InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ One Simple Question ❯ The Aftermath ( Chapter 11 )

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

InuYasha released his grip and Miroku tumbled face first to the floor, unconscious. Under his little dragon-tail was a steadily growing pool of blood.
 
Sango went to go and check on him but was stopped by the most vicious growl she had ever heard. She looked up, eyes wide, at the hanyou sitting on his haunches.
 
“Don't.” She heard Shippou whisper.
 
InuYasha lifted his head and his companions saw what the kit already knew.
 
The InuYasha that sat in front of them, over the prone body of their friend, was a full demon.
 
A full demon with blood dripping from his chin.
 
His eyes sparkled with malice, begging one of them to misstep, to give him a reason to react.
 
“Miroku belongs to him now, he doesn't want you touching what's his.” Shippou said, trying hard to keep his tail from shaking like a leaf.
 
“But if he's not going to take care of Miroku then somebody else has to!” Sango's voice was little more than an exasperated whisper.
 
Shippou shook his head minutely, “If he meant to let him die he wouldn't have marked him, woulda just killed him.”
 
Kagome's hand on her arm stopped her.
 
“We knew we needed to trust InuYasha completely for this to work. So trust him.”
 
“I trust hanyou InuYasha! No one said anything about his youkai self!”
 
Kagome looked down at her interlaced fingers.
 
“Did you think that it would be my human half performing this ceremony, wench?” The rumbling growl reverberated through Kaede's home, shocking all inside.
 
A full youkai InuYasha was smirking at them, his turquoise eyes in their red background filled with cold humor.
 
He crawled forward, over the form of the unconscious monk in a predatory slink. “Did you think this would be as sweet or as charming as human ceremonies? Stupid bitch.” Youkai InuYasha pushed the monk's ponytail aside and brushed his hand across the back of Miroku's neck. The blood wiped clean to reveal unbroken skin. A faint red design could be seen, as though it had been drawn in red/brown henna ink. It pulsed, as though it was trying to find a way to coexist with the houshi's formidable spiritual power. One final bright pulse and the design settled, the reddish tint quickly darkening to fine lines of the deepest midnight black.
 
Miroku moaned and InuYasha retreated, watching. The monk picked himself up off the ground and rubbed the back of his neck absently.
 
“That was…” Miroku brought a hand to his face and examined it, and then looked around the room quickly, his eyes wide.
 
“Are you alright?” Sango's voice was heavy with worry.
 
“As grateful for your concern as I am, it is unnecessary, I feel fine… If a little disoriented.” The last was added as he stood up and wobbled. If not for the arms that went around him he might have fallen, but the ever ready taijiya caught him easily. A smirk stole across Miroku's face, he couldn't help but wonder if InuYasha had been right about the bond making his skull more hiraikotsu resistant. His senses did seem the slightest bit sharper, making the curves of Sango's body even more alluring.
 
“Fuck! Gah!”
 
All eyes turned to the once again hanyou InuYasha who leapt away from Miroku, as though he could back out of range of the bond.
 
“Cut it the fuck out bouzo!”
 
Miroku's brow furrowed in confusion. He hadn't even had the time to mold his hand around the soft, supple curve of Sango's bottom before the hanyou had yelled. Seeing that the hanyou's outburst had created yet another perfect distraction Miroku's newly enhanced vision once again fell to rest on the lovely slayer.
 
And that would be why he never saw InuYasha coming.
 
InuYasha's forearm caught the monk across the collarbone and slammed him into the wall of Kaede's modest home.
 
“Quit it, or so help me I will bury you.”
 
“InuYasha, perhaps you could tell me what I'm doing wrong? So I could go about fixing my error…” Miroku pleaded.
 
“You put one more thought about Sango's ass in my head and I'll tell her exactly what it is you think about.”
 
Kagome's shocked gasp and Sango's indignant shriek filled the room.
 
“How is it you are receiving my thoughts when I don't feel anything from you?”
 
“Maybe `cause I ain't letting you. The bond is controllable you hentai.” InuYasha's gaze became contemplative for a moment and then Miroku began shaking.
 
“InuYasha, such thoughts are not healthy. I promise, I shall learn to control this, just please…” InuYasha's usual mask returned and the monk was able to pull himself straight. InuYasha went and sat with his back against the wall.
 
“Master InuYasha! Master InuYasha! I felt the flux in your youki, is everything alright?” Myouga hopped up and down frantically on the top of young Shippou's head.
 
“You mean,” Sango began, “You felt the flux in his youki and waited until it faded before showing up.”
 
“My loyalty is unquestionable,” he stated proudly, ignoring InuYasha's snort, “I felt it and here I am.”
 
“So maybe you can tell us why InuYasha can control the bond and Miroku is having trouble.” Kagome asked nicely, hoping to avoid an argument that would send the flea packing before they got answers. The flea hopped onto his masters' propped up knee.
 
“Creating and controlling bonds is instinctual for a youkai. It is you humans that will have to learn to use the bonds properly. I had worried that Master InuYasha's human blood would hamper his control, but as always the blood of his father is more than enough to counter any human failing.” The flea announced smugly.
 
InuYasha squished the flea and growled lowly. He got up swiftly and cursed as he wavered, looking unsteady on his feet.
 
Kagome hurried over to him but he shook her off, he wasn't weak and he was not going to look like he was.
 
“Just go home, wench. I need some time with this, we ain't leaving immediately.” He grabbed a scrap of cloth and scrubbed at his face, removing the blood that remained. His puppy ears picked up a tiny tummy grumbling. He tossed the blood soaked cloth to Myouga and rolled his eyes at the flea's blissful sigh.
 
Miroku sat once again, waving his hand in front of his face. Kagome thought to herself that the monk looked like he was on drugs. She made sure her bags were safely stowed out of the way in a corner of Kaede's before straightening herself and nodding once to herself. She stifled a final giggle at her friend and turned to the door, grateful when Kirara leapt up to accompany her to the well.
 
“Alright guys, I'll hurry back.”
 
“Take care Kagome-chan.”
 
“I will, be safe you guys.”
 
“Keh, silly wench.” InuYasha smirked at her as she left, his eyes glittering lovingly.
 
Kagome skipped the entire way to the well.
 
As soon as Kagome left the hut InuYasha let his head dip down to rest on his chest. He felt as though he had been fighting Naraku under the scorching summer sun all day. It was more draining than anything he could remember.
 
Knowing he was safe went a long way to ease the hanyou's mind as he drifted into a light sleep in the middle of the old miko's home.
 
Sango questioned Miroku mercilessly, wanting to know everything about what had changed, what he felt, saw, smelled, heard and sensed. Even old Kaede was curious. Eventually Kirara came back and curled up in Sango's lap, not letting the endless questions bother her beauty rest in the slightest. Eventually Shippou toddled away from his human family toward his papa.
 
Sango noticed and watched him go. Her divided attention brought Miroku and Kaede's eyes around to watch as the sleepy kit casually tugged on the hanyou's clothing and hopped into his lap as InuYasha moved to make room without ever waking.
 
Wide eyed, the three turned back to each other. Some times the changes that were occurring didn't seem so large, other times ignoring the change in the hanyou was like trying to ignore Naraku, you just couldn't.
 
Yet it wasn't a bad thing. Their group was as close as ever, no, they were getting even closer. And even better, they were growing together.
 
A contented feeling was almost tangible in the home of the elderly miko as the companions inside eventually all drifted off.
 
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Kagome came home and let herself in quietly. It was early evening in her opinion, but her grandfather and little brother were quite possibly in bed already and she didn't want to wake them.
 
In truth she came home just to top off her supplies and get some studying done. And she couldn't deny delighting in the idea of a nice bath and sleeping in her own bed.
 
As she lay in bed late that night Kagome went over a mental checklist. She had given Sango the pills and both the houshi and taijiya had a firm grasp of how they worked, even though had glossed over the chemical explanations.
 
She still had all the music cd's in her pack in the feudal era, she'd had no reason or need for them yet, and in truth InuYasha's adoption of Shippou had thrown her plans for a bit of a loop.
 
She had explained the idea of the rings to Sango and Miroku but the rings themselves were a part of her wedding gift to them and were going to stay safely tucked away in her bag until the actual wedding.
 
She had a bit of a panic attack as she remembered that the second bag with the books from the bookstore that she had bought for Sango and herself were still in Kaede's hut and prayed no one went through that bag looking for things.
 
All in all things were going well though. Her friends were getting married. InuYasha was changing and it made the warmth she felt in her heart as she thought of the hanyou swell. Her little boy was growing up and now had a father figure to teach him what she couldn't. She'd had time over the past few weeks to study and was confident about the test she knew would be waiting for her when she went back to school. Kaede was in good health, and thanks to her own contributions to her family in the future her mother's financial situation was anything but stressful at the moment.
 
Kagome fell asleep with a radiant smile on her face. Despite all of the adversity she and her friends and family were thriving.
 
Her dreams were filled with the last glimpse she'd had of InuYasha. His loving gaze and arrogant smirk following her out the door.
 
 
 
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A/N: Sorry for the long wait guys, my inspiration usually flows with what's going on in my life and right around the time in April when my life got hectic I made a whole new set of friends. And now that I've known them for a few months we're all getting closer…and I've got to be the stupidest woman alive. I'm falling for one of them, hard. Gods, I'm an idiot. I'm not one of those people who puts others on pedestals, I see his faults, and that does nothing to lessen his appeal. And because of him I've had other story ideas in my head. I'm fighting not to put these TW and OSQ on hiatus and write a story with him as Yash. But it's hard. TW is about my past and right now I'm fixated on the future. I have a little over half a chapter written for TW, and OSQ isn't as hard to write so I should be able to continue it, even if my original 10 day update schedule stretches. I WON'T ABANDON ANY OF MY STORIES. Just don't be surprised if a third story by me pops up soon.
 
Kiki I feel so bad about not visiting the myspace or your site, I've been up to my eyeballs in real life lately(my real life Sango is pregnant) but hopefully this will tide you over until I have a chance to see what you've all been up to in my absence.(You wanna see the guy I'm crushing on check my myspace, almost all my new buds are there, then take a wild guess ^.^) Oh and btw, I did the puppy head cock thing, “I got nominated for something? Oh yeah!” lol I care about my readers, as long as everyone who reads enjoys their time with me I don't need to win to feel good.
 
IKMS - Thanks, I hope the long wait didn't make you give up on me.
 
TMR - Thank you so much. The story means a lot to me, it's great to hear that the work is appreciated. April 24th rocks =D hehe, um, go Taurus? lol
 
Snowfall - A review is a gift from you to me, if I demanded them they'd be worth less, that you or anyone does it on their own means a lot. I'm glad you're ok.
 
Crickee I am a BAD penpal, I'll warn you now. I love talking via msn or myspace if necessary but thank you for caring. I'm not sure when I stopped seeing just reviews from you and started seeing a friend instead, but it's a nice feeling.
 
I'll never abandon OSQ Ronnika, I just hate opening up word and feeling like it's a duty rather than an escape.
 
Thanks LexBubble, no worries, I won't quit =D
 
*Hugs Alatero to bits.* People like you and Crickee and Kiki(and the rest of my wonderful readers) make all the crap worth it.
 
Golden_kitsune - I'm so sorry to keep you all waiting. =/
 
Mychelle - Well I'd say they're easier to kill than that, but same general idea. :)
 
Dangeresque - Awesome insight, yeah, busted, revenge is sweet lol, and I like your thinking.
 
Selenitypotter - I'm sorry, I know the dry spell was ridiculous, I'll try to have Ch.12 faster.
 
Lady Ceri - It's nice to hear from you. I'm pretty much ok about my cat, I know I gave her an extra decade+ she never would have had otherwise, and my new friends are helping. I hope this Chapter lived up to expectations :)
 
Akina315 - The chapters are labeled complete, not the story. It's the default option. When I go to post each chapter there's a drop down box where I can choose whether the chap is complete or not and at first I used to play with all of that, but when my fics were deleted and I had to repost I ran out of patience for playing with those boxes. I don't know if I'll ever have the patience to sit and spellcheck the chapters and it's a boring job so I wouldn't ask anyone to do it, so for all intents and purposes once I post a chap it's pretty much complete. =)
 
Nice to hear from you JASG, yeah, delays abound but new chapters will always be coming, I promise.
 
Nicole_chich - I'm sorry, I hate being cruel lol I just couldn't think along the story line.
 
lil ol' me - Thank you. I can't stand fics where crystal clear characters just kinda fall into each other and end up googly-eyed and in love by chapter 2 either. But there are some kick-ass stories out there and I'm flattered that anyone counts me among them.
 
Portia - lol I'm sorry! (God, I dunno how many times I can say that before I should just stamp it to my forehead)
 
Cjflutterbye - Thanks, it's what I'm going for =) But in true Takahashi form you can't get everything you want immediately now can you? Where's the fun in that? Lol =P
 
Licentia poetica - There are a lot of stories types I usually don't like, but I can usually find at least of each kind written well enough to suspend my skepticism enough to give the story a shot. So I think I might just know where you're coming from and that's a big compliment to me, TY.
 
 
 
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