InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Purity ❯ Camping ( Chapter 18 )

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

Eri giggled and pulled on Kagome's arm as the two fell behind Ayumi and Yuka. The path was barely wide enough for one. But Eri insisted on making Kagome lag behind as she turned to face her with a calculating look.

"What?"

"What's going on between you and Izayoi-sensei?"

Kagome flushed. "I don't know what you're talking about," Kagome remarked innocently.

"You're a terrible liar, Kagome-chan."

"Nothing's going on," she insisted again.

As though to thwart her statement, the aforementioned Izayoi-sensei stepped up behind them. He was carrying a very large pack with most of the supplies for their camping trip, and he stared at the girls with a raised eyebrow. "Something wrong, girls?" he asked pointedly as he reshouldered his burden.

Kagome forced a smile and grabbed Eri's arm to hurry her forward. "Nothing at all, Izayoi-sensei," she called back over her shoulder.

"Why are you blushing?" Eri pressed.

Kagome felt her cheeks warm even more. "I'm not."

Eri's look was telling.

They were on a class trip, camping out for the next three days. That they were using InuYasha's forest was interesting. He had apparently volunteered to chaperone, along with Kissune-sensei and Inutaisho-sensei.

"Hey, Kagome-chan. How's my woman today?"

Kagome stifled grimace and shot Houjou a dark look. "I'm fine, and I'm not your woman," she replied evenly.

He chuckled softly and draped his arm around Kagome's neck. "You don't have to play hard to get. You know how I feel about you."

Shrugging off his arm, she counted to twenty-five before she dared to speak. "I'm sorry, Houjou-kun. I'm not interested."

Houjou's eyes narrowed as he stopped and grabbed Kagome's wrist, pulling her around to face him. She stared back in defiance but didn't speak. Finally, Houjou nodded, as though he understood. "It's that guy, isn't it?" he demanded, jerking his head once in InuYasha's direction. Kagome's eyes shifted to the side and then back again. "You've got a crush on Izayoi."

Kagome didn't answer. Yanking away from his grasp, she turned and stomped ahead to catch up with her friends.

Houjou. She growled low and then sighed. Why couldn't he get it through his thick head, that she just wasn't interested in him? It didn't matter, what her feelings were for InuYasha. In the end, she just didn't want to be with Houjou. He needed to accept that.

"Hurry up, Kagome. You'll be left behind."

Kagome jumped and snapped her head to the side. InuYasha had fallen in step beside her. He shot her a sidelong glance and grinned as a little more color filtered into her cheeks. Her free hand lifted to flutter over her heart. His amusement escalated, and his grin widened.

His gaze caught her backpack, and he shook his head slowly. "Did you leave anything at home?"

Her chin proudly raised a notch. "You never know what you'll need when you're camping," she replied stiffly. "And I only brought stuff on the list."

InuYasha snorted as he jerked Kagome's backpack off of her shoulder and slung it over his own, adding the extra weight as though it didn't matter in the least.

Kagome reached over to take the bag back. InuYasha turned enough to sidestep her attempt. "I can manage," she pointed out as she tried again to reclaim the backpack.

He didn't answer, deliberately ignoring her protests as he moved on. Kagome fell into step beside him as Eri giggled softly. Kagome ignored her friend as she sped up to walk beside InuYasha again. She felt flustered by all of the curious attention everyone was paying, and she said softly, "It's okay InuYasha, I can carry it."

"So can I," he remarked lightly. "It's amazing you can even move under this monstrosity."

"Everyone's looking at us," she tried again.

Her statement didn't seem to faze him in the least.  "They wouldn't be if you weren't making an issue out of it."

Her mouth fell open, and she shot him a chagrined look that he summarily ignored. "I'm not making an issue out of anything! I only said—"

"—That you can carry this yourself.  I know. Now will you drop it because I'm not giving it back."

Kagome stifled a sigh. InuYasha was much too stubborn for his own good. Eri's giggle escalated.

By the time they reached the clearing, nearly all of her classmates had stopped to shoot her questioning glances. Kagome was sure that her skin would remain permanently flushed. Mercifully, InuYasha let her bag drop from his shoulder. As he walked away, he stared back at her.

Kagome boldly accepted the silent challenge. She wasn't sure why, but she couldn't let him win.

After a moment, he turned away—though not before she noticed the way his eyes had taken on an amused sparkle. His soft chuckle drifted back to her. He sounded confident, victorious. Even though he had broken the eye contact first, she had a distinct feeling he had won that battle.

Ayumi squealed and grabbed Kagome's arm. Her other two friends huddled closer. "What was that look about?" Yuka asked, her eyebrows rising in speculation.

"I knew it!" Eri hissed in an attempt to keep her voice down. "There is something going on between you two!"

"Don't be ridiculous!" Kagome snapped a little too loudly. "He's our teacher! That's all."

She didn't miss the knowing looks that passed between her friends. Kagome stifled the urge to protest. If she did, they'd think there definitely was something going on.

It was true, wasn't it? He was only her teacher. She had to be imagining things that weren't really there. She shifted her eyes to InuYasha, and saw that his interest had not waned. As though he could feel her gaze, he slowly offered her a visceral smile that barely touched his lips, but lit his golden eyes with such emotion that it wrapped around her more tightly than a firm embrace.

The strange undercurrent in his gaze unsettled her. Kagome could feel the effects of his stare rifle through her with the force of the emotion that she didn't understand. She knew what it was. She heard from other girls' hushed conversations, this flood of sentiment that tugged at her, and she knew what it meant. She wanted him. But she shouldn't want him, not like that. He was her teacher, she reminded herself again. To him, she was just a girl whose mother paid him to teach her how to defend herself.

His smile widened slightly, as though he could read her mind. Was he toying with her? Or were these things she sensed from him as real as she hoped they were?

Kagome swallowed hard and spun away as she snatched up her backpack and sank down to rummage around for something to distract her wildly beating heart. "You're blushing, Kagome," InuYasha rumbled in her ear, his tone low, almost a whisper. It rippled over her with a ferocious tenacity that destroyed her defenses before she could raise them. She gasped in surprise and fell backward as she watched him straighten his back and swagger away. She hadn't heard him sneak up behind her. Maybe it wasn't her imagination after all.

It took a few minutes for Kagome to get her heartbeat back to normal. She dragged out the small jug she brought for water and headed off in the direction of the stream. "Kagome-chan! You've got to help!" Eri complained as she watched Kagome's retreat.

Kagome waved a hand over her shoulder in reply. "I'm going to get some water. Then I'll help."

Her reflection in the water startled her. She was oddly flushed, feverish, and her eyes were wild. She filled the jug and then splashed her face, appreciating the cool water on her overheated skin.

After drying her face on the hem of her shirt, Kagome spared a moment to stare idly over the dancing surface of the stream. It was peaceful, calm.

Reluctant to leave the serenity of the flowing water behind, Kagome sighed and turned back toward the camp. Her classmates were talking and laughing, and if she didn't want to sleep on the cold, hard ground, she'd better get a move on it. They were supposed to be setting up their tents.

Despite almost perverse resolve not to look for InuYasha, Kagome couldn't help herself as she scanned the area. She didn't have to look far to find him. Leaning to the side with Kissune-sensei with his arms crossed over his chest, Kagome felt a deliciously heady shiver race down her spine at the sight of the sinewy muscles that rippled under his skin.

Memories of the night he'd chased her, of his body on hers, washed over her. Immediate color flooded her skin. The feelings that assailed her were the same as the ones that had taken over her body that night. `How does he do that? He's not even close to me right now!'

Something about him drew her, captured her. Trapped like a deer in the headlights, Kagome couldn't look away. She kept her feet moving but didn't notice where she was stepping—until a stabbing pain ripped up her leg. She didn't realize that she'd stumbled. But she found herself sitting on the ground gripping her ankle and moaning softly as she struggled to keep herself from crying. Holding her breath, Kagome rubbed furiously at the offending appendage.

"Kagome? Are you okay?"

She stifled a groan as InuYasha knelt down beside her. He carefully pulled her foot into his lap and removed her shoe and sock to survey the damage.

Kissune-sensei hunkered down beside InuYasha. He made a face at the already-mottling flesh. "Kami, Higurashi-kun. You certainly did a number on your ankle, didn't you?"

InuYasha shot the other teacher a dark look, and Kagome's mouth fell open when he reached over and thumped his fist into Kissune-sensei's head.

A fleeting glimpse of another time and place flashed through Kagome's mind. A crimson blur and a small, furry-looking human . . . The tiny one—a kitsune?—wailed pitifully as a huge lump welled on his skull . . . The image faded, and Kagome frowned. What was that?

Before she could question the thought further, she yelped as InuYasha squeezed her ankle. Though he had done so gently enough, the pressure had hurt just the same.

"Do you wish to go home?" Inutaisho-sensei asked as she leaned over InuYasha's shoulder to assess the injury for herself.

Kagome blinked back the few tears that had formed behind her eyelids because of InuYasha's inspection. "No, I'm fine."

"You're not fine, stupid girl," InuYasha growled as he stared at her ankle. She flinched as he turned it gently.

"I've got a first-aid kit in my backpack," she replied, biting back the slight nausea that threatened.

"I'll get it," Kissune-sensei replied. Kagome pointed at her huge bag. The teacher nodded and hurried over to get it.

"Kagome, what happened?" Houjou asked as he knelt beside her. He wasn't looking at her face, though. Instead, he was staring at InuYasha, who was still feeling around the injury, seemingly oblivious to Houjou's presence. She hissed as he found an extra tender spot and his hand jerked back slightly. Houjou's stare turned into a glower. "Get your hands off of her!"

InuYasha shot Houjou a cursory glance. "Back off," he retorted as he turned his attention back to the swollen ankle and reached for the bag. He gently set Kagome's leg aside and stood. Houjou didn't back down.

"Did you do something to her?" Houjou demanded.

"Are you really that stupid?"

"We all know you're unnaturally concerned about Kagome," Houjou pointed out. "We've all seen it."

InuYasha advanced slowly, hands clenched in tight fists at his sides. He gritted his teeth together. Kagome heard them scrape. "What, exactly, are you implying?"

"Guilty conscience, Izayoi-sensei?"

"InuYasha! Houjou-kun! Cut it out, will you?" Inutaisho-sensei cut in. The men slowly backed away from each other.

Kagome rolled her eyes and sighed. Leave it to those two to get into a testosterone war while she was in pain . . .