InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Possessing ❯ Chapter 6

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

 

Chapter 6

 

 

 

 

As Inuyasha led the monk and slayer back to his home his feeling of dread, not for himself, but for Kagome, continued to grow. It wasn’t necessarily illegal to harbor a youkai, or at least a non-dangerous one, so he knew there shouldn’t be any serious repercussions, but she still might be dismissed from the Spiritual Forces if they deemed her unworthy of the position and he’d hate to be the cause of something like that because he knew how much it meant to her. He could only hope they’d be willing to look the other way because they didn’t want to lose her. The fact that she’d just impressed them with the way she’d dealt with the kuma had him mentally crossing his fingers that that would be the case.

 

He knew society considered someone like him not much more than a talking dog, with no human rights to speak of even though he’d been born from a human woman and occasionally turned human himself, but as a talking dog he’d pledge his loyalty to Kagome and by extent all of mankind, making sure Sango and Miroku knew he meant nobody any harm. They obviously understood that not all youkai were evil, considering the female taijiya’s nekomata companion. He’d already known the taijiya utilized trained youkai animals because just like the expression fight fire with fire, sometimes it was best to fight youkai with youkai.

 

Of course, they always used lower youkai animals for such tasks, which were akin to police dogs and had been trained for that purpose since they were puppies – or in the case of the nekomata, kittens – but if they started in on Kagome about secretly ‘having’ an inu-hanyou he’d point out the existence of trained youkai like that nekomata and hopefully get them to see the hypocrisy.

 

He wasn’t about to stupidly suggest that all humans and youkai could coexist peacefully. If it weren’t for the abundance of reiki users in human society most daiyoukai would have probably tried to wipe humans out by now, seeing them as lesser beings unworthy of existence. He knew first hand that was how a lot of them felt because shortly after his mother’s death, when he’d spent a lot of his days out in the forest, only returning to his home at night, he’d bumped into a few higher youkai that lived in secret places deep in the forest that the humans could not access, and they had looked down on him for being even half human, regardless of the strength of his youki. Some of them had even tried to kill him, and he’d been very thankful his mother had insisted during his youth that he learn how to conjure up and use his natural born youki-based attacks. He didn’t have good battle skills, but he had daiyoukai blood flowing through his veins and his attacks packed quite the wallop...as evidenced by the way Sango and Miroku had freaked out when they’d felt him cut through that stupid tree.

 

So no, he was in no way, shape or form an advocate for peaceful human/youkai relations. He just wanted to be able to live in peace with Kagome. He considered himself a person, even though society didn’t, but even if he had to play the part of a second pet dog of hers he’d do whatever it took to protect Kagome’s job and reputation.

 

Speaking of the miko he’d grown to care so much about, as the three of them emerged through the trees into his and Kagome’s backyard the miko was standing there waiting to greet them, still dressed in her miko robes, an unmistakably nervous expression on her face. Sighing, and tossing the log off to the side, Inuyasha then gestured between her and the people who’d followed him home.

 

“So you guys already know each other,” he said with a nod, in lieu of actually introducing them to each other.

 

“I’ve known Miroku for a few years, actually,” Kagome said with a nod of her own head in Miroku’s direction that the monk returned. “But I just met his wife Sango today while on assignment.”

 

She then met the slayer’s eyes and said, “Please, come in,” before turning and heading back inside via the kitchen door, her housemate and guests all coming in behind her. “Coffee? Tea?"

 

“Kagome...” Miroku stressed.

 

“Can’t blame a girl for trying to be a good hostess,” she replied with a shrug before heading into the living room and having a seat on the wing chair beside the sofa, after shooing Shiro off of it, allowing her guests to sit together on the larger piece of furniture while Inuyasha took it upon himself to stand protectively beside Kagome, arms crossed, while Shiro sat down at her feet. The dog barked once when Sango and Miroku had a seat on the sofa, barking at Kirara who curled up in the slayer’s lap, but a very quiet woof from Inuyasha had Shiro settling down.

 

“I suppose I should start at the beginning,” the miko started, quickly amending with, “or, that is, the beginning for me.”

 

She gestured around to the living room they were sitting in, which still had the original near century old furniture and only very few modern touches, like the TV above the fireplace, that betrayed what century they were actually living in.

 

“In case it has not occurred to you just which house you’re in, as I know there are multiple cul-de-sacs that butt up against the western treeline like a strip of zipper teeth, we are in the old Takahashi place.”

 

Both Miroku and Sango looked surprised at that bit of information, as Kagome had suspected they would, their eyes widening dramatically. Her house had earned itself quite the reputation over the years, after all.

 

Miroku was the first to speak.

 

“Your family had told me of your good fortune, that you had won some money and as a result had been able to both quit your job and buy yourself the home you’d wanted since you were little, but nothing they’d said had implied...”

 

“That I’d bought the local haunted house?” Kagome finished for him with an amused smirk when he’d let his words trail off.

 

“I remember my father telling me of this house a few years ago,” he said then, with a growing smirk of his own. “He had assured me the legends were false, because a decade prior he had been hired by the then new owners to purify the establishment, himself, and he’d told me that while it had not felt as if a ghost were present in the first place he had nonetheless purified the entire property.” Glancing at Inuyasha he added, “If this story is going where I think it’s going, then it looks like my father was right. This house was never truly haunted.”

 

“No it was not,” Kagome agreed with a nod before briefly smiling up at the hanyou standing to her right.

 

She told them the rest of the story, then, Inuyasha choosing to remain silent for now, figuring it’d look better for him if he just let the humans talk. Kagome told them of how when she’d first bought the place little things had started to happen to her, too, that had made the house appear haunted, although being a miko she had known it wasn’t a ghost. She explained how she’d thought he was perhaps a kitsune playing jokes on her, and everyone who’d come before her, and how she’d been bound and determined to get to the bottom of it, leading to the moment she’d discovered Inuyasha in the attic. She then proceeded to explain to Sango and Miroku what Inuyasha had told her at that time, how he’d been born in that house, how the original owner, Izayoi Takahashi, was his mother, and how all he’d wanted to do was chase away new owners so that he could continue living in the only home he’d ever known.

 

“I figured I didn’t really have the right to kick him out, morally, anyway,” Kagome explained, pleading with her eyes for them to both understand her reasoning. “Inuyasha’s not some wild animal, regardless of what the law books say. But even if he were, wild animals that have been raised by humans their whole lives can’t just suddenly be set loose in the wild, either. They’re kept in zoos or shelters where we continue to take care of them because they wouldn’t be able to survive on their own in the wild. And Inuyasha’s youkai half isn’t even some beast typically known for being hostile towards humans, anyway. He’s an inu-hanyou, and everyone knows most inu-youkai are friendly, at least towards whomever has their loyalty.”

 

She glanced up at Inuyasha, then, and he could read it in her eyes that she wanted him to speak up now. He straightened his back and uncrossed his arms before looking Miroku and Sango both in the eyes.

 

“I am loyal to Kagome,” he said without hesitation.

 

As if he knew what was going on, Shiro chose that moment to let out one single bark, as well, as he too perked up a bit and looked at the slayer and monk. With Shiro being a white akita mix, it really gave the impression that he and Inuyasha were Kagome’s two loyal guard dogs.

 

Listening to Kagome explain everything, followed by Inuyasha’s statement when the miko signaled it was his turn to speak, Sango got the distinct impression that while they were being completely honest, they were also reciting a script. She sincerely doubted the hanyou was usually so formal or submissive, and it wouldn’t surprise her in the slightest if the two of them had come up with a contingency plan in the event of Inuyasha’s presence ever being discovered.

 

Smiling a soft, reassuring smile, the slayer met Kagome’s eyes and said, “I knew I liked you the minute you didn’t automatically purify that kuma without trying to subdue it first.”

 

At Sango and Miroku’s friendly smiles, Kagome relaxed tremendously, and seeing Kagome relax had Inuyasha relax a little bit as well although he wasn’t ready to fully lower his guard just yet. Then Kagome spoke back up with, “I know some miko are like that, and that’s actually one of the reasons why I wanted to register as a warrior miko, besides feeling obligated to use the powers the kami had given me to help save human lives whenever possible. I wanted to use my powers for good, and maybe save a few youkai lives while I’m at it.”

 

“We used to occasionally require the aid of a miko who lives in the city, whenever the problem was large enough that protocol dictated I could not attempt it on my own and calling in the nearest registered miko was mandatory,” Miroku explained then. “Such instances were few and far between, and when it was required of her she always acted with the strictest professionalism, but perhaps that was part of the problem.”

 

“She’s not one of those dark miko who get off on slaughtering as many youkai as possible,” Sango elaborated, explaining, “she was perfectly content to allow youkai their space in the forest and never spouted nonsense about how all youkai should be dealt with once and for all, but at the same time, she had no sympathy, or even empathy, for them.”

 

Curling her right hand into a fist and lightly punching it into her left hand, her eyes narrowing, Sango added, “She told me I had no business having Kirara. Actually had the audacity to suggest I let her fashion me a set of subjugation beads for her to wear because, according to Kikyou, youkai are wild animals that cannot be trusted and it’s only a matter of time before Kirara turns on me.”

 

The nekomata curled up in her lap cracked her eyes open at Sango’s rant, tilted her head to glance up at her mistress, and mewed in a way that clearly indicated what she thought of Kikyou’s suggestion, before closing her eyes and settling back down.

 

Putting an arm around his wife’s shoulders for moral support, Miroku met Kagome’s eyes and added, “The last time we had to deal with her, she was called in to help us with a massive snake-youkai that’d apparently escaped from someone who’d secretly had it in captivity. I suspect today’s situation with the bear-youkai will turn out to be similar once the investigation is complete, but at any rate, this snake was about as big around as a Kirara’s torso in her battle form and as long as three city buses.”

 

“I remember that,” Kagome acknowledged with a nod.

 

That incident had happened back when she was seventeen, a year before she’d moved out of the shrine, and she’d actually wanted to go help before her mother had explained that as a civilian, and an underage teenager to boot, they would not have let her assist them. There was a time and a place for citizens to volunteer and be heroes in such dire situations, but if Kagome had gone charging in there without permission it would have split their resources, as some of the people trying to combat the snake would have needed to be diverted in an effort to protect her.

 

“The miko...Kikyou is her name?...showed up and just up and purified the snake,” Kagome recalled. “The news called her a hero, but I always felt sorry for the snake. It seemed to me like it’d just been lost and scared and trying to find its way to the wild.”

 

“Us too,” Miroku acknowledged. “We’d been attempting to subdue it when she’d arrived on the scene, took one look at it thrashing all about, took out an arrow, and shot it.”

 

“I was worried you might have handled the kuma the same way,” Sango admitted.

 

“Keh, you definitely don’t gotta worry ‘bout that with Kagome,” Inuyasha chimed in then, crossing his arms again but in a more relaxed posture, and Sango’s smile widened.

 

“I know that now,” the taijiya said, “and I just want to go ahead and assure you both that you have nothing to worry about, either.”

 

Glancing Miroku’s way, he smiled and nodded at his wife, so she nodded back and then met Kagome and Inuyasha’s eyes again.

 

“While technically, Kagome, you should be guilty of owning an unlicensed youkai, just like the guy who’d owned that snake, Miroku and I don’t believe it’s fair that the law regards hanyou in the same light as youkai such as my nekomata Kirara. But speaking of Kirara, it is legal to own certain species of youkai if they’re registered, and as you’ve already pointed out, Inuyasha’s youkai half does not come from an inherently violent species that, in that case, would be illegal to own under any circumstance, if his species were on the banned list.”

 

Not wanting to continue to talk about Inuyasha as if he were merely an animal, especially since he was right there in the room with them, she then addressed the hanyou directly as the person she honestly did know he really was, regardless of what the law said.

 

“So I have a suggestion, Inuyasha, that if you’re willing, would be the perfect solution for your situation.”

 

Intrigued, and only mildly suspicious, he asked, “Oh yeah? What?”

 

“Kagome could register you as her official service youkai, just as I have Kirara. And for the record, I know Kirara is a lot more intelligent than a mortal cat.”

 

Kirara opened her eyes again and meowed a couple of times at that, which earned a chuckle from everyone in the room.

 

“While as far as the Spiritual Forces is concerned, I’m here handler,” Sango added as she glanced down at the neko in her lap with a fond smile, “I think of her as my partner in battle. She’s not kept in any sort of cage, she lives with me freely as my pet cat, and she usually stays in her kitten form when we’re not fighting a youkai, but she’s with me of her own free will. She was bred for the job, trained for it, but there’s no spell binding her to me, no tracking chip under her skin. She could run away, fly off to live freely in the woods, and nobody could or would stop her. She likes her life, and so I can completely understand why you also like your life and don’t want to give it up.”

 

Meeting Inuyasha’s eyes again as she said that last part, the hanyou nodded at her, his expression relaxed and thoughtful. One whiff of her scent had told him she was being completely sincere. Sango continued then.

 

“As Kagome’s service youkai you would no longer need to stay a secret, with the fear that someone like us...” she gestured between herself and her husband, “...would try to ‘exorcize’ you from the house if they discovered your presence.”

 

“The Spiritual Forces would know you’re here,” Miroku elaborated, “and Kagome would be allowed to have you. The only thing is...”

 

“You would be expected to accompany her on any future calls and assist us in the battle,” Sango concluded.

 

What she and Miroku were worried might be a deal breaker for the hanyou they honestly knew nothing about – aside from the fact that he’d lived a pampered, sheltered life before then being reduced to playing ghost to save his home – actually had Inuyasha’s eyes widening in surprised delight before he replied with an eager, “Really? I’d be allowed to help her fight youkai?”

 

Glancing at Kagome for a moment, the look in his eyes as they smiled at each other causing Sango and Miroku to both silently wonder just how close the two of them really were – although they knew it was none of their business – Inuyasha then turned back their way and said, “I’ll need proper training, but I want to learn.”

 

Chuckling a little, he added, “I already know how to control my youki, as you’re well aware.”

 

Sango and Miroku both chuckled as well at that.

 

“The one thing that bothered me about Kagome doing this miko gig is that she’s putting herself in danger and I wasn’t allowed to protect her, even though I know she’s tough and can take care of herself. I’m inu, and I’m loyal to Kagome like I said. I can’t help it. That wasn’t just a line, it’s the truth. Which means my instincts want to protect her, and if there’s a way I’d actually be allowed to come along, to be by her side and fight with her, I want to do it. That doing this will also protect me, in that we don’t have to keep my being here a secret any longer...how can I say no?”

 

He looked at Kagome again. “I don’t care if the world sees me as your inugami, or even your pet. If we do this the world can see me, and that’s all that matters.”

 

“I wouldn’t report you to my father,” Sango reassured them both then. “If you decided not to do this, Miroku and I would keep your secret.” The monk nodded his agreement. “But it would still be a secret, one that might still be discovered one day, and as you’ve pointed out, Inuyasha, if you don’t do this then you’re not allowed to protect Kagome in battle.”

 

“I never even considered this option, but you make such a wonderful point,” Kagome finally spoke up then. She glanced up at Inuyasha, who grinned again and nodded when he looked her way.

 

She then met Sango’s eyes again and eagerly asked, “So how do I register him?”

 

oooooooooooooooooooo

 

Inuyasha was a nervous wreck going into to city to their county’s local Spiritual Forces headquarters with Kagome the following day, but when she’d gone in herself to register him a little over an hour ago, and on the form for what species he was she’d put inu-hanyou, she’d been told Inuyasha had to pass ‘inspection’ before the application would be approved. At first the inspector had said they could make an appointment for him to come to their house in a few days, but Kagome had wanted to get Inuyasha registered as soon as possible, so that’s when the inspector had suggested just bringing the hanyou in, instead.

 

Agreeing, Kagome had gone straight home, told Inuyasha what both the registration office and the inspector had said, and feeling the same sense of urgency as Kagome he had, albeit reluctantly, agreed to go with her into the city. Inuyasha wished he could have enjoyed his first ever car ride as a hanyou, his first ever time out in the human world as a hanyou, in broad daylight, but given the reason for this excursion into the city he just couldn’t relax, and Kagome couldn’t say she blamed him.

 

It made sense that the inspector would want to meet him first. Even though the law books considered hanyou the same as youkai, and all youkai – including the humanoid ones, even elementals – were considered just barely above animals, everyone understood that in real life hanyou were mentally equal to humans. So under the guise of a ‘physical inspection’ he probably actually wanted to assess whether or not Inuyasha could be trusted, although with Sango and Miroku both already vouching for him the inspector was probably more curious than wary.

 

Inuyasha would be the first hanyou ever registered with them, after all, and while there were no provisions in the rules that excluded hanyou, or even daiyoukai for that matter, so they had no basis for rejecting him, most people had never met a hanyou, and so the inspector probably just wanted this opportunity to see one in person.

 

Arriving at the tall, multi-story building, Inuyasha was relieved he felt no purifying barriers surrounding the place like holy shrine grounds. That made sense, he belatedly realized, because service youkai had to be capable of entering the building if need be, after all. With Kagome dressed in her full miko regalia, he in his demonic fire-rat robes, they got out of her car and, with Inuyasha trying his best to walk behind her with confidence, his head held high despite feeling like he just wanted to curl up into a ball and hide, they headed purposefully into the building as if they belonged there...because they did.

 

Several people milling about stopped and stared at Inuyasha as he and the miko walked through the main lobby to the elevators, but nobody was giving them any disapproving looks. They were just surprised and curious. It was clear the hanyou was there with Kagome, after all, so nobody freaked out.

 

Heading up to the floor where the youkai inspector’s office was, Kagome led the way down the hall and to the correct door before knocking.

 

“Come in,” Akio said, looking up at his door eagerly because although he had no spiritual senses it was just a little over an hour since that miko had said she’d bring her inu-hanyou in for inspection.

 

When the door opened he was not disappointed.

 

The miko entered first, followed by the most magnificent specimen he’d ever seen.

 

“Come in, come in! Please, have a seat...both of you,” he said, belatedly adding that last part, as he gestured to the two chairs on the other side of his desk.

 

With Kagome and Inuyasha both having a seat across from the inspector, the ‘interview’ was short and to the point. The inspector, Akio, surprised Inuyasha by speaking to him directly, introducing himself before he began asking him questions, and he encouraged Inuyasha to ask him questions in return. Kagome had been right, he’d simply wanted to meet the hanyou, but it was to make sure that his loyalties were squarely where they should be. Inuyasha was surprised and impressed, though, that the inspector spoke to him so respectfully, and readily acknowledged his intelligence.

 

“While you’re a different species from us, and I understand why hanyou are considered youkai despite being half human, there are many species of youkai with the mental capacity of a human, some even possessing the ability to create perfect human disguises. Thinking of them as unintelligent animals would make us the unintelligent ones,” he said with a laugh. “But tricksters such as kitsune and tanuki have no true love for humans, most daiyoukai even less so, and we would be leery of letting one join our ranks, although no there’s no rule against it. You, though,” Akio explained, “have true grounds for feeling loyalty towards mankind, and I feel I have no reason to mistrust you when you’ve already earned the respect of a powerful miko, not to mention one of our tajiya and one of our houshi also vouching for you and Miss Higurashi.”

 

“After being raised by my human mother, brought up in secret like a human child and living with her her whole life until she died of old age, and then being rejected and even attacked by various youkai in the forest when I tried to join who I thought were ‘my people’ after her death, my loyalty is definitely towards mankind,” Inuyasha explained.

 

He purposefully kept the details vague – not everyone needed to know about the whole Kagome buying the ‘old Takahashi place’ thing, after all – but feeling like he needed to say more he added, “When I first met Kagome, she spoke to me like I was a person. She even offered me food when she realized I was hungry, and I...well, I’ve just gotten to know her, and you’re right, we are a different species. I am inu, and that side of me, my inu-youkai side, it’s loyal to Kagome. I’m hers. She’s tamed a stray and now, I want nothing more than to be hers legally, so that I can protect her in battle the way my inu-youkai instincts long to do. I’m a dog, and she’s my human.”

 

Akio nodded, before smirking.

 

“You and I both know you’re more than just a talking dog, but yes, as far as society is concerned that’s what you are,” he said then.

 

Inuyasha actually shrugged.

 

“I’m only really human during my monthly transformations. The rest of the time I do have inu instincts and it would be stupid to ignore or deny that.”

 

“And you only transform once a month, is that correct?” Akio asked then.

 

Inuyasha knew they’d obviously need to know this information. He couldn’t be expected to show up to the rescue when he was human, after all. So nodding, Inuyasha told Akio that his human nights were the night of the new moon.

 

“Your daiyoukai father had to have been very powerful,” Akio observed, then, since the more powerful the youki flowing through a hanyou, the less often they turned human.

 

“I’ve never met him, but apparently, yes he was,” Inuyasha said.

 

“And if your father should suddenly show up, or other members of your inu side of the family? Would that have an effect on your loyalty?”

 

Inuyasha squared his shoulders.

 

“They know where I am. They’ve never tried to contact me. Even if someone from my youkai side of the family were the attacking youkai Kagome and I were called in to fight, that wouldn’t affect my loyalty.”

 

Akio was surprised by the amount of sincerity in the hanyou’s voice, and the animosity he seemed to feel for his youkai family. Not that he supposed he could blame him, when he thought about it, since they’d obviously abandoned him. He noted that Kagome seemed unsurprised by Inuyasha’s remarks.

 

Akio addressed Kagome, then.

 

“Kagome,” he began, because during her earlier visit she’d already told Akio to just call her Kagome, which was why they were on a first name basis with him as well. “I release Inuyasha into your care. Permission to register him as yours is granted.”

 

Hanyou and miko both mentally sighed in relief at his words.

 

“He’s passed my inspection and I’ll give you the paperwork registration needs to add him to your file. He is your responsibility, and should he cause any harm or destruction you will be held liable, not that I get the impression you have anything to worry about.” Akio smiled as he said it.

 

“I would never do anything wrong, sir,” Inuyasha chimed in without hesitation, the look in his eyes sincere. “I want only to be able to legally accompany Kagome on the hopefully rare times her services as a warrior miko are required, so that I can protect her, and everyone else, doing my part to defend our hometown from rogue youkai who wish humans harm.”

 

“That’s what we like to hear,” Akio said. “Well, or at least it would be, if any of our other registered service youkai could talk,” he added with a bit of an awkward laugh, before offering his hand across the desk for Inuyasha to shake.

 

Surprised, and a bit hesitant, Inuyasha discreetly scented the man and could detect his sincerity. He shook his hand.

 

“Welcome to the Spiritual Forces.”

 

Leaving Akio’s office with paperwork showing Inuyasha had cleared inspection, Kagome, with ’her’ hanyou in tow, made a trip back down to the registration office. Again they got looks from everyone as they passed, but again nobody seemed afraid of Inuyasha because they knew he was obviously there with the miko. The registration clerk had no issue with his presence as he sat quietly in one of the chairs in the small waiting area while Kagome went up to the desk, and this time they approved her registration of him, filing the proper forms and printing Kagome out a small card she was told to keep handy because it was her immediate proof that he was registered should anyone ask while they were out and about.

 

With all that taken care of, Kagome asked Inuyasha if he’d like to do anything else while they were out in the city, but the whole being a legally registered youkai thing was going to take a bit of getting used to so he just asked her to take him home. He conceded to her swinging through a fast food place for lunch, though. Looking out the rolled up window – because the scents of the city were a bit overwhelming – he couldn’t help feeling self-conscious from all the people who stared at him in surprise if they noticed him sitting in the passenger seat, but knowing that Kagome couldn’t get in trouble for having him with her was a huge load off his mind. Let them stare, he supposed. They weren’t doing anything wrong.

 

“Halloween will be here before we know it,” Kagome spoke up suddenly, while they were still waiting in line at the drive through.

 

With his ears automatically swiveling in her direction, the rest of his head following suit as he turned to look at her, he wasn’t quite sure if he should be excited by, or afraid of, the smile she was giving him.

 

“And…?”

 

“And let’s just say, I’d already been toying around with an idea that I’d been afraid was probably a very bad idea, and so I probably wouldn’t have wanted to risk actually going through with it before, but now...now that you’re legal, and I’m allowed to take you out into public with me, I think it’s a fabulous idea.”

 

Inuyasha still wasn’t sure if he should be excited or afraid.