InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Purity ❯ Forbidden ( Chapter 41 )

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

Kagome rolled over, propping her head up on her hand as she stared at InuYasha. He heard her move and glanced over his shoulder, shooting her a guilty look as he buttoned up the snowy white shirt. Leaving the top two undone, he sank down on the edge of the bed and reached over to stroke her cheek. "Did I wake you?"

She nodded but smiled as he made a face. "I knew you got up, is all."

"For the record, I'd rather stay here with you."

Reaching out to finish the task of fastening his shirt closed, Kagome sighed. "I've got a class of my own today, and you told Kagura you'd fill in."

He grinned as she yawned. "Be careful, then," he said, his tone harsh even if his expression wasn't. "That panther youkai is sill out there, and I want you to promise you'll watch out."

She reached over to rub his ear. He leaned toward her, letting his eyes drift closed for a moment as he savored the touch. "I promise, but I don't think he'd try anything in the middle of Tokyo. It'd be pretty stupid, actually."

"Stupid or not, it didn't stop him the first time, now did it?  Anyway . . . You've got your cell phone?" Staring at him with a strange mix of humor and incredulity on her face, Kagome burst out laughing, flopping back on the bed though her eyes didn't leave his. "What's so funny?" he asked, his tone bordering on insulted.

Kagome stopped laughing though her eyes were still shining bright. "It just struck me as amusing; you asking if I have my cell phone, is all. You used to make fun of the things I'd bring back with me, you know."

He smiled despite himself. "Some of your things are actually useful. Don't let it go to your head." He leaned in to give her a kiss. Her arms slipped around his neck, holding him to her as the intention for a quick goodbye faded. He tasted vaguely of toothpaste—bubblegum child's toothpaste with extra fluoride—and something far more visceral, heady. A familiar burst of heat shot through her. Kagome's arms tightened. "Fuck the school," he muttered between kisses.

Kagome giggled, effectively bringing a halt to the kisses. His forehead dropped to her shoulder in defeat, and he sighed. Her giggling escalated at the tickling sensation of his breathing. "You're going to be late if you don't get moving," she remarked, winding a lock of his hair around her finger.

With a few more choice curses, he rolled off the bed and headed for the door. He paused before leaving though, to direct one more warning at her. "I mean it, Kagome. Be careful."

"And I mean it, InuYasha. You'd better control your language around those kids today or there may be some fairly unhappy parents if their children come in swearing. I know I'd be upset if you talked like that around our—" She cut herself off quickly with a smothered gasp, her eyes skittering away from his. `What are you thinking, Kagome?' she berated herself. `He's going to think you were hinting, and . . . and you agreed. No children.' She flinched at her own thoughts. "Sorry," she said, her voice strangely high pitched, too cheerful. "I don't know what I was thinking . . . Anyway, you'd best go. You can't be late on your first day, right?"

She didn't lift her gaze from her bare feet. She didn't need to. She could feel him staring at her. She willed her heart to slow its nervous pattern, berating herself for what she never should have said . . .

Finally, she felt him leave, drawing away from her through the quiet house. Moments later the front door closed softly, and Kagome let out a disgusted sigh. "Baka!" she muttered as she rolled off the bed and headed for the bathroom. `Maybe you mentioned it because you're hoping that he'll change his mind.'

Kagome frowned as she stripped off her clothes and turned on the shower tap. That wasn't it. She wasn't trying to change his mind about anything. `It was my choice, to come back,' she reasoned. `I don't have a right to try to ask him to change his mind, even if he hadn't already said how he felt the idea. As far as I'm concerned, the entire subject is forbidden.'

Letting the warm water cleanse her bleak thoughts away, Kagome sighed. InuYasha had never told her that they couldn't talk about it. But she just couldn't bring it up again. The sadness on his features when he had told her . . . she refused to be the reason he felt like that, no matter how she felt about it.

`Things are so different now than they were when he was a child,' her mind argued. `What he went through was awful, but doesn't he realize that humans deal with youkai here every single day and just never recognize it?'

It wasn't as easy as that, though. She knew how deep the wounds went in him. It had taken so long to get him to open up about much of anything. Bad enough to have never known his father, but to have lost his mother so young as well, and all because she had given birth to a hanyou child—InuYasha—was something that Kagome wished he didn't understand so well.

She made quick work of getting dressed and straightening up the bathroom. Still lost in her bleak thoughts, she accidentally grabbed InuYasha's toothpaste and ended up gagging a little at the overly sweet stuff. He'd flat-out refused to try the minty toothpaste that she used. She grinned. After his run-in with her mother's curry long before, it really hadn't surprised her that he would be so adamant in not wanting to use the `adult' stuff. He did have stronger senses than she did. He actually wouldn't touch anything that smelled even remotely like it might be spicy. He'd agreed to try out the bubble gum flavored paste, though, and had used it ever since.

Stepping out of the bathroom, Kagome shivered. The moist warmth of the bathroom wafted out in her wake. She slipped on her shoes and grabbed a sweater and her book bag, pausing only long enough to double check that her cell phone was in there. After glancing in the mirror above the bench next to the door, Kagome stepped outside and headed off to classes.


InuY asha flopped down in the chair at the table, pinning his brother with a bored stare. Already in a bad mood when the call had come, InuYasha didn't have the patience to deal with this encounter when he had bigger fish to fry, most importantly, he hadn't been able to reach Kagome all afternoon. "This had better be important, Sesshoumaru," he commented.

"I thought you'd be overjoyed to visit me, little brother."

"About as overjoyed as I would be to face down Naraku again. What do you want?"

Sesshoumaru sat down across the table and leaned back, staring at InuYasha in such a way that the hanyou knew that whatever was coming wasn't going to be good. "Have you claimed her?"

"Who?"

"Don't be a baka, InuYasha. Your miko; have you marked her?" InuYasha's flush must have been a good enough answer for Sesshoumaru. The youkai shook his head slowly, and when his eyes met InuYasha's, the latter saw that his brother was amused by it. "Are you waiting for something in particular?"

InuYasha bristled, fighting down the deeper-blossoming redness he felt welling up. "You're such a fucking bastard, Sesshoumaru. Have I told you that recently? Because if I haven't, then consider yourself told. It's none of your business if I have or not."

Sesshoumaru rolled his eyes and waited for InuYasha's tirade to end. "On the contrary, InuYasha, it is my business. According to human law, your miko is too young to marry, and according to youkai law, she is sorely unprotected. Unless and until you mark her as yours another youkai could do it, with or without her consent."

"Over my dead body," InuYasha snarled, flashing his fangs. "I'll kill anyone who tries."

"Calm yourself. There have been no threats made against the miko. If there were, I'd tell you. I'm just warning you. There are those out there who would seek to claim her because of her power alone. Surely you know this. A human who can see youkai? She is a threat. What better way to contain a threat than to kill her . . .?"

". . . Or claim her," InuYasha said, his voice suddenly soft. He hadn't been able to reach her on her cell phone. `Damn it, Kagome . . . where are you?'

"Yasha-oji-chan!"

InuYasha snapped out of his dark thoughts as a blur of black hair launched himself onto his uncle's lap. "Hey, Toga.  Knock it off with the 'oji-chan' crap, will you?"

The pup looked duly befuddled by InuYasha's statement.

"Well . . . what should I call you then?" he finally asked.

"Baka would suffice nicely," Sesshoumaru muttered quietly.

InuYasha snorted but didn't retort in kind.  "I dunno, but that's too damn formal for me," he grumbled.

"Try 'jiji'," Shippou remarked as he leaned into the office.

Toga's little face contorted into a thoughtful scowl as he considered that.  "Yasha-jiji?"

That drew snorts from the two half-brothers, though for entirely different reasons, as Shippou chuckled and moved on down the hallway.

"Good enough," InuYasha allowed with a shrug.  "So . . . is your mom still mad at me?"

Toga shrugged. "Nope. She's mad at tou-san now, for letting me play with Tokijin."

InuYasha gaze swung over to pin Sesshoumaru with an amused look. Sesshoumaru looked away and pursed his lips together. "I was training the boy," he said in self-defense.

InuYasha didn't comment. "Tou-san told me about your sword? Tetsusaiga? Will you show me the Kaze no Kizu sometime?"

"Sure, squirt. Next time you come over, I'll show you the power your father couldn't master."

Sesshoumaru growled low in response. "Careful, InuYasha. I doubt your miko would appreciate your returning to her in pieces."

"As if you could," InuYasha shot back. He set Toga on the floor and got up with a sigh as he made a point to check his watch. "Unless you've got anything else to say, I'm leaving."

"Wait." Sesshoumaru's shifted his gaze to his son. "Toga, is that your mother calling?"

Toga frowned. "I don't hear her."

"I do."

Still looking perplexed but unwilling to gainsay his father, Toga walked slowly out of the room. Sesshoumaru closed the door behind his son and turned back to stare at InuYasha. It was another of the looks that InuYasha didn't like or trust. "Make it fast, Sesshoumaru. I've got things to do."

"Have you found where she will receive your mark?"

Heat shot to his face all over again. InuYasha nodded, his head jerking with the movement. "Not that I really think it's any of your fucking business, but yeah, I have."

"Then why haven't you done it? Surely it may hurt her a bit, but the miko's always had a fool's courage . . ." Sesshoumaru's chin dropped as his gaze narrowed on InuYasha. "It isn't her, is it? She's not the reason you've not done it . . . you are. Tell me, baka, are you afraid to mark her?"

"Feh!" InuYasha snorted then sighed. He flopped into his chair with disgusted shake of the head. "It's not her . . . It's just . . . I can't hurt her." He made a face. `Why did I just admit that?'

Sesshoumaru shrugged and sank back down in his chair. "There is pain involved, though I daresay it is worse for you than it would be for her. She'd be unconscious for most of the ritual."

For some reason, that bothered InuYasha even more. He knew roughly what it entailed. His instincts were strong enough in that. Still, to alleviate the miniscule doubt that lingered, InuYasha had to ask. "How do you know when it's gone far enough?"

Sesshoumaru looked confused. "You listen to her heart. When it starts to weaken, you finish it."

That's what he had thought. InuYasha grimaced. That was what he had feared. If he wasn't sure before, he was now. There really wasn't any way in hell he could do that, not to her . . .

"It isn't pleasant. I won't pretend that it is. But it is necessary, make no mistake. If you love her . . . if you want to keep her . . . then you must do it."


InuY asha dropped his bag on the floor with a frustrated sigh. His nostrils were assailed by the delicious fragrances drifting from the kitchen. His ears twitched. Kagome was humming under her breath. Instant relief washed over him but was rapidly nudged aside by irritation.

"Did your cell phone break?" he demanded, stalking into the large room.

Kagome's humming stopped. She turned her head enough to eye him before she stirred the food in the wok again. "I had to turn the ringer off in class, and I forgot to turn it back on. I'm sorry . . . What's wrong?"

"Kagome . . . we've got to talk." He took her hand and led her out of the kitchen into the living room. Dammit was lounging on the sofa, and when Kagome sat down, the dog immediately put her head in Kagome's lap.

With a deep breath, Kagome started talking first, eyes downcast, as though she thought she had done something worth reprimanding. "I know what you're going to say, and I'm really sorry . . . I wasn't trying to drop hints or change your mind . . . I wasn't thinking."

InuYasha squatted on the floor by the coffee table and frowned in confusion. "What are you talking about? Hints about what?"

Kagome methodically smoothed Dammit's fur. "This morning, when I mentioned children . . . That's not what's bothering you?"

He shook his head. "Wha—? Er, no. Um . . . there's something else."

Her gaze was suspicious, wary, as she stared at him. "What else?"

He flinched inwardly at the thick trepidation in her voice. He deserved that . . . "I talked to Sesshoumaru today.  He told me some stuff." Kagome seemed calm enough. There was a slight tightness around her mouth, a tension that reverberated from her. He could sense her anxiety. `Best to just spit it out,' he growled at himself. He cleared his throat. "I should . . . I'm supposed to mark you as mine. It's a ritual. It serves to keep other youkai away from you, and, in the case of a human—like you—it'll make you live longer, to be with me."

She smiled, as though the idea was wonderful. He winced. This wasn't going exactly how he had thought it would . . . "Why do you sound like this isn't a good thing? What's involved?"

For some reason, he couldn't meet her gaze, as though even talking about this was somehow betraying the vow he'd made to her. "Basically, it's just an exchange of blood," he said. "Yours and mine."

She sat up a little straighter, and when he dared to look at her, she was still smiling. "That doesn't sound so bad. How do we do this?"

With a grimace, InuYasha sighed and shook his head. "It's not that simple, Kagome, not by a long shot . . ."

She scooted off the sofa and knelt beside him. "Then tell me, InuYasha. What exactly is bothering you about this?"

"There's a lot of blood involved in it. I'd . . . I'd have to cut you deep, and you'd lose much of yours. When your heart slows then I have to give you my blood."

Kagome sat back, looking as though she was considering what he'd said. When she spoke, her voice was low, steady. "If it means I can be with you, then I'll do it."

He shook his head slowly. "You don't understand. I can't."

"But you just said—"

With a heavy sigh, InuYasha shot to his feet and stalked across the room. "If I could do this by bleeding myself dry, I would. But I can't, and this isn't me. It's you. Kagome, I tried to do it the other night. I couldn't then, either."

She pushed herself to her feet and slowly came to him. Wrapping her arms around him, holding him close, she sighed softly, laying her cheek against his chest. "We don't have to do this tonight, do we? I mean, maybe you'll get used to the idea of what you have to do, right?"

InuYasha stared down at her. Though he couldn't see her face, he knew she was smiling. She had complete faith that he would be able to do this. He pulled her closer, desire to do it warring with his need to protect her.

He wasn't nearly as sure.