble wrack the nerves of his fingers. "Tetsusaiga," Inuyasha whispered to himself, "is a sword to protect humanity. But, there are no enemies around." He closed his eyes. But there are enemies around, enemies like Naraku. Just because I can't see them doesn't mean they don't exist…

A cool eddy passed by the group as they observed with bated breath for something-anything-to happen.

Without realizing he was speaking aloud, "I want to protect Kagome and her family forever." Inuyasha's eyelids flipped open when he felt a pulsation in his right palm, like it was coming from the very sword.

It's like a heartbeat, he mentally reasoned. It gave another pulse, growing stronger. I felt it before, but it was so slight… Have you chosen me as your wielder, Tetsusaiga?

As if in response, the katana flared with a buff light, swallowing the entire blade-hilt and all. Then, it elongated and grew heavier until it curved into what looked like a giant fang. Flames licked at the hilt, touching Inuyasha's hand but not burning it. Tetsusaiga glowed in a pleased sort of way, or so it seemed to Inuyasha.

Myouga's large eyes sparkled in the sword's celestial light. "It transformed…. I told you Lord Inuyasha was the one chosen to wield Tetsusaiga, hu-hu!" The flea demon danced upon the case of the sword had been stowed in-how he snuck over there was anyone's guess.

Mama raised a hand to her mouth, she was obviously surprised. "Oh my. It looks like your fiancé has finally shown up, Kagome."

"Alright!" Souta cheered as the Tetsusaiga de-transformed. "I'm going to have the coolest big brother!"

Kagome stared, stunned prior to stooping by the long case again. She lifted the velvet cushion and drew out an ebony scabbard of wood. "Here." She handed it to Inuyasha. "This is rightfully yours."

Inuyasha took it and slipped the nicked sword into the scabbard, his face drawn in a slight frown as he stared at the girl's unreadable expression. He couldn't tell whether she was happy or sad.

"Well," the sound of Mama's soothingly loving voice caught his attention, "we need to find you a room to sleep in." She laughed when he gawked confusedly at her. "You didn't honestly think we'd send you out into the cold, did you, dear?"

He garbled something, kicking at the wood floor absently.

Mama laughed again, and without any hesitation came up and embraced him. "You're part of this family, Inuyasha. You just have an altered role."

"Y-yeah…" he mumbled quietly.

"Let's all go to bed. It's been a very long day."

Everyone began to troop back to the house, except for Kagome. She lingered for a moment, staring wistfully at the empty case. Releasing a soft exhale, she jogged out and shut the doors. The security system automatically re-engaged as she walked slothfully to the house, stepping into the larger footprints of Inuyasha.

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Kagome tossed and turned in her bed. She hadn't been able to fall asleep, continually restless for the past four hours and constantly wanting to stare at the desk drawer that held a certain leather collar within.

Everything was wrong.

She didn't want to sound ungrateful and spiteful, but she had been looking forward to turning sixteen in about nine months. It wasn't anything personal with Inuyasha, just that…well…

She felt sort of trapped.

Honored, but trapped.

It's not everyday you're declared someone's fiancée for some prophetic reason, Kagome told herself as she stared at the ceiling high above her bed. Even so, she had wanted to fall in love without guilt and to get married to who she wanted-to be free! This was confusing and backwards and so old-style!

Yet…while it might've fit into that category, it suited another just as well.

It was sort of charming to be engaged to someone you had to get to know, and how much more romantic than your love being predicted, like a prophesy or something the was magical and wonderful.

After all, it was not a fluke that I chose Inuyasha at the animal shelter. Kagome rolled over, peering thru the darkness at the circle of moonlight on the floor. But what bothers me is how much he looks and acts like Taisho…

Inutaisho….

Inuyasha…

Her eyes widened as her thoughts lead her to a curious conclusion. What are the odds that they're the same person, someway, somehow?

"He could be…if the spell chose only to bind to his youki…" she figured, breaking the stillness of her room. Sitting up slowly, Kagome swung her legs off the edge of her bed. "Then he could have been there…watching over me all along.

"I dreamt of Inuyasha's real form, and…" She flushed cherry-red at the remembrance of the dream-kiss. "But…if he is Taisho as well, that would be mean…

"I fell for my fiancé anyway…" Touching her toes to the carpet, Kagome sauntered to her doorway.

As she went down the stairs, I guess we're just fated, huh, Inuyasha?

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A/N: Well? This one was definitely difficult to write. A bit shorter than most of them recently, but I didn't want to write the next part yet, because, well…ah, um, heh, I'm thinking right now. Anyway, review please!

~Moonlight Shadow

P.S. Sorry, I was going to post earlier but, my other disk is getting a little up there in the years, and it wouldn't read. So, if this chapter isn't as smooth, it's because this is a second run-thru and…that's about it. I was really freaked out. I was going to post on Friday or Thursday but…hey, it's here. It's all good. By the way, I just remembered Kagome has mats in her room, not carpeting, so sorry, and I'm going to drop the whole Tetsusaiga/Tessaiga thing; I'm just not in the mood to get ticked off about it. Let sleeping dogs lie.