InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Returning Home ❯ Walking on air ( Chapter 16 )

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

 

Chapter 16: Walking on air

 

The dawn came too early for Kagome; far too early she was awoken by her own internal stirrings as the sky turned from black to… less black. She didn't get up though, she was far too comfortable, so she lay curled in her sleeping bag, snuggled in the scent of InuYasha and the slightly rough feel of fire rat fur against her skin, until the sun shone and her companions woke. Reluctantly she yawned, stretched and got out of her sleeping bag.

 

“Good morning Ka-“ Sango paused as she caught sight of Kagome wearing InuYasha's jacket, “Kagome?”

 

“Good morning Sango… what's wrong?” Kagome asked, tilting her head slightly.

 

“Good morning Sango, Kagome, nice pajamas,” Miroku returned to camp from the woods. InuYasha dropped to the ground next to Kagome and scowled at him, “InuYasha. I trust you had a nice run?”

 

InuYasha narrowed his eyes at Miroku, “Sure.”

 

“I'm sure you did, but you should really have someone see to those scratches. I would suggest Kagome, but I wouldn't want to worsen your condition.” Miroku said casually as he passed InuYasha on the way to the fire, “Or delay our departure.”

 

InuYasha looked down to his chest which was only partially exposed to see several nearly healed pink lines running from his collar bone and disappearing under his shirt, “That's not what happened!” he yelled in frustration.

 

“What isn't what happened?” Miroku paused in stoking the fire to give him an innocent curious look.

 

“What you're thinking happened.” InuYasha stumbled in his defense.

 

“I fell in the river.” Kagome frowned at Miroku, “I had to take InuYasha's jacket or freeze.”

 

“I gave you that jacket!” InuYasha turned to her.

 

“That's right,” Kagome grinned slyly at him, “you did.”

 

InuYasha blinked at her blankly. She tricked him? She tricked him into thinking it was his idea! Damn it! “Keh. Give it back now.”

 

“All right, all right.” Kagome stood and retrieved her uniform from her backpack, “keep your shirt on.” She giggled as she skipped behind a tree.

 

“Keh.” InuYasha pouted.

 

Soon Kagome came bounding out in her school uniform, “Thank you for loaning it to me, and thanks for the run.” Kagome handed the jacket back to InuYasha and hopped up on her toes to give him a quick kiss on the cheek before turning to face the camp again. She froze on her way to the fire, a small blush forming on her shocked expression. What did she just do?

 

There was a short silence that Kagome wouldn't let mature into a comment. She spun around quickly and said, “Well, Don't stand there all day!” it was said far too brightly and the blush was still across her cheeks. “We have shards and people and villains to find. Get dressed InuYasha, you're slowing us down!” then she hopped merrily over to her sleeping bag.

 

“e-de- what!” InuYasha sputtered.

 

“Wait, Kagome!” Shippo bounded over to her, “don't forget about breakfast!”

 

*

 

Sango walked next to Miroku at the rear of the group with Kirara, allowing the hanyou, and their youkai charges to walk several long paces ahead of them. Miroku was silently contemplating them as they walked and Sango watched him carefully.

 

His gaze slowly dropped lower then needed and Sango was quick to warn him of that, “Houshi-sama…”

“Sango, are Kagome's feet touching the ground?” Miroku asked, a thoughtful frown on his face.

 

Sango looked at the ground under Kagome's shoes and saw that her heals weren't quite touching it, but remained about an inch off the ground every time she put her foot down, “She's walking on her toes!” Sango exclaimed.

 

Miroku nodded, “Perhaps that's why she's moving so differently.”

 

Sango looked at him from the corner of narrowed eyes, “How do you know how she moves?”

 

“Then again, perhaps it is all due to the change in her body. What's that Sango?” Miroku tore his eyes away from Kagome and looked at her, “Well, eh, we have been traveling together for some time, these things are inevitable. I'm sure you have noticed such things yourself.” He answered nervously.

 

Sango huffed slightly and turned her attention back on Kagome. It was true that she moved differently. She had a bit more of a sway to her hips, hardly noticeable unless you knew her before, and a movement to her shoulders that together with the hips would be called sensuous. And yet, every now and then she would skip or jump, as if out of joy, and… just something about her brought the effect down to somewhere between sultry and cute.

 

Sango shook her head, she had been listening to Miroku too long, she shouldn't notice these things about other women. She gave Kagome another look anyway, trying to see what had distracted Miroku from Kagome's body. Her legs moved differently, probably because of the way she held her feet she led with her knee more. Again it was nothing dramatic, but it was the strangest part of her movement.

 

Sango shook her head again, how strange it must be for Kagome to suddenly be different down to the way she walked.

 

“I wonder what the movement of her tail means.” Miroku said casually.

 

“What?” Sango turned to look at Miroku again, his head was tilted and his eyes were trained on what Sango could only hope was her tail.

 

“Look at the way it twirls and… flips as it moves from side to side while she walks.” Miroku elaborated, “It would be interesting to know what that says about her.”

 

“Stop looking at her tail before someone notices.” Sango replied flatly and decided to change the subject, “We have a long way to go before we catch up to where we were.”

 

“A few days, if we continue to travel straight.” Miroku looked at the tree tops ahead of the group, “The road will bend away from our destination soon. If InuYasha chooses to leave it, we could be faced with unknown setbacks.”

 

“Mn.” Sango agreed, “But with the youkai in our party any setback should be fairly… Are you still thinking about her tail?”

 

“Ah, ha.” Miroku rubbed the back of his head with his hand, “Certainly it is natural to be curious in this situation, our friend has just turned into a hanyou after all.”

 

“InuYasha was always a hanyou.” Sango commented flatly.

 

“But, when questioned about certain things, he is more likely to react with violence than to answer the question.” Miroku explained, “With Kagome answers are likely to be attainable with little violence resulting, if one is tactful.”

 

“Right.” Sango shook her head and looked at the pair of hanyou's some distance ahead, “just don't let InuYasha catch you.”

 

“Look at them Sango.” Miroku gave them a calculating look, “Is there anything different about them today?”

 

“Kagome explained that-“

 

“No, not that, I was merely teasing them about last night.” Miroku corrected quickly, “Look at how closely they are walking.”

 

Sango looked again at their friends. They were walking closer to each other then they had been, so close that every now and then their arms would brush.

 

“Are they talking?” Sango asked in a hushed whisper.

 

“I don't think so.” Miroku answered in kind, moving a little closer adding to the secrecy.

 

*

 

Kagome smiled brightly as she squinted against the bright sun, her ears alert and her tail swishing from side to side in a merry, unconcerned fashion. As far as she was concerned the day was perfect.

 

InuYasha was also feeling up, though his thoughts centered more on last nights' run and wrestle than on the current day. He watched the memories as he stayed alert for trouble on the road, and didn't really think on either one. But something was pulling at him, he couldn't quite put his finger on what it was, but it put a small smile, barely noticeable, on his lips.

 

His arm brushed against Kagome's again.

 

Kagome smiled and looked down at Hitomi, asleep in her arms.

 

“How's Shippo doing?” she asked quietly.

 

Shippo was draped over InuYasha's shoulder, fast asleep.

 

“Keh, what daya think?” InuYasha tried to stay gruff, “All kits do is eat, sleep and cause trouble.”

 

“Hmm.” Kagome responded distractedly. Her eyes were closed and her head tilted up and InuYasha could tell she was scenting the air. She was listening at the same time, her ears perked and swiveling slowly, taking in the sounds of the day.

 

He watched in wonder for a while before coming to a decision, “Hey, bi-k-Kagome.”

 

“Hmm?” Kagome opened her eyes slightly and turned her head toward him.

 

InuYasha was scowling now. He couldn't call her a bitch anymore, any idiot knows that bitches and vixens were different.

 

“We're stopping.” He announced, “We're going hunting.”

 

“Hunting?” Kagome cocked her head at him curiously.

 

An indignant cry and sharp slap from behind drew Kagome's attention.

 

InuYasha called back to the pained monk and the angry youkai exterminator, “Hey, we're stopping for lunch.”

 

The humans started in surprise.

 

“What's wrong?” Miroku asked looking from InuYasha to Kagome.

 

“Nothings wrong.” InuYasha took Hitomi from Kagome and handed her to Miroku, “You guys are on your own. I'm taking Kagome and Shippo hunting.”

 

*

 

Kagome sat on her heels, knees apart with her hands on the ground between them, next to Shippo in a bare spot in the brush too small to be called a clearing. They waited with curious expressions for InuYasha to do… something. He was just crouching on the ground, his arms resting on his knees, looking deeper into the woods, ears alert, eyes dark with concentration.

 

Kagome had been unable to recognize the scent InuYasha tried to get her to follow but Shippo had caught it quickly, pointing out that Kagome hadn't been exposed to any prey scents since her transformation.

 

In the end InuYasha had been the one to track the scent this far and now he had to decide how to continue.

 

“Hey, Kagome.” InuYasha made a motion that she should follow him and crept into the bushes.

 

Kagome followed him on her hands and toes as quietly as she could. Her heart was beating so loud she was sure that it would alert any prey before she arrived. It wasn't long before InuYasha stopped and drew her to his side with a motion.

 

Silently, she maneuvered her way to crouch beside him and peered through the foliage. There in another almost clearing she saw a rabbit, nibbling blissfully unaware on a patch of grass.

 

“See him?” InuYasha whispered, the rabbit didn't notice. Kagome nodded, “We're close enough now. You can pounce on him from here.”

 

Kagome turned to look at InuYasha, “pounce?” she mouthed silently.

 

InuYasha gave a harsh nod, “follow your instincts.”

 

Kagome looked back to the unsuspecting prey and flexed her claws. Startled by a strange feeling she raised one hand to her face and repeated the action. Her dainty little claws went from duller then she remembered them being to longer and sharper and even stronger looking, and then back as she flexed and relaxed her hand.

 

InuYasha nudged her roughly to get her back on track, then backed away slightly as she turned back to the prey.

 

`Follow my instincts huh?' Kagome thought as she considered the rabbit. She definitely had an instinctive pull in the back of her mind, but it took her a while to figure out what it was saying.

 

InuYasha watched as Kagome slowly backed up and turned around crawling away from the rabbit, which was still unaware of their presence. Scowling, he moved to follow her.

 

“What the hell are you doing?” he whispered harshly.

 

“You told me to follow my instincts.” Kagome replied in a clipped whisper.

 

“So? Get-“ InuYasha was interrupted as Kagome stopped and sat up from her crawl, causing InuYasha to do the same or run into her. The back of her shoulder touched the front of his and she turned her head, looking up at him, her eyes wide and almost expectant.

 

“My instincts told me to find a big strong male to kill the cute furry creature and bring it back to me.” She blinked innocently at him.

 

“Yep,” Shippo nodded sagely, apparently she had led them back to the kit, “she's a vixen alright.”

 

InuYasha rolled his eyes and scowled at the kit while he edged away from the vixen, “Vixens can hunt.” He stated.

 

“I can fish.” Kagome announced as if from deep thought, “Fishing I'll do.”

 

*

 

Kagome returned to the others while InuYasha was out teaching Shippo, but she didn't join them. Instead she lurked in the bushes just outside of camp, observing them. They ate a cold lunch without a fire.

 

“Pst, Hitomi.” She hissed quietly, “Over here.”

 

The blind kit raised her head and turned toward her. Hitomi carefully stuffed the rest of the food in her mouth and toddled over to her. Kagome reached out and pulled her into cover.

 

“InuYasha tried to teach me to hunt.” Kagome said, “I knew what I was supposed to do, but I couldn't.”

 

Hitomi listened and nodded, “Destiny says that your age and relationship to InuYasha makes you think he should be hunting for you.”

 

“What relationship?” Kagome tilted her head in confusion.

 

Hitomi shrugged, “Destiny says you don't think he should be asking you to hunt at this point.”

 

“What?” Kagome sat back, completely lost, “I don't understand… InuYasha's just my-”

 

“Kagome!” Kagome spun around at the sound of Shippo's voice, “I caught a bird!” Shippo had a big smile on his face and a bird almost as large as him in front of him.

 

“Shippo! Don't scare me like that!” Kagome sagged in relief, “Um that's a nice bird Shippo, but what happened to the rabbit?”

 

Shippo shrugged. “InuYasha wants you to come back. Come on Hitomi; I'll share my bird with you.”

 

“Ok Shippo.” Hitomi scrambled around Kagome and ran face first into Shippo's bird, “Ew.”

 

Shippo freed one hand by heaving the carcass over his shoulder and taking her hand in his, “This way.” He said as he led the way back.

 

*

 

A/N: Ah the foreshadowing, its light, but it's there. And about the kiss, or rather Kagomes reaction to it, I know some of you will be thinking that I forgot about all those kisses in A Taste of Power, trust me, I know what I'm doing.

 

Chinese-freak- the three fates, strange? Yes, but Sorrell was modeled after a Greek look. So they sort of fit. Thanks for the review.

 

chibi moon baby- we haven't seen the end of the “dark” just yet, but neither is it the end of fluff.

 

notzathros- Thank you for reviewing, and such a nice one too. I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well.

 

biggest anime fan- I don't know why this story isn't reviewed much… those that do review tend to be very happy about it.

 

Lady of Imladris- Punctuation problems? I wonder if you're referring to my irrational aversion of the semi-colon, or my war with the apostrophe. I can never remember when it goes before or after the “s” in some words. I'm a work in progress and I'll admit it. Thanks for the review, I'll keep it in mind when editing.

 

Thanks again to everyone that reviewed.