InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Reliving the Past ❯ Chapter 8 ( Chapter 8 )

Reliving the Past

by kmf

An Inuyasha fanfic

Rating: R

Warnings: Language

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

Chapter Eight

Kagome pulled herself out of the well with difficulty thinking, not for the first time, that it would be so much easier if there was a little flight of stairs winding up the inside of the well rather than the rope ladder that twisted so much when she climbed it. And this time was not helped by her sprained ankle and aching limbs, nor by the books she carried in the backpack.

She felt humiliated. For once it was not her wish to return to her own time. Instead, Inuyasha had taken her to the well and all but pushed her down it. After the spider demon attack he had waited for her to finish bathing, and to sleep the remainder of the night away. But as soon as morning had dawned he had kicked her sleeping bag and told her to pack.

Trepidation must have shown in her face as she pulled her aching bones out of the warmth of her bed, wincing as she yawned feeling the damage to the side of her face. Sango had crouched beside her, touching her still puffy ankle and had announced that Kagome wouldn't be walking anywhere much for a couple of days.

"Feh!" Inuyasha had replied, folding her arms, "I know that. She is completely useless here, she might as well go home until it heals."

"Eh?" Kagome had not quite been able to believe her ears. Inuyasha was telling her to go home? Oh, that and she was useless. She glared at him and he glared back.

"Aren't you always moaning about not enough time to study?" he demanded, picking up her sleeping bag and shoving it into her backpack, "You're useless to me here, you might as well go home."

Kagome had blinked once. Then twice. Then surged to her feet, her fist clenched in her irritation.

"Useless?" she demanded, "So now I'm a useless whinger?"

Sango, Shippo and Miroku all had looked at each other then disappeared into the forest murmuring various excuses. Kagome had paid them very little attention; she had been so enraged by Inuyasha's perception of her. Yes, she had berated herself for being useless the night before, but that didn't mean that she needed or wanted to hear it from Inuyasha's lips.

She had stepped towards the still scowling Inuyasha, wishing more than anything to clip him around the ear, but then her damaged ankle had refused to take her weight and she had collapsed into a heap, her eyes stinging with tears that she refused to shed.

Inuyasha had been instantly at her side, his hands travelling down her leg to gently touch her injured limb.

"Stupid bitch!" he murmured, before lifting her up in his arms. "We can't go anywhere with you like this, so you might as well go home. Its what you wanted, isn't it?"

He hadn't waited for her reply, instead he had picked up her bag with one hand and tossed it over his shoulder, while still holding her close to his chest. Then he started to run, so fast the trees blurred around her and tears came to her eyes from the speed of the wind rushing past her face.

Well, not just the wind.

It wasn't what she wanted, not really. What she wanted was to be loved by Inuyasha, for him to recognise her and accept her for who she was and not for what she was capable of. She wanted them to have a normal life together, free of shards and zombies. But he didn't want that with her, and instead was telling her to get on with her own life, get the desire out of her system, then come back and complete her task.

She had pressed her nose close to his chest, sniffing deeply in the scent that was uniquely him.

"Oy!" he had muttered, adjusting her slightly in his grasp, "Are you in pain?"

She had shaken her head a little as she felt him hold her tighter. She had relished it, wondering what it would be like to be held this close to him with feelings of affection, rather than as a means to get her to the well and be rid of her.

"Oy!" he said again, confusion colouring his voice, "Are you sniffing me?"

Kagome choked in embarrassment, pulling her nose away from his chest and pouting.

"Of course not," she said frowning and glaring up at him, "Who would want to smell you? Actually, I can smell you well enough even this far away, when was the last time you bathed?"

He had frowned back down at her, his nose wrinkling in annoyance.

"Why are you eyes leaking?" he questioned peering down at her closely.

She had shut her eyes and turned her head away from him.

"I hurt," she had murmured, all the while thinking 'but not for the reasons you think. I hurt because I want to be with you, and you keep pushing me away. I hurt because today I may say goodbye to you for the last time.'

Inuyasha had made no comment, but had increased his speed. They had arrived so quickly that Kagome had been left wondering why exactly they had walked to the camp instead of running. Once there, Inuyasha had offered to take her through to her time, but she had refused. It was still mid morning and the chances of being spotted by visitors to the shrine were high. He had accepted her reasoning without arguing as he usually would, and had not even demanded to know when she would be back. He had stood silently as he balanced her on the lip of the well and watched as she allowed herself to tumble over the edge and travel a lifetime away from him.

All the while she floated through time and space, her mind worked wondering what she should do. She wanted to be with him more than anything else. But she was no longer satisfied with being second best. She had enjoyed how Kaminari had treated her, and longed to be in a relationship with someone who saw her for who she was. Kagome, an intelligent girl with a temper and a sense of humour. A sporty person with an artistic streak. A girl who wanted to teach, to share her knowledge with people. And Inuyasha just did not see her like that at all.

The sharp shooting pain of her ankle twisting as she hit the ground had pulled her from her musings. The language that erupted from her mouth as she had sat, cradling the injured limb at the bottom of the well, would have stunned even Inuyasha and she cursed him for not considering how she was going to land before he allowed her to fall.

It had taken a while for the pain to subside and the tears to dry, but finally she had felt strong enough to climb out and up into the present.

All the time bemoaning the lack of a sensible staircase.

Once free of the well, she limped over to the door and peeked out into the courtyard. There were a few visitors to the shrine, not so many as to make it impossible for her to leave the well house without being detected, but enough to make her hesitate. She wanted to leave the backpack behind, but was also loathed to leave it in a place where anybody could pick it up and walk off with it. So she bit her lip, lifted the backpack onto her back and hobbled out of the well house as quickly as she could.

She kept her head down as she walked towards her house, wanting to hide the grimace that seemed to be permanently engraved on her face. A quarter of the way there she began to feel herself sweat from the pain and wondered whether she would make it there before she passed out. Halfway there, and she was beginning to mutter obscenities about certain hanyous and whether or not they could tell the difference between a sprain and broken bones.

A hand on her shoulder brought her up short. For a moment she thought it was Inuyasha, come to help her regardless of her telling him not to.

"Kagome?"

Her head bowed low. Of course it wasn't Inuyasha. He couldn't just appear out in the open in her time, not without his ears causing a significant stir.

The voice was low and full of concern, and Kagome felt tears rise to her eyes again as she recognised it.

"Kaminari?" she whispered without turning around, lowering her head further so to try and hide the ugly bruise that adorned her face, "What are you doing here?"

She felt his hand shift on her shoulder, but not let go. Her half shut eyes saw his highly polished shoes move around to her front.

"Kagome, the question is what are you doing here? I thought you had to go away on family business for a couple of weeks."

She could hear the puzzled tone that flavoured his voice and felt his hand trail up her shoulder to throat, before it lifted to her chin. She felt so very tired, she did not resist as he tilted her head up so that he could look down at her face. His eyes widened as she looked up into his, then they narrowed into a look of fury that made her stumble back a pace, wincing as she put too much weight on her injured ankle.

"What they hell happened to you?" he demanded

She tried to grin.

"Fell down some stairs?" she asked in what she had hoped would be a carefree 'I'm a complete klutz' kind of tone. Unfortunately it came out in an 'ow, it hurts and I want my mummy' tone, complete with fresh tears.

Kaminari cursed, then pulled the backpack gently off her shoulder and allowed it fall to the ground. Ignoring the startled gasps of other shrine visitors, he lifted her up into his arms, a position that painfully reminded her of the platonic embrace she had shared with Inuyasha just moments earlier. He frowned to see her face sadden, and started to walk with her towards her home.

"My books!" Kagome cried, trying to squirm out of his arms as she saw herself moving away from her precious supply of textbooks and study guides.

"Sod the books," Kaminari growled, quickly striding away from her bag. When she kept protesting, he sighed, "I'll get your books, just let's get you inside first," he said.

True to his word, he deposited her on the back doorstep and strode back into the courtyard to get the pack of books whilst Kagome produced the key to her house from the key ring held on the belt look of her jeans. She knew that Souta wouldn't be at home, and she was unsure about her mother. If she was working nights then she would be asleep and if she was working days then she would not be at home. In any case, she did not want to disturb her.

Twisting the key in the lock, the bolt turned with a little click and she opened the door. Then Kagome felt herself lifted once more. Kaminari had returned with her pack as promised, had thrown it onto the kitchen floor before lifting her again and carrying her over the threshold as if she was a bride. Once inside, he turned and kicked the door close, before working his way through the house.

"Which is your bedroom?" he asked.

"Top of the stairs, first right," she said wearily without thinking, then nearly cried out in alarm as he began to climb the stairs with her.

"What are you...?" she demanded, trying to protest him taking her any further.

"Kagome, you are no light weight," he muttered, small beads of sweat beginning to appear on his brow, "Kindly stay still or else I might drop you down the stairs. I don't want to add to your list of injuries."

Doing as she was told, Kagome stropped struggling and allowed Kaminari to take her to her room and deposit her on her bed. The softness of the mattress was a blessed thing, and Kagome allowed herself to lie back and feel the comfort of it. She always missed her bed; there was nothing worse than sleeping on hard ground even if it was good for your back.

The slight pulling of her boot shoelaces brought her attention back to Kaminari. He was bending over her feet, undoing her boots and with a good deal of care was pulling them off. Kagome winced, and not just through pain. Her socks had been on her feet for a good while and probably didn't smell exactly meadow sweet. Kaminari winced too and Kagome was about to apologise when he muttered.

"Now that looks painful..."

She propped herself up on her elbows and peered at her ankle. She had to agree, it did look painful. Faint tinges of blues and greens and yellows coloured her skin. Kaminari looked up at her face then reached towards her, resting his weight on one hand beside her torso. As the bed dipped a little and his face came closer to hers, she felt herself gulp.

"...what...?" she breathed as he reached towards her face. She focussed on his lips as his head came closer, wondering if he was planning to take advantage of the moment and kiss her.

He grinned, then pulled out the pillow from behind her head, and moved back to her feet, placing it under the injured limb.

"Rice," he said.

"Rice?" she repeated, confused that he was talking food.

"Rest, ice, compression and elevation," he said, taking off his jacket and draping it on the foot of her bed. "What every good sprained ankle calls for. And after that you are going to tell me exactly what it going on."

Kagome blinked. This was not good.

TBC