InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Secret Love, Secret Power ❯ Child ( Chapter 2 )

Child

 

Inuyasha sat back against the tree trunk with a grunt of impatience. They had walked all day, an infuriatingly slow pace in his opinion, and now the others were ready to stop and make camp before the sun had even set. It was no wonder they couldn't catch up with Naraku, not when they never traveled any faster than a snail's pace. Inuyasha's favourite traveling pace was a fast lope combined with powerful leaps every dozen steps or so. It made a walking human look like he was standing still. So when they traveled at human pace, Inuyasha did feel like he was standing still. And it pissed him off.

 

Inuyasha glanced over his shoulder at the other source of his frustration, sitting quietly at the other end of camp. Kagome. The stupid girl was glaring at him again. Still. He had felt her angry stare on him all day, like a hammer pounding him on the back of the head. And that pissed him off too. He had hoped that she would let up once they got to camp, when she had something to do other than stare at him, but his wish had gone unfulfilled. Still she stared, still she glared, still she watched, her gaze cutting into him and distracting him to no end. And that also pissed him off.

 

So now he was triply pissed. She shouldn't be glaring at him! His avoidance of her was completely necessary for both of them. He was actually doing her a favour! And what did he get? Nasty looks and scowls. Not just from Kagome either, but from Sango now too. The demon slayer had quickly picked up on his behaviour and had added her glare to Kagome's. Why wouldn't she? He had done the same thing to her too, just not this time.

 

Don't they get it? He thought angrily, I mean Kagome's a total airhead most of the time, but I thought that at least Sango would eventually guess what's happening and fill in Kagome. But nooooo, they have to both be stupid and now I'm going to have to tell them before they both decide to team up and teach me a lesson.

 

Inuyasha began to glare right back at the two women. He could imagine what they'd do to him. Kagome would use that infernal command on him, and then while he was down, Sango would clobber him with that stupid weapon of hers, as if having his face smashed into the ground wasn't painful enough. And all the while they would yell and scream at him, demanding why he was being such a jerk, why he was so stupid, so cruel, so insensitive.

 

Inuyasha felt a growl well up deep in his chest as he switched his glare to his fists clenched in his lap. The whole problem was that he had no choice but to do exactly what he was doing, but even still, he did not want to tell them why. It would be awkward, embarrassing, and downright unpleasant. Inuyasha was avoiding Kagome because her cycle had brought her into heat. It was that simple. He could always tell immediately when it happened by the slight change in her scent. And it was that slight change that caused all the problems. It caused her scent to become so intoxicating, so alluring, so irresistible . . .

 

Inuyasha gave himself a mental shake. That was not a good line of thought to follow. The results of that line of thought were the whole reason that he was avoiding Kagome in the first place. That scent woke up every single instinct inherent inside him: the instinct to protect her, the instinct to care for her, and the almost overpowering instinct to mate with her. And that was not good. A couple good whiffs of her altered scent and he forgot how much the sit command would hurt, stopped thinking about what Kagome's reaction to his suddenly unreasonable attraction to her would be. Another couple whiffs and he stopped thinking completely.

 

Yes, it's definitely a good idea to stay away. Too bad the others don't see it that way.

 

In an attempt to find something else to think about, Inuyasha peered over at his companions, wondering what they were thinking. As soon as he looked over, Miroku leaned towards Kagome and made a show of whispering in her ear.

 

“Don't worry yourself over him, Kagome. He's just being childish. He probably just took offense to something you said because he's simply bored and wanted to pick a fight. And now he's pouting because you didn't fight back. Just ignore the child, and he'll come around.”

 

Inuyasha bared his teeth at Miroku in a silent snarl. The ass knew perfectly well that Inuyasha would be able to hear. He had wanted him to. Inuyasha allowed his silent snarl to become quite audible. It was then that the monk realized that he had just effectively transferred Inuyasha's bad mood from Kagome and her glares to himself. The half-demon snorted in disgust as Miroku quickly offered to go and collect more firewood. The coward. He was going to pay for his remarks sooner or later, it didn't matter if he ran now - he would have to come back eventually. Inuyasha's mood brightened considerably at that thought, and he began to ponder what he would do to Miroku. Nothing life-threatening of course, but the monk wouldn't know that. Yes, he would definitely pay for calling Inuyasha childish.

 

Childish. He hated that. Every time he did something that the others found strange or annoying, or just something that they didn't understand, they said he was being childish. A child? Him? Inuyasha's mood darkened again. He was not a child! Although he may not be the oldest one in years (he didn't count the fifty years he had been sealed to the Sacred Tree in his age), but he was the oldest in experience. He knew that Sango and Miroku hadn't had easy lives by most standards, but compared to his past, they'd had it remarkably easy.

 

The child in Inuyasha had disappeared long ago. He had lived through more than the others could ever comprehend: through war and famine, through plague and disease, through death and betrayal. He had survived battle after battle, injury after injury, trauma after trauma, and tragedy after tragedy. And they called him a child!

 

What do they know?

 

They didn't know. That was the point, or perhaps the problem. But his past was his business, not theirs, and he had no intention of changing that. But perhaps he could take care of the `child' problem.

 

If had been up to him, none of them would even know about his transformations into a human every new moon. He hadn't been able to keep that a secret. But there was one thing they would never know, that he would never allow them to find out. The one thing he would never reveal. His most closely guarded secret.

 

Never! He vowed.

 

Inuyasha was abruptly brought out of his thoughts by a flurry of activity among the others. Miroku had returned and deposited his load of firewood, and was now watching curiously as Sango and Kagome stood. Inuyasha, unlike Miroku, felt a sense of foreboding, not curiosity, as Sango gave Kagome a small shove in his direction. Inuyasha began to rise to his feet so he could quickly disappear when he remembered his newfound resolution to tell Kagome the truth, as much as he hated it. So he settled back down, and warily watched Kagome approach.

 

She had apparently decided to use anger to boost her courage and finally force him to explain his behaviour. He saw a flicker of surprise in her eyes as she neared him and he made no move to rise and run, as she had expected he would. She halted directly in front of him, hands on hips, glaring down at him with even more force than before. Inuyasha carefully took in her scent, hoping to get an insight into her emotions. He sniffed discreetly and delicately; trying not to become aroused any further than he already was from having her standing so close. That would not be good. The strongest emotional scent was that of anger, but underneath, he smelled uncertainty, and . . . and what seemed to be a tinge of hurt.

 

Damn!

 

He wanted to howl with frustration. He had hurt her again. No matter how hard he tried, how careful he was, he always hurt her. Always, again and again and again. And every time he realized she had that hint of emotional pain in her scent, he hurt too. Because he knew it was his fault, but he never knew why. Well, almost never. At least this time he knew for sure. Or, at least, he hoped he did.

 

He had no choice now. He would just have to come right out and tell her the truth. Since he was avoiding her to protect her from his own uncontrollable advances, then she couldn't be hurt. Maybe mad, but not hurt. Mad he could deal with; hurt he could not.

 

He focused on Kagome as she took a deep, supposedly calming breath, and crouched down in front of him.

 

“Inuyasha,” she said, venom lacing her voice, “why have you been avoiding me for the last two days?”

 

She spoke slowing and carefully, spacing out each syllable, as if he were some stupid half-wit, or a very small child.

 

He snapped.

 

Child! Again he was being called a child! Treated as a child!

 

I'll show them just how much of I child I am! A plan began to take form in his mind.

 

“I've been avoiding you because you're in heat,” he spat bluntly, his thoughts racing as he perfected the details of his course of action.

 

“In heat?” Kagome squeaked in surprise. She immediately blushed a deep crimson.

 

“Yes, in heat,” he said, a snarl creeping into his voice, “and when you are, you give off the most” he sniffed pointedly, “intoxicating fragrance. And it's enough to overwhelm even my self-control. So if you don't mind, I'll just continue to keep my distance for the time being!”

 

And as Kagome stood there gaping at him, he did what he had never done in front of them before. He opened up and prepared to show them a side of him they had never seen before. All a part of his plan.

 

He acted with the swiftness of any warrior. One moment he was leaning against the tree, his countenance filled with anger, the next he was shifting forwards, moving so close to Kagome that they were almost touching. The anger disappeared instantly, and a truly wicked smile bloomed on his face.

 

“Unless,” he purred, leaning even closer, “you're offering yourself to me. I'd be happy to oblige, if you feel you need release.” Then, and only then, did he allow Kagome's scent to enter him completely for the first time, releasing all the restraints he'd put on himself. Every muscle in his body tensed with lust; he burned with desire. The heat of her body so close to his caused the flames of desire to ignite into an inferno. He quivered with need, the need for her, to feel her, to taste her, to . . .

 

Kagome's eyes widened as she saw the change overcome him, the lust in his eyes. She could feel the heat of desire emanating from him, the pure sexual energy of him. She stared for a moment longer, then leapt backwards, desperate to put some distance between them, landing on her backside with an audible thump.

 

And with that Inuyasha instantly snapped all the restraints back into place, smothering the flames that burned within him, forcing his muscles to relax, and turning his thoughts to where they belonged. Allowing the wicked grin to slowly fade to a small, satisfied smile, Inuyasha casually leaned back against the tree, once again in complete control; and also quite pleased with the results of his little plan.

 

As he watched Kagome freeze in surprise at the speed of his reverse transformation, he chuckled in amusement. It was a husky, throaty sound, echoing a small shadow of his lust. That was the only sign of the emotions that had raged through him only moments before. Then Inuyasha looked at the others, who were also staring at him in shock.

 

“A child, am I?” he said softly, his voice filled with scorn.

 

Miroku and Sango's eyes widened as they made several very quick realizations. They realized why he'd done what he'd done, they realized that he had been in control the whole time, and they realized that he had tricked them.

 

That was probably what bothered them the most. He had fooled them. Inuyasha had tricked them all. He knew they didn't think much of his intelligence, and he had to admit, he was no good at strategizing. He preferred fighting to thinking, but that didn't make him stupid. They thought he was dim-witted because he couldn't come up a decently complex strategy, when they didn't seem to realize that there were battle strategies too; the strategizing done during a battle instead of before. The planning of tactics and moves, the evaluating of strengths and weaknesses, the employing of attacks and defenses, and only mere moments to think of it all, to analyze every angle and possibility. That was strategizing too. And he was an expert at that. It was what he had just done moments ago.

 

So what if I'm a little hotheaded and don't always think things through before I leap into battle? That doesn't mean I'm stupid!

 

Inuyasha watched idly as Kagome suggested to Sango that they go the nearby hot springs, talking far too fast and in an overly high-pitched voice.

 

No, he knew the other reason that they thought him below average intelligence. It was because he had trouble understanding them---trouble understanding humans. And that lack of understanding caused him to sometimes say or do things that turned out afterwards to be very stupid, to them at least. But it wasn't his fault he didn't understand. And it wasn't because he was stupid either. He simply couldn't figure out human emotions. Inuyasha was a half-demon. It was as simple as that. Although he did experience some human emotions, they mixed and blended with his demon emotions, so most were hard to recognize as one or the other. Some were easy, however. Like mercy was human, the blood rage, demon. But for most emotions, he didn't have a clue. Not that he ever really thought about it. He just accepted his emotions as part of who he was and that was that. But human minds were unfathomably complex and strange.

 

No, Inuyasha thought, I will never truly understand humans. Well, except when I am a human, of course.

 

He watched as Kagome and Sango made their way out of camp, arms overflowing with towels. He worried for a moment that it might take Kagome a little while to get over his little display, but he pushed the thought from his mind. He'd worry about that later. Right now he was just pleased that his plan had worked as he'd hoped.

 

By the time Kagome figures out what to do about me and my little demonstration, she will have completely forgotten to get mad at me for avoiding her.

 

The sound of footsteps beside him quickly brought him out of his silent gloating. Miroku sat down beside him, giving him a cautious sidelong glance out of the corner of his eye. Then he cleared his throat, a little nervously, and looked at the half-demon.

 

“So tell me, Inuyasha,” he said tentatively, “what exactly does a woman in heat smell like?”

 

Inuyasha smirked. Calmly balling his hand into a fist, he punched the lecherous monk in the face.

 

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Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any of the characters that Rumiko Takahashi has created for us to enjoy.