InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Silence the Fairytale ❯ What's That Feeling Again...? ( Chapter 16 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Kagome tried to kill the mortified blush that had decided to permenantly reside in her cheeks as she looked anywhere besides Inuyasha.

"A-are you s-sure you have to sit right there?"

He was sitting crossed-legged on the bank of the small lake they had found, his arms resting inside the large arms of his haori as he stared right at her, in all her glorified nudity, and acted as if he were just watching her cook their supper.

"You're still injured. I don't need you passing out or something stupid and drowning, do I?" Inuyasha stated bluntly.

Sure, she had understood his persistent hovering before, she could hardly stand. His intensive care for her, from carrying her to helping her bathe had spanned from days, and from days to weeks, and from weeks to months.

Two full months of his constant attention.

Two full months of her obscenely acute notice of his being.

Two full months of his ginger minstrations, tender care, and continual worry.

Kagome needed a moment of peace to sort herself out.

He never let her out of his sight, insisting that he was the one to blame for her injury. Of course, he failed to retract his blame of her from their arguement months, ago the first time she had noticed anything different about her feeling towards him.

Like, when had she cared he was seeing her naked? When did her exposure matter? At what point in time had it become... embarrassing?

Was that what she was feeling?

Not bothering to argue with his point, however valid it may have been, Kagome slowly turned her back to him and submerged herself in the cold water to her shoulders. Teeth chattering lightly, she covered her bosom with her arms, becoming self conscious of the way her body reacted to the temperature of the water.

Goosebumps made their way over her skin as she tilted her head back to rinse her hair, taking the opportunity to have a quick peek at Inuyasha.

She couldn't stop the heat from spreading across her face as she saw the way his eyes trailed over her chest as she bent backward. She hadn't realized what exposure she had given him, and she sat upright much quicker than she had intended. Pressing her cool hands to the hot flesh of her cheeks, she attempted to slow her racing heart.

She wasn't ashamed of the attention he had given her... but...

But... what?

She could still feel his eyes boring holes into her back, but she didn't have the courage to turn around and look at him back.

Her body started to become hot at the thought of him, that same butterfly feeling inside her tummy as she tried to lower herself even further in the water to cool off.

Though it did nothing to help, she still tried. Why... was she so heated?

Clenching her legs together to sway the mounting pressure building there, she bit back the tears of frustration and lack of understanding.

What's wrong with me?

She heard a throat clear behind her, and she turned to look at her hanyou protector.

If she hadn't known better through the dim light of dusk, she would have sworn he had a faint color to his cheeks. He gave a small sputter accompanied by a rushed muttering, "Aren't you done yet?"

Nodding dismally, she dunked her head beneath the water to give her head a final scrub and stood before Inuyasha as naked as the day she was born.

She barely noticed the way he averted his eyes, and turned his body away from her slightly. She was too wrapped up in her own miserable confusion to take full notice.

"Get dressed, kid, and let's get back to camp..." was the hushed murmur that left Inuyasha who walked away from her.

Her heart dropped at the sight of him leaving, and for the life of her, she couldn't figure out why.




Pouting at her dinner grumpily, she wanted to eat it, she really did. But, she simply had no appetite. Instead she prodded the dead fish with her fingers absently, tearing off small pieces and feeding them to Buyo instead. She didn't pay attention to the way Inuyasha stared at her from across the campfire, looking at her with critical eyes that did not miss much about his ward.

The cat pawed at its mistress's calf in askance for more, but Inuyasha simply threw an extra fish at the cat who batted at it skittishly in surprise and caught Kagome's notice finally.

"Stop feeding the cat and feed yourself instead. You've barely been eating lately. Eat."

Kagome gave Inuyasha an icky face, the one where she scrunched her face up in defiance and made it look like she were an angry pup. "I'm not hungry."

Inuyasha glowered, pointing at her as threateningly as one could with river trout, "You're scrawny. Eat!"

Kagome huffed indignantly, casting an insecure glare to her figure before turning that said glare upon the hanyou. Though she denied him, her voice sounded uncertain, "I am NOT scrawny!"

Inuyasha's mind did a victory dance in triumph, finding a hole in her teenage armor.

Self image.

"You are too. You're all bones." Though he knew ti to be untrue, he was willing to manage the low-blow for something he deemed important; her health. They travelled far too much for her to not eat and she needed something to sustain her.

Huffing angrily, Kagome crossed her arms and decidedly sent a low-blow back. Only, this one landed beneath the belt.

Unfortunately for her, it tumbled out of her mouth in self-righteous anger before she had a chance to stop it.

"The boys who courted me in the village did not think so."

She didn't miss the growl that was instantly issued from the hanyou. Though she had succeeded in shutting him up, she also succeeded in travelling in dangerous territory. The subject of her and men... one that neither of them spoke of because of the obvious dire consequences of said action. She had broken the rule.

They did not speak of things that went deeper than flesh.

Flushing, and thinking quickly, she didn't want to issue an apology... but she didn't know what to say.

She simply did not want to be wrong.

"If their opinion matters more than mine, then go to your damn boys," he spat out angrily, and he stood before Kagome could stammer out a refusal coherently.

All she could say was, "Wait!"

Surprisingly enough... he listened.

Though he did turn heel on her and snarled at her viciously, "What?!"

Her jaw snapped shut and she found herself speechless.

After a moment, that was obviously the wrong move.

"I care for you for two months straight, Kagome, and your first thought is those... those human boys! If you want to be with humans, go to them!"

The sentence made her blood run cold...

It was far from what she wanted.

"No!"

Inuyasha was already out of her sight.

Panic settled in her chest, and she wondered...

Did I go too far?

"INUYASHA!" she cried out desperately, all previous inhibitions blown to the wind.

Don't make me leave... Don't send me back to be with humans...

Sobbing quietly, she dropped to her knees and covered her eyes.

Am I so ungrateful...?

Rubbing them stubbornly, she tried to quell the tears that insistently flowed. But they refused, and she let go the wail that wanted to break through.

She hadn't meant it...

Especially not that way.

She just wanted to prove him wrong...

"I didn't...mean it..." she whispered to the wind, wondering if it only fell on the deaf ears of the world.

Was he really gone?

Had he only run off in a fit of anger?

He hadn't left her side in so long, and now she was unsure what to do by herself.

Whimpering, she then covered her entire face with her hands. She was so angry with herself now.

When had I become so callous? When did I become... such a...

She sniffed.

Such a damn-

"You're a bitch." She heard the hard words spoken before her, and she lifted her eyes.

Inuyasha stood before her.

Eyes shining, she stared at him in confusion.

He only answered her with a lopsided subdued smile and an obvious remark.

"You really can't do anything without me... can you?"

Kagome just felt the flush pass over her nose as she flew at him, wrapping her arms around him and asking him to forgive her through muffled sobs against his chest. Patting her hair awkwardly, he wrapped one arm around her shoulders.

"Baka, you're making a big deal out of this. You know sometimes I run off when I'm mad... but I never leave, and I never go far. There's no reason to cry like this."

For some reason, she knew he was right but there was something more...

The thought of him really leaving her behind had terrified her like it never had before.

Yeah, before, it would upset her. Make her so sad she felt her heart might break in half.

But never before had it been this ground-breaking terror and panic that made her feel as if the ground had opened beneath her and been ready to swallow her.

She couldn't tell him that.

Because, she didn't know what it meant.

And that almost scared her just as much.



Inuyasha eyed Kagome suspiciously as she held out his newly laundered haori to him with a bright smile and said, "Here, take it!"

For the last few days Kagome had been on more than her best behavior, doing little things for him, and acting in such a strange way he couldn't help but wonder in fascinated paranoia if a youkai had not eaten Kagome and taken her place. A youkai that may want to devour him next.

Taking the haori timidly from her, he never took his gaze off her radiant face as he shrugged it on.

If he didn't know better, he could have sworn she was glowing with some supernatural and holy light.

It freaked him out.

Had Kagome suddenly become some sort of saint?

"Uh... thanks..." he grumbled out as she beamed at him, showing off her pearly whites and leaning forward. "Is there anything else I can do for you?"

Yeah... give me back the real Kagome...

Scratching at one ear that had been twitching nervously, belying the fact she was making him uncomfortable, he continually mumbled at her, "Uh... no... I'm-uh... I'm good."

Rubbing at the irritating appendage that still quivered underneath his touch, he had to restrain himself from leaning back as she leaned forward even further and smiled even greater... if that was possible.

...and she's staying there.

Averting his eyes awkwardly, unsure what to do with his ningen, Inuyasha cleared his throat.

Were all ningen of her age so... fucking... weird?

He knew she was about six cycles away from her sixteenth turning but Inuyasha couldn't think of any other females he had known previously around her age. And when it was her monthly time she would become angry and bitchy, not so overly...?

Staring at her shining face, he couldn't even procure the right word.

...helpful...maybe?

After a few moments of her close proximity, Inuyasha decided it was time to convince her to move.

"...did... you want something?" he asked.

Kagome shook her head and still smiled. She... said... nothing...

...nothing...

Zip.

Looking around, he figured.. perhaps, he could give her something to do. Since she did ask, and all.

Just to make her go away...

As he was thinking, he was interrupted by a small presence invading his lap.

Buyo had taken residence upon him once more and had decided to use him as furniture.

Inuyasha's irritation mounted, him already feeling unnerved by Kagome, and didn't need the extra stress of the cat.

The very most detested cat at the moment.

Ready to shove him off, his action was interrupted by Kagome, who did it for him.

"Buyo, shoo! Stop bugging Inuyasha for once!"

Inuyasha just about lost it, staring at her incredulously as she scooted the cat away from his person. Standing very suddenly, Inuyasha came up with the most random excuse that called for time alone.

"Sorry, nature calls!" he said to her quickly as he ran off, leaving her standing there with a puzzled look on her face.

He shuddered, looking back at her retreating form, he made his mind up.

She had to be a youkai.