InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Soiled ❯ Big Mouth ( Chapter 1 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
Inuyasha watched as three figures made their way through the village in the twilight of dusk. It had been twenty long minutes since he had detected their scents, and their visual absence was starting to make him fidget with irritation (worry would have been closer to the mark). However, when he finally heard the laughter in their faint voices on the breeze, he had decided to hop up to his favorite branch (well, his second favorite branch, his favorite was on another tree) and watch them walk.
He took in a deep breath as he leaned against the trunk, filling himself with their scents. He knew these people. He knew them well. He had been surprised when he came to the realization that he considered them friends. And they weren't the only ones. He had two more friends inside the hut sitting at the base of this tree.
As their scents filled his senses, he almost unconsciously honed in on the one coming from the figure in the middle. Her scent was stronger than usual. That was probably why he had been able to smell them from so far away. Through his nose, he could almost see the perspiration dripping down her face. He smiled inwardly because of it, though his face didn't show it. He had so spent many years hiding away his emotions that he was barely, if at all, able to admit them even to himself. In spite of that, he still couldn't help feeling proud of his miko at how hard she was working.
She had done that to him though, put cracks in his wall. It seemed she had that ability even from the moment she stepped out of the bone-eater's well three years ago. He remembered how clumsy she had been back then. It almost made her seem helpless. He still cringed when he remembered that he had tried to kill her, but now he admired her. She had become the glue that held his group of friends together. She was only human, but she still stood up to any demon they came across, and she tried so hard. More than that, she stood by him, a hanyou, even though he knew he didn't deserve it. She was so kind-hearted that she was able to see the good in any living thing, except maybe Naraku.
He was the reason she was here, the reason they were all here, and the reason why she, Miroku and Kaede were walking in from the forest this late. About a month ago, when Naraku had all but disappeared off the face of the earth, Kagome had announced that she wanted to be able to do more than shoot a few arrows and touch a shard now and then, so she had decided that she wanted to be trained to increase her miko powers.
Inuyasha was unsure of how he felt about this announcement. As a partner in the battle against Naraku, or even as a friend, he knew the idea of Kagome becoming stronger was a good one. But from that part of him he kept hidden deep inside that knew that she was much more to him than a friend, he felt a little hurt. Kagome was his, and he had promised to protect her. If she wanted to make herself stronger, he felt like it could only be because she didn't trust him.
“Then again, why should she,” he had thought at the time, “She had almost died several times while under his `protection.' He had let it happen. Then again, she had often put herself in those situations when he had told her to run, so perhaps if she trained up a bit, at least next time she wouldn't listen and run away, he wouldn't have to worry quite as much. On the other hand, he had promised her he wouldn't let anything hurt her, no matter what. He had promised himself.”
So, with a low growl, he had spit out a rough, “Keh,” and left it at that. The others, however, had been enthusiastic about the idea, and so she and Kaede-baba, and sometimes the houshi, had been out every day since to train. The first week had been rough, and she had come back exhausted and more than a little frustrated. But as time passed, she slowly came back less and less tired, and in higher and higher spirits. Now as he watched them near Kaede-baba's hut walking freely and laughing among one another, he knew she was improving greatly. He marveled at how fast she was improving as he once again felt a wave of pride wash over him, Kikyo had taken years to learn this stuff.
It was these thoughts running through his head as Miroku and Kaede made their way into the hut, oblivious to his eyes on them. However, as Kagome hesitated and glanced up toward him his heart fell to see the sad expression that had come over her face. He wondered what could possibly be troubling her so much. Then as the thought struck him that she may have actually seen him and he was the one making her so sad, his heart fell lower still.
“Hey,” he snarled as he jumped down from the tree, “what's your problem?”
“What are ye talking about Inuyasha?”
“Not you baba, Kagome.”
“If ye have a question for Lady Kagome, ye should simply ask her. There is no need to be rude to the rest of us.”
“That's what I'm trying to do you old hag! Kagome, just answer the question.”
“Inuyasha, don't be so rude. There's nothing wrong with me.”
Inuyasha figured she would say that at first, so he kept pushing.
“What makes you think I'm upset?”
“I saw you. You were all happy and annoying with the houshi and baba, then you looked up and got all sad.”
“Wha- no I didn't.”
“I. saw. you. You looked right at me. Now what the hell did I do to make you mad at me?”
Kagome looked down and Inuyasha's ears twitched as she spoke in almost a whisper, “I didn't know you were up there.”
“Ha! See, you are mad at me,” Inuyasha said as though he had won some kind of point. He felt that he had cornered her now, and she would surely tell him what was wrong with her.
“I didn't say that! I just said I didn't know you were up there!”
Inuyasha was slightly taken aback by her exclamation. She was lying and he knew it. Their faces inches apart now, Inuyasha's eyes bored into Kagome's as though trying to see the secrets kept hidden behind them. Even as he did so, he couldn't help lingering a little longer than he normally would have to gaze into them. They were beautiful, and if he weren't careful, he could become lost in them forever. But when she did nothing else but stare back into his own eyes, he slumped back onto the floor and shoved his hands in the sleeves of his haori with nothing more than a, “Keh!”
The stillness hung in the air for several moments until, smack!
“Hentai!”
“But my dear Sango, the tension in the air was so thick that I could not stay afloat. I had to hold on to something!”
Sango opened her mouth as if to retort, but then suddenly tried to stifle a laugh. Inuyasha watched as laughter broke out among all of his companions, and began to wonder of the stress of the hunt was starting to affect their sanity. Soon though, the laughter died down and Miroku spoke once again.
“I have to say, Kagome, I'm very impressed with your level of improvement since the last time I came to train with you and Lady Kaede.”
“I agree. Kagome, ye have been learning very well and very quickly.”
Inuyasha saw Kagome blush at their praise, “Oh, um, thank you.”
“Keh! I don't know why you wanna bother with this stuff. I said I'd protect you didn't I?”
“And that makes me a distraction doesn't it? Well I don't want to be. You, Miroku, Sango, Kirara and even Shippo all try so hard to fight, while I just have to sit in the background, point out shards and hope not to get killed. I want to be able to fight too.”
“I don't see what good it's gonna do. Kikyo's the only miko strong enough to stand up to Naraku, and you're no where near as strong as her so it looks like I'm still gonna have to protect you doesn't it?”
Inuyasha didn't know why he'd said it. The second the words were out of his mouth, he wished he could take them back. The look of hurt that flashed across Kagome's face when he'd said them was almost too much for him to take. He wanted to run to her, grab her up in his arms and apologize until his voice ran out. He wanted to tell her how much she meant to him. He wanted to, but there was no way in hell he was actually going to do it, especially not in front of all these people. Instead, he just sat there with his arms in his sleeves.
“Oh.”
Inuyasha felt his insides wince at her tiny remark.
“Um, I'm really tired, so I'm gonna go take a bath before I go to bed.”
“Do you want me to go with you,” Sango's voice was soft, but Inuyasha knew she was glaring daggers into his back.
“No, it's ok.”
Kagome scooped up her backpack and left. Almost immediately those left in the hut exploded into different versions of, “Inuyasha, you idiot! How could you say something like that?”
“Will all of you just shut up,” Inuyasha yelled at the group as he jumped up and out of the hut. It didn't take him long to track down Kagome, but he knew she must have ran by how far she had gotten.
“Hey! This isn't the way to the hot spring!”
“Inuyasha, what are you doing here?”
“Well I was gonna follow you to make sure you got there and back alright, but now that I tracked your scent here, I'm trying to find out just what the hell you think you're doing.” Inuyasha was very surprised. That was the second time she had lied to him today, and it just wasn't like her.
“I'm going home, Inuyasha.”
“Like hell you are.” Now he was worried. She had planned to go home, and had lied about it to do so. Something must really be wrong with her, but he never got the chance to find out.
“SIT!”
Inuyasha almost cried when he heard the subjugation command, but not because of the pain he felt. Kagome's cry had been so full of pain and anguish it was making him crazy. The beads must have felt it too because they kept him on the ground a very long time. By the time he was finally able to stand back up, Miroku had come running up behind him.
“Inuyasha, we could hear that all the way to Lady Kaede's. I decided to come make sure all was alright.”
“I have to go get Kagome, something's not right. She's not just mad at me.” Inuyasha knew Miroku would be able to hear the fear in his voice, but he couldn't muster up the strength to care, let alone suppress it, at this point. He just had to get to Kagome.
“I know, and I think it's best if you let her alone for now before you go talk with her.”
“But,” Miroku was helping him up at this point, and Inuyasha could see the concern in his eyes.
“Just trust me Inuyasha. Lady Kagome will calm down after a while. She's just worked up from all her training.”
Somehow Inuyasha doubted that, but he decided to follow the houshi's advice anyway.
There you have it. Please R&R and stay tuned for Chapter 2: Short Fuse.