InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Returning Home ❯ Insomia ( Chapter 15 )

Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha or any characters there in.

 

Chapter 15: Insomnia

 

Kagome lay on her stomach on an especially luxurious patch of grass while the sun gently fell on her back. Her eyes were closed and her ears drooped lazily. Vaguely she wished that she could remove her clothes and feel the sun and grass on her bare skin.

 

Suddenly, a dark swirlyness entered her sunny sanctuary.

 

“Just five more minutes InuYasha.” She mumbled and buried her eyes in the crook of her arm.

 

InuYasha was annoyed, thus the dark swirlyness, “You're not supposed to be here at all.” He grumbled down at her, “Get up, lunch is over.”

 

“Ah!” Kagome hopped up to her knees, and squinted at him against the strong light, “But I didn't get a chance to eat!”

 

“Tough.” InuYasha hauled her up by her arm, “You'll live.”

 

“InuYasha,” Kagome whimpered, her tail hanging loosely behind her as she pouted cutely, “I'm hungry.”

 

“Don't try anything on me Kagome,” InuYasha warned, “it's your own fault anyway.”

 

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For the rest of the day the hanyous pouted and walked at an angry clip. Much to the annoyance of the rest of the group behind them, the two great clashing energies wore exhaustingly against their own. Finally, as the sun neared the horizon, Miroku spotted a sheltered clearing off the road and called for the group to halt.

 

“InuYasha, it's time to stop.” Miroku announced tiredly and moved off into the place he meant to camp with Shippo perched on his shoulder. Sango quickly and quietly followed him, holding Hitomi in her arms and Kirara trotting at her heels.

 

InuYasha turned around to yell at the monk about his human weakness and not to order him like that, only to see that the road behind him was empty.

 

“Where'd they go?” Kagome asked somewhat bewildered.

 

InuYasha looked around the edge of the road before the wind changed enough for him to catch their scent, “This way.” He ordered.

 

Kagome reluctantly complied and followed him into the unnaturally quiet camp. She wasn't reluctant from fear, but she felt strangely galled about being ordered around, especially by InuYasha.

 

Sango, Miroku, Kirara and the kits were sitting on the ground leaning limply against the trunks of trees, or sprawled on dark ground, starring into space as if recovering from a long battle instead of a simple walk over flat land.

 

“What happened to them?” Kagome breathed in a worried tone.

 

InuYasha shook his head in confusion, nothing seemed strange or dangerous here.

 

Miroku turned his eyes to the couple before closing them slowly, “The two of you have worn us out.” He pushed the words from his mouth with effort, “Kagome, could you please make us some food?”

 

Kagome nodded wide-eyed, she didn't understand what they could have done to cause this. She immediately started to clear an area for a fire.

 

“InuYasha could you get some wood?” Kagome asked as she worked.

 

“Keh, that's Shippo's job.” InuYasha said crossly, but moved to gather some firewood anyway.

 

It wasn't long before they had a merry little fire and Kagome was cooking ramen for the group. With the sudden and unexpected peace between Kagome and InuYasha, and the smell of warming food, the group began to become slowly reenergized.

 

“That was quick.” Shippo yawned and licked his lips as Kagome finished pouring the boiling water into the plastic bowls.

 

“Yeah,” Hitomi climbed onto Miroku's knee, “what happened to their anger?”

 

“They weren't really angry.” Miroku explained.

 

“Kagome was mad at InuYasha,” Shippo joined her on Miroku's other knee, “Because she slept through lunch and he wouldn't let her eat.”

 

“That's silly.” Hitomi frowned, “She's the one that chose to nap.”

 

“She wasn't that mad until InuYasha got mad at her for being mad at him.” Miroku continued.

 

“That's what made her really mad.” Shippo finished, “But they weren't really mad, or Kagome would have run off home.”

 

“Oh.”

 

“Ramens ready!” Kagome called and the group gathered around the happy little fire to eat.

 

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Kagome sighed despondently and turned carefully onto her back, tucking her pelvis slightly to accommodate her tail in this position. She had to bring her knees up to relieve the pressure. Everyone else was already asleep and had been for hours. The kits were curled by her side on her sleeping bag, blocking the warmth of the dwindling fire while she tried not to let them snuggle her right out of her bag and into the chill night. Then there were her pj's, the modifications to her clothes never seemed to be quite right anyway and she obviously needed a bigger hole for her tail in this outfit.

 

It was completely unfair, she thought, that she was so tired at lunch and during the afternoon and now, when she had the chance to sleep, she was wide-awake. It didn't help that she was trying not to be introspective. She had tried that when she first transformed, but found it too difficult to comprehend her situation. She wasn't sure what she would be like when she got used to this new body. The fact that she needed still more time to do that annoyed her greatly, but she had concluded that introspection on her new self would have to wait until she gained a better understanding of her new body.

 

And now she was anxious, uncomfortable, and defiantly wide awake. She turned her eyes to InuYasha. He was one tree over, on a branch halfway up, leaning against the trunk and hugging his sword. One leg was dangling off the branch… he probably wasn't really asleep…. `I wonder how close I would be able to get to him before he would wake up.' She thought.

 

Slowly, carefully, as if pulled by some unreasonable mischief that she was powerless to oppose, she slid out of her sleeping bag. She crouched on her hands and toes and moved in more ease then she should have had in that position to the tree where InuYasha dozed. She was proud at how little noise she made on the way over, it was only just noticeable by her own super human ears.

 

At the base of the tree she straightened from a crawl into a crouch and observed the dozing inu hanyou on the branch just over ten feet above the ground. Vaguely, Kagome wondered if she could jump the entire distance, but decided against it. She would start small, jumping to the branch just above her head first.

 

She sprang gently from her crouch straight up and made a clumsy grab for the thin branch but missed on her way up. She passed the branch by half her body so she had time to recover and managed to catch it before she fell back to the ground. She pulled herself up to balance on the branch and glanced at InuYasha. He was unchanged.

 

The next few branches were closer. She probably could have reached them with only some difficulty before her body changed. Now she made a small leap up and forward for the next one, catching it easily and pulling her self up to perch on it in almost one fluid motion. The next one was closer, but back. She didn't even have to straighten out all the way, and ended up hopping in her perched position cleanly to it.

 

Turning she frowned, InuYasha was still unmoved, but his branch was higher and further away than the others. She didn't doubt that she could make it, but she had to do it right.

 

She took a moment to puzzle it through in her mind. InuYasha was against the trunk so she'd have to land on the outside, one leap, landing quietly, or she'd wake him for sure. She adjusted herself, readying for the jump and… she leapt.

 

She reached the branch easily, her feet landed on it barely causing a tremor, but her forward motion didn't stop and the one hand that reached down to hold the branch didn't help. Her other hand, the one nearest InuYasha waved in the air, trying to regain balance. But she was still moving.

 

Suddenly her hand was stilled and held steady.

 

“What do you think your doing?” InuYasha's gruff voice drifted from the direction of her steadied hand.

 

“Um,” Kagome stared out into the night, all she could see in this direction was the forest, “I'm not really sure. Sneaking up on you I guess.”

 

“Heh,” InuYasha let go of her and she managed to steady herself, “Is that what that was? The kit could do better then that.”

 

Kagome turned to scowl at him and he was caught by the starburst reflection of her eyes.

 

“Go back to sleep Kagome.” InuYasha closed his eyes and let his head rest against the tree.

 

“I can't sleep!” Kagome pouted prettily and crossed her arms, “That's why I came here.”

 

InuYasha opened one eye a crack and watched her carefully, “… What were you going to do once you caught me?”

 

Kagome's pout disappeared and was replaced by a cute thoughtful expression, “I hadn't really thought that far ahead… I hadn't really thought about what I was doing at all…” suddenly her face turned suspicious, “Hey! You weren't thinking something perverted were you?”

 

InuYasha's eyes shot open and he sat up, “Wh-what? No! I uh… do you want to run?”

 

Kagome's face became the picture of curiousity as she readjusted herself to face him better, “Run?”

 

“Yeah,” InuYasha almost sighed in relief at the subject change, “you've gotten pretty fast, wanna see how fast?”

 

Kagome crawled up the branch toward him until she was leaning over him with her face so close to his he could feel her breath on his face, “You wanna see how fast I am?” she whispered breathlessly.

 

InuYasha swallowed, hard. The innocence of her wide eyes, and unchanged scent, belied the suggestive message of her words and proximity. He could feel the blush rising on his cheeks as he remembered the good night kisses that they shared before Sorrell took her. He cleared his throat as he tried desperately to find a way out of the situation, “I, uh…Yeah.” He managed to whisper back, “Ya wanna back up Kagome?”

 

She started, apparently just realizing how close she was, and backed up with a blush of her own, “Sorry. Um, how do you… run?”

 

InuYasha barked out a laugh and Kagome looked nervously toward the camp, “You'll wake them up!”

 

“So?” InuYasha grinned at her, “Someone's got to keep watch while we're gone.” He jumped down lightly to the ground.

 

“Gone? How far are we going?” Kagome crawled along the branch almost pacing. She knew she should be able to jump, but it was so far down!

 

InuYasha shrugged and kicked Miroku. During the ensuing argument Kagome managed a less then graceful decent from the tree. She was just happy that InuYasha hadn't seen her landing, and that she hadn't sprained her tail… and that she wasn't wearing a skirt. Miroku was still looking at her with laughing eyes though. Kagome pouted, he was probably imagining her in her school uniform.

 

On the bright side, it stopped the argument. As Miroku paused to grin at Kagome, InuYasha turned to see what had caught his attention and Kagome jumped to a standing position and gave him a hasty grin.

 

InuYasha shook his head and turned back to Miroku, “Shut up and keep watch.”

 

Kagome waited under the tree for InuYasha to return, `should I change into my uniform?' she thought.

 

“Come on.” InuYasha almost stalked past her.

 

`No time,' Kagome thought as she followed InuYasha away from the ring of light, “Where are we going?” she asked.

 

InuYasha paused… the only light around was the stars and moon, which was nearly full. He looked to Kagome and squatted, motioning her to do the same. She did. He had been giving the training of Kagome some thought for a while. He was still confused.

 

“Uh, alright.” He started, “I'll start running, and… you try to keep up. Ok?”

 

Kagome nodded, “Sure.” A sudden fluttering nervousness manifested in her stomach.

 

InuYasha nodded back to her then looked up. The night expanded before them, bright clear and cool. A perfect night for running.

 

He stood hesitantly, still uncertain in his actions, but with a last fleeting glance at Kagome he took off at a comfortable lope.

 

After a moments hesitation Kagome broke into a run to catch up with him, but as soon as she did, he sped up. So she sped up and he did it again, and again. He kept doing that until she couldn't catch him again.

 

Then they ran.

 

They ran so fast that Kagome didn't have time to identify the next obstacle before she dodged it.

 

As she ran the world turned to sharp relief, the colors of the day melting away in brilliant blue light and deep black shadow Movement was the only language here. Move between the movement, fill in the shadows.

 

The wind snapped in her hair and plastered her ears to her scalp. It broke over her face and filled her head with the story of the nights' forest; the animals that scurried out of the way, the trees with their roots secure in the cool moist earth.

 

The earth! Kagome could feel it speak to her from the souls of her feet, she understood its purpose and composer as it caressed, hit, pricked, slipped, gave and crumbled from her touch.

 

Kagome leaped over a log and smiled as she landed on the other side without missing a step. She was wrapped in a glow of rapture at the feeling of her body pushing itself and finding strength never ending. Her muscles, her heart, her legs, her arms, her lungs; pounding, stretching, thrusting, singing joy into her soul and lightness into her step.

 

He ran her for hours, and it was past midnight when he decided to stop near a river to see how she was faring. She hadn't complained, but she could be stubborn sometimes. When he slowed to a stop she passed him by and ended up standing shin deep in the water.

 

She looked back at him, her starburst eyes glowing in the moonlight, her ears perked and head tilted curiously. She was breathing heavily, but not desperately. It was obvious that she had been straining herself to keep up with him but she didn't seem to be near stopping them herself.

 

InuYasha hadn't been straining himself, not like Kagome had, but if he had he wouldn't have lasted as long as she did, and she seemed to want to run farther.

 

“Why did you stop InuYasha?” she asked as she slowly waded back to the bank.

 

InuYasha just watched her in a state close to awe, no human could run like that for that long and ask for more. No human, but Kagome wasn't human anymore was she? She wasn't weak anymore, she wasn't slow, she wasn't dull. She was fast, and sharp… she was probably stronger too. She wasn't going to be vulnerable to every youkai that came near any-

 

Kagome let out a small screech when she slipped on a rock and fell into the cold water.

 

InuYasha sighed, she was just going to need a lot of training first.

 

“Oh,” Kagome looked down at her pajamas, “I'm all wet.”

 

“Get out of the water Kagome.” InuYasha said flatly.

 

“They're my only pair.” Kagome glared up at him.

 

“So?”

 

“So, I only have this and one uniform to wear!” Kagome stood angrily, “And I'm not sleeping in my uniform… It needs more modification anyway.” She mumbled to herself, “rubs my tail wrong.”

 

“Poor baby.” InuYasha frowned at her.

 

Kagome glared back at InuYasha and walked up on the shore, “Some of us like to change our clothes sometimes, InuYasha. And what am I going to sleep in? I'm not sleeping naked, not with Miroku -“

 

“You're not wearing shoes.” InuYasha scowled at her bare feet.

 

Kagome looked at her feet and frowned, “There wasn't time to put them on… I wanted to run with you.”

 

“What if you cut your foot?” InuYasha scowled at her, “I'm-“

 

“Well, I didn't” Kagome stomped to InuYasha to stare directly up into his face, “You never wear shoes anyway!”

 

“But I'm…” InuYasha's voice faded when he realized what he was about to say, “I know I can go bare foot, you don't know what you can do.”

 

“I do now!” Kagome shouted at him.

 

They stood in silence for a moment, Kagome began to shake as the wind farther chilled the cool water on her clothes.

 

“Let's get back to camp.” InuYasha stepped away and turned back the way they came, “I don't want you complaining about being tired tomorrow.”

 

“… Give me your jacket.” Kagome walked quickly behind him.

 

“No!” InuYasha continued to walk to camp.

 

“I'm cold.” Kagome explained reasonably as she advanced on him, “If I get sick I'll do a lot more than complain and every one will do what I want and hate you for being so cruel.”

 

“Youkai don't get sick. You can't have it. It was your own fault, deal with it.” InuYasha walked faster.

 

“I'm not a youkai, I'm a hanyou, and we don't know anything about me yet.” Kagome picked up her pace, “and I wouldn't be wet if you hadn't stopped me in the middle of a river! Now give!”

 

“I didn't-“ InuYasha was interrupted when Kagome pounced on him from behind.

 

They tumbled to the ground flipped a couple of times, a testament to Kagome's new strength, before they stopped with him on his belly and Kagome on his back. She recovered quickly and started to tug on InuYasha's collar.

 

“Give it to me!” She trilled.

 

“No!” InuYasha flipped over, putting his back on the ground and tossing Kagome. He sat up to look at Kagome, wide eyed.

 

It didn't take her long to right herself and she pounced on him again, pushing him back to the ground. She straddled his stomach and gigged, “Give it to me InuYasha.”

 

InuYasha's shocked expression faded to realization, he growled and lunged knocking Kagome to the ground and pinning her there with his body.

 

“Give it to me.” Kagome pouted.

 

“No.” InuYasha lowered his face to hers, until their noses almost touched, “You're not strong enough to take it.”

 

Kagome gained footing and managed to half turn InuYasha and escaped, she clawed at his jacket trying to free it. InuYasha grabbed at her hands trying to prevent her from getting what she wanted and she dodged him. Many minutes passed where they clawed and dodged and even rolled on the ground some more before the night air turned bitter to Kagome's wet skin.

 

She once again gained the upper hand, sitting on InuYasha's stomach, and sat straight, her hands resting flat on his chest as he waited, a small grin on his face. She shivered in the wind and seemed to think for a moment. Wrestling was fun, but she was cold… it was time to change tactics.

 

“Well InuYasha, I'll tell you what.” Kagome gave a long suffering sigh, “I may not get your jacket, but I'm not wearing this wet stuff anymore.”

 

Kagome moved her hands to the hem of her pajama top and started to lift it off.

 

“WAIT!” InuYasha sat up, causing Kagome to slide into his lap, “You can't just… undress!”

 

“I can't wear cold wet clothes either.” Kagome looked at him innocently, “I have to get out of them eventually.”

 

“But not in front of me!” InuYasha hurriedly explained, “Here, you can have it, tonight.”

 

InuYasha removed his jacket and handed it to Kagome, who was still in his lap. Kagome took it and wrapped it around herself happily, then pulled her soaked pajama top off under the fire rat jackets cover, and pushed her arms through the sleeves.

 

Kagome stood to make a few adjustments and removed the last of her wet clothes from under InuYasha's jacket. InuYasha hadn't moved, he just kept watching her.

 

She didn't notice him though, she stepped away and gathered her wet clothes then turned to him, “InuYasha, I think we should go back now.” she yawned prettily, “I think I would like to go to sleep now.”

 

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A/N: I want to thank both biggest anime fan and kale5 for reviewing last chapter… those on mediaminer, I'm giving you this one but my polosy is at least one review or I don't update. I don't see the point if no one likes it enough to type three words for it.

 

Biggest anime fan; Naraku? I'm sure he's around here somewhere, pulling himself together. The big question is how long it will take out heros to find him. /At this time I am unable to discuss the extent to which this story, or it's themes, are related to… any of my others, except to say that they were all started at the same time and take place in different universes. That is all. Nice observations though.

 

Kale5; nice review. It didn't give me much fodder for response so I normaly wouldn't comment, but I wanted to compliment the review.

 

Warning, recluse rants! Take with grain of salt.

 

Two general things I would like to say, first, As I said in another fic, my stories are solidly based on the universe that I created for them with the knowledge we had shortly after the first Kouga incident. I am saying this because, through no fault of their own, some people have been quoting new episodes and movies at me as some sort of proof or other about my fics. Two things that annoy me about that, 1. this is a fan fic. I'll just let that stand on its own. 2. You don't know what I've seen. I may be a manga person, they exist on this very site, some of them will only read the manga in the original Japanese (and more power to them). You also don't know what I have available to me. I may not have access to the moves. In fact I don't. I haven't had access to the series since I graduated from college a year ago. (I do have about the first 25 episodes in subbed Japanese thanks to a friend.) So stop it! And don't do it to anyone else either!

 

On to the second rant, well, more like advise. Please review in any way you like but when you catch a misspelling Don't Just Report the Misspelled Words! Especially if its in another language. That's hard and there isn't always consensus. It sounds… rude. I would like to point out that when someone misspells something important ten people before you have left the review “you misspelled _____” I'm sure that getting that many flames would be just as discouraging, but this is defiantly on the list of things that get you down. If your taking the time to point out a editing (I know they can be annoying) error please take the extra seconds to comment on the actual story, it takes the bite off what essentaily sounds like “you stupid ****, why are you such an idiot?”… But that may be my artistic temper speaking.

 

I'm don't want to discourage anyone, at all, but these things have been building since I first started writing. It was kind of fun. That said…

 

Please review! ^_^