InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Silver turns to Red ❯ Chapter 2 - Conversations ( Chapter 2 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha that privilege belongs to Rumiko Takahashi. I do however own Tara O'Connor and her dog Bran.

 

Thank you to everyone whose reviewed my story it's given me the much needed added incentive to get this chapter finished as soon as possible.

 

 

Chapter 2 - Conversations

 

Driving through the crowded city after leaving the airport, my cousin and I start discussing various topics while Souta plays with his video game and Mrs. Higurashi listens to the radio.

 

With a puzzled expression my cousin turns to me and asks, “Explain to me again why your Father demanded that you bring your dog with you?”

 

Sighing, “It's an old inuyoukai tradition that when an unmated female ventures away from the pack she must be accompanied by a male from the pack as a sign that she is still under the pack's protection.” I continue my explanation as I turn slightly to give my cousin my full attention, “it also means that if a male wishes to make me his mate than he must first beseech my Father for permission to court me.”

 

After a moment my cousin speaks, “Well…that makes sense. But why not send one of your brothers with you…” she starts.

 

“Oh hell no!” I interrupt her with disgust plainly written across my face. “I'd never attract a man with one of those hulking brutes scarring off every potential suitor. At least with the dog I have a chance of actually meeting a potential mate.” To prove my point I bring up a particularly annoying instance of their overprotectiveness. “My date for the Senior Prom practically pissed himself because of the murderous looks they kept giving him when he came to pick me up. I swear those guys would like nothing better than for me to end-up as an old maid.” I say with a sour frown etched across my face.

 

My cousin starts laughing at my expression “Awwww…but you're their baby sister, you can't blame them for wanting to protect you”.

 

I turn to her with a `I can and I will' expression.

 

`I'm sick of talking about the overprotective males in my family.'

 

“So tell me Kagome, how is your Quest for the Shikon no Tama going?”

 

Her cheerful countenance quickly morphs into one of almost painful seriousness.

 

Looking down at her hands she says, “It continues is about the best thing I can say about it. We're pretty sure that there are only a few more shards left that are still unclaimed by either us or Naraku.” She looks up at me with a determined glint in her dark brown eyes, “I know that the final battle with Naraku will occur this year. And probably sooner than we expect.”

 

The silence that ensues is stifling as we both reflect upon the future. My cousin breaks the oppressive silence with her innate ability to see the good in any situation, “That's why I'm so glad you're here, so you can help train me to be a better priestess and we can finally defeat Naraku.”

 

She turns to me with a hopeful look in her eyes, “I still wish you'd reconsider joining us, Tara”.

 

“It's not my quest Kags” I say while giving her the `we've been here before' look.

 

“I know…” she says despondently “It's just the more people who standup against him the easier it will be to defeat him.”

 

“Quests like these aren't meant to be easy” I look her straight in the eye “you know that.”

 

“You're right Tara.” She gives me a small smile and continues on a new topic, “I mean just look at my relationship with Inuyasha. We've had to overcome a lot to be where we are now.” She looks out the window with a dreamy expression across her face.

 

For the next few minutes we sit there in companionable silence until the car turns a corner and the long awaited Higurashi Shrine comes into view. The sight of her home finally breaks my cousin's trance and she quickly leans over to me saying, “don't let Inuyasha's rude behavior upset you he's that way with everyone the first time he meets them.”

 

Her quick speech leaves me slightly panicked as I try to make sense of her vague revelation. `I hope she's not talking about what I think she's talking about! I do not want to get into a fight with her future mate the first time we meet.'

 

As we arrived at the shrine I could see the truck caring my beloved guard dog right behind us. Stepping out of the car I see a man running down the shrine steps in a red haori and hakama with a very out of place baseball cap on his head. `Hmmm…that must be Inuyasha. He must be covering his `puppy ears' as Kagome likes to call'em, with that cap'. He jumps over the last two steps and lands right in front of me and Kagome greeting me in a very aggressive inuyoukai manner by starring right into my eyes. Yet the rest of his body is calm and non-threatening as he gently hugs my cousin. `So he's hiding his challenge to me from her…interesting…bad idea, but interesting non-the-less.'

 

My cousin turns to me and starts introducing us.

 

“Inuyasha this is my cousin Tara O'Conner. Tara this is my fiancé Inuyasha”

 

Neither of us bow, we're too busy locked in a staring contest to remember proper human etiquette. My eyes saying - `If you want me to defer to you, Inuyasha, you're going to have to do more than just stare me down - I don't back down without a fight!'

 

His stare showing his acceptance of the inevitable fight and promising that he won't go easy on me either.

 

Our staring contest was interrupted by the sound of the two deliverymen opening the back door of the truck, which was quickly followed by a low bone-chilling growl.

 

“Uh-oh…I better get in there before something bad happens” I say as I run over to the truck. `Will continue this latter Inuyasha'.

 

Climbing up the gangplank into the truck I call out to my distraught dog “Here I am Bran, safe and sound.” A happy whine is his reply followed by a gruff bark. “Don't worry boy I'm getting the key out as we speak, you'll be out of that cage in no time.” I reach in my Jeans' pocket for the key. Pulling it out I move over to the lock and release my old hound dog. Immediately he starts sniffing me all over checking my health. `The things I put up with for family' I silently bemoan my fate. Once he judges that no harm has befallen me during his incarceration he happily licks my face in a friendly inu greeting. “Ok, Bran that's enough” I say after the fifth time he's licked my face. Rising I say “Come on” and wave my arm motioning for him to follow me out of the truck, “Let's get out of here”. So with my big black dog behind me we walk out of the truck.

 

The first thing I notice is Inuyasha carrying my bags up the stairs to the house. I smirk at the sight `I wonder if it was Mrs. Higurashi or Kagome who made him do that.'

 

I bring my arms above me head for a full body stretch. I look down to see Bran stretching out his tight muscles, making him look about ten feet long. “I don't know about you Bran but I sure need a good run after traveling for the last three days.” He replies with his signature doggie smile as we simultaneously eye the sharp incline of the numerous shrine steps. Immediately we start running up the stairs, with Bran taking four at a time. At the top there is a wonderful view of the layout of the shrine.

 

The first thing I notice is how much land the shrine covers. `It probably covers an area of about a quarter of a mile' I think. Several small buildings surround a large courtyard. I recognize a few of the buildings from Kagome's letters, the first being her house to the left. I also notice to my far right the large Goshinbuko tree (god tree) where Inuyasha was pinned to for fifty years. Straight ahead in the distance is the well house with a line of trees marking the edge of the small forest behind it. `Even from this distance I can sense the magic emanating from it.'

 

My cousin's voice shakes me from my thoughts, “Excuse me, what did you say Kagome?” I ask while pulling the scrunchie out of my hair.

 

“Can I pet your dog?” She asks looking longingly at his big floppy ears.

 

Grinning slightly at her expression, “Sure, just bring your hand up for him to sniff you.” Kagome slowly brings her hand up to his nose. As he starts sniffing I speak in a strong commanding tone, “Bran this is my cousin Kagome. She is a dear friend of mine and I expect you to protect her as you would any other member of my family.” He barks his understanding and licks my cousin's hand in greeting. Immediately my cousin laughs and starts rubbing behind his ears with a gleeful expression on her face.

 

I chuckle at the sight `looks like my cousin has an ear fettish'.

 

Right then a very irate hanyou makes his presence known.

 

“Quit rubbing that dog's ears!” He says as he stomps over to his fiancé.

 

She gives him an innocent look “I'm just saying hello to him, Inuyasha”.

 

Snorting his disbelieve at her statement, he starts to turn away from her.

 

“But your ears are so much softer than his,” she says softly as she takes his cap off and starts slowly rubbing his right ear, “I'd much rather rub them”. He immediately calms down.

 

`I'm impressed, she handled him like a pro.'

 

I watch them for a few moments, silently laughing at Inuyasha's blissful expression. “I'll just leave you two love birds alone, I need to unpack my suitcases anyway.”

 

This draws my cousin from her ear rubbing session to look at me with a slight blush on her cheeks.

 

“Oh I'm so sorry Tara, where are my manners, I'll show you to your room. Besides,” she steps over to me and gives me a knowing wink as she whispers, “I have to catch you up on some stuff since my last letter.”

 

Narrowing my eyes at her whispered words I nod my head slightly. `I just got her letter a week and a half ago, what could have happened since then?'

 

We walk into the house with her hanyou and my dog in tow. The first thing I notice upon entering her home is how modern it is yet still retaining a traditional appearance. To my right there is a western style living room where Souta is eagerly watching a very loud action packed TV show. Inuyasha maneuvers from behind us and quickly runs in there to watch the obviously very captivating TV show with Souta. Across from the living room is a small kitchen, where I see Mrs. Higurashi rubbing some seasoning into the flanks of steak for dinner.

 

“Do you need any help with dinner, Mom?” Kagome asks

 

“No honey I'm fine, besides” she winks at her daughter, “don't you have something important to tell your cousin?”

 

Right then we all heard this pitiful whine coming from my poor dog as he maneuvered his way around us to sit next to Mrs. Higurashi looking forlornly at the steaks a few inches away from his drooling mouth.

 

“No Bran, you can't have that” I say as he turns around giving me the `puppy dog-sad-eyes look' “and don't you dare look at me like that” I say as I turn away before I give in to him.

 

“The dog foods in the laundry room down the hall, I already put a bowl of water there for him too” says Mrs. Higurashi with a small smile on her face.

 

I bow slightly “Thank you so much, I'll make sure he doesn't make a mess.”

 

I grab his collar “Come on boy your dinner's down the hall” and literally drag him away from the delicious smelling beef.

 

After feeding my dog a large bowlful of dry food mixed with a can of gravy and meat chucks to make it more appealing, I follow Kagome upstairs to my new room.

 

Once inside I sit down on my bed while she quickly closes the door and turns to me with the biggest grin on her face. “All right, I was going to tell you the whole story first and then show you…but I can't wait!” She then extends her left hand out towards me and I look down to see a beautiful diamond ring adorning her ring finger. Immediately we both begin to squeal and hug each other.

 

“Oh my God! I'm so happy for you! Oh my God!” are the only words that can come out of my mouth for the next sixty seconds.

 

I take a moment to breath while my cousin situates herself next to me on the bed.

 

“Start from the very beginning and don't leave anything out” I tell her as I look her straight in the eye.

 

She starts gleefully recounting her tale to me.

 

“It was a week ago and we had been traveling hard all week looking for shards. When we woke-up Inuyasha told us to spend the day resting, which was a big surprise because we always have to beg him to stop and give us breaks during our travels. So there we were relaxing in the shade of a large pine tree when Inuyasha jumps down right in front of me. He practically couldn't look me in the eye when he asked me if I wanted to go on a walk with him…it was soooo cute, Tara! Of course I said yes and we started walking further into the dense forest. After a while we stopped and sat under the biggest cherry blossom tree I've ever seen. It was exquisite Tara! The ground was covered in pink petals and when the wind blew it felt like warm snow was falling on my skin. I was so captivated by the beautiful scenery that I didn't even notice what Inuyasha was doing `til he said my name. When I looked down I saw him kneeling in front me with his hand outstretched towards me. Then he said “Kagome, will you marry me?” and then as I tried to speak, everything went black. I woke up to see the most distressed expression I've ever seen on his face. Obviously I fainted, which I've never done before, and the poor guy thought my fainting was a very negative reaction to his question, so he starts saying I don't have to marry him and just more nonsense like that. I pinched his ear to get his attention and told him `Yes, of course I'll marry you'. I've never seen him so happy before in my life, but then he frowned and got a rather panicked look upon his face. You see when he caught me before I fell, he dropped the ring and for the next half hour he searched for it. I offered to help, but he was adamant that I sit and rest against the tree. After he found it he placed it on my finger with an almost reverent kiss.”

 

Sigh….“That's such a sweet story,” I hugged her again. “So when's the wedding?” I asked.

 

“This Spring, probably the middle of May” she said while gazing happily at her new ring.

 

A loud scratching sound and a low whine coming from the door interrupts our happy silence.

 

“Ug…that dog takes my Dad's orders way too seriously” I say as I get up to let a hulking 120 lb Irish Wolfhound into my room. He immediately starts sniffing around the room and after not finding anything threatening stretches his nearly three foot long frame out next to my bed and promptly goes to sleep.

 

Kagome smiles down at the sleeping brute and says “he's so cute and protective of you it reminds me of Inuyasha. So what do you think of him” she asks in a slightly guarded tone.

 

`Oh boy…how to handle this as delicately as possible?'

 

Looking down at my lap I start babbling “I haven't really gotten a chance to know him yet…I mean…it's not like we've even had a chance to talk to each other…so I don't know what to make of him yet.” I look at my cousin through the corner of my eye and see all the tension drain away from her body.

 

With a loud sigh of relieve my cousin looks up at me “I'm so glad that you're not letting your first impression of him ruin your opinion of him. He always takes an overaggressive attitude when meeting new people and since I've told him that your proficient with several types of weapons he probably views you as a threat to his leadership in the pack.”

 

After a moment's silence I nod “Well that makes sense, especially coupled with his difficult childhood you told me about in your letters. It's a wonder that he acts as civilly as he does.”

 

We both silently reflect upon the life of an orphaned hanyou boy shunned by his family and left to fend for himself in the wild.

 

My cousin breaks the silence with a chuckle, “I thought he would have been more challenging to you on your first meeting. He usually is the first time he meets someone.” She says jokingly as he reaches down to rub one of Bran's ears.

 

Her laughing tone startles me and I am left speechless as my brain tries to process this last bit of information. `Oh my God! She doesn't know! We were barely a minute away from drawing blades. His greeting only allows me to respond in one of two way. Either I would submit to him right away by either averting my eyes and/or exposing my neck to him, or we take up arms to establish who is stronger.' I start to correct her when we hear the topic of our conversation shouting -

 

“If you women aren't down here in the next minute I'm going to start eating your steaks!”

 

At that remark we both look right at each other and start laughing uncontrollably.

 

“We better get down there before my Mother has to restrain him from making good on his threat” my cousin says through her laughter.

 

I lean over the side of the bed and playfully push my canine brute with my foot “Move Bran” his ears perk-up at my voice, “I refuse to make my cousin leap off the bed just because you're in our way.”

 

He sighs loudly and slowly rises as he opens his large mouth for an impressive yawn and lopes lazily towards the door.

 

As we exit the room he spots a very large fur ball walking down the hall. All I heard was an ominous growl and a frightened hiss before chaos erupted. I immediately heard Kagome scream “ Bran, stop! Don't kill him”. Spying the cause of Kagome's distress I see the fattest cat I've ever seen dangling from my dog's mouth.

 

“No Bran” I shout “Friend not food!” I bare my teeth at him to show him I mean business. “Drop!”

 

He drops the cat and Kagome immediately grabs her cat and holds him tightly to her chest.

 

We barely begin to register what just happened when Inuyasha comes barreling into us.

 

“What the hell happened?” he shouts gathering a very distraught Kagome into his arms as he glares at me.

 

Looking him straight in the eye I admit my failing “It's my fault Inuyasha, I forgot to introduce Buyou to Bran. So when he saw the cat he thought he was fair game.”

 

He narrows his eyes at me but decides to take care of his intended first and looks down at her as she begins to disentangle herself from his embrace.

 

“Are you all right Kagome?” his voice is heavily laced with concern.

 

“Yeah” she wipes a stray tear from her eye “I'm fine now. I should have thought about Buyou, but I was so excited about telling Tara about my engagement that I completely forgot”. She turns to me and gives me an apologetic smile “so it's both our faults Tara, I'm sorry.”

 

“Me too Kags” I say as we hug each other in a tight embrace.

 

“Is Buyou O.K. Kagome” I ask as I eye the shaking animal in her arms.

 

She starts looking him over and finding nothing physically wrong says, “yeah he's fine, just very frightened.”

 

“Well if it's all right with you we still need to formally introduce Buyou to Bran so that this doesn't happen again” I say while motioning for her to bring Buyou over to me and the dog.

 

She nods her head and as she moves over to us I grab Bran by the back of the neck - immobilizing his head - and get right in his face, looking him squarely in the eye and say “Bran, you cannot attack this cat.” I point to the fur ball curled-up in Kagome's arms. “His name is Buyou and he is Kagome's friend. You are never to harm him again. Do you understand?”

 

He blinks rapidly and replies with a high-pitched submissive whine.

 

“Good.” I continue talking as I release his neck, “You will accompany us downstairs and will wait in the hallway while we eat with the rest of the family.” He lowers his head in a sign of complete submission to my authority.

 

My cousin pauses for a moment trying to gather her thoughts, “There's no way I'm putting Buyou down now so I guess mama's going to just have to put-up with me eating dinner with Buyou in my lap.”

 

“Finally we get to have dinner” whines a hungry hanyou from behind our backs.

 

All four of us descend to the kitchen and right before we enter it I command Bran to lay down in the hallway by the entrance to the kitchen.

 

“Girls, what happened upstairs and why are you carrying Buyou?” questions Mrs. Higurashi as we take our seats around the kitchen table.

 

Before I could speak Kagome answers her mother putting a comedic spin to the altercation as well, “We forgot to introduce Bran to Buyou and they had the typical cat and dog reaction when the met each other. Buyou is much too scared right now for me to put him down.”

 

With a shocked expression she turns to me, “I hope that won't happen again Tara, we are all very attached Buyou.”

 

“Don't worry Mrs. Higurashi, I made sure that Bran understands that he's not suppose to attack Buyou”. I pause for a moment to cut my meat. “He usually doesn't attack cats but after the unfortunate incident at home, with one of Mrs. O'Leary's cats he's never been quite the same.”

 

The conversation dies down as the family enjoys the delicious meal set before them.

 

************

 

After a delightful evening spent with my extended family I decide to take my leave of them for a much needed night's rest. As I walk down the hall towards my bedroom I see Inuyasha waiting for me by my door. I wearily approach him as I eye his deceptively relaxed posture as he leans his tall frame against the wall. “I'm too tired to fight you right now, Inuyasha. We can meet early tomorrow morning in the woods out back.” As I open the door I look over my shoulder and curl my lips in a knowing smirk, “Do you want me to bring my sword?” As he gives me an abrupt nod I close the door behind me.

 

With a snort, Inuyasha turns to walk away thinking, `I've got to get that woman under my command so she'll either go home or help with our quest. There can be only one leader in this pack. It's going to be me…It's got to be me. I don't see any other way for such an independent woman to fit into my plans. And I think she may just have some talents that will come in handy…very handy indeed.' With a grin on his handsome face he saunters off to say a warm goodnight to his fiancé.

 

 

*****************

Please send me as many reviews as possible they really help motivate me to update as soon as possible!! And if anyone is interested in beta editing my story please let me know in your review. Thanks sooo much you guys…hopefully I can have chapter 3 written by next weekend (I've already started chapter 4 and it's most likely going to be well over 10 pages long!)…but no promises…it takes time and many revisions to get a good chapter ready for y'all to read.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8