InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Reliving the Past ❯ Chapter 7 ( Chapter 7 )

Reliving the Past

by kmf

An Inuyasha fanfic

Rating: R

Warnings: Language

Disclaimer: I only wish I did own Inuyasha *fondles his ears*

Chapter Seven

"What did you just say?"

Kagome was standing completely still, a stunned expression on her face. It was only with a great deal of effort that she managed to get her mouth to shut.

Inuyasha stood opposite her, so close that he didn't have to extend an arm to touch her. His hands, however, were currently preoccupied with gripping his sword and scratching his nose.

"Feh!" he exclaimed his tone bored. "Are you deaf, bitch? I said that it doesn't matter to me who you fuck, so long as you come back here when you are told."

Kagome blinked.

"I thought that was what you said," she said in a quiet tone, before lifting a hand and slapping him hard across the cheek.

Inuyasha hadn't seen the blow coming, he was too preoccupied with trying to keep his tone calm as he grated out words that he didn't want to say. Of course he cared who she fucked! But he was in no position to object; he wasn't her father, he wasn't her brother and his current circumstances stopped him being a suitor.

She hit hard, for a girl. His head whipped around with the force of the blow, his claw catching on his nose and drawing blood. Turning slowly back to look at her, he felt his ears flatten at the angry cloud that seemed to encompass her.

Her eyes widened a little as they took in the sight of blood trickling down his nose, before they narrowed again. Inuyasha did not like this at all. He had seen her angry before, but never this angry. He backed up a pace wondering if he had enough time to run out of earshot before she started to scream 'sit' at him. He had a horrible feeling that if she did so, she wouldn't stop until he had made a hole in the ground big enough to be buried in.

But she didn't say anything. Instead, she stood still, her face furious, and her hands clenching and unclenching as if she was debating whether to strike him again. Then her mouth opened and she yelled at him so loudly that his ears rung.

"Inuyasha! You idiot! I hate you!"

She span around to run away and Inuyasha sighed in relief thinking that he had come off lightly given she seemed to be so very angry. But before she had gone more than two steps she called back over her shoulder.

"Sit! Sit! SIT!"

Inuyasha hit the ground three times in rapid succession, biting his tongue painfully in the process. With effort he managed to lift his face from the ground to see Kagome looking at him with satisfaction. The bitch! All he was trying to do was make her happy, and here she was punishing him for it. He snarled as she turned to run away again, and he tried to push himself up off the ground. But the necklace held him firmly down, as if he had a large boulder around his neck rather than a few small beads.

And then he froze as a scent came to his nose. Acrid and strong, hungry for power. And close. He yelled out to Kagome, but she ran on ignoring him. Straight into the path of a spider demon. It was small, no larger than a horse, but its eyes were red and malevolent. And Kagome froze as soon as she saw it.

Inuyasha tried again to push himself off the ground, but the spell held firm. He swore bitterly, cursing Kagome for distracting him so much that he hadn't sensed the spider's approach and cursing her again for sitting him.

"Kagome! Run!" he yelled.

But she stood still, her eyes wide and riveted on the creatures eight hairy legs, the smell of fear radiating from her. The demon's mouth pulled into a wide smile revealing fangs dripping with poison.

"Shikon no Tama.." it hissed, lunging at Kagome with one of its front legs.

Kagome screamed then was suddenly silent as the spider's limb hit her, sending her flying backwards. She impacted on the ground hard and awkward, tumbling a couple of times before she lay still. The spider hissed in pleasure and scuttled towards her eager to get his prize.

"Oy! Shit head!"

The spider hesitated, just feet from his desire, and turned his eyes towards Inuyasha. The hanyou pushed himself to his feet and leapt towards it, his mouth pulled back into a snarl and his claws extended. The spider did a double take, confused that the apparently weak and cowardly half demon had suddenly gained extraordinary strength. That confusion was the second to last thing that went through its mind. The last was Inuyasha's claws.

Blood and gore flew through the air as the spider collapsed onto the ground, its eight legs convulsing in its death throes. Inuyasha flicked his hand, trying to get rid of the ooze that clung to it, before he knelt at Kagome's side.

She was breathing evenly. Lowering his ear to her breast Inuyasha could hear her heart beat, a little fast, but regular. He pulled away, and ran his hands up and down her limbs, unmindful of the spider gunk he transferred to her. No bones appeared to be broken, and apart from a rather nasty bruise beginning to spread down one side of her face, she appeared to be intact.

Inuyasha breathed a sigh of relief, and sat beside her, his head bent. This was exactly what he was afraid of. She was distracting him so much he couldn't even spot a shitty little spider demon sneak up on them. And if the subduing spell had come off one second later than it had, it was more than possible that Kagome would have fang puncture holes in her rather than just a bruise.

He growled at the thought, and tugged at the necklace. Kagome had to take the cursed thing off him. He never wanted to feel so weak and ineffective again.

Kagome groaned, a hand coming up to touch the side of her face, before her eyes opened wide and frightened. Her mouth opened to scream, but before she could Inuyasha swept her up in his arms, pulling her close to his chest.

"Its over, Kagome," Inuyasha said quietly, feeling her tremble in his arms. He had never seen her this frightened after an attack before and wondered whether she had hurt herself more than he thought.

She peered over his shoulder towards the spider, breathing a sigh of relief as she saw that it was on its back, its limbs twisted towards its body.

"I. Hate. Spiders," she shuddered again, wincing a little as she pulled away from Inuyasha. "Horrible hairy legs and nasty way they scuttle. I never knew there were spider demons." She shuddered again before noticing her arms and legs, "What is that green stuff?" she nodded towards the streaks of spider demon that adorned her limbs.

Inuyasha's eyes widened a little. Having told him of her fear, now probably wasn't the time to tell her that she was smeared with essence of spider.

"Grass stain?" Inuyasha suggested.

Kagome nodded and pushed herself to her feet. She winced as she did so, favouring one leg as she rubbed her ankle. "I think I have twisted it," she admitted, holding onto Inuyasha's sleeve to support herself.

"Fey!" Inuyasha snorted, "You came off lucky," he picked her up in his arms and walked towards the hot spring.

Kagome rolled her eyes. "Two baths in one day; I must be lucky," she said. Then, in a quieter voice she asked. "Did you mean what you said earlier?" She bit her lip a little and looked away from him waiting for his reply.

Inuyasha frowned, not really wanting to be reminded of the words that had been so hard to say in the first place. He certainly did not want to rile her up again, but given that she still seemed to be stunned from the blow to her head, he thought it unlikely. He said nothing until they got to the waters edge. Placing her on the ground, he moved to her front and carefully removed her shoes.

He growled a little to see one of her ankles puffy and inflamed. Humans were so easy to break. A small blow had caused Kagome significant damage; she would be sore for days. His eyes travelled up her bare legs taking in the little scrapes and contusions she had gained, before resting on her torso. She no longer wore the little uniform that he first saw her in, having graduated from that school she was no longer required to dress like all the other girls she studied with. Instead, she had taken to wearing sturdy tight trousers that she called jeans, together with tight fitting tops. It was a shame that she hadn't been wearing jeans this evening, they could have saved her legs some scrapes. Instead she was wearing the almost indecent trousers she called shorts.

"Inuyasha," Kagome's voice called to him softly, and he realised that he was starting at her groin, lost in his musings. Guiltily he raised his eyes to her face, trying to hide his embarrassment with a stern frown. "Did you mean it?" she asked again.

Shit.

She continued to prod at him. Of course he didn't mean it. Of course he didn't want her to fuck others. He wanted to shake her, but resisted, as he didn't know how serious her head injury was. Instead, he countered her question with another.

"Would it make you happy?"

His ears twitched in anticipation of her reply and he felt his heartbeat begin to race in unexpected nervousness. He stared at her as she hesitated, her eyes cloudy in thought. She absently put her feet in the warm water, wincing a little as the slightly acidic water bathed her scrapes. Then she looked up at him.

"Maybe," she replied.

Shit.

Inuyasha couldn't help his ears drooping at her response. It was what he feared she would say. He was loosing her, and there wasn't a thing he could do to prevent it. The realisation made him feel sick to the very pit of his stomach. He had got so used to her presence over the last few years, he had begun to take her for granted. And now that she was moving away from him, he was at a loss as to what to do to prevent her leaving.

She stared up at him expectantly, waiting for his response to her answer. He could read her easily, she expected him to berate her. But he wouldn't, he couldn't. How could he compete with a man in her time, how could he compete when all he had to his name was his father's sword. He frowned at her, folding his arms as he gazed down at her willing his ears to perk up a little; it was unmanly to act like a berated puppy in front of her.

"Wash yourself," he said gruffly, "I'll make sure no other demons are about."

* * * *

Kagome watched Inuyasha leap up into the tree canopy in a blur of red and white, and then lost sight of him as he sped away, the rustling of leaves the only indication that he had been there. She lowered her eyes and sighed.

He didn't care.

With difficulty she slipped off her shorts and tank top, wincing at the way her limbs protested. She was going to be stiff tomorrow, and her ankle was going to hold all of them up. She slipped into the water, holding her breath as the water stung her, then relaxing a little as the heat began to soothe her skin.

She was useless.

It was her own fault that she had been injured. It had been such a weak spider demon, she could tell from its aura that it had little power. Normally it would have left people well alone, but it had been attracted by the power of the Shikon no Tama shards that she had around her neck. Unfortunately, she had a horrible fear of spiders and was completely incapable of extracting even small ones from her room or from the bath, instead always calling on Souta to do the deed for her. To be confronted by a demon spider that big was a nightmare come true and she had been unable to move, so transfixed by fear she was.

Inuyasha had saved her once again, killing the demon whilst she was unconscious, comforting her, helping her with her wounds. All the things that he would do for any of his comrades. She could not help but wish that she was more than just a companion to him, and before she knew what she was saying her mouth had opened and she had asked if he had meant what he had said earlier. Had he meant that he really didn't care who she slept with, just so long as she fulfilled her duty of gathering together the shards and reforming the Shikon no Tama.

He had frowned at her, his eyes a little angry. He had probably been remembering that she had struck him and sat him before getting herself into trouble, but she stared at him determined. She wanted to be sure, she wanted to be absolutely sure that he saw her as nothing more than a friend and the Miko responsible for the jewel.

Countering her question with one of his own was a surprise. Would sleeping with the professor make her happy? She had thought about it carefully. He was an attractive man and he seemed to care for her. He lived in an era that was relatively demon free, he didn't have, to the best of her knowledge, an irate brother, a mortal enemy or an undead ex-girlfriend. A relationship with Kaminari would be simple compared with the complex emotions that came from knowing and desiring Inuyasha.

She answered his question honestly.

"Maybe," she had said.

Inuyasha had looked angry. His ears had flattened against his scalp and his brows pulled into a frown. And he had left her under the pretence that he wanted to check for any other lurking demons. If only he was angry because he was jealous that she was considering another man. But that wasn't so. The reason he was angry was probably because he knew that if she did enter into a relationship with a man in her own time she would want to spend more time there and less time here shard hunting.

Not for the first time, she wished that he would see her as herself. . Not as the seeker of shards. Not the reincarnation of the woman he loved. But herself. A woman who cared for him and wanted to be with him.

And not for the first time, she bent her head and cried.

TBC