InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Scorched ❯ Hell for Some ( Chapter 7 )
Not much, really...
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Action / Hentai / Romance / Suspense | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 01.23.2005 | Updated On: 01.23.2005 | Pages: 5 | Words: 12.6K | Visits: 842 | Status: Work In Progress
*~*~*
Kagura sped through the hallway, her feet moving her as fast as possible without making it sound like she was running for her life. It was like her owner had nothing better to do than annoy her with stupid situations and questions, when he knew damn well she should be working for the king of all things tainted and evil.
Her beeper sounded again urgently, and she scowled angrily at the device planted on her hip. Dammit, Naraku, keep your shirt on! I’m coming…
Sesshoumaru-sama hadn’t summoned her for the day, but she didn’t want to be caught speaking with Naraku in a place that he just may find her. He’d find her if he was looking for her, she knew that, but he never seemed to have a reason to speak with her in person. She hadn’t been working for him that long, but he kept her busy with files of all sorts, and she’d never once even spoken to him face-to-face. He’d place the files on her desk before she arrived in the morning and leave, and she’d have the rest of the day to follow the orders instructed on paper, pinned to each and every file there was.
She was slightly surprised he didn’t seem angry the other morning when he spoke to her on the phone. He actually seemed amused more than anything. Apparently, his baby brother had been playing in his club, and the whole building collapsed the other night in a fiery explosion. He expressed no emotion when speaking about it, just simply stated, “Set orders for the construction of the new club building”. She did as told without question like a good girl, except she couldn’t help but research his baby brother’s past to find out more about the demon prince of their apparent world.
Inuyasha was a Hanyou, though, and so therefore, he was no prince. Royalty was full blooded. However, his lack of demon blood didn’t keep him from causing his own havoc on everything that crossed his path. He didn’t put up with shit from anyone, even Fluffy dearest, and he happens to be the oldest known living hanyou there is because of it.
She had a strange irking that Inu-chan would be a major flaw in Naraku’s plans before it was over.
The beeper rang again and she growled to herself, slamming her back behind a pillar in the main hallway of the building. She lifted her phone and dialed the mesmerized number, then hesitantly placed it to her ear.
“What kept you?”
“Bastard, you know I have work to do. What the hell do you want? I’m very busy.”
Naraku chuckled lightly. “I’m sure. Always to the point, right?”
She hissed venomously. “Damn you.”
“Very well. What news from Kouga?”
“He said that he took care of her, skinned her alive and such. Left nothing for the cops to find.”
Once again, he chuckled, sighing a deep sigh. “Well, then, I’ll have to kill him.”
Kagura took time to look around the outside of the pillars, checking for intruders and eavesdroppers, before raising her eyebrows in confusion. “What are you talking about? He did what you told him to do, and you’re going to kill him for it?”
“He lied to you, Kagura. He didn’t kill her. Quite the contrary, he made her more invincible than before, though how he did so is still quite baffling.”
She grunted. “Surprise, surprise; someone tried to betray you, like you’re trying to betray the demon race.”
“Be careful, Kagura, or I’ll cut your time shorter than it already is.”
She suddenly sensed eyes watching her, digging in to the very thing that made her a demon, burning holes into her soul. She flicked the phone shut before looking up to her right slowly.
Chills went down her spine upon laying eyes on the deadliest of nightmares, which just happened to be staring intently at her. Even in his original Japanese clothing that made him seem something akin to a god, he made her want to obey his every command, just so that she could be seen in his good favors.
She hated that.
Kagura gulped nervously. “Lord Sesshoumaru-sama…wh-what brings you out so late?”
His golden amber eyes switched curiously between the phone in her hands and her face before his eyes narrowed, and his brows furrowed ever so slightly. “Down.”
She felt her demon body rushing to comply, every known sense in her body attempting to throw her on her knees. Her mind raced with dizzying thoughts of compliance, frantically moving to do anything to save her hide. Her muscles contracted uncontrollably and finally pulled her down on her hands and knees before his feet, exactly where he wanted her.
Her eyes blinked in morbid amazement. She was definitely in some deep shit if he was commanding her to bow to him like he commanded all creatures he intended to kill, just to show them that the king was still the king.
“‘Surprise, surprise, someone tried to betray you, like you’re betraying the demon race.’” A small smirk enlightened his features, terrifying Kagura even further. “My, my…Naraku’s been a naughty boy.”
Kagura slowly looked up at him, but his gaze was too powerful, so she faced the floor again.
“Perhaps you could enlighten me to the intentions Naraku had with the human Miko, and why he planned to conspire against me through you, a wench that not only knows nothing of secrecy, but cannot even have a private conversation out of my hearing range.”
A strangled sob escaped her throat, and she placed her forehead on the floor between her sprawled hands as she fought the frightened tears threatening to fall. “H-he’d kill me, Sesshoumaru-sama.”
His eyes slimed even further. “Will he, now?”
“He-he holds my heart in his hands, Sesshoumaru-sama…he’ll destroy me if I disobey him.”
“So you intended to die by my hands and not your precious lord?”
Anger boomed in his aura, only so slightly, but it was still there. Her fright rose even higher, her head sinking even further to his feet. “Please don’t hurt me, Sesshoumaru-sama; I only obeyed him because I wanted time to plot against him. I want our freedom from him, but I never actually intended to betray you. To do so is certain death, please believe me…”
His silence was just as thunderous as his voice. She waited patiently for anything; for death, for slashes, for pain, for more talk, but he said nothing, and it horrified her more than she wanted to believe she could be horrified.
After what seemed like forever, he spoke and relieved her of the godforsaken tension. “I believe you.”
She rose slowly to her knees, almost smiling in relief as she dared to look into his eyes. “You do?”
“There is no lie in your scent.”
“Th-thank you!”
“Would you really like your freedom, Kagura?”
The question was a no-brainer, but she refrained from snorting so that she wouldn’t get hurt. “More than anything, my lord.”
“Then you will continue to work for me. I will deal with Naraku on my own, and I will grant you your freedom, on one condition.”
“Anything.”
He inwardly grinned. It was so easy being the king, especially when you could get simple second-class demons to obey you so easily. He would never have it any other way. “You obey me, and me alone. Lead Naraku to believe you are obeying him, if necessary, but I will be the only one you will listen to.”
She clasped her hands together shamelessly in praise. “Thank you, thank you Sesshoumaru-sama!”
“You do well with the paperwork, Kagura; get back to your station.” With that, he turned and left her to her work. He had more important fish to fry, and Inuyasha was the whale.
Honestly, he knew that Inuyasha was there to snatch something from his club, but the wench he’d experimented with was a whole other story. Not only had Inuyasha further screwed over the diabolical plans of Naraku, but his own blood can continue to watch over her. Inuyasha was a hard one to kill, and he was at times rather pathetically possessive of things that are around him.
What have you done with my little guinea pig, brother?
He was a naturally curious demon, and his interference with Kouga’s plan had certainly done something to her, but did it work like it was supposed to? Was there a new dog demon around?
He doubted it. The king didn’t always know everything.
But no one else would know that.
He would have to pay them a visit to find out just exactly what had happened to her.
Kagura stood and brushed off her skirt, hands still shaking from the confrontation, but her soul felt enlightened by this chance at freedom. Sesshoumaru had never been known to be generous by any means; perhaps his curiosity is getting the better of him? Or maybe he felt bad for locking up Hana the deer demon and wanted to make it up to someone? Sesshoumaru wouldn’t let the child that relationship produced live for very long; he couldn’t because it was unethical, and ridiculous.
Personally, she didn’t care. As long as she had Sesshoumaru on her side, she would never care about anything else.
She headed towards the bathroom for her daily touchup, her mood uplifted completely. A grin spread across her face, as wicked as the devil smirking at a victim. This was the best day of her life.
Naraku was going down.
*~*~*
The drive had taken them a couple of hours, so everyone had fallen asleep. Everyone except Inuyasha, that is. He kept his eyes open and alert in the darkness of the car, letting his mind wander to matters that would involve what would happen in the future, what he would have to avoid, and things that he’d like to happen that were probably never going to.
It was agreed between them that they would have to stay low for a while, especially with injured weaklings (ahem, comrades). He knew, though, that he wouldn’t be able to completely stay out of this demon war, even though he really didn’t have to be involved at all. However, he was a half-breed, and he was exactly what they wanted to avoid in the future, and this goddamn bloodbath on the way just had to stop, or there wouldn’t be anything left for anyone to do anything. There would be nothing but massive devastation.
The Hanyou sighed gruffly. Poor humans; things were never going to be the same for them again. Once the demons began getting more aggressive, lives were going to be lost, buildings would fall, and all sorts of helpless people were going to suffer for no reason. He wasn’t exactly an idle being on the planet, but the sadness and total warfare would be something he could definitely live without, which was why he chose to fight on the good side with others that were intended to be good.
Kagome was supposed to be a Miko, to help save them from the utter destruction that had barely begun. So far, however, she just proved to be a highly sexy, yet strangely confusing wench who was prone to damage and anger by anything that wasn’t familiar to her.
Inuyasha snorted loudly, but quickly looked around to make certain that he hadn’t woken the others. The girl couldn’t last a damn minute without me. She needs me to protect her and argue with her, or she’s not going to survive.
Or he wouldn’t, from the sexual tension that was building every second she was nearby, which had been a good couple of hours by now. He couldn’t help but want to touch the soft skin of her face, the graceful curves of her back, the subtle mounds of her breasts… She was a human goddess that already knew how to push every one of his buttons, and since she’d managed to distract almost all the thoughts that went through his occupied head, he knew that ignoring his desires for her were going to be hell, for however long he was to be with her.
He was halfway ashamed of himself for suddenly being so horny half the time, but the girl was so intriguing that she managed to invade every thought that had entered his mind. It was like she had somehow brainwashed him, but blaming his righteous annoyance on her when she hadn’t truly done anything wasn’t at all fair.
Although, it was a hell of a lot easier…
He often wondered of the things he didn’t know, like what she thought of demons being in the world now, what she thought of being stuck with him, but then his mind would wonder to facts like her bra and underwear size, and then he’d have to do a virtual mind cleaning that wouldn’t help him a damn bit in the future.
How one so intelligent could be so naïve at the same time, he didn’t know. Kagome was smart enough to keep her grades up in a school. She was smart enough to teach some of the goddamn college classes that she would never be taking again. She was even smart enough to remain chaste for a “special someone” that he doubted she’d have ever met, anyway. But, she was dense enough to think that the only reasons demons didn’t exist was because the textbooks said they didn’t, thus a big flaw in her mind’s programming.
The one that mattered the most to him was the chastity. The thought of another man handling her in such a way, touching her, holding her…his blood boiled at the thought. He protected her, so he could at least dream, but he’d be damned if he’d let someone lay a hand on her while she was under his care. He considered it another qualification of his job description.
Ok, so perhaps it went deeper than that, but he also thought it ridiculous that he dreamt of her in such a way when he barely knew her. That’s why any possible excuse he could come up with was a good one.
That’s when his gaze had traveled to the slumbering girl in the limo, her features occasionally highlighted by the streetlights overhead. She was too young and beautiful to have someone after her life constantly like he had ever since he was born. She was already messed up from Kouga’s confrontation, and it drove him livid. Her face was bruised, her wrist broken, scrapes everywhere on her body, including the ones on her back, and he wanted nothing more than for her to heal as quickly as possible so that they could both kick Kouga’s fucking ass again.
Those scuffs were quite vicious, and some were rather deep, he could tell from just the scent of her body. When Kouga had slammed her into the ground, the momentum took them both a couple of yards down the pavement, scraping on random slabs of cement, cracks, and other uneven surfaces, but her demon was too angry with him to notice that her back was bruised and bloody at the time.
They didn’t realize it, either, until just before she fell asleep, when she noted a wetness sticking her to the leather seats of the limo. Now Sango was resting against her, using the pad pressed between her back and her shirt as the pillow to keep the wounds from re-opening. He’d bandage her for real when they reached their destination.
She had said that the last person she remembered after Kouga had given her the drug was practically a voice, and nothing more. Her vision at the time was so clouded that she viewed nothing but a blurry figure standing by her side. The only other information she could give was his firm actions, and strange, yet curious state of mind when he had undoubtedly touched her forehead.
Inuyasha became suspicious of his brother at that point in time, but he had no full proof. Accusing the great “Lord Sesshoumaru” falsely was a catastrophe waiting to happen, even for him.
His ears twitched annoyingly with the shifting of Miroku in his half sitting, half lying pose, conveniently bringing him closer to Kira, who had a clawed hand resting on his head to make certain that it didn’t move anywhere it wasn’t supposed to. The Hanyou huffed in amusement. Demons were always on guard, even when they slept, and Kira knew a pervert when she saw one.
Kagome dreamily sighed, but in that one little movement he could hear the bruising in her lungs, and how much it probably hurt her to breathe. He wished he could do something more right now, even if she would let him.
He frowned down at her, almost sourly. Just what the hell was she? She’d been born human, but it was apparent that demon blood lived inside of her now; she wasn’t human if she had the demon, but the same if she had the human. It was almost like she was…half and half.
A Hanyou, just like him.
It would be nice to know exactly what had happened, but she was too tired to wake up right now, and even if she knew anything, she could possibly not have all the facts needed to assess the situation.
All he knew was that it pissed him off to no extent that he couldn’t figure things out. He hated the stupid feeling he got that accompanied it.
His gaze swept to the window, the trees of the forest surrounding them covering the roads and important places in the conurbation. Out here is where he hid, away from the city and back into the more natural comforts of nature. Away from the lights, sounds, smells and thoughts that accompanied him in the depression that would follow a long stay in the metropolis. The fresh air out here would calm things for a while, hopefully, anyway, until the rap cooled and Inuyasha could figure out what to do about the situation.
The secret driveway that led to his cabin showed up, and he watched the trees pass like prison bars to the rest of the forest behind them. He gave Kagome one last glance as the large wooden building appeared slowly in a clearing, partially buried beneath a hill of dirt and trees. Once the limo parked, he woke everyone else up and carried Kagome in himself so that he could properly bandage her while she slept in his bedroom.
Of course, she didn’t stay asleep, and she had proceeded to give him hell all night for being “a sneaky pervert that undressed women in their sleep”. It wasn’t true, of course, but apparently the wild did more than refresh the homing senses; it drove the normally sane insane. They were both so angry that neither of them slept, even though he forced Kagome to let him stay in the room while she pouted sadly on the bed, not once sparing him a sorry glance.
And that’s also why the monk would choose to bring up things he normally wouldn’t in public; the comforts of the cabin had him quite at home this morning. “Uh, Kagome-sama? I…ah, wonder if you realize the state of dress you’re in this morning?”
She glowered at Miroku sitting at the kitchen table, while taking her glass of orange juice from Sango. It was way too damn early to be putting up with perverts, in her opinion; especially at seven in the morning. She had to deal with one all night, too. “Yes, dammit, I know, but I have no choice. Inuyasha won’t let me wear anything else with these massive scrapes on my back.”
“That’s because I don’t want to hear you bitching about it hurting,” he stated nonchalantly from his position at the table, just barely looking away from the newspaper in his hand, picking up his expensive bottle of wine to suck it down like it was soda. He’d cooled down plenty, deciding to take amusement in her childish anger instead, just to immaturely irritate her back. “Besides, it’s easier to apply medication on them, and you know it. We’ve already been through this.”
Sango took a glance at her outfit, which happened to be a pair of red men pajama pants, and a white baggy shirt that buttoned up the front, but she wore it backwards so it buttoned up the back. The facts that were very obvious to everyone in the baggy clothes was not only were they Inuyasha’s, but she wasn’t wearing anything else underneath the shirt.
The reason they were Inuyasha’s was because she refused to change out of them with him in the room, and he had yet to leave her alone since she’d woken up and accused him of being a pervert.
Miroku sighed blissfully while sipping his tea, staring at the women quite dreamily, but the sudden jolt of a metal boot tip kicking into his shin had him coughing his drink back out of his lungs. Inuyasha snarled dangerously low in warning, giving him a glare that could curdle milk, and went back to his paper.
Kagome shifted uneasily on her feet and cleared her throat. “Henceforth, the pain of the scrapes has prevented me from being diffident and wearing better support, MONK, so don’t look at me. It’s not my fault Kouga rode me to the ground.”
“You could have better support if you’d stop being such a wimp and let me wrap them properly,” Inuyasha snapped childishly under his breath, taking a rather large swig of his wine.
Kagome sipped her orange juice and frowned at him. “I don’t need it, thank you, and if I don’t let doctors do things to me like that while I’m conscious, why the hell should I let you?”
“Because I’m not a doctor, I’m your guardian. You should fucking trust me; I know what the hell I’m doing. But if you want to be unconscious…” he trailed off and shrugged.
She gaped. “NO, I do not need to be unconscious! This is all the better the wrapping is going to get, so get over it.” She grabbed her pancakes from Sango and limped awkwardly away to the room that she declared hers, even though coincidentally, Inuyasha had put her there first, and he rested on the futon couch beside the Victorian dresser at night. She secretly felt safer with him in the room, anyway; besides, she couldn’t get him to sleep anywhere else.
Sango passed a small glance at Inuyasha before handing him a plate of her pancakes. “You know, Kagome’s just really picky with men these days. After what Hojo did to her, I don’t doubt it.”
Inuyasha looked ready to spit out the wine, but he refrained from doing so as he straightened his spine and gave her his attention. “Hojo? As in, Don Hojo, the dirt bag bastard of the human race?” He spat in disbelief.
Sango blinked at him pointlessly. “I knew he was a jerk…don’t tell that to Kagome, though.”
He snorted as he righted himself in the seat again, taking a sloppy bite of pancakes. “Hey, these aren’t half bad…”
“Just let me wrap her, Inuyasha. She’d feel better if I did it.”
“No.”
She frowned at his instant response. “But—”
“I said no, I’ll handle her injuries. It’s my job.”
Rolling her eyes, Sango took her plate of pancakes back with a huff, leaving a damn-near pouting hanyou in its wake. “Be careful, Inuyasha; she doesn’t let anyone boss her around, like I don’t.”
“Hey, I wasn’t finished with those! Give them back, dammit!”
She eyed him carefully. “No.”
Frustrated, he growled and stood up, nearly knocking the wooden chair over. “Bitch…” he muttered audibly. He could not believe he had agreed to live in this hellhole full of selfish, stupid morons.
He glanced once at the clock on the wall and decided that it was time to change Kagome’s bandages, anyway; he could go fight with her over the bandaging process instead of with the karate bitch in the kitchen. Her punishment would be getting left alone with Miroku; that would show her.
A part of their argument was flying around in his head again, and he grunted. He wasn’t a fucking pervert like she was trying to make him out to be. It wasn’t like he was ogling her goddamn chest; he just wanted the bandages to be done correctly so that she didn’t catch an infection. And of course, for him to properly wrap her, she may just be a little wary of his hands, but the goal wasn’t to touch her, it was to help her get better.
Although she was a very attractive human…and as he learned during the night, a very feisty one, with stubborn arguing capabilities surpassing that of any woman he’d ever known. It took arguments and regular fighting to a whole new level. She certainly spoke her mind, and when she didn’t agree, she’d let you know. That’s another quality that he enjoyed about her; she’d argue a point even over the stupidest things.
That was one of the many things that he had known about her that she probably didn’t even know about herself using the information that he’d researched over her with the files on his computer. Sometimes he enjoyed all the little useless facts he now had stored away in his mind for future use. He’d surprise her one of these days.
Get it together, idiot; you’re not going to go in there looking like hell. You’d piss her off more by still thinking she’s being cute pouting like she probably is.
He turned the doorknob and entered, just slightly surprised that she hadn’t locked it. Maybe she figured the most that would have resulted in was a strict unnecessary bitching, since it was his room, and he had the right to go in if he wanted to.
He found her sitting on his bed, staring off blindly into space, her back arched oddly because of the scrapes between her shoulder blades, and her feet lightly hanging off the side. She appeared thoughtful, blissfully unaware of his presence in the room as she stared at something he couldn’t see, somewhere that he was sure he didn’t really want to go.
He removed his leather coat and carelessly sat it on the futon, leaving him in a black wife-beater and pants. Kagome woke from her stupor in space with a start, gasped at him and then sighed, holding her arm protectively on her chest. “Oh…it’s you.”
“Yeah, it’s me. This was my room before you made it yours; expect me to want access to it every once in a while.”
She blinked, nonchalantly, and worried her lower lip as her gaze flew to a random bookcase across the room by the bathroom door, towering with novels and encyclopedias. “Are those yours?”
“No, my room’s a personal library; I occasionally check books out to young children.”
Ignoring his sarcasm, she scoffed, musing silently to herself in surprise. “I didn’t know you read.”
“Of course I read, wench; just because I’m a criminal half-demon doesn’t mean I’m illiterate.”
Kagome sensed the underlying bitterness, and she could feel her inner person wince. She never meant to offend him like that (unless they were fighting, then it was ok). “That’s not what I meant.”
He bitterly mumbled something under his breath, but Kagome couldn’t hear it. She watched him in fascination as he walked to the bookcase and stretched to the top-shelf, taking particular interest to the muscles of his back, and the way they seemed to move incredibly lithely beneath his skin. Of course, had she stared too long, she would have been in trouble with his demon instincts and scent, and knowing that, she backed off the heated stare in favor of noticing the book he’d chosen to bring down, instead.
He stared at the book’s cover as he turned around, curiously tapping it against his palm as he spoke. “You’re a smart wench, aren’t you?” Kagome didn’t reply because she didn’t think he wanted an answer. She watched as his ears moved to her first, then his incredible eyes that she could die looking into as he tossed the book into her hands. “Read that, and then tell me exactly what you believe it means. It took me, the illiterate, a hundred years to fully understand it.”
Kagome frowned at him meaningfully. “I didn’t mean that you’re illiterate, Inuyasha. I know you’re smarter than that. You’re probably smarter than me.”
He snorted. “Whatever.”
Her eyes hit her lap, and the novel she was looking upon no less than stunned her. “The Tale of Genji. Good gods…it’s in Japanese…”
“The first physiological and true novel ever written…during Japan’s Heian Period, I think…Not too foreign for you, is it?”
She blinked in amazement. This was a novel that her college professors always said that analyzing was best left to the professionals, since they were still trying to figure it out. It was an ancient book, so who really knew when it was published (at least a thousand years ago, if it was the Heian Period), and it was in the original Japanese text the brilliant writer had put it in.
Hell, she’d read it; Japanese was her second language…she’d study it like she’d never studied anything before, just to prove her professors wrong. Maybe, even if only to herself, to impress Inuyasha.
Said Hanyou heaved a lonely breath and carelessly popped his knuckles. “You can read it later. You’ll have plenty of time to ogle it since you took over my room.”
Giving him the best dull stare she could, she placed the book on the floor by her shoes. “You put me in here.”
“Because I want you somewhere safe, and this room is the safest.”
Kagome stilled, pulling her legs up to an Indian style position so that she could look at her lap instead of him. Even after fighting and arguing he put her safety first. Granted, it was wonderful that someone out there pretended to care about her by demanding her protection come first, but to want it enough to sacrifice his own privacy was almost insane.
His ears twitched with the sound of her sigh. He didn’t have to look at her to know that she was thinking; her confusion hung on the air like heavy humidity, making the air seem thicker than it was. Don’t worry, wench, we’ll figure you out soon enough.
He smirked quite suddenly with the demeanor change when he remembered what he’d come in here to do. Perhaps he could have a little fun, after all. “Time for a bandage change.”
She frowned heatedly at him. “They don’t need changed; they’re fine.”
He cocked both eyebrows at her languidly. “I don’t think so. I can smell the blood again.”
“Of course you can.”
“Look, don’t make this harder than it has to be, just let me do this, and then you can go back to pouting.”
She scowled quietly. “Just get it over with, asshole.”
Inuyasha moved closer towards the bed with a grimace. “I’m not the plague, wench; just remember that I saved your sorry ass.”
The moment of pause almost made him smirk. He had to make her think for a second; a rarity for one as supposedly brilliant as she was. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”
“Sure.” He positioned himself comfortably behind her, mimicking her crossed legs, and slowly began unbuttoning his own dress shirt, careful not to press the cloth into the scrapes of her back.
Immediately, her wounds came to life. Her normally smooth and flawless skin was horridly covered in scratches, some just harmless looking scrapes, others gaping slices that would have needed stitches if he’d been willing to take her to a public hospital. He winced just at the sight of them, but remembered what he was supposed to be doing and carefully began the sticky process of peeling the rest of the bandages off her back.
Kagome hissed when his fingers accidentally brushed the worst of wounds down the center of her spine. Despite her pain, she seemed now more than ever determined to keep her modesty; her arms held her shirt to her chest, even though awkward with one in a cast, but they were bent enough that they were tensing the muscles of her back, possibly worsening the wounds as the muscles pulled her skin apart.
She could feel his chest rumbling in frustration and mild irritation, even though he wasn’t touching her with anything other than his hands, and that sort of reaction had her sitting on the edge of a virtual cliff. “What?”
“Look…you’re going to have to let me wrap the bandages properly, and you’re going to have to forget about being modest for now, or you’re going to stretch the wounds open.”
She remained quiet for the longest time, pondering over her modesty. He decided that it must have been important to human bitches to keep their modesty in tact, so he grabbed the nearest container, opened it and began rubbing the cold antiseptic on her wounds with the tips of his fingers, in globs that resembled spooned Vaseline and stank of bacteria-fighting chemicals.
Her shoulders were still slightly tense, and she swallowed carefully, as if trying to think of a way to voice her thoughts without sounding stupid or juvenile. “You…you won’t look? You promise?”
Inuyasha rolled his eyes, even though she couldn’t see him, and even though that’s exactly what his instincts wanted to do. He’d finally gotten her to at least consider what he’d been trying to get her to do all night, so there was no need to change her mind. “No, I promise, so help me god, I won’t look.”
So, he couldn’t look at her breasts, and he’d honor that…maybe…The rule didn’t, however, keep him from watching her drop the shirt slowly, relaxing her shoulders and pulling it carefully off her arms. “If your hands or eyes stray, I swear to the gods that I’ll castrate you.”
“‘K…” He mouthed absently, but he began unwrapping the bandage on the roll, and finally decided that he should begin wrapping her up properly before his eyes fall victim to the goddess before him. He noted that’d be difficult if she was going to sit with her shoulders awkwardly hugging her sides, hunched up in a position she’d only sit in for this session.
He was tired of being patient, though; the gunk on her back was making his head hurt.
“Lift your arms,” he ordered gently, and as she complied he placed the back of the bandage on the small of her back, and he moved closer as he began the awkward process of wrapping her, around her waist and back to her back again.
Gods, Inuyasha, why do you have to be so damn attractive?! She kept her eyes straight ahead of herself, every sense of her body except for sight focusing on his arms carefully wrapping her abdomen in a cast, and the line of his body directly behind her, giving off heat and a strangely almost…wild scent.
Does Inuyasha wear cologne of any sort, or is that a natural scent?
She prayed to anyone that would listen that he didn’t notice her reaction to the chilliness of the room and her inappropriate thoughts. He wouldn’t as long as he kept his promise.
Eager to make conversation, Inuyasha cleared his throat, pulling a particular strip a little tighter obnoxiously to watch her gasp and her chest rise. He almost felt sorry about that. “So, tell me what happened with Kouga.”
She sighed tenderly, the tension already seeping out of her shoulders. “He showed up a couple of hours after Sango left. Something had told me that he was a bad person right off the bat, but I was too mad at myself to listen to anything other than the doorbell. He threatened me first, and then he threatened my family’s lives, so I agreed to let him take me.”
Inuyasha glared at her back, and he knew she felt it when she tensed again. “You did?”
“Yes, I did. I value the lives of my family a lot, Inuyasha, and when Kouga had told me that he killed Hojo, I knew that he would kill anyone if he had to.”
“Kouga was supposed to kill you,” he mused, preparing himself for moving up the ladders and wrapping the bandaging around her chest. Keeping her talking would keep her attention off of it, and make him seem less like a lecher. He had to admit, though, it was hard ignoring the glorious mounds, and her obvious reaction to his attention, and the chilliness of the room…
Yeah, he looked…but he hadn’t meant to. It was kinda hard ignoring them when one was about ready to wrap them up.
“That’s what he said, too, but then he told me…if…if I c-cooperate…dammit, your hands are cold! H-Hey! Watch what you’re doing!”
“Look, I can’t help that, just keep talking and ignore me, dammit!”
She fumed momentarily at the ridiculous command, being as he didn’t know it was practically impossible to ignore cold fingertips skimming the sides of her breasts, but because he seemed to insistent on wrapping her properly, she decided to do what he told her. She made certain to huff childishly so that he knew how much of a challenging and unnecessary task this was to her, despite the fact that her stomach felt like it would either explode or cave into itself. “IF I cooperate, he’d let me live. He told me then that he was going to play with the rules, and he told me that he’d change my species into a wolf demon so that I could be his mate…”
He paused, mid wrapping between her shoulder blades. Nah, too easy…Kouga can’t have her, so I won’t get angry over it. “That idiot was trying to change your species? That’s not possible.”
“I thought so, too, but you tell that to him. There’s something wrong with me now, I just know that it didn’t turn out the way it was supposed to.”
He finally finished to his liking, tucking the last of the strap between the wrapping and her shoulder blades. “Finished. That wasn’t so hard, now was it?”
“Hmph, bastard…”
The bedroom door slammed open, and two shocking things happened at once: Inuyasha grabbed Kagome and pulled her tight against his chest for protection, and the knife he carried on his belt was pulled and held out towards the opposing threat. Kagome swore silently as his hands crushed her wounds into his chest, but more importantly, his hands had planted themselves directly beneath her breasts, and the possessive hold on her reminded her of just how virginal she was, and how overprotective he was.
Miroku stood in the doorway with a cheesy grin on his face, and once Inuyasha realized it was him, a low growl settled low into his throat and vibrated through his entire body as he sighed and relaxed with relief.
“I apologize for whatever I may have just…ah, interrupted, but the news is on and it’s important that you view it.”
“Out, monk,” Inuyasha seethed, leaning inwards and sheltering Kagome’s bandaged body with his own, even though she was completely covered.
“Well, Inuyasha—”
“I said, out.”
Miroku shrugged humbly and gripped the doorknob to comply, but before he was completely out, he managed a lecherous wink at them both.
Inuyasha frowned at the door, grumpily placing his knife back on his belt and carefully releasing Kagome again. He then hooked a claw under the bottom of her bandaging curiously, once again shocking her from any stupor she may have thought about thinking about. “Can you breathe ok?”
Kagome inhaled to test it, noting that the only change was the bandaging forced her chest to rise instead of her stomach, but breathing wasn’t any harder. “Yeah, I’m fine.”
Placing his white dress shirt properly over her shoulders, he stood and offered a devilishly clawed hand to help her stand. While looking up at him like this was cliché, she couldn’t help but be pleased at his gesture. It was the first time anyone had ever done it for her…anyone male, anyway.
Inuyasha’s bipolar streak hit again after he’d helped her stand, as he became deadly serious, quickly placing his coat back on his shoulders as if it were cold. Kagome wrapped a spare blanket around herself rather than mess with the top, and both walked out of the room to the living room, where everyone had congregated to watch the important happenings on the little screen.
It hasn’t even been a day yet…what could be happening?
“…But apparently, these odd, twisted creatures have been searching for her for days, and they’ll stop at nothing to find her. Kagome, along with her roommate Sango Ling, have been missing longer than the bulletin was put out, but the FBI insists that they haven’t run away, they were simply kidnapped.”
They sat on the couch in the middle of the announcement that everyone else was engrossed in. The demons have revealed themselves; that much is known, and now the entire nation is looking for her, because she’s what the demons want. It made an unexplainable ball of guilt well into the pits of her stomach.
“The rampage these so called ‘demons’ have placed upon the city continues to grow. Demands haven’t quite been leveled out; the demons threaten violence, and because they are so inhuman in appearance, most do what’s ordered immediately.”
Sango sighed. “Great…just fucking great. Kouga’s put a bulletin out for Kagome. He wants her back.”
“Fucking bastard…” Inuyasha spat, and everyone couldn’t help but agree.
“…as for the missing, the list continues to grow, but hope of finding any of them will not be assured until the first two, Sango and Kagome, are found. More reports at eleven.”
A chill flew down her spine, and Kagome straightened, her brows snapping angrily at the television. “They’re looking for me? Why did Kouga get them all so involved in finding me? He’s not the boss!”
“Maybe not, but whoever is Kouga’s boss might have the other demons worried enough to follow his orders,” Kira explained.
“So, what, everyone’s supposed to just report me? I guess I wasn’t paying attention.”
Sango stared at her carefully. “Basically, the demons have put ‘wanted’ signs out for you. Mostly dead.”
“Damn,” Miroku seethed, and for the first time for anyone in this room, they witnessed his face becoming twisted in undeniable anger. “They’re moving fast for a demon force. I thought we’d have more time than this.”
The Hanyou turned the television off, angrily tossing the remote control onto a random end of the couch. “Yeah, well, we can’t do a damn thing about it right now. People have injuries, and we can’t leave without being found.”
Kira frowned thoughtfully, cupping her chin gracefully between her kitty-clawed fingers. “We can research. Our equipment downstairs might be able to give us ideas.”
“Well that’s something; go do it.”
She motioned for her kitsune counterpart and Sango and Miroku to follow her into the basement, and like a good little group of slaves, they obeyed. The computer wasn’t necessarily Inuyasha’s area of strength, so he chose to stay upstairs with Kagome. Computers probably wouldn’t interest her anyway; she’d just get bored down in the basement, and then he’d have to listen to her bitch about it.
The sound of chattering from the television made him realize that Kagome had turned the TV back on again, sometime during his thoughts. She sat forward as much as she could on the cushions, watching it with an unreadable expression, soaking in every bit of information that she could on the events.
He was really worried about her. No one would understand her difficulty with assessing the situation unless she would start talking about it, but he didn’t want her to do that. She would probably cry, become upset, and demand that it was her fault that everything bad in the world was happening.
She was a beautiful person, inside and out, and it would upset him to see her putting herself down. The world was brighter with people like her around to annoy him.
Inuyasha cursed mentally, for it was at that time he’d noticed how warm it was in the room, and how close he was sitting to his beautiful companion. His eyes skimmed her covered body, imagining the curves he’d memorized underneath, the soft skin bending under the binds of the cloth on her abdomen. She smelled so divinely of natural things that reminded him solely of the world before civilization, and her eyes were a husky-blue window into the humanity of her mind, expressing emotion as well as they did color.
Gods, she was gorgeous, and her intelligence just made her that much more attractive to him. But there was something else, too…something he couldn’t quite put his finger on, but it made him want her that much more.
His arousal was becoming obvious under his loose pants. Of course, the fact that he was within arm’s reach of her didn’t help that any. His hands itched to touch her, hold her, anything to be in contact with her. This human had begun to make him feel emotions he hadn’t felt in years, and she hadn’t even truly done anything.
But why? Why did this human bitch appeal to him so badly? He had never wanted to be around anyone as much as he wanted to be with her, nor had he found anyone quite so attractive, and he had never held feelings of this complete infatuation for any woman before. Like he was brainwashed, she invaded every aspect of his mind. It just didn’t make any goddamn sense.
“W-why are you looking at me like that?”
Snorting gruffly when he noticed he had been staring like an idiot, he crossed his arms and scowled. “I wasn’t looking at you any special way; I was trying to figure the amount of trouble your ass is going to get me into.”
“Well if you’re worried about that, then you shouldn’t have agreed to watch me, dumbass,” she snapped, gripping the blanket around herself and moving into the back bedroom to avoid that unbearably expressive gaze.
Inuyasha smirked when the door closed. Her sudden virtuousness just gave her away.
He didn’t know how right he was; she really hadn’t done anything, because Kagome was still virgin. He kept forgetting. Sadly on his part, he had never interacted with another human female of that age that had remained chaste for so long, never a demon and certainly never a human. Quite frankly he didn’t know what to do about it, either.
Human women of this day and age almost always lost their virginity before the age of twenty, or at least had a male that verbally claimed them by that point in time. Now, it all made sense; he wanted her like this because no other man had ever had her, no one else had succeeded in getting the stubborn beauty where they wanted her. Sort of like a new car, it was at its best when no one else had ever owned it.
Of course, she could hardly compare to a car, but the symbolism wasn’t lost.
What to do…he certainly couldn’t just screw the girl out of his system. For one thing, if such a beautiful woman hadn’t gotten laid by now she wasn’t going to go so easily. Plus, one doesn’t ‘screw’ a girl like Kagome; she was the type that would never give herself to someone she didn’t care about, and right now she wasn’t too happy with him, anyway.
Wait…when did I like humans, anyway? Why the hell do I have to be attracted to her?
He thought about it and sighed pointlessly. Because she’s the only one that ever gives a shit about me. No wonder my head’s messed up.
If these thoughts didn’t stop soon, this would leave him in quite the predicament. He had no idea how long she was staying here with him, but his problem with it was only half the deal. If he was so enticed by the scent of a virgin woman, there were many demons that would be appeased by it, too. And demons wanting her, even thinking about touching her, well, that simply wouldn’t do…
Kami…what did I do to deserve this?
He could always take his frustrations out on Kira in a quick fuck, but he somehow knew that wouldn’t branch over Kagome’s condition. Just being in the room with that girl drove his instincts insane, and it didn’t matter how soon after a good screw it had been; he’d react almost instantaneously because he damn near couldn’t help himself.
It wasn’t going to take that long before he blew himself out of the water. This situation, something that he had gotten himself into, was now becoming something he wished he could regret, but didn’t. Truth be told, he wanted her around. It gave him something else to do, something else to think about not going insane over other than the demon war still brewing, even if it did leave him in a constant jeopardizing situation.
He hated it, too, along with all the other confusing emotions she brought on, but there were still things he hated even more.
He grunted to himself quietly. “Where’s the fucking whine?”
They’d come after her. The demons were already looking for her because they knew she knew the whereabouts of the Shikon Jewel or him, and Kouga had sent them looking. Once they find her, they’d find the jewel…and they’d care nothing of verbal claims, and they’d rape her to death as ruthless as many of them could be, just wanting to watch something bend to their will.
Inuyasha stopped the sudden snarl that came out of nowhere before anyone else could hear it, but he didn’t stop the now pointless-to-fight thoughts exploding immensely into his mind. Like hell he’d let anyone touch her…they wouldn’t find her, and anyone that even tried to lay hands on her would suffer the most painfully gruesome death they couldn’t have ever imagined.
And him? Well, he’d have maintain his sanity by staying at least ten feet away from her when not protecting her at all times. He was an expert at destroying other threats and protecting what he watched over, but he had never had to face a situation where he was to protect someone from himself.
Something that he knew promising his sanity would remain intact from such abuse would never be guaranteed.
He sighed. Tonight would be a bunch of fun, then, as Inuyasha intended to help her heal with his body heat. Getting her to cooperate wasn’t the problem; they could argue all night, but she’d bend if she were tired enough. If he was correct about the strange demon inside her, then her body would react wonderfully with the warmth of another demon, and there was no other demon she’d be resting with.
It wasn’t a matter of possessiveness or anything, it was just as simple as that.
All he had to do was get her to agree to a close movie or something on the couch; something where he was in contact with her back and wrist while she slept. He got her to let him wrap her damn chest properly; he could get her to cooperate here.
The real question was could he keep his hands to himself?
*~*~*
The woods were colder than she’d remembered them, the wind rougher on the skin and the ears as it blew cold air against her face. The sounds of the forest were altered with the wind, and the scents carried around may change the direction of where she was going, but she wasn’t out here to care about the wind. She wasn’t out here to care about anything at all, but she couldn’t even if she wanted to.
Her heart wasn’t made to love, to be angry or happy, to feel in general. Of course, because she couldn’t “feel”, she didn’t feel remorse over not being able to feel. Her entire purpose in life was screwed the day she was born, but why care or worry about it? Her sister would do all the emotions for her.
She did know that she was trapped, and if she should care about anything, that would be it.
She followed the orders of what she was told to do by the only one powerful enough to do so, and what her mirror exposed to her. Who needed scent and sight? She knew exactly where she was going with this peripheral mirror, and exactly what she’d do when she got there, precisely as the mirror showed her.
Get the jewel, a voice beckoned in her mind. Get the jewel, and the kill the one that’s holding it.
She could only nod to herself. “The Jewel,” she stopped the gentle padding of her childlike feet on the ground and stood directly where she was. “It’s a curse, Naraku. You cannot obtain the world with a curse.”
The Jewel is not a curse, Kanna; it’s a calling for freedom, for power. The wench holding it doesn’t even know what it is.
Kanna blinked uncaringly. “What exactly is freedom? If power is all you can hold to lead you to freedom, then you are already almost free.”
I am not as “free” as I want to be, then. Sesshoumaru has the most freedom, and I will be more powerful than him with the jewel.
Kanna picked up the pace again, thinking her own thoughts as she shielded him from her mind. You cannot beat him, Naraku. Sesshoumaru will smite you where you stand.
Her death may just immediately follow his, but what was death, anyway? It couldn’t be any worse than the numbness of her feeling-less life as it was. Death might even be worth it.
Her target came into view and she stopped, setting the object in her hands on the ground to nestle in the dirt. It wouldn’t be much longer now. The time of the demons were coming, and their main target wasn’t going anywhere.
At least, not until Naraku wanted him to.
*~*~*
“Boy, that was weird,” Kagome mused to herself, silently in the sanctuary of Inuyasha’s room. She’d just been sitting there on the couch when she became aware of his rather heated gaze on her. He kept it there until she was willing to make a statement about it, but the look on his face was something so fascinating she almost couldn’t look away.
He hadn’t even realized he was staring at her; his eyes didn’t truly see her, but she knew she was the topic of whatever it was he was thinking about. Did he always do things like that when she wasn’t truly paying attention?
Even more annoying than her lack of attention, her expressions towards the occurrences just on the news was less than flattering. She’d just learned that she was a wanted person in both worlds, alive in one and dead in the next, and Kouga was now offering rewards for her return. The problem was, she didn’t care. Things were coming after her, yet she couldn’t feel anything other than the numbness that was her mind right now.
With a large sigh, she stood, forcing her shaky legs to carry her into his bathroom as carefully as her back would let her. I wonder what he’s got in here…Curiosity killed the cat, right? But she wasn’t curious, she just wanted to know…that wasn’t curiosity, in her book.
Kagome opened the cabinets, hoping maybe for something that she could use, like pain reliever or shampoo. She hadn’t spun the idea of a shower passed Inuyasha yet, but she wasn’t going to wait much longer to get it. Cleanliness was important to her; even more important than Inuyasha probably undressing her, since he was so damn strict with her healing.
Shampoo was the first thing that hit her eye in the group of pointless bottles, sprays and boxes. She picked it up and observed it, while absently fingering through the rest of the cabinet’s contents.
“Oh yeah, go ahead and help yourself to my stuff.”
She cringed in surprise, and when the automatic pain of her back scrapes hit, she dropped his shampoo into the sink. The loud clinking of the porcelain had derived a small wince from the perpetrator, nothing more, and it only strived to further annoy her. “For gods sake, can’t you ever knock?!”
“It’s my room; why the fuck should I?”
“B-because…because it’s ethical! You don’t just walk into a bathroom, Inuyasha, especially when the door’s closed!”
Kagome fumed at him when he lifted an eyebrow condescendingly at her. How dare he make fun of her! Just who the hell did he think he was? “Yeah, remind me to knock the next time you’re snooping through my things.” She flipped him off, and he chuckled annoyingly. “What are you looking for? Maybe I could help you.”
“You don’t have any girl shit in here,” she stated, rising up to continue looking through the medications.
“Yeah; figures that I don’t own any girl things,” he leaned his hefty form against the doorframe as he lazily watched her go through his things. She was certainly making herself at home in his room, now wasn’t she? “I’ll send Kira and Sango out later to pick up the stuff you need.”
“How nice of you…” Her eyes immediately froze on a particular item, but she was so unexplainably embarrassed that’d she’d found them that her mind simply refused to act correctly. He didn’t see her, did he?! Her mouth formed simple words when her mind simply couldn’t. “U-uh…Toothpaste? Toothbrush?”
“Under the sink. Help yourself; you’re already going to. Just don’t hurt yourself.”
She did manage to give him one final glare. “Bastard.”
“I mean it; if you hurt yourself, I’ll be doing things for you from now on.”
“The hell you will!”
“Brush your teeth and take a nap; I think you need one,” he finished, closing the door as he walked out and finally left her to herself for whatever snooping she planned to do.
Her attention hadn’t been on him when he left; it’d been on the box of large condoms he left sitting in plain sight beside his necessities. Why was she surprised? He was a guy (a half a millennium old, completely sexy half-demon); it wasn’t like she never expected him to be prepared, or at least have protection lying around.
But if he had sex, then who with? How often did he really need them?
Her stomach tingled with embarrassment. Watch him catch her in the act of snooping through the condoms; then, not only would she become mortified, and possibly even him, but it would make every moment they spent together from then on socially awkward.
That wouldn’t happen. She refused to demolish their friendship over something as trivial as protection that men always had hidden away somewhere in their personal belongings.
But whom does he do this with? She couldn’t stop herself from frowning as she put the box back into the cabinet. His personal life was none of her business; he could screw whomever he wanted to. She would just have to stay out of it and let him live his own life.
So then why did she feel like looking into this?
Kagome frowned at her reflection in the mirror distastfully while seriously contemplating spitting. No, Kagome, that’d be spying. You do not spy on your friends, or the most incredible looking man you’ve ever seen!
But she was going crazy over the fact that Inuyasha could share such a vast amount of intimacy with another woman when it was apparently hard for him to get close to anyone. Unless, of course, he was a typical male that didn’t care whom he got the attention from? Sex could be viewed in more ways than one; not necessarily the same way she viewed it (intimacy only between the closest of couples).
No, I don’t think Inuyasha does things like that…
Does he?
“Kagome,” came Kira’s voice from the other side of the door. “What are you doing in there?”
She was so surprised at the intrusion, her head cracked against the counter door hard enough that she saw spots in front of her eyes. “God dammit…”
Kira continued in at that, a worried look passing her attractive features as she quickly overshadowed her counterpart, insuring of her safety in fear that Inuyasha might be angry at her for letting it happen. “Are you alright?”
Kagome hissed as fingers brushed her bruising head and felt a strange growl starting low in her throat, for no apparent reason. “Fine, I’m fine…”
“You really should be more careful with Inuyasha’s stuff…he does like to leave things carelessly open from time to time.”
Nodding her head to show her agreement, she helped herself to her feet carefully, avoiding any stretching of the scrapes and scratches. Her wrist ached to remind her of it’s presence, and she grabbed it when she stood, rubbing her fingers over it soothingly. “I just wasn’t really awake, that’s all.”
“Inuyasha was grumbling about bitchy women being as bad as babies because they need naps half the time. I should have figured he was bitching about you.”
“Why are you in here, Kira?” she asked, not quite rudely, but tiredly.
“I’m tired of dealing with Sango and that monk, so I excused myself to see what you were doing, just out of mere curiousity.” She scratched at the back of her head languidly, and then began to comb out the knots in the back of her hair. “So where have the two of you finally decided you’re sleeping? I’m supposed to help you get ready for bed.”
Blinking uncertainly, she followed Kira by picking up a brush on the counter and running it through her hair to untangle it. “I am ready; this is what I’m wearing. He decided that I’m sleeping in his bed.”
All that induced was a smirk. “He’s a heavy kicker, but a light sleeper. If he gropes you, don’t think he’s doing it in his sleep.”
“No, Kira…”
“And don’t let him take the blankets. He tends to get a bit aggressive in bed--”
“KIRA!” When the Kitsune merely blinked, Kagome frowned, looking again at her reflection. “It’s not like he’s sleeping in the bed, too. He wants the futon. His only condition was that he be in the room with me. It’s apparently the only way to keep me safe.” She missed the queer look Kira gave, but the silence was awkward enough to have her fidgetting, and an unexpected question popped out of her mouth.
“Kira…how do you know what he’s like in bed?”
She expected a snort, blushing, an outraged yell, denial, laughter, just about anything other than a cocked eyebrow. “I’m a Kitsune, honey, and he’s part dog demon. I’ve lived with him for about a hundred years. We’ve shared a bed a couple of times.”
Mentally, Kagome could do nothing other than gape as a terrible pit of fury spit bile up the back of her throat. How in the hell could she stand there and talk about sharing a bed like she was talking about afternoon tea? Not only that, but it was Inuyasha, and...and…
And what? Are you suddenly angry with him now? He’s not yours, Kagome, you have no right.
How DARE they…
You can’t control his life, nor hers! They’ll do what they want, when they want, and you’ll do nothing because you have no right to tell them not to.
But the Hanyou doesn’t belong to her…
She silenced the voices screaming at her. Sharing a bed meant many things, and they didn’t have to be what she thought they were. “You’ve had sex with him?!” Kagome growled at herself instantly. She just had to come out and say it like that, now didn’t she? What the hell was wrong with her today?!
Kira turned toward her then, her cocked eyebrow now more of a searching, curious gaze. “Is that human code for something?”
Sometimes she ruled out the fact that they weren’t even human. Customs were completely different from hers. “Sorry, I didn’t really mean that.”
“It’s ok…and yes, I have.”
Kagome remained silent.
“But sex to you humans is so much more difficult than it has to be,” Kira proclaimed, leaning against the countertop. “Sex to us is sometimes just that; sex. It doesn’t have to be something that you do to show affection, even though that is always part of it. To us, it’s just business. Just something to sate our instincts for a while.”
Fascinating… “Just instincts? Your instincts tell you to do stuff like that?”
Kira frowned, chewing absently on her bottom lip as she thought about it. “Let me just say this; demons are really different from humans. You may become insane from something happening over and over again, like a record, but to us, the voices in our heads will infuriate us, derive us to do just about anything. When the beast takes over, we have no control, and that’s why we want to keep ourselves sated. Outbursts could result in horrible things.”
She wondered if that was why Inuyasha was so careful all the time. He drank a lot, too, but he probably had a helluva alcohol tolerance. He never spoke without thinking first, and although he was often angry, he tried hard to keep most emotions clear of his mind, and of his facial features. Protection at it’s best.
“How many outbursts have you had?”
Kira grinned. “Just three; sexual outbursts, anyway. The heat is worse than just about anything when it comes to being driven insane. I tackled Shippo and a couple of other people, so Inuyasha had to help me.”
“The heat?”
“The fertile time of all females. Usually just the males go crazy; at least in the animal kingdom, they do. We’re like spiders. We hunt for the male species.”
“Just to have sex?”
“Pretty much, yes.”
Her curiosity continued to grow with every question she asked. Instead of infuriating, the demon sex-drives were becoming fascinating. Did every demon do it, or was this just their organized way of dealing with it?
“I guess I never thought of it like that,” she pondered aloud, putting toothpaste upon the brush in her hand to use it.
“It’s not like humans don’t do it.”
Nodding instead of answering with the toothbrush in her mouth, Kagome bent over to spit in the sink. “I’m just not one of them,” she stated, placing the brush back in her mouth.
“Humans are sometimes disgusting things,” she spat distastefully. “Demons don’t whore themselves out to others for money. Sex is fun and important, but not like that.”
Kagome spat again, cleaned the brush and wiped her mouth off. “Agreed. I’m not into that kind of stuff.”
“Good.”
Frowning, she dabbed at her mouth some more as a curious thought entered her mind. They were apparently important to each other in their own ways. He protects her for that, right?
“So then he needs you? He wouldn’t ever let anything happen to you; his busines sex partner?”
She sighed wholeheartedly, like a mother who has seen it all and lived it all, and doesn‘t wish to see it again. “Inuyasha is a great friend for a demon, but that’s all we are. To tell the truth, he probably wouldn’t care if something happened to me. He doesn’t protect me like he protects you,” she snorted. “Hell, he doesn’t protect anything like he protects you.” She turned and opened the door, carefully keeping her eyes on her friend’s. “It’s getting late. You humans are supposed to be in bed by now.”
Kagome nodded her release and Kira left her in the quiet and stillness of the room. She couldn’t help but clench her hands into fists on the countertop at this amazing semi-discovery.
Did his protection of her mean something more than he was letting on? Why wasn’t he protecting Kira as much as he was her?
How many fucking time’s have they done it?!
She opened the cabinet once again, found the box and glared hatefully at it.
“He better not forget to use these, then. I’ll kick his hanyou ass.”
*~*~*
R&R, bad place to leave it, but I really wanted this chapter out. Thanks! (No flames?)