InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Purity ❯ Rituals ( Chapter 40 )

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

"InuYasha . . ."

He peeked over from where he stood at the back doors staring out at the overcast skies. Static electricity crackled unseen in the air. InuYasha could feel the storm coming. Feeling altogether energized, restless, he'd wanted to go running through the forest in this. Kagome, however, had looked at him as though he had lost his mind when he'd suggested it before. The excitement was a palpable thing. He reveled in it.

Something had shifted, changed, and as much as it pleased, him, he also felt a strange sense of loss. Somehow Dammit and Kagome had become the best of friends, and InuYasha was the one who was the outsider. Kagome was staring at Dammit, touching the animal's stomach in an unusual way that drew InuYasha's frown. "Something wrong with Dammit?"

She shot him a quick glance and nodded slowly then shook her head. His frown intensified. "Not wrong, exactly . . . She's pregnant though."

InuYasha choked on the sip of water he'd just taken. Kagome eyed him cautiously as he spit and sputtered, wiping his chin with the back of his hand. "What?"

Kagome tried again. "Dammit's pregnant. Very pregnant, it looks like."

"Keh!" he snorted. "She can't be! I'd have noticed . . ." He trailed off. With as preoccupied as he had been recently with the issue of starting his own family, would he have noticed that Dammit was about to have pups of her own? He sighed, knowing the answer. Probably not. He pushed against the doorframe and wandered over to Kagome and Dammit. "So, Kagome-sensei, when's she going to have these pups, then?"

Kagome grinned. "I'm not a doctor, so I couldn't tell you. But she's starting to get pretty big, so I'd say soon?"

She turned her attention back to the dog, tucking her hair behind her ear as she bent over. InuYasha stared in complete fascination at the delicate arc of skin. He reached out with a claw and gently flicked it. She smashed her ear against her shoulder and shot him a teasing look. "That tickles!"

"Does it?" he countered, leaning in closer. One hand shot out to catch her around the waist while the other fought to make her lift her head so that he could get to her ear.

She laughed harder as she leaned over to smash her ear against her shoulder even tighter. "Stop!"

He flicked her earlobe again. She shrieked, immediately trying to shy away from him as his ears flattened against her shrill cry. It didn't work to block the sound. Flick. "Beg for mercy, wench," he remarked.

"Mercy, mercy, mercy!" she giggled.

With an exaggerated sigh, his hands dropped. "You give up too easily, Kagome."

Her eyebrows shot up at the quiet challenge. "Do I? You're no better!" To prove her point, Kagome rose up on her knees and grabbed InuYasha's ear. He knew what she had planned. He tried to scoot away from her. She lunged at him, straddling his chest as she pinned his arms under her knees. She leaned forward, grasping his ear in one hand and lightly running her finger along the fine hairs inside.

He shivered, he whimpered, he whined. Kagome didn't stop. "Kagome!"

"Mercy, InuYasha!"

He growled at that. It wasn't in his nature to beg for mercy from anything, and he wasn't about to start now. She shifted her body slightly. InuYasha groaned, but this had nothing to do with his ears and everything to do with how she had him pinned. The smell of her invaded his senses, and he stifled the all-too-real desire to reverse their positions, to make her understand what it was that she did to him so easily. InuYasha made quick work of freeing his arms. Grasping her around the waist, he slid her down as he sat up. She landed in his lap. He was no less disgruntled, especially after catching the bemusement on her face after he'd finished moving her. The air around her crackled with her aura. It invited him, called to him. Did she know?

A tremendous crack of thunder overhead rattled the house and dampened his mood as Kagome flung herself forward against him. Her heart hammered wildly against him. She'd never been overly frightened of storms before though he had noticed more than once that they tended to make her anxious. But he'd heard on the news that this one was supposed to be bigger, apparently the biggest tropical storm to hit Japan in over a hundred years. "You're not scared are you?" he asked, brushing the hair out of her face and turning her chin up to meet his stare.

He saw the conflicting emotions in her eyes. `Yes, she's scared,' he thought with an inward flinch as a bolt of lightning followed by a huge thunder crack sounded off again. But her courage was rising, and Kagome shook her head stubbornly. He had to admire that in her. Admitting fear . . . Well, the Kagome he knew wouldn't.

"Come on; let's find something to take your mind off this, all right?" He started to get up while holding onto Kagome. Then he realized what he had said, the implications of it. He nearly dropped her. "I, uh . . . that's not what I . . . I meant . . ."

She reached up and tenderly rested her hand on his cheek. "It's fine."

He set her down on the sofa and leaned over to look in her eyes, a suspicious light behind his gaze. "Are you all right?"

Kagome sighed and smiled. It didn't reach her eyes. "Do you think the police were right?  That Sesshoumaru was right?  Do you think that Hyou will come after us?"

InuYasha sank down and drew Kagome close. She laid her head against his chest, soothed by his heartbeat. He could feel her relax in his arms. She might be worried that the deviant panther youkai would come after them. But she also had every faith that InuYasha would protect her. "He might. I'll keep you safe if he does."

She sighed again, only this one was a contented sound. "I know. You promised, didn't you?"

He smiled wanly, reveling in the complete trust she showed in him. "I did. I will."

"You gave me your fire rat clothes," she said softly.

InuYasha kissed her forehead. He could feel her resolute belief, her unwavering certainty that he would protect her from anything. He wanted to shelter her, to keep her safe. He would, he vowed again. If the panther youkai came after her again, InuYasha would kill him, no questions asked.

A muffled shriek was forced out of her as another, more ominous crack of thunder sounded over head. Seconds later, the lights flickered out. The calm that had surrounded her moments before was a distant memory, and InuYasha tightened his hold on her. "It's okay, Kagome. Let me see if I can find some candles or something.

"No!" she hissed in a whisper as he started to extricate himself from her grip. Her eyes were wide, wild. Her skin was peaked. But it was the gentle pleading in her voice that made him relent. "Don't leave me here!"

In the dusky light that was left in the room, InuYasha tried to stare at her. He could smell her anxiety. It wasn't actual fear, though that seemed to be close at hand, as well. "All right . . . what about a fire? Would that be better?"

Kagome thought it over then nodded, her hold on his shirt immediately loosening.

He made quick work of that and turned back to face her. She sat on the sofa with her legs folded beneath her as she stared out the window with an unsettling mix of anxiety and horrified fascination in her expression. "You want I should draw the curtains?" he asked mildly.

"Wha—?" She dragged her eyes off the window and forced out a half-laugh. "I'm fine, really! Everything's safe. Nothing can get me in here, right? It's all just as well. Storms don't frighten me. They never have!" She laughed again. "It's stupid to be frightened of something like that, isn't it?"

She was babbling? He grinned to himself. He didn't remember ever hearing her do this. But she was talking a mile a minute, and if he didn't do something quickly to redirect her thoughts, then she'd probably continue to do it. Slowly, deliberately, he wandered over to the sofa and sank down beside her again.

"—and the time you spend on them is just a waste when, really, all you have to do is sit down and talk about it, you know? Because most often—"

InuYasha sighed as he reached over and pulled her close, kissing her soundly, kissing her completely, cutting off her frivolous chatter. She leaned into him, her hands slowly reaching up, twining into his hair. With a low growl, InuYasha felt her press against him, her body warm, soothing, and yet wholly unsettling. If he lost himself in her forever, he didn't think he'd truly care. And yet, there was an intense ache, a burgeoning need. More thunder snapped, and Kagome shivered. He calmed her with his soothing rumble.

Her lips pulled away, trailing to his jaw line. InuYasha fell back on the sofa. Kagome didn't lose contact. "Ka . . . Kagome . . ." Concentration slipped a little further away, and he gently brought her face up to his again, kissing her lips, tasting her. He flicked out the tip of his tongue against her mouth. She whimpered softly, lips parting, begging him silently for whatever he was willing to give. He shifted them just enough that he could lean over her. He pulled back, staring down at her. The look she had on her face was the same as the day in the meadow. Desire drove her as it had then, drew him in, captured him. Breathing became rapid, shallow; she stared at him, asking him to love her, demanding that he show her . . . Tracing her cheek, feeling the softness of her flesh beneath his fingers . . . Kagome's eyes drifted closed as she concentrated on the feel of his touch. Did she have any idea how very precious she really was to him?

His fingers trailed from her cheek, running along the warm skin, straggling down the curve of her neck, the line of her shoulder. Through the fabric of her thin summer dress, he could feel the tell-tale bumps well up on her body in reaction to his touch. It gave him a heady feeling, the sensation of power, and yet his own body trembled, his breathing rough, superficial. Slowly, deliberately, InuYasha willed his heart to slow from the rapid wash of blood coursing through him as he trailed his claws down along her side to her hip, resting over the gentle hollow of her stomach . . . and the spot. He could feel it pulsing under his fingers, calling to him. He'd been told that the spot was different, varying from female to female. On some it was the neck. Others would be the shoulder . . . and for Kagome it was the thin silvery scar where the Shikon Jewel had burst from her body.

He looked back up into her face. Her eyes were open again. She stared at him through her heavy eyelids, asking him in that look what he waited for, what was holding him back? InuYasha sighed, steeling himself for what he had to do. Yet as he looked into her eyes and remembered that promise he'd made to her so long ago he sat up quickly, sighing in consternation.

"What's wrong?" she asked softly, slowly sitting up, her hand coming to rest on his shoulder.

He shook his head slowly, as though he couldn't believe it himself. But there it was, the ugly truth of it. "I can't do it," he admitted, his tone as bewildered as his expression. "I . . . I have to, but I can't."

"Can't what?" she asked slowly, shaking her head. "InuYasha? I don't understand."

He flopped back on the couch and pulled Kagome back into his arms. She nestled next to him and kissed his cheek. He smiled despite his dark thoughts. "Just something . . . I don't think I'm ready to do it yet."

"And you can't do this thing? Why?"

He made a face and tightened his grip on her. "Because . . . I just can't do it, not yet."

"If it bothers you, can't you just not do it?"

He shook his head slowly. "I don't have to worry about it yet. It's okay."

"Sometimes, though, it is best to get things out of the way that you don't want to do."

"Nah," he said, willing the concern in her expression to fade. "But I got your mind off the storm, didn't I?"

With a gasp, Kagome sat up and stared at InuYasha as though she wasn't sure whether to laugh or hit him. In the end, she just sputtered in righteous indignation. "That's what—? You mean to say you—? InuYasha!" She started to climb over him. He caught her hand and pulled her back down.

"Come here, stupid girl."

"I really ought to go home," she pouted.

He laughed. She wouldn't do that in this weather, anyway. "Why would you do that?"

"Because I don't get called `stupid' at home."

"Would you really leave me?"

She grinned slightly. "Hmm."

"Kiss me."

"What?"

"You heard me."

He saw her swallow hard as her gaze fell on his lips. His eyes closed as she brushed her mouth over his slowly, tentatively. She pulled back, eyes opening though it seemed as though it took a moment for her to focus. He knew the feeling. He started to pull her back down to him. His stomach rumbled. Kagome giggled and climbed over him. "Guess I could find something to feed you," she teased over her shoulder as she headed for the kitchen.

InuYasha sat up, letting his head rest on the back of the sofa. `Damn,' he thought as a frown surfaced.

Sesshoumaru's words came back to haunt him. `If a youkai takes a human as a mate, then the human must be marked. It used to be used as a mark of protection, to keep other youkai from attacking the human. That's not the reason for it anymore. It is used more now, though, to lengthen the human's life. It's the same with hanyous, or so it has been said. You don't live quite as long as youkai. But it is still much longer than a human. If you want the miko to live out her life with you, then you must mark her.'

It wasn't marking Kagome that bothered him. To be honest, the idea of claiming her as his forever was something that thrilled him. What didn't please him was that this marking that should be done would hurt her. That Kagome would be unconscious for most of the ritual did nothing to alleviate InuYasha's reticence. In plain terms, the marking would hurt her, and if he wasn't careful, it might even kill her . . .

A distinct shiver ran down his spine as the thought of carrying out the ritual turned his stomach. The idea of hurting her, especially when he'd sworn he would protect her from everything meant to harm her . . . He didn't think he'd be able to do it, at all.