InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Purity 3: Forever ❯ October Flowers ( Chapter 10 )

~~Chapter 10~~

~October Flowers~

 

Ryomaru stopped in the small clearing and stooped down to let Nezumi slide off his back.

 

It had taken nearly ten minutes of cajoling and persuading and general coercion to get her to let him carry her, in the first place. Once he leapt onto her apartment building, taking to the higher paths of the city, she lost her initial reticence and had even laughed out loud while he made his way to his father's forest.

 

“That has to be the weirdest way to travel,” she commented as she stepped back.

 

He glanced over his shoulder. “You think so?” His words trailed off as he watched her. Nezumi's eyes were sparkling, the color matching that of the October sky above. She was still smiling. Gazing around at the clearing, she looked happier than she had in days, and for that alone, he was thankful.

 

“Sure, piggy back rides are one thing, but that was just not the same.”

 

Shaking his head as he forced his gaze away, Ryomaru wandered toward the small spring on the other side of the clearing to retrieve the old leather bag he'd borrowed from Grandma. She'd packed a huge lunch, and he took his time spreading the thin blanket she'd tucked neatly on top of the food. “The old man used to carry Mother around like that all the time.”

 

Nezumi crossed her arms over her chest as she ambled over to him. He gestured at the blanket, and she sat. He hunkered down beside her before digging into the bag once more and handing Nezumi a foil-wrapped packet. “I have no idea what Grandma made,” he told her as she took it. “Nez . . . we need to talk.”

 

Her body stiffened as she turned her head to stare across the clearing.

 

“Don't do that,” he said, his voice gentle. He knew the signs when she shut herself off. He'd seen her do it far too often in the past. She didn't like to talk about her dead mother, either. When he'd asked about her before, she always did the same thing. She would look away, pretend she didn't hear him. She'd change the subject or ignore him until he gave up. `Not this time, Nez . . . I'm sorry.'

 

“What are you talking about?” she countered, tone even though she still refused to meet his gaze.

 

“You know what. Don't bullshit me.”

 

“What is this place? I thought we'd been all over this forest.”

 

Ryomaru sighed as he slowly shook his head. She was determined to avoid the subject he wanted to talk about. He let her have her way---for now. “It's mine.”

 

“Oh . . .”

 

“Would you believe me if I said that you---that night with you---I hadn't . . .” he trailed off with an inward wince. `Kami, I sound stupid . . . There's no way she's going to believe this.'

 

Her eyes frosted over as her icy gaze shifted to lock on him, her disbelief painfully obvious. “Ryo---”

 

“I'm not so good at this,” he cut in as he stared at the wash of colors in the autumn leaves. “Cut me some slack. Youkai---hanyous---can do stuff. We just have to stop before it goes too far. Oral sex is one thing. What we did . . . that's different.”

 

She shook her head as the foil food packet slipped from her fingers. “That doesn't really make me feel better, Ryo.”

 

“If I could change it, don't you think I would?”

 

Her cheeks reddened, and she shot to her feet. Ryomaru hopped up and chased after her, catching her hand and swinging her around to face him again. “I mean . . . there's more to it, and I should have explained it all first. I should have given you the choice, and I didn't.”

 

“What choice?”

 

“The choice of whether or not you really wanted to be with me, to be my mate.” She looked stunned at his words, as though she was finally starting to believe him. He wasn't sure what she was thinking. It was enough that she was listening to him. “Nez? Would it have made a difference to you?”

 

Biting her lip, she lowered her chin, staring at the ground as she slowly shook her head. She didn't answer right away.

 

`What are you thinking, baka? Of course it would have made a difference. It'd have to, wouldn't it?'

 

Letting go of her arm, he turned away. The clear sky seemed so contradictory to the turbulent emotion that shot through him. Struck once more by the girl he thought he knew so well, he had to wonder how he could have screwed everything up quite so badly.

 

“If I could change what happened . . .” he muttered, knowing she could hear him, “but I can't. Would you let me fix it now?”

 

When she still didn't answer, Ryomaru sighed, swallowed hard when a strange thickness swelled in his throat. `Don't be stupid! She doesn't want you for a mate, you baka, and really, do you blame her?' His eyes burned, and he blinked quickly. “Never mind. It was a stupid idea, huh?”

 

“Yeah,” she agreed, her voice low, husky. “Really . . . stupid.”

 

He sighed and nodded, pushing aside the sense of disappointment inspired by her easy acquiescence. “Come on. Grandma will be offended if you don't eat the food she made.”

 

 

-=-0-=-0-=-0-=-0-=-0-=-

 

 

Nezumi wasn't sure how she managed to choke down the food Ryomaru gave her. She didn't taste anything. She could barely swallow. She didn't pay attention as he pulled a bottle of sake out of the bag and proceeded to drink straight from it. He tapped her arm with the bottle. She took it and grimaced as she swallowed a gulp of the liquor. It didn't occur to her to ask if he had any cups in the bag. Nothing really occurred to her at all.

 

“You, uh, probably don't want to hear this,” Ryomaru said as he packed the leftovers.

 

She didn't answer as she slowly turned to face him.

 

He took his time zipping the bag and adjusting the flap. “There's more to the mating than what we did.”

 

“Like what?” she forced herself to ask. “Not saying I believe you or anything.”

 

He cleared his throat as his ears twitched, rotating like little radars atop his head. “Well, you're human, and I . . . I'll live a long time.” With a slight wince, he paused as though he were trying to gather his thoughts. “There's a ritual. It'll extend your life and mark you as . . . as mine.”

 

Her eyebrows rose, and she stared at him, unsure what to think of his latest confession.

 

“Kich can do it.”

 

She wasn't sure why, but Ryomaru's assertion that Kichiro would have anything at all to do with this `ritual' struck her as humorous, and she burst out laughing. In fact, the more she thought about the idea of Kichiro helping them, the funnier the idea became. It was obviously not the reaction that Ryomaru was expecting, and he narrowed his eyes as he stared at her. “Why are you laughing?”

 

“Have you---lost your---mind?” she gasped, wiping tears off her cheeks. “That's the---most insane---thing you've ever---said!”

 

“I'm serious!” he insisted, his cheeks reddening indignantly.

 

“Yeah,” she agreed as she doubled over in laughter. “I'm sure you are.”

 

“No, I am! Can you stop laughing, wench?”

 

It took nearly five minutes for Nezumi to stop laughing. By the time she was finished, her stomach ached terribly, and she wrapped one arm over it, leaning back on the other. “Okay,” she told him as she cleared her throat and schooled her features. “Let's hear it.”

 

He snorted. “Feh! It's a simple process. Used to be a big deal. The youkai mate had to find the spot to be marked and cut open the human to drain off most of the blood.”

 

He was staring at the spring and missed the look of absolute panic that surfaced on her face as the color leeched from her skin, as she lifted a slightly shaking hand to press against her suddenly-parched lips. “B-blood?”

 

He nodded. “Yeah, but it's not a bad thing anymore. Toga and Sierra did it first. All Kich'll do is drain most of your blood and then infuse mine into you.”

 

“Sure,” she agreed, her voice rising in pitch as she laughed nervously. “No big deal, right? Just drain my blood? Almost all my blood, right? No problem! Piece of cake! I'm sure that I won't even notice! Heh . . . isn't there a lot of blood in the human body? I think I remember from school that there is. Isn't the body made up of a lot of fluid? So it'd stand to reason that it'd be mostly blood since blood is a fluid, and---”

 

She hadn't noticed that Ryomaru had leaned in closer. Too distracted by the thought of her blood being drained out of her body, she didn't see the slight smile on his face just moments before his lips pressed against hers, silencing her chatter as she abruptly forgot exactly what had been worrying her.

 

The feel of his mouth evoked a weakening in her limbs as her thoughts spun away. Tender and coaxing, there was something completely innocent about his kiss, something that tugged at her heart and comforted her upset. A strange familiarity closed around her, unsettling her as it whispered to her that she was safe, protected. His thumb stroked her cheek as his other hand held hers pressed against his chest, and she could feel the hammering of his heart.

 

As though he understood her reluctance, he didn't push for more. Lips gently caressing hers, he didn't seek to deepen the kiss, content to let her feel, to savor, to acclimate herself to him. The crisp autumn breeze skimmed over her flushed cheeks, contradicted the warmth of his mouth. He goaded her gently, teased her with the brush of his fangs, with the balm of his breath misting her lips. She shivered, and he pulled her closer.

 

He pulled back and leaned his forehead against hers. With a shaky chuckle, he shook his head, drew a ragged breath as his heart thumped wildly against her hand. “That was . . . nice.”

 

Nezumi didn't know if she trusted her voice. Her body was still in shock; her mind was still jumbled. Being this close to him wasn't good for her equilibrium. In the end, she could only nod.

 

“Do you like it? Out here, I mean?”

 

Nezumi frowned as she finally dared to look at him. He was staring at her, searching her expression for something though she wasn't sure what. “It's peaceful,” she agreed cautiously, unsure what sort of answer he wanted.

 

“I, uh . . .” he trailed off then drew a deep breath as he let go of her hand and sat back. “I could build a house here. It'd be a nice place, you know?”

 

A sense of foreboding crept up her spine, and she slowly nodded. “You'd like it, right? I'm surprised you didn't build here already.” The wind whipped her hair over her shoulder. She toyed with the end of her ponytail as she struggled for a detachment she didn't really feel. “Your women would really love it.”

 

She heard him suck in a sharp breath as her cheeks exploded in crimson color. She really hadn't meant to say that. Or had she?

 

“All right,” he agreed after a moment, his voice tight, even, controlled. “I deserved that.”

 

“No, you didn't. I don't know what I was thinking.”

 

He stood up and strode away. Nezumi lifted her gaze without moving her head. Peeking up through the black fringe of her eyelashes, she watched him walk away. The memory of his kiss flooded over her, and she closed her eyes and sighed.

 

`You did that on purpose, Nez. You want that distance, don't you?'

 

`I don't want it . . . but I might need it.'

 

`Why can't you take him at face value? You always have before, and despite everything, you know in your heart. Ryomaru doesn't lie.'

 

Nezumi winced. Yeah, she knew that. She knew his faults. They'd been friends too long for her not to know them. She also knew that Ryomaru wasn't a liar. If anything, he was a little too honest . . . at least, he was with her.

 

She sighed again, hugging her legs against her chest, dropping her chin on her raised knees. She'd been invisible to him for far, far too long to believe him that he could suddenly, miraculously, see her as anything but the tag along tomboy; like she was nothing more than a pair of sneakers that were too comfortable to throw away.

 

`That's not really true, is it? If it were true, why's he trying so hard?'

 

Nezumi's frown darkened. Why was he trying so hard? She'd never known him to go to that much trouble about any of his previous girlfriends. Then again, none of them were one of his best friends, either. `Ryo's always hated for me to be mad at him, remember? He pretty much parked outside Papa's house the one time we did fight.'

 

She'd almost forgotten that fight; it had been so long ago. They'd both been in their last year of school. Gin had been fourteen and had been asked to a school dance. Ryomaru and Kichiro had been up in arms over it, threatening to beat the boy up so he couldn't take her to it. Nezumi had stood up for Gin, and Ryomaru had seen it as Nezumi's defection from the twins' war camp. In the argument that followed, Ryomaru had stated that Nezumi was insane; Nezumi had declared that Ryomaru was an idiot jerk who really shouldn't be casting stones since he was a bigger man-whore than his baby sister could ever hope to be. Kichiro---the ass---had sat back and laughed.

 

Ryomaru had pestered her for over a week to get her to forgive him. She'd held out for a torque wrench set she'd been eyeing at the hardware store.

 

Snapping out of her memories, she frowned as her gaze wandered back to Ryomaru. He hadn't left the clearing, and she sighed as she pushed herself to her feet. Squaring her shoulders, she lifted her chin and strode toward him.

 

 

-=-0-=-0-=-0-=-0-=-0-=-

 

 

`What'd you really think she was going to say? If you thought she was going to say, `Sure, Ryo, build me that house,' then you don't know her as well as you thought you did.'

 

Why couldn't she be normal? He knew how to deal with normal women, right? He'd been dealing with them for years. Why did he have to mate the most unnatural woman in all of Japan? Hell, probably in the entire world?

 

Nezumi never reacted the way he thought she would. She never had. `You'd think by now I could interpret what she was going to say or do, wouldn't you?' He shook his head and jammed his hands into his pockets as he quickened his step through the tall grass. `You'd think so, anyway.'

 

But she liked being kissed. He knew she did. It had occurred to him that he could have swayed her. She hadn't protested in the least. A subtle warning had stopped him. A voice in his mind had told him that she deserved something more than passion. She needed something a little more substantial than a roll in the grass and a memory. It was a strange voice but one he knew. If he thought about it long enough, he might even remember when he'd first heard it.

 

“Your women would really love it.”

 

He winced at the deadly accuracy of her intentional barb. Was that the real problem?

 

The women he'd gone home with, the ones too easily forgotten, and yet they lingered in her mind, didn't they?

 

`But I always came back to Nez, didn't I? To her house in the middle of the night . . . knocking on her window till she woke up and let me inside; to her apartment . . . Kami, is that why . . . ?'

 

“I didn't mean that,” Nezumi said quietly. So lost in his thoughts, he hadn't sensed her approach. Slowly he turned to face her. She stared at the ground with her arms crossed over her chest as she rocked from one foot to the other. “Well, maybe I did. I just . . .”

 

“It's all right. Don't apologize.”

 

A flutter of orange-red caught his gaze. Ryomaru turned his head, staring in wonder at the two vibrant fall flowers almost hidden in the jumble of fallen leaves. Their beauty struck him. Robust flowers hidden behind a more delicate façade, they reminded him of Nezumi though he couldn't put his finger on why.

 

He knelt down beside the flowers, eyed both carefully. He chose the one with the perfectly shaped leaves, the petals so soft and tender that they quivered when he touched the stem. Using his claw to cut through the reedy stalk, Ryomaru took care not to disturb the petals. He brought the flower to his nose, inhaled the scent as a little smile broke over his features. Turning his head to see her still frowning at her feet, his smile widened, and he held out the blossom.

 

She stared at the flower for several moments. Cautiously untangling her arm, she reached for it, her fingers brushing over his as she accepted the simple offering.

 

He stood up slowly, caught the glimpse she shot him. The expression in her eyes gave him pause, and he blinked quickly, positive that he had read her wrong. She ducked her head to smell the flower but not before he saw it: the cautious hope in her eyes, and whether she wanted to admit it or not, Ryomaru knew the truth. She wanted to be with him. She just needed to be convinced.

 

 

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A/N:

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Rachainu (I know roughly what I want to happen. Most often it only takes an hour or two to get a chapter done. Now the betas may take slightly longer to get them back to me, and for this fic, I'm trying to have every chapter beta'ed.) ::: catt (I'm happy working on this one ATM.) ::: Jasmine Fields ::: OROsan7706 ::: Marina (It is referred to as both. Read up more) ::: Mel ::: Yasha 101 ::: inugrl15 ::: Lisa ::: rain ::: Lady_sttar ::: littleolme ::: Eve Nightingale ::: Alice M ::: CheshireAngel ::: Jaxomruth (Youkai/hanyous are dominant. Their bodies dictate. Their mates' bodies would adapt to THEM not the other way around.) ::: jragoneyes ::: Sess_2005

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Final Thought from Nezumi:

Build me a house?

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Blanket disclaimer for this fanfic (will apply to this and all other chapters in Forever): 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~