InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Side Effects ❯ The Tail ( Chapter 2 )

DISCLIAMER: Inuyasha, world and characters, belong to Rumiko Takahashi and not to me. The only things that belong to me are the plot and any additional characters. I make no profit of this story, and am doing it only for my own enjoyment (and hopefully yours too).

 

THE TAIL

 

Inuyasha was not having a good day, and it was all that lousy tail's fault. How the hell was he supposed to deal with this? Sure he'd been warned that having the spell cast upon him so late in his life might have side effects, but a TAIL? This was just ridiculous! Inu Youkai didn't have tails, sure some people were silly enough to mistake Sesshomaru's moko-moko for one, but that was different. Tails, actual tails were not something any Inu Youkai had ever had that Inuyasha knew of, so why the hell had he suddenly grown one!?

 

At least it had stopped itching once the fur had finished growing in. Now, it was covered in long, silver fur that felt as soft as that if a puppy's. Kagome had remarked that it looked kind of like a silver version of a tail belonging to some breed of dog in her time known as a `Golden Retriever'. Having never seen one of these `Retrievers' he wouldn't know. What Inuyasha did know is that he didn't like it at all. For one thing, having lived without a tail his entire life he naturally had no idea how to control it. It seemed to have a mind of it's own and would move about without any conscious thought from Inuyasha, often seeming to do exactly the worst thing for the situation. Now that he'd adjusted to it somewhat, he realised that that strange feeling he'd felt when it first grew in was a kind of `fifth limb' sensation. He could now feel through his tail, which caused it's own set problems. For instance, it hurt when Kirara had apparently decided it would make a great new toy to play with and had jumped on it in kitten form with claws outstretched. Still, that led Inuyasha to the conclusion that eventually he would be able to control it like any of his other limbs, but unfortunately for right now that was something he had not yet learnt how to do. And in the meantime he was busy just trying to adjust to little things like walking with the added weight to throw off his balance and trying to figure out how to sit down without crushing his new appendage.

 

Then there were the reactions of his friends, that was making everything that much more difficult. He didn't know how much longer he could take their stares, like they'd never seen him before or something. It was certainly not making him feel any better about this whole situation.

 

Inuyasha had thought that Shippo would be the worst and tease him mercilessly, but the kit had surprised Inuyasha with his reaction. Once he'd gotten over his initial surprise over the sudden new growth of the tail, Shippo had handled it very well. His only real comment was that he liked his own brand of tail, nice and fluffy as apposed to more long and whippy. After that, Shippo hadn't said anything even remotely negative about it, and had actually tried offering Inuyasha some advice on how to adjust to and use his new tail. The advice had all been pretty much useless, due to the young kit's inability to properly express in words something he'd been doing instinctively since he was a child. Inuyasha wasn't surprised by that, it would be like trying to explain how to make a fist to someone who had never had hands or something, you know what you do but trying to put into words every little detail a person needs do to get there isn't so easy. Thinking about it, Inuyasha guessed he shouldn't be that shocked that Shippo was handling Inuyasha having a tail so well, after all Shippo had been born into a species where not having a tail made you weird. Of course he would have the easiest time dealing with Inuyasha suddenly growing one. Kirara was pretty easy to please too, once Inuyasha had managed to convince her that his tail was not a toy for her to chase anyway. It was the others whom Inuyasha felt self-conscious around.

 

It wasn't that they actually said anything negative about his new tail. In fact, they were obviously trying very hard to be supportive about the whole thing. But the truth of the matter was, however good their intentions were his friends were obviously still somewhat shocked and dismayed. They kept stealing long looks at his tail, only to shutter apologies and continue walking with eyes forward whenever Inuyasha caught them. Well, Miroku and Sango did anyway. Kagome would quickly look away and pretend she hadn't been looking, but her blush would always give her away.

 

Inuyasha felt his heart break every time she did this, as it was Kagome's reaction that hurt the most. She couldn't even bring herself to apologise for staring, could she? Kagome had always been the first one to accept him, and now she seemed to be the last one to come to any kind of understanding of this weird side effect. Why? She'd accepted everything else about him, why couldn't she accept this? Maybe it was just one thing too many, Inuyasha thought sadly. After all, she'd already put up with his ears, his fangs, his claws, his oddly coloured hair and eyes, and now you were throwing a tail into the mix? How much more was she supposed to handle? He was already a freak in so many ways, it wasn't like Inuyasha could have expected her patience with him would be never ending. But this… this had come about because he wanted, no needed, to become more powerful in order to protect her. Didn't that count for anything? Apparently not because now she couldn't even bring herself to look him in the eye and admit she had been staring. And it hurt. It hurt so much to see her pulling away from him like this. He had always known that one day he would have to face his worst nightmare and live without her, but he had never thought it would be this soon.

 

Fucking tail!

 

!*!*!

 

It had been three and a half days since Inuyasha's new tail had grown in, and since then Kagome had been watching whenever she thought Inuyasha wouldn't notice. She knew she probably shouldn't, but she couldn't help it, her eyes just kept being drawn back. Well, whether she should or she shouldn't be looking, look she had and over the course of the last three days Kagome had drawn some conclusions about Inuyasha's new appendage.

 

One of Souta's best friends, his family owned a Golden Retriever called Midas. Kagome had seen enough of Midas on trips to drop off and pick up Souta to form fondness for the big mutt, and had started to notice things about him that she couldn't help but compare to Inuyasha right now. That was what had lead Kagome to her almost immediate conclusion that Inuyasha's new tail and Midas' tail were simular in shape. And as time went by, Kagome had noticed that appearance wasn't the only thing the two tails had in common. They acted the same way too, clearly showing off their owners' emotions to those who knew how to read the language of tails. Kagome was pretty sure that Inuyasha didn't even realise he was doing it yet, but he had been broadcasting his feelings loud and clear through his tail for the last three days.

 

First there was the obvious doggy-tail signal that everyone knew; a wagging tail meant happy. Inuyasha hadn't been very happy since the new tail came in, not that he ever seemed to be overly happy on any given day, Kagome thought sadly. However, there had been a definite wag there when she'd suggested they have ramen for dinner two nights ago. She didn't think anyone else had noticed it, but just to be sure she had imagined the whole thing, she had suggested they use up the rest of the ramen for breakfast the next morning. She'd had to struggle not to giggle after that, she'd been right Inuyahsa's tail was definitely wagging after that. It was so cute, and it took everything within her not to squeal with delight, she was pretty sure Inuyasha wouldn't appreciate that. After that she'd started watching the tail more closely, trying to see if Inuyasha unknowingly expressed any other feelings through it. And he did. After that first time Kirara had jumped on his tail and dug her claws in enough to make Inuyasha yelp in pain, Inuyasha had been wary of her when she came near him in kitten form and his tail would reflect that. It would automatically try to tuck itself between his legs when the Hanyou noticed the fire-cat getting too close; a clear sign that he was, if not scared at least cautious. And then there was that time when he'd yelled at Miroku for doing something - she couldn't quite remember what but whatever it was had annoyed him - and his tail had stood at attention with the fur bristling, the way Midas' had whenever the neighbour's cat had dared enter his yard. A clear sign that he was angry, although that was one emotion Kagome admitted she didn't need extra clues to recognise.

 

Right now though, Inuyasha's tail was showing an emotion that worried Kagome, one she had seen far too often over the last few days. Right now, his tail was slack, drooping down lifelessly near his knees. He was depressed, really depressed. Kagome hated to see him like this. She loved him, she wanted him to be happy, even if it wasn't with her. Maybe she should talk to him, maybe that would help with whatever was bothering him. Yes, that seemed like the best thing she could do right now.

 

With that thought in mind, Kagome moved up to walk next to Inuyasha. She stayed silent for a few moments, knowing from experience that sometimes it was better to let Inuyasha make the first move.

 

“What?” He asked after a minute or two of silence, and the amount of venom in his voice surprised Kagome. Obviously this whole tail thing was bothering her more than she thought.

 

“Inuyasha what's bothering you?” Kagome asked, making the quick decision that this was one of those times when it would be better to just get to the point.

 

Inuyasha stopped walking and just looked at her like she was crazy for a minute. Immediately Kagome stopped as well, waiting for Inuyasha to talk to her.

 

“What's bothering me?” Inuyasha asked incredulously. “I would think that would be plainly obvious.” He said, throwing a meaningful look over his shoulder at his tail, which had started to perk up and bristle. He obviously wasn't enjoying this conversation, but Kagome decided it was better to push on anyway.

 

“Inuyasha, I know the whole tail thing came as a shock, but please you shouldn't let it bother you too much.” Kagome said carefully, worried about how Inuyasha was going to take what she was trying to say. “I mean, sure it's strange and all, but…”

 

“Strange?” Inuyasha demanded. “It's strange? That's all you have to say? I've got a fucking tail sticking out of me! Shippo keeps going on about how his is better, Kirara wants to chase and eat it, Miroku and Sango won't even look at me because of it, and your ashamed of it! And all you can say is that it's strange and I shouldn't let it bother me so much?”

 

Kagome just stared at Inuyasha in shock for a minute, not knowing what to say after that outburst. Inuyasha watched her for a couple of minutes, before snorting in disgust and turning to walk away. As far as he was concerned, her silence was confirmation of his fears, and his heart couldn't stand to look at her anymore right now.

 

However, he barely got to steps away before Kagome ran up behind him and grabbed his arm with a strength Inuyasha wouldn't have suspected she had.

 

“I'm not ashamed of you Inuyasha!” Kagome said, her voice trembling with suppressed emotion. “I could never be ashamed of you, especially not over something as trivial as a new tail! How could you possibly think that?”

 

Slowly, Inuyasha turned to look at Kagome, his eyes and nose searching for any sign that she was being untruthful. There was none.

 

“You're, you're now?” Inuyasha asked, hating how weak his voice sounded but unable to help it. “But the way you've been looking at me since…”

 

“Inuyasha,” Kagome said, suddenly realising how badly her supposed converted stares had been misread. “It's just that I couldn't help but notice over the last few days how expressive your new tail is. I don't think you noticed but you've been broadcasting your emotions through it ever since it grew in. I've just found it kind of fascinating, but I was afraid you'd take me watching the wrong way so I was trying not to let you notice.”

 

Inuyasha just blinked at her, trying to take in what she was saying. `Fascinating? She doesn't think the tail is weird but fascinating? She's not ashamed of me now?'

 

Inuyasha felt weak with relief, but Kagome wasn't finished yet. Now that she realised just how much this had upset Inuyasha, and how much worse she had unknowingly made things with her own actions, Kagome felt compelled to tell Inuyasha the rest of what she'd been thinking.

 

“Besides.” Kagome said, blushing darkly. “I also think that… uhh… well… I couldn't help but feel… ummm…”

 

“Well, spit it out already?” Inuyasha snapped, however he couldn't really bring himself to truly pretend to be angry after the huge weight Kagome had just lifted off his shoulders.”

 

“I think the tail's cute, okay? There I said it.” Kagome said, her face now a lovely fire-rat red, while at the same time she'd apparently found something on the ground right in front of her shoes that was extremely interesting.

 

Inuyasha stood there blinking for a couple of minutes, his face slowly turning red. Suddenly, he turned around and started walking quickly to catch up with the others.

 

“Keh, weird wench find it `cute'? Keh.” Inuyasha muttered just loud enough to hear, once again donning his tough-guy-I-don't-care-what-you-think armour.

 

Kagome watched him walk away, a smile forming on her face as she fought down a giggle. Inuyasha may pretend he doesn't care what she said or thought, but Kagome knew different. If he didn't care he wouldn't have been so upset. She knew him too well not to realise he was happy now she'd cleared up that little misunderstanding and told him how she really felt. He didn't need to say anything.

 

The rapidly wagging tail said it all.

 

 

Author's Note

Just in case anyone cares, everything I mentioned about tails showing a dog's feelings in this chapter I learnt from my own dog, a Golden Retriever slash Labrador mix named Evie. She really does all those things with her tail, and it's can be a great way to tell her mood.